Page 131 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

REVENANTS OF BAROVIA APPROACHING THE
A revenant, as described in the Monster Manual, has a year
to achieve its revenge before its body crumbles to dust and MANSION
its soul enters the afterlife. In Barovia, however, a revenant
can remain in its body indefinitely, and once it has reaped A winding branch of the Old Svalich Road meanders up
its vengeance, its soul remains trapped in Barovia. the forested slope of a mountain spur to the old man­
If the body of a revenant is destroyed before its sion, which is perched on high ground overlooking the
vengeance is fulfilled, its spirit seeks out a new corpse or Svalich Woods and the Luna River valley.
skeleton to animate. To determine where the revenant's When the characters first come within sight of Argyn­
new body rises, roll a d20 and consult the following table. vostholt, read:
d20 Corpse Location
1-4 Village of Barovia cemetery (ch. 3, area E6) High above the river valley juts a quiet promontory upon
5-11 Church graveyard in Vallaki (ch. 5, area Nl) which looms a sepulchral mansion, its turrets capped
12 Argynvostholt cemetery (area Ql5) with fairytale cones, its towers lined with sculpted battle­
13 Grave in the village of Krezk (ch. 8, area 53) ments. A third of the structure has collapsed, as has part
14 Grave in the Berez cemetery (ch. 10, area U4) of the roof, but the rest appears intact. A dark, octagonal
15-16 Grave in the Svalich Woods (ch. 2, "Random tower rises above the surrounding architecture.
Encounters") Out of the fog comes a distant peal of thunder, quickly
17-20 Corpse of one deceased player character or
N PC, wherever it happens to be accompanied by the howling of wolves in the woods
below, but the house stands silent, seeming like the fos­
silized remains of some long-dead thing smote upon the
The spirit of the dragon Argynvost isn't at rest, either.
It can sense that the knights have been corrupted, and it mountainside.
reaches out to the characters, hoping they will help the
knights find peace. If the characters retrieve the drag­
on's skull from Castle Ravenloft and place it in the mau­
soleum of Argynvostholt, the dragon's spirit ascends to AREAS OF ARGYNVOSTHOLT
the highest tower of the mansion and transforms into The following areas correspond to labels on the maps of
a beacon of light that flashes across Barovia. The light Argynvostholt on page 131 and 137.
of the beacon reminds Vladimir Horngaard of what he
has lost, enabling him and his fellow knights to let go of QJ. DRAGON STATUE
their hatred and find both redemption and rest.
Perched atop a ten-foot-wide, ten-foot-high cube of
granite is a moss-covered statue of a dragon, its wings
tucked close to its body. The statue looks east, toward
the mansion.

The fog makes it hard to see the dragon's features from
a distance, but close inspection reveals that it's a silver
dragon of noble bearing, its spiny frill cracked and bro­
ken in many places. The statue is 10 feet tall but looks
much more imposing perched on the granite block.
If scrutinized with a .detect magic spell, the statue
radiates an aura of evocation magic. The.dragon statue
used to breathe a cone of cold as part of i1 magic trap,
but the trap no longer_ works (see _area Q�r
.
2. MAIN ENTRAN_c:w.

Flagstone steps flanked by stone railings climb to a land­
ing in front of a pair of tall, wooden doors with rusted
iron bands and knockers shaped like small dragons.
Carved into the lintel above the entrance is the word
ARGYNVOSTHOLT.

CHAPTER 7 I ARGYNVOSTHOLT