The party follows the tracks of the Mad Mage up the river. While the Mad Mage keeps repeating his catchphrase: “You think my magic has grown weak? Think again!” After attempts at peacefully talking with the Mad Mage fails, the party resorts to kidnapping the crazed wizard.
Next, the party elects to head towards Wizard of the Vines in hope of finding a peaceful place to rest for the night. Instead, they find a gigantic Tree Blight and scarecrows attacking the winery. The adventurers quickly take down the unruly vegetation in a heroic fashion.
Full write-up
At dawn, the party awakens to fine that Eiric and Maulduk have returned, but Seisha has mysteriously disappeared for reasons not appropriate to discuss publicly. Krill follows the tracks of the Mad Mage up river. Upon encountering the Mad Mage, diplomacy fails to win over the crazed wizard. Honu manages to cast “calm emotions” to mollify the wizard’s hostility. Hadrioul uses “detect magic” and discovers that some sort of abjuration magic is upon the wizard, but that it might possibly wear off in time.
Thus, Hadrioul proposes that they kidnap the wizard and hold him for twenty-four hours to see if whatever spell that is on the wizard will wear off. Maulduk grapples the wizard while Hadrioul binds the Mad Mage thusly: wrist, hands and fingers bound, mouth gagged and eyes blindfolded. For extra security, Hadrioul takes the wizard’s spell component pouch.
Eiric suggests that the party wait and rest at the Wizard of Wines, possibly the only place in Ravenloft where they have not made enemies of their hosts. Maulduk takes responsibility for transporting and guarding the wizard. The party takes two boats across Lake Zarovich and down the Luna River. Near the bridge, they hide the boats and proceed by land.
During their trek overland, they encounter some Vistani. Eiric cleverly uses a “rope trick” to hide the entire group in an extra-dimensional space. They watch as the Vistani search the area fruitlessly before moving on.
As the party arrives at the Wizard of Wines, they see a gigantic Tree Blight, together with its cohort of scarecrows, attacking the winery. The party bravely advances to attack the tree (after a short discussion about the merits of such an action). Wintersplinter takes a liking to Eiric and demonstrates this by smacking and grappling him. Hadrioul summons spiritual guardians and heals the poor artificer. Krill shoots arrows and Honu uses holy magic against the tree. Maulduk dumps the Mad Mage in a crate of grapes, and charges forward with his Axe of Pruning. In the hands of the barbarian, the devastating gardening tool lays waste to the overgrown shrub. The rest of the party makes quick work of the remaining scarecrows. After the battle, the party recovers the Mad Mage, who is still bound, gagged and blindfolded…
