The

Crossroads

Curse of Strahd
Guide
By Pyram King
The Crossroads
Guide to Curse of Strahd
By Pyram King
Maps by DM Andy
Magical Gothic Trinkets: u/goliathbeetle

Special Thanks to the Patreon Supporters

Adventurers Travelers
Nefandi DM Andy
ElvenCari Frank Schmitz
Roger Downey Seth Beal
MumblesOf ANerd Shawn Curlis
Aftercast Edgardo Vasquez
Jose Chitty Philbo
Ssezra Galusz Márton
GABRIEL ACUÑA
Silent Thunder
Travis Carroll
Jude McCabe
Kevin A

Guide to The Crossroads v1.0

Pyram King copyright 2021 ©

https://www.youtube.com/pyramking
https://www.patreon.com/pyramking
author@pyramking.com

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, Wizards of the Coast, Curse of Strahd, Forgotten Realms,
Ravenloft, Eberron, the dragon ampersand, Ravnica, and all other Wizards of the Coast product
names, and their respective logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast in the USA and other
countries. This work contains material that is copyright Wizards of the Coast and/or other authors.

All other original material in this work is copyright 2021 by Pyram King.

1
Contents
The Cross Roads ............................................................ 3
Four Random Encounters ...................................... 3
Grave Robbers ............................................................ 3
The Dead Rise! ........................................................... 4
Hang the Witch! ......................................................... 4
Ghost Knight .............................................................. 6
Ghost Knight Trinkets ........................................... 6
Special Event: Curse of the Hanged One ..................... 7

The Crossroads
The sound of crows echoes in the fog, perhaps warning
those they have arrived in this seemingly haunted
realm.
A gallows stands in the mist, decrepit but standing,
across the road a low wall partially obscures a
graveyard. One can imagine those who lay to rest had
most likely suffered the fate of the gallows.
CoS DNDBeyond: River Ivlis Crossroads
Four Random Encounters
Determine, either by random or planned, one of the
following Random Encounters prior to running the
Special Event:
• Grave Robbers!
• The Dead Rise!
• Hang the Witch!
• Ghost Knight!
By JamesRPGart
Grave Robbers
As you approach you see two figures digging up one of
the graves.
They take notice of you and seem defensive.
One yells out, "Move along, you have no interest here!"
• 2 Grave Robbers (stat block: commoners / bandits)
• 1 Skeleton
The two grave robbers are stealing body parts. They
heard a count was buying body parts for an
experiment. The grave robbers are defensive but will
not attack the players. They are simply poor
scavengers trying to earn some coin.
If the players engage, they will be defensive. During
the encounter, the skeletal remains they dug up will
come to life and begin attacking the grave robbers.
An interesting encounter, do the players help the grave
robbers fight off the skeleton or let the grave robber
die?
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The Dead Rise!
You notice some sound emanating from the small
graveyard. A closer look and you see undead hands
digging up through the earth.... ZOMBIES!
• 1d4 Zombies per round
Zombies will slowly begin to rise out of the graves.
For two or more rounds zombies will emerge from the
graveyard.
Start of each round roll 1d4 to determine the number
of zombies that rise.
Each round a zombie emerges from the grave and
begins to engage the players.
Hang the Witch!
You notice a group of six villagers yelling, "Hang Her!
Hang Her!"
In the midst of the villagers is a hooded figure, her
arms tied behind her back.
She is being led up to the gallows.
• Dorvok - Leader of the Villagers (stat block:
bandit)
• 5 Barovian Villagers (stat block: commoner)
• Celia - herbalist accused of being a witch (stat
block: commoner)
There are five villagers and one leader. The villagers
believe the young woman a witch who has been casting
spells on local villagers. She is actually an herbalist.
The villagers are afraid of Strahd. They believe by
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hanging the witch, they may buy some goodwill with
Strahd, as she could be an enemy of Strahd’s.
The villagers only suspect she is a witch, offer no proof,
other than she dabbles with herbs and some strange
things have been happening to villagers in Barovia.
They are looking for someone to blame and have found
her as a scapegoat. Her name is Celia.
With the Burgomaster of the Village of Barovia dead
and little trust in his son, Ismark to rule the village,
the villagers have taken it on themselves to police the
village.
The leader's name is Dorvok, he is the one who inspires
the villagers to hang the witch.

Options:
This makes for several fun role-play options and/or
combat encounters. Here are some suggestions, but feel
free to adapt to the context and situation.
Players can decide to Role-Play the encounter. Perhaps
convincing Dorvok she is not a witch or convincing
enough of the villagers.
Rescue attempt, players can attempt to rescue the poor
girl. If so, it could lead to a combat encounter. If they
do rescue her, the Vistani in the camp at Tser Pools will
welcome her and protect her from further encounters
with the villagers.
Ignore the encounter and move on, but if so, make sure
you cast a shadow of guilt over the party. If she is
allowed to be hung, the players will be plagued by
nightmares for the next few days, if they were unable
to stop it.

5
Ghost Knight
You hear ghostly sounds of battle. Appearing from the
mist you see a ghostly knight riding carrying a banner
on what appears to be an undead horse.
It comes to a stop, stares at you, and slowly pointing
the banner in a direction. A warning? A calling?
The ghostly knight slowly raises the banner, grabs the
reigns, and rides off at a quickening pace.
As they do, you notice something fall to the ground.
The ghost knight will always drop a trinket from the
Ghost Knight Trinket table.
Insight Check: DC 10
Success, players will note the rider is dressed in plate
mail armor from a time long ago. The banner, while in
tatters, has a symbol of a dragon. The horse is undead,
parts of its flesh in some areas have fallen away,
revealing bones.
If the players engage in combat, the rider will defend
itself and attempt to ride off. The knight is on an
important mission to find support in the battle against
the dark lord.

Ghost Knight Trinkets

Bone Dice - once per day roll a
d20, you may replace any d20
result with the bone dice roll
result, once.

Dagger of the Night Stalker –

a dagger that does an additional
1d4 radiant damage to
vampires.

Knight’s Locket - A small silver

locket. Each time you view the
• Ghost Knight (stat block: Phantom Warrior) picture in the locket, the portrait
changes. Once a day, you can cast
• Warhorse Skeleton
disguise self as the person in the
The Ghostly Knight was once a Knight of the Silver locket.
Dragon of Argynvost.
Its last mission to raise the banner, calling for forces to
aid the Knights of the Silver Dragon in battle against Candle of the Morning Lord
the Dark Lord. - lighting this candle will allow
the holder of the candle to cast
The Ghostly Knight will always point the banner in the Turn Undead once per day. The
direction of Argynvostholt, wishing the party to join in candle must be already lit and
the battle against the Dark Lord. The knight does not held in the hand to cast.
know the battle was lost long ago and has been on this
haunted mission for centuries.

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Signet Ring of the Sun - Once they cast their spell, as an example: Intelligence Check
per day the wearer can cast Light against the enemies AC at Disadvantage. If they are
spell. successful, their spell or attack roll is an automatic
critical.
Flavor Text for the start of a combat encounter
(Disadvantage):

The vision of yourself hanging from the gallows fills

Necklace of Chain Links -
requires attunement. Cannot be
attuned by a paladin or cleric.
The wearer of the necklace can
cast one Cleric cantrip, once per
day.
your mind and sends a shiver up your spine. You
wonder if this will be your last moment, you hesitate
briefly.
Flavor Text if you land the blow on your first attack
(CRIT):
You shake away the feeling and muster inner strength.
You tell yourself, NOT TODAY!

The curse can be removed by spells: remove curse,

greater restoration, or similar magic.
Perhaps Madam Eva could remove the curse, the Abbot
in Krezk, or some other NPC.

Special Event: Curse of the

Hanged One
After the Random Encounter and as the party leaves
the Crossroads begin the Special Event: Curse of the
Hanged One.
Each player rolls a Wisdom Saving Throw, the lowest
roll among the players suffers the curse of the Hanged
One.
Read the following the player that rolls the lowest
Wisdom Save.

You hear a noise that catches your attention, you turn

to see a body hanging from the gallows. Your eyes
widen in horror as you realize it is yourself. A feeling
of dread pours over you. You turn away, unable to
shake the image from your mind.

Notes: None of the other players see this, if they

attempt to inspect the gallows, nothing is there, and
the vision is gone.
Curse Effect:
The player who rolled the lowest is now Cursed by the
Hanged One.
At the start of each combat encounter, the player will
roll Disadvantage on their FIRST turn on their attack
roll. If casting a spell, have them roll to determine if