Finding Arabelle!

Healing Gumbo
After the battle we check on each other and notice that Gumbo has a bite wound which is festering, Malron tries to use a scroll of Remove Curse despite it being too advanced for him. Fortunately he is able to get the spell to work, healing Gumbo the half-orc rogue of lycanthropy and destroying the scroll.

Reunions and New Friends
Zoldar returned to his hut, and we reunited with Irena at the gate. At the Blue Water Inn, Danica the barmaid informed us that Rictavio was at his yellow wagon, which we had previously seen signs of near the tower. Shabasta performed at the inn in exchange for a bed and beer. We also met Liren, a golden dragonborn barbarian with a great axe.

Confronting Rictavio
Rictavio entered the inn, and we knocked on his door, addressing him as Rictavio Von Richten, gaining entry to his room. We explained our mission to save a girl and convinced him we weren’t agents of Strahd. He shared valuable information about Strahd’s bounty on young girls with dark hair, olive skin, and lavender irises, and about Esmeralda, his former apprentice.

Until recently, he had been laying low in the tower at Lake Baratok. However, that changed when he saw a Vistana man bringing a wriggling sack to a golden-haired vampire spawn on the banks of the Luna River. (Van Richten recognized the vampire as a man named Escher, a bard from Barovia who had joined the Barovians’ revolt.)
Van Richten attacked the pair, killing the Vistana and scarring the vampire, who fled. Upon opening the sack, he found a young Vistana girl within.
The girl, who introduced herself as Arabelle, was uncertain of why she had been kidnapped. Van Richten used his talisman of echoes to interrogate the dead Vistana’s severed head, and learned that Strahd had issued a bounty on young girls matching Arabelle’s precise and unique description: dark-haired and olive-skinned, with lavender irises. Van Richten and Arabelle agreed that returning her to the Vistani camp would leave her exposed to Strahd, and was therefore too dangerous.
The two returned to the tower at Lake Baratok, where Van Richten had previously hidden his horse, Drusilla, and a covered Vistani wagon that he had first used to enter Barovia. Using his hat of disguise, Van Richten adopted the dead Vistana’s guise and snuck into the Vistani camp by Vallaki to steal three pots of paint, which he used to disguise his wagon as “Rictavio’s Carnival of Wonders.”

Van Richten and Arabelle then traveled to Vallaki, with Van Richten adopting the identity of Rictavio to hide in plain sight. Arabelle has remained concealed in his wagon ever since.
While the tower at Lake Baratok contains a permanent antimagic field that would block Strahd’s scrying, Van Richten believed that Strahd would be well-aware of this fact, and that the tower would therefore be among the first places he looked. As such, Van Richten, who already wore one such amulet, gave Arabelle a spare amulet of proof against detection and location that he had once given to—and then received from—one of his students. Van Richten admits that the amulet once belonged to Ezmerelda d’Avenir, his former apprentice, but does not discuss the matter in further detail.

“The message you bring shall be borne by another. Should you return to the village while light lingers in the valley, you shall surely meet your grave.”
When Van Richten first arrived in Barovia, he hoped to face Strahd alone, taking advantage of the vampire’s hibernation to destroy him in his coffin.
His plans were foiled when an undead dire wolf attacked a trio of Barovia children, and the resulting battle revealed his identity to the onlooking Doru.
Doru blackmailed Van Richten into leading a full-scale revolt on the castle, threatening to bring an untrained mob to Ravenloft’s doors if Van Richten didn’t lead them there. Van Richten, fearful that such a mob could awaken Strahd and destroy his own plans, reluctantly agreed.

Shortly after entering the castle, however, they were betrayed. Escher, Doru’s “lieutenant,” vanished from the group as they explored the catacombs. Not long thereafter, the mob found Strahd’s coffin empty—and Strahd himself attacked shortly thereafter. Van Richten fled, knowing from his long studies of Strahd that victory was impossible.
Upon escaping Castle Ravenloft and recovering his horse, Van Richten began the journey to warn the Barovians of the vampire’s awakening. However, he was stopped by the Vistani seer Madam Eva, who warned him: “The message you bring shall be borne by another. Should you return to the village while light lingers in the valley, you shall surely meet your grave.”

Knowing full well of Eva’s reputation, Van Richten reluctantly set forth for Lake Baratok instead, weeping bitter tears for the sons and daughters of Barovia.

Secrets Revealed
Rictavio revealed he enchanted his wagon to seem less desirable and confirmed he was protecting Aerabelle. Aera gave Aerabelle the bracelet, revealing the clues she left to help us find her. Aeragul, who had been tailing us, revealed himself.

Rictavio handed the Talisman of Echoes to Malron, which has four charges and can be used to ask the dead questions. It was used to interrogate the head of Yann which Van Richten kept. From this the party decided that Arrigal was not part of the plot to abduct Aerabelle. Arrigal and Van Richten disagree on how to best keep Aerabelle safe, so the party suggests letting her stay in the enchanted wagon at the Vistani camp.

The Prophecy
Aera asked Aerabel if she had anything to share, and she delivered a prophecy.

In darkest night, the light shall flee,

No dawn to break, with no reprieve.

From the grave, the dead shall climb,

Their restless march a baleful sign.

At castle’s peak, a heart beats red,

Its hunger deep and ever-fed.

Should silence fall, the skies shall crack,

A thousand souls in torment black.

Returning to Town
We spent the night at the Blue Water Inn and escorted Irena to St. Andrals Church. We saw signs of preparation for the Festival of the Burning Sun happening in two days and met Heinrich, who was delivering materials to repair the church.

Investigating the Church
There is a broken window inside the chapel . A man on step ladder named Milvoj is working on repairs.

Ask priest if he can help us honor Imsarks request to protect Irena. He offers to provide her permanent shelter. Father Lucien is his name.

Church is hallowed grounds which means it is protected from undead. That makes it a great place to keep Irena safe, and maybe even Arabelle, but only if the ward can be maintained. It also won’t protect anyone from evil agents of Strahd, just undead.

The protection comes from bones in a crypt. Yeska the boy working the church knew about this protection and a ritual that must be held, so the priest suspects he might be involved. Each feast a ritual must be held to renew the protection of the wards. The bones were stolen recently though so there is no way to renew the wards.

Find a torn piece of gray wool fabric and a line of rust stained dirt smeared on a board. Clumps of earth with grass and white flower petals in boot prints. Find strands of dark hair on the altar.

We think the damage to the church was a way to break in and steal the bones. Milvoj has black hair and a gray cloak which makes him our prime suspect.