In a flashback, younger versions of Shakti and Ghalwin explored the edges of the Astralwood, looking for Shakti's missing father. Ghalwin saw a mist-like apparition similar to a wolves' head leading into the Vanishing Grove, and convinced his sister to follow. He was stopped, however, by a magical command from his own father. Arbor the Woodswatcher approached, tersely dismissed Shakti, then slapped his young son for adventuring so far against his orders. He explained the concepts of the Ancients of Gold, Green, Grey, and Blue, and that death ultimately lead to life. It was the boy's job to protect the future Speakers of the Wood, even if it meant his death.
A sullen Ghalwin went back, and was directed by Cormac Orcharder to speak to the new boy in town, Jarmo. The six-foot-tall ten-year-old was exploring for the first time after receiving his Dreamweaver Circlet, and he and Ghalwin became fast friends. In the great tree's library, Jarmo read a prescient passage penned by Arbor. Shakti, meanwhile, who overheard Arbor's brutal conversation with Ghalwin, slowly began to pulll away from her brother. Instead, she went to her mother's room, seeking guidance and training. Ylyanna provided Shakti a vision of a waning moon, slowly encroached by brambles and briars.
Back in Barovia, Atlas deduced that if there were not many souls in Barovia, they had to have gone somewhere. Ghalwin reached out to Yrrga, and saw an image of a shadowy figure beyond Strahd, sucking souls out of the valley: Yrrga identified the Dark Power as "Vampyr". Now reconciling that each of the party was developing very different opinions on the land and how to worship, their discussion quieted. They trundled along from the Wizard of Wines up to the Raven River Crossroad, where a familiar will-o-wisp failed to get Shakti to follow. Strahd had proven true to his word; no wolves or bats harassed them on their journey.
The next morning, the Pack ascended to the fortification of Krezk, which turned out to be little more than a small village below the Abbey of Saint Markovia. They were greeted with suspicion by militia members, but by bringing wine, they ingratiated themselves to the locals. The stoic Burgomaster Dmitri Krezkov allowed them room in his cottage; as the party entered, they found Krezk to be more pleasant than others in Barovia. The village was self-sustaining and had Chickens, Pigs, and Sheep, and contained forests even within the fortification. While loading wine barrels into his cellar, Atlas noticed that the mayor was grieving, in his own way. He had just lost his son Ilya to illness, the last of his four children, who all died from some sickness or another. This left his wife Anna inconsolable, and the otherwise moralistic mayor was at his lowest point.As Ghalwin and Shakti cooked dinner, Dimitri took Atlas along a walk through the graveyard that contained generations of Krezkovs, and inquired on how he could bring his son back to life. While Atlas espoused that undeath was unnatural, he was unsure of the power needed to truly raise the dead back to life. Dimitri thought about turning to The Abbot above the town for help, but was hesitant to go back to the Abbey, as its horrible guards denied entry to the townsfolk. The Abbot had arrived over a century ago, apparently not aging a day, and whenever the Abbey's bell rang, baleful screams and grating laughter rang down from the hill. Indeed, chimera-like creatures had raided many of the bodies in his graveyard since before Dimitri was born, though none had attacked the living.
Over a dinner of delicious chicken and potatoes, Anna and Dimitri revealed that many of the townsfolk believed the Abbot to be Strahd in disguise; rumors of his ability to provide life and remove curses abounded, as did his supposed immortality. The party agreed to investigate the next morning, though in the evening, they made an effort to visit Saint Markovia's Pool. Its water sparkled in the grey twilight as if lit by the morning sun, and Atlas realized that it was likely the pool prophesized by Madam Eva. Shakti wildshaped into a Crocodile and swam to the bottom of the pool, which connected to a large underground river.
At the floor, Shakti found a bubble of water protecting a large, leather-bound journal with a metal clasp. She brought it up to the Pack: Ghalwin opened it and immediately let out a massive splash of water, destroying most of its contents. They found that it was the Tome of Strahd, and two Pages From Tome were still legible. They detailed a wedding between his younger brother Sergei von Zarovich and the lowborn Tatyana Federovna, who Strahd deeply desired. In a rage that he had spurned his prime fighting wars, and fury against Sergei for his youth and beauty, he invoked a pact with "death" and killed his brother. In response, Tatyana threw herself from Castle Ravenloft, and an undead Strahd slew the party guests and guards. The journal also detailed Strahd's newfound terror toward sunlight, and Sergei's "cursed sword" that he feared more than any weapon.
They retired for the evening in Dimitri's cottage, sleeping next to the beds of the mayor's dead children. That evening, Atlas awoke to the pages spinning open, and he envisaged himself as Strahd, chasing Tatyana as arrows struck his body. He could not grab her, however, before she threw herself from the balcony into the mists below. Now realizing that he was somehow connected to the tome and Strahd's memories, Atlas had access to vampire-like magic and a resistance to Strahd himself. His skin had turned a pale white. The Pack in general woke up feeling more powerful and experienced, having accomplished their prophecies task: however, they did not have much time to talk before a church bell rang. Howls, yips, and baleful laughter echoed from the Abbey on high.