Chapter 26

Changing Winds and Lost Friends

A wave of heat from the explosion swept through the square knocking the nearest rushing citizens to the ground as the sky darkened and the wind whiped the rain into a pelting torrent. The light glinted off Erros's dripping rapier as he pulled it from the thrashing beast's torso and thrust again. Eliza yelled to duck and fired her pistol with a click and a flash, cowering over the flint to keep the powder dry enough for an ignition she pulled high and right and the bullet sailed over the rooftops to land hopefully harmless in the field. She cursed and moved quickly to reload. As Athrin and Erros harried the closest spawn, Fabian raised her shield and pushed through the wall of terrified faces to reach the second glutinous fiend, Pieron close in tow. In the center of the square, Fabian saw the creature standing over the bodies of three of its victims, pale and emaciated with sorrow and regret frozen onto their faces. Rain pattered against her breast plate and she gripped her silvered blade tighter, her face grimaced and a predatory calm came over her mind: vengeance was all she could give these people now. When the beast lifted it's head from the bloody neck of it's forth meal and met eyes with the paladin, it smiled and Fabian charged. Dyson found a moment of space lost in the crowd to retrieve his tools and unable to see over the heads of the fleeing people he saw only the hovering nightmare and it's fell rider. Fearing the spellcasters vantage over the square he tightened a gasket, slid a bolt into the chamber, and with a turn of a knob breathed false life into his invention. Without hesitation the turret fired a concussive blast at the mount, then another, nearly knocking off its rider.

By now the square had emptied substantially and what few city guard remained after the rest had escorted the Baron to safety rushed into to aid in the fight. As Pieron lobbied spells over Fabian's head, Erros, Eliza, and Athrin managed to defeat the first spawn without sustaining major injury, but the third alone made quick work of a pair of guards whose duty overshadowed their ability. Driven out of the sky by Dyson's turret fire, Ludmilla swept low and with a necrotic hand lifted one of the guards up into undeath. It's jaw hung slack as it moved to devour a third guardsmen who could only cower from the monster he'd once called friend. Erros looked up to the sky and conjured his best illusory attempt at a buxom firey mare. Ludmilla's mount snorted and beat the air with it's hoof but made no move for Erros's illusion, which was now performing a seductive cabaret performance to its caster's amusement. She only chuckled and promised that Bucephalus was far smarter than that.

Still in the fray, Fabian's arm grew heavy from swing after swing but only several had connected and the slippery creature mounted a counter attack. Dipping beneath high swipes and raising her great shield she focused on the defense and awaited the right opening, when a deep well of confidence welled in her and time appeared to slow. She spied an off balance lunge and pivoted to the spawn's left before delivering the fatal decapitating blow. Recognizing the magic that had empowered her strike she paused to look around for its source, when she noticed Rictavio stand up from his perch atop a nearby roof. He scrambled gracelessly to the cobbled ground and rushed in to be sure she was unhurt, and she cracked a strong smile, absorbing the loving respite from the carnage around them.

High above the regrouping party and the last remaining spawn, Ludmilla called a halt to the fighting. She chastised them for destroying her well laid plans and vowed that they and the citizens of Vallaki would pay, not by her wrath but her husband and rightful Lord of this town and every town in the valley. If the threat sparked any fear in the group none gave her the satisfaction of showing it, and she coyly asked where they had stowed the bones. Their confusion betrayed to Ludmilla that the bones were not in their possession, and she smiled as she realized she had made the same slip. With a mocking laugh she called out that Henrik must still have them, and wished them the best of luck in finding the coffin-maker before her and her minions could. She looked down at the final spawn with a piercing glare that could only be a command to fight to the death, and as it lowered its head to dutifully obey, Dyson, tired of the mind games, fired his turret again at Bucephalus and hit hard. The nightmare's firey mane sputtered and blood dripped far down to the cobblestones, as Ludmilla shrieked in rage and pulled fast on the reins, driving the hobbled animal into a sharp dive, slipping into a fold in the air and blinking from sight in some ethereal dimensional shift. With Ludmilla suddenly far out of reach, together the party focused their strength on the final spawn, and with Rictavio's aid they struck the creature down into ash to mingle with the blood and rain running rivers between the cobble stones of the square. Wet and exhausted they stood now in silence, the even pattering of the rain melting into the eerie stillness of a city in complete lockdown.

Wasting no time, Erros sprinted from the square to the stockyard and the ruins of the coffin-maker's shop. Eliza and Athrin ran after him while Fabian, Dyson, and Pieron went about gathering the dead into the center of the square and cleaning them up the best they could. The charred remains of the Wachter sons still burned silently in the dwindling blaze, but even without them the dead numbered fourteen. Eliza, Erros, and Athrin sifted fruitlessly through the burnt and water logged ashes and blackened timbers of the coffin-maker's shop for close to an hour before deeming the bones not present, and decided Danika, if anyone, would have a clue where Henrik had gone. Together with the party from the square the group walked to the Blue Water Inn through the flooded empty streets of Vallaki. Houses they past lie shuttered, groups cowered from the rain in the thin alleys on the edge of the party's periphery, and not a single guard was in sight. The Inn stood as a single island of activity amidst a dead city, as people ran in and out of it's entrance in small groups. Once inside, the party saw that the inn was serving as a meeting place for the scattered citizens, where the relieve of a reunited parent and child mingled with the panic of a husband who couldn't find his wife. Danika saw Rictavio and the party immediately and set down the tea kettle she'd been brewing to hear the latest news from them. They informed her of the bodies assembled in the square and asked after Henrik's disappearance. One of Danika's raven's had managed to see the coffin-maker fleeing the city with only a rucksack out the eastern gate not long after the shop went up in flames. Eastward meant Castle Ravenloft, the Tser Falls Vistani camp, and Ravenloft Village. They thanked her for the information and made for the western gate where they knew fresh riding horses to be stabled, and as Fabian turned to leave Rictavio leaned in and gave her a brief embrace. He reiterated that he was glad she was safe and wished her well, and she smiled and returned the wishes, but suddenly felt a slight and indescribable unease, as if something small felt slightly off. She couldn't place it, and moments later the feeling was gone. She rejoined the group and together they made it to the western gate.

When they arrived it was the same eerily empty sight. The gate was secured closed but it was unguarded, the stable door hung ajar and was also unattended. The party found Patches inside with a half dozen other horses fed and ready for riding. There was none around to stop them from stealing the animals, but before they could finish harnessing them a loud pounding sounded behind the closed western gate. Together they pulled it open, trusting the enemy not to announce their arrival, and found to their surprise Yevgeni Kruskin. Covered in dirt and blood, both his and someone else's, he looked winded. He asked about the gate to which they relayed the recent attack, and he cursed and leaned against the wall to catch his breath. Yevgeni explained that he and his brother had been paid handsomely by Milvoj to search for some missing orphans near the banks of Lake Baratok far to the west. They usually stayed clear of the lands that far west for their prevalence of werewolf activity, but the moon cycle was right for them to attempt it for the gold. Within a day they were set upon by a full pack, and while this wasn't their first scrap with the beasts, this time a massive creature was with them. All fur, teeth, and yellow eyes, as tall as three men and faster than a horse in full gallop. They were out matched and Szoldar was hauled off by the pack alive. Yevgeni had hoped to rally a group of guardsmen to aid in recovering his brother but with the news of the vampire attack it was clear that wasn't going to happen. The hunter sank in despair, and the party prepared to mount up for their ride east, but Athrin and Eliza looked each other in the eye in a moment of silent decision. To each of them the report of such a creature panged them with memories of loss and death. It was why they were here. With new found resolve they turned to the group and apologized that they would not be able to hunt down the bones. Eliza insisted they go alone, but would return when their mission was finished and the beast slayed. When Erros protested, offering to follow, Athrin grabbed his shoulder and told him he'd already lost one brother to the creature, he had no intention of loosing another. The group sat ahorse stunned as Eliza and Athrin harnessed another horse for Yevgeni and departed through the western gate, looking back once at the friends they were not willing to loose. They left only their hoof prints and the rain soon washed those away.

The party was dealt a heavy blow, and they decided they needed to return to the Inn to rethink their next move. They walked back through town in contemplation, and when they arrived Erros announced that he was leaving too. He came here for a reason of his own and felt he couldn't continue without knowing if he had a chance of accomplishing it. He offered to sit with them for a brief moment but would be departing for the Vistani after that. The four of them sat at a table in the bustling inn just as Father Petrovich was leaving. The frail man joined them for a moment and placed a small envelope on the table between them. Before they could ask what it was he explained that a man had approached him at dawn this morning and asked that he pass this message along to the party. He was wearing a darkened hood, but Petrovich thought the man to be Vasilli von Holtz. Pieron slit the envelope with her finger, as Father Petrovich pulled something else from his pocket. It was a ruby crested amulet of silver. He noted it a fine gift and that it had been left with the message. As he stood to leave, the four looked to one another in confusion that curdled into dread. Pieron pulled the letter from it's envelope and read it slowly to the group, their eyes widened in disbelief. Put this with the other gifts -S