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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8982814" data-attributes="member: 6750502">Act II: Crush Your EnemiesAct 2 follows a bit of a different format than Act 1. Taking place entirely within Castle Ravenloft, it is separated into five different encounters representing major areas of the castle, and in between them the DM runs shorter encounters. Technically all of the areas are optional, although two of them (the Crypts and the Tome) highly encourage the DM to nudge the players in exploring them.The party will end up in one of the areas as their first based on a statue they find in the Amber Depths in the prior chapter. The statue is holding five different Tarot cards, and depending on which they touch will open up a nearby gate as the other cards vanish leading to a corresponding room. Further areas are thus found by exploring the Castle.This Place is Trying to Kill You is a collection of the miniature encounters between the main areas. They aren’t full encounters in the “roll for initiative, here are the enemy stats sort of way,” and instead tax the party resources by forcing them to spend Hit Die or spell slots that must be sacrificed in order to proceed. 1 spell level or hit die is 1 Resource, although there are other means for PCs to gain Resources, such as the aid of a helpful NPC ally or certain treasures found in the adventure. PCs with no Resources remaining instead take 2d4 damage for each Resource they’d otherwise spend. Resources in certain encounters can be reduced or negated based on circumstances and abilities, such as resistance or immunity to fire damage in an encounter involving hell hound arsonists.There are 14 miniature encounters here, all of which have their own table based on how many Resources they consume. They’re narrated entirely in boxed text, and ends with an open-ended question asking how the party managed to overcome the obstacle. Some of the more interesting entries include hellhounds causing a fire breaking out in a section of the castle, meeting a tired werewolf in a moonlit courtyard trapped by a magical exhaustion effect, a trapped room where a portrait of Strahd winks at the party as the doors lock and the place starts flooding with blood, a group of wight fencers with silvered rapiers who seek to duel the party in “honorable combat,” a horde of ghoulish armor-clad dogs cornering the PCs on a collapsing castle bridge, and one encounter that has a unique magical scimitar, Sparrowhawk, embedded within a gray ooze. Sparrowhawk is an intelligent weapon with the soul of a Chaotic Good fey within it, and will automatically cast Crusader’s Mantle when the PCs fight one of the Vampire Lords.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/mKm03hb.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Dinner Date is a recreation of the classic encounters where the PCs sit down to a meal with Strahd in prior Castle Ravenloft adventures. While the Brides present are the genuine articles, the “Strahd” speaking to them is in reality a bound spirit known as the Misery. An unwilling servant of the Vampire Lord, it will reveal more about its true nature during battle as the party deals more damage to him. If Irena’s the villain, the Misery is Rahadin who is seeking a way to betray her and will guide the conversation to topics about her but will make up lies about Strahd. If Strahd’s the villain then the Misery is Van Richten, who wants to reveal the secret of Strahd’s Tome and guide them to the Staff of Power in Kazan’s tomb in the Crypts. Both of them are restricted from talking about certain topics by magic, so they have to do it in indirect ways.The Brides will be helping set the table and acting as servants while blindfolded, although Winter is partially resisting the magical compulsions. There’s also a Tarot treasure here, and the book suggests adding the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. Trying to go for it will cause the Brides and the false Strahd to attack, although Winter will tell a character to “grab it and run. Trust Gertruda. I wish I had.”As you can imagine, this is a pretty heavy roleplay encounter, and the book has two pages worth of conversation topics regarding Castle Ravenloft and its inhabitants, as well as appropriate skill checks for the PCs to discover lies and pry useful information out of the Misery. The Misery will grow crueler as the conversation continues, and once the PCs asked a certain number of questions (3-8 based on whether this adventure’s meant to be a one-shot or adventure serial), continue to pry him about Irena which visibly agitates him, or dives for the treasure, combat will begin. PCs who manage to upset the Misery via asking about Irena can grant the party +10 to initiative, and the adventure claims that this causes the combat to be more dangerous by clumping enemy turns. Although in my personal experience, going first in combat is a huge advantage in general.The Misery is a CR 10 undead with some pretty high skill modifiers, particularly social and wisdom-related ones, along with high saves in Constitution and Wisdom at +7. They can cast Command and Misty Step 3 times per day each, although their primary abilities are multiattacking with a variety of actions: a blade attack, ranged Waves of Misery dealing force damage, Ancient Doom that instantly kills one of the Brides to cast Bestow Curse on a target, and a non-Multiattack Spectral Barrage that summons ghost in an AOE effect dealing piercing damage. As a bonus action he can deal psychic damage to nearby enemies. Ancient Doom will be used on a Bride below 25% hit points, always choosing Winter first if able.Even though Winter won’t attack, this is a very deadly encounter, and unlike the Act I battles they won’t relent if a certain number of PCs die. Four of the Brides plus a powerful undead is certainly a deadly encounter in campaigns in general. One of the few advantages is a PC who grabs the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind attunes to it immediately for the battle. Additionally there’s a Shaper’s Jade treasure in the broken pipe organ that can be attached as a charm to any weapon or armor to transform into another type of weapon/armor.Presumably the intent is to run away with the treasure, and the book does note that fleeing is a viable option for the Act 2 areas. In fact, there are two general events that can happen for PCs who do this, both of which involve running across Gertruda. One is if the PCs leave the beaten paths of Castle Ravenloft or aimlessly wander, where they come upon Gertruda disguised as a valiant warrior wearing jade armor and holding a morningstar fighting Midsummer. She gets injured in the battle, and the PCs can gain a variety of boons depending on whether they manage to save her, try but fail, or don’t move to save her. Two of the three options give the party the Jade Knife, a dagger that grants the wielder blindsight by default and has a more powerful version where the wielder takes radiant damage to cast Summon Shadowspawn. The other Gertruda encounter happens if the PCs flee an encounter without gaining any allies, items, or other assets. Gertruda will be eating a sandwich and reading a book, and if not encountered as her real self before, will introduce herself as the Envoy of the Dark Powers. She can answer various questions, including through one use of Commune and grant them a short rest and two Heartseekers, but they cannot do the Tome of Lords area further below.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/GmjsDbU.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The Basilica is presided over by the Abbot of the Abbey of St. Markovia from the Curse of Strahd module. He has moved into Castle Ravenloft, continuing his twisted experiments on the last druids. The place is lit up via electrical lights, appearing on the outside as three different cathedrals unnaturally merged together like an abstract painting. The book mentions that this is a pretty deadly encounter, so it gives a handout for altering the enemy stats based on party makeup, such as ones lacking ranged attackers, those who have a low damage output, and so on.Much like in Curse of Strahd, the Abbot is obsessed with breaking the dismal nature of Barovia by finding the perfect bride for the vampire count, and sees the good in him in spite of the man’s unwillingness to change. The Abbot’s continual failure in this endeavor has slowly driven him insane, and he’s taken to working with a pair of Erinyes known as the Furies. The Furies will take pot shots at the party in various rooms in order to try and drive them away, along with deploying illusions. They won’t strike to kill, as they wish to torment the party before their meeting with the Abbot.The Abbot will be hostile upon being discovered, although in a sense of honor he will allow the PCs to “catch their breath” and take a long rest before fighting, and during this time they can interview the Furies (the Abbot remains silent) although they dodge most questions.In terms of stats the Abbot has the stats of a deva, although he lacks a healing touch, cannot change shape, has Storm Sphere instead of Raise Dead, and if disarmed of his mace can attack with flaming fists. The Furies have stats of Erinyes, but are slightly weaker and share the same hit point pool that kills them both once reduced. During the fight if the Furies fall first, the Abbot will come to a sense of awareness of his doomed quest and enter “redemption mode,” and the Furies will heal up and turn their attacks on him. PCs can take the opportunity to flee. If they stick around, either the Furies or the Abbot will aid the party at the end of the fight by answering their questions via Contact Other Plane, and in either case a Tarot-assigned treasure will be found in a bundle at the end of the fight. PCs who decide to flee the Basilica at any point will end up in a quarry nearby, with a waystone containing a Ring of Fire Elemental Command as a “consolation prize” along with other magic items such as a Wand of Magic Missile, a Spellguard Shield, and a Tome of Understanding. The Tome cannot be used within the confines of this adventure, but if the party finds a way to do so the book says that they “deserve the buff.”The Crypts is one of the not-required-but-kind-of-is areas of Act II. Some encounters are altered slightly depending on whether Strahd or Irena is the villain, and this also determines whether their NPC ally will be Esmerelda (for Strahd) or Maple (for Irena). The Crypts have been magically warped beyond its original foundations, appearing as a shallow lake of blood stretching out beyond one’s vision, with the mausoleums appearing as tiled islands which become magically lit by blue flames as the PCs draw near.I suppose now’s a good time to talk about the ally’s stats. Esmerelda uses modified fire giant stats, which means she’s a strong ally to have. She has slightly lower hit points and no multiattack, but to make up for it she has a higher Dexterity, is resistant to necrotic as well as fire damage, is proficient in Stealth, and wields a magical rapier that deals 6d6+7 slashing damage and can make a ranged fire attack, and is Medium instead of Huge size. As for Maple, they use the Feypact Wolf stat block. For large parties of 6 or more PCs, adding a fire giant to the mix may make things a bit too easy, so instead Esmerelda is more of an indirect helper, being unable to participate in combat but exists as a ghost who can aid the party via her knowledge and moral support. Maple will still join the party during the Crypts, but will only accompany them for the rest of the adventure if the party has 5 or less PCs.Esmerelda has her own agenda beyond helping the party. The Vistani knows that defeating Strahd may merely cause Irena or Gertruda to become the new Darklord, but doesn’t want to remain inactive against his evil. If the PCs have the Luck Blade with a remaining wish after Strahd’s defeat, she will ask to use it. In such a case, she’ll cast the Magic Jar spell to inhabit the sword and thus be taken out of the Domains of Dread.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/7poD6q8.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />However, Irena will also be here if she’s the villain. She will accompany the party in the form of Tatyana, a paladin vampire-slayer. In reality she is hoping to use the party to help her find the Luck Blade in hopes of using it to return Sergei to his normal form, and will attempt to subtly weave her Charm effect on a PC. She hopes to betray the party at an opportune time once they find the Luck Blade, and also seeks to turn Maple into a vampire thrall. PCs have means of detecting Irena’s secret spells and deception via a variety of ways, from skill checks to a high Passive Perception to asking her questions on subjects that enrage her. Irena doesn’t want to kill the party at this time so much as weaken them. There’s an awful lot of content talking about what she knows as well as what happens if she tails them into other rooms in the Castle, along with possible ambush points. Maple will arrive to aid the PCs in combat by the end of the second round or if the battle’s turning against them. If she’s driven off she will vaguely mention an event known as the Eclipse where she can “kill you all properly.” Even if Irena manages to escape with the Luck Blade. she will be unable to use it due to the Dark Powers intervening.As for a game with Esmerelda/Strahd, these unique events will happen after the PCs gain the Luck Blade. When venturing back to exit the Crypts they will come upon Esmerelda, Strahd, and his Brides in combat, and the Vampire Lord suggests that the PCs join the fire giant in “keeping the game even.” During the fight he will taunt them, asking PCs the most heroic things they’ve done and why he should take them seriously. PCs who seriously engage with his questions will gain Inspiration, and those who do good enough in storytelling will delight Gertruda, who will intervene by summoning a wave of sunlight along with a Shakespearean speech. This will stun Strahd and his Brides for one round and granting the party immunity to necrotic damage for the rest of the fight.During the fight Strahd has some unique one-time moves, such as teleporting straight up to briefly ride his nightmare, using a skull to rain fireballs down on the party before jumping down to face the foes in combat once again. The skull pleads not to be used as a weapon, and Esmerelda flinches, recognizing the voice as someone she knew.Strahd will also test their morals by suggesting to spare them if they kill Esmerelda instead. As Esmerelda is but a ghost, she will tell the PCs to take the deal in hopes of indirectly saving the party’s lives this way, mentioning that she’s died before and that her “fire will not perish.” Strahd is self-confident in his survival, and will unleash his power on the PCs in hopes of getting them to use the Luck Blade or other precious resources. He will retreat from combat once he kills Esmerelda, summoning his bride Midsummer to take care of the rest of the PCs.There’s a list of quotes and descriptions for Strahd in battle based on certain circumstances. Here’s one example if the PCs somehow get him exposed to sunlight.Or one for if the party tries to retreat:And one if the PCs demand to know why he opposes them:I love this. It’s quite a bit to keep track of, but all of these touches really cement Strahd as a unique and personality-filled opponent. If Esmerelda survives, she will join the party. If she dies, the PCs get her silver +2 rapier, Gallant, that also applies its bonus to spell attack rolls and can deal psychic or piercing damage on a hit. It is haunted by Esmerelda’s ghost, who can speak with the party and as a curse causes the attuned PC to gain her sense of reckless fearlessness.I do have to note one discrepancy: this is an incredibly difficult fight, and for most groups will most assuredly result in Esmerelda’s death. The book itself mentions that Strahd will leave combat by the 4th round, but only until Esmerelda is dead. Otherwise he will press on the attack. However the publisher in the Drive-Thru RPG comment section claims that he will leave regardless:<img src="https://i.imgur.com/IaAWtOh.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><img src="https://i.imgur.com/4vGZmnT.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />I decided to check if my PDF was updated to reflect. The book was last updated on the Guild in July 2022, and my version was downloaded September 2022. The tactics for Strahd still remain the same as in the above flowchart.Split into two posts due to length.</blockquote>

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