As you approach this cluster of ruined cottages separated by low stone walls, you see a short stretch of dirt road that has remained intact.

The cottages contain rotted furnishings and nothing of value. The walls that separate the cottages are 3 feet tall and easily scaled or circumvented.

Toward the south end of the village lie the remains of a mansion built on higher ground. It has been reduced to piles of stone and rotting timber. Empty, arched windows stare at you. South of the ruin, an untamed garden runs rampant, surrounded by broken walls that are no longer able to contain it. East of the ruin, someone has erected a crude wooden fence, forming a circular yard in which several goats are penned. Surmounting the fence posts are human skulls.

The ruined mansion is littered with the rotted remains of furniture and decor. The last burgomaster of Berez, Lazlo Ulrich, haunts the ruin as a Ghost. If the characters search the mansion, the ghost appears before them:

A ghost takes shape in the fog, assuming the form of a giant of a man, his features mutilated and his entrails hanging out like frayed ropes. Despite its intimidating presence, the apparition has a cringing light in its eyes. "Why do you invade my home? Begone, I beseech you!"

Strahd refuses to let Burgomaster Ulrich's spirit find rest because of what he did to poor Marina. The ghost recounts Marina's sad tale if prompted. Only by convincing Ulrich that Marina has been reborn in the form of Ireena Kolyana can the characters put the tortured spirit to rest. The ghost must see Ireena in the flesh, and it can't travel beyond the confines of the crumbled mansion.

Ulrich's ghost is neutral good. It attacks if threatened or if the characters begin searching the ruined mansion for treasure. If the ghost is reduced to 0 hit points, it re-forms after 24 hours. The characters receive experience points for the ghost only if they lay Ulrich's spirit to rest, not if they defeat the ghost in combat.

Someone has built a ramshackle wooden hut on the stump of what was once an enormous tree. The rotting roots of the stump thrust up from the mire like the legs of a gigantic spider.

An open doorway is visible on one side of the hut, beneath which is an upside-down giant skull partially sunken into the mud. Flanking the hut's doorway are two iron cages that dangle like hideous ornaments from the eaves. Scores of ravens are trapped in each one. They squawk and flutter their wings excitedly as you approach.

Baba Lysaga (see appendix D) is inside her hut unless she has been drawn forth by activity elsewhere. The squawks of the birds are music to her ears, but the noise makes it impossible for her to hear anyone approaching. Only the howling of the skulls in U2. Ulrich Mansion or sounds of combat nearby are loud enough to be heard over the squawking.

Inside each cage is a Swarm of Ravens that fiercely attacks Baba Lysaga and her scarecrows if released. Each cage is held shut by one of 's Baba Lysaga's Arcane Lock spells, and opening it requires a Knock spell or a successful DC 20 Strength check. A character can also pick the lock with thieves' tools and a successful DC 20 Dexterity check.

Through the fog you see the empty shell an old stone church, north of which is a cemetery of leaning gravestones enclosed by a disintegrating iron fence. Half of the cemetery has sunk into the mire.

Rotted coffins and moldy bones are buried in the graveyard. Characters who explore the gutted church find the rotten remains of a pulpit and an old iron bell half immersed in the marsh, lying amid the remains of a collapsed steeple.

Strahd had this monument erected after Marina's death. The monument is hidden in the marsh, and the characters aren't likely to find it on their own unless they scour the area thoroughly. If they lay Burgomaster Ulrich's spirit to rest (see U2. Ulrich Mansion) it points them to this location before fading away. Without Ulrich's guidance, the characters must enter the square in which the monument is located and search that area. A character who searches the area for 10 minutes can make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check, finding the monument on a success. If the monument isn't found, the check can be repeated after another 10 minutes of searching.

The following boxed text assumes that the characters have met Ireena Kolyana. If they have not, don't read the sentence that mentions her.

Hidden by the fog and elevated a few feet above the surrounding marsh is a raised plot of land, barely ten feet on a side, enclosed by a disintegrating iron fence. In the center of the plot is a life-sized stone monument carved in the likeness of a kneeling peasant girl clutching a rose. Although her features are gray and weatherworn, she bears a striking resemblance to Ireena Kolyana. Carved into the monument's base is an epitaph.

The epitaph reads as follows: Marina, Taken by the Mists.

A dozen moss-covered menhirs form a near-perfect circle in the spongy earth. These weathered stones range in height from 15 to 18 feet. A couple of them lean inward as if to share some great secret with their inscrutable neighbors. A wary-looking peasant woman lurks behind the tallest stone, a rusty lantern clutched in one gnarled hand and a dagger clutched in the other.

The woman is Muriel Vinshaw, a wereraven (see appendix D) and friend of the Martikov family (see chapters 5 and 12). A resident of Vallaki, Muriel spies on Baba Lysaga for her fellow wereravens. However, she avoids the village proper, preferring to lurk on the outskirts. If the characters allow her to speak, Muriel warns them about the dangers of Berez and arms them with the following information:

• Berez was abandoned long ago after the river rose and flooded the village.
• An ancient and powerful hag named Baba Lysaga lives in a hut in the middle of the village. When not in her hut, Baba Lysaga flies around in a giant skull.
• The scarecrows of Berez are murderous creatures under the hag's control. They surround Baba Lysaga's hut and serve as an early warning system.
• Baba Lysaga periodically sends her scarecrows to attack the Wizard of Wines, a winery and vineyard west of Berez. She's made enemies of the Martikov family, which owns and operates the winery and vineyard.
• The hag has trapped several mountain goats in a pen near the ruins of an old mansion. (Muriel assumes that Baba Lysaga feeds on these animals.)

Muriel avoids combat and flees if attacked. She conceals her lycanthropic nature for as long as possible, and she doesn't willingly identify other wereravens with whom she's acquainted. She can't be persuaded to accompany the characters if they decide to confront Baba Lysaga. However, Muriel knows Barovia well enough to point out other nearby locations that might interest the adventurers, including the ruined mansion of Argynvostholt and the ancient burial ground known as Yester Hill. Muriel grew up hearing stories about the druids of Yester Hill, specifically how they turned away from their ancient beliefs to worship the devil Strahd. Muriel knows that the druids visit the circle of standing stones from time to time, and she does her best to avoid them.

Baba Lysaga has given a semblance of life to her hut using a magic gemstone stolen from the Wizard of Wines vineyard. If the characters overstay their welcome, she commands the hut to animate and attack them. If this happens, read:

The giant roots beneath the hut come to life and pull themselves up out of the mire. The hut and the roots lurch and groan, becoming a lumbering mass that cracks as it walks, crushing all in its path.

Baba Lysaga's Creeping Hut is a ponderous construct that heeds Baba Lysaga's instructions and no one else's. It fights until destroyed or until the gemstone that animates it is removed or destroyed. Baba Lysaga does everything she can to keep the characters from obtaining the gemstone, without which the hut is Conditions > Incapacitated.

This event occurs as the characters travel north of Berez after leaving the ruins.

You hear sounds of battle, but the fog has grown so thick that you can barely see more than sixty feet in any direction. Suddenly, the fog takes on the forms of soldiers on horseback charging across the field. They collide with armored pike-bearers wearing devil-horned helms. As each soldier falls in battle, it turns to fading mist. Hundreds more soldiers collide in a storm of screams and clashing metal.

Characters can move through this ghostly battlefield unscathed, and they can't harm the foggy forms around them. The soldiers aren't solid enough for the characters to discern emblems or insignia, but it's clear that both armies are human.

If the characters have not yet explored Argynvostholt (chapter 7), add:

You hear a thunderous roar, and seconds later a huge dragon made of silver mist glides overhead, dispersing enemy soldiers with each flap of its mighty wings. Its long, reptilian tail slices through the air above you as the dragon carves a swath through the fog, affording you a fleeting glimpse of a dark mansion overlooking the valley.

The dragon, like the soldiers, is a harmless phantom. The mansion that the characters see is Argynvostholt.

On an average sized humanoid (about 5'6" height I'd say), the waters in Areas A and D get up to about ribcage height. The waters in Areas B and C get up to about waist height. And the waters in Area E get up to about shoulder height. The rest of Berez is filled with either ankle-deep to knee-deep water.