Putting Leo Dilisnya in Curse of Strahd

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Ender
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Re: Putting Leo Dilisnya in Curse of Strahd

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The Lesser Evil wrote:
Ender wrote:UPDATE: Well. My party tracked Leo to a temple whose hallowed ground was being suppressed by a ritual, where he had put Ireena and a friendly NPC in a death trap. Freeing one would kill the other. He also covered them in an illusion, swapping their two forms. The party almost freed the "friendly NPC", but didn't quite, so it didn't actually do any harm and allowed them to realize that they actually been about to free Ireena. Meanwhile, Leo was telling the party Strahd's story, trying to convince them that Strahd is their enemy. (While they know he is their enemy, they still wanted to kill Leo, so they kept on going) Ultimately, I accidentally imbalanced the encounter and Leo nearly TPK'd the party because of too many vampire spawn (even though I downgraded them by a couple CR) and a party that doesn't have the best tacticians. Anyway, Strahd-as-Vasili arrived on scene near the end. This is, of course, what Leo wanted. Leo hid and enacted his plan: stop the ritual, re-hallow the temple, and trap Strahd inside. Naturally, he underestimated Strahd and the party, again, and ended up being trapped in the temple himself.

We ended with three of the six party members unconscious, but stable, and the rest at under 10hp. The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is visible and in the hand of a vampire spawn that is currently burning because of the hallowed ground. Leo is trapped in the temple and is taking damage, but has an escape plan. We'll see if the party gives chase. If they do, it won't be hard to take him out at such few hit points. If he survives, though, I'm not sure what to do with him. I don't want Strahd to take him out, because there's been an unfortunate series of NPCs defeated by other NPCs in my game, but I also don't really feel like I want Leo to be a recurring character anymore. The focus needs to shift to Strahd now.
If Leo escapes, Strahd could capture him and then say he destroyed him, but instead get control of him and seal him away in the crypts of Castle Ravenloft to ambush the player characters later or otherwise order Leo to attack them at an inopportune time.
That's essentially the "Strahd takes him out" route that I don't want to take. While it might make for a good reveal down the road, I suspect it would be an anticlimax for my players. I'd much rather find a way to wrap Leo up within the next session or two in a manner that makes the PCs feel like they accomplished something. Is it as simple as Leo returning to seek revenge on the players (sans spawn), enraged that his plan to capture Strahd was thwarted yet again?
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Re: Putting Leo Dilisnya in Curse of Strahd

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Ender wrote:That's essentially the "Strahd takes him out" route that I don't want to take. While it might make for a good reveal down the road, I suspect it would be an anticlimax for my players. I'd much rather find a way to wrap Leo up within the next session or two in a manner that makes the PCs feel like they accomplished something. Is it as simple as Leo returning to seek revenge on the players (sans spawn), enraged that his plan to capture Strahd was thwarted yet again?
Leo Dilisnya always struck me as a very petty character; and maybe that just increased with his time as a vampire. Certainly I could see could see Leo having a mental breakdown of sorts and making them his primary enemy for the moment. If you wanted to play him more rationally, he may decide he ultimately needs to make them his vampire spawn in order to destroy Strahd. Also remember that Dilisnya is at heart an assassin, so gunning for them in the "dead" of night is totally a thing.

If you want to segue into Strahd's villainy, Strahd could use the opportunity and stab them all in the backs, trying to kill them (save perhaps the PC guard) when they're at they're weakest after destroying Leo. Alternatively, Strahd might use Leo as a distraction to the PCs to do some other heinous crime elsewhere (destroying/kidnapping/transforming a friendly NPC or nabbing the Holy Icon, for example) It might really piss off/get the player characters to hate Strahd as they come back to town feeling that for once they've achieved a major victory only to discover the horrid news that makes the victory but ash in their mouths. So you could signify the rise of Strahd's threat with the death of Dilisnya.
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Re: Putting Leo Dilisnya in Curse of Strahd

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UPDATE: Leo is done. The party thwarted his escape and managed to take him out. I might have played a little loose with rules for staking a vampire, but they got really excited about the possibility of staking him with a shard of his own shattered coffin and I didn't want to take that awesome scene from them. Strahd-as-Vasili took Leo's body and head (they did also decapitate Leo) back to Castle Ravenloft to be "dealt with appropriately". One of the players took his Ba'al Verzi dagger, another recovered the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, and a third took Leo's pendant. I don't think I'll have him show up again. Strahd is no idiot and, I think, after Leo returning from eternal imprisonment once already, he'll make sure to finish him off for good. I may provide them with a cutscene depicting Leo's ultimate fate. Something poetic, I imagine. Perhaps Strahd kills him in a manner reminiscent of how he tried to kill Ireena...
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Re: Putting Leo Dilisnya in Curse of Strahd

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Congratulations on concluding that plot arc. Sounds like it concluded quite decisively. So where do you go with Strahd as the main nemesis now?
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Re: Putting Leo Dilisnya in Curse of Strahd

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The focus shifts to Ireena now. I've already foreshadowed her reincarnation from Tatyana, so the party is aware that she's someone special. They also know that Strahd has a distinct interest in her and all but one of the party members is concerned for her. Whatever happens to Ismark is the next main plot point and, given they're already friendly with him, I don't think they'll take kindly to anything bad happening to Ismark. On top of that, they're about to discover that Strahd has positioned zombies in abandoned houses in the village of Barovia to keep a stranglehold on it. Past that, each of the party members has a personal reason to dislike Strahd, and the Barovian guard PC is about to learn of his past. Also, they're none too fond of Vasili von Holtz. So... when they receive their dinner invitation within a few sessions and go to meet the Count... they discover that the man for whom they already have a distaste is the man behind all of their troubles. At that point, Strahd gives them an ultimatum to cease their meddling with Ireena and fully takes on the villain's mantle.
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