#im certain im forgetting a lot of details but im running off adrenaline rn

[bitter-like-coffee]

i know i almost never report here for anything but...we killed strahd in strahdborne (a loose adaptation of bloodborne w strahd elements in dnd our dm homebrewed)!

ilya, @mithryl-ninja‘s level 10 swashbuckler, had been geas’d by strahd after our opening oneshot where everyone’s characters tried (and barely failed) to kill strahd. the rest of the level 10 squad had been slaughtered, and @wayanayaw‘s paladin, evalina, had her body stolen and taken over by strahd.

fast forward, we’ve had two deaths in our level 3 party and we’ve climbed all the way to level 20 (with hyper-accelerated levelling).

alala, my leonin battlemaster, friend, @thefandomcassandra‘s firbolg/hexblood druid, puck, mith’s changeling bard, and celia, wayan’s hexblade/sorcerer (and evelina’s younger sister)...made it to strahd. By now, puck and celia were the only two remaining of the original group. We were joined by @neonchapel‘s dmpc/npc kingsley, who friend had recruited as the result of ...basically an item-triggered wild magic surge. kingsley was very stupid and very strong, and a good aim. he was also very fragile.

so....friend cast freedom of movement on alala. this is a surprise tool for later.

we start fighting strahd, and ilya/mir. puck gets counterspelled over and over but still manages to cause trouble and get things done, and doing his best to...be puck in all that entails (being a nuisance to enemies and a very good healer, lifter of spirits, and absolute bastard). strahd tries to start gunning for celia, but celia uses blink...and puck starts to really piss strahd off... repeatedly, strahd tries to grapple alala, because she’s strong as fuck and deals a lot of damage, aided by purple worm poison puck had duplicated using an item...and consistnetly fails to land many hits, and ther’s some wild trading of blows happening. and then strahd grapples puck...who has -1 strength.

puck, it is important to note, has a mask. we never saw him remove it. puck, it is important to note, is a changeling. puck’s mask, as it turns out, never came off for a reason. strahd’s “bite” attack was ripping off the bony carapace that covered his face. due to everyone’s careful work (and some good damage dealt by celia), strahd dropped him, but not without cost. she cut him from toe to tip.

celia used her aasimar radiant consumption to burn strahd as revenge.

alala lost it and slashed the shit out of him.and then friend shapechanged into an abishai. friend absolutely destroyed him....and then celia staked his heart.

we got...so much fucking money for killing him and ending the horseshit going on in barovia. so much so that friend true rez’d puck, and then contentedly went on to become a hag as they had intended. puck and celia travelled together...and alala bought a cabin in the middle of the plains to desperately try to avoid anything that could possibly force her into that hell again.

it was sad i cried. one of the first campaigns we’ve ended in a long long time