D&D 5E Curse of Strahd help

[Wepwawet]

We have no cleric or paladin (side note: how do we use the Holy Symbol when the time comes?), so nobody has shown any interest in the church. I've seen it suggested on these boards that it's good to allow the attack on the church to occur rather than pushing the players to restore St. Andral's bones, and unless the PCs push in that direction I'm inclined to do that.

In my group, the druid took Magic Initiate: Cleric, to get some more radiant magic (Sacred Flame, basically), cause otherwise the only thing they all had was this druid's Moonbeam (2nd lvl spell). I played it as him having a chat with Father Lucian in Vallaki and learning a few tricks. And now he can use cleric-only items.

They had a fight with a vampire spawn, Doru, and noticed that radiant damage is really really useful against vampires. I then suggested that feat when they reached 4th level.

If they hadn't, I'd forget about the class limitation and let anyone use the Holy Symbol... Maybe with less power.

In my group Ismark and Ireena knew something about there being a Holy relic in the church, the they went straight there, and then learned about the missing bones etc. But if they're not interested then skip ahead.

May I suggest that when Strahd charms you (you'll "fail" the save, obvs.), he asks you where Ireena is.
That way they'll be forced to move her to a safer destination, and someone will tell them about this sacred place in the mountains to the west.

 

[pukunui]

So, in thinking more about tonight's session, it has occurred to me that Strahd can't actually help the PCs fight the revenants because he can't enter Argynvostholt without an invitation, and he's certainly not going to get one from Vladimir or any of his knights. He could potentially ask the PCs to invite him in, but the last time he tried that, the PC in question demurred, saying that it wasn't his house and thus didn't have the authority to invite him in (as this PC was charmed, Strahd just asked him to come outside instead ...).

What I'm thinking he might do is smash open one of the windows and then ask to be let in. If no one lets him in, then he'll just hover outside, shooting fireballs in at the revenants. (I'm going to give him the evoker's ability to sculpt his spells, too, so he can leave the PCs out of the fireballs as a way of showing them that he's on their side ...)

Assuming the PCs survive, I'll have Ezmerelda show up shortly after. The players want to go all the way back to Madam Eva to get her to do another card reading so they can find out where the sword is now, and I thought it would be easier just to have Ezmerelda do it, and then they don't have to bypass all the stuff going on in Vallaki and that.

If it looks like a TPK even with Strahd's help, I might have Ezmerelda bust in to save the day too.

 

[texastoast]

We had another positive session yesterday. I was all set to have the monkey performing in the street to draw them to Blinsky's, but the first thing they did after leaving Madam Eva's was head back up to Luvash and Arrabelle to ask after the prophecies, and they pointed them to Blinsky. Then they had the meeting with Strahd; I took Wepwawet's advice and had my charmed character reveal to Strahd (after the other characters refused to tell him) where Ireena was, and that got the story moved along pretty quickly. They ran into Rictavio heading to the tower as they were headed back to Vallaki, and I decided that their meeting Madam Eva and getting a visit from Strahd made them interesting enough to Rictavio that he told them where he was headed.

In Vallaki they made a beeline for Blinsky's (after stopping for a short rest in the Inn, since my character was at 2hp after being bitten by Strahd and the subsequent fight with the wolves). They tried really hard to buy the Ireena doll, really taxing my ability to roleplay a fairly thin character and maintain his accent. They're very reticent to tell anybody directly about the card reading results, so it took a while for them to figure out that Madam Eva was talking about Rictavio, not Blinsky, as their ally, but they got there. As they left, they met Ismark coming up from the Burgomaster's looking for them, Izek having kidnapped Ireena that afternoon. Together then they put together that Ireena and Izek were probably related, and headed to the mansion. Izek gave them more room for the PCs to talk to him and convince him than maybe made sense for his character, but that was the resolution I really wanted. We pointed out that Strahd knew Ireena was there, and the seven of us (party plus Ireena, Ismark, and Izek, who's going to protect Ireena forever now) headed for the tower. The Burgomaster tried to stop us, but Izek stood up to him, and they both knew the guards couldn't stop Izek; the Burgomaster hollered a "I'll have your heads for this" as we left the mansion, which got called out for being Scooby Doo-ish.

When they reached the tower they set off the lightning trap one time, then after it subsided Rictavio hollered out some help from the window. They still set off the blue dragon, but quickly got the door open to dismiss it. I probably should have played that slightly differently, going into rounds as soon as the dragon appeared. I kind of panicked though; the only thing I could imagine the dragon doing was breathe lightning, which would have been devastating, and I'm very gunshy about killing off my party. So while I was trying to work that out they got the door open, so I just let it be. They all got to the top of the tower, talked with Rictavio, and after they convinced him he's their ally he removed his hat and introduced himself. They talked about some of the other card readings, which got Krezk into their vocabulary (he suggested it could be the "fortress," and it's one of the only places outside Ravenloft that might have legitimate crypts). Then, as it was just about dark, Ezmerelda showed up. Just as she got upstairs, we heard werewolf howls from outside, and I called it a night because I wasn't prepared to handle either of those things yet.

So now we have NINE people in the tower, and I don't know where the party is going to want to go next. The druid is out of spells and my character is stuck at half health after the Strahd bite, plus Ezmerelda is jacked up, so we're highly motivated to stay the night for a long rest in the tower. I'm not sure if the werewolves will allow that. And I don't know where they will choose to go next. Krezk seems like a possible safe destination for Ireena &c, and I'd be happy to get them to do the Wizard of Wines quest (which they've heard once from Urwin). The other places they've been pointed toward are the Castle (crypts) and the Amber Temple. I don't think they have any more interest in Vallaki. They're very focused now on the card reading information. Ezmerelda can probably both give them information about the Castle and discourage them going there yet. I don't know whether I should nudge them toward destinations, or try to be prepared for every possibility.

What should I do about Vallaki now? Assuming they don't pass through in the next couple days, there's a lot going on there without them. The Festival doesn't really matter, but Strahd is still set to attack the Church, and now he thinks Ireena is there as well. The Burgomaster's power has been neutered with Izek out of the picture. I didn't introduce Wachterhaus and the associated politics, but I could still have Lady Wachter usurp the Baron's power while the party is away, probably after Strahd attacks. Basically, is Vallaki going to be in ruins, either physically or functionally, the next time they visit? What makes the best story for the PCs going forward?

 

[Wepwawet]

What should I do about Vallaki now? Assuming they don't pass through in the next couple days, there's a lot going on there without them. The Festival doesn't really matter, but Strahd is still set to attack the Church, and now he thinks Ireena is there as well. The Burgomaster's power has been neutered with Izek out of the picture. I didn't introduce Wachterhaus and the associated politics, but I could still have Lady Wachter usurp the Baron's power while the party is away, probably after Strahd attacks. Basically, is Vallaki going to be in ruins, either physically or functionally, the next time they visit? What makes the best story for the PCs going forward?

Vallaki in ruins? Definitely not. You don't need to keep all the plots running, especially the ones the players didn't notice.
Did they get any hint about the stolen relics? If so, go ahead with the attack and then remind them that they did hear about it.
If not, up to you, but why not, let the attack happen and then Lady Wachter takes the power from the Baron. That's why Strahd put those vampire spawn there, to destabilize the town. The church may be ruined, but the town will go on, same sorry lives. Devil worshipers as militia men, crazy festivals replaced by public readings of Lady Wachter's book or devil worship...

Then again, it's most likely that they never come back to Vallaki again, or even think about it. They didn't seem to be that interested in the first place, so don't worry too much

 

[Wepwawet]

Now I need your help...

My players have just left Vallaki, went to Krezk to leave Ireena, but right after went to the Wizard of Wines to "buy" their way into Krezk.

However they never felt curious about Rictavio at all, or his wagon... And I did mention it several times, like on their last day 2 of them went shopping in Arasek stockyard, "where the carnival wagon is", and the prices in this place "with the carnival wagon" were 5 times higher, and "the wagon of the half elf with a big feather on his hat", etc etc. I did mention it several times but nothing

A previous day in the tavern I made Rictavio approach them asking where they come from, and because they're foreigners whether they visited Mme Eva who's a great seer, and what did she say, and interpreted the cards for them.

My problem is that he's important for one character: the Human Monk with the Urchin background is in fact Vistani, from the clan that Van Richten killed.
When they met Mme Eva she told him that, and that his clan was killed by a necromancer and/or zombies. So I want their paths to cross somehow. I could even merge him with Ezmeralda... somehow.

I'm thinking of them finding the ruins of a Vistani camp, and the Monk remembers flashes of the attack...

Meanwhile, I have another player who's a half-elf, child of a Dusk Elf, both father and mother killed when she was young. Now she's with Kasimir in the Vallaki camp, learning about their history (she missed last session, so we played this over our group chat).

I'm thinking about sending Rictavio and his wagon to the camp to release the tiger and kill all Vistani there. Kasimir will ask for help with the Amber Temple, they leave the camp together go to meet the other characters, and when they are arriving at Svalich road they'll see the wagon going towards the camp. And then much later, Kasimir will get the news.

Plus, they're so goal focused that they'll hardly wander into VR's tower... Maybe I should place it next to Tsolenka Pass, like what Chris Perkins did in Dice, Camera, Action.

What do you guys think? Any ideas on how to make Van Richten more relevant?

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=56398]Wepwawet[/MENTION]: Those seem like good ideas. I'd run with that.

Last session, my group kinda flailed about a bit. One PC got killed by the revenants, while the other two escaped. I offered the dead PC a dark gift and he came back to life without a mouth (and the ability to use telepathy). After that, they explored a little more of the ground floor of Argynvostholt, encountering the living flame, Savid the wounded elf, and the three revenants in the chapel. They managed to defeat those three using holy water - the rogue's player wanted to dip her ammo in a vial of holy water. I allowed her to get an extra d4 radiant damage on 10 pieces of ammo.

You'll note that I didn't end up having Strahd show up. I'm not sure why. It just didn't feel right, I guess. Plus, it didn't take long for the PCs to decide to flee.

I then had Ezmerelda show up as they were leaving. They caught her up on stuff and the conversation worked out in such a way that I was able to have her offer to do a card reading to relocate the lost sword in a believable way. So they accompanied her back to her wagon at van Richten's tower. Along the way they met a party of Vistani, and I got to show off the Vistani curse, with one guy taking offense at the fighter's telepathic insults. He cursed the fighter so he now has a fake mouth on his mouthless face. They urged the PCs to go to the castle before wandering off.

Back at the tower, it took a few pulls to get a viable card but we ended up with the sword at the River Ivlis crossroads. Not that exciting, but at least it's out of the way. I was pleasantly surprised, as well, when one of my players recalled there being a small cemetery by the gallows they'd passed at the first crossroads. I didn't think any of them were paying that close attention!

Anyway, after they'd taken a long rest at the tower, one of the PCs convinced the others to go in search of the mad mage they'd heard about. They skirted around Vallaki and took the boats across the lake and wandered around until they found him as a stag. They fought him and he had to use time stop to get away. They followed his stag tracks around the mountainside for a bit and then gave up and went back to Vallaki.

Since it was daylight, I read them the description of the Wachterhaus (the last time they'd passed it was in the night), and they immediately decided to investigate. They had no luck convincing anyone to let them in, so they circled around and picked the lock on the cellar door and discovered the skeletons and cultists, killing them all handily.

And now I'm not sure what to do next ... Lady Wachter is no good in combat herself, and she only has Ernst to protect her now. I am thinking of having Strahd show up with some minions, even though it's day time.

How do you think Lady Wachter would react to having people break into her dungeon and kill her minions? Would she try to talk them round and get them onside in hopes of turning them against the baron? Or would she get angry and attack suicidally? Or run away? Or what?

I'm really not sure how to proceed from here ...

 

[Savage Wombat]

You could just let them beat Lady Wachter at this point - don't even bother have her fight, if it's a foregone conclusion. Make the players either murder her in cold blood or try to arrest her. (Could be fun.) If you want to make a more fun fight, remember she's a demonologist (diabolist?) and you could always give her a more powerful ally.

My players had her assassinated, because they were unhappy with her cult running the town - but the next time they came by a Mr. Vasili van Holz had dropped by with his two new girlfriends, Ms. Vallakovich and Lady Wachter's crazy daughter. This was the encounter that led to the party exiting in haste, accidentally leaving the party rogue behind by herself.

(I ended the game at that point, ran the rest of the fight with the rogue solo and made the rest of the party wait until next week to find out what happened. And then they couldn't find her for an hour of play time...)

 

[texastoast]

[MENTION=56398]Wepwawet[/MENTION], is Van Richten particularly important outside of the reveal that he was behind the death of that one character's clan? I get the impression the answer is "no." In that case, my instinct is that you should rather introduce the idea that the person behind the death of his clan is here in Barovia, and gradually drop clues to his identity, assuming they take that bait. (I suppose this loses its punch if the characters are Barovian.) If you do that, how much does it matter to the PCs that he is Van Richten, Monster Hunter? It might actually make it a more exciting reveal if this person they have been (I presume) looking for all this time turns out to be the unassuming bard with whom they've crossed paths a bunch of times.

I suppose the way you want to play up Rictavio and nudge the players toward him depends on what kind of reaction you want them to have to him when they put it all together. I think whether you want him to be a villain in your characters' story, or whether you want to make his story somewhat redemptive, either way you can use the tiger attack you suggested. If it happens off-camera as you described, Rictavio really comes off as a murderor, reinforcing the "he murdered my family with zombies" narrative. Or you could have Arrigal and some Strahd-aligned Vistani ambush the party for some reason (ideally in a predictable place like the Vallaki camp) and have Rictavio and the tiger rescue them, mostly out of good timing. That would play up the "Vistani are evil and allied with vampires" angle and make it more natural for the players to find him sympathetic.

How do you think Lady Wachter would react to having people break into her dungeon and kill her minions? Would she try to talk them round and get them onside in hopes of turning them against the baron? Or would she get angry and attack suicidally? Or run away? Or what?

I definitely don't think she would go unhinged and attack. I view Lady Wachter as a patient, intelligent schemer, like an even-more-evil Mom from Futurama. If her cult was destroyed, she would begin fashioning her next scheme. It may be less interesting for the players, but I think she would essentially fade away as a major player in Vallaki politics for the time being while she set up her next long con. Maybe she forges a relationship with the werewolves to pick off and demoralize the town guard. Maybe she somehow feeds the myth that Lake Zarovich requires sacrifices to provide fish, and gets the townspeople all riled up to the point that they sacrifice Izek, or the Baron himself.

I suppose the more immediate question is what would Lady Wachter do if the characters confront her about the cult in her cellar. Again, since I see her as a conniving con artist, maybe she turns the tables by thanking the characters for ridding her of the cultists. Maybe she claims that she didn't know about them, or that they were in some sense imprisoning her in her home, or that she couldn't say anything for fear of what demonic ritual they would perform against her or, gasp, what they would have done to the town. Priest stats notwithstanding, I see her as highly intelligent and charismatic, if insane, so she should be able to plausibly deceive people if she chooses to.

 

[pukunui]

You could just let them beat Lady Wachter at this point - don't even bother have her fight, if it's a foregone conclusion. Make the players either murder her in cold blood or try to arrest her. (Could be fun.)

Yeah, even though there are only three of them at the moment, they're all level 6 now, so the only real challenge for them in Vallaki is the vampire spawn.

If you want to make a more fun fight, remember she's a demonologist (diabolist?) and you could always give her a more powerful ally.

I've thought about allowing her to summon a more powerful devil than an imp. It's definitely a possibility. I still think having Strahd show up might be the better option. But I could save him for the attack on the church instead. I could have him trigger that as a response to them ending Lady Wachter's threat.

I definitely don't think she would go unhinged and attack. I view Lady Wachter as a patient, intelligent schemer, like an even-more-evil Mom from Futurama. If her cult was destroyed, she would begin fashioning her next scheme. It may be less interesting for the players, but I think she would essentially fade away as a major player in Vallaki politics for the time being while she set up her next long con. Maybe she forges a relationship with the werewolves to pick off and demoralize the town guard. Maybe she somehow feeds the myth that Lake Zarovich requires sacrifices to provide fish, and gets the townspeople all riled up to the point that they sacrifice Izek, or the Baron himself.

Yeah, I don't think she'd really go all suicidal on them either. She's a smart lady. I wonder, though - in my game, she's got the Tome of Strahd. I figured maybe Strahd lost it at some point and either she came across it or one of her ancestors did. Anyway, I wonder if she might be willing to use it as a bargaining chip. Do you think she'd offer to give it to the PCs if they agree to spare her life?

One of the reasons they've come to Vallaki is to find the tome (although they don't know that's what they're looking for, the card indicating the knowledge of the enemy has led them to Lady Wachter's door), but another reason is to find a wedding dress for the Abbot so they can get Ismark raised from the dead. Perhaps I could arrange it so Lady Wachter's had some divine insights into this and she knows that the PCs are looking for such a thing and she just so happens to know that the baroness has one ...

I suppose the more immediate question is what would Lady Wachter do if the characters confront her about the cult in her cellar. Again, since I see her as a conniving con artist, maybe she turns the tables by thanking the characters for ridding her of the cultists. Maybe she claims that she didn't know about them, or that they were in some sense imprisoning her in her home, or that she couldn't say anything for fear of what demonic ritual they would perform against her or, gasp, what they would have done to the town. Priest stats notwithstanding, I see her as highly intelligent and charismatic, if insane, so she should be able to plausibly deceive people if she chooses to.

Yeah, I like that. Thanks. I'll see if I can convincingly pass her off as a harmless old lady who was being blackmailed.

 

[texastoast]

Yeah, I don't think she'd really go all suicidal on them either. She's a smart lady. I wonder, though - in my game, she's got the Tome of Strahd. I figured maybe Strahd lost it at some point and either she came across it or one of her ancestors did. Anyway, I wonder if she might be willing to use it as a bargaining chip. Do you think she'd offer to give it to the PCs if they agree to spare her life?

One of the reasons they've come to Vallaki is to find the tome (although they don't know that's what they're looking for, the card indicating the knowledge of the enemy has led them to Lady Wachter's door), but another reason is to find a wedding dress for the Abbot so they can get Ismark raised from the dead. Perhaps I could arrange it so Lady Wachter's had some divine insights into this and she knows that the PCs are looking for such a thing and she just so happens to know that the baroness has one ...

Lady Wachter having the Tome raises a lot of questions, actually, if you're playing her character more or less as written. How would she have the Tome? She's an open supporter of Strahd's, so you wouldn't expect her to keep it against his wishes, and Strahd is highly motivated to get the Tome back in his possession if he learns somebody (the PCs at least) has it. Would she have kept her possession of the book secret from Strahd? That seems a foolishly dangerous game to play, especially if she is willing to use it as a bargaining chip. Does she not know the import of the book? That seems possible, I guess, but it would prevent her from suggesting giving the Tome to the PCs; they would have to request it from her, and their interest would clue her in. Is she in communication with Strahd? If not, it's more plausible that she has the Tome, since she wouldn't be able to share that fact with him. But again, would she bargain with it? That seems like a good tactic on her part only if she could turn right around and tell Strahd about these interlopers with his Tome.

I really like the idea of Lady Wachter using the Tome as a bargaining chip, which is why I went through all these scenarios, but I think you need to satisfy yourself on the underlying RP logic. I think if I were a player and I found the Tome in a chest in Wachterhaus, I wouldn't think of these questions, but if I was trying to roleplay through the bargaining session with her, I think some of this would occur to me.