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Message: <blockquote data-quote="texastoast" data-source="post: 7040203" data-attributes="member: 6873909">We had a productive two-steps-forward-one-step-back session this past weekend.  Many thanks to the suggestions in this thread and others!  The party rescued Arrabelle (and murdered Bluto, but who can blame them too much), and we ended with them taking her home and then having the card reading with Madam Eva.  Arrigal was absent, and they got on very well with Luvash; he approved them killing Bluto and gave them some swag.  Between those two achievements and what they did previously, I'm going to award them 4th level when we start next session.  They're going to need it, because I'm going to have Strahd show up in the woods before they get back to the main road, charm my character,* a tiefling fiend-pact warlock, and have a little chat with the party.  I'm not sure what he should talk about; I'll probably have him focus on Ireena and the PCs' involvement in his schemes around her, particularly given that they've left her in the Burgomaster's house with Izek.  I'm thinking about having him then bite my character to scare the dickens out of the other PCs before retiring to let his friends say hi: some wolves and dire wolves.  We haven't had any combat since Death House, and I allowed everybody to create new characters after that and swap out, so this will be a chance to kick the tires. (Previous characters were out of the Starter Set; now we're previously unavailable and hopefully more interesting races and classes.)*I'm kinda sorta playing a character alongside DMing, mostly so we have 4 in the party so I don't have to constantly recalibrate the difficulty of things.The card reading was good news and (maybe) bad news from my perspective.  The possibly bad news is that all three relics are in Ravenloft, so they'll have to venture in there at least twice.  I think I'm just intimidated by the huge dungeon crawl and have been procrastinating familiarizing myself with the ins and outs.  Their Ally is Rictavio, which is great because they've already formed something of a relationship with him.  While they were on the way through town with Arrabelle, they got distracted by Rictavio's wagon.  One character (my 12yo) went back to the inn to ask Rictavio about it, and he told them to keep out.  Then I had the Wachter boys follow him out and suggest breaking into it, which he totally agreed to.  The rest of us kinda stood back and watched while the Tyger Tyger event occurred.  (SMH)  I basically let them off the hook for any real consequences;  the Wachters bolted and I let the PCs help Rictavio get the tiger back in the wagon, since the event describes that it just prowls the town but doesn't attack except in self-defense.  Rictavio gave them a pass too since they helped undo the damage.  I'm planning to have them meet Rictavio driving his wagon out of town toward the tower, not exactly exiled but just ahead of the law, when they head back to Vallaki.  They don't have enough clues yet to guess (and convince Rictavio) that he is their all ("entertaining man with a monkey"), so I'm not sure why he would mention his tower to them as a suggested destination, but I kinda need him to so they know where to find him.  I think I'll have the monkey performing in the street as suggested; now that they have the card reading they should be fully eager to find out where he came from, and that should get them to Blinsky's.  If that doesn't get them to make the Izek-Ireena connection and go to the Burgomaster's on their own, I may have Ismark meet them on the street as they leave Blinsky's.  I have visions of Izek, upon realizing Ireena is his long-lost sister, essentially losing interest in being the Burgomaster's muscle and becoming Ireena's fierce protector, although he would still be no match for Strahd if it came to that.  But if that's the way it goes, I want the players to earn it; I don't just want it to be "Izek kidnapped Ireena, they put 2 and 2 together, and now he's on your team!"  I'm definitely still open to suggestions on how to handle the rest of Vallaki.  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.</blockquote>

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