Page 179 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

Wl3. BACK STAIRCASE Characters who have a light source can see brown mold
covering the walls, floor, and ceiling around the archway
and the cave beyond. Growing throughout this area,
Thick moss covers the walls of this underground stair­ keeping the wine cellar cool, are ten patches of brown
case. At the foot of the steps is a landing with an arched mold (see "Dungeon Hazards" in chapter 5, "Adventure
wooden door set into the north wall. Environments," of the Dungeon Master's Guide). The
characters are safe from the mold as long as they keep
their distance.
This staircase connects areas WlO and Wl4.
Wl6. LOADING WINCH
Wl4. WINE CELLAR
In the winery's heyday, the wine cellar was packed with This room has a wooden floor with a ten-foot-square
barrels awaiting shipment, but those days are long gone. hole cut into the middle of it. Looming over the hole
is a wooden winch. Perched atop it is a man with wild
Wooden pillars and beams support the ten-foot-high ceil­ hair, rotted teeth, and skin painted red with blood. He
ing of this ice-cold cellar, which is split in two by a five­ waves a gnarled staff made from a black branch and bab­
foot-thick brick wall. A thin mist covers the floor. Each bles at you.
half of the cellar features an eight-foot tall wooden parti­
tion that doubles as a wine rack. The western rack stands
The man is a druid (NE male human) who fights only
empty, but the eastern one is half filled with wine bottles.
if cornered. Otherwise, he tries to flee by dropping onto
the wagon in the loading dock (area W2). He then looks
for a place in the winery to hide. A character who un­
Unless they have been drawn outside, five needle
blights and one druid (NE male human) lurk in the derstands Druidic can translate the his words: "Nature
eastern portion of the cellar. If they are here when the bows to my every whim, for I have the vampire's staff!"
characters enter that part of the cellar, read: A secret door in the north corner of the west wall can
be pulled open to reveal a bedroom (area Wl 7).

Something moves behind the eastern wine rack. Through , 'TREASURE
the holes, you glimpse a half dozen humanoid figures, The druid wields a Gulthias staff(see appendix C),
one with a full rack of antlers. You hear a gravelly voice which can be used to destroy the blights in the winery.
mutter the words of a spell. Wl 7. MASTER BEDROOM

This bedroom normally belongs to Davian Martikov but
On his first turn, from.behind the wine rack, the druid is currently being used by his daughter, Stefania, and
casts a thunderwave spell, which shatters ld20 + 10 of son-in-law, Dag, while they raise their baby daughter.
the wine bottles as it resounds throughout the cellar.
The druid then orders the needle blights to attack. This room contains a four-poster bed, its headboard
The cellar gets markedly colder the closer one gets to
the north wall. Against that wall in the eastern portion carved in the likeness of a giant raven. A soft black rug
of the cellar rest three frosty barrels containing Purple covers the floor between the bed and the door. In the cor­
Grapemash No. 3, a fact that is emblazoned on each bar­ ners of the south wall stand two slender wardrobes with
rel's side. A single bottle of Purple Grapemash No. 3 lies a tapestry of a church hanging on the wall between them.
on the flagstone floor in the western half of the cellar. Beneath the tapestry sits a handsomely carved rocking
The wine rack in the eastern half of the cellar holds
forty bottles, the labels of which show that the wine is cradle. To the north, under a window, is a plain desk and
the winery's Red Dragon Crush .. chair. Other furnishings include a wooden chest and a
A secret door between the two halves of the wine freestanding mirror in a wooden frame.
cellar can be pushed open to teveal-a:fre�zi��-cold pas 0
sageway (area W lS): . :></;·I:�;/::)._::··.:: '· · ···. One of the wardrobes cdntii�s-.St�f�nia;; clothes:· and,
0
•
Wl5. BROWN. M:q.Lp (;:/ '-.;: .· · the other contains Dag's. Jhe d�sk'h�lds manifests re­
cording wine shipments f�r thei>a!?t cenl�'tfAcursory
·- ' ·, -�
If the charact;rs o�eh the s_ecret"dom';"r��d: examination of recent records reve�is tfia"t almost all
...
shipments are made to th�·f6:now1hg-locatiorts:,
.
'
' . .
It takes some effort to push open the secret door, and "BV" (the Blood o' the,Vin� tav'ern in. the village
you are greeted by a blast of cold air. A dark tunnel of Barovia) · · · · · · · ·
stretches for fifteen feet, ending at an archway beyond • "BW" (the Blue Water Inn in. the town of Vallaki)
which lies a shallow cave. • · "K" (l\rez.k) . . ·
"VISTANT"/··•·
CHAPTER 12 I THE WIZARD OF WINES