- party starts split
- Bogdan, Paloma, Sophie, Ismark, and Ireena return to Saint Andral’s Church after leaving the cellar of Wachterhaus.
- at the church, Bogdan talked to Father Lucian. Bogdan asked the priest who he thought should succeed Baron Vargas Vallakovich as Burgomaster of Vallaki if the Baron were to be deposed.
- Father Lucian said he could only really think of two choices: Lady Fiona Wachter as the next most powerful noble, or Urwin Martikov as a well-liked and friendly man due to his position as innkeeper of the Blue Water Inn
- Bogdan then asked Lucian about the The Four Quarters. The priest made his fancy holy gestures to ward away evil before telling Bogdan that the cult came to power in the more recent years as people hoped to unlock Devostas’ ability to avoid death as a means of escaping the mists of Barovia.
- Sophie admits to being scared at this point, worried that the demonic voice they heard at the Wachterhaus might actually go after her god. She refuses to leave the church at this point.
- Paloma talks Bogan into returning to the Wachterhaus (by the front door this time) to try and go find the rest of the party. It’s a little early for their meeting but not so much that it’s unreasonable to arrive.
- They arrive and Paloma knocks. The ranger asks the maid that answers the door if she’s seen the rest of the party, and maid replies no. Paloma then asks the maid if they can come back later since they want to find their friends first.
- The maid, visibly annoyed, shuts the door in Paloma’s face as an answer.
- Paloma sends her hawk, Santa Muerte, to circle around in the air hoping to find the rest of the party

MEANWHILE, EARLIER

- Brume and Zack are escorting Udo and Willemina to the Wachterhaus from Saint Andral’s Church. The two adventurers want to keep the older couple safe from the reach of the Baron as they can be witnesses against the Baron’s imprisonment and torture tactics.
- They take the main road instead of side streets, hoping speed will make up for lack of stealth. Between the Inn and the Wachterhaus, however, something weird happens
- Brume and Zack feel a strange tugging sensation, and they’re suddenly whisked towards a wall, but instead of smacking into it they … phased through.
- Inside, Jenny Greenteeth is smiling her winsome smile and welcome the two to her shop in Vallaki. Apparently the old gal gets around.
- a long conversation happens. It bears fruit in a few ways:
- Brume asked her to talk to Tobin Shaw about procuring a Drift Globe, a magic item that can manipulate light. In exchange, he had to stare into her eyes for an unconformable amount of time before she screamed straight at him, deafening him for a long time.
- Zack agreed, by an oath signed in blood, to go to Old Bonegrinder and deal with Jenny’s “cousin”. In exchange, she promised to upgrade Zack’s sword “Buster” for him.
- Jenny explained that she herself was the source of Lady Wacther’s power. It took a while to flower, so to speak. Jenny giggled that she told Lady Wacther that the exchange was five years of life; it wasn’t her fault Lady Wacther thought Jenny mean Lady Wacther’s life. Instead, Jenny took five years of life from Lady’s Wachter’s former husband, Nikolia. (Not to be confused with her son, Nikolai…). The husband died from this exchange.
- Due to some prior agreement she’s made (and wouldn’t reveal), Jenny says they cannot go to the Wactherhaus before dark. Asked what as in it for them, Jenny merely giggled again and said she wouldn’t kill and eat them.
- Jenny told the two adventures to come back to her the next day and she’d have their stuff. Zack would have to leave their sword with her overnight. She then kicked them out.
- Appearing back in the street, Udo and Willemina are confused because Brume and Zack were missing for a few seconds. Playing it off, Zack says something came up and they need to return to the inn

MEANWHILE (AGAIN), back to regular time

- The party regroups at the Blue Water Inn, where Brume and Zack have been drinking a lot.
- Paloma notices a pair of hunters she’s met before: Szoldar Szoldarovich and Yevgeni Krushkin. They’re wolf-hunters who tried their hands at hunting werewolves. They disliked the extra danger, and how much worse werewolf tastes compared to wolf. They did give a few other intriguing bits of news to Paloma, however
- 1) They’ve been noticing some weird flashes of purple light coming from the top of the Burgomaster’s house at night.
- 2) Tsernovna, a Vistani camp southwest of Vallaki, has some “bad apple types” of Vistani there. Those Vistani are upset because they’re running out of wine and because of some other trouble that Szoldar and Yevgeni aren’t aware of.
- 3) They mentioned that Lake Zarovich is more dangerous, with scores of wolves hunting its shores. Still, despite that, the town drunk Bluto Krogarov has been seen trying to fish the lake anyways, even though he’s been warned off.
- 4) The Mad Mage has been seen “fishing” between the shores of Lake Zarovich and Mount Baratok. Of course he was “fishing” by throwing lightning into the lake and frying dozens of fish at once while rambling. The two hunters steer clear of him and believe he’s very dangerous and crazy.
- Meanwhile, Urwin (the innkeeper) has been bringing more wine to the table. He tells Bogdan that he’s starting to run low. He asks if the monk would be willing to go to The Wizard of Wines and see what the problem is. They normally get a shipment every two weeks, and it’s been four since the last one. Urwin says he’ll pay them for the trouble, especially since they’ll have to deal with ‘the old crow’ that runs the place, explaining he’s a recalcitrant old man.
- Vaz Vizorach comes in and wants to join the party for drinks, but thinks its unfair they have such a headstart on them. He goes up and talks to Urwin at the bar for a bit, and comes back with some hideous concoctions in small glasses. The stuff is nauseating but more or less sobers Brume and Zack back up.
- Zack wants to go with party to Wachterhaus. They say no. He then says they owe him a night of drinks. Tries to flirt with Ireena, but gets told off by Ismark’s glares and Paloma being friendly.
- the 8 of them all leave for Wachterhaus
- There, Lady Wachter agrees to hide/protect Udo and Willemina. She’ll present them in morning to people at church during service and rally townsfolk to cause of dethroning the Baron
- Wants Ireena to also talk about what Izek did in capuring her
- other plan is for adventurers to use one of two poisons (contact to knock unconscious, digestable to kill) against Izek or the Baron directly during the Festival of the Burning Sun on the next day
- party is unsure if they’re still honored guests at the festival or not
- they leave the old couple there, and the other 6 go to investigate the purple flashing lights at Burgomaster’s house
- Brume and Zack handle distraction; Brume throws rocks at the house till he breaks a window, and Zack sets a small tree on fire with dried rope and oil. Ismark and Ireena chillax beside them
- Meanwhile, Paloma and Bogdan climb to top of roof and then into attic. they find a room on far side
- door to room has a sign saying “ALL WILL NOT BE WELL”, has light coming from under it
- inside see a dead skeletal cat
- Bogdan opens door, gets zapped by a huge bolt of lightning, falls over
- Paloma sees cat is not dead, but undead. there are more inside
- pentagram on floor, young man sees her and vanishes
- warns them away, saying they have to leave
- Paloma begs to tend to Bogdan first. Young man agrees
- She heals monk and they leave, but not before young man says she should try to meet up with Victor Vallakovich tomorrow during the festival. Paloma feels oddly compelled to follow this advice.
- meet up with party and they go back to inn to rest for the night