Curse of Strahd Endgame Plot Help - Spoliers

I'd like plot help with my COS endgame - Here is the setup:

>The group has created a vistani effigy to capture the soul of Strahd (lifted from Chris Perkins and Dice Camera Action)
>One of the PCs has turned out to be long dead van richten reincarnated. The Ricavio/Van Ricten character they encountered in the adventure is a Strahd plant
>Strahd's motivation in my game is to use the effigy to be brought out of Ravenloft into the Forgotten Realms. He wants to be free. Hes been double dealing the party the whole time.
>Otherwise pretty standard to the book COS.

In the final battle in the Tombs below Ravenloft the Warlock, Patron Raven Queen, used the effigy on Strahd and sucked him into it. (Natural 20 no less) Then as the party begins leaving the castle, I shift into epilogue mode, What is your characters plan - because its late and I need to work the next morning. (today)

All the PCs answer with return to the Forgotten Realms and find a way to deal with the soul of Strahd in the puppet- So far so good.

Then the guy playing the warlock says, "I'm gonna stay here and rule this place." Wow.

Thats where we stopped - None of the PCs technically know the warlocks intent, but all the players do. I'd love thoughts and input on how to handle next session

Thanks!
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That’s tricky. Does the player mind if the warlock leaves the game for a bit? I’d go that route if possible and have him become the new lord of Barovia. Then the party could perhaps return at some point and have to deal with him (possibly after having dealt with Strahd escaping the effigy).

I just don’t know if you can handle this in such a way that it keeps the character in the game.

The next session is perfectly fine as an epilogue.

The PCs escape Ravenloft, the Warlock stays behind to rule a new dark realm, and the Warlock's player has a memorable sendoff for his/her character and gets to roll a new one up.

My party put an NPC wizard on the throne of Barovia when they left.

I described to the players afterwards how the Dark Powers slowly corrupted the young wizard into a tyrant, oppressing the kingdom with magic. And how one day young lad, who had grown up hearing tales of the True Ruler, who freed the people from barbarian oppression and raised them to greatness - and how legend said that he still slept beneath the stones of the castle, waiting for a hero. And how that young lad grew into a brave warrior who pierced the vault of Castle Ravenloft, located the crypt, and wrested the cursed stake from the bones, unleashing the True Ruler of Barovia to deliver the land from evil.

Yeah, this is totally fine, sounds like your player wants to retire their PC, so you should let them. Personally my CoS campaign had a Warlock, who got too tempted by the dark side and ended up a Minion of Strahd i.e. an NPC, then that player ran the last couple of sessions playing van Richten (re-made as a proper PC class).

But... do your players expect that the campaign is pretty much over now, or do they expect it's just Phase 1? What's your plan, once Strahd escapes to Faerun, do you expect a long Phase 2, involving your current PC's chasing him down etc, or a new group of PC's have to combat him later (basically a new campaign), or is it just a "not so happily ever after" ending, where basically the PC's lost / the players failed because they didn't actually defeat Strahd after all, in fact they helped him accomplish his goal?

I talked about it with the player and he is content to leave this PC behind in Ravenloft and play a new PC.

Ironically, this defeats Strahds plot to get to the forgotten realms, Which means he'll have to go to plan B. Strahd would doubtless have considered this, even if I the DM did not.

I'm looking forward to the reactions of the players when they start to see signs of Ravenloft in the Forgotten Realms, since they think that is done.

Thanks for the Input
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Im still pondering where I want to take this - either Strahd resorts to plan B and still succeeds on entering Faerun, or the players choice foils his plot and then after a while I get to loop back to plot threads revolving around a Strahdless Demiplane making waves in the Multiverse:

I was never a huge fan of Strahd getting his powers from the amber temple, and my party never went there. I know in the original fiction, Strahd made his deal with death.

My understanding is that in the 5E cosmology, the Demiplanes of Dread occupy a corner of the Shadowfell over which the Raven Queen has no authority, and the Warlock character was patroned by the raven queen.

So Im kinda thinking that Strahd made his deal with Orcus (Death), and it has not gone as he wanted (Strahd too independent) so Orcus will try to use the party to get back into Barovia, but the Raven Queen also wants to know what happened to her Warlock, so shes trying to head off her enemy Orcus. Then there was cleric whose body they found wearing the symbol of Vecna. Oh and I introduced Bhaalspawn in a dream sequence a while back.

Not too sure yet how the party fits into all that.
Goodness, ive got my hands full.

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