Page 127 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

Closer investigation of the windmill yields a few 01. GROUND FLOOR
more details:

The ground floor has been converted into a makeshift
The onion-domed edifice leans forward and to one side,
as though trying to turn away from the stormy gray sky. kitchen, but the room is filthy. Baskets and old dishware
You see gray brick walls and dirt-covered windows on the are piled everywhere. Adding to the clutter is a ped­
upper floors. A decrepit wooden platform encircles the dler's cart, a chicken coop, a heavy wooden trunk, and a
windmill above a flimsy doorway leading to the building's pretty wooden cabinet with flowers painted on its doors.
interior. Perched on a wooden beam above the door is In addition to the clucking of the chickens, you hear
a raven. It hops about and squawks at you, seemingly toads croaking.
agitated. The sweet smell of pastries blends horridly with a
stench that burns your nostrils. The awful odor comes
out of an open, upright barrel in the center of the room.
A character who succeeds on a DC 12 Wisdom (Insight) Warmth issues from a brick oven against one wall, and
check senses that the raven is trying to warn the party.
After delivering its message, the raven flies off toward a crumbling staircase ascends the wall across from it.
Vallaki, the town in the valley below (see chapter 5). Shrieks and cackles from somewhere higher up cause the
Beyond the windmill is the forest. Once atop the wind­ old mill to shudder.
mill's hill, the characters can see a ring of four squat
megaliths at the forest's edge. Ravens can be seen cir­
cling in the air above the stones, which are described at The ceiling here is 8 feet high. If the characters explore
the end of the chapter. the room, read:

AREAS OF THE WINDMILL I Small human bones litter the flagstone floor. I
The following areas correspond to labels on the map of
Old Bonegrinder on page 127.
Baking in the oven are a dozen dream pastries. Mor­
gantha checks on them every 10 minutes. The staircase
curls up to area 02.
The barrel holds glistening, greenish-black demon
ichor. Morgantha can use the barrel as a font for a scry­
ing spell. She can also knock on the barrel three times
as an action to summon a dretch. The demon crawls out
of the barrel at the end of Morgantha's turn and obeys
the night hag's commands for 1 hour, after which it dis­
solves into a pool of ichor. Morgantha can summon up to
_
nine dretches in this manner before the ichor is gone.
Morgantha's cabinet contains wooden bowls full of
herbs and baking ingredients, including flour, sugar, and
several gourds of powdered bone. Hanging on the inside
of the cabinet doors are a dozen Jocks of hair. Amid vari­
ous concoctions are three small, labeled containers that
hold elixirs. The first elixir, labeled "Youth," is a golden
syrup that magically makes the imbiber appear younger
and more attractive for 24 hours. The second elixir,
labeled "Laughter," is a nonmagical red tea that infects·
the imbiber with cackle fever (see "Diseases". in chap­
ter 8, "Running the Game," of the Dungeon Master's
Guide). The third elixir, a greenish miiky liquid labeled
"Mother's Milk," is actually a dose· of pale tincture (see
"Poisons" in chapter 8 of the.Dungeon Master's Guide).
The chicken coop contains thr�e chickens, a rooster,
and a few laid eggs. . . . .
The wooden trunk has tiny holes bored into its lid and
contains a hundred croaking toads. Several toads es­
cape if the lid is lifted, btit they are harmless.