Page 79 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

Crush. Lining the interior of the sixth one is a patch of Cyrus Belview (see area K62) uses this room as his lair.
yellow mold (see "Dungeon Hazards" in chapter 5, "Ad­ There is nothing of value here.
venture Environments," of the Dungeon Master's Guide). If Cyrus is with the party, the characters notice that
A character who inspects the cask closely and succeeds he is caressing ·their equipment and chuckling to him­
on a DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check sees yellow self. Cyrus has been salvaging equipment from dead
mold in the cracks between the planks of the cask. If adventurers for years. He looks forward to adding to his
this cask is smashed open, the yellow mold releases a collection after Strahd gets through with the characters.
cloud of spores.
Southern Casks. Two of these casks are rotted and K67. HALL OF BONES
empty. The wine name burned on each is Purple Grape­ Once a mess hall for the castle guards, this room is
mash No. 3. The middle one is home to a purplish black now desecrated ground (see "Wilderness Hazards" in
pudding that bursts forth if the cask is broken open. chapter 5, "Adventure Environments," of the Dungeon
Master's Guide).
FORTUNES OF RAVENLOFT
If your card reading reveals that a treasure is here, it is
inside one of the empty casks along the north wall, hid­ Dark stains cover the Aoor of this area. Large oak tables,
den there by Cyrus Belview. scarred and beaten, lay scattered like toys about the

K64. GUARDS' STAIR room, their wood crushed and splintered. Replacing
l The walls and the twenty-foot-high vaulted ceiling are
them are furnishings made entirely of human bones.
l The long, hollow sigh of the wind breathes a semblance a sickly yellow color, not because of faded or timeworn
of life into this otherwise featureless staircase. plaster but because they are adorned with bones and
skulls arranged in a morbidly decorative fashion, giv-
The stairway starts at area K68 and goes up past area ing the room a cathedral-like quality. Four enormous
K13 to area K46. mounds of bones occupy the corners of this ossuary, and
garlands of skulls extend from these mounds to a chan­
K65. KITCHEN delier of bones that hangs from the ceiling above a long
table constructed of bones in the center of the room.
A horrible odor of decay fills this steaming hot room. A Ten chairs made of bones and festooned with decorative
huge pot bubbles over a blazing fire pit in the center of skulls surround the table, resting atop which is an ornate,
the room, its green, muddy contents churning. The far bowl-shaped vessel made of yet more bones.
wall is lined with pegs, hanging from which are numer­ The doors to the north and south are sheathed in
ous large cooking implements-some of which could bone, but the steel-banded double doors in the center
easily double as implements of torture. of the east wall are not. Above these eastern doors is
mounted the skull of a dragon.

If a character looks into the pot, three human zombies
rise up from the bubbling depths and attack. The zom­ Cyrus Belview (see area K62) created this enormous
bies are slowly being boiled to death, and each has only work of art out of the bones of dead servants and slain
13 hit points remaining. If Cyrus Belview (see area K62) adventurers. It has taken him many years to complete it.
is present when the zombies attack, he grabs a heavy The bones and skulls are held together with gray mortar
club and tries to beat them back into the pot. Cyrus ex­ and white paste. The dark stains on the floor are old
_
plains that he just isn't the cook he used to be, and his bloodstains, caused here when Strahd hunted down and
meals tend to get out of hand these days. killed the remainder of his castle guards.
The dragon skull mounted above the eastern doors
K66. BUTLER'S UARTERS belonged to Argynvost (see chapter 7), a·silver,oragon
that was killed in the valley by Strahd and his army be­
fore the founding of Castie Raven loft. The s·kull weighs
This twenty-foot-square room is filled wall to wall with 250 pounds. · · ··
clutter. A long, sagging bed sits to one side under a huge FORTUNES OF RAVENLO:FT·
faded tapestry that depicts Castle Ravenloft. Dusty lan­ . If your card reading reveals that .a treasure is here, it is
·
terns sit in various places, and bright curtains are draped lying on the bone table. ' ·
haphazardly about the room. Thousands of pieces of If your card reading indicates' an ertcounter with
junk cover the Aoor. Broken swords, crumpled shields, Strahd in this area, he is sitting comfort;ibly at one end
and helmets lie in piles all about. of the table, holding the skull of a long-dead foe.

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CHAPTER 4 I CASTLE RAVENLOFT -·
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