One of Us Will Die Curse of Strahd
Adventure Report 7: Arrigal

Rowan Daggerford enters the Blue Water inn and meets Urwin Martikov, the barkeep and owner of the establishment. She also notices other patrons.  Karl and Nikolai Wachter share drinks by the window. Arrigal and Arabelle share stories with each other in the Vistani tradition. Danika, Urwyn’s wife roams around, filling people’s cups and delivering bottles of wine to those who request. A bard prepares to perform a setting appropriate rendition of what a modern audience will recognize is “I’m not a Vampire” by Falling in Reverse.

Urwin recognizes Rowan as another adventurer who came to Barovia. Rowan denies this, despite obviously wearing armor and covering it up with a cloak like an adventurer would. They discuss the state of the winery and Barovia’s wine drought which is dampening the spirits of people from every town. The Wizard of Wines vineyard has ceased its shipments and Urwin does not know why. When asked about the winery, the elder Martikov dodges questions about the owners and shows discomfort when mentioning that it is a family business.

The rest of the party enters the inn and introduces Rowan to Arabelle and Arrigal. Marjorie asks the Vistani about the holy symbol mentioned by Madame Eva towards the beginning of their adventure. Arrigal bluntly tells the adventurers that he is risking a lot by telling them because he takes orders from Strahd. He is only disclosing this information to them for saving his daughter and therefore owes them a life debt.

“I will do you this service as there is no way that I can repay you with my life.” He says solemnly.

Arrigal tells them of the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, an ancient relic from even before the time Strahd von Zarovich had become the first vampire. It is said to have been delivered to a paladin by an angel or a giant raven depending on the legend. The relic is said to be able to hold vampires in their place or turn the undead. A particularly faithful paladin or cleric should be able to even cause it to radiate with the light of the sun.

The party is already aware of the Mad Mage of Mt. Baratok and their tower by Lake Baratok, but they do not have directions. He gives them explicit directions to the area. Sabrione continues to tease Arabelle over her crush on her friend Yeska, and Rowan declares her fealty to her, recognizing her as Vistani royalty much to the glee of the young girl. The party share drinks with the father and daughter, and part merrily, watching Arrigal walk home with his daughter sitting on his shoulders, telling him all about how she will be an adventurer like her friends someday.

The bard finishes his song and approaches the party. He warns them against trusting the advice and directions of a Vistana, reminding them that they are on Strahd’s payroll.

When asked for his name, the bard introduces himself as Rictavio and also offers his aid to them should they need it. They decline the offer, but ask him why he hates the Vistani so much. The bard regales the tale of how he lost his son when a group of Vistani bandits kidnapped him on behalf of a vampire named Baron Metus. By the time Rictavio got to see his son, he was already turned into a vampire spawn begging his father for death. Obliging, he drove a wooden stake into the heart of his undead son. In retribution, Baron Metus hanged Rictavio’s wife from the frame of their front door. He lives through the experience in his dreams nightly. He buys the party drinks which are poured into their cups by Danika. Sabrione, hungry after a long while without blood, drinks a cup of blood from the bottle given to her by Madame Eva. She also informs Rictavio that Baron Metus has been slain by a vampire slayer and burned in the sunlight. Grateful for the information, Rictavio shakes her hand and hints that he is aware that she is in fact a vampire.

Before leaving, they approach Urwin and ask him about the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. Urwyn, wearing his raven broach and raven themed attire with his wife who wears raven feathers in her hair, states that he has no idea what they are talking about. When Rowan declares their true purpose in Barovia, Urwyn leads them into the kitchen and through a trapdoor into the basement.

They are immediately ambushed by several individuals dressed in crow feathers, all of whom are pointing silver-tipped spears at Sabrione and threatening to drench her in holy water. Urwyn threatens to kill her if they don’t explain how enemies of Starhd von Zarovich are traveling with a vampire. Sab, who usually copes with stress through hostility, merely declares that they are her meals, which only makes the townsfolk more violent. Rowan deescalates the situation successfully, managing to convince them all that Sab doesn’t want to hurt anybody in the room. Even Sab’s explanation for wanting Strahd dead, which is so she can also kill Ivan, is very believable.

Urwyn and Danika introduce themselves as members of the Keepers of the Feather a resistance group within Barovia working against the Count. They promise to aid the party whenever they need it, though refuse to divulge too much about their operations out of fear that Strahd will use Asha to read their minds. When asked about the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, Danika tells them that the last person to have their hands on it was the hero of Krezk who saved the town from an attack by Strahd’s minions. The party also learns that this same hero was Ivan, something that none of them, especially not Sabrione, would expect him to be.

Each of the party members, including Sab at her request, is given a bottle of holy water as a parting gift. By the time they arrive at the coach, Hope is still asleep from the incident at the orphanage, snuggling the Strahd puppet. They head back to St. Andral’s Cathedral to sleep. That night, Hope has her nightly dream of her sister’s face in deep pain only for it to be interrupted by a psychic message from the real Asha from Castle Ravenloft. She instructs Hope to head to the Vistani camp immediately. Hope rouses everyone from their sleep and they drive their stagecoach through the streets of Vallaki, hopefully to make it to the camp before anything bad can happen.

By the time they arrive, it is already too late.

The previous evening, Strahd and Volenta, one of his wives, visits the camp. They wake Arrigal up and order him to stand at the bonfire area in the middle of camp. Arrigal’s wrists are bound and he is charmed not to move as Strahd impales him on a pike which he plants into the ground. After Volenta hands Strahd a skinning knife, he instructs Arrigal.

“If a single sound comes out of you, while we do this, the same fate shall befall your wife and daughter.”

Throughout the night, Arrigal is skinned alive by the pair. For the sake of his family, he does not cry out or scream. His pain only manifests as tears running down his skinless face, searing the unprotected flesh beneath.

The party can only look on as his body hangs dead. They are unable to take the body down before Arabelle arrives, tearing her hair out as her heart is ripped apart by the scene. Rowan holds her, turning her face away from the scene telling her that whatever she wishes to do to herself, she must do to her. Arabelle can only pound at her knight and scream in horror at the fate of her beloved father. Her mother arrives shortly after and begins to recite prayers of lamentation at her husband’s feet.

The party takes down the body as Marjorie attempts to plan for the funeral. Luvash arrives and tells the party to leave stating that they have done enough and their presence will only serve to make things worse considering that it is because of them that Strahd tortured and killed his brother.

Rowan and Marjorie take their anger out on the Strahd von Zarovich puppet, with Marjorie even wasting her bottle of holy water to waterboard the doll as a way to vent her anger and hatred. Hope rescues the doll having been made aware since that morning that it has feelings. It seems to respond emotionally to being picked up, snuggled and even tortured. At that point, it asks Hope why everybody hates it. The carriage makes for Lake Baratov.

Meanwhile in Castle Ravenloft. Strahd and Volenta arrive home as she gleefully trails behind him giggling to herself.

“I can’t believe he didn’t scream! What a trooper! All that for his family too… Shame though, I would’ve loved making that kid squeal.” says Volenta.

Her husband merely broods as he walks down the main hall only to be met by his other wife, Asha, who stands at the middle of the main stairway looking very displeased with him. She uses all her strength to deliver a stinging slap to his face before sobbing. Volenta taunts her on her way out.

All Strahd can say at this point is. “I can’t believe they made me do that.”

The carriage leaves Vallaki on an otherwise quiet ride. Hope speaks to the puppet which talks back to her using her own voice. Anyone looking at them would see her performing a very convincing ventriloquist act. Her vocal chords and hands work on their own to operate the puppet despite Hope’s inexperience in the art.

The doll mentions that they are a child of indeterminate gender, that they have parents. Their father often expects too much of them. They love their mother and brother and would do anything to protect them. When asked for his name, he introduces himself to Hope as Addy. He is afraid of the rest of the party mostly due to Rowan and Marjorie’s abuse and the fact that almost all children are afraid of Sabrione anyway.

Before they can ask for more information, the carriage is blown to splinters by a fireball spell cast from the woods. The horses panic and the adventurers immediately manage to jump out of the way. Unfortunately, the bulk of the debris falls on Hope, knocking her unconscious. Majorie and Rowan attempt to free her from the wreckage as Sabrione confronts the dark hooded figure emerging from behind the trees.

Marjorie struggles to pull Hope out of the wreckage. It’s only with Rowan’s help that she is able to pull the young girl out. They discover that Addy has absorbed the fatal blows for her, seemingly having fallen on top of her and cushioned the blow from several sharp pieces of wood.

Sabrione battles the assailant, whom they have correctly assumed to be the Mad Mage of Mt. Baratok. Rowan joins the battle as well as Marjorie gets Hope to safety. Sabrione finds herself burned severely by the fire and Rowan is knocked back. The former manages to get a better look at the mage. Horns. A tiefling. Rowan’s armor is heated to slowly cook her inside, but Sabrione manages to get behind the mage and stab them. Rowan charges forward, the mage’s concentration finally broken as she also gets into close quarters combat. It turns out that the mage is quite good at melee combat and wields a trident. Rowan sees her face. Not a tiefling. A full on demon! The two struggle to subdue the assailant as Marjorie turns around, realizing Hope is waking up.

They try to reason with the mage, but she only yells back “He sent you here to kill me! I won’t let you!” over and over. Sabrione uses her vampiric strength to rip off the demons arms only to realize its stronger than expected. Not just a demon… a devil. They are outmatched, and the devil nearly beats Sabrione and Rowan within inches of their lives.

When Hope arrives, they manage to weaken the mad mage before Hope is able to enter their mind. Hope sees that the Mad Mage of Mt. Baratok is older than people suspected. They came to Barovia from another plane, and even served as Strahd’s demonology advisor and worked on the construction of Castle Ravenloft. A great betrayal occurred which resulted in the battle between the two several decades ago which ended with the mage casting themselves into a self-induced amnesia to forget the pain. They’ve been wandering the woods ever since. Hope frees them from the spell.

The devil regains consciousness and slowly feels their memories return. She is a pale demonic female with two sharp fangs, similar to the vampires of this region, and pale blond hair that goes up to her waist. Her horns begin to subside as she recounts the story of how she once sought to redeem Strahd and free him of the curse, but became his enemy after he had her lover, a fallen angel, killed in an attempt to control her. She kept her feathers, the last remaining remnants of her, with her the entire time, stating that angels go somewhere else when they are killed, stating that she must leave Barovia.

Sympathizing with the mage, Rowan reads out of the prayerbook to the Lorning Lord, though somehow knowing to replace the word Morning Lord to Morningstar, calling out to an entirely different entity, almost as if being prompted by something from the beyond. The devil slowly fades away as her form is exorcized out of Barovia and into the eighth plane of hell.

“That’s my name…” The mage says before they fade away completely. “Morningstar. Thank you all so much. Good luck on your quest. You can do this! I believe in you!”

Happy Day in Hell from Hazbin Hotel plays over the credits.

Reflections from the Director

There were some scenes that I prepared for in this module that really tore my heart out of my chest. I always knew that Strahd would kill the first of his minions to help the party, so when I realized this was going to be one that had a family, it really hit me hard. I feel like I owed it to the story to make the example of Arrigal matter and further illustrate just who exactly they were dealing with. It was also a really good opportunity to introduce Volenta, the second youngest of Strahd’s brides and her hunger for violence. I’m sure the party will enjoy learning more about her and perhaps getting their revenge. I feel like my version of Strahd is developing quite well. He seems, for me at least, to feel like a very grounded evil that exists everywhere. He’s a narcissist who has been given way too much power.

I’m also really happy they picked up the Addie puppet from Blinksy’s shop because it really gives me a plothook for a later adventure, and it’s a nice creepy addition to the story considering only Hope can talk to it and does it in such a creepy way.

The Mad Mage of Baratok has been something I’ve been stressing over for so long. I got the characters messed up, realizing that the mage who built the tower by Lake Baratok was NOT in fact the Mad Mage of Baratok. I up merging the two characters, and I thought that Modenkainen was a rather underwhelming cameo so, I thought I’d pick something I knew my party would recognize. There was a shortlist of characters, but I eventually couldn’t find a better pick than Charlie Morningstar from Hazbin Hotel. I just figured, that most One of Us Will Die fans really like Hazbin Hotel (I do not understand the correlation, but it is a statistical fact) so I’d go with that. I do wish that I’d thought of a better idea than to use a character from an adult show for a campaign that I promised would be PG13, I feel like I may have towed the line with that. For better or worse, the forces of hell owe my player characters a favor, so we’ll see where it goes! The next session is going to be big. If you guys are reading this, I hope you know to prepare something nice to eat while we do the next one. It is a tradition for Curse of Strahd players to eat something while experiencing what happens next!