Village of Krezk

Running This Location

Krezk

Open full size

Plots/Quests

Areas of the Village:

S1. Road Junction

The road branches north and climbs a rocky escarpment, ending at a gatehouse built into a twenty-foot-high wall of stone reinforced with buttresses every fifty feet or so. The wall encloses a settlement on the side of a snow-dusted mountain spur. Beyond the wall you see the tops of snow-covered pines and thin, white wisps of smoke. The somber toll of a bell comes from a stone abbey that clings to the mountainside high above the settlement. The steady chime is inviting—a welcome change from the deathly silence and oppressive fog to which you have grown accustomed. It’s hard to tell at this distance, but there seems to be a switchback road clinging to the cliffs that lead up from the walled settlement to the abbey.

S2. Gatehouse

The air grows colder as you approach the walled settlement. Two square towers with peaked roofs flank a stone archway into which is set a pair of twelve-foot-tall, ironbound wooden doors. Carved into the arch above the doors is a name: Krezk. The walls that extend from the gatehouse are twenty feet high. Atop the parapet you see four figures wearing fur hats and clutching spears. They watch you nervously.

Two archers (male and female human scouts) are stationed inside the gatehouse, one in each tower. Four guards (male and female humans) man the adjacent walls. If the characters are seen flying or climbing over the walls, the guards assume that the village is under attack and cry out in alarm. Five rounds after the alarm sounds, every able-bodied adult in the village arrives at the gatehouse, ready for battle. Krezk’s militia consists of four more guards plus forty commoners (male and female humans) armed with handaxes.

The double doors are made of thick wood planks bound with iron bands and sealed shut with a heavy wooden bar held in iron brackets. The bar can be lifted with a successful DC 15 Strength check. The doors require a siege engine to break them open.

There aren’t enough people in Krezk to adequately defend its outer wall. Every 300-foot stretch of wall is watched over by a lone guard (male or female human). The guards are trained to crouch behind the wall and sound the alarm at any sign of danger.

The Village is closed Travelers! You'd best turn back now. One of the guards leaves their post and disappears behind the parapet.

— guard

If the characters ask to be let inside or otherwise draw the attention of the guards on the wall, one of the guards fetches the burgomaster, Dmitri Krezkov (LG male human noble).

Hail there travelers, I am the Burgomaster, Dmitri Krezkov. Unfortunately, my village is closed at the moment. Please be on your way.

— Dmitri

DC 12 Insight reveals he is distraught.

Two ways to enter the village; By force or Retrieving a shipment of Wine from The Wizards of Wines.

If the party forces their way in, he stops the conflict, lets them in, and tries to send them on their way as soon as possible.

S3. Village of Krezk

The mist-shrouded village beyond the wall is nothing more than a scattering of humble wooden cottages along dirt roads that stretch between stands of snow-dusted pine trees—so many trees, in fact, as to constitute a forest. To the northeast, gray cliffs rise sharply, and the road winding up to the abbey is easy to see from this vantage.

The village operates as a commune, with no exports or moneymaking businesses. Villagers grow trees and vegetables, cut wood to heat their homes, raise chickens and pigs, and share their food. A few villagers have cows and mules, but there are no horses in Krezk. The village has no inns or taverns. Characters who are willing to chop wood, milk cows, or perform other chores can spend the night in the burgomaster’s cottage or some other residence.

Cottages

Krezk’s residences are single-story pine cottages with stone chimneys and thatch roofs. Pigs and chickens are kept in indoor pens and coops so that they don’t freeze.

Burgomaster’s Cottage

The building closest to the outer gate is the burgomaster’s cottage—the largest building in town but still a modest dwelling. Dmitri Krezkov and his fearless wife Anna (LG female human noble) have no living children. The last of their four children, Ilya, died of an illness seven days ago at the age of fourteen. Given their age, the Krezkovs are unlikely to have more children—a source of great consternation to everyone in the village, since that means the end of the Krezkov bloodline.

The burgomaster’s cottage has a wine cellar (currently empty) and lots of space for pigpens and chicken coops. Behind the cottage is a graveyard where deceased members of the Krezkov family are interred. Dmitri and Anna’s four children, all of whom died of illness, are buried here. Several of the family caskets are empty, their contents stolen in the night by the Abbot’s mongrelfolk gravediggers (see area S6). Ilya’s plot is fresh and undisturbed, since he was interred only four days ago.

Commoner Cottages

A typical cottage is only 200 square feet yet contains 1d4 adults (male and female human commoners), 1d4 − 1 children (male and female human noncombatants), plus the family’s pigs, hares, and chickens.

Every cottage has its own graveyard where family members are interred. All the caskets planted in the past decade are now empty, thanks to the Abbot’s sneaky mongrelfolk gravediggers (see area S6).

S4. Pool and Shrine

Even under gray skies, this pool at the north end of the village shimmers and sparkles. Near its shore sits an old gazebo on the verge of collapse. A wooden statue of a mournful, bare-chested man, its paint chipped and faded, stands in the gazebo with arms outstretched, as though waiting to be embraced. The gazebo is so frail that it wouldn’t take more than a strong wind to knock it over. It remains standing because it’s protected from the elements by the surrounding trees, walls, and cliffs. The statue is a depiction of the Morninglord, positioned so that he is reaching toward the east (the dawn). Locals refer to the statue and gazebo as the Shrine of the White Sun, though they have no idea why their ancestors named it so.

The pool is fed by an underground spring and was blessed long ago by Saint Markovia. Its waters defy corruption, and anyone who drinks from it for the first time gains the benefit of a lesser restoration spell. (The water once had even greater magic but has weakened over the years.) The water otherwise tastes sweet and fresh.

S5. Winding Road

The switchback road that hugs the cliff is ten feet wide and covered with loose gravel and chunks of broken rock. The ascent is slow and somewhat treacherous, and the air grows colder as one nears the top.

The road climbs 400 feet, doubling back on itself twice before reaching area S6-S12 Abbey of Saint Markovia.

Architecture

Most buildings in the Village of Krezk are constructed of brick and dense timber that is plastered and painted deep russet or light dun. Many homes and shops are adorned with rows of mineral flecked stones set into the plaster. The thatched rooftops are steep and set with tiny, leaden rose windows in the gables. In the spring, window boxes overflow with vivid flowers, and harvest time brings pumpkin lanterns, intended to keep the minions of evil at bay.

Quests/Plot Hooks:

Related Plots

• MAIN QUEST: A Severe Shortage

Lore:

 

- In addition to the information known to all Barovians (see “Barovian Lore” in chapter 2), the villagers of Krezk (called Krezkites) know the following bits of local lore:

Residents never leave the village for fear of being attacked by wolves, dire wolves, and werewolves.

About once a month, a wagonload of wine arrives from the Wizard of Wines (chapter 12), the winery and vineyard to the south. The business is owned and operated by the Martikov family.

Burgomaster Krezkov recently lost his fourteen-year-old son, Ilya, to illness. Ilya was the last of the four Krezkov children.

A pool at the north end of the village provides fresh water throughout the year. Next to the pool, the village’s ancestors built a shrine to the Morninglord in a gazebo. It’s known as the Shrine of the White Sun.

The Abbey of Saint Markovia is named after a priest of the Morninglord who took a stand against the devil Strahd. After a fierce uprising, Markovia and her most loyal followers stormed Castle Ravenloft, only to be destroyed.

The abbey was once a hospital and a convent, but it fell on hard times after the land was swallowed up by the mists. Some of the clergy fell prey to Strahd, while others went mad and either starved themselves to death or turned to cannibalism.

The head of the abbey, called simply the Abbot, arrived over a century ago and hasn’t aged a day since. He occasionally visits the Shrine of the White Sun but doesn’t talk much, and he demands tribute in the form of wine. No one knows his true name or where he came from, and many believe he’s Strahd’s servant or the vampire himself in disguise.

No one from the village visits the abbey anymore. The abbey’s bell rings at odd times, day and night, and the place is filled with baleful screams and horrible, inhuman laughter that can be heard throughout the village.