Side quest Mount Baratok Level 9

The Mage's Lost Pages

Mordenkainen's memory came back with pages missing: letters in a hand he knows better than his own, and no name with it.

Walkthrough

Getting the quest

Once Mordenkainen has his mind back (The Mad Mage of Mount Baratok), ask him "Heard anything interesting?" in The Mad Mage's Hut. He tells you there are pages missing from him: letters in a small, slanted hand he knows better than his own, with no name to them. They were in his coat when the witch took his memory, and his own forgotten storm has blown them out into the snow and ice of Mount Baratok. The quest starts at Asked. Until he has these letters back, they're always his news, whatever you've already done in the castle: even if you've laid Corvina to rest and know her name, he can't remember her yet.

If Madam Eva's cards named him and he joins you before you've asked, he tells you the same thing as he joins ("One more thing, before we go down"), and the quest starts then.

Step by step

  1. Find the three letters. They only appear on the mountain once he has asked you. Each one gives you a choice: a Perception DC 14 check frees it at once, or you can dig it out the slow way, which always works and takes half an hour. A failed Perception check simply means you dig.
    • The frost garden outside his hut: one of the frozen birds has a fold of paper in its shell of ice. It's a note about the count's servants, signed C.
    • The ring of glass on the trail below: a letter is fused into the edge of the glass. This one gives you her name, Corvina, written three times. It also lets you say her name to The Forgotten Storm.
    • The overlook at the west edge of the mountain: a page sticking up out of a snowdrift. It reads "Master, go. I'll hold the door." Under it, in Strahd's hand: "She held it very well. She holds my doors still. S."

    loc mount baratok overview

  2. Bring them back. With all three found, ask "Heard anything interesting?" again. He reads them on his chessboard and finally remembers: he didn't lose to Strahd, he ran, and Corvina held the door behind him. If he's travelling with you, there's nothing to bring back: the moment you pick up the last letter you hand him all three, and he reads them there, standing in the snow. Then he wants to go up to the castle tonight. You can stop him three ways:
    • "You promised to come with us when we go up. Keep that promise, not this one." This appears if he has already promised to help you against Strahd, or if he's travelling with you. With him along, it's the only choice.
    • Persuasion DC 16: if he goes tonight he'll die on Strahd's stair, and she'll have held that door for nothing.
    • "(Let him rage.)": the windows frost over from the inside, the candles go out and relight, and he sits down again, older.

    All three end the same way, and a failed Persuasion just means he rages first. He stays, tells you to say her name to her if you find her in the castle (or, if you've already laid her to rest in The Unnamed Crypt, sees that she has it back and counts that as his thanks), and gives you Corvina's first-year project, a Ring of Telekinesis. The quest ends at Named (Ratatouille +3, Liriel +2, Godrick +1, Wren +1).

Choices and endings

  • Named (success) is the only ending. You know Corvina's name, and that matters later:
    • In the castle catacombs (The Unnamed Crypt), saying her name before she rises weakens what holds her.
    • It lets you name her to the Forgotten Storm on the ring of glass.
    • From party level 10, it opens Mordenkainen's next piece of news, The Name Over the Door.
  • After you lay Corvina to rest, his next "Heard anything interesting?" is his thanks. If you laid her to rest before you brought him the letters, the thanks comes the next time you ask after they're back.

If you're stuck

  • The letters don't exist until he has asked for them. Talk to him first.
  • He has to be restored first. If he joins you as your Tarokka ally, he starts the quest as he joins (if he hasn't already) and reads the letters out on the mountain, so you never need to go back to the hut.
  • You can do this before or after you lay Corvina to rest in the castle (The Unnamed Crypt). The slip of paper in her coat gives you her name, but until you've brought him the letters his news in the hut stays on them, and travelling with you he still reads them where you find the last one. His thanks for Corvina, and his news about Khazan, only come after.

Rewards

What your companions think

  • Ratatouille: +3 you brought Mordenkainen his apprentice's letters
  • Liriel Dawnsong: +2 you brought Mordenkainen his apprentice's letters
  • Godrick Pendlebrook: +1 you brought Mordenkainen his apprentice's letters
  • Wren Featherfoot: +1 you brought Mordenkainen his apprentice's letters

Journal

Every journal entry and hint

Asked: Mordenkainen remembers a small, slanted hand that wrote him letters, but not whose. The letters blew out of his hut in the storm he forgot he'd ordered, and they're somewhere in the snow and ice of Mount Baratok.
Hint: Search Mount Baratok for the letters: the frost garden, the ring of glass and the overlook. Then bring them to Mordenkainen.

Named (the end: success): The letters were from Corvina, Mordenkainen's apprentice. He didn't lose to the count; he ran, while she held the door behind him. The last letter has a postscript in the count's hand: she holds his doors still. Mordenkainen has her name back.

Every skill check in its conversations
  • Perception DC 14: (Find the place where the ice is thinnest.)
  • Perception DC 14: (Look for an edge you can work loose.)
  • Perception DC 14: (Ease it out without tearing it.)
  • Persuasion DC 16: If you go up that road tonight, you'll die on his stair, and she'll have held that door…