Lessons from the Mists: Session 6 - The Seer and the Mill

Welcome back to Lessons from the Mists! This session, the heroes receive a fortune telling from an old Vistani crone, and find an odd windmill where all is not as it seems... Let's get started!

The heroes stand outside of Madam Eva’s tent, and debate who should go in first (I had to prod them that it is a “everyone gets their fortune read together” situation). They go inside, and find a dreamlike interior to the tent - pungent incense in the thick smoke, candles that change colors from orange to red to purple, a circular table with a black velvet cloth atop which sits a crystal ball, and an old crone that sits across from them. She invites them to sit, to have their fortunes read and see what the Threads of Fate have in store for them.

This is Madam Eva, a Vistani seer, a Raunie. She tells the heroes that she has been waiting for their arrival for a very long time, and has foretold their arrival. Long ago, she saw that heroes from beyond the mists will free Barovia from the tyranny of Strahd von Zarovich, who would heal the land, destroy the vampire, and return light to the people. But many have come and gone, and none have succeeded thus far. Would these heroes be the ones to fulfill this prophecy?

The cards would reveal their fate, as well as the steps on their journey they must take to succeed - magical artifacts, allies against darkness, lore to understand their enemy, and the location of their quarry. It would also show them their pasts, and what might occur in their future.

Madam Eva begins the reading, and the card that reveals history is the Conjurer. She tells the heroes that a good hearted family had something stolen from them, and the thieves seek to conjure a horror of branch and bone. Help the family, and they shall reward them dearly.

The card that reveals protection, a holy symbol of great hope, is the Avenger. She tells the heroes that a house of a dragon contains dead warriors who will not die. One of them has a corrupted heart, but if they heal the corruption, the protection will be theirs.

The card that reveals strength, a sword of sunlight, is the Healer. She tells the heroes that the land will reward them for healing it, and to begin that quest in an amber palace of darkness.

The card that reveals an ally is the Executioner. She tells the heroes that a lone Vistana roams these lands, and she stays in no one place for long. If they catch her, she would be a great help indeed. They would find her far to the west, in a forgotten place.

The card that reveals the place where Strahd can be found is the Broken One. She tells the heroes that they can find their great enemy in the tomb of the only man he has ever envied.

Next, Madam Eva reads the destiny of each of the heroes in front of her. She starts with Angvar Deepheart, and reveals his past - Miser. She tells of a greedy creature, one who deals not in coin but in life and death and that which extends beyond… that creature has been lost in the mists, and is in Barovia. She next reveals his future - Beast. She tells him a great beast will emerge from this conflict - will it be his quarry, delighting in baptizing in his blood? Or will it be him, sacrificing all he holds dear to enact vengeance?

Madam Eva turns to Mary Sue Ann Burns. She reveals Mary Sue Ann’s past, Mists. She told of secrets that remain unknown to Mary Sue Ann, secrets that would obfuscate her from the ones closest to her. She reveals her future - Necromancer. She tells of magical secrets that are in these lands, ones that might shed light on her own ailment, but the cost might be great. Is she willing to pay that cost?

Madam Eva turns to Kane Halx. She revealed Kane’s past - Priest. She speaks of enlightenment, of one that put meaning into the great despair that surrounded him. She placed another card down for his future - Tempter. She tells him that the despair he experienced, the decimation of his brethren was no accident, but caused by the pursuit of power by one of his mentors. He stalks this land now, like a rodent, looking to consummate his union in a temple forgotten by time.

Madam Eva finally turns to Ylenia Estera Kolyana. She reveals her past - Ghost. She tells Ylenia that she will be haunted by shadows of herself on her journey through the mists. Madam Eva reveals her final card - Myrmidon. She tells her that heroes will arise from this conflict - will Ylenia stand among them? Are the heroes the ones she sees before her now? Or does she see further beyond their span of years?

With that, she tells them to be gone! Their journey will reveal much about these lands, and their hearts desires… or the mists might consume them, like so many that came before. She cackles as they exit the tent.

The heroes are not sure what to make of the interaction. Mary Sue Ann is suspicious of Madam Eva’s reading, and tells the others that she likely says the same thing to everyone that passes by - that they would be great heroes that deliver the land from darkness. She thinks Madam Eva is putting ideas into everyone’s heads just for her own gain. Kane and Angvar are not so sure, as both of their readings were spot on about men they knew in their pasts. Angvar tells them of his twin brother and shows them the coin he carries, with the face of him and his twin on it. Long ago, he and his brother followed their Flame (A commander of the Flaming Fist mercenary company) to the ends of the earth, though he had a gambling problem. He had a dream one night of his Flame and an unknown being conversing. The entity promised that his Flame would find amazing wealth if it was given one of the brothers. His Flame agreed, and Angvar’s twin Thraegar was taken. All he remembered was the scent of brimstone.

Kane tells his companions about his past in the Sundered Blades. He says in his final year with them, they were struck by a string of bad luck. No battle went well for them, they constantly had problems with disease, supply shortages, and in their final battle as a company, it was a massacre. Those that survived went their separate ways. His commander, who he suspects may have been making poor calls that lead to this destruction, was never found among the dead. Additionally, his mentor who he had wanted to follow in the footsteps of, another cleric of Kelemvor, went missing on a routine mission to investigate rumors of undead activity.

Mary Sue Ann is stunned that her traveling companions were not just being tricked by Madam Eva, and reveals that the seer revealed uncomfortable secrets about her past. She tells them she has an ailment she does not understand. Slowly but surely, she will disappear in the eyes of each of them. She explains that it came upon her slowly, but she could not ignore it anymore when her family no longer saw her right in front of them. She has been looking for answers and a way to remove this curse.

Ylenia finally reveals that she has been keeping secrets from her companions. She says that there was truth to the story that she told around the campfire earlier in the night, but it was not the whole story. Later that night, when she had locked eyes with Strahd, he appeared in her bedroom in what felt like a dream. She was frozen with fear, he went over to her bedside and took her hand as if to kiss it… and then sank his teeth into her wrist. She remembered the pain but not much else after that. She thought it was a dream but woke up the next morning to find puncture wounds on her wrist. The vampire had truly visited her.

If this is to be their quest, then so be it. The heroes believe they will find more answers in Vallaki - better to push on. They make camp on the outskirts of the Vistani camp. Before going to sleep that night, all the heroes but Ylenia rediscover Granny’s still warm meat pies wrapped in cloth. All but Mary Sue Ann eat some of the pies before bed. Ylenia takes the first watch, and when she tries to wake Angvar for the second watch, he does not stir. She wakes up Mary Sue Ann, and together they investigate the two. Ylenia examines Kane while Mary Sue Ann casts Identify on Angvar, which reveals to her that strong enchantment magic had been woven into the pies. The pies grant warm, amazing dreams, but prevent being woken by any means. Ylenia realizes that she would soon be unable to wake and Mary Sue Ann takes the next watch, realizing that they would not have anyone else to watch over them while they slept. Mary Sue Ann casts Alarm nearby to wake her if anyone intrudes on their camp and commands Guinevere to keep an eye out and wake her if anything suspicious happens. The night passes uneventfully, and the heroes advance to Level 4!

Angvar’s happy dreams are full of memories of him and his brother carousing during their campaigning days. Kane’s happy dreams are full of the brethren he knew while a member of the Sundered Blades, traveling the world. Ylenia’s happy dreams are full of the memories of her family when they were whole - Ylenia, Ismark, Kolyan, and her mother all together, with what she thinks the sun would look like if it broke through the clouds shining on her village.

The next morning, Arahja comes to check on them and offers a parting gift - days worth of rations to get them to Vallaki. With that, they begin their trek once more.

The heroes wind their way along the trail until it rejoins the Old Svalich Road shortly before crossing a canyon, where they see off in the distance the great Tser Falls. Hours later, they come across the second Gates of Barovia, much like the first, but the mists are not acting strangely like they were on the borders. Shortly after that, a rider overtakes them, a Vistana named Arrigal. He asks where they are off to, and they reply with their same cover story they used at the Tser Pools Vistani camp - they are traveling to Kresk. The heroes ask where he is traveling from and going so quickly, and he evades where he was coming from, but says that he is going to the Vistani camp outside of Vallaki because his niece Arabelle’s birthday is soon. He did not get a chance to pick up a gift for her, and says that if they happen to stop off in Vallaki and visit Blinsky’s, he would reward them greatly if they brought a toy to her. With that, he rides off.

As the day grows dimmer, the heroes notice a fork in the road. The road meanders down into a large valley dominated by thick forests surrounding a massive lake, and the fork leads up a hill on top of which stands a dilapidated stone windmill. The heroes immediately recognize this as belonging to the Durst family, and with the deed to the property in hand, discuss making it their home. They approach, smelling fresh baked bread, and a raven alights on the lintel above the door, and begins squawking at them frantically. Mary Sue Ann makes a Wisdom (Insight) check, realizing that the raven is attempting to get them to leave. Before they move any further, the door opens and a stick-thin, ugly, middle aged woman steps out to shoo away the raven. She asks what the travelers are doing here, and waves them off to Vallaki. She goes back inside the windmill.

The heroes flee back to the treeline beside the road to discuss what they should do. They do not trust these women - they agreed that if this is the source of the dream pies, they should be stopped. Mary Sue Ann also notices a figure winding up the road - Granny with her cart returning from Barovia. Mary Sue Ann sends Guinevere to investigate Granny. Under a thick tarp a shape wriggles in her cart.

Next, she sends Guinevere to inspect the windmill, and her discoveries prove chilling. Guinevere alights on the windowsill of each of the stories to take a look inside, requiring a Wisdom (Perception) check for each one. The first floor is a filthy kitchen, full of cooped chickens, an oven, the ugly woman they met, and a strange brew in an upright barrel.  Angvar believes this was the source of the dream pie magic. The second story reveals the millstone and another ugly woman manually turning it. She wears a bloodstained apron and littering the ground are bones, too small to be human, which she tosses underneath the grindstone. The third story is mostly a bedroom with a freestanding closet, inside which are three wooden crates and the sounds of mewling cats.

The sight of the bones solidifies the idea to the heroes that these old women are not what they seem and need to be stopped. They formulate a plan in which Ylenia would stand in the road leading to the old windmill to distract Granny for a moment, while the others get into position and prepare to ambush her. They execute this plan, and Granny recognizes Ylenia from the village. Ylenia pushes Granny to the ground and attacks her. In that moment, Granny transforms from a little old lady into a monster - a crone festooned with skulls and bones, with purple-black skin and piercing yellow eyes, fearsome claws, and horns that extend from her forehead. It’s initiative!

The combat encounter only lasts two and a half rounds. The heroes roll excellently with a great use of tactics - Kane uses his Path of the Grave feature, Ylenia pumps multiple Divine Smites into her, and Granny is not able to resist the maneuvers that Angvar uses to knock her on the ground and keep her focused on him. The night hag eventually falls, and Mary Sue Ann investigates the cart, from which another sound like cat mewling is coming. The wiggling shape is a sack with a small child inside - a boy named Ludo, who runs crying to Mary Sue Ann. Ylenia comforts the child and asks him what happened. He explains that Granny visited his parents often to sell them the pies, and when they ran out of money, Granny offered to take him as payment instead.

The heroes realize that the mewling sounds inside the windmill are gagged and bound children. There could be three more of them in the windmill, but now they have a child to take care of. Ylenia tries to convince Ludo to stay hidden in the woods, but he does not want to be alone. They begin to formulate a plan to try and assault the windmill and free the other children inside.

And that’s where we left it!

Oh, boy. The Tarokka Reading is one of my favorite bits of Curse of Strahd. It is a great set piece, especially if you invest in the proper Tarokka props that Gale Force Nine makes (which I did). My players had an absolute blast, and here’s what I did.

I prepared the entire reading ahead of time, and left nothing up to chance. I chose which cards to pull, used MandyMod’s supplement on the Vistani and Tarokka (FOCOS Ch. 4) for their general meanings and then wrote specific meanings for them. For the Fortunes of Ravenloft, I used the standard 5 card cross that is illustrated in the book. The specifics of what I chose are as follows:

• The Tome of Strahd - Given to the heroes by the Martikovs after Yester Hill is completed and the gem is recovered.
• The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind - Given to the heroes by (or looted from the corpse of) Vladimir Horngaard after the skull of Argynvost has been recovered from Baba Lysaga and used to light the beacon.
• The Sunsword - Given to the heroes by the Fanes of Barovia after being healed.
• Fated Ally - Ezmerelda d’Avenir, found at Van Richten’s Tower, Argynvostholt, or the Werewolf Den, whichever feels right at the time.
• Location of Strahd - Sergei’s Crypt.

I agree with a lot of people in the CoS community online that there are many wrong things to do in the Tarokka reading. I really want the heroes to create a strong relationship with the Martikovs, and to reinforce the idea that they are informant allies (not combatant allies), I gave the Tome of Strahd to them. I almost went with having the Abbott in Kresk own the Tome. If he is to recognize Ylenia as a reincarnation of Tatyana and want to deliver her to Strahd, I think the Abbot having known Strahd’s history by his own hand would work great.

The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind could also be given to the Abbot but Argynvostholt is such a cool location, I needed a seed there. To complete the plot at Argynvostholt, the heroes need to make a trip to Berez anyways, which will give them a place to return to when they restore the Fanes.

I really like the idea that many DMs have which is to put the Sunsword in the Amber Temple, but again, I think it is the right call to give it to the Fanes. You can make up your own history as to why the Fanes have the remains of Sergei’s sword. Not only is restoring the Fanes a requirement to make Strahd defeatable, the heroes will also be given the means to do so with a weapon as a reward.

The fated ally is actually something I changed last minute, a couple hours before the session. I love Rudolph van Richten as a character and I love his inspiration, Dr. Abraham van Helsing in Dracula. His many on screen adaptations are superb, from Hugh Jackman to Anthony Hopkins, Edward Van Sloan and even Willem Dafoe in Nosferatu. I have a lot to pull from when roleplaying the doctor. The professor of the occult is one of my favorite archetypes in horror, but after thinking long and hard about my own player characters, I think Ez is the right choice. Not only is she a Vistana, which my players are not quite sure what to make of yet, but she has an interesting backstory AND a link to van Richten. She is a young spitfire, whereas most of the party is old and reserved. As much as I wanted van Richten to be in this campaign, he is a character that can outshine the PCs. I realized that putting Ez as a fated ally rather than van Richten frees up the opportunity for me to kill van Richten. I am not sure if this will even happen, if it will be a scripted cutscene or having enemies focus him down in a combat encounter, but I think it will be a great source of drama. If the famed monster hunter is killed in front of them (possibly by Strahd himself?), it leaves his apprentice to take up his mantle. If we are to put PC classes onto van Richten, he seems like a cleric/fighter multiclass, but the party already has both of those. Ez seems to fit a ranger/rogue monster hunter role, which the party does not have. Though I defaulted to making van Richten the fated ally, I believe this last minute change is the right choice and gives the opportunity for a lot of great storytelling further in this campaign. Her location I left vague because she is so transient, and I wanted the freedom to place her where it felt best.

Which other characters work well for a fated ally? Van Richten, Kasimir, and Ez are all great options. Godfrey Gwilym can work really well, but I think I am going to put the revenants' souls to rest after the beacon is lit. I don’t love the idea of Arabelle as a fated ally but I most certainly will make great use of her when dealing with the Vistani in Vallaki. I would shy away from options like Sir Klutz or Pidlwick II, but by all means, if your table is more focused on comedy, go nuts.

I placed Strahd in Sergei’s crypt to make the heroes explore Castle Ravenloft a fair bit before they face the devil. If they remember this fortune before going into Castle Ravenloft, it will give them the option of exploring the towers knowing that it will not be a final confrontation there, or if they want to beeline it straight for him, they know to go down rather than up. I did not realize how brilliant of an idea it is to tell the PCs where the bad guy is until writing this because of how much freedom it gives them to face him on their terms. Great adventure design, definitely stealing this for future campaigns.

For the personal fate cards, I made one of them correspond to each hero’s past and one to their future. It forced the PCs to get very honest about their backstories and what they might be looking for in Barovia, given that somehow, there are answers to their personal questions in the mists.

My players were thoroughly impressed with all this. I prepared the cards I had pulled ahead of time in the order in which they would appear, then made a show of shuffling the cards I was not using in front of the players. When it was time for the reading, I placed my prepared cards on the top and then did the reading. Angvar’s player, Sam, knows a few card tricks so I knew I wasn’t going to fool him for long, but it still got the point across. It was a cheap way of stacking the deck, and if I had the chance to do it again, I would spend some time to truly learn some sleight of hand to make it feel more magical. Even so, my players hung on every word, and even though Madam Eva spoke in unclear terms, they wanted to write down exactly what she said so they may understand it later.

I realized that I entirely forgot to remind my players about the dream pies their first night in Barovia, so I made it a point for them to understand their sinister nature before they arrived at the Old Bonegrinder.

The planning and execution of the assault on Morgantha and the Old Bonegrinder next session was just fantastic, everyone had great tactics, they cut her off from her coven, they used their abilities intelligently, and I think they have a great chance of beating the other two night hags next session. I used the Monster Manual 2014 Night Hag for Morgantha, but I am going to use night hags from Flee, Mortals! By MCDM productions for Bella and Offalia to make them less tanky (AC 14 rather than 17 and with an average HP of 97 rather than 112), and a more tactically fun fight. Will report back if that was a bad decision or not.

For Next Session

I thought the ending of this session would be outside the walls of Vallaki, but the players were very invested in solving the Old Bonegrinder. When we return we will begin with the fight against two night hags, then onto Vallaki. I am very excited to see what these heroes will do there and who of the two major powers in Vallaki they will side with.

I haven’t gotten the chance to write up some Dark Powers to tempt my players yet, but with the card reading complete, I think I have a really good canvas for which to turn these heroes to darkness. I have no idea how each of these players will react to these, but I suspect Mary Sue Ann to be the best candidate to become the new Dark Lord of Barovia.

Until next time!