# The Press House

> From the Curse of Strahd game wiki (it covers the whole game, spoilers included): https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-press-house.html. Unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy, not approved or endorsed by Wizards of the Coast.

> [!infobox]
> ![loc wizard of wines press house 1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-wizard-of-wines-press-house-1.webp)
> **Region:** [The Wizard of Wines](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/regions/the-wizard-of-wines.md) · level 6
> **Resting:** Risky
> **Light:** dim
> **Getting here:** [The Wizard of Wines](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-wizard-of-wines.md)

## Overview

A tall barn of a building around the great wine press, where the Martikovs crush the harvest. A rack against the east wall holds a cask set aside every year for the wizard who gave the winery its name, and never came back to drink it.

The great press stands in the middle of the floor like an altar, its screw as thick as a man. The vat beside it is full to the brim, and the surface of the mash is moving.

**Resting:** Risky: a rest here can be interrupted.

![loc wizard of wines press house overview](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-wizard-of-wines-press-house-overview.webp)
*The whole place from above.*

## Getting here

### Ways in

- **From [The Wizard of Wines](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-wizard-of-wines.md):** The press house

### Ways out

| # | Exit | Leads to | Only when |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Out to the yard | [The Wizard of Wines](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-wizard-of-wines.md) |  |

## Map

![wizard of wines press house](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/maps/wizard-of-wines-press-house.svg)

**Key:** gold, people; red, containers; purple, hidden finds; teal, skill checks; white, exits; orange, traps. The numbers match the lists on this page.

### Close up

![loc wizard of wines press house spot1](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-wizard-of-wines-press-house-spot1.webp)
*the wizard's rack, something behind the wizard's casks*

![loc wizard of wines press house spot2](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/img/shots/loc-wizard-of-wines-press-house-spot2.webp)
*a tool chest*

## People

> [!note]- Who turns up at points in the story (1)
> - **[Kostin](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/people/kostin.md)**, The press floor (#2): when not press house cleared and not kostin fled

## What to find

| # | Where | What | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | the wizard's rack | [Jug](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#jug), 8 gp | open it |
| 4 | a tool chest | [Carpenter's Tools](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#carpenters-tools), [Crowbar](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#crowbar), [Rope](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#rope) | open it |
| 5 | Kostin's satchel | [Herbalism Kit](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#herbalism-kit), [Potion of Healing](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/equipment.md#potion-of-healing), 18 gp | open it; only when press house cleared and not kostin fled |
| 6 | something behind the wizard's casks (hidden) | [Decanter of Endless Water](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/magic-items.md#decanter-of-endless-water) | Search: Perception DC 14 |

**Tarokka treasure spots.** If the reading hid one of the treasures here, it's in: Wizard of Wines Press House (wizards_rack)

The containers here also get random magic items and potions, rolled for a party of level 6 the first time you come ([Random Treasure](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/items/random-treasure.md)). Hidden finds need a Search (F) nearby; the party's best roll counts.

## Fights

- *The vat bursts its hoops. What rises out of it is the winery's last harvest: skins, stems and rot, heaped…*, in [The Press House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-press-house.md): [Shambling Mound](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/shambling-mound.md), [Druid](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/druid.md), [Vine Blight](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/vine-blight.md), [Needle Blight](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/needle-blight.md). Scales with your level.
> [!example]- By party level (the first line your party fits is the fight you get)
> - **[The Press House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-press-house.md)**, when gulthias tree burned and kostin fled: The Mash ([Shambling Mound](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/shambling-mound.md)) (1800 XP)
> - **[The Press House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-press-house.md)**, when gulthias tree burned: Kostin ([Druid](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/druid.md)), The Mash ([Shambling Mound](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/shambling-mound.md)) (2250 XP)
> - **[The Press House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-press-house.md)**, when kostin fled: The Mash ([Shambling Mound](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/shambling-mound.md)), 2 × [Vine Blight](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/vine-blight.md), 3 × [Needle Blight](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/needle-blight.md) (2150 XP)
> - **[The Press House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-press-house.md)**, when level ≥ 7: Kostin ([Druid](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/druid.md)), 5 × Druid of Yester Hill ([Druid](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/druid.md)), The Mash ([Shambling Mound](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/shambling-mound.md)), 6 × [Vine Blight](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/vine-blight.md) (5100 XP)
> - **[The Press House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-press-house.md)**, when level ≥ 6: Kostin ([Druid](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/druid.md)), The Mash ([Shambling Mound](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/shambling-mound.md)), 6 × [Vine Blight](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/vine-blight.md), 4 × Druid of Yester Hill ([Druid](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/druid.md)) (4650 XP)
> - **[The Press House](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/locations/the-press-house.md)**: Kostin ([Druid](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/druid.md)), The Mash ([Shambling Mound](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/shambling-mound.md)), [Vine Blight](https://curseofstrahd.app/wiki/bestiary/vine-blight.md) (2350 XP)

## Quests and lore

> [!quote]- A tally board
> A board of old oak, notched once for every year, a hundred and more of them. Above the notches someone has carved: ONE CASK EACH YEAR, FOR THE WIZARD, WHEN HE COMES. Below, in a newer hand: he hasn't. Keep notching.

> [!quote]- A letter pinned with a thorn
> Kostin. The last stone is in that house. Pull up every board, empty every cask. The Lord-in-the-Land has been patient with the bird-people long enough. When the effigy wakes it will walk east to the vines and finish what you could not. Be gone from there by then. R.