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You sit in a chair in the west wing of the abbey. Even with the Abbot's hospitality, this place has you on edge. You think of what you will do next; you will need to follow up on your promise to deliver a wedding gown for Vasilka so you don't end up beheaded.
And what about your sister? Could Strahd not have given you more absolute directions? What are the chances she is hiding up there somewhere and that two-headed freak has never seen her? Non-zero, for certain, but there are other matters to exhaust first.
After only 15 minutes of waiting, the Abbot returns to the west wing; you wonder what he's doing, until he goes straight upstairs to the room you were just in. You tense up, until the great bell above begins to toll. It shakes the very foundation of the building.
You remember the townspeople saying the bell rang at odd hours, but what is its purpose? Why is the Abbot ringing it?
Your question is answered, as within seconds of the second gong of the bell, there is a great uproar from outside in the courtyard - deafening shrieks and hollars, noises that sound like they are coming from every beast and vermin known to the realm. In the chaos, which nearly forces you to cover your ears, you can make out a word from those coherent enough to form language: they are screeching "FOOD! FOOD!"
You brace yourself, but the mongrelfolk don't come charging into the abbey; instead, the Abbot calmly steps down the stairs, pays you a neutral glance, then steps back outside into the courtyard, probably toward the shed where you imagine the noises are coming from. It takes a full several minutes or more before the frenzy dies off and is fully replace with the regular ambiance again: the echoes of the Abbey itself and the occasional screams of agony from somewhere outside.
You notice that you are sweating. There's no way you'd be able to sleep here, and there's nothing else to do here today, as you have no desire to continue searching right now. You must gather more information, and that means doing what the Abbot asked of you as soon as possible.
You will descend the mountain and return to the village of Krezk, only returning to the Abbey only once you have this gown he asked after. With luck, you won't even have to leave town. If you do, however, there are other things this break gives you time to check up on: the issue of helping wine shipments, which apparently the Abbey is also suffering from, but also the issue of Ireena's safety. It's been too long since you've had a travelling companion, and all hope of seeing your sister today has fizzled out, but you know she is close.
(cont.)
