As the early morning rolls along, Summer quietly awakens Torbin from Donavichs room to fill him in on what happened to Doru, the boy the party slew. Torbin joins the rest of the party in the main cathedral of the Chruch to see Francesco over the boys body as he tries to use his disguise kit to make the slightly mangled face of Doru look more presentable.
The party makes sure everyone is up to speed before allowing Tariel to get Donavich up before dawn arises. The Father gets up and asks the Paladin what had become of his son during the night. With a heavy heart, Tariel breaks the news that, after the conversation the party had with Doru, his son had died peacefully. A lie the old man needed to hear to accept his sons true death...
Coming out to the cathedral, Donavich sees his sons body beside the casket of the Burgomaster and asks for his son to be placed in a casket. As Summer and Slate move the casket beside the body, Donavich exclaims that in some way his son died a hero trying to bring good to this land. The comment brings a barely stifled chuckle to the Rogue and Monk, recalling how the former Vampire Spawn fell on Tariels halberd when he tried to sneak attack the group.
Abe and Tariel begin to lift Dorus body into the casket, the decapitated head starting to roll out when Francesco took notice and shreded his guitar loudly enough to draw Donavichs attention to him while Slate pushed the head in place to make it look like he was trying to lay the head in a comfortable position before Donavich could see what the party had done to his boy.
Happy with how his son is presented, the Father dresses in his ceremonial garb and performing the Dawn Ceremony to a group of outsiders and the children of the late-Burgomaster.
With the suns light flooding the churches remaining glass windows, Donavichs words move the party and the Indrirovich siblings with his blessed words.
Donavich gives Ismark the floor to say a few words, the son of the Burgomaster vows to uphold the same principles his father had taught him and help the town as best he can.
Ireena steps forward as well, tapping her step-fathers blade that she wields on the casket and vows to use his weapon to slay Strahd.
Donavich praises the siblings, stating that their father would be proud of them both. He then turns to the party and asks for them to help carry the caskets out to the grave behind the church for the burial. Seeing as Dorus body was so malnourished and light, Summer and Torbin were able to carry it out as Abe and Ismark carried the Burgomaster out.
Entering the grave, the group discover six freshly dug graves, each with small wooden posts bearing the party members names. Abe smashes his to pieces before Donavich suggests using his 'grave' for Doru while Tariel helps Ismark place the Burgomaster into Tariels 'grave'. Gathering the wooden posts, the party use those to start burn Dorus body.
As Ismark dug his spade into the dirt to bury his father, the morning suddenly feels colder when the hooded figure of Strahd enters the graveyard. The Vampire Lord approaches the grave of the Burgomaster to pay his respects to the man, throwing a handful of soil onto the coffin before turning to Ismark and declaring him the new Burgomaster. He looks to Ireena and expresses his desire for her to come to him. He calls her 'Tatyana' instead of Ireena before he leaves as suddenly as he arrived.
With the sudden chill of fear having left the graveyard, the party help Donavich, Ismark and Ireena bury their loved ones. As the sun fully rises into the sky, the cold mist of Barovia washes over them once more and their ominous graves. Torbin being sickened by the sight of the graves uses his magic to Mold Earth to fill the holes.
With the burials filled, Donavich bids the party adieu as he wishes to mourn the loss of his son in peace. The party returns to Ismarks home so everyone could rest. Torbin decides to cook a warm meal for everyone while Slate begins snooping around the house and Tariel and Abe begin setting up the rooms for the party to stay in. Ismark and Ireena excuse themselves as they needed to chat in private, but Summer was too curious to see what they were not wanting the party to know. Seeing Summers eagerness to spy on the siblings, Fracesco casts an Invisibility spell on the Kobold as she follows the two to a study.
Ireena is furious that Ismark did nothing to stop Strahd at the burial, but she knows he couldn't have stopped him even if he tried. The two discuss the fact that Strahd called Ireena by a different name but are both unsure why. Ismark reveals to Ireena that their father had left a note, instructing him to show Ireena something he wrote in his journal:
Kolyan, the late-Burgomaster, found Ireena walking onto a road one day when she was about 4 or 5. She didn't seem to understand what he was saying to her, but he took her home when he couldn't find anyone around. She seemingly appeared out of thin air just off the path. He adopted her as one of his own, calling her Ireena. Over the next few days, she began to talk to him and Ismark. She however had no recollection of who she is or where she came from before crossing his path...
After reading the passages, the two took a moment to grief before Ismark tells Ireena that she is still a sister to him and he wants her to go somewhere safe with the adventurers (one of which spying on them while another is rummaging through their deceased fathers bedroom as they talk)/ To Summers shock, Ismark says that the party has a dragon with them!
The two talk a while longer, discussing things they need to do in preparations for Ireenas departure and what Ismark will need to do as the newly appointed Burgomaster. After a half hour of discussion, the two leave the room and the invisible Kobold slips into the room to begin looking for the journal. After fighting with a stubborn drawer, Summer finds the bloodied journal and flicks through it to the last entries.
Strahd came to Kolyan one night almost two weeks earlier, telling the then-Burgomaster that he wishes to wed 'Tatyana'. Kolyan was confused by the statement as he knew nobody by that name... Yet he found bite marks on Ireenas neck the next morning, his staff fleeing the home before it was being attacked by monsters for days after. He feared that Strahd was after Ireena and he had no idea how to stop him...
Flicking back to the entry Ireena read, Summer also finds out that Kolyan was going to see the leader of the Vistani, Madame Eva, on the day he found Ireena. He never saw her as he had taken Ireena home instead of continuing his trek...
Slate searched Kolyans room, finding a map of Barovia hidden under the seat of a chair at his small desk in the bedroom. He hides when he hears Ireena and Ismark coming to the same floor to go their rooms and retire for the day.
The rest of the party relaxes for a while, Summer reading through the journal with Tariel to see what else can be gleaned from the Kolyan and his families last few years together while Abe tries to assist Torbin in the kitchen with the cooking to impress Ireena before Torbin kicked him out of the kitchen. Slate and Francesco drank wine in the lounge as Summer caught them up to speed on her findings in the book.
Hearing Ismark returning to the group, Summer hid the journal before the new Burgomaster arrived. Now that it was morning proper, he wanted to get things ready for the party to take Ireena to Vilaki.
Torbin asks about a map on how to get there but Ismark tells him that Strahd had banned the creation of map for Barovia and had them all destroyed, it's a death sentence or worse to be found with one, Slate pushing the map he found deeper into his bag...
Ismark warns the party to avoid any paths that turn them north as the road more than likely leads to Castle Ravenloft.
As he continues to give instructions for the road, there's a knock at the door that Ismark excuses himself for.
A lady cries to Ismark that her daughter is missing, yet Ismarks response to this surprises the party as he says he will stop by her place a little later today to chat before ushering her away.
Seeing the parties confusion, Ismark explains that the lady's name is Mary and that her daughter has been missing for a while now. Apparently Mary had kept her daughter locked up in her home in fear of her daughter being stolen. Hard to know what has actually happened...
Abe and Tariel stayed at the house to help prepare for the journey while the rest of the group went shopping.
Finding the general store the group heads inside to look around. Torbin asks to purchase some armor, the shopkeep leading the Gnome to the childrens section.
Scoffing at the giant price mark up, Torbin is ready to leave the store...
Until Francesco asks the shopkeep if he would like to purchase a baby dragon. Then looks at Summer.
Seeing this as light hearted humor, Summer decides to play along. When the store owner asks to see the 'dragon' breath fire, Torbin sneakily makes Summer cough smoke!
The man somehow believes the Kobold that walked into his store is a dragon!
He tells Fran and Slate that his uncle in Vilaki would be able to purchase their pet for 2000 gold and is willing to put down 200 golds worth of his wares as the 10% deposit.
He then asks his hulking assistant to grab the brand to mark Summer as their property, the Kobold dashes out the door and crashes into a pie cart being driven by an old woman!
As the boys sorted out their 'payment' from the shopkeep, Summee used her freedom to go to the Church of the MorningLord and check up on Donavich.
Arriving at the church, Summer finds the distraught Father on his bed drinking his troubles away. He talks about how he doesn't have anything left with his son gone and his god supposedly abandoned him and this land...
The little Monk sits with him and tries to comfort him with the collapsable skeleton toy she got from the Vistani circus. Donavich is surprised to see Summer is in possession of a Blinsky toy if she hasnt been to Valaki. Summer takes away Donavicha wine and tries to encourage him that things could improve for him, but accidentally reveals that Doru had been sent by Strahd to torment him. Aaaand Doru is depressed again, falling into a drunken slumber with Summers toy in her arms.
Feeling guilty that she can't help him, Summer leaves the Chruch and bumps into the Pie Lady again. The old lady offers Summer a Dream Pie, a pie that can make someone feel happy regardless of how low they feel.
Torbin, Francesco and Slate exit the general store with their cut of selling Summer only to see her buying a pie from the lady before running toward the Church. But as they wonder what their new selling point is doing, they watch a mother and her daughter talking to the pie lady. The pie lady passes the mother a pie before grabbing the daughter by the scruff of the neck and forcing her under the cart.
Wait, what?
