Winery Resolution / 23 Rounds at Yester Hill

Blood Druid

Previously: The Gang left Vallaki yesterday morning and went to investigate the Wizard of Wines. They confronted Lady Wacther’s Henchman, who was following them, while leaving town. Four hours later they arrived at the winery, and they discovered it was full of evil Druids and Blights. The Gang just killed the final Druid and a dark, magical staff rolled out of his dead hand. The only thing left was the dozens of Needle Blights outside. Eeeasy Peeeasy.

[Yor and Moss were unable to make it to the following session]

A Short Siege of Blights

Various Gang members spied the vineyards through the second-floor curtained windows. Roos could see the silhouettes of Davian and company in the trees beyond the vineyard. He found it odd that half of the company were laying down as if resting, who could do that with all the Blights about? Skarther had claimed the Magical Staff from the dead Druid and was about to spend some time getting to know its secrets.

Thalion decided to use Find Steed to summon a mount in the Vat Room. He summoned a war horse, but it was undead despite his intentions. He named it Blinsky.

Smugly rested to recover his Ki points.

The Gang discussed fighting the Blights. They could draw the Blights into chokepoints, maybe starting at the Loading Dock, which gave Blinsky the War Horse room to move. If things got hairy, then they could retreat upstairs which had tighter chokepoints. A potential plan, but they decided to wait and see what Skarther discovered about the staff.

Skarther discovered that the Magical Staff was made from a Gulthias Tree, which is an evil tree that births Blights. This evil staff allowed the wielder to drink the life force of a victim. Being made from the Gulthias tree, its wielder would appear nonhostile to Blights. The thing was three branches held together with paste and twine. It seemed unstable and destroying it would probably cause damage that its creator never intended.

The Goblin tested his discoveries by going outside and confronting the Blights.

Were the Blights nonhostile? Yes.

Did the Blights care if I threatened to destroy the Staff? No.

Could I command the Blights? No.

One last test. Skarther planted the Gulthias Staff into the ground near the well, buried just enough to allow the Staff to stand vertically. He took five steps towards the house and turned around. The Needle Blights turned hostile and rushed towards the now staffless Goblin. Skarther fired Scorching Ray at the Staff, and it was burned to dust letting out an inhuman scream and powerful blast of wind. The Staff’s destruction forced the Goblin to take a step back and this windy scream obliterated the Blights. The siege had ended.

Druid Ambush

They walked back, Skarther munching on grapes that had been blown off the grapevines. Davian and half of his family recovered from an ambush by Druids and Berserkers. The surprise attack was aided by Druid Magic. Torn ground and scattered dead vegetive tentacles indicated multiple Entangle spells were cast under the grove of trees. Stunned folks of the Martikov Clan admitted in low tones that Stephania and her teenage son Claudiu were kidnapped.

Davian asked the Gang to rescue the mother and son and investigate Yester Hill.  He could only spare one warrior, Darsha, because the rest were needed for future attacks. He revealed that he was a were-raven, as was the rest of his family. The Martikov family has led the secretive faction of were-ravens within Barovia for hundreds of years. He vowed to provide any information he could to help defeat Strahd starting with some background, history, and a detailed map (See Footnote near the end for more). He also assured them that he could provide easy access into Krezk and that raven flocks will cooperate with them.

[There was some Q & A here between the Gang and Davian about random stuff.]

The Next Morning

The Gang awoke to a miniscule grey light appearing in the east; this is called ‘the sunrise’ in Barovia. They welcomed Darsha into their group who accompanied them in Hybrid Raven form. As they shouldered their backpacks and Thalion urged the undead warhorse Blinsky forward on the trail, a circular light brighter than the sunrise approached from the east. The outer edges were a fiery red while the center was inky black. The Gang slowly proceeded, keeping an eye on this object. The blurry form coalesced into Strahd riding a flying black horse with fiery mane, tail, and hooves. The Gang presumed that the name of this horse was Beucephalus.   

Roos beckoned Strahd closer. There was some back and forth here. Essentially, Strahd would keep his distance. He was here just to watch and learn.

Thalion got frustrated “How would he even know we’re out here!?” His question was answered with only shrugs and silence. Although it may seem ridiculous and farfetched that Strahd would know their location and general intention, there he was.

The Vampire followed them on his Night-Mare the whole way to Yester Hill, which was a ninety-minute trip. Twenty minutes before their arrival, Strahd dropped a rock with a message tied around it.

HURRY UP! THE CEREMONY IS ABOUT TO START! :D

The trail through the thick woods led to a large hill covered in dead grass crowned by a crumbling stone wall. A tall tree or statue, it was hard to tell from this distance, stood within this wall. Black Cairns of black rock encircled the hill at its mid-point. A mass of high dark clouds swirled directly above the hill. Lightning periodically struck the stone wall near the top. West of the hill was a wall of familiar fog, looking like the choking vapor when they entered Barovia several weeks ago.

Strahd flew overhead. He dropped a rock in front of them that had a message tied to it. Roos found and read the message:

YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES AND FOURTY TWO SECONDS BEFORE HELL UPROOTS ITSELF. THE TIMER STARTS WHEN YOU FINISH THIS MESSAGE :(

A Wild Ride and Sketchy Math

Roos hopped on behind Thalion onto his undead steed, the Paladin then scooped up the Goblin Skarther, and the three of them galloped up the hill to a large break in the crumbling wall on the hill with a “HeeYA! Blinsky!” from Thalion. That left Smugly the speedy Monk and Darsha the low flying Were-Raven to lag incrementally behind the mounted trio. This scattered approach from the party forced the DM to track several extra elements and perform an algebraic word problem in his head involving 5e Movement rules for which he was deeply… unappreciative (see Math Problem at the end for a chance for Triple Inspiration.)

For the sake of game flow and my sanity, I hand-waved all of it down to this: Thalion, Skarther, and Roos atop Blinsky the undead War Horse arrived in 30 seconds (5 rounds); while Smugly and Darsha arrived in 42 seconds (7 rounds). In retrospect, I should’ve accounted for the time it took to get Roos and Skarther mounted on Blinksy.

The Blood Druid

Within the encircling ruined wall stood a twisted Effigy of wood and vines, resembling Strahd von Zarovich. Embedded where its heart should be, protruded the backend of a spear of black iron that continuously dripped with blood. The Effigy was grasped by foul roots sprouting from the ground and these roots permeated throughout the statue like veins. Red & black Magical energy pulsed from the roots throughout all parts of the Effigy.

On the ground in front of the effigy the trio glimpsed a woman sitting on her heels with her chin grasped by a figure clad in bloody hides behind her. The bloody figure wore a headdress of twisted antlers and held a fist-sized gem in front of the woman’s face, whispering in her ear. They saw tears streaking down her face. On the other side of the hill, beyond their field of vision, guttural screaming chants could be heard.

Strahd flew from behind, keeping his distance.

In a flash, an intrusive voice erupted in Thalion’s head. The voice was coming from the spear. “You! You are not of my domain, but I can smell your fury against the devil of this land! Tear me from this monster’s heart and wield me against these misbegotten offspring of mine— I want to taste blood again! Don’t let my soul feed this foulness!”

“We have to get that spear!” Declared Thalion.

The bloody figure turned towards Thalion, Skarther, and Roos who were mounted on Blinksy. Roos was the first to react; he hopped off and closed in on the Effigy. The lady scurried away from the man as he stood erect and cast a spell.   

The man, a Blood Druid, was a being of power and something the Gang has never encountered. He summoned a foul hedge to fill the 50-foot gap in the wall where Thalion and Skarther were still mounted on Blinsky.   Thorny, constrictive vines seized the Goblin and Human which nearly killed them. Blinsky was now scattered in bits and pieces within the foul hedge’s branches. Skarther crawled out from within the hedge and summoned his Fire Spirit. Thalion crawled out and healed himself.

Smugly and Darsha were still making their way up the hill.

Roos managed to crawl up the Effigy and unsuccessfully tried to pull the Spear out.

The Blood Druid caused the ground from beneath Skarther’s feet to erupt. This dispelled his Fire Spirit, and the Goblin was unconscious barely clinging to life.

Thalion chucked javelins with Ensnaring Strike at The Blood Druid.

Smugly and Darsha passed through a smaller gap in the wall. The Monk fed Skarther a Healing Potion, while Darsha closed in on the enemy and plinked arrows at it.

The Blood Druid unsummoned the foul hedge and called down lightning upon Roos who was holding onto the effigy. The Drow managed to survive the lightning and not lose his grip. He cast Darkness upon himself and hid.

The Blood Druid called lightning down upon Thalion who suffered some Death Rolls, then someone gave him a healing potion.

The turning point of the battle was when Darsha swooped in and scratched the Blood Druid’s eyes out. He couldn’t target his spells without his eyesight. The Gang was able to whittle him down after that and Skarther finished him with Moonbeam. Roos pulled the Spear out and Smugly took the gem from the Blood Druid. Darsha identified it as one of the Martikov Family’s gems.

The Gang reconnoitered at the other end of the encircling wall and looked down upon the other side of the hill.

They had two minutes and eighteen seconds, 23 Rounds, before all hell uprooted itself.

END SESSION

Footnote

Background and History

Wizard of Wines was created by an unknown mage over 400 years ago. The wizard fashioned three gems, each as big as a pinecone, and planted them in the soil in the WoW vineyards. These ‘seeds’ gave rise to healthy grapevines, even after Strahd’s Curse.

Strahd bequeathed the winery to the Krezkov family. Later, an arranged marriage between the Krezkovs and the Martikov family led the lands being taken over by the Martikov descendants who controlled the vineyards ever since.

The were-ravens provide the wine for free to a Barovian represenitive in each town; Blood on the Vine, Blue Water, and Burgermeister Krezkov. They also deliver to the Vistani Camp near Vallaki and Madame Eva’s Camp.

There are three known varietals: Purple Grapemash #3, Red Dragon Crush, and Champagne du le Stomp.

• Ten years ago, someone stole the Champagne gem.

• Three weeks ago, another gem was stolen after Baba Lysaga’s scarecrow attacks, and it went to Berez.

• Were-ravens went to Berez but never returned.

• Five days ago, the druids stole the third gem.

• Two Days ago, Druids returned with a horde of Blights and drove the family from their home.

• This morning, Davian and Co ambushed while Gang inside building; Stephania and her teenage son Claudiu are kidnapped by Berserkers and Druids who ambush the wereravens using Pass without Trace, entangle, hold person.

·         Without the Gems, wine production will cease after a month.

·         The poster-map attached to the Curse of Strahd hardcover is now available to the players.

Math Problem

A group wants to travel 400 feet as quickly as possible. A typical PC with a movement of 30 will travel this distance in one Minute or ten Rounds if they are moving Fast.

The trio riding the horse have a movement of 60 (group A); the low-flying Were-Raven has a movement of 50 (group B); and the speedy Monk has a movement of 40 (group C).

How long will it take A, B, and C to cover 400 feet if they are moving Fast? Solve for A, B, and C.

I’ll give Triple Inspiration for this answer.

Link to 5e movement rules Movement | D&D 5th Edition on Roll20 Compendium but I don’t think you’ll need them.