Allow Me Too Introduce Myself, I'm a Man of Wealth and Taste!
Long time coming, but I finally made the switch from 4E to 5E. Mostly by listening to Acquisition Inc and Dice, Camera and Action and since I finally got a steady income I allowed myself to get all the starters book and currently getting every book and adventure for 5E... as well as getting stuff from 4E I need to continue the large campaign that haven't been going on for 2 years. So now I have official tokens and maps for that. And they work fine for 5E as well since my sisters aren't quite ready for "theatre of the mind" that seems to be the standard. Could also be due to me being not that clear, but also everyone around the table having problem with saying what they mean or hearing. Which became obvious as I played Curse of Strahd with two of my sisters.
Sadly we only have one to share on three people
The story began when the monk Imiral, a high elf from a mountain monastery outside of Mithral on the Nerathian continent finds him selves alone on a forest road as the dark catches him as a thick fog begins to suround him. He sees a light just beside the main road by a small trail. Walking up he finds a tiefling sitting by a fire, playing with some cards. Startled the female tiefling flings a knife toward him that just misses. The tiefling unfriendly accepts to let the monk stays after he gives up his only silver coin. The tiefling is a rouge that specialises in burglary and have lightened the pockets of some important looking person and found a letter from some burgomaster of the village of Barovia. The tiefling named Hope begins to ask the monk if he knows anything about this Barovia, but neither do. The tieflings greed get the better of her and she is set to get her hand on some possible reward. As the night lingers on they take turn around the camp fire, but as they feel dawn appearing something feels amiss. Somehow they have phased to another dimension.
The people around here is rather weird
Following the only road they can see they suddenly stop when they hear a branch crack from one side of the road and two red eyes starring at them from the mists on the other side. They carefully make their way away from the eyes to the sound and finds a dead body ravaged by wolves holding a letter (a mistake from my side since I misremembered when and how the body would come into play, but it still freaked my sisters out). They read the letter and notices that something is of, they almost describe the same thing, but looking over it again and again they notice the different hand writing, the wording and so on. The howls of wolfs draws near and they decide to get out of there. They continue to follow the road and sees a gate. As they approaches the gates open, they pass and the gates close behind them. No one is there operating the gates. They continue and they feel the sun falling (since they can't see the sky as the clouds lie as a blanket over the sky. As they approach the only town they seen since they arrived in this cursed lands they enter. And the town is empty and life-less. Walking down the main road they reach a cross-roads and two children stands there, a 7-year old and a girl of 10 years old. They are afraid to return home since there is a monster in the basement. Being the heroes, especially when it comes to small kids they enter a lonesome house, and especially being told there is a one-year old child in the nursery at the third floor. Entering the house they immediately get that something is wrong. The wall panels and the paintings and such at first glance seems like normal, but at closer inspection have some rather disturbing images. Of course my sister believes that it's something that changes after awhile instead of always be there, so they scared themselves more than the book suggested. The players are their own worst enemies. They walk up the marble staircase to the third floor. They knew it was to the left and walks toward the door, but the tiefling notices something in the wall and finds a hidden passageway to the attic. They closes the passageway and enters the nursery. They look around and are about to open the door to the nursery when a spectre appears of a young woman and charges at them. After a quick battle they banish the spectre before it can hit them and then enters the nursery. They find a cradle covered by some black sheets they pull aside. Inside they find a baby-sized bundle. They unwrap it and it's empty.
Realising that something is very weird they enter the attic and finds a locked room that the tiefling unlocks with her thieves tools and they find a small bedroom with two beds and two skeletons on the floor clothed in the same clothes as the children they met outside and a doll that the boy was holding. Looking around they noticed a doll house in the form of the house they were in and began inspecting it. As they did two ghosts in the form of the children they saw appears. Doing nothing of the children out on the street they told them how they were locked in by their parents as they went to the basement. The players assumed that the monster in the celler killed the parents and therefore the children starved to death. They also finds the secret doors of the house by looking at the doll house and learning about the hidden staircase to the basement. But they decide they might need help with this so they head down stairs and leave the house and heads to the tavern (in the book you should lock them inside the house and that would really have set my sisters of, but reading up I knew that you should probably be around 4-6 people to tackle the horrors of the basement so I let them go in and out without problem, but I would have been more strict with a recommended party, especially a party with limited healing and defences). They left and found the tavern Blood on the Vine where they met Ismark Kolyanovic, the son of the recently dead burgomaster who wrote one of the letters and he confirms their suspicion of someone else writing the first letter. He also learns about their predicament with the house and he offers help by introducing them to Cygnus Swanfeather, an eladrin paladin of Corellon he have hired as a bodyguard for his sister Ireena Kolyanovic as they need to escape the shadows of Castle Ravenloft, the home of the devil himself. And of course he says it they look out toward the castle and thunder lights up the night. As they tell their tale Cygnus agrees to help them. They stay the night at the inn (paid by Ismark) and heads in once again.
This time they take a more thorough look through the house. Room by room, floor by floor. They pick up some silverware in the kitchen, find a room filled with stuffed wolfs (I wish they had walked in here the first time since all they talked about was werewolves and I actually believe that in that case they would have attacked them). Walking up to the second floor they have already acquired the knowledge of the secret doors, but when they arrive to the library they still can't find the opening factor, until Cygnus picks out the book that operates the mechanism. There they find a chest with a dead body. The chest contains some documents, a deed of the house, a deed of a windmill and the will of the owners of the house. They take it. Continuing they reach the third floor. They walk through the rooms counter clockwise. As they pass by a armour at the top of the stairs it suddenly springs to life and tires to slam the paladin walking in the front, but it misses and tumbles over the railing and all parts of the armour ends up on the second and first floor, still moving, but unable to do anything (it rolled a nat 1, what was I supposed to do?). They entered a cupboard and is attacked by a broom. Cygnus tries to hit it, but the close quarters make it hard to hit with his sword. Imiral doesn't get it any better and ends up knocking him selves out (rolling two nat 1 in a row). After something like 1 minute + they are able to hack it in two. They heal and continues to the attic. Searching the rooms they finally approaches the secret door to the stairs that leads to the basement and they descend.
As they walk out in the basement they begin to hear some chanting. And they begin searching the basement as the chanting wanes and grows depending on where they go. The first things they find are an empty crypt and next to it a crypt dedicated to Walter Durst, the stillborn child of the owners of the house. They find some sleeping quarters belonging to some demon-worshipping cultist that Hope begins to loot, feeling certain disgust when finding for example a coin pouch of human skin. As they walk through a corridor and reaches a four-way crossing suddenly the ground begins shaking and four ghouls appears. Cygnus rises his shield and blocks the ghouls from walking past him while he swings his silver sword, aided by Hope and Imiral that hit and runs the ghouls. After slaying the four undead monsters they continue northward and finds four more crypts belonging to the rest of the Durst family, the father, mother and the two children, Thorn and Rose. While searching the crypt of the mother they are attacked by a swarm of centipedes that tries to bite through Cygnus armoured feet, but they are quickly disposed of. They walk back and into a room with a statue of an elegantly clad man holding a crystal. Hope smells something fishy and decide to not disturb the statue. They enter the final room on this floor and finds a chest at the end of a bed, as the tiefling opens it and is about to take something, two ghasts in black robes breaks through the walls and starts attack. Once again Cygnus acts as a shield trapping one of them in their enclosed chamber while the other assails him mercilessly. Hope sneaks attack it while Imiral constantly bangs them over the head with his staff. After the battle Cygnus is bleeding profoundly and suggest that they retreat and places the childrens bones back into their graves and retire for the day since he spent all his healing powers and divine smite.
Hope pawns of all the treasures they collected, but decide to keep a silvered short sword for herself. And since they have enough money to live rather comfortably they have to pay they own upkeep. Cygnus stays at the burgomaster mansion. Next day they head in once again. They walk up the stairs and then down into the mansion. Heading down again they find a hidden door that leads to the first floor in the wolf's den room... a bit late for a shortcut, but whatever. They find a staircase leading to yet another floor and the chanting grows more intense. They notice a way into some water which they decide isn't there way. They instead following a path that leads them into the prison. The tiefling finds a lonesome skeleton cultist hanging in one of the cells with a golden ring on one hand that she greedily pawns, snapping the finger of the hand. Imiral meanwhile finds a secret door that leads into the water chamber they wanted to avoid and as they walk out on a walkway above the water the chanting stops. Noticing the mechanism that controls the portcullis in the water they trigger it and opens it up as a final escape. Then they look upon the dias in the middle of the water and climbs it to the alter at the top. As they do 13 blacked figures appears chanting for a sacrifice. Hope fires a cross bolt that goes right through them. As they are about to leave the figures cry out for Lorgoth the Defiler and a bolt of lightning strikes a mound down by a crumbled wall and it comes to life. And the fight is on.
The action starts with Hope throwing a flask of alchemist fire we found in the basement at the mound, it hits and the flames scars the monster. Imiral runs forward and attacks it with his staff and move away, dodging an opportunity attack from the monster. The monster tries to stop the flames, but fails but still walks after the monk that was the last to hit it. Cygnus standing on the top of the dias strikes down upon it with his sword and follows it up with divine smite. Hope is up again and sneak attacks the monster from the top of the dias. This goes on for some rounds until the beast finally stops the flames and starts with hitting the monk so that he is bloodied. The monk runs to the other side and out of the water to heal with a healing potion while the monster began assailing the paladin. When the paladin gets bloodied he used his fey step and teleported behind the creature confusing the creature. As Cygnus sword hacked into it it become bloodied and green blood began seeping out and into the water. The rouge continues it attacks while the monk jumps back and attacks it from atop the dias. The party is badly beaten, but in the end Cygnus gives the final strike onto the monster, slicing off one of its arms and it slumping into the water with green goo spreading from it. They take a rest atop the dias with the whole place silent, treating some of the wounds and preparing to leave the accursed house. As they take the shortcut up to the first floor they find themselves in the wolf's den filled with black smoke and the windows bricked up. Where there where doors now a scythe swings and the walls looks brittled and damaged. Hope acts instantly and runs up toward the wall leading to the foyer and smash it up with her silver sword. The wall crumbles and out pours a swarm of rats biting at Hope's feet. After taking care of that threat for a minute trying to avoid inhaling the poisonous smoke they all rush out and behind them the house collapses and the fires that have tried to take the house over the years, finally gets the better. The Death house is no more... and Hope and Imiral realises that the deed is rather worthless, until they remember the windmill and that they still own the land the house stood on. Player character, greed above all else!
With this the characters are level 3 and pretty much prepared for the real adventure. And I had to fudge the dice here and there and the monster didn't play their A-game. I mean, the mound with multiple attacks with a +6 or +7? And the characters have +4 at best with very few means to make more damage? Especially my players who can't read the book all the time and me not caring about their classes, meaning I can't help them that much. I'm glad I actually picked up the spell book cards for the classes arcana overall for a simpler reference than in the 4E campaign where we didn't have books and used PDF:s which they couldn't read correctly and having computers walking back and forth wasn't an option. Especially since some characters really seems to have a problem with understanding if a spell affects one or several people. Also the maps I got was rather good, sadly it was a problem adjusting the size and I should really have made them bigger so that the tokens would fit inside the square. Sadly they now expect it for every encounter, and I don't have those resources and since there is a lot of random encounters built into the book I won't even try it for the most time. At least they can use the tokens I've gotten as references to where they stand or how they march. It was fun to play, but I'm a bit afraid to follow the rules to the letter. Maybe if I had some players that doesn't get pissed if they are hit. Family is the worst.
First enemy of the game
Realising that something is very weird they enter the attic and finds a locked room that the tiefling unlocks with her thieves tools and they find a small bedroom with two beds and two skeletons on the floor clothed in the same clothes as the children they met outside and a doll that the boy was holding. Looking around they noticed a doll house in the form of the house they were in and began inspecting it. As they did two ghosts in the form of the children they saw appears. Doing nothing of the children out on the street they told them how they were locked in by their parents as they went to the basement. The players assumed that the monster in the celler killed the parents and therefore the children starved to death. They also finds the secret doors of the house by looking at the doll house and learning about the hidden staircase to the basement. But they decide they might need help with this so they head down stairs and leave the house and heads to the tavern (in the book you should lock them inside the house and that would really have set my sisters of, but reading up I knew that you should probably be around 4-6 people to tackle the horrors of the basement so I let them go in and out without problem, but I would have been more strict with a recommended party, especially a party with limited healing and defences). They left and found the tavern Blood on the Vine where they met Ismark Kolyanovic, the son of the recently dead burgomaster who wrote one of the letters and he confirms their suspicion of someone else writing the first letter. He also learns about their predicament with the house and he offers help by introducing them to Cygnus Swanfeather, an eladrin paladin of Corellon he have hired as a bodyguard for his sister Ireena Kolyanovic as they need to escape the shadows of Castle Ravenloft, the home of the devil himself. And of course he says it they look out toward the castle and thunder lights up the night. As they tell their tale Cygnus agrees to help them. They stay the night at the inn (paid by Ismark) and heads in once again.
Ismark the lesser, how that is possible with someone with 58 hit points I don't know
This time they take a more thorough look through the house. Room by room, floor by floor. They pick up some silverware in the kitchen, find a room filled with stuffed wolfs (I wish they had walked in here the first time since all they talked about was werewolves and I actually believe that in that case they would have attacked them). Walking up to the second floor they have already acquired the knowledge of the secret doors, but when they arrive to the library they still can't find the opening factor, until Cygnus picks out the book that operates the mechanism. There they find a chest with a dead body. The chest contains some documents, a deed of the house, a deed of a windmill and the will of the owners of the house. They take it. Continuing they reach the third floor. They walk through the rooms counter clockwise. As they pass by a armour at the top of the stairs it suddenly springs to life and tires to slam the paladin walking in the front, but it misses and tumbles over the railing and all parts of the armour ends up on the second and first floor, still moving, but unable to do anything (it rolled a nat 1, what was I supposed to do?). They entered a cupboard and is attacked by a broom. Cygnus tries to hit it, but the close quarters make it hard to hit with his sword. Imiral doesn't get it any better and ends up knocking him selves out (rolling two nat 1 in a row). After something like 1 minute + they are able to hack it in two. They heal and continues to the attic. Searching the rooms they finally approaches the secret door to the stairs that leads to the basement and they descend.
Dramatic reenactment of the cupboard fight
As they walk out in the basement they begin to hear some chanting. And they begin searching the basement as the chanting wanes and grows depending on where they go. The first things they find are an empty crypt and next to it a crypt dedicated to Walter Durst, the stillborn child of the owners of the house. They find some sleeping quarters belonging to some demon-worshipping cultist that Hope begins to loot, feeling certain disgust when finding for example a coin pouch of human skin. As they walk through a corridor and reaches a four-way crossing suddenly the ground begins shaking and four ghouls appears. Cygnus rises his shield and blocks the ghouls from walking past him while he swings his silver sword, aided by Hope and Imiral that hit and runs the ghouls. After slaying the four undead monsters they continue northward and finds four more crypts belonging to the rest of the Durst family, the father, mother and the two children, Thorn and Rose. While searching the crypt of the mother they are attacked by a swarm of centipedes that tries to bite through Cygnus armoured feet, but they are quickly disposed of. They walk back and into a room with a statue of an elegantly clad man holding a crystal. Hope smells something fishy and decide to not disturb the statue. They enter the final room on this floor and finds a chest at the end of a bed, as the tiefling opens it and is about to take something, two ghasts in black robes breaks through the walls and starts attack. Once again Cygnus acts as a shield trapping one of them in their enclosed chamber while the other assails him mercilessly. Hope sneaks attack it while Imiral constantly bangs them over the head with his staff. After the battle Cygnus is bleeding profoundly and suggest that they retreat and places the childrens bones back into their graves and retire for the day since he spent all his healing powers and divine smite.
An eladrin paladin in action
Hope pawns of all the treasures they collected, but decide to keep a silvered short sword for herself. And since they have enough money to live rather comfortably they have to pay they own upkeep. Cygnus stays at the burgomaster mansion. Next day they head in once again. They walk up the stairs and then down into the mansion. Heading down again they find a hidden door that leads to the first floor in the wolf's den room... a bit late for a shortcut, but whatever. They find a staircase leading to yet another floor and the chanting grows more intense. They notice a way into some water which they decide isn't there way. They instead following a path that leads them into the prison. The tiefling finds a lonesome skeleton cultist hanging in one of the cells with a golden ring on one hand that she greedily pawns, snapping the finger of the hand. Imiral meanwhile finds a secret door that leads into the water chamber they wanted to avoid and as they walk out on a walkway above the water the chanting stops. Noticing the mechanism that controls the portcullis in the water they trigger it and opens it up as a final escape. Then they look upon the dias in the middle of the water and climbs it to the alter at the top. As they do 13 blacked figures appears chanting for a sacrifice. Hope fires a cross bolt that goes right through them. As they are about to leave the figures cry out for Lorgoth the Defiler and a bolt of lightning strikes a mound down by a crumbled wall and it comes to life. And the fight is on.
Boss time
The action starts with Hope throwing a flask of alchemist fire we found in the basement at the mound, it hits and the flames scars the monster. Imiral runs forward and attacks it with his staff and move away, dodging an opportunity attack from the monster. The monster tries to stop the flames, but fails but still walks after the monk that was the last to hit it. Cygnus standing on the top of the dias strikes down upon it with his sword and follows it up with divine smite. Hope is up again and sneak attacks the monster from the top of the dias. This goes on for some rounds until the beast finally stops the flames and starts with hitting the monk so that he is bloodied. The monk runs to the other side and out of the water to heal with a healing potion while the monster began assailing the paladin. When the paladin gets bloodied he used his fey step and teleported behind the creature confusing the creature. As Cygnus sword hacked into it it become bloodied and green blood began seeping out and into the water. The rouge continues it attacks while the monk jumps back and attacks it from atop the dias. The party is badly beaten, but in the end Cygnus gives the final strike onto the monster, slicing off one of its arms and it slumping into the water with green goo spreading from it. They take a rest atop the dias with the whole place silent, treating some of the wounds and preparing to leave the accursed house. As they take the shortcut up to the first floor they find themselves in the wolf's den filled with black smoke and the windows bricked up. Where there where doors now a scythe swings and the walls looks brittled and damaged. Hope acts instantly and runs up toward the wall leading to the foyer and smash it up with her silver sword. The wall crumbles and out pours a swarm of rats biting at Hope's feet. After taking care of that threat for a minute trying to avoid inhaling the poisonous smoke they all rush out and behind them the house collapses and the fires that have tried to take the house over the years, finally gets the better. The Death house is no more... and Hope and Imiral realises that the deed is rather worthless, until they remember the windmill and that they still own the land the house stood on. Player character, greed above all else!
Well that doesn't look that dangerous!
With this the characters are level 3 and pretty much prepared for the real adventure. And I had to fudge the dice here and there and the monster didn't play their A-game. I mean, the mound with multiple attacks with a +6 or +7? And the characters have +4 at best with very few means to make more damage? Especially my players who can't read the book all the time and me not caring about their classes, meaning I can't help them that much. I'm glad I actually picked up the spell book cards for the classes arcana overall for a simpler reference than in the 4E campaign where we didn't have books and used PDF:s which they couldn't read correctly and having computers walking back and forth wasn't an option. Especially since some characters really seems to have a problem with understanding if a spell affects one or several people. Also the maps I got was rather good, sadly it was a problem adjusting the size and I should really have made them bigger so that the tokens would fit inside the square. Sadly they now expect it for every encounter, and I don't have those resources and since there is a lot of random encounters built into the book I won't even try it for the most time. At least they can use the tokens I've gotten as references to where they stand or how they march. It was fun to play, but I'm a bit afraid to follow the rules to the letter. Maybe if I had some players that doesn't get pissed if they are hit. Family is the worst.
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