A Difficult Decision
After the party found more questions than answers at Argynvostholt in the last session, they rested for the night at the Wizard of Wines. They spend the next morning gathering information from the Keepers of the Feather. At the moment, the party had two goals: recover the stolen skull of Argynvost from Baba Lysaga, and assault the werewolf den to rescue a captured character from a player’s backstory. I was hoping to add a bit of difficult decision-making to the campaign, as I felt the story was currently lacking a bit of tension.
I decided to tie both of the party’s goals to a single event: the new moon. The party learned that Baba Lysaga was a powerful witch, who had one weakness. On each new moon, Baba Lysaga needed to preform a blood ritual in order to stay youthful. On the other hand, assaulting the werewolf den would be an equally difficult challenge. Their attack would be much easier if done during the new moon, when the werewolves were at their weakest. With the next new moon several days out, the party had ample time to prepare for either of these tasks.
One such preparation the party wanted to make was acquiring a silver weapon, which they hoped could help with their attack on the werewolf den. Having no other real reason to head to Krezk, I decided that the Abbot was in possession of a few silver weapons, and that the Keepers of the Feather had been trying to acquire them for some time now.
Before the party set off, they noticed a new face at the vineyard, a strange looking elf that seemed to be listening into their conversations. This elf was a retired adventurer who had come out of hiding after seeing the smoke from the fires of Vallaki. In short, we were adding a new player to the campaign. After some brief introductions, the newly formed group and Ireena rode with the next shipment of wine to Krezk.
The Village of Krezk
As the players approached the walls of the town, they immediately spotted a cluster of tents crowded near the gates. Asking around, they discovered that these tents belonged to Vallakians who were hoping to enter Krezk now that Vallaki was destroyed. While the Vallakians struggled to gain entrance to Krezk, the wine and players were allowed to enter without any trouble.
At this point, Ireena decided to leave the players and introduce herself to the local burgomaster. The players took the opportunity to explore Krezk, and found out that the large building looming over the town was an old church ran by the Abbot. Before heading up the hill, the players are distracted by a run down gazebo which overlooked a small pond. Investigating the gazebo, they found a wooden statue of a handsome man, which one of my players recognized as the human form of the Morninglord. They also spotted a man standing in the pond, who explained that he was there to soothe his aching legs. Before heading up to the church, the players each bottled a bit of the water in the lake for later.
The Abbey of Saint Markovia
With nowhere else to explore in Krezk, the players began to follow the path up the hill to visit the Abbot at the abandoned church. During their walk, they overheard the ringing of the church bells, which was immediately followed by the cackling sound of inhuman laughter. Approaching the gates of the Abbey, the players noticed that they were left unlocked. Unfortunately, the doors loudly squealed as they were pushed open, which woke up the guards sleeping in a pile of furs nearby.
Much to my player’s surprise, they are greeted not by a normal Barovian, but by a strange man dog hybrid. The creature leapt up to greet the players, brushing off the fact that he had fallen asleep on the job, while his lizard skinned friend observed at a distance. With the players not seeming hostile, the creatures agreed to lead them to their master, the Abbot. The players are led into a courtyard filled with similar beast creatures, and then into the main hall of the Abbey.
The main hall was much more pleasant than the rest of the Abbey, as gentle music filled the air instead of howling creatures. A man and a woman, both well-dressed, sat at an ornate dining table at the end of the hall. The man stood to greet the players, and introduced himself as the Abbot. He then introduced the woman as Vasilka, who he referred to as Strahd’s soon to be bride. Approaching the pair, the players noticed that Vasilka’s skin seemed to have been stitched together.
The Abbot apologized for the horrid appearance of his servants, and detailed his goals of freeing Barovia from Strahd using Vasilka. When questioned about silvered weapons, the Abbot explained that long ago he had acquired a few from some followers of the Mother Night, and that they were likely some of the last silvered weapons in Barovia. He explained that he protects them from being used against Strahd, believing that his plan involving Vasilka was the only way to truly save the land.
Knowing that a silvered weapon might be the key to saving their friend from the werewolf pack, my player pressed harder for the weapons. The Abbot knew they could keep his silvered weapons safe, but he needed additional insurance that the weapon would not be used against Strahd. He proposed a deal, the player would need to swear to give up any aspirations to undermine or harm Strahd. The player would be bound to their word via the Abbots angelic magic, a powerful geas spell.
Presenting the silvered weapons to prove his end of the deal, the session ended on a cliffhanger, as my player pondered if their friend was more important than the mission at hand. I hope you found this write-up interesting, if you want to read more feel free to check out my other resources for Curse of Strahd!