#vanhelsingapologist jumps on tumblr

[vanhelsingapologist]

But why do I lie awake each night thinking Instead of you, it should be me?

Redraw of the picture in VRGtR! I am sensing a Strahd Sighting soon in our campaign.

[profmj]

WIP Wednesday

Victor Vallakovich has become my favorite NPC in Curse of Strahd. However, after jumping into the CoS fandom on Tumblr, I was shocked to find very little fanart that incorporated him. So I decided to throw my hat into the ring, alongside the absolutely talented likes of @pigeon-princess and @vanhelsingapologist, and post about my shameless hyperfixation.

In our campaign, my character (Laika, a shifter monk) was immediately smitten with Victor. He was quiet, brooding, sarcastic, and quite unlike anyone that Laika'd ever met before. I'll include an excerpt of the scene I'm illustrating below the cut, but TLDR: Laika obtains the Tome of Strahd and selfishly invites Victor to join our party without consulting anyone else.

Victor excused himself to use the restroom after barely picking at his food. Once he was out of the room, I nodded at Edeline and similarly excused myself. Victor's subtly-spiced scent was not hard to follow upstairs to the attic of the manor. I nearly didn't believe that Victor was up there because the room was dark and incredibly cluttered. But quickly I noticed light coming from under a door across the room after poking around. The door to the room was locked, so I did what any "upstanding citizen" would do; I knocked.

Victor answered the door with a look of poorly-masked disdain, and begrudgingly invited me inside. The room was his secret study; books were piled all around on crates and tables, and a large chalk sigil was drawn on the ground. To my surprise, he confided in me that he had been teaching himself magic, despite the local superstition and would-be disapproval of his parents. When I asked why, he told me that he wanted nothing more than to escape Barovia.

Realizing how much he'd shared, Victor asked me not to tell anyone. I agreed, and in order to establish trust decided it would only be fair for me to confide something in him. I told Victor that I was not the "upstanding citizen" his mother took me for, and transformed in front of him to take on my regular pseudo-wolfish form. Victor smiled in shocked approval.

That was the right move, apparently, because Victor then showed me his most prized possession--the book from which he'd been learning magic. It's cover was made of a dark red leather and it was fastened with steel hinges. I opened the book, expecting to see some alchemic instructions or spell, but instead was met with this:

I am The Ancient, I am The Land.

My beginnings are lost in the darkness of the past. I was Warrior, I was good and just. I thundered across the land like the wrath of an angry god, but the war years and the killing years wore down my soul as the wind wears stone into sand. No man alone can bear the brunt of what I have seen and come away with soft hands and a soft heart.

All goodness has slipped from my life and time itself has become my worst enemy. For all I have gained, I have lost more.

Father once advised me to keep record of my deeds, as men of military might should strive to make order of the chaos they have wrought. For him, such records would prove to future men the power of their betters.

I care little for this. Mother thought writing it all down might fix the broken thing inside me and, since I made her a promise, I had to try.

How foolish of her for asking, and how foolish of me for agreeing. I am not broken. I am what I was made to be--what I was destined to be-- a perfect weapon--metal that has been tempered over and over by putting it in fire.

Now we all must live with the consequences.

It is why I brought you here, dear adventurer.

Yes, you have found my journal. Perhaps you hoped to plumb my innermost thoughts, to learn my origins, to discern the secret to my destruction. See how generously I have provided you with that and more—a full and honest account of my history, even of my weaknesses—all because I have no reason to lie, no cause to fear. Doubt my words if you must; it makes no difference to me. Though, perhaps with some help, your misguided efforts may actually excite some vague interest before I drain you. Think well on your heart’s desire. What price are you willing to pay, even for the meanest hope of obtaining it?

How will you choose to die?

Will you serve justice and peace, submit to my lordship, and accept Barovia as your home? Or will you spread vain hope and dissension, rebel against my throne, and play the assassin? Whatever you choose, and though you may wish otherwise, you now have my full and complete attention.

I am Strahd von Zarovich, Lord of Barovia, Master of Ravenloft. And this... is my game.

I quickly showed the book to Victor and asked him if he could read it, too. Victor could, and he commented that the book had never done this before. He reached out to take the book back, but I withheld it. And then... I couldn't help what I said next. After the day we'd had, I couldn't lie to another person, particularly when this book was clearly so important to Victor.

I openly told him that we needed this book in order to break the curse on Barovia and release everyone's trapped souls. "Victor, I'm asking you to trust me," I said.

"Take me with you," he pleaded in earnestness.

My heart started racing again. The look of determination on his face. He was so sure, and in that moment I was willing to be selfish. I agreed.

[vanhelsingapologist]

“Don’t be frightened of me. I’ve waited too long for you; loved you for hundreds of years. I would never hurt you.”

DM wanted a more unhinged Strahd for the upcoming session, and their every whim is my command.

[vanhelsingapologist]

So pick your weapons up and throw your mercy down.

DILF ALERT, we have uhh Leo Dilisnya. Spoilers for our campaign below and in tags.

So we resurrected Leo Dilisnya, who was living as a bag o’ bones before my PC stole him out of Wachterhaus by some miracle of god. She resurrected him in the middle of a field using her blood, and it turned out that he was just a 400 year old starved vampire who really needed a drinky and hates Strahd more than anything.

So now he’s just hanging out with us and nothing will go wrong ever again because he is DEFINITELY not evil.