In Curse of Strahd, why were the Belviews transformed into mongrelfolk?

Question

In the Curse of Strahd adventure book for D&D 5e, in chapter 8, section S.14 (page 151), there's a section that reads as follows:

[The Abbot] regrets transforming the Belviews into horrid mongrelfolk.

So my question is: why would

the Abbot

transform the Belviews into mongrelfolk? I didn't see anything in the book that would answer this and I thought it was an odd thing for the authors to have included without any additional information.

Am I missing something or is there really no extra info here?

Answer 1

This is explained in Appendix D, in the character’s background section.

In Appendix D, The Character has his own section. The answer to your question is in the “Imperfections” paragraph:

Imperfections. The Abbot’s fall from grace started when the Belviews—a family of sickly, inbred lepers—came to the abbey seeking salvation. The deva rid them of their diseases, an act for which they were eternally grateful, but could not cure them of certain human defects that had been present since birth. The Abbot became consumed with a prideful, obsessive desire to rid the poor Belviews of their lingering imperfections. The Belview family, however, had strange ideas of what it meant to be perfect. They didn’t want to be ordinary humans. They wanted the eyes of a cat, wings to fly like a bat, the strength of a mule, and the guile of a snake. In short, they craved bestial traits, and the Abbot, taking pity on them, yielded to their mad desires.