Page 162 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

CHAPTER 10: THE RUINS OF BEREZ

ONG BEFORE !REENA KOLYANA, THERE APPROACHING THE RUINS
was a peasant from Berez named Marina.
The vampire Strahd first met Marina The following boxed text assumes that the characters
in this small village on the shore of the approach Berez from the north, along the trail leading
Luna River. Marina bore a striking re­ from the Old Svalich Road. If they approach from a dif­
semblance to Strahd's beloved Tatyana, ferent direction, don't read the first sentence.
both in appearance and manner, and she
became Strahd's obsession. He seduced her in the dead The trail hugs the river for several miles. The dirt and
of night and feasted on her blood, but before she could
be turned into a vampire, the burgomaster of Berez, La­ grass soon turn to marsh as the trail dissolves into
zio Ulrich, with the aid of a local priest named Brother spongy earth pockmarked with stands of tall reeds and
Grigor, killed Marina to save her soul from damnation. pools of stagnant water. A thick shroud of fog covers
Enraged, Strahd slew the priest and the burgomaster, all. Scattered throughout the marsh are old peasant
then used his power over the land to swell the river, cottages, their walls covered with black mildew, their
flooding the village and forcing the residents to flee.
Later the marsh crept in, preventing the villagers from roofs mostly caved in. These decrepit dwellings seem to
returning. Berez has remained mostly abandoned since. hunker down in the mire, as though they have long since
The ruins of Berez are now home to Baba Lysaga (see given up on escaping the thick mud. Everywhere you
appendix D), an almost mythic figure tied to Strahd's an­ look, black clouds of flies dart about, hungry for blood.
cient past. A hermit, she spends most of her time craft­ The fog is much thinner on the far side of the river,
ing and animating scarecrows to hunt down and kill the where a light flashes amid a dark ring of standing stones.
ravens and the wereravens that infest Strahd's domain.
When she isn't working evil magic, Baba Lysaga sac­
rifices beasts to Mother Night and collects their blood, The river ranges in depth but is never more than 10
then bathes in the blood on nights of the new moon in a feet deep. Muriel Vinshaw, a wereraven in human form,
ritual to stave off the effects of extreme old age. lurks amid the circle of standing stones (area U6) and
Baba Lysaga recently stole a magic gemstone from is using a lantern to signal the heroes. In the village
the Wizards of Wines vineyard (chapter 12), in the hope proper, fog prevents a creature from seeing any other
that the wereravens who protect the vineyard will try creature or object more than 120 feet away.
to reclaim it. She keeps it in her hut as bait to lure her
enemies to their deaths. The gem has given her hut a
semblance of life.

l HAD NOTHING LEFT TO GIVE
but my own life's blood, but it
was hers to take. She would at
last be my bride.
-Strahd von Zarovich
in I, Strahd: The Memoirs
ofa Vampire