Yester Hill

Yester Hill is a hill located to the west of the Barovian valley to the south of Krezk and the Wizards of the Wine and known to be inhabited by druids, the native "forestfolk" of Barovia.

Pre-invasion
Quoted in the History of Barovia Archwizard Khazan described Yester Hill as “a four hundred foot rise of particular spiritual importance to Barovia’s pre-invasion peoples.” The hill itself, he argued, was far less interesting than the vigour and primitive druidic magics of the “rabble” that attempted to defend it against Strahd von Zarovich’s forces. These native Barovians worshipped a twisted tree of evil omen atop the hill. Following the defeat of its defenders, the tree was burnt to the ground and the bodies of the slain burnt in a great pyre. When asked why the native forces had abandoned their insurgency tactics to engage in a clearly doomed pitched battle, a captured native, Kavan, replied simply: “Wintersplinter”.

Recent history
When the party of Hallgrimm Mikkenson, Narid Ashplantt, and Ezmerelda d'Avenir approached Yester Hill it was apparent that some kind of ceremony was taking place, with Ezmerelda noting that there appeared to be an unusually large gathering of druids, likely to be in order to gather power for some large summoning, which Narid suggested could be Wintersplinter. This gathering of summoning power could also explain their incursion onto the Wizards of the Wine for the magical gems.

Atop the hill stood a 50 foot effigy of Count Strahd von Zarovich within a walled ring, and lightning appeared to strike within this ring every six seconds. Druids were paced out around the hill focusing on the spectacle at its peak and at this time the party interfered with the ritual, killing several druids before they could react. After the battle was underway the remaining druids managed to summon undead berserkers to raise from the cairns around the mountain to fight alongside them. During the mayhem Narid was able to set the effigy ablaze which distracted the remaining druids, who stopped fighting and rushed to try douse the flames. Once the effigy was burned to the ground the berserkers stood still and looked towards the hill top, immediately ceasing fighting.

As Hallgrimm and Narid turned to leave Yester Hill and leave Ezmerelda to keep watch and retrieve the magical gem for the Martikovs, Kavan's spirit called out to Narid and asked him to take his spear. Narid dug into one of the ceremonial cairns and located the Blood Spear of Kavan, which is now in his possession.

Gulthias Tree
The Gulthias tree appears to have some importance to the druids of Yester Hill. Its bark is black and spongy, and oozes a strange orange fluid to the touch.

Sigismund obtained the "Vampire Staff" from one of the druids occupying the Wizards of the Wine and its physical characteristics matched those of the Gulthias Tree. After a short amount of time the staff bonded itself to Sigismund's hand. It appeared to draw vitality from those it struck in battle.