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Dragna's Blog: Reworking Vasilka
🕑 Added 2023-10-24 12:47:27 +0000 UTCIn the RAW Curse of Strahd module, Vasilka, the Abbot’s planned “Bride of Strahd,” is no more than a flesh golem. With an Intelligence of 5 and an inability to speak, “she” (more “it”) is an object given the semblance of life, but without true consciousness. She’s learned “etiquette” from the Abbot, but has no personality, no sentience, and no autonomy besides shrieking like a banshee if harmed.
It’s a not-uncommon trend in the Curse of Strahd community to provide her with something deeper. Many Dungeon Masters give her a more personal arc, up to and including being the players’ destined ally herself. It’s not hard to see why - Frankenstein’s Monster is a beloved trope in our society, and it seems especially ethically incongruent to treat Vasilka as a subhuman entity subservient to Strahd and the Abbot while so much of the adventure focuses on Ireena’s struggle for independence from the demands of men.
I have, historically, never been a fan of this approach. Creating content for content’s sake has never sat well with me - as any member of the Patreon Discord - can tell you - and I have felt strongly that there are better things that DMs and players can spend their time and efforts on. To quote my response to a patron who asked that her situation be made more resonant, I recently replied: “The resonance comes from destroying Vasilka. She needs to die. She’s a toy for Strahd and the Abbot; nothing more.”
But as the members of the server badgered me, I began to realize something: Vasilka (and, to a lesser extent, the mongrelfolk Belviews) were instances of something I’d encountered before, in Death House. They were vestigial content: content that Wizards of the Coast had added for the sake of adding content, but which I’d kept out of habit upon revising the campaign. I hadn’t done anything with them or given them any reason for being; in fact, the Abbey and the Abbot’s madness would have worked perfectly well without them. (I might have to tweak a few things and change the thrust of the Abbot’s goals and history, but it would still function.)
But I didn’t want to remove Vasilka or the Belviews; they’re a core part of what makes the Abbey unique and aesthetically interesting. The whole point of Reloaded is not to remove extraneous details, but to furnish them with the tools and resonance they need to function.
So, I reluctantly decided to experiment with giving Vasilka an arc - something suitably evocative and resonant. And that meant turning her from a brain-dead flesh golen into a person with an actual mind and personality.
But what story to tell? The inspiration was obvious: Vasilka and the Abbot are intentional homages to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which meant that this was a story about finding humanity in the artificial. However, where Frankenstein ends tragically, the players’ involvement and Reloaded’s dark-fantasy-heroism genre meant that this story had to give Vasilka a happy ending.
With the arc’s genre in mind, I had to decide on a resonance, which was easy: I wanted the players to feel sympathetic and endeared to Vasilka - she would be innocent, warm, and full of hope.
What arc to give her, then? The theme of the arc was easy: What makes a person? Can a mere flesh golem become one? One of my patrons pointed out that Vasilka was a mirror of Ireena Kolyana - both are intended to become Strahd’s brides, but both seek freedom beyond that.
That led me to my first idea: Ireena would already have the culmination of her own arc at Marina’s Monument in Berez, where she would cast off the Dark Powers’ curse and free her soul from the weight of Tatyana’s despair. What if Vasilka could literally become a mirror to Ireena here, and “become a real girl” by taking those old memories and part of Ireena’s old spirit? Vasilka gets to become human, and Ireena gets a clean slate to start anew on her own terms.
Except this didn’t quite work out the way I thought it did in my head. As one patron put it, “It feels like neither is getting what they need.” Ireena undergoes no growth, nor does Vasilka - both receive exactly what they thought they wanted all along. Vasilka needed to become human because of something inside of her, not because of some hand-me-down memories.
Back to the drawing board. What, then, was Vasilka’s arc? She wants to be a real girl. But she needs to recognize the humanity inherent in her being.
I pondered that for a little while, then decided to put it aside for a bit and return to it later. One thing troubled me: This you-were-human-all-along arc was nice in theory, but in practice, it didn’t resonate with the core themes of the campaign. It had nothing to do with the players’ relationship with Strahd, or even Vasilka’s own relationship with the Abbot.
I realized that Ireena’s arc wasn’t about rejecting Tatyana’s legacy, but about embracing the courage to champion her people’s fight against Strahd. Vasilka would be far more interesting, I realized, as a version of this arc writ small - her arc lies in learning to defy the Abbot, such that, if the players befriended and inspired her, she would fight by their side.
Like Strahd (and Izek) with Ireena, the Abbot would view Vasilka as a doll - an object to be kept and protected, but ultimately obedient to her creator or “master.” If the players help Vasilka explore her inner humanity, she realizes that what she wants is to serve the Abbot faithfully - but what she needs is to stand up to him to defend her new friends.
Her moment of self-actualization is defying his orders, not only by refusing to stand down, but putting her very life at risk. In choosing to embrace the possibility of death - facing mortality at the Abbot’s own hands - Vasilka embraces her own agency, facing destruction on her own decision and on her own terms, fighting to protect the ones that showed her kindness and love.
But what could create the impetus for Vasilka to defy the Abbot? Luckily enough, there’s already a perfect target in the Abbey already: the Abbot’s prototype flesh golem guarding the Belviews’ asylum. Vasilka, an innocent with a longing for connection, might come to view this creature as a sibling of sorts.
I decided that she might resolve to give this golem a gift of a garland of flowers, woven from blooms she’d picked in the Abbey’s garden. She would then ask the players to deliver the garland to the golem in secret, to keep the Abbot from finding out. To create conflict and tension, should the Abbot learn of Vasilka’s gift, he forces her to burn it (despite her aversion to fire feature), setting the stage for her eventual turnaround as an ally to the players in their fight against him.
But how to begin this relationship between Vasilka and the players? I needed to create a scene - specifically, one with some low-stakes dramatic tension and/or gameplay - that allowed the players to interact with her and get to know her.
I figured the easiest way to do this would be to tie it into the Abbot’s goals: He wants to teach Vasilka how to be Strahd’s bride, and the players are new, foreign visitors who might be able to help him do so in a way he can’t do himself.
I asked ChatGPT for ideas, and it pointed out that the Abbot - a celestial - is detached from mortals and might not entirely understand the flaws and shades of mortal emotions and relationships. After further discussion, we agreed that the Abbot wanted to use this as an opportunity to teach Vasilka about mortal love - a key topic to understand if she’s to wed Strahd von Zarovich. The Abbot asks the players to share their stories and experiences with love, while Vasilka asks insightful clarifying questions about the rules and principles of love.
That solved step one. However, I still needed to find an opportunity for Vasilka to give the players the garland without the Abbot present - and, preferably, before they met Ezmerelda, who would then lead them in a seance to contact the spirit of Saint Markovia.
The key sequence of events was simple: the players meet Vasilka, obtain the garland, meet the flesh golem on the first floor of the North Wing, meet Ezmerelda on the second floor of the North Wing, then return to the courtyard with Ezmerelda and the flesh golem where the Abbot and Vasilka meet them. The Abbot sees the garland, get annoyed, and punishes Vasilka for it. But how to pull it off?
I needed a reason for the Abbot to leave the main hall - preferably something that the players couldn’t interact or interfere with, which would leave them plenty of time to speak with Vasilka in private. After pondering the Abbot’s motivations - Vasilka, the Belviews, the flesh golem - I realized that the RAW Abbey already had the perfect Chekhov’s Gun for me to fire: Marzena Belview.
Marzena is a bat-winged mongrelfolk chained up in the Abbey’s courtyard. When the players first arrive, she’s flapping her wings madly in a crazed attempt to escape, all while babbling nonstop.
If she did successfully escape, the Abbot - likely using the giant eagle form from his change shape ability - would have to go chase her down through the skies and return her to the Abbey.
This little diversion would not only get the Abbot (and Clovin) out of the players’ hair, it would also give them a brief opportunity to look around the main hall and speak with its inhabitants in private - including ample time to chat with Vasilka about sentience, moral worth, and a little garland of flowers.
Comments
DragnaCarta
Aww, fantastic! I'm really glad to hear. And glad you're enjoying the new revisions! :)
Severin Provance
Excellent. Thanks for all the hard work. I ran CoS a few years ago as a first time DM and used several parts from the original Reloaded to great effect, primarily the Marina's Monument scene. My players still talk about that as a high point, so thanks! 😁👍
