D&D 5e Curse of Strahd

Game Master Benjen Harris

Eva chuckles Not you sweet summer child. The vision was of a great bat within the halls of a castle. But onto the reading! Eva with old trembling hands picks up the deck of cards before she begins to masterfully shuffle them before placing them down once more. A wisp of shadow creeps through the tent and the candles within begin to flicker.

Spirits of the mists show these heroes the fortunes of the land, the fortunes of Barovia. May the cards guide you in this dark land. The first card tells of history. Knowledge of the ancient will help you better understand your enemy Eva flips over the first card revealing a female knight holding a longsword Ahh, the Avenger! The treasure lies in a dragon’s house, in hands once clean and now corrupted.

The second card tells of a powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope. She flips the card revealing a cowled man with an ornate sword The Hooded One. The treasure is hidden in a small castle beneath a mountain, guarded by amber giants.

The third card tells of power and strength. It tells of a weapon of vengeance: a sword of sunlight. She flips the card revealing a woman wearing a tiara and traces star like magical patterns in the air The Conjurer. I see a dead village, drowned by a river, ruled by one who has brought great evil into the world.

The fourth card will shed light on one who will help you greatly in the battle against darkness. She flips the card revealing a skull within a fancy jar The Artifact. Look for an entertaining man with a monkey. This man is more than he seems.

Your enemy is a creature of darkness, whose powers are beyond mortality. The fifth card will lead you to him! She pauses briefly then flips the final card revealing a young girl in a white dress The Innocent. He dwells with the one whose blood sealed his doom, a brother of light snuffed out too soon.

As she says that the candles in the room snuff out and for a brief moment you are left in a pitch black room before the candles slowly begin to flicker awake.

As the candles light back up Splitz stands up straight as an arrow. Well all of those things sound daunting and dangerous. None of them seems like a good place to start. So perhaps we just stick to the task of getting Ireena to safety, before we get to far ahead of ourselves. He flashes a concerned look to the others.

Ireena Madam Eva utters before looking straight at Ireena I sense something, special about you. She looks at the party Keep this one safe. And for the love of anything that is yet holy in this land stay away from the windmill to the northwest of here. I sense a great darkness there.

Any chance we could get a blow up of the map with details of lake, windmill, raven loft castle, etc. on it? I'm having trouble with the map we have. Need glasses I think.

Ireena, what do you know of Madame Eva? What do you think of what she's said?

Turning to Split he says, I agree, focus on the task at hand and move towards the next most pressing task. Makes the most sense to me.

Wait, I feel like we should write this down, and pictures of the cards. I can write the words, but my hand at drawing is poor...Can one of you? Any ideal who this ancient one is? We could use all the knowledge we can get.

I'm afraid I do not Mr Diaz e Pam, but your fate is tied with theirs I have no doubt you will find them.

I can try Matt, slides does also allow you to zoom in. You don't really know where said windmill is.

Ash stands silently by the door, letting his brother do the talking. His eyes remain downcast until Eva flips the second card. With the mention of great hope, Ash's eyes flit up and stare at the cards. When she reveals the final card of the Innocent, he closes his eyes with a pained expression as the lights go out.

Once the light comes back up, Ash is standing a few feet closer to Ireena with his shield out defensively. With a scowl, he turns to stare at Eva, but looks between the elder and younger woman as Eva speaks of Ireena's importance and as Del questions the young woman.

Sorry for the delay, camping last weekend. No cell/wifi. :)
Agree with Matt. Finish up escorting these 2 and, by all means, avoid any windmills!!

Is there anyone here who can sell us any supplies? food, horses or the like? I will ask around and see if anyone knows of any windmills on our path and anywhere around?

By the way Madam Eva, I was wondering, if we die here, do our souls still go to the Fugue Plane? And what can you tell me of this Mist?

They may have some supplies but unlikely to sell horses. Eva looks at Diaz and the rest of the group No...if one were to die in Barovia, ones spirit would linger here never to rest until the lord of Ravenloft is vanquished. The mists surround Barovia, encompass it. A deadly fog that will choke the life from you, a fog that keeps all accept for the Vistani within Barovia.

"except" says the inner English teacher -under his breath to avoid the DM's wrath

Wait, you mean we can't get back home? What will my mother do without me

Listen, I did that one from my phone I'm not grammar good when I'm typing posts from my phone lol

I saddened expression crosses the stoic Eva's face Yes, only when the lord of Barovia falls and the mists clear can one leave Barovia.

Spiltz claps Diaz on the back, Then we will have to make it happen; am I right. We must slay the devil Strahd. He gives them all a big smile,

We'll kill the devil Strahd! He looks around for more wine and that Vistani gal he meet earlier.

We seem to have no choice in the matter. Tell me Madam Eva, who can tell us more of Strahd

so we need any supplies or are we ready to go? DM, did we find any information about windmill locations

I don't think we have much money for new equipment. Not that I wouldn't mind some stuff; like you mentioned, a horse.

Madam Eva, it would have been fair to tell us we had no means of going home. Worse yet, if we die here our souls are trapped? How many others have tried to aid you and lost their lives AND souls here?

After breathing hard for a bit, he turns back to the vistani leader. Can we be clear? We're to shepherd Irena to safety and then what. We clearly are not powerful enough to deter Strahd, let alone kill him. How did you plan for us to accomplish your plan?

I know not who else can tell you about Strahd perhaps the one foretold in the cards. Eva looks to Del I am sorry for omission of certain truths, but few would openly walk into Barovia with that knowledge. When asked about how many others Eva shakes her head So many, but never have I hade a clearer view of victory then I do now. The cards are in place and have fallen just so that if you find all that I have spoken of, Strahd will be defeated.

Asking other Vistani you learn that the windmill referred to is somewhere to the north. You learn Vistani do not travel there for a great evil resides inside, and that many refer to the windmill as the Old Bonegrinder. If you wish to buy equipment the Vistani have standard adventuring equipment but charge you twice of what it is normally worth. The horses the Vistani have are not for sale.

To be clear, the when she says if you find all I've spoken of, she's referring to the treasures in her reading, right? Other than that, I don't think we need/can afford to buy anything, at least for me. I'm ready to move along to deliver Irene to her safety. Guess we need to decide what route we need to take.

Yes, let's start out in the morning, too dangerous to travel at night. Let's enjoy the evening with our new friends. It may be the last night we can relax a bit. Splitz looks relaxed and at ease despite all the talk of danger, it seems the prophesies have given him confidence even as he sees doubt on his compadres faces.

Madam Eva, thanks for making things so clear. We will do our best to free the land.

I'm ready to move on with our journey.

Yeah its only about mid day, you guys started early in the morning and it only took around 3 hours to get to the Vistani camp. Yes the treasures that will help you were from her reading.

Ooooh..I thought it was evening when we got there.

Rewind

Well friends, we still have the balance of the day to travel on. We've had a refreshing stop. Now let's get going. Splitz encourages.

Let's make for the bridge and then we can decide to cross it or head overland to the west and take our chances.

With that he gathers his things gives a wink to the pretty Vistani girl and begins depart, waving back to the Vistani has he goes,

Thank you for the hospitality! Be safe friends.

You are welcome my friend! the large Zsolt waves goodbye as you begin walking through the torrential downpour of Barovia toward the bridge to the north west.

As you are traveling I need the two people who are out in front to roll me a Wisdom (Survival) check please.

By the way Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft is out! Please, please, please be cautious if you read it lest you get spoils. I've already had one of my players start reading it and getting spoilers for stuff *cough Jon *cough. Just from briefly glancing over it, you really to remain spoiler free should keep yourself from reading past chapter 2.

Ash remains silent and withdrawn during the social time at the camp. He winces and narrows his eyes at Del in a silent reminder of their commitment to serve others. When Del lashes out at Madam Eva, Ash lays a hand on Del's shoulder in a comforting manner.

Sighing with relief, he trudges out into the downpour and, once again, takes up the vanguard.

Survival(Wisdom): 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Del moves up to the front, taking point with his brother. You see they quickly fall into a rhythm walking together, moving like two peas in a pod. He also looks more at ease next to his brother, like life is not quite as daunting as it once was.

survival: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

I have my crossbow out and ready.

you could have told me that before I pre ordered it. but I still got the cool dice for d&d beyond- which I have completely fallen in love with enough so that the app may just pull me away from pathfinder.

Diaz will ask Ireena if she is well or needs any assistance. If she happens to say yes he will offer her his arm, but expecting her to say no, he will them move to the back of the group and keep an eye for anything approaching from the rear or the sides. He will also stare at his whip and try making swings with his mace and the whip at the same time. you occasionally hear the whip snap as he aims at a leaf or branch.

The Baron stays toward the back for once, he lazily keeps pace a bit behind the brothers, nearer the Barovians, but ahead of Diaz and all the whipping going on. He meanders from side to side, humming a tune to himself and completely lost in a daydream, despite the unpleasant weather, which he doesn't seem to mind a bit.

I mean I didn't know what was going to be in the book!

As you guys are walking the brothers Mourningstone keep to the front and as you are walking Ash nearly steps right into a bear trap but Del notices it and stops him before he can step in. The trap is rusty and hidden beneath some leaves.

After only about an hour you arrive at a bridge that crosses over a river. Izmark says Well, we are here. Do we go the direct path or the path less traveled?

I read once the road less traveled makes all the difference, but I can't remember if that was from a book of poetry or a diary from a dead traveler. Which puts the most distance away from "him"?

Diaz picks up the bear trap and puts it in his pack.

If I'm reading the map right, we've been on the black road and now we're where the black and white roads are. At the bridge. And the white might not be a road but an overland direction heading west to avoid going close to Castle Strahd. I think that's the wisest course as we aren't particularly sneaky yet. So we'd go west on white path, try and ford the river going north along white path still, or if we can't ford it, we'd have to go around along the red path to link back up with the white path, all on the way to Vallaki. Did I finally get it right?

that was what it looked like to me. so we are probably both wrong. lets go west anyway.

My understanding as well!

I think we had discussed using the overland route and hoping to be able to ford the river. I saw we stick to that. Splitz suggests.

Yes you are correct. The black line is sticking to the road while the white path is the path Izmark suggested in order to stay as far away from Ravenloft as possible. The red line is if the river can't be forded. So whats the plan?

white line and red line back up, yes?

Agree! Overland and avoid Strahd at all costs!!

As Del grabs his arm as Ash’s foot hovers over the bear trap, he says, Once again brother, you have saved me from inflicting pain upon myself. Although less noticeable, since he remains dour and withdrawn, Ash is also brighter when his brother walks besides him. The sum of their strength is truly more than when apart.

Splitz points in direction of the overland route, then looks down the line of his arm as if measuring the distance. Yes this seems right.

Alright! You guys begin to overland travel heading west.

The first hour of travel is uneventful, the rain continues to pour and you see the river is rising rapidly. Izmark looks dejected as the rain continues to pour Damn rain! Almost as if summoned by Strahd himself. Eventually you find yourself at a large cliff, the Tser Falls. The thousand foot cliff, while not sheer looks be very difficult to climb down. Izmark looks at you all Didn't fully know the extent of the Tser Falls, whats the plan?

are the falls on the path or next to it? Map looks like we pass by them not over, but maps can be wrong.
That looks like a long first step. Let's split up and walk both ways for 10 minutes and then return. We may find a better trail or path down.

The Tser falls look like where the black small circle is on the map. A wider area then dimple in and then wider again. Is that right? Anyway, looked like we were to go on past the falls to the west. Are you saying we can't go down the cliff staying near the river? If we can't then we should head away from the river a bit to see if we can find a place to go down, but we shouldn't try and cross the river. We only have one direction I think, south or west and then try and connect back up with the river.

I'm saying on either side of the falls are large cliffs that also go down a long ways as the thousand foot drop for the falls would have large cliffs next to it.

so they dont block our path?

To go directly next to the river you would need to climb down the cliffs. You are unsure how far the cliffs actually go north and south. You guys are basically where I put that black circle on the map. To continue on your path you either need to climb down them or try to find an easier way down by going south.

I fear my fragile constitution may make traversing this cliff detrimental. And the southern trail will take us farther away from strahd. Diaz says with a slight nod in the direction of Ireena so his companions can tell his chief concern is her ability to climb down.

Feeling somewhat foolish, Del looks to the locals and asks, Izmark, Ireena, you live here and this is but a few hours from your home. What is the best route to take? Can we scale down the drop and stay close to the river safely? Or is it best to go away from the river and have a more gradual decline. What do the locals do?

Assuming they won't give me a clear answer, I'd vote take the gradual but longer route down, away from the river and trust we can work our way back to it soon.

The Baron eyes the steep drop off and looking around at the others.

Well we aren't on a time table, so let's take the safer route. I say we continue south until we find an easier route down and then work back to the river.

Unless we hear different from the locals I’ll agree with Splitz and start moving south. Assume we’ll need a survival check?
survival: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15

South it is

As you travel your presence in this dreary land has not gone unnoticed. A raven follows you for several minutes while keeping a respectful distance. Seeing this Izmark smiles A raven! That is good luck in Barovia.

You travel for around 2 miles before you finally able to find a easy way down. Around this time its beginning to get late into the day.

Look for campsite?

did we have a long rest? is that 1d8 hp regained for me at level 2?

You haven't had a long rest since you were in the Village of Barovia. A long rest gives back all your HP, during a short rest you can use hit dice to heal up. For you your hit dice is a d8, so at level 2, you have two hit dice. On a long rest you also get half of your hit dice back.