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Through the Mists: In Character


Sylvia, the mean/cutely bred barbarian soldier!
The Mill
Tag: All!

(Kept lewd responses short to help move things along!)
Sylvia moaned at the feeling of warmth filling her, with the only hint of her usual fierce ferocity currently being how hard she was gripping the wood, to the point of leaving slight marks from her fingers and fingernails. Everything else about her screamed of a female, subserviently being bred by a strong mate. It went so far that she unleashed a throaty, if happy growl that might have intimidated a more timid partner.. one that wasn't a fiendish witch-spawn. "Hamnn.. so much strong cum... ooh yes, I shall take good care.."

She agreed, the lewd act ironically giving her more purpose in this strange world, at least to the point of staying alive. "I wonder what you mean with more human in temperament.." She mused, whilest taking a little longer than Bella to dress.

~~~
In the morning, she seemed.. certainly more content, back to being dressed up in the simple clothes under her armor and, it seemed to any prying, a bit emberassed about yesterdays nightly happenings.


"I usually find myself disliking magic. That said your form of magic is clear and to the point.. I.. err.. can respect that." She said, clearing her throat. "The last reading of my future just made me ask more questions, so I'd actually welcome a direction." She decided to voice her gut-feelings, as emberassing as that was.

Sylvia raised a brow when Bella spoke about a dead Vistana, but decided not to comment further. It wasn't as if her words could revive the dead. With an inward chuckle she realized that she'd have to both deliver the news and then kill, the newly minted grandmother for her misdeeds.

She then grinned.. it seemed her fortune wasn't all grim. "Power sounds good.. as sounds defeating the wicked. A clearer goal, at last."

She then pondered hearing Bellas speculations: "So a chance encounter, and two places of danger, a sawmp and a wolf's den.. Perhaps we should first head to this Krezk?

Also.. not to sound cowardly, but I'm not sure I should go confront these werewolfs. Perhaps it's the truth your last reading gave me, or this dreary place without order and commands, but it almost feels as if the.. wilder part of me is growing stronger." She cast down her eyes when admitting this. "Not that I mind fighting creatures like we engaged on the wagon, but I'm not certain all would welcome the.. brutality necessary to fight true beast men..
Also, my axe seemed to harm them fairly little, worryingly so, really." She sighed. She was quite certain her weapon-swinging arm wasn't that weak.
 
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"Thank you for saying so, dear. Unfortunately, divination is by its very nature an unclear school of magic - part and parcel of destiny being a real thing, and random chance also being a real thing simultaneously."

"It's a quandary." Ophallia nodded sagely.

"Still, I've done as best as I can to make it be useful to you. No matter which of these leads you pursue, the town of Vallaki is your next stop. It is the largest city within Barovia, and a good a place as any to seek allies and use as a base of operations for striking out into the realm beyond it. Many travelers who come through the mists gravitate to it."

When Sylvia mentioned her worry about the wolf den and the ineffectiveness of her axe against the werewolves, Bella blinked and then tilted her head back.

"Ah! You mean you didn't know? The curse of lycanthropy is to become a ravenous beast within your very soul, but the dark powers grant immunity to mundane weapons to the lycanthropes. The nature of mystical protections does leave a weakness however, and that is silver. There is a blacksmith in Vallaki who can, for a price, coat your weapons' edges in silver, making them effective against the creatures. Nevertheless, Sylvia, I think it important that you learn about your inner nature by confronting the beasts. And if any of you should suffer the curse of lycanthropy, a powerful priest, theurge, or one versed in white magic is required to break it. Such is not my forte."
 
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Sylvia
Ye olde mill
Heading out

"So.." Sylvia mused, armoring up. "Head to Vallaki and prepare, then strike out at the beasts. That sounds proper easy enough for me. Though if everyone gravi.. goes to that place, Indubitably not everyone will be nice." She grinned. "I'll let you handle the finding of allies and ... what is the word.. apply myself to those less friendly." She suggested, with a grin, rolling her arms.
"I'm ready to head out for my part. .. I hope you can turn this place into something better, Bella." She said with an unusual soft tint to her voice, before hesitating, adding: "Also, any suggestions for if your mother dearest decides to go after Esvele.. or me?" She left open as for why Morgantha might be interested in her after swearing revenge on Esvele earler.
 
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Vita the tiefling warlock, currently dressed
Bonegrinder
Tags: All

Listening as Offalia answered Esvele's questions before the duo, daughters of Morgantha prepared to do a fortune reading. Ireena's hand squeezing her own as she just stepped closer to Ireena. Her prescence close enough to comfort or even hide slightly behind if Ireena felt the need to.

The explanation of how things are going about. Of how the divination happened in these lands is dealt by pulling of cards. The tiefling looked on in undeniable interest at seeing how Bella drew the deck out, placing it and fanning it atop of a non-smelly barrel. With that look at her, Vita reached and tugged a card out from the fanned amount.

Looking at card, seeing embossed soldier staring up at her with five nameless steel swords surrounding him, giving him a determined look. Except for when Bella spoke of what the card actually meant! Vita goggled at her, orbs wide before looking at the card again and speaking, not meant to interrupt or even be answered "That's ah cool. Always ah thought soldiers were about battle but to be ah history..." Her head dipped as she thought of WHERE she must go. Doubly so with this fortune.

Offalia's comment got a giggle out of her even as her mind wandered down onto that path. She now had a location for wolfmen. Hopefully they were the wolfmen where her mother is at. They may also be where she'd need to go for knowledge about herself and... the enemy? Mayhap Strahd? Vita didn't view him as her enemy - he is fast becoming one with her being connected with Ireena but, but Strahd. He hadn't struck her personally, hasn't wounded her beyond the death of the one-time companion who had a heroic sacrifice.

Brooding and mulling over the answers, she is partially paying attention to the other divinations, only perking up at feeling Ireena's movements and focusing once more.

"Bells?" Vita questioned, feeling goosebumps run up and down her skin. That isn't good! One occasion of great happiness or one occassion of somber farewells. One good, one bad but both mixing together in her words? That just filled her with fear! "That ah abbey..." Vita voiced softly while looking at Esvele, questioning on her interpretation.

With the divination finished and Sylvia speaking her piece and then Ophallia and Bella speaking further. "Ah um, how does the ah curse spread?" Vita asked quickly while on the topic at Bella.

Vita felt confused on what to add. She couldn't demand they go immediately to the mountain overlooking the lake and deal with the wolf den there. Not yet. Even through her heart burned in her throat to ask/beg for this. But she couldn't. Looking at her side and seeing Ireena, she couldn't strike out now and go there. Nor would she even be able to find it. All she had is a general location and going there and being killed served no one. Not even herself.
 
Bella sucked in a breath at Sylvia's question.

"I've been giving that some thought as you all slept. What to do about mother dearest. The difficulty is that unless you can rip the night stone away from her, she can merge into the Ethereal Plane - a place of spirits that overlaps our world. She becomes as immaterial as a ghost. The only way I know of to follow her is to create another night stone - but that..."

She eyed Sylvia with a look that seemed apologetic.

"Would require some actions that are entirely in the purview of the morally corrupt."

"Suffer the little children," Offalia giggled ominously.

"If you did have a way to follow her into the Border Ethereal, she would have no way to retreat, and you could force a confrontation. Otherwise, she will likely be plotting to interfere with your lives and ours as often as she thinks is safe. I'd stick close together at night. Don't get caught wandering off alone from the group. That's when she'll strike. But there is hope, I think. When preparing me for the ritual to create my own night stone, Morgantha let slip that the eyes of ravenfolk can see into the ethereal, and for that reason, she was always wary of the wereravens who inhabit these parts. I happen to know that they have a meeting place: the Blue Water Inn in Vallaki. Perhaps the wereravens have a magic that could aid you in trapping my Mother."

She turned then to Vita.

"While we are on the subject of lycanthropy, the curse spreads when the blood or saliva of a lycan is mixed with the blood of a non lycanthrope. There is a chance then that the disease can be passed on. Once it has, only a divine spell that can remove a curse will remove it - and if the full moon is out, and you kill and eat a human in your were-form, then the transformation will be complete. For those of you bitten by the werewolves on the cart ride here, you should seek the church in Vallaki, to avoid a potential change this upcoming full moon. It is only a couple nights away."
 
Esvele saw that Offalia's mention of Strahd's thirst for Ireena troubled her. The nun came up behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Do not let the reminder trouble you, for you already knew he lusts after you, Ireena. Instead, decide what you will do if we three should all fail to shield you, and find the steel within you that you will use to make your decison real. No matter what you choose, have conviction and follow through."


Esvele kept quiet during the explanation of the Taroka, having had little experience with it even in her old life. She had almost forgotten about the wounds those wolves had caused - the whirlwind of events that had happened after that had practically driven it from her mind. "I hope they don't require much of us to break this curse... Vallaki should be easily reachable from here, but if they refuse to cure us before surrendering form of payment, we might have some trouble..."

The nun was perhaps unusually silent as Bella delivered the reading of her drawn card and for the rest of the readings as well. She gazed at Sylvia's card rather impassively, but for both her own fortune and Ireena's, her lips were pursed, and her gaze off to one side, deep in thought.


"So much of interest to us in Vallaki. Krezk is a fair ways further west - we may have problems making it there without the Morninglord's light to protect us from your pursuer... but I suppose that that's a worry for another time." The nun caught a glimpse of Vita's gaze when she whispered to Ireena. She could guess what the part-fiend might be curious about, but she decided to let Vita take the initiative; Esvele merely raised an eyebrow, letting the well-endowed sorceress know that she'd caught her attention.

"Hmm... we ought to be rid of the wolves' curse relatively easily if things go in our favor... but if not, at least it was we two that got bit, eh, Sylvia? If the mess with that hag last night was anything to go by, Vita and Ireena ought to have at least an opportunity to scorch us down to cinder before we murder them." Esvele eyed them both. "I do hope you'll make the best of it, if things take a turn for the worse. There is enough suffering in these lands already - I would prefer to leave this place having caused as little of it as I can."
 
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Sylvia
Ye olde mill
Heading out

"Both of you got bit. Well, if it's any help, I know the .. feelings to look out for, should there be any signs before the full moon.
That said, who says the bite is necessarily a bad thing? A resilience to weapon, bestial might to crush your enemies.. The trouble is more.. well, staying in control.
Hrmnn I was not bit by the wolves, too busy tossing them about." She grinned, deciding to add. "You got a wolf of your own. .. err.. well, figuratively speaking. Bella, what do you think my ahem... heritage would mean for the wolfs curse? Would I be more or less easily .. affected?" She pondered. She suspected it was the latter, but perhaps wrestling with her own inner.. beasts ment she was immune to the infection by itself?

"Either way. I fear not the cowardly witch. She is hiding because she could not match your mettle.. and that was while I was occupied with ... while I was distracted fighting her creature, which I doubt will recover. For now, what I worry is that, considering they could take my axe and fight on almost unhindered, I'm uncertain that we dealt with those three wolves we left behind, even if they fell into the cliff. I have a feeling if we don't hunt them.. they will hunt us. To that end. Enough talk. I'll feel safer talking when my axe is sharpened by silver." She nodded, including a goodbye to Bella, before walking over to the stable, readying the wagon for everyone. She wasn't the type to spent much time planning, or worrying about plans. Actions helped her take her mind off of things.
 
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Vita the tiefling warlock, currently dressed
Bonegrinder
Tags: All

Bella's explanations about the how the curse spread. Vita did not like that at all. Hands tightening around Ireena's in fear, pressure enough to hurt. Her face stiff, posture radiating stress at that knowledge, at those words. She inhaled and exhaled. "Thank yah for ah answering me." Her own soft words in the wind before she looked at Esvele, her hand loosening from around Ireena's. "Sorry." She whispered, the word meant for Ireena.

The look Esvele had shot her. That raised eyebrow, if she wanted answers then she need but ask. At least that is how Vita interpreted. Something to speak about then while they were on the trail and going to Vallaki. Sylvia's own words, Vita felt hot anger course through her at how Sylvia could dare even ask that question at her. Eyebrows narrowed in a hard glare as she spoke with a rough tone of anger and hurt in her voice. "Their bite is cursed! It will... it will turn me into one of them forever?! I! No fuck that!" She snarled, politeness she presented broken as she stormed out angrily from the building.

She stood outside, tail raising and flailing erratically as she clenched and unclenched her fists. Her mind awhirled with anger at how... that boisterous women could even suggest that this.. that becoming one of those things... The blood on the walls. The dying breath of her father. Red clouded her vision as her tail smacked the ground.

This anger coursing through her, it wasn't in her nature but she... Just ugh! The thought of becoming like one of them and her-her wanting-? No. The thought didn't even complete in her mind. Her hands stabbing in the palms of her hands. She breathed in and out repeating it till she felt that anger at the idea get capped.

She returned to the inside of the mill saying "Thank you for ah hearth and shelter. May ah, Morning be with you." Vita as she gave her own goodbyes to Bella and Offalia.

To distract herself from the idea that Sylvia suggested she tried to think of a list of questions to ask Esvele.
 
Bella responded to Sylvia's question after seeing Vita storm out.

"I believe you would be more at risk of developing the curse. And while I agree that there are physical advantages to being a full lycanthrope, I think you greatly underestimate the power of the curse. There is no self-control enough to tame the beast that you would become under the light of the full moon - and once you kill a human or other mortal, you make the curse permanent. Then, no spell short of the most powerful of magics known in the multiverse could undo your woe. After that, the only options for you would be to either accept the curse, and revel in the evil that suffuses you, or reject it, and flee civilization so that you might protect it from yourself. Few are strong enough to choose the later, and some that do eventually succumb given enough time. For someone like you who believes whole-heartedly in law, honor and righteous action - you would be damned to seek this tainted power out."

Ireena meanwhile had thanked Esvele for her kind words,

"I will take refuge in the Morninglord's light - which I feel all the more connected to, now that Vita is helping me with it. I will never be Strahd's bride, even if it means my own death."

She looked anxiously at the doorway outside, where the tiefling had rushed out, struggling to contain the anger due to the memory of what happened to her mother, father, and childhood home.

"Esvele, you and Vita have been bit, and the church in Vallaki is the closest place of worship. Let us go there and try to put an end to the curse before the full moon - which will soon be upon us. I don't want to lose any of you."

---

"Before you go, Offalia and I will give you some things to help you along the way." Bella said, and her sister pulled out some potions in clear flasks.

[Party gains 2 Healing Potions, 1 Potion of Climbing and one "Youth" Potion.]

"This is a fun one. It'll make the drinker lose some years and makes them very attractive! We sell them to this Lady Wachter and some other nobles in Vallaki,. Doesn't last forever, buuuuuut it lets people have more fun for a bit. Maybe you'll find it useful." Offalia said, handing it to Esvele.

---

With a few goodbyes, the two semi reformed witch sisters waved the four travelers away from their gloomy windmill in the foothills of the mountains, as the group traveled back up the dirt path to the Old Svalich Road and set off once again into the west. Though how they would travel and to where was up to them. If they kept on the road, Esvele knew that they would soon arrive in Vallaki, the walled town that was the center of trade in Barovia.
 
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Sylvia
Ye olde mill
Heading out

"Hmnn?" Sylvia pondered, watching Vita rush out. "It's a shame that such primal power can't be put in the services of better things. I guess I'd rather see myself as blessed than cursed, but who wouldn't. Also, going by what I saw so far, the usual gentle Vita is already being affected by changes in her mood. I figure this will only get worsen as the moon nears. Oh well. Vallaki will bring help, one way or the other." She mused, herself speaking of the silver-coating that would help keep her companions in check if the church could not help in time.

She also aquired a healing potion for herself, more due to Bellas advice than anything else, accompanying the group in thoughtful silence on the way to Vallaki. A curse of instincts so foul no soldiers discipline could contain it? Was that the fate that awaited her if she indulged in her battlelust too much? But what was a soldier that couldn't do battle? It was also the fate awaiting both of her companions.. then again, the church could propably help them. Sylvia mused. Briefly she pondered suggesting -not- curing the curse for now. It just made sense. Fighting the werewolfs, they might just get afflicted again, what if it got harder to cure after the first time? and, furthermore, if the two stayed cursed but were locked away, without killing anyone, perhaps they could infiltrate the lupine enemies under pretense.
She looked over to Vita and Esvele. If they trusted her as much as she trusted them, little point to that sugggestion.
Then again, she didn't do her duty because she wanted to be showered with praise. Even if her companions were traitorous and hostile, Ireena was in need of protection from evil, so she would accompany them until that was achieved. And afterwards.. she felt a personal responsibility to deal with these wicked beasts that decieved and attacked travelers... and perhaps dealing with the beasts would include these two as well, but less opponents was always better.
 
Esvele brought a hand up to cover her mouth demurely, back to playing the part of an unassuming woman of the cloth. Sex, violence, insulting Morgantha and a good night's sleep seemed to have done wonders for her demeanor and banishing the stresses of the day before, though the shift in temperament might strike some of them as a little odd.

"Ah, that's right, my mistake. Well... we ought to be rid of the curse before it should come to anything. That's good - without Vita's fire, I think things would turn out far worse."

The nun was a little surprised by the vehemency of Vita's reaction to Sylvia's suggestion that they try to utilize the curse. She'd briefly considered it as well, but rejected the thought quickly.

"Even if we could control the murderous beast that the curse would make of us - which I'm sure many stronger souls than us have failed to do - the protection against wea[pmswould probably only be true when we are transformed, and even then, the things we are likely to contend with are likely to have more terrible things to kill us with than mere steel. So far we've fought werewolves, a sorceress, and her hat. None of them used normal armament against us. Before we met you, we also encountered the Count and his bloodsucking kind, who threatened us with sorcery, bleeding from their terrible fangs, and theft of control of one's body. Perhaps only the risen bodies of the slain and mundane predators might have their attacks turned from our flesh with the curse's protection - and that," Esvele rolled up a sleeve, to show the fine links of iron chain garbed her arm under her white habit, "is what armor is for. No threats of gorging yourselves on your friends' bellies required."


Esvele took the "Youth" potion with a look of mock-suspicion. "Are you calling me old, Offalia?" she asked, half-jokingly.

More seriously, she also inquired, "How many children and other sorts of horror goes into making these?" She eyed the two witches. "I ask because if any such things goes into these - and you two do decide not to continue practicing such things - this little vial is going to be worth much more than it already is to those in Vallaki. You won't mind me passing that information on, will you? Hmmm... what price do you normally command for them? It would help me figure just how big a problem I can make go away with it..."

She took the "Youth" potion and stowed it carefully, though she left the rest for the others.



Esvele hurried to fetch the cart from the barn they'd kept it in for the night, worrying a bit that the others might note the huge puddle of cum-encrusted straw and mud, hear some damning something out of the animalized pair along the wall, or catch some lingering scent of last night, from her tryst or otherwise. Presumably once again driving the cart, both so Vita and Ireena could spend time with each other and because of her comfortability with the routes through Barovia, though perhaps not with being astride a wagon and driving beasts to pull, Esvele set then to continue on the road to Vallaki, announcing it to the others.
 
Leaving the Windmill, onto the Old Svalich Road

Bella Sunbane shrugged.

"Those who seek power, no matter the cost, are often blinded by their ambition and lose track of the evil they commit. These lands keep track of the evil that clouds a soul, and they do not mind letting one do the work of darkness in the name of good."

Offalia meanwhile giggled at the nun's joke about being considered old.

"Naww, you're a total babe! I'll leap in the sack with ya any time!" The witch wiggled in her seat and let her tongue wash over her upper lip while giving Esvele a wink.

"Oh hah! Yeah, can't very well make that potion anymore without Mama's recipe. Guess the nobles in Vallaki will have to get used to banging with their saggy old bodies. Hee hee. We were good about setting a price for it. 30 gp was what we sold it for. The upper class in the north of town were our best buyers."

---

The group moved to the outside, and Esvele fetched the card and horses without further incident. Vita was soothed by a doting Ireena, who helped the tiefling back onto the cart. Sylvia sat on the opposite side, and Esvele stayed up in front, flicking the reins and getting back on their way, leaving the two sisters behind over the rise of the hill, and then once again on the road, heading to their next destination. Today was much like the last, only the threat of rain seemed to have passed. The road was muddy and they needed to be careful that their wheels didn't get stuck in wet patches. After several hours of travel going on a gradual decline, they reached the lower valley, and arrived at the gates of a walled town that seemed to be the hub of life in this region.

As they approached, guards at the gate looked at them warily. They noted Vita's appearance and gripped their pikes, moving to intercept the cart as it attempted to enter the town.

"Halt! We see you're not Vistani - but you carry with you a demon! Or someone possessed by one. The Baron has declared this place free from corruption, and is not willing to have any evil disrupt the upcoming Festival of the Blazing Sun."

Esvele recalled having stopped in Vallaki on her original journey east, and was bemused to recall that it had not been only 4 days prior, when she'd been there last, that they were celebrating the Festival of the Wolf's Head Jamboree - which included a wolf hunt and the parading of wolf heads on sticks around the town. A perusal of the noticeboard just beyond the gate showed that the old celebration's notice had not even been taken down yet.
 
Sylvia
Old Svalich road to Vallaki

Sylvie remained silent on the trip, but for remarking: "You know, that curse, these urges you so fear, if not to the full extened of them, is something I've lived with all my life. Perhaps as the full moon nears you'll better understand a soldiers discipline and find it in your hearts to question me a little less. I've learned to direct my hatred towards all things wicked and injust. The villains, the monsters, those that are disloyal to my great lord. If the transformation is anything as I feel then all the rage and hatred and hunger, all the slights of your life, even the most minor one will come screaming out and without anything to direct it to a purpose of good.." She shrugged, and remained silent afterwards.

When they neared the gates and the guards approached her, Sylvie immediatly reached for her massive axe.. to put it down before her in a literally disarming gesture before she raised her hands. Obediance to lawful authorities was ingrained in her blood and those two, even if low ranking, were clearly that. If none cut her off, she spoke first, giving a soldiers a brief salute.

"I'm Sylvie Eichendorf, a simple footsoldier, of military number 144703 of Warleader Heinrich's devision, I am here on a mission to purchase the services of one of your smiths to assist me in hunting disgusting were-beastmen that attacked us prior. To that end I will do my best not to interrupt any festivals, but request you explain what you mean with forbidding corruption. Is there any specific law that forbids my companions demonic apperance? If so, I am sure she will gladly obey and stay to wait outside, what is the exact ruling about corruption?" This was what Sylvie considered being diplomatic. Disobeying orders of even lowly soldiers spelled a less than pleasant fate for any civilian in Falkovnia after all and Vita was clearly a civilian.
 
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Vita the tiefling warlock, currently dressed
Old Svalich Road to Vallaki
Tags: Esvele, Sylvia

Vita stayed quiet, a mixture of anger, revulvison, and others floating in her mind. Ireena's soothing words and worried glances made guilt flicker inside of her but she couldn't just... let go. The gall of that suggestion and the thought of just becoming that. It. It did not do well for her at all. She couldn't even think of any decent questions to ask Esvele about the abbey from which she came!

The tiefling tail coiled more tightly around her own hips and Ireena's as looked up at Sylvia's words. Her yellow orbs looking at Sylvia. "You have lived your life with them? Never ah knowing any differently?" Her words came faster, more flowing, the heat behind them still there, coiling. "Then you can try mastering that curse. I -won't- accept being turned into one of those, things." Her words directed as angry snarl more at herself as she breathed out. Her voice coming out much more quieter "If ah somehow fail in getting cured an ah become one of those things. "A small pause in her words before she continued "and lose myself, please try and give me mercy at that point." Vita spoke her words softly that quiet anger in them but a definite note of pleading.

Sometime along the trip, she felt calmer. "Ah feel better now Ireena." She spoke softly with a hand squeezing Ireena's before looking at the driver cart where Esvele is handling the reins. "Um. What is the abbey like?" She asked that question towards Esvele.

Arriving at Vallaki, Vita stared at the walled Town. The place had huge soaring walls that looked like they'd be able to protect from anything! And the guards that stood at the gate didn't seem too much at attention until they snapped and Vita had that feeling. Their words snapping out as she sighed inwardly.

She quirked an eyebrow at Sylvia's own words as she looked at the guards. "That's an ah fancy way of asking what my intentions are ah here." She said with some hopefulness. "I am not an evil creature coming here to disrupt the Baron's Festival. I am here seeking a priest." She left the part out of escorting Ireena as she waited to see if Esvele, Ireena or Sylvia would speak up on that.
 
Hours later, when Esvele's bottom ached from the hard driving seat being driven up into into it over and over by the rocky, bouncing road, she reflected on Offalia's entirely unsubtle compliment and blatant pass, made in front of everyone. It wasn't precisely a surprise that she'd done so - the little witchling had been all over her since they'd first met, after all - but she usually had to sneak around, and that sort of talk she usually only ever heard behind closed doors. Thinking about it just made Esvele feel... happy. She felt silly that it did, but nonetheless, the feeling remained.


Esvele took a moment to think on her answer when questioned about the Abbey.

"The Abbey is built of old stone, and stands over Krezk, far to the west. It is dedicated to Saint Markovia, a champion of Light who fought against Barovia's evils long ago. Few in Barovia find their strength in religion, so few visitors ever make their way there, but I treasure our privacy, for it allows us to practice our devotion to the Morninglord without judgement or ridicule from those who do not believe in His message. ...I suppose I should mention only a few souls call the Abbey home, and only I ever leave its walls, whether it be to procure necessities we cannot simply make ourselves, or for... more complicated purposes." The nun spared a glance at Ireena, and breathed in deeply before continuing. "Our Abbott is perhaps the only beacon of light in this dark and terrible land. When I first arrived at the Abbey, I found sanctuary and purpose, and it was the Abbott that offered it."


Stopped up at the gate, Esvele looked the two pikemen over, trying to remember their faces. That first morning out was a bit fuzzy - she'd spent most of that morning's mountainous hike with an unpleasant hangover - but perhaps one of the men might be one of the ones she'd played dice with the night before?

"Hello again. I see Vallaki is already in the throes of its next celebration, after the Wolf's Head, not even a week ago? Truly, we are blessed to have arrived in time to partake." The nun paused, and then cleared her throat, changing topic from her small talk and niceties. "This woman means no harm. We have business with the good Father Petrovich, my brother in service of the Morninglord. Ehm, and as my foreign friend here mentions, we have intention of spending coin here." Esvele took a silver piece from her coin purse, and started to flip it idly between her knuckles. "I would feel awful if she were denied entry. We're all horribly famished from leaving off breakfast this morning, you see. Perhaps you could suggest a good place to eat? Hmm... what about you lads? Fighting men must eat well to fight well, after all. What's a good meal cost, hmm?"
 
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Vallaki - The Morning Gate

[Persuade check by Vita, with help from Sylvia and Esvele... natural 20!]

The lead guard, who looked to be a bit seasoned beyond his best years, coughed awkwardly and shifted his pike to an at ease position.

"There's not really been a clear ruling about demonic appearance per se, Miss Eichendorf. But there's folk about who worship the infernal and pay homage to the Devil Strahd. Yon horned one might well be without evil intent - but her appearance might raise questions and lead to fear... even panic."

At Esvele's words, the younger guard spoke up, surprisingly revealing themselves to be a female underneath the bell shaped helmet and padded armor of the town guard.

"Oh, you'll find him at the Church of Saint Andral, on the far side of town, near the Sunset Gate," the lady guard said, then eyed the coin with interest.

The older guard noticed this and tut-tutted.

"Nay, we'll not need your coin. We're just doing our job. If you're looking for a place to eat, the Blue Water Inn is nice enough and caters to... foreign travelers without any fuss." Again he inclined his head toward Vita, then addressed the nun. "Vallaki welcomes you all, just keep out of trouble, don't disturb the peace, and if you end up staying for the Festival of the Blazing Sun, just remember that attendance to the festival is mandatory. Baron Vallakovich's orders.... same as the Wolf's Head Jamboree if you were here for that, Sister."

The two guards step out of your way, and you enter into the town, which was populated with a dour looking people going about their daily business. Most of them gave the travelers a curious glance, due to the varied nature of the group's appearance. Most who saw Vita made a quick symbol of the morninglord, or occasionally a hushed, intense whispering to one another as the troupe moved through the town.

Vallaki was stretched thinly going from east to west, with a small northern extension where the wealthier mansions were located. In their immediate eastern edge of town was a large series of warehouses and stockyards, with some open spaces available for rent to place carts and wagons. A series of low income housing and small crafts businesses lined the eastern streets. Furniture shops, clothing stores featuring a nearly all black and brown wardrobe choice, a fairly prolific coffin maker's shop, two stories high, and a building that appeared to be a guild hall for waste clean up. The main road bent westward through a town square, enclosed by shops and homes decorated with limp, tattered garlands and painted wooden boxes filled with tiny, dead flowers. The shops here included a blacksmith, an armorer, a carpenter, and a fletcher, along with several competing grocer shops - one specializing in chickens and another in pickles.

At the north end of the square stood a row of stocks, locked in which are several men, women, and children wearing crude, plaster donkey heads.

Towards the center of the square, peasants in patchwork clothes used cups and vases t draw water from a crumbling stone fountain. At the center of this fountain was a gray statue of an impressive man facing west. Everywhere around the square are posted proclamations of the days' old celebration that read:

Come one, come all,
to the greatest celebration of the year:
The Wolf's Head Jamboree!
Attendance and children required.
Pikes provided.
ALL WILL BE WELL!
--The Baron--

A very large man in studded leather armor, heavy furs, an a bizarrely disfigured and clawed right arm was ordering around two town guardsmen, who were tearing down the old flyers and replacing them with the following:

Come one, come all,
to the greatest celebration of the year:
THE FESTIVAL OF THE BLAZING SUN!
Attendance and children required.
Rain or shine.
ALL WILL BE WELL!
--The Baron--

Not too far west from this town square, they would reach the center of Vallaki where they could find the Blue Water Inn, and if they were determined to press on immediately to the church, they could see at the eastern edge of the town the steeple of a church.
 
Sylvia
Vallaki Gates

"Vita. If you find no other cure, my axe shall be ready. Though know that even after all you've said to me I will take no pleasure in the one thing I can do to cure you.. permanently." Sylvia Eichendorf had answered, almost solemnly.
She seemed uncaring for the epxlanations about churches, having come from a nation with no use for religiosity.

The guards at the gates were finally, kind of, speaking more her language.
"If the rules are not clearly defined, seek clarification with your superior, until then you could grant us entry under prejudice? Having us loiter outside the gates is no good." She suggested. "Vita here could hide her inhuman apperance under hood and cloak to avoid unrest in the populance, if that finds your agreement!" She saluted briefly, fist on chest. You'd never do wrong with saluting.
"We will not disrupt the peace! Sir!" She repeated in loud affirmation, with lungs likely more potent than the sergeants, though she seemed a bit confused at the concept of a mandatory festival. She decided to salute again for good measure on their way in.

Sylvia, observing the peoples reaction, mused: "You should make haste to hide your apperance." while looking out for smitheys. The stockade-trapped people didn't cause her unease.. the donkey-heads did. "You punish criminals oddly here."
She pondered at the Festival annoucenemt placards. "Things are so strange here. We'd only celebrate victoriously fought wars. I ought to find out when this festival is and if there are any uniform requirements." She liked it here more than in the wildernis at least, but the place was still odd. Compared to Falkovnian military the soldiers here seemed.. mundane while common folk seemed to do.. just as they wanted, without goal or directions from a commander. Who told them how to act and think to keep them away from evil? Were it these festivals? "Perhaps the guard here is hiering.. they lacked a certain.. discipline though. A Falkovnian guard would have certainly arrested Vita for talking back. Why did you talk back at them actually? Must be the curse... Don't tell me you always speak that way to guards, do you want to be send to a work-camp.. wait.. you have those here, right? You must have, where else would you send criminals to serve the glory of their lord." She determined.
 
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"Mm, well, it's important to know my protectors are well-fed. I'd offer to have a meal paid for you two there instead... though, I imagine that could have some difficulties."


Later, as they were driving through the city, Esvele found to her displeasure that she didn't have to spend very long watching the crowd's reactions to Vita to come to the same conclusion that Sylvia did. "Perhaps we could find you a nice, wide-brimmed hat?" She chimed in to Vita. "It would keep the rain off should it start. Unlucky run-ins with bird droppings, as well." She added that last part hastily, mostly because she needed to suggest a reason for Vita to keep it on... and partially because she saw that pest of hers, Nevermore, come down to roost on a house's eave in the corner of her eye. She was so sure he did it on purpose... she sent him off to fly over the city towards the Morninglord's chapel, in case his Raven's eye spotted them anything of note, in any case.

She pulled the wagon to a stop outside of a few places - a smithy and a few hat shops, mostly - but for the most part made her way towards the Inn they'd been recommended. She inquired into a file and some cheap iron nails at a smithy, and a pouch some few stalls later on, making the purchase if she found anything reasonable. Hat-wise, she pointed out a few in the windows they passed - though she rather expected Vita not to take to any of the ones they passed, given their drab dying and Vita's distinctly un-drab raiment.


In response to Sylvia's comments when they made it to the square, the nun looked over at her and asked, "Should I expect you to realize that this isn't Falkovnia at any point in the future? I'm willing to bet almost every single person you were to ask here would have no inkling that Falkovnia even exists, just as you seem to be completely unaware that other places do, in fact, work differently."

The men distributing the poster didn't seem all that familiar to Esvele. She took a moment to recall if she'd seen him last time she'd passed through. It was entirely possible she hadn't, of course; Vallaki was enormous, and celebrations tended to be hazy for her - they were always excellent excuses to indulge herself in her cups. If she couldn't remember anything, she'd call Nevermore back, and have him follow the fellow for awhile, to see if he could learn anything about him.


The nun pulled up into the stablery at the inn. "Well, besides breakfast, we ought to perhaps learn something about what's been going on in the city in the... four or so days since I was here last. We should perhaps see what this festival is about, at least."
 
Vallaki

"Aye, a hat might suit her - and everyone's - peace of mind." The old guardsman stated, as he let the rest of them pass.

Along the way through town, there were a selection of hats (almost all of them black or brown) that could be used to help obscure Vita's head, but none of them were designed to perfectly make way for horns, such that the hats would likely either stick up absurdly, or Vita would need to poke holes in the hat to let her horns show through, which might defeat the point, unless it was meant to be played off as part of the hat.

Looking for her items, she found them for a price of 1gp total, with the file bearing the majority of the cost. A sympathetic shopkeeper who was a devout of the Morninglord threw in an extra four nails and his best wishes for the church.

"We could really use more help from the clergy here, miss. Hope you'll stick around to help Father Petrovich. He seemed a little stressed at his last sermon."

The men distributing the posters were not very familiar to her, but she did recall hearing about the Captain of the Vallaki guard being a large, harsh man with a strange, malformed arm. Straining her memory, she vaguely recalled that his first name might be Izek. Most people avoided him. Nevermore, the raven, took flight and soared over the town and found the church where she had remembered it would be. A not overly large structure compared to the Abbey, but still large enough to allow about 50 or so people to squeeze in and listen to the preaching of the dawn. There were people moving out and about the building, but nothing immediately surprising stood out to the raven familiar, so in time he returned and perched and sat on the broken fence post that the street light gloated oe'r, perched and sat and nothing more.

A young boy ran out and stabled the cart for Esvele, allowing the party to enter the Blue Water Inn....

Blue Water Inn

The Inn was a large, two story wooden building with a stone foundation and sagging roof tiles. Several ravens have perched atop it, and Nevermore flies up to join them, adding his caws to their chorus. A wooden sign hanging above the main entrance to the inn depicts a blue waterfall.

Outside the main door is an outside well, and an outer staircase to the right of the building leads up to the second floor. The door itself leads to a taproom, which is mostly empty at this time of the day, however not completely. Three men are sitting at the bar, eating porridge, while an elderly couple quietly eats boiled eggs in the corner. Also of note was a sixth individual, a colorfully dressed half-elf in a purple entertainer's hat with a white feather and a minstrel's jacket and leggings. He was seated alone, hunched over some soup.

At the bar is a woman in her mid thirties in a green and blue dress of good quality, with a high collar and three black feather's tied to a cord that does up the back of her hair into a bun. Her hair is black, with a silver streak down the middle. She looks as though she is the hostess this morning... although a you walk through the door, the bells of the St. Andral's church chime and announce the time as noon.

She nods to the group as they enter, and if they sit at a table, she approaches, telling your the prices for food and lodging.

"Good day to you. Welcome to our inn. Today we have eggs for 2cp each, beet soup with bread is a silver, wolf steak is an electrum. If you're interested in a room, it's one electrum per person, and it includes beet soup and bread.

"If you're interested in drinks, we have a pint of Purple Grapemash No. 3 wine for 3 coppers, or we have a pint of Red Dragon Crush wine for a silver."

"Now's the time to try it," says a deeper voice, as a black bearded man with silver streaks through both facial and cranial hair emerged from the door behind the bar. "Still no word nor sign of the delivery. Expecting in days ago..."

The man sighed, and took the woman's place near the new guests, giving the feather-haired woman a peck on the cheek.

"You go back to the stove, Danika my darling, I'll take care of the orders."

 
Sylvia
Blue water inn

"And I would thank you for telling me more about how this land works with your superior experience, had you done so." Sylvia stared at the proclaimed nun with a growing calm distance and decided to remain otherwise stoically silent. She had gotten rather good at the stoic silence after countless military drills, taking place at the table without removing her armor, which likely earned her a complaint from the chair.

Sylvia crossed her hands in thought before putting a genuine gold-coin with a falon prominently featured on the top side on the table. "I hope my currency will do here, else I'll have to offer to work here in assistance as payment. I'll have a room, good sir." She noded, then added, tilting her head.: "Also, I am looking for a smith capable of treating my axe for the hunt of cursed wolf-men, can you describe the way to take for me, I fear I would get helplessly lost in this strange town." She nodded, then added:
"You're missing a delivery, you said? What is your theory for what could have happened to it? Perhaps a matter to alarm the guard about, no?"
 
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