# The Tsolenka Guard Tower

> From the Curse of Strahd game wiki (it covers the whole game, spoilers included): https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-tsolenka-guard-tower.html. Unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy, not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast.

> [!infobox]
> ![loc tsolenka pass guard tower 1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-tsolenka-pass-guard-tower-1.webp)
> **Region:** [The Tsolenka Pass](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/regions/the-tsolenka-pass.md) · level 9
> **Resting:** Risky
> **Light:** dim
> **Getting here:** [The Tsolenka Pass](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-tsolenka-pass.md)
> **Quests:** [The Frozen Pilgrims](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-frozen-pilgrims.md), [The Guide to the Temple](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-guide-to-the-temple.md), [The Tsolenka Gate](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-tsolenka-gate.md), [The Warm Snow](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-warm-snow.md)

## Overview

The watch tower over the Tsolenka gate: a guardroom where dead soldiers still stand their posts, bunks nobody sleeps in, the winch that raises the portcullis, and the captain's room.

The door from the road opens into a vestibule and the guardroom. The gatehouse with its winch is to the west, the barracks in the middle, the captain's room to the east behind its own door.

**Resting:** Risky: a rest here can be interrupted.

![loc tsolenka pass guard tower overview](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-tsolenka-pass-guard-tower-overview.webp)
*The whole place from above.*

## Getting here

### Ways in

- **From [The Tsolenka Pass](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-tsolenka-pass.md):** The guard tower's door

### Ways out

| # | Exit | Leads to | Only when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Out to the road | [The Tsolenka Pass](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-tsolenka-pass.md) |  |

## Map

![tsolenka pass guard tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/maps/tsolenka-pass-guard-tower.svg)

**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

![loc tsolenka pass guard tower spot1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-tsolenka-pass-guard-tower-spot1.webp)
*a footlocker*

![loc tsolenka pass guard tower spot2](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-tsolenka-pass-guard-tower-spot2.webp)
*the gate winch, the watch horn behind the winch*

## People

> [!note]- Who turns up at points in the story (2)
> - **[Sergeant Dorin Valcu](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/sergeant-dorin-valcu.md)**, The guardroom (#2): when not tsolenka watch released and not tsolenka watch fought
> - **[Phantom Watchman](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/phantom-watchman.md)**, The guardroom (#3): when not tsolenka watch released and not tsolenka watch fought

## What to find

| # | Where | What | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | a footlocker | [Crossbow Bolt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#crossbow-bolt) ×20, [Blanket](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#blanket), 20 gp | open it |
| 5 | the captain's strongbox | [Potion of Healing](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#potion-of-healing), 90 gp | lock DC 15 |
| 8 | a hauberk that never rusted (hidden) | [+2 Chain Mail](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#armor-2) | Search: Investigation DC 16 |
| 9 | the watch horn behind the winch (hidden) | [Horn of Blasting](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#horn-of-blasting) | Search: Perception DC 14 |

**Tarokka treasure spots.** If the reading hid one of the treasures here, it's in: Tsolenka Pass Guard Tower (captains_strongbox)

The containers here also get random magic items and potions, rolled for a party of level 9 the first time you come ([Random Treasure](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/random-treasure.md)). Hidden finds need a Search (F) nearby; the party's best roll counts.

### Skill checks

| # | Where | Check | Try | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | a table with dice | Sleight of Hand 15 | Win a hand at the watch's dice | 40 gp |
| 7 | the watch roster | Deception 15 | Sign the roster as the relief watch | Heroic Inspiration; unlocks captains strongbox; on a failure: 1d6 cold damage |

## Fights

- *Five grey soldiers draw five grey swords with one sound, the way a drill sergeant would want it.*, in [The Tsolenka Guard Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-tsolenka-guard-tower.md): [Phantom Warrior](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/phantom-warrior.md). Scales with your level. Part of [The Tsolenka Gate](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-tsolenka-gate.md).
> [!example]- By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)
> - **[The Tsolenka Guard Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-tsolenka-guard-tower.md)**, when level ≥ 8: Sergeant Dorin Valcu ([Phantom Warrior](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/phantom-warrior.md)), 4 × Phantom Watchman ([Phantom Warrior](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/phantom-warrior.md)) (3500 XP)
> - **[The Tsolenka Guard Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-tsolenka-guard-tower.md)**: Sergeant Dorin Valcu ([Phantom Warrior](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/phantom-warrior.md)), 3 × Phantom Watchman ([Phantom Warrior](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/phantom-warrior.md)) (2800 XP)

## Quests and lore

- [The Frozen Pilgrims](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-frozen-pilgrims.md): Nine pilgrims from Vallaki went up the Tsolenka Pass forty years ago to ask the Amber Temple never to be cold again. Their lamp came back…
- [The Guide to the Temple](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-guide-to-the-temple.md): Since the Tsolenka gate opened, a man has led three parties up the goat path toward the Amber Temple and come down alone each time.
- [The Tsolenka Gate](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-tsolenka-gate.md): The road to the Amber Temple crosses the Tsolenka Pass, through a guard tower whose portcullis has been down for centuries.
- [The Warm Snow](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-warm-snow.md): Sergeant Valcu's log has forty years of smoke on the north shoulder of Mount Ghakis, snow that melts in midwinter, and the count's cart…

> [!quote]- The watch log
> The watch log of the Tsolenka tower, in a dozen hands, the last of them steady and square. Each entry is the same: date, weather, the watchword, and the words NOTHING CAME DOWN. Near the end: Two of the lads went up the road at night without orders. They came back talking about voices in the amber. Sent them down to the valley. Gate shut. Watchword unchanged: cold hearth, shut door. After that the dates stop, and the entries do not.