Chapter 23. Barnards log

General Summary

Seems like Davian and I got off on wrong foot, he’s a decent chap all in all. Hell, if I’d had my winery (a man can dream) overrun by walking scarecrows and stick people and bloody wild men I don’t doubt I’d be a little grumpy too!

As I write this we’re all getting some shut eye before heading off early tomorrow to scope out the Yester Hill. These past few weeks have been so bloody nonstop this is the first time I’ve managed to ket some ink and parchment to get down any of my thoughts - I miss my old notebook!

From my ‘interview’ with The Wild man and our time with Davian today there’s quite a bit to get down, so ere we go:

The Wild men self identify as druids. Only druids I ever came across were the odd funny bloke living in a swamp on is own or up a tree, but seems these fellas are more of a community making there home in a place called Yester Hill

They were sent here by some Witch they call the ‘Lady in the Swamp’ who told them about the magic seeds. Davian referred to here as Baba Iysaga. Not clear what her motives are, by all accounts she’s as old or older than Strand and they don’t see eye to eye. Suspect she was using the Wild men for her own ends, rather than being in cahoots, but that’s just the hunch of an old lawman…

The crudely carved statue goes by a few names, ‘The Ladies of the Fanes, ’The Roxana’ or ‘ladies three’. According the Davian they are ‘The wise Huntress of the forest’, ‘The reclusive weaver of the swamp’ and ‘The mystic seeker of the mountain’. He didn’t seem to think they were anything more than old stories about the old gods of thew lands told by his mother, but the wild man called them ancient demons, whom strand ‘put down’ long ago.

The druid weren’t that interested in the statue, but soon as we told him where we found it in the cold room he ran in there and started scrabbling around in the dirt talking about how the wine makers stole his people’s ancient magics and he was going to get it back and return it to the the people of the mountain. Well, poor chap, he didn’t last long before succumbing the mould or whatever it is on there that keeps it cold. Sad really, there were no need for him to die like that. Anyway Ichabod was convinced there must be something down there so got to digging, enlisting one of Davian’s men, but after hours they found diddly squat. Ichabod still seems to think there’s something down there and maybe he’s right, but we’ve got more pressing issues for the moment.

We hoped that clearing the winery would be enough to get Old Davian back to business but it seems all three of those special seeds or gems or whatever they are have now been stolen, and without those nothings gonna grow in this god forsaken place. Al and Ichabod are going to purify what’s left in the vats which should keep Davian in business for a bit, but he needs those magic seeds if Barovia is gonna be kept in wine for the foreseeable. It seems these wild men made off with the final one only 5 days prior, so we’re hoping they haven’t got it too far and we can track it down.The others went missing years ago so I don’t hold out much hope there, but you never know.

So as I say it’s Yester Hill tomorrow. We’ve been told it won’t be an easy road through the woods to get there, but given what we’ve been through recently it’s nothing we can’t handle I’m sure. Davian’s man is coming with us so that’s another pair of hands as well.

Report Date

04 Oct 2024