Not Another D&D Podcast · Headgum

Trinyvale X Strahd - Ep.14: Burned Out

October 31, 2025·1 hr 14 min·5 clips
Onyx wins over a monster swarm by claiming to be their sexy grandfather in lingerie during a vampire showdown.
Trinnavale crashes into Barovia. The cold open comes in with Dracula-uncle energy, pious player intros, and a recap of the party setting off alchemist fire and a fireball spell scroll inside St. Markovia. By the time the scene starts, the church is already chaos. The abbot, Gorek, and Vasilka are in the blast zone, and the players have to decide who actually gets rescued. Marina gets priority. A healing roll brings her back to full health with one temporary hit point, while the table somehow finds room for dehydration jokes in a burning room. Then the fire takes its cut. Onix takes nine fire damage, Vasilka takes three, and Keychain takes six, leaving the little companion in bad shape. Outside, the rescue plan falls apart. From the window, the party sees werewolves surround Grigory, Esmeralda, and the ravens with spears and force. The dice side with the monsters: a twenty-one on strength beats the ravens' fifteen and keeps the captives pinned for now. The players sit with the ugly part of the choice, more or less admitting they do not know these people well enough to risk everything. Then they make it funny, because of course they do. Grigory's story becomes a joke, Esmeralda gets a sympathetic shrug, and everyone half-believes she could do something impressive if she ever stopped getting captured at the worst possible time. Strahd's turn snaps the room back into danger. Caldwell shifts from gallows comedy to threat once Strahd loses sight of Marina through the flaming doorway. Suddenly every hit point, contested check, and bit of positioning matters.

As heard by us

A burning abbey escape turns rescue math, vampire pressure, and sharp table banter into lively actual-play chaos.

A burning abbey escape turns into a grim little comedy of triage as the Trinyvale crew tries to get out of Strahd's reach without pretending they can save everyone.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a burned-to-the-walls fight where the bit never drops the knife.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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