Session recap of last night's insanity. (Very Long) Strahd took Ireena. My players are in complete despair. :D

Feel free to steal from this btw

For context: Vallaki is in the hands of Lady Wachter. Izek is the brother of a tiefling player. Ireena has been spending time with a man named Andrej (AKA Vasili von Holtz) The Vallakian Refugees have fled to Krezk.

Party Makeup:

• Ephimia. Gnome Death Cleric. Homebrew Deity of Undeath.
• Euphoria. Tiefling Eldritch Fighter, Sister of Izek, resurrected thrall of Death Cleric.
• Vinton. Halfling Trickster Rogue.
• Robin. Drow Assassin Rogue
• Aeon. Human Warlock.
• Murmur. Human Druid. Twin Sister of the Warlock
• Belanus. Wood Elf Monk. Follower of Homebrew Deity of Light and life. (new player just joined this session, unexpected but experienced player, so far so good)

What they have done so far: The party has completed The Winery, Van Richten's Tower, started on the werewolf den (collapsed the entrance), and have just finished Yester Hill. They were on their way back to Krezk to restock before heading to Berez. Strahd has openly visited the Abbot a day or two ago, and returned the party's horses they left in Vallaki at the time of the festival.

Now, for the session....

#Part 1

The party has just succeeded at Yester Hill, and returned to the winery, for the night. They befriended a Berserker who had a crush on the Druid, and left him in the care of the Martikovs.

On the way down the road, they spot the Wood Elf Monk, who is standing amongst the bodies of many wolves and a single White Werewolf that has been pinned to the ground by a silver bolt. This silver bolt has a note on it. The party has been tasked with finding and killing a white werewolf that has been killing Krezk's livestock; this werewolf was a former Hunter and has been opposing the werewolf pack, but is crazed and a lone wolf. They had originally gone to the werewolf den and killed a white werewolf, This was Bianca, Kiril's mate. They took her head, collapsed the entrance and returned to Krezk, only to be informed that the head they had was the wrong one.

So they've been on the lookout for a white werewolf with blue eyes. It just so happens that this one in the road, injured and pinned, is the one they are looking for. The party takes the wolf's head, and reads the note.

I am coming for you.

The monk joins the party, and they head out to Krezk.

#Part 2

Upon their return the party notices that Krezk's streets are unusually vacant. However there's a puppet show put on by Rictavio that is ending. The show is about the party, specifically how the tiefling landed the final blow on a troll that had attacked the refugees. Blinksy is there painting a doll. After the show, the party splits and talks with Blinksy and Rictavio.

Blinksy tells the Tiefling that they are a good person. That they saved his life, and the lives of all the children, and no matter what anyone says they are good person.

Rictavio, tells the Death Cleric. That the rest of the livestock has gone missing in their absence, and that he is planning to return to Vallaki, to see what the situation is, and to "pick up a few things". He informs them that the rest of the town has gathered by the sacred pool to talk about what to do.

The party heads to the pool, and sees the town gathered around, with The Burgomaster and Burgomistress, Ireena, Izek, and Andrej, standing apart from the crowd trying to talk with them.

As they approach they can hear the discussion. Said by multiple townsfolk. It's frantic and emotions are high, The death cleric, casts calm emotions on the crowed. 3/5th of them are calmed.

"Well something has to be done!" "It's those damn adventurers! If they didn't go off in search of of gold and quests, and focused on killing werewolves this wouldn't have happened! "And you! Burgomaster! You let all these refugees stay here! Our food stores were thin enough! And now with the livestock gone and extra mouths to feed, we'll all starve!" "I'm telling you it's the stablemaster's fault! Werewolves of not, he's supposed to keep watch! But he hasn't seen a thing? He's probably been letting them go the soft-hearted fool!" "And the Jester! He's so fat! How'd he get so fat? By eating MORE than his share! Must have been nice in Vallaki to have so much food, bet he's been stuffing his face since he got here!" "How charming. Two fools working together. The Simpleton frees the animals, and the Jester eats them!" "What about the abbot? He's got a garden up there!" "I've never trusted the Abbot ever since his arrival. And with Strahd visiting him, how do we know he's not working with the Devil?" "I'm not going up there to find out! We've all heard the noises, who knows what's waiting for us!"

Ireena tries to interrupt.

"Please, please! There's no point in arguing of finger pointing. I've thought of a few solutions, please hear me out!"

The remainder of the crowd quiets down to hear her.

"Vallaki is our closest neighbor. Surely they have plenty of food and can assist us." A refugee shouts out in reply. "Nay! That Wachter woman murdered my family! She put us out of our homes! I'd starve before asking for her help! Damn her!"

"Alright," Ireena continues, "What about the winery? The land down there is good, if we ask them to begin planing carrots and--and onions, that should help." The crowd quiets down. "Well...we need wine..." the crowd agrees in unison.

Ireena sighs. "What about the abbot and his garden?" "He supports Strahd!"

"We have extra bodies, we can send out hunters." "No one here is experienced enough! There'd be too many deaths!"

"The vistani can travel the mists, they can bring in livestock from beyond Barovia." "Aye, and we'd have to trade one of our arms and our daughters too!"

Ireena sighs one last time and hesitates. "I can only think of one other solution....We ask the Count." The crowd and players roar in protest at the idea.

One townsperson shouts at Ireena. "You know i've heard rumors about you! About how you're the Lord's next concubine! If you're not in league with him already, you'll be spreading your legs for him soon enough!"

At this point the druid makes her way through the crowd to punch that man. However Izek has a direct line to him and gets there first. The crowd backs away as he swings his glaive toward the man who falls over in terror. The blade stops just over his chest.

"Listen up!' Izek says, "Most of you know me as Vallaki's former Captain of the Guard. My reputation should proceed me. As far as I can see, Ireena is the only one offering solutions! Take them or leave them...you can all starve for all I care, but If I heard one more threat or insinuation against her..." He pulls his glaive across the man's chest cutting his shirt open and leaving a trickle of blood. "Then I will have your head decorate the walls. Now, all of you, go home, get your heads out of your arses, and start thinking of solutions."

The druid finally is able to get that punch in and breaks the man's nose.

#Part 3

The crowd lingers but has split into smaller groups. Some left to their homes.

Andrej, Ireena, and Izek, approach the players around the same time, splitting them into groups. (Reminder, Andrej is a Strahd Simulacrum)

I had the players who were not being talked to leave the room, to keep these conversations private.

Andrej takes the Warlock(Aeon), Trickster rogue(Vinton), and Assassin Rogue(Robin) aside.

"Izek is a problem. I’ve seen the way he looks at her. He’s becoming obsessed. His eyes linger. He claims he’s watching over her, protecting her, but as he stands outside of her door at night. I can’t help but wonder if he’ll be the one intruding into her room. There's a darkness in him and the look in his eyes is the same look that I saw when Strahd came and visited Ireena."

"I’m going to ask Ireena to marry me, (shows a beautiful gold ring etched like dragon scales with a large red ruby) but I’m afraid that should I attempt to do so, Izek will attempt to cut me down."

The three party members think for a moment, and discuss. The Assassin Rogue thinks poisoning Izek is the way to go. The Trickster Thief agrees but thinks they'd have to be sure the Tiefling, sister of Izek, doesn't find out. The Warlock thinks they should talk with Izek first, see if he'll ease up on Andrej and Ireena and if he cannot be convinced, then more direct measures may be called for. He requests a few days to think of the words to say.

[Exactly as I predicted. All according to plan.]

Ireena takes the Druid(Murmur) and Cleric(Ephimia) aside.

Ireena shows them her father's wedding ring. A black Onyx stone set into a gold wolf's paw. "I'm going to ask Andrej to marry me. Before I...no longer get that chance." Druid starts crying IRL

She turns to the Cleric. "I was hoping you could tell me about your religion. The Morning Lord and Mother Night have ever been my Gods but I wonder if I might find better favor with yours"

The Cleric, says her deity is the Goddess of Undeath, which is initially concerning to Ireena, but the Cleric explains something along the lines of "meaning finding eternal happiness." [I wish I could remember the exact words because it was really good, and put Ireena at ease.]

Ireena asks the Cleric to marry them. The Abbot was her first choice, but since Strahd visited him, that doesn't seem wise now. The Cleric agrees.

The druid had previously given Ireena a friendship bracelet, and Ireena promised a gift in return. She found a Grave Lotus, a black flower that is said to grow on the graves of souls who found peace. It is supposed to bring protection from the spirits of the dead. She gives it to the Druid.

Ireena also asks the Druid to create a wedding crown for her. The druid asks what kind of flowers, Ireena believes red is her color, and asks for roses, since she has been dying her hair black. Druid resumes crying.

The druid presents a letter to Ireena, an apology and confession. Claiming that they were a coward, that they considered handing her over to Strahd to save themselves, that they have been suspicious of anyone, but she believes that Ireena is the only genuinely good person in Barovia, and that Ireena was the only person who considered her a friend when she will never forget that. She also says that the undead are monsters and will lie and trick you to believing they are good, and she begs Ireena to remain strong. [This is GOOD. Ireena was leaning toward Strahd pretty heavily at this point. He was kind to her, he helped her, he had given her space and freedom, when the party did not. Specifically grabbing her and running away from Strahd, to which he replied "Unlike your friends I will not force you to make decisions that are not yours." and he left. This letter is undoing A LOT of Strahd's influence over her.]

Moving back to a previous subject, Ireena hesitates to bring it up, but mentions that she hasn't found a good time to ask Andrej, and feels like Izek is getting too close to her and he's making her uncomfortable. She is worried that Izek may hurt Andrej, and she doesn't want to see anyone hurt, even Izek. She also mentions "He says he’s been dreaming about me. He says that in these dreams he’s not a silent observer, but a participant in my life."

The druid and cleric immediately formulate a plan to have Ireena confront Izek and tell him to back off with them nearby in case he lashes out at anyone. They swear that they will handle the Izek problem without violence, unless he acts out first.

[Exactly as I predicted. All according to plan.]

Izek takes the fighter(Euphoria), and Monk(Belanus) aside.

"This place is a den of snakes." He says to his Sister, the Tiefling. "You saw how they all reacted. Someone will try to kill her one day. I'll be there to protect her of course, but some fool will try."

The tiefling nods. "Some fool."

Izek continues. "But Andrej is the one i'm keeping my eye on the most. They're spending too much time together...now she's free to choose who she spends time with, but...he's hiding something. He's always trying to get her alone, away from me....I don't like it."

"Sister....we have to kill Andrej. And get Ireena out of Krezk. Somewhere safe. I was thinking Argyvostholt. It's abandoned. I can defeat anything that may remain. Her and I can start a new life together..."

Blinksy approaches and hands Izek the Doll he was working on earlier. It's a doll of Ireena. "You said five gold before and five after."

Izek nods. "Beautiful work as always Blinsky..." (Previously Izek was commissioning Dolls of the Tiefling, but now he seems to be making them of Ireena) Izek hands Blinksy his money, and then hands him some more.

The monk asks, "Don't you think killing him is a little extreme?" "Well, maybe we don't have to kill him, but we can talk with him and get him to leave."

"Extreme measures are sometimes necessary. The Former Burgomaster of Vallaki taught me that."

The Monk and Fighter share glance. Izek, speaks up. "I think your friends are waiting..."

[Exactly as I predicted. All according to plan.]

#Part 4

The party runs a few errands in town. They pickup a wolf helmet from the Burgomaster, buy a few supplies, and some of them head to the wolf hunter's wife to present the werewolf head, of her husband.

The hunter's wife with her new baby is sad at his death, but is happy that his suffering is ended at last. But she asks where they found him. The timing doesn't match up. If he was out injured on the road, then what killed the livestock? The party promises to investigate soon. The druid asks to use the tanning rack outside and creates a wolf-fur scarf.

The Assassin rogue finds Celigal, the Fletcher/bowyer from Vallaki who is a nervous wreck and crushing hard on the Drow. He made some silver arrows for her in thanks for saving him.

Having completed their errands in town. They regroup and talk.

The Druid and Cleric bring up their conversation with Ireena and how Izek is making her uncomfortable. The Warlock panics as he's not prepared the words for this conversation.

The entire party starts arguing with each other. Each taking sides with the person who approached them. They all agree Ireena is in a bad situation and they want to help her, and most agree Izek is likely causing problems. The tielfing remains silent mostly, but mentions that it seems like something is driving a wedge between the group. The Trickster Rogue agrees, and says something about a fisherman's parable and how we need to look at who benefits. He mentions Andrej or Strahd. The Warlock dismisses the notion claiming "We can't blame everything that happens on Strahd. Sure it's a good bet, but not EVERYTHING can be his fault" and the party resumes arguing on what to do.

[ :) ]

The Trickster also mentions the dolls Izek showed them in his room. The ones of the tiefling. The Tiefling, makes no mention of the Ireena doll Izek just received. [probably a smart idea]

They all agree that the Tiefling, needs to talk to her brother, and tell him to back off Ireena. They feel responsible because they were the ones who asked Izek to watch Ireena in the first place. The warlock reinforces that Izek has only ever talked to the Tiefling and they need to be the one to do it, cause he'd most likely listen to her. The tiefling relents and tells them to let her handle it alone, but takes the monk.

The tiefling Fighter takes the Monk and heads out to find Izek. The rest of the party engages stealth mode and follows. which the monk and tiefling are aware of thanks to the monk's very high passive perception and low-average stealth rolls.

They find Izek and Ireena together at the sacred pool. The druid takes Ireena immediately by the arm and leads her away. As Izek asks "Where are you going?" The tiefling puts a hand on his chest and says "Take a walk with me."

Ireena, the Druid, and the assassin stay by the pool while The tiefling and monk take Izek down the road and into the woods a few feet. The warlock, Trickster, and Cleric hide nearby. But fail to hear the hushed conversation fully.

Izek wants to know what this is about, and keeps glancing over at Ireena, only to be met with glares from the druid.

The Fighter asks is Izek is developing feelings for Ireena. Izek lies, but they see through it.

Izek asks his sister if she's trying to get between them. The tiefling dodges the question and the monk tries to explain that Ireena doesn't feel the same about him and he needs to leave her alone. Izek says that she does like him. That she's shown affection for him in the past. Nothing physical, but the way she acts and speaks with him he knows she shares his feelings. They don't know if he's being truthful or not, but seems to be honest with his words.

Izek asks if Andrej put them up to this, and they divert the conversation trying to not to have Izek target Andrej. There's a lot of back and forth between them. Izek is far too stubborn to change his opinion now, but is looking to see who his enemies are.

Izek asks his sister directly if she's with him or not. Or if she's going to get between him and Ireena.

The monk tries to continue talking but Izek interrupts "I'm not talking to you."

The Fighter replies, "Yes, I am."

"Fine" And Izek walks away.

#Part 5

The party regroups at the pool in full panic mode!

"WE NEED TO FIND ANDREJ RIGHT NOW!"

The Fighter, Monk, Warlock, and Assassin head after Izek.

The Druid, Cleric, and Trickster ask Ireena where to find Andrej. Ireena mentions that they have been staying with the Burgomaster he's probably there.

The party realizes they're all heading to the same place. And start to Full dash to the Burgomaster's place.

The monk of course gets there WAY before everyone else. To find a duel just starting between Andrej and Izek. The monk hesitates. "Oh no they're dueling I can't interrupt honorable duels!" He looks at me with a realization that my warning of being an evil DM is completely correct and he shouts "Andrej get away from him!"

"I'm trying to get away! But it's a little difficult!"

"Izek! Stop this! Stand Down!"

A good intimidation roll later and Izek turns to the monk, and challenges him. They start to fight as well. Izek gets a hit in, and the monk returns with a stunning strike. While he's stunned, Andrej having disengaged previously, returns and crits on one of his attacks on Izek. The monk is upset by this.

The rest of the party catches up. And eldritch blast from the warlock and arrows from the assassin knock Izek down a good chunk of HP. The Fighter runs up and tackles her brother and pins him to the ground. The Cleric casts hold person on him too. And the monk goes to Andrej, restraining him. Andrej succeeds in his roll to resist, but allows the monk to grab him. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

"Give me your sword!" The monk says to Andrej who drops it on the floor. "I said I'm fine."

The party ties up Izek. And the fighter sits on his chest with Izek's hands pinned.

Seeing he's clearly outnumbered and unable to do much about his situation Izek asks "So what now?"

"Are you going to keep acting like a jackass?"

The druid approaches with Ireena and pushes her forward. Ireena tells Izek to leave her alone. "I want you to leave me and Andrej alone. This didn't have to happen, and I don't want anyone to get hurt. Please just leave us alone."

Izek gets silent about everything refusing to talk.

The Cleric casts zone of truth on the group. Everyone except the tiefling and Izek fail.

They ask Ireena if she has reciprocated Izek's affections, she denies it. They ask her if she loves Andrej, she confirms. They ask Andrej if he loves Ireena and he confirms he does. The Druid and Cleric take Ireena away, and the monk lets Andrej go over to them. The druid gives her the wolf pelt scarf and a crown of roses, and cleric encourages Ireena to ask Andrej to marry her.

She pulls out her wedding ring and Andrej laughs and pulls his out too. The Cleric marries them on the spot and says "you may now kiss the bride" Andrej and Ireena kiss.

The party's attention returns to Izek.

Izek exposes his throat. "If you let me go this isn't over. Do it. DO IT!"

The Fighter cuts Izek's demonic arm off at the shoulder and knocks him out.

They discuss taking him back to Vallaki. And ask the Burgomaster who is standing nearby if Izek could come back to Krezk. He says that he wont get inside, not on his own.

The monk with his 18 passive perception is the first to realize that Andrej is not Kissing Ireena. But instead sucking on her neck. And it's not Andrej--he's standing to the side.

"It's Strahd!" The monk's player says.

The druid player stands up. "Are you kidding me?!"

No

A portal opens up as Andrej melts into a puddle and Strahd starts to step through.

The Druid shapeshifts into a Tiger and charges Strahd the Portal closes behind her. She is now alon with Strahd, an unconscious Ireena, and Bucephalus in the Ethereal plane.

Session ends there.

[ :D ]

#Quotes from after the session

Druid: I wish to expire

Fighter: Yuuuuup

Druid: No amount of apologies will fix what we did to him.

Fighter: I'm pretty fucking upset about it :(

Cleric: we have to get the artifacts before we even think of going after Strahd

Fighter: I'm pretty sure I'm going to have my Character fall on a sword.

Assassin: We need to find a way to save the Druid

Fighter: so the one person who gave a fuck about me was just betrayed by me on multiple levels and i'm pretty fucking stoked about how i'm gonna figure out how to kill my character now

#What I was predicting originally and after thoughts

The conversations were going to happen, they'd do what the warlock wanted to do originally, and let it sit a few days until they figured out a plan of approach. They would then head to Berez. During that time the party would be distrustful of each other and possibly be less effective. until there was full blown infighting and possible some PvP the group would collapse and some would die to each other or Baba Lysaga, and maybe the dark powers would swoop in on a few of them. When the party tells Ireena that some of them died, and maybe they were the ones who did it. She would distance herself from them. Then Andrej would dispose of Izek, and simply reveal himself as Strahd to Ireena and she'd realize that he was the only one who actually cared and he's always been there for her, and she'd willingly go to Ravenloft.

I did not expect Strahd's plan to work immediately. The party Killed Izek for him. And Got Ireena to ask him to marriage. Then he just took her when she had agreed to marry him already. Now Strahd has everything he wants and the party is at their lowest point ever.

The druid and fighter were probably the most affected by this.

Druid starting off happy with Ireena's friendship and then wanting to help her deal with a "nice guy" then ripping that all away with the Strahd Reveal.

Then the fighter's desire to protect her brother, then her decision to stand against him, and then her realization that he was probably right all along and she cut off his arm.

Such a roller-coaster of emotions

[I love this module, and I love how the evil I do makes me feel.]