Sandu - "Ol' 'enrik?"  Urwin scratches his chin in thought, "Seems alright, keeps 'imself to 'imself most of the time.  A bit stand-offish, y'know - all business with 'im.  Why do you ask?  Don' need to bury no-one, I hope."  He smiles, but you notice a level of uncertainty behind his eyes.

“Sure keep a lookout for a man with a metal arm. Don’t confront him though. Just see you f you can get where he is going to next. Next time I visit let me know where he is heading to. Thank you for the help you are offereing,” says Dormark. 

in the Morning Dormark goes downstairs and waits for the rest of the party.

Quote from IrRy0 >>

Sandu - "Ol' 'enrik?"  Urwin scratches his chin in thought, "Seems alright, keeps 'imself to 'imself most of the time.  A bit stand-offish, y'know - all business with 'im.  Why do you ask?  Don' need to bury no-one, I hope."  He smiles, but you notice a level of uncertainty behind his eyes.

 'Church business.' Sandu replied. He drained his mug, put it on the table and stretched his arms behind him.

'If it's aaaaaaaaalll the same to you,' A yawn slurred his phrase, 'I need to lie down now. If I drink another one of those, you're going to have to scrape me off the floor.'

He tossed Urwin the coin owned for the two drinks and headed to where the sleeping arrangement had been made. 'I'll see you guys in the morning.' He yelled over his shoulder before ducking into the room. He tossed his backpack, boots and cloak next to his bed in a pile of not even bothering. The shirt and pants soon followed and within minutes Sandu pulled the covers over his head and drifted off into blissful sleep.

OOC: I'll update my character sheet to level 4 and make an update post for the morning later.

Galqarin is also up early, the wine seeming to have had little effect on him despite being unaccustomed to alcohol. The bed, though initially wondrous seeming, had been a step too far for him. Instead, he had curled up comfortably enough amongst a pile of wolf furs on the wooden floorboards.

Valerie wakes up, dresses her up and reflecting on her dream. It seems she is slowly getting used to having a strange dream by this point. After a moment of contemplating, she walks to the window and begins her morning payer. Then she gets down to the tavern and waits for her companions. 

Galqarin greets Dormark and Valerie warmly, the dream already forgotten. "What plans today?", he queries.

Sandu stared at the ceiling clutching the bed's furs. It had happened again: a dream not of his own. How many more of those would he have to endure?

He decided not to dwell on it. Starting the morning with a musing on the implications of dreaming of things he did not experience seemed like the ideal recipe for a headache. Instead he stretched and waved his hand over the side to grab his shirt. Someone handed it to him.

'Thanks.' Sandu took the shirt. His head was halfway through his shirt when he paused. Who had handed him his shirt? He peered to the side through the fabric. A hand was floating in mid-air. A hand not unlike the ones he had blasted back in Barovia. A hand that was now holding his pants.

'Aaagh!' Sandu tumbled out of bed with a loud cry, fur and all. The hand followed, still trying to give him his pants. He tried to use the furs as a makeshift barrier between him and the pants-wielding assailant. When that did not work, the hand was very persistent, Sandu flung out his arm and yelled: 'Stop!'

To his surprise the hand did stop. It just hung there a good four feet above the floor, holding the pants like a macabre coat hanger. Sandu stared at it, eyes to fingers, for a good ten seconds when the hand suddenly wavered and disappeared into thin air, dropping the trousers unceremoniously on the floor. Likewise Sandu's jaw dropped. He reached over with his leg and prodded his own pants with his big toe. After several prods he was relatively certain there was no undead claw hiding in the folds, quickly grabbed the pants and put them on.

'Well, that was... something.'

Like the dream Sandu pushed the previous few minutes to the back on his mind. He would think about them later, even if he did not like how he was a tad more skittish now. In a similar fashion he poked his backpack with his quarterstaff, giving it a few gentle whacks, before opening it up. Seeing everything still in order and decidely hand-free, he hoisted it on his back and made his way downstairs to meet the others. 

Quote from Buxton >>

Galqarin greets Dormark and Valerie warmly, the dream already forgotten. "What plans today?", he queries.

He caught the last part of the bugbear's greeting. 

'Pay a visit to Henrik, the coffin maker.' Sandu replied. 'We're not completely out of the woods yet regarding the orphanage.' He reached for whatever passed for breakfast in the Blue Water inn.

"I think we should also check on Ireena too. I have a feeling that Stradh has not given up on pursuing her."

“We also have a job to finish at the Vistani camp here, we should collect it. Also I’m not excited at the prospect, but we may need to visit the mayor toget a more permeant base of operations,” says Dormark.

"Yes, give Bear to girl Arabelle". Galqarin is keen to deliver the birthday gift for Eliza, though less keen to reacquaint with Luvash and Arrigal.

Morning - Day 6 - Breakfast at The Blue Water Inn

The party reconvene in the primary room of the Blue Water Inn - the tap room.  The room looks pretty empty save for Danika and a couple of vagrant-looking men sitting at table near the main entrance to the Inn.  Danika smiles and approaches the party, her hair is a little un-kept and she looks tired, "Good morning." she says pleasantly, "I trust you slept well."  She proceeds to go about her business fixing a breakfast for the party; chiefly consisting of wolf-meat sausages, eggs, tomatoes and hunks of bread.  "I wish we could offer more," she says by way of apology.

Though the meal is a modest one, it tastes good and is a welcome change from the food you have been used to eating over the course of your travels.  As you finish your meal you notice something, out of the periphery of your vision, on the balcony overlooking the room; a small animal, or object, briefly flashes by, followed by a second slightly larger one.  Looking up towards the balcony you notice that the railings are carved with raven motifs.  A boy's face comes into view, clearly the 'animal' you saw, he has a ruddy complexion and a giant, mischievous grin; you would guess his age to be around 9.  Moments later a slightly old boy, around the age of 11, appears next to him, out of breath.  "Oi Bray, what'sa meanin' of..." the older boy stops mid-sentence, see's the party and turns bright red.

Danika walks over to collect your empty plates.  She looks to the balcony where you are all looking, "Oh pay the lads no heed... That's Brom and Bray, my sons.".  She puts her hands on her hips and yells up to them, "IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR SOMETHING TO DO - THESE PLATES COULD DO WITH A WASH!".  The boys faces quickly disappear at their mother's declaration, her pleas clearly falling on deaf ears.  Danika audibly tuts and shakes her head.  "Ain't got room in your party for two more, 'ave you?  Sure you all could scare 'em straight!" she says with a chuckle.

"Let me know if you need anything else, my dears."  She says kindly as she proceeds to take your plates to the kitchen.

"Thank you madam, so what order should we achieve out goals today," Dormark asks the group.

'If you don't mind, I think it's prudent that we see Henrik as soon as possible and get this whole bones business out of the way.'

Sandu rose from his seat to pat down his pockets to make sure he had everything on his person.

'And we should stick together. Considering yesterday's... incident, it's best we stick together. Safety in numbers and all that.'

He did took notice of all the raven imagery. Had Madam Eve not mentioned something about ravens? Something something allies and vine he vaguely recalled. It might be worth a closer look but, like he said, first things first.

'Could you point us towards Henrik's shop, please?' Sandu asked the kind matron. 

Morning - Day 6 - Coffin Maker's Shop

"Certainly sir,"  Danika says politely.  She describes, in detail, directions to Henrik's shop - it transpires that it is not too far from the Arasek Stockyard, just around the corner in fact.  The party settles up their bar tab before leaving the establishment and heading towards Henrik's.

Outside of the Blue Water Inn there are many people going about their daily business, making the most of the fine weather.  Approaching the town square you notice an increase in the volume of people.  A crowd starts to gather around a portly gentleman with a red jacket and an equally red face, he wears a tricorn hat and carries a large bell.

"Oyez!  Oyez!"  The gentleman bellows, ringing his bell, he unfurls and reads from a large scroll.  "Strange happenings at St. Andral's Orphanage dealt with by Town Guard on order of right honourable Baron Vallakovich!  The Burgomaster bids the people rejoice over the thwarting of the devil's schemes within!"  The town crier takes a deep breathe before continuing, "One dead at Morning Gate, found early hours of this morning.  The Burgomaster asks that any persons with knowledge of the incident make themselves known at the earliest convenience to the Reformation Centre!"

The Crier makes a show of rolling up the scroll, before taking another deep breath. "The right honourable, and highly illustrious, Burgomaster finally encourages all to have hope and spread happiness... for surely it is through our joy that any evil shall be overthrown!", the line is delivered so flatly that it is almost robotic.  He coughs nervously into his hand, "That is, uh...  That is all!".  The town crier proceeds to make his way towards a notice board and begins to hammer various pieces of parchment to it.  The crowd disperses.

A short walk from the town square, following the directions Danika provided, you notice an uninviting shop; two stories tall, with a sign shaped like a coffin above the front door.  All of the window shutters are closed up tight, and a deathly silence surrounds the establishment - Henrik, the Coffin Maker's, shop.

As the pass by the square Dormark says, "I see the mayor is trying to take credit for the defeat of the monster yesterday. I understand his reasoning, but it does make him look less favorable in my eyes."

Galqarin shrugs his rangy shoulders, an expression which could be interpreted as “what did you expect?”.

Sandu listened with a half-hearted ear to what the town's crier had to say.

'Let them have it.' His voice was dull, his disinterest in the whole affair clear on display. 'There's nothing to gain by us disputing the claim. Father Lucian and Ms Belasco know the truth and that is enough.'

There were more important matters to attend to. Like Henrik and his involvement in this whole ordeal. He had been linked to the theft of Andal's bones and they would have words about it. Harsh words if need be. They had arrived at the coffinmaker's store. It was closed by the looks of it. Sandu did not like that nor did he believe it to be the case.

'HENRIK VAN DER VOORT!' He shouted after landing three heavy knocks on the front door. 'We know about the bones. You have ten seconds to unlock this door before my friend breaks it down and we place you under citizen's arrest.'

He leaned towards Dormark, the aforementioned friend, and whispered with a grin: 'Does feel kind of nice to be on the other end of this sort of thing.'

"We're closed, go aw-."  An old man's voice yells from behind the door before cutting itself short mid-sentence, "Whatdya-mean?  What's all this about citizen's arrest?  Just... just go away and leave me alone!"  You notice that his voice loses a lot of it's conviction after you mention the bones.  None-the-less, the door to the coffin-maker's shop remains firmly shut.

Dormark - can you perform a strength check if you are planning on attempting to breakdown the door... as much as to see how well you do so, as to whether you are able to accomplish the task.

Dormark uses his shoulder to push in the door.

strength 16

Dormark - Your shoulder slams into the door, but it comes across more resistance than you were expecting.  Once more you throw your heavy frame against it and the wood begins to split and fracture.  "What are you doing to my shop!"  Henrik yells before quickly opening the door.  His face pales as he see's you standing in front of him.

((Henrik van der Voort's portrait))

"St-stop it!  Stop it!  What is the meaning of this?!" he manages to utter, before turning to inspect the damage to his door.  "Do you know how much this'll cost to fix?" He asks indignantly.  He eyes you and the rest of the party before effecting a more compliant tone, "You mentioned those cursed bones...".  Panic and fear begin to set into the old man and his shoulders sag.  Whispering he continues, "Please, they made me.  I-I-I, upstairs, in my bedroom wardrobe."

Henrik leans in closer to the party, it is clear now to see he is trembling and his eye's are wide with fear - the man is clearly petrified.  "You don't understand... they're still here."  He hisses.