Curse of Strahd - S5E13 & S5E14 (54 & 55) - Gingerbread Windmills, don't you mind?

 

It's late afternoon, and our heroes have just reconsecrated the shrine to the Huntress on Yesterhill. Now they need to head back to Vallaki to prepare to reconsecrate the final shrine to the Fanes.

Our dramatis personae:

Ser Adon de Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Paladin, from a knightly background, with two human retainers and a priest), played by Paul (dr_mitch). Lawful Good. Married to Ser Alys.

Kelwarin (Kel) (a half-elf Sorceror flush with the powers of wild magic, an outlander), played by Graham (First Age). Chaotic Good.

Gaddock Teeg (a halfling wizard and former prizefighter), played by Alex (Doggetay), Neutral Good

Ser Alys de Adon-Rouge of House Starbright (a half-orc Fighter with a soldier background, currently the leader of the town militia of Daggerford), played by Tom (Guvnor). Lawful Neutral. Imagine a slightly greener take on Grace Jones... Married to Ser Adon. 

also featuring: 

Ireena Kolyana (a human warrior, daughter of the Burgomaster of Barovia, Twice-Bitten reincarnation of Strahd's unrequited love, Tatyana) - upgraded as a sidekick.

and introducing:

Muriel Vinshaw (a member of the Keepers of the Feather, travelling with the party to repay them for rescuing her),  a wereraven upgraded to a sidekick (yes, I know that breaks rules as she started at CR2 but frankly I don't care)!

All characters & sidekicks are level 9. 

__

20th December, late afternoon.

The party made best speed along the road from Yesterhill towards Vallaki, trying to be there before the night fell. As the woods surrounded the road, Kelwarin kept a burning torch and used fire bolts to discourage the wolves that were tracking them. The situation had definitely changed; whereas Strahd's domain had been quiescent since their dinner with him, the reconsecration of the Fanes seemed to have started to trigger a response.

They reached the crossroads where they had buried Baba Lysaga's heart, and thankfully it seemed to be undisturbed. Gaddock had feared that the Count may have found what happened to his nursemaid and recovered her heart as a step towards bringing her back to life. However, as he checked the ground to see if it had been disturbed, he definitely felt like he was being watched. It was the hairs at the back of his neck; something was very wrong.

The snow was blowing around; Ser Adon, grimly determined, pushed on. Beside him, Ser Alys established a marching rhythm, using an old military song which she'd learnt in her basic training.

A group of the Mountain Folk came out of the woods, and warned the party that the wolves were running, hunting the enemies of the Dark Lord. Ser Alys thanked them for their advice, and kept the rhythm taught so the group reached the town perhaps an hour after night had fallen.

They were challenged by a very nervous guard, but his fears were soon allayed. He raised concerns that the solstice was upon them and the tithe due, but Ser Adon calmed him, reminding the soldier that the Morning Lord would protect them from the darkness. As would the party. The guard quickly gave them news; Lady and Lord Wachter had been organising the town for defence and trying to keep everyone's spirits up. Reisen Munin rode up from the townhouse and reported in further; increased numbers of bats had been seen, coming out of Castle Ravenloft at night and looking like they were trying to find something or someone. Many wolves had been seen, and a townsperson had been attacked when they'd gone to fish at the Lake. Everyone was very nervous.

21st December, the Solstice

The group had headed straight back to the Town Hall, and retired to bed, exhausted after their travails. The next morning, they had breakfast at the Blue Water Inn. They decided that the best way forward was to reconsecrate the Fane at the Old Bonegrinder Mill, and to sort out Roscoe's funeral afterwards. The key was to strike quickly and reduce the vampire lord's power before he could act. Meanwhile, they could gather allies for a final assault on the Castle.

They asked Muriel Vinshaw to take a message to the Old Raven, Dimitri Martikov, to call in the offer of alliance against Strahd. After their meal, they went to check on Jeny and Laura. Both were restored to full health and youth; both flirted outrageously with Gaddock who somehow managed to resist the charms and attentions of both of them.

At perhaps nine in the morning, they started out towards the Old Mill. As they travelled along the Old Svalich Road, Kelwarin spotted a box dropped on the floor. It contained a display of moths, all with skull markings on their wings. There was no clue how it had got there. They climbed up the mountain road, and then the Old Bonegrinder came into site. It had been restored, as they feared. The sails looked like they'd been made of Gingerbread and the whole place reminded them of the cottage where one of the Coven of Hags lived in Graenseskov (before they burned it down). There was some morbid speculation about the potential danger of a gingerbread golem before they reached the approach road.  

A brutal battle ensured.

They approached the Mill to find two young children in the kitchen (fully restored with delicious smells and an oven just like the one in the cottage). An older lady - one of the Aunties who looked after them - was also present, but they quickly recognised her as meeting the description of Lady Molot Kosti, who had run off with one of the Vistani from Graenseskov. She also seemed to the Hag who'd escaped. A fight broke out, as the party wouldn't accept that the "Aunty" was really looking after the children. Two other Hags appeared, but Gaddock banished one in an attempt to break the power of the Coven.  

initiative screenshot as we had to cover two sessions

Lightning bolts  and fireballs exploded and the hags became ethereal. Werewolves and dire wolves arrived, trying to protect the coven. Eventually, the fight ended with a cackle fading away into the distance, and the party trying to calm two angry kids (Franke and Ethan) who had tried to help the Hags by hitting the party with frying pans. They didn't seem to accept that they'd needed rescuing, especially as they were in a wonderful place with fruit pies and sparkly pies.

Ser Adon and Ser Alys had a very tense moment. Ser Alys didn't like the way that the Blood Spear was becoming Ser Adon's favoured weapon. Adon tried to convince her that everything was okay, reminding the Blood Spear that he was its master, but it didn't seem to care for that interpretation. It made his blood drip from the hand that held it onto the blade. Ser Alys looked expectantly and took the spear off Adon.

They planned to sleep on the floor as it would be too late, but concerns started to rise as Adon was muttering to the spear. In his head, he could hear it, telling him that the others wanted it, and not to trust Ser Adon. The spear warned Ser Adon that Ser Alys just wanted to steal the spear for herself, and that it loved him, not her. 

Before this could be settled, there was the sound of marching feet. They felt Rahadin's presence momentarily, and then it went. They looked out, and outside there was a mass of undead bodies in uniform. Franke, the oldest child, said the Aunties had said that the Landlord was sending some help to deal with the rowdies who were attacking his loyal servants.

A brutal and short battle ensued, with no real casualties, after which they decided to do the reconsecration then take the children back to Vallaki in case something nasty happened. Part of the ritual was the exception that someone would sacrifice their lifeblood. Ser Adon stepped up for this and the reconsecration proceeded as planned. Adon and Alys knew this was dangerous and promised undying love to each other in case the ritual didn't work out. As the ceremony reached its climax, a huge lightning strike went up from the monoliths to the sky, ripping into the black webs of eery above and even impressing the children they'd rescued. The two half orcs energetically celebrated with their Cossack style kick dancing.

The way home?

They headed back down towards Vallaki. As they moved down the road, Kel became aware of a carriage travelling fast up the road towards the Castle. He used his telekinesis to lift it from the road. The carriage was not being driven by anyone, but they recognised it as the one from Ravenloft that had collected them. Inside was a young girl, who they recognised as a maid from the Wachterhaus called Maria. Kel gently questioned her why she'd got in the carriage; apparently, she'd decided it was her duty to go to make sure that Count Strahd didn't wreak revenge on the town and hurt her family and friends. Kel gently talked her down, with a rousing but caring speech which concluded... "The time of sacrifice is almost at an end. Soon it will be a time of light, of a new dawn".

They released the carriage, and turned back to Vallaki, a band of resolute heroes, three children and a young woman who had just tried to sacrifice herself to save the town. 

They headed east to swelling orchestral music while, behind the clouds, the sun rose and cast its pale light over the fields covered with snow and ice.

GM Notes:

So that's the end of season 5. A strategic victory for the player characters, I suspect. However, the Kind Ladies/Aunties escaped. Plans need to be made for the next stage, so a meeting is to be called at the Blue Water Inn. 

It was nice to see the players making the connection about the Hags all the way back to the start of the campaign.

I had to screenshot the initiative as Roll20 doesn't preserve it between sessions. This session, the opposition was focussed; Gaddock became a significant target because he was casting the banishment. Somehow, he managed to complete the spell, but it isn't certain to the characters whether the Hag can return or not.

We're very much into the end game. I'm excited, nervous and a little sad.

30 November 2022

Second Thoughts - CY_BORG

The Role VTT desktop (camera feeds off in a break)

I was fortunate to have a short session of CY_BORG today with a group of players from the Gaming Tavern. We used the Role VTT, which seemed appropriately light. Everyone had randomly generated their characters using the online tool, so it was truly random. I used a variation of the random mission that I'd created during the review I previously wrote, which seemed to be light and fun enough to test the system. 

I added the game crib sheet and the map of the city to the assets in Role, and had the scenario idea in a window in Tot. These were on the second monitor that I was using. The players could see the map and the crib sheet. I also added a spread on Cultists and a spread of random handles.

The second screen.

The game engine worked simply enough, although I did have a brief moment trying to remember whether the game had advantage and disadvantage (it doesn't). Characters have a base 40% chance of success , with abilities shifting that typically 5 to 10% either way as initially generated. That can make it feel a bit random and failure laden, but it also creates interesting situations. The competence will change rapidly if the GM uses the levelling up rules. Of course, you need to set the right task difficulty as well to make sure it's appropriate.

We had one significant battle; the skulker cydroid was pretty tough and the characters struggled to both hit and do damage at first. The armour (d4) was also very effective against poor damage rolls. It was eventually taken down with a cyber-attack; the characters were very lucky that one of them didn't get caught by the attack as well as it is indiscriminate. Fortunately, the player who used the attack rolled that it hit a single victim so the other characters were saved. They managed to avoid two fights with corporate goons and cultists, so we didn't really get to a situation with multiple combatants with the chance to stack damage up. I imagine that would change the dynamic of the combats.

The apps (net stuff) were fun, but the 60% chance of failing to activate one did scupper plans a few times. The randomness of the game does provide plenty of ideas and fun, but I think that I'd probably level up the characters a few times if I ran this at a convention. However, despite the randomness, the characters managed to complete the mission successfully, repeatedly side-stepping traps and dangers that I had in place. I probably didn't run this as gonzo as the creators intended.

We used the Role VTT. We did see the odd drop-out, but it seemed stable. The changes to the interface seem to be good - moving the dice to the right hand side, for example. However, the dice roller is still a bit clunky (and there's no d3); apparently it's on the roadmap to do. Mostly, Role fades into the background; overall I'm happy with the active development which is ongoing.

I guess the big question is whether I'd run or play this again; the short answer is 'yes'. I think that this is an interesting game and setting; the engine is light but provides enough for fun.

27 November 2022

 

First Impressions - Lamy Al-Star EMR pen for use with reMarkable

Pen down at the end of the review...

I've tried a number of pens for the reMarkable to try and give a bit of variety to the feel of my writing. I noticed the Lamy Al-Star pen on offer as part of Amazon's Black Friday promos, and decided to order one once I'd ascertained that it was a genuine reduction.

The Al-Star has the same design ethos as many of Lamy's pens and feels nicely robust to use. It is made of plastic, but there's a solidity to it. It feels lighter than the Marker+ which came with my reMarkable.

One of the great things about the Lamy is that it happily takes reMarkable nibs. These feel better than those that come with it.

The downside is that - unlike the other EMR styli that I own - it doesn't have a working eraser. There is a button that could be used to trigger an erase action but you need to have a hack installed to do that. I'm prepared to side load templates, but hacking the underlying LINUX is going further than l'm willing to go. I hadn't realised quite how often I used the eraser until I started writing this piece. Not a deal breaker, just a little frustrating.

The feel of the pen is much more like a traditional fountain pen. I'm finding it less controlled than my usual Marker+, but that may just be the new nib l'm using. I certainly feel that my handwriting is looser with it.

Overall, this feels quality and seems to write well. The only downside is the lack of an eraser, but you can always use "undo" or the software eraser. A nice extra.


22nd November 2022

CY_BORG - into the nega-City

To infinities and beyond?

After some shenanigans due to work trips, I have arranged to run a game of CY_BORG next weekend, using the Role VTT. This has jumped on considerably since I last used it, adding screen share, improved dice rolling and layout and I'm sure that there will be much, much more. The template search utility is excellent. It's also worth mentioning that the VTT packs that they have for games (eg for Modiphius' line) include the PDFs and are often on a par or cheaper than the PDFs separately.

I'm looking forward to running the game; it looks like a great option for some one-shots (and the campaign built in it also looks interesting). Anyway, I shall report more after the game.

I'll leave you with the tease I cobbled together from the introduction session.

20th November 2022

1. The Sky is Full of Ads
2. [6:46 PM]

   //everyone wants something from everyone else//
3. [6:48 PM]

   Everyone is interfaced/injected/infected/infested with something
4. [6:48 PM]

   //everyone is a liar and a cheat//
5. [6:49 PM]

   Everyone wants more creds
6. [6:49 PM]

   //WE SHOULD HAVE BURNED THIS CITY CENTURIES AGO//
7. [6:50 PM]

   Welcome to the year 20X3.
8. [6:51 PM]

   //Welcome to the messed-up world they left us//
9. [6:52 PM]

   THE CY_ AWAITS YOU
10. [6:53 PM]

    Nu-Capitalists rule from glass towers in Central
11. [6:53 PM]

    //Gangs rot in the slums, their turf bordering G0//
12. [6:54 PM]

    Neo-mediums fester in the accursed dens that their cults claim as hallowed ground
13. [6:55 PM]

    ALL OF THEM ARE BUILDING THEIR OWN KINGDOMS AND ARMIES
14. [6:56 PM]

    //is this all a simulation?//
15. [6:58 PM]

    the nega-City DEVOURS all it sees