<< [[CoS Summary 8|Previous Session]] | [[CoS Summary 10|Next Session]] >> # Curse of Strahd: Session 9 ## The Young will be Well!! ### Players [[Arbane Elkhorn]] [[Bea Boglak]] [[Destry]] [[Pip]] The group continued shopping in the heart of Vallaki. At the Cracked Anvil, Arbane got one of his rapiers silvered and the party stepped back out into the town square. A few of them made a stop into The Apothecary to buy some potions of healing from Harkus who seemed to perhaps not exactly know how potions are made, judging by the haphazard experiments cluttering his little shop. Pip visited Endless Delights Clothier, where he put in an order for a black leather glove and a folding cane, while getting his top hat repaired by the tailor Alana. Arbane hung out around the town square and got directions to the Baron's Mansion. Once everyone was done shopping, they decided to check out the mansion to see if they could get a read on the baron and perhaps meet him. ![[Festival of the Blazing Sun Poster.jpeg|500]] *Poster for the upcoming Festival of the Blazing Sun* They arrived at the mansion and noticed a lot of townsfolk carrying bundles of sticks into the mansion. They spoke to one of the workers and they explained that the sticks were for some kind of structure for the upcoming Festival of the Blazing Sun. They devised a way of sneaking in involving Arbane's familiar who was taking the form of a cat. It was able to sneak in while traffic was coming in and out, and was able to explore a portion of this massive mansion. Peering through the cat’s senses, Arbane was able to hear the muffled voice of a frustrated man in one of the rooms. He scratched on the door, prompting the man to come open it. He was able to dash around the corner before it was opened, but when he attempted to slip into the room the man blocked his path and called for the maid Lisa to come deal with the creature, shutting the door for good. Before escaping the area, the cat smelled a hint of human excrement down the hall before darting down the stairs and out of the building. The party decided to knock on the door, and were received by the maid Lisa, who escorted them into the den. She intended to have them wait there while checking in with the Baron to see if he had time to meet the group. Pip asked her for some water for everyone, so reluctantly she asked the group to remain in the Den while she walked down the hall to the kitchen to abide by their request. Bea drank her Potion of Youth, and Pip used his disguise kit to both appear as young children, and they took Reek with them to sneak around to see more of the mansion. Bea looked in the room across from the den and saw a group of women eating and conversing around the table, the most prominent of which seemed to be the wife of the Baron. The 3 of them walked towards the front of the building and opened a closed door to see a small parlor with a feminine touch. Earlier the group heard rumors of the baron disciplining law breakers at his residence, so Pip and Bea approached one of adults who were gathering bundles of sticks in the foyer and attempted to find out where a prisoner would be held by spinning a tale of how their father was captured by the Baron. They pleaded that they needed to know where he was held because he left the stove on when he was taken away. The man offered little help on the situation, suggesting they should talk to the Baron and that he would get in trouble if he were to stop working. Meanwhile, coming from the other end of the hall Lisa the maid was returning to the den, handling mugs of water for the whole party. She started to lose her patience with the party who were still delaying her from checking in with the Baron, asking her to get them food and challenging her on her attitude. Pip, Bea and Reek attempted to sneak past the door while she was occupied with the group so they could explore the other end of the hall, but Bea and Reek didn't make it past without stepping on the bundles of twigs. Even with a distraction from Destry, Lisa caught the two and stopped them, but not before Pip was able to slip into a door to the left unnoticed. He found himself in some kind of preparation room, with tables of food and expensive silverware on the table. He slipped out of the window and removed his disguise as the rest of the party was swiftly kicked out of the mansion. The maid told them the Baron would send an invitation when he was ready to talk and they should not return until he does. After the mansion, Bea, Pip and Reek headed to the toy store that Bea clocked when first arriving in town in order to buy a toy for Reek. Destry, Arbane and the rest of the party headed to the Blue Water Inn. The toy shop is through Arasek stockyard on the east side of town. The trio entered the shop which was adorned with signs reading "Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!" and were greeted by a large man with a jester hat who welcomed them with glee; "Wyelcome, friends, to the House of Blinsky, where hyappiness and smiles can be bought at bargain prices. Perhaps you know a leetle child in need of joy? A leetle toy for a girl or boy?". They discussed his business for a little and learned he has only had one customer recently, a fellow named Rictavio who gave him his monkey Piccolo who is wearing a tutu and sitting on his shoulder. The group browsed his toy selection, and noticed one of the toys was very familiar! Thorn, the young ghost boy from Durst Manor held a small doll that had a "is no fun, is no Blinsky!" tag on it and there were more versions of that doll here. They also noticed some dolls that resembled the likeness of Ireena Kolyana and were "were not for syale". Pip pretended to be Reek and Bea's father and gave Blinsky some marketing tips for lightening up his toys' dark subject matter. Bea purchased 3 toys: - A headless doll that comes with a sack of attachable heads, including one with its eyes and mouth stitched shut (price 9 cp) - A set of wooden nesting dolls; the smaller each one gets, the older it gets, until the innermost doll is a mummified corpse (price 9 cp) - A small doll resembling the one Thorn had (price 9 cp) She gave Blinsky a gold piece in return who was hugely appreciative. Piccolo retrieved the toys from the shelves and the trio went on their way to meet up at the Inn. While papa Pip and the kids were buying toys, Arbane and Destry arrived at the Blue Water Inn and were welcomed by a lady at the bar named Danika. She sold Destry some high quality wine called Red Dragon Crush, while Arbane grabbed a table in the taproom. After talking among themselves and reviewing their knowledge on the Sun Sword while seeing if it offered them any more guidance, the pair then chatted up some wolf hunters named Yevgeny and Szoldar. Yevgeny was a bit drunk, and Szoldar was pretty cold until mention of an exchange of gold for their services. They would help the party hunt wolves tomorrow and be their guide outside the walls of Vallaki for 5 gp a day, or 100gp at night if they were foolish enough to venture out in the dark. They mentioned they had business in the morning at the Orphanage regarding missing children, but they could meet them at the Inn when they were finished should they need their services tomorrow. Bea, Pip and Reek arrived at the Inn and spent some time chatting up a colorfully dressed man sitting at the bar. They learned his name was Rictavio and that he runs some kind of carnival that travels to different lands. He said he’s here in Barovia researching the wonders of this land, and has been here for about a month. Bea showed him her odd trinkets from Durst Manor and they shared their passion for the circus. Pip impressed him massively with his dance skills. While Rictavio was engaged in conversation with the others, Pip sneakily used his Nothic Eye to peer into Rictavio's mind, only to be utterly blocked for unknown reasons. Arbane and Destry approached as well, and once they turned to the subject of the Baron, they thought it wise to speak somewhere more private, so Rictavio invited Arbane, Destry, and Pip up to his room, where they discussed many topics such as rumors around Vallaki, the Baron, Lady Wachter and religion. Downstairs, Bea and Bucket *cough* I mean Reek played tag with Danika's sons Brom and Bray. They were very fast and sneaky and darted out in different directions. Bea was able to catch up to Brom up the stairs just in time to see his leg vanish into what seemed to be a wall near Rictavio's room. Bea was unable to figure out how he got through what appeared to be a dead end. Moments later the boy was across the space above the taproom on the opposite balcony. Bea made her way outside and up the stairs to the other balcony, but once she arrived Brom and Bray were both downstairs by the bar smirking at her. Not one to be defeated by children, Bea, a grown Orc woman disguised as a child, sprung up onto the banister and launched herself into the open air, descending upon the terrified boys below. Time slowed as Arbane and Destry emerged from Rictavio’s room in pure awe as Bea dove through the air, landed in the taproom below with a skillful tuck and roll through the tables and patrons, and planted a hand square on Brom, finishing the game once and for all. Brom was so intimidated by this epic display of schoolyard dominance that when Bea asked him how he disappeared into the wall, he disclosed that there is in fact a secret door at the end of the balcony, pleading with her not to tell his parents that he told her. The party spoke with Danika again, inquiring about a room for the night. She called out to the kitchen and out stepped Urwin Martikov, husband of Danika and father of Brom and Bray. The party noticed that all of the Martikovs have dark hair with grey streaks and dress in wolf furs. Urwin welcomed the party to the Inn and discussed the price of lodging being 3 gp per bed. When the group discussed among themselves how many beds they could afford, Urwin brought up a proposal for them to help him out in exchange for free lodging. He said that their wine supply was running low and that they had been expecting a shipment for a week but it never arrived. He asked the party to investigate the missing shipment by traveling West towards the Wizard of the Vines winery and seeing if they can find out what happened. The party agreed and received a discount of 1gp per bed for tonight. While ordering some food and winding down, the party noticed Rictavio ordered a wolf steak to go, and walked out of the bar. They followed him out the front, and one of the ravens perched on the Inn caught their eye. It had a streak of blue in its wing and looked familiar to them. Could this be the same raven that cawed at them at the Old Windmill??? Where is Rictavio heading at this hour??? There's only several ways to find out, but only if the dice agree.