WARNING SPOILERS GALORE If you're worried about spoilers for Curse of Strahd, then don't read this thread.
So this will be the thread where I post recaps of my campaign. It’s also the place where I’ll post questions about CoS and about the 5e 2014 rules. I used to be fairly familiar with the system, but it has been 3-4 years since I last really dug into the books.
I think that our group is exceptional in only one way really; everyone insists on playing in-person with actual dice and a real table, which I love. The downside to this is that scheduling a session can be a pain in the butt. Our first session will happen in December or January, schedules permitting, but I’ve already sent out a primer.
Here’s the primer I sent out:
Curse of Strahd is a Gothic Horror Campaign with some very dark themes. Not nearly as deadly as the DCC campaign. Similar in lethality as the Isle of Dread campaign. It’s different from both because it is much more dependent on roleplaying with NPCs.
Most, maybe all, of your goals will be determined and influenced by your interactions with NPCs. Who you talk to and how you interact with them matters.
There are dozens and dozens of NPCs that have been partially or fully described in the book. Each with their personalities and agendas.
There will be situations where the party will be presented with dilemmas that have no clearcut answer. It’ll probably be a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils.
SPOILER: The spell Greater Restoration cures Madness. The spells Greater Restoration and Remove Curse cures Lycanthropy.
SPOILER: There are a few situations that can turn your PC Alignment permanently Evil and your stuck with it. You’ll have to decide if you want to stop playing that PC or roleplay as Evil. I’ll give major hints that this may happen before your choices put you in this situation.
CHARACTER CREATION
Start at level 3rd and Use Point Buy for Stats.
Normal starting equipment plus 200gp. A weapon or 10 arrows can be “silvered” for 100gp. (I’ll explain it later if you don’t know what that means)
This game uses milestone leveling, so you need to accomplish goals.
Your characters start in Forgotten Realms. All races and classes available from FR.
Choose your alignment. No evil alignment.
Choose trait/flaw/ideal/bond. These may evolve and change throughout the campaign.
DETAILS DISCUSSED IN THE FIRST SESSION
Briefly describe your backstory. Why did they choose to become that Class and Subclass? Maybe some description of their early adventures.
Determine connection to each other. How long have you known each other? What’s your relationship to each other? Why are you all together in Daggerford?
The initial scene takes place within a tavern in the town of Daggerford, which is south of Waterdeep (sword coast region).
Right now, my main question has to do with 5e (2014) rules and it’s a rather broad one. I limited player options to the PHB, Tasha’s, and Xathanar’s books. Do I need to worry about any OP character builds? I’m sure a few players will comb reddit, youtube, etc. I’m fine with this, but I do worry about power disparity within the group.
Right now, my main question has to do with 5e (2014) rules and it’s a rather broad one. I limited player options to the PHB, Tasha’s, and Xathanar’s books. Do I need to worry about any OP character builds? I’m sure a few players will comb reddit, youtube, etc. I’m fine with this, but I do worry about power disparity within the group.
You may want to ban the Twilight domain cleric subclass from Tasha's. It is widely regarded as OP, and I'm not sure its shareable darkvision feature will play nicely with the gothic horror theme.
To be honest, the next time I run Curse of Strahd, I intend to severely limit access to darkvision. I strongly feel 5e's darkvision ruins the gothic horror vibe. If I don't limit species to just humans and halflings, I may just say that the PCs' darkvision doesn't work in Barovia or else it is limited to 5 feet or something.
I'd also probably limit the group to one cleric or paladin. More than that, and you might find the party too well-equipped to deal with all the undead creatures.
I might also ban things like Leomund's Tiny Hut. The PCs should need to visit a town to feel able to rest safely. Out in the wilderness of Barovia, they should feel under threat from Strahd's spies and minions.
Roos the Dark Elf, Rogue Swashbuckler. Neutral. Feeling stifled by the oppressive nature of his homeland, Roos joined up with some pirates on the surface world as a means for survival. He’s an interpreter for Yor, whose peculiar speech patterns can be difficult to understand at times.
Yor the Kenku, Warlock Hexblade. Chaotic Good. [Instead of doing the mimicry thing, the player decided to use the various AI voices in his phone. It varies from male to female. It’s entertaining and interesting to watch him overcome this obstacle. Unfortunately, I can’t remember much else about the character.]
Smugly the Dragonborn (red), Monk Way of the Hand. Neutral. The greedy Dragonborn dreams of sleeping on a big pile of gold just like a big boy dragon [Player created the character on the spot, so not much else is known. This player loves to be the “wild card.” Guaranteed shenanigans.]
Moss Corgwin the Human, Druid Circle of Spores. Neutral. A bloated sack of a man who is surrounded by a plume of musty spores. Also, his skin is covered in green patches of moss. [Player disappointed that I barred Evil Alignment. If anyone betrays the group, then my money’s on him.]
Wildthorn Glimmerbranch the Wood Elf, Cleric Light Domain. Chaotic Good. Has a background working with rangers doing controlled burns. Devout follower of the Elven Pantheon. Seeks to provide the purifying light of fire to everyone and everything. [Player has warned that “I’m not a healbot!” when the other PCs decided not to buy healing potions.]
Stephen’s Character. Couldn’t make it to the first session. He’ll be introduced when the time comes.
It was summer on the Savage Coast and the late afternoon sun warmed the inhabitants of Daggerfall. The characters were in Froggy’s Smithy, picking up some weapons that they paid to get silvered. Outside of the smithy, the general cacophony of noise could be heard as merchants hawked their wares and potential buyers milled about.
“Yep! These weapons shoul’be good fer yer werewuuulves or fer yer weretiiigers and whatnot. Also ‘ffective ‘gainst yer demuuuns. Or was it devils? Ahh, can’t ‘member. Whatever. Uh hundred gold a’piece. Heh-hmm.” Froggy declared.
As the characters forked over the gold, a clop-clop-clop of a horse was heard just outside of the smithy’s open door. The clopping stopped and a colorfully dressed human male was seen tying a dusty, lathered horse to a post. The human glanced up at the party and he seemed to recognize them, even though the group had never seen the man before. He made his way through the open doors of the smithy.
The man had a wiry build and wore a red tunic. His long dark hair was tied back, and he sported a trimmed goatee, all of which was proceeded by a prominent nose. On his head he wore a cavalier’s hat with a light blue feather jutting along the side of it. For armaments he had a short sword, several daggers that were visible, and a crossbow that peeked over his left shoulder. His entire person was covered in dust and grime, presumably from traveling along the road.
The dusty man sauntered slowly towards the group with a scroll case in hand. “My name is Arrigal and I have been sent to you to deliver this message.” He handed the message to Smugly, who happened to be closest to him. He spoke with a Slavic accent to the best of the DM’s abilities. “If you be creatures of honor, you will come to my master’s aid at first light. For it is not advisable to travel through the woods at night or I would say to go now. For my master’s sake, at first light travel the east road from here for some five hours through the woods. There you will find my master in the village of Barovia. If there be nothing else, I must hasten home. As I said, the woods are dangerous and daylight’s burning.”
A short conversation ensues. The group wants to return with him, but Arrigal explains that he is in a rush, and they would only slow him down. Exit Arrigal, stage right.
Smugly, proud of the fact that he can read, read the letter aloud: Hail to thee of might and valor.
I, a lowly servant of Barovia, send honor to thee. We plead for thy so desperately needed assistance.
The love of my life, Ireena Kolyana, has been afflicted by an evil so deadly that even the good people of our village cannot protect her. She languishes from her wound, and I would have her saved from this menace.
There is much wealth in this community. I offer all that might be had to thee and thy fellows if thou shalt but answer my desperate plea.
Come quickly, for her time is at hand! All that I have shall be thine!
Kolyan Indirovich Burgomaster
After he exited, Froggy informed them that Arrigal was probably a Vistani since he mentioned Barovia. The Vistani come into Daggerfall from time to time to trade. They usually travel in groups though, not individually like this guy. The characters also questioned others. Here’s what they found out
*The Vistani are traders. They especially like to buy wine.
*One person mentioned that they’re thieves. No convincing story to back this, just heard from a guy who heard from a guy.
*Another person mentioned that they’re superstitious. Again, a repeated rumor.
*No one has ever been to village of Barovia.
The group decided to take up the offer. They would leave at first light, so they found lodging in the church of Corellon Larethian, thanks to the acolyte Wildthorn. Their sleep was restless as they all shared the same prophetic dream.
The images flickered between two visions. In the first vision, it was a black void that contained five cards being flipped over in sequence. The second vision showed the group within the confines of a colorful tent. The dreamer saw this from the perspective of overhead.
As the dream flickered back and forth from these two visions, the group was shown in various states: Sometimes the five of them were in perfect health, sometimes they had new scars, sometimes the group had a different member, sometimes several different members, sometimes it showed [Stephen’s Character] there.
In this second vision, the group sat on the ground around a low table covered in black velvet. At the other side of the table sat an ancient woman who was flipping each card. As the card was flipped, she would tap the card and mouthed words to the group. Apparently, she was explaining what each card meant, but there was no sound in this dream.
Here’s the cards that were flipped:
CARD 1
CARD 2
CARD 3
CARD 4
CARD 5
The group woke and shared their dream. Cue the stilted improv for the sake of exposition. I’ll spare you the details, but it’s important to say that everybody shared the fact that they all had the same dream.
After eating some gruel, the group travelled along the Eastern Road to the forest. Everything was fine and dandy, birds were chirping, and the sun was shining. Everyone was quite happy, except the Dark Elf of course. Shortly after their midday meal, that all changed. That’s when a thick mist creeped in and surrounded the group, growing ever thicker.
The group sensed that this was unnatural, as it grew so thick that vision was hampered by it. They also noticed that there was no longer any ambient sound from the forest. They held hands and decided to stay put, which they quickly discovered was a mistake as some of them grew ill from the mist. That’s when they ran for it and the mist eventually receded.
The group now found themselves along a muddy road in a forest of entirely different nature. It was still mid-afternoon, but the sky was overcast. Different trees filled the forest, ones that were spare of leaves and seemed to claw at the sky above. Moss Corgwin also made another perturbing discovery, they were now heading west along the road, even though they were heading east before the mist. Everyone was quite gloomy now, except the Dark Elf of course who no longer suffered the ill effects of sunlight.
After about a half an hour of traveling, the forest foliage began to fill out, but this only seemed to serve to hide any potential threats. They also came upon some massive gates that were closed and barred their way. The group took many evasive maneuvers on their approach to these gates, such as sprinting from tree to tree, lying prone with a bow, Yor saying “on point” for some reason, and readying of actions of various sorts. In the end, the gates swung noisily open when they got close to them.
Pic of massive gates:
After they passed through the gates, the massive doors swung close with a clang. Yor tried to open the gate door, but it was locked.
“We are trapped” he said in his oh so Hawking-esque manner.
The group continued and the road turned southwest.
Wildthorn was the first to smell it, but eventually the rest of the group picked up the scent. Rotting corpse. Just off the road to the south. The group found the source of the stench after a bit of travel. It looked like the remains of a peasant who had been clawed and gnawed to death and was still clutching a rolled note. Wildthorn plucked the paper away and promptly burned the body in the cleansing fire of Corellon Larethian before anybody had a say.
He read the note aloud: Hail thee of might and valor:
I, the Burgomaster of Barovia, send you honor—with despair.
My adopted daughter, the fair Ireena Kolyana, has been these past nights harried by a vampyr. For over four hundred years, this creature has drained the life blood of my people. Now, my dear Ireena languishes from fear that the vampire will consume her blood and damn her soul. He has become too powerful to conquer.
So I say to you, give us up for dead and encircle this land with the symbols of good. Let holy men call upon their power that the devil may be contained within the walls of weeping Barovia. Leave our sorrows to our graves and save the world from this evil fate of ours.
There is much wealth entrapped in this community. Return for your reward after we are all departed for a better life.
Kolyan Indirovich Burgomaster
A similar letter to the one they already had, but with some notable differences. The group compared both letters and pondered the significance of this. That’s when the howl of a wolf cut through the air.
Battle with wolves
As the Gang pondered the significance of the letters, the lone howl of a wolf was heard. Some of the members left the trees and returned to the road to get a better look at things. They saw an enormous red wolf sitting on the road about 300 feet away. He was panting slightly and did that adorable thing that dogs do when they twist their head slightly to hear better. Kinda like this:
Howls of other wolves could be heard from the forest to the south. The red dire wolf returned the howl, then it transformed into a large bat and flew up and away. Yor took a pot-shot at the bat and missed. A pack of wolves was spotted racing in a northward direction towards the road.
A chaotic fight broke out, and while the Gang eventually defeated the wolves, it was far from their finest hour. Each character acted independently, often working at cross purposes, which hindered their efforts. In the end, they prevailed, but Smugly the Monk lay dying on the ground, bleeding out. While the Dragonborn did manage to cling to life; he awakened to a peculiar scene: some of his companions exchanging coins. The collectors, clearly satisfied, gave Smugly a thumbs-up, while the payers, looking disappointed, scowled at him. Not the heroes we wanted, but the heroes we got, I suppose.
That’s when their ex-party member, Skarther the Goblin approached the party from the east. “Looks like things are going the way they typically do, eh guys?” He said glancing around at the carnage.
Cut to Skarther
Several hours ago, and several dimensions separate from this dreadish domain, Skarther the Wildfire Druid was happily humming along in a Faerun forest and doing what he did best, which was burn s--t. He rationalized it as a controlled burn, but really who are we kidding here, the dude’s a chaotic neutral Goblin. That’s when the fog rolled in.
Skarther did the wise thing and decided to run for it, rather than allowing the poisonous fog to choke him. He followed along the same path as the Gang and saw the same things. (See “So it begins…” for details).
A Long Rest in the Wilderness? Really?
The Gang of six travelled to the edge of the forest. The road continued through grassland. Fearing the exposure of being out in the open, they decided to make camp. Their sleep was interrupted by a pack of humanoids made of pine needles. They fared better this time around and defeated them soundly. The only thing worth noting is that the Needle Blights focused their attacks on Moss Corgwin when he tried to communicate to them in Druidic.
Feral Druid
The Gang had just defeated the Needle Blights. Several hundred feet away in the tall grass, a man popped up and gestured wildly towards the Gang “You Killed my pets!! You killed my pets! Must return for more!” He was speaking in Druidic and was clearly unhappy. He cast a spell and sped at an unnatural pace. Sometimes running and sometimes crawling on all fours. He was soon out of sight in the tall grass and was last seen travelling in a southward direction off the road.
Kids at the Crossroads
The Gang managed to recoup some hit points and powers from a Short Rest but lacked the benefits of a Long Rest. So some of them were still suffering the exhaustive effects from the poisonous fog. As the gang set out along the road that led into the open grasslands, rolling thunder was heard and fat drops of rain began to fall.
After traveling about 20 minutes, two small figures were seen ahead. Yor and Roos approached the pair which turned out to be human children; a girl around 7-8 years old and her younger brother. The girl, Rose, did most of the talking, while her brother, Thorn, mostly whimpered at her sister’s side.
“There’s a monster in there!” She said pointing towards a gravel road to the north. This path intersected the road they were currently on, and it led to a tall stately manor that was surrounded by a five-foot-tall stone wall. Seeing that Yor and Roos were safe, the rest of the group joined the conversation.
Rose was made nervous by the motley party (a Kenku, Drow, Goblin, Elf, Human surrounded by a cloud of spores, and a Dragonborn), but she did her best to answer their questions.
Yes, there was a monster, but they didn’t know what it was. They could only hear its howls.
Their parents, Gustav and Elizabeth Durst, kept it trapped in the basement.
You had to go up to the top floor to get down into the basement.
Their little brother, Walter, was in the 3rd floor nursery.
Skarther the Goblin scrutinized the children’s responses and determined to the best of his abilities that the kids believed what they were saying.
Approaching Durst Manor
The tall brick house would’ve been a welcome sight, if wasn’t for the warning of a monster within its basement. It was a three leveled house plus an attic within its A-framed roof. Warm lights could be seen glowing behind the curtained windows and the house was surrounded by a five-foot-stone wall with an open iron gate.
The Gang went through the gates and Skarther took a walk around the house. He found some windows in the back and peaked through the gaps in the curtains. As far as he could tell, inside was a dining room with a full meal set upon the table. Apparently, it was ready to be eaten because he could steam rising from the food. Not much else could be seen because of his limited vantage point. Entrance Hall
The Gang decided to enter the house. Inside the front door was a foyer. Portraits of an aristocratic man and woman were hung on a side wall. “That’s our parents,” Rose admitted. Between the portraits was a shield with a windmill engraved upon it. At the other end of the entrance hall was a pair of doors with stained glass set within them. Yor decided to make some noise and kicked in the glass, luckily avoiding any injury. The loud crash elicited no response.
The children refused to enter the house despite the party’s attempt at persuasion, so Yor decided to stay behind with them while the rest of them explored the house.
Main Hall
The Gang walked into a large room from the west with doors in the eastern wall, stairs spiraling up to the south, and another door in the western wall. The wall to the north had a fireplace with a longsword hung over it. The sword had a windmill engraved on its hilt. One of the PCs took the sword. The paneling on the walls were ornately sculpted with vines, flowers, nymphs, and satyrs.
They found a cloakroom in the east with black cloaks and a top hat. Someone took the hat.
The Dining Room
The Gang took the northern door in the eastern wall and walked into the dining room. This was the room that Skarther spied on from the outside of the house. Eight high-backed chairs were set around a long mahogany table. On top of the table was a delicious feast for eight people: including venison, turkey, duck, yams, stuffing, etc. It all looked recently prepared and ready to eat. The wood paneling had pictures of deer among trees.
The Gang went around closely inspecting the room and someone discovered that the paneling had wolves hiding from behind trees that were hunting the deer and twisted faces were depicted in the bark of the trees.
Skarther decided to transform into a wolf to perceive more, specifically from his sense of smell. The food indeed smelled like food. Okay check. Could he smell humans? Beyond the familiar odors of his companions, no other creature was perceived. Okay that’s weird. He went back into the Main Hall. Smell of humans? Nope.
The Kitchen
The Gang took the eastern door in the south and discovered the kitchen. There was everything that one would expect in a kitchen: Stove, prep table, cooking implements etc. Skarther the Wolf smelled around and could not detect any odor of food in here. Considering that there was a fully cooked meal in the next room… something wasn’t adding up. A dumbwaiter was discovered in the western wall, possibly large enough for a small creature to fit in. Skarther transformed back into a goblin and tried his best to squeeze into the dumbwaiter but failed. The Gang retreated into the Main Hall.
Moss took a turkey leg and offered it to the kids, and they ate it. Yep, these are the heroes we got. (The DM may just give up and allow Moss to change his Alignment to Evil.) Roos decided to babysit the children and Yor was allowed to explore with the rest of the group.
The Den
The Gang returned to the Main Hall and took opened the door in the western wall. This looked like ye old man cave. Mounted above a fireplace was a stag’s head with two padded chairs facing it. Between the chairs was an oak table with a small cask of wine and two wooden goblets. A lit chandelier hung above. Three stuffed wolves were placed around the room. There was a cabinet in the north wall and a locked cabinet in the east wall.
Roos managed to persuade the children inside and everyone was finally together.
Somebody unlocked the cabinet. The Gang found a heavy crossbow, light crossbow, and a hand crossbow with 20 bolts for each weapon. They also found playing cards and an assortment of wine glasses.
Roos stayed in the den with the kids, while the Gang went up the stairs.
Upper Hall
The stairs were lit with oil lamps hanging from the wall and the Gang reached the landing on the second floor. This Upper Hall was the same size as the Main Hall. Four standing suits of Ring Armor stood in each corner of the room. There was a fireplace in the northern wall with a Durst family portrait: Gustav, Elizabeth, Rose, and Thorn. Gustav held a swaddled baby in his arms, while Elizabeth was portrayed as giving the baby some side-eye. The doors were carved with dancing youths. A cold draft could be felt coming down the stairs from the 3rd floor.
They decided to take the stairs up to the 3rd floor.
Reaching the Third Floor
The Gang trudged up the lit stairway to the 3rd floor landing and that’s when things took a drastic change. Upon hitting the 3rd floor landing, the lights went out.
Downstairs in the Den, Roos was plunged into darkness as the windows to the den were bricked up, canceling out the natural light coming through them. Also, he spotted the children Rose and Thorn turn to piles of dust on the floor. Roos rang a warning bell (he keeps one on him for occasions such as this) and made his way upstairs using his superior Darkvision.
Upstairs, Wildthorn cast light so that folks could see. This room was like the Main Hall and the Upper Hall, but it was roughly half their size. The wooden paneling was now dried and cracked and depicted scenes of trees, falling leaves, and tiny critters. A layer of dust covered everything. On the opposite side, was a suit of full plate armor.
Yor approached the armor and was surprised when it animated and attacked. The Gang quickly dispatched the thing, and it fell to pieces.
This will probably happen 3-5 sessions down the road. I’m planning to give individual hooks for each character. Below is a list of the PCs, a brief character description, and some adventure hooks.
I’m probably going to introduce most of them as visions during Madame Eva’s Card Reading. On the off chance that the Card Reading never happens, then I’ll have to use a dream sequence, I guess. Each character will be told secretly through text or notepaper.
I’m just getting started with this and was hoping to get a little help fleshing out the Adventure Hooks.
1)Moss Corgwin -Human, Druid of Spores, Lawful Neutral. An obese man constantly surrounded by a plume of musty spores. Has shown evil tendencies. His character flaw is that he’s willing to backstab people. Voted most likely to betray the party by me.
An offer from Strahd & Baba Lysaga to rule the druid/barbarian wildlings.
Quell the animosity that lies in the hearts of the druids at Yester Hill.
2) Roos -Dark Elf, Rogue swashbuckler, Neutral. A former pirate. Friends and interpreter of Yor the Kenku. His flaw is that he can be cold and greedy.
Discover the mythical treasure horde of the Amber Temple and claim it as your own.
Retrieve the Doss Lute from Castle Raven loft.
3) Wildthorn-Wood Elf, Cleric of Light, Chaotic Good. Kinda gruff. Character flaw is that his piety may lead me to blindly trust those that profess his faith in my god. His focus of worship is the Elven Pantheon and light deities. Player is trying to create a Cleric with high damage output.
Forgotten Realms (Sword Coast North) is the party’s home, so I’m using that for canon as needed. The Morninglord deity in Barovia is an incarnation of Lathander, but he is currently blocked from entering this Dread Domain.
Redeem The Abbot in the eyes of Lathander
Retrieve the Blood Spear and unite the barbarian clans under your leadership.
4) Yor -Kenku, Hexblade Warlock, Chaotic Good. Player uses the AI voices in his phone to talk. He’s kind of like Balki from Perfect Strangers; good natured and curious. His flaw is that he’s overly fond of shiny things. I have no idea who his Patron is.
Perform a ritual at each of the standing stone sites, paving the way for your patron’s entry into the realm of Barovia.
Retrieve the extra shiny Doss Lute from Castle Ravenloft.
5) Smugly -Dragonborn, Way of the Hand Monk, Neutral. Dreams of sleeping on a pile of coins like a big boy dragon. His character flaw is that he’s greedy.
Restore the Knights of the Silver Order at Argynvostholt.
Discover the mythical treasure horde of the Amber Temple and claim it as your own.
6) Skarther -Goblin, Wildfire Druid, Chaotic Neutral. Wry and Cynical, likes to burn stuff. His character Flaw is he’s willing to do anything for freedom.
Retrieve the Blood Spear and unite the barbarian clans under your leadership.
Quell the animosity that lies in the hearts of the druids at Yester Hill.
Room #11. The Third Floor Balcony Previously: After entering a seemingly clean and well-kept home, the house revealed its true nature. The lights went out, walls became dried and cracked, windows were sealed with bricks, and the two children that led the Gang here disintegrated into dust. Our heroes had reconnoitered on the 3rd floor where a suit of armor animated and attacked, which the Gang quickly destroyed.
Room #15. Nursemaid’s Suite
Smugly took the lead and opened a door to the west. He found a bedroom and a fireplace. Smugly uttered something under his breath and an apparition appeared lying on the bed. It sat up, stared at Smugly, and then stood floating several inches above the bed. It seemed to have bad intentions, so Smugly closed the door and turned to his comrades. That’s when the apparition’s hand reached through the door and got a good grasp of Smugly’s neck. Life drained from the Dragonborn and his skin became sallow, and eyes grew sunken. He was lucky to be alive. A fight ensued and the Specter was dispatched.
The Gang explored the bedroom. There was a mirror above the dresser that made anyone’s reflection appear emaciated and “heroin chic.” Wildthorn discovered a secret door in the east wall that opened to stairs leading up to the attic.
Room #16. Attic Hall
Roos, with his superior Darkvision, led the way. Yor, with his even better Devil’s Sight, followed. The stairs led to the Attic Hall, an irregularly shaped room which featured four other doors and a bricked-up window. A door to the east was padlocked, so that drew the Gang’s attention. Roos went about picking the lock, while Yor looked over his shoulder secretly hoping for failure. Roos failed. Yor stepped in and went about picking the lock. Success! Yor glanced at Roos, then opened the door.
Room #20. Children’s Room
This room contained a bricked-up window with two beds made for children. On the floor in the middle of the room, were two children-sized skeletons wearing similar clothing to the children that the Gang had met just an hour before at the crossroads. The smaller one even had the same doll.
There was also a toy chest with windmills painted on the sides (Durst family crest). The most compelling thing in the room was a dollhouse which was a perfect replica of the house in which they stood. The Gang immediately went over to the dollhouse and began poking around at it. That’s when two apparitions of the children, Rose and Thorn, appeared. “Leave our toys alone,” they whined.
A conversation ensued. Here's the important information garnered from the conversation:
The house was “alive.”
These apparitions had no knowledge of the Rose and Thorn that the Gang had met at the crossroads.
Their dad was loving yet sad, but their mom was abusive and cold.
Their mom locked them in their room, and they starved to death.
The last time that they saw their dad, he was crying, and then he went into his bedroom (room #12).
Their parents kept secrets behind the secret door in the Library (rooms #8 & 9).
To get to the basement, the Gang needed to find the secret door in the attic.
There were people that lived in the basement that they didn’t really know, but these people were friends with their parents.
They knew that there were crypts for the family in the basement.
They could not rest until their bones were laid to rest.
After the conversation, the Gang poked and prodded at the dollhouse. They managed to discover all the secret doors hidden in the house. Yor then vowed to the children that he would see that their bones were properly laid to rest.
Rooms #8 & #9. The Library and Secret Room.
The Gang decided to go down to the second floor and enter the Library where there were shelves of books (duh). Located on the desk in the room was a small oil painting of the family dog, Sophaxis. In the top drawer was an iron key. The topics of the books in the library were poetry, history, warfare, and alchemy.
The Gang quickly found the secret door in the southern wall. The room behind revealed a macabre scene: slumped over a heavy wooden chest was a skeleton dressed in leather armor clutching a letter. After some investigation, it was discovered that the poor fool had succumbed to several poison darts protruding from its ribcage.
Chest Contents:
Three Blank Books (25 gp each)
Spell Scrolls: Bless, Protection from Poison, and Spiritual Weapon
Deed to the House
Deed to a Windmill (refers to a parcel of land west of Durst Manor)
A Will signed by Gustav and Elizabeth. It bequeaths everything to Rosavalda and Thornbolt.
Letter Contents:
My most pathetic servants,
I allow you and your pathetic band of miscreants to exist in my land only for my own amusement. I am not your messiah and have not come to lead you on a path to immortality.
Continue your farcical rituals and have your meals of flesh. Carve my visage into every stone you see. Sire as many bastards as you wish. I care not. You are all worms writhing in my earth, and I shall not save you from your wretchedness. I much prefer you as you are.
Roos pocketed the Deeds and Will, with some thoughts of claiming ownership of the lands if the opportunity arose. Wildthorn pocketed the Scrolls since they were usable by Clerics (DMs note: I think the Druids can use those spells too.). Yor pocketed the blanks books.
Besides the chest and the adventurer, there was also a small bookcase of books. Skarther and Wildthorn leafed through the books. The books dealt with the subject of eternal life and rituals to steal the life force of others through bloodletting, magical spells, and cannibalism. After about an hour of study, it was determined that the rituals were faulty and useless.
Room #12. The Master Suite
After the Library, the Gang went up to the third floor to follow up on the lead given to them by the children. The apparitions of the kids mentioned that they last saw their dad crying and going into his bedroom. The double doors to the Master Suite were stained glass and depicted a windmill on each door.
Inside, yet another macabre scene; a finely dressed emaciated corpse of a man hung from the post of the four-poster bed. A makeshift noose, made from a bed sheet, was fastened around his neck. A hastily written suicide note sat on the table in the parlor on the south end of the room.
Letter Contents:
My dearest children,
The darkness takes us, and I am sorry that your mother and I have brought it upon you. What began as survival turned into our obsession, and now to our downfall. In my final moments, I see clear. We are anathema and are being punished. We deserve it, but I regret that your fates are tied to ours.
I love you both with all my heart. No amount of darkness and death will ever change that. May all our souls find peace.
Room #18. Storage room.
Having tied up some loose ends of the Durst Family story, the Gang had nothing left to do but to go down to the basement and face whatever monster may be down there. To do this, they had to go up to the attic and find the secret passage that led down to the basement.
They found themselves in the attic storage space, which housed a bunch of old furniture covered in dusty sheets. Moss uncovered a sheet and discovered a wooden box which they opened. Inside were human remains that were dressed exactly like the malevolent apparition found in Room #15. Skarther determined that the cause of death was probably from all the stabbing (friggin Quincy over here).
Room #21. Secret stairway down to basement.
The Gang easily found the secret door and discovered that the iron key, found in room #8, had unlocked this door. They made their way down the tight spiral stairway which led to the basement. Yor led the way.
Room #22. Down to the Dungeon …er… Basement
When Yor and the rest hit the bottom of the stairs a faint chorus of chanting could be heard, but the words could not be deciphered. Something along the lines of “blah blah blah blahblah. Blah blah blah blaaah.”
Also, the walls were no longer wooden but rather earthen. The hallway that lay before them was seven feet tall and four feet wide. About ten feet down the hall, the passage split either east or west. They crept down the hallway, determined to figure out the origin of that incessant chanting.
Rooms #23 A & B. Empty Crypts
After traveling south, the Gang decided to move east where there was a passage south or they could continue east. They took the southerly passage. Here they found two crypts. Both empty and unmarked. Welp, nothing there, so they headed back to the main passageway.
Room #24. Sleeping Area
They moved east down the main passage which then turned north. There was several steps down and then the passage opened into a large room. It looked like some old sleeping quarters with a common area. Nothing else was found. Even though there was an exit to the north, the Gang decided to backtrack to the original east-west passage.
Rooms #23 C & D. Gustav’s crypt and Elizabeth’s Crypt.
Moving west down the main passage, they discovered two exits north and south or they could continue west. They decided to move south. Two more crypts were discovered, but this time they were sealed. On one crypt the name “GUSTAV” was etched. They opened the crypt. It contained an empty coffin.
The other crypt was labeled “ELIZABETH.” Roos opened the crypt. Again, an empty coffin, but this time centipedes began pouring out of the walls. Roos had the presence of mind to quickly close the crypt and GTFO.
Rooms #23 E & F. Rose’s Crypt and Thorn’s Crypts.
They went across the hall through the north exit and found two crypts labelled “ROSAVALDA” and “THORNBOLT.” The Gang laid the children to rest. The apparitions of Rose and Thorn briefly appeared, waved goodbye, then disappeared. Yaaay!
Room #27. Dining Hall
This room contained a plain wooden table flanked by two wooden benches. Moldy human bones laid strewn across the floor. There were gnaw marks on the bones, possibly made by humans, judging by the size of the marks.
Roos was jumped by Carrion Crawler. The group killed it and exited west.
Room #29. Crossroads.
The chanting seemed to be coming from this direction. The smell of death was in the air. Yor took the lead. It was a westerly passageway which came to a four-way split; west, north, south, or east back the way they came. Yor detected that the chanting grew louder coming from the north. That’s when two ghouls erupted from the ground, both of which had been lying in wait. Yor invoked his “Armor of Agathys”, and they were destroyed.
Room #30. Stairs Down
The Gang following the chanting, which led to a long stairway down. They took the stairs down.
Room #35. Reliquary
As the Gang reached the bottom of the stairs, they could finally decipher the chanting. “He is the ancient. He is the laaand” was being repeated. The room opened up into a 15-foot by 25-foot room with small alcoves along the walls. There were two other exits to this room. One to the northwest, which appeared like any other passage; the other passage led to a downward slope which led to some water. This southwest passage was blocked by a rusty portcullis.
The Gang explored the alcoves and pocketed some of the following items: a knife made of human bone, a dagger with a rat’s skull set in the pommel, an 8-inch diameter orb made from a nothic’s eye, the shrunken skull of a halfling, plus some others. Wildthorn, using his knowledge of religions, determined that this was some sort of shrine made by ignorant fools.
Yor, using his Devil’s Sight, peered through the rusty portcullis into the forty-foot square room to the south and the chanting abruptly stopped. The smooth masonry walls provided excellent acoustics as the final echoes of "laaand" was heard. Featureless stone pillars supported the ceiling, and a breach in the west wall led to a dark cave heaped with refuse. Murky water covered most of the floor. Stairs led up to dry stone ledges that hug the walls. In the middle of the room, more stairs rose to form an octagonal dais that also rose above the water. Rusty chains with shackles dangled from the ceiling directly above a stone altar mounted on the dais. The altar was carved with hideous depictions of grasping ghouls and was stained with dried blood.
The Durst Manor Conclusion and the Village of Barovia.
Previously: The House
The Gang had unearthed some of the dark secrets of the Durst family’s past. The residents of Durst Manor had resorted to rituals of bloodletting and cannibalism in hopes of gaining extended or eternal life. There was also a letter from someone named Strahd Van Zarovich. Apparently, this guy rejected them and thought their rituals were pathetic.
On top of this, there were indications of infidelity by Gustav with the family’s nursemaid which enraged Elizabeth so much that she locked her children away to starve and murder the nursemaid. Gustav’s body was found hanging, dead from an apparent suicide. Whatever happened to the wife Elizabeth or Walter, the lovechild of Gustav and the nursemaid, was uncertain.
After talking to the ghosts of the Durst children, Rose and Thorn, the Gang vowed to bury the children’s bones in the family crypts within the basement.
The Basement:
Upon entering the basement, an incessant chant was heard. The Gang found the Durst family crypts and laid the bones of Rose and Thorn to rest. The basement was a maze of corridors and rooms, that included abandoned living quarters and a dining hall. There was evidence of cannibalism. The Gang ran into some monsters, including ghouls and a carrion crawler. The Gang tracked the chanting down to a level below the basement that contained a shrine. Yor peered through a portcullis into another room and the chanting stopped. Rather than redescribing what Yor saw, I think a picture would work better here:
The Gang is in the Reliquary in the bottom of the pic; Yor is looking to the next room in the upper left of the pic; while there’s a prison in the upper right.
Btw, this cost about $350-$400 on etsy and, no, I don’t own it. Room #35 The Reliquary
Yor peered through the bars of the portcullis wondering what to do and the chant of “He is the ancient. He is the laaand” stopped. Skarther summoned his little fire buddy, which allowed the Gang to teleport.
Skarther’s Ability (summon wildfire spirit)
Summon Wildfire Spirit At 2nd level, you can summon the primal spirit bound to your soul. As an action, you can expend one use of your Wild Shape feature to summon your wildfire spirit, rather than assuming a beast form.
Fiery Teleportation. The spirit and each willing creature of your choice within 5 feet of it teleport up to 15 feet to unoccupied spaces you can see.
Most of the group had teleported to the other side of the portcullis, except Moss and Wildthorn. That’s when Roos decided to step up to the altar; consequently, thirteen dark apparitions appeared around the room and began a new chant: “One must die, one must die,” repeatedly. It was deduced that the Gang had to sacrifice one of their members. The Gang debated whether they should sacrifice Smugly since the player couldn’t make it to this session. They decided to explore other options, but they kept the ‘sacrifice the dragonborn’ option open.
Room #36 The Prison
As the only members that hadn’t teleported yet, Moss and Wildthorn decided to explore the other room which turned out to be a prison. Most of the cells were empty, but they did manage to find a gold ring (25 gp) on a corpse. They also found a secret door that led into the Ritual Chamber.
Room #38 The Ritual Chamber
Now the whole Gang was in the room. Roos was on top of the dais near the Altar, Skarther and Yor were near the portcullis, while Moss and Wildthorn entered through the secret door. The Gang collectively decided not to sacrifice Smugly and face whatever may come. Roos stepped off the Dais and the thirteen apparitions began a new chant:
“The end is nigh! Flesh will be taken!"
Movement was seen coming from the gap in the wall and what emerged was something out of a lovecraftian nightmare:
There were two differences between this pic and what the Gang saw. 1) There was the head of Elizabeth Durst gibbering with all the rest of the mouthers. 2) The infant Walter Durst was attached to the monstrosity kuato style. (Total Recall “open your miiind”)
The Gang engaged with the thing and battled it as best they could. After the first round of combat, the ghost of Thornbolt appeared and removed his brother’s spirit, which stunned the Gibbering mass. This gave the Gang a major advantage and they made short work of it.
Now the Durst house was pissed. The ground rumbled and the squeaking of rats was heard all around them. The apparition of Rosavalda appeared and led the Gang along the quickest route in the basement.
Upstairs, all the doorways were opened but the doors had been replaced with swinging scythes. It was time for some ability checks… or so the DM assumed. Much to my… I mean… the House’s consternation, Skarther’s fiery little teleportation buddy removed any challenge and the Gang was free!
The Crossroads
The Gang returned to the crossroads where they had initially met Rose and Thorn. Someone placed a picnic basket there filled with bread, cheese, and a bottle of wine. The label on the bottle was Red Dragon Crush. That’s odd.
Enter the Village of Barovia
After around two hours’ travel, a village emerged out of the mists in the early afternoon. The Gang walked along a cobblestone path, and nothing was heard except the wailing of a woman. Despite the disconcerting lack of activity and odd sobbing, the group was mostly concerned with finding a safe place to sleep since they couldn’t get a good night’s rest while traveling on the road.
A Tavern.
The Gang found the first relatively inviting building near the center of town, a tavern called “Blood on the Vine Tavern.” Apparently not an inn, but maybe someone inside could provide a bed in which to sleep. Inside were a trio of Vistani women, a bartender, and a warrior judging from the sword at his hip.
Meet the Vistani
The Vistani could be distinguished by their pseudo-Slavic accents, brightly colored clothing, and laughter; as in they were the only one’s smiling, laughing, and having an all-around good time. Once the Gang entered the tavern, one of them quipped “oh great, more adventurers.” To which the other two laughed, evidently, she had made some sort of inside joke. Roos bristled at this, but still, the former pirate had schemes in mind. He inquired about his claim upon a windmill to the west, showing them the Deed to the Windmill. The Vistani laughed even louder than before, the second one shot back “sure you can claim it, just don’t get yourself killed!” More laughter and knowing glances at each other.
After their laughter subsided, the third Vistani took on a condescending tone “allow me to give you some advice, little adventurers, you are not the first to enter Barovia. You will face Strahd sooner or later, then be defeated like all the rest. I suggest that you go see Madame Eva, as she is the only one who can provide some divination that may see you out of your plight. You can find her by traveling the road west, then travel north once you reach the gallows at the crossroads. There is where you will find her encampment.”
Meet the Bartender
The bartender’s most distinguishing characteristics were his supreme lack of animation and droning monotone voice. Any inquiries by the party were met with short, simple answers that really didn’t provide much information. The most important thing they learned was that his name was Arik.
Meet the Warrior
Their riveting conversation with Arik was interrupted by the warrior. He introduced himself as Ismark Indirovich, the Burgermeister of the Village of Barovia. The Gang recognized the name Indirovich from the letter they had received from Arrigal the Vistani and the letter that they found on the corpse along the road. Ismark advised that they would be better off having this conversation in private at his home where he could provide proper shelter for them to rest.
While traveling to his home, Ismark inquired if they could escort his sister to the town of Vallaki. He believed his sister was not safe here in the Village of Barovia since the village was harassed nightly by wolves and ghouls. These monsters seemed to focus their attention upon their home where the ghouls continuously uttered the word “Ireena,” which happened to be the name of his sister. He believed that the source of this harassment was Strahd Von Zarovich, a powerful vampire who lived in Castle Ravenloft.
Ismark suspected that the vampire wanted to make Ireena his thrall. The thing that puzzled Ismark was that the vampire had yet to make an appearance. It was obvious that the harassment was coming from Strahd, since it was the only one who could command such creatures.
Perhaps it was waiting for them to invite it into their home? It was well known that vampires could only enter a home if they were invited. On the other hand, a vampire could easily charm a person into inviting it inside. Maybe it had other plans.
The Mansion
Ismark and the party reached his home, which was a dilapidated mansion. The iron gates at the front appeared to have been recently twisted. One of them was permanently stuck open as it clanged and creaked in the occasional breeze, while the other lay on the ground. Weeds surrounded the house, except for a muddied path that had been created closest to the home. Inspecting this path revealed that it was created by large wolf paws and humanoid feet. Heavy claw marks were also spotted on the houses outside walls. The windows were all broken and had been boarded up.
The Gang entered the place, and the interior was well furnished but worn. The presence of holy symbols was spotted in every room. Wildthorn discerned that the symbols were derivative of Lathander the Morninglord of Faerun. This spurred a conversation between Ismark and Wildthorn. Apparently, Barovians paid homage to a deity known only as The Morninglord. Ismark believed that the god’s presence was no longer in Barovia, but he and his sister engraved these symbols anyway in a vain attempt to ward against the evil creatures.
In one of the rooms was the corpse of an older man lying in a coffin who resembled Ismark. The faint odor of decay could be smelt through the masking bouquet of decaying flowers. “This is my father,” Ismark remarked. “He died four days ago. The terror of the nightly attacks was just too much for him and his heart failed.”
The Gang showed Ismark the letters. He told them that the letter from Arrigal was an obvious forgery, but the second letter found on the corpse was his Father’s handwriting. Ismark confirmed that a messenger volunteered to brave the mists in a desperate attempt to save the village.
Meet Ireena.
Ismark introduced the Gang to his adopted sister Ireena, who was statuesque and beautiful with a strong, commanding presence. The most notable characteristic was her auburn hair. Ismark informed her that the party was willing to escort them to Vallaki. She thanked them but said that she cannot leave the village in good conscience until her father was given a proper burial with the final rites of the Morninglord.
This was when Moss cut in and proposed a solution to their problems. “Why don’t you just give yourself up to this dark lord? I mean, if you really love your village, surely you would be willing to sacrifice yourself…right?” This went over about as well as a turd in a punchbowl and was met with cold silence.
Moving on…
Meet The Local Merchant
The Gang realized that they had one more task. They needed to sell their loot! The party received directions to Bildrath’s Mercantile from Ismark who seemed to avoid any eye contact with Moss. The Gang shouldered their backpacks and made to leave. As they left, Moss felt a cold hard stare from Ireena.
The Gang walked into Bildrath’s store. The merchant agreed to buy anything at market price. On the other hand, for sold goods, Bildrath stated that “the best I can do is ten times the price." When the Gang grumbled their complaints, Bildrath responded with "if you don’t like it, then you can talk to my nephew, Parriwimple. Oh Parriwimple!” Bildrath wore a poop-eating-grin (see pic above) as a lumbering hulk of a man came down the stairs. Parriwimple seemed nice enough, but the armor and sword at his side, along with his bulging muscles, contrasted his simple, friendly countenance.
The party inquired about the Red Dragon Crush wine. Bildrath informed them that all the wine in Barovia came from one place, The Wizard of Wines, which was a couple of days trip to the west. BIldrath complained that their next shipment of wine was overdue.
The Gang sold their goods and left. The village remained ominously quiet except for the loud singular sobbing. For some odd reason, everyone felt inspired after leaving the store.
The Gang Goes to Sleep.
And finally, at long last, the Gang began their Long Rest. Something that hasn’t happened since the first session. Let’s hope that it won't be interrupted by the Ghouls and Wolves.
Looking for suggestions and advice. 
