Introduction

He steps out onto the balcony, his cape flapping gently in the morning breeze and his hands clasped behind him. Below spans the land of Barovia- his land. Right now the townsfolk are no doubt stirring, unlatching their doors and preparing to tend their meager fields. How he loathes them, scampering about in the dirt for the sake of their trite and short little lives.

Still, the crudest soil could grow the loveliest roses- and oh how lovely his rose was. For years too great to count she had eluded him, stolen always by cruel fate. How many nights has he spent alone, how many times has he screamed at the darkness? Soon it will not matter.

Far below, his plan unfolds as he knew it would. The actors will play their roles perfectly, and when all is done the tradegy of the past three centuries will finally close. Nothing can hope to stop him. He speaks a single sentence before returning to his sunless halls.

"I am Strahd, I am the land."

PREVIOUSLY ON DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!

One rainy night a gypsy traveler walked solemnly into the Four Fingers Inn and handed a letter off to a band of traveling mercenaries. The note, written by the burgomesiter of a neighboring land, pleaded for help from any who thought themselves capable of slaying the ravenous pack of wolves which had assaulted the town and bitten his daughter.

Our heroes traveled to the isolated valley of Barovia, where they discovered the town assaulted not by wolves, but the walking dead. Tracking the zombie outbreak to its source, the warriors were able to stop the mad priest Dolma and his reanimated son, Doru, thus ending the plague.

Seeking out the burgomeister, the heroes discovered that he had been dead for several weeks, even though his letter was dated much sooner. Befriending the burgomeister’s children, Ireena and Dmitri, our heroes set off for Castle Ravenloft, where the much feared ruler of Barovia, Strahd von Zarovich, lives, hoping to confront the tyrant. Along the way they encountered savage worgs and an unnerving barbarian named Kavan, as well as Strahd himself.

Realizing that Strahd was far too powerful for them to face directly, and likely a vampire to boot, our heroes returned to Barovia to recoup and plan their next course of action. But the morning brought horror- Dmitri had been brutally impaled in the center of town, and the party cannot help but wonder if their warlock companion was responsible. Even more puzzling, coming down the road is the black carriage of none other than Strahd himself.

Important NPCs

Strahd von Zarovich
Lord of Barovia, Strahd rules his land with a iron fist and a taste for the darkly theatrical. He is devoid of pity or empathy, looking down at his subjects as only an aristocrat can. He lives in the imposing Castle Ravenloft on the high cliff overlooking the valley, alone and brooding. The party is confident that Strahd is a vampire, but his carriage is approaching them during the daylight.

Ireena Kolyana
The daughter of the former burgomeister, Ireena is a beautiful young girl with striking red hair. She has recently been the target of Strahd’s advances, and when he asked the girl to come back with him to his castle her father flatly refused. He died a few days later. Ireena is positive that Strahd is responsible for the death of her father and brother, as well as her strange dreams and the puncture marks on her neck, and curses him at every chance.

Dmitri Kolyana
Ireena’s drunkard brother, Dmitri was recently found impaled in the town square.

Madam Eva
The enigmatic leader of the local gypsy band, rumored to possess great powers of divination.

Sasha
A mysterious woman with flowing black hair and ruby lips, Sasha was a guest at the local inn during the zombie plague. She knew a surprising amount of information about our heroes and played a few word games with them before vanished after Dolma was defeated.

Kevan, the Grim
A warrior wandering the Tser Falls Bridge which leads to Castle Ravenloft, Kevan spoke in confident, vaguely threatening tones and has taken a seemingly sadistic fancy to the party’s attractive warlock. He left the party unmolested and vanished into the mists.

Dolma and Doru
The former cleric of Barovia, Dolma went mad after the death of his son, Doru. Hoping to bring the boy back to life, Dolma turned to a tattered manuscript called the Liber Blaspheme and its dark powers. In doing so he unleashed the undead plague upon Barovia and turned his own son into a hulking abomination. Both he and Doru were defeated, though it remains unknown as to how the priest got a hold of the Liber Blaspheme to begin with.

Flight: Each turn you must take a move action to sustain flight. If you do not, you slowly descend your flight speed. If you do not sustain flight on your next turn, you fall. Certain conditions, like bad weather or trees, can result in "difficult terrain" for flying characters

Constitution Loss: When you loss Con, you lose 9 HP for every point your Con modifier drops. This is not damage and cannot be healed until your Constitution returns to normal. If you gain Con, the inverse occurs.

Negative Levels: Negative levels reflect energy drain, the dying of the soul, loss of memory and so on. You lose 5 HP per level drained and take -1 to all rolls per level drained. You lose class features and spells as if you had de-leveled. Most negative levels end after an encounter, but some require a Fort save. If you fail that, those levels remain lost until you rest for 8 hours (or your racial equivolent). If you are every reduced to 0 levels, you die.

Saving Throws: The attacker rolls his victims saving throw for the sake of brevity.

Crippling: If you lose 1/4 of your max HP in a single round or sustain 2 critical hits (even if normally immune to critical hits) one of your body parts becomes crippled and cannot be used. If you try to use it, you take 2 Con damage and have a 50% chance of being able to perform the action.

Castle Ravenloft starts on Monday, the 16th. Have a 9th level character ready to go.

Post your character sheet/stats in the character section of the 3.5 forum.

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