With her choices of escape being a web-ridden crack and a board upheld by loose nails, Shakti began pulling the board from the ceiling. As a spider, even this simple task was difficult work, and she fell to the ground pulling out the nails; thankfully, Viktor did not hear her before she manage to scamper underneath it up to the roof. Below, Burgomaster Vargas left his library, and Atlas took the chance to take a look inside. On the desk, he found the key to Udo's prison room, and quickly looked around for any information in this vast resource. He pilfered a copy of the Barovian Calendar as well as a tome titled "Tales Of The Fanes" before heading to free Udo.
Ghalwin, meanwhile, pretended to use the washroom as he journaled the up-to-date plans to Rictavio, slipping the note to the "half-elf" as he joined Vargas and Lydia. Lunch went rather poorly: the obviously-crazed baron swung from friendly, to obfuscating, to demanding, seemingly at random. They attempted to find out more about Viktor and Stella, which was stonewalled, and inquired on purchasing Lydia's wedding dress, which the Baron responded to with near-threats. Ghalwin was able to win him back, however, some information on the townspeople's sentiment towards Vargas as well as a few well-timed jokes. The Burgomaster requested that The Pack join them on stage during the festival, and they simply had no choice but to agree.
Under the roof, Shakti skittered along a dead spider's web before encountering a rat's nest. The swarming rodents attacked, and she was unable to get away without being bitten; the damage would force her into her real form, squidging her between the ceiling and roof. Again, Shakti invoked the powers of Zhivris, who exploded the attacking rat's skull with vines. This bought her just enough time to slip up a crack filled with trickling water, and she battled against the current with aplomb. She quickly made her way up the water spout to the roof, where more bad luck awaited her: a stray cat lay on the roof not ten feet from her entrance. It twitched its tail with anger before pouncing on her!
Atlas learned from Udo that he had been falsely imprisoned, accused of leading chants against the burgomaster. He turned Udo into a gaseous form, allowing him to slip from Viktor's window, then disguised himself to look like the guard who had greeted them outside. Atlas ran downstairs, interrupted the lunch to report to Ghalwin of "his thankful serving of yesterday's rations", then ran outside and turned invisible. Vargas, incensed that the guard did anything outside of his command, followed and demanded that he be punished. Meanwhile, the real guard noticed something strange on the roof: a cat pounced on a spider, which turned into a red-haired shifter, who then scared the cat away, Polymorphed herself into a fly, and flew off toward the rainy skies. No one got to hear his unbelievable story, however, as Vargas sicked his mastiffs onto him then placed him in the stocks.
With lunch effectively over, everyone reconvened at the Blue Water Inn. Atlas gave Udo a room, and The Pack decompressed and debriefed about what they had each learned. They hung out at the orphanage then perused a nobleman's clothing shop, but ultimately deemed the wares too expensive to justify. Instead, they borrowed finer garb from the Martikovs, and that night had dinner at the Wachterhaus. While the party had reservations about Fiona, their encounter with the Burgomaster earlier confirmed to them that she had to be the better option.
Over a bonding meal, Fiona revealed her intention to persuade the crowd to overthrow the Vallakovich family at the festival; The Pack agreed not to intervene with her machinations. As a show of faith, she showed them her cellar, which had been converted into a barracks of pentagon-worshipping cultists who believed her to be a sorceress. She secretly that admitted she was a charlatan, using an invisible Majesto to make her followers believe she had minor magic powers. In turn, Atlas gave her Viktor's journal, and she broke into tears over what he had done to Stella. The cleric informed her he had possible methods to remove Stella's affliction, Fiona gratefully requested that he do so after the coup attempt; she did not have time to think about an emotional reunion, given the task ahead of her.
[Paragraphs below added via retcon: see COS 033 - Down Came The Reign]
As the party retired to the evening, Atlas sent a message requesting more time to Ezmerelda, who was not happy that she had to wait further. Shakti spent the night within herself, realizing that Mother Night could not be reached at all; Zhivris had only used her moment to pose as the goddess. Meanwhile, Ghalwin had a bitter moment with Karl for not attending their dinner, but the two got over their miscommunication quickly, and the paladin vaguely warned Karl to run if danger occured.
Atlas spent the evening and next day pouring over the Tales of the Fanes with van Richten, and began to understood the powers that Strahd had gained by subsuming them; they were not, however, able to glean how to remove them. Muriel approached Atlas, informing him that she was instructed to further investigate Baba Lysaga and requested that he contact her in the same way he contacted Ez. Atlas agreed to do so before the full moon, and would forward any important information back to the Keepers for safety. Ghalwin and Shakti spent the morning investigating Henrik's coffin shop, finding it abandoned, before returning to the orphanage.
[end of retcon]
That afternoon, The Pack went to Blinsky's Toys, where the happy toymaker was making a wicker sun for the festival, and purchased every toy they had. They gave five gold to purchase backorders from him, intending to have all toys sent to the orphanage.
In the dead of night, they spoke to a stressed-out Izek Strazni, who was preparing the militia on how to deal with a potential full-moon werewolf attack. Ghalwin questioned him about Ireena, and Izek revealed that he had dreams about her as a child, lost in the Svalich Woods. He believed himself to be her brother, but when Ghalwin mentioned that her brother was Ismark, Izek snapped and tried to run. Ghalwin misty stepped to him and calmed him down after an emotional outburst. While Izek stated that he would stay loyal to the burgomaster, something in him had clearly changed.
That morning, everyone cleared out for the festival as Vargas' forces turned the town upside down. Atlas hid Udo within the Inn's raven's loft, and The Pack joined the Vallakovich family as part of the procession for the Festival of The Blazing Sun. During the procession, children dressed as flowers lead a wicker sun ball through the town square. The sun was lofted as townsfolk threw oil on the wicker, preparing for a massive symbolic blaze; but when Baron Vargas went to ignite the wicker, a torrent of rain suddenly doused his torch. The laugh of Gadof Blinsky echoed through the silent crowd, and a furious and embarrassed Vargas demanded that the toymaker be hanged. The Baron pushed past a protesting Ghalwin and had Izek string Blinsky up at the gallows, preparing to set yet another example.
The Vallaki citizens, already on edge after the vampire spawn attack and decreased security in the town, began to protest; this is when Fiona Wachter made her move. With a cry of resistance, she denounced Vargas, who mustered little defense against her cutting condemnations. She ignited the people to revolt against the Vallkovich family, and Shakti and Atlas noticed that she sent a signal to two of her cultists at the edge of the crowd. The cultists stabbed a guard and an innocent bystander, then screamed that the guards were attacking the civilians. Chaos broke out, and the crowd quickly turned into a murderous mob. As Blinsky was hung, Atlas turned him into a gaseous form, saving his life as the mob surged forth. Torches were lit and pitchforks were lifted amidst the screams and shouts; revolution was in the air!
Word count: 1,360
