Hidden Identities

## Summary

Talice Tewin demands to know where her mother is and if she's okay. According to Ezmeralda, Miss Tewin showed up on her doorstep looking for her daughter. Edmund reminds Talice that they need to get the people's faith in the abbot. Jade on the other hand suggests that Talice's mother would be a powerful ally. Warwick suggests talking to the mayor on the way out but Edmund doesn't trust Baron Dmitri Krezkov.

As the paladin and rogue argue, Jade talks with Talice and Krik into leaving to find Talice's family. Krik stays behind while Ezmeralda follows Talice and Jade. By the time Warwick, Salem, Ireena, Ismark and Edmund realize the girls are gone, it's too late. The abbot comes by willing to shelter the party anytime, even from werewolves. This makes Edmund slam his head against the wall while Warwick tails the girls.

The girl talk and bond as wolves close in on them. They realize that the wolves are attacking too late. Talice uses lightning on them right away while Jade begins swinging and gets pinned down. Ezmeralda then uses the evil eye trick that the Vistani use at the wolves forcing them to fall back. The others arrive and heal Jade's injuries while also getting Ezmeralda back on her feet. Edmund gives Jade a lecture while thanking Ezmeralda despite her being blind.

They help her get the rest of the way to Van Richten's Tower, with Talice tripping on the way. When they arrive there, Talice morphs into a dog to look for her mother. She finds that her mother is inside the tower but Ezmeralda warns the group that someone may have been inside the tower. She alerts them of the booby trap so Edmund offers to be her hands. Meanwhile Krik scours the perimeter but doesn't find anything other than rickety scaffolding. Salem checks the kind of magic used on the tower but doesn't find anything confusing Ezmeralda. It's clear that the traps have been activated so they try to unlock the door only to have lighting cast on them while the cart was blown up.

Eventually Warwick decides to sneak in through the rafters with Krik for lifting and Kvak as a scout. Warwick slips down through a hole in the middle of the room. He spies an elevator on the bottom floor and tries unlocking the door from the other side, however he gets fried. Warwick then goes up the elevator to the top floor. Ezmeralda wonders why Miss Tewin isn't calling out to her as Krik tries to help get Talice up there. He fails so Jade tries her hand at the door when she realizes that it's a puzzle. When she realizes that they have to do dance moves, Edmund mimics them and the door opens.

Ireena and Ismark stay outside with Ezmeralda as the party heads to the top floor. The party smells lavender while Jade asks Talice about her mother. It turned out Talice's mother was a herbal cleric. Talice determines the smell is coming from the chest. Warwick looks through the shelves to find that a lot of books have been crumbled and burned. Edmund opens the chest to find a severed head in it along with a scroll and a piece of paper. The paper turned out to be a piece of a journal page from Dr. Rudolph van Richten's journal talking about how he lost his son to the Vistani and eventually had to kill him when he became a vampire.

Salem looks over the scroll next and notices that it's a speak with dead scroll. Salem decides to chat with the head outside the tower with Talice getting a bad feeling. Warwick, Edmund, Salem and Krik head outside to talk to the head while the rest stay inside to rest up. Ismark, Ireena and Ezmeralda head inside after that. The head mentions that Rudolph is dangerous and that he travels with a pet monkey. The party puts it together that Rictavio was actually Van Ritchen. The head reveals itself as Yan, he was banished from his tribe for stealing and was fearful that Van Ritchen was going to kill his people. The party didn't mind Van Ritchen trying to kill Strahd.

The group returns to the tower to rest for the night. In the morning Warwick tells Ezmeralda about Rictavio being in Vallaki. As the group leaves the tower, a skeletal dragon appears and smashes into the tower. Only Jade and Talice get out of the way in time. Ismark protects Ireena and Ezmeralda and falls unconscious as well. The dragon focuses it's might on Talice so Edmund gives up his life to save hers. Jade enraged ends up dealing the killing blow.

The group quickly hurries to the abbot in hopes to save his life but it's in vain. He also mentions that Baron Dmitri Krezkov's son was killed and revived. However he became a pawn of Strahd and the same thing would happen to Edmund. The party decides to do a burial with his belongings while Jade weeps over the loss of her closest friend and Talice wonders why Edmund protected her.

## Notable Events

* Jade and Talice leave with Ezmeralda to find Miss Tewin while Krik and Warwick chase them with Edmund, Ireena, Salem and Ismark trailing behind.
* This session uses a timer system
* The party explores Van Richten's Tower
* Edmund Edmer dies to a skeleton dragon's lightning breath