Raising

the
Stakes
The Essential Curse of Strahd Companion

Rooms of Weeping
Treasure, memories, and blood abound in
this guide for
Curse of Strahd

A module guide from Lunch Break Heroes

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Rooms of Weeping
T
he Rooms of Weeping within Castle Ravenloft The crypt chanter is mad with loneliness and grief.
provide a glimpse into the life Strahd had when She yearns for the rapt and joyful audience she once
he was but a man. Plush cushions, varnished had in life. Once the party enters the room, the crypt
wood, and opulent decor are to be found here. The chanter tries to catch their attention with its song, and
rich trappings of the area hide horrors lurking just modulates the melody if it does not receive attention.
below the surface, however. This chapter of the guide While the crypt chanter does not initiate combat
aims to increase the threat that this area of the castle upon seeing the party, she will immediately user her
has on both the minds and bodies of the characters. song of sorrow ability to charm any character within
60 feet of her. If the party seems to be moving on to
another room, the crypt chanter grows hostile and
Video Companion makes clear attempts to engage with the party, playing
Watch the companion video for this chapter on YouTube.
different melodies that grow angrier and more discor-
dant the further they move towards an exit.
The party can appease the crypt chanter by joining
Areas of Weeping her song of sorrow with any sort of instrument or
This section will cover revisions to the various areas song available to them and succeeding on a DC 15
of the Rooms of Weeping. Any area not listed here Charisma (Performance) check. On a failure, the crypt
should be run as it is written in the module, or as mod- chanter becomes hostile and attacks until defeated.
ified to your liking.
K38. False Treasury
K35. Guardian Vermin Since in our guide the witches in area K56 are not
The door to area K36, shining with a light of its own, present, the characters are found by Gertruda instead,
is enchanted with a vision of days past when Castle should they all be incapacitated by the trap. She drags
Ravenloft still held the promise of peace and prosper- them, one by one, to area K37 and fusses worriedly
ity. A character walking through this door for the first over them until they awaken.
time towards area K36 experiences a brief vision of
Sergei’s and Tatyana’s wedding night. “I don’t know what you were doing behind the fireplace,
but you looked awfully uncomfortable sleeping on that
As you step through the door, the dark and deserted din- stone floor.”
ing hall in front of you suddenly lights up with the warm
light of dozens of candelabras. The table is laden with
delicious smelling hors d’oeuvres. Waiters with drinks on K39. Hall of Webs
silver platters and guests dressed in their finest garments
glide around the room, engaged in murmurous conver- The door to area K31b does not exist, as we removed
sation. A woman in the corner strums away on a harp; a area K31b in our guide. Aside from that removal,
cheerful melody to go with a happy occasion. the entire area is populated with tiny, harmless baby
spiders.
The vision ends as soon as a character tries to interact
with a guest, waiter, or food or drink. As you open the door, light falls onto a hallway filled with
spiderwebs. For the briefest moment, the light reflects
K36. Dining Hall of the Count back at you in a dazzling glitter. Thousands of tiny spiders
look your direction for one heartbeat before quickly tak-
The Doss Lute in this room has been moved to ing shelter in their nests of webs.
Escher’s crypt in area K84 in this guide. Instead, the As you proceed through the hallway, a constant ripple
party encounters a crypt chanter (see Appendix C) of webs and scurrying of thousands of tiny legs reminds
who is playing the harp in the southwest corner. you of the spiders, as they scuttle away from you in a
wave and squeeze below the door at the end of the
hallway.
The faint notes of a hauntingly beautiful music, sadly
recalling happier times, hang in the cold air. You become
aware of a ghostly woman dressed in the finery of a court
musician, sitting at the harp in the southwest corner of
the room. She softly strums her eerie melody, swaying
gently to the tune, her eyes hooded by eternal grief.

Rooms of Weeping | 3
 K41. Treasury
Door of Faces
Rather than a Daerne’s Instant Fortress, this area is a Complex trap
normal part of Castle Ravenloft. The entrance is thor-
oughly trapped, however. Rather than a normal door, Trigger. This trap activates as soon as someone attempts
the treasury is guarded by a Door of Faces, a complex to open the door, whether by mundane or magical
trap crafted by Strahd himself. He created the door means, and acts on initiative counts 10 and 20. It reverts
back to its inert form if there is no creature within 30 feet
from several victims whom he had caught trying to
of it on one of its turns.
steal from the castle.
When inactive, the door appears to be made of iron, Actions
but with an irregular surface texture. Close inspection Domineering Look. The eyes of all faces all roll in unison
reveals what appear to be faces with closed eyes and to look one particular creature in the eye, piercing its
mouths embossed on the door. When the door’s trap is very soul. The door casts dominate person on the target
triggered, however, the iron melts away and the faces (spell save DC 16). The door can concentrate on only one
underneath become animated. They begin to twist and dominate person spell at a time.
contort, leering and shouting at nearby characters.
Attempting to open the door, whether by mundane Mockery. The voices unify to mock one particular crea-
or magical means, triggers the trap. Once a character ture within 60 feet of it and casts vicious mockery on it
starts to interfere with the lock, have everyone roll ini- (spell save DC 16).
tiative. Run the trap like you would a legendary crea-
Reactions
ture in combat, triggering its various elements as the
Taunt. As a reaction, the door shouts distracting abuse
party’s efforts to bypass the trap unfold (see the Door at the character and it must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom
of Faces sidebar). saving throw or be stunned until the end of its next turn.
Once the Door of Faces is overcome, possibly by The door can take this reaction twice per round.
disabling its two main ways of harassing characters,
it functions just like a mundane door. The faces hang Constant Elements
slack and revert back to their iron form. If a tempo- Maddening Glares. Characters who starts its turn within
rary effect that disabled the door is removed, the door 30 feet of the door or who enter the area for the first
becomes active once more. time on one of their turns must succeed on a DC 16
Wisdom saving throw or suffer the effects of a confusion
K42. King’s Bedchamber spell for that turn. Characters who succeed on this save
are immune against this effect for 24 hours.
Gertruda is in this chamber, as per the original de-
scription—but it is not the teenage Gertruda of the Countermeasures
original. Gertruda is 30 years old and has been kept If both its voice and its sight are disabled, the door can be
prisoner by her mother all of her life. Though still na- passed safely like a normal door.
ive, she is harsh and jaded toward those who she feels
Muting the Voices. If the door is made mute in some
would take her freedom. She does not realize that
way, it loses all effects that rely on its voice. The charac-
she has traded one cage for another. You can find all
ter with the highest passive Investigation score notices
necessary information on her in the Cast of Ravenloft that one of the mouths is gagged with an old rag and is
chapter of this guide! furiously working to spit it out, in vain. If all other mouths
are gagged or a silence spell is cast on the door, it loses
K43. Bath Chamber its voice. Gagging a mouth requires an action and being
within 5 feet of the door. There are six mouths to gag.
The spirit of Varushka, the maid that took her own life
here rather than become a vampire spawn of Strahd’s, Blinding the Eyes. If the door is made blind in some
still haunts this area—but takes on a far more active way, it loses all effects that rely on its voice. The eyes
and vengeful role. She has been mocking and torment- have darkvision out to a range of 30 feet, but cannot see
ing poor Gertruda with surprise scares, and worse, through magical darkness, so a darkness spell would dis-
ever since Gertruda arrived. Varushka does not want rupt its sight. A blindness/deafness spell or a color spray
anyone to fall for Strahd and feels for his other vic- spell could achieve the same, but the door can resist with
tims, but has little patience for fools who would give a +8 bonus to its saving throw, as if it were a creature
themselves to him willingly. She also holds a dim saving from it. Alternatively, the eyes can be poked out
view of anyone who thinks they can best Strahd—she one by one, blinding the door. This requires a successful
has seen too many come and die at his hand over the attack against AC 18. There are six pairs of eyes to blind
and they can be blinded one pair at a time.
centuries.

4 | Rooms of Weeping
 d6 Bloody Bath Haunt the traditional Barovian punishment for thieves—chop-
ping off of the right hand. Once the entire hand has
Bloody Footprints. The characters come across
bloody footprints, that lead away from them and grown black, it falls off and becomes a crawling claw
1 towards the closest exit, appearing before their that is friendly towards its erstwhile owner. This effect
very eyes. They stop after a few paces and then can be reversed, over the course of another 24 hours,
vanish. including reattaching the hand, by a remove curse or
Echoing Voices. Varushka speaks to the characters greater restoration spell.
as an echoing voice, but only in short phrases, Gertruda has been longing after these garments ever
2 such as “turn back, you fools—save yourselves” or since she moved into Castle Ravenloft, but Strahd has
“you were not the first—do you think you’ll be the forbidden her to touch any of them. In her childlike
last?” or “he is too powerful for you.” naivete, she could not contain herself, however. Her
Cold Hands. Varushka touches one of the charac- fingers are already black to her knuckles, which she
ters, sending a cold shiver down their spine as if tries to conceal, but characters with a passive Percep-
3 ice water was poured down their back. They must tion of 13 or higher can notice.
succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or
also be poisoned for 10 minutes. K45. Hall of Heroes
Possession. Varushka possesses one of the charac-
The characters have another opportunity to have some
ters, as a ghost would. She mocks the other party
members and berates them for their futile foolish-
of their questions divined by the ghosts of the fallen
ness. She explains her own history and explains adventurers that came before them, in area K67. The
4 that she thinks their quest is not only futile, but statues in this area instead address the characters
foolish. She can be reasoned with and invited to directly, turning their heads towards them as they
possess someone else to talk with her after this oc- pass. They mutter cryptic observations about the
curs for the first time. If nobody engages her, she characters’ past and make vague prophecies about
departs the host after a few minutes. their future. Some of these are outrageous, some
Poltergeist. Varushka pushes or pulls a character eerily plausible—but none of them are true, except by
unexpectedly, knocking them prone or smashing accident. Each statue makes no more than one sin-
them into a wall or furniture. A character she at- gle statement as the group passes them; they do not
5 tacks in this way must succeed in a DC 13 Strength answer any questions.
saving throw (with disadvantage, due to the un-
expected attack) or also take 3 (1d6) bludgeoning
damage from this.
Attack. Varushka manifests as a ghost with the
Telekinetic Thrust ability of a poltergeist and
attacks the group. She does not fight to the death,
6
and rather fades into a wall after she did some
damage in a surprise round. Her objective is to
turn these fools back, not kill them.

Varushka follows anyone around who falls in ei-

ther of the two categories, as long as they are in the
Rooms of Weeping, and periodically haunts them (see
Bloody Bath Haunt table). She can only be appeased
by showing her one of the Fortunes of Ravenloft items
and succeeding in a DC 17 Charisma (Persuasion)
check while characters explain that they can, in fact,
defeat Strahd (one attempt per item, only one success
necessary).

K44. Closet
The clothes here are intended by Strahd for Tatyana’s
use—and her use only. The garments are enchanted to
reveal anyone who removes them without Strahd’s au-
thorization. The trespasser’s right hand grows black,
starting from the fingertips, over a period of 24 hours
after removing a garment from the closet. This recalls

Rooms of Weeping | 5
 Appendix C: Monsters
Song of Sorrow. The crypt chanter is ceaselessly playing
Crypt Chanter an eerily beautiful but deeply sorrowful music. Any crea-
Medium undead, neutral evil ture that starts its turn within 60 feet of the crypt chanter
or enters this area for the first time on its turn and can
Armor Class 12 hear the crypt chanter must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom
Hit Points 72 (16d8) saving throw or become charmed by the crypt chanter.
Speed 0 ft, fly 40 ft (hover) While charmed in this way, the affected creature cannot
help but start weeping, as it falls into a deep sorrow. The
creature is incapacitated until the end of its turn while
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA
affected in this way and it cannot take reactions until the
7 (-2) 14 (+2) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 10 (+0) 19 (+4)
start of its next turn.

Damage Resistances acid, fire, lightning, thunder; blud- Spellcasting. The crypt chanter is a 9th-level spellcaster.
geoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical attacks Its spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15, +7 to
Damage Immunities cold, necrotic, poison hit with spell attacks). The chanter has the following bard
Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, spells prepared:
grappled, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned, prone, re-
strained • Cantrips (at will): message, thaumaturgy, vicious
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10 mockery
Languages understands the languages it knew in life but • 1st level (4 slots): bane, dissonant whispers, sleep,
cannot speak thunderwave
Challenge 7 (2,900 XP) • 2nd level (3 slots): detect thoughts, phantasmal force,
shatter
Incorporeal Movement. The chanter can move through • 3rd level (3 slots): bestow curse, fear, hypnotic pat-
other creatures and objects as if they were difficult tern
terrain. It takes 5 (1d10) force damage if it ends its turn • 4th level (3 slots): compulsion, confusion
inside an object. • 5th level (1 slot): synaptic static
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the chanter has
disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Per-
Actions
ception) checks that rely on sight. Draining Melody. The crypt chanter targets one particular
creature, attempting to weave a song that drains its very
soul. The target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving
throw or take 22 (4d10) psychic damage and the target’s
Wisdom score is reduced by 1d4. The target dies if this
reduces its Wisdom to 0. Otherwise, the reduction lasts
until the target finishes a short or long rest. The chanter
regains half as many hit points as the target lost from this
ability.

6 | Appendix C, Monsters