Friday, April 7th, BC (Barovian Calendar) 730
Karina, Invidia
Kerri, Ludovic, Leif, and Duffy return to the Clock's Tick after the
harrowing dogfights and try to get some sleep. But at 4 AM by the moonlit face of
Goldfinger's clock, they are awakened by an insistent member of the town guard
named
Jerrard. Jerrard wakes Leif
first, who isn't sure whether to trust him, and takes him to the other
room, where he can meet the others and where they can talk without waking
baby Nikko. Raul turns in his sleep and wakes up... Leif tells him that
he'd return soon. Concerned about Nikko, Raul asks if they could go to the
Vulpwood. Leif promises to go soon and tells him to please stay safe.
Jerrard tells them he is a friend of Johan's, and that they are in danger, because the investigations at the Citadel have been called off, and all manpower diverted to capturing the escapees, including them. Worse, Johan went into the Maze to recapture a normally well-behaved thief named Tharn Valeris, and never returned. He doesn't know who else he can trust at the Citadel, so he asks the party to go into the Maze with him in search of Johan. Leif asks why he is unaffected by the spell unlike the other guards, but he doesn't know. They agree to meet him at noon, at the museum inside Town Hall.
To feel a bit safer, they move to Silver Star for the rest of the night,
using Duffy and
Giselle's rooms. Duffy notes that someone
has been in Giselle's room, because the dress there is a different one than
last time. Leif keeps watch while everyone else catches a few hours of
sleep. In the morning, Kerri goes out to get some makeup to disguise
everyone a bit, and costumes, so they can blend in a bit with the crowds.
Duffy specifically requests a purple costume and mask with feathers. Too
late, Leif finds some makeup in Giselle's room, which he gives to Kerri for
future use.
That morning Leif's shoulder erupts, nearly knocking him out. After his attempts to avoid the subject fail, he reluctantly agrees to let Kerri try to treat it, although he maintains that, "It's nothing." The group sleeps for the rest of the morning and then heads out to meet Jerrard at the museum. In the shadowed entryway, Nerim Santino, the curator of the museum, pokes his head out and invites them in, but they politely refuse, because they are waiting for Jerrard's imminent arrival. Before leaving them, the curator remarks that Leif reminds him of a painting of Knightshade, a local hero, in the museum. He offers free admission to the museum to the group if they want to see the painting.
When Jerrard arrives a few minutes after twelve, instead of his guard uniform,
he is decked out in full plate with bastard sword and shield. He explains
that he is Jerrard of the Closed Fist, a knight in training who is working for
the guard temporarily. Before leaving, they decide to ask the curator if he
has a map of The Maze, and he leads them through the museum and past several
historical documents and paintings. One, dated 503, shows the clocktower being
built. On the way, Nerim points out the Knightshade exhibit. He leaves them
there and goes off to get the map. Inside are several paintings dated in the
650's, and a
mannequin of Knightshade wearing his armor and holding his staff.
The paintings show Knightshade in
several situations, such as: Knightshade vs. several ruffians, Knightshade
vs. a man in a dark cloak, and Knightshade hanging from a rooftop. The
final painting shows him slain by several large wolves. The plaque reads,
"The Death of Knightshade, 652BC. Knightshade takes his final trip to the
Land of Shadows." Leif has a momentary thought of how similar his last
name is to this location but shrugs it off to deal with more pressing
matters.
As Ludovic inspects the mannequin, it turns to look at him. The door slams shut and the mannequin attacks. During the fight, it seems to fixate on Leif, and flourish its staff in increasingly complicated patterns, that Leif matches with his own. Jerrard disarms the mannequin with a shield bash, and the staff lands at Leif's feet. The mannequin nods, and collapses. The curator arrives and gets quite irate about the commotion and gunsmoke. Kerri manages to convince him that Duffy was smoking and that she accidentally knocked the mannequin over. They put the mannequin back, replacing the staff with Leif's. They notice an insignia on his armor, a sun in a nearly total eclipse.
Jerrard looks over the map with Nerim, and Nerim goes to put it back, but on the way, Duffy "borrows" it from him, replacing it with another old document from one of the cases. Outside, Jerrard sees the map and an argument ensues. Eventually Duffy gives in and allows Jerrard to return the map to the old man. Then, at about 12:30, they leave for the Maze, to look for Valeris's wife, a weaver.
In the twisting streets of the Maze, they find the weaver's shop, next to a blacksmith who Jerrard knows. The shop is closed, so while Jerrard talks to the blacksmith and Kerri and Leif search out back, Duffy "examines" the lock until it opens. He and Ludovic enter, and search the shop, which seems like Mrs. Valeris left in a hurry. Kerri notices a trickle of blood from a nearby alleyway, and following it, discovers a body in a pool of blood. She calls for help, and Duffy and Ludovic exit the back door of the shop, just as Jerrard comes around the smithy.
Kerri sees the body is wearing a crumpled, black feathered mask. Jerrard removes the mask, revealing the man's face, crushed as though by a giant fist. Kerri and Jerrard are frozen by this horrific display, and Leif and Duffy are fearstruck by the horror and run from the scene as panic grips their hearts. Lud manages to remain composed, and covers the body with a sheet borrowed from the blacksmith. He also searches the body and finds a pouch containing 50 gold pieces. It seems as though there are several sockets where jewels must have been mounted on the mask, but it has been picked clean. Leif recognizes the bloody boot tracks that lead toward the north of town. Only one man with feet that large runs that fast: Vir Stannum. Jerrard leaves an anonymous note with the blacksmith to inform the town guard about the murder, and they follow the smith's directions to Valeris's house.
Tharn's wife answers the door. She denies seeing her husband, but Jerrard thinks she's harboring him, and forces his way in. Tharn is there, cooperative, but spooked, and reluctant to talk. Eventually he admits that Johan came to get him, and he went willingly, (although his son, Little Hans, was crying) but when they reached the back of the house... something happened that he won't talk about. The party looks in back, and find Johan's body. He has ragged slashes in his neck, and he is tied to a storm drain by his white sash of office. On the white plaster wall is written in blood:
"Let those who live in filth tremble
Let those who walk the streets weep
Let those who hurt the children die"
Jerrard is nauseated at seeing his friend mutilated in such horrific fashion. (Were the others horrified too?) Tharn's family knows nothing about the dead man behind their shop. Mrs. Valeris left in a hurry because her husband had returned from jail one year early. Jerrard advises Tharn to stay there while the strange happenings among the guard are sorted out. At 5 PM, after resting at Tharn's for a bit, the group leaves for the Pale Rose Inn.
Scar is there, and says that
Cynthia left, and he's glad she did. She was always too emotional. She let
her feelings for Erik override her common sense. Said she'd probably head
east, but wasn't sure. She kept mumbling about a mist or something.
Erik's death probably sent her over the edge. Duffy and Lud search her
room, paying Scar 5 gold scandals for the privilege, but it's empty. Scar
offers Kerri a job in his gang, but she refuses.
The group stops by to see The Engineer before leaving town to say goodbye. They learn a bit about Knightshade from him. He was a local hero, always saving the weak, and never taking any credit or reward, disappearing into the night. Legend says that he made a yearly pilgrimage to "the Land of Shadows." When he was killed by wolves in The Vulpwood, he turned out to be son of a local noble. They ask him if Vir came to see him. He did, but the Engineer was scared and didn't answer the door. (Did they talk about anything else??)
At 6 PM they go to the Citadel, for information on the Midnight Slasher. While the others wait outside at a safe distance, looking inconspicuous, Jerrard tries to get into the records office, but the guards are uncooperative. Sensing they are acting charmed, he tries to surreptitiously knock them out of it, but fails. Duffy dances a bit. The High Captain arrives and attempts to convince him to leave. Jerrard hits him with his shield, which seems to anger him. Before he can react, Jerrard sees a six-fingered hand on his shoulder and suddenly finds himself by the docks. He hurries back to the Citadel, collects his horse and donkey from the stable and meets up with the others.
Together, they go to the Laughing Maiden to meet Matton at 8 PM.
When they see
him, his face is covered in scratches and his arm is in a sling. He tells
them that some of the crowd from the dogfights ambushed him, and he's
unfortunately too hurt to go to Cliff House tonight. They agree to go without
him, and return Gabrielle to him. Kerri haggles for a reward of 1500 gold,
half up front. He shows them a locket with her portrait so they will
recognize her. Kerri's suspicions are confirmed, as the face in the locket is
the same as the woman known as Giselle!
Outside, they see a very worried Raul, who tells Leif that Nikko has taken a turn for the worse. He is convinced that they should meet his people in the Vulpwood as soon as possible. With this new urgency, they decide that Cliff House will have to wait. They tell Matton they will meet him tomorrow, and head outside of town to the Vulpwood.
Raul has a feeling he can't explain that leads him to his people. In the darkened woods, Leif hears what seems to be an injured animal following them, but they don't linger. Off in a clearing, they see some light, and Raul is confused for a moment as to which way to go. In the clearing they find a gypsy wagon and a campfire. Raul is baffled, saying that it's his wagon, and his blacksmith tools are there, along with Nikko's cradle. But he last saw the wagon on an island up the river where he had to abandon it. A beautiful gypsy woman, Raul's dead wife Leyla, emerges from the wagon, and runs to embrace her baby. Leif grabs him away, but the woman's fingers pass through little Nikko, who goes into some kind of shock.
Duffy's bullets pass right through the ghost, but Ezra's Mercy
and Knightshade's Staff hurt her, as do Lud's spells. Ludovic
discovers that the whole contents of the clearing are an illusion except for the
ghost. Kerri tends to the baby with a vial of quintessence while her
countersong breaks the lethargy brought on by Leyla's voice. Unable to
control himself, Raul pulls out the shattered remnants of his violin.
Jerrard throws it in the fire at Ludovic's urging.(?) Then, realizing that
it's only illusionary fire, Ludovic lights the violin. The party's enchanted
weapons send the ghost to her final rest. As it is getting late, they spend the
night in the clearing. That night during Leif's watch, a wounded and
sickly wolf arrives, with a bite mark in its left ear. Leif talks to it,
bandages it, and gives it some food.
Saturday, April 8th, BC 730
Vulpwood, Invidia
Jerrard tries to heal the wolf with Leif's chalice, but it only allows him
to do so once Leif indicates that it's safe. Upon leaving the clearing, they
are startled by Vir, the Burly Man!
He says, "I knew I'd find you here, running away. You're just like he was,
Merdufoni, always holding out on me, always depriving me of what I need most,
of what should be mine!" Enraged that the Journal contains only nonsense, he
attacks. Knives seem to jump from his sleeves, and he punches with deadly
strength. Jerrard charges him at a full gallop, lance lowered, but the lance
and all the party's others weapons seem to clang off the armor concealed under
his clothes. But Kerri(?) convinces him to calm down, and Duffy says that
if they work together, they can figure out the journal. They
talk.
But Vir flies into a rage again and beats Duffy into unconsciousness with both
fists. Tendrils of black mist spring up from the ground to restrain Vir, and
Jerrard attacks with his sword, shield and horse. The horse strikes the back
of his head with a loud clang. Kerri and Leif work to heal Duffy. Ludovic
makes a grab for the book, but the mists whisk Vir away, and he is gone.
The Ghost of Manfred Taige mutters to Ludovic, "So strange... Empty, with nothing inside. He definitely has possibilities..." Ludovic asks for an explanation, but Taige will say no more.
At the edge of the clearing, they spot the gypsy who showed them the House
of the Mists at the festival. He introduces himself as Vincenzo, and says
only that he sent Vir far away. Leif comments "I guess you're 'the help we
needed in the Vulpwood'?" referring to his earlier prediction in the center of
town during festival. At this point, Leif notices that Nikko is starting to
look a lot better, which makes him happy. Vincenzo takes them to his
camp, where they see a whole tribe of the Vistani. They are introduced to
Madame Eva, the raunie of
the tribe, an ancient woman in a green shawl with red fringes. She already
seems to know Lud, though. "Ludovishka...," she says, "Yes, I know your
name, but not by the Sight. We Vistani are family after all. We met when
you were too small to remember. Then we met again, but it hasn't happened
yet for you."
They are invited to watch the prastonata, a traditional dance by a beautiful girl named Gitana. She invites Duffy to join her, and he manages to not embarrass himself, and earn some applause.
Afterwards, and ancient woman named Marcella leads the dorok, in which she shares the tale of a half-vistani named Gabrielle Aderre, and her mother Isabella. One night, Gabrielle set the warding circle around their camp improperly, and a werewolf broke through and killed Isabella. Instead of saving her, Gabrielle asked about the father she never knew. Isabella told her she was sold in Falkovnia as a slave to a cruel man who impaled peasants in front of his castle for fun. She escaped and was two months pregnant with Gabrielle. Gabrielle left her mother to die and Isabella cursed her saying, "May you know your child's betrayal and realize too late the depths of its evil!"
Gabrielle settled in Invidia and used many men as toys, charming them with
her Evil Eye, always using Isabella's teachings in herbalism to prevent a
pregnancy. But one day she fell in love, with a mysterious gentleman caller,
and forsook Matton Blanchard, the only man who had truly loved her. Because
Matton was secretly a wolfwere, not human, her spell to charm humans had no
effect on him, but he loved her anyway. Matton turned into a wolf and
attacked her new suitor. Gabrielle paralyzed Matton with her Evil Eye, and
went off with her new love. But this mystery man was a demon, from the
infernal depths, who had charmed her so thoroughly that she did not see his
leathery wings. He left, saying she would only remember him as the handsome
gentleman. From that union, an Abomination was born, a creature named
Malocchio, the Dukkar, the six fingered boy.
The vistani need help. Because of the Dukkar's vistani heritage, he is a invisible to their Sight. So they need giorgios who can investigate in Karina unnoticed to find his lair. Luckily, the party already knows that Mallochio is holding Gabrielle at Cliff House, and tell Madame Eva so. She is pleased, and asks for their further assistance. They will craft a magic lock of binding to deprive him of most of his powers. Jerrard and Raul will forge the case, and Duffy can craft the lock mechanism. A vistana, named Philosh, will cast the enchantment into it.
In return, the vistani will cure Leif (who still believes it to be no big deal) and Duffy (who Eva reveals was infected with lycanthropy when he was bit by the werewolves.) The full cure takes a day to brew, but they do give Leif a temporary fix that will prevent his Mummy Rot from getting worse. She foresees that Leif will die before he reaches anyone else who can help. The party agrees.
While Jerrard, Raul, and Duffy work, and Duffy tries to get Philosh to enchant his guns, Eva talks to Leif. He learns that vistani experience time differently then giorgios, and that they only tell giorgios what they need to know, not what they want to know. When he asks, she reveals that she has been to Nidala. "It is a beautiful land," she says, "But suffers from a lack of appropriate leadership." She doesn't know yet where they'll go next. She takes him into her wagon, to read the Tarokka cards about his mother for him. He gives her his brother's rock for inspection.
Seeing that he now has a powerful magic staff that is able to strike ghosts, Leif gives the kukri to Kerri. Kerri and Ludovic return to town to get supplies and tell Matton that they'll go to Cliff house in the morning, with the lock.
Sunday, April 9th, BC 730
Vulpwood, Invidia
Jerrard, Raul, and Duffy work through the day and night. And in the
morning, the lock is complete. Philosh magically removes their fatigue and
tells them the lock must touch Mallochio to work. They meet Matton,
and head to Cliff House. Deciding that Leif has the best chance of touching
Mallochio, they give him the lock, and Lud magically enhances his
abilities.
At the approach to the estate, they are attacked by several giant ravens, descending from the trees. They kill the ravens, and Ludovic's magic knocks down two more that were flying off toward town. Duffy and Jerrard enter a pitch black barn, and see movement in the darkness. Duffy's gunblast illuminates the pile of human corpses in the barn, and enrages the giant wolves that were sleeping amongst them. They barely make it out alive. The party decides not to risk anym ore sidetracking to investigate the vineyards or other outbuildings and they head straight for the manor house. They are welcomed by archers shooting at them from the upper windows. Rushing inside, they fight some of the town guards, and some mercenary looking toughs. Jerrard charges his horse up the stairs, but it falls through. Leif leaps to a balcony, and fights the guards upstairs. Matton searches the house for Gabrielle.
After a brief battle, Kerri ties the unconscious guards. Jerrard, Duffy, Kerri, and Matton search the downstairs, while Lud and Leif chase a guard that they saw pass toward the kitchen, deducing that he must have gone downstairs. Outside, Lud sees a black spot circling over the city of Karina. When the party regroups back in foyer, the guards they left tied up are dead. On the wall above the stairs is written in blood:
"You cannot hide from the shadows
You cannot run from your fate
You cannot escape my justice.
They head downstairs into the darkened cellar, and arrows fly out of the darkness. A fight ensues with the remaining guards, which leaves the party battered and bloody. They open a door that seemed to be what they were guarding, and find a trashed wine cellar holding Gabrielle. She seems to have snapped. She rambles incoherently, saying things like, "Who are you? You're not Mother!", "I just wanted a child, is that so wrong?", and "He took me to Falkovnia! He cannot do that! He can NOT do that!"
Matton tries to comfort her, and she slaps him, saying, "I killed you once, Bakholis, I can kill you again!" Duffy confronts Matton about being a wolfwere and asks if Gabrielle has any children. He says no, and Duffy reveals that they know about the incident 10 years ago with Gabrielle's gentleman caller. But he is baffled that they know, and tells them that it was only last year. Ludovic detects that Gabrielle is wearing magical bracelets and a magic scarf. For safety's sake, they try to take the bracelets away, but each person in turn finds that once they look into her eyes, they no longer want to do so. Only Jerrard is unaffected, and decides not to chance it.
Upstairs, they are confronted by Mallochio, who is suddenly
all grown up, and accompanied
by two giant wolves. The party enters the climactic battle, with Leif's
wolf friend joining the fray. Mallochio teleports around the room, making
it difficult for Leif to touch him with the lock. But eventually he
succeeds, and the lock dissipates into misty chains, which bind Mallochio
and then disappear. He doesn't seem to know what happened, but seems to
have trouble teleporting after that.
In the midst of the battle, the Midnight Slasher arrives, and attacks Gabrielle, screaming, "For mother and father!" The Slasher's hat falls off and reveals the she is actually a young, crazed looking woman. Mallochio uses the Evil Eye to make Leif run in fear, saying he is too old to play with toys now, and if Leif wants to play he should go outside. Duffy tumbles across a dining table and slices Mallochio with Ezra's Mercy, who bleeds a black ichor and disappears in a puff of black smoke. As he does, Manfred Taige whispers to Ludovic, "hmm... now he is very promising."
Matton shifts to half-wolf form and attacks the Slasher. Duffy stops him, as the Slasher tries to flee. Duffy goes to stop her(?), and Matton takes opportunity to charge her. They battle on the balcony above the cliff face, but it collapses, and they fall into the river below, fighting all the way down.
Before leaving, the party searches upstairs, where they find a spellbook and tarokka deck, in one of the only two furnished rooms. With Matton dead, they have no choice but to take the now catatonic Gabrielle back to vistani.
At the vistani camp, they Talk with Eva. She explains many things, and tells them that while Mallochio still lives, they have done a great deed today. She says, "Some say that good and evil balance each other. They are mistaken. Evil can be far more powerful. Evil can shape people, evil can shape history, evil can even shape the very land we walk on. A force that powerful can rarely be destroyed, so it must be contained, it must be imprisoned, and to a force that loves to spread, that is torment. Only the most vile people in the world are imprisoned so. We call them The Dark Lords. If they were unbound, allowed to roam the world, or even worse cooperate, ... It would bring a fate worse than can be imagined for us all." She tells them that Mallochio's abilities to travel vast distances are powerful enough to carry these Dark Lords out of their confinement. The lock binds him to the land of Invidia, so he cannot leave its borders, and thus cannot free these Dark Lords.
With gratitude, Eva gives Duffy and Leif their foul-tasting cure, which they cannot help but vomit up into buckets, which the vistani carry away. She gives Leif back his rock, telling him that it is enchanted to prevent pain when the word Belenus is spoken while touching it, although it does not prevent injury, only the pain the injury causes. It also can fortify the body against poison and disease by the same method.
Raul approaches the group and thanks them all for their help. Nikko is doing well, and Jerrard gives him Duffy's wind-up toy that he bartered for earlier. Raul especially thanks Leif, and offers to show his gratitude by making him giogoto, enlightened though not of The Blood. Leif agrees, and Raul performs the ritual, cutting both their hands, allowing the blood to mingle, and miraculously healing the wounds. Leif is left with a thin pink scar across his palm, forever marking him friend of the vistani.
Monday, April 10th - Tuesday, April 11th, BC 730
Vulpwood, Invidia
In the morning, the vistani are gone without a trace. Back in Karina,
the party rests up at the Clock's Tick for a few days. Jerrard
tries to make some parts for Duffy, but time is short, so he gives him his
silver shortsword instead. Leif names his new wolf companion
Kukri.
And so as the festival comes to a close, so too do many mysteries. But Tepest still awaits, as does Gustav's Darkon workshop, and the land of Nidala. And Vir and Cynthia both lie to the east, while Mallochio remains somewhere in Invidia, defeated, and not happy about it...
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