Going Back to Ravenloft...You All Benefit

[SkiBird]

Loving these updates! More please.

The most recent season of American Horror Stories (the anthology one, not the whole-season-is-one-story one) has a living doll / life size doll house episode. It might be worth mining it to see if any cool visuals could find their way into Myra's lair.

[Manofevil]

So, who is Molly Modelo? She’s an artificer, who has been grated extraordinary powers by the Dark Powers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YonXyVJtkU

[Rucht Lilavivat]

The campaign has been going very well!

The party finally entered the house of Molly Modello, which was a large manor outfitted with life-sized mechanical dolls, all going about their various duties. As I do in much of my horror, for a large portion of the session, there was nothing to "fight". Sure, you can smash one of the creepy dolls to bits, but so what? It does nothing for you.

Throughout the session, random recordings of Molly would play, all played from a wax cylinder device somewhere in the house. The cylinder was Molly, telling her own story through her eyes. It was a great way for people to "get to know the villain" in the scenario. Far too often, the only time the party meets the villain is at the final encounter. They don't really get to know them.

There was a great moment in which they discovered about a dozen people that Molly had kidnapped and stuffed into animated dolls. (That way, she can carry on actual, live conversation, you see.) As they were freeing them, the room sealed and toxic gas started pouring in. I had had this trap planned ahead of time.

To my surprise, the group was stumbling and fumbling to get out of the room and I thought that I was going to have a Batman-type scenario where the entire party was captured except....

One player had their character deliberately NOT enter the trap room, and that character was able to rescue the rest of the party. It ended up being very cool.

The PCs chased after Molly Modello and her maid-warlock and defeated them in a carriage chase.

Here's something fun. Molly Modello is an artificer. Her steel defender that she gets from her class is an automaton crafted after the body of her first victim. I love it when you have a happy merger of both game mechanics and story elements. Her steel defender wasn't just a bunch of stats. Her companion had meaning. Her steel defender was a pretty horrifying reveal for the player characters when they found out was it was.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Here's a little bonus - Molly's stats.

Warding bond was the MVP spell of the game for his particular villain. It essentially divides all damage she gets between her and her steel defender. It gave her a lot more longevity in terms of damage she could take.

Molly Modello's Stats

Molly Stats copy.jpg (87.81 KiB) Viewed 754 times

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Steel Defender Stats

Steel Defender copy.jpg (67.96 KiB) Viewed 754 times

[alhoon]

Rucht, those are CR2 or 3 at most... just saying. TOGETHER they are equivalent of CR6 creature.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

Rucht, those are CR2 or 3 at most... just saying. TOGETHER they are equivalent of CR6 creature.

You're not wrong. The party was five second level PCs. They beat Molly Modello because of "many attacks" feature of D&D. The PCs always get a lot more attacks than the big, bad, evil guy. Also, cleverness helped. They cast spells on the horses of her carriage, causing it to crash, and immediately putting her at a tactical disadvantage (not a dice disadvantage).

Then, spells also helped with damage round to round. And while not a lot of attacks hit, enough of them did to chip away at her hit points. And the party divided up their attacks between her and her steel defender as well, which ultimately defeat her dividing up her incoming damage between herself and her defender.

[Rucht Lilavivat]

So, here's an update from a while back. The campaign is on Session 20, so plenty of game play has happened.

The party has been manipulated by Ivana Boritsi into taking a message to Harkon Lukas. In the campaign, Harkon is trying to expand his holdings by opening businesses outside of Kartakass. He wants to spread his influence, power, and most importantly his fame by doing this.

However, every attempt that he's made to do this in Borca has been met by staunch resistance from Ivana. His minions that he's sent north have all been assassinated or poisoned. She sent the PCs down south to try to get the Harkon Lukas to forge a truce.

However, just like in the Feast of Goblyns, the PCs were intercepted by Arkiel Lukas. She caught wind of the PCs' mission, and told the denizens of the Old Karatan Inn to attack - that the PC party were indeed assassins sent by Ivana Boritsi.

The result was the huge attack set up in the Feast of Goblyns module. The PCs looted Harkon Lukas's private quarters (and got some of the pretty kick-ass items he has) and burned down the Old Karatan Inn. It was epic! The whole attack and defend scenario ended up taking four sessions, but it was very slasher-film and very fun!

For those of you unfamiliar with Feast of Goblyns, the Old Karatan Inn is an amazing encounter in a sizable inn set up with all kinds of hidden passages and secret doors where wolfweres spring out at you at every turn. It's an encounter where you wake up in the middle of the night, attacked by lycanthropes, and have to battle your way out while in your pajamas.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Sounds awesome!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Just chiming in that this all sounds awesome!

[alhoon]

20 sessions in 3 months? You play fast, Rucht. The results are also impressive.