The Ritual of Amber

Introduction

Strahd von Zarovich, ancient vampire and lord of Barovia, has defied death countless times. Cursed by the Dark Powers and bound by the vile pact he sealed with Vampyr, Strahd will always be trapped within his mist-shrouded kingdom. Even when he is struck down by the most powerful and prepared adventurers- and then destroyed in his coffin in the crypts of Castle Ravenloft- Strahd is destined to return and haunt Barovia once more.

But there is a way to break the curse. Hidden among the ancient lore of the Amber Temple lies the secret to perma- nently stopping Strahd: a ritual for summoning Vampyr, the ageless and hidden source of Strahd’s power. By discovering the lost ritual of the mages who built the Amber Temple, brave adventurers can summon Vampyr and destroy it, thus preventing Strahd’s return for good.

Overview

The Ritual of Amber is an expansion for the core Curse of Strahd campaign, providing DMs a new option for ending the campaign without Strahd eventually returning to Barovia. Below is a summary of each section of the Ritual of Amber:

1. Learning about the curse: where the party learns the truth about the Curse of Strahd 2. Discovering the Ritual of Amber: where the party finds a way to summon Vampyr 3. Ritual preparation: the components, spells, and vessels needed for the ritual Sample4. Performing the ritual: Vampyr’s arrival file

2 1. Learning about the curse Baba Lysaga

Before your party of adventurers can begin down the path • Baba Lysaga could torment the party that their strug- to destroying Strahd permanently, they must learn the truth gles against the darkness are for naught, as her beloved about his curse. Your goal as a DM is to provide methods for Strahd can never truly be killed. the party to discover the true nature of the Curse of Strahd. • She can mock the party in person, or you can add the dream spell to her spell list and have her deliver mocking visions when they rest. DM Goal • As a master of curses and witchcraft, Baba Lysaga is con- Impart The Following Information: fident that destroying Strahd will not be enough to end his curse. Baba Lysaga believes her own dark magics have Even if the adventurers obtain all of the artifacts and allies from ensured Strahd’s immortality. Madam Eva’s tarokka reading and use them to destroy Strahd in • Baba Lysaga will never willingly assist anyone in hurting his tomb, he is bound to return to Barovia eventually. It may take Strahd, even if threatened with death. Magical compul- months or years for his dark shadow to be restored, but unless sion is likely the only way for adventurers to get more further measures are taken, Strahd von Zarovich will return. information from her other than the vague hints.

The Tome of Strahd: There are many clues and seeds you can provide throughout your campaign to provide this information. Below is a list of • Hidden within Strahd’s tome are a handful of entries possible sources for your players to discover. written in a delirious script, in which the vampire claims Sources of this knowledge: to have returned to his undead existence after being destroyed. The details are vague, and Strahd himself seems unsure if it was real or a dream. The hidden nature Madam Eva of entries and Strahd’s paranoid writing should imply an element of truth: one that Strahd wishes to keep hidden. • If the party returns to Madam Eva, she may mention she • In order to discover this hidden entry, characters must has had troublesome dreams. In them the party succeeds thoroughly investigate the tome and succeed on a DC in their quest against Strahd, but the shadows never truly 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check. Utilizing spells like lift away from the land, and eventually they regrow to identify or legend lore can automatically find the hidden swallow Barovia once more. entry. A detect magic spell reveals that the tome has a • If asked to perform another reading, Madam Eva is weak aura of illusion magic about it, which is concealing horrified when a sixth tarokka card falls free of her grasp the hidden entry from casual perusal. at the end of the reading. This one lands atop all others, • The entry: at the center of the arranged cards. It signifies an event “A nightmare woke me this evening. A strange thing, that will precede Strahd’s return. (Choose whatever card one I thought I had long since left behind. In it, I dreamt seems fitting.) of dying. Not of my transformation into a vampire, but • Madam Eva urges the party to continue their quest and a final destruction, brought at the hands of a group of seek any information regarding Strahd’s curse. In partic- outsiders. I dreamt they hunted me to the crypts and ular, she advises the party to obtain the Tome of Strahd there upon destroyed me: my strength broken, my heart and to visit the Amber Temple if they have not already impaled with a stake, and my body consumed by fire. I done so. died. It felt so real. It was freedom and torture all at once. I Mordenkainen was dead. But something was there, with me in the dark. A famil- • If the party defeats the Mad Mage and restores his mind, iar presence. The dark one- Vampyr- kept me close. Mordenkainen offers his insights into the party’s quest. I awoke in horror, back in the crypt. There are foot- • Mordenkainen is willing to accept the fortune telling prints still in the tomb, faint beneath the dust and filth. from Madam Eva as accurate, but he is doubtful the curse Was it a nightmare? A trick of my mind? Torment from will be unraveled with Strahd’s destruction. Samplethe Dark Powers? Or am I boundfile to live and die countless • He advises the party to investigate Strahd’s past as much lives, like the other souls trapped here? as possible. Mordenkainen also recommends thoroughly Is this my curse?” exploring the Amber Temple for any information on how Strahd obtained his power. 3 Strahd himself

• In a moment of high emotion, Strahd may reveal his own • If the lich’s memory is restored, Exethanter remembers suspicion regarding his curse. several times when Strahd has visited the Amber Temple. • Strahd reveals he has been killed before- truly destroyed During some of these visits, Strahd seemed to be disori- in his resting place- but has always found himself back in ented and did not remember Exethanter until the lich his crypt after an unknown amount of time has passed. reminded him of their past interactions. Each time Barovia has been changed, but the same cycle • The lich suspects Strahd has been killed & reformed of reincarnation, suffering, and doom has continued. multiple times. He also suspects Vampyr is the source of • This reveal may come during a moment of braggadocio Strahd’s rejuvenation. when fighting against the characters, or during an emo- • Exethanter has spent many decades studying the vestiges tional appeal for their assistance. In either case, Strahd trapped in the Amber Temple, but Vampyr’s sarcophagus is unafraid of the characters and their attempts to stop has sat empty for centuries.* Exethanter believes this is him, because he knows that even if they succeed he will due to the pact between Vampyr & Strahd, and that it return. means the two have become one. • “Others have succeeded before you. Others will suc- ceed after you. But even your greatest success will only Once the party has discovered one or more of the above be temporary. I am the Ancient, I am the Land, I am clues, they should know (or at least suspect) that Strahd can- Vampyr. And I will always return to be so.” not be killed as long as Vampyr remains to anchor him. Each clue should lead them closer to the Amber Temple, where Exethanter: they can find the solution.

• If the party is on friendly terms with Exethanter, the lich * Note: this is a change from the Curse of Strahd campaign is a potential source of information regarding the true description for the Amber Vault (X42). In this case, don’t give your natureSample of Strahd’s curse. With no real alliance to Strahd, players the option of taking a darkfile gift from Vampyr. Exethanter shares his information freely.

4 2. Discovering the Ritual of Does the ritual work with other dark powers/ Amber vestiges? This is a choice for you as the DM to make. Your Within the Amber Temple lies the secret to destroying players may want to utilize the Ritual of Amber Vampyr. Thousands of years ago, the mages of the temple for other targets, perhaps to permanently destroy used a specialized ritual to bind the powerful remnants of all of the trapped vestiges in the Amber Temple. evil beings into amber sarcophagi. This ritual is the key to summoning Vampyr. If you allow this, consider using the power offered by each vestige as a starting point when creating The Ritual of Amber can be found in the Preserved Library their stat block. For example, if the adventurers (X30) of the Amber Temple. A creature affected by atrue use the Ritual of Amber to bind Dahlver-Nar, seeing spell can search through the magically cloaked books He of the Many Teeth, you could give the entity for the ritual, finding it after an hour of searching and a dangerous bite attacks and the ability to reform successful DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check. If asked, or reincarnate itself when slain. Combine the Exethanter will lead a friendly party to the text and provide strengths and weaknesses of the vestige and the the necessary command word to uncloak the book. vessel to create a new, dreadful nightmare. If you need to put the ritual elsewhere in Barovia, consider If you do not, or want to complicate the endeavor, some of the following alternatives: consider the following. Any of the vestiges currently trapped in the Amber Temple Castle Ravenloft cannot be targeted by the ritual, as their amber • The study (K37) sarcophagi give them form and thus violate • The treasury (K41) the First Principle. If the amber sarcophagi are • Khazan’s crypt (K84, crypt 15) destroyed, the vestiges use the opportunity to slip through the mists and escape Barovia, fleeing Van Richten’s Tower, inside the hidden compartment in the to their various places of origin throughout the top floor (V7) Sampleplanes. (Vampyr is trappedfile in Barovia due to its connection with Strahd.)The adventurers will The Death House, in the secret room behind the library need to track them down and perform the Ritual (area 9) of Amber on the correct plane of existence if they truly wish to see the vestiges destroyed. 5