((None! For PBP this is the best thread I’ve been a part of))

Sergei slept fitfully and snaps awake at the racket, maybe partly from his training to wake early for studies at the sound of a church bell. 

He goes in search of the lad to talk to him. Wants to ask his name and get more info about the town, if possible. Won’t leave the church grounds without his allies, though.

Alev flings himself up from lying down on the wolf fur blankets, shaking a little after waking from the dream. If the man in gray is still asleep when he gets up, he will take his backpack and exit the room as slowly and silently as he can, as to not wake him up.

He will search for his companions, the strange nightmare still fresh on his mind.

Leann pushes up from the pew she was sleeping on, glancing after the young man with the shovel. As the door to the room where bird-man was during the night opens up, she would turn and smile warmly as the feathered figure walks out. "Are you cured then?" She would ask as she walks forward, brushing her unkept braid behind her shoulder as she moves. She would take him by the shoulders, looking into his eyes with a directness in her blue eyes as she seeks to verify he is ok. Seeing no sign of madness there she steps back, frowning slightly. "What is wrong?" She asks, sensing he is unsettled. "Is it the sickness still?"

"...Yeah, I'm fine." Alev says, pulling back with a flap of his wings. "That means I have a life debt to that priest now, but at least it means I'm not going to turn into a rabid wolf anymore. That's a relief."

He scratches the back of his head. "I actually had something I wanted to talk about. It could be nothing, but with how weird things are here, I still want to share it with you and the rest of the group. It's about something that happened while I was still sick..."

He looks around. If he sees no one, he continues. "I had a strange dream. I think that vampire lord spoke to me in my head, while I was sleeping."

"In this place?" Leann asks with a narrowing of her eyes, her head turning as she scans the place around them, almost expecting the vampire to step out as she does so. "I would have expected our dreams would be safe from it in this place..."

(I hate to say it, if only because it doesn't offer much in the way of improvement, but I am the same mind as T0dd0. Certainly among the best I've experienced with a nice cinematic to story progression thus far.)

Rudick is slow to stir, but could not deny the call to awake forever. Not with the bells signaling the begining of another morning. Still, the Orc did not need to like it; and yet, he eventually perked up all the same remembering the tools. Soon enough, callused hands are hard at work making what minute adjustments possible to the half-plate, and finally free their keeper from future discomfort. He marvels at the end results for a moment or two, and then... then sighed heavily as the reality of their situation sunk in again.

Grumbling, Rudick takes stock of his gear, before finally getting up proper and calling (if he hadn't seen them by then), "Ismark! Ireena! I'd have words with you two." Though if he had seen them first, then he would march on over to them first with the same statement being the first words out of his mouth. "I remembered Madame Eva mentioned a name. Does it ring any bells with either of you?"

Sergei, you move towards the door where that young man left through, weaving your way past pews and groggy villagers. You push open the door and step out into the crisp morning air. The sun has yet to peek over the mountains to the east, but the gloomy clouds begin to brighten. A faint, predawn mist clings to the ground, swirling gently around the gravestones. You hear the sounds of digging towards your right, and you turn to see the shovel boy digging a small hole in a flower bed against the side of the church. You see that several dead, small shrubs and flowers lie in a heap near him, and another mound of living plants resting near him waiting to be planted. He hears the sound of the door open, and looks up at you. He eyes you up and down suspiciously with a scowl before turning back to digging holes as he asks with an annoyed voice, "What do you want?"

 Rudick, as you work with the metal, a young girl no older than three walks up a few feet away from you. Her curly blond hair is sticking up in all directions from being slept on. She wears a simple pale blue dress, and she clings to an old teddy bear that has a miniature axe sticking out of its head. You can see stitched across its front in cursive, "Is no Fun, Is no Blinsky!" She watches you silently as little children do before her father hurried over and picks her up. Trailing behind him is his wife holding a little boy about the same age as they girl. They hurry out, giving the party members a wide berth as they exit. You stand and walk over to where Ismark and Ireena are sitting with their backs to the wall. They seem to have been talking to each other before you called out to them. They both look up at your approach and words. Ismark responds, "We were just talking about that. I've heard of Tatyana before, but I don't remember where." Ireena nods in agreement.

A bleary-eyed priest stumbles out of the room where Alev exited from. He spots Alev and stifles a yawn as he walks over to him. He says, "I'm sorry. I closed my eyes for half a second and must have fallen asleep. I promised to take care of you, and I meant to stay up." He looks you up and down as he asks, "How do you feel."

Standing, seeing Rudick approach the siblings, and relieved to see Alev up and about talking to Leann, Skip turns to see Nook, still perched atop the pew. He breathes a sigh of relief, he wasn’t sure that the owl would still be there when he awoke. Picking up his pack and moving towards the others, he just catches the tail end of what Ismark is saying

When the priest arrives, Alev turns to talk to him. "I'm feeling fine, thanks. Just talking with a friend here..."

He points his finger at Leann and seems to just be chirping for a moment. In actuality, he sends a message to her, hoping to not spook her. 

To Leann:

Speaking to the priest, he says. "You saved me there. Is there anything you'd like me to pay you with? Anything I could do?"

Sergei says, as possible conversation points, depending on how the lad responds,

“My name’s Sergei, what’s yours?”

“Do you need a hand?” (Will help if the lad agrees)

“Father Petrovich is a good soul, and villagers here seem to depend on him. Is that why you’re here, too?”

As he continues to dig without looking at you, he says, "My name is Milivoj."

 When you ask if you could help, he gives you a blunt, "No."

 At your statement, he straightens up and sighs in annoyance as he says in a sharp tone, "My parents are dead, and I'm working to get some money so I can feed my siblings. Anything else you want to know, or can I keep working?" He finally turns and faces you, and a scowl hangs heavy on his face.

Father Lucian takes a look at each of the party members, and he pays attention to any holy symbols you might be carrying. You can see he is internally debating something. He sighs, and says, "Normally, I wouldn't ask for anything in return. Helping people is enough payment for me, but I'm in dire need of something." He quiets down so only the party members can hear him say, "Until recently, the church was protected against the devil Strahd's influence by the bones of St. Andral. They were imbued with holy magic that repels evil. They were sealed in a crypt beneath the altar, but someone broke in and stole them a few nights ago. I was the only one that knew they existed, but I remember telling Yeska, my helper, about the bones to calm his fear." He gestures to the boy who read the scriptures last night, and he is currently handing apples to the villagers who still remain. He continues, "I asked him if he told anyone, and he said he did, but he won't give any names." A look of regret crossed his face as he says, "I think Milivoj might have stolen the bones, but don't want to confront him because the lad is so temperamental. I don't want to report the loss because of the uproar that it would cause. Is there any way you could find them? Please?"

So this was a safe place till that happened... Alev thinks, and feels anger building up towards this bone thief.

"I'll need to tell my companions about this, but I will do whatever I can to get them back, I promise." He says to Father Lucian. "Anything else I should know about Yeska and this Milivoj fella? If your helper knew about the bones and the other is a suspect, I need to know everything I can about them..."

(OOC:  Just an FYI.  My laptop is having technical issues and I am having to use my phone for now. this is going to make posting harder and less frequent.)

Leann follows her feathered friend over to the priest, planning on offering her own thanks.  When she hears of the missing holy relic she frowns.  “And where can we find this supposed theif now, or where do you think the items would have been taken if he did take them?”

 Between the little girl, who the Orc had only passively paid attention to at the time, and the discovery of familiarity in Ireena, Rudick is left so seeming pensive after that it's hard to tell if any attention been given to Father Lucian's request.  Not ontil he mentioned holy magic, at least., and even then what little of his expression could be seen spoke of confusion. Assuming of course he's close enough to hear any of it to begin with, and if so, Leann's and Alev's questions are enough to leave him just looking intently at the priest.

If not close to begin with however, Rudick eventually says to Ismark and Ireena. "It... might explain his obsession with you then. Could be that she's of someone importat, and that you remind him of her. Or.... you are her, and have simply forgotten?" He press lightly.

Father Lucian takes a deep breath and exhales heavily before he says, "Both Milivoj and Yeska are brothers They have a few younger siblings, but I've never met them. Milivoj helps take care of the church grounds, and Yeska helps me inside the church. I pay them so they can buy food. Yeska has a wild imagination, and Milivoj always grumpy about something. I have no idea where they could have taken the bones of they did take them."

 Ireena shakes her head, "I don't know who this "Tatyana" is, but I feel sorry for her that Strahd has an interest in her. "

Sergei sees that Milivoj is in a sour mood and rejoins his comrades, hopefully to catch up on the various things they were talking about. He’ll tell them,

”That Milivoj fellow is a sour one, alright, but maybe I could bewitch him into telling us what he knows. Worth a shot?”

“I could cast a small illusion of more bones. If we let it skip that there are more, we can see which one of them tries to grab them, then we know who to question”

"You met him? Where is he?" Alev chirps to Sergei, chipper. "I'd say its worth a shot, but if you go talk to him again let me and the others go with you. If he doesn't want to speak to you, he might speak to me. If not..."

He casts Gust around himself for just a brief second, his feathers and cloak blowing in a wind coming from nowhere, purely for dramatic effect. "We can force him to speak. Skip's idea is good, too."

"The direct path is usually the best, if not always the easiest." Leann says with a frown. "I vote we go talk to this boy, and see what we can find out." She nods to her companions. "We can try a less confrontational approach first if you wish, but we dare not let him go without getting the truth out of him."

"He was digging outside, gardening."