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pigeon-princess · 11 months

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If you've ever wanted to know about our Curse of Strahd campaign this is a summary of everything so far. We have been playing for over a year so it's a very long read!

We are about halfway through the campaign so there are still a few major plot points and important NPCs that we have not encountered yet so please no spoilers in any tags, questions or responses!

Our campaign has a few added homebrew elements, extended lore from the novels and some NPCs that have been added/changed by our DM so some things will vary from the source book!

Disclaimers: Spoilers below the cut for major Curse of Strahd plot points in Vallaki, Argynvostholt, Dinner at Ravenloft, Wizard of Wines and more.

Our party members:

Benoit - Tiefling Druid (Circle of Stars)

Silas Shaw - Human Wizard (Order of Scribes)

Lucius “Thornhill”- Aasimar Paladin (Oath of devotion) (+ his golden retriever summoned familiar called Dog)

Benoit was looking for a way into Barovia Valley to search for his missing mentor who was looking into the situation happening with the Dusk Elves.

Lucius, a paladin with a sordid past, was following a mysterious letter from a “Kolyan Indirovich” who apparently needed help to save the love of his life.

Silas was desperately trying to get out of the city after escaping his abusive mother who kept him sick and locked in their dilapidated home, while also hoping to get any information about his absent wizard father.

ENTERING BAROVIA

The party started their journey at the Elfsong Tavern in Balder’s Gate.

The unlikely group of three made their way into Barovia Valley, following the road until they were quickly lost in the mists.

While camping on the first night, Silas had a very vivid dream of being trapped back in his house. He had lost the ability to walk again and had to crawl through a pool of blood to rescue his father’s spellbook that had been cast into the fire.

On the road, the party discovered the body of a dead man. His pockets contained another version of Kolyan’s letter (seemingly the real one) detailing a vampire attack on his daughter Ireena Kolyana.

The group arrived in Barovia Village where they met Ismark at the Blood of the Vine Tavern. Discovering that his father Kolyan (The Burgomaster of Barovia Village) had recently died, drunk and distressed, Ismark further explained the attacks from Strahd von Zarovich (A vampire and the dark lord of Barovia Valley) on his sister Ireena.

The party agreed to help Ismark bury his father and assist in finding a safer place for Ireena to stay.

While staying in the Burgomaster’s house. Luci experienced a dream in a beautiful church, where a faceless man stood in the flames of a burning pyre. The figure invited Luci to come and sit with him.

The group assisted Ireena and Ismark in getting their father’s coffin to the local church and there they met Father Donovich. After hearing screaming from the floor beneath, Ismark attempted to force his way into the cellar and Donovich started to grapple him. Silas cast levitate on Father Donovich, sending him high into the rafters of the church. The group discovered Doru in the basement, Donovich’s son who had been turned into a vampire spawn.

With the horrible condition Doru was in the party decided that a mercy killing was the only solution. The party locked a crying Donovich in a spare room and sent Ismark and Ireena outside. Silas firmly stayed upstairs while Luci and Benoit went down to put Doru out of his misery.

Doru fought back, making an escape for the stairs and scaring the absolute shit out of Silas who then cast fireball for the first time. This completely annihilated Doru. His burning corpse tumbled down the stairs and landed right at Lucius’s feet, a vivid memory of the burning man from his dream resurfacing.

In a solemn mood, the party burned what remained of Kolyan and Doru in the graveyard.

A supernatural mist surrounded the party and large wolves began to attack. Combat commenced and after the fight, the party got their first glance of Strahd. He appeared on horseback from a distance before turning and leaving.

OLD BONEGRINDER

The group decided to head towards Vallaki, in hopes that the Church of St Andral would be consecrated ground where Ireena would be safe from Strahd.

The party encountered a woman selling “Dream Pies” to soulless people. They saw a couple give their child to the woman in exchange for pies and the little girl was thrown into a sack.

Lucius insisted that the party needed to intervene and much to Silas’s annoyance, they followed the woman towards the mill known as Old Bonegrinder.

Just outside of Old Bonegrinder, the party discovered their first megalith and saw that the shrine was desecrated with teeth. A very large raven flew over and was clearly trying to communicate something about the teeth to the party.

The group stormed into Old Bonegrinder and began combat with two hags, the third one apparently still out.

During combat the party realised that one of the Hags had turned herself into Ismark, shoving the real Ismark into the oven.

After dragging Ismark out of the oven and saving him by mere seconds, the party managed to make it out alive as the entire Bonegrinder burnt to the ground. Luckily saving the little girl in the process.

Running over from the megalith, the raven turned into a person and the party met Falkon Targolov for the first time. A wereraven and relative of the Martikov family. He said he was planning to take down the hags himself and that he worked for a group called the Keepers of the Feather.

VALLAKI

The group agreed to meet with Falkon later at the Bluewater Inn and before long, finally arrived in Vallaki.

They made a very quick beeline to the Church of St Andral, but were surprised by the four fresh gravestones out front that listed everyone's names, excluding Ireena.

As soon as Luci’s familiar was able to cross the threshold of the church, being a demonic creature, Luci could immediately sense that the church was not consecrated.

Lucius spoke with Father Lucien Petrovich, inquiring about the graves and asking if he could take in the little girl with the other orphans at the church.

Father Lucien explained that the graves were recently commissioned and he would look into the records. Sensing that Luci was a man of god, he admitted that the bones of St Andral that usually kept the church consecrated had been stolen.

Silas attempted to have a conversation with a boy called Milivoj who was digging the graves and completely embarrassed himself.

While heading to the inn, the group walked past the Burgomaster's mansion and saw a bright pink flash of energy from the attic. Silas recognised the flash as a spell going off and was immediately intrigued.

Outside the inn the party saw a colourful caravan with "Rictavio's Carnival of Wonders" painted on the side. Silas attempted to look inside but bailed when he heard a growl from behind the bars.

The party met the owners of the Bluewater Inn, Urwin and Danika Martikov and their sons - all wereravens like Falkon.

Falkon arrived soon after looking battered, carrying an ancient looking book. He had apparently defeated the last hag by himself.

Falkon took them up to his room in the cramped attic called the Raven Loft. Silas asked hesitantly, “Do you… pay to live here?” And Falkon said “No.” To which Silas replied, “Good.”

Benoit helped translate the parts of the book that were in druidic. They learnt about the history of the valley, including the Delmorians and the Fanes.

Falkon asked the party for assistance with the druids who had taken over the Wizard of Wines.

Later that night, the party met Karl and Nikolai Wachter and played a game of cards with them, learning more about the political situation in Vallaki, the Burgomaster’s family and the constant festivals.

That night Benoit had a dream of the Gulthias tree burning and spoke with a ghostly dusk elf woman called Petrina.

The following morning the party met the owner of the caravan, Rictavio. He told them he had a monkey but gave it to Blinksy the toymaker.

BURGOMASTER'S ATTIC

On the way back to the church of St Andral, Silas begged the party to peek in the attic at the Burgomaster’s mansion. Through various means of levitating and flying the party broke into the top floor.

The door on the far end had a ward that electrocuted Luci when he went to knock.

Inside the party found a workshop belonging to the baronet, Viktor Vallakovich. After snooping around and admiring the skeleton cats, the party discovered a faulty teleportation circle. It was only when Luci tried to destroy the circle with a dagger that Viktor revealed himself from his invisibility spell and attempted to stop him.

He immediately said he would have us all arrested for breaking in since he was the Burgomaster’s son. The party had a long and tense conversation with him, discussing his experiments to find a way out of Barovia. He talked about exploding a few of his maids in the process and the treatment of his once promised fiancee, Stella Wachter, who he modified her memory into believing she was a cat. He mentioned important books and information at Wachterhaus (The Wachter family’s home) that he believed would be useful.

Silas was ecstatic about meeting another wizard for the first time; the party was less enthusiastic.

At the church, Luci and Benoit found a fish hook near where the bones had been stolen from. The party learnt that Milivoj was the one who took the bones and that would usually help a fisherman called Bluuto out on Lake Zarovich.

LAKE ZAROVICH

Travelling to the Lake, the party stopped by the Vistani camp There they found out about the missing 7 year old oracle, Arabelle.

The party spoke briefly with Kassimir the dusk elf, Benoit mentioning the dreams with Petrina and learnt that she was once Kassimir’s sister and engaged to Strahd. He asked for assistance with ancient knowledge at the Amber Temple.

At the lake the party managed to stop Bluuto attempting to sacrifice Arabelle to the lake by throwing her overboard in a sack.

Silas levitated him and in his dying breaths he said “The feast…two days” before biting his tongue and dying. Great.

After bringing Arabelle home safely, she gave the part Tarokka readings which mentioned a tome of ancient knowledge, a sword of sunlight and an artefact of protection.

FESTIVAL OF THE BLAZING SUN

The party returned to Vallaki before the festival of the blazing sun.

That night Silas received a dream where he spoke directly to Strahd - Strahd gave Silas the ability to finally open his fathers spellbook. Scared of the party’s reaction, Silas decided not to tell anyone about it.

Shortly after the dream, Silas snuck out at 3am to go over to the Burgomasters mansion. He levitated up to Viktor’s bedroom and asked if he would be interested in sharing spells. It was only when Silas mentioned his father's spell book that Viktor took an interest.

The next day was the festival of the blazing sun. The party attended the bizarre display hosted by Vargus the Burgomaster and a very sad band.

From the crowd Silas tried to get Viktor’s attention on the podium. Viktor did a spinning motion with his finger telling Silas to spin in a circle, which he did immediately to Viktor's amusement. Luci hurriedly told Silas to cut it out.

It started to rain as the guards failed to light the wicker sun, and when one guard started to laugh, Vargus ordered him to be killed.

Before the party could intervene they quickly discovered that the Wachter brothers had released a sabertooth tiger into the streets, one that was apparently in Rictavio’s caravan.

After a lot of running around, rescuing an injured Nikolai and herding the creature out of town, they managed to get the tiger back into the caravan.

Rictavio told them he would be leaving, before giving a very stern talking to Silas where his poor deception revealed he had spoken with Strahd. Rictavio promptly removed a tracking spell that Strahd had put on Silas’s spellbook.

WACHTERHAUS + LORD VASILI

Taking advantage of the fact that Nikolai had gotten hurt, the party went over to Wachterhaus to check on him while also snooping around. Silas got his arm stuck in the fence while trying to get inside.

Karl informed them that his mother currently had a guest staying over called Lord Vasili von Holz.

After meeting Vasili who was surprised to find the entire party snooping around the small library, he invited them all to have dinner with him.

The party had a pleasant evening with Lady Wachter and Vasili, hearing all about Lady Wachter’s dissatisfaction with the current leader of Vallaki.

The next day the party discovered that Silas's spellbook could directly copy the contents of other books within a 8-10 ft radius. This included important documents from Wachterhaus and all of Luci’s personal diary which Silas had been reading secretly every night.

Reading his father's book, Silas also found out that his father was Otto (Inventor of Otto's Irresistible Dance), a famous wizard and bard who was close friends of Mordenkainen. Silas was utterly humiliated that his father was a Bard Wizard but was more gutted to realise that Otto had died 2 years prior at the hands of Vecna.

THE FEAST

With no new leads on the missing bones, the party went on a search through Vallaki. Silas decided to attach his spellbook to Falkon in raven form so he could fly around and look for any clues with a detect magic spell.

Finding a strong source of magic, the party very aggressively barged into the coffin maker's shop at the edge of town. Once again terrorising and killing an elderly man as he ran through Benoit's Spike Groth spell.

Not only did the party manage to find the bones, but also an entire shop filled with vampire spawn.

An intense combat ensued where the party was completely swarmed. Silas managed to dimension door out with Ismark while Luci jumped from the second floor skewering a vampire spawn and crushing it with the weight of his armour.

The city fell into complete chaos with buildings on fire and citizens being killed by vampires left and right. This was “The Feast” that Bluuto had mentioned.

The party ran into Vasili who was protecting a group of children from two vampire spawn. With his help the party managed to get to the Church of St Andral just in time to meet Anastrasya, a full blooded vampire and one of Strahd’s wives.

She killed Father Lucien in front of the party and then turned her attention to Vasili where she called him “Dear” and exposed him as Strahd Von Zarovich in disguise. (We all screamed at the table)

To protect the party, Luci handed over the bones to Strahd and in return he promised to clean up Anastrasya’s mess.

Due to a poor perception check from Luci and many bad rolls in the future, Luci continues to see Strahd in his handsome Vasili form throughout the campaign.

The party facing the aftermath of The Feast

LEAVING VALLAKI

Safely back at the Bluewater Inn, Luci had a dream where he spoke with Strahd in the church of St Andral. Strahd handed the ownership of the church over to Luci and asked him to fix it up.

Silas insisted that the party should allow Viktor to travel with them, saying "I need to bring him along to teach me more spells." And Ismark replied snarkily "Oh yeah? He's going to teach you spells? How is he going to teach you? Is he going to teach you orally? with tongue?!" And Silas flew into a complete fit of rage and embarrassment.

The party investigated Wachterhaus again, finding the long dead body of Lady Wachter's husband hidden in their bedroom but also finding the Tome of Strahd in a box of bones.

The party told Karl and Nikolai about the body and encouraged them to get out of town and head to Kresk.

In the chaos that followed, the party made plans to leave town as soon as possible, with their sights set on Argynvostholt where Luci’s tarokka reading spoke of a sword of sunlight.

With a revolt happening against the Burgomaster, Silas told Viktor to meet them at the Bluewater Inn. He waited for Viktor like a nervous war wife while Luci and Ismark went to look at Luci’s new church. On the way there they saw Lady Wachter leading a mob against the Burgomaster and his wife and allowed them to carry on. While the Burgomaster’s Mansion was set on fire, Luci and Ismark continued to clean up the church and had a heart to heart conversation.

Falkon dragged Viktor into the inn by the scruff of his collar and with no home left to return to, Silas invited Viktor to travel with them. He very quickly agreed to tag along. The party were mostly outraged but Luci firmly said "Make your choices, Silas."

That night Strahd talked with Luci again in his dreams, this time by a lake from Luci’s hometown. The following morning Luci woke up with an invitation for the entire party to a dinner at Castle Ravenloft scheduled in the next few days. Ireena adamantly insisted that she wanted to go to give Strahd a piece of her mind.

Silas was becoming increasingly jealous that Strahd was now only contacting Luci.

The party found a scroll of resurrection that was left by Rictavio. The scroll was given to Ireena to hold onto.

THE ROAD TO ARGYNVOSTHOLT

With a huge travelling party consisting of Falkon, Viktor, Ismark, Ireena, Luci, Benoit and Silas, the group grabbed new winter clothes, got their weapons silvered and bought horses from the Vistani for their trip up the mountain.

Just off the main road out of Vallaki, Luci, Ismark and Benoit stumbled on a body strung up between two trees, yellow flowers and fungi growing from his chest with druidic writing written across the stones.

When a storm started to get too strong, the group found shelter in an abandoned cabin.

The party took some time to read Strahd’s tome (We are using the interactive tome) learning about his childhood and the battle of Argynvostholt. They learnt about his right hand Rahadin the dusk elf and his best friend Alek Guilym who looked not exactly the same but very similar to Luci. They found information about his brother Sergei, the sun sword that he wielded and Tatyana, a woman identical to Ireena.

Within the tome, Benoit had a very important conversation with a woman called Lysaga who he quickly realised was still alive from hundreds of years ago and was very aware that she was communicating through a book.

Silas asked Viktor if he would form a wizard alliance with him.

On the way up the side of the mountain, the group met a Vistani man called Arrigal, who told them he was looking for a horse thief called Esmerelda - The party learnt that Esmerelda is a vampire hunter and was once a student of Van Richten. (Silas's favourite author and famous monster hunter)

Inside Argynvostholt the group stole a bunch of stuff from Godfrey Guilym’s room and absolutely decimated some revenants in an overkill combat (This incredible combat involved Luci’s insanely strong addon damage, a moonbeam spell revealing Falkon’s true form and a double fireball spell from Silas and Viktor.)

In one of the hallways, the party saw a line of marble busts. For a moment one appeared as Benoit's decapitated head. Benoit called Strahd pathetic for trying to scare him. They realised that Strahd harbours a lot of resentment as he is unable to contact Benoit through dreams like he can with the rest of the party.

Speaking with the revenant of Godfrey (And sheepishly returning his stolen property), he let us know that the revenant of Vladimir Horngaard was the one who had the sun sword.

The party had an absolutely agonising (and incredible) combat against Vladimir. Luci was caught in close quarters and was pinned to the ground, having his head smashed against the ground over and over by Vladimir, leaving him dead.

Once Vladimir was defeated and the sun sword obtained, Ireena used the scroll of resurrection to bring Luci back to life (He now has a fear of fire). Ismark being unable to stop Vladimir in the fight took Luci's death very personally.

The party returned back to Arrigal’s campsite in silence, getting a short sleep in before they were expected to be picked up for their dinner at Castle Ravenloft.

Strahd’s black carriage arrived and the party gave the tome to Falkon for safe-keeping and agreed to meet back up again at the Wizard of Wines.

Although he was not invited, Viktor decided that he was also going to attend the dinner and faced the realisation that he was no longer the Burgomaster's son.

DINNER WITH STRAHD

The exhausted party arrived at the gates of Castle Ravenloft and were met by Rahadin. Just being within his "deathly choir" aura took a bunch of hit points off Silas.

They met Strahd at the grand staircase, Luci still completely covered in his own blood.

Strahd was unimpressed by their attire and with Viktor being an uninvited guest. He informed them he had already selected new clothes for them to wear and that Rahadin would escort them to the guest wing.

When Silas hesitated to follow Rahadin up the stairs, the deathly choir got louder, making Silas collapse on the stairs.

In the guest wing they met Escher, Strahd's newest consort. They had already heard a lot about Escher from Falkon as they were dating before Escher decided to leave and turn into a vampire.

The party in their dinner outfits

After changing into new clothes, Escher refused to take the group downstairs.

When the party arrived in the dining hall by themselves, Strahd had very purposefully arranged the seating plan. Ireena on his left and Luci directly on his right.

Silas’s jealousy of Strahd's attention towards Luci was starting to boil over at this point.

At the table they met the other brides, Ludmilla and Anastrasya again - they were informed that Volenta was currently out.

After directing Ireena to sit, Strahd said “This seat is for Ireena’s brother.” And when Ismark went to sit, Strahd instructed “No, no. not you.” and made him sit one seat over.

As the dinner started, a new person entered the room, a bodyguard working for Strahd called Izek. He was very confused when Strahd told him to dine with us. The party discovered that Izek was Ireena’s real biological brother who she believed had died when they were children.

The very awkward dinner continued.

Benoit started up a charming conversation with Ludmilla. Since she wanted to discuss some more sensitive topics, Ludmilla stood and told Strahd very boldly she would be getting more wine from downstairs with Benoit. Strahd watched in silent fury as they left the room.

After Luci accidentally mentioned that he had died earlier that day, Strahd stood from the table and politely asked if Luci would join him for a walk since he had something to show him.

Luci turned to Silas as he stood and said “I’ll just be a few minutes” and Silas replied with the most sarcastic and acidic “Sure.”

With Benoit and Luci both gone from the table, completely filled with rage and jealousy, Silas grabbed a wine bottle and began to drink heavily.

PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS

Strahd had a very intimate conversation with Luci, taking him to his study and showing him the brand new red and black platemail armour that he had commissioned specifically for him.

Luci bashfully replied saying “Red is not really my colour.” Strahd smiled and said, “Well that’s not true, you looked beautiful in red when you arrived here.” referring to when Luci arrived covered in blood. Strahd casually offered Luci the idea of companionship and the opportunity to do good work in Barovia, and Luci hesitated leaving the answer vague but not turning down the offer down completely.

Benoit downstairs in the wine cellar saw the dead body of Milivoj and a number of others strung up in the basement, blood being drained from their bodies and into wine barrels.

He took note but continued his conversation with Ludmilla, asking her what she would do if Strahd was no longer in the picture and organised to meet up with her in the library after dinner to discuss further.

Drunk Silas started to pick fights with Ismark, asking if everyone was going to let Luci get away with this.

Silas demanded that Izek take him and Viktor to look at Strahd’s Library.

In the library Viktor started to hunt through books while Silas had a really pleasant and sobering conversation with Izek. Learning that he seemed to be a very kind hearted man in a difficult situation. He even asked “What's a wizard?” to Silas’s absolute surprise and horror.

Silas offered to lend some of his books to Izek, asked about his job and if there was a chance he’d be able to travel with them for a short time,with the hope he could speak properly with Ireena.

After Viktor found castle floor plans, Silas attempted a high five but since neither of them had ever done one before, they ended up just touching their palms together for a weird amount of time before both awkwardly shrugging it off.

Benoit, Ludmilla, Luci and Strahd arrived back to realise three people were no longer at the table.

As the library trio were about to leave, Izek opened the door to reveal Strahd standing in the hallway.

Izek immediately took the fall for Silas and lied saying that he offered to take them to the Library. Strahd told Izek and Viktor to leave and Viktor left Silas behind without even a second glance.

Strahd offered Silas the role of his successor and Silas's response was extremely sceptical. Strahd also mentioned that apparently the famous monster hunter Van Richten wants to kill Silas since he has Strahd's Tome. Silas is Van Richten's biggest fan and was extremely concerned and confused about this information.

The party all returned to the table. Luci asked Ismark if he was doing alright, and Ismark looked at Luci baffled saying "Why is it when something bad happens to you, you're always asking me if I'm alright? You're the one who just died."

Silas started an argument that Luci's death was more traumatic for him because he had to watch it happen.

After dinner Strahd decided to give a tour of the castle, leaving Viktor alone at the table with the brides.

As they were leaving the dining room Strahd pulled Benoit aside and threatened him saying “Conspire with my wife again and I’ll have you killed.” Benoit stared him down defiantly said “Ok. Sure.”

During the tour, out of spite Benoit revealed to everyone that he had found Milivoj dead and strung up in the wine cellar. Strahd furiously decided that the tour was over and that Izek would escort the party to their rooms for the night.

AFTER DINNER CHAOS

The post dinner conversations were very tense, the party sharing what Strahd had said to them. While Viktor was away the party raised concerns about his lack of participation in the fight that led to Luci’s death, to which Silas was very defensive.

Benoit went to talk privately with Ludmilla in the Library. He learnt more about the Druids at Yester Hill and the location of his mentor. Benoit very casually asked if she'd let him stay the night with her and having already endeared himself, she gave him a once over and nodded calmly allowing him to follow her to her room. (We all started to cheer for Benoit at the table!)

Luci decided to go and speak with Strahd alone to confront him about the all lies he had told him in his numerous dreams. When Luci showed up to Strahd's bedchambers, Escher was immediately kicked out by Strahd.

Strahd spoke with Luci, skillfully turning around every lie and positioning himself as lonely and sympathetic, endearing himself to Luci even more. At one point Strahd cast modify memory on Luci in order to make sure Luci believed him, spinning the story that the others were simply just jealous of him. Strahd offered a hand to Luci again, asking him to stay the night. Luci agreed and slept with Strahd.

When Silas found out that Luci had gone to Strahd and wasn’t coming back for the night, he sent Luci the angriest sending spell saying “You’re an idiot, a fucking traitor and a waste of a perfectly good resurrection scroll.” Silas got no reply.

After speaking with Ireena and Ismark about the state of the party, Silas numbly sat with Viktor in a spare bedroom. Silas ripped into Viktor questioning him about leaving Silas alone with Strahd. He reminded Viktor that without Silas, he would be abandoned by the party immediately so if he wanted to stay he needed to think of someone besides himself.

Viktor apologised and after some more conversations he admitted that he had witnessed his parents being stoned to death and that maybe he wasn’t completely alright after Vallaki.

They had a heart to heart, Silas telling him about his own situation with his abusive mother and Viktor telling Silas he was an idiot for believing that Van Richten wanted to kill him.

They spent the remainder of the evening studying together.

THE NEXT MORNING

Benoit and Luci sheepishly returned to the guest wing the following morning, walking into the room where Ismark, Ireena, Silas and Viktor sat waiting for them.

Silas completely flew off the handle at both of them, Benoit also getting berated but not nearly as severely as Luci.

Luci tried to explain the situation, sharing his belief that perhaps Strahd wasn’t as bad as everyone painted him as but was quickly and harshly scorned by Silas. Further pushing what Strahd had said about everyone being against Luci into his mind and dividing the party.

Luci informed everyone that Strahd had granted Izek a short leave for him to travel with us.

Silas discovered that he was unable to contact Falkon through sending spell and was worried something had happened to him and the tome.

To the surprise of everyone except for Silas, Ismark announced that he and Ireena would actually be going back to Barovia Village for a short time for their own safety. They wished the party luck and said that perhaps they would reconvene in Kresk.

With the absence of Ireena and Ismark and the weighty understanding of why they had left, the atmosphere in the carriage ride back was horrendous and more arguments insued.

Luci swore that he would never do anything to put Ireena in danger and before Silas could argue back, Viktor interrupted saying “No. No Silas, he’s right…he’d fuck anyone to protect Ireena!” which made Silas laugh harder than he ever has in his life, while Luci and Benoit sat in heated silence.

Art of Falkon and Izek by our incredible DM - @oneirotect

WIZARD OF WINES

The carriage dropped them off at the outskirts of the Wizard of Wines. The new, strange party were united in their goal of hopefully finding and recovering Falkon and Strahd's Tome.

Luci donned his incredible new armour to the absolute horror of Silas. Luci's old armour was destroyed in the combat with Vladimir so he argued back that its better than no armour at all.

Travelling off the path and following another large raven, the party met the remainder of the Martikov Family who own the winery.

After explaining the situation, Falkon's uncle Elvir guessed that Falkon had decided to do a quick detour and deal with a hag in Berez.

Elvir invited himself along and only a few hours later mentioned that he couldn't fight but that the party could protect him.

The party made their way into the swamp to rescue Falkon.

This is where we last left off in game and if you have made it this far, thank you so much for reading such a long breakdown of our campaign! If you have any questions feel free to ask and again thank you so much for showing interest and support for our game, it means so much to all of us!

#dnd #Curse of Strahd #ravenloft #strahd #Dnd campaign #dnd character #Silas Shaw #Silas #Benoit #Luci #Lucius Thornhill #dungeons and dragons #dnd art #A MEDAL FOR ANYONE WHO READS THE ENTIRE THING ITS 5K I THINK #I tried to keep is brief but so much has happened #I HOPE YOU ENJOY!

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sapphim · 3 months

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I would enjoy to see your playlists 👉👈

I've got sooooooo many lmao but ok here are some of my most "these are in a state I'm pleased with" and maybe some of them will land! 👉👈

I've got great big playlists of music that "sounds like" a particular decade to me. hands down my nineties playlist is my favorite, very grungy alt rock with splashes of house and trip hop. the eighties playlist is also good, very new wave. the thing is, I do still need to add more 80s/90s hip-hop and 80s funk than they have currently, but I'm largely happy with them.

I've also been experimenting with making playlists that sound like a certain time of year. so here's muggy folk music for hot summer nights and my not-a-christmas-playlist of wintry midcentury jazz standards.

more general mood music here are some chill tracks that are perfect to me. here's some trashy indie rock and electro pop that's like millenial catnip to me. here's a playlist where I was trying to capture that same sound but it's specifically about queer women partying hard and fucking nasty. here is a disco/glam/dance punk playlist where after I finished it I was like "wow that's gayer than I expected" but I don't know why bc the songs I based the sound on were scissor sisters, mika, and elton john?!? I may be stupid. and here's my official bleaching my hair in my bathroom playlist. it's about women.

more conceptually here's a playlist about being stuck in a time loop and also maybe stuck in the 60s or 70s. and here's my thesis about how water is woman-coded. and here's "what if the fey realm were an abandoned mall with a roller disco." and here's a technogoth vampire night club for an urban shadows campaign I'll never get to run

fandomwise here's a playlist for kendall roy sucks session that I will maybe one day update for the latest season. and here's a folk/americana fanmix for magnus archives the buried. maybe one day I will finish the others. then there's my current Ravenloft Problem. there's the ravenloft megamix and the ravenloft pre-y2k throwback mix, and then there's the strahd von zarovich aggression mix, the seduction mix, and the angst mix. and then there's the angst mix's opposing pov, the tatyana mix.

generally speaking if a playlist is meant to be consumed shuffled or played in order it will say 🔀 or ▶️ in the description. otherwise follow your heart.

#I officially feel self-conscious about this but I've also put too much effort in to not hit post lol

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cambria-writes · 1 year

Text

happy holidays! this is arguably a little late but i’ve had a rough go of it these past few days so i only just finished this tonight lol. Ii insist that i’m not late because we’re still in 2022 and the new year hasn’t hit yet!

anyways this is just a relatively short fluffy feel-good thing because i wanted to feel warm and fuzzy. so it’s absolutely self-indulgent.

word count: 3,229 warnings: swearing, it’s christmas eve and that’s important so that should probably be a warning, no y/n, no mention of gender but ravenloft reader is AFAB, minor ravenloft spoilers if you squint

for reference, this scene (with a bonus crown) is what the reader would’ve drawn.

and for the record, since it was mentioned on ao3, i'm very well aware it shouldn't have been a perception check! ravenloft!reader was never written with the intention of making them a tabletop rpg wiz, they just know enough to get by and follow along if they're sitting in on a game.

𝕽𝖔𝖑𝖑 𝖋𝖔𝖗 𝕻𝖊𝖗𝖈𝖊𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖔𝖓

When the phone rang, you didn’t even greet the speaker. You immediately answered with ‘what do you want you fucking menace’ because there’s really only one person who’d call you near midnight like a heathen.

“What’s your favourite colour?”

You snort and wedge the phone between your chin and shoulder and sit back down at your dining table to keep sketching.

“Dunno. Like, all of them?”

“Dude that’s the epitome of unhelpful,” Eddie deadpans, and you can’t help but laugh.

“Right, well like, is there any context to this? Cause you should know I don’t have a favourite colour,” you reply, frowning and erasing a small portion before swiping the eraser shredding away.

“Come on,” Eddie whines, and you can practically see him throwing his head back in annoyance. “Not even one? Like, something that just always makes you happy when you see it?”

You hum for a second and put your pencil down. “I guess maybe black? I—“

“Nah, nuh uh. Boring as hell.”

“Rude, what—“

“Black’s not even a colour, that’s what you constantly say!”

You scoff and pick your pencil back up, switching the phone to the other shoulder.

“Did you seriously just call me in the middle of the night to bitch at me for not having a preferred perceptible wavelength of light?”

There’s an unusually long silence on the other end of the line. You frown again and pull the handset away and follow the coiled line. Confused but satisfied that it hadn’t somehow gotten unplugged from the cradle on the wall, you wedge it back where it was.

“Ed? You good?”

“Yeah, no. Yeah, sorry, just thinking.”

“Jesus, don’t burn yourself out there bud.”

“Oh fuck off.”

The rest of the phone call is relatively short, and colours aren’t mentioned again by the time you hang up. You don’t go to bed until nearly two in the morning, and by then you’re content with having gotten down the main lines of your portrait.

The snowstorm that rolled in on the 23rd was entirely unexpected but wholly welcomed. You were scheduled to work on the 24th, but with the state of the roads and the fact that nearly half of Hawkins was running off of generators, you were graciously allowed to stay home until the new year. And given that this is your first Christmas in your new home, you were more than happy to hunker down and, ha, weather it out.

You’d had plans, sure; Harrington had already made sure everyone knew to show up at his place on the 24th, your parents had been expecting you on Christmas morning and the rest of the day would have been spent going around to see extended family. And though the thought of not being able to fulfill your annual Christmas traditions did dampen your mood, just thinking about the astronomical amount of energy you’d save made it a bit more palatable.

If the same thing were to happen next year, though, you might cry.

You’d already called Steve to let him know you were staying home. Pleasantly surprised, he’d admitted he’d had a whole speech prepared about how he’s have The Swarm tear you a new one if you even dared thinking about touching your car keys. (Which would have been an effective threat, honestly. You really had no interest in giving Dustin a reason to get uppity at you, and you definitely didn’t want to have to deal with Max’s ire. Girl held grudges like you did trauma.)

Your parents were only slightly less understanding, with your mother trying to insist that your father could come pick you up. A little resistance put that all to rest, though, and with a promise to call on Christmas morning, that was dealt with as well.

You’d just settled down on your couch, swaddled in the fluffy blanket you’d gotten from Eddie the year before, mug of hot chocolate held in both hands for warmth, when the doorbell rang. Confused, you look at the time—just after dinner on Christmas Eve—and sigh before heaving yourself off the couch to buzzer by the door. You hesitate for a second before pressing the button to let the mysterious visitor in. You’re already on your way back to your couch, having assumed it was just a neighbour who’d locked themselves out again, when you hear heavy footsteps outside your door.

You quietly walk back up and carefully lean forward to look through the peephole.

“What the…” you mutter, leaning back, nearly jumping out of your skin when the knocking finally comes. You quickly unlatch the chain and unlock the deadbolt before pulling the door open. “Ed, what the fuck—“

“Merry Christmas,” Eddie blurts out, thrusting a box out at you, though it really sounded more like ‘murr cr’sms’.

“Merry Christmas to you too but Jesus come inside!” You pull Eddie through the door by his arm, quickly shutting the door behind you and getting started patting the snow off of him. “The hell did you do, walk here? You look like a damn yeti!”

“Y-yeah I kind-kind of d-did.”

You pause in your patting before grabbing Eddie’s arm again and turning him around to face you. You ‘reabout to ask if he was serious, but a quick glance at his face—reddened cheeks and nose, frosted lashes, dry lips—tells you he has, in fact, told you the truth.

“Fuck me, okay,” you whisper, before shaking your head and getting a move on. “Stay there and take your boots and coat off and then get your ass on that couch, I’m making you coffee.”

You don’t hear any complaints. And though normally you would’ve been glad for the silence, even perhaps proud to have shut him up, Eddie’s silence is, once again, unsettling. And this time you’re pretty sure it’s not because he’s thinking, and most likely because he’s borderline hypothermic.

You try to be quick; you grab that one pair of sweatpants Eddie leant you when you got splashed by a car outside of the arcade. That one metallica shirt you borrowed one time when one Friday movie night turned into an impromptu sleepover. You make your way back to the living room, where thankfully Eddie’s listened to you, and has made himself at home swaddled in the blanket you’d left on the couch. You throw a quick glance to the front door, where his jacket and boots are slowly leaving a growing puddle of snow water.

You definitely need to get a welcome mat or something if this is going to keep happening.

Your first instinct is to chuck the clothes at Eddie’s head. What you would usually do. But it’s Christmas eve, there’s a god damn storm outside and this maniac walked to your place. For some reason. You feel like you owe him to be nicer than you usually would be. Call it the ghost of Christmas conscience.

“Here,” you say quietly, holding out the sloppily folded shirt and sweats. “You can change in here. I’ll be in the kitchen.”

Eddie mutters a very stuttery thanks and takes the clothes from you. You pause for a second to see what’s on the TV—seems like A Christmas Story is about halfway through—before hastily turning away when you see Ed starting to lift his shirt over his head.

Coffee, right. You said you’d make coffee.

You’re being so normal about this, it’s absolutely fine. You’re totally fine.

By the time you return to the couch in the living room, Eddie’s clothes are exceptionally neatly folded on your coffee table and he’s even more huddled up in your blanket than he had been before. You place his mug of coffee in his waiting hands and have to bite back shocked laughter when, even outstretched, underneath the blanket, he looks like a frozen T-rex.

“Alright,” you huff out when you finally take your seat on the other end of the couch. “You wanna tell me what’s in that box that was so important that you felt you had to walk here in a storm?”

Eddie sputters in his coffee a bit. When he brings the mug back down, he does look a little sheepish.

“Yeah, y’know it sounds pretty stupid when you say it like that.”

You nod and take a sip of your own coffee. “M’hm. That’s cause risking hypothermia to deliver a gift that very well could’ve waited until the storm passed is pretty stupid. No offense.”

Despite your disclaimer and your attempt to sound light about it, Eddie lapses into silence, again.

“Okay, you keep going quiet, is there something—“

“I didn’t want you to be alone.”

You stop yourself, mouth agape. You bring your coffee mug back up to your lips to try and shake off the surprise.

“I—okay. What, uh, what about Wayne?”

Eddie gestures vaguely under the blanket, and you assume he’s waving the issue of. “He’s with the Hendersons.”

“Oh. That’s…”

“Dustin asked me to go. I said no.”

You frown. “In favour of walking though the snow to get to me?”

“Yeah, well,” Eddie starts, but he doesn’t continue until he takes another long sip from the coffee mug. “Walking wasn’t the plan. Van broke down halfway here.”

“Oh thank god,” you sigh, leaning back into the arm of the couch and pulling your legs up and under you. “I literally thought you walked from your place!”

“God, never,” Eddie laughs, pulling his own feet up on the couch to sit cross-legged. “But I was halfway here and there’s no power at the trailer, so.”

You hum and nod, but otherwise keep your silence. And you both stay like that for a few minutes. And while you’re taking the time to try and bring your BPM down to something a nurse might not scream about, Eddie seems to be appreciating the warmth that you’ve thrown at him.

“So,” you say after a while, clearing your throat and putting your mostly empty mug on the coffee table. “What’s in the box?”

Eddie grins and puts his own mug down. The blanket falls away from his shoulders when he reaches toward to grab said box, and he turns it around in his hands before passing it over to you.

“Wait,” you rush to say, just as he opens his mouth. “Shit, wait, I have,” you trail off, and nearly jump over the back of the couch to run to your room. You quickly snatch the gift bag you’d left on your dresser and run back to the living room, nearly tripping over your own feet. You throw yourself back down onto the couch and shove the bag towards Eddie.

“What—“

“Gift for a gift,” you explain shortly, a little out of breath.

Eddie laughs lightly but takes the gift bag from you, and you eagerly snatch the box from his hands. You’re about to start tearing into the tacky Santa-print wrapping paper, but glance up to make sure it’s okay. Eddie chuckles and nods and motions for you to go ahead.

You make quick work of the paper and nearly tear the top off the box before turning it over in your hand and letting its content drop into your palm.

“Oh my god,” you breathe, turning over the giant cut glass piece in your hand. You hold it up to the do lamplight, and it looks like it’s shimmering from the inside. Every which way you turn it, it’s like each facet is a different colour that reveals itself to you with each new angle.

You don’t miss the fact that there are nineteen carefully carved and painted numbers on each face, and the last one has a little flame where the 20 normally would have been.

You look up to thank Eddie, throat a little tight, but you nearly choke on your own tongue when you see his expression.

He’s holding your gifted frame in his hands like it might break if he holds it too tightly. You can’t really understand the expression on his face, and the more time he spends staring unblinkingly at it, the more unsure you feel.

“I, uh, is it… do you not like it?”

Eddie slowly shakes his head before lifting his eyes up to you. He tries to start a few different sentences before clearing his throat.

“Is this—this is really what you see?”

You let your hands fall into your lap and nervously turn the massive D20 around in them and nod.

“Yeah, I mean. The crown might be a bit much,” you chuckle lightly, looking up and away towards the TV. “But yeah. You look really, uh. You look happy, when you’re DMing for the kids. Really cool. Thought you should be able to, I dunno. See it for yourself.”

When you do muster the courage to turn to look back to Eddie, he still has that absolutely confusing look on your face. You lift the heavy dice in one hand and wave it around a bit.

“This is why you asked for my favourite colour, huh?”

Eddie blinks a bit owlishly at first, but laughs and shakes his head. Slowly, carefully, he puts your gifted portrait on top of his folded clothes. Leans forward to pluck the dice from your hand and gently put it down on the coffee table next to your mug.

“Ed, what’s wr—“

You inhale the rest of your question when Eddie reaches out a hand to grab and pull at one of your ankles. You screw your eyes shut when your head meets the couch cushion below your with a soft ‘thump’. And when you open your eyes, Eddie’s hovering over you, hands braced on the couch arm just above your head. You swallow thickly and promptly forget to breathe for a second.

The end credit music for A Christmas Story feels like it’s playing from miles away.

“You good?” Eddie asks, quietly, and all you can do is nod. “You sure?”

“Yeah, uh huh. Fine,” you whisper, holding your hands close to your chest. Close your eyes when he leans in to rest his forehead against yours. “Why did you really come over?” You whisper, hesitantly uncurling a hand to place it on his chest.

“Missed you.”

“You see me almost every day.”

“Worried about you.”

You snort and lightly slap at his chest. “Bullshit. I own more knives than you do guitar picks.”

Eddie exhales sharply before pulling back a bit. When you open your eyes, you almost want to hide from the tenderness you see in his.

“Don’t look at me like that,” you whisper, turning your head to the side to watch the TV turns from black to blue, now that the tape’s over.

“Like what?” Eddie asks, and you can hear the shit-eating grin in his voice when he nuzzles at your neck.

You grunt. “Like, I don’t know. Like you—like…”

“Like you’re the only person I’d drive and walk through a snow storm to see?”

You hum but keep your head resolutely turned away. Shiver when you can feel his lips ghosting against your cheek.

“Like you’re in love with me,” you mutter quietly, screwing your eyes shut.

Eddie slowly peels a hand away from the arm of the couch to turn your head to look at him. You still avert your eyes. He brushes the hair away from your face instead.

“Come on, don’t be like that,” he says, almost whines, tilting his head to try to catch your eyes. “You’re smarter than me, you’re not that dumb.”

You huff and cross your arms and finally look up at Eddie. There was some kind of combative quip on the tip of your tongue but it dies there as soon as the look on his face properly registers.

“You’re not fucking around,” you say frowning.

“I’m not fucking around.” Eddie sighs and moves up to kneel on the couch, both knees boxing in your legs. You move up on your elbows and scoot up a bit to lean your back against the arm of the couch.

“Since when do you—“

“Dude, you literally saved me from a swarm of hell bats, somehow managed to team up with a super powered teenage girl to save the world, still don’t think I’m an absolute coward and show up at my doorstep if I call you when I can’t sleep,” Eddie lists off, starting to wave down at your a bit frantically. “And you actually listen to my shitty garage band music!”

“It’s not shitty!”

“You’re proving my damn point, woman!” Ed shouts, swatting your hand away when you go to slap his chest again. “Merry fucking Christmas, I’m in love with you!”

You let yourself slide back down to lie on the couch and laugh when you throw an arm over your face.

“The fuck, this isn’t funny!” Eddie whines, trying to slap your arms away from your face. “This is serious!”

You choke your laughter down enough to say, “Roll for perception.”

“Excuse me?” Eddie squawks, indignantly, pausing his assault on your arms. You lower them just enough to be able to peek at him.

“You heard me, roll for perception.”

Eddie scoffs but turns to grab the massive dichroic dice from the table and gently rolls it along your carpeted floor.

“Huh. 18. Do I get to add my wisdom modifier to that?”

Though you bring your arms down from your face, you still cover it with your hands.

“You’re the only name and phone number I keep in my address book,” you start quietly, biting down on your lips before continuing. “That portrait of you isn’t the first one I’ve ever bothered trying to do. The photo of us Max took in the hospital is the only one I have framed. I hate cashews.”

“But you keep a tin of cashews in the cupboard on top of the f… fridge…”

You nod and part your fingers to catch a glimpse of Eddie. He sighs before shouting and shaking his head.

“Ed, what the—“

“Why are we so stupid complicated!” He shouts again, but it peters out into laughter. “Jesus, why can’t we just say shit like normal people?”

“We hate normal people,” you deadpan, slowly letting your hands slide down your face. “So, uh,” you start, curling your fingers under your chin. “Merry, uh, Merry fucking Christmas, I lo—I love you too?”

Eddie closes his eyes and tilts his head back to sigh like you’ve just given him a glass of water after spending weeks in the desert.

You move to half sit up on your elbows again.

“Hey, you—“

“Does this mean I can kiss you now and you’re not going to think I’m just doing it because it’s the holidays and there was mistletoe over your door?”

You blink for a second and pull yourself up on the arm of the couch and twist around to look at your door. Huh. Sure as shit, there it is.

“Oh. Mrs H must’ve put that up when she came over,” you say nervously, but when you turn around you’re shocked, both because of the still-freezing hand that comes up to your jaw and the lips that are pressed almost chastely against yours.

“God bless Mrs H,” Eddie whispers, and your laughter is a quick huff before you loop your arms around his neck to pull him down against you for another kiss.

#stranger things #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #reader insert #fanfic #fanfiction #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fanfiction #holiday fic #christmas fi #fluff #no sad feelings here #mentions of el dustin and max #Minor ravenloft spoilers if you squint #ravenloft #Christmas #holidays #christmas eve #roll for perception

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itsguysnightitsironic · 1 year

Text

INDEX

Edge of Midnight, Out of context -- THE TITLE OF THE EP.

EXTRA CONTENT: . ILLUSTRATION (⚰️) . COMIC (🪦) . VIDEO / ANIMATIC (🦴) . SHITPOST (🕯️) If emojis are fuss together it's the two things ---> example: (🕯️ / ⚰️ ) SHITPOST AND ILLUSTRATION. If it's surrender by stars (⭐) it means it's an official LOA short that I was commissioned to animate.

We might not know what the mist hides, but at less we're on the right path.

🪦🪦🪦 SEASON 1: 🪦🪦🪦

EP. 1 THE OLD BLACK TRAIN

"Death approaches you, dressed in dark, light and smoke. A mechanical beast." (⚰️)

EP. 2 HOUSE OF LAMENT

You took a taxi? WHERE? IN THE FUCKING LIMBO? (🕯️/🦴)

EP. 3 CROOKED

⭐"But it was too late, she was already filling a glass of weasels" (🕯️ / 🦴 )⭐

EP. 4 TOYS IN THE ATTIC

EP. 5 MOB RULES

EP. 6 HARD KNOCK LIFE

EP. 7 JUDGEMENT OF HEAVEN

EP. 8 GATHERED FOR THE FEAST

EP. 9 WITHIN TEMPTATION

EP. 10 POUND OF FLESH

EP. 11 INFESTED

Blinded by the sun (⚰️)

EP. 12 MASS HYSTERIA

EP. 13 THE BELL TOLLS FOR THEE

EP. 14 NOT A PRISONER

EP. 15 PIGEONHOLED

EP. 16 DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE

EP. 17 HAUNTING MEMORIES

"Carrying your own corpse"(⚰️)

EP. 18 REVELATIONS

EP. 19 TURNED TO SIN

🌛NIGHT OF THE CROOKED MOON - ONE SHOT🌛

🥀🥀🥀I N T E R M I S S I O N 🥀🥀🥀

EP. 20 INNER DEMONS

It's incredible the Effect of Altitude on Cognitive Performance and Mood States (🕯️/🪦) The jaws under the gums (🦴)

EP. 21 THE BALLAD OF WILLIAM VAN BRUNT

We don't need to speak of it. (For a cut tree should have a silent fall) (🪦) "And the devil is but a ram and I am only hunger." (⚰️) Changed. (🪦)

EP. 22 HER LIMBS ARE THRAWN

EP. 23 LAST RITES

EP. 24 THE FALLEN KNEEL

How many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old fey? (🕯️/🪦) ---> ft.🌹🌹CURSE OF STRAHDANYA🌹🌹

"Rent does really cost an arm and a leg, and the other leg, and the other arm, and the torso, and-" (🕯️)

🪦🪦🪦 SEASON TWO 🪦🪦🪦

EP. 25 LONELY CAIRN OF STONES

Dragon death, roses of blood, and the knight away, but his heart? His heart was in the hand of the princess where it stayed until the last kite melted. (🪦) Me and my head high / And my tears dry / Get on without my guy(s) (⚰️/🪦)

EP. 26 STUFF OF NIGHTMARES

EP. 27 SENSELESS AND INSENSIBLE

EP. 28

🌛THE CROOKED MOON🌛

An invitation for a midnight snack I PART 1 I (🕯️/🪦) ---> ft.🌹🌹CURSE OF STRAHDANYA🌹🌹 An invitation for a midnight snack I PART 2 I (🕯️/🪦) ---> ft.🌹🌹CURSE OF STRAHDANYA🌹🌹 An invitation for a midnight snack I PART 3 I (🕯️/🪦) ---> ft.🌹🌹CURSE OF STRAHDANYA🌹🌹

OUTSIDE THE LOOP.

"For Shar takes it all, And leaves nothing." (🪦) And once again the world is safe thanks to some silly freaks (🕯️/🪦) Kith and kin. /Aromantic week 2024/ (🪦) ---->ft. 🪻🪻BENEATH DARK WINGS🪻🪻 ---->ft.🌼🌼ONCE UPON A WITCHLIGHT 🌼🌼 ---> ft. 💠💠ICEBOUND💠💠 ---> ft.✨✨STARDUST RHAPSODY ✨✨ ---> ft. 🌹🌹CURSE OF STRAHDANYA🌹🌹 ---> ft. 🌻🌻PRIME 🌻🌻 The lords of everything under the moon, and soon under the sun. (⚰️) Can we get Lathander on the phone? (🕯️/🪦) Curse of the Nitghborne. (🪦 / ⚰️/🦴) ---> ft.🌹🌹CURSE OF STRAHDANYA🌹🌹 To love, to adore, to devour. (⚰️) There's some edge in my midnight… Like a ravenloft folktale even (🕯️/🪦) "Guys, it's six in the morning… The horrors aren't even awaken yet!" (🦴) back to the office, baby (the last shift looks traumatized) (🕯️/🪦) ---->ft.🌼🌼ONCE UPON A WITCHLIGHT 🌼🌼 Our lady of loss, the dark lady (⚰️) Who let the undead cook? (🕯️/🪦) ---> Just, just don't go shopping, EVER (🕯️/🪦) ft. 🌷🌷6 YEAR ANNIVERSARY ONE-SHOT 🌷🌷 "Oh love, Oh sin! I see you, I see you on unknown eyes!"(⚰️) EVIL MIDNIGHT 4: Where the bingo when. (🕯️/🪦)

#legends of avantris #edge of midnight #ol' jericho sticks #marius renathyr #briggsy “the kutlass” kratch #lethica nightborne #yorgrim #virgil (raum)#farryn of the hartsblight #tw long post

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knight-in-shining-amor · 1 year

Text

A Vampire and a Ghost

A starter for the lovely @walkingshcdow who I’m so excited to roleplay with!

___________________________________________

There were distinct downsides to being dead, and monotony was one of them. This was the thought that passed through Alek Gwilym’s mind as he passed down one of the many long corridors of Castle Ravenloft for what had to be the hundredth time that day.

Without realizing it, he had ended up floating along the same path he used to patrol when alive in his days as castle steward. Despite the time that had passed, he didn’t have to think too hard on it to imagine the hustle and bustle of servants dashing through the corridors to get some parcel where it needed to be, or to be assigned the unluckiest impossible task of dusting the place.

This castle had not seen such liveliness in centuries, and being bound to its walls Alek wondered if the outside world knew of that liveliness of the past as well or if for them too, it was lost to time. Given the rumors that he had heard murmured by the occasional Barovian mob who dared to enter the castle, or the righteous insults delivered by a pack of gung-ho adventurer’s dead set on murdering Strahd - he doubted it. Everything in this land, just like his lord had become weary and depressing.

If he were alive, perhaps he could abate such feelings with the sensation of alcohol tickling his brain and warming his bones, but the dead got no such luxuries. Should he ever have the chance, the ability to appreciate a bottle of wine like he used to would be first on the long list of things that he yearned to experience again.

The thought crossed his mind of going into Rahadin’s office and blowing his paper’s off of his desk while he was working, just to watch his puzzlement and annoyance as he had to pick them all up, and he let out a soft chuckle. Of course, no one had been able to see him since the day that he died, and the dusk elf would likely haven’t a clue how a breeze got into the lower levels of the keep. Then again - far stranger things had happened in this castle than a mysterious breeze so it was more likely that the current chamberlain wouldn't think too much about it and would simply go back to working while in a worse mood than before.

It wasn’t worth the trouble in the end, but he desperately wished for something to break his silence, and in doing so crafted all sorts of fun little pranks to play on the current residents here. He understood now why poltergeists were always portrayed as such troublemakers in stories, because in an eternity of solitude you became desperate for absolutely anyone to notice you. Truly, this was a hell of its own design.

Alek had never been a pious man, and in the past he had often wondered that if he had maybe prayed a little more often, then maybe he wouldn’t have been stuck here in this form.

No. This was a punishment for staying silent. For falling in line despite his own beliefs.

He stayed far too silent on his objections to Strahd’s wish to study the darkest part of the arcane, and he stayed silent on how he truly felt about him.

Strahd von Zarovich had his curse, and this was Alek Gwilym’s.

Now, every day he had to see the face of his king, general, and the man whom he had secretly loved look straight through him. To not notice that he was here, and in fact, had never left.

He was in the study now where Strahd was quietly working. It was one of the spots in the Castle where if looking, Alek always seemed to be able to find him. He perched himself on the back of one of the lounge chairs, his weightless form not indicating it at all as he stared unabashedly at Strahd with a distinct longing.

The once man-now vampire had remained the same for centuries. Visually anyway… Ever since Alek’s murder, Strahd’s skin had turned a deathly pale and where his ears were once round, now they came to an almost elven point. The most prominent change was -

He wanted to look at his fangs, but ended up fixating on his lips - those damnable lips that he should have kissed forever ago, now drawn into a thin line of concentration as he sat writing there at his desk.

Slipping silently off of his spot atop the chair, Alek floated to him, putting out a hand as if to touch them, knowing full well that even if he could make contact that he wouldn’t feel it and neither would Strahd.

“What have we become, my lord?” He whispered softly, looking down at the other man with a sad smile. “Just a couple of old fools lost in our curses. What I wouldn’t give for just a single day that was like old times.”

With a sad sigh, he sunk down, folding his arms across the desk, and with nothing else to do, he watched with a reminiscent wistfulness as Strahd worked.

#Here you are friend #i made this blog just for you #also i will just put all of my lovely commentary in the tags #<33333 #Story: a vampire and a ghost #muse: alek gwilym

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churchyardgrim · 9 months

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How about 1, 9, and 17 for the meme? :D

for this ask meme, ravenloft edition

1. the character everyone gets wrong

i keep trying to think of an answer for this one besides the obvious but i'm running into the problem of the fandom just isn't big enough to have Consistently Wrong Opinions about anyone other than the CoS cast hghdg

9. worst part of canon

god where do i start. the pre-5e material, for all i love it, can be a genuine trashfire at times. everyone important is white, except when you're in any of the Nonwhite Culture Caricature Domains - and that's not even touching on the everything about the vistani. 80% of female villains just have a post-it note with "want to be pretty" on it where their motivations should be. 5e itself stripped all the actual beauty and hope out of the setting, bc wotc forgot entirely that you need moments of hope in order to make the horror work. also i have Quibbles about how a lot of the oldschool adventures are written, but that's a game design problem and not a canon lore problem lmao

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

cracks knuckles hoooo boy have i got a list for you. alek and strahd and the emotional fallout from alek's murder decades down the line. more petty bitter old man slapfights in the margins of War Against Azalin. literally anything with jander sunstar please god he has so little content. i'm doing my part but very few ppl are ever gonna read most of it, so i gotta bang pots and pans together about it.

#ravenloft mood

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jeeperso · 1 year

Text

D&D Quotes Without Context

Ravenloft edition, Fundertainment Land Arc, part 4

You are presently standing in the line for the Grinder, it being the most popular attraction at the park, its a giant roller coaster with an aesthetic like a slaughter house. “Do they have haggis?” "Oh...a roller coaster like that. This will be fun.” “You still think that? Here?” "You couldn't tell I'm freaking out a bit by my gritting my teeth?” “No, we’re in a non-visual medium.” "Oh good, we're making waves! They said just before the oncoming tsunami…" "As long as it isn't a sludge tsunami…" “So, we standing here or you want me to clear out the line?” "It would probably be best if we follow the rules. After all these hooks may not be entirely for show.” "Oh god, this ride goes closest to the lab, he is abducting people to experiment on!” "We've humiliated the lords by surviving this long. We are now the star attraction.” As you get strapped in, the worker in a butchers outfit looks at you with dead eyes. "You're all gonna die.” Poom: "So what else is new?” Eventually you turn a corner and go into a tunnel, it’s pitch black, with the sound of machinery and screaming around you. Edmund: “Who would willingly subject themselves to this!?” Jonni: “Kids about to get Isekei-ed?” Gorbash: “WEEEEEEEEEEE!” Jonni limps down the corridor with Nyx attached to her leg. When you reach the double doors and push them open, the first thing that hits your nose is the smell, the stench of death in decay. Poom: "I'm getting flashbacks to Tuesdays.” [monster pic] Gorbash: "OH NOT YOU FUCKS AGAIN!” Edmund: “I don’t recognize that at all.” Jonni: “You were naked in another man’s castle.” Nyarlathotep: "Ah, the grindhouse riff-raff.” Gorbash: “I think this is the one whose ass Vesh was kicking before we went into their terrible meat and surgery dimension.” “Eddie! Tetanus booster!” "Be at peace, for I am the Angel TriVia, of where the three roads meet.” “I’m gonna make him dead! Or disassembled! Depending on how he identifies!” “MARSHAL, YOU HAVE FINALLY COME HOME TO PAPA.” Jonni looks over to Marshall. “Kumquat?” Poom: "Which one is Kumquat?” "My father was Vine ‘Brickface’ Samuels, Sheriff of Last Light.” "YOUR FATHER VAS A CALCULATOR AND YOUR MOTHER WAS A COIN OPERATED MECHANICAL BULL.” Gorbash: “...Well i didn't need that mental image.” "WHY MUST YOU BE SO DIFFICULT. All I want you to do is entertain people. AND THEN KILL THEM.” Jonni: “Jeebus K Muffinlips, can I PLEASE turn this guy inside out?” "I AM THE ONE WHO DOES THE DISEMBOWLING HERE YOU INFLAMMABLE THOT.” Jonni: “BECAUSE I DON’T DO KNIFE WORK! I’M JUST GONNA MAGIC IT SO YOUR INSIDES ARE YOUR OUTSIDES.” Gorbash: “...I don't think I've seen Marshal fuck-word angry. This is going to be quite the reckoning.” Okay for that one, when yo u guys start down the service tunnels, you see some....thing begin to emerge from the shadows, something made of bone and tar and bits of popcorn, but then it see's Marshal, see's what mood he is in, and it very quietly backs up and vanishes back into the darkness. Poom: "One of the smartest creatures we've encountered.” Gorbash: “Occasionally even the horrors of the deep are smart enough to realize when they don't want a piece of something.” Eventually you come to a three way fork in the road. Angel TriVia: <"MY time has come.”> "They had a sadistic demon child help them design this place, didn't they?” "Hello Molly.” “Apparently, yes.” Jonni pushes Edmund in front. "ACK! Hey! What the heck Jonni!?” “Don’t complain, you get to keep your pants this time.” "Someone else want to try their luck?” Poom steps forward. Edmund: "I trust Poom.” Poom: [rolls a 1] Edmund: “She's the kind of person who can —" Jonni: “I’ve never seen someone lose tic tac toe to themselves…” Edmund: "I think she was trying to play Candyland…" Azathoth: "Zzzzzzzhmp? What was that? I think I fell asleep.” Nyx: ”Darn it, Az, you were supposed to be giving Poom hints on how to win the game, not sleeping.” GM OOC: Which is why I'm thinking of a skill to use. OOC: Religion's +12 GM OOC: What are you going to do, appeal to the Tic Tac Toe gods? Poom: "Sorry about that: I didn't know everyone else played without real toes.” GM: Poom you remember yelling "KING" ME" and then everything went blank. “MIND CRUSH!” Poom: "I think that's my thing.” "You were a very challenging opponent." Edmund said with true admiration at a Tic Tac Toe connoisseur. "WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE AND MEAT!?” “I thought the Meat Man was a gnome?” "And THAT's why my cooking is a curse.” Gorbash: “Fuck this place.” Poom: "That's what we're doing.” You are all now in a cheerfully decorated room with painted murals on the wall, there is a wooden table with six small paper boxes and crowns on it, and a sign hung overhead that says intermission. Jonni: “Bigbooty?” Nyx: ”I am not dressing up for a birthday party, I have enough nightmares about a few of mine gone wrong as it is.” Marshal: "You only had one a year…be grateful.” Edmund gestures to TriVia, who curiously goes to inspect one of the boxes. TriVia: "It contains a small sandwich, a pouch of fried potato wedges, three apple slices, a small carton of milk, and a toy.” Edmund: "Huh. Apple slices. Really?” It’s a normal happy meal. Perfectly mundane. OOC: So rancid dog food. Gorbash proceeds to demolish the contents of one of the boxes. “It's standard fare for this place. So if you don't want yours I'll take it.” Poom: "I've survived this long by not eating strange food. Help yourself.” Gorbash: “Funny enough, I've survived BY eating strange food. Don't mind if I do.” Edmund: ”We're going to face an evil Marshal aren’t we? One rebuilt in the bowels of Fundertainment but bereft of any soul or spirit…..Lahshram." Poom: "Bless you.” Edmund: "Thank you." Wiping his nose with a napkin from the box. Filling the entire doorway are a giant sideways facing pair of teeth. Marshal pulls out his maul, and begins a rhythmic chant as he takes practice swings. ”I. Make. Holes. In teeth.” "Be ready for anything. Danzi might be a cryogenically preserved head in the vaults before us.” "There is no way I’m ready for anything this place can throw at us.” OOC: Basically, Gunder is corpo Walt Disney, Danzi is insane futurist Disney. "They'll need proper burial.” “I mean, around here I think that’s trash pick up on Tuesday. They probably deserve better’n that.” Jonni: “Five gold says he put his brain in a Marsh-bot.” Gorbash: “I don't think that's big enough for his ego.”

#dungeons and dragons #dnd 5e #quotes without context #ravenloft

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