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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 9608427" data-attributes="member: 7006">Yeah, if it were me... I'd have the party emerge from the mists on the west side of the Baratok Valley on the Old Svalich Road and have the first thing they come across is the sight of the stone abbey above the treeline, clinging to the snowy mountainside.  They then come across the dilapidated road sign that points northward to the village of Kresk, where they see the gatehouse enclosing a village and a faint bell ringing in the distance.  If the party goes up to the gate and is denied entry, then the Burgomaster Dmitri Kreskov can direct the party to go find out what happened to their wine delivery and send then to the Wizards of the Wines... and then they are off and running.The one thing I would say, having run Curse of Strahd before for two separate groups... is that I don't think it is nearly as imperative to get the players to go see Madam Eva at nearly the same speed as the adventure tries to direct them (if a group comes in on the east end of the map at the Village of Barovia.)  If I was to run CoS again... I'd let the players explore the lands a lot longer before putting forth the "The Count of the Valley is a vampire and here's the old woman who can give you a reading to find everything you need to destroy the vampire" thing... since it just redirects the party's actions away from the sandbox nature of the adventure.  Especially if you run the tarroka card reading without jerry-rigging the selections, because if you do it completely randomly there's a good chance you could end up with like all the requisite locations to be INSIDE the Castle... thereby sending the party on a direct route there and never wanting to leave.Give the players the time to clean up the Wizards of the Wines, enter Kresk, and then find out about Count Von Zarovich and his proclivities via the Abbot and his flesh golem Bride.  Depending on how the Abbot and party get on they can do the "find a bridal dress" quest for the Abbot, and then a bit later on if they succeed you could have the party's first encounter with Von Zarovich be when he arrives (at the invitation of the Abbot) to a dinner party in order to introduce Vasilka to him as his bride-to-be.  That way you can treat Strahd as perhaps just an eccentric lord and he can then invite the party to the castle at a later date.  You also have Ezmerelda d'Avenir onsite in the abbey as well in case you do want to introduce the vampire plot sooner-- like perhaps she crashes the dinner party of the Abbot, Vasilka, the party and the Count and when she fires her crossbows at Strahd he is forced to turn to mist and escape, thereby clueing the party in to who he is.</blockquote>

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