The group was welcomed at The Wizard of Wines Winery and were offered a chance to recoup before their trip to Yester Hill. While there, Caleb helped purify the large vats of wine as promised. This removed the poison from the main vat, thus allowing the valley to have wine for at least a little longer. The Martikovs again asked the group to get any of the three missing magical gems that were stolen from them, one for each type of wine produced. The family also asked the party to keep a look-out for their two cousins, that still had not shown up since the latest attack on the winery.
The adventurers made their way to Yester Hill, and from atop a cliff, were able to glance at the enormous rising hilltop with winding paths going up to its crest. They observed lightning crashing down near the rocks at the top of the hill. Pushing forward, they encountered a small ring of stones, with many strange carvings on it. At the center of the ring, was a shrine for the ancient leader of the Forest Folk, a man named Kavan. This fighter appeared to the group in ghostly form, with a bloody staff in hand. The informed the party of a great schism in his people hundreds of years ago, once Strahd and the mists came to this valley. Part of the Forest Folk saw Strahd as the new interpretation of "The Land", all encompassing and all powerful. This group began to rise in power, eventually wiping out the original Forest Folk in the area. Kavan told the party that this ancient hill and tree atop it may be some of the oldest things in the valley apart from the mountains themselves, and it acted as an old place of ritual and identity for the original tribes under the guidance of some fey like creatures simply referred to as Rozana, or The Ladies Three. Kavan then urged the party to take his spear back and to stop some foul ritual of blood magic from completing. He further explained that the evil druids and berserkers were calling forth something that they only referred to as Wintersplinter.
The party decided it would be best to start up the hill immediately, and not wait for nightfall, in case the evil Forest Folk could complete their ritual. Using stealth, they were able to avoid a few of the patrolling groups on the way up the hill, and easily fought off any others they were not able to slip past. Once at the top of the massive rising hill, they were able to catch a glimpse of some sort of large 50-foot effigy made of twisted wood and packed dark earth. Hiding behind some large boulders, the group were trying to decide if they should risk taking a rest to gather some of their strength before the final push.
