The Krezkovs, gifted the winery for their loyalty to Strahd, soon fell in love with the land in much the same way as the wizard had more than a century before. Soon after the end of the war, however, a rebellious faction of druids approached them and begged for shelter against the purges that Strahd’s servants had wrought upon their people. The Krezkovs accepted, and so entered a year-long guerilla war that allowed these druids to evade Strahd’s eye and gather resources while building new, hidden encampments on Mount Ghakis.

With their last breath of defiance, these rebellious druids offered the Krezkov of The Winery a gift: the curse of lycanthropy. Once, all druids had enjoyed the power of wildshape, but as their power had waned, the totems that allowed these transformations had cracked and decayed, leaving only the Raven’s totem behind. As a token of gratitude, the rebellious druid spirited the Raven’s totem away from the camp of Strahd’s servant-druids and delivered it to the Krezkovs. This item would bestow upon them the gift of a wereraven’s lycanthropy, providing them the ability to defend their land from Zarovich’s forces should he discover their treachery from his castle. 

These friendly druids also gave the Krezkovs instructions for the Hatching, a year-long ritual by which the Krezkovs and their mates could share and master the wereraven’s transformation - without this ritual, any lycanthrope would soon lose their minds to the animal’s instincts. The Krezkovs accepted, and became wereravens themselves.

When Strahd von Zarovich accepted the curse of vampirism, the Krezkovs were alarmed at the shroud of darkness that fell over their new home. They joined together, recruiting extended friends and family, and formed the Order of the Feather - a secret society that aimed to protect Barovia’s citizens from the monsters that now surrounded them. Years later, when the Martikovs married into their line, the Krezkovs shared the secret of lycanthropy with them, and so passed on the wereravens’ order to a new generation.