Curse of Strahd: Wizard of Wines Winery

"If this is what their vineyards look like, it's no wonder this place hasn't made its scheduled delivery." A forlorn look played over Joslyn's face as she looked at the dry, desiccated vines that seemed to spread for miles over the depressing fields. "If this is what my crops looked like at home, my family would be ruined... but... we can't even get home, can we?"

"Not since we got stuck in this accursed land of Barovia," remarked Brother Owen Longmire, his warhammer hanging next to his holy symbol at the belt of his heavy armor. But then he tried his best at a reassuring smile and placed a hand on the young farm girl's shoulder. "But while we're here, we have to make the best of it. And to do that, we have to get into the city of Kresk."

"And they won't let us into Kresk until we pick up the scheduled delivery of wine from the Wizard of Wines Winery," wrapped up Perri Hopter, a wizard himself, of the gnome variety. "Which, according to the posted signs, looks like it's this way..." As he spoke, a large two-story building came into view on the hilltop ahead.

"Wait! What's that?" The keen eyes of Mia the rogue spotted something and signaled the party to halt. "There's a man hiding in the bushes over there."

The rustling of a few leaves revealed an old man dressed in work clothes sneaking around in the underbrush off the road. But instead of running in fear from the group of seasoned adventurers, the man beckoned them over.

"Looks like he wants us to come say hello," smirked Ken the barbarian. "Let's go give him what he wants."

"Zis way, huhrry!" the man beckoned in his thick Barovian accent. "It izn't safe to trhavel to ze vueinery!"

"What do you know about the winery, old man?" barked Ken, placing his hands threateningly on the swords at his side. "Spill it, or we'll beat it out of you!"

"Zere is no need for zat, my fhriend," said the man, throwing up his hands in surrender, but still holding on to a curious air of pride. "My name is Davian Martikov, and my family operates ze Vizard of Vueines Vueinery. Or, vee did until it vas taken over... by evil druids!"

"Oh yeah?" responded the Barbarian cockily, "Well, my name is Ken Barbie -- I actually took my wife's last name when we were married, Barbara Barbie, she was a wonderful woman, Gods rest her soul -- and I ain't afraid of no druids!"

"How many are there?" asked Mia, getting down to business in her usual way.

"Perhaps as many as a dozen," replied Davian.

"A dozen?" An incredulous Ken raised an eyebrow skeptically, his hands moving from his sword hilts to his hips.

Davian looked around nervously. "Vell, at least half a dozen. I couldn't exactly tell."

"Not to worry!" boomed Brother Owen, using his encouraging hand on the shoulder of his new friend. "We can clear out a dozen druids if need be. Nature mages are generally pretty squishy."

"Yes, but zeese druids vere using ze very power of ze land against us!" continued Davian spookily. "They summoned scores of blights and ve vere overrun."

"Blights?" ventured Joslyn, her wide eyes betraying fear and lack of experience.

"Nasty, twiggy, planty monsters," explained Davian. "But zey're power is in zeir numbers only - you can cut zhrough zeese blights like paper."

"But druids and blights aside," interjected Perri, "our business is to fulfill your promised wine delivery to the city of Kresk. If we can return control of your vineyard to you, how long before you can start producing wine again?"

"Oh, ze barrels of vuine for ze delivery are ready to go," explained Davian. "Ve had just finished loading zem on ze cart vhen ve vere attacked."

"Perfect, so all we need to do is grab the cart and we'll be on our way!" suggested Ken, as he started across the fields.

"But what about the druids?" asked an increasingly concerned Joslyn. "They are preventing the supply of wine to this whole valley. We should eradicate them and restore order."

"Joslyn, look around you," offered Ken. "Have you seen this valley? Freezing mist everywhere, haunted houses, creepy dolls... a vampire overlord? This place is beyond saving. Let's just get the wine and move on. Unless..." Ken did his best to turn a charming glance at Davian. "If there's something in it for us, we might consider helping you out."

A look of indignation came over Davian's face. "Zeese foul druids have taken over my family's home and forced us out into the woods! Vhat reward can I be expected to offer you in my condition?" He held out his hands to his sides, revealing his dilapidated clothes. "If you vould vish to rob me as vell, you are velcome to vhat I have."

"Rob you? Now wait just a minute!" fumed Ken as he approached Davian. "If you want us to risk our lives cleaning up your mess, we're just talking about payment for services rendered. I don't know how your wine business survived if this is how you go about negotiation, but you can't expect us to just..."

"What my friend means to say," interrupted Joslyn, "is that we will be happy to deal with your problem, for free, for the good of the valley." She positioned herself between the two arguing parties and led the hotheaded warrior away towards the house on the hill. "Come along now, Ken."

"For the record, that's not what I meant at all!" shouted Ken over his shoulder, as the party disappeared into the mist.

===

"You're sure Iriyena will be safe at this lake you spoke aboout?" asked Khralis the dwarf cleric in a hushed tone.

"Oh yes, quite safe," replied Ricktavio, his half-elf companion. "Us bards have secret hiding places all over the valley."

"Tha's good," replied Khralis, taking a look over his shoulder to make sure his charge was out of earshot. "I didn'a much like that business in Valakee with the dolls that looked like her, y'know? Not a good situation for someone who's trying to remain incognito. I just hope me' partners can get that wine back to Kresk quickly - the sooner we've settled ourselves in the town, the better."

"I'm sure they will prove successful," encouraged Ricktavio. "But you really should have gone with them, master dwarf. I assure you that I am capable of protecting Iriyena on my own."

"Ach, it's no trouble a'tall," waved off Khralis, trying his best not to act nervous. "And, y'know, all that wine... There's no need for me ta be around all that... sweet tempting... " Khralis clasped his holy symbol while taking a deep instinctive draught from his waterskin.

Ricktavio shot Khralis a knowing glance. "Well, now that you mention it, I'm glad to have a cleric with such a measure of devotion at my side in case anything does go awry... Ah! Here we are. We'll be quite safe here, I assure you."

===

"There's the loading dock, to the north," pointed out Mia from the party's hiding place near the well and the outhouse. "The wine is all loaded up, just like Davian said. I can't see any movement inside the house."

"Looks like the coast is clear then," said Ken, bounding out into the field. "Let's grab this cart and get out of here!"

"I really think we should explore the main house before we go after the wine," suggested Joslyn, as the rest of the party followed the headstrong barbarian. "These evildoers have to be stopped for the good of everyone in this valley."

"There you go again with that self-righteous holy warrior talk!" dismissed Ken. "Can we just stick to one mission here without getting sidetracked all the time?"

"I'm with Ken," agreed Mia. "Our responsibility now is not to everyone in the valley, it's to Iriyena, who we've gone great lengths to protect on this journey. If we get ourselves killed by a bunch of random druids before we can deliver her to safety, what good can we do for anyone else?"

"On the other hand, Ken," Brother Owen shot a glance to his longtime traveling companion. "You wouldn't want to spend the rest of your time in Barovia with no wine supply, would you?"

"Listen, if it takes us longer to get out of Barovia than it takes us to consume three barrels of wine, getting drunk will be the least of our problems!" rejoined Ken as he reached the front of the loading dock.

"Okay, we can start with the cart," conceded Joslyn. "But I don't like the looks of this situation. We haven't seen any sign of these druids and we..."

"Uh, fellows," offered Perri. "Care to take a look at the vines?"

The adventurers looked and saw the same dry, desiccated plants as before, but now they were moving across the field! Five clumps of man-high creatures that seemed to be made out of twigs suddenly became animated and were chasing our heroes towards the house.

"Uh, I think we should probably get inside the house!" yelled Joslyn, clutching her newly acquired holy symbol as a shimmering field appeared and surrounded her with protective magic.

"I'm on it," cried Mia, bounding up the front steps. The lock on the door fell easily to her expertise with thieves' tools, but when she tried to push the door open, it wouldn't budge. "Ugh, it's no good! Barred from the inside!"

"The druids must have set a trap for us!" reasoned Ken with grim determination. "We'll have to fight our way out. Cover me!"

"Cover you? What..." But it was too late for Joslyn's protestations: Ken had already grabbed ahold of the wine-laden cart and tried to pull with all his might, just as the first wave of blights crested the low hill in front of the winery. But for all the barbarian's macho straining, he couldn't get the cart to budge.

"Oh man, I must still be kind of groggy from when I ate that dream pastry right before bed the other night and it kept me from sleeping," sighed Ken, as the blights advanced threateningly close. "And from when I got knocked unconscious by the pack of dire wolves that ambushed us on the way to Valakee yesterday. And..."

"Not to worry, comrade," interrupted Brother Owen, jumping down into the loading dock. "We will fight these abominations together!" The cleric's warhammer came crashing down on the nearest twig blight, but despite quite a forceful blow, the plant remained upright and aggressive.

"Paper, huh?" screamed Ken as he flew into a murderous rage. "I don't know what kind of arts and crafts supplies this Davian is familiar with," quipped Ken, as a slash from his dual swords failed to bring down another blight, "but these things are more like steel than paper!"

"We've got to find another way in!" cried Perri as the next wave of blights advanced ever closer.

"This way," pointed Joslyn, who appeared to have found a path. "Around the cart and to the right!"

"Go check it out, we'll cover you!" shouted Mia, as her friends stormed down the hallway. The rogue took cover behind the wine barrels and hurled a magical mote of fire at one of the nearest blights, which also failed to go down.

The first wave of blights continued clashing with Ken and Brother Owen, but the farther group did not advance. Instead, they thrust out their branchy protrusions, out of which a flurry of thorny needles flew through the air, puncturing the three exposed adventurers like so many leaf-fletched arrows.

"Great, now they have ranged attacks?" remarked Brother Owen, finally smashing the nearest blight to smithereens with his warhammer. "Their thorns will blot out the sun!"

"Then we will do yard work in the shade!" rejoined Ken, who sliced up his blight with his swords as more blights appeared on the horizon.

===

Meanwhile, what Joslyn and Perri saw when they opened the double doors leading to the main building was little better than the situation outside. Taking up most of the room were three large vats, presumably designed to hold wine. Above them in the rafters, sat a rather large flock of ravens, regarding the room dispassionately. More concerning was the fact that this room also contained twig blights skittering across the floor, although each individual creature was about half the size of the ones outside.

But the most troubling presence in the room was a wild-haired woman, standing on a catwalk above the vats, pouring a bottle of syrupy liquid into one of the open ones. When our heroes entered the room, she snapped her attention to the door, pulled out a quarterstaff that immediately began to magically transform into a giant thorny cudgel, and charged, the baby blights moving along with her.

Joslyn quickly closed the doors and put her back to them. "No good!" she shouted to the party. "More blights and a druid in there. Why don't we check upstairs?"

"Get to the high ground, good idea!" agreed Perri, as he made his way to the left of the doors towards a large spiral staircase that led both up to the second story and down to the cellar. But as soon as he made it to the top, he spotted another druid, this one with flaming red hair and a scraggly beard, desperately clutching a black wooden staff. "Eep!" piped Perri. "There's another one up here!"

"Perri!" shouted Joslyn, as she charged up the stairs to help her diminutive companion.

===

TEMP IMAGE OF BROTHER OWEN

"So Joslyn found the druids in the house," repeated Mia, as the second wave of blights entered the melee. "Just as we feared, there's nowhere to make a stand."

"Maybe, but I'd rather try my luck with them than with this damned horde!" cried Brother Owen, as the next group of blights lined for another volley.

"Screw it, we stand our ground!" shouted Ken, swinging wildly while getting pierced by more flying thorns. "We have to protect the wine barrels!"

"Ken, our lives are more important than this wine!" counseled Brother Owen. "I'm taking you inside now!"

"Go, I can cover you!" yelled Mia. "Once we're all in the hallway, we can barricade the door leading to the loading dock and... AUGH!" But Mia's strategizing was cut short by another volley of thorns that brought her to her knees.

"No, you'll never make it like that," reassured Brother Owen as he spoke a word of healing to bind Mia's wounds. "You go first. Get inside and stay safe. We'll be right behind you."

"Thank you, Brother Owen," said Mia warmly, as she sprang into the hallway. "Perhaps we can make our stand in the cellar..." And down the spiral stairs went Mia, just as Perri and Joslyn went in the opposite direction.

===

TEMP IMAGE OF KEN BARBIE

"Now it's our turn, comrade," said Brother Owen to Ken Barbie as the two stood back to back, desperately hacking at the ever-increasing group of blights. "Get inside! They are too many!"

"Screw that, we can take 'em!" raged Ken as he downed another blight. "These twigs will never drop me!" But no sooner did he finish his boast then the last two groups of blights unleashed their hail of thorns. A cacophony of sickening thuds as the needles sunk into the cart, the barrels, and back wall mixed with the sound of tearing armor and rending flesh as both adventurers felt the sting.

"Enough of this! It's suicide to stay out here! You have to get inside!" implored Brother Owen. "If not for yourself or me... do it for Barbara's memory."

The look of rage in Ken's eyes subsided and turned to a mix of sadness and pure exhaustion. He solemnly nodded at his companion and the two of them turned into the hallway. But just as Brother Owen turned around to try and close the door to the loading dock against the oncoming horde of blights, the double doors to the room with the vats burst open and the wild-haired druidess leapt into the hallway. Seeing two new enemies approaching to her left, she took a deep breath and opened her mouth as if to let out a wild shriek. But instead of her voice, a thunderous boom emanated from the spellcaster's mouth, accompanied by a wave of force that staggered Brother Owen and pushed Ken ten feet back into the loading dock. Ken's head cracked painfully against the cart, and he slumped to the ground, just as the blights started to overwhelm him.

"Ken!" shrieked Brother Owen, as he charged back into the fray. "I'm here for you..." But just then, another volley of thorns filled the sky and pierced the bold cleric's neck and chest.

Ken glanced over at his bleeding friend, then around at the approaching blights, and then finally out into the mist-shrouded sun. "My beloved Barbara... I'll be with you soon..."

The druidess watched with satisfaction as her blights finished off the two adventurers, then sprang nimbly up the stairs.

===

At the bottom of the spiral staircase, Mia noticed that the temperature dropped significantly when she entered the cellar. But that wasn't the only thing she noticed: in the middle of the cellar, which seemed to stretch the entire length of the room above, partially obscured by a large wine rack, stood a multitude of figures. Most of them looked like the large blights from outside, but one of them was clearly a human, wearing a full set of antlers, and muttering as if beginning to cast a spell. Before he could finish, however, Mia turned on her heel and started back up the stairs.

===

Meanwhile, when Joslyn reached the top of the stairs, she saw the bearded redhead druid crouching next to a large winch and pulley system, still babbling incoherently and clutching at his staff protectively. She noticed curiously that he made no move to attack either adventurer, so she decided to press the attack herself.

"Get behind me, Perri!" urged Joslyn as she interposed herself between the gnome and his enemy. But as she advanced menacingly towards the frantic druid, a disturbing sight caught Joslyn's eye. This room was situated directly above the loading dock, and most of the floor was open to allow the winch to load barrels of wine onto the cart. But at this moment, the architecture gave Joslyn a unique and terrifying vantage point into the last dying moments of Ken Barbie and Brother Owen. She watched in horror as their motionless bodies continued to be scratched and clawed by the blights.

"Ken! Owen!" she yelled, as much from shock as to inform her remaining companions what happened. "They're... they're both dead!"

But she didn't have long to process the moment as new commotion erupted behind her. Preceded by a maniacal cackle, the female druid leapt to the top of the staircase and took a vicious swing at Perri with her magically-enhanced shillelagh. As Joslyn turned and charged to the wizard's aid, Perri launched a magical attack of his own. At a word from the gnome's mouth, the confused druidess halted her attack and threw out her hands to feel around for her surroundings.

"I thought a little magical blindness would do the trick." Perri smiled back at Joslyn and stepped aside with a flourish. "She's all yours."

But Perri was wrong about that part, because just then, Mia bounded up the spiral staircase, slicing through a baby blight with her rapier on the way. Seeing a disoriented woman in front of her, swinging her staff blindly, just ahead of a furiously charging Joslyn, Mia acted fast. After making one last thrust with her rapier, causing the helpless druidess to spin around towards the source of the attack, Mia dropped down on all fours and went completely silent. At that moment, Joslyn appeared behind her enemy and pushed. Tripping over the prostrate form of Mia, the female druid tumbled down the stairs with a shriek, and collapsed to the ground with a broken neck.

===

"Now it's your turn," Joslyn muttered as she turned to glare at the babbling druid on the other side of the room. Confronted with three revenge-crazed adventurers, the redheaded druid did the only thing that made sense: he fled. With Joslyn slashing at his heels, and connecting with a swing, the druid grasped hold of the rope attached to the winch and swung down into the loading bay, the blights stepping aside to let him pass, but then resuming their attacks on the corpses of Ken and Brother Owen.

"What's he holding there?" queried Mia, also noticing the protective manner in which he coddled his curious staff.

"Who knows, but we can't let him get away with it," suggested Perri. "Quick, this way!" The gnome reached up and grabbed the handle of a door, which he was reasonably sure led to the catwalk above the vats in the large room, based on his knowledge of geometry. "We can cut off his escape this way!"

Perri burst through the door, which did in fact lead where he suspected, and saw the druid making his way across the lower floor, the ravens still perched ominously above. Tossing a powdered rhubarb leaf into the air with an arcane gesture, Perri conjured up a a shimmering green arrow that streaked toward his fleeing enemy and burst into a spray of acid. The druid shouted in agony and stumbled through the door on the far side of the room, but when Joslyn and Mia followed, they found pursuit impossible: the swarm of baby blights had climbed the steps leading up to the catwalk, preventing their progress.

"Joslyn, can you hold these things off?" asked Mia. "I'm going to see if I can recover that staff." Leaping off the catwalk, Mia deftly scampered across the vats of wine, just out of reach of the grasping baby blights. As she jumped from the last vat, she heard one final gurgle from the druid, followed by a dull thud.

As Mia rounded the corner, the blights from outside streaming in to protect their master, she came upon the acid-eaten body of the dead druid, still clutching his precious staff. As soon as Mia pried it loose and held it in her hands, she could tell it was a magical item of tremendous power: the dark spongy wood seemed to pulse with foul nature magic and the stench coming off its pale leaves turned Mia's stomach.

"Uh, Mia?" shouted Joslyn above the sound of branches scraping across the floor, "What's going on down there? We've got blights pouring in from outside now!" Mia turned to see the full-grown blights joining their half-size brethren advancing menacingly from behind. Just then, the antlered druid from the cellar burst up an identical spiral staircase on the other side of the room, putting him and his own army of blights directly in front of Mia. Surrounded on all sides and with no other options, Mia took the staff in both hands, raised it up, and brought it down hard over her knee.

When the wood cracked and splintered, it produced a deafening, otherworldly scream. The ravens squawked and flapped madly as the sound filled the room and emanated out through the fields. Time seemed to slow down for a brief second. Then with a cold gust of wind, all the blights in the room stiffened and fell to the ground, each one into a neat pile of twigs.

===

"Mia, you did it!" cried Perri, victoriously. "The blights are gone!"

The antlered druid understandably wasn't as excited. For a moment, he hopelessly sifted through the remains of one of his former allies, then turned with a look of horror at the heroes who had defeated his forces.

"YOU!" shouted Joslyn, pointing forcefully at the lone remaining druid as she and Perri raced down the stairs toward their ally. "Throw down your weapon and give up! We have no wish for any further bloodshed!"

With a panicked look in his eyes, the druid waved his hands, causing magical weeds and vines to sprout from the ground and grasp at our heroes before turning and running down the hall. Joslyn and Mia broke free and pursued, but Perri found himself restrained by the plants -- although that didn't stop him from launching a magic missile around the corner at his enemy. The projectile struck home, slowing the druid down long enough for the two charging women to close the distance and attack.

"It didn't have to be this way," pled Joslyn, hacking at the druid's knees to impede his progress as Mia dashed in front of him, blocking his escape.

"I'm glad he ran," said Mia grimly, as she plunged her rapier into the druid's neck. "This is for Ken and Owen."