#044: Strahdcast Ch.25: Vallaki Nights Pt VIII
A routine search for some saint’s missing bones goes horribly, horribly wrong as the heroes pick the wrong door at Henrik van der Voort’s coffin shop.
A routine search for some saint’s missing bones goes horribly, horribly wrong as the heroes pick the wrong door at Henrik van der Voort’s coffin shop.
LUNA: Mistress left with three-legged man! DRAGOMIR: Someone with a cane, presumably. ANDREJ: Or maybe a really blessed man? Come for the dick jokes, stay for the… sabretooth tiger?!?
Things get hairy and boozy as Scott, David, and Laird reel from the stunning revelation that ended Episode 040. Then they reel through several glasses of gin, rant about bags of (chicken) holding, and pluralize “medusa.” Then things REALLY go off the rails.
We’re back at last, with the fallout from our heroes’ disastrous night at the Vistani carnival. Burning wagons! Vanishing vampires! An escape artist escapade! Don’t miss this action-packed installment! Exclamation point!
It may be our drunkest episode yet! Rictavio (the archaeopteryx?) spins a yarn over dinner; Ralston breaks up with the Vistani (and gets deeply offended!); the second time is not the charm for the party’s foray into acting; and Andrei’s audience with Ringmaster Blink leads to a jaw-dropping double reveal!
No Strahdcast this week. Instead, in recognition of the recent discoveries at former Canadian residential schools, Scott talks about colonialism, cultural genocide, and the pitfalls of indigenous stereotypes – both within the game of D&D and in real life.
Scott the DM does a run-down of the busy town of Vallaki, pointing out design flaws and making suggestions so that other Dungeon Masters can make the most of the chapter in their own Curse of Strahd campaigns. WARNING: Spoilers abound!
It’s the kind of fun you can only have in town: exchanging coins, hunting down holy bones, and bumping into random creepy aristocrats. “Do I notice any puncture wounds in his necky-holes?” Asks Ralston, and the answer may shock you!
In which Andrej, Dragomir, and Ralston experience the most heart-stopping, blood-curdling terror yet in the horror-fraught realm of Barovia: stage fright.
In a break between games, the lads sip “naughty and spiced” beer, and their diatribes grow accordingly naughty and spicy. It’s our shortest, most pointless episode yet!