# Manfred The slick? slimy? nobleman at the Blood of the Vine who offered us a job, pending the outcome of a backroom brawl hosted at the tavern on 12/07/713. He speaks like a businessman and displays an almost unnerving confidence. In [[010_20260801 Session 10|Session 10]], he opportunistically approached [[Kolyan Kolyanovich|the Burgomaester]] and the Gang after the [[Siege of St. Bogdan's|siege]] on [[Barovia (Village)|the village of Barovia]]. He insisted that he was not afraid of [[Strahd von Zarovich|Strahd]]. His work across [[Barovia (the Land of)|Barovia]] had convinced him: - that [[Strahd von Zarovich|the devil Strahd]] was weaker than he wanted people to believe, - that defeating him was simply a matter of exploiting those weaknesses, and - that eventually, his people would get the upper hand, with or without the Gang's alliance [[Kolyan Kolyanovich|Kolyan]] believes that [[Manfred]]'s mercenary company is also some kind of cult that wishes to overthrow [[Strahd von Zarovich|Strahd]].