Page 144 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

CHAPTER 8: THE VILLAGE OF KREZK

HE FORTIFIED VILLAGE OF KREZK LIES AREAS OF KREZK
near the edge of Strahd's domain, and
the wall of mist that marks the border is The following areas correspond to labels on the map of
clearly visible above the treeline. Yet even Krezk on page 144.
here there is no escaping the vampire. In
fact, the villagers are so terrified of Strahd Sl. ROAD JUNCTION
and his wolves that they never venture
away from the village. Within their walls, they grow
trees that provide ample wood to keep them warm on The road branches north and climbs a rocky escarpment,
cold nights, and they draw water from a blessed pool. ending at a gatehouse built into a twenty-foot-high wall
They have chickens, hares, and small pigs, as well of stone reinforced with buttresses every fifty feet or so.
as gardens of beets and turnips. The only thing they The wall encloses a settlement on the side of a snow­
depend on from the outside world is wine. The burgo­ dusted mountain spur. Beyond the wall you see the tops
master, Dmitri Krezkov, comes from a noble family and
regularly has wine delivered from the nearby winery, the of snow-covered pines and thin, white wisps of smoke.
Wizard of Wines (chapter 12), to keep the locals' bellies The somber toll of a bell comes from a stone abbey that
warm and their spirits up. clings to the mountainside high above the settlement.
Looming high above Krezk is the Abbey of Saint Mar­ The steady chime is inviting-a welcome change from
kovia, once a convent and hospital, now a madhouse the deathly silence and oppressive fog to which you have
overrun with wickedness. After Saint Markovia and her
followers failed to overthrow Strahd, the abbey became grown accustomed. It's hard to tell at this distance, but
a fortress closed off from the rest of the world. Strahd there seems to be a switchback road clinging to the cliffs
ruthlessly preyed on the fears of the clerics and nuns that lead up from the walled settlement to the abbey.
holed up inside, but ultimately it was their isolation and
greed that doomed them. The clergy began fighting over
food and wine. By the time their supplies ran out, they The Old Svalich Road continues west from this location
had either been killed by each other's hands or driven for a little more than a mile before it plunges into the
hopelessly insane by Strahd's acts of terror against foggy curtain that surrounds Barovia (see chapter 2,
them. For years afterward, the villagers of Krezk "Mists of Ravenloft"). Characters who follow the road
avoided the place, fearing that the abbey was cursed, north arrive at the gatehouse (area S2).
haunted, or both.
Then, over a century ago, a pilgrim from a distant land
came to Krezk and insisted that he be allowed to reopen
the abbey. The nameless man was strikingly handsome
and extremely persuasive, and the villagers couldn't
help but do as he commanded. Eternally young, he pre­
sides over the abbey to this day, and locals refer to him
simply as the Abbot. Many villagers suspect that the Ab­
bot is Strahd in disguise, for they've heard stories about
Strahd appearing in other guises. The truth, however, is
even more disturbing.

THE GLEAM IN HER EYES WAS LIKE
warm sunlight on a still pond. That
light is gone forever. When I try to
imagine those eyes, all I see is a
mad abyss.
-Strahd van Zarovich