Session 48 & 49
General Summary
Guardians of the Gulthias
Octyavr 1st
(4:00 PM)
Frosty Flight- Experimenting with the brown mold for a bit it is discovered that it is reactive to heat, growing quickly and the cold effect only grows painfully stronger.
- It is decided to retrieve the wooden box since the secret entrance to the winery's cellar is down the mold choked corridor and the area around the wooden box at the end of the 15 ft. tunnel has no mold near it.
- Ozan begins to lift into the air in this dimly lit space and carefully maneuvers his way, tunneling as carefully as possible without touching or getting too near the mold and retrieves the box.
- While he is there the pendant he purchased from Dragomir begins to pulsate to the rythym of a human heart, alerting him to a presence nearby.
- Opening the box, they find that it contains three winter wolves teeth, each of which are six inches long, cold to the touch, and carved with intricate runic inscriptions.
- Ilyson, familar with the runes, with the aid of some of the more arcane-focused party members, discerns the nature of these teeth and their use as cold-based magic items (check the reward section for more info).
- The party moves forward with the teeth held out in front and watch the brown mold wither away and desiccate into dust. The secret stone door is located at the end of the corridor.
- Discussions are had about how to infiltrate the cellar: stealth or strength.
- Initial forays peeking into the room reveal:
Wooden pillars and beams support the ten-foot-high ceiling of this unseasonably warm cellar, which is split in two by a five-foot-thick brick wall. A thick, humid mist curls across the floor, which is criss-crossed by tiny black roots. Each half of the cellar features an eight-foot tall wooden partition that doubles as a wine rack. The western rack stands empty, but the eastern one is half-filled with wine bottles. Both racks are covered by a thick, choking tangle of vines, interwoven with strands of green ivy bearing blood-red spots and sharp, wicked thorns.
- Verce decides upon a new tactic and walks purposefully into the cellar and spies several silhouettes move behind the eastern wine storage—including one wearing a full headress cheifly made from a rack of antlers. His beard painted with red fang-like designs.
- "I have come to talk to you about our lord and saviour, Argynvost...peace, friend"
- The druid was having none of it, he was caught surprised in the midst of searching for something with the aid of a few menacing looking blights with long, sharp, needle-like thorns covering their bodies.
- Hopelessly bashing his staff against the paladin's armor, while the blights began to release their "quills" at great speed.
- His hand forced towards corrective action, Verce led his merry band to quickly dispatch these interlopers, just not quick enough to avoid the druid letting loose a destructive spell that deafeningly thundered through the cellar, destroying a rack of full wine bottles in the process.
- A lesson was also learned about the vines interwoven through some of the space, a grasping cutting variety of nastiness known as razorvine is best to be given a wide berth.
- Inspecting the black roots covering the floor and some of the walls, Rumex easily discerns that they appear to be originating from the upper floors of the winery.
- The air grows steadily warmer as the party approach the upper floors from different directions, their boots treading softly across the soft, supple bed of black roots that cascade across the stairs.
- As they approach the first landing, the silence is pierced by a haunting, desperate scream, which is followed soon after by the rustling of many feathers.
- The scream originates from the large room containing the winery’s fermenation vats.
The Raven's InterrogationThe rich smell of fermenting wine fills this large, two-story chamber, which is dominated by four enormous wooden casks, each one eight feet wide and twelve feet tall. A wooden staircase in the center of the room climbs to a ten-foot-high wooden balcony that clings to the south wall, which has four windows set into it at balcony level.
Stacked against the wall underneath the balcony are old, empty barrels with "The Wizard of Wines" burned into their sides. The balcony climbs another five feet as it continues along the west and east walls, ending at doors leading to the winery's upper level. Underneath these side balconies are several doors, some of which hang open.
Beneath the sloping roof stretch thick rafters, from which hang six wooden cages arranged side-by-side. Each cage holds more than a dozen ravens crammed together, with little space to move or breathe. Most of the ravens bear cuts or broken beaks, and all of them are missing feathers.
A wild-looking female figure stands on the western balcony beside the leftmost cage, surrounded by a swarm of nearly two-dozen small, twiglike creatures. She holds a long, gnarled wand in her hand, and wears a gown made of animal skins and a headdress with goat horns. Two twiglike creatures, slightly larger than the others, cling to the sides of the wooden cage before her, their sharp, pointed arms pushed through the bars of the cage.
The woman nods, and the creatures pierce the sides of a battered-looking raven, which screams again in helpless agony.
- The party, remaining undetected, can hear the druid speak to the battered raven with a series of caws and clicks.
- Rumex who uses magic to understand the speech of ravens hears the following conversation:
The druid hisses. “Where is it?" she asks. “Give it up, and your torment will end." The raven cackles weakly, blood dripping from the corkscrew wounds upon its breast. “The thing you seek was lost long ago. You will never find it." The druid snarls, baring her teeth. “Liar!" She turns to the twig creatures and speaks two words in a strange language. The creatures incline their heads, then turn to pierce the raven’s sides again. Ilyson, recognizes the druids’ words as: “Hurt him."Holding Out For a Hero
- Verce wastes no time on talk, he secretly cats hold person from behind one of the fermentation vats, hidden from view underneath the balcony.
- Rumex, peeking from behind his fortuitously discovered vantage point, notices the change in posture of the druid and quickly acts, slipping his poisoned dagger into the base of the druids neck, killing her instantly...he hurriedly closes the door so as not to alert her arborial minions.
- Verce springs above the fermentation vat in front of him exhaling his radiant breath, thinning the herd of twig blights on the balcony beneath the trapped ravens and striking a blow to one of the torturous elder blights on the cage above him.
- Rumex and company shove their door open, pushing the druids body out of the way and join the fray, attacking from a flanking position...the battle is not easy but time spent together allows the heroes to get a bit more synergistic with their tactics and are able to bring this skirmish to a relatively painless conclusion...for now.
- Seemingly oblivious to the ensuing chaos brewing mere feet above his head, our favorite mischevious warlock discovers that the wood of this vat bulges out around a badly dented spigot, the splintered wood straining against the weight of the contents within. A thin line of red, sweet-smelling wine leaks from a small gap where the spigot meets the wood, pooling on the ground two feet below.
- Vincenzo drinks some more...and is interrupted by most of the remaining twig blights who have leapt to the ground floor next to him
- In a burst of inspiration, Vince smashes the weakened wood around the spigot releasing a torrent of wine that sends both the tiny creatures and himself crashing into the northern wall.
- Slipping and sliding Vince tries opening a series of doors on the northern wall looking for escape from the pursuing creatures, he finds one door unlocked and attempts to slip inside but the creatures are too close, he wildly swings an enflamed fist at them, missing wildly and promptly punches the wall, setting it alight (despite Davian's warning).
- He spots a stone spiral staircase and makes his way up, while he is...um...skipping? Is he skipping?! The blights continue their pursuit.
- At the top of the landing, he unleashes Eldritch Blasts to do away with the remaining pursuing blights.
- Both Rumex and Ozan see the explosion of flames against the ground floor walls and make a beeline for it, knowing what danger lies in ingnoring the quickly spreading blaze.
- Rumex rushes in to where he saw the warlock disappear and sees rows of new barrels filling this room. This must be where Davian said his secret stash was...he quickly smashes down an adjoining door to help abate the spread of the flames.
- Ozan splits open another fermentation vat and directs the spouting jets of wine (which he correctly surmised aren't alcoholic enough to be flammable) onto the burning walls and eventually douses the flames.
- Rumex takes a quick survey of his surroundings, getting a lay of the land and quickly locates the hidden cache.
- The barrel in the northwest corner is visibly older than the others, with darker wood, a rusted metal band, and cracks and chips across its surface. It contains three potions of a thick shimmering red liquid, a folded paper packet of dust, and a pouch containing 75 gp.
- A banging crash is heard from the second floor through the door which Rumex and company entered.
- Verce goes to check it out, followed by the rest of the party sans Vince.
- He sees an open door at the end of a hallway from which a vine blight (of the variety encountered from the spiked pit trap down the road) emerges.
- He also spies another druid (and more slithering forms of vine blights) further back in the room begin to take action and ready an encantation.
- Reacting swiftly, the paladin mutters a quick enchantment of his own, attempting to suppress strong emotions of this combatant and avoid further bloodshed. It works, better than expected, as even the vine blights halt their advance and seem confused without the direction of the druid.
- One of the blights tentatively reaches forth an inquisitive appendage and slowly searches the form of Verce as he holds his ground, contemplating his next move.
- It is at this moment that the blight erupts in arcane purplish, black energy consumes its body and it is slammed into the wall beside him, having succumbed to Vincenzo's eldritch power.
- The druid is shaken from his forced peacefulness and rushes into the hallway blasting Vincenzo with a sobering Thunderwave that wrecks the hallway and almost knocks him prone.
- Verce with the rest of the party in tow quickly leap into action and mop up this secondary force before too much damage is done.
- The party makes a quick perusal of the rooms along this hallway before returning to the captive ravens.
- Within he chamber from which the druid exited are a desk, a chair, a tall wooden cabinet, and a strange contraption that takes up most of the northern end of the room. Upon further inspection it appears to be a printing press, which the Martikovs must use to make wine bottle labels. The ink is made from wine and stored in bottles in the cabinet, along with pieces of parchment and jars of glue.
- Searching another room reveals two pairs of bunk beds in an apparent sleeping quarter. Against the west wall rest four identical footlockers. A few toys are scattered about. One of the toys seems to resemble a child's wooden rocking horse, except that the horse is black with wild eyes and has painted orange flames where its mane, tail, and hooves should be. Carved into the wooden nightmare is the name "Beucephalus" and, in smaller lettering, the slogan "Is No Fun, Is No Blinsky!" The footlockers contain clothing and personal belongings, but nothing of value.
- A combination kitchen/dining room contains a rectangular table surrounded by eight chairs, an L-shaped cupboard, and a floor-to-ceiling closet pantry. Next to the pantry is a small iron stove. The cupboard holds dishware and eating utensils. The pantry holds cooking ingredients and the winery's stores.
- A master bedroom contains a four-poster bed, its headboard carved in the likeness of a giant raven. A soft black rug covers the floor between the bed and the door. In the corners of the south wall stand two slender wardrobes with a tapestry of a church hanging on the wall between them. Beneath the tapestry sits a handsomely carved rocking cradle. To the north, under a window, is a plain desk and chair. Other furnishings include a wooden chest and a freestanding mirror in a wooden frame.
One of the wardrobes contains a woman's clothes, and the other contains more masculine attire. The desk holds manifests recording wine shipments for the past century. A cursory examination of recent records reveals that almost all shipments are made to the following locations: "BV" "BW" "K" "VISTANI" Checking the oldest records also find entries for "S". The wooden chest is locked. The key was found in a hidden compartment in one of the bedposts after Vince searches the bed and noticed that a knob on the bedpost was loose and could be removed. Inside the chest were 50 gp, 270 ep (each electrum coin stamped with the profiled visage of Strahd von Zarovich), and 350 sp. A secret compartment in the lid was discovered, inside was a gold locket containing a painted portrait of a beautiful woman, as well as a pouch containing five 50 gp gemstones.Bird Talk
- Rumex, who can still understand the Ravens speak attempts to discern exactly what was happening here, although he is unsure of the accuracy of this particular raven's tale, due to exhaustion, being tortured and the fact that even though it is relatively intelligent, it's still just a fuckin' bird.
- The birds are freed and promise that they will do what they can to aid the party as there are more dangers lurking beyond the barred doors in the eastern side of the winery.
- Here are snippets of "knowledge" that Rumex gleaned (Insight tells Rumex that the perspective of this info seems wonky):
The druid who was torturing him was named Silvia The Forest Folk have come from Yester Hill to the south, which lies beside the Whispering Wall. The Forest Folk have a long enmity with the ravens of the winery and their masters, the “feathered ones," whose ancient service to “the Shadowed Lord" inspired the name and sigil of Castle Ravenloft. The “feathered ones" have powerful magic here—magic that the Forest Folk seek to restore to its rightful place. A magic seed of sorts. Silvia is torturing us because it is a servant of the “feathered ones," and therefore knows where the magic seed may be kept. The Forest Folk have allied with the “witch of the swamp," whose flying servants are called “strix." The witch despises ravens and resents the authority of Castle Ravenloft.A Quick Rest
- The party decides to take five and catch their breath before they tarry on
- ....and that is where we will end for the night!
Rewards Granted
Winter Wolves Teeth
Dust of Disappearance
three potions of a thick shimmering red liquid (unidentified as of yet)
a pouch containing 75 gp
50 gp
270 ep (each electrum coin stamped with the profiled visage of Strahd von Zarovich)
350 sp
a gold locket containing a painted portrait of a beautiful woman
a pouch containing five 50 gp gemstones.[50 Gold Star rose quartz (translucent rosy stone with white star-shaped center 50 Gold Moonstone (translucent white with pale blue glow 50 Gold Quartz (smoky gray 50 Gold Quartz (transparent white 50 Gold Chrysoprase (translucent green)]
Wizard of Wines
Wine Cellar
Winery 1st Floor
Winery 2nd Floor
Report Date
06 Jul 2024
Primary Location
Druid Assailant
Needle Blight
Vine Blight
Druid Naturalist
Twig Blight Swarm
Twig Blight Elder
Swarm of Ravens
Winter Wolves Teeth
