#and he was like 'what can i do to make barovia better' after The Dinner.

[probablyvampirerpgideas]

my dhampir character told strahd to kill himself today with zero consequence how are yall doing today

[strahd-von-asthmavich]

The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In-Table Campaign [Session 5]

Session Highlights

What a wonderful impression they’ve made! They’ve done quite a bit to establish themselves in town!

Side Note: Any art that I share of NPCs within these highlight posts is my (Mod Van Richten’s) original and fan art. Any art that I use for my players that wasn’t created by myself but by other artists is kept private and within our friend circle.

Abrascus Barbarian (4) Path of the Ancestral Guardian Race: Tortle Background: Haunted One

Direthorn Rogue (4) Swashbuckler Race: Drow Background: Urchin

Flopsy Barbarian (4) Path of Wild Magic Race: Rabbit Man Background: Experiment

Mangus Monk (4) Way of the Open Hand Race: Half Elf Background: Urchin

Neracahne Wizard (4) School of Evocation Race: Eladrin Background: Noble

Nyra Rogue (4) Phantom Race: Fairy Background: Noble

CW for sexual themes

The events of the day start under the cut.

Out of desperation, Direthorn ran off to try and get more pie. This is when the others decide that now is a good time for lunch. For that, they go to the Blue Water Inn at the center of town. They order food from the owner, and while they do, they meet an interesting individual.

Rudy is a half elf bard with an ornate pan flute around his neck, and he’s playing his lute when they all come into the inn. Flopsy takes interest in him, since he’s been thoroughly convinced that he’s a bard, as well. He insists that he should show Rudy his talent, and he does. Rudy’s reaction isn’t quite what Flopsy expected.

The bard tells him that there can be ways to improve the sound of his music. He can see that he really enjoys playing his banjo, so Rudy wants him to get better. He teaches Flopsy how to play the strings of his banjo using his nails as picks.

Rudy also takes a liking to Ismark, acting flirtatious with him. The feelings seem to be mutual, and Ismark decides to give Mangus another impromptu lesson. This lesson assures Mangus that love and romance doesn’t have to just be between a man and a woman. It can happen between two men, two women, or even people that aren’t necessarily men or women. With that, Ismark decides to talk it up with Rudy after that.

As they’re eating lunch, the group comes up with a game plan as to how they’re going to take care of the coffin shop investigation. Neracahne and Nyra decide that they’re going to go during the day first after lunch. Once they build a good rapport with the coffin maker and can get permission to investigate further, then they would be in great shape. They all agree that this is a great idea. The only one that doesn’t go with them in their group is Ismark, because he decides to stay behind to hang out with Rudy. The party teases him by saying he only wants to stay for the wine, but he’s defensive over that and insists that there’s another reason for him to stay behind.

Going to the coffin shop are Abrascus, Adelaide, Escher, Flopsy, Ireena, Mangus, Neracahne, and Nyra.

When the party gets to the coffin shop, Neracahne and Nyra tell everyone else to “distract the bunny,” because once Flopsy gets inside, their little ruse is over. Using this opportunity, the rest of the party does, indeed, distract Flopsy. Mangus brings up his confusion over the discussion he had with Ismark the night before, and he asks the group what he means by that.

Flopsy is more than happy to give him a more in depth lesson on “the birds and the bees.” Of course, this is from a man’s perspective, and he gets into so much detail that there are hand gestures. Escher is so horrified that he covers Adelaide’s ears so that she couldn’t hear what Flopsy was saying. However, Ireena gets to hear everything. Her response to this awkward talk is, “I don’t think that’s how that works.”

Adelaide looks up at Escher after the talk is over, and tries to ask about one of the gestures that Flopsy made. Her eyes weren’t also covered, after all. Flopsy tells her that he can show her, which hopefully was a bluff. In response, Escher is so furious that he glares at Flopsy. Unfortunately for Escher, he suddenly reveals to Flopsy that he has fangs in the process. Through what Flopsy knows about vampires, he comes to the conclusion that Escher is one.

Flopsy tells Escher that he knows, in a way that won’t rouse too much suspicion. Escher’s a little paranoid and doesn’t want him to tell anyone. There’s a little bit of blackmail involved, however. Flopsy tells Escher that he won’t tell, if he tells him how Flopsy can become a vampire, himself. They agree that they will talk further later on in the day.

Meanwhile…

Neracahne and Nyra are able to get a successful introduction with the coffin shop. Henrik van der Voort is the owner’s name. He has great slogans, such as, “Welcome to my coffin shop. Who died?” in a rather deadpanned voice. They tell him that they’re here to investigate and need to come back at night. Henrik looks a little nervous about that, but he agrees. They’re so nice to him that he complies. Besides, this investigation was initiated by Izek Strazni.

The Baron’s Dinner.

Next on their agenda is having dinner with the Baron. Only the player characters went to dinner, save for Direthorn. Direthorn will be given a sort of “to go” version of what the others had for their meal. There, they meet Vargas’ wife, Lady Lydia Petrovna, and his son, Baronet Victor Vallakovich.

Vargas seems very pleased to be ostentatious with his meal choices for them. They’re given a four-course meal, with the prized course being a uniquely crafted goulash. This stew was used with “locally sourced” venison. The Baron got a special treatment for his plate, for he also had a heart. It was his favorite part of the meal.

The only people that didn’t have the goulash were Victor and Flopsy, who instead had salad.

Flopsy has been sitting beside the Baron’s wife, who’s at the other end of the table. He notices that she’s acting strange, laughing at whatever her husband says and making small talk with the others. She doesn’t quite seem to be fully engaged. So, Flopsy talks to her through napkin notes, asking if she’s happy and if her husband is good to her. She answers “no” to both of those. Flopsy manages to successfully communicate with Neracahne about the situation, and he wants to try and see if he can help her while the Baron doesn’t notice. This will have to be something for a later time, though.

During this course, Abrascus is picking at the meat in his stew, taking it out but eating the rest of it. The Baron questions this, for if he didn’t want the meat then he should’ve just gotten the salad. Abrascus tells him that he didn’t want a salad and just wanted the stew. Vargas seems to be delighted when offering to eat the meat that he didn’t want. However, Abrascus takes this offer to throw the bits of meat at the Baron. Appalled and irritated over that response, Vargas looks like he’s showing restraint when he tells Abrascus, “I really don’t like you.”

Izek during dinner gives Vargas a letter, which seems to be notifying him of what the adventurers are about to investigate. He’s pleased by this, but he tells them that if they don’t figure out what’s disturbing the peace before the festival, then they will be arrested. There’s then a debate between him and Mangus over whether saying “retire” for resting was appropriate or not, and he leaves them with his son.

Now that they are alone, this is when Victor really talks to the adventurers about being from outside of Barovia. He tells them that he wants to leave, and he’s been trying to work on something to help him get out. The magic users (as well as Flopsy) are able to discern that he’s been working on a teleportation circle. Under the guise of wanting to see Lady Lydia, Flopsy agrees to stop by to help. Victor assures them that they will probably be more than welcome to join one of her tea parties, which she throws rather frequently. Victor also tells them that Lady Lydia is his stepmother, and he suspects that she’s unhappy, too. If his own brooding wasn’t anything to go by, the general consensus around the Baron is “not an okay dude.”

After dinner, the party goes back to the Von Holtz manor first. They grab Escher so that he can help them, and then they set out to the coffin shop. Direthorn still has not reunited with the group yet. Despite that, they all continue without them.

First, they debate over how they’re going to go inside the shop. Mangus asks Flopsy to throw him through one of the second-story windows. Flopsy refuses, thinking that Mangus will just hurt himself. Neracahne and Nyra are ready to go through the door. Since Henrik knew that they were coming, the door was unlocked. Abrascus tries to look around on the ground floor, but the search turns up nothing. There are no incriminating things on the ground floor. During this, they also mull over going upstairs.

Escher suddenly tells them all to be quiet, since he hears something. The only one that doesn’t quite hear the conversation is Mangus. They hear Henrik and another mystery voice conversing briefly. Paraphrasing, the conversation goes as follows:

Unknown: “You need to lie low.” Henrik: “Please. They’re onto me. I can’t keep this up!” Unknown: “Lie. Low. Three more days.”

Abrascus leads the way upstairs, blocking the entryway to the other rooms at the stairwell. He corners Henrik, who is startled at seeing him. He claims that there was no one else here with him. And, sure enough, there’s no one else in here with him. However, Flopsy was able to detect schools of magic from downstairs. He tries detecting it up here. He does find six very clear pings of necromancy from different areas of the second floor. Henrik tells them that he has no idea what necromancy even is, but he does look nervous.

The interrogation turns to Escher, for a brief moment. He’s a necromancer, after all. He’s even mentioned that he was in a previous investigation, though they didn’t find anything at that time. However, Escher immediately shuts that theory down. The last time he was here was twenty-two years ago, and a lot can change in twenty-two years. His reasoning takes a little too long for them to accept.

Flopsy has had enough of the meandering, so he decides to take action. He goes to the nearest crate that he sensed necromancy and yanks it open. When he does, out springs a very hungry vampire spawn. When one does, the other six do, as well. When they all come out, Henrik suddenly panics and tries to persuade the spawn. “Stop! It’s not time yet, it’s not time yet!” However, there’s no trying to persuade six hungry vampire spawn when there are many different food sources right in front of them.

[metiterasu]

Inktober/OCtober Week 1

I’m going to be posting these in batches of weeks to give myself time to catch up if I need it! Every week will have 7 doodles plus a short story to go along with each one.

So I decided to just make this a Llyra study month since I’ve been missing writing and drawing her!

I made these following @oc-growth-and-development​ ‘s prompt list for this year.

Day 1 - Beginnings

The sounds of the train starting on its journey rang in Llyra’s ears, bringing a smile to her face. She made her way from her seat to the back of the train, out onto the small balcony. 

As the train pulled out of the station, she stared off into the night sky, leaning on the railing. “This is it” she thought, “I’ll finally learn something new.”

She glanced back at her bag, thoughts wandering to the spellbook and wand waiting inside, of the spells buzzing in her mind as she mentally went over her routine for the entrance exam in the morning. Thilmserine was a small town, tucked away in the mountains and far too small and boring for her tastes. But the wondrous tales she had heard of the nearby Abizum Academy had set her heart aflame. 

Her smile grew wider as she watched her hometown shrink in the distance until it disappeared from view. She turned from her spot on the balcony and made her way back to her seat, turning her back on Thilmserine and towards her new beginning.

Day 2 - Dance

Music floats softly throughout the garden, a nearby bard practicing for his show, no doubt. Many were up dancing while most stuck to the outside tables, sharing drinks and laughing, celebrating surviving the recent vampire attack on the town. 

Llyra taps her fingers on the table to the beat of the music, itching to get up and move but her companions seemed content to mill around their table. Her eyes wander around her party until landing on her dragonborn friend. A soft smile appears on her face as Pokke notices her gaze.

“Dara, would you like to dance?”

“Eh?” Pokke tilts her head to one side, “Me?”

“Of course. Come on, it’ll be fun!” Llyra stands up and offers her hand out.

Pokke sighs and takes the hand extended to her “You won’t take no for an answer, huh?”

“Nope!” Llyra smiles and leads Pokke closer to where the bard was playing, the soft music lilting through the garden.

Llyra takes the lead in the impromptu waltz, placing a hand on Pokke's shoulder and taking her hand with the other. She smiles and laughs as they make their way around the space, gently swaying and turning to the beat of the music.

"If I could spend the rest of my days in this easy bliss, I would be happy…" she thinks to herself as she loses herself in the music and the moment.

Day 3 - Feast

"Woah!" Llyra marvelled at the spread being set down in front of her on the table. From rare meats to juicy fresh vegetables and everything in-between, Varis brought tray after tray of food for the party that evening.

He smirks as he sets down another plate worthy of a king and finally takes his seat at the table. "It's not much but I thought I would show my gratitude for lettin' me travel with y'all." 

"Not much?" Anya says from her seat beside him, "This is enough food to feed a whole village! No, two villages!"

"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration…" Llyra pours a glass of wine for herself, "But this really is a lot of food Varis."

"Perhaps, but at least we won't go hungry for a while, eh? Eat up!" 

Llyra smiles and lifts her glass, "To Varis! And his great cooking skills!"

"To Varis!" The party chimes in after her, the sounds of glasses and cups clinking filling the small tavern.

------

Llyra pulls her knees closer to her chest as she sits by the campfire that night, the small hut they took shelter in barely shielding the party from the wind.

The lackluster dish of food lies untouched at her feet, only serving as a reminder of what they lost that day.

The mound of earth that serves as Varis' grave is barely visible out of the shack's door, Pokke and Shanan were finishing filling it in before returning to the camp.

A silence falls over the party as they mull over the events of the day, Llyra's attention squarely on the fire and the distorted lump of earth she could see through the heat. Leaving her wondering what could've been if she'd just been faster, smarter, able to think clearly at all. Instead she walks away unscathed while another companion joins the sea of souls that haunt her dreams.

Day 4 - Nature

“Another one?” Llyra watched while Anya placed a potted plant on the shelf above her desk.

“It brightens up the room, no?” Anya smiled, arranging the leaves to be more aesthetically pleasing.

“Perhaps… But you know how bad I am at taking care of these things Anya.” Llyra gestures to the other plants on the shelf which were in various different states of dying.

Anya sighs and reaches up for the dying plants, easily bringing life back to the flowers and leaves with her druid magic. “Maybe I should bring you a cactus or something, they’re easy to take care of.”

Llyra rolls her eyes, “I think they’d be better off in your house than mine, I’m too busy to take care of myself most of the time, never mind taking care of this many plants as well.”

The tiefling lays a hand on her friend’s shoulder, “That, I am also working on. So come on we’re going out to dinner.”

“Eh? W-Wait!” Llyra says with a laugh as she’s dragged towards the entrance of the house, “I didn’t agree to this!”

“Too bad!” Anya turns to face Llyra with a grin, “My treat, you have no say!”

Llyra sighs and shrugs, there was no point fighting with Anya, it would lead nowhere. Especially when it came to making sure she actually ate food.

“Alright, alright, just give me some time to get ready and I’ll meet you there” A soft smile on her lips as she retreated back into the house to prepare.

Day 5 - Lost

As night fell over Barovia, Llyra found herself on the wall of the balcony attached to her inn room. 

Her spellbook long since discarded on the table, pages fluttering in the gentle wind, her real purpose for coming out here all but abandoned as she stared down at the street below. A few people on nightly business guided by soft lamp light and the dull glow of the eternal full moon above. 

It never changed.

Every night spent in Barovia was the same as every night to come. It was boring and tiring. Her grip tightened on the sleeve of her shirt as she thought about how little had changed since the party arrived in the small town.

It just made her feel worse about their situation, trapped in this never changing land, running for their lives every single day. She knew what she had signed up for when they all decided to put a stop to this, but she didn’t know it would be this hard. Every day left her exhausted, every day made her feel like it would be better to give up, to resign themselves to living in this hellhole for the rest of their lives.

Her hands moved up to her head, clutching fistfuls of hair as she tried to rid herself of her dark thoughts.

“Ugh.” 

She turned around where she sat and hopped down from the wall back to the balcony.

“That’s enough for one night.”

Day 6 - Bitter

Primrose always did better than her.

In every class, in every field of study, her half-elf friend excelled in every area that Llyra tried to master. She wasn’t a jealous person, she didn’t let those feelings control her, but with every day that passed the thoughts would creep back at every new achievement.

Llyra knew that Primrose was better than her, thankful that her friend would help her through her struggles. But she hoped one day to return the favour, to help in return with something Prim didn’t understand.

But there was nothing.

She tried so hard, spent countless nights studying while Prim slept just for a chance, a single hope that one day, one day, she would be good enough to teach her something new instead of how it always was.

But for now she would admit she was jealous. The bitter taste of the emotion crept into her mouth as she explained that she needed help with another spell. Prim agreed to help with a smile, as always. 

So happy. So eager to help. She held her wand tightly as she pointed it towards Prim. 

I wish she would stop.

Day 7 - Tender

The smoke subsided as the sounds of battle died down around her. Llyra collapsed in place, coughing at the remnants of her fireball that had decisively finished the fight off. 

“W-We did it!” She managed to sputter out, “Can we please take a rest now…?”

The sounds of armour clanging on the floor alerted her to her friend’s approach. “Of course.” 

Llyra smiled as she felt the familiar soothing of Pokke’s healing magic seep into her wounds. She let out a sigh of relief as most of the pain subsided, leaving her with minor scratches and bruises.

“Thanks Dara.” She looked up at the dragonborn, who was kneeling down in front of her.

Pokke smiles and takes Llyra’s face gently in her armoured hands, wiping away a stray tear she didn’t even know was there. “As long as you are alright.”

Llyra nodded, a warm flush spreading across her face as she gently removed Pokke’s hands and instead holding them in her own. “Thanks to you, if you hadn’t have taken that axe for me I’d have been a goner…”

Pokke shakes her head, “I was only doing what I had to. Besides, I think you’re a little tougher than you give yourself credit for.”

She laughs, “Not strong enough for that surely! But regardless of if it’s your job or not, thank you… Even if you did leave me with these nasty scratches.”

That earns her a playful shove, “It may be my job but you’re making me regret it.”

They both laugh, revelling in their victory and the little moments they get to share because of it.

[strahd-von-asthmavich]

The Dread Lands of Ravenloft - Mod Van Richten’s New England In-Table Campaign [Session 3]

Session Highlights

Sure enough, the adventurers will get to Vallaki in one piece!

For whatever reason, whenever I try to add new links to the highlight page on the blog, it doesn’t want to work within the first few minutes that I try to establish the link. Eventually, the link will work properly with some tweaking, though. Sorry about that technical difficulty.

Side note: Any art that I share of NPCs within these highlight posts is my (Mod Van Richten’s) original and fan art. Any art that I use for my players that wasn’t created by myself but by other artists online is kept private and within our friend circle.

Abrascus Barbarian (3) Path of the Ancestral Guardian Race: Tortle Background: Haunted One

Direthorn Rogue (3) Swashbuckler Race: Drow Background: Urchin

Flopsy Barbarian (3) Path of Wild Magic Race: Rabbit Man Background: Experiment

Mangus Monk (3) Way of the Open Hand Race: Half Elf Background: Urchin

Neracahne Wizard (3) School of Evocation Race: Eladrin Background: Noble

Nyra Rogue (3) Phantom Race: Fairy Background: Noble

We resume in the middle of their long rest under the cut:

At the start of their rest, the adventurers find out that Adelaide is a half elf, since she needs to sleep during the rest. After being forced to talk about himself, Escher tells the party that he used to be a noble when living in the Material Plane, and he went to school for wizardry. Mangus situates his bed roll right next to Adelaide. After his trance, Escher can’t help but glare at how close Mangus is to his daughter while they’re all sleeping.

Neracahne finishes her trance around the same time, as well as Direthorn, and Neracahne decides that she wants to talk to Escher while the others are still sleeping. Although Direthorn is keeping watch and up in a tree, they have an ear horn of hearing to overhear the conversation between them.

Escher vents to Neracahne about how invasive everyone was the night before, and he makes a promise to her that they will pay if they do anything to harm his daughter. He seems to warm up to her more than he did the others, given her approach to him.

The adventurers all had wonderful dreams the night before. However, when Direthorn woke up, they felt so sad. The only thing that will make them feel better is pie. Meanwhile, Flopsy, not only wants them, but he needs them and needs to make sure he’ll always have more. Direthorn was trying to steal Nyra’s pie when they were promptly tackled by Flopsy.

The two of them keep fighting over it, until Flopsy eventually gets his hands on it and immediately eats it. The two of them remembered that Granny, who’d given them the pies, lives in a mill on the way to Vallaki. Well, they are on their way to Vallaki. So, they all insist that they need to go there first.

When they get to the mill, the others immediately are suspicious. Meanwhile, Direthorn and Flopsy just want more pies. Direthorn even breaks through the window to get inside. Granny’s daughters are inside, named Stella and Ophelia.

Mangus notices a letter on the table, and he picks it up to read it. It reads:

Transcript: Vasili, my Dear Friend, Yes, of course I would be more than willing to help you with such a horrible problem! I can only imagine what those poor dears in Vallaki are going through. You know very well that I’ve had my own bad encounters with witches... encounters that have left their marks on my very soul. Children, orphaned or not, should never have to face such evil. If you find a way to get the little ones at St. Andral’s Orphanage safely out of Vallaki, I’ll be happy to house them in my windmill. There’s not much room here, true. But we have beds and pies to go round. Sincerely, Granny

While there, Direthorn and Flopsy buy the freshest pies they had, just as Granny arrives. She tells them that if they bring the children to her (twelve in total), she’ll give him a lifetime supply of pies. After all, he’s so desperate for them. He agrees to help her.

The only one that really notices something’s wrong is Nyra. Although she doesn’t get anything that tips her off to anything, she notices some suspicious looking barrels in the makeshift kitchen.

Flopsy is desperate to get to Vallaki quickly, so he insists that they all should travel through the woods. Originally, it was just him and Direthorn going through, while the others planned on going on the main road. But Ismark warns the others that it’s too dangerous to travel through the woods alone. So, the others follow behind.

Along the way, they come across a strange little graveyard with five headstones. Two wights have claimed this area as their territory, but Flopsy and Mangus manage to not trigger combat with the two of them. When they stray too long, they nearly get the five zombies buried in these graves to attack them. The party leaves well before they’re ready, though.

They manage to get to Vallaki in the late afternoon, and they are eager to get to Vasili’s. Before they enter town, they have to pass through customs, telling the guards their names, the weapons on their person, why they’re there, and how long they thing they’ll be here. After customs, the guards tell them the three rules:

Never say Strahd’s name.

If you’re staying for a week, you must attend the festival.

Don’t cause trouble.

Adelaide and Ireena are both awestruck at the sight of the town. Neither of them have ever been to a place like this before. While they’re walking, they find Rictavio’s carnival wagon parked near the stockade. Direthorn finds out that there’s an owlbear in the wagon and is curious about it but decides getting it riled up isn’t a good idea. While exploring, however, they find a weird looking box underneath the front seat. In the box they find a strange book, and they open it.

The beginning of the book reads:

“I, Strahd, Lord of Barovia, well aware certain events of my reign have been desperately misunderstood by those who are better at garbling history than recording it, hereby set down exact records of those events, that the truth may at last be known.”

Then, Abrascus, Direthorn, Flopsy, Ismark, Mangus, Neracahne, and Nyra are all suddenly taken into the world of this book. It’s like in Blue’s Clues, but with extra spookiness. They find themselves in a sunny courtyard, after being in this land with no sun for several days. Ismark, who has never been out in the sun in his entire life, absolutely hates the feeling that sunlight initially gives him.

There’s a twelve-year-old boy watching them. They find out that this boy is a younger Strahd von Zarovich, and through that, they realize that they’re in what they assume is Strahd’s journal.

Strahd thinks that this strange group of adventurers are his imaginary friends. He tells them all about how someday he’s going to be a general in his father’s army, with Rahadin training him. He also tells them about his baby brother Sturm, who’s going to serve his own purpose while Strahd becomes a conqueror.

Direthorn and Strahd have a friendly duel to try and prove how good of a fighter he is, but Strahd loses miserably. He gets frustrated. How is he ever going to get better at fighting? So, Direthorn gives him some pointers. They help him with footing and different stances. With that extra knowledge, Strahd now has advantage for when he now duels with Flopsy. With that advantage, Strahd manages to beat him. Soon after, Rahadin calls Strahd away for more training, and the party ends up back in the present with these parting words that echo through their minds:

“I am the Ancient. I am the Land. My beginnings are lost in the darkness of the past, yet that past is now filled only with regret.”

Direthorn is now attuned to this strange book. Once per day, they can attempt to decipher more of it with four consecutive, successful checks with either Intelligence (Arcana) or Intelligence (Investigation).

After they return to the present, and the others in their group are confused as to what happened, they meet the owner of this wagon: An eccentric and weaselly looking man named Rictavio. He wears a large burgundy hat on top of his head, presumably to cover his receding hairline. He’s a fast talker with a strange accent (A/N: I’m from New Jersey, and my players fell in love with my accent like the silly New Englanders they are, so I went ham with Rictavio’s voice). Rictavio tells them that they can keep the book they found in his wagon, since he couldn’t get it to work the way Direthorn did. The first page was already deciphered, he said, which is probably how they were able to get through so quickly this time around. It’s not going to be that easy with the book from now on, which is why Direthorn is now attuned to it.

They’re soon encountered by yet another person, who is the burgomaster of Vallaki: Baron Vargas Vallakovich. He welcomes them to the town, excited to see new faces in his town. He invites them to dinner for the next night, and they agree to come.

Finally, they head over to Vasili’s manor. Upon arrival, Escher’s personality shifts from his usual self to that of an obedient servant. Ireena is enamored with the sight of the manor, as well as Adelaide. Soon, Vasili comes out from his ostentatious library to see them, and the two ladies are both so excited to see him. Vasili tells the adventurers that they can stay in his guest house, and Nyra is quick to remind him that Ireena needs a chaperone while here. At that, Vasili appoints Adelaide.

Flopsy gives Vasili the letter that Granny wrote. Vasili looks so confused at the sight of it, especially when they all begin to insist that they need another wagon. That’s when he’s quick to interject and give them a proposal. He’ll give them another wagon on one condition: They’ll bring two orphans to Granny’s mill to start. If they see that the mill can accommodate for twelve children, they can come back for the rest.

The party is all welcome to browse the library. The books they grabbed depended on their Investigation checks. Anything under a 10 was a children’s picture book. Anything above 15 was a book with valuable information to what they were looking for. The higher the check, the more knowledge the player received. Nat 1 gave them the worst possible option. Here are some book highlights:

Barovian History (400 BC - 600 BC): A chronology of important events and obituaries over that period of two hundred years. BC stands for “Barovian Common.” Through this book, Abrascus found out about a strange man from Strahd’s past named Azalin Rex, who tried to start fights and uprisings with Strahd. There were also some notable figures in the obituary sections that were highlighted: Marina Ulrich, who had been brutally murdered, and Olya, who died of a fever.

A book of Vallakian Ghost Stories

A History Text about Vallaki’s Festivals: Nyra found out that the one festival that was always celebrated was the Festival of the Blazing Sun. It was a festival that commemorated the summer, back when the sun was still shining in Barovia. However, in recent history, there have now been festivals every single week. The only festival that is more than a day is the Festival of the Blazing Sun, which is the festival that is beginning in town in two days.

How Not to Get Killed By Zombies: Flopsy now has meta knowledge about damage immunities and traits that zombies typically have, as well as different zombie encounters told by survivors.

The Devil’s Pies: Nyra found this book. 150 years ago, an elderly woman came to Vallaki peddling pies. After she left, several children went missing, and a lot of the people that ate the pies went crazy. After that, she was barred from ever returning.

What is an Owlbear? - A Conspiracy Booklet: Direthorn now knows that there is at least one person in Barovia that is weirded out by the existence of owlbears and the logistics of them.

Different Children’s Book Highlights:

Don’t Speak of the Devil!: A book with different caricatures of Strahd warns children about how it’s bad to say Strahd’s name.

Your Grown Body And You: Mangus found a puberty book.

And, my favorite, for Mangus’ Nat 1 on trying to find a book about how to talk to women:

One Night in Ravenloft - An Erotic Compendium by Strahd von Zarovich, fifth ed.

Nyra goes to Vasili after finding the book The Devil’s Pies, and she warns him that maybe this isn’t a good idea. Vasili said that he just thought it was only something that happened in the past, since it was 150 years ago, but he concedes and thanks Nyra for warning him.

Also, Adelaide openly looked confused by the book Don’t Speak of the Devil! She asked why “the devil’s” face looked the way it did in the book. It seems like she didn’t understand, but the party assures her that it’s just because Strahd’s evil.

Meanwhile, Flopsy had decided to go to St. Andral’s Orphanage alone. He wants those pies. He gets directions from a villager that leads him directly there. He insists on coming in when the door is answered, and he shows her the letter. The headmistress is offended at being accused of being a witch. With how insistent Flopsy was about needing the children, she is very uncomfortable and slams the door in his face, locking it up tightly.

Flopsy knows he needs to get these children to get more pie, so he breaks down the door with his maul. The children and headmistress are hiding upstairs. He heads up there and breaks down that door. Suddenly, it’s like the mists begin to shroud his will. He feels a strange crown of thorns wrapping around his head, and he blacks out.

When Flopsy comes to, he’s covered in blood, and the headmistress is on the ground dead. The orphans are crying and screaming while cowering away from him. Flopsy doesn’t know what to do, so he walks out and leaves the orphans alone.

He’s very soon approached by the captain of the town guard, with four other guards beside him. This large man has a fiendish arm that makes him look intimidating innately. He’d heard the commotion and was suspicious when he stopped hearing the headmistress’ voice. So, he questions Flopsy as to what happened, since he’s covered in blood.

Flopsy lies and tells the guard captain that two wights attacked the orphanage and Flopsy just tried to save him. Because the man had poor insight to Flopsy’s lies, he lets him go.

The session ends after Flopsy cleans himself up and arrives just in time for dinner to be served at Vasili’s manor.