#strahd brides

[hikarinokusari]

Keeping up the fake illustrations of what if scenarios. This time with my favorite bride, and my favorite female NPC from the campaign. The real queen in my little dm heart, Ludmilla Vilisevic. Long may she reigns over the embers of Vallaki. (In our campaign, Vallaki burnt before I did the Feast of St Andral because I'm a stupid DM. Fiona is ruling what is left. For now.)

[anae-art]

More sketches of vampire brides made for the dinner session Which one do you like the most? During my campaign, unfortunately, I didn't have much opportunity to meet with them, but Escher captivated me

[ladiemars]

i’m dming curse of strahd right now and i decided to yassify his brides 🖤

[beetlebabby]

strahd spending quality time with the brides 😍

[nouveaumoon]

♥ happy valentine's day! ♥

[theravenloftwanderers]

Curse of Strahd: The Ravenloft Wanderers Ludmilla Vilisevic.

No don't ask me how many times ive re-rendered my art pieces. It's simply not a question that exist here. Bdkdbks.

[tantaliart]

the real housewives of castle ravenloft

[missbaphomet]

We're making lore breakthroughs people

[they-call-me-veral]

POV: you don't want to be bride No. 5

[vanhelsingapologist]

Finally, we’ve come to the end. Our dear brides have made it all the way through, but lo, the people have resurrected a fan favorite champion to face them: Victor.

Hailing from Vallaki, Victor puts the ‘mad’ in ‘madwoman in the attic.’ He’s got wizardry, flair, and an iPod touch loaded with the dulcet sounds of MCR. Hot Topic membership? Intact. Lanyard? On. Warped Tour bracelets? Secured.

The Brides have been in a long fight for recognition of their rights in Ravenloft. Enduring with the resolve of angry coal miners, they’ve been pushing ever forward for access to vacation days, having secured dental and the ability to use their likenesses as they please.

And finally, some notes:

Victor will be discovering the following albums as he fights. They are queued onto his iPod touch, and around the thirty minute mark, he will receive the news there is a reunion tour. This may act as a rage.

The Brides can quote Eugene V. Debs at will. This acts as a stun. They do NOT have Escher. This is Ludmilla, Anastrasya, and Volenta.

ok fight.

[acephodel]

Some Curse of Strahd NPCs I commissioned from the amazingly talented @needlesslycryptic who also drew my party for me 💕

Here are the Brides of Strahd!

Volenta, Ludmilla, Anastrasya 🥰

[hikarinokusari]

Somehow I managed to draw the portrait of Volenta for my game, now that my players won't see her again before a while. I will do at least the cast of Ravenloft so maybe see you with the others, if I stay motivated.

I didn't manage to do ram horns, so I went for more classic tieflings horns. (I headcanon her as a tiefling, the mask she wears has its own tiny horns as well).

Feel free to use in your own game,

[anae-art]

We are just after the session and oh boy! What a session it was! Finally players had the opportunity to meet Strahd's inner circle. The impressions were...mixed. Especially since our bard realized that he was veeeery similar to our dear Esher... and Strahd noticed it too, which led to, ahem... a longer conversation

[thatratgo]

Banter I think Esmerela and the brides would have :D

[tea-with-eleni]

Ludmilla Vilisevic

Pastel pencils on black paper with metallic gold watercolor, white acrylic for the brightest highlights.

My take on Ludmilla under the cut, from Ireena's point of view (aka "the least sympathetic point of view in Barovia, probably")

Ludmilla still doesn’t look directly at you, but she touches your knee. She probably understands why you fear Strahd as well as anyone. Hells, she…

“Why did you marry him?” You ask, before you can think better of it. Ludmilla slumps slightly.

“You won’t believe me, but he isn’t the same without you. It’s difficult to describe. It helps, I think, that I was alone when I came here. I wanted to learn, and he is the most brilliant man I’ve ever met. He was also lonely.” She isn’t telling the whole story. You try to drag your mind out of your past lives enough to figure out what you might be missing. The fact that you’re trying to figure something out about Strahd makes it difficult after centuries of lies and flattery and, if you believe Ludmilla, only seeing him a certain way. Ludmila seems to notice the shift in your demeanor and forces a smile. You can see her fangs. You try not to shudder. You hate Strahd, and you intellectually know that she’s a monster, but it’s easy to forget that right now.

You look back out the window. “Were you only ever alive or a true vampire?” You ask. Ludmila doesn’t answer for a long time.

“No,” she says with a sigh. “I was spawn for decades. He didn’t know how to even create true vampires; how would he? He was the first.”

Your stomach twists. “That must have been horrible,” you say. You shouldn’t. You don’t want to sympathize with her. She’s a monster. She made and sacrificed plenty of her own spawn in Vallaki. She made Doru. You should not sympathize with her.

“It could have been worse,” she says. She’s gone still. You’re suddenly conscious of how much living things move. She no longer resembles a living thing. She resembles a statue. “I did love him, after all. In his own way, he loved me. He didn’t know to what extent I had to obey him.” Her voice is flat. You watch her with growing concern until she shakes herself a little and forces another smile. She doesn’t try to meet your gaze but looks back towards you. “He learned with us. He would never make you spawn. When you were Marina, you would have been a true vampire if your horrible burgomaster hadn’t staked you. You wouldn’t have ever been spawn, not for a moment.”

It isn’t comforting, not if you think about what that means you must have done. She can tell, because she apologizes. Then, abruptly, she’s gone.

The mist is rising again outside. You shudder and retreat to the fireplace. You are grateful that there are some things you cannot remember.

[mx-lamour]

Fellow CoS DMs (and players),

I call upon ye once more, to tell me all your Brides of Strahd lore!

There's nothing in the module. I do not know how to work with this.

(I do have some stuff for past love interest Patrina Velikovna and forgotten bride Sasha Ivliskova. It's the Main Three plus Escher I'm worried about.)

Thanks in advance team. ♡