Divide the Temple

My first and most general recommendation regarding the Temple is this: split it into two narrative
halves.
This harkens straight back to one of my first posts on Death House. Think about it. Death House is,
essentially, split into the non-hostile house segment and the very hostile basement segment. While
yes, some narrative spills into the basement and some fighting spills into the main house, the split is
still pretty even.
The Amber Temple suffers the most because, in my opinion, it's written as long, murderous
dungeon with very little story importance. So what we do instead is split it.
• The Battle Inward
• Opposite to Death House, we should first move almost all the fighting to the
beginning of the dungeon. At this point in the campaign, the players have come here
for a reason. They don't need on-site narrative hooks to lure them in. Instead, they're
fighting for answers. And what a fight it shall be.
• You'll want to make the beginning of this dungeon as openly hostile as possible
without outright killing your party. You need to make it very obvious why no one
braves the Temple. It is dangerous. Remember that your players shouldn't be fighting
everything and that they totally can sneak past encounters. That's perfectly okay.
Encouraged even. But as the DM, you need to be prepared for the various encounters
depending on what path they'll take.
• If they keep to the upper floor, the hardcore battles/attacks could include:
• The Flameskulls in areas X17 and X6 (Hallway and hole-in-the-floor room)
• The Amber Golem in X8 (marching up the right hallway)
• The deceitful Vilnius in the Lecture Hall
• The Specters in X22 (the fake banquet)
• If they decide to go downward into the giant area of X5 and beyond, they'll
encounter:
• The Arcanaloth firing spells from the blackness
• The Flameskulls firing down from X17 (That upper left hallway again)
• The Nothics in X36 (the left downstairs hallway)
• The Specters in X39 (The trashed room left of the treasure room)
• Exethanter and the Inner Sanctum
• Once players get past all the fighting, they'll find themselves in the back Library
area, including Exethanter's rooms. This area should be totally battle free (unless the
players instigate something of course) and instead provide them with all the story and
answers they've been seeking all campaign.
 • Exethanter is a friendly NPC, which I've rewritten to an extent and the Library is
everything the players could ever dream of. Within the Inner Santum, the PCs can
and will learn about the Demiplanes of Dread, the Dark Powers, the Fanes of
Barovia, and possibly any personal secret you've kept hidden from them to
incorporate their backstories into the world. The Library is an almost mythical
bastion of knowledge and Exethanter serves as their guide.
• Monsters/Battles I Totally Removed
• Just like Death House, I felt like there were a few pointless battles put it just to make
the area more dungeon-y. Bleh. So I took them out.
• The Barovian Witches - Honestly, I don't see why halloween cliched witches
have any business being here. The Temple is thematically undead and high
wizardry, which leaves little room for these gals. And with all the cold, where
are they gonna catch all their newts? ;P
• The Death Slaad - Hell *clap* to *clap* the *clap* no *clap*. An Arcanaloth
and a Slaad within 50 ft of one another? Let's not.
• The Vampire Spawn - Alright, these guys totally actually do fit here RAW.
But because I edited the narrative of Exethanter and the inner sanctum, that
changed and they no longer belonged. Plus, the party has plenty of chances to
fight vampires elsewhere in the campaign, so it's not like they're missing
anything with me taking them out of the Temple.

Hooks to the Temple

By the time the players reach the Amber Temple in your campaign, you should have already been
peppering in hints and clues that the location can provide answers to huge questions. The amount of
hinting you should do should be borderline absurd, actually.
• Killing Strahd
• Through several conversations, your players should know that Strahd is immortal.
Like, really immortal, not just undead. Other adventurers have battled him and won,
but he always comes back. He cannot die.
• The Amber Temple may have answers as to why he is immortal and how that
immortality can be broken.
• Escaping Barovia
• From the very beginning, your players will know they're trapped in Barovia by the
mists. But why do the mists exist at all? Why can they pull people from completely
different worlds into Barovia? And why does Strahd have some sort of control over
the mists?
• The truth behind the mists is likely kept in the Amber Temple. The Temple is said to
hold a great, timeless library with all kinds of knowledge.
• The Fanes of Barovia
 • What exactly were the fanes and where did they go? Even if players can piece this
together well, they still won't know how to restore the fanes. The Amber Temple's
library is the most likely place to contain answers.
• The PCs' Dark Powers
• Depending on how your campaign has progressed, it's entirely possible at least one
of your players has developed an unhealthy reliance on a Dark Power. If they need to
confront that power and break that connection, they can most likely do so in the
Amber Temple.
• Here are some NPCs that can hint towards the Temple, and some example dialogue.
• Fiona Watcher
• "This particular volume predates all the work in my collection. It is one of the
few that made it out of the long lost Amber Temple. Though most of it is
nonsense, it proposes that immortality must come with a price. I've often
wondered what price Lord Strahd must've paid."
• Van Richten:
• "Damn demon made a deal with the devil, they say. And I can't say that's
untrue. Like all monsters, Strahd was born from darkness, most like. There
was once a place with all kinds of gatherings on devils, but the bastards who
lived there fell under their own arrogance. Thought they could tame devils,
they did. The were wrong."
• The Keepers of the Feather:
• "Well, s'pose there's no harm in telling you now, since they're all gone
anyway. The gems were gifts from the Ladies Three, nature goddesses that
watched over the valley before Strahd took over. It's hard to say what's true
and what isn't, but supposedly Strahd killed the Ladies Three and took their
power. *Leans in.* But truth is, I don't believe that. It takes a whole lot to
really kill a god. There was even an old temple built up in the mountains
meant to trap gods cause they were just so hard to kill."
• The Abbott:
• "I am so sorry, my dear, but I'm afraid I haven't answers to your questions.
The only place I can think of to hold such knowledge would be the mythical
Amber Temple. It is said it was once a great library. But alas, it has been lost
to the southern mountains somewhere beyond Tsolenka Pass."
• You get the idea by now, but just in case, here are some other characters who could
know of/mention the Temple under the right role-play circumstances:
• The Dusk Elves
• Baba Lysaga
• Strahd
• Rahadin
 • The Reformers at the Reformation Center in Vallaki
• Lady Fidatov in Kresk, after she's saved from the curse
• Argynvost, if the players manage to summon his spirit
• Vladimir Horngard and the other Revenants
• Ezmerelda
• The Forest Folk

Barbarian Allies
Because the Amber Temple is already so deadly, I figured some fun, light-hearted NPCs would go a
long way for any party. I changed the gaggle of barbarians in Area X15 into non-hostile allies.
• Mountain Folk
• If you've been going through all my posts, you'll remember how I changed the druids
and barbarians at the Winery and Yesterhill into "Forest Folk." I did so simply for the
sake of world building and conversation with NPCs, so that the wild peoples of
Barovia could have a little bit more background than "evil druids just cause."
• This barbarian tribe is actually an offshoot of the Forest Folk, eloquently referred to
as the Mountain Folk. There are actually only a handful of tribes of Mountain Folk
living in the snowy terrain, each no bigger than ten or so people. Helwa's group is
one of those tribes.
• First Meeting
• When the party first meets the Mountain Folk, either through the amber doors or
through the crack, they'll be met with battle shouts of warning. However, the
Mountain Folk will not attack first under any circumstances. There should be a
Mexican stand off sort of situation, where the Folk stand on alert with weapons
raised, but are also actively backing away from the party. The Mountain Folk are
used to battling animals, not humanoids, and so don't attack outright. After all, it
could just be another tribe of Mountain Folk. Best not to shed blood on possible
friendlies.
• Role-playing
• The Mountain Folk are almost comically caveman-like. They speak Druidic and
Common, but horrifically broken, and prefer to communicate with small words and
grunts.
• "Helwa strong warrior! Best warrior! Helwa never cold! Always win!"
*dramatically throws off her fur coat*
• "No! No go! Fire spirits there. Fire spirits baaaaaad. Make you dead!"
• The Mountain Folk will automatically gravitate towards the biggest/strongest looking
PCs, assuming they have leadership roles in the party. Helwa is a mountain of a
 woman to begin with. Think Brienne of Tarth from Game of Thrones, but more
barbaric.
• The dire wolf is an adorable giant husky baby. The Mountain Folk have named him
Snow-Snow and he's basically their family pet. Once the Folk accept the PCs as
friendlies, Snow-Snow will turn into the most lovable giant doggo Barovia has to
offer.
• Views on Magic
• As cavemen-like people, the Mountain Folk are extraordinarily superstitious. They
don't like magic and any PC that uses magic in front of them will frighten them. To
the Mountain Folk, such a person must be possessed in some way.
• If the party manages to pacify the Folk after using magic, the Folk will assume the
big, strong PC is somehow controlling the magic user, like a very impressive pet. The
Folk will then consider that strong PC as a mighty chieftain.
• Helping the Party
• Because of their natural fear of the Temple and the evil spirits within, the Mountain
Folk will not accompany the party beyond their den. However, so long as the PCs
remain friendly, the Mountain Folk are happy to share their fire, meals, and bed matts
with the players. This is effectively a totally safe place for the party to take a long
rest within the Temple without threat of assault or extreme cold.
• The party can, however, convince the Mountain Folk to accompany them elsewhere
on the mountain. For instance, if they want guides back down the mountain through
Tsolenka Pass, the barbarians will happily oblige.
• One Last Change
• Remember the dead wizard in the flameskull hallway nearby? I took him out
completely. Like the vestiges and their implemented flaws, I felt like the wizard and
his evil staff were a bit of a cop out, forcing character change on players instead of
letting it occur naturally. If you really want to keep the staff of frost in game, I'd
recommend moving it to the treasure room.
• Instead, the charred dead man in the hallway is one of the Mountain Folk. When
Helwa's gang first discovered the hideout, one of their own tried to open the amber
doors and scout further into the temple, only to die from the flameskulls.

Vilnius: The Plague Ridden Liar

I changed Vilnius' backstory and also trimmed his personality to make him more fun and story
relevant
• Backstory
• I've already stated that I changed the dead wizard in the Flameskull hall into a dead
barbarian, which means that Vilnius is no longer a random wizard's apprentice.
 Instead, I changed his story so that he could serve as an example of the Dark Powers
at work.
• Fekre's Pawn
• Vilnius was once a resident of another world (could be Faerun, but it honestly
doesn't matter) and lived in a rather large city. He was a small minded gutter
rat who survived by swindling others, selling fake miracles and pretending to
be a disciple of the city's various temples.
• However, his dirty living caused him to contract an illness, one that would
kill him. He was weak, desperate, and, ironically, looking for a real miracle
within one of those temples. He found an amulet locked away in the
forbidden catacombs (the one mentioned in the book) and when he touched it,
he accidentally established a direct link between himself and Fekre, Queen of
Poxes.
• The Dark Power promised Vilnius a cure a for his illness if he agreed to two
terms. 1: That he traverse the planes and return Fekre's amulet to her. And 2:
That he spread Fekre's own disease so that she my feed on the souls her
sickness devours. Vilnius agreed.
• Vilnius was cured of his initial illness, but his body became a putrid host for
Fekre's disease, which he voluntarily spread into the water system of his
home city. The disease spread like wildfire, consuming just about every living
person within a few short years.
• Vilnius' travels have brought him through a handful of different dimensions
(leaving plague behind in his wake) before finally finding his way into
Barovia. Luckily, he came in through the southern border in the mountains
and didn't encounter any towns before coming across the Amber Temple.
• Personality
• To quote the book's excellence, "Vilnius is a greedy, treacherous coward." Though
he's technically backed by a Dark Power, he's actually incredibly weak. He's survived
by lying and preying on the good nature of others, and he will most certainly
continue to do so with the PCs.
• Upon meeting the PCs, he'll flinch away from them in abject terror, begging for his
life. Once calmed, he'll tell them a tragic story to try and get them on his side:
• That his family has been unfortunate enough to be afflicted by a terrible
disease. He lies and says that it's not contagious, and stays within his family
(basically saying it's genetic).
• Vilnius will tell the PCs that he has a daughter who's shown signs of the
disease. While it's too late for him, he desperately wants to find a cure for her.
He's heard that such a cure lies somewhere in the Temple, but the various
monsters and creatures have kept him from moving on any further.
 • Vilnius then begs the party to escort him deeper into the temple where a
miracle cure-all is said to be hidden.
• If the PCs question Vilnius on any subject, make him lie. Think of the saddest,
sappiest, most cliched stories and anecdotes you can imagine and those are the kinds
of lies Vilnius will spill. Parents on their deathbeds, the day his mom brought home
Fluffy, the dog, his grandmother's cookies, ect. Sappy, overused, emotion pullers.
Those are the stories Vilnius will tell.
• Vilnius' believability should always be borderline. The sheer cliched nature of his
stories as well as some accidental slips and inconsistencies should make players
doubt him. But, at the same time, charisma is his best stat. He can lie to cover up his
lies that should make players doubt their doubts. It's a terrible self-feeding circle.
• Vilnius' Actions
• With the PCs
• If Vilnius ends up traveling with the PCs, he won't try to kill them or get them
sick. Remember, Vilnius is actually a really weak guy and he's no match for
the creatures in the Temple, especially the ones he can't talk to. He needs the
PCs to protect him.
• His Disease
• The fire burns on his picture in the book are now not from fire, but are
actually boils filled with highly contagious black puss. After a time, the boils
grow, crack and leak puss, which is how the disease spreads. Touching the
puss spreads the contagion (which also includes eating or drinking it
accidentally). However, it is not an airborne disease.
• Reaching Fekre
• Vilnius instinctively knows the way to Fekre's Amber prison. She's his patron,
after all, and she's been subtly pulling him towards her.
• Upon reaching the vestige in X33a, Vilnius will pull out his amulet, which
reeks of fiendish, abyssal energy, and push it into the amber. The dark shadow
with the vestige will move and wrap itself around the amulet, materializing
into Fekre. The amber shatters, Fekre is released, and Vilnius shouts, "There,
you putrid bitch! I've done it! Now cure me and let me go!" Fekre leans in
and simply says, "No."
• The pox then consumes Vilnius' entire body, painfully and violently killing
him and Fekre disappears, leaving Barovia. Such a weakling could never be
her true champion, after all.
• This, of course, occurs only if the PCs don't kill Vilnius first. Or if they refuse
to help him at all. It's just that it's always good to have an end plan in place in
PCs decide to see a NPC through to the end of their quest line.
• Lastly, here's a cool pic of Fekre you might use if you have to. Thanks to
u/fedex777 for finding this one!
• Fekre's Amulet
• The amulet that Vilnius carries around is a cursed object that allows a holder to speak
directly to Fekre, Queen of Poxes. Anyone who carries the amulet for more than 3
days (without making some kind of agreement with Fekre) will begin to contract
random sicknesses. There's a nice wiki page of 5e illnesses out there, if you'd like to
roll for it. Or, you know, make something up. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• The amulet is still really pretty and worth 1000 gp though.
• New Stat Block
• Since Vilnius is no longer a wizard's apprentice and all that, I went ahead and made
him a whole new stat block, complete with Fekre's Pox traits. Remember, he's
supposed to be pretty weak, actually, and his stat block reflects that.
• Oh! Also, I forgot to change the Challenge Rating on the stat block. It should
probably be CR 3 I think.
The Shield Guardian
Because of the changes I've made to Vilnius, I simply took out the shield guardian completely. The
amulet is no longer connected to the thing, so why should it exist to confuse the players?
Also, as another completely different side note, I just got rid of Vilnius' quasit too. It just felt
uneeded to me.

Neferon the Arcanaloth

Of course there's a furry in CoS. And of course the furry has a god stat block. Why not?
• Backstory
• As someone who's relatively new to d&d, I honestly had no idea what an Arcanaloth
was before this guy. So the history of their race is a bit beyond me. However, in the
most basic-y basic form, this is what I've gathered:
• Yugoloths were/are a bunch of evil fiends that look like gross bug men and
are all really powerful in their demon world. Arcanaloths were sort of like
scribes and magic keepers for the bug men.
• With that being said, we've got to consider Neferon.
• For simplicity's sake, I just devised that Neferon was once a dimension
wanderer, traveling from one realm to the next in search of magical
knowledge.
• At one point, he learned of the Dark Powers and they reminded him of the
evil Yogoloths who once tried to enslave him. Neferon joined forces with a
group of mages and helped build the Amber Temple in hopes of containing
the Dark Powers.
• When the Temple was built, Neferon left to continue his journeys and learn
more about the Dark Powers. He returned to the Temple centuries later, only
to find the mages he'd left behind were all dead (except Exethanter).
Overcome with guilt at not being there to protect his mage friends, Neferon
vowed he would spend the rest of eternity guarding the Temple in their stead.
• Personality Notes
• Okay. This one actually isn't too complicated. Firstly, get rid of Neferon's alter ego,
the wizard man. If your players actually manage to get into the giant statue and meet
Neferon, they've friggin earned seeing his true form.
• Neferon actually isn't a bad guy (I'd change his alignment to Neutral Good). He's just
really, really, really dedicated to protecting the Temple from absolutely everyone. He
distrusts literally everybody because, as far as he's concerned, they all could be
agents of the Dark Powers.
• However, it isn't impossible to earn Neferon's favor... or at least his acceptance. Good
aligned magic users and knowledge-y PCs who remind him of the dead mages can
 persuade him to allow them into the Temple. However, he'll warn the PCs that,
should they have any interaction with the Dark Powers or attempt to stay for too
long, he'll be forced to kill them. This conversation only takes place, however, if the
players actually manage to meet Neferon face to face.
• Neferon absolutely hates Strahd, but not nearly as much as he hates Vampyr, the
Dark Power that managed to get away. (I'll detail this more in Amber Temple pt. 2)
• When role-playing Neferon, remember to pull out your biggest, baddest vocab
words. Neferon is a magical scribe that is thousands of years old. He speaks literally
every single language. So he should definitely have impeccable grammar and avoid
slang. Of course, we're only DMs and we're certainly not that good, but do your best
to fake it XD

Other Notes and Reminders on Battles in the

Amber Temple
• Cold
• Don't forget the Extreme Cold conditions, cause it can make gameplay really
interesting. Fire and cold weather gear are super crucial here and you should enforce
the rules around Extreme Cold.
• As a reminder, here's the rules as found in the DM's guide:
• "Whenever the temperature is at or below 0 degrees Fahrenheit, a creature
exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the
end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with resistance or
immunity to cold damage automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do
creatures wearing cold weather gear (thick coats, gloves, and the like) and
creatures naturally adapted to cold climates."
• However, if your party is really suffering, you might want to reduce the
number of con saves, to be just a little forgiving. I can imagine that every
hour can be a bit much under the right circumstances.
• Also, I would recommend adding cold weather to rests within the Temple, whether
they have cold gear, a fire or otherwise. It just makes things interesting and makes
the players remember the cold. If the players take a long rest within the Temple, have
them roll a DC 10 con save. On a fail, they can only benefit from a short rest, since
the cold really got to them. The Barbarian's den, Exethanter's room, and the Library
are all immune to this effect, either from the surplus of magic or from the numerous
fire sources.
• Darkvision Reduction
• Just for the sake of spookiness, I would reduce the range for PC darkvision in the
Temple. You could just say that the overwhelming magic in the Temple quite literally
strengthens the darkness.
 • Idk, this one's probably just personal preference. Because, with standard Darkvision,
a PC can see the entire main hall of X5 without any problem, and that sort of kills it
in my opinion. Reducing Darkvision to about 20 ft of dim light will do wonders to
hype up exploring the Temple.
• Arcanaloth's Attack
• Speaking of the awesomeness of area X5, for the sake of DMing simplicity, make the
stairs the line for attacking. Just assume that upon entering the Temple, Neferon
knows the PCs are there. However, he'll only attack if someone tries to go deeper
than the main entrance; in other words, if they try to go down the stairs.
• The second a PC steps onto the stairs, the Arcanaloth fires off a ranged spell at them
as a surprise attack. The following turn, so do all the Flameskulls in the upper
hallway. If PCs back off the stairs and remain on the upper balcony, the attacks stop.
This'll make things just a little more fair to your players, lol.

Overview
• After battling flameskulls and golems and whatever else, you're party will inevitably find
themselves in the back area of the Amber Temple, which I've dubbed, "The Inner Sanctum."
The Inner Sanctum includes the following rooms:
• X40 - the Treasure Room
• X42 - The Amber Vault
• X30 - the Library
• X27, X28, X29 - Exethanter's Rooms
• Fewer Secret Doors
• After taking a second and third look over the Amber Temple, it occurred to me that
the only visible way into the Inner Sanctum is through the crack in the Treasure
Room. And even the doors to the Treasure Room are locked to begin with. Given the
size of the Temple, I'm not sure that's entirely fair.
• Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but my players are absolutely shit at finding
traps and even worse about finding hidden doors. In order for the Temple to go well,
I knew for a fact that I'd have to replace some of the secret doors with normal doors,
just so they can even find the Inner Sanctum without dying.
• Here are the few doors I would change:
• The doors flanking the long staircase between the giant god statue and the
library, between X5 and X30. If this Temple was once a home to a whole
brotherhood of mages, it makes sense they'd want direct access to their library
anyway. If you want, go ahead and lock the doors similarly to the amber
 doors on the Treasure Room (Arcane Lock with a password. DC 25 Strength
to break open).
• The doors flanking X26, going from the main Temple into Exethanter's room.
This is the room with the chest glued to the ceiling. As far as I'm concerned,
Exethanter's room is technically the living quarters of the high mage in the
old circle of mages who built the temple. You should be able to access your
own bedroom without all the fanfare of pulling hidden levers or searching for
the switch brick, I'd say.

Other Room Notes

• Speaking of X26 (The Trapped Chest Room)
• No Skulls
• While I love the idea of forcing my players to dig through a mountain of
skulls, it honestly just doesn't fit. This is the entrance to the high mage's
chambers. There's no reason for the skulls.
• The Chest Trap
• On the other hand, the chest trap is exactly the kind of thing I'd expect to see
at the entrance to such a bedroom. Only the "unworthy" would fall for it, after
all.
• As an added clue that the chest is indeed a trap, go ahead and engrave the
following inscription into the lid in Celestial: "Greed has no place in the heart
of the scholar, for the truest treasure is knowledge."
• I was a bit cautious about this inscription at first, as it most definitely
screams, "trap!" But let me tell you, my sad pathetic players still couldn't help
themselves and opened the darn thing. The temptation was just too strong.
XD
• The Disappearing Floor
• Once the trap triggers, the floor caves in. Go ahead and give this a timer of 6
seconds (one turn) before the trap resets. After all, no mage wants a gaping
hole right in the entrance to their bedroom.
• After a turn, the disintegrated floor reforms and the chest closes and locks
itself. Players will have to think fast, especially if the party is large. Some
PCs might fall through and get separated from the others who hadn't been
standing on the trapped ground. This might lead to some neat anxiety ridden
dungeon delving. ;)
• X22 - the Ghost Banquet
• Now, I don't know if I'm just some sad, uncultured swine, but I had no idea what an
ewer was, lol. I just dumbed it down for my own sake and said the thing was a
pitcher.
 • Otherwise, be careful with this encounter. It can be rather bad. Luckily, my party had
the forethought to use Mage Hand to touch the pitcher, which brought forth the
specters, but didn't make them attack, as they were confused by the skeletal hand and
didn't know how to attack such a thing.
• If your party does have it out with the ghosts, remember that the enemies should all
clearly focus on the pitcher, attacking whomever is holding it. If the party lets it go or
puts it back, the attack stops.
• X24 - the Enchanting Statue Room
• This was actually pretty cool to run with my party and an incredibly fun little trap.
The only glaring problem is, what if the entire party gets enchanted? Is that how the
epic campaign ends, with everybody starving to death in front of the statue? XP
• If you have even a single NPC traveling with the party, make sure they enter this
room after everyone else. If the rest of the party gets enchanted, just fudge it and
make the NPC succeed so that they may save everyone.
• Or, if you're really not cool with that, after 24 hours, the PCs will start to black out
from exhaustion, forcing them to close their eyes. When they wake, they'll see the
statue again and be allowed to repeat the saving throw. Hopefully somebody will
succeed after a time.
• The Giant Statue / Neferon's House
• I totes changed the inside of the statue into Neferon's very own hobbit hole and it
went over sooooo well with my players. After the cold, horrible rest of the Temple
(they hadn't gotten to the inner sanctum yet), finding a cozy little living area and
chatting with Neferon was a godsend.
• Two Floors
• I gave this makeshift house two floors/rooms. At the top of the spiral stairs I
put a ladder leading to a trap door which opens to the first floor. The first
floor is in the statue's chest cavity and contains a tiny table and chair, a
kitchenette run entirely by magic, and a cozy cot pushed against the wall. In
every other available nook and cranny are books, parchment, and crockery.
• The third floor, accessible by a second ladder and trap door, contained a little
sitting area and stacks of books. This room is smaller and inside the statue's
head. One half of the room is shrouded in magical darkness which contains
the statue's eyes/outlook.
• Everything about Neferon's quarters are cramped, but also cozy. Once my own
players earned his trust, Neferon served them tea in mismatched cups and they all
had a good ole time.

The Great Library

• Visuals
 • To be perfectly frank, the library as written is no where near big enough. I personally
wanted something of epic, fantastic proportions, straight out of a high fantasy novel.
Not a measly six bookcases.
• I've changed it so that the library is so big that it has no ceiling. The walls stretch up
so high into the heart of the mountain that the ceiling is literally too far to discern
with the naked eye. And the bookcases stretch upward the same amount, into infinity.
• Here's some new flavor text for the library. Some of this is taken and adapted from
the text in the book.
• "While this library seems small at first glance, you quickly find that the
ceiling is so high, you cannot spot its end. Six immense, black marble
bookcases line the walls and stretch up into unending heights. Each shelf on
each bookcase is filled with well preserved tomes and carefully stacked
scrolls. The amount of knowledge stored within this single room seems
unfathomable.
• "Dozens of floating, copper lanterns light the room, hovering at various
heights throughout the library. To the north, a black marble railing encloses an
amber staircase that spirals gently down to a lower level. Embroidered rugs,
chairs, and lit candelabras fill the center of the room."
• The Lanterns
• The lanterns are similar to the ones found in the lecture hall. They've each had
continual light cast on them, and have also been enchanted to float perpetually
around the library. They stay in one general spot in the air, but can be pushed, at
which point they'll float away and gently come to a stop.
• The light within the lanterns is magical and not actually fire. So they don't produce
heat and can't set anything on fire.
• Ladders
• Each bookshelf has a magical ladder mounted to it. These ladders are stagnant and
don't roll from one end of the bookcase to another. The sheer height of the bookcases
and the ladders would make that horrifically unstable. Instead, any mage who had to
reach a book on a far shelf would usually use mage hand and/or floating disk to
collect whatever tomes they needed.
• The ladders are all enchanted to act as sort of funny, fantasy elevators. If you stand
on one of the rungs and say, "Up," all the rungs start going up the ladder, taking you
with them. "Stop" and "Down" are the other two command words. So, essentially,
you can ride any ladder as high as you need to on any bookshelf. The command
words only work if the speaker is standing on the ladder's rungs.
• Contents of the Library
• Command Words
• I got rid of the command words for each book. Because I've increased the
number of books insurmountably, it seems impossible for anyone to keep that
 many command words with them. While the blank pages are a neat trick for a
few tomes, it's just unreasonable for thousands.
• Preserved Magically
• However, I did keep the fragility of all the books in tact. If any of them are
taken from the library, they crumble into dust.
• Dimensions, Religion, History, and Everything Else
• Pretty much if it's rare or interesting knowledge, the library is bound to have
it. Don't stop at the "vile, forbidden lore" the book suggests. Make this place
the wikipedia of Ravenloft.
• However, if a PC really wants to know something, they'll have to actually
find the proper book or scroll first. Which, as you can imagine, could be quite
difficult. Exethanter is the only one who has read literally every tome in the
library and can navigate the place quickly and effectively.
• The Demiplanes of Dread
• I wrote a summary about the Demiplanes in my very first post in this series,
regarding the Core and the misty borders. The library actually has maps of the
Core, including the location of Barovia in the grander scale of things.
• Each Demiplane's map is on a rather large scroll with irregular edges. The
scrolls, if unfurled, can essentially be laid out like puzzle pieces, each
demiplane fitting next to its neighbors.

Exethanter's Background
Like Vilnius, I actually ended up reworking Exethanter almost completely. He has the potential to
be such an interesting character, but the book simply gives us the bones of a NPC and little else. So,
here's what I've come up with.
• One of the Old Mages
• Instead of arriving at the Temple much later, Exethanter used to be one of the mages
that helped construct the Amber Temple. He was a good and powerful wizard who
dedicated his life to studying and sealing away various Dark Powers.
• After the Temple's construction and the gathering of the Dark Powers began, the
mages slowly began to submit to the darkness they sought to imprison. Just like the
book says, the mages turned on one another and all ended up dying. All, save
Exethanter.
• Exethanter was actually one of the last of the mages to submit to the darkness. He
tried desperately to save the other mages, but watched them all fall and die. And, as
their numbers dwindled, Exethanter looked around him and feared that all the mages
had accomplished would be lost. All their gathered knowledge would be wiped away
and the strides they'd made against darkness forgotten. The thought terrified him.
And that's how the Dark Powers ended up finding him.
• The Dark Power, Tenebrous
• The one thing the book absolutely does give us is this: Exethanter made a deal with
Tenebrous, a Dark Power, in order to become a lich. But how does that connection
work? This is my take on it.
• Tenebrous' Lure
• In order to gain pawns and a possible champion, Tenebrous seeks out a very
specific individual: Those obsessed with knowledge and terrified of death.
Exethanter fit this bill perfectly. Latching onto the poor mage's desperation,
Tenebrous promised Exethanter a way to preserve the library and the Temple
as a whole.
• Exethanter succumbed and became a lich.
• Tenebrous' Wants
• Like most Dark Powers, Tenebrous feeds off the souls of mortals, drinking
life energy to increase his power. However, since he can't actually exist on the
mortal plane for an extended period of time, he uses pawns and champions to
collect those souls for him.
• Ideally, he wants to find a strong, worthy champion so that he may claim a
demiplane for his own, ripe with souls. Exethanter was incredibly worthy.
• Tenebrous and the Power of Names
• Each Dark Power has their own way of collecting power/souls. Vampyr feeds
on the blood of the damned. Fekre, the souls of those who die from plague.
Tenebrous takes souls by collecting mortals' true names. In a way, Tenebrous
knowing someone's true, full name means that he owns you. And your soul.
• This goes beyond knowing your name is Fiona Wachter, though. Most people
have a collection of minor titles or nicknames that they don't even know
about. Learning these extended nicknames is part of knowing someone's true
name. So, in this example, the name would be something along the lines of,
"Lady Fiona Wachter of Vallaki, beloved wife and mother, devout follower of
daylight, and harbinger of prophesy."
• Tenebrous in other DnD
• I did a tiny bit of light research and saw somewhere that Tenebrous is
somehow linked to Orcus? I'll admit right now that I totally derailed from
that, as you just read. If this change to Tenebrous bothers you, remember that
you certainly don't have to use what I've written here. If you do want to use it
but still hate that it's not very Orcus, just change Tenebrous' name. Call him
Thinathmel, Name Eater or something. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• How Exethanter Outsmarted Tenebrous
• As Champion
 • As the chosen champion of Tenebrous, Exethanter carries around a thin, black
ledger within which he is meant to collect names for Tenebrous to feed upon.
With his magic, endless lifespan, and incredible knowledge, Exethanter
should be able to meet people, get to know them and devise their true names
and titles, which he then records in the journal for his Power. However, he no
longer remembers the purpose of the journal, so it sits unused in his room.
• Under normal circumstances, Exethanter would have been pretty much forced
to write names. Tenebrous has Exethanter's name, after all, and can therefore
control him.
• Memory Loss
• Exethanter figured out a loophole in his servitude to Tenebrous. If Exethanter
didn't recognize his name as his own, then technically Tenebrous couldn't
force him to do anything.
• So Exethanter cast some magic on himself, effectively breaking his own
mind. He shattered his own memory so that he quite literally can't recall his
name.
• No Trace
• As an added safety measure, Exethanter took the time to get rid of any written
trace of his name within the Amber Temple prior to zapping himself.
• In other words, he no longer has a spell book and the password into his
phylactery isn't his own name. In fact, the only one left who likely knows his
name is Neferon. And Neferon is much too smart to share such a thing. Oh,
and Tenebrous knows of course. But he's still locked inside his amber prison,
unable to talk to any mortals and silently fuming about Exethanter.

Role-Playing Exethanter
• First Meeting
• If the PCs enter the Inner Sanctum through Exethanter's room or through the Library
(upper or lower level), Exethanter is already in that room and greets them
appropriately. Just place him wherever he's needed.
• If the PCs come across the vestiges before meeting Exethanter and they interact with
the amber sarcophagi in any extreme way (connecting with a Dark Power, destroying
a sarcophagus and freeing a Dark Power, ect.) Exethanter feels the disturbance and
rushes to the appropriate location. When he rounds the corner, he shouts, "No! What
have you done?!"
• If your campaign turns this direction, it's possible that Exethanter might be
openly hostile, especially if the PCs knew what they were doing and/or show
signs of connection with a Dark Power. He might try to attack them to stop
that darkness from escaping.
 • If the PCs show that they are contrite and simply didn't know any better,
Exethanter can certainly be reasoned with and forgives their ignorance. He
invites them to library to discuss their deeds so that they understand the
dangers of the Dark Powers.
• Lastly, because I've overall reworked Exethanter into being a friendly guy, I
let him keep his entire spell list. If PCs get into a a fight with him, they're in
for one hell of a battle.
• Mr. Forgetful
• Unlike the Mad Mage, Exethanter is actually wholly sane. He's reasonable and can
have a solid conversation without having extreme mood swings or delusions or
anything like that. The only real problem he has is his memory.
• Exethanter does not remember his name. He has several other lapses in memory and
information, but those can all come and go. For a moment, he'll remember all his
friends among the old mages and then the next assume he never had mage friends. It
comes and goes. His name is the only thing that stays actively gone.
• Frequently during conversations with the PCs, he'll ask them if they know
what his name is. Exethanter honestly has no idea why he can't remember his
own name and why it isn't recorded anywhere. It's a puzzle he can't figure
out. And each time he decides he's going to dedicate himself to its discovery,
he forgets that dedication moments later.
• Exethanter knows that he is a lich, but only because he's quite educated and
can compare his symptoms to various notes. Technically, he's not 100% sure
he's a lich, he doesn't know about his own phylactery, and he has no idea how
he came to be in his present state. He doesn't remember Tenebrous at all,
either.
• Exethanter effectively has some short term memory loss. He can remember just
about every long term bit of information relatively well. However, new information
is much harder for him to process. When dealing with the PCs, he'll forget their
names every few minutes and need gentle reminders on why they're there in the first
place.
• Exethanter Knows Everything Else Though
• This is the party's opportunity to have just about any question answered. Exethanter
has quite literally read every book in the library and has just about all the knowledge
that we, the DMs, have. Anything short of present day politics (Vallaki stuff, for
example) Exethanter knows. Sometimes, he'll need to ride the elevator ladders to get
the right book and check himself. But yeah, you can basically just throw down the
lore through this NPC, so long as your PCs ask the right questions.
• He's also pretty kind and personable, when you get right down to it. Exethanter
should be super excited (in his own old man way) that he has visitors and dives
headfirst in his efforts to answer the party's questions.
 • He'll even repeatedly remark that his friend, Neferon, doesn't visit nearly as
much as he should. (This is false. Neferon visits often enough, but Exethanter
simply can't remember).
• Exethanter will also remark that he had another good friend for a time, but
said friend fell into darkness. He was a man called, Strahd...

Exethanter and Strahd

Exethanter is probably the only "good" NPC who knows exactly what happened to Strahd and has a
history with vampire lord.
• Friends
• When Strahd first came to Barovia, he inadvertently discovered the Amber Temple
and its great library. He also met the curious undead and forgetful Exethanter.
Neferon had not returned to Barovia at this point and so never met Strahd.
• Exethanter, lonely and eager for kind company, happily spoke to Strahd about
anything he could. He answered questions, helped Strahd learn new magics, and
became quick friends with the man.
• Because neither Strahd nor Exethanter knew Exethanter's name, Strahd
simply referred to him as, "my friend" or "old friend."
• Strahd, during this initial time, wasn't the evil dick he is in present day campaign. He
was a conquering prince, traveling the land trying to keep his armies alive. Though
he was brutal on the battlefield, he really was a decent person back then.
• Exethanter even hosted Strahd's plans for the building of Castle Ravenloft at the
Temple.
• Strahd's Descent
• Unfortunately, his friendship with Exethanter put Strahd in close proximity to the
caged Dark Powers in the Temple. Vampyr reached out to him and offered him
various powers; things that would help Strahd win on the battlefield and keep his
men alive. Vampyr also continuously stroked Strahd's ego, further solidifying their
connection.
• As time passed and Strahd conquered more and more, Strahd got pretty drunk on his
power and started turning cruel. He grew distant from Exethanter and became rather
sadistic, only visiting the Temple to speak to Vampyr instead of his undead friend.
• When the Tatyana and Sergei incident occurred, Strahd was already quite heavily
addicted to his connection to Vampyr and long passed saving.
• I like to imagine that Exethanter was actually at the wedding, under the guise
of an Alter Self spell so as not to freak out the other attendees. He saw the
horror wrought at the wedding and witnessed Vampyr's rise first hand.
• Exethanter's Guilt
 • Though Exethanter's memory comes and goes, his long term friendship with Strahd
makes those memories pretty solid.
• Exethanter blames himself for Strahd's fall, as Strahd would never have spent so
much time in the Temple if it weren't for their friendship. And, through all the years
of friendship, Exethanter was never aware enough to notice the Dark Power's hold
over his friend. He feels incredibly guilty for not trying to save Strahd before it was
too late.
• It's important to note here that I'm not trying to pass off Strahd's villainy as
Vampyr's doing. Vampyr simply propagated and nurtured Strahd's existing
personality flaws. As Strahd grew older, his fear of aging and death would
have grown without a Dark Power's influence. He would likely have become
a bitter, horrible old man who hurt others in order to still feel powerful.
Vampyr just gave him a lot more power to work with and the eternal life with
which to use it.
• Exethanter is now overly cautious about the Dark Powers, preaching of their evilness
to any who might listen to him. He willingly and openly tells the party about the
Dark Powers and their trickery; how they steal souls and spread darkness. Exethanter
does not want another to fall victim to a Dark Power's influence without every
possible warning.
• Exethanter is also extremely resistant to ever leaving the Temple again. Though he's
not technically bound to the location (except perhaps by the existence of his
phylactery, but he doesn't know that), he considers himself the last remaining
guardian of the Amber Temple and keeper of the library. He has absolutely no desire
to leave his post to adventure with the PCs.
• Though he would never admit to it, Exethanter also considers his stay in the
Temple a self made purgatory. Not only does he blame himself for Strahd's
downfall, but he also has loads of survivor's guilt for being the only mage left
alive here. His exile and loneliness are partially self imposed and, in his mind,
deserved.

I recently did a little research and discovered that the vestiges and the Dark Powers are technically
not the same thing RAW. I fully and willingly admit that I had no idea. lolololol oopsie.
So, in an effort to be super clear, throughout my Fleshing Out guides, they are indeed one and the
same for me. The vestiges are just trapped Dark Powers. Heck, it makes things a little bit simpler
anyway, so it all works out I'd say. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Problem with the Vestiges

Let's face it, nobody really likes the way the amber vestiges are done as written. For a quick, simple
mechanic, they work just fine. However, for a more in-depth, plot heavy campaign, they seem just a
pinch contrived.
• Alignment Change
 • The alignment system in dnd has received quite a bit of different criticism over the
years, both good and bad. I personally don't mind it, as it provides a nice, simplistic
baseline from which you can quickly form a character's personality. This is especially
helpful for DMs if we have to quickly deal with NPCs we weren't ready for.
• However, I absolutely hate the sudden and unprovoked changes in alignment we see
so often in the CoS book, particularly with the vestiges. The fact that all you have to
do is say yes to a gift and then suddenly lose control of your character as they turn
evil is just wrong.
• One, I don't know a single player who wouldn't be outright devastated to
suddenly lose control of their character. In a way, it's almost worse than
character death.
• Two, if you do let them keep their character but tell them to act evil, not every
player is going to be able to role-play that jump well. Most likely, they'll keep
acting and playing the character the way they have been up until that point,
perhaps with a few bouts of evil laughter. Suddenly shifting alignment can be
hard for many players, meaning that it probably won't happen and it won't
feel natural or fun.
• As a little extra note, I'd like to differentiate alignment change from personality
change due to a spell. Yes, a character can act differently if they're under the
influence of mind control or something. But when we see such spells, they never
mention anything about alignment change and/or loosing control of a character. It's
much easier to role-play mind control than sudden personality shifts, after all.
• As far as I'm concerned, alignment denotes personality. And there's almost no way
that Cinderella can turn into the Evil Stepmother in a single instant. There should be
time, plot, and character development that ignites an alignment change.
• To reiterate from my first Amber Temple post, this is also why I got rid of the evil ice
staff by the barbarian's room.
• The Gifts
• The gifts given by the vestiges aren't terribly consistant. Some of the given spells and
abilities are outright devastating while others are meager at best, especially given the
scope of the campaign. By the time players reach the Temple, they should be in the
last legs of the plot. Some of the usefulness of the gifts end up null and void.
• Also, the time limits/limited number of uses on the gifts seem useless. Is is really
worth giving up your character to evil just for three uses of suggestion? No. No it's
not.
• For powerful evil gods, many of these gifts end up feeling rather lackluster, tbh.
• The Dark Consequences
• Personality Flaws
• About half the dark gifts give out new personality flaws as consequences.
Honestly, I don't see much difference between this and the alignment shift. If
 you're going to gain a new personality trait, it should be from natural
gameplay and personality growth.
• Don't get me wrong, most of these flaws are actually really interesting and
could be really fun under different circumstances. But randomly forcing one
on a player isn't something I'm comfortable with as a DM, pretty much for all
the reasons I listed above.
• Cosmetic
• The other half of the dark gifts have purely cosmetic consequences. Now,
some players might be absolutely horrified to suddenly find half their face
sagging or their body breaking out into fur. But, most likely, some of the
changes aren't going to bother most players. What's stopping them from
charging around and accepting all the gifts? Sure, they'll be uglier, but what
do they care?
• Consequences should feel real, and to be blunt, many of these simply don't.
It's not much different from getting a battle scar and moving on; more of an
afterthought than an actual consequence.

Updating the Dark Powers

I recently wrote up a full post on the Dark Powers with a better way to run them in your game. For
all the details and goodies, I suggest you go check that out.
In summary, I totally got rid of the gift/consequence system outlined in the book and replaced it
with a long term corruption system, in which customized Dark Powers single out PCs and try to
mold them into their champions. The Dark Powers act more like distant NPCs, offering their
appropriate PC different themed boons for working together. Eventually, the PC might become
addicted to their new powers and become unwilling to part with them, even when the Dark Power
starts doing bad stuff through their connection.
After running this method in my game, I've found that this is a much better way to show a PC's
moral decline over time. It's slow and ever building, allowing the players to change their PC's
personalities naturally, instead of the sudden, "Here's your new flaw!" method.

History with the Temple

• Planes
• Firstly, the tendrils trapped within the amber sarcophagi aren't dead, as the book says.
They are very alive, very real Dark Powers. They're just trapped is all.
• As I mention in my Dark Powers post, the Dark Powers quite literally can't live on
the mortal plane. They can enter into our world for a short time (usually no more
than an hour or two), but always must return to the space between dimensions. If
they spend too long on the mortal plane, they are bungied back into the void
 automatically. They're immoral gods, so too much plane exposure will hardly kill
them.
• When they materialize in our world, they usually take on a distinct, material
form. Some forms are monstrous, some humanoid. Some Dark Powers can
even alter their mortal appearance to suit different situations.
• When they exist in the space between dimensions, they are enormous, black
shadows which float through the void.
• Conversely, no mortal can exist within the void for more than a couple hours either.
However, because we're not god beings, staying too long will undoubtedly kill us
instead of flinging us back to a mortal dimension.
• The Mists
• Any time this void is mentioned in the campaign, whether in the Amber
Temple's books or through Exethanter or otherwise, it's usually referred to as
"The Mists between worlds." Because mortals can't comprehend or exist
within this interdimentional void, we simply perceive it as mist.
• The misty borders that surround Barovia are in fact a direct pathway into the
void where the Dark Powers live, but because we can't live there, folk who
wonder into the mist either die or, much less often, immediately pop up in
another dimension. But yeah, usually they die. XD
• That's why Strahd has control over the mists in the first place. He has a direct
connection to Vampyr, a Dark Power that can exist in the mists.
• What the Mages Did
• The great circle of mages who built the Amber Temple constructed the place with
two goals in mind: collect knowledge and imprison the Dark Powers. And, to an
extent, they largely succeeded. They spent a great many decades, if not longer,
studying the mists and the gods that lived within.
• Fighting and Trapping
• It didn't take long for the mages to realize that killing the Dark Powers was
nearly impossible, though they did manage to outright destroy a handful of
them. However, the cost was immeasurable and often took the lives of many
of the mages involved in the fight. Battling a god is no trite matter.
• Instead, the mages devised a way to trap the gods on the mortal plane by
freezing their essence in solid amber. They created two rituals: one that could
forcefully summon a Dark Power to the mortal realm and one that would
summon the amber to trap it there.
• Once a Dark Power is encased in their amber prison, they revert from their
material form into a lesser version of their shadow form, appearing as the
pitch black smoke trapped within each sarcophagus.
• Constructing the Temple
 • The Mages had already largely constructed the Temple before they figured
out how to trap the Dark Powers. They built is as a remote base of operations,
so that any of their evil based studies were far away from innocent civilians.
In turn, they constructed the library to collect all the knowledge they could.
• Once they figured out that trapping gods was much more effective than
killing them, they started constructing and filling the various vaults
throughout the Temple's lower level.

The Amber Sarcophagi

So, with all those changes to the Dark Powers, where does that leave the vestiges? What do we do
with them and how should we treat them?
• Trapped
• When a Dark Power is trapped within an amber slab, they are rendered immobile.
While they can reach out telepathically to sympathetic souls (potential
pawns/champions), they can't actually mess with souls or the mortal realm.
• This means that they can't fish for souls to eat. Literally all the Powers
currently trapped within the Temple are outright starving. They haven't fed on
a single soul in thousands of years.
• The only way for them to interact with the mortal realm beyond speech is through a
mortal conduit; a champion. If a PC hosts and fosters a relationship with a trapped
Dark Power, they become that conduit, enabling the Power to push their influence
onto the world. Without a willing conduit, the Dark Power is powerless.
• So, I'm sure you can imagine how much the trapped Powers in the Temple want a
champion.
• Chosen Sarcophagi
• Through the whole Temple, the PCs should only ever need to interact with a few of
the amber sarcophagi.
• Vilnius' amber slab containing Fekre during his quest line, for instance.
• If a PC has a connection to a Dark Power, they might need to confront that
Power in their sarcophagus.
• Minor Interactions
• The rest of the sarcophagi should all be decorative, there for the players to look at but
not really do anything with.
• If players do come in contact with the various sarcophagi, you may have a mini
interaction between them and that Dark Power. This only happens if they actually
touch a sarcophagus though. Describe it as a cloying darkness which they can feel
inching into their minds, clawing through their thoughts as if in search.
 • Do not go through the trouble of making a full conversation happen though.
Developing so many evil NPCs will open more doors than your party will
know what to do with. They have enough plot hooks at this point. Plus, they
should be on their endgame route to killing Strahd. Giving them a plethora of
different dark voices to talk to will only convolute the plot.
• If you'd like, interacting with a sarcophagus might have some sort of light dressing to
make the encounter more spooky. If a player touches Delban's sarcophagus (Star of
Ice and Hate), they pull their hand away and find themselves shivering with abrupt
cold. If they come in contact with Norganas, Finger of Oblivion, they turn and for a
brief few seconds view the rest of the party as rotting corpses before their vision
returns to normal. These should all be extremely temporary but indicative effects of
the dormant evil.
• Late Game Dark Power Connections
• I know what you're thinking. If these Powers are starving for souls and suddenly
come in close contact with the PCs, why wouldn't they reach out? They're desperate
after all. Well...
• Making Friends
• Remember, a Dark Power can't actually connect with a mortal if they're not of
the right mindset. A greed based Dark Power can't really do anything with a
PC who isn't remotely greedy for instance. Just like making friends, the PC
and the Dark Power must have some baseline with which to foster a
relationship.
• In my expansion on the Dark Powers, I recommend that you develop a Dark
Power for each of your PCs. It's sort of like making an NPC that you know
each PC will fall for. So you've likely already got the perfect connections set
up. Whether or not your PCs have fostered those connections over the
campaign is up to them, of course. But no matter what, none of these trapped
Powers should have a chance at a great connection to the PCs at this point.
• On that note, if a PC already has a connection with one Dark Power, they
can't be claimed by a second one. So there's no reason a new Dark Power
would try to chat with a soul that is already possessed.
• Chosen Dark Power
• But what if one of the sarcophagi does hold a PC's chosen Dark Power; the
one you've set up from the beginning of the game? They've just somehow
avoided making contact throughout the whole campaign thus far.
• If this is the case, I honestly still wouldn't start a Dark Power relationship at
this point in the campaign. As I keep saying, the Amber Temple is a late game
dungeon on the way to the finale. There's frankly not enough time left in the
game for a Dark Power connection to hold any significant umph.
• Bad Plot
 • And lastly, it really is just too much plot. You don't want to open a whole
bunch of new random NPCs to your players. What if your players latch onto
one of the voices and try to go on a whole side quest involving that Dark
Power? Where did the Power come from? What do they want? How can the
PCs do something about it?
• Are you, the DM, prepared for that side questing? If not, just have that little
spooky encounter and then let the players continue on their path to the library.
You know, the actual goal of the Temple. XD
• Bad Juju
• Detect Magic, Divine Sense, and any similar magic is awesome when it comes to the
vestiges. Most of those traits have enough range that they're able to sense stuff
through the thick floors of the Temple, meaning that players standing above a vault
can sense the evil beneath their feet.
• Should a player use one of these abilities while in the Temple, really layer on how
much pure darkness and evil they can feel radiating from the amber slabs. It really
freaked out the magic user in my party and gave the various sarcophagi an extra layer
of spooky.
• Spread Them Out
• Let's say you end up with three main amber slabs to deal with in your plot: Vilnius'
and two PCs'. You know that your players are going to have interact with three
sarcophagi and go to plan accordingly.
• I would highly recommend that you spread these out. It doesn't matter if the book
says all three slabs are in the same corner of the Temple. Ignore that and put each one
in a different vault room, so they each feel distinct and force the party to move
around.
• Movement
• The more connected a Dark Power is with the mortal realm (through a chosen pawn
and/or champion) the more their form materializes within their amber sarcophagus.
The dark wisp actually moves within the amber and starts to take a vague form.
• For instance, should Vilnius manage to get close to Fekre's sarcophagus, the
dark shadow within actually has the vague form of a woman with elongated,
alien proportions. If the amulet is brought within range, the shadow quivers
and twitches unnaturally.
• The same occurs to various degrees if a PC with a connection to a trapped
Dark Power approaches the prison. Depending on the level of the connection,
the trapped vestige will have either a more or less concrete form.
The Amber Vault Beneath the Library
Because it no longer matters which Dark Powers are where or how many there are, I changed this
lower level of the library into a workshop of sorts, where the mages used to gather to further
develop their entrapment spells. The three amber slabs in this room are actually empty prototypes.
Before all my changes to the Dark Powers, the book was written so that this room held the most
powerful vestiges. But after my rewrites, no Dark Power is really scarier than another. They're all
terrifying. So, it's fine to move them to whatever sarcophagus/vault you want.
If players are looking for a way to trap a dark power and somehow lose track of Exethanter, they
can find all the information they need readily available here.

Vampyr, the One that Got Away

When I first started writing this series, I wrote a few times that Vampyr was indeed trapped within
the Amber Temple. Since further developing the story and various locations, I changed this so that
Vampyr and Strahd are both in Castle Ravenloft for the end game encounter.
• The Broken Sarcophagus
• Since no Dark Power is technically more or less powerful than another with these
changes, moving Vampyr to a different vault really makes no difference. So, I moved
him to the broken sarcophagus in X33d.
• After the failed wedding between Sergei and Tatyana, Strahd's actions fully cemented
his bond with Vampyr. Vampyr, fully empowered from that bond, was able to break
free from his confinement and return to the mists.
• Now, Vampyr swims through the mists/void that surrounds Barovia and watches his
realm like the vast evil god he is, feasting on the souls his champion provides him.
Vampyr has lived fat and happy for over seven centuries now.
• Vampyr in the Endgame
• Yet again, I actually made Vampyr the final final boss. So long as Strahd has a
connection to Vampyr, Strahd can't die. Players can somehow break that connection
or supplant Strahd, but Vampyr would still be around. And so would the mists.
Barovia would still be an isolated demiplane.
• The Good and the Bad
• The main reason I developed Vampyr so much is because, plot wise, Strahd
himself didn't quite feel like enough to me. His name is on the cover of the
book and therefore sets him up from session 0 as the biggest, baddest thing
there is. And that's totally awesome at first glance. But, after the months roll
by playing the campaign, hearing his name all the time can get just the tiniest
bit redundant. I really wanted the very end of the campaign to have one final,
surprising umph for my players. And Vampyr is my answer to that.
 • On the other hand, you might feel like this takes away too much of the
spotlight from Strahd. Strahd is supposed to be this ever present and ever
malevolent force throughout the campaign. He's also a uniquely humanoid
enemy which we don't see in the endgame of very many campaigns. If you
don't play things right, Curse of Strahd could lose its Strahdness. And nobody
wants that.
• Lastly, the success of either ending will depend on how well you run the rest
of the campaign. Can you bring up Strahd just the right amount so that your
players don't forget him but also don't tire of him? Can you nicely distribute
information of Vampyr, so that his name doesn't even come up until the
Amber Temple and therefore keep the element of surprise?
• In the end, I think it's a matter of personal preference; of creating a campaign that's
perfect for both you and your players. Have you read all my stuff on the Dark Powers
and Vampyr and really liked it? Then go for it. If you don't like it, then set it aside. So
long as our players have fun and end the campaign feeling like heroes, we've done a
damn good job. ;)
• In that spirit, I've created a lesser and greater Vampyr encounter to go with Strahd's final
showdown. You can use either, depending on how much you want to insert Vampyr into
your campaign.
• Vampyr as a Lesser Entity in the Finale
• In the lesser encounter, players fight Strahd throughout Ravenloft. They'll
throw down and travel through the various areas of the castle until Strahd is
finally defeated. Once Strahd is down, he turns into mist and will
automatically return to his coffin where he'll remain unconscious and
paralyzed until the following dusk.
• While he's vulnerable in his coffin, the players have the opportunity to
quickly perform a ritual over Strahd which forcefully summons a physical
manifestation of the bond between Strahd and Vampyr. The bond appears as a
solid, but misty looking tether. Players can then attack the tether and sever it.
• The shock of the break will force Strahd into wakefulness and he'll scream
and die (for real and permanently this time) in front of the players. The mist
from the broken tether will momentarily take on the form of a demonic visage
(Vampyr's face), growling in rage. The face then disappears and Barovia is
free from the mists.
• Vampyr as a Greater Entity in the Finale
• If you want to really play up Vampyr as a secondary boss battle, the players
still have a show down with Strahd in Ravenloft. Once Strahd is defeated and
returns to his coffin, the players have the opportunity to cast that same ritual.
Only in this version, it doesn't summon a tether. It summons Vampyr himself.
 • Players then have a boss battle with a Dark Power in which one of two things
can happen: they either fight the whole fight and kill Vampyr OR they
perform a secondary ritual which recaptures Vampyr in an amber block.
• Either way, Strahd is shocked into a human form where he promptly withers
and dies. And Barovia is freed from the mists!
• The Bad Ending
• As a reminder to my Dark Power write ups and to my very first post, if any
PC has a high tiered connection to another Dark Power, Barovia won't be
freed after either of these two endings. Instead, the PC will replace Strahd as
champion of Barovia and their personal Dark Power will replace Vampyr as
the reigning god.
• The Rituals
• Both endings obviously involve a ritual. Two if the players want to recapture Vampyr
in amber. These rituals can be found and learned in the lower vault beneath the
library in the Amber Temple (the one I mentioned before).
• The Summoning Ritual
• The summoning ritual is the one that summons either the bond or Vampyr to
the players for them to deal with. It requires a minimum of three casters
(players or NPCs). For the sake of ease, the casters don't have to be magic
users, especially if you've got a small party. If you happen to be running CoS
with a party that does have 3 magic classes, then by all means, make those
PCs perform the ritual.
• As a ritual, the casters must proceed with the spell for 10 uninterrupted
minutes. That's important. If you've got martial PCs, they may have to protect
the casters from other hostiles in Ravenloft. The 10 minute rule may also
encourage your players to prepare for the summoning, making traps and
barricades and such. They have until Strahd wakes to perform the ritual after
all.
• The Amber Ritual
• If you're going with the greater Vampyr ending, in which the boss fight is
more extreme, a secondary ritual must be performed to capture the Dark
Power in amber.
• This ritual requires one caster that must be a magic user. The caster must
succeed on 3 consecutive magic checks in their spell casting ability, DC 16.
So, either intelligence, wisdom, or charisma checks for three turns in a row.
And this will likely be happening while the in combat with Vampyr. it's not
supposed to be easy, lol. If you feel like this is too much for your players or if
you don't want to leave out a player from battle for 3 plus rounds, you can
make the casting of this ritual take bonus actions instead of actions.
 • Secondly, the caster must be able to see Vampyr for each roll. They can't be in
a different room or casting blindly in darkness. They've got to see the beast to
imprison it.
• And lastly, the ritual requires a chip of amber as a component.
• The players can learn and record all these details in the amber vault. Exethanter is
more than happy to help them learn the information.

Strahd and Rahadin

I changed things so that Strahd hasn't visited the Amber Temple at all since he released Vampyr over
700 years ago. Really, he's had no need to visit and somehow, I felt like his presence would mess
with the Temple's overall theme of isolation. I really wanted the Temple to feel far away from the
rest of Barovia; a location frozen in time and forgotten. This is also directly why I got rid of the
vampire spawn beneath the library in order to preserve the area as a sanctuary of knowledge.
I also completely got rid of the Rahadin encounter at the end of this chapter. Especially as written,
Rahadin's encounter is a weird non-starter. The book even says that Rahadin doesn't do anything
with the players even if he sees them. So why have the encounter in the first place? Also, he too
messes with the Temple's sense of isolation. Like Strahd, I pulled Rahadin away from the Amber
Temple.