Lessons from the Mists: Session 44 - The Devil You Know

Welcome back to Lessons from the Mists! This week, the heroes tie up several loose story threads and prepare for their final leg through Barovia. However, a mysterious affliction rears its ugly head once more. Let's get started!

The Recap

Ernst Larnak faces down the heroes and thanks Angvar for leading him to the Amber Temple. He says he has a business meeting he is decades late for, and asks to be let through. Angvar refuses, and tells Ernst that the last time they met, he was under the influence of something dark and powerful that wanted him dead. His mind was clouded then. Now it is clear, and it is Angvar that wants Ernst dead. Ernst tells him he has endless chances, and it is just a matter of time until he gets what he wants. Just like Strahd and the girl, looking at Ylenia.

It’s initiative! He summons eight devils (minions) to fight by his side. Kane casts holy weapon on Angvar’s flail, and Mary Sue Ann casts haste on Angvar. While Ernst flies above the battlefield and debuffs Mary Sue Ann, Angvar sprints around and kills six of the devils in a single turn. Kane calls upon Kelemvor and uses Divine Intervention, which miraculously works in his favor. Ghostly chains pull Ernst Larnak to the ground and restrain him. Angvar and Ylenia fall upon Ernst. Angvar gets two critical hits and Ylenia gets one, and Ernst is dropped to 0 HP again. However, Angvar stops Ylenia from delivering the final blow and takes a dagger from her. He tells him about Vampyr and his feeding on souls that die by exsanguination. He then cuts Ernst’s throat and lets him bleed out.

With the battle over, the heroes take stock of themselves. Kane and Angvar build cairns atop the bodies of Kasimir and Othros atop the mountain. Ylenia returns to the Mountain Folk that are hiding in the Amber Temple and attempts to convince them to take care of Victor, who still has not regained consciousness. Helwa says that the boy is not their concern, and from what Ylenia tells her, he is better off dead. She concedes and returns to the party. They decide it’s probably best to return him to Vallaki and give him to the Wachter boys to determine what to do with him. Mary Sue Ann creates a magical shelter for them, and they rest for the night.

During the night, Victor wakes during Ylenia’s watch and she berates him at length for his stupidity and cruelty. Restrained and gagged, he is forced to listen to her. During Kane’s watch, he sees two apparitions of humanoid figures in the snowstorm outside, near the cairns. One of them appears to look back to the Amber Temple, longing, before fading. The other salutes him before fading away, and Kane returns the salute. Mary Sue Ann dreams of a three eyed raven that speaks in a human voice, giving her cryptic instructions: “You must honor the Huntress by enduring her trial in the land of the dead. You must slay the defiler and bring her blasphemous heart to the Weaver’s shrine. You must vanquish the visions of the Seeker and return to her a sacred relic of ravens, her kindred.” Angvar dreams of Ernst Larnak, walking through the mists as alien sounds erupt all around him. Then a winged shadow falls upon him, and his screams are muffled by enveloping darkness.

The heroes advance to level 11! The next morning, the heroes each tell each other what transpired in the night and trek down the mountain. Six days after leaving the Amber Temple, they arrive in Vallaki. During the travel, Kane finishes reading the Tome of Understanding, Mary Sue Ann decodes yet another chapter of the Tome of Strahd: The Heart of the Old Gods. They also speak with Victor and try to get through to him, but he is uncooperative as ever.

The heroes first speak with Izek Strazni, who they tell about Victor and his crimes. Izek listens intently, and tells him that Victor’s crimes are great, but he will not execute him. The noose is a relic of old regimes, and he will stand trial for his crimes against Stella Wachter. When they leave, Izek tells Angvar that his terrible dreams have stopped, and asks him if he knows anything about that. Angvar tells him he doesn’t.

Ylenia visits Jeny Greenteeth and asks her about the strange dream that Mary Sue Ann had. Jeny says she has little to offer her. She also asks the old crone if Barovia can be saved once the Fanes are restored, and if Mary Sue Ann’s soul affliction can be cured. Unfortunately, Jeny says, from the legends she has heard, the powers that rule this land are ancient and powerful. For individual mortals, however, a boon may be given.

Angvar visits Blinsky and brings him the body of Pidlwick. Blinsky is distraught over the construct’s death (again) but Angvar tells him that he died a hero, defending one of them from an explosion. Blinsky proclaims he will revive the hero once more, and tells them to return to him on the morrow.

The heroes find lodging at the Wachter’s house. When they awaken the next morning, Mary Sue Ann is gone, and the Tome of Strahd lies on the bed in which she slept.

And that’s where we left it!

So How Did the Session Go?

The fight against Ernst Larnak was meant to be hard, but not a ridiculous fight. I used a Devil Adjudicator statblock reinforced by eight devil notaries, which was supposed to have been a hard encounter by the encounter building rules in Flee, Mortals! However, the die rolls INCREDIBLY favored the players, and made the fight sort of trivial? I have never GM’d a session in which Divine Intervention worked. Angvar’s player mentioned that Kane might have some favor with Kelemvor because he killed the lich in the Amber Temple. I thought that was a great idea, so in the moment I was deciding on whether I should give Kane a flat bonus of +10% or a variable +1d10% on his roll. I decided on a variable increase of likelihood, but I immediately regretted this choice. I was excited to see this work, but he rolled a 2. I thought to myself “I should have given him a more reliable bonus of 2d6 or 3d4.” However, none of that mattered when he rolled a 5% on the percentile and Ernst was brought to the ground! That followed by three natural 20’s rolled by the players made this fight a cakewalk. No issue with me, it was amazing to watch.

I was astounded with how Angvar’s player killed Ernst a final time by bleeding him out. It was such a creative application of lore and story culminating in a perfect revenge that would only be possible in this campaign. I could not be happier with how that played out.

The scenes during the night afterwards were great. Ylenia speaking with Victor like a disappointed parent was hilarious, Kane saluting the apparitions was somber, and MSAB/Angvar’s dreams were dramatic. Super cool.

The heroes giving Victor to Izek to stand trial for his crimes was a really satisfying end to his story. The players were able to feel good about their choices because even though they wanted to and it would have been easier to just kill this evil 16 year old, they never did.

Unfortunately, Mary Sue Ann’s player is moving away and she will be (sort of) exiting this campaign. She will still be visiting us regularly and so our cadence of playing will change significantly over the next few months. We are very close to the end of this campaign, and with the way that we have planned our next several sessions, I think we will have her return for some of the more important sessions leading up to the final assault on Castle Ravenloft. We plan to have the finale of this campaign be sometime in January of 2027. These final sessions are so exciting, all of us are having such an amazing time with this campaign, it has been such a rewarding experience and an absolute blast to play this game with these people.

Until next time!