Heard of, never visited
Berez
Rumoured
Ruins somewhere to the south, off the road we walked. Ismark says witches live there, and that they take in young women. Nobody has been.
- Where
- "Somewhere to the south", Ismark says, and not on the road to Vallaki.
- Status
- Heard of once, never visited. It isn't on Ismark's map.
What we have heard
One name, one night, one rumour. Mary had just left Ismark's house, frantic, taking Lancelot home with her and begging us to find her daughter Gertruda. When she had gone, Ismark gave us his honest odds. Gertruda was almost certainly dead. If she wasn't, the devil had her in his castle, or she had gone to "a group of witches, I think they're best called, in the Ruins of Berez, who take wayward girls, young women, and induct them into their ranks."
That is everything. We know Berez only as ruins, so it was something once. We don't know what it was, who lived there or what ruined it. The next morning, handing us rations for the road, Ismark listed the dangers out there, and witches were among them.
This is rumour, and it comes from a man who later told us, kindly, that we would learn not to trust people in Barovia.
Why it matters to us
We never promised Mary anything. We told her we would do our level best and keep an eye out, and she left insisting that we had promised. If the road ever bends south, this is where the eye goes. See Keep an Eye Out for Gertruda.
Open questions
- What was Berez, and what happened to it?
- Are the witches real, and do they have Gertruda?
- Why would witches want young women?