New Curse of Strahd Reloaded Update: Meet the Martikovs & Into the Winery

This is the first in a series of (hopefully) weekly/fortnightly posts updating folks on my progress in drafting and editing the new Reloaded guide. 

Since the public release of Act II: The Shadowed Town and version 2.0.4 of the Curse of Strahd: Reloaded guide, I've completed the following additions to the guide:

• Drafted the introduction to Act III: The Devil's Hand and Arc K: The Stolen Gem
• Drafted Urwin's request and the hook to Arc K: The Stolen Gem
• Drafted the players' first meeting with Muriel Vinshaw in human form, as well as Ireena's decision to join the party as a permanent companion
• Drafted roadside encounters with the Mountain Folk, blights, and the revenant of the Raven River Crossroads
• Drafted the players' arrival at the Wizard of Wines Winery and their first encounter with Davian Martikov and his family
• Drafted the players' first entry into the Wizard of Wines Winery via the Brown Mold cavern, and their combat with a revised druid naturalist in the winery cellar

As always, you can get full access to my in-progress drafts by joining the Patreon as a paid member.

Here's a sneak preview of two excerpts from this week's work: the players' first meeting with Muriel, and the players' first encounter with Davian:

Meeting Muriel

When the players inform Urwin that they are ready to depart, he introduces them to Muriel Vinshaw. Read:

The young woman who approaches you is short and dusky-skinned, with jet-black hair and dark eyes.  A  mud-stained cloak hangs across her shoulders, and a small, dark feather hangs on a leather cord around her neck between two carved wooden beads. A wooden crossbow hangs from a mount on her back, and a shortsword rests sheathed at her hip. 

Her right hand lifts up to her head, fingers idly twirling the bright blue streak that runs through her hair. She flashes you a grin and holds out the other hand in greeting, her fingers twitching with restless energy.

Muriel greets the players warmly and introduces herself, noting that Urwin has told her that she’ll be bringing them to the Wizard of Wines even as they make sure that she “doesn’t get killed.” Following their reply, she then chides the players briefly, playfully suggesting that they “don’t seem like the adventuring type”. If the players share any of their exploits in Vallaki or beyond, Muriel cheerfully concedes that they do indeed look well-equipped and well-prepared and thanks them for taking the job.

Muriel’s Secret Identity

Muriel is, of course, a wereraven and a secret member of the Keepers of the Feather—the same blue-winged wereraven, in fact, that the players previously encountered in the village of Barovia and on the path to Tser Pool.

If the players confront Muriel and suggest that she’s secretly a wereraven, druid, or other shapeshifter, she scoffs at the prospect and summarily denies the allegations with a healthy dose of sarcasm, laughter, and good-natured humor, spinning off a series of excuses as she does:

* (If accused of being a shapeshifter) “What, like some kind of tree-hugging druid? I don’t even have a wooden staff. And I hate trees.”

* (If accused of being a wereraven) “Oh, so like a werewolf but for ravens instead? That’s so stupid. ‘Oh, look at me, I’m a dangerous werewolf who turns into birds!’”

* (If her blue streak of hair is pointed out) “I once saw a wolf with an ugly face, but that doesn’t mean it was Izek Strazni in disguise. Good on that bird, though. He’s got good taste.”

* (If the players continue to insist that Muriel was the blue-winged raven) "Believe what you want. But if I catch you sneaking birdseed into my rations, we're probably gonna have a problem."

If the players provide undeniable evidence for their suggestion (such as Muriel’s uncanny ability to regenerate from her wounds), she winces, then insists that she can’t say anything further without first speaking to her “boss.” (She won’t disclose her boss’s identity, but can truthfully promise that her boss is neither Strahd nor one of his servants.)

Following Davian

The last stretch of the journey to the Wizard of Wines is largely as described in Approaching the Vineyard (p. 174). If Muriel is with the party, she recognizes the man's cloak as Davian Martikov’s and urges the players to meet him.

If the players linger on the road, a piercing screech splits the air from the south—the familiar call of a greater strix. Just a moment later, it’s answered by a second, similar call from the east—and a third, similar call from the west. As the three shrieks echo across the vineyard, the cloaked figure glances upward and its gestures become more urgent, while Muriel urges the players to seek cover.

If the players approach the cloaked figure, it beckons them deeper into the woods. Read: 

The figure vanishes into a small grove of beech trees tucked away amidst the woods, their smooth, silvery-gray trunks standing in a ring like ancient sentinels. The canopy above forms a dense, near-unbroken ceiling of foliage, casting the forest floor in an otherworldly shadow.

All around you, the trees' uniform, near-symmetrical branches reach upward like slender arms toward the sky. Dozens of ravens sit perched upon them, their dark eyes watching silently as a light breeze rustles through the leaves.

The figure is nowhere to be seen, but a well-disguised trapdoor has been pulled open at the center of the clearing, exposing a wooden ladder that descends down a shaft in the earth.

Muriel doesn’t recognize the trapdoor or the ladder. If the players linger without entering the trapdoor, the cloaked man’s head pokes up out of the trapdoor, and he grunts, “Do you want to get punctured to death, you fools? Get down here before they see you, for goodness’ sake—and close the door behind you.” He then descends back down the ladder.

You can get full access to my in-progress drafts by joining the Patreon as a paid member. All working drafts and outlines for future arcs, as well as a changelog and Trello board of upcoming edits, can be found on the Patreon Bronze Masterpost.

Thank you for following and using this guide! I look forward to bringing you future updates.

Cheers,
Dragna