Side quest The Old Svalich Road Level 4

The Lantern in the Roadhouse

The Grey Goose roadhouse burned twenty winters ago, and every night a lantern burns in its upstairs window, though there's no upstairs any more.

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

Arik, the barkeep at Blood of the Vine in the Village of Barovia, hands out one-word rumours when you ask "Heard anything interesting?". He gives them one at a time and in order: first Cut After Noon, then The Polite Caller, then Six Feet. Only after those three, and only once everyone in the party is level 2 or higher, does he say "Grey Goose. Lantern. No upstairs." That starts the quest and puts The Grey Goose on your travel map, on the road between the village and the crossroads.

If you just want this one, ask him four times.

Step by step

  1. Go to the Grey Goose at night (7 in the evening to 6 in the morning). It's a burned-out roadhouse with a lantern hanging in the empty air where the upstairs window used to be. By day there's no innkeeper and nothing in the air.
    loc svalich roadhouse 1
  2. Talk to Wenzel, the innkeeper's ghost behind the charred counter. He tells you to move on: there's no room. Ask who the lantern is for (it's a warning, not a welcome), and try Insight DC 12 to see him keep glancing at a trapdoor nailed shut with too many nails, with something scratching under it. The Insight check is only a clue; if it fails, the rest of the quest still works.
  3. Read the ledger on the counter. The guest book's last pages: the snow shut the road, the food ran out, "a tinker and his boy", and underneath, in a child's hand, "Mama made a stew."
  4. Pull the nails out of the trapdoor behind the counter. If it's night, Wenzel begs you not to: it's his wife and his sons, and they didn't die when he burned the house over them. The trapdoor opens by itself and they come up.
  5. Fight the cellar. The Innkeeper's Wife and one son are Ghouls, with four Giant Rats; if your whole party is level 3 or higher, a second son joins them. A ghoul's claw can paralyse you (DC 10 Constitution save; elves and undead are immune), and two bites a turn on a paralysed character are deadly, so keep your front line together and kill the ghouls before the rats.
  6. Talk to Wenzel again at night. He tells the whole story, puts the lantern down on the hearth, and goes out with it.

Choices and endings

There's one ending. Under the hearthstone are 50 gp and his youngest son's Pipes of the Sewers. Liriel (+2), Godrick (+2) and Kip (+1) approve. Afterwards the lantern lies cold in the weeds of the taproom.

If you're stuck

  • Arik just says "No." Either you haven't started his other three rumours yet, or someone in the party is still level 1.
  • No innkeeper? He's only there at night, and only once the quest has started. You can open the trapdoor by day, but you still need to come back after dark to finish with him.

Rewards

What your companions think

  • Liriel Dawnsong: +2 you let the innkeeper of the Grey Goose put his lantern down
  • Godrick Pendlebrook: +2 you let the innkeeper of the Grey Goose put his lantern down
  • Kip Smudgewick: +1 you let the innkeeper of the Grey Goose put his lantern down

Fights

  • The nails squeal out of the trapdoor on their own, and what's been living in the cellar for twenty winters…, in The Grey Goose: Ghoul, Giant Rat. Scales with your level.
By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)

Journal

Every journal entry and hint

Rumored: Arik, in his one-word way: the Grey Goose roadhouse on the road to the crossroads. A lantern. No upstairs. It burned twenty winters ago, and something still lights a lamp in its window every night.
Hint: Go to the Grey Goose roadhouse on the Old Svalich Road, between the village and the crossroads, by night.

Asked: The innkeeper of the Grey Goose is dead, and still behind his counter. He keeps the lantern lit so travellers see the walls and go on. Something under the floor is scratching.
Hint: Look behind the counter of the Grey Goose roadhouse, and read its guest book.

Opened: Under the trapdoor were the innkeeper's wife and sons, who fed on their guests the winter the snow shut the road. He burned the house over them, and they didn't die. They have now.
Hint: Go back to the Grey Goose roadhouse by night and talk to the innkeeper.

Done (the end: success): The innkeeper of the Grey Goose put his lantern down. It went out, and so did he. He left us his savings and his youngest's pipes.

Every skill check in its conversations
  • Insight DC 12: (Watch where he keeps looking.)