Session 15 — Dolls and Disappearances

In the aftermath of the vampire attack on Vallaki, the party witnesses the consecration of St. Andral's Church as Father Lucian restores its holy ward — healing Ireena's bite marks in the process. A day of exploration through a recovering town reveals disturbing secrets: wanted posters bearing Ireena's face, a toymaker's workshop hiding an obsessive collection of Ireena dolls commissioned by Captain Izek Strazni, and a carnival wagon that shakes with something far more dangerous than a tiger. The trail of a promised favor leads the party beyond Vallaki's walls to the Vistani camp, where a father's fury and a child's absence turn a simple errand into something far more urgent.

Pre-Session Recap

The party had just survived a brutal encounter with Volenta, a greater vampire spawn and bride of Strahd, in the streets and courtyard of St. Andral's Church. The Bones of St. Andral were recovered from the coffin maker's attic, Henrik van der Voort perished in the chaos, and Volenta escaped as mist — swearing vengeance. The bones now rested within the church, ready for consecration.

Session Summary

Opening — The Consecration of St. Andral's Church

Father Lucian and Yeska prepared for the consecration ritual, with Ria presenting the recovered bones. The ceremony was conducted in liturgical High Elvish — ancient words that none of the party fully understood but all felt. As Father Lucian chanted, the church itself responded: candles burned steadier, shadows retreated from corners they had long claimed, and the air grew lighter, warmer.

The most dramatic moment came when Ireena's vampire bite marks — wounds that had already been healed over by the vampirism itself in an undead mockery of recovery — were re-exposed by the consecration. The marks reappeared on her neck, raw and visible once more, before the Morning Lord's power healed them properly — the skin discoloring, cracking like dried clay, and disintegrating until it was whole and unmarked. The distinction mattered: the curse had hidden the wounds, the consecration revealed and then truly mended them.

Aleric, watching with hope, checked his own bite marks from the vampire spawn. They remained. Father Lucian explained the difference: Ireena's bite was an act of violation — an unwanted assault that the Morning Lord's power could cleanse. Aleric's situation was more complicated — a "contract situation," as the priest put it, implying something deeper and more binding tied to his condition.

During the ritual, Ireena whispered an unknown word — something the party couldn't identify but noted.

The Evening — Wounds and Rest

Heinrich departed to salvage materials from his burnt shop, promising to repair the church and Ria's damaged shield. Ria was still suffering from a sucking chest wound sustained during Session 14's combat. Daisy attempted field medicine to staunch the bleeding — a comedic scene involving Aleric awkwardly assisting and Ria enduring the treatment with characteristic stoicism.

Later, Ria successfully sneaked up on Ireena for the first time — only for Ireena to detect her at the last moment and execute a Black Widow-style takedown, pinning Ria before realizing who it was. Ireena spent the evening telling Yeska bedtime stories — tales of love and loss that carried a weight the child couldn't fully understand.

A quiet observation: Aleric's eyes were developing a crimson, predatory sheen — a physical manifestation of his vampiric condition progressing.

Daisy closed the evening with a prayer for the innocents trampled during the chase, delivered in her signature style — wishing them mojitos and beach time in the afterlife. The party took a long rest.

Morning — A Town Recovering

The party woke to a thunderstorm over Vallaki. The town was recovering from the previous day's chaos — bodies loaded onto wagons, the coffin maker's shop reduced to rubble (a grim irony: no coffins for the dead). New wanted posters had appeared throughout town: Ireena, wanted for questioning by order of Izek Strazni, Captain of the Guard. 200 gold reward. "Alive and well."

The party warned Ireena and Father Lucian. Ireena would need a disguise to move through town. Father Lucian, pragmatic as ever, asked the party to bring breakfast from the Blue Water Inn — five silver for the lot.

Blue Water Inn — Refugees and Ravens

The inn was busier than usual, crowded with refugees displaced by the previous day's violence. Danica Martikov served the party but warned against carrying extra breakfasts out — it would look suspicious with Izek's people watching.

Rictavio appeared, taking two breakfasts with a grin, claiming the second was for his "saber-toothed tiger." A confident, throwaway remark that the party didn't press further.

Ria found a blue feather tucked into her toast — a small, deliberate gift from her wereraven contact. Aleric investigated the kitchen and spotted a blue-tipped raven hiding among the rafters. He left a gold coin near it as a gesture of goodwill.

Izek Strazni Enters the Inn

The mood in the inn shifted when Izek Strazni arrived — the Captain of the Guard, a hulking figure with a deformed, demonic-looking arm. He demanded information about Ireena's whereabouts, questioning patrons and staff with barely contained aggression.

Nikolai Wachter — one of the Wachter brothers, members of Vallaki's second most influential family — intervened. He told Izek that he had seen Ireena and her companions leaving town through the western gate. A deliberate lie, offered smoothly and without hesitation. Izek, finding no contradicting information, departed.

Both Wachter brothers subsequently passed out from Urwin Martikov's special reserve — apparently a potent vintage.

Muriel Vinshaw — Feathers and Proposals

Ria returned to the kitchen to investigate the raven. Instead, she was ambushed by Muriel Vinshaw — a young woman who pinned Ria against the wall before revealing herself as the blue-feathered wereraven. Muriel thanked Ria for saving her life, admitted to making Ria's breakfast plate personally, and confessed she was the bird who had been following the party.

Then came the coin problem. Ria had been leaving gold coins for Muriel in bird form since the first session they shared — a gesture of thanks that Muriel had tried to return every single time. What Ria didn't know was that in wereraven culture, giving coins carried a very different meaning. Muriel's embarrassment was total: "It's partially your fault — you did give me all those coins." Ria: "I didn't know about the coins. Stop doing that, it's so confusing."

Muriel, mortified beyond recovery, announced she was going to "go into a corner and die." She shifted into bird form and attempted to flee — hitting the window three times in her flustered haste before finally finding the open crack of the door and escaping. Ria returned to the table in a daze: "I've seen some shit, guys."

Breakfast Rituals — A Study in Contrasts

The delivery of breakfast to the church produced one of the session's most entertaining contrasts. Milivoj took his food, opened it, pulled out the sausage, and inhaled it before he reached the other side of the room — walking and eating at competition speed. He crumpled the wrapper, tossed it in the trash, did a hair flip, and walked away with egg on his face and grease wiped across his shirt, completely oblivious.

Father Lucian was his polar opposite. He washed his hands in a basin before accepting the food. He then spent an extraordinary amount of time cutting a small end off the sausage, scraping the plate with the knife to be absolutely thorough. After a minute of careful cutting, he pulled the sausage up — it was still hanging by a thread — put it back down, and resumed cutting. He then proceeded to slice his breakfast sandwich into perfectly square mini-sandwiches, picked up one tiny fingerling piece, and nibbled a single corner. The players immediately diagnosed OCD, and the DM confirmed it was a deliberate characterization — a ritual that defined how Father Lucian approached even the simplest acts.

Blinsky's Toys — "Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!"

The party visited Gadof Blinsky's toy shop, greeted by the toymaker's enthusiastic motto and his companion Piccolo — a tutu-wearing monkey with persistent digestive issues. The shop was a carnival of bizarre and mildly disturbing handcrafted toys.

The critical discovery: Blinsky had been commissioned to create dolls of Ireena by Izek Strazni over the past two or more years. The dolls grew increasingly detailed with each order — ball-jointed, with jeweled eyes, crafted from descriptions Izek provided with obsessive precision. Ireena had only arrived in Vallaki two days ago. Izek had been making dolls of her for years.

The party purchased a plush saber-toothed tiger for Arabelle (3 silver) — fulfilling Madam Eva's request from Session 09. Ria also bought a Dusk Elf plushie with a tiny stake (2 silver) and a gold-feathered hat accessory (5 copper). A second saber-toothed tiger was commissioned (2–3 days for completion).

Blinsky, delighted by his new customers, proposed creating party-themed toys: "Battleria" and "Daisy the Minotaur."

Arasek Stockyard — Rictavio's Wagon

The party passed through Arasek Stockyard and spotted Rictavio's Carnival of Wonders wagon. They helped him fix a broken wheel — but during the repair, something inside the wagon made terrifying sounds. The wagon shook violently. For a brief moment, Rictavio's showman mask slipped and genuine fear crossed his face before he recovered his composure.

He claimed it was the tiger. He urged the party to leave for their own safety. The party complied, but the moment left more questions than answers.

Church Check-In — Izek's Obsession Revealed

The party returned to the church with food and shared what they had learned about Izek's doll collection with Ireena. She was deeply disturbed — this man had been crafting dolls in her likeness for over two years, yet she had only just arrived. How could he know what she looked like?

Ireena's response was direct: "I'm gonna have to kill a bitch."

The party discussed their respective faiths (Daisy: Sune, Aleric: Tyr, Ria: Tempus) and the emerging web of threats. Ireena advised investigating the Wachter family as potential allies against Izek, noting that a powerful family actively working against the town's enforcer said something significant about both parties. She cautioned them about the cost of such alliances — "You do not know what you will have to pay for such privilege."

The party reaffirmed the need to deal with Old Bonegrinder. Father Lucian asked the party to check in before nightfall, adding that if they didn't return by morning, he would personally leave town to avenge their deaths — "because I actually do care about the three of you quite a lot."

Leaving Vallaki — Guard Number 73

The party exited through the western gate, where they were stopped by a friendly guard who introduced himself as Steve Petrikov. Steve was observant, good-natured, and refreshingly candid — he'd been watching the party move through town and appreciated that they hadn't caused trouble, "considering one of you is a Dusk Elf, the other one looks like a devil, and the other one looks like their grandpa."

He took their names (noting Ria's characteristic hesitation when giving hers — a habit he'd observed multiple times around town), warned them the gates close at dark, and negotiated a haunch of meat as payment for the courtesy. He also suggested they come up with a group name.

The DM expressed exasperated amusement that the players immediately memorized "Steve Petrikov, Guard Number 73" — a throwaway NPC — but couldn't remember the names of the Wachter brothers who had literally saved them from Izek.

The Vistani Camp — A Father's Fury

The party followed footpaths southwest of Vallaki to the Vistani Camp — a permanent settlement built into a grass-covered hill, with elegantly carved low houses along its slopes and a ring of barrel-topped wagons surrounding a large, smoke-billowing tent at the summit. The Dusk Elf Hovels sat on the camp's perimeter, separate from the Vistani settlement proper.

Inside the tent, they found Lubash — the camp's leader, a large man in studded leather with a thick beard, bloodshot eyes, and a right leg wrapped in bloodstained bandages from a wolf trap — in the middle of berating Alexei, a shirtless young man kneeling among broken pottery. Lubash's brother Arrigal stood at his side, catching him when his injured leg buckled, supporting without showing it — a leader who could not afford to appear weak.

The DM described Lubash as a fusion of Boromir, Robert Baratheon, Bob Parr from The Incredibles, and Wolverine — a man of immense physical and emotional presence.

When Daisy entered, the Vistani gasped at the sight of an eight-foot horned woman with cloven feet. Ria entered behind her and received no second glance — until Lubash heard her speak. Something sparked in his expression, and his eyes grew wide. "Are you a woman?" he asked. When Ria confirmed, Lubash — who moments before had been bellowing with fury — sat down, his demeanor shifting to absolute despair and despondence. "You are not from Barovia," he said quietly. "Has the Count seen you?"

The implication was devastating. The Dusk Elves in camp were the last of their kind in Barovia, and there were no women among them. Seeing a white-haired female Dusk Elf was something Lubash clearly never expected. He directed Ria to Kasimir: "He will probably tell you without prompting, seeing that you are a woman." He refused to explain further, saying he did not feel right telling her the story himself.

The party then explained their errand for Madam Eva. At the mention of Arabelle's name, Lubash's eyes welled with tears. His daughter had been kidnapped. Alexei had been tasked with watching her but got drunk on wine provided by a stranger named "Yan." When Alexei woke, Arabelle was gone and Yan had vanished. A Vistani tracker named Savid found Yan's decapitated body near the Luna River, along with a signet ring. The ring had been given to Kasimir, a Dusk Elf elder, for identification.

Lubash offered 50 gold for Arabelle's safe return. Arrigal agreed to hold off on Alexei's punishment until Arabelle was found, then dragged the young man out of the tent to put him to work. The party was directed to speak with Kasimir in the southernmost hovel.

The Dusk Elf Hovels — Not What Ria Expected

The party approached the Dusk Elf Hovels — three guards met them at the perimeter. Their reaction to Ria was immediate and striking: absolute astonishment, followed by fear and disgust as they backed away from her. Not the reverence a female Drow might command in the Underdark — something entirely different. Ria noticed that Dusk Elves had black hair, not white — they were visually distinct from the Drow she knew. The plushie she'd bought at Blinsky Toys looked nothing like an actual Dusk Elf.

The guards drew spears but allowed the party to pass after learning they had spoken with Lubash about Arabelle. Notably, one guard stated outright that they did not trust Arrigal — but that Lubash "has done much good for us." An interesting tension between the brothers.

They entered Kasimir's dwelling — a small, cozy vestibule decorated with hanging sketches and portraits of proud, dark-skinned elves, tree-born spires carved from dark wood, and artistic depictions of constellations and celestial bodies. Two curtains of dark fabric obscured the entrance to a chamber beyond. Ria cleared her throat; a creak sounded from within, and a single word: "Come."

The session ended as the party stepped past the curtains into Kasimir's chamber.

Key Events

• Consecration of St. Andral's Church — Father Lucian performs the ritual; the church's hallowed ground is restored, and Ireena's vampire bite marks — previously hidden by the vampirism's undead healing — reappear before being healed properly by the Morning Lord's power
• Aleric's Bite Persists — Aleric's vampiric marks remain; Father Lucian calls it a "contract situation" distinct from Ireena's violation
• Ireena's Whisper — During the consecration, Ireena whispers an unknown word that the party cannot identify
• Wanted Posters — Izek Strazni posts wanted notices for Ireena throughout Vallaki; 200 gold reward, "alive and well"
• Nikolai Wachter's Cover — Nikolai Wachter lies to Izek Strazni at the Blue Water Inn, claiming Ireena left town westward
• Muriel Vinshaw Revealed — The blue-feathered wereraven reveals herself to Ria; a history of coin-giving turns out to be a prolonged accidental marriage proposal in wereraven culture
• Izek's Doll Collection — Blinsky Toys reveals that Izek Strazni has been commissioning increasingly detailed dolls of Ireena for over two years — before she ever arrived in Vallaki
• Rictavio's Wagon — Something terrifying inside the carnival wagon at Arasek Stockyard; Rictavio shows genuine fear before recovering his mask
• Arabelle Kidnapped — At the Vistani Camp, Lubash reveals his daughter Arabelle has been taken; the kidnapper "Yan" was found decapitated near Luna River with a signet ring
• Lubash's Reaction to Ria — Lubash shifts from fury to despair upon realizing Ria is a white-haired female Dusk Elf; directs her to Kasimir to learn the truth
• Dusk Elf Encounter — Ria meets Dusk Elves for the first time; they react with fear and disgust rather than kinship; the guards distrust Arrigal but respect Lubash

Decisions Made

NPCs Encountered

Locations Visited

Combat & Encounters

No combat encounters this session. The session was entirely exploration, social interaction, and investigation.

Loot & Acquisitions

Memorable Moments

• Milivoj vs. Father Lucian: breakfast speedrun vs. breakfast ritual — Milivoj inhales a full meal in seconds while walking; Father Lucian spends several minutes cutting a sausage with molecular precision, only to discover it's still hanging by a thread
• "Is no fun, is no Blinsky!" — Gadof Blinsky's irrepressible enthusiasm in the face of his own deeply unsettling toy designs
• The gold coin marriage proposal — Ria's ongoing coin gifts to Muriel in bird form turn out to be a prolonged wereraven marriage proposal; mutual mortification ensues
• Muriel hits the window three times — In her flustered haste to escape, Muriel crashes into the glass three times before finding the crack of the door
• Piccolo's ongoing condition — Blinsky's monkey companion's persistent digestive problems provided a running background gag
• Guard Steve Petrikov — "Considering one of you is a Dusk Elf, the other one looks like a devil, and the other one looks like their grandpa" — instant fan favorite; players memorized his name and badge number while forgetting the Wachter brothers entirely
• Ireena's response to the dolls — "I'm gonna have to kill a bitch" — delivered in a church, followed by immediate apology to Father Lucian
• Daisy's prayer for the trampled — Wishing the dead mojitos and beach time in the afterlife
• Lubash's shift — From bellowing fury to quiet despair in a single moment upon seeing Ria — a man who carries the weight of his people's extinction

PC Highlights

GM Notes