Ireena Kolyana

Ireena Kolyana is a prominent character in the Curse of Strahd Campaign. Portrayed by Cayne

## Marriage to Sergei

Ireena was originally a woman called Tatyana, who was born in the Village of Delmor. She once flirted with a man who she was horrified to learn was Strahd Von Zarovich, the man who'd conquered her people's land and was building a horrific castle above her village. She met Sergei Von Zarovich and quickly developed a plot with her Brother, Izek, to use him to get close enough to Strahd and kill him.

Although it started as a plan of rebellion, Tatyana found herself falling truly in love with Sergei. This only cemented the idea of Strahd's murder in her mind, if anyone had to rule Delmor, it should be Sergei. On their wedding day, she and Izek began to attempt to convince Sergei that Strahd's death was necessary. However, before they could get him on their side, Strahd burst into the room and quickly cut down Izek. Sergei attempted to calm his brother, but Strahd bit into Sergei's throat and ripped it apart. Horrified, Tatyana backed away from Strahd toward the balcony. Rather than become his victim, She jumped from Castle Ravenloft as the sky went dark.

## As Ireena

Ireena was abandoned as a baby in the Slavic woods outside of Vallaki. She was found by a father and son during one of their hunting trips, Kolyan Indirovich and Ismark Kolyanovich. After being unable to discover where she had come from or who her family were, Kolyan decided to raise her as his daughter. He brought her back to the Village of Barovia where he resided as Burgomaster. As she grew up, she developed a close bond with her foster brother, who acted as her protector until eventually teaching her how to fight for herself and survive in the harsh world beyond.

From her early twenties she had been receiving letters of invitation from the Dread Lord to visit his castle and dine with him. She ignored all correspondence, until the Dread Lord decided to visit her himself. She had been told by Ismark that Strahd could not touch her so long as she never invited him in. However, it was upon the Dread Lord threatening to kill her foster family that Ireena allowed Strahd entry into their home. Upon his second Visit, Ismark caught the Dread lord feeding from her and attempted to banish him, barely managing to survive the encounter. Fearing for his Sister's life, he began looking for help in getting Ireena to Vallaki, where he hoped she'd be safer. This help came in the form of the party, who did indeed successfully get her to Vallaki. However due to Vallaki falling shortly after, Ireena fell into the hands of Strahd.

The party soon discovered that Ireena was now an re-incarnation of Tatyana, nearly everything that was Ireena died when Strahd turned her into a spawn.

## Spawn of Strahd

Now a spawn of Strahd, there was little left of Tatyana or Ireena. As a taunting action toward the party, Strahd sent her to take Ismark's Heart. She would have been successful in his murder if it hadn't been for a scroll of revivify found at Baba Lysaga's Hut.

After the party left, She became whatever Strahd wanted her to be, in this case it was as his Wife and Mother to their adoptive Son, Asterius. The very little emotion she had left was given to Asterius, some deep rooted part of her true self recognized the horror of his situation and attempted as best she could to protect him.

She stayed in this limbo state for years before one day the Sunsword ended up in her possession. The onslaught of emotions she felt from it's touch caused her to cry for the first time in a decade. The grasp Strahd had over her was loosened just enough to ask the Tiefling a question. She cornered Marsden in one of the spare bedrooms of Ravenloft, asking him to explain what she felt. In response, Marsden held up the swords blade. Both the blade and the hilt rose into the air and joined together, the complete sword then turned it's blade toward Ireena. Before anyone could act, it plunged itself into Ireena's heart. "My love..." she said, as her soul was absorbed into the sword and her body lay dead.

Sergei and Tatyana's souls combined together to create the Moonsword. Their union would finally bring the end to Strahd's reign, as it was always meant to.