Pizazz's Ravenloft and Beyond

Olin nods to Lionel. "It seems we should have woken our companions before rushing in to the fight." Shaking his foggy head, then addressing their hosts, "Do you have any idea what that thing was or where it came from? I do not trust whatever power could or would make such a thing."

"Me? Still feel like a stranger here and an ignorant one for that. We truly had to come here more prepared," Lionel allowed himself a sigh, clearly meaning his previous group.

(How much hp did Lionel and I get from the healing potions?)

Olin tests his battered body. Slowly he goes about mending his torn and tattered clothes. "Davian, could I trouble you for a cup of tea?" With that, Olin begins a Short Rest. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't know how able I am going to be to face any more terrors today. Should we impose on these fine people for a day and another night, or should we press on, battered and drained as we are?"

Once the rest is complete (assuming nothing interrupts it) Olin will wander about the winery, mending any damage caused by the druids, the blights, or in the fight with them all, paying special restorative attention to the crane that had twice been blasted with thunder. He will also investigating the mangled remains of the blights and comb over the corpses of the druids, looking for any clues as to why they were occupying the place. While investigating the druids Olin also keeps an eye out for holy symbols indicating who they worship and any valuables they might have been carrying. Once investigated, Olin will move all the twigs and corpses out of the building and ask Davian, "What would you have us do with these? Buried, burned?" with a glance to the ever present crows, "Left out for the scavengers?"

I'll go ahead and roll the healing...

Olin ... 7

Lionel ... 4

How much XP was this combat?

"You good?" Meepo asks as the two get to their feet.  "Meepo worried." he explains, his face dower as he watches the two.  "Meepo no feel like brave dragon..." He hangs his head as he considers his fear in the face of the giant tree-thing.

"Thanks to you and your true bravery," a bit ceremoniously but very sincerely responded Lionel. "Though I am afraid we have not seen yet the end of it - truly, druids of this land are as tainted as the land itself."

Davian moves forward, looking intently at the ruined stump of the tree.  As the trees red ichor drains out, a strange glow can be seen.  He moves forward rapidly, and reach into the mess and pulls forth a gem the size of a pine cone, covered in goop.  As he tries to wipe the smeared material off he reveals a glowing green within.  "One of the stolen seeds. They must have used it to spawn this creature!"   He looks about, "This tree creature, it wasn't THE tree on the hill.  It was some fell creation of the druids...it came from the south where the hill of the druids and the ancient tree is. Undoubtedly they sent it after you drove them from their occupation of this place. It seems clear they won't stop.  But at least we can replace the gem in the soil and ensure the plants won't all but fail."

Olin finds that the evening before the little tree creatures had all been cleaned up by the family and now sit in a big pile out front.  Davian appears ready to burn them but lets you poke through them.  The druids are buried in shallow graves out back.  He passes you their bags which are filled with no holy symbols but plenty of bits of animals bones, tendon, and various weeds, roots, and berries. One of them contains an empty clay flask, coated with the remnants of a sour smelling concoction.

Davian, "You may rest here of course."  A short rest passes without incident and you Olin enjoys a cup of tea.   Davian, "You may stay as long as you need, all day and until tomorrow if need be of course.  You're welcome here."  

Olin's mending spell is of great help, around the vineyard repairing much of the damage.  After, Davian and his family go about digging a large hole in the center of the vineyard and re-planting the gem which glows a brilliant green after having been cleansed of the trees blood.  His boys use the horses to drag the dead tree thing north into a large clearing, and then pile it high with wood to set it all ablaze.  The blood soaked wood doesn't burn easily, but with enough other fuel it eventually goes up, giving off great plumes of black smoke.  The little wooden creatures don't give much insight into their creation by inspecting their bodies, and after a careful search revealing little, they're also set alight.  

"The crows are our friends.  They have no interest in the twig creatures."   

During the day, as Olin is hard at work, along with Lionel who helps out, Meepo is keeping his eyes open for lost things and sees one of the children transform from a boy, into a crow, and then leap into the air and flaps up across the field.  On the far side he shimmers back into human form and walks over to where his little brother is working and goes about helping him. 

What's next? 

As the group complete their short rest, Mordekai hears Meepo talking about not feeling brave any more, and spends the next 10 minutes loudly reminding Meepo of all that he has done and achieved while Mordekai has known him, and pointing out that Meepo is the bravest dragon Mordekai has ever seen.

The rest of the group can't help but overhear Mordekai's words and be inspired. [Inspiring Leader feat - all the party (including Ismark) get 9 temporary hp.] 

"If people feel ready and able to tackle the next problem, do we need to visit the real ancient tree next, or do we need to find the other gems?"

(There are other gems missing, right? Is it just one more? Do we have a lead on it? I think I'm a bit mixed up between our next objectives. Is there another gem at the real ancient tree, or did we just find that gem?) 

"Meepo thank Mordekai." Meepo says, his chest thrusting out as he feels better.  "Meepo think go to ancient tree." he says with a nod.  He spends some time watching the kids, enjoying the way they switch forms and then back again.  He would point it out to the others if they did not notice it yet.

"We can as well head back and tell the tavern keeper the task is complete, so he will share what he knows about your mysteries. That was the deal, right?" Still, the question of the other gems remained and Lionel asked Davian: "Can you tell one glowing seed from another? Which one was in that tree - the one stole.n by druids, or some other?" (in addition to all healing HD from short rest: 5 10 10 )

(Short rest HD: 8, 5, 5, 4)

Olin says a prayer to Silvanus for guidance and examines the sour smelling concoction in the mostly empty flask, trying to determine what it might be, or why the druids brought it. (I'm not sure what skill this should be. 15 +2 +6 for Perception or Medicine, or +1 for Investigation, Arcana, or Nature.)

(OOC:  Ya, once you mixup the dice roller, it gets upset and goes crazy.  Generally inserting a new roll between two other rolls is what makes it upset. )

A reminder of the details of your quest:

1. You've helped sort out the wine shipments, so yes, back at Vallaki, the inn keeper there promised to help you with something important he had.

2. The gem that was stolen by the evil druids has been reclaimed, it was in the monstrous tree they sent.

3. The other gem has been stolen by some other witch who creates scarecrow minions.   

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Also, here is a reminder of the card reading you received from the the Vistani woman: 

"The first card is the tome of Strahd. This card tells of history. Knowledge of the ancient will help you better understand your enemy."  She turns over the first card.  A man with a wooden staff, his face shrouded in the darkness of his hood stands next to a dead tree.  "The 5 of glyphs. The Druid. An evil tree grows atop a hill of graves where the ancient dead sleep. The ravens can help you find it. Look for the treasure there." 

"The next card, Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, tells of a powerful force for good and protection, a holy symbol of great hope."  She turns the card over. A man stands on a hill, sheep behind him being ravaged by wolves, their dead bodies screw about the grass. "The 4 of glyphs. The Shepherd. Find the mother--she who gave birth to evil." 

"The next card is the Sunsword, a card of power and strength. It tells of a weapon of vengeance: a sword of sunlight."  She turns the card. It shows a thief clutching a bag of coins in his hands.  "The Master of coins, the Rogue. I see a nest of ravens. There you will find the prize." 

"The fourth card I pull is that of Strahd's enemy. This card sheds light on the one who will help you greatly in your battle against darkness."  She flips a card. It shows a hooded executioner standing, blood dripping from his axe, a basket full of heads behind him.  "Executioner. Seek out the brother of the devil's bride. They call him 'the lesser', but he has a powerful soul."  (You believe this is Ismark, Irena's brother, and known as Ismark the Lesser by the town folk.) 

She has laid the four cards out leaving a space in the middle.  "The final card is Strahd. Your enemy is a creature of darkness, whose powers are beyond mortality. He often chooses his time and place of the meetings. This will let you find him at the right time." She flips the card. A dark man stands, a silhouette in the darkness, his eyes red.  "The darklord. He lurks in the depths of darkness, in the one place to which he must return." 

There is a map on Page 30. 

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Meanwhile, Olin Relying on his knowledge of medicine, Olin examines the concoction. It doesn't take more than a tiny sample and a few moments to realize that it's highly poisonous.  It's also fairly fresh, as it has dried and become sticky, which would take only a couple of days of being left open like this.  So this poison has been dispensed within the last 2 or 3 days.

(Thanks, I'll only add new rolls to the end of posts from now on!)

Olin takes the flask and shows it to Davian. "This flask from the druid's possessions, it contains a potent poison. By my estimation it was dispensed while the druids were occupying your vineyard. I assume none among you were poisoned, or you would have told us..." Olin looks out to the fields. "What of your vines? It makes little sense to poison them when they knew the gem was what kept them alive..." Olin shakes his head. "Druids are supposed to protect and foster the land, not to pervert and poison it. This place is truly tainted by evil." Olin fingers the holy symbol he wears around his neck and asks Silvanus for guidance.

Insight, to try and figure out what the druids might have doing with the poison,  8 + 2

"Poison?" Meepo asks, overhearing the conversation.  "Rat go..." He calls and sends his zombie tressym around, sniffing every inch of the place.  (Tressyms can detect poison by smell or taste...  I would have him check inside first, looking over the casks and other food supplies in there. Then I would have it go outside to check the well and then around the place as needed from there.)

"Is the wine itself poisoned? Knowing it would be the last shipment? If you want a whole town dead, poisoning the Inn's only remaining shipment of wine would be a good place to start. I don't know who would want all of the Vallaki dead or why, but I can think of one person we've met who seems bent on evil at every turn. If these druids were agents of Strahd's, they may have poisoned the wine itself?"

With Rat's help the group searches around.  Soon, the target it obvious. The three large fermentation vats in the fermentation room all shows signs of being poisoned. "It's enough to fill twenty barrels. Now it will all need to be thrown away, the towns will be short of wine for a while. We'll have to make what we have last.  Thank you so much for discovering this. It's likely I would have tasted it and then gotten sick before sending it on, but I feel better I won't get poisoned by my own wine." 

 Lionel helped to empty the poisonous vats. "The druids here might be of that sort - kill all the humans, destroy all civilization. Not that unheard of even on our plane. You do not need Strahd to be evil."

"It looks like we still own them a visit. Shall we go? Or do you want to return to the town first and take the inn keeper on his promise?" Lionel felt well enough to fight but it was not his decision where to go.

"Meepo say ancient tree." Meepo pipes up.

As Lionel goes to empty the vats, Olin stops him. "Wait." he says, thinking. "I cannot do it now, but tomorrow I should be able to clear the poison from these vats. Silvanus gives me that power, but as with all that he grants me I must ask for it specifically each morning." Olin looks to Davian, "If you are willing to wait a while longer, I should be able to salvage your wine."

To the group, "From what Davian has told us, the druids reside at the tree we seek. Is that not so?" Olin rubs his temples, thinking. "I have used much of my power, but not all. We might head to this tree and try to catch the druids unawares. They certainly can't have expected us to best their abomination. Though we do not know their strength." Olin looks to everyone in turn. "As I see it, our options are caution and reconnaissance or swift action. Both have their merits."

"Don't druids use animals as spies?" Lionel would wholeheartedly agree to spare the wine if Davian would risk it. "Druids might be well aware what we have done here. If so, it sounds more reasonable to stay here for another night. Who knows, your scarecrow witch might even send us another green stone in her minion."