# Clovin's Audience

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

> [!infobox]
> ![quest clovins audience](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/quest-clovins-audience.webp)
> **Type:** Side quest
> **Region:** [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/regions/krezk.md) · level 7
> **Given by:** [Clovin Belview](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/clovin-belview.md)
> **Starts at:** [The Abbey of St. Markovia](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-abbey-of-st-markovia.md)
> **Rewards:** [Ring of the Ram](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ring-of-the-ram), 75 gp or 150 gp or 250 gp, depending on how it goes

## Summary

Clovin Belview, the abbey's errand-runner, has written jokes for forty years and wants to tell them once to people who could choose not to laugh. Krezk won't open its gate to a Belview.

## Walkthrough

### Getting the quest

[Clovin Belview](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/clovin-belview.md) keeps the gate of [The Abbey of St. Markovia](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-abbey-of-st-markovia.md) at any hour. There are two ways to get him talking about his jokes:

- Once you're inside [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/krezk.md), ask the [Krezk Watchman](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/krezk-watchman.md) at the gate *"Heard anything interesting?"*. He tells you a Belview came down at midsummer to tell a joke and got a bucket of water over him (**Rumored**). Then, at the abbey, tell Clovin *"The Krezk watch says a Belview came down to their gate to tell a joke."*
- Or share the last of his wine with him (*"You look like a man who could use a drink"*), then ask *"You've gone quiet, Clovin. Something on your mind?"*

Either way he admits he's funny, or thinks he is, and wants one audience in Krezk that could choose not to laugh (**Asked**). Both ways work before or after the Abbot's story is settled: afterwards Clovin tells you how things stand with the Abbot and then always offers his menu, the drink included, whether or not [Mother's Ninth Improvement](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/mothers-ninth-improvement.md) is still open.

### Step by step

1. **Ask Dmitri.** In the hall of [The Krezkovs' House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-krezkovs-house.md), tell [Dmitri Krezkov](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/dmitri-krezkov.md) *"Clovin Belview wants one evening in Krezk, to tell jokes."*
   - If you've cured his son Ilya ([The Burgomaster's Son](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-burgomasters-son.md)) or brought Sorin home ([Lighter Than It Should Be](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/lighter-than-it-should-be.md)), he agrees with no roll.
   - Otherwise, *Persuasion DC 15* ("They were Krezk folk once. Two doors down."). One try.
   - Agreeing books the show (**Booked**). If the roll fails, he refuses (**Refused**). Go back to Clovin and say *"Dmitri won't open the gate for you."*; he decides to come down in a monk's hood instead, and that books it too.
2. **Go to the show.** While the show is booked, Clovin stands in the well square by the wayside shrine from 17:00 to 21:00. Talk to him to begin; an hour passes.
3. **Beat one: the warm-up.** If Wren is in the party, *"(Let Wren warm them up.)"* lands with no roll. Otherwise *Performance DC 13* to warm them up yourself, or just introduce him (that earns no laugh).
4. **Beat two: when his Abbot jokes die.** The square is silent. *Insight DC 13* ("Read the crowd first") tells you why: nobody will laugh at the Abbot, but they might laugh at a man who's had a hard time. Whatever the roll, the line that lands is *"(Mouth to him: 'Yourself. Do yourself.')"*. Telling him to do Krezk or to keep going on the Abbot gets nothing.
5. **Beat three: the heckler.** [Watchman Lazar](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/watchman-lazar.md) heckles from the wall. If Clovin came hooded, Lazar pulls the hood off. *Performance DC 14* (heckle the heckler) or *Persuasion DC 14* (he's the same man they were listening to a minute ago) wins the square back. You get one roll; a miss moves the show on without a laugh, and so does letting Clovin answer for himself.
6. **The closer.** Clovin tells his grandmother Floarea's Krezk joke, and [Old Pavel](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/old-pavel.md) laughs until he cries: it was his father's joke. Floarea was Pavel's sister. Pavel was the boy who barred the gate behind the sick Belviews sixty years ago, and he has carved a sun for the shrine every day since. Clovin has a great-uncle. The quest ends at **Done**.

### Choices and endings

There's one ending, but the hat depends on how many beats landed:

- **Two or three laughs:** 250 gp.
- **One laugh:** 150 gp.
- **None:** 75 gp, from Pavel's own pockets and his neighbours'.

In every case Pavel gives you his father's [Ring of the Ram](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ring-of-the-ram). Wren +3, Ratatouille +2, Godrick +2, Liriel, Thistle and Kip +1.

Afterwards Pavel climbs the mountain with soup on Sundays, Clovin answers *"How's your great-uncle?"*, and the watchman has orders to let the Belview comedian in on feast days. Having Pavel as family also matters later:

- In [Mother's Ninth Improvement](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/mothers-ninth-improvement.md), Pavel invites Mother to Sunday soup.
- In [The Waystone](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-waystone.md), Lark and her brother can go to live with him.

### If you're stuck

- **You don't have to roll at once.** *"We'll think of something else."* leaves Dmitri's question open. Once Ilya is cured or Sorin is home, ask again and he agrees without a roll.
- **Dmitri's option only appears while the quest is at Asked.** If he refused, the hood is the only way forward.
- **Clovin only appears in the square from 17:00 to 21:00.** If you arrive earlier, rest or wait until dusk.

## Rewards

- [Ring of the Ram](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ring-of-the-ram)
- 75 gp or 150 gp or 250 gp, depending on how it goes

**What your companions think**

- **Wren Featherfoot:** +3 you got Clovin his audience in Krezk
- **Ratatouille:** +2 you got Clovin his audience in Krezk
- **Godrick Pendlebrook:** +2 you got Clovin his audience in Krezk
- **Liriel Dawnsong:** +1 you got Clovin his audience in Krezk
- **Thistle:** +1 you got Clovin his audience in Krezk
- **Kip Smudgewick:** +1 you got Clovin his audience in Krezk

## Journal

> [!quote]- Every journal entry and hint
> **Rumored**: Krezk's watchman says a Belview came down from the abbey at midsummer and asked to tell them a joke. Lazar threw a bucket of water over him from the wall.
> *Hint:* Find Clovin Belview at the Abbey of St. Markovia, above Krezk, and ask about the joke.
>
> **Asked**: Clovin Belview thinks he's funny, and wants one audience that isn't the abbey: real people, in Krezk. Krezk won't open its gate to a Belview unless the burgomaster says so.
> *Hint:* Go down to Krezk and ask Burgomaster Dmitri Krezkov, at the Krezkovs' house, to let Clovin in for one evening.
>
> **Refused**: Dmitri won't open Krezk's gate to a Belview, not for one evening.
> *Hint:* Go back up to the abbey and tell Clovin what Dmitri said; he may have another idea.
>
> **Booked**: Clovin is coming down to Krezk to tell jokes in the square by the shrine, one evening at dusk.
> *Hint:* Be in Krezk's square by the wayside shrine at dusk on the day Clovin comes down, and see his show through.
>
> **Done** (the end: success): Clovin told Krezk his grandmother's joke, and Old Pavel the carver laughed: it was his father's joke. Pavel is Clovin's great-uncle, the boy who barred Krezk's gate behind the Belviews sixty years ago. He's going up the mountain on Sundays now, with soup.

> [!abstract]- Every skill check in its conversations
> - Persuasion DC 15: They were Krezk folk once. Two doors down. You told us so yourself.
> - Performance DC 13: (Warm them up yourself.)
> - Insight DC 13: (Read the crowd first.)
> - Performance DC 14: (Heckle the heckler.)
> - Persuasion DC 14: (Speak to the square: he's the same man they were listening to a minute ago.)

## Related

- **People:** [Clovin Belview](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/clovin-belview.md), [Dmitri Krezkov](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/dmitri-krezkov.md), [Watchman Lazar](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/watchman-lazar.md), [Old Pavel](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/old-pavel.md), [Krezk Watchman](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/krezk-watchman.md)
- **Places:** [The Abbey of St. Markovia](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-abbey-of-st-markovia.md), [The Krezkovs' House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-krezkovs-house.md), [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/krezk.md)
- **More in Krezk:** [Lighter Than It Should Be](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/lighter-than-it-should-be.md), [The Burgomaster's Son](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-burgomasters-son.md), [The Gate of Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-gate-of-krezk.md), [The One-Horned Billy](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-one-horned-billy.md), [The Pack's Runt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-packs-runt.md), [The Pool of the White Sun](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.md), [The Waystone](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-waystone.md)