Introduction, Blinksy
Vallaki's toymaker, Gadof Blinsky (CG male human commoner), calls himself "a wizard of tiny wonders," but he has been consumed by despair lately because no one seems to like him or want his toys.
N7. BLINSKY TOYS
This cramped shop has a dark entrance portico, above which hangs a wooden sign shaped like a rocking horse, with a "B" engraved on both sides. Flanking the entrance are two arched, lead-framed windows. Through the dirty glass, you see jumbled displays of toys and hanging placards bearing the slogan "Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!"
Vallaki's toymaker, Gadof Blinsky (CG male human commoner), calls himself "a wizard of tiny wonders," but he has been consumed by despair lately because no one seems to like him or want his toys. His fascination for eerie playthings causes most other locals to avoid him. The burgomaster enables Blinsky to stay in business by giving him a couple of gold pieces a month to make festival decorations.
Blinsky is a heavyset man who wears a moth-eaten jester's cap during store hours, more out of habit than to humor visitors. In the past six months, the only paying customer who has set foot in the store is a visitor from a faraway land named Rictavio (see area N2), who came in two weeks ago and bought a stuffed Vistana doll.
Realizing that the toymaker was lonely, Rictavio gave Blinsky his pet monkey, Piccolo (use the baboon stat block in the Monster Manual). Overjoyed, Blinsky has begun training the monkey to fetch toys from hard-to reach shelves. The toymaker has also fitted Piccolo with a custom-tailored ballerina tt,1tu. When he meets new custo.me�s, Bli�sky recites a well-rehearsed greeting: "Wyelcome; friends, to the House of Blinsky, when" h:}'appiqe�s and �miles can be bought at bargain pi:ic_es.. Peinaps' y"o.1. kn�w a leetle child in need of joy? A lee't!e toy f�r a: girl or boy?"
. CREEPY TOYS
Blinsky believes the burgomaster is right-that the only way to escape from Barovia is to make everyone in town 'hyappy." Blinsky would like to do his part by making sure that all the children in Barovia have fun toys. On display are a few of his creations:
GI\OOF BLINSS AND P1cc0Lo
• A headless doll that comes with a sack of attachable heads, including one with its eyes and mouth stitched shut (price 9 cp)
A miniature gallows, complete with trapdoor and a weighted "hanged man" (price 9 cp)
A set of wooden nesting dolls; the smaller each one gets, the older it gets, until the innermost doll is a mummified corpse (price 9 cp)
• A wood-and-string mobile of hanging bats with flapping wings (price 9 cp)
• A wind-up musical merry -go-round with figures of snarling wolves chasing children in place of prancing horses (price 9 sp)
A ventriloquist's dummy that looks like Strahd von Zarovich (price 9 sp)
• A doll that looks remarkably like Ireena Kolyana (not for sale; see below)
Ireena Kolyana dolls. Blinsky makes special dolls or the burgomaster's henchman, Izek Strazni (see area N3 and appendix D). Izek doesn't pay for the dolls but instead threatens to burn down Blinsky's shop unless the toymaker delivers a new doll every month. Every doll is modeled on a description given to Blinsky by Izek, and each doll has been closer to capturing Ireena's likeness than the last. Blinsky doesn't know that the doll is meant to.be modeled after anyone in particular. If Ireena is with the party, however, Blinsky realizes that she is the inspiration for Izek's dolls.
Von Weerg's Masterpiece. Blinsky considers himself a student of a great inventor and toymaker named Fritz von Weerg. Blinsky has heard rumors that von Weerg's greatest invention-a clockwork man lies somewhere in Castle Ravenloft. If the characters seem intent on going there, Blinsky asks,if they would be so kind as to find the clockwork "myasterpiece" and "dyeliver" it to him, in exchange for which Blinsky offers to make them any toy they desire. Because "byusiness" has not been good, he says, he has no other reward to offer except, perhaps, his new monkey companion.
CREEPY TOYS
The toy has a slogan stitched or printed on it in tiny letters:
"Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!" Roll a d6 to determine the specific toy:
| 1d6 | Toy |
|---|---|
| 1 | A plush werewolf stuffed with sawdust and tiny woodcarved babies. It has dull knife blades for laws and retractable teeth. |
| 2 | A smiling jester marionette with tangled strings and tiny copper bells sewn into its cap. |
| 3 | A wooden puzzle box, 6 inches on a side, carved with silhouettes of leering clown faces. The box rattles when shaken. A character who spends a short rest fiddling with the box can figure out how to open it with a successful DC 20 Intelligence check. The box is empty, with nothing inside to explain the rattling. |
| 4 | A faceless doll in a wedding dress that has yellowed and frayed with age. |
| 5 | A vaguely coffin-shaped jack-in-the-box containing a pop-up Strahd puppet. |
| 6 | A spring-loaded set of wooden teeth with fangs, all painted white. The teeth gnash and chatter for 1 minute when the spring is wound tight (requiring an action) and released. |
Ireena Kolyana Dolls.
Blinsky makes special dolls for the burgomaster's henchman, Izek Strazni (see area N3 and appendix D). Removed