D&D 5E Curse of Strahd - DM seeks campaign ideas from the community

[shager]

Greetings all -

First off, I need to perform due diligence and make the following statement:

TO MY THREE PLAYERS - DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER! ONLY DEVILS EXIST IN THESE PARTS....

Thank you for your understanding. OK, here is what we have going on: We are ten sessions deep into what has proven to be thus far a very enjoyable "Curse of Strahd" campaign. The characters are as follows -

Aloyne - Paladin of Alitur. (Lawful Good)
Kryszentia - Enchantress Wizard (with one level of cleric of Mhyriss) (Neutral Good)
Emrakabia - Wolf Nomad Barbarian, who is currently 4 levels strong into being a sorcerer of the Shadow origin mentioned in UA articles. (Chaotic Neutral)
Raelyn - Grugach Elf Arcane Trickster Rogue, who also has one level of cleric - Fenmarel Mestarine being his deity. (Chaotic Neutral)

If you haven't discerned as of yet, the characters originate from the WORLD OF GREYHAWK fantasy setting. Everyone is at 5th level. Here is a very quick summation where we are in the campaign:

Arrived in Barovia. Went through the following phases. Encountered the Death House and escaped, met Ismark, received card reading from Madame Eva, went back to village, went through the church encounter successfully, went back to the Death House and succeeded at great peril. On the way out, encountered Strahd and his minions who successfully terrified the group. Absconded with Ireena and Ismark to Vallaki, defeated the vampire nest in the Coffin Makers shop and solved that mystery. Stashed Ireena and Ismark with Father Lucien after the bones of Andral were recovered. Saved Arabelle at Lake and gained loads of new insight (she is the foretold ally). Went to Dusk Elf/Vistani camp, gained new insight, participated in Festival of the Blazing sun, helped Rictavio escape. Went to Van Richten's Tower and met Esmerelda. Went to Krezk with Esmerelda in tow, are currently meeting with Abbott.

Here is the card draw:

Holy Symbol of Ravenkind - In Abbott's hall at Monastery.
Tome of Strahd -In Castle Crypt.
Sun Sword - in another tomb in Castle Crypt not far away.
Ally - Arabelle
Strahd's location - Hall of Bones in Castle.


So, kind of a tough draw in terms of ally and the two items in Castle. Here is my conundrum of the day -

The characters encounter Esmerelda at the tower, and she has joined the group. I soon regretted this decision, as I now wish I had inserted Ricatvio/Van Richten into the scene - they had already established a very well received dialog and relationship with Rictavio in disguise, and I wish I had put him there instead. I'm not too keen on Esmerelda running around with them, and since she has escaped the castle at great peril, Strahd is now on the hunt for her. Here is what I would like to do: they are currently in conference with the Abbot and his freakshow - they have agreed to obtain the wedding dress for Vasilka in exchange for his favor and him letting them take the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind from the room. That is where we left off - when they emerge from the monastery, I plan on it being night. This is important because I have modified the rules of the published campaign a bit - daytime in Barovia is actual daytime, and vampires are vulnerable to sunlight. Being outside, especially in the wilderness at night, is very bad. Thus the characters have learned how to time their travels. So, what I am after here are ideas for a potential next encounter, one which will they will encounter Strahd again.

My abstract is this - Strahd is angry at the characters because he knows they have assisted Ismark and Ireena. He is also quite angry with Esmerelda for thinking she was going to roll up in his castle and take him out. His spies have lead him here, where they all are. What I would like is for Strahd to capture Esmerelda and turn her into a vampire spawn, and then set her against the party at a later time. We are in Krezk at night, walking through the quiet village.

1. Any ideas on how to lure them out of the gates? (Where I would prefer the encounter to occur)
2. If you were going to run the encounter inside the town, any ideas on how to pull it off?

My main goal here is for Esmeralda to dissapear, which Strahd can most certainly pull off due to his insane level of power, but I want the scene to fire off believably as possible for the characters.

Thanks in advance....I'm looking forward to your ideas. Please excuse grammatical mistakes, I don't have much free time at the moment and am forced into typing this up fast.

 

[JangPotatoes]

I would suggest having an encounter while the PC's are sleeping, assuming they have a house in town that they're using.

This is intense, and creepy, and robs them of any feeling of safety, at least for a while. Strahd showed up in my campaign while the paladin was on watch, charmed her, had her invite him in, and they had a nice little chat. Also, because the charm lasts for 24 hours, she was unable to tell the other PC's what had happened (he told her not to)

So what i suggest is similar: a PC on watch (assuming they keep watch in town, if not, a knock on the window wakes one at random, preferably the one with the worst will save), Strahd tries to work his mojo to come inside. He absconds with Ezmerelda, tells his new friend to speak nothing of what happened, and that's it.

Alternative:

Strahd or a vampire spawn grabs a random NPC the players care about, and runs outside of town, luring them into a trap. Strahd, with some bats, wolves or spawn support could cast Sleep at a higher spell slot, use Charm, etc, to basically dismantle the PC's, and take what he wants. This should rile them up big time, for having lost a useful and powerful friend, and for getting slapped around by Strahd with relative ease.

 

[Daern]

I say make it a full on super battle with Strahd and his minions wherein it becomes apparent he only cares for getting revenge on Esmerelda. He lavishes only incidental attacks on the pcs leaves as soon as he kills her and has he body. If they can fight him off that will give them confidence to enter the tower (you could have Esme leave saying, "I put you in great danger, I must leave."). If they don't then they know they REALLY need that holy symbol.

 

[Rils]

Don't forget Strahd has a flying nightmare horse, which can be used to great effect in a night-time raid on Krezk.

If you watch "Dice, Camera, Action", Chris Perkins threw in a huge fight with Strahd in Krezk. He had the werewolves infiltrate Krezk disguised as Winery delivery men, and they went all wolfy on the players (infecting one with lycanthropy in the process). Then Strad showed up on his nightmare to steal back Ireena during the battle. Initially he was just going to grab her in the chaos and leave, but then the PCs tried to stop him (while still fighting the werewolves). Things went really bad for them at that point. I won't spoil the ending, but suffice to say, it made for a memorable battle with huge story impacts. No reason you couldn't do something similar, with Ezmerelda as the target, and von Richten can team up to help rescue her or something.

 

[Austin Beck]

In the Abby I had strahd show up very annoyed with the characters. He offered them a choice to join him or die. One of my PC's took him up on his offer and he left through a portal to castle ravenloft and the other players got beaten within an inch of life before strahd got bored and left. Now I run it where there is an evil party and a good party fighting against one another in different quests for the outcome of the game. Little do they know it is just all for strand's entertainment.

 

[jayoungr]

Psst, [mention=6783310]shager,[/mention] let us know how it came out at the table!