The Headmistress Klavdiya Bolachko assisted the Pack with cooking their feast, and discussed the many recent plights of Saint Andral's Orphanage. A boy named Zaharia Lucivich had just died two weeks prior, having fallen out of a second-story window, and one week ago, three boys had run away. Three days ago, the gravedigger Milivoj got too sick to stand, leaving the orphanage without his extra income. Adding to this, a newcomer named Felix Zsoldos had trouble fitting in with the other children after arriving months ago.

Father Lucian spoke to the group of the paladin Saint Lugdana Andral and her Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. He informed that she was a Saint who drove vampires out of Barovia before Strahd ruled, and told the party a secret known to very few: her bones were in the church's crypt, and Consecrated its land. Knowing they would be safe there, the party opted to stay in the spare room of the church for the night. To let off some steam, Shakti and Ghalwin decided to visit Szoldar and Yevgeni at the Blue Water Inn, leaving Jarmo and Ireena with some alone time. As they entered, they found the place watched by ravens. Shakti spoke to them in bird-speech and found that the ravens did not consider the group to be "friends".

Inside, however, the atmosphere was the friendliest they had found in Barova, despite the fact the Shakti announced their entrance with a loud caw. They were approached by two brothers, Nikolai Wachter II and Karl. The boys bought them drinks, flirted, and told them of the Wachter family's noble status in Vallaki. Ghalwin and Shakti reciprocated before taking a moment to meet up with their dour hunting partners. As they did so, Shakti tried to figure out the secret of the "friends" of the Blue Water Inn, trying to catch out the bartender Danika Dorakova. Danika made it clear that Shakti needed to shut the fuck up. This was furthered with a near-physical confrontation with Laszlo Lazarescu, who Ghalwin was delighted to find was "Birdtram." 

Meanwhile, Jarmo and Ireena continued to absolutely fumble around their feelings for each other, and decided to find the tavern. They met their friends by the hearth listening to a Half-Elf bard named "Rictavio" tell stories of great adventure. He introduced himself as a traveler from Cliffsunder in Commona, and had got trapped in the mists of Barovia. During his journey, he brought his carnival wagon and pet Capuchin Monkey Piccolo. Eventually tiring of traveling with a chimp, he had given Piccolo to the toymaker Gadof Blinsky. He informed the Pack that he was staying at the inn semi-permanently thanks to the generosity of its owners, the Martikov family.

After parting with Rictavio, they went back to the Wachter boys. With the warmth of fire and wine in them, the half-siblings ended up both scoring big, as Karl led Ghalwin behind the tavern and Nikolai took Shakti on a "walk". The laughter and atmosphere also encouraged Jarmo and Ireena, and the two rented a room on the inn's upper floor. Against all odds, every party member had their V-Cards revoked the same night that they leveled up.

These good moments would not last long, however. The next morning, Ghalwin was called over by Yeska at the steps of the church. Clearly nervous, the altar boy confided that he had told Milivoj about Saint Andral's bones when the gravedigger's illness was worsening. Ghalwin confirmed with divine sense that the land was no longer consecrated, and that fiendish energy was present through the orphange, particularly on the main floor and the attic. The party re-gathered, armored up, and entered the institution, trying not to seem suspicious to the gaggles of children. There, they collected Lancelot, who had a mysterious bruise around his paw, and found that that a magic Infernal rune translating to "dark dreams" was present on the post of every bed.

Shakti spoke to a couple of boys as well as Tessa Nicoleva, a red-haired girl that Zaharia supposedly had a crush on. She and many of the other orphans sported bruising, but could not say what had caused the injury. Tessa said that she did not like Felix, who was the only child left in the younger boy's dormitory. The Pack went downstairs, finding the Headmistress accounting in her office, and Shakti sensed necromantic and conjurative magic in her drawer. They evaded the headmistress's questions and inspected Milivoj's body, finding that a curse had consumed his body.

The headmistress followed the party, and told them of Milivoj's condition; she had spent the last of their funds to buy three healing potions to revive him, but the first one seemed to do nothing. When the Pack relayed the nature of the curse to her, she led them into her office, where she had confiscated a tin locket from Felix. Ghalwin read the inscription inside, which contained a message in Celestial: "Let Darkness Hide From The Gaze Of Light."