The Winery Assault

Summary

The party attempted further reconnaissance using familiars, but after Alfbern's spider failed to return, they opted for a diversionary tactic. Jon and Alvorada created a distraction on the west side of the Winery, drawing the attention of a Druid and triggering an ambush by thirty Needle Blights hidden in the vineyard. Simultaneously, the rest of the group rushed the Loading Dock. Linus cast Phantom Steed to secure the wagon while decimating the enemy forces with a Fireball. A Druid emerged from the upper level, restraining the group with Entangle, but the party began to rally, dealing significant damage to the caster as Klildar broke free to take the fight to the air.

Reconnaissance Continued

The party continued to try to gather information, Alfbern being a druid himself, tried to look for animal companions or familiars, but couldn't find any in the area. As a matter of fact, he noticed the stillness of the woods, usual for Barovia, but very strange for any other similar areas.

Once Onofre returned, they sent him away again, this time carrying Alfbern's familiar, a spider. The raven was supposed to wait for the spider to return after one hour, as the building was too far for the characters to maintain a visual link with their familiars. Onofre returned alone after a while. Alfbern suspects that his spider must have been spotted and killed.

They decided to create a distraction in order to retrieve the wagon with the three barrels, and then launch the attack against the occupying forces.

Jon went ahead with his wolf companion, Alvorada, while the others would wait for a signal to proceed to the loading bay and retrieve the cart.

Diversion and Conflict

Jon was able to approach the winery without being spotted, and hid behind the outhouse on the west side. He then fired an arrow against the window of the room they had spotted one druid. He missed the window, hitting the outer wall, and attracted the attention of the wild-looking woman.

By the time she reached the window Alvorada had ran out from behind the outhouse and started howling, signalling to the others to go ahead. The druid was intrigued by a strange white wolf making so much noise. With a flick of her head, thirty humanoid plant figures detached from the vineyard and started to walk toward Alvorada.

Meanwhile, Linus, Alfbern, and Klildar took off to the loading bay. They managed to remain unseen and when they were about 30ft from the bay Linus summoned a phantom steed into the braces of the cart, ordering it to take the barrels to the Martikovs. That caused half of the blights to take a turn towards them.

Jon, seeing the forces coming at them, set the grass in front of Alvorada on fire, hoping to stave off the attackers. Then he ran to the south of the building.

On the north side, Klildar hit one creature with sacred flame, while Alfber tried to damage one using create bonfire, but the target managed to dodge it. However, Linus was able to reduce their numbers to half using a fireball! At this point, the druid that was atop the loading bay dropped to the ground and cast entangle on the trio, that ended up restrained.

Attracted by the explosion, Jon jumped to the roof of the building and walked over to the northern ledge, peering over the battlefield.

Linus was able to cast acid splash on the dirty-looking man, as well as Alfbern, that cast erupting earth dealing a massive amount of damage, leaving the target bloodied.

Finally, Klildar was able to break free from the entangling roots, after which he sprouted his wings and hovering 5ft into the air motioned himself a little closer to the enemy.

That's where the session ended.

Party Members

• Alfbern - Level 5 Elf Druid (Ziro)
• Klildar - Level 5 White Dragonborn Paladin (Fábio)
• Jon - Level 5 Human Ranger (Ricardo)
• Linus - Level 5 Human Wizard (Daniel)

Important Items/Events

• The Ambush: The party triggered the 30 Needle Blights hiding in the vineyard.
• Wagon Secured: Linus used Phantom Steed to autonomously move the wine wagon toward safety.
• Fireball Diplomacy: Linus destroyed approximately half the blight force in a single turn.
• Enemy Tactics: The Druids are using crowd control (Entangle) to pin the party down.
• Status: The party is split (Jon on the roof, the rest at the Loading Dock) and mid-combat.