Side quest Vallaki Level 5

The Cat in the Window

Lady Wachter keeps her daughter Stella locked in a bedroom at Wachterhaus. Stella believes she is a cat. Nobody in Vallaki believes she's ill.

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

You can hear about Stella Wachter in two places, or skip the rumour and walk straight into her room.

  • The gate watch. Ask the Town Guard at Vallaki's east gate "Heard anything interesting?". He mentions a girl in a window at Wachterhaus who washes her face with the back of her hand. The quest opens at Rumored. Once the festival is over he has no more news to give.
  • Lady Wachter's tea. In the parlour of Wachterhaus, Lady Wachter has a check you can pick: Investigation DC 13, "Ask about the locked door upstairs, and the scratching." On a success she admits Stella is her daughter and "believes she's a cat". On a failure she blames mice. Investigation isn't one of the checks that's gone for good when it fails, so you can ask again.
  • The door itself. You don't need either rumour. Getting into the locked bedroom and talking to Stella starts the quest at Met.

loc vallaki wachter house 1

Step by step

  1. Get into the locked bedroom. Wachterhaus is on Wachter lane, just west of the burgomaster's mansion grounds. Its front door is always open. The locked bedroom is on the far side of the house from the hall. To get in, pick the lock with Thieves' Tools (DC 13), force it with Athletics (DC 15), or cast Knock.
  2. Work out what's wrong with Stella. Talk to her. You can find out what's wrong in any of these ways:
    • Insight DC 13, "Watch her, not the cat she's playing." A failure here can't be tried again.
    • Arcana DC 14, "Is there magic on her?" You can keep retrying this one.
    • Cast Detect Magic, if someone knows it. This works automatically.
    • Speak with Animals, already running or cast on the spot. It works automatically, because there's no cat in the room to answer.

    "Stella? Can you hear us?" only gets you a yowl. Once you see what's going on, the journal moves to Bound: the black velvet ribbon with the silver bell is how the master sees through her eyes.

  3. Get the means to break it. The choice "Free her" needs one of these:
    • Someone in the party who can cast Remove Curse right now.
    • A Spell Scroll. Father Lucian at St. Andral's Church gives you one for free: while the journal says Bound and you aren't carrying a scroll, choose "Lady Wachter's daughter is under a curse." You can also buy one from Urwin Martikov's cellar stores once you're allied with the Keepers, from Rictavio once he's unmasked, or from Vadoma when it's among her rotating stock.
  4. Free her. Cast the spell or read the scroll over the ribbon. It burns away, and Stella's shadow stands up, along with every other shadow in the room.
  5. Fight the shadow (stella_shadow). At level 6 or higher you face two of The Master's Gaze (Wraith) and four Shadows. At levels 4 and 5 it's one Master's Gaze and three shadows. Below that, one Master's Gaze (45 HP) and two shadows. The wraith's life drain lowers maximum HP, and a hero whose maximum hits 0 dies outright. Focus it down first, and keep anyone who's been drained badly out of its reach. Winning moves the journal to Freed.
  6. Talk to Stella in her room. After the fight she speaks for herself. She tells you she's going to Father Lucian, and your companions react (below).
  7. Visit her at St. Andral's. She's now behind the vestry at St. Andral's Church. Talk to her and the quest ends at With Lucian. She gives you her dowry, 250 gp, and the Cloak of the Bat the master sent for her sixteenth birthday. She also tells you that her mother's book club meets in the cellar, through a panel behind the study bookcase ("push the third shelf, not the second"), which matters for Lady Wachter's Book Club.

loc vallaki st andrals 1

Choices and endings

  • Free her properly. This is the only ending: 250 gp, the Cloak of the Bat, and approval from Liriel Dawnsong, Godrick Pendlebrook and Wren Featherfoot (+2 each). Beating the shadow adds a mark to Strahd's attention, because you've put out his eyes at the window. Afterwards the gate watch gossips about Stella walking out of her mother's house.
  • Cut the ribbon. "Cut the ribbon" is always on the list, but it doesn't free her. The bell rings, Stella hides under the bed, and when she comes out the ribbon has tied itself back on. All it does is add a mark to Strahd's attention. You can still come back and break the curse the proper way afterwards.

If you're stuck

  • No "Free her" choice. You haven't worked out what's wrong with her yet (step 2). If Insight failed, use Arcana, Detect Magic or Speak with Animals.
  • No break choice except "Cut". Nobody can cast Remove Curse and you have no scroll. Father Lucian only offers his scroll while the journal says Bound and you aren't carrying one.
  • Stella isn't at the church. Talk to her in her bedroom after the fight first. She only leaves Wachterhaus after that conversation.

Rewards

What your companions think

  • Liriel Dawnsong: +2 you broke the curse on Stella Wachter
  • Godrick Pendlebrook: +2 you broke the curse on Stella Wachter
  • Wren Featherfoot: +2 you broke the curse on Stella Wachter

Fights

  • Stella's shadow peels off the wall and stands up, and the shadows under the bed and behind the door stand up…, in Wachterhaus: Wraith, Shadow. Scales with your level.
By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)

Journal

Every journal entry and hint

Rumored: Vallaki says a young woman sits all day at a window of Wachterhaus, washing her face with the back of her hand. The Wachters say she's ill. Nobody has seen her come out in two years. Lady Wachter says it's her daughter, Stella, and that she believes she's a cat.
Hint: Go to Wachterhaus in Vallaki and get into the locked bedroom; its lock can be picked or forced.

Met: Stella Wachter, Lady Wachter's daughter, crouches on her bed and behaves in every way like a cat: she purrs, she hisses, she washes, she watches. She doesn't answer to anything human.
Hint: Watch Stella closely in her room at Wachterhaus: Insight, Arcana or Detect Magic will show what's wrong.

Bound: Stella isn't mad. She is held. At one of her mother's soirees she told a handsome stranger in black that she'd follow him like a cat follows cream, and he said: then you shall. A black velvet ribbon with a silver bell holds the promise at her throat, and what Stella sees, he sees. Lady Wachter keeps her at the window because her master likes the view.
Hint: Free Stella at Wachterhaus with Remove Curse or a scroll of it (Father Lucian at St. Andral's can help), or cut the binding and be ready to fight.

Freed: The ribbon is ash. When it broke, the master looked out of her shadow one last time, and we drove what came out of it back into the dark. Stella is herself again, and very angry. She is going to Father Lucian at St. Andral's.
Hint: Visit Stella at St. Andral's Church in Vallaki.

With Lucian (the end: success): Stella is staying at St. Andral's with Father Lucian. She told us what her mother's book club really reads, and where the panel behind the study bookcase opens, and gave us the cloak the master sent her for her sixteenth birthday. She never wore it.

Every skill check in its conversations
  • Insight DC 13: (Watch her, not the cat she's playing.)
  • Arcana DC 14: (Is there magic on her?)
  • Insight DC 14: What does she actually want?
  • Investigation DC 13: (Ask about the locked door upstairs, and the scratching.)