Vargas Vallakovich

The Burgomaster of Vallaki, Vargas Vallkovich was responsible for governing the largest settlement in Barovia. Inheriting his title as Baron through his Vallakovich heritage, as well as his estate in the Vallaki Burgomaster's Mansion, he was born afflicted with madness; unknown to him, his own lineage was the cause of his insanity, due to a cursed deal made by Vyacheslav Vallakovich centuries beforehand. Prone to fits of paranoia, mania, and rashness, he was always seen accompanied by two imposing Mastiffs, repeating his catchphrase "All Will Be Well!"

Vargas was obsessed with the enforcement of "happiness" amongst his people, believing that a positive mood in the town would keep Strahd von Zarovich away. He banned all mention of Strahd's name, only referring to him as "the devil", and enacted mandatory town-wide festivals to keep up village morale; he never registered that these activities only brought Vallakians further despair. He was feared for his absolute brutality towards dissidents, often sending them to the stocks in the Vallaki Town Square or making opponents to his regime disappear outright. To this end, when he found the orphan Izek Strazni with a mutated, Devil-like right arm, he adopted the boy and raised him to be captain of his guard.

Despite his madness, Vargas knew how to play the political games necessary to maintain his town. He married an extremely rich Vallakian noblewoman, Lydia Petrovna, and sired a son Viktor Vallakovich, but kept very little eye on either of them as he focused on manically micro-managing the town. Part of this involved him accepting Fiona Wachter's proposal of marrying her daughter Stella Wachter to Viktor, uniting the Vallakovich house with the next largest noble house, the Wachters. As he paid little attention to his son, however, he did not know that Viktor had stolen an adventurer's Spellbook, nor did he know that he had been testing magical enchantments on Fiona. As a result, he returned Stella to the Wachters a broken woman, and created a fierce enemy in Fiona.

Though Vallaki was ran as a police state under Vargas' rule, it did claim the success of having not being visited by the Vampire in generations; this convinced Vargas that he was correct about town morale.

In Curse Of Strahd, six Vampire Spawn were released in his town and murdered many innocents. This coincided with a sudden appearance of Strahd himself in the Vallaki Town Square, flying atop the flaming Nightmare Beucephalus. Baron Vargas began to grow increasingly more unstable after this, he met with The Pack, the group of adventurers responsible for dispatching the vampires. He requested that they investigate Fiona who he believed was responsible for the disaster, and purchased an expensive necklace from them to fund their activities.

The attack rattled Vargas' unshakeable belief in his rule, as he believed he had failed his family's legacy. He retreated inward, never leaving his mansion, and employed half the town's guard to patrol his mansion. This left room for tensions to rise in Vallaki, and for the first time, crimes began being committed without fear of reprisal. The populace's trust in the Burgomaster was at an all-time low, and Fiona secretly stoked greater sentiment against him.

To maintain loyalty, he forced the townsfolk to attend another festival, where he would re-establish "hope". This lead to the Riots of the Blazing Sun, where he attempted to have Gadof Blinsky hanged for laughing at him, and he was chased down by the angry mob. Alongside Viktor, he was speared into a wicker sun, hoisted, and then burned alive.

Curse Of Strahd

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