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A pause. Then a bolt shifts, then another one, and the door opens a crack. Peeking through the door is a young woman dressed in full plate armor. Her hair is a striking auburn, but her face is a sickly pale, and she looks weak. She looks at you up and down, hesitating when she sees your longsword.
"It's okay, Ireena," Ismark says. "I know for sure she isn't a servant of Strahd."
Ireena regards you with a cautious warmth, and moves out of the way so you and Ismark can enter.
She closes the door behind you. "I am Ireena, as I'm sure you have gathered," she says. "We have been facing a predicament."
"I can see that," you say. "I have a bit of a predicament of my own. You see, I came here searching for my own sister..."
Ismark nods in understanding. "And the Vistani told you that you may find answers at the encampment up at Tser Pool, correct?"
"Yes," you reply.
"Let's talk for a while," he says. "Follow me."
The interior of the mansion is well furnished, yet the fixtures show signs of great wear. Noticeable oddities are the boarded-up windows and the presence of holy symbols in every room, for which you cannot recognize the deity.
Eventually you are lead to a side drawing room. Ismark and Ireena's father - the town's previous burgomaster, three days deceased - is in a side drawing room on the floor. He lays there in a simple wooden coffin surrounded by wilting flowers and a faint odor of decay.
"Oh," you say. "Why..."
"Every time we've went outside to try and bury him, we have been attacked by wolves. Being on the outskirts of the village, our manor is quite vulnerable to the wildlife of the Svalich woods."
"But wolves do not typically act this way," Ismark adds. "Make of that what you will."
"In the weeks before his death," Ireena says, her voice sounding weak and out-of-breath, "terrible creatures attacked the house night after night for weeks. His heart couldn't stand the constant assault, and he died three days ago."
"Strangely, since his death, the house has not come under attack," Ismark adds. "No one from the village has been brave enough to help escort his coffin safely to the cemetery for proper burial."
Ireena clenches her hand into a fist. "I would go myself," she says, "but my brother no longer feels safe having me outside alone."
(cont.)
