No sooner had we taken the skull down then the dark riders manifested again. Three of them. We had no idea if Uphir lay wounded and dying in the ethereal realm or if she had somehow managed to escape, but we had no way to reach her so we had to push forward with our plan.
We concentrated our attacks upon the horn helmed leader of the rider as they quickly focused their attacks on Elwynn, who had turned into a giant scorpion. This didn't last long as he was quickly disrupted and forced back into his true form. Almost as quickly Elwynn turned into a huge toothy lizard and began gobbling up a rider. The battle raged on fiercely and miraculously the leader of the riders was slain! Before we could collect his black ring, his horse brought his fallen body into the ethereal. The other two riders dissolved into the ethereal soon after.
We could hear a snarling mass of feral vampires rushing down the stairs at the end of the hall, so we quickly moved to the passage that would take us back the way we came. Elwynn had to drop his lizard form because it would not fit in the passage. He cast a powerful water spell that created a maelstrom to stop the pursuit of the rushing vampire mob. It took a few of us to carry the heavy and awkward dragon skull up the stairs, but we managed it.
While we travelled up the stairs the haunting sound of an organ could be heard in the air around us and all of us could think of nothing but the image of the powerful devil Strahd sitting at this instrument and taunting us with the menace of the other-worldly sound. Akkiir cast fly spells so that he could ferry us up the tall shaft of the dumwaiter tower and soon we were all in the secret hallway behind the fireplace in Strahd's study, just a few yards from where the impenetrable iron fortress treasure vault that we had robbed.
We tried to go back the way we came but the way was blocked by a strange green poisonous gas that almost was the death of Nim. We were forced to go back down the hall to where there was another tower that offered a way out. We flew up and out with only a few minor troubles and soon we were flying down the misty cliffs that castle Ravenloft sat upon. Earlier Janlynn had cast a locate Uphir spell and was able to track her back to where we had spent the night previously.
I was so happy to see my friend Uphir was safe and sound and really no worse for the wear. Apparently she had used the terrain of the castle to hide from her pursuers in the ethereal and when she had the chance she made her way to the last safe place she could think of - our old camp. The relief was palpable as we took a short rest to gather our wits beneath one of Akkiir's defensive magic domes and share our stories of the battle.
Our next course was already determined. After resting, we summoned the two black horses and used them to enter the ethereal realm once again and with the help of Elwynn's transformation into a huge flying lizard-thing we all make the quick flight to Argynvostholt. We wasted no time entering the mausoleum and placed the skull upon a stone slab within. Instantly the huge ghostly form of the silver dragon grew to encompass the entire chamber and beyond. It flew up quickly and we all ran outside to see what would happen.
The ghostly dragon flew directly up and into the top of the tower above the chapel of Argynvostholt and seemed to explode into a bright flash of light and we could see light rushing forth in a strong beam from the tower beacon and it began to revolve like a light house. The cursed black sky even opened up momentarily and we could see a sunny sky beyond as pale light shone forth upon the ruins of Argynvostholt. The sky would soon close up again, but a feeling of renewed strength and energy washed across us all.
Strong feeling welled within us all and I remember looking into the eyes of my dragonborn friend and seeing such a strong emotional reaction within her that it shook me to my heart. We had accomplished a great thing by relighting the Beacon of Argynvostholt and had born such heavy weight and loss to get to this point. We had done good and this will help the people of this cursed land in some way that we cannot fully comprehend.
Our path ahead now only has two obvious paths - one leads to Castle Ravenloft and the other to the werewolf den of the Children of the Night, in search of Silvo.
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