Krezk Guide: The Abbey of St. Markovia | Running Curse of Strahd 5e

Darkness and corruption come to Krezk and the Abbey of St. Markovia. Learn what's behind the Abbot's strange behavior, and get rid of that pesky wedding dress! This guide will give you tips to tweak the Abbey and its star resident, The Abbot!
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[@felixrivera895]

My party includes a Paladin of Sune, the goddes of beauty. This paladin... he saw Vasilca and just... his entire argument about her is "This can never work, look at her! She's covered in stitching!" And my immediate response was "Don't be silly, look, the seams are neat and geometrically pleasing. I put the utmost care into her design

[@ademiranda2]

“I think we can do that better without meaningless combat”-you just described 9 out of 10 combat scenarios in D&D. 😂😂

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Ha! Yeah, since I play during a short lunch break I have to eschew things that aren't necessary to advancing the story/plot. As such, I drop combat that isn't necessary, such as random encounters. I just cannot abide by wasting an entire game session on a random combat scenario.

[@Nickz666]

The face idea is solid gold. I'm totally using it. I'm really glad I found this channel.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Lemme know how it goes when you do!

[@Nickz666]

@@LunchBreakHeroes Done. They were completely unnerved and repulsed by him and the golem. They have an extremely protective attitude toward Ireena so they flat out refused but I didn't have him be hostile. I made abundantly clear to them "Consent is paramount." They left feeling like they had just witnessed the corruption of a pure angelic soul. If he was an avatar of supreme good, from a literal heaven, to be so completely corrupted and twisted... What hope do they have? I'll be keeping a close eye on you channel from now on. Thanks again for the video.

[@joshuasparks6613]

@@LunchBreakHeroes iuiiiiiiiiiiiuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiommkkkjkkkkkkkkkkjkk I’m k ok kikmjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjm

[@stevenlindell3249]

She doesn't need her face to survive. Please bring it to me, as you brought the wedding dress. Wait, WUT?

[@Nickz666]

@@stevenlindell3249 So it was obviously a while ago but I did in fact use this version of the Abbot in my game, face request and all. My players HATED it. Which was the effect I was going for! 10/10. Best advice I had for running this game.

[@elatedmegalodon9156]

Our DM actually ran this version, and we were a bit perplexed as to what to do about the face situation. fortunately, my character's backstory gave her some knowledge of modern science, and after a quick search through her warlock tome and a nat 20 Int check, we were able to present the abbot with modern skin graft technology and plastic surgery. so the next problem was deciding who would give their literal ass to the cause. so we drew straws, or rather, the only three humanoids in the party drew straws, being Ireena, our human rogue and our Kalashtar paladin. the rogue drew short, so the abbot decided to reward him the mongrel folk way. so the abbot got what he wanted, and now our rogue had a harry ass and a kitty tale. DnD is fun...

[@joshuasorey6031]

The sibirex demon in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes has a Flesh Warp ability that twists the bodies of its victims. I lowered the DC and gave it to the Abbot as a 1/round legendary action. My players watched in horror as they started twisting into mongrelfolk!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

That's brutal! I love it!

[@paulcoy9060]

Before they reach the Abbey or Kresk, somewhere in woods they meet a man with the eyes of a cat. "Oh, these? My father had the eyes of a cat. It helped him become the best hunter in Kresk. Now I am the best hunter in all of the land. Can you afford to hire me?"

[@mastapasta9401]

Ran the face idea for my party and it was a blast. The looks on their faces when the Abbot asked for Ireena's face! They weren't going to let him take the face, instead the bard tried to cast an illusion of a beautiful woman trying to convince the Abbot that there are far more suitable candidates, but the Abbot was dead set on taking Ireena's face there and then. So naturally, they wanted to fight the Abbot. It was the four of them plus Ireena and Ismark VS the Abbot, Vasilka, and Clovin (used the new stat block which made things much more fun). The party seemed confident. When the Abbot showed his true form the party realised this wasn't just some crazy guy in a robe. The Abbot got the rogue and bloodhunter down to single digits quickly but when the fighter decided to shoot Vasilka four times (gunslinger btw), the Abbot was not happy. I thought it would be fitting to have him become enraged when someone attacked Vasilka, seeing as she is his most valued creation. The fighter was killed shortly after and the rogue was next. I also had Clovin lock the door behind them so Ismark and Ireena were spending their turns getting the door open. The session ended with the Abbot holding up the rogue's unconscious body by the neck demanding Ireena's face, less the party suffer another loss. Thanks for the video mate. Players really loved the session!

[@paulcoy9060]

I had an idea. Why is the Abbot/Deva here, in Barovia? He was sent here by The Morninglord, to cleanse the Domain of Dread of Strahd. But instead, he becomes the Mongrel Whisperer, and says, "Guess I'll build a Sex Golem for the head vampire!" There's a lot of connective tissue missing from this story. So what happened? If the PCs ask the Abbot, if he actually is a Deva, then why is Strahd still alive, er, still walking around, what's the Abbot going to say? I think the Deva showed up a year ago at the request of his God, unfurled his wings, flew to Castle Ravenloft and challenged Strahd, so that justice would be done upon him. Strahd shows up, they banter for a while, and then the Deva smites Strahd like he owes him money. The Deva turns to the border and waits for the Mists to retreat, and embrace the glory of the Morninglord. Which doesn't happen. Strahd stands up, and says, "I Am The Ancient. I Am The Land." And that is when the Deva has a Crisis of Faith. Remember, the Deva did not have Ireena, or the Sunsword, or the Tome of Strahd, or anything the PCs will have at the end of the campaign. He charged in, fired both barrels, and failed. For a divine being, this would be a devastating setback. He now believes that Strahd can never be killed, as long as he is in this land. And he can never leave this land because this land is his prison. So, there is a short-circuit in his brain, and he can't move ahead. So now his motto is, "Strahd can't be killed, only appeased." He thinks he's doing what he is supposed to be doing, maybe as a test or penance from the Morninglord. He's a true believer, and unless Madame Eva (the DM) chose the Abbot as the party's Ally, he will probably sit out this apocalypse.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Damn Paul, maybe you should start your own guide channel! I love the idea!

[@paulcoy9060]

@@LunchBreakHeroes If I can see farther than most, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants. Nerdarchy, How To D&D, Web DM, Matt Colville, you, The Dungeoncast, Dungeon Dudes -- for years, I've listened to lots of ideas, picked up a few, had a couple ideas of my own, but I think your approach has given me the best insight into an adventure module yet. I mean, it helps that I have the 1st and 2nd edition versions of Ravenloft to add to the 5th as background (something the boxed set of Realm Of Terror does superbly), but trying to figure out the psychology of the characters, the "why" they do what they do, really seemed to click after discovering your channel. Right time, right place, or just coincidence, or maybe it was you doing the voices that triggered some dormant memory. Who knows? In any case, with my current team of players, I've run Lost Mine of Phandelver, branched off into Princes of the Apocalypse, and have hinted at a bigger adventure that awaits them. I've brought in low-level vampire spawn, to give them an idea what D&D vampires can do, so that when they crossover into Barovia and meet Strahd they will say, "Holy shit, this guy's tough!" Anyway, glad you like the material, but I'm not likely to start my own channel. I'm better at writing when compared to speaking.

[@alfonsoc7396]

@@paulcoy9060 did you think the Abbot's backstory in the campaign book was too bland? It talks about how Strahd deceives the Abbot with a sob story, and I'm trying to spice that up, but I love your interpretation as well!

[@paulcoy9060]

@@alfonsoc7396 The Abbot is a major NPC, and I like to write dialogue for them, as opposed to "Local Barkeeper", who I will use a token for on the battle map. The Abbot, whose real name will be Arcturus Rann, has a painted mini and I wanted to really get a feel for his character. His voice will be like a young Boris Karloff, just a hint of menace, but also warm and inviting. It's not that he is bland, but as written, he is a Deva, a really powerful Celestial, a voice of God, and anywhere else he would be tough, but here in Barovia he is not at Strahd's level. Another character to overlay on him would be Castiel from "Supernatural". An Angel with lots of problems, who tries to do the right thing. But I already picked Boris.

[@paulcoy9060]

@@alfonsoc7396 When I write up notes for roleplaying NPCs, I like to start with the line, "This character believes __________", and give a simple specific idea that the NPC can always fall back on. Negan believes that people are a resource. The Abbot believes that True Love can break any Curse. It is the defining trait of this Deva. If he can give Stahd his one true love, Tatyana, then he thinks the curse will be broken. Also, Baron Vargas believes that happy thoughts keep Strahd at bay, that's why the Devil hasn't attacked Vallaki directly. He's wrong, it's because of the bones that were hidden in St. Andral's church, but Vargas believes it, and so promotes his stupid festivals. NPCs feel more real and alive to me, if I can give them some actual stage direction, some actual dialogue, that kind of thing. Immerse myself in the character, makes for a more memorable session.

[@ammygamer]

"Not even a Blue Fairy could turn him into a real boy" man, I'm losing it. Now I would really like to know how you portray the Abbott to your players live, he's one of my favorite characters as well.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Exactly how I did in the video! 😀

[@robmolenschot5684]

The face idea is great, my party made a morale turn and put forth Ismark as he is related to Ireena (who was already no longer with us). The party is really into Krezk now and The Abbot's conflicting moral compass. Great stuff!

[@SereneIceDragon]

One of my player characters is actually going to sew a wedding dress for Vasilka because she's a talented seamstress in her backstory, so he is going to pay for fabrics for her. I love how this makes it more personal. The party is really creeped out by the Abbey in general so I'm interested in seeing what they will do...especially because Clovin is the companion drawn from the tarokka deck. I'm also definitely adding in the spooks you recommended and the library sounds like a great place to potentially hide a scroll or other lore.

[@zktoons8740]

I remember that we met him because we heard of posible resurrections happening over there. When we arrived he presented us a deal: he wanted skin from the burgomaster's whife for Vasilka. I proposed another option. I complimented his workmanship and said he only needed a good reference to smooth things and then turned into Ireena. We got 2 people resurrected as a bargain. Bard powers.

[@JasonHauser125]

The interaction with the Abbot and Krezk was sorely missed out on. After all the intrigue of Vallaki (which maybe should have been trimmed down) it didn't leave much room in the book for Krezk.

[@Kohdok]

I actually had a more role-play idea on what to do with the wedding dress. I made a custom Mongrelfolk character who came out more symmetrical than most do (Aside from a small, useless pigeon wing on the left side of her back) who was the Abbot's "Favorite" before he started making the flesh golem, and she is intensely jealous of it. The Baron's Wife essentially browbeats the party into cooperating, and Pigeonwing tags along under the assumption that if they get the dress, the flesh golem will go away and she can be the favorite again, eventually forming a rapport with the Baroness. (A return trip to Vallaki if the players left before resolving the Sun Festival or the Feast can introduce a traumatic change brought about by their inaction). During this time Pigeonwing mentally matures at a remarkable rate from the short time spent away from Krezk. Upon the return to the Abbey, the Baroness(A mother of 4, remember) openly criticizes how the Abbot treats the Mongrelfolk, declaring they would up so childish due to his negligence. The Abbot reveals his true form, causing the Baroness to back down...unless one of the PC's backs her up(Perhaps having learned their lesson from Vallaki or genuinely supporting her), provoking the Abbot to abandon the Abbey with the angry declaration "They're YOUR children now!" At which point, the Baroness takes over the Abbey. Remember, it's not the MacGuffin that's important, it's what the journey to find it reveals and changes about those involved.

[@dmitrygavrilik52]

the only problem with the face thing is the lack of choice here. Most of the players will protect Irina, nothing more about it. Yeah, I know it's really creepy and cool idea, but the boring original keeps the place for an ally who can rise the dead, you know. Vasilika doesn't have a voice. that's a pretty huge hindrance for a wedding and saying yes. huh? Still interesting macguffin and have less rails in it. And I think some magic stones that we already have in the adventure can do the trick But thanks for the channel, it's a pure treasure of ideas for the module.

[@maddyolson9583]

This is really cool especially because one of my players is a “paladin off Hippocrates” and is devoted to healing and medicine. Soon to be a very juicy bit

[@addisonwhetzel6648]

Again, phenomenal video. I LOVE the idea of the library. I've found that this point in the module is where the party tends to lose traction with the main story since they have effectively explored the three main bastions of civilization. If they missed any important plot hooks (which they usually do), they have to treck randomly to various NPCs until they find one that can give them some direction. Instead of railroading them with NPC interactions or having NPCs act out of character just to give them the needed hooks to progress, everything can be found easily and naturally in the library. Not to mention that it makes for a great resource/base of operations for the party and can lead to some interesting interactions if the party feels that the library needs to be protected. Please keep these videos coming! These are amazing! I can't say it enough!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Thank you very much! I appreciate you taking the time to watch. 😊

[@paulcoy9060]

Also, stealing that rainstorm idea for Berez, making the whole area collapse under the torrential downpour, creating a mile-wide sinkhole, and a swamp the PCs have to trek through, not just a flooded riverbank, but a really big and deep swamp to explore. Maybe I'll put some Bullywugs in there, or Sleestaks. Yeah, I know, it's not very Gothic Horror, but I have Giant Frog minis, and I want to use them.

[@tiredjediknight3110]

I’m absolutely loving these videos, I’m a new DM currently prepping Curse of Strahd for a group of new players and these videos have been so helpful. The Death house.... Dursts Manor video has been especially useful

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

I’m glad we could help!

[@johnmurphyakins989]

Yet to figure out why you don't have more views. Your content is pure gold. Love your videos!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Thank you! You can help out by sharing the videos around the web when you see someone taking about the subjects that I cover! Growing a channel is a marathon and not a sprint. There's a lot more viewers than there were eight months ago!

[@ademiranda2]

John Murphy Akins I agree with you, his content is awesome and he has been very responsive to my comments and questions. I started running CoS (not really, I had session 0 and dove right into Death House; which my PC’s have yet to finish) and his content has been extremely helpful. CoS is such an awesome campaign but because it has so many layers of complexity, it can be overwhelming; especially for new DM’s like myself. It’s awesome that there are channels like this one.

[@ambro9079]

@@LunchBreakHeroes have you try posting your videos in /r/CurseofStrahd?!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

@@ambro9079 every single one gets posted there, actually! But feel free to repost and reap some sweet sweet karma

[@ambro9079]

@@LunchBreakHeroes will do, will do. !

[@dezopenguin9649]

Some very enjoyable and interesting tips that I think significantly improve the area without meaningfully changing it. I especially like the advice on the Belviews; the body horror of healing that doesn't work quite right is a classic theme and I like "they're insane because they're mongrelmen" a lot better than "they're mongrelmen because they're insane." One thing I've always regretted about the published adventure is that there's basically nothing about Vasilika as a character. We get a lot of detail about the Abbot, her Dr. Frankenstein, but nothing about her other than that she's a flesh golem. And yet, she's someone who can be the ally for the party predicted in the Fortunes of Ravenloft (which is a fascinating twist on one level--the Abbot built her to end the curse on Barovia by peaceful means and instead she can in this scenario be a significant contributor to ending it by violent ones). Do you have any ideas about that and running her?

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

We’re going to be starting a series that covers all the allies this Monday, actually! It’s a five part series, and I can’t remember which episode Vasilka will be in, but she’s definitely covered!

[@dezopenguin9649]

@@LunchBreakHeroes Oh, neat; looking forward to it!

[@vectorshaman338]

My players left Irena in Valaki, so I'm debating on having her kidnapped by mongrel folk. Leaving breadcrumbs of strange folk in the night, not werewolves, building on the corruption of the land. The players then have a chance to save her from the operating room before the Abbot carves her face off.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

If you go that route, lemme know how it goes!

[@vectorshaman338]

@@LunchBreakHeroes Will do! CoS is my 2nd campaign, your channel has helped me add a lot of depth to my world. Really appreciate it!

[@danielvangool1461]

I ran this version of the Abbey for my players. The abbot was SO much fun to run!!

[@thevengefulone3948]

yo great tips. My party left Ireena to strahd and got Ismark killed. Having a new bribe with ireenas face could be great

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Have they also said "This is fine" while sitting among the flames of a burning Vallaki?

[@GameaholixTV-Community]

Thank you very much for every video! i really love to hear your thoughts and your tips are helping a lot during my current Strahd Campain! Keep up the good work! Best regards from germany =)

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Thank you! I'm glad you're finding the videos to be a useful resource.

[@samuelmora1468]

There are some people who propose to start the game in this Krezk instead of the village of Barovia, to not overwhelm the player with the plot and have a sower start, but after considering that such start might not give a chance for the Abbott and the Abbey being fully exploit, I wil stick to the intended start, while I work on improving the campaign as they travel.

[@Gustcloak]

Getting into Krezk in tonights session! Fingers crossed it goes well!

[@onesaltydoge3105]

I had the best session I've ever had with the whole face thing, moral dilemmas are fun

[@AB-uy5vx]

Man, this is incredible. Reddit led me here. Amazing work!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Thank you for making the journey!

[@jorgfegg6545]

My players were somewhat perturbed by the request for Ireena’s face, plus Ismark was with them so conflict inevitably ensued. We’ve just finished the second session of the battle which included a grapple-off as the Abbot started to cut off her face with the players struggling to wrestle the knife away. Brutal.

[@Jordanthi]

What if the screams from the operating table aren't an echo of St. Markovia's time, but evidence of the nuns and priests losing their way after her demise?

[@finnlee8019]

The face bit is amazing and absolutely effing horrifying

[@SlenderverseTrash]

Welp time to traumatize my players even more! I have the Abbey planned for this upcoming Thursday and I am SO using this. I'll update this in a week :D Tldr its a post bg3 campaign. Party is, paladin of Lathander (wood elf/vampire spawn. She techinally out ranks the abbot in the church of lathander), Storm Sorcerer (teifling), blue draconic bloodline sorcerer (high elf), Death Cleric of Kelemvor (scourge aasimar) and undead warlock to strahd (highelf/dhampir) (I do play into her relationship with her patron)

[@SlenderverseTrash]

Update. Didn't go as planned but I did get a 'what the FUCK' when I described the lack of a face. One of the pcs is a high dawnmaster so she called out the Abbot for making a flesh golem which is against Lathander. It was great. He didn't see Ireena because the Tiefling sorcerer hid outside with her after overhearing him wanting help finding a face (they in turn cast invisibility on her)

[@PyramKing]

Thanks - my players are just outside of Krezk, about to venture in. Very helpful.

[@Realjaredschmeck]

I’m prepping Curse of Strahd right now and these videos are incredibly helpful. Excellent videos!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Glad to be of service!

[@ryanbrooks619]

This is awesome. Running CoS and my players will be heading to the Abbey soon! Your advice is extremely helpful!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

I'm glad I could be of service. Let me know how it goes!

[@bruggeman672]

Solid ideas, love the library particularly.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Thank you!

[@someoneonyoutube8622]

Oh boy I used the Abbott’s warped utilitarian perspective on body parts and bargains in my campaign and we have an aasimar bard and teifling wizard that through other events has become a werewolf and developed a taste for celestial flesh which presented an interesting new take on the abbot’s morality. so the abbot not only is replacing other people’s body parts to make vasilka he’s now actively feeding parts of himself and replacing them with other things to satiate the wizard’s hunger so he doesn’t try to consume the aasimar, for a price of course. A finger nail here, a tooth there, maybe an eye, an ear, his tongue, gradually bit by bit reforming himself into a mongrel-cherubim like creature and it’s absolutely horrific and we all love it!

[@deanfletcher4962]

Running this at the moment. Great timing!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Good luck! I wanna hear how it goes.

[@nicirochi0]

Same here

[@CarlosRamos-xr9rj]

Love ur ideas. Please keep bringing more!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Will do!

[@adrianm6194]

Thanks, I've watched a bunch of these videos and it has made my campaign much fuller, just sorry I only found it half way in.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Better late than never!

[@SanjayMerchant]

I would probably also use the "Strahd gets so angry he causes a natural disaster that devastates Kresk" thing for if the party hands Ireena into Sergei's care. Really drive home just how pissed off he is now.

[@IIIGioGioStarIII]

My party almost started a combat with The Abbot when he asked for Ireena's face.

[@Mr_Morningsloth]

my players are kinda fucked up so instead, I was like instead of Ireena's face I wanted a player's face thinking they won't like that and fight I was very wrong they heled their party member down while he took her face I was shocked and horrified.

[@theeye8276]

Hahaha. How'd she take it?

[@ronantillman4687]

What if the fetch quest was instead turned from a wedding dress to parts and pieces of Vasilka?

[@vasheskaaronsar1568]

Very good bunch of ideas. Abbey indeed is more than incarnation of Frankenstein's castle. Face part is absolutely brilliant! Only in Iraina's CoS campaign mongrelfolks were dealt euthanasia-like style. Other campaigns were pretty gory and messy here. After listening to Abbott's mad ramblings, saw Vasilka with their own eyes, party attempted to persuade this bat crap crazy dude. Iraina gets triggered very badly (because of her own past, and she saw how intense this creep looks at Ireena) so in the middle of the conversation she said that she has some food donations to monastery residents and wish to give it to them. Of course, Clovin show her the way and helps, while the rest of the party tried to help Abbott see how sick his ideas are. Iraina indeed brought some food - dream pastry (results of small blackmail &profit operation, she planned to use it against her relatives, but meh, Abbott put her in a really bad mental space). Hungry mongrelfolks eat them all. All mongrelfolks. And when Iraina used some scrolls of poison cloud (provided by cleric), which helps party with wolfpack encounters. Few rolls and Abbott realised what smth bad is happening but to little too late. He storms off but surprise - Iraina smhw get one punche at Vasilka, ripping off her head (this dice stunts with different undead became a party jokes, what she actually a holy paladin deep down beneath layers of evil). Abbott tried to fix this but was beaten to a bloody pulp, brutally mocked by Iraina (I was told that my necromancer grandpa is crazy but noo... Your piece of rotten meat is worthless... You really should learn some ropes of the Art before next attempt... and other not so nice things) and left locked up (I'll help your master deal with your mess, but not with you. No, I left this pleasure just for him), while party unwillingly cleaned out the corpses and burned them next to Abbey's walls. In Krezck they told, what Abbott is crazy necromancer, servant of Strahd, and smhw get his hands on many body parts (showed some funeral trinkets from corpses and given them away to grieving relatives). Party was kinda scared, Ireena was kinda scared (but she and sorceress witnessed some sad humanity moment with Vasilka's remains (You never be enough for them. They try to reshape you to fit some delusional fantasy. They've never wanted or loved you for you. Smth like that) and pitied Iraina in the end). DM give an inspiration point. Strahd send Iraina personal invite next morning (bard blabbed and in Krezck people start to fear her after what). At night all party and others hear screams from the Abbey and no one ever seen Abbott after that. DM didn't told us what Strahd (or smth else) did to him till this day. P.S. Your version of Abbott triggered Iraina waaaaay much faster, and pissed her off sooo much more, what she could easily forget about poor vampire feelings.

[@gabrielanctil8794]

I ran the face idea a bit differently. Since Strahd had already taken Ireena, the Abbot asked the air genasi woman in the group to give her since he never saw something of that nature

[@michelleholmes3950]

I tried that whole Face/off thing in my campaign, my player's tricked Ireena into thinking that A. This process will be painless, and B. They can heal her and just give her a new face afterwords. Strahd then found out and so we did that whole storm/Mudslide/Abbey crashes into Kresk thing, and my player's decided to get out of Kresk before any of the survivors could think to blame them, and just kinda left everyone for dead.

[@razorchuckles]

So brutal!

[@luisarturorodriguezgalvan2571]

What do you think about Sergei in the pool and the escape of Ireena?

[@Miguel-bk3yo]

Fantastic. I'm hoping the players will first visit the abbey without ireena with them, where the abbot will request the dress, and when they return....

[@thiagofonseca4358]

Just a small observation, I do think the screaming in the operating room makes sense, since in real-life middle ages all surgery procedures were conducted without anesthetics, as they were only discovered in 1846. Don't know if that's valid for dnd canon but still. Love the video, keep up the good work!

[@robertmcginty4146]

My group just didn't know what to make of the Abby and had that same conversation.. Should we go in and kill the Abbott? Okay but then those people are all going to starve to death. Do we set them free? Okay but what the hell are they going to do outside of those walls. Should we just end their lives? No, we can't just go around and slaughter them, they didn't ask to be this way. What a dilemma. They never did settle it, they just sort of left that hanging. They absolutely loved Vasilka. Since most of the group played instruments, the first time they met the Abbott I had him ask if they were the band he'd ordered. He explained he was trying to teach her to dance and asked them to start their first song. Everyone rolled great for performances, the Abbott laughed and clapped his hands, and they even took turns dancing with Vasilka. They all told Donavich to take a turn, he rolled a 20 on performance and those two just hung on to each other, and he smiled for the first time in years. They really hated leaving Vasilka behind and were brainstorming ways to free her. Due to their almost romantic dance, Donavich offered to take care of her after the quest. Too bad they didn't find the luck blade in the crypt, I bet they would have used the wish to give her more sentience. It got worse .. they all took dark gifts at the Amber Temple. When they found the chest of fine clothes, they said we should bring these to Vasilka! When they got there, the Abbot smelled evil on them and refused to let them in. Vasilka was even at the door trying to force her way in to see her "friends," but he wouldn't let her in, and ordered them to leave. They heard her weeping and berserking as they left. Right in the feels.

[@Notashortmidget]

I had the Abbot and Lady Wachter both in league, and they met the lady who sent them with a dress to the abbot.

[@robmolenschot5684]

Any chance there's a working link for the Clovin Belview's statblock?

[@jamesmekdeci5570]

For the Operating table, instead of one of the players disected corpses, I used our Barbarian's son, and it worked really well!

[@helgebalow7156]

Can someone tell me what video was the one where the hilt of the sunsword was to be brought to kresk? I remember it to be a video about kresk but I do not find it

[@jamesvandevender7975]

Have you encountered mordenkainen? I would be very interested to see how you handle him in barovia.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Honestly, no. My players ignores the rumors of an unnamed wizard in black and his failed uprising.

[@sniper4719]

Just during the Sunday game, player of female character offered her face to be used... but then due to other actions this option stopped to be viable. And in game today, they convinced Ireena to offer her face - and the operation is finished. Just as bonus, they really forced abbot to ensure that Ireena will not feel any pain - meaning (but not saying) during and after operation of course. And he did so, she will never feel pain... ever again. So even when she kicked and broke her feet thumb, she did not feel it.... But anyway.... oh boy oh boy, now to figure out how to handle the followup game...

[@Berry_the_Witch]

Okay as a DM that just ran the Abbey using the face idea - absolutely do it. The reaction from my players was solid gold. Ireena was not traveling with them at the time, so I had the Abbot ask one of my PCs if he could "use their face as a temporary replacement until a more suitable one was found." For context, they were trying to get the Sun Sword from the Abbey and basically struck a deal with the Abbot that they will look for a face for Vasilka in exchange for the sword. I am looking forward to bringing that particular plot thread back.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

I'd love to hear about it when you do!

[@zero3045]

I tend to replace the Abott with a Deathpact Angel who is pretending to be a priestess who then pretends to be a Deva if found out. Double disguise. Getting rid of all the corrupt half people. Making herself seem all good only to get followers and maybe use the players to undermine Strahd. Possible making her one of the other Dark Powers. Im using some of the famous additions made by others to add to the story.Like the rich woman with the haunted house Fidatov Manor that's money is needed to help the town survive from losing all their stock to the Burger Masters child's undead son. Details still working out.

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Sounds like quite an interesting take on it. Let me know how it works out when you run it!

[@hunterjosey8027]

I like to make the abbot a redeemable character. In fact, if they redeem him, the Abbot will try to get the players to kill Vampyr. If they agree to, he will call on the Morninglord if need be and the Morninglord will send a Planar or Solar (dependent on the power of the party) to assist. It's a lot of fun to do, especially the looks on their faces when you tell them that they just killed a god.

[@JasonHauser125]

I've already run the Abbey. Left out Esmerelda. The PCs accidentally learned he was a powerful evil angel and got out fast. I didn't enjoy the Abbey and felt like I really missed out on fleshing it out. I might take some ideas from this and have it leak down into Krezk.

[@lainpilled39]

I’m going to be running curse of strahd for some people and while I have DMed before, this is my first serious go at it. I have a more wider question on DMing and that’s on establishing time and distance. How do you make your players feel like taking long rests is actually a significant passing of time, or walking for miles and miles is actually a significant distance? That’s the main thing I’m bad at so if you could possibly give me some advice I’d be very grateful. I have made a custom calendar using the lunar cycles, so as to track the player’s days and time passed, but I’m not sure what else to do :)

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Some ideas: Encounters (of any kind) on the road. Camping overnight in the wilderness and having an RP-heavy part of your session there. If they're returning to a place they've previously been, point out what has changed since their last visit.

[@brentross9233]

My campaign is currently in Vallaki. I'm missing why the characters are going to Krezk in the first place. For their Tarrokka reading, Strahd's Journal is here. But I'm not sure why they would go here.

[@arifike]

My players destroyed Colvin pretty easily and eventually the bride and abbot himself. Was really curious if they would decide to kill all the other mongrelfolk but they actually did a decent thing of taking Clovins keys to the locked sheds down to the burgomaster and informing him of them. Let him figure out what to do with them. They definitely didn’t notice or care about my hints about the boy being cursed so that’ll probably just be who he is now. Lol

[@SeanF783]

Hey, my players are coming to the Abbey soon with a dead Ireena. How would you handle the Abbot resurrecting her, would he try to put the soul in his new vessel or would he do so with a price?

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

There's a user on the Curse of Strahd Discord that had this same scenario. The Abbot agreed to bring her spirit back, albeit behind closed doors. Instead of putting her spirit back in Ireena's body, he put it in Vasilka's, and then took Ireena's face as well. This caused a similar reaction to the one I describe in this video. All of this is disregarding the plot point that Tatyana's body is reclaimed by the mists whenever she dies, but perhaps they leave her there this time just to see how things play out.

[@le_gwen]

Great video! I love your play on, and twist of, these dark motifs! Mayhaps your extended map of Barovia is available somewhere? Or you’ll be covering that in a future video? I personally thought I’d make every hexagon on the map in the book one miles instead of a quarter mile. Seems to be an idea lacking panache, but at least it’s going to leave more room for spoopy nighttime encounters!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

I've been kicking around a script about expanding the map, but there's a bit of a lack of substance beyond "Make distances longer, and here's why." The Ravenloft novels describe Barovia as being roughly three times larger than the map that's included with CoS. So each hex would be 3/4 mile instead of 1/4. That means your party will need to camp once between each major settlement.

[@le_gwen]

Ah, thanks for that tidbit! I was asking incase you had expanded the map with added locations. I’ve been pondering trying to add something with the third gem from the wizards of the vine, for instance. This is my first time dming so this will be a good exercise for me.

[@JasonSmithPsychedelicTherapist]

So I'm kind of stuck on this one. I wished I had watched this first before DMing it. I had the players meet the flesh golem, head to Vallaki and get the dress from the Baroness, and return to the Abbot. I had the abbot ask them to deliver the bride to Strahd at the castle. I'm not sure why I did that, but it worked in a sense because the players argued for a long time about it, but decided to not do it and went back to Vallaki where they are now. Now that I've listened to this, I'm thinking of of ways to get them back and have him ask for a face. I like that idea tremendously. But I have to get them back there. The next thing I want them to consider is if they have combat with the Abbot but he's challenge rating 10 and they are like 6th level, not sure they can beat him. But if they don't, how do they go through the rest of the Abbey and clear it out? They have Irena with them because they screwed up at the pool and the shrine, so the Abbot should have asked for her face right then, but I hadn't watched this video yet. What I want to do it have them go back, have the discussion about the face, then refuse, have Strahd visit and reject Vasilka and then see Irena and make a play for her, but obviously get driven off, maybe hurting the Abbot in the process, so he gets pissed at them for pissing off Strahd, they take him out because Strahd weakened him a bit, and now they can clear the Abbey. Any ideas would be appreciated. I want to move toward a wedding of epic proportions ending and have heard some people say that's an idea that's been explored elsewhere.

[@mariaharnold951]

My players just lost Ireena to a heart attack after Strahd revealed himself under the Vasili guise during their wedding vows; the party is on the run to Kresk with her body. Definitely using the Vasilka/face update for my game - thank you for the inspiration!

[@pierrehurley]

I hope you do the Amber Temple ?!?!?!

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

I hope I do too!

[@bournedrumming4514]

So my players decided they were gunna get Blinsky to make a Ireena face for the Abbot. *facepalm

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Add a pull string and voice box with Blinsky’s voice on it.

[@callistobathory9522]

I feel like my player's will just end up bloodborne-ing this.

[@JoeHero40k]

If Irena is not there, whose face does he ask for?

[@LunchBreakHeroes]

Perhaps he just asks them for a face of unparalleled beauty. Something that would interest the lord of the land. Maybe, in his studies of Strahd, the Abbot has obtained a woodcutting or a portrait of Tatyana, which will look exactly like Ireena. He gives that to the players of an example of what he's looking for.

[@klee329]

I mean taking Ireena’s face is cool and creepy idea but if that’s the Abbott’s motivation, wouldn’t he just try to give Ireena to Strahd?

[@opposumness3107]

Hey, newcomer here. The screen just says: "This can't be played in the background", which is odd, since it is, in fact, not in the background, when I'm watching. Can anyone help me on this? EDIT. Worked after refresh

[@netashashimel243]

I really love this idea with trying to have them get a face for the flesh golem.....But I think what would be more disturbing is if someone took Tatyana's face from her body because it was undamaged from her fall and the character's find it in a jar of formaldehyde. Then if the Flesh golem is to be part of their trope, would give the big bad some surprise in return for his messing with them.

[@paulcoy9060]

New Talking Points: WotC re-released Curse of Strahd, and eliminated all references to drunk Vistani, as well as other Politically Correct new ideas. Any thoughts? Plans to do a video on the new content? Personally, I don't have a problem the way a few of the Vistani are portrayed, because some of them are supposed to act like douchebags, that's to offset how good Ezmerelda is, you need contrast in your NPCs. As Stannimir, the Vistani Elder tells the PCs earlier in my game: "This land is more dangerous than it appears. And there are some Vistani who are less than others. Vistani who have forgotten the Old Ways, who no longer have the Spirit of our ancestors, merely their Bloodline. Take care, my friends."

[@settheshallow8913]

I mean are you Romani? like yeah obv most non-Romani's don't care about the portrayal of Romani's in their games. It's just a little shitty for a company like WotC to put out a book full of these needless stereotypes. It's one thing to have a bunch of vistani be assholes(makes sense, barovia is terrible), it's another to have them be drunken assholes.

[@paulcoy9060]

@@settheshallow8913 If you take away the wine in the module, what do the people trapped there use to withstand their dismal surroundings? Pot? Maybe the Wizard Of Wines section should be called the House Of Herbs?

[@settheshallow8913]

@@paulcoy9060 actually that would be pretty funny. But also it's not like everyone is described as drunk now, are they? Also nobody is saying no alcohol whatsoever. But yeah actually drugs should be very common in Barovia. Drugs are weirdly fun to homebrew for me at least.

[@settheshallow8913]

@DabonJannies so not having racist stereotypes is sanitized & cucked? How many red pills does it take to overdose? You seem rather experiened.

[@johnisaacfelipe6357]

@@settheshallow8913 Dude, This entire module is a stereotype of moravia. Are you going to ask hungarians about the module? Its a game, there are good vistani and bad vistani, the good vistani (ie esmeralda, madam eva, and the people who follow her) vs the bad vistani (ie all the others who value stradh more than madam eva)

[@Princeps414]

I think the abbot should've been lawful neutral instead of lawful evil. I can't be the only one who thinks this right?

[@philcutchins5624]

Bump

[@john-lenin]

Like Trump.