The trail through the thick woods leads to a hill covered with dead grass and cairns of black rock. Dark, ominous clouds gather high above, and a single bolt of lightning strikes the hilltop. West of the hill, the land, the woods, and the sky vanish behind a towering wall of fog.

The trail splits as it climbs the hillside, forming two concentric rings (Berserker Cairns). The trail also leads to the hilltop (areas Y3 and Y4). The wall of fog (Y5) marks the edge of Strahd's domain.

Dirt trails run along two concentric rings of cairns that encircle the hillside. Each cairn is a ten-foot-high mound of slimy black rocks.

These burial mounds predate the arrival of Strahd and the Forest Folk. They have remained undisturbed for centuries. Buried under the rocks are the moldy bones of an ancient tribe of berserkers that once lived in the mountains. (See Blood Spear of Kavan in the "Special Events" section below.)

Atop the hill is a wide ring of black boulders and smaller rocks that collectively form a makeshift wall enclosing a field of dead grass. Lightning strikes the edge of the ring from time to time, illuminating a ghastly, fifty-foot-tall statue made of tightly woven twigs and packed with black earth. The statue resembles a towering, cloaked man with fangs.

• Strahd's arrival prompts the Forest Folk in Y3. Druids' Circle to rise from their "graves" and begin their ritual.
  - When the ritual begins, the Forest Folk use their actions to chant and dance about
  - To complete the ritual, the Forest Folk must chant for 10 consecutive rounds, with at least one of them chanting each round
  - If a round goes by and none of the Forest Folk are able to chant on their turn, the ritual is ruined and must be started anew
  - If the Gulthias tree (Y4. Gulthias Tree) has been reduced to 0 hit points, the ritual won't work
  - Druids who realize that the tree has been destroyed know enough not to attempt the ritual.
  The ring of boulders that surrounds the field is 250 feet in diameter and ranges from 5 to 10 feet high. Any creature that climbs over the black boulders has a 10 percent chance of being struck by lightning, taking 44 (8d10) lightning damage. Characters can avoid the damage by sticking to the two trails that pass through the ring.

At the south end of the hilltop is a sickly copse, a grove of dead trees and shrubs with a huge, misshapen tree at its core. Blood oozes like sap from its twisted trunk. Skulking around the tree are six gangly humanoid creatures covered with needles. Embedded in the tree is a shiny battleaxe, beneath which lies a humanoid skeleton.

• The tree is a Gulthias tree, the roots of which extend deep beneath the hill

• Lurking among the dead trees and shrubs are three Vine Blights six Needle Blights and twelve Twig Blights

  • The needle blights are plainly visible, but the False Appearance feature of the vine blights and the twig blights allows them to hide in plain sight
  • The blights attack anyone who harms the Gulthias tree, which has no actions or effective attacks of its own

• The Gulthias tree creates blights from ordinary plants and is the only tree of its kind in Barovia

• If the Gulthias tree is killed, no new blights can be created within Strahd's domain

• Award the party 1,500 XP for destroying the Gulthias tree.

• The skeleton lying at the base of the Gulthias tree is all that remains of a human adventurer who was killed by blights while trying to cut down the tree.

• Yester Hill gets its name from a strange phenomenon that can be observed by anyone who looks into the mists from the hilltop or the western hillside:

As you look west into the curtain of fog, you see a white fortress on a hill above a great city. The city appears quite distant, maybe a mile away. The fog obscures all detail, but you can hear what sounds like the echo of a church bell.

• The Dark Powers have created a false image of Strahd\s ancestral home within the fog, just beyond reach

• Strahd comes to the hill on occasion to gaze upon the city, even though he knows it can't be real. The image tantalizes him.

• Any creature that enters the deadly fog is subject to its effects (see the Mists of Ravenloft).

• If the characters ask an NPC spellcaster about this part of the wall of fog, that person might relate an ancient legend about it:

According to the mountain folk of Barovia, there was always a wall of mist near Yester Hill, even before the deadly mists entrapped all of Barovia. The ancient folk called the mist the Whispering Wall, for within it they could hear the whisper of voices from the past and the future. They believed that an ancient god gave up his divinity to preserve the world from destruction and that his last exhalation as a god produced this mist. Within it were all his memories of the world and all his visions of its possible futures, and with proper preparation, a seeker could go on a vision quest within it. Some students of the arcane contend that the Dark Powers took a bit of that fog and twisted it to create the mists of Barovia, and that perhaps Strahd's domain is just a dark memory in the Whispering Wall.

• You can allow this event to unfold regardless of whether the characters have visited Yester Hill. Even if the characters don't experience this event as it happens, they can still deal with the aftermath (see "Wintersplinter Attacks" in the "Special Events" section in chapter 12 Wizard of Wines).

• Strahd travels to Yester Hill, arriving astride Beucephalus (assuming the characters didn't kill it in the catacombs of Castle Ravenloft), or in bat form.

• Strahd's arrival prompts the Forest Folk in Y3. Druids' Circle to rise from their "graves" and begin their ritual.

  • When the ritual begins, the Forest Folk use their actions to chant and dance about
  • To complete the ritual, the Forest Folk must chant for 10 consecutive rounds, with at least one of them chanting each round
  • If a round goes by and none of the Forest Folk are able to chant on their turn, the ritual is ruined and must be started anew
  • If the Gulthias tree (Y4. Gulthias Tree) has been reduced to 0 hit points, the ritual won't work
    • Druids who realize that the tree has been destroyed know enough not to attempt the ritual.

• Strahd observes the proceedings, defending the druids if they are attacked and retreating if outmatched.

The spirit of Kavan, a long-dead barbarian chieftain, reaches out to one of the characters, preferably a barbarian, a druid, or a ranger. Read the following text to that character's player:

You hear a whisper, a deep voice carried on the wind. "Long have I waited," it says, "for one who is worthy. My spear hungers for blood. Retrieve it, and rule these mountains in my stead, just like the mighty warriors from the early days of the Whispering Wall."

The character feels drawn to one of the cairns on the hillside (see area Y2). When the character approaches within 30 feet of it, the presence of Kavan's magic spear (see "Treasure" below) under the rocks is felt.

Treasure. 

The rocks of the cairn are heavy but can be rolled aside, revealing a Blood Spear of Kavan lying amid Kavan's moldy bones. Any creature can wield the spear, but only the character chosen by Kavan to wield it gains a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this magic weapon.