#dnd game notes

Posting my D&D sessions’ notes here so that I can find them again

(continuation of day 4 in Barovia and our time in the castle-  as we were given permission to wander the castle as long as we stay out of the basement)

MiMeow gets cooking lessons from the chef

cool fact- the cooks are almost all Zombies except the guy that is specifically teaching her

weird

the rest of us minus Cat Damon go to the Library

we do research, and here's what we get:

About Vampires

2 main strength categories are pure and spawn (spawn is weaker and less dangerous)

they aren't actually allergic to garlic (which is funny bc Cat Damon bought a garlic necklace to wear to the castle to ward them off lol)

they do regenerate quickly in battle

they are also notoriously difficult to keep dead

they don't like sunlight

Mist (in general)

can poison you

you can get lost in it

Vistani Records

The ancient text describes the *human* Madame Eva having a multigenerational battle with an unnamed woman that is hinted to be Strahd's mother

the last entry in this text was 50 years ago when they were both noted as being alive and still in this feud 

Strahd's mom is said to have a core group of blighted druids (ya know like the ones we fought in the winery and all their tree bois aka the needle blights)

Baba La'Saga is a witch that may or may not be Strahd's mom

Dark Masters- didn't find anything specifically unfortunately bc I rolled really, really bad on this one

Other Mist Realms

Borca is nearby 

Mordent is a human settlement in a Mist Realm nearby too

there's one just known as "The Carnival"

Baba La’Saga

hag or witch or maybe both?

lives in a swamp/bog hut

according to the royal record, she is not the mother

Lord Glaive

Vampire

he and his master wanted to overthrow the Dark Masters

came to Barovia for help to hold the line against the Dark Masters so they wouldn't be able to attack Azaroc on both sides

General Volen worked with Glaive and his master (but he and Glaive had a falling out per session 5 notes)

Glaive's Master is known as the "Lord of the Mist Keep" but has no known name

(Per session 5 notes- Glaive also had a minion that was sent to wipe out the Kingdom of Valentina, which is also where the world timeline starts for Azaroc, Year 0- the fall of the Great Kingdom of Valentina)

Magic Armor (Kas's special interest)

was used in the war to retake Barovia from the Dark Masters

wearable animated armor is a thing that can be done

Fairytales about Dragons (Kaida's special interest)

An army of dragons was led by a mortal human to fend off the Dark Masters (no further information could be found on this topic)

Great Dragons rose up in Azaroc and were the ones to form it into what it is now, then they disappeared for a long time and have recently started reappearing again

Bahamut (platinum dragon- a god of dragons aligned to good) and Tiamat (chromatic multiheaded dragoness, goddess of dragons aligned to evil) stories

The Laughing Silver Dragon 

Old Snarl

Shadow Dragon that lived in a swamp that killed a whole town (we actually faced and killed off this one in the last campaign)

I also took the time to talk to Ludmilla, who was also in the library working while we were there and I thought she may be a good resource. Here's what she gave me:

She is 800 years roughly, and originally from Azaroc (Serpent's Keep area) and was taken by the mist while collecting herbs, she married Strahd who protected her here and sponsored/encouraged her research

Glaive was in Barovia to set the agreement about 400 years ago in Barovia time, which is over 2000 years ago in Azaroc time (yikes)

Here are her notes on the Dark Masters:

they were/are mortals that were able to gather enough people and power to allow them to split up/conquer the Mist Realms

each mist realm must be tied to one person in order to anchor it (in Barovia that is Strahd), these are the Mist Lords that control the Mists

the mist lords do not seem to be fed off of by the land but this may still be powering the Dark Masters that control them

the mist lords also cannot leave their realms or all the people in that realm will die and the realm will fade/disappear entirely from existence

an experiment was done to try and take some villagers out of Barovia to see if they could evacuate the realm before letting Strahd out, but the villagers would die/reappear in Barovia if they tried to leave

Barovia also apparently recycles souls of the dead via reincarnations that cause them to retain some memories of their past lives as well as looks/personalities

she is presently researching arcane servants and will be testing out elementals, demons, fae, and the undead as potential servants

we also talked about part of the landscapes and areas of this world

she is one of the people that are able to actually leave this plane via the Mist

After this, Kaida and I start wandering around and we split up

I meet up with Cat Damon- he has a new hat that he allegedly just happened to find... sus

we see the royal room above the chapel but hear some weird clicking footsteps leading away from us

we follow them downstairs and enter the main chapel

I see the apparition of Katrina, the Dusk Elven Vistani woman that was stoned to death, confirming that her soul is in fact stuck here in Castle Ravenloft, but she disappears soon after being seen

then Cat and I hear a swish of fabric and a door closing quickly, so we follow

more doors suddenly close matched with the sound of those same clicky steps and we run after to catch whoever is there

it is now late into the night, so the rest of the party is gathered upstairs as we are chasing this apparition or whatever through the castle

we catch up to it and I run into someone that is physically there, but I cannot see them

she unveils herself as a fake Vistani and presses the point of her blade into me as a threat

she informs us that her name is Esmerelda, apprentice to Van Rectin

she has a metal prosthetic foot and her jacket emblem matched the one on the peculiar wagon by the abandoned tower

she is not supposed to be thereand she disappears just as quickly as she had revealed herself

upstairs, Esher gives MiMeow a recipe that at the bottom asking to see if our Benefactor would be able to offer him asylum so he can escape Barovia

she tells him she will try out his recipe and get back to him with how it turns out

wink wink

(now day 5 in Barovia)

Strahd sees us off the next morning and we take the Black Carriage back to Villaki

Cat and I are looking out the carriage windows when we see Esmerelda standing off in the bushes watching us go by

Cat and I wave to her

Lindsay and I said that that was our actions at the exact same time bc we share one brain cell and its overly friendly at the worst of times

Rictavio is back at the Vistani camp and we are given a warm welcome bc all the Vistanis think that we are the ones that saved him

suddenly I think we know why Esmerelda was in the Castle Ravenloft

but we don't correct the Vistani

we work with Kasimir to start off for the Mount Ghakis' Amber Temple which supposedly has a scroll to help save the trapped soul of his sister, Katrina

I inform him that we saw her apparition in the castle and he is thankful for the info 

while the rest of the group is upset with me for sharing that?

we are warned about hunting packs of werewolves in the forests that we will be traveling

great. 

Cat Damon is also suddenly super scared of the idea of a lich in the mountains

which is weird bc liches haven't been brought up in this realm up until that point

sus.

I try to make the mood lighter by having my character swap the words Liches and Leeches 

I thought Born (Kas's player) was going to come through the computer to strangle me he was so mad

it was wonderful

so naturally I had to up the ante

I reminded him that none of us even know what werewolves look like, as we've never come across them

we just know that they are half-wolf and half human

so technically 

they could be centaurs of a wolf body and a human head/torso

Lindsay upped it from there with it being them being wolf body with just a human head that walks like Bigfoot

Born was getting hella frustrated with us making it worse from there

Posting my D&D sessions’ notes here so that I can find them again

(start of day 4 in Barovia)

Kas wakes up screaming

he takes exhaustion from his crazy nightmare and also loses some hit points to his nightmare

Weird.

We have a shopping day that wasn't very productive bc frankly everything is way too fucking expensive here and we are poor

Kas identifies the druidic staff that Kaida has

its a staff of healing

but its also cursed and can induce madness

but that suits her

we get picked up for dinner by the Black Carriage

when we arrive, we are given time to change and get cleaned up

we are given fine nobility-level clothing from each of our homes in Azaroc

and they fit our exact tastes and measurements

the people that helped get us cleaned up were Gertruda and Esher

Esher came here from Azaroc as part of an adventuring party that tried to kill Strahd, but when the rest of the party was murdered, Strahd decided to keep this one alive as a servant and consort

Gertruda is Mad Mary's daughter (the woman in the first village that was sobbing and screaming is Mad Mary) who had apparently run away from her mother who kept her locked away for over 22 years, never allowed to go outside

We go to the diner in our finery and enjoy Strahd playing the organ before he joins us at the table

3 of his wives join us

Anastrasya 

Ludmilla- his eldest wife and a researcher of magic

Volenta- his newest wife (before Esher) who comes in wearing an orcish mask

we are served the best of foods and alcohol from our homes

all cooked exactly to our tastes

there is a painting of an Orc from a neighboring tribe that followed my cleric's god, Gromgore, hanging in the dining room with a crest of Gromgore over it

he allegedly died in the Battle of the Mist Marsh from the first campaign we had in Azaroc

Strahd gives us some info to help with our quest

the mist is the same as in Azaroc, but its not "leaking" over

the mist produces monsters by pulling them at random from other mist realms such as Barovia

Barovia and Strahd are/were trying to protect Azaroc from the Dark Masters via a treaty with Strahd and Lord Glaive

dark masters didn't want Azaroc to survive its creation for whatever reason

they were the "powers that be"

they were the ones that ripped Barovia off of its homeworld

they are the ones that made the mist realms

they want Glaive's master that went missing sometime after the battle against the dark masters

Strahd controls the mist here bc he is the link to the land, he IS Barovia, not just a part of it

every mist realm has 1 person as an anchor for the realm as a "Mist Lord" 

Strahd will also help us by letting us leave Barovia via the Vistani and he gave us a little scarab beetle medallion to reach out to come back with info while he also does his own research to help us

he wants info on how he can possibly be able to leave Barovia bc he's been stuck here for over 1000 years

he wants to know the motivations behind our benefactor's research into the Dark Masters and Mist Travel in general

he wants to know if our benefactor has any intentions to invade Barovia

Posting my D&D sessions’ notes here so that I can find them again

(continuation of day 3 in Barovia)

we take the fight to the winery

first, we wander into the fields leading to the winery

then we get fucking surrounded by a mega huge crowd of tree bois

like evil spikey tree bois

we dip the fuck out of those fields that lead into the winery and walk right in, locking the door behind us

we come into the wine vats-area thing

like ya know where they brew the wine in those super big barrel thingies?

There.

and there are 4 big barrel thingies here

there's an evil druid on the one side pouring his evil juice

aka poison

into the barrel thingy that's full of wine

we go "Hey, stop that"

homie is like

SCREAMS IN GIBBERISH

we go, "What the hell was that?"

homie is like

SCREAMS IN GIBBERISH BUT LOUDER THIS TIME

(ya know, it's just like the most helpful thing ever)

actual game quote: "Sprechen Sie, Common?" -MiMeow

and then he finally says in common

"go away"

BITCH. WE JUST GOT HERE.

anyways

we proceed to come take away his evil juice but he casts a lot of smaller tree bois

we kill them bc duh

and then more start pouring out of the nearest barrel thingy

once my character realizes this and gets a clearing to move there

she blocks the hole in the barrel with her bootilicious butt

no more tree bois from this barrel

lol

and of course to add insult to trapping the trees in the barrel

she's filling that barrel with hella farts

bc I am definitely a mature adult

the farts keep on ripping as we mow down those trees

eventually, Dad makes me roll to see how the farts are going

bc of course he does

I roll low on the percentile, so my character

sorta...

accidentally...

SHITS DOWN THE SIDE OF THE BARREL BC SHE WAS STRAINING TO FART FOR SO LONG

man that stinks

literally.

we eventually wipe out the trees and then the druid thereafter

we do however leave my shit pile on the floor

we travel the rest of the ground floor and then upstairs before taking a short rest in an upstairs room

we travel down to the basement and sneaky sneak into the wine cellar

there is 1 druid and like 8 mega tree bois

we nearly get 3 players killed in that room and I was out of spell slots as a healer

so I grabbed Kas (who had 1 hit point left) and carry him to safety while I also have 1 hp

Cat Damon runs up after us, also with 1 hp

MiMeow supercharges her attacks and beats the shit out of the remaining tree boi

Kaida blows up the druid to finish him off

Kas decides to blow a hole in the side of the poisoned barrel and flood the entire winery???

like whyyyyy?

Kaida steals the dead druid's staff

they come upstairs and we all hear these awful awful screams and shredding noises

we are gathered in the main room then

ankle deep is poisoned wine

that may or may not have my character's shit floating in it

then there's a knock at the front door

and low and behold

it's the winery owner and his wife and 2 sons

they pay us and we explain that the druids were for sure the ones that destroyed the place

and that they also poisoned at least some of the wine so like try to be careful?

we go outside and see hundreds of those mega tree bois laying shredding all around the front of the buildings

but we didn't do that

so who did?

we go back to Villaki and its night time when we get back

we barely make it into town when a werewolf that was apparently tracking us has to be repeatedly shot at to chase it away from town

we sleep in the hotel and get rewarded for finishing our quest

Posting my D&D sessions’ notes here so that I can find them again

(continuation of day 2 in Barovia)

we leave the Vistani camp and go to the larger town of Vallaki, which is better reinforced than the other town

outside the town is a beheaded body of a lizard-like humanoid in a red outfit stuck up on a pole like a scarecrow

I like the decor

the others didn't

but I did

and that's what counts

Vistani are not allowed in Vallaki for some reason

but in unsurprising news

we are not Vistani

so we get to go into town

Ismark and Irene lead us to the Bluewater Inn where they are planning to meet a contact, a half-elven bard named Rictavio

everyone in the group then proceeded to fuck up that name- Ricardo, Octavio, Ratavo, etc

turns out the dude has been missing for a week

sucks to be him, but not our problem

also, the tavern is running out of wine due to a shipment being missing for a few weeks

that actually is our problem

so we picked up a sidequest to investigate the missing wine and get the shipment into the tavern

(we have options for payment in gold, booze or tavern stay- and we're all split on it)

we've also accidentally been following this elven Vistani dude, so we finally got his name (Vashron Zolhs)

Vashron tells us quite a bit about the missing Rictavio and buys us a round of expensive wines

Rictavio was also an outsider

(like us)

and he had a tendency to ask too many questions about the world

(like us)

and he was spending time exploring and trying to gather information and lore about the world

(like us)

and then he vanished and hasn't been heard from since

great.

anyways, there's a Vistani camp outside of town that he used to frequent that may have some info about what happened

guess it is our problem after all

(but at least it's on the way to the winery)

Vashron then leaves us there after he bought us a second round of drinks

he also didn't drink either of his pints of wine

it's kinda sketchy?

but lol more for the rest of us

we spend the night at the tavern and there are no wolves scratching that night

(day 3 in the plane of Barovia- we level up overnight)

we go to the new Vistani camp and this one is all male dusk elves

(other Vistani camp was almost all humans, but was both men and women)

we meet Rictavio's contact there, Kasimir Velikov

Kasimir tells us that Rictavio went missing when he got kidnapped into Strahd's Black Carriage when he was traveling to the tower near Lake Barotok

Rictavio was apparently sniffing into info about Stahd before he went missing

huh, aren't we also doing literally that exact same sort of thing right now?

Turns out that Kasimir's sister, Katrina, wanted to marry Strahd, but the other Vistanis stoned her to death to prevent her from marrying him

he hadn't even bit her yet to mark her as his

and they fucking killed her anyways

assholes.

in response, Strahd killed every female dusk elf in the plane of Barovia

he also requested the dead body of Katrina, so that he may honor her by burying her in the castle crypts

the request was honored but now Katrina's soul is trapped in the crypts

(Vistani believe in reincarnation and trapped souls can't exactly reincarnate)

Kasimir and Rictavio were in cahoots to try and investigate the Amber Temple on Mount Ghakis to unlock what got Strahd/Barovia cursed to attempt to free Katrina's soul

(one of the things we are supposed to get info about for our overarching quest is the "Dark Masters")

(which are written about in a tome bound in AMBER STONES that happened to come from Another Plane)

anyways, we will be joining the expedition to this Amber Temple, but we probably won't be saving that sister any time soon

so its onwards to the winery

except we get sidetracked and go to that tower instead

bc who ever heard of self-preservation, am I right?

on the way there, Kaida reveals that she is a sorceress descended from a dragon and one day she will breathe fire

of course, we were talking too loud in the forest, so we get jumped by some zombies

we killed them back to normal dead and moved on

the tower looks semi-abandoned but the barrel-shaped wagon parked out front is in stellar shape

we yell to try and see if there's anyone in the area

there are groans in the castle and scratching sounds coming from inside the wagon

we noped on out of there

not today, wagon scratcher

we run into the Black Carriage

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUNNNNNN

its being driven by a dusk elf in dark clothing, and he gives us a letter

and surprisingly, we don't get kidnapped

the letter is a personal invitation from Strahd to join him in Castle Ravenloft for dinner

he promises us protection in our travels?

honestly, Cat Damon and Mordria are more taken by the promise of food than anything else in the letter

the others were a bit warier about the idea of dinner with Strahd

(Lindsay and I share 2 brain cells, and both those brain cells were apparently hungry)

we arrive at the winery and vineyard

it's quiet

very quiet

a darkly cloaked figure stands at the edge of the surrounding forest and beckons us over

the rest of the group is sus, but Mordria walks over

like seriously, what's the worst that can happen?

I mean, it's only a horror campaign

turns out its the owner of the winery, so I beckon the others over to join me

he tells us that 3-5 evil druids and an army of plant people (he lost count of the number) invaded and overtook the winery, so he and his family have been living in the woods

he asked us to save the winery from the druids and he will get the shipments out

Posting my D&D sessions’ notes here so that I can find them again

It's Travelling Time!

We get zip-zap-zoomed-temporarily dissembled- re-assembled- and we were suddenly in a new realm

This place is spooky, dreary, and hella stinky

Like it literally smells like death here

Gross

There's a fancy gate that closes when you approach it and opens as you walk away from it which is like the worst fucking automatic door I think I've ever seen

Oh also we're all gothy and evil now!

....at least temporarily

....We hope...

We find the dead body and it has a note on it about abandoning hope and shit like that

Whatever (eye roll)

We find a nearby village as it nears dusk and its quiet

too quiet

well except for that one lady that's sobbing so loud that it echos through the whole village

We go to a tavern, and they won't give us a room, but this guy called Ismark said we could stay at his house

(also I thought Drake called him Bismark, like the donut, and then all I could think about was donuts, which was honestly like really distracting??)

Oh and we asked him where we are

WE ARE IN BAROVIA

AKA WE ARE IN ONE OF THE MANY REALMS OF DREAD IN RAVENLOFT!

AKA THESE MIST REALMS ARE ALL THE RAVENLOFT REALMS OF DREAD

(Ravenloft is a Horror D&D setting with Realms of Dread (each worse than the last), its known to be some of the most difficult terrains and areas in the greater canon D&D multiverse)

(I've spent so much time in my D&D life as a player and DM actively avoiding everything to do with the Ravenloft settings and especially the Curse of Strahd aka Barovia module...)

(and this Motherfucker throws me into it with no fucking warning?!)

(BRUHHHHH)

so like, anyways

we're fucked

and this is the first fucking realm we've come to like what the fuck?

Ismark is apparently the son of the Bergermeister (town master/mayor) and has a sister named Irene

(possibly Irena? it was hard to tell over Born coughing while Drake was talking)

Oh and Strahd, the noble that runs this fucking place (hence the module being named "Curse of Strahd") has a major jones for her

Oh and he bit her

But not in the kinky way, just in the vampire way

well unless it was intended in the kinky vampire way, but Drake refused to elaborate on that

so anyways we come to their mansion and meet Irene and their dead dad that's just like chilling on the floor

Like most other places in town, there are wolf scratch marks all over the outside of the house and all the windows are boarded up for safety

In exchange for a place to stay for the night and some information, we help carry their dead dad to the church for burial in the graveyard and then help to move Irene to a larger village nearby that's supposed to be safer

easy peasy

we all (including Ismark and Irene) slept on the floor in the dead body room, which was sketch but like whatever)

night was weird bc of the wolves scratching the house all night

and the random lady voice consolling the wolves

and someone walking up and down the porch steps

Next day we take the dad for burial and meet Father Danovich

we see him praying with a noose just like hanging behind him

he does the funeral and there's screaming from below the floorboards

turns out Strahd sorta turned his son into a vampire, so he locked his son in the basement and isn't feeding him in hope that he turns back

which is also really fucking sketch but everyone shrugged it off???

also the priest is gonna hang himself, but I was confused, bc I thought he would hang his son to put his son out of his misery, but I guess that's not where that was going

Oh well

We travel to a Vistani (basically Russian nomads/travellers) camp just outside of town to talk to Madam Eva (their leader that's super ancient)

She tells us that Strahd controls the mist

Also, that Barovia was removed from the prime material plane to imprison and punish Strahd, so that's why it's all misty

Eons ago General Glaive (the reason there's a continent in Azaroc named Glavon) recruited him to help fight for his master

No clue who Glaive serves though

You need Strahd to be able to enter and/or exit these realms but he's a high-key jerk about the whole thing and only lets the Vistani out and even then it's iffy

Strahd has been hella distracted by Irene recently and has been shirking his mist gate duties

like an asshole

Also dude has 3 or 4 wives already

but no kids?

I asked if since he was undead, his swimmers would also be undead and that would be why he doesn't have kids

DESPITE HAVING 3 OR 4 WIVES LIKE GOOD GRIEF

Drake once again refused to answer my well thought out and totally appropriate question

Also he took another young woman like 2 weeks ago so can he just like chill for a second?

Posting my D&D sessions’ notes here so that I can find them 

Who are the characters:

My character- Mordia the Morbid, an orc cleric of the war-god Gromgore, thinks she's a prophet of his work. She is modeled after a Gospel Church Woman (HALLELUJAH!)

Jade's character- MiMeow Swiftpaw, a panda-person monk, who wants to be the next top chef in Azaroc (the world). She is modeled after Kungfu Panda

Born's character-Kazinutarmingahnis (we're calling him Kaz or Nis bc wtf is that name?), the kobold (think Mushu from Mulan) wizard

Sephie's character- Kaida, a halfling mage (not sure what type yet and she won't tell us) that loves fire

Lindsay's (one of my besties) character- Cat Damon, a tabaxi (cat that talks and walks on 2 legs) rogue, is modeled after Puss in Boots and is a grey/white version of him. My character continually calls him "Pickles" and insists that he's her pet. Cat Damon is tied to my character to repay a debt to her

Aeris's character- Valida, a sun elf fighter with some magic

We meet at a tavern/inn in the city of Elthor

wow who hasn't started in a tavern before

Captain Sanders (ship- Crimson Maiden) took us from Elthor Inn (Tipsy Mast) to Mist Marsh to answer our summons

Also, there were some griffons

like were griffons bc they fuckin dead now bois

MiMeow food poisoned us

wtf MiMeow???

No more griffon steaks for us I guess

Gator Bait (the groundskeeper) picked us up

we were not fed to gators

LAME

he took us to a castle in the swamp

yawn, seen it before in an old campaign

we meet the mysterious benefactor, Lord Hunter (aka goth boi)

Goth Boi gives us a list of questions to answer

is the castle the source of the mist or just a funnel for it

(now I want funnel cakes, but can I have a funnel cake? no bc it isn't fair season yet)

why could Shariah the dragon not use the mist as a weapon?

(bc she's incompetant, duh)

how do we control the mist?

(but like why are we controlling it??)

who are the dark masters?

(and why the fuck do they have such an edgelord ass name for their group??? what are they? a group of 15 year olds???)

which planes protect us vs have the dark masters?

(do we have to visit all of them?)

How do we stop the dark masters?

(probably with light, but I'm just spitballing here)

if the mist can get in from their planes, can they get in?

(tbh probably)

We meet 2 researchers

Haggle Blasthelm the goblin dude in a funny hat

Tim Sabbin the gnome archmage in a better hat

they give us the PLANAR RIPPER

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNN

(oh by the way it fucks up a lot and we lowkey may be permanently altered by said fuck ups)

(but LOL what can you do?!)