Have been running Curse of Strahd for a little over a year now for a mixed player group, specifically one fairly experienced player and four relative newbs who I ran through the Phandelver starter adventure a bit ago. At our last session, the party had just arrived at the abbey with Ireena, and are currently waiting to speak with the Abbot about allowing Ireena to stay at the abbey, as they had been told it was pretty much the last bastion of safety remaining in Barovia. Hoping maybe someone can give me some ideas, as I might have painted myself into a bit of a corner.
See, when we started the adventure, I was paying more attention to helping the newbs learn their characters' abilities and strengths, and not enough attention on developing interesting personalities and interactions with NPCs, most notably Ireena. After being told by Ismark to transport Ireena the Vallaki, I neglected/forgot to really make Ireena interesting, so she unfortunately ended up seeming to be more of a burden than a useful ally. This impression was furthered by her being fairly useless in some random encounters along the way, as bad rolls made a miss of virtually every one of her attacks. By the time we got to Vallaki, they couldn't wait to ditch her at the local church and move on. Easier said than done, however. With the bones of St. Andral stolen, the church doesn't offer the protection they'd hoped for, so they set out to track them down. Ran a St. Andral's orphanage side quest that I had found somewhere online, which the party enjoyed pretty much, and from there, found the bones and returned them to the church. I forget where in the sequence of events it happened, but they also met with Lady Wachter, where she laid out her desire to depose the current burgomaster and install herself in his place, if only the party would help. They refused. When they returned the bones to the church, it was to find the place ransacked, the priest knocked out, and Ireena nowhere to be seen. When conscious, the priest recalls seeing a clawed fist hit him, tipping the party off that Strazni is involved. Ismark shows up unexpectedly just then, learning that his sister has been kidnapped, but one of players with a ridiculous passive perception notices something off about Ismark, and it is revealed that this is actually Strahd in disguise. There's a bit of a tussle, where Strahd toys with them a bit, but then he dissolves into mist and takes off.
That night, as they rest at the Inn, they are awoken by the Martikovs, who tell them that the priest and Ireena are downstairs. Turns out that once her biggest obstacle, Strazni, was taken out of the picture, nothing remained keeping Lady Wachter and her minions from staging a coup. They'd set fire to several buildings in the town, including the church, and are at the burgomaster's mansion when the party arrives. She murders the burgomaster and his wife in front of the party, then tells the party that, rather than killing them as well, as an "act of gratitude and mercy," she is banishing the party from Vallaki immediately, on promise of death should they ever return. The priest sees the party to the gates, telling them that their last resort is the abbey in Krezk.
The party reach Krezk and of course are refused entry. The burgomaster requests the party return with wine from Wizard of Wines, and the party grudgingly agrees, traveling to the winery with Ireena in tow. Now, I should at this point mention that in an effort to make Ireena a bit more interesting and a bit less of a burden, I beefed her up a tad. Think I added a point or two to her AC, switched her rapier for a longsword and gave her multiattack (still not great damage... only does 7 on a hit), and because of her time, albeit brief, spent with the priest, I decided he'd taught her a little healing magic, and gave her the ability to cast Cure Wounds once per day. She's still no powerhouse, but she's a lot less useless, and with the exception of one player, they don't mind as much having her around. They dealt with the infestation of scarecrows and needle blights at the winery and even at Yester Hill, finding the first of the three seeds needed to get the winery back in full swing. They are told about the second seed and its location with Baba Lysaga in the swamps, and the party agreed to retrieve it, but first, they want to deliver Ireena to the abbey.
Which all brings us to the last session. They return to Krezk with the wine (following a "random" encounter with some werewolves, one of who has a note hinting at troubles in the pack with Kiril(?) in power), and enter the town at last. They ask about the abbey, and the burgomaster points up to the abbey high on the hill, and the party sets off immediately. Dropped a few hints regarding the oddness of the town, specifically how when they pass the largest cottage in town (obviously the burgomaster's), there are several open graves in the adjoining cemetery, and what looks like a fresh grave alongside, as well as a couple of other odd occurrences along the way. Ridiculous Passive Perception Guy notices Ireena is acting strangely, listening to something only she can hear. They allow her to lead the way, and they end up at the pool. When Ireena attempts to grasp Sergei's hand in the water, the party restrains her, and the hand submerges. I think technically I should have had Strahd destroy the pool with lightening (saw something to that effect elsewhere), but I didn't. Ultimately the party and Ireena continued up to the abbey, where they met the first of the mongrelfolk at the gate, followed by the Abbot himself.
So I have a couple of issues here. First, and this is admittedly fairly stupid, but I have built out the majority of the abbey using some Warlock Tiles (my group likes the tactical and visual feel of a physical 3D battlemap), and it is probably the most accurate build of one of the module maps I have made thus far... which means it is huge. So I am hoping that there is something I can do to make them want to remain at the abbey for a bit and explore, so as not to waste the effort put into the map. Like I said, stupid. Mostly just want to keep it from being a "Well, we got you here... byeeeeee!" type situation. I have clued the party into the fact that there is def some weirdness at play with the abbey, probably the biggest clue being the two mongrelfolk at the gate, but is it enough to override their general apathy toward Ireena to get them to stick around. They also intend to head for the swamps soon after they deliver Ireena to "safety", so there's another factor in them wanting to bug out asap. Granted it is just about nightfall when they get to the abbey, so they won't want to travel during the night, but as they could probably find someplace in the village to spend the night in exchange for some odd chore, they might opt not to remain in the abbey itself. What could be a good way to sort of push them into staying at the abbey to explore and investigate what's going on?
Which brings me to the second issue. Given their general apathy toward Ireena, I worry that if somehow things play out where they leave Ireena in the Abbot's care without exploring the abbey and discovering what he is up to, or his connection to Strahd, they won't know when things go wrong, ie. the Abbot uses parts of Ireena's body for the "bride", or Stahd absconds with Ireena before that can happen. If the party is off in the swamps getting the second seed while any of this happens, how will they find out? They have been going through the campaign with sort of two main quests in mind: get Ireena to safety, and kill Strahd. Once they've delivered her to the abbey, that's one quest down. Not exactly sure how to tip them off that something has happened to Ireena, and even if they do find out, will they even care? Another aspect is what if they DO stick around at the abbey, discover what the Abbot is up to, and end up kicking off a battle with the Abbot's deva form, and then win? Will Ireena still be safe at the abbey, or was the abbey as a safe haven only an illusion to begin with? Are they stuck with Ireena, or should circumstances occur to remove her from the narrative?
Thanks in advance for any ideas to help me keep this moving forward.
Hello!! I am in a similar situation, with the players not liking Ireena very much. In this situation, I would try to hint that The Abbot is insane, and try to get the players interested and curious. Maybe make him hard to find so they have to explore the Abbey before finding him and handing Ireena over.
As for the for whether the Abbey is a safe haven I have no idea, I'm still thinking about that. It probably is sort of a safe haven with the Abbot there? Im thinking about letting my players cure the Abbot of madness if they try, though I don't know how. but if he was cured, it could definitely be safe for Ireena. This way, with a quest to cure the abbot, your amazing model could be used more as the players stay in Krezk and The Abbey.
Hmm. Things worked out a little differently when I ran it but you might be able to turn things back that way if you want.
1) The abbey is probably one of the most dangerous places in Barovia for Ireena. As Strahd's current paramour, the abbot would think nothing of chopping off her head to add it to the "perfect" bride he is creating. Of course, Strahd might decide to wipe the deva out for that action. Keep in mind that the fallen deva is totally insane and evil. The abbey in general is more of a mad house than anything else. Personally, I didn't like the entire set of "insanity" themes at the abbey so I didn't emphasize them and the party left fairly quickly. Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done for the mongrel folk as I recall ... they apparently chose to remain that way ... however, if you want the party to do something there it could involve freeing the mongrelfolk from the Abbot - though that will cause problems for the village. Alternatively, the abbot and mongrelfolk could decide the party is a problem and attempt to eliminate them. Up to you how you choose to play it.
2) However, I think you have perhaps downplayed the significance of the pool and the events there. There is no way Ireena would choose to be pulled away from the pool if at all possible. Her soul is tied to that of Sergei. It is really the best escape for Ireena from the world of Barovia. The characters could pull her away from the pool but when I ran it I described the peacefulness of the pool, the appearance of the image of Sergei and what both Sergei and Ireena said in response and followed up with the fact that Ireena truly appears to want to take Sergei's hand when it appears. The party decided to let it happen and it set up a great scene where Strahd's anger was evident.
In your case, I don't know how you left it. Since Ireena didn't actually take the hand, Strahd may still not be aware of the magic pool since it has been there for centuries. Depending on whether you had Strahd react or if you had him destroy the pool - the pool may still be there and that might still be the best way to give the party a cool ending to the Ireena quest line and drop an NPC that isn't that useful.
When I ran it, the Tarokka card reading had Ireena as the special helper. However, most of these allies aren't particularly useful especially closer to the end since they just aren't that powerful. In my case, I had Ireena exit in Krezk and the party encountered Ezmeralda the vampire hunter who joined them on their quest to kill Strahd. Ezmeralda makes a much better ally for the party, more competent, more skilled, more knowledgeable and just a generally better NPC. If the party hasn't run into her yet, one of the places she can be found is at the abbey. She could either taking refuge and planning (as suggested in the story) or perhaps have her being held prisoner by the abbot because he plans to ritually sacrifice her and add her magic to the special golem he is creating for Strahd. The party could then be enlisted to rescue Ezmeralda which will let you use your abbey maps and allow her to become a party ally.
However, that may depend to some extent on whether the option to return Ireena to the pool is still available in your game since that is probably the best and most positive ending for that NPC since there isn't any real safe spot for Ireena anywhere in Barovia.
Finally, if needed, I had the spirit of Ireena available to interfere in the final fight against Strahd if the party needed any help. Ireena's spirit might appear and effectively distract Strahd for a round or two allowing the party to recover or take actions while Strahd is distracted trying to recover the soul of Tatiana (which isn't actually possible, but Strahd doesn't know that - the branch of hope is something that the vestiges in the Amber Temple use to tempt and torture Strahd and they will use the soul of Tatiana or the possibility of escape from Barovia or anything Strahd might hope for to further torture him while confined to his own personal hell - CoS is really a story about Strahd - Barovia is really a reflection of his mind and even death won't save him).
Anyway, if you don't think Ireena is a decent NPC that the party isn't clicking with then, if possible, use the pool to give her a decent exit from the narrative.
3) I don't know if you have read through the entire thing but just a heads up ... some of the cool magic items and magic effects require stuff from the basement of the castle. However, by the time the party is exploring the castle, it is really unlikely for the party to go back out into Barovia to find out what these items do.
In particular, there is an item that releases the ring of regeneration that is embedded in a tombstone in the graveyard of the Krezk monastery. There is also a dragon skull that will activate the beacon at Argynvostholt. Both of these are pretty cool and useful. When I ran it, I gave the item needed to recover the ring to the priest in Vallakia since he was a distant descendant of the priestess the ring used to belong to. I had the priest give it to the party after they returned the item that protected the sanctity of the church.
In the case of the dragon skull, I had it stored in the basement of the Wizard of Wines winery. The raiders that had attacked the castle some years ago took things when they fled. One was the skull which surreptitiously made its way to the Cult of the Raven, saved against future need. This makes it possible for the party to activate the beacon at an appropriate place in the plot line.
I suspect neither of these will likely happen if the party is in the castle since the castle is intentionally difficult to leave .. most of the time, the party goes to the castle, explores, finds treasure, encounters Strahd at whatever location the Tarokka reading indicated and then either wins or loses ... at which point the power of these items/effects loses a lot of its meaning.
Have been running Curse of Strahd for a little over a year now for a mixed player group, specifically one fairly experienced player and four relative newbs who I ran through the Phandelver starter adventure a bit ago. At our last session, the party had just arrived at the abbey with Ireena, and are currently waiting to speak with the Abbot about allowing Ireena to stay at the abbey, as they had been told it was pretty much the last bastion of safety remaining in Barovia. Hoping maybe someone can give me some ideas, as I might have painted myself into a bit of a corner.
See, when we started the adventure, I was paying more attention to helping the newbs learn their characters' abilities and strengths, and not enough attention on developing interesting personalities and interactions with NPCs, most notably Ireena. After being told by Ismark to transport Ireena the Vallaki, I neglected/forgot to really make Ireena interesting, so she unfortunately ended up seeming to be more of a burden than a useful ally. This impression was furthered by her being fairly useless in some random encounters along the way, as bad rolls made a miss of virtually every one of her attacks. By the time we got to Vallaki, they couldn't wait to ditch her at the local church and move on. Easier said than done, however. With the bones of St. Andral stolen, the church doesn't offer the protection they'd hoped for, so they set out to track them down. Ran a St. Andral's orphanage side quest that I had found somewhere online, which the party enjoyed pretty much, and from there, found the bones and returned them to the church. I forget where in the sequence of events it happened, but they also met with Lady Wachter, where she laid out her desire to depose the current burgomaster and install herself in his place, if only the party would help. They refused. When they returned the bones to the church, it was to find the place ransacked, the priest knocked out, and Ireena nowhere to be seen. When conscious, the priest recalls seeing a clawed fist hit him, tipping the party off that Strazni is involved. Ismark shows up unexpectedly just then, learning that his sister has been kidnapped, but one of players with a ridiculous passive perception notices something off about Ismark, and it is revealed that this is actually Strahd in disguise. There's a bit of a tussle, where Strahd toys with them a bit, but then he dissolves into mist and takes off.
That night, as they rest at the Inn, they are awoken by the Martikovs, who tell them that the priest and Ireena are downstairs. Turns out that once her biggest obstacle, Strazni, was taken out of the picture, nothing remained keeping Lady Wachter and her minions from staging a coup. They'd set fire to several buildings in the town, including the church, and are at the burgomaster's mansion when the party arrives. She murders the burgomaster and his wife in front of the party, then tells the party that, rather than killing them as well, as an "act of gratitude and mercy," she is banishing the party from Vallaki immediately, on promise of death should they ever return. The priest sees the party to the gates, telling them that their last resort is the abbey in Krezk.
The party reach Krezk and of course are refused entry. The burgomaster requests the party return with wine from Wizard of Wines, and the party grudgingly agrees, traveling to the winery with Ireena in tow. Now, I should at this point mention that in an effort to make Ireena a bit more interesting and a bit less of a burden, I beefed her up a tad. Think I added a point or two to her AC, switched her rapier for a longsword and gave her multiattack (still not great damage... only does 7 on a hit), and because of her time, albeit brief, spent with the priest, I decided he'd taught her a little healing magic, and gave her the ability to cast Cure Wounds once per day. She's still no powerhouse, but she's a lot less useless, and with the exception of one player, they don't mind as much having her around. They dealt with the infestation of scarecrows and needle blights at the winery and even at Yester Hill, finding the first of the three seeds needed to get the winery back in full swing. They are told about the second seed and its location with Baba Lysaga in the swamps, and the party agreed to retrieve it, but first, they want to deliver Ireena to the abbey.
Which all brings us to the last session. They return to Krezk with the wine (following a "random" encounter with some werewolves, one of who has a note hinting at troubles in the pack with Kiril(?) in power), and enter the town at last. They ask about the abbey, and the burgomaster points up to the abbey high on the hill, and the party sets off immediately. Dropped a few hints regarding the oddness of the town, specifically how when they pass the largest cottage in town (obviously the burgomaster's), there are several open graves in the adjoining cemetery, and what looks like a fresh grave alongside, as well as a couple of other odd occurrences along the way. Ridiculous Passive Perception Guy notices Ireena is acting strangely, listening to something only she can hear. They allow her to lead the way, and they end up at the pool. When Ireena attempts to grasp Sergei's hand in the water, the party restrains her, and the hand submerges. I think technically I should have had Strahd destroy the pool with lightening (saw something to that effect elsewhere), but I didn't. Ultimately the party and Ireena continued up to the abbey, where they met the first of the mongrelfolk at the gate, followed by the Abbot himself.
So I have a couple of issues here. First, and this is admittedly fairly stupid, but I have built out the majority of the abbey using some Warlock Tiles (my group likes the tactical and visual feel of a physical 3D battlemap), and it is probably the most accurate build of one of the module maps I have made thus far... which means it is huge. So I am hoping that there is something I can do to make them want to remain at the abbey for a bit and explore, so as not to waste the effort put into the map. Like I said, stupid. Mostly just want to keep it from being a "Well, we got you here... byeeeeee!" type situation. I have clued the party into the fact that there is def some weirdness at play with the abbey, probably the biggest clue being the two mongrelfolk at the gate, but is it enough to override their general apathy toward Ireena to get them to stick around. They also intend to head for the swamps soon after they deliver Ireena to "safety", so there's another factor in them wanting to bug out asap. Granted it is just about nightfall when they get to the abbey, so they won't want to travel during the night, but as they could probably find someplace in the village to spend the night in exchange for some odd chore, they might opt not to remain in the abbey itself. What could be a good way to sort of push them into staying at the abbey to explore and investigate what's going on?
Which brings me to the second issue. Given their general apathy toward Ireena, I worry that if somehow things play out where they leave Ireena in the Abbot's care without exploring the abbey and discovering what he is up to, or his connection to Strahd, they won't know when things go wrong, ie. the Abbot uses parts of Ireena's body for the "bride", or Stahd absconds with Ireena before that can happen. If the party is off in the swamps getting the second seed while any of this happens, how will they find out? They have been going through the campaign with sort of two main quests in mind: get Ireena to safety, and kill Strahd. Once they've delivered her to the abbey, that's one quest down. Not exactly sure how to tip them off that something has happened to Ireena, and even if they do find out, will they even care? Another aspect is what if they DO stick around at the abbey, discover what the Abbot is up to, and end up kicking off a battle with the Abbot's deva form, and then win? Will Ireena still be safe at the abbey, or was the abbey as a safe haven only an illusion to begin with? Are they stuck with Ireena, or should circumstances occur to remove her from the narrative?
Thanks in advance for any ideas to help me keep this moving forward.
Hello!! I am in a similar situation, with the players not liking Ireena very much. In this situation, I would try to hint that The Abbot is insane, and try to get the players interested and curious. Maybe make him hard to find so they have to explore the Abbey before finding him and handing Ireena over.
As for the for whether the Abbey is a safe haven I have no idea, I'm still thinking about that. It probably is sort of a safe haven with the Abbot there? Im thinking about letting my players cure the Abbot of madness if they try, though I don't know how. but if he was cured, it could definitely be safe for Ireena. This way, with a quest to cure the abbot, your amazing model could be used more as the players stay in Krezk and The Abbey.
Hmm. Things worked out a little differently when I ran it but you might be able to turn things back that way if you want.
1) The abbey is probably one of the most dangerous places in Barovia for Ireena. As Strahd's current paramour, the abbot would think nothing of chopping off her head to add it to the "perfect" bride he is creating. Of course, Strahd might decide to wipe the deva out for that action. Keep in mind that the fallen deva is totally insane and evil. The abbey in general is more of a mad house than anything else. Personally, I didn't like the entire set of "insanity" themes at the abbey so I didn't emphasize them and the party left fairly quickly. Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done for the mongrel folk as I recall ... they apparently chose to remain that way ... however, if you want the party to do something there it could involve freeing the mongrelfolk from the Abbot - though that will cause problems for the village. Alternatively, the abbot and mongrelfolk could decide the party is a problem and attempt to eliminate them. Up to you how you choose to play it.
2) However, I think you have perhaps downplayed the significance of the pool and the events there. There is no way Ireena would choose to be pulled away from the pool if at all possible. Her soul is tied to that of Sergei. It is really the best escape for Ireena from the world of Barovia. The characters could pull her away from the pool but when I ran it I described the peacefulness of the pool, the appearance of the image of Sergei and what both Sergei and Ireena said in response and followed up with the fact that Ireena truly appears to want to take Sergei's hand when it appears. The party decided to let it happen and it set up a great scene where Strahd's anger was evident.
In your case, I don't know how you left it. Since Ireena didn't actually take the hand, Strahd may still not be aware of the magic pool since it has been there for centuries. Depending on whether you had Strahd react or if you had him destroy the pool - the pool may still be there and that might still be the best way to give the party a cool ending to the Ireena quest line and drop an NPC that isn't that useful.
When I ran it, the Tarokka card reading had Ireena as the special helper. However, most of these allies aren't particularly useful especially closer to the end since they just aren't that powerful. In my case, I had Ireena exit in Krezk and the party encountered Ezmeralda the vampire hunter who joined them on their quest to kill Strahd. Ezmeralda makes a much better ally for the party, more competent, more skilled, more knowledgeable and just a generally better NPC. If the party hasn't run into her yet, one of the places she can be found is at the abbey. She could either taking refuge and planning (as suggested in the story) or perhaps have her being held prisoner by the abbot because he plans to ritually sacrifice her and add her magic to the special golem he is creating for Strahd. The party could then be enlisted to rescue Ezmeralda which will let you use your abbey maps and allow her to become a party ally.
However, that may depend to some extent on whether the option to return Ireena to the pool is still available in your game since that is probably the best and most positive ending for that NPC since there isn't any real safe spot for Ireena anywhere in Barovia.
Finally, if needed, I had the spirit of Ireena available to interfere in the final fight against Strahd if the party needed any help. Ireena's spirit might appear and effectively distract Strahd for a round or two allowing the party to recover or take actions while Strahd is distracted trying to recover the soul of Tatiana (which isn't actually possible, but Strahd doesn't know that - the branch of hope is something that the vestiges in the Amber Temple use to tempt and torture Strahd and they will use the soul of Tatiana or the possibility of escape from Barovia or anything Strahd might hope for to further torture him while confined to his own personal hell - CoS is really a story about Strahd - Barovia is really a reflection of his mind and even death won't save him).
Anyway, if you don't think Ireena is a decent NPC that the party isn't clicking with then, if possible, use the pool to give her a decent exit from the narrative.
3) I don't know if you have read through the entire thing but just a heads up ... some of the cool magic items and magic effects require stuff from the basement of the castle. However, by the time the party is exploring the castle, it is really unlikely for the party to go back out into Barovia to find out what these items do.
In particular, there is an item that releases the ring of regeneration that is embedded in a tombstone in the graveyard of the Krezk monastery. There is also a dragon skull that will activate the beacon at Argynvostholt. Both of these are pretty cool and useful. When I ran it, I gave the item needed to recover the ring to the priest in Vallakia since he was a distant descendant of the priestess the ring used to belong to. I had the priest give it to the party after they returned the item that protected the sanctity of the church.
In the case of the dragon skull, I had it stored in the basement of the Wizard of Wines winery. The raiders that had attacked the castle some years ago took things when they fled. One was the skull which surreptitiously made its way to the Cult of the Raven, saved against future need. This makes it possible for the party to activate the beacon at an appropriate place in the plot line.
I suspect neither of these will likely happen if the party is in the castle since the castle is intentionally difficult to leave .. most of the time, the party goes to the castle, explores, finds treasure, encounters Strahd at whatever location the Tarokka reading indicated and then either wins or loses ... at which point the power of these items/effects loses a lot of its meaning.