Overview
The marsh south of the Luna river, where Berez used to be. The track from the road comes in from the south-east along an old causeway. Marina's monument stands on its mound in the west; Baba Lysaga's hut squats on its giant stump in the east, ringed by scarecrows.
Resting: Risky: a rest here can be interrupted.
Getting here
Ways in
- The travel map: The Ruins of Berez, in Berez, Mount Baratok and the Tsolenka Pass.
Ways out
| # | Exit | Leads to | Only when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The marsh track back to the road | the travel map | |
| 2 | The marsh track back to the road | the travel map | |
| 3 | Climb up to the hut's door |  Baba Lysaga's Hut | lysaga guests or lysaga bargained or lysaga dead or strahd knows marina truth |
| 4 | The stair down beneath the plinth |  Beneath Marina's Monument | marina vault found |
Map
Key: gold, people; red, containers; purple, hidden finds; teal, skill checks; white, exits; orange, traps. The numbers match the lists on this page.
Close up
the burgomaster's strongbox
a chest in the flood, a drowned house, something in the drowned house
Marina's monument, a white statue of a young woman
People
Who turns up at points in the story (2)
- Baba Lysaga, Marina's mound, The scarecrow field (#5, #6, #7, #8): when lysaga slain at monument and not lysaga dead; or when (lysaga slain at stump or lysaga slain scorned) and not lysaga dead; or when strahd knows marina truth and not lysaga dead and not lysaga left broken and not lysaga slain scorned; or when lysaga left broken and not lysaga dead and not lysaga slain scorned; or when lysaga bargained and not lysaga dead and not strahd knows marina truth and not lysaga slain in hut and not lysaga lured; or when not lysaga dead and not lysaga guests and not lysaga lured
- Strahd von Zarovich, Marina's mound (#9): when night and not berez strahd met; or when night and berez strahd met and marina truth known and not strahd knows marina truth
What to find
| # | Where | What | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | the burgomaster's strongbox | Potion of Healing, Ink Pen, 60 gp | lock DC 15 |
| 11 | a chest in the flood | Rope, Lamp, 25 gp | open it |
| 12 | a fisherman's locker | Net, 8 gp | open it |
| 15 | Something in the reeds (hidden) | Antitoxin | Search: Perception DC 14 |
| 16 | something in the drowned house (hidden) | Mantle of Spell Resistance | Search: Perception DC 15 |
| 17 | the scarecrow's arm, which is a staff (hidden) | Staff of Swarming Insects (Quarterstaff) | Search: Perception DC 15 |
| 20 | something glinting in the reeds (hidden) | Mirror | Search: Perception DC 13 |
| 21 | something under a fallen beam (hidden) | Immovable Rod | Search: Perception DC 14 |
The containers here also get random magic items and potions, rolled for a party of level 9 the first time you come (Random Treasure). Hidden finds need a Search (F) nearby; the party's best roll counts.
Skill checks
| # | Where | Check | Try | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13 | a rotten jetty | Acrobatics 15 | Walk out along the rotten jetty | 30 gp; on a failure: 1d6 cold damage |
| 14 | a drowned house | Athletics 15 | Wade into the drowned house | finds Mantle of Spell Resistance; on a failure: 1d6 cold damage |
| 18 | a white statue of a young woman | History 15 | Recall Marina's story | lore: Marina of Berez |
| 19 | a roofless house | Athletics 15 | Lift the fallen beam | finds Immovable Rod |
Fights
- The scarecrows in the reeds turn their sacking heads all at once, and climb down off their poles., in The Ruins of Berez: Scarecrow, Will-o'-Wisp, Swarm of Insects. Scales with your level.
By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)
- The Ruins of Berez, when not lysaga guests and not lysaga bargained and not lysaga dead and not strahd knows marina truth and not lysaga lured and level ≥ 9: 6 × Scarecrow, 2 × Will-o'-Wisp, 2 × Swarm of Insects (2300 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez, when not lysaga guests and not lysaga bargained and not lysaga dead and not strahd knows marina truth and not lysaga lured and level ≥ 8: 5 × Scarecrow, Will-o'-Wisp, 2 × Swarm of Insects (1650 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez, when not lysaga guests and not lysaga bargained and not lysaga dead and not strahd knows marina truth and not lysaga lured: 4 × Scarecrow, 2 × Swarm of Insects (1000 XP)
- Lights bob up out of the flooded houses, pale and friendly, and drift toward you at the speed of a walk. They…, in The Ruins of Berez: Will-o'-Wisp, Swarm of Insects. Scales with your level.
By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)
- The Ruins of Berez, when night and not berez lights quenched and level ≥ 8: 3 × Will-o'-Wisp, 2 × Swarm of Insects (1550 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez, when night and not berez lights quenched: 2 × Will-o'-Wisp, Swarm of Insects (1000 XP)
- The stump heaves. Roots as thick as a man tear out of the mud, and the hut rises on them, swaying, its door…, in The Ruins of Berez: Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut, Baba Lysaga. Scales with your level.
By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)
- The Ruins of Berez, when level ≥ 9: Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut, Baba Lysaga (14400 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez, when level ≥ 8: Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut, Baba Lysaga (14400 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez: Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut, Baba Lysaga (14400 XP)
- A bowl of yellow bone comes skimming over the reeds, low and fast, with a tiny furious woman standing in it.…, in The Ruins of Berez: Baba Lysaga, Swarm of Insects, Scarecrow. Scales with your level.
By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)
- The Ruins of Berez, when level ≥ 9: Baba Lysaga, 2 × Swarm of Insects, 2 × Scarecrow (7800 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez, when level ≥ 8: Baba Lysaga, 2 × Swarm of Insects, Scarecrow (7600 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez: Baba Lysaga, 2 × Swarm of Insects (7400 XP)
- The hut has been waiting for her. When you come instead, it stands up on its roots and screams through its…, in The Ruins of Berez: Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut. Scales with your level. Part of The Witch of Berez.
By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)
- The Ruins of Berez, when lysaga slain at monument and not creeping hut destroyed and not strahd knows marina truth and level ≥ 9: Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut (7200 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez, when lysaga slain at monument and not creeping hut destroyed and not strahd knows marina truth and level ≥ 8: Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut (7200 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez, when lysaga slain at monument and not creeping hut destroyed and not strahd knows marina truth: Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut (7200 XP)
- She comes up out of the mud with her nails out, shrieking, and the reeds shriek with her., in The Ruins of Berez: Baba Lysaga.
- The Rag Queen steps down off her post, twice the height of a man, all rotten silk and lace and faces in the…, in The Ruins of Berez: The Rag Queen, Banshee, Scarecrow, Swarm of Insects. Scales with your level. Part of The One-Horned Billy.
By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)
- The Ruins of Berez, when level ≥ 10: The Rag Queen, 3 × A Drowned Bride (Banshee), 6 × A Straw Groom (Scarecrow), Swarm of Insects (10500 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez, when level ≥ 9: The Rag Queen, 2 × A Drowned Bride (Banshee), 4 × A Straw Groom (Scarecrow) (8900 XP)
- The Ruins of Berez: The Rag Queen, A Drowned Bride (Banshee), 4 × A Straw Groom (Scarecrow) (7800 XP)
Quests and lore
- The One-Horned Billy: The one-horned billy goat in Krezk's pens belongs to nobody, because nobody is brave enough. He turned up last spring, already grown, with…
- The Third Stone: The third of the Martikovs' vine stones, the winery's magic gems, was stolen last autumn and carried to Berez, the drowned village, where a…
- The Witch of Berez: In the drowned village of Berez, Strahd's old nurse keeps house in a hut that walks, with one of the Wizard of Wines' stolen gems and a…
A swollen diary
The last pages of the diary of Ivo Dragan, burgomaster of Berez, the ink run with damp. He writes that the lord of the castle has been calling on Marina, the candlemaker's girl, with gifts nobody dares refuse. He hid her in the chapel, under the bell, and sat up with her. In the morning she was dead in her blankets, not a mark on her, only a scratch over the heart like a bramble's. The last entry is one line: The river is coming up the street, and the bell is ringing on its own.