The heroes find Cyrus Belview, the deformed custodian of the castle, in the wine cellar and coerce him into revealing the location of their items. After recovering their gear, they take up arms and prepare for the final battle. Ismark, wielding the Sunsword, leads the party up the steps of the North Tower where they find a glowing crystal in the living heart of the castle, guarded by creatures of the night. At the top of the spiraling steps, Strahd von Zarovich is waiting for them with Ireena in his grasp, on the verge of making her his bride.
Player characters: Casaba, Gorgonzola, Kane, Nyr
Assistant DM characters: Ismark, Takarov
Part 12. The Heart of Sorrow
1.
Cyrus Belview was the custodian of the dungeons in Castle Ravenloft and a faithful servant of Strahd von Zarovich for many years. The deformed mongrelman had a hunched posture, the ears of a panther, and the scales of a lizard on part of his face. His arms were covered with black fur, and one of his feet was webbed like a duck. He had lived in Castle Ravenloft all his life, for where else would a hideous creature like himself hope to be accepted? At least here in the castle, his lord tolerated him for his service and obedience.
Then his master went out one day and did not return. When the sun rose in the east on the following morning, Cyrus was deeply disturbed. He feared that something terrible had happened to his master. Worse still, he was left all alone in the castle with the master’s chamberlain, the grim dusk elf named Rahadin. If there was anyone whom Cyrus feared nearly as much as Strahd, it was the chamberlain. At least Strahd commanded Cyrus’ loyalty as well as his fear. The dusk elf only terrified the poor custodian, and there was no love between them.
In the days that followed, there was little excitement apart from a visitor – a warlock wielding a sword of sunlight who claimed lordship of the castle. Rahadin had dealt with him swiftly, and for once Cyrus was glad to have the chamberlain around. Soon after, a new batch of prisoners arrived. They were barely alive after apparently surviving a fire, a lightning storm, and a cave-in. After making sure the new visitors were comfortable in their dungeon cells, Cyrus continued to follow his normal routine: feeding the prisoners, checking on the ones being tortured by Rahadin, and cleaning out the cells of the dead prisoners. Occasionally, he would take out one of the items recovered from the prisoners and pretend that the precious bauble belonged to him. But even in these moments, an ever-present sense of dread hung over him as if he were standing in the eye of a great storm.
As the months wore on, the sunlight gradually faded until one day, Strahd von Zarovich returned to the castle. Cyrus was elated to see his master again. Now, things could finally get back to normal.
He was in such a good mood that when his cousin Clovin arrived one day in secret from the distant village of Krezk, Cyrus invited him inside. Cyrus hated his own hideous appearance, and he hated his cousin for being a reminder of what he was. Yet he hated Clovin less for his hideous deformity, perhaps believing that he himself was better off than his two-headed cousin. Clovin was born with a second vestigial head. It had the small, withered face that resembled a wrinkly infant, or perhaps an old man who was born at the wrong end of his life. Most of the time, the vestigial head said nothing, but occasionally it whispered dark utterings that Clovin and those around him tried to ignore.
Cyrus even allowed Clovin to help with his chores by delivering food to the prisoners. He was happy to steal a few more precious moments with his baubles. He did not regret his decision until the day he was trying on a captured adventurer’s gauntlet in the wine cellar. That was when the owner of the gauntlet came through the door with a group of escaped prisoners.
“Hey! That gauntlet belongs to me!” Kane cried out angrily.
Cyrus was frightened by the sudden arrival of the intruders who forced him to reveal the location of the rest of their equipment. In a small closet, the heroes found all the gear that Cyrus had collected from them. Even the old metal construct from the Amber Temple was there, slumped over in a corner of the closet. When Gorgonzola activated his magical amulet, the iron construct stood up and towered over him like a giant, ready to guard his master like a living shield.
Once the adventurers had armed themselves with their gear, one of them demanded to know where the magical sword of sunlight was hidden. Cyrus’ momentary glance revealed that it was within one of the wine barrels stacked against the walls of the wine cellar. But the custodian steeled himself when they pressed him for more information and refused to tell them which barrel held the precious relic.
The party began to break open the barrels of wine along the north and south walls. One by one, they found that the barrels were empty, the wine having turned to vinegar long ago. Then finally, one of the barrels on the north wall revealed the black hilt of a longsword. Ismark drew forth the Sunsword and held it before him, but at the same moment one of his companions broke a barrel on the south wall, causing a torrent of black, ooze-like pudding to burst out. The slimy pudding came to life and leaped at the heroes.
Gorgonzola the goblin paladin stood before it, but the pudding half melted his shield. Nyr the archer pierced the gelatinous skin of the pudding with many bolts from her crossbow. Then Gorgonzola leaped out of the way just in time as his fellow goblin Casaba splattered the weakened pudding with a spell of thunder that echoed through the castle.
The black pudding was defeated, and the heroes had recovered their equipment and the Sunsword. But the sounds of their battle and Casaba’s thunderous magic had roused the rest of the castle. In the distant halls, they began to hear shrieks and howls and the flutter of many small wings all around them.
Ismark took up the Sunsword, which his companions had first found in the old windmill where he and Ireena had been held prisoner. He recalled the fear that he had felt when he and his sister were in danger of being ground into dream pastries by Morgantha and the other hideous hags. Now, the realization dawned on him that he would have to confront a far greater foe. But when he saw the faces of his brave companions in the light of the Sunsword, he steeled his heart against the terror that threatened to seize him. For the fear of losing his sister Ireena was far worse than the peril that he faced. Ismark raised up the shining sword and led the party into the tower.
2.
The heroes and their iron construct marched up the spiraling stairs. All around them, the walls of the tower were lit by a strange red glow. When they looked up, they were startled to see the source of the illumination. An immense red crystal was suspended in the air. An aura of power radiated from it, pulsing like a beating heart. Around the crystal, three pale women dressed in black gowns were clinging to the walls like spiders.
High above them in the top of the tower, they saw three dark silhouettes. The master of the castle, Strahd von Zarovich, stood beside Emil the traitorous werewolf and a woman dressed in a wedding gown. Ismark instantly recognized his sister, Ireena. She looked like she had been charmed by the vampire and was on the verge of being bitten and turned, becoming Strahd’s new bride.
The Sunsword shined like a beacon as Ismark cried out and dashed up the stairs. But in that moment, the memories of the sword and its wielder became one, and Ismark called out a different name from the one he had intended.
“Tatyana!” he shouted in a booming voice, magnified by the acoustics of the tower.
When Strahd heard the name of his beloved Tatyana echoing against the walls of the tower, he saw looked down and saw the light of the Sunsword ascending the stairs. For an instant, he thought he saw the ghost of his brother returned from the dead in search of vengeance.
“Sergei!” Strahd hissed, seething with rage at the memory of the pain caused by his brother’s sword. “Tatyana is mine!”
The final battle for the fate of Ireena and the people of the valley had begun. Ismark charged up the steps, followed by his six companions. Kane stood beside Gydean and brandished the thighbone of Saint Markovia with fiendish and righteous fury. Gorgonzola wielded his shining shortsword while riding upon his iron construct. Nyr poured a magical oil upon his crossbow bolts. Takarov aimed his amber tipped arrows. And Casaba sang a song of courage to bolster his friends.
Above them, Strahd conjured illusionary multiples of himself to confuse his enemies. He called upon his sorcery to charm the adventurers and turned them against one another. He even brought the heroes’ own shadows to life which tried to strangle them. The werewolf Emil and the three vampire brides fell upon the party like ravenous predators descending upon their prey.
Yet the heroes prevailed and fought back the creatures of the night, who were no match for the companions in the light of the Sunsword. The monsters were turned to dust, fell hurtling through the tower, or fled into the darkness. Gydean was also burned by the sunlight emanating from the sword, but Kane covered him with his cloak even as he fought his opponents, swinging Saint Markovia’s thighbone like a powerful mace.
During the battle, the heroes sensed that the red crystal suspended in the tower was somehow connected to Strahd. In truth, it was a powerful artifact that shielded the dark lord from harm. When Casaba realized the crystal’s connection to Strahd, he played a mighty tune upon his lute and sent a thunderous blast of noise through the tower. The crystal was struck by the wave of thunder and was covered with cracks and fissures in an instant.
Strahd gripped his chest as if wracked by pain. His eyes lit up with a fiery wrath, and perhaps a hint of fear. The vampire lord steadied himself and called upon his mightiest enchantment to bring the tower to life. The stones of the tower shifted and the stairs began to collapse as the tower squeezed in upon itself, the walls closing in around the adventurers.
Before they were crushed by the living tower, the heroes reached the final steps. Ireena, who had been charmed by Strahd, looked around in confusion as the spell that held her was broken and the illusions of the vampire that had surrounded her began to vanish. Strahd tried to escape by transforming himself into a dark mist, but he was powerless in the sunlight.
The heroes brought the light of the Sunsword and the bludgeoning force of the saint’s thighbone down upon the killer of Sergei, Saint Markovia, and countless others. As he was struck down by sunlight and holy wrath, Strahd von Zarovich evaporated like a shadow in the dawn. The thighbone turned to dust in Kane’s hand, having fulfilled its final purpose, and the spirit of Saint Markovia was laid to rest.
The vampire Strahd, the master of Castle Ravenloft, had been vanquished. This time, there was no crystal heart to protect him. And there was no one he could trick into taking his place as the eternal lord and prisoner of the castle and the valley. For Kane guarded Gydean from both the light of the Sunsword and the temptations of the vampire lord, doing all that he could to keep his friend from walking down a dark road.
“Why are you doing this, Kane?” Gydean asked. “You know the truth. I am not the real Gydean but only a shadow of him.”
“You’re my friend, Gydean,” Kane answered. “That’s all the truth I need.”
3.
By the time the dusk elf chamberlain Rahadin had returned from his errands, the heroes and Ireena had escaped from the castle. The chamberlain found the North Tower collapsed into ruin. His beloved master, Strahd von Zarovich, was gone, and the Heart of Sorrow, the magical crystal that was created to shield his master from harm, lied in pieces. Upon seeing the shattered crystal, Rahadin felt his own heart breaking, having failed his lord and master, and he wailed in grief.
The party made haste and traveled to the village of Barovia, Vallaki, and finally Krezk, gathering together all the people who would join them in leaving the valley. With them, there went a great number of people from all of the villages, many adventurers who had been trapped within the mists, and even some the wild folk of the forests and mountains. For the rumor of the heroes’ deeds had traveled ahead of them, and people gathered around the goblin bard whom they called “the Morninglord,” looking to him as their savior.
Not all the people of the valley departed. Many of the Vistani did not answer the heroes’ summons, fearing that the other Barovians would shun them or fear them as servants of the dark lord. Not a few of the Barovian townspeople remained in their homes. They were either unwilling to abandon their ancestral lands or were too fearful to venture beyond the valley. Urwin, Davian, and their family of wereravens remained to comfort the people who chose to stay. To them, the heroes gave the ewer of wine they had taken from the lodge of Heinrich the false mage, which had been the only thing that was real in the illusionary forest. With the magical ewer, perhaps the people who remained could hold out until the winery was restored and new stores of wine could be produced.
In the town of Vallaki, Ireena sought out Izek her blood brother and bade him to join the party. With many of the people leaving, Baron Vargas had lost his hold over the town as its burgomaster. Having no more need of his fiendish henchman to keep the few remaining townspeople in line, he released Izek from his service.
“Join us, brother,” Ireena beseeched him. “You can lead a new life with us beyond the reach of terror and misery.”
In truth, Izek had no more purpose to fulfill in the valley. Feeling lost and aimless in the second rising of the sun, Izek knew not what to do, and was swayed by Ireena’s words.
Finally, as the party led the Barovians beyond the village of Krezk, Gorgonzola stopped by the Abbey of St. Markovia. In the graveyard of the abbey, he found a gravestone carved with roses and an indentation shaped like the sun. The goblin paladin placed the holy symbol he had found in the crypts of Castle Ravenloft upon the gravestone, fulfilling his oath to the spirit that had spoken to him. A thin ray of sunlight shined upon the gravestone, causing it to split asunder and revealing a shining ring. When Gorgonzola held up the ring, he felt like an invincible champion of the Morninglord, ready to set out on new quests and fight back the darkness that threatened the world.
Traveling by the western road, the party led hundreds of people toward the setting sun. In the long march, Izek had to stifle his violent tendencies as he was surrounded by many of his fellow Barovians brushing up against him. Some were laughing, singing, and crying with joy, but many marched in silence. They did not smile at the prospect of freedom or shed any tears at the thought of leaving their homeland. Perhaps the sunlight had warmed their empty hearts, or perhaps the fear of the mists returning had driven them from their homes. Who knew what drove these soulless Barovians to follow the heroes in their great exodus?
As they passed the borders of the valley, the light of the sunset fell upon them. The heroes turned to look upon the people who followed them, but from the hundreds they had gathered around them, only a few dozen remained. The soulless Barovians were empty shells of people that were conjured by the mind of the dark lord Strahd, and they ceased to exist when they stepped beyond the confines of the valley.
As Ireena turned to look upon her brother Izek, she saw the golden light of the sunset reflected in his eyes just before he vanished.
The End.
Session #6 Rewards
4 Advancement Checkpoints
4 Treasure Checkpoints
10 Downtime Days
Treasure
† Tome of understanding
† +1 sentient shortsword (very rare, Table G)
† Ring of regeneration
† Unlocked item