Who: Aragal — a Vistani man of some influence from the camp outside Vallaki’s walls, met riding home in a hurry on the road west.
Where: Ahead of us, bound for his camp.
Status: Friendly. Owes us nothing yet; will owe us 20 gold plus the price of a toy.
First met: Session 6, hours west of Tser Pool.
What he told us
- The road ahead: wolves, and the crying lights — his professional advice, verbatim: kill wolves, ignore lights, travel fast. (“Will-o’-wispies.”)
- Vallaki does not admit Vistani. Stringent rules, paranoid of outsiders, and they call his people allies of the devil. “A paranoid and distasteful people,” says the man they won’t let in.
- He is not the “hunter of hunters” from Eva’s reading — we asked. Too grand a title, he said. The Executioner remains unclaimed.
The commission
In Vallaki there is a toy shop — Blinsky’s. Aragal will pay 20 gold on top of the cost if we bring a Blinsky original to his camp for his daughter, Araba. Osric read him hard while he asked: the man simply, genuinely dotes on his girl. It may be the most uncomplicated request anyone has made of us in Barovia.
(Lily’s separate professional assessment: sturdy boots, beefy calves, terrible knees.)
Open questions
- What does “a man of some influence” mean, in a camp we haven’t seen?
- Is anything in Barovia ever actually this simple?
Appears in: S6 · see Quests & Threads for the errand.