One or more of the following special events can be used while the characters explore the @Village of Krezk and the @Abbey of Saint Markovia.
This event can occur if the characters don't or can't raise the burgomaster @Dmitri Krezkov's son, @Ilya Krezkov, from the dead.
If alive, @The Abbot learns that Ilya died recently and, in his @Human guise, visits the burgomaster's cottage. If one or more characters are staying there, they hear a knock at the door. Without bothering to introduce himself, the Abbot tells the burgomaster and his wife that he wants to raise their son from the dead. He claims that the "gods of light" want the Krezkov bloodline restored.
The characters can try to interfere in the raising of Ilya Krezkov. Otherwise, the burgomaster digs up his son's corpse. Without needing the requisite material components, the Abbot casts a Raise Dead, returning Ilya to life with 1 hit point. @Anna Krezkov praises the Abbot and Saint Markovia for this generous act before tending to her son. The burgomaster, his grief dispelled, fears that he has misjudged the Abbot and has no way to repay him for this supreme act of kindness.
@Ilya Krezkov returns to life with a random form of indefinite madness. @The Abbot uses the raising of Ilya as leverage to get the burgomaster to undertake an unusual quest (see Something Borrowed below).
The characters learn that a Krezkite woman named Dimira Yolensky (LG female @Human noncombatant) is about to give birth. A local midwife named Kretyana Dolvof (LG female @Human @Commoner) is summoned to the mother's cottage to deliver the newborn. In the absence of a priest, the burgomaster's wife, @Anna Krezkov, is called upon to supervise the blessed event and offer prayers for the health of the mother and the child.
Dimira gives birth to a healthy baby boy, but the baby doesn't cry. While the mother coddles the infant, characters who succeed on a DC 10 Wisdom (Insight) check can see that Kretyana is deeply troubled. If the characters question the midwife, she tells them in confidence, "That child has no soul. Very sad."
Kretyana was raised to believe that newborns are soulless if they don't cry, and she has come to believe, rightly, that most Barovians lack souls.
@The Abbot needs a bridal gown. He doesn't trust the mongrelfolk to find one, so he pays a visit to Burgomaster @Dmitri Krezkov and instructs him to obtain a gown within a month, either as compensation for raising his dead son (see Something Old above) or on pain of death.
No one in Krezk can fashion such a gown, leaving the burgomaster with no choice but to look elsewhere. His wife, @Anna Krezkov, says she should personally lead a well-armed group of Krezkites to the east to Vallaki.
Anna Krezkova (LG female @Human @Noble) bids her husband farewell and leaves with two @Guards, four @Commoners, and a @Mule laden with provisions. If the characters are present, the burgomaster urges them to provide escort. If they agree, check for random encounters as they make their way along the Old Svalich Road, as normal. If the guards at the @Town of Vallaki's gates can be convinced to let them in, Anna and the characters can begin searching for a bridal gown or a dressmaker. Local dressmakers are willing to fashion a gown for 50 gp, but Anna can't afford it, and the dress won't be finished in time. The dressmakers are quick to point out that Baroness @Lydia Petrovna, the wife of Vallaki's burgomaster, owns a beautiful white bridal gown. The baroness, eager to please, is willing to give up her dress for a good cause, although her husband won't allow it and could care less about Krezk's problems.
If the characters don't accompany Anna on her quest, her expedition falls prey to the perils of the wilderness and never returns. Krezkov sends more villagers to find them, and these villagers are also lost. Unwilling to risk any more lives, Krezkov visits the abbey for the first time in his life and makes a desperate plea to the Abbot, who ignores the plea. Characters can escort the burgomaster to the abbey or eavesdrop on the burgomaster's conversation with the Abbot. If they do, they hear the Abbot promise "divine retribution" as punishment.
The evening after the burgomaster's visit, the Abbot releases all the mongrelfolk in the abbey's madhouse and sets them on the village. They steal pigs, chickens, and anything else that's edible. None of the villagers are harmed, but their food supplies are depleted, and 2d6 mongrelfolk are killed. The surviving mongrelfolk return to the abbey with their plunder. The burgomaster is so distraught that he hangs himself from the rafters of his cottage a few days later.
The characters can stop all this from happening by delivering the dress to the Abbot. They can also stop the mayhem by halting the mongrelfolk as they descend from the abbey or by killing @The Abbot beforehand.
If Lydia Petrovna's bridal gown is delivered to the Abbot, he honors whatever deal he made with the characters. If the characters resort to magical trickery (for example, creating an illusory dress), @The Abbot becomes hostile toward them once the deception is revealed.
This encounter occurs if the characters bring @Ireena Kolyana to Krezk, as the priest @Donavich suggested, and if it has been determined that Ireena is indeed Tatyana's reincarnation (see the Incarnations of Tatyana lore article), if Ireena is not Tatyana's reincarnation, then ignore this encounter.
Ireena hears a gentle voice calling to her. It leads her to the edge of the blessed @Pool and Shrine of Saint Markovia. If the characters follow her, read:
"As Ireena reaches the pool's edge, an image appears in its sparkling blue waters: a handsome youth of kind and noble visage. The sadness in his eyes turns to sudden joy.
"Tatyana!" he says. "It has been so long! Come, my love. Let us be together at last."
Ireena gasps and puts a hand on her heart. "My beloved Sergei! In life, you were a prince and a man of faith. We were to be married long ago. Has this blessed pool called your spirit to me?" She reaches toward the water's surface as a hand of water rises up to take hers."
If the characters intervene, pulling Ireena away from the water's grasp, the hand sinks back into the pool, Sergei's image fades, and she cries as she screams his name.
If the characters allow her to take the hand, read:
"Ireena is pulled into the pool and embraces Sergei beneath the rippling water. You have never seen a happier couple as they both begin to fade from view."
The spirit of Sergei takes Ireena to a place where Strahd can't harm her. She is safe with him.
Whether or not Sergei takes Ireena, @Strahd von Zarovich senses that the two have found each other. He reacts as follows:
"A peal of thunder shakes the land, and the dark clouds coalesce into a terrible visage. A deep, dark voice from beyond the mountains cries out, "She is mine!" A terrible crack resounds as blue lightning splits the sky and strikes the pool."
Each creature within 15 feet of the pool must make a successful DC 17 Dexterity check or be knocked prone. The blast knocks down the old gazebo as well. A creature in the water when the lightning strikes must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 44 (8d10) lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Strahd's wrath destroys the blessing on the pool, rendering its waters nonmagical and preventing the spirit of Sergei from manifesting in them again.
If Sergei and Ireena are brought together, Ireena is no longer within Strahd's grasp. Strahd blames the characters for his loss and seeks to destroy them from this moment on. Not long afterward, he has one of his servants deliver a letter to the characters, inviting them to Castle Ravenloft. If the characters open and read the letter, read:
"My friends,
Know that it is I who have brought you to this land, my home, and know that I alone can release you from it. I bid you dine at my castle so that we can meet in civilized surroundings. Your passage here will be a safe one. I await your arrival.
Your host, @Strahd von Zarovich"
If the characters head toward the castle, they have no threatening random encounters on the way.