#business strahd

[mx-lamour]

Ezra will remember this.

Incidentally, our most homoerotic moment of the campaign.

It's well before the dinner at Ravenloft. Our party keeps moving farther westward, on a jaunty little trail of side quests, and we've met the Martikovs. We've cleared the winery, in perhaps record time, our bard and Ezra having disguised themselves as Strahd and Rahadin and successfully manipulated a creepy staff out of so-and-so's hands, bidding them to leave.

We found out about three gemstones that had once been hidden in the winery, and started off to find them. The first, we knew, would be with the druids, who were about to conduct some kind of ritual. So we raced to the old grove to stop them, hoping to run ahead of the reinforcements we'd just inadvertently sent their way.

We made it in good time. The staff we'd usurped worked well to our advantage, but it was still a hard fight--actually one of our first, I think, beyond the ghost house. We'd managed to talk and side-step our way through much of Barovia thus far.

Fire blazed on a tall effigy of Strahd von Zarovich, throwing light and shadow across the grove in hypnotic contrast. In the distance, still too near for comfort, the Gulthias tree groaned into malevolent sentience, crawling heavily on roots like twisted knees, furrowing the earth, swinging club-like branches down like spiny fists on anyone within its reach.

We fought on all sides, battling the druids, throwing what little we had at the Gulthias tree to slow its approach. And then Ezra spotted it: that first gem, in the heart of the fire. He worked to tear the effigy down, faster than it could burn on its own.

Though there was no rain, thunder rolled through the sky. Lightning flashed, out-shining the blaze in a strobe of stark white. We glanced up at the night sky and knew terror.

Strahd von Zarovich, set with a dire countenance the likes of which we'd not yet witnessed, on a dark horse with burning mane and flaring nostrils, descended from the storm.

We had seen versions of Strahd, before this. Met caricatures and disguises of an origin we could not yet understand. But this, immediately, we knew: This was the true Lord of Barovia. Our blood ran cold, faces pale as the lightning that flashed again, washing out the landscape and throwing us just as quickly back into errant darkness. Death was imminent.

When Strahd landed, sliding deftly from the nightmare's back, a glint of metal reflecting firelight as he drew his sword, it was the druids whose fate he sealed, not ours.

Shocked, but unwilling to question it, we used the reprieve to our advantage.

The effigy finally crumbled, the gemstone tumbling down in the midst of hot embers and broken kindling. Strahd and Ezra both moved toward it. Ezra reached it first. But as he stood, Strahd caught him in his gaze.

The surrounding battle fell away. Strahd reached toward him. "May I see that?" he asked, voice low and sure.

Ezra's hand trembled as he held the gemstone aloft. It was an orange crystal, the size of his heart, with an intricate weave of thin roots that seemed to have sprouted somehow from inside of it. A seed.

"What do you intend to do with it?"

Ezra felt ill; the whole time they've been here, he's been out of his depth. "I don't know," he confessed. "I hadn't thought that far ahead." He searched Strahd's face for answers. "What do you intend to do with it?"

"I wish to keep it safe, from the hands of those who would misuse it. Can you think of a safer place than with me?" His hand was still open to Ezra. Patient. Expectant.

Ezra thought. But the only thing of clarity he found in his reflection was that Strahd von Zarovich, who was ancient, who was the land, who was, if nothing else, a powerful general residing in a fortress--In a way that felt both brutal and humbling, Strahd was...

He was safe.

In a daze like enlightenment, Ezra walked across the embers. He held the crystal out to Strahd.

With only a flicker of movement, like the lick of a flame, Strahd had taken it from him. Ezra felt his presence reappear close behind. Strahd's head dipped over Ezra's shoulder. Ezra leaned into the sensation, as though he were falling. His feet were warm. The ground glowed orange around them. In a moment of utter calm, he bared his throat...

Strahd did not bite. Ezra dared to worry a moment that his blood might be wrong. But Strahd also placed the crystal back into his hand. "Remember this," he said, close to Ezra's ear.

Yes. Ezra would remember.

Then Strahd stepped away, and Ezra fumbled again with uncertainty. He groped for meaning. "Why?"

"I assume you would like to help your friends."

It wasn't what he'd meant. Sluggishly, Ezra turned his gaze back to the others, still fighting. "Friends." An unfamiliar word on his breath. The bard, injured, saw him and gestured madly at the Gulthias tree.

"The seed was used to animate the Gulthias tree," Strahd's even voice prompted. "What do you think you should do with it?"

With a last glance at the stoic figure of Strahd von Zarovich, Ezra turned, and hurried toward his companions. Perhaps Strahd expected him to destroy the seed. Ezra would not have dreamed of it.

With some effort, Ezra located the tether of magic connecting crystal to tree. "Halt!" he commanded it, and for a brief moment, the Gulthias tree obeyed. It ceased all movement, just long enough for the barbarian to rip the blade of his dark sword through its mangled maw. Severed at last, the top of the tree came crashing down.

The lightning stopped. An absence of thunder.

Strahd, too, had gone. Ezra took a step toward where he had been, like a child lost in a crowd of strangers. Corpses on the ground. A precious and unfamiliar thing in his grasp.

#ezra sunstar #curse of strahd #strahd von zarovich #campaign stories #cos spoilers #business strahd #lost boy #yesterhill

[vanhelsingapologist]

Woe, Victor be upon ye.

#not pictured: his stick limbs trembling as he tries to hold the book AND project his disdain #very busy day for mister vallakovich #it’s so HARD being everyone’s girlfriend #dnd #dungeons and dragons #curse of strahd #dnd character #dnd fanart #dungeons and dragons art #dnd npc #dnd5e #dnd art #victor vallakovich #victor has now discovered idkhow. run.

[beetlebabby]

preview for the curse of strahd zine!!!! so excited for the final project to come out, everything looks so good!

#my art #curse of strahd #cos #sergei von zarovich #tatyana federovna #dungeons and dragons #dnd #sorz for the silence i have been So Busy lately!

[bardicblast]

i hope everyone knows this scene from yuyu hakusho

for context: isaac got his arm chopped off during a fight in barovia village, then it grew back in wolf form (during the full moon in vallaki) and currently he can't do anything about it, and to avoid conflict he wrapped it up in cloth

#curse of strahd #viktor vallakovich #victor vallakovich #dnd #dnd art #dnd bard #werewolf #dungeons and dragons #artists on tumblr #drawing this guy is my second job istg #minding their business like i wont ask you about your eye if you wont as me about my weird arm

[nouveaumoon]

two escher doodles for two asks!

#asks #anonymous #escher #curse of strahd #i stand by his 80s/british rock bangs until i die ✊ wolf cut or nothing at all left in this world of me #thats not his usual outfit. i just wanted to draw the bat collar :] #i will have to draw more characters soon! i have been very busy messing around with rendering techniques to see what feels good and fast fo #the comic. which is ironically delaying the comic 😓

[shrimpari]

Refined and colored an old ji portrait I was rather fond of

#my babiest #works coming slow #been really busy #the campaigns been going absolutely insane tho #hehehe #jiji #curse of strahd #curse of strahd pc #dnd #d&d #dungeons & dragons #dnd pc #dnd oc #dnd art #my ocs #my art #artists on tumblr #digital art

[grace-sketches]

horsie :)

#sketch #dnd #Osric #curse of strahd #Binky #I'm still busy #not super evident in my art but i imagine binky has big golden retriever energy

[quarklynx]

The first of several drawings I hope to finish for this character of mine, meet Aure

commission info

#lynxinks #gosh its been ages since ive posted any art here #ive been so so busy #dnd character #dnd oc art #dnd oc #my ocs #dnd ranger #oc art #Aure is a mysterious female presenting wanderer who talks very little about themselves but always tries to be polite #she just got wooshed away by the mists into the land of Barovia for a good ol' Curse of Strahd campaign #I'm actually playing in the game live every other saturday so I'll try and post a link to session 2 when we play next! #digital illustration #artists on tumblr #artists of tumblr #artist spotlight #digital artist

[crowholtz]

Commissioned lovely @artmadval for this fabulous dnd party piece of the Cursebreakers ft. Ireena! I love how this turned out, so atmospheric as the party rests just on the edge of the Svalich Woods...

From left to right you have:

Ireena, Helene Crow (played by me), Dr. Tamyra Blackford (played by @cyborgmage), Val (played by @gothoctopus), Nazire (played by @gh0stedfrog , who also designed Nazire's colorful caravan), and Deyja (played by @guardianinthemist)

#curse of strahd #dnd #ravenloft #ireena kolyana #fantasy #dnd party commission #cos #cos blogging #party: cursebreakers #ch: helene crow #i love ireena leaning against helene as she knits #she gets bored easy she does it to keep busy #artmadval

[beholdingslut]

my strahd party are at the amber temple and found a whole lot of diary entries and research from the mages that used to live there and this was their favourite, i think due to the sheer bitchiness of writing this about your colleagues

#when your issue is ‘minding your business’ you know you’ve won at being the best evil wizard #d&d #curse of strahd

[mochizuke-creates]

Some curse of strahd WIPs that I am working on finishing between commissions.

#top left is rahadin and top right is strahd obvs #bottom one is a young strahd and alek chilling at a tavern between battles #a rare treat for them 🥺 #but yes #lookie i am in fact arting! #i am just busy and slow xD #curse of strahd #🖤

[sashasadcherries]

Veronika Business my Curse of Strahd character :)

#art #procreate #digital art #illustration #dnd character #tiefling #curse of strahd #business

[vanhelsingapologist]

Strahdposting (with possible spoilers so tread lightly)

One of the worst things about Strahd in our campaign is that he's not overtly forced anyone to do anything. His underlings have, sure, but never him. He just waits for us to eliminate our options all on our own, and then presents us with his way. And of course, his way is the easiest. He'll even make it easier. We keep falling into the pit because he ensures we dig it ourselves.

We're almost past the point where he wants to bargain with us and I'm nervous about what happens when he stops being the devil we know and becomes something else altogether.

The recent reveal that there were other parties before ours has been so shattering for us, I think, because it made us all realize that our party is an amusement until it is an inconvenience, and then we'll be insects in the garden that have overstayed our welcome. And then he'll start with the force.

#even when Demetria was kidnapped #we only SAY kidnapped because Volenta did it and Strahd got to play hero about the whole thing #Every subsequent time she went to Ravenloft was on a bargain. #we're so past the wining and dining phase that it's unreal #but he'd convinced a party member to turn traitor and is moving in on another because he knows we work better being coaxed #barovia is so so scary and you know what? vampire castle supreme seems real nice sometimes. #in terms of power i was specifically thinking of when he found out we resurrected leo and collected him after 3 business days #he only used force after we acted first #and then was all “look what you made me do.” #good fucking god #and obviously #it's control while maintaining the illusion of culpability on our part. but it works. oh... does it work. #i know some DMs have him being very traditionally forceful and i think that's a great interpretation #because the first strahd game i was in leaned heavy into that #but i think our strahd in this game uses vampire-as-seduction in an extraordinarily cool way. #i had the same DM for both and i think this version is some fine fine work. #curse of strahd spoilers #cos: the sorority

[survivors-of-barovia]

Campaign update: we stole Baba Lysaga’s goats

#curse of strahd #dnd #Dungeons and Dragons #dnd art #baba lysaga #PC: Edena #PC: Lady Arisa #PC: Ferret #PC: Paelias #PC: Vincent #we're just busy heisting all over barovia #art

[madammayh3m]

I'm just going to spray you with a bunch of questions for Thais from the slightly obscure question list and you can answer as many or as few as you like, just whatever takes your fancy:

4, 8, 20, 25, 32, 39, 50, 53, 59

4. If your character was a work of art, how would you describe them?

That's a hell of a question lmao. I'm thinking something from a classically trained horror artist - uncomfortable to look at, with subject matter that's designed to be horrifying, but beautifully rendered. You have to be able to look past how initially off putting she is to notice what's underneath.

8. What is something they cannot resist?

I know this is probably supposed to be referring to like... an object, or a vice or something, but truly the only correct answer is "her fiance."

20. Can your character flirt? Are they aware they’re flirting? How do they do it?

Yes, but only with her fiance. Thais is demi-aroace, and she has literally never been interested in anyone aside from Yeska. So she can flirt and is aware she's flirting provided it's with him (because after knowing each other for thirty years, they're pretty familiar with how the other operates). Her flirting so far is a lot more body language and expressions rather than outright words. If she's going to use her words, she's going to be direct about what she wants, especially if she's speaking in Dwarvish (which, for some reason, is the only language other than Common that she and Yeska can both speak), because she knows damn well they're the only two that can understand what she's saying, and she's absolutely going to use that to fluster him a little.

25. How does your character feel about spending money?

It depends on what she's spending money on. When they've come across unmarked graves and altars while wandering the woods, Thais has frequently left offerings of a couple gold pieces as a sign of respect for the dead. But I don't think she really sees that as 'spending money.' She and her fiance both grew up pretty poor, and so she's used to having to save up, and she's not a big spender when it comes to herself. For example, she really likes nice dresses and shiny jewelry, but it's not practical for her everyday life and it's expensive, so she won't spend money on that kind of stuff. She will absolutely drop a fuck ton of money for her fiance to be able to get whatever the hell he wants tho, lmao

32. Does your character daydream? What do they usually keep their mind occupied with?

She's not much of a daydreamer, so when she needed to keep her mind occupied, she'd usually ponder over what she remembered of her past or things she needed to keep track of, like where she and Ferrin needed to go next, or how much money and rations they had and if it was enough to get them from one town/job to the next. So, fairly logistical. The major exception was after she realized she was in love with (and wanted to bone) her fiance, but before she and her fiance got together. Then she was playing catch-up with all the bullshit her friends learned how to cope with during puberty lmao. Lots of spicy daydreams.

39. What does your character believe their party lacks?

Well, up until recently, she and Ferrin were getting their asses beat pretty bad because the two-person party dynamic and the relatively strong (or just numerous) enemies they were facing made it hard for her specifically to actually do shit from a distance like she's meant to. So, taking a lot of damage and neither of them really knowing how to heal (or having the resources to seek out a healer) meant we ended up not really being able to approach combat efficiently. Now that we've had four (possibly five if Ferrin can swing things in the right direction next session) NPCs join the party, our bases are a little bit better covered. Ireena and Parpol can both help Ferrin as close range fighters, Vasilka and Yeska can help Thais from long-distance and then with Yeska being a cleric, he can buff and heal.

50. What is their native language? If they know multiple languages, how do they speak/act differently?

I headcanon that her first language was Elvish, but the language she speaks the most in her day-to-day life is just Common. She technically knows four, although Thieves' Cant isn't so much a spoken language on it's own, so I'm not counting it for this question. I think when she speaks in Common, she's a lot more straightforward and to the point than she would be when she speaks Elvish. She kind of uses Elvish as a way to say the shit she'd be embarrassed to say otherwise, since she's the only person in the party that can speak it (as far as both of us are aware). Meanwhile, she and Yeska can both speak Dwarven, so while she hasn't utilized this yet, it'd be handy to tell him things she doesn't want the other party members to know. So her speaking to him in Dwarven is either purely practical, or downright filthy, and there's no in-between lmao

53. What does freedom mean to them?

Before she died, it meant being able to marry the man she loved without the fear of Strahd getting in the way. Now, I don't think she really knows. Her being a revenant is, in a twisted sort of way, a second lease on life, but it only lasts until she kills Strahd. She doesn't really see a way out of that, so I don't think she sees herself as being able to be free. The best she can hope for is securing a better future for her loved ones.

59. What’s something your character has realized?

Well, she's realized a lot of things over her first week back in Barovia! Number one, she's actually a person with thoughts, feelings, opinions, and a past, as opposed to being this hollow, undead thing that exists solely for the purpose of seeking revenge on the one who killed her. She's also realizing that her divine purpose and what she wants are pretty at odds (not because she doesn't want to kill Strahd, but because killing him means she'll die and she doesn't want to put Yeska through that again). She's realized that Strahd has sunk his hooks deeper into Ferrin than she initially thought, which is fucking horrifying and something she's worried about trying to navigate going forward. But mostly, I think she's realizing that, despite everything, she still has the capacity to be gentle, and kind, and to love (and be loved in return).

#rambles #things are getting dicey #glorious goth girl adventures #curse of strahd #ocs #Thais Vennoa #THIS TOOK SO LONG I'M SO SORRY #I got busy with school and graduating and then I forgor

[tired-spider]

I'm realizing why it might have been a bad idea to write my first long campaign using a game system I've never written a oneshot for.

#spider chatter #the first system I learned how to play was DnD 5e #but last year on my b-day my partner at the time got me the starter set for Call of Cthulhu 7e #at that point I had played a couple oneshots with DnD and had some minor experience writing them #at this point I had never run any kind of longer campaign only having been a player in a couple ones that never finished #so i ran one of the single player + keeper oneshots with my then partner #life gets busy and I take a break from running and playing games for a while #then I start running curse of strahd #get some friends #and decide that after finishing up CoS i'm going to run a CoC campaign #I have never homebrewed a CoC oneshot #much less a full campaign #in either system #only just last month was I finally able to get my hands on physical copies of the books #rather than just pdfs on anyflip #the only upside to this is that I am the only one who will be at the table who has played this system #one of the players got the core rulebook for Delta Green #but it will be nice to be a bit more confident in the rules for once #at my CoS table I have the second least amount of experience #halfway through the campaign we got a new player- someone who had never played any ttrpg before #anyway normal tags now #Call of Cthulhu rpg #call of cthulhu