High Rollers DnD - High Rollers: Curse of Strahd #35 | The Dollmaker's Promise

Episode Date: June 22, 2021

We're heading back to the Abbot and hoping he delivers on his promise! Support the High Rollers and get early access to podcast episodes (and more) on our Patreon: www.patreon.com/HighRollers Thanks to @jackgtmusic for the Aerois/Curse of Strahd mash-up intro! Music courtesy of Epidemic Sound Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pickaxe. Rogers. Your teen requested a ride, but this time, not from you. It's through their Uber Teen account. It's an Uber account that allows your teen to request a ride under your supervision with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers. Add your teen to your Uber account today. Last time on Curse of Strahd. After visiting the town of Krezik in search of allies in the face of having lost so many on their journey, the party were asked by the mysterious abbot to track down a young girl who was stolen from his abbey. With few options and sensing the abbot's power, the party agreed, although suspected not all would be as it seemed. Tracking the young woman, they discovered the boy who had stolen her and learned that Vasilika was no mere girl. A trail of blood and death led them to a den of werewolves.

Here the party faced off against the werewolf Alpha, Kiril, and found Vasilika chained and covered in gore. In a deadly battle, Vasilika seemed to be out of control and attacked all around her, and the powerful Kiril nearly slew more of the party. But eventually, they were victorious. Now, they must decide their next steps. And that is where we pick up today, my good friends. Rose will be quiet when needed.

I will jump in and play rose um as as necessary um but otherwise i will hand it over to all of you as you're currently stood on the kind of overlook the bluff um at the top of these hills that looks down onto lake baratok below um and yeah you currently have the bodies of many many slain werewolves all around you a couple of large dire wolves have run off um and yeah you have the young vasilika who is wearing what appeared to be a sort of wedding dress but is now stained red like the whole thing's just completely caked in blood and gore um very uh very pretty very petite petite alabaster skin looks very similar to

Alvaski as well, like they have a very similar look about them as if they could be siblings or if they maybe came from the same family to an extent same sort of like flaxen hair very pale skin wide eyed look

you also have numerous NPCs with you, including Esmeralda, Ismark the lesser or greater, depending on how he's rolling that day, as well as Irena aka Tatiana, the awakened soul of Strahd's

what should we call obsession? Object of obsession. Yeah, that sounds about right. His mark was, I'm pretty sure he was the lesser last time. He was very lesser last time. He was very lesser last time. Not so good.

Sweet. Yeah. So that's where we are. I hand it over to all of you. Cool. I'll let Dog's body start, actually. Dog's body's Dog's body's

staring at the body of Kirill. Just kind of just a bit of a daze. A bit shell-shocked. A bit kind of looking around, looking at all the other bodies and just kind of just a bit of a daze, a bit shell shocked a bit kind of looking around looking at all the other bodies and just kind of having a moment I think

that's where dog's body is right now just thinking, thinking big thoughts yeah back to the abbot grab her complete our task, yes finish From everyone else? Waste no time. Back to the abbot. Grab her. Complete our task, yes. Finish what we were supposed to do.

Yes. Is she still powerful? She's strong. The young girl at the moment seems to be stunned and dazed. Not really responding to anything. Just sort of absently looking around, but not quite aware of you as individuals.

She's kind of, Rose is kind of checking her, looking her over. Ismark, yeah, kind of raises his eyebrows and is looking strangely. Well, that's a point. We all failed some constitution checks last time. Forgot about that. Did you? Weird.

Yes, I did. I definitely did. I think you did as well. I think everyone did. Coagulated, blackened blood as well. Really bad. That'd be interesting. I don't have blood to cough up, so...

Coughing up sticks. All sticks. Fungi. Dust. Moss. Just dust comes out. I mean, who's looking mega mega injured because i'm not great and i wanted to do a heel um so i'm not too bad i'm all right how does i've asked you just said

yeah i'll ask you is pretty injured i think dog's body was pretty beaten up but i remember you did get some healing yeah i'm on cool um okay yeah that's pretty bad for dog rose looks mostly fine she's got a couple of cuts and scrapes um she looks okay uh i didn't write down i remember is mark was quite badly hurt as well um irena is as well irena's also quite badly hurt we're all badly hurt yeah one two three four five six what's that seven if i did a heal on everybody sure i can piss out some spells um i'm not too bad of any luck like 15 so i think i'm all right actually okay four then just do five, including yourself. You can go back to Krasik and get a lovely long rest, right?

Nothing bad's going to happen now. Who's that six to, Tom? That's to me. Hey, this one, if I do this at level two, plus four, Who's this to? That's 14 to old Alvarski thank you um 15. uh

um this is to ismark wow even better 17. uh 17. this one is for dog's body this one's for dog's body. This one's for you. It's a 7 plus 4, 11 to you. 7? There you go. Anyone else? Anyone else want one? Irina's pretty hurt as well. Sure, you can have some too. I love the NPCs. 1 plus 4.

Some specialisation. Oh, fine. I'm healing the players too. Yeah. Okay, some of you, level 2s of you level ones i'll never say who got what uh fantastic anything else esmeralda will just train people yeah esmeralda's looking beaten up but she's tending to her own wounds um and just say we'll just turn around and say I agree with Arvatsky. We should hasten our way back to Krezik

and take the girl with us. We shouldn't keep the abbot waiting. Where is the boy? Oh, he was cowering in the front of the cave I believe when we left him. Okay. He's of no use to us. That is not the mission

he is a traitor of Prezic understood understood grab the girl we'll grab the girl okay so Maya goes up um do you like like grab her arm or like

do you how are you gonna how are you gonna take her with it she doesn't look like she's gonna move on her own power like um what'd you do I grab the girl uh and you know what everyone's complaining about me healing NPCs I'm going to heal her

yeah she's pretty hurt as well 11 HP okay yeah that actually seems to have a dramatic effect on her she seems to come out of this stupor a little bit more and kind of blinks a few times looks in your direction

like sees you holding her arm and just in such a soft, it's barely audible. You can hear it just, what are you doing? Restoring your strength, though you will not use it against us. We're taking you back with Arvatsky. You, I have never seen anything like you before. I am the mire. That is the mire. All these, pointing at the dead stuff, these are now mire. But that, Alvarski, and that one there, dog's body, and that one there, pointing to

everybody, we're taking you back you're safe now with us back she just sort of stands there uh yeah do you just like grab her arm and pull her or he what do you want to do i mean lift rather than pull i. Not yanking her to her feet. Assisting. Sure. Make a strength check. Straight up strength. For athletics.

Let's make it athletics. Athletics. Cool. Same thing. Plus zero. 14. So Vasilika is much heavier than she should be. You look at her and there is...

Despite her small frame, like, gripping her arm, she's way stronger than she looks. Like, she has this petite form, but you can almost feel out Maya as you kind of grip her muscles, like, with your strange natural senses. The actual...

Her slender arms are packed with muscle like there is you know where somebody would have a large bicep full of muscle fibers it's like that's been condensed down to fit into this slender form um she's also way heavier there's almost like you almost feel like parts of her are made of metal when you lift her to her feet you do manage to kind of help her to her feet and you you find that if you try and lift her, she resists, but if you just tug her hand and pull, she just absently follows you. This is unusual. I'll need some help.

And I want my zombie to come along and help me. Because I've still got that. This werewolf zombie. Vasilika doesn't react to it. She just sort of looks. Her eyes go a little bit wide, but she doesn't scream or cry out or anything like that. She sort of shies away,

but then the zombie just grabs her and just helps you kind of drag, like not drag her, but sort of pull her along. Cool. I'll start. So yeah, I start making my way downtown. Yep, he's helping. He's a great guy. Horrendously weak.

Ismark will look at Dog's body, Rose, and Irena. I am... I don't know how we got ourselves into all of this, but I swear things get stranger every day. And he'll just sort of like follow behind, looking very, very strangely at the mire and

the zombie. He's useful! He's helping! Best companion so far. He's gonna die in like an hour. Uh, how fast are you at? Easy go, easy go. He's helping! Best companion so far. He's gonna die in like an hour. Outfasting Laird.

Relatively like, unemotional. However, he is standing by the entrance to the cave and looking back. Almost as if there is an eagerness to just leave. Yeah, he's like trying to like do that thing of when you want to leave a restaurant and nobody's moving So you stand by the door and he's like, yeah We go now Sure Yeah, okay. You guys make you begin making your way down there you Pass back through the werewolf den you kind of descend down the spiral staircase There is no other living creatures here pretty much just dead bodies of the creatures and the wolves

that you slew on your way in. There is still the large shrine with the piles of treasure, the shrine of the shrouded woman with the wolf's head. That's just piled up. It's just piles of coins and gold and art and relics and things like that. What are the bodies? That's a throwback. Like two episodes ago.

Yeah, which was like nine years ago. There are bodies. Yes, there are bodies. Okay. Good to know. Yeah. Yeah. So it's basically you just see

piles of gold, gemstones, jewellery, you know, things like that just stacked up in front of the statue. But if you don't want to take any of that... I have no care for material goods. I am just a tree thing. Sure.

Dog's body's just kind of in a bit of a daze. He's sort of, when he's, I guess he's almost like guided back down by Rose, like, because he's just a bit shell-shocked and it's almost like he's looking at everything with new eyes. He's just looking, he's almost looking around at everything with new eyes,

like kind of just almost seeing things for the first time. There's definitely that sense of savagery and hunger is gone. Like, you know, Dog's Body felt that the moment that Kiril died is that primal element seems to have ebbed and faded, kind of leaving you in a

much more calm. There's a calmness, I think, lingering around. But yeah, you guys make your way to the entrance of the cave. Kind of sat on a rock, still holding this bloodied wolf's head is the boy, who I can't remember the name

I gave him. Was it Milo? No. It's not Milo. It's Dwyer. Dwyer, that was it. Dwyer. Yeah. Dwyer is kind of sat there holding this wolf's head in his hands. When he sees you all come downstairs,

he looks up and sees Vasilika there covered in gore. And you can see that there is fear in the eyes, but also kind of mixed in with... He's smiling, but you can see that he's nervous. You found her we found her and many wolves uh but they now dead

uh she's very heavy can you take her also this boy is smarter than all of you. My zombie crumbles. Just collapses to the ground like Dwyer just like goes, ah! And like jumps back. And she crumbles, but I mean Vasilika doesn't like she's not being carried like she's just following you.

Oh, I thought I was still... She's capable of... Yeah, I mean she's not being carried. Like, she's just following you. Oh, I thought I was still... She's capable of... Yeah, I mean, she's capable of moving on her own. Because of that big, big heel to an NPC. Thank you, everyone. Thanks, Tom. Wow, no problem. Maybe.

Really appreciate what you do, Tom. No worries. Dwyer will look at you all and say, what are you going to do? You can't... You're not taking her back are you you stole her stealing is a crime no she's her own person you i she abbott doesn't own her she she didn't want to be there anymore you can't take her back

You can't take her back! She's going back. And you're staying here. Or you'll die. He like, nervously steps away from Alvasky. Clearly fearful of him. Um... Are we to kill this one if he follows? Rose, no! We are not... Don't kill him.

That sounds wrong, Alvarski. It's not his time. If he follows us back, he follows us back. Also, do humans possess other humans? Does the abbot own you, Alvarski? Whiskey on the table, no less. What a waste. What does that mean? Do you even know what it means? Whatever has happened between this girl and the abbot, or this boy, the abbot won't help us if we don't take Vasilika back. We need his support if we are to deal with him.

Then we take her back. Must restore Barovia. The boy may follow. Then we take her back. The boy may follow. The boy will die. I don't know. Not by my hand. The boy won't die. We're not killing children.

We're not... If we do, then we're no better than... than Strahd. We're not killing him. Hmm. than strad we're not killing him all right in that case you guys start carrying on um vasilika when she goes to move past dwyer there is for the first time maya there is there is resistance like she stops and sort of cocks her head in his direction. What? She just whispers it barely, barely audible. Thank you.

She just kind of mutters a thank you, and she physically stops. Like, if you want to drag her, make another athletics check. I mean, I'm happy to wait, but like... Sure. See what she's doing. There's almost an element where you don't have a choice. She stops and you come to a stop as your whole... If you're trying to pull her along a little bit,

when she stops, there's strength there that she holds you back. She stops and you can tell stops and kind of I was told I was told to grab her not to pull her so alright so you're just kind of holding on to her yeah she just looks around she looks at

Alvasky and then she looks back at Dwyer he won't let me go thank you for trying and then she looks back at Dwyer. He won't let me go. Thank you for trying. And then she'll just look back at the mire and sort of nod her head. She doesn't look at it. When she looks at Alvasky, it's like quick glances.

She doesn't want to look at Alvasky. She looks and then glances away. See, the problem is you've just been saved by a party of people with zero emotions. And the ones who do have emotions are either not here or are currently going through dramatic things with their character or are NPCs. So all the ones with morals are out right now. Checked out morals. I don't know how humans act. As far as I'm concerned, she's going back.

Yeah. I'm assuming you guys are going to make that journey back. Go on, dog's body. Can I just kind of shake my head and say, girl, do you want to go back? She

looks around at dog's body. She thinks really long and hard. And then I think she whispers. And you have to get close to a dog's body. You have to almost get next to her. Because she only speaks in these tiny whispers. Does a doll get to choose whose house she goes to? The doll goes where the doll belongs.

She looks at Alvasky when she says that. Is he a doll too? We are dolls. We're all dolls. Some of us more than others. Back to the doll makers. Back to the one, I guess.

Back to the one who holds the strings. I'm out. Do you think you can survive out here? She looks at her hands, which are still covered in wolf gore. You can see she's been wounded, but there's no blood coming out of them. When she looks at her arms, Dog's Body, now that you've gotten closer, I don't think Dog's Body has noticed this before.

Maya, you would have noticed this when you grabbed her arms. She has the same faint stitching lines that Alvasky does, along her forearms, around her neck um things like that they're very very well hidden like you can only see them when you get super close and if you have a knowledge of this stuff um but yeah you can see she has these stitch marks but like very little blood's coming out of her her wounds don't seem to have slowed her down she's not doesn't seem to be in any pain from her wounds um and yeah, clearly strong. Strong enough to fight the werewolves and

she must have killed several of them before they captured her. Hmm. Hmm. Is there any other way, Alvarski? Why are we even considering it? We had one task.

We're wasting time. You're both victims here. No. You're both the same. What are you doing? We're not walking. I'm gonna look at Dwyer. I'm sorry, kid. I can't stop this.

He just looks. He looks at you, dog's body, and nods his head. And I think he'll just kind of go over because there was a couple of, like, the wolves, the werewolves that you killed. He goes and finds, like, a spear, and then just basically gets in position

as if he's going to follow you. He just gets in line as if he's just going to follow you back. I must admit, I don't... Dwyer just, like, nods his head, like, when he does so. Esmeralda will turn around and say I don't know what's going on here, but I worry if we don't bring this girl back I worry what the Abbot would do and I think we need his help. I don't think that we can stop Strahd without it

Well, certainly it would be much more difficult. Whatever has happened here, and she looks at Alvarski and Vasilika. I don't know what's happened here, but I fear that it is a lesser evil. A lesser evil. Maybe we could at least ask for forgiveness for the boy. I think that we can try that. Or if nothing else, we can certainly keep him hidden outside of Krezik. Maybe we could send him to the were-ravens.

They could take him in. Seems brave enough. I'm sure they would welcome him into their family. Agreed. Best I can do, kid. I'll say that to Dwight. He just nods. Yeah, he just, like, nods. He's not speaking anymore.

He just sort of, like, nods his head quietly. You can see he's kind of fearful, but he's in pursuit. Okay. Well, if you guys want to make the journey back to Krezik, I will need, as it is evening time, I will need one of you to... I've got to get the old Curse of Strahd book out. It is time. Time for a re-roll.

Yeah. So every hex on here, I think, is... So one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Can I get two D20 rolls, please? Two? Two? Let's have Re make one and Trot make one. Re will be the first one, Trot will be the second one.

Fourteen? Fourteen? Three! Three? Okay. Okay. I don't know which one's bad. It doesn't take you too long to begin making your way back, and it's night time. You can hear all sorts of like, things. You can hear creatures in the woods far from here but you can hear sort of like the echoes of them

and everything else on your way back to krezik maybe sort of 40 45 minutes into the journey you feel something. You feel a beat, sort of not in the air, but in the earth. And then a great wave of force kind of rushes across the land, coming from the direction of Castle Ravenloft. The pulse of air or force rustles the trees, it whips your clothes around you.

Nothing more. There's this great heavy thud that seems to echo for as long as the pulse lasts. Just this... You look around for a moment, everybody stops, fearing some beast or attack or strads magic nothing comes you do begin to feel a sensation in the earth maya especially you would both feel this to you too you wouldn't really know what this was like to you it feels just like a rhythmic kind of noise like a like a noise to some sort of rhythm i guess like a heartbeat maybe closest for the most music to the others well to the players and to the other characters it feels like the gears of a clock

like this beat in the earth like like this rhythmic pulsing feeling um not like an earthquake just something when you look up you can see across the trees across the hills in the far distance because it's always present you've almost gotten so used to it, you don't really notice it anymore. The surrounding Barovia are the mists. And with this rhythmic beating,

you watch as the mists are turning blood red. Oh, cool! I thought you were about to say the mists start to shrink and we're just playing like Fortnite or something. Oh no, we're on phase two now. Blood red. Awesome. Oh dear. That's fine, right? So wait, does that stop the ticking? Or...

Nope. That's just carrying on? Carries on. Doesn't seem to be stopping. To Dog's body... I don't think it... So three of the players that are currently here, it doesn't really make sense, but to Dog's body

it almost feels like some sort of machine. Like the cogs of a great machine. In the very earth. Weird. I don't like that. I don't like that at all. Someone very Big Ben.

I don't like that at all. Someone buried Big Ben. I don't know. That really got her. I'm just trying to... Someone just put Big Ben onto the ground. Dong. That really got her.

Dong. Well done, Trot. It's not less the bongs, and it's more like the ticking of a clock. And it's very faint. You notice it because, obviously, you felt this pulse wave. You felt this, like, rush of air. So you're very aware of your surroundings right now. All of you are kind of on edge, and you can just feel it. But if you were distracted, if you were in a conversation,

if you were doing anything, you probably wouldn't even really be aware of it. Okay. I'm sure that's fine. I'm sure that's fine. Nothing to me to worry about. I mean, do you guys just want to press on? What a blood-red sky among friends. Yeah.

That's fine, yeah. What a beautiful sunset. Looks quite nice. You return to Krezik without any further incident. But as you arrive in Krezik, it is clear that the town is in a flurry of activity. You begin to see all of the citizens, all of the regular normal citizens of Krezik that you've seen before,

all of them are donning scrapped like you know scrapped together armor suits or old rusted suits of chain mail they're gathering up weapons whether they're pitchforks or spears or torches or homemade cudgels um shields made out of doors like they are equipping for war um all of them wear these cut together rough spun tabards. They've clearly cut them out of bed sheets or fabrics that have been dyed or linens. And all of them have been painted with the symbol of a broken sun,

like a sun that's been split in half, basically. And they're all bearing the symbol that seems like it's been painted on in a haste. You've seen that symbol before. The abbot has had a similar symbol. And yeah, you can see them all readying themselves. And so when you approach the gates, there is a couple of them that kind of almost call out to hold,

but then they recognize you. You also see more of the kind of winged figures, the winged humanoids flying around. They are actively kind of patrolling the area and things like that. When you are let through the great gates, you are very quickly hustled up to the Abbey. Like the guards, these kind of these fanatics, these kind of like priestly fanatics, this religious army that's been built up are like, you must and see the abbot immediately yes he will want to speak with you as quickly as possible please come come and they'll you know rush you up the hill the the abbey sits at the top of the hill above the the town itself um when you arrive you can see that out the front of this old abbey this old monastery

uh there are ranks rows of these uh you know fanatics all dressed in these armor and things like that. And they're all basically, you know, forming up into units with one of these angelic looking figures at their front who are instructing them in combat, who are testing them and kind of giving them orders and things like that. The abbot stands on a kind of balcony overlooking this all from the top of the thing and when he looks down he just calls out like you have returned you have brought my basilica back to me come i must properly thank you for this great gift and then he steps inside and you are encouraged to enter the great hall of okay the abbey when you arrive you see the abbot this beautiful human man long sort of blonde hair flowing pristine white robes uh this time he carries a kind of double-handed mace like you can see this pristine like steel two-handed mace like a maul um in his hands

looks like it would be way too heavy for a man of his build to be able to carry but he carries it with ease um and you can see that he's adorned himself with sections of armor bits of chain mail scraps of metal and things like that um and uh he just kind of opens his hands towards you my dear you have returned thank you my friends or returning for silica to come the silica he holds his hands up and she just sort of looks around, lowers her head, and then walks to step, you know, walks up to him. He reaches down and takes her hand in his and, like, kisses her hands. It's like, oh, I thought I had lost you.

I am so happy that you have been returned. Now come, come. This coming battle is too much for you you look at you your your dress has been stained we must we must have it cleaned immediately uh come come and he calls forth and several sort of like men and women come out um who look they're kind of they look like older men and women probably too a little bit too old to fight um and so they come out like you know we put down like food and supplies that they've been carrying um and he he has them take vasilika away uh into some other part of the abbey well now that you have done this service to me i i must thank you properly not only will we

march together against this evil whatever power strhd has unleashed upon us, we must meet it together. But also, I fear that you have returned something to me. I must return something to you in return. When you arrived, I became aware that you had lost people precious to you. Companions that you traveled with. I could return one to you. I have not the power to do much, but if you carry a trinket of theirs, or a piece of their remains, I could return them to life

for you. Ah, shit. What have I got on me? Uh. Uh. Uh. I've got nothing. There's so many to choose from. Shit. I've got no trinkets. I've got no trinkets. Rose has, um... Yeah, she'll say, I have something of trinkets. I've got no trinkets! Rose will look around

and she'll say, I have something of Jesper's. I have the Taroka deck and his dagger. But do we want to do that? Hogsbody, I feel like the Maya won't understand this. Irina is Mark.

There's also Shadow. But I don't know if... I don't know if he'd be able to bring Shadow back, given what's happened to her. From what you said as well, Shadow doesn't want to come back. I think that not as she is, no. I don't know if she's... Abbott, if someone has been transformed into a vampire, could you bring them back?

I'm sorry, my child, but a creature that has become a being of the night, a servant of Strazai, would not have the power to undo such a transformation, not until their new vampiric form was slain. We understand rebirth, Rose. Those that become one with us and those that are ripped from the earth

to rejoin their body. But if Jesper were to return, would he become your doll, your plaything, Abbott? Doll? El Vasculate stands up straight and almost like gets into a fighting stance near the mire. Course not. I would return them to you as they were in life. I do not know what you mean,

creature. Strange. It must be your misunderstanding of living things. No, they would be returned to you as they once were. It's my understanding of death that perplexes your purpose, Abbott.

They should be with us still, but they are not. You've taken them. I don't know for what purpose, but they shouldn't be there. Would Jesper be a puppet? there would Jesper be a puppet I'm afraid I do not know what your strange companion

means they would be they would have no control over those I brought back to life they would be as they were in life this is a gift this is a miracle I offer why do you question it creature

I offer you something do you question it, creature? I offer you something which very few can. You will not stitch him? One body? His body will be mended by magic. If his body was injured, it would be mended, regrown by magic. I would have no need to perform surgery, if this is what you mean. No surgery. Jesper may return in that way. If the soul is willing, of course. I cannot promise that this Jesper you speak of would

wish to return to the world. But I can ask. I can beseech the mists to return them. Whatever has happened to these mists, I fear... I fear what may happen to souls if they linger in this whatever has changed. If there is someone you wish to return, this may be your

only chance. What if... Rose will look round. Oh, what do... Dog's body? Maya? What about Zero and Zeki? I think Rose... Ismark, in fact, will be the first one to say,

Doxbody, do you really think that, do you really think that wherever they got sent to will allow them to come back? You know what Zeros did. I don't think that whatever deal he made coming back is part of the equation. I had... I had to keep their names alive. You know? I know. Who? I think whatever...

Whatever deals they made. They dug their graves, dog's body. Now it's time for them to sleep in them. I would want to see Jesper. I want to see Jesper back. If I were Jesper, I would... Yeah, Zeki just... she got a Viking burial. Dog's body will...

Ismark says, I want to see Jesper back. I would not want my business to be undone. If I still had something to accomplish, an enemy to defeat, I would want to see it done. I would like to see it done. Irina nods her head as well. Rose will hand over the

Taroka deck and the dagger. I don't... Did anybody keep any body parts of Jesperik? I can't remember. I know we discussed it because his remains are still there. They were there, but I don't know. The Myers are creepy. That's the thing.

We were going to get his eyes, weren't you? I was going to take his eyes. I was going to get his eyes, weren't you? I was going to take his eyes. Yeah, I was going to remember. But I can't remember if I thought that a lot and then never said it or actually said it. We can say it now. We can just say that the mire, like, without anybody noticing, had, like, sucked up a couple of eyes.

With nobody paying attention. Has no one noticed my new belt it's Jesper's intestines just wears them around his neck my little necklace that's what that smell was I'll let Tom make that call I'm going to say no I can make tons of zombies

I don't need Jesper he was just a body at that point sure the abbot will kind of take the taroka deck and the knife the zombies i don't need i don't need yes but he was just a body at that point sure whatever well the abbot will kind of take the taroka deck and the knife and he'll go to the altar uh which it seems to be dedicated to some sort of sun god unlike the symbols you've seen painted on all the tabards and stuff the symbol here is of like a of a rising sun like a dawning sun so kind of a half sun with the rays coming off of it it's not broken it's it's complete um it it would be similar to some of the deities in the forgotten realms like lathalander and stuff

like that the morning lord um but he places it on the altar closes his eyes and focuses and you see the abbot begins to glow with light and i mean not just like glow but like brightly becomes almost almost difficult to look at like like blazing white light. Just the humanoid figure just becomes this being of luminosity. Jesper. You find yourself in a cold place, but you can sense, you know that there are familiar people around you but it's like you're lost it's like being lost in the misty woods at night you've traveled through the mists many times but this time it's like there's no way out you can sense that there are barovians there are vistani

around you all of you seem as lost as the others but at least you are together with them but then you begin to feel something and not just you all of the other vistani as well the mists turn red plunging you into a sea of crimson and people begin to complain that they can feel something tugging at them pulling at them trying to take them away you even see one of them sucked into the mists and vanish this dread seems to linger and then there is a blazing white light and you just see a figure of pure luminosity appear in front of you with an outstretched hand. A living would see you return, Jesper of the Vistani. I can offer you a way back, rebirth, new life, if you wish it. What is happening? Why are the mists red? I believe it to be some work of Strahd's. No, I am the abbot, an enemy of Strahd. Your

companions have aided me, and so I have offered them my aid in return. One chance to return one they had lost from beyond the veil. I do not know what dark sorcery Strahd has placed upon the mists, but I may not be able to make this offer again. If you wish it, I can return you to life. My work was not done. I have more souls to save. I will take your arm. Take my hand.

You see this glowing hand before you. Yeah, Jesper will reach out. When you touch it, you feel warmth spread before you. Yeah, yes, Bull, reach out. When you touch it, you feel warmth spread through you. You look around one last time at these red, blood-red mists, and you know that there's something wrong. But then the light

embraces you. You feel yourself completely filled with light. To the rest of you, the light begins to dim away from the abbot and he returns to his normal form and laying with the kind of the troika deck and the dagger clutched to his chest, naked as the day he was born,

is Jesper. I'm just going to make a dice roll real quick, Trot. I'm just gonna make a dice roll real quick, Trot. Technically, it is Tradition. It's Tradition! It's okay. Alright, it's alright! It's above average, technically. Not too much.

Just right. So, yeah. I have one. I will activate Jesper. If you want to level him up as well, Trot, when you get a chance. I don't think you'll get it today. How much? You will, however.

He's level... Oh, no. That Nospur I had. I had Nospur. Yeah, that's... I just renamed him. I just renamed him. He's level 7 at the moment, so he needs one more level. He's level 7 at the moment, so he needs one more level. If you want to do a crazy multi-class or something, by all means do.

If you want to do a crazy multi-class or something, by all means do. If you would like to take the reborn lineage, If you would like to take the reborn lineage, if you would like to replace being human with being lineage, if you would like to replace being human with being reborn, you may do as well. We'll have a chat about that. This was a bit of a last minute thing

as I realized this would be a cool opportunity. But yeah, so if you want to do that, we can have a chat about that. Some things to think about. Do you have speeches? He does not. I will say this, that anybody who approaches,

like I imagine Rose, I imagine you all kind of like move up closer. You do not notice any stitches. You do not notice any blemishes or anything unusual or unnatural about Jesper. He does look like he's been returned as he was. Hey, there he is. Nice. There he is. I think Rose would probably, I think Rose Rose would probably grab his hand and just be like,

Jasper, and just sort of be immense relief at seeing one of the few people she started this journey with. Yeah. He's just looking a little out of it, but it's absorbing his surroundings right now. He's just looking a little out of it, but it's absorbing his surroundings right now. We know the lands from which you came from,

a dying land, but you return to Barovia. Not yet dead, not quite, but close. We must be quick, Jesper. You need your sun sword. We're going to kill Strahd good thank you all of you and you the abbot

such power yes it is a gift from the morning lord one that I sadly will not be able to reuse for a long time i fear that now in this time and place it is fitting and your companions they return something to me i see it only as fair that i return something to them I see it only as fair that I return something to them.

I will not waste this opportunity. Thank you. We have a little... We have clothes and armor for you. If you require them. Oh. Yes. Please. Thank you.

I think, like, Ismark would probably, like, throw a cloak over you or something like that or, like, throw one at you to cover yourself up. Good to see you again, Ismark. It's good to see you again as well, Jesper. You look... We definitely needed to see a good face. Still.

Yeah. And with that yeah if you want to anything else you need not be ashamed Jesper when you died you still freak me out your inside became outside and

we saw all this is better than before thank you the dogs buddy great to see you. Come here, buddy. Big old hug. Covered in blood and sweat, but just...

God, it's good to see you. Thank you. Thank you. A human embrace. Is it too hard? No. Oh, yes. Embrace. everyone get in here embrace focus

focus you're too chill to everyone the abbot the abbot absolutely like comes in for a hug as well

I can't he's on the outside edges like yes yeah not you not you you're crazy oh my apologies

you're definitely a cult leader not you. Not you. You're crazy. Oh, my apologies. You're definitely a cult leader, not you. Yeah, you're definitely... We're coming after you after Strahd's done. Yeah, you're on the to-do list, yes. Curse of Abbott. Curse of Abbott. Sweet. Nice. So what about this army esmeralda at this point will say well i will let you all get reacquainted i'm going to begin discussing military tactics with the abbots we need to

decide on what we're going to be doing the abbot has a force it's an army of a sort but i don't think it's necessarily going to be anything that will match up to the hordes of dead or whatever Strahd has. I think it's best used to buy us an opportunity to get inside Castle Ravenloft. We need to scope out what's happened. We need to learn what's happened at Vallaki. I know that it was previously occupied by those aligned with Strahd.

We need to decide if it needs to be attacked, if it needs to be taken over to give us a forward operating base. Those are discussions that will take some time. I suggest that Jesper likely needs some more rest, and as do all of you. Make sure you get equipped, make sure you have what you need to go. I will stay here and coordinate things with the abbot. Nice. Nice, yeah, I could take a long rest. I could easily take a long rest. I just spaffed like seven spell slots healing everyone, so...

Sure. The abbot will say, the house that Esmeralda took you to when you arrived is yours to use as you see fit. The faithful who once lived there have no need of it now. They are preparing with the others for military matters. So please, sleep, eat. If you require anything, let us know.

Thank you for returning Vasilika to me. If you wish. Me. Come, Alvasky. We must prepare an Alvasky. He'll just bow and follow like the good dolly is.

Yep. Yep. Yep. What a big toy what's your big big toy you're a big toy well let's best best not dwell on what happens to our vascular vasilica and the abbot uh moving on sounds healthy let's just definitely from that yeah you guys are you gonna take yes but i mean i think they'll find like some like monk's robes for yes but like a basic sort of like monk robe with like a rope belt for the time being

um and then when you get back down to the townhouse they can actually you can find like barovian clothes for yes but they won't be as colorful as these vistani ones but they'll be like kind of like dark uh dark colors barovian clothing um rose will hand you back the sun sword um and you have your dagger there as well um no armor currently um but if you require basically anything up to that isn't like plate mail or anything like that so studded leather or chain shirt or anything like that they can probably find for you here oh i had that before i had light armor before so i can find an equivalent yeah perfect yeah so we don't need to change your gear too much any other like minor items that you

would have had you would have lost so it'll basically just be like clothes armor weapons that's probably about it and then like traveling supplies stuff like that um you can all gain uh irena once you kind of get back and um you guys can begin taking a long rest if you wish uh you can start taking that um irena slash Tatiana will probably approach Dog's body. How are you feeling, Dog's body? After everything that happened on the bluff? Pretty tired. I've got this weird rash that's just appeared. I don't know if I should really get that looked at.

And it kind of wheezes when I breathe a little bit. Quite hungry. I did mean more mentally rather than physically. Oh! Um, yeah. Yeah. The voices,

the voices in my head, they're going, They're quiet. I, um... I think, uh... I think... I think I know what I want to do now. Yeah. Would you like me to come with you? Um...

Yeah. Um... I'm scared. So, uh... Yeah. if you could just guide me. Would you like the others to come or should we just go, the two of us? I'd like them to come, yeah. Wait, where are you going? Oh. You're going to the pond? Because we're there already!

We're going for a walk. Splashing up a storm. Bugs everywhere. It's gross there now. It's not gross, because no matter what you do, it doesn't ever get gross. I don't know. Nice try, Tom.

We nasty. It never changes. Like, you get in there, even if, like, covered in stuff or, like, you know, fungus and growths, it never seems to change the pool. Anything under the water, like, just either doesn't grow or quickly just fades away into nothing. The pool definitely does not seem to be affected by the Maya's presence. Damn it.

Stupid magical pool. It's, yeah, magical pool. Uncorrupted magical pool. Yes, but does yes, but want to travel? Or is yes, but like, I'm kind of out of it. I need to, I've just been brought back from the dead, lol. I'll definitely inquire. What is it you're doing?

I need to make an oath. I'd really like you to be their friend. You're part of this. Well, you went to great lengths to bring me back, so... Of course. Yeah. Thanks. Now that we've got Jasper some clothes, it won't be so dramatic when we walk him through the town.

Thank you, Bismarck. It's all right, my friend. He's just going to slap you on the back. All right, well, arena, dog's body, lead the way. You make your way to the side of the pool where the mires are currently splashing around. You see this

kind of rickety little gazebo. Looks like it would blow over in a stiff wind. Oh wait, that's the mire. Yeah. There is this pristine, tranquil, almost silvery pool that seems to reside there. It's a little bit overgrown around it.

It doesn't look like it's been really cared for, but the pool itself looks incredible. Beautiful. Irina will look to Dog's body and just offer her hand. You're sure about this right? I'm not going to come out hairier or you know as a flump for anything All I can promise Dog's Body

is that we can remove the curse Anything else this place it's connected it connects us to who we were who we are who we can be all I know is that I know that we can remove this curse from you the rest is up to you, well let's hope it's not who I used to be. Because let's face it, I used to be pretty much nobody. You know, it's... Since the voices have died down, I remember a bit more.

I came here as part of a regiment of soldiers. The Red Caps. 37th Regiment of the Order of the Gauntlet. But I was just... I was a nobody. I was a private. I was the eunuch's dog's body. I did all the menial tasks. And when this place turned everybody rotten in the head, I escaped because I wasn't important enough and because, frankly, I was

a coward. But, you know what, since I've met you all, Rose, Irina, Jesper, Ismark, Xeros and Zeki, and even you two, Maya. Maya. You've shown me kindness, and I thank you for that. So I hope when I come out, I'm a better person. Because I want to devote myself to all of you. I promise to fight in your names and to protect you to the best of my ability until the very last breath in my body. That is an oath I swear in front of all of you today. I want to... I'll protect you until the end.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Our guardian. She'll just take you by the hand. Sort of wades out into the pool, kind of leading you as you go. Everybody else stood on the shore, kind of watching. She wades, she leads you into the water

until you're both about waist deep. And then Irina will say, I need you to lie down, dog's body. Just float. Okay. Okay. And once you do, your mind begins flashing.

You see scenes from the past. You see that moment when those werewolves descended on the team when you ran. You remember your training when you joined the Redcaps. You remember sergeants yelling orders. You remember home. A little cottage somewhere in the Sword Coast where you grew up. And then you remember Barovia.

You remember the noises in Argon Vostholt the battle that when you came out and saw people in trouble that instinct to protect to fight you remember the battle on the hill with Zeros and Ziki, running to their aid, nearly dying. Surviving, waking up as if a corpse from a grave, barely able to stand. You remember the fight against Kyrel, the satisfaction but also the peace that came. You feel Irena put a hand on your chest and your whole body sinks beneath the water as it washes over you but there's no discomfort there's no sense of drowning or struggling to breathe instead you feel like dozens of versions of yourself stretch out almost like in a line

and those words that oath that you spoke on the shore, seems to find one of those people. And you feel that that's the person that settles in your soul, in your form, in your body. You feel your body tingle. The rest of you all see Dog's body disappears under the water for just a few moments and then the whole pool lights up with golden light. And then Dog's body emerges out of the water. Kim, are there any physical changes to Dog's body that you would have liked to have taken

place? I would say that he's very much the same. But I guess almost like his hair is just free of knots and tangles. You know, a few of the scars have disappeared. The injuries he took in the battle

with Kiril have all healed up. And he just seems serene. Just smiling and happy. A bit cleaner. Mm. And, well, he's an Aesimar, so there would be, I guess for a second,

just a lingering glow and maybe the faint outline of the A asimar wings and then it vanishes perfect no and yeah kim if you want to switch on over to paladin dog's body and does does he have a different name do you want a different name now for the character because he's not a dog's body anymore okay he doesn't remember his name, and this is his name, and he wears it with pride. So that's what he takes forward. But for those of you curious out there,

he is a paladin, oath of devotion, and I have changed him from a scourge ASMR to a protector ASMR. Oh, awesome. Very fitting. some more um yeah oh awesome that's awesome yeah very fitting and yeah uh as as dog's body sort of arises and emerges out of the water yeah the kind of cleaner hair fewer scars no dirt you know he's the same man but yeah much more regal and sort of more not noble but a sort of very yeah knightly appearance in a sense. I can see sort of emerges. Irene is sort of leading

him back to the shore to stand before everyone. Jesper is jaw open, slack, just eyes wide. I can't believe it. Oxbody?

Yeah. I guess I don't smell as bad now, huh? No. There's an air of... something. It's an honour. Content. You stand with pride and honour. You made an oath to us to fight with us and know that we will fight with you.

But yes, you smell less. Thank you, my strong body. You deserve to know joy and peace and happiness. We're all so proud of you. And you smell that. Thank you. Hug. I think Rose just kind of...

I'll hug everyone. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Everyone who wants a hug gets a hug. Human embrace. Human embrace! Human embrace.

Yeah, I think when you hug one Maia, it's a hug with both Maias. It's never like you can hug one. They both just in sync, yeah, hug at the same time. Even if we're far away, one of them is just hugging the air. Yeah. Arms up. And just slowly moves over just like like two meters away it feels nice

perfect yeah uh cool it's a devotion i don't i don't know what that has i've never played a paladin i've got no idea uh but it sounds cool. Neither have I. This is gonna be amazing. The only time I played a Paladin was when I played Rhi for one episode. Oh yeah. Yeah. Welcome to the Spike Damage Club of I hit, I will Divine Smite, One billion damage. Yeah. Oh, that's a fine. Got some radiant damage again. Finally. Also,

do I get the holy symbol like that thing that we picked up? Were you carrying it before? Who was carrying it before? I think Rose was carrying it, but I don't know. I think Rose was carrying it, but I don't know. I think that when you hug Rose,

that symbol glows softly in Dog's Body's presence. Being the only one who can attune to it, it reacts to Dog's Body strongly. Rose kind of holds it up and offers it to you. I think that this... If we're going to fight Strahd, this seems like something you should carry. She'll hand it

off to you. Thank you. I will do you proud. I believe the holy symbol of Ravenloft, I believe it is called. Yep. Trots knowledge. Trots like, sure is.

For one. He sure is. Nice. Yeah, holy symbol of Ravenkind, it's called. Holy symbol of Ravenkind. Ravenkind, yeah. Is that a magic item thing, or? Yeah, it is.

It is a magic item, and it requires att a tune by a cleric or paladin of good alignment i don't worry about the alignment stuff i don't really do alignments but paladin or cleric and with the oath of devotion sworn uh this does seem to be uh connected and yeah you get a sense it's like a kind of it's like a silver sun with a red jewel in the middle um and yeah holding it you definitely it feels almost like dog's body you're holding this thing and you can almost feel like the spirit of another similar person like a kind of um another kind of paladin or cleric or somebody wants use this in battle against strat um and it wants to be wielded in battle against vampires you know

you feel the sense uh for your information uh what it does um i'll tell everyone so that you all know it has 10 charges it regains 1d6 plus 4 charges at dawn uh as an action you can spend one charge to basically force all vampires and vampires spawn within 30 feet to make a saving throw on a failed saving throw they are paralyzed for one minute and they can repeat the saving throw at the end of their turn. So it's like an area paralyzed against vampires. You can turn undead or turn the unholy feature. You can expend three charges to use that feature.

Undead have disadvantage on the saving throw against it. So even though they can already do it, there's like another use of three charges. And there's another action. You can spend five charges while presenting the holy symbol to make it shed bright light in a 30-foot radius and dim light for an additional 30 feet. It is sunlight.

It is specifically sunlight, like the sun sword. Hey, Strahd. Hey, Strahd, real quick. GG, Strahd. We win. Strahd, real quick. GG, Strahd. We win.

It's definitely a very strong weapon against Strahd, which is the whole point of collecting these things in the campaign. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, kind of like how the Sun Sword is also, yeah, it's like radiant damage sword, which is very strong as well. Man. Yeah. Man. Yeah. Amazing. Apparently I do in my inventory, I do have a luck stone,

a stone carved with Barovia's emblem. So if anyone wants that or me pan pipes of haunting, because I am with the blood spear, the ring of protection, and the holy symbol, I am out of attunement. Hey, Rhi, which one do you want? Well, I was going to say Rose doesn't have a lot of stuff, but then neither does the

Maya, so... No, we've got nothing. A lockstone would be good. I'll snag a luck stone. Because I know how much Rhi wants the haunting pan pipes. She does want the haunting pan pipes. Is it the curse luck stone? I hope not.

It's a normal luck stone. I'll find it. Oh well, that's fine. Rhi, if you look up pipes of haunting. Oh, well, that's fine. I'll add it afterwards. And then, Rhi, if you look up pipes of haunting. Oh, thank you. Please play a tune. Please. One long dull note.

It's the brown note. Everybody fits themselves. Trot, don't forget to re-add the sun sword to your inventory as well. Yeah, cool. Never lost it. Still on no spurs. Now yes, but again.

You're on the bars, but again. Whole gang's back together again. Well, we'll take a long rest. You guys can all mark off a long rest if you haven't done so already nice nice uh yep all done all done fully healed i don't want to do much without katie here because i feel like the next steps is basically going to be like right let's go fight stride basically um as things get in the way um do we do we have the abbots like

military or is he just going to be like yeah so basically um esmeralda will come and brief you um he has a small force he probably has about sort of i mean it's less than a hundred fighters like but in a in a place like barovia that's actually quite a lot to have like a hundred organized fighters plus these like winged individuals who will carry like great swords and long bows and things like that um his you know his forces you know they have like a group of archers with like hunting bows they have like a bunch of people with like heavy shields people with long spears like they've broken it up into as much of a military order as they can. Esmeralda reports that basically the abbot is... I'll do it in character.

I've spoken with the abbot and he's greatly concerned about the mists turning red and whatever that force that we felt was. I don't know what it was, but the abbot fears that whatever Strahd is planning, this method to escape is nearing its completion or has been completed. He wants to march on Castle Ravenloft now. As soon as dawn breaks, he wishes to march on it. We will march to Vallaki, engage any forces held there, take Vallaki to use as a staging ground, perhaps even try and recruit some of those uh that

do not wish to follow strat from velaki we can then push to castle ravenloft i believe it best if we can draw out strats forces with with the abbots military with these fanatics giving us time to sneak into the castle as best as possible. And it should be our duty, our responsibility, to find Strahd and finish this. Hmm. Okay. I didn't think it was going to be a stealth mission. Hmm.

Well, I do not believe it necessarily. Stealth is perhaps the wrong way to think of it. I imagine that it will simply be a case of using the military to lure out the vast number of forces. Strahd commands hordes of undead, vampire spawn, monsters, creatures all within the castle. He will still likely have internal guards within the castle itself to deter us. I do not believe that we can fully enter the castle completely unseen. Strahd has artifacts, powers, abilities to see things that we cannot. Rather think of it as the abbot's military, if we call it that.

Let's call it the army, the abbot's army, will buy us the time we need to try and track down Strahd as quickly as possible. That may take us some time, but it should prevent us from being overwhelmed by the creatures that he can control. Also, from what we've seen of Strahd, I expect him to be arrogant. I suspect that he will underestimate us. This is as good a time as any, everybody. I think with our strength... We've got this. We can do it. He slams the sun sword into the ground. Defiantly.

I blunted it. Hunter Bond Magical Sunlight. His mark will look and say, I think that with the sword and whatever that thing that dog's body is holding and with all of us, I think that we have a strong chance I do not know what foul sorcery Strahd has conjured but if we fight together we've overcome a lot we can do so again yes Yes. Tatiana, Irina,

looks up as if hearing a noise or startled by something. Something is wrong. Strahd, I can hear him. He, he is desperate to find me more than he has been

ever before. She looks up and you see clouds beginning to gather over Krezik. Pulling in. And a storm. Heavy rain begins to fall. You hear from outside the house where you've been staying, this kind of place where you're taking your long rest, you begin to hear calls,

to arms, to arms, they're attacking! And you begin to see shapes. Great winged, demonic looking shapes of black shadow. You've seen these before. The ones that killed Madame Ava. Begin to fly down. Scores of them, 12, 20, 30 of them begin descending down. Panicked cries cause that you see more of these angels flying up.

And then one final... And just stood in the air overlooking Krezik. You see a man, dong, dark hair, regal hair. Hell yeah. Tatiana! Come to me, my beloved.

And I'm actually going to win the episode there. It's very early, but I want to have Katie back for this. No. What? It's too early. I know, I know, but I don't want to do any more without Katie, and I want to prepare a cool fight.

Yeah. I also want to try and level up and decide what he's doing with Jesper and stuff. Love it. Love it, love it, love it, love it. Awesome. We can have a quick chat. We've got like 30 minutes. We can have a chat about the episode that's always a nice thing

if people want yeah I mean so the plan is lure their armies out we sneak in try not to take too long because if we take too long their army comes back and then we're stuck between a strad and a strad army

yeah kind of suicide mission why else are we here though between a strad and a strad army yeah kind of suicide mission it's a suicide mission why else are we here though exactly you're here to fight strad you all knew coming into this that the campaign is basically strad must die so you know yeah it kind of makes sense it's it i i always think of stuff like this like sometimes in dnd it's over to overthink things and be like well you know that doesn't make the most sense or like military it's a framing thing it's a narrative thing right the idea is that you have a cool

you know army of abbot zealots you know marching and engaging the forces while you guys the cool heroes get to sneak in and fight the bad guy that's really kind of what it's it's more about um yeah you guys as a whole the cool heroes no one addressed the maya when they were talking about all the cool friends they made they're gonna storm the castle they were all just like oh wow dog's bodies here wow you're so strong oh rose you're amazing what a great shot you are oh maya wow who's who is he referring to who's been saying these things i don't know no one no one mentioned the maya and how cool the moira is anybody else in that way oh well you know i noticed trot what's uh what are you thinking with Jesper? Are you thinking just level up in Bard

and just coming back as normal? Or do you want to do something? Are you thinking some crazy shit? There's a bit of a spring on you. Level 8 Bard is pretty fun, to be honest. Yeah. You get your ability score mods and improvements and stuff as well, so.

Yeah. Oh, go full paladin you know what I might jump in that pool everyone comes out paladin you get a sunbeam and you get a sunbeam oh my god everyone thrust into

stride castle wearing plate armor that'd be amazing just shooting off radiant energy. Anybody listening, if you ever want to cheese Curse of Strahd, a full party of clerics and paladins is the way to do it, by the way.

It's fucking gross. Everyone take radiant energy. Six people guiding Fort Strahd at the same time. Yeah. Max level guiding bolt. That's advantage for the next one. that's advantage for the next one that's advantage for the next one yeah it's fucking stupid uh or you can end curse of stride campaign like we ended it with uh chris trot by having a thousand twig bites in a black

and paralyzing stride that's just let them out and then paralyze Strahd. Just let them out and then paralyze Strahd to win. A little amulet there. Yeah. Yeah, he hates that.

A bag of twig blights. You don't even need your full party if you use that strategy. One of you can be charmed by Strahd and just failing to kill

the other party members. That was this guy. My rogue couldn't hit anybody. I was literally charmed. I'm like, gonna kill you. Miss, miss, miss, miss, miss. I just couldn't hit. I would have dealt so

much damage but just couldn't hit them. It was so funny. But no. I've got some tricks on my sleeve. Don't worry. I've learned from playing with Chris Strahd. I've learned like okay, better have some backup plans. Playtest. Yeah. We don't have the bag of holding.

We don't have the bag of holding, so you've learned that. I haven't seen the twig blights yet, so I've learned that. Indeed, yes, and that story did involve some divination wizard portent bullshit as well. It involved a, oh, I'm going to use the paralyzed on Strahd. He rolls a two. Yeah, portent. two yeah it all happened

yeah pretty nice yeah you love to see it and excellent oath as well good job what's the oath of devotion

what's special? That was what Dog's Body swore. Oh no, I just mean, what is it mechanically? I'm just all devoted to you, innit? It's like the generic paladin one. It's like the standard paladin. You get a cool holy weapon, lots of protection spells and abilities and stuff like that.

Yeah, lots of radiant damage stuff I also get aura of protection and aura of devotion so aura of devotion while you are conscious friendly creatures including me within 10 feet cannot be charmed

an aura of protection when I'm conscious well that's the um century one of like i think uh where everyone within 10 feet gets a plus three bonus role to all saving throws yep yep yep yeah it's your charisma plus it's i'll be charmed yeah interesting well you gotta be within 10 feet of me so you gotta be within 10 feet. I did. Yeah. I did look at, um, Mark's, um, oath of love. Um,

but, uh, it didn't, it didn't quite fit what I had in mind. Like it just, yeah. After all we've been through dog's body. You,

Tom, it's not as my oath says, it's not all about that kind of love. It can be family, familial love. It can be love of friends. That's what I'm saying. That's what I'm saying.

I thought we had something special. Whatever. Dude, I've just devoted myself to your creepy ass. No, I want you to devote yourself to me specifically. Okay, okay. We'll work something out afterwards. Yeah. Yeah.

Thank you. That's my thing. Yeah. Nice. Good shit. By the way, not to turn this into a shopping episode, but I apparently have 1,300 gold, so do we want to buy healing potions or anything? I don't know. Yeah.

Strug, not really the place you can buy potions. You don't have a pop-up? No. As you well know, Chris Strug, not really the place you can buy potions. Do you not have a pop-up? No. As you well know, Chris Trott, there are actually very few places to spend your money in this campaign. That's why you don't get a lot of it. You don't really get a lot of money to spend. I did consider, after watching Tom play Resident Evil Village,

I was like, oh, man, if I were to run this again, I would 100% in a figure like the Duke who just rolls around in a wagon and is like, hello there adventurers, would you like to buy some potions? Like I would absolutely add him in. I actually think if you want to run a Curse of Strahd campaign, go play Resident Evil 8 The Village and just take loads of fucking stuff from that game because it fits Strahd and Barovia very well yeah it's got like a really good atmosphere like you could even like there are even areas of that game where i'm like oh man that would be such a cool area to add to curser strad um maybe take out like maybe just take out strad and replace him with uh

lady demitrescu like i can handle it i'd work for the villain yeah very very some very cool ideas that you could take in there, like set pieces and moments and stuff from that game. It's very cool. Very strong. Just the visuals of it. I'm just like, that's Barovia. That miserable village is Barovia.

Yeah, the big castle in the background. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I mean, also, it goes without saying, it's just watching castlevania too oh yeah i got castlevania i've already done a lot of inspiration i know i know well even just watching all the things like whipping out of the sky that feels very like that well that chris trot that is 100 where it's from like there's there's some certain moments

in some of the latest seasons where I like they literally have like all these beasts and demons and stuff yeah doing the same thing also Strahd's face appearing in the sky that was just straight up just like I'm gonna steal that steal that steal that that's mine

oh yeah that's what you know that's honestly like whenever you're making a campaign, like just find stuff that you think is cool and go, let me use that. Hell yeah. Because then if you're excited,

if the DM's excited about it, normally the players are as well. Like generally if like the DM gets really excited by something, it rubs off on the players. Yeah. Cool. Nice.

Anything else? Teleporting machine. We're going to his castle okay alright we have I don't know what he just said

or even meant don't worry about it I don't worry about it see you Sunday it's nice to shake off the rust and get back into it so I'm looking forward

to the climactic battle next time yes I think that yeah this is you know we'll have a big battle with Strahd and maybe other

things next week um and then yeah push on into castle ravenloft as a note castle ravenloft is a massive fucking dungeon i'm not gonna make you go through all of it because i can't i don't do mega dungeons i don't like them i don't like running them they confuse the fuck out of me i'm gonna try and be like alright let's just fucking do the best bits it's gonna be like a quick stop tour of all the best bits Strad is standing right there

there fighting here it's really cool but and again I'm sure Trot can back me up on this like it is Castle Ravenloft is huge I don't know Mark, I never fucking went there you read about it though you read about it

one chance to play it, no, denied no you'll get to play through it all but it's just it's fucking huge I don't do mega dungeons I don't like them but that's me I don't want 10 episodes in one dungeon 10?

Tom? You'd be lucky You'd be lucky with fucking 10 Let me tell ya I feel like the campaign in terms of its structure maybe like a third, maybe a quarter is Castle Ravenloft

Holy crap There is one two three four five six seven sections each with like you know 20 30 rooms a pop uh yeah like it's massive like argon vosthalt was one section of of like this this place and you guys ran in and ran out you know it's massive well ran in ran out uh ziki died i mean i fell out God damn. Oh, well. Nice. Still. All right. It'll be awesome.

Cool. All right. Well, thanks very much, everybody. We'll see you on Sunday. Take care. Bye. Bye. Bye.

Bye-bye. Thank you.