Back in 2021, when I was first crafting the expanded campaign for Legends of Barovia, it became clear that Curse of Strahd treated Tsolenka Pass, with its ominous gate, tower, and bridge, as something of an afterthought. An evocative location, certainly, but one that felt shoehorned in rather than earned.

It needed history.
It needed lore.

Who built the gate?
Why was it built?
What was the purpose of the green flame?

I needed answers—so I went looking for them.

Drawing from History and Literature

My inspiration came from a mix of real-world history, Gothic fiction, and classic myth. That led me to an idea: a forgotten mountain village, one that built the stone bridge, the gate, and the tower to protect the Amber Temple itself. But could such a village survive for centuries in Barovia?

This is a land of curses, after all. Strahd has never hesitated to punish entire communities. Berez. Argynvostholt. The revenants. These are all grim litmus tests of Strahd’s vengeance.

The Curse of Bârgău

To shape Bârgău, I turned to two mythical stories of lost cities: Brigadoon and Shangri-La. Two classic myths of lost places shaped Bârgău’s fate.

Brigadoon, by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, tells of a Scottish village that appears only once every hundred years, its people preserved in time so long as they never leave, immortality bound to isolation.

Lost Horizon, James Hilton’s novel that introduced Shangri-La, presents a hidden mountain sanctuary where time slows and aging is held at bay, at the cost of separation from the outside world.

Both stories explore the same haunting idea: that preservation demands sacrifice.

These themes became the foundation of Bârgău, a village cursed by Strahd to endure eternally, untouched by time, yet never truly free.

That became the heart of Bârgău.

Strahd cursed the village. Its people are trapped in time, unable to leave. Should they try, the years would crash down upon them all at once, aging them to dust. Immortality, twisted into a prison.

Names with Meaning

The name Bârgău comes directly from Bârgău Pass, also known as Tihuța Pass, Stoker’s inspiration for the Borgo Pass, the threshold to Dracula’s domain.

For the people themselves, I drew from Balkan Romani culture: Ursari, a Romani term meaning bear leader or bear handler

It felt right. These were mountain folk: master stone masons, builders of bridges and towers, the finest craftsmen in the land.

The Shield Maidens

But it was the women of Bârgău, the Ursari Shield Maidens, who became Strahd’s true thorn.

They guarded the pass.
They manned the gates.
They fought Strahd’s forces time and again.

Their story is a tragic one.

I chose to tell it through a player handout: a weathered book recounting the legend of the Ursari Shield Maidens, how they held the gates until the last warrior fell, buying just enough time for the village wizard to unleash the green flame spell that sealed the pass against evil.

 The Bravest of Them

When the Dark Lord’s armies marched on the Gates of Tsolenka, they expected the Shield Maidens to be broken, aged by curse and loss. They were wrong.

The Maidens stood with Prince Vernon of House Hapsburg and a handful of Knights of Argynvost. Outnumbered a hundred to one, they held the Gates through four days of relentless battle.

Prince Vernon fell. The knights followed. And with every passing hour, the curse stole years from the Shield Maidens’ lives.

At dawn on the fifth day, the final assault began. Knowing they would not survive, the Maidens summoned the village elder, an old wizard, to seal the Gates in green fire. He needed time.

So they opened the Gates and walked into death.

Hidden within that tale is a clue: the Shield Maiden’s oath.
If spoken aloud at the gates, it disperses the green flame and allows passage once more.

Bringing Barovia to Life

Creating places like the secret mountain village of Bârgău, its lore, its battles, its tragedies, and its puzzles is one of the true joys of adventure design. It is how Barovia becomes more than a setting. It becomes a living, haunted world.

The Ruins of Bârgău are available as a free PDF guide, complete with the player handout, so you can bring this lost village into your own campaign.

History and literature have always been my compass, from Dracula to Brigadoon to Shangri-La. In Legends of Barovia, those old stories are given new life… and new curses.

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