Father Donavich

Who

Priest of the Morninglord's church outside the Village of Barovia, and Doru's father.

Where

His church, at the altar.

Status

Alive. His son is not.

First met

Session 4, when we carried the old burgomaster's coffin to his door.

The funeral

We found him on his knees before the altar, praying aloud and badly in need of sleep. "Ismark, my son. Welcome. I know the rites need to be done, but do they need to be done now?" They did. We dug the grave behind the church and he spoke beautiful rites over Ismark's father, and nobody else in the village came.

When Fëanor touched Donavich's holy symbol and made it shine, the old man was moved: "I've heard stories of channeling the Morninglord's divine to do miracles, but to see it in action." His faith was the stubborn kind: "We may not have seen the sun, ever, but the Morninglord is still watching over us from behind the clouds." When one of us answered that the god lives in our spirits and souls, he said, "Very true. Well put. Oh, I needed to hear that."

His son

Then he asked for help. The devil had taken his son, Doru, to the castle; Donavich believed the boy had escaped and come home, "hungry in a way that I am struggling to feed." He kept him locked in the crypt under the church, "only as a precaution." And he was clear about the terms: "By help him, you do not mean kill him. I will not hear any talk of that."

He unlocked the trapdoor and stayed upstairs. When Fëanor shouted for him mid-fight, he came; when Drew tried to hold the hatch shut and get us all out, he tore it open with more strength than she had: "You promised." Osric told him the truth to his face: "I'm sorry, but he's a vampire, too." "He's my son."

"Do what you must"

When the fighting stopped, Fëanor argued him down at the top of the stairs. It was not a flesh wound or a mild cold, and Doru would not get better. Sirius vouched for Fëanor. Donavich came down to hear for himself. His son told him that Strahd had drunk from him, made him drink back, and sent him home to feed on anyone he liked. The boy said he no longer felt the Morninglord's light.

Donavich turned away weeping, said "Do what you must," and fled up the stairs.

Afterwards we found him praying furiously at his altar with sweat on his face. Drew crouched beside him: "I'm not a religious person, and I'm not going to pretend I know what you're going through, but I think you both made the right choice." One of us knelt and prayed with him until it was plain he needed to be alone with his god, and then we left him there.

What we owe him

We broke our promise not to kill his son, and we did it with his leave. We owe him a visit if the road ever brings us back.

What we still wonder

• Donavich believed his son had escaped the castle. Doru told us he had been sent home. Did his father ever understand the difference?
• What does a priest do in Barovia with an empty crypt and an empty house?