The Edda of 5th Edition

About a year ago, we were playing a game set in a fantasy 9th century Scandinavia using the Old School Hack Rules. (http://www.oldschoolhack.net) It was the first campaign in a return to RPGs from an almost ten year hiatus.  Starting with just three of us at a table on a birthday lark and blooming to a Roll20 game with a large and varied cast of players.  The game was a blast, with an epic story, great characters and plenty of brutal Dark Age violence.  Eventually we sort of reached the limits of the OSH system, and I was house ruling most of the game. Borrowing from AD&D 2nd ed Of Ships and the Sea, and inventing my own Mass Combat Rules.

(Here are the OSH Mass Combat Rules if you are interested: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6M_e2bSTRh5RFJtWWFMV3Z6UlE/view?usp=sharing )

This game rekindled interest in RPGs for my friends I that was dormant for far too long. Since then we have played almost every weekend for over a year. I became interested in the OSR, we began a new campaign with Swords and Wizardry and through play we crafted a set of “old school” D&D rules: (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6M_e2bSTRh5MHNTXzdsVU9MaW8/view?usp=sharing) These rules have seen us through my homebrew sword and sorcery game Shulim, as well as the I6 Ravenloft module.

During the course of this last year of play, WOTC released D&D 5th edition. I was on the fence about a new edition as I did not care for 3rd and 4th. After reading the favorable impressions in the OSR blogosphere however and receiving an Amazon gift card for my birthday I made the plunge and got the books. I like the new game enough to let go of my almost intuitive understanding of “old school” D&D and explore a new set of rules. Fortunately, I think 5th ed is close enough to pre 3rd ed D&D that my understanding of the “old” game will allow me to make proper rulings, hopefully this will make the transition a bit easier.

So what to do with 5th ed? Shulim is built from the ground up for old school D&D, 5th ed would probably work but the task of converting the huge amount of material we have created is a bit daunting. Also, I am not ready to fully switch to the new edition; our house rules and the old school in general are awesome.  What we need is a new campaign for 5th edition. Fortunately, the Viking game was never satisfactorily finished in a narrative sense, we just moved on because we outgrew the OSH system.  So 5th edition Vikings it is.

I will convert the old OSH characters to 5th ed, and we will return to the Saga of Godlauggr the Godi. Creating 5th ed versions of the characters should help me to better understand the system before we play, and the campaign will be a great test drive of the new rules.

I will write a synopsis of the Saga thus far and post it here, along with the 5th ed versions of the characters once they are created.

“An eleventh I know, if haply I lead

my old comrades out to war,

I sing 'neath the shields, and they fare forth mightily;

safe into battle,

safe out of battle,

and safe return from the strife.”

-Lee M. Hollander, trans. Poetic Edda

Ravenloft Final Play Report and Epilogue

The Final session of our I6 Ravenloft adventure began with a much reduced party recuperating in the dilapidated Church of Barovia. Anthaar Zweck once a strong Danish warrior has been diminished; his skin has greyed and he has developed a limp and stoop that mar his once proud bearing. The Dastur whose Clerical powers thus far have proved to be essential in the fight against darkness is visibly aged, his life force sucked from him by the Count. The priest once magnificent beard is ragged and grey. Ulrich the dashing swashbuckler is no longer the handsome youth who entered the cursed fog, a streak of white has appeared in his hair, and wrinkles besmirch his once handsome face.  Archbishop Andrei suffered the horrors of imprisonment and torture by Strahd’s vampire women. All but one of the company’s henchmen has been brutally slain, the only remaining follower is Abu the fearless Moor.  As the snow fell on another grey morning in the mist filled land of Barovia the party faced a decision.

They knew they could not last much longer in this land of life draining and death.  They had to make a choice, destroy the Count and release the land from the Vampires evil, or bring a willing Ireena to Strahd so that he may take her his eternal bride in darkness. Either decision would allow them to pass through the cursed fog that surrounds the land and be free of tainted Barovia once and for all.

While they pondered their decision, Ismark the Lesser berated them for returning to the village with the task of slaying the Vampire Lord unfinished. The son of the late Burgomaster accused them of misusing the relic, and demanded that if they did not intend to face Strahd they must return the relic to him. He warned Ireena against the party, and then stormed out of the church only to face a horde of Strahd zombies and immediately run back. The weary party once again took up rapier and matchlock to face the abominations of Barovia . After an opening salvo of fireballs, a fierce melee took place in the entryway of the church. The Strahd Zombies, on taking 5 points of damage break apart and independent pieces then act autonomously. Eventually a mass of dismembered arms, feet, heads , and other putrid bits all attack Mellin the Frenchman,  dropping him to -5 HP. He makes a save versus death at -5 and passes, falling unconscious at 0 HP rather than dying. A renewed effort from the party finishes off the remaining abominations, and the battle is won.

After recuperating from this fight the party decided to use Ireena as a key to allow passage through Castle Ravenloft without being attacked by Strahd or his minions. With the goal of recovering the weapon which was foretold to be in the Counts Tomb, that they know lies in the lowest depths of the castle. Before they undertook this last desperate gamble however, they wanted to be certain they could rely on the holy light generated by the Relic of St. Ravenloft. Since it was used but the day before, they consulted with Father Donavitch. The Priest told them the tale of Prince Aripeti son of a local Gepid King, who defied the pagan witches of the Gepids and converted to Christianity in the 9th century. For his conversion Aripert was locked in the tower of Castle Ravenloft and tortured until death. Father Donavitch speculates that if prayers were made in the tower over the holy thigh bone its powers may be renewed. The party had their plan, and they set off for the castle once again.

They headed west across the dismal snowy lands and by mid afternoon they were on the road ascending the Balinok Mountains.  Emerging from the trees, they came to a curve in the path along a cliff; standing before them was a Ghost. Everyone in the party except the Clerics (who are immune) and Nicolo the Sorcerer failed their save versus fear and aged ten years as they ran away screaming. This left the three facing a Ghost. Archbishop Andrei attempted to turn and failed, Nicolo threw a lightning bolt that passed through the apparition without harming it, and The Dastur bravely charged with his Holy Bull Mace.  Nicolo was attacked by the Ghost Magic Jar spell, he felt his soul being ripped from his body, but his strength of will wrenched it back as he resisted the spell. Then the Ghost partially manifested in the material plane, forming vicious black talons on its arms as it moved forward to attack. The Priest and Wizard bravely stood and fought, Nicolo drew his magic dagger and the clerics their holy weapons. After a few rounds of missing the semi corporal ghost, the creature successfully struck Nicolo with its cold black claws. The Wizard aged thirty years, immediately becoming an old, old man of 90. At this point, the bravery appeared suicidal, and the three of them retreated to rejoin the rest of the party who had not stopped running the entire time.

Night began to fall as the company regrouped. They camped near the road in the woods at the foot of the mountains. With a Ghost blocking the path to the Castle, and the wizard now a doddering old codger, the situation seemed grim. Perhaps no longer resolved to be hero’s or perhaps just hedging their bets, Nicolo and Andrei attempted to convince Ireena that it was her duty to sacrifice herself to the Count in order to remove the curse from the land. Her spirit broke as she accepted her fate and she gave herself over to the party to be delivered to the vampire. A single wolf watched the drama from outside the campfire, and when Ireena accepted her doom, it transformed into a vampire woman and then a bat that flew off to deliver the news to the castle.

It wasn't long before the Count’s black carriage arrived with four vampire maidens to escort the bridal party to Strahd waiting in the chapel of Ravenloft.

At this point, I thought the players were genuinely going to give Ireena up, accepting the deal Strahd offered to allow them to leave if they could convince her to marry him. I prepared a suitable dowry of the castles treasures for Ulrich, Zweck and Nicolo, would have stripped the Clerics of their powers, and made Mellin the new Lord of Ravenloft. As is usual, they ended up acting contrary to my expectations…

Once they arrived at Castle Ravenloft and headed for the chapel the players stopped in the grand entry, and demanded that Ireena be allowed to pray and purify herself before she be married.  The Vampire maidens seemed unsure, and one left to consult her master.  It was at this moment that the party put part one of their plan into action. Ulrich the Thief who had previously been made invisible, struck off alone to descend into the lowest level of Castle Ravenloft and retrieve the Sunsword from the tomb of Strahd. At the base of the stairs, I rolled a random encounter indicating a Groaning Spirit. Since the Thief was invisible, I ruled he could pass by undetected with a move silently roll. He failed. The Groaning Spirit keened, Ulrich failed a save versus death, and died alone in the darkness of Castle Ravenloft.

This module is FULL of saves versus death. We made at least three per session. This was the only one that a player failed. Ulrich’s player was understandably upset. On the other hand, he did go off by himself in one of the nastiest dungeons in all of D&D.

While the Thief sneaked off to his doom, Strahd himself arrived to decide if his future wife might pray before she is taken into darkness. He used the previously charmed Mellin to convince her otherwise, not wanting to personally countermand the object of his obsessions. Mellin failed to convince Ireena of the futility of prayer. Strahd then Charmed The Dastur , and instructed him to forsake his god Ahura Mazda in front of Ireena. The Dastur did so, and lost his spell casting and turning abilities. Still not convinced in the meaninglessness of her faith, (and also aware of the party’s plan,) Ireena insisted that she be allowed one last prayer and that she be able to do it where she wishes not in the despoiled chapel. Strahd, his judgment and power diminished at the thought of finally attaining the object of his long and tortured desires, consented and allowed the party to escort his future bride to the tower for prayer.

They climbed the tower towards the chamber where St. Ravenloft was martyred. I rolled a random encounter, and fortunately it indicated a Friendly Spirit. The Dastur asked the spirit if he could regain his faith, and the spirit told him he must have Atonement cast upon him by another Zorastrian.  The party arrived at St Ravenlofts chamber, prayed over the Relic and restored power to the holy thigh bone.  Now armed with the means to face the Count, they escorted Ireena to the chapel and her dark wedding.

The Count and his four vampire maidens awaited the bride in the chapel, two maidens flanking the party on either side at short range and Strahd himself standing before the altar at long range.  The Count offered a gilded chest of treasures as dowry, pleased that the party had brought to him the reincarnation of the woman for which he suffered the long and terrible curse. Archbishop Andrei immediately produced the Relic of St. Ravenloft which burst into Holy Fire as bright as the sun for 1d10 rounds. The Priest rolled a 4 stunning all the vampires for four combat rounds. The players needed to hit 22 on an attack roll to stake a stunned vampire, and got a +4 to attack a stunned foe. Nicolo cast Feeblemind on the Count, but the Vampire made his save. The Dragon breathed fire at Strahd while The Dastur, Mellin, and Abu (now controlled by Ulrich’s player) advanced from long to short range.

On the next turn, Nicolo threw a lightning bolt and further damaged the Count. Now at short range, Abu the Moor charged, as he did so he raised his wooden stake high and screamed in Berber that God is Great.  Ulrich’s player rolled the attack, and successfully staked Count Strahd von Zarovitch ending the Counts cursed existence with a flash of light as the first vampire crumbled to dust.  The vampire maidens were released from their masters will, but still stunned. Mellin physically destroyed two with fireballs their gaseous forms slinking into the darkness, Andrei staked another and the fourth became gaseous and fled when the light of the Relic faded.

The Dastur regain his faith, the welcome rays of the sun filled the chapel, the fog lifted from the borders of Barovia , and the players were free.

Strahd died at the hands of the last henchmen via dice rolled by the only player who lost a character.

Perfect.

Ravenloft Epilogue

I have never really run D&D modules. I generally prefer a more free form associative style of play. I dangle a setting appropriate hook and allow the players actions and the consequences of those actions to create interesting story elements that I tie together in a quasi-random sort of way. Since I’ve become more interested in “Old School” D&D I have encountered a shared experience amongst players, a sort of common language of the classic modules that I do not have firsthand knowledge of. So I decided to run some modules.  As a player with this same group, I just finished B2 The Keep On The Borderlands, and now we have I6 Ravenloft under our belts.

I don’t think I will be running more modules anytime soon.

Ravenloft was a doom filled, anxiety ridden, level draining slog with a silly vampire love story and a complicated dungeon.

I think we would have had more fun just letting these characters loose in the 16th century Mediterranean, rather than Barovia. The game had its moments, but the central mechanic became: Can you finish this module with enough XP to be able to do so.

Seriously, level drain is the worst thing that can ever happen to a character. I honestly believe my players would rather have a character die than be level drained.

This mechanic, a race against the XP drain clock to finish the game is intellectually interesting but in actual play it sucks.

I’m looking forward to getting back to sandbox-ish swords and sorcery.

Or maybe Gamma World.

Ravenloft Play Report 6

We started the game with the party resting in the maids’ chambers of Castle Ravenloft, where they slew the female vampires in the previous session.  While the Company tended to weapons, prayed, and studied spells, they found a surprise under one of the rotting beds in the chamber.  

On his way to Rome on a mission for the Metropolitan of Moscow , Bishop Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky  had been lured into Barovia weeks ago, tempted and captured by the she-vampires. They tormented him in unspeakable ways and kept him chained to the bed.  Bishop Bolkonsky expressed his gratitude to the party for slaying his captors and saving his mortal body. After making sure he wasn't a vampire himself the party accepted the Russian into their ranks glad to have another Cleric.

The Dastur made holy wafers by Blessing holy dron bread, he then removed the severed heads of the she-vampires from his bag of holding and stuffed their whispering mouths with the sacrament. The heads crumbled to dust.

The party discussed at some length if they should leave the castle or press on to the crypts, and finally decided to move on to the crypts.

At this point Mellins player predicted at least three saving throws versus death for the night.

They moved south into through the throne room and were attacked by eight giant spiders. Mellin threw a fireball, slaying two and wounding the rest, the surviving spiders attacked. The recently freed and newly joined Bishop Bolkonsky was struck by a spider in his first round of combat but succeeded in his saving throw versus death. Banu, the fearless Moor was not so lucky, and died in agony from spider poison. After the battle, the remaining Moors beseech their masters to place Banu in the bag of holding for later burial, and the Dastur consented.  

The party then headed downstairs to the grand landing on the main floor of the Castle. They came to the great entry hall , spotting motionless gargoyles surrounding the room and heard dramatic organ music coming from further south. They sent Ulrich the Thief to investigate.

The thief reached the dining hall, the door was ajar and an inviting feast was spread out on a well-lit table in the center of the room. The Count sat at an organ, playing with melancholic virtuosity.  With the path east shrouded in darkness, the thief returned to the party.

While they discussed what course of action to take I rolled a random encounter and the result was the Count himself.

The Vampire Lord approached the players with a veneer of sophistication and civility, his gold monocle glinting in the torchlight. We rolled initiative, they party won and chose to parley. The Count asked if they had considered his proposal to convince Ireena Kolyana to join him and the party confirmed they would do so.  Glad they had accepted the proposition, he asked them to bring Ireena to the castle by sundown tomorrow. They party asked for more time, but the Count stated that if the task was going to be done at all, it would be done in the time allotted. They then asked the vampire for directions to exit the castle, and he told them to take the door to the west. He then bid them goodnight and returned to his music.

The party opened the door to the west and came to the entry of the castle, dragons statues perched around the room came to life and suddenly the party was facing four young red dragons.

Wasting no time, the Magic users fired the big guns, Bishop Andrei pointed at a wyrm and called on Jesus to strike it dead casting Finger of Death, and the creature died.  The Dastur recognizing that some magic must have kept the creatures stone cast Dispel Evil and his hunch proved correct as a dragon reverted to a statue.  Niccolo, the wily Venetian seeing opportunity rather than adversity cast Charm Monster and gained a powerful new ally. Ulrich the Thief donned the hood of his Cloak of Elvenkind and scaled the wall, preparing for a dramatic overhead backstab. Everyone else made a melee attack.

The remaining dragon, now alone and facing a roomful of foes, breathed fire for damage equivalent to its HP, in this case 48. The dragon fire slew a Yakub, leader of the Moors and two Hadjuks as well as Mellin, the Frenchman. While I’m sure perusing his character sheet to see what could be looted from the charred corpse, someone mentions how ironic it is that the Frenchman had a potion of fire resistance in his belt. I rolled 1-2 on a d6 to see if it was broken by the breath attack, rolled a 2, and voila the Frenchman was saved by his forgotten potion. The remaining Hadjuks then failed a morale check and ran into the adjacent room where the gargoyles came alive and devoured them, the party hearing their screams from the other room decided to let them die.

The Dastur finished the fight with another Dispel Evil the remaining dragon returning to stone form. Ulrich express his displeasure that he didn't get execute his flying backstab.  

The party took a few moments to curse the Count for directing them towards the dragons, and used up the rest of their healing magic. Niccolo, examined  his new thrall  and discovered the dragons wings had been clipped and most of its brain crudely lobotomized.

Passing through the main entrance they arrived outside the castle in the frigid darkness.  The party decided to use magics and potions to fly to the village rather than risk the hike back through the mountains at night. In route they are attacked by a group of eight wraiths.

The Frenchman’s player bemoans that he forgot his wraith whistle.

The Clerics turn three of the fearsome undead, and then a fierce midair melee ensues.

Nicolo the Warlock still has a fireball up his sleeve, and I tell him due to the chaotic nature of midair combat we will use the firing into melee rules to see if the fireball hits an ally. (Roll 1d20, if roll equals number of allies in melee or less, one of them is hit to be determined randomly.) A discussion took place about the risk of level drain versus the risk of a friendly fireball, and the players determined the fireball was the best course of action. The warlock makes his d20 roll and destroys the wraiths, but also hits an ally who makes his save and survives.

After the wraith patrol, the party descends on the village in the darkness. The town square is full of shambling zombies that are immediately destroyed by the clerics.

The party heads for the Church. I rolled the % chance that the Count knows their whereabouts and the 1d3 to determine his course of action, resulting in the vampire launching an attack. Multiple mirrored images of Strahd appeared in the deserted village street before the party.  

Ulrich the thief snuck off to position for a backstab, Anthaar Zweck bravely attacked with his misericorde and destroyed one of the mirror images. The wizard made himself invisible and hid in order to command his dragon thrall , the clerics attack with their holy weapons, and Mellin after an ineffectual illusion attempted not to die.

The count then cast Suggestion and commanded everyone but Zweck to flee, Mellin and Dastur failed their saving throws and ran away, the Count made an opportunity attack as they ran and drained the Dastur of two levels.

Zweck continued valiantly hacking away while the vampire’s wounds healed before his eyes, once in position the thief frustratingly missed his backstab, the count attempted to Charm Zweck but the Dane made his save.

After failing his attempt to Charm the Dane, Strahd then became a green mist and dissipated into the night.

Alone in the cold streets of the village, the party limped off to the Sanctuary of the Church. Father Donavich was pleased to meet Bishop Andrei and gave him the Flask of the Russian Saints, a relic with healing properties.

We ended the game with a generous XP award (four red dragons plus wraiths!) and several questions:

If the count wants to deal with the party, why does he continue to assault them?

Will the party persuade Ireena to join the Count in darkness?

If they fail will they resort to less than honorable means of bringing her to Strahd?

How many more players will be level drained before they start killing themselves?

We will find the answer to all this and more on the next chilling episode of Ravenloft!

Ravenloft Play Report 5

I spent the week thinking I was going to play Chimalpopoca an Olman(Aztec) Warrior with an identity crisis in a 2nd Ed Greyhawk game only to learn on Friday night that the game was canceled. We weren't going to let a d&d session go to waste so:

Surprise Ravenloft!

The party started the session in the servants’ quarters on the ground floor of Castle Ravenloft with the choice of taking stairs up or down.

The party was searching for the Tome of Strahd which Madam Eva’s cards foretold to be in a throne room, and a holy weapon which is to be found in the crypts. Avoiding vampire infested crypts for now, they decided the throne must be above ground and headed up the stairs.

We decided on a marching order, Zweck the Champion taking point with the nervous Hadjuks immediately behind him, Ulrich the Thief hiding behind the warriors, the spell casters in the middle, and Mellin with the Moors guarding the rear.  Ascending the stairs the party found another set of servant’s quarters full of broken furniture and rubbish as well as a spike protruding from the west wall with a stone basin below it. In true old school henchman abuse fashion, rather than attempt to activate the mechanism himself Ulrich ordered one of the brave Moors to cut himself on the spike and bleed into the basin. Abu passed his morale check and willingly shed his blood for the company, revealing a hidden ladder climbing up into the darkness. With no other obvious routes the party climbed the ladder, Zweck taking the lead.

The Dane emerged on stairs circling the periphery of a hollow tower, darkness for a hundred feet below, and a hundred feet above a red light, throbbing rhythmically. Halberds decorated the walls, and almost immediately they came to life attacking Zweck and the Hadjuks. The warriors held off the animated polearms long enough for the rest of the party to climb the ladder and enter the tower. Once everyone was on the stairs the blood red light above flared revealing a massive heart throbbing with malice, the tower began to shake and rotate causing those on the stairs to lose balance. I called for a 4d6 DEX check, failure resulting in a 100 foot (9d6) fall. Miraculously everyone made the check. Zweck and the Hadjuks bravely chose to remain standing and faced the remaining halberds in order to allow the rest of the party to crawl up the stairs on hands and needs towards the safety of a landing. The Frenchman would have no crawling however; he took up a broken halberd and threw himself from the stairs into the empty middle of the tower, using his boots of levitation to propel himself up towards the malevolent heart.

While the Frenchmen flew towards the towers heart, halberd point aimed for a death blow, Zweck and the Hadjuks made another DEX check, Zweck failed. Mihail the Albanian attempted to grab the Dane before he fell a hundred feet to the stone floor below, I rolled 1d6 with the Hadjuk grabbing him on a 1-2, and rolled a 2. I then rolled a 3d6 STR check to see if the Hadjuk could hold the Dane, and succeeded. Anthaar Zweck cheated death again, although he did drop his rapier and buckler into the darkness below.

By now the rest of the party had reached the safety of the landing. Mellin’s flying charge struck home, and he buried the halberd into the throbbing red heart of the tower. The monstrous organ exploded in a shower of gore, soiling the flying Frenchman but stilling the tower and ending the immediate threat. Everyone regrouped at the landing, Anthaar , who fights in the Spanish Style  preparing to descend into the darkness to retrieve his sword and buckler. Mellin offered to fly down and pick up the rapier, and when he reached the bottom of the tower I rolled a wandering monster check, indicating an encounter, rolling on the encounter table we discovered that a Banshee was waiting in the darkness below. Alone with the hideous female specter, Mellin lost initiative and the Banshee wailed with its deadly keen. The Frenchman made his save versus death, scooped up the Danes weapons and quickly fled, flying back up to the landing.

The landing was at the next level of the Castle, and the party had a choice of directions.

Hearing soft moaning coming from the corridor to the west, they decided to investigate. The corridor had alcoves on either side containing statues with the spirits of the nobles of Ravenloft trapped inside and voicing their woe at the fallen state of the family and castle. Nicolo the Warlock questioned the statues, and one of them gave helpful advice when asked where the throne was located, indicating that if they took the stairs at the end of the corridor down to the next level they would find it.

At the base of the stair, they found another corridor. To the left a spike and basin, to the right a hallway with a door on the east wall, and at the end of the hallway the back of a secret door. They activated the basin and found a passage to the archer towers at the front of the castle. Returning to the hallway they hear moans coming from behind the door to the east. Ulrich the always wary Thief, argued that the room was a trap and that they should ignore the sounds and move on. The party listened to his advice and inspected the back of the secret door at the end of the hallway. With no visible means to open the door, Nicolo cast Knock and all doors within sixty feet open. This of course opened the door to the east room, inside of which was the disturbing tableaux of two dark haired female vampires feeding on a tawny haired young woman, she saw the party and pitifully sobbed for help.

We rolled initiative; the vampires won and with preternatural speed skittered on all fours across the room to attack Anthaar Zweck in the doorway. The first vampire missed, but the second rends Zweck with her claws.

In the past I have never used level drain. Even in my OD&D game I favor CON loss rather than level drain. Part of the particular charm of I6 however is the ample opportunity for this to happen.  Quite frankly the module is not as scary without the potential to lose XP. That being said, I guess I’m a softy, and I let Anthaar make a saving throw to avoid losing two levels.  

He failed.

Zweck’s life is drained away from him by one of the beautiful vampires, he goes from a vigorous level 7 Champion, to a fifth level Swashbuckler in one attack roll. The party knows facing vampires is serious business, and on their turn The Dastur wasted no time in revealing the holy thigh bone, the Relic of Saint Ravenloft. The saint’s remains burst into holy flame burning bright as the sun for 1d10 rounds. The Cleric rolled a 5, the vampires were stunned. It then became a simple matter for Zweck to have his revenge by staking the creatures, and Ulrich to remove their heads. With no holy wafers on hand, the heads were tossed into The Dasturs bag of holding.

Disoriented by the blazing light, the tawny haired girl begged for help, Nicolo asked the Cleric to avert the light of the relic so he could cast Detect Evil and make sure she was not an innocent. When the cleric did so, she gazed into the Persians eyes and attempted to charm him, but he made his save. The Warlocks spell showed she was evil, so the Cleric redirected the light of god at the now confirmed vampire, and she too fell to the stake. A search of the vampires’ chambers revealed a considerable treasure (type F) in jewelry, and a Trident of Fish Command.

With all the doors within 60 feet magically opened and the once per week ability of the relic to shine forth with sunlight spent, the party decided it was time for the thief to do his job. Nicolo cast Invisibility on him and Ulrich snuck away to scout ahead. He entered a huge chamber just south of the party’s position. The red setting sun just showing under black clouds through an enormous window to the west. At the south end of the room on a raised dais stood a throne turned so its back was to the room. Ulrich could hear the sound of fingers drumming on the stone arm of the throne and chose to return to the party and report.

While they discussed which course to take, they heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Ulrich certain it was the Count himself, quickly shut the door.

Ulrich was correct.

From the other side of the door, the Count welcomed the adventurers to his Castle apologizing for any rude behavior on the part of its denizens. He then offered them a deal. Convince Ireena Kolyana to willingly give herself to him, and he would allow the party to depart from Barovia. He then bid them good night and departed, his steps echoing in the corridor.

The Throne Room now empty and the Thief still invisible, Ulich returned and discovered the Tome of Strahd, an ancient book written in the Vampires own cypher. At this point the party was uncertain what direction to take, some arguing for a retreat from the castle to allow the Relic to recharge, other for pressing on to the tomb to find the weapon Madam Eva spoke of. They decided to hole up in the Vampire Maidens chamber to pray and study spells as well as attempt to decipher the Tome. While the party rested, wights attacked materializing through the walls. The Cleric made quick work of the undead, and we called it a night.

I awarded a considerable sum of XP for the tower fight, three vampires, four wights and 35K in treasure. This leveled Ulrich to Master Thief, Zweck back to Myrmidon (6th level)  and brought the henchmen all up one level.

Looking forward to what the players decide to do next week!