![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() When the opportunity presents itself, she will not hesitate to turn on her brother. She will pretend to cooperate with him for as long as it takes to find Strahd or regain her spells. She wants to be Strahd's wife and no one else's, and to make matters worse she will certainly remember how Kasimir betrayed her and led the mob that stoned her to death. However, Patrina Velikovna will not play along. (His interest in his sister can be as innocent or creepy as you want to make it, depending on your table's tolerance for such themes.) Nothing will deter him from his mission as far as Kasimir is concerned, raising a female dusk elf will restore a future for his entire people. If Kasimir Velikov returns from the Amber Temple with the dark gift of Zhudun, the Corpse Star, he will insist on breaking into Castle Ravenloft to resurrect his sister Patrina. While the climax should ultimately revolve around Strahd's conflict with the party and his deranged, obsessive desire for Ireena, the castle is filled with all sorts of other interesting grotesques who have fascinating stories in their own right. But they should never feel completely safe, and dangers lurk if they stray off the designated path. If one of the fated treasures is found in the castle, this could be the party's best chance to grab it. The intrigue phase is a great opportunity to interact with Strahd and his supporting cast outside of combat. (In fact, van Richten speculated that this habit was the root of Strahd's and all subsequent vampires' forbiddance weakness.) It also gives your party space to explore the castle in relative safety before they're ready to fight Strahd. It's a great way to establish Strahd's lawful evil brand of villainy-he is a monster who preys on the living, but he observes these ancient traditions because that's how he was raised. I played up the importance of guest law throughout the campaign. Ireena or other native Barovians will warn the party about their own obligations under guest law-they must not attack, steal from, or insult the host, or their protections are forfeit. He will guarantee their safety inside the castle within certain limits (for example, his protections might not extend to the cellars). If they accept the invitation, Strahd will extend the party the protections of guest law. During this phase, random encounters are not triggered in the castle and creatures will not attack the party so long as they follow Strahd's arcane and ever-changing rules. This stage could be driven by Strahd's efforts to assess and manipulate the party, wed Ireena, or even lift the curse. The intrigue phase should begin with Strahd's invitation to dinner. These phases could be split over multiple visits or combined into one long castle exploration at the end of the campaign, but either way, a social stage will allow characters to investigate lots of different areas without slowing the game to a crawl. The castle offers too much to see in one trip (or one campaign, really), but you can encourage exploration by dividing the visits into two stages: an intrigue and exploration phase where Strahd is willing to toy with the party and a combat or dungeon crawl phase when Strahd seeks the party's destruction. Whether they have visited multiple times over the course of the campaign or put it off until the last minute, everything comes down to Castle Ravenloft. For more chapter guides and campaign resources, see the full table of contents. This guide is part of The Doom of Ravenloft. ![]()
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