Chapter 27

A Rolling Boil

A dark cloud hung over Vallaki in the weeks following the Festival of the Blazing Sun. The Baron's guards regained control of the city without opposition after the mob was so effectively dispersed by Ludmilla's attack, but even after the chaos passed, people had come out of hiding, and the dead were counted and buried, things didn't return to normal. The Baron wasn't seen for several days, with guards stationed around the Baron's mansion day and night barring all entry. The gates remained closed for all but essential agricultural work, and even then in broad daylight and with detailed inspections. Over two dozen additional city guard were recruited to man the walls under threat of disloyalty and promise of double pay, and from his seclusion the Baron released a series of emergency decrees distributed by ruthless new hires. The first was a formal condemnation of The Devil and all who show sympathy to his evil machinations. Namely the wanted Fiona Wachter, and a threat of death by hanging to all who aid her in any way before her inevitable capture. The next was the formal banishment of Captain Izek Strazni, for crimes against the people of Vallaki, failure to protect the public and general disloyalty to the barony. Everyone had seen the Baron attack Izek at the Festival, and rumor spread that the subsequent argument between the two ended in Izek fleeing the city west, gravely wounded and without supplies. But the final decree was an arrest warrant for the visitors known as the Longsong performance group, for treasonous insurrection, mob incitement, and criminal merriment disruption. Though the guards had orders to arrest them on sight, they feared the evident power of the so-called performers and none had yet attempted it. Wherever Dyson, Pieron, and Fabian went, citizens eyed them carefully, all the more suspicious with the disappearance of half their group. No news reached Vallaki of Athrin and Eliza in those weeks, and Erros was not yet due back from his travels with the Vistani. Fabian, Dyson, and Pieron maintained allied friendship with the Martikov's, though their association with criminals caused the reputation of the Blue Water Inn to fall dramatically out of favor: most nights found them and Rictavio supping alone with Brom and Bray. A week after the festival, the Baron began ordering triple the grain stockpile in preparation for what he predicted would be a dangerous winter, and while his paranoia was evident the nights grew longer and colder with each sunset. Petty theft and harassment rose with the guards focused on defending the gates, though the stocks still went without a want for occupants, and coupled with the irrefuted rumors of increased interrogations in the Baron's estate, it's likely this was the aggitation fueling the additional crimes. What's more, the disappearances Izek linked to the missing Sebastian Horvath resumed; three in just two weeks. Dominionist propaganda in the form of pamphlets and wall writing spread as fast as it could be taken down, and the recent memory of the attack fueled whispers of another coup attempt. The name Fiona Wacther was passed around more than once, and not always following a curse.

Unable to lay low any longer, Fabian joined the efforts of the farmers to meet the Baron's demands. At first the townsfolk scoffed at the offer, but her natural leadership and experience in the fields of her mother's plantation so greatly aided the folk that many changed their opinions of her as a trouble-making outsider. For days spent in the fields, her bad reputation was tempered with true working-class solidarity. Pieron set out to learn more of the monstrous forces of Barovia, though lacking access to the Baron's library or the confiscated Wachter's, her research was limited to here-say she could gather on the street. She learned of many rumors: aversion to silver and strong smells like onion and garlic, a lack of reflection or shadow, and an inability to enter one's home uninvited, or cross rushing bodies of water. She also heard sightings of revenants, lone knights clad in armor, undead but dastardly smart, that roamed the roads to the west. She decided that some of these rumors needed further corroboration but was glad for the information. Dyson spent the time establishing a temporary workshop in a room at the Blue Water Inn, where he toiled for days deep in his tinkering's and experiments, often taking his meals alone and seeing the rest of the group only intermittently.

Frost was melting off the grass the morning that Erros returned to Vallaki, slipped past the guards by two disguised Vistani escorts who themselves disappeared right after. He found the town alarmingly changed, the air more hostile and dreary, as he made his way to the Blue Water. Entering he found his friends drinking tea with bread and pulled up a chair still in his elderly disguise. Pieron quieted down and asked the man's business in a confused tone, but Fabian saw through the guise and cracked a wry smile at her friends incessant ability to craft a whimsical rouse. Erros wished them well and reported on his travels with the Vistani. Their rescue of the abducted Arriable and Erros's jovial demeaner was met with generosity and acceptance by the Vallakian Vistani, and after remaining in camp for several days he departed with a group bound for Tser pool. As he made to leave, an earless dusk elf named Kasimir Velikov approached him with an offer he explained was made to his companion's Fabian and Eliza as well, that high on the slopes of Ghakis is a ruined temple more ancient than anything in the valley, with a prize that he found of incredible personal value. Were the group to help him past the temple's guardian he promised it held a reward worth-while to them: the means to destroy Strahd. Erros thanked the man for the offer but said no more. They meandered along the road at a slow pace, seemingly fearless of the perils of the Barovian night, but giving the desolate windmill a wide berth. They camped outside the western gate before descending into the basin and remaining a week with the folks encamped at Tser Pool. In his time there he didn't once see Madam Eva, holed up in her sage-soaked tent, though he did in that time keep his ears open and his questions flowing. He learned that Henrik had likely made it to Ravenloft Village and was laying low, and that it was true that the Durst house stood once more, it's proclivity to burn down and rebuild itself over the years an oddity known to the Vistani, though not fully understood. But most of all, Erros asked after her. He learned that two years prior a woman fitting her description had traveled into the valley from the east with a group of Vistani importers. Her voice was beautiful and unique, her stories exciting and too well-constructed to be true. Then she had mysteriously vanished one night outside the western gate. A cold lead, but the first he'd had in a while. As they traveled back to Vallaki, Erros studied the western gate for any sign of her, however unlikely, and finding nothing resigned to meet back up in Vallaki as they had agreed.

Together again in the Blue Water Inn, the three of them discussed these new developments and the growing list of mysteries that demanded their attention. Fabian pulled out a slip of paper, and explained she'd been given it by a farm worker she'd met two days prior. It was an invitation to a Dominionist meeting, with a time and location, the time being that evening. She saw it as a chance to infiltrate the group who's activities eluded them so, and everyone else agreed. Erros asked after Ireena, but Pieron and Fabian had little more to report. Since receiving the mysterious letter and jeweled amulet, the group had of course investigated Vasilli's manor. They found it deserted, and rifling through the rooms filled with decadent furnishings they found next to nothing that would imply anyone truly lived there. They found only a worn but well-made red scarf folded neatly on a made up bed, the only trace of Ireena's presence. Danika's ravens had been monitoring the roads but have seen no sign of Ireena or Vasilli, and until new information arose it seemed Ireena was out of the group's reach. Fabian clenched her fist and refused to dwell on it further, and the group ruminated further on the nature of the dark powers at work in the valley, their relation to Strahd, and whose side they should really be on. Fabian slammed the table, splashing Pieron's porridge onto her lap, and proclaimed that evil is evil and she had no inclination to stop assailing it in whatever form it took. The only decision left to make was what to do next. They all agreed that they were doing little good in Vallaki if the Dominion remains out of their reach, and debating where to go next had the group settling on west. The town of Krezk, and the rumored Abby of Markovia were calling to them through Madam Eva's prophetic advise, and moving further from Ravenloft seemed the safer decision to make. It was decided they would tentatively depart the following morning, and Pieron rose to tell Dyson the plan.

Erros spent the rest of the day crafting 4 disguises from bed sheets, table cloth, and theatre makeup, while Dyson labored away at the finishing touches on his newest invention, and Pieron continued her limited research into vampires, werewolves, and revenants. When Fabian returned from the field, Erros outfitted them all in their disguises, subtly altering their gender signaling features and hiding the seams with deep green hoods. As the sun began to set and a cold wild picked up in the chill dusk air, they made their way across town to the designated meeting place on Fabian's invitation. Nearly there, a trio of ruffians accosted them in an empty avenue, demanding what food or valuables they had. Erros, disguised as his elderly alter-ego Clyde Graywalker, stepped forward and claimed to be blind, his children leading him to a late night optometrist appointment. Their leader, a woman who towered over six feet tall, paused for a moment before grabbing Clyde by his shirt and raising her fist. Pieron transformed her visage into a scaly creature with claws and teeth and roared, as Erros used his magic to heighten the illusion. The two men dropped their cudgels and ran in terror, but the woman, unturned, socked Erros in the face. Whimpering like an old man, he fell back, but before Pieron could charge forward, Fabian reached out her arm and ripped off her disguise. She recognized the woman from work in the fields and gripped her shoulder tight, pressing a handful of coins into the woman's hand, before condemning her actions and wishing that she get something to eat. She apologized sincerely, not knowing these people to be with Fabian, and cautioned against traveling at night. As Erros scrambled to his feet, the footfall of guards rounding the corner caused the woman to flee and forced the group to take cover down another alley. The group pondered how dire the situation in Vallaki had become, then made it to the rendezvous.

Once alone in the darkened side street where Fabian had been told to meet, the four looked around for any movement, when a slim door opened and a voice asked their business. Fabian presented the slip of paper she'd been given and they were quietly ushered into a dark room by a man in a hood. Bodies shuffled about them and pat down their cloaks, presumable for weapons or armor, but most had brought none, and Fabian kept her sword tucked close beneath her arm. They shambled through the dark, groping the wooden wall as they were led to a steep stone staircase. In the root cellar beneath the house, a dim candle illuminated the space enough to cautiously move about, and shoulder to shoulder were thirty-odd men and women, all dressed in cloaks to hide their identities. Hushed whispers scuttled about as it seemed they were still waiting for something to begin, as person after person bumped into Dyson due to his short stature. The group tried their best to fit in, but a man seemed to notice their presence and crossed the room to address them all. He had a stiff limping gait as he walked, and a cowl that covered his eyes. A warm smile with healthy teeth caught the light of the candle and parted a long waxed mustache and oiled goatee. The man asked if it was their first time at one of the meetings, and inquired into what drew them to the cause. In return they asked him what to expect, and he assured them that it was some of the best speeches and rousing words of action he'd heard, given by a man named Abbas. They were waiting for him to come out and give a speech, and with that the man disappeared back into the crowd. In all the secrecy and strange ritual to the place, it was confusing to pin down exactly what the Dominionists were. In reputation they seemed to be an underground workers union advocating against the Baron's tyrannical rule, but the manor in which the room felt, and what the group knew about Abbas, Fiona, and their necromantic abilities made the whole affair confusing and sinister. They decided to wait for Abbas to begin speaking, but were able to glean little more from the other members about Fiona or the nature of this club. The minutes stretched, and the air grew stiff. Dyson began to get nervous, and after twenty or so agonizing minutes people began to leave. First a few then all at once, as if the meeting had ended. Grumblings of confusion echoed around the other patrons and a horrible sense of dread consumed the four imposters. They looked to one another in panic and knew they had to get out, afraid maybe they'd been noticed. They split up and made for the exit, now clogged with people shuffling back outside. When they hit the street they scattered, along with the rest, and met up a hundred yards from the meeting house. The chill night air was a refreshing change from the heat of that basement, and it helped to slow their heart rate as they stood in the starlit dark. Another unfortunate dead end.