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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libertad" data-source="post: 8983755" data-attributes="member: 6750502"><img src="https://i.imgur.com/tnPcXPT.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /> Act III: I’ll Be BackThe Eclipse and much of Act 3 is the final stage of One Night Strahd, narrowing down the more diverse choices in Acts 1 and 2 into a funnel to the final boss. While the boxed text changes depending on where the party is in Castle Ravenloft in Act 2, the Eclipse is an apocalyptic change to Barovia: a rising sea of blood is flooding the land, portions of the castle start to fall apart, and a giant blazing eye appears in the sky like some monstrous sun. The PCs will be unable to take any more long rests, as spectral wolves will haunt them from afar and attack as a unique swarm-based monster if they try to long rest. In a two-group game, both groups will come together and provide one last opportunity for table-swapping.The battles of Act 3 continue on for as long as the PCs keep reincarnating, although the death toll affects the ending. A loss happens if the party gives up, a Qualified Victory happens if the party as a whole takes casualties of 8 PCs or more, and a Victory if they take less than 8.During the Eclipse, notable NPCs who are still alive have scenes of their own where their story comes to an end or they join forces with the PCs. If Esmerelda’s alive she’ll mention that she’s never been this far before in the nightmare cycle of her doomed quest, giving a worried prayer to Mother Night. As for Winter, PCs have the opportunity to save her from some ghost wolves if they’ve been kind to her in the past. If they have one last wish in the Luck Blade and a Contact Other Plane from the Heartseekers, they can use both charges to free her from Strahd’s service forevermore.As for Burr, his scene is kind of cheap. He manages to sneak up on a PC, threatening them with a finger-gun gesture pointing right into their back. If the PCs attempt to attack him rather than hear him out, he will get off a free Disintegration on a PC (it can be counterspelled). He is more open to conversation this time, and can help inform the party about future challenges in this Act as well as ways to put down Strahd or Irena for good. Winter can also inform PCs how to defeat Strahd and find his Ethereal coffin, too.While I know that reincarnation removes the sting a little, having an enemy sneak up on the party without any means of allowing the PCs to intercept/detect this, plus a free use of a spell that will likely kill them, can lead to some sour feelings.In the case where Winter cannot join the party and Esmerelda is dead, the PCs will gain the aid of three ghostly wolves who broke free of the vampire lord’s hold and use dire wolf stats but with 15 temporary hit points each.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/1hknn5g.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Irena Gauntlet: Tomb of Irena only happens if the PCs are unable to open Irena’s Tomb on their own. This locks them out of a proper boss fight with Irena and instead has them fight Sergei. It begins with the PCs returning to the Crypts of Castle Ravenloft. If the PCs haven’t found a way to open it, surviving Brides of Strahd can help out in exchange for a sacrifice of some kind, such as draining a PC to death, good social skill checks, or if Winter is alive and allied. There are various skill checks that can open up more clues about torch patterns. The PCs can still get through with trial and error, but wasting such time ends up giving all future enemies 20 temporary hit points.Once inside the tomb proper, they will enter an enormous hall with an ornate coffin at the end. Before the PCs can mess with the coffin, Sergei will arrive to attack the PCs. He is mounted on the nightmare Bucephalus along with three undead assassins who were former servants of the Morninglord with giant bat mounts of their own.In terms of stats, Bucephalus is treated as being part of Sergei. Sergei/Bucephalus is a CR 13 fiend with 161 hit points, 18 AC, fast walking and fly speeds, can Multliattack in melee with a Cursed Estoc or a necrotic-damaging Choking Grasp, along with some innate offensive spells such as Magic Missile and Blade Barrier that can only be used as lair actions. Sergei also has magic resistance, but he’s unable to use it as well as a bevy of other special abilities (such as legendary and lair actions) when he’s in contact with sunlight. The 3 Servants of the Dead are much less powerful monsters, also being bound to flying mounts but multiattack with daggers, can turn invisible until the start of their next turns after said multiattack, and inflict vulnerability to piercing damage on those within 5 feet of them. Sunlight makes them unable to turn invisible or hide, and they become visible if exposed in such a way.Irena’s coffin can only be opened at the end of the fight, and her slumbering form appears to be more like a molded figure than an actual vampire. It cannot be staked save by the Sunblade, which speaks out loud for the first time that they’re suitable for the task. Otherwise, some other powerful weapons in this module such as the Luck Blade may suffice. If Winter’s sword is used, this will also kill her, but she is willing to do so as a worthy cause.If Irena is staked, Gertruda will appear, horrified to see the woman she loved finally die, collapsing to the ground in grief. At this point, the Irena arc is over, transitioning to the Greenhouse.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/aW8Ywh2.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Irena Fight: A Dark Audience happens if the PCs manage to open the entrance to Irena’s tomb on their own. The angered Darklord will suddenly appear as the entire castle vibrates, dragging Gertruda by the hair. She announces that she will kill the PCs in front of her, although Gertruda is unfazed at her brutish threats. And in pure Cutscene time where the party cannot react, Irena utters a magical command that causes the ground beneath them to fall, as they end up deeper in the Crypts. What if a PC can fly, such as with an ability from Totally Safe Ghost Canisters? Well it happens anyway!Irena is back up in the throne room of Castle Ravenloft astride Vasilka, her Sphinx mount. As the climactic final battle the book talks a lot about preparations and how to make it feel suitably dramatic along with alterations to encounter difficulty based on party weak points to make it feel challenging enough without being a cakewalk. In terms of stats Vasilka is a gynosphinx but with a modified spell list focusing mostly on various debuffs and battlefield control spells, and is fond of using Pyrotechnics to make smoke that can mess up the line of sight of enemy spellcasters as well as block any rays of sunlight. Irena will also make use of her Charm ability to turn party members against each other. Much like Strahd’s fight with Esmerelda in the Crypts, both Irena and Vasilka have special single-use abilities, where Irena uses Animate Objects to bring to life ten knife-like armor plates, while Vasilka will cast Maelstrom. In both cases the other boss has a Counterspell to shut down Counterspells of the PC’s own.In terms of abilities both Irena and Strahd have near-identical stat blocks. The only differences I can spot are that Irena can cast misty step and uses a Cestus instead of an unarmed strike. The cestus also allows her to gain 15 feet of bonus movement when making an attack with it. As for Strahd, he uses a +2 greatsword.But overall, Irena/Strahd is a very powerful final boss for 6th level PCs. They have decent saves across the board but are particularly good in Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma, have a modified Charm ability of the vampire that also deals psychic damage to the target and turns those brought to 0 hit points into a vampire spawn, both cast spells as a wizard with up to 5th level spell slots with emphasis on offense and battlefield control, and have legendary and lair actions mostly for bonus attacks for legendary and the ability to manipulate the terrain of Castle Ravenloft as lair actions.One particularly interesting thing about their stats is that both cannot regain spell slots during the adventure as a particular weakness, which is in addition to the standard vampire ones.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/AuGw7aN.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Strahd Gauntlet: Strahd’s Hate has the PCs discover, through skill checks or the help of NPC allies, to realize that the way to the Ethereal Gate to find Strahd’s spirit-form is in the Sunlit Shrine. By the time the party realizes this, Strahd knows that they know. His physical form will take the form of the Godeater, a Gargantuan wolf with a crown of eight blood-red crystals on its head. Each crystal charges up with the death of a character, and once fully charged any attempts at defeating Strahd from then on will be in vain. This is a Hunt scenario, where the PCs have to outmaneuver Kaiju Wolf Strahd as they make a mad dash back to the Sunlit Shrine. The various locations help keep up the sense of danger, with text illuminating this such as rumbles in the ground and heavy breath of a stalking giant predator who may be just around the corner.In some of these encounters Strahd will toy with the PCs rather than immediately attacking. For instance, in a theater room he will ask the PCs to entertain him; if they do well enough on the skills he will let them go with a head start.In terms of stats, the Godeater Wolf is very much a giant melee-focused monster. It is a CR 17 fiend with 330 hit points, AC 17, and huge Constitution and Wisdom saves. It has a few innate offensive spells such as Wall of Fire and Lightning Bolt, and is very fast being able to add both Dexterity and Intelligence (+4 each) to initiative along with the ability to grapple as many creatures as it wants and suffers no movement penalties for doing so. And it can deal damage to itself to smash through objects/terrain and attack and grapple multiple creatures it moves through. To top it all off, it has legendary actions, lair actions, and also unlocks Mythic Actions which are more powerful legendary actions if somehow reduced to 0 hit points. In such a case, the Godeater assumes a phase two form where it’s now on fire and almost all of its hit points are restored.Safe to say, the PCs are definitely encouraged to run, not to fight, here. Much like the original Sunlit Shrine, the PCs will need to find a means to get the shrine door open, and the number of successes determine how many rounds they have as the Godeater attacks them. If they have no successes the door won’t open until wolf-Strahd dies! Good luck with that!<img src="https://i.imgur.com/hUKJJA7.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Strahd Fight: Tomb of Strahd sits in the Ethereal Plane. Strahd’s real soul is here, controlling his physical body in Barovia proper. The secret passages beneath the Sunlit Shrine are home to the surviving Brides, who will have one last stand but as the PCs likely have lots of new tricks and allies at this point the DM should shorten it to dice-less narration in how they’re overcome. If Winter is an ally, there will be boxed text instead as she uses her sword and lightning bolts to shatter their weapons and bodies.Once the PCs find a way to shift to the Ethereal Plane, they will find themselves standing on an enormous cube carved from bone drifting in a vast gray void. Strahd is sitting on a throne at the end of the side the PCs are standing on. Rising from his seat he will mock them, saying that he’s happy to see them as he tosses his cloak to the side with Bucephalus the nightmare appearing from nowhere to lift him into the air. A silver circle bearing the image of a dragon in the cube’s surface opens up, where the undead form of the silver dragon Argynvost rises, Strahd’s coffin visibly embedded in his rib cage.We already talked about Irena/Strahd’s stats, so let’s cover Argynvost. Thankfully he is nowhere near as powerful as a real adult silver dragon, being a CR 9 undead with 168 hit points, 18 AC, a fast fly speed of 80 feet, and your typical draconic melee multiattacks with natural weapons, a rechargeable cold breath weapon, and a lair action where he can either cast fog cloud or generate an AoE cold wind that deals a low amount of cold damage to all foes within 120 feet.In terms of tactics Strahd is an aggressive fighter, gleefully burning spell slots all the while; he’s already cast Mirror Image on himself by the time combat begins. He is fond of using Shield as a reaction to negate attacks, much like Irena, as well as using his damaging Charm ability and summoning demons to his side. Argynvost is much more straightforward, using breath weapon and melee attacks if able. There is one oddity in the suggested combat tactics, mentioning that Argynvost has a Paralyzing Breath ability, but his stat block makes no mention of this.<img src="https://i.imgur.com/OR1MzHP.png" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The Greenhouse: Endings covers what happens after the resolution of Act 3’s events, whether the PCs win or lose. The PCs will appear back in the Greenhouse, and there are one of four possible endings: Loss, if the PCs were utterly defeated and gave up, Qualified Victory, which happens if 8 or more PCs died but they still managed to best Irena/Strahd/Sergei in combat,* or Victory if they managed to defeat the final boss while suffering less than 8 PC deaths. In the case of two group games both results are tallied to determine the overall victory: for instance, if one group has a Loss and another a Qualified Victory, the ending will be a Loss, while one group having a Victory but the other a Loss will be a Qualified Victory There is a 4th ending type, a Total Victory, in two-group games where both manage to win.*Although if fighting Strahd as the wolf in the physical world, they will suffer a Loss instead if they can’t defeat him in 2 or less rounds.The Loss ending has the PCs come back to the Greenhouse. Omu, sitting down near a sleeping Gertruda, asks the party to sit with them. When Gertruda wakes up she will get philosophical, talking about how the universe is predicated on a cycle of violence and that’s why people hate the concept of endings. But she’ll say that what is also equally truthful is that people love good stories.In a Qualified Victory Ending, the PCs will walk out of Castle Ravenloft’s shadow to find themselves in rolling hills under a bright blue sky, with the greenhouse from the beginning just over yonder. Gertruda and Omu will be there, inviting them to have a nice sit down with some books, apples, and tea.In a Victory Ending in the Irena Arc, the PCs notice that the windows of Castle Ravenloft all look out to the Greenhouse from the beginning of the adventure. Gertruda will appear covered in blood and sweat, oddly happy as wild flowers grow around her. She talks about how she loves the characters, their violent ways, and how their victory is a shared truth. Gertruda then becomes sad, knowing that at some point they must leave but lets them know they’re always welcome to return. Castle Ravenloft can be seen off in the horizon past the island they’re on. Looking at it, the vampire will mention that nothing ends with a sad note to her voice, and asks the party what will be next while taking a bite out of an apple. After talking with her Omu will appear driving a crimson carriage pulled by terracotta horses, offering to take the PCs home.In a Victory Ending in the Strahd Arc, either the cube in the Ethereal Plane or the door leading out of the Sunlit Shrine will open up to/dock at a pier on a lake. Somewhere nearby is the Greenhouse, and Gertruda will be waiting for them along with a golden-furred wolf she calls Poe. Otherwise the rest of the ending is the same as the Irena Victory.In a Total Victory Ending both groups end up back in the Greenhouse Dream, with Gertruda appearing to tend to their wounds. Otherwise it’s the same as a normal Victory.The Hidden Path is a Secret Ending, and can be triggered at any point the PCs attack Gertruda and don’t relent when she asks them to stop. If they do 250 or more damage to her in one round, she will die laughing as reality itself breaks around them like a kaleidoscope. The PCs supposedly die, and then see visions of a battlefield near a great sea with towering machines made of steel, shooting spears of fire through the sky exploding into mushroom clouds. Gertruda will say that the PCs are the spear that pierced her side, and how they are now her first, last, and only truth.The endings don’t come immediately; the PCs have the opportunity to explore the Greenhouse on their own, for Omu and Gertruda are patient and have lived through many lifetimes. However, this is of particular importance in two-group games, as a group that finishes before the other can interact with various things around the Greenhouse and nearby islands to spend the resources they have left to grant in-game benefits to the remaining group. Resources are measured in points: each Hit Dice, Inspiration, or spell slot level is 1 resource, and 12 resources allow one roll on the Tchotchkes table, 35 resources on the Secrets table which has less results but more powerful ones.Each random result has the Greenhouse group visit a special place. For two Tchotchkes examples, one is a strange orchard made out of glass trees that lets a PC in the remaining group cast Moonbeam, while another has the party engage in pleasant conversation with Omu where the slaadi appears in battle to cast Delayed Blast Fireball to the remaining party’s benefit. One of the Secrets results finds a replica of the Sunlit Shrine, which Gertruda mentions was her home back in Barovia. It allows the remaining group to place five five-foot squares of sunlight wherever they want in the current challenge/combat they’re in.Thoughts So Far: Once again, I find the Strahd arc to be better-written. Although Strahd has the inherent name recognition of a D&D villain, there’s something more narratively satisfying about being chased by a giant monster wolf and fighting the vampire count with an undead dragon guarding his coffin. In comparison to Irena, the PCs may not even fight the Darklord, instead being forced to do battle with a dapper skeleton guy who’s been silently polite to them in prior encounters. There’s also the fact that Esmerelda has a few sample lines of dialogue if she survived for the horrors to come, while Maple has none. While I’m sure the DM will do so anyway for role-play, it’s a noticeable contrast.I like the idea where the first group to win in a two-person campaign can indirectly help the other party. This helps conservative players who didn’t blow through all their resources to still make use of their prudence to aid the other team.Join us next time as we wrap up the review with Optional Encounters and Appendices!</blockquote>

Verification