Overview
The Old Svalich Road runs past a clearing on the edge of the Svalich Woods. In it, painted wagons stand in a loose ring around a bonfire, horses doze in a rail pen by the water, and a tent the size of a small house glows from inside.
Resting: Safe: a Long Rest here isn't interrupted.
Getting here
Ways in
- The travel map: Tser Pool, in Barovia.
Ways out
| # | Exit | Leads to | Only when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Old Svalich Road, west to Vallaki | the travel map | |
| 2 | The Old Svalich Road, east to the crossroads | the travel map | |
| 3 | Madam Eva's tent |  Madam Eva's Tent | |
| 4 | Up the deer path beside the stream |  The Old Den | bear path known |
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
a strongbox under a wagon
Horses
a tree hung with ribbons, a Vistani cache under the ribbon tree
People
Who turns up at points in the story (14)
- Stanimir, The Vistani camp (#5): when not tser pool brawl won
- Luminita, The Vistani camp (#6): when not tser pool brawl won
- Old Dorina, The Vistani camp (#7): when not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- Radu, The horse pen (#8): when not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- Petru, The Vistani camp (#9): when not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- Big Tobar, The Vistani camp (#10): when not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- Zora, The Vistani camp (#11): when not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- Lavinia, The Vistani camp (#12): when not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- Iancu, The Vistani camp (#13): when not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- Old Marin, The Vistani camp (#14): when not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- A Camp Dog, The Vistani camp (#15): when not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- Nelu, The Vistani camp (#16): when nelu home and not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
- Iosif the Tinker, The Vistani camp (#17): when quest the tinkers wagon at done
- Bujor, The Vistani camp (#18): when bujor home and not tser pool brawl won and not vistani turned hostile
What to find
| # | Where | What | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | a strongbox under a wagon | Dagger, 40 gp | lock DC 15 |
| 25 | Something in the reeds (hidden) | Elemental Gem (Yellow Diamond) | Search: Perception DC 12 |
| 26 | Something trodden into the mud by the pen (hidden) | Signal Whistle | Search: Perception DC 13 |
| 27 | a hollow stump (hidden) | Potion of Fire Breath | Search: Perception DC 14 |
| 28 | Something under the wagon's step (hidden) | Playing Card Set | Search: Perception DC 15 |
| 29 | a Vistani cache under the ribbon tree (hidden) | Boots of Striding and Springing | Search: Investigation DC 14 |
| 30 | something dropped behind the stage (hidden) | Bell | Search: Perception DC 12 |
| 32 | a false floor in the broken cart (hidden) | Bag of Holding | Search: Investigation DC 12 |
The containers here also get random magic items and potions, rolled for a party of level 4 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | the bonfire | Performance 12 | Dance at the bonfire | Heroic Inspiration |
| 21 | Horses | Animal Handling 12 | Calm the skittish horses | finds Elemental Gem (Yellow Diamond) |
| 22 | a tree hung with ribbons | Insight 13 | Read the knots on the ribbons | finds Boots of Striding and Springing |
| 23 | a cart with a cracked wheel | Athletics 13 | Lift the cart off its cracked wheel | finds Bag of Holding |
| 24 | a cairn by the water | History 13 | Read the cairn's oldest marks | lore: The cairn at Tser Pool |
| 31 | a stump stuck with knives | Sleight of Hand 13 | Play the knife game for coin | 12 gp; on a failure: 1d4 slashing damage |
Fights
- The fiddle stops mid-note. Every knife in the camp comes out at once., in Tser Pool Encampment: Bandit Captain, Bandit, Scout.
- The camp is waiting for you outside the tent: no music, no fire-talk, only knives and drawn bows., in Tser Pool Encampment: Bandit Captain, Bandit, Scout.
Quests and lore
- Called by Name: Big Tobar's son went into the trees after his dead mother's voice. Every night since, a voice from the gorge under Tser Falls has called…
- Count Off: Ilse Varga's mercenary company marched into the mists a year ago at the invitation of someone who signed himself S. She was meant to march…
- The Dancing Bear: Lavinia's bear Bujor, who has danced on the Tser Pool camp's stage for nine years, broke his chain in the night and went up into the woods.
- The Grey Mare: The black carriage that drives itself stopped by Radu's horse pen, and left a purse on the gatepost. Now his best mare is tied at the…
- The Hanged Man at the Crossroads: A young Vistana hangs from the gallows where the Old Svalich Road crosses the Ivlis, and a girl at Tser Pool is waiting for her brother to…
- The Last Muster: Every night, riders made of bones go east along the Old Svalich Road to the Gates of Barovia, and none of them comes back.
- The Seer at Tser Pool: The Vistani say an old seer at Tser Pool reads the Tarokka for strangers, and that she has been expecting us.
- The Spiders' Gully: Iancu's cousin Tsura rode the falls path with a letter three days ago. Her horse came home with web on its saddle.
- The Tinker's Wagon: A Vistani tinker sells trinkets from a green wagon at the crossroads, and the travellers who buy from him don't come back down the road.