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darklordazalin · 1 year

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Azalin Reviews: Darklord Chakuna

Domain Formation: 625 BC (not specified in 5e) Final Score: 💀💀⚫⚫⚫ (2.5/5 skulls) Sources: Van Ritchen's Guide to Ravenloft (5e) Last week I reviewed the first Darklord of Valachan, Urik von Kharkov the panther turned human turned vampire and one of my former servants. Chakuna took down the big cat and took his place as Darklord of Valachan. Given the intensity of Urik’s paranoia and his persistent charming of his people, this was likely not an easy feat for this hunter to accomplish, but I find the madness in claiming vengeance for one’s people is not to be underestimated.

Urik turned to hunting Chakuna’s people, the Oselo, many of whom were werepanthers. He turned his hunts into a game of sport and eventually a fully sanctioned tournament. He trapped the Oselo within Valachan and hunted them until her people were all but extinct.

Chakuna, a fierce werepanther and hunter, wished to save her people from Urik. A noble cause and she went about it the right way, through conquest. She entered Urik’s tournament and though van Richten doesn’t describe how she defeated the panther, only that she employed a weakness of his. I imagine this was in the form of the jade figurine of Felkovic’s Cat and the wizard, Felkovic, of so long ago, finally had his revenge.

Chakuna upon defeating Urik removed her own heart and bound it to the land, then consumed Urik’s heart. She freely took on the mantle of Darklord in Valacha to protect her people. At least this is likely what she tells herself, she continues Urik’s bloody tournaments, but those hunted are no longer her people. She stalks through the jungles, a pair of displacer beasts at her side, hunting those unfortunate enough to cross her path.

Why would anyone choose this fate? To be tormented for eternity? To have the one thing you want placed before you again and again, only to be snatched away at the last moment? Hope is a poison in these lands and now Chakuna dines upon it of her own free will. No amount of power is worth it. Perhaps our tormentors are a bit more lenient upon this newly risen Darklord? Either way, a werepanther replacing yet another vampire is an improvement and she must be quite cunning to usurp the paranoid cat. Still, she willingly placed herself in a cage and threw away the key herself, so we cannot give her intelligence too much credit. I will grant her 2.5 skulls.

#urik von kharkov #werepanther #chakuna #ravenloft #valachan #darklordreviews #azalin rex

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themostdangerouscampaign · 2 years

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A lavish vacation turns deadly when a British rich boy learns that his invitation to a hunt on a mysterious tropical island is actually an invitation to be hunted. D&D meets "The Most Dangerous Game" in the deadly jungles of Valachan in this actual play, thriller Dungeons & Dragons podcast.

Come for spooky vibes, stay to hunt colonizers for sport!

#most dangerous pod #most dangerous campaign #dnd #dnd campaign #halloween #spooky season #spooky stories #Spotify

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jander-sunstar · 11 months

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Magical Plants of the Core

Vampire hunting is not my only hobby. Despite my black thumb curse, I consider myself to be quite a capable gardener, and you’d be surprised at how often the two overlap!

So, let’s talk plants.

Many Vampires have specific horticultural weaknesses; garlic for the young and the weak, fresh flower petals for those of elven stock, and burning tobacco or pipeweed for Vampiric halflings. But those are all mundane herbs, common enough and with a hundred other uses besides repelling the undead. Magical plants are much, much rarer, and also much more potent in the hands of a hunter.

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Blood Seeker Garlic is an unusual item, a plant made magical through action and not nature. Ordinary garlic can be cultivated in such a way that it acquires something of the nature of the Vampire itself; water the growing herb regularly enough with Vampire blood, and the resulting bulb gains a taste for the stuff. This can then be thrown or otherwise pressed against bare Vampiric flesh, upon which it actually sprouts rootlike tendrils and tries to burrow into the creature to feast!

This is one of the rare plants on this list that I can actually make use of; I wear gloves as a habit, have little aversion to garlic due to my substantial age, and, obviously, shedding my own blood for a horticultural project is child’s play. Some hunters reject the use of Vampire blood as black magic, but I provide occasional gifts of blood seeker garlic to those of my acquaintance that will accept them; any edge is worth keeping, in our line of work.

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Nightblight is a species of wolfsbane unique to Kartakass, in an example of the land providing a counter to its ruler’s evil, and though its effects are not limited to Vampires, it is a preeminently useful herb for any hunter - provided you find yourself within its very limited growing range.

Nightblight is, put simply, utterly repellant to anything that even resembles a wolf. To humans and ordinary animals the scent is barely detectible, but any shapechanger with a wolflike form - werewolves, wolfweres, and yes, many Vampires - will refuse to go anywhere near the stuff unless possessed of the most iron of wills. Natural wolves are likewise repelled, and even those transformed into wolves by arcane magic find themselves loathing the smell of the plant. I can speak from personal experience here; even on two legs the scent is vile, and my attempts to collect some for personal use failed utterly.

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Lilies of Eternal Slumber are native to the jungles of Valachan. These nightblooming flowers are pale on the outside and bright crimson on the inside; upon contact with Vampiric flesh, the petals act as holy water does and burn quite severely. So strong is this effect that a lily can be presented as a holy symbol and used to keep an attacking Vampire at bay, and if a wreath of four blooms is placed around a Vampire’s neck, it mimics the full effect of sunlight - up to and including lethality.

The lily has passive effects as well; any mortal that holds a bloom is more easily able to resist a Vampire’s charm, and anyone already dominated in such a way has a chance to break free upon touching the flower - although they will resist doing so.

The most potent ability of these flowers, however, is that which gave them their name. If but a single bloom is placed on a Vampire’s resting coffin, the Vampire within will be sent into the deepest sleep possible for our kind, short of true death. This effect can only be ended if another creature removes the flower, and a Vampire trapped in such a way risks starvation over the course of many years. I cannot help but wonder if the lily was not an ingredient in the poison that was Strahd’s punishment upon his grandniece, my dearest Lyssa, for her attempt to unseat him as ruler of Barovia.

Unfortunately my efforts to cultivate the plant outside of Valachan were unsuccessful - and, really, even I am not foolish enough to keep a stock of such a plant close to my own home. As a hunter I cannot make effective use of it, and as a Vampire I am as vulnerable as any other to its effects.

#magical plants #lore #ravenloft #dnd #vampires #magical plants of the core #i intended this to be just one post #but then i fell down a hole and now i've got two more in the works

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severalgoblinsgoingnyeh · 2 years

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Catching up in House of Lament

First of all I ought to get to where we are in my current campaign.

I'm running a campaign set in the Domains of Dread (Ravenloft) with a few friends from uni, playing over discord with owlbear rodeo maps. If while reading this anything sounds familiar, like you are one of my players or are playing the same module, just be careful reading further. I started this one after I gave up on my last world. The world itself was called the Materium, but the city where everything happened was Vehestia (think Republic City meeting Piltover/Zaun). I started that at 18 and it was a mess by the time it ended due to multiple rewrites and retcons. So I started fresh with Ravenloft. New concept, new content, new conceit. The trio are characters from domains that they have chosen, drawn away by the Mists to start at the House of Lament. Firstly we have Heidi Von Rostwald (they/she). Sold by their parents to the Ludendorf University of Lamordia, Heidi became a prized experiment to Emil Bollenbach, and without their knowledge, their sister Sabine. Their memories include ravaging villages, the scent of blood, and the cold snow on burning muscles. Having lived in the Rostwald as a local cryptid, her foul body was about to be claimed by the ice when the Mists snatched her. Next is Eraab, who uses many names (they/them.) In their natural state, Eraab is a member of the Necoyaotl, a chameleon people from the banks of the Crying Dolphin River in Valachan (in-game Changeling). They volunteered to compete in the deadly Trial of Hearts in place of their parents, they were looking for a way to the altars when they were snatched away. In truth, the intrusive thought that lurks in the recesses of their mind ruptured the boundaries of Valachan to drag them away to safety. Immediately taking on a disguise, Eraab as Nebuchadnezzar is a old man with a jumpy disposition. He has said nothing of his world of Valachan, but threatens to be exposed. Finally is Juniper Cadleigh (she/her). The seventh daughter of Lord and Lady Cadleigh, Juniper's life has been in direct competition with her sisters. The Lord forcibly cultivated their magical talents in the vision of a great family of magi. Through rite and ritual, they were bound together by spirit. Juniper's sisters stole her away in the night from their draconian father. With the aid of Brother Clayton, they housed in the Lantern Moors, in the rectory of the Locustbranch Hospital. When her sisters tragically died in a carriage accident, the pressure caused Juniper to flee into the moors, and be snatched by the Mists. This feels like a longer introduction than necessary, but it gets us to where we need to be. In the gloom of the evening, they were released to a crossroad. The leaden rain hit cobblestone loudly, and also spat against the thick cloak of the figure in the rain. As they approached down the paths of the crossroads, the figure leapt into the air. The cloak turned to feathers and they vanished into the storm-clouds. Left behind were 3 large feathers, and a decorated planchette. It was through the eye of this planchette that Juniper saw the beginning of our first adventure; through the gloaming, in a ring of great trees, was Castle Laventz; the House of Lament.

#dnd #ravenloft #van richten's guide to ravenloft #house of lament

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casketsanctum · 3 years

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A Ravenloft Reading Recommendation (ARRR!)

Alright, everyone! It's almost Halloween, and you (probably) recently got Curse of Strahd and Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft but you want to know more about these terror-filled prisons. Well, grab your adventuring gear and delve with me into the Domains of Dread! This'll be a long one, so strap in and remember: Mistipedia is your friend.

This list covers Second Edition Ravenloft, Third Edition Ravenloft, and the novels. I can only hope I got everything in this.

Let's start with...

Second Edition Ravenloft

Realm of Terror

This is the original campaign setting for 2e Ravenloft, coming with 144 pages of rules, NPCs and domains, as well as a bunch of other goodies (maps, card stock sheets, and a transparent map overlay). Realm of Terror predates the Grand Conjunction timeline, so in terms of in-game time... it's a bit out of date. A lot of it, according to John Mangrum, is incoherent and many of the dates in this contradict others, so be careful about what you use here.

- You get... Rules for the Demiplane of Dread, alternate rules for Classes, Spells, the Dark Powers Check, fear and horror rules, as well as new spells, new magical items, and the different Dark Lords and Domains you can explore.

Ravenloft Campaign Setting (Box)

The revised campaign setting for 2nd Edition. Takes Grand Conjunction into account. Not to be confused for the book from 3rd Edition.

Domains of Dread

Third and final version of Ravenloft in the days of TSR. Introduces clusters and pocket domains, as well as new secret societies and several new classes. Postdates Requiem: The Grim Harvest.

Masque of the Red Death

A sub-setting of Ravenloft, taking place on a 1890's Gothic Earth.

- The Gothic Earth Gazetteer: Like the Ravenloft Gazetteers, you get details on the lands of Gothic Earth and their inhabitants. - A Guide to Transylvania

And More...

Islands of Terror - Self explanatory, new island domains! Nidala, Wildlands, Sceana, I'Cath, etc.

Darklords - This covers a handful darklords.

Forbidden Lore - A Ravenloft setting expansion. Rules for the Tarokka Deck and Dikesha Dice. Secret societies, spells, cursed items, as well as expanded psionics, curses, and power checks. You also get the domain of Kalidnay.

Forged in Darkness - Lots of cursed items.

Children of the Night: Vampires - 13 New vampire NPCs. Children of the Night: Ghosts - 13 New ghost NPCs. Children of the Night: Werebeasts - 13 New lycanthrope NPCs. Children of the Night: The Created - 13 New construct NPCs.

Champions of the Mists - New heroic NPCs and new Character Kits.

Carnival - NPCs that make up Isolde's Carnival.

Classic Van Richten's Guides (Either 2nd or 3rd Edition)

These have Van Richten lore in it, so I would read these if not for the main content.

Van Richten's Arsenal With VR Arsenal, you get new tools and devices, new arcane and divine spells, new magic items, and alchemical devices and feats. It also comes with Prestige Classes like the Alchemical Philosopher and the Anchorite of the Mists, as well as a guide to plan investigations and battles and plenty of NPC stat sheets with detailed backgrounds.

Van Richten's Guide to Demons

Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts

Van Richten's Guide to the Ancient Dead

Van Richten's Guide to the Created

Van Richten's Guide to the Lich

Van Richten's Guide to the Mists - We usually ignore this book because of it's questionable lore.

Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey

Van Richten's Guide to the Vistani An excellent exploration of Vistani.

Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead

Van Richten's Guide to Vampires

Van Richten's Guide to Werebeasts

Van Richten's Guide to Witches Included within VR's Compendium 3.

Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium I (Vampires, Werebeasts, Created)

Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium II (Ghosts, Liches, Ancient Dead)

Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium III (Demons, Vistani, Witches)

Modules

Feast of Goblyns - The first module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Kartakass, Gundarak, Daglan.

Ship of Horror - The second module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Sea of Sorrows, Nebigtode.

Touch of Death - The third module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Har'Akir.

Night of the Walking Dead - Fourth module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Sourange.

From the Shadows - Fifth module of the Grand Conjunction series. Domains: Darkon, Barovia.

Roots of Evil - Sixth and final module of the Grand Conjunction series and the follow-up of From the Shadows. Domains: Barovia.

Death Unchained - Part one of Grim Harvest.

Death Ascendant - Part two of Grim Harvest.

Requiem: the Grim Harvest (Boxed Set) - Death Triumphant, the last part of Grim Harvest.

Death Undaunted - Written by John Mangrum, never published, but still good!! Played it with a wonderful DM.

Book of Crypts - Nine short module anthology. Contains: Bride of Mordenheim, Blood in Moondale, The Dark Minstrel, The Cedar Chest, Corrupted Innocents, Rite of Terror, The Man With Three Faces, The Living Crypt, and Death's Cold Laughter.

Thoughts of Darkness - Elder brains, Mindflayers and a Von Zarovich, oh my! I played this one with a wonderful DM. Very fun.

The Created - Odaire

Web of Illusion - Sri Raji

Castles Forlorn - Forlorn

Dark of the Moon - Vorostokov

Adam's Wrath - Lamordia

The Awakening - Nova Vaasa

Hour of the Knife - Zherisia

Howls in the Night - Mordent

When Black Roses Blood - Sithicus

A Light in the Belfry (Boxed Set) - Avonleigh

Circle of Darkness - G'Henna

Chilling Tales (Anthology) - Through Darkened Eyes (Tepest), Undying Justice (Borca), Gazing into the Abyss (Darkon), Family Feud (Valachan), Surgeon's Blade (Lamordia), Scarlet Kiss (Mordentshire), Ancient Dead (Har'Akir), The Taskmaster's Leash (Dementlieu)

The Evil Eye - Invidia

The Nightmare Lands (Boxed Set)

Neither Man Nor Beast - Markovia

The Shadow Rift

Vecna Reborn

Die, Vecna, Die!

Third Edition Ravenloft

Ravenloft Third Edition (Campign Setting)

An update of Ravenloft to 3e.

Ravenloft Dungeon Master's Guide

Campaign creation, creating domains and communities, sinkholes of evil, samples of NPCs, as well as psionics and magic within Ravenloft. Cursed / Magic Items. Basically chapter one of Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft, but more fleshed out.

Ravenloft Player's Handbook

New mechanics like class weaknesses and magic ratings.

Secrets of the Dread Realms - Contains a new prestige class and a list of darklords by domain (with detailed backgrounds!)

Denizens of Darkness - New monsters! (3e)

Denizens of Dread - New monsters! (3.5e)

Heroes of Light - Focuses on heroic characters and deeds within Ravenloft. Prestige classes, secret societies, NPCs, and a heroic campaign guide.

Champions of Darkness - Focuses on anti-heroes. Prestige classes, secret societies, NPCs and an anti-hero campaign guide.

Legacy of the Blood - THIS IS A GOOD BOOK. Details on several powerful familes of the Core. Includes options to make characters related to that family and story hooks that go with it. Includes: Boritsi, d'Honaire, Dilisnya, Drakov, Godefroy, Hiregaard, Mordenheim, Renier, and the Von Zarovich families.

Masque of the Red Death (3rd Edition)

No modules in this one.

Ravenloft Gazetteers

A DM's dream come true... You get a massive amount of information and lore with these. Comes with a side-story. Very good!

- Volume 1 - Barovia, Hazlan, Forlorn, Kartakass

- Volume 2 - Darkon, Necropolis, Lamordia, Falkovnia

- Volume 3 - Dementlieu, Richemulot, Mordent

- Volume 4 - Borca, Invidia, Verbrek, Valachan, Sithicus

- Volume 5 - Nova Vaasa, Tepest, Keening, Shadow Rift

Modules

Dark Tales and Disturbing Legends - More modules! This is an anthology.

Expedition to Castle Ravenloft - Update to I6: Ravenloft.

Novels

Vampire of the Mists (Good!)

Knight of the Black Rose (Not a big fan of Soth, in my honest option.)

Dance of the Dead

Tapestry of Dark Souls

Carnival of Fear

I, Strahd (A classic.)

I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin (Read this one. Excellent!)

The Enemy Within

Mordenheim

Tales of Ravenloft (19 Short Stories - The Caretaker is my favorite. It has Strahd.)

Tower of Doom (Personally, if you don't want your eyes cursed, I would not read this. This has been a warning. I told you so.)

Baroness of Blood

Death of Darklord

Scholar of Decay

King of the Dead (A must-read. It's that good.)

To Sleep with Evil

Lord of the Necropolis

Shadowborn

Spectre of the Black Rose

Heart of Midnight

#ravenloft #curse of strahd #van richten's guide to ravenloft

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sananaryon · 3 years

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Val So I just bought Van Richten’s guide to Ravenloft, and I thought I would write out a first impressions review.

(I got the alt cover)

I love this book. Ravenloft was already my favorite D&D setting, and this book did it all the justice in the world. It doesn’t cover every domain, obviously, and half of them are only covered in summary, but the ones it does it does a full writeup on are absolutely amazing. The changes made to the setting all make sense and work either as just better storytelling or to remove some of the iffier elements of old Ravenloft. I have only read the first half so far though, so it might do a 180 from now on, but from what I’ve looked at, doesn’t seem like it.

The whole thing is quite clearly not intended as a continuation of the 3e ravenloft, with a lot of darklords being rewritten (more on that below) either slightly or entirely, not to mention that the domains are no longer directly connected as a continent, but floating independently in the mists. At the same time, some domains are clearly the same as the previous editions, but with time having passed. In Darkon, the darklord escaped as he was always trying to do, and the domain is facing the consequences, and the darklord of Valachan (one of the more blatantly racist darklords depicted back then) was recently deposed and replaced, as opposed to simply being retconed out of existence. It’s fun and interesting.

The Best (because everything is good)

The book opens on letters between Van Richten and his students, it’s all found family and I love it.

The darklords are all immensely well-written. Most of them are given some changes from previous editions to update them with the time or just make them better written. Notably, at lot of them are given gender flips, but the rewrites obviously extends to more than that. Sometimes it’s the lords that are rewritten heavily, other times they just change a few elements and instead put the focus on the domain itself, and how the Darklord fits into it. I especially loved the take on Falkovnia as a zombie apocalypse, with a darklord willing to do anything to retain power.

There are of course other characters. Seems they realized that having a beloved character burn in hell was a bad idea, so Jander Sunstar is back in the mists where he belongs. They actually combined his story with the classic House on Gryphon Hill module that has been ignored since 2nd edition, and they did it in a way that makes perfect sense within the timeline, even after stating that any inconsistency in the setting should be handwaved by “The mists did it.” It’s great, I love it.

WOTC seriously stepped up their diversity game in this. Dr. Mordenheim has been rewritten as WLW, having met her gf while they were both out graverobbing. Of course she died, can’t have shit in Ravenloft, but said gf is now the new version of Mordenheim’s monster, and has actual agency rather than being stuck in a tube (she is also so pretty)! There’s also two of van Richten’s new students (bringing the total number up to five), who are a pair of gay detectives, and Erasmus van Richten (who’s ‘alive’ again) is canonically aromantic. That’s just the stuff I got from a cursory glance, since I haven’t gotten further than Bluetspur in terms of domains. The illustrations also enforce this, both Harkon Lucas (a darklord) and the Weathermay-Foxgrove twins (heroic vampire hunters) are POC, as well as a ton minor and major POC characters.

Speaking of domains, if you didn’t get the impression already, they are extremely well written, and are notably different from each other. None of them are generic gothic horror (aside from Barovia). Obviously that wasn’t a problem in the old ravenloft either, but I’m praising all I got damnit, and I just read the section of Bluetspur (Mind Flayer domain) and it is evocative as hell. Other than those two, there’s also Valachan for some good old jungle survival horror, Dementlieu for the masquerade, Richumelot for the plague-ridden court intrigue.

Adding on that, the way each domain is set up is fantastic! A description of the domain, the main features, the darklord and some plothooks for an adventure, all of which is highly evocative.

So obviously a lot of the old Ravenloft wouldn’t fly in 5th edition, and WOTC did take steps to work on that. Some elements are just straight up removed entirely, like Hazlik’s whole gender shit or the vistani’s “evil romani thing”, while other stuff is waved away, like the formerly only black darklord being a panther-turned-into-a-human having been killed at some point and replaced with another black darklord, this time just a weretiger, which is slightly better, and, as I mentioned, there are more POC people now, yay! I also loved that they went nuts with the possible reincarnations of Tatyana. The list includes a pair of twins, several boys (Strahd is bisexual yo) and a dragonborn.

Even the domains that aren’t given a full writeup are still given a short description, which is so evocative that I honestly like some of them more than the main domains. My personal favorites are Cyre 1313, the Mourning Rail, the last train out of Cyre when the mourning hit and killed everyone aboard thanks to the cruelty of one passenger delaying them, and the crumbling domain of Klorr, where a mad clockworker remakes a broken world.

Obviously, there’s also the “make a domain” feature. I didn’t read it too carefully, but I loved the exploration of different genres of horror.

Speaking of, it’s a bare minimum thing I know, but the book has content warnings! Mostly just “this is a horror book, expect horror content”, but it’s a step in the right direction. Also, when listing each genre of horror contained therein, the book takes a moment on several of them to mention common pitfalls of that genre (like the stigmatization of mental illness seen in a lot of psychological horror), and advices DMs to avoid them.

I don’t care too much about mechanics beyond monsters, so I won’t say much about the classes and races. They’re good, and I love the fluff around the Reborn lineage.

The art is amazing and there are so many pretty girls, help.

The only things I have to complain about is that there wasn’t enough

There were not enough monsters in this book. Only a few classic monsters return, and the darklords aren’t given proper statblocks, only generic ones from the manual. I get the point of having the darklords not be scary because they’re powerful, but it feels wasted that Mordenheim is just a generic Spy. She’s supposed to be a mad scientist! They didn’t even reprint Strahd or his zombies!

Bit of an odd one, but, while they did a great job of removing the iffy parts of the Vistani, I feel like they may have gone a bit overboard. Curse of Strahd, for all its faults, at least gave you an impression of the vibrant vistani culture. In Van Richten’s Guide, the vistani writeup is borderline generic, amounting to “They’re travellers and traders who can safely traverse the mists”. Not even any pictures that give an impression of how Vistani tend to dress.

In conclusion, while I will never say that a company deserves your money, the writers of this book deserves that you take a moment to read it because it is so good!!!

#original #ravenloft #van richten's guide #dnd #dungeons and dragons #Sana's thoughts #I guess

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generic-cleric · 2 years

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Session 28: Curse of Strahd

Spoilers for the campaign Curse of Strahd below:

The Feast of Saint Alexei Part II: Sunday Bloody Sunday

Session begins with spawn after spawn bursting forth from wooden crates, gravedirt flying. In the chaos, one of the spawn dash for the bones. Vondal makes an attempt to pursue but is too late, the spawn with the bones disappear through the window.

What followed was more of a mosh pit than a combat encounter. While most of the spawn broke through the windows to descend upon the town, some remained in the room to deal with the interlopers. The spawn mostly just grappled and shoved the players around, making things very frustrating for them, and buying the escaped spawn enough time to wreak some havoc in town. The spawn dispersed after a few rounds, and after the druid strategically cast Erupting Earth which collapsed the back end of the shop, sending a few spawn sprawling into the street.

At this point, they move through the town, hunting for the spawn with the bag of bones, and helping those they can while Vallaki is ravaged around them.

They stop to speak to Rictavio who is hitching up Drusilla to get the hell outta dodge. I think Okrin was hoping to confront him about the mysterious artistic ghost he sees only around Rictavio. Seeing as how this is HARDLY the time for such discussion he was awfully unwilling to offer any information. Vondal makes a comment that would imply they've already picked the lock on his wagon. (Containing a man who has recently contracted the werepanther strain of lycanthropy while in Valachan)

"Look, if you're wanting to have this conversation, let's have somewhere else, There’s a tower on the lake, meet me there." He was released, and that was that. No one really felt GOOD about the encounter.

Rictavio / Van Richten knows Jander and at least met the previous incarnation of Tatyana, so he recognizes Ireena too. Both of them are his allies. Neither recognize the Rictavio disguise. Okrin is currently wearing Strahd's armor. Before now, the party has mostly experienced Rictavio in passing. Bedlam is the only one that has had a positive encounter with him, and he wears a different disguise every day. So I have a lot to think about as to how the next encounter with Rictavio will go. Will he give them all an individual lecture? Or will he avoid meeting them at the tower and try to find safety at the Abbey. (I have Ez traveling to a town down south while trying to find VR and escape Strahd's ire)

ANYWAY, next they release the people locked in the stocks at the expense of some guards. They help Blinsky barricade himself into the shop and hope for the best.

They finally find the spawn with the bones and engage him. He ends up trying to spider climb up a wall but Bedlam hits him with Tasha's Hideous Laughter. He cracks up, falling off the side of the building, doubled over prone from laughter. They snag the bones and book it to the church before he can recover.

#cos #Curse of Strahd #Strahd von Zarovich #dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #5e #session summary #session write up #screaming into the ether #Ireena Kolyana #Jander Sunstar

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darklordazalin · 1 year

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Azalin Reviews: Urik von Kharkov

Domain: Valachan Domain Formation: 625 BC Power Level: 💀💀 ⚫ ⚫ ⚫ (3/5 skulls) Sources: 2e: Darklords, Realms of Terror, Domains of Dread, Felkovic’s Cat; 3e: Gazetteer IV, Secrets of the Dread Realms; Novel: Tales of Ravenloft; 5e: van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft “Baron” Urik von Khakov was the former Darklord of Valachan until Chakuna defeated and replaced him. I use the title “Baron” lightly as he is not and never has been a Baron and is not even really human though he desperately wishes to be.Valachan is a heavily forested domain dominated by evergreens and redwoods in a temperate ecosystem with a few small townships dotting the landscape. In 5e this has been changed into a rainforest with two newly named townships instead of three. All of these villages are barely populated, so it makes little difference.

Urik’s story is, well I’d say unique but there are stranger Darklords in the Demiplanes, so I’ll just say that his story is a fascinating experiment conducted by Morphayus, a Red Wizard of Thay. I have been called vindictive in the past by those who have little understanding of my intentions, but I do not even come close to Morphayus’s levels. This wizard had his eyes on a young woman named Selena who had no interest in him. This indifference plagued Morphayus and he plotted his revenge. Try being married to indifference and spite for 17 years, then get back to me Morphayus…

Morphayus found a unique and rare version of the polymorph spell and used it to transform a panther into a man. He gave that man a fake title and name (Baron Urik von Kharkov), then educated him at the finest universities Cormyr had to offer. He groomed the man cat to be the perfect match for Selena and the two eventually fell for one another. Morphayus then dispelled the polymorph upon Urik when he was intimate with Selena, which ended with Selena being mauled to death by a giant panther. Morphayus, being an incompetent wizard who stumbled upon a powerful spell, turned Urik back into a man, thinking he could use the same ploy again on another, but had not realized Urik would remember his life as a man. Urik, horrified and ashamed of what he had done, fled from Morphayus and into the mists, which deposited him into Darkon.

There Urik learned of the Kargat, my secret police and as any good citizen would, wished to join their ranks. Seeing how much he distrusts wizards, it is interesting that he agreed to work for me considering I go by the title “The Wizard King”, but the lure of immortality is a potent one. Urik willingly allowed a vampire to turn him, not realizing that he would now be under the whims of the vampire that changed him for all eternity. He worked under his maker for 2 decades until his maker was slain by another. Seeing a chance to escape, Urik fled into the mists once more and found himself the ruler of his own Domain, Valachan.

As Darklord, Urik copied my Kargat with a group of werepanthers to assist him in ruling his realm from Castle Pantara, a large stone structure designed to resemble a crouching tiger. Why not a panther? Maybe Urik decided he had too many panther things going on? Can’t be TOO obvious about these things. Urik demands little of his people, mainly taxes and servants now and then to attend to the castle. These servants and any who come close to Urik’s castle often suffer from “white fever”. This “white fever” is nothing more than a fabrication to hide Urik and his vampire thrall’s thirst for human blood. Urik’s paranoia has proven to be a boon and his massive mind control he has used upon his people have made it so few realize his true nature.

Every year, he also demands a bride from his people. These unfortunate women are typically drawn through lotteries, but occasionally Urik picks one out himself. Fickle like a cat. This led to the creation of the jade figurine known as Felkovic’s Cat and Urik’s greatest fear. Urik took an interest in Felkovic’s wife and made plans to have the wizard killed so he could then select his wife as a bride. His version of the Kargat are not as disciplined nor discreet as my own and ended up speaking of the plan while in the same room as Felkovic. Felkovic, in hopes of saving his wife, created the jade cat figurine which would transform and assassinate Urik when commanded.

Felkovic, being a lesser mage, was charmed and then killed by Urik’s panthers before he was given the opportunity. Felkovic cursed Urik with his dying breath and his spirit became tied to the cat figurine. Felkovic learned to possess the object, transforming it into a larger and larger cat over the course of seven days. On the seventh day, the cat figurine, now the size of a saber tooth tiger, attacked and nearly killed Urik, who was only saved by his servants.

Urik is a beast that dreams of being a man. He struggles between his animalistic nature as a panther, his lust for blood as a vampire, and his past love as a man. He takes the form of a panther instead of a wolf and can summon these large cats to fight beside him. Otherwise, he is a standard vampire who cannot change into a bat. In 5e, Urik has been defeated by a werepanther named Chakuna and only his severed head remains hidden in the new Darklords abode.

In summary, Urik is a giant cat whose biggest fear is a giant magical stone cat and who tried to copy his former boss’s government. Should I be flattered? No. 2 out of 5 skulls, but only because I like cats…

#urik von kharkov #valachan #ravenloft #darklordreviews #azalin rex #werepanther #vampire #sometimes one has to commit an act of ultimate darkness to become a darklord #sometimes you just become one cause you wandered into the mists after killing a bunch of people over the years #this often results in a weird panther man vampire

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themostdangerouscampaign · 1 year

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Random Encounter Table #4: Big Bugs, Big Snakes, Big Birds

Venture into the red lands of Yaguara's Heart, where threats hide in the tall grass. While one of the more beautiful parts of Valachan, these rolling hills are no less dangerous. The PCs in our hunting humans campaign only encountered one of the obstacles in this random encounter table, but hopefully the rest will find a cozy place in some of your home games if you're looking for mysterious vibes from a strange and distant past.

[PDF]

#most dangerous campaign #most dangerous pod #dnd campaign #dnd homebrew #dnd #dnd podcast #van richten's guide to ravenloft

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sananaryon · 2 years

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I posted 382 times in 2021

7 posts created (2%)

375 posts reblogged (98%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 53.6 posts.

I added 697 tags in 2021

#reblog - 352 posts

#art - 165 posts

#amphibia - 64 posts

#melanie king - 23 posts

#sasha - 23 posts

#magnus archives - 18 posts

#anne - 17 posts

#sashannarcy - 12 posts

#she ra - 12 posts

#marcy - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 100 characters

#that they forgot that a star wars movie is ultimately a western-samurai-fantasy-warmovie set in spce

My Top Posts in 2021

I may be somewhat obsessed with the jedi from Star Wars Visions “The Village Bride”

8 notes • Posted 2021-10-05 00:41:40 GMT

Shipping characters based on their chemistry and backstory? Broke.

Shipping characters based on that one time you and another player emoted at each other? Bespoke.

9 notes • Posted 2021-06-03 14:35:08 GMT

Val So I just bought Van Richten’s guide to Ravenloft, and I thought I would write out a first impressions review.

(I got the alt cover)

The Best (because everything is good)

The book opens on letters between Van Richten and his students, it’s all found family and I love it.

Adding on that, the way each domain is set up is fantastic! A description of the domain, the main features, the darklord and some plothooks for an adventure, all of which is highly evocative.

Obviously, there’s also the “make a domain” feature. I didn’t read it too carefully, but I loved the exploration of different genres of horror.

I don’t care too much about mechanics beyond monsters, so I won’t say much about the classes and races. They’re good, and I love the fluff around the Reborn lineage.

The art is amazing and there are so many pretty girls, help.

The only things I have to complain about is that there wasn’t enough

In conclusion, while I will never say that a company deserves your money, the writers of this book deserves that you take a moment to read it because it is so good!!!

30 notes • Posted 2021-05-31 00:58:08 GMT

I was so certain that Luz would end up keeping Goldieboy’s staff at the end of that episode, so here’s her dual-wielding like a badass.

43 notes • Posted 2021-07-30 11:08:10 GMT

“Let’s make a quick sketch for a glitra au”

-A fool who proceeded to do lineart, coloring and shading.

146 notes • Posted 2021-03-22 18:09:57 GMT

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