The Pack were searched upon re-entering Vallaki, but hid the Blood Spear and Tome of Strahd inside Ghalwin's Bag of Holding to keep up appearances. As they passed through town, they noticed the streets were significantly quieter, and the folk that were out seemed to fear their changed forms. They made their way to the Blue Water Inn, paying Bray and Brom Martikov a few silver pieces to take care of their wagon and horse. They found the inn to be absolutely bustling; the townsfolk were rejoicing with the plethora of wine and the feeling of safety, and the Inn was a welcome respite after nearly two weeks on the road.
Atlas met up with Rictavio, who was telling stories by the hearth, and confided that he was worried about Ghalwin's willingness to invoke the Dark Power. The two murmured agreement, but both knew there was little they could do about it at the moment. Ghalwin and Shakti joined a pair of wereravens at the bar; Laszlo Lazarescu was catching up with an old friend, clearly delighted to be back in town. Ghalwin took "Birdtram" aside, told him of Arabelle's plight, and the pair informed Urwin Martikov in the kitchen. The grateful spymaster invoked his spy network of ravens and went to search for her, leaving the paladin behind to fretfully stir soup.
Shakti, meanwhile, was left speaking to Muriel Vinshaw, the most accomplished spy in the Keepers of the Feather. Awkward introductions lead to information on the brutally "traditional" ways in which the Keepers inflicted lycanthropy. Shakti learned of Muriel's backstory and Danika's relationship to Urwin, as well as the spy's dangerous postings. Muriel had been around the Village of Barovia and the walls of Castle Ravenloft, but was most recently assigned to the ruins of Berez. She thought it to be a dangerous bog of insect swarms, scarecrows, and witch covens, occupied by a horrible spellcaster named Baba Lysaga. The witch made the scarecrows that had been hunting the ravens and supposedly flew around in a giant skull. Muriel also believed that Baba Lysaga may be Strahd's real mother, as she overheard her saying the words "my baby Strahd" in her swamp hut.
As the rest of the party joined, they asked Danika about their target, Bluto Krogarov. She claimed him to be a religious drunkard, and a regular customer who always complaiend about the lack of fish in Lake Zarovich. He thought that Mother Night had stolen the fish, and that she may be appeased with bigger bait; Danika found it strange that he was not at the bar this evening. Ghalwin's anxiety was palpable, so he went to talk to the incoming ravens, eventually learning that a man with Bluto's description had been seen leaving Vallaki's north gate. The Pack took Bagel and Lox, but decided to leave Lancelot with Bray and Brom. Accompanied by the partial-Vistani Muriel, they moved with alacrity to the gate where guards tried to stop them. Ghalwin and Atlas managed to convince them of Bluto's crimes and their necessity for urgency, and the guards let them through, on condition of full inspection when they got back.
Once at Lake Zarovich, they split up again. Ghalwin went to the western forested shore, finding tracks indicating that Arabelle had clearly been taken in a struggle, but the footprints led to nowhere. In the other direction, Atlas and Shakti found a fisherman's shack, where a large sack had clearly been dragged to the shack and back out again. Muriel, meanwhile, flew over the river and found Bluto on a rowboat, seemingly alone in the deep water. The party reconvened near a decrepit dock to share information, called back by Muriel.
As they tried to reconcile what they had seen, they realized they were too late; at the edge of their view, Bluto tossed a struggling burlap sack into the water while cursing Mother Night. Shakti turned into an alligator and dove off the dock as van Richten jumped in after her, barely tagging her with a death ward spell. Muriel and Atlas followed in the air, but the wereraven was the more proficient flier, and flew past Shakti to the sack containing a struggling Arabelle. Ghalwin also tried to help, but in his heavy armor, fell straight through the rotten dock and ended up waiting by the shore.
As Muriel dove into the lake, Shakti noticed something much, much more dangerous below. A gigantic sea serpent with acidic scales and extremely venomous fangs pulled up from deep, encouraged to feed on the sacrific. Shakti positioned herself between Arabelle and the Giant Scalemelter, taking its potent bite head-on, and was nearly killed by the poison that seeped into her body. She was sent out of her wildshape but summoned an underwater tidal wave to confuse the monstrosity, using the momentum to jump onto Bluto's boat alongside Muriel and Arabelle. Atlas provided support from above with a moonbeam, spiritual weapon, and healing energy while Ghalwin and van Richten shot projectiles from the shoreline, barely able to even see their foe.
The Gigant Tayatshkala jumped above the surface as Muriel shot it with a crossbow. It nearly ate Shakti whole, but the druid was just barely saved by the death ward that van Richten had placed on her, and wriggled free its jaws. She bought more space with another tidal wave and commandeered the rowboat, attempting to row away from the beast as Muriel flew away with Arabelle. The serpent was upon Shakti immediately, but Atlas flew low enough to turn her into a gaseous form using the Tome of Strahd, and the three flew away from waters just in time. The serpent wrapped itself around the rowboat, crushing it, and slid the fear-stricken Bluto into its mouth before disappearing under the glassy waters.
Everyone made it to the beach, and van Richten cured healed Shakti while curing her poison. Ghalwin went to comfort the shaken Arabelle, who began to cry into a blanket, but got over her trauma impressively quickly. The girl turned out to be a budding Vistana seer, and had sass equal to her bravery. When she had been kidnapped by Bluto, Arabelle had cursed him: he would never again feed on fish before becoming fish food himself. Ghalwin gave her the headless Blinsky doll as a late birthday gift, which she loved, and the relieved party began left the lakeside.
Muriel and van Richten went back to Vallaki to explain themselves to the Keepers and the guards, respectively, as the rest went back to return Arabelle. The gloomy Vistani camp perked up at the young seer's return, and a jovial Luvash was beyond impressed with the Pack's story. He declared them "giomorgo", or half-Vistani, and allowed the group to take an item from the camp's treasure wagon. Stuffed with chests, boxes, a throne, and a beautiful carpet, the heroes had a tough choice to make. Guided by Shakti's magical detection, the party decided to take an onyx box with gold filigree; the box turned out to contain valuable bracelets, as well as a magical potion that Shakti later identified as a Potion of Poison disguised to be a potion of healing.
Rather than party with the Vistani, the Pack spoke to the mutilated, somber elven leader Kasimir Velikov. The elf wizard was studied on the history of the valley, though was not up-to-date on modern Barovia, as he was not allowed to leave the camp. In addition to answering questions about the timeline of Barovia and the history of his people, he spoke of his sister Patrina Velikovna, and the Dusk Elf Massacre. Patrina, a powerful archmage, had grown close to Strahd after desiring to learn the secrets of his dark magic; fearing that she was his concubine, the elves stoned her to death with Kasimir's consent. Strahd had mutilated all elves in the valley in response, castrating the men and killing the women to leave their lineage barren.
Patrina had been recently communicating with Kasimir through his dreams, saying that time and undeath had allowed her to forgive him. Though she was trapped below Castle Ravenloft, she wished Kasimir to the Amber Temple; she believed the secret to defeating Strahd was somewhere inside. Equipped with an extremely cute Ring of Warmth, Kasimir had snuck away from the camp, but returned after deeming the temple too dangerous to explore alone. He requested that if the party take him with them were they to ascend the mountain again.
With every answer begging further questions, the party left the Vistani Camp, eager to return to the warmth of the Inn.