Heard of, never visited
The Winery
Rumoured
The Wizards of Wine: the Martikov family's winery, south of Krezk, and the only wine in Barovia. The wagons stopped, the family flew there, and nobody has come back.
- Where
- South of Krezk, a week or more from Vallaki. Ismark's Map just says WINE?, down in the bottom corner.
- Status
- Heard of, never visited. Gone silent. It is where we mean to go next.
What we have heard
Barovia runs on it
Ismark told us so on the day he drew our map: "Here in Barovia, all we really drink is wine, or watered wine if we are working that day. Wine is kind of vital." He put the winery "somewhere to the south of Krezk" and marked it with a question mark. The Wachter brothers, who would know, agree: without that place, "we would all be… in a much worse position." Lady Wachter called it by its name, the Wizards of Wine.
It belongs to the Ravens
Danika told us quietly, our first night in Vallaki, that her family owns it: "Our family wine keeps this entire bubble afloat, the bubble of Barovia." Later, when Urwin stopped pretending to be only an innkeeper, he named the only good people in this bloody place, not to toot his own horn: "us and our clan in the winery."
It doesn't let strangers near
Roger says his band never got close: "That bloody winery down south wouldn't let us within a dozen miles." A whole clan of them warned the band off "in very strong terms." That was after the band had killed a raven-man on the road, so the welcome may have been personal.
The way there
Danika's advice: "Days and days. About a week." Go to Krezk first, "if they let you in," and then south.
Why it has gone quiet
The trouble started small. When we arrived in Vallaki the latest shipment was "several days late now, and that's not very common." Danika asked us, without commissioning us, to look in if our road ran that way. Then it got worse, one step at a time:
- Lady Wachter's agent told her the wagons hadn't come that week. The Blue Water started rationing, and we started cutting our own wine with water at the bar.
- Urwin sent Danika and the boys, Brom and Bray, off to the winery to see what was happening, "given the things we discussed." The wine went to half water.
- Muriel told us her partner Falkon had flown back to report to the main Martikov clan and never came back: "I reckon there's something afoul in the winery."
- By the day of the fire the Blue Water was serving dregs, ten parts in a hundred wine. By the day of the festival it was one meal a week, and the wine all but gone.
What we have promised
After the festival we told Karl and Nikolai Wachter, on the worst day of their lives, that once the Reformation Center was dealt with we would go to the winery and bring back wine. See Go West to the Winery.
Open questions
- What has happened there, and are Danika and the boys all right?
- Where is Falkon?
- Will a clan that drove off the last Mistwalkers from a dozen miles out let us any closer?
Business here
-
Go West to the Winery
The wine that keeps Barovia going has stopped coming, and the Martikovs who went to find out why have gone quiet.
Danika asked on our first night at the Blue Water, taking care to say she was not commissioning us: the Martikovs own the winery down south, and the latest shipment was several days late, which is not common. "Our family wine keeps this entire bubble afloat." It has not come since. Urwin has watered the inn's wine to half, then to a tenth, and now serves one meal a week. He sent Danika and the boys down to the winery to see what was wrong. Muriel's partner Falkon went to report to the clan there and never came back: "I reckon there's something afoul in the winery." Roger's band, forty-odd years ago, were warned off it at a dozen miles.
It has a promise on it now too. After their mother died in the square, Karl and Nikolai told us the inn was running dry, and we gave them our word: shut down the Reformation Center, then go to the Wizards of Wine. Danika's route is to stop at Krezk, if they let us in, and turn south from there; about a week's travel. Once the Center is dealt with, that is where we are going.