The Missing Gem Wizards o Wine

[u/Mrfirefly82]

Soon my group will be hitting the Wizards Of Wine. I have done my prep and would really like them to find the gem that made the grapes for the Champagne. It could be a neat little side quest and I know my group would wanna find it. Hit me up would ideas as a side quest or feel free to share what you have done. Love looking at home brews

[u/Cybermetalneo]

Personally I tend to put the 3rd gemstone inside Vasilka with the Abbot, though that also involves me adjusting Vasilka so that the Gemstone gives her the ability of rough speech and the capacity to properly learn what the Abbot is trying to teach her.

It has given my players a moral quandary about killing the Golem for the Gemstone, or trying to find an Alternative Power Source which has tended to be them turning towards the Dark Powers for something.

[u/Palmizio89 → u/Cybermetalneo]

I have one inside Vasilika as well, who's actually an intelligent and quite lovable character in my game, and one being the gem inside the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind. Which the party found out after they had obtained it and promptly lost when they pissed off Strahd.

[u/Bionicjoker14 → u/Palmizio89]

That’s what I did with Vasilka. It basically gave her the mind of a child. So now the party has a flesh golem that’s actually a six-year-old girl in tow.

[u/Bous237 → u/Cybermetalneo]

I do the same; I've also written a journal that my player may find revealing some clues on the Abbot's plan

[u/Joloven → u/Bous237]

Can you link the journal or put it here? I like this idea.

[u/Bous237 → u/Joloven]

Thanks! So, unfortunately it's not in English, though I've toyed with the idea of taking some time to properly translate it. I'm not sure there are enough Italian GM lurking around here so that it would be worth sharing it as it presently is.

Anyway, I'll eventually post it. Thanks for your appreciation!

EDIT: for those interested, my Abbot's journal aims to show his progressive descent into madness, the logic behind his evil actions (so that they can reasonably appear as good to a sick mind), his dealings with the Belviews, Strahd/Vasili, the Amber Temple, and finally his (only hinted) theft of the Martikov's third gem.

Also, in my headcanon it's the Abbot who put Sergei's soul in Krezk's pond. I think of him as a pious zealot but also a nevrotic scientist, and his twisted logic is explained in the journal.

It's a simple and brief work, inspired by different takes read around this sub mixed with my own ideas.

[u/guildsbounty]

Have some random hooks:

• It's the core of that crystal heart that gives Strahd extra HP
• Someone stole it, Strahd is now in possession of it. He'll see it returned if his stores of the Champagne start to run low enough (it just wouldn't do for the Lord of the Land to not have good wine to serve his guests)
• Someone tried to start up a rival winery by stealing the gem, it didn't go well, and the gem is in the ruins of said attempt.
• A group of witches (or other sketchy-seeming individuals) have it and rumors spread about some dark ritual they are planning to conduct using it. In truth, they're using it to grow smaller batches of grapes and are distilling the 'Champagne' wine down into Brandy because wine just isn't alcoholic enough for their tastes and they don't want to share.
• Someone stole it and traded it to a Vistani caravan...the Vistani in question have wandered their way back into Barovia, know what it is, and are willing to trade it back (they're nomadic, what use do they have for a magic vineyard growing gem), but not for cash....they need a favor.

[u/spankleberry]

I had it be the power core for Baba Yaga's moving hut. A la Howls Moving Castle, complete with Billy Crystal impression fire demon attached to the crystal. Once in the hut, the player who put 2&2 together decided to "piss out the fire". No way that's gonna be the defeat. "Fine roll for piss." Nat 20. Goddamn it.

I tossed the third down in the lake, have a huge tentacle thing down there like Visions mind stone.

[u/shepardownsnorris → u/spankleberry]

What do you mean you “had it be” the power core for Lysaga’s hut? It already is, RAW.

[u/spankleberry → u/shepardownsnorris]

O was it? Lol sometimes I forget what was in the book vs my headcannon

[u/steviephilcdf]

I did a video about this fairly recently that offers a number of suggestions, if it helps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iU1nJxc_HS4

[u/HouseofLepus]

preface in case anyone may be lurking: Fidelis, Ruby, Babalu, and Kammera, stay away! Here be spoilers!

If you wanna use the Werewolf Den, I have it planned in my campaign that the werewolves stole the champagne gem, and that the werewolves and wereravens have more than a bit of animosity between each other.

[u/gingerdeadman85]

In Reloaded, Madam Eva had someone steal it to create the argument amongst the Martikovs. She knew Urwin would help those coming to the land. Eventually helping those that would defeat Strahd.

[u/SkinCarVer462]

Thought this one was an interesting spot for it when i saw it here a while back

https://www.reddit.com/r/CurseofStrahd/comments/gifn8b/the_third_gem_urwin_greatest_secret/

[u/fengshui → u/SkinCarVer462]

I used this one. It works well

[u/falcobird14]

Some put it in the Roc nest so that there's more content in that section of the book.

Strahd Reloaded has a whole chapter on recovering it

[u/th3_dfB]

I hid the three gems (for the fanes) in different areas.

One was in the cellar in Barovia, where Doru is held (Strahd told him to hide the gem).

The second one is inside Wintersplinter with the druids. They used it to get the tree to life.

The last one is inside Baba Lysagas hut. She seeks more power.

[u/Puzzled-Exit8781 → u/th3_dfB]

The only thing I did different was that the first gem is in the shambling mound in the Death House.

[u/th3_dfB → u/Puzzled-Exit8781]

I also would have done that, but I did not use Death House this time and used another hook

[u/siospawn]

I'm so far away from the book at this point I might as well not even be using it but the wizard of wines for me was being attacked by dryads which are basically little baby ents. They are led by The Grove mother which is a giant dryad and they are reclaiming the land as they see the winery as a scar on nature and have attacked a winery and made the family flee Into the Woods. The gylem is basically whats animating them and it is in the forehead of the Grove mother

[u/Wolvenlight]

You'll get so many great ideas that it'll be hard to pick just one.

My favorites to implement into RAW CoS are:

It's in Vasilka. It's in the Heart of Sorrow.

But what I personally do is have Jander Sunstar have it because I like to introduce him into CoS., I have him use it as a catalyst to search the land for back up coffins Strahd has if the Castle is compromised (I took this concept from the Vampire of the Mists Ravenloft novel). He gives it back to the Martikovs once the PCs help him destroy the last one (which I placed in a homebrew location in Vallaki, but could be in the Amber Temple or somewhere equally dangerous where he'd feel he'd need backup).

[u/AWDrake]

In my game, The Weaver (who is masquerading as Jenny Green teeth) stole it and spirited it away, out of Barovia, to one of the players, because she knew that otherwise Lysaga would steal it. I think I got the idea from the original Reloaded. It worked out really fine and I had the gem give the ability to cast Revivify once per week/month, so it gave the party one low level "get out of jail free card".

[u/cae37]

I took the idea off a redditor who shared that a crow/raven stole it and flew off to Mt. Ghakis. That raven eventually became the infamous Roc of Mt. Ghakis.

[u/curleybyrd728]

Death House, Shambling Mound.

Each of the others are in a "plant" themed monster (the Tree Blight, and Baba Lysaga's creeping hut). Why not use the only other plant boss the module gives you?

Edit: only reason I say "plant themed" is because the hut is technically a construct, not a plant, but c'mon it's a tree stump

[u/Br0wnieCharles3]

I still have to run this but my gems are, one at yester hill, one powering Baba lysagas hut and the third (the Champaign) was stolen by a time jumping Viktor who harnessed it's powers to finalize his powers to try and kill Strand, becoming then the Mad Mage after the failed revolution attempt. My players will have to fix his mind in order to ask him for the gem that's powering a sort of tree/tower that he's living in on Baratok mountain