Act 3: Pips, Pips, and Pips

Act 3, Scene 1: Goodbye, Hello, Goodbye Again, Hello Again

 * "Dear ZanZan,


 * "Today I felt pretty good. I got to leave that horrible Abbey behind and head towards better pastures. It’s wine time! I feel like no one likes us though. Ezmeralda didn’t want to come with us, the villagers at Krezk didn’t seem to want us to stick around and then Rudolph heartlessly abandoned us. Then I was all alone with my only friend, Ismark as the rest of my friends chased after Arrigal, who is an assassin??? Such betrayal. Who would have thought this sort of thing would happen in cheery Barovia. Talk to you soon.


 * "Love Sylvain"
 * —Sylvain Vanborin

Day 13. Our heroes say goodbye to Ezmerelda, the Abbey, and Krezk; hello to some shady Vistani on the road; goodbye to Rudolph as he fulfills his duty of escorting them to the winery; and hello again to Arrigal when he attempts to assassinate Ayduin, only to discover Ayduin's a lot harder to kill than he used to be. Our party assumes Vistani treachery; Arrigal argues treachery against the Vistani. Bodaway is pro-murder; Sylvain is pro-assisted-temporary-suicide. Ismark plays politics. The matter is shelved until the situation at the winery has been assessed.

Act 3, Scene 2: The Wizard of Wines Winery

 * "As I prepared to move, suddenly dozens of small plant creatures melted into view. They were coming from the veranda and…there was a lot of them. I heard Ayduin yelling in the distance something like “this is also a problem” as I watched these little ones manifest."
 * —Sylvain Vanborin

Day 13. Upon arriving at the winery with captive assassin in tow, our heroes learn, to their surprise, that everything has gone wrong at the winery. They meet Davian Martikov, Urwin's father, as well as his siblings, siblings-in-law, nieces and nephews, and various other non-Martikov winery employees. It seems the forest folk have taken over the winery with their magic and their strange plant creatures after weeks of harassing the winery. For two days, the winery employees have been in hiding, while the forest folk have done who knows what inside. After initially planning to investigate the following day, they decide to at least do some initial recon. Osrin and Sylvain scout ahead, only to find themselves ambushed by several of the plant creatures they'd seen before in the woods — the same kind that had killed Ismark only a handful of days earlier. Battle ensues.

Act 3, Scene 3: The Missing Gem

 * "You better get working hard on that vodka project, Rudolph."
 * —Sylvain Vanborin

Days 14–15. After a restless night, our heroes learn that though the winery is free, it's not yet saved: the last of three magical gems that allow its crops to grow in grey Barovia was taken by the forest folk to Yester Hill. Though in no shape to take on the druids that day, our heroes spend the day resting, recovering, sparring, preparing, and repairing. That night, more bad news arrives: it seems at least two vampires have been in the vineyard, having bitten five of the Martikovs' employees, though none remember being bitten. Despite this, no vampires attack that night, which passes peacefully. The following day, Osrin receives a message from Cal, seemingly confirming that Sylvain's dream visit with Bren was real. The group heads south with Arrigal, Ismark, Carac, and a peekaboo-smokebomb-arrow.

Act 3, Scene 4: Yester Hill

 * "My friends noticed it long before I did as I was stopping Ismark before he rolled his ankle. I looked up and I saw a light…a fire streaking through the sky. I cursed under my breath, because I had been joking about the real Strahd showing up at the hill. His stupid fucking flame horse was galloping through the sky towards the top of the hill. We couldn’t see anyone upon the beast, but we all knew who it was."
 * —Sylvain Vanborin

Days 15–16. After an uneventful journey, our heroes arrive at Yester Hill. They find a seemingly abandoned shrine, make a new raven friend, see their first benign skeleton, narrowly avoid an early run-in with some berserkers, and easily evade all the patrols on their way to the top of the hill. Partway up, they see a flaming horse fly to the top of the hill, about 15 minutes ahead of them. No one enjoys this new knowledge. They reach the top and, discerning some form of ritual is taking place, stage their attack. A brief but brutal battle ensues, in which everyone tries not to be too concerned about Strahd and Ireena being there. The ritual is disrupted, a monument to Strahd destroyed, the gem reclaimed, and our heroes prepared to make a hasty retreat before the friendly forest folk appeared once again, asking if they'd like to end the evil on Yester Hill once and for all. Sylvain agrees on their behalf, and with the help of their allies, they wipe out all the hostile forest folk on Yester Hill; Osrin breaks the Gulthias staff, instantly killing all the nearby blights; they chop down the Gulthias Tree and begin to uproot the stump. They give in to rest for the evening, exhausted, but Grghshnq continues to dig, singlehandedly dealing over 500 points of damage to the tree over the course of the night. What a good boy! The tentative alliance somewhat less tentative in the wake of this achievement, with Mathghamhain revealing her name and some of her history to Ri-An and Ayduin, the party heads back to the winery.

Act 3, Scene 5: Return to the Abbey

 * "van Richten is dead, I think, or something. We're all alive. Fuck off."
 * —Osrin Baralet

Day 16. Another uneventful journey takes our heroes back to the abbey, while Osrin receives messages from Cal throughout the day, learning of a group called the Coalition, led by the King, that has seemingly been growing more and more powerful back in Faerûn over the course of the last year, and features some familiar names. The Martikovs and their allies are overjoyed to find the gem returned to the winery, and listen to the whole tale while sharing the wine — no longer so endangered as it was. Adrian, Elvir, and Carac, planning to start delivering wine around Barovia that day, offer the party the opportunity to go with them, citing strength in numbers. Ismark suggests it may be best for him to go with the wine rather than the party, as it may be his best shot at getting back to his village sooner rather than later. The modest group of 12 (and two draft horses) heads north, travelling into the night as Osrin continues to learn things she probably didn't want to. She compliments Cal, who immediately gets 500 XP. They reach Krezk and make their way in easily, trudging up to the abbey where they find an unexpected sight: the dead body of Dr. Rudolph van Richten. After some corpse-punching, warforged-choking, and a bit of discussion, they agree to revive him, to see if Strahd's account of how van Richten ended up there is accurate. Turns out it was! Awkward. Arrigal killed Sylvain and the party began to resurrect him but got interrupted b Strahd's very important "Thank you for resurrecting the legendary monster hunter" business. Sylvain got resurrected.

Act 3, Scene 6: Next Steps

 * This is when I learned that I don’t understand farm animals.
 * —Sylvain Vanborin

Days 17–19. Ismark departed and Chuckles nearly left with him. An old acquaintance from Vallaki turned up, and she and Bodaway had a passive-aggressive conversation while she made porridge. The party had some long-overdue discussions about dreams, the ethereal plane, and political events back in Faerûn. They agreed to relocate to the village, with Vitaliya finding a temporary home for them in the form of Magda Yankov's cottage. They met Valentina, the local blacksmith, who specializes in armour but is much less used to weapons, and she offered the use of her forge but required payment for any materials used or armour commissioned. A discussion ensued regarding possible work or favours as payment, leaving the party with two likely avenues of investigation: the local werewolf population, or the potentially abandoned Fidatov estate to the southeast. A goat loved Bodaway's coat and hated Ayduin. Strahd made a generous gift of armour and metal which the party was suspicious of for some reason. Signs of their pacts began to appear on Sylvain and Ayduin. The party reunited with Ezmerelda, and both sides had quite a lot of stories to tell. No one enjoyed talking to the Abbot. Ri-An built a lantern allowing them to see into the Ethereal Plane, confirming their suspicions regarding spies. Ri-An accidentally inspired a cult in Krezk, and Osrin narrowly prevented Strahd's spies from stealing the Symbol of Ravenkind. Ayduin banished Strahd's flaming horse, an act which did not have any consequences whatsoever.

Act 3, Scene 7: Seeking a Stronghold

 * For the 900th time in Barovia: Well shit.
 * —Sylvain Vanborin

Days 20–23. The party awoke to find Magda Yankov having "committed suicide" with a silvered dagger in the night, and made a hasty departure from Krezk after alerting Vitaliya and her husband. They discovered Victor Vallakovich's fate while on the road to van Richten's tower, but still did not realize it was he who threw the fireballs at the Festival of the Blazing Sun. They reached the tower only to find a mob of Totally Normal Villagers outside; Ezmerelda singlehandedly slaughtered nine of them, an act which did not have any consequences whatsoever. They explored the tower and quickly came to the conclusion that it would not be an ideal base of operations, between its antimagic properties and limited number of escape routes. Instead, they pressed on to the Vallaki Vistani camp, where they helped save the elf Arrigal is in love with, and found a surprise vampire spawn van Richten, the camp's new eternal guard. Some of them got drunk, because what else were they supposed to do with that? At midnight, they were awoken by Arrigal bearing a message from Strahd: Ezmerelda was to come to Castle Ravenloft by the following dusk, or Strahd would kill one of the Martikovs, who he had taken prisoner. After brief discussion and hasty farewells, Ezmerelda began her journey, with the rest of the party left to try to finish their rest. The following morning, another announcement came, delivered by a beautiful young man with long golden hair: Vallaki was now under the rule of Strahd von Zarovich, care of his regent, Father Lucien Petrovich, and the Vistani were once again welcome to join. Our heroes trudged begrudgingly to Vallaki, where they saw the aftereffects of the riots and began to preoccupy themselves with a new villain: the Reformation Centre. They met Jeny, an old woman with surprising powers, and befriended a guard named Friedrich, who arranged meetings for them with two of the Reformers who guide the centre. Neither our heroes nor the Reformers enjoyed these meetings. The night after their second meeting, Ayduin noticed a group of townsfolk trying to sneak out of the city to Krezk, and the party decided that despite one of them not having finished their long rest, one of them being unconscious, one of them being at about half-health, and the townsfolk being as good as unarmed, the best course of action was definitely to go with them, and ensure they'd all be outlaws in Vallaki in the process, an act which did not have any consequences whatsoever.