# Lighter Than It Should Be

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

> [!infobox]
> ![quest lighter than it should be](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/quest-lighter-than-it-should-be.webp)
> **Type:** Side quest
> **Region:** [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/regions/krezk.md) · level 7
> **Given by:** [Anna Krezkova](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/anna-krezkova.md)
> **Starts at:** [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/krezk.md)
> **Rewards:** [Armor, +1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#armor-1), 400 gp

## Summary

Somebody leaves carved toys on the five Krezkov graves at the Pool of the White Sun every night. Nobody in Krezk carves like that.

## Walkthrough

### Getting the quest

Get inside [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/krezk.md) first (see [The Gate of Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-gate-of-krezk.md)). You hear about the toys in either of two ways, and both start the quest at **Rumored**:

- Ask the [Krezk Watchman](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/krezk-watchman.md) at the gate *"Heard anything interesting?"*.
- Ask [Kasha Varo](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/kasha-varo.md) at the shrine *"Whose graves are these?"*.

The carved toys on the graves only show up once you've heard the rumour.

### Step by step

1. **Look at the toys.** At [The Pool of the White Sun](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.md), examine the carved toys on the five little Krezkov stones by the pavilion (**Toys**). Most of them sit on the eldest's stone, which is a hand taller than the rest and says SORIN. If you like, ask [Old Pavel](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/old-pavel.md), who carves suns in the south row from 9:00 to 16:00: *"The toys on the Krezkov graves. Are they yours?"*. They aren't, and he says they were cut with a thumbnail, not a knife.
2. **Dig up the eldest's grave (optional, but it helps later).** At the toys, *Athletics DC 13* digs it up. A failure still gets you there, after two hours of digging. The little coffin is nailed shut and full of stones wrapped in a child's blanket. There was never anybody in it.
3. **Wait for the visitor.** At the toys, choose *"(Wait here after midnight and see who brings them.)"*. Time jumps to 1:00. A huge, bent figure with a goat's legs comes over the north wall with a carved wolf and sings Anna's lullaby in Anna's own voice, then speaks to you as you come near (**Seen**). Stay still and let him finish, ask who he is, or roll *Insight DC 15*. Every choice ends the same way: he repeats the line Anna sings every night, "Sorin, come in, it's dark", and you know him. He's [Sorin](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/sorin.md), the Krezkovs' first son, whom Anna carried up to the abbey with a fever twenty years ago (**Sorin Known**).
4. **The abbey comes for him.** If [The Abbot](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/the-abbot.md)'s story isn't settled yet, lanterns come down the switchback at once and you fight **Sorin Pursuers** among the graves: 2 Brides Before Vasilka ([Flesh Golem](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/flesh-golem.md)s), 3 Belview Brutes ([Berserker](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/berserker.md)s) and 4 [Mongrelfolk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/mongrelfolk.md) at level 7 (5,150 XP); a third bride at level 8; one bride, 2 Brutes and 4 Mongrelfolk below 7. Fire is your friend: it gives the brides Disadvantage on their attacks, and lightning heals them. Winning moves the quest to **Pursued**. If you've already finished [The Abbot's Bride](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-abbots-bride.md), nobody comes.
5. **Bring him home.** Talk to Sorin among the stones and say *"Come with us, Sorin. We'll take you home."*. He follows you to [The Krezkovs' House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-krezkovs-house.md), where [Anna Krezkova](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/anna-krezkova.md) knows him and [Dmitri Krezkov](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/dmitri-krezkov.md) calls him one of the Abbot's things and wants him out of the yard. These bring Dmitri round:
   - *"(Tell him what you found in the coffin.)"*, if you dug up the grave. No roll.
   - *"Let Ilya meet his brother."*, if [Ilya Krezkov](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/ilya-krezkov.md) has been cured or at least made frail (see [The Burgomaster's Son](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-burgomasters-son.md)). No roll: Sorin carves Ilya a wolf with his thumbnail and Dmitri's anger goes out of him.
   - *Persuasion DC 15* ("He's yours, Dmitri...") or *Insight DC 13* (name what Dmitri's afraid of). One try each; a failure only gets a refusal, and the other options stay open.

### Choices and endings

Every ending pays the same: Anna gives you the 400 gp they saved for a daughter's dowry, and Dmitri gives you his grandfather's mail, [Armor, +1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#armor-1).

- **Home** (Dmitri turns). Sorin sits in the hall carving wolves with Ilya leaning on him. Godrick +3, Liriel +3, Thistle, Wren, Ratatouille and Kip +2. With Sorin home, Dmitri agrees to [Clovin's Audience](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/clovins-audience.md) without a roll, and the watchman's news says Anna is singing again.
- **Pool:** *"Kasha needs a groundskeeper at the pool..."*. Sorin sweeps the graves for Kasha, and Anna visits every day (Liriel +2, Godrick +1, Thistle +1).
- **Mountain:** *"(Take him back to the stones. This isn't going to happen tonight.)"*. He leaves a carved sun on the step and goes back up toward the abbey (Liriel -2, Godrick -1).

### If you're stuck

- **No toys on the graves?** You need the rumour first, from the watchman or Kasha.
- **Sorin only comes after midnight**, and only after you've chosen to wait at the toys. If you leave before he arrives, come back another night and wait again.
- **He won't follow you right after you meet him.** If the abbey's hunters came, you have to win that fight first. Then talk to him again at the stones.

## Rewards

- [Armor, +1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#armor-1)
- 400 gp

**What your companions think**

- **Godrick Pendlebrook:** +3 you brought Sorin Krezkov home; +1 you found Sorin Krezkov a place by the pool; -1 you let Sorin go back to the abbey
- **Liriel Dawnsong:** +3 you brought Sorin Krezkov home; +2 you found Sorin Krezkov a place by the pool; -2 you let Sorin go back to the abbey
- **Thistle:** +2 you brought Sorin Krezkov home; +1 you found Sorin Krezkov a place by the pool
- **Wren Featherfoot:** +2 you brought Sorin Krezkov home
- **Ratatouille:** +2 you brought Sorin Krezkov home
- **Kip Smudgewick:** +2 you brought Sorin Krezkov home

## Fights

- *They come over the north wall in a bunch, lanterns swinging: the Abbot's Brutes, hairy and patched, and…*, in [The Pool of the White Sun](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.md): [Flesh Golem](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/flesh-golem.md), [Berserker](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/berserker.md), [Mongrelfolk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/mongrelfolk.md). Scales with your level.
> [!example]- By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)
> - **[The Pool of the White Sun](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.md)**, when level ≥ 8: 3 × A Bride Before Vasilka ([Flesh Golem](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/flesh-golem.md)), 3 × Belview Brute ([Berserker](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/berserker.md)), 4 × [Mongrelfolk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/mongrelfolk.md) (6950 XP)
> - **[The Pool of the White Sun](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.md)**, when level ≥ 7: 2 × A Bride Before Vasilka ([Flesh Golem](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/flesh-golem.md)), 3 × Belview Brute ([Berserker](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/berserker.md)), 4 × [Mongrelfolk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/mongrelfolk.md) (5150 XP)
> - **[The Pool of the White Sun](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.md)**: A Bride Before Vasilka ([Flesh Golem](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/flesh-golem.md)), 2 × Belview Brute ([Berserker](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/berserker.md)), 4 × [Mongrelfolk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/mongrelfolk.md) (2900 XP)

## Journal

> [!quote]- Every journal entry and hint
> **Rumored**: Krezk's watchman says there are carved toys on the Krezkov children's graves at the Pool of the White Sun every morning. Dmitri calls it mockery and smashes them. Anna keeps them.
> *Hint:* Look at the Krezkov children's graves at the Pool of the White Sun in Krezk.
>
> **Toys**: A wooden horse, a wolf, a little sun with too many rays: carved crude and sharp, as if with teeth. Most of them are on the eldest child's stone. Old Pavel, who carves suns for the shrine, swears they aren't his.
> *Hint:* Watch the Krezkov graves at the Pool of the White Sun after midnight.
>
> **Seen**: After midnight a hunched figure came over the north wall from the abbey road with a carved wolf in his hand: goat-legged, too big, with a boy's eyes. He knelt at the eldest Krezkov's stone and sang the lullaby Anna sings through her shutters, in Anna's own voice.
> *Hint:* Talk to the figure at the Krezkov graves after midnight, gently.
>
> **Sorin Known**: He is Sorin Krezkov, Dmitri and Anna's first son. Twenty years ago Anna carried him up the mountain with the fever, against Dmitri's wishes, and the Abbot sent down a nailed coffin. It was lighter than it should have been. He has been improving Sorin ever since. Dmitri calls Ilya his last son.
> *Hint:* Bring Sorin to the Krezkovs' house in Krezk; the abbey may send someone after him.
>
> **Pursued**: The abbey came for its stray: Belview Brutes, and two brides the Abbot made before Vasilka, down the switchback with lanterns. We stopped them among the graves.
> *Hint:* Bring Sorin to the Krezkovs' house in Krezk.
>
> **Home** (the end: success): Sorin Krezkov is home. Anna knew him before he'd finished his first word. Dmitri needed longer, and then he didn't need any time at all. Ilya has a brother who carves wolves.
>
> **Pool** (the end: success): Sorin stays at the Pool of the White Sun with Kasha Varo, who says she's needed a groundskeeper for forty years. Anna visits on Tuesdays, and on every other day too.
>
> **Mountain** (the end: success): Sorin went back up the mountain. Dmitri couldn't look at him, and Sorin understood that better than we did. The toys still come, some mornings.

> [!abstract]- Every skill check in its conversations
> - Athletics DC 13: (Dig up the eldest's grave.)
> - Insight DC 15: (Who taught him that song?)
> - Persuasion DC 15: He's yours, Dmitri. The Abbot made him into this. You didn't.
> - Insight DC 13: (Say what Dmitri's afraid of: that he was right about the Abbot, and that it doesn't…

## Related

- **People:** [Krezk Watchman](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/krezk-watchman.md), [Kasha Varo](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/kasha-varo.md), [Old Pavel](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/old-pavel.md), [Sorin](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/sorin.md), [Anna Krezkova](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/anna-krezkova.md), [Dmitri Krezkov](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/dmitri-krezkov.md), [Ilya Krezkov](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/ilya-krezkov.md)
- **Places:** [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/krezk.md), [The Pool of the White Sun](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.md), [The Krezkovs' House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-krezkovs-house.md)
- **More in Krezk:** [Clovin's Audience](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/clovins-audience.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)