First walked in Session 16
The Vistani Camp
Visited
Aragal's camp, two hours north of Vallaki on the road to the lake. We came with a present for his daughter and found the whole camp out looking for her.
- Where
- About two hours' walk north of Vallaki, outside the walls, on the way to the lake to the north, which is a straight shot on from here.
- Visited
- Session 16, around midday on the day after the festival.
- Status
- Busy and frightened. Search parties are out looking for Aragal's daughter.
What we had heard
Aragal told us about it on the road in Session 6: his people keep a camp of their own near Vallaki, and they come and go and mingle with Madam Eva's lot at Tser Pool. Vallaki trades with the camp and takes its goods, but won't let its people through the gate. The town calls the Vistani the devil's allies. "We do not, of course."
The search
We came up the road with nesting dolls from Blinsky's for Aragal's daughter, and found the camp busy in the wrong way. Searchers were heading out in ones and twos, and they stopped us to ask whether we'd seen a little girl: "Dresses like us, looks like us." She is the daughter of Aragal.
He was at a table outside, shouting directions, plainly the man running the search. When we told him we had brought her a doll, he said "Oh, cruel irony." She is fourteen, rebellious, and in the habit of wandering off, and she went out that morning. She ought to be safe: "The Vistani are not hunted by the devil's creatures. We are safe." The lake, he said, is not the wisest place to go. He told us the Vistani don't get involved in the horrors that plague the people who live here, and keep to themselves.
If we find her, we can have our pick of anything from the camp's trader wagon: "We have goods, we have magics, we have things." We told him we don't need a reward to look for a child, and went north to the lake as fast as we could.
Open questions
- Where did she go this morning, and why?
- If the devil's creatures don't hunt the Vistani, who does?
- What is in the trader wagon?
Business here
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A Toy for Arabelle
Bought at last: nesting dolls from Blinsky's, in our packs. Aragal called it a cruel irony, because his daughter is missing.
On the road west a Vistani rider called Aragal fell in beside us, warned us about wolves and "will-o'-wispies", and explained that Vallaki does not let his people through the gate. Then he asked a favour: "there is a store in Vallaki, Blinsky's Toy Shop. I have a daughter, Arabelle. She would love a Blinsky original toy… I would pay you 20 gold on top of the cost of the Blinsky toy if you could bring one to me." We said we'd get a nice one.
It took us nearly two weeks, but on the morning after the festival we finally went through Blinsky's door. We told him the truth about who the toy was for, and he didn't mind in the least. We passed on the creepy jack-in-the-box and chose a set of nesting dolls, and they are in our packs.
Then we carried them two hours north to the camp and found it out searching. Aragal's daughter had been missing since the morning. When we told him we'd brought her a doll, he said "Oh, cruel irony." The dolls are still with us. See Find Aragal's Daughter.