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beansideMy last day of a three day weekend and I don't like it. I don't really want to go back to work tomorrow, especially knowing that this was probably one of the few days I'll have off until our big vacation in February. 176 days away now! When I go in tomorrow, I get to spend some fun time putting it in day by day into the ESS system, since I got the email that it was approved on Friday (when I'm technically not supposed to be checking my email, so I couldn't do it before then.)
I got up at 8 today and immediately tossed in the stuff for slow cooker beef stew. It's a recipe I found on TikTok that sounded interesting. The only thing I'm not doing is putting in mushrooms, since Jess is not a fan. It uses brown gravy packets to thicken it a little bit, so that should be interesting. I've found a couple of interesting slow cooker recipes on there. And a few horrifying ones, but I guess that's to be expected.
Yesterday was a wash. I did literally nothing except throw shit in the slow cooker for dinner. I spent the day pacing the internet and wishing content would fall out of the D&D server. It picked up a little as the day went on, thankfully. It's funny, as DM, I don't participate a ton, but I love reading it. It's my little hit of serotonin that people are talking about one of my games.
I have a ton of impostor syndrome, and never think I did that well, so it was a bit of a shock to find that I felt pretty positively about last night's game. I was really pleased at how things went, and I felt like I managed to hit most of the important beats, and lay some future plot hooks. I hope the players had half as much fun as I did running it. Strahd is full of dilemmas with no good choices, and it was fun to get to challenge my players with them.
So, without further ado, Strahd!
The party made their way into the Village of Barovia, which was still and silent, save for a heartbroken sobbing that seemed to echo around the town. They made their way in further and found a tavern, with a well dressed warrior going in, and immediately made her acquaintance, thus bringing in my final player for Strahd, who missed the first session.
In the tavern they found Ismark, who asked for the party's help in transporting his sister Ireena to the town of Vallaki, as she had attracted Strahd's attention. He'd come to her twice, and Ismark feared that a third time would be the end of her. The party agreed, though the cleric and the monk also agreed that they disliked Ismark on a personal level. They followed him down the road to his father's house.
On the way, they found the house the sobbing was coming from, and decided to check it out. It was barricaded from the inside, but a quick application of the Warlock's crowbar opened it. In the upstairs bedroom, they found Mad Mary, who told them she was distraught over her daughter. She'd kept her safely in the house her whole life, but she snuck out a week ago, and hasn't been seen since. She begs the party to look for her, and they promise to keep an eye out on their travels. The monk stealthily gives her hot tea and gruel, while daring the party to make something of it.
They went to meet Ireena, who refused to be bundled off to Vallaki until the party helped to get her dead father's body to the church. The party agreed and they set off for the church, only to see an old woman with a cart full of pastries pushing through a side street. The wizard sent xir snake familiar to follow and the rogue stealthed after her. Only to see her go to a house with a sobbing woman holding a baby. The old woman snatched the baby and started to put it in a sack. Half the party immediately headed in that direction.
They confronted the old woman, who said that she sells her dream pastries for 1gp per day, but if the family cannot pay she'll take a child. She swears she takes good care of the children, but no one believes her. The bard gave the woman her baby back and two gold, figuring that they can forestall the problem until they get back. The rogue stealthily spills oil on the pastries, spoiling them, and the old woman leaves.
The part of the party that continued on for the funeral procession get to the church, hearing an inhuman scream coming from within. The priest greets them warmly, and invites them in. He says the screams are of no consequence. After some back and forth, he agrees to show them the basement as long as the party promises "not to hurt him."
The basement contains one vampire, the priest's son, Doru. The rest of the party arrives, and after finding out that Doru went with a wizard who stormed the castle last year, and has been locked up with nothing to eat for a year, they decide to put him out of his misery. The vampire begs to be let free to go feed, promising to leave the party and his father alone.
The party says no, and the fight is on. The fighter wisely goes upstairs to watch over Ireena and Ismark, thus foiling my zombie plans. The fight is brutal with both the warlock and paladin taking significant damage. The monk finishes the vampire off, using a charge from her magical staff.
The party decide to rest the night in the relatively defensible church basement. We wrapped the session there, and in the morning, the party will start out to Vallaki.
Today, we shall play the Lost Mine at 4! Hopefully it goes as well as Strahd did!
I got up at 8 today and immediately tossed in the stuff for slow cooker beef stew. It's a recipe I found on TikTok that sounded interesting. The only thing I'm not doing is putting in mushrooms, since Jess is not a fan. It uses brown gravy packets to thicken it a little bit, so that should be interesting. I've found a couple of interesting slow cooker recipes on there. And a few horrifying ones, but I guess that's to be expected.
Yesterday was a wash. I did literally nothing except throw shit in the slow cooker for dinner. I spent the day pacing the internet and wishing content would fall out of the D&D server. It picked up a little as the day went on, thankfully. It's funny, as DM, I don't participate a ton, but I love reading it. It's my little hit of serotonin that people are talking about one of my games.
I have a ton of impostor syndrome, and never think I did that well, so it was a bit of a shock to find that I felt pretty positively about last night's game. I was really pleased at how things went, and I felt like I managed to hit most of the important beats, and lay some future plot hooks. I hope the players had half as much fun as I did running it. Strahd is full of dilemmas with no good choices, and it was fun to get to challenge my players with them.
So, without further ado, Strahd!
The party made their way into the Village of Barovia, which was still and silent, save for a heartbroken sobbing that seemed to echo around the town. They made their way in further and found a tavern, with a well dressed warrior going in, and immediately made her acquaintance, thus bringing in my final player for Strahd, who missed the first session.
In the tavern they found Ismark, who asked for the party's help in transporting his sister Ireena to the town of Vallaki, as she had attracted Strahd's attention. He'd come to her twice, and Ismark feared that a third time would be the end of her. The party agreed, though the cleric and the monk also agreed that they disliked Ismark on a personal level. They followed him down the road to his father's house.
On the way, they found the house the sobbing was coming from, and decided to check it out. It was barricaded from the inside, but a quick application of the Warlock's crowbar opened it. In the upstairs bedroom, they found Mad Mary, who told them she was distraught over her daughter. She'd kept her safely in the house her whole life, but she snuck out a week ago, and hasn't been seen since. She begs the party to look for her, and they promise to keep an eye out on their travels. The monk stealthily gives her hot tea and gruel, while daring the party to make something of it.
They went to meet Ireena, who refused to be bundled off to Vallaki until the party helped to get her dead father's body to the church. The party agreed and they set off for the church, only to see an old woman with a cart full of pastries pushing through a side street. The wizard sent xir snake familiar to follow and the rogue stealthed after her. Only to see her go to a house with a sobbing woman holding a baby. The old woman snatched the baby and started to put it in a sack. Half the party immediately headed in that direction.
They confronted the old woman, who said that she sells her dream pastries for 1gp per day, but if the family cannot pay she'll take a child. She swears she takes good care of the children, but no one believes her. The bard gave the woman her baby back and two gold, figuring that they can forestall the problem until they get back. The rogue stealthily spills oil on the pastries, spoiling them, and the old woman leaves.
The part of the party that continued on for the funeral procession get to the church, hearing an inhuman scream coming from within. The priest greets them warmly, and invites them in. He says the screams are of no consequence. After some back and forth, he agrees to show them the basement as long as the party promises "not to hurt him."
The basement contains one vampire, the priest's son, Doru. The rest of the party arrives, and after finding out that Doru went with a wizard who stormed the castle last year, and has been locked up with nothing to eat for a year, they decide to put him out of his misery. The vampire begs to be let free to go feed, promising to leave the party and his father alone.
The party says no, and the fight is on. The fighter wisely goes upstairs to watch over Ireena and Ismark, thus foiling my zombie plans. The fight is brutal with both the warlock and paladin taking significant damage. The monk finishes the vampire off, using a charge from her magical staff.
The party decide to rest the night in the relatively defensible church basement. We wrapped the session there, and in the morning, the party will start out to Vallaki.
Today, we shall play the Lost Mine at 4! Hopefully it goes as well as Strahd did!
