Lessons from the Mists: Session 19 - The Wizard of Wines

Welcome back to Lessons from the Mists! This session, the heroes infiltrated the Wizard of Wines and defeated the forest folk that had stolen it from the Martikovs. Let's get started!

We began this week’s session with the party meeting Adrian Martikov. He warns them about the number of blights that the druids command, as well as a report that one of the druids carried a sinister looking black staff who appeared to have a greater degree of control over the blights. The heroes ask him about the points of access into the winery, and he gladly gives the information to them, drawing a rough map in the dirt of the layout. With this information in mind, they leave the Martikovs’ camp and attempt to sneak into the winery.

The heroes make a group stealth check, and they manage to creep through the vineyards without problem to the winery itself - only Angvar fails the check. Watching the winery, the heroes decide to enter through the loading dock. While Mary Sue Ann and Ylenia climb up a nearby ramped turret to the second story, Angvar and Kane enter the large central area of the winery - the fermentation vats.

Above the loading dock, a large winch stands to lower barrels into the cart down below. Crouching atop this winch is an old forest folk man with matted hair and a tangled beard wielding a black staff that puffs clouds of ash into the air. He gabbles at them in a language they do not understand, and it’s initiative!

Angvar is swarmed down in the fermentation vats by twig blights that emerge from their hiding place in one of the vats. Another druid in the vat room runs across the catwalk to help out her companion, and the druid wielding the black staff calls the blights from the vineyards outside, and they begin flooding through the loading dock. Ylenia prevents the other druid from entering combat and pushes her off the catwalk in front of Angvar, where she is killed. Kane provides healing and support in the skirmish on the second story, and Mary Sue Ann blasts a few swarming needle blights from outside with magic.

Ylenia gets the killing blow on the druid with the black staff and Mary Sue Ann commands Gwen to bring it to her. Sensing its evil presence, she blasts the staff with a fire bolt; the staff emits a terrible, inhuman shriek that causes all the blights fighting Angvar and flooding into the winery to seize, shudder, and collapse in a heap of dead plant matter.

Immediately after the blights die, Kane hears a window break on the opposite side of the winery, and Angvar follows the sound to see a druid attempting to flee the winery. He catches up to him and kills him. Just before he dies, however, he whispers in broken Common: “Wintersplinter lay waste to all.”

The heroes search the rest of the winery for other threats. Ylenia searches the druid and finds little of note on them except for several vials, empty save for a black syrupy residue on the inside. They discuss the possibility that this substance was used in the creation of the blights. Meanwhile, Mary Sue Ann sets up an Identify ritual to learn about the broken staff. She realizes it is a branch of a Gulthias Tree, and is used to command and summon blights. Kane relays to her and the rest of the heroes the story of Gulthias Trees: Many years ago, a legendary hero killed a vampire named Gulthias using a stake to the heart. However, the vampire’s corruption seeped into the stake and grew a corrupted black tree from his corpse. This was the first Gulthias tree, and they have spread throughout the multiverse.

Ylenia descends into the cellar and finds one last druid hiding amongst the wine bottles. The druid casts Thunderwave and blasts the wine bottles, shattering them and sending broken glass, wine, and magical force towards Ylenia. She quickly dispatches him and calls for aid. Angvar and Kane rush down to investigate the disturbance. While Kane patches Ylenia up, Angvar finds a secret door that leads to a chamber full of brown mold - a strange fungus that eats up heat. Believing this is cultivated by the Martikovs, he leaves it alone. The heroes believe no more threats exist in the winery, and they travel back to the Martikovs’ grove.

The heroes report their success to the Martikovs, and they are especially grateful. The Martikovs accompany them back to their home and search the premises, evaluating damages. Davian seems especially grumpy, but Adrian assures the heroes he will come back around. He also invites them to stay the night. All of the hospitalities they can offer them will be theirs.

The heroes spend a safe and restful night within the Wizard of Wines. The next morning, Dag and Stefania cook a grand breakfast as thanks to their saviors. It is interrupted by one of Stefania and Dag’s kids, Viggo, who runs inside and proclaims that the third gem has been stolen! The Martikovs shush the child quickly, but the heroes are curious: What is he talking about? Adrian explains to them that the Wizard of Wines got its name from a wizard who came to the valley long before Strahd’s arrival. Falling in love with the beauty of it and having a love for wine, she crafted three magic gems that promote growth and life of whatever soil it is planted within. Thus she created a winery, and the grapes grown here are far better than any mundane grape. One magic gem went missing 10 years ago, another went missing a handful of days ago during the forest folk’s assault, and during their occupation they must have stolen the third. The second gem they tracked to Berez in the keeping of Baba Lysaga.

The heroes report to the Martikovs the druid speaking of “Wintersplinter.” They offer to find the missing gem and deal with Wintersplinter. Adrian believes they may be connected, and asks them to travel to Yester Hill, where the druids have been gathering. The heroes agree to this, and Davian orders Elvir to bring them a diamond as thanks - a material component by which Kane can cast Revivify. Davian says that they may face dangerous foes there, and he does not wish to lose a friendly face.

With that, they set off to Yester Hill. And that’s where we left it!

First of all, having the dichotomy of playing Davian, a crotchety old suspicious grouch, and Adrian, a much friendlier man, and their differences has been very fun. I decided at the beginning of this session to immediately introduce someone that is more helpful so my players do not immediately hate the Martikovs, and that seemed to change their opinions of the family drastically.

During the encounter within the winery, I entirely disregarded the guidance within Flee, Mortals! About encounters using minions where the designers explicitly state to cut the choke points, and focus on big areas with lots of movement where minions can swarm better, and the player characters can kill them off quickly. That made the combat that I was hoping to prevent a slog by using minions turn into one. When Mary Sue Ann was examining the staff, I kept mentioning its sinister nature AND the fact that it looked fragile, but it was entirely the players’ idea to destroy it. The players felt smart for coming up with that idea.

I am using the poison plotline BUT intentionally hid the act of poisoning the wine. My players were thrown off by the poison residue vials and did not investigate them further, which I was surprised by. Usually they investigate thoroughly, but in this case they made an assumption and ran with it. I think this is going to have very serious repercussions when they deliver wine to Krezk (which they discussed with the Martikovs) to gain access to the city. When the burgomaster or citizens begin dropping dead from poisoned wine, they might get run out of town - unless they can discover this before the wine is delivered!

Until next time!