Vallaki Town Square

The central square of Vallaki, used for the Burgomaster's recurring public festivals. A fifteen-foot scaffold was erected here for the Festival of the Blazing Sun.

Festival of the Blazing Sun

Session 13. The Burgomaster (Baron Vallakovich) led a parade through the streets — children in flower costumes, adults carrying a ten-foot wicker ball doused in oil — which ended in the town square where the ball was hoisted onto the scaffold and set alight. Or was supposed to be. It started raining before the guards could fire their flaming arrows. The Burgomaster attempted to light the ball himself. He could not. A single laugh came from the crowd; the laugher was identified as a town guard, immediately arrested, bound at the ankles and wrists, tied to the back of the Burgomaster's horse, and dragged off. The Burgomaster and his wife departed. The wicker ball remained, wet and intact, while the townspeople went home muttering.

The party used the confusion of the festival to hand Henrik van der Voort to two guards flanking the Burgomaster's podium. The guards were skeptical, took Henrik aside, let him cry on a vest, and did not appear to pursue any further investigation.

First Visited

Session 13