50: The End of My Notes
It was after Session 49 that I left due to frustrations in-game and out-of-game with the Dungeon Master. I stayed for the story until I reached my breaking point. The complete destruction of the cleric's family was devastating and hope-crushing. Living a grim-dark campaign for over a year can be bad for your mental health especially with character bleed involved. In this last chapter, I'll just write out how I would have written out my cleric. Then, I will follow that up with a super brief synopsis of what one of the players told me happened after I left.
How I would've written out my cleric:
Song Guine sighed and returned to the party. After a brief fuss over what happened, they decided to regroup. Van Richten hinted at what he had been up to. Song held up the bag of diamonds informing him that Geraldine had killed his performance tonight, so Strahd had a significant bonus.
Van Richten's eyes went wide at the sight of the prize.
"I don't suppose you have Greater Restoration prepared?" She suggested emotionlessly.
"Yeah, I'm afraid a few of us have been slipping away to madness and the last few weeks have weighed heavily on Song," said Gerald, a little concerned. "We lost Vladamir just today because he completely lost it and challenged Strahd to a duel."
Van Richten frowned with some concern. "Of course, but I would like to take some of the diamonds with me if that's all right with you."
Van Richten and the party haggled on the amount, deciding on less than half.
After moving back down to the guest room, Van Richten cast Greater Restoration on Song to remove the layers of madness.
Song's eyes went wide in realization of all that had happened. Her lack of trust and care melted away, but her perception of her family's destruction suddenly became raw and fresh in her mind. Her sharp scream cut through the air, echoing around the castle, as she unleashed her absolute anguish. Madness overwhelmed her once again and she broke down sobbing, inconsolable and incomprehensible on the floor.
Van Richten gazed upon her in confusion, thinking he had just finished curing her of her maddened ailments. Kee spoke up, theorizing that Song had finally recognized the loss of her family-what Escher had done to them. Van Richten was saddened by the news, stepping away to let her have a moment of unbridled grief.
The boys stepped off to the other room to continue speaking. They caught each other up on matters at hand. Gerald anxiously looked over in Song's direction. "I… have to admit I'm very worried about her," he commented quietly. He contemplated his words before speaking. "She was looking to sacrifice herself to Strahd to get diamonds and now… I don't know what she might do out of desperation. Is there some way we could maybe get her out of here?"
Kee cocked his head. "I don't know. Remember how angry Strahd got when she disappeared last time."
Van Richten cleaned his glasses, mulling it over. "Perhaps, I could take her place for a time? But where could we hide her?"
"We got this chest of holding," said Gerald, pulling it out. "It hid her perfectly last time."
He nodded. "Could you perhaps hide something else for me as well?"
"Certainly."
Van Richten held up a bag and dropped it into the chest.
They cautiously reentered the guest room to find Song curled up on a divan, hugging a pillow and absolutely heartbroken. She no longer sobbed but tears seemed to endlessly stream down her face.
Gerald gently approached Song. "I'm so sorry for your loss, Dear. We were thinking maybe you might want to take a break from things and Van Richten will take your place. Do you mind hiding in the chest for a while?"
Van Richten used his hat of disguise to transform himself into Song.
Song weakly nodded and held out the holy symbol of ravenkind to Van Richten. "I-managed-to-take-it-off-Vlad's-body… Bring me back if Strahd wants our private meeting…"
"What meeting?" Van Richten asked with his normal voice while still looking like her.
Song looked down. "I… I can't do this anymore… I wanted to make them all proud of me again… but now they're all gone. I have no one… I'm gonna die here… I'll sacrifice myself to Strahd… I can get him to take Escher out of the equation. I'll have him throw Escher into a river with a stake in his heart. Maybe I can talk him into letting you leave this horrible place. Please just let me do it."
"No," the two humans and aarakocra spoke simultaneously.
"You have us," said Kee, determined. "We'll take care of things for now. Just rest."
Gerald opened up the chest.
Song huddled under a blanket as she got up, still holding a pillow. She hung her head with shame. "Useless," she mumbled to herself. "It's not fair to you all that you have to keep going while I hide in a box."
Gerald shook his head. "You've done more than enough. We'd rather you take a break than get enslaved by Strahd."
She slid inside the chest and closed the lid behind her. Song floated in the dark space with various other items floating about the starry pocket dimension.
The men carried on without her while she struggled to drift to sleep.
Another Player's brief synopsis of what actually followed after I left:
"We used the abbot to fix you (Song) with greater restoration and left you with Van Richten and Ezmerelda. We are saving you for the final fight. Also, the abbot is no longer evil and is now Gerald's patron..."
"We sped up things a bit and skipped to the final fight and castle attack. Vlad is a revenant and Gerald is a celestial warlock now. It took four hours to go over all of what was planned and we were all tired. The siege is going well like in the vineyard. I get a short rest in-between fights and am wrecking peoples day. also Lovely put Anastrasya out at the beginning of a fight. so she and Volenta are dead…"
"Both final fights I went from full hp to unconscious in a single round because of beefed-up Strahd having 3 legendary actions and 3 reactions all of which did damage and then his turn. The final boss has a stun feature, a mute ability, and healed by doing damage. Final fight had a lair action that was five paragraphs long and took .. I timed it 10 minutes each time it came around. Final fight out of 8 rounds I had 3 actions"
"...It's finally over. Vlad turned to sparkles into the next life like Odin. Kee peaced out into the Air Nation. Gerald in a bittersweet ending claimed the throne and helped usher the Barovians into the material plain and tracked down Kasimir's sister after finding Mordenkainen. Gerald, while charismatic and bound to an angel, rules Barovia as well as he can, playing the character of the triumphant hero. His final role bearing the crown upon a troubled brow, his act never quite reaching his eyes and always waiting for the final curtain call."