D&D 5E Curse of Strahd: Krezk

[jayoungr]

Eh, maybe I should just hurry them through Krezk and get them to the abbey as soon as possible. The main reason they're even going there is because they want to ask the abbot to cast raise dead on Doru, the priest's son who is a vampire. And the player of our cleric is not-so-secretly hoping for her character to be corrupted; the abbot seems like a good chance to do that.

 

[jayoungr]

Update: Right after typing the previous entry, I decided to do a Google search, and I did find a few suggestions for expanding Krezk that aren't just expansions or reworkings of the abbey:

 

[toucanbuzz]

From my notes, which were heavily influenced by Sean McGovern's Guide to running COS:

KREZK​

En Route: Muriel the wereraven flies over party carrying a small sack in her beak. She drops it and flies off. Inside is a loaf of dark nut bread (from Blue Water Inn). She’s offering minor assistance, nothing more, and illustrates she’s not just a plot device.

Entering Town:

• If Ezmeralda here, she warns they may have to jump through hoops to get in. She was caught sneaking around and it got ugly (a minor mishap and shows place under lockdown).
• Gate guards have dark circles under eyes, faded armor. They are pointedly rude and insulting. Burgomeister Krezkov shows up to calm them down, wearing a big shiny ring with family crest, buttoned up jacket with city symbol in gold on front (p145). He talks over the wall and is worried they are allies of the “drac” (devil Strahd). They can show good will by getting an overdue wagonload of wine from the Wizard of Wines winery.

Burgomeister Dimitri Krezkov. Had 4 kids, most recent one to die is Ilya at age 14, he died a week ago of consumption (tuberculosis). Others were Adal, Oliver, and Hulda. He’s a good guy.

Pool & Shrine. Read developments! Final box of grey text and lightning hit pool regardless if Ireena takes hand or not. Those in 15’ of pool Dex check or prone, in pool Con or take damage. Suggest sound effect for thunder. Whatever player keeps her from pool, Strahd sends a Dream thanking PC for helping save his bride. If not, he aims to destroy them.

Event: near commoner cottage, screeching noise. A villager is about to cut head off a chicken. A young kid watches his mother in silence, dark circles under his eyes (drab clothing). She cuts off the head and blood spatters on the kid. He doesn’t react or wipe away the blood and follows his mother inside.

Something New. Must run event. Have Anna Krezkov be the midwife, burgomeister can ask one of PCs to perform a blessing for newborn.

Something Borrowed. Important. Abbey interest from (1) Krezk lore from p146, (2) dinner bell ring while PCs there with screams and laughter from Abbey, (3) several graves in town robbed and corpses stolen. You want burgomeister to know Vallakovichs have a wedding dress.

 

[jayoungr]

So, I decided to borrow something from the Reddit side quest I linked above. I made Ilya, the burgomaster's son, a bit older (18-19 instead of 14), and instead of having him die of illness, I said that he had been killed when he was allowed to venture out of town to go to the winery and see why the shipment was late. He was attacked on the road by someone or something--some said wolves, and others suggested that "the Patchwork Girl"* had gotten him. She was said to be an evil entity who stalked the woods; some thought she was just a tale to frighten children, but after Ilya was resurrected, he said that the last thing he remembered was a woman whose parts seemed to be stitched together attacking him.

Then the PCs visited the abbey and were introduced to Vesilka. They quickly (and correctly) decided the abbot was insane and walked out. Now they have decided to track down and eliminate the Patchwork Girl, and they also want to find out more about the abbot before they decide what to do about him. The problem is that I'm not sure how they would learn anything about the abbot. I've stressed that he's a very mysterious figure to the townsfolk, who only see him a handful of times per year. They might question the Patchwork Girl, but she would have been created after the abbot had already snapped. Any suggestions on how to handle this?

I mentioned the detail about the graves having metal cages over them, but the players haven't made the connection with grave robbing yet. They think the cages are to prevent the dead from getting out. It's not a major story point, but I'd kind of like them to figure out what's going on there. Does anyone have any suggestions about that?

*Yeah, I know, I was an Oz fan as a child too! But I couldn't think of another name that described her so perfectly.