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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Rils" data-source="post: 6994384" data-attributes="member: 78768">I'm with @<a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/member.php?u=7006" target="_blank">DEFCON 1</a> on this.  They can have their giant final battle with him there, but it doesn't mean he needs to be defeated there.  My group is supposed to meet him in Sergei's Tomb, and they will.  They'll also find him in several other places around the castle before they get there.  It's just that that location is where he finally "snaps" as it were, decides enough is enough with these pesky Outsiders, and attacks.  Assuming they defeat him, he'll mist form out the door to his own tomb to regenerate.  Assuming (again) the PCs follow him, they can fend off the Brides while someone deals with the body in the coffin.  But once he's in his tomb, there's not much fight left in him.  They "Faced" Strahd at Sergei's tomb.The concern about them finding the chapel too early is legit though.  There's no need or opportunity to explore the rest of the castle if that's the first room they walk into.  If the waves of enemies idea doesn't suit you, another option might be a "hide and seek" game, with some play-it-by-ear thrown in.  Perhaps when they walk in, Strahd is up on the balcony.  After talking with them for a bit, he makes a comment about "you didn't think it would be so easy as that, did you?" and leaves out the back door.  Then they have to chase him around the castle, softening the PCs up along the way, only to have him eventually lead them back to the chapel. "Fine then, if Fate ordains that we meet in battle in this place, let's get to it."  Something like that might extend the encounter and let them experience some of the rest of the castle, while still holding true to your card reading.  And if you don't want to do the escape-to-the-tomb option, let them back him onto the altar before the final blow.  Something about the goodness of the altar keeps him from mist-forming, and he turns to ash on it's surface.  Deed done.  Plus you get the bonus irony of killing a evil guy on a good altar, instead of the other way around.On another note, 7 x level 10 PCs with the artifacts are going to make mincemeat out of him.  You might consider having allies present (Rahadin, Escher, etc), and making full use of his summoning abilities and lair actions.Let us know how it goes!  We're only a couple games away from facing Strahd ourselves, so the cinematics of that are on my mind as well.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />edit: ninja'ed by a few other people while I was typing this...  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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