Village of Barovia

As you travel on you notice tall shapes looming out of the dense fog that surrounds everything. The muddy ground under you gives way to wooden panels over trenches armed with bloodstained wooden spikes and then onto aged wet cobblestones. Eventually the tall shapes become recognizable as village dwellings. The windows of each house stare out from pools of blackness, the walls standing like gravestones. No sound cuts the silence except for a mournful sobbing that echoes through the streets from a distance. Continuing down the eerie streets you catch occasional glimpses of faces in the windows peering out with fear and curiosity in equal measure. Many homes are abandoned, left in varying states of disrepair and active deconstruction. 
While the sobbing can be heard along to the west the sound of a rickety cart appears to the north. Looking down the road you see a door closing and an elderly woman pushing a small wooden cart down the road. Above the wagon a creaking wooden umbrella sits lazily. As she slowly travels down the road you all you hear her warm voice call out “Pies, Dream Pies, Pies for a hungry stomach!”

Demographics

Barovia is a town whose decline has turned to stagnation. The population tend to be a strange composite of native Barovians, those unfortunate citizens forced out of the other settlements and outsiders sucked into this land seeking shelter. This leads to a more diverse range of skin tones and species in Barovia than other settlements with a roughly balanced gender split.
Stats:

• 48% Female / 52% Male
• 18% Children / 44% Young Adults / 36% Adult / 2% Elderly
• 73% Human / 4% Dwarf / 1% Elf / 12% Other

Government

Barovia is governed by a Burgomaster of the House of Kolyana. Though by right the Burgomaster wields complete authority over the territory a village council consisting of the local priest Father Gregor Durst, and the elderly citizens of the village.

Defences

Attempts to create defences have been oft foiled by the creatures of Barovia. Parts of ruined walls sit on the outskirts of the city, their architecture and materials showing the numerous efforts and ages past between their constructions. Trenches mark the general perimeter of the village within which decaying wooden spikes are irreguarly replaced. Around the trenches and along the streets a militia patrols move at night keeping an eye out for threats though their armaments and skill vary greatly. 
Each patrol is armed with a flintlock pistol that is to be fired in the event of a major attack whereupon the church bells can be rung to alert the village. Each home possesses some form of arms and any armour they have been able to salvage. In the event of such an assault every citizen over the age of twelve is expected to fight for their township.

Industry & Trade

The Barovian economy is primarily based around salvaging the equipment of adventurers who perished within the basin and trading it with newcomers and the other settlements in exchange for essential supplies. The farms on its outskirts are largely abandoned and food comes from hunting, foraging and trading. For reasons unknown to the township Count Strahd Von Zarovich has been known to send food from his own stores in times of famine to sustain the town.
Despite the foreigners present in the town its limited resources and harshness have prevented any major modernisation. Weaponry and devices from trade are present in some homes but medieval technology and methods are the mainstay of most of the residents.

Points of interest

Blood on the Vine Tavern

A single shaft of light thrusts illumination into the main square, it’s brightness looking like a solid pillar in the heavy fog. Above the gaping doorway, a sign hangs precariously askew, proclaiming this to be the Blood on the Vine tavern.
Entering the Tavern a tired silence fills the room. A blazing hearth gives scant warmth to a few huddled souls within. Close to you three women, two older and one younger, sit gambling in a dice game in worn attire that seems to have once had the colour and exuberance of the Vistani you met earlier. At the bar a pudgy little man cleans glasses one after another paying little attention to your arrival.

Residents:

• Alenka Rekova: The vistani owner who runs the tavern with her husband, she is the wealthiest resident in town and a servant of Count Strahd Von Zarovich
• Ismark the Lesser: The son of the Burgomaster who will offer to show the PCs around
• Arik the Barkeep: Has no soul, lost a leg on patrol and now uses a peg leg

Notes:

• Quest: Believe they should run the town and will offer to equip the PCs if they assist in the takeover
• Good meeting point for a dark power

Bildrath's Mercantile

The sparse light from this building spills out from behind drawn heavy curtains. A sign over the door, creaking on its hinges, reads “Bildrath’s Mercantile.” As you enter a reasonably well groomed man with a thick moustache looks over to you “Newcomers?” he says before chuckling “Welcome to my Mercantile”.

Residents:

• Bildrath Cantemir: Owner and con man happy to fleece the PCs, inherited business and views PCs as a cash injection
• Parpol 'Parriwimple' Cantemir: Bildrath's brother who is simple minded but extremely strong, acts as muscle for the business

Notes:

• Best source of modern equipment in game
• Prices inflated at 10x the price - "You are stuck in Barovia with our prices now"
• Ally: Pariwimple can be recruited through edict by the Burgomaster or upon returning to Barovia after several months and completing Defend Barovia! proving the adventurers merit

Church of the Morning Lord

Atop a slight rise, against the roots of the pillar stone that supports Castle Ravenloft, stands a gray, sagging, edifice of stone and wood. This church has obviously weathered the assaults of evil for centuries on end and is worn and weary. A bell tower rises toward the back, and flickering light shines through holes in the shingled roof. The rafters strain feebly against their load. As you approach the heavy wooden doors of the church you notice they are covered with claw marks and scarred by fire.
(If party with Ismark add: As your about to open the door Ismark turns to you all and says hesitantly “Some say the church is deconsecrated, an old priest’s son returned to him ravaged by the Devil’s madness. It’s best not to mention it to Father Durst, he’s a man of great piety and short temper for heresay”)

The doors open to reveal a ten-foot-wide, twenty-foot-long hall leading to a brightly lit chapel. The hall is unlit and reeks of mildew. Four doors, two on each side of the hall, lead to adjacent chambers. You can see that the chapel is strewn with debris, and you hear a soft voice from within reciting a prayer. Suddenly, the prayer is blotted out by an inhuman scream that rises up from beneath the wooden floor. Walking forwards to the chapel you notice it is in shambles. Verturned and broken pews litter the dusty floor. Dozens of candles mounted in candlesticks and candelabras light every dusty corner in a fervent attempt to rid the chapel of shadows. At the far end of the church sits a claw-scarred altar, behind which kneels a priest in soiled vestments. Next to him hangs a long, thick rope that stretches up into the bell tower.

Residents:

• Father Gregor Durst: A Vallakian exile who claimed to be a lost member of the Durst family after scavenging Durst Manor.
• Vandorn: A former adventurer (Callum's Character) made a vampire by Strahd and sent to hunt down former allies. Captured by Father Durst and locked in basement where he is experimented on.

Notes:

• Father Durst's falsehood can be found in the Durst Manor if confronted he will offer PCs aid to keep his secret
• Quest: Vallakians believe the sounds from the church are due to it being haunted. Actually Vandorn is trapped in the basement and reguarly tortured and experimetned on. PCs can kill, release or allow the torture of Vandorn. Killing ends quest, Release has him appear as an ally at the first visit to Castle Ravenloft and allowing the experiments to continue will give the PCs a book that adds an ID to landing attacks on vampires after two months.
• Ally: Father Durst can be recruited if allowed to finish his research.

Last Leg Stables

As you approach the larger building on the outskirts of town you see a smaller one story building by its side. A column of smoke emerges from the one story house on the side. As you get close a tall half-elf woman with a stony birthmark across her left eye and forehead leaves the larger building and looks warily at you.

Residents:

• Kereza Draskoi: Manager of stables, half-elf and former adventurer. Has son Alek, Dream Pie addict.
• Alek Draskoi: Son of Kereza, will be kidnapped by Hags after PCs leave the first time.
• Zdzslav Polenskey: Old owner of stable and tutor of Alek. Sits on Village Council.

Notes:

• Will sell horses for 75gp a head

Mad Mary's Townhouse

A moaning sob floats through the still, gray streets, coloring your thoughts with sadness. The sounds flow from a dark, two-story townhouse whose windows are boarded up.

Residents:

• Mad Mary: A woman whose daughter has been taken by Strahd, has descended into madness.

Notes:

• Quest: PCs asked to find Gertrude Tolenska who is presented as a child. Investigating room will reveal she is 18 and fled to Castle Ravenloft believing herself to be the new Tatyana and thus the rightful queen of the land.

Burgomaster's Manor

A weary-looking mansion squats behind a rusting iron fence. The iron gates are twisted and torn. The right gate lies cast aside, while the left swings lazily in the wind. The stuttering squeal and clang of the gate repeats with mindless precision. Weeds choke the grounds and press with menace upon the house itself. Yet, against the walls, the growth has been trampled down to create a path all about the domain. Heavy claw markings have stripped the once-beautiful finish of the walls. Great black marks tell of the fires that have assailed the mansion. Not a pane nor a shard of glass stands in any window. All the windows are barred with planks, each one marked with stains of evil omen.

Residents:

• Ismark the Greater: Burgomaster of Barovia. A fair man and a good warrior but with few skills of administration and little vision. Believes the old ways work and lives in fear of Count Strahd Von Zarovich.
• Ismark the Lesser: Son will be found here if not tavern, is insecure in abilities and worries for the future of the land.

Notes:

• House is relatively sparse for a noble but larger than others
• Quest: Asks PCs to check in on Mad Mary Tolenska
• Quest: If PCs return to Barovia in Act 2 it will be under nightly siege. Ismark will beseech the PCs to help build a wall around the city and defend it promising their aid when the PCs march on Castle Ravenloft.
• Ally: Ismark the Lesser will join the PCs if they protect Barovia from threats believing he must help them end the threat forever

Architecture

Barovia is medieval in nature with many abandoned homes in assorted states of disrepair. The occupied homes show some signs of modernisation in chimneys, stone bufers and at times metal bars over windows yet these are few and far between. The streets are lined iwth irreguarly sized cobblestones but well walked and lit by wooden torches. Many homes have small vegetable gardens beside them to help ease hte food scarcity that threatens the village.

Natural Resources

Barovia has fertile farmland around it and woodlands ready to be chopped but the proximity to Castle Ravenloft makes any such efforts extremely dangerous. Logging camps and farms are largely abanoned with most residents dwelling within the village itself.

Population

~400

Inhabitant Demonym

Barovian

Location under

Barovia

Owner/Ruler

Ismark the Greater

Ruling/Owning Rank

Burgomaster

Characters in Location

• Alenka Rekova
• Father Gregor Durst