Church of St Andral

The Church of St Andral is the primary place of worship in Barovia's largest town, Vallaki, and is the second most holy site in Barovia's Church of the Morninglord.

The Church was founded by St Andral, a follower of the Morninglord, to provide sanctuary. The current priest is His Holiness Father Lucien. The current gravedigger is Millivoj, and the altar boy is Yester.

The land of the Church of St Andral was hallowed grounds from approximately Y385 until Y735, protecting it from the presence of evil beings. This protection ended with the Feast, when Count Strahd von Zarovich destroyed the bones of the Saint.

Hallowed Grounds
After the devastation of the Feast Strahd described to Hallgrimm Mikkenson and Narid Ashplantt how St Andral was a common follower of the Morninglord that lived around the year Y385, roughly 350 years before the present day.

St Andral stood against Strahd, and Strahd's own guards betrayed him and joined St Andral. They hid in St Andral's house and as Strahd could not enter without permission they were safe in there. After St Andral took a stand against Strahd and fought him unsuccessfully at Castle Ravenloft his sacrifice caused the land to become hallowed when his bones were laid to rest there.

The Feast
See the Feast.

After the bones of St Andral had been stolen from the church Father Lucien enlisted the help of the party of Hallgrimm Mikkenson, Sigismund "the Bold", Narid Ashplantt, and Ireena Indirovich to recover the bones. The party were able to track the bones down to the home and workshop of the town coffin maker, Henrik.

When the party arrived at Henrik's it was apparent that all was not well. When they made it inside Henrik was hidden downstairs and he confirmed that the bones were upstairs, but he was vigorously reluctant to go upstairs to retrieve them. He advised that Strahd had paid him a visit and delivered nine crates to be stored upstairs in the property, and forced him to obtain the bones.

As the party made it upstairs Hallgrimm managed to locate the bones and concealed them on his person, however Narid had located the crates and concurrently seeking to find the bones unwittingly released a vampire spawn, who awakened another five from the remaining crates. One of the spawns instructed: "Get the bones, the feast begins."

The party fought in vain against the vampire spawns, unable to contain them or match them in battle, and the spawns spilled out into the street of Vallaki, killing many innocent townsfolk and valiant guards alike. As Hallgrimm bore down on the Church of St Andral with the bones in his possession he was cut off by Strahd himself riding a flying black stallion of fire, who obliterated a squad of guards with a single fireball on the steps of the church. Hallgrimm fell to his knees and handed over the bones, knowing all resistance to be futile.

From interrogating a captured vampire spawn after the Feast, the party were able to determine that Strahd had given them instruction to "create chaos".