Ep. 10: Vallakovich Mansion
DnD Curse of Strahd Recap — Apr 9, 2021
Days Spent in Barovia:
- Aashuri & Therean: 6
- Jihyo: 372
Morning Discussions
Last session, our drupe troupe of three: Jihyo the half-elf fighter, Therean the half-elf bard, and Aashuri the aasimar sorcerer had stayed overnight at Wachterhaus at the invitation of Lady Fiona Wachter.
After suffering disturbing dreams in the night, the party awoke and resolved themselves to carrying out the plan they discussed the night before, which was to fulfill Lady Wachter’s request for finding incriminating information on Burgomaster Baron Vargas to present during her insurrection tomorrow at the Festival of the Rising Sun. The party was also asked to investigate what Victor Vallakovich had done to make Stella Wachter think herself a cat.
While preparing for the morning, Therean asked the party if they were familiar with the name “Vampyre”. Therean openly shared with the group that he had a strange dream that had left him wondering about the name, and if he should remain an atheist. Although Jihyo had also heard the name “Vampyre” mentioned in her dream, she decided not to disclose anything to her allies.
During breakfast, the party asked if Arabelle wanted to join them in breaking into the burgomaster’s mansion, but they were conflicted on the prudence of allowing a young child to join them in something potentially dangerous. Arabelle confessed that since the vampires’ feasting in the streets, she learned that adventuring with the party was not as fun or exciting as she had hoped. Since she was reluctant to join them, the party requested for Arabelle to stay at Wachterhaus. However, Arabelle asked to stay at the Blue Water Inn instead, as she wasn’t comfortable staying in the house with the “crazy cat girl”. Arabelle informed that the family who owns the inn have children. The party decided it was probably alright, as the family running the inn seemed friendly last they visited. When they dropped her off, the party noticed that the innkeeper, Danika Martikov, seemed to recognize Arabelle. Danika seemed happy to look after Arabelle at the inn for the time being.
As the party made their way over to the burogmaster’s mansion, the sky remained dark and lightly rainy, and a crowded procession of Vallakians carried their dead like a somber parade through the streets toward the Church of St. Andral. Many citizens did not seem interested in maintaining any pretense of happiness, and the tension between the people and the town’s guards was extremely palpable.
The Burgomaster’s Mansion
The party arrived at a mansion with walls of plastered stone that displayed many scars where the plaster had fallen away from age and neglect. Drapes covered every window, including a large, arched opening above the mansion’s double entrance doors.
As Lady Wachter had assured, the house appeared empty, as Baron Vargas had gone to the Church and his wife Lydia was at a neighbor’s home. Going around the mansion, the party broke down the door at the back of the house and entered an empty kitchen. Therean decided to steal another handful of kitchen knives to be used as daggers.
As they explored the home, the party walked to the second floor gallery hallway, which was lined with landscape paintings, but no portraits of the family. Going through the various doors, the party found a vanity room with a bridal gown on display, a library with books on various topics including ancient Barovian history, and a master bedroom with a trapdoor in the ceiling that likely led to the mansion attic. Before making their way to the attic, the party decided to examine all the rooms on the floor first.
The Man in the Closet
At the end of a hallway, the party discovered a locked door with a deadbolt on the outside. After removing the deadbolt, Jihyo used her strength to break down the door. They found a badly beaten man wearing nothing but a loincloth chained to the back wall of this otherwise empty closet. The iron shackles cut into his wrists, causing blood to trickle down his hands. Distrustful, Aashuri aggressively interrogated the man, who guilelessly answered that he was a local shoemaker. He was arrested because he dared to share his true opinions and spoke out against the Baron. The party broke the chains, freeing the man. The party informed him that Vallaki had recently been attacked by a swarm of vampires and many people were taking their dead to the church. Concerned for his wife’s safety, as well as eager to return home, the man fled the mansion immediately.
The Room of Dolls
While Jihyo and Aashuri searched the library, Therean opened a door across the hall to a rather sparse bedroom with a bed, a chest of drawers, and some shelves. Or rather, it would have been sparse if it weren’t filled with hundreds of artfully crafted little dolls, some dressed beautifully, others plainly. Some filled a long bookshelf, and others were arranged in neat rows on wall mounted shelves. Still others were piled atop a bed and a heavy wooden chest. What was most odd was that all of the dolls, apart from their clothing, look the same. They all looked just like Therean.
Therean stood in the doorway in shock, while Jihyo compared the doll they bought from Blinsky’s shop to the dolls in the room. Investigating the dolls, the party found they all had the same small tag stitched into their clothing that read “Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!”
The Attic
Not knowing what to make of the strange room filled with dolls, the drupe troupe decided to explore the attic.
Coming out of the empty attic room, the party entered a large attic full of old, forgotten things draped in white sheets. Piled around them were barrels, crates, trunks, and old furnishings covered with cobwebs and dust. Through the dust, the party could see a clear footpath through the maze of furniture leading them to a door at the end of the room.
Using her powers of detecting magic, Aashuri examined the door and sensed abjuration magic. The party crowded close to the door as Aashuri used her mage hand to gently wriggle the door handle, hoping to check first if the door was locked. The door was unlocked, but the moment the door began to open, bolts of lightning immediately shot from the door, striking everything nearby. The furniture around the door was blown to smithereens. However, the party was nimble enough to evade most of the damage.
With the door blown off, the party could see inside this unusual room. It appeared as if someone had taken old, mismatched furniture and created a study from this dusty, lamplit chamber. Tables were strewn with pieces of parchment, on which strange diagrams were drawn, and a freestanding bookshelf held a collection of bones. A dusty circular rug covered the floor in front of a pine box, on which lounged a skeletal cat. Several more skeletal cats skulked about, but all the cats escaped the room from the open doorway as soon as the party entered. Most unnerving of all however, was the sight of three small children standing in the corner of the room unmoving with their backs to the party.
Aashuri’s senses picked up traces of conjuration magic from the notes in scattered about the room and also from underneath the circular rug. Uncovering it revealed a teleportation circle. However, Aashuri could tell that this teleportation circle was not drawn in a way that would work, and could be dangerous if anyone tried to use it. Aashuri made sure to warn the party not to step into the circle, as it was drawn rather poorly.
Investigating the room, the party also found a spellbook with a motley of spells of different schools of magic. As soon as the party decided to keep the spellbook, the bones from the bookshelf assembled themselves into six skeletal cats that immediately attacked. The party found that the cats were rather easy to defeat, their bones scattering with singular blows.
In the midst of the fight, Therean examined the three children in the corner of the room and realized that they were just wooden mannequins dressed up in wigs and children’s clothing.
Victor Vallakovich
As soon as the battle with the skeletal cats was finished, a voice from a corner of the room piped up, “What’s wrong with my teleportation circle?” A sullen and surly teenage boy in fine clothing revealed himself suddenly, ending his own invisibility spell. The boy introduced himself as Victor Vallakovich.
The party attempted to question Victor, while Victor questioned the party about his teleportation circle and probed them on their reasons for breaking into the mansion. The party revealed that they sought information on his father’s misdeeds and on what Victor had done to Stella Wachter. They also demanded to know why there were so many dolls in the image of one of their allies in a room on the second floor.
Victor revealed he had no love for his father Baron Vargas, proving this by showing his journal to the party which read on one of the pages in large letters “ALL IS NOT WELL!” Regarding the room of dolls, Victor indifferently explained that a “really weird man” with a monstrous red arm named Izek lived in that room. Izek was Baron Vargas’ personal bodyguard and also captain of the town guard.
Victor eventually confessed that he was trying to escape Barovia by constructing a teleportation circle. He also admitted he had experimented with magic that altered Stella Wachter’s memories. However, he refused to admit any fault in Stella’s condition. If her mind wasn’t so weak and stupid, she wouldn’t have succumbed to madness from a little magic. Victor demanded the party return his spellbook to him.
Victor’s stubbornness matched with Aashuri and Jihyo’s aggressive approach, and the conversation quickly escalated as the party threatened to kidnap Victor and give him over to his family’s enemy: Lady Wachter. They stated that they had no interest in taking his life, but also disclosed that they could not guarantee his life in the hands of Wachter. At this threat, Victor’s anger grew. Aashuri threatened to use her shocking grasp on Victor, while Victor also readied magic in retaliation.
Therean attempted to de-escalate the situation. He requested for Victor to give up any information he knew about his father. Victor, in turn, demanded that the party return his spellbook to him. Aashuri refused to hand over the spellbook, while Jihyo declared that she still felt no qualms about taking Victor hostage. Frustrated with the impasse, Aashuri launched her attack.
They had no intentions of taking Victor’s life, but the party managed to injure Victor significantly, and Jihyo managed to grapple the boy, pinning him to face the wall with his hands behind him. However, Victor demonstrated his magical skill as well, casting thunderwave in an attempt to push the party away from him. Only Therean was pushed away, but Jihyo and Aashuri managed to stand their ground as a burst of thunderous noise erupted throughout the small study. Jihyo made a final warning to Victor, promising to spare his life if he stopped resisting them. Badly battered and tired from the fight, Victor questioned her sincerity. Jihyo reasserted her promise, swearing on her life that he would not be killed. To this, Victor conceded and Jihyo released him from the grapple.
Aashuri skimmed through Victor’s journal, which revealed that Victor had been teaching himself magic over the course of several weeks and was experimenting with a variety of spells. He tested his magic on living cats, dead cats, his family’s servants, and on Stella Wachter.
As the party examined the journal, Victor’s appearance began to change. It was immediately clear that he had casted disguise self to alter his appearance. With the illusion fading, he was no longer as tall or as muscular as he intended to make himself appear. However, Jihyo experienced a sudden flash of recognition upon seeing Victor’s true face.
Next Episode: (11) Oh Brother Mine!
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