HawaiiSteveO
Blistering Barnacles!
These sorts of threads tend to flop, but thought I'd give it a try and get some ideas.
I'm running CoS for the second time around, and was started to get jaded with it. It seemed odd to me that Strahd would just sit around and let adventurers wander across his land, collecting items and getting stronger for nothing more than entertainment.
I decided to chuck that out the window, and came up with a new goal for Strahd. It's mixed in with the current plot, so spoiler alert.
In summary, Strahd has been trapped in Barovia for thousands of years. Countless groups of adventurers have come to challenge him. He's killed countless parties, and has also been blasted with the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind countless times, whaled on with the sun sword, and on and on. If he's killed, he comes back.
He's also lost several incarnations of Tatyana, and can never truly bring her back. He also occasionally weeps for Sergei, and regrets what he did. All of this combined is the Curse of Strahd.
So - now what. He wants OUT, and is willing to play the long game to do it. Inspired by the Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow, Strahd has been refining his plan over successive attempts and learning from them each time, Every time he dies he gets to try again, his memory does not reset.
The Vestiges at the Amber Temple may or may not be aware of this plan - after all one or more of them may have an interest in leaving Barovia as well...
So here's the current set up - on of the PC's has Rictavio's ring of mind shielding, with Rictavio's soul in it. Strahd is basically going to threaten / cajole the PC to give the ring to him, or steal / take it from them. After that the adventure continues as normal, and the party puts on a show exploring the castle etc and having epic fight with Strahd. During this fight, Strahd takes a dive and his soul enters the ring. After he dies the party takes the ring back with them, and Strahd escapes. Sure he's stuck in the ring, but he's out and deciding what to do with him after sounds interesting.
Few questions pop up - aside from bullying them into it (I'll kill you now if you don't) why would party co-operate?The tables turn if / when they have Strahd's soul in the ring, but he's willing to take that chance. He lives forever, so can just wait until the PCS die and someone finds the ring and so on.
Do the vestiges know? They're not omnipotent / omnipresent. If they do know, so what?
Rictavio's soul is in the ring, and Strahd killed him. That's a problem... unless they kind find a new body for him. He for sure won't want to co-operate with Strahd on anything.
In any case, appreciate some thoughts . . !
I'm running CoS for the second time around, and was started to get jaded with it. It seemed odd to me that Strahd would just sit around and let adventurers wander across his land, collecting items and getting stronger for nothing more than entertainment.
I decided to chuck that out the window, and came up with a new goal for Strahd. It's mixed in with the current plot, so spoiler alert.
In summary, Strahd has been trapped in Barovia for thousands of years. Countless groups of adventurers have come to challenge him. He's killed countless parties, and has also been blasted with the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind countless times, whaled on with the sun sword, and on and on. If he's killed, he comes back.
He's also lost several incarnations of Tatyana, and can never truly bring her back. He also occasionally weeps for Sergei, and regrets what he did. All of this combined is the Curse of Strahd.
So - now what. He wants OUT, and is willing to play the long game to do it. Inspired by the Tom Cruise movie Edge of Tomorrow, Strahd has been refining his plan over successive attempts and learning from them each time, Every time he dies he gets to try again, his memory does not reset.
The Vestiges at the Amber Temple may or may not be aware of this plan - after all one or more of them may have an interest in leaving Barovia as well...
So here's the current set up - on of the PC's has Rictavio's ring of mind shielding, with Rictavio's soul in it. Strahd is basically going to threaten / cajole the PC to give the ring to him, or steal / take it from them. After that the adventure continues as normal, and the party puts on a show exploring the castle etc and having epic fight with Strahd. During this fight, Strahd takes a dive and his soul enters the ring. After he dies the party takes the ring back with them, and Strahd escapes. Sure he's stuck in the ring, but he's out and deciding what to do with him after sounds interesting.
Few questions pop up - aside from bullying them into it (I'll kill you now if you don't) why would party co-operate?The tables turn if / when they have Strahd's soul in the ring, but he's willing to take that chance. He lives forever, so can just wait until the PCS die and someone finds the ring and so on.
Do the vestiges know? They're not omnipotent / omnipresent. If they do know, so what?
Rictavio's soul is in the ring, and Strahd killed him. That's a problem... unless they kind find a new body for him. He for sure won't want to co-operate with Strahd on anything.
In any case, appreciate some thoughts . . !
