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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Koren" data-source="post: 6861916" data-attributes="member: 6802236">I wouldn't run that last one too soon after Death House (if you're using it) as there's undead coming from the floors and the walls in that one.  I love the courtship thing and after my group's first session tonight was thinking of something very similar.  It's clear from the character interactions that there are two party members out of five that are likely to do anything at this point if they think it can help them to get back to their homelands, including selling out the rest of their party to Strahd.  That may change once they've been in a few fights together, but right now, the general sentiment amongst the party members is "I don't know any of you guys enough to trust you, but we're all from the same place (relatively) and none of us know where we are, so maybe we should stick together and find a way out."  And considering some of the strange stuff that was happening to them back in their homelands before they got pulled through the mist, none of them are in a sharing mood about their past or exactly where they're coming from.  But they all seem to trust the villager who was buying them drinks all night, the poor son of the local Burgomaster (recently deceased) with the sister with the bite wounds in her neck hanging back at the homestead, mourning over dear old father's remains.  Who didn't quite trust them enough yet to invite them home to meet sis, but spent the evening buying rounds of the cheap wine, and answering their questions about the devil who controls the land and lives in the castle over yonder.  Ismark is going to swear he's never met them the next time they run into him.  Ireena will back him up, he never left the mansion on the day/evening the party arrived in Barovia.Strahd will definitely not make an appearance in his true form any time before average party level 5 or so.  No matter how deadly his tactics, or overwhelming a challenge he would be if directly confronted, as soon as he's even peripherally involved in a fight, he goes from being the boogeyman to being a tangible BBEG, which gamers have been conditioned to perceive as a loot-pinata-experience-reward-piggy-bank, no matter how tough the CR.So far:They've found out that the guy that likely brought them here is a powerful, ancient vampire (he told them all this as Ismark) Who holds some mystical control over his land (he told them this as Ismark)Is capable of insidiously yanking them out of their homelands and dragging them here (they correctly inferred this from the previous two points)And is insidious enough to disguise himself as one of their potential future allies, and go on to answer all their questions (about himself and his realm) truthfully. (Wait, what!?!?)Of course, with them not knowing which questions to ask, he ended up getting more out of them than they did out of him.Interestingly enough, the one character who had a traditional invitation prior to arrival (fake letter delivered by a Vistani) was flat out told the letter is a forgery by Strahd/Ismark, but the few characters that came in along the road that way failed to stop and search for the source of the "smell of death" as they were too interested in finding shelter from an impending storm, so no one has the real letter to compare it with.  I have a feeling they'll try walking right back out the gates of Barovia next session, so they'll have at least two more shots at finding it.</blockquote>

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