Original Airdate (Twitch): October 10, 2020
Having just fended off wild wolves and dealt with Wihakayda's rage, the party is approached by a man claiming to be Lord Strahd himself. He requests that Kapnos take him to his vampire-hunting ally Sophia, lest the group come to harm. In the process, the Marionette card vanishes, as "the one pulling your strings" has made himself known. Worried that they're now being tracked, they travel to Barovia, and try to make new allies.
The Lords of these lands are lawless indeed
- Back from the Dead: When the group makes contact with Sophia, she tells them that Strahd had already died once from a raid that took place before Kapnos arrived, but has apparently returned. It later turns out it isn't Strahd, but a man claiming to be his son.
- Chained Heat: Due to Wihakayda's reputation, the Barovia town guard agree to let her in only if she's in Grymharl's sight at all times. Grymharl even suggests using actual chains if Wihakayda can't be reasoned with, though they end up not being needed.
- Entitled to Have You: Strahd's motivation to get to Sophia does not seem driven by revenge, but instead a desire to have her.
- Implacable Man: Strahd starts his parlay by caressing Grymharl's face, completely resisting her shove, and then pushing her back five feet.
- Mugging the Monster: Kapnos tries to bluff Strahd in order to protect Sophia, and thanks to a good roll, succeeds...though it's implied that it'll be bad news if the truth comes out.
- Not Quite Dead: After the party unites with Sophia, a nearly-dead body drags himself to the inn they were staying at. He turns out to be Sumer, a Kenku friend of Sophia's that she had thought was long dead. He claims to have in fact been kept prisoner in Strahd's dungeons after a failed attempt to kill him, remained there during a raid on the castle by werewolves, and had been struggling to survive after a recent escape with help from Strahd's slayers.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Having been warned by Madame Ava's "Beast" card that a Werewolf might be involved in their adventure, the group is suspicious when Sumer claims to have been clawed by a wolf that transitioned from bipedal to quadruped, not knowing if that is enough to inflict lycanthropy.
- Overlord Jr.: According to Sophia's friend Sumer, the "Strahd" that currently rules these lands, who the party met earlier, is actually a man named Zaro von Strahdovich (sharing his first name with Strahd's sire, and his last name meaning "son of Strahd", though his actual lineage is still doubted).
- Psychological Torment Zone: The episode ends with the group trying to track down the Artifact that can supposedly help them and entering a spectral town, in which illusions of the corpses of the party's friends and family are strung up, and introducing a new feature: Sanity checks.
- Power at a Price: Upon entering Barovia, Wihakayda takes off her mask, revealing that she became a Wendigo as part of her pact to become Watcher of the Woods.
- Red Herring: Ray notices that Sophia's skills when stealthily making their way back to the inn are reminiscent of the thieves that lured him into a trap when this all began...but, while she is as much an "acquisition manager" as he is, she sincerely claims to have no connection to his past.
- Running Gag: Calamity repeatedly tries to get a smile out of the innkeeper of the Raven's Nest with her harp, and repeatedly fails.
- Shout-Out: Worried that Grymharl is too willing to use her hammer to get her way, Ray attempts to convince her to use less destructive options more often, quoting a Ferenghi Rule of Acquisition: "Never spend more for an acquisition than you have to".
