Order of the Silver Dragon
When Strahd drove his enemies into the valley long ago, determined to annihilate them, the last thing he expected to encounter was a silver dragon.
History
The dragon, who called himself Argynvost, had come to the valley years earlier in the guise of a nobleman named Lord Argynvost. The dragon didn't lair in the valley solely because of its idyllic beauty. He knew of a place called the Amber Temple—a repository of evil power guarded by the forces of good. Argynvost wanted to make sure that whatever was trapped inside the Amber Temple wouldn't be allowed to escape, so he built his fortified mansion, Argynvostholt, close by.
Like many silver dragons, Argynvost was extraordinarily wealthy, and he was comfortable living among humans while disguised as one of them. He used his resources to attract other champions of good, and valorous knights flocked to the valley to join Lord Argynvost's prestigious Order of the Silver Dragon. Only those who were initiated into the order were told of Lord Argynvost's true nature.
During the war between Strahd and his foes, the Order of the Silver Dragon drove away malefactors searching for the Amber Temple. It also sheltered Strahd's enemies and proved more than a match for Strahd's battle-weary soldiers. But the early victories of the order didn't win the war. Even with Argynvost on their side, the knights were ultimately overwhelmed when Strahd's reinforcements swept into the valley. Those forces slew the last of the knights and battled the dragon inside Argynvostholt. After the dragon was slain, Strahd had its corpse hacked to pieces, stripped to the bone, and transported to Castle Ravenloft as a trophy.
Since the dragon's death, Argynvostholt has become a haunted ruin, a former bastion of nobility and light turned into a place of desolation and unrest.
I was looking at dead men. Before another hour passed, I'd send them wailing on their way to rotting hell. All of them.The death of Argynvost enraged the spirit of Vladimir Horngaard, the greatest of the dragon's knights. Horngaard returned as a revenant and swore to avenge the destruction of the order. His zeal was so great that it also brought back the spirits of several other knights, who rose as revenants under Vladimir's command. The vengeful revenants killed many of Strahd's soldiers, and whenever the undead knights were cut down, their spirits found new corpses to inhabit. Though the knights were grossly outnumbered, they waged war for months and slew hundreds of foes. When Strahd died and became a vampire, Vladimir's knights should have gone to their everlasting rest, but their spirits couldn't leave Strahd's domain. They marched to Castle Ravenloft and were confronted by the Vistani seer Madam Eva, who told them Strahd had died, only to become a prisoner in his own land, tormented by the death of his beloved Tatyana and the murder of his brother Sergei. After receiving that news, Vladimir ceased his advance and led his knights back to Argynvostholt. He realized that Strahd had already died and been damned to a hell of his own creation. With nowhere else to go and nothing else to do, Vladimir set his knights to killing Strahd's agents and anyone else who might help to ease Strahd's torment. Consumed by hatred, the knights have lost their honor and nobility. Their redemption hinges on whether Vladimir can set aside that hatred. The undead knight can be found brooding in the ruins of Argynvostholt. The spirit of the dragon Argynvost isn't at rest, either. It can sense that the knights have been corrupted, and it reaches out to the characters, hoping they will help the knights find peace. If the characters retrieve the dragon's skull from Castle Ravenloft and place it in the mausoleum of Argynvostholt, the dragon's spirit ascends to the highest tower of the mansion and transforms into a beacon of light that flashes across Barovia. The light of the beacon reminds Vladimir Horngaard of what he has lost, enabling him and his fellow knights to let go of their hatred and find both redemption and rest.
Type
Military, Knightly Order
Alternative Names
Knights of Argynvostholt
Training Level
Elite
Veterancy Level
Decorated/Honored
Leader
Leader Title
Location
Controlled Territories
Notable Members
Related Species
Comments