Page 108 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

The staircase climbs to a ten-foot-wide gallery that A brass oil lamp sits atop a large desk in the center of
stretches almost the length of the mansion. Breathtaking the room. The chair behind the desk is comfortably pad­
paintings of landscapes line the walls. Two separate, nar­ ded and has the symbol of a roaring bear stitched into its
row hallways lead away from the gallery to the north. back cushion.

If the burgomaster has not been drawn elsewhere, he is
N3J. IZEK'S BEDROOM here. Add:
The door to this room is locked. Izek Strazni carries
the only key.
The following description assumes the characters Standing behind the chair, holding an open book, is a
have met Ireena Kolyana (see chapter 3, area E4). If the bear of a man. His breastplate, rapier, silk tunic, and
characters haven't met her, don't read the last sentence. greasy beard glisten in the lamplight. Resting on small
rugs to his left and right are a pair of black mastiffs.
Dolls. This room is full of pretty little dolls with pow­
der-white skin and auburn hair, some of them dressed Baron Vargas Vallakovich never goes anywhere without
beautifully, others plainly. Some of the dolls fill a long his two mastiffs. A paranoid man, he wears his breast­
bookshelf, and others are arranged in neat rows on wall­ plate and rapier even while relaxing in his library. Two
mounted shelves. Still others are piled atop a bed and a of his servants, the butler and his wife's lady-in-waiting,
heavy wooden chest. What's most odd is that all of the have vanished without a trace in the past week, so he
has good cause to be worried.
dolls, apart from their clothing, look the same. They all The baron believes that everyone else is beneath him,
look like lreena Kolyana. and those who question his word or challenge his au­
thority must be humbled. He won't pick a fight with well­
armed strangers, however. If he can't make the charac­
The burgomaster's monstrous henchman, Izek Strazni ters yield to his authority, he swallows his pride until he
(see appendix D), sleeps here at night. During the day, can circle around with Izek Strazni and assemble his
he is in town taking care of his master's business. Izek's guards to run them out of town.
chest is unlocked and contains a heap of wrinkled The baron's desk contains three drawers stuffed with
clothes, under which is a nonmagical shortsword. blank sheets of parchment, jars of ink, and writing
A thorough search of the room reveals a few empty quills. It also holds thick books of tax records dating
wine bottles under the bed. The label on each bears the back to the times of the baron's father, grandfather, and
winery's name, the Wizard of Wines, and wine's name, great-grandfather.
Purple Grapemash No. 3. The baron wears a signet ring and carries three keys:
lzek's Doll Collection. Each doll has a small tag one that unlocks the outside door in area N3g, and two
stitched into its clothing that reads "Is No Fun, Is No keys for the door and the manacles in area N3m.
Blinsky!" Izek had the local toymaker, Gadof Blinsky Treasure. The Vallakovich book collection contains
(area N7), craft the dolls in Ireena's likeness. old, leather-bound tomes on virtually every subject. Use
N3K. VICTOR'S BEDROOM the Random Books table (see chapter 4, area K37) to
determine the subject matter of a particular book.

This handsomely appointed room contains a cano- N3M. LOCKED CLOSET
pied bed, a low bookshelf, and a full-length mirror in a The door to this room is locked: The baron car­
wooden frame on the wall across from the door. Set into ries the key.
the north wall is an arched window of leaded glass. Noth­
ing here seems unusual. 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
Nothing about his bedroom betrays Victor's deviant
nature or magical proclivities. The books include col-. trickle down his hands.
lections of Barovian fables and tomes about mythology,
heraldry, and other innocuous subjects. The man is a Vallakian shoemaker named Udo Lu­
kovich (LN male human commoner). He was arrested
N3L. LIBRARY
· .during the Wolf's Head Jamboree for carrying a sig9
that suggested that ValJakians. shotJ.ld feed the ba_ron to • -
·· ·
·,'
Floor-to-ceiling shelves line every wall of this windowless the.wolves. · · . · - .
;.
room, and the number of books contained here is noth­ _ : Baron ·vat,lako�kh Ii.is the key to l;Tdo's manacles. The
ing short of astounding. · ... manacles break if they take 10 dama:ge\Jr more-from a
· ··
· ·. single weapon attack. ·
·
·
CHAPTER 5 I THE TOWN OF VALLAKI
rn7