# The Pool of the White Sun > From the Curse of Strahd game wiki (it covers the whole game, spoilers included): https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.html. Unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy, not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast. > [!infobox] > **Type:** Side quest > **Region:** [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/regions/krezk.md) · level 7 > **Given by:** [Ireena Kolyana](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/ireena-kolyana.md) > **Starts at:** [Castle Ravenloft, the Old Tombs](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-old-tombs.md) ## Summary At the pool in Krezk, Ireena saw a young man in the water who knew her by another name. ## Walkthrough ### Getting the quest You may hear of the pool first in Castle Ravenloft: asked with Speak with Dead in his tomb, Sergei says Tatyana would look for him there, and the quest starts at **Rumored** (see the tip after these steps). Either way, the vision at the pool only happens if [Ireena Kolyana](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/ireena-kolyana.md) is travelling with you as a guest (see [Ireena's Escort](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/ireenas-escort.md)). If you've left her somewhere safe, such as Vallaki's church or the inn, fetch her first. Then take her to [The Pool of the White Sun](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.md) at the north end of [Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/krezk.md): through the gate (see [The Gate of Krezk](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-gate-of-krezk.md)), past the well, and up the lane to the north. Any time of day works. As you come in, Ireena stops walking without noticing. ![loc krezk pool of the white sun 1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-krezk-pool-of-the-white-sun-1.webp) ### Step by step 1. **Use the pool** (the water's edge). With Ireena in the party, the first use always plays her vision instead of the pool's usual menu. She drops to her knees at the edge, and beside her reflection stands a second one: [Sergei von Zarovich](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/sergei-von-zarovich.md), Strahd's brother, dead four hundred years. He calls her Tatyana. She remembers a chapel of white flowers, a wall and a stair. He can't come out of the water; she could come in, when she's ready. The quest starts at **Seen** (or moves there from Rumored). ![krezk reflection](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/cutscenes/krezk-reflection.webp) 2. **Help her choose.** You can first try *Insight DC 14* to read her face (she wants both things at once). Pass or fail, you then pick one of the two answers. A failed Insight can't be retried, but it doesn't matter. - *"Go to him, if you want to, Ireena. We'll understand."* She leans out over the water, then stops: if she goes now, Strahd will only wait for the next girl with her face. She swears to come back when he's dead. → **Promised** (Thistle, Godrick and Wren +1). - *"Stay with us, Ireena. You're not her. Not only her."* She says her own name and lets Sergei go. → **Stayed**. Either way she stays in the party. Afterwards, *"(Look at Ireena.)"* at the pool lets her tell you how she feels about it. 3. **While you're here.** Use the pool again for the rest of its menu: - *"Wade in."* finds a Tarokka treasure if Madam Eva's reading put one in the pool. - *"Fill flasks from the pool."* gives you 2 [Holy Water](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#holy-water), once. It can also break Ilya's fever, though only partly; a Cleric's prayer or the Abbot can finish the cure afterwards. See [The Burgomaster's Son](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-burgomasters-son.md). - Stealing the wishes off the bottom is worth 9 gp, but the pool's sky goes grey and Kip, Liriel and Godrick (-2) and Wren (-1) don't like it. Two search finds nearby: something glinting at the pool's edge ([Amulet of the Devout, +1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#amulet-of-the-devout-1), search DC 13), and a scroll under the candle stubs in the pavilion ([Scroll of Protection (Undead)](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#scroll-of-protection-undead), Investigation DC 14). [Kasha Varo](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/kasha-varo.md), who keeps the shrine, now answers *"Have you ever seen a young man in the water?"*. > [!tip] Speak with Dead: Sergei > At his sarcophagus in [Castle Ravenloft, the Old Tombs](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-old-tombs.md), a hero who knows Speak with Dead can ask [Sergei von Zarovich](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/sergei-von-zarovich.md) about Tatyana. It costs the caster's lowest spell slot of 3rd level or higher (nothing if the spell is still running from a casting on the character sheet), and he answers once. He thinks it's still his wedding day: Tatyana is in the chapel among the white flowers she chose, and his brother has been kind to everyone all week. If she ever comes looking for him, she'll go to the pool at Krezk, where the water is white with the sun. If this quest hasn't started, it starts at **Rumored**: bring Ireena to the pool. If Ireena is with you, she answers him: before her vision she has never been to Krezk but knows exactly what that water looks like; after it, she knows he's still waiting there. ### Choices and endings Both endings are successes. Nothing about Ireena is settled here: the game only records her state of mind, and the end of the game reads it. - **What the vision unlocks in either case.** At the Abbey of St. Markovia, *"Tell him what Ireena saw in the Pool of the White Sun."* turns the Abbot round with no roll (see [The Abbot's Bride](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-abbots-bride.md)). If he demands Ireena at the unveiling, *"At the pool she chose a dead man over him..."* does the same. In the castle's catacombs, Ireena kneels at Sergei's tomb already knowing him. - **Promised.** She won't take [Dmitri Krezkov](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/dmitri-krezkov.md)'s offer of refuge in Krezk: she has to go where you go until Strahd is dead. If Strahd is destroyed, the game ends with *At Sergei's Side*: she goes back to the pool and keeps her promise. - **Stayed.** She can still accept refuge in Krezk. If she's with you when Strahd is destroyed, her epilogue says she chose her own life and never looks up at the castle again. ## Rewards **What your companions think** - **Liriel Dawnsong:** +1 you said the rites over Sergei's tomb; +1 you let Ireena have her moment at Sergei's tomb - **Wren Featherfoot:** +1 you let Ireena have her moment at Sergei's tomb; +1 you left Ireena free to go to Sergei if she chose - **Thistle:** +1 you left Ireena free to go to Sergei if she chose - **Godrick Pendlebrook:** +1 you left Ireena free to go to Sergei if she chose ## Journal > [!quote]- Every journal entry and hint > **Rumored**: Asked under Speak with Dead in his tomb, Sergei von Zarovich said that if Tatyana ever came looking for him she would go to the pool at Krezk, where the water is white with the sun. > *Hint:* Bring Ireena to the Pool of the White Sun, inside Krezk's wall. > > **Seen**: At the Pool of the White Sun, Ireena saw Sergei von Zarovich in the water beside her reflection, Strahd's brother, dead four hundred years. She remembered being Tatyana: a chapel full of white flowers, a wall, a stair. The water is the only door he has. > *Hint:* At the Pool of the White Sun in Krezk, with Ireena in the party, look at Ireena and help her choose. > > **Promised** (the end: success): Ireena promised Sergei she will come back to the pool when Strahd is dead. Until then she goes where we go. > > **Stayed** (the end: success): Ireena chose her own life: Ireena Kolyana, not Tatyana. She said goodbye to the young man in the water. > [!abstract]- Every skill check in its conversations > - Religion DC 13: Say the rites for the dead over him. > - Insight DC 14: (Watch her face. What does she really want?) ## Related - **People:** [Sergei von Zarovich](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/sergei-von-zarovich.md) - **Places:** [Castle Ravenloft, the Old Tombs](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/castle-ravenloft-the-old-tombs.md), [The Pool of the White Sun](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-pool-of-the-white-sun.md) - **More in Krezk:** [Clovin's Audience](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/clovins-audience.md), [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 Waystone](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/quests/the-waystone.md) > [!example]- Cutscenes > **The Thing Never Carved**: The Thing Never Carved: a later beat of a long conversation picture (castle_ravenloft/catacombs_sergei, ~ tomb_look), Ashwin's ask 2026-10-12. > ![sergei tomb](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/cutscenes/sergei-tomb.webp) > > **Sergei in the Font**: Ireena kneels at the basin in Sergei's tomb, and his face rises beside hers in the water. > ![sergei font](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/cutscenes/sergei-font.webp) > > **Beside Her in the Water**: Beside Her in the Water: a later beat of a long conversation picture (castle_ravenloft/catacombs_sergei, ~ ireena_promised), Ashwin's ask 2026-10-12. > ![font sergei](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/cutscenes/font-sergei.webp) > > **The Second Reflection**: In the Pool of the White Sun, Sergei's reflection lies beside Ireena's. > ![krezk reflection](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/cutscenes/krezk-reflection.webp) > > **Her Breath on the Water**: Her Breath on the Water: a later beat of a long conversation picture (krezk/pool, ~ ireena_promise), Ashwin's ask 2026-10-12. > ![pool lean](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/cutscenes/pool-lean.webp) > > **Only Her Reflection**: Only Her Reflection: a later beat of a long conversation picture (krezk/pool, ~ ireena_fade), Ashwin's ask 2026-10-12. > ![pool alone](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/cutscenes/pool-alone.webp)