The Abbot is angered that Bronwyn has protected Ireena, demanding to know what she has done. Bronwyn tells him she is keeping her safe from him. The light pouring out of the Abbot intensifies, and she fears for her life. Johan is unsure if he should do anything to Verushka as his actions could escalate things instead of defusing them.
The group tries to leave, but the Abbot insists that they stay. They feel they stand no chance against this being in combat, but they must escape! Johan tries to convince the Abbot that his plan won’t work; Strahd will never accept this monstrosity. The Abbot is confused by Johan’s objections telling him “you have always provided me materials in the past.” The group is aghast as Johan does not deny this claim. The Abbot asks if the issues is one of payment. He offers to pay Johan for Ireena’s face. “That is why you brought her to me, is it not?” He even offers an increased payment.
Johan denies bringing the group there for that reason and explains he is no longer in that business and he only worked for the Abbot indirectly through his agents. The group is disturbed by this information, but in no position to act on it. The discussion with Johan seems to distract and calm the Abbot who resumes his human form and sits at the table, prepared to negotiate for what he wants.
Bramo asks where the Abbot obtained the secrets of creating life. The Abbot explains the tome is volume from the Amber Temple, taken from there by Strahd and given to the Abbot directly. He was encouraged by Strahd to pursue this research. The Abbot offers to share these secrets with Bramo if he will assist in completing Verushka. Bramo is interested.
Bronwyn makes a gesture at Verushka and discovers that she is capable of speech. She manages to teach her to say Bronwyn’s name and her own. The Abbot is fascinated watching Bronwyn work with her. He demands to see more. Bronwyn explains they have no time to teach Verushka and rises to leave. The Abbot moves quickly to stop Bronwyn, threatening to kill her, and Riley steps in-between them. The light pours out of the Abbot again as he resumes his angelic form. Riley braces for the coming blow. Elora screams out that the Abbot can have her face if he will just leave everyone else alone!
Ireena grabs her and tells her no. Elora cannot give this monster her face. No one if giving up their face. There has to be another way. She speaks to both the Abbot and the group convincing them that they can offer a valuable service to Abbot by training Verushka, a feat he cannot accomplish on his own. The Abbot insists they remain until she is fully trained, and Ireena agrees over the objections of the group telling them that they must agree if only to buy time and figure out a way out of this.
Ireena suggests they walk around the abbey while they instruct Verushka on proper posture and manners. The Abbot agrees on the condition that they do not leave the abbey, or he will hunt them down wherever they go. The group except McCoy and Bramo depart with Otto leading them on a tour.
Bramo asks to be taught the secret of making golems and McCoy requests a new flesh body like Verushka. The Abbot agrees to both, but not until Verushka is perfected. McCoy presents Piddlewick to the Abbot, asking if there is anything he can do for him. The Abbot reaches out a hand casually and the wooden boy immediately returned to life. The Abbot explains it was a simple matter to reanimate his primitive form. He tells them he will grant them two more resurrections in return for their help with Verushka. The trio make a note of it and depart to rejoin the group.
Otto gives the group a tour of the courtyard pointing out his spiderlike brother Mishka lurking in the well. Another of the Belviews is chained to a tether in the courtyard. Marzena is a batlike creature with huge wings. She tries to take flight as the group nears her, snapping back at as she reaches the end of her tether.
Otto leads the group into a madhouse. Cells line both sides of a narrow hallway, each one packed with Belviews in terrible living conditions. They all exhibit signs of extreme madness. Coming down the hallway with a stern expression is another massive flesh golem nearly as tall and broad as McCoy. The golem, Vanya, glares at the group, but Otto explains he is giving a tour and the creature backs away. The group is horrified by the state of the Belviews, both their physical state and their living conditions. Otto explains that they were all sick and cursed, but now the Abbot has cured all of them.
The group heads upstairs to the hospital level of the building. They pass through a decrepit library whose books have been both looted and destroyed. Some texts on various medical topics remain in good condition. Otto leads them into a sick ward where there are a number of patients wrapped in bandages. The group speaks with one of them, a patient whose leg has been removed. They anxiously await the new one the Abbot will give them. They appear to be in a lot of pain, but grateful.
The group looks into several rooms off the sick ward, a bloody surgery room, an empty nursery where Bronwyn catches the image of a nun in a mirror, and an empty room with only a raven in it. Ireena explains that ravens are good luck and that killing one is considered bad luck. The group calls out to the raven telling it to let the Martikovs know what is happening here. The raven caws back in answer.
Otto brings them into what used to be a barracks. The collapsed remains of bunks line one wall of the room. Seated on the floor of the room, reading a book by candlelight is a small halfling woman dressed in a harlequin costume with her face painted like a clown. She introduces herself as Wyssilka the Fantabulous! As the group introduce themselves, she recognizes Bronwyn’s name telling her she’s “the girl.” Bronwyn asks what that means, and she explains she means she is Valentine’s girl, and she has heard all about her.
Bronwyn confirms that she means Hugo Valentine the man was a surrogate father to her during her time with the circus and trained her to control her magical “gifts.” Wyssilka confirms he is the same. She explains that she is a monster hunter and Valentine has been her teacher. She has followed him here surreptitiously and is trying to locate him. She tells them that Valentine snuck in with a group of Vistani and she had to find another way in.
Bronwyn is amazed that Valentine is here and that he is also a monster hunter. Wyssilka tells her that her harlequin costume is a disguise allowing her to travel incognito. She learned the trick from Valentine who is doing the same. Bronwyn mentions meeting a clown named Marvolio in Vallaki who showed interest in her. Wyssilka is ecstatic exclaiming that Marvolio is Valentine in disguise!
Bronwyn is overwhelmed by the revelation, particularly all of Marvolio’s questions about her “circus daddy.” Wyssilka thinks “circus daddy” is the funniest thing she has ever heard and can’t wait to tease Valentine about it. She insists that they tell her where she can find Valentine. They pull out their map and show her how to get there. Wyssilka is dismissive of the quality of their map saying she has a much better one back at her wagon.
She tells the group not to trust the Abbot and that this place is awful. She is here because she heard they had an impressive library. She has been doing research here for her upcoming hunts. She intends to wipeout the werewolf pack and kill Strahd. When they ask about the Werewolf Den, she is able to confirm its location nearby in the Balinok Mountains. She is confident that she can kill them and Strahd without a problem as she is an accomplished monster hunter trained by the best. The group advises caution, but she dismisses them.
The group asks her to join up with them since their goals are aligned. She tells them she would love to, but she needs to find Valentine first, then she is willing to help them. She tells them that she found Valentine’s lair nearby, a wizard’s tower on the nearby Lake Balinok, not Lake Zarovich! She chides them again for their poor map and scribbles the location on there for them. She tells them she will retrieve Valentine and then meet them there. Then she departs.
The group heads along the abbey wall to the far side of the abbey above the main hail. There they find a strange man in a bell tower. He is Clovin Belview caretaker of the abbey and assistant to the Abbot. Clovin is another mixture of human and animal parts like the other Belviews. He has little goat horns on his head, one foot is a bear’s paw, and one hand is a lobster claw. Growing out of his shoulder is a second head that resembles an infant. Clovin shushes the group as he plays his viol trying to keep his second head asleep. Clovin is a talented musician and very clearly inebriated, slurring his speech and reeking of alcohol.
Clovin is friendly and offers wine and food to the group. He identifies a strange pile underneath a bloody sheet as the Abbot’s “leftovers.” He sets up his lunch on top of this pile and proceeds to eat. He tells the group that he hates the other Belviews as they are all idiots and insane. He is responsible for feeding the other Belviews. He would personally let them starve, but the Abbot would not allow it. He tells them he rings the bell to let them know it’s feeding time, and they go berserk when they hear it ring. He offers to ring it now and show them, but the group declines.
The group heads back downstairs and sees the Abbot again showing off some of their progress with Verushka. The Abbot is pleased. They head down to the wine cellar below and see it is well-stocked with wine. Bronwyn searches for a bottle of the elusive Champagne du Stomp and finds a bottle only to realize it is empty and contains a magical scroll instead. She tucks the scroll into her bag.
The group head back upstairs and explore the grounds around the abbey. They head back towards the garden and discover it is full of rabbits, root vegetables, and a strong smell of manure. Some investigating reveals that the manure comes from the Belviews themselves. Despite the stink, the vegetables appear to be healthy and nutritious.
As they depart the garden they investigate shed nearby and see that it contains a hatch to the sewer system below. They recall the Abbot telling them that he took one of the gemstones from the Martikovs and placed it down there to purify the water for Krezk claiming that “Saint Markovia’s miracle had worn off.” They also recall him saying he had discarded a number of failed experiments down there as well. They decide to put off visiting the sewers for now.
The group decides that they need to clean up Verushka as they are warming up to the girl. They need to get the awful dye out of her hair and give her a bath and fresh clothes not from a long-dead nun. They go to draw water from the well but are warned by Zygfek about Mishka in the well. They ask if she can fetch the water for them which she does. Mishka tries to come up out of the well several times, but Zygfek smacks him back down into the well and gives water to the group.
They take the water up to the barracks and use magic to heat it up and scrub Verushka with soap. They see that the rest of her body is as patchwork and scar covered as her face, but it is in good condition. They get her clean and smelling nice and discover her undyed hair is a pretty blonde.
Johan is sent into Krezk for clothes as he is the only one the Abbot will allow to leave. He gives Johan a purse of 50 gold pieces to buy suitable clothes for her. Johan visits the Krezkovs and tries to deceive them as to why he needs women’s clothing. Dmitri and Anna ask why he really needs the clothes, and he admits they made a new friend at the Abbey in need of clothes. He offers to pay for them, but they freely offer the clothes of one of their daughters as they no longer have any need of them. They tearfully hand Johan the bundle of clothes and he insists they take the purse of coins to help rebuild the town. To help the town, they accept.
The group dresses Verushka and teach her a growing number of phrases and concepts. She learns that she is “verywellthankyou”, her name, their names, happiness, soft dogs, and Lancelot as well as learning how to gently pet a dog, something she very much enjoys. They take Verushka down with them to dinner with the Abbot.
The Abbot is extremely pleased with their progress. Clovin prepares stew for the group to eat and there is a plentiful amount of wine to drink. The group is nervous about eating the meat in the stew and eat around it favoring the vegetables. Clovin’s sleeping head wakes up to eat. It reveals a long snake tongue in its mouth and hisses at Elora.
The group teaches Verushka about friendship, telling her that they are her friends. They explain to the Abbot that she will require years of training that they cannot give her. The Abbot explains that they do not have years. They have less than a month to present Verushka to Strahd at his wedding during the next full moon.
The group convinces the Abbot that the only way to save the land is to break the curse on Strahd and sever his connection to the Dark Powers. The Abbot admits this is a good plan and may be successful if they can determine how to do it. In the meantime, he must proceed with his own plan and complete Verushka. The group ask to be let go so they can explore the Amber Temple for the knowledge to defeat Strahd. The Abbot agrees on the condition that they take Verushka with them and complete her training and allow now harm to befall her. The group agrees.
The group spends the night at the abbey in the barracks, make it comfortable with their bedrolls. The group teaches Verushka “sleep.” She does not fully understand the concept but imitates it by laying still all night. Bronwyn and McCoy both eat pies and have pleasant dreams.
Bronwyn dreams that her family is alive and hosting a get together in her home. Valentine and Wyssilka attend and play badminton with them.
Riley has troubled dreams brought on by her own uncertainties and anxieties. She wonders who her father was, is he possibly alive, and for some reason, if he might be Escher?
Ireena and Elora share the same haunting dream. They are lost in the mist, separated from each other pursued by red eyes that follow them wherever they run.
Johan dreams he is a basement filled with the dismembered body parts of his wife and sons. They are soaked in blood and slip out of his arms as he scrambles to hold the pieces together. Above him, a chute continually drops more body parts on him.
Bramo dreams about his daughters dying sick and alone in hospital beds crying out for him.
McCoy has a dream about some of his old crew members on his ship, Molasses and Tomato and new crew members as well. He remembers Wegdwood “Goldie” Balo always trying get an extra share of treasure or pocket a few extra baubles. He also recalls Missy “Melons” Melling a busty female crewmember who served as the ship’s prostitute and Darren “Trollop” Trollope, an accomplished lover who claimed to have a girl in every port and to be one of the greatest lovers of all time.
Curse of Ravenloft 