D&D 5E Curse of Strahd help

[Wepwawet]

How does he force them in? And he has already punished them. He met them on the road, charmed one of them, bit her in front of the others, then took her away on his nightmare without them being able to stop him. Sure, maybe he's a little annoyed that they haven't accepted his invitation, but he's just shown them that they're powerless to stop him. They think that will change if they can re-find the sunsword, however.

Oh! Hahaha cool. Alright then. In that case, Strahd should just forget about inviting them in, no more carriage. Which means, no more easy way into the castle on the nice black carriage.
About forcing them in... DEFCON1's scenario with mists could work, even teleporting them in. But never mind, I didn't know about the rest of your story.

For me, this is all somewhat beside the point. I am looking specifically for advice on what could / should happen to the PCs while they attempt to take a long rest at Madam Eva's camp. I've told them already that the Vistani aren't offering any of their wagons, and the group agreed that they would just bed down in the open. This is the first time in the whole campaign that they have not spent the night indoors in a relatively safe location.

Should I let them have a long rest? Should I have some Strahd minions show up at some point? Perhaps even repeatedly? Should I have the Vistani do something? These are the questions that I would like to focus on right now.

Does Strahd know exactly where they are at the moment? Did he notice them at the windmill? Is he counting on them being anywhere near the castle?
Tser pool is the last place where he would expect to find them. Unless he actually knows that they're around, they should have a pretty safe night... Well, from him.
Madam Eva wouldn't snitch on them. What about the other Vistani? Who are they more loyal to, Madam Eva or Strahd?

 

[DEFCON 1]

[MENTION=7006]DEFCON 1[/MENTION]: I don't know that I want to cheat quite like that. They're going to go to the castle as soon as they get the sword, so I'm not in a rush to force them there.

I've been meaning to have Arrigal attempt to steal the holy symbol off the party (they got it from the Vistani treasure wagon, and I figured Arrigal would've gone off to Strahd to report the PCs' activities, only to be told off by Strahd, who recognized his description of the prize they took from the wagon, and ordered to retrieve it). This is probably the first chance he'll really get, as this is the first time the PCs have spent the night out in the open.

Fair enough! If you're okay with the group not having yet gone to the castle (under the expectation that they will be going there after acquiring the Sunsword)... then you don't need to force it. But at the same time... I do think this is one of those situations where having something "weird" happen would make for a much more interesting event than just having bad guys show up. Having the mists move in on the group as they sleep is one way to do it. If that doesn't float your boat, then there are plenty of other brainstorms to be made. Maybe things like...

- The party sleeps overnight (including any watchman who tried to stay on guard) and when they wake up, the Vistani camp and all its inhabitants are gone. Disappeared.

- The party goes to sleep overnight and when they wake up in what they think is the morning, it's actually sunset. They also have not received the benefits of a Long Rest. They find they either try to sleep there at the Tser Pool encampment again (in which case after they wake up the second time they find the sun setting once more, this "Groundhog Day" of no Long Rests reoccurring)... or they give up and leave the encampment, having to find someplace else to sleep.

- As the party sleeps, the member on watch notices a body floating past the encampment face down in the Tser Pool. Shortly after another one floats by, then another. And another. Then two more. And another five more. These dead bodies keep floating by, and if they go out and pull them to shore, they find them to be Vallaki townsfolk of some indeterminate time. If they go north along the river, they eventually find that a long line of people are throwing themselves from the Tser Bridge down the 1000' into the river to their deaths. Whether this is actually happening or just a ghostly recurrence of some other time is up to you.

- The party goes to sleep in the camp, and while they sleep the water level of the lake begins to rise way too fast, eventually flooding the Tser Pool encampment (like what happened to Berez all those years ago.) The group needs to pack back up and get out of there before it floods. To make it even more harrowing, perhaps have the Vistani also not expect the flooding, and the party has to decide whether to help them, (plus the Vistani's horses, wagons and such) also get up and out of the lake's shores before all their stuff gets submerged. And if you wanted to throw in a couple water ghouls to make it even more difficult, it probably couldn't hurt.

- If you reaaaaaaaaaallllly want to F with your players (depending on how close you all are and whether they'd be okay with you F-ing with them for the sake of fun and story)... prior to them going to sleep, Madam Eva comes out to them around the campfire with a special ornate wooden box and asks them if they would like a special card reading? So special that she cannot guarantee their safety with what happens, but that untold reward might be in their future. If they say yes, she opens up a box and pulls out a deck of cards and asks them how many they wish to draw (at which point you pull out a realy deck of cards and have the player(s) draw what they asked for). Only for them to discover that they aren't pulling from a tarroka deck, but that this special deck is a Deck of Many Things (and then what happens, happens. LOL)

These are just some ideas to bandy about. The way I look at it, there are a couple times throughout the adventure where something "weird" happens for no reason (one of the Crossroads hanging victims looks like a party member, a ghostly battle happens outside of Berez, a city appears on the horizon at Yester Hill) that pretty much gives a DM free reign to throw out their own weird stuff as well. And if this is indeed the first "non-safe" rest your group is trying to take... then having something weird happen just might make it really memorable.

 

[pukunui]

Thanks, guys. I've got some ideas to ponder now. I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow night.

 

[pukunui]

Somewhat related question: How long do you guys reckon it should take a normal person to dig up a grave? I imagine that unearthing a coffin wouldn't be quite as time-consuming as digging a fresh grave, since the soil will have already been loosened up a bit, but I still have no idea how long it would take.

The sunsword is in one of the graves at the River Ivlis Crossroads, and I'm just trying to work out how long they'll have to spend digging up each of the 11 graves until they find it. One hour per grave? Half an hour? Half that if two people dig at the same time?

EDIT: It's just occurred to me that no one in the party has a shovel. This should be entertaining ...

 

[hastur_nz]

A quick google shows an hour or two minimum, to dig a grave that's still loose earth, using a shovel; potentially twice that if you've got packed/regular earth and/or are not especially robust. Without a proper tool, yeah, have a guess depending on what they can come up with but chances are they will be at it a very long time unless they can get creative with spells, or convince you that their ad-hoc 'tool' is fit for the job.

Personally I've never dug a trench quite that big, but what I do remember from my youth as a labourer, digging big holes isn't as easy as you might think and the bigger the hole, the harder it is to stop half the earth you've just dug falling back in again... it's not just the speed of your shovel, it's your ability to get the dirt far enough away, and ideally also stop the sides caving back in.

 

[pukunui]

I've dug a bit deeper, if you'll excuse the pun, into google and have come up with 4-6 hours, and you can't really get more than one or two people working on a grave at once, especially once you get down a ways.

Unless the PCs get lucky and find the sword on the first try (there's a cumulative 10% chance of the sword being in any of the graves they dig up), it looks like they'll be at it for a while. Of course, there are five of them (including Ismark), so they can potentially dig up five graves at once.

 

[texastoast]

I'm no digging expert either, but remember that there's a big difference between digging a grave and digging up a grave. To wit, you don't need to go six feet under when you're just digging up a grave, and you only have to get enough of the hole dug up to be able to open the coffin, if you're trying to do some graverobbin'. I would say somewhere between 1 and 2 hours, assuming you have a shovel. I would say at least double the time if you don't have a shovel and can't (or don't) improvise one. Digging up a grave with your bare hands sounds like the actual worst.

 

[pukunui]

OK, here's what I think I'm going to do:

- The Vistani will welcome the PCs back to their camp and ask them what they've been up to and what has brought them back this way. They'll also ask if they've visited the castle yet. I don't think my players are dumb enough to fall for it but there's a chance one of them might spill the beans. Regardless, one Vistana will take a horse and ride up to the castle at dawn to report that the PCs spent the night at the camp.
- A female Vistana will attempt to seduce the cleric, who is a "sucker for a pretty face". If she succeeds, she'll take him to one of the tents and either while they are busy getting it on or afterwards, while the cleric is sleeping, another Vistana will attempt to steal the holy symbol of ravenkind. If that succeeds, the Vistana who rides up to the castle at dawn will take it with him and Strahd will hide it in his treasury. (Is that too mean?)
- While the gnome mystic is on watch, he'll spot a will-o'-wisp beckoning to him from the woods. The voice that he hears in his head that he thinks is his dead sister will tell him not to bother waking up the others and encourage him to go after the bobbing light. If he does, I'll run the abandoned tower random encounter with the wisp and the zombies. I think I'll put a random trinket in the chest, though.
- The fighter will, of course, not get a long rest due to Morgantha's nightmares. He was a former watchman, so I'm going to say that in his dreams, he seems himself becoming corrupt: accepting bribes, arresting innocents, etc.
- The paladin, lastly, will have a prophetic dream: He'll see himself coming across a dungeon room full of bones, with a massive dragon skull in the center. As he approaches, the ghostly form of a dragon materializes above the skull. The next thing he knows, he's soaring out of the castle and across Barovia's forests to an abandoned manor (this PC hasn't been to Argynvostholt yet). As he arrives, a beacon is lit in the chapel tower, shining out across the valley. [This is mainly to remind the players about this side quest.]

If the PCs are foolish enough to tell the Vistani where they are going/what they are doing (eg. going to the crossroads to find the sword), then that will be reported to Strahd, and I'll have him show up with some minions in an attempt to stop the PCs. Otherwise, I am going to have the last of the revenants that they defeated in Argynvostholt show up in Kolyan Indirovich's body. I'll also check for random encounters while they are digging up graves.

I'm no digging expert either, but remember that there's a big difference between digging a grave and digging up a grave. To wit, you don't need to go six feet under when you're just digging up a grave, and you only have to get enough of the hole dug up to be able to open the coffin, if you're trying to do some graverobbin'. I would say somewhere between 1 and 2 hours, assuming you have a shovel. I would say at least double the time if you don't have a shovel and can't (or don't) improvise one. Digging up a grave with your bare hands sounds like the actual worst.

Fair points. I'll go with two hours per grave - partly because I don't think these graves are meant to be all that fresh and partly just because this is Barovia.

I'll say 6-8 hours if they're trying to dig it up by hand. I doubt they'll try that, though. The village of Barovia isn't that far off. They can buy, borrow, or steal some shovels from there and go back.

 

[texastoast]

I want to share an update with where our party has made it to. We've defeated Wintersplinter, but when we observed (and failed to interrupt) the Wintersplinter ritual, Strahd invited us to dinner. We hopped in the carriage that was presented and dined with Strahd. He extended 'guest privilege' to the party while they were at dinner (Rictavio/Van Richten told them that as a noble he would honor that privilege), but then ended the dinner and then told them that they could freely explore the castle (they had asked for a tour, figuring that at least one of the items was there) but that it would be a 'test' for them to escape alive. I didn't make the doors lock like the book describes (and I made the figure playing the organ actual Strahd, not an illusion), except that the double doors into the dining room were locked, forcing them to make their way out via the secret door behind the organ.

By the way, since I decided that Lady Wachter usurped the Burgomastership of Vallaki after the Feast of St. Andal destabilized the town, Izek having left with the PCs and Ireena and thus unavailable to protect the Baron, I had the deposed Baron and Baroness of Vallaki serving as terrified waiters at the dinner, responding to every snap of Strahd's fingers. That really caught the players' attention.

They explored the castle for a while, largely uneventfully, looking for the catacombs because they had been pointed to the Mad Dog's tomb by their card reading. They actually made it to the catacombs, taking damage only from the gargoyles in the large entrance hall. But then, because the leader of the party is a curious 12-year-old, and because they didn't expect any of the tombs to actually have the words "Mad Dog" in the inscription, they opened practically every crypt they encountered. They got St. Markovia's Thighbone, which is great once they have time to attune to it, but they also got shot with poison darts. They also got clobbered by cold from a Brown Mold, which actually knocked my warlock unconscious, costing a Cure Wounds from the druid. So we're not in the best of shape when we finally found Mad Dog's crypt. (Thankfully they didn't open Bucephalus's crypt.)

The party is at level 6. Mad Dog's Crypt contains a Wraith (CR5) and 3 Hell Hounds (CR3), so it would be a challenge even at full strength, which they are decidedly not. And as a bonus we have Helga the "Maid from Hell" with us to really turn the tables if we survive the Mad Dog encounter itself, or if one PC retreats to a "safe" vantage point. This feels like a likely TPK. That wouldn't be the end of the world; both the kids have rolled up new characters. I don't know if they'll want to continue COS with them if that's how this goes, but that's fine either way. It would be a major shame for my wife; she's grown very attached to her character.

I don't want to fudge things or not try hard RPing the monsters in order to allow the party to survive or escape. They made their own mess, ignoring lots of warnings, and I don't think that's too harsh a stance to take. That said, apart from tactically sound play on the PCs' part, do you see a good way out of this? My biggest question is this: if we win initiative and slam shut the door to the crypt (successful strength check and whatnot), what would happen? Would the Hell Hounds force their way out? I mean, they've just been in there for who knows how long until we opened the door; would they rush out now because there's fresh meat present, or are they maybe unable to do so because Mad Dog (their master) is entombed therein? Likewise would the Wraith simply travel incorporeally through the door, or is he bound to the crypt as long as it is sealed?

The plan that I would adopt, if a character had time to think up and execute it, would be to shut the crypt, retreat into Klutz Tripalotsky's crypt (they just met his Illusion Warrior), and attempt to take a short rest to get some HP back. If they try that, I would potentially have Sir Klutz charge into Mad Dog's crypt, which could buy them a distraction. (He's looking for them to lead him to the battle front from the war in which Strahd's armies originally conquered Barovia). Does that seem plausible? And does anyone have any advice on how to suggest something like that from my odd position as DM/PC/teacher of how to play D&D?

 

[pukunui]

That said, apart from tactically sound play on the PCs' part, do you see a good way out of this? My biggest question is this: if we win initiative and slam shut the door to the crypt (successful strength check and whatnot), what would happen? Would the Hell Hounds force their way out? I mean, they've just been in there for who knows how long until we opened the door; would they rush out now because there's fresh meat present, or are they maybe unable to do so because Mad Dog (their master) is entombed therein? Likewise would the Wraith simply travel incorporeally through the door, or is he bound to the crypt as long as it is sealed?

Personally I'd rule that any creatures in a crypt are trapped in that crypt if the door is shut. Only Strahd can move freely through the crypts' doors and walls. If your group can get the door shut in time, then they can get a pass.