Strahd lunged forward with his rapier, seeking to defeat the party in an honorable duel. However, he quickly learned the same lesson Rahadin had been taught just a week prior: Ghalwin and Tobias were a near-impenetrable defensive duo. Despite being protected by the powers of the Ladies Three, the vampire lord was forced back by smites and spells. As he had done against his chamberlain, Tobias heated Strahd's sword, disarming the Count and claiming his weapon for himself. While retreating with unnatural speed, Strahd blasted Verity with fire and cold to slow Ghalwin down as he tried to bide time behind a massive boulder.
To his surprise, the elk had lived. Bolstered by Mormeros' inspiring morning speech, the rider and steed appeared before the Count and sent him into the rock. Strahd barely managed to slash down Verity before Ajuini ragdolled him with eldritch blasts, and he was forced to outright flee from his guests. Encouraged by their advantage, they chased him as he turned into vampire bat, barraging him with spells through the treetops. This continued until they reached a high escarpment, where he flew to to the top of the cliff to regenerate. The party cast bolstering magic before Ajuni and Mormeros teleported up the bluff with the fighters, surprising Strahd before he had healed. Yet once again, the Count slipped away, turning invisible before flying off the cliff's edge.
For nearly a minute, the party hesitantly healed one another while scanning the forest below. Their feeling of triumph quickly turned into one of cornered prey, so Mormeros turned to his patron for guidance. Besides offering another ultimate bargain, Ten-Zras helpfully reminded Momo of the prophesized artifact that Ajuni was holding. As their magical buffs ended, they sheepishly descended the crag, preparing to run back to the mansion. As was his custom a full adventure ago, Momo tumbled down the rocky escarpment, only for animated rocks and vines to ambush them on the forest floor.
Strahd reappeared at the top of the cliff, laughing as he prepared to rain spells down on his guests, but Ajuni stole his moment. She counterspelled his magic and activated the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind, flooding the area with true sunlight. The radiance forced Strahd to recoil in pain as she teleported herself and Ghalwin back up to him. Desperate to neutralize the sunlight, Strahd attempted to charm Ajuni, but the half-elf resisted and used the Symbol to paralyze him. Ghalwin took the opportunity to strike, marking the vampire with a branding smite, and forced him to use legendary resistance to break free of Ajuni’s hold. Strahd had to flee once more, shedding faerie light as Ghalwin relentlessly pursued him down the cliffside.
Mormeros was also fleeing, fighting off animated objects that chased him through the trees alongside Tobias and Geronimo. The newly-knighted gnome read Strahd's downhill course and intercepted him on a lower cliff, meeting with Ghalwin and forcing the glowing vampire back to ground level. This unintentionally put Count Strahd face-to-face with their retreating warlock, but Momo somehow managed to convince him that he wasn't a threat worth worrying about, and the vampire bounded past him into the woods.
Tobias, Ghalwin, and Mormeros finished off the constructs as Ajuni teleported to keep Strahd in her sunlight. He hammered the party with evocation magic as he retreated, blasting down Geronimo and knocking Mormeros unconscious. Tobias stopped to "fix" his friends while Ghalwin ran to follow Ajuni, realizing that they were back where their fight had started. Isolated by the boulder that the paladin had first smashed Strahd into, Ajuni's Symbol ran out of charges. Strahd no longer had to fear its ability to hold him, and the vampire looked into the sunlight to face her.
Ajuni could see that their relentless pursuit had brought Strahd closer to defeat than he had been in centuries. They were nearly at their physical limit and had used most of their magic, and the vampire lord had also used most of his, but this battle was far from over.