Creature Feature | Meet-cute at the masquerade
"Strixhaven: Curriculum of Chaos" Art by Caroline Gariba
Introduction
“Dear Adventurer’s Guild: We hear you help everyone, large and small, if the price is right…”
Nyx the Bat is in love. For the past few months, she’s been spending her nights under the stars with someone dark, handsome, and very good at catching bugs. The problem? Her mystery man seems to be a vampire lord only interesting in staying friends. Probably. Nyx hasn’t actually asked him out yet.
Elsandar, a warlock and Nyx’s best friend, has had enough of Nyx dragging her wings. He writes to you, the Adventurer’s Guild, with a plan: For twelve hours, his patron has agreed to give him enough power to cast True Polymorph. And it just so happens the vampire lord is throwing an unholy masquerade! Tonight!
This messed-up, goth fairy godfather needs your help to protect himself and his bestie from how poorly this is likely to go. Anything for friends, right?
Quest Beats
Group meets Elsandar in a cemetery, with Nyx. El explains the situation
Party at the spooky mansion!
Players have the opportunity to interact with the party, and meet some of the characters
Half-way through the party, El loses track of Nyx. It seems she’s been snatched!
Depending on where the party is in the timing of things, they can explore the mansion lookin for Nyx (with the help of some of the characters)
They discover she’s being held hostage in the hedge maze by the vampire hunter
They have to defeat the vampire hunter/help him defeat the vampires
The Ultimate Wingman
In the older part of Emrys, you’ve been summoned to a cemetery that seems to be mostly abandoned. The gravestones sit moldering like mushrooms, thin and flimsy, leaning forward or backward with age, their inscriptions barely legible.
Among the stones is a thin half-elf with an ill-advised goatee, seemingly talking to himself. He sees you all picking your way over the overgrown weeds and brambles, “Oh! Here! Unless, you’re here to rob me! In which case I must advise you to mind your manners, I’m not your average rube.”
Elsandar shares the following information:
His patron, the Cold Lord, has given him access to True Polymorph for one night and one night only
He wants to use this on Nyx, and turn her into a human, so she can ask Alphonse out.
Nyx feels like he only sees her as a friend because she’s a bat, and not a human.
True Polymorph only lasts for one hour, so the plan is to sneak into the party with Nyx as a bat and then transform once they’re in the mansion. His patron has also provided an invitation and gown for Nyx.
When asked why his patron might be so generous, Elsandar believes its because his service is so valuable.
The vampire lord has invited a lot of the undead and darker spirits to the ball. Elsandar doesn’t want to start any fights, but he also doesn’t want to get yoinked by a succubus either.
The plan is to get in, transform Nyx, have Nyx dance with the lord, get out.
If they all make it out unscathed, he’s happy to pay 200 GP to the party.
Once Upon a Midnight Darkly
The mansion is exactly the mansion you’d imagine an unholy masquerade ball to be held in. It has battlements. It has eaves. It has gables and buttresses. Most importantly, it is dark, but for a dull red glow in the first floor windows, where you can already see shadows dancing against the glass.
How do they get inside? They can sneak in, or, they might have dressed up for the party. When I ran this, my players had a big box of old costumes, and they rolled to see how fancy Nyx was in her dress — Nat 1 for an ugly dress, nat 20 is Dior, etc.
This is a masquerade episode! Be sure to ham up how fancy everyone is.
Inside, beautiful creatures in beautiful masks are dancing together. Glittering streamers are thrown over the rafters, a huge pile of presents crowd on top of a walnut table, enchanted instruments play, and a towering red and gold cake, set just off to the side, as the numbers “150” on top. A huge, richly-embroidered banner hangs on the wall over the usual paintings, reading, “Happy Birthday Alphonse.”
Beside you, Nyx sucks in a breath. “It’s his birthday. I can’t believe we came to his party and didn’t even bring a present.”
It is now up to the players to encourage Nyx (stats represented by a flat d20 roll) to charm the vampire lord. Players are encouraged to do antics and play off of guests to achieve their goals.
Illustrious Guests
Roll | NPC | Quick Notes | Information!!! |
|---|---|---|---|
1 | Covax | Were-raven bestie to Alphonse | Alphonse has been sneaking out of the castle to meet someone, acting super mopey when confronted about it |
2 | Alphonse | Vampire Lord of the manor, birthday boy | Says these parties are always used as chessboards by other powerful creatures of the night, and that he hates them. |
3 | Seraphine | Sexy gay vampire lesbian bestie to Alphonse | Alphonse has been sneaking out of the castle to meet someone, acting super mopey when confronted about it |
4 | Zezette | Incubus/Succubus. | Is there to help a warlock with his mission, though he doesn’t know of their presence. Further questioning will reveal that the patron is Baalzebul, rather than Mephistopheles. |
5 | Demgris | Vampire slayer who heard there would be a vampire here tonight | Is looking for someone with animalistic tendencies, someone who reeks of the night, warlock patron is Balzebul. Demgris will suspect Nyx of being the vampire. |
6 | Morgath | Witch | Warns that the devils are fighting each other and playing games with the lives of their supplicants. This is an allusion to Demgris and Elsandar doing a proxy war for their patrons. |
7 | Fiddleblack | Unearthly Jester from Shadowfell, nb drow. | Warns that the devils are fighting each other and playing games with the lives of their supplicants. |
8 | Mephistopheles/”Duke of Brimstone” | Elsandar’s patron, is helpful to the player, | whispers “right, right, left,” if they act right. This will give the players the directions to go immediately to the center of the maze. |
9 | Duke Lilitrath | Smarmy little fuck | Just there to have a good time |
Map Deets
Dais. On the dais, a tall, dark-eyed gentleman in a black mask is slouched in an ornate black wood throne. Another gentleman in a raven mask is leaning on the throne, whispering into the man’s ear.
Dance Floor. Figures swirl together in different dance steps, masks bent toward each other’s whispering without moving mouths, their voices just audible over the swish of pants and skirts. A figure eyes you, fresh potential partners, and tilts their head invitingly.
Band. A cello, two violins, a french horn, and harp play by themselves in a darkened corner. The songs are not sad, but they’re not happy, either. They range from jaunty, kind-of edgy, to melancholy, but each invite the listener to dance.
Balcony, leading out to the hedge maze. A chill wind comes from out of the night, from two huge double open doors that look over a misty garden with tall hedge walls.
Drinks. A tall, spindly creature with four arms is picking up frosted glasses and pouring different liquids into them, some that froth, some that glitter and fizz with tiny sparks. It’s an open bar.
Drink | Effect |
|---|---|
Dark blue, swirling mist in the liquid | Blueberry flavor. CON Save or choose to fail. For one hour, you believe you can see the future. |
Pink and glittery, with a fizz that stings. | The fizz stings all the way down. CON save or choose to fail. Gain the “minor illusion” cantrip for 5 minutes. |
Black, and it rumbles like thunder as you swirl it. | Tastes like popcorn. CON save or choose to fail. Gain the “deafened” status for one hour, but you gain an extra point in WIS for one hour. |
Halfway through the adventure, Nyx gets snatched. The adventurers must find Nyx before something awful happens, or if they want to get paid!
Through the Maze
The hedge maze stretches into the night, perhaps a hundred yards, with tall, badly kept hedges towering over the narrow paths. The hedges are decorated with fearie lights, bells, and small, handheld mirrors that reflect the light. As you can see it, it seems there is only one way in.
I encourage the DM to use theater of the mind, rather than a physical map here. If players need a challenge, start a four-part clock, with each roll and event counting as an "action."
Roll | Event |
|---|---|
1 | Shambling Mound! |
2 | A long line of statues carved of pale marble watch over the path forward. As the player moves past them, their heads turn to regard the player. |
3 | Flowers that poison/enlighten. Players must succeed on a CON saving throw (13) or roll a 1d100 on the Wildmagic table. |
4 | Maze shifts |
5 | Arcane shrine. Players can pray to it and receive guidance as to where Nyx has been taken. |
6 | Drunk, lost satyr. For a dirty joke, will tell the players he saw Nyx and Demgris going to the center of the maze. |
7 | A dark obelisk, humming with dark energy. If the players touch it, it casts “Bane” on the player. |
8 | A mirror of one’s self, calling to switch places. The players can willingly switch places with the creature in the mirror, but they will have to trade something away to convince it to allow them back into the material plane. |
For the final boss battle, the players appear in the center of the maze to find Demgris, the warlock, with Nyx, who he has isolated and is now accusing of being a vampire.
If the party has alerted or assisted Alphonse to Nyx’s plight, he will fight with them. If not, the party fights only with Elsandar.
