Battle of Ravenloft

The **Battle of Ravenloft** was the decisive and final battle fought at Castle Ravenloft between Count Strahd von Zarovich and the adventuring party lead by Hallgrimm Mikkenson, Narid Ashplantt, and Eklyre Temere in Y735. The forces lead by the adventurers defeated Strahd's army and brought an end to Strahd's 389-year reign over the valley of Barovia.

## Battle of Ravenloft

### Result

Adventurers' victory, defeat of Strahd von Zarovich

### Strahd's Forces

Count Strahd von Zarovich, Radadin, Ludmilla Vilisevic, Volenta Popofsky, Anastrasya Karelova, Escher, Arrigal, Beucephalus, 11x vampire spawns, 2x golems, 22x swarms of bats, 7x shadows, 6x spectres, 100 wolves

### Adventurers' Forces

Hallgrimm Mikkenson, Narid Ashplant, Eklyre Temere, Khazan, Rudolph van Richten, Zrazire Caluhazan, Izek Strazni, Ishmark Kolyanovich, Sir Bruce and Cruce, Droop, 10x Keepers of the Feather, 5x mountainfolk

During the 18 days prior to the battle Strahd and his loyalists had harassed the adventurers at every turn, and for the first 11 days came out on top each time. In the final seven days prior to the Battle of Ravenloft the adventurers had scored some victories over Strahd's allies without managing to fully drive home their advantage by eliminating many of the powerful Strahdists they encountered.

The party had managed to accrue all of the items prophesised by Madam Eva to assist in the defeat of von Zarovich: the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, the Sword of Sunlight, and Strahd's Tome, and had also enlisted the help of their fated ally - legendary Archwizard Khazan.

The day before the battle saw some skirmishes during Strahd's wedding to Ireena Kolyana, and the adventurers returned for the final showdown 24 hours later.

The Battle of Ravenloft ended in a decisive victory for the adventurers and the destruction of Count Strahd von Zarovich, with dawn breaking over Barovia for the first time in a century.

## Background

Strahd spent centuries dragging adventurers into Barovia for his own entertainment, and in Y735 dragged in Hallgrimm Mikkenson, Sigismund, and Narid Ashplantt. He spent time tormenting, taunting, and toying with the adventurers and indeed watched them on their first day as they were defeated by a horde of his wolves.

He confronted them more directly days later in Barovia Village during the Burgomaster's funeral and retreated easily, leaving the adventurers to contend with some zombie minions.

Strahd masterminded the deconsecration of the Church of St Andral with the Feast and the adventurers would watch on in horror as he appeared on the back of his flaming night-mare Beucephalus and killed a whole squad of Vallakian guards with a single fireball. Narid would fire arrow after arrow at him from mere feet away and Strahd would ignore the piercing arrows and fly away at his leisure.

The following day, whilst disguised as Vassili van Holtz, he watched with glee as Sigismund was killed during the Festival of the Blazing Sun. Luckily the party are reinforced by the arrival of two more adventurers, Eklyre Temere and Zrazire Caluhazan.

Days later Strahd invites them to Castle Ravenloft for dinner. It has been 12 days but finally the party come out on top in a battle with Strahd's forces, defeating Volenta in combat but not managing to destroy her. There are also suggestions that Ludmilla and Rahadin may not be as loyal to Strahd as they once were. The following evening the party and Rudolph van Richten are ambushed at Baratok Tower by werewolves loyal to Strahd and are able to repel the attack.

The following day the adventurers take advantage of their momentum and track down the rest of the Children of the Mother Night, defeating them and destroying their leader Kiril Stoyanovich.

Three days later, following their trip to the Amber Temple, the party would once again be ambushed at Baratok Tower, this time by Anastrasya along with three more vampires. They again repel the attack but fail to destroy Anastrasya. Later that day they try find respite at the Old Bonegrinder windmill and kill Strahd loyalist Lady Wachter. Strahd then appears before them four days since their last face-to-face encounter, and 11 days since the Feast. This time during combat, although Strahd clearly has the upper hand he is wounded by the party and takes his leave again, kidnapping Ezmerelda d'Avenir.

The next day the party seek out Baba Lysaga and kill her, then reconsecrate one of the Standing Stones to remove one of the Fanes of Barovia's powers from Strahd. The evening sees the wedding of Strahd and Ireena, during which Narid attempts to intervene but is easily stopped. He is allowed trial by combat against Escher, one of Strahd's most loyal vampires, and proves to be too nimble for even the vampire to keep up with him, escaping Ravenloft alive.

The morning of their 18th day in Barovia the party are spied upon by a vampire that Zrazire captures and they kill it easily using the Sword of Sunlight. Eklyre uses a wish to grant all members of the force resistance to necrotic energies, then teleported the primary unit of Hallrgimm, Narid, Eklyre, Khazan, van Richten, Zrazire, and the mountainfolk Chieftain Helga, Tilly, Gunnolf, Viggo, Donnacha, and Cadell into Castle Ravenloft. The secondary unit of Mocic Ashplantt (Izek Strazni) and the Keepers of the Feather were to approach Ravenloft from the front gate.

## Battle

### One Team, Two Missions

Because Eklyre did not think to inform the primary unit where he would teleport them they instantly found themselves in battle with two poison-spewing golems. Cadell was crushed in the fight and large damage was inflicted on the rest of the party, before one golem was slain and the other forcibly teleported away to Yester Hill.

The group determined that they must seek out Strahd at the location foretold by Madam Eva - his "treasure tower", whilst also destroying his Heart of Sorrow which deflected damage inflicted on him away. The adventurers' team of Hallgrimm, Narid, Eklyre, and Khazan went in search of Strahd, whilst a squad lead by van Richten, including Zrazire and the mountainfolk went to take care of the Heart of Sorrow.

### Smashing of the Sorrow

The team of Zrazire, Helga, Tilly, Gunnolf, Donnacha, and Viggo, lead by van Richten climbed the spiral staircase towards the Heart of Sorrow. With the heavily armoured Zrazire the clinking of metal was unavoidable in the ascent and so the mission was one of aggression and not stealth. As the squad reached the top of the staircase they could see the Heart of Sorrow at the other side of a narrow pass, which the winds of Barovia were buffeting. Zrazire and Helga charged across, challenging Volenta and Anastrasya who stood between them and the Heart. As the two frontliners took to the brides, four vampire spawn climbed up the tower walls cutting them off from van Richten and the mountainfolk. Seeing the regeneration of the spawn, Zrazire channeled the crusader's mantle, allowing the mountainfolk and van Richten to attack the spawn with the radiance of Lathander, whilst Helga went head-to-head with the fury of Volenta. Anastrasya began by attempting to charm the dragonborn but Zrazire managed to shake it off, summoning his spectral warhammer next to the Heart of Sorrow.

The vampire brides and spawns weren't the only enemies in this instance as the Heart of Sorrow was rigged with its own defense mechanism. As the warhammer began smashing the Heart, 12 flying halberds animated from the walls, all attacking the spectral weapon - a potentially lethal trap for any tangible assailant! Luckily, by the time the low intelligence constructs realised they were fighting a losing battle the tide of the main skirmish was turning.

Utilising her brute force and shield Helga was able to keep Volenta beneath her, enabling shatterspike to consistently hit its mark and finding the opportunity to throw an unconscious Volenta down the 120ft drop to the main floor of Ravenloft. Zrazire would likewise be proving more than a match for Anastrasya until the halberds set upon him. Taking a more defensive approach, he would channel the Armour of Agathys to rebuke the flying weapons one by one. Zrazire managed to dispatch the bride, throwing her towards Volenta, but despite the sheer number of halberds beginning to overwhelm him Zrazire shouted for Helga to join his spectral mace with shatterspike in destroying the Heart of Sorrow - *"It matters not if we survive, only that we succeed!"*

Meanwhile, at the other side of the blistering pass the mountainfolk managed to kill one of the vampire spawn and van Richten had destroyed another, but not without casualties. Unfortunately, Viggo and Donnacha both fell to the spawns. Van Richten, Tilly, and Gunnolf were all incredibly wounded and their fates were looking bleak... when the castle tower shook and the crimson rain fell from the broken Heart. After destroying the Heart the few halberds remaining dropped motionless to the floor and Helga and Zrazire were able to assist the mountainfolk in destroying the remaining fledglings.

With his last morsel of energy van Richten sent a message via sending to Hallgrimm, stating *"I'm hurt, but it's done. Z, Helga and two mountainfolk will find you. Make noise when you need them, Hallgrimm. Brides down, but not out."* After a small amount of healing, Zrazire, Helga, Tilly, and Gunnolf went with haste to find the other squad.

### Fated Location

As the team in search of Strahd arrived at the study they were met by Ludmilla and four other vampires and gave battle, with Ludmilla ultimately retreating whilst the four other vampires were destroyed.

The adventurers encountered Strahd on top of a magical tower and the long-awaited fight commenced. The opening manouevres saw Eklyre polymorphed into a great ape and using his size to move the other adventurers around, negating Strahd's high ground. Using a heartstone to move into the border ethereal Eklyre was also able to destroy Strahd's steed Beucephalus which removed Strahd's ability to use the ethereal plane to evade the adventurers.

As the battle waged on and Strahd continued to manouvre quickly around the party Khazan proceeded to launch his first gambit with a wall of force, trapping Strahd inside and within the searing rays of the Sword of Sunlight. For almost a minute he was scalded with no way to escape, his telepathic calls for assistance appearing to fall on deaf ears, until Ludmilla appeared and disintegrated the wall.

The vampires withdrew to begin regenerating but as they did Narid withdrew the Tome of Strahd and began mockingly reciting lines from the book, knowing that it had been foretold to be an item that would lead to his downfall. An apoplectic Strahd burst forth back into the sunlit room and attempted to wretch the Tome from Narid's hands, but the ranger's grip was absolute and even when Ludmilla also appeared and tried to snatch it Narid held firm, forcing the vampires to stand within the Sword of Sunlight's rays once more.

With the vampires back in the battle Khazan produced another wall of force, this time around Ludmilla as well as her dark master. Strahd and Ludmilla attempted to counter the spell. Khazan was able to counter one of their attempts, and it took the exhausted Eklyre to his final ounce of health to ensure the spell resolved. With the after effects of the morning's wish spell draining his life force, and his wild magic billowing out of him uncontrollably he turned to Hallgrimm and stammered *"I'm dying Hallgrimm, I have a gaping wound in my chest..."* and fell unconscious. His body was immediately swarmed by Strahd's bats, tearing at his flesh and ending his life.

As his body lay lifeless Eklyre was transported to the presence of the Dark Power Dahlver-Nar and he was told he had made a fool of more than one Dark Power now abusing their gifts and that the gift of reincarnation would be honoured but that he would pay a price.

His lifeless body sprung up once more in the form of a kenku and declared *"I rise again as a black phoenix!"* before being attacked by more bats and being left unconscious again within seconds. The party were able to magically heal him and the sorceror announced he was Eklyre re-risen, ascended past death as Duke Cawran Eklyre Temere the Black.

As the sunlight continued to fry the vampires, and reinforcements arrived from the unit that attacked the Heart of Sorrow, Ludmilla was able to dimension door the two of them away and once the few remaining minions of Strahd had been despatched a hush fell over the battlefield. The first stage of the Battle of Ravenloft appeared to be a victory for the adventurers as Strahd was forced to retreat. Much mana had been expended by both sides but it was felt that the adventurers had more in reserve, however the vampires' ability to regenerate meant the Count would recover his health in a way the adventurers could not.

### Ambush at the Bridge

After using a fragment of the Heart of Sorrow to regain some vitality, the primary unit back together again set out once more to locate Strahd and ascended the tower within which the Heart of Sorrow once stood. There was no sign of the Count, but from the peak of the spire the party were able to see another ferociously being waged well below them at the castle walls. Mocic Ashplantt was directing the battlefield as the Keepers of the Feather, Droop, Sir Bruce and Cruce were heroically holding at bay a hundred of Strahd's wolves, preventing them from answering their master's call for help.

As the party turned and crossed the external bridge they were ambushed by three vampires lead by Strahd's former concubine Escher. Narid directed his mountainfolk followers to retreat downstairs due to their injured conditions, and Strahd's forces focused on the vanguard of Hallgrimm and Narid. As the battle lines met Hallgrimm was shot from behind by a near fatal poison arrow from Arrigal, the Vistani assassin. After taking this wretched blow Hallgrimm was put down, yet his friend van Richten had cast a death ward on him and so he was able to regain consciousness quickly. Arregal withdrew with the Sword of Sunlight whilst a vampire restrained Narid to prevent him from giving chase.

Cawran/Eklyre gave chase to Arregal and managed to delay him long enough for Narid to catch up, and Cawran demanded Arregal toss away the Sword of Sunlight in exchange for his life. Arregal tossed the Sword further down the staircase with contempt and Narid resumed the violence with a stab at Arregal whilst deftly charging past him to retrieve the Sword, to hear the screams of a tribe of murdered dusk elves inside his head.

The Sword lay at Rahadin's feet and as Narid carefully retrieved it and eyed up the dusk elf whose loyalities had previously been suggested to be wavering. Rahadin's loyalty to Strahd stayed true and he took the opportunity to enter the battle and swing at Narid. The battle raged, and after briefly attempting to wrest the Sword from Narid's hands along with Escher, Rahadin saw that the ranger's grip was unbreakable and with the vampires around him being vanquished, and taking the brunt of a powerful strike from Zrazire, he withdrew.

Arregal, Escher, and all but one of the other vampires were killed, and once more the party regrouped and prepared for what would prove to be the final showdown. It was close to being a huge defeat had the Sword of Sunlight not been retrieved or had Hallgrimm being killed, but the adventurers again managed to eke out a victory. However Rahadin escaping alive was a valuable outcome for Strahd, and Hallgrimm was badly hurt in the encounter, so it was not a resounding result for the assault team.

### Showdown in the Chapel

After very briefly patching themselves up and steeling themselves for one final showdown, Narid picked up Rahadin's tracks in the dust and the adventurers made their way down to Ravenloft Chapel, with Hallgrimm making Zrazire invisible in preparation. Before them stood Strahd, Rahadin, and Ludmilla.

Rahadin placed himself at the centre of the melee and focused his attention on Hallgrimm again, then released a psychic blast of screams afflicting half of the battlefield. Hallgrimm was hanging in on pure willpower at this stage, but managed to combine with Zrazire and Helga to take Rahadin out, with Zrazire decapitating the elf to be certain of his demise.

Strahd and Ludmilla quickly spiderclimbed up the chapel wall to escape the reach of the Sword of Sunlight, but Cawran conjured a giant arcane hand which he used to swat Strahd back down to the ground. In the moment Strahd lay prone Narid placed an immovable rod on top of him and activated it, pinning the Lord of the Land prone on his back and he quickly found himself trapped within the field of the Sword of Sunlight and unable to land a hit on anyone.

Meanwhile Khazan cast fly on Zrazire to allow him to chase down the evasive Ludmilla and took the fight to her, and Cawran's wild magic continued to overflow as he inadvertently summoned four magma mephits to his side, who he duly instructed to harass Ludmilla.

Blistering under the sunlights rays and unable to shift the immovable rod atop him, Strahd resorted to transforming into a bat and flying up out of range, but Cawran was quick to respond with the arcane hand, grapsing the bat in it's giant palm and keeping him in the burning light. Ludmilla leapt to her master's aid but could not pry the hand open, and Khazan took the opportunity to drop his concentration on the fly spell (and as a result drop Zrazire from mid-air too) to blast a huge sunbeam at both Strahd and Ludmilla, inflicting massive damage.

More of Strahd's bats swarmed low to protect the vampires but Cawran's aim was true as he weaved a firebolt through the rushing bats and directly at Ludmilla, dropping her to the ground to be staked by Narid.

In a desperate panic Strahd transformed into mist and slipped through the arcane hand's fingers and through the castle walls to the outside. Khazan apparated a door using passwall to allow adventurers to give chase and Cawran was first through, with the last of his strength hitting Strahd's mist with a magic missile then collapsing to the ground. The Strahd mist shudder and fell to the ground, steadily moving back towards the castle. Narid arrived outside and channelling the power of the Morninglord using the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind froze Strahd's mist in place, paralysed.

He called out to Hallgrimm to finish him off and the bard cast fly on himself and burst through the door, wielding the Sword of Sunlight. He bore down on Strahd and as the sunlight reached the petrified mist its essence began to shatter until Strahd was no more.

## Aftermath

All vampires that had been defeated and staked during the battle were turned to ash using the Sword of Sunlight. The party teleported to Yester Hill and killed the iron golem which had been forcibly teleported there on the party's entrance to Castle Ravenloft.

Ireena Kolyana was located alive and human in the catacombs of Castle Ravenloft. The rest of the crypts were cleared out and their valuable contents looted. Prisoners Emil Toranescu and Lief Leipsige were released.

Whilst returning Lady Ilona's holy symbol to her grave at the Abbey of St Markovia, the party found out that the Abbot had recovered Ezmerelda's body from Castle Ravenloft and had it at the Abbey. Hallgrimm exchanged her body for his collection of carcass parts. Narid scattered St Markovia's ashes over the Pool of the White Sun.

A celebration for the whole valley was held in Vallaki to celebrate the advernturers' victory. Upon returning to Vallaki Narid would find Marta Dilisnya very shortly before she gave birth to their son, Yakov Kavanovich Ashplantt-Dilisnya.

Two days after the battle Narid and his mountainfolk ritually buried their fallen comrades at Yester Hill and Narid bestowed honours on the warriors that fought.