Page 49 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

E6. CEMETERY DREAM PASTRIES
This event occurs as the characters make their way
through the village.
A fence of wrought iron with a rusty gate encloses a
rectangular plot of land behind the dilapidated church.
Tightly packed gravestones shrouded by fog bear the You hear the sound of small, wooden wheels rolling
names of souls long passed. All seems quiet. across damp cobbles. You trace the lonely sound to
a hunched figure bundled in rags, pushing a rickety
wooden cart through the fog.
During daytime, the cemetery is a still and peaceful
place. Every night at midnight, however, a ghostly pro­
cession takes place (see "March of the Dead" below). Morgantha, a night hag in the guise of an old woman,
has come to the village from Old Bonegrinder to sell her
£7. HAUNTED HOUSE dream pastries for 1 gp apiece (see chapter 6 for a de­
This haunted house is described in appendix B, scription of the pastries). She goes from house to house,
"Death House." knocking on doors. Most of the time, no one answers.
When someone does, Morgantha tries to peddle her
SPECIAL EVENTS wares, offering customers an escape from the misery
and despair of everyday Barovian life. If the characters
You can use one or both of the following special events shadow her for a while, she collects payment from one
while the characters explore the village. household in the form of a seven-year-old boy named
Lucianjarov (LG male human noncombatant). Lucian's
MARCH OF THE DEAD parents plead with Morgantha not to take their boy, but
Every night at midnight, one hundred spirits rise from she snatches the crying child from their grasp, stuffs
the cemetery (area E6) and march up the Old Svalich him in a sack, straps him down to her peddler's cart,
Road to Castle Ravenloft. and casually makes her way back to Old Bonegrinder.
Morgantha recognizes that the characters are strang­
ers and does her best to avoid them. If the characters
An eerie green light suffuses the graveyard. From this demand the release of the child, she grudgingly com­
light emerges a ghostly procession. Wavering images of plies, knowing that she can always come back for the
doughty women toting greatswords, woodwise men with boy later. She fights only in self-defense and offers the
slender bows, dwarves with glittering axes, and archa­ following information in exchange for her life:
ically dressed mages with beards and strange, pointed • Strahd has mastery over the land and the weather,
and his spies include the Vistani.
hats-all these and more march forth from the grave­ • There's a Vistani camp to the west, on the shores of
yard, their numbers growing by the second.
Tser Pool (chapter 2, area G), and another on the out­
skirts ofVallaki (chapter 5, area N9).
These aren't the spirits of the people buried here, but of Strahd has undead enemies in Barovia, namely the
previous adventurers who died trying to destroy Strahd. fallen knights of the Order of the Silver Dragon. These
Every night, the ghostly adventurers attempt to complete revenants cart be found in a ruined mansion west of
their quest, and each night they fail. They have no inter­ Vallaki (see chapter 7, "Argynvostholt").
est in the living and can't be hit, damaged, or turned. • Strahd's most carefully guarded secret is a temple of
They will not communicate with the characters. forbidden lore hidden in the mountains (see chapter
Once they reach the castle, the spirits march straight 13, "The Amber Temple"). The temple can be reached
to the chapel (area KlS) and up the high tower stair by following the long and winding Tsolenka Pass (see
(area K18) to the top of the tower (area K59). There, chapter 9).
they throw themselves down the shaft toward the crypts
(area K84), where they disappear.

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