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Davian Martikov proved irredeemably irritable, but was nonetheless on the party's side after their heroics. He gratefully gave a reward: a diamond necklace, usable as material to bring back the dead. He also divulged information on Barovia and his winery. Vallaki had been named after the family Vallakovich, and Barovia itself was named after King Barov von Zarovich, Strahd's father. The winery's three stones had been in the Martikov family's hands for many generations, having supposedly been blessed by the Ladies Three.
The Ladies, ancient powers of Barovia guarding the forests, mountains, and swamps, had given three magic stones of green, grey, and blue that allowed the vineyard to grow. The blue stone was stolen under Urwin's watch ten years ago, driving a wedge in the family and stopping the Wizard of Wines from producing Champagne Du La Stomp. The grey stone had been stolen a month prior, in the blight's first siege. The Pack quickly looked for the green stone and found it missing; this destroyed the spirits of the Martikovs, who knew their livelihood would die without its magic. Ghalwin and Shakti quickly salvaged what varietals they could, and set to retrieve the stone as soon as possible.
That night, Atlas and Shakti woke up to hear the sound of their captive escaping with a thunderous blast. Atlas caught up to her, magically put her to sleep, and Shakti interrogated her further about Yester Hill. The forestwoman let slip that they were planning to summon a massive creature called "Wintersplinter" to destroy the winery; after a maddening conversation, Shakti had Shredder rip the druid's head off. Later on, Atlas awoke again to find that the Gulthias Staff had attached itself to him, piercing his skin with branches directly into his bloodstream. He tore the staff from him easily, but felt his goddess Umori repeat that something had imbalanced the cleric; the Gulthias staff was still in him, and it was evil.
That morning, the Pack went to Yester Hill. The eldest son Adrian volunteered to join them, but Davian shot him down: the old crow himself would accompany the pack, feeling responsible for allowing the Wizard of Wines to die. They left on horseback, accompanied by Lance and Shredder, and were able to avoid the longer road to ensure they made it to Yester Hill by the end of the evening. During the travel, they were stalked by wolves, but multiple Swarm of Ravens guarding Davian shooed of their pursuers.
Under the cover of darkness, they made their way down the thin trail to Yester Hill; Shakti summonded a familiar to fly up with Davian and gain information on what was happening, and Atlas granted them superior darkvision to safely monitor from high in the rainy black sky. The hill was covered in cairns where sleeping forest-folk lay, but its residents were gathering at the top, past a massive ring of boulders that were occasionally struck by lightning. There, a fifty-foot effigy of a vampire was being made, and druids began to approach, chanting in ancient tongues.
South of this, a massive, evil-looking black tree was guarded by blights, and a shiny axe was buried in its base. On the eastern side of Yester Hill, Shakti could look beyond the wall of fog: she saw Castle Ravenloft and the Village of Barovia as it once was, prior to corruption and neglect. In the west, the Astralwood was clearly visible, vibrant against the dark forest. However, she knew that the mists would not allow her to return there: these images were mere fabrications.
Atlas felt that the blights would not touch him as long as he wielded the staff, so ascended to the Gulthias tree, where he dislodged the Plant Slayer axe from its base. He returned it to Ghalwin, who named the weapon "Feller", and the Pack quickly formulated a plan. They would split up: Atlas would destroy the staff, killing all the blights, and hopefully cause the congregation to split. Meanwhile, Ghalwin would down a Potion of Fire Breath and set the Gulthias Tree on fire.
However, as they enacted the plan, Atlas could not bear to break the cursed staff. Ghalwin ran up to grab the weapon, but Atlas resisted, and the paladin was attacked by blights. He eventually overcame his foes and destroyed the branch, causing a horrible shriek that destroyed the plants and caught the forest folk's attention. Up by the ring of boulders, Shakti, Davian, and Shredder lay in wait. As combat commenced, Shakti turned over the stones that she recognized from her first vision of Barovia.
She was called out to by the Lingering Force of Kavan, and in the same place as she saw the spear that turned to dust more than two weeks ago, she found his Blood Spear. When she touched it, she found herself at Yester Hill, in the middle of a battle between iron-clad Barovian knights and warriors from a druidic tribe. Kavaned toss his spear to a wolf sprinting alongside him; the wolf shifted into a person to catch the spear, and pierced the first soldier. Shakti recognized this werewolf immediately: at some point in time, her father Jaghr of the Longtooth was here in Barovia.
As Shakti had this vision, Ghalwin and Atlas started burning down the Gulthias Tree with oil, fire, and Ol' Feller. They then used Ghalwin's Dust of Disappearance to turn invisible with Lance and ran up the hill, past six barbarian guards who had left the chanting druids to investigate. Now safe, Shakti and Shredder jumped the boulders to attack the chanting druids, five of whom moved to intercept as one stayed back to complete the ritual. Shredder was extremely unlucky while traversing the rocks, as a random bolt of lightning electrocuted her. She had little time to shake off the damage, however: it was time for the fight of their lives!