Chapter 21
Cleaning House
Eliza had a mere moment to react before the crazed vampire was upon her, slathering and gnashing it's teeth. She drew her pistol from it's sheath and pulled back the hammer, trusting in her silver bullet to find it's mark. A crack from the muzzle and whiff of gunpowder mixing with blood, but the beast charged still and descended upon Eliza before she could level for another shot. It slashed wildly at her and cut deep into her chest. Athrin grew into his bestial form as Erros whispered horrible arcane threats. The vampire clutched her head as blood trickled down her nose, before being pushed back by claw and rapier, the two giving Eliza a chance to pull back from the beast. Dyson drew his tools from his belt and began tightening bolts, turning valves, and reconfiguring metal plating to properly bring his arcane turret to life. It seized to life, lifting it's head and firing a blast of concentrated force like a bolt at the creature, unfortunately blasting into the plaster and timber of the hall behind them. With deft footwork, Vasili circled his opponent in the study cutting off his escape through the window. This vampire snarled and lunged at Vasili, claws outstretched only to be parried and pierced by the swordsman, his stance impeccable and his right arm strong. This dance continued at Erros' insistence that Vasili spar the spawn alone. Fabian, who looked on, grimaced and stayed her silvered blade, ready to join but obliging Erros for now. The vampire in the hall lunged for Erros and with a swipe nearly took off his head, but missed high. Another swipe and a third, none seemed to connect more than tugging on his tunic, and Erros thought a silent word of thanks for the protection magic Fabian had laid on him.
They kept up their attack with blade, claw, gun, and spell, but the vampires were not turned. Cut and burned enough to kill a man they still stood, deep cuts healing before the adventurer's dismayed eyes. When Vasili's opponent finally landed a blow, Fabian interviened and Dyson pushed through the chaos of the hall to lend his hand, perhaps in repayment for her protection in the Wachter battle earlier that day. As her friends exchanged blows with the massive spawn in the hall, Pieron thought to herself that burning such a creature might be a worthwhile endeavor, and she called upon the deep well of magic coursing through her veins to conjure a flaming ball of energy and then a second. With a grunt she hurled the first then the second, each finding it's mark and dousing the beast in flame. It shrieked and screamed, nearly incinerated before falling lifeless to the ground. They watched it's body crumble to dust well after the flames subsided, before turning to Pieron, who stood with arms still outstretched and panting. She smiled at the shock on their faces. In the study with the combined force of Fabian, Dyson, and Vasili the vampire was sliced beyond repair before Fabian lifted her sword high and shore the creates head off from left temple to shoulder. The blood spray would have been immense had the body not immediately slumped into ash.
Vasili walked through the pile of vampire with abandon, scattering the powder across the floor and wiping his blade clean. He thanked the group for their aid and remarked on their surprisingly high level of combat prowess for a troop of performers, noting some of their abilities specifically before offering that they'd benefit from using holy water in the future. But Erros was suspicious and pressed Vasili on how remarkably unscathed he looked from the encounter. Vasili unbuttoned his blouse to reveal a silver pendant fixed with a large cut ruby, and explained that his great grandfather had passed this artifact down his family line which protected him from some harm. He scoffed at his family's tale of being gifted the pendant for heroic deeds and assumed they had at one point purchased the thing. Erros dropped the subject and the group then discussed what needed to be done about Ireena, realizing that having only killed two vampire spawn, it was likely the third had made his way to the castle to report directly to Strahd. Vasili confirmed what they'd heard rumor of, that in the town of Krezk far to the west sits an abbey protected from Strahd by the power of it's namesake, Saint Markovia. The group decided that this may be the safest place for Ireena, and Vasili agreed to accompany them to the village. Together they rode back to Vallaki to retrieve Ireena, stopping by the church to fetch her personal affects before riding back to the von Holtz estate to stay the night.
Before retiring after an exhausting day, the group decided to discuss their next move at Fabian's request. She wished to return to the Durst house overlooking the Barovian basin to see if it really was still standing, and wished to pour over their discoveries for the clues to how Izek exactly was involved. After revisiting the letters they'd taken from the house, the group came to the conclusion that Izek was unlikely to be a descendant of Walter who never seemed to live a normal human life, but that he was perhaps still related to the Durst's through Elizabeth, who was herself cursed according to her husband Gustav and Strahd. More importantly they began to doubt that the Durst cult of the past and the Dominionists of today were the same organization, leading to the conclusion that Strahd himself is against all cults in his valley and perhaps this was evidence of the presence of additional dark forces like that of Norganus or Sykane and Strahd's opposition to their influence. The party recalled that they had laid every Durst family member to rest in their crypts, save for Elizabeth herself, and Fabian noted her hunch that Elizabeth lived in undeath, much like the ghoulish cultists they dispatched in the basement. Were they to return to the Durst house and it indeed still stood, they thought they could put Elizabeth to rest, hopefully aiding in Izek's lifelong curse. Exhausted, they went to bed.
Deep into the morning hours a banging at the front door awoke the manor's inhabitants with a start. They waited, but the banging continued more urgently. Fabian stuck her head into the hall to see if Vasili had awoken, but his door remained shut, so she rallied the rest of the group to answer it themselves. To their surprise it was Father Petrovich, clutching his robes close with a look of distraught on his face. It dawned on them that they'd never told him Ireena wouldn't be coming home that night and began to apologize for their mistake. Petrovich was worried something horrible had happened to her and was relieved to hear she was safe. But he had news, the true reason he had come. The bones of Saint Andral, the holy relics that sanctified the church, were gone. Someone had stolen them.
