Curse of Strahd: Weeks 21-24

Hi all,

Over the last few weeks I’ve been posting some warts-and-all email summaries of the Curse of Strahd campaign I ran in 2017. This is the first campaign I started sending summaries to players by email after each game (I was a bit lazy prior to that).

Some of the summaries may be dull, some may be amusing; some are written in present tense, some in past tense – these are unedited emails, so please forgive their somewhat chaotic nature and poor sentence structure/grammar.

If you’re a D&D fan you may enjoy them, but I warn you: I’m not Mathew Mercer and this is not Twitch.

Game on!

Steve 🙂

Week 21

This week, in thrilling Barovia, where the mists are thick and the people are thicker…

– poison snake-filled zombies in the swamp!

– the sun sword!

– off to the amber temple!

Along the way:

– William’s dragonborn paladin is raised from the dead! His brother was waiting patiently in the wings to make an appearance, but not this time.

– “I really want that wedding dress,” says Isaac’s tiefling Warlock.

– Dan’s halfling Monk is polite (gasp!) to the burgomaster ghost who hides behind rocks.

– Natasha’s gnome Druid takes a ride on a runaway wagon.

– Esmeralda D’avenir returns from the dead to take her revenge on the tiefling who killed her and ends up making friends with her in T-Rex form.

– Mark’s rocking Goliath barbarian rocks everybody’s world by showing what a good fighter he is (and looking down his nose at all those weaklings!).

– The epic cliff side battle with 2 x demon Vrocks (featuring a butt-naked paladin) is suspended by the outrageous magics of….closing time.

Week 22

Tsolenka Pass

– Walked through that magical fire at the gate house Mark’s Goliath Barbarian! Yeah, give it to the man. That showed him. 33 HP of damage. Oh, not to be outdone, William’s Dragonborn Paladin? You too. Oh, you’re fire resistant. Okay, no worries.

– Natasha’s Gnome Druid turned into a spider and walked over that gate. Cool.

– Dan’s Halfling monk, who can apparently do almost anything, ran over the gate house lol.

– Big goat attack. Dead goat. 1 round. Say no more. Food for supper.

– ”I will scrape the gold plate off those big statues in the freezing cold while everyone is taking a short rest,” said Dan’s Monk. One hour later, 20 GP worth. Awesome!

The Amber Temple

– “Where did they get all that amber?” said Natasha. “…From the amber dimension…look, it’s a fantasy game!” replied Steve, clutching at straws (or amber, in this case). “How boring, if everything is amber there,” mused William.

– The Dusk Elf Wizard NPC stayed out of everything. “I’m just here for the ride,” he said.

– In through the side entrance, a little fissure. Dan’s monk played havoc with the berserkers and the gladiator.

– Mark’s Barbarian and William’s Paladin competed joyfully for kills, finishing off the dire wolf and most of the berserkers.

– Nice use of spells there, Natasha’s druid. Greater invisibility on the monk, indeed!

– Flame skulls? ”Who cares,” says Mark’s Barbarian.

More amber-colored excitement next week!

Week 23

Craziness ensured in rocking Barovia this week. Highlights:

– The Amber Temple, clad floor to ceiling in amber as part of Barovia’s used amber going-out-of-business sale, has a big statue, that the party studiously avoided (perhaps Steve’s magnificently drawn battle map put them off…).

– James Vilnius Kirk, hiding in the lecture theatre, coward and simpleton. “I…have boldly…gone…where no man…has gone…before. I came, I saw…and was…conquered. “

– Fighting a big Amber Golem. Sort of like a stone golem…except amber. 

– Battling three-eyed Ghasts who could spider climb! 

– Touching amber sarcophagus and accepting dark gifts:

         * William’s Paladin can now spider climb but has a useless third eye in his forehead.  

         * Dan’s female Monk can now cast three lightning bolts and will reincarnate three times when dying. Also higher charisma. No teeth and half her face doesn’t work (DISADV on persuasion attempts!). Now, she’s evil, too.

– Fighting burning Flameskulls of fiery flaming death! Natasha’s Gnome bites the dust. All saved by the Paladin!

– Mark’s Barbarian sorely confused by the Paladin’s contrariness. “Where’s something to hit?”  

– The ever-loving NPCs, James V Kirk and the brother Karamazov, both wizards, standing around and commenting on how the battles are going. 

– Time to recover Kirk’s old dead boss’s body (and his spellbook…)

Week 24

This week in Barovia:

– Still hanging out in the Amber Temple.

– More flame skulls to fry!

– Natasha’s Druid attunes to a wand and gains a flaw (her first magic item!). Can’t say no anymore and so takes off to touch some sarcophagi.

– On the way, helps out Dan’s Monk, William’s Paladin, Mark’s Barbarian, James’s Wizard and Steve’s Wizard take on an Arcanoloth. And win. Yay, team!

– Jame’s crazy sheet-mending half orc fighter/wizard is back again, after a brief spell away (about 4 weeks or so?).

– Steve’s Malificent Wizard is back again, after a much longer break. He’s got his priorities right and dropped uni so he can play D&D. A man after my own heart!

– Kalashnikov, the party’s NPC dusk elf wizard knows when there’s too many wizards. He chooses to sit out all the battles (so what’s new).

– New NPC wizard recruit James Vilnius Kirk, absconded during the night (must have known too many wizards spoil the broth).

– Natasha’s Druid ends up with a bad case of dropsy, higher charisma and the ability to cast 3 lightning bolts, but turns evil and gets an eye in the back of the head.

– Dan’s monk tries to cover up her lack of teeth and half useless face with translucent amber! Um, you can see through it, Dan…

– In the treasure room, fighting an invisible amber golem! All too easy for this party of all stars.

Next Time: Does this Amber Temple ever end?! 

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