The druids engaged Shakti, casting spells that turned their skin bark-like, but she slowed the advance by erupting the earth around them. They managed to bind Shredder with entangling vines, but Shakti avoided their twisted magic and engaged in dire wolf form. Davian's swarm of ravens pulled the vines off the armored tiger, who immediately pounced into the group and began shredding.
Meanwhile, the invisible trio rushed up the hill. Lancelot and Ghalwin instinctively moved to protect Shakti, but Atlas saw the danger of the lone druid still chanting in front of Strahd's effigy. He went to engage him, but was too late to stop the ritual's completion.
Ghalwin saw a bright green glow in the effigy's chest and misty stepped up to pull out the green stone. He reached in and grabbed something, but felt a large hand within grab him back: Wintersplinter was free. The Tree Blight burst from the effigy and began sundering the ground around it with massive branches and grasping roots. As Team Animals finished off the druid group, Atlas engaged the last chanter, dodging blasts of fire before blowing him back with a radiant bolt. Ghalwin was tossed around like a ragdoll before being knocked from Wintersplinter's arm, hitting the ground as tree branches sundered the party with incredible impact.
The six barbarians at the burning Gulthias Tree realized they had been tricked, and desperately ran up Yester Hill to save Wintersplinter. The Pack knew they had little time to deal with their foe before they would be totally surrounded, and desperately tried to bring down Wintersplinter. Channeling his oath to protect this land, Ghalwin combined divine smites with the might of Feller and felled the tree blight seconds before the barbarians arrived.
The splitting of Wintersplinter caused the gemstone to pop out into its tangled roots, and Davian and Lancelot went searching for it as the rest of the Pack held off the forest folk. Exhausted, depleted, and outnumbered, the party began a miserable melee with the barbarians. Lancelot found the gemstone and Davian kept it safe, flying high out of "danger" while shooting at his foes with a hand crossbow.
Shakti and Atlas used the last reserves of their magic to keep Ghalwin and Shredder alive, as they both were continually brought low by greataxes and greater muscle. Duking it out in the rain and mud, things were looking extremely bad, but Ghalwin refused to call on Yrrga as he worried about dipping too far into her dark power. Ultimately, Atlas was able to just barely keep his party alive by invoking his divine twilight sanctuary, which warded off otherwise fatal blows from the forest folk. This turned the tide, and though he was dropped by his last fleeing foe, Shakti caught up to the barbarian and melted his face off.
Ghalwin noticed a smaller circle of rocks in the center of the ring, which Davian believed to be the mountain fane. They bore symbols in druidic, which Shakti translated as a poem dedicated to the Huntress:
My lady hunts from high on hill
In skirt of hide and crown of bone
Dead on foot but tireless still
And where she walks, she walks alone
The Pack needed to return the stone to the Wizard of Wines, but were too exhausted to go far. They found their horses unharmed and Atlas set up a tiny hut to ensure their sleep was uninterrupted. However, during his watch, the cleric noticed the faint shadows of a nearby tree grow long: the master of the land revealed himself. Strahd von Zarovich beckoned him forth.