D&D 5E Curse of Strahd: Van Richten's Tower Trouble

[Sarac]

To start off, I'm sorry if this is the wrong place for this kind of thread, but I didn't see a "5e Modules" forum.

My issue is that, in my Curse of Strahd game, the player is going to enter Van Richten's tower next session and Strahd knows it. Now, my player is extremely careful so he probably won't blow himself up on Ezmerelda's Magic Wagon, or kill himself trying to get into the tower. I'm certain he'll get in and recover the Sunsword with no issue. My problem is, once Strahd realizes he has that blasted thing I don't see a reason for Strahd to NOT show up and use his children of the night to knock the tower down himself.

I don't WANT to kill my player. Not until he's on the roof of Castle Ravenloft, clad in Sergei's armor with said Sunsword fighting Strahd while it rains blood, but at the same time, there is no reason that Strahd would not kill this guy, when he has the chance to do it AND recover the Sunsword to keep it away from anyone else.

The simple fix is to, simply, not have Strahd show up and I understand that. But Strahd is smart and has been watching this guy like a hawk, especially since Sergei's soul is hiding out inside my player and my players is very aware of that fact. But at the same time, I have not eased up on the gas in this campaign even a little bit and now Strahd has a chance to kill him, no saving throw. Any ideas on not killing him but also not making Strahd seem like an absolute fool as well?

 

[wwanno]

Does he watch him h24 7/7? Alright, he is a vampire he doesn't have to pee, but constantly watching?

Does he know the sunsword is in there (I guess not, or he should have already recovered it).

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[iserith]

My problem is, once Strahd realizes he has that blasted thing I don't see a reason for Strahd to NOT show up and use his children of the night to knock the tower down himself.

In a game based on imagination, there's always a reason. There is never a "would" or "should," but rather only "could" and "might." Whenever you find yourself going "I don't see a reason..." stop right there. Always be thinking about how something can be rather than can't be. You will be a better DM and player for it.

The question I have is: Does the player know that Strahd is watching his character this closely? If not, then you don't have a problem. He gets the sunsword, Strahd's none the wiser, and you just swallow any issues you may have with it. If it's not established in play, it effectively doesn't exist, so don't worry about it.

If the player does know that Strahd is watching his character like a hawk, then do the same thing. If the player objects or questions why Strahd didn't rub him out after getting the sunsword, do one of these:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

And let the player speculate and begin spiraling down the path of paranoia.

Either way, not your problem!

 

[Irda Ranger]

I'd say that Strahd has no idea the Sun Sword is there, or else he'd have gotten it already himself.

I just wrapped up CoS and that's how I ran it. The PCs kept the Sun Sword under wraps once they found it, so Strahd didn't know they had it until they confronted him at a time of their choosing. They were really cool cucumbers about it. They didn't even draw the thing when Strahd attacked them on the road once, because they were betting (correctly) he was just playing with them and wouldn't kill them all as long as they didn't seem like a real threat.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Strahd might be watching the PC like a hawk, but where exactly is he? If he's still in his castle, the PC has a good amount of time to get out.

It is just about 40 hexes to get from Castle Barovia to Von Richten's Tower. At 1/4 mile per hex, that's a distance of 10 miles.

If Strahd transformed into his bat form with a speed of 30', and you were being nice and let him fly using his bonus action too... a move + dash + bonus action dash would be 90' per round, or 900' per minute. 10 miles is 52,800 feet, divided by 900' per minute, and you get 58.6666. So it would take Strahd just under an hour to fly from the Castle to the Tower once he discovered the PC got inside and grabbed the Sunsword. If the PC ends up hanging around in the Tower for an hour after getting the sword and he knows Strahd is watching him... at that point he deserves to get the Tower dropped on his head.

Even if you thought Strahd wouldn't fly in bat form and instead got on his nightmare to fly across the valley... a nightmare flies at 90'. So move + dash + bonus dash is 270' per round, 2700' per minute, 52,800' divided by 2700' gives you 19.555 minutes. So even travelling at Strahd's fastest speed, the PC has at minimum 20 minutes to get out of the tower and go hide.

So you have plenty of excuses as to why Strahd doesn't just show up and drop the tower on the PC immediately upon finding the sword... unless you actually have the vampire lord following the PC around. But if he's that close all the time and is that worried about him... he should have attacked the PC a long time ago.

Good luck with your game!

 

[hastur_nz]

Yep, all the above. Also, its a good chance for an NPC to arrive and warn that Strahd is on his way... Have Strahd try and kill that NPC, for added effect, giving the PC a chance to escape. Personally Ive never run a solo adventure, but it is typically a great chance for a clever amd cautious player to work things out in unexpected ways, so by all means make them sweat but give them a break unless they are stupid which it sounds like they are not. Also, Strahd can easily play cat and mouse with the PC, not killing them until the castle where it looks like they might actually be a threat; until then he just has a bit of fun toying with them.

 

[Ganymede81]

How does Strahd know the mechanics of the tower collapse? Was he able to sneak a peak at the adventure rules?

 

[Fleetwood C. DeVille]

Have the tower collapse and have a beam or something keep the player from getting crushed (take him to 0hp).

Strahd then makes a classic badguy mistake and doesn't confirm the kill. "Bleh! There's NO WAY he could have survived that. MWA! HA! HA!"

Then when the player shows up Strahd can look all confused. "But...but...I KILLED YOU!"
Bonus points if the reveal involves throwing back a hood or cloak.

 

[Charles Rampant]

Have the tower collapse and have a beam or something keep the player from getting crushed (take him to 0hp).

Strahd then makes a classic badguy mistake and doesn't confirm the kill. "Bleh! There's NO WAY he could have survived that. MWA! HA! HA!"

Then when the player shows up Strahd can look all confused. "But...but...I KILLED YOU!"
Bonus points if the reveal involves throwing back a hood or cloak.

This is really fun, but it's difficult to see how you guarantee it. What happens if the player jumps out of the tower directly into melee with Strahd? He/She's likely to get murdered, considering the fall damage, even if Strahd is toned down for what sounds like a solo adventure. I'm always wary of things that would be awesome, but which require the players to respond in a certain way for them to work; inevitably the players don't, and you end up with a scene that suddenly veers either into improv confusion, or into railroading tyranny.