Ilya Bossov
First Post
[Minor spoilers for Curse of Strahd]
A little bit of preface here: my players are exploring the Amber Temple, looking for a way to defeat Strahd for real, thus breaking the cycle of his reincarnation. They are aware that if they defeat him, he will only free Barovia for a month or so, and then will rise again with a new moon. Two of them are from Barovia, and that's not good enough. They're looking for a permanent solution.
Thus my campaign is deviating from the book. Unofficial lore dump follows.
In the library of Amber Temple, they found a ritual used to summon the Avatar of Thoth, the goddess of secrets and sarcasm who built this place, and who was a jailer during the War in the Heavens. The War ended in a peace treaty between Celestials and the Devils. The Devils' Iron Legions keep fighting the Demon Hordes and thus preserve all of creation. The "good" deities recognized the Demons as a mutual threat and sued for peace so that the Devils can put their undivided attention to the fight with the Demons. Thus Asmodeus and his Iron Legions became a necessary evil.
Most of the "good" deities recognized this move, but Thoth did not. She is thus 'neutral', hating the evildoers for things they've done in the past, and the 'good deities' for their duplicity. Thoth refused to free the prisoners of war contained within the temple after the treaty was signed, and hid the temple instead.
But the temple was stolen from her by the Twins: the Sun and the Moon, later known as Morninglord and Mother Night.
They're opposite and inseparable, like Ying and Yang. Their followers have clashed in the past and still do. At one point, they've tried to reconcile both faiths into one, but the attempt failed because of bad blood between the sects.
Rather than release the prisoners per the treaty, the Twins used them to create Barovia. In mortal terms, as a faith farm. One is a god of new beginnings and hope, the other is a goddess of monsters, madness and despair. Through the prisoners of the temple (known as Dark Powers), the Twins granted powers of an Avatar to the man known as Strahd von Zarovich, turning him into a vampire lord. They use him as a hero magnet, prevent him from leaving the place, and so long as more heroes show up to defeat him or be slain at his hand, waves of hope and despair feed the twins and the cycle of struggle continues.
In order to prevent Strahd from reincarnating, the players must first defeat him, then defeat two more gods(!) back to back. And one of the players is a cleric of Morninglord, entirely unaware of Morninglord's relationship to his insane twin sister.
Mortals can't slay a god. But if anyone knows a way, it would be Thoth, the goddess of secrets and snark.
When they summon Thoth, she'll offer them this solution.
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/S1ZLLZ5X24
After she kills them in a ritual, she will use this artifact to bring them back as angels, and grant them each a coin and free will to use it as they see fit.
The catch is, that after they're done with Strahd and Strahd's patron deities, she has a couple more gods for them to slay.
Asmodeus being one of them.
My plan is to send players to the Nine Hells after they're done with Barovia.
Thoughts?
A little bit of preface here: my players are exploring the Amber Temple, looking for a way to defeat Strahd for real, thus breaking the cycle of his reincarnation. They are aware that if they defeat him, he will only free Barovia for a month or so, and then will rise again with a new moon. Two of them are from Barovia, and that's not good enough. They're looking for a permanent solution.
Thus my campaign is deviating from the book. Unofficial lore dump follows.
In the library of Amber Temple, they found a ritual used to summon the Avatar of Thoth, the goddess of secrets and sarcasm who built this place, and who was a jailer during the War in the Heavens. The War ended in a peace treaty between Celestials and the Devils. The Devils' Iron Legions keep fighting the Demon Hordes and thus preserve all of creation. The "good" deities recognized the Demons as a mutual threat and sued for peace so that the Devils can put their undivided attention to the fight with the Demons. Thus Asmodeus and his Iron Legions became a necessary evil.
Most of the "good" deities recognized this move, but Thoth did not. She is thus 'neutral', hating the evildoers for things they've done in the past, and the 'good deities' for their duplicity. Thoth refused to free the prisoners of war contained within the temple after the treaty was signed, and hid the temple instead.
But the temple was stolen from her by the Twins: the Sun and the Moon, later known as Morninglord and Mother Night.
They're opposite and inseparable, like Ying and Yang. Their followers have clashed in the past and still do. At one point, they've tried to reconcile both faiths into one, but the attempt failed because of bad blood between the sects.
Rather than release the prisoners per the treaty, the Twins used them to create Barovia. In mortal terms, as a faith farm. One is a god of new beginnings and hope, the other is a goddess of monsters, madness and despair. Through the prisoners of the temple (known as Dark Powers), the Twins granted powers of an Avatar to the man known as Strahd von Zarovich, turning him into a vampire lord. They use him as a hero magnet, prevent him from leaving the place, and so long as more heroes show up to defeat him or be slain at his hand, waves of hope and despair feed the twins and the cycle of struggle continues.
In order to prevent Strahd from reincarnating, the players must first defeat him, then defeat two more gods(!) back to back. And one of the players is a cleric of Morninglord, entirely unaware of Morninglord's relationship to his insane twin sister.
Mortals can't slay a god. But if anyone knows a way, it would be Thoth, the goddess of secrets and snark.
When they summon Thoth, she'll offer them this solution.
https://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/S1ZLLZ5X24
After she kills them in a ritual, she will use this artifact to bring them back as angels, and grant them each a coin and free will to use it as they see fit.
The catch is, that after they're done with Strahd and Strahd's patron deities, she has a couple more gods for them to slay.
Asmodeus being one of them.
My plan is to send players to the Nine Hells after they're done with Barovia.
Thoughts?
