Expedition to castle Ravenloft the invasion

[Macbubble]

Hello there members of the giantitp forum after a long time of being a vivid reader, I immediately knew I could come here in hope for help with my problem.

For the past 7 months I have been DMing for my group of friends, we have already completed a couple of adventures, but after a TPK in the last part of Cromyr tearing of the weave. we have decided to start anew and switched to The expedition to castle Ravenloft using the PF rules

Up until now the adventure has been going great with few deaths, ( half of them have been from the circle of death scroll at the church, and half from sheer stupidity.) and we are almost at the middle of the adventure. But after seeing how much they enjoyed the weirder things in the advenutre. (Like the throne room being built in such a way that most of the floors fell down to a pool of acid when stepped on ,and being teleported into a maze where everyone one of them was a random monster in a battle royal to the death.) I have decided to take the witches trying to summon the demon lord aspect to the world to the next level and make it a full scale invasion from another plain and here is where my problem starts

The players are currently in the 9 day of their expedition to the valley of Barovia, ( i used the Fearun setting hook where they are recruited by a priest who later became a PC to find artifacts of the morning lord) and I told them that every 5 days that pass something bad is going to happen. So for the 10th day I plan on them meeting Strahd's general who is actually Ashlyn the paladin from the city whom they killed in the maze trapm and just left in the dinner room for my pleasure. I am going to give her the Graveknight template from the Bestiary 3m and make is so she is now a Anti Paladin who is looking for revenge, she will probably die but she will be rebuilt in time for the invasion. And on the 15th day the the invasion will begin.

Now my problems are:
1) I only have a slight idea about how to run the invasion mostly cause the players are only level 7.
2) I need help finding a soundtrack which I can play on the 15th day when they hear the gate opening, so I can scare the crap out of them and the session with.

What I need from you guys on the forum is advice on playing the invasion, of course I would also appreciate any review you can give on what has happened up until now

Useful information:

The party actually befriend Strahd and are staying in his castle every night, in my setting Strahd is an epic wizard and they probably wont fight him unless they are really stupid. He has Ireena but the players don't know it yet, and a zombie dragon whom the players killed earlier. Strahd is cursed and cant leave his castle without dying, and has an alliance with the werewolf

The party is made of the following
Elf Bladebound Magus
Elf Ranger (almost never rolls below 15)
Gnome Druid
Warfogred Fighter
Asimar Cleric
Human Master Summoner Summoner
Half Elf rogue/Spymaster CE and will transform into a werewolf at the night of the invasion
Human Paladin npc
Drow Fighter npc
The party is mostly neutral expect the rogue who is evil ,and are all close to level 7 they will hit level 7 before the 15th ,and will be level 8 if they survive.

Hoping to get help soon

Macbubble

[SleepyShadow]

1) I only have a slight idea about how to run the invasion mostly cause the players are only level 7.

Use dretches. Hordes and hordes of them. The players will have an easy time mowing through the little buggers ... until they realize there is no end to them.

Alternatively, springboard into The Red Hand of Doom adventure. Have the witches open a portal to allow the Red Hand to flood into the plane. Replace a couple of the town names with towns in Barovia and you'll be set.

2) I need help finding a soundtrack which I can play on the 15th day when they hear the gate opening, so I can scare the crap out of them and the session with.

Anything by Midnight Syndicate will work wonders for you.

[Macbubble]

@ SleepyShadow

In regard to the first problem I would look into the dretches, but I don't think Iwould use the Redhand cause I don't want the invasion to be the size of a small adventure. Just some nice thing for a session or two (10-15 hours).

In regard to the soundtrack I have checked the midnight syndicate music ,and while I have been using it for mood music while we play. I am actually looking for a short part more like,

Me: and then you hear the *play screams of hell when the portal opens* end session.

[SleepyShadow]

If that is what you are looking for, try this, this, or this.

Hope one of those helps.

[Macbubble]

@ SleepyShadow

Thanks for your help ,I will probably use the first one.

Still welcoming more options for the invasion.

[wizuriel]

If you haven't read Silverclaws campaign logs (the first tale) her DM ran what seemed like a pretty epic kython invasion.

In a nut shell have the PC's learn that the demons are planning to attack x town or the castle itself. the demons have already cut off the roads leading out so they need to turn their attention to how to defend the town and best prepare the villagers.