The Death of Strahd

It seems like two months have slipped by since I last wrote. Two months, coincidentally, since I joined a Dungeons and Dragons campaign with my friend Andrew. We walked into acampaign that had been going on several months, and clashed with the old characters immediately. Cast into the Astral Plane we were able to latch on to a structure floating through space. The only problem was they were also holding onto that appartus, and attacked us immediately. 

In the two months and eight nights since that we have played, I have been attacked four times now by my own party, but nothing has caused more tension than my accomplishment of one of the great feats in all of Dungeons and Dragons... killing the vampire Strahd.

For weeks the hostility rose as one of my fellow characters became angrier and angrier that he could not dissaude me from my goal to kill Strahd. Apparently he was possessed by the soul of Strahd's brother and swore a blood oath to kill me if I interfered in the ressurecting of Strahd's love Tatyana, and their eventual marriage.

Being Chaotic Good I of course was opposed to all of this. Strahd is a terrible and merciless tyrant who has been feeding on the people of Borovia for centuries, and my only goal was to destroy him. Forever.

The Death of Strahd

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My partner in adventure, Arg, a dragonborn, shared this goal, and we did what we have always done... began scheming.

Our master stroke in this caper was to enlist the aid of the arch wizard Mordenkainen, who I had to choke into unconsciousness to get his attention. Once I apologized for disrespecting his station as the most revered wizard in the multiverse we laid our nefarious plan upon him, and because he had a deep-seeded hatred of Strahd he went along with it.

We went along with the marriage, knowing as soon as it was finsihed Strahd would become mortal when the curse was lifted. The moment this happened I sprung into action, grappling Strahs into submission, then decapitating him.

But our Dungeon Master had a surprise in store for us. The skies darkened, and something descended upon us. Had Strahd smelled out our double cross and sent a bodydouble to stand in at the wedding?

No. The reality was far darker than even this. The demon lord Graz'zt descended from the dark skies to the roof of Ravenloft castle and demanded to know which mortal had taken the head of Strahd. Realizing demons and vampires are of different alignments, and often at odds, I confessed to the slaying, thinking Graz'zt may be pleased with my deed and reward me. This was not the case. He was incensed I had denied him the pleasure ofdisposing of his enemy himself, and immediately attacked me with the Wave of Sorrow. We're playing a Legendary campaign (obviously), so my armor class is a ridiculous 28 dur to having +3 Plate Mail and a +3 Defender sword. Graz'z't was onlyable to hit me once, dealing some significant damage, but not nearly enough to incapacitate me.

Our party is laden with legendary magical items, ridiculously powerful NPC's, and a leniant DM who likes to let players succeed, so out Mystic was able to really get under Graz'zt's skin and out Barbariab doled out almost triple digit damage. I even managed to get in a lick with my Defender before Graz'zt decided to grab Strahd's head and bug out.

Leaving me with my enraged fellow party member Dench, who immediately attacked me with his Oath Bow. He did strike me twice, lowering me to single digit hit points, before my fellow party members talked him back into his senses.

He swore after we accomplished our mission of finding Strahd's head he would kill me. I said have fun trying, and we moved on, but Arg and Peterberator had accomplished one of the greatest coups in D and D... killing Strahd. Mordenkainen immediately vanished, and has not been heard from since. The people of Boravia were free of their curse. Now they only had Strahd's brother to deal with. 

But would he stay dead? More later. 


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