EXTREME COLD
AREAS OF THE TEMPLE
The following areas correspond to labels on the maps of the Amber Temple on pages 182 and 190.
All the doors in the temple are fashioned from blocks of translucent amber with iron hinges and fittings. Unless otherwise noted, arrow slits in the temple are 5 inches wide, 4 feet tall, and 1 foot thick.
X1. TEMPLE FACADE
X1A. NARROW FISSURE
X2. ENTRANCE
X2A. GUARD ROOM
X2B. GUARD ROOM (Treasure)
X3. EMPTY BARRACKS
X4. OVERLOOK
X5. TEMPLE OF LOST SECRETS (NPC: NEFERON THE ARCANALOTH)
AMBER SARCOPHAGI
Rahadin'S PRAYER
Removed Special Event
KASIMIR's DARK GIFT
Removed Special Event
Amber Vestiges
The vestiges of the Amber Temple are not sentient as most would imagine it; as the decaying remnants of dead gods, they are mere scraps of malevolent power, described further
in Chapter 13: The Amber Temple (p. 181), Amber Sarcophagi (p. 191), and X33. Amber Vaults (p. 191).
Even so, that is not dead which can eternal lie. From the chill of their amber tombs, these vestiges dream of the power they once wielded—and of a path to renewed apotheosis.
Shards of their amber sarcophagi are scattered across the land of Barovia, with each shard bearing a psychic connection to the vestige it once imprisoned. Through these shards, the vestiges can whisper words of corruption, promising power without price. This is a lie: no power is without cost, and the shreds of darkness the vestiges offer warp and transform their recipients—in subtle ways at first, but swelling grotesquely over time.
Elisabeth Durst of Death House once bore one of these amber shards; Izek Strazni of Vallaki holds one today. These shards are merely a gateway, however—through small tastes of power, the vestiges hope to lure their victims to the Amber Temple itself. There, the vestiges can offer their greatest dark gifts—and, in doing so, claim their true price and prize: a sliver of the victim’s soul.
With each scrap of spirit a vestige claims, it grows in power, inching closer to the day that it will have the strength to break free of its amber prison. One has already succeeded.
Others are now on the precipice. And for those that remain—eternity is full of possibilities, and the dead have nothing but time.