Overview
Three round rooms stacked inside the black tower: the archmage's old hall, now a hunter's storeroom; a workroom of notes and maps; and a lantern room at the top where Van Richten keeps what matters, behind a ward that smells of thunderstorms.
Stone stairs wind up inside the wall. Every room is tidy in the way of a man who expects to leave in a hurry.
Resting: Safe: a Long Rest here isn't interrupted.
Getting here
Ways in
- From Under Van Richten's Tower: Up to the tower
- From Van Richten's Tower: The tower door
- From Van Richten's Tower: Stairs up to the workroom
- From Van Richten's Tower: Stairs down to the storeroom
- From Van Richten's Tower: Stairs up to the lantern room
- From Van Richten's Tower: Stairs down to the workroom
Ways out
| # | Exit | Leads to | Only when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Out to the island |  Van Richten's Tower | |
| 2 | Out to the island | Van Richten's Tower | |
| 3 | Stairs up to the workroom |  Van Richten's Tower | |
| 4 | Stairs down to the storeroom | Van Richten's Tower | |
| 5 | Stairs up to the lantern room | Van Richten's Tower | |
| 6 | Stairs down to the workroom | Van Richten's Tower | |
| 7 | Down under the hearth |  Under Van Richten's Tower | khazan stair open |
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 crate of supplies, the hearth
a medicine cabinet
Van Richten's strongbox
People
Who turns up at points in the story (1)
- Rictavio, The workroom (#8): when rictavio gone and not rictavio with the party and not van richten reunited
What to find
| # | Where | What | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | a crate of supplies | Holy Water ×2, Torch ×3, Oil ×2, Ration ×4 | open it |
| 10 | a medicine cabinet | Healer's Kit, Potion of Healing ×2, Antitoxin | open it |
| 11 | Van Richten's strongbox | Holy Water ×3, Potion of Healing ×2, Spell Scroll (Level 1), 120 gp | open it |
| 14 | a clip behind one of the trophies (hidden) | Wand of Binding | Search: Investigation DC 16 |
| 15 | a flask among the jars that isn't labelled (hidden) | Oil of Etherealness | Search: Investigation DC 15 |
Tarokka treasure spots. If the reading hid one of the treasures here, it's in: Van Richtens Tower (van_richten_strongbox)
The containers here also get random magic items and potions, rolled for a party of level 8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | a wall of trophies | Survival 15 | Read the trophies | finds Wand of Binding; lore: The hunter's trophies |
| 13 | Jars and bottles | Medicine 15 | Sort the hunter's remedies | finds Oil of Etherealness |
Traps
| # | Trap | Find DC | Disarm DC | Save | Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16 | The lightning ward on the floor nails | 15 | 16 | DEX 15 | 4d10 lightning |
Quests and lore
- The Destined Ally: Madam Eva's fourth card named the one who will stand with us against the devil.
- The Hunter's Tower: A dead archmage's tower on an island in Lake Baratok, kept now by Rudolph van Richten and warded against one person in particular.
- The Name Over the Door: Mordenkainen says the archmage who built the tower on the tarn never died: he moved downstairs, and he's waking.
A casebook on the table
Casebook, Barovia, in a small, precise hand. 'S. is old, patient, and bored, and boredom is the only weakness I have seen him show. He cannot cross running water of his own will. He must be asked in, once. Sunlight undoes him. A stake holds him, it does not end him: that wants the sun, or the blade the cards keep hiding. He reads what people write about him. I am writing this anyway.' Lower down: 'The wolves in the hills above Zarovich answer to him through their leader, a brute called Kiril. Their old leader would not. I have marked the den on the map.' And in the margin, underlined twice: 'The lantern-room ward drinks from the copper rod in the hearth. PULL IT before you go up, you old fool. You nearly cooked yourself in the spring.'
A ledger of disguises
A ledger of costumes, each with a name, a town and a date. The last entry is fresh: 'RICTAVIO. Vallaki, the Blue Water Inn. A half-elf showman, loud, harmless, forgettable. Scarlet coat; the hat does the rest. The tiger travels as the act. Nobody looks twice at a man who wants to be looked at.'
A sealed letter
For Ezmerelda, if she is stubborn enough to read it. 'If you are holding this, I am dead, or you are more stubborn than I hoped, which would not surprise me. I keyed the ward to you because everyone I have ever taught is in the ground, and you are the last. Go home. You won't. Then at least go carefully. You were the best of them. You still are. R.'