The Red Star Ritual
Hook
All three adventurers shared a vision of cultists conducting sacrifices in a fortress beneath a circling dragon. The ritual ended with a crowned skeletal leader vanishing and a red star appearing overhead.
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.
- 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.
Open questions
- What precisely occurred during the ritual?
- Who was the crowned figure?
- Did the ritual succeed or fail?
- What is the red star, and can it now be seen from Rivalis?
- How accurately did the vision depict the events that shattered Castle Avernus?
- Why would a shadow dragon connected to Avernus contact the party?