Book 11
The Dread Gates
Status: Narrative plan completed
Summary
The Dread Gates is a Ravenloft-inspired gothic horror story in The Monk and the Witch saga.
After the catastrophes of The Witch Returns, Rishi and Maeril are alive, but no longer safe in the way heroes are supposed to be safe. Rishi carries the radiant-necrotic imprint of the Dead Three. Maeril’s abyssal blood answers more easily than ever. Their mercy, protection, sacrifice, and love have saved lives — but they have also left wounds behind.
When shadowy Mists close around a district of Baldur’s Gate, the city itself becomes a custom Domain of Dread: The Dread Gates.
Inside, real Baldurians are trapped. The streets twist into thresholds, tombs, roots, accusations, and impossible choices. The domain does not merely haunt those who enter. It interprets them.
Two figures rule the horror from within: the Dreadbounds. They do not know the names they once carried, but they are made from old consequences. One is bound to Maeril’s threshold choice: a girl consumed so another could live. The other is bound to Rishi’s mercy: a protector left buried so many others might survive.
A Sigil-born witness, Orentha Vale, is drawn into the Mists with a deck that becomes Tarokka in her hands. She may be the only one lucid enough to help Rishi and Maeril understand what The Dread Gates are doing to them — and what they must remain, if they are not to become the final monsters of their own story.
The Dread Gates is not a journey to a distant nightmare. It is Baldur’s Gate itself becoming a place of dread, memory, and judgment.
And when the Mists lift, the city will remember.
Inspired by Ravenloft: The Horrors Within
The Dread Gates is an unofficial, noncommercial Dungeons & Dragons fan-fiction homage inspired by Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.
The official book is available on D&D Beyond:
This story is not a replacement for the official source. It is a fan-made response to it: one more love letter to Dungeons & Dragons, the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, and the strange joy of watching a beloved game open a new door.