100 Report Four rare. Nobility is hereditary through the mother’s side. Tradition and the Church of Yutow dictate that nobles are respected and deferred to at all times, but commoners do not tolerate incompetence or weakness in their betters. Nobles who lack the guile to defend their positions are quickly eliminated and their assets divided among the remaining aristocrats. Although Yutow’s dogma claims that nobles are divinely appointed, a successful revolt indicates a noble is no longer favored; thus successful insurrection is not an immoral act. Each noble family has the right to raise a militia to protect its settlements. This is frequently a lucrative pursuit, as soldiers are rewarded with wealth, titles and arranged marriages. The most powerful noble, selected by majority vote from his or her peers, acts as mayor of the settlement. Mayors of smaller settlements report their concerns to those of one of the three main towns, who in turn are occasionally called to Castle Pantara to air their grievances. These irregular councils are called the Baron’s Table. Varik Dakk and Lady Adeline also have seats at the Table. Economy Most of Valachan’s economy is understandably tied to the realm’s thick forests. Due to the combined chance of accidents, panther attacks, and angering the skogsra, logging is too dangerous to appeal to many Valachani. Those who do become lumberjacks, however, can quickly make their fortunes. Redwood timber is unusually resistant to insect and fungal damage, and is prized along the Arden as a building material. Almost all Valachani buildings are made of redwood, making internal trade even more profitable than exporting the wood. A huge secondary industry of sawmills, bowyers, furniture makers and carpenters has arisen to make use of the logs, and these products are sold even further afield than the timber itself. Once cleared, the soil produces rich crops of wheat, barley, hops, cherries, apples, peas, flower bulbs and lucerne, most of which grow wild as well as in cultivated farms. Brewers use the hops and barley to prepare a heavy stout, which the Valachani and Verbrekers enjoy but is too dense for more refined palates. Herders also use cleared land to raise flocks of sheep, goats and pigs, their flocks tended by large groups of children and adolescents. Most earn their first scars this way. Meat from these animals is traded with Mordent and Verbrek, while Law Enforcement A typical Valachani militiaman serves a noble family, enforcing edicts and keeping the peace. Black Leopards are von Kharkov’s elite enforcers, collecting taxes, guarding the borders and serving as spies, assassins and executioners. Valachani militiaman: Valachani militiaman: Human War1; CR 1/2; Medium hu- Valachani militiaman: manoid (human); HD 1d8, hp 4; Init +0; Spd 30 ft.; AC 13, touch 10, flat-footed 13; Base Atk +1; Grp +1; Atk +1 melee (1d6/19–20, short sword) or +2 ranged (1d8/x3, composite longbow [+0 Str bonus]); Full Atk +1 melee (1d6/ 19–20, short sword) or +2 ranged (1d8/x3, composite longbow [+0 Str bonus]); AL LN; SV Fort +2, Ref +0, Will +0; Str 11, Dex 11, Con 13, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10. Skills and Feats: Climb +1, Handle Animal +2, Listen +1, Spot +1, Survival +2, Swim +1; Track, Weapon Focus (composite longbow). Possessions: Short sword, composite longbow (+0 Str bonus), 20 arrows, studded leather armor. Black Leopard: Black Leopard: Human werepanther Rgr2/Rog1; CR 5; Black Leopard: Medium humanoid (human, shapechanger); HD 3d8+2d8+1d6+18, hp 44; Init +3 (+6 as hybrid or panther); Spd 30 ft. (40 ft., climb 20 ft as hybrid or panther); AC 17, touch 13, flat-footed 14 (19, touch 16, flat-footed 13 as hybrid or panther); Base Atk +4; Grp +7 (+9 as hybrid or panther); Atk +9 or +8 melee (1d8+4 or 1d8+3, baron’s arm) or +8 ranged (1d8/x3, composite longbow [+3 Str bonus]), or +9 melee (1d6+5, bite) or +9 melee (1d3+5, claw) as hybrid or panther; Full Atk +9 or +8 melee (1d8+4 or 1d8+3, baron’s arm) or +8 ranged (1d8/x3, composite longbow [+3 Str bonus]), or +9 melee (1d6+5, bite) and +4 melee (1d3+2, 2 claws) as hybrid or panther; SA favored enemy +2 (humanoid [elf]), sneak attack +1d6, pounce, improved grab, rake, hobble, curse of lycanthropy; SQ alternate form, panther empathy, damage reduction 5/silver (as hybrid or panther), Track, wild empathy, combat style (archery); AL LE; SV Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +4 (Ref +9, Will +5 as hybrid or panther); Str 16, Dex 17, Con 17, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 8 (Str 20, Dex 23, Wis 14 as hybrid or panther). Skills and Feats: Balance +3, Bluff +1, Climb +5, Gather Information +2, Hide +5, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (local) +2, Listen +6, Move Silently +5, Search +6, Sense Motive +3, Spot +6, Survival +4 (Balance +14, Climb +13, Hide +12, Listen +11, Move Silently +12, Search +10, Spot +11 as hybrid or panther); Back to the Wall, Rapid ShotB, TrackB, Weapon Focus (baron’s arm), Weapon Focus (composite longbow). Possessions:Baron’s arm, composite longbow (+3 Str bonus), 20 arrows, 2 daggers, chain shirt.
101 Valachan cheese, wool and a small amount of milk is exported to Mordent, Verbrek and Sithicus. Salmon and trout are plentiful and traded eagerly between Valachani villages, but rarely exported. Rod fishing is common. Further south, Ungrad forms the center of Valachan’s fur industry, where ermine and dire weasel pelts are particularly prized. Panthers accidentally captured by trappers are fearfully released and numerous gifts left beside the trap in apology. Valachan’s only exploited mineral resources are located around Rotwald, where minor amounts of gold and copper are mined. Rare seams of iron ore have been uncovered, but are quickly exhausted. Valachani frequently barter among themselves even in large towns, but taxes are paid in coin. Coins are minted in Rotwald and bear a sequoia on one side. The other side varies with the type of coin: the gold pantarlede bears a panther’s head, the silver kattøye a cat’s eye, and the copper klawe a cat’s paw with claws extended. Diplomacy Valachan prefers to keep its neighbors at arm’s length. Von Kharkov has little interest in establishing alliances, but allegedly maintains spies in many nearby realms. Valachani pride in self-sufficiency means each merchant must forge his own, individual bonds with foreign traders, a tactic that often works against them. Beyond this limited trade, Valachani avoid entanglement in the affairs of other lands. Mordent: Valachani feel uncomfortable in the educated, settled lands of Mordent, claiming the pastoral realm’s inhabitants are lazy and overly concerned with trivialities. The open sky and rolling plains make them quite uncomfortable, accustomed as they are to claustrophobic forests. Still, Mordent’s tales of the Other Side align closely to Valachan’s spirit world, giving the two cultures some common ground, and Mordent is Valachan’s most reliable trading partner. Sithicus: The Sithicans are contemptuous of all humans, and the Valachani are no exception. For their part, Valachani see the elves as a more civilized form of skogsra and treat them with the restraint that entails. Few actually enjoy their trips to the politically disturbed realm and tend to pass through as quickly as possible. Rumor has it that Lady Adeline frequently travels to Sithicus to rally support and attack Azrael’s forces; von Kharkov appears to be maneuvering into position to annex the realm, supplanting Azrael with the loyal Lady Adeline. Intriguing. I wonder if they realize that stunted animal is not Sithicus’ true ruler? Would the true lord be troubled by a new pretender to her throne? Verbrek: As far as the Valachani are concerned, Verbrek is a realm of murderous beasts, and few folk are prepared to trade there, fearful of provoking the threatening wolves. Unnaturally fierce and cunning wolves frequently attack settlements on the Valachani side of the border, which the Black Leopards rigorously patrol in an effort to keep out such raiders. Any Verbrekers they discover in the area are killed without question. It is no small irony that the same cultural trait — their backwoods ignorance — that unites the Valachani and Verbrekers helps to keep these neighbors divided. Sites of Interest awoke in Valachan just after the turn of the year, though the forest was remarkably temperate (if wet) until I reached the higher country in Bakkelande. Following my somewhat alarming experience in Verbrek, I lingered in Helbenik for a week to recuperate before winding south to Ungrad and then backtracking to the Scarlet Maze. At no point could I travel for more than a mile without crossing or plunging into some ford or ravine. Helbenik Helbenik (sometimes called Habelnik on foreign maps) is centrally located in northern Valachan, making it a trade nexus for the score of thorps found within a day’s journey or so. This position has made the village wealthy, but those from more isolated thorps say the Helbeniki are not truly Valachani. Helbenik has become too reliant on making money from other people’s labor, so go the complaints; most of them wouldn’t know how to trap game or string a bow. The Helbeniki see themselves as having mastered survival in the civilized world (I managed to conceal my true thoughts on Helbenik’s “sophistication”) without dampening their ability to survive in the wilderness. Also, being chosen for work at Castle Pantara
102 Report Four and suffering frequent outbreaks of White Fever has made the Helbeniki a proud, stalwart and close-knit society. During my stay, the locals would frequently boast that “Helbenik would crush any but the Helbeniki.” As a result of these conflicting opinions, market day brawls between the Helbeniki and the backwoods Valachani are frequent. For whatever reason, backwoods Valachani do not hold Rotwald and Ungrad in the same contempt as Helbenik. Helbenik centers on its markets, which in turn center on the Gasttre. This colossal tree of unknown species never bears leaves, but produces scarlet flowers every autumn. The Helbeniki strew the tree with colored ribbons and place exquisitely worked handicrafts and sumptuous feasts at its base every season to please the spirit that allegedly lives in the tree. If she is pleased, she brings peace, prosperity and fertility for that season; if not, she blights crops and drives game away and may even murder a young man by hanging before she is satisfied. The only other site of interest in Helbenik is Felkovic’s Tower, a flame-blackened, decayed heap of stone once home to the creator of the Cat of Felkovic. A little under a century ago, Felkovic’s wife Nadia left him and the wizard went mad with grief. Baron Urik I took Felkovic back to Castle Pantara, but the wizard contracted White Fever and died. Nadia passed away from guilt at having driven her husband insane, and the Cat of Felkovic, a magical statuette he found in the tower, killed the Baron. The baron’s son declared the tower cursed and began a nation-wide hunt for the Cat, which eludes him to this day. Tales claim that the Cat is the one thing the Baron fears and that their destinies are irrevocably entwined. Where to Stay in Helbenik The Crispy Pickle (good quality rooms, poor quality meals) has the best rooms in Helbenik, but they serve almost nothing that has not been pickled; the menu can quickly prove wearing. Better and more varied meals are available at the Leaping Trout opposite (common quality rooms, common quality meals). Both are frequented by locals and are a worthwhile stop for folk looking to hire Dread Possibility: guides. The Cat of Felkovic In reality, Felkovic created the Cat to avenge himself upon von Kharkov, who had turned Nadia into a nosferatu. The Cat, a unique, cursed figurine of wondrous power, is described in Van Richten’s Arsenal. Because it was designed specifically to destroy von Kharkov, the Cat ignores von Kharkov’s damage reduction. Urik must heal any damage it inflicts by sleeping in his coffin; damage from the Cat cannot be regenerated. If von Kharkov is reduced to 0 hp by the Cat, he is destroyed and the Cat becomes permanently nonmagical. The Cat’s current location is unknown, but Black Leopards search the Core for it constantly. Felkovic himself (male human geist Wiz12, CN) was once a powerful ghost bound to the statuette, but his botched attempt to kill von Kharkov severed his link to the Cat. The mad wizard’s geist is now bound to his tower, cursing any who approach. Helbenik (large town): Helbenik (large town): Conventional; AL LN; 3,000 Helbenik (large town): gp limit; Assets 525,000 gp; Population 3,500; Isolated (human 92%, gnome 6%, other 2%). Authority Figures: Katarine von Allor (mayor), female human Ari10. Important Characters: Moarnekone Brand Avil, male human Clr6; Sentire Anna Johnson, female human Clr4; Gregor Molik (werebeast hunter), male human Rgr4/Avn*2; Linnaeus Beucephus (thief), male gnome Rog3. * See Van Richten’s Arsenal Van Richten’s Arsenal. Van Richten’s Arsenal Castle Pantara The seat of all authority in Valachan, Castle Pantara is a menacing fortress of charcoal-gray stone overlooking the Broken Road from a nearby hilltop. The castle is cunningly engineered to resemble a crouching tiger. A trick of perspective makes it look like the castle is built on the road itself, when it is actually almost half a mile away. Instead, a large wooden blockhouse straddles the road to monitor traffic. The twenty Black Leopards permanently stationed here search all travelers for weapons and carefully note their names, nationali-
103 Valachan ties and destinations in a huge tome. They also rigorously patrol the forest around the blockhouse for people trying to slip past; I only narrowly avoided them by judicious magic and a lucky thrust with a silver knife. A winding path leads from the blockhouse to the castle, becoming the tail of the castle’s panther. Defenders can attack from the moment an intruder emerges from the forest, and each stage of the castle’s defenses is designed to provide cover from those closer to the outside but to be exposed to more central areas. The castle is big enough to hold a small army, and a similarly sized force would be required to take it. The castle is home to Baron von Kharkov, who is rarely encountered even by those with whom he shares the castle: his few servants, a garrison of Black Leopards and the peasant levy, who spend their time maintaining the castle and preserving food. The lattermost almost invariably contract White Fever; why no one notices the connection between the baron and the wasting disease escapes comprehension. In any event, the baron’s preserved food is traded all over the Core. These goods, however, are distributed from Rotwald and Helbenik; the baron has an almost pathological aversion to uninvited guests for any reason, and the castle is supposedly full of death traps and torture chambers to preserve his privacy. Rotwald Rotwald was founded early in the Pacification and quickly became a center of horrifying violence. Hundreds of natives were captured and put to work mining for gold and copper or felling trees for lumber. Many were put to the sword, their bodies used to fertilize the soil. Since then, almost every attempted revolt has originated in Rotwald. This is not to say Rotwald is a cauldron of discontent; like any Valachani, the Rotwaldi bear their trials with quiet fortitude. The large population and distance from Castle Pantara, however, seem to give the Rotwaldi a false sense of security. By some accounts, gold in the drinking water taken from the Gold River and the angry ghosts of Rotwald’s past drive the villagers to madness and revolution. For this reason, the baron maintains an oppressive number of Black Leopards here to keep the peace and protect the nation’s mint. Southwest of Rotwald, along the Broken Road, stands the Hospice of the Healing Hands, a large and impressive building home to a significant contingent of Hala’s witches. A vast library occupies Dread Possibility: Something in the Water Von Kharkov’s food preserving industry would be drastically out of character for the nosferatu were it not part of a terrible plan to control the Valachani. Every month or so, von Kharkov adds a considerable amount of his own blood to the preserving vats. Anyone who eats the tainted food must make a successful DC 10 Fortitude save or become one of the Baron’s charmed thralls (see Ravenloft Gazetteer II for details on vampiric thralls). These thralls can be found throughout Valachan and sometimes even in other domains, wherever the canned food is sold. The Crispy Pickle in Helbenik is especially likely to serve the corrupted food. Dread Possibility: The Tales of Ages Although Rotwald is home to numerous ghosts, the true cause of the revolts is the Tales of Ages and the witches who guard it. The Tales of Ages is a relic (see Van Richten’s Arsenal for general details about relics). Mediating on certain sections of the book can cure minor wounds twice a day, cure moderate wounds twice a week, and cure critical wounds twice a month. The book continuously radiates a magic aura over the Hospice, with the effect of a hallow spell and preventing any lycanthropes from entering the building. Finally, if the leader of the Hospice reads aloud from the book, all within earshot are affected by break enchantment. This is a sonic, language-based effect. The witches have taken to doing just this in Rotwald on the spring equinox every year, freeing those listening from the baron’s domination. Many are soon charmed once more, but those who are not retain a dangerous degree of free will. All of the Tales of Ages’ properties take effect as if cast by a 15th-level cleric.
104 Report Four nearly nine-tenths of the building. The group’s leader, Mother Marena, told me that the prize of this collection is an ancient copy of the Tales of Ages, a history of the church of Hala written by one of the original twenty-six witches. This book supposedly protects the Hospice from hostile forces and “reveals the truth to those willing to listen,” though Marena did not explain her precise meaning. (I suspect the empty mysticism most religions rely on to intrigue potential converts). rusts, smuts and slimes. The large compost heaps kept under the floorboards of each house exacerbate the problem, providing a staple diet of mushrooms as well as a convenient disposal for household wastes and deceased relatives. The air itself tasted rotten, and I felt unclean until I reached Sithicus. The Ungradi are friendly, if even more deluded about the nature of their ruler than the rest of the Valachani. They consider von Kharkov to be a firm but benevolent ruler, sadly troubled by infidelity and illness among his wives, the chosen of Yutow and the kindest ruler since the Pacification — an attitude that requires them to ignore most of the events of his long reign. I suspect this is only possible due to the absence of the Black Leopards and Lady Adeline; the mayor, a Dementlieuse émigré and doctor named Antianetta Despini-Hoyer, collects taxes and determines the bridal lottery and levy herself. I managed to befriend the doctor and encouraged her to show me her hospital. I think it was something of a relief for her to meet another educated woman in Ungrad. Despini-Hoyer has made it her life’s work to cure White Fever, which claimed her own husband. Her purple powder, Sloppy and prejudiced. If the text was not magical, how could the Hospice survive von Kharkov’s attentions? Where to Stay in Rotwald Rotwald is well known for its hospitality: villagers frequently open their homes as boarding houses for a season or two at a time, and seeing people attracted by the scent of cooking, haggling with homeowners for a share of the meal, is relatively common. The only permanent inn is the Singing Bone (good quality rooms, good quality meals), run from the back of the brewery owned by Oleg Halffen, the town mayor. This jolly ex-adventurer is always keen to share a story over an excellent stew and plentiful stout. The rooms are large, but the walls are thin and Oleg is somewhat inquisitive. The inn takes its name from the monstrous panther claw hanging above the bar, which has been carved into a flute. Rotwald (large town): Rotwald (large town): Conventional (monstrous); AL Rotwald (large town): N; 3,000 gp limit; Assets 660,000 gp; Population 4,400; Isolated (human 93%, gnome 4%, half-elf 1%, elf 1%, other 1%). Authority Figures: Oleg Halffen (mayor), male human nosferatu Rgr4/Ari3. Important Characters: Mother Marena, female human Clr4/Sor3/Hwi5; Moarnekone Rurik Talgar, male half-elf Adp3/Clr2; Ylwa Morlig (guard captain), female human werepanther Ftr5. Ungrad I have visited many unpleasant places in the course of this lengthy project, but few can compare to Ungrad for rural stupidity and vile surroundings. A cold snap blew through Valachan as I hiked to Ungrad, so I had to contend with snow and freezing winds to reach it. Once there, I discovered a backwater infested with moss, mold, toadstools, Dread Possibility: Curing White Fever Dr. Despini-Hoyer provides her powder only to victims of the disease who commit themselves to her hospital. Daily doses taken in a glass of wine allow a character to heal temporary Constitution damage at twice the normal rate. The wine is used to dull the flavor of the powder; those using the powder without wine must make a DC 12 Constitution check to choke it down. If they fail, they do not gain the beneficial effects and actually suffer 1 point of temporary Constitution damage from vomiting and choking. A nosferatu, Dr. Despini was dispatched to Ungrad by von Kharkov years ago to temper the bloodlust of the town’s former mayor, Felix Hoyer. Hoyer’s recklessness eventually drew the attention of adventurers, but Dr. DespiniHoyer was not so rash and escaped their stakes. So long as Ungrad’s status quo remains unruffled, the doctor is content to feed on the blood of her adoring patients.
105 Valachan predictably made from fungal spores, is mixed with wine and administered with a moderate amount of bloodletting (a standard remedy for most complaints) and greatly speeds recovery. I did notice that Despini-Hoyer carefully preserved the blood taken during bloodletting, and a few discreet inquiries later revealed she was rarely seen during the day. Needless to say, I beat a hasty retreat and was careful to ward my room that night. Where to Stay in Ungrad Ungrad has only one eatery, Ambrick’s Mushroom House (common quality meals), which sells fungus-based foods. While the mushroom and onion soup is delicious, avoid the hot sugar noodles, which look and taste like candle wax. The sole inn is the Inn of Quiet Repose (good quality rooms, common quality meals). The deluded Richemuloise poseur who runs the inn uses her small degree of magical skill to play at being a vampire, yet was terrified of the sight of real blood. I suspect it is only a matter of time until some muscle-bound thug stakes her and closes the only inn in the world where one is waited on by unseen servants. The Scarlet Maze Lady Adeline’s private estate nestles between the Elf Road and the Little Arden River on the Sithican border. In the twenty years since Adeline settled here, she has planted thousands of briars and thorns in a vast labyrinth. The spiked hedge surrounding the maze is strewn with the rotting corpses of those who died within and smeared with blood, the obvious origin of the estate’s “scarlet” moniker. Those found guilty of treason and other serious crimes are delivered to the maze by Black Leopards and abandoned to Adeline’s pleasure. If the accused can reach the center of the maze, they are supposedly pardoned, but no one has ever succeeded. Common lore holds that the maze is filled with sad*stic traps, bloodthirsty animals, giant vermin and deadly plants. Final Thoughts alachan is clearly a willfully backward realm, whose isolated position and isolationist policies prevent it from ever becoming a key player in the broader world. Its only true resources are wood and its control of the trade route from Mordent to Sithicus along the Arden River. I cannot believe that the benefits of seizing this route would be worth the effort of ousting von Kharkov from his roost. The baron controls an army of werebeasts and a puppet church whose only purpose seems to be convincing peasants that their god wants them to follow the Baron obediently. As I ponder it, could it be that von Kharkov learned some of his tactics during his days in Darkon? Were one truly interested in conquering this backwater, the best method would doubtlessly be to encourage Adeline’s coup of Sithicus, then swoop in on both realms once they have butchered each others’ armies. One would do well to note those who whisper in her pointed ears. Ungrad (small town): Ungrad (small town): Conventional (monstrous); AL Ungrad (small town): LG; 800 gp limit; Assets 60,000 gp; Population 1,500; Isolated (human 98%, other 2%). Authority Figures: Dr. Antianetta Despini-Hoyer (mayor), female human nosferatu Exp12. Important Characters: Beatrice Cargonne (innkeeper), female human Wiz11; Ambrick the Grey (tavernkeeper), male dwarf Rog6.
106 Report Five Report Five: Sithicu< To the wicked, all things are wicked. — James Hogg, Confessions of a Justified Sinner Report Five: Sithicu<
107 Sithicus pon crossing the border from Valachan on the lonely, ill-kept road between Rotwald and Mal-Erek, I understood why so few travelers journey to this strange land. The place was instantly oppressive. True, an oppressive atmosphere is hardly noteworthy in the lands of the Core; rare is the place that does not groan beneath the weight of a nameless, looming dread. Yet the feeling of unease that took hold of me as I entered this realm was somehow different from any that had yet plagued me during my long, dangerous mission. I quickly came to understand the nature and source of that unease. In other lands, my disquiet upon arrival was an instinctual fear of some grim thing that had turned its attention to me. Here, the source of that oppression was neither hidden nor distant. It was my own sins that weighed so heavily upon me, and the bleak landscape inspired such brooding that each regrettable deed was amplified and augmented until I wept and could not look upon my reflection in a mirror for self-loathing. An hour was too long for me to linger there, though my mission required a much longer stay. With each passing day, as I came more and more to think of how my daughter had begged for death, I Sithicus at a Glance Cultural Level: Medieval (8); wild elves are Stone Age (1) Ecology: Full Climate/Terrain: Temperate forest, hills Year of Formation: 720 BC Population: 4,300 Races: Elves 96%, half-elves 2%, humans 1%, other 1% Elf Ethnic Groups: High elves 91%, wild elves 9% Human Ethnic Groups: Kartakan 35%, Gundarakite 30%, Invidian 25%, Sithican 5%, Barovian 4%, other 1% Languages: Sithican*, Vaasi, Balok, Mordentish Religions: Ezra, Hala Government: Despotic monarchy and aristocracy Ruler: Azrael Dak Darklord: Inza Magdova Kulchevich
108 Report Five found myself wondering if those I met could see my sins written upon my face — just as those strangers’ tortured features suggested their unspoken misdeeds to me. No wonder, then, that the native elves call their realm Sithicus: the “Land of Spectres.” Landscape ithicus is located in the southwestern region of the Core, bordered by Valachan, Verbrek, Invidia, Kartakass and, since the Great Upheaval, the Mists to the south. This shattered elven kingdom is the only country populated mostly by nonhumans. Damp fog and ancient trees shroud the countryside in perpetual gloom. Sunlight almost never penetrates the thick boughs of the ancient forests, and the ground is slick with rotting leaves, moss and dew. The stench of decay and mold fills the heavy, wooded air. Except for a few cities and one major thoroughfare, most parts of the country have an untouched quality to them, for good reason. The country is sliced apart by the Musarde and its various tributaries and offshoots. The densely forested river valleys rise to rocky uplands where great russet eagles nest. The forest floor is covered with mottled ivy and gray ferns. Nasty snarls of thorns and nettles abound, almost eager to tear at any passer-by. From the moment I left Valachan and entered Sithicus, I was haunted by a strange feeling, a distinct sense of familiarity to the woods. Try as I might, I could not determine why these woods would seem like home to me. Scenes from my past that I would just as soon forget crowded my head until I could no longer make out the moss-covered trunks that surrounded me. Throughout my travels within the Sithican borders, I constantly had to force myself not to get lost in less-than-pleasant reveries. Most visitors through Sithicus stick to the main roads connecting the major cities. I decided if it was good enough for others, those routes would do for me as well. The western end of Sithicus is bracketed by the headwaters of the Arden River to the south and its tributary, the Little Arden, to the north. Two elven settlements, Mal-Erek and Hroth, sit near the Valachani border, linked by the Elf Road, or Esthithir, as it is called here. Just north of Mal-Erek, the Little Arden skirts along the dense forests of Verbrek; fortunately for the elves, the river seems The Guilt of Sithicus In 1d3 hours after entering Sithicus, newcomers experience a heightened sense of guilt (no saving throw). At first, this guilt manifests as a creeping unease, a certainty that something is wrong coupled with an inability to identify the root cause. Within the first 1d3 days, the newcomer vividly recalls some past incident in which she acted very badly. Guilt over this incident becomes the focus of the newcomer’s unease, becoming a minor if persistent distraction. The newcomer suffers a –1 morale penalty to initiative, Listen, Search, and Spot checks for as long as she remains in the domain. Newcomers commonly mistake the distraction of their companions for discomfort, as if they can see the newcomer’s guilty deeds in her face. In fact, they are caught up in their own guilty memories, though anyone who remains in Sithicus long enough will begin to wonder just what past sins are tormenting those around them. True natives of Sithicus also suffer from this heightened, nagging conscience, though they do not suffer from the morale penalty it evokes in newcomers. In fact, their forced acceptance of their own weaknesses makes native Sithicans less susceptible to illusions: they receive a +1 insight bonus to saves against illusions cast within the domain. Furthermore, because the domain itself is unfriendly to deceptions of any sort, illusions last for only half their normal duration when cast within Sithicus’ borders. True Innocents are immune to the guilt. The effects of the guilt lift once a character leaves Sithicus. Limitations on the duration of illusions and bonuses for native characters do not extend beyond the domain’s borders. to act as a natural barrier against intrusive wolves. South of the Arden, the Disappearing Hills rise into the Misty Border, still clinging to their snowy caps as spring encroached. Continuing east, the sparse woods give way to an awesome sight. Located between the respective headwaters of the Arden and Little Arden, the
109 Sithicus Great Chasm lay before me like a scar across the heart of Sithicus. Running north to south, it stretched for dozens of miles, taking me days to circumvent. At its widest, I estimate that it was roughly five miles wide, but it narrowed to about a mile wide at each end. Denuded of any forest, the area should have been bathed in sunlight, but such was not the case. The Chasm absorbed all light and was surrounded by only a few skeleton-like trees. Directly in the center, a black peak speared the sea of shadows that filled the Great Chasm. Atop this peak, I could see the ruins of what must have been Nedragaard Keep, home of the realm’s fallen tyrant, with swarms of ravens circling overhead. All that remained of the castle were stone ruins resembling blackened, rotted teeth. Some of the elves in Mal-Erek swear to have seen keening spirits — banshees— swirling around the broken spires when the moon is full. West of the Great Chasm, the Endless River flows north from the Mists, cutting a winding path through southern Sithicus. The Krellin River emerges from artesian wells near the Little Arden’s own headwaters, then cuts a curving path southeast, past the central elven settlement of HarThelen before merging with the Endless River just before their waters bolster the Musarde as it turns north toward Invidia. Upriver from this confluence, the Musarde flows in a steady course from the Kartakan border, neatly bisecting eastern Sithicus. The valleys northeast of the Musarde — known collectively as the Fumewood, the densest forests in Sithicus — have an ill, haunted reputation. The sun has no chance of piercing the canopy of trees that cover the region like a dull, green shroud, and the woods are supposedly littered by a series of tunnels that crisscross and network the entire area. Pools of stagnant water harbor clouds of insects humming around them in the dank heat of summer. In addition, rumor has it that a pack of twisted, xenophobic halflings has built a large fort deep in the Fumewood, surrounded by horrible messages of warning to trespassers. No one has yet discovered their secret home, “Kendralind,” and returned to tell the tale. A well-maintained road runs in rough parallel to the Musarde’s northern banks, joining HarThelen with the distant settlement of Skald in
110 Report Five Kartakass. Still known as the Merchants’ Way among Kartakans for the number of traders who use this road, Sithicans have come to call it the Merchants’ Slash. Starting around 726 BC, the halflings made so many raids on travelers that a group of merchants united to slash and burn a buffer zone along the entire length of the trail. This zone has helped somewhat with the attacks by denying the raiders their cover, but the shrouded Fumewood is eager to reclaim it. Hungry shoots of ivy and nettles require constant attention, and caravans of merchants take turns maintaining the route. It is never an easy task, and one or two merchants will periodically go missing during the routine cleanup. Northeast of the Fumewood sits a less ominous track of woods bordering Invidia and Barovia. The area harkens to the name of Sangiyeth, or the “Iron Hills.” Packs of wild elves roam free here, spending most of their time hunting and trapping high in the hills or foraging for berries and other wild, growing foods and roots. They too spend a fair bit of time raiding traveling merchants; unlike the halflings, they reputedly sneak across the border into Barovia to steal what they can. The region is treacherous even for these elves after the heavy, seasonal rains. Large tracts of the Iron Hills become muddy quagmires to which even the sure-footed wild elves are not impervious. Spring is thus when they suffer the highest mortality rates, but their raiding is heaviest as well, as it is commonplace for the wheels of caravans to bog down and become trapped, making them extremely vulnerable to the wild elves’ attacks. South of the Musarde and east of the Endless River, the Sithican forests rise into the boulderstrewn Misttop Hills. Nestled northwest of the Misttops lies a pathetic shambles of a village the people still call Veidrava. I was told that at one point, the area was busy with the excavation of salt, a commodity that is still rare within these borders, with a miners’ village, storefront and engine house for the mine the humans worked. Almost all of the huts were situated near the foothills, ostensibly to make the dwellings easier to protect from invaders. The Engine House itself was a modern marvel, I hear, with a secret mechanism no one but Azrael was privy to. After the cataclysmic event of the Hour of Screaming Shadows, however, this bare village and the mine buildings were blasted into ruins. No one ever came back to open the mine, although I heard rumblings that some factions are considering it. The borders of Sithicus are surrounded by low shrubs and bushes that bear sickly blooms. It is said that at times, these shrubs can quickly shoot up over twelve feet and choke out the sky with the smoky black roses they bear, the floral growths effectively barring travel. Sithicus’ climate follows a temperate pattern, characterized by muggy, humid summers and bitter winters. The thunderstorms that strike the realm are violent, descending sporadically each May to bring torrential rains and flash floods. The rains start to taper off by the second week of June. The uplands and some of the most outer-lying areas receive a light blanket of snow in the depths of winter. In one of my interviews with the locals, I discovered an interesting history behind their unusual moon. Apparently, Sithicus did not always share the same moon with the rest of the Core. Previously, their moon, which the elves call Nuitari, was completely black. The only way one could discover its location in the night sky was to look for the points of light it blocked out. The black moon radiated an ebony glow, visible only to those with similarly black hearts, which sucked up all light. In addition, Nuitari had a lunar cycle of just over a week; I can only wonder about Nuitari’s possible effects upon Verbrek’s werewolves. Sometime shortly before the Hour of Screaming Shadows, a second, pure white moon appeared next to Nuitari, briefly followed by a red companion. On the night of the earth-shattering events of the Hour of Screaming Shadows, the portentous moons combined to form the orb that fills the night sky today. Some say that the darkness that fell on Nedragaard was none other than Nuitari itself, displaced by this new orb. The entire story strikes me as outrageous. I would dismiss the tale outright, had Darkest Night in our own land of Darkon not taught me that the night sky can be untrustworthy. The elven cities feature a series of concentric stone walls separating the lofty towers of the various castes. Once glorious, the walls are slowly eroding, the structures of elven wood and crystal now choked with ivy and moss or falling apart to the touch. Statues and other works of art are crumbling, and potholes pepper the cobbled streets within the cities. Weeds, mildew and brush choke the ornamental gardens. The outermost walls of each settlement are covered by brambles so thick and overgrown that they both offer a haphazard
111 Sithicus form of protection and often conceal the presence of the city itself from unobservant passers-by. As for the human minority, its settlements are sorry affairs, mere clusters of hovels built of available materials and grouped together in proximity to a mine or logging stand. Flora Sithican forests are dense blocks of growth that few can maneuver through with any amount of ease or safety. These dark and haunted places never cease to evoke a sense of melancholy and dread. Some elven mages believe the trees and shrubs are the embodiment of souls that have died. Stands of evergreens cling precariously to the rocky ridges and saddlebacks and swarm across the rolling geography of Sithicus. Other broadleaf trees fight for a foothold in the woods: alder, ash, maple, oak, rowan and willow, though one can also find rarer downy birch, juniper, and yew. Beneath the forest canopy lies an abundance of gorse, wild marigold, saxifrage, sedges and rampant ivy beds, as well as ferns in every possible shade of green and gray. Lichens and lugworts shroud the tree bark and stones in the darkest thickets. Carnivorous plant life is also a danger to travelers in Sithicus, where the forests seem possessed of an unnatural vitality. Many trespassers have fallen victim to bloodroot, lashweed, quickwood and stranger things. More than one merchant told me of a type of mold that has the ability to infect and actually possess any traveler foolish enough to sleep on or too near it. wilder regions. The expansive forests shelter badgers, bats, wild boars, deer, elk, rats, weasels, as well as mice, hares, moles, red squirrels and voles. Significant predators include badgers, brown bears and red foxes. Intriguingly, neither the wolves of Verbrek nor the panthers of Valachan are often seen here. Some travelers have told me of gigantic ants, spiders and wasps. I never encountered such oddities myself, but the elven rangers who patrol the wilds have developed ways to breed and train a Trekking Through Sithicus The forests of Sithicus are notoriously difficult to navigate, even for natives. During the reign of the Black Rose, the landmarks never grew familiar to travelers, regardless of how often they were encountered. Under the reign of Inza Kulchevich, all of Sithicus seems strangely familiar, even to those who are completely lost. In either case, travelers suffer a –2 circ*mstance penalty to all Survival checks made to get their bearings. Fauna The primordial environment of Sithicus fosters a plethora of animals typical of the Core’s Local Animals and Native Horrors Wildlife: Wildlife: Wildlife: CR 1/10 — bat; toad; CR 1/10 CR 1/8 — rat; CR 1/8 CR 1/6 — CR 1/6 lizard; raven; CR 1/4 — cat; owl; weasel; CR 1/4 CR 1/3 — hawk; CR 1/3 snake, Tiny viper; CR 1/2 — badger; eagle; snake, Small CR 1/2 viper; CR 1 — snake, Medium viper; CR 1 CR 2 — boar; CR 2 CR 4 — bear, brown. Monsters: Monsters: Monsters: CR 1/4 — goblin; monstrous spider, Tiny; CR 1/4 zombie, Small; 1/3 — gremishka*; skeleton, Medium; 1/3 CR 1/ 2 — geist*; monstrous spider, Small; silver fox**; zombie, 2 Medium; CR 1 — bakhna rakhna*; fungus, shrieker; giant CR 1 ant, worker; ghoul; monstrous spider, Medium; plant, bloodrose*; CR 2 — assassin bug, giant*; dire badger; CR 2 giant ant, queen; giant ant, soldier; plant, crawling ivy*; shadow asp*; CR 3 — allip; dire wolf; ettercap; fungus, CR 3 violet; ghast; giant wasp; impersonator*; ogre; plant, bloodroot*; shadow; CR 4 — gargoyle; giant beetle, stag; CR 4 plant, lashweed*; vampire spawn; CR 5 — odem*; reason CR 5 stealer; wraith; CR 6 — corpse candle*; vampire, halfling*; CR 6 will-o’-wisp; CR 7 — ghost; heucuva; CR 7 salt shadow (see Attached Notes); spectre; vampire, elven*; CR 8 — mohrg; plant, dread treant*; CR 9 –plant, undead treant*; CR 9 CR 10 — plant, quickwood*; radiant spirit* CR 10 CR 11 — CR 11 crimson death, lycanthrope, werefox**; CR 12 — roper; CR 12 CR 17 — banshee†. CR 17 ** See Ravenloft Gazetteer I. † Although the banshees of the Black Rose’s retinue are fearsome creatures, most elven spirits within Sithicus are simply ghosts with the frightful moan or wail special attack: Wail (Su): During the night, the ghost can loose a deadly wail. This attack can slay a number of living creatures equal to 1/2 the ghost’s HD + the ghost’s rank within a 30-foot spread centered on the ghost, or within a 60-foot cone extending from the ghost, at the spirit’s option. A successful Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 ghost’s HD + ghost’s Cha modifier) negates the effect. Once a ghost wails, it must wait 1d4 rounds before it can do so again, and it can wail a number of times per day equal to no more than half its rank (rounded down, 1/day minimum).
112 Report Five remarkable form of mount: huge stag beetles, easily the size of a horse. These chitinous monsters are hardly tame, however, and can pose a serious danger to anyone but their rider. For this reason, the beetles are seldom brought into populated areas. Encounters with incorporeal undead, particularly the banshees that followed the Black Rose, are infamous in Sithicus. More than one traveler has met his end in the forests, far from home; to hear most foreigners speak of them, Sithicus‘ woods are overrun with the moaning ghosts. In actuality, however, encounters with such spirits are unusual and appear to have grown even scarcer in the last few years. The banshees supposedly still haunt the ruins of Nedragaard Keep, however, occasionally venturing along the edges of the Great Chasm — travelers beware. History he chronicle of Sithicus does not reach as far back into the past as those of its neighbors. Despite its brevity, the realm’s history is an active one, filled with as much treachery and strife as that of any land in the Core. The details of that history are divided between the obvious and the utterly obscure; the two are intermixed with such regularity that my notes on the subject remain choppy, incomplete. The mark left upon the land and its people by the one-time ruler of Sithicus, now referred to only as the “Black Rose,” remains vivid. Yet the despot’s true name, even the exact nature of the curse that earned him his sobriquet — these have proved impossible to ascertain with any degree of certainty. The Sithicans demonstrate remarkable apathy toward their own distant past and a palpably active desire to forget recent events. It is a bitter irony, for given elves’ extraordinary longevity, even living memory could stretch back centuries. Written records are scarce in Sithicus, though this was not always so. The larger elven communities house extensive historical and arcane libraries, but the contents of those airy structures have fallen into decay. The elves rely upon oral tradition to pass along knowledge from generation to generation. They seldom share their tales with outsiders, and with those not of elven blood even more rarely. As for the human minority, the inhabitants of those wretched communities usually lack the ability to read or write. Like the more cultured elves, these humans show great reluctance to recount folktales or reveal what they recall of local history. Yet their reluctance is not born of social snobbery or outright racism, as with their elven countrymen. Simple and profound fear prevents most human Sithicans from discussing the past. From tales gathered throughout the Core, particularly in Barovia and Invidia, I came to Sithicus with some knowledge of its past. Oddly enough, the stories I had been told proved accurate, even if the facts underlying their narratives were sometimes deeply buried by local bias and “artistic” elaboration. Reciting a few of these facts had a uniform effect upon the average Sithican: where a moment before he had been grim and steadfast in denying any knowledge of events more ancient than yesterday’s dawn, after hearing a few pointed comments about the “Black Rose” or the “Hour of Screaming Shadows,” the local would slip into a mournful, trembling silence that confirmed the truth of what I had said. Bah. The silence of cowards is feeble proof of a tale’s veracity. I know the truth of these tales already. The “destruction” of the cursed knight is merely bait on a hook — but my tormentors will not distract me now. Of Sithicus’ distant past, the elves revealed only this: their kingdom began on a distant world in a land ruled by a human knight — the Black Rose —who waged a war against the gods, planning to topple them from power. The gods charged the elves with the task of stopping the Rose’s hubris, but they failed. Then the gods themselves struck down the Black Rose, casting him into a misty abyss — our own world, as the elves describe it — and for their failures, the elves and their kingdom were dragged down to share his fate. Note that even this brief account is a mere approximation of the false history of Sithicus. Every elf who deigned speak of history offered a differing version of the tale, the details often varying widely. The Mists revealed the land of Sithicus in 720 BC, and from this point on facts are somewhat easier to come by. Earlier in that spring, the Black Rose first appeared in the annals of Barovia. Accompanied by a young, captive Vistana woman named Magda Ilyanova Kulchevich and a vicious dwarf and accused werebeast by the name of Azrael
113 Sithicus Dak, the Rose reportedly challenged Count Strahd X in his own castle and survived to tell of that foolhardy confrontation. Similar stories are told of the Rose battling Duke Gundar, late ruler of Gundarak. Through Vistani campfire tales I have learned that the brave young woman Magda escaped the Rose and remained in Gundarak even as her former captor passed on to Sithicus, where he seized the throne and reigned from the ruined tower known as Nedragaard Keep. For nearly two decades, Sithicus served as battleground for a long, bloody, and ultimately pointless conflict between the Black Rose and the wild elves of the Iron Hills. Whereas the elven aristocrats of the cities passively resisted the Rose’s rulership, the denizens of the Iron Hills waged an open and active war. They attacked traders, burned human settlements, and killed anyone serving the Rose who fell into their hands. The enmity of the Iron Hills bands to non-elves forced the humans to side with the Rose, albeit reluctantly. The Black Rose and Azrael Dak, now seneschal of Nedragaard, treated their human subjects with contempt and distrust. Even being suspected of sympathizing with the rebel elves was grounds for immediate execution, with the seneschal’s newly formed secret police — the Politskarae — fostering paranoia and fear among the humans and the supposedly neutral elven aristocrats. Travelers fared little better, with Azrael’s press gangs grabbing captives by the score and whisking them off to the front lines. As the civil war dragged on, the Black Rose appeared less and less frequently. By the time of the Great Upheaval in 740 BC, he had become a veritable prisoner inside the crumbling, blackened walls of Nedragaard Keep. Some began to wonder if he had been destroyed. As is so common in Sithicus, the truth was less extreme, but far more bizarre. The Black Rose had become enthralled by a group of memory mirrors, enchanted glass that allowed the Rose to submerge his mind in illusory variations of his disastrous life. For days, then weeks, and then months at a time, the Rose remained in his throne room, unmoving, lost in this reverie of what might have been. Azrael Dak made the most of his master’s inattention. He moved from securing troops loyal to — or at least fearful of — the Rose to mustering soldiers that served him above all others. He negotiated secret deals with the wild elves, promising the overthrow of the hated Rose and offering them rewards for allowing him to appear victorious now and then. When one of the larger bands rejected Azrael’s offers, the seneschal turned the others against them, so that soon the wild elves were as much a threat to each other as to the merchants, travelers and homesteaders who had started returning to Sithicus. Azrael capitalized upon their return, directing almost all the tax revenue collected to his private coffers. It is during this time that he most actively earned an unpleasant title he still proudly claims: “the Sorrow of Sithicus.” Given his reportedly limited intelligence and his explosive temper, Azrael almost certainly employed advisors who helped him accomplish these rather remarkable feats of cunning and diplomacy. Malocchio Aderre of Invidia is a likely candidate, though his alliance with the dwarf seems to have started some years after this period. More tantalizing are the stories of shadowy figures — little more than voices, really — that spoke to Azrael at the Lake of Sounds, a strange subterranean lake he discovered at about this time in a cavern off the deepest levels of the Veidrava salt mine. By the spring of 743 BC, Azrael effectively ruled Sithicus. Several strange occurrences marked this transition. Early in the year, all the flowers in the kingdom turned black. With the exception of the white roses that continued to grow in the Iron Hills, and a brief time in early 744 when their normal hue returned, Sithican flowers would bloom black for the next nine years. At the same time, the land was ravaged by a sickness known as Ashen Fever — often mistranslated from Sithican as “White Fever,“ no doubt confusing it with the Valachani epidemic. For much of the next decade, Azrael maintained his iron grip on the land. Yet he lacked the power to confront the Black Rose, who remained lost in his own mind, even after the memory mirrors were shattered in 744 BC. To gather the power to overthrow the Rose, the werebadger forged a twisted double alliance sometime after 750 BC — first with Malocchio Aderre of Invidia, then with a Vistana girl named Inza, daughter of his old nemesis, Magda Ilyanova Kulchevich. Madame Magda and her vardo, a group of outcast and orphaned Vistani known as the Wanderers, entered Sithicus in 738 BC and remained under the protection of the Black Rose. They had made their way to the domain after the birth of Magda’s daughter Inza two years earlier, in the now-conquered land of Gundarak, on the very
114 Report Five night Duke Gundar met his end. How they secured the Rose’s protection is unclear. I suspect Madame Magda held some secrets the Rose wished hidden, something perhaps only the Vistani could accomplish in this strange place. Whatever service it was that Magda performed for the Rose, Azrael surely wanted it terminated. His pacts with Malocchio and Inza meant the murder, in 752 BC, of Magda and almost her entire tribe. At almost the same moment, Invidian troops, bolstered by soldiers loyal to Azrael and the alwaysrebellious Sithican elves, laid siege to Nedragaard Keep. These appear to have been brilliantly orchestrated distractions, for even as the siege started, the treacherous seneschal himself completed a ritual deep within the Veidrava mine, in a cavern known as the Black Chapel. The result of this sorcery was the catastrophe that would come to be called the Hour of Screaming Shadows. To hear Azrael’s loyalists tell it, and none too convincingly, the Hour of Screaming Shadows was not the seneschal’s doing, but dark and potent magic wrought by best-forgotten gods who wanted to destroy the Black Rose and clear the way for Azrael to take control of Sithicus. In fact, the Ashen Fever Sometime after 720 BC, a disease crept slowly across Sithicus. At first, many did not realize that an actual sickness was to blame, mistakenly thinking its victims had simply succumbed to the effects of age. Indeed, when the disease first appeared, it infected the elderly. Eventually, however, the Ashen Fever spread to younger victims by the tens, then hundreds, and finally, after two decades, the thousands. The disease manifests as a simple fever at first, but progresses to a second stage marked by pustules and other sores that can last for years, even in a resilient person. Other signs as the disease progresses include bulging eyes and a general whitening of the flesh and hair with an overall stooping of the body. These symptoms initially fooled the populace into believing the victim had simply succumbed to early senescence. Almost as mysteriously as the Ashen Fever started, it died out. No one knows why for sure, and the slightest hint of a flush on someone’s face is enough to strike fear into those around her. No one knows if the Ashen Fever will strike again, and even those whose scarred, pock-marked faces forever identify them as survivors are not sure if they would be immune a second time. Ashen Fever (Ex): Contact, Fortitude DC 15, incubation period 1 year, damage special. Victims infected by Ashen Fever make Fortitude saves to resist the disease only once per year. Each time a victim fails this saving throw, her physical ability scores are modified as if she has aged by one age category (youth, adult, middle age, old, venerable; see Table 6–5: Aging Effects in the D&D Player’s Handbook). A victim “aged” past “venerable” dies. Each time the victim succeeds at the Fortitude save, her ability scores revert by one category to her “true” age. Ashen Fever never affects mental ability scores and has run its course when the victim makes enough successful Fortitude saves to restore her original age category. seneschal had made an almost insanely risky attempt to gain control of every shadow in the domain, hoping to use the power to annihilate the Rose himself. Yet the rite was foiled by a hero named Ganelon, known as “the Blessed” to the many people he’s helped throughout Sithicus or as “the Doomed” to those who know that such good deeds seldom go unpunished. The gathered shadows, freed from Azrael’s control, smashed back upon the land, destroying Nedragaard, the armies besieging it, and presumably its armored master before reuniting with their owners. The failure of his plan nearly drove Azrael mad, and he spent some months after the Hour of Screaming Shadows tearing through Sithicus in his war chariot, a ghastly contraption built of the teeth and bones of his slain enemies. He searched in vain for the missing Black Rose, who was seen no more in Sithicus. The remains of the once-imposing spire of Nedragaard Keep huddled atop a spike of rock in the Great Chasm. All that remained of the Rose were whispered tales and a lingering dread that he might return, such that the people still refuse to speak his name for fear of summoning him.
115 Sithicus The apparent destruction of his former master in 752 BC has left Azrael far worse off than he was before his schemes all failed. The destruction of the Invidian forces at Nedragaard collapsed his alliance with Malocchio Aderre, putting a bitter enemy on his doorstep to the north, and his mistreatment of Madame Magda and her Wanderers earned him the enmity of the Vistani. The promises he made to the wild elves remain largely unfulfilled, and the threat of renewed rebellion grows greater with each passing day. Worse still, though Azrael claims the throne of Sithicus, he is by no means the real power in the land. Where once the dwarf had commanded all but the title of Lord of Sithicus, he now commands the title alone. The secret ruler of the domain — the true dread lord at Sithicus’ heart — remains unseen, allowing this desperate little madman the limelight while he, she, or it schemes from the shadows. Like all secrets within Sithicus, this one is obvious, once one knows how to read the signs. Where the peasants’ hidden sins manifest upon their faces in their mournful expressions and bleak eyes, the hidden reign of the true dread lord of Sithicus is revealed in a disturbing trail of strangely savaged corpses and blasted, lifeless groves that hiss with awful whispering beneath the weird, tripartite moon. Former Darklord: The Black Rose The Black Rose (male human death knight ex-Pal9/Blk6, CE) ruled Sithicus from 720 to 753 BC. Born on an outlander world wracked by wars between draconic armies and meddling gods of good and evil, he began life as a valiant member of a respected knightly order. Despite his noble origins, the Rose harbored a lustful and jealous heart. He murdered his wife to pursue an illicit affair with an elf maid, but his crime was uncovered. The Black Rose fell from grace. Even as the Black Rose fell, a cleric rose to power. This high priest turned to evil in the name of good and threatened to usurp the throne of the gods. The Rose was granted one chance to redeem himself: a holy quest to stop the priest before the gods were forced to erase his madness with a terrible cataclysm. The Black Rose set forth, but the envious, spiteful sisters of his elf maid bride stopped him along the way. The elves lied, claiming that the Rose was not the father of his bride’s newborn child. Given the choice of stopping the apocalypse and returning home to confront his wife, the Black Rose abandoned his quest. The world was scoured. Even as flames rained upon the Rose’s keep, he struck down his wife and refused to save their infant son. The fires consumed him, but the gods denied him death, cursing him to live one lifetime for each of the millions lost. The Rose became an undead horror — a death knight (see Monster Manual II) — and his insignia, the red rose enameled on his shining full plate, was scorched black. The Black Rose brooded in his shattered keep for centuries as civilization slowly rebuilt itself, the painful memory of his failures the only reminder that he still existed. Eventually, draconic armies clashed again, and an evil warlord — the Blue Lady — dared to recruit the Rose as her henchman. Lust once again pulsed in the Rose’s ashen heart, and he betrayed the Lady to her foes at the moment of her triumph. He carried her corpse back to his ruin, intent on adding her to his undead retinue, but the Mists added him to theirs instead. After a brief trek across the Core, the Rose was granted Sithicus, a domain filled with maddeningly distorted echoes of his past. He heard that his Blue Lady’s spirit also haunted his realm, but he could never claim her. Even the Rose’s precious memories of pain deserted him, and he eventually sank into unfeeling despair. No one knows what became of the Black Rose following the Night of Screaming Shadows. Perhaps he truly was destroyed. Perhaps the Dark Powers released him, disappointed by his utter surrender to their torment. Or perhaps he was reclaimed by a curse even more powerful than that which had held him here.
116 Report Five Populace he majority of the folk who live in Sithicus — and the only group to hold any positions of prominence — are elves, or esthi (“people”) as they call themselves. A few Vistani pass through the country, either to barter with the locals or fleece them as is their way, while others are here on a holy pilgrimage to the Last (see below). The only Vistani exceptions are the Wanderers, a small band that constantly patrols the country, as if prevented from leaving the Sithican borders. A small population of displaced humans is present, mostly comprised of former workers from the Salt Mines of Veidrava. Either weakness or Azrael himself prevents them from returning to where the dwarf and his undead minions initially pressed them into his service. They are mostly a broken lot, forever damaged by their time in the darkness of the mines. A few have a twisted value to Azrael, though, as many will do anything for a few coins these days — things a saner person might avoid. The remaining humans tend to be merchants and craftsmen from Kartakass who have settled permanently within Sithicus due to marriage or some other type of entanglement with the Sithicans. With this mix, one finds a growing population of half-elves. Some of these children and young adults are the offspring of merchants who passed through the Sithican villages or of those who remain there today. Others are the result of couplings between the most destitute of the villagers who have clung to each other out of mutual desperation. I collected many tales of a final group in Sithicus, though I found it almost impossible to corroborate. Many villagers have reported a group of small, humanoid creatures living deep in the Fumewood and the Iron Hills. They appear to be halflings, but are reportedly ghastly, nocturnal, and nearly feral creatures. The villagers refer to these creatures as the most dangerous and xenophobic they have ever come across, and folk avoid the areas the creatures have claimed like the Ashen Fever. I even heard tales of these infamous recluses in Invidia, where Falkovnian mercenaries frequently referred to them as the bitterkinder: the “bitter children.” The Bitterkinder Deep within the Fumewood, a pocket of vampiric halflings has taken root. Although no one knows for sure, many say that the Black Rose used foul rites in 725 BC to draw hundreds of once-kindly smallfolk — the entire village of Kendralind — into Sithicus from his home world, then experimented on them unspeakably. Most of the captives died outright in the experiments. A very few escaped with their lives, if not unscarred. The remainder, more than 100, were transformed into wretched undead. These vampiric bitterkinder have long, wild, unkempt hair and a pale, sickly complexion, with mesmerizing red eyes devoid of any other color. The living and undead alike have a reputation for killing whoever crosses their path and have a deathly fear of strangers. The vampires despised the Black Rose, but they were forced to obey him. Inza holds no such power over them. While quite vicious and ruthless, the halflings do not mindlessly attack the populace, and they do warn trespassers not to approach their territory by setting up perimeters of poles around their encampment, topping each one with the head of a former victim. Oftentimes, a stranger can smell a camp of bitterkinder before she sees them, the stench of rotting flesh overwhelming the potential trespasser. No one knows why they fear others so much or why they go to such obvious lengths to dissuade strangers from crossing their path. What they fear and what they may be hiding deep within their gray, dank forests are questions that go unanswered, for anyone unwise enough to infiltrate their camp is never seen again. Except, perhaps, as a signpost. Sithican Vampires The halfling vampires created by the Black Rose are inextricably bound to Sithicus. Unlike the standard halfling vampire (see Denizens of Dread), these undead can rest anywhere in the domain, not just within a mile of their grave. They are instantly destroyed if they ever leave Sithicus, however, as if exposed to sunlight. So powerful is their bond, they suffer intense pain whenever they wander within a mile of the domain’s borders.
117 Sithicus Appearance Elven Sithicans share the traits of pointed ears, vulpine features and lithe frames with their Darkonian brethren. The civilized (or “high”) elves of Sithicus, however, are distinguished by the amber eyes and silvery hair most of them share. As with the elves of Darkon, Sithicans’ eyes reflect light like animals. The wild elves, I believe, are the closest to a true, primordial elven demeanor that one might find in these desolate lands. Although generally similar to their civilized kin, they let their hair grow long and mane-like. Their skin is somewhat darker than those who live in the cities. Their nature has become feral and twisted. They engage in ritual scarification, carving elaborate spiral designs into their flesh, and I have even heard rumors that they partake of cannibalism to make themselves purer and more elf-like. Fashion Both the domestic elves and the wild elves of the Iron Hills are a sad, pathetic lot. Their clothes and demeanor are shabby and worn. They favor drab colors, their jackets, tunics and leggings predominantly white, beige, ash or dark green-gray. Their armor is dented and their cloaks are frayed and torn. Much like their buildings, their belongings are in desperate need of repair, even though they are fully capable of creating exotic, formfitting fabrics. Fashion among the civilized elves is determined by caste; a trained eye can often tell a Sithican’s place in society at a glance. Those of the artisan and ranger castes, for example, prefer utilitarian garb, favoring loose tunics over tight leggings. Elves of the aristocratic caste prefer long, flowing robes, often spun from spider silk if tales are to be believed. Although seldom seen, elves of the arcane caste may be the most easily identified. Their black robes and tri-cornered headdresses are lined with silver and crimson trim, signifying the three
118 Report Five aspects of magic (see “Attitudes Toward Magic,” below). The wild elves dress like the primitives they are, covering themselves with however little tanned hide they require. Although they may differ in minor details of cut or hemline, the fashions of both cultures tend to be shared by both sexes. Language Sithicans speak Sithican, a dialect of the Elven tongue noted for its sibilants, which earns the Sithicans the derogatory nickname of the “hissing elves.” Speakers of the Darkonian and Sithican dialects of Elven can generally understand each other so long as both pay close attention, but Darkonian speakers may note pidgin elements within the Sithican dialect. To the learned ear, numerous Sithican words and phrases sound oddly dissonant, hinting that they may have been borrowed from languages otherwise unknown in these lands. Many elves also know enough Vaasi, Balok or Mordentish to deal with their neighbors, or a smattering of Kartakan to interact with those expatriates making up the majority of their human population. aristocracy, those few families born to rule. Several houses serve the ruling caste, forming the middle tiers of society. Elves of the artisan caste become Sithicus’ trained craftsmen, creating and (theoretically) maintaining all of the elves’ homes and goods. The greenshaper caste is tasked with overseeing agricultural concerns, including the great brambles protecting their communities. The ranger caste consists of the elves’ protectors, maintaining order within the towns and patrolling the wilds for external threats. The smallest of these castes, though likely not the least powerful, is the arcane caste, those elves who follow wizardly pursuits. Beneath these houses kneels the servants’ caste, those multitudes fated to spend their centuries of life tending to the needs of their betters. Naturally, all those folk who are not born into a higher caste — including all foreigners and non-elves (nesethi) — are considered no better than servants. Like everything else constructed by the Sithicans, the caste system is fraying at the edges. The elves remain dourly steadfast in their traditions, no longer sure why these customs were established. As Azrael’s power (and the Black Rose’s legacy) fades and the number of expatriates continues to grow, however, the younger generation of elves has begun to question the old ways. Even the oldest of these elves — those in their twenties or thirties — are still considered mere children within Sithican society, but perhaps this is the beginning of a new direction for the country. If so, I expect change to come at a truly glacial pace. All marriages are arranged within castes. The true “love match” is almost unheard of among the pure-blooded elves and so couplings are generally pale, passionless affairs. Elven parents produce only a few children, who are then raised and educated by their families at a distinctly leisurely pace. Of course, the elves can afford to take their teachings in fits and spurts; their aging slows by the year. By the time an elf is fully accepted as an adult by his peers, a human born the same day would have long since turned gray and gone to his grave. Like many of the folk who inhabit the Core, most Sithicans are simple subsistence farmers, hunters, or laborers. They eke out what they need to survive fairly handily on the land they have to work with. In fact, they are so competent in raising certain types of exotic vegetables that the produce has come into demand in some of the neighboring domains. The elves of Hroth have developed a growing vineyard whose wine, which they call the Sithican Primer English Sithican the sun rises (common greeting) e’roess the sun sets (common farewell) e’naess yes s no ust help! aos! go away! kelos! darkness loth stranger nelin forest sereon tyrant rothihir Lifestyle & Education The high elves living in the three main towns and surrounding areas adhere to a rigid caste system according to the family of one’s birth, which determines one’s lot in life, with each family responsible for specific tasks and duties. The highest caste is the
119 Sithicus Tears of Lethe, is growing in popularity throughout the Core. Truth is in wine say the elves, and that was never so accurate as with this label. After consuming only a glass, I found myself overcome by sadness and the burning desire to confess my most horrible secrets to a nearby stranger. other cursed soul. Sithicus is not their true land, and they subconsciously reject it as the land rejects them. Like so many of the floral specimens I have handled during my travels, the Sithicans are not unlike plants that cannot be transplanted to unfamiliar soil. While in Har-Thelen, I heard a remarkable tale. For years, the elves tried desperately to escape this “land of spectres.” When an opportunity finally arose for them to reclaim their freedom, however, most of the “natives” were struck with the horribly truthful realization that there was nowhere for them to return to. The Sithicans believe wholeheartedly that the world from which they were banished no longer exists. Like the Black Rose himself, it may have been destroyed or drawn into a deeper hell. Yet while the elves appear beaten down by their lot in life, they manage to perk up, as it were, whenever non-elf foreigners are around. They assume a subtly haughty air and deride their visitors in other subtle and not-so-subtle ways. Most foreigners are horribly overcharged for the most basic supplies, and only a lucky visitor secures a room, to which I can testify. Food and drink go to the non-elf last, and a Sithican will sometimes empty out his slop bucket just as a foreigner walks by. I barely missed a drenching more than once as I made my way around the kingdom. I suppose I cannot take these elves to task overly much, as I have seen firsthand how elves are treated in other countries during my travels. This is their way of turnabout. Unlike their civilized brethren, Sithicus’ wild elves live in small groups, much like wolf packs, with one dominant leader who must constantly defend his position from up-and-coming “youngsters.” Always on the move, they fight among other packs, although a few packs will work together on rare occasions, oftentimes when a large caravan passes near the Iron Hills. One pack chases the caravan from the rear, herding the unsuspecting travelers into an ambush by two or three other packs ahead of them. Typically, no victims survive, and everything portable is scavenged. Attitudes Toward Magic Sithicans believe that all arcane power flows from moonlight. Mind you, the elves also believe that the moon itself is the eye of one of their godwyrms (see “Religion,” below), with the magic it emits waxing and waning as the great dragon opens It would be worthwhile to determine whether this vintage retains its properties beyond the borders of Sithicus. Because of the market for their wine, produce, and the somber statues some elves carve from Sithicus’ ancient trees, trade has slowly increased within the domain. For the insular elves, it is a difficult transition. With gritted teeth, the Sithicans watch as small encampments of human merchants establish themselves along the Merchants’ Slash and other areas close to the three elven cities. In addition, these human communities are slowly drawing halflings into Sithicus, many of whom eventually add to the growing population of problematic bitterkinder. The only citizen who bears no qualms at all over the increase in expatriates is Azrael. His income has decreased since the loss of the Veidrava Salt Mines, so he is pleased with the growing piles of gold his trade tax has once more placed in his coffers. The overall air of the elves who inhabit the Sithican cities is apathetic, almost despondent. They take no joy from their lives and have few entertainments, often preferring simply to spend their free time in silent meditation. Even their music resembles funereal dirges, more fitting of the dour dwarves than the light and joyful elven artistry of my homeland. Yet the Sithican elves hold to the belief that this is the way their life is supposed to be, the way their forefathers must have lived (if their memories are to be trusted). They firmly believe that no matter what misfortune befalls the kingdom, they will survive like this. Their aristocracy is largely apathetic, no one is assertive, and I sense little likelihood of a leader unifying the various groups of elves in the near future. The only explanation for this behavior I can suggest is that the elves of Darkon claim to feel a close connection with the land they live on — as if they are literally a part of nature. Yet, as the Sithicans themselves claim (however impossible it may be to validate), these elves were brought here years ago with the distinct duty of torturing an-
120 Report Five and closes its eye. According to what little Sithican legend I could gather, three god-wyrms of magic once ruled the sky — one black, one silver and one crimson, each controlling one aspect of magic: destruction, creation, and transformation, respectively. Yet the legendary black wyrm Nuitari ate her sisters, and so only her black glow remained. The destructive aspects of magic — spells of death, doom, and necromancy — dominated those years, and thus magic fell under suspicion. Although the arcane caste continued to exist, its wizardly members seldom sought to draw attention to their training. With the recent dramatic change in Nuitari, however, the elves believe that Nuitari has merged with her sisters, bringing some balance back to the supernatural world. The arcane caste is once again emerging from the shadows to practice the occult arts openly. While Sithicans no longer see any harm in magic itself, they place their trust entirely in the hands of those who are trained in its use. Natural arcane talents such as sorcerers are considered inherently unstable. Should the elves discover a sorcerer in their midst, the hapless mage may face perilous, potentially fatal tests to prove his mastery over the forces he commands… and not vice versa. Religion No major religion is associated with those who dwell in the land of shadows and truth. While a few expatriates have brought their religious practices with them, such as the worship of Hala and Erza, they are the exception, not the rule. As far as I could discern, no active religious organizations operate within the borders of Sithicus. All that remains of the original elven religion are a few scattered ruins, whatever names they once bore stricken off, their statuary and icons seemingly blasted by lightning. Only through the closest scrutiny could I piece together even a partial account of the old Sithican faith. Apparently, these temples were once dedicated to dragons of godlike power, who continually fought among themselves for the right to devour the world. Of these godwyrms, the two most powerful were the Adamantium Wyrm, god of cold, reason and sunlight, and his mate the Many-Headed Devourer, goddess of heat and darkness, who devoured him and scattered his bones throughout the sky. The previous lord of Sithicus kept the elven population under his thumb. They had no time for leisurely activity or open, religious pursuits. After The Inconstant Moon: Nuitari To the naked eye, Sithicus shares a single moon with the rest of the Core. To some viewers, however, Nuitari takes on the appearance of a stained glass window. Creatures with supernatural or spell-like abilities sense the power lingering in Nuitari. Some morally neutral creatures see a rosette in its triple-hued glow, while others of evil bent notice more horrendous things in its face. To all, the landscape casts strange and mysterious shadows under Nuitari’s otherworldly glow. While the Black Rose ruled, Nuitari had a cycle of just eight days. Today, its cycle matches the rest of the Core, stretching over a full lunar month. While the moon is half-full to full, evilaligned arcane spellcasters suffer penalties to their occult defenses, while good or neutral arcane spellcasters receive bonuses. Only arcane spellcasters (not users of spell-like or supernatural abilities) are affected. These effects were reversed during the reign of the Black Rose. New Moon: Evil arcane spellcasters gain a +1 profane bonus to their saving throws vs. all spells and spell-like abilities. Those of good or neutral moral alignment suffer a 1 profane penalty to these saving throws. Crescent Moon: No effect. Half- or Gibbous Moon: Evil arcane spellcasters suffer a 2 sacred penalty to their saving throws vs. all spells and spell-like abilities. Those of good or neutral moral alignment receive a +2 sacred bonus to these saving throws. Full Moon: Evil arcane spellcasters suffer a 3 sacred penalty to their saving throws vs. all spells and spell-like abilities and effectively cast evil spells at one level lower than normal. Good or neutral arcane spell casters receive a +3 sacred bonus to these saving throws and effectively cast good spells at one level higher than normal. the Black Rose’s destruction, the nature of the land changed. That no religion has taken root in this new land of “truths” I find quite intriguing. Something for philosophers to ponder, perhaps?
121 Sithicus The Realm zrael Dak has been the titular ruler of Sithicus since the Black Rose’s disappearance in 752 BC in the Hour of Screaming Shadows. In the few scraps of official history put down in writing in Sithicus and in diplomatic communiqués from Azrael shown to me in other realms, the mad dwarf alternately claims that the Rose never existed or that he had been a mere figurehead, servant or puppet used to focus the animosity of the land’s many enemies. According to recent, official court history, “King Azrael I” has been the one true ruler of Sithicus since he first set foot there in 720 BC. No one I have met believes this, of course, and only the most fear-addled peasant even pretends it is true. That is not to say Azrael lacks power in his realm. The dwarf is a despot with tremendous resources at his command, and his edicts have a profound impact upon the day-to-day lives of the Sithican people. His control is far from complete, however. During the reign of the Black Rose, The Sithican Hero Races: Most Sithicans are elves, with smatterings of humans, half-Vistani, halflings and a growing population of half-elves. Sithicans are met with derision and hatred by the humans outside their borders and thus return the favor within their realm. While “true” Sithicans are disdainful, if not outright rude, to any foreigners and non-elves within their borders, PCs may be exempt from such racist behavior. Yet even they are growing concerned and fearful of the bitterkinder, the fastest-growing population of “new” Sithicans. Classes: Druids, fighters, paladins, rangers and wizards are the most common classes in Sithicus. In a desperate attempt to better understand the land Sithicans have finally chosen to inhabit, there is a growing trend among the elves to embrace the path of the druid. Acting as guardians of the forests, druids protect the woods from elf or human intervention. They serve as a medium between the land of spectres and elfkind, although some turn toward evil as they struggle with and misinterpret the nature they so desperately try to understand. Rangers are also highly respected, though not numerous. They protect the travelers passing through the elven forests, while both druids and rangers act as intermediaries between folk and nature. A select few from the growing numbers of halflings have turned to the life of the paladin, as younglings born to halflings who escaped with their lives have not grown up under the grim rule of the Black Rose. Wizards are also a growing number as more of them reveal themselves. Without the sorcerous presence of the Black Rose, many who studied for years in secret are slowly practicing their craft in public. Recommended Skills: Climb, Craft (bowmaking, carpentry, leathermaking, sculpture, weaponsmithing), Heal, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (geography, local, nature), Listen, Move Silently, Profession (brewer, cook, farmer, fisher, herbalist, innkeeper, lumberjack, tanner, woodcutter), Search, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Spot, Survival, Swim. Recommended Feats: Alertness, Combat Expertise, Craft Wand, Deflect Arrows, Dodge, Great Fortitude, Improved Unarmed Strike, Point Blank Shot, Run, Skill Focus (Knowledge [any], Move Silently, Survival), Sworn Enemy (see Van Richten’s Arsenal), Track, Weapon Focus (dagger, handaxe, longbow, longsword, quarterstaff, shortbow, shortspear). Sithican Male Names: Aramil, Aust, Eberk, Enialis, Heian, Himo, Ivellios, Laucian, Quarion, Ruric, Thamior, Tharivol and Veit. Sithican Female Names: Anastrianna, Antinua, Artin, Diesa, Drusilia, Felosial, Ielenia, Ilde, Lia, Qillathe, Silaqui, Valanthe and Xanaphia. Outcast Ratings in Sithicus Humans and halflings each have a base Outcast Rating of 3 when dealing with the xenophobic elves of Sithicus. Wild elves ignore all scarring-based OR modifiers.
122 Report Five Azrael derived much of his fearful reputation by bringing all who opposed him to the attention of his master, who could supposedly burn or freeze foes with a gesture or kill with a word. With the Black Rose gone, Azrael can no longer dangle that threat over anyone’s head. Azrael denies the existence of any rival to his authority, but that claim seems threadbare. Numerous resistance movements are brewing, though none of them yet holds any true might. Even if no one gives it voice, I suspect that the truth — and the real power in Sithicus — lies within the Great Chasm. During my travels, I collected several accounts of a seductive yet deadly Vistana, including a few accounts from those who identify her as none other than Inza Magdova Kulchevich, thought killed in the Night of Screaming Shadows. If this woman is indeed Inza, then to have survived the shadows she must indeed possess the power her foes attribute to her. The stories I have heard about her dark deeds suggest that the dwarf holds the reins of Sithicus only at her whim. Perhaps knowing his tenuous position makes Azrael’s recent treatment of his more mundane enemies so brutal, even beyond the natural viciousness the dwarf possesses in abundance. Not even Drakov is so extraordinarily brutal to those who fall into his clutches. No, this is cruelty borne of flailing desperation. Azrael’s power is fleeting, and he knows it. Government King Azrael’s mobile court moves from place to place as the whim strikes him. He cares little for the trappings of power, but revels in its exercise. A despot of the first order, he issues new edicts constantly, increasing taxes and declaring new ones or pressing his subjects into servitude as his needs demand. Old laws are rarely rescinded and the King’s Code remains largely unwritten. The resulting tangle of contradictory laws leaves interpretation to the local government officials and the military, who must rely upon memory rather than a written record. Opportunities for abuse are obvious and many. Sithicus’ dreaded secret police, the Politskarae, are rife with corruption. The agents are poor at hiding their affiliation with the secret police (the identity of the local politskara is usually well known in any community), but that does not lessen their power. Because revealing or even admitting to knowing the identity of one of Azrael’s secret agents Dread Possibility: The Blessed Knight In 753, reports first surfaced of a heroic warrior who rescued people in need along the road that skirts the Great Rift near the ruins of Nedragaard Keep. The armed and fully armored figure has been sighted many times since then, always in the same vicinity, always at moments of great peril for helpless travelers. Known only as the “Blessed Knight” by those he has rescued, the stranger refuses to speak or raise the visor of his helm, and makes his exit — vanishes, some say — as soon as danger has passed. Because the Blessed Knight has battled state soldiers, preventing them from abusing peasants and merchants, Azrael has established a sizeable reward for the hero’s capture or death. To date, no one has successfully cornered the man or even landed a blow against him in battle. His skills as a swordsman are remarkable, his strength prodigious. Some claim that the Blessed Knight is none other than the wandering hero Ganelon, also sometimes called the Blessed for his kindness and compassion. Ganelon has denied any connection to the armored rescuer, and he has no reason to lie about the matter. Yet the Vistani say that the key to the Blessed Knight’s identity lies within the ruins of Nedragaard Keep itself. They claim that the Black Rose spent so many years within the illusory worlds of his memory mirrors, dreaming of the hero he could have been, that he left some aspect of himself behind. When the memory mirrors were smashed, those illusions — images of the Black Rose as a mortal, had he never been damned — should have been destroyed as well. Instead, they were freed, given life by the very shadowstuff that blasted Nedragaard. Even so, the “Blessed Knight” would remain a mere illusion. These images seem to be gaining strength, showing signs of increasing intelligence and independence. The Vistani claim that this means they may be drawing strength from some unknown source. Perhaps, they whisper, the Black Rose truly was destroyed, but his essence is slowly being drawn back into the shadows he left behind.
123 Sithicus is a crime, the locals often find themselves in an awkward and dangerous position. They know who the agent is and even what he is planning, but cannot react for fear of summary execution. The Politskarae are charged with enforcing two very broad rules: every transaction in Sithicus should benefit King Azrael, and those who oppose the dwarf king’s rule must be punished. How to accomplish these goals is up to the individual agent, and oversight of the Politskarae is nonexistent. Azrael keeps his men loyal by keeping them well paid and allowing them to express their cruelty as they will. So long as tax money keeps flowing from an area and no open revolts break out, the secret police act as they please — much to the despair of the local population. The main stabilizing force is the elven aristocracy. Each of the three Sithican cities has a council made up of elders of the aristocratic caste, who advise, appoint and obey one leader, known as the Lord Speaker. The three Lord Speakers answer to Sithicus’ ruler, traditionally identified as the Lord of Nedragaard Keep. The noble houses live by complex but consistent codes passed down through oral tradition. While they will not openly challenge King Azrael, the elves follow his laws in appearance only. In matters of substance, when the dwarf king demands they change their rules to match his, the elven nobles fall back upon the maddening elven tactic of nigh-endless debate and delay. Given Azrael’s short attention span, the debate lasts much longer than his interest in the subject, and the elves can, eventually, let the matter drop without effecting any change at all. The elves’ own law enforcers, the honored families of the ranger caste, are few but elite, acting in whatever role required of them — soldier, detective or executioner. This is not to say that the elves escape Azrael’s machinations completely. The dwarf king shrewdly plays off rivalries and hatreds existing among the various elven houses. These feuds are intense, expressed more often by acts of political and social treachery than physical violence. In looking at the individuals who act as if they are politskara (obvious in most cases), it appears as if Azrael has placed agents where they will maximize inter-house tensions. Thus, he manipulates the aristocracy to accede to his demands more often than they realize. This struggle for power between Azrael and the elves hides a third actor upon the stage of Sithicus, one who wields more power than king and aristocracy combined. Inza’s court is never seen, and though she travels the land much like Azrael, she draws no attention to her presence. She puts her schemes in motion by manipulating and heightening the guilt of those within Sithicus’ borders. Anyone, at any time, might be acting upon her command. The locals understand that they are pawns to some dark force, some hidden lord — a knowledge that heightens the realm’s oppressive atmosphere. Inza’s long-term goal remains a mystery — one of the few real mysteries in Sithicus. Yet it is unlikely to remain hidden for long, given the domain’s curious nature. For now, she seems content to allow Azrael and the elves to battle for control of Sithicus, a prize she has already won and carried with her into the lightless depths of the Great Chasm. The only clear losers in this struggle are the Sithican people, who fully understand the injustice of their situation and the hopelessness of revolt. The nature of the realm denies them harmless, hopeful delusions that things will get better someday soon. The harsh truth is, they will not. Economy Trade among the humans in Sithicus is largely conducted through barter, with most eking out a living on subsistence-level farms. Trade among the elves is more robust, but they are reluctant to traffic with the local humans, whom they view as trespassers. The elves are more likely to deal with merchants from other domains, and much of the importexport business that occurs in Sithicus involves an elven merchant at some stage. The only significant exception is the salt trade, which Azrael conducts as a government monopoly. The elves frown upon the mines, but have thus far been ineffective in shutting them down. Ah, so you realize that the despot may be mad, but hardly a fool. The stunted little tyrant is cunning and tenacious. Now that he has declared Sithicus his “den,” this badger will not be removed as easily as some would boast.
124 Report Five The main resources in Sithicus are oats, cabbage, turnips, peppers, squash, peaches, grapes, sheep, goats, wine, timber, furs, salt, gems, crystal and cloth. The elves produce rare and exotic vegetables, spirits and crafts of incredibly fine quality. They harvest hardwoods rare to the Core, though they have threatened in recent years to stop all logging in Sithicus if human lumberjacks do not cease their incursions into the forests. The coinage of Sithicus is a holdover from the reign of the Black Rose, yet one more reminder of his existence despite all attempts to forget him. The gold piece is known as a “rose,” the silver piece a “crown,” and the copper piece a “sword,” for the symbols minted onto the face of each coin. The reverse side of each coin is morbidly marked with an elven skull. These coins have grown increasingly rare within Sithicus itself, though the elves may take years to agree on new designs. They are far more likely to be encountered in neighboring realms, before they are melted down for the value of their base metals. Diplomacy Sithicus remains relatively isolated from its neighbors, thanks to the elven population’s disdain of humans, to various failed alliances, to the occasional border skirmish, and to the perceived instability of Azrael’s claim to the throne. Sithican ambassadors are not welcome in most lands and are barely tolerated in those few courts that allow them access. Barovia: While most Barovians consider Sithicus an unnatural place, some in the realm’s western reaches — the lands gained during the collapse of Gundarak — maintain ties with former countrymen who fled south rather than remain subjects of Count Strahd. Much of Sithicus’ interaction with Barovia is founded upon informal networks of trading partners. In recent years, some former Gundarakites, tired of elven snobbery and the unsteady nature of Azrael’s rule, have returned to their ancestral lands. With each departure, the feeble lines of trade and communication with Barovia wither further. The dwarf king’s troops along the Barovian border now turn back Sithicans seeking to exit the realm, rather than preventing any theoretical incursions by Strahd’s troops. Invidia: Though Azrael shares Malocchio Aderre’s hatred of the Vistani, the Invidians have distrusted the Sithican ruler since the Hour of Screaming Shadows. The dwarf king returns that Law Enforcement The politskara below can represent any member of Azrael’s secret police. A number of humans have also been recruited to keep an eye on Sithicus’ emigrants; adjust these scores as needed. The Sithican ranger represents one of the lone, elite protectors who roam the forests on their stag beetle steeds, using their wild empathy to control the creatures. Their ranks are restricted to Sithican elves alone. Politskara: Politskara: Sylvan elf War2: CR 1; Medium humanoid (elf); HD 2d8–2, hp 7; Init +1; Spd 30 ft.; AC 17, touch 11, flat- Politskara: footed 16; Base Atk +2; Grp +2; Atk +3 melee (1d8/19–20, longsword) or +3 ranged (1d8/x3, composite longbow [+0 Str bonus]); Full Atk +3 melee (1d8/19–20, longsword) or +3 ranged (1d8/x3, composite longbow [+0 Str bonus]); SQ elf traits, low-light vision; AL NE; SV Fort +2, Ref +1, Will +0; Str 11, Dex 13, Con 9, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10. Skills and Feats: Intimidate +4, Listen +3, Search +3, Spot +3; Weapon Focus (longsword). OR 3 (racial). Possessions: Longsword, composite longbow (+0 Str bonus), 20 arrows, chain shirt, large steel shield, potion of cure light wounds. Sithican Ranger: Sithican Ranger: Sylvan elf Rgr2: CR 2; Medium humanoid (elf); HD 2d8+2, hp 11; Init +3; Spd 30 ft.; AC 16, touch 13, Sithican Ranger: flat-footed 13; Base Atk +2; Grp +3; Atk +4 melee (1d8+1/19–20, masterwork longsword) or +5 ranged (1d8/x3, composite longbow[+1 Str bonus]); Full Atk +4 melee (1d8+1/19–20, masterwork longsword) or +5 ranged (1d8/x3, composite longbow[+1 Str bonus]); SA favored enemy +2 (varies; usually undead); SQ elf traits, low-light vision, Track, wild empathy, combat style (archery); AL LN; SV Fort +4, Ref +6, Will +1; Str 13, Dex 17, Con 12, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 8. Skills and Feats: Handle Animal +4, Hide +7, Listen +5, Move Silently +7, Ride (horse) +8, Search +6, Spot +5, Survival +5; Mounted Combat, Rapid ShotB, TrackB. OR 3 (racial). Possessions: Masterwork longsword, composite longbow (+1 Str bonus), 20 arrows, masterwork studded leather armor.
125 Sithicus suspicion in kind. Tensions between the two lands are very high, and trade and diplomacy all but nonexistent. Kartakass: Kartakass is the closest thing Sithicus has to an ally, but the relationship can be chalked up to the aggressive expansionism of the Kartakan merchants more than any shared political vision. In recent years, the dwarf king has come to appreciate the Kartakans, as the rest of his neighbors are unwilling to trade with him directly, even for such rare and highly valued items as elven spirits and salt. The elves of Sithicus do not share his enthusiasm, particularly due to the presence of Kartakan lumberjacks. Valachan: Baron von Kharkov is publicly contemptuous of Azrael, and Valachani patrols are especially strong along the border between the two realms. The soldiers’ stated mission is to prevent the spread of unrest from Sithicus, but the Black Leopards are actually trained subversives who creep into the dwarf king’s domain to foster unrest. While Azrael does not suspect von Kharkov’s secret desire to annex Sithicus — he has returned von Kharkov’s public contempt by stationing few troops along the border, as if the Valachanis could never be a threat — some other force within the kingdom recognizes the danger. In recent months, many Valachan spies have met with a prompt and grisly death, particularly those who travel close to the Great Chasm. Verbrek: The most adventurous of the Sithican elves have traveled to Verbrek to pit their woodlore and tracking skills against the packs of unnatural wolves said to roam the forest there. For the majority of Sithicans, the terrifying stories of Verbrek’s werewolves kill any interest in visiting that land. Where Verbrek’s river merchants can gain access to Sithicus, they do some light trading, particularly in timber and the strange vegetables grown by the elves, which are unknown in other parts of the Core. Sites of Interest ecalling many points of interest along the rambling route I took through Sithicus is hard. Do not misunderstand me. The country was completely devoid of mysterious corners — far from it. I simply find calling forth unique memories difficult. Almost everything is clouded with a sense of familiarity. No matter where my feet led me, I always had the vague feeling that I had been there, or someplace very similar, before. Though my recollection of my travels may be muddled, my journals are thankfully clearer. Several areas still haunt me. Mal-Erek The elven village of Mal-Erek sits just south of Verbrek on the Little Arden, west of the Breadth Forest. This insular community, despite the road passing through its walls and the small, ramshackle docks amid its northern brambles, sees relatively few visitors. I felt the hard looks from the dour elves who populated the city and knew they wanted my gold and then wanted me on my way. I barely had the chance to glance into the library I discovered before the rude stares drove me out. The Library of Mal-Erek is a true pity: once its towering shelves held arcane secrets to rival the collection of any Darkonian mage, but most books have rotted into mulch. The elven librarian seemed to bear no interest in me or the state of ruin around her. Before I left, however, I went looking for her in the stacks, hoping to give her a piece of my mind. Naively, I was not yet aware of how endemic Sithican apathy truly is. I caught sight of the librarian as I rounded a corner, and in that instant, witnessed something unnerving. The elf maid had taken one of the books into a secluded corner and there was eating it, one strip of sodden vellum at a time. To what end, I cannot even guess, and I did not stay to ask. Where to Stay in Mal-Erek Considering the reception I received upon entering the deteriorating city, I was surprised to discover that there were actually two inns within the crumbling walls of Mal-Erek. Neither is worth their cost. Between the Dirge of Sellisa (common quality rooms, no meals) and Aeir’s Tears (common quality rooms, poor quality meals), I would recommend the latter. Neither inn has many rooms, Mal-Erek (village): Mal-Erek (village): Conventional; AL NE; 200 gp Mal-Erek (village): limit; Assets 5,000 gp; Population 500; Isolated (elves 94%, half-elves 3%, humans 2%, other 1%). Authority Figures: Claos the Elder, male elf Wiz6 (Lord Speaker). Important Characters: Nuenel (librarian and lorekeeper), female elf Wiz3.
126 Report Five but Aeir’s Tears does boast a small kitchen and meager meals. I found it more comfortable to stay there than to search out a tavern separate from my accommodations. Hroth With ferns curling up between every cracked stone in the Elf Road, I found the short trek south from Mal-Erek unexpectedly arduous. Hroth, the largest settlement in Sithicus, appeared little different from Mal-Erek at first glance: hard to find from the outside, decaying on the inside. Although it follows the same concentric layout common to elven communities, it lacks Mal-Erek’s docks and has only one entranceway. Extensive marshland stretches to the southeast all the way to the distant banks of the Arden. The elves of Hroth often dispose of their dead in the bogs dotting this swamp. Many strange things are preserved within their peat-choked waters, most famously the hulking, horned ancient dead that emerged to do battle with van Richten and the local rangers in 724 BC. Hroth sees few visitors, but paradoxically it has a somewhat larger relative population of humans and halflings than Mal-Erek. These
127 Sithicus folk are as reclusive as their elven hosts and are moderately tolerated as long as they respect the locals’ desire for quiet. Where to Stay in Hroth I had more luck finding a few choices where to stay and where to eat in this forlorn city. There were still only two inns, the Climber’s End (poor quality rooms, common quality meals) and the Sighing Maid (common quality rooms, poor quality meals). Both had small dining halls; I chose the former because a few humans were already staying there. Less than two weeks in Sithicus, and I was tired of being the only outsider. Those humans at the Climber’s End appeared to be a band of adventurers, gathering supplies. When I asked where they were headed, one of them simply nodded to the south, toward the Disappearing Hills, and said, “We’re going to find out what’s on the other side.” I stared out the window a long time after them as they left, mesmerized by their naïveté. I knew in my heart that they would never return, yet a part of me hoped it. No amount of gold, however, would have persuaded me to follow in their footsteps. As my survey of the Core is now nearing completion, I will be most satisfied to return home to Darkon. accepted as the “capital” of Sithicus, despite being little more than half the size of Hroth. Har-Thelen is organized behind its weedchoked walls in a series of concentric circles. Its most active areas extend from its outermost ring. A fairly verdant plain stretches north of the town, following the banks of the Musarde, and the local noble and greenshaper castes are currently cooperating to develop a vineyard that could probably turn quite a profit. Har-Thelen’s docks are unusually well-kept for a Sithican community. This town has the largest mixed population, strongly bolstered by its river traffic. The races tolerate each other no better here than in the other elven settlements, however; the non-elves are simply more prevalent. To avoid trouble, most non-elves congregate near the extensive docks. Those docks exist thanks to the town’s former Lord Speaker, Mason of Har-Thelen. Unusually ambitious for a Sithican noble, Mason doggedly bullied the artisan caste into repairing and maintaining the city docks and pressed for increased trade with Kartakass and Invidia. Mason, though, was also known to resent Azrael’s brutal intrusions and steep taxes, while Azrael supposedly preferred his elves compliant. After the Black Rose fell from power, the two came to loggerheads, and Mason was forced to vacate his post hastily — the only time the title of Lord Speaker has changed hands within memory. Current Lady Speaker Ciyriia is new to her post, and much more of the docile mold Azrael prefers. Mason’s current fate is unclear. Some believe he is dead or has fled into exile. Others whisper that he still haunts the region, trying to organize an underground resistance to bring down the mad dwarf‘s regime. Where to Stay in Har-Thelen There was little choice in the central city of Sithicus for a non-elf. The only inn that would even consider letting me in the front door was the Wailing Banshee (poor quality rooms, no meals). The rooms were meager in terms of supplies, and there was no dining hall or any other place where the guests could gather. Therefore, I had to seek out another spot to refresh myself. After a bit of a search, dodging refuse and chamber pots that always seemed to empty in front of me regardless of which winding, pot-hole infested path I chose, I discovered a hidden treasure. You speak too soon, my little scholar. Your labors are not nearly done. Hroth (small town): Hroth (small town): Conventional; AL N; 800 gp Hroth (small town): limit; Assets 37,600 gp; Population 940; Isolated (elves 91%, humans 4%, half elves 3%, other 2%). Authority Figures: Ieree Mylindan, female elf Drd6/ Wiz4 (Lady Speaker). Important Characters: Klannyn Sirr (local guide), male human Ftr4/Exp8; Tileara (herbalist), female elf Drd5/Wiz4. Har-Thelen Nestled in the center of the country, HarThelen sits on the banks of the Musarde. Nedragaard Keep and the Great Chasm lie just a day’s hard hike down a rocky road to the east, separated from the town by the Krellin River. Due to its location, HarThelen sees the most foreign traffic and has squirmed under the firmest grip of the Lord of Nedragaard Keep. For these reasons, Har-Thelen is widely
128 Report Five Whether it was because of the warm fire, or the excellent wine, or the fact that folk actually spoke to me, I was quite taken with the Banshee’s Tears Tavern (common quality meals). The food was unremarkable but warm, and the wine from the local vineyards was wonderful and powerful. This was the only spot in any of Sithicus’ three cities where I did not feel like a pariah. And that says much. ately afterward and desecrated the mass grave that held the Vistani; their bodies were never found. “That doesn’t mean,” she explained to me, “that no one has ever seen them since, though.” When I asked her to elaborate, she told me that many folk traveled to “The Last,” as the spot is called. “Some to seek the otherworldly gold that supposedly litters the forest floor,” she said, “while the occasional Vistani traveler treks to the spot as though on a holy pilgrimage.” I believe I located the spot not far from the Merchants’ Slash. No marker identifies the area, but I found a clearing some forty feet wide with what looked like the remains of a few rotted vardos along one edge. Off to one side was what might have been a mass grave: a pit that could easily have held perhaps twenty human-sized bodies, though nothing but worms wriggled there now. The place was eerily still, and I found myself holding my breath. I moved about quietly and thought that I heard whispers around me, but it was probably just the wind and the ceaseless creak of the pine boughs. Before I left the spot, I thought I spied something winking in the twilight on the forest floor. It may have indeed been a piece of gold, but I decided against investigating and left the clearing before the last of the evening light failed. I did not want to chance desecrating the place and have some vengeful Vistani spirit hounding me for the return of its treasure. The Black Chapel I am afraid I must base all of my information on this infamous locale on word-of-mouth. I went so far as to locate Veidrava and approach what must have been the salt mine’s entrance, but I went no further. Some putrid, saline stench wafted from the abyssal crack, and I struggled to keep down my meager meal. I am sure that something or someone had died down that hole some time ago. I did not care to find out what it was. As I vacillated between keeping my breakfast and gathering more information for you, dear patron, a strange foursome approached and made to stop me from venturing any further. Three of the four appeared human, and judging by their somewhat colorful garb, I deduced they were Vistani. That in and of itself was odd, as few of their kind wander through Sithicus these days. The final companion, however, was truly a rare sight, some kind of gray-skinned giant, perhaps twelve feet tall. As a lone traveler, I should have Har-Thelen (village): Har-Thelen (village): Conventional; AL LE; 200 gp Har-Thelen (village): limit; Assets 5,000 gp; Population 500; Isolated (elves 88%, half elves 10%, humans 1%, other 1%). Authority Figures: Ciyriia Mathrund, female elf Drd5/Wiz3 (Lady Speaker). Important Characters: Giogi Tharper (tanner), male human Ftr5; Tyrlyra Tharper (herbalist/healer), female elf Drd3; Mason (resistance leader), male elf Rog5/Wiz3. The Last Stand of the Vistani Northeast of the ruins of Veidrava, past the Musarde and the Merchants’ Slash and east of the central Fumewood, I heard mention of a clearing with a pathetic history. Some of the residents of Har-Thelen mentioned the spot to me. In a hushed tone, one of the elves told me over warm wine one evening in the local tavern in Har-Thelen that a band of Vistani known as the Wanderers broke their oath to a kinsman many generations in his grave and lingered more than one night in the same spot — that clearing. A horrible fate befell the eighteen or so Wanderers. A band of Malocchio Aderre’s ogres ambushed them, decimating their ranks and leaving almost no survivors. At this point, the speaker lowered his voice even more as he continued the tale. “If it weren’t for the Black Rose,” he slurred, “they would have all died.” He stopped suddenly, casting a fearful eye on the tavern occupants, as though he had broken some terrible oath by mentioning the Rose aloud. When he realized the others, including his companion, were not going to strike him dead for it, he finally continued. He told me that the ogres were all massacred; as they died, their swollen purses burst open and covered the ground with a blanket of coins, some of whose country of origin could never be determined. The woman, who I assume was his wife, added that someone or something came along immedi-
129 Sithicus felt threatened by such a strange collection of men, yet I felt oddly sure that I was quite safe. The oldest of the group came over to where I was poised, inspecting the fissure, and held out a hand in warning. “You don’t want to go down there,” he cautioned. “I have to agree with you,” I replied. “But, since you know I shouldn’t venture in, you must know what’s down there. Tell me.” The older man consulted his other companions with a glance before turning back to me. “I have heard of an unholy chapel in the depths, a Black Chapel carved from the very salt itself. Carved with harts and hounds and other things that belong in the daylight.” “It is below the mine,” the giant added. “It is older than the mine.” One of the younger men, dressed decidedly better than his companions, chimed in, “And there are melted benches and a melted altar. Nothing a fine lady such as you needs to trouble herself with.” “Unless, you are looking for trouble,” added the youngest, with a touch of something less friendly than a warning in his tone. “Piotr, mind yourself a bit better,” the oldest admonished him. “The only thing I have in mind is satisfying my curiosity,” I told them. “Curiosity can be a dangerous trait in these parts,” the giant warned me, “and there are things down there far worse than the Chapel.” “Such as what?” I asked them. “If it will keep you from meddling where you shouldn’t,” the oldest finally said, “then I shall tell you.” Yet before he could continue, the giant started his tale. The Lake of Sounds “Beyond the Black Chapel, a series of tunnels wind their way deeper into the bowels of this cursed spot. The tunnels themselves were dug out by someone… or something,” he corrected himself somberly, “with very large claws.” I was hardpressed not to laugh at his earnest expression when he held up his own, stone-colored hands impersonating the claws — that is, until I realized how serious he was. “Whatever created those tunnels probably still haunts them. Beyond the defiled altar, a tunnel leads down several hundred feet, the stench of brine more overwhelming with every step, choking out almost all breath.” I could tell by his description that this giant, so out of place here in the land of shadows and truth, had been there himself. “Finally, a purple glow starts to fill the tunnel and you know you are near,” he lowered his voice, overcome by some unnamed emotion. “Near to what?” I asked. “The Lake of Sounds,” the older man finished for the giant. “A huge underground lake that spans an enormous cavern. Along the stalactites and the cavern ceiling, a luminous purple moss grows and fills the chamber with its sickly light. The black Secret Society: The Wanderers Sometime after escaping from the Black Rose in 720 BC, Magda Kulchevich gathered a odd mix of other Vistani to her side — those whose families had been murdered or destroyed, just as the Black Rose had wiped out her tribe. Eventually, her band numbered nearly two dozen. Yet the raunie and her people were betrayed by she who should have been closest to the revered Magda: her own daughter Inza. Nearly all of Magda’s caravan members were destroyed, save for three men: the older Alexi, the creature-comfort loving Nikolas, and the angry Piotr. After Inza’s plot to destroy the Black Rose was foiled, the three Vistani were joined by a fourth member: a stone giant named Nabon. Because of the magically endowed boots the giant sports, he has an unusual connection to the Vistani survivors as well as a different connection of blood debt to Inza, who kept him hobbled and imprisoned in the Veidrava mine for years. Together, the four make up a group known today in Sithicus as the Wanderers. They patrol the countryside over and over, spoiling as many of Azrael’s plans as they can, preparing for the day they will meet with the true darklord of Sithicus and finally have their revenge against her. Only then will their wandering finally come to an end. Further details on the Wanderers can be found in Heroes of Light.
130 Report Five waters cast no reflection back and are even supposed to be poisonous. The black waters move of their own accord, and the cavern echoes with whispers that never cease. “After the horrendous Hour of Screaming Shadows, I don’t know that anyone other than that werebadger, Azrael, has ever come back from a visit to those fetid waters. And even he has a fearful look about him when he returns.” “If what you say is true,” I said, “why would anyone else try the journey?” “Gold,” the older man replied. “What other reason ever motivates beings to attempt the foolish things they do?” I would have liked to speak to the odd coalition of men longer, but the oldest politely mentioned that they needed to continue their journey, and I could see the younger men were already anxious to move on as I was obviously not a damsel in despair. “Where to?” I asked. “To the end,” the giant responded and the four continued on. Our paths never crossed again. Final Thoughts Once one has suffered through even a few hours in the blighted land of Sithicus, I cannot imagine any sane person returning by choice to this doom-bowed place. The strange threat of truth the domain presents is unsettling in ways I never could have imagined before coming here. I no longer wonder why the rulers of the Core have shunned this kingdom or its people. These cold months have been sorely trying, my dear patron, and at times harrowing. This endless forest weighs heavily upon me, and I yearn for the grassy plains and broad skies of Nova Vaasa. Intellectually, I understand that the sense of guilt which plagues me here is nothing more than a phantasmal manifestation of Sithicus’ planar fabric, no stranger than our memory-leeching homeland. Yet, at an emotional level, these accusations will not let me deny their essential truth. I feel like a madwoman straining to be sane, but forced to judge sanity through the filter of a deranged mind. I am due to meet with one of your lackeys at dusk, when I shall deliver this, my latest folio. That done, I shall spare no time in leaving these wretched woods behind. Fortunately, I have already made arrangements with a Vistana I happened upon earlier today. He had an underfed, haggard look about him, and seemed most eager as I dropped my coins in his scarred palm. An escapee from the Dukkar, perhaps? I will have to ask. Regards, S So at last the hounds have found my fox. I warned the impudent little fool against relying on the gypsies. Now it begins.
131 Attached Notes Attached Note<: DM’< Appendix Men die nightly in their beds, wringing the hands of ghostly confessors, and looking them piteously in the eyes — die with despair of heart and convulsion of throat, on account of the hideousness of mysteries which will not suffer themselves to be revealed. — Edgar Allan Poe, “The Man of the Crowd” Attached Note<: DM’< Appendix
132 DM’s Appendix This section offers new material for the Dungeon Master to include in her campaign. If you are a player, you should stop reading now. Poison Politics orcan contracts are written in ink but underlined with venom. The following section expands on the rules for crafting poisons found in Song and Silence. Although the use of deadly toxins is an art form in Borca, it is hardly unique to that land. Creating Poisons Characters can use any of three overlapping skills to create poisons: Craft (alchemy), Craft (poisonmaking) and Profession (herbalist). Profession (herbalist) is used to prepare any plant-based poison, while Craft (alchemy) is used for poisons extracted from animals or more esoteric ingredients. Craft (poisonmaking) can create any poison, but does not provide the extra abilities included in the other two skills. Regardless of the actual skill used, creating poisons follows the rules for making items with the Craft skill (see the Player's Handbook), with the following exceptions. The DCs to create poisons in the Dungeon Master's Guide are listed in Song and Silence. Raw Materials: The cost of a poison’s raw materials is determined by their rarity. Very Common: The ingredients are readily available and cost 1/6th of the market price. Very common poisons are mild and often grown in herbal gardens for medicinal use. Common: The poison’s ingredients appear naturally in the region and can be gathered without unusual difficulty. The poison’s raw materials cost 1/3 of the market price. Many plant- and animal-based poisons are common in Borca’s forests, though rare in foreign lands. Rare: The ingredients can be found regionally, but only with considerable effort. The poison’s raw materials cost 3/4 the market price. Most poisons have rare ingredients. Very Rare: The raw materials cannot be bought at any price. At the DM’s discretion, a character planning to prepare a poison with very rare ingredients may need to undergo a special quest to gather the raw materials. Poisons extracted from powerful monsters — such as dragon bile or lich dust — are very rare. Crafting Mishaps: If a character fails a Craft check while creating a dose of poison, then in addition to the standard repercussions she must succeed at a DC 15 Reflex save or expose herself to her own toxic brew. Characters with the poison use ability (such as assassins, blackguards, and court poisoners) are exempt from this condition. Table 6–1: New Poisons Poison Type Initial Damage Secondary Damage Craft DC Market Price Banewort Ingested DC 17 Special Special 25 150 gp Belladonna Ingested DC 13 1d3 Con Special 15 60 gp Borrowed Time Ingested — Special Special 25 360 gp Coma spores Inhaled DC 16 2d4 Wis and special 2d4 Wis and special 18 240 gp Cyanide Ingested DC 16 1d4 Con 1d6 Con 15 120 gp Dewplum Ingested DC 18 1d4 Str 1d4 Str 15 90 gp Foxglove Ingested DC 16 1d8 Int 1d6 Con 20 500 gp Hemlock Ingested DC 18 1d6 Dex 1d8 Con 20650 gp Henbane Contact DC 15 1d6 Wis 1d4 Wis and special 20 600 gp Gust oil Ingested DC 13 — Special 15 90 gp Passionflesh fruit Ingested DC 13 1d2+1 Con 1d2+1 Wis — 50 gp Royal morel Contact DC 20 2d6 Con 2d4 Str 25 3,000 gp Sightrot Contact DC 17 Special Special 20240 gp Silphium resin Ingested DC 15 — Special 15 15 gp Staggersap Injury DC 15 Staggered Staggered 2060 gp Strychnine Ingested DC 16 1d6 Dex 1d6 Con 15 240 gp Twin shudders Ingested DC 14 1d2 Con 1d2 Con 25 180 gp Wolfsbane Injury DC 18 1d4 Con 1d8 Con 15 1,500 gp
133 Attached Notes New Poisons Borcans cultivate many natural poisons, often putting them to beneficial use in minute doses. These minute doses cost 1% of the listed market price, but their game effects are cosmetic. Banewort: Banewort must be blended with another herbal substance (such as garlic or wolfsbane) before it can take effect. A character ingesting prepared banewort temporarily develops an allergic reaction to the selected herb, lasting 2d4 hours after ingestion. During this time, the victim’s skin breaks out in a painful rash (dealing 1d6 points of nonlethal damage) whenever she comes in direct contact with the selected bane. Belladonna (Deadly Nightshade): This plant bears bell-shaped flowers of dark purple tinged with green. Borcan noblewomen use diluted drops of its juice to dilate their pupils, increasing the brilliancy of their eyes. It has medicinal uses in relieving pain. Ezrite folklore (incorrectly) holds that eating larger doses of belladonna can prevent the onset of lycanthropy. In doses of this size, belladonna causes convulsions, then hallucinations (as the madness effect) and loss of voice for 1d6 hours. Borrowed Time: Ivan Dilisnya commands fanatic loyalty among his inner circle of servants, guards and spies through this insidious poison. This toxin courses permanently through the veins of Ivan’s key minions, laying a death sentence only Ivan can stay. A creature poisoned with Borrowed Time suffers 3d6 points of temporary Constitution damage each day at sunset unless she ingests an elixir dubbed “Mercy” less than 10 minutes prior to sunset. Ivan doles out Mercy each day, though even the appearance of disloyalty can provoke him to withhold it at the last moment. Borrowed Time does not function like most poisons, but remains active in the victim’s system for the rest of her life. A dose of Borrowed Time must be ingested each day for seven consecutive days for it to take effect. The time and cost involved makes it impractical for Ivan to inflict this poison on anyone but a select cadre of his own servants. Only Ivan holds the secret to creating Borrowed Time and Mercy (Craft DC 12; Market Price per Dose: 5 gp). Caldura Roses: Living creatures (with a sense of smell) that rest quietly for 24 hours within 10 feet of a living caldura rosebush gain a +2 enhancement bonus to Fortitude saves to recover from negative levels, disease and similar long-term ailments for as long as they remain near the rosebush. Cut caldura roses, however, impose a –2 enhancement penalty to all such saves. If living and cut roses are mixed together, their effects cancel each other out. Coma Spores: Creatures inhaling this fungal powder sink into a deep torpor. Victims who cling to consciousness gradually recover as normal, but those reduced to 0 Wisdom or below are plunged into a deep, dream-wracked slumber from which they cannot wake. Such victims recover Wisdom damage only through magic or the application of the only antidote, Rapture (Craft DC 15; Market Price per Dose: 120 gp). Borcan poisoners use coma spores as a method of taking hostages, making demands of the victim’s kin in return for the antidote. Cyanide: Extracted from the pits of cherries, peaches, or apricots and from bitter almonds, cyanide prevents the victim’s blood from replenishing the body’s tissues, quickly leading to suffocation. Dewplum: Dewplums’ flesh and juice are highly poisonous. Dewplums can be distinguished from wild plums only by the glistening sheen of pearl-like moisture droplets that condense on their skins. Foxglove: These thimble-like wildflowers range from yellow to crimson to lavender. The blossoms and leaves are ground into a sweet-tasting extract used to treat heart ailments. In larger doses, foxglove causes visual hallucinations and mental confusion, ending in heart failure. Hemlock: These herbs resemble wild parsnips; clusters of small white flowers sprout from purple-splashed stalks. The thick yellow sap is a deadly poison identifiable by a strong, unpleasant odor resembling vermin. Hemlock attacks the nervous system, creating a brief sensation of excitement quickly followed by paralysis and death. Henbane: Henbane is a grayish-green, sticky plant that emits a foul aroma. In extremely limited doses, it is used to treat headaches and insomnia, but in greater amounts it causes dementia. Treat a failed Fortitude save as a failed Madness save, with the degree of failure determining the severity of the madness effect as normal. The madness effect persists only until all Wisdom damage lost to the henbane is recovered. Gust Oil: Victims loses all sense of taste for the next 1d6 hours. Although the effects of this colorless, odorless liquid are mild, poisoners use it to conceal the distinctive taste of more lethal concoctions.
134 DM’s Appendix Passionflesh Fruit: Passionflesh is cut into eight slices. After ingesting each slice, a character must succeed at a DC 13 Will save or desire to eat another section. If more passionflesh is not immediately available, the craving lasts for 4d8 minutes, during which time the character will hungrily seek it out. Royal Morel: These large mushrooms bear lavender stems and spongy, vein-covered caps of deep purple. Rivulets of poison ooze from the cap, rendering it poisonous to the touch. Among the deadliest toxins in the poisoner’s arsenal, royal morel is rare even in Borca. Sightrot: If a victim fails one saving throw against sightrot, her vision grows dark and bleary, halving her range of vision and imposing a –8 competence penalty to all Search and Spot checks. If a victim fails both saving throws, she is blinded. Blindness improves to impaired vision after one hour, and impaired vision fades after another hour. Silphium Resin: Silphium is a leafy herb with thick roots, so medicinally popular that it has been harvested into extinction in the wild and is now grown only in Borcan herbal gardens. Its resin alleviates all manner of minor ailments, but it is most effective as a form of birth control. Dissolving a pea-sized ball of silphium resin in wine and swallowing it prevents (or quickly ends) pregnancies for 1d3 days. Staggersap: These slender mauve toadstools glisten with an intoxicating poison. Victims become disoriented and are staggered for 1d4 minutes per failed save. If a victim fails both saving throws, the duration stacks. Strychnine: In minute doses, this plant extract is used as a restorative to increase appetite. In greater amounts, it causes paralysis and muscular convulsions, leading to a sudden and painful death. The Twin Shudders: This complex poison is comprised of two separate liquids, both pale violet. Each liquid is inert by itself, but when a creature ingests both liquids within an hour of each other, they combine to induce shortness of breath or even suffocation with high enough doses. Poisoners value its ability to subvert detect poison spells and similar protective magic. Wolfsbane (Aconite): In minute doses, aconite root is used in ointments to soothe fevers. Wolfsbane is lethal in larger doses, causing nausea, giddiness and the sensation of crawling skin rapidly followed by death, and is often used in poisoned bait to kill wolves and such predators. New Feats he following feats are particularly appropriate for characters from the southwestern Core, though the DM may allow them elsewhere at her discretion. Cat’s Eyes Valachani are occasionally born with disturbing, bile-yellow eyes. These people are said to have cat spirits in their ancestry and are feared and respected for their power over panthers. Prerequisites: Wis 11. Benefit: The character can speak with cats (as speak with animals, but only affecting feline creatures) at will. The cat is in no way obliged to listen to or obey the character, but usually reacts favorably. The character suffers a –2 racial penalty to Charisma-based skills when dealing with canine and lupine creatures. Special: This feat can only be taken at 1st level by characters of Valachani heritage. Sympathetic Spell [Metamagic] You can channel spells through a held token to affect a distant target. Benefit: To use this feat, you must possess a small sample taken from your chosen target. If targeting a creature, you must have a tissue sample such as blood, hair, or a finger. To target an object, you must have a piece of the object, such as a scrap from a cloak, a chainmail link, or a stone pried from a cottage’s foundation. Through a 10 minute ritual, you permanently prepare the sample as a sympathetic token. To use sympathetic magic, you must hold the token and target it with a sympathetic spell. The magic is channeled through the token to affect the true target, regardless of distance, so long as you and the target are on the same plane. Only spells that affect single targets (such as “one creature” or “one object”) can be channeled through the focus. If you attempt to channel any other kind of spell (such as any area affect spell), the spell targets the token itself. Casting a sympathetic spell increases its casting time: Standard Casting Time Sympathetic Casting Time Free action 1 standard action 1 standard action 1 full-round action 1 full-round action 1 minute 1+ minutes standard casting time x2 The token becomes a material component in the sympathetic spell and is consumed in casting.
135 Attached Notes New Prestige Classes he unique properties and cultures of each domain call for specific forms of expertise devoted to its most common traits. Below are two prestige classes designed for use within the realms of the southwestern Core, though they may also be found in other lands. Court Poisoner Borca’s courts bustle with courtiers serving their patrons in specific roles. The court poisoner is a vital component of Borcan politics. Officially, these scholars act as herbalists and apothecaries; however, they are also trained to dole out herbal remedies to rid their masters of complaining commoners. In Borca, court poisoners begin as aristocrats or experts, trained in the arts of poison by long tradition. Although the court poisoner is an unskilled combatant, assassins and blackguards sometimes take this class to expand their murderous repertoire. Court poisoners need not be murderous villains, but at best they serve a necessary evil. Heroes who pride themselves on their honor would never consider such underhanded treachery. Hit Die: d4. Requirements To qualify to become a court poisoner (Cpo), a character must fulfill all the following criteria. Alignment: Any non-good. Skills: Craft (alchemy) 2 ranks, Craft (poisonmaking) 8 ranks, Profession (herbalist) 2 ranks, Sleight of Hand 4 ranks. Feats: Skill Focus (Craft [poisonmaking]). Special: To prove herself worthy of training, the character must kill a living creature (not necessarily a person) with a poison she has crafted herself. Class Skills The court poisoner’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Forgery (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Profession (herbalist) (Wis), Sleight of Hand (Dex), and Spot (Wis). Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier. Class Features All of the following are features of the court poisoner prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A court poisoner gains no proficiency in any weapon or armor. Poison Use (Ex): Court poisoners are skilled in the use of poison and never risk accidentally poisoning themselves when applying poison to a blade or when crafting poisons. Poison Mastery (Ex): Court poisoners are experts in the creation of beneficial medicines and lethal toxins. As they gain experience, they master complex methods of altering the properties of the poisons they create. For each level a court poisoner gains in the prestige class, she gets a special ability of her choice from the following list. Each modification added to a dose of poison increases the DC of the
136 DM’s Appendix skill check to craft that dose by +2 and increases its market price by the modifier noted below. When crafting a poison with multiple modifications, apply the modifiers to the poison’s base market cost, then total them for a final price. Altered Delivery: The poison’s original method of delivery (ingested, inhaled, contact, or injury) can be altered to any other method of delivery. Cost Modifier: x3. Delayed Onset: The court poisoner can delay the onset of the poison’s initial damage by a period of up to 10 minutes per court poisoner level. Thus, a character with 4 levels of this prestige class could create a dose of poison that inflicts its initial damage up to 40 minutes after delivery. Secondary damage still takes effect 1 minute after initial damage. Cost Modifier: x1.5. Enduring: The poison remains active in the victim’s body for an extra minute, inflicting tertiary damage equal to the poison’s secondary damage. The saving throw to resist tertiary damage is reduced by –4, however, as the toxins peter out. Cost Modifier: x2. Putrid Distillation: The court poisoner uses the poison to kill a miniscule animal, then leaves the creature to rot for a day. She then collects and distils the creature’s putrefying fluids, combining the original poison with the toxins of decomposition. This increases the DC of saving throws to resist this dose of poison by +2. Cost Modifier: x2. Undetectable: The court poisoner increases the DC of any checks to notice this dose of poison by +4. Magic still detects these poisons normally, however. Cost Modifier: x2. Saving Throw Bonus vs. Poison (Ex): A court poisoner works with countless toxins and builds up resistance to their effects, gaining a bonus to all saving throws vs. poison equal to her class level. Insidious Application (Ex): At 3rd level, the court poisoner can apply contact poison to any object, such as a goblet or the lining of a vest, rather than simply applying it to weapons. Inventive Ingredients (Ex): At 5th level, the court poisoner is so practiced in creating drugs and toxins that she can replace difficult-to-obtain ingredients with skillfully blended substitutes. When the court poisoner crafts poisons, this reduces the rarity of her raw materials by one category (see above). Table 6–2: The Court Poisoner (Cpo) Class Level Class Level Base Attack Fort Ref Will Special Special Bonus Save Save Save 1st +0 +0+2 +0Poison use, poison mastery, +1 save vs. poison 2nd +1 +0+3 +0save vs. poison +2 3rd +2 +1 +3 +1 save vs. poison +3, insidious application 4th +3 +1 +4 +1 save vs. poison +4 5th +3 +1 +4 +1 save vs. poison +5, inventive ingredients
137 Attached Notes Moonchild Lycanthropy threatens to warp both flesh and spirit. Most afflicted victims end their lives or strive to cure themselves of the curse. Others seek a different form of escape, battling their own latent savagery for self-control. Some moonchildren seek to integrate their human minds and bestial urges to muzzle the beast within, while others hope to unleash the beast and thus become its master. Although much rarer, a few natural lycanthropes have also become moonchildren, honing their selfcontrol to blend into humanoid societies better. Hit Die: d8. Requirements To qualify to become a moonchild (Mnc), a character must fulfill all the following criteria. Skills: Concentration 2 ranks, Control Shape 2 ranks. Feats: Iron Will. Special: Must be a lycanthrope. If afflicted, the character must be aware of her condition. A moonchild cured of lycanthropy loses all special abilities and can no longer gain levels in this class. Should she later be afflicted again, however, she regains all special abilities and can once again progress in levels as a moonchild. Class Skills The moonchild’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Control Shape (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Listen (Wis), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), and Survival (Wis). Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier. Class Features All of the following are features of the moonchild prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Moonchildren gain no proficiency in any weapon or armor. Note that armor check penalties apply to the skills Balance, Climb, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Move Silently, Sleight of Hand, Swim and Tumble. Many moonchildren eschew armor, since it risks destruction when they transform. Shackle the Beast (Ex): Starting at 1st level, a moonchild receives a competence bonus to Control Shape checks equal to twice her moonchild class level (+2 at 1st level, +4 at 2nd level, and so forth). Human Heart (Ex): Starting at 1st level, whenever a moonchild voluntarily assumes bestial form, she retains her original alignment, memories and self-control by making a successful Will save at the DC listed in Table 6–3, below. Savage Blood (Ex): Starting at 1st level, whenever a character takes a level in moonchild, she must succeed at a DC 20 Will save or have her alignment
138 DM’s Appendix permanently shift one step toward the alignment of her bestial form. This alignment change is insidious and considered voluntary, and thus does not provoke a Madness save. Example: A lawful good character afflicted by a chaotic evil werewolf takes a level of moonchild and fails her Will save. Her alignment shifts to either neutral good or lawful neutral (player’s choice). Tempered Hunger (Ex): Starting at 2nd level, on any day a moonchild does not assume bestial form, she need eat only half as many pounds of raw meat as a normal lycanthrope of her size to satisfy her dietary requirements. At 4th level, her dietary requirements drop to just 1/4 of the listed amount (see “The Hunger” in Chapter Five of the Ravenloft Player’s Handbook ). The character’s appetite never drops below the norm for her base race, however. Example: A Medium werewolf normally needs to eat 25 pounds of raw flesh each day or begin to starve. (Remember that afflicted lycanthropes who have not taken ranks in Control Shape are subject to the Hunger only in bestial form.) A 2nd-level moonchild needs to eat only 12 pounds of flesh on any day she stays human. At 4th level, this amount drops to just 6 pounds per day. Scent of the Bloodline (Ex): Starting at 3rd level, the moonchild’s senses become so acute that she can detect other members of her own bloodline by scent. To detect the scent of another werebeast, the moonchild must succeed at a Wisdom check (DC 10 + 1 per 5 ft.). Creatures with the scent ability (including many lycanthropes in their bestial forms) receive a +4 racial bonus to this check. Improved Control Shape (Su): At 5th level, a moonchild receives Improved Control Shape as a bonus feat. The moonchild is now considered a natural lycanthrope; she can assume both animal and hybrid forms, can control her changes at will, and is no longer affected by her trigger. This change also severs the original bloodline; the moonchild can never be cured of lycanthropy, and any afflicted lycanthropes she creates consider her the progenitor of their bloodline. Despite the fact that she is now a natural lycanthrope, the moonchild does not have an adjustment to her effective character level (ECL). Such are the boons of forgoing all other paths in favor of mastery of the beast within. In addition, whenever any lycanthrope gains the Improved Control Shape feat, she must endure a brief period when the two halves of her nature engage in a final battle for dominance. This phase lasts for 1d4+1 days, during which the lycanthrope must make a DC 30 Control Shape check every 1d6 hours or assume one of her other two forms. Natural lycanthropes pass through this phase in early adolescence, when their heritage first manifests. Table 6–3: The Moonchild (Mnc) Class Level Class Level Base Fort Ref Will Special Special Attack Bonus Save Save Save 1 +0+2 +0+2 Shackle the beast, human heart (DC 20), savage blood 2 +1 +3 +0+3 Tempered hunger 1/2, human heart (DC 18) 3 +2 +3 +1 +3 Scent of the bloodline, human heart (DC 16) 4 +3 +4 +1 +4 Tempered hunger 1/4, human heart (DC 14) 5 +3 +4 +1 +4 Improved Control Shape, human heart (DC 12)
139 Attached Notes New Magic This section presents new forms of magic particular to the southwestern Core. Under certain circ*mstances, DMs may allow characters from outside this region special access to these magics. Cleric Domain Slaughter Domain Deity: The Wolf God (Verbrek) Granted Power: Once per day, you can activate the frightful presence extraordinary ability automatically as you attack an opponent (see Chapter 7: Glossary in the Monster Manual). This ability has a range of 30 feet and affects any opponent with less Hit Dice than you who can see you. The Will save has a DC of 10 + 1/2 your character level + your Charisma modifier. Affected creatures remain frightened or shaken for 5d6 rounds. This is a fear effect. Slaughter Domain Spells 1 Expeditious Retreat: Expeditious Retreat: Doubles your Expeditious Retreat: speed. 2 Hold Animal: Hold Animal: Holds one animal help- Hold Animal: less; 1 round/level. 3 Greater Magic Fang: Greater Magic Fang: One natural Greater Magic Fang: weapon of subject creatures gets +1 bonus to attack and damage per three caster levels (max +5). 4 Fear: Subjects within cone flee for 1 Fear: round/level. 5 Slay Living: Slay Living: Touch attack kills sub- Slay Living: ject. 6 Tenser’s Transformation: Tenser’s Transformation: You gain Tenser’s Transformation: combat bonuses. 7 Power Word Stun: Power Word Stun: Stuns creature with Power Word Stun: up to 150 hp. 8 Discern Location: Discern Location: Exact location of Discern Location: creature or object. 9 Wail of the Banshee: Wail of the Banshee: Kills one crea- Wail of the Banshee: ture/level. Magic Items The magic items detailed below are most common in the southwestern Core. Though they might be found elsewhere, their flavor is best suited to that area when first encountering them. Baron’s Arm: Baron’s arms are exotic double weapons wielded by the Black Leopards. One end of the weapon is a black +1 heavy mace, fashioned in the shape of an armored gauntlet or panther’s claw. The other end is a short whip of black leather strips tipped with sharp pieces of metal. This end acts as a nonmagical light flail. A critical hit with either end of the weapon results in terrible scarring, increasing the victim’s OR by +1 for each 10 points of damage inflicted. Faint necromancy; CL 5th; Craft Magic Arms and Armor, inflict moderate wounds; Price 2,360 gp; Cost 1,180 gp. Periapt of Intimidation: This stone is a jade skull on a platinum necklace. While wearing it, the user gains a +5 profane bonus to Intimidate checks. The user must make a 1% powers check each week she wears the periapt. Strong necromancy; CL 3rd; Craft Wondrous Item, cause fear; Price 1,000 gp. Tasting Cup: These coveted crystalline goblets are typically embossed with swirling, serpentine designs. Whenever a poisonous liquid is poured into the goblet, the clear crystal assumes a lurid violet shade. The tint fades once the goblet is emptied and wiped clean. Strong divination; CL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, detect poison; Price 4,000 gp;Weight 1 lb. Vital Venom: Nostalia Romaine created this elixir with assistance from Ivana Boritsi. It is a lethal poison mixed with Nostalia’s own toxic ichor and the life’s blood of three people harvested for this very purpose. The draught must be consumed on a night of the new moon for its magical properties to take effect. A character who drinks the concoction must make two DC 20 Fortitude saves or suffer initial and secondary damage of 2d4 points of temporary Constitution. If the imbiber survives, the toxins halt her physical aging for four months, effectively embalming her living flesh. A character can extend her youth indefinitely by drinking additional draughts of vital venom, but if she ever stops drinking the elixir or otherwise allows its effects to wear off, she ages at fifty times the normal rate until her physical age matches her true age once more. Only Nostalia and Ivana know the formula to the elixir, though they have chosen to share its benefits with several of their compatriots. Vital venom has no effect on creatures immune to ermordenung poison. Crafting vital venom does not require a powers check, but the necessary murders do. Strong necromancy [evil]; CL 6th; Brew Potion, pint of drinker’s blood, pint of ermordenung blood, heart’s blood from 3 victims of same race as drinker; Price 2,000 gp.
140 DM’s Appendix New Monsters This section presents monsters known to roam the lands of the southwestern Core. Lycanthrope, Werepanther This sinewy creature’s ebony fur glistens in the moonlight as it approaches like a silent piece of animated night. Werepanthers in humanoid form are sleek and graceful and exude a feral sense of danger. The Black Leopards are Valachan’s elite enforcers, serving Baron von Kharkov as guards, assassins, tax collectors, and spies. Though feared for their mercurial cruelty and fierce loyalty, they would be even more frightening if the truth of their lycanthropy were known by Valachan’s populace. Creating a Werepanther Denizens of Dread and the RavenloftPlayer’s Handbook contain full rules for Ravenloft’s lycanthropes; the rules below detail the werepanther only as it differs from other sample lycanthropes. “Werepanther” is a template that can be added to any humanoid (referred to hereafter as the base creature). The werepanther template can be inherited (for natural lycanthropes) or acquired (for afflicted lycanthropes). Becoming a werepanther is very much like multiclassing as an animal and gaining the appropriate Hit Dice. Size and Type: The base creature’s type does not change, but the creature gains the shapechanger subtype. The werepanther takes on the characteristics of a large cat such as a leopard or panther (referred to hereafter as the base animal). This animal can be within one size category of the base creature’s size (Small, Medium, or Large for a Medium base creature). Werepanthers can also adopt a hybrid shape that combines features of the base creature and the base animal. A werepanther’s hybrid form is the same size as the base animal or the base creature, whichever is larger. A werepanther uses either the base creature’s or the base animal’s statistics and special abilities in addition to those described here. Hit Dice and Hit Points: Same as the base creature plus those of the base animal. To calculate total hit points, apply Constitution modifiers according to the score the werepanther has in each form. For example, a human commoner with a Constitution score of 11 as a human and a Constitution score of 15 as a panther has 1d4 plus 3d8+6 hit points. See “Ly-
141 Attached Notes canthrope” in the Monster Manual and in Denizens of Dread. Speed: Same as the base creature or base animal, depending on which form the werepanther is using. Hybrids use the base creature’s speed. Armor Class: In humanoid form, the character gains a natural AC bonus +2. In animal or hybrid form, it has a natural AC bonus of +3. Attacks: Same as the character or the animal, depending on which form the werepanther is using. A werepanther in hybrid form gains two claw attacks and a bite attack as natural weapons. These weapons deal damage based on the hybrid form’s size. A hybrid may attack with a weapon and a bite or may attack with its natural weapons. The bit attack of a hybrid is a secondary attack. Damage: Same as the character or the animal, depending on which form the werepanther is using. Special Attacks: A werepanther retains the special attacks of the base creature or the base animal, depending on which form she is using, and gains the special attacks described below. A werepanther’s hybrid form does not gain any special attacks of the base animal. A werepanther spellcaster cannot cast spells with verbal, somatic, or material components while in animal form or spells with verbal components while in hybrid form. Curse of Lycanthropy (Su): Any humanoid hit by a werepanther’s bite attack in hybrid or animal form must succeed at a DC 15 Fortitude save (or DC 18 in Ravenloft) or contract lycanthropy. In Ravenloft, afflicted lycanthropes can pass on the Dread Disease. Afflicted characters are unaffected by the curse until the night of the next new moon, when they undergo an agonizing transformation. Their skin darkens to the coffee color of a native Valachani and their face reshapes itself until they are unrecognizable. If in Valachan, they must make a DC 18 Will save or come under Von Kharkov’s control: their alignment changes to lawful evil, they are permanently charmed by the baron, and they can spend 100 XP to take the Improved Control Shape feat. A werepanther who takes this feat during her first transformation is thereafter considered a true lycanthrope. They are no longer subject to involuntary shape changes but cannot be cured. If the new werepanther makes the Will save or is outside Valachan, they retain their freedom but remain an afflicted lycanthrope. Improved Grab (Ex): To use this ability, the werepanther must hit with its bite attack in panther form. If it gets a hold, it can rake. Rake (Ex): A werepanther that gets a hold in panther form can make two rake attacks (at full attack bonus) with its hind legs for 1d3 + 1/2 its Strength modifier points of damage each. If the werepanther pounces on an opponent in panther form, it can also rake. Special Qualities: A werepanther retains the special qualities of the base creature and the base animal, and also gains those listed below. Alternate Form (Su): See “Lycanthrope” in the Monster Manual (and Denizens of Dread). Natural werepanthers can assume a hybrid form as well as panther form, while afflicted werepanthers can normally only assume panther form. Damage Reduction (Ex): An afflicted werepanther in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 5/silver. A natural werepanther in animal or hybrid form has damage reduction 10/silver. Lycanthropic Empathy (Ex): In any form, a werepanther can communicate and empathize with any normal or dire animals of its animal form. This ability gives werepanthers a +4 racial bonus on checks when influencing the animal’s attitude and allows the communication of simple concepts and (if the animal is friendly) commands, such a “friend,” “foe,” “flee,” and “attack.” Low-Light Vision (Ex): A werepanther has low-light vision in any form. Scent (Ex): A werepanther has the scent ability in any form. Base Save Bonuses: Add the base save bonus of the base animal to the base save bonus of the base creature. Werepanthers also receive a +2 racial bonus to Fortitude and Will saves. Abilities: Natural werepanthers gain Str +2, Dex +2, Con +4, Wis +2 while in humanoid form. In panther or hybrid form, these modifiers improve to a total of Str +6, Dex +8, Con +4, Wis +2. As well, a werepanther may also gain an additional ability score increase by virtue of extra Hit Dice. Skills: A werepanther gains skill points equal to (2 + Int modifier, minimum 1) per Hit Die of its animal form, as if it had multiclassed into the animal type. (Animal is never its first Hit Die, though, and it does not gain quadruple skill points for any animal Hit Die.) Any skill given in the animal’s description is a class skill for the werepanther’s animal levels. Werepanthers in hu-
142 DM’s Appendix manoid form gain a +4 racial bonus to Listen, Search, and Spot checks. When in animal or hybrid form, these bonuses increase to +8, and werepanther’s receive a further +4 racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks and a +8 racial bonus to Balance checks. See Denizens of Dread. Feats: Add the base animal’s feats to the base creature’s. If this results in a werepanther having the same feat twice, they werepanther gains no additional benefits unless the feat normally can be taken more than once, in which case the duplicated feta works as noted in the feat description. This process may give the werepanther more feats than a character of its total Hit Dice would normally be entitled to; if this occurs, any “extra” feats are denoted as bonus feats. A werepanther may possibly not meet the prerequisites for all its feats when in humanoid form. If this occurs, the werepanther still has the feats, but cannot use them when in humanoid form. A werepanther receives Iron Will as a bonus feat. When in hybrid or animal form, werepanthers also gain Weapon Finesse (bite, claw) as a bonus feat. If they retain their freedom past the first new moon, werepanthers can gain the Improved Control Shape feat without binding themselves to Von Kharkov by spending 100 XP. Environment: Temperate and cold forest and hills. Organization: Solitary or squad (2–12). Challenge Rating: Character level +4. Treasure: Standard, plus baron’s arm. Shadow, Salt Medium Undead Hit Dice: Hit Dice: 5d12 (32 hp) Hit Dice: Initiative: Initiative: +7 Initiative: Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares), climb 30 ft. Speed: Armor Class: Armor Class: 14 (+3 Dex, +1 deflection) Armor Class: Base Attack/Grapple: Base Attack/Grapple: +2/+5 Base Attack/Grapple: Attack: Attack: Corrosive touch +5 melee (1d6+3 plus Attack: 1d6 acid or 1d6 Strength) Full Attack: Full Attack: Corrosive touch +5 melee (1d6+3 plus Full Attack: 1d6 acid or 1d6 Strength) Space/Reach: Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft. Space/Reach: Special Attacks: Special Attacks: Malevolence, strength damage, splash Special Attacks: damage, create spawn Special Qualities: Special Qualities: Vulnerability to sunlight, vulnerabil- Special Qualities: ity to fire, +2 turn resistance, damage reduction 5/magic, undead traits Saves: Fort +1, Ref +4, Will +5 Saves: Abilities: Abilities: Str 17, Dex 16, Con —, Int 10, Wis 12, Abilities: Cha 13 Skills: Skills: Hide +10, Listen +7, Spot +7 Skills: Feats: Dodge, Skill Focus (Hide) Feats: Environment: Environment: Any land and underground Environment: Organization: Organization: Solitary, gang (2–5), swarm (6–20) Organization: Challenge Rating: Challenge Rating: 7 Challenge Rating: Treasure: Treasure: None Treasure: Alignment: Alignment: Always chaotic evil Alignment: Advancement: Advancement: 6–11 HD (Medium) Advancement: Level Adjustment: Level Adjustment: — Level Adjustment: Reeking of saline ooze, the pool of semi-liquid darkness slithers across the cavern floor, coalescing as it flows into a dripping, half-formed humanoid figure. Description Salt shadows are the spawn of the misery and evil found within the depths of the Veidrava salt mines and other black places beneath the earth. These entities of living darkness continually shift form, appearing as swift-moving puddles of liquid shadow one moment and vague humanoid figures the next. The touch of a salt shadow causes terrible burns from salt corrosion or drains the strength from one’s bones. Furthermore, salt shadows can force themselves into a person’s body, possessing the victim; those possessed can be identified by their faint saline odor and by the fact that when they commit an evil act, their eyes become the glossy black of the salt shadow’s true form. Salt shadows hate life and light, taking maniacal glee in acts of corruption. Often, salt shadows work with other evil beings to further great works of evil. Salt shadows often blend into a possessed
143 Attached Notes victim’s community in order to pursue long-term goals. Combat Malevolence (Su): Once per round, a salt shadow can attempt to possess the body of a living victim. This ability is similar to magic jar as cast by a 10th-level sorcerer, except that it does not require a receptacle. If the attack succeeds, the salt shadow crawls completely into the opponent’s body. While in possession of a living victim, the shadow uses the victim’s skills, feats, and abilities rather than its own; a salt shadow cannot use any of a victim’s divinely-granted class abilities, however. The target can resist the attack with a successful DC 16 Will save. Those possessed by a salt shadow’s malevolence ability receive a +2 profane bonus to Fortitude and Reflex saves. A creature that successfully saves is immune to that salt shadow’s malevolence for one day. Should a salt shadow abandon or be driven from its possessed victim, the victim suffers 2d6 points of temporary Strength damage (no saving throw) as the shadow pours out. Note that in Sithicus, salt shadows cannot possess Innocent victims while Inza is darklord. Strength Damage (Su): Instead of dealing normal damage with their touch attack, salt shadows may choose instead to deal 1d6 points of temporary Strength damage to a living foe. A creature reduced to 0 Strength by a salt shadow dies. Splash Damage (Su): Each time a salt shadow is damaged in combat, blobs of the semi-liquid shadowstuff that composes its body spray in all directions, inflicting 1 point of acid damage to all living creatures within 5 feet of the salt shadow. Create Spawn (Su): Any humanoid reduced to 0 Strength by a salt shadow becomes a salt shadow under the control of its killer within 1d4 rounds. Newly created salt shadows may automatically possess their own corpse using their malevolence special attack the same round in which they rise as undead. Salt shadows that possess their original bodies can pass unnoticed among the living since the possessed corpse does not decay, but is instead preserved as it appeared at the moment of death. Vulnerability to Sunlight (Ex): Salt shadows exposed to direct sunlight are staggered and are destroyed on the following round if they can not escape. Salt shadows are unharmed by sunlight while within possessed hosts, but suffer a –1 circ*mstance penalty to all attack rolls, saves, and checks while exposed. Vulnerability to Fire (Ex): Salt shadows take double damage from fire, regardless of whether a saving throw is allowed or if the save is a success or failure.
144 DM’s Appendix Who’s Doomed This section presents the darklords of the five domains in this gazetteer as well as other notables. Information here takes precedence over previous versions already detailed in Secrets of the Dread Realms or elsewhere. The NPC descriptions adhere to the following format: Statistics: The character’s complete game statistics. Some characters use special rules found in the Ravenloft Player’s Handbook or Denizens of Dread. The character’s native language is always listed first and marked with an asterisk. Background: The character’s history. Current Sketch: The character’s personality and current activities. Combat: Tactics and strategies the character usually employs in battle. If the character has any unique special attacks or qualities not found in the core rulebooks, the Ravenloft Player’s Handbook, or Denizens of Dread, they will also be detailed here. Lair: The character’s home or where she can often be encountered. Closing the Borders: If the character is a darklord, this section details how a border closure manifests in her domain. Gabrielle Aderre, Darklord of Invidia Female Zarovan half-Vistana Sor11: Female Zarovan half-Vistana Sor11: CR 12; Medium humanoid Female Zarovan half-Vistana Sor11: (human) (5 ft. 1 in. tall); HD 11d4, hp 39; Init +2 + 1d10–1d4; Spd 30 ft.; AC 17, touch 14, flat-footed 15; Base Atk +5; Grp +4; Atk +5 melee (1d4/19–20, +1 shapechanger bane dagger) or +8 ranged (1d4–1, masterwork dart); Full Atk +5 melee (1d4, +1 shapechanger bane dagger) or +8 ranged (1d4–1, masterwork dart); SA gaze of the temptress, spells; SQ dread familiar (cat), fire-building, free of the lunatio, protected kin; AL NE; SV Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +13; Str 8, Dex 14, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 16, Cha 17. Skills and Feats: Bluff +7, Concentration +6, Diplomacy +6, Gather Information +6, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (local: Invidia) +5, Move Silently +4, Sense Motive +6, Spellcraft +8, Survival +5; Extend Spell, Quick Draw, Spell Focus (enchantment), Voice of Wrath. Languages: Balok*, Luktar, Patterna. Typical Sorcerer Spells Known (6/14/7/7/6/4; save DC 13 + spell level, 14 + spell level for enchantment spells): 0 — dancing lights, daze, detect magic, flare, ghost sound, mage hand, light, read magic, resistance; 1st — cause fear, charm person, disguise self, hypnotism, sleep; 2nd — blindness/deafness, detect thoughts, scare, Tasha’s hideous laughter, whispering wind; 3rd — dispel magic, hold person, major image, suggestion; 4th — charm monster, confusion, emotion;5th —dominate person, hold monster. Signature Possessions: +1 silver shapechanger bane dagger, 6 masterwork darts, amulet of natural armor +1, bracelets of armor +2 (as bracers), kerchief of disguise (as hat), ring of protection +2, ring of wizardry I, shawl of resistance +3 (as cloak), Eva’s deck, wand of charm person. The darklord of Invidia appears as a beautiful woman in her mid-20s with black eyes and hair like lustrous ravens-wings, marred only by a single streak of gray. Her skin is unblemished and pale, inherited from her giorgio father. Gabrielle is actually in her late 40s. Her reflection in mirrors shows her true age, with graying hair and the beginnings of wrinkles. Though this reflection is by no means unattractive, Gabrielle finds it hideous and does all she can to avoid mirrors. Gabrielle favors her gypsy mother’s mode of dress, preferring brightly colored skirts and blouses and a great deal of silver jewelry. Gabrielle Aderre
145 Attached Notes Background Gabrielle is part Vistani, the daughter of the half-Vistana fortuneteller Isabella Aderre and an unknown giorgio. Born in Richemulot, she never knew her father. Though her mother’s people spurned both mother and child, Gabrielle learned much of the ways of the Vistani from her mother, including how to tell fortunes and cast simple spells, but Gabrielle was consumed with curiosity about her father’s identity. Isabella said only that he had been a cruel and evil man and that Gabrielle carried a piece of that evil within her. “You must never have children,“ her mother once warned her. “Tragedy would be the only result.” From a seer of Isabella’s skill, such a prophecy was tantamount to a curse. Though the words had been spoken out of love and concern, Gabrielle grew bitter and resentful of her mother, creating a fanciful image of her father as a great noble and imagining finding him and rediscovering the love so lacking in her present life. When Gabrielle was 19, a werewolf attacked her and her mother, severely injuring Isabella. Holding the creature at bay with a silver bane dagger that she had stolen from a wealthy merchant, Gabrielle threatened to leave Isabella to the werebeast unless she revealed her father’s identity. At last Isabella told her the truth: she had once been slave to a wealthy, sad*stic Falkovnian nobleman, became pregnant with his child, and escaped so her child could know freedom. Gabrielle refused to accept her mother’s words and left her to the werewolf’s tender mercies. The Mists surrounded Gabrielle, who found herself in the heart of Invidia. Invidian soldiers seized her and brought her to the werewolf Bakholis, the realm’s darklord. Mad with bloodlust, Bakholis ordered his guards away and moved to attack the peasant girl. To his horror, he found himself transfixed by her evil eye, and he perished as her silver bane dagger slit his throat. The lordship of Invidia passed to Gabrielle. The oppressed peasants rose up, overthrew the werewolf’s minions, and proclaimed Gabrielle ruler, a role that held no interest for her. Gabrielle took various lovers, luring them away from committed relationships, dominating them, and casting them aside when she tired of them. Still haunted by her mother’s curse, she dared not seek out a true relationship. Twelve years ago, a mysterious, dark-eyed Gentleman Caller captivated her the moment their eyes met. They shared a single night of passion, after which she never saw him again. To this day, she has difficulty remembering their time together. Nine months later, Gabrielle gave birth to Malocchio, a child seemingly normal save for a small sixth finger on each hand. Gabrielle’s divinatory gifts revealed that her son was actually a Dukkar — a fearsome monster from Vistani legend fated to destroy the Vistani should he be permitted to live. At first, Gabrielle was delighted by this discovery and determined to use Malocchio as a tool for her vengeance on the Vistani. Unfortunately, though he held a deep contempt for the gypsies, Malocchio had bigger plans. By the winter of 747, his manipulations had left Gabrielle broken and nearly mad. Only the timely intervention of Matton Blanchard, a wolfwere and one of her spurned lovers saved her. Malocchio set off to claim Invidia as his own. Matton slowly nursed Gabrielle back to health and she found herself returning Matton’s affections. The two planned to defeat Malocchio and restore Gabrielle to her prominence in the domain. To this end, Gabrielle used her seductive arts and subtle enchantments to take control of the bitterly divided Gundarakite rebels in northern Invidia, helping them recapture Castle Hunadora. Matton ventured into Kartakass to recruit wolfweres. The rebels chafed at Gabrielle’s leadership, however, as they realized she was more devoted to vengeance against her son than to the cause of Gundarakite independence. Sensing control slipping from her, Gabrielle seduced Ardonk Szerieza, leader of the Barovian Gundarakite movement, and once more became undisputed rebel leader. She has walked a precarious route, keeping both lovers in ignorance of each other. Late in 752 BC, Gabrielle discovered that she was pregnant, despite magical and herbal precautions. Her daughter, Lucita Aderre, is now a girl of four-and-a-half, and Gabrielle still does not know who the father is. Matton and Ardonk each believes himself the girl’s father, and Gabrielle finds it difficult to maintain her ruse. If Matton is the father, then Lucita is a wolfwere as well and could start transforming at any time. If Ardonk is the father, the girl will never change, and Matton will know the truth. Either alternative may result in the downfall of all her plans.
146 DM’s Appendix Gabrielle has come to realize that, in her own way, Lucita proves Isabella’s curse true once more. Current Sketch As Lucita grows older, Gabrielle becomes more estranged from those around her, distancing herself from both Matton and Ardonk. Above all, Gabrielle loves her daughter and hopes that Ardonk is the father, preferring Lucita to avoid facing life as a bestial shapechanger. Lucita is a lovely, dark-haired girl who dotes on Gabrielle, often dressing like her. Gabrielle never allows her daughter out of her sight, thus keeping Lucita sheltered and naïve. Combat Gabrielle does not relish combat, but she has killed to defend herself in the past and will not hesitate to do so again if necessary. She normally leaves her charmed minions to defend her, but aids by using the powers of her evil eye to assist her allies. Special Attacks: Gaze of the Temptress (Su): Gabrielle can use any enchantment spell that she knows in a manner similar to a gaze attack. To use a spell as a gaze attack, she must have at least one spell of the appropriate level readied for the day. Thus, if Gabrielle wants to use hold person as a gaze attack, she must have at least one 3rd-level spell readied. Using this gaze attack does not actually cast the spell. As long as Gabrielle still has one 3rdlevel spell readied, she can use her hold person gaze over and over again. When used as gaze attacks, Gabrielle’s spells do not require spell components. Gabrielle must take a standard action to use her gaze attack, and those merely looking at her are not affected. Anyone she targets must succeed at a DC 18 Will save or be affected as though by the spell. The abilities are all as spells cast by an 11th-level sorcerer. Gabrielle’s gaze has a range of 30 feet. Special Qualities: Eva’s Deck (Su): Gabrielle can read the future as well as a full-blooded Vistani, but only when using her personal deck, an heirloom originally crafted and passed down by her ancient ancestor, Madame Eva. Using the cards gives her blinding headaches, inflicting an effective decrease of 2d4 Strength per reading. She recovers 1 point of Strength per hour and is considered sickened until fully recovered. Due to this pain, she uses this talent only when necessary. Free of the Lunatio (Ex): Gabrielle does not suffer from the moon madness that afflicts most half-Vistani. Protected Kin (Ex): Gabrielle cannot directly harm the Vistani. Pure-blooded Vistani are completely immune to her supernatural powers and spells, unless the spell is harmless, and she cannot attack such an individual. Any individual of Vistani heritage — whether half-Vistani or simply having a distant Vistani ancestor — receives a +2 bonus to her saving throws vs. all of Gabrielle’s supernatural powers and spells, and Gabrielle suffers a –2 penalty to her attack rolls should she attack such an individual physically. She can, however, manipulate others to harm those of Vistani blood. Lair Gabrielle resides in Castle Hunadora with the Gundarakite rebels. Once home to the vampire Duke Gundar, darklord of Gundarak, the castle is an ancient and dangerous place, full of traps and unexplored areas that might harbor hostile creatures from Gundar’s time. Gabrielle’s private quarters contain colorful drapes and tapestries. Aromatic incense spices the air. The rebels are laying their own traps and ambushes should the Invidians ever attack again. The castle was a rank 4 sinkhole of evil under Gundar, but in recent years it has been reduced to rank 2. Closing the Borders When Gabrielle wishes to close her borders, an invisible and undetectable wall of terror surrounds Invidia. Creatures who cross the border automatically panic and must flee back into Invidia (no saving throw). This panic affects even creatures normally immune to fear or mind-affecting magic, though creatures without Intelligence scores remain unaffected. Malocchio Aderre, the Dukkar Male Dukkar Ftr3/Rog3: Male Dukkar Ftr3/Rog3: CR 8; Medium outsider (chaotic, Male Dukkar Ftr3/Rog3: evil) (6 ft. tall); HD 3d10+3d6, hp 36; Init +7; Spd 30 ft.; AC 20, touch 14, flat-footed 17; Base Atk +5; Grp +7; Atk +9 melee (1d8+2, crit 19–20, masterwork cold iron longsword), or +9 ranged (1d8+2/x3, masterwork composite longbow [+2 Str bonus]), or +9 ranged (1d12/x3, masterwork musket); Full Atk +9 melee (1d8+2/19–20, masterwork cold iron longsword), or +9 ranged (1d8+2/x3, masterwork composite longbow [+2 Str bonus]), or +9 ranged (1d12/x3, masterwork musket); SA evil eye, feral allies, sneak attack +2d6, spelllike abilities; SQ damage reduction 10/holy silver, resistance to acid 20, cold 20, electricity 20, and fire 20, darkvision 60 ft., evasion, Dukkar qualities, poison immunity, protected kin, reality wrinkle, teleport without error, trapfinding, trap sense +1; SR 15; AL CE; SV Fort +5, Ref +8, Will +4; Str 14, Dex 16, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 17.
147 Attached Notes Skills and Feats:Bluff +8, Diplomacy +4, Handle Animal +8, Hide +8, Intimidate +11, Knowledge (arcana) +8, Knowledge (local: Invidia) +5, Knowledge (Ravenloft) +7, Knowledge (Vistani lore) +5, Listen +6, Move Silently +8, Ride (horse) +8, Search +8, Sense Motive +6, Spot +6; Combat Reflexes, Dodge, Exotic Weapon Proficiency (firearms), Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (longsword). OR 2 if fingers visible; 7 if true nature known. Languages: Balok*, Luktar, Patterna, Vaasi. Signature Possessions: Masterwork cold iron longsword, masterwork composite longbow (+2 Str bonus), masterwork musket, +1 studded leather, masterwork buckler, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1. Invidia’s tyrant is a darkly handsome man who appears to be in his early twenties, with a square jaw and steady eye. His skin is pale, but everything else about him is black as midnight. He has inherited his mother’s dark eyes and wavy black hair, wearing it below his shoulders. He prefers to dress entirely in black. Those who hold his gaze for long are invariably forced to look away, overcome by feelings of unease and a sense of great evil. Malocchio is quite normal-looking save for a tiny, claw-like sixth finger on each hand, concealed under black gloves. Malocchio often wears military attire, including an engraved breastplate. He bears the sword Vistani’s Bane. Polite and well-spoken when calm, if provoked he transforms into a mad thing, bellowing and shrieking, striking all nearby. His rage is greatest in the presence of Vistani, who consider him a Dukkar — a demon in the flesh. Though he cannot harm the Vistani directly, he revels in their suffering at the hands of his minions. Background Born in the spring of 747 BC to the luckless Gabrielle Aderre and a mysterious stranger, Malocchio seemed to be a gift from on high, a specially blessed child who would bring his mother happiness (and, in her mind, vengeance upon the Vistani who had banished her mother). Unfortunately, Gabrielle’s curse was that she never find happiness — the mysterious stranger was actually a fiendish creature of purest evil. Before Gabrielle had recovered from the childbirth, Malocchio was walking and holding intelligent conversations. Within half a year he had gained nearly full adult stature and intelligence. When he thought no one was looking, he demonstrated burgeoning occult powers, using them to monstrous ends, such as directing flocks of birds to crash into the walls of Castle Loupet. Even more incredibly, he could teleport from place to place at whim — around the castle at first, then throughout Invidia. At first, Gabrielle indoctrinated her son with all of her anti-Vistani sentiment. Yet Malocchio’s hatred seemed far greater than anything Gabrielle could have anticipated. Her suspicions aroused, Gabrielle consulted her tarokka and in a dark vision she saw that her son was a Dukkar: a dark messiah destined to bring pain, suffering and death to the Vistani and possibly bring down the Realm of Dread entirely. As his wickedness expanded to match his physical growth, Malocchio came to see a wondrous and terrible destiny beckoning to him. Tiring of his mother, he enthralled her servants, turning them against her and turning Gabrielle’s own mind against itself. During the Harvest Carnival, Malocchio imprisoned his mother, then stripped away the illusions surrounding her night with the Gentleman Caller. The unshackled memories of that night ravaged Gabrielle’s mind, leaving her broken, beaten, and alone. Malocchio intended to destroy his mother and continue on to pursue his own fiendish interests. The Vistani, who had slowly pieced together his existence, opposed him. Within Malocchio writhed an unholy combination of powers drawn from his demonic, Vistani and darklord heritage, and when he assumed his full powers, no force — not even the Dark Powers —would be able to chain him. Malocchio could use the Mists to travel anywhere in the multiverse, even through closed domain borders and even carrying darklords in tow. He imprisoned his mother and had her tortured until she agreed to cede all authority to him. Malocchio left her to die in the Dreadwood, where the first wolfwere Gabrielle encountered was her old lover Matton. When all was nearly lost, the Vistani — including Madame Eva herself — created the sphere of binding and shackled the Dukkar to the domain of Invidia, containing his evil power. Outraged, Malocchio returned to Castle Loupet, destroying much of its contents in a childish tantrum. He resolved to seize control of Invidia by force. Using his charisma and the enthralling powers of his evil eye, Malocchio united the dispar-
148 DM’s Appendix ate village militias, mustering an impressive mercenary force. When Malocchio claimed control of most of the domain, few folk dared stand against him. With the villages of Invidia united under his rule, he organized a campaign of murder against the Vistani. If he could not torture the Vistani into revealing how his chains could be broken, then he would sate his anger with the blood of their entire race. With their new ruler calling for a pogrom against the “thieving gypsies,” the Invidians rose up to drive the Vistani from their midst. Malocchio’s expanded army and his newly-recruited mercenaries honed their skills on helpless gypsies — the lucky ones were merely beaten and driven into exile. To be a Vistani, a Vistani half-breed, or even a Vistani sympathizer was tantamount to a death sentence. Only the eastern lands of Invidia remained outside Malocchio’s control. The Gundarakites there retained a strong independent streak, and Malocchio was surprised to discover his mother leading the resistance movement. Dozens of dead Vistani men, women and children barely slaked Malocchio’s bloodlust. He ordered his soldiers to cross into neighboring realms in pursuit of the gypsies, and only recently did he curtail the practice in the face of complaints and threats from Borca and Barovia. Most believe that this is only a temporary respite. Current Sketch Lord Malocchio is a man driven by hatred: for his mother, for the Vistani, and (some claim) for himself. Some believe that his campaign against the Vistani is influenced by his loathing for his own Vistani heritage and that of his mother, whom he has sworn to flay alive on the walls of Castle Hunadora when he captures her. Malocchio now regrets allowing his mother to escape his clutches. Although he controls most of the domain, she remains the darklord, and Malocchio is satisfied with that state of affairs. Malocchio understands much of the nature of Ravenloft and does not want to become darklord himself; darklords are irrevocably tied to their domains, while Malocchio is entrapped only by a magic spell that might yet be broken. As long as Gabrielle lives, she remains the darklord; should she die, lordship of the domain will likely pass to him, denying him his destiny. He seeks to capture her, keeping her safe while he tortures her psychologically for his own amusem*nt. He has recently learned of his young half-sister Lucita and sees her as the perfect leverage to trap Gabrielle. Malocchio acts like a child in many ways. He is selfish and temperamental. The slightest frustration sends him into a tantrum that usually ends in murder. His iron fist closes tighter around the realm each day. Malocchio does not care whether Invidia is crushed beneath the heels of foreign invaders, so long as he exterminates the Vistani. When not overseeing his troops or leading patrols in the countryside, Malocchio researches his ancestry or amuses himself by tormenting commoners or torturing his imprisoned Vistani, leaving day-to-day functions of the nation to subordinates. When Malocchio issues a decree, however, he expects it to be obeyed instantly. Combat Malocchio revels in death and misery and leads patrols into the countryside whenever he can, ordering his mercenaries to swoop down on bandits, rebels, marauding creatures, and fleeing Vistani with heartless enthusiasm. His favorite steed, Redhoof, is a warhorse as intent on shedding blood as its master. Malocchio particularly enjoys Malocchio Aderre
149 Attached Notes riding foes down and trampling them beneath his steed’s iron-shod hooves. Malocchio has many powers at his command and uses his evil eye to render his foes helpless before summoning wild beasts or directing mercenaries to tear them apart. Though boastful in combat, Malocchio is a coward at heart, quickly teleporting away should a fight turn against him. Special Attacks: Evil Eye (Su): Malocchio possesses the Evil Eye ability of the Vistani, detailed in Chapter Five of the Ravenloft Player’s Handbook. In addition to the effects listed there, Malocchio can use his evil eye to cast cause fear, charm monster, charm person, hypnotism, and suggestion in a manner similar to a gaze attack. To use a spell as a gaze attack, Malocchio must take a standard action, and those merely looking at him are not affected. These effects manifest as if cast by a 6th-level sorcerer. Saving throws against the Dukkar’s evil eye have a DC of 16. Malocchio’s gaze has a range of 30 feet. Feral Allies (Su): Once per day, Malocchio can call forth 3d6 wolves, 2d6 dire wolves, 2d6 Tiny vipers, 1d6 Small vipers, 4d10 ravens, or 2d4 dire ravens from Invidia’s wilds as a standard action. These animals arrive in 2d6 rounds and serve Malocchio for up to 1 day. Malocchio has no love for these creatures and often bids them to destroy themselves for his own entertainment. Spell-Like Abilities: 3/day — darkness; 1/day — desecrate, unholy blight. These spells are cast as by a 6th-level sorcerer and have a saving throw DC of 13 + spell level. Special Qualities: Dukkar Qualities (Su): As a Dukkar, Malocchio is immune to Vistani curses and the Evil Eye. Part fiend, part Vistani, Malocchio forms a “blind spot” for the Vistani, undetectable to their prophecies and scrying. Although Malocchio does have a reality wrinkle with a radius of 12,000 feet, Gabrielle cannot sense its presence or location. It may even be true that the Dark Powers themselves have difficulty perceiving him. Malocchio has not performed power rituals; he has no interest in further binding himself to this claustrophobic world. Protected Kin (Ex): Malocchio has inherited his mother’s inability to harm her kin. Pure-blooded Vistani are completely immune to his supernatural powers and spells, unless the spell is harmless, and he cannot attack such an individual. Any individual of Vistani heritage — whether a half-Vistani or simply a giorgio with a distant Vistani ancestor — receives a +2 bonus to saving throws vs. all of his supernatural powers and spells, and he suffers a –2 penalty to his attack rolls should he attack such an individual. Malocchio can, however, cause others to harm those of Vistani blood. Teleport Without Error (Sp): At will, Malocchio can teleport without error as a standard action. Were he not shackled by Vistani magic, he would be able to teleport through closed domain borders to any location on any plane (not unlike a plane shift spell) and could take “passengers” with him, even darklords. This action would free those damned souls from their domains, causing those lands to vanish or be reformed. In his current circ*mstances, however, Malocchio is limited to teleporting to any location within Invidia’s borders. Malocchio now primarily uses this ability to transport himself around the domain and to escape danger. Lair Invidia’s ruler divides his time between the Citadel in Karina and his personal retreat at Castle Loupet, his mother’s old demesnes and the lair of the werewolf lord Bakholis before her. His mercenaries’ barracks are located within the castle walls. The extensive dungeons and torture chambers are also kept occupied by as many Vistani as the Dukkar’s men can capture, their eyes and tongues cut out to prevent them from laying curses. Loupet’s bloody history and the constant agony of the Dukkar’s prisoners keeps the castle a consistent rank 3 or 4 sinkhole of evil. Ivana Boritsi, Darklord of Borca Female human Ari3/Exp4/CPo5: Female human Ari3/Exp4/CPo5: CR 13; Medium humanoid Female human Ari3/Exp4/CPo5: (human) (5 ft. 6 in. tall); HD 3d8+4d6+5d4+72, hp 112; Init +4; Spd 30 ft.; AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 16; Base Atk +8; Grp +7; Atk +8 melee (1d4/19–20, +1 dagger) or +9 ranged (1d4–1, masterwork dart); Full Atk +8/+3 melee (1d4/19– 20, +1 dagger) or +9/+4 ranged (1d4–1, masterwork dart); SA insidious application, kiss of death, poison mastery; SQ detect poison, inventive ingredients, poison immunity; AL CE; SV Fort +9, Ref +6, Will +8; Str 8, Dex 11, Con 22, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 20. Skills and Feats: Appraise +9, Bluff +19, Craft (alchemy) +6, Craft (poisonmaking) +20, Diplomacy +20, Gather Information +10, Handle Animal +7, Hide +9, Knowledge (local) +9, Knowledge (nature) +9, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +9, Knowledge (religion) +5, Listen +8, Move Silently +8, Profession (herbalist) +6, Search +8, Sense Motive +6, Sleight of Hand +10, Spot +8; Alertness, Improved Initiative, Muse (see Van Richten’s
