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<blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8812553" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><p style="text-align: center"><strong>Realm of the Blood Queen, Part 4</strong></p><p></p><p>The last fourth of this adventure sees a remarkably faster level-up process spread between 4 smaller chapters. While we had some pretty expansive sandboxes in Leshehoff and Reinwald, going forward the chapters are smaller and more self-contained with more direct and immediate goals.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/P6s2QDb.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 6: Revolution</strong> is the big culmination for the PC’s activities in Raffenburg, with a variety of possible outcomes. The various Faction leaders are going to a Solstice Masquerade Ball, and during this time the Revolutionaries seek to assassinate the members of the Council and the Guard Captains. The PCs, once they attend or sneak in, have the opportunity to aid the Revolutionaries or go after their own desired faction leaders in what becomes a very chaotic scene in the banquet hall.</p><p></p><p>Barring exceptional circumstances, the PCs will only have the opportunity to assassinate the leader(s) of one faction. If they cook up a particularly ingenious plan or perform with flying colors in combat, they may be able to take down two at the DM’s discretion. But otherwise the chaos from the Revolutionary insurgency will quickly scatter the other VIPs of Raffenburg, causing them to retreat to their own strongholds as similar uprisings happen across the rest of the city. During that time, the PCs have enough time to assault the stronghold of one other faction leader to take out another group.</p><p></p><p>Each faction leader functions as their own boss battle and most have their own hired minions to aid them. The Revolutionaries are Cival and either 4 guerillas or one of the Gheata sisters, the Authority faction are noncombatant Councilors protected by Guard Captains and Bodyguards (the easiest faction to take out), the Consortium is the vampire Valya Fyodorovna who has been poisoned with holy water during the masquerade and can’t regenerate hit points, the Cult of Decadence is led by the vampire Isidora (vampire with legendary actions and can use reality-changing magical paint), the Church of the Morning Lord pits the PCs against Father Lorreus and High Inquisitor Viktor Tarasov if he’s still alive, and the Count and Countess of the House of Reinwald are by themselves. The werewolves act differently than the other factions in that if they’re attacked they will prioritize fleeing; to better their odds they will transform into dire wolves and flee in front of witnesses, which even if the PCs fail to kill them will effectively unmask their true nature as Old Faith-aligned animalistic monsters. This will make the Reinwalds lose their prestige in Raffenburg’s political machine.</p><p></p><p>The end of the banquet assassination levels the PCs up to 7, at which point the whole city is undergoing a revolution. The party needs to eliminate one more faction leader to restore things to a period of pseudo-calm. Depending on who lives there are various suggested encounters, such as the escaped Reinwalds holing up in the slums and hunting poor people, or animals escaping from the Livestock Market to spread further panic and death. We even get 5 stat blocks for different CR 9 mobs related to various factions, such as a mob of City Guards, Morning Lord fanatics, or Cult-summoned demons! The Church of the Morning Lord and Cult of Decadence have their own detailed strongholds which act as short dungeon crawls. The other faction leaders have areas previously detailed, and the PCs level up to 8 upon killing this second (or third) faction leader.</p><p></p><p>Generally speaking, the only real way for the lot of Raffenburg’s common folk to improve is for the Revolutionaries to have their more effective leaders alive, so going after Cival or otherwise sabotaging the assassination attempt will merely perpetuate the city’s misery. It won’t be long before the Blood Queen teleports the PCs back for an audience, asking them a series of questions on how they’d regard their progress in bringing order to Raffenburg. Her last question asks if the party will pledge themselves to her, and even if they refuse she still won’t give up on them. Her next assignment is for the party to kill the Baron of Inbarev, the third major population center of Wreythau, as she found his recent rulership increasingly unpalatable. At this point she’ll teleport the party out of the Cairn, where they will be in the wilderness with Inbarev and the Silver Graves equally distant from each other in case the party wishes to play the chapters out of order.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/ZDsk0aW.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 7: Inbarev</strong> is positively short in comparison to the lengthy sandboxes of Leshehoff and Raffenburg. The town is ruled over by Moritz Hartrick the Mad Alchemist, a Frankein-style amoral scientist who over the past few centuries has built an army of construct beings known as the Crafted to serve as his own private army and labor force. Most live a life of toil and drudgery, but they are elevated among the Born, the last remaining living citizens of Inbarev who are now a persecuted minority group which the Mad Alchemist seeks to drive out of town. While the Born hate and fear the Crafted, not all Crafted are loyal to the Mad Alchemist, and a good-hearted construct known as Henrietta is forming a silent rebellion of like-minded Crafted who seek more in life. While overthrowing the Mad Alchemist is certainly a good thing to do, Czerina’s reasons are more practical: with no more living beings, Inbarev will have no more blood tax.</p><p></p><p>Inbarev and its outskirts are well-secured, and in addition to typical construct monsters there are new ones such as the Homunculus Swarms (scouts who can read minds) placed at checkpoints and towering War Machines (big grappling bruisers with toxic breaths) guarding major centers of industry. PCs who aid Henrietta will be given magic items specifically designed to counter the Homunculi’s mind-detecting capabilities as well as access to sewer tunnels beneath the streets. There’s also the Zlattovs, the last remaining minor nobility in Inbarev who can rally the Born in an uprising but are paranoid and may betray the PCs after the battle. PCs who come to Inbarev as official representatives of the Blood Queen can nonviolently meet with Hartrick during a festive dinner, and he has a task of his own for the party: kill off the rest of the Born in the city and then flee, or find a way to remove them without violence. This task must be done in a week, and to sweeten the deal he will offer them 500 platinum pieces each and promise to make them immortal via the Elixir of Life (this is a lie). And in case the PCs decide to use the dinner as a chance to kill him, the dining table chairs are trapped with restraints along with lightning towers that can electrocute the floor.</p><p></p><p>It is indeed possible to non-violently remove the Born by convincing them to immigrate to Raffenburg, Leshehoff, or Wolf Lake if Yasviga is in control of the Reinwald family. If the PCs are on good terms with Baroness Tornheim the Leshehoff option can work, although any mass migration will be dangerous due to the Wreythian wildlife.</p><p></p><p>Otherwise, defeating Hartrick can be done via utilizing a large distraction to draw off a large amount of his construct forces (such as the Born and/or Crafted rebelling) or just sneaking in covertly. The mad Alchemist is predictably a 20th level Artificer spellcaster with Legendary Actions, and will most certainly have construct minions guarding him and immediate areas. We have a full-page map in which the battle takes place, along with hazards such as vats of acid beneath perilous catwalks.</p><p></p><p>PCs who kill the Mad Alchemist have the opportunity to appoint a new ruler for Inbarev. Henrietta will be the best, as the Zlattovs will seek to destroy the rest of the Crafted in a second civil war and leave the town little better than ruins. Regardless, the PCs will level up.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/75vVmh5.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 8: the Silver Graves</strong> can technically be accessed before Inbarev. Unlike the prior chapters the adventure hooks here aren’t as strong beyond some general information-gathering the party may have been able to do over the course of the campaign. Still, the module makes the assumption that the PCs will go here rather than it being optional, and the major boon to be found is a Forge that can create weapons that can harm the Blood Queen.</p><p></p><p>The Silver Graves is pretty much a pure dungeon crawl in a haunted mountain city, where ghostly impressions of dead dwarves reveal more about its history. Unlike in some other settings and domains the dwarves of Wreythau don’t shy away from magic, and there’s quite a few rooms and traps empowered with magical features such as anti-gravity lifts that serve as elevators. A shrine contains holy texts explaining how the Forge of the Ancestors can channel the spirits of the land in a mystical feedback loop. Weapons created in this process can cut off the Blood Queen’s connection to the land, thus being able to harm and even kill her.</p><p></p><p>Much like the Stacks in Raffenburg, the Silver Graves are haunted by an overpowered burrowing monster known as the Guardian. It is a creation of the Mad Alchemist, and the only two things in life it loves are digging and killing things. It is a CR 16 creature with tremorsense, a host of condition immunities, is immune to nonmagical attacks that aren’t adamantine, can squeeze into small spaces, has Legendary Actions as well as a Multiattack with held and natural weapons, and with a rechargeable Drill attack that deals 15d6 force damage. It doesn’t want to kill the PCs initially, and will initially inflict enough harm and terror to drive down their morale.</p><p></p><p>The Forge of the Ancestors is a special multi-room subsection of the dungeon that has a rolling boulder trap and several puzzles and skill checks required to activate it. Animated statues possessed by the souls of great artisans serve as the Forge’s archives and can mentor PCs in how to operate the massive device.</p><p></p><p>Of course, nothing can be that simple. During the crafting process the undead hordes of the mountain will be attracted to the sound, arriving in waves. PCs can seal themselves within the Forge and wait them out until the crafting is done but they will need to leave eventually. In addition to undead fought earlier in the adventure we have new stat blocks for Zombie Clots (foul-smelling undead who can throw lumps of itself to damage and restrain), Throngs of Barrukhirrim (undead mob that acts like a grappling swarm), and Exploding Spore Zombies (weak zombies that explode upon death).</p><p></p><p>Once the PCs leave the Silver Graves, they will come face to face with a very unhappy Czerina. She knows what they’ve been up to, and feeling betrayed will ask them why they’re seeking the “power of my enemies.” She will interrogate their motives, bringing up earlier conversations and shared dreams from the Mirror, and even her more manipulative actions she’ll view as having done the party a favor. She will ask the PCs to hand over the Forge weapons and drink her blood. PCs who accept this last offer lead the story into a Nonstandard Game Over, as her blood will enchant the characters and transform them into vampire spawn.</p><p></p><p>If they refuse she will fight them. But not to the death; she will teleport back to the Cairn once she takes over 100 damage or if she knocks out most of the PCs. The party will level up, and from then on the Order of Blood will actively hunt them.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/Ns4Eg0N.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 9: the Ruins of Nemeth</strong> is our penultimate chapter, where the archdruid Mata Yezinka will find the PCs wherever they are and explain to them the next thing they must do in order to further dissolve Czerina’s remaining power. The Ruins of Nemeth are an island where Gulthias and his followers were first banished and is now home to a race of evil fey known as the Corrupted Sidhe. The PCs must venture to the ruins and convince them to renew their allegiance to the Court of Night and Twilight instead of their current ally Czerina.</p><p></p><p>As to why, the Court is ruled by an Archfey known as the Queen of Terror, who the Corrupted Sidhe seek to summon into Wreythau. A being of such power will attract the attention of Czernobog, given that Czerina made a pact with her before the Dark Power. Czernobog will rightfully fear that she wishes to take his favored champion for herself. With the Blood Queen’s patron and former patron thus occupied, then Czerina’s soul can be claimed and re-entered into the cycle of reincarnation, robbing Wreythau of a Dark Lady and sending the land back to the Material Plane. Yezinka is cagey with this information due to the sensitive nature of what must be done, but PCs who detect she’s hiding something can learn it from her. In such a case, she will give the party the Soul Vessel, a magic item (that isn’t described in this adventure beyond being a pure plot device) that can trap Czerina’s soul and if released onto the Material Plane will let her reincarnate. Oddly enough, sensing Yezinka’s motives is the only way to get the Soul Vessel and thus the “good ending” of this campaign, which feels like a bit of an oversight if the only way this plan can work is if someone is physically present when Czerina dies. Certainly the archdruid would be aware that the PCs are one of the few people who can stand up to her!</p><p></p><p>The Court of the Corrupted Sidhe is initially a role-playing encounter, where the fey nobles are hearing petitions from three different factions: the Reinwalds (those who are left alive), the Followers of Agrona (a more militant faction of the Beastfolk who seek no truce nor quarter with the rest of Wreythau), and the Court of the Blood Queen (represented by Beleroth and Ysemgrin). The PCs have 12 hours to speak with or fight the other factions in order to perform a process of elimination, as the Court has only enough patience to ally with one group. There’s a variety of ways the PCs can get the factions to renege on their deals and let the party bargain with the Fey. The Followers of Agrona are single-minded zealots and can only be persuaded via trial by combat, but the Reinwalds have a variety of means of resolution: a PC marrying into their family, Yasviga being the highest-ranking one if her siblings and parents are dead, or making the werewolves look bad in front of the fey. As for the Court of the Blood Queen, Beleroth may open up to the PCs if they earn his trust, revealing that he mourns the person Czerina has become but doesn’t want to see her soul lost. If the PCs reveal a way for her to pass on peacefully via Yezinka’s plan, that can earn his confidence and support, turning on Ysemgrin and helping the PCs during the final battle.</p><p></p><p>However they go about it, PCs who prove themselves the worthiest group for an alliance can earn the Corrupted Sidhe’s confidence. The adventure is actually rather railroady in that earning their trust is something that must happen, but should be played off to the players as though there’s a chance of failure:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Completing this chapter levels the PCs up to 12, which is not 1 but 2 levels! The only place left to go now is the Cairn for a final battle with Czerina!</p><p></p><p><strong>Chapter 10: the Cairn</strong> is the final chapter of the Realm of the Blood Queen, and is pretty much one long multi-room battle against Czerina. First off, I’ll begin by posting a screenshot of the Dark Lady’s stat block:</p><p></p><p><img src="https://i.imgur.com/xL4GTSw.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Czerina is a very powerful final encounter. You might notice one other factor: as the Forge of the Ancestors crafts weapons and not fancier things like wands or staves barring DM discretion,* this would mean that any sources of damage not utilizing said weapons won’t affect the Blood Queen. Which would include most spells. However, the “resistance to necrotic and poison damage” under The Mantle of Wreythau leaves me rather confused, as it implies that damage sources of these types can still deal half damage to her rather than 0. Characters reliant on spells, companions, and/or unarmed and natural weapons for damage are going to be at a distinct disadvantage here. Additionally, while she is CR 26 Czerina’s stats and attacks are calculated as though she has a Proficiency Bonus of +6 rather than +8. Then again, she’s powerful enough that this isn’t a big deal.</p><p></p><p>*The adventure is overall pretty vague as to what exactly can be crafted in the Forge of the Ancestors.</p><p></p><p>You might notice that her lair actions aren’t present. Every room (there are 6) in which the battle takes place has its own unique Lair Action: the entrance to the Cairn is preceded by a Road of Skulls which can grasp and restrain targets, the throne room can summon powerful gusts of wind, the arcane laboratory casts Cloudkill, etc. Every room also describes Czerina’s tactics, how many turns she’ll remain within, and what she’s most likely to say and do in them.</p><p></p><p>The final portion of the battle should take place in an outdoor garden, and when the killing blow is struck sunlight will come on down, and her final words will be “the petals are so beautiful in the sunlight. I must show Teadora…”</p><p></p><p>There’s additional descriptive text if the PCs have the Soul Vessel, where her corpse glows as a silver wisp rises from it into the urn. The Epilogue has brief descriptions for several possible endings. If Wreythau and Czerina are freed from the Domains of Dread then the land will gradually become more livable, the Beastfolk’s curse is lifted, and Czerina will reincarnate into the child of a loving family. The Old Faith will prosper if the Church of the Morning Lord is destroyed, and if a civil war was averted in Inbarev the Born and Crafted will live with each other on more peaceable terms.</p><p></p><p>If the PCs failed to capture and thus liberate Czerina’s soul, Wreythau will remain a Domain of Dread although Czernobog will choose a new champion. And in such a land, there are many wicked folk who will eagerly rise to the occasion…</p><p></p><p>If the PCs die in battle, they will be resurrected as slaves of the Blood Queen, sent to the Material Plane to spread her influence in a campaign of terror.</p><p></p><p><strong>Appendix: the Mirror of Czerina Gavranova</strong> is the Tome of Strahd equivalent for Realm of the Blood Queen, the artifact showing a sequence of magical dreamlike visions that serve as social puzzles built off of Czerina’s life story in order to learn more about her. There are 7 different entries detailing her childhood up to her rise as the Blood Queen of Wreythau. The Mirror is also the only means in the campaign that the PCs can learn about Teadora Vadimovna, Czerina’s childhood friend who perished under vague circumstances. But it’s heavily implied that Czerina’s father killed her as an object lesson after finding his daughter and her friend playing a game pretending to be rulers after stealing his royal scepter. Some of the more interesting Entries include being tutors hired to train Czerina in the martial and magical arts; serving under Czerina’s war council during the foreign invasion, complete with a map of a small region and enemy camps where the PCs have to convince her on an ideal plan of action; and one where the PCs take the roles of assassins Czerina’s parents hired to kill their daughter while she was living with the druids, only for their efforts to fail.</p><p></p><p>This isn’t just for character development. PCs who experience all of the Mirror Entries can stun Czerina for one round during the final encounter by mentioning something poignant from her past.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thoughts So Far:</strong> Whereas the early campaign was slower and more methodical in giving the PCs many adventures and opportunities to explore the domain of Wreythau, the final four chapters speed things up quite rapidly. I can understand why, as this book is already rather lengthy, but it is a bit to its detriment in that the inevitable “turn on Czerina” adventure comes a bit too suddenly with the Silver Graves. The alliance with the fey needing a “victory” also feels a bit restrictive; the consequences for failure should simply lock the PCs out of the good ending, and maybe the distraction of Czernobog can further weaken Czerina in the final battle as a reward. The Forge of the Silver Graves needs a stronger hook, as well as more specifics on what can be crafted. As the scaling magic items which the PCs likely made use of during the campaign cannot be “enhanced” in the Forge, it may feel a bit of a letdown if such weapons cannot be used in the final fight.</p><p></p><p><strong>Overall Thoughts:</strong> Realm of the Blood Queen is an ambitious module with a lot of interesting and cool features. The domain of Wreythau is a deep and multi-faceted island that has a world beyond that of the darklord’s own ambitions, which is a common factor in some of Ravenloft’s best official domains. While not a true sandbox, there’s a reasonable amount of open-ended paths and conclusions for PCs to feel like they have a hand in shaping the fate of Wreythau rather than the DM leading them around by the nose. While I have not had the opportunity to run or playtest it, the description of some of the more climactic and “boss” encounters paints the scene of interesting and dynamic battles. Even the more mundane stores and services in the major population centers have interesting features like the spell-imbued alcohol in Raffenburg, which makes exploring the cities and going shopping entertaining events in their own right. The ample maps are very DM-friendly, and the stellar artwork is a treat to look at.</p><p></p><p>That being said, the adventure has several things holding it back. In spite of the sandboxy nature of several adventures there are portions where the railroad tracks come in suddenly, such as with the final chapters or the mandatory teleportation to the Cairn that happens twice. And in spite of the domain’s history having prominent druidic and nature themes, the bulk of the adventure takes place in urban population centers which I feel is a missed opportunity. And besides a few cases like in Chapter 9, many of the chapters feel a bit self-contained in that there aren’t explanations for what may happen if PCs call upon favors from allies made in prior adventures. The Beastfolk are really only bit players in Chapter 3 despite being a major factor in Wreythau’s history, while nothing is mentioned of what kinds of power and privilege PCs may be able to exert once they become rulers of Raffenburg.</p><p></p><p>There’s also the fact that for much of the campaign, the quests Czerina sent the PCs on can be justifiably argued by certain gaming groups that she’s not the most dangerous threat to the domain. When the PCs first arrive in Wreythau it is the Church of the Morning Lord who serves as the major bad guy group, the ruling class of Raffenburg are okay with the city falling into poverty and suffering, and the Mad Alchemist of Inbarev is an unambiguously wicked ruler. Compare this to Curse of Strahd; even discounting the antagonist’s predatory obsession with Ireena, there are many opportunities the PCs have to see how Barovia’s people suffer under the vampire count. That adventure all but pushes the PCs into having an antagonistic relationship with Strahd unless they go out of their way to appease him.</p><p></p><p>While I cannot fully judge the adventure without playing, overall I’d say it holds up as a strong module that gives a DM a lot to work with. The weak points are more easily fixable than having to change around huge swathes of the campaign in order for it to work. If this is Cayce Corday’s first foray into tabletop publishing, this is a truly impressive effort on their part.</p><p></p><p>As for what I’ll review next? I’ve posted this on some forums but not others, but this is going to be my last Ravenloft review for October. I’ve been writing almost every day for most of this month, and looking back I posted 15 reviews in a little under 3 weeks. If I keep going I know that I’m going to hit some major writer’s burnout. It’s still a ways away, but I’d like to save some energy for eventually reviewing One Night Strahd, as well as Shadows of the Dragon Queen sometime this December or new year.</p><p></p><p>But there are still some Ravenloft sourcebooks I feel deserve your attention, and even if I can’t do in-depth reviews I can at least give them shoutouts. But I’ll save that for the next post, for this one is long enough already.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Libertad, post: 8812553, member: 6750502"] [center][b]Realm of the Blood Queen, Part 4[/b][/center] The last fourth of this adventure sees a remarkably faster level-up process spread between 4 smaller chapters. While we had some pretty expansive sandboxes in Leshehoff and Reinwald, going forward the chapters are smaller and more self-contained with more direct and immediate goals. [img]https://i.imgur.com/P6s2QDb.png[/img] [b]Chapter 6: Revolution[/b] is the big culmination for the PC’s activities in Raffenburg, with a variety of possible outcomes. The various Faction leaders are going to a Solstice Masquerade Ball, and during this time the Revolutionaries seek to assassinate the members of the Council and the Guard Captains. The PCs, once they attend or sneak in, have the opportunity to aid the Revolutionaries or go after their own desired faction leaders in what becomes a very chaotic scene in the banquet hall. Barring exceptional circumstances, the PCs will only have the opportunity to assassinate the leader(s) of one faction. If they cook up a particularly ingenious plan or perform with flying colors in combat, they may be able to take down two at the DM’s discretion. But otherwise the chaos from the Revolutionary insurgency will quickly scatter the other VIPs of Raffenburg, causing them to retreat to their own strongholds as similar uprisings happen across the rest of the city. During that time, the PCs have enough time to assault the stronghold of one other faction leader to take out another group. Each faction leader functions as their own boss battle and most have their own hired minions to aid them. The Revolutionaries are Cival and either 4 guerillas or one of the Gheata sisters, the Authority faction are noncombatant Councilors protected by Guard Captains and Bodyguards (the easiest faction to take out), the Consortium is the vampire Valya Fyodorovna who has been poisoned with holy water during the masquerade and can’t regenerate hit points, the Cult of Decadence is led by the vampire Isidora (vampire with legendary actions and can use reality-changing magical paint), the Church of the Morning Lord pits the PCs against Father Lorreus and High Inquisitor Viktor Tarasov if he’s still alive, and the Count and Countess of the House of Reinwald are by themselves. The werewolves act differently than the other factions in that if they’re attacked they will prioritize fleeing; to better their odds they will transform into dire wolves and flee in front of witnesses, which even if the PCs fail to kill them will effectively unmask their true nature as Old Faith-aligned animalistic monsters. This will make the Reinwalds lose their prestige in Raffenburg’s political machine. The end of the banquet assassination levels the PCs up to 7, at which point the whole city is undergoing a revolution. The party needs to eliminate one more faction leader to restore things to a period of pseudo-calm. Depending on who lives there are various suggested encounters, such as the escaped Reinwalds holing up in the slums and hunting poor people, or animals escaping from the Livestock Market to spread further panic and death. We even get 5 stat blocks for different CR 9 mobs related to various factions, such as a mob of City Guards, Morning Lord fanatics, or Cult-summoned demons! The Church of the Morning Lord and Cult of Decadence have their own detailed strongholds which act as short dungeon crawls. The other faction leaders have areas previously detailed, and the PCs level up to 8 upon killing this second (or third) faction leader. Generally speaking, the only real way for the lot of Raffenburg’s common folk to improve is for the Revolutionaries to have their more effective leaders alive, so going after Cival or otherwise sabotaging the assassination attempt will merely perpetuate the city’s misery. It won’t be long before the Blood Queen teleports the PCs back for an audience, asking them a series of questions on how they’d regard their progress in bringing order to Raffenburg. Her last question asks if the party will pledge themselves to her, and even if they refuse she still won’t give up on them. Her next assignment is for the party to kill the Baron of Inbarev, the third major population center of Wreythau, as she found his recent rulership increasingly unpalatable. At this point she’ll teleport the party out of the Cairn, where they will be in the wilderness with Inbarev and the Silver Graves equally distant from each other in case the party wishes to play the chapters out of order. [img]https://i.imgur.com/ZDsk0aW.png[/img] [b]Chapter 7: Inbarev[/b] is positively short in comparison to the lengthy sandboxes of Leshehoff and Raffenburg. The town is ruled over by Moritz Hartrick the Mad Alchemist, a Frankein-style amoral scientist who over the past few centuries has built an army of construct beings known as the Crafted to serve as his own private army and labor force. Most live a life of toil and drudgery, but they are elevated among the Born, the last remaining living citizens of Inbarev who are now a persecuted minority group which the Mad Alchemist seeks to drive out of town. While the Born hate and fear the Crafted, not all Crafted are loyal to the Mad Alchemist, and a good-hearted construct known as Henrietta is forming a silent rebellion of like-minded Crafted who seek more in life. While overthrowing the Mad Alchemist is certainly a good thing to do, Czerina’s reasons are more practical: with no more living beings, Inbarev will have no more blood tax. Inbarev and its outskirts are well-secured, and in addition to typical construct monsters there are new ones such as the Homunculus Swarms (scouts who can read minds) placed at checkpoints and towering War Machines (big grappling bruisers with toxic breaths) guarding major centers of industry. PCs who aid Henrietta will be given magic items specifically designed to counter the Homunculi’s mind-detecting capabilities as well as access to sewer tunnels beneath the streets. There’s also the Zlattovs, the last remaining minor nobility in Inbarev who can rally the Born in an uprising but are paranoid and may betray the PCs after the battle. PCs who come to Inbarev as official representatives of the Blood Queen can nonviolently meet with Hartrick during a festive dinner, and he has a task of his own for the party: kill off the rest of the Born in the city and then flee, or find a way to remove them without violence. This task must be done in a week, and to sweeten the deal he will offer them 500 platinum pieces each and promise to make them immortal via the Elixir of Life (this is a lie). And in case the PCs decide to use the dinner as a chance to kill him, the dining table chairs are trapped with restraints along with lightning towers that can electrocute the floor. It is indeed possible to non-violently remove the Born by convincing them to immigrate to Raffenburg, Leshehoff, or Wolf Lake if Yasviga is in control of the Reinwald family. If the PCs are on good terms with Baroness Tornheim the Leshehoff option can work, although any mass migration will be dangerous due to the Wreythian wildlife. Otherwise, defeating Hartrick can be done via utilizing a large distraction to draw off a large amount of his construct forces (such as the Born and/or Crafted rebelling) or just sneaking in covertly. The mad Alchemist is predictably a 20th level Artificer spellcaster with Legendary Actions, and will most certainly have construct minions guarding him and immediate areas. We have a full-page map in which the battle takes place, along with hazards such as vats of acid beneath perilous catwalks. PCs who kill the Mad Alchemist have the opportunity to appoint a new ruler for Inbarev. Henrietta will be the best, as the Zlattovs will seek to destroy the rest of the Crafted in a second civil war and leave the town little better than ruins. Regardless, the PCs will level up. [img]https://i.imgur.com/75vVmh5.png[/img] [b]Chapter 8: the Silver Graves[/b] can technically be accessed before Inbarev. Unlike the prior chapters the adventure hooks here aren’t as strong beyond some general information-gathering the party may have been able to do over the course of the campaign. Still, the module makes the assumption that the PCs will go here rather than it being optional, and the major boon to be found is a Forge that can create weapons that can harm the Blood Queen. The Silver Graves is pretty much a pure dungeon crawl in a haunted mountain city, where ghostly impressions of dead dwarves reveal more about its history. Unlike in some other settings and domains the dwarves of Wreythau don’t shy away from magic, and there’s quite a few rooms and traps empowered with magical features such as anti-gravity lifts that serve as elevators. A shrine contains holy texts explaining how the Forge of the Ancestors can channel the spirits of the land in a mystical feedback loop. Weapons created in this process can cut off the Blood Queen’s connection to the land, thus being able to harm and even kill her. Much like the Stacks in Raffenburg, the Silver Graves are haunted by an overpowered burrowing monster known as the Guardian. It is a creation of the Mad Alchemist, and the only two things in life it loves are digging and killing things. It is a CR 16 creature with tremorsense, a host of condition immunities, is immune to nonmagical attacks that aren’t adamantine, can squeeze into small spaces, has Legendary Actions as well as a Multiattack with held and natural weapons, and with a rechargeable Drill attack that deals 15d6 force damage. It doesn’t want to kill the PCs initially, and will initially inflict enough harm and terror to drive down their morale. The Forge of the Ancestors is a special multi-room subsection of the dungeon that has a rolling boulder trap and several puzzles and skill checks required to activate it. Animated statues possessed by the souls of great artisans serve as the Forge’s archives and can mentor PCs in how to operate the massive device. Of course, nothing can be that simple. During the crafting process the undead hordes of the mountain will be attracted to the sound, arriving in waves. PCs can seal themselves within the Forge and wait them out until the crafting is done but they will need to leave eventually. In addition to undead fought earlier in the adventure we have new stat blocks for Zombie Clots (foul-smelling undead who can throw lumps of itself to damage and restrain), Throngs of Barrukhirrim (undead mob that acts like a grappling swarm), and Exploding Spore Zombies (weak zombies that explode upon death). Once the PCs leave the Silver Graves, they will come face to face with a very unhappy Czerina. She knows what they’ve been up to, and feeling betrayed will ask them why they’re seeking the “power of my enemies.” She will interrogate their motives, bringing up earlier conversations and shared dreams from the Mirror, and even her more manipulative actions she’ll view as having done the party a favor. She will ask the PCs to hand over the Forge weapons and drink her blood. PCs who accept this last offer lead the story into a Nonstandard Game Over, as her blood will enchant the characters and transform them into vampire spawn. If they refuse she will fight them. But not to the death; she will teleport back to the Cairn once she takes over 100 damage or if she knocks out most of the PCs. The party will level up, and from then on the Order of Blood will actively hunt them. [img]https://i.imgur.com/Ns4Eg0N.png[/img] [b]Chapter 9: the Ruins of Nemeth[/b] is our penultimate chapter, where the archdruid Mata Yezinka will find the PCs wherever they are and explain to them the next thing they must do in order to further dissolve Czerina’s remaining power. The Ruins of Nemeth are an island where Gulthias and his followers were first banished and is now home to a race of evil fey known as the Corrupted Sidhe. The PCs must venture to the ruins and convince them to renew their allegiance to the Court of Night and Twilight instead of their current ally Czerina. As to why, the Court is ruled by an Archfey known as the Queen of Terror, who the Corrupted Sidhe seek to summon into Wreythau. A being of such power will attract the attention of Czernobog, given that Czerina made a pact with her before the Dark Power. Czernobog will rightfully fear that she wishes to take his favored champion for herself. With the Blood Queen’s patron and former patron thus occupied, then Czerina’s soul can be claimed and re-entered into the cycle of reincarnation, robbing Wreythau of a Dark Lady and sending the land back to the Material Plane. Yezinka is cagey with this information due to the sensitive nature of what must be done, but PCs who detect she’s hiding something can learn it from her. In such a case, she will give the party the Soul Vessel, a magic item (that isn’t described in this adventure beyond being a pure plot device) that can trap Czerina’s soul and if released onto the Material Plane will let her reincarnate. Oddly enough, sensing Yezinka’s motives is the only way to get the Soul Vessel and thus the “good ending” of this campaign, which feels like a bit of an oversight if the only way this plan can work is if someone is physically present when Czerina dies. Certainly the archdruid would be aware that the PCs are one of the few people who can stand up to her! The Court of the Corrupted Sidhe is initially a role-playing encounter, where the fey nobles are hearing petitions from three different factions: the Reinwalds (those who are left alive), the Followers of Agrona (a more militant faction of the Beastfolk who seek no truce nor quarter with the rest of Wreythau), and the Court of the Blood Queen (represented by Beleroth and Ysemgrin). The PCs have 12 hours to speak with or fight the other factions in order to perform a process of elimination, as the Court has only enough patience to ally with one group. There’s a variety of ways the PCs can get the factions to renege on their deals and let the party bargain with the Fey. The Followers of Agrona are single-minded zealots and can only be persuaded via trial by combat, but the Reinwalds have a variety of means of resolution: a PC marrying into their family, Yasviga being the highest-ranking one if her siblings and parents are dead, or making the werewolves look bad in front of the fey. As for the Court of the Blood Queen, Beleroth may open up to the PCs if they earn his trust, revealing that he mourns the person Czerina has become but doesn’t want to see her soul lost. If the PCs reveal a way for her to pass on peacefully via Yezinka’s plan, that can earn his confidence and support, turning on Ysemgrin and helping the PCs during the final battle. However they go about it, PCs who prove themselves the worthiest group for an alliance can earn the Corrupted Sidhe’s confidence. The adventure is actually rather railroady in that earning their trust is something that must happen, but should be played off to the players as though there’s a chance of failure: Completing this chapter levels the PCs up to 12, which is not 1 but 2 levels! The only place left to go now is the Cairn for a final battle with Czerina! [b]Chapter 10: the Cairn[/b] is the final chapter of the Realm of the Blood Queen, and is pretty much one long multi-room battle against Czerina. First off, I’ll begin by posting a screenshot of the Dark Lady’s stat block: [img]https://i.imgur.com/xL4GTSw.png[/img] Czerina is a very powerful final encounter. You might notice one other factor: as the Forge of the Ancestors crafts weapons and not fancier things like wands or staves barring DM discretion,* this would mean that any sources of damage not utilizing said weapons won’t affect the Blood Queen. Which would include most spells. However, the “resistance to necrotic and poison damage” under The Mantle of Wreythau leaves me rather confused, as it implies that damage sources of these types can still deal half damage to her rather than 0. Characters reliant on spells, companions, and/or unarmed and natural weapons for damage are going to be at a distinct disadvantage here. Additionally, while she is CR 26 Czerina’s stats and attacks are calculated as though she has a Proficiency Bonus of +6 rather than +8. Then again, she’s powerful enough that this isn’t a big deal. *The adventure is overall pretty vague as to what exactly can be crafted in the Forge of the Ancestors. You might notice that her lair actions aren’t present. Every room (there are 6) in which the battle takes place has its own unique Lair Action: the entrance to the Cairn is preceded by a Road of Skulls which can grasp and restrain targets, the throne room can summon powerful gusts of wind, the arcane laboratory casts Cloudkill, etc. Every room also describes Czerina’s tactics, how many turns she’ll remain within, and what she’s most likely to say and do in them. The final portion of the battle should take place in an outdoor garden, and when the killing blow is struck sunlight will come on down, and her final words will be “the petals are so beautiful in the sunlight. I must show Teadora…” There’s additional descriptive text if the PCs have the Soul Vessel, where her corpse glows as a silver wisp rises from it into the urn. The Epilogue has brief descriptions for several possible endings. If Wreythau and Czerina are freed from the Domains of Dread then the land will gradually become more livable, the Beastfolk’s curse is lifted, and Czerina will reincarnate into the child of a loving family. The Old Faith will prosper if the Church of the Morning Lord is destroyed, and if a civil war was averted in Inbarev the Born and Crafted will live with each other on more peaceable terms. If the PCs failed to capture and thus liberate Czerina’s soul, Wreythau will remain a Domain of Dread although Czernobog will choose a new champion. And in such a land, there are many wicked folk who will eagerly rise to the occasion… If the PCs die in battle, they will be resurrected as slaves of the Blood Queen, sent to the Material Plane to spread her influence in a campaign of terror. [b]Appendix: the Mirror of Czerina Gavranova[/b] is the Tome of Strahd equivalent for Realm of the Blood Queen, the artifact showing a sequence of magical dreamlike visions that serve as social puzzles built off of Czerina’s life story in order to learn more about her. There are 7 different entries detailing her childhood up to her rise as the Blood Queen of Wreythau. The Mirror is also the only means in the campaign that the PCs can learn about Teadora Vadimovna, Czerina’s childhood friend who perished under vague circumstances. But it’s heavily implied that Czerina’s father killed her as an object lesson after finding his daughter and her friend playing a game pretending to be rulers after stealing his royal scepter. Some of the more interesting Entries include being tutors hired to train Czerina in the martial and magical arts; serving under Czerina’s war council during the foreign invasion, complete with a map of a small region and enemy camps where the PCs have to convince her on an ideal plan of action; and one where the PCs take the roles of assassins Czerina’s parents hired to kill their daughter while she was living with the druids, only for their efforts to fail. This isn’t just for character development. PCs who experience all of the Mirror Entries can stun Czerina for one round during the final encounter by mentioning something poignant from her past. [b]Thoughts So Far:[/b] Whereas the early campaign was slower and more methodical in giving the PCs many adventures and opportunities to explore the domain of Wreythau, the final four chapters speed things up quite rapidly. I can understand why, as this book is already rather lengthy, but it is a bit to its detriment in that the inevitable “turn on Czerina” adventure comes a bit too suddenly with the Silver Graves. The alliance with the fey needing a “victory” also feels a bit restrictive; the consequences for failure should simply lock the PCs out of the good ending, and maybe the distraction of Czernobog can further weaken Czerina in the final battle as a reward. The Forge of the Silver Graves needs a stronger hook, as well as more specifics on what can be crafted. As the scaling magic items which the PCs likely made use of during the campaign cannot be “enhanced” in the Forge, it may feel a bit of a letdown if such weapons cannot be used in the final fight. [b]Overall Thoughts:[/b] Realm of the Blood Queen is an ambitious module with a lot of interesting and cool features. The domain of Wreythau is a deep and multi-faceted island that has a world beyond that of the darklord’s own ambitions, which is a common factor in some of Ravenloft’s best official domains. While not a true sandbox, there’s a reasonable amount of open-ended paths and conclusions for PCs to feel like they have a hand in shaping the fate of Wreythau rather than the DM leading them around by the nose. While I have not had the opportunity to run or playtest it, the description of some of the more climactic and “boss” encounters paints the scene of interesting and dynamic battles. Even the more mundane stores and services in the major population centers have interesting features like the spell-imbued alcohol in Raffenburg, which makes exploring the cities and going shopping entertaining events in their own right. The ample maps are very DM-friendly, and the stellar artwork is a treat to look at. That being said, the adventure has several things holding it back. In spite of the sandboxy nature of several adventures there are portions where the railroad tracks come in suddenly, such as with the final chapters or the mandatory teleportation to the Cairn that happens twice. And in spite of the domain’s history having prominent druidic and nature themes, the bulk of the adventure takes place in urban population centers which I feel is a missed opportunity. And besides a few cases like in Chapter 9, many of the chapters feel a bit self-contained in that there aren’t explanations for what may happen if PCs call upon favors from allies made in prior adventures. The Beastfolk are really only bit players in Chapter 3 despite being a major factor in Wreythau’s history, while nothing is mentioned of what kinds of power and privilege PCs may be able to exert once they become rulers of Raffenburg. There’s also the fact that for much of the campaign, the quests Czerina sent the PCs on can be justifiably argued by certain gaming groups that she’s not the most dangerous threat to the domain. When the PCs first arrive in Wreythau it is the Church of the Morning Lord who serves as the major bad guy group, the ruling class of Raffenburg are okay with the city falling into poverty and suffering, and the Mad Alchemist of Inbarev is an unambiguously wicked ruler. Compare this to Curse of Strahd; even discounting the antagonist’s predatory obsession with Ireena, there are many opportunities the PCs have to see how Barovia’s people suffer under the vampire count. That adventure all but pushes the PCs into having an antagonistic relationship with Strahd unless they go out of their way to appease him. While I cannot fully judge the adventure without playing, overall I’d say it holds up as a strong module that gives a DM a lot to work with. The weak points are more easily fixable than having to change around huge swathes of the campaign in order for it to work. If this is Cayce Corday’s first foray into tabletop publishing, this is a truly impressive effort on their part. As for what I’ll review next? I’ve posted this on some forums but not others, but this is going to be my last Ravenloft review for October. I’ve been writing almost every day for most of this month, and looking back I posted 15 reviews in a little under 3 weeks. If I keep going I know that I’m going to hit some major writer’s burnout. It’s still a ways away, but I’d like to save some energy for eventually reviewing One Night Strahd, as well as Shadows of the Dragon Queen sometime this December or new year. But there are still some Ravenloft sourcebooks I feel deserve your attention, and even if I can’t do in-depth reviews I can at least give them shoutouts. But I’ll save that for the next post, for this one is long enough already. [/QUOTE]
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