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Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Dice, Camera, Action: Episode 22 - Curse of Strahd


Title: Dead Meat

You can watch this episode here.

I made an episode guide for Dice, Camera, Action right here. It's got everything you need to know about this show to follow along. I also marked off which episodes I think are the best.

There is a Dice, Camera, Action section on reddit.

Ezmerelda: I forgot what had happened with Ezmerelda. A few episodes back, Strahd bit her and she uttered a vistani curse. Both of them vanished into mist. It looks like she is now a vampire. I wonder what the curse was?

The Party

(Anna) Evelyn - Human Paladin of Lathander
(Nathan) Paultin - Human Bard 
(ProJared) Diath - Human Rogue
(Holly) Strix - Tiefling Sorcerer
(Mark) Ezmerelda - Vistani NPC

Last Time: Paultin tried to escape Castle Ravenloft but it looks like Ezmerelda stopped him. The rest of the group is trapped in the Amber Temple. They obtained the Tome of Strahd. Evelyn was cured of her lycanthropy.


Hey... we start off with a little animated intro! It looks like a shelf with Blinsky toys. There's a little Diath hanging from a noose....and there's an Evelyn werewolf with an axe! It ends with the Strahd doll popping out of a coffin. Fantastic.

Then we get a title. Wow. Now we're getting somewhere!

In the Amber Temple, a bunch of vampire spawn are coming at the group.

Over at Castle Ravenloft, Paultin fell and took 17 damage.

The group stops Chris and demands to know why Chris lets the Acquisitions Inc group ride dragons while Evelyn can't even keep her horse alive. They think Chris loves the Acquisitions Inc group more than his "real kids."

Paultin tries to wake up Falkon, but he is 100% dead. Ezmerelda is on a battlement 90 feet above him. Paultin gives her the finger.

Ezmerelda walks down the wall. Jared is wondering if we're about to have some PvP. Paultin casts suggestion on her, which actually breaks Strahd's control over her.

In the Amber Temple, the group rolls initiative. Every character rolls a natural one. I don't think I have ever seen that before. Then Chris rolls for the lich - natural 1!

Wowww. The first vampire attacks. Natural 20! Freakish!

The vampires grab and bite the heroes. Strix uses misty step to teleport up to a ledge. The lich uses a measly cantrip and the group is mildly outraged.

Ezmerelda

Back at Castle Ravenloft, Paultin and Ezmerelda creep into the castle and make their way to that room with the colored stones that can teleport them. Chris kind of hinted that Paultin should go there. Paultin actually tried to leave via the drawbridge but that was not happening.

The vampires are sucking the life out of the group. Diath uncanny dodges with his veins.

In the Castle, Paultin and Ezmerelda are trying to decipher the riddle to figure out the locations they can go to. Here comes Ass Smear! Interestingly, Ezmerelda knows that Ass Smear is actually named Rahadin. He lied to the group about his identity. Chris accidentally called him Rahadin on about 3 different episodes, but the group never seemed to pick up on it.

In the temple, Strix is dropped to 0 hit points. Wow, the vampire attacks again on unconscious Strix. That's beyond alarming. The vampire drops her off the ledge. Diath catches her.

Back in the Castle, Nate is taking forever to make decisions again. He eventually decides to go through a portal to the Amber Temple. Ezmerelda tries to hold Rahadin off. Ezmerelda uses a red stone to open a portal to a different place.

Anna is being really funny. She's going off on the vampires, scolding them like a mother.

The vampires run. The heroes go to heal Strix. She's DEAD. DEAD! That's where we stop.

Ohhh boy. If you read the vestige spoiler thing in my review of episode 21, there is a way to bring her back to life. Or who knows, maybe she will rise up as a vampire.

Holly says she actually has three other characters ready to go. Awesome. I wonder if they are also Planescape-related?

The group will be doing a live stream at TwitchCon in 3 weeks. Chris says he has a vampire costume ready to go, and there might be a special guest, too. It sounds like the whole group is going to wear costumes. Holly is going to make them. She is amazingly talented. I watched her make that Strahd doll. She did it in half an hour and it is incredible - beyond professional quality.

Overall

Good show! Everyone was really pumped up today. I think they're all still buzzed from the Acquisitions, Inc. show. It almost doesn't matter what this group does in the game, they are just plain fun to watch. The group chemistry grows every week. These are the good times and what is really nice is that I think we may be in this zone for a very long while.

It must have been really cool for them to watch Chris run the Acquisitions, Inc. game. I actually like this group more than that one and I think that given enough time, this show can be a really big thing. I do wonder if the fact that they are connected remotely hurts it in some way. I will definitely enjoy seeing them all sit at a table together. Maybe they could tape some shows like they did with Force Grey and Acquisitions Inc?

I am definitely glad Paultin is back with the other heroes. Let's never split him from the group again.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ezmerelda's curse on Strahd was to make him vulnerable to piercing. What we don't know is whether Strahd made his save.

Anonymous said...

I really really hope Ez survives the fight against rahadin... D:
Anther note, did we ever find out what was up with Paultin's shadow? moved on its own in the tavern once in the earlier episode, and moved again the brazier room when emil was there...
really like how well the whole group gets along.. can't wait for the whole wafflecrew to reunite again (please including strix...)

Anonymous said...

I interpreted Paultin's shadow moving as general Barovia weirdness. Not sure it had any greater significance.

Anonymous said...

I dont know.. this is Chris Perkins we are talking about here... Remember the time when Perkins foreshadowed Diath's death? what if this is another foreshadowing? or a reveal or something?

Or maybe I'm reading into it too much haha

Sean said...

Anonymous: Vulnerable to piercing! I forgot. Thanks!

Anonymous: I bet Ezmerelda will survive. She's Paultin's tarokka card, I'd imagine she has a major role to play one way or the other. The shadows I think are one of the "Marks of Horror" from page 7 of the Curse of Strahd book. Creepy effects. It might have to do with Paultin's mysterious origin. Van Richten killed his parents - they might have been monsters of some kind.

Anonymous: Could be! I like the whole shadow thing and I hope Chris keeps doing it.

Anonymous: This episode was titled "Dead Meat" before it even started. I think Chris was planning on killing a PC and if it didn't happen, he could say that Falkon was the aforementioned "Dead Meat." I am guessing he really wants someone to bargain with a vestige. Sykane the Soul Hungerer gives you the power to raise dead three times. One of the heroes might have to make that deal to bring Strix back. What would be really interesting is if Paultin and Diath also died at the start of next episode. Then Evelyn would have to make the pact to bring them all back to life.