Session 8 — Ashes, Imprints, and Open Invitations

The battle at the Old Windmill dragged on beneath a bruised sky, ending not in triumph but in silence. Corvin fell, and the grief that followed was heavy and unclean. Unseen, the hag lingered long enough to steal what mattered most: Corvin’s soul bound into her soulbag, his possessions stripped away as if his life were nothing more than loose change. By the time her presence was felt again, she was already gone.

In the aftermath, Vess reached for Myra and sealed her wounds with a touch to the left ankle. The magic worked, but it left more behind than healing. Myra’s fury was immediate and raw. Where Vess’s hand had rested, an imprint burned into her flesh, awakening something older and far more dangerous. The curse of lycanthropy took shape around that mark, and with it a single, obsessive purpose: in her werewolf form, Myra will hunt Vess until one of them is dead.

As smoke curled from the ruined windmill, Strahd revealed himself, standing calmly atop the charred stone like a lord surveying his lands. He spoke only briefly, reminding them that his invitation to Castle Ravenloft still stood, untouched by death, grief, or defiance. Then he was gone.

The party found signs of the hag’s escape and followed them into the treeline near the mountain’s edge, where the forest thins and the land begins to rise.