Party 4

[Holice]

"No." An almost an inaudible whisper from Beldar, as he looked down the street towards the Church. "There's women and children in there," followed in a still low volume followed by a deep gulp of uncertainty and fear.

Beldar rises from his knees and immediately takes off running towards the Church. He doesn't even take the time to turn his head to see how his companions are reacting, nor to see the grin he knows is Strahd would be wearing. He is a god playing with ants....No!...he is not a god....focus yourself!

"Nooooooo," this time with volume and effort he didn't think he could muster. I'm so tired of death and destruction, Chauntea please let me get there in time to save someone.

 

[Ash-6116]

With the cloud of fog dispersed, Arinthia stood just fifteen feet shy of where Ismark was standing - appearing to be a copy of Ireena though the moment Strahd pointed to the true Ireena with seemingly no hesitation Arinthia knew the game was up. Though she did not drop the disguise even if it were worthless for its intended purpose.

With a sudden swarm of bats flying out of the houses, Arinthia ducked down a little, watching the swarm fly with nervous eyes.

'There isn't much I can do against that sort of a swarm,' thought Arinthia, 'but I am not going to turn tail and let a whole town of innocents get slaughtered.' Taking off running, while she still held the form of Ireena Arinthia pulled both of her daggers from her belt, one in each hand, her hands appearing to slide into Ireena's form as the pair were not an exact match and the illusion was not physical. Arinthia wasn't far behind Beldar but didn't have the breath to spare to call out to him.

'I sure hope some gods are watching, 'cause while I've never been religious I think this town could use a miracle and if they get it - I'll pray every day and twice at the end of the week.'

 

[Ash-6116]

Having reached the church, Arinthia allowed the disguise to drop completely, showing her true form once more. Looking up at Strahd in fear, Arinthia looked at the number of vampire spawn that seemed about to rain down on the church.

With the shear number of vampire spawn threatening to overwhelm them with sheer numbers, Arinthia gulped as she reached into her bag. 'Didn't want to use this until I had to,' thought Arinthia, trying to grasp a specific item, 'but this looks like we might get swamped if I don't.' Withdrawing the silvery amulet of ravenkind with its many spikes representing the sun and its shining red ruby in the center that matched her eyes, Arinthia held it aloft, trying to invoke one of its many powers to hold the vampire spawn in place. A few of them stopped stock still where they stood, but a few were just too far away.

As the spawn started ploughing into her friends, Arinthia realised that just holding the spawn in place would not do, especially as their attacks seemed to barely scratch the vampires. Clenching her fist tight around the chain from which the amulet hung, Arinthia invoked another of its powers. Beams of light shot out of the amulet's ruby, dousing the bleak area with radiant sunlight.

The sudden burst of sunlight seemed to do the job. The vampire spawn seemed to smoke as their flesh burnt a little over time as they were exposed to the sunlight. Juniper, Dess, Beldar, Ireena, Ismark and Ezmerelda's attacks seemed to be hitting that much stronger from the sudden burst of light. A little afriad of how much power she was displaying for Strahd, Arinthia backed up against the church door. The vampire spawn started to surround the rest of the group, giving Arinthia another opening. Invoking the same spell as before, Arinthia watched as almost every spawn froze up on the spot, continuing to sizzle and burn in the sunlight.

With the spawn falling from the combination of the attacks and the sunlight, Arinthia looked up at Strahd though as she did her eyes hesitated on the symbol above the church door.

'The Morninglord again. How fitting.' thought Arinthia as she clenched the chain harder, remembering her promise she'd made in her mind as she'd run for the church.

 

[Cravingpages]

Finally reaching the church, Juniper lungs burned from the chilled air. Her eyes darted in every direction laying eyes on Strahd's vampire spawn. Garl help us.

As her dagger sinks into the vampire spawn she notice it didnt take as much damage as it intended to. Her axe had the same effect. This isn't good. If things couldn't get any worse she saw the spawn's wound heal right before her eyes. Juniper realized her weapons had restrictions. Seeing that her companions having better luck, she moved towards the group. Thank Garl! Good job Ari!

Soon the vampires were upon Juniper, slashing their way through her armor. She yells out in pain feeling every piercing touch. Her vision goes blurry and her knees hits the ground. Panting hard, she stands back up on shaky legs. Turning towards Strahd, she flashes him a bloody smile. Screw you. I'm not going down easy.
Preparing for her next attack, Juniper feels warmth spread across her wounds. She looks up at Beldar, blood still staining her teeth and smiles. Thank you.

Making one last attempt to kill the vampires, she let's two arrows fly. Once again they take on minimal damage.

Thanks to Ari's sunlight spell, the vampires soon burned up in flames.

She looks between her friends and her eyes focus on the church doors.

 

[Holice]

Taking very deep breaths to try and regain composure after his all out sprint, Beldar pulled up short of the Church door, staring in horror at the vampire spawn surrounding the area. As his companions all arrived around, Beldar grasped his amulet and with a prayer, let loose a blessing on his allies to help them in this time of need.
Thoughts of despair began to creep into his mind, until he noticed Arinthia bring out a medallion. Suddenly, severaly of the vampires were still, paralyzed in place, and the notion of hope began to grow from deep inside. We can do this!!, he thought to himself. Reaching deep inside, he look towards the nearest vampire and let loose a bolt of holy energy, which struck true, and while he wanted to celebrate, he knew this was only the start. Keeping his composure, he surveyed the battlefield and did his best to watch over his companions.
Seeing Juniper bloodied brought great anger, but again composure was what was needed, as he reached out to her with a healing touch to get her back on her feet. With another quick prayer, Beldar set loose a spirit of healing to make Juniper that much more whole.
As his companions began to slowly take the vampires down one by one, Beldar did his best to add some martial action to the battle and sliced at a vampire, it merely scratched the undead horror, but satisfaction was had never the less.
As the last vampire fell, Beldar continued to will the spirit to his allies, doing his best to make them all whole again.

 

[GoodTeletubby]

Dess paces the rest of the group on the burgomaster's appropriated horse, drawing up behind them as they arrive at the church, shifting in its saddle as she steadies it at the sudden arrival of the swarm of bats. As she sees the eerie figures of the spawn scrambling towards the church, a chill runs down her spine, and her eyes focus on the figures on the roof, out of most of her companions reach. She wheels the horse further down the road past the church, putting enough distance between herself and the ones on the ground to stay safe, and her fingers weave a rune of ruby light which discharges a lance of matching flame at one of the rooftop figures. She sees it land cleanly on the figure, and frowns as the wound just as rapidly fades away.

Damn things don't burn like I'd hoped, this is going to be ugly. At least they're not just keeping going. Even one getting inside could have been a slaughter.

She lets out a sigh of relief as the spawn from the roof clamber back down to face the party, then suddenly finds herself squinting into the brilliant glow of the amulet in Ari's hand. With a tap of her heel, she shifts the horse slightly further away from the nearest spawn, warily keeping an eye on them through the trees, and fires off another lance of ruby flame at the glowing beacon of the spawn that Beldar's bolt hit, a slight sense of satisfaction as this wound doesn't immediately begin to heal, and she watches with a slight grin as Ezmerelda unleashes a lightning bolt, picking out her next target. As Ari unleashes the amulet again, she sees the spawn stiffen, and quickly traces a trio of translucent glowing runes, which rocket into the battered figure in front of Ezmerelda. An abnormally cruel grin crosses her face as she watches the figure crumbling to dust, as she momentarily relishes the rush of seeing one of Strahd's brutes fall, and the grin shifts to predatory as she sees only one of the spawn break free of the magic that has them locked in place, and unleashes a final barrage of missiles at the figure, watching the piercing darts tearing into it. A moment later, the amulet's light reduces the rest of the spawn to ash as well, and her gaze snaps warily to the bell tower, locking eyes on the shadowy figure of Strahd even as she walks the horse back to the rest of the party, her expression grim and hateful, her voice weary and tense, sounding very little like her normal self as her gaze never leaves the ominous presence.

"As much as I love the idea of watching him burn the same way these minions did, I'm entirely tapped out now."

Her voice drops quietly as she tries to make sense of what is going on, never taking her eyes of the confusing figure.

"Why does he not end this? I thought he was relishing his power over everyone, like the captains do back home, making examples by letting hope grow some before crushing it, but was I wrong? Or is this setting us up to be an even bigger hope to become an even more crushing defeat for the people?"

 

[Holice]

Beldar went down to a knee as soon as Strahd departed. Relief washed over him as he finally relaxed his concentration and unfurled his brow. Seeing the people leaving the church brought a smile to his face, It was worth it, he thought to himself.

Standing back up, he moved closer to the group. "What's our next move? Seems any hope of surprising Strahd is met with futility, and direct confrontation certainly seems doomed for failure. There must be something we can do to help these people and bring calm to this land," he then glances over towards Ireena, "Outside of giving her over to him that is."

 

[Ash-6116]

Hearing the slow clapping from above, Arinthia instinctively stayed in the doorway. It sounded as if Strahd was going to play with them until he was ready to kill them. Arinthia couldn't see from where she was stood what Strahd was doing but she had no reason to doubt him when the Vampire Lord said he'd dispose of them. Once again her thoughts flipped back to how Thornburst had been pulped into hamburger by Strahd and his hellish steed.

As the doors started to open Arinthia backed away towards the group. Quickly stuffing the amulet back into her bag, Arinthia just held it at her side, hoping Beldar would have an idea of what to say to the priest better than she could manage in her scared state of mind.

"Um, could we go inside?" Arinthia asked the group. After what had happened, she figured they needed to talk amongst themselves. That and she intended to make good on her promise. "Um, maybe talk about him maybe?" Arinthia addressed the priest at last, pointing to the symbol of the Morninglord.

 

[Cravingpages]

Juniper let's out an exaggerated breath. When he says jump we say how high. Isn't that just great. I'm exhausted you guys. Things are way more complicated now. There's really only one thing to do, which is play his game. Looking at Beldar, Juniper sighs. We can help this land. Town by town. We first need to start by making Vallaki safe.
Juniper walks up to the priest. I hate to break it to you sir, but this church isn't as safe as you think. We strongly believe that the bones that kept you safe are no longer in the church. Do you happen to know anything about that?

 

[GoodTeletubby]

"So basically exactly what you said you weren't doing, ya berk."
Dess watches Strahd's departure with a hateful glare, muttering a small litany of dwarvish and elven curses as his bat form returns to his castle. She slides slowly off the horse's back, leading it over to one of the trees near the graveyard and tying it in place for the moment with a gentle pat on the neck, before joining the others in front of the church, visibly weary and grim as she looks the church over.

"I expect he was telling exactly the truth about the bones, Juni. He may be a cruel beast, but he's cunning and vicious as any of the High Captains, and he's had far longer than most to lay plans."

She looks up at the church, then after taking in the state of her companions, turns around to look back down at the city with a sigh and a shake of her head, leaning on the stone wall tiredly.

"The insane burgomaster, or at least his wife who got out of that mess earlier, whoever that brute who charged Ireena was, the bones of the holy dead and their thief. Too many leads to unravel, and I expect whatever other minions he has in this town will be working to cut the threads before we can find where they lead. But as much as I want to, until we get some rest, we're in no shape to pursue them."

 

[Ash-6116]

Arinthia followed the priest inside the church. From what she could tell, it was roughly the same layout as the church in Baroiva, though where the Barovian church had been a deslotate crumbling ruin torn apart by the elements and Strahd's siege this church was much more well kept. Looking up at the slanted wooden roof, Arinthia could see where a spiral staircase led into the belfrey. There didn't seem to be any unbarred windows or obvious ways into the stone church beyond the belfrey.

'If I had to hazard a guess,' thought Arinthia to herself, 'the Vampire Spawn would have climbed down the belfrey and burst in that way.'

Seeing the pain in Father Petrovich's eyes, Arinthia bowed her head out of respect. Listening as Father Petrovich explained what he knew or could deduce about the theft of the relics.

"Where does Milivoj live?" asked Arinthia, "Perhaps we could have a quiet word? Try to recover the relics."

'Or just nick 'em back' thought Arinthia with a shudder, 'though this is about Vallaki's survival so it isn't bad stealing.'

"Um," began Arinthia, suddenly feeling very self conscious but deciding to just power through what she felt like saying for the moment, "I sort of - made a promise as we came rushing up here from the square. That I'd pray if we survived that." Arinthia fiddled with her hands nervously while her tail clenched and relaxed against her left leg very obviously, making a faint crunching sound as it wrapped tight against the red leather before releasing. "Thing is - well, I've never been much of a religious type, you know?" said Arinthia, "I don't know how to pray in a way that um the morninglord would appreciate." The whole time, Arinthia avoided Ismark's gaze, feeling a little embarrassed that her desperate gambit to try and protect his sister by being a decoy had been rumbled so easily.

 

[Cravingpages]

Watching the towns people rush from the church Juniper looks around for Rictavio. Where is that half-elf? Will he be upset that Esmeralda is in Vallaki? She's Vistani and he wants to feed Vistani blood to whatever was in his wagon. Wait. Crap I completely forgot to tell the others about Rictavio. I'll try to find him again once we go back to the inn. Might have to go back to the stock yard.

Taking in Father Lucian's words, Juniper stayed quiet. Why would Milivoj take the bones? Is he working for Straud?

Bowing her head slightly, Hello Father, my name is Juniper Redwood. I hate to have met you on such an occasions.
Looking towards her group, We should probably rest up before we deal with Milivoj. He must have known how important these bones are. He could be working for Straud. Looking at Dess and Beldar, you guys are tapped out. It's best to handle that tomorrow. Who knows how dangerous he is.

Juniper looks towards Ari and smiles. Good to know you stick to your word.

 

[GoodTeletubby]

Dess sighs as the priest lays out his suspicions, and shakes her head.

"I'd put good money on it having been simple money on his part, Father. A stranger, one of Strahd's agents, offers him enough coin to ensure he and his sister will always have a reserve to keep them from going hungry. And it's just the bones, it's not like taking them would be hurting anyone. After all, Strahd's never going to actually show up to threaten the town in person."

Her sarcasm is cutting by the end, and she follows it with a deep sigh.

"Any of the children back in Luskan would do the same. Blood before city, the immediate concern over the unlikely chance. I doubt he still has them, but there may be some distant chance he can point us at who does. Hell, maybe they were going into that coffin. Some rest and hopefully we can start getting answers."

 

[Cravingpages]

Slipping away from the group before ending the night, Juniper went to look for Rictavio. I just need to find him and let him know about Esmeralda. Then hopefully he'll come meet the others. Finding Rictavio at the stockyard, Juniper smoothed out her hair and did her best to try and brush off the dried blood from today's battle.

Hi Rictavio, it's me Juniper from the inn. It's good to see you. So I would really like you to meet my friends. They would be very interested to know another person who was brought here by the mist. But I would like to warn you. We have added a new friend to our group. Well, I don't really know yet if I am her friend but she is soooo my friend! Oh yeah anyways, she's actually Vistani. I know you don't like Vistani. No need to get into the details on how I know but yeah.
Can you come to the inn and meet everyone?
Juniper wrings her hands together waiting for a reply.

 

[Ash-6116]

Arinthia nodded in agreement, following Father Petrovich to the back. As she walked along the wooden floors, Arinthia remembered Father Donavich, along with his son who'd been becoming or had become a vampire spawn and was locked in the church basement in Barovia. Arinthia hoped the priest was still alive, she wondered if the basement kept the son contained long enough for them to find and end Strahd, whether Father Donavich would be safe.

Walking into the back room, Arinthia tried to focus on everything that Father Petrovich said, trying to commit everything to memory, aware that there was a good chance she'd get beaten about in the coming days. 'Madame Eva said that amulet was powerful - I hope I can do it justice.' thought Arinthia, as two recent deaths in particular came to mind. 'Can't keep making mistakes like that. Putting my friends in danger. Guess this is like a fresh start.'

For the next few hours, Arinthia listened and prayed intently, trying to memorise exactly how to do so. Eventually, the night came, and with it, the need to retire to bed. Arinthia made sure the Amulet of Ravenkind was safely stowed away within her bags, somewhere it would only be found if someone went searching through the whole bag, not just stuffing their hand in and grabbing the first thing that came to hand. Lying on a thin sheet, Arinthia took two items of her lockpick kit out of her belongings, a rake pick and a torsion wrench. Fiddling with each of them as she tried to unwind from the day's hectic events, Arinthia eventually stowed them away too and settled off to sleep.

 

[Holice]

Despite this place of worship being devoted to those not truly of his faith, the sanctuary brought comfort none the less. Finding an empty seat, Beldar sat and prayed. To no diety in particular this time, but rather to any that would listen and be willing to aid his companions and the townsfolk in these troubled times. As he closed his eyes trying to focus, images of the recent horrors kept surfacing, no matter how hard he pushed them away. Images of Strahd grinning, as if everyone and everything is nothing more than a toy for him to play with. Images of the innocents lost and even the faces of those Beldar has a hand in killing, like the Baron. Sitting back and opening his eyes, he sulked a little, not for his woes, but for the others.

Looking around the others, he couldn't help but think if they were hiding sorrow or fear, but as he saw Arinthia praying, Dess talking and Juniper walking off again he smiled to himself. These are good people willing to do the right thing in the darkest of times, there is still hope yet, he whispered softly to himself.

Beldar followed as everyone went off to rest, and did the same, and while sleep was restless at first, eventually he was able to focus on the good, in himself, in the people he knows, and in the world, and managed to stay asleep the remainder of the night.

 

[Cravingpages]

So far, luck hasn't done much good for them. A mix of confusion and sorrow weighed heavy on Juniper's chest as she watched Rictavio ride off.
How does he know Esmeralda? That doesn't make sense to me Monte. What does he even mean by keeping his attention divided? We need to get back and tell the others.
On the way back to the inn, Juniper decided to tell the group about Rictavio in the morning. Telling the group when they had a clear and rested mind would be better. Today's events were unsettling. The fact that they are stuck playing Strahd's game. Seeing her own corpse must have been apart of his sick twisted entertainment. Juniper pulls out her Strahd puppet and adjusts it on her hand. What made you like this? Why are you so hell-bent on making everyone here in Barovia miserable? Why are you so obsessed with Ireena? Why do you want us to take her anywhere she pleases? You, sir, are mysterious and a total jackass. I hate you for putting so many people in danger. I hate you for making everyone cower in fear. Juniper falls silent and puts away the puppet. If only she was brave enough to spit all those words in the real Strahd's face.
Settling down for the night, Juniper snuggled up to Monte and made a mental list of all the things to do tomorrow.
We need to tell Urwin about the wine.
I need to tell everyone about Rictovio.
Go visit Mr. Blinksy.
By more arrows.
Get info from Milivoj.
Probably smoothed things over with Ireena and Ismark.
Soon Juniper drifted off to sleep. Dreaming of warm sunlight and the sounds of the forest.

 

[GoodTeletubby]

While Ari steps off to talk theology with the priest, Dess pulls out her spellbook and ink and pen set, at first as a way to release some of her anger and tension, but slowly a satisfied smile crosses her face as she realizes that the final details of the spells she's been working on have finally come together. She looks over to Ezmerelda, and cocks her head with curiousity as a thought crosses her mind.

"Ezmerelda, if you don't mind my asking, what sort of magic do you wield? Are you a book learner like myself, or is your spellcraft a more natural gift? That lightning bolt was impressive earlier, and I'd be interested in trading knowledge for like if you could teach and learn? Though at the moment I don't have much in the way of spare materials for copying spells."

A moment of disappointment crosses her face before she shrugs it off. As she looks around, she realizes Juni has disappeared while she wasn't paying attention, and with a moment's concentration, Nadir coalesces on her left forearm. After a moment's communication with him, she walks him out the front door and sends him off into the sky to keep an eye out for any signs of something needing attention. As she sits back down, she pulls the broken halves of the Gulthias staff from her pack, running her hands over the fine wood, admiring the craftsmanship before carefully fitting the pieces together, then reaching into her pouch and pulling out a pair of lodestones, pulling them apart, repeating a slow, harsh chant as she slowly guides the stones around the staff, a dark green line of magical energy connecting them as the line cuts a series of runes in the air in time with her chant, before the entire rune line pulses once and unravels, the strands of the runes wrapping around the staff as they bind the whole back together as a single staff once again. She sits up and spins the staff through her fingertips with obvious satisfaction.

"Too pretty to leave in pieces. And who knows, a solid piece of vampire-killing wood of legend may come in handy."

Once Ari is done with her spiritual instruction, Dess joins the others on the way back to the inn, before settling into a comfortable chair and entering her trance for the evening. Once she stirs in the wee hours of the morning, she spends some time writing a letter to her sister. Compiling the past few days madness into a somewhat coherent form that won't worry her sister too much proves more challenging than she expected, but once she finishes it, she hesitates, then pens a pair of letters to her parents, the first giving them a far more realistic analysis of her situation, and the worrisome power the group faces, and the second a farewell for Valna if they don't hear from her come several years. As she finally seals the letters with the pre-dawn gloom lurking outside the windows, she feels the tears working their way down her cheeks, and spends a few moments burying her face in Nadir's feathers as she composes herself, wrestling the fear and distress back away to something she can manage, thankful that her companions require so much more sleep than she needs rest.

 

[Cravingpages]

Juniper wakes up fully rested and terribly sore. Her body was stiff and aching from the battle. Thanks to Beldar's healing touch she was alive to see the morning. Nothing but the healed scars of the battle remaind. It was a reminder of how close to death she was.

Enjoying the breakfast and the company of the people she trusted at the blue water inn, Juniper watches their faces. She takes in the sight of her new friends and her older ones.

Juniper clears her throat.
Also Urwin about that wine. It turned out some Druid was poisoning it but we stopped it. Sad news is the wine was still tainted. I'm sorry that we had to bring you bad news like that. On the bright side we kept your family safe.
Juniper looks around the table and starts to feed Monte. So everyone, I met this half-elf Rictavio. He was like a traveling performer of sorts and he too was brought here by the mist. He had this cart where he kept some kind of beast in there who he wanted to feed Vistani. So I went to go meet him yesterday to tell him we added a Vistani member to our group, Esmeralda, because you know I didn't want him to try and kill her. Turns out he knows you. I asked him to come met you guys but he wasn't up for it. He did want me to tell you something Esmeralda. He said hi, and that you shouldn’t let your stuff lie around that tower for much longer. Oh and he also said he will do his best to keep Strahd’s attention divided.
Juniper sighs with relief.
Sorry I didnt tell yall right away when I met him. She wrings her hands together. At the time I didn't think yall would believe. Because you know. She laughs nervously. You didn't at the gallows.

 

[Ash-6116]

With the rooster screaming to signal the dawn of a new day, Arinthia slowly opened her eyes. Having fallen asleep in her leather armor and only bothering to untie her red cape and drape it over a bedpost along with leaving her boots on the floor, Arinthia didn't take long to get dressed. As she sat up and started to pull her boots on, Arinthia noticed the glint of a golden symbol sticking out of her right boot. Pulling it out by the thin delicate golden chain from which it hung, Arinthia was looking at a circular amulet with a straight line bisecting it two thirds of the way down. Below the line were two golden lines forming a pyramid while above it was a semicircle with three golden lines flowing from it to the other edge of the amulet, looking like the sun rising over the horizon.

'New day huh,' sighed Arinthia, looking to the symbol and wishing she could see the real sun rising. Hooking the amulet around her neck and letting it rest on top of her leather armor, Arinthia picked up her cloak and tied it around her neck the way she usually did, though this time she threaded the symbol over the top of the knot. Once that was done and she had her red leather boots on, Arinthia checked to make sure the Amulet of Ravenkind was still in her bag and had not been stolen during the course of the night.

Stepping into the common room, Arinthia chose to start the day with coffee and a bowl of porridge, listening as Ezmerelda informed Ismark and Ireena of the abbot in Krezk. Then as Juni spoke of her own news, Arinthia sipped her coffee until there was nothing left. Unease filled her mind at the thought of anyone feeding live anything to something. Arinthia wasn't sure whether the half-elf Rictavio was an ally or an enemy but for the moment she kept her thoughts to herself. The rogue had other matters to be concerned about.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you Juni," said Arinthia, realising that if Strahd were capable of seeing through her illusions, he might be able to cast a few of his own. Even if what Juni had seen was in her own mind, the sight of your own body hanging from a gallows was disturbing enough as it were, real or imagined.

Looking to Ireena, Arinthia smiled, "If that's where you want to go," said Arinthia, "might be an idea to stock up before we leave though. From the way Strahd talked - he might be throwing even more dangerous creatures at us than those scarecrows."

 

[Holice]

As daylight slowly trickled into Beldar's room, he began to slowly wake. Yawning deeply as he put his legs over the edge to stand up and stretch , he was pleasantly amazed at how refreshed he felt. Gathering his things, he looked at his reflection in the wash basin and smiled. "A new day brings new possibilities."
As he walked into the common room, he saw his friends and walked over to join them. As he arrived at the table he noticed Ezmerelda wiping some tears. "I do hope that I'm not intruding," he asked with uncertainty, staring at an open spot at the table.

 

[Ash-6116]

Arinthia looked a little tense as Juniper explained about Rictavio's wish to feed Vistani to a living creature. Hearing Ezmerelda - Arinthia's tense feeling didn't die down at all hearing what the vampire hunter had to say. If anything it made her think about the two people she'd killed over coin purses and the two they'd left alive.

'If they were working for Strahd - did he care for them as little as he did Thornburst? Or is he going to use that against us somehow?' wondered Arinthia, her tail tapping her left heel as she thought.

"So - there's other vampires as dangerous as Strahd?" asked Arinthia curiously.

 

[GoodTeletubby]

Dess, having finished her breakfast with the first risers of the day, sits patiently waiting in the common room until the rest of the party makes their way there. As they talk, she listens curiously to Juni's story and letting a slight smile cross her face at Ezmerelda's reaction to her mentor's antics. The man sounds interesting, like a fellow spirit. She beckons Beldar to sit reassuringly, then looks around.

"We should see what we can deal with here before we head out again, right? Between investigating the potential relic thief, the burgomaster's wife and house, Izek's place, if we can find it, to figure out what their interest was in Ireena. I know I'd feel better having at least some clue what sort of daggers we're leaving behind us before we go. And if we're going to wind up going back to the mad monk and his merry band of mongrelfolk, we should probably pick up that dress he wants. Along with anything else we might need."

She taps her spellbook at her hip, and smiles slightly.

"Personally, I'd like to see about picking up some more rope, and at least a few sets of manacles, given the number of temporarily sleeping troublemakers we keep crossing paths with."

 

[Ash-6116]

With Dess mentioning buying things, Arinthia looked down at her leather armor. While it had served her well for years, Arinthia had the sense from the way that Strahd had been taunting them the day before that things would only get harder from there on out and that it might be an idea to upgrade her armor while she still could. Money wasn't too much of an issue - to the point where she was more than happy to buy the wedding dress for Vasilka out of her own pocket entirely.

'Sure you're not just trying to buy your guilt for killing two random Vistani away?' Arinthia chided herself in her mind, then shook her head as if trying to clear the thought from her mind. 'No point regretting - what happened happened. Just move on and next time I have to kill -' Arinthia started to psyche herself up then stopped, realising that she hadn't even thought of 'if' she would have to kill again, but had already determined she would have to.

"Rope and manacles sound good," nodded Arinthia in agreement with Dess, "And I could do with maybe finding someone who sells leathers, see if they've got a more toughened outfit than these leathers." said Arinthia, patting her own armor with her hand while her tail flopped into her left boot. "You got anything you want to buy Juni? Beldar?" Arinthia looked to Ismark, Ezmerelda and Ireena, though she still couldn't meet Ismark's gaze after what had unfolded. "Um, anything you'd like to buy?"

 

[Holice]

"Oh Great Mother!," Beldar gasps as he walks into the house and sees Henrik hanging from the ceiling. Hurrying over and up righting the chair, he climbs up on it, ready to cut Henrik down. "Please, someone come help me get him down," he beckons to his companions, not wanting Henrik to simply floor to the floor.