Curse of Strahd: sneaking into the castle? (Also, the castle in general; spoilers)

[Grod_The_Giant]

My party is reaching the end of Curse of Strahd. They've recovered 2/3 artifacts and all 3 of the Wizard of Wines' lost gemstones. The problem is, both Arganvost's skull and the Sunsword are in the crypts of Castle Ravenloft, deep into the final dungeon. I'm having trouble making heads or tails of the maps, but... is there a sneaky way into the crypt by RAW? Should I invent one? Pull the crypts out as a mostly-separate dungeon?

Also, on a more general note, any advice for running a dungeon as huge and complcated as Castle Ravenloft?

[ProsecutorGodot]

My party is reaching the end of Curse of Strahd. They've recovered 2/3 artifacts and all 3 of the Wizard of Wines' lost gemstones. The problem is, both Arganvost's skull and the Sunsword are in the crypts of Castle Ravenloft, deep into the final dungeon. I'm having trouble making heads or tails of the maps, but... is there a sneaky way into the crypt by RAW? Should I invent one? Pull the crypts out as a mostly-separate dungeon?

Also, on a more general note, any advice for running a dungeon as huge and complcated as Castle Ravenloft?

Through a ridiculous amount of luck on my players part, their Tarokka reading had all of their artifacts appear localized around Vallaki. They never even had to go near Krezk. I bring this up because being in Castle Ravenloft without the Sunsword could prove difficult for the party, although having at least the other 2 artifacts is a nice bonus for them.

As for secret entrances there is one.
With a passive wisdom score of 15 or higher, a character can peer over the balcony along the walls of Castle Ravenloft and spot a stone construction jutting out of the mountainside, sporting dirty opaque windows. The only way down is to climb, however, if you do climb down successfully you can easily clear the windows to reveal a dusty tomb. This is actually the tomb of the King and Queen, Strahd's parents. The windows can be smashed easily and entry can be gained this way.

Falling during your climb is certain death, between 900-1000 feet depending on where you fall.

As for whether this is sneaky, it's up to you to decide how paranoid Strahd is about this sort of entry. I would imagine he would be incredibly paranoid of the players at the point of the campaign you're at. If you've played him crafty up to this point, there's no reason for him to not be actively watching them via scrying.

Again to offshoot with how limited my scope was on how truly difficult the adventure is supposed to be, by the time my players reached Castle Ravenloft it was more akin to storming the castle and less about making it to Strahd in enough collective pieces to put up a fight.

I would recommend being very particular about random encounters. Some of the encounters make no sense for where they might be found (my party encountered a group of Vistani Thugs inside of Strahd's incredibly secret treasure vault) and if your players are careful enough to avoid most of the traps they might not run into enough trouble for Strahd to put up enough of a fight.

I know he's been big and scary for most of the campaign, but I can't help but feel that he's a huge pushover if the players make it to him in relatively good shape. Make the castle grind them up a bit before fighting them. Alternatively, if they reach Strahd in well enough condition, let them show him just how big a mistake it was to trap them here in Barovia.

[Laserlight]

We made two forays into the castle; on the first, we broke Strahd's heart (so to speak) and recruited a guide. On the second, we used Sending to coordinate with the guide, and he met us where we'd arranged and took us straight to the crypt. We had two fights and a SR before we met Strahd, and with the right spells, he was easy. Fangboy focused on me (see my sig for why) and even with AC21 I took a beating, but nobody else took significant damage at all.

I'm pretty sure our DM played that fight straight, but for the campaign as a whole, it was "horror" but not difficult. Nobody died, and only once was anyone close to dying unless they did something tactically inept.

[willdaBEAST]

ProsecutorGodot's spoiler is the only sneaky entrance I can think of from the book. But as mentioned, unless the party has dealt with Strahd's scrying, he'll be aware of their movements.

Some alternatives are you could have the Mad Mage or Victor from Vallaki make a teleportation circle that transports the party into some part of the castle.

My approach was to have the castle wide open, even when the party assembled their allies to storm the castle. Strahd wanted easy access to the castle, leaving alive was the challenge.

[Damon_Tor]

My party figured out early on that the sunsword was in the castle. And the way the adventure played out Strahs's attention was entirely focused on one character in particular, a conquest paladin who was not at all subtle about his intention to seize Strahd's throne, and he had been doing things like making big sweeping speeches in the town to rally them to his claim. So Strahd's attention was drawn early, but only to one party member. The dinner invitation arrived early, and it was addressed specifically to the paladin and "his guests".

The party decided the dinner invitation was a perfect opportunity to sneak into the castle and retrieve the sword, so while the paladin and other not-so-subtle party members kept Strahd busy at dinner, the rogue and warlock snuck in invisibly alongside them and went off to look for the sunsword. They got it, but stealing from him while under the banner of hospitality pissed Strahd off, and his civilized pretenses went out the window.

[Grod_The_Giant]

As for secret entrances there is one.
[SPOILER=Curse of Strahd Spoilers]With a passive wisdom score of 15 or higher, a character can peer over the balcony along the walls of Castle Ravenloft and spot a stone construction jutting out of the mountainside, sporting dirty opaque windows. The only way down is to climb, however, if you do climb down successfully you can easily clear the windows to reveal a dusty tomb. This is actually the tomb of the King and Queen, Strahd's parents. The windows can be smashed easily and entry can be gained this way.
Ahah. That's good to know, thanks.

As for whether this is sneaky, it's up to you to decide how paranoid Strahd is about this sort of entry. I would imagine he would be incredibly paranoid of the players at the point of the campaign you're at. If you've played him crafty up to this point, there's no reason for him to not be actively watching them via scrying.


I know he's been big and scary for most of the campaign, but I can't help but feel that he's a huge pushover if the players make it to him in relatively good shape. Make the castle grind them up a bit before fighting them. Alternatively, if they reach Strahd in well enough condition, let them show him just how big a mistake it was to trap them here in Barovia.
Yeah, I'm a bit concerned. Even with the Heart, if he gets caught in true sunlight from the Symbol or Sword, he's probably toast in a round.


I'm pretty sure our DM played that fight straight, but for the campaign as a whole, it was "horror" but not difficult. Nobody died, and only once was anyone close to dying unless they did something tactically inept.
Heheheh. Yeeeahhh... my players have nearly died friggin everywhere. They're a wee bit more cautious :smalltongue:


ProsecutorGodot's spoiler is the only sneaky entrance I can think of from the book. But as mentioned, unless the party has dealt with Strahd's scrying, he'll be aware of their movements.

Some alternatives are you could have the Mad Mage or Victor from Vallaki make a teleportation circle that transports the party into some part of the castle.

My approach was to have the castle wide open, even when the party assembled their allies to storm the castle. Strahd wanted easy access to the castle, leaving alive was the challenge.
The Mad Mage is a good idea. I almost forgot about him; the party found some clues about him earlier but were sure there was no way it was actually Mordenkainen. That would be a fun way. Any suggestions for where in the castle to drop them?


My party figured out early on that the sunsword was in the castle. And the way the adventure played out Strahs's attention was entirely focused on one character in particular, a conquest paladin who was not at all subtle about his intention to seize Strahd's throne, and he had been doing things like making big sweeping speeches in the town to rally them to his claim. So Strahd's attention was drawn early, but only to one party member. The dinner invitation arrived early, and it was addressed specifically to the paladin and "his guests".

The party decided the dinner invitation was a perfect opportunity to sneak into the castle and retrieve the sword, so while the paladin and other not-so-subtle party members kept Strahd busy at dinner, the rogue and warlock snuck in invisibly alongside them and went off to look for the sunsword. They got it, but stealing from him while under the banner of hospitality pissed Strahd off, and his civilized pretenses went out the window.
My guys got the invitation too, but that was before they found the Symbol and the Tome and killed the Baba Lysaga. Strahd's past the point of just messing with them now.

[NRSASD]

We're coming up on it pretty fast in my campaign, but it's good to hear how other DMs have handled it. No advice I can render at this point, besides a fly spell from the Mad Mage might be another great way to enter the castle. Be careful though, there are vampires on the roof and his armor on the parapets.

@Laserlight: I have to hear how you seduced Ireena. That sounds hysterical!

@Grod: How did Baba Lysaga's fight go?

[Grod_The_Giant]

@Grod: How did Baba Lysaga's fight go?
Brutally.

The Monk and Rogue were scouting the town while the Fighter and Cleric waited on the other side of the river. They found Baba and tried to sneak up on her while she was still in her hut, but she made her Perception check and opened fire. Nearly killed them both before the others could arrive. Most of the melee types scrambled into the hut--first to kill her, then to figure out how to stop it-- but the Cleric was still on the ground when the hut's turn came around again. Three root attacks later, she was down with two death save failures and her turn coming up again before anyone could reach her. The Rogue yanked the gem out using Mage Hand and stopped the hut, too late.

[Ganymede]

One way to get straight to the catacombs...

If you have access to flight of some sort, you can fly to the top of the south tower, drop down the hole in the roof, climb down a 400' shaft, and you're there!

You could also break a hole through the chapel windows then take the south staircase down to the catacombs.