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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MostlyHarmless42" data-source="post: 7969669" data-attributes="member: 6845520">Immediately to answer your question: the items themselves can leave Barovia, though the setting will always renew them eventually. Named characters are similar. Just as there will always be a Strahd, Ireena/Tatyanna, and a VanRichten, there will always be a Sunsword and Symbol of Ravenloft. If you want a meta way to view it, think of it as they players get sort of a "copy" that they leave with while the originals remain in the setting. You could take them away if you wish, but I'd suggest against it as it wouldn't be very fun for the players. Additionally, if you ever use any other Barovia plot lines (like including another domain of dread), you could easily have those items in the player's hands somehow introduce or tie into the other stories. After all, are they ever truly free of the mists if they are constantly carrying around a piece of them with them? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f608.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":devilish:" title="Devil    :devilish:"  data-smilie="29"data-shortname=":devilish:" />Sort of related to your post, though less immediately relevant and more food for thought/a suggestion concerning the whole "cycle" of Ravenloft thing:[SPOILER='One big whole "Spoiler" in general for those who might wish to play this game. You've been warned.']So when I ran my game, I did basically set up Barovia to be on sort of a timeless cycle repeat. Take from this what you will, it's sort of a mix of "cannon" stuff that we know about dark powers and Barovia and some other ideas that tie them together. Look up the "points of light" thread on here from awhile back for some good stuff as well.I chose to tie this plot concept into both the Amber Temple and the character of the Abbot, whom is a fallen angel. It states in the module that he went into Barovia in the first place with the intent of cleansing the land of it's darkness and that the dark powers and perpetual hopelessness of the whole area has basically poisoned his mind. I took this and had him be partially related to the cycle, yet outside of it. Basically his "madness" was that he was the only being in the entire setup aside from the players who were NOT inherently stuck in this cycle, and that he had effectively lived through multiple versions of it. I had him outright imply to the party that he had tried just about everything he could think of, including killing Strahd in a previous loop (his CR is high enough that with proper planning he could feasibly accomplish it. Remember, his goal isn't just to escape or kill Strahd, it was originally to save the souls of every person in Barovia, which is basically just a pocket dimensional meat grinder for souls. It's implied that it isn't just a prison, but a place where others get trapped and the dark powers use their souls for their nebulous nefarious purposes elsewhere.I had the Abbot tell the party that in order to truly end the cycle, the party must do one of two things:1) Destroy ALL of the vestiges of evil in the Amber Temple (the sarcophagi, though he does not know that is the form they take). I had it so the reason the Abbot hasn't done this already is because he, as an angel, is barred from entering the temple via a permanent Guards/Wards spell. The important bit here: if even a single player takes even ONE of the deals from the sarcophagi the entire party FAILS at this goal. I chose to showcase this to my party by making the ones a person took indestructible, as no matter their efforts a sliver would always remain. Think of this as the "100% good ending" for a party to get. Barovia is all about trying to corrupt and making the players choose between powerful dark boons or being actually good is completely on theme.2) Not only turn over Ireena to Strahd, but actually HELP him "win" by gaining the 'love'/'marriage' he's been prevented from having. The dark powers, meanwhile, will stop at nothing to prevent this from happening because if it does, their cage breaks and all the souls and their prisoner can escape. Absolutely evil, totally messed up, etc. but on point with the themes of the game. Choosing this option can be justified as "for the greater good" option, as it basically damns one woman to save the souls of multiple people (or at least that's how the Abbot views it).Speaking of, THIS is the Abbot's go to plan if the party doesn't pursue option 1 OR if they take even a SINGLE deal or leave a SINGLE sarcophagi standing. The Abbot isn't human. He thinks like a good outsider in terms of black and white, good and evil, which have all been warped. He is UTTERLY convinced that if the party won't do the right thing, he will force them to or accomplish it himself. Failing that, he'll just begrudingly resign himself to trying again during the next cycle (what's a few 100 more years before Tatyanna and Strahd are reborn right?).If you like the idea, go nuts with it. I should clarify as well, I never made it clear to the players if the Abbot was actually correct or just crazy. I implied that both either was equally valid. My players did however love the whole hard choice dynamic. It culminated with a rather emotional session at the abbey where they handed over Ireena to Strahd in order to buy time to take on the temple after the Abbot turned on them and led to quite a few memorable scenes.[/SPOILER]</blockquote>

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