Located close to the shores of Lake Zarovich, the town of Vallaki (pronounced vah-lah-key) seems like a safe haven against the evils of the Svalich Woods, if not Strahd himself. The town lies beyond the sight of Castle Ravenloft and doesn’t, at first blush, seem as depressed (or oppressed) as the village of Barovia farther east. Characters who spend time in Vallaki, however, quickly realize that there is no happiness here, only false hope—which Strahd himself cultivates.
Vallaki was founded not long after Strahd’s armies conquered the valley by an ancestor of the town’s current burgomaster, Baron Vargas Vallakovich. The Vallakoviches have royal blood in their veins and have long believed themselves superior to the Zarovich line. Baron Vallakovich has deluded himself into believing that hope and happiness are the keys to Vallaki’s salvation. If he can make everyone in Vallaki happy, the burgomaster thinks that the town will somehow escape Strahd’s grasp and return to the forgotten world whence it came. He stages one festival after another to bolster the spirits of the townsfolk, but most Vallakians consider these festivals to be pointless, meaningless affairs more likely to incur Strahd’s wrath than to provide any hope for the future.
In the last festival, Baron Vallakovich had townsfolk parade through the streets with the severed heads of wolves on pikes. His next event, which the burgomaster has dubbed the Festival of the Blazing Sun, is soon to get under way (see the “area Special Events” section at the end of this chapter). Weatherworn garlands from previous festivals still hang from the eaves of Vallaki’s buildings, and work has begun on a large wicker sun, to be set ablaze in the town square on the day of the festival. In the days leading up to the festival, Baron Vallakovich has begun arresting local malcontents and throwing them in the stocks so that his efforts aren’t ruined by “those of little hope or faith.”
There is no light in the eyes of the men that feed off this land. They are as dead as the dead.
—Strahd von Zarovich
Approaching the Town
When the characters first approach Vallaki, read:
The Old Svalich Road meanders into a valley watched over by dark, brooding mountains to the north and south. The woods recede, revealing a sullen mountain burg surrounded by a wooden palisade. Thick fog presses up against this wall, as though looking for a way inside, hoping to catch the town aslumber.
The dirt road ends at a set of sturdy iron gates with a pair of shadowy figures standing behind them. Planted in the ground and flanking the road outside the gates are a half-dozen pikes with wolves' heads impaled on them.
A 15-foot-high wall encloses the town, its vertical logs held together with thick ropes and mortar. The top of each log has been sharpened to a point. Wooden scaffolding hugs the inside of the palisade twelve feet off the ground, enabling guards to peer over the wall there.
Town Gates
Three tall gates made of iron bars lead into town:
- The north gate is sometimes called the Zarovich Gate, or “the gate to the lake,” because it leads to Lake Zarovich (chapter 2, area area L).
- The west gate is referred to as the Sunset Gate, even though no living person in Vallaki has seen an undimmed sunset. A few abandoned cottages line the road outside this gate.
- The east gate is also known as the Morning Gate, or, as some locals like to call it, the Mourning Gate.
Heavy iron chains with iron padlocks keep the gates shut at night. During the day, the gates are closed but not typically locked.
Two town Guard (LG male and female humans) stand just inside each gate. Instead of spears, they carry pikes (reach 10 ft.,
If trouble breaks out at one of the gates, the guards there cry out, “To arms!” Their shouts are echoed across Vallaki, putting the entire town on alert within minutes. Vallaki has twenty-four human Guard, half of whom are on duty at any given time (six stand watch at the gates, six patrol the walls). The town can also muster a militia of fifty able-bodied human Commoner armed with clubs, daggers, and torches.
House Occupants
If the characters explore a residence other than the burgomaster’s mansion (area area N3), roll a
| d20 | Occupant |
|---|---|
| 1–3 | None |
| 4–5 | |
| 6–18 | Vallakian townsfolk |
| 19–20 | Vallakian cultists |
Rats
A house infested with rats appears abandoned at first. The rats are servants of Strahd and attack if the characters explore the interior of the house.
Townsfolk
A house of Vallakian townsfolk contains
Cultists
A cult haven contains
Vallaki Lore
In addition to the information known to all Barovians (see “area Barovian Lore” in chapter 2), Vallakians know the following bits of local lore:
- The Blue Water Inn (area area N2) offers food, wine, and shelter to visitors. A stranger with pointed ears is staying there. He came to Barovia from a distant land, riding into town on a carnival wagon.
- The burgomaster, Baron Vargas Vallakovich, has decreed that the Festival of the Blazing Sun will be held in the town square (area area N8) in three days. The previous festival, which he called the Wolf’s Head Jamboree, was less than a week ago.
- Vallaki has endured at least one festival every week for the past several years. Some Vallakians believe that the festivals keep the devil Strahd at bay. Others think they provide no protection or benefit whatsoever. Most consider them dismal affairs.
- Those who speak ill of the festivals are declared by the burgomaster to be in league with the devil Strahd and arrested. Some are thrown in the stocks (area area N8), while others are taken to the burgomaster’s mansion so that the baron can purge them of their evil.
- The burgomaster’s henchman, Izek Strazni, has a history of violence as well as a fiendish deformity: a monstrous arm with which he can conjure fire. Fear of Izek keeps the baron’s enemies at bay.
- No one hates the burgomaster more than Lady Fiona Wachter, who is often quoted as saying, “I’d rather serve the devil than a madman.” She owns an old house in town (area area N4) but rarely leaves her estate. Her two adult sons, Nikolai and Karl, are local troublemakers. Lady Wachter also has a mad daughter whom she keeps locked away. The burgomaster doesn’t confront Fiona or her offspring because he is afraid of Lady Wachter, whose family has old ties to Strahd.
- Purple flashes of light have been seen emanating from the attic of the burgomaster’s mansion.
- Wolves and dire wolves prowl the woods and aren’t afraid to attack travelers on the Old Svalich Road. Well-armed groups of hunters and trappers have managed to kill several of the wolves, but more keep coming.
- It’s too dangerous to go fishing on Lake Zarovich (chapter 2, area area L) , but the threat of Strahd’s wolves hasn’t stopped Bluto Krogarov, the town drunk, from trying. He sets out each morning and returns every evening, but hasn’t caught any fish in a while.
- There have been no recent sightings of the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok (chapter 2, area area M). Folks used to see him skulking along the north shore of Lake Zarovich, shooting lightning bolts into the water to kill the fish. (If the characters seem interested in meeting this wizard, locals recommend that they use the fishing boats on the south shore to cross the lake, because it’s shorter and a lot less dangerous than walking around the lake.)
- There’s a Vistani camp in the woods southwest of town (area area N9). The Vistani there aren’t very friendly. Vistani aren’t welcome in Vallaki.
- West of town is a haunted mansion (see chapter 7, “Argynvostholt”). Legend has it that a dragon died there long, long ago.
- South of town is a village that has been abandoned for decades. Its burgomaster committed some terrible offense and incurred the wrath of Strahd.
Areas of Vallaki
The following areas correspond to labels on the map of Vallaki above.
N1. St. Andral’s Church
No map of the church is provided. If one becomes necessary, assume that this church has the same configuration as the one in the village of Barovia (chapter 3, area area E5), but without the undercroft.
This slouching, centuries-old stone church has a bulging steeple in the back and walls lined with cracked, stained glass windows depicting pious saints. A fence of wrought iron encloses a garden of gravestones next to the church. A thin mist creeps among the graves.
This church is dedicated to the Morninglord and named after St. Andral, whose bones once rested under the altar (see the “Bones of St. Andral” section).
Father Lucian Petrovich (LG male human priest) oversees the church and does his best to raise spirits. Assisting him is an orphan and altar boy named Yeska (LG male human noncombatant). A brawny lad with a perpetually furrowed brow named Milivoj (see below) tends the grounds and digs graves.
At night, the church is packed with
Milivoj (N male human commoner) is rarely seen without a shovel, which he wields like a club. Modify his statistics as follows:
- His Strength is 15 (+2).
- His melee weapon attack bonus is +4, and he deals 4 (
1d4 + 2 ) bludgeoning damage when he hits with the blunt head of his shovel.
Milivoj rejects the burgomaster’s proclamation that “All will be well!” and is frustrated that he can’t protect his younger siblings. He wants to be free of Barovia’s curse but sees no hope of escape.
Bones of St. Andral
Until recently, the church was protected from Strahd’s depredations by the bones of St. Andral, which were sealed in a crypt beneath the church’s main altar. But now the church is at risk because someone broke into the crypt a few nights ago and stole the bones. Until recently, Father Lucian was the only person in Vallaki who knew about the bones, but he recalls mentioning them to Yeska over a month ago to put the fearful boy at ease. After the bones were stolen, Father Lucian asked Yeska if he told anyone else about the bones. The boy nodded but wouldn’t divulge a name.
The culprit is Milivoj, whom Father Lucian correctly suspects. But the priest has been reluctant to confront Milivoj because the lad is so temperamental. Father Lucian has not reported the theft for fear of the distress that the news might cause, and he doesn’t want to ruin the burgomaster’s festival. If the party includes a good-aligned cleric or paladin, Father Lucian mentions the theft in the hope that the characters can provide assistance.
St. Andral’s crypt is a 10-foot-square, 5-foot high chamber beneath the chapel. To reach the crypt, Milivoj used his shovel to pry up the chapel floorboards. (The boards have since been replaced.) If one of the characters confronts Milivoj and succeeds on a DC 10 Charisma (
The theft of the bones has left the church vulnerable to attack by Strahd’s minions (see “area St. Andral’s Feast” in the “area Special Events” section at the end of this chapter). If the bones are returned to their resting place, St. Andral’s church once again becomes hallowed ground, as though the building was protected by a
N2. Blue Water Inn
Gray smoke issues from the chimney of this large, two-story wooden building with a stone foundation and sagging tile roof, upon which several ravens have perched. A painted wooden sign hanging above the main entrance depicts a blue waterfall.
The Blue Water Inn is Vallaki’s main gathering place for locals, especially at night. The innkeeper, Urwin Martikov, considers the inn a sanctuary from the evils of this land. In the event of trouble, the windows and doors can all be barred shut from within.
A bed for the night costs 1 ep. Characters looking for something to eat are fed hot beet soup and fresh bread at no additional charge. A cooked wolf steak costs 1 ep.
The inn offers a pint of Purple Grapemash No. 3 wine for 3 cp, or a pint of the superior Red Dragon Crush wine for 1 sp. Urwin is hurt if the characters complain about the wines, for his family makes them.
The inn’s wine supply is almost depleted, and the latest delivery from the Wizard of Wines winery is overdue. If the characters claim to be adventurers, Urwin asks them if they would be so kind as to find out what’s holding up the latest shipment, promising them free room and board if they return with the wine.
Keepers of the Feather
Urwin Martikov (LG male human) is a wereraven (see area appendix D) and a high-ranking member of the Keepers of the Feather, a secret society of wereravens that opposes Strahd. Urwin’s wife and business partner, Danika Dorakova (LG female human), is also a wereraven, as are their two sons, Brom and Bray. The boys have only 7 hit points each and, at ages eleven and nine, are too young to be effective combatants.
At any given time, another
If the characters earn the trust of the wereravens in Vallaki, the Keepers of the Feather will watch their backs. The next time the characters get themselves in serious trouble, you can have a group of
Fortunes of Ravenloft
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is hidden at the inn, the Keepers of the Feather don’t reveal where the treasure is until they know the characters are capable of protecting it. As a way of testing their abilities, Urwin gives the characters the following quest:
Urwin takes you aside and keeps his voice low. “My supply of wine is nearly gone, and the next shipment is overdue. I’ll give you what you seek if you bring me my wine. The vineyard and winery is a few miles west of here. Just follow the Old Svalich Road and the signs.”
Urwin fails to mention that his cantankerous father, Davian Martikov, owns the local winery and vineyard, the Wizard of Wines (chapter 12). There’s bad blood between Urwin and his father (whom Urwin and Danika refer to as “the old crow”). Although Urwin could easily visit the winery himself, he considers dealing with his father to be a worthy test of the characters' competence, and he makes good on his promise if they complete the quest and return with his wine shipment.
Urwin sends a wereraven in raven form to observe the party’s progress from a distance. If the characters get in trouble, the wereraven reports to Urwin at once.
N2a. Well
A 3-foot-high stone rim surrounds the mouth of this 40-foot-deep, moss-lined well. The inn draws fresh water from this well.
N2b. Outside Staircase
A wooden staircase hugs the outer wall of the inn and leads up to guest quarters on the upper floor (area areas N2l and area N2m). The sturdy wooden door at the top of the stairs can be barred from the inside.
N2c. Taproom
Damp cloaks hang from pegs in the entrance portico. The tavern is packed with tables and chairs, with narrow paths meandering between them. A bar stretches along one wall, under a balcony that can be reached by a wooden staircase that hugs the north wall. Another balcony overhangs an entrance to the east. All the windows are fitted with thick shutters and crossbars. Lanterns hanging above the bar and resting on the tables bathe the room in dull orange light and cast shadows upon the walls, most of which are adorned with wolf heads mounted on wooden plaques.
The double doors leading into the taproom can be barred shut from within.
Mounted on braces and tucked into alcoves behind the bar are three wine barrels, each one three-quarters empty. Two of the barrels contain Purple Grapemash No. 3 (a cheap wine), and the third contains Red Dragon Crush (a fine wine). A brass spigot is hammered into each barrel.
Danika Martikov usually tends bar while her husband busies himself in the kitchen (area area N2e). Their boys, Brom and Bray, scamper about and easily get underfoot.
Between dawn and noon, there are no patrons here, and the Martikovs are upstairs in their bedrooms (area areas N2o and area N2p) or in the attic (area area N2q).
From noon to dusk, the taproom holds
Wolf Hunters
Szoldar Szoldarovich and Yevgeni Krushkin (N male human Scout) are local hunters who frequent the Blue Water Inn. They kill wolves and sell the meat for a living, and their work is dangerous and bloody. Both men are grim and have haunted looks in their eyes.
These two are dour fellows, but they seldom pass up an opportunity to earn coin. If the characters are looking for guides or information about the land of Barovia, Szoldar and Yevgeni can be of service. They aren’t afraid to venture beyond Vallaki’s walls during the day, and they know the woods and valley well. They’re willing to serve as guides for 5 gp per day, or to provide directions to important landmarks in exchange for free drinks. They think it’s foolish to travel “this cursed realm” at night and won’t do so unless their payment is exorbitant (100 gp or more).
On rare occasions when he has something to say, Szoldar speaks brusquely, while Yevgeni usually parrots his friend in not so many words. Szoldar has a notch in his bow for every wolf he’s killed, while Yevgeni adds a new swatch to his wolfskin cloak every time he makes a kill. Both men have families but spend most of their time together, either drowning their sorrows or hunting in the woods. Most of the wolf heads that adorn the tavern walls are the result of their handiwork.
Wachter Brothers
Nikolai and Karl Wachter (N male human Noble) are brothers of noble birth. They are brash drunkards always looking for trouble, though they are smart enough not to pick fights with well-armed strangers. Their mother, Fiona Wachter (see area area N4), is an influential figure in town, but her sons never talk about her. They’d rather listen to tales of the characters' harrowing adventures or hear about how the characters plan to free Vallaki from the burgomaster’s madness.
Rictavio
The lone guest of the Blue Water Inn at present is a colorfully dressed half-elf bard who goes by the name Rictavio—a false identity adopted by the legendary vampire hunter Rudolph van Richten (see appendix D). He regales tavern patrons with stories so outrageous as to be hardly believable, yet he asserts they are true indeed. Rictavio claims to be a carnival ringmaster from a distant land. He’s been staying at the inn for almost a month, taking advantage of Urwin Martikov’s generosity and good nature. When he arrived, he was accompanied by a monkey named Piccolo. The monkey wasn’t welcome at the inn, so Rictavio gave it to the local toymaker (see area area N7).
Rictavio admits to having no musical talent but manages to entertain locals nonetheless with his stories of faraway places. Twice each day, at dawn and again at dusk, he leaves the inn with a couple of apples and a cooked wolf steak wrapped in a handkerchief. He claims the food is for his portly friend, “the destitute toymaker” (area area N7) and his pet monkey. In fact, the apples are for his horse Drusilla (area area N2f), and the steak is for his captured saber-toothed tiger (area area N5).
During his stay at the inn, Rictavio is quietly gathering information on the Keepers of the Feather, trying to figure out the identities of all the wereravens in town. He’s also trying to learn as much as he can about the Vistani, particularly the ones living in the camp just outside town (area area N9). Once he concludes that they are in league with Strahd, Rictavio plans to unleash his trained saber-toothed tiger upon them, with or without the support of the wereravens.
Rictavio wears a
N2d. Wine Storage
This hallway contains three curtained alcoves as well as a larger area stuffed with wine barrels.
The Martikovs store their wine here. Tucked behind red curtains are three alcoves, each one containing a half-emptied wine barrel lying on its side in a wooden brace. Twelve empty wine barrels are piled two high near the door to the kitchen (area area N2e). All the barrels have the Wizard of Wines name burned into them.
Nine of the fifteen barrels, including two of the barrels in the curtained alcoves, have the following label burned into their sides, under the winery’s name: Purple Grapemash No. 3. Six of the fifteen barrels, including one of the barrels in the curtained alcoves, have a different label: Red Dragon Crush.
The double doors that lead outside can be barred shut from within.
N2e. Kitchen
This room looks like the kitchen of someone who loves to cook. It has piles of pots, walls lined with utensils and shelves of ingredients, and all manner of pleasant odors. Two lanterns hang above a sturdy pine worktable in the middle of the clutter. A pot of soup bubbles on the hearth.
Urwin Martikov, who prepares most of the meals, is found here throughout the day. He occasionally receives help from his two boys, but they are easily distracted. A cupboard against the east wall holds most of the inn’s supply of cutlery and dishware, none of it valuable. A door in the west wall leads outside and is usually barred from the inside.
A secret door at the west end of the south wall can be pushed open to reveal a wooden staircase that leads up to area area N2i.
N2f. Stable
The sliding wooden doors on the west wall of this room are held shut by an iron lock and chain. Urwin carries the key to the lock. The doors to the north and south can be barred shut from the inside but are usually unlocked.
You hear the squawking of birds and the plaintive whinny of a horse as you peer inside this stable. The stalls are clean and well maintained. One of them contains a gray mare. A small door is set into the east wall, and a wooden ladder gives access to a loft overhead. Perched on the wooden railing that encloses the loft are dozens of ravens.
Any character who has a horse can keep it here for 1 sp per night. The gray mare is a draft horse named Drusilla, and she likes apples. The horse belongs to Rictavio (see area area N2c).
The small door in the east wall can be pulled open to reveal area area N2g. The loft is described in area area N2h.
N2g. Storage
This small room lies under a wooden staircase (area area N2i). Hanging from wooden pegs are saddles and barding to equip two horses. In an unlocked wooden chest are a dozen horseshoes, a wooden mallet, and a mound of horseshoe nails.
N2h. Ravens' Loft
Dim light spilling in through a pair of dirt-encrusted windows reveals piles of hay with pitchforks sticking out of them. Ravens rule this roost—you can see hundreds of them.
Characters who search the loft thoroughly find three pitchforks and a locked wooden chest buried under a pile of hay (see “Treasure” below), next to a secret door. If the characters tamper with the chest, the ravens gather into four Swarm of Ravens and attack. If two swarms are killed, the others flee. Otherwise, they cease their attacks if the characters leave the chest alone. If the fighting continues for more than 3 rounds, Urwin Martikov and two other wereravens hear the ruckus and investigate (in human form).
A secret door in the back of the loft can be pushed open to reveal a bedchamber (area area N2p) beyond. No ability check is required to spot the secret door, because light in the room beyond slips through the door’s cracks.
Treasure
Inside the locked chest are 140 ep, 70 pp, two
N2i. Secret Stairs and Hall
A wooden staircase to the north descends fifteen feet to a landing. A window dimly illuminates a short, wood-paneled hallway that runs west to east.
Guests aren’t told about the inn’s secret hallway. Rictavio knows of its existence because he has heard the Martikov boys opening and closing the secret door closest to his room (area area N2n).
At each end of this area is a secret door, each of which is easy to spot from inside the hallway (no ability check required). The northern secret door, at the bottom of the staircase, can be pulled open to reveal the kitchen (area area N2e) beyond. The eastern secret door can be pulled open to reveal a balcony (area area N2j) that overlooks the taproom.
N2j. Great Balcony
A wooden balcony stretches the full length of the taproom, enclosed by a wooden railing carved with raven motifs. The taproom’s many lanterns illuminate the rafters and cast ominous shadows on the peaked ceiling.
The balcony floor is 15 feet above the taproom floor.
A secret door at the south end of the western wall can be pushed open to reveal a wood-paneled hallway (area area N2i) beyond.
N2k. Guest Balcony
This twenty-foot-long balcony provides a clear view of the bar and has a wooden railing carved with raven motifs. The taproom’s many lanterns illuminate the rafters and cast ominous shadows on the peaked ceiling.
The balcony floor is 15 feet above the taproom floor.
N2l. Guest Rooms
These two rooms have identical furnishings.
Two cozy beds with matching footlockers rest in the far corners of this fifteen-foot-square room. Wolf furs are heaped atop each bed. Between the beds, a lamp sits on a table under a shuttered window. Two tall black wardrobes stand against the wall by the door.
The door to this room can be locked from the inside, and each guest gets a key. Urwin and Danika carry spare keys. The footlockers and wardrobes are empty and are for the use of guests.
N2m. Guest Room
Four plain beds with straw mattresses line the north wall of this well-lit room. Each bed comes with a matching footlocker to store clothing and other belongings. A table and four chairs occupy the corner across from the door. An oil lamp resting on the table casts a bright yellow flame.
The door to this room can be locked from the inside, and each guest receives a key. Urwin and Danika carry spare keys. The footlockers are empty and are for the use of guests.
N2n. Private Guest Room
Rictavio has a key to this room, which is locked at all times. Urwin and Danika carry spare keys. The door’s lock can be picked, but discretion is called for because the door is in plain view of the taproom below.
This small guest room contains a bed heaped with wolf furs, a footlocker, a tall wardrobe, and a writing desk with matching chair. An oil lamp rests atop the desk near a journal bound in a red leather jacket.
Rictavio sleeps here between midnight and dawn. At dawn, he leaves to check on his horse (area area N2f) and his wagon (area area N5), returning to the inn around noon. Between noon and dusk, there’s a 40 percent chance he is here; otherwise, he’s in the taproom (area area N2c). At dusk, he leaves the inn to tend to his horse and his wagon again, then returns to his room to retire for the night.
Rictavio is too clever to leave anything valuable or incriminating in his room. The footlocker and the wardrobe contain nothing but common clothes and travel wear.
Rictavio’s Journal
The journal on the desk is a bit of artifice that Rictavio created to perpetuate the illusion that he is an entertainer in search of new acts for his traveling carnival. His writing makes frequent mention of conversations with Drusilla (which the journal fails to mention is the name of Rictavio’s horse) and recounts many long and tedious journeys by wagon. Rictavio has also written about various “oddities” he has seen in his travels, including the following:
- A “werehare” child (a boy who transforms into a rabbit on nights of the full moon)
- A half-orc woman named Gorabacha who could chew through iron chains
- A giant, man-eating plant that had the most remarkable singing voice
- A pair of conjoined goblins
- A small man with no legs named Filmore Stunk, who could drink whole casks of wine without getting drunk
N2o. Boys' Bedroom
A large, painted toy box rests between two small, cozy beds. Murals of ravens in flight are painted on the walls above the wood paneling.
Brom and Bray Martikova don’t spend much time in this room. The toy box contains a pile of neglected toys, many of them etched with the slogan “Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!” The toys include the following:
- A miniature puppet theater with appropriately sized marionettes of a king, a queen, a prince, a princess, an executioner, a tax collector, a dunce, a vampire, and a vampire hunter
- A garish toy Vistani wagon hitched to a wooden horse and filled with tiny wooden Vistani figures
- A pair of painted wooden clown masks, one displaying a mean scowl and the other a frightened expression
- A wooden top painted with images of scarecrows chasing children through the forest
- A stuffed (real) bat on puppet strings
A hidden trapdoor in the 8-foot-high ceiling opens into a secret attic (area area N2q).
N2p. Master Bedroom
Matching end tables flank a large wood-framed bed with a red silk canopy. Across from the bed hangs a tapestry depicting a beautiful mountain valley. The other walls are dominated by a fireplace and a wardrobe.
Urwin and Danika retire to this room every night before heading to the attic (area area N2q) to sleep. This room is for appearances only and contains no valuables.
A secret door at the west end of the south wall can be pulled open to reveal the loft beyond (area area N2h).
A hidden trapdoor in the 8-foot-high ceiling opens into a secret attic (area area N2q).
N2q. Secret Attic
This ten-foot-wide, thirty-five-foot-long attic has a ceiling that slants down toward the west, dropping from a height of eight feet to a height of five feet. Four straw nestscover the floor, and a locked iron strongbox sits against the north wall. A small square opening in the south wall leads outside. Two trapdoors with iron hinges are set into the floor.
The Martikovs sleep here at night in hybrid form. The opening in the south wall is just big enough for a raven or other Tiny creature to pass through. The wereravens can use this opening as an escape route.
The strongbox is described in “Treasure” below.
Two trapdoors, clearly visible on the floor, can be pulled open to reveal the bedchambers (area areas N2o and area N2p) that lie directly beneath them.
Treasure
Urwin carries the key to the locked iron strongbox. The lock can be picked with thieves' tools and a successful DC 20 Dexterity check. The box contains a sack of 150 ep (each coin bearing the profiled visage of Strahd von Zarovich), six pieces of jewelry (worth 250 gp each), and three
Fortunes of Ravenloft
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it is in the iron strongbox.
N3. Burgomaster’s Mansion
This mansion has walls of plastered stone that display many scars where the plaster has fallen away from age and neglect. Drapes cover every window, including a large, arched opening above the mansion’s double entrance doors.
People come and go from the mansion at all hours during the day. Guards bring criminals cited for “malicious unhappiness.” Men and women arrive carrying bundles of twigs, which are piled about the mansion’s grand foyer (area area N3a) until the construction of the wicker sun for the Festival of the Blazing Sun gets under way.
If the characters knock on the front doors, a maid (LG female human commoner) lets them in, escorts them to the den (area area N3e), and leaves to fetch the baron.
Roleplaying the Vallakovich Family
Use the following information to roleplay the burgomaster and his family.
The Baron
The burgomaster, Baron Vargas Vallakovich (NE male human noble), is a ruthless heel who prides himself on his good breeding and finely honed leadership skills. He stages repeated celebrations to foster happiness, and his “All will be well!” catchphrase has become a sad and tiresome punchline. Baron Vallakovich has convinced himself that if he can make everyone in Vallaki happy, the town will slip free of Strahd’s dark grasp.
The baron has a brittle ego, and he lashes out at anyone who pokes fun at his festivals or treats him disrespectfully. He has two pet mastiffs that follow him everywhere, as well as a murderous and deformed henchman named Izek Strazni (see area appendix D). In addition to his weapons, Izek carries an iron ring of keys that unlock the stocks in the town square (area area N8).
If the characters get on his bad side, the baron accuses them of being “spies of the devil Strahd” and sends twelve Guard to arrest them, seize their weapons, and run them out of town. If the guards fail in their duty, the baron sends Izek to rally a mob of thirty Commoner to lynch the party. If the commoners also fail, the baron summons the twelve remaining guards to defend his mansion, giving characters the run of the town.
If the characters get on his good side, he insists that they join him in the next festival as special guests and asks that they tell everyone that all will, indeed, be well.
Two members of the baron’s household staff have vanished in the past week: the butler and the baroness’s lady-in-waiting. The baron has charged Izek with finding out what happened to them, but investigation isn’t Izek’s forte. Searches have been organized, to no avail.
The Baroness
At the risk of sacrificing her sanity, the baron’s wife, Lydia Petrovna (LG female human commoner), has embraced her husband’s philosophy of happiness. She laughs at the baron’s every comment, to the extent that it has become a nervous reflex, and she tries to spread good cheer by throwing daily tea-and-sandwich parties in the parlor for her “dearest friends,” many of them poor folk who tolerate the baroness only because they crave something warm to eat and drink. Lydia is a gods-fearing woman and the younger sister of the town priest, Father Lucian Petrovich. She is a descendant of Tasha Petrovna, a priest entombed in Castle Ravenloft (chapter 4, area K84, area crypt 11).
The Baronet
The baron’s miserable son, Victor Vallakovich (NE male human mage), has confined himself to the attic (area area N3t), where he is content to avoid the unwanted attention of his mother and the disapproving glares of his father. Years ago, Victor found an old spellbook in the mansion’s library and used it to teach himself magic. He has been busy constructing a
N3a. Entrance Hall and Vestibule
Framed portraits adorn the walls of this grand foyer, which features a wide staircase with a sculpted railing. A long, carpeted hall attached to the foyer stretches almost the length of the mansion and has several doors leading away from it, including one at the far end. Bundles of twigs are heaped against the walls.
The twigs are being stored here until they can be fashioned into a wooden effigy of the sun (for the Festival of the Blazing Sun).
The stairs climb to the upstairs gallery (area area N3i).
The portraits depict the baron, his family, and their ancestors. Close inspection reveals that some of the people portrayed look very much alike.
Tucked in the northeast corner of the foyer is a vestibule packed with fine cloaks, coats, and boots.
N3b. Parlor
This parlor contains a fine array of furnishings and draperies, with an overall feminine touch.
The baroness sometimes entertains guests here.
N3c. Dining Room
Characters can hear the chatter of female voices as they approach this room. The first time they peer inside, read:
A chandelier of wrought iron fitted with wax candles hangs above a polished wooden dining table. Around the table are seated eight women of various ages in comfortable, high-backed chairs. They wear faded clothes, drink tea, and devour cake while a ninth woman, well dressed and very pleased with herself, circles the table and talks excitedly about decorations for the impending festival.
The women seated at the table are eight Vallakian peasants (female Commoner) invited to spend time with the baroness, Lydia Petrovna, who is bribing them with tea and cake. Lydia has assigned these women the task of stitching children’s costumes and weaving together a wicker sun for the Festival of the Blazing Sun.
Lydia assumes that the characters are here at the invitation of her husband, the burgomaster. She calls for the maid to take them to the den (area area N3e) and then to inform Baron Vallakovich (see area area N2l) that his guests have arrived.
A serving table stands in one corner of the dining hall.
N3d. Preparation Room
White sheets cover two plain wooden tables in the center of this room. Neatly arranged atop one table is a complete set of polished silverware. The other table is covered with wicker baskets containing turnips and beets.
The beets and turnips are for the Festival of the Blazing Sun (see the “area Special Events” section at the end of this chapter).
Treasure
The silverware set is worth 150 gp.
N3e. Den
Characters who ask to see the burgomaster are brought here.
Padded chairs and couches line the walls of this cozy, carpeted den. The room reeks of pipe smoke, and mounted on the east wall is the head of an angry-looking brown bear.
The mounted bear’s head is meant to unnerve visitors. It serves as a subtle warning not to antagonize the burgomaster, who spends most of his time in the library (area area N3l). Although the burgomaster claims that his father killed the bear, the head was actually a gift given to his family by the late Szoldar Grygorovich, father of the wolf hunter Szoldar Szoldarovich (area area N2).
N3f. Servants' Quarters
This room contains four simple beds and an equal number of plain wooden trunks.
The household staff consists of a maid (LG female human commoner) and a cook (LG male human commoner). The other two beds belonged to the butler and the baroness’s lady-in-waiting, both of whom have gone missing (see area area N3t). The trunks contain the staff’s clothing and uniforms.
N3g. Kitchen
A cook wearing a white apron over a black smock busies himself in this warm, well-appointed kitchen. A staircase in one corner climbs to the upper floor.
The staircase leads to the upstairs gallery (area area N3i). A door in the west wall leads to a garden outside. The door is usually locked, and both the cook and the burgomaster carry keys to unlock it.
N3h. Pantry
This pantry contains shelves of foodstuffs, although half of the shelves are bare. Two barrels of wine stand against the east wall.
The pantry has not been fully stocked for as long as anyone can remember. The two barrels contain a fine wine called Red Dragon Crush, created by the Wizard of Wines winery—facts burned into the side of each barrel.
N3i. Upstairs Gallery
If the characters arrive here from the entrance hall (area area N3a), read:
The staircase climbs twenty feet to a beautifully appointed gallery that continues toward the west, running almost the length of the mansion. Framed landscape paintings line the walls, and red silk drapes cover a ten-foot-tall arched window of leaded glass.
If the characters arrive here from the kitchen (area area N3g), read:
The staircase climbs to a ten-foot-wide gallery that stretches almost the length of the mansion. Breathtaking paintings of landscapes line the walls. Two separate, narrow hallways lead away from the gallery to the north.
N3j. Izek’s Bedroom
The door to this room is locked. Izek Strazni carries the only key.
The following description assumes the characters have met Ireena Kolyana (see chapter 3, area area E4). If the characters haven’t met her, don’t read the last sentence.
Dolls. This room is full of pretty little dolls with powder-white skin and auburn hair, some of them dressed beautifully, others plainly. Some of the dolls fill a long bookshelf, and others are arranged in neat rows on wall-mounted shelves. Still others are piled atop a bed and a heavy wooden chest. What’s most odd is that all of the dolls, apart from their clothing, look the same. They all look like Ireena Kolyana.
The burgomaster’s monstrous henchman, Izek Strazni (see area appendix D), sleeps here at night. During the day, he is in town taking care of his master’s business. Izek’s chest is unlocked and contains a heap of wrinkled clothes, under which is a nonmagical shortsword.
A thorough search of the room reveals a few empty wine bottles under the bed. The label on each bears the winery’s name, the Wizard of Wines, and wine’s name, Purple Grapemash No. 3.
Izek’s Doll Collection
Each doll has a small tag stitched into its clothing that reads “Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!” Izek had the local toymaker, Gadof Blinsky (area area N7), craft the dolls in Ireena’s likeness.
N3k. Victor’s Bedroom
This handsomely appointed room contains a canopied bed, a low bookshelf, and a full-length mirror in a wooden frame on the wall across from the door. Set into the north wall is an arched window of leaded glass. Nothing here seems unusual.
Nothing about his bedroom betrays Victor’s deviant nature or magical proclivities. The books include collections of Barovian fables and tomes about mythology, heraldry, and other innocuous subjects.
N3l. Library
Floor-to-ceiling shelves line every wall of this windowless room, and the number of books contained here is nothing short of astounding.A brass oil lamp sits atop a large desk in the center of the room. The chair behind the desk is comfortably padded and has the symbol of a roaring bear stitched into its back cushion.
If the burgomaster has not been drawn elsewhere, he is here. Add:
Standing behind the chair, holding an open book, is a bear of a man. His breastplate, rapier, silk tunic, and greasy beard glisten in the lamplight. Resting on small rugs to his left and right are a pair of black mastiffs.
Baron Vargas Vallakovich never goes anywhere without his two Mastiff. A paranoid man, he wears his breastplate and rapier even while relaxing in his library. Two of his servants, the butler and his wife’s lady-in-waiting, have vanished without a trace in the past week, so he has good cause to be worried.
The baron believes that everyone else is beneath him, and those who question his word or challenge his authority must be humbled. He won’t pick a fight with well-armed strangers, however. If he can’t make the characters yield to his authority, he swallows his pride until he can circle around with Izek Strazni and assemble his guards to run them out of town.
The baron’s desk contains three drawers stuffed with blank sheets of parchment, jars of ink, and writing quills. It also holds thick books of tax records dating back to the times of the baron’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.
The baron wears a signet ring and carries three keys: one that unlocks the outside door in area area N3g, and two keys for the door and the manacles in area area N3m.
Treasure
The Vallakovich book collection contains old, leather-bound tomes on virtually every subject. Use the Random Books table (see chapter 4, area area K37) to determine the subject matter of a particular book.
N3m. Locked Closet
The door to this room is locked. The baron carries the key.
Chained to the back wall of this otherwise empty closet is a badly beaten man wearing nothing but a loincloth. The iron shackles have cut into his wrists, causing blood to trickle down his hands.
The man is a Vallakian shoemaker named Udo Lukovich (LN male human commoner). He was arrested during the Wolf’s Head Jamboree for carrying a sign that suggested that Vallakians should feed the baron to the wolves.
Baron Vallakovich has the key to Udo’s manacles. The manacles break if they take 10 damage or more from a single weapon attack.
If the characters release Udo, his first desire is to return to his home. Later, he plans to tell Father Lucian (see area area N1) of his ill treatment in the burgomaster’s estate. If the baron discovers that Udo has escaped or been set free, he sends Izek to find the shoemaker and bring him back for further questioning. Under great duress, Udo provides the names or descriptions of those who liberated him, turning the burgomaster against the characters.
N3n. Master Bedroom Closet
Cloaks, coats, gowns, and other fancy apparel hang from hooks in this closet. Arranged on low shelves are many fine shoes, slippers, and boots.
N3o. Master Bedroom
Time has faded the grandeur of this master bedroom. The furnishings have lost some of their color and splendor. A short pull-rope hangs from a wooden trapdoor in the ceiling.
The baron and the baroness sleep in one bed at night. Nothing of value is kept here.
The trapdoor in the ceiling can be pulled down to reveal an attic room (area area N3r). An unfolding wooden ladder allows easy access.
N3p. Bridal Gown and Spirit Mirror
This room smells of powder and fine perfume. A vanity with a mirror stands against one wall next to a faceless wooden mannequin wearing a white bridal gown. Mounted on another wall is a full-length mirror with a gilded frame. A door in one corner leads to a garderobe.
The baroness used to while away long hours in this room, fondling her perfume collection and searching for solace in her own reflection. Since her lady-in-waiting went missing several days ago, the baroness has spent almost no time here.
Bridal Gown
The white gown stored here belongs to the baroness. It reminds her of happier times.
Magic Mirror
A
Magic mirror on the wall,
Summon forth your shade;
Night’s dark vengeance, heed my call
And wield your murderous blade.
The entity in the mirror is the spirit of a nameless assassin who once belonged to a secret society called the Ba’al Verzi. If a creature speaks the rhyme while standing within 5 feet of the mirror and staring at its own reflection, the assassin’s ghost appears nearby. The form that the spirit takes depends on the alignment of the one who summoned it:
Non-evil Summoner
If the summoner isn’t evil, the spirit assumes solid form, appearing as a darkly handsome thirty-year-old man with bloodshot eyes. He has the statistics of an assassin but doesn’t speak, and he disappears into the ether if reduced to 0 hit points. The assassin’s summoner can command him to kill one living creature within Strahd’s domain that the summoner mentions by name. The assassin automatically knows the distance and direction to the named target. The assassin attacks any other creature that tries to prevent him from completing his assignment. Once he completes his task, the assassin disappears. If commanded to attack a creature that is either dead or undead, or if he isn’t given an appropriate name within 1 round of being summoned, the assassin disappears.
- Evil Summoner. If the summoner is evil, the ghost manifests as a pair of floating, bloodshot eyes and strong, spectral hands. The hands try to wrap themselves around the summoner’s neck. The spectral eyes and hands have the statistics of a ghost, but without the Etherealness and Possession actions. The ghost attacks its summoner until one or the other drops to 0 hit points, at which point it disappears.
Once the power of the mirror is used, the mirror becomes dormant until the next dawn. The mirror has AC 10, 5 hit points, and immunity to poison and psychic damage. Destroying it lays the assassin’s spirit to rest, causing the manifestation to disappear if it is present.
The mirror corrupts those who use it to do evil. Summoning the assassin isn’t evil, but using him to commit murder is. Each time a creature uses the mirror for this purpose, there is a cumulative 25 percent chance that the creature’s alignment shifts to neutral evil.
If a character touches the mirror and speaks Strahd’s name, there is a 50 percent chance that Strahd takes notice and appears on the mirror’s surface. In this form, the vampire can’t be harmed. He tries to charm one humanoid he can see within 30 feet of the mirror. Whether the target resists the effect or not, Strahd’s smiling visage invites the characters to dine at Castle Ravenloft, then fades away. A creature
N3q. Bathroom
An iron tub with clawed feet stands against the back wall. Neatly folded towels rest atop a table near the door.
N3r. Attic Room
Characters are most likely to enter this room via a trapdoor in the ceiling of the master bedroom (area area N3o).
This dusty, twenty-foot-square room has a high-pitched ceiling that reaches its peak twenty feet above. The wooden rafters are shrouded in cobwebs. Except for an old table with a lantern on it, the room is empty.
A door in the south wall can be pulled open to area area N3s.
N3s. Attic Storage
This large attic is full of old, forgotten things draped in white sheets. Piled around them are barrels, crates, trunks, and old furnishings covered with cobwebs and dust. You see a clear footpath through the maze.
Characters can follow a single set of human footprints in the dust that lead to area area N3t.
Searching through the junk in this attic uncovers a few old paintings and antiques, but nothing of value.
Fortunes of Ravenloft
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, the item is hidden in a trunk. Each character has a cumulative 20 percent chance of finding the item for every hour the character spends searching the attic.
N3t. Victor’s Workroom
Victor spends most of his time here, leaving only when he needs food or spell components. When the characters first set eyes on the door to this room, read:
Someone has carved a large skull into this door. Hanging from the doorknob is a wooden sign that reads “ALL IS NOT WELL!” You hear a young man’s voice beyond.
Anyone who inspects the carving and succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (
The voice belongs to Victor. He is reading aloud from his spellbook. Anyone who listens at the door and succeeds on a DC 14 Intelligence (
If the characters open the door, read:
Someone has taken old, mismatched furniture and created a study is this dusty, lamplit chamber. Tables are strewn with pieces of parchment, on which strange diagrams are drawn, and a freestanding bookshelf holds a collection of bones. A dusty rug covers the floor in front of a pine box, on which lounges a skeletal cat. Several more skeletal cats skulk about. Most unnerving of all is the sight of three small children standing with their backs to you in the northeast corner of the room.
If the characters trigger the
In the center of the room, perched on a stool, is a thin young man with a premature streak of gray in his dark hair. He cradles an open leather-bound book in his arms.
Victor found a spellbook in his father’s library and is using it to teach himself the art of spellcasting. Only recently has he been able to decipher some of its high-level spells. He’s a weird, awkward, and off-putting fellow who is dangerous only if threatened.
For practice and for fun, Victor dug up some old cat bones behind the Wachter estate (see area area N4) and animated them, creating six cat skeletons (use the cat stat block, but give them
The “children” standing in the corner are painted wooden dolls dressed in clothing that Victor wore as a child. He pretends they are his disobedient pupils.
The sheets of parchment are covered with elaborate diagrams of teleportation circles. Victor drew them in an effort to learn the
The trunk contains several bolts of silk cloth, needles and thread, and a half-finished wizard’s robe. Victor started to make the robe for himself but found the work tedious and stopped.
Teleportation Circle
Victor’s spellbook contains incomplete text for a
Victor recently inscribed his own version of a teleportation circle on the floor. It’s hidden under the rug so that his parents don’t find it. In the past couple of weeks, Victor has managed to imbue the circle with magic, but he failed to account for several factors. His circle doesn’t fade after use, nor does it function like the
Victor has tested his circle on two reluctant servants (compelled by his
Treasure
Victor’s spellbook contains all the spells Victor has prepared (see the mage stat block in the Monster Manual) as well as the following spells:
N4. Wachterhaus
This house seems disgusted with itself. A slouching roof hangs heavy over furrowed gables, and moss-covered walls sag and bulge under the weight of the vegetation. As you study the house’s sullen countenance, you hear the edifice actually groan. Only then do you realize the extent to which the house hates what it has become.
The Wachter family, once an influential noble line in Barovia, owns and occupies a mansion in Vallaki. The house’s reigning governess, Fiona Wachter, is a loyal servant of Strahd. She seeks to supplant Baron Vallakovich as the town burgomaster.
Roleplaying
Use the following information to roleplay Lady Wachter, her family, and her associates.
Lady of the House
Lady Fiona Wachter (LE female human priest with AC 10 and no armor) makes no secret of her family’s long-standing loyalty to the von Zarovich line. She believes that Strahd von Zarovich is no tyrant but, at worst, a negligent landlord. She would happily serve Strahd as burgomaster of Vallaki, but she knows that Baron Vargas Vallakovich won’t give up his birthright without a fight.
Fiona conspired to wed her young daughter, Stella, to the baron’s son, Victor, as part of a plot to gain a foothold in the baron’s mansion, but Stella found Victor to be demented, and he showed no interest in Stella whatsoever. In fact, he spoke such unkind words to Stella that she went mad, and Fiona had to lock her daughter away (see area area N4n).
Lady Wachter’s latest scheme to gain control of Vallaki is far more diabolical. She has started a cult based on devil worship and has written a manifesto that she reads to her “book club,” which is made up of the most fanatical group members. Inspired by her words, these zealots have created smaller cults of their own. Once her cult has enough members, Fiona plans to take the town by force. To reward her most loyal followers, she has her pet imp stand invisibly in the center of a pentagram, then performs a false ritual that calls upon “princes of darkness” to lavish their appreciation upon the cultists. The imp then sprinkles onto the floor a few electrum coins, which Lady Wachter allows the cultists to keep.
Another secret of Fiona’s is that she sleeps with the corpse of her dead husband, Nikolai, who died of sickness nearly three years ago and whom Fiona cherished. Lady Wachter casts
If the characters come to Wachterhaus looking for help to overthrow the burgomaster, Lady Wachter is all ears and suggests they start by killing the baron’s evil henchman, Izek Strazni. She’s happy to take care of the rest. If they come looking for a way to defeat Strahd, Lady Wachter turns them away, stating in no uncertain terms that she is not, nor ever will be, Strahd’s enemy.
Lady Wachter has a different list of prepared spells from that of the priest in the Monster Manual:
Cantrips (at will):
light ,mending ,thaumaturgy 1st level (4 slots):
command ,purify food and drink ,sanctuary 2nd level (3 slots):
augury ,gentle repose ,hold person 3rd level (2 slots):
animate dead ,create food and water
Fiona’s Sons
Fiona sees a lot of her husband in her sons, Nikolai and Karl (N male human Noble), who have grown into young men with a fondness for wine and trouble. They aren’t home during the day, because they don’t like attending to their mother or listening to her tiresome prattle. The characters might encounter them at the Blue Water Inn (area area N2) or wandering about town. The brothers are home most nights, passed out in their beds after hours of heavy drinking.
Nikolai and Karl have none of their mother’s ambition or mean temper. They are aware of her cult, but they don’t know that she sleeps with their dead father. This would be unwelcome news and probably turn them against their mother. They want only to spend their mother’s money and make the most of their miserable situation, trapped as they are within the walls of Vallaki under the control of Strahd and his puppet, the baron.
Fiona’s Spy
Fiona employs a money-grubbing spy named Ernst Larnak (LE male human) to keep her informed about everything that happens in town. Ernst knows Lady Wachter’s secrets, and he would blackmail her in a heartbeat if their relationship went sour.
N4a. Front Door and Vestibule
The front door is locked and reinforced with bronze bands. All of the servants carry a key, as do Lady Wachter and Ernst Larnak. The door can be forced open with a successful DC 20 Strength check.
If the characters knock on the front door, a servant opens a small window cut into the door at eye height and asks their business. Suspicious-looking strangers aren’t invited inside, in case they’re vampires.
The front door opens into a narrow vestibule. Three stained-glass doors in wooden frames lead from it.
Two closets flank the front door. The western closet contains Lady Wachter’s outdoor clothes; the eastern one contains coats and boots that belong to her children.
N4b. Staircase
A wooden staircase leads up to a balcony. At the foot of the stairs is a landing with three stained-glass doors in wooden frames.
The staircase climbs 15 feet to the upstairs hall (area area N2l).
N4c. Kitchen
The house cook (see area area N4h) rushes about this spotless kitchen most of the day, preparing meals or cleaning up after himself. A washbasin stands in the northeast corner. A slender door in the west wall leads to a small pantry.
N4d. Storage Room
This room holds crates of old clothing, as well as three barrels of drinking water, two empty wine barrels, and one full wine barrel. The wine barrels are emblazoned with the winery name, the Wizard of Wines, and the wine’s name, Red Dragon Crush.
N4e. Back Vestibule
The back door is locked and similar to the front door (area area N4a) in every respect. The vestibule has plain wooden doors leading to area areas N4d, area N4f, and area N4h.
N4f. Servants' Closet
Servants' coats and aprons hang from hooks in this room, and boots are neatly lined up against the wall.
Anyone who searches the closet and makes a successful DC 10 Wisdom (
N4g. Secret Staircase
Iron torch sconces cling to the wall of a stone staircase that cuts its way through the heart of the old house.
The stairs connect the servants' closet (area area N4f) with the cellar (area area N4s). Lady Wachter uses this staircase to reach her secret cult lair (area area N4t).
N4h. Servants' Quarters
The furnishing in this room are bereft of imagination: four simple beds with equally austere wooden chests.
Lady Wachter’s four servants (N male and female Commoner) sleep here at night. They include a cook named Dhavit, two maids named Madalena and Amalthia, and a valet named Haliq. The servants know Lady Wachter’s secrets, but they would sooner die than betray her.
N4i. Parlor
Lady Wachter greets her guests here, under the watchful eyes of her dead husband.
Here three elegant couches surround an oval table made of black glass. All are set in front of a blazing hearth, above which hangs the portrait of a smirking nobleman sporting a broken nose and a tangle of hair graying at the temples. Several smaller portraits hang on the north wall.
The portrait above the mantel depicts Lord Nikolai Wachter, Fiona’s late husband (of whom his sons are the spitting image). The other portraits depict Lady Wachter, her sons, her daughter, and various deceased family members.
The parlor shares the fireplace with the den (area area N4k). Ernst Larnak lurks in the den and eavesdrops on any conversation that Lady Wachter has with the characters, so that he can advise her after they depart.
N4j. Dining Room
An ornate dining table stretches the length of this room, a crystal chandelier hanging above it imperiously. The silverware is tarnished, the dishes chipped, yet all are still quite elegant. Eight chairs, their backs adorned with sculpted elk horns, surround the table. Arched windows made of a latticework of iron and glass look out onto the small, fog-swept estate.
If the characters aim to oppose the burgomaster, Lady Wachter offers them a warm meal in the dining room as a token of her support and allegiance.
N4k. Den
Wood paneling, embroidered rugs, colorful furnishings, and a blazing fire make this chamber stifling. Mounted above the mantel is an elk’s head. Across from the hearth, tall, slender windows look out over dead gardens.
Ernst Larnak, Lady Wachter’s spy, lounges here when he’s not out spying on her behalf.
Treasure
The room contains several items of value, including a golden goblet (worth 250 gp) from which Ernst drinks wine, a crystal wine decanter (worth 250 gp), four electrum candelabras (worth 25 gp each), and a bronze urn with frolicking children painted on its sides (worth 100 gp).
N4l. Upstairs Hall
A hallway with a window at each end wraps around the staircase railing. Framed portraits and mirrors festoon the walls, surrounding you with judging looks and dark reflections. You hear something scratching at one of the many doors.
The scratching noise comes from the door to area area N4n, which is locked. If the characters call out, a plaintive female voice meows like a cat and says, “Can little kitty come out to play? Little kitty is sad and lonely and promises to be good this time, really she does.” A closet at the south end of the hallway holds blankets and linens.
N4m. Brothers' Rooms
This bedroom contains nothing out of the ordinary: a neatly made bed, a table with an oil lamp on it, a handsome wooden chest, a slender wardrobe, and a window box with drapes.
These two rooms belong to Lady Wachter’s sons, Nikolai and Karl. There’s a 25 percent chance that one of the maids (see area area N4h) is here, tidying up.
N4n. Stella’s Room
The door to this room is locked from both sides, and only Lady Wachter has a key.
This room is musty and dark. An iron-framed bed fitted with leather straps stands near a wall. The place has no other furnishings.
Scurrying away from you on all fours is a young woman in a soiled nightgown. She leaps onto the bed and hisses like a cat. “Little kitty doesn’t know you!” she shouts. “Little kitty doesn’t like the smell of you!”
The young woman is Stella Wachter (CG female human commoner), Lady Wachter’s insane daughter. A
N4o. Master Bedroom
The door to this room is locked. Lady Wachter and her servants carry keys. A ghastly sight awaits those who peer into the room:
Across from the door, a fire sputters and struggles for life in the hearth, above which hangs a framed family portrait: a noble father and mother, their two young sons, and a baby daughter in the father’s arms. The sons are smiling in a way that suggests mischief. The parents look like uncrowned royalty.
Wood paneling covers the walls of the room. A closet and a framed mirror flank a curtained window to the south. To the north, a wide, canopied bed lies pinned between matching end tables with oil lamps. Stretched out on one side of the bed is a man dressed in black, his eyes each covered with a copper piece. He bears a striking resemblance to the father in the painting.
Lady Wachter’s husband, Nikolai, lies in his bed, impeccably dressed, quite deceased, and under the effect of the
The closet contains shelves of fancy footwear and many fine garments, including a black ceremonial robe with a hood (similar to the ones worn by the cult fanatics in area area N4t). On a high shelf rests a locked iron chest. Lady Wachter hides the key to the chest on a tiny hook in the fireplace, under the mantel. A character who takes a minute to search the fireplace finds the key with a successful DC 10 Wisdom (
The iron chest is lined with thin sheets of lead and contains the bones of Leo Dilisnya, an enemy of the Wachter family. Leo was one of the soldiers who betrayed and murdered Strahd on the day of Sergei and Tatyana’s wedding. He escaped from Castle Ravenloft, only to be hunted down and killed by the vampire Strahd. The Wachters keep his bones under lock and key so that Leo can’t be raised from the dead.
Fortunes of Ravenloft
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it is in the iron chest that contains Leo Dilisnya’s bones.
N4p. Library
The double doors to this room are locked. Lady Wachter and her servants carry keys.
This room is crawling with cats. Bookshelves hug the walls, but most of the shelves are bare. Other furnishings include a desk, a chair, a table, and a wine cabinet. The room has an irregular shape, and none of its angles seem quite right, as though the shifting of the house has set the whole place on edge.
Eight Cat have the run of the library. These family pets have vicious dispositions, attacking anyone who tries to pick them up. Characters who have a passive Wisdom (
There is a 25 percent chance that one of the maids is here, dusting the bookshelves.
The cabinet holds a fine collection of wineglasses. The desk contains blank pieces of parchment, quill pens, jars of ink, wax candles, and a wax seal.
Most of the Wachter family’s book collection was sold off years ago to cover debts, and the books that remain aren’t particularly valuable. Use the Random Books table (see chapter 4, area area K37) to determine the subject matter of a particular book.
A section of the bookshelf that stretches along the southernmost wall is actually a secret door on hidden hinges. The bookshelf can be pulled outward, revealing an open doorway that leads to area N4q.
N4q. Storage Room
Behind the hinged panel in the bookcase lies a dusty, ten-foot-square room with a curtained window and shelves lining three walls. On the bottom shelf rests an iron chest. The other shelves are bare.
The key to the chest can be found in the library (area area N4p). Use of the key disables a poison needle trap hidden in the lock (see “Sample Traps” in chapter 5, “Adventure Environments,” of the Dungeon Master’s Guide).
Treasure
The iron chest contains several items:
- A silk bag containing 180 ep, each coin bearing Strahd’s stern visage in profile
- A leather bag containing 110 gp
- A wooden pipe that has been passed down through many generations of Wachter patriarchs
- Five scrolls—notarized deeds for parcels of land given to the Wachter family by Count Strahd von Zarovich nearly four centuries ago
- A supple leather case containing an unbound manuscript titled The Devil We Know—a poetic manifesto written by Lady Fiona Wachter attesting that the worship of devils can bring happiness, success, freedom, wealth, and longevity
- A blasphemous treatise bound in black leather titled The Grimoire of the Four Quarters, written by the infamous diabolist Devostas, who was drawn and quartered for his fell practices yet did not die (this is a forgery; the actual grimoire would drive a reader mad)
- A very old letter to Lady Lovina Wachter (an ancestor) from one Lord Vasili von Holtz, thanking Lovina for her hospitality, loyalty, and friendship over the years
Characters who have the Tome of Strahd (see area appendix C) realize that the handwriting in Lady Lovina’s letter is identical to Strahd’s handwriting, suggesting that Strahd and Lord Vasili are one and the same.
N4r. Cellar Entrance
If the characters approach the cellar door from the outside, read:
A slanted, wooden cellar door with an iron pull ring and iron hinges stands against the foundation of the house.
The door is unlocked. On the other side of the door are stone steps leading to a stone landing with a wooden railing. A longer staircase extends south from the landing, leading down to the cellar.
N4s. Cellar
This large root cellar has a dirt floor. Two ascending flights of stone steps enclosed by wooden railings stand across from one another. Tracks in the earth lead from one staircase to the other, and other trails go from both staircases to the center of the bare west wall. Four neatly made cots are set in a row against the south wall.
Buried under the earthen floor are eight human Skeleton—the animated remains of dead Vallakians that were stolen from the church cemetery (area area N1) and animated by Lady Wachter. They rise up and attack intruders who cross the floor. The skeletons don’t attack anyone who utters the phrase “Let the dead remain at rest” before setting foot on the floor. Only Lady Wachter, her sons, her servants, and her loyal cult fanatics know the pass phrase.
The cots are here for cultists to spend the night.
The footprints in the dirt give away the location of a secret door in the center of the western wall. Consequently, no ability check is required to locate it. The door is soundproof and pivots open on a central axis.
N4t. Cult Headquarters
Flickering candles in iron holders fill this room with light and shadows. This room has a ten-foot-high ceiling and a large black pentagram inscribed on the stone floor. At each point of the pentagram rests a wooden chair. Seated in four of the five chairs are men and women in black robes with hoods: a young man who has the face of an angel; a balding hulk of a man; a squat, middle-aged woman; and a taller, younger woman with an unsettling glare. They rise to confront you.
The four people are town residents (LE male and female human Cult Fanatic) whom Lady Wachter has seduced with promises of power, wealth, and long life. They are members of her “book club,” eagerly waiting for Lady Wachter to join them, read passages from her manifesto (see area area N4q), and maybe conjure up a few coins. Resting on the fifth chair, quietly eavesdropping on the cultists, is the lady’s
The cultists are gathered here in secret and attack the characters to protect their identities. They are evil Vallakians of no great importance who are tired of living in fear and poverty. Use the “area Barovian Names” sidebar in chapter 2 to generate names for them, if needed.
The imp doesn’t get involved in the fighting unless Lady Wachter is drawn into the conflict, in which case it fights to protect its mistress.
The pentagram is a nonmagical decoration, though Lady Wachter would have her cultists believe otherwise.
N5. Arasek Stockyard
This large stockyard has several locked sheds along its periphery and lies adjacent to a roomy warehouse. A wooden sign above the front gate reads “Arasek Stockyard.”
Parked at the south end of the stockyard is a sturdy carnival wagon, its colorful paint peeling off. Faded lettering on its sides spells out the words “Rictavio’s Carnival of Wonders.” A heavy padlock secures the back door.
The stockyard is a general store and a facility where storage sheds can be rented. It is owned by a middle-aged married couple, Gunther and Yelena Arasek (LG male and female Commoner). They sell items from the Adventuring Gear table in the Player’s Handbook that have a price of 25 gp or less, but at five times the price.
Rictavio’s Carnival Wagon
The colorful half-elf bard Rictavio (see area area N2 and area appendix D) paid Gunther and Yelena a generous amount of gold to watch his carnival wagon, no questions asked. If the characters approach the wagon, read:
The wagon suddenly lurches, as though something big has thrown itself against the inside wall. You hear the cracking of wood, the scraping of metal, and the snarl of something inhuman. Upon closer inspection, you see that the sides of the wagon are spattered with dry blood. You also see an inscription on the wagon’s door frame that reads, “I bring you from Shadow into Light!”
Rictavio carries the key to the wagon door. The lock can be picked but is rigged with a poison needle trap (see “Sample Traps” in chapter 5, “Adventure Environments,” of the Dungeon Master’s Guide).
Inside the wagon is a saber-toothed tiger with 84 hit points. It is clad in specially fitted half plate (AC 17) and has been trained to hunt Strahd’s Vistani servants.
The wagon also contains the torn-up remains of a doll. A character who makes a successful DC 10 Intelligence (
Rictavio isn’t ready to unleash the tiger on the Vistani just yet. He feeds it by dropping wolf steaks down a 1-foot-square hatch in the wagon’s roof. A character who climbs atop the wagon can spot the hatch without needing to make an ability check.
If the tiger is released, it begins stalking through the streets until its keen sense of smell locates either Rictavio (area area N2) or Piccolo (area area N7). The tiger doesn’t attack anyone who isn’t a Vistana except in self-defense. It attacks Vistani on sight. Rictavio can make the tiger break off its attack and lure it back into the wagon.
Treasure
The front seat of the wagon conceals a secret compartment that requires a successful DC 15 Wisdom (
- An unlocked wooden coffer containing 50 ep bearing Strahd’s profile and six gemstones (worth 100 gp each)
- A small prayer book (worth 50 gp) with a green leather cover and indecipherable notes in the margins
- A
healer’s kit - Three wooden
Holy Symbol inlaid with silver and in the shape of a sunburst (worth 50 gp each) - A silvered
shortsword - A
hand crossbow inlaid with mother-of-pearl (worth 250 gp) - A bundle of twenty silvered
Crossbow Bolts (20) - A worn leather case with gold buckles (worth 100 gp) containing three sharpened wooden stakes, a sack of garlic, a jar of salt, a box of holy wafers, six
Holy Water (flask) , a polished steel mirror, and a bone scroll tube with a silver stopper and chain (worth 25 gp). The tube contains aScroll of Protection and aScroll of Protection .
Fortunes of Ravenloft
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it is hidden with the other items under the front seat of the wagon, in a lead-lined box.
N6. Coffin Maker’s Shop
This uninviting shop is two stories tall and has a sign shaped like a coffin above the front door. All of the window shutters are closed up tight, and a deathly silence surrounds the establishment.
Henrik van der Voort (LE male human commoner) is a mediocre carpenter and a troubled, lonely man. He profits from the deaths of others, and no one desires his company, because of the ghastly nature of his handiwork. One night several months ago, Strahd visited Henrik in the guise of an imposing, well-dressed nobleman named Vasili von Holtz and promised the coffin maker “good business” in exchange for his help. Since then, Henrik’s workshop has become the lair of a pack of vampire spawn—former adventurers who were turned by Strahd. These vampires are lying low for the time being.
The vampires plan to attack St. Andral’s church (see “area St. Andral’s Feast” in the “area Special Events” section at the end of this chapter). When Henrik learned about the sacred bones buried under the church, the vampire spawn ordered him to steal the bones, which Henrik paid Milivoj the gravedigger (see area area N1) to do.
Every window of Henrik’s shop is a latticework of iron fitted with squares of frosted glass and locked from the inside. The outside doors of the shop are barred shut from within. If the characters knock on one of them, Henrik shouts, “We’re closed! Go away!” without opening the door. If the characters accuse Henrik of stealing the bones of St. Andral, he shouts again, “Go away! Leave me alone!”
If the characters break into the store, Henrik offers no resistance. He tells them where to find the bones (in the upstairs bedroom wardrobe, area area N6e) and the vampire nest (in the upstairs wood storage room, area area N6f).
If the characters report the theft of the bones to the burgomaster, Baron Vallakovich dispatches four Guard to arrest Henrik and retrieve the bones. If the guards show up during daylight hours, Henrik surrenders himself and the bones without a fight, claiming that vampires forced him to steal the bones. If the guards come at night, Henrik surrenders himself and tells the guards where the bones are hidden, but he won’t retrieve the bones himself for fear of being killed by the vampires.
N6a. Coffin Storage
Arranged haphazardly about the floor of this musty, L-shaped room are thirteen wooden coffins.
Henrik stores and displays the coffins he has made in this room. All of them are empty.
N6b. Junk Room
A table with four chairs is in one corner of this room, with a lantern hanging from a chain directly above. Two well-made cabinets stand against the east wall.
The cabinets are packed with worthless items that Henrik has collected over the years.
N6c. Workshop
This workshop contains everything a carpenter needs to make coffins and furniture. Three sturdy worktables stretch the length of the west wall.
Henrik builds coffins and keeps his carpenter’s tools in this room.
N6d. Kitchen
This kitchen contains a square table surrounded by chairs and shelves of provisions.
Henrik prepares his meals here.
N6e. Henrik’s Bedroom
This modest bedchamber holds a cot and several well-made pieces of furniture, including a table, a padded chair, a bookshelf, and a wardrobe.
Henrik sleeps here, at night and well into the morning. The bookshelf contains a handful of storybooks and carpenters' manuals that have been handed down from previous generations.
Treasure
The wardrobe in the southeast corner has a secret compartment in its base, requiring a successful DC 15 Wisdom (
N6f. Vampire Nest
This large, drafty room is strung with cobwebs and takes up most of the upper floor. Stacks of wooden planks lie amid several crates marked “JUNK.”
The two southernmost crates contain old junk that Henrik has accumulated over the years. The six crates in the northern part of the room are packed with earth and serve as resting places for the six vampire spawn that lair here. If the characters open one of the occupied crates, all of the vampire spawn burst forth and attack.
Teleport Destination
Characters who teleport to this location from area area K78 in Castle Ravenloft arrive at the point marked T on the map.
N7. Blinsky Toys
This cramped shop has a dark entrance portico, above which hangs a wooden sign shaped like a rocking horse, with a “B” engraved on both sides. Flanking the entrance are two arched, lead-framed windows. Through the dirty glass, you see jumbled displays of toys and hanging placards bearing the slogan “Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!”
Vallaki’s toymaker, Gadof Blinsky (CG male human commoner), calls himself “a wizard of tiny wonders,” but he has been consumed by despair lately because no one seems to like him or want his toys. His fascination for eerie playthings causes most other locals to avoid him. The burgomaster enables Blinsky to stay in business by giving him a couple of gold pieces a month to make festival decorations.
Blinsky is a heavyset man who wears a moth-eaten jester’s cap during store hours, more out of habit than to humor visitors. In the past six months, the only paying customer who has set foot in the store is a visitor from a faraway land named Rictavio (see area area N2), who came in two weeks ago and bought a stuffed Vistana doll. Realizing that the toymaker was lonely, Rictavio gave Blinsky his pet monkey, Piccolo (use the baboon stat block in the Monster Manual). Overjoyed, Blinsky has begun training the monkey to fetch toys from hard-to-reach shelves. The toymaker has also fitted Piccolo with a custom-tailored ballerina tutu.
When he meets new customers, Blinsky recites a well-rehearsed greeting: “Wyelcome, friends, to the House of Blinsky, where hyappiness and smiles can be bought at bargain prices. Perhaps you know a leetle child in need of joy? A leetle toy for a girl or boy?”
Creepy Toys
Blinsky believes the burgomaster is right—that the only way to escape from Barovia is to make everyone in town “hyappy.” Blinsky would like to do his part by making sure that all the children in Barovia have fun toys. On display are a few of his creations:
- A headless doll that comes with a sack of attachable heads, including one with its eyes and mouth stitched shut (price 9 cp)
- A miniature gallows, complete with trapdoor and a weighted “hanged man” (price 9 cp)
- A set of wooden nesting dolls; the smaller each one gets, the older it gets, until the innermost doll is a mummified corpse (price 9 cp)
- A wood-and-string mobile of hanging bats with flapping wings (price 9 cp)
- A wind-up musical merry-go-round with figures of snarling wolves chasing children in place of prancing horses (price 9 sp)
- A ventriloquist’s dummy that looks like Strahd von Zarovich (price 9 sp)
- A doll that looks remarkably like Ireena Kolyana (not for sale; see below)
Ireena Kolyana Dolls
Blinsky makes special dolls for the burgomaster’s henchman, Izek Strazni (see area area N3 and area appendix D). Izek doesn’t pay for the dolls but instead threatens to burn down Blinsky’s shop unless the toymaker delivers a new doll every month. Every doll is modeled on a description given to Blinsky by Izek, and each doll has been closer to capturing Ireena’s likeness than the last. Blinsky doesn’t know that the doll is meant to be modeled after anyone in particular. If Ireena is with the party, however, Blinsky realizes that she is the inspiration for Izek’s dolls.
Von Weerg’s Masterpiece
Blinsky considers himself a student of a great inventor and toymaker named Fritz von Weerg. Blinsky has heard rumors that von Weerg’s greatest invention—a clockwork man—lies somewhere in Castle Ravenloft. If the characters seem intent on going there, Blinsky asks if they would be so kind as to find the clockwork “myasterpiece” and “dyeliver” it to him, in exchange for which Blinsky offers to make them any toy they desire. Because “byusiness” has not been good, he says, he has no other reward to offer except, perhaps, his new monkey companion.
N8. Town Square
The shops and homes that enclose the town square are decorated with limp, tattered garlands and painted wooden boxes filled with tiny, dead flowers. At the north end of the square stands a row of stocks, locked in which are several men, women, and children wearing crude, plaster donkey heads.
In the center of the square, peasants in patchwork clothes eye you suspiciously as they use cups and vases to draw water from a crumbling stone fountain. Standing tall at the center of the fountain is a gray statue of an impressive man facing west. All around the square are posted proclamations:
Come one, come all,
to the greatest celebration of the year:
THE WOLF’S HEAD JAMBOREE!
Attendance and children required.
Pikes will be provided.
ALL WILL BE WELL!
—The Baron—
The Wolf’s Head Jamboree has already occurred, making the square’s proclamations out of date. If the characters linger, they see the burgomaster’s henchman, Izek Strazni (see area appendix D), arrive with two town Guard. Izek orders one guard to tear down all of the old proclamations while the other posts the following new one:
COME ONE, COME ALL,
to the greatest celebration of the year:
THE FESTIVAL OF THE BLAZING SUN!
Attendance and children required.
Rain or shine.
ALL WILL BE WELL!
—The Baron—
Most Vallakians have no idea whom the statue in the square represents. The burgomaster claims it is Boris Vallakovich, his ancestor and the town’s founder, but there’s no noticeable family resemblance.
Donkey-Headed Criminals
The townsfolk in the stocks were arrested for “malicious unhappiness” (spreading negative opinions about the upcoming festival). An iron padlock secures each set of stocks, and Izek Strazni carries the keys on an iron ring.
Three men, two women, and two boys are trapped in the stocks—all of them tired, wet, and famished. The five adults have the statistics of human Commoner, and the children are noncombatants. The plaster donkey heads they wear are meant to encourage ridicule.
Freeing one or more prisoners without the baron’s consent is a crime. If the characters are witnessed doing so, Izek rallies the town Guard (twenty-four in all) and orders the characters to leave town at once or suffer the consequences. If the characters stand their ground, Izek orders the guards to beat them into submission, seize their weapons, and cast them out of Vallaki to be “food for the wolves.”
If the characters are exiled from Vallaki without their weapons, the Keepers of the Feather (see area area N2) snatch the party’s belongings from under Izek’s nose and see them safely returned to the characters.
If the guards fall to waylay the characters, Izek (if he’s still around) flees to the burgomaster’s mansion, giving the characters the run of the town. The townsfolk lock themselves in their homes, fearful that the characters aim to murder them.
N9. Vistani Camp
Several footpaths and horse trails lead to this location in the woods southwest of Vallaki.
The woods part to reveal an expansive clearing: a small, grass-covered hill with low houses built into its sides. Fog obscures the details, but you can see that these buildings feature elegantly carved woodwork and have decorative lanterns hanging from their sculpted eaves. Atop the hill, above the fog, is a ring of barrel-topped wagons that surround a large tent with a column of smoke pouring out through a hole in the top. The tent is brightly lit from within. Even at this distance, you can smell the odors of wine and horses that emanate from this central area.
This natural clearing serves as a permanent campsite for the Vistani and their dusk elf allies.
Roleplaying the Vistani and the Elves
Use the following information to roleplay the Vistani and the dusk elves that occupy the camp.
Vistani
The Vistani in this camp all serve Strahd. The elders have died, leaving a pair of brothers named Luvash and Arrigal in charge. Both men are evil and willing to do whatever Strahd demands of them.
These Vistani have two problems. First, Luvash’s seven-year-old daughter, Arabelle, recently disappeared from the camp. Consequently, half of the Vistani are out searching for her when the characters arrive. Second, the Vistani have exhausted their supply of wine and are eager to obtain more. Characters who help them with either problem earn the Vistani’s respect.
Dusk Elves
The dusk elf race is all but forgotten, and the few survivors live in secret places such as this. They have dark skin and hair, but otherwise they are similar to Elf (Wood) (as described in the Player’s Handbook). One of Strahd’s old brides, Patrina Velikovna, used to live here. Her brother, Kasimir Velikov, still does.
The dusk elves reside in small homes built into the hillside and are mostly self-sufficient. They are skilled trackers, and many of them are away from camp when the characters arrive, helping the Vistani search for Arabelle. Strahd has tasked the Vistani with keeping an eye on the dusk elves, and the dusk elves know they aren’t safe in Barovia without the Vistani’s “protection.” Strahd has also forbidden the Vistani from helping the dusk elves escape his domain.
There are no women or children among the dusk elves. Strahd had all the female dusk elves put to death around four centuries ago as a punishment for Patrina’s murder. Thus, the remaining elves can’t procreate. A broken people, they are aware of the vampire’s absolute hold over the land of Barovia. They keep a low profile and have no desire to incur Strahd’s wrath again.
N9a. Kasimir’s Hovel
If the characters approach the house at the base of the hill on the eastern perimeter of the camp, read the following text:
Standing quietly in front of this house, bathed in the warm light of its lanterns, are three sullen, gray-cloaked figures, their angular features and black, flowing hair half-hidden under their cowls.
The cloaked figures are three Guard (N male dusk elves). If the characters seem friendly and are looking for someone to talk to, the guards direct them inside to Kasimir or point them toward the Vistani camp on the hilltop.
Kasimir Velikov (see area appendix D) is the leader of the dusk elves. His hovel has a decorated vestibule and a comfortable room beyond with a fireplace. Wooden statuettes of elven deities stand in cubbyholes along one wall. A tapestry of a forest hangs on the opposite wall.
Kasimir confesses that he is burdened by dreams sent to him by his dead sister, Patrina Velikovna, whose spirit has languished in the catacombs below Castle Ravenloft for centuries. Kasimir believes that Patrina has repented for her many sins, and he yearns not only to free her but also to restore her to life.
If the characters seem intent on destroying Strahd, Kasimir tells them about the Amber Temple. Without divulging too much of the dreams sent to him by Patrina, Kasimir informs the characters that the secret to breaking Strahd’s pact and freeing Barovia from its curse might be hidden there. Kasimir doesn’t know whether this claim is true or not, but he states it as a way of persuading the characters to accompany him to the temple; his main objective, he says, is to find something there that he can use to bring Patrina back from the dead.
Treasure
Kasimir wears a
Fortunes of Ravenloft
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it is in Kasimir’s possession. He relinquishes it if the characters promise to accompany him to the Amber Temple and help him find a way to bring his sister Patrina back from the dead.
N9b. Dusk Elf Hovels
Six simple houses ring the base of the hill, three protruding from the north side and three from the south side.
A grim, gray-cloaked figure stands in front of the door to this house.
The cloaked figure is a guard (N male dusk elf). If the characters appear friendly and are looking for someone to talk to, the guard directs them to Kasimir’s hovel (area area N9a). Under no circumstances does the guard willingly allow strangers to enter the house he protects.
Each hovel is configured similarly to Kasimir’s hovel. All are currently unoccupied. (Except for the nine guards left behind to watch the homes, the dusk elves are out searching for Arabelle.)
N9c. Vistani Tent
Piled outside the wagon are several empty casks of wine. From inside the tent comes the crack of a whip followed by the howls of a young man. Three sputtering campfires fill the tent with smoke, and through the haze you see six Vistani passed out in various places on the dead grass. A barely conscious and shirtless teenager hugs the central tent pole, his wrists bound with rope and his back streaked with blood. An older, larger man in studded leather armor lashes the young man with a horsewhip, causing him to scream again. Standing in the bigger man’s shadow is a third man also clad in studded leather. “Easy, brother,” he says to the whip-wielding brute. “I think Alexei has learned his lesson.”
The two men in studded leather armor are the leaders of the Vistani camp—the brothers Luvash (CE male human bandit captain) and Arrigal (NE male human assassin). If you used the “area Plea for Help” adventure hook, the characters have already met Arrigal. Luvash is the older of the two and the brother whom the other Vistani fear most. Each brother carries a key that unlocks one of the padlocks of the treasure wagon (area area N9i).
Luvash is punishing a Vistana named Alexei (CN male human bandit with 3 hit points remaining) for failing to keep a watchful eye on his daughter. The characters' arrival distracts Luvash, and he forgets about Alexei long enough to play the role of host—until such time as the characters become tiresome or threatening. Alexei blames himself for not watching the little brat more closely and has accepted his punishment. If the characters try to rescue him, he screams at them to stop, not wanting to appear weak in front of Luvash and Arrigal.
In addition to Luvash, Arrigal, and Alexei, there are six intoxicated Vistani (CN male and female human Bandit) lying
Dealing with Luvash
Luvash is unhappy because his seven-year-old daughter, Arabelle, has vanished. She’s been gone for a little more than a day. Because everyone in the camp was drunk and Arrigal was away, no one remembers seeing or hearing anything strange. Luvash is determined to find her, no matter what the cost, and most of his camp is out scouring the woods when the characters arrive. (Missing from the camp are twelve Bandit. Each hour that passes,
If an alarm is sounded, nine Vistani Bandit (NE male and female humans) emerge from three of the surrounding wagons (area area N9g) and arrive at the tent with weapons drawn in 2 rounds.
Luvash won’t meddle in the characters' affairs without Strahd’s consent, and he is quite content to let the vampire deal with them. For a hefty price, he offers to sell the characters potions that allow safe passage through the deadly fog that surrounds the valley; he keeps them in the treasure wagon (area area N9i). The potions don’t work, of course.
If the characters rescue Arabelle from Lake Zarovich (chapter 2, area area L) and see her safely returned to camp, Luvash is overjoyed and offers to repay the favor. He doesn’t sell them the fake potions. (“Um, they aren’t as potent as they could be.") Instead, he lets them choose a treasure from the Vistani treasure wagon (area area N9i).
If the characters ask something of the Vistani but have not earned Luvash’s goodwill, he agrees to do business with them if they accomplish one of two tasks: either find his missing daughter or procure six barrels of wine and bring them to the camp. Luvash suggests they can get the wine in Vallaki, or go straight to the source—the Wizard of Wines winery. He isn’t picky when it comes to the quality of the wine.
Dealing with Arrigal
Arrigal is a much more dangerous creature than his brute of a brother. If the characters have something in their possession that is either useful or harmful to Strahd and Arrigal becomes aware of it, he tries to deprive the characters of this item, stalking them if necessary and going as far as to kill one or more of them if he thinks he can escape with the item in his possession. If he succeeds, he takes one of the riding horses (area area N9d) and delivers the item to Strahd at Castle Ravenloft.
N9d. Horses
The hilltop is covered with steaming piles of horse dung. More than two dozen horses are tethered to stone blocks inside the circle of wagons but outside the tent. Most of the animals are draft horses, but a few of them are riding horses equipped with saddles.
Twenty-four Draft Horse and six Riding Horse are tethered here.
N9e. Luvash’s Wagon
This barrel-topped wagon is nicer that the others. Drapes of golden silk hang in the windows, and the wheels have gold, sun-shaped hubcaps. An iron chimney pipe protrudes from the roof.
Luvash’s wagon is a mess inside. Empty wineskins, dirty clothes, and mangy furs are strewn about. A small hammock strung across the width of the wagon under the driver’s seat serves as Arabelle’s bed. A burlap doll with button eyes lies in the hammock; Arabelle has no other possessions.
A small iron stove in the middle of the wagon keeps the interior warm.
Treasure
The wagon’s “golden sun” hubcaps are worth 125 gp apiece (500 gp total).
N9f. Wagon of Sleeping Vistani
There are four of these wagons at the camp.
You hear heavy snores from within this barrel-topped wagon.
Each of these wagons contains
N9g. Wagon of Gambling Vistani
There are three of these wagons at the camp.
Loud voices and laughter spill from this barrel-topped wagon.
Each of these wagons contains three Vistani (CN male and female human Bandit). The Vistani are playing a dice game for favors, since they have no money. They respond to sounds of alarm by drawing their weapons and heading to the tent (area area N9c).
N9h. Vistani Family Wagon
There are three of these wagons at the camp.
This barrel-topped wagon is filled with the raucous screams and laughter of children.
Each of these wagons contains one Vistani adult (male or female human commoner) and
N9i. Vistani Treasure Wagon
Two iron padlocks secure the door of this barrel-topped wagon.
The Vistani keep all their treasure in this wagon. The door to the wagon has two locks, each of which requires a different key. Luvash carries one key, Arrigal the other. Each lock is rigged with a poison needle trap (see “Sample Traps” in chapter 5, “Adventure Environments,” of the Dungeon Master’s Guide).
Treasure
The wagon contains the following items:
- A wooden chest containing 1,200 ep (each coin stamped with the profiled visage of Strahd)
- An iron chest containing 650 gp
- An onyx jewelry box with gold filigree (worth 250 gp) containing six pieces of cheap jewelry (worth 50 gp each) and a
potion of poison in an unlabeled crystal vial (worth 100 gp) - A wooden throne with gold inlay and decorative stones (worth 750 gp)
- A rolled-up 10-foot-square rug with an exquisite unicorn motif (worth 750 gp)
- A small wooden box containing twelve fake potions in stoppered gourds (the Vistani sell these nonmagical elixirs to naive strangers, claiming that they protect against the deadly fog surrounding Barovia)
Fortunes of Ravenloft
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it is lying amid the other items in the wagon.
Special Events
Any of the following events can occur while the characters are staying in Vallaki.
Festival of the Blazing Sun
The Festival of the Blazing Sun takes place three days after the characters first arrive in Vallaki. You can delay the festival if the characters get waylaid or drawn elsewhere, or you can advance the timeline if the characters seem to be in a hurry.
Under threatening skies, a parade of unhappy children dressed as flowers trudges through the muddy streets, leading the way for a group of sorry-looking men and women carrying a ten-foot-diameter wicker ball. The burgomaster and his smiling wife, who holds a sad bouquet of wilting flowers, follow the procession on horseback. As weary spectators watch from their stoops, the ball is borne to the town square. There, it is hoisted and hung from a fifteen-foot-high wooden scaffold, and townsfolk take turns splashing it with oil. Before the wicker sun can be set ablaze, the sky tears open in a sudden downpour. “All will be well!” cries the burgomaster as he brandishes a sputtering torch and marches defiantly through the rain toward the wicker ball, only to have his torch go out as he thrusts it into the sphere.
A singular laugh erupts from the crowd, drawing the burgomaster’s fiery gaze as well as gasps from the townsfolk.
The laugh comes from Lars Kjurls (LG male human guard), a member of the town militia. The other guards are aghast at Lars’s ill-timed outburst. The burgomaster immediately has Lars arrested for “spite.” Unless the characters intervene, Lars is bound at the ankles and wrists, then dragged behind the burgomaster’s horse for the “amusement” of all. The burgomaster rides the horse himself.
Development
If the characters challenge the burgomaster in any way, he orders them banished from Vallaki. If they protest, he orders the guards to arrest them, deprive them of their weapons, and force them out of Vallaki at sword point.
If the characters lose their weapons, the Keepers of the Feather (see area area N2) eventually steal back the weapons and return them to the characters.
If the guards fail in their duty, the burgomaster retreats to his mansion and the townsfolk flee to their homes, giving the characters free rein in town.
Tyger, Tyger
Karl and Nikolai Wachter (see area areas N2 and area N4) are young, foolish men from a proud noble family. The drunken brothers sneak into Arasek’s Stockyard (area area N5) while everyone else is attending the festival in the town square. On a dare, one of them rocks the wagon. The saber-toothed tiger locked inside becomes enraged and smashes through the wagon door. The characters and everyone else in town hear the screams of the young men as the tiger escapes. The tiger flees the stockyard without harming the Wachters and begins to prowl the streets, looking for an escape. Reports of a tiger running loose in the streets ruin the festival and send townsfolk scurrying for their homes.
The saber-toothed tiger doesn’t harm anyone until it takes damage, whereupon it attacks the perceived source of the damage. If he is still alive, Izek Strazni gathers six town guards and hunts down the beast with the intention of killing it. Meanwhile, Rictavio does his best to lure the beast back to his wagon while assuring townsfolk that it won’t harm them.
Development
If he’s still in power, the burgomaster conducts an investigation to find out where the tiger came from. Guards and local witnesses are questioned. The Wachter boys feign innocence, insisting that they were at the festival, but Gunther and Yelena Arasek (area area N5) admit to hearing “evil growls” and scratching sounds coming from inside the carnival wagon parked in their stockyard. When pressed, the Araseks admit to seeing the wagon’s “weird owner” routinely drop food into the wagon through a hatch in the roof. They also confess that the half-elf paid them for their silence.
After the burgomaster learns that the tiger belongs to Rictavio, he commands his guards to arrest the mysterious bard. If Rictavio thinks the characters can help him, he asks them to distract the burgomaster and the guards while he gathers his horse, wagon, and tiger (in that order). If the characters ask Rictavio where he plans to go, he tells them about an old tower to the west where he can lie low (see chapter 11, “Van Richten’s Tower”).
Lady Wachter’s Wish
Ernst Larnak (see area area N4) begins shadowing the characters. Characters who have a passive Wisdom (
Lady Wachter is looking for powerful allies to help her oust the burgomaster. If Ernst tells her that he thinks the characters fit the bill, Lady Wachter has Ernst or her sons invite the characters to a private dinner at Wachterhaus. During the dinner, Lady Wachter determines whether the characters have the ability and the resolve to crush the baron.
If the characters refuse her invitation, or if they profess to be enemies of Strahd, Lady Wachter marks them as her enemies and sets out to destroy them without incriminating herself.
Development
Once she determines that the characters are her enemies, Lady Wachter hands Ernst a bag of 100 gp (taken from area area N4q) and instructs him to deliver it to the Vistani camp outside town (area area N9), along with a letter from her that asks the Vistani to dispose of the characters once they have left town. The Vistani burn the letter after reading it, as per Lady Wachter’s request.
If the characters have rescued Arabelle (see chapter 2, area area L), the Vistani return Lady Wachter’s gold to Ernst and do nothing.
Otherwise, a Vistana bandit watches the road east of Vallaki and reports back to camp if the characters are sighted leaving. The Vistani, worried that the characters might be more than a match for them, send one emissary on horseback to race ahead of the characters and inform Strahd. If Arrigal is alive, he makes the ride himself. Otherwise, the rider is a young Vistana bandit named Alexei (see area area N9c).
St. Andral’s Feast
The characters can prevent this special event from occurring by returning the bones of St. Andral to the church (area area N1) or by destroying the vampire spawn hiding in the coffin maker’s shop (area area N6). If the characters stay in Vallaki for three days or more and don’t retrieve the bones or destroy the vampire spawn, Strahd von Zarovich visits the coffin maker’s shop the following evening and orchestrates an attack on the church.
The vampire spawn begin the attack that night. They cling to the outer walls and roof of St. Andral’s church while four Swarm of Bats enter the church through the belfry and terrify the congregation. As the townsfolk flee the church, the vampire spawn leap down and attack them.
During the chaos, Strahd enters the church in bat form, then reverts to vampire form and attacks Father Lucian. Unless the characters intervene, Strahd kills the priest before returning to Castle Ravenloft.
If Father Lucian dies, locals bury his body in the church cemetery, whereupon it rises the following night as a vampire spawn under Strahd’s control. If Rictavio (area area N2) learns of the priest’s death, he suggests that the characters burn the priest’s body to ensure that it doesn’t rise from the dead.
Development
The attack on St. Andral’s church terrorizes and demoralizes the town. After a few days, fear turns to misdirected rage as townsfolk blame the burgomaster. Baron Vallakovich’s “All will be well!” mantra can’t protect him from their wrath. Barring intervention by the characters, the burgomaster’s mansion is set ablaze, and the baron, his wife, and his son are dragged to the town square, thrown in the stocks, and stoned to death. If he is alive, Izek Strazni flees the town to avoid a similar fate. Where he hides is up to you, but likely locations include Old Bonegrinder (chapter 6), Argynvostholt (chapter 7), or the ruins of Berez (chapter 10).
If the characters thwart the attack on the church and protect Father Lucian, Strahd pays a visit to Wachterhaus (area area N4) and there composes a letter, which he asks Lady Wachter to deliver to the characters. The letter is written in Strahd’s hand and extends an invitation to the characters to come to Castle Ravenloft. Lady Wachter orders her spy, Ernst Larnak, or one of her sons to take the letter to the characters. If the characters open and read it, show the players “area Strahd’s Invitation” in appendix F. If the characters head toward the castle, they have no threatening random encounters on the way.