For Joy to Begin Again

**"For Joy to Begin Again"** is the twentieth-first and final episode of *From Barovia With Love*, airing on January 3, 2023.

The session was DMed by TanisJr93 and hosted on his channel on Twitch.

## Summary

*...continued from session twenty*
The morning after having defeated Strahd von Zarovich, the party wakes in the barracks room along with the reanimated corpse of Anastrasya before heading back out to the Hall of Bones and finding Cyrus. Vive helps make breakfast, and the group explains that before Strahd was killed, he had offered to make Draven his successor as the Lord of Barovia, at which point Cyrus begins addressing the paladin as "boss."

After eating, Semyaza becomes ill and remains behind as Cyrus explains that the group can reach the crypt containing Strahd's coffin through a secret passage in Rahadin's office. He directs them through the adjacent Kingsmen Hall, and they clandestinely enter the chamberlain's quarters to find it empty. Lilly and Shay search the room briefly before Avi uses the *wand of secrets* to reveal a hidden door in the north end of the west wall, and she opens it to reveal a dusty staircase leading downward.

As the group descends the Western Staircase, Shay casts *Light* on Vive's horns as Draven uses the blade of the Sunsword to burn away the thick cobwebs. As Shay steps on the landing at the bottom of the flight, Strahd appears halfway back up the stairs, and tells them: "You have worn out your welcome. Whatever gods you believe in cannot save you now!" Shay responds by firing a single *Eldritch Blast* that passes through the image, dissipating it, and the party proceeds the rest of the way down the stairs to a square room containing two iron statues of knights on horseback, a large stone brazier, and an hourglass suspended above it.

A white flame burns in the brazier but produces no heat, and the group finds seven colored stones around the rim. Before they can investigate further, Avi hears the demonic voice of Bartolomeo in her head along with voices that she recognizes as distorted versions of Zeph, Milla, and Khoren, taunting her to come and play as a door in the middle of the southern wall swings open to an adjacent room. Saying nothing to the rest of the party, Avi summons her *Mage Hand* and wordlessly closes the door again as Lilly discovers a poem inscribed around the brazier:

*Cast a stone into the fire*
*Violet leads to the mountain spire*
*Orange to the castle's peak*
*Red if lore is what you seek*
*Green to where the coffins hide*
*Indigo to the master's bride*
*Blue to ancient magic's womb*
*Yellow to the master's tomb*

Avi orders Anastrasya to place the yellow stones into the flame, which turns yellow in response as the sand in the hourglass begins to pour into its lower section. Shay waves her hand through the flame, vanishing from the room; the rest of the party immediately follows suit, finding themselves a room with a vaulted ceiling and a shining black coffin of finely waxed wood in the center. They quickly confirm that that tomb belongs to Strahd, after which Vive casts a devastating *Flame Strike* that obliterates the coffin, reducing it and its contents to ash.

As the party watches the last of the radiant fire flicker out, the ash and dust begin to swirl and coalesce into a towering figure that identifies itself as Vampyre, the creature that gave Strahd the Dark Gift of immortality in exchange for the man's soul. Draven steps toward the creature and declares that it failed: Strahd's body has been reduced to ash and dust and now his soul has been burned out of reality as well. Vampyre laughs, answering: "Then this is just the beginning." At that point, a shadow emerges from each of the party members as well and coalesces into the form of Zantras, who counters: "No, Old Friend. This is where this ends." Zantras then engulfs the tomb in a darkness that only Shay can see through, and the Changeling watches Zantras tear a hole through the fabric of reality before dragging Vampyre through it into the nothingness beyond the Void.

Moments later, light returns to the room, and the party find Vampyre and Zantras both gone. Satisfied that they have completed their mission, the group begin the ascent back through the castle, Draven now inexplicably aware of the location and nature of the many traps left by Strahd. As they navigate their way back upstairs, Draven also senses the many fiends and undead creatures within the castle vanishing as they finally find rest.

In her mind, Avi hears Bartolomeo attempt to telepathically taunt her into a final confrontation, but she refuses to risk what she's found just for the chance to kill him, instead getting the ultimate revenge: the chance to hear him fade from existence without even giving him the satisfaction of seeing her face again as he dies. She listens as he rages ineffectually, his voice gradually dwindling away to nothingness as he vanishes.

The party make their way through Ravenloft, searching the main hall until they discover Ireena unconscious in the chapel, dressed in an elaborate wedding gown. They wake her, and she accompanies the group to the courtyard outside the castle entry where they discover the sun just beginning to rise. As they watch dawn break, they hear a man's gentle voice behind them say: "It has been a *very* long time since I've seen that kind of beauty." They turn to find a man who looks similar to Strahd, and Draven recognizes him from his dream; the man identifies himself as Sergei von Zarovich, and explains to Ireena that she is the reincarnation of Tatyana Federovna.

Hearing the name, Ireena is suddenly flooded by the memories of all of her past lives, and takes Sergei's hand; the moment they touch, the two are wreathed in celestial light that grows increasing bright until the party is temporarily blinded, and when the light fades, the two are gone. Draven senses his control of the mists that surround Barovia, and realizes that he now has the ability to send the party back to their homeworlds, but remembering that he has nothing left to go back to himself, he decides to remain in Barovia and rebuild it into a place of safety.

The group says their goodbyes, and Vive takes Lilly's hand as the mists sweep them away to his Golden Grove in the Summer Court of the Feywild. Avi hugs Draven, surreptitiously slipping a purse of coins into his pocket to pay him for the job she had originally hired him for before the party had been drawn into the Demiplane of Dread. Shay then kisses Draven on the cheek, glances to Avi, and tells the dhampyr: "That offer still stands, vampire-slayer." Avi asks Shay where they should go, and Shay answers simply: "The Feywild." They are then swept into the mist as well, and moments later find themselves on a hillside overlooking an amphitheater in the Unseelie Court.

Within the next month, Draven searches and catalogues the contents of Castle Ravenloft, discovering, among other magical artefacts, a Staff of Power in the crypt of the archmage Khazan, the fiery spirit of the Nightmare Beucephalus, and a Luckblade in the crypt of Baron Eisglaze Drüf. He learns that Ismark has become the permanent burgomaster of the village of Barovia, and that Gadov Blinsky was elected burgomaster of Vallaki after the disappearance of Vasili von Holtz. In the Feywild, Lilly discovers that she is pregnant with triplets.

Draven also discovers Strahd's study and his collection of over a thousand unique texts on all imaginable matters. With assistance from Cyrus, he searches and studies the arcane lore in the library for the next ten years, eventually locating an ancient, dangerous ritual that might be capable of resurrecting his fiancé. Collecting all of the necessary components to perform the incantation, Draven then expends the single *Wish* spell contained in the Luckblade to ensure the success of the ritual, bringing Freya back from the dead.

## Notes

* Semyaza was played by DM TanisJr93 for the session due to GeekGirlLyssa being unable to play.