Court of the Count

The Court of the Count (areas K25 through K46) is identical to the book except in the following areas:

K26. Guards' Post

If the characters enter this hall through either set of double doors, read:

The door opens to reveal another set of double doors ten feet ahead. Between these doors, a ten-foot-wide corridor stretches north to south. At each end of the hall stands one armored guard with a grim face.

The guards are castle guards.

K27. Count's Hall

The twenty-foot-high hall has a dark, vaulted ceiling draped with cobwebs. A low moan seems to travel the length of the corridors as it rises and falls, intoning sadness and despair.

The moaning is only the wind.

K28. Count's Balcony

A sculpted stone railing encloses this long balcony, which overlooks Ravenloft's chapel. Two ornate thrones stand side by side in the center of the balcony. The thrones face away from the double doors that give access to the balcony.

If the characters approach the thrones, they see two apparitions in the form of Branwen and Barov von Zarovich. If the characters interact with the apparitions, they vanish in grotesque fashion: Branwen seems to drain of life in front of them as if being bled to death, mouth open and screaming until she dissolves into gray mist. Barov begins to swell and redden until he explodes into a spray of red mist.

K32. Maid In Hell Something Else

Oil lamps illuminate this long, rectangular chamber with oak-paneled walls. Stained, yellowed lace hangs neatly from eight canopied beds.

This room is empty.

K36. Dining Hall of the Count

Dust assaults your lungs. A sweet yet pungent smell of decay fills this room, in the center of which stands a long oak table. There is a single helping of food set up at one of the chairs, half-eaten. Suspended above is a chandelier of forged iron. An arched window in the south wall is draped with heavy curtains. Resting in a wooden stand by the window is a lyre, and standing quietly in the southwest corned is a tall harp.

The meal is left by Gertruda.
The room has wooden doors in the north and west walls (leading to areas K37 and K44,) and an ornate steel door in the east wall (which leads to K35.)
The harp stands 6 1/2 feet tall, weighs close to 300 pounds, and is fashioned of dark, stained wood carved with images of harts and roses. The lyre is a Lyre of Lament, and is played by Ndidi Finesilver when they are out of their crypt.

K39. Hall of Webs

The hall has an arched ceiling 20 feet overhead. At the eastern end are a pair of bronze doors of ornate design. These doors can be pulled open to reveal area K40 beyond.
Secret Doors. At the west end of the hall are two secret doors. The secret door on the west wall can't be opened from this side, except by magic. See area K38 for more information on this secret door. If the characters pass through this door coming from area K38, it closes and locks behind them if they don't take measures to prop it open. A narrow secret door at the western end of the south wall, which can be opened to reveal area K31b.

K40. Belfry

You can hear the rain and thunder outside, and the air here is cold and damp. A rope dangles from high above.

The rope is attached to a great bell mounted in a wooden framework 50 feet overheard. Pulling the rope of attempting to climb it brings forth a loud, long ringing.
At the west end of the north wall is a secret door that opens into area K41.

K42. Count's Bedchambers

Sweet smells waft from this delicately lit room. A great arched window along the west wall is covered by heavy red draperies. their gold tassels glinting in the light of three candelabras sitting atop small tables about the room. Tall white candles burn with bright, steady light. A large bed canopied by silk curtains sits with its headboard against the north wall. Carved into the headboard with great skill is a large "Z." Lying amid the velvet and satin sheets is a young halfling woman in a nightgown.

Arched double doors lead from this room to the south and east (leading to K43 and K37.) The iron-hinged windows look out onto the parapets.
The figure on the bed is Gertruda.
Next to the bed, set in the north wall, is a secret door. It can be pushed open to reveal a dusty hall that ends at a similar secret door in the back of an alcove in area K45.

K43. Bath Chamber

Red satin curtains hang in archways at both ends of hte south wall in this dark room. Between them, in the center of the chamber, stands a large ornate iron tub with clawed feet. In the corner of the room is the sagged form of a human woman, sitting on a stool. She is staring blankly at the floor.

There is one human maid named Vera always present in this room, who helps Gertruda bathe. She has a bitemark, but is not a vampire spawn.