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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 8816302" data-attributes="member: 85555">I got to the next adventure and decided not to run it, but run something original that was tied to the party background instead (we have been using small periods of down time so the players can connect with people via letters and other messages: one player is forming a church, the other forming a thieves network). The next adventure would have been Corrupted Innocence, which introduces the Ermordenung, which are monsters from Boritsi who have a deadly touch. I wasn't especially comfortable with this scenario, because the antagonist is so young (and for that kind of monster it just feels a little off). So instead I took the kernel of the idea, a child antagonist, and had them contend with a flesh golem creation of the man who they came to Ravenloft with.In their backstory, they came to Ravenloft because they were helping a man named Aristanos, from the Fellowship of Promestus excavate ruins in a land far to the north. Aristanos was using them to resurrect a Sertori (sort of like Divine Sorcerers) named Luna Haunch. The attempted resurrection of her is what drew everyone into the mists, but they all came at different times. The players were initially ahead of him (I have been playing with the mists and time a lot). First they went to Mordenheim's Mansion and had a confrontation before moving through Darkon and into the misty borders where they eventually ended up in Mondale. But Aristanos arrived in their wake, reaching Mordenheim just as he was reforming from his confrontation with the party. Aristanos had the body of Luna Haunch with him and became fascinated with Mordenheim's ideas (instead of confronting Mordenheim like the players he befriended him and learned some of his methods). He then travelled through Darkon seeking the party (which the players caught wind of through their thieves network) and made his way with some Vistani into the misty borders.The players received a message asking for help. His name was Simon of Tarthal and he was an early disciple of the cleric player (who had planted the seeds of a church). But it was clear there was a time discrepancy as the players have only been in Ravenloft for months but Simon was building a church in their god's name for years. His people had been beset by evil creatures and they needed help.What the players did not realize was this was a trap set up by Aristanos. His backstory here is a bit involved but the basic gist is he found a new home, and conducted experiments. One of them was his own child, Chavi, who had passed away (again the time discrepancy is important here). Aristanos had married one of the Vistani who guided him through the mists and together they had Chavi. He raised her by making her into a flesh golem and sending her to find the party. However, she was evil and carried with her a doll golem (one of Aristanos early experiments) whose bite turns people into Goblyns. She reached the land that Simon of Tarthal had built his church in and the domain welcomed her as its new lord. Very quickly she turned all the people into Goblyns and eventually all the members of the church (except Simon who managed to kill himself first). Simon had been penning a letter to warn the cleric player (they had been having correspondence) not to come to the church. However, Chavi wrote a replacement letter pleading for the players to come help.So the adventure started much like Corrupted Innocence, with Chavi setting the players up by feigning an attack by an evil treat. The party rescued her, she convinced them that she was looking for a vistani encampment in the area and they took her with them to the church. While she waited outside, they investigated the church grounds, eventually stumbling upon Simon, with his original letter, only to find themselves surrounded by 10 Goblyns.Here I had forgotten how powerful Goblyns are. The party is 7th level, and I rolled randomly to determine the number of Goblyns. But they fairly easily took the players down (two were disfigured by the Goblyn's feasting), and were sparred because Chavi's goal was simply to capture them and send the party to her father in his domain. When we ended the players had woken up inside a wagon as prisoners, presumably a Vistani Vardo.I think at this point, because they were captured, which I wasn't expecting as an outcome, I am going to skip the rest of Book of Crypts and continue with their adventures in Aristanos' domain.</blockquote>

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