# The Jester's Key > From the Curse of Strahd game wiki (it covers the whole game, spoilers included): https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-jesters-key.html. Unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy, not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. > [!infobox] > ![quest the jesters key](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/quest-the-jesters-key.webp) > **Type:** Side quest > **Region:** [Castle Ravenloft](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/regions/castle-ravenloft.md) ยท level 10 > **Given by:** [Pidlwick II](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/pidlwick-ii.md) > **Starts at:** [Castle Ravenloft, the High Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-high-tower.md) > **Rewards:** [Figurine of Wondrous Power (Ebony Fly)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#figurine-of-wondrous-power-ebony-fly) ## Summary Pidlwick II, the clockwork jester of the high tower, is running down: the ravens took his wind-up key. ## Walkthrough ### Getting the quest [Pidlwick II](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/pidlwick-ii.md), a child-sized clockwork jester, plays on the grand landing of [Castle Ravenloft, the High Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-high-tower.md), halfway up the stair from the main floor (the Court of the Count's tower stairs also come out here). He comes down to meet you. Ask **You're ticking slowly. Are you all right?** He shows you the empty keyhole in his back: the ravens took his key up under the roof, and he has been winding himself with a bent nail. The quest starts at Asked. That question is only in his menu while he is on the stair, not while he travels with you, and only until the quest has started. ### Step by step 1. Get to [Castle Ravenloft, the Ravens' Roost](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-ravens-roost.md). There are two ways up: - **The back stair.** Escher's suite in [Castle Ravenloft, the Tower Rooms](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-tower-rooms.md) (through the door off the tower's high landing, past the stair's sentries on the upper turns) has a servants' stair behind its wardrobe. It only opens once you know about it: search behind the wardrobe (DC 15), or be told by Pidlwick (**Show us its secrets**) or by [Escher](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/escher.md) (**Is there a quieter way around this castle?**, after he has told you about the heart). Escher's door is locked (pick DC 16, or Deception DC 15 or Persuasion DC 15 through the door). - **Over the roofs.** From the tower gallery, take the narrow door to the roof stair and climb the ladder to [Castle Ravenloft, the Roofs](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-roofs.md). Walk north from the south tower roof onto the keep roof, where a hatch drops into the roost. Watch for slick slates on the keep roof (spot DC 13; Dexterity DC 14 or 3d6 and prone). ![loc castle ravenloft spires roost 1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-castle-ravenloft-spires-roost-1.webp) 2. Hundreds of ravens watch you from the beams. Leave them alone and they leave you alone. They only attack if you open the great nest in the middle of the roost without calming them first, or if you try to calm them and fail. 3. Use **A glint of brass in a nest**, at the east end of the roost. Wedged in the twigs is a brass key with a jester's cap for a bow. No roll and no fight: the quest moves to Found. 4. Take the key back to Pidlwick, on the grand landing or in your party, and choose **We found your key.** It takes fifty turns to wind him, and his ticking steadies: Returned. If he has gone to live at [Blinsky Toys](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/blinsky-toys.md) in Vallaki (see [The Toymaker's Masterpiece](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-toymakers-masterpiece.md)), give it to him there instead: the same option is in his menu at the shop. **While you're in the roost:** - **Calming the ravens** (talk to "The ravens") lets you open the great nest (35 gp, a mirror, and a Tarokka treasure if the reading put one here). You can hold out a hand as a friend of ravens (if you became allies of the Keepers at the Wizard of Wines, or fed the raven on the road; Thistle +2), scatter a ration (Thistle +2), or try Animal Handling DC 14 (DC 18 if you hurt the raven on the road; Thistle +1). A failed Animal Handling check, or opening the nest unsettled, brings down 6 [Swarm of Ravens](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/swarm-of-ravens.md) (300 XP, an easy fight). - **Speak with Animals** works best of all: the old raven tells you where the key is and gives you a ring from a far nest, a [Ring of Evasion](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#ring-of-evasion) (Thistle +2). You can also reach that ring by climbing the rafters (Acrobatics DC 16, done alone; a fall costs 2d6) or by searching for it (DC 15). - A rotten board on the way across (spot DC 13; Dexterity DC 13 or 2d6). ### Choices and endings - **Returned (success).** Pidlwick gives you a [Figurine of Wondrous Power (Ebony Fly)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#figurine-of-wondrous-power-ebony-fly) he kept in his hat for a hundred years. If you haven't turned him away before, he asks to come with you: - **Come with us, Pidlwick.** He joins as a guest (Godrick +1, Wren +1). If Madam Eva's cards named him as your ally, this also completes [The Destined Ally](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-destined-ally.md). - **Better stay here, where it's safe.** He stays on the stair. - If you wind him at Blinsky's shop, he gives you the figurine and stays where he is: he doesn't ask to come along. - Winding him also opens a gentler way to talk him round in [The Toymaker's Masterpiece](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-toymakers-masterpiece.md) ("He's lonely, Pidlwick. As lonely as you."). ### If you're stuck - **You found the key before he asked.** That's fine: "We found your key." appears as soon as you have it. - **He's gone from the stair.** If he has gone to live at Gadof Blinsky's toy shop, he is no longer in the castle. Take the key to [Blinsky Toys](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/blinsky-toys.md) in Vallaki and give it to him there; the quest's hint names both places. The question that starts the quest is only asked on the stair, but you don't need it: the key works at the shop either way. ## Rewards - [Figurine of Wondrous Power (Ebony Fly)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#figurine-of-wondrous-power-ebony-fly) **What your companions think** - **Thistle:** +2 you held out a hand to the castle's ravens as a friend; +2 you fed the ravens in Strahd's roost; +1 you calmed the ravens in Strahd's roost; +2 you spoke with the castle's ravens instead of fighting them ## Fights - *The roost goes up all at once: a black storm of wings and beaks and shrieking, pouring down off the beams.*, in [Castle Ravenloft, the Ravens' Roost](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-ravens-roost.md): [Swarm of Ravens](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/swarm-of-ravens.md). ## Journal > [!quote]- Every journal entry and hint > **Asked**: Pidlwick II winds himself with a bent nail since the ravens took his brass key up under the castle's roofs. He is ticking slower every day. > *Hint:* Find the brass key in the ravens' nests in the roost under Castle Ravenloft's roofs. > > **Found**: We found a brass wind-up key in a ravens' nest under the roofs, its bow shaped like a jester's cap. > *Hint:* Give Pidlwick II his key: he plays on the stair of Castle Ravenloft's high tower, or at Blinsky's toy shop in Vallaki if he went to live there. > > **Returned** (the end: success): We wound Pidlwick II with his own key. Fifty turns, and his ticking is steady again. > [!abstract]- Every skill check in its conversations > - Animal Handling DC 14: Move slowly and talk low. > - Animal Handling DC 18: Move slowly and talk low. ## Related - **People:** [Pidlwick II](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/pidlwick-ii.md) - **Places:** [Castle Ravenloft, the High Tower](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-high-tower.md), [Blinsky Toys](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/blinsky-toys.md), [Castle Ravenloft, the Ravens' Roost](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-ravens-roost.md) - **More in Castle Ravenloft:** [Escher's Petition](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/eschers-petition.md), [The Cook's Guests](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-cooks-guests.md), [The Heart of Sorrow](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-heart-of-sorrow.md), [The Unnamed Crypt](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-unnamed-crypt.md)