Curse of Strahd 12 – The Cold Light of Morning

In which the party’s druid Fitzworth writes a few words of wisdom after the sudden disappearance of Sumu after the fight against Strahd and his minions at the church in Vallaki. In which the group loses their regular scribe as Sumu’s player leaves the group.

Sumu is gone. Umus, too, but that makes me less sad.

I woke up and found a note from her which I will share later, but she is gone. Yesterday, it seemed that she might have found some of her family among the bodies and maybe that had something to do with it. I also noticed that she left something with Samael, but that is his story to tell or not tell.

But the last 36 hours have been hard.

The priest had repeatedly asked us to recover some bones (likely the remains of the patron saint of the church) and return them to their resting place, because their presence protected the church and possibly the entire town. We put it off to get involved in the political machinations of the Burgomaster and his rivals, the Wacher family.

As a result, the church was personally attacked by Strahd and six vampires (and also a set of animate pews… but that’s neither here nor there).

While we killed the six and drove Strahd back, the priest, his acolyte and much of the congregation at evening mass was slaughtered. Also, there’s a hole in the roof of the church.

We recovered the bones and found that the mastermind behind this plan to steal the bones – and the man who who also smuggled six vampires into town – is Vassily Von Holst. He’s a human male of medium height, clean shaven with black hair. Based on his clothing, he is possible noble. We didn’t see him, but we got his description.

Some members of the town who, frankly, owe a debt, will be working to restore the church and possibly take up vocational duties.

The Burgomaster, who was also brother-in-law to the late priest, will help.

We killed Izek Strazni, the Burgomaster’s right hand man (the one with the monstrous… right hand), but have set up the Wachter family to take the fall. It was Fiona Wachter who asked us to take out Strasni, so she could launch a coup. There will be a parade tomorrow and shit is likely to go down.

Also, the Martakov family of were-ravens seem ready to help, but not yet openly. Either one of them or, possibly, Ireena, could be installed as the new burgomaster. I see the reason behind installing Ireena, but am unsure as long as we know Strahd seeks her.

I got a little heated yesterday and I, at least, am ready to cleanse the earth of evil, though I’m also cooling down a bit. Ismark is seeming ready to take on the mantle of power to which his blood entitles him. Chand is seeming downright moral and is notably protective of children. Sumu was always our moral compass, but now she’s gone. I don’t know what’s up with Samael, but our sailor friend has a serious drinking problem and we might need to consider an intervention and a restoration spell to cure him of the disease or moral failing (not sure how everyone comes down on this issue) of addiction.