Monster of the Week #16

This week we look to Curse of Strahd's Baba Lysaga. My players were investigating other leads when they stumbled upon the Ruins of Berez, a long abandoned town that has seen significant battle and lays in ominous ruin. Dwelling within this ruin is Baba Lysaga, a twisted witch who believes herself to be the true mother to Strahd von Zarovich. Riddled with madness and powerful magic, she worships Mother Night and prayed for Strahd to gain powers and grant him success in his endeavours.

Originally Strahd's wet nurse, she became obsessed with him and eventually had to exile herself to Berez where she watches over Strahd. She rules the Ruins of Berez and works to support Strahd from the shadows.

While she is effectively a spell caster, what makes Lysaga a great encounter for players is her ominous motives, and unlike other NPCs, she has a clear devotion to Strahd she may openly share for players. In addition, she can be seen bathing in blood of goats which has kept her young, and if players are sneaky, they may even see her talking to a doll that is modelled on a the young child Strahd's image. Many of the narrative pieces for her gives the players a clear sense of a potentially dangerous foe.

She even has a troll's skull that she uses as a vehicle to travel around Berez, a fun tool I used on players to lower their guard. Who wouldn't find an old sweet woman zooming around her fields a low threat.

Other than the danger she poses (she is a 16th level spell caster, so absolutely a dangerous foe to go toe-to-toe with), she is able to make her home to break free from the ground and walk around - in the game, this is her Creeping Hut.

Like many of the encounters in Strahd, this whole section could be treated like a one-shot. Lysaga has a clear hatred of the Order of the Feather, a group of were-ravens who work against Strahd, so could even be a quest giving tool in your game. I've used her to offer the players a quest to find out where they reside, so Lysaga can organise their 'removal', all in return to learn more about other parts of the adventure my players are exploring.

Granted, my players are hesitant, but the flexibility this area and Lysaga offer are great for your game. Lysaga controls scarecrows which she uses as guards, so even when she is unaware of players, they can alert her to their presence by triggering these.

Other than being a powerful caster, Lysaga can shape change which can throw players off in a combat situation, which is just another tool in her belt that makes her interesting. All of these skills she has can make her a fun character to play as a GM, but also can introduce interesting conflicts for the players if they decide to help her out or try and evade her entirely.

Once thing Curse of Strahd does with Lysaga is offer a basic level of guidance about how to play her, and offers a lot of backstory that communicate her motivations and beliefs. Other than that, you are left as the GM to decide how to play her - and based on what I've seen online, there are a huge amount of ways people have played Lysaga to make very unique encounters for their players. I've went for a deceptive character, who will get players to do her bidding with the intention to betray PCs after she is done with them, but I've seen her be used as a quest giver or a standard 'bad guy'. Lysaga in Curse of Strahd is a flexible narrative tool that can be changed up to meet the needs of your game, which is particularly why I like her.

I'm expecting my players to fight her in due course, but in the meantime, they are now part of her web for the next few games... at least.

If you haven't played Curse of Strahd, I strongly recommend it - between the clear layout and the memorable European folklore that is copiously provided, you will have many nights of fun with a decent degree of deployability!

So Baba Lysaga is this weeks monster of the week! Much more interesting than a powerful caster, and has strong motivations, tools and beliefs that make her much more unique than a standard 'hag' encounter.