The Sunrise Temple
Looming high above Barovia is the Sunrise Temple. Long ago, it was a holy place where the followers of Felis could live, worship, and heal. When Strahd came, however, he used it as a starting place for the torture and slaughter of the most faithful. For years, it has stood empty except for the tortured spirits of those Strahd killed.
Then, about 35 years ago, a stranger came, accompanied by a group of six adventurers. He requested use of the Temple, as he was himself a holy man. This was the deva known to the people of Krezk as the Abbot.
He hopes to redeem Strahd, and to this end has begun to craft the perfect bride. He believes that Tatyana's soul being corrupted as a vampire will not lift the land's curse, but nor will Strahd being forced to live alone. He knows that a life at Strahd's side will be nothing but misery, and believes it would be wrong to submit any intelligent creature to that. To this end, he has been working hard to craft Voski.
The Abbot is equally adored in Krezk as a healer, and feared as a potential offshoot of Strahd. The truly desperate come to him for healing, and he either uses them for his flesh golems (if they are soulless), or heals them and releases them back to spread word of his good deeds (if they have souls.) Due to his corrupted nature, all the limbs and organs he magically regenerates for the sick mutate into animal parts. Those who have these mutations are also free to leave, but know they would be feared if they did. So they remain.
The Abbot uses the hair of his patients to craft concoctions to make the townsfolk forget those who disappear. Everyone but the town's midwifehave at some point drank the Forget Potion, and she may entreat the players not to trust him. She may also ask them to please investigate the disappearances.
The patients at the Temple are not treated well by the Abbot. He routinely forgets them in the pursuit of new patients, or the creation of Voski. He has full control of the food and drink in the Temple, so there are days the patients go without food. In addition, many of their mutations cause them severe pain or dysphoria.
The Sunrise Temple replaces the Abbey of Saint Markovia, and is completely different from the book, as detailed below.
S6. North Gate
The road from the village climbs above the mist to the wide ledge on which the abbey is perched. A light dusting of snow covers the trees and the rocky earth. The gravel road passes between two small, stone outbuildings, to either side of which stretches a five-foot-high, three-foot-thick wall of jumbled stones held together with mortar. Blocking the road are iron gates attached to the outbuildings by rusty hinges. They appear to be unlocked. Viewed through the gates, the stone abbey stands quiet. Its two wings are joined by a fiteen-foot-high curtain wall. A belfry protrudes from the rooftop of the closer north wing, which also sports a chimney billowing grey smokeThe gate guards are two humans, Oleg and Zoya Bogdanov. They are twins who were healed by the Abbot and became Regrown. Oleg has one human ear and one wolf's ear, and the protruding snout and fangs of a wolf. His legs and feet resemble that of goats. He is a very shy man who speaks very little but tends to laugh very loudly at his sister's poor jokes. The left side of Zoya's face is covered in scales, and her right eye is that of a cat's. Her hands resemble feline paws with opposable thumbs. She is a nervous woman who tells poorly thought up jokes to hide that she is one moment away from a breakdown. The twins are grateful to the Abbot, and remain at the Temple because he treats them better than they think others in the valley would.
S7. Graveyard
Stunted pine trees grow out of the rocky earth in the graveyard near the foundation of the abbey's north wing. The windows of the structure are cracked panes of leaded glass. Gravestones burst from a thin crust of snow in the yard. Before each grave is a small bowl for offerings. Every single grave has a few small offerings, and a burnt stick of incense. Below the low wall that surrounds the graveyard, the ground falls away. The village lies four hundred feet below, and the view is breathtaking.There are many graves here. The first six are those of the adventuring party that the Abbot brought with him to Barovia:
- Eramus van Richten, beloved son and a true friend
- Andre, ambitious, and beloved
- Johann, taken too soon from us
- Aga'fel, who took his secrets and our hearts to his grave
- Wenzor, mighty and beloved
- Marigolds Finesilver, who gave everything
A ray of golden sunlight breaks through the clouds and shines upon this grave. The fog and bloom shrink from its brilliance as the sunlight causes a blooming rosebush to burst from the ground above the grave. Hanging from one of its branches is a ring.The ring is a ring of regeneration.
S8. Garden Gatehouse
A gatehouse stands at the entrance to the abbey gardens.The gatehouse is occupied by Feli, a half-elven woman who lives at the Temple. Her brother, Andre, is buried in the graveyard. She and Ndidi Finesilver traveled to Barovia years ago to seek their lost family. The two split up at one point to track down clues. Feli ended up at the Sunrise Temple, while Ndidi ended up in the Crypts of Ravenloft. Feli is a fiery but deeply depressed woman, who tends to the garden and graves of the Temple, as she has little else to live for.
S9. Gardens
Nestled between rising and plunging cliffs are four rectangular garden plots enclosed by a five-foot-high wall of mortared stones. White rabbits nibble on turnips uprooted by the cold. Four lifeless scarecrows dressed in monks and priests robes stand guard, one for each plot.The rabbits and scarecrows are harmless. The gardens contain a meager assortment of root vegetables, tended to by Feli. The door leaded to Area S15 isn't locked. If the Fortunes of Ravenloft reveal a treasure is here, it is buried beneath the posts of one of the scarecrows, which looks like it was buried a bit poorer than the others and is standing at an angle. If the treasure is removed, seven wights erupt from the ground and attack. They wear the tattered livery of Strahd's house. S10. Temple Entrance S11. Inner Gatehouse S12. Courtyard S13. Main Hall S14. Foyer S15. The Sickbeds S16. Wine Cellar S17. Loft and Belfry S18. Curtain Wall S19. Barracks S20. Upstairs Office S21. Hospital S22. Operating Room S23. Nursery S24. Morgue