Lessons from the Mists: Session 29 - The Fidatov Crypt

Welcome back to Lessons from the Mists! This week, the heroes fought the ghost of Marilena Fidatov and break the curse on her estate. Let's get started!

The Recap

The heroes descend into the Fidatov crypt. At the bottom of a stairway lies a long hall lined with burial niches. It is dark, and so Mary Sue Ann casts dancing lights to illuminate the space. Though they cannot see what is reflecting the light, hundreds - no, thousands - of metallic reflections gleam in the darkness.

Kane uses Eyes of the Grave to detect any undead in the area, and finds a dormant necromantic magic source in each burial niche. Dozens of undead lie in this chamber, ready and waiting. Angvar finds the closest one and opens it to find a skeleton inside. He brings his shield out and bashes the skeleton’s skull in. At that moment, a stone slab slams down, trapping the heroes inside the crypt. Six burial niches burst open and skeletons crawl out. Then a wraith, the spirit of Marilena Fidatov, rises from the pile of gold at the back of the crypt. It’s initiative!

The heroes close the distance and engage the skeletons. Angvar targets Marilena with his spear and finds she is totally unaffected by the magical weapon. However, when Mary Sue Ann destroys a skeleton with a fire bolt, she finds the hand that cast the spell is wreathed in that same warping energy that Marilena is. The heroes shout to each other to determine what this may be. On the following round, Mary Sue Ann blasts Marilena with magic, and finds her spells effective. The heroes have discovered the solution: Destroying one of the Fidatov ancestors allows them to harm Marilena. Angvar wades into battle with a couple skeletons, and finds when he crushes them with bludgeoning damage, they explode in a shower of sharp bones, damaging anyone nearby. After killing one, he lays into Marilena with his magical weapons, unraveling her spirit. Kane gets the final blow with a guiding bolt she is unable to dodge.

When Marilena’s spirit is destroyed, it collapses in on itself and deals psychic damage to Ylenia and Angvar, and the heroes are blinded by light. After a minute, their vision clears, and the crypt seems undisturbed. They search the room, finding it as if they were never inside. The stone slab that trapped them inside is now open, and the gray light of Barovian day spills down the stairs.

The heroes investigate the gold, and Mary Sue Ann is quite suspicious of it being out in the open like this, and identifies a gold piece. She finds it to be bestowed with a curse, and so the heroes leave it and emerge from the maze. The manor seems to be as it was when they first arrived the previous day. A servant carrying some laundry sees them exit the maze and rushes inside.

The heroes follow her in, and when they arrive in the ballroom - which appears less richly decorated than when the ball was held here, they find Taltos, Marilena, and the servant they saw outside standing on the balcony. Taltos and Marilena look roughly 15 years older than the last time they saw them.

Marilena demands to know what strangers were doing in her maze, and Ylenia lies to cover up what they are doing there, but Marilena does not believe her. Ylenia tries a different tactic, and says that she would like to speak to her in private, and Marilena agrees. She speaks quietly to Taltos, and then brings the heroes into her private study. She asks to wait until Taltos returns to hear their story.

Ylenia tells her everything about the cursed ball and the timeloop she has been stuck in for 15 years. For proof, she tells her about Dmitri’s suspected poison plot, about Marilena and Iva’s past friendship, and sheets of paper they found to validate their claims. Marilena grabs a journal and finds her original copy of an entry they found while exploring the cursed manor. Marilena tells them that she remembers the ball they are speaking of, and nothing out of the ordinary happened that night, but all of what they are saying seems true, and she decides to believe them. She tells the heroes that there were accomplished mages in her family line and Barovia is a strange land, so this does not sound impossible to her. She thanks them for releasing her from a curse this present version of her was not aware of, and asks what she may do for them.

The heroes explain the plight of Krezk and that they could starve when winter arrives. Marilena says that she had not heard of this, but news travels slowly, if at all, in Barovia. Though Dmitri and her had their spat in the past, she regrets to hear of his death, and she does not want to see the people he ruled over suffer. Her larders are full, so she will send a servant to gather information on what the people need so Marilena may help. She offers the heroes shelter as long as they need at her manor.

The heroes spend the day recuperating after a long and harrowing last few days. Kane meditates and prays to Kelemvor while Angvar carves a stone statuette of his brother, Thraegar, promising that he will return his brother home. He leaves it outside in the gardens.

Meanwhile, Mary Sue Ann studies spells and deciphers further chapters in the Tome of Strahd. When the heroes are ready, she calls them together to plunge into the pages of history once more.

When they arrive in this vision of the past, they are guards in von Zarovich livery in the courtyard of the newly completed Castle Ravenloft. A retinue of knights arrive - some of the people Strahd went on campaign with. Among them are Rahadin, Aleksandra Gwilym (sister of Godfrey Gwilym), a nobleman named Leo Dilisnya, and the Dawnmaster Gabriel Andral. Each of the heroes speak to a member of the court, and learn that they are here to witness Strahd’s christening of his new castle. Gabriel comments it is not in service to the Morninglord, as Strahd is not as devout as most of his people. Mary Sue Ann detects a hint of distaste for Strahd from Leo. Kane overhears snippets of a whispered conversation between Aleksandra and Rahadin. He hears the following words: “assassin”, “dagger”, “Ba’al Verzi”.

Strahd comes out of the castle with a sinister looking dagger, and plunges his hand into the soil, then stabs his hand with the dagger. Blood mixes with soil, and he declares that “he is the land” to each of the cardinal directions. The mists overtake the vision, and the heroes are transported forward in time.

They find themselves in Strahd’s study, where Gabriel Andral stands in the open doorway, a look of sorrow on his face. Strahd sits at his desk, a letter clutched in his fist, his head bowed. The Dawnmaster apologizes to Strahd that he had to hear this news, and suggests they pray together. Strahd obliges, and they leave. Mary Sue Ann reads the letter, learning that it informed Strahd of the passing of his mother on the road to Ravenloft, signed T. van Groza.

The heroes search the study, and find a lockbox containing a few strange trinkets, some coin, high quality parchment for spell scribing, and a few expensive books. Mary Sue Ann discovers a hidden room behind the back of the firepit (which they extinguish) opened by a lever in the fire poker rack. In the hidden room she finds a trapped chest. Angvar tells everyone to get out of the room, and opens the chest, to find a pile of gold. He takes it all.

Strahd returns to the room, and finds several things out of place. He looks confusedly around, and the vision fades away. The heroes are able to bring back the items they stole from the past into the present day.

They complete a long rest in the lady Fidatov’s manor, and reach level 8.

And that’s where we left it!

So How Did the Session Go?

Just a couple notes on how the combat went and something I don’t normally do in terms of providing information for the players to follow.

The combat against Marilena was originally just one wraith from FM! reinforced by six FM! skeletons. However, I realized as the session drew closer that I needed something to zhuzh up the fight. At the time of writing this, I have been playing a lot of Destiny 2 and was looking to that game for some simple mechanics to steal. Several of the encounters in that game require killing specific enemies, which drop a buff you must pick up, and then are able to complete mechanics with that buff. It seemed like a simple enough thing I could put in this encounter.

In the encounter I built, Marilena would be immune to all damage. If a hero reduces a skeleton to 0 HP, they are able to damage Marilena with their weapons and abilities normally (accounting for normal wraith damage resistances) until the end of their next turn. Each skeleton only had 13 HP, but was also resistant to slashing and piercing damage. However, they had vulnerability to bludgeoning, force, and thunder damage, but if they were killed by that, they would damage anyone within 5 feet of them in a shower of shattered bones. To allow the heroes to always have a source of gaining this buff to damage Marilena, and make them have to manage the swarm of skeletons, I decided 2 new skeletons showed up at the start of each round.

This presented an interesting challenge because Ylenia and Angvar’s primary way of dealing damage was with piercing damage. Angvar had to switch to his flail to damage skeletons (and took damage in the process). It only took the heroes about a round and a half to figure out that simple mechanic, and once they did, it became very easy for them. I underestimated how much damage Angvar can deal with his battle maneuvers and the +2 Blood Spear. After killing a skeleton, he was able to almost entirely kill Marilena. I could have given her more HP to account for this, but the fight was at the end of round 3 when Kane got the final blow on her, which I think is a good sweet spot for 5E combat encounters, so I left it as is.

The hiccup in this session came about when the heroes were speaking to Marilena and attempting to determine how long had passed between the party and the present day, and if they were still stuck in the time loop. Some of the players guessed the correct answer, while others were adamant on incorrectly assuming they were still stuck in a time loop. There were two things going on at that moment: first, the number of years ago my players thought the party occurred was inaccurate, and I’m not sure where they  got that information. Second, I could tell that a lot of time in the session would be taken up debating this point if they did not have a clear answer, so in this case, I gave it to them and cleared the air. I declared that they escaped from the time loop, the party took place 15 years before the present day, and all is well.

I typically enjoy player debate when they are discussing tactics, moral questions, or attempting to figure out mysteries. When the heroes debate on what they know and don’t, an NPCs motivations, or how to deal with infiltrating a guarded castle, that is all really great discussion that I find really juicy, and that debate is not holding up the game, it is actively playing the game. In this case, however, they were spinning their wheels, so I felt like I had to step in and give them a solid answer as the GM. I don’t think GMs should often do that, but if you get the sense your players are following a path that you think is ultimately unproductive, I think it’s best if you not so gracefully steer them back to more productive topics.

Until next time!