Kessintra will sneak ahead to subtly roll as many bombs as necessary to drive away the guards so everyone can get through, including Zan who is being carried.

Oh I can also deploy the stink bombs with my mage hand so we don’t get too close.

Quote from srgharrison >>

Oh I can also deploy the stink bombs with my mage hand so we don’t get too close.

 ((Oh nice. We'll do that so the smell doesn't wake Zan.))

For note, Ismirk with his equipment and Striker's help can carry Zan alone.

For the stealth checks, either two at advantage or three at advantage with the guards having disadvantage.

Garrick: (19, 3) (19,19) (6,11)

Kess: (15, 10)(18, 25)(10, 17)

You all are back at the church without being noticed. Some notes/reminders about missing gear:

1. No spellcasting foci so no material components unless you physically have them
2. No weapons so only unarmed strikes/improvised weapons
3. No armor, so AC is 10+DEX

The spellbook situation is... interesting. The books always assume a wizard has their spellbook. I've landed on the ruling of no ritual spells, no switching out prepared spells, and no arcane recovery. You may cast spells you already have prepared and cantrips.

After making it back to the church, Ismirk talks with Kessintra. "Thank you for breaking me out. I was falsely imprisoned, and the devil-armed man took Ireena. This is quite selfish of me, but do you think you can help us out one last time?"

Kessintra nods. "Of course, we...Well, ran into a servant of Strahd, Rahadin, who told us the same thing. Izek has her locked up in his room at the Baron's house apparently." She frowns. "I think we should try talking to--more like ambushing and interrogating Izek or the Baron first. Rahadin said once we bust open Izek's door, Strahd will 'take it from there'. I don't like the sound of that. If we can find out exactly what's going on in there, maybe we can get her out without Strahd noticing and bring her here. This church has some kind of protection from the Saint's bones."

(I'm a little lost, did Rahadin come into play during your private offshoot mission?)

I'm assuming Kess still has her thieves' tools? I ask if I can borrow them so I can utilize my Right Tool for the Job feature:
With thieves’ tools or artisan’s tools in hand, you can magically create one set of artisan’s tools in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you. This creation requires 1 hour of uninterrupted work, which can coincide with a short or long rest. Though the product of magic, the tools are nonmagical, and they vanish when you use this feature again.

I would like to take a short rest and simultaneously create a set of smith's tools for myself. These tools are my spellcasting focus so Garrick at least still has access to his spells.

Quote from srgharrison >>

(I'm a little lost, did Rahadin come into play during your private offshoot mission?)

 ((Yes, when Kess ran, Rahadin (old elf) appeared with two vampires and the hell horse. Vampires grappled Izek onto the horse and dropped him back off with you guys. Rahadin said "My name is Rahadin. My master is not.... entertained by your performance. He sent me to right that wrong. Tell me, do you know where Ireena is?". Kess said no. "Exactly why you need me. She's been kidnapped by the brute. She's held in his room in the Baron's mansion. Here's what's going to happen. You and the cleric will stay at an ally's house. In the morning we free your friends and Ismirk from the stocks, you all storm the mansion, and when you burst into his room, my master will take it from there." Then me and Amelia told him no and we'd do it ourselves.))

Kess allows Garrick to borrow her thieves' tools of course, impressed as she watches him work. She will also offer him a dagger if he wants. She has two daggers, a crowbar, and a hammer the others may use in place of their missing gear. Seeing that Zan is missing his holy symbol, she will try looking around the church for one.

Perception: 14+2 guidance= 16

He accepts the dagger, knowing it’ll at least be better than his fists. Don’t think he has ever thrown a punch in his life.

"That's... troubling to say the least. I guess this place isn't as safe as I heard, Strahd or otherwise. Nevertheless, I'll follow your lead. I trust any plan you'll make."

Are you going to wait 4 hours for Chipper and Zan's rest or 8 for everyone? If you choose 4 hours, I'll need a constitution save from Garrick.

• Just the 4 hours. Con save 12.
• Short rest (healed 11 from hit dice)
• Knowing some distractions could be useful in the challenge ahead, Garrick makes 4 new tinkered objects. And passes them out to the party members (keeping 1 for himself, so 3 of you get "distraction ball"). Each of the tinkered objects just has a short message to use as a distraction to make them look away, (examples: "I'm going to kill you!", "Hey ugly, miss me?", "Haha I knew you'd fall for that")
  
  Whenever tapped by a creature, the object emits a recorded message that can be heard up to 10 feet away. You utter the message when you bestow this property on the object, and the recording can be no more than 6 seconds long.

You and Ismirk are able to go on without exaustion.You all wake up in the morning.

oh want to make it clear my distraction balls have like 4 seconds of silence, then 1-2 seconds of voice. So you can tap it, throw it, then it talks. So it doesn’t immediately give away your position when you activate it lol. 

Kessintra will approach the priest once he is awake, hoping that he can provide some information if she explains what's going on. "I guess you notice there are a few more of us this morning...You see, we got into a bit of trouble with Izek and the Baron for disturbing the peace. That's not the important thing, though: Ismirk here wasn't even with us and got arrested, and Izek has his sister, Ireena, locked up at the Baron's house. She's...well, she looks like Strahd's 'beloved'. We need to protect her. Can you tell us anything about Izek that might help?"

"Oh, um, sure. When he was young him and his family went on a walk around Lake Zarovich, and... um.. only he returned. From there he became a thief to survive. When he was caught, the baron decided to turn him into who he is now. He gained the fiendish arm later on. No one knows how. He then became the main enforcer of the law. He visits the toy shop often."

Zantorin eventually wakes up, still croggie he asked to be caught up on our situation. Afterwards he thanks you for saving him. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have acted like I did. He starts looking around the church for anything useful, weapons, holy water, scrolls, holy text, a thurible or chained incense censer, lamp lighters staff...