Through the Mists

Hyskosa

At a glance

An eyeless Vistani prisoner and renowned seer freed from a metal cage chamber beneath Castle Avernus. He can nevertheless see, by a means he says is not the magical eye amulet he wears.

Portrait

Hyskosa, an eyeless Vistani seer with silver-streaked black hair, standing in a shadowed Castle Avernus passage.

  • Primary reference: Hyskosa Portrait
  • Canonical status: Visual baseline for Hyskosa’s silver-streaked hair, empty scarred eye sockets, narrow moustache and pointed beard, layered Vistani clothing, and brass eye amulet.

Known facts

  • Anticipated Ignatius’s question about Van Richten’s private conversation without having attended it.

  • Cast bones and a rat’s tail at breakfast. Ignatius perceived the tail crawling toward and onto him; Carver saw it lying still.

  • Said the Hexad’s words flowed through him without full understanding. He could not say whether Azalin completed the ritual or recall its details, and warned that futures can change when touched.

  • Mentioned Cassimir, a dusk elf outside Vallaki said to predate Strahd’s rule, and Madame Eva, a seer southeast off the road whom he considers more skilled.

  • Described Eva as helping adventurers for her own reasons while unable to oppose Strahd directly; suggested she might grant ultimate power in Barovia.

  • When Rage used the truth trinket, denied having lied that day. Said he would kill Strahd if he could.

  • Blamed Van Richten’s distrust on hatred of the Vistani and suspected him of hiding something from both himself and the party.

  • Described the church as having a powerful, blinding aura. Its relationship to the subsequently reported loss of sacred protection remains unexplained.

  • Hyskosa was held in the Castle Avernus Beast Prison.

  • He warned the party not to trust a friendly captive woman in a red glove, calling her a spider.

  • His ordinary face was an illusion. When he tore it away, the party saw that he was disfigured and had no eyes.

  • Rage and Carver were overcome by grief after the reveal.

  • He wears a magical eye amulet but says it is not what allows him to see.

  • The party freed him, and he entered the torture chamber with them.

  • Hyskosa used Rage’s blood to create a scrying pool, enabling visions of Azalin, Ebbasheyth, Ankhtepot, Firan Zal’honan, Allaric, and Strahd.

  • After an ash ritual, he helped the party obtain a second, searching view above Castle Avernus.

  • Carver gave him an Ersatz Eye in Martira Bay.

  • Hyskosa hailed a Vistani vessel during the River Dancer’s Mist passage and exchanged greetings with Arrigal.

  • Warned Carver of dead things in an unidentified swamp and used his sight to help guide the River Dancer away from them.

  • Said he was raised among a different Vistani group, came to Barovia only to marry, and was cast out after disagreeing with some Vistani beliefs.

  • Said he later reached Darkon, where he was captured.

  • Rejected Rictavio’s accusations in the Blue Water Inn cellar while the party defended him.

  • Sensed additional people upstairs before the party returned to the inn’s common room and later warned that he sensed evil in Fiona Watcher’s presence.

  • Sensed something not living on the upper floor of Lady Watcher’s House and identified the room containing Fiona’s preserved husband as the strongest source of evil.

  • Said he no longer sensed evil after the basement fight, before Watcher House later animated.

  • Warned Ignatius against using magic inside the living house and attempted to strike it with a rock.

  • Van Richten says Azalin followed Hyskosa’s Hexad while seeking escape from the domains; Hyskosa later said he did not fully understand the words that came through him.

Current status

Still associated with the company in Vallaki; last directly recorded at breakfast in the Blue Water Inn. He has answered questions about the Hexad without explaining Azalin’s ritual and has pointed toward Cassimir and Madame Eva. His judgments about others remain his account.

Open questions

  • How does Hyskosa see without eyes?
  • Why was he imprisoned beneath Castle Avernus?
  • What is the source and limit of Hyskosa’s scrying?
  • Which Vistani beliefs led to his expulsion, and what happened to the marriage that brought him to Barovia?

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