Page 83 - Curse of Strahd_Neat

K75F. DEAD WIZARD out of the water, their slime-gray arms clawing upward
through the water as they attack.
Shackled to the back wall of this cell is an emaciated fig­ K77. OBSERVATION BALCONY ·
ure in a blue robe, its spindly arms spread wide and its
head tilted forward. Long, gray hair hangs down in front
of the dead man's face. Two large, wooden thrones rest on this balcony. Behind
the thrones hangs a red velvet curtain thirty feet long.
The ceiling here is ten feet high.
The skeletal figure is all that remains of a human wiz­
ard whom Strahd captured and slowly bled to death.
Flesh still clings to the wizard's bones, and puncture The room continues behind the curtain an additional 10
marks from the vampire's fangs are visible on the wiz­ feet to a wall that has a door in its center.
ard's neck.
K78. BRAZIER ROOM
K75G. HANGING BARD

This room is thirty feet square, rising to a twenty-foot-tall
Pounded into the roof of this cell is a rusted iron pulley,
strung through which is a rope that is tied to one of the flat ceiling. A stone brazier burns fiercely in the center of
crossbeams of the barred door. Dangling upside down the room, but its tall white flame produces no heat. The
from the pulley is a man, flabby and stout of build, in rim of the brazier is carved with seven cup-shaped inden­
tight-fitting leather armor. His boots are bound with rope tations spaced evenly around the circumference. Within
just below the pulley, his fleshy hands are tied behind his each indentation is a spherical stone, twice the diameter
back, and his head is underwater. He isn't moving. of a human eyeball and made of a colored crystal. No two
stones are the same color.
Overhead, a wood-framed hourglass as tall and wide
Strahd had this human bard suspended from the ceiling as a dwarf hangs ten feet above the brazier, suspended
as a test to see how long he could keep his head above from the ceiling by thick iron chains. All the sand is stuck
water. The man weakened and drowned. On the floor of
the cell, below the hanging corpse, is a smashed lyre. in the upper portion of the hourglass, seemingly unable
to run down into the bottom. Written in glowing script
K75H. EMPTY CELL on the base of the hourglass is a verse in Common.
This cell contains nothing of interest. Two nine-foot-tall iron statues of knights on horseback,

K76. TORTURE CHAMBER poised to charge with swords drawn, stand in deep al­
coves facing each other. The brazier sits between them.

Dark, low shapes thrust up out of the still, brackish water The two statues are iron golems. Each horse and rider
that fills this fifty-foot-square room, the ceiling of which is considered one creature, and they are inseparable.
is festooned with hanging chains that look like thick, The golems will not leave the room under any circum­
black web strands. A balcony set into the north wall over­ stances, and they attack only under specific conditions
looks the room and has two large thrones atop it, with a (see the "Development" section that follows).
red velvet curtain behind them. The hourglass has AC 12, 20 hit points, immunity to
poison and psychic damage, and vulnerability to thunder
damage. If the·hourglass is-reduced to O hif points, its
The ceiling is 17 feet above the surface of the \\'.ater, glass shatt!!fS, · causing the sand within it to fall to the · ·.
h
which is 3 feet deep. The balcony to the north stands 7 floor. The magic writing 09.the base of the .ourglass
· · ·
· ·
· ·
feet above the water's surface, IO.feet.above the floor. reads as follows: � .. ��
If the characters approach the "dark, low · shapes" in · Cast a stone into the fire: _:_., : ., . . .
the water, read: ·. : · .. . -�. :· Violet leads to the mountain spire'', .... _, .
.• ··: ·. · :-_ · ·'
'
J :- .. .
. f • ·-{/\: ·::\� . ·�: �, .-,� .. · Orapge to the castle's-peak .· :_; . .
·
Green to where the coffin;hid� · "<
The dark shapes in the water are racks, iron maidens, Red if lore is what you seek > ··:.
stocks, and other instruments of torture. The skeletons Indigo to the master's btid� �- · ' ..
of their last victims lie within them, their jaws seemingly Blue to ancient magids "VO�b · ·:::.: : . �
frozen open in silent screams. Yellow to the maste/s t?�b : ' ·,-
. The brazier;s flame is magical and sheds no war'mth. A
· "As soon as one or more characters move more than .. successful casting of dispel magic (DC 16) extinguishes.
10 feet into the room, six Strahd zombies rise slowly . the fl_ame· for 1 bour. The fire is permanently extin-
. ··-guisnecHf the brazier is destroyed. The brazier.has AC
. 82 . CHAPTER 4 I CASTLE RAVEN LOFT
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