Arabelle — Quest

Area N9: Vistani Encampment (southwest of Vallaki walls), Lake Zarovich (north gate road)

Artifact: Holy Symbol of Ravenkind Card: Tax Collector (8 of Coins) — "The Vistani have what you seek. A missing child holds the key to the treasure's release."

Current Status (as of session 24): Dormant — never engaged, but no longer clean. The party passed through Vallaki (sessions 18–22) without visiting the Vistani camp, then went on to Castle Ravenloft. Arabelle is still on the lake, or has been there far too long — decide what the elapsed time has done before this quest reopens. The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind was never retrieved; the party walked into Ravenloft without it. And during the defense of the Blue Water Inn (sessions 20–21), the party killed her father — Urwin Martikov.

What this does to the quest: When the party finds Arabelle, they will be rescuing the daughter of the man they killed. Open DM decisions, in order of urgency: how Danika and the Keepers responded to Urwin's death, and what they told (or concealed from) the party; how Davian Martikov — who already blamed Urwin for one loss — carries the death of his son; whether the Keepers' cooperation with the party survives at all; and when — not whether — Arabelle herself finds out who killed her father.

Overview

The Vistani camp outside Vallaki belongs to Luvash and Arrigal — two brothers. Luvash's daughter Arabelle is missing. She was taken by a man named Bluto, a Vistani drunk who has been leaving offerings at Lake Zarovich for weeks. Arabelle is currently alive, in a rowboat on the lake, half-starved.

The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is in a locked chest in the Vistani treasure wagon (area N9i). The chest lock is heavy. Arrigal holds the key and will not refuse to use it in front of Luvash — but he watches everything that comes out of that wagon. The camp will not give it willingly. Returning Arabelle is the key — Luvash will give the party access to whatever is in the camp.

Tone: Two speeds. Vallaki is anxious, political, exhausting. The camp and the lake are quieter and worse — the quietness of something wrong that has been wrong for a while.

Act 1: Vallaki

The party is already in Vallaki after session 17. The town is run by Baron Vargas Vallakovich, who holds mandatory weekly festivals on the belief that enough forced happiness will drive out Strahd's darkness. The Festival of the Blazing Sun is approaching — a large wicker sun is being constructed in the town square (area N8) for burning. Attendance is expected. Dissent results in the stocks.

The town is not in open distress. It is in the particular distress of people who have learned to perform contentment. Dissidents are imprisoned or purged. His henchman Izek Strazni has a fiendish arm that conjures fire — the real enforcement mechanism behind the Baron's authority.

The party can move through Vallaki without engaging the politics. If they draw attention — disagreeing with a guard, failing to observe the festival, producing obvious magic or weapons — the Baron becomes a problem. He is pompous and genuinely dangerous in the way that petty authority armed with dungeons is dangerous.

What Vallaki offers: supplies, information, a place to sleep. The Blue Water Inn (area N2) is run by Urwin and Danika Martikov — a bed costs 1 electrum piece. The inn is also the location of a disguised Van Richten (see Van Richten's Tower quest). St. Andral's Church (area N1) is technically hallowed ground but may not be — the bones of St. Andral were recently stolen from the crypt beneath the altar. The church is at risk.

Act 2: The Vistani Camp

Area N9 — outside the south wall of Vallaki, in the woods. The Vistani are not welcome inside town.

Luvash is not calm. Arabelle has been gone for days and he knows it was Bluto. Arrigal is cooler — watchful, less frantic, more dangerous.

The camp is not hostile to outsiders on principle. The Vistani know that Barovia makes them useful. If the party arrives asking about the child, Luvash tells them everything immediately: Bluto, the lake, the direction. He does not offer a reward in advance. He does not need to. His daughter is gone.

Arrigal watches this conversation and does not interrupt. He is explicitly Strahd-aligned — not through loyalty but through a longstanding arrangement. He has been watching the party from the moment they arrive. He will report to Strahd that they retrieved the Holy Symbol. This is not a betrayal moment in this session — it is a slow consequence that lands at Ravenloft. The party cannot prevent it. They can choose whether to notice him doing it.

Act 3: Lake Zarovich

Area L — north of Vallaki, reached via the north gate road (the Zarovich Gate).

The lake is still. Bluto's rowboat is visible from the shore — a man half-asleep, a small figure in the bow wrapped in cloth.

Bluto believed he was making an offering to something in the lake. He is not wrong that something lives in the water. He is wrong that it wanted this. He is drunk and confused about what he has done and has been drunk and confused about it for long enough that he has stopped thinking about it directly.

Arabelle is alive. She is conscious. She has been here long enough to have assessed the situation completely and decided that the best option is patience. She is nine years old and descends from Madam Eva. She is not what she appears.

Getting Bluto away from her is not difficult. He will not fight effectively. He may try to argue.

What lives in the lake may surface if there is enough disturbance. It is not the session's main event. Leave it ambiguous — something moved below the rowboat, and then it didn't.

Act 4: The Return and the Chest

Luvash's reaction when Arabelle comes back is not theatrical. He holds her and does not speak for a moment. She pats his arm.

He opens the camp to them. Whatever they need from the wagons, he will provide. The treasure wagon's lock is heavy — Arrigal has a key, and he will not refuse to use it in front of Luvash, but he watches everything that comes out of that wagon.

The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is in a lacquered box inside the chest. It is a sunburst amulet on a golden chain. It hums faintly in the presence of undead. In Barovia, it has been humming almost continuously and the Vistani stopped noticing.

The Difficulty

Two layers. Vallaki is an obstacle that can be bypassed but will bite if handled clumsily. Arrigal is the slower problem — he will report to Strahd that the party retrieved the Holy Symbol. Strahd will know they have it before they reach Ravenloft. What he does with that knowledge is his choice.

The party cannot prevent Arrigal reporting. They can choose whether to notice him doing it.