The druids who worship Strahd as lord of the land and master of the weather convene here, atop Yester Hill, on the very edge of Strahd’s domain. This hill is also where the evil blights that walk the Svalich Woods are born, and where Strahd comes on occasion to glimpse his ancestral home.
By day or night, stretching up to the limits of vision, the edges of my realm are marked by a great wall of mist. I was there at its birth.
—Strahd von Zarovich in I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire
Areas of the Hill
The following locations correspond to labels on the map of Yester Hill below.
Y1. Trail
The trail through the thick woods leads to a hill covered with dead grass and cairns of black rock. Dark, ominous clouds gather high above, and a single bolt of lightning strikes the hilltop. West of the hill, the land, the woods, and the sky vanish behind a towering wall of fog.
The trail splits as it climbs the hillside, forming two concentric rings (area area Y2). The trail also leads to the hilltop (area areas Y3 and area Y4). The wall of fog (area area Y5) marks the edge of Strahd’s domain.
Y2. Berserker Cairns
Dirt trails run along two concentric rings of cairns that encircle the hillside. Each cairn is a ten-foot-high mound of slimy black rocks.
These burial mounds predate the arrival of Strahd and the druids. They have remained undisturbed for centuries. Buried under the rocks are the moldy bones of an ancient tribe of berserkers that once lived in the mountains. (See “area Blood Spear of Kavan” in the “Special Events” section below.)
Y3. Druids' Circle
Atop the hill is a wide ring of black boulders and smaller rocks that collectively form a makeshift wall enclosing a field of dead grass. Lightning strikes the edge of the ring from time to time, illuminating a ghastly, fifty-foot-tall statue made of tightly woven twigs and packed with black earth. The statue resembles a towering, cloaked man with fangs.
The ring of boulders that surrounds the field is 250 feet in diameter and ranges from 5 to 10 feet high. Any creature that climbs over the black boulders has a 10 percent chance of being struck by lightning, taking 44 (
Wooden Statue
The giant statue bears an eerie resemblance to Strahd von Zarovich. Close inspection reveals roots sprouting from the ground around its base. These roots are part of the Gulthias tree in area area Y4. They wrap around the statue, providing added support and durability. The roots not only prevent the statue from being toppled but also allow the effigy to serve as a component in a ritual to create a tree blight (see “area Druids' Ritual” in the “Special Events” section below). Planted in the “heart” of this wooden effigy is a magic gem stolen from the Wizard of Wines vineyard (chapter 12).
The statue has AC 10, 50 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. If the statue takes fire damage after being splashed with oil, it catches fire, taking
Hidden Graves
Hidden throughout the field inside the boulders are six Druid (CE male and female humans) and six Berserker (CE male and female humans), all descendants of the ancient mountain tribe whose members are buried on this hill and all covered head to toe in bluish-gray mud. They have long, tangled hair and wild-looking eyes. To honor their dark “god,” they sleep in earthen graves hidden under covers made of sod and dead grass. Characters entering the circle who have a passive Wisdom (
The druids are waiting to begin a ritual to summon forth an enormous tree blight. Only one druid is needed to complete the ritual, but the druids won’t begin without Strahd’s blessing. Thus, they are waiting for him to appear. The ritual can’t be completed if the statue is destroyed or the magic gem is removed.
If the characters discern or divine the gem’s location with the aid of magic, they can try to dig the gem out of the statue’s chest. Climbing up the statue is a simple matter, requiring no ability check, and a character within reach of the chest cavity can use an action to dig into it. Have that character’s player roll a
Development
If the druids and the berserkers are killed, their numbers are replenished as others return from forays into the Svalich Woods. At the end of each day, at dusk,
Y4. Gulthias Tree
At the south end of the hilltop is a sickly copse, a grove of dead trees and shrubs with a huge, misshapen tree at its core. Blood oozes like sap from its twisted trunk. Skulking around the tree are six gangly humanoid creatures covered with needles. Embedded in the tree is a shiny battleaxe, beneath which lies a humanoid skeleton.
The tree is a Gulthias tree (see the blights entry in the Monster Manual), the roots of which extend deep beneath the hill. Lurking among the dead trees and shrubs are three Vine Blight, six Needle Blight, and twelve Twig Blight. The needle blights are plainly visible, but the False Appearance feature of the vine blights and the twig blights allows them to hide in plain sight. The blights attack anyone who harms the Gulthias tree, which has no actions or effective attacks of its own.
The Gulthias tree has AC 15, 250 hit points, and immunity to bludgeoning, piercing, and psychic damage. If it is reduced to 0 hit points, it seems to be destroyed but isn’t truly dead; it regains 1 hit point every month until it is fully healed. With a successful DC 15 Intelligence (
The Gulthias tree creates blights from ordinary plants and is the only tree of its kind in Barovia. If the Gulthias tree is killed, no new blights can be created within Strahd’s domain. Award the party 1,500 XP for destroying the Gulthias tree.
The skeleton lying at the base of the Gulthias tree is all that remains of a human adventurer who was killed by blights while trying to cut down the tree.
Treasure
The dead adventurer’s tattered leather armor isn’t salvageable, but the axe embedded in the tree is a magic battleaxe. Its handle is carved with leaves and vines, and the weapon weighs half as much as a normal battleaxe. When the axe hits a plant, whether an ordinary plant or a plant creature, the target takes an extra
Fortunes of Ravenloft
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it’s buried amid the roots of the Gulthias tree, beneath the skeleton of the dead adventurer. Characters who dig in the ground under the skeleton automatically find it.
Y5. Wall of Fog
Yester Hill gets its name from a strange phenomenon that can be observed by anyone who looks into the mists from the hilltop or the western hillside:
As you look west into the curtain of fog, you see a white fortress on a hill above a great city. The city appears quite distant, maybe a mile away. The fog obscures all detail, but you can hear what sounds like the echo of a church bell.
The Dark Powers have created a false image of Strahd’s ancestral home within the fog, just beyond reach. Strahd comes to the hill on occasion to gaze upon the city, even though he knows it can’t be real. The image tantalizes him.
Any creature that enters the deadly fog is subject to its effects (see the “area Mists of Ravenloft” section in chapter 2).
If the characters ask an NPC spellcaster about this part of the wall of fog, that person might relate an ancient legend about it. According to the mountain folk of Barovia, there was always a wall of mist near Yester Hill, even before the deadly mists entrapped all of Barovia. The ancient folk called the mist the Whispering Wall, for within it they could hear the whisper of voices from the past and the future. They believed that an ancient god gave up his divinity to preserve the world from destruction and that his last exhalation as a god produced this mist. Within it were all his memories of the world and all his visions of its possible futures, and with proper preparation, a seeker could go on a vision quest within it. Some students of the arcane contend that the Dark Powers took a bit of that fog and twisted it to create the mists of Barovia, and that perhaps Strahd’s domain is just a dark memory in the Whispering Wall.
Special Events
You can use one or both of the following special events while the characters explore Yester Hill.
Druids' Ritual
You can allow this event to unfold regardless of whether the characters have visited Yester Hill. Even if the characters don’t experience this event as it happens, they can still deal with the aftermath (see “area Wintersplinter Attacks” in the “Special Events” section in chapter 12).
Strahd von Zarovich travels to Yester Hill, arriving astride his nightmare, Beucephalus (assuming the characters didn’t kill it in the catacombs of Castle Ravenloft), or in bat form.
Strahd’s arrival prompts the druids in area area Y3 to rise from their “graves” and begin their ritual. When the ritual begins, the druids use their actions to chant and dance about. To complete the ritual, the druids must chant for 10 consecutive rounds, with at least one of them chanting each round. If a round goes by and none of the druids are able to chant on their turn, the ritual is ruined and must be started anew. If the Gulthias tree (area area Y4) has been reduced to 0 hit points, the ritual won’t work. Druids who realize that the tree has been destroyed know enough not to attempt the ritual.
Strahd observes the proceedings, defending the druids if they are attacked and retreating if outmatched.
Development
If the characters are present when the druids complete the ritual, read:
A thirty-foot-tall plant creature bursts out of the statue, sending twigs and earth flying. The creature resembles a dead treant with green light seeping out of it.
The creature that erupts from the wooden statue is a tree blight (see area appendix D) that the druids call Wintersplinter. The green light comes from the magic gem embedded in its “heart.” The gem can be removed only when Wintersplinter is dead.
The druids command Wintersplinter to travel north and lay waste to the Wizard of Wines vineyard (area chapter 12). Although the characters might not understand what the druids are up to, they will no doubt wonder where the druids are sending the tree blight. As Wintersplinter travels north, its destination should become clear to characters who have previously visited the winery and the vineyard. Whether they try to halt its advance is up to them.
Once the tree blight departs, Strahd commands the druids and berserkers to leave the hill so that he can be alone. As they flee into the woods, he gazes longingly at the image of his ancestral homeland to the west (see area area Y5).
Blood Spear of Kavan
The spirit of Kavan, a long-dead barbarian chieftain, reaches out to one of the characters, preferably a barbarian, a druid, or a ranger. Read the following text to that character’s player:
You hear a whisper, a deep voice carried on the wind. “Long have I waited,” it says, “for one who is worthy. My spear hungers for blood. Retrieve it, and rule these mountains in my stead, just like the mighty warriors from the early days of the Whispering Wall.”
The character feels drawn to one of the cairns on the hillside (see area area Y2). When the character approaches within 30 feet of it, the presence of Kavan’s magic spear (see “Treasure” below) under the rocks is felt.
Treasure
The rocks of the cairn are heavy but can be rolled aside, revealing a