Welcome to Curse of Strahd
Hello everyone! My name is Mary and I’m a professional Dungeon Master.
I started writing these posts to document the sessions for the campaign I am currently running, which is the Curse of Strahd (REVAMPED) Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition adventure.
I’m so excited to share our story with you.
Start here to read the adventure from the beginning.
This game is primarily run through the online virtual tabletop program Roll20 and Discord chat software.
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The Characters
- Aashuri: A prickly Aasimar Sorcerer who seeks knowledge … almost desperately. She is slow to trust and has little to no sympathy for anyone.
- Therean D’Valliette: A gentle & welcoming Half-Elf Bard who once fought in a war. Therean enjoys traveling, but seems aimless in his life goals.
- Jihyo: A troubled & paranoid Half-Elf Fighter. Jihyo is haunted by something from her past, but she keeps it all close to her chest.
Prior to the introduction of Jihyo, Aashuri and Therean were originally traveling with a human paladin named Okrafae Grislow. However, Okrafae decided to part ways with the party following the horrific events in the Death House.
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From the Beginning
When I first started running this game in December 2020, I had 3 players with me going through the opening one-shot adventure called “Death House”. At the time, it didn’t occur to me to start documenting the sessions in a journal or blog or anything like that. As a result, the official “beginning” of this story was never written. The first “episode” I’m officially publishing (titled “Trouble in Village Barovia”) is actually the 4th session into my Curse of Strahd campaign.
Because of this, I’ve summarized below everything I remember from those first few sessions that took place before the first episode.
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Story of the Death House
Aashuri, Therean, and Okrafae were traveling north along the Sword Coast with a merchant caravan heading toward Waterdeep. They were still over a hundred miles away from the nearest inn when the caravan decided to make camp on the side of the road as they had been doing for days now since their journey began. Feeling safe and secure with such a large traveling group, the party settled into their bedrolls and went to sleep.
Aashuri, Therean, and Okrafae awoke the next morning to find they were no longer with the merchant caravan. Not only that, they were no longer camped out on the side of a familiar road. Instead they found themselves in an unfamiliar misty forest. Their bedrolls have disappeared. Their weapons and equipment, gone. Nothing was left except for the clothes on their back. There wasn’t even any evidence of a campfire.
Searching their pockets, and then the area around them, the party members found small handwritten notes telling them to “Help the Children” and “Find Madam Eva”. They were also told in one note to reveal a secret to their fellow party members. Aashuri refused to answer. Therean confessed that, during the war, he used to steal socks from his fellow comrades. Okrafae confessed that, despite being a paladin, he didn’t actually believe in anything.
As they contemplated the meaning of the notes, they happened to meet on the road two young children named Rosavalda and Thornboldt, who claimed that there was a monster in their house. They didn’t know where their parents were, but their baby brother Walter was still in the house. The children led the party to a stately townhouse that appeared well-kept, but dark inside.
Exploring the house, the party discovered terrible secrets. The children’s parents, Gustav & Elizabeth Durst were leaders of cult that seemed obsessed with a vampire called Strahd von Zarovich. Hoping to become immortal like Strahd, the cult performed experiments that lead to the birth of a monster in the basement which killed everyone.
From their investigation of the house, the party learned Gustav Durst had an affair with the family nursemaid and sired a bastard child named Walter. Elizabeth Durst, furious over the infidelity, murdered the nursemaid and took the baby to the basement to be used for the cult’s dark experiments. The Durst children, Rose and Thorn, were often locked away in the attic during the experiments.
When the experiments failed and killed all the cult members, including Mr. and Mrs. Durst, Rose and Thorn were unable to escape their attic room and died of starvation. It turns out that the two children the party met on the road were only the ghosts of Rose and Thorn.
At the lowest level of the basement, the party confronted the surviving shambling mound monster that was left over from the cult’s experiments. They discovered that in the center of the mound was the corpse of a baby. When the baby was cut free, the mound dissolved.
The party was able to lay the remains of Rose, Thorn, Margaret the nursemaid, and baby Walter to rest in the family crypts, which brought peace to their spirits, allowing them to move on from the material plane.
Prior to leaving the house, the party decided to explore just a little more in the basement levels. They found a shrine dedicated to Strahd von Zarovich, which included a statue of him holding a crystal orb. Aashuri touched the orb and heard a voice of a man say, “There you are Tatyana”. Unnerved by the voice, Aashuri urged that they should leave the cursed house and never come back.
Upon leaving, Okrafae informed that party that he would not be able to continue the journey with them. Given that he was spiritually lost, he felt it would be better for him to find his own path and perhaps rediscover his faith. They parted ways.
Leaving Death House
Upon leaving the Durst home, Aashuri and Therean followed the road until it led them to the Gates of Barovia. A flock of bats passed overhead as they passed through the gates. The great metal gates closed behind them, trapping the adventurers within the strange and misty valley known as Barovia.
As they walked, they discovered a corpse of a young man on the side of the road. It seemed he was killed by wolves and he appeared to have been dead for several days. In his hand was a letter which read:
Hail thee of might and valor,
I, the Burgomaster of Barovia, send you honor — with despair. My adopted daughter, the fair Ireena Kolyana, was once long ago hunted by a vampyr. My brave Ireena fought against the devil’s monstrous oppression even as she languished from an unholy wound caused by this vile beast. She failed. And those who sought to protect her, including myself, failed her.
For over four hundred years, this creature has drained the life blood of my people. He has become too powerful to conquer.
So I say to you, give us up for dead and encircle this land with the symbols of good. Let holy men call upon their power that the devil may be contained within the walls of weeping Barovia. Leave our sorrows to our graves, and save the world from this evil fate of ours.
There is much wealth entrapped in this community. Return for your reward after we are all departed for a better life.
Kolyan Indirovich
Uncertain of what to make of the letter, the party pressed on until they reached a village. They discovered themselves to be in the Village of Barovia, which sits in the shadow of a castle on a mountain overlooking the valley and the town.
Village of Barovia
Upon entering the village, Aashuri and Therean met a pie-selling old merchant woman named Morgantha who calls herself “Granny”. She provided them with whatever information they needed about the land they were in, and gave them free samples of her pies.
The party proceeded toward the Blood On the Vine tavern, owned by three women the party identified as “Vistani” (named Alenka, Mirabel, and Sorvia). In the tavern, they met a tired middle-aged man named Ismark, who briefly mistook Aashuri for his sister Ireena in a fit of drunken stupor. Regaining his senses, Ismark deigned to explain that his sister Ireena died 2 decades ago. Ireena was relentlessly pursued by the vampire, Strahd von Zarovich, who calls himself “dread lord” of the land. Barovians call him “the devil”. Strahd is the lord of all of Barovia and has ruled over Barovia for over a millenia.
It is known that anyone who is born in Barovia can never leave the valley. The mists surrounding the valley keep people in. Even their souls are trapped, forced to be reborn only in Barovia. The only exception are the Vistani, who seem to freely come and go. Barovians believe all Vistani are secretly servants of Strahd.
However, every few decades there are also adventurers who actually come into the valley. It is believed that Strahd lures them in them in whenever he’s bored and wants something to play with.
Twenty years ago, when another set of newcomers ventured into Barovia with the goal of destroying Strahd once and for all, Ireena took up arms with them to fight. Amazingly enough, after a long journey filled with trials, they succeeded. Strahd was killed in his castle, and the mists seemed lift. Sunlight shined on the valley. The adventurers returned to their own world, believing their task complete. But not a day later, Strahd returned. The impenetrable mists flooded the forests around the valley once more. Ireena did not anticipate being trapped in Barovia again. Knowing Strahd would come for her, she took her own life.
Ismark claimed it is impossible to destroy Strahd. He is a curse upon the land, and no one knows how to lift it. To this day, Strahd still resides in the castle known as Ravenloft, overlooking the valley.
In the two decades after their loss, Ismark and his father, burgomaster Kolylan Indirovich, were tortured by their failure to protect Ireena. A few days ago, the burgomaster took his own life shortly after ordering a servant named Dalvan to place a letter at the Gates of Barovia.
With his story finished, Ismark offered for the party to stay at the burgomaster’s mansion for the night.
Next Episode: (1) Trouble In Village Barovia
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