Curse of Strahd: DMs Guide- Chapter 14 Yester Hill

Yester Hill has many things packed into such a small location, lets discuss it all!
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0:00 Intro
0:20 DM Intro
3:40 The Trail
3:54 Berserker Cairns
4:44 Druids Circle
8:10 Gulthias Tree
11:12 Wall of Fog
12:27 The Druids Ritual
19:45 Blod Spear of Kavan

[@williampadgett9423]

9:13 I’ve been watching all your videos and “hacking away at this thing isn’t gonna cut it” is easily the best unintentional pun you’ve ever done

[@Stupidtalkspointlessthoughts]

So I had a player in the middle of my campaign that had to leave and he was really sad about it but I wanted to make his characters impact into the story matter. He played an elf paladin. Oath of devotion. It's at this encounter that Strahd was able to finally charm the paladin turn her into a vampire bride that ruthlessly hunted the party.

[@NoFunAllowed]

heres hoping the party can save the paladin haha!

[@FlutesLoot]

Great idea causing a schism between the Druids and the Berserkers with the Blood Spear as a symbol of leadership.

[@NoFunAllowed]

tons of awesome opportunity with faction play in this adventure!

[@ludwigvannormayenn8657]

awesome video, thanks a lot. currently running Curse of Strahd a second time as a dm and this time the yester hill is a more important location because of a treasure. very cool modifications for the special events you mentioned

[@thedisappointedoptimist6916]

My group didn't do this quest until lvl 7. They're basically swatting flies. Gotta admit, them being so over leveled for this quest was such a nice feel-good break from all the gloom. It essentially turned into Shawn of the Dead.

[@MadameQuackers]

First time running as GM and these videos are a saving grace

[@UnlistedUniform]

Love the videos, honestly I like how you present everything as is and clarify things that could be better written, thanks

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you and no problem!

[@pcali390]

Running CoS currently. These videos are a great help.

[@NoFunAllowed]

thank you and no problem!

[@coolman4202]

I’ve been running Yester Hill and your video has been the most helpful! I run my game mostly RAW so hearing your opinion on what is RAW has been essential in making the hill a wonderful experience for my players.

[@jsl8461]

Excellent work. I don't understand how this channel doesn't have tens of thousands of subscribers. And each video should have tens of thousands views, if not over a hundred thousand.

[@NoFunAllowed]

Haha I'm happy with what I have now, its way more than what I was expecting!

[@piploo]

Super helpful as per usual! My party just dealt with the winery and have decided that they want to take on Yester Hill at level 4 but they have kept the Gulthias Staff so I think it'll be okay! They will be picking up the Spear and the Tome of Strahd here and I am SO excited to run Audicious Adventurer's Interactive Tome of Strahd which I think my players will love it!

[@NoFunAllowed]

The interactive tome is a blast to run through, diving deeper into the foe that they wil face!

[@christopherwyatt2771]

Currently planning on running this in two week's time. Planning on making this a massive dramatic scene. I feel like this is the ideal place outside of Ravenloft for a dramatic showdown. This will be the third time they meet Strahd, and the first time Strahd is... displeased... with them. But not quite openly hostile yet. He will execute an NPC they've met in front of them, unless they intervene. I'm trying to bait them into them attacking Strahd first, rather than vice versa, even though they know they can't take him.

[@NoFunAllowed]

awesome stuff, getting your players sucked into something they dont want to do is fantastic!

[@DireMerc]

Well this is akward my party visited the winery and during the course of the fight at the winery I had wintersplinter show up and they already killed him. Now they are going to visit yesterhill to retrieve the acorn. Guess I'm doing the blood spear thing.

[@iamcodeman1995]

Ran this encounter where instead of the effigy being the blight, I instead had the Gulthias Tree emerge as the Tree Blight with the 250ish HP and healed every round. My party was a little over leveled so I kew they could handle it and it turned out to be one of the best fights so far!

[@NoFunAllowed]

awesome stuff!

[@Indian0Lore]

Winter splinter already summoned off camera and destroyed the winery. Players only know about it as the winery owners came to seek refuge at the inn.

[@Jac117]

We might be going into yester hill next week this will come in handy

[@NoFunAllowed]

Yester Hill can be great fun or great mysery depending on how the players aproach it!

[@cantandwont6636]

Just about to get to this point my players are all lvl 6 and some of them are pretty smart so wouldn’t be surprised if they do the staff destroying trick at the event oooor they are too paranoid of the staff and don’t even touch it

[@NoFunAllowed]

Haha it's a tricky one for sure

[@snowtsukasa6662]

I'm about to run this area, but have made a few changes. The players aren't far after St. Adrals Feast in Vallaki, but it ended with their first meeting with Strahd. Leading to a TPK, but not the end. The Mad Mages Tower I've changed into a base for Van Richeten. He, and Ezmerelda are working together to come up with a plan against Strahd. However, the druids of Yester Hill have been busy. The device powering the Antimagic Field at the tower has been stolen, around the same time as the gems from the winery. The players are sent to the winery to help. 2 gems have been stolen, and upon their arrival there is yet another attack, searching for the third gem. The party is searching for the druids, and the Martikovs are willing to help. However, they would like the aid of the elden son; Urwin, who's location I moved away from Vallaki. On the hill, they will find it mostly empty at first. Finding the graves, effigy, and tree, even the axe next to it. Behind the tree, in the mists, they will find Strahd again. Staring off in the distance. Coming from the mist in front of him a pair of druids. Strahd will invite the party to join them for a ceremony. Once the Tree Blight is awakened, the players need to choose what they're going to do. Strahd will not attack unless provoked. If he is, Urwin has the Symbol of Ravenkind, and will temporarily stun Strahd, giving them a chance to retreat. If they defeat the tree, Strahd will leave peacefully. Mildly impressed by the group, and mentioning their invitation to Ravenloft, and giving his word they will make it there, and out, safely. Just reiterating what the letter they have says. Any thing that the party does on the hill that damages the effigy, tree, or Graves will result in attacks from the druids / berserker, and many twig blights, with occasional vine and needle. The gems they recover, if returned to the Winary, will not have an impactful effect for the players, but will allow for them to start making wine again. If kept, they can produce Goodberries, each one 10 times a day. The antimagicfield, if returned to the tower, will give them a relatively safe place to stay. If kept, the player attuned to it can use it as legendary resistance once a day, if triggered by a magical effect. Returning the field will also have Van Richten reward them with a prototype weapon, repeating crossbow. Bypasses the reload property, and functions as hand crossbow at 3x the weight.

[@NoFunAllowed]

Awesome stuff!

[@pockyhunter187]

Alternatively if Strahd takes them out, have them wake up in Ravenloft's dungeon.

[@NoFunAllowed]

Haha oh yes! I made a whole video on death in barovia and I love fake out deaths and waking up in the castle!

[@nicolasyanezsilva753]

Nice videos man!! I've been a little confused on where exactly the druids and berserkers are located. By reading the book it would seem that they are resting in hidden tombs inside the circle where the statue is, but looking at the Roll20 premade map, they seem to be resting on the cairns around the hill. This doesn't make sense to me as the map is huuuge and if the PCs for whatever reason, started hiting the statue, there's no way the druids and berserkers could make it in time before it's torn appart, as they are more and 200 feet away, downhill too. What is your take on this?

[@NoFunAllowed]

The druids are right in front of the statue in the circle, ready to watch their creation arise!

[@nicolasyanezsilva753]

​@@NoFunAllowed Sure!! So rereading the chapter again, I have come to the conclusion that the Roll20 map is wrong, and all the human NPCs should be inside the circle where the statue is and not scattered on the hill side, in the case that Strahd is not yet there they should surprise the characters by rising from their graves all around theme as they inspect or interact with the statue

[@NoFunAllowed]

@@nicolasyanezsilva753 awesome stuff!

[@taterturner47]

Wat would the hallow spell do I have a party of clerics and would like for u to elaborate on that if u could please

[@NoFunAllowed]

Hallow would prevent evil from being spawned in the area, and nullify the evil that is the gulthias plants!

[@taterturner47]

Ok thanks for that I really like ure videos and find them very helpful for a first time dm

[@NoFunAllowed]

@@taterturner47 thank you very much!

[@KrossBillNye]

I love the fact my dnd group destroyed the staff before getting to Yester hill.

[@NoFunAllowed]

haha its definitely one of those things youll kick yourself for doing it early haha

[@KrossBillNye]

@@NoFunAllowed man some of the stuff coming up is going to be fun for them to experience. They just destroyed the windmill and killed the hags but now all the drugged up pie lovers are starting to get withdrawals.

[@NoFunAllowed]

@@KrossBillNye no good deed goes unpunished haha!

[@xkillrocknroll1]

BOW sephalus

[@vonpepper3482]

LETS GOO FIRST COMMENT Keep up the good work man, you should try doing some build player videos, I enjoy these dm guides because I’m a forever dm but most videos made for players typically get more views

[@NoFunAllowed]

true, if I wanted more views, id do "Player Builds" or "My Girlfriend react to this!" Maybe I will do more catchy videos in the future, but for right now, I want to do the things I want to do.

[@Riggsy_17]

Obligatory comment

[@NoFunAllowed]

haha thank you!