The Red Star Ritual
Hook
The party’s shared vision showed a crowned skeletal ruler vanish during a catastrophic ritual in Castle Avernus, leaving a red star above the broken fortress. The evidence now points strongly to Azalin’s failed transformation, and Irik sent the company to Barovia because Strahd knows its secrets.
Evidence
- Workers carried documents and scrolls through the fortress.
- Cultists and sacrificial victims gathered near one of its highest peaks.
- The leader was small, skeletal, humanoid, and crowned.
- Two elder cultists recited ritual magic from tomes.
- The tower shook and broke apart as the leader floated upward and exploded.
- Time appeared to freeze at the moment of the explosion.
- A red star remained above the central dais.
- A shadow-dragon invitation to Castle Avernus caused the vision to return to mind.
- Vidic said the Keepers of the Feather witnessed Azalin’s attempted transformation fail.
- Erasmus showed Azalin dissolve into nothing as Castle Avernus broke apart and Darkon fractured among rival powers.
- Carver considers Castle Avernus dangerously saturated with magic.
- The party used the visible red star above Castle Avernus to guide its journey south from Martira Bay.
- The party reached the fortress from the vision: Castle Avernus stands beneath the red star with its spire split and luminous structures binding its broken stone.
- Irik Zal’honan said Strahd von Zarovich knows the secrets of Azalin’s ritual and the red star.
- Van Richten said Azalin followed Hyskosa’s Hexad while trying to escape the domains, and believes his detective friends still investigate what went wrong.
Current understanding
- The fortress in the vision was Castle Avernus.
- The crowned figure was almost certainly Azalin, though the party has not learned what form he sought or where he went.
- The ritual failed catastrophically, fractured the castle, and coincided with the red star and Darkon’s political collapse.
- Strahd, the Keepers, Van Richten, and Hyskosa now offer distinct lines of inquiry into what happened.
Open questions
- What precisely occurred during the ritual?
- What was Azalin attempting to become, escape, or summon?
- Where did Azalin go when his body vanished?
- What is the red star, and why did it remain over Castle Avernus?
- Why did the three adventurers share the vision before meeting one another?
- Why did Ebb’s invitation awaken the vision, and what part did the dragon play in the ritual or its aftermath?
- Why does Strahd know the ritual’s secrets?
Next steps
- Learn what Strahd knows about Azalin’s ritual and the red star.
- Ask the Barovian Keepers what they witnessed when Azalin disappeared.
- Speak with Hyskosa about the Hexad and compare Van Richten’s report with the known ritual evidence.