Elora told Arrabelle she must be mistaken, Kasimir cannot be her father, her father is dead! Arrabelle insists that he is Elora’s father, but maybe he just doesn’t remember her. Elora is flustered and rushes out of the tent to confront Kasimir. Riley, Ireena, Johan, and Bramo chase after her.
Elora returns to Kasimir’s home and speaks to one of his guards, asking his name and how long Kasimir has been with his people. The guard tells her his name is Paeyth Gwadhen, and Kasimir has lived with the Dusk Elves for all of the many hundreds of years he has been alive. Elora, confused and upset, rushes inside and throws open the curtain separating the rooms.
Kasimir looks up taken aback as she approaches him. Elora tells him, that according to the seer Arrabelle, she is his daughter and asks if he knew? Kasimir is confused and says that’s impossible, Elora cannot be his daughter, she is safe in another world far from Barovia. Elora insists that she is from another world brought here through magic! Kasimir is upset and does not want to believe what she is saying. Elora asks him his wife’s name, and he tells her it was Stella. Elora tells him that is her mother’s name, Stella Darling.
Kasimir doesn’t believe she is lying but thinks she may be confused. He will tell her his tale and they can try to make sense of it. He tells her that some time ago, 27 years or so, he met and fell in love with a human woman named Stella Darling. He says the circumstances of their meeting and romance were a bit absurd and both their families were against the union, but neither of them cared, they were in love and that was all that mattered. They were married and a daughter came soon after that.
They were approached by Madam Eva and told that their daughter was born with an old soul, one important to and coveted by Strahd. Neither of them believed it or in her fortune telling. Then Kasimir’s sister, Patrina, fell in love with Strahd, the ancient enemy of their people. She offered herself to him freely to become his bride. The Dusk Elves could not allow that. Kasimir organized the people of his tribe to gather together and stone his sister to death, to deny her to the Devil Strahd and save her soul. Kasimir regretted it, but thought it was the right thing to do.
Strahd retaliated by sending his sister, Rahasia, a Dusk Elf traitor to kill all of the women and children of the Dusk Elves. Desperate to save his family, he hired his Vistani friends, Nicolae and Gildi, merchants who traveled between the worlds, to smuggle his wife and daughter to safety on his wife’s homeworld. They brought with them on the journey, their young daughter Rahela. Kasimir tells her that none of them ever returned, and he has believed all these years that they were safely out of Strahd’s hands.
When Rahasia caught Kasimir, she inflicted extra torture on him, mutilating his body by cutting off his ears and ensuring he could never again father children.
Kasimir prays that Elora is not his daughter, because then it means she is safe away from Strahd. Elora insists that she is his daughter. There are too many coincidences, and they cannot ignore the facts. To do so would only bring harm to both of them. Kasimir reluctantly agrees telling her that somehow, he sensed a connection between them earlier, but did not want to believe it. He should have recognized the name Darling, but he wanted to remain blind to it. He tells Elora that is not the name they gave her, but something close to it, her birth name was Irezora.
Kasimir is happy to be reunited with her, but the reunion is bittersweet due to the danger she is now in. He tells her he will help her any way he can, and that she is always welcome in his home. He does not own a bed, as elves do not sleep, but tells her he will get one for her to use.
He tells her the reason he needs to reach the hidden temple is that it contains within it the power to raise the ancient dead. He wants to use this power to resurrect his dead sister, Patrina, and try to atone for his sins. He had no right to take her choice away from her, and maybe this can in some small way make up for it. Elora isn’t sure that is the right thing to do but agrees to support and assist him. She tells him they will definitely go to the temple together when she has completed her other tasks. Kasimir reiterates that the way is long and dangerous, and they must be prepared for the journey.
Kasimir apologizes for not being a better man. He doesn’t expect Elora to forgive him for what was done to her. He tells her that he thought it was the right thing to do to protect his family. He knows they cannot just have a close relationship all at once, but he would like to see what develops with time. Elora says she would like that, and ask for just one thing before she goes, a hug. Kasimir stands on unsteady feet and awkwardly hugs his daughter. He asks if he is doing it all right, and they both feel a little uncomfortable and silly. He bids her farewell as daughter and she as father.
Johan and Bramo, fathers themselves, try to hide the tears they shed. Riley is both moved by the scene and rocked by the knowledge that she and her parents were the ones to transport Elora and her mother and that this led to the death of her parents. Ireena, having just buried her own father days ago is sobbing heavily and covered in tears. She wraps an arm around Elora and leads her out, asking if she is okay. Elora tells her that she will be.
McCoy has been back at the Vistani camp playing with the clockwork jester. He notices a name inscribed on it, Piddlwick II. McCoy asks if this is the clockwork boy’s name. Piddlwick nods vigorously, the bells on his hat jingling. McCoy proceeds to ask him a series of yes or no questions, trying to learn about him. Piddlwick knows his creator but doesn’t want to be returned to him. He knows how he got his name but can’t explain it. He is not good at sneaking, due to the bells, but he doesn’t want his bells removed. He is also good at throwing darts and beating people with a club painted to look like a peppermint stick. He likes McCoy and is happy to ride up on his shoulder.
Elora returns to camp and hugs Arrabelle tightly, thanking her for this gift and promising to bring her the best dolls. Arrabelle asks if she was right about Kasimir being her father. Elora tells her she was, and Arrabelle says she knew it; she is always right.
The group say their farewells and depart for the Wizard of Wines winery. They follow Ismark’s map and Urwin’s directions. They reach the Luna River Crossroads and find the signpost there broken off. Following Urwin’s directions, they head southwest into the forest. The road wound through the forest eventually turning northwest. They reached a T-intersection they were not expecting with branch leading off to south while the main road continued on northwest. They’re unsure which way to go, but eventually decide to keep going northwest. This brings them to the Raven River Crossroads when the signposts clearly point southwest towards the Wizard of Wines. Johan checks to make sure the signpost hasn’t been tampered with, and they make their way down the southwest slope.
The road becomes a muddy trail leading through the forest which eventually leads to a mist-shrouded meadow. The road continued south towards a dark forest while a west branch had a sign which read, “Vineyard.” They took the west branch and began heading up a hill, a light drizzle of rain falling on them. A man in a cloak emerged from the trees and waved them over. They approached.
The man identified himself as Elvir Martikov. He explained that the winery was closed, and it was dangerous to approach. The Wild Folk had come out of the woods with an army of wooden blights and driven them out of their home. He and his family had been camped there in the woods. They would figure out a way to retake the winery, and it should be reopened in a week or so if they wanted to return then.
The group offered to help them, and Elvir said they’d better speak to his father Davian. They heard a baby crying in the distance. He brought them over to a crude camp with a lean-to setup against some trees and a small fire going. Huddled around the fire were an old, wrinkled man, and handsome young man, a young woman and her husband, and their four children, a teen boy, two younger boys, and a baby girl.
The old man approached them and introduced himself as the patriarch of the family, Davian Martikov. He looked the group over and sized them up potential warriors, inspecting their armor and weapons. The handsome man came and whispered something of interest to him, and he looked the group up and down. Finally, he told them he wanted to hire them to clear the Wild Folk and blights out of their home. He offered a sum of 200 gold pieces to do it. His daughter scoffed at this number, saying it was too much, but Davian insisted it would be worth it.
Davian explained that a month ago the Wild Folk started acting strangely and coming out of the woods. They’d heard they were gathering in large numbers up on Yester Hill. A week ago, the Wild Folk attacked the winery with their strange wood blights. The family had fought them off and defended their home. Two days ago, they had returned in much greater numbers with three times as many blights. The large force had forced them to flee, and they had been camped out in the woods here ever since.
Davian told them about the different entrances they could take into the winery and gave them an idea of the layout and where the stairs were. He also told them their leader was a strange old man wielding a horrible, black staff. He seemed to be the one controlling the blights.
He tells them that it’s very important that they don’t do anything to damage the winery or the vineyards as they won’t grow back. They should absolutely not use fire and burn the place down. The wine is all the people of Barovia have in this miserable place, and it’s all the Martikovs have. If it goes, they should all just slit their throats and all of Barovia along with them. The group assures them they will rescue the winery without destroying it.
The group tries to approach the winery stealthily by moving through the vineyard, but they are spotted by a large horde blights which converge on them rapidly. The group runs to the west entrance which Davian told them would be open and rush inside, barring the door behind them just as the blights reach them.
They make their way through a storage room and into the fermentation room which is filled with four large vats of wine and has a staircase in the center leading up to walkway around the room on the second floor. The rafters of the room are filled with flocks of ravens, and they see a strange woman dressed in animal skins with a horned headdress lurking above one of the vats. They also see strange twig creatures darting around the vats.
They head inside and McCoy tosses Bramo up to the walkway above them, where he constructs his arcane cannon. The rest of the group moves into the room and attacks the wild woman in the rafters. She responds by bounding over to Bramo and pulling him off of the walkway onto one of the vats. Riley heads up the stairs after her. Tiny blights begin pouring out of one of the vats in the room. They swarm all over the ground floor surrounding the group there. Lancelot barks furiously at them, sending some of them running away. Bramo and Elora use cold magic against the wild woman, allowing Riley to close on her. The wild woman attempts to knock Riley off the walkway with a wave of thunder but fails to do so. Riley runs her through with her sword, killing her.
The stream of blights from the vat seems endless. Just as the group is able to destroy one wave, another pours out. The group is able to corral them beneath the walkway and as a group finish them off.
Searching the wild woman, they find she has a necklace of human teeth, like the ones they found at the standing stones near the Old Windmill. Bronwyn takes them. They also discover several vials with a viscous residue in them. Elora is able to determine the substance is a virulent poison. They check the vats and see that they too show signs of the sticky residue. The wine has been poisoned! Elora uses her magic quill to mark them with a warning. The group realizes that the loss of the wine would be devastating to the community, and it cannot just be thrown away. Johan assures them that with some rest, he will be able to call on his god the next day to purify the wine.
The group search through more of the winery discovering a loading ramp down to the cellar, a barrel storage room with stairs leading up, and a barrel-making workshop. They head out to the loading dock and see a wagon loaded there with three barrels of wine; the shipment destined for the Blue Water Inn. Part of the horde of blights which had pursued them is outside, they close on the docks and attack launching deadly needles at them.
Several members of the group are injured including Lancelot, Bramo, Elora, and Johan. McCoy and Johan hold off the blights at one end of the dock, while Riley clears the other end. She then jumps down to the ground to join Lancelot in the fight. Bramo, Elora, and Bronwyn provide magical support and they quickly defeat the blights. Before they can rest, a wild man wielding a black staff, attacks them from above. Vines rise up from the dock entangling Bramo and Elora. Bronwyn counterattacks with her magic sending a bolt of energy at the wild man. Johan leaps off the dock and onto the wagon, climbs up the hanging crane, and reaches the upper level to attack the wild man. He cuts him down with his greatsword.
Bending to examine the black staff, he sees it is made of a spongy, oozing wood and wisps of black smoke pour from one end of it. He takes the staff and sees it leaves a bloodstain on his glove. Elora tries to climb the crane and examine it but cannot make it up even with Riley’s help. Johan instead brings the staff down to them. Bramo is very interested in the staff and tells the group they should keep it. Elora examines it seeing it radiates necromantic energy and seems to feed off of the lifeforce of its wielder. She concludes that the staff can both created and control the blights. Bramo offers to carry it for the group, but Elora wants nothing to do with it. Ultimately, they give it McCoy to carry, hoping his artificial nature will protect him from its effects.
The group head up staircase from the barrel storage room to the second level intent on exploring and clearing the rest of the winery.
Curse of Ravenloft 