With a writ of arrest in hand from Lord Vasili, complete with seal of Count von Zarovich, we had little difficulty convincing the captain of the guard that the Baron and his wife were to be held pending an investigation by an authority from Castle Ravenloft. Rather unexpectedly, even Vallakovich himself didn't put up much of a fight after seeing Strahd's seal. Apparently, having caught the attention of the liege lord of the land put sufficient fear into the baron's heart so that he came along quietly.

It was actually a little anticlimactic.

Perhaps Vallakovich remembered what happened to Izek when he unlawfully resisted being taken in for questioning? The baron and baroness were escorted by the captain of the guard to the prison. Their son was deemed old enough to remain home safely, or at least safe enough not to burn the manor down if left alone. Vallakovich's only request for going peacefully was that the Festival of the Blazing Sun continue without him.

And so it did: Lady Fiona gave a rallying speech to the people about the baron's inadequacies and humbly agreed to take over as interim burgomaster until Ravenloft could appoint a new representative. Udo Lukovich, the cobbler kept naked for a week in the burgomaster's closet, was brought forward to give public testimony to loud public support. Once the celebrations began, there was singing and dancing and drinking, with actual smiles on the people's faces instead of forced "happiness".

Doru pulled aside the two young Wachter boys and got them more than just a little drunk in order to question them about what their mother might own that Madame Eva hinted at in her reading. They mentioned that their mother kept a box of ancient bones of a family enemy in her bedroom closet as well as the "book club" in the basement, to which they had never seen anyone bring a book.

As the Festival drew to a close, a letter arrived from Lord Vasili thanking us for our help and stating that Lord Strahd agreed with our assessment that Baron Vallakovich had overstepped his authority as burgomaster of Vallaki. He named Lady Fiona the new, permanent burgomaster of the town and said that the baron and baroness would be remaining in jail for some time.

The next morning, we all set out from Vallaki with the intent to return to Barovia Village by way of Achelia. Besides wanting to report back to Ismark to update him on Ireena's progress (and get paid), tell Ms Mary about Gertruda (and get paid), we need to warn others of the Bonegrinder hags in case there are others in the coven besides the three we found. It's also my intent to discuss business matters with the mayor of Achelia. I believe this small town would be the perfect location for a Church of Abadar, possibly a Bank of Abadar, and the wizarding tower could be converted from a sad former-haunt where numerous children were murdered to a bright memorial to loved ones lost, drawing people from around the nation to pay tribute to family and friends, especially lost children. This would both allow for a boulstered economy and for the spiritual and emotional healing of those who have suffered for too long.

I had enough time to sketch out what I believed was the floorplan for the First Church of Abadar in Waterdeep, as best I could recall it, before the wagon came to an abrupt halt in the road. Less than a day out of Vallaki, a black carriage blocked our passage south. The driver handed a letter to me, and a very familiar script was written on the crisp paper inviting us all to Castle Ravenloft as Lord von Zarovich's guest for dinner. In possession of an exceptionally well-trained horse, Roderick sent the wagon on alone back to the Tser Pool with a quickly dashed off note about where we'd gone, and we all loaded ourselves into the carriage.

Dinner was certainly an interesting affair. I could visualize my mother in my mind, dying at how underdressed we were for the occasion, but it didn't seem to offend our host in the slightest. He welcomed us graciously and invited us to dine with him and his consorts as we had caught his interest, and he wished to get to know us better. It seems that it is not uncommon for travelers from other lands to be brought to Barovia periodically, but it is a rather uncommon event for them to attempt to ease political unrest rather than storming the castle with pitchforks and torches, holy symbols raised high.

Lord Strahd was joined by his four "brides": Ludmilla, Escher, Volenta, and Anastrasya. Being hundreds of years old, it was not surprising to see that he had several close relationships.

From what I was able to learn, Ludmilla had been from Barovia village a couple hundred years ago. Her interest in the arcane and dry sense of humor attracted Strahd to her, and they have been together ever since. She also seems to be in charge of reigning in the younger of her cohort when they get too exuberant. She's very interested in the happenings of the world outside of Barovia and asked many questions about the places we'd been and the things we'd seen prior to coming here.

Escher is formerly from Faerun. He had been a bard in a group of spirited adventurers, perhaps too spirited. When they were all brought by the mists to Barovia, they attempted to fight their way to freedom at the cost of their lives. Escher alone caught the eye of Lord Strahd, and he has lived in the castle for the last century. He continues to write music from time to time but mostly focuses on his poetry, which is so... artistic... and intense. I've never heard anything like it. Never. He captures the wanderlust of a tortured soul on paper... so uniquely. (Mother would have been proud of me for not giggling when I swear I saw Lord Strahd roll his eyes.) Doru stepped in to save the day by spending much of the evening engaging Escher in conversation about what it means to be a vampire and what he might expect to have happen to him as he continues to advance in years. Doru is a true hero of the people.

Volenta might be my favorite of all Lord Strahd's brides. She came to dinner wearing a platinum mask shaped like a skull, which in and of itself says quite a bit about her character. Volenta is a Vistani from Roderick's community, although she lived there before Roderick's parents were alive. She takes true joy and passion in her work as an enforcer/assassin for the castle. What an ancient vampire lord needs with an enforcer, I'm not sure, but it makes Volenta genuinely happy. We discussed my time in the gladiatorial ring some, and she described in some detail various monsters that had appeared within the borders of Barovia that she had been tasked with taking care of. She seemed especially taken with Ragnar and Finrar as the dinner wore on. Finrar got many scritches and was secreted more than one morsel of food under the table.

Which brings us to the youngest of Strahd's brides: Anastrasya. Barely sixty years old, she had previously been a distant relative to the Vallakoviches of the time who aspired for something greater and set off for Castle Ravenloft, determined to convince Lord Strahd that she was "right" for him. Anastrasya holds herself every bit the dignified noble and spent the evening holding court over her own section of the table. She talked at length about, well, everything. Mire and I alternated between talking with her about how her various parties have been over the years and speaking with Lord Strahd about life in Barovia, our efforts in Vallaki, the tenets of Lord Abadar, and then Mire requested a dance with Strahd.

I'm fairly certain that only Anastrasya's firm belief that it would be gauche to gut someone in the middle of a dinner party kept her from killing Mire.

After the dinner, drinking, and dancing wound to a close, Strahd sent his consorts away and the second purpose of our meeting was revealed. He admitted to us that one of his consorts had betrayed him. Personal information from a source within the castle had been leaked to others in at least Vallaki if not other places. The information was mostly about day-to-day happenings, but it was all personal information not meant to be bandied about the peasantry. It was requested that we interview those living in the castle, find the source of the information leak, and inform Strahd so that he can "take care of it."

On one hand, it would be foolish to refuse the lord of the land such a request when personally asked; on the other hand, this will require a very delicate touch not to grievously offend a castle filled with undead.