Tiny Curse of Strahd, Session 21
Van Richten's Tower
Main Quests
Preserve Ireena's sanity
You have The Tome of Strahd. It's mysteries will likely reveal much about the lord of the land.
You’ve acquired all the treasures foretold by Madame Eva? There was somethin about an ally mentioned lastly. Wasn’t there?
Escape the Domain of Dread.
Side Quests
Mordenkainen was a wizard of legend. Could he really be dead?
You need help. Ezmerelda mentioned her master Van Richten, likely the oldest, wisest, and most practiced monster hunter. Surely he'll join your battle. Won't he?
Ireena deciphered another chapter from the Tome of Strahd which revealed much about a long forgotten campaign Strahd waged against "The Order of the Silver Dragon" near Argynvostholt. The site of the battle is en route to Vallaki. Sounds worth a look.
Report
The Crisis of Faith
Back in Vallaki, the aftermath of the hag battle had created multiple crises. Ireena, already traumatized by witnessing so much death, teetered on the edge of complete mental collapse after losing Ezmeralda. With only a single point of sanity remaining, her continued participation in their quest hung by a thread.
The town itself began showing signs of unrest as the supply of dream pastries ceased. Citizens grew increasingly agitated without their narcotic escape, leading to minor riots and civil disorder. The burgomaster, desperate to maintain control, began looking for scapegoats among the recently arrived strangers.
Divine Intervention
Recognizing the desperate situation, the group sought sanctuary in St. Andral's Church, appealing to Father Lucian for help. They organized a prayer vigil, beseeching the Morning Lord for some sign that their quest had meaning and hope of success.
The vigil became a test of faith lasting several days, with the group taking turns in prayer while the town's situation deteriorated around them. Each day brought increased risk of discovery as investigations into the hag murders intensified, but they persevered in their spiritual appeal.
On the dawn of the final day, as suspicion was about to fall upon them, the Sunsword itself provided the miracle they sought. The weapon spoke directly to Finn, instructing him to place it in Ireena's hands. When she grasped the hilt, it blazed with radiant warmth that filled the entire church, and she experienced a vision of unconditional love—a memory of being held by someone whose face she couldn't recall but whose presence felt like home itself.
This divine intervention restored two points of sanity to Ireena, pulling her back from the brink of madness. The experience provided the sign she desperately needed that their cause was blessed and that hope remained even in Barovia's darkness.
Ezmeralda's Farewell
With renewed purpose, the group held a proper funeral service for Ezmeralda within the church. The ceremony provided closure for their loss while honoring her sacrifice in their shared cause. During the preparation of her belongings, they discovered her extensive correspondence with Van Richten, confirming not only their relationship but also providing a map to his tower.
This discovery gave them their next destination and renewed their sense of purpose. Ireena's participation in the funeral rites, now that she had hope to sustain her, restored another point of sanity through the healing power of proper grief and remembrance.
Narrow Escape
As they prepared to depart Vallaki, evidence from the Bonegrinder scene began pointing toward them. The discovery of the hag coven's victims—including the remains of countless children—created an uproar in the town, but also provided some vindication for their actions. However, the burgomaster's investigations were closing in, making their timely departure crucial.
They slipped away just as official inquiries were beginning, leaving Vallaki behind with its secrets intact but its dreamless citizens facing a harsh awakening to reality. The town would be difficult to return to, should their travels ever bring them back through its gates.
With Van Richten's tower as their destination and the vampire hunter's alliance as their goal, the group set out into the wilderness once more, carrying both hard-won artifacts and the renewed determination to see their dark quest through to its end.
Signs of the Pack
Their travel through the Svalich Woods revealed increasing evidence of werewolf activity. Large paw prints, claw marks on trees, and scattered bones—both animal and disturbingly human—painted a picture of a significant pack operating in the region. The group managed to avoid detection through careful stealth, though they burned through considerable karma to maintain their concealment.
The signs pointed toward Mount Baratok, suggesting the werewolf pack's den lay somewhere in that direction. This intelligence would prove valuable for future ventures, though it also highlighted the growing dangers surrounding them on all sides.
The Tome's Revelations
During their journey to the tower, Finn had continued studying the Tome of Strahd, making significant progress through its dark pages. Chapter Four revealed more of Strahd's obsession with Tatyana, detailing his increasingly desperate attempts to win her affection. The tome described his failed courtship, his growing jealousy of his brother Sergei, and most disturbingly, his attempt to create a love potion using dark alchemy.
The failed love potion only drove Tatyana further toward Sergei, fueling Strahd's rage and desperation. Through these pages, Finn learned the alchemical formulas for creating such potions—knowledge that felt tainted even as it might prove useful.
Chapter Five chronicled Strahd's descent into paranoid madness, his belief that his court supported Sergei over him, and his fateful pilgrimage to the Amber Temple. There, guided by whispers from an ancient lich, Strahd discovered a dark sarcophagus that could bond a soul to undeath. The transformation into vampirism was described in horrific detail—an evil spirit erupting from the sarcophagus to merge with Strahd's essence.
As a result of mastering these dark passages, Finn gained the ability to cast commune as a ritual, though the knowledge felt corrupted by its vampiric source.
Recovery and Preparation
During their multi-day journey, both Finn and Ismark worked to recover from their previous injuries. Ismark struggled with his death saves, failing one night but succeeding another, slowly clawing back from the brink. Finn managed to recover his death save more readily, his enhanced constitution serving him well.
At Lake Baratok, they discovered Esmeralda's wagon—a mobile treasure trove that she had left behind. Among the supplies, they found practical equipment including climbing gear, various tool kits, healing supplies, and a modest amount of gold. Most intriguingly, they discovered spell scrolls for major image and remove curse, along with vials of antitoxin and holy water.
The wagon also contained personal correspondence between Esmeralda and Van Richten, confirming their mentor-student relationship and providing additional context for their mission against Strahd.
The Puzzle Door
After days of travel through increasingly dangerous territory, the group finally reached Van Richten's tower near Lake Baratok. The tower presented an immediate challenge—its door bore no visible handles, only a large brass dial surrounded by eight stick figures arranged in various poses. A sigil nearby indicated the proper sequence for the ritual.
Under the tower's anti-magic field, which drained their supernatural abilities and left them feeling hollow, the group struggled to decipher the puzzle. Working together through trial and error, they eventually managed the complex sequence of poses, though the magical drain took its toll on their strength. Each failed attempt brought pain, but their combined intelligence finally unlocked the ancient mechanism.
While initially failing to open it, they were immediately confronted by a young blue dragon—one of the tower's guardians. Rather than engage in prolonged combat, Finn took the lead in performing the ritual dance while his companions provided support. The dragon's lightning breath scorched Ismark, but they successfully gained entry to the tower's base level.
Ascending the Tower
The first floor contained nothing but a magical elevator operated by clay golems, which carried them upward through the tower's levels. On the third floor, they encountered a section with dangerously weakened flooring. Ireena's keen perception spotted the structural weakness, allowing them to navigate safely around the hazard.
The fourth floor revealed signs of recent habitation—comfortable furnishings, study materials, and personal effects suggesting Van Richten had indeed made this his base of operations. However, they first had to deal with an animated suit of armor that attacked upon their entry. Though the construct managed two strikes before being destroyed, it posed little real threat to the now-experienced adventurers.
As the armor fell to pieces, a figure emerged from the shadows behind them—Van Richten himself, finally revealing his presence after observing their worthiness through the tower's trials.
Notes and reflections
I'm either taking liberties with the narrative or not reading the source material carefully enough to see when it's advised to introduce Van Richten, but now seemed as good a time as any, and his tower as good a place. I'm not entirely sure what to do with him next, except I'll likely have to continue taking creative liberties.
It's my understanding that only one NPC should be set aside as the main ally to help with storming the castle, but since I only created two characters—one of whom is already dead—I'm freely allowing myself as many NPCs as I want. I'm doing my best not to make things too easy by improvising quests or challenges, or rolling for odds weighted for or against depending on circumstances. One way or another, the ally I drew in my Tarokka reading is of little consequence to me as a major plot point, although I'm trying not to go crazy with a party larger than six members at the very most.
I'm setting aside the reveal to Ireena that she is Tatyana as a major developing crisis point for her identity, but I'm hinting at it subtly. Those especially knowledgeable in the lore will know the Sunsword was wielded by Sergei at one time, so the echo of his embrace seemed like another poetic hint to drop as a major ingredient for her partial recovery from this current crisis.
With no major enemies in this session, I experimented with running streamlined combat where I decide the results from encounters with just a few rolls. In my mind, if there aren't at least three high-level threat creatures in an encounter, it's not worth playing out fully at this point anymore. However, I am hinting at the next potentially major threat with the larger werewolf packs of the Svalich Woods.
Next on the docket will be deciding if and how Van Richten is to be won over completely as an ally and joins their party. He and Mordenkainen are who I'm eyeing as their major magic-using resources with access to especially dangerous spells. If they get both of them and come into Ravenloft with a real plan, I think the campaign could reach a fortuitous end.