Vallaki - Slums

[Onkel Bob]

*During the late night one of the white robed pristesses who has been regularly working at the Vallaki Hospice for the past few years disappeared. Her previous consistency with her work may have made the sudden disappearance come as a surprise to some. The hospice itself remains as it were, and other prolific workers continue to respond to letters as per usual.*

Spoiler: show

//OOC: I will no longer receive private letters meant for the Vallaki Hospice. See this PC faction for other contacts who are currently active!

[NacreCicatrix]

There have been some works happening in the hospice this week. The clang of hammers on stone, the shuddering of foundations, and the movement of materials in wagons: floor tiles, heavy copper pipes, bricks, and planks.

[Branchie]

Throughout the last few days, especially during the later, dark nights, cries and screams of the drunkard or curfew breaker have been heard. A particularly gruesome sight has yet to be seen just yet, however... clues lie showing the way.

[Branchie]

The sounds of skirmishing and battles ring throughout the slums, breaking bottles, clashing equipment, and even gunshots ring out, before dawn silence then returns..

[Snarling_Badger]

[ a few scrawled messages can be found in Vallaki's Slums, written in bold handwriting in Common]

Musatei Viteazul, the lady Burgomaster of Berez, uses captured Gundarakites as prey in her morbid hunting parties! She and her militiamen catch what Gundarakites they can, rebellious or not, and bring them into the woods and fields to hunt on horseback with spears and crossbows. After her cruel hunt, she has their flesh roasted in her kitchen, and feasts on them! She even feeds them to her children!

Let this monster be known!

//placed in game

[fist of death]

Bodies seem to be dragged down into the sewers from the walls... A small piece of onyx remain in a pool of blood. The guards Mitaca Lacusta and Ulrika Magdova would not be seen for the rest of their night shift, and perhaps longer....

[DM Locust]

In the calm hush of early morning, a man dressed in the red and black of the Red Vardo Traders strolled towards the Garda barracks. An armed guard trailed behind him, shouldering a weighty package covered in linen. After a brief conversation with a Garda officer at the barracks entrance, the men stepped inside. When they emerged a few minutes later, the linen-wrapped bundle was nowhere in sight.

[Nekro83]

After the Executioner's parade, during the night, a message appears written on the wall in the slums district.

[Nekro83]

A series of charcoal writings appears during the night around the streets of Vallaki Slums and Market District.

The vast majority of them concerning the recent Gundarakite child execution.

OOC: Marked around Vallaki.

[aliceofthevoid]

In the morning following the late night fire in the slums, a tall elven woman in white armor would lead some children who had fled the blaze back to their homes, or the homes of their surviving relatives. Along the way, she would offer healing to any in need.

[Bereus]

In the wake of the fire, upon the dawn; a blonde priest of the Morninglord cult placed statuettes amidst the burned homes, speaking fervent prayers in a religious attempt at quieting the quite possibly vengeful dead.

[Goetia]

A black and red clad figure with a helm resembling a bat, to many of the outskirts, known as Varias von Ioanovich, was seen carrying the corpses of the fallen into the outskirts alongside the christian outlander, Theoxel Zeal.

[Branchie]

In the night, a woman wearing dark-green armor could have been seen aiding putting out the fire, before descending into the sewers below.

[Starbrighter]

Just before dawn a hooded figure left the Lodge of the Wayfarer Kinship carrying a wicker picnic basket.  The basket would occasionally wobble as if something within was moving, and occasionally the figure would bow their head to whisper to something within as the figure headed through the streets to the ferry port, where the basket would be loaded along with it's keeper.

[DM Sinister]

In the aftermath of what was a choatic night, some rooftops lay in embers. The smell of smoke still lingering in the air.  The charred remains of a dozen or so men, women and children are carried from the slums. Those that call the slums home have already set about cleaning out the abodes affected and repairing the damage. Many more mourn. Though they do so with a solem look on their faces, some with fear behind the eyes. 

[NacreCicatrix]

Late in the afternoon, angry shouting erupted from the Vallaki Hospice, followed by a crash and a shattering of glass. The only outward indication of something having happened were a few bloodied hand-prints on the door handle, and a ragged smear along the wall outside.

[DM Sinister]

People talk of an ocean of rats covering the roads in the slums. Like a living carpet they scurried to and fro. Later that night sounds of confilict ring out as those who braved the night sought to fight back the wave of vermin.

[DM Sinister]

After a night of storms and a new fire in the slums, people awake to find the Kinship Lodge has been burned down. The remaining shell of the building boarded up and a notice pinned:

LET ALL OF BAROVIA AND THOSE WITHIN HER BORDERS NOW HEAR THESE WORDS OF YOUR MASTER AND RULER

HIS EXCELLENCY COUNT STRAHD VON ZAROVICH XI

To All Who Seek Shelter in This Place, Beware!

By my hand and will, the occupants of this dwelling have been cast out, and their abode consumed in flames. Know that their fate serves as a dire warning to any who dare trespass upon my domain. I am Strahd von Zarovich, Lord of Ravenloft, and my judgement knows no bounds.

Let it be known to all that I do not tolerate interlopers in my domain. Those who dare to defy my will shall face a fate worse than death itself. The flames that devoured this structure are but a fraction of the power I command. I see all, and I know all.

To those who would heed this warning and turn away, count yourselves fortunate. Escape while you still draw breath, for to remain here is to invite doom upon yourselves and all you hold dear.

What hearts beat with TREASON will be stilled.

VALENTIN VON ZAROVICH
IN THE NAME OF HIS EXCELLENCY

STRAHD VON ZAROVICH XI

[NacreCicatrix]

Another tirade from within the belly of the hospice. Frustrated yells, something colliding with one of the shutters, and then quiet again.

[Merry Munchkin]

A lit candle is seen outside of the Vallaki Hospice, and the door is unlocked with the smell of stew wafting through the rain

[Wargtimmen]

The elven woman who was missing the left arm, clad in rosy dawn and golden colours, who might known as Dawnspear of Morninglord, she can be seen around with a metal arm placed on her left side by now.

[NacreCicatrix]

The custodian of the hospice, usually stoic and placid, has been noteably elated for the last couple of days. He seems more forgiving of door-related difficulties, and often wears a smile on his face. What could have inspired this change in mood...?

[Agony]

The Red Vardo Traders are seen moving through the slums of Vallaki, offering roast boar, vegetables, and other foodstuffs to the most needy. Perhaps oddly, they inform each recipient that it is compliments of the Vallaki Garda.

[NacreCicatrix]

Another night, another cacophany of screaming and shouting from the bowels of the hospice. This seems to have become a regular occurence. What could be going on in there...?

[Viridian]

Sorin Bengescu is seen taking several dead Garda bodies from the barracks, and pilling them up beside the building.. Something terrible has transpired this noapte.