Page 78 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

The figure approaching is Cyrus Belview, a mongrel­ K63. WINE CELLAR
folk (see appendix D) and Strahd's faithful servant. He
stands 4 feet, 9 inches ta11 but appears shorter because
of his hunched posture. He has the Keen Hearing and Arched frames of stone form a low, wet ceiling over this
Smell feature. The left side his face is covered with wine cellar. Great casks line the walls, their bands rusting
lizard scales, and he has the ears of a panther. His left
foot looks like a duck's webbed foot, and his arms have and their contents long since spilled onto the floor. A few
patches of black dog fur. hungry rats make their home here, but upon your sudden
The light in the hall comes from a lantern on the floor arrival, they retreat to the shadows.
behind Cyrus. If the characters have their own light
sources, Cyrus sees them, but he will not attack first.
He wears a loop of twine around his neck, hanging from The rats are harmless. Cyrus Belview (see area K62)
which is an iron key and a decorative wooden pendant treats them like pets.
fitted with a varnished human eyeball. The key unlocks Characters who search the room find a crack at the
the iron chest in area K60. The wooden pendant is southern end of the west wall. The crack is half an
a hag eye given to Cyrus by the night hag Morgantha inch wide, 5 inches tall, and 12 inches deep; it leads
(see chapter 6), so that she could spy on Strahd. Cyrus to area K18.
doesn't know that the necklace is magical. See the "Hag
Covens" sidebar in the hags entry in the Monster Man­ WINE CASKS
Each of the twelve large casks here rests on its side in
ual for information about the hag eye. a heavy wooden brace. Three casks stand against the
Poor old Cyrus is obviously crazy. He has served the
master for uncounted years and is devoted to him. Cyrus north wall, six against the east wall, and three against
tries to get the characters to retire to their "room in the the south wall. Decorative lettering is burned into the
tower" (area K49). If the characters aren't sure what top of each cask, showing the winery name-the Wizard
room he is talking about, he offers to lead them there. of Wines-and the name of the wine in the cask.
If the characters follow Cyrus, he tells them to stay Northern Casks. All three of these casks are rotted
close to him as he leads them through the south door to and empty. The wine's name is Champagne du le Stomp.
area K61 and deliberately sets off the elevator trap there. Eastern Casks. Five of these casks are rotted and
Cyrus tries his best not to succumb to the sleeping gas empty. The wine name burned on each is Red Dragon
as the elevator compartment climbs the shaft (area K31),
and he has advantage on the saving throw. Assuming
he's still conscious when the elevator compartment
reaches the top of the shaft, Cyrus opens the trapdoor to CYRUS BELVIEW
area K47 and either leads the characters to area K49 or
if they're unconscious, drags them there. After assurin�
characters who are conscious that "the master will be
along shortly," Cyrus then makes his way back down­
stairs to the kitchen (area K65).
If the characters don't go to their room, Cyrus shakes
his head and returns to the work of preparing his dinner
in area K65. If the characters take his key, he screams,
"The master will not be pleased!" and begins to moan
and slap his head, obviously upset. A successful DC 10
Charisma (Intimidation) check is enough to make him
divulge the key's purpose, the location of the iron chest
and the chest's contents. '
When he isn't being threatened, Cyrus giggles to him­
self from time to time for no" clear reason. He also likes
to tell poor jokes at (he most.inopportune moments.
Stairs at the east end of the north wall lead up
to area 2 3.
K
Along the east wall is a rusted but sturdy iron portcul­
lis that bars the way to area K63. (If the characters pe�r
through the portcullis, read the boxed text for area K63.)
The portcullis bars are 1 inch thick and spaced 4 inches
apart. The portcullis can be lifted with a successful DC
20 Strength check.
The double doors ai:· the west end of the hall are
,
made of heavy planks barided .with steel. They open
into area K67.

CHAPTER 4.1 CASTLE RAVENLOFT