Dice, Camera, Action: Episode 13 - Curse of Strahd

Episode 13: Were Are We

You can watch this episode on Twitch here.

I was thinking. When Diath was resurrected, he had to make a special roll. Chris said he'd talk to Jared about it privately later. That certain thing has not come into play yet.

The Party

(Anna) Evelyn - Human Paladin of Lathander
(Nathan) Paultin - Human Bard 
(Holly) Strix - Tiefling Sorcerer 
(ProJared) Diath - Human Rogue

Last Time: Ireena died, the group battled Strahd, they ran away and Paultin remembered that Van Richten killed his parents. Also, Evelyn contracted lycanthropy. She's a werewolf! On the plus side, Evelyn summoned a skeleton horse named Mourning Glory.

It is night time in the creepy forest. The heroes are near the wagon that caused Paultin to have a flashback.

Evelyn tries to check her werewolf bite but she rolls bad. She knows nothing about lycanthropy. The group agrees that Evelyn spent her time in paladin school drawing horses.

The group wants to tie her to a tree. Evelyn doesn't want to do it. Evelyn has a quiet conversation with Strix. Strix confirms that they are friends, which of course makes Evelyn happy. Strix explains that Strahd is like Lathander - he's a Power. That's Planescape-speak for god/demon lord/etc.

Diath gets up in a tree. Strix sleeps in the wagon. So does Paultin. We confirm that Strix has the Strahd doll in her possession.

Strahd

Paultin hears a voice. It's Strahd. He says:

"You have nothing to fear from me. You are beloved to me. Do not be afraid. Join me. I would never hurt you. I owe a debt to your people. Forsake your friends. Join me." 

The voice is coming from the puppet. Ha! Wow. Strahd chose Paultin, apparently. I am wondering how everything is going to play out. Maybe Strahd wants Paultin as a consort and he wants to corrupt Evelyn. Strahd probably wants to destroy Strix for killing Ireena, and I guess Diath is the X factor.

Paultin swats it away. Strix named it Mr. Bumbleface. This screen cap doesn't do it justice, but here is Holly's drawing of the Strahd doll:

Outside, Evelyn starts feeling connected to nature. Chris asks her to make a wisdom save. She fails. Diath sees Evelyn - she's thrashing.

Evelyn can hear Diath's heart pounding. Diath wakes up the others. Strix tosses her driftglobe to cast light onto the scene.

The group urges Paultin to sing to her, hoping it will calm her down. He tries and rolls an 11. Not good! Evelyn's face shifts. Her skull is changing shape. She calls on Lathander for help.

Diath has a great idea - he asks Paultin for his wine. Nope... Paultin drank it all.

They have those potions from the Bonegrinder. Would those help? I just looked them up.. they won't help.

Diath wants to move the cart to pin her to the tree, but they fail their strength checks!

Evelyn turns into a werewolf! She does a werewolf voice. I think she should keep the accent, even when in evil werewolf form.

Paultin is going to cast sleep on her. He didn't level his character. Nate rolls a total of 39 hit points. Evelyn has 43. So close! For sleep to work, he has to roll more than her hit points on a bunch of d8's. That means that sleep has no effect.

Strix uses sorcery points to give herself a spell slot. She casts hold person. Anna points out that the last time Strix used this spell, somebody died. Anna rolls a saving throw.. natural 20!

Werewolf Evelyn can't get out of her bonds. Apparently her werewolf form is like a pomeranian. Anna even has a picture.

I really hope somebody draws werewolf Evelyn. The group wants to try another song. Paultin tries sleep again. This time, it works. I think the duration of sleep is one minute, not sure.

Suddenly, someone stabs Strix from behind! The blade goes right through her chest. Blood comes out of her mouth. The attacker is a 14-year-old boy! His eyes are wells of madness.

It's the evil son of the Burgomaster of Krezk! A few sessions back, we learned that the Abbot raised him from the dead, but the boy became evil. He slit his own father's throat.

Diath lunges at the kid. I think he's hated kids since he was put in the stocks and a troubled youth chucked stones at him.

Diath almost kills him with a single shot. The kid stabs Diath - Diath shouts "Uncanny Dodge!" and only takes four points.

Strix freezes the kid's heart with a ray of frost. He's dead. Diath looks him in the face and says, "You fucked up."

Diath loots the kid. He's got a black lock - a trinket. If you want to know what the deal with this lock is, check out the trinkets on page 210 of the Curse of Strahd book. I think it's the trinket listed as numbers 03-04.

Diath is worried that the kid is going to come back to life. Wow, that would be crazy if he rose up as a Strahd zombie!

Strix grabs Evelyn's axe, Lightfall, and chops the frozen kid into pieces.

The rest of the night is uneventful. Evelyn shifts back to normal. A few tears of blood trickle from her eyes. Yikes.

Evelyn wakes up and she sees Paultin is watching her. She does the Sleeping Beauty wake-up. Paultin is not impressed.

Paultin kicks Strix awake. Wow. Paultin is being a bit harsh. Is he thinking about joining Strahd?

Is there a full moon every night in Barovia? Is Evelyn going to turn into a werewolf every night from now on?

Evelyn's senses seem permanently enhanced. She can smell a stream nearby. Awesome. She calls them her "newfound, acute senses," which cracked me up. She pulled that phrase out of thin air.

She takes a bath in a stream and smells grapes. Aha, the Wizard of Wines is close. They should keep that cart and hook it up to their horses.

The group heads there. As they get close, they spot a man in a black cloak moving among the trees.

Strix and Diath debate how to approach this person. Evelyn shouts out "Hello, friend!" He flees but eventually the group meet him and his family.

He's Davian Martikoff. He owned the winery but the place has been attacked by crazy druids from Yester Hill and their plant creatures. The group assures him that they'll try to help. Chris does a great hoary voice for the old timer.

It should be interesting to see how Chris runs this. There's a billion bad guys here.

The heroes check out the vineyard. They see a number of creatures made of wood heading toward them - more than a dozen!

The creatures move slow and it's raining, so they are not particularly combustible. Strix senses that they're being controlled and smartly thinks that if they kill the druids, the blights might become inert.

The heroes go around the building and spot a druid through a window. The druids are in a room with a loading winch (area W16. page 178).

Diath jumps the druid, who has a special black staff. Half of the group is dangling from a rope on the winch.

Strix's new staff

Evelyn buries Lightfall in his skull. He's dead. The staff lands right at Strix's feet. That's where we stop!

Chris says that the Force Grey show starts next week. Cool! I wonder how long the episodes are. Chris says that the Acquisitions Inc and Force Grey shows all build up to the event at PAX West. I wonder if it will be one group pitted against the other or what?

Timestamps

• (27:00) The Strahd doll talks to Paultin
• (43:28) Evelyn turns into a werewolf
• (54:30) It's like Chris wants the show to end
• (1:21:37) Evelyn takes a bath and embraces nakedness

Overall

ProJared: I like Jared more each session. As he gets increasingly comfortable, we get to see what a fun guy he is.

The Blights: I was wondering how Chris would handle the Wizard of Wines. When I originally read it, I pictured it as this semi-suicidal encounter. It's not. The creatures move real slow, like zombies.

This was a fun episode. It didn't have the intensity of the last three shows, but what I liked about this one is that everyone was in a fun mood. Ever since the Roll20 special show, the group has been really funny and fun to watch.