Beloved ☀

(Lydia Petrovna from Curse of Strahd and my cleric PC Kasper)

Victor Vallakoposting to celebrate the beginning of his Unwilling Burgomaster arc + his medieval goth fit I never felt like drawing and family doodle.

The Vallakovich family. Vargas, Lydia and Viktor as invisioned by me.

I do commissions!  

A quick plan was made of Nick and Cash presenting as people from the town of Barovia, with Cash using Disguise Person, and from there the two were brought inside. They met the lady of the house, a one Baroness Lydia Petrovna, and while Cash went to explore the house a bit more, Nick was left to examine some of the things the lady of the house was doing. She had going on a small circle of her closest 'friends' where they were making bits for the large effigy in the center of town in two days for the festival, and others were busy sewing clothing for the play that some of the children in town were going to preform before the burning. Nick asked some of these women if they knew anything about what else would be burned, but everyone simply said that just the effigy would be, as a placeholder for the actual sun in the sky. As Nick attempted reconnaissance, Cash found himself heading upstairs into the library where he met with Vargas Vallakovich. Cash excused himself as the Burgomaster was flanked on either side by two dogs, and it seemed that the man was paranoid after a supposed two servants had gone missing.

As the two of them did this, Chiaroscuro, Kenshi, and Alexir waited outside, the three of them circling the building to try and attempt another entrance. As Chiaro got a boost from Alexir to the second floor window, he realized he couldn't enter the building, as the windows were sealed shut and unable to slide open. He attempted to do some recon regardless, and summoned Flicker within the room as the door opened to an exploring Cash in disguise. With this, the two of them went to look for any other things in this house to try and suss out where it was that Strazni stayed, and upon entering the main bedroom where Vargas and Lydia lay, the two saw the rope to the attic and used it to climb the stairs up. In the attic, they saw a mess of items and a clear path through everything where a room at the end of this maddening hoard stood closed. On the outside of the door was a skull painted on the door and a sign on the handle reading "All is Not Well", a jest at Lydia's tic of a phrase that Nick had been hearing all the time they sat, eating and drinking from this small tea party they had intruded upon.

Chiaroscuro was informed that Nick had been cajoled into sewing for the play, and left Kenshi and Alexir to join Nick and the other ladies in the sewing circle. Here they found out that Strazni was a drunkard and a brute and that no one in the town truly liked him, as he was an intimidating sort. Lydia actively did not discuss him, almost afraid of him and requested any other conversation be brought up. Nick was informed mentally through their Psionic Whispers that Cash had found a weird door and excused themselves from the sewing table to go and find it themselves. From here, the other two were also informed and the whole group entered the attic, Chiaro included as he had to excuse himself from the tea party much like Nick. Here, the group kept knocking upon the door, bothering the inhabitant. The door opened to no one in the room and a shout of "Go The Fuck Away!" astonished everyone as the door then closed again.

Following this, they decided to head downstairs to check on a room that Cash informed was locked prior, and upon picking the lock, the five of them stood agape at a room filled with dolls. Every single tiny doll looked exactly like Ireena, all in different little outfits. Nick took a doll as the rest of the party looked around, finding nothing but a chest with a hidden sword at the bottom, and a bunch of cheap wine bottles littering the floor under the bed. This was definitely Strazni's room.

The group decided to try one more time to see if they could approach the door upstairs in the attic, and so they began knocking again, eventually talking the inhabitant into letting them in as well.

Victor Vallakovich was a scrawny man with heavy bags under his eyes, as he dispelled the Invisibility spell he had cast upon himself. He discussed his plans to attempt to leave the country, and showed them his paperworks with the designs to do so on it. He admitted that he had talked two servants into attempting the Teleportation circle he had made and the only thing he saw happen was that they disappeared into a flash of bright purple light. He informed the party also about Strazni and that his father hired the man when he was but a child and that Strazni already had a body count by that point. He also informed them that Strazni's Monstrous Arm was a newer development as he had been missing an arm as a child, and the new one could cast some sort of magic. Victor asked if Chiaro knew anything about that sort of thing because as a Tiefling, Chiaro should have known fire magic, right?

After leaving Victor to his strange magics, the group exited the home no better having entered, only slightly more knowledgeable in the interim. Before heading out of the building, Chiaroscuro decided to leave Flicker in Strazni's bedroom to spy on him as needed during the night. He didn't know if anything would come from this action, but it was better to keep an eye on the man than not.

As they walked back to the Blue Water Inn, Chiaroscuro asked Cash about Tiefling history, as the young man had never known another Tiefling before. While he questioned him, Chiaro shared a bit of private information with Cash about the makeup of his body, as it had been changed by the Khayal that made up Chiaro's patron. Cash commented that he didn't have anything like that at all, and that he should feel proud of being so blessed anatomically like that. It was here that Nick overheard the salacious information, having been left out on overhearing such juicy gossip in the past.

Upon reaching the Blue Water Inn, the group felt slightly demoralized. They hadn't made much progress today, and it was nearly nightfall. The didn't know what left lay ahead of them from this point.

Session 23

The party had another encounter with Strahd and one night to prop up the Vallaki government after the deaths of all three of its major players.

Last session ended with Anastrasya, in her capacity as a general, announcing that Vallaki had eight hours to set up their new government after the deaths of Vargas Vallakovich, Lydia Petrovna, and Fiona Wachter. Our warlock, Theo, threw a guiding bolt at Anastrasya and that was where we picked up.

It hit, dealing a searing 25 points of radiant damage to one of Strahd's brides and commanders.

Combat broke out. Soldiers in the crowd began to attack fleeing nobles. Guards attacked soldiers. The party and - in a wild turn of events - Izek Strazni teamed up to attack Anastrasya. Once she'd seen enough of the chaos, Strahd set up a wall of fire between the party (Theo, Strahd's son, Alistor, her other son, Godfrey, the reincarnations of Sergei and Ireena, and Ismark, Victor Vallakovich, Stella Wachter, and Nikolai Wachter) and she, bathed in firelight told them to end their quarrel. Alistor, ever her son, used his movement to break through the fire - taking nearly total damage in fire - to get to the stage and convince the people of Vallaki to mobilize. Strahd called her soldiers off with the promise to return at dawn. The party split. Theo and Victor went to Vallakovich manor to gather records for the meeting and everyone else went to the Blue Water Inn.

At the manor, Theo and Victor discovered Victor's missing sister, Elizaveta, trapped in the mirror in Lydia's room. She revealed that only her mother knew the rhyme to open the passageway between Elizaveta's Immol apartment and the manor. Theo found the diary of Leo Dilisnya and used it to allow Elizaveta to return. Victor told her the truth (which only he and Alistor witnessed): their mother murdered their father and died herself. Elizaveta did not want to stay, but went with the two of them to say cursory hellos to the party and her (former?) fiance, Nikolai. She and Alistor are On Sight because tensions are HIGH and neither of them seemed to take that into account during a first meeting. She ran out before the other nobles arrived. When they did, the party convinced them to take roles in the government and to vote for a new Burgomaster (an elected, termed position). By one vote, Nikolai Wachter Jr. has become the new burgomaster. No word on how his uncle and the only other serious contender for the role, Raphael Buckvhold, feels about this. They managed for finish with four hours of the night left, so they are able to short rest (Theo, as a reborn, can long rest), but will be suffering a level of exhaustion come dawn and their meeting with Strahd.

I don't know what I expected, tbh, but I didn't expect so much of the session to be about voting, laws, and government disputes. I don't know why I didn't expect it. I also didn't expect them to find Elizaveta this early. Or to vote for Nikolai Wachter as the new burgomaster. Fascinating!

Strahd was the highlight for me. Absolutely love this woman. She's terrifying.

SESSION XXIV. the aftermath.

in-game date: 27th day of gnilyana.

the festival is still in swing. vane disguises herself in front of the wachter boys and heads out of the wachterhaus to rejoin the fray. elya asks vasili who the next person in charge would be, and he then addresses the people to attempt to reign in the crowd, urging them to stop this fighting so things can be addressed calmly. elya joins valar and rictavio in healing injured people. izek is in shock, but kai succeeds in snapping him out of it, only for the guards to begin dragging him away. the situation is stressful, but lev manages to keep from giving into his lycanthropy. ireena and vasili start heading to the church. vane asks izek about the reformation center, fearing he'll be put to death there, but he assures her that executions are a "public spectacle". elya sends her and lev to get lydia, and asks urwin to step on the stage. izek scares away the last people still picking fights, and urwin martikov attempts to settle the rest of the town, that there will be a trial later, things need to settle down first.

at the burgomaster's, vane notices drops of blood on the stairs heading upwards. neither lydia nor victor seem hurt, nor is there anyone in the house that's injured, as far as they know. vane is gentle in telling lydia that her husband passed away in the fight. she's upset, and victor urges her to go lay down.

investigating upstairs, they find a small closet with an injured man shackled to the wall -- the militia from earlier. they give him a healing potion and release him, unchaining the shackles off the wall. they begin heading to the wachterhaus. on the way, strahd reaches out to elya, congratulating him on his performance, and asking when he'll be out of town -- to which he answers he has a few loose ends to tie still.

the party reconvene at the wachterhaus with lydia and victor. they let lady wachter know that the burgomaster has passed away, and that they should discuss the events going forward. karl and nikolai, seeing victor and being told that he's the rightful heir, storm off. vane and lev follow, and learn that their hatred towards him stems from what he's done to their sister -- a magic gone wrong that ended up in her believeing herself to be a cat. vane mentions jeny greenteeth who has access to greater restoration, and they storm off. inside, fiona inquires about vargas' death, and elya tells her that izek pleaded with him to take back his order to emmolate lady wachter, that he was backhanded for it, and retaliated with enough force to kill him. elya relays the events that happened, and fiona is unsurprised -- she's openly defied vargas for a long time, the execution with no trial was a matter of time.

condolences are given, and elya mentions to victor that he understands what it's like to suddenly be thrust into a position of power. however, he's not interested, and leaves. elya follows him outside and tries to sympathize with him, but victor won't hear it, and when the subject of stella wachter is brought up, he tries casting suggestion on elya to attempt to get him to leave him alone. it was an accident, and elya believes him. he was trying to summon a teleportation circle, but it went awry with his cats, and stella got hurt in the process.

inside, the others try to figure out what to do with the tow. vasili is suggested as a possibility for leadership, since lydia wouldn't know what to do. valar suggests more than one person in a rulership position, though fiona wachter isn't sure how well that would be taken. further suggestions are made, and they settle on a brunch the next day with all the important figures in town — petrovna, petrovich, von holtz, wachter, the martikovs — to handle it. lady wachter extends her dinner invitation, to which they agree. further, elya and vane ask if they can visit an inmate at the reformation center, and they get the permission for it.

it's at that moment that the wachter boys return with jeny greenteeth.

Tiny Hut is back! This time it’s an NPC Tiny Hut aka the most awkward Tiny Hut of Barovia. There’s Victor who just got purged of his Dark Gift and ain’t feeling well. His mom who has gone through yet another traumatic event in her life. His priest uncle, Father Lucian, who was coming to terms with approaching death just an hour ago. Alexander, formerly known as Izek, having an existencial cirsis of his own. Stella Wachter who’s doing fine actually but would prefer to talk to Victor without his mom and uncle there. And Illyria Krezkova, just being her giant werewolf self bc being in human form is highly overrated.

If you need more context, here’s a recap from our DM

Lydia Petrovna, wife of Burgomaster Vargas Vallakovich

My take on Lydia, I will be using the second portrait for my game, as I felt that someone who has an entire room in her home dedicated to her beauty routine would have some jewelry. 

Curse of strahd Krezk doodle dump, our party just got there and we finally got new clothes and a bath lmao

Chars (L to R, topdown) : Pax (PC), Frandor (PC), Ezmerelda, Lydia, Soldzar

all will be well

Whumptober entry, chosen prompt: numbness

Curse of Strahd speculative oneshot, NPC POV aka Lydia Petrovna is just straight up not having a good time.

Warnings: emotional abuse, stepford smiler pov, implied memory loss

517 words, under the cut

No. 7 - MY SPIDEY-SENSE IS TINGLING

helplessness | numbness | blindness

As it turned out, being the Baron’s wife really wasn’t that bad.

No, seriously, it was quite good, in fact. She had everything she wished for, she was taken care of, respected, with a good husband and a bright future. It was great.

It was great. (Then why did she feel so empty?)

The festivals were an incredible invention, she was so happy Vargas thought to implement them. Maybe it was a little tiring to arrange all the decorations every week but having her friends over was so pleasant and the moment they made them public was always worth it.

She was so happy. (What was she doing?)

It was a great honor to help Vargas make this city happy. The people needed to be happy, and why wouldn’t they want to be happy? Surely everyone understood that it was better to be happy than sad, everyone who didn’t want to just had to be reminded why. She considered Lady Wachter her personal mission, that woman needed to cheer up.  (Then why did she envy her?)

It was so easy to just smile instead of crying. (Why would she want to cry?)

“Are you happy?” Lucian asked and what kind of question was that? But he looked concerned and he was her brother, the least she could do was comfort him. He had so much work anyway, he didn’t need to worry needlessly on top of that. Him and Vargas both did so much for the city, she was so lucky to be surrounded by such great men.

“Of course I am,” she beamed at him. (I’m not, I’m not, wait, where did that thought even come from? She was fine, of course she was fine.) “Aren’t you?”

Lucian smiled and nodded. Good, that was good, smiling was good. Everyone was better off if they smiled.

She didn’t quite like Strazni because he was a violent enforcer of her tyrant of of a husband far too gloomy for this pleasant city, but Vargas liked him so she had to like him too. He really wasn’t that bad, he was so loyal and she was sure he was happy under that stern exterior, so she smiled at him.

She smiled at everyone because everyone deserved to have a smile in their lives and she really wasn’t doing much just made people as happy as she could. It was the least she could do.

Sometimes she hurt her hand with the needles when they were sewing decorations or with the hay they used to make the base for the figurines. It hurt a little but it wasn’t that bad then why… was she crying?

“Lydia?” Vargas said and turned her face towards him, his grip tightening on her chin, his smile sharpening. Oh no. “Why are you sad?”

“I’m not sad,” she said and carefully dabbled her face with her sleeve. “See?” She smiled at him, bright and confident. “I’m happy.” (Liar.)

“Good,” he nodded. “Remember, all will be well.”

“All will be well,” she echoed.

She was happy. She was happy.

She was happy.

(She didn’t feel anything.)

At her call.

(Lydia Petrovna/Fiona Wachter)

Curse of Strahd NPC sketches

I present to you Grisha Vallakovich. As he left Vallaki to travel Barovia, he also took half of the massive tits in town with him.

I do commissions!

Waking up from their sleep with so much on their minds, the group found themselves still in a battle on whether or not they'd take the Lady up on her offer to kill the Burgomaster or not. Several were in agreement that such a thing would not be the "right" thing to do; others were less so inclined, stating that while he had not done anything 'bad' persay, he had a hand in the creation of several new orphan mouths for the Church to tend to. All the same, they had decided yesterday to tell Lady Wachter their answer the day after tomorrow, so today was their time to get through the everything with the preparation for the Festival of the Blazing Sun while deciding to see whether or not the murderous nature will come upon them.

First thing Chiaro wished to do, even prior to getting food, was to retrieve Flicker from their spot spying on Strazni. Upon returning to the Burgomaster's estate, they swung around the back, and Chiaroscuro gently called out to his familiar. Slowly, a small ember slid through a few cracks in the plaster and cobblestone, transforming back into the little flaming ball of darkness that the party has grown to love. Chiaroscuro asked Flicker what it was he saw, and much like how Chiaro looked when he was witnessing through Flicker's eyes, he now saw a playback of the prior night.

He saw under the bed, the spot that Flicker chose to hide out for the night, and the vision was rapidly passing by, almost like Flicker was playing out the scene at five times speed. He saw the feet of Strazni enter the room, kick some of the discarded bottles strewn about further into the back corners under his bed, and lift up out of sight. Flicker's vision then slowly crept out from under the bed, jumping from the floor to an elevated corner watching the scene from on top of Strazni's closed trunk. Here, Chiaro saw Strazni take several swigs out of a bottle of wine, before dropping it to the floor, having finished it off. From here, he dug to find one of the dolls of Ireena, stroking its hair and muttering something with glassy, bloodshot eyes, and finally rolling over to fall asleep. From this position he remained, back to the doorway, for several hours until he rose with the overcast sky, redressing himself in clean clothing, and heading out for the day. He took a glance at Flicker's position once, but did not seem to have noticed the shadowember cat.

Chiaroscuro questioned if Flicker was able to hear what Strazni had said and with a small chirruping meow, Flicker was able to replay the sound for Chiaroscuro into his thoughts. Chiaro heard a gruff, stilted, slurred voice as the thought of Strazni stroking the doll's head replayed. He heard him question why she was there, why was she plaguing him so severely, and how he could fix this sight he kept seeing. Chiaro relayed this information to the group, and while it did paint Strazni in a different light, everyone came to an agreeance that Ireena should not be told about this. She had made it clear prior that she had no interest in hearing about some freak who was obsessed with her, especially seeing as how Strazni made the count of those up to two.

With Flicker in arms, they went back to the Church of St. Andral. From their spot, they were pleased to see Ireena had joined Father Petrovich with handing out food, which today was a small loaf of bread coupled with a meaty rice porridge. She asked how the day fared them after they had left yesterday, and while they said that, while they managed to have an eventful day, they felt like they didn't have a lot of information on anything that could help them in the future with regards to the festival. Father Petrovich proffered the return the the Burgomaster's manor to check in on Lydia, his sister, as he hadn't seen her in services in some time and was worried about his brother in law's temper, as he had become quite controlling in the recent years. They agreed after having some breakfast, with Nick deciding that Chiaroscuro should be the recipient of their Psychic Whispers, and returned to the manor to make their entrance back in Lydia's good graces.

Entering the home, a lot of the decorations had been finished and were laying on the floor to be assembled fully later, or set aside for the festival proper that was to happen the following day. The maid that took them in and directed them towards Lydia Petrovna did so again, and she was happy to see so many new people in such short notice. She took them into the dining room where she was having a midmorning tea break, and sat them down with glasses. Kenshi took charge of the conversation and inquired about how she had been lately, stating the information they had received from Father Petrovich. She sounded dodgy in her answers but did not stray from her fully committed "all will be well" personality that had been built into her. During the conversation, Chiaroscuro excused himself for the bathroom, and left to do some quick recon on the rest of the house, summoning and resummmoning Flicker into rooms to scope them out. A few times he nearly was found, the chef that seemed to be preparing lunch for the Burgomaster and his wife nearly running his hand directly into Flicker's burning little shadowfire forehead, but never was he found. This brought him upstairs as he looked around in the rooms that he was not privy to from the last time he looked around. While keeping quiet from alerting Vargas of his presence in the house, Chiaroscuro's searching lead him to discovering a locked closet at the end of the hall, where a mostly naked, battered and bruised man lay gagged and unconscious. Picking the lock quietly, Chiaro lay a gentle hand on the man, causing some of his scratches and scrapes to disappear, but he did not stir further. Chiaro Whispered to Nick the findings, and Nick excused themself from the table as well, citing that they were also heading to the restroom.

From here, the rest of the group was kept in the loop with Nick's psychic whispers as well, and they all were aware of the beaten man in the closet. Nick and Chiaro tried their luck at picking the lock to his manacles, coming out with two sets of broken lockpick tools and a jammed lock. Chiaro sent Flicker into the next room so that he could distract the dogs so that it would muffle the sound of a precisely placed Eldritch Blast, and Nick stole a bedsheet to cover the man with. They escaped the home with some help from Cash, who disguised himself to look like Lydia and having the maid take a nap due to how tired she seemed, and the rest of the party took their leave as they all brought the man back with them to the church.

He informed the group that his name was Udo Lukovich and that he was kidnapped by the Burgomaster's beast of a bodyguard and was being kept prisoner for speaking out against Vargas' constant festivals. Father Petrovich feared that the man would end up dead if he went home and asked if the group would take him and his mother, Willemina Rikalova, to the Vistani Camp just outside of town. Here, they should find some respite, and at least would be kept safe from any sort of attacks from the Burgomaster.

Session 22

The player characters steeled themselves for the Moonlight Masquerade in the last session.

Theo, Tam, and Ireena went to the church and tried to gauge the townsfolk for oddity, while Alistor realized he couldn’t lie to himself and that he had hurt Ismark by leaving him to sleep with Raphael Buckvhold. Ismark, for his part, went shopping and returned with a bedroll and the tools Godfrey had asked for. Theo noticed Lydia looking at Nikolai Jr. sadly; Alistor noticed that he and Ismark were both awkward. Tam got to hold Ireena’s hand. Theo also gave Izek Strazni psychic damage by talking to him. Alistor and Ismark rejoined their companions at the church after services to regroup and revisit the plan: Godfrey and Theo will go to heal Stella (with Nikolai and Victor in tow), Tam and Ireena will avoid Izek Strazni together, which leaves Alistor and Ismark to track Lydia Petrovna. 

Also, everyone remembered to coordinate costumes (Alistor and Godfrey match, Theo and Ireena match) except Tam and Ismark. They also agreed to meet at the Church of St. Andral in case of an emergency until they realized Godfrey, as a revenant, could not enter. Whoops. 

The masquerade is lovely, with candlelight, lanterns, gauzy tents, and a beautiful dance floor. Alistor picks Godfrey up at the gates. Tam and Ismark agreed that Plan C is to gang up together to kill Izek Strazni. The party convenes to drink together at the Blue Water Inn, meets up with Nicky and Victor, and begins their night. 

Theo and company go to Wachterhaus. Because they are with Nikolai, they are not stopped from going upstairs, breaking into Stella’s room and Godfrey casting Remove Curse on her. As Stella gets her bearings, Theo’s mask slips and she reveals that she is a reborn. Stella begins crying. As Nicky said last session: monsters have done nothing for this generation of Wachters, she had given up hope in them, and now it was like being given proof that angels were real. While on the subject, Theo shot her shot: she’s in love with Stella and with Doru and they should totally be a polycule. Stella was struggling. Victor apologized and Stella and Nicky kicked everyone out to ready her for the masquerade where they intended to find the rest of their family. Theo may be a little heartbroken because Stella did not agree to be part of the polycule. Godfrey was very protective of Theo for being called a monster - not because it’s untrue, but because not all monsters are evil. It was an awkward, bittersweet return to the party.

Meanwhile, Ireena and Tam danced together to maneuver away from Izek and try to keep their eyes on the guard and Fiona Wachter. They genuinely began to enjoy themselves and each other’s company. Alistor and Ismark had a similar idea to get closer to Lydia Petrovna - but not before studiously ignoring each other, dancing with other people, and finally doing their job. As a result, they lost Lydia in the crowd. Tam spotted the swish of Fiona Wachter’s gown disappear behind a building. He and Ireena went to investigate; Alistor and Ismark followed suit and heard the sound of a fight. They approached only to find Fiona’s lifeless body and an empty alleyway. 

The rest of the party rejoined them and as they did, the Vallakoviches took the stage. Vargas gave his speech and Lydia, unseen by anyone except Alistor (to the PCs knowledge) stabbed Vargas and they both fell dead on the stage. Theo and Izek Strazni realized at approximately the same time there were more guards on duty than there are in Vallaki and Anastrasya Karelova revealed herself to the town and told them they had eight hours to elect a new burgomaster or Ravenloft would mete out punishment for Vallaki’s ineffectiveness. 

Cue the cliffhanger. 

SESSION XVII. all will be well.

in-game date: 24th day of 11th moon gnilyana.

startled by the sight of the stocks, the party carries onwards towards the burgomaster's manor. elya makes note of the twigs scattered through the foyer and main hallway and vane suggests the blazing sun might be a bonfire — and he fears what that might entail.

they meet lady lydia petrovna first. she's a polite, if nervous, host. learning of ireena's father's passing, she expresses her condolences, but hopes that their festivals will cheer her mood. kai inquires about the nature of the upcoming festival, and she tells them of the customs.

not long after, the baron and his large personality join them. vane hands him the letter that ismark sent, and he immediately invites her to be their guest — and promptly asks if the party will be staying at the inn. lydia nearly invites them to stay with them, but doesn't dare speak up in her husband's presence.

elya, a lord in his own right, does the politically-savvy thing and compliments the baron on his weekly festivals, of which vargas is very proud. he tells them they were his idea and that he took up as burgomaster quite young after his father's passing, and mentions he hopes his son won't be saddled with the same fate. vane tries to ask lydia about him, but vargas answers in her stead — something which miffles the party. vane inquires about izek, and learns he's the baron's protege.

lydia reacts to vane's arm, and she whisks her out of the room while elya enables the baron's self-aggrandizing. lydia nervously brings vane upstairs, and towards izek's bedroom, where vane finds dozens of dolls to her likeness, all with her prosthetic arm. izek has had blinsky make them for a while now, and vane takes one.

after some more small talk, the baron ushers the party off, as it's getting late, though ireena stays with them as their guest. she promises to meet the party in the morning, and they head to the blue water inn. there, they make note of a very drunk man being escorted off the premises while mentioning something about a sacrifice to the lake.

danika immediately recognizes this colorful bunch from her brother-in-law's description, and mentions this to the party — and the party is surprised to learn that this is the "good-for-nothing son that ran off to vallaki". urwin nearly offers them a room, but a fondly exasperated danika comments on this, and the party offers to pay. when asked, the martikovs try to avoid saying anything incriminating about the way the baron runs things.

rictavio enters a while later, makes note of this strange bunch of new-comers, and introduces himself. kai thinks he seems entertaining. he tells them he's from a carnival from beyond the mists — it shifts from plane to plane, and he got separated from his troupe in trying to get into barovia. a lie, but the party believes him.

as they're heading to bed, in their room, vane shows them the doll she stole, telling them how many there were. with hackles raised, worries expressed, and plans to talk to blinsky and izek, the party heads to sleep.