Session 32

Lady Kate's Wonder Emporium

The group makes their way back down the mountain to the village. They go looking for places to shop, and find a little thrift store set up in the living room of someone's cottage.

They meet Kate and trade her for a couple interesting items:

Shalooti trades a ring that never tarnishes for yet another deck of cards; these are Tarokka cards just like the ones Madam Eva used to tell the group's fortune
Bardolf trades his packet of fire sauce for a jar with two blinking humanoid eyes floating in brine

The group inspected the other items for anything magical/useful, but found nothing else of note, except for a whole collection of Blinsky toys.

Outside, they hear a commotion and the cheering of a crowd

Delivery!

They come out of the thrift store to find that Stefania and Dag from the Wizard of Wines have arrived in Krezk with a shipment of wine. With them is a strange Vistani woman the party hasn't met.

The townsfolk are excited to finally receive the shipment, but after talking with Stefania, we learn that they don't seem to have the money to pay for their wine casks. Stefania asks the party if they would help distribute the wine to some addresses in town. Each person takes a cask and head out.

Elora and Anakir are able to get full price for their wine, Shalooti, Bardolf, and Pelanil get less than what they'd hoped. Stefania told the party to keep their earnings since they own part of the winery now.

Shalooti's new Bear

As Shalooti heads back from delivering her wine, she notices that her polar bear is rushing towards her. No longer under her command, it seems to be out for blood. It swipes at her face, slashing into her skin. She's able to quickly tame it and bring it back under her control for another 24 hours.

Trip to the Winery

With all the wine delivered, the group decides to accompany The Martikovs back to the Wizard of Wines in their wagon. On the trip, they get to know the Vistani woman.

Ezmerelda

Her name is Ezmerelda, and she tells the group the following about herself:

She is not Barovian
She came to this land in search of her mentor, Dr. Rudoph van Richten
She thought she would find him at The Tower on the lake as it seemed to the type of place he would hide away
- She found much of his stuff there, but did not find him
She went in search of him in a burning Vallaki, but was harassed by Burgomistress Wachter's guards because of her Vistani heritage
Urwin and Danika gave her refuge at their inn
She decided to help escort Stefania and Dag to Krezk and back to The Winery

The group all gasped at the mention of van Richten. Recognizing the group's surprise at the name asked if they knew of him. The party explained that Strahd was after him, and Ezmerelda explained that killing Strahd was the whole reason van Richten came to Barovia in the first place. He's a renowned monster hunter, and now in his eighties, was ready to take on the vampire himself.

She described van Richten to the party as an old-but-fit, flamboyant man who loves to put on disguises. The party thought this sounded an awful lot like Rictavio who the met in Krezk.

Vallaki

Stefania also chimed in to tell the group what she new of Vallaki:

At the Festival of the Blazing Sun, Baron Vallakovich struggled to light the wicker sun
A guard let out a poorly timed laugh
Vargas had him tied to a donkey (she thinks she remembers someone saying the donkey's name was Carlos) and dragged around the square
At this, especially after the vampire attack just the day before, the townsfolk revolted
They hanged Vargas and his wife Lydia in the streets
- Their son Victor was nowhere to be found
Lady Fiona Wachter took advantage of chaos as an opportunity to seize power
Half the town is dead, half the buildings burned, and everyone is too scared to come out of their houses

Blinsky Returns

At the winery, Pelanil runs from the wagon straight to the cellar (the rest of the crew think nothing of this since Pelanil has been known to do this sort of thing). Good again and feeling remorseful for his actions, he visits Blinsky's body in the refrigeration cave.

He burns some of his high-level spell slots to bring Blinsky back to live. The corpse sits upright, lets out an inhuman scream, and jerks its head towards Pelanil.

Successfully, reanimated, Blinsky runs starts backing away from Pelanil deeper into the cave. Pelanil puts a hand on him to stop him and whispers "I'm sorry". Blinsky wraps him in a hug and tells him it's ok.

Bardolf is surprised to see Blinsky alive since he thought he killed him when he was a werewolf. Bardolf starts to question if his memories are even real. Ever since taking the belladonna root, dying, and being revived, he hasn't quite felt like himself. Pelanil explains what happened, but Bardolf won't hear it.

Piccolo chooses Pelanil over Blinsky.

Surprise Birthday Party

Shalooti poops the gem out of her butt into a hole in the vineyard and the vines in that section already start looking more healthy.

The group is surprised to see Blinsky alive. Blinsky is surprised that multiple days have passed, and says he needs to get back to his toyshop in Vallaki. The group explains that his shop is burned down, but that there is a lady (Kate) in Krezk that has a whole collection. They tell him that she loves him, and Pelanil offers to perform a marriage ceremony.

Elora says that being brought back to life is like having a new birthday. The group decides to celebrate.

Pelanil conjures a huge cake, and the wine flows freely. Blinsky swims in the vats.

Plans for Tomorrow

Before turning in for the night, the party talks with Ezmerelda and decide to travel with her to The Tower on the lake in search of van Richten. She tells them she's nervous to see her mentor again and explains her history with van Richten:

As a girl, her family was less than honest
Her parents kidnapped van Richten's son and sold him to a vampire
van Richten came looking for him, but spared her family's lives
Years later, when she was 15, she left her family and searched out van Richten
She trained under van Richten for a few years
They bickered all the time and eventually it became too much, and they decided to go separate ways to keep the small shred of friendship in tact