Curse of Strahd

Originally known as Half-Price Heroes.

Curse of Strahd
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DM(s) neobolts, Valeria
System D&D 5e

New hires with the Frostbay Mercenary Guild take on the "boring jobs" so the famous heroes don't have to. Initally based in Luskan in the Forgotten Realms, but the heroes eventually found themselves transported to Ravenloft.

Current PCs

Other/Former PCs


Session Data

Arc 1: Dread Saecaroth

Session 1 - The Bootlegger [1.21.16]
After Angus Coppervein doesn't return to port on the fishing vessel he crews, his wife Lucie hires the team to track him down. They discover that he's been leading a secret life as a bootlegger, and has been kidnapped by rival gang the Junkyard Boyz.
DM(s) neobolts
PCs

Aur of the Crags (Xarren), Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Thea (Valeria)

NPCs

Champ Thunder, guild Fightermaster; Healgiver, guild Clericmaster; Brendelle Dreadstaff, guild Wizardmaster; Lucie Coppervein, concerned spouse

Setting Luskan
Session 2 - To Dread Saecaroth [1.28.16]
Angus Coppervien gets rescued by the party from kobolds. With the addition of their new party member, Ng, the group heads to investigate Saecaroth, a dungeon beneath an ancient evil ruin. Bandits have been slaying homesteaders in the area. Rufio reveals his troubling desire to collect the body parts of female victims.
DM(s) neobolts
PCs

Aur of the Crags (Xarren), Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Thea Dawnshadow (Valeria)

NPCs

Angus Coppervein, bootlegger

Setting Luskan; Saecaroth
Quotes
  • "Nipple belt." - Rufio
Session 3 - The Skeletal Minotaur [2.4.16]
The party descends into Saecaroth and begins clearing bandits. Thea meets an untimely end when a skeletal minotaur gores and and knocks her into a latrine pit.
DM(s) neobolts
PCs

Aur of the Crags (Xarren), Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Thea Dawnshadow (Valeria)

NPCs

n/a

Setting Saecaroth
Quotes
  • "Birds' poop is white because they only have one asshole." - Energy Turtle
Session 4 - Hank? [2.11.16]
The party slays the bandit leaders are rescues a prisoner, a lazy amnesiac named Hank who joins the party. They clear out the northeastern section of Saecaroth's upper level, including a band of Bullywugs living beneath the well. They also find a holy statue that blesses their weapons within the dungeon. They exit to the surface via the well.
DM(s) neobolts
PCs

Aur of the Crags (Xarren), Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Hank (Valeria)

NPCs

n/a

Setting Saecaroth
Quotes n/a
Session 5 - The Chamber of Everdrowning Ghouls [2.18.16]
The party returns to the surface and camps for the night. A couple of ladies of the night approach their camp, but are scared off by Aur's unpleasant sounding human/bird sexual overtures. The next day, the party clears much of the western half of the upper level of Saecaroth, slaying phase spiders and ghouls while overcoming corrosive acid and teleport traps.
DM(s) neobolts
PCs

Aur of the Crags (Xarren), Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Hank (Valeria)

NPCs

n/a

Setting Saecaroth
Quotes n/a
Session 6 - Ng the Initiate [2.25.16]
The party investigates the clearly heavily trapped area of the dungeon, and faces the cult's ancient ritual of sleeping gas and helmed horrors taking the unconscious to be sacrificed. Ng becomes an candidate for initiation into the cult of Sha-Yen-Mar, but without a cult high priest present to accept him, the ritual statue lashes out. The party prevails by outwitting the horrors and smashing the statue to bits.
DM(s) neobolts
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Hank (Valeria)

NPCs

n/a

Setting Saecaroth
Quotes
  • "High priest, do you accept this candiate to be initiated?" - evil statue
    "Uh, is she still talking to me?" - Ng
Session 7 - The Secret of Saecaroth [3.3.16]
The party ventures into the lower level of Saecaroth, and defeats the Champion of Saecaroth, the animated and magically infused corpse of the paladin who led the crusade against Saecaroth 800 years ago. They discover that the seal on the lower level wasn't set by the paladin to seal the cult in, but was set by the cult to work uninterrupted for 800 years. The village above is in terrible peril, and the party rushes back to Luskan to inform their superiors of the danger.
DM(s) neobolts
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Hank (Valeria)

NPCs

n/a

Setting Saecaroth
Quotes n/a

Arc 2: Curse of Strahd

Session 8 - The Mists
When Rufio, Ng, and Buxom try to attened Hank's victory party in the woods, they instead find themselves spirited away to Barovia by strange mists. Meanwhile on the planet Krynn, minotaur lighthouse keeper Uszgar Es-Medouli has a bizarre dream of a marsh, snaring thorny vines, and bats in the distance. Afterwards, when he ventures into the nearby woods, he also finds himself transported by the mists to Barovia. He become a quick but not completely trusted ally for the other three when bats attack.
DM(s) Valeria
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Urszgar Es-Medouli (neobolts)

NPCs

Hank (Valeria)

Setting Barovia
Quotes n/a
Session 9 - The Town of Barovia
The party fends off wolves as they head west on the Old Svalich Road to the town of Barovia. In town they visit a church where a monster is locked in the basement, as well as tavern with emotionless and soulless patrons.
DM(s) Valeria
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Urszgar Es-Medouli (neobolts)

NPCs

n/a

Setting n/a
Quotes n/a
Session 10 - Pies for Sale
The party kills some ghouls for money. Then they meet with Ismark Kolyanovich, son of the Burgomaster of Barovia and his adopted sister Ireena Kolyana. Ireena does not have any memory of her past before her adoption, a fact she does not share with the party. Ismark hires the party as escorts to take him and his sister to the faraway town of Krezk, for she is a nighttime victim of Barovia's "dracula" ruler, Count Strahd von Zarovich. The party buys some odd pies that alter dreams from a suspicious old woman. They also find a weird doll made by a toymaker in the town of Vallaki.
DM(s) Valeria
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Urszgar Es-Medouli (neobolts)

NPCs

Ismark Kolyanovich, son of the deceased Burgomaster of Barovia; Ireena Kolyana, Ismark's adopted sister prized by Strahd

Setting Town of Barovia, Barovia
Quotes n/a
Session 11 - Madam Eva
The party leaves town with Ismark and Ireena travelling west towards Krezk. Along the way they pass a myseterious gallows at the Ivlis River Crossroads. They spend the night at a Vistani camp along the river, where they received a tarokka reading from Madam Eva:
  • 9 of Swords/The Torturer - The Tome of Strahd
  • 7 of Glyphs/The Charlatan - Holy Symbol of Ravenkind
  • 7 of Coins/The Thief - Sun Sword
  • The Broken One
  • The Horseman
DM(s) Valeria
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Urszgar Es-Medouli (neobolts)

NPCs

Ismark Kolyanovich, Barovian aristocrat; Ireena Kolyana, Ismark's adopted sister; Madam Eva, Vistani Seer

Setting Town of Barovia, Barovia; Tser Pool Vistani Camp, Barovia
Quotes n/a
Session 12 - The Old Mill
In a desperate battle at on old mill, the party narrowly defeats a group of hags, rescues some children, and find the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind.
DM(s) Valeria
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Urszgar Es-Medouli (neobolts)

NPCs

Ismark Kolyanovich, Barovian aristocrat; Ireena Kolyana, Ismark's adopted sister

Setting Old Bonegrinder Mill, Barovia
Quotes n/a
Session 13 - The Wizard of Wines
Arriving in the town of Vallaki, the party hired mercs to help them investigate rumors of a mad mage that might be the one from their reading. But before they head out to find the mage, they get into a fight with evil druid at a winery called the Wizard of Wines.
DM(s) Valeria
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Urszgar Es-Medouli (neobolts)

NPCs

Ismark Kolyanovich, Barovian aristocrat; Ireena Kolyana, Ismark's adopted sister

Setting Vallaki, Barovia; The Wizard of Wines, Barovia
Quotes n/a
Session 14 - The Mad Mage
After defeating the druids, the party and their guides head across Lake Zarovich and track down the Mad Mage. When he uses Time Stop to escape, the party abandons trying to help him for now, but made a plan to return with restorative magic to cure his insanity.
DM(s) Valeria
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Urszgar Es-Medouli (neobolts)

NPCs

The Mad Mage

Setting Vallaki, Barovia; The Wizard of Wines, Barovia; Lake Zarovich, Barovia
Quotes n/a
Session 15 - Krezk
The elf Nabila Nyarna is spirited by the mists to Barovia from her desert homeworld of Athas. The last of her clan left after a massacre by cannibalistic halflings, Nabila is a bit of wild card herself. Despite some misgiving, she falls in with the party and helps fight off an attack as the party travels west to the town of Krezk. In town, a watery figure tries to lure Ireena into a pond but the booming voice of Count Strahd himself cries out and lightning destroys the watery figure and knocks most of the party unconscious.
DM(s) Valeria
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Urszgar Es-Medouli (neobolts), Nabila Nyarna (Xarren)

NPCs

Ismark Kolyanovich, Barovian aristocrat; Ireena Kolyana, Ismark's adopted sister

Setting Vallaki, Barovia; Krezk, Barovia
Quotes n/a
Session 16 - The Abbey of Saint Markovia [6.2.16]
The party visits the Abbey of Saint Markovia in Krezk. There they dine with the Abbot, who appears to be an ageless, attractive human male who has crafted a female flesh golem named Vasilka to be Strahd's bride. Given their shared interest in the flesh of dead women, Rufio and the Abbot become fast friends. Meanwhile, Nabila gets into trouble by releasing one mongrelfolk in the Abbot's courtyard and slaying another in the well. Uszgar, Ng, and Buxom also get acquainted with Ezmerelda D'Avenir, a Vistani "dracula" hunter and protege of Rudolph van Richten, himself a famed "dracula" hunter who has traveled to Barovia with the intent to kill the greatest of all "draculas" -- Strahd von Zarovich. Ezmerelda has traveled to Barovia to find him and assist him in his quest.
DM(s) Valeria
PCs

Buxom Athena, She-Warrior of the Apocalypse (Aksani), Rufio McGein (ThereGoesMyGun), Ng (Energy Turtle), Urszgar Es-Medouli (neobolts), Nabila Nyarna (Xarren)

NPCs

Ismark Kolyanovich, Barovian aristocrat; Ireena Kolyana, Ismark's adopted sister; the Abbot, flesh golem creator; Ezmerelda D'Avenir, Vistani "dracula" hunter

Setting Krezk, Barovia
Quotes n/a


The Frostbay Mercenary Guild

History

The merc guild was founded 5 years ago and has quickly grown in popularity thanks to its famous leadership. Located in Luskan's Waterfront District in a simple two-story building, the merc guild offers the services of renowned heroes to those in need of help. Active members of the merc guild are given simple lodging in the guild hall.

Merc Guild Leaders

There are four "star" members of the merc guild.