The Shadowvale Campaign (thoughts) part 3

Picking up where we left off. The group headed back towards Glasspring with mixed emotions. They had cleared out the perceived goblin threat, but that had only revealed a much darker force at work.

Going into the next session, I generally didn't have any set encounters planned for the group, unless they choose to pursue the Darius angle. They held up outside of town for over a day watching the comings and goings and noted that the town guard was much less active, in fact nonexistent at times. Finally they braved up enough to venture into town and confront Darius. While the group had been away, I had Darius release the town guard and take total control of the quiet town of Glasspring.

I have to give my players credit, they devised a hell of a plan to break into his mansion using disguises and trickery. Some of my most fun memories at the gaming table are just watching and listening to my players come up with these crazy schemes....great stuff!

The meeting with Darius was modeled much after the I6: Ravenloft encounter with Strahd (and really a lot of this campaign was borrowed as such from that module).

Not quite Darius, but close!

The group dined in a civil manner and Darius proposed an agreement to the group, to seek out and find the Book of the Shadowhorn (the key piece needed for him to challenge the mortal gods of the Shadowvale), in exchange for riches and ownership of the town. The group hesitantly agreed and Darius made the deal in blood by murdering the town sheriff, who was charmed, in front of the group. This was the first time the players (most of whom were new) had experienced a shocking and unexpected event in the game, it definitely had an effect on them. I feel like these elements are important in games to keep the super hero mentality in check...these are just normal people in abnormal situations.

With some guidance from Darius on the rumored location, the group immediately set out for Eldermere with the thought the book was located somewhere deep beneath that small village. After a bit of hex crawling and wilderness encounters, the group arrived at Eldermere only to find the village in ruins and it's population now turned to mindless undead...