Curse of Strahd

Session 010 - Festival of the Blazing Sun

20 min read

Details

  • Confidence: sourced from GM Assistant data; contains a GM correction
  • Date: 2026-10-14
  • Previous: Session 009 - Burgomaster and Friends
  • GM Assistant title: ‘S10 Festival of the Blazing Sun’
  • Source: exports/curse-of-strahd/sessions/010_2026-10-14_s10-festival-of-the-blazing-sun.json

GM correction (2026-10-19): Lars was freed by Kaelis Astorath using Mage Hand to work a dagger through his ropes. The recap text below credits Lucien’s thrown dagger; per the GM that is an error. Confirmed by the GM (2026-10-19).

Summary

During the gloomy Festival of the Blazing Sun in Vallaki, the Burgomaster’s attempt to burn a giant wicker sun was snuffed out by a sudden downpour. When the town guard Lars laughed at the failure, the Burgomaster had him bound and dragged behind a horse out of spite. Leoberos protested the injustice while agitators stirred the crowd against the Baron, and Kaelis tried and failed to pick one agitator’s pocket. Lucien severed Lars’s ropes with a thrown dagger, which the Burgomaster denounced as magic. The standoff ended when the bells of St. Andral’s Church rang out in alarm. Lars slipped away, and the party raced toward the smoke.

At the burning church, cultists had barred the doors with spears. The party dissolved the spears, fought off the cultists, and killed their fanatic leader, and Chrystandar led the trapped townsfolk out of the smoke. Father Lucian and Ireena were among them. Swarms of bats burst from the burning belfry, and Strahd appeared. He struck down Father Lucian and unleashed a fireball that dropped Lucien, Meathead, and Chrystandar and left Ireena at one hit point. Strahd then vanished. The party finished off the bats and revived their fallen with healing, and no one died. The church was badly damaged. Rumors said the Baron had been wounded in a riot and that Lady Wachter’s supporters had started it. The party concluded that Strahd had sent the cultists to drive people out of the consecrated ground. Father Lucian urged them to take Ireena to the Abbey of Saint Markovia in Krezk, so they smuggled her back to the inn and rested. At dawn they traveled west. They repaired a broken signpost at a crossroads and passed the turnoff to the Wizard of Wines winery, where they hoped to find the missing wine shipment. After several hours they reached the fortified village of Krezk, stronger and more capable for the trials of the road.

Recap

Morning came gray and heavy over Vallaki, and the party descended from their rooms at the Blue Water Inn to a hearty breakfast. The other guests were as dispirited as ever, and none of them seemed eager for the Festival of the Blazing Sun. It was a grand name for a celebration in a land of endless fog and cloud, where the sun was only assumed to be burning somewhere far away. Over breakfast a messenger arrived from Father Lucian at St. Andral’s Church. Ireena was safe, though she was more or less confined there. The priest added that she might eventually be better off at the Abbey, but for now she was fine.

Under threatening skies, a parade of unhappy children dressed as flowers trudged through the muddy streets. Behind them came a group of sorry-looking men and women carrying a wicker ball ten feet across. The Burgomaster and his smiling wife followed on horseback, and she held a sad bouquet of wilting flowers. The weary townsfolk watched from their stoops as the wicker sun was carried to the town square. There it was hoisted onto a wooden scaffold fifteen feet high, and the people took turns splashing it with oil. Before it could be lit, the sky tore open in a sudden downpour. The Burgomaster cried that all would be well and marched defiantly toward the ball with a sputtering torch. The rain snuffed it out the moment he thrust it at the wicker.

A single, large laugh rang out from the crowd. The Burgomaster turned his fiery gaze on the source, and the crowd gasped. It was Lars, a town guard the party had come to know over the past few days. The Burgomaster had him seized out of pure spite. His ankles and wrists were bound, and the ropes were tied off to be dragged behind the Burgomaster’s horse. Leoberos stepped in front of the guards and demanded to know what the man had done to deserve such treatment. He called it an injustice. The soldiers ignored him and carried on. From the crowd came muttering that the Baron was to blame for everything and did this to them all the time. Agitators were spread strategically through the crowd, stirring up the people against their ruler.

Kaelis slipped through the crowd and crept up behind one of the agitators, who was so absorbed in shouting at the Baron that he never heard her coming. She tried to pick his pocket, but he noticed and snapped at her to leave him alone. She apologized, claimed she had lost her way, and backed off. Meanwhile the Baron’s guards, Izek Strazni among them, drew their weapons and closed ranks around the Baron and his wife. The party was torn. The Baron’s intentions seemed good, but his decisions were consistently foolish. Evil was so common in this land that it was hard to say who was worse, the villain or the people who let him rule. Then Lucien, with a quick flick, sent a dagger flashing out through the air. The ropes around Lars were severed and he stopped being dragged. The Burgomaster raged that magic had been used. Leoberos strode up to him and told him the injustice must stop and that he should step aside and talk with them.

Before anything more could be said, the bells of St. Andral’s Church began to peal in a frantic clang. To the west a column of black smoke rose from the direction of the church. Lars scrambled to his feet and melted into the crowd before the Burgomaster could remember him. The party took only a moment to decide, and Leoberos jabbed a finger at the Baron and told him they were not finished with him. Kaelis called out that the church was on fire. They ran down the main road toward the smoke, with the bell still ringing behind them.

The church was wooden, damp from the endless Barovian weather, and flames were already licking at its front. A crowd of cultists ringed the building with torches, and the front doors had been barred from the outside. Spears were jammed through the handles so no one could escape. Chrystandar was quicker than anyone and flung a hissing orb of acid at the spears. They began to dissolve. Rissa loosed an arrow that struck a cultist through the eye, and he dropped where he stood. The cultists swung their scimitars at Mort and Leoberos, but the blows mostly glanced off armor or missed. Kaelis danced behind another cultist and cut him down. Mort called down a blessing of misfortune on several of the attackers, and Leoberos charged toward the fanatic who led them. The fanatic cast a spell meant to hold him fast. Leoberos laughed maniacally and shook it off.

Lucien bathed several enemies in a shimmering purple glow that made them impossible to hide from, then vanished and reappeared a little way off. Chrystandar stepped through the air to the church doors, wrenched them open and ran inside. The nave was thick with smoke and packed with townsfolk, who had been at an impromptu prayer service when the fire started. Father Lucian and Ireena were among them. Chrystandar shouted for everyone to stay low beneath the smoke and head for the exit. Ireena yelled back that the rear of the church was burning too. Outside, Rissa cut down another cultist, and Mort tolled a haunting bell that pierced the fanatic. Leoberos brought his greatsword down on one cultist and shattered him. A shimmering spectral dagger appeared and slashed at Leoberos, but it could not find a gap in his armor. Leoberos’s mastiff, Meathead, backed away from the melee to join Mort.

Then a roar of flame went up, and swarms of bats poured out of the burning belfry, four of them, and fell on the fighters. One swarm bit Meathead, who collapsed. Another harried Rissa, and one of them tripped and fell in midair, a thing never to be seen again in this universe. Father Lucian came staggering out of the smoke and fired a bolt of light at a cultist, but missed. Lucien called on his bardic gifts to steel Rissa, then vanished and reappeared elsewhere. Chrystandar swept a cone of fire across the swarms and burned several of them away. Mort steadied the fallen Meathead and struck at the bats with the sound of a tolling bell. Kaelis finally cut down the cult fanatic with a swift, vicious strike. The spectral dagger faded the instant its master died. Townspeople kept streaming out of the church while the party held the line.

Then a tall figure appeared to the southeast and watched the chaos with cold, still eyes. Kaelis loosed an arrow at him that barely scratched him. Father Lucian shouted, “It’s the devil, Strahd!” Leoberos called on holy power and struck at him with blazing radiance, hoping to keep the vampire from healing. “Our meeting is long overdue,” Strahd said. He struck Father Lucian down with a single blow. Then he hurled a fireball that engulfed the area. Lucien and Meathead fell senseless, Ireena was left clinging to life at one hit point, and Chrystandar collapsed too. Strahd vanished, turning invisible and retreating. The party still had the bats to fight, and Rissa and Mort finished them off while Chrystandar lay stabilized on the ground. Father Lucian rose with a muttered healing and gave the departed vampire an obscene gesture. The party forced a potion of healing between Ireena’s lips and she recovered. Lucien was lifted from the brink of death with a powerful healing spell, and no one else was lost.

With the fire still raging, people began to work on putting it out, and the church was badly damaged. Father Lucian told the party that Ireena could not stay there and must be taken to the Abbey of Saint Markovia in Krezk, to the west. The party noted that the Wizard of Wines winery lay on the way, and they might find the missing wine shipment there. They smuggled Ireena back to the Blue Water Inn. Rumors were flying through the town. The riot at the square had been put down by the guards, but the Baron had been seriously wounded. People said Lady Wachter’s supporters had started it, in an attempt to seize control. The party reasoned that Strahd had sent the cultists to burn the consecrated church and drive the congregation out, since he could not enter it himself, though he had pressed his attack no further. They ate in their rooms and took a long rest. Father Lucian wished them luck and warned that they would need it.

At dawn they set out west along the road. At a four-way crossroads they found a broken signpost and fitted its two halves back together. Krezk and Salinka Pass lay to the southwest, Lake Baratok to the northwest, Vallaki and Ravenloft to the northeast, and Berez to the southeast. They took the southwest branch. A second crossroads had a weather-worn sign pointing the way to the Wizard of Wines, Krezk to the west, and Vallaki to the east, with an arching stone bridge visible through the trees. They kept on toward Krezk. After several more hours they reached the fortified village, and by the time they walked through its gate, the trials of the road had left each of them stronger and more capable than before.

Scenes

1. Morning at the Blue Water Inn

The party wakes up at the Blue Water Inn and prepares for the day’s festivities in Vallaki.

  • The party enjoys a hearty breakfast at the inn while observing the depressed mood of the townspeople.
  • A messenger from Father Lucian at St. Andral’s Church confirms that Ireena is safe but confined, suggesting she might eventually need to be moved to the Abbey.

2. The Festival of the Blazing Sun

The party attends the town’s mandatory festival, which quickly descends into chaos and political unrest.

  • A parade of unhappy children dressed as flowers and adults carrying a massive wicker ball marches through the muddy streets.
  • The Burgomaster and his wife lead the procession on horseback to the town square, where the wicker ball is hoisted onto a scaffold and doused in oil.
  • A sudden rainstorm begins just as the Burgomaster attempts to light the wicker sun, extinguishing his torch before it can ignite the sphere.
  • A town guard named Lars laughs at the failure, prompting the Burgomaster to order his arrest for spite.
  • Lars is bound and prepared to be dragged behind the Burgomaster’s horse as punishment.
  • Leoberos confronts the Burgomaster, demanding an end to the injustice.
  • Kaelis surreptitiously uses magic to cut the ropes binding Lars, allowing the guard to escape into the crowd.
  • Agitators within the crowd begin inciting the townspeople against the Baron’s rule, appearing strategically placed throughout the crowd.
  • The bells of St. Andral’s Church begin ringing frantically as black smoke rises from the direction of the church.
  • The party abandons the confrontation with the Burgomaster to rush toward the burning church.

3. The Burning of St. Andral’s Church — First Wave

The party arrives at St. Andral’s Church to find it besieged by cultists with torches attempting to burn it down.

  • The party approaches the church and observes a group of cultists with torches surrounding the building.
  • The front doors of the church have been barred from the outside with spears jammed through the handles to trap those within.
  • Flames begin to consume the front section of the wooden structure.
  • Chrystandar launches an acidic orb at the spears barring the church doors, dissolving them.
  • Rissa opens fire with her longbow, striking a cultist through the eye and killing them instantly.
  • Cultists retaliate, swinging scimitars at Mort and Leoberos, though most strikes miss or are deflected by armor.
  • Kaelis moves through the chaos with fancy footwork, striking down another cultist.
  • Mort attempts to weaken the attackers by invoking a divine bane upon several of them.
  • Leoberos charges into the fray, drawing attacks of opportunity as he maneuvers toward a fanatical leader among the cultists.

4. The Siege of St. Andral’s Church — Evacuation and Escalation

The party fights to hold back the cultists while Chrystandar enters the burning church to evacuate the congregation.

  • Leoberos confronts the cult fanatic who attempts to magically paralyze him, but he resists the spell with a maniacal laugh.
  • Lucien casts a shimmering field of light over several enemies, making them easier to strike, before magically vanishing and reappearing a short distance away.
  • Chrystandar uses a magical step to bypass the front lines and reaches the heavy church doors, pulling them open.
  • Inside the church, Chrystandar begins coordinating the evacuation, urging the panicked townsfolk to stay low beneath the smoke and move toward the exit.
  • Ireena calls out to Chrystandar, warning him that the back of the church is also ablaze.
  • Rissa delivers a lethal blow to a cultist while Kaelis maneuvers through the chaos to cut down another foe.
  • Mort calls upon necrotic energy to strike at the cult fanatic.
  • Leoberos shatters a cultist with a powerful swing of his greatsword.
  • A mysterious spiritual dagger appears and attacks Leoberos, though it fails to find a gap in his armor.
  • Meathead disengages from the melee to regroup with Mort as the party continues to thin the ranks of the attackers.

5. The Church Siege Intensifies — Bats and the Fanatic’s Fall

The battle outside the church grows more chaotic as swarms of bats descend on the party and Kaelis slays the cultist leader.

  • A sudden explosion occurs near the church, followed by the arrival of four swarms of bats that descend upon the combatants.
  • One swarm of bats attacks Meathead, Leoberos’s mastiff, causing the loyal hound to collapse.
  • Rissa and Kaelis engage the remaining cultists and the encroaching bat swarms near the church entrance.
  • Lucien uses his bardic magic to inspire Rissa and then teleports away, turning invisible in the process.
  • Chrystandar unleashes a cone of fire, incinerating several swarms of bats that were harassing the party.
  • Rissa engages a swarm of bats with a combination of her short sword and scimitar, utilizing her agility to disengage from the fray.
  • Father Lucian attempts to blast a cultist with a bolt of divine light but misses in the close-quarters chaos.
  • Mort uses his divine powers to stabilize the fallen Meathead and strikes at the bat swarms with necrotic energy.
  • Kaelis successfully eliminates the cult fanatic, causing the spectral dagger to dissipate as the caster’s concentration breaks.
  • Townspeople continue to stream out of the burning building as the party holds the line.

6. The Devil Arrives — Strahd von Zarovich

As the party battles the remaining bat swarms, the dread lord Strahd von Zarovich makes a chilling appearance and unleashes devastating power.

  • Strahd von Zarovich appears to the southeast, observing the chaos with a cold, imposing aura.
  • Kaelis strikes Strahd with a well-placed blow, though the vampire lord appears only slightly scratched.
  • Father Lucian identifies the newcomer as ‘the devil, Strahd’ as the party struggles against persistent swarms of bats.
  • Leoberos channels divine energy into a powerful smite against Strahd, dealing radiant damage to hinder the vampire’s regeneration.
  • Strahd taunts the party, stating their meeting is long overdue, before striking Father Lucian down with a single devastating blow.
  • Strahd unleashes a massive fireball that engulfs the area, knocking Lucien and Meathead unconscious and leaving Ireena near death.
  • Strahd turns invisible and vanishes from the battlefield after his display of power.
  • Chrystandar and Rissa continue to fight off the remaining bat swarms while the others recover.
  • Father Lucian miraculously recovers and defiantly gestures at the departed vampire.
  • Mort and Lucien work to stabilize the fallen and heal the wounded as the immediate threat of the bats is neutralized.

7. Aftermath at St. Andral’s and Planning the Next Move

The party recovers from the battle at the church and decides on their next course of action regarding Ireena’s safety.

  • Father Lucian advises the party that the church is no longer safe for Ireena and urges them to take her to the Abbey of Saint Markovia in Krezk.
  • The party sneaks Ireena back to the Blue Water Inn to hide her from further attacks.
  • Rumors circulate that the Baron was severely wounded during a riot incited by Lady Wachter’s supporters in the town square.
  • The party deduces that Strahd sent the cultists to drive the congregation out of the consecrated church, since he himself could not enter.
  • The party takes a long rest at the inn to recover from their wounds and prepare for the journey west.
  • The group studies the map of Barovia, identifying Krezk to the west as their next destination and noting that the Wizard of Wines winery lies along the way.

8. The Road to Krezk and Arrival

The party travels through the Barovian wilderness, navigating crossroads and following the path toward the fortified village of Krezk.

  • The party sets out heading west after breakfast, traveling along the road through the dismal Barovian landscape.
  • They encounter a snapped wooden signpost at a four-way intersection and piece the broken halves together to read the directions: Krezk and Salinka Pass to the southwest, Lake Baratok to the northwest, Vallaki and Ravenloft to the northeast, and Berez to the southeast.
  • The party takes the southwest branch toward Krezk.
  • They pass a second intersection with a weather-worn signpost pointing toward the Wizard of Wines to the southwest and Krezk to the west, with an arching stone bridge visible through the trees.
  • After several hours of travel, the party arrives at the fortified village of Krezk and experiences a surge of newfound strength and capability, each member growing more powerful.

Memorable Moments

  • [funny] “Sun, no shine. Electricity, no make.” (Kaelis; Kaelis nearly breaks character to summarize the solar panel customer story in the most blunt terms possible, stopping himself just short of saying it out loud.)
  • [funny] The Festival of the Blazing Sun is held in perpetually foggy, sunless Barovia — the party immediately notes the irony of celebrating a sun that never shines on them. (The group reacts with dry humor upon learning the festival name, joking that Barovians assume the sun is burning somewhere, just not here.)
  • [dramatic] “It’s the devil, Strahd.” (Father Lucian; Father Lucian identifies the imposing figure who has appeared at the burning church, confirming the party’s worst fears about who they are facing.)
  • [dramatic] “Our meeting is long overdue.” (Strahd von Zarovich; Strahd addresses the party coldly before striking Father Lucian down and unleashing a fireball, making his terrifying power unmistakably clear.)
  • [epic] Kaelis slays the cult fanatic with a devastating sneak attack, causing the spectral dagger the fanatic had summoned to instantly dissipate. (After a chaotic battle against cultists and bat swarms, Kaelis lands the killing blow on the fanatic leader, earning the party’s enthusiastic approval.)
  • [tragic] Strahd unleashes a fireball that engulfs the party, knocking Lucien and Meathead unconscious and leaving Ireena at death’s door. (Just as the party seemed to be gaining the upper hand, Strahd demonstrates his overwhelming power with a single devastating spell before vanishing into the night.)
  • [funny] A swarm of bats trips and falls during the battle, which the DM notes is something that will never be seen again in this universe. (In the midst of a deadly siege, one swarm of bats manages to fumble its attack so badly it effectively defeats itself, providing a moment of absurd comic relief.)

Session log

From the GM Assistant session lists. GMA doesn’t distinguish visited/met/found from mentioned, so these lists can include things only talked about.

Present in this session

Quests & Threads touched

Also noted (no wiki page)

  • Spells & abilities used: Bane, Bardic Inspiration, Burning Hands, Chill Touch, Chromatic Orb, Cure Wounds, Dissonant Whispers, Faerie Fire, Fireball, Guiding Bolt, Inner Radiance, Inspired Eclipse, Mage Hand, Misty Step, Sacred Flame, Shield, Spare the Dying, Spiritual Weapon, Toll the Dead

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