The Wizard of Wines

The Wizard of Wines is a vineyard and winery to the south of Krezk. It is owned and operated by the Martikov Family and in particular Davian Martikov, the patriarch of the family. Unusually, Davian and his progeny are all wereravens. Perhaps even more unusually, the Martikovs provide the wine to the taverns of Barovia (including the Blue Water Inn in Vallaki, also owned by a Martikov) without payment because they know that the joy of wine is one of the few things Barovians can rely up to help them suffer through their existences.

Associated Wines

Three wines are associated with the Wizard :

• Purple Grapemash No. 3, the cheapest and most unspectacular wine
• Red Dragon Crush, a step up in price and taste from the Purple Grapesmash
• Champagne du le Stomp, a spectacular and expensive brand that is made all the more rare for the fact that the gem needed for its creation was stolen ten years before the time of the module (that is, 725 BC by the module's timeline)

The Magic Gem "Seeds"

The secret to the winery's success lay in three magical gems created long ago by some now forgotten wizard. Each magic gem acted as a "seed" when buried, allowing healthy grapevines to grow and germinate hale and wonderful tasting grapes. Each one produced a grape used to make each of the drinks produced by the winery. Shortly before the time of the module, the other two of the the magic gems were taken, one by Baba Lysaga and one by evil druids that serve Strahd.

Since then, the seeds have been used to provide life or magical power for a variety of unwholesome purposes:

• Baba Lysaga stole one and embedded it in her Creeping Hut, giving it life.
• Evil druids venerating Strahd placed one inside a wood effigy of Strahd von Zarovich in preparation for a ritual to create a tree blight named Wintersplinter. After the blight animates, the gem becomes its heart..

History

For a general history, please see CoS p. 173.

Map

Located on Page 175