Five undead thralls were wreaking havoc on the streets of Vallaki. Ghalwin broke into a chase after the two fleeing the scene; he could not stop to protect the innocent, but hammered his shield and bellowed "VAMPIRES!" to draw guards from across the square. Shakti caught up in dire wolf form and quickly overtook him, noticing that both fleeing vampires carried brown sacks. Forced to split up, Shakti ran down one and tore the sack away, finding it filled with potatoes; Lancelot ran down the other, who carried Saint Andral's bones. Ghalwin and Shakti held the vampire back as Lancelot snatched his bag and ran.
Meanwhile, Jarmo, Ireena, and van Richten dealt with the spawn attacking the peasantry. The Doctor rushed the nearest one, standing over the body of a dead washerwoman, and temporarily banished him from Barovia. Jarmo and Ireena pressed toward a second spawn, a Gnome who cut down multiple villagers and six soldiers. The three combined to bring her down; she broke away to intercept Lancelot, but Jarmo was able to smash her into the cobblestones. Elsewhere, Izek Strazni pursued a thrall from rooftop to rooftop through the peasant quarter, leaving property damage and heavy arson in his wake. Ghalwin later spotted him unconscious amid the chaos, but found no sign of his quarry; one vampire spawn remained unaccounted for.
As Lancelot bounded away with the bones, guards finally arrived in force to fight the fourth vampire. Ghalwin pinned his enemy with spectral vines, Shakti exposed the creature to radiant light, and twelve pike-wielding guards drove the vampire into the ground in a scene fit for a renaissance painting. The Pack felt a flush of triumph as the rain began to beat down, but Lancelot spotted something cutting through the mists and bolted for cover. Rudolph van Richten turned and ran, shouting that this was "why I do not work with amateurs!"
Bursting from the Coffin Maker's Shop, astride a Nightmare, was Strahd von Zarovich. The fifth vampire spawn, trapped between Jarmo and a ring of guards, begged her master to save her. Strahd descended from the sky and reappeared at ground level, regarding his thrall's failure with contempt. At the flick of the Count's wrist, a ball of fire swallowed the group. Both the guards and spawn were instantly immolated, and Jarmo barely survived the blast; Ireena ran to him, and the giantborn moved to put himself between her and the vampire lord.
As Jarmo stood his ground, Strahd understood his motivation. His beloved Tatyana had given her heart to another man. The vampire lord could not keep his fury hidden; Jarmo had broken the single most pivotal instruction given to him upon entering Barovia. Choking with tears and rage, Strahd forcefully charmed them both. Shakti sent her moonbeam roaring toward Strahd as Ghalwin charged with a full cache of guards at his back. The Count dispelled the moonbeam as though brushing dust from his sleeve and immolated the entire squadron before they reached him. Jarmo could only stand idle as the vampire lifted the Dreamweaver Circlet from his head, citing that such things were not to be worn in Barovia. There were no kings or champions in this land. Only Strahd.
Atop his hellish mount, von Zarovich rode into the sky, taking Ireena and the Circlet with him. Ghalwin called out to Yyrga, but the Eye of Shadows had little power in her current form; all she could do was watch alongside him. Jarmo knew better than anyone the cruelty of his clan's curse, but he fought it long enough to find his friends' hands. He knelt, and told them he loved them as his body petrified. Shakti scrambled to try to do something; Ghalwin screamed as he could do nothing; Jarmo stayed silent, then still, then stone.
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