Curse of Strahd Reloaded Update: Ezmerelda's Seance & Website Transition

Another week, another update! This is the fourth in a series of regular posts providing updates on my progress in drafting and editing the new Reloaded guide. You can find all previous posts here.

This week had a slower pace of progress, largely because I spent a good portion of it beginning the transition from GMBinder to an Obsidian-hosted website. Here are some brief previews of the prototype (which should hopefully be done and ready to release within a week or two):

(Feel free to drop any questions or thoughts in the comments. The design isn't final, and I'm still working through some bugs.)

Back on topic! As mentioned previously, I finished Arc L: The Fallen Abbey this week, including:

• Designed Ezmerelda's Tarokka seance to contact the spirit of Saint Markovia
• Drafted a sidebar on running NPC allies
• Added a scene involving an eavesdropping Clovin, Otto, and Zygfrek Belview
• Added a scene re-encountering the Abbot after the seance (with some personal stakes for Vasilka)

Here's a sneak preview of two excerpts from this update: 

The Seance

Once the players are ready, Ezmerelda invites the players to sit around the edges of the circle and join hands. Read:

Ezmerelda’s eyes meet each of yours in turn before closing. She bows her head, black curls cascading across her shoulders, and softly begins to chant.

The air thickens, as if charged with static, and the hairs on your arms begin to stand on end. You hear the soft scrape of chalk against stone as, one by one, the lines of the pentagram begin to glow faintly, emanating a soft, silver light.

A low, resonant hum fills the room, vibrating through the floor and into the soles of your feet, as if the very stones of the Abbey have joined in the chant. The ambient sounds beyond the walls fade away, leaving only the rhythmic cadence of Ezmerelda's whispered incantations, which rise and fall like a distant tide. The air grows colder, each breath forming wisps of mist that rise and swirl above your heads.

”Spirits,” Ezmerelda murmurs, swaying faintly. “We seek your wisdom and knowledge. The Abbot of this Abbey has fallen to darkness and corruption. Aid us, and tell us how the stains upon his soul may be cleansed.”

There is a pause - and then the temperature plunges, your skin prickling fiercely. You feel a sudden sense of being watched, as an unmistakable, yet unseeable presence settles like a shroud across the room.

Ezmerelda’s eyes snap open. “We are not alone,” she whispers.

The presence is the spirit of Saint Markovia, which can communicate with the players by flipping individual Tarokka cards face-up from the Ethereal Plane. Each time the players ask a new question, the spirit flips all face-up cards face down and chooses a new set of cards to flip face-up.

 (A player who inspects the room using the spirit mirror sees Saint Markovia standing over Ezmerelda’s shoulder, wearing the clean, white robes of a priest with a golden mace in the shape of a sunburst sheathed upon her back.)

The Abbot's Wrath

When the players re-enter the North Wing to descend to the courtyard once more, they are met once again by the flesh golem. If given Vasilka’s flower garland before, the golem is now wearing it as a necklace around its neck.

As the players exit the North Wing into the courtyard, they are greeted by the Abbot, who is accompanied by Vasilka. If Ezmerelda is present, the Abbot greets her warmly.

After he has made pleasantries with the players, if the flesh golem is wearing Vasilka’s necklace, the Abbot’s eyes fall upon it. His gaze tightens, and he asks the players how the golem came to possess such an ornament.

A player must succeed on a DC 20 Charisma (Deception) check to successfully lie to the Abbot. On a failure, the Abbot recognizes the flowers as originating from the garden, notes that most of them appear to be several days old, and surmises that the players—who only recently arrived—could not have picked them. His gaze then flickers perceptibly to Vasilka, who appears mortified and crestfallen.

In either case, the Abbot commands the flesh golem to lower its neck, whereupon he removes the garland from its person. “Decoration and ornamentation are the first steps to pride and vanity,” he observes serenely, adding, “Such follies are unbecoming of the gods’ creations.” 

If the players failed to deceive him, the Abbot’s tone is chilled, and his eyes are tightened. 

Additionally, the Abbot then asks aloud for the perpetrator who crafted the necklace to come forward, and receive the Morninglord’s enlightenment and mercy. A player may subtly attempt to convince Vasilka not to reveal herself (e.g., by using body language) by succeeding on a DC 20 Dexterity (Deception) check and a DC 20 Charisma (Persuasion) check. 

You can get full access to my in-progress drafts by joining the Patreon as a paid member. All working drafts and outlines for future arcs, as well as a changelog and Trello board of upcoming edits, can be found on the Patreon Bronze Masterpost.

Thank you for following and using this guide! If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in the comments.

I look forward to bringing you future updates.

Cheers,
Dragna

PS: Since I didn't have too much new stuff to work on this week, I found another creative outlet—revising all of the D&D 5th Edition classes to have stronger, more elegant mechanical class-role identities, with more room for collaboration and teamwork.

Though I haven't posted them on the Patreon officially, they're currently floating around the Patreon Discord server, so feel free to join if you'd like to check them out and playtest 'em.  Here's an excerpt of the Fighter's new (replacement) 1st-level features, as a sampler—feel free to share your thoughts in the comments as well!

Press. Immediately after attacking a creature, you can use your bonus action to force that creature to make a Strength saving throw. On a failure, the creature is pushed up to 5 feet away from you or automatically grappled (your choice).

Mark. You can use your bonus action to mark a creature within 5 feet until the start of your next turn. While within 5 feet of you, a marked creature has disadvantage to attack targets other than you.  

Halt. You control an area with a 10-foot radius around you. When an enemy leaves that area, you can use your reaction to immediately move up to your speed toward that enemy and make a melee attack against it. On a hit, you can immediately mark that target until the start of your next turn.