Barovia doesn’t believe in quiet mornings. The sun doesn’t rise so much as negotiate with the fog, and when the party left Argynvostholt—bruised, burned, and out of everything but sarcasm—they were just trying to make it to the Wizards of Wine without adding another ghost to their growing collection. But the Svalich Road had other ideas. As the grey dawn crept in, the flicker of a bonfire appeared between the trees. Cut to: pine forest, heavy mist, silhouettes moving around a ritual circle. Urihorn scouts ahead and finds a scene straight out of a Barovian horror mural: wild druids preparing a sacrifice. Their prisoner—bound, smeared with wolfsbane, mugwort, and nightshade—is Riven Thal. What happens next is chaos. Cut to arrows, spell flashes, a druid collapsing into ash under Riven’s Moonbeam. Riven, newly transformed into a chimeric cat, bolts up a tree and refuses to come down. He stares at the party through branches, glowing eyes full of mistrust. When he finally shifts back, he drops Moonbeam like a glowing warning line between himself and us. And that’s how Riven joins the group: cautious, wounded, and deeply convinced we might be worse than the cultists. The road continues. The fog thickens. The camera follows the party to the next clearing where another campfire burns low. And standing there—with an axe and the world’s worst timing—is Izek Strazni , Vallaki’s executioner. The man who beheaded our former companion Valen’eir. Traxidor sees him and snaps. Cut to: Guiding Bolt blasting across the grass. Radley joins in. Daermon, too. Riven casts Hold Person just to stop the cleric from doing something irreversible. And then the forest explodes. A teenage wizard bursts from the trees, screaming, “Leave him alone!” Cue the orange surge of a Fireball blossoming across the clearing. Slow-mo: Urihorn’s panther hurled backward and instantly killed. Radley shielding himself. Traxidor thrown to his knees. Riven staggering from the blast. The boy is Victor Vallakovich—son of Vallaki’s previous burgomaster, amateur necromancer, full-time disaster. When Traxidor tries to heal, Victor flicks off a Counterspell like he’s dismissing an insect. Daermon charms him before he unleashes round two. Then everything stops. Izek breaks free of the magical paralysis but doesn’t attack. Instead, he talks. And the truth he gives is nothing like the one we built in our heads. According to Izek, our fallen companion Valen’eir murdered Milivoj the gravedigger, confessed to serving Strahd, and promised the town would burn. And the next day, Vallaki did. As the truth settles, even the fog seems to pause. Ravens circle overhead. Victor awkwardly waves at Daermon. And Izek, dragging the boy away, tells us to leave him be. Cut to ravens descending to peck at the remains of Urihorn’s panther. A grim little epilogue to the morning. Finally, the party reaches the Wizards of Wine. Warm light. Family. Safety, or something like it. Over dinner, the Martikovs debate Vallaki’s future, but Danika ends the conversation with a single chilling line: “Barovia has only one ruler.” The whole room goes quiet. The fire pops. And that’s when someone notices something wrong—something impossible. Urihorn, sitting among friends, bathed in candlelight… does not cast a shadow. Cut to black.
