Curse of Strahd Session 17: The Ones Among Us

The session begins in the heat of battle within the upstairs storeroom of Heinrich van der Voort's coffin shop. The party faces several vampire spawn, with Vesper initially grappled and dragged toward the ceiling. Chaya turns the tide using her Channel Divinity to turn and incapacitate the creatures, while Horvor uses holy water and Reardon utilizes a Shadow Blade to maim the remaining active threats. Once the immediate danger is neutralized, the party discovers that one of the five expected vampires is missing, leaving a fresh nest of soil empty and a potential predator loose in Vallaki. Following the skirmish, Chaya confronts the coffin maker, Heinrich, who reveals he was coerced into housing the vampires by a mysterious masked man in a black carriage who is holding his son, Ilion, hostage. The party decides to split: one group takes the captured spawn to the river outside town to dispose of them in running water, while the others remain in Vallaki to track the missing vampire and return the stolen bones of St. Andral to the church. At the river bridge, the party successfully destroys the captured spawn, watching them dissolve into black sludge upon contact with the water. However, the scene shifts to a rescue mission when Gretch spots the town drunkard, Bluto, throwing a burlap sack into Lake Zarovich. Reardon and Chaya dive into the murky water to retrieve the package, discovering it contains a young Vistani girl named Arabelle. Chaya stabilizes the drowning child, who identifies her father as Luvash, a leader of the Vistani camp south of town. Meanwhile, back in the village, Horvor uses his Divine Sense to scan the festival crowds for the missing vampire. He identifies a mysterious, well-dressed woman who pings as undead. Despite an attempt to confront or flirt with her to gain information, the woman reveals she is 'accounted for' and warns Horvor to stay away before disappearing into the crowd. The session ends with the party preparing to escort Arabelle home and investigating the identity of the masked mastermind in the black carriage.