Bramo fires on Baba Lysaga hitting her with a powerful bolt of fire. Riley leaves Zaleria to deal with Baba Lysaga. With her back turned, a portal appears beside Zaleria and she steps through it teleporting away. Bronwyn tries to shoot down Baba Lysaga, but her eldritch blasts strike the skull instead. Johan closes in on the witch and steps through the mist to teleport above the skull. He lands on the uneven surface of the skull and slips falling twenty feet to the ground below, injuring himself.
McCoy frees himself from the black tentacles and joins Johan near the swamp huts with Ireena. Baba Lysaga summons insect swarms around them and casts a finger of death at Bramo; the death magic nearly killing him! She pulls the skull back away from the huts and towards the nearby cemetery.
Verushka angrily shakes her fists at the retreating witch and hops down off the roof smashing away the insects attacking Johan. Elora moves onto the walkway and fires scorching rays of fire at Baba Lysaga but only one of them hits her.
Suddenly, Baba Lysaga’s Hut comes to life and attacks them! The roots of the tree tear out of the ground as it lumbers over towards them. It glows with a green light reminiscent of Wintersplinter. It stretches out long limbs which come crashing down on top of McCoy and Verushka.
Riley drinks one of her potions of invulnerability and joins the fight against the insect swarms. Bramo uses his flame cannon against a scarecrow and takes cover in the church ruins. McCoy leaps inside of the hut searching for a way to disable it. Inside the hut is a simple bed, desk, bathtub, and an iron-bound chest all of which are bolted to the floor. In the center of the room is a young boy with black hair sitting in a wooden crib he is much too old for. He casually says hello to McCoy.
Nailed to the ceiling above the bathtub is a woman with long, black hair, bone white skin, glowing pink eyes, and horns coming out of her head. She is impaled on multiple iron rods which have been bent to hold her in place. Her throat is covered in scars and bears a freshly healed wound. She feebly cries out for help. McCoy rushes over to her and tries to pry open the bars but isn’t strong enough.
From far across the swamp, Zaleria launches bolts of eldritch energy at Elora injuring her badly. On the far side of the huts, Bronwyn takes cover beneath the branches of a nearby tree, and fires eldritch bolts of her own at Baba Lysaga, but fails to hit her. Most of the group is gathered near the huts fighting the insect swarms. Baba Lysaga launches a fireball at the group badly burning Verushka, Ireena, and Lancelot and singing Johan, Bronwyn, and Riley.
Badly hurt and terrified by the fire, Verushka panics and runs away from the battle. Riley runs over to the hut to help McCoy. She too is startled by the scene inside. She greets the boy, and he tells her his name is Strahd. Ignoring that, she asks the boy if it would be all right if she moved his crib. He tells it is okay, but his mother told him to stay in the crib and he has to obey his mother. Riley can see the Martikov gem glowing beneath the floorboards once she moves the crib. She reaches down to pry them up, but the boards grow wooden teeth and bite her! McCoy also tries to grab the gem but is bitten by the hut.
Baba Lysaga goes into a rage when she sees Riley enter the hut. She screams for her to “get away from the boy!” She casts a spell and the hut is filled with an enormous cloud of heavy, poisonous, green gas. The gas spills out of the hut to the ground engulfing Lancelot as well. McCoy and Riley both resist the poison’s effects but even Laura is coughing and gagging on the gas. The boy Strahd seems unaffected.
Taking aim at the witch, Elora unleashes a powerful lightning bolt which tears through Baba Lysaga killing her and sending the skull of Argynvost crashing to the ground. The hut continues to attack and flattens Johan and Bramo, knocking both of them unconscious. Riley dodges the teeth of the hut and manages to pry open the floorboards and snatch out the gem. The hut halts and settles down going inert.
Seeing Baba Lysaga defeated, Zaleria turns and runs. Johan is healed and returns to consciousness. He telepathically commands his skeletal horse to keep an eye out for Zaleria and come to him if it spots her. The skeletal horse spies the witch running through the fog and gallops past her towards Johan. Riley is in pursuit on foot and meets up with the horse. Johan commands it to let her ride it. She rides off after Zaleria fashioning a lasso from her rope as she rides. She uses the lasso to capture Zaleria and drag her back to the village with her.
McCoy finally manages to free Laura from the ceiling, and he carries her outside to safety. He notices the extent of her wounds and concludes that no mortal could survive such treatment.
Bronwyn enters the hut and talks with the boy Strahd. She learns that he has a very limited worldview and is ignorant of the outside world. He is smart and friendly and devoted to his mother. He tells her she is outside riding around in her skull and will be back soon. He is waiting for her to return. He has to wait in the crib for her because that’s what mother told him to do, and he must obey mother.
Bronwyn searches the hut for anything of interest. She looks over the chest but fails to notice the arcane glyph inscribed on it. When she touches the chest, it explodes in a wave of thunder much to the boy Strahd’s amusement. Hearing the explosion, Elora enters the hut to see what is going on. She is horrified by the little Strahd but comes over to help Bronwyn with the chest. She examines it and sees that the glyph that protected it has been disarmed and the chest is unlocked. She opens the chest and four severed hands leap out of the chest and swarm over her!
Elora screams! Bronwyn kills two of them with eldritch blasts. Elora kills a third with the quarterstaff she always carries. Ireena rushes in at Elora’s scream and kills the last hand with her sword. The boy Strahd greets Ireena and tells her she is pretty. Ireena is speechless.
Inside the chest, they find a hoard of gold and gems including an exquisite pearl which Elora can use for her magic. There are several magic scrolls inside as well as vial of oil, magic pipes, and a magic stone.
Outside the hut, Riley questions Zaleria with Johan and Bramo standing by to assist her. Zaleria agrees to answer her questions on the condition that she be let go afterwards. Riley agrees much to Johan and Bramo’s disappointment. Zaleria tells Riley she put the tattoo on her as per Baba Lysaga’s orders. She didn’t actually curse Riley she was just reinforcing a curse placed on her when she was a child. She tells her Baba Lysaga only did this to help her daughter who was the one who originally cursed Riley. Zaleria doesn’t know how or why Riley was cursed and was only following Baba Lysaga’s orders.
Riley asks her who Baba Lysaga’s daughter is and Riley tells her she is Rahasia. Riley asks about the boy Strahd. Zaleria tells her that Baba Lysaga made him. He is a construct and not a human boy. She doesn’t know why she made it and all of the other witches found the boy creepy but never questioned it. She thinks it has something to do with the fact that she could no longer care for and coddle the real Strahd so she made the boy as replacement that would always be her baby boy.
They ask about the woman nailed to the ceiling. Zaleria tells her she is no “woman.” She has heard rumors about what she really is. All she knows is that she is a powerful fey creature. Johan asks her if she is one of the three Fanes. Zaleria tells her she has heard that rumor before.
They ask about their friend, the knight Lucien Brightburn. Zaleria knows who they mean. She tells them that her coven killed him and hung his body up in the cemetery. They tell her that is fine. She explains that their friend is dead. They tell her they know, that’s fine, he’ll be all right. Zaleria is confused.
Finished with their question, Riley unties Zaleria. Before letting her go, she punches her hard in the face causing blood to gush from her nose. Zaleria looks at her horrified and disappears through a portal.
The group hastily patches up their wounded and provide what healing they can, having no time for a real rest. They head north to the flooded cemetery and search for Lucien. They find him hung up and crucified on a post like one of the scarecrows. He is very much dead, but they take his body with them to wait for him to revive the next day.
Verushka and Riley carry the skull of Argynvost out of the swamp while McCoy carries Laura. They regroup with Muriel on their way out of the swamp and she joins their party. They head out of Berez on the road, passing the ghost of Lazlo as they go, and telling him everything will be all right soon. On the road, they meet Jeny and her cart. Jeny is surprised to see them, but gratefully takes Laura from them and loads her into her cart.
The group start telling Jeny their tale, but she is interested. She retrieves two healing potions and one potion of invisibility from her cart and gives them to Riley. Then she slaps a wooden coin in her hand. The coin is inscribed with the rhyme, “Pretty peny, show me Jeny.” She tells her to use the coin she needs to flip it and say the rhyme. Then a tree will grow from the earth where the coin lands and Jeny will be there inside the tree. She tells them only to use it in an emergency and never to use it indoors!
Jeny tells the group they have been doing great work, but she questions why they are doing all of it. She wants to know what their motivation and their goal is. They tell her they are trying to defeat Strahd and help Barovia. She asks them if they want to put things back the way they used to be and if they believe in the old ways. They tell her that they do. She tells them there are doing a good job and their faith will be rewarded.
They ask her if they can use her cart to transport the skull to Argynvostholt, but she says no and rides away with her sister.
Riley struggles to carry the skull the way back to Argynvostholt but she perseveres, and they manage to get the skull there. They bring the skull around to the back of the manor to graveyard there. Using the gate that was always there, they bring the skull inside and over the mausoleum. Riley and Verushka set the skull down inside along with the other bones. There is an inscription inside the mausoleum that Riley cannot read. She calls Elora inside to read it. Elora tells her it is written in Draconic and identifies this as the resting place of Argynvost’s body and treasure. They can see that any treasure has been looted and only the bones remain.
As they step outside of the mausoleum, they see a blue light swirling around inside of it. The light shoots out of the mausoleum and up to the top of the chapel tower. The black cloud of hatred is dispelled and replaced with a glorious shining light. The top of the chapel tower is filled with light and a pillar of light shoots up into the sky for all to see. The beacon is lit!
The spirit of Argynvost appears before them and thanks them. He tells them he will always be with them in their fight against evil and darkness. He asks one small favor of them if they will grant it. They agree and ask what he needs them to do. He asks if in their final battle with Strahd if they would wear the livery of the Order of the Silver Dragon. He wants Strahd to know that it was his knights that defeated him. The group happily agrees and the spirit of Argynvost fades away.
They enter the manor and return to the throne room where they met Vladimir. He is there with Godfrey. They are facing each other with tears in their eyes. Vladimir tells Godfrey, “It was you, all along, and I couldn’t remember…” Godfrey tells him that it is all right. Now they are together and now they can be free. They turn to the group and thank them for all they have done. Godfrey tells Vladimir to take his hand and they will go together. They smile, hold hands, and die. All around the manor, all of the souls in Argynvostholt are also put to rest. including the haunted souls inside of Johan’s moon sword and Elora’s necklace.
The party searches the throne room and locate Vladimir’s sword. The group is excited to finally have Sergei’s sword in their possession. But when Elora identifies the sword, she learns it is not Sergei’s sword, but Silverclaw a sword made for Vladimir from one of Argynvost’s shed claws. The group is confused. Madam Eva’s reading told them the sword would be here. They are worried they have interpreted her reading incorrectly or missed something. Finally, after their panic subsides, they decide to search Vladimir’s body. They find he is possession of a longsword hilt with no blade.
Elora identifies the hilt and confirms it is Sergei’s sword. She learns that long ago, the wizard Khazan, acting on orders from Strahd to destroy the sword, had to first remove and destroy the blade. Something went wrong and prevented the hilt from also being destroyed until it ended up here in Vladimir’s possession. The hilt is inert, but Elora can tell that it contains powerful magic, but the sword must be somehow reconsecrated with Sergei’s spirit. Their quest continues.
Before departing the manor, the group takes the time to return the bodies of the Silver Knights to their empty graves in the graveyard behind the manor. They decide they will accompany Muriel back to the Wizard of Wines to see her and the Martikov gem there safely. Muriel tells them that they have done something amazing by lighting the beacon, they have returned hope to Barovia. But they have also painted a target on themselves as they stand in open defiance of Strahd. Muriel thanks them for saving her life and swears to repay the debt.
They travel back to winery and are welcomed in Davian. He is overjoyed by all they have accomplished. They have lit the beacon, returned the third gem, and reunited his family. The group has done the impossible and he loves them dearly for it. He warns them that they have declared war on Strahd now. The beacon shines bright and can be seen everywhere in Barovia. It is an insult to Strahd, and he will not suffer it quietly. Davian tells them whatever they plan next, the Martikovs and their network are with them. They will stand at their side and fight with them against Strahd.
Not wishing to endanger their dear friends, the group prepares to set out for Vallaki. If they hurry, they can reach Jeny’s Hut by nightfall, regroup with Alkazaar, and then spend the night at the Church of St. Andral. If everything goes according to plan.
Curse of Ravenloft 