Special Delivery: Wine

I ran my game again last night. So far my recovery from surgery has gone very smoothly. I'm still being cautious, but optimism is outweighing that.

But on to the game. Our heroes had just cleared the winery of the invading druids and their vicious plant monsters. They took a long rest, sheltering with the Martikovs, so that Tathora could prepare purify food and drink to remove the poison the druids had added. It's a ritual, meaning that if the caster takes 10 minutes, they can cast the spell without expending a spell slot. It also only affects five cubic feet at a time. So it probably took a little while, but she had the wine cleaned up before the morning was over. In the meantime, everyone else loaded the wine barrels into the wagon and hitched up the horses.

Before they set out, Adrian Martikov told them about the jewel stolen from their fields by the druids and taken to Yester Hill. He asked that the players retrieve the jewel after they had finished with the wine delivery.

The journey to Vallaki to retrieve Ireena and Ismark was mostly uneventful. However, Amrus did spot a small bundle tucked into some tree roots. Every larcenous, he pulled it out and opened it up to find a set of plain common clothes. The rest of the party called out to the surrounding forest to try and locate an owner. When no one responded, Amrus decided to put it back.

When they arrived, they found they weren't exactly welcome in Vallaki, the guards even showed a poster with the PCs' pictures declaring the banished. Of course, alcohol heals wounds, so the guards agreed to let them take some wine to the Blue Water Inn.

There they learned that Izek Strazni had protected Ireena and the Inn from the Burgomaster's wrath following the incident at the festival. While the Martikovs at the Blue Water unloaded a portion of the shipment (two barrels, to be precise), the party deviated from their prescribed itinerary to visit Blinsky Toys.

There they found a portly man in a moth-eaten jester's costume whittling a block of wood while a monkey named Piccolo watched. Hillary (and by extension Sarra) was quite taken with the monkey. Blinsky, who in his write up in the adventure itself actually talks with a Boris Badenov accent. He showed the party some of his various wares: a headless doll with a sack of attachable heads, a miniature gallows with a weighted hanged man, a ventriloquist dummy that looks like Strahd, and a set of nesting dolls that gets older as they get smaller with the innermost doll resembling a mummified corpse. Lop bought the dummy and Sarra bought the nesting dolls, both to the dismay of their beleaguered cleric Tathora (Aside: yes, I know "beleaguered cleric" is like saying "evil cat," "scary clown," or "sulky teenager." The adjective isn't really modifying anything, just reinforcing something already there.) They also spotted a doll that looked remarkably like Ireena Kolyana. Blinsky confirmed that they're special ordered by Izek, one every month, to always look like the same girl. Blinsky said he just makes a different dress every time. Cugel did ask about the toy horse they had found. Blinsky confirmed that he had made it and sold it to the keepers of the Winery. Ultimately, it proved a good role-playing side note to add further to the setting even if it didn't really advance the plot.

The PCs returned to the Inn, and with Ireena and Ismark loaded up, they set out for Krezk. A storm built up through the late afternoon. They met a group of five grizzled fur trappers on the road, and Cugel traded a bottle of Red Dragon Crush for information. The trappers gave the PCs directions to Krezk and a wolf pelt before continuing on the way to Vallaki to peddle.

Just before reaching Krezk, however, the storm hit with sudden fury. Ireena and Ismark spotted a nearby church and suggested they take shelter. They tied off the horses nearby and ducked into the church. This led into the next encounter I borrowed from Fifth Edition Fantasy's Fantastic Encounters module: "A Broken Window." In the flashes of lightning from the storm, the PCs had a chance spot some important details of the stained glass window in the one room church they took shelter in: that it depicts a cleric in hand-to-hand combat with a shadowy figure, that the cleric was fighting with a shard of glass, and that in the background the church is almost finished except for the window. They also rolled well enough to spot a couple of vials of holy water in the ruined pulpit. Next thing they knew, lightning struck the window, breaking it. A shadowy figure emerged from it, littering the area around the pulpit with shards of broken glass.

The shadowy figure, a "cursed shade" is a variant on the shadow. It's immune to most things, but vulnerable to radiant, and extra vulnerable to the shards of glass. Kyla realized this right away. However, only Cugel bothered to retrieve any shards (using mage hand to pull one in), and he missed with his attack. However, normal radiant damage from guiding bolt, sacred flame, and splashes of holy water ended up doing the job. Amrus did some of the holy water splashing, and he had advantage on the attack roll. I actually applied to sneak attack damage at the time, and when I'm double checking it doesn't look like the rogue needs to be proficient with the attack in order to get the sneak attack bonus. Once they had disrupted the shade, Lop cast mending to restore the window.

They took a long rest so Tathora could recover from some attacks that reduced her hit point maximum, and continued on to Krezk. Its a walled, forested village high in the mountains below the Abbey of St. Markovia. Once the guards learned that the PCs had a shipment of wine, they summoned the Burgomaster, Dmitri Krezkov. He confirmed the wine shipment, and guided the PCs to his cottage to store it in the cellar there.

Shortly afterwards, Ireena heard a voice calling her to the north end of the village. Only Cugel perceived it as well. Out of concern, the party followed her to a blessed pool with a nearby gazebo, a shrine to the Morninglord. Then a mysterious apparition appeared calling Ireena, "Tatyana." She suddenly recognized him as Sergei, her lover from a previous incarnation of her soul. She took a hand that raised out of the water, fell into the pool, and began to fade out. Fearing it might be a trick of Strahd's Tathora, Sarra, and Amrus also went in trying to grab her. However, her soul had joined Sergei's escaping from Strahd's grasp.

The vampire lord's face appeared in the clouds in the sky, crying out "How dare you take her from me! She is mine!" Lightning began to arc through the clouds. Fortunately, those who had gone into the water took the chance get out before the lightning struck. The shock wave knocked down everyone but Cugel and blew down the gazebo once and for all. It also banished the blessing from the pool. Once Ismark realized what had happened, he bowed his head and thanked the Morninglord for bearing Ireena away.

The group returned to the Burgomaster's cottage. There, the Burgomaster approached Tathora with a request. His 14 year old son had recently passed away of an pneumonia. He asked if she might be able to restore him to life. Unfortunately, raise dead is still beyond her reach (just four more levels to go, though).

And because narrative coincidence is a things, right about that time, there was a knock on the door. It was the Abbot. After Will graced us with the prerequisite "Hey, Abbottttttt!" line, it turned out that the Abbot (again, because narrative coincidence is a thing) was there to help the Burgomaster with his problem. Tathora was NOT pleased with having her thunder stolen by this interloper. Still, the Burgomaster was desperate, so despite the warnings offered by the other members of the party, he dug up his son, Ilya Krezkov and the Abbot cast raise dead. Ilya returned to life and was tearfully reunited with his parents.

Of course, as the PCs suspected, the Abbot's motivations were not wholly altruistic. He wanted to Burgomaster to supply him with a wedding dress. "It is time the lord of this realm have a bride to ease his suffering. And since you (the PCs) have denied him, I will need provide one." He gave the an ultimatum: one week to get a wedding dress or "What has been done can be undone."

On that sinister note, we called it a night. The PCs have a week to provide a wedding dress or find a way to stop the Abbot from delivering on his threat.