Abbey St.

Markovia

Okay guys. I don't know if it's just me, but the as written treatment of the Abbey drives me crazy.
The entire location feels like it's made up of various, interesting elements, but they're all
disconnected and lack some kind of strong, umph.
• Two Seperate Body-Snatcher Plots
• In the as written campaign, there are two Frankenstein-esque subplots in the same
location. One involves the mongrelfolk and their madness and deformities and the
other involves miss corpse bride, Vasilka. There's no real way these two subplots are
connected and they seem to exist independently of one another.
• Both involve experimenting with cutting and sewing body parts (and/or genetic
splicing, you get it), so why weren't they intertwined, either in their backgrounds or
purposes?
• Vasilka's Parts
• Vasilka is supposedly made up of different dead people from Kresk. However, Kresk
only has a population of about 75 people. How many people have died in the last few
years in a town that size? Even if we accept that Vasilka is made from dead
grandmothers and grandfathers, the elderly would have had to pass away in the last,
what, 5 years to still provide viable parts for her?
• Or perhaps Vasilka is made up of a range of aged corpses, some of them many
decades old. But if that were the case, why is Vasilka so well preserved? Shouldn't
she be quite obviously decayed? Or have bony parts? Does the Abbot have the power
to rejuvenate long dead flesh?
• The Abbot's Overall Intelligence
• Yes, I know that the Abbot is technically a deva and not quite as familiar with the
customs of mortals as he could be. But I still think he should be smart enough to at
least consider some points. Like, for instance, that Strahd won't take just any bride,
especially one incapable of speech. Or perhaps that a single dress shouldn't make a
difference, especially since Strahd's giant friggin castle probably has lots of pretty
dresses and tailoring a wedding dress for a bride shouldn't be an issue for the lord of
Ravenloft.
• The Abbot just seems way too juvenile in his presentation, especially for a god-like
being. His goals and desires don't seem to fit into the overall story.
• The Players' Lack of Quest
• Even disregarding the above issues and accepting the Abbey as a solid location fit for
exploration, why would players need to involve themselves?
• The Mogrelfolk
 • So the mongrelfolk exist. What are players supposed to do about them, if
anything at all? As written, the mongrelfolk seem more like an exhibit at a
museum, there to gawk at but not to do anything with. There's no agency
involving their plot line.
• The Dress
• I can't be the only person annoyed that this whole location's plot hinges on a
wedding dress in another town. The entirety of the Abbot and Vasilka's main
quest is fetching that gawd awful dress.
• In order for this quest to even start, players will have to know the dress exists,
which means that not only will they have to have been inside the
burgomaster's mansion, but also have gone into the burgomaster's private
chambers (likely illegally). The chance of players backtracking to seek out a
dress is slim to none.
• And even if players know the dress exists and where to find it, Vallaki is most
likely up in flames by this point in the campaign. Who knows if a random
dress would even survive the chaos that is Vallaki.
• And let's say that players do manage to return to Vallaki, get the dress, and
deliver it to the Abbot. Then what? Does the Abbot march Vasilka to Castle
Ravenloft for presentation? If he does, will the players even be there to
witness the result? Probably not.
• Or, if you're a kind DM, opening a tailor shop somewhere in Kresk and
getting the players to commission a dress might be an option. But doesn't that
feel somewhat cheap story-wise?

The Abbot
The Abbot is the heart of the Abbey plot line. He's the piece that makes the whole location work. So
I've spent the majority of my time focusing on him. Here's what I've come up with.
• What the Abbot Knows
• The Abbot knows that Strahd is immortal. In the Abbot's own words, Strahd sold his
soul to a dark god and now is a permanent fixture in Barovia. The Abbot doesn't
know that this dark god is Vampyr and doesn't quite understand the nature of the
Dark Powers. He only knows that they exist, swimming in the mists that surround
Barovia, waiting to corrupt the souls of innocent people.
• If asked for more details about these dark gods and their connection to Strahd, the
Abbott openly admits his lack of knowledge. However, he does mention an old
temple (The Amber Temple) up in the mountains said to hold a vast library. Though
the Abbott has never been there himself.
• The Abbot long ago accepted Strahd's permanence in Barovia. He doesn't believe
that Strahd will ever be killed or otherwise displaced and that trying to do so is a
fool's errand. Instead, he's decided that Barovia's only hope is to make Strahd happy,
 therefore changing the vampire's heart. A happy Strahd is bound to be a good ruler
and never ever hurt his people, after all. ;)
• What the Abbot Wants
• The Abbot went about researching the source of Strahd's torment, and discovered
Tatyana. Or, rather, discovered her existence in Strahd's past. The Abbot knows that
Strahd was once in love with Tatyana and that she died in a terrible accident.
However, the Abbot doesn't know that Strahd was the reason she died in the first
place.
• I really wanted to save the full reveal of Strahd's backstory with Sergei and
Tatyana for the Tome, so didn't want the Abbot to recite it fully.
• Additionally, the Abbot probably wouldn't find the information relevant.
What matters to him is that Strahd's love is dead, not how she died.
• Of course, if you want Tatyana's suicide to be more public knowledge, then
that's totally up to you. Maybe you've already had the Vistani tell the story or
something. The only reason I kept it quiet was for the Tome.
• The Abbot knows that no one can replace a person's true love, and instead has
decided to resurrect Tatyana for Strahd... in the only way he knows how. The Abbot
doesn't have the power to raise the ancient dead. And even if he did, he would need
some of Tatyana's corpse, which was never found. So instead he's decided to stitch
together a new Tatyana and summon her soul to the vessel, memories and all. That
way, she won't be some reincarnated replacement, but the real Tatyana (not counting
the seams of course).

Roleplaying the Abbot

• The Abbot is easily one of the most difficult NPCs to role play in the campaign because he
has no basis in humanity. Even Strahd was once mortal. The Abbot is the closest thing you'll
get to a playable god and that can be hard to fathom. Here's what I did to get into the mind
of the Abbot:
• Imagine that you live in a city filled with people. They're all normal human beings,
just like you. One day, you decide to go for a drive outside the city and end up is a
small, abandoned neighborhood. It's a little creepy, sure, but nothing you can't
handle. Just a bunch of empty houses.
• Then you come across one house that's just sad to look at. It's leaning a bit the wrong
way and the wood looks all gnarly and rotten. This poor house is just dying to be
knocked down and it's hard not to feel sorry for it. So, you're like, "Hey, why not?"
and you go inside.
• You find this old, dark house is infested with rats. The rats aren't used to people
(most have never actually seen a human being in their lives) so they're a little skittish
of you, but not outright terrified. And they're a little gross and you don't really want
 to handle them or anything, but you sort of feel sorry for them in the same way you
feel sorry for their house.
• So you decide to stay for a while. You find the rats are somewhat comforting in their
simplicity. They're so little compared to all the problems you have back in the city.
And sometimes when you share your food with them, they get really friendly and a
little cute. You know, in a Remy the rat sort of way. Occasionally a rat gets mean and
bites you, but you're able to absolutely crush that rat so quickly it's not a problem.
• One day while you're living in the house, you spot this huge, fat, mean rat that all the
other rats are scared of. And this thing is so nasty even you'd have trouble dealing
with it. So you decide that you're going to help this little rat colony get rid of the big
rat somehow. You start catching rats and holding them down and sharpening their
nails. Sometimes, you accidentally squeeze too hard and the rat dies, but that's okay.
There's plenty more.
• But at the end of the day, they're just rats. And this is just a little break from the city.
• In case it's not obvious, the Abbot is the human, the other humans are other celestials, the
house is Barovia, the rats are mortals, and the fat rat is Strahd.
• When I'm roleplaying the Abbot, this is the mindset I use. I look at my players like they're
fascinating little vermin. Yes, they're interesting, but I don't have an emotional attachment to
any of them. If they're nice to me, great. If they're mean, I'm like, "stop that it's gross." And
if they attack or overtly threaten me, it's time to kill a rat.

Vasilka
• Tatyana's Lookalike
• At some point in the last century, the Abbot obtained an old sketch of Tatyana (the
real one from ages past) and has made Vasilka in her image. Vasilka looks almost
exactly like Tatyana (Or Ireena if she's with the party. Or a PC if you replaced Ireena
as such).
• The only problem is that Vasilka is still an empty vessel. She may look like Tatyana,
but she most certainly is not the woman herself. And the Abbot knows that. He's
desperately trying to find a way to both locate Tatyana's soul and, afterwards, bind it
to Vasilka. While he can do this with the recently dead, the ancient dead are another
matter.
• Soulless
• Other than her appearance, Vasilka is still a Flesh Golem in this version. You can still
use that stat block if you need to.
• Otherwise, just run Vasilka like a living doll. She sits and smiles, but her eyes are
completely void of emotion and recognition. She has no sense of self or an
understanding of her surroundings and she has no capacity for language.
• What's in a Name?
 • As an added bit of flavor, you might say that "Vasilka" loosely translates to "vessel"
in Celestial. The Abbot doesn't want to call her Tatyana until she actually is Tatayana,
and so has settled on the nickname for now.
• Forever Young, Forever Dying
• The Abbot just has one itty bitty problem with the vessel he's created: the parts that
make up Vasilka don't last. Though he has used a combination of magic and science
to preserve her quite well, her parts do eventually decay and require replacing.

The Abbot's Practices

• Things I Got Rid Of
• There's no more grave robbing for body parts. The Abbot doesn't get his parts from
Kreskite graves. I eliminated the corpse part of this plot entirely.
• I also completely nixed the mogrelfolk's origin story in the Belview family. As
written, they were a family that wanted to be more powerful and went to the Abbot
for... genetic enhancements, I suppose? That's no longer true.
• What's Really Going Down
• The Abbot has been collecting willing individuals to "borrow" body parts from over
the decades. When he takes a body part, he eventually replaces it with a morphed
animal limb or attachment. The procedure to properly harvest and replace body parts
can take months, however, to let the patient's body appropriately accommodate the
changes. This is especially true when the Abbot turns to splicing genes. Growing a
tail or a new arm can take a while.
• The surgeries are also extraordinarily painful and performed without sedation (as an
angelic being, the Abbot has likely never experienced physical pain and doesn't
understand it), almost always leaving the patients completely mad, a danger to both
themselves and to the normal populace. The Abbot then locks these people - the
mongrelfolk - away for their own safety.
• Sea Witch
• I've rationalized this plot by comparing the Abbot to Ursula from The Little
Mermaid. Once every few years, an unfortunate Barovian comes to him
looking for a miracle. The Abbot happily provides one if he can, but asks for
a price.
• "Bitten by a werewolf? Oh you poor thing, of course I can help. A man of the
cloth would never leave someone in need. But perhaps.... if you don't mind
me saying, you do have lovely fingers. And your cheeks are quite rosy. An
excellent complexion. How about you let me borrow them and I'll make sure
you never fear the moon again?"
• "What a terrible cough! You sound like the grim himself is on your shoulders.
And no other physician could help you? For shame! Don't worry, you've
 come to the right place. You won't leave my Abbey unwell, I swear it!
However, even I need a small penance, you understand. I find myself in need
of a leg, actually. Now, now, don't frown. I'll make sure to give you a new
one, no, a better one."
• Though the Abbot fully intends on letting his patients leave after his procedures, their
broken minds prevent him from doing so. And if he's already taken a leg, they why
not a patch of skin from the back or an ear and a nose? They're already insane and
won't be leaving. It's best they keep donating towards the cause...
• Changes to the Abbey
• To accommodate this changed plot, I've also changed a couple areas of the Abbey.
• The Hospital (S21)
• There are no enemies in this room; no shadows. Instead, five of the fifteen
cots are occupied by the Abbot's most current patients. Four women and one
man have been bound to their beds (with the same sort of bindings you would
see in a mental institution) and are heavily bandaged.
• Should PCs enter the room, the woman on the nearest cot reaches out her arm
towards them. Or, rather, the bandaged stump where her arm should be. Her
left foot is that of an enlarged eagle talon. However, the transplant has taken
poorly and either needs to be redone or grown with a genetic splice. The talon
as it is is completely non functional. The woman simply whispers, "help" over
and over again.
• The others are in similar conditions, each missing pieces of themselves or in
the process of being turned into mongrelfolk. None have maintained their
sanity and are overcome with fear or anger if spoken to. I imagine that each
of these patients have been here for a number of years, staggering their
arrivals. If a PC latches onto these NPCs and asks for their story, feel free to
make one up. Just remember to keep the basic story the same: they were
desperate and the Abbot helped them, but for a price.
• The Loft/Belfry (S17)
• The only thing I would change here is the shrouded body on the table. The
body is another prototype flesh golem, with a similar look as Vasilka. She has
no name and is technically alive, but is far less maintained. Her parts don't
match quite as well and some are withering and in obvious need of
replacement.
• Instead of maintaining this body as his final work, the Abbot has been using
her to test methods of binding long dead souls to a vessel. He's not targeting
Tatyana's soul in this case, but any soul in general. He figures once he has a
method figured out, binding Tatyana's soul to Vasilka will be no problem.
• The Abbot's Mindset
• The Needs of the Many
 • I feel it's important to reiterate that the Abbot doesn't feel like he's doing
anything wrong. Though his patients scream in pain and beg him to stop, he
also knows that they already agreed to the procedure and so it must be alright.
And when his patients end up insane afterwards, it's just an unfortunate
outcome. The Abbot actually feels he's doing these new mongrelfolk a favor
by giving them homes away from the rest of Barovia.
• And even if the Abbot does recognize some of the horror behind his actions,
he easily believes that the ends justify the means. Sometimes a few must
suffer in order for many to thrive. The battle against the darkness always has
sacrifices.
• Fickle Gods
• It's also worth noting that the Abbot is hardly vengeful. If anything, he's quite
forgiving and slow to anger. If a patient of his avoids payment, for instance,
he's not the sort to hunt them down in a mindless pursuit. In enough time, he'd
likely forget them altogether unless they show up at his Abbey again.
• Remember, to the Abbot, each person he helps is just another rat. They all sort
of look and act the same to him, so faces and names don't generally stick. And
if one rat disappears, a replacement usually appears sooner rather than later.
• With the Players
• When the Abbot is with players, remember to keep his answers about the
mongrelfolk vague. If they ask who/what the mongrelfolk are, the Abbot
paints things in only the best way. He's not trying to fool the players (you are,
but the Abbot isn't, lol), but instead he really believes in the righteousness of
his own actions.
• He'll tell PCs about how each mongrelfolk came to him after loosing hope;
that their own families had abandoned them and they had no where else to
turn. If asked about their animal parts, the Abbot insists that the mongrelfolk
asked for their changes. And the Abbot only wants them to be happy and safe,
nothing more.
• And if players find the hospital, the Abbot has similar answers if questioned.
He insists that the operations were his patient's own desire and that his pursuit
of Tatyana is righteous. "My patients, in their desperation, have become a part
of something so much greater than themselves. I understand your doubt, but
you needn't worry. They had no where else to turn and now I have given them
purpose. And I certainly will not abandon them. Whatever I take I make sure
to give back tenfold."
• Additionally, the Abbot should be completely unashamed of his practices. He
doesn't make a real effort to hide them. If players get caught in the hospital or
jailed hallway, the Abbot simply approaches them with curiosity. He shouldn't
get angry or seem flustered. Such emotion suggests that he recognizes the
depravity of his own actions, which he doesn't. It would also make him feel
more human, and you certainly don't want that.
In the Campaign
• Ilya and His Mother
• Most recently, Kresk's Burgomaster lost his last remaining child, a fourteen-year-old
boy named Ilya, to sickness. However, through a miracle of the Abbot, Ilya has been
brought back to life. This is both canonical in the book and also detailed more
thoroughly in my own Kresk expansions.
• To accommodate the Abbot's new plot line, I imagine that Ilya's mother, Anna,
brought his corpse to the Abbot for resurrection. The Abbot made Anna a deal: her
son's life for her skin in the coming years, as he had no need of it yet.
• The Abbot had been recently blessed with a new patient: a druidic woman
from the forests who had been set upon by wolves. Mortally wounded, she'd
crawled her way to the Abbey and begged the Abbot's help in broken
Common. She is now one of the patients in the hospital and the most recent
addition. If found, she lies on her stomach with thick bandages around her
abdomen. The skin on her back has been removed and is in the process of
healing, along with her other wounds.
• Within the next year, the Abbot will likely call on Anna to pay her dues. That is, if no
other patient appears first. Like I said before, the Abbot is quite fickle, which is
really good for Anna.
• Resurrection Services
• Really the only reason players should end up at the Abbey is for resurrection or
healing. There really aren't any other hooks to this location and, frankly, I don't think
you need another. PC death is not uncommon in CoS, even after modifying the
campaign. And the Werewolf Den is right next door, offering a source of lycanthropy.
The Abbot is one of the few people in Barovia capable of stopping the curse. It's
more than likely your party will visit the Abbey.
• They might also go see the Abbot after dealing with Ilya in my Kresk
expansion, inquiring as to the source of the boy's beasthood.
• No matter how players end up at the Abbey, the moment they see the mongrelfolk
gravediggers, they'll be asking questions XD.
• Finding Ireena
• If players bring Ireena to the Abbey (or the PC you replaced Ireena with), the Abbot
is thrilled. At first. For a moment, he believes that Tatyana has already come back to
life and is ready to find her true love again. However, on finding out that the
reincarnation doesn't possess Tatyana's memories and is therefore the equivalent of a
cheap lookalike, he's severely disappointed.
• The Abbot becomes much more invested in the PCs' adventure at this point. He'll
happily guide the players in directions that might restore Tatyana's memories, like the
Amber Temple (for its library and mythical magics) or Castle Ravenloft (for its
 familiarity to Tatyana). He'll even offer his resurrection and healing services for free,
provided the PCs show interest in restoring her as well.
• If, however, PCs openly oppose the Abbot and his goals, he's not pleased. The Abbot
will go about trying to abduct Ireena (or the Ireena PC) in order to steal her soul.
This can lead to a rather interesting plot line if you let it develop, one where the PCs
have to escape the pursuit of an angel or break out their friend from frankenstein hell.
• An Eventual Battle
• If players don't have Ireena, the Abbot will ask one of his prices for his services. And
that, of course, can get interesting. If players are charismatic, they can easily avoid
paying upfront (which will put them in the same place as Anna Kreskov). But if they
leave and keep coming back, the Abbot is more and more likely to realize he's being
duped. The same can be said if the players keep putting off restoring Ireena's
memories, or if the PCs allow Ireena to die or something equally horrible.
• At one point in the campaign, the Abbot's patience will grow thin and he'll demand
payment. Luckily, this should be on the party's third or so visit, putting them at a
higher level than the 6-ish of their initial visit. You can then run this location as the
dungeon it obviously wants to be, with a battle between the players, a flesh golem,
Vasilka, the Abbot, and half a dozen (or more) loyal and/or crazy mongrelfolk.

Conclusion
With these changes, I personally think the Abbey is more streamlined. Instead of a mosh of content,
the goals and NPCs are clear. The location is, mechanically, for healing and resurrection. The Abbot
wants Ireena, not a dress. And player choices and actions can lead to a finite outcome: the death of
the Abbot and the stop of his depravity.
These changes are also quite fun if and when the players find out the Abbot's secret. Remember,
unless they go exploring, players won't find the hospital or the other mongrelfolk. Once players
know, it becomes this beautiful mental dilemma in which they weigh how much they need the
Abbot for future resurrections and how moral it is to let his practice continue in the mean time. Plus,
the Abbot's general nonchalance about to horror taking place in his Abbey can make him really
scary.