- Burgomaster Letter.png (979.63 KiB) Viewed 1445 times
Game Resources
Game Resources
The Burgomaster's letter:
Last edited by Zhym on Fri Jul 22, 2016 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Visuals
Borovia:
E1: Bildrath's Mercantile
E2: Blood on the Vine Tavern
E3: Townhome from which you heard sobbing
E4: The Burgomaster's Home
E5: Guest House
E6: Church
C: Svlaich Woods
D: River Ivlis
K: Castle Ravenloft
- Barovia and Castle Ravenloft.jpg (288.47 KiB) Viewed 1340 times
E2: Blood on the Vine Tavern
E3: Townhome from which you heard sobbing
E4: The Burgomaster's Home
E5: Guest House
E6: Church
C: Svlaich Woods
D: River Ivlis
K: Castle Ravenloft
Re: Visuals
The Burgomaster's home:
I hope you appreciate that I made this myself. 
- Burgomaster's House.png (97.93 KiB) Viewed 1388 times
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Eulalios
Re: Visuals
Nicely done.Zhym wrote:The Burgomaster's home:
I hope you appreciate that I made this myself.
Re: Visuals
Another map of the village, from the 3.5e or 4e module. Note that the scale is wrong and the encounter markings are different.
- Attachments
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- Barovia.jpg (71.84 KiB) Viewed 1339 times
Re: Game Resources
I sent this to Ogre Mage as a recap of what's happened so far. I thought the rest of you might also find it interesting or useful.
Cue announcer: "Previously, on RAVENLOFT:"
Our heroes were hanging out in a bar in a lull between adventures, bored out of their skulls. A large man in brightly colored clothing entered the room, challenged our heroes to help his master "if they be men of valor," gave them a sealed message, and left a bag of gold coins on the bar to buy everyone a drink. The message claimed to be from the Burgomaster of Barovia, pleading for help. His daughter Ireena, it seems, has come down with a terrible affliction.
The adventurers set out for Borovia at first light. The woods grew thick and dark. They came to a gate that opened before them and closed behind them. Beyond the gate, mists hung heavy about the land. The adventurers would later learn that these mists, once entered, cannot be left. Those who try choke and die as soon as they pass beyond the town gates. Only the gypsies who live in an encampment by the river are able to come and go freely.
Borovia was more than half deserted. Claw marks covered the walls of the buildings. Only a few places remained with any signs of life: the Blood on the Vine tavern and Bildrath's mercantile in the town square, a church on the north end of town, the Burgomaster's house to the south, and a single house from which sobbing could be heard.
The inn held a trio of gypsies; a dead-eyed, unresponsive bartender; and Ismark, Ireena's brother and the Burgomaster's son. After an encounter with the gypsies at the inn nearly came to blows, Ismark took the party to his father's home. The windows were all boarded up and a path was worn into the ground all around the edge of the house. Inside, the adventurers found the Burgomaster rotting away in the parlor. He had died ten days before and no one in town was brave enough to help bury him. Our heroes learned that the letter they receive was a forgery—it was dated after the Burogmaster had died, and was not in his hand.
They also learned that the town was ruled by Strahd, who calls his race "Vampyr" and is master of the castle that towers more than a thousand feet above the town on the Balinok cliffs. Strahd had "visited" Ireena twice before, and twice she had been bitten. The consequences of one more bite are too horrible to contemplate.
That night, as the adventurers stayed with Ismark and Ireena (not very gracious guests, it must be said—there was an argument over whether they might set fires inside their hosts' house to battle Strahd!), they were attacked by warg wolves and bats. The battle ended after five minutes when a figure standing on a ridge overlooking the hill lifted his head and howled. The wargs and bats turned and left at the sound. When they had gone, the figure was nowhere to be seen.
In the morning, the spell casters studied their spells while the rest of the party helped bury the burgomaster at the church. There they met Father Donavich, a somewhat distracted priest who looked aged beyond his years. From him, they learned that Strahd keeps a diary and that Ireena was adopted, although she does not know it. She was found when very young at the base of the Ravenloft spire and taken in by the Burgomaster as his own daughter.
In the afternoon, the parties split. Tumbler went shopping, joined by his friend Tibbius. Tumbler picked up a crossbow, bolts, quiver, tobacco, and pipe at exorbitant prices.
Everyone else went to the gypsy camp to meet "Madam Eva," a gypsy woman the men in the bar had told them about. Madam Eva, a woman of a certain age, flirted with Agrippo and read the party's fortunes in the cards. The fortune was told in riddles, but seems to hold clues to how Strahd might be defeated. Madam Eva also sold the party potions that she said would protect the party from Strahd's level draining abilities.
That night, everyone had returned to the Burgomaster's house after a brief encounter with a band of roaming wargs. Ireena told Vorkath how Strahd had gained entry to their house. Just before midnight, wargs and bats attacked yet again. The adventurers killed all but one of the wargs. The survivor fled.
The next day, our heroes, accompanied by Ireena, set out to take the fight to Strahd at Castle Ravenloft. The journey up the mountains took several hours. They were met by another group of wargs. This group did not attack. It stayed with the party until they came to a crossroads where a black coach pulled by black horses awaited. The door was open, and the coach had no driver. After the party entered the carriage (or climbed on top), it tore off at breakneck speed to the drawbridge of Ravenloft. There, the party set out again on foot, into the castle.
The front doors were open, so the party walked right in the front door. They followed the sound of organ music to the dining room, where a figure was sitting at the keyboard. He conversed with the party (to the increasing frustration of Vorkath, who would have sooner attacked the man on sight) for a few minutes. He claimed that it was Madam Eva who brought the party here, and that she had been masquerading as him. Agrippo finally attacked, and the figure vanished with a laugh.
Vorkath tried to trash the place, throwing oil on the organ and setting it aflame. The party retreated to the great entry hall, where they were attacked by gargoyles. A quick obscurement spell helped them make an escape up the grand staircase and up to an audience chamber. They entered a side room where Strahd's accountant slaved away. The conversation started friendly, but Vorkath declared the man a servant of evil. Feeling threatened, the man pulled a rope that sounded a deafening gong. The party made a quick exit, though Vorkath doubled back for a moment.
The adventurers moved east through a hall where they found a balcony with two thrones overlooking a large dark room. They quickly dispatched the two zombies that were in the thrones, and made their way downstairs. There, they could see that the room was a large chapel. A silver icon rested on an altar, near the outstretched hand of a dead body clad in robes. Nine wraiths attacked. The party fled, a few levels the poorer.
They returned to the accountant's office to find it burnt, the accountant himself a charred corpse on the floor. They continued up through a spiral staircase on the other side of the accountant's office.
At a landing high up the stairs, the party encountered a portrait that put nearly the entire party into a trance. Only Ireena and Tibbius were unaffected. Tibbius attacked the portrait, barely destroying it before it could do the same to him. But when the battle was over, Ireena was nowhere the be seen.
The party rushed up the stairs searching for Ireena, but they could not find her. At the top of the tower, a bridge without railings or handholds led to a taller tower to the north. Tumbler and Robert explored this tower. It had a spiral staircase surrounding a wide open shaft. The moment they set foot on a step, a pulsing light began to glow from a heart-shaped gem overhead, the tower began to shake, and halberds detached from the walls and attacked. Tumbler and Rober each managed to keep their feet under them and retreat from the seemingly living tower.
After a brief detour back down the stairs, the party is again just outside this tower, contemplating how to get at the door at the top of the north tower. Madam Eva said that a weapon of great power was in "a place of dizzying heights" where "the rocks themselves live." The party believes that that weapon is at the top of the north tower...if they can get to it.
Cue announcer: "Previously, on RAVENLOFT:"
Our heroes were hanging out in a bar in a lull between adventures, bored out of their skulls. A large man in brightly colored clothing entered the room, challenged our heroes to help his master "if they be men of valor," gave them a sealed message, and left a bag of gold coins on the bar to buy everyone a drink. The message claimed to be from the Burgomaster of Barovia, pleading for help. His daughter Ireena, it seems, has come down with a terrible affliction.
The adventurers set out for Borovia at first light. The woods grew thick and dark. They came to a gate that opened before them and closed behind them. Beyond the gate, mists hung heavy about the land. The adventurers would later learn that these mists, once entered, cannot be left. Those who try choke and die as soon as they pass beyond the town gates. Only the gypsies who live in an encampment by the river are able to come and go freely.
Borovia was more than half deserted. Claw marks covered the walls of the buildings. Only a few places remained with any signs of life: the Blood on the Vine tavern and Bildrath's mercantile in the town square, a church on the north end of town, the Burgomaster's house to the south, and a single house from which sobbing could be heard.
The inn held a trio of gypsies; a dead-eyed, unresponsive bartender; and Ismark, Ireena's brother and the Burgomaster's son. After an encounter with the gypsies at the inn nearly came to blows, Ismark took the party to his father's home. The windows were all boarded up and a path was worn into the ground all around the edge of the house. Inside, the adventurers found the Burgomaster rotting away in the parlor. He had died ten days before and no one in town was brave enough to help bury him. Our heroes learned that the letter they receive was a forgery—it was dated after the Burogmaster had died, and was not in his hand.
They also learned that the town was ruled by Strahd, who calls his race "Vampyr" and is master of the castle that towers more than a thousand feet above the town on the Balinok cliffs. Strahd had "visited" Ireena twice before, and twice she had been bitten. The consequences of one more bite are too horrible to contemplate.
That night, as the adventurers stayed with Ismark and Ireena (not very gracious guests, it must be said—there was an argument over whether they might set fires inside their hosts' house to battle Strahd!), they were attacked by warg wolves and bats. The battle ended after five minutes when a figure standing on a ridge overlooking the hill lifted his head and howled. The wargs and bats turned and left at the sound. When they had gone, the figure was nowhere to be seen.
In the morning, the spell casters studied their spells while the rest of the party helped bury the burgomaster at the church. There they met Father Donavich, a somewhat distracted priest who looked aged beyond his years. From him, they learned that Strahd keeps a diary and that Ireena was adopted, although she does not know it. She was found when very young at the base of the Ravenloft spire and taken in by the Burgomaster as his own daughter.
In the afternoon, the parties split. Tumbler went shopping, joined by his friend Tibbius. Tumbler picked up a crossbow, bolts, quiver, tobacco, and pipe at exorbitant prices.
Everyone else went to the gypsy camp to meet "Madam Eva," a gypsy woman the men in the bar had told them about. Madam Eva, a woman of a certain age, flirted with Agrippo and read the party's fortunes in the cards. The fortune was told in riddles, but seems to hold clues to how Strahd might be defeated. Madam Eva also sold the party potions that she said would protect the party from Strahd's level draining abilities.
That night, everyone had returned to the Burgomaster's house after a brief encounter with a band of roaming wargs. Ireena told Vorkath how Strahd had gained entry to their house. Just before midnight, wargs and bats attacked yet again. The adventurers killed all but one of the wargs. The survivor fled.
The next day, our heroes, accompanied by Ireena, set out to take the fight to Strahd at Castle Ravenloft. The journey up the mountains took several hours. They were met by another group of wargs. This group did not attack. It stayed with the party until they came to a crossroads where a black coach pulled by black horses awaited. The door was open, and the coach had no driver. After the party entered the carriage (or climbed on top), it tore off at breakneck speed to the drawbridge of Ravenloft. There, the party set out again on foot, into the castle.
The front doors were open, so the party walked right in the front door. They followed the sound of organ music to the dining room, where a figure was sitting at the keyboard. He conversed with the party (to the increasing frustration of Vorkath, who would have sooner attacked the man on sight) for a few minutes. He claimed that it was Madam Eva who brought the party here, and that she had been masquerading as him. Agrippo finally attacked, and the figure vanished with a laugh.
Vorkath tried to trash the place, throwing oil on the organ and setting it aflame. The party retreated to the great entry hall, where they were attacked by gargoyles. A quick obscurement spell helped them make an escape up the grand staircase and up to an audience chamber. They entered a side room where Strahd's accountant slaved away. The conversation started friendly, but Vorkath declared the man a servant of evil. Feeling threatened, the man pulled a rope that sounded a deafening gong. The party made a quick exit, though Vorkath doubled back for a moment.
The adventurers moved east through a hall where they found a balcony with two thrones overlooking a large dark room. They quickly dispatched the two zombies that were in the thrones, and made their way downstairs. There, they could see that the room was a large chapel. A silver icon rested on an altar, near the outstretched hand of a dead body clad in robes. Nine wraiths attacked. The party fled, a few levels the poorer.
They returned to the accountant's office to find it burnt, the accountant himself a charred corpse on the floor. They continued up through a spiral staircase on the other side of the accountant's office.
At a landing high up the stairs, the party encountered a portrait that put nearly the entire party into a trance. Only Ireena and Tibbius were unaffected. Tibbius attacked the portrait, barely destroying it before it could do the same to him. But when the battle was over, Ireena was nowhere the be seen.
The party rushed up the stairs searching for Ireena, but they could not find her. At the top of the tower, a bridge without railings or handholds led to a taller tower to the north. Tumbler and Robert explored this tower. It had a spiral staircase surrounding a wide open shaft. The moment they set foot on a step, a pulsing light began to glow from a heart-shaped gem overhead, the tower began to shake, and halberds detached from the walls and attacked. Tumbler and Rober each managed to keep their feet under them and retreat from the seemingly living tower.
After a brief detour back down the stairs, the party is again just outside this tower, contemplating how to get at the door at the top of the north tower. Madam Eva said that a weapon of great power was in "a place of dizzying heights" where "the rocks themselves live." The party believes that that weapon is at the top of the north tower...if they can get to it.
Re: Game Resources
These are the Old Gods of the world you're in. Not everyone worships them, but many do. Their symbols and lore are common knowledge.
All the deities are siblings, with the hated rivalries you'd expect of children and the incestuous alliances you'd expect of gods. Chon and Chi are twins. Ohama, Raystek, Chon, and Fey are female; the others are male.
These deities are taken from a game I played in back in the early '90s (the holy symbols are my own selections). At that time, "Ohama" looked like a misspelling of a Midwestern city, not a President's name.
- Ravenlof Deities.jpg (114.75 KiB) Viewed 1181 times
These deities are taken from a game I played in back in the early '90s (the holy symbols are my own selections). At that time, "Ohama" looked like a misspelling of a Midwestern city, not a President's name.
Re: Game Resources
There are a handful of Glyphs all clerics know. Others exist, but are not always known.
Yrin, Jing, and Lee do their specified damage type, 2 HP per caster level. The other two have their stated effects.
- Glyphs.png (58.59 KiB) Viewed 1076 times