Legends of Avantris - Curse of Strahdanya | Ep. 44 | Blood Moon: Part 3 [FINALE]

Episode Date: February 17, 2026

The Azran Expedition faces the Blood Queen and their destiny.   Gain access to an exclusive campaign, Shroud Over Saltmarsh, over on Patreon: https://legendsofavantris.com/patreon The Crooked Moon, a folk horror supplement for 5e, is available for preorder! Get the Crooked Moon at: https://thecrookedmoon.com/ Watch more D&D adventures in the world of Avantris live on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/legendsofavantris Check out our merch store: https://shop.legendsofavantris.com  Join our community on Discord: https://legendsofavantris.com/discord Watch our many campaigns on YouTube: https://legendsofavantris.com/youtube  All other links: https://linktr.ee/legendsofavantris   Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/NnlQNXyvgxA?si=jRODTLS62YqrWlW7

You're back at the end of all things and listening to the finale of Curse of Strudania, a Legends of Aventry's podcast. Last time, the Asran expedition, freshly resurrected by the light of the morning lord, towned me beneath the ruins of my throne room. My curse was finally broken, and at last I was allowed to die. But before slipping into oblivion, I gave them my father's sword and told them of my plan to use it as the weapon that would destroy. the Eldridge entity that was my master and jailer for so long.

After one final farewell to Victoria, Countess Reda Donya von Zorovich was no more. However, the danger to our heroes, Brovia and all of the realms beyond was only increasing. The Blood Queen rose to her heart in the highest tower and her corrupted veins pulsed through Castle Ravenloft, filling it with unnatural life. The only way to bring an end to the ritual beneath the blood moon was to face the cosmic horror directly.

With Therge and Escher splitting off to evacuate as many innocents from the castle as they could, the expedition began rushing through the corrupted corridors. However, with each passing moment, the Blood Queen's corruption increased. In each room, they had to fight not just against their fleshy growths, but also their own minds, finally arriving at the bell tower that connects to the tower of the heart of Ravenloft. All that's left is to rise and face their destinies. This episode is brought to you by our generous supporters on Patreon.

We also just launched hundreds of new products to our merch store, including hoodies, mugs, posters, hats, stickers, and more. You can snag some new merch or become a patron yourself by following the link in the show notes. We are eternally grateful for, for your support. Now, let us proceed with a finale of Curse of Stradania. It is difficult, and the room still undulates

and rives around you, but you're able to rip away from its hold over you, as you once again make your way into the hallway. You know that you are mere rooms from the tower, as you make your way towards the belfry. You make your way into the final room before the bridge that leads to the heart. You stand in the castle's belfry.

The stone walls rising tall around you and three massive bells hanging above. The spiral staircase overgrown with boils and tumors is your only path to the arch doorway that is currently blocked by the Blood Queen, who expects you as much as you expect her. Her fleshy veiled head tilts towards you, and yet again a voice speaks to you. One of you knows the voice. But it is not by name, Sarnax. As a younger lizard, you had thought that the numerous sacrifices of Erica copra you witnessed would desensitize you when the time came. However, even now, years later,

you still remember the terrified voice of the very first sacrifice made by your own hand. The voice that still haunts you has returned. And all around you, the stone of the tower seems to shift to a mighty tree, a cataclysmic storm raging overhead above the tumultuous skies of Urives. There is no fire, no warmth. And from the treetops fall hundreds of brutalized corpses of the owl-like birdfolk. They cascade around you like raindrops from the massive storming cloud where the bells should be. This ravenloft storming falling all around you the corpses of Erika. The tree branches lash out and strike at you. The lightning booming ahead. It's so hard now to tell what is Ravenloft and what isn't. The madness, the delusions, all getting the better of you. I need you all to make a

Constitution Saving throne. Sorry. What is that? Do you know that person? Do you know these people? Yes. Who was that? I fell.

22. Anyone who fails? Pass. Kahn. Anyone who fails is going to take seven points of thunder damage and you would technically be pushed but you're not in the room yet

so that effect will not. What was our role play prompt for the past room? I missed it. I apologize. Your role play prompt for the Humphersonable hunger. Insatiable hunger. But, like, kind of like the... Like for glory.

Okay, yeah. Yeah. I'll step forward and I'll say. I did that. Yes. What do you mean you did that? I carved her heart out. Out of her rib cage.

It was my first sacrifice. What did you mean? You were first? There were more? Yes. Yes. Do you think that a secret cult trying to overthrow a totalitarian government does not spill blood.

The ends I was told justified the means. Is it what you plan to do to us, soness? You're going to sacrifice us for all? All this time you told me I was the wicked one when you all along with blood on your hands. I swore that I would serve the cult, but you heard at the music box. just because I serve a God

does not mean that the other mortals who do the same interpret the word with justice and morality I was misguided I will pay for my crimes like all of us do Professor like I said there is time for all of us there is time for redemption

nowhere to go but forward And I... Anna. Donna. So we are hungering for glory. And I am at 10 stacks of grandeur.

Grand illusions of grandure. Flicted creature takes D4Penal. So this is stability checks and saving for us. Yeah, that's right. People will tell my story back home for many years to come. I will not sure that defeat today is not in the cards

that I will be remembered for Eons and people will veer my name Dame Kana Soyakaze 30 I think that's a square I can't remember Yeah it's yellow fellow Uh no you're not honest

So you dashed to get there or you don't have the levels of exhaustion I have one level of exhaustion I'm at 10 stacks of Nice Grand delusions but That is my action. Victoria.

Oh. That's it. That's it. Victoria. Where do I start? On the face of the stairs. If you use your action to dash, you can do the 30 feet. I will use one.

I will use 15, 20. Blood Queen. The blood, oh, the blood queen. She calls out. And the blood queen is going to scream out into the room. I need you all to make a wisdom-saving throw face. Oh, that's where I'm normal. I'm not good.

What was it? Wisdom savers. Oh, whiz. I'm a liking there. Anyone who fails takes a stack of bloody corruption and rolls a desex for me. What's the DC? 21? Yes, right.

Okay. Stack of corruption. Yep. And then what is... D6. Don't you dare. One. Five.

Kana. You retreat into your mind as the whale fills the bell tower. You are trapped with an endless experiences of gloom, death, destruction. And at the forefront of all. of it is your very own inevitable death. You are paralyzed until the end of the blood queen's next turn. Thanks. Victoria, you're overwhelmed by a terrible bloodlust.

You must use your action to attack the nearest friendly creature. Sure. God. It's our next. Payback's a bitch. Yeah, right? You did not see what her people had done, what they have done for years, for centuries. They have brutalized the entire forest floor.

I will say that I believed what I did was just and was right. But she had not done those things. She should not have been punished for them. But I will continue. It is what I deserve. I must repent for my sins. I must! And I will cast the freedom of movement on myself

as I blaze with radiating purpose and hunger, taking a page from Clayton Azaran. You notice that as he cast this, almost his entire body goes up in purple flame. The transformation that the blood queen is filling all of you with is almost nearly overtaking you.

And I would like to move 30 feet. As much as I can, Rich, could you potentially help me here? I got one. Sorry, I can barely see. Four, five. You can move through your friends. You could land in yellow. Yeah, let's fucking do it.

I'm going as far as I can. There you go. Shepherd. I'm going to come up here and I'm only going to move five feet, I think. 10. I lied. I'm going to go 15. Because I got freedom of movement.

So even if I fail, I'm a strike to saving, girl. I'm going to just, as I'm kind of trucking up the stairs, taking my, I mean, I'm going as fast I can, and I'm not moving as quick as I usually do. I'm going to look at the stairs and Sarnax and just say Sarnax. I'm, I'm sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry for you. I feel my sexually even throw, so I will take some damage. Oh, against what?

The green, the blood. Yeah, you can roll the damage for yourself. Go for it. Yeah, I'm rolling the acid. I am blinded, by the way. I do not need to see you in order to press forward. Is the role play prompt only if you fail the whiz and the con? No, the role play prompt is something that happens at the end of each room.

So just for full clarity, because I think you were in the bathroom, one of the things that happened to you when you were inside of your death vision was that, kind of you were turned into a near inky void and you were consumed with a certain trait. And so at the end of each one of your rooms, the entire group is being consumed by that individual's trait. And so they're all stacking. And your bodies are also once again turning towards what the blood. blood queen was trying to form you into. So you are becoming closer to an inky void. Clayton's was a hungering, an insatiable hungry. Got it.

Okay. I will slowly ascend the stairs, feeling horrendously exhausted. I'm so tired, everyone, but I will break this curse. I will. I'm going to pop open my last health potion. I will down it. And I will go 15 feet. I'll start here.

One, can I go through this guy? Around them. Yeah, rounder. One, two. You can go through your friends. But it's three and a half. I can, this is fine. So I will stop here.

Strength. And make it, ooh, thanks. Make the strength saving dose. You can stop on the sword. It only go five feet. I was like, for the sake of that you can land beside Shepherd. Okay. Just not in his spot.

Okay, got it. Okay. I will say, Of course. Shepid, we can do this. We can do this. Yeah, I'm trying, Professor. I'm really trying.

And I'll look at my shifting, multi-colored skin. All colors. All colors. Ravenloft begins to lash out around you, is the tree itself above you begins to shake the falling bodies of the dead Eryokra, splattering into viscera at your feet. As lightning pierces the sky,

I need you all to make the Constitution saving throw. There's no fucking nine. That's right. I have to roll double 19 or something shit. Uh, 24. Anyone who fails is going to take 20 points of thunder damage. And you are pushed 15 feet backwards. Down the stairs.

Can I twist? Oh, I'm not going to start it then. Jesus. I'm just at the base of this day. I'm never getting up there. There's no way to know. Is it 20 points? I fail. I'm never going to be able to get up there.

It's impossible. but I'm gripped, so I actually don't get knocked back? Because I'm gonna be ripped? Or do I? Do you're gripped? Is it strong enough to be ripped out of the thing? He's grappled by the tentacle. By the tentacles. No, I was saying you could move up to next, where the hole in the floor is,

where Shepherd was. That would have been 30 feet. But I was on there. I was grappled. So then you wouldn't be able to be moved. Oh, thank God. You were grappled until the end of, uh, thank you tentacles. Or is there no, there's no, there's no dot here. Okay, never mind.

It's hard for it to see. Okay, so I do get knocked back out with 20 feet? Yes, no, 15 feet. Okay. So I just go into that knowledgeable. So I land on the green. With that as Conestress. Now I'll fit.

So I land on the green so I have to do a strength saving throw? Yep. Oh, great, it's right here, sorry. Good. No. My boy, Sarnax has got to make it to the top. So I fail, so I'm restrained. So I take 46 damage.

One stack. And you can't I try to, Victoria, you're up. Nope. Don't, can't I try to rest? I haven't used my action yet. This is just me rolling down the stairs. Oh. Yes, you rolled down the stairs and into a spot.

Lucky rolled down the stairs, wench. Okay, so 11. Oh, God, you weren't ending your turn here. Correct. I thought it only attacks it. Yeah, it's only when you end your turn. I was gonna say. Oh, I thought it's because I got rolled down the stairs. You did, so you're pushing, you have more movement to get towards the top.

Oh, okay. That's why I was confused. Yeah, thank you. Hey. That's awesome. I will allow that because that's how it works. So, Kahn, it's your turn. I'm going to excuse me, son.

10, 15, try to go back up the stairs. I couldn't move 30 because I'm not exhausted yet. I think I will attempt to do that. And yellow is jacked, I think they're decent up. Or can you get past the yellow? I don't know if I can, is this considered a spree? Probably not. You probably just land on the yellow.

Well, isn't this 1530? Oh, if you can make it there, then yeah. I'm kind of like teetering, trying to find my rip and then squatting down. That is my turn. Um, I will look at Sarnax directly in front of me and, You're the reason we're stuck in this room, get up there now! I won't be held back by you. Tend to get there.

With my... Frenzy? Yeah, with my blood frenzy. Oh. I will... Smack me the face. You wish. wish.

I'll reach my bony hand out and knowing that you're cold that nizzard, I'll frostbite you. Oh my God. Oh, yeah, I forgot she had to attack you. I didn't even know. It doesn't want you.

Do I roll saving throw? No, it doesn't. Do I do saving throw or do you attack? Yeah, it's a saving throw. Con. I fail. Con? A 16, unless it's 16 passes. Oh, no way. Yeah, you fell.

And it's 46. So hopefully I'll just roll really bad. It's cold, I presume. It's frostbite. Yeah, you're actually... Does that actually matter for you? No. Okay.

I was just playing with that in my head. I actually don't know. I don't know it's in anything. 8, 9, 10, 11. Oops. 17. Damage. Oh my God.

I'm so sorry. It's pretty good. Why don't I do any damage when I'm actually like, fighting the things I'm supposed to. It is with this that the effigy of the blood queen turns towards you Sarnax. And you

watch as the blood moon rises. A horrible crimson light shines over the room. I need you all to roll a constitution saving time. Oh, thank God, because I need the fucking heel. That's great. Oh, no. I

fucking fail. Anyone who fails will take one stack of corruption. and you will, you cannot regain hit points until the end of the blood means next turn. I was going to hit myself. So I'm minus two. So what was the DC 21? 21.

Okay, I'm good. I am going to just reach into my cloak and pull out and down the health potion that Escher gave me finally using it. And I am just going to sprint as fast as I can. I have been. paying for this in my dreams and my thoughts for years. You will not deter me.

You are in the way of my goal and you will not stand in the way of my fate. As I look up at the blood queen and I'm just going to attempt to sprint with freedom of movement. So I'm here. So one, two, three and a half, five, right? Yep. Six. Seven. It is in that moment where a tentacle begins to,

move up out of the ground, the corruption of the elder evils affecting you. And you hear inside of your head, no, I don't really think it happened that way. Smack it, smack it, it'll go. And you watch as reality morphs itself as time it changes. And quickly, it's almost as if you're sped up as you make it over the tentacle just before it warps up out of the ground to grasp you and you get the full amount of movement. So you do not have Aurebel's time morph any longer. Thank you, Alabeau. Thank you, all about it.

I'm there, but I'm... Okay. Shut. I'm just going to try to move 15 feet. 5, 10, 15. That's all I can do. That's my turn. I'm helping and plopped.

I'm hurting. I'm coming in there, behind you, Shepherd. We're doing well. One and a half, two and a half. I'm going to sprint for... As the professor's going by me, I reach out my hand and I help him upstairs past him. Five. And I'll just wait right then. I'm coming. Thank you, Shepa.

I didn't mean what I said about your hat. Oh, I know. I think I'm just, I think I'm losing my mind. Lightning crackles all around you. I need you to make a Constitution saving throw. I'm going, I'm going, I'm going 50. Yes, you may. I really don't. I'm going 50 feet back the other direction here. Anyone who fails takes 13 points of thunder damage and has pushed 15 points or 15 feet back. That's me. Is it Constitution?

Yeah. It's 27 minus 1, 26, so I pass. If you pass, you take down damage? You do not take any damage. You do not take any damage. Only affects you if you fail. Okay. Connor.

You twist master. I fold down the stairs. No. Oh, damn it, Professor. It's like Biddlewick all over again. We're getting too old for the shit. Oh, Fonix is almost there. I throw a wary glance over my shoulder at Victoria.

I'm not, I'm not, I'm not bloodlust. I know, I'm just kind of like, I promise, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I paused for a second. I reach for hand and I squeeze it. I trust you. I throw her down.

This is Barovie. Five, uh, what is that's name? Jesus. Pitilick. This is the pitilick. Fucking. Like, I'm going to finish.

Restore. You start 12 and a half. Pedalick as a final boss. This is a diagonal. I quit. I would fucking get on from this table. Three and a half. Five and a half.

Total guess it's probably I'm going to end my turn there. Feeling the corruption is building now that I'm at 11 stacks and looking down as more and more of my body is being consumed by the void. So next I stand with you,

behind you. I will follow in Garrick's light and his path. You have my blade. We are so close, Connor. Thank you. Victoria. I'm here for you too. The fall for me. Thank you, all of you. I do not deserve it. I'm sorry I hit you. I'm sorry. I hit you. I'm sorry. I hit you many times. I do deserve this. Yes. I don't. Tell me. As the blood queen lashes out at all of your minds, I need you all to roll a wisdom saving thing.

I choose to fail after that. Blood not really. I am. I need it. I'm damaged now. I fucking need it. The wisdom. So 16. Anyone who fails, takes a stack of bloody corruption and rolls a de-sex. Oh my God. I just made it with a

21. How many two? We're running low. Four, eight, nine. You could use one if you need to. I'd like to use one if you're possible. Four. Your mouse is not your own.

You're incapable of mortal speech and you simply jibber in a long-forgotten and incomprehensible tongue. You're incapable of spellcasting. Hemophobia. You're overwhelmed by the fear of blood and you are frightened. You must use your action on your next turn to flee. Oh, Jesus. And that doesn't, that's not the same thing as Hero speaks, right?

No, this is, this is an elder evil that is beyond anything of peace. You see, I eat my whitties. I eat some pretty good food. Okay. Do it, mother. I'll reach up. You can do it. I'll hesitate.

Lift a veil. You can do it. This is over. Blaschamble. We'll reach. Move that vein. I am sorry, and I'll lift the veil. Your claws sink into the soft flesh of the veil, and you raise it.

A feathery face with large yellow eyes stares back with a mixture of fear and passion. It's almost a sickening lust, the level of fanaticism in her eyes as she screams and extols the power of flame. It reminds you of you and your past. Yes, I see it now. My one life is nothing compared to the power of the fire lord. My death is justified.

The deaths of my people are all justified. The ends will always justify the means. My eyes have been open to the destructive power of fire. You rely on your faith to steal your spirit, and you continue to look. The owl face cackles as her beak clacks together with each heave. Her eyes are wild with bloodlust and passion as the entire head swells and bursts and feathers and gore, raining down on you like the Ericococry corpses around you. You're all filled with an explosive lust for destruction,

as the last false representation of the Blood Queen separates and slithers back into the stone of the Belfrey. You're wrong. I was wrong. And you all to make your saves. I automatically fail. But I can't be a corruption. And I'm exhausted. Yeah, I'm gonna be.

This is bad. Come. Dex. I fail both. Whiz and Khan. Or wiz and con. Wizz and con. I'm a half move on.

Pass 9Con. 21 for WIS. Kahn. Definitely. I'm gonna go. Oh, thank God. I'm good at these, I'm just rolling. 31 minus four.

Oh, corruption and exhaustion. I'm rolling hot for these, for these saves, even with minus D4s, so I still say not. Oh, are you all, you've all done what you need to do? Yep. Yeah. Saved. Yep. This is bad.

As you all finally make your way to the top of the belfry, you feel the cool night air on your skin as it blows in through the open door beside you. You look ahead and where you expect to see more disgusting grows and protrusions, you've seen none. The ancient stone of the bridge is bare, save for the glowing crimson energy pulsing like veins within. Your eyes follow it to the tower looming above you, and you nearly have to shield your eyes. The structure that contains the heart of sorrow, the heart of Ravenloft, and the heart of the Blood Queen, is absolutely blasting with red Eldritch energy as the stone tower impossibly swells and contracts,

itself beating like the heart within. dump dump dump dump dump dump however you then realize that the never ending assault from the castle

the visions and the aberrations which has worn you all down so tremendously is completely ceased you step out

onto the bridge your corruption maintained but no longer growing it's hard to believe that it's real but what is real

anymore is a question none of you can answer then once more your minds hear a voice you whole

finally arrived your gaze beyond the stars and peered behind the veil. Yet still here you stand. Every step of your journey has led you here. It's as if fate has chosen you, or I have. You all know whom the elder evil is mimicking, as she speaks directly within your consciousness. She uses the voice of Irina Koliana.

I presume this voice is to be more preferable than the previous ones, someone you find non-threatening and soothing, someone for whom you have affection the one who began your journey in this land, my land and soon far more will be mine observe

you all feel compelled to look beyond the tower and realize now that you were very nearly at the highest point of Castle Ravenloft you can nearly see all of Borovia as it stretches around you the entirety of the valley awash and red moonlight the bloody

eldritch veins creep out far beyond the castle now snaking and splitting like rivers over the land. The moors in the forest twist and shift corrupted by the dark power as its deep corruption sets in. You cast your gaze to Borovia Village and you see that it's been completely consumed by the veins. It won't be long until the infection of the blood clune reaches blocking. Do you see how the mortals are helpless before me? They always have been. They exist to serve and be consumed. You've proven your resilience, but in the end you will submit just like them. Suddenly, your consciousness snaps to the center of Barovia Village, bludgeoning red veins

course through the town. All of the buildings have been flattened, splintered, or overgrown. Even the death house lies in ruins. There are no villagers you can see, but you hear a commotion from the broken church of the Morning Lord. Its desecrated grounds upturned with creeping corruption. The side door bursts open and a horrific abomination shambles out, bulging maggot white flesh, tentacled appendages, three large slimy eyes, the color of blood. Tattered cloth hangs off several of its tendrils in constricting the bulbous protrusion that contains its eyes is the same medallion of the morning lord that Father Donovich had worn around his neck. The creature unleashes a burbling groan, which is joined by a dozen more as one by one, a swarm of horrible creatures emerges

from the ruined village. See how easily they turn. And soon all will accept my gift. as Tradonna Van Zorovich did, as you will, but my aims are higher than mortals. Your consciousness shifts rapidly, moving from place to place in rapid succession, but in each vision you peer through a dense red mist as it slithers and creeps over the dark domains of the shadow veld. You see the towering raven-topped peaks,

plunging gould-filled chasms, stones that look like ancient skeletons long-fallen, spiraling swamps lit the bewitching glow of Will of the Whipses, barren deserts dotted by enormous ruins forgotten by time, an inky black sea that roils and rages endlessly, a dense forest of gnarled dead trees with gnarled branches like arms reaching for salvation. The blood mist of Borovia begins to choke the realms of death. So now you see, death will be mine.

Then life, your realm is mine by right. I will have what's mine. And then I will have my vengeance against the gods of good, of evil, of chaos, of order, and of prime. It was I who started this. It is I who will finish it, and you will bear witness. Come, join me in the tower. Join me at the heart.

Join me. The voice stops. But the stones of the tower and the vibrating red still beat. Thump-thump-thump, thump, thump, thump. You stand on the bridge. A mere moment's peace may be more But to the back of your mind you know The Blood Queen waits

And she will not wait for long I'm not doing This is it I feel I'm going back This is our chance Connor This is our chance

Our one chance Your one chance If you do not act Then we are doomed Do you understand? Do you have the sword? You're only going to have one shot. Make it count.

Because I don't know how much longer I'm going to last. I'm so tired. Me too. So weak. That is what she wants. But we are weak in body, but not in spirit. Comrades, allies, friends. I have faith.

all of you. I have faith in us and I have faith in the fire lord. Let us enter together. And I will start heading in. I'll follow. Wait. Wait. Are you sure? We can still turn back now. We could outrun the mist. Crayton. You cannot outrun fate. You can simply attempt to change it. Right. It's now or never. Whether we live or die, we have to try. We will be collapsing in on us, all around us. We fight here, we fight now. We cannot learn.

Thump, thump, thump, thump. If I go mad, you know what to do. The same goes for all of us. If any of us lose our minds, kill us. We will end it in holy fire. Shepherd, either way. and I will light your path. Kelsey, can you pass that, Rich?

Stay close. And I'm going to go for the door. The five of you enter the pulsing tower. As you enter, you are nearly blinded by the Eldridge glow of the crystal above you as it rapidly beats to pump its corruption far and wide. The floor is covered in rubble and crumbled stone, and as you look up, you can see the full blood moon

directly overhead, shining its eerie light throughout the town from the broken top of the tower. Far above, you see a writhing mass of vile white and red tentacles in the mockery of a feminoid human form, extending thin arms and a fleshy scepter towards the heart of sorrow in an eldritch ritual. As the Blood Queen advances her dark machinations, you feel strange calm and are compelled to ascend the stairs slowly. As you rise, Irene's voice penetrates your psyche once more. You rise to take your place in my cosmic plan. Our cosmic plan.

Although I am prime, I am the first of five, and the five of you will be our heralds. You are not able to stop this night of blood. You brought it into fruition. Your transformation is nearly complete, and you cannot change your fate. You now realize that she is right about your transformations. Although you are still yourselves, your bodies have almost finished fully transforming into their corrupted states. Victoria leaves a slimy trail of bloody mucous. behind her, skittering parasites fall from shepherd's clothing as he walks.

Kana nearly becomes invisible as she starts to consume all light around her. An eerie fire blazes from within Sarnax's pores as he radiates an oppressive heat. Clayton seems to shimmer with every possible color and even more. Despite your culminating metamorphosis, you manage to continue onward. And when you are reborn in our image, you will accept your roles as our heralds. heralds of the true prime forces of the universe, heralds of the elder evils, heralds of the five, the blood queen, eater of worlds,

him who watches from beyond the stars, the violet flame, the hunger below. You will be the heralds of doom. You all complete your ascent up the stairs to the top of the tower, joining the blood queen as she manipulates the rapid beating of the crystal heart before you, as its speed continues to increase, its strains and groans, pumping more and more might

into the corruption of the shadow fell. Shradonia was right. Its power is its weakness. As you all arrive on her platform, she shifts her incomprehensible form to face you, the veiled head towering above you as her bloated tentacles writhe beneath her fleshy gown. After all, I have told you,

after all I have shown you, your mortal minds must be close to broken. But even you, Now must realize the futility of your will in the inevitability of mine, so I will grant you the agency to accept your destiny. Now bow, bow before your queen. For just a brief moment, you no longer feel compelled. Despite the overwhelming corruption that has afflicted your bodies, the unspeakable Eldridge horror looms so close and expectantly, and the labored crystal heart beating rapidly beside you. Thumb-thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.

You feel like you have the time to do just one thing with your newfound control. Kana, what do you do? I will look up at the blood queen. And I will falsely attempt to kneel. And then I will look up at her and I will say, no matter how the wind howls, the mountain will not bow to it. And I will take out Stradanya's dagger.

And I will get my entire sword, sorry, I'll get my entire weight behind it, and I will lunge it into the crystal with all my force and might. In one swift motion, you drives your Donya's blade deep into the heart of sorrow. And while it was your only hope,

you were still surprised when it actually pierces the hardened crystal skin and plunges deep into the ruby. Then, for just a moment, the tower falls silent. You hear the mournful call of an owl that almost sounds like a tolling funeral dirge. noise returns all around you

and when the raven crossguard meets the strained exterior of the heart the blade shatters fragments of the sword shoot out in every direction tearing the crystal heart apart from within and filling it with whispering streaks of deep silver power

the power of striga the power of death the heart of sorrow palpitates chaotically struggling to beat it all as the bright glow of the ruby dims as the streaking silver fills its eldritch core the blood queen lets out a gutteral, gibbering shriek from beneath her fleshy veil, and immediately hundreds of writhing

tendrils shoot towards, towards you from all directions, her slimy, worm-like flesh emerging from the stone of the tower. But then, from the broken hilt of the sword burst a massive eruption of spectral humanoid forms, twisting, grasping hands and wailing faces with sunken eyes, filled with a grim desire for vengeance. The silver spirits immediately swarm the blood queen. And another sickening, burbling screech echoes around you as she is nearly consumed. The tentacles change course and rocket towards the lost souls of Borovia as they take their final revenge. The Blood Queen is now distracted and the heart is clearly vulnerable, but you have no idea how long this opening will last. The rest of you have just a moment to act.

Sarnax, what do you do? I'll look at everything that's happening and I will say, Kana, well done. and I will ignite my lantern, and I will hold it up, and I will look at you, Shepherd. And I will say, Shepherd, I will guide your weapons, strike true. And I will cast guiding bolts to ignite it

in holy flame to help Shepard's mind. Does it do damage? It does. It will do max damage. So you tell me what the damage is. Does it hit? Or not you need to roll? It auto hits, and it will do max damage.

Okay. Okay, I'm shaking. I'm shaking. Okay. I'm shaking. I cast guiding bolt. Where did my other D-S-S. I lost my other D-Sex.

Okay, it's fine. It does max damage. Oh, it does max damage. Four times six is 24. 24 points of radiant damage. And if it works, the entire thing is glowing in divine red and gold light. And the next person has advantage on me.

You watch as the heart struggling to beat as the blood queen is being forcefully attacked by the lost souls trapped inside Stradanya's sword as they tear at her and rend at her throbbing tentacles and flesh. She is not watching you as the glow reverberates around the heart. Shepherd, what do you do? Having been jarred by and spurned to action by Sarnax without thinking, I quickly grab redemption and with a sweet flourish and a spin of the of the

the revolver. I grip it and I say, beat it, hellfire. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang. Fan the hammer and I do 8d8, 64 points of damage. You fan the hammer as blast after blast after blast, shards of the heart flying this way and that, almost as if by divine providence,

all of them miss you, none of them seek into your flesh as these razor-sharp shards fly down and clatter to the floor of the tower beneath you. Victoria, what do you do? Yes, yes. I will look at the heart and look beneath it and raise my hands up and burial dirt and soil will erupt from under the heart and just blast it through with forceful damage. You watch as the grasping hands of the dead extend themselves. almost ethereally up,

hundreds of, over, a hundred feet up through the air as they slash and tear at the heart doing max damage. 96. Oh, no, thank you. Clayton, what do you do? My whole life led to this.

And you may have cursed me forever. But you will not curse my family. And then I will raise my two fingers up. It will crackle. with magenta and blue arcane light. I will hold it to my forehead. De Cruceau! And I will cast disintegrate at a ninth level.

Oh, my! Feeling 154 damage. Special being cannon! The burst of magenta arcane magic leaves your fingers and crashes into the Eldridge Ruby. Now on the cusp of destruction with the efforts of your expedition, your companions, your friends.

The heart of sorrow, palpitates violently in its agonizing struggle as it is filled with arcane power until its bloody glow is entirely drowned out by the pinks, purples, and teals of the destructive spells. The crystal heart slows its pulsing until it gives off one final awful beat.

Thump! And then it disintegrates into a fine red dust. As the powdered remnants of the heart drift to the floor of the tower far below, you hear a foul gurgling groan that echoes through the tower. The tendrils of the Blood Queen have just finished dispatching the vengeful spirits, but now they rive about chaotically and indiscriminately as the physical manifestation of the

Blood Queen begins to bloat and swell. Her slimy growth-covered flesh bulges and contracts rapidly as if struggling to maintain its form. In the throes of her imminent destruction, her head flings back and her fleshy veil flies off with a sickening tear. Before you is the true face of the Blood Queen. It is not the face of a woman, queen, or otherwise. You see bloated, oozing flesh that looks like a terrible amalgamation of maggot and rotting fish, a circular mouth like a leech filled with numerous rows of razor-sharp teeth and three massive bulging, pure red eyes in a vertical line. As the aberration continues to lose control over its physical form,

becoming more and more amorphous by the second, you hear her final words with Irene's voice in your mind. You only buy time. I am Ravenloft. I am Borovia. I am first of five. We are the true prime ones. Our whispers spread through all the realms. Our servants are more numerous than the stars.

We watch from beyond. Our work continues. Ours will be done. The whispers in your head finally fades as the flesh of the elder evil's material manifestation then loses its form entirely as it blows up to look like nothing more than a colossal bloody boil

before rupturing with a hideous pot. The viscous bloody deluge crashes to the floor with a loud splash, along with the tendrils and tentacles, now withered and detaching from the walls around you. It all settles at the bottom of the tower in a putrid heaping mass, and a calm finally returns. Your bodies and souls no longer corrupted. The avatar of the blood queen has been destroyed. Oh, my God. What the fuck? Is it dead?

Is it over? Yes. But how could it be? I mean, after all that, how can it just be over? Well, it was the seat of her power. The heart is destroyed. I'm going to collapse to my knees, Sir Danya's sword, hiltz, whatever is left of it. The hilt is all that remains.

Clattering. I'm just going to start weeping. I'm going to sit down next to you, just kind of put my back up against the wall of the tower. Oh, my God. I am me. As you all look around you, you see that though the blood queen is gone, the blood moon still hangs high in the sky, the mist still creeping out, extending deep into the shadow fell on all sides. But the veins and the red mist seem to have stopped its invasion, though it remains in the shadow fell. Oh, we've stopped it.

Hell of fuck do we get home? Clayton, I want you to roll an intelligence savings check. What the fuck do we do now? 21. You feel that stopper on your magic you felt as the blood queen overtook Castle Ravenloft,

truly making it of her. And you feel that your use of magic has returned, and even more so, with Stradonia now dead, in the blood queen quelled, you have full use of your abilities. By Garex. Garex, be praised, fire lord. We owe this all to you. Thank you. Praise Garex, praise the morning, praise fate.

Fawking praise them all! I don't believe it. For open this day. You will all get grand bonuses for this. Thank you. I'm sorry enough. I'm sorry for your loss. Victoria. she rests now after how much time she can finally rest all of brovia can finally rest

you have all done tremendously we have all relied on each other and every step of the way none of us have let the others down we all did what must be done oh my gosh We gotta find out if Irene and the kids are alright Tommy's okay We gotta find out if anybody's still alive If there's any chance of getting anybody The fuck out of here We gotta do it

We gotta figure out how the fuck we're gonna get out of here You're trying We have to find him You do In the village of Barovia They're all transformed Now fuck Perhaps that's stopped

Perhaps they've collapsed into A mass of flesh like this God's damn I want to look up at the blood moon and see if I can sense any blevelets from the moon no let us make our way down the stairs

back into Ravenloft and find our way out of here I am tired I just go with peace but let me take your shoulder check it oh yeah I got you all right here we go We're basically, even though he's leaning on me, I'm still, like, hobbling. And I'm doing my best to hold him up, and we're both hobbling at half speed the best we can.

And I'm going to start leading us back down. As you finally begin to breathe a sigh of relief and begin to recover from your terrible, cursed night. You all hear a sound that's incredibly faint. But all the same fills you with a measurable dread. Thumb. Thumb. Thumb. Thumb.

No, no, it can't be. Thump. There's no fucking way. No. Thumb. We killed it. No. Kana killed him.

This? Do we thump? I destroyed it. Thump. You continue to hear the faint heartbeat, slow and steady as it pulses from the very stone you stand on, which then begins to form the soft glow of red veins deep within. You look up, the very top of the crumbled tower,

five tiny tendrils of, of energy snake out from the walls, merging at the center into an orb of crimson power. And within that glow, you see a tiny ruby beginning to form. Thump. Thumb. Thump.

Thumb. What is this? Sarnax. I need you to make a religion check. There's no stopping it. Holding the, while he's done, holding the professor up though. I'm going.

I've got one of my pistols out, and I'm like aiming at it. Can he's a twist? Almost. Yes. Absolutely. I'm going to stand protectively in front of... Talked, talked, talked, talked. Another five.

One more twist. One more twice. Yes, please. Yeah, just. Twisted into the nine hells. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness.

Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. Oh, my goodness. I'm good. I hate these fucking nails. Uh, religion, religion. Last night. Uh, uh, it was 18.

So, uh, 26, 26, 26. Yes. Sarnax, you look around. The steady thump. Stump. thump of the newly forming crystal, shaking in your head, pulsing, almost in time with your own blood as you feel as if your own heartbeat begins to slow down. You're at the door as this happened and you look out over the precipice down over Borovia. The veins which had stopped,

the mist which had stopped its progression, have begun to snake out again, though more slowly than before as the mist spills out into the shadow fell. Though the flesh does not return to the walls of Ravenloft, it is very clear that the taint of the Blood Queen still remains. Sergei's words echoing in the back of your mind. I know what I have to do now. What do you mean? She is not defeated until Ravenloft is destroyed. As long as Ravenloft still stands,

the blood queen will be in Barovia. She will continue her dark machinations until all is consumed. We'll figure out a way to take the castle down. I don't give a fuck if we have to do it. Shepherd. Stone by fucking stone. Shepherd.

I already know how. What do you mean? I have said several times. I've seen things in the fire. vision from Garricks. I was perplexed, confused, until this moment. It was this moment I have seen in the fire

since the moment I came to this land. Professor, do you have enough power to get everyone out of here? I've been saving each of this, yes. The castle is no seat of power. Yes. I realized something after I gave so much of myself to destroy the heart.

It did not work because I only gave most of myself. Not all. No. I said we would all leave you together. All of us. You promised to me. I promised all of you that you four will return home. I never made any promise about me.

The only promise. that I made was that I would end this terrible curse. Oh, no, no, Sarnax, no, I won't stand for it. That is not acceptable. There's no way in hell I'm leaving you here. There's no fucking way. Shepard. Not after everything we've been through.

Shepherd, I told you once weeks ago that Garrick's chose you as the Shepherd. It is up to you to be that. That is in fair, Saras. Bring them home all who wish to leave. But just as you must fulfill your destiny is the shepherd. That isn't fair. You must let me fulfill mine. Let me be the inferno.

Thump. Yes. So next, this is your divine purpose. It is. This is why you're here. It is. I saw it in the flame. My friends, I must say, when I first came into this land,

I had thought all warm, blooded creatures, anything but cold, no fire burning within. I am happy to say, friends, that you have proven me wrong. You all have a brilliant flame burning deep within you. And so I just make one final plea For your friend Sarmax Hold your fire Keep it burning bright

Don't let it go out Spark by irreplaceable spark Do not let the heroes In your soul die The life you all desire can be won You have proven it Time and time again And I know

No, you will achieve it. I'll step forward to Victoria, and I will reach into my cloak here, and I will pull out a wrapped parcel, and you'll see a stamp on it that says, is no fun, is no Blinsky. And I will hand it to you. Victoria, I perhaps have been the most distrustful of you,

and certainly the most cruel. Please forgive me. There is indeed a war between the darkness and the light, but it is not within your soul. You chose your side long ago, as have we all. It has been an honor to stand beside you in this battle for the light. Thomas, I miss you so much.

I know we were at odds for most of this one. journey in this dark land, but I've learned from you that faith can carry you through anything and I will take my faith with me. I can't thank you enough for your sacrifice. And the faith of a good, just

goddess. Yes. That warms me deeply. And I will wrap me up. I will wrap my arm and you would have noticed me kind of awkwardly pat pat and this time I just give a warm, full

hug. before turning to Kana, producing another parcel. And I hand it. Kana, you and I have not always seen eye to eye. Our values in what we hold most sacred, almost antithetical. Water and air, fire, and earth. But we must all remember that nature cannot flourish without all four elements

acting in harmony. It has been a pleasure to enjoy that harmony with you. It is this. I will open the parcel. Do not open it yet. Oh. Wait.

It is my final gift to you. I hope you enjoy it. So, next. Karma. You've always called me a great warrior by the greatest honor of all was fighting folded a shoulder with you. That means so much to me, Connor.

You will always be the yin to lay yang. I am happy to do so, and if you remember the first we met, I called you warrior. You're proven that that is what you are through and through. Thank you. You honor me greatly. So, next. and the A.D. Sir,

sonnets. Yes. I will tell great stories, far and light, of you, and I will carry and through all of a ventras. I will carry your story on.

And I will pay respect to you. And as long as my story is told, I will be alive. Thank you, Cullen. I will then turn to Clayton and reach out and pull a package. Of course, so to speak.

Professor Azra, Clayton, I know I have never stopped questioning you, questioning your leadership, every step of the way. Much to your frustration, I have no doubt. But now I know

it is your leadership that has brought us here. And I fully believe now that we would have never achieved this victory without your leadership. I pray for you, Professor Azam. I pray for your family. I pray for your line. I pray that your fate does not end in blood and bile.

Please do whatever you can to change that fate. I know you can. This podcast is brought to you by our Patreon. Become a patron today at patreon.com slash legends of Aventress and gain access to tons of exclusive perks, including a monthly movie night and a weekly Patreon exclusive campaign

set on the high seas, shroud over salt marsh. You can also go to the crooked moon.com to pick up your own copy of our first published supplement, The Crooked Moon, a folk horror tone for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition. And don't forget to snag all the extra goodies like dice, miniatures, plushies,

a tarot deck, and more. Thank you. So next. Fate has led us here. I can see that now. I wouldn't be a diviner if I didn't. But know that my leadership pales in comparison to your light. If it were not for you, your prayers, encouragement, your... God, you, my light would have gone out long ago, but it didn't. You lit our path, and our path led us here. I will do this what you request. I will stop at nothing. I promise your life will not be in vain.

Just like fate has led you here, my fate will end my curse. I can feel it. I can see it. Take care. You do the same. And I'll put my arm on your shoulder. Professor, if there's one person I can trust to stop at nothing, it's you. I'll then turn a shepherd.

I'll reach out and grab a package, and then a second, and hand them to both of you. Does one of them or both them say, isn't it fun of those? Both of them. Fucking hell, Sarnax. Not fucking Blinsky. Come on, man. I told you not to spend your money on this junk. It's custom made for you.

Oh, God. More thanks, I guess, man. All right. They are now collector's items giving the situation. Fair enough. Ha, ha, ha. An attempt at levity, given the situation. Shepherd.

The garden where I hatched. We were never told. who spawned us, who laid us. We were never told who was from the same clutch. Familiar concepts such as brotherhood was strange and alien to me. And I am ashamed to admit when we first met, when we first came here,

I saw you as a tool, a weapon to manipulate, a weapon to serve Garrick's. I knew I could kindle you into a blazing weapon of the fire lord. And I did. You became a weapon more powerful than I ever could have imagined. But what I did not expect is that you would become a friend, a brother. Thank you for teaching me the power of brotherhood.

And for allowing me to experience. Family. Just for a while in my life. My only regret in this moment is that we did not have more time together, but we do not get to choose how much time we have. But I know you will use yours to carry the flame and live a good life. Garrick's has seen the fire and the heroism in your soul. More importantly, so have.

I. You are the one who shepherds the lost to the forest of darkness, for you are truly the garden's keeper and the savior of doomed children. And to lead your flock, you will need a lantern to light their way. So please, take this. I couldn't, I can't. You must, shepherd. Please, it's my final gift.

You will always be my best friend. And I love you because you are my brother. You are my brother. Sunday will meet again. We will. We will meet again in the blazing light of Garex. In the light of Garex. And I do not need that lantern any longer.

There's one thing that I've learned of all that I've learned here, friends. I used to think that that lantern was the vessel of the fire lord's power. it is not I am and so I want you all to get to safety my dear brother you go be the shepherd

and I will be the inferno I won't let you down I won't ever let you down I know you won't that is why Garek chose you that is why I chose you Professor Farewell, my friends.

Farewell, my brother. I'm gonna spin my hands around, and the ground all around us will begin to emanate with a magenta glowing light as ruins appear. Goodbye, Samax. Goodbye. Pothoom! Then I will cast teleport on everyone,

but Zarnax. to the ruins of old woman like that. I'll look around. Now finally alone, I break my facade of confidence. And I weep. Tears are streaming down my face, the strength that I've had for my friends. Now, no longer needed as I look around,

I'll touch my hand to the stone of the tower. I'll look up to the sky and look to my other hand and I will call out. Garrick's fire lord, your light has guided me every step of the way in this land of darkness. Your flame has overcome every hardship, burned every evil. I called on you one last time to finally bring the renewal to this cursed land, the renewal that only utter destruction can bring. Before, I was not strong enough to purge this evil, because I only gave most of myself.

But now I offer everything to you. I give my praise, my body, my soul, my life. And with his final prayer, I ask you, one last time, Fire Lord, grant me the power to destroy. O Lord of Dragon's Fire, fly down and hear my cry. The elder evil slaughter. The helpless twist and die. these halls of stone

and tomb us a curse of old inside keep not thy power from us purge her bloody pride and with that I use auto success level 20 divine intervention and burn Ravenloft of the ground you finish reciting your final prayer

and grip the holy symbol of your God calling upon his divine intervention. Immediately you feel warmth all around you, and from deep within, your fireprints, an avatar of Garrick's himself, radiates with brilliant reds and golds as it begins to circle around you, slowly at first, but with increasing speed,

soon losing its traconic form and transforming into a swirling vortex of flame. As you stand within, your own body begins to glow, and there's an overwhelming sense of fire's chaotic and terrible destructive power, but undercut with the peaceful certainty of the renewal and regrowth to follow. It's in this moment you feel his presence. Even in this bleak, cursed land, the fire lord is here with you.

He always has been. You've arrived at the end of your burning crusade, your sacred charge soon complete, and Garrick's is welcoming you home. You lift your arms towards the sky and look up as the flame that spins around you begins to consume your robes and flesh. The blood moon, the crumbling stone of the tower, the pulsing curse within, all of it seems so insignificant now.

Such corruption, such evil, no matter how elder is powerless in the blazing light of the fire lord. You feel an eruption inside of you as you make your final sacrifice. You give your praise, your body, your soul, and your life to the fire. One last time, Garrick's grants you the power to destroy and you become the inferno. The rest of you hear a cacophonous roar and the crumbling of stone as a colloquy. colossal dragon of gold and red flame erupts from Castle Ravenloft, bursting its ancient walls and lofty towers. The conflagration spreads as the entire structure crashes in on itself, and the stone melts in

the impossible heat of dragon's fire. The flame fans out, uncontrolled and chaotic, as the wildfire consumes the creeping bloody veins and slithering red mist until every last remnant of the Blood Queen's corruption is purged by Holy Fire. Just as quickly, that emerged, the draconic blaze shrinks back down to embers as plumes of smoke billow from the smoldering ruins of Castle Rathamovd. The crimson of the moon overhead fades to that familiar haunting white. Gone is the mist that is shrouded and entombed this land for so many centuries, and the landscape beyond is dark, but with color. Rovia has returned to a ventress. The curse of Trudonia has broken. Storm clouds form overhead and you feel

a gust of cool wind blow around you. As the glow of the castle's dying embers fade, a soft breeze whips through the lantern that you hold, Shepard. And with a final flicker, the flame within extinguishes. A clap of thunder booms overhead and the skies open. It begins to rain. You all now stand on the hill leading up towards the ruined form of old bone grinder. Where you begin is where you have ended. To stare up once had been Castle Ravenloft. He's nothing more. Stunned.

A true legend. He fulfilled his purpose. That's why he came to Borobio. That's why fate led him to my expedition. Let us not be sad. Let's be happy.

He's with Gerex now. There was nowhere else he would rather And I will Open my case I will Pull out Just some simple Camping material

Chairs Around so that we can all sit together Just Yeah, but are you all right? We went out Like he said That was him He was him

He gets gone I pack I'm a domiturner to the London And just set it on the bed I would appreciate it, man We're going to need it. I want to look around to see if I see any sign of knowing that towards Bonegrinder, Clayton, thinking that it's far enough away from the castle where hopefully it wasn't corrupted,

but close enough where we could hopefully find some survivors, Sergei Escher. You see no one. The roads are quiet. All you hear the sounds of the rain. Most of you still clutching, the Blinsky toys, wrapped up. in their packages, Sarnex had given you. I don't know what comes next, and I still don't know how the hell we can get out of here,

but we gotta find as many people as we can. We gotta bring them home if they wanna go. And I know that if I hold this lantern high enough, people are gonna see it, and they'll come to find us, and we can carry him out of here. Raise your lantern, gentlemen. I will rest, and I will pull out the person that starting to get.

I think he would want to show me. I will pull out my parcel and I will open it. And inside is a fluffy werewolf dog. It has black fur and one eye. There is a drawstring in its back that causes it to howl when pulled. That stuff. I can open its mouth and look down inside and I find several stuffed clothed body pockets. Oh, that's nice.

It's a human leg. Thank you so nice. I found my will. Finally. Finally. This should complete success, I would say. Yes, yes.

Let's see what I got. I'm a deuce a planter. It's a stone planter shaped like the head of a woman with servant eyes, has dirt and seeds that when planted and watered grow creeping vines that look like wriggling snakes, making plant or look like hunters. After all, he's burned, something must grow.

Swap beast coin brick. This coin thick is shaped with a swap seed with a still stagnant water. There is a small rowboat with a spot to place a coin. Oh, sorry. God, I'm disgusted. I apologize. I'm just getting snot all over there. I apologize.

You do, and lid opens. There's a shambling bargain piece. I'm flossing and crying. It's amazing. Rises up to drag the coin into it. The coin it didn't make before so cute back. Oh, this is too kind. He knows me too well.

I love it, but I will cherish it forever. It got me a dragon kid. Of course, he got me a fucking dragon kid. It's got the body of a dragon with interchangeable heads, wings, and tails, allowing me to build five different undead dragons, silver, red, black, bronze, and green. You can mix and match to my heart's content. But whichever head I choose

changes the glow that shoots from the dragon's mouth to correspond to their breath tight. I almost feel bad about Ragged on for spending his money on this crap. It's like a model kid. I'll never, ever, ever let anything happen to it. And there's another box here. It's a music box.

and I start to wind it up The clockwork music box features an elaborate scene when wound up and played and while it's a tune that I've heard Sarnax hum before it shows a single black seed being planted

followed by a black dead tree with a wailing face followed by more and more until the withered forest rises from the box sinking in to start again after I finish winding it up I let it go

how of the hell you get Blinsky to make this it's incredible You certainly won't forget him now, shall it. None of the spoon. And then I will gently close the lid. Unbelievable. I will cherish this.

I hope the rest of you do the same. I'll take out one of my few coins that I have that I will unpleasily slide it on the box. And I'll watch as the boat comes out, flexing. That was a minute. I'll just break down crying. I'll forget. He's the best.

You ready? Well done, Grinsky. Well done. As a shared quiet falls over the four of you, the sound of falling rain acting as Sarnax's funeral dirge. You hear on an earthly witty as your attention is drawn to the sound from around a bend in the winding Morland Road.

You see the glow of torches as a crowd of dozens appear from behind a tall, wet rock formation. At the lead of this group is Escher, mounted upon Bicephalus. The fiendish steeds fiery main wits in the storm, but it does not harm the vampire that grips the reins, nor does it harm the smaller one at the rear of the nightmare. You can see the tiny arms of the little Ravinovia wrapped tightly around Escher's waist as she rides behind him miraculously unharmed. Walking in the middle of the crowd, shouldering two injured villagers to help them on their way is Sergei von Zarovich, the new count. of Borovia. You watch the crowd approach as the rain lets up. They look tired, hungry, and shaken, but they are alive. Hey, we're over here. Escher succeeded, and his smug grin of

satisfaction proves it as he rides up to the four of you atop his new steed. Oh, Escher. You've done it. Well, as you can see, I've rescued most of the people inside the castle, and Sergei. I've rescued him as well. He did not rescue me, as you well. No, but Sergei looks around, his eyes falling from one to the other. It looks like, not all of us, made it doubt the Ravenloft. His soul is now. It was his sacrifice. His head whips quickly up towards Ravenloft, and you see the look on his face.

I knew what was to come. I believed he had the strength to do it. Morning Lord bless your soul, Sarmax. You will be with us all, always. A savior of Barovia. I will return to speak to you soon. This group will not make it the rest of the way to Velaki tonight. We will rest here with you if you will allow it.

Let me help them to set up camp. Yes, let's set up a camp right here. We will rejoin before the evening's over. We will help you. And as Sergei begins to usher the villagers, the villagers of Barovia, Balaki and Kresk, all that were trapped inside of the castle that had been helped, that had been rescued from it,

as it begins to usher them towards the hill to set up camp. They begin to move towards you, all of them shaking your hands and thanking you, the heroes of Barovia, the heroes of Adventress. Shepherd, help me sort of fight. We should set up camp. Lucas, please, set up a tent. Several.

And then you'll see an invisible Lucas come out from my... Excuse me. Marabia? No. I'm a little vampire. That's so weird. Why would you call me that name? Sorry.

When I opened the case, I assume, I'm sorry. No, I just wanted to let you know something like kind of would also have been my mom, but wasn't. I got the dad He's really nice too And she looks up at the back of Escher's head Oh darling Hush yourself

We're not supposed to tell people that We're the only two vampires left in Aurora You don't want people to know our secret And he flashes his fangs before her Oh, you're so right I'm letting remember the other to the chief Good girl You look tired

Crawl to me And you watch as she skitters and crawls over his back and nestles up against his chest, begins to rub her ringlet and curls. Sleep now, little one. You've had a long day. I will hold you aloft, unbsefnes. You're mine now, and I look. He places a gentle kiss on her forehead. Do you know what that makes you, Rabinovia? One of her eyes pops open. She looks up at him. The deep you did to this.

Can I answer her. You may speak to him with teeth exposed. He knows what you are, my sweet raveno. No. No, I don't know. Does that make me? It doesn't make you a vampire. What you did today makes you a hero.

Yes. She looks up at Escher. It's a smile who lights his face. Yes, my sweet. You are a hero. You stay. You too. Oh, well, I've always been here.

Sleep now, my sweet thing, and he starts to once again play with her ring-litted girls. You've a lot of work before you, before all of you. This land is no longer held aloft. In whatever plane we had found ourselves strapped, and though I know I can take care of myself, he looks down at the already sleeping form of Rabinovian in his arms. This little one is not ready for what will happen when people find out who and what we are, and word travels fast. As much as I would love to stay and help you, he looks up towards the ruined embers of the castle.

To fill the destiny, your friend, our friend, saw before me. My good deeds do not end here, but I must take the same. little one to safety. We will ride now upon becephalus, but this will not be the last we meet. I will see you again. That I promise. For one, I need a castle, you see, I no longer have a home. I lived in that castle that Sarnax destroyed, so I am due and owed one, and now I have a small child

that I must care for. So, I will come to claim what he's owed me Professor You can find me at 77 Ambrosia Street Oh and I will He reaches his free hand down He shakes yours

To futures Both of them Yes He reaches down to Victoria You are beautiful And you are kind You are not what they all say you were but I know what wicked truly feels like

and I have never seen wicked on your face as he brings your hand to his lips and he grazes a kiss across your knuckles thank you and take care of him always with my life Connor you are strong I have no doubt she will keep these hooligans in tow

With Sarnax gone, they will lean on you for your strength. I see that though when we first met you were innocent. Your innocence has been overrun by your strength of will. I fear not for you, above all. Dame Kana Suryakase. As he places your knuckles against his lips and slowly kisses. I give him my deep back. Chepard.

Though I can never be for you what Sarnax was, and I would never claim to, and though you distrust and dislike who and what I am, for always, from this day, until your end or mine, you will have a friend. I'm glad to take care of yourself. Don't stop. Just his hand down, he shakes yours. He feels as his fingers linger just right. on the area where your vein throfts,

your heart pulsing. He shudders a little. Well, I must away, you see. It is time. He leans down, he plants a small kiss on Ravanaugh's forehead. We bid you, adieu. We will see you again. And just as quickly, decephalus takes flight.

And on fiery hooves you watch, as Ravanaughia and Escher fly out of Barovia and into the misty lands of Striga beyond. I will, and Sergei is setting up all the he's helping all the people that were saved.

Sergei's, yes. I'll sit down by the fire that we watch now Ashran Expedition. First arrest. Yes. Maybe some tea.

Yes. Lucas? Some teeth, please. Sorry about your physical form. I'll get you back in shape. Fogranie bourbon. Bourbon too, and any other liquor we have. Who is Arabeau doing?

Probably in your cakes. Arabeau? Oh, y'all down, like this. I don't know that sounded like someone was calling my name. I'm listening to dropping at the door, but it's kind of... Some, you can clearly hear... I'm not coming here. I'm not coming up the stairs.

Oh, you better not be coming up the stairs. I'm not coming at the stairs, I thought I'll promise. You can hear that her voice is clearly much closer, but she does stop at the very, until I'm tall, I'm not coming up the stairs. Can you hear my voice is so far away? Very far away. You better be in your room.

I need you to collect the things that I gave you. I will grab them right now before I come. But you hear the pattering of feet and the slamming of the door. And a few moments later, the door creeps open. I have them. I'm much closer now. Can you hear me? I'm not in my room anymore. Yes. May I come up the stairs now?

Yes, please join us. Yes. While these stairs are so new. I've never seen them before. For the love of gods, don't drink so clots. But yes, please come. No, he totally fell over and is like really dead. His armor's just lying in the library. He's reading a book. I'm going to cut the door behind her just to make sure that no one else comes. But I'd really like him. She prances out of, up and out of the case. And she sits down at your feet in the grass.

Her dress is a sombre one. It's a dark blue near black. Her hair is tied up away from her face. And you can tell by the puffiness of her cheeks and the redness of her eyes that she has been weeping. You know. I don't know you talking about. What I do know is that. I'm, like, super powerful, and I'm so expecting to, like, save your lives.

And you didn't need it, though. You only needed a little bit of help. That was really cool, and I'm so proud of you. So you did help us. Oh, yeah, like, totally. Because the thing is, like, Victoria's not great. That's a lot of things. So, like, that's what sad.

You're not. And you watch her she sniffles, and she chokes back a sob. And I know that's our next. Did you get to the end because of what? was to come so I made sure that he could. Well, I'm glad you did the opposite of what I told you to do. Are you proud of me though because I knew it was coming and I didn't tell anyone. He told me to keep the secret.

And I did my first secret ever that I kept. Thank you. I'm very proud of you. Grateful. Yes. I needed your help. It takes a great deal of streaks. You have grown so much, Markle.

I know, I'm like exactly one inch taller that I was with you personally. It's really cool. I was marking it on the wall in ketchup. That's something I made out of tomatoes. Oh, alright. And I called it ketchup because every time I made it, Sir Klutz was never there, so I'd say ketchup and eat some of this. I'm so done.

The things that I had you had. The things that I had you have. You can't eat it anymore, though. He's dead. Well, he's been dead. Oh, no, I know. That's why I'm not sad about it. May I have the things that I left in your room?

May I have a toffee? I'm really sad. Toffee! Oh, yeah, I'll make the case. Lucas produces a to coffee. I won't want to. Toffee? Ten.

Twenty. I don't care. Lucas produces a large silver platter filled with coffee. I'll put it in the center. Not on the top. Okay, I will eat this and here we go and she hands you what you asked for. I kept them safe and you know what?

You could totally tell if I was lying but I'm saying right now, I did not read them. I appreciate that. I trust you. And with that, I will throw... You totally couldn't tell if I was lying. I'll throw the two letters that I hand her in the fire. Oh.

Well, why would you get rid of them? Why would you ruin them? You wrote them. I don't need them anymore. Because you kept us alive. Sonax kept us alive. So you all kept yourself alive. I watched all of it.

I could see it. And then this, and I'm holding a pouch. I'll take this home. I'll put it in my jacket pocket. I don't know what just to come with my family, but Sonax's final wish for me was to stop it nothing. To, with Owen, God's willing break a curse on my family.

I can convene with every archaeologist with entrants. I can study this jam. and I'll pat the pouch in my jacket pocket. You still have it. I do. It is at this moment that Sergei, having tucked everyone in for the night, set them up with their tents, the villagers, having said their thanks are exhausted and overwhelmed

as they all begin to lay down for the evening. Quiet descends around you as their fires rage to keep them warm as they are being tended. but the villagers themselves retreat into their small tents and find peace the very first time in centuries. As Sergei makes his way towards you, I cannot begin to thank you enough for everything you have done for this land, for me. You have given everything that you had, and you have given me. He glances towards the villagers and all of Borovia. our lives back, our futures, our family lines,

and above all else you have given us hope, and there is nothing that I can ever do to repay you. But know that as long as I stand, as long as my family line stands, as long as Barovia belongs to the Von Zorovic line, you are welcome, you are honored, and you are one of us, always. In the morning, I will head back to the Abbey.

And I have every intention of proposing to that woman I love. And if she will have me, our line will be strong. For God's no, she is far stronger than I am. And I hope that whatever is to come, that this will not be the end of us. what will you do? Where will you go? And when will you come back? Are you to the wedding?

She says yes. Well, let's not get too sure, but you would have an honored place for wedding. Connor, what will you do? I will see how my master is doing. Arena for everything that he'd done to restore him to full Saturday, health and buddy and so. I have many questions for him. Many years.

Wander these lands. For Brona, we had lost my master forever. But I'm reunited with him now. We will forgive me. I will take him home. To Me, to the village of Usagi. to be a new saki, to prove to Lidiochi and all those who are wrong. He lives.

But I will make peace without woman and that village. I understand my place. You can not always be with my people, but my heart will. He reaches out and he embraces you and a firm hug. Can feel the warmth of the morning sun still radiating from his skin. As he slowly pats your hair and holds you, allowing you to cry into him. He lets the embrace go, and he turns the rest of you to the rest of you. You, where will you go?

Where can I find you? If it's all right with you, I'm not quite ready to leave this little. You see a smile like night on his face. To feel near to him for just a little bit longer. I'd like to find my father, Raven Queen, Wilsen. I was such a man. And I will reach into my pocket where I had kind of discarded my prayer beads a millimeter. I'll take them out, put them around my neck, where it once was clasped my hands.

You could see black feathered wings now reaching around the hands and kind of squeezing that. He nods at you as he glances down at your prayer beads. We would love to have you stay. will take the utmost care and I know that Irene would find great peace in having you with us. Tema, Victoria, I beg. I'll pull away from this, Sergei, gently and I'll pull up the hilt.

I have Stradogia's sword and kneel, put the ground and presented to you in a full bow of respect. You should have this, always. I'll kneel down embrace you with no I know all the good things are happy

thank you so much Even if you stay Victoria I'll make sure you're taking care of here and Greek or anywhere else you want to be I'll make sure you're all taking care Thank you

Chair come here Oh no Chip Where will you go I'm gonna go home. I'm gonna go back to the dock and find them. And God's willing, if there's anybody here that doesn't want to stay,

and they don't want to start over, I'm gonna take them with me. Where I'm going, you know, it's a good place to start over. And I feel like if I can shepherd some people back, look after them. It's what Sarnax would have wanted me to do. I need anything fancy. I just got to make sure that Doc's okay.

As many people as we can here in Borovia are safe. For every single person that ever passes through Rattlesnake ever again, we're going to hear about Sarnax of the Aedle. Hell, I'm not going to live forever. I'll look after that town as long as I can. Somebody else will have to do it. I don't think there's going to be much travel in my future. Whoever does want to come home with us, they are more than welcome.

Open arms. I think spend seven days recovering, resting. I'm still so tired. I have many things in my future, but I want to see my family. And I want my family to meet you. And I'll get Arabel and put my head on her head. And she snuggles into your leg. She's sleepy. She's been trying to hold on through all of this, but she knew it was coming as she is falling asleep on you, constantly raising her head up and smiling as if she hadn't started to sleep.

Well, as ran expedition, we should get some rest. I'm ready to go home. You all lay your heads down for the night. And the next day, you wake up to a dazzling sunrise. The light of morning has returned to Borovia and the brilliant sunshy shining. its pleasant warmth as it makes its journey through the sky. You make your own journey to the Abbey of St. Markovia with Sergei, Arabele, and dozens of Barovian refugees in tow. When you arrive, I rena and the children greet you with a teary group hug filled with equal parts of disbelief that you truly were victorious and relief that you made it back alive, four of you at least.

The abbot leaves a small ceremony honoring your fallen comrade's sacrifice at the sanctified garden Sarnax created on the grounds the abbey, a tiny sprout rising up from the seed he planted there. The displaced villagers are welcome to stay at the abbey for as long as they need, and they show you the utmost gratitude. The four of you spend the evening in quiet contemplation of all that you've done, all that you've lost, all that you've gained, and where to go from here. You all spend the next ten days recovering from the harrowing weeks of horror since the moment you first set foot in Borovia. Victoria, you spend much of the beginning of your time at the Abbey in prayer,

but not to Ilmator. You pray to the Wight Raven Queen and you feel her answer. Her blessing is in your blood. For the first time in your life, the darkness and shadow within you brings you comfort and peace. On the third day, Sergei tells you that you have a visitor. Seris, your father, enters the room and you're able to truly connect for the first time. You tell him your plan to stay in Barovia and he makes a proposition. It was discovered that Barovia had entered a ventrace in a valley within the borders of an entire kingdom of Shatterkhaig called Skethernal. An envoy from the nation had arrived in Barovia that morning and met with Sergei, the new Count, and Irina, who was due to be the next countess. Theris was appointed to be

the ambassador of Barovia to the dusk elves that ruled the surrounding land, and he asked your help in forging a peace treaty and furthering relations between the two peoples. You accept, as a half-elph, you were the perfect candidate to bridge the relations between human and elf. Kana, you finally have an uninterrupted conversation with Master Jentecchi, and he tells you how he ended up in Stradanya's dungeon. Vestani had been on the search for powerful souls and avanthraest to trade for one of their own who had been locked in the dungeons after attempting to steal a relic from Castle Ravenloft. After their attempted deception to bring him willingly, they drugged his tea and kidnapped him. You swear to escort him home, but you were honest with him and reveal your heart's desire. You do not wish to spend your life in Usagi.

There's a wide world out there with many dangers, and there are people all over a vandris who could use your help. You wish to travel that world and lend your naginata to anyone who needs it. Chintakey understands and tells you that you have become a true warrior and a true hero, and all should strive

to achieve the honor that you have. Shepard, you spend most of your time with Tommy as he effectively clings to you like a burr in your boot that you just can't shake. You tell him that Myrtle loved him very much, but she wouldn't be coming back. He cries in your arms, but takes comfort that he has you now. You promise that you'll never leave him,

and that the first thing you'll do with your earnings from the expedition is to have a hat custom made just for him. You also take your time to get to know the displaced villagers, many of whom have lost everything and fear for their future in Borovia, even with a land returning to a ventress. You offer to take them home to Rattlesnake in Yona and get them set up on some farmland that the dock had been neglecting in his advanced years.

Many graciously decline, but a good dozen accept and are eager for a new life away from this land. You have your new flock, and you intend to shepherd them home. And every night, you light Sarnax's lantern and say a prayer. Clayton, you begin writing your magnum opus and catalog the expedition's trials and tribulations to submit to Miss Talley University as quickly as possible. You spend your time collecting as much evidence of Barovie as you can, and you are confident you will go down in archaeological. history, your legacy is secured. All of your spare time is spent being a father, and Arabel does not

give you many moments of peace and quiet, but you gladly take frequent breaks from your important work to tell her stories of Emmy and Clara. Listen to her fairy tales, teach her how to read as well as how to cast a few new spells and eat whatever sweet she asked Lucas to prepare. Life feels remarkably normal again. Then the morning comes when it's finally time to leave Borovia. Three horse-drawn wagons driven by Vastani arrive, fulfilling the final wish of Madameva. Theris tells you that he has arranged a fast ship with a good crew at the nearest port town in Skethrinel. The journey will take a few weeks, but it will deliver everyone to their respective homes. When Jenteke, Arabelle, Tommy, and the rest of the villagers are safely loaded into the wagons,

Clayton, Shepherd, and Kana faced Sergei, Irina, and Victoria. Irene gives you all a hug and thanks you all for the wonderful adventure. Despite all the darkness and horror, it will be an experience she'll never forget. Sergei gives his arm and respect to each of you, thanking you for everything you did for him, his bride to be, his sister, and his people. He tells you that you will always be welcome in Borovia. The new count and countess say their last farewells and head into the abbey, hands intertwined, a small bump slowly forming on Irina's belly.

The three of you are left alone with Victoria. There is an awkward quiet between all of you, as you all struggled to think of what to say. The Azran expedition is coming to an end, and nothing feels quite appropriate after all you have been through. Victoria finally breaks the silence, simply announcing that this is goodbye. Kana agrees with a simple yes.

Shepard reminds the group that it's only goodbye for now, and that Sarnax wouldn't want the four of you to go your separate ways and never see each other again. Clayton chimes in that with his magic, you could all be reunited within a day, and after all, he must return, to Barovia one day to actually meet a werewolf. You share one last laugh and embrace as a group.

You don't need words to express what you all mean to each other. An experience like the one you've just endured changes you forever. And the bonds forged during those hardships overcome together can never be broken. After one last fond farewell, the rest of you climb into the wagons and Victoria watches you as you're pulled out of sight down the winding mountain road. The journey with the Vastani is followed by one at sea until you all finally arrive your respective destinations. Rattlesnake, Brieg, Usagi, Borovia, home. You go back to your old lives or begin your new lives, but no matter what happens, you all know that things will never be

as it was before you wandered through the mist, and time, as it does so well, passes. A quaint cottage sits atop a hill in the newly built village of Barovia. Its architecture is clearly Barovian, but there are clearly the design flourishes of the most stylish homes from a city of fog far across the sea. The ornately carved door opens and a tall Shatter Kai man steps out, a number of official-looking documents under his arm. He kisses his daughter goodbye as night falls over the sleepy town. It's the warm act of tenderness of a true father, one who has nothing but love in his heart for his children. The door closes, the gentleman makes his way down the cobblestone path, and Victoria Isaacs walks through her house to the sitting room. A beautifully carved raven hangs on the wall,

its wings in perpetual flight, and nowhere can be seen the iconography of any god of suffering or pain. She lights a cozy fire in the fireplace and pours herself a glass of one of Wizard of Wine's finest reds before sitting in her favorite chair. It's soft, yes, and what makes her so fond of it is the upholstery of red velvet and gold. Victoria grabs a folded letter on the table beside her and snaps the crisp wax seal. Her eyes scan the words and her lips curl in amusement. It's a love-ne-lawful. note from another persistent suitor in Velaki who promises a life of comfort if she would only give him a chance. When she finishes reading, she rolls her eyes and takes a large gulp of wine before casually flicking the letter into the dancing flames within the fireplace. She watches it burn for a few moments

before absent-mindedly placing a hand on the locket that hangs around her neck. She sighs and a look of sweet melancholy washes over her face. She cups the silver locket with both hands and gingerly opens it to look at the small portrait within. Victoria sheds a single tear as she gazes at the image of Stradanya von Zaravich. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom as they paint the landscape with beautiful

pinks, purples, and white. Nestled within the blooming trees sits Eugene, a fishing village on the river, the sound of a nearby waterfall casting a distant din over the quiet town. The boats are outhauling in today's catch and the market is bustling with smiling merchants and haggling customers.

However, as the sun begins to sink into the sky, the frightened whispering begins as it always does. Question that everyone wonders hangs in the air. Will another child go missing tonight? That question burns in the mind of a young mother returning from the fruit stand, a basket of pears in one arm, and her sleeping infant in the other. In the past few months, ten children have gone missing and none were ever found. Every single night when she went to bed, she dreaded hers would be next. A glimmer of hope had come when a pair of travelers came to town vowed to solve the mystery of the disappearing children. But a week has passed since they ventured

out on their quest, and all hope of their return has faded. The young woman is so lost in her worries of the coming night that she startles and drops her fruit when the town bell rings throughout the village. She hears the cries of jubilation from the town square amidst the cries of her infant, not pleased with being awoken so suddenly. The mother quickly gathers her pairs and rushes to join the crowd to see what the commotion is about. Circled by a ring of cheering villagers, Kana Soyokaze stands tall, holding the severed head of an ony high. Yes. Its skin is a deep blue and two small horns rise up from a tangled mane of white hair,

which the samurai grasps proudly. She declares that no more children shall go missing in Yujin, and justice has been done for those who'd been devoured by the ogre-like creature. The village elder emerges from the crowd and thanks her profusely, offering a feast in her honor for making the night safe for children once more. Kana thanks the old man for his generosity and hospitality, but insists that the feast be held in the honor of her apprentice as she places a hand on the shoulder of the young bronze dragonborn beside her. She says that it was his first mission of this caliber and the fledgling swordsmen succeeded beyond her greatest expectations. The dragonborn samurai, katana at his hip, vows to his master and to the elder deeply and thanks them for the honor.

Kana slaps him on the back and encourages him to relax. now is the time for celebration. It's high noon. And the sweltering sun blazes down on the town of Rattlesnake. The thoroughfare is empty as the townsfolk escape the heat in the comfort of the shops, saloons, and gambling halls that line the street. A lone rider makes his way through the town top of horse with rust-colored hair, a single arcane pistol at his hip.

The silver badge on his chest glints in the bright sun as the madam of a nearby brothel calls to the sheriff from her balcony and offers a free drink in some shade to wait out the hottest hours of the day. The sheriff tips his hat and politely declines, stating he has business back home before the evening rounds.

With a loud, the horse takes off with a thunderous gallop, and fast out of town rides Silas Morgan, but most folks around here call him Shepard. He rides like a bat out of the nine hells through sprawling farmland, a true devil of the plain, like his reputation once held.

Chepper blazes up to a farm set on the outskirts of Rattlesnake with enough small wooden homes to be a miniature village all on its own. He has important business to attend to and he gets to work. First, he shows Pauvel a far more efficient method of tilling the rye in cornfields. Then he gives Kira another riding lesson

and keeps watch as she herds the cattle in from pasture for the first time. Next, he lends a hand to André and preparing his family's leaky roof. Finally, by Near Suns, He makes his way to a humble farmhouse with a large workshop attached in what looks to be a patchwork edition. Not far from the porch of the house, it's a log line with empty bean cans. And as the sheriff approaches, one practically explodes as it flies off the log and cladders to the ground several meters away.

Shepherd nearly jumps out of his skin and instinctively puts his hand on judgment before breathing a frustrated sigh and easing up. Tommy Morgan lets out a hoot in a holler as he spins redemption on a finger and holsters it before running up to Shepard. beaming with pride beneath a leather hat that actually fits him properly. For the hundredth day in a row, the boy asks if he's ready to be the deputy of rattlesnake. For the hundredth day in a row, Shepard says no, but encourages him to keep practicing. The rickety door to the workshop swings opened and a wizard-bearded gnome steps out wearing comically thick goggles in a filthy apron. Doc Cobburn calls the boy in to try out the new set of firearms he made for Tommy so the pair can finally stop sharing Shepard's set. Tommy lets out an enthusiastic,

Yeha! Before sprinting as fast as he can into the machine-filled room, followed quickly by the nervous old gnome as he pleads as the child, be careful before he breaks something. Shepherd slowly follows, but stops to turn around and survey the farmstead.

The sun hangs low and huge on the horizon, casting everything in an orange glow. He takes a moment to watch the former Borovians go about the new lives they made for themselves here and his home, their home. As the sun begins to see,

sink below the distant hills, he takes in the side of his flock once more before turning back. As he makes his way to the workshop, he looks over at the porch of the farmhouse. Hanging by the front door is Sarnax's lantern. It's fire ever burning. He takes off his hat and gives the flame a nod before joining his family. Thick fog shrouds men and women in the fine attire as they walk with purpose through the streets of Brieg, passed by carriages rattling on cobblestone streets. The familiar scene can be observed daily through the square windows of a large townhouse on Ambrosia Street. Through one of these windows on the top floor is a large office lined with bookshelves

containing hundreds of books and numerous artifacts from around the world. A small piano sits in the corner opposite a large out table covered in papers, writing, sketchings, and arcane symbology strewn haphazardly across its surface. A black top hat rests on a brown leather case beside Professor Clayton Azran as he writes spierishly with an extravagant quill, with an elegant flourish, he places a period at the bottom of the page, putting an end to the final sentence. He flips the page upside down and places it on top of a massive stack of papers held up only by enchantment. His work finally complete. His treatise titled On Barovia, the Lost Land of Blood and Mist, will win him every award in any grant he could possibly hope for.

Perhaps Miss Hallory University will even erect a statue in his honor. Clayton calls for Lucas to tidy his space and the arcane hand quickly straightens the stack of papers and places them into the curious case of the Azran's. With his magnum opus now complete and some time yet before dinner, he turns his attention to the one thing

that's been eating away at him for months. Something he swore he would not address until completing his life's work. With a wave of his hand, the furniture of the room is pushed against the walls. With the point of his finger, the wooden floor is covered in a circle of arcane ruins and symbols.

This is a pattern he's agonizingly studied for months, taking any opportunity he could afford himself to study. To calm his nerves, Clayton asked Lucas to pour him a cup of tea. He takes a sip before placing the cup down on his desk, donning his hat and grabbing his case. Clayton takes a deep breath and reaches into his coat pocket. He grabs at something for a moment and a sense of serenity washes over him. He is ready.

With a long stride, he steps into the center of the circle and withdraws a scroll from his case. The writings of Exothanter cover the ancient scroll imbiving it with the forbidden knowledge of the Amber Temple. Clayton knows he cannot wait any longer, for fear he will lose his nerve. He doesn't waste another second. With a quick incantation,

he calls forth his arcane magic to tear the pieces. Immediately, the ruins illuminate with a magenta hue as the brittle parchment disintegrates, and immeasurable power courses through his body. Clayton's eyes glow in the same magenta light as the energy from the spell radiates around him. He has never felt more powerful. He feels like a God, even greater than a God.

It is then that he makes his wish. He wishes desperately, pleadingly, for an end to the blood curse on him, his family, and his entire line. In a single flash, the room is filled with magenta light, almost blinding in its radiance before it fades to nothing. Clayton blinks. Did it work? He feels no differently than before. He's never felt the unbreakable blood curse, but he's always known it was there from the moment it was cast upon him.

He attempts to calm himself by finishing his tea and intends to consult the leaves for a sign. Perhaps they will provide the answers. Clayton lowers himself into the plush chair behind his desk and downs the rest of his tea in a single gulp. It closes his eyes and hesitates, but only for a moment before finally willing himself to look into the cup. Blood.

At the bottom of the porcelain teacup, there are no leaves at all. Just blood. Clayton gasps and flings the cup across the room. It collides with the wall and smashes to pieces. He immediately digs his trembling hand into his coat pocket and pulls out the ruby gemstone. With shaking hands, he closely inspects it for some kind of sign. Nothing is still just as plain as it's ever been. There's a sudden knock on the door. And immediately, the gem disappears into Clayton's clen's clenched fist. The knock is followed by the the sound of his wife, Clara, clearly worried as she calls to him that she heard a crash and asks if everything's all right. The professor lies. He puts on airs and states that it was simply a clumsy mistake and that it will have Lucas clean up the mess. That there is no need for her to worry. His wife so easily reassured reminds him that dinner will be ready soon. Clayton lovingly remarks that he will make haste and join her shortly. As her footsteps fade down the hallway, he slumps against the wall and attempts to regain his composure as Lucas tidies the room around him. He reaches for the doorknob as he realizes that he's still clutching the ruby within his hand. As he motions to put it back into his pocket, he pauses and decides otherwise. Clayton pulls a drawer open on the desk and places the ruby within. Takes every ounce of willpower to close the drawer and leave his office in the ruby behind. As soon as he steps into the hall, two laughing girls collide into him, almost knocking him off his feet. Arabelle looks up, her eyes beaming, filled to the brim with laughter and love as she tells him to get out of

the way. There are no lame old dads and dinosaur land. Emmy agrees with a giggle and the pair runoff stomping and roaring at each other. Clayton playfully threatens to turn them into actual dinosaurs before closing the door behind him. The door of the study clicks closed

behind Clayton. All thoughts of the gem replaced with thoughts of his loving family. A warm smile dances across his face as he leaves his study behind to join the ones he loves for the evening. Inside of the study, the room is dark. All of the candles so recently extinguished by Lucas cast no light, only the soft tendrils

of dancing smoke, and in the darkness of the still room, the pulsing red glow that illuminates the edges of the desk drawer is nearly blinding. Rain falls on Borovia, just before dawn. A lone woman in a black dress makes her way up a winding Highland Road beneath a cover of a dark velvet and lace umbrella. The slowly falling droplets hit the delicate cloth like the drumbeats of a few feet of a feeling funeral dirge as Victoria Isaacs walks through the rain. She makes her ascent as the rest of Borovia seems to fade away behind her. Finally, she arrives at the top of the towering cliffs that plunge a thousand feet below. Here, there once stood a magnificent castle that pierced the clouds. Here, there now stands nothing but rubble and haunting memories. Although she's alone, Victoria

speaks, she calls out to the gloom that surrounds her. It has been one year. One year since the death of her beloved, one year since her wedding, one year of grieving someone she should not love. And though she knows she should feel hate, anger, rage, she cannot bring herself to do so. Even after all this time, love is what remains when all else has crumbled around her. It is here in the ruins of this place, that she found death, that she faced death. and it was in the arms of death where she finally learned what it felt like to feel alive.

She makes a final quiet proclamation of love before placing a bouquet of black roses on the remnants of Castle Ravenloft as the sky weeps, so does she. Victoria turns to leave through the tears and the rain,

her eyes catch a glimpse of color, a small sapling flourishing in the destruction at the center of the gray dreary ruins. leaves of red and gold. Unblinking, she stares down the small bit of color. And then the rain stops. The sun pierces through the parting storm clouds,

bathed in brilliant golden light, Victoria feels warmth and hope as the tiny tree rises its limbs toward morning. And that is where this story ends. We did it. It's the campaign, everyone. But we did it. My word. Amazing, Nikki.

Thank you so much. Thank you. I have no word. Seriously. I'm just tears. So. Insane job. Can we get a quick round of applause for Nikki?

Yeah. For leading us to do this incredible journey, incredible story, our first real campaign finishing. What an amazing story. I can't even right now. On behalf of all. of us here at Legends of Aventriss. Thank you so much for joining us on this adventure. We hope you enjoyed listening, as much as we did playing. The story may be over, but the

ripples of everything that happened to Berovia with the Azran expedition have affected nearly every other story across Aventriss, including Edge of Midnight, Beneath Dark Wings, and Prime. If you want to learn what became of Escher, Little Ravanaubia, the Amber Temple, Sarnax's cult, the curse of the Azrams, Sergei's descendants, Mother Night, and yes, even the werewolves of Borobia. Check out our other campaigns on our YouTube channel or watch them unfold live on our Twitch channel. And this is not the end for Aventras podcasts.

We have just launched our official Legends of Aventras podcast that will feature every one of our other campaigns and podcast format all in one place. It would mean so much to us if you would go subscribe to that feed as well. Just search Legends of Aventrists wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd like to help us keep telling stories and get awesome exclusive perks, you can support us on Patreon.

And we'd love to hear your thoughts in Curse of Stradania and our Discord. All relevant links will be in the show notes. Again, thank you for sitting at our table and laughing, crying, gasping, cheering, and clapping at the natural 20s with us. We're thrilled to have had you on this adventure. We'll see you in a ventress.