Roarax, Tisiphone, Edwin, and Cambil. If you're here, you shouldn't be. Turn back now or the next session will likely go very poorly for you.

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So, we are currently four sessions into Curse of Strahd. They have successfully gotten through the Durst Manor, which was modified according to MandyMod's alterations, with a few of my own to accommodate the players. As soon as they leave the Durst Manor, and it crumbles while seeing the ghosts of the family disappear. I had High Chamberlain Rahadin come by to formally greet the players to Barovia with a giftbasket filled with very fine wine, cheese, and dried meats along with the invitation to a Cocktail Hour and Dinner with Count Strahd von Zarovich. They players wondered how the inviting court would know when the players would accept the invitation, and Rahadin simply said "We will know, and we will send for you" and then left with the mists. This happened in session three.

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Session four, they met Ismark, got some stories about how Strahd is cruel but oddly respectful. Met Ireena, and so on and assisted in burying their father. I played Father Donavich as a very out of it and so used to Doru's screams that he barely acknowledges them after a year but he does seem very out of touch with reality. This had the impact of the party that maybe they should do something about Doru, but eventually decided to take the Father's lead and ignore him too. During the burial of the former Burgomaster, Strahd visited on the edge of the graveyard to pay his respects to the noble, but this sent extreme chills towards Ireena and Tisiphone as I have it so the soul of Tatyana has been split in two by the Dark Powers in order to screw with Strahd, and both hold a half of her soul. They decided to go shopping at Bildreth's Mercantile and they were rather upset that they didn't hold weapons, although they were given guidance that maybe there are some in Vallaki, but more upset over how outrageous the prices were. Our Barbarian, was getting angry and attempted to intimidate the shopkeeper, but that's when he summoned Parriwimple, and then they had an arm-wrestling competition to sort that out, which our Barbarian lost. This increased his frustration.

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Now, to the climax and the cliffhanger. The increasingly frustrated Barbarian was on the verge of lashing out again, and this happened when they tried to sell the three Agates found in the Durst Manor, however our Sorcerer pretty much insulted the shopkeep and so he reduced the price he'd pay for the Agates by half, because he pretty much has a monopoly on trade in the town. This sent our Barbarian over the edge and he said the following: "You know, when we have our dinner with Count Strahd, he will hear of this and how you abuse your customer base!" Seeing how Strahd is the Land, this intention to attend the dinner invitation was them accepting it. However, they didn't know that yet. So as they walked out of Bildreth's Mercantile, they saw a chariot being driven by two Nightmares and guided by Escher right outside the shop. "You have accepted the Count's invitation to dinner, please, get in."

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Needless to say, their eyes went wide and they attempted to retract what they said and our Cleric, who has DM'd this campaign before but not with the MandyMod and further alterations knows just how dangerous what they just did is. I didn't have this prepped just yet, so this week will be a lot of writing in order to give Strahd a very menacing tone. The party is level three, by the way. They know they're in over their head, especially when I've already told them one hint about this campaign is that Strahd is far more powerful (using the CR 27 statblock), but with ways to reduce his powers as the game progresses, if they can find them.

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Excited to see where this goes.