We had our hard won trophies and the body of our beloved fallen comrade. Now we had to get out of this hellish place and find a way to get our friend back to life. Trying to find our way out, we ended up discovering the great ossuary within the castle. A great room of bones as was prophesied by the visions of Janlynn. We saw the dragon's skull but did not have time to devise a plan to escape with it. Before long we were assailed by several dark riders, and their leader with his horned helm.
We had the Helm of Brilliance and the Sun Blade this time, and our battles went a little better - Akkiir even severed the hand of the leader of the riders. He managed to scoop it up again before fleeing with his comrades. We battled our way out of the room of bones and up, eventually coming to the base of a large circular tower that shot up into the darkness above. A large pulsing heart beckoned far above. The heart of the castle. The heart of Strahd's power?
Akkiir used his magic to fly up to the top and try to interact with the heart, and he was attacked by ghostly enemies the whole way to no avail. He could not interact with, move or damage the heart. We decided to take a rest at the bottom of the tower and I actually saw him - I caught a glimpse of Strahd's evil visage far above, just before we were assailed by his minions once again.
We defeated his assault and desperately moved forward trying to find a way out. Eventually we found ourselves in a dead end circular tower which looked out upon the main castle courtyard. Deciding this was a better place to rest and gather our wits, Akkiir put up his magical dome and we rested. After strategizing for a long time we came up with a plan that let us escape the bloody castle. Through polymorph spells, druid shapechange and me calling upon the black ring to summon forth a black horse, we escaped and flew off into the darkness.
Hiding in the forest, we took a night's rest. What was next on our list was to find the componant Janlynn needed to bring Uphir back to us. He had turned her into a vampire and we were forced to destroy her undead life. Her body was held in a sort of stasis by the power of mighty Lathander, and would not decay while in such a state, but we needed to find an extrememly rare and valuable diamond to use in the ceremony to bring her back.
We checked with the Raven network and they knew of no place where one would be found. We looked for Rictavio at his tower to see if he knew of one, but the way was blocked. His tower was surrounded by a swirling vortex of bats. The Vistani had no such valuable gem, and finally we decided that we would need to return to the abbey and consult with that strange, mad abbot in hopes that we could find aid there.
We snuck into the abbey and approached the abbot. He, himself, was willing to raise our dead friend back to life, and soon we were putting Uphir into bed in a chamber that was given to us in the howling ward of the abbey. It was also revealed that Rictavio had sought solace at the abbey as well and we reconnected with him. All night long the sound of the twisted Belleview clan ripped through the echoing halls of the ancient building.
Our rest was strained, but our friend Uphir's recovery was horrible. Her once undead body was fighting the effects of the Abbot's celestial healing and black vapors and dark soot were clinging to her tortured body as she battled through a terrible fever. We rested another full day waiting for her to come back to us, and when she finally did - she was viscerally haunted by the trials she had been through and what Strahd had done to her. Her eyes reflected distrust and disbelief in her situation and she did not know if her friends were real or were put there to torture her by the Devil of Barovia.
We spend this time planning our next strategy. We needed to attend the dawn ceremony to heal ourselves of the ailments of this place, but we knew that the dark riders would be watching the place, waiting for our return. We would need to be quick and decided that we would hide in the tower very near the pool and watch over Janlynn as she healed herself there. Then we would make a run for the nearby forest. The trees have stopped the dark riders before.
It happened almost as we had planned. Janlynn was able to heal herself and almost immediately several dark riders were seen riding in the sky over the abbey towards Janlynn. We jumped into action and began running for the forest as planned, but Akkiir, whether terribly heroically or with a severe lapse of judgement, rose up with a fly spell and sought to draw their attention from his comrades. He was peppered with black vein arrows to the point of almost death before he decided to fly for his life after the rest of us.
We made the edge of the forest and plunged in, heading in the agreed upon direction. Akkiir flew in, but the horn-helmed leader of the dark riders chased closely behind. It was a tense few moments as we ran for the deep woods and Akkiir tried to find us. Janlynn was able to cast a minor healing spell as Akkiir flew by and soon the dark rider gave off immediate pursuit as he roused the rest of his riders to search the forest for us. We met at the agreed upon spot and continued as deep into the wood as we could, hiding from our foes.
The closest ally was at the winery, so we made our way there. We met with the patriarch of the Martikov family and had solace there. We finalized our next move. To bring light back to the land, we needed to light the beacon of Argynvostholdt. We now knew where the Dragon's skull was, so our objective was clear. We planned to get into the castle once again and get the skull and get out right away if possible. Perhaps lighting the beacon would weaken Strahd's power in the land enough that we might finally defeat him, and our third trip to Castle Ravenloft would end up being our last, as we destroy him and find our way home. This is the hope that I hold onto.
When we were ready to leave, we left the winery and moved across the vineyards towards the dark clutches of the forest, but they were waiting for us. We were not half way across open terrain when two dark riders materialized and began their charge toward us, their tethered lances ready to spear another one of us and drag us to our doom in the ethereal realm. Battle was soon joined and it appeared that this time, I would be the one to be dragged across the veil between worlds by their lances.
Before I get back to my fate, which you can guess was somewhat successful as I am penning this after the fact, I will discuss what I have been told of the battle of my friends. They had one rider to deal with and they worked together to defeat him. Akkiir and Uphir came after me as will be described later. Elwynn used a wonderful nature spell to confuse the horse so that the rider lost his maneuverability. Janlynn brought forth the might of the Dawn Lord and did deadly damage to the Rider as he was unable to move from the column of light. After a few tense moments, the dark rider was destroyed and his crumbled body lay upon the field of battle. The ring of the dark rider was scooped up from his body.
Akkiir called forth the dark horse from the ring that we already had. I had used it once, but refused to use it since - such was the evil taint I felt from the item. So Akkiir had it, and managed with some effort to call forth the horse and have it bring him and Uphir into the ether to look for me. For my part, being speared through as I was, I pulled myself from the lance and tried to use my small powers to send off the rider to no avail. He turned round and speared me again and began pulling me into the air, flying over the forest toward the direction of the castle.
I had one more trick up my sleeve and when I saw my chance, I misty-stepped from the rider's clutches and fell through the swirling morass of the ether to come crashing into the trees below, barely managing to grab hold and stop myself from crashing hard into the ground. I immediately hid myself, using my gnomish magic, praying to Lathander that the rider would not be able to see me in the trees. My plan worked and the rider was not able to find me. But I had no idea how I would find my way back to my friends, who were on another plane of existence.
Thankfully Akkiir was able to cajole the dark horse into the ethereal and they began searching for me. I caught a glimpse of them flying overhead and did my best to get their attention, climbing to the very teetering top of the tree I was in. It took a few breathless moments but soon they found me and scooped me up into Uphir's warm and strong grasp. I was never so grateful in all of my life for my brave friends.
The other rider had gone back to the fight, but upon seeing his fallen comrade, he quickly lost his thirst for our blood and fled back into the netherworld. Gathering ourselves back together once again we rushed for the safety of the Svalich wood once more. We had bested another of Strahd's powerful lieutenant's and the importance of this was not lost on us as we pondered what this meant.
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