As a personal suggestion that worked really well in my games. Either they came with the party or can arrive soon after. It is highly possible they are present during this chapter. Rudolf Van Richten and/or Ezmeralda dвЂ™Avenir This development is all around the book, some of it is explained in KasimirвЂ™s entry (page 232), some more in PatrinaвЂ™s crypt 21 entry (page 89), and the rest of it is stated at the end of the Amber Temple chapter in вЂњKasimirвЂ™s Dark GiftвЂќ (page 196) If Kasimir is successful in returning to Ravenloft and restoring her to life, she comes back as an archmage. His goal is to reach area X42 and use the east sarcophagus which confers the dark gift of Zhudun, the Corpse Star. He is not familiar with the temple in any way. Patrina Velikovna currently lies in RavenloftвЂ™s crypts and has become a banshee. KasimirвЂ™s objective as previously stated, is to bring his sister back to life. He probably would not be aggressive towards the party since they have a better chance of surviving by working together. If he didnвЂ™t come with the PCs, you can have him show up here. ThereвЂ™s a good chance he is accompanying the party since heвЂ™s one of the few who know the templeвЂ™s location. Unless they get killed in the temple anyway. If that is the case then the party are in real danger from freezing to death. The real problem arises if the party got here by accident while teleporting from Castle Ravenloft in the hourglass room. If the players came via the Tsolenka Pass, then they probably did not get this far without turning back to buy appropriate gear. Unless the PCs have heat sources and weather gear, they will suffer the effects of Extreme Temperatures as stated in the DMG (page 110).

The temple is carved out of Mount Ghakis and itвЂ™s in a permafrost state. This is a large dungeon whose only purpose is to either find a magical relic, or find out how Strahd came by his powers, maybe even striking a deal or two with one of the evil vestiges. He eventually achieved lichdom and turned the other magesвЂ™ remains into flame skulls. Exethanter is an evil Archmage that arrived soon after and took on the task of guarding the temple. Over time they were corrupted by the darkness inside and killed each other (as if these things never ended up like that). The place was built by good wizards to guard evil entitiesвЂ™ remains. Even that can prove dangerous depending on how things unwind inside the temple. The adventure suggests this place is an appropriate challenge for a level 9 party. The real danger here is that nothing stops a party of level 5 PCs from coming here in search of StrahdвЂ™s information or one of the magic relics needed to fight him. This place is as mysterious and dangerous as it gets.

The Amber Temple, better known as the TPK (Total Party Kill) temple. The GUIDE index for Curse of Strahd and other related articles can be found here !

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