Triumphant Return

So after my last post, complications from my surgery put me in the hospital, where I ended up needing another surgery. The Elemental Evil campaign fell apart after that, so I formed a new group and we played through the Lost Mines of Phandelver, the adventure that comes in the Starter Set. It's a tough, but otherwise pretty decent adventure. Much like Tyranny of Dragons its plagued with balance issues, which could be somewhat exacerbated by the mediocre pre-gens (we didn't use those).

On to the main event: Curse of Strahd, 5e's reboot of the Classic Ravenloft has hit shelves. Being a former White Wolf demo guy, I couldn't wait to introduce my players the some bloodsucking horror.

Curse of Strahd features an introductory adventure called Death House, where the PCs explore a haunted house, the ambiance of which becomes increasing terrifying and decayed as they examine the details and move further in. It makes me soooooooo happy.

While some options are available to have the PCs be Barovians, I opted for a more "Silent Hill" approach: the PCs are normal folks who just happened to stumble into the Mists. They built Forgotten Realms characters with extant options.

Meet the dramatis personae: Tathora, played by a newer player Kyla. She's a half-elf cleric of Lathander (the Forgotten Realms deity of dawn, birth, and new beginnings). Next is Lop, played by newer player Will. He's a gnome wizard. Judging by Will' role-playing decisions and the traditional gnomish path, I think he might end up being an Illusionist. Continuing around the table, returning player Nathan is playing Cinis, a half-elf Warlock with Fiendish patron. Next, returning player Ethan is playing Rolan, a wood elf Druid who is planning on taking Circle of the Moon. Next up is newer player Andrew, brought into the group by Nathan. He's playing Tarkir (yes, he does play Magic), a gold-descended dragonborn Paladin. Last, but not least, is my buddy Joseph with Ap, a human Sorcerer with the new Storm Sorcerer and the Outlander background from the new Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. Kyla and Nathan did opt to use a new background option for Curse of Strahd: Haunted One, a background based around the character being the survivor of some horrific event in their past.

We dove in: the group was travelling south from Daggerford, taking shelter from rain in the outskirts of the Misty Forest on the border of the High Moor. However, cold Mist from the Demiplane of Dread descended on them and took them the outskirts of Barovia. The soon found the Old Svalich road and followed it to the gates of Barovia, ancient metal gates that shrieked on rusty hinges as they opened and squealed as they closed behind the party. Travelling through the Svalich woods, they happened upon a corpse bearing a letter from Kolyan Indirovich, the Burgomaster of the village of Barovia. When the pack of wolves responsible for killing the messenger came closer, the party of first level adventurers wisely decided to flee. Eventually the road led them to the village, and Mists guided them to two children, weeping in front of an old row house on the eastern edge of town.

The children, Rosavalda and Thornboldt, or Rose and Thorn, asked the party to go into the house to help their younger brother Walter and to fight a terrible monster living in the basement. Being mostly good, they went in. The house belongs to a clan of minor noble called the Dursts (no relation to Fred) that have a wind mill as their symbol. The house is richly furnished and appointed, but apparently abandoned. After exploring the hall, dining room, kitchen, and den on the first floor, they moved onto the second floor.

The second floor held a servants' quarters, a conservatory, and a study. Here, they began taking a closer look at their surroundings, discovering hidden images of people being attacked by bats in a painting superficially about dancing, and small figurines that turned out to be well dressed skeletons upon closer inspection. They also found a secret room off the study with a now dead adventurer half inside a chest. They rooted through the treasure, finding spell scrolls and deeds to the house and a wind mill. They also found a nice condescending letter from Count Strahd Von Zarovich himself, letting the Durst know exactly how he felt about them (he doesn't like them). The letter also mentioned a stillborn child.

They reached the third floor balcony and the first battle of the session: with a suit of animated armor. They have a high AC (being made of armor and all) and lots of hit points (see before), but don't hit very hard or very often. Still, it made Tarkir nervous. Even first level tanks don't have that many hit points. Upon reaching the third floor, they discovered that everything is now old and covered with dust and cobwebs, as opposed the previous two floors where everything was intact and relatively clean. They explored the master bedroom, looting an old jewelry box. Then they found a bathroom and linen closet. Here, Lop got a bit greedy and tried to grab a sheet from the linen closet, setting off a broom of animated attack. Its a new animated object from Curse of Strahd. Easier to hit and with fewer hit points than the armor, it hits a little more often if a little less hard. After some obligatory Sorcerer's Apprentice jokes, the broom was dispatched.

At that point it was getting late, so we called the session. The PCs were planning on taking an uneventful short rest, so they'll start the next session somewhat refreshed.

I'm excited, folks in internet land. Are you?