If I am not mistaken Lord Wilfred Godefroy is the lord of Mordent, correct? If so, then why does it list, Count Strahd Von Zarovich, as the master on pg. 44? From what I have read you have to run the pc's through I6 before you run them through this module?
Also, When does this adventure take place on the RL timeline ?
~B4Real
When Strahd and Azalin left, Mordent remained in Ravenloft. As the most powerful evil creature in the new domain, Lord Godefroy became lord in the vacuum left by Strahd and Azalin's departure.
Originally posted by Drinnik Shoehorn
The story goes that when the Alchemist Strahd activated the Apparatus, Azalin and Strahd activated their portal (see I, Strahd II). The domain of Mordent didn't exist per se, more like a minor conjunction had occured and partially drawn Mordentshire and it's surroundings into the demiplane. It could be considered technically part of Barovia as Strahd could enter it with out penantly, it seems.
When Strahd and Azalin left, Mordent remained in Ravenloft. As the most powerful evil creature in the new domain, Lord Godefroy became lord in the vacuum left by Strahd and Azalin's departure.
So let me get this right. Azalin is in the adventure as well?
~B4Real
I really recommend going over here and reading I10's convoluted history-- and then downloading the module and reading *that*:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20020121x9
Originally posted by Brandi
Yes, he is, though he's not a major player yet and in fact is something more like Strahd's court magician.
I really recommend going over here and reading I10's convoluted history-- and then downloading the module and reading *that*:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/dx20020121x9
I am already perusing the page.
~B4Real
Originally posted by B4Real
If I am not mistaken Lord Wilfred Godefroy is the lord of Mordent, correct?
Yes, you are correct. But this mod was from before his assent into power or rather the event that lead to his assent.
If so, then why does it list, Count Strahd Von Zarovich, as the master on pg. 44?
First of all you have to remember I6 and I10 came out before Ravenloft had been spun off into its own product line. These two mods were the foundation for all we hold dear today.
But that said Drinnik posted the most logical explanation. Personally when I DM that mod I pit Azlin and Strahd against each other. Azlin is still under Strahds control at that point and resents him for it. Makes for an interesting sub story.
From what I have read you have to run the pc's through I6 before you run them through this module?
You don't have to do anything you don't want as DM but the two mods were writen to go from one to the other. I usually use a very weak version of Strahd in the 1st Mod so the party can "kill" him at the end. In reality I write it off as him allowing them to destroy his body in order to try to do what he things is breaking free from his prison in Barovia. In reality he's sucked into Mordent (or rather Mordent is sucked into the mists). He soon after realizes his error but blames it on the alchemist and seeks his destruction. Azlin being Strahd "slave" was forced to come along for the ride. Azlin learning of the error blames Strahd's incompetence and starts plotting against him.
I would definitely recommend reading over the entire mod since there are other "minor" characters who later turned out as more major players in the Ravenloft world.
Also, When does this adventure take place on the RL timeline?
In the Ravenloft core rulebook they have the following listed in the time line:
579 Mordent enters Ravenloft
Since this Mod for the most part covers the creation of Mordent I would assume that's the date.
Originally posted by Lildog7
Yes, you are correct. But this mod was from before his assent into power or rather the event that lead to his assent.
First of all you have to remember I6 and I10 came out before Ravenloft had been spun off into its own product line. These two mods were the foundation for all we hold dear today.
But that said Drinnik posted the most logical explanation. Personally when I DM that mod I pit Azlin and Strahd against each other. Azlin is still under Strahds control at that point and resents him for it. Makes for an interesting sub story.
You don't have to do anything you don't want as DM but the two mods were writen to go from one to the other. I usually use a very weak version of Strahd in the 1st Mod so the party can "kill" him at the end. In reality I write it off as him allowing them to destroy his body in order to try to do what he things is breaking free from his prison in Barovia. In reality he's sucked into Mordent (or rather Mordent is sucked into the mists). He soon after realizes his error but blames it on the alchemist and seeks his destruction. Azlin being Strahd "slave" was forced to come along for the ride. Azlin learning of the error blames Strahd's incompetence and starts plotting against him.
I would definitely recommend reading over the entire mod since there are other "minor" characters who later turned out as more major players in the Ravenloft world.
In the Ravenloft core rulebook they have the following listed in the time line:
579 Mordent enters Ravenloft
Since this Mod for the most part covers the creation of Mordent I would assume that's the date.
Thanks for the information.
So we're left with a newborn Good "Strahd" who only THINKS he's the Alchemist, because he'd been imbued with memories from the artifact's creator. Actually, the Alchemist is one of the few NPCs in Ravenloft who is just plain dead.
Originally posted by Rotipher
FWIW, my pet theory is that the Alchemist who originally built the Apparatus was *not* named Strahd von Zarovich at all! Rather, when he activated his device, the true Alchemist was simply annihilated. The malfunctioning Apparatus then locked on to the spell Strahd and Azalin were using to try and escape, drew Strahd from Barovia to Mordent, and split *him* into an evil (vampire) half and a non-evil (human) half. The Alchemist's memories and history were then transposed onto the newly-created human version of Strahd, leaving the count's true memories (which his Evil self could cope with a lot better than his Good one) for his vampire side (= "the Creature").
So we're left with a newborn Good "Strahd" who only THINKS he's the Alchemist, because he'd been imbued with memories from the artifact's creator. Actually, the Alchemist is one of the few NPCs in Ravenloft who is just plain dead.
What the????
~B4Real
Originally posted by Rotipher
FWIW, my pet theory is that the Alchemist who originally built the Apparatus was *not* named Strahd von Zarovich at all! Rather, when he activated his device, the true Alchemist was simply annihilated. The malfunctioning Apparatus then locked on to the spell Strahd and Azalin were using to try and escape, drew Strahd from Barovia to Mordent, and split *him* into an evil (vampire) half and a non-evil (human) half. The Alchemist's memories and history were then transposed onto the newly-created human version of Strahd, leaving the count's true memories (which his Evil self could cope with a lot better than his Good one) for his vampire side (= "the Creature").
So we're left with a newborn Good "Strahd" who only THINKS he's the Alchemist, because he'd been imbued with memories from the artifact's creator. Actually, the Alchemist is one of the few NPCs in Ravenloft who is just plain dead.
Nice theory, but I like the original. It's vague, leaving more DM interpretation.
Originally posted by The_Arcanist
I'm a fan of the Alchemist being Strahd's disgarded goodness given form. Leaves so much more to the story when he literally destroys all his redeeming qualities with his bare hands.
Okay, since we are comparing notes:
My theory takes into account the fact that Azalin's transportation device for escaping RL (from IStWAA) sounded suspiciously like the Apparatus. You see, Azzie concluded that Strahd was so tied to the land that he (Strahd) would have a better chance of escaping if he was divided into pieces. Strahd ixnayed the hacksaw version of this plan, so Plan B was to use the Apparaus to split his soul, and then (using a hidden function of the device) send the good part of Strahd into another realm.
The Alchemist, as he came to be called, was not held back by the DP's on his way out because he bore almost no resemblance to the Darklord they loved so well. Knowing they would resist more when the bad half of Strahd went to leave, Azalin hypnotized the Alchemist before his departure and implanted in his mind the plans for another Apparatus, along with a compulsive desire to create it. Once both Apparatuses (Apparati?) were complete, their combined power was enough to let the real Strahd escape, briefly.
Among other things, having the darklord Strahd split in half gives an explanation for the bizarre fact that "the Creature" shows absolutely NO interest in seeking out his perennial victim, Tatyana! If I'm not mistaken, her name never even appears in the I10 module, except for one (stock) rehashing of the tale of Strahd's fall into darkness. If "the Creature" is actually the embodiment of Strahd's Evil side, it may have discarded even the shoddy pretense of "love" that the darklord Strahd maintains for her, seeing no need to justify past offenses to itself by claiming they were committed out of passion. Ironically, the Evil Creature is perhaps innocent of Strahd's most long-standing sin: hypocrisy, in telling himself that murdering Tatyana's true love and then hounding her to death for centuries is somehow an expression of affection.
Originally posted by Rotipher
Either way, I think the assumption that Strahd from Barovia is the only "original" and the Good Strahd was a product of the Apparatus (rather than its inventor) is a lot more tenable than the d20 products' proposal (i.e. that the Good Strahd was an alternate-plane version of Strahd).
That's not quite what Gaz III states -- it basically adheres to I10's stance that the Alchemist was the "real" Strahd, with the Creature his castoff evil. That said, I was disappointed when Gaz III went with that answer. I'd suggested including a sidebar to finally "explain" I10 in terms of current continuity in my notes on the Mordent chapter, but that explanation wasn't used. Oddly enough, the sidebar subject header I used was kept, with the end result that it doesn't particulatly match the text below it.
My intended explanation was that the "Creature" Strahd was the real one. (I disliked the idea that the central figure of the entire setting was just some sort of weird figment.) My solution took inspiration from Vampire of the Mists, and a bit from From the Shadows.
From the Shadows suggested that the moment of Barovia's creation was awash in unique energies in which, really, anything could happen. (Azalin tries to alter the specifics of that moment to alter the pattern of those energies and thus free himself in the present.)
In Vampire of the Mists, we learn that when Tatyana threw herself from the castle walls at that momentous moment, some aspect of her was so desperate to escape Strahd that it actually did escape the Mists, taking physical form in the Forgotten Realms. (Her manifestation was insane, however, as it was merely one aspect of Tatyana -- that very desire for escape -- that escaped.)
I speculated that something similar happened to Strahd at that moment. When the poisoned crossbow bolts of Dilisnya's assassins pierced Strahd and the Dark Powers stripped his mortality away, I posed the possibility that, like Tatyana's desperation, Strahd's mortality also survived. It blew away on the winds of the multiverse, so to speak, only to find physical form in a distant world, in a distant time. The Alchemist Strahd was not Strahd, exactly, but Strahd's life itself, given physical form. The life, once vibrant, that had been hardened and ground down throughout the years of war and cruelty. This is why he was younger than the "Creature," and why he lacked the Count's pessimism and morbid musings.
Thus the subject line: "The Discarded Mortality of Strahd von Zarovich." Readers of I10 will of course recognize that this theory is essentially the flipside of the theory presented there (and in Gaz III).
The mortal Strahd thought himself to be quite real, of course. And, of course, some small sliver of the darkness of the real Strahd's life and fate remained within him. This was the "inner darkness" that tormented the Alchemist, and when he activated the Apparatus, that "sliver of darkness" was cast out -- and flowed right back into the Creature Strahd. The "Creature" Strahd was thus flooded with his own cruelty -- feedback of a sort -- which is why he spends the whole adventure in a general rampage. Of course, he settled back down to normal during the months he spent in death-hibernation after the adventure.
Tryst
This time though, I'm going to use my own theory. As it is much simplier then any I've seen thus far.
First, if people have the first two modules, I'd like you to lay out the maps for the village of Barovia and Mordent. Compare the two. They almost look like mirror images of each other. We also have two Strahds. The stink of the multi-verse is all over this one.
In my head they are two strahds from two different prime-material realms.
To be honest, I suspect any attempt to reconcile I10 with the longer history of the demiplane's going to come out oddly, as not only was the idea of Ravenloft as a campaign world not really around when I10 was written but the module itself had a somewhat less than coherent origin (as the Wizards.com article notes)...
Originally posted by daffy72
I find it too convoluted. Multi-verse. Nice. simple. Sweet.
Too simple for me.
I actually like the head-exploding questions this scenario can cause when the PCs stumble upon it- and I DESPISE simple explanations for events that just BEG to be a headache.
Originally posted by John W. Mangrum
My intended explanation was that the "Creature" Strahd was the real one. (I disliked the idea that the central figure of the entire setting was just some sort of weird figment.) My solution took inspiration from Vampire of the Mists, and a bit from From the Shadows.
From the Shadows suggested that the moment of Barovia's creation was awash in unique energies in which, really, anything could happen. (Azalin tries to alter the specifics of that moment to alter the pattern of those energies and thus free himself in the present.)
In Vampire of the Mists, we learn that when Tatyana threw herself from the castle walls at that momentous moment, some aspect of her was so desperate to escape Strahd that it actually did escape the Mists, taking physical form in the Forgotten Realms. (Her manifestation was insane, however, as it was merely one aspect of Tatyana -- that very desire for escape -- that escaped.)
I speculated that something similar happened to Strahd at that moment. When the poisoned crossbow bolts of Dilisnya's assassins pierced Strahd and the Dark Powers stripped his mortality away, I posed the possibility that, like Tatyana's desperation, Strahd's mortality also survived. It blew away on the winds of the multiverse, so to speak, only to find physical form in a distant world, in a distant time. The Alchemist Strahd was not Strahd, exactly, but Strahd's life itself, given physical form. The life, once vibrant, that had been hardened and ground down throughout the years of war and cruelty. This is why he was younger than the "Creature," and why he lacked the Count's pessimism and morbid musings.
I like your explanation, especially for why the Alchemist Strahd is younger than the creature. It reminds me of the apparent age differences between Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: Hyde appeared younger because he lacked the worries and cares that Jekyll had. (Of course in the Alchemist's case it was probably a good thing he didn't remember Strahd's life!
)The sidebar title does make more sense with this explanation.