Lady Watcher’s House
At a glance
Fiona Watcher’s former Vallaki residence and cult headquarters. The building animated and swallowed its attackers before Chip’s fire consumed it, killing the household NPCs left inside.
Known facts
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The following morning, the building was still smoldering and displaced from its foundation. Militia gathered around cloth-covered bodies; Izek stood down the street.
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Father Lucian later identified the recovered chest of bones as a family heirloom, distinct from St. Andral’s stolen relics.
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Ernst Larnack directed the party here outside Vallaki.
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The exterior looks respectable from a distance but has overgrown roses, cracks, and signs of neglect.
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The front door opened before the party knocked, and a small imp flew from a side room to the upper floor.
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Fiona Watcher distributed pamphlets about trusting “the prince” and praised Strahd as Barovia’s only source of power.
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Fiona’s defender Izek said her previous plan culminated in the basement and that a new plan involved control of Vallaki and its burgomaster.
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Rugs, sconces, shutters, and curtains moved or lit without visible hands while the party searched the upper floor.
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Two frightened young women and a cook served or lived in the house. Another young woman occupied a locked room furnished only with a strapped iron bed and behaved like a frightened cat.
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The library held several aggressive cats. A key on one collar opened a chest behind a secret bookshelf door.
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The chest contained 200 gp, five notarized property deeds signed by Strahd, Fiona’s devil-worship manifesto, and The Grimoire of Four Quarters.
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A locked bedchamber held Fiona’s husband, magically preserved to appear freshly dead until Rage beheaded the corpse. Ceremonial robes and a human skeleton sealed in a lead-lined iron chest stood in the closet.
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A secret stair inside a servants’ closet descends to a dirt-floored root cellar where skeletons were buried beneath four neatly made cots.
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A second secret wall concealed a ritual chamber where four principal acolytes sat around a pentagram while other cultists empowered them.
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The party destroyed the skeletal guardians and four principal acolytes. One lesser cultist survived but was blinded, deprived of a hand, and castrated by Rage.
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Lingering ritual energy twice empowered Rage while he mutilated the survivor.
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The company judged Fiona’s drunken sons ignorant of the cult and told them the house was theirs.
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Newly arrived followers were confined in the cellar and killed in a riot on the stairs.
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The cook identified himself as David, denied cult membership, and was horrified by the decaying master upstairs.
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After Hyskosa initially sensed no remaining evil, the house animated, beckoned captives inside, and crushed them with its walls.
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Chip’s fire set it ablaze; Ignatius, Carver, Chip, and Pearl escaped to rejoin Rage. The household NPCs left inside did not survive.
Last known condition
Smoldering and displaced from its foundation the morning after the fire, with militia and several covered bodies outside. The household NPCs left inside died; all party-related characters escaped. The earlier hissing resident and maimed cultist were not separately followed in the escape account. Lingering supernatural danger has not been established. Siv’s watch report remains outstanding.