My players are about to enter Krezk and I wanted to get some info on how the cottage gravesites have been run by DMs. The adventure mentions that they are empty, but doesn't go into the description of the graveyards themselves. When you have run this, did you describe the graveyards as disturbed, undisturbed, or not at all? I'm thinking of running this chapter as a riff on heart of darkness/apocalypse now, but am trying to figure out what hooks to use.
I'm preparing a Strahd campaign right now. There are two sorts of graveyards in Krezk. First, you have the one outside the Abbey. Second, you have the ones in the backyard of most cottages. We are told in the book that the Abbott has been robbing the graves for parts for his flesh golems. So if the characters checkout those graves, at first they might not notice anything. But on further inspection they might notice that the graves seem to have been disturbed. If they press further I would just say that it looks like some digging has happened after the bodies where buried. They can of course try to dig one up and then they'll find for sure that it is empty.
The reason this is important is that when they encounter the Abbott and the flesh golem, they might put two and two together if they know the graves have been disturbed. The Abbott comes off initially as a good guy but that persona doesn't hold up to scrutiny. So this is meant to be one of the clues.
The graves outside the Abbey are not particularly important other than the ring of regeneration that is hidden inside the Petrovna grave. But they can't retrieve that without the holy symbol from the crypt in Ravenloft.
Yeah. I am wondering if being too overt about the grave conditions will force a physical confrontation with the abbot. I can’t get from the book whether the villagers know about the grave robbing.
Interesting question. The book says that the Abbott shares freely the information about what he’s doing, thinking that it is inspired by the Morninglord. But it also says that he doesn’t interact much with the villagers. I agree that you probably don’t want the characters to try to fight him, not only because he’s so powerful but also because he could be useful since he can cast Raise Dead without any components.
I kind of think it could be cool if the characters could somehow cure him of his madness and get him on their side. He could be a very formidable opponent to Strahd and his minions. To do that though, they would have to first realize that he’s crazy, and that he’s a deva in disguise. So I would lean toward leveraging the empty grave info to help them connect the dots. I’d like to think that if they tried to pick a fight with him that he would transform into his true form and sick all the mongrelfolk on the characters. They would be vastly outmatched and would probably try to run.
I think the implication is that the villagers don't know. That's the way I've done it. I mean, yeah, logistically, you couldn't dig up graves in peoples' backyards overnight without leaving some evidence, or freaking out the chickens, or something, but once you buy that they know that someone's stealing their corpses, you have to ask why they haven't taken steps before?
Maybe you could give the Abbott some kind of memory-altering power, so the players could tell something was going on, but the townsfolk were completely oblivious, even to point-blank evidence?
I'm trying to think this through, though. What would it look like if they knew what was happening? Having them be in denial seems like a repeat of the Baron in Vallaki. One possibility is that this has only been going on for a few decades, maybe the townsfolk have just been cowed by fear, waiting for heroes to show up. Your guys lead them as a torch-and-pitchfork wielding mob to the gates of the Abbey, where the Abbott unleashes the mongrelmen on them and both sides are wiped out in the melee, leaving the town desolated? That would be pretty grim.
Another possibility is maybe they've achieved some kind of gross symbiotic stasis with the Abbey? They don't kick up a fuss, they live with some semblance of normalcy, and the Abbott uses his powers to help them? The way Krezk is written, it's like a prison that none of the townsfolk ever leave, cradle to grave. And in the middle of the prison is this meat-processing facility, that runs on the bodies the villagers provide. The choicest cuts go into Vassilka, or another flesh golem, and the scraps go into the Belview family. But to keep the machine running, they somehow help ensure that Krezk keeps reproducing at at least a replacement level. Now you'd think that no one could live like that, but only about half the villagers have souls anyway. People who grasped the horror of their situation would be unable to rouse enough people from their apathy and would just slowly go crazy.
Yeah, I'm liking this. If things work right, you even get the scene where they learn the mystery of the graves and the Abbey, rush to tell the Burgomaster and then find out that the whole town is actually in on it! That would freaking kill!
I like this idea too. You could also combine it with the belief of some of the villagers that the abbot is Strahd. The only problem I have is the daily visits of the abbot to the spring. Mine you, that plot point caused me issues while doing prep. I don't understand how the abbot can stay so mysterious when he visits the village everyday.
The simple option is that the villagers know grave robbing is going on, but not who or what is doing it. It's not like ghouls are unknown in Ravenloft.
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My players are about to enter Krezk and I wanted to get some info on how the cottage gravesites have been run by DMs. The adventure mentions that they are empty, but doesn't go into the description of the graveyards themselves. When you have run this, did you describe the graveyards as disturbed, undisturbed, or not at all? I'm thinking of running this chapter as a riff on heart of darkness/apocalypse now, but am trying to figure out what hooks to use.
Why is the graveyard important? There is only one thing mentioned and it doesn't matter if the party hasn't been to Ravenloft yet.
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I'm preparing a Strahd campaign right now. There are two sorts of graveyards in Krezk. First, you have the one outside the Abbey. Second, you have the ones in the backyard of most cottages. We are told in the book that the Abbott has been robbing the graves for parts for his flesh golems. So if the characters checkout those graves, at first they might not notice anything. But on further inspection they might notice that the graves seem to have been disturbed. If they press further I would just say that it looks like some digging has happened after the bodies where buried. They can of course try to dig one up and then they'll find for sure that it is empty.
The reason this is important is that when they encounter the Abbott and the flesh golem, they might put two and two together if they know the graves have been disturbed. The Abbott comes off initially as a good guy but that persona doesn't hold up to scrutiny. So this is meant to be one of the clues.
The graves outside the Abbey are not particularly important other than the ring of regeneration that is hidden inside the Petrovna grave. But they can't retrieve that without the holy symbol from the crypt in Ravenloft.
Yeah. I am wondering if being too overt about the grave conditions will force a physical confrontation with the abbot. I can’t get from the book whether the villagers know about the grave robbing.
Interesting question. The book says that the Abbott shares freely the information about what he’s doing, thinking that it is inspired by the Morninglord. But it also says that he doesn’t interact much with the villagers. I agree that you probably don’t want the characters to try to fight him, not only because he’s so powerful but also because he could be useful since he can cast Raise Dead without any components.
I kind of think it could be cool if the characters could somehow cure him of his madness and get him on their side. He could be a very formidable opponent to Strahd and his minions. To do that though, they would have to first realize that he’s crazy, and that he’s a deva in disguise. So I would lean toward leveraging the empty grave info to help them connect the dots. I’d like to think that if they tried to pick a fight with him that he would transform into his true form and sick all the mongrelfolk on the characters. They would be vastly outmatched and would probably try to run.
I think the implication is that the villagers don't know. That's the way I've done it. I mean, yeah, logistically, you couldn't dig up graves in peoples' backyards overnight without leaving some evidence, or freaking out the chickens, or something, but once you buy that they know that someone's stealing their corpses, you have to ask why they haven't taken steps before?
Maybe you could give the Abbott some kind of memory-altering power, so the players could tell something was going on, but the townsfolk were completely oblivious, even to point-blank evidence?
I'm trying to think this through, though. What would it look like if they knew what was happening? Having them be in denial seems like a repeat of the Baron in Vallaki. One possibility is that this has only been going on for a few decades, maybe the townsfolk have just been cowed by fear, waiting for heroes to show up. Your guys lead them as a torch-and-pitchfork wielding mob to the gates of the Abbey, where the Abbott unleashes the mongrelmen on them and both sides are wiped out in the melee, leaving the town desolated? That would be pretty grim.
Another possibility is maybe they've achieved some kind of gross symbiotic stasis with the Abbey? They don't kick up a fuss, they live with some semblance of normalcy, and the Abbott uses his powers to help them? The way Krezk is written, it's like a prison that none of the townsfolk ever leave, cradle to grave. And in the middle of the prison is this meat-processing facility, that runs on the bodies the villagers provide. The choicest cuts go into Vassilka, or another flesh golem, and the scraps go into the Belview family. But to keep the machine running, they somehow help ensure that Krezk keeps reproducing at at least a replacement level. Now you'd think that no one could live like that, but only about half the villagers have souls anyway. People who grasped the horror of their situation would be unable to rouse enough people from their apathy and would just slowly go crazy.
Yeah, I'm liking this. If things work right, you even get the scene where they learn the mystery of the graves and the Abbey, rush to tell the Burgomaster and then find out that the whole town is actually in on it! That would freaking kill!
I like this idea too. You could also combine it with the belief of some of the villagers that the abbot is Strahd. The only problem I have is the daily visits of the abbot to the spring. Mine you, that plot point caused me issues while doing prep. I don't understand how the abbot can stay so mysterious when he visits the village everyday.
The simple option is that the villagers know grave robbing is going on, but not who or what is doing it. It's not like ghouls are unknown in Ravenloft.