Session 14 : Twigs and wine
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Rictavio... the mystery man of knowlege. He would have us believe he is our greatest ally, sharing so much of what he knows, but keeping so many more secrets. We do not even know his real name.
Now he tells me my monastery was part of an Order of vampire slayers, that the Abbot was well known to him and also kept so many secrets from me. Did my family at the monastery know? Was being sent out by the Abbot a test? Did I fail? The more I find out, the less I know and the less I trust.
What I do know, is that we are no longer welcome in Vallaki, whichever way the political games play out, we lose. The only sanctuary there is with the Martikovs, who showed us nothing but kindness and hospitality. Yet once again, more secrets, can they really be trusted? Rictavio tells us they have secrets even he does not know and he clearly does not trust them, or apparently anyone.
So we travel to the Wizard's of Wine vineyard, home of more Martikovs, more secrets. The flow of wine in Barovia has stemmed, hopefully we can find out why. But no doubt more answers will lead to even more questions.
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"A family being attacked by twigs?", Serenity asks Destiny disbelievingly. "No doubt another Barovian trick... but we cannot leave a family in distress... here we go again."
The party charge into a clearing to find countless tiny stick blight creatures surrounding six people. As they arrive, the blights grab a child and one of the adults from the group and start to drag them off into the forest.
The blights are weak, but numerous. Serenity dashes and spins between them, stabbing with her spear, slashing with her claws, the twigs snap and shred before her. Hoskgak leaps at the tiny twigs smashing them into oblivion.
A group of blights that are about to drag a child into the undergrowth suddenly fall to sleep as Destiny weaves her powerful magic to subdue them.
Then, just as another man is being dragged away, Serenity bounds acrobatically infront of the blights and cuts them down as they pass.
Perhaps sensing its imminent defeat, a single blight dashes over to the remaining blights, still asleep from Destiny's magic, jumping on them to wake them to fight; but just as quickly as they wake, Hoskgak cuts them down.
"Davian Martikov? We've come to find out about the winery. We are here to help you", Serenity declares.
There were a lot more Martikov's than the party had expected; Davian, his two son's Adrian and Elvir, his son-in-law Dag and two grandchildren, Yolanda and Claudiu.
Davian let the party know the blights, led by corrupted druids, had overrun the winery and forced them from their home; worst of all they had captured his daughter Stephania, wife to Dag and mother to Yolanda and Claudiu. Her son Martin was also missing, feared captured too.
The blights came from the South, Yesterhill.
"We'll take the job!", Destiny yelps excitedly, "What's the payment?"
Serenity wanders away from the group to think. "To charge those in need for the privilege of being saved is not my way, but we need funds to fight the Baron and his minions or we will perish and no one will be saved...", Serenity sighs, "Destiny is right. Let's hope she doesn't take too much...".
"We go South. Kill the source.", Hoskgak looks determined.
"We need to re-take the winery first. This family has nowhere to go", Serenity insists, "First we make it safe here in case another attack comes, we need somewhere to fall back to for safety".
"Ok. Then we go South. Kill the source.", Hoskgak explains his plan again.
"Agreed, lets scout out the winery and see what we are dealing with", replies Serenity.
Destiny sends her invisible familiar Watch to scout ahead, but just as he clears the treeline a barrage of sharp needles cut through the air and slice into him. The blights here can see through invisibility. Things just got trickier.
"There are a lot of them. Some are really big. If they catch us in the open, we run back and make a new plan right?", Destiny looks to Serenity. "No, I have memorised Davian's instructions, we keep our heads down and we keep going, once we get into the winery we have a choke point and we can hold out", Serenity looks out across the vineyard.
"But... then we are trapped in the middle of them all", Destiny looks round at Hoskgak for support. Hoskgak looks back at Destiny, oblivious to her frustration and gives a little wave.
Destiny and Serenity argue on for some time, but Serenity's stubborness wins through. The party advances on the winery, staying low in the gullys and ditches between the rows of vines. There is a lot of ground to cover, but the first half of the distance goes smoothly, with the Serenity leading the way, they manage to avoid the rambling patrols of blights.
Then, a shower of needles, they are spotted. "Run! To the winery!"
Bobbing back and forth, diving under grapevines, the party flee the attacking blights. The blights move in small herds, tiny twig like creatures scutter alongside larger woody creatures woven from vines; the party deftly dance around the groups, managing to keep their distance, until two groups converge ahead of them, threatening to cut them off from the winery.
Suddenly, a blazing ball of flame flies from Destiny, slamming into one of the groups, dazzling the blights and sending them staggering away from the blinding light and fire. This gives the party the room to out-maneuver the second group and make it to the main building of the winery.
"Impossible! The door is blocked", Hoskgak repeatedly strikes and slams the door, it creaks and bends before his blows, but does not give way. A hail of thorns clatters against the building, the blights are closing. "Over there! The other door!", dashing across, with razor sharp thorns falling all around, Hoskgak barges through a nearby doorway which slams open from the force and the party barricade themselves inside.
Once inside, chanting fills the air and out from under the vats of wine, swarms of stick blights begin to emerge. Serenity leaps over the blights and up the stairs, coming face-to-face with one of the corrupted druids. "Up here!", Hoskgak and Destiny charge up the stairs to join the fray, leaving Ireena below to fend off the sticks. The druid is wounded and Hoskgak cuts him down, sending his corpse crashing to the floor below where Ireena is being overwhelmed. Serenity races down the stairs to her aid, only to find Hoskgak leap from the balcony, landing atop a swarm and crushing them, saving Ireena. A cry from the balcony, Destiny is in trouble, but before the party can climb to save her, she leaps down from the balcony and together they finish off the last of the twigs.
"Looks like poison, I think they are poisoning the wine!", Destiny examines a small vial dropped by the druid. "These vats have been tampered with", Serenity confirms. "Lets finish clearing the building then secure it for the Martikovs".
After a few uneventful rooms, the party stumble upon a Druid standing by a crane that loads the wine into wagons. He does not see them initially and the party notice he his carrying a very distinctive staff. Then, the Druid looks up, without hesitation, he jumps down to the wagon below and on to the ground, then he flees round the side of the building.
"Follow me! We can see where he goes from the upstairs windows!", Serenity races off, watching the druid with his curious staff whenever she can, but so fixated on tracking her target, she does not pay attention to where she is running and stumbles upon another druid and two large blights, who leap to attack Serenity, trying to entangle her, but her reflexes are too quick and she evades them. Once again Destiny sends her burning sphere of flames to hold back the blights and once again Hoskgak arrives to bring them pain and death.
"I think that other druid came back into the building below us", Serenity tells the party as their adrenaline levels calm from the fight. "But it's quiet for the moment, lets barricade ourselves in one of the rooms and take a short rest to plan what we do next".
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