The players got to meet the drunk "Paladin" today and it was kind of played for a laugh that he's bragging about how he can suss out any undead within 500 ft of him while an actual undead is standing 25 ft away from him and he has no clue and I think they're all assuming that's just cuz he's an idiot and drunk but it's actually supposed to be a huge hint that he's not actually a paladin.
He was but the combo of getting cut off from Lathander by the mists and the Amber Temple means he no longer isn't and isn't even an Oathbreaker. And he can't even admit that he's actually a warlock now.
I also managed to have some of the Constables talk about Alanik Ray a bit and mention that they all 100% believe Osgul was complicit in his "death", since a player gave them a bottle of wine and they were willing to give a bit of the scuttlebutt.
It turns out said wine was also a hallucinogen so the officers are gonna have an interesting time when they crack it open after their shift.
I just had Irik (aka Azalin, sorta) refer to Strahd von Zarovich as a "brooding egomaniac" after previously making fun of the depiction of him on a coin for having a glower and calling him "miserable bastard."
It's well known by my players that I love clowning on Strahd but I'm trying to hint that his dislike is a little more personal. And indeed the fact that Strahd and Azalin hate each other is one of the better established parts of both of their characters.
Someone was complaining about Strahd being "retconned" as not being straight and I was like "Are you sure about that? Because the book this is from this came out in 1991."
(Vampire Of The Mists, an otherwise pretty terrible #Ravenloft book)
Also I had memory holed this but apparently this book was written by a woman.
Which is, uh, disturbing, considering I can only describe parts of it as extremely and uncomfortably rape-y is part of why I was pissed off enough to do my own version of Ana.
My version is basically the result of Azalin tearing himself apart on a subatomic level so TDP would no longer recognize him as "him" and he could finally get out of Darkon. But he also merged with the ghost of his son Irik (who he killed BTW), so he is basically both of them. And is now in the somewhat awkward position of remembering being both the murderer and the victim.
He basically considers himself a completely separate person from both Azalin and the original Irik, and the mists also recognize him as a different person from those two.
I'm still tickled I have Rudolph van Richten, of all people, making a sex joke. It's very much supposed to come off as your dad making a dirty joke and everyone being exasperated.
Thinking about how one of my favorite moments in Star Wars is one that doesn't actually have any dialogue.
In The Phantom Menace when Qui-Gon and Darth Maul are fighting each other and then get cut off by the laser wall between them there's a great bit as the two are waiting for it to open back up. Qui-Gon just sits down to compose himself while Maul is pacing like a caged tiger and takes a swipe at the laser wall with his lightsaber, which doesn't do anything.
And it also tells us more about these two characters than an entire movie's worth of dialogue ever could.
Honestly if Lucas learned how to lean into moments like that I think he would get less shit for his character writing.
I'm also planning to directly steal that moment with Alcio Metus because Marco's backup plan for dealing with her is to trap himself in a force cage with her. But she knows will almost certainly end in his death but it's going to buy the party some time.
The funny thing about that spell is the first time I encountered it a player used it, and I thought it was broken as shit because there's no save, and you're basically just stuck if you can't teleport.
But it has its uses and that's exactly why Marco would carry it.
One of the players in my #Darkon game I am getting up to speed with some text-based RP before they formally join us next week and I was very excited to be able to bring back #TheRavenQueen since they are playing a Shadar-Kai.
Now in the continuity of games I DM, #Strahd is officially dead for good. And something that The Raven Queen did when he finally died permanently was scoop his ass up and so now he has to serve her for eternity or however long it takes him to atone. Whichever comes first.
"From a side door, a human-looking man with long dark hair and severe, angular features approaches carrying a tray. He sets it down at the table, glances briefly at Omyn, and then leaves without a word."
Now I just have to remember to drop in a painting or a coin or something that has a depiction of Strahd on it later on so the player can put together who that actually was.
I actually hinted at it earlier in the same conversation where The Raven Queen is describing what happened when she was finally able to get to Barovia.
The "other arrangements" are not just Strahd but also Ireena's spirit guardians consisting of her dad, brothers and now Qadira who didn't want to pass on yet so they can keep protecting her.