I finally found a few moments to ask Mire about Lord Strahd's proposal. Ragnar and Finrar went ahead to search the woods for our supper while Roderick scouted ahead a bit to ensure no immediate dangers were coming our way. Doru, sensing something was weighing heavy on my mind, stayed behind to help set up camp and "gossip with the girls", as he said. Needless to say, Mire was quite surprised by my news and yet was not so surprised. She said he made the offer "because of your face." I worry about that. I'm not so keen on being wanted because I look like someone once loved, and I also worry about being a poor match for him. My father is a land-holding lord of Faerun, yes, but our family titles are meaningless here. I have no standing, no holdings, and I'm hardly a good example of a lady. Mire and Doru were both kind enough to say encouraging remarks about my character, even if neither had anything helpful to say about my relationship with Lord Strahd. Both seemed to like Vasili very much; Mire also would have asked him to continue traveling with us if he had not revealed himself. That speaks well of him and his character. While not typically prone to impulsivity, I believe that my answer will be determined by how I feel when I see him again.

The night passed uneventfully, and we soon passed Argynvostholt again. Its bright light continued to shine, in fact, its beacon was a guiding presence visible in the sky as far south as Berez and still yet up north in Vallaki. Once in town, we split up to cover more ground quickly:

Ragnar and Finrar went south outside of town to check on our Vistani friends and Dennis Snaggletooth. They, apparently, are still enjoying having a saber-toothed tiger among their number. To hear him say, Dennis seems fatter and happier now than he had been, and the Vistani are well-pleased to have him.

Doru went to find his drinking buddies, Nikolai and Karl Wachter. He took them to the Blue Water Inn were he bought them a few rounds to ask about how the town was doing. The boys think that their mother has been doing a good job as burgomaster. The townspeople seem happier, even their mother seems happy, which is an oddity, according to them. They drank their fill but didn't have much of use to say. At least he was able to assure Urwin that we would be setting off for Ravenloft in the morning to collect the family gemstone to return to the winery.

Mire, Roderick, and I went to the old burgomaster's mansion to look in on Victor. The fool child had continued dabbling in necromancy while we had been away, to his detriment. Part of the roof of the manor was blown off, directly above the attic space where Victor has set up his lab. From investigating inside, it appeared that he had attempted to make a potions lab or alchemy lab as well as a botched attempt at a teleportation circle. There was a critical error in its creation. Poor, foolish Victor has been forever lost to this world. I did find the spellbook he had been attempting to learn from. I'm not... academically minded when it comes to magic. My very limited magical skills come from god rather than books. Ragnar gains his powers from nature, and Mire's magic is from her fey ancestry, not academics. I took the book anyway, thinking that Lord Strahd might enjoy having it. It's likely nothing grand or useful, but there might be something in there that's different or interesting.

When each of our tasks were accomplished, we all met back up at the orphanage to check on Freek and Myrtle. Rather than being greeted by Father Lucian, Headmistress Belasco welcomed us at the door and invited us in. While talking to her and the Father, it came out that there had been a recent death among the children. A young boy, Cedric, had fallen to his death. On his body, the headmistress had found an unusual locket, inside which was inscribed in Abyssal, "Let darkness hide from the gaze of light."

In addition, many other strange happenings have been occurring at the orphanage recently: children have been found with bruises and other injuries, they have been having nightmares and night terrors. These nightmares started even before the young boy's death. When asked about anything (or anyone) particularly suspicious or that stand out as different, the headmistress mentioned a young boy, Felix. He had been there a few months since witnessing the murder of his parents. The killers were never found. His behavior was that of someone severally traumatized: he would no longer play with others, he would argue with authority, lie about inconsequential things. But he did not take Cedric's death the way any of the others did, being very blase about death and having seen the dead body.

Another person mentioned was a young man, Milivoj, who served as caretaker of the orphanage after aging out of Father Lucian's care as an orphan there the year prior. It was reported that he had been getting sicker and sicker over the last several months, ever since the arrival of the orphan boy, Felix. I attempted to heal Milivoj of his wounds, but they persisted, as if his life force were being actively drawn from him rather than having sustained specific injuries.

It was decided that Felix was at the heart of the issue. Either he was a seriously disturbed little boy, who had invited some form of evil knowingly among the children, or he was an innocent onto whom some evil had attached itself like a parasite. In order to try to find if others were involved, I decided to offer a blessing over the children while the others looked for any signs of others being possessed. Each child in turn received the holy blessings of Abadar, and while some seemed bored, none seemed upset or pained by his holy light. We then realized that Felix was the only child not present for the blessing.

Organizing the children into a game of hide and seek, it was an easy task to search the orphanage through. In our search for the boy, we also found that the bedposts had been inscribed with Abyssal: "Dark Dreams". On the off chance that whatever demon was causing all of this managed to kill me, I made sure to tell the gaggle of children I was with that the inscription was filled with "naughty words" and needed to be scrubbed clean for them to sleep better at night. This led to a round of all of us giggling while saying, "Butts," because we are mature. (Alas, poor Lord Strahd will certainly change his mind about his proposal offer should he read this! ... Butts. Hehe)

We finally found Felix in the attic. I challenged him in Abyssal, saying I knew what he was and what he was doing. The boy only grinned at me, and the demon within showed itself at last. Between us all, we were unable to vanquish the foul creature. It turned into smoke and returned to its resting place within the locket. More fool it, we took the locket from the headmistress, brought it to a highly skilled blacksmith, and he sealed the thrice-damned thing shut. I believe the altar in the chapel of Castle Ravenloft shall make a lovely resting place for this little trinket. Unless Lord Strahd feels that putting it in a box sealed inside another box inside a crypt in the dungeons would be safer. I just like the imagery of the demon being set out like a little tchotchke.

From there, travel to Castle Ravenloft was very easy. Lord Strahd very thoughtfully sent his lupine servants to greet us and guide us the rest of the way to the castle. We will see Lord Strahd again very soon.