One of Us Will Die:  Curse of Strahd 
Adventure Report 6:
The Pursuit of Hyappiness

At the Vallaki Orphanage, the party discovers that Yeska has been asleep for days. Upon further investigation, they also find out that the child has been in distress before becoming comatose, experiencing extreme anxiety and arguing with an unseen entity in his sleep. They learn that his closest friend at the orphanage was a Vistani girl named Arabelle who wasn’t even an orphan. Rowan points out that the brothers, Luvash and Arrigal have been looking for the latter’s daughter with the exact same name, deducing that the missing girl and Yeska’s best friend are in fact the same person. At Yeska’s bed, the group discover two teddy teddy bears, one like the one carried by Marjorie, it’s tag reading “It no fun. It no Blinksy!” and another dressed in Vistani trappings that is seemingly handmade, a gift from his closest friend in the hopes that it will make him feel better soon.

Kellam gets a scent from the Vistani doll and leads them to the orphanage’s playground, though Rowan stays behind with the child. Near the set of swings, they find a ribbon stamped into the mud. Marjorie finds through the prints that a set of child’s footprints disappear after a struggle with a large seemingly humanoid male individual. They follow the prints to a fishing shack located on the outskirts of town. Hope picks the lock and the group examines the inside, finding several empty bottles of wine and a child-sized cage. Hidden under a blanket inside of it, they find a note.

“To anyone reading this, please tell my father that I’m sorry for sneaking off, and not to blame Uncle Luvash. It was really hard for me to get out of his sight and I know father is probably in a rage. The man who took me looks like he needs help. I don’t think he understands what he’s doing.”

The trio heads to the lake to follow the fisherman only to see him rather far ahead on a boat. Marjorie attempts to get his attention and fails. Even Hope’s psychic powers are unable to project their communication to him. Sabrione is the only one with the stage presence to grab his attention, standing on the shore raising a bottle of wine.

Bluto Krogarov shouts back as he quicky rows to shore. He offers them fish in exchange for the alcohol, but they want information instead, pressing him about the missing girl. He evades and continues to beg for alcohol, but they continue to press him. When he attempts to flee, Sabrione shocks him with her superhuman speed and tackles him to the ground, interrogating him as she presses the wine bottle against his face, threatening to hurt him should he not tell them where the girl is. He exclaims that the girl is inside the boat.

Marjorie immediately heads over and finds a burlap sack. She frees the struggling Arabelle who begs them to let Bluto go, recognizing that he is mentally ill and does not fully comprehend his own actions. She also introduces herself to the rest of the party as Princess Arabelle of the Vistani. Bluto kidnapped Arabelle in the hopes that she would use a Vistani spell to make the fish bite. When that didn’t work, he sought to sacrifice her to the lake. The desperation for alcohol and his subscription to local superstitions about Vistani motivated his crimes.

On the way to her father, Arabelle informs them of her heritage. Her father is a descendant of Madame Eva whose age they do not know, only that she may be immortal and is obscenely old. Her father is said to be a king from a different land making her Vistani family royalty, justifying Arabelle calling herself a princess. On the way, Marjorie helps Hope craft a doll for Arabelle on which Hope leaves a small psychic field that will alert them whenever Arabelle is in danger.

They head to the Vistani camp to the south of town where a distraught Arrigal is greeted by a hug from his daughter. He gratefully thanks the adventurers before sending a runner to cancel his brother’s punishment and handing them collectively 20 silver pieces. Marjorie lets slip that Arabelle is friends with Yeska and some other Vallakian orphans. Instead of getting angry like she expected, Arrigal simply states that just because people are not friends with him, citing the Vallaki townsfolk’s mistrust of Vistani, doesn’t mean they cannot be friends with Arabelle. Perhaps the children of Vallaki will grow up knowing that not all Vistani are bad. Arrigal also offers them a favor from himself, something beyond his own responsibilities, his equivalent of a life debt.

With her father’s permission, they take Arabelle to the orphanage. After convincing the headmistress to let everyone in, Arabelle breaks into tears upon seeing her friend still comatose. Rowan is nowhere to be found. Sabrione jokingly suggests true love’s kiss to which Arabelle exclaims that she would never kiss that icky boy in a million years (despite admitting to the party earlier that she had a crush on him). Hope attempts to reach into Yeska’s mind only for her to be blasted backwards by a demon and knocked unconscious. Marjorie attempts to remove the amulet around his neck, something Arabelle pointed out wasn’t there before. Before she can, a pulse of psychic energy originating from Hope (Dandy failed her spirit check, but changed one die result to a six, invoking Hope’s bonus die from the Bonegrinder incident) causes her to somehow become aware that removing the amulet will kill Yeska.

Arabelle declares that she will go on a quest to find something that will save Yeska; a holy relic likely. The party stops her and convinces her to talk to her father first in the hopes that he will talk her out of it. Just then, Marjorie remembers Madame Eva mentioning a holy relic in their tarroka reading, remembering the tale of Mad Mage of Mt. Baratok from a Vistani storyteller back at Madame Eva’s encampment. The relic should be at the tower the wizard built during his stay in Barovia, and that his name might be the key to accessing it.

The three resolve to consult Rowan before deciding what to do next. Arabelle heads over to her father at the Blue Water Inn where he said he’d be as the trio makes their way to investigate the toymaker. They’ve been seeing his handywork all over Barovia.

The shopkeeper and his pet monkey greet the group as they enter.

"Wyelcome, friends, to the House of Blinsky, where hyappiness and smiles can be bought at bargain prices. Perhaps you know a leetle child in need of joy? A leetle toy for a girl or boy?"

They greet the toymaker and notice the Ireena doll, same as the one carried by Izek, but looking more like Ireena than the other. Blinksy answers their questions about his business, stating that although not too profitable, making people “hyappy” is why he does what he does. He believes that the Baron has the right idea, that the only weapon against the devil is to spread hope to everyone.

Piccolo, the monkey, immediately heads outside the shop and spots Hope sleeping in the carriage and retrieves a stuffed spider for her. Marjorie speaks with the monkey and informs him that it is in fact Hope inside the carriage and not her twin sister, Asha. Piccolo and Blinsky task the party with delivering the plushie to Asha as she is more likely to run into them than visit the shop given how tightly leashed Strahd’s wives are to him. Sabrione asks for some stationery so she can write a note to Asha, who several sessions ago, had robbed her of her revenge.

Sabrione examines the collection of toys and picks up the Ireena doll and asks Blinsky about it. He states that it is only for display and is reserved for Izek Strazni who has ordered several dolls of this description, nitpicking and revising his instructions until Blinsky gets it right. Ireena is seen at the window, shocked by the doll’s appearance. Blinsky sees her and is astounded to meet the inspiration behind the dolls. Ireena, however, has never met Izek nor has she been to Vallaki so there is no possible way he would know what she looks like. When Sabrione suggests confronting Izek after he returns from the hag hunt, Blinsky warns them that Izek threatened to burn his shop down and destroy his “byusiness” if he doesn’t produce the dolls.

Noting down that Izek might be a threat to them; Sab and Marjorie purchase a ventriloquist dummy that looks like Strahd von Zarovich as a morbid little ‘get well’ present for Hope. After all, who doesn’t want a creepy doll that looks like their brother in law.

After the party waves Blinsky goodbye, the Director describes their next destination, the Blue Water Inn. A bartender covers the feathers sticking out of his sleeve while Arrigal plays a small Vistani boardgame with his daughter. On a platform a half-elf bard performs for the entertainment of the crowd. Two brothers, Nikolai and Karl drink to their heart’s content, almost knocking over the mug of one of the two wolf hunters sitting at the table closest to them. They drunkenly complain about their mother who is the second most powerful aristocrat in the city. There are still so many secrets and surprises in Vallaki, and the party is about to uncover even more.

Land of the Dead by Voltaire plays over the credits.

Refections from the Director:

I’ve always been an NPC kind of DM. I enjoy letting players meet NPCs and develop them through the story. I’ve been wanting to portray Blinsky ever since I read his chapter, and I can see why he’s such a memorable part of the Curse of Strahd module.