The Weight of Choice
The session begins inside the desecrated Church of Saint Andral, where the Stunorians are spending the night. While the rest of the party rests, Merlin and Elrohir keep watch. Celeste decides to check on Izek, who had locked himself in a room with a cat after becoming uncomfortable during a conversation about love.
Together, Merlin and Celeste approach the room and hear quiet crying from inside.
When they carefully open the door, they discover a horrific scene. The cat is dead, blood is smeared across the room, and Izek himself is covered in it. Through tears, Izek explains that he lost control and killed the animal despite not wanting to. Merlin and Celeste try to reassure him that it wasn't his fault, but Izek insists that intent does not change the outcome. The cat is still dead, and he is the one who killed it.
Eventually, they manage to calm him by reminding him that the person responsible for turning him into a vampire spawn will one day face justice. The promise of revenge finally gives Izek something to focus on besides his guilt.
Meanwhile, the rest of the party discusses their next move. Although they plan to leave Vallaki, they still need to recover the body of Karl Wachter from the Wachter estate.
Before they can act, however, the church bells begin ringing.
The bells signal a mandatory sermon, and the streets quickly fill with citizens making their way toward the town square through the rain.
The party attempts to avoid the gathering. Elrohir successfully escapes by using an Echo Knight swap to teleport away from the crowd after spotting approaching guards. The rest of the party is forced to blend in and follow the citizens toward the sermon.
Upon arriving, they witness a dramatic entrance.
A massive bat descends from the sky, transforms into Strahd von Zarovich, and lands before the stage. Strahd greets the man standing there—Ibrynn, the former Paladin of Tyr and one-time ally of the Stunorians, now known throughout Vallaki as the Horned Prophet.
After exchanging a few words, Strahd announces that he is only there to observe. Using a Floating Disk spell, he ascends into the air and watches the proceedings from above.
Ibrynn then begins his sermon.
Moving through the crowd, he selects six ordinary citizens and brings them onto the stage. Returning once more, he approaches Izek and orders him to join them. Izek refuses, and Celeste volunteers to take his place instead.
With six civilians standing on one side of the stage and Celeste standing alone on the other, Ibrynn presents the crowd—and the Stunorians—with a choice.
They may save the six innocent civilians.
Or they may save Celeste.
They cannot save both.
The party is given ten minutes to decide.
Desperate attempts to find another solution fail, and eventually the group votes. Vestri, Merlin, and even Celeste herself argue for saving the civilians. Marius, the Mad Mage, and Izek insist on saving Celeste.
In the end, the deciding factor is Izek. Celeste realizes that if she dies, he may lose control entirely.
The party chooses to save her.
Ibrynn executes all six civilians.
Afterward, he delivers a speech about responsibility and the burden of choice. The Stunorians reject his reasoning, arguing that they never truly had a choice at all. A heated argument follows, escalating into shouting as both sides refuse to back down.
Finally, Ibrynn declares that if they will not stand beside him, they will stand against him.
The sermon erupts into battle.
Cultists surrounding the stage begin chanting in unison, empowering the Horned Prophet with immense magical strength. Enhanced by their support, Ibrynn becomes a terrifying opponent, gaining additional attacks, magical boosts, and even the ability to recover from mortal wounds.
The Stunorians initially focus all their efforts on bringing him down. The Mad Mage even succeeds in blasting him through the chest with a powerful lightning spell. Yet when Ibrynn falls, the cultists' chanting restores him.
Realizing the source of his power, the party changes tactics and begins targeting the cultists instead.
As the battle continues, Ibrynn removes his armor, retaining only a helmet once worn by his father.
On the stage, he focuses his attacks on Celeste while keeping Izek magically paralyzed and unable to intervene.
Again and again Celeste throws herself between Ibrynn and her brother.
Again and again she falls.
Again and again Vestri pulls her back from the brink of death.
Ibrynn eventually abandons all restraint.
After knocking Celeste unconscious and draining her blood with a vampiric bite, he uses Command to force her to kneel before him.
Then he strikes.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Even after she falls.
Even after she can no longer defend herself.
The final blows kill her.
As Izek watches helplessly from the stage, Celeste dies at the hands of the friend who once fought beside her.
The battle grows even more desperate.
Merlin falls repeatedly but continues to rise through sheer undead resilience.
The Mad Mage dies outright.
In death, he makes a desperate plea to any power willing to listen.
The Queen of Poxes answers.
One of the Dark Vestiges of the Amber Temple, she offers him life in exchange for an unknown future price. The Mad Mage accepts and returns to life forever marked by a foul stench that can never be washed away.
With renewed determination, he destroys the final chanting cultists.
At last, Ibrynn loses the source of his power.
His attention turns to Marius, whom he nearly kills, before returning once more to Merlin.
As allies fall around him, Vestri steps forward for a final confrontation.
The cleric condemns Ibrynn for betraying both his friends and his god.
Then he unleashes a devastating Guiding Bolt.
This time, there is no one left to save the Horned Prophet.
The spell kills him.
As he dies, Ibrynn insists that they cannot escape the consequences of their choices. He claims he was only trying to protect someone he loved, just as they were. With his final breath, he asks Vestri to tell his daughters that he tried.
Then he dies.
Alone.
Abandoned by his god.
Face-down in the mud beneath the rain.
Above it all, Strahd watches.
And when the fighting finally ends, silence falls over Vallaki.