Having fled from there before he got to see the problem solve itself, Alev continues towards the church, heavily injured but still holding the bones.

A few of the town's guard move to inspect the broken body of the coffin maker as a different portion begins to secure the perimeter. As portion of the guards break off to move inside the house, Ireena and Ismark catch up with the group, and Ismark says, "Since this was a theft thingy, Ireena and I figured we should go get some guards to come help us." He chuckles and says, "Good thing we did..."

Ireena asks, " Did you find the bones? "

Alev swoops down and and rushes into the church they were in just a little while ago. The priest of the church looks up from cleaning a metal brazier at your sudden entry, and his eyes widen at the arrows sticking out from your flesh. He rushes over and says, "What happened?" as he pulls out a small knife to begin working on getting the barbed arrows out.

"Hopefully the bones have already reached the church." Leann says with a glance in that general direction. "Our winged friend took off with them when the vampire spawns attacked." She cleans her longsword with a cloth, then slides it back into its sheath. She considers going into the house to aid the guards, but decides to let them do their work. She glances to her companions. "I would like to make sure that he arrived safely at the church, and that his wounds are being tended, he took several arrows as he took the bones to safety."

"...Monsters happened." Alev hisses as the priest helps him out, wincing at the pain. 

He holds the bag of bones, showing it to the priest. "I believe this is what was stolen from you..." He explains. "...Bunch of vampires wanted them. There's monsters everywhere here..."

"Not gonna lie. A part of me is surprised they even came. With their leader so obsessed with keeping everyone "happy", I would've figured-...." Rudick trails off from there, eyes downcast and muttering something in Orcish to himself, before then simply shaking his head. "No matter. I suppose we should count our blessings and consider it enough. But, it is like Leann here has said. Unless these lot needs us to linger for a.. statement, I guess, we best leave this to them to it. What say you, Ismark. Might that be the case?"

Ismark's brow furrows in confusion, and Ireena looks curiously at Rudick as she asks, "What do you mean by statement? Is it something you do where you're from?"

As Father Lucian inserts his knife and cute around the arrowheads, he says with a small, dry chuckle, "We're in Barovia. There's monsters everywhere." He rummages around in your plumage for a bit as he cuts out each of the arrows . When he is done, he wipes off his bloody hands on a towel hanging across a bench before placing his calloused hands on your head. He begins speaking in a language that sounds more like a song than anything else, and you feel a warmness begin to radiate throughout your body. Your wounds close and form scans in a blink of an eye, and you feel refreshed. You heal for 15

Rudick just stares at the duo flatly for a moment, before letting out a defeated sigh. "Right.. This isn't Neverwinter. But yes.. under normal circumstances, those involved with an incident that has been at least relatively contained are usually held... sort of.. by the law at the scene of an incident if possible. Though with Barovia being int he state that it is in, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. So for now, let's be off." And if noone stops him, he leads the march back to the church.

Sergei is quite content to follow. He would have stepped up to make a statement if one had been required. But simply walking away is preferable.

"Yeah, I'm seeing that..." Alev snarks, thinking on all the monster encounters he had seen ever since he arrived here.

He gives a sigh of relief as the healing washes over him, closing his arrow wounds. He leans on the priest's touch. "Thanks" He says as soon as it is over. "You are too kind."

He reflects for a moment whether to tell him about how he was kinda right on who stole the bones, but decides against it. The kid didn't knew, and he was just doing what the man had told him to do. The old man had been the real thief. "Don't ask me how, but it was an old man named Henrik who stole the bones. The gravemaker. He had the bones, and there were vampires with him at his workshop." He shakes his head. "I don't know if he was working with them, or if they arrived there before us. We didn't got to ask him..."

Skip, seeing Leann and Rudick ready themselves to head for the church, melts slowly into a back alley, hood up, not wanting anything to do with Guards investigating thefts, not again. So he doubles back to the church himself, using routes of avoidance where he can

The majority of the group travels to the church unmolested as the sleepy citizens of Vallaki begin to rouse and prepare for the day ahead of them. As you pass through the town square, you can see even more declarations of the upcoming event plastered across many of the surfaces in sight. The people wearing the plaster donkey heads in the stocks still languish in their wooden prison, and you see a burly woodsman carrying a bundle of firewood spit upon them as he walks by. You eventually push open the aged wooden doors to the church and walk in.

Father Lucian frowns as a look of worry comes across his face. "Henrik was always an odd one, but this is strange, even for him. Did he say anything before I assumed he died?" He gathers up the bag and opens it up before peering inside. A small sigh of relief escapes his worried countenance as he sees what's inside. He gestures for you to follow him as he begins walking towards the podium. 

"Yes, he did not do well when he jumped." Leann says with a nod. "He seemed to know what was coming, even without having to be told, as if he knew they were there all along." She shrugs. "I think he was working with them, but, when we took the bones, figured he would be paying for that if he didn't get out." She glances to the others. "Or at least that is how I read the situation, someone else might have things figured differently."

"He said they were coming to get him, and then... He jumped out of a window, and broke his neck on the fall." Alev explains as he follows after him. "That's when we saw the vampires. They were in the other room, and as soon as we had the bones, they came in and tried to kill us. I don't know what they..."

He perks up when he hears Leann's voice and looks up to see the group walking into the church. "Good to see you all survived! I was starting to get worried..."

As much as the sight of the wrongly imprisoned yet irked a nerve, the Orc could not spare even the breath to admonish the woodsman in passing. The only thing that truly mattered than was reaching the church "in time".

So it was with some lingering agitation from the sight yet, that upon breaching the church, Rudick unabashedly would call out for Alev and Father Lucian if either of the two weren't immediately visible upon opening the door. Not so much in a worried or panicked tone, but closer to gruff request. He was not above going searching for them as well. But either way, if/when they are visible, what little of his expression can be seen past the visor lightens for a moment.

"I see you've yet made it, Alev! But are you alright?" He asked while briskly closing the distance for a closer look.

Father Lucian leads you over by the podium. He bends over, and you as him pry up a loose floorboard. Underneath that board, you briefly see a small lever that he pulls before replacing the floorboard. With slight grinding sound, a portion of the floor swings downward to form a ramp into an underground chamber. 

As you follow him down, you enter into a 15 by 15 foot room beneath the church. The walls and ground are carved from white marble, and you see frescos depicting various morning suns rising over breathtaking valleys. In the center of the small chamber, a stone slab with a symbol of a sun rising over a winding path etched across its surface catches your sight. Father Lucian opens the bag and begins gingerly removing the ancient and hollowed bones to  lay them in their proper place upon which the slab. You can see that while the bones are old, they are pearly white, and you can see celestial symbols carved into their radiant surface. As he does this, you can feel a feeling of peace and joy begin to descend upon you. He asks without looking up at the group, "What do you plan on doing next?"

"I'm alright now" Alev answers to Rudick, reflexively taking a hand to one of the healed arrow wounds, one of the scars still there under the plumage.

He waits for someone else to answer Father Lucian's question, as he doesn't have much of a clue where to go next right now.

"We are not sure where to go next, but ending this vampire lord is my mission, at least." Leann says with a glance to the others in the group. She turns back to the priest. "Maybe you can help direct us. we have some information, given to us through divination magic, but do not know what is meant by most of it." She closes her eyes and tries to recall the card reading...

"Knowledge of the ancient will help you better understand your enemy. A wounded elf has what you seek. He will part with the treasure to see his dark dreams fulfilled. A powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope. There is a town where all is not well. There you will find a house of corruption, and within, a dark room full of still ghosts. A weapon of vengeance, a sword of sunlight. The treasure is hidden in a small castle beneath a mountain, guarded by amber giants. A fallen paladin of a fallen order of knghts. He lingers like a ghost in a dead dragons lair. A secret place, a vault of temptation hidden behind a woman of great beauty. The evil waits atop his tower of treasure.

After speaking the reading aloud, Leann glances to the priest again. "Do you know of a wounded elf, this castle under a mountain with amber giants, a town where all is not well, a dead dragon lair, or a vault of temptation?" She doesnt really expect any answers, but has to start somewhere she figures.

“No offense,” says Sergei, “but this town definitely qualifies as all not being well. We should seek out the house of corruption in this place.”

If the priest will not offer a lead on this, Sergei will suggest the group roam about today on the pretext of visiting to enjoy the festivals.

As Leann is giving the cleric the rundown, Rudick watches him very closely for some reason or other...

Insight: 11.

Setting aside paranoia for a moment, he finds himself letting out a dark chuckle under breath. "I was of the same mind, Sergei. In fact, I believe I had asked -- started to ask, at least,  Ireena and Ismark if any building of the like might fit the description. Or perhaps there was a family known to be a bit.... off putting in some manner." He admits, then looks to the priest. If he had no advice to speak of, then Sergei's suggestion is met with a nod of approval and a, "After an hour's respite as well."

Father Lucian History check: 10

Rudick, you watch the priest with close scrutiny as he continues to arrange the bones on the platform. Despite his constant look of weariness, he seems genuinely joyful at the return of the bones. With each bone that he places, Rudick, Leann, and to an extent, Sergei, feel divine energies begin to flow through the church. After a few more bones are put down, Sergei realizes with a start that his connection to his fiendish patron begins to be suppressed by the new power in the church.

Father Lucian says, "The only elves that I know of in Barovia are the dusk elves. They actually have a small encampment a short walk beyond the town walls." He stops placing down the carved bones for a moment as you see he struggles to remember something. He says a moment later, "I think there used to a group of paladins led by a silver dragon a long time ago, and if I'm remembering correctly, they had a keep on one of the mountainsides."