The hag's warning cackle was heard throughout Old Bonegrinder, stymying The Pack's attempted ambush. With an evil grin, Morgantha dipped into the wellspring of her coven spells, and her eyes darkened in an inky void of black magic. She stoked bewitching fear in Ghalwin's heart; however, with the Heroes' Feast in his stomach, the paladin stood undeterred by her spell. She cursed in surprise and magically slammed the door to the windmill, locking Ghalwin, van Richten, Lancelot, and Verity on the other side.
Meanwhile, with a singular smooth strike, the giant spider Shakti shattered the third-floor window and skittered along the ceiling. Ghalwin heard the noise, misty stepped through the window from the ground, and struck Offalia Wormwriggle as she attempted to curse his spidery sister. He began to recite the Forest fane's poem in tune with his divine smites, beating back the hag. The bloodied Offalia vanished into the ethereal plane and fled downstairs, not knowing that Ghalwin could see her retreat through his truesight; he "knew the roads and where they wend".
Ghalwin's advance granted time for Atlas to fly inside and rescue a terrified Tessa Nicoleva. He provided fatherly reassurance as he unlocked her cage, then took her into his arms and began to fly to safety. Outside, van Richten had busied himself with healing Verity, who had snapped their neck attempting to break down the magical door, and had warded the elk to quickly escape when the child arrived. Before Atlas could deliver Tessa, however, Bella Sunbane ran upstairs and cast a lightning spell through Ghalwin's body into the cleric. In the split-second that he saw the spell being cast, Atlas knew that it was powerful enough to immediately kill the girl. He pleaded to the divine for her safety, but rather than praying to his goddess Umori, Atlas looked to a more immediate power.
From his visions collected from Strahd's Tome, he knew the names of two, and he successfully invoked Khirad, the Star of Secrets. Appearing in Atlas' mind, they had an intangible and inscrutable astral quality, reflecting the cleric's own starry eyes. Khirad was surprised but intrigued at the appeal, and as a greeting, temporarily turned Tessa into an ethereal being of stars; the lightning passed through her space without harm. She was suspended in midair, giving an electrified Atlas a chance to move out of danger then catch her when she reappered.
Ghalwin and Shakti moved to attack Bella Sunbane, tearing away at the lone hag as an ethereal Morgantha cautiously ascended the stairs. Halfway out the window, Atlas attempted to cast a guiding bolt at Bella but accidentally fired straight at Ghalwin. Again, he gave more of himself to Khirad, who in turn split the radiant beam in twain around Ghalwin's head, before manipulating the strike into the hag's torso. Having formed quite the relationship with a Dark Power within the span of a few seconds, Atlas took the opportunity to catch Tessa and ferry her to van Richten. The monster slayer warded the girl from evil and good, and Verity, Lancelot, and an overhead Laszlo dashed her to the fey crossing as Atlas flew back to the windmill.
Shakti brought Bella Sunbane low with an extremely venomous bite, and Ghalwin of the Grove stood over the hag. He finished the poem perfectly on-cue, his axe descending as he recited "knows beginnings, knows their ends." However, his moment of virtue was attenuated when blinding light burst unexpectedly from Feller. Shakti and Atlas turned their heads away in time, but Bella Sunbane was completely exposed to the radiance and was blinded as she died. Ghalwin could feel Yrrga somehow "feeding" as Bella's eyes were destroyed, and he began to understand a part of what the Eye of Shadows was using him for.
He did not have time to reflect, however, as he knew the other two hags were ready to attack from the floor below. While their plan was originally to rescue Tessa and kill one hag if possible, Ghalwin knew that the coven was not nearly as dangerous without a third member; this might be their best chance to permanently end their evil. He went for broke and jumped down to attack them, but caught his leg on the railing and fell prone right in front of Offalia Wormwriggle. She sapped his strength with a ray of enfeeblement, then Morgantha gleefully slashed away at him with sharpened claws. Shakti skittered above then behind her, trying to tear the hag away from her brother. In turn, Morgantha manipulated the tower as a lair to send them hurtling into walls and ceilings, knocking Shakti back into her human form.
Through the second-floor window, Atlas summoned a floating divine scythe to rip at Offalia and Morgantha while emanating his sphere of twilight sanctuary. Morgantha melded through the stone to attack Atlas, sensing that this healing would turn the tide of the fight, but Shakti knocked her back with a tidal wave as Ghalwin struck the stranded Offalia Wormwriggle. As van Richten finally burst down the door and entered the fray, Shakti wildshaped into a massive Cave Bear and shredded Offalia to pieces.
With both of her daughters dead, Morgantha escaped into the Ethereal plane, but Ghalwin followed with his truesight. van Richten advised The Pack that for their transgressions, she would likely haunt them from that plane, sapping their strength through terrible nightmares until they died in agony over the course of weeks. Atlas communicated to the night hag through his Sending magic, and successfully tricked her into believing they could kill her even through the Ethereal. He intimidated her into leaving, and Morgantha agreed to leave them alone. Fuming, the hag mother set off in the direction of Castle Ravenloft, and the Pack went to collect their companions on the other side of the fey crossing.
Now rid of its cackling occupants, the Durst Windmill stood quiet. Ghalwin found a chest loaded with gold and silver, payments collected over years of pastry sales, as well as a barrel full of foul-smelling demon ichor. Ricky believed that Morgantha used this substance to summon minor fiends, but The Pack's ambush prevented that opportunity. Shakti parted the earth and they buried the barrel 50 feet below the tower, as if it were nuclear waste. Atlas and Laszlo went to the upper floor, stuffed with the bodies of dead ravens, and saw a visage of a green spirit in a humanoid shape. Atlas prayed to the Lady of the Forest, indicating that he would make the tower a beacon of the defenders of these woods.
The group decided to take Tessa back to Vallaki immediately, and Laszlo left to report to the Keepers of the Feather. When back in the orphanage, they donated many of the hag's riches to cover over a half-years of operating expenses. As the orphanage rejoiced, The Pack rested and reflected on their successes, as well as their newfound strengths. Through divinatory courses, dangerous combats, and dark covenants, they had become much more attuned to this land than they would have ever thought possible.