Curse of Strahd: What to do with Ismark?

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Ender
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Curse of Strahd: What to do with Ismark?

Post by Ender »

In my Curse of Strahd game, the players met Ismark and Ireena during an attempt on Ismark's life. Though the players aren't certain, they came to the conclusion that Ismark was targeted for trying to protect and shield Ireena. I didn't make him a trained combatant in my game, instead giving Ireena a bit of that training so she's not solely relegated to being a damsel in distress. As such, I've played Ismark as a protective brother who is in over his head now that his father has passed. When my players recently went to save Ireena from Leo Dilisnya, they left Ismark alone. Upon their success, they returned to the burgomaster's house to find the door slightly ajar with no sign of Ismark. He has gone missing overnight. Strahd, as Vasili von Holtz, asked her if she felt safe enough to remain in the home. If not, she was welcome at the castle. She stayed at the home with the party's protection.

Now. Here's the thing: nothing in Curse of Strahd really says to do this. I did it because it just seemed appropriate at the time. But now I realize I've written myself into something of a corner. The party naturally wants to find out what happened to him. So... what has happened to him? My instinct at the time was to have had Strahd come knocking in Ireena's absence and deal with him in a rather permanent manner. But now I wonder if that's the best course of action. Including that, here's some possibilities:

1. Strahd has killed Ismark in the hopes that he's the final obstacle to getting Ireena to come to him.
2. Strahd has kidnapped Ismark to enchant him so that her own brother convinces her to go to Strahd.
3. Ismark has left of his own volition to do something drastic.

One other dilemma is the fact that Ismark is meant to be the main impetus for getting Ireena to safety. If he's permanently missing, then it's hard to do that. If he's under Strahd's command, then he'll fight for the opposite result. Is it too on the nose to use an "if you find this, I must be dead" letter? Could he have contacted the Zarovan to deliver a message?
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Re: Curse of Strahd: What to do with Ismark?

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It seems to me like if Strahd wanted to do something to Ismark it would be incredibly sloppy just to off him unless he wanted to send a message of clear and present warning to the PCs, as might open domination. More likely Strahd might try to induce an element of cognitive dissonance into Ismark's mind about his or the PCs abilities to protect Ireena, causing Ismark's doubt to erode party unity and throw them off balance. Heck, Ismark's indecision might make him do some drastic and impulsive action. (You described him as already in over is head, so it would only take a little push for Ismark to be manipulated into serving Strahd's bidding, even if like Baron Villakovich he thought he'd be doing the opposite.

The open door might look like a kidnapping, but perhaps the anxious Ismark just left it open as he rushed off onto a wild goose chase for help. The errant Dawnslayers/Knights of the Silver Dragon mashup you have going might be a good trick for this. Or perhaps he rushes off to Van Richten or his Vistani ex-apprentice. Strahd might hope to maipulate Ismark and the PCs to destroy the Dawnslayers or flush out VR's location.

Another option, if you still wanted to go with a kidnapping or murder, is to have it be done by an ill-informed third party that thought they might be working on Strahd's behalf/motivation, This could be Baba Lysaga, one of the werewolf factions, the druids, or even the Abbot. (The Abbot might do it if he wanted to lure Ireena into a trap where he could capture her and then imprison and observe or even sacrifice her to make sure his flesh golem was the perfect Tatyana.) In the meanwhile, the players might immediately suspect Strahd and march on the castle demanding to see him. Strahd could genuinely claim ignorance but take the chance to introduce doubt and dissonance into Ireena's head, perhaps even offering to help find Ismark if she or the PCs (the Barovian guard?) do him a little favor. Once the PCs discovered Ismark's true fate, they may interact with whatever lesser evil(s) kidnapped him and learn more about Strahd's past in contributing to how evil they became.
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Re: Curse of Strahd: What to do with Ismark?

Post by Ender »

*grumble grumble* power outage *grumble grumble* lost my post *grumble grumble*
The Lesser Evil wrote:It seems to me like if Strahd wanted to do something to Ismark it would be incredibly sloppy just to off him unless he wanted to send a message of clear and present warning to the PCs, as might open domination.
I agree. The idea of Strahd outright killing him is less and less appealing to me as I think on it.
The Lesser Evil wrote:More likely Strahd might try to induce an element of cognitive dissonance into Ismark's mind about his or the PCs abilities to protect Ireena, causing Ismark's doubt to erode party unity and throw them off balance. Heck, Ismark's indecision might make him do some drastic and impulsive action. (You described him as already in over is head, so it would only take a little push for Ismark to be manipulated into serving Strahd's bidding, even if like Baron Villakovich he thought he'd be doing the opposite.

The open door might look like a kidnapping, but perhaps the anxious Ismark just left it open as he rushed off onto a wild goose chase for help. The errant Dawnslayers/Knights of the Silver Dragon mashup you have going might be a good trick for this. Or perhaps he rushes off to Van Richten or his Vistani ex-apprentice. Strahd might hope to maipulate Ismark and the PCs to destroy the Dawnslayers or flush out VR's location.
An interesting idea! Though I'd been thinking of Strahd charming or dominating Ismark, I think manipulation is much more in line with my portrayal of Strahd. Now, Ismark has been one of the party's few actual supporters thus far, so I think it would take something a bit drastic to have him doubt their abilities. Perhaps Strahd-as-Vasili told Ismark that the party died at Leo's hands, but that Ireena was saved by Strahd and is safe at the Castle now. He may drop a hint as to Van Richten's location, something like "as long as that agitator Rictavio out west doesn't try anything". Ismark may go in search of him in the hopes that he can draw him out to help Ireena.

I think this seems like the best way to go, but it leaves open the question of how to instill in the party an impetus to travel west with Ireena. They may want to meet up with Ismark... but they may as well simply stay put and try to wait it out. I find it hard to judge my party's intentions.
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Re: Curse of Strahd: What to do with Ismark?

Post by The Lesser Evil »

If they are hesitant and you wish to push them along to do something, you can have Ismark sense word some way (via carrier pigeon?) to invite them to follow him. OTOH, Strahd might fake something to push the party some way or another.

If the party sits and you don't want to push them immediately, then you can have them encounter some other element of the plot to keep them busy while Strahd does his thing (perhaps Strahd sends the druids, the werewolves, or just some of his beastly minions to distract the party while he uses Ismark to track down and destroy Van Richten?) And when the party gets done with whatever crisis Strahd threw in their way, Ezmerelda d'Avenir or another NPC known to both VR or Ismark and the party could come running up and tell about what Strahd's done with VR.

The important thing to remember is that you don't necessarily need to predict the exact order of events the party will do, just have a selection of options on where to go for several likely events. You might view a flowchart of events like a dungeon, plotting out a few different possible courses. Or in addition to/as an alernative to (as you wish), consider things things from a perspective that considers "how will the NPCs react/act to what the PCs do based on the NPCs' own agendas and what they know." You seem to have a generally solid feel for how you're playing Strahd, basically as how a particularly devious and manipulative player character might think.
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