Two that come to mind happened in the same setting.
We were guests in Castle Ravenloft for slaying a rampaging outsider copper dragon whom slew it's mate and ate its young, which landed himself in Ravenloft and decided to make Borovia its new hunting ground. Sadly we had lost one of our party members and were unable to find a powerful enough priest among the Priests of the Morning Lord in the area to raise him. Strahd gave us abit of time to morn our loss and burry him properly before coming to his home. The greatful Count had shown us to our rooms to change before dinner. Our mage happen to be placed in a guest room where there were old fashion women's dresses in the closet instead of fresh dinner suits like promised. Little did he know the count was keeping tabs on all of us through scrying while he was parading around the room in the dresses. To say the least it made interesting dinner conversation in an otherwise uncomfortable setting about our newly found insight about our mages crossdressing habbits.
Later that evening we were in the Library/Sitting Room drinking brandy and smoking cigars, all the while talking about our fallen companion, the dragon, and the future. I didn't happen to hear the first part of the conversation, but only "Who is the broad in the painting? She is Hot!" Again of course this was the mage, and the painting of the "broad" was was of none other than Tatyana in which he was refering too. Now of course the entire conversation was out of game humor, but I didn't realize this and with my paled face-jaw dropped I was prepared to roll up another character.
Some of the few slap stick moments in our game, which at the time was when we first began about 8 years ago, so we were still getting use to the Domains of Dread.
My PCs were entering Ravenloft, as we'd all tacitly agreed, and I was doing a fine job of it. They had been forced to flee the mainland in a ship, and the Mists were settling in. The compasses flailed, and the sails dropped in the calmed winds.
A sense of dread began to grip the souls on board...
Whereupon one player, not known for his subtlety, raises a hand and adjusts his glasses.
"Question. Uh, DM? Are we entering Ravenloft now, or what?"
All the other PCs voted and narrowly avoided throwing his character overboard.
* ~ * ~ *
The dramatic
The PCs were in the midst of a general uprising throughout Darkon. A rampaging avatar, trapped in Ravenloft and unable to leave, was now posing an open challenge to Azalin's rule. The avatar had already taken military control of several cities in Darkon, including Karg, Neblus, and Mayvin and Tempe Falls, and was marching on Il Aluk.
The PCs found themselves sharing a carriage with Siberyleus Magnus, IMC the head of the Kargat's at-large branch (an enforcer without a set region who answered directly to Azalin). Magnus, though clearly a vampire and clearly an evil calculating Kargat, nevertheless outlined for the PCs the broad overview of his intended strategy in fighting the avatar.
Then he acknowledged that the PCs hadn't asked to be involved in this, and he offered them a choice to back out now if they felt they were in over their heads. He even stopped the carriage and told them they could step out if they wanted to.
The PCs held a quick conference and decided unanimously that they would stay and fight. True, they'd be fighting alongside creatures of darkness who helped a dark master prey on his people, but they were siding with the evil they knew instead of an unknown newcomer. Magnus thanked them and the carriage sped on. A moment of high drama.
Of course, after they got to their destination, the PCs noticed the assassins riding on top of the carriage, who might easily have picked them off as they left. But that was just a minor technicality.
* ~ * ~ *
Paradise Regained
A paladin, after a particularly brutal campaign in Falkovnia, began to lose her faith that a merciful god could allow such depravity. Her player talked to me and we agreed that she would lose her paladinhood powers - a major sacrifice, in the interests of role playing!
However, eventually she came face to face with a retinue of high ranking Talons and an Uberstamberkampfuhrer (my 2nd ed. equivalent of what later became a Falkfuhrer). This group of men were responsible for much of the suffering the PCs had seen. The ex-paladin and her fellows lifted swords and as she struck her first blow, the paladin felt the power of her god once again suffusing her entire being.
The players actually cheered and clapped at that point. Really made my day as a DM.
In a home-brew domain, I sent the PCs to this ebony tower which was controlled by a darklord who was actually being possessed fiendish illithid. While in a hall full of faces that were using suggestion to affect the PCs, the rogue failed his save. The player was told "it feels like something is crawling around in your eye", to which he had his character stab himself in the eye, and when the eye came with the dagger, the player then decided that his character was playing with his dislodged eyeball. Needless to say, Horror saves along with a couple Fort saves insued.
Number 1 was "Killed by a Flumph" which is technically very difficult to achieve because the Flumph is a completely useless creature. The most reliable way of getting killed by one is to teleport it into a space congruent to your brain, which means it will die and kill you too.
Number 2 was simply:
"Hey guys, you're back! Took your time. Now, then... what was it that Count Strahd von Zarovich wanted to see you about so badly?"
Not sure why.
Anyway, after making camp, they set the mandatory watches. After second watch a group of zombies staggers into the camplight, freaking out the watchman whose screams awaken the rest of the party. Hearing the low groan of "Strahd...Strahd" from the lips of the undead, most of the party puts the scene together.
One player, not noted for his intelligence, hears the moans and then says:
"Oh, guys, Strahd's not here. He lives in the big castle back that way."
The rest of the players, and I, stared in disbelief until we saw the light of understanding flicker in the players eyes and he realised how stupid a mistake he'd made.
Still makes me smirk to this day (and it happened about twelve years ago).
My players were trapped in Barovia, and couldn't figure out why everytime they reached the border, they ended up on the other side of Barovia. Their brilliant idea: dig UNDER the mists. :lightbulb
I recently started a Ravenloft Campaign with my group. They had never heard of Ravenloft, much less played in it. So i decided to start them off with "Night of the Walking Dead".
So they are in the town, with Luc (the guy who constantly follows them in a stupor). One PC decided to actually go along with the mod and investigate the plantation. The other decides it would be funnier to play tricks on the lethargic guy. So the PC goes off and gruesomely gets eaten by ghouls. Meanwhile the PC whos playing with Luc decides that he shoulkd go out and find his other party member. He walks to the house to find that his best friend and former-PC's body is on the dining room table currently being gnawed on by ghouls.
Needless ot say the PC roleplayed awesomely, and made his Character out to be traumatized by the whole experience.
they later said it was a lesson learned. "Dont split-up in Ravenloft."
-Emjaysmash
Guess who Azrael called up? ^^
First the PC's are recruited to go werewolf hunting in that short adventure from the book of crypts I think. The Captain who recruited them gives them silver weapons to hunt werewolves with. Then later they find out that the Captain is the werewolf they are looking for, so they dicide to attack him with their new silver swords, and by boss who was visiting but not playing yells from the other side of the room "you mean your going to use the weapons the HE GAVE YOU!"........
Second: after waking up to find they had all been turned into small tiny puppets, the PCs fight off an army of attacking toys.....run upstairs and slam the bedroom door shut!......only to hear: "MEEEOOOOOWWWW!"
The PCs: Most of'em from Athas (the hunger aspect of the domain fit well)
The Creatures: Man-Eating Cattle (hey, it was on the random encounters table for the domain!)
The PCs Actions: We're hungry, we'll pick off a few of those skinny beasts.
DM's response: The wind shifts, bringing your scent to their nostrils. The herd is looking at you like "lunch!" and stampedes toward you.
The PCs next actions: Run like hell.
I let'em off easy. They roleplayed the escape quite well thanks to some DS 2nd ed. wild talents (one of which happened to be teleport)
A NPC that is running around with us was infected with lycanthropy long ago by the strand that the Black Wolf created. We have determined that he is the progenitor of the blood line, so that is why we have come to the frozen reaches to destroy the werewolf and preform the ritual to cure our friend.
So far we have encounted the Black Wolf twice and he has proven inpervious to our golden weapons due to some protections given by the mists. The first encounter resulting in him toying with us to size up our group and he retreated. The second and most recent encounter was in the small village of Torgor where the Boyar Gregor (the Black Wolf) was demanding high tributes of the barely surviving and starving people. We helped fend off the assault of the Boyar, his two elite soldiers and his wolves resulting in his retreat in which we followed. I have a Blessed Paladin class ability that allows dread lords to more easily scry on me and me them. This helped find out that the Boyer was the the man who ran the show in Vorosokov when he scyed on me and I him. When attacked we also realized he was the Black Wolf due to his invulnerability to our golden weapons and his absolute control of the wolves. In the fight we struck down his son or at least we think he is due to their striking similar appearence and he flew into a rage which was actually a call to all wolves, dire wolves, winter wolves and werewolfs in the Domain.
If ever there was a moment of absolute terror in the 8 years I have played RL, this was the mother load with all the howels in the night throughout the country answering their master the Black Wolf and to come to him! All but one of our party passed their fear saves, but I looked to my DM and said something to the effect of, "An idiot has no fear, but a hero shows none. I do believe my character just ****** his pants, but is prepared now to see the end of the campain fighting on his feet!"
Our party was discussing exit stratigies, which pretty much involved drinking invisability potns and pouring on scent breakers to keep from being tracked. I on the other hand with my little scry blessing and curse was going to act as a decoy the group could make a break for the domain of Sanguinia if the border isnt closed while I lead the boyar and his pack away from them and the village of Torgor. One of our party members took a gamble and hit the remaining of the boyar's elite with a devistating blow, though he was still on his feet it was made very clear that if Gregor valued this man he and his pack would back off or he would deliver the killing blow. Amazingly the Black Wolf complied and we ran like hell to the palisade walls of Torgor.
I'm very certain that round three will be coming very soon and I hope we find the secret of his protections before the final showdown ensues.
I look forward to reading more.
in my game the PCs get to Ravenloft and one acts mature about it the other has very little inclination to be a mature player. He gets into a cottage in a swamp where a boy sits in the middle of the room on the floor and is obviously in some kind of trance. There are lanterns all around him and the half-dragon samurai decides it would be a good idea to try and snap him out of the 'coma'. So he slashed him with his longsword and killed him. Then, when I asked him why he did that, he said "He was casting a spell!" even though the boy had been talking when the dummy entered. He killed an innocent boy for no reason (his alignment changed for being a little less than lawful good)
THEN, later into the session....
The Half-Dragon samurai and his gnome illusionist friend try to ask a crazy, OLD lady questions about soe recent murders in the village. The door is locked but the old lady can be heard crying on the other side. The gnome sneaks in through the window and freaks the old lady out of her wits. Her frantic screams alert the constable to something being wrong (no duh). So they gnome opens the door for the consatble but the Half-Dragon steps through the door first and pulls a BBOOGITY-BOOOGITY-BOOGITY-BOO! and give the old woman a heart attack. The village was not very happy about this.
THEN...
Both PCs break into a mansion outsie the village to try and find some evidence of evil people. They open the door using magic then search the house. In the cellar are barells of food and many bottles of wine. The Half-Dragon takes 10 bottles of wine and spills the barrels of food all overe the dirt floor. Then, after finding nothing, they both leave... the samurai holding his wine. Somebody saw he leave the mansion with an armfull of fine wine and calls the consatble on him. Both the PCs spent a night in prison.
THEN...
The next day they are released from the jail. After getting some breakfast at the inn the half-dragon is asked to go wake up the only other customer of the inn. When he gets upstairs he finds that the man is now a zombie. They tussel for a bit and then the zombie maneuvers him to the window and pushes. They both fall two stories and all the gnome in the common room sees is a shape fly by the window as he hears a loud *THUMP!*. He looks out the window to see his companion standing over the other customer (the gnome doesn't know he's a zombie). The samurai then begins to hack the body into pieces (i have no clue why). A crowd gathers and watches him slash apart an innocent (or so they think) person.
Needless to say, the PCs did not gain a lot of favor with THIS village's inhabitants.
PLUS, that is all one session.
okay,
in my game the PCs get to Ravenloft and one acts mature about it the other has very little inclination to be a mature player. He gets into a cottage in a swamp where a boy sits in the middle of the room on the floor and is obviously in some kind of trance. There are lanterns all around him and the half-dragon samurai decides it would be a good idea to try and snap him out of the 'coma'. So he slashed him with his longsword and killed him. Then, when I asked him why he did that, he said "He was casting a spell!" even though the boy had been talking when the dummy entered. He killed an innocent boy for no reason (his alignment changed for being a little less than lawful good)
THEN, later into the session....
The Half-Dragon samurai and his gnome illusionist friend try to ask a crazy, OLD lady questions about soe recent murders in the village. The door is locked but the old lady can be heard crying on the other side. The gnome sneaks in through the window and freaks the old lady out of her wits. Her frantic screams alert the constable to something being wrong (no duh). So they gnome opens the door for the consatble but the Half-Dragon steps through the door first and pulls a BBOOGITY-BOOOGITY-BOOGITY-BOO! and give the old woman a heart attack. The village was not very happy about this.
THEN...
Both PCs break into a mansion outsie the village to try and find some evidence of evil people. They open the door using magic then search the house. In the cellar are barells of food and many bottles of wine. The Half-Dragon takes 10 bottles of wine and spills the barrels of food all overe the dirt floor. Then, after finding nothing, they both leave... the samurai holding his wine. Somebody saw he leave the mansion with an armfull of fine wine and calls the consatble on him. Both the PCs spent a night in prison.
THEN...
The next day they are released from the jail. After getting some breakfast at the inn the half-dragon is asked to go wake up the only other customer of the inn. When he gets upstairs he finds that the man is now a zombie. They tussel for a bit and then the zombie maneuvers him to the window and pushes. They both fall two stories and all the gnome in the common room sees is a shape fly by the window as he hears a loud *THUMP!*. He looks out the window to see his companion standing over the other customer (the gnome doesn't know he's a zombie). The samurai then begins to hack the body into pieces (i have no clue why). A crowd gathers and watches him slash apart an innocent (or so they think) person.
Needless to say, the PCs did not gain a lot of favor with THIS village's inhabitants.
PLUS, that is all one session.
All I have to say is: you let a half-dragon samurai play the Night of the Living Dead module?
Vampires, though gifted with munch-tastic combat skills (which may well be "mad skillz"), have several severe weaknesses compared to liches. They have to drink blood or suffer damage, they can't stand the sight of holy symbols or the touch of holy water, and they can be immobilized indefinitely with a wooden stake.
In one scenario, I had Azalin put a vampire prisoner into a room filled with holy symbols, and she was immobilized by a stake in the heart. Meanwhile, she was fed blood that dripped from a troll's heart in the ceiling, and routinely doused with holy water to leave her in a constant state of unbearable pain.
Liches have it good as far as bodies go. If they lose their current body, they lose it. No big deal - they'll just possess another one near their phylactery.
Vampires hunger and lust and rage and sleep.
Liches... well, liches research. And lurk. Evilly.
So it's not surprising that vampires are the more popular enemy choice. You can definitely identify with their desires more.
My main reason for liking liches is that they are supposed to be inhuman in many ways. They can focus for decades at a time on a single task. They no longer have lusts and wants and other human emotional weaknesses.
The main problem is that WotC has made liches pretty weak by comparison to vampires. Vampires get huge ability bonuses and leave liches behind, who only get a +2 to all mental stats when they first become liches. From an ability score and combat prowess perspective, you're much better off becoming a vampire wizard than becoming a lich.
This, to me, is a bad situation because it hideously underpowers the lich.
I like to use the Dicefreaks template for liches. These allow liches to undergo power rituals (as mentioned in 2nd ed's Van Richten's Guide to the Lich in the Ravenloft campaign setting) to increase their powers.
Admittedly, most Liches are NPC's and aren't gonna level normally via XP, but if you were a PC contemplating both paths, it would certainly be a factor in the decision.
I like to use the Dicefreaks template for liches. These allow liches to undergo power rituals (as mentioned in 2nd ed's Van Richten's Guide to the Lich in the Ravenloft campaign setting) to increase their powers.
Hmm, where could I find this 'template'?
Hmm, where could I find this 'template'?
It's here.
Archie had a brief career.
My brother: Archie's going to try to pick some pockets.
Me: Okay. He's in his room at the moment. There's nobody around.
My brother: Okay... then he'll pick his own pockets.
Me: Roll.
My brother rolls.
Me: Hmm. 01%. That's a critical failure. Your victim notices and takes violent retributive action.
Combat ensues. Archie loses.
My brother: Alas, poor Archie.
Firey deaths also seem to be common in my game. The bard died from a simple alchemist fire (he could never make his reflex save to put the flames out, and no one helped him) The rogue (mentioned above) died from another PCs fireball spell, and a number of scorching rays killed the barbarian. The only PC that has survived this long is now deathly afraid of fire.
Wouldn't part of the reason to go with lich over vampire wizard be the +4 LA vs. +8 LA? If a Lich's goal is gain magical power (i.e. continue rising in wizard levels), that +8 LA is gonna slow his advancement way down...
NPCs don't have a level adjustment.
Truely one of the greatest villans in RL and it says a lot when the only thing it fears is Azalin, but the rest of RL is it's playground.
When my DM first introduced this monster into our game, we were attending an opera in the Grand Opera Nationale in Port-a-Lucine. The show was an Lamordian adaptation to Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and it just happened to be that the seven brothers were Toben Zombies. It became very apparent that something was wrong when they couldn't remember their lines and started attacking and eating the live cast members. We had no weapons or armor and were sitting in a private box balcony over looking the stage with our host, Bastion Joan Secousse, so we had to jump down to fight the zombies unarmed while the opera audience ran out in panic. Our two wizards stayed in the balcony and hurled spells, while the Bastion took our other guests to safety. The zombies all spoke at once with the same voice and refered to itself as Toben, but the seven went down quickly. Unfortunatly they had killed one of the cast members, but the others had ran of the stage to safety. When I went to check the body it's face was contorting with the same sickly wide grin as the other zombies, so decapitation was in order.
When the gendarme finally arrived we caught them up with what was happening and we all swept the opera house for more zombies or clues. We found an abandoned dressing room that was boarded up (Something about a were-creature who infaltrated a cast in a recent productions), the
boards had been ripped down and inside was a hole in the wall. The Bastion got back about this time with someone who brought our weapons and armor and cast invisability to undead (You can't beat this spell!) on us for our search into where ever the hole might lead.
Into the sewers we found a nest of Toben Zombies playing cards in the dark. How creepy is that, they are hive mind?! With Invisability to Undead they cannot see or hear you, so we had the leasure of positioning ourselves for the strike. They were well aware of our approach due to the light spell I had cast, because walking around in the sewers is just about pointless, and even invited us to set down for a hand. They chattered while we surrounded them and spoke of how they were bored since the great Alanik Ray was out of town (He is working on a case for us investigating a little doppleganger problem of ours). We attacked first and they were even easier this time to drop with weapons.
Here is when things went bad! Our rogue was scouting the room and found a basonette near a far wall. There were no cries from a baby, so we were expecting the worst. Pulling back the cover he found the baby dead as we had expected, but Toben has no bounds and made it one of his own. Grinning wide it reached out for our rogue and he screamed and jumped back failing his horror check. "What's wrong, you don't like BABIES!", Toben screamed at the rogues reluctantce to pick him up. He went screaming into the dark sewers as the group followed and they found him submerged in a fetrid pool (Apparently his swim skill isn't high) while I stayed behind and slipped a dagger into the zombies throat. Needless to say, our rogue doesn't like the sight of babies any longer and we are working with him to get over his gripping fear of them.
Congratulations to your DM for a truly creepy encounter! And consider him ROBBED as I steal that idea for my own campaign
Three words that should bother any player, Toben the Many.
Here is when things went bad! Our rogue was scouting the room and found a basonette near a far wall. There were no cries from a baby, so we were expecting the worst. Pulling back the cover he found the baby dead as we had expected, but Toben has no bounds and made it one of his own. Grinning wide it reached out for our rogue and he screamed and jumped back failing his horror check. "What's wrong, you don't like BABIES!", Toben screamed at the rogues reluctantce to pick him up. He went screaming into the dark sewers as the group followed and they found him submerged in a fetrid pool (Apparently his swim skill isn't high) while I stayed behind and slipped a dagger into the zombies throat. Needless to say, our rogue doesn't like the sight of babies any longer and we are working with him to get over his gripping fear of them.
Gaah! I'm creeped out now! That reminds me, I better go check on my one-year-old sleeping nephew.
NPCs don't have a level adjustment.
Which is pretty much what I said in my next sentence.
Yeah, I have no idea why the CR adjustment (for NPCs) is the same, but the LA makes perfect sense.
The parts that really stood out to me tho, and that I will always remember were the following.
The Good: The party was shanghaid in an alleyway in Darkon by members of the Kargat. This lead to a long subplot wherein they were given Necropolitan Amaranth and sent into Necropolis in an attempt to destroy the shroud. Needless to say this ended up in a TPK as they "succeeded." Next thing they know they wake up on a stage in a theater, with the whole thing having been one of Juste's plays. They escape the theater to end up in a familiar looking alleyway, with very familiar looking Kargat agents approaching. (Gotta love when the DPs screw with ya like that.) The party's fighter, in what I consider teh shining moment of the campaign, decided taht his character's first action would be to curl up into a ball, rocking back and forth and muttering to himself. Without me calling for a madness save. I'd never been so proud. And to make things even better after that, when he was just catatonic, the party's bard took charge and lead the party as they were on the run from the kargat. This leads to...
The bad: After a month of game time where the party was holed up in the wilderness of Darkon (thankfully allowing the fighter time to snap out of it), with hordes of undead after them, they decided to fight their way into Avernus and take on Azalin himself. They did remarkably well to make it there, and even to get into the throne room with little drain on their resources. It seemed that things were going great, and that I might have to come up with someone to take the lich's place as domain lord, when the players made one fatal mistake. They forgot that wizard's have familiars. They completely neglected to take into account Squalimous, who proceeded to wreak havoc on the party wizard. A couple rounds later, Squalimous had had a light snack and the wizard's toad familiar was dead, causing him to lose a level and his most effective spells. Things went downhill from there. In the end, it was a TPK, but a memorable one.
I couldn't say where we were exactly where we were in the core other than somewhere in Invidia. We came across a widower vistani and his infant child camped at his vardo. The child seemed to be dying and he couldn't figure out why. He was on his way to meet up with his tribe to have the Madame find a cure for the child's ailment. Every morning after they had stopped for the night the baby would become sicker.
We knew there was something he was leaving out of the story and convinced him we would do all in our power to help. Eventually he told us the real reason his child was dying and it wasn't something we had expected. His wife had died recently, but her soul remained restless and continued to walk the land as a ghost. She would come to the vardo every night after her death to breast feed the child. Also, she was completely unaware that she was dead as well and would not listen to her husbands pleas to return to the grave, because she was slowly killing their child.
We considered what must be done before night fell and as the vistani strum up his violin to sooth his skittish nerves, she appeared as the sun sunk beneath the horizon and the music the vistani was playing abruptly stopped. We at the time had no magic weapons other than a ghost touch hand axe given to my character by his uncle George Weathermay (Amazing how those things you have and forget about become so useful). I confronted the ghost with the axe; one member stayed behind me in the tree line to make sure nothing went bad, while the rest of the group stood guard over the baby in the vardo. The ghost for the most part was annoyed that giorgios were in her husband's camp, but reluctantly engaged in conversation with me when the husband confirmed we were guests.
With everything seeming to be in order she excused herself to go into the vardo to feed her child and grew angery at my stall tactics and began to question the situation that had become apparent to her something was amiss. The vistani once again began a tune and it seemed to calm her nerves and she forgot her purpose for a moment. She told us that she loved to hear her husband play and the violin was his finest craftmanship in which the strings were made of her hair. Our rogue was inside the tree line listening intently and caught this extremely usefully piece of information and darted into the camp. She saw him rush into the clearing and went into a rage, because she thought the camp was under attack. I was unaware of his intensions and began to yell, "What are you doing?!" because I could see this was going to get ugly very quickly at the shattering of the fragile situation. He grabbed the vistani's violin and threw it into the fire and began to stoke the flames. The ghost was half way to the vardo and began to disappear as she reached the door.
The vistani was saddened by witnessing the second death of his wife and understood that she meant no harm to the child, but could not understand that she was a ghost and was draining the life from their child when she feed him.
He was alone again, but had his child and that gave him all the happiness he needed to go on.
The Vistani are really good vehicles for a tragic or romantic pause in any Ravenloft campaign. My adventuring group has just rescued a small Vistani tasque from Falkovnia (with two trips into that cursed domain). I'm planning on having my PCs protect these Vistani from an assassination attempt by Darklings sent by other Vistani tribes.
The reason behind this? One of the small tasque which the PCs rescued is a 30 year old sickly male Vistani with remarkable sight, named Hyskosa.
The PCs will get to know the entire family and deal with them in a personal way, so there will be emotional ties. But as the tasque comes under increasing assassination attempts to end the like of the First Dukkar Hyskosa, some of them may be killed off. Eventually, Azalin manipulates the entire tribe to be incarcerated in Avernus, ostensibly for their own protection, but also so he can torture Hyskosa into revealing the Hexad and allowing Azalin to monitor the Grand Conjunction.
It's too bad my Ravenloft game went south around the time it was created.
We traveled with the widower to his camp, because he wanted us to meet his tribe after helping putting his wife to rest. When arriving we meet some resistance, but he smoothed over tensions and soon we were sitting among them listening to epic tales, great music and feasting with them.
As the night rolled on families retired to their vardos, but all the while of our visit the Madame was watching us from a distance and approached us as we were setting up for the night. Introducing herself, she knew of us all by name and quite abit about our travels. (It seems that the RL Netbook veriant of the paladin class called the Paragon has a class feature that supernaturally spreads the tales of the said paladin and all accompanying he or she through-out the core) She also recommended as a matter of friendly advise in future dealings with the Vistani, that I not use my last name and allow the connection to be made of my family's friends such as Rudolph van Richten. Old wounds have yet to heal it seemed and it then made sense why some of the tribe at this camp made signs of warding when the name was mentioned and changed the subject very quickly.
She got to her business and asked if we would be willing to perform a dire task that threaten not only the Vistani, but the world at large. Explaining a little about her people and how the females were sometimes gifted with the "sight" that the Vistani are famous for in their fortune telling On a dark and rare occasion males were born as mediums of the "sight". Such a birth is a dark omen and these males of great evil are called Dukkar who are put to death immediately before they can grow to become a legendary threat feared by all Vistani. Sometimes the signs are not recognized. The child comes of age and meets their full potential, when such easy measures of dealing with them are no longer available.
If we excepted her task, we were to track down a Dukkar by the name of Malocchio Aderre. She warned we were not to allow the encounter to come to blows, because he would surely destroy us, but to trap him in Invidia with the Sphere of Binding she and other powerful Vistani had prepared to make him weaker and unable to move around the core. Telling us the sphere had a wide range of effect we would just need to be in the area of him for it to work and that I would know when he was near. The rest her people would take care of and it would concern us no more. She allowed us to discuss the offer among ourselves and would expect an answer by morning.
No sleep was had that evening and we concluded that such a villain as Malocchio, whom struck a spike of fear into the heart of the Madame, must be dealt with. Even though our efforts would be minor, it would eventually lead to his demise. We agreed to the Madame's mission and she was pleased, but looked as though she was sending young men off to their deaths. She graced us each with a Tarokka reading. This fortune and prophecy has been the base of our entire campain. Its amazing how a wide spectrum of characters come to be intertwined in a dark and beautiful domain we all love named RL.
A bit about my fellow players and their characters (Some no longer with us by either real life obligations and concerns, deaths in game, and late comers who were not present for this reading) are in the following:
Hiro Meliawine, (male CG half-elf Ftr/Rog from Darkon) who is still with us. I swear the luckest SOB in RL!
Jonnathan, (male CG human-natural werewolf Rng from Verbrek) died from the copper dragon's breath saving my character in Borovia.
Shi, (male LG human Mnk from Rokushima Taiyoo) left to travel the core. The language barrier and cultural differences were a very interesting addition to the game.
Solomon Cane "the Strongest Man in England", (male LG human Puritan Ftr of God) left to travel the core. I do have a copy of the Holy Bible from him, that raises a ton of questions!
Alodon, (male LG Clr human of Ezra from Morident) left on missionary for the church.
Gandoff, (male LG human-infected Mountain Loup-garou of Darkon) who is still with us and we are currently in Vorostokov finding a cure.
Sumrik Hearth, (male LG human Evo/Ftr/WrW from Richemulot) recenly joined us. Strangely enough I would say the leader of our group, fear the wizard who battles in Samari full plate!
Ambrosia, (female CN redwidow Brd from Dementlieu) joined us recently but has gone missing when we traveled to Dementlieu and have found the human family she claims to be apart of. The whole thing makes my head spin!
Lord Varient Branos of Turon Keep High Knight Captain of Borca, (male LE human Ftr/Blk, and my suspision a former Paragon of Ezra, from Borca) recently joined us.
Lady Katriana Branos of Turon Keep, (female CG human Brd) recently married to Verient and back in Borca with child. Also, has a double we have encountered in Barovia. I can't express how much I hate dopplegangers or shapeshifters that are stalking us!
We were given the sphere and left the camp to track our prey the Dukkar. Getting side-tracked in a city that has slipped my mind, with reports of a serial killer by the name of the "Midnight Slasher" who preyed on both Johns and Street Walkers alike. Not knowing at the time that the fates of the killer, Malocchio, Gabrielle Aderre and Matton were interbound we followed the leads of the Slasher, which lead us the Dukkar eventually.
While traveling on a highway we encountered Matton and Jonnathan, who is a werewolf immediatly caught the scent that this man was a wolfwere and deserved our every caution. He knew that we sought the Slasher and his lover Gabrielle was being stalked. If we would come to meet her, she would explain the full details about bringing the killer in dead or alive and the reward that was out for the capture. We traveled with him to Castle Hunadora and meet with the half-Vistani who was as paranoid as they come. No sooner after getting the details about the killer and alarm was sounded in the Castle and Gabrielle proclaimed that it could be none other than the Slasher come to finish her in. Matton escorted her to safety and a guard let us know the intrusion had come from the Dungeons, where much of it was unexplored and many enterences to the Castle were yet to be discovered.
In the dungeons we stirred up a Drider's nest and to make matters worse the Slasher appeared stark raving mad and covered head to toe in black with a wicked assassins dagger. The killer seperated our forces to two battle fronts and making death attacks on us as we tried to cope. My GM must have been thinking we weren't spread thin enough and bells and whistles went off in my head, a fiend was near! Malocchio wasn't in the dungeon with us, but close enough to fell his presence. He was in presuit of Gabrielle and Matton, but still close enough for the Sphere of Binding to take effect. The item worked as planned and I'd imagine that now trapped in Invidia he isn't the biggest fan of us or the Vistani that crafted the sphere. The drider was killed, but nearly taking the life of our monk Shi and the Slasher knocked was brought to unconscienceness. Pulling off her hood we found she was only a young girl.
Testing the waters with an ability called Expiation, which removes curses shorterm (Such as Lycanthropy and I dare say the Curses that bind the Dreadlords. Only the curse of lycanthropy has been tried with only short term relief of the recipiant) and ailments of the mind, I used it on the slasher to see what was in her mind and bring peace to her. Becoming as ill as she once was and taking the desire to kill, I was clubbed in the back of the head by my companions to sleep off the effects.
Awoken hours later, the slasher had come to some grips of sanity and the nightmares of her world still rang strong in my mind. I saw it all. How she was used as a pawn against Gabrielle by Malocchio. How he warped her mind to make her believe that her parents had died at the hands of the half-Vistani and to breathe her anger upon the world. If Gabrielle did indeed kill her family, I am still unsure due to the intensity of insanity that plaugued her mind. Luckily I passed my madness checks with flying colors. Reluctantly a group desision was made to place her in hiding among the Carnival where she said they would take her in.
Returning the the Vistani camp to report that the Dukkar was trapped, the Madame was pleased and had already began preperations for the second stage of their plan. We were given something very special that day by the Madame and it has been instrumental in breaking down the barriers between Vistani and us since. It is my hope that someday it will help heal the wounds between my good friend and mentor von Richten. A ritual was preformed and tatoo placed on each of our palms, marking us to all Vistani as friends of their people. Can't remember the name that was given for it though.
Part 2
We traveled with the widower to his camp, because he wanted us to meet his tribe after helping putting his wife to rest. When arriving we meet some resistance, but he smoothed over tensions and soon we were sitting among them listening to epic tales, great music and feasting with them.
As the night rolled on families retired to their vardos, but all the while of our visit the Madame was watching us from a distance and approached us as we were setting up for the night. Introducing herself, she knew of us all by name and quite abit about our travels. (It seems that the RL Netbook veriant of the paladin class called the Paragon has a class feature that supernaturally spreads the tales of the said paladin and all accompanying he or she through-out the core) She also recommended as a matter of friendly advise in future dealings with the Vistani, that I not use my last name and allow the connection to be made of my family's friends such as Rudolph van Richten. Old wounds have yet to heal it seemed and it then made sense why some of the tribe at this camp made signs of warding when the name was mentioned and changed the subject very quickly.
She got to her business and asked if we would be willing to perform a dire task that threaten not only the Vistani, but the world at large. Explaining a little about her people and how the females were sometimes gifted with the "sight" that the Vistani are famous for in their fortune telling On a dark and rare occasion males were born as mediums of the "sight". Such a birth is a dark omen and these males of great evil are called Dukkar who are put to death immediately before they can grow to become a legendary threat feared by all Vistani. Sometimes the signs are not recognized. The child comes of age and meets their full potential, when such easy measures of dealing with them are no longer available.
If we excepted her task, we were to track down a Dukkar by the name of Malocchio Aderre. She warned we were not to allow the encounter to come to blows, because he would surely destroy us, but to trap him in Invidia with the Sphere of Binding she and other powerful Vistani had prepared to make him weaker and unable to move around the core. Telling us the sphere had a wide range of effect we would just need to be in the area of him for it to work and that I would know when he was near. The rest her people would take care of and it would concern us no more. She allowed us to discuss the offer among ourselves and would expect an answer by morning.
No sleep was had that evening and we concluded that such a villain as Malocchio, whom struck a spike of fear into the heart of the Madame, must be dealt with. Even though our efforts would be minor, it would eventually lead to his demise. We agreed to the Madame's mission and she was pleased, but looked as though she was sending young men off to their deaths. She graced us each with a Tarokka reading. This fortune and prophecy has been the base of our entire campain. Its amazing how a wide spectrum of characters come to be intertwined in a dark and beautiful domain we all love named RL.
A bit about my fellow players and their characters (Some no longer with us by either real life obligations and concerns, deaths in game, and late comers who were not present for this reading) are in the following:
Hiro Meliawine, (male CG half-elf Ftr/Rog from Darkon) who is still with us. I swear the luckest SOB in RL!
Jonnathan, (male CG human-natural werewolf Rng from Verbrek) died from the copper dragon's breath saving my character in Borovia.
Shi, (male LG human Mnk from Rokushima Taiyoo) left to travel the core. The language barrier and cultural differences were a very interesting addition to the game.
Solomon Cane "the Strongest Man in England", (male LG human Puritan Ftr of God) left to travel the core. I do have a copy of the Holy Bible from him, that raises a ton of questions!
Alodon, (male LG Clr human of Ezra from Morident) left on missionary for the church.
Gandoff, (male LG human-infected Mountain Loup-garou of Darkon) who is still with us and we are currently in Vorostokov finding a cure.
Sumrik Hearth, (male LG human Evo/Ftr/WrW from Richemulot) recenly joined us. Strangely enough I would say the leader of our group, fear the wizard who battles in Samari full plate!
Ambrosia, (female CN redwidow Brd from Dementlieu) joined us recently but has gone missing when we traveled to Dementlieu and have found the human family she claims to be apart of. The whole thing makes my head spin!
Lord Varient Branos of Turon Keep High Knight Captain of Borca, (male LE human Ftr/Blk, and my suspision a former Paragon of Ezra, from Borca) recently joined us.
Lady Katriana Branos of Turon Keep, (female CG human Brd) recently married to Verient and back in Borca with child. Also, has a double we have encountered in Barovia. I can't express how much I hate dopplegangers or shapeshifters that are stalking us!
We were given the sphere and left the camp to track our prey the Dukkar. Getting side-tracked in a city that has slipped my mind, with reports of a serial killer by the name of the "Midnight Slasher" who preyed on both Johns and Street Walkers alike. Not knowing at the time that the fates of the killer, Malocchio, Gabrielle Aderre and Matton were interbound we followed the leads of the Slasher, which lead us the Dukkar eventually.
While traveling on a highway we encountered Matton and Jonnathan, who is a werewolf immediatly caught the scent that this man was a wolfwere and deserved our every caution. He knew that we sought the Slasher and his lover Gabrielle was being stalked. If we would come to meet her, she would explain the full details about bringing the killer in dead or alive and the reward that was out for the capture. We traveled with him to Castle Hunadora and meet with the half-Vistani who was as paranoid as they come. No sooner after getting the details about the killer and alarm was sounded in the Castle and Gabrielle proclaimed that it could be none other than the Slasher come to finish her in. Matton escorted her to safety and a guard let us know the intrusion had come from the Dungeons, where much of it was unexplored and many enterences to the Castle were yet to be discovered.
In the dungeons we stirred up a Drider's nest and to make matters worse the Slasher appeared stark raving mad and covered head to toe in black with a wicked assassins dagger. The killer seperated our forces to two battle fronts and making death attacks on us as we tried to cope. My GM must have been thinking we weren't spread thin enough and bells and whistles went off in my head, a fiend was near! Malocchio wasn't in the dungeon with us, but close enough to fell his presence. He was in presuit of Gabrielle and Matton, but still close enough for the Sphere of Binding to take effect. The item worked as planned and I'd imagine that now trapped in Invidia he isn't the biggest fan of us or the Vistani that crafted the sphere. The drider was killed, but nearly taking the life of our monk Shi and the Slasher knocked was brought to unconscienceness. Pulling off her hood we found she was only a young girl.
Testing the waters with an ability called Expiation, which removes curses shorterm (Such as Lycanthropy and I dare say the Curses that bind the Dreadlords. Only the curse of lycanthropy has been tried with only short term relief of the recipiant) and ailments of the mind, I used it on the slasher to see what was in her mind and bring peace to her. Becoming as ill as she once was and taking the desire to kill, I was clubbed in the back of the head by my companions to sleep off the effects.
Awoken hours later, the slasher had come to some grips of sanity and the nightmares of her world still rang strong in my mind. I saw it all. How she was used as a pawn against Gabrielle by Malocchio. How he warped her mind to make her believe that her parents had died at the hands of the half-Vistani and to breathe her anger upon the world. If Gabrielle did indeed kill her family, I am still unsure due to the intensity of insanity that plaugued her mind. Luckily I passed my madness checks with flying colors. Reluctantly a group desision was made to place her in hiding among the Carnival where she said they would take her in.
Returning the the Vistani camp to report that the Dukkar was trapped, the Madame was pleased and had already began preperations for the second stage of their plan. We were given something very special that day by the Madame and it has been instrumental in breaking down the barriers between Vistani and us since. It is my hope that someday it will help heal the wounds between my good friend and mentor von Richten. A ritual was preformed and tatoo placed on each of our palms, marking us to all Vistani as friends of their people. Can't remember the name that was given for it though.
Sounds like a campaign i would die to get into... drat...
Solomon Cane "the Strongest Man in England", (male LG human Puritan Ftr of God) left to travel the core. I do have a copy of the Holy Bible from him, that raises a ton of questions!
Is he based on a real life English character? or what?
Our bard Ambrosia (a red widow) and our black guard Varient seem to have a very unsettling history together.
This is what is known. Once Verient was a member of the Church of Ezra (possibly a paladin/paragon) and the Borcian Home Faith sect mandated that Halites were to be hunted down and exterminated if they could not be converted. Verient claims he was not old enough at the time during this dark time of the Church, but will not tell us what made him turn his back on Ezra either. The church itself admits to this long ago mistake, but tries to bury it more and more as the years pass. Red flags are just flying everywhere. Ambrosia claims that he was apart of an extermination squad that killed Halites while she was staying at a hospice under their care. Both of them have conflicting stories of their age and origins reguarding the massicure.
You might very well be wondering why such a goodly group are running around with such a pair. Our reasons are not simple, but do not mistake we never turn a blind eye to wicked acts and they have been nothing but willing to make a change in their hearts and actions. Redemption is truely a beautiful concept in RL, but should never be brushed over lightly. Ambrosia has taken steps to aid us in understanding Red Widows and we are working on a formula that will supress her urges to mate. She has an utter contempt for her kind and how they reproduce. Varient is truely a man of poor circumstances and has dealt with life the best he could. Both have not only taken to our influences, but helped foster us as well in becoming better people. There is definately a slow alignment shift for him in the works, or at least I hope. She on the other hand might always remain CN due to her fight with her nature and has gone missing (i.e. the player is no longer running with us and the character has become a NPC)
Back to what happened.
We were invited to Verient's wedding in Borca, but before we reached the keep Ambrosia went missing. She left camp one night and traveled alone to our destination with a sinister purpose in mind.
We came straight from Borovia and this is where we first incountered Verient after a party member Johnathan (natural werewolf) was slain by a copper dragon. In a temple of the Morning Lord where we were trying to have him raised he burst through the doors mocking Ezra while wearing a mock tabard of the godess on his breast plate. Calling me out by name and wondering why such a knight of Our Lady in the Mists would even consort with the children of the night, namely Johnathan (the player ran Johnathan rerolled as Verient, my DM and him had been working on this story line since we started. Going from such a good character to a wicked one was a very drastic change and I applaud him). Defusing the situation we chastised him for causing such a disturbance in a sacred place of worship and told him to wait outside until our business was concluded. The priest was unable to raise him, but knew of a legend of a Staff of Life buried deep in the heart of Falkovnia. Outside he again threw insults trying to get a rise out of us, but we were in no mood for a fight over words and turned our backs on the raving mad man to bury our companion in saddnes. With the famous words of every villain, "We shall meet again." were given. Ambrosia was fuming during this entire encounter.
After the burial, we found Madame Eva below Castle Ravenloft where Straad told us to purchase elixers that would allow us to freely navigate through the poisonious fog to reach his castle. We took advantage of meeting the Madame and requested a Taroka reading for insight about Verient, the results were unsettling. She drew a spread of cards I can't remember and called him the "Dark Star" and told us to tread lightly with this one, for his anger waits to be unleashed upon the world. Ambrosia requested a private reading and none of us know the specifics. Count Straad informed my character that he had heard my father Danial Foxgrove was pulling his hair out unable to reach me, he had entered me in a jousting contest in Borcia at Turon keep for the wedding celibration for Verient and his soon to be bride. Strangely enough, Straad has been instrumental in advising me to never shirk responsablity of rulership and that I would be expected to be the Lord of Morident when Jules passed the mantle since George is no where to be found. Passing this up would not only disgrace myself, but family and country. It goes to show that even the DLs aren't cut and dry, but people to somewhere in that mess of baddnes. This was a summery of events up to her breaking into Varients keep.
Sneaking into the keep the spider went straight to Verient's soon to be wife's quarters, who happened to be with child, and attempted to kill both mother and unborn child. Her assassination was foiled by the master at arms and she retreated back to our camp. I had forgoten to add the master at arms a few posts up about our players and characters. He joined the Air Force, so his character became an NPC.
"Smapty" the elven ranger, (male CG Rng elf from Sithicus) formally known as "Smapty" the evil necromancer due to a possesion of sorts.
Wheither it was guilt of this act or just the need to open up about her transgressions she informed our wizard Sumrik of what she had done. He at the time was the only one that knew she was a red widow and they both worried not only about us finding out what she really was, but what she just did because in a day we would reach the keep. The wizard himself felt this was to much to hold in and informed us that there was something we should know about. When she found out her confidence has been broken she fled, but we were able to track her and cornered her up in a tree. Willingness to hear the truth without out judgement untill it is required goes a long way and we coxed her to spindle a thread of silk to lower herself to the ground reveiling her true nature. Ultimately she was afraid of what we would think of her after the the exchange of words in Boriva about the children of the night. She told us her tale of how she witnessed Varient slaughter the Halites long ago and that she felt that the child yet to be born was to be the fulfillment of a some great doom. Personally I think if she would have suceeded, that would have caused the great doom. She felt that killing the child would save the world, but we convinced her that what she did was truely wrong and nothing is ever set in stone. We gave her a choice to either leave us or atone for what she had done. The matter was settled that she would atone, but still there were alot of objections raised. Our wizard assured us that she was his absolute responsiblity and would take any repercusions of her actions.
At the wedding Verient was an entirely different man. Providing us with all due curtisy as if what happened in Borovia was just a casual encounter. We later found out from him when he finally opened up that it was just a test to see what kind of people we really were and if my character was just a mere zealot who would raise a sword to an insult of his goddes. It is my opinion that he is still drawn to Ezra and has never seen followers who don't follow blindly by the word of corrupted Bastons and other clergy.
Ambrosia and Katrina began a friendship during our time in Turon Keep and she threw herself upon her mercy by telling Katrina what she did, for if Verient found out he would surely kill her. Ambrosia was forgiven and also aided us with another problem under Verient's nose. Gandoff (a afflicted werewolf) was due for his cycle and we needed a place for him to be locked up for the duration. She convinced the Lord of the Keep to free all prisoners as a gesture of kindness for the wedding, so we could keep Gandoff down there while he was furry and angry. Verient and Katrina were married under the blessing of Hala, I was declined to marry the two under Ezra. No matter what this man has done, on this day his happiness was apparent to all and his true tenderness shown through.
This post is for Heather, who played Katrina. May she rest in peace and know that her memory still lives on in our game and hearts.
This legendary character was introduced into our game one night when we decided we wanted to have both a poker and gaming night.
Most didn't think that Doc would die with his boots off, but lying on his death bed he asked for a drink of whiskey and stared in amusement at his feet. His reputed last words were, "This is funny." Contrary to the legend of his death and even that he was buried in Linwood Cemetery over looking Gleenwood, he was never seen again on that day in Gleenwood Springs, Colorado at the Hotel Gleenwood. Reports of a dense fog surrounding the hotel on that winter day are available, but the accounts of his disappearance are discredited as myth by historians. Though his tombstone has never been found, thus his body has never been exhumed as proof of his burial.
When Doc entered the mists he was on the verge of eminent death, but luckily he was found by a priest of Ezra, the Morning Lord, or Hala (I can't remember). The holy man cured him of his ailment of tuberculosis and nursed him back to full health. Given a new lease on on life he resumed his practice of dentistry in the lands of enlightenment of the core, since the disease no longer effected his work by scaring off customers from the dreaded disease. Old habits die hard though, he continued his gambling, smoking, and drinking. One thing he had to adjust to was the state of firearm technology and the world as a whole.
Our party meet Doc while playing a game of cards and it was just a one time encounter, but every so often his name pops up in our travels as his legend continues far from his wild west home.
Doc Holliday enters the mists.
This legendary character was introduced into our game one night when we decided we wanted to have both a poker and gaming night.
Most didn't think that Doc would die with his boots off, but lying on his death bed he asked for a drink of whiskey and stared in amusement at his feet. His reputed last words were, "This is funny." Contrary to the legend of his death and even that he was buried in Linwood Cemetery over looking Gleenwood, he was never seen again on that day in Gleenwood Springs, Colorado at the Hotel Gleenwood. Reports of a dense fog surrounding the hotel on that winter day are available, but the accounts of his disappearance are discredited as myth by historians. Though his tombstone has never been found, thus his body has never been exhumed as proof of his burial.
When Doc entered the mists he was on the verge of eminent death, but luckily he was found by a priest of Ezra, the Morning Lord, or Hala (I can't remember). The holy man cured him of his ailment of tuberculosis and nursed him back to full health. Given a new lease on on life he resumed his practice of dentistry in the lands of enlightenment of the core, since the disease no longer effected his work by scaring off customers from the dreaded disease. Old habits die hard though, he continued his gambling, smoking, and drinking. One thing he had to adjust to was the state of firearm technology and the world as a whole.
Our party meet Doc while playing a game of cards and it was just a one time encounter, but every so often his name pops up in our travels as his legend continues far from his wild west home.
I likey! Don't by chance have any stats, do ya? Even quick ones?
I likey! Don't by chance have any stats, do ya? Even quick ones?
Sorry that I took awhile to reply, it slipped my mind. Sadly the encounter with Doc was years ago and the stats couldn't be found. So, my DM and I sat down and came up with some ideas for you. We used the 3rd edition MoTRD core book, but I didn't end up finishing up the full character since we were running our RL game this past weekend. I will be able to sit down and finish up the stats by the end of the month since he has the book and lives a bit away, but here is what we got.
"He was the most skillful gambler, and the nerviest, fastest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever saw." -Wyatt Earp
Dr. John Henry "Doc" Holliday, CN with CG tendencies, male Human, age 37, Int4/Phy6/Shot5
Here is a break down of the classes that popped out to me. I liked the physician class, so maybe 10 lvls or you could split it up between the intellectual class as I did. I saw only one draw back with the physician class and it is a feature called the Hippocratic Oath. Seeing how Doc is a gun fighter, this oath of preserving life will require a powers check every time he shoots or mames someone without just cause. Just a thought, but perhaps dentists don't take this oath. I liked the shootist class to pull it all together with the pistol specialization.
Str 8, Dex18, Con8, Int20, Wis13, Cha16
Physically he was below average and obviously he was not the healthiest man, so the low con and str is fitting. Since the disease was cured in RL the two attributes could be raised a point or so if you feel necessary, but the low physical characteristics were definately there before the disease. He strikes me as a very nimble person, so the high dex seemed right, but could be lowered afew points if needed. His int and cha is high due to his formal education and just seemed like a well liked guy and gentleman to those outside of the people that wanted to gun him down, but even they were struck by his presence I'm sure. With his little above average wis, I see it that he knew well enough to keep himself alive in the wild west for 12 or so years despite his larger than life reputation.
Skills definitely make this man who he is. Quite a few skill feats should be used and spare no expense with a wide variety of knowledges in medicine. literature, religion, philosophy, history, ect. Languages both dead and still in use, this will make it very easy to pick up on the core's languages for him since he can see a tie in most languages through latin. Professions in dentistry, gunslinger, and gambling; along with spot, slight of hand, bluff, and sense motive to keep with the gambler/gunslinger theme. Heal is appropriate since he is a doctor, and since he no doubt learned to tend to himself with his disease to keep himself going for so long. Gather info and diplomacy might go hand and hand with his charm. Later on in his life he picked up the combat feats. The shootist class gives alot of bonus feats, so he has quite a few dedicated to pistols between those and his regular feats. Also, having weapon focus dagger and weapon finesse are good.
He has taken full advantage of magic weapon enhancements and items, though he has yet to fully understand how this world can have such luxuries. One thing he keeps a secret is his duel six shooters, he has adapted to the more primitive firearms of RL and uses them more often. On his travels he has picked up a pair of gloves of storing, so when things get out of hand he can lay out a storm of bullets unlike this world has ever seen at the snap of his fingers. He also is just as deadly with a knife and will use it with deadly precision in close quarters.
My DM confirmed that he was nursed to health by a priest of Hala and he holds himself forever in the debt to the Halites. When ever a coven or hospice is in need and he is around, they call on him for his expertise. One thing he may have concluded from his travels is that his very presence in RL is penance for his past sins, so he just might be one of the most unlikely heroes to ever grace the Lands of the Mist.
Sorry that I took awhile to reply, it slipped my mind. Sadly the encounter with Doc was years ago and the stats couldn't be found. So, my DM and I sat down and came up with some ideas for you. We used the 3rd edition MoTRD core book, but I didn't end up finishing up the full character since we were running our RL game this past weekend. I will be able to sit down and finish up the stats by the end of the month since he has the book and lives a bit away, but here is what we got.
"He was the most skillful gambler, and the nerviest, fastest, deadliest man with a six-gun I ever saw." -Wyatt Earp
Dr. John Henry "Doc" Holliday, CN with CG tendencies, male Human, age 37, Int4/Phy6/Shot5
Here is a break down of the classes that popped out to me. I liked the physician class, so maybe 10 lvls or you could split it up between the intellectual class as I did. I saw only one draw back with the physician class and it is a feature called the Hippocratic Oath. Seeing how Doc is a gun fighter, this oath of preserving life will require a powers check every time he shoots or mames someone without just cause. Just a thought, but perhaps dentists don't take this oath. I liked the shootist class to pull it all together with the pistol specialization.
Str 8, Dex18, Con8, Int20, Wis13, Cha16
Physically he was below average and obviously he was not the healthiest man, so the low con and str is fitting. Since the disease was cured in RL the two attributes could be raised a point or so if you feel necessary, but the low physical characteristics were definately there before the disease. He strikes me as a very nimble person, so the high dex seemed right, but could be lowered afew points if needed. His int and cha is high due to his formal education and just seemed like a well liked guy and gentleman to those outside of the people that wanted to gun him down, but even they were struck by his presence I'm sure. With his little above average wis, I see it that he knew well enough to keep himself alive in the wild west for 12 or so years despite his larger than life reputation.
Skills definitely make this man who he is. Quite a few skill feats should be used and spare no expense with a wide variety of knowledges in medicine. literature, religion, philosophy, history, ect. Languages both dead and still in use, this will make it very easy to pick up on the core's languages for him since he can see a tie in most languages through latin. Professions in dentistry, gunslinger, and gambling; along with spot, slight of hand, bluff, and sense motive to keep with the gambler/gunslinger theme. Heal is appropriate since he is a doctor, and since he no doubt learned to tend to himself with his disease to keep himself going for so long. Gather info and diplomacy might go hand and hand with his charm. Later on in his life he picked up the combat feats. The shootist class gives alot of bonus feats, so he has quite a few dedicated to pistols between those and his regular feats. Also, having weapon focus dagger and weapon finesse are good.
He has taken full advantage of magic weapon enhancements and items, though he has yet to fully understand how this world can have such luxuries. One thing he keeps a secret is his duel six shooters, he has adapted to the more primitive firearms of RL and uses them more often. On his travels he has picked up a pair of gloves of storing, so when things get out of hand he can lay out a storm of bullets unlike this world has ever seen at the snap of his fingers. He also is just as deadly with a knife and will use it with deadly precision in close quarters.
My DM confirmed that he was nursed to health by a priest of Hala and he holds himself forever in the debt to the Halites. When ever a coven or hospice is in need and he is around, they call on him for his expertise. One thing he may have concluded from his travels is that his very presence in RL is penance for his past sins, so he just might be one of the most unlikely heroes to ever grace the Lands of the Mist.
COOL!!
Masque of the Red Death.
And this is a D20 book? or is it online down loadable?
The long and short of this dread lord is that he was a Baron of a floating castle that served his pocket domain (or at least I am assuming that the lands below were not apart of the domain) and was in a rather large continuous loop over an area connected by a massive chain spiked into the ground. The Baron was fairly minor in power compared to most of his counterparts.
The reason why we braved the chain up to the castle was that werebats were terrorizing the country side beneath floating fortress. Reports from the locals told that the creatures would descend when ever the object would pass over civilization. We chose a point in the middle of nowhere to make the climb and found, for the most part, the castle to be deserted and in neglectful condition. In the kitchen we came across the cook, who was both delighted and terrified to meet another human being. He asked that we help him escape the wretched place, but first would give us info on where to find the man he called the Baron. By taking care of him, our departure easier in his opinion. He told us that in the lower levels of the castle was where he spent most of his time. We thanked him for his insight and promised to return for him when it was safe for all of us to depart. Creeping further into the premise and finding no other sign of life other than the cook until we reached the lower stories, when we were ambushed by a pack of the werebats and undead.
*A little note. Our fellow adventurer Gandoff, who happens to be an infected mountain loup-garou, has the trigger of recognized presence of undead. Hilarious trigger in RL if you ask me, my GM is a dirty man. He had begun taking ranks in the skill control shape, which can suppress transformations or at least thats the theory. So for the moment he had everything under control and we weren't fighting for our lives against him as well.
As the melee ensued the cook came running and stumbling toward us with his clothes tattered and bloodied. He caught his breath,
"Your ...never going to.. believe this..... I'm the Baron!"
Cue Lightning Bolt.
With total disregard for his minions, he blasted both them and us alike in the wider, but shorter version of the spell. He fried the lackies and left most of us barely standing or unconscious. All except for Gandoff, who instinctively transformed to regenerate all damage done. Those of us left standing grabbed our smoking comrades on the ground while he was busy growing a lot of fur and rushed further ahead to find a row of prison cells. Grabbing the set of keys hanging from a peg on the wall, we ushered ourselves in a cell and locked the door behind us. All the way to the back wall we nerviously waited, but could not see the battle between the werebat Baron and Gandoff, but we heard the titanic struggle. Then came a sickly sound of flesh and bone torn asunder accompanied by a dire howel that echoed throughout the stone walls, as the decapitated body of Baron was flung past our cell door. Soon after the wolf stood before the bars that separated us from him in all his gore drenched glory. He eyed all of us and slightly opened his maw in a bloody wolfish grin. The menacing glint in his eye showed both mirth and savagery. To the beast it was a funny joke, that for once we were locked away in a cage instead of him when he would go through his regular cycles. In a sudden flash he was gone to prowl the halls, free to hunt.
The waiting game allowed us to heal ourselves and hope he wouldn't return unless he was just a man. When he did, he had no recollection of the events past the Baron's lightning bolt. The corpse left at end of the prison row told him enough of what he had forgot. Most of the other remaining werebats had flown the coup and we were left alone to explore the rest of the castle unhindered.
Always one of my favorite near defeats.
Our first Dread Lord take down, which almost killed us.
The long and short of this dread lord is that he was a Baron of a floating castle that served his pocket domain (or at least I am assuming that the lands below were not apart of the domain) and was in a rather large continuous loop over an area connected by a massive chain spiked into the ground. The Baron was fairly minor in power compared to most of his counterparts.
The reason why we braved the chain up to the castle was that werebats were terrorizing the country side beneath floating fortress. Reports from the locals told that the creatures would descend when ever the object would pass over civilization. We chose a point in the middle of nowhere to make the climb and found, for the most part, the castle to be deserted and in neglectful condition. In the kitchen we came across the cook, who was both delighted and terrified to meet another human being. He asked that we help him escape the wretched place, but first would give us info on where to find the man he called the Baron. By taking care of him, our departure easier in his opinion. He told us that in the lower levels of the castle was where he spent most of his time. We thanked him for his insight and promised to return for him when it was safe for all of us to depart. Creeping further into the premise and finding no other sign of life other than the cook until we reached the lower stories, when we were ambushed by a pack of the werebats and undead.
*A little note. Our fellow adventurer Gandoff, who happens to be an infected mountain loup-garou, has the trigger of recognized presence of undead. Hilarious trigger in RL if you ask me, my GM is a dirty man. He had begun taking ranks in the skill control shape, which can suppress transformations or at least thats the theory. So for the moment he had everything under control and we weren't fighting for our lives against him as well.
As the melee ensued the cook came running and stumbling toward us with his clothes tattered and bloodied. He caught his breath,
"Your ...never going to.. believe this..... I'm the Baron!"
Cue Lightning Bolt.
With total disregard for his minions, he blasted both them and us alike in the wider, but shorter version of the spell. He fried the lackies and left most of us barely standing or unconscious. All except for Gandoff, who instinctively transformed to regenerate all damage done. Those of us left standing grabbed our smoking comrades on the ground while he was busy growing a lot of fur and rushed further ahead to find a row of prison cells. Grabbing the set of keys hanging from a peg on the wall, we ushered ourselves in a cell and locked the door behind us. All the way to the back wall we nerviously waited, but could not see the battle between the werebat Baron and Gandoff, but we heard the titanic struggle. Then came a sickly sound of flesh and bone torn asunder accompanied by a dire howel that echoed throughout the stone walls, as the decapitated body of Baron was flung past our cell door. Soon after the wolf stood before the bars that separated us from him in all his gore drenched glory. He eyed all of us and slightly opened his maw in a bloody wolfish grin. The menacing glint in his eye showed both mirth and savagery. To the beast it was a funny joke, that for once we were locked away in a cage instead of him when he would go through his regular cycles. In a sudden flash he was gone to prowl the halls, free to hunt.
The waiting game allowed us to heal ourselves and hope he wouldn't return unless he was just a man. When he did, he had no recollection of the events past the Baron's lightning bolt. The corpse left at end of the prison row told him enough of what he had forgot. Most of the other remaining werebats had flown the coup and we were left alone to explore the rest of the castle unhindered.
Always one of my favorite near defeats.
Looks like someone was run through the Dungeon adventure "The Aerie." I really need to update my copy and run my players through it.
We have just concluded Dark of the Moon and with it a huge chapter of our campaign has come to a close. The salvation of one of our party members from the disease of lycanthropy has been a major sub-plot for my years of play. With the final death of Gregor, who began the bloodline, we were able to preform the ritual that would cure the disease. Also, an unexpected result was breaking the 20 year curse of eternal winter on the land of Vorostokov by slaying the Black Wolf tyrant. We are incouraging Gregor's only remaining son, Mikeal, to step up and take leadership of the domain. He is a man of morality and helped us destroy his father. Since my pally dealt the killing blow to Gregor; he now bears a mark of Azrai, the dead god of evil. The locals say that this means, "You are blooded." and this isn't going over well with a champion of Ezra. The granted power is called the Path and gives +2 to bluff, intimidate, diplomacy, and NPC reaction.
We were thinking we would have to travel back to the core to preform the ritual, because my character can only cast 2 of the 3 prayers required the break the disease. Here is where yet again more trouble knocks on our doorstep. The only surviving crew member, Jacinth Moontide (Male elf Drd7 from Heroes of the Light pg. 77) from the ship we sailed upon to the frozen reaches had reached us shortly after the death of Gregor and assisted in the final prayer needed to cure Gandoff, but had some dire news. We had heard legend of a winged creature called "the beast" in our travels of Vorostokov and now it seems they are true that there is a dragon in the area. It had attacked our ship, killed all save him, and took the ship onto land to it's lair. He had used a animal form of flight to follow and knows where it is located.
The ship being our only way home, we are in dire straights. The dragon must be dealt with and I personally feel that its horde should be distributed to the families of the lost crew if we are victorious and manage to find another route home.