Lucian relaxes upon seeing that his words...well they might have helped? In either case they hadn't made anything worse, so that was good. When Lenn speaks up, drawing Lucian's attention he watches the Paladin leave with some concern. What was so pressing that he had to leave before they had spoken to Blinsky? He nearly offers to go with him, to help him if he needs it...but before he can Lenn is gone from the building.
Turning back to the others, Lucian nods as Eithne talks, "Yeah...he honestly was a little scary at first. ...mostly cause he just showed up out of nowhere and then...didn't talk much at first. But he's actually really nice!" Lucian glances back in the direction that Lenn had gone before letting out a quiet sigh.
He is glad that Bran decides to stay with them, and hopes that they can help him out as well on whatever missions they embark on next. He is a little surprised when Blinsky pulls out a raven puppet...that's got to be some sort of coincidence right? Shrugging, he follows the group back into the room with the circle and awkwardly fishes his puppet out of his pack. He'll take whatever seat is left for him, as he's the last person into the room.
He waits for Eithne to be finished speaking nodding as she tells her story, and bowing his head slightly at the mention of Onika. He can't help but feel like he should have been able to do better. But if she had really been whisked away...by a vampire if Nikolai was correct...then there really hadn't been much he could do.
He also notices that Eithne left out the part where...one of '"The Pure Idiot's" party members had stolen Chara's wolf pup. Perhaps Eithne hadn't wanted to bring up that memory for Chara...but it was a little late for that considering all her talk about Ichabod. On the other hand, perhaps it wasn't a super important detail. ...Yet he can't help but feel like...if that girl is important, shouldn't Blinsky know that she is traveling with someone who has the capability of doing such an awful thing?
After staring at his puppet for a moment, he puts it on and prepares himself for that...rather unsettling voice that had come from it last time. Sure enough, when the puppet speaks its voice is deep and in spite of the tone of Lucian's thoughts, the voice is rather sinister. "Uh...I...I'm not sure if this is the most important detail...but I thought we should bring up that...that the uh, the bearded child at least managed to steal one of our wolf pups around the same time that Onika went missing..." He pauses, unsure of how to go about describing how he knows this information. But he'd already started explaining this so he'll just have to figure it out, "I...I just thought it was worth mentioning. Somehow he managed to take something from us without Eithne or I noticing, even though the pup had been close to us all night. I don't know if it was him who had anything to do with what happened to Onika, or at least what had allowed them both to move undetected, but...he's dangerous, and he's part of the party the girl is traveling with." He nods to the doll that Eithne had retrieved (if she managed to get one).
Feeling suddenly silly for bringing this up, he decides to turn his attention to the newcomer, "Uh...hi. I'm Lucian. What's your name?"
Bran follows everybody and finds himself seated before he's even aware of it, still thinking as he was about Blinsky's warning regarding his family's safety. That's why he pays little attention at the beginning and is instead examining the raven toy.
When Blinsky explains that he can name him, he thinks for a while and, out of original ideas, he just names him "black". He speaks a little Elvish so he chooses the word in that language.
- I'll name you Dubh. Hey, Dubh - he says.
And then returns his attention to the group, noticing there's an unknown human in the room. That must be the newcomer Blinsky mentioned.
"A newcomer. Wonder if Lenn will mistrust him as much as he mistrusts me", he thinks.
To his dismay, the raven toy speaks exactly that aloud.
"Damn!", he thinks while looking at the paladin, "now he's gonna dislike me even more".
- Damn! Now he's gonna dislike me even more - repeats the raven.
The bard just facepalms, wishing he could just disappear into thin air.
Vlad, Eithne's puppet, tries to console Bran with his gravelly voice, making some hoarse sounds that are probably his version of 'giggle': "Don't worry too much! Lenn can't stand you just because you're nicer than him - but sooner or later he'll have to get over it! To let the puppet speak thoughts aloud without wanting to, it is something that happened to almost all of us, the first time we used the puppets! When I did it, just think that my Voices chose that very moment to start talking all together in my mind... I let you imagine the cacophony that came out of Vlad's mouth!"
And in proof of everything, voices begin to moan in the head of the last of the dusk elf maidens: 'You always have the best anecdotes, huh, about us, Eithne?' 'It was just because we didn't know! Now we are more careful!' 'Hush girls, otherwise it happens again, Vlad is active!' And many others...
The result? Vlad utters something like: "Yitshalwsirls causetherve wetheithapwedithe beknnsagadotenow Vladhuhweabore uscareis Eithfultivene" before the savage stranger mutes it, letting out a sigh of resignation which is probably intended to mean 'What did I tell you?'
Lenn, with his vampire puppet on his lap smirks at Barn’s problems with the puppet. “As you can see” says this puppet. The voice warm and welcoming. He looks at it for a second, the vampire looks back at him. “Don’t be so surprised.” The puppets says to his owner “You are in total control now, not it. Not for now…”
Lenn nods and turns again towards Bran.
”As I was about to say… you can see by Eithne’s puppet and mine that we do not have total control over it. In fact, it is just the second time we used them. Please forgive me if I was suspicious. Now you know the motives. Now you understand. You have a brave soul Bran. I would had advised you against joining us and would had helped you going back to your family but I guess that in the end it’s the best choice for your family. Still you have a brave heart. You are one of us now. My doubts are gone and I apologize. We are embarked in a dangerous quest. Now… you are to be welcomed to our circle of conspirators “ the puppet and Lenn moves to glance the other man “ I am glad to see that our numbers grow…”
At Eithne’s mention of “pure idiot” the newest member turns toward the elf to attention, before realizing she wasn’t talking about him. He smells like a the smoking section of a Waffle House and leaves a dust cloud whenever he moves not unlike that one Peanuts character. Either ash has coated the skin beneath his leather cloak or he is really, really white. (Clearly the Barovian version of that one kid who hasn’t left his high school goth phase .) He is accompanied by a toothy wolf puppet.
“Did you ask the bird why it sent you there?” His wolf hand puppet inquires in a Christian Bale Batman voice. “Did it say if it was a threat or a warning?”
"The crow did not speak to us..." remembers Eithne (and Vlad tells) "Maybe it was not able to. I fail to see what a warming it could be, showing us our bodies hanged, but It is a possibility, however".
Bran smiles appreciatively at Eithne and shows surprise when her voices speak though Vlad.
- Wow...! That's a lot to handle, Eithne. Caw! - Dubh says.
Shocked by Lenn's unexpected response, he doesn't know how to reply at first. It's like he was a different person from an hour ago and the bard wonders what could have he done when he exited the store to have achieved such a change. It could not have been only due to him signing the paper, could it? The puppet said something about "being in control", so perhaps this was related to that "darkness" each of them have? In any case, Bran nods appreciatively to Lenn's words.
- Thank you, Lenn. Caw! I do hope you're right. Caw! Caw!
Turning his attention back to the group, he sees the human has not given his name when Lucian asked. So he tries again:
- I at least do not have the ability to speak to animals, sadly. Caw! My name is Bran, by the way. What's yours? Will you be joining us in whatever it is we are doing? Caw! Speaking of that - the puppet now asks Blinsky and the rest of the group -what are we involved with? I see that you found a book on the graveyard ... May I know what is it for? Caw? Caw?
"It was a book giving the history of the events leading to the Count's damnation" explains Eithne through Vlad's cold voice "Van Ritchen - Blinsky told you of him? - thought that we needed the information in that book if we wished to destroy the Devil Stradh".
- No, I don't know anything of this Van Ritchen. Blinksy and I didn't enter into details before I signed. So, this is all about the Count? Ooo...kaaay. Damn. Big target.
Dubh caws once more and then stays silent while his owner realizes the enormity of the task ahead.
Lucian stares at the newcomer for a moment, glancing from his face to the wolf puppet and wondering why Blinsky had chosen a wolf for this person and a crow for Bran. The crow strangely made sense, did that mean that the wolf was somehow symbolic too? Or could it be that it was just the first puppet that Blinsky had picked up for him. He's so focused on these thoughts that it doesn't even occur to him that the newcomer hadn't given his name.
"Wait...you can talk to animals?" Lucian's puppet asks. "That would have been so useful...."His mind goes back to when he found Onika's wolf pup. "If he can talk to animals, then he can ask ...."He stops, realizing the words were coming out even though he hadn't intended to. He gives an awkward smile, "S...Sorry. That's a...thought for later."
- No, I don't know anything of this Van Ritchen. Blinksy and I didn't enter into details before I signed. So, this is all about the Count? Ooo...kaaay. Damn. Big target.
Dubh caws once more and then stays silent while his owner realizes the enormity of the task ahead.
Eithne activates Vlad once more, since it seems Blinsky has not given too many details - and that Van Ritchen, for some reason, remains silent: "Rudolph Van Richten is a vampire hunter, who came to Barovia with the express intent to kill the Devil Stradh. He is also, unfortunately, currently trapped in the body of Piccolo, Blinsky's monkey. He comes from another Dread Realm named Mordent. The dark lord of that realm is a ghost, a suicide who killed everyone who loved him and who now is surrounded by a horde of ghosts that despise him.The lord of that land is obsessed with the existence of the soul and, in particular, how to warp a soul out of existence.To that end, he is ceaselessly working on a device called The Apparatus, which can transfer, remove, or establish souls into mortal bodies.He arranges the kidnapping of great wizards and engineers, forever altering the Apparatus in an attempt to use it to achieve his goals.Van Ritchen has stolen the most recent iteration of the Apparatus from the dark lord because this time it may actually work... the Apparatus has for sure some soul transference capabilities, because it is the responsible of Van Ritchen's current predicament. Van Ritchen's long-term plan would be to use the Apparatus to endow most of Barovia's population with souls - apparently, only a few have it, and those who don't have it aren't particularly decision-making - then make the population rebel against Stradh. Recovering the book that we have recovered was still the first step to take, it seems. I hope Blinsky and Van Ritchen have in the meantime figured out what the next step might be".
Chara has been lost in thought throughout most of this conversation... she doesn't really feel like she had much to add, and she's afraid that if she says anything then her puppet might unload all of her turbulent thoughts... perhaps expressing her feelings that Bran's invisible companion is likely a devil, or telling Eithne to just stop talking about Ichabod already since the imp is already bonded. But she decides that she should at least try to introduce herself to the newest member of the team.
"Hello," her puppet says to the newcomer. "My name is Chara... it's good to see that you have joined us on our quest."
She pauses, and then addresses Bran. "Yes, Bran, we're trying to bring down the Count... he's caused so much pain to each and every one of us and to this land as a whole... his reign must come to an end, even if it seems like an impossible task to beat him."
Blinsky and Piccolo look at each other. Blinsky shrugs. Piccolo turns to the party and says, “ Thank you, Eithne. Many of the things you’ve said are quite disturbing. We had hoped not to lose any of you so soon, but, based on your recollection, I’m afraid Onika is likely a lost cause. Let’s hope for the best and assume she is dead. Even if she isn’t the curse should prevent her from revealing our plans, but the clock is now ticking. Who knows if or when Count Von Zarovich might break it?”
Looking at the newcomers, Piccolo continues, “What Eithne has told you is essentially correct. I have a copy of the Apparatus and our plan is to restore souls to all those who dwell in this land. The book that we asked you to collect is, as she said, a history of Count Von Zarovich’s early rule here in this valley and, we hope, information on the deal he struck with the Dark Powers that created this dread realm. We won’t know our next step until Gadof and I have had an opportunity to review its contents, but we do have a mission for you.”
”One of our co-conspirators is the owner of the Blue Water Inn, Urwin Martikov. I believe that his latest shipment of wine is late and he needs someone to go to the winery to retrieve it. When we are done here, I’d ask you to visit his inn and offer your help. Begin your conversation with him by asking if he has Champagne du le Stomp. He’ll respond by saying he’ll check the cellar. Then say, ‘The season with the Edel flower on the label.’ Then follow his instructions and he’ll tell you what exactly he needs.”
”Please keep the other contents of the box. I rather suspect you might need them.”
”As for these dolls, I rather suspect Gadof had best explain what significance, if any, they have.” Piccolo quietly turns to Blinsky.
With a sigh, Blinsky holds up Sergei, “I don’t know what to make of your story. Most of my business comes from the local burgomeister, Baron Vallakovich. He buys toys and trinkets for his festivals; sometimes he even pays! He has a man who works for him, Izek Strazni. Izek is a very bad man; he is a bully and a thug. He lost an arm as a child, but four years ago, he woke up with a new arm, one with scales, spines, and long sharp claws. He can call fire with it. I know this because he has shown it to me many times. You see, and here I am embarrassed, I am one of the ones he bullies. He threatens me and asks me to make him dolls. He describes what he wants, a woman, auburn hair, and every time when I give him the doll he takes it, says it isn’t good enough, keeps it and threatens me again. I have made him 100 dolls in the last three years. I suppose he must like them, because he takes them, but he always finds a flaw. So now it is a game we play. I make a doll, he comes, says he will kill me, takes it away, and I start a new doll. I’d like it to stop, but he is the burgomeister’s man and I need the burgomeister’s work. And now you tell me the dolls resemble someone you’ve met, fleeing from a great evil? She must be hiding from Izek.”
- Ah! Yes. I apologize if I sounded unsure. It's not that I do not agree with what you say, Chara, not at all. I was only processing the difficulty of it. But I see that there is a plan in motion - and he smiles at Eithne, thankful for her summary - and while I do not fully grasp how that machine works, or even how Van Richten came to be in Piccolo's body - was it a test to see if the machine worked? did it not work the other way round? -, this means that we are not starting from zero. This is somewhat encouraging, thought I imagine there's still a lot to achieve.
He pauses for a second.
- So a lord that killed everyone that loved him, and another one that makes all of our lives misserable... we sure need to create happier stories to compensate all that ... - he mutters through Dubh.
Upon listening to Piccolo and Blinsky:
- Sounds like, apart from completing that mission, it would be worth to investigate that Izek man, right? Blinsky, do you know where he lives or other places he visits usually? I mean, apart from his home or wherever he meets his boss. I'm not talking about confronting either of them directly, that would surely be a bad idea. But we could follow him for a while and try to learn what we can.
- By the way, Blinsky, are you going to be all right ...? Izek did threaten you with burning this place down and though he's threatened you several times already and not done it, perhaps there's some kind of protection we could offer? - he sounds doubtful, because he doesn't really know what they could do. But Bran feels it is important to express this aloud. Just in case.
...- So a lord that killed all his loved ones, and another that makes all of our lives misserable... we sure need to create happier stories to compensate all that ... - he mutters through Dubh.
...
Eithen smiles back, nodding to Bran, while thinking: 'Indeed! We need at least one hundred thousand happier stories... at least one hundred thousand... and two, to be precise!'
But she took care not to activate Vlad, so nothing of this is spoken aloud.
Chara is... not sure what to make of this strange individual that will apparently be joining the crusade against Strahd.
"Well, at least one person is going to get along with Ichabod," Chara's puppet says unbidden in response to the wolf puppet's rather crude statement.
Even though she didn't mean to say it... Chara can't help but find the statement a little bit funny. But she does her best to shush the puppet anyway. Once she's sure it isn't going to spout anything else from her unconscious, she continues.
"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have let that slip out... anyway, I don't think that the silvered daggers or bolts would do me much good since my talents lie in magic rather than martial skill, so I'll leave those to someone who can make better use of them than I can."
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Blinskysmiles at Bran and Sergei says, "Thank you for your concern. As long as I make the dolls, I think he will leave me alone. He lives with the burgomeister and does his bidding. I'm afraid I don't know much of his comings and goings. But what of you? Eithne implied that you are missing family. Can you tell me what happened? Perhaps we can be of help to you."
Eithne reaches out to take one of the two silvered daggers, while Vlad comments: "It's a pity that whoever prepared these weapons didn't have the idea of forging bigger blades... but I suppose we'll have to make them enough. If one day I find someone who takes my ax blows like fresh water, I'll try to stab him with this".
The savage stranger makes the dagger disappear inside their skimpy fur clothes.
Thus, 20 silvered bolts, one silvered dagger, and two clear bottles of what appears to be water remain available to those who want to take them.
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Lucian relaxes upon seeing that his words...well they might have helped? In either case they hadn't made anything worse, so that was good. When Lenn speaks up, drawing Lucian's attention he watches the Paladin leave with some concern. What was so pressing that he had to leave before they had spoken to Blinsky? He nearly offers to go with him, to help him if he needs it...but before he can Lenn is gone from the building.
Turning back to the others, Lucian nods as Eithne talks, "Yeah...he honestly was a little scary at first. ...mostly cause he just showed up out of nowhere and then...didn't talk much at first. But he's actually really nice!" Lucian glances back in the direction that Lenn had gone before letting out a quiet sigh.
He is glad that Bran decides to stay with them, and hopes that they can help him out as well on whatever missions they embark on next. He is a little surprised when Blinsky pulls out a raven puppet...that's got to be some sort of coincidence right? Shrugging, he follows the group back into the room with the circle and awkwardly fishes his puppet out of his pack. He'll take whatever seat is left for him, as he's the last person into the room.
He waits for Eithne to be finished speaking nodding as she tells her story, and bowing his head slightly at the mention of Onika. He can't help but feel like he should have been able to do better. But if she had really been whisked away...by a vampire if Nikolai was correct...then there really hadn't been much he could do.
He also notices that Eithne left out the part where...one of '"The Pure Idiot's" party members had stolen Chara's wolf pup. Perhaps Eithne hadn't wanted to bring up that memory for Chara...but it was a little late for that considering all her talk about Ichabod. On the other hand, perhaps it wasn't a super important detail. ...Yet he can't help but feel like...if that girl is important, shouldn't Blinsky know that she is traveling with someone who has the capability of doing such an awful thing?
After staring at his puppet for a moment, he puts it on and prepares himself for that...rather unsettling voice that had come from it last time. Sure enough, when the puppet speaks its voice is deep and in spite of the tone of Lucian's thoughts, the voice is rather sinister. "Uh...I...I'm not sure if this is the most important detail...but I thought we should bring up that...that the uh, the bearded child at least managed to steal one of our wolf pups around the same time that Onika went missing..." He pauses, unsure of how to go about describing how he knows this information. But he'd already started explaining this so he'll just have to figure it out, "I...I just thought it was worth mentioning. Somehow he managed to take something from us without Eithne or I noticing, even though the pup had been close to us all night. I don't know if it was him who had anything to do with what happened to Onika, or at least what had allowed them both to move undetected, but...he's dangerous, and he's part of the party the girl is traveling with." He nods to the doll that Eithne had retrieved (if she managed to get one).
Feeling suddenly silly for bringing this up, he decides to turn his attention to the newcomer, "Uh...hi. I'm Lucian. What's your name?"
(OOC: Blinsky waited for Lenn's return before bringing you all to the backroom)
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Bran follows everybody and finds himself seated before he's even aware of it, still thinking as he was about Blinsky's warning regarding his family's safety. That's why he pays little attention at the beginning and is instead examining the raven toy.
When Blinsky explains that he can name him, he thinks for a while and, out of original ideas, he just names him "black". He speaks a little Elvish so he chooses the word in that language.
- I'll name you Dubh. Hey, Dubh - he says.
And then returns his attention to the group, noticing there's an unknown human in the room. That must be the newcomer Blinsky mentioned.
"A newcomer. Wonder if Lenn will mistrust him as much as he mistrusts me", he thinks.
To his dismay, the raven toy speaks exactly that aloud.
"Damn!", he thinks while looking at the paladin, "now he's gonna dislike me even more".
- Damn! Now he's gonna dislike me even more - repeats the raven.
The bard just facepalms, wishing he could just disappear into thin air.
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
Vlad, Eithne's puppet, tries to console Bran with his gravelly voice, making some hoarse sounds that are probably his version of 'giggle': "Don't worry too much! Lenn can't stand you just because you're nicer than him - but sooner or later he'll have to get over it! To let the puppet speak thoughts aloud without wanting to, it is something that happened to almost all of us, the first time we used the puppets! When I did it, just think that my Voices chose that very moment to start talking all together in my mind... I let you imagine the cacophony that came out of Vlad's mouth!"
And in proof of everything, voices begin to moan in the head of the last of the dusk elf maidens:
'You always have the best anecdotes, huh, about us, Eithne?'
'It was just because we didn't know! Now we are more careful!'
'Hush girls, otherwise it happens again, Vlad is active!'
And many others...
The result? Vlad utters something like: "Yitshalwsirls causetherve wetheithapwedithe beknnsagadotenow Vladhuhweabore uscareis Eithfultivene" before the savage stranger mutes it, letting out a sigh of resignation which is probably intended to mean 'What did I tell you?'
Lenn, with his vampire puppet on his lap smirks at Barn’s problems with the puppet.
“As you can see” says this puppet. The voice warm and welcoming. He looks at it for a second, the vampire looks back at him. “Don’t be so surprised.” The puppets says to his owner “You are in total control now, not it. Not for now…”
Lenn nods and turns again towards Bran.
”As I was about to say… you can see by Eithne’s puppet and mine that we do not have total control over it. In fact, it is just the second time we used them.
Please forgive me if I was suspicious. Now you know the motives. Now you understand. You have a brave soul Bran. I would had advised you against joining us and would had helped you going back to your family but I guess that in the end it’s the best choice for your family. Still you have a brave heart.
You are one of us now. My doubts are gone and I apologize. We are embarked in a dangerous quest.
Now… you are to be welcomed to our circle of conspirators “ the puppet and Lenn moves to glance the other man “ I am glad to see that our numbers grow…”
PbP Character: A few ;)
At Eithne’s mention of “pure idiot” the newest member turns toward the elf to attention, before realizing she wasn’t talking about him. He smells like a the smoking section of a Waffle House and leaves a dust cloud whenever he moves not unlike that one Peanuts character. Either ash has coated the skin beneath his leather cloak or he is really, really white. (Clearly the Barovian version of that one kid who hasn’t left his high school goth phase .) He is accompanied by a toothy wolf puppet.
“Did you ask the bird why it sent you there?” His wolf hand puppet inquires in a Christian Bale Batman voice. “Did it say if it was a threat or a warning?”
These words are smaller than the other ones.
"The crow did not speak to us..." remembers Eithne (and Vlad tells) "Maybe it was not able to. I fail to see what a warming it could be, showing us our bodies hanged, but It is a possibility, however".
Bran smiles appreciatively at Eithne and shows surprise when her voices speak though Vlad.
- Wow...! That's a lot to handle, Eithne. Caw! - Dubh says.
Shocked by Lenn's unexpected response, he doesn't know how to reply at first. It's like he was a different person from an hour ago and the bard wonders what could have he done when he exited the store to have achieved such a change. It could not have been only due to him signing the paper, could it? The puppet said something about "being in control", so perhaps this was related to that "darkness" each of them have? In any case, Bran nods appreciatively to Lenn's words.
- Thank you, Lenn. Caw! I do hope you're right. Caw! Caw!
Turning his attention back to the group, he sees the human has not given his name when Lucian asked. So he tries again:
- I at least do not have the ability to speak to animals, sadly. Caw! My name is Bran, by the way. What's yours? Will you be joining us in whatever it is we are doing? Caw! Speaking of that - the puppet now asks Blinsky and the rest of the group - what are we involved with? I see that you found a book on the graveyard ... May I know what is it for? Caw? Caw?
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
"It was a book giving the history of the events leading to the Count's damnation" explains Eithne through Vlad's cold voice "Van Ritchen - Blinsky told you of him? - thought that we needed the information in that book if we wished to destroy the Devil Stradh".
Bran shakes his head and the raven puppet says:
- No, I don't know anything of this Van Ritchen. Blinksy and I didn't enter into details before I signed. So, this is all about the Count? Ooo...kaaay. Damn. Big target.
Dubh caws once more and then stays silent while his owner realizes the enormity of the task ahead.
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
Lucian stares at the newcomer for a moment, glancing from his face to the wolf puppet and wondering why Blinsky had chosen a wolf for this person and a crow for Bran. The crow strangely made sense, did that mean that the wolf was somehow symbolic too? Or could it be that it was just the first puppet that Blinsky had picked up for him. He's so focused on these thoughts that it doesn't even occur to him that the newcomer hadn't given his name.
"Wait...you can talk to animals?" Lucian's puppet asks. "That would have been so useful...." His mind goes back to when he found Onika's wolf pup. "If he can talk to animals, then he can ask ...." He stops, realizing the words were coming out even though he hadn't intended to. He gives an awkward smile, "S...Sorry. That's a...thought for later."
Eithne activates Vlad once more, since it seems Blinsky has not given too many details - and that Van Ritchen, for some reason, remains silent: "Rudolph Van Richten is a vampire hunter, who came to Barovia with the express intent to kill the Devil Stradh. He is also, unfortunately, currently trapped in the body of Piccolo, Blinsky's monkey. He comes from another Dread Realm named Mordent. The dark lord of that realm is a ghost, a suicide who killed everyone who loved him and who now is surrounded by a horde of ghosts that despise him.The lord of that land is obsessed with the existence of the soul and, in particular, how to warp a soul out of existence.To that end, he is ceaselessly working on a device called The Apparatus, which can transfer, remove, or establish souls into mortal bodies.He arranges the kidnapping of great wizards and engineers, forever altering the Apparatus in an attempt to use it to achieve his goals.Van Ritchen has stolen the most recent iteration of the Apparatus from the dark lord because this time it may actually work... the Apparatus has for sure some soul transference capabilities, because it is the responsible of Van Ritchen's current predicament. Van Ritchen's long-term plan would be to use the Apparatus to endow most of Barovia's population with souls - apparently, only a few have it, and those who don't have it aren't particularly decision-making - then make the population rebel against Stradh. Recovering the book that we have recovered was still the first step to take, it seems. I hope Blinsky and Van Ritchen have in the meantime figured out what the next step might be".
Chara has been lost in thought throughout most of this conversation... she doesn't really feel like she had much to add, and she's afraid that if she says anything then her puppet might unload all of her turbulent thoughts... perhaps expressing her feelings that Bran's invisible companion is likely a devil, or telling Eithne to just stop talking about Ichabod already since the imp is already bonded. But she decides that she should at least try to introduce herself to the newest member of the team.
"Hello," her puppet says to the newcomer. "My name is Chara... it's good to see that you have joined us on our quest."
She pauses, and then addresses Bran. "Yes, Bran, we're trying to bring down the Count... he's caused so much pain to each and every one of us and to this land as a whole... his reign must come to an end, even if it seems like an impossible task to beat him."
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Blinsky and Piccolo look at each other. Blinsky shrugs. Piccolo turns to the party and says, “ Thank you, Eithne. Many of the things you’ve said are quite disturbing. We had hoped not to lose any of you so soon, but, based on your recollection, I’m afraid Onika is likely a lost cause. Let’s hope for the best and assume she is dead. Even if she isn’t the curse should prevent her from revealing our plans, but the clock is now ticking. Who knows if or when Count Von Zarovich might break it?”
Looking at the newcomers, Piccolo continues, “What Eithne has told you is essentially correct. I have a copy of the Apparatus and our plan is to restore souls to all those who dwell in this land. The book that we asked you to collect is, as she said, a history of Count Von Zarovich’s early rule here in this valley and, we hope, information on the deal he struck with the Dark Powers that created this dread realm. We won’t know our next step until Gadof and I have had an opportunity to review its contents, but we do have a mission for you.”
”One of our co-conspirators is the owner of the Blue Water Inn, Urwin Martikov. I believe that his latest shipment of wine is late and he needs someone to go to the winery to retrieve it. When we are done here, I’d ask you to visit his inn and offer your help. Begin your conversation with him by asking if he has Champagne du le Stomp. He’ll respond by saying he’ll check the cellar. Then say, ‘The season with the Edel flower on the label.’ Then follow his instructions and he’ll tell you what exactly he needs.”
”Please keep the other contents of the box. I rather suspect you might need them.”
”As for these dolls, I rather suspect Gadof had best explain what significance, if any, they have.” Piccolo quietly turns to Blinsky.
With a sigh, Blinsky holds up Sergei, “I don’t know what to make of your story. Most of my business comes from the local burgomeister, Baron Vallakovich. He buys toys and trinkets for his festivals; sometimes he even pays! He has a man who works for him, Izek Strazni. Izek is a very bad man; he is a bully and a thug. He lost an arm as a child, but four years ago, he woke up with a new arm, one with scales, spines, and long sharp claws. He can call fire with it. I know this because he has shown it to me many times. You see, and here I am embarrassed, I am one of the ones he bullies. He threatens me and asks me to make him dolls. He describes what he wants, a woman, auburn hair, and every time when I give him the doll he takes it, says it isn’t good enough, keeps it and threatens me again. I have made him 100 dolls in the last three years. I suppose he must like them, because he takes them, but he always finds a flaw. So now it is a game we play. I make a doll, he comes, says he will kill me, takes it away, and I start a new doll. I’d like it to stop, but he is the burgomeister’s man and I need the burgomeister’s work. And now you tell me the dolls resemble someone you’ve met, fleeing from a great evil? She must be hiding from Izek.”
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Bran activates Dubh again and replies to Chara:
- Ah! Yes. I apologize if I sounded unsure. It's not that I do not agree with what you say, Chara, not at all. I was only processing the difficulty of it. But I see that there is a plan in motion - and he smiles at Eithne, thankful for her summary - and while I do not fully grasp how that machine works, or even how Van Richten came to be in Piccolo's body - was it a test to see if the machine worked? did it not work the other way round? -, this means that we are not starting from zero. This is somewhat encouraging, thought I imagine there's still a lot to achieve.
He pauses for a second.
- So a lord that killed everyone that loved him, and another one that makes all of our lives misserable... we sure need to create happier stories to compensate all that ... - he mutters through Dubh.
Upon listening to Piccolo and Blinsky:
- Sounds like, apart from completing that mission, it would be worth to investigate that Izek man, right? Blinsky, do you know where he lives or other places he visits usually? I mean, apart from his home or wherever he meets his boss. I'm not talking about confronting either of them directly, that would surely be a bad idea. But we could follow him for a while and try to learn what we can.
- By the way, Blinsky, are you going to be all right ...? Izek did threaten you with burning this place down and though he's threatened you several times already and not done it, perhaps there's some kind of protection we could offer? - he sounds doubtful, because he doesn't really know what they could do. But Bran feels it is important to express this aloud. Just in case.
Peindre l'amour, peindre la vie, pleurer en couleur ♫
Auriel | Shenua | Arren | Lyra
Eithen smiles back, nodding to Bran, while thinking: 'Indeed! We need at least one hundred thousand happier stories... at least one hundred thousand... and two, to be precise!'
But she took care not to activate Vlad, so nothing of this is spoken aloud.
(The toothy wolf puppet finishes lighting his cigarette. “The name’s Ash. The guy behind me with his hand up my butt is Cole.”)
These words are smaller than the other ones.
Chara is... not sure what to make of this strange individual that will apparently be joining the crusade against Strahd.
"Well, at least one person is going to get along with Ichabod," Chara's puppet says unbidden in response to the wolf puppet's rather crude statement.
Even though she didn't mean to say it... Chara can't help but find the statement a little bit funny. But she does her best to shush the puppet anyway. Once she's sure it isn't going to spout anything else from her unconscious, she continues.
"I'm sorry, I really shouldn't have let that slip out... anyway, I don't think that the silvered daggers or bolts would do me much good since my talents lie in magic rather than martial skill, so I'll leave those to someone who can make better use of them than I can."
Unhappy that the market got rid of individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
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Blinsky smiles at Bran and Sergei says, "Thank you for your concern. As long as I make the dolls, I think he will leave me alone. He lives with the burgomeister and does his bidding. I'm afraid I don't know much of his comings and goings. But what of you? Eithne implied that you are missing family. Can you tell me what happened? Perhaps we can be of help to you."
Tamryn - lvl 4 Wood Elf Rogue - Circle of Light Campaign || Drusilla - lvl 1 Half-Elf Ranger - Sleeping Gods || Grrzark - lvl 1 Goblin Barbarian - Danger at Darkshelf Quarry || DM - LTG - Curse of Strahd
Eithne reaches out to take one of the two silvered daggers, while Vlad comments: "It's a pity that whoever prepared these weapons didn't have the idea of forging bigger blades... but I suppose we'll have to make them enough. If one day I find someone who takes my ax blows like fresh water, I'll try to stab him with this".
The savage stranger makes the dagger disappear inside their skimpy fur clothes.
Thus, 20 silvered bolts, one silvered dagger, and two clear bottles of what appears to be water remain available to those who want to take them.