Curse of Strahd Session 5: What Lived In The Windmill

The session begins with a tense night watch at the windmill, where Stoick and Vesper observe numerous plant-like figures watching the camp from the woods. Chaya later confirms seeing eleven of these entities walk away as the fog clears. During the final watch, Riordan discovers a mysterious, water-damaged black book on a balcony that radiates conjuration magic but appears blank. As morning breaks, Chaya notices that the illusion of the girl they previously met has vanished, prompting a suspicious investigation of the windmill's interior. Inside the windmill, the party discovers a horrific operation. While Steinman loots barrels of venison and fruit from the kitchen, Lucian and Stoick realize the mill is grinding human bones rather than wheat. Gretch becomes physically ill upon realizing the 'dream pastries' he has been consuming are made from these remains. The party ascends to the attic, where Riordan and Chaya find two unconscious, traumatized children held in small cages. They learn that the hags residing there have been kidnapping children and pulling out their teeth to produce their magical pies. To escape, Stoick uses his immense strength to hurl a 250-pound millstone through a window, creating an exit after the front door is magically sealed. Gretch and Stoick set the interior of the windmill ablaze using oil and a tinder box. As they flee, a purple-skinned fiend with goat horns and glowing red eyes appears in the window, grabbing Stoick's collar before he falls. The entity watches them leave with a look of gleeful anger, marking itself as a primary antagonist who survived the fire. The party regroup at the cart and Ismark drives the horses hard toward the town of Vallaki. During a brief stop by a lake, Chaya performs a symbolic burial for the bone meal she recovered from the mill. Riordan interrogates the rescued girl, who reveals that another boy was taken away two days prior after fighting back. The session concludes as the party reaches the outskirts of Vallaki, seeing the town's wooden palisades and iron gates flanked by pikes topped with wolf heads.

Artist Credit: Circle of Alessandro Magnasco. The Witch, 1700-1725. The Art Institute of Chicago.