Who: Priest of St. Andral’s Church in Vallaki. Keeper of the town’s finest building and its worst secret.
Where: St. Andral’s, in the west of Vallaki, with his altar boy Yeska (eight years old, recently instructed in push-ups and confidentiality — in that order).
Status: Ally. Possibly the only wholly good man in Vallaki. Definitely the most trusting.
First met: Session 7, the evening we arrived.
The man
Gentle, unhurried, and kind in a town where kindness is mandatory and therefore suspect — his is the real thing. He greeted five armed strangers as “mistwalkers”, hoped aloud that the rumors about what happens around our kind weren’t true, and welcomed us anyway: “All are welcome here. This is a safe place. Usually.”
It took him roughly one conversation to trust us with everything. We pointed out, gently, how easily he gives his trust to well-armed strangers. He needs a miracle, and we were the nearest thing walking.
The secret (keep it — especially from Ireena)
The church’s relic — the bones of St. Andral, kept in a hidden crypt beneath the altar — were stolen six days before we arrived. The bones sanctified the ground; evil could not cross the threshold. Now it is just a building. Only Lucian and little Yeska knew where they lay. And Yeska, because the man is big and strong and cool, told Milivoj — the groundskeeper with keys to church and orphanage both — after Milivoj came asking, out of nowhere, about secrets hidden in the church. That was ten days ago. The bones vanished four days later.
We searched the crypt with him: dust. Tomorrow we call on Milivoj.
What else he told us
- The stories say the devil has not set foot in Vallaki in two hundred years. The stories were written when the bones were where they belonged.
- Yeska has been sent to confess the whole thing to Lucian properly. Sirius’s parting gift to the boy: the coolest thing one can do is keep a confidence. Too late, but the sentiment stands.
Open questions
- Who sent Milivoj asking? A groundskeeper doesn’t desanctify a church for himself.
- How long before “just a building” matters — and to whom?
Appears in: S7