#alexir

Nick talking with the three at the table learned that the Half Elf was a Bard named Rictavio, who was staying at the inn on an extended stay, the gentleman to his side was Vasili von Holtz, and the woman was a strong blacksmith named Mira who was originally from Krezk but had been in Vallaki studying under excellent tutelage of Arasek, a tradesman in town. Rictavio had an air for the dramatic, and while talking with Nick, looked out the window as he saw the already bleak sky darken, and rushed out with a wolf steak and two apples in hand. While this happened, Cash chatted with the two men, to find they were Nikolai and Karl Wachter, two noblemen who were anything but. They were already drunk and had been making passes at the waitstaff all night, and Cash managed to impress him with his musical talents enough for a free drink or two.

Dinner was Wolf Steak for the grand majority of the group and Borscht for Chiaroscuro, with Kenshi eating two steaks practically rare. Asking Danika for any information she might have as a barkeep, she hemmed and hawed over the new festival coming up in town, how it was a silly thing as they were just cleaning up from last festival. She also spoke of a few things from the other towns, one being the news from the town of Barovia that there was a serial killer afoot, a person known as the Ripper who had been rumored nearly 20 miles over. She also spoke on Krezk, how it had been unusually silent as of late, but Krezk was also quite insular so it could be nothing.

Chiaroscuro made idle conversation with Alexir, wondering to how his background went, and Alexir explained how shifters are and commented on how Strahd was the cause of his whole family's death. Kenshi sat and listened with rapt attention, soon after looking up as Rictavio returned, steakless and apple shorn, out of breath with a cut on his cheek that had not been there prior.

Cash asked about the Wachter brother's past, and they rather curtly told of their mother, Fiona Wachter, how she was a noble woman in town, and how they're out of the house because she constantly had her book club coming and going and they were sick of it. Chiaroscuro asked Danika if she knew anything of the area discussing the tower he had been told of for his fortune, but she questioned which tower, as there was one that was to the west of the town that had been there for as long as she could remember, and then there was the new one that sprung up a little while ago to the east, nigh on fully formed and looking indescribable upon viewing it over the horizon.

Looking him up and down, Cash was easily able to determine that Rictavio was a bard here, and he questioned the cut upon his cheek. He explained it was probably from rushing over here, as he had been visiting his friend the poor, destitute toy maker. Chiaroscuro and Nick looked intrigued at the thought of a toy maker, but Rictavio commented that the items that Blinksy made were rather... questionable. One of the children practically popped out of nowhere and showed Kenshi one of the toys he had from Blinksy, a bat taxidermy that had been fashioned into a marionette with strings. Kenshi was delighted at the sight, happily taking the toy for himself when offered it.

Nick asked where Vasili, the sad, quiet man sitting and drinking with Mira and Rictavio, was from, and he explained he was from Vallaki but traveled a lot lately due to his brother being locked away for accidentally killing Vasili's betrothed. Nick didn't fully trust this story, but nothing seemed amiss from Vasili's words, and they didn't know the history of the country, or town for that matter.

The Wachter Brothers had made a bet saying if Cash could impress them, they'd pay for their stay in the inn tonight, and Cash delivered with a rightfully impressive display of his Bard skills, leaving the room astonished and Rictavio incredibly impressed.

“Well, the lot you see before you. A mixture of fur and horn.

We came her from far about upon some foggy morn.

The doctor standing there behind me. Lacking beside manner and tact?

Has claws as sharp as his wits and is always primed for the attack.

The fellow there with chest bare and with ears that twitch and thwip?

Why had I not seen it myself I would hardly believe it but he slayed a bloodsucker with a whip.

And this one besides me, with eyes blocked by glass?

A blade of magic, thrown about, can easily kick ones ass.

Over there, with many eyes, staring the whole group down?

Why he's got magic of such power and flame that it is of some great renown.

And me? Why there's nothing to say. Merely some lad from Waterdeep.

Though, I hate to brag. My own magic can put a few down for a permanent sleep.” (Credit to @lonestarcelt)

Not long after Rictavio, Vasili, and the two Wachter brothers started to head to their own places for the night, Cash following the brothers as the rest of the group took two rooms for themselves. Nick and Ireena in one small room together, and Chiaroscuro, Kenshi, and Alexir took another, with a spare bed in there for Cash. Thankfully he had that bed, as when he approached the Wachterhaus, he was rebuffed at the door by one of the butlers that Lady Wachter employs. The butler, looking down to Cash, gave him the suggestion that he choose better companions than the young masters of the house, and sent him home. Cash memorized the directions to the manor on his way back to the Inn.

Upon reaching the camp they came across a hurried scene, as Vistana were running to and fro. The group met with a man who seemed to be delegating the lot, sending out teams into the forest and beyond. They learned from this man, Arrigal, that his niece Anabelle was missing, and that no one had been able to find her for half the day at least. Over half the Vistani that lived in the encampment were out searching, including several Dusk Elves, the likes of which the group had only read about due to the rumors they had died out long ago. Arrigal asked for their assistance in finding her, describing her as a little girl in a yellow sun dress and ribbon. While Nick was suspicious of the description, Chiaroscuro proffered that he could help track her with the help of Flicker the Shadowember Cat, who could perceive scents better than anyone in the party could. Arrigal had a young Vistana teen bring out a spare ribbon that Anabelle wore in her hair, and Flicker gave it a healthy sniff before leading the group back to town.

Heading north, the party left through the gate to Lake Zarovich, where they had heard earlier that day from Lady Petrovna that the wolves have been more active in the area of the lake. As they came to the edge of the water, they couldn't see anything save for the small row boats at the shore and one in the water, with a man fishing within. The party got in two, Alexir and Kenshi in one rowboat, Cash, Nick, and Chiaroscuro in the other, and both rowed out towards the man in the middle of the lake.

Approaching him, the group asked how he was doing, but upon speaking the words, the man seemed to be in a daze. He didn't respond, instead slowly lifted a large, tied off burlap sack over the water and dropped it into the lake's frigid waters below. Kenshi sprung into action, leaping into the water and diving quickly to save whatever was trapped within the bag. He reached out, fingers barely grazing to grab the strings of the sack, bringing it to the surface a few seconds after diving in. Alexir threw a dagger at the man in the boat and knocked him out easily as Kenshi brought the girl out of the bag while he climbed into the boat. Cash connected the man's boat to the one he and Chiaro and Nick were rowing and both boats headed back to shore.

While en route to the shore, Kenshi explained where he was from to Anabelle, who was a precocious and curious thing. In the opposite boat, Chiaroscuro and Nick had a conversation using Nick's Psychic Whispers, where the Elf-ish rogue explained that they were from north of Waterdeep and that they had a sister just like Chiaro that they're very fond of. The moment passed once they got to the shore and questioned the man in the boat, who had started to come to from the intense shock to his system.

The man introduced himself as Bluto Krogarov, who had heard a tale that if one would sacrifice something to the lake, they'd be blessed with fish. He took advantage of Anabelle being there where she wasn't supposed to be, seeing her as a missing Vistana child in the middle of town where Vistani children are not allowed to be. The party left him at the north gate, informing the guards there that he had attempted to murder a child for fish, and headed back south to the Vistani camp, Anabelle in tow.

When she arrived home, the party met her father, a large, mountainous man named Luvash, who carried her around everywhere with him now that she returned home to him. He offered the group a gift of treasure as thanks, along with allowing Willemina and Udo to stay with them no questions asked, as they had been willing to save the one thing in the world he cared for. Simultaneously, he also asked the group for help, as their wine supply was low and the Vistani group were growing dry. He requested they go west to check out the Wizard of Wines, to see if anything was holding up their allotted shipment. The party, serendipitously, was already en route to the same place, so offered to check it out for them as well.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Upon arriving to the sad, sagging building, one could only imagine how it looked in its heyday. The man leading the group here knocked on the door and a tall, attractive butler that Cash had met prior opened the door, allowing them all inside. The group were directed towards the dining room, which conjoined with the parlor, where Lady Wachter sat at the head of the table, expecting them.

The spread in front of her was lavish, the china fine, and the silverware sterling. Turkey, rabbit, pork, a meat loaf made from ground beef, and delicious vegetables and fruits all lined the table's many plates as she allowed them all to dig in. Chiaroscuro abstained from eating due to being full from cakes and tea earlier in the day.

As the group ate, Lady Wachter proffered them a job, which was the reasoning for her missive towards them. She asked their opinion on the Burgomaster, Vargas, lamenting on how horrid his treatment of the city, and even his wife was. She also made mention about how it had been rumored that two servants of Vargas' had gone missing recently, and that she was becoming frustrated with the onslaught of festivals and parties and gatherings that the Vallakovich family were putting on. She asked if anyone they knew shared her sentiment on those festivals, and it was known to the group that many people were finding it hard to handle wave after wave of forced happiness, not only that but the last festival left a rather large swath of children without parents to care for them.

In this, she asked the group if it would be possible for them to do away with Vallakovich all together, as his actions and subsequent reactions to certain folks showed his color all too well. His farcical "All will be well" chant was causing more and more people to fall into a dismal strife from their desires and the factual real world.

This request took the whole group by surprise, and they questioned Lady Wachter's plans after Vargas' death. She informed them that she'd take over leadership, as Victor was no Burgomaster, and the power vacuum would lead to chaos in the streets. Nick asked what qualifications she had when it came to leading a town, and she listed proudly her running a quite successful book club, the fact that she was one of the few noble houses in town, and the fact that she was, by all accounts, a practical and intelligent woman whose only better at this task would have been her husband had he not died a few years prior. She also informed them that a signing bonus of 500 gold pieces would be rewarded to the group if they decided to take the job, and another 2500 gold pieces upon killing Vargas and his bodyguard. The sound of the gold caused Cash to perk up in interest.

She asked that the group think on it, and Kenshi relayed that after the festival would be the best time for them to come and give her their answer. She looked disappointed, as she wished to have this done prior to the festival in two days, but if that was the case, she allowed them to leave. The butler lead the rest of them outside and they were left to think on the situation that lay before them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Leaving the old man behind, Kenshi met up with Nick, who had traveled up the stairs to keep an eye on him. Nick opened the door to the left room, allowing Flicker to run out of the room and bounding down the stairs. The two took a quick look within, and both came to the conclusion whatever was in there was not a problem currently, and that the group should head home with the bag of bones before it got too late. Alexir broke the door down to the back of the shop, letting Flicker jump into Chiaroscuro's arms, and then back within the lantern. Cash took a look around the shop to double check they weren't missing anything, and the group decided to head back to the Church.

On the way home, Chiaroscuro noticed that they were being followed, a figure in a dark cloak had been writing something down in a notebook. Unable to make out who or what they were, he brought Flicker back out and held him with his stomach against his chest so that he could see through the Embercat's eyes to make sure the person had not followed further. Getting only a glimpse of glasses and a beard wasn't much to go off of, however. Upon reaching the Church, Father Petrovich looked over and welcomed the group back, surprised they had finished so quickly with his task. They brought the bag back to the Priest's office in the back of the Church, and as he was counting out the bones, Chiaroscuro had described the sights in the spare room, and also the person following them. The Priest informed them that it sounded like Ernst Lanark, one of the men who worked for Lady Fiona Wachter, but he couldn't be sure one way or another. All the same, the group had finished his task, and he went to go bring the bones back to their holy niche.

While Father Petrovich was tending to the Church, the group brought Ireena back into the office with them to inform her that there might be a problem with her staying in town, as there's a man who has been obsessed with her, forcing the Toymaker to make disturbing dolls in her likeness. This information left her reeling, and unable to really come to a consensus. Either she be left in the Church indefinitely, a prison unlike her mansion in the Village of Barovia, or she walk around, unable to be safe without constantly looking over her shoulder. They all decided, Ireena in tow, to go to the Inn for a quick bite to eat and to talk things through.

Entering the Inn, Danika welcomed them back again, and offered them some warm soup, which everyone but Nick agreed upon (Nick had received some dried offal that Ismark had cured from Chiaroscuro on the walk there). The group had sat down to discuss the following days in town. As the Festival of the Burning Sun was brought up, and they remembered that attendance was Mandatory, the worry for Ireena's safety was once again at hand. If her attendance was necessary, so was Strazni's, and if he saw her, the group didn't want to think about what could happen to her if that occurred. Danika, overhearing this, proffered a wooden mask that they had worn in a past festival, hiding Ireena's face and giving her an easy disguise to wear upon the festival date.

Everyone came to the consensus that the Festivals were... quite disturbing, along with Strazni's actions, so they decided to drop Ireena off back at the Church, and head to the Burgomaster's Manor to discuss the issues with him. Before heading off, Cash and Alexir went to check on Snowflake, who had been taken to the back of the Inn, tended to by Urwin Martikov. He introduced himself to them and asked a favor of them and their group going to check on the winery. The Inn's supply was running dry and soon they would be out of wine entirely, and the shipment is three weeks late. He couldn't go himself and leave his wife and sons alone to run the inn, so he was asking help of the good Paladin of Tyr. Alexir said that he would bring it up and see if they could work it into their plans, and Urwin understood, grateful for that at least.

While the others were dealing with a strange mountain of a man, Chiaroscuro and Alexir were helping acclimate Ireena to her new role, Chiaroscuro assisting in mending the orphan children's clothing while Alexir took a break from the mental stress by sitting in a pew a bit away's from the pulpit. Father Petrovich sits with Alexir, and the two chat a bit about their tiefling companion, Chiaro. He mentions that he was a bit surprised, because he thought the air of holy energy he felt was radiating of Alexir, but no, Father Petrovich said it came from Chiaro. Alexir mentioned he never felt anything of the sort, but agreed that there was something special about the man. Petrovich agreed, telling Alexir to keep an eye on him, as he could see some awe inspiring things from the young man.

As Father Petrovich stood, the rest of the group walked in, toys in hand for the others, and everyone took refuge in the Priest's back office to discuss the happenings. Nick, Cash, and Kenshi informed Chiaro and Alexir of Strazni, told them how he had been seeing Ireena in his dreams and he had been forcing Blinksy to make Dolls of her for months now, and

Chiaroscuro, who had been making a bit of headway with the orphans, was voluntold to discuss the bones with Yeska with the new toy that the group had bought for him and the rest of the orphans, a moderate sized puppet show with marionettes of a king, a queen, a prince, a princess, an executioner, a tax collector, a dunce, a vampire, and a vampire hunter. Chiaroscuro did so, with some coaching from Nick and the group who used their Psychic Whispers technique, using the toy with Yeska to discuss difficult topics like the death of his parents to the Wolf's Head Jamboree, and also how scared he was and what to do to combat this fear. Yeska confirmed Father Petrovich's suspicion that Milivoj had been the one he had told about the bones, and the group set outside to confront the surly teen about them.

It had started to rain a bit as they left the building, and Milivoj was digging a grave in the wet mud. He allowed the group to help him out of the hole, and as he was interrogated, everyone could see he was simply a stressed, tired, frustrated teen who was working so hard to support his family after his parent's had passed. They asked who hired him to steal the bones of Saint Andral, and he informed them of the Coffin Maker, Henrik van der Voort. When asked how much he was offered to steal them, Milivoj reluctantly said that he'd get fifty gold pieces for the bones, enough money to last his family a while. After getting the rest of the necessary details from the boy, Chiaro offered five gold pieces to him to help him out for the next while. When everyone else had started to leave, Cash flipped him one of the Gold Rings from the Death House, Milivoj catching it deftly in the air, and told the lad that while he understood doing whatever was possible for money, to avoid bad jobs for bad coin. Milivoj agreed, and left to go inside away from the rain.

The group made the plan, approach the Coffin Maker's home, Kenshi will enter the shop as a possible customer, Cash will use Disguise Self to pass as Milivoj asking for his money, and, the rest will enter where they could to get the bones. Unfortunately for them, upon approaching the building, the group were forced away upon knocking, Henrik van der Voort being a gruff, antisocial old cretin. While Cash began to use Disguise Self on himself, Chiaroscuro asked for a boost up to attempt to see into the second floor from Alexir, and while barely, he could see through the barred and slatted windows into a dark room filled with boxes and supplies. He summoned Flicker in the center of the room, his eyes glassing over to be able to see through his Familiar's sights, and looked around through Flicker to find anything close to the bones. All the while Cash's Milivoj disguise was applied, and he was able to get inside the front office of the Coffin Maker's home, demanding his money from the old man.

Nick entered the room after checking to see if the three others were awake, informing them that Ireena was still asleep from last night's binging episode. Kenshi, shirtless and sweating, entered the room as they revealed that information and went to go check on their ward. Ireena awoke with a splitting headache and Kenshi checking in on her, and joined the people in the other room to chat, ask about the cat that Chiaroscuro had named Flicker, and inquiring about possibly heading out to get some food. Nick asked Rictavio if there was anywhere that they could get some food this early, seeing as how the inn wasn't open for a while longer, and he informed them that the Church of St. Andral had morning services and there they offered food for the less fortunate. Ireena had requested they attempt to find the Church anyways so that she could request sanctuary, and they headed out to the street.

On the way there, Chiaro asked Alexir how it was that he was able to use healing magic so easily, and Alexir explained that it was just something he was able to do as a part of his training as a Knight of the Order, but that it flowed through him easily and was inherent to his skills. Chiaro asked then if he could attempt with Alexir's still pained hand, and upon channeling his magic, Alexir noticed that Chiaro's horns twitched and he accidentally caused more harm to Alexir's hands with his untamed magical ability. Alexir tended to his newer pain in his prior injured hand, and the rest of the group teased them both for their PDA.

Upon reaching the Church, they saw it was equally as old as the one in Barovia, and peering inside they made out what seemed to be twenty or so odd folks with the Priest at the front leading a sermon, Altar Boy at his side holding a ladle as people came up for warm bowls of what appeared to be a cream based broth. The group came up at the end of the Priest's words on the Morning Lord, and he soon addressed them, new faces among his flock and so many unusual ones at that. Ireena asked him for his sanctuary, and he happily offered it, even offering her a job as a teacher to some of the orphan children like the Altar Boy they had gotten food from (whom they learned was named Yeska). He however, asked the group for their help, and took them into a side room to discuss things further.

The Priest, whom they learned was named Father Lucian Petrovich, was the only one up until a few weeks ago who knew of the reasoning as to why the Church of St. Andral had been so well protected for so long, and that was due to the bones of the Saint Andral that lay beneath the altar, hollowing the ground around them. He informed them that Yeska was a very frightened child and had been suffering terribly from nightmares, and so he told the boy he had nothing to fear with the blessing they stood atop from Saint Andral and his sacred remains. Not long after this, the bones had been absconded from their resting place, and while the Priest had his thoughts as to who did it, he did not want to point fingers and make this all public before the big town festival that was in a few days. Father Petrovic was under the impression that it was his gravedigger who took the bones, a slightly older boy named Milivoj, who had a bad temper and attitude and had been acting a little suspicious as of late. He didn't want to cause him to go into a rage, and so he didn't outright accuse him. Kenshi asked of any other new members of his flock, and he spoke of a woman named Willemina Rikalova who had started to come to see her son be saved as he had been arrested for defying the laws of the Burgomaster, Vargas Vallakovich.

With information in hand, Alexir and Chiaroscuro asked to stay behind and assist with the duties in the Church and helping Ireena with her settling in, as Nick, Kenshi, and Cash all went to head down the road to Blinksy's Toys.

Upon reaching the building, they could barely see within the dirty glass windows, opting to walk in. As they entered, Kenshi was able to Catch a Projectile toy in mid air as everyone looked up to see a small monkey in a dirty pink tutu climbed amongst the shelves of weird, macabre toys. Almost immediately after, a large, portly man in a moth eaten jester's cap and frock came out, scolding the monkey. He, noticing the rest of the group, offered his sales pitch, and the party spent a bit of time asking Blinksy questions while perusing his strange wares. Here they notice a doll in the likeness of Ireena Kolyana, their charge, and they questioned whom it was for, Cash transforming into a near identical version of her to give him an idea as to how she looked. Blinksy informed them of a strange, terrifying man named Strazni who demands the toy maker to make these dolls once a month at risk of his life and his shop. Blinksy tells him he's probably doing the Burgormaster's orders in the middle of town, as he was Vallakovich's right hand man and bodyguard. Everyone bought a few toys from Blinksy, who thanked them all with a sloppy cry, and the three left the shop a little lighter on coin and with an intent to head to the center of town to see this man for themselves.