Bonegrinder Windmill

"The Old Svalich Road transitions here from being a winding path through the Balinok Mountains to a lazy trail that hugs the mountainside as it descends into a fog-filled valley. In the heart of the valley, you see a walled town near the shores of a great mountain lake, its waters dark and still. A branch in the road leads west to a hill, atop which is perched a dilapidated stone windmill, its warped wooden vanes stripped bare."

You find a small twig figurine discarded upon the ground. It was left here by Offalia, who enjoys crafting them and has a small collection in the attic.

"The onion-domed edifice leans forward and to one side, as though trying to turn away from the stormy gray sky. You see gray brick walls and dirt-covered windows on the upper floors. A soft, curling stream of smoke from a crooked pipe chimney. A wooden platform encircles the windmill above a flimsy doorway leading to the building's interior. Perched on a wooden beam above the door is a raven. It hops about and squawks at you, seemingly agitated."

A character who succeeds on a DC 12 Wisdom (Insight) check senses that the raven is trying to warn the party. After delivering its message, the raven flies off toward Vallaki, the town in the valley below. (If anyone tries to attack the raven, Ismark shouts at them to stop. Sensing the danger, the raven gives up and flies away. Ismark then tells the party it's bad luck to harm a raven.) Beyond the windmill is the forest. Once atop the windmill's hill, the characters can see a ring of four squat megaliths at the forest's edge. Ravens can be seen circling in the air above the stones.

Morgantha isn't home when the characters enter the windmill, but gets home 15 minutes after. Upon her homecoming, Morgantha comes fully disguised as the old woman and pushing her cart of pies, almost all of which are gone (presumedly sold). However, she has one major addition to her cart: a large wiggling sack containing a bound and gagged little boy named Lucien.

If the characters treat this as non-combat:

* Bella answers the door
* The warm smell of pastries fills the air

Conversation Topics:

* There's not much room inside the windmill for everyone to be comfortable, but Bella makes an obvious show of trying to be hospitable. She may go to an unused chair in the corner, piled with old knick-kacks, and start trying to clear it off for a PC to have a place to sit.
* Bella comments that they don't usually have guests and she's so very sorry for not making things nicer. This should make the PCs feel like a nuisance. They become more worried about themselves imposing on Bella than of Bella's possible sinister nature.
* Bella freely says that her sister is upstairs, hard at work, though she doesn't call her by name, referring to her only as "sister."
	+ "Sister! Come say hello to our guests!" "Oh, hush, Bella! I'm working! You know Mother will be home soon."
* Bella's mother is Morgantha and she frequently goes into town for a few days at a time to sell her wares. They have a little place in town to stay, but they much prefer the windmill as their home. Bella and her sister are the primary bakers in their little business.
* Bella is delighted when the players admit that they met her mother and even more so when they admit they tried the pies. Bella wants to know the PCs' critiques on the taste and what might possibly make them tastier. Bella would love to hear some baking tips.
* Bella doesn't talk about the actual content of the pies unless she's specifically asked. She admits that it's a family secret passed down from her mother's mother.
* If the PCs bring up the witch thing, Bella gets sad and says her mother doesn't really talk about her mother or how she died. But Bella knows that it was something terrible.
* Otherwise, Bella does her best to keep the conversation about the PCs. She asks them where they're off to and how they're handling Barovia. Better to talk about the PCs than them, after all.
* Unanswered Letter (QUEST)
	+ Bella gets reserved, "I hate having to ask for anything, especially of random passerbys, but we don't get many visitors and my mother would never ask for help on her own. Recently, a letter that Mother sent out to a friend in Vallaki was returned to the windmill unanswered. I haven't told Mother about the returned letter yet; I don't want her to worry." Bella takes out the letter and hands it to the players.
	+ Vasili, My Dear Friend, Yes, of course I would be more than willing to help you with such a horrible problem! I can only imagine what those poor dears in Vallaki are going through. You know very well that I've had my own bad encounters with witches... encounters that have left their marks on my very soul. Children, orphaned or not, should never have to face such evil. If you find a way to get the little ones at Andral's Orphanage safely out of Vallaki, I'll be happy to house them in my windmill. There's not much room, here, true. But we have beds and pies to go around. Sincerely, Morgantha
* "Mother won't like it if she sees you here. She doesn't like strangers seeing our mess, you see."

First Floor

* Just behind the door, the hags keep a small umbrella stand that contains an ugly green parasol with rotted fabric and a rusted longsword. If asked about the sword, Bella claims that it belonged to an old lover of hers who left it to her as a memento. In truth, the sword belongs to a former adventuring party that stormed the hags’ windmill and were swiftly and brutally destroyed.
* "A large brick oven takes up most of one side of the room. The oven emits warmth and you can smell something sweet baking inside. Surrounding the oven on some shelves are several jars of condiments and ingredients. There's also a couple rubbish bins filled with animal bones and bits of discarded dough." Survival check (15 DC) to see if they can figure out the bones are people bones... *small* people bones.

Second Floor

Combat

* The hags **will not** harm Ismark
* If things are looking bad:
	+ The Keepers of the Feather are watching the PCs at this point in the game. While it's a bit early to reveal that the raven at the front door was in fact a wereraven, that wereraven can still send the party aid during this battle if things get dire. At a good time, three swarms of ravens might burst through the windows and flood the windmill with the flapping of their wings. These ravens can effectively distract the hags as well as do a little damage. It's also a neat thing to describe to your players, very cinematic.
* If the PCs attempt to rescue Freek and Myrtle and fail, or fail to find the children while visiting, only Freek is still alive when they return.
* If the PCs burn down or otherwise destroy the windmill without rescuing the children inside, they can later find a pair of child-sized corpses charred or otherwise killed in cages within the wreckage. The cages have been ravaged by fingernails, and the PCs can clearly hear Freek and Myrtles’ screams as the windmill is destroyed.