The party delivers a shipment of wine to the town of Vallaki. Gydean urges Davian and Urwin to bring an end to their feud and reconcile as father and son. The heroes leave town, shortly before the Festival of the Blazing Sun begins, and head set out to retrieve a magic gem stolen from the Martikovs. But they are horrified by what they discover when they pass by the vineyard on the way to Yester Hill.

Player Characters: Barsun, Gydean, Kane, Nyr

Part 6. The Revenge of the Druids

I.
Having reclaimed the Wizard of Wines from the hands of the evil druids, Davian Martikov and his family had a new dilemma before them. Without harvesting new grapes, there would be no way to make more wine for the valley. But there was enough wine remaining to send a shipment to one of the nearby towns. The Martikovs debated whether to send their last remaining barrels of wine to the town of Vallaki or the small village of Krezk.

Krezk was a walled settlement in the northwestern corner of the valley. Its people lived a life of quiet self-sufficiency, guarding themselves against the horrors of the woods behind their tall palisades. But there were also dark stories about some of the town’s inhabitants. Rumor had it that the abbey in Krezk was inhabited by a handsome and mysterious young man who came from outside the village over a hundred years ago… and he has not aged a single day! People simply called him the Abbot, but some suspected that he might be a madman. Others whispered that he might be Strahd von Zarovich himself, the wolf keeping a hungry eye upon the sheep in the guise of the shepherd.

The heroes had come from Vallaki with a request from Davian’s son Urwin to bring wine from the vineyard. They suggested that the Martikovs send their final shipment of wine to the Blue Water Inn. They also hoped to regroup with the remainder of their party whom they thought might be looking for them in Vallaki.

Davian was reluctant at first, not because he cared more for the people of Krezk but simply because he did not care for his son. He was still angry at Urwin for the loss of one of the three magic gems over twenty years ago. Gydean urged the father not to abandon his son but to reconcile with him. Perhaps Urwin was not to blame for the loss of the gem since he was only a child at the time.

“Are you sure it’s his fault?” Gydean asked. “Perhaps some of the blame lies with you. Urwin was just a child. Talk to your son and make amends with him.”

Davian wanted to dig in his heels, but upon hearing Gydean’s words he became filled by doubt. Was this adventurer right? Had it been wrong to blame his son for his family’s misfortune for all these years?

II.
The next morning, Nyr rose early in the morning to practice shooting her crossbow, just as she had done all her life. She was surprised to see Ireena and Ismark trading some of their belongings with Davian. Ireena gave the old crow her silver locket and received two crossbows and two quivers full of bolts. Davian looked pleased as he stuffed the shiny trinket in his pocket.

Ireena and Ismark had been impressed by Nyr’s remarkable marksmanship and prowess with the crossbow. They wanted to learn from her so that they could defend themselves from the horrors of the valley. Nyr agreed to train them, and their training started immediately.

The first lesson was not easy. Using an empty wine barrel as a target, Ireena and Ismark stood side by side and shot volley after volley, many of them missing their mark by a wide margin. Nyr did not scold or berate them but calmly showed them how to improve their aim. By the end, Ireena had blisters on their hands from repeatedly loading the crossbow. Ismark looked worriedly at his sister’s sore hands, but Ireena’s face was glowing with satisfaction.

Seeing Ireena’s expression reminded Nyr of her own childhood when she first began learning to shoot the crossbow with her mentor, Terry. Nyr had begun her training as a young girl, and Terry had put her through a brutal training regimen for many years.

Terry was not a cruel mentor. He pushed Nyr to the point of breaking, knowing that she would not break but only grow stronger. Now Nyr tried to teach her new pupils all that she had learned from him.

When the rest of the party rose for breakfast and heard about the crossbows, they grew curious about Ireena’s locket. Ireena confessed that it was a mystery even to her. It was found with her when she left as an infant at her father’s doorsteps. Her father, the Burgomaster of the town of Barovia, never spoke of it, and she had never opened it. She had always imagined that it might contain a portrait of her mother, and she feared that seeing it would fill her heart with longing for a mother she could never have.

Kane and Gydean were filled with doubt. Kane offered to buy back the locket, but Ireena refused to accept it. She did not want to be a burden upon the party and insisted on paying for her own equipment.

Nevertheless, Gydean took it upon himself to steal the family heirloom back from its new owner. When Davian was distracted with matters of repairing the winery, Gydean used his art to magically remove the locket from Davian’s pocket from a distance. The old crow was none the wiser. Having so many baubles in his pocket, he could hardly tell if one was missing.

When Gydean was alone, he opened the locket. Inside, he saw the miniature portraits of an infant and a small boy. The infant, he guessed, was Ireena shortly after she was born. He could see her light of her eyes in the portrait of the newborn child. But who was this young boy beside her? There was a family resemblance that could not be dismissed. Yet the boy had no light in his eyes. Even in this tiny portrait, it was evident in his unhappy expression that he was a Barovian born without a soul.

Gydean kept his discovery to himself for the time being as the party loaded the Martikovs’ wagon with the last of the wine. Later that morning, the party set out for the town of Vallaki. But Casaba was nowhere to be found. His companions thought that he must have set out once more on goblin business and hoped he would return soon.

III

As the mist rose up around the wagon, Ireena and Ismark clutched their crossbows tightly. The wagon was pulled by two sullen draft horses that marched forward without complaint. Above them, ravens were perched on the trees on either side of the road, watching  the wagon as it passed. The heroes wondered if one of them might be a wereraven. But if they called out to them, the ravens only answered them with a caw.

In the afternoon, the party saw shadowy figures in the distance, walking toward them. They had just enough time to push the wagon off the road and hide in the woods. The imp Cespenar busily wiped away their tracks behind them. They watched from the shadows of the trees as a group of men walked past them. They looked like Barovian men, each carrying a spear as if they might be hunters. But there was a wildness to them. Their clothes were disheveled, and a strong canine musk could be discerned, even from such a distance. It was not unlike the odor on the bundle of clothes that the party had found on the road a few days ago.

The heroes watched the group pass through the fog. They waited until they were sure that the men were far enough away. Then they pushed the wagon back onto the road and continued on their way. They had not gone far when they heard the sound of wolves howling behind them. The howls were answered, and more wolves began to howl from the distant woods. The cry of the wolves began to multiply and come closer. The heroes steeled themselves against fear.

There came a flutter of wings and the caw of ravens in the trees. The voices of the  ravens began to move away, and the howls seemed to grow distant as if they were following the ravens. The party realized that the birds must have led the wolves away from the wagon. The grateful heroes took advantage of the opportunity and spurred on their horses.

When several more hours had passed, they saw the palisades around the town of Vallaki. As they passed through the western gate, they were greeted by a guard’s sullen announcement that the preparations for the Festival of the Blazing Sun were nearly complete. The main event would be held in just a day or two, when the townspeople would gather in front of the Burgomaster’s mansion and burn a wooden effigy of the sun.

The wagon arrived at the Blue Water Inn in the early evening. There was still no word from Eliza, Lemoni, and Pera. The party hoped that their companions were safe wherever they might be.

Upstairs, there was a commotion in one of the guest rooms. Clumps of tangled yarn were flung out the door. Evidently, Urwin’s wife had offered the young Stella Wachter some of her knitting implements to pass the time, but Stella had reverted to her madness. She had unraveled the balls of yarn like a playful cat and tore at the scarf Urwin’s wife had been knitting. The madam was not pleased and demanded that the party take care of the young woman they had brought to the inn. Kane used the magic of suggestion to briefly restore Stella’s sanity and sent her back to her mother’s house. The young woman cried as she left, wondering what had happened to her kind goblin prince.

Urwin was relieved at Stella’s departure, and he was even more pleased to see the shipment of wine from the vineyard. But he was troubled when he heard about the druids that had forced his family from their land. When he asked for more details about the events and the current state of the winery, Gydean urged him to contact his father and speak to him directly. Urwin initially refused, still feeling sore after all these years for being blamed by his father for the missing gem.

Gydean used his magic to put it in Urwin’s mind that perhaps he ought to reach out to his father. After all, the situation seemed dire, and there was no telling what could happen. The next conversation that Urwin had with his father, if he chose to speak to him, could be their last. Urwin fell under the effects of the suggestive spelled. He seemed to be filled with grave concern and began to write a letter at once.

Now, the heroes debated where to go next. They wanted to help the Martikovs recover one of their magic gems in order to restore their vineyard to its former abundance. They could seek out the Mad Mage of Mount Baratok or journey to the Amber Temple in the hopes that they might find the means to restore the broken gem from Berez. Or they could travel to Yester Hill and try to reclaim the magic gem that was stolen by the evil druids. They opted for the latter, fearing that an expedition to the Amber Temple and a visit to the mad mage might both be beyond their powers at the moment.

The following morning, when Urwin heard that the heroes would be setting out for Yester Hill, he asked to go with them. Urwin wanted to meet his father, and the Wizard of Wines was on the way to Yester Hill. He stayed up late into the night thinking about what he wanted to say in his letter. Then it dawned on him that he should simply go and talk to the old man face to face.

It would also be a convenient excuse to be away during the Burgomaster’s festival. Urwin warned them that they would be wise to leave early if they wished to escape the notice of the townspeople. Once it became known that the party had brought wine to Vallaki, they would be hailed heroes of the town. Then the Burgomaster, and perhaps others, would surely have their own plans for the heroes.

After unloading the last barrel of wine from the wagon, the party set out for the western road. As they passed through the west gate of Vallaki, the magic that Gydean had used on Urwin wore off. Only then did the innkeeper remember how much he truly loathed his ill-tempered father. He wondered what had compelled him to get on the wagon, but by then it was too late. The wagon was well on its way to Urwin’s ancestral home.

IV.
The party traveled west, keeping a watchful eye upon the road and hoping they would not come across any more feral men with strange odors. However, they stumbled upon a group of Vistani hunters. They were setting wolf traps in the woods and upon the road. When the hunters saw the party, they recognized Kane and greeted him by name. Kane suspected they were former drinking partners from one of his nights of carousing at a Vistani camp, but he could not remember their names.

But much to the heroes’ dismay, the hunters brought ill tidings from the Wizard of Wines. They reported hearing sounds of battle coming from the vineyard on the night after the party had set out with the wine shipment. Seeing the concern on the heroes’ faces, the hunters urged them to hurry. They wished the heroes good fortune and warned them to watch out for more wolf traps down the road.

As the heroes neared the final hill before the vineyard, they saw a lone figure standing upon the road. She looked like a druid from Yester Hill, dressed in dark furs and carrying a gnarled staff. Soon the heroes realized that she was not alone. On either side of the road, four clumps of shrubbery came to life and lurched forward, brandishing their small thorny branches like claws. The druid spoke in words that the heroes could understand.

“None may pass unless ye swear fealty to the Master of the Valley. Or ye shall share the fate of the crows and their decadent fields. Defy our Master, and ye shall reap only death.”

The heroes had no intention of submitting to anyone. They readied their weapons and spells and cut their way through the blockade. The wagon sped on, leaving the dead druid and her shattered twig blights strewn across the road.

When the wagon came over the last hill, the heroes were horrified by what they saw. The fields of grapevines had been trampled, and the winery had been destroyed. Where the wine storage room had once been, a tall dark tree stood in the center of the rubble. Urwin was distraught at the sight of his family’s home in ruins. He leaped from the wagon and ran forward, shouting for his parents like a terrified child who had lost sight of them on a dark road.

“Father! Mother! Where are you?!”

As Urwin came near to the winery, the dark tree stirred. High upon its trunk, two small hollows lit up with a green light. They seemed to stare down at the innkeeper like a pair of ravenous eyes. Then the branches swayed grotesque as the tree came to life, uprooting itself from the heap of rubble. The hideous blight upon nature crept forward with movements that were strangely similar Baba Lysaga’s animated hut at the ruins of Berez.

The heroes cried out a warning to Urwin. When the innkeeper looked up and finally saw the tree, he turned in terror and ran into the trampled grape fields.

“Father! I… I think you must be hiding in the vineyard!”

The heroes faced the gigantic tree blight in the second battle of the vineyard. Nyr and Kane assailed it with their crossbow and eldritch magic, but their attacks did little more than to leave bolts stuck in the trunk and break clumps of twigs off its branches. Beside them, Ireena and Ismark had drawn their crossbows, but they were both paralyzed with fear. While his companions attacked the tree blight, Barsun the gnome rogue stealthily climbed up the tree’s enormous trunk, hoping to find a weak point if he got a little closer.

Gydean alone stood in the path of the blight and drew his Sunsword. For the three time, a pillar of sunlight shined forth from the sword and broke through the clouds. Gydean swung the dark tree with the sword, but it seemed to have little effect upon it, as if the sword’s wrath was reserved for a foe more deserving of retribution.

Then the living tree fell upon him. Gydean was trampled beneath its monstrous roots. He felt his limbs being crushed under the weight of the tree, the jagged roots clawing into his flesh, before he lost consciousness.

By now, Barsun had scampered up to the center of the tree’s hideous trunk. He saw that a hole that had been made by one of Nyr’s well-aimed shots. Inside the hole, Barsun saw a green light shining from what looked like a large glowing gem. It looked like the magic gem found in the witch’s creeping hut at Berez!

When Barsun put his arm into the hole and reached for the gem, the hole closed around him like the maw of a voracious beast, threatening to bite off Barsun’s hand at the wrist. But the gnome was too quick. The mouth closed around nothing as the gnome’s nimble fingers pulled the gem from its cavity. When the gem was removed, the tree lurched and swayed, releasing a terrible groan like the wail of a dying beast before crumbling to the ground.

The battle was over. The heroes pulled Gydean’s mangled body from beneath the fallen tree blight and surveyed the vineyard. Everywhere they looked was a scene of utter ruin. The grapevines were crushed and trampled, and the winery had been utterly destroyed. The tree blight had even torn up the foundations of the winery with its roots. It was clear that the vineyard and the winery were beyond recovery.

In the distance, the heroes saw that Urwin had found his father in the vineyard. Davian Martikov and his family had fled at the first sight of the tree blight approaching their home. Urwin and Davian now stood together, surveying the devastation around them. Much to the surprise of the heroes and even the Martikovs themselves, the father and son held each other. They were overwhelmed by the loss of their home and the prospect of having no more wine to deliver to the valley, but their horror and despair were tempered by their reconciliation.

To be continued…