Featured Image by Pyram King
This is part of my Revised Guide to Curse of Strahd. For the list of articles, and the order to read them, see my Intro to My Revised Guide. If you find this interesting, feel free to use as much or as little as you want.
We bounced back and forth across the valley a lot, but I won’t assume what order you’ll tackle it in, except that you go to Krezk first. For anything that I ran as it’s presented in the WotC Curse of Strahd book, I’ll put in Italics, for anything that I ran from one of the 3rd Party Sources, I’ll put in underline.
Barovia can be split into thirds. This central third will already have articles for Vallaki and Berez, so that leaves:
- Argynvostholt
- Tsolenka Pass
- Amber Temple
Argynvostholt
Argynvostholt is a fun two-part side quest. The party will hear about it first from the Tarokka Reading, as the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind is here. The first time you show up, don’t run it as a dungeon, run it as a Haunted Mansion. You don’t go from room to room, fighting ghosts and claiming treasure. Instead, you can railroad the beginning a little bit, explaining what happens as they explore. Take them from room to room, still letting them interact with things as normal, but give it a bit of a montage, really setting the scene. While they could fight giant spiders, you can say “You open the door, and see the walls have completely fallen apart in this wing, and now there are several giant spiders that turn to look as you shut the door back.” Just heebie-jeebies. If the party wants to fight giant spiders they are certainly welcome to, but feel free to establish that they would be picking a fight at that point.
The goal of the first visit to Argynvostholt is to learn all about Vladimir, Godfrey, the Spirit of Argynvost, and meet the other surviving spirits.
Ultimately the entire story around Argynvostholt is one of two dedicated warriors, who loved each other, but whose hate drove one of them into evil. If you are a fan of the Star Wars Prequels, to me this was reminiscent of Anakin and Padme. Vladimir became the very thing he sought to destroy. He went down a path Godfrey could not follow. Vladimir’s hate created a Black Hole so strong, that the souls of these Dragon Knights could not be reborn like the other residents of this valley.
Also, in Argynvost’s Study, instead of a Slashed Picture with a vision, I had the Spirit of Argynvost appear and speak directly to the party, from MandyMod’s Argynvost’s Ghost notes. This makes it much more direct, and I think that it leads more into the Star Wars-y aspects, because he’s essentially a Force Ghost, in that he is not a monster, and he can only be seen by who he wants to see him. Neither Vlad nor Godfrey can see the Argynvost Ghost (#ArgynGhost).
Lunch Break Heroes has a great idea that all of the other spirits need help accomplishing their final personal goals, before they can help fight against Vladimir. I made it so none of those personal goals can be done inside the walls of Argynvostholt, and you have to run out and fulfill their final dying wishes.
So you leave with new goals, the most important of which is stealing back the skull of Argynvost from the Hall of Bones in Castle Ravenloft. Some people decided to put the skull with Baba Yaga, but I didn’t, as I mentioned in the Berez and Baba article. So, you return with the skull, and as many of the unfinished business as your party found interesting. Instead of fighting your way through, I liked that these were all men of honor, and they would want a proper battle, right in their Foyer. So one one side is Vlad and whatever revenants you haven’t already killed the first time around. On the other side is your party, Godfrey, and however many revenants that you completed their unfinished business. If you don’t do any, you don’t get any. When you defeat Vlad, my rigged Tarokka reading means he is wearing the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind around his neck, as opposed to the Holy Symbol of the Morninglord. It isn’t quite as narratively consistent, but much more satisfying to the gameplay.
So you finish the fight, and return the skull. I liked the idea that the bones of Argynvost should be in the Beacon of Argynvostholt room. So you return it, and the Beacon is like a bright lighthouse, that can be seen from every corner of the valley, including Castle Ravenloft. This will anger Strahd, and that’s the point. Also, instead of +1 to AC and saving throws, I did +2 but only to AC. That feels a bit more grand, without making it too unfair, I think. It’s like giving everyone a shield.
I completely skipped the two Special Events, because neither of them really seems very engaging.
Tsolenka Pass
Tsolenka Pass is only interesting as an area you must pass on your way to the Amber Temple. In and of itself it has historical and tactical value, but little in the way of narrative or gameplay. The only addition I really make is Ludmilla’s experiments with Emil, from Lunch Break Heroes. She is experimenting on a werewolf’s body, much in the same way that Van Richten is with vampires.
Otherwise the significance of Tsolenka Pass is that from this point on, everything has the potential to kill a character. They should feel like they need to leave as soon as possible, because between the Roc, the environment, and the dangers of the Amber Temple itself, everything has been designed to keep them out.
One fun note, is that I will always correct a player’s pronunciation of Tsolenka, even if they say it perfectly, from an NPC nearby. At first it makes sense because, like Tsunami, a lot of people skip that initial subtle “T” sound, but then it turns into a silly running joke that I stole from Brooklyn Nine Nine with Nikolaj. Even Strahd will correct them if he hears them say it.
Amber Temple
This was the part of the game that I think I completely missed the potential for. A common suggestion for this, is at the very beginning of the campaign, decide which of the dark vestiges in the Amber Temple takes special notice of each character. Then, allow that vestige to subtly manipulate them throughout the campaign. Finally, when the party arrives to the Amber Temple, they meet their patron vestige, and there is a satisfying conclusion, whether or not the players take the Dark Gift from them.
In the first few sessions, I had bespoke nightmares for each player character, depending on their vestige, but I simply forgot to keep it up. It seemed so far away, and it was, and my interest in maintaining that subtle presence just faded. So, when the time came to get to the Amber Temple, my party didn’t have any personal interest in it. In fact, because they knew that the Dragon Knights of Argynvost was created to keep it away from others, and that it turned Strahd into a vampire, they wanted to get in, find the information they needed, and get out. It was a single session.
If you want the Amber Temple to be this grand realization, where suddenly every loose thread is finally connected, you need to remember it’s importance early on, and consistently.
Vampyr
I will say, the Vampyr ending by Lunch Break Heroes was fantastic. I made it clear to the party (via Sergei) that if they defeated Strahd, he would eventually return again. If they wanted to go fight Vampyr, it would be an even harder fight, but then the curse would finally be broken. Of course they went for the fight with Vampyr, and it felt like a satisfying epilogue.
The Nerdd 
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