Ep. 13: Returning Arabelle
DnD Curse of Strahd Recap — May 07, 2021
Days Spent in Barovia:
- Aashuri & Therean: 7
- Jihyo: 373
Leaving Vallaki At Last
Last session, our drupe troupe of three: Jihyo the half-elf fighter, Therean the half-elf bard, and Aashuri the aasimar sorcerer fled the township Vallaki as its own citizens set the town ablaze during the Festival of the Blazing Sun. Burgomaster Baron Vargas Vallakovich was dead, but risen again as a walking corpse, following Jihyo and her every command. The result of the festival brought a rift between the party and the space between Aashuri and Jihyo in particular was filled with suspicion and distrust. Feeling done with the chaos, Jihyo, Therean, Aashuri, Vargas in his undead form, Izek, Arabelle, and the Martikovs (Brom, Bray, and Danika) slipped away from Vallaki.
Escorting the Martikov family and Arabelle, out of the town, the party could still hear the rioting, and the sound of crackling flames that climbed ever higher even in the steady rain over the valley. Danika scolded her sons for their reckless shifting of forms during the festival, and she came clean with the party: she and her family are wereravens.
Her husband Urwin had left in his raven form the morning of the festival, flying to his family’s winery to inform them of the lockdown situation in Vallaki. With the current situation, Danika decided she would see that Arabelle gets back to her family safe before joining her husband at the winery in the west side of Barovia. Danika asked that the party keep her family’s shapeshifting abilities a secret. When they reached the Vistani encampment just southwest of the town, the Martikovs parted ways with the troupe. Before reaching the camp, Jihyo ordered for Vargas to stay away from the camp, so as not to be seen.
Arriving at the encampment, the party met Arabelle’s father and her uncle Arrigal, who were besides themselves with worry as Arabelle had been missing for three days. The Vistani were immensely grateful to the drupe troupe for finding her and protecting her, declaring the party to be giogotos, honorary Vistani. With the camp captain’s daughter’s return, the Vistani began to celebrate, and happily fed the party. Therean found Lash, the Vistani bard, present at the camp and spoke with him to hear about the latest gossip around the valley, while Jihyo and Aashuri decided to speak with the dusk elves, who had hovels build all around the Vistani campsite.
The Dusk Elves
It was immediately apparent to Jihyo and Aashuri that there were no women and children present among the dusk elves. Speaking with a few of them (Celegal and Kasimir), they learned of their history. Around one thousand years ago, the dusk elves were engaged in a war against Strahd and his people. One of the dusk elves, named Rahadin, betrayed them. Rahadin helped Strahd’s family assassinate the dusk elf king. After the war, Kasamir’s sister Patrina Velikovna offered Rahadin a chance at redemption. Patrina and Rahadin conspired together to kill Strahd, but Rahadin betrayed Patrina as well. As a result, Rahadin personally killed Patrina and the remaining dusk elf women and children to ensure they would have no future.
Kasamir believes that Strahd keeps his sister’s body locked away in a crypt in Ravenloft. He’s had dreams he thinks were sent to him by Patrina’s spirit, and in those dreams he sees a pair of amber doors. Kasimir told the party there is a place called the Amber Temple, an ancient structure hidden in the valley somewhere in the mountains. It’s location has been lost, but he believed that the temple has a secret to bringing Patrina back to life, as well as the secret to breaking Strahd’s pact and freeing Barovia from its curse. However, despite his beliefs, Kasimir seemed defeated. Aashuri declared him a coward for resigning himself to despair, rather than doing all he could to bring back the people he loved.
After Kasimir’s somber tale, Aashuri and Jihyo returned to the Vistani’s celebration. Jihyo spoke with Arabelle, who wanted to assure the party that they would be rewarded for saving her. Jihyo refocused the conversation to let Arabelle know that her family loves her very much, and Arabelle should not take her family’s love for granted, because one can never know when they might suddenly be gone. Arabelle agreed, and was grateful the party brought her back home. Jihyo gifted the Therean doll to Arabelle to remember them by, which Arabelle happily accepted. Aashuri took the time to speak with Izek, asking about his connections with the people in Vallaki, and whether he felt anything about the death of his former employer (Vargas). Izek confessed that he never had many strong connections with anyone in Barovia. He didn’t really leave Vallaki much, and most people either feared him or used him.
Meanwhile, Lash and Therean spoke about all the things that have happened since they last saw each other. Therean explained that a festival in Vallaki got out of hand, and that was why the town was now on fire. Lash told Therean that he heard rumors that the great and holy Abbot of Kresk had brought someone back from the dead. Therean also decided to partake in the mysterious substance that Lash was smoking from his waterpipe and found it to be immensely relaxing.
Precious Treasure
When dinner was nearly finished, Luvash approached Aashuri and Jihyo and offered to let them take one thing from his treasure wagon. Luvash’s barrel topped wagon had drapes of golden silk hanging in the windows, and the wheels had gold, sun-shaped hubcaps. Opening up the wagon, various boxes and chests made of wood and iron could be seen. Also visible: a wooden throne with gold inlay and decorative stones, and a rolled up rug with an ominous bulge in the center. Luvash told them that they could only take ONE item from the wagon, and they weren’t allowed to touch any of the items before they chose.
Casting detect magic, Aashuri was able to sense some transmutation magic emanating from the rug. After a brief discussion, they settled on the rug and unfurled it. It appeared to be a ten foot long rug, but rolled within it was a gnome-sized puppet doll. The doll laid still before stirring to life. Luvash and Arrigal doubled over in laughter and told Aashuri that the doll was now her problem.
The doll seemed to be a dummy with amber colored glass eyes and dressed in a jester outfit, armed with a small candy cane club and a pocket of darts. He looked curiously at Aashuri before making a gesture to be picked up. Aashuri examined the doll and found that he had a name inscribed under his boot which read “Pidlwick II”. When asked if he could communicate, Pidlwick drew only a childish picture of himself and Aashuri holdng hands under a sunny sky full of rainbows and butterflies.
Next Episode: (14) … Coming Soon
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