Final Argynvostholt

## Summary

After a short rest, the party continues to explore the stronghold. As Warwick thinks about how to take out the undead, Salem and Kvak appear through a portal made by Exethanter. He gives them a list of what they're immune to including poison, charm and frost damage. He also mentions that they're vulnerable to fire, lightning and radiant damage much to Jade's delight. Talice decides to let her summons actually fight while Jade makes a miraculous stand much to Gregarius' protests.

They head into the northwestern guest room and find a portrait of Argynvost in human form. Jade sits in a nearby chair only for it to collapse. Thankfully she's unharmed as Talice finds a small locked jeweled case in an alcove. Warwick opens it to find a ring inside. Warwick puts it on to attune to it.

The party heads to the southern side of the stronghold pulling back a curtain on the way. Warwick finds a bathroom with a mural depicting the mountains where the Amber Temple was located. Talice finds a black cloth covering a bust of some kind. Salem determines that it's just a minor image illusion, so Talice decides to see what it is. Warwick hides in the bathroom with Sorin joining him. Kvak lifts up the veil to see the severed head of Talice's mother. Talice has a panic attack, but Salem calms her down by slapping her cheek saying the illusion isn't real, it's just really well done. He dispels the illusion to reveal a bust of Argynvost. Talice curses Strahd while Sorin and Warwick notes that someone planted that illusion before they continue.

Sorin and Jade enter the chapel balcony while Salem, Warwick and Talice come upon a ruined bedroom open to the elements. Jade notes the staircases in the corners and comments about a comedy of a dog named Scoobert and his master Norbert going between doors and music playing. Salem notes that the statue the revenants are praying to is that of the morninglord. He also mentions that they're beings seeing revenge.

The party begins tiptoeing up to the third floor through the staircases. They take down some phantom warriors on the way up and eventually reach the beacon upper landing. They backtrack to the staircase that took them to the throne room on their last visit. After avoiding going into a room full of revenants, they enter Argynvost's study. As Warwick finds a looted treasury, Talice goes to mend the painting. Warwick finds nothing in the treasury which was plundered years ago so he looks to another room which appears to be Argynvost's bedroom. Talice and Jade open up the curtains of the bedroom to a nice view of Barovia at night.

Before the party leaves to check out the next room, a piece of paper begins dancing in the wind in front of them. It talks about Argynvost's last stand and how his bones will be a 'beacon' of hope. Talice quickly runs to the window to see if there are any dragon bones but doesn't see anything. Sorin suggests that Strahd is keeping the bones in his castle as the party heads to the other room. They find five skeletal corpses sitting at a table and they ask what the party wants. Sorin says that they're there to free them from their torment and it turns out they hate Strahd. The party asks their leader, Godfrey, where they can find the dragon's remains and it turns out they're at Castle Ravenloft. Godfrey notices Warick's ring and tells him that it'll protect his brain from getting into via magic. Warwick beems with excitement but gets nervous when Godfrey mentions that it'll absorb his soul unless there's another soul trapped inside it. He'll have to attune to it to find out.

Warwick asks to check out the room in the back and learns that if the leader, Vladimir, is angered, the corpses will have no choice but to attack. The party checks the bedroom behind Godfrey to find that it has been looted. As they sneak past Vladimir, the party notices a raven perched on the throne behind the death knight but keep sneaking forward. The raven sighs saying that they were going to have fun and Warwick recognizes that voice. The raven turns into a beautiful woman and Warwick tells the party to keep going. It turns out the raven is Warwick's sister Wendy and she never chose a side in the battle. It turned out she was spying on the party, and it was easy because wereravens were around. It turns out she was sent here to deal with the paladin and study in necromancy. She stabs the paladin, turns invisible and make an apparition of Strahd next to Warwick. He tells everyone to run and puts up a darkness spell as Vladimir summons several phantom warriors.

Warwick quickly takes off one of the patches on his cloak and throws it down making a hole. Everyone begins jumping in as Talice throwing a watery sphere at Vladimir before jumping in. Sorin tries appealing to Vladimir's nobility but fails and gets glared at. Warwick grabs onto the curtain when falling and conditions the others to do the same. Talice tumbles down while Jade, Sorin and Ezmeralda follow Warwick's lead. Salem uses a dimensional door to escape to the main floor with Krik.

The party runs as Talice moves the watery sphere over the hole to cover their escape. She called Baymax to her and it burst through a wall to meet up with her. They returned to Vallaki with due haste. On the way back the party asks Warwick about Wendy. He talks about her and how he had an inkling of her arrival in the Abbot's place. It was confirmed in the Werewolf Den when Jade tried to scry her. Warwick's happy Edmund Edmer wasn't around to meet her. Ezmeralda confirms that she's how Strahd has been aware of their every move. Warwick is now stressed that even if Strahd is killed, the entire Windbow family will be at their backs. Talice suggests that they cross that bridge when they come to it and is more concerned on finding Van Ritchen. Sorin is confused by what a vampire hunter is, but Krik pays it no mind.

When they arrive in Vallaki, it's nighttime. The party heads for the Blue Water Inn to drink and argue. Warwick remembers that he needed to pee in the lake, so he goes to do that. Unfortunately, he runs into his sister at the docks. She asks for Talice specifically and about that she's willing to sacrifice everything. Wendy is very insistent so Warwick heads back. On the way back to the Inn, he attunes to the ring and hears Argynvost's voice. As he realizes that it's argynvost, he arrives at the inn and the others note his surprised expression. He begins laughing and Jade likes that he is.

After some banter involving a possible four-way communication, Warwick asks if Argynvost knows where his remains are. He does give the news and feels a sense of despair from the ring. They don't get information but are told that Strahd killed Argynvost. The party then goes to bed to get what little sleep they can.

When Talice wakes up, Wendy Windbow is in her room. She wants to see her reaction and makes Talice's mother appear. Wendy kills Talice's mother in front of her just after Talice realizes that it's her real mother there. Talice in a blind rage summons a large tidal wave after stablizing her mother. The water wakes everyone in the inn and they investigate the noise. Wendy survived by shapeshifting gills onto her neck. Talice goes into a blind rages and chokes Wendy with gorilla hands with Krik holding down the changeling woman. She breaks Wendy's neck, but the others note that this is too easy. Talice tosses the body out the window and Jade looks to see if she's actually dead.

Warwick realizes something and hurries outside with Sorin and Jade right behind him. The body was missing. It turned out that this was the last step for Wendy to become a vampire and she fled. Talice prepares to bury her mother at the church and Warwick is upset because this was her goal. Milivoj helps with the burial of Xulli Tewin. Talice decides that now was the time and wrote Edmund's name in the sky gathering up all the allies they found during their journey. Talice turns into a wolf to go after Strahd and passes by the rest of the party. Warwick bolts after with help from his magic and Jade tries to catch up but fails. Sorin and Salem join the chase. Salem uses dimensional door with Sorin to help them catch up. Sorin tries to catch her, but Talice leaps off of him like a vault. Warwick quickly gets in front of her and tears off another patch to make her run into an iron door. She barely dodges it but catches herself before guards can poke her with sticks. She lets out a sorrowful howl as Warwick hugs her. He promises that Strahd and Wendy will pay for what they did.

Meanwhile Krik is at the blacksmith. He sees the writing in the sky. The blacksmith knows what's going to happy and gets to work right away on Krik's half plate. Once that's over he gets a horse named Checkers for the party. Meanwhile Jade meditates and tries to see her past life one more time. She gets a mental map of Castle Ravenloft and sees Strahd and Tatiyana with Tatiyana flinging herself over the edge. Jade asks if this is worth it but is talking to no one. Madame Eva then approaches Jade as she saw the writing in the sky. She talks with Jade about how the party saved a lot of people in the country and how Strahd was trying to break their spirits to break up dissent in his realm. Hope was their most powerful weapon and right now many people needed some encouragement.

The rest of the party meets up with Krik heading out for reasons including the werewolves. Talice sees the Burgomaster to get troops ready for dawn tomorrow. Jade picks up a permanent riding horse named Greg Jr, even though it's a female. Everyone is getting mobilized from the werewolves to the Vallaki guard as Talice finishes reading the tome of understanding.

## Notable Events

* Irish John was late to this session so Joshscorcher played him
* The party explores the rest of Argynvostholt
* The party meets Wendy Windbow
* Talice Tewin's mother dies, and Wendy becomes a vampire