SPOILERS - Curse of Strahd Play Report

[RCanine]

Phew, session three was a nail-biter. Two combats, both of which two of the five PCs spent the majority of the time on ice.

The party started off heading from the Grick room to the Ghoul corridor, and got pinned by the ghouls. This encounter is terribly designed; it's set in a bottleneck such that two ghouls will be forced to attack one PC, and the other two will simply twiddle their thumbs. I recommend altering it, or altering the map such that the ghouls can double-back on the PCs and flank them--the multiple winding corridors would make for a hilarious benny-hill-like scene.

So the PCs are pinned in a corridor and their only option is to provoke from a ghoul to get into a position where the melee characters can all attack, which works out for the barbarian but causes the monk to get paralyzed and then proceed to fail three consecutive saving throws even with bardic inspiration.

Meanwhile, since the wizard can't see anything where he is, he runs around the corridor to get a better view and falls directly into the spiked pit trap. I couldn't have done that better if I had be doing it for him. He's dying at the bottom of the pit but crits a death save.

They eventually clean up the ghouls, rest, and head into the orb room, which shall henceforth be known as the TPK room. Unless your party is heavily combat-optimized, this will likely be a TPK. Our rogue made some tactical...interesting choices, first blowing out her lantern (assuming that it would dispel the shadows), and then walking away from one, assuming she was hidden from it. I kind of love new players, because this sort of inventive catastrophe is incredible, and not something you'd get from a seasoned AL player.

The shadows have next initiative, and they knock out both the rogue and the monk, as in the darkness they have advantage. The wizard would have been downed as well (9 average damage against level 2 players 0.o). The bard faerie fire's so they can at least see, but now we're almost all the way through initiative and only one of the shadows even has damage on them, and their turn is coming up fast.

The mage decides to mage hand the orb back onto the statue, and I decide that will dismiss the shadows; I don't want everyone to die this early. The PCs have to rest again, and are completely out of spells and hit dice. After the rest, we have a hilarious RP encounter where they shake the ghosts out of the two PCs. At which point we broke for the week.

I'm at a loss at how to proceed now. The PCs are hell-bent on exploring this place, but they may not return to the orb room (despite having found the secret door), so they're in for a long run out. The mimic shouldn't be too terrifying; it's a huge HP boat is all, but the ghasts might be nasty if they get a hit or two in, and the mound will definitely eat someone if they decide to fight it.

But mostly I'm just concerned about the smoke, blades and rates overwhelming the PCs if they have to run through the entire house. We shall see.

 

[Rils]

Interesting that hear how that played out for you - I have some of the same concerns reading through the basement level, and our group starts next game entering the attic. A couple questions:
- Did you use all four ghouls? We have four PCs, and four ghouls seems like a lot.
- Same with the shadows - did you use all five? I was thinking of reducing this to four - each PC's shadow comes to life in the sickly glow of the orb (or something).
- What are your thoughts on the grick - was that fight interesting, or just a "filler" fight? I was thinking of taking out the grick and the mimic; they just seem unnecessary, and centipedes + ghouls + shadows + ghasts + shambling mound + Death House seems like enough torment for a group of 4 whose only healing is a war cleric.

We don't play again for a couple more weeks, I'll be curious to see how things work out for your group!

 

[RCanine]

FWIW, I have five PCs.

- Did you use all four ghouls? We have four PCs, and four ghouls seems like a lot.

Yes, and the party was saved by the raging barbarian who stood in the bottleneck and passed five con saves in a row. That barbarian was the domino that if he had failed one save, would have toppled the party. Were I to run the adventure again, I would have the four ghouls running loose in the entire basement area, and have them use guerrilla tactics on the PCs as they wander around. Resource-wise, having the ghouls pepper the PCs with opportune attacks, retreat if engaged and then appear en masse when someone gets paralyze might be more terrifying, and allow ranged PCs to feel useful.

- Same with the shadows - did you use all five? I was thinking of reducing this to four - each PC's shadow comes to life in the sickly glow of the orb (or something).

That's exactly what I did, and I intentionally had each shadow attack their respective PC in order to split damage. Running optimal tactics is murder because these guys have a ton of effective HP, do greatsword-esque damage, reduce the melee characters to-hit and damage, and can hide as a bonus action. Even using suboptimal tactics, however, the shadows pretty tough. They'll take 3-5 hits to kill and kill a PC in 2-3. It's just math.

- What are your thoughts on the grick - was that fight interesting, or just a "filler" fight?

The grick did exactly what it was intended to do. Pop out, get one good attack in, and then died messily. I don't think it was a well-designed fight either--the grick would have been boxed in by the bard had the rogue not pulled him away from it. Did I mention I love the rogue in my party?

I was thinking of taking out the grick and the mimic; they just seem unnecessary, and centipedes + ghouls + shadows + ghasts + shambling mound + Death House seems like enough torment for a group of 4 whose only healing is a war cleric.

Yeah, healing is very tight in our group, and our bard seems disappointed he's pressured to use his magic defensively. I think the mimic would have been a more interesting and appropriate fight upstairs, although it's going to be a grind to chew through those HP.

Narratively, the mimic and ghast rooms are a bummer because they are a total sidetrack, but they provide very valuable resources (four healing potions!) for the PCs. In hindsight, were I to run this adventure again, I think I would have made the fallen adventurers more prominent. I would have given them names and backstories and dropped clues (maybe tattered journal pages) throughout the house. I would have divided their treasure into fourths, and secreted it throughout the basement, with each body giving clues as to its owners demise.

This would have increased the narrative tension and terror, as the PCs would have a glimpse into their own futures. In fact, seeking out the fallen adventurers might be the perfect hook, rather than the half-hearted ones this adventure provides. Now you've got me inspired, and I want to do some writing.

But I'd put the fallen adventurers:

• At the bottom of the well, being largely gnawed bones and equipment, killed by ghouls
• A shadow trapped in the walls in the shadow room, that tries to warn the PCs, his withered husk of a body mouldering in a corner
• One devoured by the mimic
• The third devoured by the ghasts, in some sick post-coitus feast in the bed in room 34; they wouldn't be in the walls

Meanwhile, the larder would be strew with the remnants of backpacks and rations, which the grick would have gathered and horded.

 

[Rils]

RC, I'm going to have to create a couple of alt accounts just to give you bonus XP for that - what awesome ideas! Do you mind if I use them? Particularly:

- Splitting the ghouls up: this makes perfect sense, and adds to the "you never know what's waiting in the dark" feeling. Having them hit-and-run makes life a lot more exciting than standing in the intersection hoping your tank makes his save every round (because that's what would happen to us too - war cleric, rogue, psion, wizard - the Squishy Squad). Never knowing when or where they might be coming from, or how many there really are, adds a lot more tension to the dark tunnels.

- The dead adventuring party: I really like this. My players cleared the first three floors room by room, but didn't think to look for the hidden room behind the office. So I still have the opportunity to make that guy Dead Adventurer #1, and put some clues in his pack that mention the rest of his party. They of course all died down in the basement, one by one, and spreading their bodies/loot around adds SO much more character to the dungeon... (ooo... maybe the last two killed each other on the altar? I'm looking for ways to reinforce that option.)

Noted re: grick and mimic. Maybe I'll play those by ear, and if the party needs a jolt, I'll throw them back in. The grick in particular is nice and cinematic - "'Nope, nothing in here...' says the rogue, as a cluster of tentacles snakes out of the darkness behind his head..."

Funny that you mentioned the ghasts on the bed, that's exactly where I was going to put them. Make it look like a pair of desiccated corpses that died in each other's arms, until one of them opens glowing eyes and says "Look my dear, we have guests for dinner..." Hiding in the walls just makes no sense.

Looking forward to hearing how things end for your group! On the return trip, I don't see a reason they can't go back through the Shrine, as long as they don't touch the orb... Although to be fair, from the top of the stairs in the attic to the front door is only 5 doorways, less if you go through walls. There may be some blacked out rooms along the way, but nothing too bad if everyone is Dashing. Rats probably won't be able to keep up.

 

[RCanine]

My players cleared the first three floors room by room, but didn't think to look for the hidden room behind the office. So I still have the opportunity to make that guy Dead Adventurer #1, and put some clues in his pack that mention the rest of his party.

GAH I totally forgot him. That's perfect. I was toying with the idea of the PCs being approached / falling upon a grieving widow bearing a letter:

Dear sir/madam/entity (circle one),

We regret to inform you that your spouse/family member/friend (circle one), _____________, has failed to return from a recent mission in service of the Zhentarim and is presumed dead or similar. Please find enclosed the personal effects, if any, your loved one left in trust with us as proof of identity.

Sincerely yours,

Xabin Firth
Assistant Executive Undersecretary of Condolences
Zentarim Local #375

(the signature is clearly a stamp)

...but maybe that's a bit over-the-top.

 

[RCanine]

And we're done with Death House!

The grand finale was filled with drama. The party decided they wanted to bee-line for the end of the adventure, so they left a bunch of rooms unexplored (including, sadly, the bulk of the treasure) in order to reach the second basement.

After some tense mucking about the relic room and the prison, the PCs poked their heads into the altar chamber, which was no end of spooky. The half-orc, in his usual way, walked up to the only thing that seemed like it could be a monster (the mound), and smacked it with his axe. The thing then knocked him unconscious with a one-two punch. The rest of the PCs were out of reach, and floundered a bit with what to do. The rogue (bless this rogue), decided to break her lantern (the party's only light source) over it, which was less than effective, while the wizard witchbolted it, refunding what little damage the PCs had done.

What followed was a circus of PCs standing up and falling back down, getting engulfed and on the brink of death before being rescued. I focused on engulfing one PC and then moving atop the altar, which had the ancillary benefit of provoking lots of opportunity attacks, and ensuring the house was satisfied; either a PC or the mound would die on that altar, so help me.

The fight ended in grand fashion, with the barbarian, monk and rogue all unconscious at the feat of the mound, the monk being engulfed while unconscious. The bless scroll gave the barbarian a 22 death save, and that combined with bardic inspiration from the bard (going down if the mound got one more attack) ensured that the creature would fall at the last possible moment before the wizard became very, very lonely.

Once everyone was stabilized, I fast-forwarded to them exiting the house, where Strahd appeared to give them a dramatic slow-clap and welcoming them to his little world before disappearing.

All-in-all, not bad. I could see this fight going much differently for PCs that were better prepared and optimized, but as it was things were pretty intense. The math on this encounter is pretty tight: the mound is going to hit your average PC on a 8+, and drop them with 1.5 hits (a 14-con barbarian has 23 HP; the mound averages 17 damage per round). The nice thing is that since engulf takes an action, but the damage is at the start of the mound's turn, you can reduce overall damage done by engulfing and moving.

 

[Byakugan]

My table finished Death House on their third session. Despite the difficulty of keeping a table of 7 on task, they managed to find every secret door, and every piece of treasure in the house. I did skip the 4 Ghouls encounter. I know, I know, bad DM! But the ghasts and mimic both did a lot of damage before dying, and even the pit trap did almost 20 damage to the poor cleric that was too headstrong to let the rogue go first. I was mildly annoyed because the party took a short rest and I specifically mentioned it was a good time for players to use their hit dice to heal, and the cleric STILL forgot to heal herself, so the pit trap would have spelled death. It was the players first session at my table and I had already chewed her up with ghasts, then the mimic, then the pit trap, so I let her roll her hit die after the fact so she didnt die outright. They lower a player down to pull her off the spikes and she rolls a 1 on her death save, so she starts hemorrhaging from the wounds. They pull her out and the other healer uses a Cure Wounds on her before she bleeds out.

They suddenly get super scared to go downstairs, and they start arguing about who goes down first. Eventually the rogue gets fed up and starts going down, then off the cleric goes back in front because reasons...finally they go to the final floor, we end up spending a half hour while the party fought over the worthless junk in the reliquary. The light cleric wanted to smash everything, two characters thought this stuff was awesome and wanted to grab it. They kept interrupting after practically each item I read out. It was amusing watching the light cleric chastise the others for trying to use 'unholy' items while she was smashing everything she could get her hands on, lol. They eventually notice the portcullis but the strongest person out of all 7 of them is a 14, so they decide to check the other hallway instead. They find the secret door, and the second it opens, the light cleric runs straight in and leaps across the water right onto the dais. The ghosts appear and start chanting 'One must Die!' then we had this surreal period of time where I started initiative and I kept chanting in an eerie voice 'One must Die' only 2 other character entered the room. A couple characters started booking back towards the stairs and a couple stood by the door waiting to see if they needed to shut the door and lock the others in. I give them the simple explanation, 'Either they sacrifice someone on the altar, or -bad things- happen' The light cleric starts hitting the altar with her mace. I decided it would take her a couple more rounds to do enough damage to piss the house off, and right about then the necromancy mage decides to climb onto the altar and start chaining himself down. The rogue then shanks the mage, but only did barely enough damage to knock him unconscious. Realizing she is about to be party to a ritual sacrifice, the light cleric tries to figure out a way to drag the mage off the altar. The rogue finishes the job. The cleric player has her face down in both her hands and she begs the Sun God to cleanse this unholy place...I explain to her that the darkness of this plane is so strong that the sun itself cannot shine on the land.

Ironically, after all this is over they decide to search the room and they very nearly started attacking the Shambling mound. I gave them a couple strong hints that it was a deadly threat and that they didn't have to fight it. The cleric was on the verge of starting to attack it and several of the other players were like 'you are on your own, the rest of us are leaving!' so she let it go. The necromancer who sacrificed himself rolled the dark gift where his skin grew cold and clammy and he gained resist cold and vulnerable to fire. The rest of the party all agreed to give him the magic item they had found.

I think the module was really well executed. While I think it could have been streamlined a bit, they really nailed the atmosphere. Decent mix of exploration, combat, and suspense.

 

[Rils]

Interesting - In the three reports I've read here so far, in the altar room Merric got a TPK, RC's group killed the CR5 baddie at level 2, and Byakugan actually got a PC suicide. Guess it goes to show the encounter really CAN go any way! Our group will be finishing the adventure in a couple weeks, I'm very curious to see where things go.

For those who have finished it, did the ending go the way you thought it would? Or did you expect one thing, and it went totally the other direction? What would you have done different, if you could try it again?

 

[RulesJD]

I TPKd my party several times, and they loved it each time. Waking up at the bottom of the well, as sacrifices on the alter, etc. The AL method of instantly being raised at full heath + spells + cool new dark rite has been extremely popular. Plus not getting Remove Curse is another party goal.

 

[Steve_MND]

I TPKd my party several times, and they loved it each time. Waking up at the bottom of the well, as sacrifices on the alter, etc. The AL method of instantly being raised at full heath + spells + cool new dark rite has been extremely popular. Plus not getting Remove Curse is another party goal.

Yeah, I kinda suspect that a certain number of players (i.e., a lot) will actually not mind at all the Dark Powers version of 'faction charity' this season -- most all of them seem more like boons than woes, and at least one of the so-called 'curses' I suspect will be actively sought out by certain folks (by semi-aggresive suicide-by-monster). Not really sure they instill the proper sense of dread or loss as they had been intended as.