D&D is For Nerds - Vampire Infested Barovia I #19 Investigations and Searches

Episode Date: January 21, 2023

The party learns a new and interesting version of a classic nursery rhyme! Hecktor transgresses to his time under a strict authority figure while Pip explains how small town politics has led to everyone hiding from the town guard on trumped up charges.Want ad-free and even more bonus content? Just check out the Imagination Adventures show page on Apple podcasts! Music by the ever wonderful Lepidora, you can check out her music here. And head to peddlerspress.store to peruse our D&D themed merch store and help support the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ahem. You're listening to the Sandspants Network. Although you see no water for miles around, you are nonetheless marooned, stranded in a nightmare your people call Barovia. While I am able to travel easily between the plains, you cannot, and as such, you find Baron von Strahd your jailer. There is no escape unless I, a Gogash the Mighty, can defeat him.

All right, Hector's left at this point. Hector is, yeah, I think you're right. Because I would have beelined it. Well, how far? You would have had enough of a, what were you doing at the Blue Water Inn again? I was just dropping off the dog. Yes, that would have had enough of a... What were you doing at the Blue Water Inn again? I was just dropping off the dog. Yes, that would have been quite quick. And then me and I guess Cribbert would have gone to the orphanage.

Yeah. You will be arriving at the orphanage at about two. And I would say that you, Pip, arrive at the Blue Water Inn at about two. Okay. So Hector has well and truly left at this point. You come in and you see... How busy is it? At about two, it'd still be quite quiet.

You can see the two boys playing with the dog. You can see, I would say it's switched over to Danica. At this point, Danica is operating behind the bar. There's a book open in front of her and she's doing bookkeeping. Maybe we catch eyes, just, you know. And I try and give her a look like, I'm doing it, I'm looking for the mass, or whatever.

She maybe gestures for you to come over. And I try and give her a look like, I'm doing it, I'm looking for the mask, or whatever. She maybe gestures for you to come over. I give a wave to a go-gash in Chorta to be like, just sit down. They grab a seat, and one of the boys comes over and asks them if they need anything. Pretty sure I've figured out what it is, Danica. I think it's a dark mess, comma, watery, or watery, or watery comma dark mess i have never heard of this creature i sort of like a imagine if you are confident what it is then that is what it is well it's no small feat to well eliminate it but i'll try eliminate it is that not what the end goal was here oh i had not expected that you would you do not have to well danny i know i

perhaps that wasn't the original deal but i think i don't think i could really live with myself if i let it i think it's only going to get worse she gets she someone's gonna have to take care of and i raises and she asks you is it dangerous and you get the impression that she she thinks quite low of you and she's asking because you get the impression that she's she's thinking oh it's not that big a deal he's going to deal with it i uh maybe i take out emmanuel the monster and i flip it around to show her the dark mask come a watery and maybe next to it next to each entry in emmanuel the monster there's like a little smiley face to show how difficult it is. Maybe next to a dark mask come a water.

It's like a really angry, unhappy smiley face. I just don't know if there's anybody out there that has my level of experience. I don't think I'd trust anybody else with it. She sits with that for a moment, and once again, you can see, well, not once again, sorry. For the first time, you can see well not once again sorry for the first time you can see that her her emotion changes a little bit and you see you obviously knew danica more than a year ago and you have come here with keening and she has seemed she has seemed to you warmer and more

like having more faith i imagine there was a point of time where me and Danica were almost what you might call friends. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah, yeah. She, you could see like a, when she looks up at you, something behind those eyes has like a spark of that old familiarity.

And when she starts speaking, it sounds like, and it looks like you, for a brief moment, she believes to herself that you could be someone that she could call friend once more a very tight-lipped smile on my face and also very brief all right they think there's a lot i uh i gotta make up for so i'll close a manual demonsto uh sometimes pip obviously i have lived here my entire life, as all Barovians and Thalacavians and Krezikians have. It is easy to think of Strahd as a force of nature rather than a man.

And when you think of Strahd as a force of nature rather than a man you shift blame, perhaps unfairly she says I give her like an understanding smile but like maybe Pip can't even really bring himself to respond, but it gives her an understanding smile maybe I put my hand on the

on the sort of the bar top or whatever thanks Danny alright, I'm gonna turn around to on the bar top or whatever. Thanks, Danny. All right. I'm going to turn around to Agogash and Chaucer. Agogash sets down. He'd been drinking from a tankard.

He sets that down, stands up, and says, he can kind of tell the vibe of the bar right now, and he says, Chaucer, perhaps it would be safer for you to stay here with the children and the dog. Chaucer, who you've noticed, has been speaking to the boy who was still playing with the dog. And the boy seems to be in rapt attention of Chaucer. Chaucer kind of like half-heartedly turns around and just like nods and says, yes, yes, of course, of course, of course. Fantastic.

And he turns back. He seems engaged with the boy who was engaged with him. Great. Good. I'd like to maybe, Agogash, is he standing to leave? Agogash is standing to join you, yes. Okay, fantastic. I'm not going anywhere.

Oh, okay. We've got a whole mess of things to figure out, Agogash, before we start making any dangerous movement or we start taking any next step of action. I slam Emanuel the monster down on the table and I say, IDATHAM. There's an acronym that I always follow when I'm hunting any monster.

Identify the monster, decide a price, assess situation, track the monster, hunt the monster, accept payment, move on. And we're in the assess situation period right now,

a go gash, so let's assess it. A go gash resumes his seat and says, then let us assess it. Agogash resumes his seat and says, then let us assess. Hector, you are striding confidently and with Cribbit the Amazing in tow towards the St.

Oh no, it's pretty obvious actually. You would find it easily enough. It's on the main street. You are striding with confidence and purpose towards St. Andral's Orphanage. It's a three, yes, three-story building. And there's a massive sign out the front

that obviously proclaims it to be St. Andral's. And then in addition to that, you could see around the back, there is a garden or a yard sort of area. It's hard to tell though because it's obscured mostly by the house itself. You see a large obvious front door and you can

hear as you approach children playing in the back. Okay. Can I hear Yender at all? Or do I even see, is Yen... Yender's not here. Okay, it's been a while. I did say I'd meet up with a couple of hours. You are four hours late. I'm a bit late.

I'll head towards the front door. Okay. Is there something to knock on? A grand oak door with a big brass knocker faces you as you approach. You can't hear anything inside the building. All noises appear to be coming from the back of the building. I'll just knock and

wait maybe a minute. There's some stained glass windows to both your left and right hand side. The stained glass doesn't appear to depict anything. It's just pretty patterns, basically. You can see on your right-hand side, it's a big bay window as well,

but with stained glass. You can see through the bay window that there are two figures inside that room. One of them, a taller one, stands up and you hear click clacking of either heels or hooves approaching the front door. The front door opens and you stare into the face of a very tall and stern-looking female tiefling. I'm so sad you weren't like a very tall and stern-looking horse.

Good afternoon. I'm looking for Janda. She's a halfling. I went to meet her here several hours ago. The woman nods slowly. I am headmistress Claudia Belasco. Nice to meet you, Claudia. Yender is through here, she says.

She gestures with her hand. I'm Hector and this is my good friend Kribbit. Hello. This one is what he means when he says Kribbit. Okay, Kribbit. Sure. You step into the entry hallway. There are some more

doors here, a set of stairs, but you immediately go right following Claudia and you enter into Claudia's office. Well, what you can only assume is Claudia's office. The door from the hallway leading into this room bears a plaque with her name Headmistress Claudia Belasco.

And the room itself appears to be a relatively modest office featuring a desk set in front of an aged fireplace, bookshelves lining the north wall with mostly official documents and volumes inside. It doesn't look like any sort of reading material. It looks like paperwork and bookkeeping. Okay. She sits down behind the desk and you can see sitting at one of the chairs is Yender. Yender

looks at you with like a questioning look. Like I said, you're four hours late. So sorry, Yender. We've had a very busy morning. Claudia gestures to the seat and interrupts you saying she speaks as well i

didn't mention this but she speaks with all the authority of a headmistress regardless of who she is addressing okay so if she's speaking to you she's still speaking like you're her student okay so when she was like come on in it was a very clip thing. And would I, is it the aura that she was giving? Because if there was an aura, I just don't think I would have said anything. Well, yeah, absolutely. And when she gestured to the chair, she would have just said, sit. Oh, that would have sat. And maybe looked at and given a more of a like, sorry, look to Yenda as opposed to saying anything.

There is a cup of tea in front of Yenda, which you can see she is drinking from, and some biscuits set on the desk as well. Ew, Barovian biscuits. You can't tell if this is a Barovia thing or a headmistress Claudia Belasco thing, but either way, the biscuits do not look, or if you try them, taste very appealing. I imagine they're really hard for some reason. It's literally hard dark, I would say. Well, considering the last time I almost tried was made to have some tea, I'm not drinking or eating anything.

Well, Belasco doesn't offer, so you're fine. Great news for this one. All right, I sit down. I wait to be addressed. Your companion, Yender, has informed me of your reason for being here, and I have been explaining to her for some time now. She says, with an obvious hint towards Yender,

not sharing your deference towards her as a headmistress. You can see, in fact, headmistress Belasco has kind of a throbbing vein in her forehead. And Yender actually seems quite relaxed, but you could see this is her element. Yender thrives in a I am inferior to you, but I am not letting you get your way sort of environment. Okay, okay, okay. I hope you have come here to extract your companion,

if I'm being honest, Velasco says. Yes, so very sorry. Yender takes another sip from her tea, and you now realize that Velasco doesn't have a cup of tea. I see, I see. Yes, well, first off, I just want to apologize. I got held up at a blacksmith. That's a blacksmith. So, yes.

So I'm sure Yanda has already mentioned that we just want to have a conversation to Jeska about something that went missing where his father was apprenticing for. I am here to inform you that Jeska is not to be spoken with. The child has just recently lost his father. Of course. And in addition to that, we have had... Well, it's not important, but... What have you had? Maybe Yender... Maybe it's like Yender has been the bad cop

wearing the headmistress down so that you, the good cop, could come in as the soothing bomb you see you see that within the headmistress's eyes it's like it's like she had a a thick hide for this she did not want to say anything but then yender has been like with a plane or whatever just slowly filleting away piece by piece this fucking armor until you come along as literally the last straw slowly falling down upon the wound. And when you touch it, it cracks.

You do not need to push hard. You were the straw that broke the fucking camel's back. Just a very gentle, very earnest, very honest, oh no, what happened? Yeah, that's enough. Sometimes that's all it takes. The headmistress stands up and you can see when she puts her hand to her head

and pushes at, she kind of like fixes her bun. You can see several hairs. She wears her hair in a tight bun. Several of her hairs have come loose she pushes some of them back into the bun and turns away from you and with exhaustion incredible heavy exhaustion in her voice she says there have been several incidents of late what do you mean by incidents? Children playing up or? another heaviness to her voice and this is the first time when when you cracked open for this part of the conversation you also cracked open and you can see that there is a deep welling sadness for these children you can tell that she feels awful she not that she's done something too awful

to them it's like her heart bleeds for these children. Very empathetic. Does she leave any moment to interject or is it very much like she's going to continue talking? She is probably going to continue talking. Again, she's like, look, she might be very empathetic and being very open and honest, but she's still a headmistress and I don't want to get my knuckles wrapped. Fair, fair, fair, fair, fair. They have been, like I said, roughhousing to an unnatural degree. And spates of violent actions have become, well, spates of violent actions have started happening. They have become very awful, cruel even, to rewards each other. Jeska is, I would say, most often an instigator and among the first that this has happened to.

But it's like a disease that has been spreading through them. And this only happened when Jeska came to the orphanage? No, it predates Jeska. Jeska came here when his father passed, but it was like he already had this rot within him. Right, and whatever it was that was here perhaps saw the... I mean, he was probably very angry at the church. And, okay, yes, so he was, right, yes.

So he's been acting up. You've been here for long enough now that you can, the children playing has been in the background pretty constantly. And now you can hear a, you're getting it better filtered to you. You can hear that there is it's not just the sounds of playing every now and then you can hear the sounds of a fight happening as

the kids kind of start roughhousing with each other and maybe you can also hear distantly presumably a teacher or some authority figure breaking it up. But beyond that as well you can hear a nursery rhyme being sung oh no that's never good adam you maybe know this nursery rhyme it's a quite a it's quite a common one it's it's called the robin but this is not the version that you know this is a much gorier, much more violent version of it that, thinking back,

you vaguely remember one kid one time when you were growing up, you remember one kid singing this song one time and then being told off about it, and that's kind of it. So you know this is a version,

but it is an on-purpose, awful, gory version that is really not encouraged. Who killed Cock Robin? I said the sparrow. With my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin. Who saw him die? I said the fly.

With my teeny eye, I saw him die. Who caught his blood? I said the duck. It was just my luck. I caught his blood. I said the duck. It was just my luck. I caught his blood. Who'll make the shroud? I said the beetle with my thread and needle. And then the song just continues.

So this version, typically, this nursery rhyme, is just a pleasant rhyme about a little bird. It's just a pleasant rhyme about a little bird. But this version is the robin dies, and then it goes through the, in a very gory detail, it goes through the preparation for a funeral for the robin. Yeah, right. Okay. I just like, yeah, my ears sort of like prick up and having noticed that. Have they always sung that version of the Robin? The headmistress turns, and you can see that she casts a very weary, sad eye towards the back of the building, and she shakes her head. They know the Robin.

I don't know where they learned this version of it. Hmm. Okay. Jeska, I have spoken to him previously. We can bring him in now. If you must, I insist. She turns to look at the two of you.

I insist on being here to witness this interrogation. Yes, of course. Hector, once again, you can see that. So you are quite used to, in some places you go being respected and hailed and doors are opened to you because you are a member of the clergy.

And as such, people see you as a liberator and as a savior. It's not as common, but you have seen this happen before. Sometimes when you go to extremely troublesome places, extremely war-torn places, or sometimes places kind of like Barovia where people's attachment to the gods is a lot thinner. People see intrusions of the clergy as kind of just bringing trouble. And you could see that the headmistress, she sees you more as trouble than as helpful. But of course, if you want, I mean, you can ask the questions. We're just simply asking if one, if he knows anything about the missing, I look at like Yandere to see sort of what they may have already said, but like the missing item, and if they did, where is it now or who has it? if they did, where is it now or who has it? And another question, sorry,

do you remember who was the most, or who was the first person to be afflicted, as it were? Yes, I would say that I do. This all began with Miliov. Miliov. Who were Miliov's parents? He was abandoned. Abandoned.

And do you know who they were before? No, no, we don't know. He was simply dumped on our doorstep. He, he... About a year ago? No, no, he's been here longer than that. Okay. Why do you say a year ago? She says, she looks up at you and you can see you can see that

she thinks there's something suspicious about a year ago just as you might think that there's something suspicious about a year ago and you think that she knows something happened a year ago well it's just um in the brief time that i have been in valakai and even briefer time that i've been in barovia um things have seemed to have gotten worse after um well i guess the uprising the headmistress gives you like a very dark look and she says yes something did happen a year ago one year ago almost to the day there was as you said an uprising and i i have some magical aptitude a very charming man came to this town and he began recruiting for this this uprising and i find i found myself i wanted a better future for them, she says, gesturing towards the back of the building. And while I did survive, I fear that I was allowed to survive,

and I was allowed to survive such that I might suffer, such that I might watch as everything I care about is corrupted. You were there. Yes, I was there by his side, General Mandarin. For the first time, Yender also stiffens. You see that she sits forward a little in her seat. And, I mean, Yender already kind of knew. But Yender now has, like, added.

She just came from Barovia, where like shit's going down. I did not realize that there were many survivors of the people that were there. There were a handful. I know several of them have seen repercussions already. But yes, he sat about a year ago, not, well, in your very seat, actually. And so Miliov, he was here before the apocalypse. Miliov, yes, was here before. And was the incident happening before?

Nothing before I left happened. But after I came back, things started happening. My understanding is that Miliov and Jeska worked together at the church and I have seen them before Jeska's father passed. I had seen them talking some together.

I thought it was I thought Miliov was simply as an older boy was simply looking after Jeska but perhaps I don't know. I don't know whatka but perhaps i don't know i don't know what's happening and i don't know what's happened would you say that uh when you came back the the incidents they've been more supernatural in in uh i guess they've been more more supernatural

in nature or they more just my magical aptitude does not come from knowledge It comes from innate power I know little of it Okay Look, if you could speak to Jeska Or if we could speak to Jeska I would very much appreciate that Thank you so much I want to start scanning the room when she leaves And the moment she leaves

I would like to once once again, cast Divine Sense. Nice. Okay. So this is not something that typically Divine Sense would pick up on. But mechanics-wise, Divine Sense should not be picking up on this. Divine Sense mechanically finds Celestials, Demons, Devils undead. But lore-wise, Divine Sense can pick up many auras of good and evil. And you see hanging all around this building a evil aura.

It sticks to the floor like a mist. It is thick all over the place. It's got an awful green tinge to it and you can see that it is otherworldly in nature though you are unable to divine specifically what sort of otherworldly all that you know is there is the energy the aura of an entity from another place here it It is evil, it is vile, but you would identify it is not demonic, it is not from hell or the abyss, it's not a devil or a demon, and it's

not undead either, it's something else entirely. Also, when you cast Divine Sense, Kribbit peaks Kribbit's interest. He looks at you and says, ooh, you learn things. He opens his book book you hear it crack open and then he begins scribbling furiously not a demon not a devil it is not undead uh

okay i would be like maybe scanning it's obviously not an angel as well maybe you're scanning like looking like bug-eyed, basically. Yender nods slowly. I see it too. Initially, I thought this might have been maybe related to the, potentially what they're doing with the cult, the King of Tongues. But I do not think it is. You what, mate? It's been to it's been

initially who needs to speak to the bloody king of tongues she stops herself and she's yelling it previously but then she stops herself and kind of whispers it at you who needs to speak to the bloody king of tongues it seems to be well the burgomaster of this

whole place the burgomaster of this fucking place can speak to the king of tongues. No, they're trying to summon the king of tongues because they want to speak to... I write, I just write the name down. You get half of the name out and she stops you. Don't fucking write it out. So they need to, well, they need to summon him. And then because they're very close.

He's fucking here I'm like nodding and I'm like I don't I think the only wait wait wait do you mean like

like Barovia or do you mean fucking Valachar I do not know all I know is that all I know it's just nice to know it's almost like

a shorthand here between two I guess clerics to be like yes and I do not know oh the virgin master's gotta fucking die yes yes uh that is the current the current plan so i was here to grab you see what's going on we gotta cut we she starts getting up we can't stay here this plot needs to be fucking cut out yes but i don't is this related i don't know i was thinking she looks around initially this might be related because the people who are getting brainwashed,

I think that, well, they are sort of related in a weird way to the… So, I just… Him, him, him. Just say him. Just say him. So, in a weird way, it is him. But I don't know if this is related to that, because if we were to get the artifact, that might help us.

Wait, which artifact do you mean? The one that Jeska stole. Oh, you mean the... The bones. St. Andrew's bones. Yes, that's only... Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. The church used to be a fucking... Well, did we explain this yesterday? The church is a safe place.

It's a safe place, but only with consecrated bones so if we can get the bones perhaps we can use them to you know stop him and the king of tongues or whatever

that is going on there I mean and then we can kill the birch monster yes yes there's no talk about that well well well yeah well

alright fuck what do you want to do do you want to stay here do you want to because how close were they to fucking summoning the king of tongues? They got our tongues. And Peep is there now.

He's wiping off his... They got two of the fucking three words. They got two of the three words. How many tongues? I want to be like... Did you burn the fucking site down? Well, Peep is there. He was scrubbing off the...

That's not going to fucking do. It's in the middle of the market. You don't want to burn down a place in the middle of the market. She puts her head in her hands. As you can see. But we burnt the tongues and Peepi's scrubbing off the... You burnt the tongues. That doesn't matter anymore.

Those tongues are bled dry. They need new tongues anyway. All we need to do is Well, you burnt the tongues. It doesn't matter anymore. Those tongues are bled dry. They need new tongues anyway. All we need to do is get rid of all the tongues, she says sarcastically. I'm sorry. I didn't... No, it's fine. It's fine.

It's not your fault. It's not your fault. I'm sorry. This is big. I start nodding because I think the only thing keeping him here is perhaps... And I do the gesture for Strahd. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, cool. You see the predicament. Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Mm. Mm. Mm.

Mm. Mm. Mm. Do we just very quickly see what this boy has to say? The door opens and the headmistress returns with Jeska. When that happens, you also spot, because you're turning around to just look in the right direction cribbit who is this entire time has been standing in the corner you can see after your conversation with yender there is smoke coming off the pages of cribbit's book

he's gonna start a little fire yesker walks up to the table and stands in such in such a manner that you can tell he presumably has very quickly become used to being called before the headmistress and standing here for a to be told off. She sits behind the desk and she says, yes, dear, I would like you to. These are Hector and Jenda they are, she looks at each of you and you can see mentally she's about to say they're with the church but then she just doesn't finish the sentence

fair enough, yep, that makes sense, go they are here and we have a few questions for you, Jeska first off I wanted to ask you, I've noticed that you've been speaking with the boy, Miliov. She looks at both of you just to make sure that you know, who is also a student here.

And I just wanted to know, has Miliov said or done anything recently that you think might be naughty behavior, misbehaving? Has he done anything? Have you seen anything? Jeska blows a big raspberry in her face. This kid's cool. The headmistress stops and you can see like just swallows some anger, and she begins questioning Jeska. You see that she is way more delicate with Jeska than she has been with you or Yender.

So when they came in, because I'm assuming they, do I notice that mist? Yeah. Is it clean to her at all, and is it clean to the boy? It does not cling to her. It kind of parts as she walks like she's like she's moses however the boy it is clinging to him it's not coming from him but you can see that it seems to like him and it's grabbing on to him is it kind of like is it sort of like you know is it going into his nose mouth ears kind of any kind of like you know place we

could actually like say almost possess him or or enter his body as it were? It doesn't seem like a possession. Or is it around him? On his body kind of thing? Or is it more just sort of like, I like you. It just seems to like him, yeah. It doesn't seem to be,

I mean, it's not like it isn't passing through him, but it doesn't seem like possession entering him. It seems like it likes him. Actually, you would notice, if you've got your divine sense up, the headmistress continues to ask questions of him, and he keeps giving very rude or mean answers. Sometimes he outright calls her names. He calls her really awful things, calls her like a bitch, that sort of stuff.

He doesn't get aggressive or violent. He doesn't get violent. He does get aggressive. But any time he has that sort of stuff. He doesn't get aggressive or he doesn't get violent. He does get aggressive. But anytime he has that sort of a response, you can see that the mist seems to latch onto him even tighter. More of it comes towards

him. It seems to really like it when he's acting up and being naughty. You can see the headmistress almost physically becomes smaller. she seems paler weaker it really looks like she is dying inside that yeska is being so awful and when that happens you can see that it stops receding around her and kind of approaches her okay so it's kind of approaches her. Okay, so it's kind of like almost sucking hope. A little bit, yeah.

Is it similar? I guess I'm like similar to that Inky Black in a way of how with the sort of... Can I? If they sort of get nowhere, maybe just interject. I'm like, excuse me. Sorry. It seems... The headmistress...

Oh, I don't want to interrupt her so much because she's also... I don't want to get... I also maybe just wait until either she's either done or at least there might be a lull where I could interject. All right. That would probably happen. But the second you try to interject, the headmistress looks at you and you thought she was angry before. But when she looks at you, it's like she wants to strike you.

And then she slams the table in front of you. Yender also jumps. You see that is shocked Yender as well. When that happens, you can see that the mist begins to start clinging to the headmistress as well. But after she slams the table in front of you, there's a brief pregnant pause. And then she, it's like something else came over her. She shakes her head. The mist once again recedes from her.

And looking at you, she says, I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from. Maybe under my breath. I'm like, I don't know where that came from. Maybe under my breath. I'm like, I think I do. Sorry, if I could have a very quick moment with the boy. Headmistress stands up. She seems very preoccupied. What she just did to you seems to have upset her.

She walks, she nods and says, I'm going to make myself a cup of tea. And then she walks out of the room. I want to sort of like kneel down. So sort of eye level with Jeska. Jeska. So your father used to work for the church, yes? He spits in your face.

Very nice. That is okay. You're angry. I can see that. He turns around and is going to leave. Perfect. I grab his shoulder. He turns around and is going to leave. Perfect. I grab his shoulder. I cast protection from evil and good.

Oh, that's a cool move. All right. Penia, with her hands on your shoulders, you can see with Herculean effort. That's funny. He's only half a god. With Herculean effort, she is able to channel energy into you from her. It feels like she physically becomes lighter and wispier behind you,

but you cast Protection from Good and Evil upon Jeska, and you see the mist recede from him quickly. Have you ever seen a drop of soapy water being put into food dye?

Oil? Oil, yeah. Have you seen how it just explosively almost recedes away? That's essentially what the mist does. It recedes away from Jeska really powerfully, really quickly, and Jeska turns around, and you can see it's like something's been lifted off him. Are you okay, Jeska? He looks around.

It is okay. He starts crying. It is okay. Yeah, I just bring him in for a hug. Yeah, I can't not. Yeah, fair enough. My zamet might cry. I don't know.

Come here. Into your chest, you don't hear. It's like you feel the vibrations of his words. You hear him wail into your chest. Papa. Yes, yes. I'm so sorry that you have lost your father. I'm so very sorry.

Now, do you know what happened to the thing under the altar in Papa's church? Miliov has it. Miliov has it. Thank you very much, Jeske. You're so very brave. You're so very brave. I just hold him. I just hold him and let him. He continues to cry and cry and cry and cry.

After a few minutes, the headmistress comes back with that cup of tea. She sees what's happening and you see that she begins weeping as well she's very silently just standing in the corner watching you weep yender puts a hand on yeska's shoulder but then she looks at you with a very comforting gaze hector you are looking into yender's face and you see that she weeps for the hopelessness and the trials, the tribulations, the horrors of this world.

And you see that her tears are Penny's tears. And if you were not crying before, you are crying now. It moves you to your very soul. Okay. You can see Kribbit is also crying and he kind of says mostly to himself, I could never create such a sad story. He, looking at you, you see like admiration in his face. Maybe looking up at the headmistress. There is something here that is definitely affecting everybody.

And right now it is not affecting Jeska. That will not last for a while. If it is okay with you, could I perhaps take him to the church? She nods. She stands aside and lets you walk out with Jeska. I pick him up, kind of just carrying him. Okay. And then I'm just like, we will be back later to deal with everything else, if this is okay with you.

She nods. She doesn't say anything. She's just quietly crying. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We start walking out and make a beeline. The mist does not want to touch you or you've now noticed as well yet when yender moves it recedes from her as well

it actually makes a bigger birth for her than anyone else even with the protection from good and evil it seems literally afraid of yender interesting all right i'll store that in the old noggin um okay and then when you leave the orphanage it's no longer it's just kind of clinging to the orphanage itself. It comes out of it like in waves, like it's water that is gushing out of every tap and faucet. It falls out of the windows and pools around the orphanage. You leaving into the distance. Still holding Jaska, I'll mention to Yandak. Okay, we need to, I guess, drop off Jaska to the church, to the father,

see if he can just care for him for the night or something and to make sure that he does not get swept back up in Miliov and all of that. And we can deal with this maybe tomorrow. But right now, I think we both know that we have bigger fish to fry. Yender nods and just moves with you. Maybe actually she gestures to hold the boy. Of course. She's so little.

She whispers something to Jeska and he shakily stands up and holding hands they walk together. That's nice. I guess as we're seeing Jeska holding Jenda's hand I might quickly, because his father was an apprentice. Probably has some of the best association with the church. Potentially not. It's true.

Jenda, perhaps it might be best if we all head to the Blue Water Inn? Jenda considers it and then says, well it's not like there's all head to the Blue Water Inn? Yender considers it and then says, well, it's not like there's any protection at the church right now, I suppose. Yeah, that is a good point. As it's no longer a consecrated place, it's not like if a demon shows up or something like that, it's just going to kill the priest and the boy.

Jeska, do you like dogs? Jeska is, no, he's calmed down a bit. Yender, you can see, is just, as with adults, men, women, anything besides. Breathed, really. Yeah, just people who are capable of hearing. She just has a way with kids. And Yender has quite calmed down since being at the orphanage you can tell that something has been blocking his ability to mourn and so it is everything that has happened

to him recently it's all coming out now but with yender at his side it's there's something bolstering him and he is able to answer which he would not normally be able to do, and he nods and says, yes. I know a dog that could really use some friendship right now. Let's head to the Blue Water Inn. As you walk away from the orphanage, you can hear distantly, I'll carry the coffin. Who'll bear the pall?

I said the crow. I'll bear the pall. Pip, you want to go, Gash, you're sitting at a table. Yeah. What day are we on? Yeah, I know. Action city. Yeah.

I probably just, I've given him the lay of the situation, I think, already. Maybe I've drawn a, as I have in real life, a little kind of a map of the situation, I think, already. Maybe I've drawn, as I have in real life, a little kind of map of the various relationships of everyone in town. Yeah, so me and Hector made the mistake of getting involved in small-town politics, and the end result is... Ah, yeah, small-town politics, he says. He's never smart. He seems to know exactly what you mean.

And so the end result is that we might have to, like, look around the tavern. Is it just us? No, it's getting on. So there's a few more people. Maybe I lean in conspiratorially and I put my hand. It's so funny. You know, like, you put your hand over your mouth so no one can hear you. But as a dragonborn, I've got to put it up the end of my snout.

Kill the burja master. Gugash gets a very serious expression. He knows the weight of what you're planning. And he, looking back at you, says in a similarly hushed tone, Chauncer and I, we are past the Burgermaster's mansion. I would not describe it as a fortress, but it is not going to be easy. Yeah. I mean, morally, it won't weigh on my soul.

The Burj Al-Masjid is a sort of piece of shit. Look, but yeah, in terms of practicality, it's going to be. And then in terms of consequences, I mean, who knows? But in terms of priority, I think that's where we need to begin. Also, maybe I would have actually already explained this, that the cult and therefore very possibly the town guard are hunting us. Or at least have – were kind of wanted criminals. But then maybe I'd be like – but also like a good portion of the town guard are sort of enslaved by the watery mess. So those ones, I mean, it's just it's so messy.

The door opens and a man steps in. You see he he's not actually stepping into the building. He just opens the door and steps halfway through. So he's got one foot outside, one foot inside. He looks across the bar at Danica. Danica looks at him. opens the door and steps halfway through. So he's got one foot outside, one foot inside. He looks across the bar at Danica. Danica looks at him. He nods and Pip, you see he puts up four fingers as a quite obvious gesture to Danica.

Then Danica goes a little pale, nods back at him, and he closes the door. Danica looks at you, Pip. Have you made any enemies today? Danica, I hate to say it, but yes, a couple. Come, she says. I like just for Gogash to stand up as well.

You both get up. I'll pick up Chaucer, I guess. And as you're approaching the bar, Danica points at a Gogash and says, him too? No, actually, no. You sit down. I like talking to a gogash. A gogash nods. Okay, yeah, no, not him.

You two sit down at the bar. They maybe sit down facing away from the door, sitting at the bar. Danica leads you into the back of the Blue Water Inn. You've probably never been here. Yeah, yeah. But it's just kind of a kitchen slash where they store some stuff area she opens a trap door and you can see a little crawl space inside the crawl space there is some more storage in there i should say actually no more than just opening a trap door she pulls a rug aside

underneath there is a trap door that is sitting perfectly flush. You wouldn't have spotted it if not for the fact that Danica reaches up her sleeve, pulls out a key, inserts it into what you thought was just a gap in the wood, but then unlocks it, opens a extra crawl space, and she gestures for you to get in there. I start climbing down and I'm

like, Hector, too. And Krivit, the frog. Danica nods and says, just remain quiet. I will deal with this. She closes it and presumably puts the rug back in place. You can hear,

this is kind of, this crawl space is the entirety of the bottom floor, so you could be under anywhere you wanted to right now, but you are in complete darkness. Can I hear well enough what's happening in the bar? Yeah, you can. You strain your, you've got to strain your ears, but you are in complete darkness can i hear well enough what's happening in the bar

yeah you can you strain you you've got to strain your ears but you can kind of hear it's probably better to not move than to crawl underneath and make myself known danica you here returns to the bar as you can see actually maybe there is a slight little bit of light like little filtered pieces of light here and there through the floorboards in the floorboards yeah you can see or hear and partially see from the little bit of light several people walk towards the bar and then someone speaks a a older male barovian voice we are looking for pip mandarin we know he is staying here. You hear Danica respond. He is not here. I have not seen him in some hours.

Why? Is he wanted for something? The guard pauses for a moment and says yes, he is wanted for murder and vandalism. Oh, I did kill that guy. Danica hesitates and says, yes, I expect very little of Pip, but this is even beneath that.

The guard, after a moment, says, yeah, whatever. Okay, that's good. Well, if you see him, let us know. Do not attempt to inform him that we are looking for him and do not allow him to escape. This is your last warning, Danica. The footfalls leave the tavern. Yeah, I'm going to wait for Danica to open the trapdoor. I'm not going to do it myself. Danica returns, opens the trapdoor and looking down at you says, What did you do? I clamber out of the trapdoor.

I mean, Danica, the moment I came back, it all just... I'm going to explain effectively the events of the day. Danica gets paler and paler as you continue to explain. It's probably not good for me to be here at the blue water inn i can find somewhere else she shakes her head and says you are safe nowhere else within this city you must stay here but you're not safe while i'm here she thinks on that for a moment she looking at you looks you up and down and you feel like she's trying to get a measure of you she finally says this should be a matter for me and my husband to decide uh wait here she turns and walks away

i'll maybe i guess i probably won't leave before i'm standing it would feel weird to go sit down again so a good guy should ducks his head in through the bar area. Is everything, well, everything is not okay, I heard. Did you hear? Yeah, yeah, Ogogash, I heard. Who did you kill? I, before when we arrived and I was in the cart, two of the ensorcelled people were attacking a third non-ensorcelled person and i

tried to you know make them leave with arrows and unfortunately well one of them passed away a gurgash let's that's it for a moment and then he nods and says, well, I want you to know that as hated as you are within this town, I have a lot of care for you and I will not abandon a companion. Thank you, Gorgash. That's very nice of you. But if I have to leave, then I'll just leave. I can stay on the outskirts of town or in the sewers. I don't think you'd be able to safely escape. It will be either staying here or death for you, he says.

If I must, I will fight by your side. I, and as I would probably, have to carry on your memory. Like a long pause and then like a thanks- gash he's very kind of you he returns to the bar after he goes back to the bar danica and erwin come into the back area with you erwin says we have had the quick deliberation about what is going on we we think at least for the time that you should stay here or at least that you should consider this place somewhere you can hide until at the very least we understand the extent of how badly how bad things are here for you if if the Burgermaster is willing to tear this town apart to find you, then we will smuggle you out.

But if this is a passing thing or something that can be dealt with, you should stay within the city under our protection. Thank you. I mean, it's more than I deserve. Yes, I'll do my best to make sure it's wrapped up.

Danica puts a hand on your shoulder and says, There is no point in keeping an organization that opposes Strahd secret if it does not at the very least sometimes oppose Strahd. I give a tight-lipped smile. I think I need to get back to planning. See if I can wrap this up quickly. They nod. Danica clears a table in the back area here for you and sets down a chair.

You may work here. Appreciated. A gogash? Also? A gogash and draw, sir. Enter. Danica takes one look at them and then starts clearing a bigger table. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

All right. clearing a bigger table. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right. You sit there as one of the boys comes over and starts preparing vegetables and meat for cooking later tonight. No worries. All right. At about this time, Hector, how's it going?

Holy. Uh, hi. You get to the blue water end without any trouble. Excellent. You walk in. Danica's behind the bar. As soon as you step in, Danica gestures for you to come over.

A beeline to her? Yes. Is this fun? She points at Yender. Actually, maybe she just addresses Yender. Yender and Hector, have the two of you been in contact much today? You left separately, but Hector, you are wanted by the town guard.

That makes sense. All right. Yes, okay, I can see why. All right. What did you do? Yender looks at you as well and says, what did you fucking do? You see, the town guards seem to be the ones in tongues. I look at Yender.

Oh, right, right. The Burj Master. Oh, fuck. Am I associated with this yender says danica danica shakes her head and says i do not think that they want you as well what about who is the child um oh um right uh this is um yeska he is he needs to be a lot is happening um Where's the dog? A man walks up to the bar, leans over, quite clearly wishing to talk to Danica. Danica

ignores your conversation immediately, leans forward and lets the man whisper into her ear. Do you try to eavesdrop? Yeah. You hear him whispering into Danica's ear, and the grung do. He leans back from the table and as he's about to leave away, Danica stops him and gestures for him to come in again.

She whispers into here. You rolled enough. You can hear this conversation. Danica whispers back to him. The halfling, Yenda, do they want her as well? The man shakes his head and says, no, just the dragonborn, the angel man, and the little grung guy. He hops back, looks at you, Hector, and gives you a very determined nod. Like he kind of, you get the impression of like someone about to go into battle, basically.

Okay, all right. He turns and walks away from the bar. I give him the same nod back and then i go back to danica uh so this is uh the two of you uh the the could have been the amazing i am so sorry but you are now a wanted criminal within this town you didn't realize but cribbit has switched from his book to a loot and when you hear you are a wanted criminal in this town, you hear ba-da-da-dung. Oh, the little bard he was with his chosen story. But his story turns to a worry.

Now I am wanted, but will I survive? As he does a little guitar solo. It's, you hate how much you love it. To be continued... but you need to scratch that itch. D&D is for Nerds Plus, the symbol, not the word, where you can listen to select campaigns that were once only available to Sandspans Plus members, the further adventures of the Greyhill Free Company if you want shorter campaigns with beautiful guests, and D&D is for Nerds, not Ognot, where all our non-canon D&D adventures go to rest.

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