I love the subtle tonal shift. Before Strahd sold his soul, Tatyana's hair is described as "fire-red" on multiple occasions but when he does, it is referred to as "blood-red".
For really this is gonna be the song I play at the end of the campaign describing the party meeting a minstrel as the mists finally clear away and they leave barovia
I love the part of Sergei loves Strahd and Tatyana loves him too but not the same as he. It really shows the tragedy of his actions that Strahd no longer has anyone who loves him. He now has only ones who fear him. for all eternity.
I finally got to use this in game on Tuesday and it went amazing! I used the monument to Marina in the flooded village of Berez. In game I made it a ballad the Vistani wrote about him. He hated it and forbade them to sing it. The living vistani may not even know the song anymore, but back in the day a young vistani saw Marina with her red hair and sung it to her, trying to hit on her. It didn't work but the song resonated with her. (Of course it did, the song was about her, but she didn't know it.) She began singing it in the village, and when his advances didn't work, the Vistani boy ratted her out to Stradh. He showed up to punish her but found his Tatyana instead. When the players put flowers on her grave (as directed to by the ghost of the mayor) I got out a speaker and streamed this song as the echo of Marina singing it. Players loved it and did not even realize that it wasn't a written part of the campaign. (I told them later) Thank you again, love your music but this song is my favorite!
I love how the first verse says strahd was falling in love and ireena still and the last was ireena falling to her death while strahd stands still in denial.
Back once again to say that after over a year and a half my CoS campaign ended. The campaign's scope had left the module and at level 15 they finally fought strahd. The fight took place all over my world and into barovia with the party's allies coming to help them at each location to drive Strahd's forces away as they were being teleported around by an old PC. They started on a bloody battlefield outside Barovia, were thrown into the Svalich woods, then the amber temple, and finally the northern tower of castle Ravenloft where they were told by madame Eva they would find strahd. Here's a little toy jester's account of it: The fight was deadly. The heroes barely held any breath, one of them laying lifeless on the floor, and the loud sounds of battle echoed from below but as a blizzard blew from the mage's palms the world went silent. The Devil stood on the steps of his castle, his blood slowly freezing from the wizard's spell, arrows from the ebony hunter sticking out of his chest, armor ripped apart by the druid's great claws, energy all sapped by the Seeker's chosen and his castle overrun with rebels led by a vengeful sister. The calm demeanor broke, the confidence left, only vain pride remained and in that moment the lonely bitter man yelled out "I AM STRAHD VON ZAROVICH! I am the ANCIENT! I AM the land! and I will not DIE at the hands of man!". With a final step he was off the stairs and falling. The air went still, blood ran dry, nothing mattered anymore... all the world was dark when the glint of a saber hit his eye from a girl at the bottom of the tower, a girl with sun kissed skin, a girl with the familiar blood red hair. His arm stretched out as each finger tried to reach for her and he let himself fall. Further and further until he could go no farther, until all the world was left behind, until finally... he was no longer... standing still....
@@rahveel 😁 That double meaning was one of the first lines I thought of--I worked backwards to get the rest of the song. Glad you gave it another listen!
After an almost nine month long campaign my players defeated Stradh in an Epic final battle. My players nominated this song to play over the imaginary end credits as it faded to black
This is amazing, just enough spoilers to not ruin the adventure. I stand by my older statement, if I ever run a proper CoS, or Ravenloft campaign, there will be a Bard named Melanie in my setting xD
If you want details from our campaign (which you do not at all need to use), she's a college of lore bard, originally from California (suddenly with powers once she arrived in Barovia). I'd say her most iconic moves are healing word, speak with animals, sleep, and fireball, with a crossbow for emergencies. Oh, and at one point Zantris gave her some additional, secret powers, but she probably would have turned him down and lost the abilities when she gave up in the fight against strahd. Or make up your own details that fit in your game! I hope you're able to get a game together!
@@applebard I noticed that your game has a lot of customizations/homebrew storywise, and I love it (I don't believe that any pre-written campaign should be run "as-written", and should always be customized). With the info you gave me I can see her a lot more like a more reluctant Van Richtein, even more if she once fought him and later gave up the fight.
Hey I know you probs forgot about this but I recently just found it a week before I start my campaigan for curse of strahd and I have to say its one of the best fan anythings ive ever seen for curse of strahd. I am DEF gonna use it in my campiagn somewhere, I honestly cried of how good this music is. Insane you arent popular yet
Thank you for the kind words! I'm always happy to hear that these songs are being used. Also I will never forget this song, I will literally be telling my grandkids about a song I put on UA-cam that got THOUSANDS of views 😂
This is not just a great Curse of Strahd fan song, but a fantastic song in general. Seriously. I went looking for fun CoS music for my campaign and ended up finding one of my new favorite songs.
I’ve been running CoS for about 3 years now, This song always comes back to me every few months. In my head, this will be the credits song of my campaign. Great work ❤
@@applebard If it's ok with you , i'd actually like to use this song in one of my sessions at the Amber Temple. Our campaign has really delved into the Fey ancestry of Barovia, and with the idea of tricky prophecies and "Seers" - being a lot of the roots of the Tarroka readers. The concept of "Songs" being an old Fey source of magic and power has come up a couple of times for us. I'd love the the way my players learn about Strahd, Sergie and Tatayana is too see a "flashback" of Fey children singing a song around a campfire centuries before the events actually happen explaining what will happen in their future, and ofcourse the distant past for our players - that song being this song.
I want to send this to my players immediately, but it’s so good it deserves a set up. Does Rictavio play this? Ezmeralda one day?? Who would be crazy enough to write a slander song about Strahd!?!
They could discover it as sheet music, written by a long dead barovisn historian. Or if someone casts legend lore about strahd! Or they could discover Melanie Apple (my PC), former music teacher from California, now a bard trapped in Barovia, who used to be an adventurer like you, but has resorted to more subtle subversion
Wow I love this! I've played/run Curse of Strahd 5 times since I first picked it up in 2020 and I'm currently at the beginning of my 6th run. You've reignited my spark for Strahd's tragedy
I’m in the same boat and I’m trying to find a way of incorporating this song into the story. If strahd were to commission the story from a bard im not sure this is how he’d want it told… 🤔
@@lancourt I was considerng instead, that this was a song that was written and spread all across Barovia once and was very popular, but Strahd did his best to stamp it out. Only traces of it left are sheet music hidden away and perhaps the Vistani know it and one Vistani child is excited to sing it to the players but is quickly cuffed around the ear. The players will get hints of it here and there and will only finally encounter it in full when they enter Strahds castle and find him crying in Sergei's crypt, the only place he'll allow it to be played/sung when he is feeling particularly self pitiable
Been listening to this on repeat while session prepping 😍 only wish there was an instrumental version that I could use to foreshadow this song eventually appearing in the campaign
I exported a version minus the lyrics tracks and threw it up here: soundcloud.com/applebard/falling-no-vocals (you should be able to download it). Not an instrumental exactly because it's missing the melody, but it was easy enough to do
I'm in tears. How can so beautiful voice sing about something so tragic? As someone who will start to DM my second CoS playthrough soon, this gave me so much inspiration. Thank you!
Just came back to say i added a bard npc that lives in krezk to my game recently. Her name is Maria and she sang this for the party. Cheers again from me and my party for this amazing piece ❤
Honestly kinda sad this popped up for me as im in the start of strahd campaign and didnt know much about him but this is an amazing song and gives me idea's for things my neutral evil illusion wizard could be pulling if he finds out in character
Im in love with this song! Cant wait for my players to get to a point where I can play it for then, I think I might use this as an outro credits song for the campaign lol!
I've had this on repeat since I found it a couple days ago. Can't wait for my players to learn the truth so I can share it with them too!! This is lovely!!
Not totally sure it's necessary to warn people about an incel vampire. Might be kinda hard to get PTSD from an actual vampire. ;) The song.. OMG.. The best I've ever heard you do, and the best CoS song I've ever heard period! Well done is an understatement. A wise man once said.. Excelsior!
This song is amazing! I routinely look up strahd parody songs, and this only just now came thru the algo.... the lack of views on this song is criminal.... clearly the dark powers are at work here....
I just put in on soundcloud (not sure why I didn't think of that before). You should be able to download it: soundcloud.com/applebard/falling-original And I think there's a way to put your own files onto spotify playlists
I love the subtle tonal shift. Before Strahd sold his soul, Tatyana's hair is described as "fire-red" on multiple occasions but when he does, it is referred to as "blood-red".
For really this is gonna be the song I play at the end of the campaign describing the party meeting a minstrel as the mists finally clear away and they leave barovia
Absolutely fucking amazing song. 10/10.
Strahd is such a good villain.
I'm planning on having the players overhear Escher playing this song as they sneak around the castle.
I love the part of Sergei loves Strahd and Tatyana loves him too but not the same as he. It really shows the tragedy of his actions that Strahd no longer has anyone who loves him. He now has only ones who fear him. for all eternity.
What about rahadien?
I finally got to use this in game on Tuesday and it went amazing! I used the monument to Marina in the flooded village of Berez. In game I made it a ballad the Vistani wrote about him. He hated it and forbade them to sing it. The living vistani may not even know the song anymore, but back in the day a young vistani saw Marina with her red hair and sung it to her, trying to hit on her. It didn't work but the song resonated with her. (Of course it did, the song was about her, but she didn't know it.) She began singing it in the village, and when his advances didn't work, the Vistani boy ratted her out to Stradh.
He showed up to punish her but found his Tatyana instead. When the players put flowers on her grave (as directed to by the ghost of the mayor) I got out a speaker and streamed this song as the echo of Marina singing it. Players loved it and did not even realize that it wasn't a written part of the campaign. (I told them later)
Thank you again, love your music but this song is my favorite!
That's awesome!!! I'm glad it added to your campaign!
I am mildly obsessed with this song
same
I love how the first verse says strahd was falling in love and ireena still and the last was ireena falling to her death while strahd stands still in denial.
Tatyana. Ireena is her reincarnation.
And he is standing still
Listen, I know Strahd is an awful person that deserves what he got. But I cant imagine how painful it'd be to not only be friendzoned but UNCLE zoned.
🤣 I've heard of people getting out of the friend zone, but the uncle zone is truly a hopeless position. Welp, better become a vampire 🦇
This is so extremely well written with so many little details with the song.
Thank you! I tried
Back once again to say that after over a year and a half my CoS campaign ended.
The campaign's scope had left the module and at level 15 they finally fought strahd. The fight took place all over my world and into barovia with the party's allies coming to help them at each location to drive Strahd's forces away as they were being teleported around by an old PC. They started on a bloody battlefield outside Barovia, were thrown into the Svalich woods, then the amber temple, and finally the northern tower of castle Ravenloft where they were told by madame Eva they would find strahd.
Here's a little toy jester's account of it:
The fight was deadly. The heroes barely held any breath, one of them laying lifeless on the floor, and the loud sounds of battle echoed from below but as a blizzard blew from the mage's palms the world went silent. The Devil stood on the steps of his castle, his blood slowly freezing from the wizard's spell, arrows from the ebony hunter sticking out of his chest, armor ripped apart by the druid's great claws, energy all sapped by the Seeker's chosen and his castle overrun with rebels led by a vengeful sister. The calm demeanor broke, the confidence left, only vain pride remained and in that moment the lonely bitter man yelled out "I AM STRAHD VON ZAROVICH! I am the ANCIENT! I AM the land! and I will not DIE at the hands of man!". With a final step he was off the stairs and falling.
The air went still, blood ran dry, nothing mattered anymore... all the world was dark when the glint of a saber hit his eye from a girl at the bottom of the tower, a girl with sun kissed skin, a girl with the familiar blood red hair. His arm stretched out as each finger tried to reach for her and he let himself fall. Further and further until he could go no farther, until all the world was left behind, until finally... he was no longer... standing still....
@@lostmark1545 yes yes yes yes! Awesome!!!
@@lostmark1545 I got chills 😁
@@applebard cheers yet again for the music that helped fuel my CoS addiction~
just finished my first cursed of strahd campaign and boy that was something else. My first experience was that and my dm truly did something great.
I misread your comment as "that boy was something else." Yes, strahd is not your typical guy 🤣
This might be your best yet! *imagines a group of Vistani playing this around a campfire with the PCs*
Thanks! I'm hoping there is a way for it to fit into other peoples' campaigns. That's my favorite!
I was just giving this another listen, and the double meaning of that final 'and he is standing still' just sank in. *enjoys the song even more*
@@rahveel 😁 That double meaning was one of the first lines I thought of--I worked backwards to get the rest of the song. Glad you gave it another listen!
That was my first thought too!!!
My DM put this in at a statue that played this as a haunting tune
After an almost nine month long campaign my players defeated Stradh in an Epic final battle. My players nominated this song to play over the imaginary end credits as it faded to black
This is amazing, just enough spoilers to not ruin the adventure.
I stand by my older statement, if I ever run a proper CoS, or Ravenloft campaign, there will be a Bard named Melanie in my setting xD
If you want details from our campaign (which you do not at all need to use), she's a college of lore bard, originally from California (suddenly with powers once she arrived in Barovia). I'd say her most iconic moves are healing word, speak with animals, sleep, and fireball, with a crossbow for emergencies. Oh, and at one point Zantris gave her some additional, secret powers, but she probably would have turned him down and lost the abilities when she gave up in the fight against strahd.
Or make up your own details that fit in your game! I hope you're able to get a game together!
@@applebard I noticed that your game has a lot of customizations/homebrew storywise, and I love it (I don't believe that any pre-written campaign should be run "as-written", and should always be customized). With the info you gave me I can see her a lot more like a more reluctant Van Richtein, even more if she once fought him and later gave up the fight.
This is probably my favourite piece of CoS music
This needs an animated videoclip. It's beautiful
There's some really good, thematic wordplay here
Thank you!
This is going STRAIGHT into my campaign of CoS! An amazing masterpiece, both music and lyrics!
Hey I know you probs forgot about this but I recently just found it a week before I start my campaigan for curse of strahd and I have to say its one of the best fan anythings ive ever seen for curse of strahd. I am DEF gonna use it in my campiagn somewhere, I honestly cried of how good this music is. Insane you arent popular yet
Thank you for the kind words! I'm always happy to hear that these songs are being used. Also I will never forget this song, I will literally be telling my grandkids about a song I put on UA-cam that got THOUSANDS of views 😂
This is not just a great Curse of Strahd fan song, but a fantastic song in general. Seriously. I went looking for fun CoS music for my campaign and ended up finding one of my new favorite songs.
@@911milk I love to hear it! 😁
This... is freaking phenomenal. Truly excellent work!
Thank you!
I’ve been running CoS for about 3 years now, This song always comes back to me every few months.
In my head, this will be the credits song of my campaign. Great work ❤
🙏
@@applebard If it's ok with you , i'd actually like to use this song in one of my sessions at the Amber Temple.
Our campaign has really delved into the Fey ancestry of Barovia, and with the idea of tricky prophecies and "Seers" - being a lot of the roots of the Tarroka readers. The concept of "Songs" being an old Fey source of magic and power has come up a couple of times for us.
I'd love the the way my players learn about Strahd, Sergie and Tatayana is too see a "flashback" of Fey children singing a song around a campfire centuries before the events actually happen explaining what will happen in their future, and ofcourse the distant past for our players - that song being this song.
I want to send this to my players immediately, but it’s so good it deserves a set up. Does Rictavio play this? Ezmeralda one day?? Who would be crazy enough to write a slander song about Strahd!?!
They could discover it as sheet music, written by a long dead barovisn historian. Or if someone casts legend lore about strahd! Or they could discover Melanie Apple (my PC), former music teacher from California, now a bard trapped in Barovia, who used to be an adventurer like you, but has resorted to more subtle subversion
@applebard I'm going to have my players find a girl playing this song she wrote after a book she stumbled upon (Tome of Strahd)
Wow I love this! I've played/run Curse of Strahd 5 times since I first picked it up in 2020 and I'm currently at the beginning of my 6th run. You've reignited my spark for Strahd's tragedy
Excellent song and story
Thank you!
This is now a canon song within Barovia for my game, only sung by the Vistani
Fantastic!!
This is amazing! I want to share this with my group, but they havent learned his backstory yet... I will definitely share this when they do
I’m in the same boat and I’m trying to find a way of incorporating this song into the story.
If strahd were to commission the story from a bard im not sure this is how he’d want it told… 🤔
@Theoutcome0 rictavio would be a good choice if you wanted to work this into the story. A way to get the players backstory without blowing his cover
@@lancourt I was considerng instead, that this was a song that was written and spread all across Barovia once and was very popular, but Strahd did his best to stamp it out. Only traces of it left are sheet music hidden away and perhaps the Vistani know it and one Vistani child is excited to sing it to the players but is quickly cuffed around the ear.
The players will get hints of it here and there and will only finally encounter it in full when they enter Strahds castle and find him crying in Sergei's crypt, the only place he'll allow it to be played/sung when he is feeling particularly self pitiable
I remember when you played this in the Blue Water Inn and made the townspeople cry and some undercover vampires very, very nervous.
This is 100% that song from like a year ago
But now it's, as the kids possibly say, a bop
Omg!!! This is amazing!!!! The artwork as well!!!
Thank you! I just traced the official art of ravenloft in a pixel art program and gave it a less ominous color scheme. Beautiful day for a wedding! 💒
Been listening to this on repeat while session prepping 😍 only wish there was an instrumental version that I could use to foreshadow this song eventually appearing in the campaign
I exported a version minus the lyrics tracks and threw it up here: soundcloud.com/applebard/falling-no-vocals (you should be able to download it). Not an instrumental exactly because it's missing the melody, but it was easy enough to do
Was brought here by a comment on reddit and now i’m crying. This is so beautiful.
I'm in tears. How can so beautiful voice sing about something so tragic? As someone who will start to DM my second CoS playthrough soon, this gave me so much inspiration. Thank you!
So wild this doesn't have more views - its so damn good! I've been listening to basically on repeat!
Just came back to say i added a bard npc that lives in krezk to my game recently. Her name is Maria and she sang this for the party.
Cheers again from me and my party for this amazing piece ❤
I love it! Thank you!
Honestly kinda sad this popped up for me as im in the start of strahd campaign and didnt know much about him but this is an amazing song and gives me idea's for things my neutral evil illusion wizard could be pulling if he finds out in character
You never know what your dm might change, so don't take this as gospel! Strahd might be the most modified module ever 😉
by the way its awesome that your still replying to comments on a video almost a year old
@supersol4333 lol I don't upload much so I only get comments once in a while
What a beautiful song
I jam to this before every session, thanks for this treasure.
I'm listening to this song on repeat, it's so good! I'm for sure using at the table!
I love this! It's the perfect kind of song that would be sung by the Vistani.
Im in love with this song! Cant wait for my players to get to a point where I can play it for then, I think I might use this as an outro credits song for the campaign lol!
I love to hear it!
I'm in love with this song
Do you want me to ask how it feels about you?
Really good, deep, strong piece of art
Amazing work once again!
Thank you!
I genuinely love this so much~
Aaaaa the wordplay in this was *so good!*
*Thank you!*
Wow can’t belive I’m just seeing this, I love this!
I've had this on repeat since I found it a couple days ago. Can't wait for my players to learn the truth so I can share it with them too!! This is lovely!!
Thank you! Good luck with your campaign!
Welp. This is now being added to my campaign. A Vistani song perhaps the group can overhear?
This is amazing!!!!! I definitely want to have there be sheet music my players can find of this song
This is perfect
This is absolutely fantastic!!! I absolutely love it!!!
Thank you!
oh my... this was actually impressive
I love this song, so good!!!
Thank you!
Thats too good! Loved this song.
greetings from Brasil! Your song crossed the continent!
Obrigada!
@@applebard I use music to teach my girlfriend English. Your song was good for teaching her verbs in the past tense
@@applebard Also, she loved your song and Strahd's story!
@@rafaeldyminskirojtenberg1245 oh neat! That's very cool 😁
beautiful as always!
Thank you!
Feels like it belongs in the dnd world of strahd
I wish this was on Spotify
amazing song!
You just got a sub for this song. So good! Better than the diary of Strahd. :3
so gooood
😁
Beauty!
This is perfect! I love it!
Thank you!
Awesome work!
Not totally sure it's necessary to warn people about an incel vampire. Might be kinda hard to get PTSD from an actual vampire. ;)
The song.. OMG.. The best I've ever heard you do, and the best CoS song I've ever heard period! Well done is an understatement. A wise man once said.. Excelsior!
I'm learning to play ukulele for this right now ^^
@@Drakenstyler that's awesome!
This is a jam! 🎶🎶
Thank you!
Very nice.
I think what I really love about this is it sounds like a Steven Universe song
Greetings From Poland. Great song with soul. Its made me cry xD
Thank you!
Love it!
I still vastly prefer the I, Strahd version of Strahd's backstory, but this is BEAUTIFUL!
Wow, need all the creatabilaty it can
This song is amazing! I routinely look up strahd parody songs, and this only just now came thru the algo.... the lack of views on this song is criminal.... clearly the dark powers are at work here....
Thank you! This is the one I worked the hardest on, so I'm glad people appreciate it! 😊
I’m going to have a vistani sing this in the tser encampment
Awesome!!
I wonder if you coukd substitute the tome of strahd with this somehow
That's what I based it on, so it would make sense. Not sure how it would play out in the game, though
@@applebard maybe lyrics and sheet music, we have a bard so...
Oh Spotify, please!!
I just put in on soundcloud (not sure why I didn't think of that before). You should be able to download it: soundcloud.com/applebard/falling-original
And I think there's a way to put your own files onto spotify playlists
is this on spotify?
No, I don't have Spotify set up but I've been thinking about it.
Nice work! Though I'd say it's wrong to call Strahd's feelings love, and it wasn't Sergei's youth that Tatyana fell for