Review Characters

Characters

Unplaced Secrets

• 🗝️ The Abbot is not human. He possesses unnatural grace and hasn't aged a day since he arrived over a century ago.
• 🗝️ The screaming mongrelfolk in the courtyard sheds are the Belview family. The Abbot tried to "cure" them, but his divine magic twisted them based on their own warped desires.
• 🗝️ The Abbot built Vasilka (the flesh golem) from fresh Krezkite corpses he stole from the village graveyard, believing that giving Strahd a bride is the only way to lift Barovia's curse.
• 🗝️ Burgomaster Dmitri Krezkov is grieving. His 14-year-old son, Ilya, recently died of illness, contributing to the town's harsh isolationism.

Scenes

Strong Start — The Breakup & The Indifferent Host

📍 #The Foggy Courtyard

• 🎭 Ireena/Tatyana — Wakes up furious. She declares she is Tatyana, that she has always found a way to escape Strahd in past lives, and the party just ruined her one chance at true peace with Sergei. She severs ties with the party.
• 🎭 The Abbot — Drawn by the noise (the mongrelfolk guards fetched him). He starts with an Indifferent attitude toward the party ("no desire to help or hinder"). He doesn't offer secrets or favors willingly, and requires the characters to actively take the Influence action (Persuasion, Deception, etc.) if they want him to do something he's hesitant to do. He offers Ireena sanctuary, and without hindering the party, merely permits them to step inside out of the cold.
• 🗝️ Ireena accepts the Abbot's offer, refusing to go back with the party.

Abbey Exploration (Peaceful Tour or Dungeon Crawl)

📍 #The Main Hall or #The Madhouse

• 🎭 The Abbot — If the party is peaceful, he gives them a restricted tour, keeping them away from the Madhouse. He introduces Vasilka (sitting at the dining table learning etiquette) simply as his companion.
• 🗝️ The Dungeon Crawl — If the party pushes boundaries, sneaks off, or attacks, run the Abbey RAW as a dungeon (they encounter the Flesh Golem guard, feral Belviews, etc.).

Ezmerelda's Intervention (Backpocket Catalyst)

📍 #The Barracks (Area S19) or intercepted in a hallway

• 🎭 Ezmerelda d'Avenir — Hiding in the Abbey doing recon. If the party is peaceful, she intercepts them in a quiet moment.
• 🗝️ The Lore Drop — She warns them the Abbot is completely insane and built Vasilka from stolen Krezk corpses.
• 🎭 The Rejection — If the party asks her to take Ireena, she refuses. She works alone, is here to kill Strahd, and dragging Ireena around is a death sentence for her mission. The party must decide: leave Ireena with the madman, or fight him.
• Sun's Grave - Unlikely, but if they explore the graveyard, mention the Petrovna grave with the sun-shaped identation

Climax — Strahd Descends

📍 #Abbey Gates or #Krezk Village

• 🎭 Strahd von Zarovich — The pool desecration was the final straw. He knows exactly where they are. He is done playing the cat-and-mouse game and arrives personally to claim Ireena.
• 🗝️ This forces a high-stakes escape, standoff, or desperate negotiation.

Falling Action — Krezk's Sorrow

📍 #Krezk Gates

• 🎭 Burgomaster Dmitri Krezkov — As the party is escorted out of the village (fleeing or leaving), they learn of the Burgomaster's dead son, Ilya.
• 🗝️ This grounds the village's earlier hostility in real desperation and sorrow, resolving the missed opportunity to flesh out the townsfolk.

Fantastic Locations

The Foggy Courtyard

• Swirling, unnatural fog that seems eager to escape.
• Stone sheds with padlocks, echoing with horrific, bestial screams and laughter.
• Scarecrows lining the 15-foot-high curtain walls, propped up to look like guards.

The Main Hall

• A 50-foot-square room warmed by a hearth. Gentle, beautiful viol music trickles down from the floor above.
• A long wooden dining table set with golden candelabras, contrasting the courtyard's horrors with bizarre holy grace.

The Madhouse

• A lightless corridor reeking of filth and rotting meat. Multiple heavy doors rattling from the inside as unseen things caper, cackle, and whisper curses.

Monsters

• Mongrelfolks - https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/17367-mongrelfolk
  • Otto Belview: Standing Leap, "I am the smartest, wisest, strongest, fastest, and most beautiful person I know"
  • Zygfrek Belview: Nightvision, "I don’t like the way people judge me all the time."
• The Abbot (Deva) - https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16840-deva
• Vasilka (Flesh Golem) - https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/16863-flesh-golem
• Strahd von Zarovich - https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/17033-strahd-von-zarovich

Treasure and Magic Items

Sun Disk & Candelabras

• Above the hearth in the Main Hall hangs a golden sun disk (750 gp). Taking it reveals a hidden niche with a potion of healing (superior).
• The table has four gold candelabras (250 gp each).

DM Notes & Brainstorming

Original Initial Thoughts

• The abbey seems to be a mostly non-combat area, given the circumstances
• The Abbot's attitude will be welcoming at first, as the party wasn't antagonistic
• I'm gonna have him escort them, starting in the main hall
• Knowing my players they will be quite intrigued by Strahd's bride
• My main "concern" is Ireena. They came to Krezk because Fr Lucian said it would be a safe place from Strahd, because he didn't know about the current state of the abbey. However, because the party prevented her reunion with Sergei, Ireena/Tatyana will be furious at them when she wakes up. They kept arguing to her that she isn't Tatyana, but I'll have her say otherwise. She will state that she is both, that she has reincarnated several times, and they prevented her soul to achieve true peace with Sergei. All her other lives she never found fhim, but always found a way to not became Strahd's bride. And this time will be no different
• I don't want to play her as a suicidal person, but maybe she will part ways with the PCs and seek refuge on her own elsewhere
• Not sure how the Abbot would receive the news. If the PCs share why they brought Ireena there, which they most probably will, then The Abbot doesn't need the flesh golem anymore, and he can instead offer Ireena to Strahd
• Or maybe he would kill her himself to make sure that his creation is the chosen bride instead? RAW his goal seems to be to grant Strahd's heart desire as a way to save the valley, don't think it must be the flesh golem
• I will also have the Abbot's attitude be indifferent towards the PCs, so that he won't be willing to share too much with them

Refinement Inputs

• Ireena's Awakening: She's already at the abbey with them, sleeping. Makes sense for her to wake up furious. The Abbot arrives at that point (the two guards went inside to fetch him). She'll take shelter in the Abbey if offered, making it clear she wants nothing to do with the party anymore.
• The Abbot's Goal: Leave the decision (offering Ireena to Strahd vs. killing her) open. Pick the path that makes the most sense at the table during roleplay.
• Abbot's Attitude ("Indifferent"): In terms of D&D rules, this means he has "no desire to help or hinder." If the party wants him to do something he's hesitant about, they must actively use the Influence action (making a check against DC 15 or his Intelligence score). He permits them inside but doesn't go out of his way to help them or share secrets unprompted.
• Ezmerelda: The party already met her. Keep her in the backpocket. If exploring peacefully, they find her (or she finds them), learn the Abbot's secret, and conflict arises. If conflict happens naturally, she can be left out. Ireena won't go with Ezmerelda because RAW Ezmerelda works alone and her mission is to go to Strahd.
• Bridal Gown Quest: The party is STRONGLY opposed to Strahd (they prevented the Sergei reunion out of sheer suspicion even when it was clear the pool was Lawful Good). They won't take the dress quest unless the Abbot lies about its purpose.
• Krezk Regret: Missed opportunity to better portray/expose the Krezk people. The burgomaster sent them away to the Abbey after the pool desecration, wanting nothing to do with them. Re-integrate the burgomaster's issue (dead son) on their way out of town after leaving the Abbey.
• Strahd's Arrival: Strahd became aware of the Sergei apparition and corrupted the pool. Since she didn't disappear with Sergei, he won't be furious at the party, but he's fed up with the cat/mouse game. He will descend on Krezk focused entirely on capturing Ireena. This happens on their way out, giving them time with the Abbot and Krezk first.