758 - October

October Events, 758 BC (Barovian Calendar)

13th (Monday)

• Late in the afternoon, Hanzel, Cordelia, Cosmin, and Nathanos are drawn into an altercation on the street outside their adopted residence—the coach house of Château Durant where the Lavalle family once lived. It is a street fight between a commoner, Bernard, and a watchman, Rafael. They intervene on the watchman's behalf, and as Rafael leaves to fetch more watchman, the PCs briefly question Bernard.
• Bernard confesses to attacking Rafael, for making "unwanted advances" on his sister, Ana. Although angry and frustrated and not very forthcoming, the PCs learn from him that his sister allegedly personally knew Cozette Lavalle. Cozette is believed to be the C. Lavalle from their mysterious list, and was they reason they came here in the first place.
• Rafael returns, takes Bernard away, and thanks them. Says he will speak to his superiors about offering them work.
• That night, before going to bed, Cordelia sees—or thinks she sees—a candle flame behind a second floor window of the otherwise eternally dark Château Durant. When she fetches Cosmin, there is no sign of it.

14th (Tuesday)

• In the morning, Cordelia speaks of the candle light in the window. Ghosts, Nathanos assumes with confidence and wariness. The others are not so sure.
• Captain Darcel of the Casque Safran watch company comes and offers the PCs a job: investigate the mysterious sightings of an old cemetery on Lacheur Island, situated between two tenement buildings and in front of an old park. The locals have been reporting a "dead man" and a "hell hound" late at night. But as there have been no actual disappearances, the watch have not looked into the matter.
• The task: If the PCs can solve the matter in a single night, Darcel will offer them a respectable, paying job involving Château Delanuit, the Renier family estate. The Reniers rule not only the city, but all of Richemulot.
• During the day, the PCs decide to look into Bernard's claims. After stopping by Bernard and Ana's residence—where they are redirected by their mother—Nathanos sees a child watching them from afar. A pale, blond girl likely no older than 10, wearing commoner's clothes. When he moves to approach her, she runs, and is unable to find her again. None of the others see her.
• The PCs go to Château Maziere, where Ana works as a seamstress, and request to speak to her under the pretense of commissioning work from her (a dress for Cordelia). She cannot say much at this time but when asked about the Lavalle family, she says she knew their daughter, Cozette. Ana says she will come by later.
• The PCs also investigate the cemetery during the day. They find some freshly dug graves in the otherwise neglected cemetery, and possible signs of the recent coming and going of booted feed. A resident of one of the adjacent tenements, an old man, says his son now refuses to come visit him anymore—afraid of the spirits the locals believe are haunting the place. The old man asks the PCs if they will get rid of the ghosts. When Nathanos says they will, the man gives him a small white figurine of Ezra as a preemptive reward, saying it was carved by his grandfather.
• Later, Ana stops by the coach house and tells them she worked briefly with Cozette Lavalle when Cozette did seamstress work. Cozette was quiet—a growing stigma around her family made her so—but she opened up to Ana, and admitted to having snuck into the Château Durant once, with a friend on a dare, a few months before the whole family left the city. She wouldn't say what she saw there, but ever since going in, she became plagued by nightmares involving...a dancer? She gave no other details, but somehow that shook her deeply and she quit her job soon after. The Lavalle family then left a few weeks later, Cozette's father allegedly desperate to find her a doctor.
• That night, the PCs return to the cemetery. As they approach the overgrown park at its far end, they hear a rustle. A rotting corpse suddenly lurches upright into view!
• A short battle ensued as men, hidden in the bushes, abandon their scarecrow-corpse and flee into the overgrown park behind the cemetery. One man is taken captive, while the other escapes. Cosmin is nearly struck by a crossbow bolt shot from the tangled brush of the park.
• Battle is quickly renewed. The dog, a huge mastiff, is killed, and the other—their leader—is subdued. The dog's collar has some sort of alchemical packets on it, and the group's leader is clearly a Falkovnian veteran (his forehead bears the brand of Vlad Drakov).
• The PCs rest, then interrogate the man. His name is Emrich and he claims to be there seeking a buried treasure in the park that his father told him about long ago. Cordelia mentions names from The List, and Emrich acknowledges "A. Kilianus" when it is mentioned. Emrich calls him Arik, says he was a "captain in the Kingfhurer's army." The PCs' continued interrogation of becomes...splintered.
• During the chaos, Cosmin disappears. Nathanos soon spots him out on the street speaking with someone slight of build. Nathanos suspects it's that mysterious, disappearing little blond girl who is speaking to him.
• The PCs attempt to "help" Emrich locate his treasure, but a few hours' searching around, and seeing all the places he's tried to dig for it, yields nothing. They also come to believe that he doesn't really known A. Kilianus (from their list) and may have just been pretending. Ultimately, they decide to let him go, under the suggestion that he contact them later separately and that, together, they may search for—and split—the treasure. They do, however, drag with them as captive one of the local thugs (Yan).
• Cosmin never reappears. They appear to have lost their half-Vistani friend. When they return to the carriage house, there is no sign that he returned there, not even to rob the place of any lingering valuables.

15th (Wednesday)

• In the morning, looking up at the Château Durant, Cordelia can't help but think that the positioning of the curtains in one of the windows—where she saw a candlelight the night before—has moved slighty. She mentions this to the others. Ghosts, Nathanos continues to assert.
• Captain Darcel returns, as promised, and takes down an account of what the PCs discovered at the cemetery and park. They describe, mostly in truth, the events of the night before, but they say nothing of their "agreement" with Emrich. They de-emphasize his role altogether although Hanzel does allude to the man's nationality (Falkovnia). Darcel seems to believe them, after sending another watchman for a brief survey of the area in question. The captive thug is taken away for further questioning.
• Then Darcel offers the PCs a paying job, if they wish it.
• The job: Friday night, October 17th, the Grand Dame, Jacqueline Reinier herself, will be hosting a gala at Château Delanuit. In attendance will be several of the city’s greatest families and a “special guest” from abroad. The identity of this guest will remain anonymous until the night of the gala itself. Darcel says that “due to the ‘sensitive’ and ‘diplomatic’ nature of this event, security is to be greatly increased." Apparently Lord Jules Audrix, commander of the Casque Safran, has authorized Darcel to secure additional ‘freelance’ retainers....like the PCs. Each of them will be paid 5 gold pieces for a single night of watchman’s work. They will serve as one of three patrols that will move around estate on its island and watch for potential threats. Darcels says they expect no problems, either way.
• The PCs accept the job. 

16th (Thursday)

• Mid-day, a stranger approaches the house by horse. She introduces herself as Wendolyn Arcos. She is older than they, but grey-haired, wearing traveler's clothes, and her accent makes her sound Borcan. She asks the PCs if they have seen a child (that may be matching the description of the girl Nathanos had seen—pale and blond), for she has been hired to locate the girl. The girl's name is Poletta, and she is 11, and allegedly has "fled" to Pont-a-Museau from somewhere else, a country estate somewhere south in Richemulot. Wendolyn says she cannot disclose her employer's name, among other things, and that her search has led her to the Château Durant. Knowing its history, and the fact that it's officially illegal (by order of the Renier family) to trespass, she is wary of going inside but she believes Poletta might have done so.
• The PCs have been eager (well, some) to go into the house that they've been living next to for a few months now. Wendolyn will pay them to go in and look for the girl, offering them a sum of 25 gold pieces to do so (even if they come up empty). More if they find Poletta. 
• After readying themselves, Hanzel, Cordelia, and Nathanos leave Wendolyn—who waits at the carriage house—and cross the overgrown back courtyard of the estate. The walls of the estate block any casual view someone might have of their movements. Hanzel then clears the already-broken glass in one of the back windows. They enter what was once a ballroom and now is in a poor state. The ceiling is severely damaged and looks in danger of collapse.
• The PCs see a black cat in the hallway. Following it, they find themselves face to face with another person in the house: a woman in traveling clothes and carrying a quarterstaff calling herself Anastasia Yonescu. She and they question each other, as "A. Yonescu" is clearly a name on The List. Anastasia, too, admits she has a missing year she cannot account for—but why is she also investigating this house? No way that's a coincidence. While they are searching for the girl Poletta, she claims to be searching for one or more stolen Tarokka cards, and that she has reason to believe Sevrin Durand, the patriarch of the slaughtered family, had them. Hence she has come to this place, too.
• They agree to help one another. She also admits that Anastasia in an alias; her real name is Anashta. Cordelia thinks she may have Vistani blood.
• The PCs locate a painting in the hallway that seems to depict the lord and lady of the household. In it, there is a mirror reflection showing Sevrin Durand holding a couple of Tarokka cards. Discussions are interrupted when they suddenly hear the sound of the grandfather clock ticking again.
• Investigations lead to discovering a secret door between the ballroom and a games room. The games room is dusty and filled with webs, and a stairway leading up to the second floor is positively web-strewn and there appear to be bodies wrapped up by cocoons. Too big for small spiders. They then see there are some large, hand-sized spiders crawling through the webs. Attempting to carve a path through the webs, the PCs are beset by some of the very large spiders!
• In the battle that ensues, Nathanos is struck from behind by a well-placed crossbow bolt, the sort fired from the small, handheld variety. But the sniper remains unseen and retreats further into the house. Twice Hanzel is bitten by one of the giant spiders, and became weary from the poison. When the battle ended, the PCs took a rest.
• In a room at the top of the stairs, they find evidence of someone living in the house, if in squalor, and they found a small locked chest. When investigating a gaping hole in the wall into further webs, Hanzel retrieves some jewelry and a folded letter from the hand of withered, web-wrapped corpse (of possibly a noblewoman).

The letter reads:

Dearest Calandre,

You are mistaken. My sister is afraid of the things you've learned, the clues you've uncovered. But you also know she is a consummate actress and will admit none of this to you—to anyone—if confronted about it. The circumstances of my grandfather's accident are not well known, though everyone has their theories. Myself included, Calandre. 

I think you should use this information. I know you are trying to resist it. You are cautious and sensible. I am telling you, as a friend, not to be. Not for this. Push her, Cala. Push her just so. I know her well, better than anyone. How could I not? She wants you as a friend, not an enemy. Leverage what you know. Give it one more try, for your family. Your husband, your children. For yourself. You deserve this, and you deserve a place closer to Delanuit. Away from that garish house and that atrocious island.

Your sister in all but blood,

  L             

• No sooner than they finish reading, the PCs hear unmistakable footsteps back on the ground floor. Belonging to more than one person, it seems. More sounds follow, and it sounds like someone is trying to draw them back downstairs. For a little while, the PCs ignore this and consider further exploration of the web-filled and badly-rotted upper floor.
• Nathanos and Anastha both recognize the name Calandre in the letter. She was the matron of the now-long-dead Durand family. Anashta also suspects that "L" is Louise, the twin sister of Jacqueline Renier. 
• When an oil lamp is shattered at the bottom of the steps, the PCs try to confront the noisemaker. Hanzel, spying a particularly weak spot in the floor above the games room below, throws his weight into it and crashes through the ceiling. He lands on his feet in the games room just in time to see a smaller figure dart away. 
• Everyone else comes down and decides to explore more of the first floor. The nearest room appears to be a parlor painted to resemble an arctic landscape.
• Nathanos, standing in the call, then sees a door open further down the hall and sludge-covered fingers curl around it.
• The PCs begin to search a series of parlors and sittings rooms, each decorated to resemble a different landscape—arctic tundra, an undersea shipwreck, a mountain vista, a dessert—while the unknown persons or spirits in the house make noises and leave signs of their presence.
• Individually, other discoveries are made: Anastha locates a small stash of coins inside a stuffed goat. Hanzel peers into a hallway that leads to some sort of pool room, with fresh sludgy footprints on the floor.
• While in the hall, a child's ball is rolled into view. Anashta and Hanzel hear a child-like voice whisper loudly from around the corner: You're not supposed to be here. Following the voice, the PCs enter a storage room jam-packed with chairs and other furniture, pressed so densely together there is no moving around freely. In a clearing in the junk is a single swivel floor mirror with a crack in it. 
• Hanzel discovers a narrow path in the junk, while Anashta casts Detect Magic. She senses the presence of two sources of magic: somewhere further in the junk of the room, and within Hanzel's inventory.
• While Cordelia and Nathanos explore the pool room (with sludgy pool), Anashta uses her magic to transform into a ferret and scurry through crawlspaces. She smells and hears another person within, hears him speak, and even hears the rattle of keys. She eventually falls down another crawlspace shaft and hits the ground (turning back to her natural form) behind the grandfather clock. She discovers
• The crossbow-wielding stranger in the house takes a shot at Hanzel when the party is entering the main hallway again. The bolt misses, and Hanzel gives chase, pursuing the figure into the house's dining room.
• In the dining room, three corpses are seated at the table. But it's the painting behind one of them that draws the most attention. First Hanzel, then Cordelia, then Anashta look upon it and each reacts differently to the memory it induces: Hanzel is repulsed by it, Cordelia is enraged, and Anashta becomes obsessed. But they all agree that the scene in the painting represents a memory from their lost year—the only memory or clue they seem to have for that time. The painting depicts an elegant monolithic opera house looming over a city at night. Three statues perch at the top. Closer inspection could be made of it.
• Nathanos, however, is wary of the painting and decides not to look at it (yet?). Anashta, however, pries the painting loose from its frame, and when she does a card falls out from within the frame. It is one of the Tarokka cards she is looking for! (The Illusionist).
• The PCs soon discover a ransacked kitchen and the stairs down into the basement—though the smell of both decay and wine filtered up. Hanzel and Anashta start down the stairs first, but Hanzel's foot hit a tripwire and the ceiling directly above them collapses. Both are struck by falling debris, and Anashta is knocked unconscious. Once Hanzel revives her with a healing draught, the PC continue downward. A voice calls up to them, "You should not be here!"
• In the dark cellar are huge casks and a mostly-empty wine rack. Cordelia discovers a broken bottle in the rack that contains many keys. As they explore further, Cordelia is struck at the nape of her neck with a small crossbow bolt! A very brief battle begins and then is cut short as the crossbow-wielding foe vanishes into the ceiling.
• The PCs discover that one of the large caskets leads down into the sewer; they leave it behind and return to the ground floor. Their attacker continues with hit-and-run tactics, until eventually the PCs go to investigate more fully the room with the pool of sludge. 
• Hanzel fearlessly jumps into the pool to fish around. Meanwhile, Anastha and Nathanos discover a secret door in the same room. Hanzel resurfaces, having found something corpse-like and chained to the bottom of the pool that attacked him. When Nathanos examines the wound, he finds a shriveled yet animate dead leech. Prying it out carefully with a blade, it drops to the ground and moves no more.
• Hanzel heads toward the ballroom to get a look outside, and spots their crossbow-wielding assailant in the games room. The man fires a bolt at Hanzel, and Hanzel immediately gives chase! Scurrying up the stairs, the slender man doubles back, running back down the stairs just in time for the others to arrive.
• Nearly surrounded, the young man—who is dressed in the finery of a noble but it is grimy and torn—transforms into a man-rat hybrid. A wererat indeed!
• The battle against the wererat is fast but fierce. While Hanzel slams it with his silvered warhammer—with almost no effect!—Cordelia and Nathanos utilized ranged spells. Anashta displays her mysterious power and transforms (quite unlike a lycanthrope) into a black panther! She engages the wererat and helps constraint it, though her claws are unable to tear its skin. Hanzel suffers two bites from the werebeast and jabs of its blade before he himself drops to the ground, unconscious and dying. Anashta, too, was afflicted and worn down, finally reverting back to her human self. Yet in that last moment, the creature is dropped with a blast of misty fire from Nathanos. It rolls down the stairs and landed against the unconscious Anashta.
• Then a male voice from the next room called out, "Who's there?!"
• Hanzel and Anashta were knocked out, but Nathanos stabilizes with them a touch of his magic. Then he and Cordelia meet a man who calls himself Miklos. He claims to work for Wendolyn Arcos, the woman who hired them to search for the missing girl, Poletta. Now that he's arrived, he's hear to help and even offers a healing potion which quickly revives Anashta. The wererat, meanwhile, has reverted to human form in death. The PCs insist he was a wererat, and Miklos doesn't look fully convinced. Anashta takes the bracelet of keys the man had been wearing.
• Hanzel's unconscious and very heavy body is carried out of the house and back into the carriage house. Anashta uses the keys to unlock the coffer Hanzel had been carrying around. Inside she finds some valuables and oddities (like a cat skull and two large wolf fangs), but also a Tarokka card! Anashta is pleased—these are what she's been looking for, and why she'd come to the house in the first place. The card she'd found is The Mercenary.
• Miklos has spotted the missing little girl, as had Cordelia only a short while ago, running somewhere on the grounds of the state. So the three conscious PCs—Anastha, Nathanos, Cordelia—returned to the mansion with Miklos at the lead. But upon entering the ballroom again, they saw the pale, blond little girl standing there, the one that Nathanos had first spotted a couple of days before. 
• Then they are attacked...by Miklos! The PCs are already weakened by their earlier encounters and once Nathanos was struck down by Miklo's cudgel, Cordelia herself heard the little girl say, "I'm sorry," and then the girl spoke words of magic. Cordelia and Anashta suddenly dropped to the ground, fast asleep.
• .....
• All four eventually awake, battered but safe and sound back in the carriage house. Hanzel and Anashta, the two who's been bitten by the wererat, find their bite wounds have been dressed and bandaged; two jars of thick fluid were sitting on the dining room table. A letter had been left for them, presumably written by Wendolyn. It reads:

There was no missing child. Please forgive the ruse. I’m afraid it was necessary to secure what I needed from this estate—and you have found that for me. Understand, I could not risk exposure to the Watch, and I did not know what threats were hidden within until you revealed them. You have proven yourself resourceful and more than competent today. I wish you no further harm.

As recompense, here is twice the gold I offered you for this task. If you wish to speak with me again, look me up in Krezk. Perhaps we can work together again, this time without subterfuge and for greater pay. My master is always looking for more talent.

I cannot identify the particular lycanthrope you dispatched, but I believe he was placed here as Château Durant’s “caretaker,” to keep up appearances as a haunted ruin and discourage investigation. (It is curious that he did not simply notify the Watch himself of your intrusion; perhaps he had secrets of his own.) The Renier family knows full well what happened to this place. Based on the letter you found, I surmise that Louise herself was behind it, and had prompted the family to stoke her sister’s wrath. Beware them both.

I have treated the bites as best I can and left you each a second dose. Drink those at dawn. It is my master’s own solution, and if you are fortunate, it will purge the rest of the infection. Good luck.

W

• The jars presumably contain the second half of the "cure" for the lycanthropy infection.
• A pouch of gold has been left for them, but it doesn't take Anashta long to realize that something was taken from her: both Tarokka cards she'd found in the Château Durant. Curiously, the ones she'd already had were still there. These she shares with her new companions, three Tarokka cards whose artwork and style suggest they're all part of the same scattered deck. The Soldier, The Conjurer, and The Priest.

17th (Friday)

• The next day begins, with the PCs having rested. Tonight is supposed to be the job at the Renier Estate.
• The morning is especially foggy. Cordelia is up before everyone else, and when they start their days, they find she has a strange new book, which she seems to peruse constantly. Hanzel, Nathanos, and Anashta go to a pawn shop out to sell some of the valuables they'd acquired in the Château Durant. They even stop into the House of Clemency, the local temple of the faith of Ezra Nathanos is associated with. (There is a larger temple, the Cathedral of the Ordained Plague, but that is affiliated with the larger, Borca-based sect of the church. Nathanos has no connections there.)
• Apparently the city is bustling with speculation about the gala that night. While only some among the Richemulot's elite is expected to attend, it has been said that a foreign guest of honor is expect. This, Captain Darcel of the Casque Safran has told the PCs already, is the reason he's been charged with increasing security at the event. No one knows who it is. The priest at the House of Clemency conveyed to Nathanos that those of the faith are concerned about such things—the Church of Ezra knows that there are dark spiritual forces at work in these lands and they are likely connected to families like the Reniers. 
• As evening approaches, Rafael comes to collect the PCs for the job. They speak on behalf of Anashta, vouching for her and requesting that she be allowed to join them. Rafael agreeds reluctantly. Meanwhile, Anashta has used her disguise kit and her talents to try to de-emphasize the Vistani elements of her appearance.
• The PCs are given gold brooches that displays their authority on behalf of the Casque Safran. They are shown a sample invitation so that it's known what guests can be permitted within. They are showed around the isle of Delanuit briefly then encouraged to meet the other freelancers who've been hired:
• The Versant Three: Huette, Kayri, and Dax, three investigative "specialists" from Mortigny who seem friendly enough. Huette initiates a wager concerning the identity of tonight's mystery guest.
• Garan and his team, men from the Silent Fields (the farming heartlands west of the Musarde River).
• Another member of the Casque Safran gives the PCs and the other freelancers silver whistles. They are encouraged to use them only when needed.
• Rafael returns and informs everyone that the gala's guest of honor is Lady Lyssa Von Zarovich—who some know as a noblewoman of Count Strahd's relation but who may, in fact, be at odds with her ruling cousin (or whatever he is to her).
• The PCs begin their patrol. In the overgrown park near the estate, they discover some ruins centered around a birdbath. Faded murals on the ruins speak to some sort of noble family's escape from armed figured via sewer tunnels.

• Soon after, they discovered a carriage having difficulty on the road. A faulty wheel. The PCs stopped them to investigate and help. It is a Lord and Lady Beaumont and their driver, Gabin. While escorting them further, a single horse came riding up with an elegantly dressed young woman. The PCs stopped her to verify her invitation as well: Lady Nostalia Romaine, who reacts haughtily to their questioning. She asks for their names in turn. Then they let her go.
• They spot movement across the canal: two small figures. The PCs follow after them swiftly, leaving the Beaumonts to continue on their own.
• Back at the ruins, they discover who the two figures are: two boys (about 13 or 14 years of age), talking and gathering something amid the ruins and birdbath. One is Percival Renier (and he bears the silver ring of the noble family), though they don't learn the other's name (he appears to be a nobleman, and not a Renier). Percival's face is scratches as with claws. He is angry and a little cagey but softens to the PCs' questions but only just so. He is gathering black morrels to get back at someone—though it's unclear how. Anashta helps collect mushrooms. Hanzel assures the boy he is available to help him with something if he needs it, and even tells him where his staying, at the carriage house of Château Durant. That seems to pique the boy's interest some more.
• The PCs move on again, back into the woods of the park. Cordelia hears a whistle blown, briefly, in a sequence—not the full-blown blast of an emergency. When they move in that direction, they spot the light of a single torch. Soon they approach a clearing where three small mausoleums sit aside from one another, and there is a man at the door of the central one.
• The man, who is revealed to be one of Garan's men, opens the mausoleum door, and out burst three hideous two-headed dogs! The PCs battle the dangerous animals, and Hanzel is repeatedly bitten. When the battle ends, Nathanos casts Lesser Restoration to purge the infected bites. The mercenary of Garan's group was killed in the attack. The PCs summon a pair of Casque Safran watchmen to explain what happened, and soon leave the men to deal with the aftermath. 
• When they move on again, they are drawn by the sound of—again—some sort of whistle signal. They are attacked by another of Garan's men (firing his musket at them before fleeing), and when they find him at the edge of the island, he cannot remember attacking them. Something is entrancing people. He mentioned seeing a light in the water. The PCs let him go, and he heads back towards the guard house. 
• When the PCs reach the canal entrance on the western side of the mountain, they find two members of the Casqua Safran also stupefied. This time they glimpse something white-glowing in the water but it vanishes. At the canal entrance is a rowboat the guards don't know anything about—their memories are muddled. Hanzel forces open the crate and is attacked by some sort of wet gray substance!
• Destroying the ooze, the PCs then take an hour to rest as the two watchmen head off to report it. While waiting, a boat passes by with four people inside; the driver, and three children who some of the PCs find disturbingly familiar, just for a moment. Anashta throws a rock after them, missing. Soon after, the sounds of something splashing into the water east inside the canal has the PCs investigating.
• At the junction in the canal, they find a frock (that might well belong to one of the Versant Three women) in the water, while Hanzel dives in and also finds a rapier at the bottom. When they notice a secret door hanging ajar along the edge of the canal, they proceed into a dark tunnel that looks like it would lead directly beneath the Renier estate.
• The tunnels ends at a 4-way junction with a fouled up grate in the center. The straight (eastward) tunnel is barred by a black iron portcullis, and a malodorous shape beyond it is soon reveled as a wererat in his hybrid form. A hooded robe conceals most of  his features, but he appears to be shackled to the wall within. Beyond him down the tunnel is a door.

• The PCs speak with him, and he requests freedom, pointing to the blocked-up grate and saying he needs only his "sacred talisman" recovered. He also suggests that others came this way recently.
• Hanzel pries up the grate, which allows some of the water to drain away, then goes down into the chamber below. Holding his breath in the foul water, he locates the so-called talisman: a small skull, child-size, with vertibrae-like bones fused together as handle, making it resemble a gruesome scepter.
• After deliberation, the PCs yield the grisly object  to the werewrat and he uses it to cast some sort of spell. Nathanos, hearing the profane incantion, thinks the creature is affiliated with some cult he once heard of called the Becoming Plague, and is not at all happy with releasing the captive. Nevertheless, the wererat's chains come lose and he squeezes through the bars, telling the PCs to "wait here." He then scurried down the south tunnel in the direction of the sewers. Two minutes later, the hook that held the porctullis down unlatches, and they move past it...where they discover a warped metal door and a ladder leading up.
• At the top of the long, dark, and stale shaft they find themselves emerging inside the Renier estate—where they were certainly forbidden to enter. Captain Darcel had been clear reminding them that their service to the Casque Safran did not extend to entrance into the Château Renier. They know if they are discovered they may face serious consequences.
• Emerging from a hidden storage room, they find themselves in a neglected conservatory. A painting on the wall was knocked over in their entry. Depicting a lord and lady, Hanzel cuts it out of the frame and rolls it up. Meanwhile, Cordelia discovers a book lying on a table, with a magic-glowing bookmark within it. The bookmark turns out to be one the Tarokka cards Anashta has been looking for! (The Miser).
• The PCs decide being inside Château Delanuit is too risky. Going back down the ladder, they find the portcullis lowered and locked again. The filthy robed wererat—or a different one?—lurks beyond it, and does not open it for them. To do so, it requires a finger, then two. The PCs decline and go back up into the house. Thus they begin to explore beyond the conservatory. 
• One door leads to a tower that commands a view of Port-a-Museau, where Hanzel spies a distant house fire. It's in the direction of Château Durant, so they are concerned it could be their "home."
• After venturing beyond the conservatory and sitting room beyond, the PCs find themselves around the balcony of the second floor of the house; just below, down the grand staircase, is a foyer, where revelers mill about and fine music plays. A great grandfather clock stands against the wall near the top of the stairs, while a barricade of furniture lies on the opposite side. On the PCs' side of the house, the rooms appear neglected and dark; on the opposite side, there is light and life. Directly across the hall shadows move by a door that hangs ajar.
• As they linger, trying to decide what to do (and seldom agreeing with one another), Hanzel crosses to the other side, risking being spotted from those below—which includes watchmen of the Casque Safran positioned by the entry door. Meanwhile, the PCs have all seen movement beyond one door that hangs ajar.
• Hanzel's movement is arrested when he spots a woman standing near the bottom of the stairs, seemingly unaware of him as she talks to a guest. He is fairly sure she is Jacqueline Renier, the matriarch of the Renier family and nominal ruler of all Richemulot. Though she is some fifty feet or more away, her eyes, face, and raven-black hair hold Hanzel in thrall for a moment. 
• Percival appears, spotting Hanzel, and comes up the stairs to speak with him. The young Renier is surprised they have trespassed in the house and warns Hanzel that he could be in very great trouble if he's discovered. Hanzel tries to be evasive but also tries to revive their rapport from earlier. Then Percivals spots the others across the way; he casually walks over to them and starts asking questions. He tells Anashta that "the mushrooms worked," and she plays along. When he pushes for more information, Nathanos answers much more truthfully, up to an including their freeing of the hooded wererat belowground. But again Percival warns them, even pointing out that "she would not be happy" to see him in this house. Whoever "she" is. Eventually Percival agrees to help them get out of the house, on the promise that if they she is threatened by anything and they, the PCs, save her—now Percival seems to be referring to the guest of honor, Lissa Von Zarovich—then they have to say that Percival helped them (but not that he helped them inside the house). They agree, and he says he'll come back soon. He goes downstairs.
• The PCs, meanwhile, have also discovered that Dax—of the Versant Three—is the one lurking up on the second floor with him. He even shot Anashta in the shoulder with a hand crossbow (before Hanzel relieved him of his weapon).
• Anashta uses her Pass Without a Trace spell to subtly enshroud  herself and her allies with shadows, making them difficult to notice as they skulk about. She and the others cross with no problems, and soon they corner Dax inside a guest room. Sweaty and flustered and confused, he fights back, but they disarm him and start to pull answers from him. Someone named Antoine instructed him and Kyri to lure them away from the woods, but he doesn't know how or why. He can't remember how he even got in the house himself now. One thing he does recall, something about "the circle in the octagon." When Hanzel gives him a lead bullet, he uses it to scratch on the floor of a closet the corresponding shape.
• The PCs think that the shape sketched by Dax is the bird bath in the ruins they'd discovered earlier in the evening. And as they wait for Percival's return, Cordelia looks through the recently acquired journal book with its disturbing, almost child-like sketching. A scene seems to play out, page after page:

● A woman in Barovian clothing walking up to a Vistani vardo. ● An elderly Vistana talking with the woman inside the wagon. The woman does not look pleased. ● The woman holding out a knife, looking angry. ● The Vistana pointing out the window. A moon makes it clear it’s night-time. ● The woman standing over the body of the Vistana. Sketchy marks that might be blood around the body. ● The woman riding on a horse on a trail through the woods. ● The woman approaching, unmistakably, Castle Ravenloft. ● The woman standing in the dark, her knife in hand, looking frightened. ● (several sheets torn out) ● The woman in a cage in the back of a great non-Vistani wagon. ● The woman standing before a mob. An executioner with an axe on the opposite side. ● (one sheet torn out) ● The woman lying on the ground, he head cut off. ● Same scene, but with some Vistani gathering around. One is talking to the mob. ● The woman “waking up” in a bed, her hands now covering her head. A scarf of some kind around her neck. The scarf is colored with a splash of red ink. ● The woman looking in a mirror; she now has the old woman’s face. She is screaming. ● The woman pulling the scarf away, and the old woman’s head rolling free. ● The woman’s headless body standing there, still “alive." ● The headless woman walking away, taking up her knife again. The old woman’s head on the ground, lying still.

• Percival returns to help the PCs effect their escape from the Renier estate. He leads them through several rooms on the second floor, to an empty dining room and a dumb water. He explains that it would lead down into the kitchens not far from a back door to the house. Just as Hanzel begins to squeeze into the dumb water, anther boy shows up to confront Percival. An older boy, he is Evan, Percival's brother, and half of his face and neck appears afflicted with a severe, almost deformative rash. He accuses Percival of causing it somehow, and he begins to question the PCs, threatening to tell "Her" about their presence in the house. When he approaches Anashta, he recoiled. Something about her or on her seemed repellent.
• Eventually he bolts to raise the alarm, and though Cordelia froze him in place for a few moments with a spell, he escaped. Now they are racing against time. One by one each of the PCs goes down the dumbwaiter. 
• The last to go down with Percival is Anashta. But he appears to be in dilemma, unsure whether helping them is worth the punishment. He demands that Anashta share with him something about herself that he doesn't already know. After fumbling for something, she eventually reveals that she is of the Vistani, and this seems to satisfy him enough. He climbs into the dumbwaiter with him.
• Down in the kitchens, Percival leads them toward the door. They pass through a waiting room filled with the manservants of the nobles and wealthy guests attending the gala. They even spot Gabin, the driver they helped earlier in the evening (servant of Lord and Lady Beaumont), and he finally appears calm, less distressed.
• Just as they're about to head out the door, two of the PCs spot one of the guests lingering in the doorway, halfway between the gala chambers and the servants' chambers: Wendolyn Arcos, the gray-haired young woman who "hired" them to enter the Château Durant—and who took two of Anashta's only recently acquired Tarokka cards. She spots them in turn. Though the others have stepped out the back door, safely out of the house, Cordelia lingers, trying to decide whether to take this chance to speak with her or not. So far they have not seen anyone coming after them, alerted by the boy Evan, but it could be imminent!
• Cordelia, with Hanzel and Nathanos soon joining, speak briefly with Wendolyn. She seems impressed to see them here in Château Delanuit, but deduces that they were in a precarious situation within the house, and in a hurry. She gives Hanzel a business card, saying that if they wished to speak with her again sooner (than simply going to Krezk in Barovia), use the information provided. On one side of the card is printed: Wendolyn Arcos, The Red Vardo Trading Company, Acquisitions. On the other, she hand-wrote the words "Lumley House."
• The PCs then hurry away, with Percival reminding them of their agreement. When they reach the wooded park across the canal, and approach the birdbath and ruins, two watchmen of the Casque Safron approach. A whistle signal is heard in the woods further in, then the two watchmen attack as if on command. The source of the whistle—coming from another figure—bolts away as the others fight. Hanzel gives chase.
  
• The man blowing the whistle turns out to be Antoine, the Casque Safran officer who first handed out the whistles at the start of the night. Hanzel skuffles with him, even managing to wound him with his rapier. The man throws an object in the air which seems to hover by itself as if by magic. It flashes brightly, nearly blinding Hanzel. Then Antoine says something to Hanzel that convinces him, against rational thought, that his friends are on fire and need immediate assistance! The resultant confusion allows Antoine to escape!
• When they sort things out, the PCs find that Antoine has gone, that the birdbath's "lid" had been removed and a shaft leads down from the opening. They go down, leaving Dax wandering confusedly up top. Drips of blood suggest the wounded Antoine has gone this way, though.
• Into the sewers they venture, and they hear a distant commotion and hurry toward it. "Hurry! She comes!" a man is shouting, his voice echoes. On the way, they pass an open room where Garan—leader of that other team of hirelings—lies on the ground, bound and beaten. Hunched over him is a wererat in tattered robes; it's unclear if this is the same one the PCs freed earlier. The PCs halt for a moment, unsure whether to get involved—and the scene even sparks a flash of disturbing memory for Cordelia.  In which she remembers seeing Hanzel lying on a table, covered in a sheet, with a white-coated man inspecting his unusual arm.  

• But they soon hurry on, hearing Antoine screaming orders to someone. He hurries out from a door, a torch in hand. "When you see the coach—at all!—you will pull the trigger!" he is ordering someone in the room. Then he pulls the door shut and turns to face the PCs who are rushing toward him, Hanzel in the lead again. Antoine is furious that the PCs are even there. "You, the newcomers. Uninvited! You weren't supposed to be here tonight. Captain Darcel had no business bringing you!" He throws that glowing object in the air, and it nearly blinds Hanzel and Anashta, but they press on.
• The PCs press the attack, and Antoine retreats—yet he is thrown down, possibly slain. The door he'd come out is locked, but frantically they search the man's body for a key. Cordelia finds it, and soon they unlock and open the door.
• Behind it is a chamber between tunnels, where the metal rungs of a ladder lead up to a wide grate—seemingly to the road above, largely concealed by leaves and other debris. Yet bound to the underside of the grate is a large, coffin-sized wooden crate of unusual design. It appears to be a device activated by a wire cord-ring. Standing at the top of the ladder is Huette, glassy-eyed but acting on commands. She holds the pull-ring, and turns to see the PCs entering the chamber.
• They rush in, deducing that the crate is some form of explosive. Cordelia tries to get a better look at the crate in hopes of disarming it somehow, yet all are wary of attacking Huette and prompting her to activate it. Anashta casts Hold Person, temporarily halting Huette from doing anything reactionary, as Hanzel scrambles up the ladder around the woman. He manages to thin the wire enough wit his own dagger so that when she is freed from Anashta's spell and does try to pull the cord, it does not activate. Hanzel then pulls her down from the latter—at which point a fail-safe cord on her back activates the device! A hissing sound suggests a countdown! As Nathanos pulls the stunned Huette out of the room into the next tunnel, Hanzel prods at the crate's workings with his rapier and Anashta conjures a softly glowing orb of golden hue through the grate above, where she can see the night sky—in hopes of warning anyone above. Already they could hear the rapid sounds of an approaching coach.
• When it's clear time is nearly up, they PCs take cover in the nearby tunnel. Anashta and Hanzel are the closest and feel only a portion of the explosion that follows. The world is swallowed up by the sound until there is nothing that can be heard at all....except an incessant ringing in the ears.
• Reality appears to slow down as each PC seems to relive a moment in time from their lost year.
• When they return to the moment: a figure darts past the doorway, and soon distant screaming is heard from somewhere in the sewers nearby. None choose to investigate that. While Nathanos and Cordelia work to get the unconscious and dazed Huette up the ladder, they are forced to fend up a swarm of rats in the process. Hanzel and Anashta head up to the straight above, where it's clear the grate has been blown apart and a carriage lies on the ground to the immediate south on the road. The carriage is overturned, one horse is dead and the other dying. Two people have been thrown to the side of the road, lying still.
• Hanzel examines the carriage itself, searching for clues (and an invitation), while Anashta goes to the wounded. The driver is unconscious and in a poor state. The other victim is a striking woman in a green dress; half of her face has been horribly burned. As Anashta tries to comfort her, the woman's hazel eyes open and lock on her. Then she seizes Anashta, pulls her down, and bites into her neck. Anashta's world goes dark.
•  
  
• Witnessing this from afar, Cordelia approaches. The woman in the green dress rises up, dragging Anashta's limp form easily, and her mouth is wet with blood. Yet she looks angry. Academically, Cordelia immediately understands that this is a vampire—the strength, the blood, and rapid healing of the woman's face—yet she is utterly entranced by her gaze. The woman asks her what happened, and Cordelia gives a very brief account.
• Inside the carriage, seeing none of this, Hanzel eventually locates an invitation—indeed this is Lyssa Von Zarovich.
• Nathanos draws closer, understanding what he is seeing as well and taking it very seriously.
• Lyssa straightens herself as much as she can, approaches Nathanos, and demands a cloth from him. When he refuses, and shoves him toward the fallen coachman. She says in a voice accustomed to being obeyed, "Do not let my driver perish." She walks down the road alone, heading toward the Renier estate and the party where she is meant to be the guest of honor. 
• Nathanos uses Spare the Dying to stabilize the dying coachman. When Hanzel begins to emerge with his findings—the invitation and Lyssa Von Zarovich's purse—Cordelia scolds him then takes a handkerchief from him and follows after the noblewoman. Lyssa doesn't slow, but accepts the cloth, wiping her mouth as much as she can, and asking Cordelia her name. She kindly requests Cordelia's "discretion."
• Nathanos prepares a ritual of healing. The PCs discuss what's happened, but only briefly, as Anashta only comes to ten minutes later, revived by the cleric's healing spell. The horse is also wakened by his magic.
• Soon a contingent of the Casque Safran arrives, headed by one Terrel Renier. There is only a brief questioning of the PCs as they take charge of the scene. Huette and Lyssa's driver are taken elsewhere. Trailing behind the soldiers in gala attire is a noblewoman who sure looks like Jaqueline Renier herself. She is assumed to be Louise Renier, Jacqueline's twin, though she doesn't speak to anyone.
• The PCs are marched near an entrance to the Château Delanuit, where Jacqueline appears at the door. Terrel speaks with her, though the PCs cannot hear what's said. Louise storms past her sister, going into the house. Jacqueline soon follows, as the PCs are escorted on to a far-flung abandoned-looking wing of the estate. In the adjacent courtyard they are made to surrender their weapons, which are placed in a chest and guarded by two men.
• They are led to a lush and finely furnished parlor, which seems to be an island of opulence admidst an otherwise decrepit portion of the great house.  Here they are told to take some rest and wait; food and water will provided, they are told.
• After some uncertain whisperings and discussions, the PCs bide their time and rest. They are given food, leftovers from the nearby gala (but still quite the feast, wherein Hanzels pockets some of the free food like any sensible militiaman). At one point, they see Louise Renier approach, but she is turned away by the guards—she appears livid, but goes without trouble.
• Hours go by and the party falls asleep in the comfortable room. Then Jacqueline herself arrives, seemingly fresh from the party, flanked by a pair of rakish fellows. Cordelia watches through the window as some sort of commanding officer of the Casque Safran is berated (calmly) in the courtyard outside. At her prompting, the rakes cut off one of the officer's fingers; Jaqueline snatches it out of the year, regards it, then tosses the digit to the ground like a piece of trash. The man is pleading, but he is soon led away. Then Jacqueline enters the room.

Art Talon Dunning

• Jacqueline Renier speaks with the PCs for a short while, asking and answering some questions. They are partially evasive, holding back many things but daring to lie minimally. When asked who they believed was behind the assassination attempt against Lyssa Von Zarovich, Hanzel suggested the Red Vardo Trade Company as his guess. Jacqueline dismisses this quickly enough—scoffing mildly at the idea—and asserts that it is her twin sister, Louise, who was behind the night's events.
• Hanzel's theft of a painting also comes to light. She is angry but calm, reclaims it from him and demands quietly that he give her his "original" hand. Saying nothing, she closes her fingers around his palm and wrist, then releases him with warning: never deign to lie or steal from her ever again. He agrees.
• She asks them if there is anything they wish to know, offering some level of information of any sort. The Reniers know many secrets, it seems. Yet PCs only ask one thing—about Cozette Lavalle, one of the names on their list and the only one from Richemulot (that they know of). Jacqueline knows the name immediately—the Lavalles lived in the Château Durant. They were the only ones to survive the mysterious massacre of the noble family that lived there. The Lavalle family left the city earlier in the year because their daughter, Cozette, had been "troubled by dreams." It was apparently severe enough that they sought help in the far-off land of Nova Vaasa. There in the city of Egertus is a sanitorium known for treating mental illness...
• Jacqueline formally thanks the PCs for their service, for saving her from a great embarrassment. Lyssa Von Zarovich, she says, is doing well but she is resting. Jaqueline says that the PCs will be paid, as was agreed. Payment will be awaiting them at the Smoking Tallow inn, and they will be released in a few hours. She strongly encourages them to stay no more than one night, indicating that she can only protect them from her sister's revenge beyond that point. She says nothing of punishment for Louise, but it's also clear that Jacqueline herself is not pleased by what had happened.
• One final thing: She gave them a drawing of a handsome young noble, and asked them to be on the lookout for him in their travels. Henri Dubois is his name; any news of his whereabouts should be sent immediately to Jacqueline. Should they find him, he is to be brought back to Pont-a-Museau, unharmed. "He is dear to me," is all she would say of him.

18th (Saturday)

• The grey mare from Nova Vaasa is name Katla, and she is given over to Anashta's care. The animal is dispirited but healthy.
• The PCs return to the carriage house at the Château Durant—which has indeed burned down (though the carriage house is untouched). Anashta's first horse, Joji, is reclaimed, as are all the PCs' other possessions. 
• After Hanzel purchases a new great hammer (maul) and a lock, they go to the Smoking Tallow inn, where their stay has already been taken care of. They are allowed to choose their rooms, and soon settle into an early dinner. The payment promised by Jacqueline Renier far exceeds the amount initially offered: 200 gold pieces, a magical, silvered shortsword, a Servant Candle, and a note that reads "keep the dagger."
• The PCs make some sales and purchases, including clothing and a wagon. They overhear people talking about the gala from the night before but no one really seems to know what happened. Some suspect a Barovian noble was involved, perhaps as the guest of honor, but most still do not.

19th (Sunday)

• In the middle of the night, Anashta wakes to the sound—she's fairly sure—of someone moving outside her door. When she checks on it, she discovers a small music box has been placed on the hallway floor outside her door. She brings it in, covers it in a sheet, then leaves the matter until morning.
• Hanzel takes charge of it upon waking, bringing the music box into the privy—expecting it to be harmful (possibly) and choosing to open it alone in a closed room. When he does so, he sees the small figure of a ballerina balanced on one leg, who begins to pirouette as a simple meldoy begins to play. The image, or the music, touches something inside him—or his memories—and leaves him shuddering in the empty bath. He drops the music box, which is damaged, and finds his heart thundering inside him. The memory itself, if there is one to be found, eludes him. He is left only with a nameless horror.
• The PCs then leave the Smoking Tallow, collecting their purchased wagon, and head for the city gates.
• Within an hour of leaving Pont-a-Museau behind, the PCs encounter a stranger on the road, who catches up to them near a bridge. Hanzel inspects the bridge and the sewer pipe which drips out over a high ravine. Under the pretense of seeking aid for his "child," the stranger on the road is soon revealed to be a wererat sent by Louise. He attacks, and so does the child, who turns out to be halfling wererat. Both appear afflicted by some illness of the skin.
• Three wererats in total attack, the large one and two halflings. Midway through the battle, a fourth wererat appears, climbing up from out of the nearby sewer pipe (this one robed like a monk, not unlike the one they encountered beneath Château Delanuit). This one aids the PCs, however, tossing a pair of wooden but sharp weapons (a sword and dagger). Upon wielding the ash-wood sword, Hanzel is able to slay the larger wererat almost outright, wounding as surely as silver might a werewolf. Anashta's Moonbeam spell, and both Cordelia's and Nathanos's magic also bring the battle to a swift conclusion.
• Both Anashta and Hanzel were bitten, however. Yet the robed wererat orders them to show their wounds—at which point, while Nathanos protests, he casts a spell that further injures their flesh but also purges the wound. "It is not the time," is all the creature says about that. Then he departs, slipping back into the sewer pipe which surely leads back to Pont-a-Museau.
• The PCs resume their journey, a bit worse for wear. They find a place to camp that night, which is marked by a tralak (Vistani sign) indicating it is a safe place to do so. They smell smoke in the air as of a distant fire.

20th (Monday)

• The next morning, the PCs reach a fork in the road. A battered signpost indicates south leads to St. Ronges (the next largest city), while the road veering western leads to Introsia and Halsou (seemingly lesser towns or villages). Curiously, a brand-new piece of wood has been nailed beneath the Introsia/Halsou sign, and is etched with LUMLEY HOUSE.
• The PCs head west, and a couple of hours later they approach Introsia, a town in trouble. A recent fire has burned a portion of their village, all of their crops, and even a bit of the forest across the way. The PCs approach, and immediately the villagers ask for help. Not only has the fire devastated them, a recent supply run has gone missing. Jamis, their wheelwright, took the village's pooled money and journeyed to Halsou, the next village almost a day away, but upon returning, he and his wagon were attacked by mysterious creatures and dragged away. In that wagon were all the supplies needed (tools, seeds, rations, etc.) for Introsia to weather the coming winter and try to rebuild. Without it, they will be truly destitute.
• Renee is the young woman who asks the PCs for help; her family owns a boarding house that yet stands. Although young, she seems to be a natural spokeswoman for her people and will likely take over leadership for the village someday. If it survives.
• Irronauchs is the village's elder and longtime leader, an aging dwarf (and an outlander from beyond the Mists!) who was, upon the PCs' arrival, trying to mount his pony to go after the missing wagon. Although he appears to have been an accomplished warrior once, now he is much too old for such a dangerous mission.
• Grald is the village hunter who witnessed the attack that claimed the wagon and Jamis. He offers to lead the PCs to the site. Alice is an old woman badly burned

• While Hanzel and Anashta talk with Irronauchs and Renee to learn all they can, Nathanos tends to the wounded and uses a spell of healing to help them recover. Only one person died in the fire. No one knows what caused it. In the moment of healing, Nathanos befriends a girl named Ella, whose grandmother Alice (Lady Alice, she insists, though it's clear no one in this village is of noble birth) had been the most gravely wounded.
• The PCs agree to help, and soon set off with Grald, leaving their own cart and Katla back in the village. They soon find the site of ambush and signs definitely point to somewhat intelligent creatures—yet the horses were killed and not eaten. The wagon was dragged away into the thick woods. Grald agrees to lead Anashta's horse, Joji, back to the village.
• The PCs track the dragged wagon through the woods easily enough, and eventually it leads to a ruined abbey. It is dusk and getting darker as they approach and venture inside.