Werewolf Den
Area Z, in the Baratok Mountains west of Lake Baratok.
A cave system, larger inside than it looks from the approach, and the home of Barovia's werewolf pack. They are not monsters living in a hole: they are a community, with a history, a hierarchy, and children who have grown up knowing exactly what they are. The pack's own account is that they were on this mountain before the lord, and were closed in when the mists came.
The Children of Mother Night
The pack calls itself the Children of Mother Night, after the deity they worship, the counterpart to the Morninglord. They do not see their lycanthropy as a curse.
The pack is fractured. Emil Toranescu, the former alpha, is held in the dungeons of Castle Ravenloft: Strahd took him after a leadership schism, with Kiril's help, to keep the pack compliant. Kiril Stoyanovich leads in his absence, loyal to Strahd, and grows the pack by biting travellers on the road. Zuleika Toranescu, Emil's mate, despises him; he keeps her from hunting and confined to the den.
Three kinds of wolf
| Kind | Who | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| The Old Blood | Zuleika, Skennis, Wensencia, Aziana, Davanka; Emil, in the castle | Born to it or made long ago. Change at will, keep their minds, open and shut the moon's door themselves. Mother Night's teaching is this mastery, not the curse |
| Kiril's new blood | Travellers bitten on the road in the last two years; Franz Groza is the only one who has taken to it | Dragged through the door by the moon and remember nothing of the other side. The real danger in the den, to outsiders and to the pack |
| The cubs | Kellen (ten) and three younger, born in the den | First change in their teens. Which kind they become depends on who is teaching them when it comes |
Who lives here
| Name | Where | |
|---|---|---|
| Kiril Stoyanovich | Out hunting | Leader. Strahd's |
| Bianca | Z5a | Kiril's mate, white-haired. His eyes while he is away |
| Zuleika Toranescu | Z7, the shrine, guarding the cages | Emil's mate. Keeps the Old Blood from revolt. Wants Emil out of Ravenloft, the road-biting ended, the cubs taught |
| Skennis | Z3, with nine wolves and an electrum flute | Old Blood, too old to hunt. The den's memory. Will talk to anyone who sits |
| Aziana and Davanka | Z2, the guard post | Old Blood. Count visitors in and out |
| Wensencia and Kellen | Z5b | Old Blood mother and a cub with a Blinsky doll |
| Franz Groza | With Kiril's hunt | New blood, eighteen months |
| The Sorceress (Ludmila) | Between Z8 and Z6, by the hidden stair | Not pack. The den's physician |
The Holy Symbol of Ravenkind lies in the hoard at the Shrine of Mother Night (Z7).
Customs
- The call. On each full moon the pack calls every werewolf in Barovia from the ring.
- The ravens. The Keepers of the Feather watch the den from the trees and always have. The pack lets them, and sometimes feeds a raven something false.
- Hostile only if a cub is harmed, or fire is set in the caves. Zuleika says both aloud, early, as a courtesy.
History
- Session 30. The party followed Myra and Kyra here, brought by the Sorceress from Krezk.
- Session 31. Taara, Myra and Logi came down out of Ether in front of the den, between two werewolf clans standing opposed to each other (Ether's Reignition).