Session 14 — All Is Not Well
The whole of Vallaki wanted an answer. The Baron wanted us to condemn Lady Wachter. Lady Wachter wanted us to condemn the Baron. We chose a third course, despite having held absolutely no planning meeting.
Drew persuaded the Wachter brothers to acknowledge the corpse in their mother’s bedroom. Osric brought Father Lucian forward to testify that the vampires had been real. Lily recovered from a disastrous first attempt at public speaking by vaulting towards the stage. Sirius supplied the angel wings, then cast Zone of Truth over a Baron who discovered that refusing to read a letter is much easier than explaining it.
We proposed Ireena as burgomistress, with Lucian’s support. The crowd turned against both old leaders. Then the guards closed ranks.
Izek caught Sirius in his demonic hand. The Baron ordered him killed. Fëanor sent a lance of silver across the square, and Vargas Vallakovich died on his own stage. Wachter’s raven became an imp; Clancy kicked it, Drew blasted it, and Osric cut it down. Sirius, still being held, tried to hug Izek and convinced him to call off the guards.
We stopped that part of the fighting. We did not stop the crowd around Wachter. She surrendered, and the mob trampled her to death. Her sons survived. Ernst vanished.
Then Strahd arrived on a burning horse.
The bones had spoiled his view of Vallaki, he explained, so he had come to inspect the mess himself. Sirius suggested that a good ball in Neverwinter might help with the Count’s boredom. Strahd eventually ended the pleasantries, killed a civilian in front of us, and reminded us that he could still enter town. “Do not be boring,” he said, and left.
The work afterwards was quieter. Lucian took Lydia to the church. Izek accepted Ireena’s authority. At the mansion, we borrowed a map, freed a chained prisoner named Udo, and found Victor’s attic empty. His teleportation circle was still cooling. The book he left behind described how he had experimented on Stella’s mind, wiping her memories until she broke.
Ireena’s first order was to close the Reformation Center. We entered with Izek, put two guards to sleep, and tied them up alive. Beyond decades of treatment records, we found the twins responsible, sitting comfortably in armchairs.
They called it cleaning people’s heads. We told them to stop.
Next time: face to face with Ilimir and Ivalice. Combat has not begun. Henrik and the other prisoners are still inside; initiative will be rolled fresh.