The door initially resists Thalia's push, but a harder one breaks the seal with a crack. The door slides open, sagging and grinding against the wooden floor, leaving a groove in the decayed wood. The stench of mildew erupts from the open door, as Thalia peers into the dark hall. It is silent. Dreadfully so. From the light of the outside, Thalia can just barely make out the destroyed remains of a chapel beyond the hall, and four doors that line the hall, two on each side.

Thalia sighs... if this church was haunted, she would definitely need to give Ismark a piece of her mind for sending her on this trip. The woman steps into the church as quietly as possible. She will explore the rooms and next the church. Ransacking an abandoned church was probably not in her favor, but she hoped the gods wouldn't mind. She is looking for a door that leads to the cemetery out back.

(Stealth check for luls 18)

The first door on the left leads to a dirty, room, as lightless as the rest of the church, with a wooden bed bearing a straw-filled matress. Above the bed hangs a wooden holy symbol resembling a rising sun. The next room on the left is another similarly-adorned bedroom. The first door on the right is just about empty, save for a heavy-looking wooden trapdoor in the far corner. It bears a thick lock and chain, but the lock is open. The second door on the right leads into an office space. An old desk and chair lean against the south wall, with another holy symbol hanging above them. Upon the desk there is a small leather-bound book, a quill, and an inkpot. There is a ten-foot-long wooden rod attached to the north wall, implying that a tapestry once sat there. Against the east door stands a wooden cabinet with four tall doors.

[Resisting the urge to meta myself into the basement LOL]

Thalia, deeply curious, heads to the leather book and flips it open on the desk. She would like to take a peek at what it might be. She figured it might be a journal, which possibly wouldn't be helpful, but there was a chance it could be a church record. Thalia wanted to see the record of Ismark's sister, if there were any. It might help her find the grave a bit sooner.

The book nearly falls apart as Thalia cracks it open. It clearly hasn't been touched for years. Scanning over the most recently inked pages, Thalia's interest is instantly piqued. Most of the entries are nothing more than a few scratches in barely legible handwriting, which is not aided by the book's age, and many are separated by months or even years at a time.

(TW: SH, if you're not comfortable reading it I can give you a TL;DR. Just want to be careful.)

 That is the last entry. The very last page is marred with several circles of unusually raised paper. Where they intersect with the writing, the ink has run. It seems whoever was writing this was either crying, or sweating profusely while writing. Given Barovia's chilly clime, the former explanation looks to be more likely.

[TY for the warning, this is in the range of what I can handle. I am good with most things as long as I have a warning, esp with regards to SA]

Thalia takes in a deep breath as she reads the last few entries and exhales through her nostrils. It wasn't marked down for sure, but, it doesn't take a genius to understand this Doru, the writer's son, was probably turned into a vampire. Apparently whatever Thalia needed wouldn't be found in the grave. That much she inferred from the text given what the father wrote about Ismark and Ireena, his sister. However, her stomach twisted in knots. The writer used the sword to feed this vampire son... and now what?

The woman slowly closes the book and takes a few steps back, looking over her shoulder with fearful eyes. Where was the writer? What happened to him? She didn't think anyone was here... Thalia looks out into the hallway and into the main part of the church. She really, really hoped the sword was there and not in the basement. With that hope in hand, she stalked into the church proper.

The chapel is a shambles, with overturned and broken pews littering the dusty floor. Dozens of candles mounted in candlesticks and candelabras are scattered around every dusty corner, but all are burnt out now. At the far end of the church sits a claw-scarred altar and a small clearing, but no sword can be seen. The altar bears yet another holy symbol carved into it, the same sunrise seen everywhere else. It is empty.

Thalia slumps to the ground in exasperation as she lets out a long sigh, a breath she didn't realize she held for the last minute. "Ahh, please... don't tell me it's down there..." She turns her head to look down the hallway. She knew exactly where to go given it was the only door that seemed to lead downward. Still, going into the dark basement of a church in ruins that definitely housed a vampire at one point... That couldn't be safe. 

She slapped her hands to her cheeks and closed her eyes. Focus, Thalia, focus. Its probably been a long time, right? That vampire isn't here... probably! Steeled once again, Thalia walks to the room with the trapdoor, but she does take some time to inspect the room for anything interesting. If there is nothing of interest... she will open the trapdoor while also making a sign of her faith.

The trapdoor is unlocked, and opens with a heavy thump. Inside, there is only darkness, and a flight of stairs leading down, down, into... well, Thalia isn't quite sure. The darkness seems to reach out at her, call to her, almost drag her into it. She can see nothing, and hear even less.

Staring into the void... Thalia chickens out. She slams the door shut and takes a big breath. "No way! I can't... I can't just go in there! Ahhh!"

Thinking to herself and how she chickened out, she has a thought. "Oh... what if I bring a chicken... Maybe I can throw it at the vampire and it will be distracted...?" Thalia understands this is probably not going to help entirely, but if a chicken could buy her a minute, maybe it's all she needed. 

With that, Thalia plans a hasty retreat and will return to the village proper... in search of a way to buy livestock! 

[If such a thing is even possible!]

Thalia thinks back to her own village of Wodensgate. Back home, one could hardly walk down the street without bumping into a chicken roaming the street, and the air was oft alive with the sound of bleats, grunts and clucks, as well as with the smell of the creatures emitting those sounds. But here, in Barovia... Thalia comes to a startling realization. Not once has she seen, heard, or smelt any form of livestock. Indeed, the only sign she's received of any animal life in this place is the baleful call of a raven. Even in the tavern, whereas the Henhouse was filled with the smell of cooking meat, the chicken and potato stew her father was so renowned for, and other such aromatic meals, the only scent in the Blood of the Vine was that of booze and dampness. The only food she saw was some sort of greyish porridge, which certainly didn't look as if it contained meat. Or, for that matter, any ingredient other than barely edible depression. Thalia imagines that outside of the village, there must be farms that provide whatever the Barovians ate, but she has seen no evidence of such things so far. Still, the tavern seems like the logical start to find livestock of some sort, if it even exists here.

Thalia gulps at the bleakness of the situation. Surely, someone had to eat meat here? Aside from monsters at least. The memory of Wodensgate created such a stark contrast between this village and her home. It wasn't always great, but there was warmth and light to be found everywhere. So far... Thalia couldn't sense the same feelings here. 

She walked to the tavern, trying to remember where it was. As she walks, she keeps her eyes out for signs of animal life. Not that she will throw a dog down there, but she was curious... could it really only be humans around here? Thinking of it now, she hadn't seen anyone yet who wasn't human. It wasn't totally abnormal for a small village, but even the tavern might entertain a dwarf or elf. Her brows furled 

As she travels, she sees nothing, and hears nothing. Nothing more than that same crowing raven, seemingly everpresent. Almost taunting her. This place seems almost dead, or at the very least waiting to die, but never quite reaching that point. But wait, what's this? A rhythmic creaking interrupts Thalia's thoughts, as a new sound joins the raven's call. A wooden cart is slowly being pushed across the street by a shriveled old woman dressed in drab clothes. She looks up at Thalia with a sparsely-toothed grin as she wheels past, the most beautiful scent wafting up from the cart.

"Hello, dear," she creaks in a similar tone and timbre to the cart she pushes, "What's the rush?"

A shiver passed through Thalia's spine. She wrapped herself up in her arms for a moment, before shifting into a more comfortable position. This village sure was chilly... She smiled at the old woman, who seemed kind enough. "Oh, hello ma'am. I'm sorry for running around. I was hoping to buy, uh, livestock? You wouldn't happen to know where such a thing is sold, would you?"

Moments after the words left her lips, Thalia felt another chill. What she just said definitely exposed her as an outsider to this town. She hoped this woman wouldn't be frightened of her. 

The woman smiles, revealing a mouth full of rotting brown teeth. It's a pitying smile, as if Thalia was a foolish child that just asked when their doggy was coming back from the farm. "Oh, darling. No. No. Of course not. In this poor town? The only things people eat here are whatever little roots and grains they can grow, and the occasional wolf." Well, that would certainly explain these people's decidedly unhealthy complexion and general malnourishment. "Meat... meat is not something easy to come by around here. That is why my pies are so popular! That's right!" She opens the top of her cart, revealing carefully wrapped pies, stacked on top of each other, letting off the most mouthwateringly delicious scent Thalia has ever experienced. "Real meat pies!"

Thalia's stomach grumbles, but she does consider these pies closely. She thinks to herself, would a vampire eat a meat pie? Is that... close enough??

"You know, I think I may purchase one. How much might one be?"

"Just one gold, dear. You won't regret it!"

Thalia digs into her pockets and finds her coin purse. She plucks a gold out and holds it out to the old woman with a smile. "I hope this works, uh, I'm from out of town, so, I don't know if I have the right currency..."

"Gold is gold, dear!" With that, the old woman snatches the coin, deftly pocketing it. She fishes around in her cart, pulling out a nicely wrapped pie. She hands it to Thalia, and then goes on her merry way, pushing her cart and whistling to herself. The pie smells... delicious. Certainly better than any scent Thalia has encountered thus far in this grey pit of misery. 

Thalia stares daggers at this pie. She had a secret weakness... for pastries. Her eyes moved from the pie to the old woman moving down the street. What a kind old lady, maybe this place isn't all that bad... Thalia looked back to the pie. She found herself wanting to eat it... but she remembered the vampire in the basement problem. She steeled her nerves... or attempted to anyway!

[I decided for fun to roll a wisdom save, and I rolled a 1 + 2 so...]

Despite herself, Thalia convinces herself that a little nibble couldn't hurt. She took a small piece of the pie out, mostly crust, and took a bite from it.