Cast
Ismark
AliveAlly
The new burgomaster of the village of Barovia: honest about the devil, less honest about the crypt. 'You will learn not to trust people in Barovia.'
Burgomaster of the village of Barovia. He does not yet know his sister now governs Vallaki.
- Last seen
- Village of Barovia
- First met
- Session 4
- Last seen in
- Session 5
What we owe, and what we are doing about it
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Keep Ireena's Government Standing
We said her name in the square. Now the chair has to hold.
The square chose Ireena because Sirius proposed her and Father Lucian, glancing round nervously, said "she has my support". Izek follows her because he serves "the Office of the Burgomaster". She has never governed anything ("I suppose I need to get inducted"), and she is afraid the town will slide into anarchy the moment we turn our backs. Minutes after she was chosen, the devil stood in the same square and called it "not too untenable. She is of the right stock." He also said he has always given her her space, and that he cannot watch us here any more with the bones back in place.
While we are at the Reformation Center she is writing to her brother Ismark, and we promised to get the letter to him; the Morninglord provides. Sirius has told the whole town to come to church in the morning. After that we mean to head west, which means leaving her with Izek, Lucian and a town that has just watched two rulers die.
-
Keep an Eye Out for Gertruda
Mary's daughter, missing. We would not promise to find her. Mary heard a promise anyway.
The night we brought Lancelot home, Mary begged us to find her daughter. Gertruda is blonde and in her mid-twenties, and she was gone one morning without a note, probably out looking for the dog. We told Mary the truth: we "can't promise something that we can't guarantee". We offered our level best and a watch on the road. She took Lancelot home anyway, saying "You've promised now. I've heard you promise."
Ismark thinks Gertruda is almost certainly dead. If she isn't, he says, she is in the castle, or with the witches in the ruins of Berez to the south, who take in wayward young women. We are keeping an eye out, which so far is all we have done.
- Who
- Ismark Kolyanovich, burgomaster of the Village of Barovia since his father died the day before we arrived, and Ireena's brother.
- Where
- The village. He stayed behind; with no heir, he will not risk himself.
- Status
- Alive, governing a frightened village, and owed a letter.
- First met
- Session 4, at a corner table in the Blood on the Vine.
The first Barovian to talk to us
The tavern went silent when we walked in, and one man waved us over: "Hello, strangers. Please join me at my table." He knew the dog before we had sat down ("Lancelot is Mary's dog. He's not been seen for weeks") and introduced himself as "latterly the burgomaster of this town." Sirius bought the table wine and food, and Ismark told us the truth about where we were.
"The devil on his castle high, we are his favorite hunting grounds." When Sirius asked whether the blood-drinking was a metaphor, the answer was "entirely literal." The mists are "the bars of our cell, and our jailer is Strahd." And, flatly, "There isn't any dealing with Strahd. There is only surviving."
He looked at our heirlooms too. Sirius's raven feather he called a good omen ("Ravens around here, they're very lucky"); wolves are not; Fëanor's star rang a faint bell from "old stories about nature"; the amber meant nothing to him. The sigil on Osric's banner we had already matched for ourselves, at the gate.
Two favours
His father had died a day before, worn out by the devil's nightly visits after he refused to let Strahd court Ireena. Ismark asked us to help carry the coffin to the churchyard and bury him, which we did. Then he asked the bigger thing: take Ireena to Vallaki, where there are high walls and "a church, which stories tell is one of the few places in this land Strahd cannot tread." Osric called it a knightly thing to do, and we all agreed.
He hid us when Mary knocked that night, gave us floor space and blankets, and told us afterwards that Gertruda was almost certainly dead.
The test
The next morning he admitted there was "something at the church", and declined to come down into the crypt himself. When we came out, he was leaning on the wall by the church door, drawing us a map, and one of us saw plainly that he was not surprised Doru had needed putting down.
It was Ireena who dragged the rest out of him, marching him into the room by the arm: "I will not travel under false pretenses with people. Ismark, tell them what you told me." He had known what was in the crypt and sent us anyway. "I needed to know that you were strong enough to protect her. And now I am assured." Drew said we could have done without the emotional damage. Ismark gave us the line we have quoted ever since: "You will learn not to trust people in Barovia."
What else he gave us
- The map we still travel by, with Vallaki, Tser Pool, the winery south of Krezk, and the castle marked only so we would know where not to go: "That's an indication of where not to go." It is in the handouts.
- The lore of the turned: "Occasionally, people are turned into them by Strahd. Only occasionally. Mostly people who are loved, just to torment us."
- Road sense: wolves hunt by day, and "if you manage to dispatch one, the rest usually flee." He was right.
- Despair, sincerely offered: "He is the devil. He is all-powerful. There's nothing we can do. If he turns his eyes to you, you just kneel down and take it." We told him we were going to kill Strahd in a bit. On the subject of going home he was just as firm, "You can't leave Barovia. This is your home now," and when one of us swore to see the Morninglord's light again, "We'll see how long that opinion lasts."
The night Strahd came to his house, Ismark opened the door, told us all to hide, and then called us out: "Everyone come out. It's fine." He was charmed before any of us.
What we promised him
- Bury his father: kept.
- Take Ireena safely to Vallaki: kept.
- Don't take her on "whatever extracurriculars you're doing": we said "No, of course." She is now acting burgomistress of Vallaki, chosen in a riot. We would like to be there when he hears.
- Carry Ireena's letter home to him: she has promised to write it, and we offered to see it delivered.
What we still don't know
- What else does he keep back until somebody drags it out of him?
- How will he take the news that his sister governs Vallaki, and that the devil has said in public that he will wait for her?
