Session 15 : Curiosity Kills
If this was true, then at this very moment Destiny would be the one who is alone in the wine cellar of the Wizard's of Wine, ambushed by three giant tree-like creatures with half a dozen more coming from behind the wine racks.
Of course, whoever coined this sage saying didn’t know Destiny. Hoskgak, on the other hand knows Destiny only too well, and if anyone asked him what happened here, he would say, “Curiosity killed Watch.”
****
“Aren’t you even a little curious what’s in the basement, Watch?” pesters Destiny, “We’ve searched the whole house and all we found is some poisoned wine.”
“Well now, didn’t you also find that beautiful +1 cooking pan? It’s even pre-coated with grease! I bet even you can cook well with that pan.” Watch says sarcastically.
“What’s a +1 cooking pan? Oh never mind. I know it’s just a cooking pan, Watch. I told you, it’s metal and metal is worth something. Anyway, there must be more secrets to this winery. Why else did the Druids take over this place. I bet the answer lies behind that door. Hoskgak, what do you think?”
Hoskgak places an ear on the door as if to listen for sound. “Erm, dangerous. Hoskgak no go. Cat curious, cat go.”
“Oh come on Hoskgak! I bet it’s really safe in there. Besides, we will be right behind you.” Destiny pleads as Hoskgak ignores her.
“Damn it! Fine, I’ll go then.” Destiny grunts as she puts two fingers on either side of her temples. Her eyes close as she sees through Watch’s eyes.
“Watch, go through the door.”
“What? How is me doing this the same as you going yourself?”
“I am doing it through you, silly, we are a team! Partners forever! Don’t worry, if there’s any danger, I’ll just dismiss you. And oh, stay invisible.”
“You know these walking tree things can see through invisibility, right?”
“Yes of course, but just in case it helps.”
“Destiny, there’s another way down from here.” Serenity calls out, pointing out a spiral ramp at the far end of the building. It looks like a ramp to roll wine barrels down. “Perhaps Watch can fly down here without making too much noise?”
“Good idea. Watch, do what she says.”
As always, Watch is compelled to obey, and as always he does so reluctantly.
At first glance, the cellar looks as expected, racks of wine with a large partition in the middle dividing the room in half. There seems to be a second connected room at the far end of a similar layout. To Watch's left is a door.
“That must be the door Hoskgak is standing behind. Open it so we can come in.”
Just as Watch inspects the door, a twig-like dart flies past Watch and embeds itself in the door with a loud thud. Watch spins around to find that he’s surrounded by three tree blights that have emerged from behind the partition. He can see one of the larger blights is about to throw something large, sharp and pointy at him. His mis-shaped little face contorts, revealing his tiny fangs and the pupils of his yellow eyes widen.
“Mistress! Get me out of here, NOW!”
“He’s gone! I can’t feel him any longer. They killed him!” Destiny cries, sobbing.
“How many of them are there? Can we defeat them?” Serenity responds, concerned.
“Only three of those tree things we saw outside. We have to go down, may be I can still save Watch if I can find his body.”
Serenity quickly calls out a plan, “Ok, we attack from multiple fronts. Ireena and I will go down the ramp. Destiny, you take the left stairs at the far end. Hoskgak, you go through this middle door.”
And so the party storms the basement of the Wizard's of Wine. So brave, so heroic... or so they thought.
Hoskgak is the first to arrive at the scene. He finds not only the tree blights, but also a moss covered druid. He lunges straight for him, splitting the Druid’s torso asunder with his great sword. One down. Meanwhile, Serenity punches and flips her way through the blights as if they are nothing more than inconvenient twigs in her path.
But then, more tree blights start to appear, as if from nowhere. A second Druid with an evil-looking blackened staff appears and casts a magical fog filling the basement, blinding everyone within it. Destiny can hear the crackles of wood from within the fog, almost as if more blights are being created.
“Run! We can’t see them, but those blights can see us. We’ll be slaughtered here. Back upstairs!” Serenity shouts.
***
And so it was, our once-heroic heroes find themselves barricaded in a small back room in the Wizard's of Wine. On the other side of the barricaded door are tree blights, scratching and thumping, trying to get in. Next to them is a small stair with a closed door at the bottom landing, which opens to the basement. A faint fog seeps under the door.
The barricade cracks loudly as the blights ram it again. Serenity glances at it and calls out, “It won’t hold much longer. We have go back into the basement, find that Druid with the black staff and finish him. Maybe killing him will stop the blights. We can't stay here.”
“Fog in basement, can’t see, we will died. Bad plan.” Hoskgak says what is also on Destiny’s mind.
“We have no choice, we stay here, we die. Hoskgak, it has to be you first down the stairs since you’re the strongest of us all. We’ll be right behind you. We charge down, then fan out, find the Druid and kill him.” Serenity instructs urgently.
And so for one final time our heroes ready themselves to storm the basement, wounded, blinded and hopeless. For the first time since being in Barovia, Destiny fears for her life.
Charge!
***
Standing at the back of the winery, Destiny makes a little mound out of rocks and puts a wooden cross on it. She never did find Watch’s body. A badly wounded Ireena and Serenity stand by Destiny, opposite them stands Hoskgak, who is looking a little uncomfortable with this little ceremony.“Watch, we have avenged you. We nearly died, actually Ireena kind of did, but we killed the druid just in time, broke his staff and all the tree things went with it. The winery is safe now, we finished our job. So long my little friend. I will miss your mis-shaped little face, with those tiny fangs and yellow eyes. I will see you again in a different life.”
Serenity raises her eyebrow and turns to Destiny as if to say something, but Destiny continues.
“I will miss our evening chats, your love for pies. I will miss you so, so much. Oh, how can I live without you... I should have never made you go in there, it should have been me! I’m so sorry Watch. How can I... how can I continue?”, Destiny’s voice suddenly becomes unsteady as tears starts to well up in her eyes.
“Er... Destiny?” Serenity finally interrupts, “you do know familiars don’t die, right? They simply disappear until you summon them again. We just need to get you the right ingredients, maybe we can buy some in Krezk.”
Destiny blinks.
“You mean Watch can eat pies again?”
“Well, I suppose so, yes. But...”
“Then we must do more jobs, find more treasure and get lots of ingredients. This way, Watch can die again and again, and I’ll just bring him back. Can you imagine how happy he will be when I tell him that? Oh Watch, I can’t wait to see your ugly little face again.”
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