This blog is run by Mod Van Richten and Mod Escher! Here, we will talk about our campaigns and reblog resources (or share our own). Most importantly, it's ultimately a place for shitposting and loving everything that is Curse of Strahd.
It's been quite a while, hasn't it? Life most definitely has a way of getting away from us, doesn't it? Well, never fear little Mists-goers, for Escher is here to bring you up to speed!
The games we were playing when last this blog updated are no longer ongoing for various reasons. Currently, I'm the only one running anything but not for lack of effort on the part of dear Mod van Richten. We've seen many a hardship between the two of us.
I'll start updating with some old memes and a rundown of the game that I've been running for the past several months.
So sorry for such a long hiatus, and with no warning to boot. Rest assured, I'll try to keep a schedule of some sort.
The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In-Table Campaign [Session 6]
Session Highlights
Did you know that this is technically the party’s third official combat? We’re a pretty role-play heavy group.
They’ve angered six very hungry vampire spawn last time! During the lead-up to this session, my players were so scared of TPK. But, spoiler alert, I’m not that cruel. I planned this out to a T!
Side Note: Any art that I share of NPCs within these highlight posts is my (Mod Van Richten’s) original and fan art. Any art that I use for my players that wasn’t created by myself but by other artists is kept private and within our friend circle.
Abrascus
Barbarian (4) Path of the Ancestral Guardian
Race: Tortle
Background: Haunted One
I made a grave error when writing session 5's recap. I missed a lot of details! Good thing my players don't read these bc they would laugh at me for missing this!
Nyra made two discoveries during the day. While inside the Blue Water Inn, she notices something while Ismark is flirting with Rudy. There's a spirit hovering near the half elf. He looks like a young human boy, and he seems slightly surprised when Nyra suddenly tries to talk to him aloud. After the spirit fades, she hears a voice telepathically:
"I wonder if she can't hear me either."
At the dinner, Nyra can't help but notice the same phenomena again. Instead, she sees multiple tortured spirits around the dinner table and throughout the mansion. It appears that they're all in agony.
The session begins back on Direthorn, who was away from the other adventurers most of the day. They’ve been trying to scavenge for where they can find more pie, without realizing that Flopsy still had pie left despite not being addicted anymore. They’ve gone through garbage cans and different alleyways in vain, scaring townspeople all the while with feral noises.
They’d been so caught up in trying to find pie that they’d completely forgotten about the Baron’s dinner. The only thing that snaps them out of it is Vasili, who catches them scavenging through garbage in the noble district. He snaps them out of it by asking where their friends are. They have no idea, for they weren’t with all of them when they went to the coffin shop earlier that day. Shortly after the conversation starts, however, Adelaide rushes out of the manor and comes up to Vasili to exclaim her worries. She was worried about Escher, but she was also able to tell Vasili and Direthorn where they were. With that, they head straight to the shop.
By the time that the official combat begins, Direthorn, Vasili, and Adelaide are at the entrance. Here are some very notable highlights:
(A/N: Nyra’s player wasn’t able to play for the encounter, but she allowed me to use Nyra’s stats to run her on autopilot during the fight. Unfortunately, I had shit dice rolls)
We had two critical hits: One from Mangus and the other from Abrascus.
Vasili was able to very quickly join the fight, and he had a very powerful rapier. Its blade was pure black, and a lot of its damage was necrotic.
This is the first time that Adelaide shows off her spellcasting to her new friends, but unfortunately it’s not as effective as she’d want it to be.
Izek and four guards arrive at the scene a couple rounds into the fight to help.
Mangus got the first kill of the fight.
Flopsy dealt the most damage in the fight.
Direthorn spent most of the fight antagonizing one vampire spawn in the back corner of the shop. They have spiderclimbing ability and were able to climb up to the window right above the door. Afterwards, they proceeded to mess with this one spawn until it got bored of them (aka: Izek hit them with his hurl flame ability)
We had four critical failures:
Vasili accidentally stabbed Flopsy with his ridiculously powerful rapier.
Mangus lost his quarterstaff by throwing it across the room.
Nyra accidentally pierced Neracahne with one of her arrows.
Abrascus accidentally strikes Adelaide with his greataxe, which leads to major consequences.
After Abrascus hits Adelaide with his greataxe, she looks so angry as she tries to cast a spell on him with little success. However, Escher also saw what happened, and he then cast the same spell on Abrascus, which did success. Abrascus ended up going unconscious because of seeing horrific images.
After the fight was over, Henrik was under arrest. Henrik was terrified and constantly tried to say that he was innocent and was framed. Izek did let the party briefly talk to him, but that ended up being inconclusive. Henrik said he couldn’t say the name of the person that made him do it. Aloud, Flopsy simply said, “It was daddy,” which made everyone very uncomfortable. Again. Henrik was crying out that he was innocent as he was being dragged out of the shop. Vasili left shortly after.
Because the investigation was a success, the adventurers are all considered “guests of honor” during the Festival of the Blazing Sun. What this means for them is that food expenses are all paid for during the festival, and they’re allowed to spend the festival with the baron at his table whenever they wish to.
Ismark arrived with Rudy during the aftermath. One of the vampire spawn was burnt to a crisp by Izek, and Rudy proceeded to decapitate the body. After this, Rudy looked at everyone in confusion, claiming that they needed to decapitate the corpses and then burn the bodies in order for them to die. Flopsy looked confused and told him about how he killed Doru. Even though Doru’s head was bashed in, Rudy tells Flopsy that because he wasn’t decapitated, then he’s technically still active and can eventually regenerate from that.
Rudy is dumbfounded by the party’s lack of knowledge, until he realizes that they’re not really from here. He explains to them that because Barovia is run by a vampire, then vampires that live here are stronger than vampires that would typically be found in the Material Plane. So, it takes more effort to kill them. However, after seeing that Flopsy has Van Richten’s Guide to Vampires, he seems really disappointed that he doesn’t know more about vampires. That is, until he’s given the book and sees that many pages on how to kill vampires are missing. Flopsy tells him that he’d gotten the book like this from Vasili.
When Abrascus wakes up, he’s suffering from an effect of longterm madness, experiencing tremors and feeling shaken up. Rudy quickly takes care of it before it gets too out of hand, and he and Ismark work together to heal the adventurers. When Rudy does this, he holds onto his pan flute while Ismark plays his balalaika to cast his healing spells.
More Content Warnings: Misgendering, trans pregnancy mentioned
Before resting…
Abrascus ended up staying behind at the coffin shop to sleep in one of the coffins. Rudy took exception to this, and he told Flopsy to place a holy symbol on top of the coffin. Just in case. Ismark stays the night with Rudy when they all part ways.
When the rest of the adventurers return to the manor, Flopsy goes inside and can hear Adelaide crying while Escher is tending to the wound caused by Abrascus’ greataxe. She’s devastated that someone she thought was her friend would hurt her like that. Escher tries to assure that things like that happen sometimes, but he will do anything to defend her. Adelaide then asks him, “Is Father going to do something to him?” His answer to her is to not worry about that, for that’s his business.
Flopsy soon makes his presence known, or rather, Escher begins to notice him. He stops talking with Adelaide, and she decides to go see what the girls are up to at the guest house. This leaves Flopsy to continue the conversation he had with Escher earlier that day.
Flopsy insists that Escher needs to tell him who his host was so that he could become a vampire too. Escher refuses to give the name, for it’s too dangerous, but Flopsy can conclude that Strahd is Escher’s host. To challenge that, Flopsy asks, “What if I ask her other dad?” That makes Escher go from deflective to immediate defensive, now that he knows how much Flopsy heard. It’s then that he tells Flopsy that Adelaide having two fathers was supposed to be kept a secret. Escher is transgender, and he left his old life to escape a forced marriage. How that led to him being in Barovia and being one of Strahd’s consorts is unknown.
Escher makes a promise to Flopsy. If he were to tell anyone that Escher was a vampire and that Adelaide is a dhampir, he would know that it was Flopsy that did it. Essentially, he was going to kill him if he told.
Direthorn, Nyra, and Neracahne all go back to the guest house when everything was cleaned up. Some time later is when Adelaide comes over to see them for comfort. They all decide to have a girls’ night where they drink wine and get to know each other. Adelaide quickly starts getting tipsy, and Neracahne and Direthorn immediately pounce on that as a way to get information out of her. They ask her about her papa, and she tells them that he had raised her mostly on his own and that she’s her favorite person. They then ask about her mom. She seems confused, and after some explaining, she tells them, “I don’t have a mom.” They ask if she’s adopted, but that also needs to be explained to her. She says no, and then she explains how Escher came out to her when she was a child.
Even though Escher had said that her body is similar to hers, that doesn’t change the fact that he is a man. Even if he gave birth to her, that doesn’t change the fact that it’s her father. She’s very adamant about that, but she’s relieved that Neracahne and Direthorn respect that. The conversation gets a little more personal when they start asking about who her other dad is. They’d noticed that when she laughed, Adelaide had fangs. She gets scared when trying to explain herself, and it eventually comes out that her other father is Strahd.
When Escher came to Barovia, he was with his party of adventurers in Vallaki. The way that Adelaide described their union was that it was… not exactly a conventional one. But in the end, they’d “married,” but before Escher could be turned, they found out that he was pregnant with Adelaide. They had to wait until after she was born, or else risk her dying in the process. Escher had almost died when she was born, but Adelaide perceives that her papa turning into a vampire saved him. She also tells them that although Strahd hasn’t really been in her life during her childhood, she knows that he cares about her.
She begs them not to tell and makes them promise. Even though they promised her that they wouldn’t do anything to hurt her, Adelaide knows that people will kill her if they find out. They will also kill Escher, and even though it seems like she knows a lot of people hate Strahd, she doesn’t want him to get killed, either. She soon relaxes once she’s reassured, and they’re all able to open up about their personal lives and experiences.
Direthorn talks about being orphaned and running away from the orphanage at thirteen. They’d been alone for the longest time, after they’d lost their best friend. That makes Adelaide feel a little sad as she expresses her sympathy. Neracahne then talks about how she ran away from an arranged marriage. As she’s explaining her story, Adelaide perks up. She exclaims, “That sounds a lot like my papa!”
She then tells Escher’s story to them, or at least, what she knows of it. Escher was a student at a wizarding school before he came out, and he excelled in his studies. Something happened, however, that made him earn his teachers’ ire. He had crafted his very own spell, which was the spell demonstrated at the coffin shop against Abrascus. In response, the teachers lambasted him and told him to stick to his studies. Escher was angered by this and felt like he was being held back.
That story felt so familiar to Neracahne. She’s heard something similar to this in the past.
Adelaide continues the story. After Escher dropped out of school and took up apprenticeship with a necromancer, he started his transition. It was shortly after this that Escher was forced into a marriage. She didn’t quite remember the name of his husband. “...Reginald?” It was their wedding night that Escher used his spell against someone for the very first time. After his husband was knocked unconscious, Escher escaped and became an adventurer.
Now this was too familiar to Neracahne. It’s then that she remembers a story that she overheard when walking through town one day. That person’s name wasn’t Reginald. It was Roland, who was a middle-aged elf that was a well-respected noble. He’d just stepped out of a chapel holding his head. Different people asked what happened to him, and he started talking about his wedding that was roughly a week earlier. He took a young wife and thought that the union was a success. But then, “that crazy bitch stabbed me in the shoulder,” and she then had cast a spell on him that made him go crazy. She then disappeared without a trace.
It’s then that recognition spread across Neracahne’s face. She realizes in that moment that her old friend is Escher.
After the revelation, the night between the girls continues as normal until they all fall asleep together.
There’s one unfortunate problem that night. Mangus was left alone to wander. He didn’t know where to meet everyone, so he ended up in the dark manor while everyone else was at the guest house. Not a single light was on inside the manor, except for in the closed off study. He checks the door and sees that it’s locked, annoyed that he didn’t have any thieves’ tools on him to try and break in. He doesn’t dwell on that thought for long. When he realizes that whoever’s in there is coming out, he hurries to hide so that he’s not noticed.
From his hiding spot, he can hear Vasili walking out of the study, lightly beating something against his hand. He didn’t see what it was, but it was something with a bit of weight to it. Mangus then hears Vasili go back into the room and douse the fire before leaving it with the door locked shut behind him. In the pitch black manor, Mangus hears Vasili walk up the stairs. Mangus tries to go back towards the study to check the door, but in the process, he hears Vasili call, “I know you’re down there.”
Vasili then walks down the stairs in the pitch black manor, appearing to navigate fine despite being a human. Mangus is a little perplexed and tells him that he was trying to find the others, to which Vasili laughs and tells him that he’s in the completely wrong build. But Vasili does offer to take him back to the guest house.
On the way there, Vasili engages in small talk with Mangus in the dark. He asks about Adelaide, but Mangus can’t seem to get his words out. During his fumbling, Vasili asks Mangus to look at him. It’s here that suddenly Mangus finds himself to be charmed. He sees Vasili as a trusted friend to be protected. He can tell him anything, so he does. He’s able to get his words out that he’s interested in Adelaide in a romantic sense, but he’s still trying to process his feelings. It’s what Vasili says that causes the air around them to still.
“You better be careful with that. You do not want to get on Escher’s bad side. Or mine.”
It’s then that Mangus let’s Vasili bite him, revealing himself to be a vampire. After a considerable amount of damage, he says this to Mangus:
“You will not speak of what happened here, you will not tell anyone I spoke with you, and, if I can help it, you will not remember what happened here.”
Flopsy soon comes to the door to the guest house after they’re done, and Vasili briefly engages in pleasantries before going back to the manor. Flopsy drags Mangus into bed to sleep, and from the other room it sounds a little bit awkward. But the session ends there, as the adventurers take their rest.
The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In-Table Campaign [Session 5]
Session Highlights
What a wonderful impression they’ve made! They’ve done quite a bit to establish themselves in town!
Side Note: Any art that I share of NPCs within these highlight posts is my (Mod Van Richten’s) original and fan art. Any art that I use for my players that wasn’t created by myself but by other artists is kept private and within our friend circle.
Abrascus
Barbarian (4) Path of the Ancestral Guardian
Race: Tortle
Background: Haunted One
Out of desperation, Direthorn ran off to try and get more pie. This is when the others decide that now is a good time for lunch. For that, they go to the Blue Water Inn at the center of town. They order food from the owner, and while they do, they meet an interesting individual.
Rudy is a half elf bard with an ornate pan flute around his neck, and he’s playing his lute when they all come into the inn. Flopsy takes interest in him, since he’s been thoroughly convinced that he’s a bard, as well. He insists that he should show Rudy his talent, and he does. Rudy’s reaction isn’t quite what Flopsy expected.
The bard tells him that there can be ways to improve the sound of his music. He can see that he really enjoys playing his banjo, so Rudy wants him to get better. He teaches Flopsy how to play the strings of his banjo using his nails as picks.
Rudy also takes a liking to Ismark, acting flirtatious with him. The feelings seem to be mutual, and Ismark decides to give Mangus another impromptu lesson. This lesson assures Mangus that love and romance doesn’t have to just be between a man and a woman. It can happen between two men, two women, or even people that aren’t necessarily men or women. With that, Ismark decides to talk it up with Rudy after that.
As they’re eating lunch, the group comes up with a game plan as to how they’re going to take care of the coffin shop investigation. Neracahne and Nyra decide that they’re going to go during the day first after lunch. Once they build a good rapport with the coffin maker and can get permission to investigate further, then they would be in great shape. They all agree that this is a great idea. The only one that doesn’t go with them in their group is Ismark, because he decides to stay behind to hang out with Rudy. The party teases him by saying he only wants to stay for the wine, but he’s defensive over that and insists that there’s another reason for him to stay behind.
Going to the coffin shop are Abrascus, Adelaide, Escher, Flopsy, Ireena, Mangus, Neracahne, and Nyra.
When the party gets to the coffin shop, Neracahne and Nyra tell everyone else to “distract the bunny,” because once Flopsy gets inside, their little ruse is over. Using this opportunity, the rest of the party does, indeed, distract Flopsy. Mangus brings up his confusion over the discussion he had with Ismark the night before, and he asks the group what he means by that.
Flopsy is more than happy to give him a more in depth lesson on “the birds and the bees.” Of course, this is from a man’s perspective, and he gets into so much detail that there are hand gestures. Escher is so horrified that he covers Adelaide’s ears so that she couldn’t hear what Flopsy was saying. However, Ireena gets to hear everything. Her response to this awkward talk is, “I don’t think that’s how that works.”
Adelaide looks up at Escher after the talk is over, and tries to ask about one of the gestures that Flopsy made. Her eyes weren’t also covered, after all. Flopsy tells her that he can show her, which hopefully was a bluff. In response, Escher is so furious that he glares at Flopsy. Unfortunately for Escher, he suddenly reveals to Flopsy that he has fangs in the process. Through what Flopsy knows about vampires, he comes to the conclusion that Escher is one.
Flopsy tells Escher that he knows, in a way that won’t rouse too much suspicion. Escher’s a little paranoid and doesn’t want him to tell anyone. There’s a little bit of blackmail involved, however. Flopsy tells Escher that he won’t tell, if he tells him how Flopsy can become a vampire, himself. They agree that they will talk further later on in the day.
Meanwhile…
Neracahne and Nyra are able to get a successful introduction with the coffin shop. Henrik van der Voort is the owner’s name. He has great slogans, such as, “Welcome to my coffin shop. Who died?” in a rather deadpanned voice. They tell him that they’re here to investigate and need to come back at night. Henrik looks a little nervous about that, but he agrees. They’re so nice to him that he complies. Besides, this investigation was initiated by Izek Strazni.
The Baron’s Dinner.
Next on their agenda is having dinner with the Baron. Only the player characters went to dinner, save for Direthorn. Direthorn will be given a sort of “to go” version of what the others had for their meal. There, they meet Vargas’ wife, Lady Lydia Petrovna, and his son, Baronet Victor Vallakovich.
Vargas seems very pleased to be ostentatious with his meal choices for them. They’re given a four-course meal, with the prized course being a uniquely crafted goulash. This stew was used with “locally sourced” venison. The Baron got a special treatment for his plate, for he also had a heart. It was his favorite part of the meal.
The only people that didn’t have the goulash were Victor and Flopsy, who instead had salad.
Flopsy has been sitting beside the Baron’s wife, who’s at the other end of the table. He notices that she’s acting strange, laughing at whatever her husband says and making small talk with the others. She doesn’t quite seem to be fully engaged. So, Flopsy talks to her through napkin notes, asking if she’s happy and if her husband is good to her. She answers “no” to both of those. Flopsy manages to successfully communicate with Neracahne about the situation, and he wants to try and see if he can help her while the Baron doesn’t notice. This will have to be something for a later time, though.
During this course, Abrascus is picking at the meat in his stew, taking it out but eating the rest of it. The Baron questions this, for if he didn’t want the meat then he should’ve just gotten the salad. Abrascus tells him that he didn’t want a salad and just wanted the stew. Vargas seems to be delighted when offering to eat the meat that he didn’t want. However, Abrascus takes this offer to throw the bits of meat at the Baron. Appalled and irritated over that response, Vargas looks like he’s showing restraint when he tells Abrascus, “I really don’t like you.”
Izek during dinner gives Vargas a letter, which seems to be notifying him of what the adventurers are about to investigate. He’s pleased by this, but he tells them that if they don’t figure out what’s disturbing the peace before the festival, then they will be arrested. There’s then a debate between him and Mangus over whether saying “retire” for resting was appropriate or not, and he leaves them with his son.
Now that they are alone, this is when Victor really talks to the adventurers about being from outside of Barovia. He tells them that he wants to leave, and he’s been trying to work on something to help him get out. The magic users (as well as Flopsy) are able to discern that he’s been working on a teleportation circle. Under the guise of wanting to see Lady Lydia, Flopsy agrees to stop by to help. Victor assures them that they will probably be more than welcome to join one of her tea parties, which she throws rather frequently. Victor also tells them that Lady Lydia is his stepmother, and he suspects that she’s unhappy, too. If his own brooding wasn’t anything to go by, the general consensus around the Baron is “not an okay dude.”
After dinner, the party goes back to the Von Holtz manor first. They grab Escher so that he can help them, and then they set out to the coffin shop. Direthorn still has not reunited with the group yet. Despite that, they all continue without them.
First, they debate over how they’re going to go inside the shop. Mangus asks Flopsy to throw him through one of the second-story windows. Flopsy refuses, thinking that Mangus will just hurt himself. Neracahne and Nyra are ready to go through the door. Since Henrik knew that they were coming, the door was unlocked. Abrascus tries to look around on the ground floor, but the search turns up nothing. There are no incriminating things on the ground floor. During this, they also mull over going upstairs.
Escher suddenly tells them all to be quiet, since he hears something. The only one that doesn’t quite hear the conversation is Mangus. They hear Henrik and another mystery voice conversing briefly. Paraphrasing, the conversation goes as follows:
Unknown: “You need to lie low.”
Henrik: “Please. They’re onto me. I can’t keep this up!”
Unknown: “Lie. Low. Three more days.”
Abrascus leads the way upstairs, blocking the entryway to the other rooms at the stairwell. He corners Henrik, who is startled at seeing him. He claims that there was no one else here with him. And, sure enough, there’s no one else in here with him. However, Flopsy was able to detect schools of magic from downstairs. He tries detecting it up here. He does find six very clear pings of necromancy from different areas of the second floor. Henrik tells them that he has no idea what necromancy even is, but he does look nervous.
The interrogation turns to Escher, for a brief moment. He’s a necromancer, after all. He’s even mentioned that he was in a previous investigation, though they didn’t find anything at that time. However, Escher immediately shuts that theory down. The last time he was here was twenty-two years ago, and a lot can change in twenty-two years. His reasoning takes a little too long for them to accept.
Flopsy has had enough of the meandering, so he decides to take action. He goes to the nearest crate that he sensed necromancy and yanks it open. When he does, out springs a very hungry vampire spawn. When one does, the other six do, as well. When they all come out, Henrik suddenly panics and tries to persuade the spawn. “Stop! It’s not time yet, it’s not time yet!” However, there’s no trying to persuade six hungry vampire spawn when there are many different food sources right in front of them.
The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In - Table Campaign [Session 4]
Session Highlights
This is the first of several posh dinners that this lovable (and very chaotic) gang is about to have! Let’s see what they get up to at dinner with Vasili von Holtz.
Side note: Any art that I share of NPCs within these highligh posts is my (Mod Van Richten’s) original and fan art. Any art that I use for my players that wasn’t created by myself but by other artist is kept private and within our friend circle.
Abrascus
Barbarian (4) Path of the Ancestral Guardian
Race: Tortle
Background: Haunted One
The party had four courses for their meal, but they were pretty picky with what they ate. Vasili was a little offended that they didn’t want the food that he was offering.
**Granted, Flopsy and Direthorn are still highly addicted to pies, so they wouldn’t have wanted the food offered anyway.
He almost cracked his charismatic demeanor when Flopsy decided to try playing his… wonderful music. However, instead of outright saying that his music was terrible, Vasili made a beeline for the library and grabbed a book of sheet music for Flopsy to look at.
Escher told a little more about himself to the players and about how he doesn’t get paid for his work as a servant. He’s paid through lodging and having everything he needs provided for him.
So, Flopsy so eloquently referred to Vasili as Escher’s “sugary daddy,” which made Vasili choke on his wine.
At bedtime, Mangus wanted to learn more about how to talk to women, since Ismark had a hard time explaining attraction to him in a way he would understand. Such lessons involved a bare bones lesson on how to talk to a girl, emphasising repeatedly on the importance of consent, and referencing the act of sex as “bumping uglies.”
Mangus instead found the 6th edition of One Night in Ravenloft, and Escher picked out a much better book for Mangus before realizing he was trying to figure out how to talk to his daughter best. So, Escher gave him a picture book to replace it with.
Escher flirted with Neracahne some more. He also told Direthorn that they’d better keep an eye on Mangus’ room and threatened him with the most vulgar things if Mangus did anything to his daughter.
Highlight:
Escher: “If he touches my daughter, I will gouge out his eyes. And I will shove his hands so far up his arse that when he shits, it will come out through his fingers.”
Direthorn: “Are you taking his eyes to replace your fake one?”
Escher: “...You know, I never thought of that. Thank you, Direthorn!”
Direthorn, Nyra, and Neracahne end up spending time together that night before going to sleep.
Meanwhile…
Flopsy and Abrascus decide to go outside to the orphanage. The guards were already onto Flopsy, and the two of them were brought to the Reformation Center for questioning.
The captain of the guard, named Izek Strazni, comes into the interrogation room. He proclaims that Headmistress Belasco was like a mother to him and accepted him after he was orphaned and dealt with his arm being amputated when no one else would. She was also there for him when he got his demonic changes to his new arm.
Izek saw no signs of wights being near the orphanage, after looking into Flopsy’s claim. So, he intimidated him into telling the truth. While Flopsy skewed the truth in a way to get the two of them to sympathize with each other, Izek still accepts this claim as the truth.
Because of the confession, Izek makes a deal with Flopsy. There have been tips of suspicious activity at the town’s coffin shop, namely that there’s strange lights and noises coming from the second floor at night. Izek threatens Flopsy with death and feeding him to his friends if he doesn’t accept the deal.
The next day, Flopsy’s addiction breaks. However, he’s going through a withdrawal where for the day food just doesn’t taste as well as pies do. Direthorn is still addicted and has run out of their supply of pies.
Escher suggests that the party should buy fine clothes. If they’re going to a burgomaster’s mansion for dinner, then they’d better dress accordingly. They decide that they’re going to use their reward from Vasili (100 gp, 50 sp) to go to the shopping district. It’s when they go to the shopping district that they realize that the economy in this town is similar to the economy that they once knew. The value of gold is placed higher than silver, like how it is in the material plane.
Before the session highlight comes to a close, Abrascus and Flopsy have received two very prominent books from Vasili’s library.
Abracus gets a book titled Van Richten’s Guide to Werebeasts. Abrascus knows of Van Richten from him beginning his life as a monster hunter. While very rare, Van Richten’s books on monsters from his many years of research and hunting them himself were in the material plane. However, Van Richten had disappeared a couple years ago. He’d simply vanished, not one trace of his whereabouts found in Mordentshire, which was commonly known as his home base.
Flopsy tells Vasili about how he dealt with Doru back in the Village of Barovia. For this, Vasili decides to give him a book, as well. “If you want to better understand your enemy, you should read about them,” he says. He then gives him a very worn copy of Van Richten’s Guide to Vampires.
In this book, Flopsy sees the introduction, where Van Richten talks about how his career as a prolific monster hunter began. He sought revenge against a vampire called Baron Metus, and the introduction is a reenactment of the night that he finally killed him. Flopsy now also knows about different physiological vampire traits, the age groups of vampires, and how vampires are created. However, there is no information about their weaknesses or how to kill them.
It seems that the sections of the book that were saying these things were ripped out of it.
It finally happened. During last night’s Ravenloft D&D game, I put on my best Rob Cantor impersonation and unleashed Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf on my players.
I have accomplished all I ever wished to as a Dungeon Master.
I opened the encounter almost verbatim to the song:
“You’re walking in the Svalich woods.
There’s no one around,
And you suspect the sun is dead.
Out of the corner of your eye you spot him,
Shia Labeouf!”
The players were stunned silent.
“He’s following you
About 30 feet back.
He gets down on all fours and breaks into a sprint.
He’s gaining on you.
And you can see there’s blood on his face!
My god, there’s blood everywhere!
Vampire NPC was described as gliding rather than walking while bringing over wine and I joked he had heelies under his cloak. Some people can make amazing art of their campaign or characters. I can shitpost.
Party finally saw it in game so here’s the portrait I painted of Tatyana! Based off the movie poster for Portrait of a Lady on Fire because I had watched it recently around the time I started this, and also it was just delightfully fitting.
The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In-Table Campaign [Session 3]
Session Highlights
Sure enough, the adventurers will get to Vallaki in one piece!
For whatever reason, whenever I try to add new links to the highlight page on the blog, it doesn’t want to work within the first few minutes that I try to establish the link. Eventually, the link will work properly with some tweaking, though. Sorry about that technical difficulty.
Side note: Any art that I share of NPCs within these highlight posts is my (Mod Van Richten’s) original and fan art. Any art that I use for my players that wasn’t created by myself but by other artists online is kept private and within our friend circle.
Abrascus
Barbarian (3) Path of the Ancestral Guardian
Race: Tortle
Background: Haunted One
We resume in the middle of their long rest under the cut:
At the start of their rest, the adventurers find out that Adelaide is a half elf, since she needs to sleep during the rest. After being forced to talk about himself, Escher tells the party that he used to be a noble when living in the Material Plane, and he went to school for wizardry. Mangus situates his bed roll right next to Adelaide. After his trance, Escher can’t help but glare at how close Mangus is to his daughter while they’re all sleeping.
Neracahne finishes her trance around the same time, as well as Direthorn, and Neracahne decides that she wants to talk to Escher while the others are still sleeping. Although Direthorn is keeping watch and up in a tree, they have an ear horn of hearing to overhear the conversation between them.
Escher vents to Neracahne about how invasive everyone was the night before, and he makes a promise to her that they will pay if they do anything to harm his daughter. He seems to warm up to her more than he did the others, given her approach to him.
The adventurers all had wonderful dreams the night before. However, when Direthorn woke up, they felt so sad. The only thing that will make them feel better is pie. Meanwhile, Flopsy, not only wants them, but he needs them and needs to make sure he’ll always have more. Direthorn was trying to steal Nyra’s pie when they were promptly tackled by Flopsy.
The two of them keep fighting over it, until Flopsy eventually gets his hands on it and immediately eats it. The two of them remembered that Granny, who’d given them the pies, lives in a mill on the way to Vallaki. Well, they are on their way to Vallaki. So, they all insist that they need to go there first.
When they get to the mill, the others immediately are suspicious. Meanwhile, Direthorn and Flopsy just want more pies. Direthorn even breaks through the window to get inside. Granny’s daughters are inside, named Stella and Ophelia.
Mangus notices a letter on the table, and he picks it up to read it. It reads:
Transcript:
Vasili, my Dear Friend,
Yes, of course I would be more than willing to help you with such a horrible problem! I can only imagine what those poor dears in Vallaki are going through. You know very well that I’ve had my own bad encounters with witches... encounters that have left their marks on my very soul. Children, orphaned or not, should never have to face such evil.
If you find a way to get the little ones at St. Andral’s Orphanage safely out of Vallaki, I’ll be happy to house them in my windmill. There’s not much room here, true. But we have beds and pies to go round.
Sincerely,
Granny
While there, Direthorn and Flopsy buy the freshest pies they had, just as Granny arrives. She tells them that if they bring the children to her (twelve in total), she’ll give him a lifetime supply of pies. After all, he’s so desperate for them. He agrees to help her.
The only one that really notices something’s wrong is Nyra. Although she doesn’t get anything that tips her off to anything, she notices some suspicious looking barrels in the makeshift kitchen.
Flopsy is desperate to get to Vallaki quickly, so he insists that they all should travel through the woods. Originally, it was just him and Direthorn going through, while the others planned on going on the main road. But Ismark warns the others that it’s too dangerous to travel through the woods alone. So, the others follow behind.
Along the way, they come across a strange little graveyard with five headstones. Two wights have claimed this area as their territory, but Flopsy and Mangus manage to not trigger combat with the two of them. When they stray too long, they nearly get the five zombies buried in these graves to attack them. The party leaves well before they’re ready, though.
They manage to get to Vallaki in the late afternoon, and they are eager to get to Vasili’s. Before they enter town, they have to pass through customs, telling the guards their names, the weapons on their person, why they’re there, and how long they thing they’ll be here. After customs, the guards tell them the three rules:
Never say Strahd’s name.
If you’re staying for a week, you must attend the festival.
Don’t cause trouble.
Adelaide and Ireena are both awestruck at the sight of the town. Neither of them have ever been to a place like this before. While they’re walking, they find Rictavio’s carnival wagon parked near the stockade. Direthorn finds out that there’s an owlbear in the wagon and is curious about it but decides getting it riled up isn’t a good idea. While exploring, however, they find a weird looking box underneath the front seat. In the box they find a strange book, and they open it.
The beginning of the book reads:
“I, Strahd, Lord of Barovia, well aware certain events of my reign have been desperately misunderstood by those who are better at garbling history than recording it, hereby set down exact records of those events, that the truth may at last be known.”
Then, Abrascus, Direthorn, Flopsy, Ismark, Mangus, Neracahne, and Nyra are all suddenly taken into the world of this book. It’s like in Blue’s Clues, but with extra spookiness. They find themselves in a sunny courtyard, after being in this land with no sun for several days. Ismark, who has never been out in the sun in his entire life, absolutely hates the feeling that sunlight initially gives him.
There’s a twelve-year-old boy watching them. They find out that this boy is a younger Strahd von Zarovich, and through that, they realize that they’re in what they assume is Strahd’s journal.
Strahd thinks that this strange group of adventurers are his imaginary friends. He tells them all about how someday he’s going to be a general in his father’s army, with Rahadin training him. He also tells them about his baby brother Sturm, who’s going to serve his own purpose while Strahd becomes a conqueror.
Direthorn and Strahd have a friendly duel to try and prove how good of a fighter he is, but Strahd loses miserably. He gets frustrated. How is he ever going to get better at fighting? So, Direthorn gives him some pointers. They help him with footing and different stances. With that extra knowledge, Strahd now has advantage for when he now duels with Flopsy. With that advantage, Strahd manages to beat him. Soon after, Rahadin calls Strahd away for more training, and the party ends up back in the present with these parting words that echo through their minds:
“I am the Ancient. I am the Land. My beginnings are lost in the darkness of the past, yet that past is now filled only with regret.”
Direthorn is now attuned to this strange book. Once per day, they can attempt to decipher more of it with four consecutive, successful checks with either Intelligence (Arcana) or Intelligence (Investigation).
After they return to the present, and the others in their group are confused as to what happened, they meet the owner of this wagon: An eccentric and weaselly looking man named Rictavio. He wears a large burgundy hat on top of his head, presumably to cover his receding hairline. He’s a fast talker with a strange accent (A/N: I’m from New Jersey, and my players fell in love with my accent like the silly New Englanders they are, so I went ham with Rictavio’s voice). Rictavio tells them that they can keep the book they found in his wagon, since he couldn’t get it to work the way Direthorn did. The first page was already deciphered, he said, which is probably how they were able to get through so quickly this time around. It’s not going to be that easy with the book from now on, which is why Direthorn is now attuned to it.
They’re soon encountered by yet another person, who is the burgomaster of Vallaki: Baron Vargas Vallakovich. He welcomes them to the town, excited to see new faces in his town. He invites them to dinner for the next night, and they agree to come.
Finally, they head over to Vasili’s manor. Upon arrival, Escher’s personality shifts from his usual self to that of an obedient servant. Ireena is enamored with the sight of the manor, as well as Adelaide. Soon, Vasili comes out from his ostentatious library to see them, and the two ladies are both so excited to see him. Vasili tells the adventurers that they can stay in his guest house, and Nyra is quick to remind him that Ireena needs a chaperone while here. At that, Vasili appoints Adelaide.
Flopsy gives Vasili the letter that Granny wrote. Vasili looks so confused at the sight of it, especially when they all begin to insist that they need another wagon. That’s when he’s quick to interject and give them a proposal. He’ll give them another wagon on one condition: They’ll bring two orphans to Granny’s mill to start. If they see that the mill can accommodate for twelve children, they can come back for the rest.
The party is all welcome to browse the library. The books they grabbed depended on their Investigation checks. Anything under a 10 was a children’s picture book. Anything above 15 was a book with valuable information to what they were looking for. The higher the check, the more knowledge the player received. Nat 1 gave them the worst possible option. Here are some book highlights:
Barovian History (400 BC - 600 BC): A chronology of important events and obituaries over that period of two hundred years. BC stands for “Barovian Common.” Through this book, Abrascus found out about a strange man from Strahd’s past named Azalin Rex, who tried to start fights and uprisings with Strahd. There were also some notable figures in the obituary sections that were highlighted: Marina Ulrich, who had been brutally murdered, and Olya, who died of a fever.
A book of Vallakian Ghost Stories
A History Text about Vallaki’s Festivals: Nyra found out that the one festival that was always celebrated was the Festival of the Blazing Sun. It was a festival that commemorated the summer, back when the sun was still shining in Barovia. However, in recent history, there have now been festivals every single week. The only festival that is more than a day is the Festival of the Blazing Sun, which is the festival that is beginning in town in two days.
How Not to Get Killed By Zombies: Flopsy now has meta knowledge about damage immunities and traits that zombies typically have, as well as different zombie encounters told by survivors.
The Devil’s Pies: Nyra found this book. 150 years ago, an elderly woman came to Vallaki peddling pies. After she left, several children went missing, and a lot of the people that ate the pies went crazy. After that, she was barred from ever returning.
What is an Owlbear? - A Conspiracy Booklet: Direthorn now knows that there is at least one person in Barovia that is weirded out by the existence of owlbears and the logistics of them.
Different Children’s Book Highlights:
Don’t Speak of the Devil!: A book with different caricatures of Strahd warns children about how it’s bad to say Strahd’s name.
Your Grown Body And You: Mangus found a puberty book.
And, my favorite, for Mangus’ Nat 1 on trying to find a book about how to talk to women:
One Night in Ravenloft - An Erotic Compendium by Strahd von Zarovich, fifth ed.
Nyra goes to Vasili after finding the book The Devil’s Pies, and she warns him that maybe this isn’t a good idea. Vasili said that he just thought it was only something that happened in the past, since it was 150 years ago, but he concedes and thanks Nyra for warning him.
Also, Adelaide openly looked confused by the book Don’t Speak of the Devil! She asked why “the devil’s” face looked the way it did in the book. It seems like she didn’t understand, but the party assures her that it’s just because Strahd’s evil.
Meanwhile, Flopsy had decided to go to St. Andral’s Orphanage alone. He wants those pies. He gets directions from a villager that leads him directly there. He insists on coming in when the door is answered, and he shows her the letter. The headmistress is offended at being accused of being a witch. With how insistent Flopsy was about needing the children, she is very uncomfortable and slams the door in his face, locking it up tightly.
Flopsy knows he needs to get these children to get more pie, so he breaks down the door with his maul. The children and headmistress are hiding upstairs. He heads up there and breaks down that door. Suddenly, it’s like the mists begin to shroud his will. He feels a strange crown of thorns wrapping around his head, and he blacks out.
When Flopsy comes to, he’s covered in blood, and the headmistress is on the ground dead. The orphans are crying and screaming while cowering away from him. Flopsy doesn’t know what to do, so he walks out and leaves the orphans alone.
He’s very soon approached by the captain of the town guard, with four other guards beside him. This large man has a fiendish arm that makes him look intimidating innately. He’d heard the commotion and was suspicious when he stopped hearing the headmistress’ voice. So, he questions Flopsy as to what happened, since he’s covered in blood.
Flopsy lies and tells the guard captain that two wights attacked the orphanage and Flopsy just tried to save him. Because the man had poor insight to Flopsy’s lies, he lets him go.
The session ends after Flopsy cleans himself up and arrives just in time for dinner to be served at Vasili’s manor.
The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In-Table Campaign [Session 2]
Session Highlights Catalogue
The Mists continue to lure the adventurers to Vallaki. Along the way, they cross paths with the well known seer that tells them what they need to do to start on course.
Side Note: Any art that I share of NPCs within these highlight posts is my (Mod Van Richten) original and fan art. Any art that I use as characters for my players that wasn’t created by myself but by other artists online is kept private and within our friend circle.
Abrascus
Barbarian (3) Path of the Ancestral Guardian
Race: Tortle
Background: Haunted One
Hear about the curious start to their newest quest under the cut:
The start of their trip to Vallaki goes without a hitch... until they’re suddenly halted at a crossroad. One of the wheels of the wagon is broken, nearly leveling the party that’s seated inside. After further investigation, they find that the wheel is knocked out of alignment by strange wooden needles. These needles come from needle blights.
As soon as they deduce this, they’re surrounded by two needle blights and eight twig blights. As they all try to figure out tactics, each member of the party (including the NPCs) shows each other just what they’re capable of (except poor Mangus, who didn’t get to hit a target). Their newest companion in particular, Escher, is a powerful spellcaster whose magic seems to be of a darker nature.
After the blights are killed, they’re confronted by a Vistana who offers to help them repair the wagon. While they wait, she does offer that they should go to Tser Pool for some food and to rest. At the encampment, they all hear an interesting story about a suspicion regarding red-headed women.
Girls born with red head are notoriously unlucky. This all started hundreds of years ago, when someone that the storyteller calls “The Devil” (which is also associated as a substitute for Strahd) lost the love of his life, who also had red hair. From that moment on, red heads were sought after, when they weren’t trying to conceal themselves or hide away. At hearing this story, Nyra insists that Ireena needs to cover hair in order to protect herself. Neracahne gives her her cloak to do this.
The adventurers are soon reminded of the person that Stanimir had told them to see if they were in trouble: Madam Eva. She resides at this encampment and was actually expecting them. When they see her, she tells them their fortunes by drawing Tarokka cards. They each get their own fun readings, some easily being interpreted as prophetic.
There is, however, a fortune that’s meant for all of them. This information is meant to help guide them, for they’ll need certain items and allies to aid them in their new journey.
The fortune goes as follows, with five Tarokka cards:
“This card tells of history. Knowledge of the Ancient will help you better understand your enemy.”
7 of Stars - Illusionist
“A man is not what he seems. He comes here in a carnival wagon. Therein lies what you seek.”
“This card tells of a powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope.”
3 of Glyphs - Healer
“Look to the west. Find a pool blessed by the light of the white sun.”
“This is a card of power and strength. It tells of a weapon of vengeance: a sword of sunlight.”
8 of Stars - Necromancer
“A man of undeath locks away his gravest mistake in a place right under your noses. On a hearth made in delusion, among a web of lies and wrath, he relies on naivety to keep secrets locked away. But beware, your weapon is useless without a spark.”
“This card sheds light on one who will help you greatly in the battle against darkness.”
High Deck - Executioner
“Seek out the brother of the devil’s bride. They call him “the lesser,” his vision blinded by a river of wine, but he has a powerful soul and holds more worth about him beyond his understanding.”
“Your enemy is a creature of darkness, whose powers are beyond mortality. This card will lead you to him!”
High Deck - Marionette
“The devil sits on his dark throne, entertaining himself with a macabre reception of undeath.”
Madam Eva also warns the party to not expect creatures of undeath to be as easy to defeat as they are in the Material Plane. After all, this domain is owned by a vampire. Undead here are harder to keep dead after what one would assume is the killing blow.
Shortly after their fortune, their wagon is ready to go again. Mangus insists that he should be the one to drive now, since Escher has proven to be a terrible driver. Even with Escher arguing with him that the wheel breaking was not his fault, Mangus still ends up being the one driving to Vallaki from now on. Through that, however, the party now has a map to reference whenever they have somewhere they want to go to.
Through the fortune, they all realize that Ismark plays a bigger role in aiding them they realize, piecing together that he’s what the “Executioner” card represents. Meanwhile, Ismark looks uncomfortable at the notion that they need him, and he seems to want to dodge the idea that he has more purpose than he’s always made to believe.
Mangus proves to be a pretty good driver, even though he purposefully runs over a bump to startle Escher. The party also begins to aggressively interrogate Escher, after he’s caught smiling at Neracahne again in the wagon. They manage to make him talk about himself, even though he insists that he only knew of Neracahne after she’d told him her name.
They also question him over his magic, finding out that he’s a necromancer. They accuse him of being evil, but he insists that it’s just a stereotype. Flopsy agrees with him and says that being evil is relative. Flopsy’s a little flustered when Escher implies that he seems smarter than they all think he is.
By the time the traveling ends for the day, they pass through the gates at the crossroad that forks between the road to Vallaki and the road to Castle Ravenloft. Coming towards the gate from the other road, Mangus sees a young woman walking alone. Nyra also sees her from inside the wagon.
As soon as the woman’s known to the rest of the party, Escher is suddenly in a rush to get out and urges Mangus to stop the wagon. He runs outside to confront the woman, and they talk to each other about how he’s concerned about where she’s going and that it’s dangerous.
At this, the players are curious. They ask her what her name is, and she tells them: Adelaide. Escher is quick to try and shut down any personal questions that they try to ask her. He’s angry that they’re so bold to keep asking about the relationship between the two of them.
Finally, they make him cave in. He tried to lie and say that Adelaide was his sister, but in the end, he tells them the truth, after more and more questions. Adelaide is Escher’s daughter.
Escher doesn’t find the party the least bit favorable after being accosted for the most mundane things. The only one he still seems to have a good rapport with is Neracahne, who didn’t question him or accuse him of anything.
After the interrogation, it’s time for the party to rest. Direthorn sleeps outside in a tree, and Flopsy takes the first watch, with Direthorn taking the second so that Flopsy can sleep.
The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In-Table Campaign [Session 1]
Session 0
I was excited to share the introduction of this newest campaign I’ve begun. I’ve also started construction on a fandom wiki, where I will make my ideas and concepts for the setting of Ravenloft, supplemental changes I made to Curse of Strahd and NPCs, and all the shenanigans and conquests my players get up to. I hope you all continue to enjoy their adventures in Ravenloft!
Side note: Any art that I share of NPCs within these highlight posts is my (Mod Van Richten) original and fan art. Any art that I use for my players that wasn’t created by myself but by other artists online is kept private and within our friend circle. We don’t repost art in this house.
Abrascus
Barbarian (3) Path of the Ancestral Guardian
Race: Tortle
Background: Haunted One
Here come their adventures from this session under the cut:
After the revelation of the two letters being from different people, they decide that they’re going to continue forward. They arrive at the Village of Barovia within an hour. Stanimir leaves them with one last piece of advice: If they’re in trouble, they should seek out Madam Eva at Tser Pool, a Seer who’s known for helping people in need of guidance.
Direthorn insists that Flopsy should go to the door of the largest house in the village, which they quickly find out is the Burgomaster’s mansion. Awaiting should be Kolyan Indirovich, like in the letter. Flopsy nearly breaks down the door however, and alerts not Kolyan, but his son, Ismark Kolyanovich.
The party gives Ismark the first letter that they received from Arrigal, to which Ismark is confused. The signature is not his father’s, and the wax seal is the Von Zarovich crest. They show the second letter and confirm to them that this one was actually written by his father. When they ask where he is, Ismark tells them that Kolyan had died three days ago of a stroke. He also tells them that Ireena is his sister, and she soon comes downstairs to see what the commotion is about.
Ireena is a beautiful young woman with deep red hair and green eyes. She appears to be fine and in good health. She does tell them, however, that she did get bitten. She was bitten a day before their father died.
Kolyan’s coffin has been in the study this whole time, and everyone in the adventuring party insists that they go and transport the body to the church as soon as possible. Flopsy was able to take the coffin there all on his own, and the villagers merely look on from their houses as the procession unfolds. On the way to the church, they meet a young noble from the town of Vallaki named Vasili von Holtz. He’d just so happened to be coming to visit Ireena and Ismark, since the funeral was originally planned for the next day. Ireena is enamored with Vasili, the two of them showing mutual interest in one another. In fact, Ireena was very excited that he was here.
Vasili discusses with the party members out of earshot from the other nobles that he’s worried about Ireena’s safety. He doesn’t feel that Ismark is a good guardian for her, and she’s tried to run away from home before. Vasili had to save her from wolves, because she didn’t know how to fend for herself properly.
At the church, everything seems to be in disrepair. The front of the church is covered with old burn marks and claw marks. The pews inside are all broken into shards. The air is tense. As everyone is waiting for the priest to get the rites for the funeral ready, Nyra notices crying coming from the undercroft. The priest, named Father Donavich, seemed like he was hiding something. So, Nyra and Direthorn sneak off with Ireena to check it out. They find that one of the room closest to the front door has a trap door inside that was chained shut.
Meanwhile, Flopsy attempts to intimidate Donavich into telling him what’s going on. Although he didn’t come across as intimidating as he’d wanted, Donavich insists that he’s just trying to take care of his son, Doru. However, the ruse is up when Neracahne alerts Donavich by causing some of the floorboards to creak while she attempted to follow Nyra and Direthorn. That’s when everyone can hear Doru yelling for Nyra, Direthorn, and Ireena to come downstairs because he’s “so starving” and is sick of his father taunting him with potential food.
Doru is a vampire, albeit a weak one. Everyone manages to quickly dispatch him, with some notable highlights: Abrascus gets Flopsy to throw him through the floor to get down to the undercroft quickly. Flopsy bashes Doru’s head in, and that seems to do the job. Father Donavich is understandably distraught and insists that they need to pay for the damages done to the floorboards.
The funeral soon takes place, now symbolically for two people instead of just Kolyan. During the ceremony, they are visted by two dark-skinned elves. One of them, who’s feared by the Barovians, is named Rahadin, Chamberlain of Castle Ravenloft.
His younger companion is named Iulian. Rahadin delivers a proclamation from Strahd von Zarovich himself.
Transcription:
By Order of the Count,
Ismark Kolyanovich, your father, Kolyan Indirovich, Burgomaster of the Barovian Village, has committed treason of the most heinous of sorts in the Valley. His death means the punishment shall fall on the current Burgomaster. For your father’s crimes against the Count, you are hereby removed from your position as Burgomaster.
Henceforth, your bloodline will not hold any power within the Valley. You are to remove yourself from your position and your manor. The Count himself has appointed a new Burgomaster, their rule effective immediately. You have three hours to gather your belongings and vacate your premises. Shelter will not be provided for you. Heed the Valley with caution.
Direct Orders from the Ancient and the Land of Barovia Himself,
Count Strahd von Zarovich
The adventurers attempt to challenge Rahadin, but he quickly shoots them down and tells Direthorn in particular to mind their own business. When Direthorn talks back to him, they’re suddenly dealt with an onslaught of screams that currently only they can hear. All the while, Iulian seems interested in them and wants to know their name before he’s quickly told by Rahadin that they’re leaving.
Ismark and Ireena are distraught over being evicted, and they only bring with them the equipment that they can carry. Vasili suggests to them that they all should travel to Vllaki to stay in his home, which is the nearest town yet pretty far away on foot. They manage to convince Vasili that they’ll only take Ireena there if they have transportation. He’ll have a wagon for them the next day.
After Vasili leaves to take care of that, they go to the tavern and stay the night. Ismark’s abilities are a little bit more established, when the adventurers find out that he’s a bard that knows healing spells. His spellcasting focus is his balalaika. While at the tavern, it is revealed that in Barovia, the values of gold and silver are swapped, with silver holding more value because of lycanthropy being so prevalent. The distribution of wealth is a little strange for them now.
The adventures are suspicious of the way Ireena and Ismark have been acting now that their father is dead. Some of them notice that the two siblings don’t even seem sad about it. They get Ireena to drink some wine, and Ismark had four pitchers on his own, in order for them to talk.
During this, Ireena admits to being a little upset with Direthorn that they didn’t let her fight in the undercroft. She insists that she knows how to use a rapier and is well versed in combat training. They don’t entirely believe her, but she challenges them to a friendly duel. Although Direthorn wins, they see that Ireena can indeed hold her own rather well, so they agree to let her join in on the next fight.
When asked about their father, Ireena reveals that Kolyan wasn’t exactly a kindhearted man. She implies that Ismark’s alcoholism and Kolyan’s disdain for him is linked to something that happened ten years ago. The Village calls him “The Lesser,” after their eldest brother, Frederich Kolyanovich, was among the men that died in a hunting party. The others that died were named Kristofor, Lazlo, and Hans (late brother of the local shopkeeper). They all blamed Ismark for the catastrophe, because one of the survivors called him lazy. Ismark angrily tells the adventurers as the story is told that it was a lie. The truth was that the wolves that attacked them came from the area that Hans was supposed to keep watch at, for Ismark didn’t see anything in his section of the perimeter. Of course, no one in the village believes him.
The next morning, there’s a wagon waiting for them from Vasili. Before they leave, they grab some free breakfast from a lovely older woman named Granny. She sells pies to the villagers, and every newcomer gets their first pie for free. Everyone except Ismark gets one, and they buy Ireena one after she tells them that her father never let her have pie.
The man Vasili sent to drive the wagon is a man named Escher von Precious. This blonde gentleman has two different colored eyes, the one with the white pupil being a fake eye. He tells them that the blind eye was caused by what he calls a “run-in with a ghast.”
The session ends as they all leave the Village of Barovia and head for Vallaki. An interesting thing about Escher is that when he’s introduced to the adventuring party, he seems to give Neracahne a smile, something that he doesn’t give to the others.
“Won’t you stay with me, my darling, when this house don’t feel like home?”
I’ve been doing a lot of reworking on my take on the prolific Rudolph Van Richten of Ravenloft fame. His story is so enriched with tragedy and knowledge, and with some tender care, I’ve crafted his different personas to tailor fit my setting.
Van Richten has himself disguised as a half elf bard named Rictavio when he comes to Barovia in the Curse of Strahd module, but I’ve taken that concept and ran with it further. I’ve split Van Richten’s disguise into two different personas. There’s Rictavio, the eccentric and crazy carnival headmaster looking to entertain. And then, there’s the half elf bard that curiously enough still holds enough faith in Lathander to decorate his pan flute (curious, indeed).
I’ve named this other persona Rudy, an attempt to give Van Richten’s disguises a richer background. Rudy represents the life that Van Richten always wanted, one where he can make merry and enjoy the years he had lost from grief and tragedy after tragedy.
The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In-Table Campaign [Session 0]
I hope you enjoy this fun campaign between a group of work friends and a party where none of the characters are human. We’ve started with the Curse of Strahd module, before Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft came out, but after the release of the new book, I’ve begun developing plans for at the very least an exciting and thrilling series of adventures.
Here’s the roll call:
Abrascus
Barbarian (3) Path of the Ancestral Guardian
Race: Tortle
Background: Haunted One
Learn more about the start of their adventure under the cut.
The starts of their adventures start out very similarly, except for two of the characters.
Direthorn was alone for most of their life, after cutting ties with their only friend when his alignment and goals had changed. While they were stealing and doing their best to survive, they come across a wagon with different jewels inside it and around it. Of course, they try to steal it, only to find the Vistana that owned the wagon caught them and was chasing them. Direthorn ended up going through the mists and ended up in the woods of Barovia. Upon their arrival, they received this letter:
Transcript:
Weary Traveler,
Welcome to Barovia! Do forgive me for such an intrusive fog. The Mists have their own way of welcoming new visitors. Allow me to offer a far better form of hospitality.
My home is your home, as the saying goes. Feel free to roam about and indulge in the bounties of my reign. Do be careful traveling at night. We would not want any... unwanted accidents, now, would we? Mind where you tread. If I were to enter your home, I would have limitations on where I may wander, would I not?
I do hope you enjoy your stay. So long as you follow these specific guidelines and mind your manners, we will get along just fine. After all, this wonderful land of mine is where you will stay for the rest of your life. Do not try to go back in the fog from whence you came. You may have survived the Mists for now, but you will never be so lucky again.
And do watch your back.
Signed,
The Ancient and The Land of Barovia
They were alone for three days trying to fend for themselves before the party will arrive.
Neracahne was brought up in a noble family and went to school for wizardry with their guidance. While there, she made a friend named Eloise Prescott. Eloise was gifted in her talents, as well, and she also had a soft spot for learning music. Her studies were a little more... extreme.
In the time that they’d known each other, Neracahne noticed that Eloise at times seemed miserable, but the two friends truthfully enjoyed each other’s company. Soon, they lost touch.
Twenty-five years later, Neracahne ran away from home to avoid an arranged marriage. During that, Eloise’s parents contacted her. They revealed to her that Eloise had been missing for those twenty-five years, so they wanted Neracahne to find her.
The other four have all arrived at the same tavern in a strange town. They all received the same letter, where someone named Arrigal was going to meet them at this tavern and give them a job.
Flopsy is a large bunny man that thinks he’s a bard, and he insists that he’s musically inclined when that’s absolutely not the case. He also has quick and grating names to give to the rest of the party.
Abrascus has been having a budding interest in monster hunting based off some curious finds, but he’d also much rather be near the water, where he feels most comfortable sleeping near and spending time near.
Mangus has been traveling with his pet duck named Squig, after being mentored in martial arts. He already doesn’t like Flopsy.
Nyra is also escaping the confines of an arranged marriage, but her family is also actively trying to look for her with a reward. She’s so far done well at avoiding them, with her pet firefly named Buzz.
As the five party members meet and convene, they soon see Arrigal come into the tavern. He approaches them, and he gives them a letter and coin for a night’s stay. Abrascus pockets his portion of the coin. The letter reads:
Transcript:
Hail to Thee, of Might and Valor,
I, a lowly servant of Barovia, send honor to thee! We plead for thy so desperately needed assistance.
I suspect that the love of my life, Ireena Kolyana, is being hunted by an evil so deadly that even the good people of our village cannot protect her. We implore thee to save her from this menace.
There is much wealth in this community. I offer all that might be had to thee and thy fellows if thou shalt but answer my desperate plea.
Come quickly. Her time is at hand! All that I have shall be thine!
Kolyan Indirovich,
Burgomaster.
They all agree to take the job. The next day, they find that the tavern they had stayed at the night before is now surrounded by fog. The travel via Vistani caravan, with their drivers being named Stanimir and Mistress Ertha.
While entering Barovia, they encounter Direthorn, who decided to try and ambush them. This is the first time that they’ve seen people since they were first trapped by the Mists, and they insist that they just want to make friends.
Direthorn also shows them a letter that they’d picked off of a dead body earlier. This letter is also addressed from Kolyan Indirovich, but the signatures are different and his beloved Ireena is actually his daughter.
Transcript:
Hail thee of might and valor,
I, the Burgomaster of Barovia, send you honor--with despair.
My dearest daughter, the fair Ireena Kolyana, has been pursued by forces of the darkest nature. This foul monster has sullied her virtue with a vampyr’s bite to her neck. For over four hundred years, this creature has drained the life blood of my people. Now, my dear Ireena languishes from the unholy wound caused by this vile beast. He has become far too powerful to conquer.
So, I say to you, give us up for dead and encircle this land with the symbols of good. Let your holy men call upon that this devil may be contained within the walls of weeping Barovia. The Morninglord has long ago forsaken us, but it is not too late for you. Leave our sorrows to our graves, and save the world from this evil fate of ours.
Signed,
Kolyan Indirovich,
Burgomaster.
The session ends with the revelation that the two letters are written by different people.
The Continuation and Conclusion of The Ancient and The Land - Mod Van Richten’s first Roll20 Campaign
I haven’t been updating the story of what happened in my Roll20 campaign. I was really excited with the direction it was going when I first started it, but unfortunately, due to player conflict and stress from my living situation, I felt extremely burnt out and didn’t want to continue. In the end, I gave them a moderately satisfying ending early.
I’m feeling much better now, which is why I’ve begun giving this blog attention again. And I’ll write down everything that happened in this campaign from the last time I updated until the end to the best of my ability under the cut. I understand if no one would wanna read it, because it’s VERY very long, but know that I really appreciate Mod Escher’s help throughout the mental anguish this campaign had put me through. I hope you enjoy our new adventures, as we’re much happier and relieved to be running these current campaigns.
I will come back to this post to update it periodically, as I gain motivation to update it.
For more information about the characters, you should check out the session highlights posts I made here:
Session 0
Session 1
Please heed the Trigger Warnings listed below:
Abuse (including but not limited to physical, domestic, mental, psychological, and sexual), Cannibalism, Murder, Death, Homophobia, Transphobia,
Session 2
Formerly known as Ireena Kolyana, Ivan Denesch comes out to his brother, Ismark, at Tser Pool. A new player has also joined the party, Monbonibaa (Oog). She receives her fortune separately from the others. The party makes their way to Vallaki after a long rest.
Along the way, Valarys saw a woman named Zuleika, who was looking for her husband. They insist that they’ll help find him, and Zuleika wonders why Valarys looks so familiar to her. When Valarys brings up the last name “Stoyanovich,” Zuleika is even more startled and tells them that he’s the leader of her group.
When the party arrives in Vallaki, they run into a man named Escher, who’s also Vasili’s servant. He brings them all to the manor, and they find that Vasili is a rather strange individual. He doesn’t seem to like formalities, and he has a short fuse.
Vasili had also alluded that he knew more information and background about Diane that Diane felt comfortable with.
Session 3
The session begins with dinner at Vasili’s manor. The party seemed to enjoy pissing Vasili off, and Escher entertained everyone playing on the harpsicord, with Valarys assisting. That night, everyone except Ivan got to sleep in the guest house.
The next day, Ivan wakes up with a bite on his neck and was only filled with the memories that he had a passionate night with Vasili. He was also convinced by him to live as Ireena for just one more day. Because of that, the party find Ivan wearing a dress, but Escher’s quick to take him back upstairs to let him wear his masculine clothes again. Escher also teaches him how to properly bind his chest.
Vasili gives them all money, after the party tries to interrogate him. With the money, however, the party managed to get a decent amount of supplies and trinkets from a curio grab bag. After the grab bag, Valarys is now afflicted with a “curse” that makes everything they eat taste like hot borscht.
The toymaker at Blinsky Toys also has an interesting collection that the party indulges in. He also has a doll that looks just like Ivan, however it was not for sale.
I’ve had so much fun creating this character, after Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft came out.
This is Nyx Adrianova, a Circle of Spores hexblood druid who gained their traits from Morgantha from Curse of Strahd. They’ve been spared from her barbaric tactic of baking children into pies, by ratting out the other children that have been bullying them when they were staging an escape behind their back. Since then, Nyx has been given the task of guaranteeing that Morgantha has a steady supply, becoming essentially a warden at Old Bonegrinder.
Despite their evil-aligned upbringing, they’re open to change, so long as they can learn to realize that just because they’ve seen the coven that raised them as family, doesn’t mean that they have their best interest in mind. I can’t wait to play them soon!
Nyx is amab nonbinary that leans very femme, and they’re unapologetically chaotic in personality. They’re going to be a real treat when the other PCs meet them.
(Drawn on May 28, 2021)
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