One of Us Will Die 
 Curse of Strahd Adventure Report 8:
Tower of Hope

In the aftermath of the exorcism of the demon princess, the party rests in the woods. A heavily burnt Sabrione allows her burns to heal as she and Rowan rest together on the ground. As the party’s fighting core the two have taken the brunt of the Mad Mage’s attacks. It seems as if an unlikely friendship is forming between the two of them despite their polar alignments. Marjorie comforts the horses who blame themselves for the coach’s destruction. Hope plays with the doll, Addy, posing him in various positions, further attuning to the mysterious doll’s strange nature.

Later that afternoon, the party heads west, continuing on horseback to find the tower of the Mad Mage, which they heard from the Martikovs was in that direction. They arrive at Lake Baratok and see the tower in the middle of the lake, sitting on an artificial island and land bridge. Beside it is a tall scaffolding that heads into the middle window and in front is a wagon of ambiguous origin. Rowan thinks it is of Vistani design but there are so many differences, that she can’t be sure at all.

They attempt to enter the wagon, but notice the padlock on it and decide to head into the tower instead. On the door, there is a magical lock keeping it closed. Old runes are inscribed on the surface in some form of riddle Rowan attempts to decipher the mysterious glyphs, suggesting that they might have something to do with fire, while Marjorie and Sabrione stand stumped. Hope recognizes the runes on the door to depict a dance, and are not runes at all, but poses. With the party too injured to attempt the challenge, she instead uses Addy to perform the dance and manages to get the door to open. They arrive at the first floor and discover fresh food in crates. Marjorie replenishes their food supply to make up for what they lost when their coach was destroyed.

Four statues stand in a square. Each adventurer approaches one, cautiously but without hostility, before all four golems obediently begin tugging on chains to raise the platform they’re all standing on. They notice that the next two floors are rickety, wooden and rotted beyond use. They see that had they gone through the window instead of solving the door’s puzzle, the floor would have collapsed under them causing them to fall to their deaths.

Upon arriving at the top floor, they see a lived in space that seems to have been occupied by different people at different times. The party searches the area and finds nothing. Hope looks under the pillow of the bed and finds a guide to combating the monsters of Barovia. Only Sabrione recognizes the author, Rudolf van Richten, a famous monster hunter with the highest vampire kill count in all of Faerun, the same one who killed Baron Metus, a vampire they talked about in the previous session.

While the others examine the book, Sabrione knocks over an item on the desk which turns out to be a switch, opening a secret compartment with a key inside. They use the key to open a nearby chest which contains a perfectly preserved head of what appears to be a Vistana male. Marjorie remembers the words of Madame Eva and invokes the mage’s name, Morningstar. Which activates an enchanted suit of armor. It draws its sword and salutes the adventurers and opens up a secret compartment behind some loose stones on the wall. Inside is the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and a scroll of Speak with Dead.

The party decides to let Rowan attune to it, Sabrione even stating that she is the only living being she would ever trust with such an artifact. Rowan attempts to put it on, but encounters a mysterious figure on a throne holding a greatsword. After a confrontation with the entity, she recognizes the image of Argynvost on the pommel of his weapon. He asks Rowan to identify herself and she claims she is an enemy of Strahd. The figure does not believe her and attacks, sending her back to the present time and location and blasting her backwards with a force of magical energy. A minute had passed for her, but only a second had passed for the party.

Rowan is caught by the suit of armor. The suit seems to follow their orders so they question it. Since the suit can’t speak and can only shake and nod its head, they can only ask it yes or no questions. Marjorie makes this easier when she oils the armor’s hinges so that it can move more comfortably, which it visibly appreciates. They learn that two people have been living in this tower at different points in time in addition to the mage that built it and her companion. Hope realizes the armor must have been lonely and invites it to come along with them, which it gratefully accepts.

They exit the tower in order to use the magic scroll on the Vistana head. Hope and Rowan hold the suit of armor's hands as it shakily makes its way out of the tower, worried that its enchantment will wear off if it leaves. They are overjoyed when the armor’s enchantment does not disappear once it does, the armor most of all. The party names the armor S.O.A. (short for suit of armor) and orders it to follow them. I warned the players that the suit will make a poor bodyguard against most of Barovia’s threats as a simple dispel charm will cause it to crumble to the ground forever. Any of the hags or other spellcasters they encounter, or gods-forbid Strahd will make short work of him without a care in the world. They told me they’re happy to have him as a friend and assistant either way.

Marjorie casts speak with dead and they are able to ask five questions to the severed head. The first question she asks is how he was killed. The head states that he was beheaded. They also learned that a half-elf and a Vistana woman questioned him on separate occasions but were not seen together. Hope deduces a magical loophole where if dead creatures are brought back to consciousness with the speak with dead spell, she should be able to peer into their consciousness albeit to a limited degree, allowing them to access information without asking questions. She enters the head’s consciousness and witnesses the last time the head was brought back to consciousness. A young Vistana woman seeks the head’s previous owner and killer. He states that the man is alive and cries himself to sleep at night calling out in guilt and regret over a woman named Ezmerelda. The Vistana breaks into tears as the vision ends. When asked about the amber doors, the head speaks of a place called Argynvostholt that is said to have been furnished with amber doors, taken from another place, a temple they say. Marjorie asks the head if there is anything else they should know.

“Beware the man who killed me! His heart is stone and his soul is black! He wishes harm on my people, on the Vistani! You must stop him. His plans might already be in motion! Find him; the man with the monkey! Do not trust him!”

Rowan initially thinks Blinksy is the man in question, but Marjorie remembers the monkey originally belonged to Rictavio the bard, who therefore must be the murderer.

After burying the head, Sabrione attempts to open the padlock on the wagon to no avail. Hope attempts to do so but fails when she attempts to use her senses to detect the trap on the other side. When she opens the door (she rolls a critical success + 1 or a 6, 6, 6 on her dice. which enables her to flawlessly open the lock, and foresee what comes next), it is too late. Fortunately, she manages to get everyone out of the blast radius when the wagon is blown to splinters by several bottles of alchemist’s fire detonated from inside.

The entire party is launched into the air. Marjorie manages to save Kellam, Hope holds onto Addie, Sabrione grabs SOA and Rowan holds onto dear life as they fly several meters away and hit the ground painfully.

Before they can recover, a black coach arrives from the Svalich Road nearby. Rahadin steps out and is shocked by the scene. All the adventurers are on the ground save for Hope who is pelting all of them with “I told you so!” statements as she rages at their refusal to listen to her at times. He hands Sabrione a letter inviting them to dine at Castle Ravenloft. She reads the letter out loud for the benefit of the party all while imitating Strahd von Zarovich’s funny accent.

Rahadin explains that he is under orders to escort the party to Vallaki for dinner preparations, to buy all their needs, and to take them all the way to Castle Ravenloft. Sabrione calls him a dog for following the orders of a narcissistic manchild and asks him what he really wants to do. Rahadin retorts that if he had his way, he’d have killed them all already. Realizing that the chamberlain is under orders not to harm them, the party takes full advantage of this and proceeds to make his life a living hell.

On the road back, he is peppered with questions about Hope’s sister, Ivan’s whereabouts, his abilities and a lot of other topics that are only meant to insult him. Meanwhile the party is treated to a big bowl of chocolate beetles with a vanilla ice cream filling, courtesy of Lady Asha, accompanied by a note reading “I can’t wait to see you, sis!” clearly intended for Hope much to her delight.

They arrive at the tailor shop in Vallaki named Endless Delight Clothiers run by Harwin and Hewin Yustov, a pair of twins that love fashion. They’ve been informed by an anonymous source that they would be paid for anything they make for the adventurers. Realizing this is their chance to bleed Strahd out of every penny they can, the four ladies request the most expensive designs possible, even silver embroidery is to be added to all the dresses except for Sabrione’s. Hope also commissions a beetle plushie which the tailors forward to Blinksy.

Rowan hands the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind to the Martikovs at the Blue Water Inn and Marjorie heads to the Vistani camp to inform Arabelle of the burial location of the decapitated Vistani. A distraught Arabelle informs them that Luvash isn’t around to receive the news because he received a very important infitation.

Back at St. Andral’s cathedral, they meet Ireena who has taken a job there as a custodian. She tells them that she’s received an invitation as well, but she’s thrown it away, knowing Strahd can’t reach her at St. Andral’s. They leave SOA at the cathedral’s basement under the care of Ireena and Father Petrovich.

As the party leaves Vallaki, we are treated with a montage of several people boarding black coaches all headed for Castle Ravenloft, among them are Burgomaster Ismark Kolyana of Barovia Village, Granny Morgantha of the Nightmother’s Coven, Luvash the Vistani Patriarch, Mad Mary of Barovia Village, Vasili von Holtz and Father Donovan, Priest of the Morninglord.

When they arrive a hunchback takes their horses and ushers them to the castle’s main hall. The doors open to reveal none other than Asha.

“Good evening, honored guests! I’m C-“

Before she can finish her introduction, Hope pelts a beetle plushie at her face and the two run towards each other and exchange a very tearful embrace. Only then does Asha address the others.

“Good evening, honored guests… I see you’re already friends with my sister. My name is Contessa Asha von Zarovich.. Welcome to our home!” She spurts out through her tears, having powered through her very rehearsed greeting.

Asha informs Hope that she has the cure to their sister’s sickness, having worked on an alchemical cure over the last ten years. She intends to give it to Hope and negotiate to have her and the party transported away from Barovia immediately so that she can treat their sister.

The three other wives emerge from behind her, Contessa Ludmilla “Lady” Vilisevic von Zarovich, Contessa Anastrasya Karelova von Zarovich and Contessa Volenta Popovsky von Zarovich. They each introduce themselves to the party courteously, though an air of hatred seems to surround Volenta upon seeing Asha happy.

The party notices another woman accompanying Volenta as she approaches; Gertruda, now in her twenties since the players (playing different characters at the time) encountered her near Death House ten years prior.

Reflections from the Director

I’ve been waiting to do this for so long! I have heard so many stories about the exploding wagon and the wizard’s tower that gets everyone killed. Somehow, Nyx, who plays Hope in this campaign, just figured out every trap and hiding place. It’s one thing to play a character who sees everything coming, which she does, but another thing to manage to get your own way through the puzzles using your own intuition. If this were D&D, I’d have given her inspiration points, but as this is OOUWD, she got those in the form of experience points anyway. She only failed one roll, which is more the dice than the player’s blunder, but even that led to a great moment where she finally explodes at the party for never listening to her. I created the Seer archetype for moments like that.

We also had our second character reunion! This was something I’ve always been looking forward to when I started this campaign. I’d always planned for ten years to pass and for players to create new characters. Seeing the twins together really made me realize the kind of story this game tells best. The first reunion we had was between Sabrione and Ivan, which led to an explosive duel across the rooftops of Barovia. In contrast, this is a wholesome moment that makes everyone smile, but of course Nyx reminds us during this scene that the sisters are destined for tragedy.

Big session coming up next! If any of my players are reading this, I thought I’d tease the idea that at least two dinner quests will die!