St. Andral's Bones

Area N1: St. Andral's Church, Vallaki

Status (as of session 24): Ticking, unengaged. The bones were stolen shortly before the party reached Vallaki; the party passed through (sessions 18–22) and left for Castle Ravenloft without ever touching this thread. The church still does not know it is unprotected, and the timeline moves on its own — decide before the party next hears news from Vallaki whether the attack on the congregation has already happened. If it has, the party will learn of it as aftermath, not as a quest.

What Is At Stake

St. Andral's Church is the only place in Vallaki that offers genuine protection from Strahd's reach. The bones of St. Andral, sealed in a crypt beneath the main altar, hallowed the building — a persistent ward against Strahd's entry, against his spawn, against the things that move at night in Barovia.

The bones are gone. Stolen a few nights ago by Milivoj, the church groundskeeper, who passed them to Henrik van der Voort, Vallaki's coffin maker. The crypt beneath the altar is empty. The building is no longer hallowed. It just doesn't know it yet.

Every night, Father Lucian Petrovich gathers a congregation of terrified Vallakians — adults and children who sleep in the pews because the church felt safe. He gives them his prayers and the promise of St. Andral's protection. That promise is no longer backed by anything.

If the bones are not returned before Strahd's minions move on the church, there will be an attack at night. The congregation will be present.

The People

Father Lucian Petrovich runs the church. He suspects Milivoj and has not confronted him — Milivoj is temperamental, the festival is approaching, and Lucian does not want to cause distress. He has also not reported the theft. He is managing the situation by not thinking about it, which is not working.

He will not raise the theft with the party unless he decides they can be trusted with the information and have the means to help. The party has no cleric or paladin, which is the usual trigger for his disclosure. Other ways in: if the party asks directly about the church's protection, if they notice the empty crypt (the replaced floorboards near the altar are slightly off), or if they speak with the congregation at night and someone says the wrong thing.

Milivoj tends the grounds. He is rarely without his shovel. He stole the bones because Henrik paid him and he needed money to feed his younger siblings. He did not think about what the bones were for. He is not a villain — he is someone who made a calculation in the dark and is now trying not to think about what he sold. A DC 10 Intimidation check breaks his silence. He gives up Yeska's name, Henrik's name, and what he did without much further pressure.

Yeska is the altar boy — an orphan, young, genuinely frightened of everything. He told Milivoj about the bones over a month ago because Milivoj asked, and because keeping secrets is hard when someone older is asking. He has not told Father Lucian who he told. He is not obstructing the party deliberately; he is ashamed and does not know how badly it has gone.

Henrik van der Voort is the coffin maker, area N6. He has the bones. He was paid by someone — or coerced, or both — to acquire them, and he did. He is not a fighter. He is frightened of what he has done and more frightened of whoever asked him to do it. Pressing him is not difficult. Why he did it is worth knowing.

Willemina Rikalova is an old woman who prays in the nightly congregation for her imprisoned son, Udo Lukovich, a shoemaker jailed for speaking against the burgomaster. She is not directly connected to the bones, but she is the kind of NPC who will talk to the party at length about the church and the town and the way things have been lately. She is a door into the texture of Vallaki. She is also quietly furious about her son and will say so if the party seems sympathetic.

The Crypt

Beneath the main altar. Ten feet square, five feet high. Milivoj pried up the floorboards to reach it. The boards have been replaced but not perfectly — they sit slightly higher than the surrounding floor, and the nails are newer than the wood. A passive Perception 12 or any direct inspection of the altar area notices this.

The crypt is empty. A stone shelf where the reliquary rested. Dust disturbed and not settled back. It has been empty for a few nights.

Henrik's Coffin Shop

Area N6 — down a side street. Coffins are always needed in Vallaki. Henrik works alone.

The bones are here, wrapped in cloth behind the counter. He is keeping them because he does not know what else to do with them. Whoever asked him to get them has not returned for them, which frightens him more than if they had.

He will not fight. He will not run. He will hand the bones over if given a reason to — reassurance that he will not be punished, the party's word that this ends here, or simply enough pressure that keeping them feels worse than giving them up. He does not need much. He has been regretting this since the night it happened.

If the Bones Are Returned

Placing the reliquary back in the crypt beneath the altar restores the hallowing. The church becomes hallowed ground again — as though protected by a hallow spell. Undead cannot enter willingly. Strahd's spawn cannot cross the threshold.

Father Lucian will know what the party did. He will not make a scene of it. He will quietly ensure they have a place to sleep in the church if they need it, that they are fed, and that no one in his congregation causes them trouble. In Vallaki, these are not small things.

The congregation prays tonight over bones they do not know were gone.

If the Bones Are Not Returned

At some point after the theft — the timeline moves on its own — Strahd's minions attack the church at night. Vampire spawn enter through the windows and doors, which are no longer warded against them. The congregation is present. Father Lucian fights. Milivoj fights. It will not be enough.

This is not a punishment for the party failing to act. It is what happens when a ward fails and the thing the ward was holding back moves in. The party may be in the church when it happens. They may arrive after. Either way, the congregation is not all going to be fine.

Why This Matters Beyond the Church

If the party returns to Vallaki, a hallowed church is one of the few places in Strahd's domain where certain things cannot reach them — and where Myra's lycanthropy, if it activates, would be suppressed by the ward's sanctity. Since the inn night (sessions 20–21), both she and the party know exactly why that matters.