Thpas' wine tastes great. Ismark then looks puzzled and asks, "Invited by whom?"

Valanthe replies, "Well, Ismark... By your father it seems - if you are the Burgomaster's son." She pulls the letters out of her pouch and the envelope with the seal from her scrapbook, and shows it to Ismark.

"Although... your father has a habit of changing his handwriting."

Ismark takes a look at the two letters. He frowns upon seeing the raven crest on the letter the ***** at the inn gave to you. "My father did not write this." Looking at the other letter, he says, "I remember him writing this. And it is in his handwriting. My father, the burgomaster... died three days ago. You have been lured into Barovia and trapped here."

A flash of lightning shatters the sky out the window and rolling thunder groans.

"Well it's not the ideal place to make a home, but I suppose we could do worse," Emre comments, looking around as if she appreciated the general ambience.  

Turning more serious, she asks, "If you don't mind my asking, how did your father die?"

"He died of fear. He couldn't take the madness of Barovia anymore."

Quote from DungeonLord58 >>

"He died of fear. He couldn't take the madness of Barovia anymore."

"Yes. I am soon to become the new burgomaster of the village."

Quote from DungeonLord58 >>

"Yes. I am soon to become the new burgomaster of the village."

"The servants of the devil Strahd had been attacking the village every night. Strahd himself is targeting my sister Ireena. After Ireena had been bitten twice by the vampire, my father had a heart attack and died. We have not been able to bury him yet."

"Do you need someone to administer burial rites for your father?

"And your sister, Ireena—what is her current condition?" 

Valanthe, finally speaking up after taking this all in, "Yes, how can we help with your father and your sister??" Then, with a look of fury upon her face, "...and this devil Strahd seems to be causing some serious trouble - we'll have to deal with him, too! I mean, your sister, then Gertruda and now scaring your father to death!  He can't just go around biting people without their consent, you know!"

Valanthe looks around as if realizing she may have been going on (again) and quiets down, but still with a firm look of determination across her face.  She looks around the room to see if any of the other patrons caught wind of her bombastic outburst.

Replying to Emre, Ismark answers, "Ireena is well so far. Though I fear further attacks from the devil Strahd. Could you help take her to the town of Vallaki? It is a small town a few miles away from here. If so, beware of the Vistani. They are Strahd's spies."

Emre, still nursing her drink, looks to other others. "What do you think? Byllemura? Thpas? Valanthe? If we're stuck here, might as well do something worthwhile. Might help us figure out who lured us here to start with."

"And we still have to find Gertruda!" 

"If we are to stay here, we might as well try and help free the people of Barovia from the evil that roams these lands. Let's take Ireena to this town and look for clues about Gertruda, Strahd and his minions along the way." says Byllemura. "Who are those Vistani? How can we recognize them?"

Thpas nods in agreement "Anything we can do to help, we will. And it couldn't hurt to be in the good graces of this land's new burgomaster."  

Ismark looks hurt when Thpas pronounced the title wrong but answers Byllemura, "The Vistani are gypsies that have been loyal to Strahd for centuries. Only they can leave Barovia. I recommend you stay away from them. Those three gypsies over there are the Vistani owners of the tavern. I will take you to the Burgomaster's mansion when you are done drinking."

Emre nods, walks over to the barkeep, and asks, "Can I get this in a to-go cup?" 

The barkeep mumbles "Fine. Breng da gloss bahck ven yer don."

Byllemura empties her glass and whispers "Yes, we should be going. I don't like being spied upon." as she looks towards the three gipsies.