Adventure Hooks

In contrast to the original Curse of Strahd module, this guide offers a single, original adventure hook to guide the players into Barovia. In this hook, Death House serves as a portal to Strahd's domain: the players enter Death House in their own world, and—upon defeating or pacifying the cult—emerge into the land of Barovia. However, this hook can be implemented in two possible ways:

• Lost in the Mists. In this version, the players are local heroes of Wend that have been hired to investigate a series of mysterious disappearances tied to a particular house (Death House). This hook focuses the players' attention solely on Strahd's tyranny and the Barovians who suffer under his rule, encouraging the players to immerse themselves in the campaign's lore and to develop unique relationships with its diverse cast of characters.
• Barovian Relics. In this version, one or more players possess certain unique relics that originated from Barovia and are tied to their backstories. When Death House manifests nearby, those relics are drawn to it, encouraging the players to enter and investigate. (Any players who do not wish to craft a backstory may instead choose to be simply investigating recent disappearances, as in Lost in the Mists.) The relics become leveled treasures at narratively resonant moments. This hook creates personal connections to the land of Barovia, encouraging them to invest their attention in NPCs and locations tied to their unique relics.

In general, Lost in the Mists focuses its narrative on the isolation and alienation of Barovia, making the heroes entirely outsiders. By contrast, Barovian Relics is best used by Directors who want to create more personal connections to the campaign, or who want a handy excuse to give out more treasure.

See Arc A. Escape From Death House and A1. Daggerford for more information about how to run these hooks. If you choose to run Barovian Relics for one or more of your players, have each of those players choose a motivation from the Motivations section in Chapter 1: Into the Mists before beginning the campaign.