t

For Character Levels 3 and U

9336
4C

I
 By Dale “Slade” Henson with J. Robert King
ADVANCED DUNGEONS E DRAGONS, ADED, FORGOTFEN REAMS, and GREYHAWK are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.
RAVENLOFT and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc.
81991 TSR, Inc. A l l Rights Reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
Random House and its affiliate companies have worldwide distribution rights in the book trade for English language products of TSR, Inc.
Distributed to the book and hobby trade in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd.
Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional distributors.
This material is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material or
artwork contained herein i s prohibited without the express written consent of TSR, Inc.
9336XXX1501
ISBN 1.56076-142-3

TSR, Inc. TSR Ltd.

POB 756 120 Church End
Lake Geneva Cherry Hinton
WI 53147 Cambridge CBl 3LB
U.S.A. United Kingdom
Fear and Horror . . . . . . . . . . . . . ....... ..3
Chapter I: Bride of Mordenheim . . , I . . .... . . .4
Chapter 11: Blood in Moondale . . . . . . . . . . .10
Chapter 111: The Dark Minstrel . ... . . . . . . . . . .21
Chapter IW The Cedar Chest . . . ....... . . . . . . . . . .30
Chapter W Corrupted Innocents . . I ... . . . . . . . .40
Chapter VI: The Rite of Terror . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Chapter VII: The Man with Three Faces . . . . . . 64
Chapter VIII: The Living Crypt . . . . . . ... . . . 75
Chapter IX: Death’s Cold Laughter . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Doll Golem .................... ... . . . 92
Ermordenung . . . . . . . . . . 93
Living Wall . . . . . . . . . . . ... 94

Crudits
Design: Dale “Slade” Henson with J. Robert King
Editing: Anne Brown, J. Robert King, Jean Rabe
Proofreading: Anne Brown, David Wise
Cover Art: David Dorman
Interior Art: Laura and Kelly Freas, Stephen Fabian
Cartography: John Knecht
Typography: Gaye O’Keefe
Keylining: Sarah Feggestad
Thanks To: James Ward, Tim B. Brown, Bruce Nesmith,
Anne Brown, Andria Hayday, Newton H. Ewell,
Bill Connors
 rongrod sits in a dark successful adventures in Ravenloft.
corner of the squalid DMs accustomed to running adventures in
tavern, sipping other AD&D@game settings often excel at
warmish ale and inspiring terror in their PCs.Terror is a natural
eavesdropping on result of deadly combats and lethal traps, both
the whispered talk of of which abound in adventures in AD&D@game
locals. Evidently a worlds. Book of Crypts is no exception, loaded
gruesome murder with deadly combatants such as doll golems,
occurred last night: a ermordenung, evil treants, madmen, liches,
body has been werewolves, necromancers, illithids, maniacal
found, its skin jesters, minstrels of death, vampires, and more.
meticulously stripped The adventures here also brim with terrifying
away by a common traps-both physical and psychological. Terror
hunting knife. A knot should, therefore, come easily to Book of
of revulsion forms in Crypts DMs.
Irongrod’s stomach. In addition to bone-rattling terror, though,
As he takes another Ravenloft DMs should make the most of horror.
sip, the storyteller Horror hints at and prepares characters for the
continues, describing the man who fled the terror to come. The terror Irongrod felt at
murder. With a sinking sense of dread, Irongrod hearing the voice in his head would be far less
realizes that the description exactly fits him. intense if he had not first felt the creeping
Another local speaks up now, saying that a knife horror of his guilt. In the same way, the terror of
was discovered beside the body. lrongrod drops hack-and-slashcombat with a vampire is tripled
his hand from the sweating stein of ale before if the PCs first feel the mounting horror of
him, feeling for his hunting knife. It is gone. something stalking them.
Anguish begins its slow burn within him. Tormented heroes; tragic villains; dark pasts;
Suddenly, Irongrod hears an unfamiliar voice secret vices; evil presences; sounds in the
in his head, “Don’tworry, Irongrod-you’re ..
shadows. this is the stuff of gothic horror. In
innocent. Sure, I used your body for the crime, addition to spicing up adventures, the mood of
but you were asleep. No matter: it won’t be your gothic horror greatly intensifies the terror of
body much longer.” combat. The mood, though, is fragile: subtlety
is key. If a DM says, “the grass upon the grave
In this scenario, lrongrod experiences the two before you stirs uneasily, despite the dead calm
emotions critical to successful RAVENLOFT” in the air,” the characters may feel horror. If a
game adventures: horror and terror. Horror is DM says, “the grass upon the grave before you
the revulsion, dread, and anguish that results whips in wild frenzy as the soil bubbles and
when a character confronts something that convulses like boiling flesh, even though the air
shouldn’t be: Irongrod felt horror when he is as still and putrid as a dead man’s rotting
heard of the murder, matched the description heart,” the PCs may well laugh.
to himself, and discovered that his knife was Make no mistake-thrilling combat is the heart
missing. Terror, on the other hand, is the of most Ravenloft adventures. If your characters
extreme fear that arises when creatures or thrive on hack-and-slash,feel free to add more
events immediately threaten one’s life: lrongrod battles to the adventures contained here. But
felt terror when he heard the voice in his head remember, horror spices up adventures and
threatening to take over his body. The intensifies combat. In other words, slash all you
interaction of horror and terror is critical to want, but don’t forget the horror!
 setup she rushes to the shore, retrieves her boots,
his adventure is designed for four and cautiously approaches.
characters of 2nd to 4th level. Her beauty comes into focus a s she closes
During the scenario, the characters the distance.
meet a hauntingly beautiful woman
named Katrina Von Brandthofen. This is Katrina, who will try to draw the PCs
They are soon flung into an into this sorrowful adventure. If the characters
insidious plot devised by Doctor draw their weapons as she advances, she stops,
Victor Mordenheim, who is trying stares wistfully at them, then turns around and
to restore life and beauty to his runs away. If the PCs do not catch her and show
cursed wife. Her body is now they are peaceful, the adventure ends before it
mutilated and broken. The even begins.
Dungeon Master is encouraged to However, if the PCs do not threaten her, she
read the information regarding strides toward them and asks, “To whom d o you
Victor Mordenheim and his wife in owe alliance?”
the RAVENLOFT’” boxed set. This If the characters say they owe alliance only to
data is located in Chapter 13, “The themselves or to no individual, she relaxes and
Who’s Doomed of Ravenloft.” See “Lamordia” claims that she is aligned with herself-and all
in Chapter 11 for a description of the domain, that is lawful. While she speaks with them, she
and the card titled “Mordenheim’s Estate” for searches for any symbols of evil that may be
details on the setting. visible on the party. She questions any clerics
about their gods. Katrina is trying to make sure
the PCs are not evil. She will not deal with an
The Adventure evil party.
The characters’ travels take them to a dark
and misty beach.
Hatrina’s Story
You stand on a sandy beach in the fading
The woman sighs, and a smile tugs at the
light of early evening. Dark, murky waves lap
corner of her rose-tinted lips. “I believe you
at the shore. Seashells and the decaying
are without evil,” she states softly. “I truly
remains of small jellyfish lie scattered about
hope you are. My name is Katrina. In this
like broken toys, and fiddler crabs scurry
land, it is difficult to determine who is evil
about in search of food.
and who is good-except by one’s actions. I
Bordering this beach, sharp, jutting rocks
a m willing to give you a chance.”
reach stiffly into the magenta-tinged,
midnight blue sky; they are resolute against
the crash of the white-capped waves. In the If the characters ask why she is here, she tells
distance, a lone woman kneels on the sand, them her story. This is detailed in the NPC
retrieves a shell, and throws it back into the roster at the end of the adventure, but it is also
sea. It disappears into the surf, then she paraphrased here for the Dungeon Master’s
gracefully pulls her boots off and begins convenience.
wading in the lapping currents.
She takes only a few steps before she
Elise. She was my mother’s twin. Aunt Elise
stops, noticing you. Her gaze riveted on you,
 However, if the characters decide to help her,
who lost his mind in his work shortly after she is relieved. She suggests they set up camp
they were married. My aunt disappeared
(the nearest town is 10 miles away) so they all
several years ago, and I have been looking
can get an early start in the morning.
for her ever since. It is rumored that he per- If any of the PCs stand watch, they observe
formed grotesque experiments on her, and I something strange during the night. If no one
am here to seek vengeance if this is true. I
stands watch, the DM should roll randomly to
have been unable to locate his private labor-
have one character awaken. The PCs observe
atory, and my travels have led me here. All small streaks of lightning and a glowing aura
the rumors point to this area, so I believe he coming from a small mansion perched atop a
is close. I ask your help, if you will give it.”
cliff several miles away. The hill overlooks the
nearby sea.
If the characters ask for payment, Katrina When Katrina sees the glow in the sky, she
explains she has barely enough to cover her grows excited.”That is it! That’s the house! I knew
lodging and food expenses for the next few you were a good sign in this evil land. We shall
weeks. If the characters refuse to help without leave in the morning and head for that hill!”
promise of payment, she offers to pay them In the morning, Katrina leads the PCs in the
with a portion of anything they may find at direction of the house, eating dried fruits and
Mordenheim’s residence. If they still refuse, she jerky and sipping water from a suede waterskin
bids them farewell and sets off on her own. as she travels.
 ~

Mansion Atop a Cliff from the building. Nearly two inches of dust
fill this room, making it appear as though no
The. wind is brisk and cold, chilling you one has entered this house in decades.
through your clothes and armor as you The dark and gloomy entry room displays
ascend the steep slope to the house. The rotting tapestries and paintings hanging
deep green trees and nearly black grass precariously on rusting nails. Spider webs
absorb what weak sunlight peeks from above dangle from every conceivable locale, and
the dense cloud cover. The only sound is the the husks of their former residents lie
snapping and crackling under your feet as tangled in their desperate strands.
brittle, dry branches and twigs give way From upstairs, a clanking sound cuts
under the weight of your footsteps. through the musty air. It soon stops, and a
Reaching the top of the hill around mid- cry of terror follows, dying down to a morbi(
afternoon, you see the house has a wail.
paramount view of the ocean. Below, the
sea’s murky surface waves and shivers from If the characters decide to go up the stairs,
unseen forces. Only the wind in your hair read the following:
and the call of lonely seagulls breaks the
deafening silence that hangs in the air. Far As you mount the stairs, the steps creak
across the ocean, a mist-laden island is horridly with every footfall. A spider, the size
vaguely visible. of a gold coin, drops down in front of you as
The wooden door to the old mansion is if to see who intrudes. The dust on the
reinforced with iron bars. The bars are banister flows to the floor in a spooky
blistered and flaking with blood-red rust; the cascade as you vibrate the stairs with your
wood is cracked and splintered with age. movements.
Shutters on the second floor bang and rattle
against the house. The only way the characters can mount the
stairs silently is by using a silence spell. A
Unless the characters are wearing gauntlets, thief‘s Move Silently ability functions at
they suffer 1 point of damage when they knock one-half his normal ability on the rickety stairs.
on the door. The wood splinters mercilessly If the PCs have not made efforts to quiet their
into their knuckles. It will take 2d4 rounds to movements, by the time the PCs have climbed
remove the splinters. one-third the way up the stairs, the man on the
The knock is never answered. The door is second floor (Victor) hears them and begins
locked, and a thief trying to pick the lock must hiding everything in sight. If the characters
do so with a -20% penalty because the move up the stairs quietly, they find Victor. If,
mechanism is rusted. The door can be battered however, Victor was alerted to their
open if 40 points of damage are inflicted upon movements, read the following:
it. When the PCs get the door open, continue
with the following: Suddenly, you hear something slamming
and banging overhead. Within a few short
Strangu Lodgings seconds, the noise has ceased. At the top of
the stairs, you see only one door; its pale
The door rasps and whimpers painfully exterior is outlined by the glow of light cast
when opened, and a rush of stale air flows under its fragile frame. The door is closed,
 Mordenheim, sorrow knits across his
and a chair sits propped tightly against the melancholic brow.
handle.
“I am sorry to tell you that your search has
ended. She died several years ago from a
The Scientist yellow fever plague. I was working on a
If the characters move the chair, the door serum to cure the dreadful affliction, but the
creaks outward, exposing a brightly lit room. remedy came too late. I was able to inject
myself, but she-my wife-passed away too
The room is well lit, but very dusty. quickly. Since her passing, I have refused to
Footprints the size of those made by a giant enter the rest of the house; the memories it
are scattered across the floor. A bin with a brings back are too painful.
hand-pumped well stands in the center of the “I am sorry that your travels have brought
room, where rickety and ancient tables sit at you naught, but you are free to spend the
odd angles, efficiently slicing the room into evening here, so you can leave at first light.
equal quarters. A man stands looking at you The night brings untold horrors in this land.”
with one eye wide open; another man squints
painfully in your direction. He leans against If the characters agree to these
one of the tables, nervously tapping his arrangements-which Katrina will beg them to
fingers, sending tiny explosions of dust into accept-Victor shows them to several
the air. downstairs rooms.
The nervous man appears half-starved. His Victor sighs as he walks down the rickety
thin body stoops at the shoulders. He gasps stairs to the first floor. Moving a dust-encrusted
in a hoarse voice, while licking his lips with a cobweb from his path, he turns to his right. “We
blackened tongue. had many a festive occasion in this room,”
“What are you doing here? 1 haven’t seen Victor says unwaveringly, pointing disjointedly
or allowed visitors here for more than two to the room below the stairs. “We used to love
years!” to sit and watch the flames in the fireplace.” He
looks at the mantle where a painting of a lovely
If the characters mention they are looking for couple leans against the wall. The picture
Doctor Victor Mordenheim, the man’s eyes appears old, but it must be only the webs and
perk open, and his posture straightens. Wiping dust that cast this illusion, for Victor has not
his mouth with a wrinkled handkerchief, he aged since its illustration. He continues walking
approaches the characters with measured and stops near three doors. “Here is where you
footsteps. may sleep. Safe and uneventful rest to you all.
Until the morn.” He turns and walks sadly back
He instantly looks 10 years younger and up the stairs.
more fit. “I apologize for the charade, but I Katrina asks to take a room for herself; if the
never can tell who is looking for me-or the PCs agree, she locks the door behind her. She
madman they say lives here. I am Victor states that if someone wishes to guard her, she
Mordenheim.” He approaches you with an would prefer them to remain outside her door
outstretched hand, waiting for your rather than inside her room.
introductions. “What can I d o for you?”

When the characters say that they are

looking for Elise Von Brandthofen, or Elise
Things That Go Bump in the Night a vile yellow substance into Katrina’s arm. A
Later that night, as the characters sleep, have few moments later, Katrina opens her eyes.
each player roll ld20. Those who roll one-half She looks at Victor lovingly.
or less of their Wisdom scores hear noises and “My husband. How long it has been? It is
a muffled cry coming from upstairs. If one or true that we now can be together?” Katrina
more characters were on watch, they sits up and looks into Victor’s eyes.
automatically hear the noises. No matter what “Yes, my darling. It is now time.” Victor
precautions the PCs took, Katrina has been reaches for the woman’s hand and gently
abducted. Victor stole her through a secret caresses it. Katrina, seconds thereafter,
passage into her room. If another PC was in the writhes in agony and drops to the ground.
room with her, the character is drugged by a The contorted body on the table nearby
sleep gas. stiffens and convulses. Both Katrina and the
creature become unnaturally still. Victor flies
You suddenly wake to the noise of muffled into a rage of anger and grief.
pleas. A short scuffle ends in a soft thud,
then all is silent. If the PCs try to stop Victor from conducting
his heinous experiment:
If the PCs investigate, they must again walk Victor raises a butcher knife above Katrina,
up the squeaky stairs. If they use a silence spell, threatening to kill her if they do not leave him
or if they find a way to fly or levitate up, they alone.
can sneak up without Victor noticing them. If Victor desperately explains that he wants to
they make noise going up the stairs, Victor use Katrina’s body as the new vessel for his
again hears them coming. If no one wakens decrepit wife’s soul. He points to the creature
from their sleep, Katrina is lost to them forever. on the other table. He has no intention of
as Victor’s experiment is concluded murdering Katrina.
unsuccessfully. If the characters still try to stop him, he
attacks them with the butcher knife. After
Opening the door to the laboratory, you defeating Victor, to save Katrina, the PCs must
see Victor placing Katrina’s limp body into a cast a neutralize poison.
horrifying chair with straps and metallic If the PCs investigate the grotesque body of
objects across its surface. A broken and the woman known as Elise, they find she is kept
grotesque shape that looks as though it were alive only by the contraptions that jut from her
once a woman lies next to her; it, too, is skin. Elise wants to die, and will encourage the
limp. Unusual and unidentifiable objects PCs to disconnect her. However, the powers of
puncture the atrocious creature’s body. Ravenloft want her kept alive to continue
Victor’s torture. Elise cannot die. No form of
healing can cure her.
The characters must roll a Ravenloft Horror
check when they see this sight.
If the characters do nothing to stop Victor: Resolution
Victor places a metallic bowl on top of If the characters save Katrina’s life, the PCs
Katrina’s head, and another bowl on the each receive 300 experience points and have
gained an ally in Ravenloft. Katrina will not join
pathetic creature’s head. Muttering
incomprehensible incantations, Victor injects them in their travels to escape Ravenloft. She
instead chooses to return to her home, where
she plans t o rejoin the family she has not seen Katrina is Victor Mordenheim’s niece by
in years. marriage. Victor’s wife, Elise Von Brandthofen,
As the characters leave Victor’s mansion, is Katrina’s maternal aunt.
they are spotted by the beast that Victor Katrina is a hauntingly beautiful woman. She
Mordenheim created long ago-Adam. He wears loosely fitted shirts and tight jerkins that
takes an immediate disliking to the PCs, accentuate her athletic figure. She is very agile
assuming they may have harmed his beloved and quick.
Elise. The DM should refer to the Who’s Though her family escaped Ravenloft when
Doomed ofRauenloft chapter in the she was young, a few years ago, Katrina was
RAVENLOFP boxed set for more information drawn in again, arriving in Valachan. Katrina
on this creature. has been looking for her missing aunt since
that time. She believes that the Doctor, her
aunt’s husband, has performed some terrible
NPC Roster experiment on her, creating a zombie slave to
attend to his every whim.
Uictor Mordunhuim I

Katrina believes she is always right. This fer-

0-Level Human Male
ocious tenacity and independence has been with
HP 55 THACO 20 her ever since her father failed to return from war
AC 7 Age 34 A L NE when she was a young child. Her mother alone
Str 10 Dex 17 Con 10 raised Katrina and her younger brother.
Int 18 Wis 7 Cha 12 Katrina’s brother contracted yellow fever
when he was six, and died a few painful weeks
Mordenheim has been blessed-and later. This destroyed Katrina’s mother. She soon
cursed-with a permanent regeneration spell. It broke down into a catatonic state, unable to
is almost impossible for him to permanently eat. She died three weeks later.
die. After being “killed” by the PCs, he will be When her mother died, Katrina was taken to
back again within a week-to continue his an uncle’s house; he took the time and patience
never-ending experiments. If the characters to raise his niece. This helped Katrina readjust
disintegrate his body, his soul wanders the to life without her parents. However, she
demi-plane of Ravenloft, looking for the body yearned for the company of her aunt, the twin
of another human. When he finds one, which he of her deceased mother.
certainly will, he returns to his home within in a Years later, Katrina still searches for her aunt.
week, the body slowly changing to once again She has failed to locate the elusive Doctor
resemble Victor Mordenheim. Victor is Mordenheim. During her travels, she learned
essentially immortal. several disturbing rumors that have tightened a
hatred in her heart for the man she has never
Hatrina Uon Brandthofun seen. Several of these yarns tell of Elise, her
aunt, being turned into a horrid and twisted
4th-Level Human Diviner
beast to guard his private laboratory. Another
HP 20 THACO 19 tells that her aunt is nothing more than a
AC 6 Age 24 AL LN mindless zombie.
Str 12 Dex 18 Con 13 Katrina has found, during her short lifetime,
Int 14 Wis 16 Cha 17 that she can trust very few people in Ravenloft.
She is very wary of those she meets on the
Spells: detect magic, detect undead, identify, road. She rarely trusts anyone enough to tell of
read magic; detect euil, detect invisibility, ESP her life and of her travels.
 Setup you like cold steel, but as quickly as it came,
his adventure is designed for the chill passes.
three to six characters of 3rd to 5th The streets are barren. Nary a footprint or
level. The party may be currrently carriage track marks the deepening shroud
in Ravenloft, or the DM may adjust of snow over this silent town. Bringing up the
the scenario so that the party rear of the party, Eldon and Ravewood trudge
stumbles unwittingly into along, their heads bent to the ground like
Ravenloft. weary horses and their breath forming ghosts
In Blood in Moondale, Captain of moisture in the frigid air.
Alec Rapacion, leader of the Though the shutters of every house are
county militia, has enlisted the secured against the night, here and there
player characters and two other light spills between the shutter slats, casting
warriors (Eldon and Ravewood) for prison-bar shadows upon the drifting snow.
brief terms of service. A rash of Ahead, a creaking sign bears weathered
werewolf incursions on local lettering-Moondale Inn.
villages has forced militia leaders
to form brute squads to hunt down
the vile creatures. The PCs have participated The Moondale Inn
with the militia for several days.
The captain, seeing how weary his troops are,
The characters are on maneuvers with Eldon,
gazes upward to gauge the severity of the
Ravewood, and Captain Alec when they are
deepening storm. He decides there is nothing
caught by nightfall and a sudden snowstorm
else to do but enter the inn to wait out the
while investigating a woodland. Luckily, they
storm.
discover a small village named Moondale where
they can spend the night. Here the adventure A s you walk up to the front door of the
begins. inn, the stairs shake and rusted nails moan
In place of Alec Rapacion, the DM might beneath the tread of your feet. The
want to use an NPC that the characters already doorknob, however, turns silently and the
know: hooking a party up with a stranger may hinges whisper as the door opens, spilling
cause characters to prematurely suspect their warm light into the night.
leader. You stamp inside and close the door. A
small fire burns lazily in a large hearth on the
Adventure right side of the room. The flames cast
dancing shadows across the bleak, tan walls.
The air is cold and charged with snow, and To the left, a worn set of stairs leads up to the
the wind howls severely through the tall second floor. A man, apparently the inn's
conifer trees. Far ahead, the dim lights of a proprietor, sits in an oversized rocking chair,
small village flicker invitingly toward you smoking a stale-smelling pipe. Though his
through the thickening flurries. The captain, tunic is blotched by years of tobacco (and
plodding at the head of the party, shifts other unidentifiable) stains, you can tell it
direction toward the lights. As you enter the had once been white. Several tables and
town, the snow falls thicker, in large chairs stand in the path between you and the
pillowy flakes. A sudden chill runs through innkeeper.
 When the characters approach the man, he and do not abate for one full turn. If the
lazily stands. “Caught in the white maw of characters go to investigate, the woman stops
winter, were we? Come on in and thaw out your screaming to tell her story.
eye-lashes. I’m Dante Lysin, and this is the If the PCs knock on the captain’s door before
Moondale Inn. You’re welcome t o stay, if you’ve heading out, they receive no answer and his
got coin, that is.” door is locked. If they later question him about
his failure to respond, he will claim to have run
If the characters d o not decide t o stay the t o investigate as soon as the screams started. If
night, they find the storm has suddenly the PCs don’t question the captain, he will
worsened and that the town has no other inns. pretend he was with them the full time.
If they d o decide to stay for the evening, Eldon and Ravewood join the PCs in the hall
Captain Alec Rapacion pays for the company’s as they prepare to leave the inn to investigate.
rooms. He seems to feel somewhat guilty about As the party enters the street, 2d4 villagers
getting the group stuck in the snowstorm and join them in seeking out the source of the
so offers a separate room for each character screams.
(though they can double up if they want). If the characters check the street as they
cross, they discover the tracks of a man’s bare
As you ascend the stairs t o your rooms, feet leading from the inn to the house where
the hallway becomes darker with every step. the screams arise. With every step, the
The candle that Captain Rapacion holds cast impression of the heel grows smaller until it
only a dim, flickering light into the dusky disappears, the print of the ball shrinks to a
hall. He guides you one by one to your small triangle, and the toes seem to sprout
rooms and waits with the candle until you sharp claws. Soon, the tracks perfectly
light a lamp in your room. The rooms are resemble those of a wolf. If the characters do
furnished with single beds and a dresser with not look for tracks, the DM should not point
a porcelain wash basin. Two cob-webbed them out.
candle sconces hang upon the walls, each If the characters are together in one place
holding five withered, wine-colored candles. and intentionally count heads, they will notice
An even layer of dust coats everything: you that the captain is not present. Otherwise, the
get the impression the inn entertains few DM should not suggest this information.
guests.
The door to the house swings easily open,
The beds have sheets and pillows, though and in the shadowy room within, you find a
neither seem particularly fresh. The dressers woman racked with tears and jibbering
have nothing in them except a few dust-choked incoherently. Your attempts to calm her
cobwebs in the bottom drawers. The husks of down only make her more hysterical.
dead flies, earwigs, and the webs’ deceased
tenants lie tangled in the once-sticky strands. If characters check the door, they see no sign
PCs may perform whatever tasks they wish of forced entry. If characters draw weapons and
before going to bed. search the house for intruders, they find only a
ravaged corpse (the woman frantically follows
Screams in thu Night on the heels of the character who makes this
discovery). If this is the case, read the next box
During the early hours of night, a woman’s to the PCs. If, however, the characters do not
terrified screams awaken the characters. The search the house, the woman unsteadily turns
screams come from the house across the street, and wanders from the front room. If the
 .

cnaracrers follow her, she leads them through

the commotion and rushed into the room
the house, and, with blood-stained fingers,
with his sword drawn. The beast, in its fury,
points out a ravaged corpse lying on the carpet.
trampled me and caught my husband in the
Read the next section.
throat with its teeth, dragging him across the
A brutally mutilated corpse is lying upon floor to here. I hid behind the stair until I
the floor of the pantry. Upon seeing the heard the beast breathing and chewing no
mangled form, the woman again bursts into more. Then I found the courage to scream.”
uncontrollable tears. The corpse looks as
though a wild beast ravaged it. Shreds of Further investigation of the body shows that
clothing trail across the floor from the front the claw and bite marks are several inches
door to where the remains now lie. deep. The beast that attacked this man was
Only after this latest spasm of grief does very strong and lethal, indeed. Investigating
the woman settle down enough to speak. anything further turns up nothing relevant.
“My husband and I-we-we were locking The captain suggests that the party check the
the house for night. I went to the front door. snow to see if the tracks can reveal anything
The porch lamp was lit-went to put it else. The characters find, however, that their
out-opened the door. There was a man-a own footprints and the falling snow have
dark robe over him. Couldn’t see his face. obliterated the tracks of the man-wolf. The
Just eyes staring at me. Walking straight for captain assigns Eldon to move the corpse out
me. But not a man-a wolf! I saw him into the snow and remain to guard the woman.
change-saw the robe fall away. He was-he The rest of the evening is uneventful. In the
was hideous.” morning, the characters find Eldon asleep and
the woman dead. If questioned, Eldon says that
DM’s Note: The werewolf snatched up the she screamed out once in the night, but by the
robe in its jaws when it fled the house-thus, time he reached her, she was already dead.
the characters would not have noticed the From the terrified look frozen on her face, the
garment in the street. PCs can only guess that she died of some
terrible fright or nightmare.
The woman starts crying again and jibbering
uncontrollably. During this time, the captain Elements Against Them
noiselessly joins the party and, unless
To make matters worse, word comes that
characters had noticed his absence before, acts
as though he had been with them all along. If 12-foot snowdrifts have sealed off the valley.
The sporadic drifts within the village are not
the characters noticed his absence, he says the
nearly as dramatic as those on the wind-swept
innkeeper woke him to tell him of the screams
passes. The captain leads the party to the
and he left the inn before the PCs.
snowdrifts to see if they can clear a path.
The characters can elicit nothing more from
the woman unless they cast remoue fear,forget,
The captain’s face wears a mask of grim
or emotion on her. If they cast one of these, she
determination as he studies the impassable
continues. Otherwise, skip the following box. trails. He appears to be calculating whether
your ill-equipped band could survive the
“The beast forced the door open before I
could close and lock it. My husband heard passage. Resignation finally softens his iron
features, “We must remain here until the
 no werewolf attacks had occurred before the
passes clear. In the meantime, though, we militia unit arrived. But the more characters
have two murders to solve-perhaps more urge townfolk to help them, the more
before we are through. With the roads widespread and intense the people’s suspicions
blocked, we are the sole constabulary in this of the militia become.
village. The task thus falls to us: it is our If characters seek out Dante Lysin, the
sworn duty. We must find and slay the beast innkeeper of the Moondale Inn, they find he is
before it commits further butchery. Consider curiously absent. If characters ask his assistant
this your first assignment.” where Dante is, he says Dante is on the other
As you march back into town, the side of the village helping his elderly parents
straggling buildings of the village seem install more locks on their doors. He says he
almost smothered beneath the heavy blanket should return by nightfall.
of snow. Flakes spin in tiny whirlwinds If the characters become utterly frustrated by
between the buildings, borne upon a wind the lack of help from villagers, Captain
that pierces even the thickest clothing. The Rapacion commands them to do what soldiers
frigid air stings your nostrils when you always do when in doubt-patrol.
inhale. The sun provides precious little DM’s Note: Captain Rapacion should assign the
warmth, hidden behind leaden clouds. Just characters to two or three different patrol
enough light filters through to illuminate the routes. He assigns Eldon and Ravewood to a
tiny valley. different patrol route unaccompanied by a PC.
~

Eldon and Ravewood are to be the next

Whenever the characters try to ask villagers victims of the werewolf. If a PC should insist
for information regarding the deaths, they turn upon accompanying them, the DM will need to
away in fear. The PCs do manage to learn that find a way for the two militiamen to become
separated from the PC. Whichever set of tracks the characters
Whether the characters are told by the choose to follow, they are led away from the
captain to patrol, or are patroling on their own, barn and toward town. Once they reach a main
read them the next box. street, the tracks mix and are lost amid the
tramping footprints of other villagers.
Woman in a Orift The cold seems to have intensified as you
tromp through the streets, straining your
As you patrol a snow-choked road near the eyes to pick up the trail again. The tracks are
edge of the village, your eyes scan the bleak
hopelessly trampled. Out of the corner of
and glaring snowscape. A spot of color in the
your eye, you see a dark form approaching.
snow catches your eye. There seems to be It is the captain. His hands hold the tall collar
something bluish in an oddly shaped of his cloak tight to his cheeks, and his face
snowdrift to the right of the road. As you
looks grim and ashen with the cold. “Tell me
approach, you see that the mound is not a
you have found something to bring this fiend
drift at all, but a loose pile of snow that looks to the noose!”
like it was kicked into place. With horror,
you realize the patch of blue is a human
hand! Frozen droplets of blood cling to the Captain Rapacion carefully listens as the
rigid fingers. characters recount their findings. Afterward,
the DM should read the following.
If the characters brush away the snow or pull When your story is finished, the captain
the body out of the mound, they find the shakes his head in obvious irritation. “We’ve
ragged corpse of a young and beautiful removed the other bodies to the last stall in
maiden-beautiful except that her lifeless face the stables behind the inn. Bring this body
is fixed in a grimace of fear. She is cold, but not too, and place it with the others. The village
frozen, and rigor mortis has not yet set in. elders have asked that the bodies be
Tracks of a single wolf lead away from the preserved until the passes open and a doctor
scene. If the characters follow these paw prints, can arrive to give them proper burial. Since
read the following: we’ve so far proven incapable of rounding up
the murderer,” he says with a stern glare,
You follow the mazy trail away from the “rounding up the bodies is the least we can
village where the creature’s pace seems to
do. I shall see you back at the inn. This cold
slow. Then gradually, the tracks broaden into
has run me through.” He turns, stomping his
those of human bare feet. These new tracks booted feet, and heads toward the inn.
lead to a secluded spot between a deep
woodland and the windowless side of a
remote barn. There, the trail of prints Stables and Stories
broadens into a trampled area. On the edges
When the party reaches the stables after
of this area you see marks in the snow where
retrieving the woman’s body, the DM should
clothing had been discarded. You also find
read the following.
two sets of booted footprints-one
approaching the secluded area at a run, and
the other striding boldly away. and are mercifully warmer than the frigid
 sheep, but in colder weather, prefers the
straw-strewn passage with stalls lining either mounts of his guests. He is very careful not to
side. As you drag the woman’s body past one
endanger the animals’ lives. Unlike most
stall, the great black stallion inside it catches creatures suffering from vampirism, he
the scent of death and rears. Its whinney despises his condition. See the NPC Roster at
sounds like the scream of a woman. In the the end of this adventure for more information
meager lamplight, you glimpse its crimson on this man.
eyes and foam-flecked muzzle. Steeling your After the characters eat dinner with Captain
nerve, you take a few more steps, reach the Rapacion, he announces he is going to retire
final stall and swing the door open. lnside are early. He claims that trudging through the snow
four corpses, not two. Beneath the gored and cold looking for clues has made him very
bodies of the man who died last night and tired. He excuses himself and walks up the
his wife lay the rigid forms of your comrades, stairs to his room.
Eldon and Ravewood.
Dante, the innkeeper, settles happily in
If the characters question Captain Rapacion with your group and, recognizing a captive
as to how Eldon and Ravewood died, he says, audience, begins to spin a yarn about the
“It was obviously the beast. A farmer found village. “Feel like a spooky tale on such a
them in his field. Tripped over their bodies on bleak night? Have you heard the tale of my
his way out t o milk the cows.” If the party arrival in Moondale? It was thriving then, but
questions Rapacion further, they find that the in a few years, everything changed. A foul
tracks around the militiamen’s bodies proved batch of needle-toothed, feral-faced vampires
impossible t o follow once they entered the crawled out of their dark holes and came
village. here. They sucked the life out of this place.
In the evening, Dante returns to the inn. He Parasites. We hanged them and burned
expresses his regrets t o the characters on the them-poisoned, disemboweled, decapitated,
loss of their men and brings them each an ale gored them-but they kept coming back.
“on the house.” Within months, the town had shrunk by half.
He recounts the story his assistant told of “Then a stranger came to town. He taught
how he spent the day helping his elderly us how to slay the salty-breathed fiends, and
parents fortify their house, and indicates how how to keep them dead. We felled an acre of
the whole town, including himself, was spooked timber making holy symbols and stakes, and
by the late butcheries. He then asks the eventually killed several of them. But the
characters what they have discovered. rest moved on before we could finish the job.
Dante is intent upon the characters’ every Even though the danger was behind us,
word. If they accuse him of being a another batch of the townfolk left, fearing
lycanthrope, he denies it. “I have been called the life-suckers would return to wreak
many things in my day, but never a killing vengeance. That was five years ago, and
beast.” He stands and pours himself a drink. we’ve not seen so much as a bat’s ear since.
DM’s Note: Unknown t o the characters, Dante “But now this nonsense crops up. 1 say we
is a nosferatu vampire. He sustains himself on should-”
blood drained from the stabled mounts. He Terrified cries erupt on the street outside.
carefully bites animals in the throat, and Dante leaps to his feet, wrenches a coat from
partially drains their blood into a clean pail. the rack on the wall, and rushes into the
Then he stores it until needed. In warmer night.
weather he drinks the blood of cattle and
 If the characters follow, read the following. its fastest possible movement rate. The only
way the characters can attack it is with magic
About 60 yards down the street in a dim or missile fire (remembering that it is
pool of lantern light, you glimpse the nighttime). Within two rounds, the werewolf
beast-a wolf, easily the size of a worg. It's turns to the left between two buildings and
hackled back glistens with frozen spikes of disappears. If a character happens to have a
blood as it arches fiendishly over its latest gold or magical weapon on hand and wounds
prey. Two bodies lie quivering in the the werewolf, Captain Rapacion suffers the
red-speckled snow beneath the beast. The same damage.
wolf's meaty jaws scissor mercilessly and its If the captain is injured, he will feign arthritis
knifelike teeth slash into the bodies. Over or illness in order to conceal his wound. He will
the wail of the wind you can hear its not allow the PCs to discover his injury.
slaverous gulping. Then the beast raises its
dripping muzzle, pinning you with its eyes. It
sniffs the wind, turns, and dashes away. The Innocent Captain
DM's Note: The DM should stage events similar
.ycanthrope, Mountain Loup-Garou (1): Int to the one above, in which the captain is absent
High (15); AL CE; AC 3; MV 15(18); HD 7;hp from the PCs during an attack, until the
50; THACO 13; #AT 3 (1); Dmg 1-4/1-4/2-8 (2-8); characters suspect their captain. Then the DM
SD Hit only by gold or magical weapons; SA should run the following encounter. The
Surprise; SZ M (6' tall); ML Elite (14); XP 4,000. characters may be anywhere, but they hear
more of the now-familiarcries of pain ringing
If the characters investigate the bodies, they out from two blocks away. If they decide to
fin ' nly lifeless shell: *' '-oup-Garou flees at investigate, read the following.
 You rush through a gray-black maze of frustration and fear
barricaded buildings, searching for the The next morning, the captain sleeps late. If
werewolf‘s latest victim. After rounding a the characters take this opportunity to inspect
snow-clogged corner, you stop dead in your the inn’s stables, they notice that something
tracks. Thirty feet down the alley, the has further fed off the deceased bodies. The
wounded body of a man is couched in a frigid weather has staved off any
crimson snowdrift. A s you approach, you decomposition.
notice that his hands are working futilely to If the party inspects the streets for more
stem the flow of blood from deep gashes in bodies, they notice that the townfolk watch
his arms and calves. It is your captain. He their every move. The good folk of Moondale
gazes weakly up at you, biting back the pain, now do not g o out without a sword, dagger, or
.
and stammers, “I had him . . had him right any vaguely weaponlike tool they can find.
.
in my grasp! Got a blow in with my blade . . Should the characters provoke a fight (the
across his brisket. . . but he got away. By the villagers will not initiate combat) the townfolk
gods, this hurts!” The red glow of pain in his battle as 1st-level fighters. The 25 villagers are
eyes seems to dull, and a cloud passes over prepared to fight whatever is slaying them; if
his gaze. He slumps, unconscious. But the party seems culpable, they will let the
ghosts of warm breath still swirl from his battles begin.
nostrils. Late in the day, the characters discover
another body, this one on the roof of an
DM’s Note: Alec Rapacion mauled his own abandoned two-story public house. Because of
limbs (taking 10 points of damage) to allay the the ice on the wooden walls, the characters
PCs’ suspicions. He does not want them cannot climb the building unless they have a
believing he is the werewolf he knows he grappling hook, nor can they leap from any
cannot defeat the whole party at once. nearby buildings (there are none). The party
can reach the roof through any normal magical
If the characters see through their captain’s means. However, the party does notice several
ploy and try t o slay him while he is scratches and large gouges in the walls. The
unconscious, they find that only weapons that claw marks appear as though the werewolf
are magical or made of gold cause injury to carried something heavy as it scaled the wall.
him. If they use gold or magical weapons on Through the day and into the evening, if the
him, he awakens with the first blow, characters split up to cover more ground in
transmogrifies during the first round, and their search, the Loup-Garou hunts the weakest
attacks as a werewolf. character. Because the werewolf is Captian
If the party does not attack but merely leaves Rapacion, he knows full well which party
the captain to bleed to death, he will awaken member is weakest. The DM should read the
after they are gone, then hunt them down one following excerpt to that character.
by one that night until he or they are dead.
If the party binds Rapacion’s wounds and As you trudge through the trampled snow
carries him back to the inn, the night passes that fills the lanes, you hear the crunching of
without further incident. footfalls behind you. You turn to look, but see
no one. Only the ever-presentwind speaks.
The moment you turn back around, a black
blur of teeth and claws drops upon you.
 The lycanthrope has initiative, with a +4
bonus to the first round of attacks. It continues arrived. The village is set to hang you all.
Unless you find the culprit soon, the
the assault until it loses 50% of its hit points or
townfolk will test their theories by killing you
the character is dead. Though the beast’s
morale is very high, it will break off the attack all and seeing if the murders cease.”
before it becomes so weak that one or two Dante pours himself a drink and settles
behind the bar counter in a somewhat
more blows could defeat it.
uncomfortable-looking chair.
The werewolf‘s main intent is to slow,
weaken, or kill the characters. Thus, attacking
lone characters is its best strategy. If the If the characters probe further regarding
character cannot wound the werewolf for half Dante’s past, he refuses to answer. He knows
its damage before being killed, the beast feeds the characters would kill him if they knew his
until other characters arrive. When the true condition, despite his abhorrence of it.
werewolf first catches the scent of other Later that evening, the captain complains of
characters approaching, it flees, returning to a wood splinter under one of his nails. If the
the inn in a roundabout way. characters make the connection between the
The wolf heads to the inn’s stable, changes claw marks they discovered on the public
back to his human form, dresses (his clothes house earlier and the captain’s splinter, they
are stashed beneath hay bales), and heads into have nearly solved the murders. However, they
the inn. If the PCs have secretly posted a guard need proof.
at the stable, the guard sees the werewolf If the players still do not suspect the captain,
change into the captain. In werewolf form, the have Dante complain to them that the captain’s
captain has a 20% chance of sniffing out room smells like a mortuary.
hidden guards and attacks any unhidden
guards. Into the Lair
Should the PCs inspect the captain’s
Wild Goose Chase quarters, a thief must make an Open Locks
If the PCs tell the captain they suspect the skill check, or the PCs can roll against Strength
innkeeper, Rapacion supports their suspicions, to batter the door open. A total of 25 points of
saying “I d o not trust a man whose face is Strength rolled among the battering PCs is
hidden when the sun rides high. At night-yes, required to open the door. If the party is
at night we see him, and more than we would successful, the DM should read the following.
like!”
If the characters question the innkeeper, he The room within smells of rot and lies in
defends himself mildly. disarray. To your right sits the porcelain wash
basin, draped with clothes and spattered with
“No one is truly what he seems. Were 1 to blood spots. Beside the basin rest a dozen
pry into your lives, I would find sins that you dulled and nicked straight razors. Damp
too shelter from the sun. Though the list of piles of clothing cover the bed, and the
my transgressions may be long, I assure you dresser beside it emits an acrid odor.
that cold-blooded murder is not numbered
among them. DM’s Note: If the characters open drawers in
“Let m e also assure you that the deaths in the dresser, in the bottom drawer they find a
this town started the moment your company half-consumed forearm that reeks of rot.
Whether they discover the forearm or not, read
the next section during the party’s Charm gaze, Constitution drain through blood
investigation. sucking (See RAVENLOFT“ boxed set); SD hit
only by magical weapons; SZ M (5’6”); ML
The ominous sound of moaning hinges Champion (16); XP 2,000.
strikes your ears. The door swings slowly
open, and framed in doorway is the hulking As long as the werewolf is alive, Dante Lysin
form of your captain. He strides purposefully attacks him only, not the characters. If the
into the room and closes the creaking door werewolf is slain and if the party has learned
behind him. He fills his lungs with the putrid Lysin’s secret, he attacks the characters.
air of the room and speaks, “You have made Despite Dante Lysin’s abhorrence for his
such good warriors. Ours is a friendship of vampirism, his is an eternal curse: only death
give and take: you give me the freedom to can release him. But this is a cure he is not
find sustenance as I must, and I shall not willing to undergo. Thus, unless the characters
take your lives. I will ignore your indiscretion can convince him they pose no threat to him,
if you will ignore mine.’’ he will attack until reduced to 0 hit points, then
take on gaseous form. He then returns to his
~

If the characters agree to these terms, the coffin in the cellar of the inn, regenerates, and
captain allows the characters to leave his room will later move to a new town. If PCs destroy his
But that night, he will stalk and slay each coffin before eight hours pass, Dante is truly
character. He will not stop until he or they are destroyed.
dead. On a roll of 3 or less on ld6, PCs awaken
before the captain butchers them.
If the characters refuse the captain’s terms,
NPC Roster
he transmogrifies immediately. Each PC must Captain Alec Rapacion
make a Ravenloft fear check or flee. Fleeing
characters have a 50% chance of trying to push 8th-level Human Fighter
past the captain-otherwise, they must jump AL CE; AC 3; MV 15 (18); HD 7;hp 50; THACO
out the window and fall two stories to the street 13; #AT 3 (1); Dmg 1-4/1-4/2-8(2-8); SA
below, suffering 2d4 points of damage on Surprise; SD Hit only by gold or magical
impact (damage is reduced slightly due to the weapons; SZ M (6’ tall); ML Elite (14); XP 4,000.
snow on the ground). Characters cannot use Str: 18 Dex: 16 Con: 18
climbing abilities or proficiencies to flee: Int: 15 Wis: 12 Cha: 17
panicked people do not look for toe holds. The
Alec Rapacion was born a Mountain
Loup-Garou werewolf will track down and slay
Loup-Garou Lycanthrope. (See the
every last party member.
RAVENLOFT” boxed set for full information
regarding the Loup-Garou.) Alec, being a true
Dante Joins the Battle lycanthrope, has full control over his curse,
If the tide of battle turns against the though he does consider it a curse. Two of his
characters, the DM should feel free to bring the three brothers were lycanthropic as well. They,
innkeeper into the battle. however, were killed in their teens when the
people in Alec’s home village realized their
condition. Alec barely escaped with his life.
Vampire, Nosferatu (Innkeeper Dante Lysin):
Int Very (12); AL CN; AC 1; MV 12, FI 18 (C); The city, outraged by the boys’ infirmity, slew
HD 7 +3; hp 59; THACO 1 3 , 1 1 w/weapon;#AT both his father and mother to keep the
1; Dmg By weapon, +4 Strength bonus; SA condition from spreading. Alec witnessed the
slayings from the safety of the surrounding vampires plagued the village. During one
woods. midnight battle, a nosferatu drained Dante dry
Angered by the murder of his parents, Alec and he died. Shortly after, Dante’s slayer was
vowed vengeance upon all nonlycanthropic killed, but not before Dante fell under the
humans. Before entering Moondale, he had vampiric curse. He awoke within a coffin and
butchered over 1,000 people. Being a military used his newfound strength to escape. Angered
captain, he customarily enters a town, makes a by his death and the curse left with him, Dante
few kills, and blames the murders on an changed his surname to Lysin, which means
innocent resident. Typically, superstitious destroyer of blood.
townfolk are so eager to be rid of the menace In the following years, he worked to control
that they zealously hang whomever Alec or eradicate his curse, but to no avail. He has
fingers. not approached a temple for cure because no
Even though he is a true lycanthrope, Alec temples exist within fifty miles; that is what he
Rapacion does not have the standard facial hair tells himself. Although he abhors his condition,
or long, thick arms associated with it is slowly corrupting him, changing him to
lycanthropes. His charisma, unusually high for chaotic evil.
werewolves, is the main reason he has not been As a vampire, he knows that a lycanthrope is
caught yet. responsible for the bloody death of the man
killed on the PCs’ first night in town, but he
does not discover the werewolf‘s identity until
Dante lysin the PCs do. What he says about never
6th-level Retired Gladiatorial Fighter murdering a man is patently false, as he spent
A L CN; A C 1; MV 12, FI 18 (C); HD 7 +3; hp 59; 13 years doing so. And if the PCs threaten him,
THACO 13,11 w/weapon; #AT 1; Dmg By he will murder again.
weapon, + 4 Strength bonus; SA Charm gaze,
Constitution drain through blood sucking (See
RAVENLOFT”’ boxed set); SD hit only by Eldon and Ravewood
magical weapons; SZ M (5’6”); ML Champion 3rd-level Human Fighters (Militiamen)
(16); XP 2,000. A L N; A C 8; MV 12; HD 3; hp 14 each; THACO
Str: 16 Dex: 17 Con: 18 18; #AT 1; Dmg l d 8 (long sword); SZ M (5‘10’‘);
Int: 12 Wis: 14 Cha: 15 ML Average (9); XP 10.

At the age of 13, Dante Carare was abducted Str: 12 Dex: 11 Con: 14
from his home by a fight promoter. This man Int: 9 Wis: 10 Cha: 11
honed Dante’s innate fighting ability through Eldon and Ravewood know each other
mental and physical abuse. Dante soon became casually, and have served on the militia
the most popular villain in the local arenas, together several times before. They follow the
where he fought for 13 years. captain’s commands within reason, but will not
When he escaped the barracks, he slew his undertake jobs that put their lives at risk for no
promotor and stole the money he had won over reason. They will take orders from the PCs if
the years. After endless days of wandering, he their reasoning is sound and the PCs treat them
found himself in Moondale and bought the respectfully.
Moondale Inn from a dying man. The previous
owner wanted to will his two daughters enough
money for comfortable dowries.
During the next few years, nosferatu
 If the characters rise to investigate the sound,
iutup their movements drown out the song. If they
his adventure works hold perfectly still, they can again hear the
best for three to five sound, but it seems to come from nowhere and
characters of 3rd everywhere at once. Even if they wander, they
through 6th level. will not find its source.
In “The Dark
Minstrel,” the
characters become
Invitation to Doom
trapped in the Whether the characters sleep through the
netherworld study of rest of the night or spend it trying to hunt out
a dark minstrel and the music, the sunrise finds them in a town in
must discover a way Ravenloft called Claviera (regardless of where
out-or wait 100 they were in the evening). A messenger boy
years to again see hunts them down, knocking on the door if they
the light of day. are in a private room, or flagging them down in
public if they are not. The messenger hands
one of the PCs a small, fine, vellum scroll that
The - __- enture radiates Alteration magic if detected. The text
on the scroll, penned by a refined hand, is
he DM can begin this adventure whenever

T the party has successfully completed

another adventure, regardless of whether it
is in Ravenloft. Wherever the PCs bed down, be
written in gold ink and edged with detailed
traceries of red, blue, and green lines. The
scroll reads as follows (the DM should fill in the
PCs’ names and their most recent adventure).
it in a deep forest or an elegant inn, the DM
should read them the following. TO the Esteemed and Honorable comyany 4 IPC‘s NaWSf- ’
RBhters 4 wrongs, Avengers 4 E d , Purhiners 4 Trellsure,
Haunting Melodius Eketera-
From the worthy and Magflanimow Baron Lyron Evensong,
As you lie down, exhaustion wells up like Mater 4 Neverwere Manor, Benefactor of chviera, Lord of Lute
thick syrup in your weary muscles. A cool and Lyre, Etcetera-
breath of air wafts across your face, and your
breathing grows relaxed. In that nethermind Greetings!
between waking and sleeping, a sound flows In paise and honor of your distinguished and valorow service in
into your thoughts, like the quiet murmur of your late adventures, I request the honor fyouryresence at a
a brook. Not the song of water, though, but banquet this noon at my manor how. please arrive at the stroke
of plucked strings-yes, it is the whisper of of noon and bring hearty ayyetites, a temyer for songs and stories,
music. The melody, gentle and somber, and bgs to bear awaygifts. MY resources are at your diyosal.
seems to wrap itself warmly about your
drowsy mind. The song seems a kind of Awaiting your arrivd,
natural nocturn, like wind in tall grass, or the Baron Evensong
patter of rain. Yet an undeniable sadness
clings t o the sound, and as your slumber
If the characters decide to ignore the
deepens, the sadness grows haunting.
invitation, they will soon find that the scroll was
cursed; the first PC who touched the scroll will
experience various phobias until the party DM’s Note: The villager will not give up any
decides to go to the banquet. Every five rounds, more of his talismans, but he will sell one (and
the DM should roll on the Temporary Phobia only one) for 25 gp. The talisman is a necklace
table below to determine what happens to the with an hour-glassshaped stone. Lendor is the
character. Each phobia lasts one round and god of time and tedium from the GREYHAWK@
causes ld2 points of damage to the victim due campaign world, a fitting god for what awaits
to psychological trauma. the PCs, but impotent in the lands of Ravenloft.
The villager willingly provides the party with
Temporary Temporary
directions. As they follow the convoluted path
2d6 Phobia 2d6 Phobia
through the city’s maze of streets, the sound of
2 Everything 8 Music
the haunting music begins again. Any villager
3 Hair/Fur 9 Weapons
who glimpses the scroll in a PC’s hand, pocket,
4 Animals 10 Insects
or pack (or otherwise discovers that they are
5 Metal 11 Skin
going to see Baron Evensong) will touch his left
6 Dust 12 Any uniform
shoulder with the fingertips of his right hand
7 Voices
and drag his fingers across his collarbone. (This
DM’s Note: If a character is afflicted by one of is the holy warding sign of the local faith).
these phobias, the DM should not simply say, for
example, “Now you are afraid of dust.” Instead,
the DM should tell the character something like,
The Mansion
“The dust on the bookcase beside you starts to The PCs should reach the mansion just
move. As you look closer, you see that the before noon. When they do, the DM should
particles are alive: myriad tiny voices scream in read the following.
fury and countless tiny swords flash before you.
Suddenly, the army of dust leaps from the You stand on a cobblestone road and peer
bookcase, cascading through the air toward you.” through a wrought-iron gate toward a
This allows the PC to act out the fear. towering, blue-gray mansion. The black
ironwork of the fence and gate contains
myriad dryadlike figures that gaze out
To thu Banquet toward the street with wide, pupil-less eyes.
Once the characters decide to attend the A brick path leads through the front gate and
banquet, they will no doubt realize that the note ambles past looming willows to a pair of red
contains no directions for finding the Baron’s doors in a great, arching entrance.
manorhouse: the party will have to ask a As you stand and stare, one of the doors
villager for directions. When the characters ask cracks opens and a man steps onto the
someone for directions, the DM should read the porch. He wears high white stockings,
following. ornately embroidered breeches, a jerkin of
royal blue, a ruffled shirt, and a
“Been asked by the Baron to lunch, have three-cornered,plumed hat. He raises a
you? Not a good person to refuse, the Baron. bejeweled hand to remove his hat, then
Not entirely safe to go, neither. Here, take waves toward you, “Greetings! You must be
this talisman of Lendor-it ought to keep the heroes that fill our town’s gossip of late.
you safe.” You notice that the villager has And I see by the sun you are precisely on
three or four such talismans in a pouch in time! Come inside, the banquet awaits!”
addition to the one around his neck.
 If the characters are standing quietly, the DM
broad stairway with thick crimson carpet
should allow a Wisdom roll at half the
ascends majestically to the next floor. Along
characters’ normal abilities. Thieves may
one wall of the foyer stands a great mirror
attempt a Detect Noises check. Success
indicates that the PCs again hear the haunting with a golden frame. The opposite wall is
music, which seems to emanate from the lined w’ith hooks, benches, and cane stands.
The Baron pauses here, inviting you to
mansion. If the characters decide against going
unburden yourselves of cloaks, capes, and
in, the man at the door will work very hard to
convince them to enter, but he will not leave the larger weapons. The Baron leads you
through a pair of tall double doors and into
porch. Also, if the characters decide not to enter,
an elegant banquet hall. Banks of tall
the curse on the scroll intensifies so that the DM
windows spill sunlight across the thick,
should roll on the Temporary Phobia table every
scarlet carpet, and intricate floral patterns
round to determine the character’s phobia.
mark the red velvet paper upon the walls. A t
the room’s center stands a magnificent table,
The Banquet Hall draped in an ivory cloth and set with silver
If the characters decide t o enter, the man at vessels bearing steaming food. The scents of
the door graciously introduces himself as pheasant and venison rise unmistakably to
Baron Lyron Evensong. your noses as the Baron motions you toward
the table. A sideboard is laden with elaborate
The Baron ushers you into a stately foyer cakes and tortes.
panelled in rich mahogany, which rises to a
sculpted ceiling. A t the end of the hall, a DM’s Note: The Baron appears to have no
servants, and thus the feast is not served in

r e
 ?

courses, but all at once. This breach of custom

seems strange, given the man’s station. The DM chairs on the other side of the room.
At one end of the chamber, a tall bank of
may allow an Intelligence roll for the PCs to
glazed windows stands, segmented by iron
notice this.
The Baron waits for the PCs to be seated, mullions and transoms and topped with
pulling out chairs for the ladies, then seats elegant tracery. Two fireplaces occupy
himself. He begins directing the PCs to pass the adjacent walls and ivory statuary are arrayed
across their prodigious marble mantles. The
various dishes among themselves, filling his
own plate as the serving bowls pass him. Each walls are otherwise covered with bookcases,
member of the party who eats a full meal with which rise fully eight feet above the floor.
the Baron is immediately healed of any lost hit Atop these crowded shelves loom numerous
portraits in gold-gilded frames. Elaborate
points. If a character does not eat a full meal,
he regains no hit points. During the meal, the embossing and reliefs sprout out where the
Baron makes conversation with the party, walls meet the ceiling, and a candle
asking for accounts of their adventures. chandelier hangs from the room’s center.
After the meal, the Baron asks the party into In a corner beside the bank of windows
his study to hear the latest song he has stands an elegant white harpsichord. Baron
composed. If they refuse, saying they need to Lyron sits at the bench, motioning for you to
pull up seats around the instrument. Once all
get on their way, the Baron seems insulted,
are seated, he begins to play and sing a
saying, “You have eaten my banquet but refuse
to grant me a moment for song?” If they are peasant jig.
adamant, the cursed character suddenly There once lived a bard with a beautiful voice
becomes fearful of leaving. And a harpsichord sweet as the sunrise.
If the PCs ask the Baron whether he knows He played it all day, singing songs of his
anything about the phobias, he states that it is choice,
probably the stress of adventuring causing Telling tales to the fools and the wise.
hallucinations. He recommends some
The plectrum harmonies of the instrument
entertainment and relaxation, which he is
die away, though the song is obviously
happy to provide.
unfinished. After a moment, Lyron rises and
paces pensively about the room. At length he
A Studu in Oarknuss speaks, “I so enjoy your company, and am
glad you have stayed this long. I do hope our
If the characters agree, the Baron leads them
pleasant friendship can continue, as we will
into a study. The DM should read the following.
be here together for the rest of your lives.”
The parlor you now enter is every bit as A s the words leave his lips, he gestures
lavish as the dining hall, but it feels far more toward the bank of windows, which, you now
cozy and welcoming. The black marble floor see, have turned utterly black.
is almost entirely covered with thick “Do make yourselves comfortable and
tapestries. Around these carpets stand wail yourself of whatever you will in this
settees, chairs, and small tables, all made of room, for this is your home now. As you
ornately carved mahogany and draped with ?ave come to know, I am a very moral man,
intricately embroidered fabrics. A large snd 1 will not stand for evil acts in this room.”
globe of brass stands in one corner, and an
orrery of bronze sits beside a cluster of DM’s Note: The room is now separated in
time and space from all other places in the
lands of Ravenloft. The room is no longer part When next he views the light of day, the weights
of a mansion, nor does it exist in a town or on a and moondial will move as if a single day
world. It merely floats in an endless void. This passed.
is all because of Lyron’s curse (see the end of The PCs can observe a day’s passing by
this adventure). The room will be thus removed watching the clock tick away 24 hours. If they
for 100 years before it rejoins the mansion in were to record the 24-hour periods, they would
Claviera on the next sunrise. Thus, while 100 eventually tally up 100 years before the world
years pass in the room, only one night passes in around them would return. For the sake of
Claviera. game mechanics, the DM should treat one
The PCs can escape this room only by 24-hour period as a normal day (i.e., hit points
discovering that the harpsichord is the source are healed, spells are regained, etc.)
of Lyron’s power and then destroying it. The
clues about this escape lie throughout the
chamber: the rest of this adventure allows the
Ouustioning Lgron
PCs to discover these clues at their own pace. The players’ most likely questions appear
Regardless of what the PCs intend to do, below, along with Lyron’s responses. If other
Lyron will take a keen interest and hover about, questions are asked, the DM should devise an
asking questions about the PCs’ personal and answer from Lyron’s description.
professional lives. Lyron’s body is of an
immaterial form (although the PCs must What has happened outside? “I am not
discover this fact on their own). certain. All I know is that this room has been
The party may attempt to have some separated from all other places and times.
members distract Lyron while others check for There is void all around us.”
clues. If at any time Lyron suspects a character Has this happened before? “Yes, it happened
of knowing too much (i.e., of discovering the a century and a day ago ago, and a century and
secret of the harpsichord) he will try to isolate a day before that.”
the character in one corner, take a round to How long will the darkness last? “One
materialize, stab the character, then take a hundred years, if this time is like the last time,
round to dematerialize again. He does not and the time before.”
intend to slay the character, only to make him What did you do when this happened
fearful and teach him obedience. before? “Waited .”
How many times has this happened to you?
“At least 13, though I’ve lost count.”
The Clock What keeps you from starving during the
A stately grandfather clock stands in one century? “The meal we just ate: it will keep me
corner of the room. It never falters in its alive for the next century, and you for the
ticking, and the minute and hour hands appear course of your natural lives. True, a century is a
t o move at normal speed. With ordinary long while to crave the taste of food, but you
grandfather clocks, the weights must be pulled also needn’t worry about latrines.
up daily or weekly to keep the clock wound. “Of course, if one of you didn’t eat fully, you
The moondial rotates slowly, tracking the will not last more than a few days. Sadly, even
phases of the moon. Lyron’s clock, however, among those who gorge themselves at the
keeps perfect time but the weights and banquet, none have seen the hundred years
moondial never move. This is a constant through.”
reminder to Lyron that time seems to be What happens when the candles burn out or
passing for him but not for the world he knows. the fires consume all the air or fuel?
 “I d o not know. The candles have never
burned down to their nubs nor the fireplaces Oustroving the Room
If the characters grow frustrated and begin t o
I
consumed the wood. The ink in my inkwells
has likewise never run dry, nor the wine in my indiscriminately destroy things in the room, or
wine cabinet been exhausted.” set off something that produces catastrophic
Isn’t there any escape? “None that I, or any damage (such as a fireball) in the room, the
of my guests, have ever found.” items become increasingly more resistant. On
Did you lure us here purposely? “The the first round, they suffer full damage; on the
darkness grows very lonely. A s things stand, second round, they suffer half damage; in the
not a one of you will see me through this dark third round, quarter-damage is suffered; no
century.” damage is suffered thereafter. This reflects part
How does your song end? [See the section of Lyron’s curse: were he to destroy his room,
on Poems of Baron Lyron Evensong in the he would have nowhere to return to Claviera
description of the bookshelves.] after his hundred years.
If, however, the characters make an
intentional, concentrated assault on the
fighting Lyron harpsichord, this diminished damage rule does
If a PC tries to attack or even touch Baron not apply: the fabric of Lyron’s trap is not
Lyron, the PC’s weapon or limb simply passes jeopardized.
through him as though he were shadow.
Otherwise, Lyron appears perfectly solid.
Lyron, believing himself to be lawful good, will
Investigating the 6ooksheluus
never attack the characters himself unless they When characters want to check the
begin to destroy his harpsichord. He then takes bookshelves for clues, the DM should have
one round to materialize. After that, he can them roll ld20. If the roll is anything but a 9,
attack and be hit normally. 10, or 11, the DM should read the PCs one of
Baron Lyron keeps a dagger in a sheath at the titles in the list that follows and devise a
his waist and keeps a club beside the fireplace likely discription of the book’s contents from
among the wood. Even if the Baron is slain, the the title.
PCs cannot escape until the harpsichord is Numbers 1-8 and 12-20
destroyed.
Great Composers
Form and Line in Music
Escape Attempts Physical Properties of Sound Production
If ever the characters attempt to open a door, Musical lnstnunent Construction
smash through a window, or so forth, they find Modes in Music
that the room is floating in a lightless, airy Poetry of the Masters
void. Everything outside the room is utterly Sonnets
black and ethereal. Thus, the characters cannot Assonance and Alliteration in Poetry
climb out one window, around the room and Advances in Anatomy
into another window because the structure Vertebrate Biology
itself does not exist in the void outside. The Sketching Nudes
room has inner walls, but no outer walls, so to Portfolio of Birds
speak. If the PCs drop an object outside the Principles of Perspective
room, it falls at a normal rate, but the object Art of Architecture
never hits bottom. Treatise on Free Government
Decline of Feudal Holdings
to bear upon Rannow, bringing him down
Philosophy of Death
with one stroke. Then 1 drew my dagger, a far
Study in Darkness
more human weapon, and sunk it deep in her
Roll of 9, 10, or 11 lovely heart.”
On such a roll, the PCs discover one of the
following books. If a PC is willing to study such The other passage appears as the last entry
a book for one hour, the DM should reveal the of the book:
information beneath the title.
“Flocktime 4: At last, the sun has risen!
Diary of Baron Lyson Evensong, Vols. 1-5 My calculations this time had slid only a
After spending an hour studying these pithy fortnight. Immediately I summoned a
volumes, the PC has a headache from scanning messenger boy up from the street and
the heavily stylized, though elegant, offered him an orb for the news. He said a
handwriting. band of adventurers had entered Claviera
From the first volume, the characters glean just this morning. He related to me the tale
that Lyron considers himself a very moral bard. of their renown, and I was pleased at the
He came from Krynn, where he was utterly prospects. 1 gave him the scroll to deliver to
intolerant of moral offenses and thus began, in the adventurers, promising the boy two orbs
vigilante fashion, to slay such offenders. with completion of the task.
Shortly thereafter, he and his harpsichord were “I do hope they come. I want never again
swept into the lands of Ravenloft and subjected to spend a century alone. Ah, here comes the
to the time-shifting curse he now suffers. rap of little knuckles upon the d o o r 4 go
Volumes 2,3, and 4 contain long and tedious now with the promised orbs.”
accounts of previous centuries spent in the
void. Baron Lyron evidently spent the first Poems of Baron Evensong
century in utter solitude, during which he This work contains the many bits of verse the
penned the first volume of the diary. Baron has penned during his centuries of
In Volume 5, the PCs find two passages that darkness. The skill of poetic execution is
seem significant. (The DM may wish to certainly questionable, but, after an hour of
photocopy these, cut them out, and hand them study, the PCs discover several scratches of
t o the PCs.) The first passage speaks of the verse that seem particularly important. The
“guests” Lyson had in the previous century. final stanzas belong to the song the Baron
~

began to sing before the sky went black.

“Wealsun 5, Year 27 of Flocktime 3:Today
I slew them. I cannot help feeling sad, not “Death-that long, phantasmal sleep-
only because I must now face the next 73 Has strings and harp that gently weep
years alone, but also because I had When plucked. Let its sound ring again
developed an affection for Lady Windall and Like droplets in the springtime rain.”
her retainer, Rannow. Even so, they had
“Stay from my heart! Though thou, dark
come too close to discovering my weakness.
beast
While my back was turned, the dear lady, in
Doth live with me, doth share my feast,
her desperation, raised my own club to bring
I will not give thee leave today
about my ruin. 1, however, wrenched the
To crush my precious keys, not least
bludgeon from her lily hands and brought it
Myself, with your foul fist and flay.”
 “Music gives me life, though life be long Studwing Portraits and Sculptures
And tiresome. If I could not sing and play, If a PC takes an hour or so to look around the
I would die. And bitt’rest of all songs, room at portraits and sculptures, he discovers a
The song of death, would end my days.” number of things.
“I draw my power from you, dear friend, At a glance, the portraits appear to represent
Your plectrum tones like heartbeat strums. numerous persons; however, the PC learns
Were you to meet untimely end that all the portraits and sculptures depict
By hands of those who‘ve shared my bread, Lyron.
They would, in their smashing send Every portrait or sculpture somehow
Me too to live among the dead.” contains or alludes to Lyron’s harpsichord,
whether prominently in the foreground,
Ode to Lyron Evensong
obscurely in the background, in shadowy
“There once lived a bard with a beautiful double image, or obliquely (e.g., in one
voice sculpture, Lyron carries a set of tuning pins).
And a harpsichord sweet as the sunrise. One sculpture on a mantle seems from a
He played it all day, singing songs of his distance to be a half-melted candle, but if the
choice, PC approaches it and picks it up, he finds it
Telling tales to the fools and the wise. is ivory. The statue depicts a destroyed
“But the people who heard proved too harpsichord with an anguished Lyron sitting
stupid to heed amidst the rubble. Half of Lyron’s face
The truth in his eloquent singing. appears to have melted away.
The bard, recognizing their terrible need,
Set to teach them morality’s sting. Oustrowing the Harpsichord
“He slew falandering husbands and wives, If the characters attack the harpsichord, it
And killed to stop babies from crying. suffers 100 points of damage before it is
H e poisoned the rulers who led greedy lives; destroyed enough to release the characters
Maimed guards who were guilty of spying. from their temporal prison. If characters show
“The blood would not wash from his any sign of attacking the harpsichord, Lyron
fingernails there will discreetly solidify and attack them, using
Though he scrubbed with all of his might. all his weapons and spell abilities. If the
As he played his harpsichord, all unaware, characters destroy the harpsichord, the DM
He was sent into eternal night. should read the following.

Imbuing l n s t m e n t s With Magic A sudden shudder rattles through the

After flipping through this book for about an room. The candle chandelier sways, jarring
hour, the PC finds a small star pencilled in the up and down, then drops to the floor.
upper corner of one page. The article on the Bookshelves topple, spilling tomes upon
page speaks of processes for embuing an tapestries, which quickly ignite in the flames
instrument with magic so that whenever it is of the fallen candles. Cracks snake their way
played, the listeners must obey the player. The across the walls and chunks of brick and
article cautions, though, that if performed plaster break free.
incorrectly, the instrument could take over the With a deafening rumble and the choking
life force of the player. spray of plaster powder, the walls fold up

’-..
”
’ ;A
a,, I
 Lyron Evensong was originally a bard on
around you. The ceiling falls in terrible Krynn. His musical genius arose at least in part
chunks. Cold blackness from without from his unsettled psyche and utter self-
streams into the room. You fall to the floor, absorption. In fact, Lyron has always been
and all becomes a chaos of motion. incapable of seeing other people as anything
When the rumbling finally stops, you see but objects. This incapacity led the neutral evil
stars in the black vault of sky above. Gazing bard to believe he was, in fact, lawful good, for
out past the terrible rubble of splintered his despicable disdain for human life seemed
wood and fractured stone, you see the town utterly right to him.
of Claviera, draped in cold night. In hopes of drilling his twisted ethos into the
Townsfolk are running toward you, torches minds of his listeners, Evensong hired a mage
and lanterns in hand. One of them shouts, to enchant his harpsichord so that those who
“Look at the Baron’s mansion! It is in ruins!” heard it would be forced to obey his messages.
Another shouts, “There are people alive The mage’s spell-shaping went awry, drawing
among the toppled stones!” The crowd pours Lyron’s lifeforce into the instrument.
over the gates, running toward you. Now a shadowy anima whose life resided in a
frame of wood and wire, Lyron found a new way
DM’s Note: The crowd seeks to help the to enforce his twisted ethos. Though songs and
PCs. They have long feared and hated Baron poems failed to inspire morality in his listeners,
Evensong and count the party as heroes for Lyron’s dagger and club worked powerful
ridding Claviera of him. However, if attacked, persuasions.
the crowd fights as a mixture of middle-class When Lyron’s dark ministrations of death
men and constables, as listed in the Monstrous reached their peak, the lands of Ravenloft took
Compendium entry for men. If the party notice. As he played his harpsichord, the mists
chooses t o end their adventure in this rolled in. When they retreated again, Lyron
ignominious fashion, they will have to stave off found himself Baron of Claviera.
the townsfolk’s attacks long enough to escape That night, however, he learned the curse
(i.e., they cannot defeat the townsfolk, because that came with the blessing: he would live
more keep arriving). through a century in dark solitude, confined to
his study for one hundred years for every one
Baron Lgcon Euunrong day he spends in Claviera. Thus, when a week
9th-level Bard passes in the outside world, Baron Claviera has
AL NE (but believes himself to be LG);A C 5 lived 700 years in his study. Ravenloft let him
when solidified, cannot be hit while immaterial; live, but denied him human company.
MV 12; HD 9; hp 45; THACO 11; #AT 1; Dmg He found he could never leave his mansion
l d 4 (dagger) or l d 6 (club); SA Solidify; SD and that, no matter where he was in the
Nonmaterial; SZ M; ML Fanatic (18); XP 7,000. mansion, when the sun went down, he appeared
in the study. Giving up hope for escape, Lyron
Str: 16 Dex: 15 Con: 15 plotted to lure others in to spend the century
Int: 14 Wis: 12 Cha: 17 with him. He has done so now at least 13 times.
Spells: charm person, color spray, hypnotism; Not even Lyron knows how long this shall
forget, mirror image, pyrotechnics; hold person, continue, but it seems at least that he shall live
slow. Lyron can use each spell once per “day” a full life of 75 years, one century at a time.
(a day according to the clock in his study).
 ?tup Jovis Blackwere
his adventure is designed for two to
five characters of 4th through 6th A tall man garbed in a black great-coat
approaches you. His eyes fasten gravely
level and assumes the PCs are
upon you, “I am Jovis Blackwere, captain of
already in Ravenloft.
the guard. It has come to my attention that
The constabulary of a harbor
community calls upon the party to your adventuring band is-how shall I
locate a missing person and thus say-effectiue in dealing with murderous
beasts. I have just such a beast that needs
solve several deaths he (or she) has
committed. As tension mounts and tracking. If you are interested, I am prepared
the party closes in on the killer, to pay 3 gp per person per week.”
one of the characters discovers that
the murderer resides within him (or If the characters negotiate the price, Jovis
her). offers no more than 6 gp per week. Once the
“The Cedar Chest” only payment schedule is arranged, Jovis leads the
minimally lessens player control party to the constable station (location 1 on the
over the “possessed” character. map) before briefing them further. The DM
The adventure does, however, give the should then read the following.
character a twisted alter-ego of which he had
been previously unaware. Because “The Cedar The main room in the constable station is
Chest” affects the recent history of a player crowded and dust-choked, with yellowed
character, the DM should carefully select either papers stacked high upon time-scarred
a trusted and well-liked NPC, a PC whose player desks. The captain sits at one desk, fiddling
cannot attend a game session, or the PC of a distractedly with a quill pen. “The murdering
good role-player to subject to this Jekyll- beast we are looking for is named Ejrik
and-Hyde curse. Spellbender. About six months ago, he
The DM should review the character’s committed a string of atrocious murders,
statistics and game information before starting then vanished. We all hoped he was dead.
the adventure. He should feel free to add any But now the murders have begun again.”
subtle clues to the mystery that suit the The captain abandons the quill, rises to his
character and the party. feet, and begins to pace the room. His heels
The adventure begins after the characters thud hollowly upon the worn floorboards.
have stayed in Armeikos (or a similar town) for “What makes his murders so savage is his
a few days. penchant for gouging out the eyes of his
victims, then torturing them before he kills
them. He seems to consider the slaying a
The Adventure work of art.” The captain stops pacing, opens
fter the characters spend a few days in the drawer of one desk, and scatters a

A Armeikos, the captain of the city

constabulary approaches them. If the
party successfully completed the “Blood in
handful of twisted paper scraps upon the
desktop, adding “He always leaves these.”

Moondale” adventure, the DM can use the

party’s reputation from that adventure for the Slips of Death
captain’s motivation. Otherwise, the DM can The messages on the scraps of paper are
refer to some other successful adventure. written in a very refined hand. There are five
 - Road
- A
District boundaries
Outlying Farms
B Wealthy District

F Harbor District

scraps, each of which is signed “Ejrik

Jovis’s brow folds in frustration as he eyes
Spellbender”:
the papers. “These scraps are the only way
“Her fear was delicious, though the bouquet
we know Ejrik’s name. And we have no
of her death lacked subtlety.”
description of him-Ejrik may be a female
“His blood seemed a perfect crimson, utterly
for all we know! The only witnesses to these
capturing the red-hot fear and agony within
crimes never saw him, only heard a husky,
him.”
masculine voice.” He turns from the desk in
“This one had a rapturous voice. She sung
obvious irritation and strides to a window.
her terror so beautifully that it moved me to
“Most recently, Ejrik slew a mage named
tears.”
Eron Nalwand and a woman named Thea
“Dwarven deaths lack sophistication: this
Gyntheos.
one died with the melancholic clang of a
“Since my investigation is at a dead end, I
splitting bell.”
will allow you to examine the murder sites
“Here was a poetic soul. His implorings
yourself with a fresh perspective. But first, let
awoke such wonder in me-opening clear
me take you to a good starting place for your
views into exotic lands of pathos.”
hunt. A spiritualist named Alisia has aided
our department often in the past. Though
DM’s Note: When the PCs learn that one of
she has so far been unable to help us on this
them harbors the spirit of Ejrik Spellbender,
case, each of you bears a unique destiny that
they may wish to compare their own
may hold new clues.”
handwriting samples to the notes. None of the
samples will match, however.
The Housu of Alisia secrecy and sleep.” She pauses, her eyes
settling on the card of the disembodied eye.
Jovis leads the party to building 5 on the
map, then departs. The house is a rambling A minute ripple of fear crosses her features,
structure of twisted oak beams, white-plastered then she lifts her gaze to your party.
walls, and an aggressive canopy of thatch. On a “One of you-one of you has a hidden
past. Ejrik Spellbender dwells within one of
slouching porch sits a bald man with a lazy eye,
guarding the open door. He carefully looks the you!”
characters over, and asks them to place their
weapons on the floor before entering “the DM’s Note: At this point, the victim of the
sanctuary.” curse does not know of his plight.
Alisia’s demeanor of calm control has
After you have removed all visible decayed. Beads of sweat dot her brow, and her
weapons, the balding man leans back in his hands begin shaking. She quickly gathers up
creaking chair and, with a sweep of his her cards and asks the characters to leave. If
corpulent hand, gestures you through the the characters comply, the DM should skip to
open door. The sharp tang of incense strikes the “Speaking With the Victims” section. If the
your nose as you enter the sanctuary, and the characters ask for their personal fortunes to be
sirenlike wail of boiling teapots assaults your told, Alisia resists, saying that she does not
ears. A statue-still woman is arrayed want to become Ejriks next victim. If the party
comfortably upon pillows in the center of the is persistent, reminding her that her cowardice
room. The colorful silk scarves about her could cost others their lives, she relents, but
head float oddly in the still air, and on the asks 1 gp from each in advance.
floor around her lie tools of divination like
dutiful attendants. At length, she motions for
you to sit before her. Dark Oiuinations
“Your fates are strong and dark: I sense The DM should read the divinations
they are bound inextricably together.” She randomly to the characters.
pauses, and seems to sniff the air lightly. An
enigmatic smile spreads across her face. Divination 1: “If your companions seek to slay
“Captain Jovis brought you here, didn’t he? you, they will find themselves mistaken.”
Then you must wish to learn of this Ejrik
Spellbender.” Divination 2: “Remain ever wary. Fight until
She clasps a deck of cards and begins your strength is gone.”
methodically laying them out in a bizarre Divination 3: “Your companions suddenly fear
pattern. The symbols on the cards are you. Beware a knife in the back!”
ominous: a black-robed specter, a dagger, a
Divination 4: “Death haunts your every step:
disembodied eye. Alisia examines them
turn to look and it remains behind you.”
closely, then begins her dark telling.
“Though you seek a man, d o not look for Divination 5: “Suspicions hem you in like a
that man. He hides within the mask of lamb in the pen of slaughter.”
another. He battles the owner of the mask. Divination 6: “Beware your closest friend, who
Tear away the mask and you will find him. may slay you at the last.”
“His is a mind of lusts-lust for blood and
lust for murder. His greatest weapons are If the characters ask specifically which one of
them is Ejrik Spellbender, Alisia says the cards
refuse to reveal that, telling only that it is one investigate. Jovis will also strongly urge the
of them. Whether or not the party asks for any PCs to return to their lodgings before the sun
more assistance, Alisia becomes adamant that sets, and to stay together-otherwise, Ejrik
they leave immediately. She calls in Carl (the
bald man) to help enforce this. (The DM should
might hunt them down.
Though the following planned encounters are
I
remember that the characters are currently important, the DM should allow the characters

i
weaponless). to wander the town, giving them descriptions
from the areas on the map. Allowing the
Carl, 4th-level Human Fighter: Int Low (6); AL characters to wander gives time for them to
LN; AC 7; MV 12; HD 4; hp 18;THACO 17; #AT role-play their paranoid suspicions of other
1; Dmg ld6 (club); SZ M; ML Steady (12). characters.

Spuaking Uith thu Ouad Encounters of thu first Day

As the party leaves, Alisia seems stricken
with guilt. She produces a scroll bearing the Building 2: Home of Eron Nalwand
spell speak with dead from her robes and hands
it to a priest or wizard character. “With this After following cobbled streets past stately
scroll, you can speak with Ejrik’s victims. It homes and overgrown gardens, you reach a
contains only a few uses, so use it carefully. more modest residence of whitewashed
Now, please, leave and do not return.” This brick, fronted by a rusty iron gate. Within the
scroll works per the 3rd-level priest spell at the wrought iron filigree, you spot a letter “N,”
lowest level of function and contains three apparently for “Nalwand.”
spells. The home has only one floor. The cherry-
red door of the house stands slightly ajar.
for thu OM If the party knocks, no answer comes. If they
The rest of this adventure is designed to give enter, the DM should read the following.
the characters maximum freedom while
investigating the heinous murders committed The interior of the house is shabbier than
by Ejrik. To do this, the chapter is arranged in the outside would suggest and smells of dust
scenarios. Each is a mini-encounter with and old books. The door opens onto a
someone who can help the party determine the once-impressive parlor with walnut paneling
identity of Ejrik Spellbender. and piles of books. In the center of the room,
Each of the following scenarios corresponds a constable drowses beside a coffin-sized
with a location on the map of Armeikos. Parties pine box. As you enter, the constable startles
can find their way to these locations either by awake, lurching to his feet, “My replacement
asking constables or locals, or by consulting didn’t show up. . . I opened the door for air
the map of Armeikos at the constabulary. . . . who are you and what do you want?”
The DM should attempt to not allow the party If the characters say that Jovis Blackwere
to visit any one place twice during the first day. sent them, the man ceases his suspicions and
If they try to return to a location, the DM should tries to explain why he was sleeping on the job.
have Jovis encounter them in the streets, If the characters ask to look over the house,
claiming that in his fluster, he forgot to have they find a kitchen, a sitting room, and two
them sign the writs that authorize them to
bedrooms, one of which serves as laboratory
back. Asked if I’d reconsidered. When I
and library. The lab equipment is dusty; Eron’s
refused him, he slew me. Find him-slay
blindness has prevented him from
experimenting. In the bedroom, the PCs find him-avenge my death.”
signs of a struggle: a pool of blood, overturned
furniture, and a broken window. If the characters ask any other questions, the
A back door leads out of the house, and a corpse repeats some part of what is listed
worn dirt path leads to a leaning outhouse at above. If the cursed character asks the corpse a
the back of the yard. question, the corpse seems not to hear the
If the characters ask to see the body, the question.
constable opens the box lid.

The crate creaks slowly open, and the

Building 3: The Home of Thua
putrid smell of decay rises quickly into the Ggnthuos
room. Within the box lies a tall, angular man
with a bony face. His eye sockets lie empty, The din and odor of the nearby
with scarred skin grown over the places marketplace grows as you approach the
where his eyes had been. His brow is knotted house of Thea Gyntheos. The cacophony of
in anguish and his lips are still parted from buyers and sellers seems barbaric, like the
his dying scream. sounds of battle. Thea’s house, a two-storied
“Brutal, really,” the constable mutters, “to structure of graying wood, is perched upon
drive a knife into a blind man’s heart.” the rim of the sprawling market. In front of
the house stands a weathered cart hitched to
If the characters use the speak with dead a stamping plow horse. Several men in black
scroll on the corpse, they may ask two overcoats emerge from the house, bearing a
questions. The DM may draw answers from the large wooden box between them.
following box of text, or he may read the entire
box to enhance the mood of the mystery. If they If the characters identify their association
ask about Ejrik, or Eron’s death, the life force with Jovis Blackwere and insist on viewing the
returns, rasping out its message through the body, the men relent. The men will carry the
death-dry lips. coffin back into the house if the characters
insist.
“Gods, I had hoped never to hear that
voice again. He, who stole my eyes when last Within the dark box lies a once-beautiful
he came. He seized me from behind and woman. Thea’s paper-white face has been
gouged out my eyes. Demanded that I help robbed of its eyes, though scarred skin has
him-work magic to slay his host. Grew mercifully grown over the sockets. Her long
angrier, more enraged. Said he would kill me and beautiful tresses of raven-black hair are
unless I helped. Said his magicjar went awry. fouled with dark-brown, congealed clumps.
Said he was trapped. I tried to flee, but he As you scan for the source of these, you see
knocked me to the ground. He would have that the tender flesh of her throat bears a
killed me then, but my neighbor kicked brutal gash, and her waistshirt is deep
down the door. Ejrik ran out the back. maroon where it soaked up the flow.
That was six months ago. My eye sockets
had healed over. But just yesterday, he came If the characters use the speak with dead
scroll on Thea and ask about Ejrik or her own
death, the DM may either answer questions or
his voice again, but I never suspected the
may read the passage that follows. The life
cruelty native to his heart. He battered me,
force returns to her husk, and, in a gurgling
demanding that I plead for my life. He beat
voice, reveals the following.
me until I screamed and implored that my
Ejrik--I loved him so. How could he have life be spared. Then-gladdened far more
done this to me? He had once been so kind, than my kisses could have made him-he slit
so loving, so protective of me. my throat and bathed his hands in my blood.
It was Ejrik who saved me from certain
death. Eight months ago, as I returned from If the characters ask any other questions of
the house of my friend, Sinara Doom, a Thea, she repeats something vague about how
fiendish thief fell upon me, gouged out my she loved him and how he destroyed her. If the
eyes, stole the pittance of gold I had, and left cursed character asks a question, Thea does
me for dead. 1 would have died, too, had not not respond.
Ejrik happened upon me, carried me home, If the PCs enter the house, they find a large
and cared for me. 1 grew to love him deeply, pool of blood on the floor of the main room.
and 1 think he loved me as well. At first, he The house is otherwise well appointed, with
would kiss me like a ravenous beast, but ornate wooden kickboards and moldings, a
over time he became less and less interested marble-inlaid fireplace, and many cabinets
in my touch. filled with china. If the PCs search the house,
Then he left me altogether-gone for six their only worthwhile discovery is Thea’s diary,
months, until yesterday. 1 was happy to hear which is in a roll-top desk in the main room. it
holds her thoughts over the past year. Her
handwriting deteriorates drastically at the time caution ebbs about her. She invites the party in,
when she lost her eyesight. The passages are gesturing to the books on her myriad shelves,
difficult to read and words and phrases often “Would you believe I read these all? Perhaps
overlap. The last entry reads as follows. that is why I am blind today. But I can still
answer most any mystic question you may
I had a strong feeling something bad have.” If the characters ask her about Thea
would happen to me today. I will go to Alisia Gyntheos, she tells the characters, “Thea was a
to see what she can divine for me. If she good friend of mine. She would still be, too, but
cannot help me, I will find someone to take for that wicked man. I met him only once, in
me to Sinara Doom. I will write what they the market, but I sensed a twisted nature within
said when I return. him even before Thea introduced him as Ejrik
Spellbender. But poor Thea was in love and
Building 4: Uisit to Sinara Doom wouldn’t believe me.”
If the characters ask Sinara what she knows
Sinara Doom dabbles in the mystic and the of Ejrik Spellbender, she says that she knows a
unknown, and is as distrusted as she is good deal because his first bizarre killing
respected by the common folk of Armeikos. attracted her attention. She wondered about a
Her house seems like a hoary, old galleon mystic connection to his strange method of
cresting a wave upon a sea of grass. The road killing, but found no mystical connection.
that leads to her house is merely a pair of Since then, she has been studying his case as
weed-choked wagon ruts. best she can, despite her age and blindness.
Sinara Doom agrees to answer questions
As you approach the once-grand house, regarding him if the party pays one silver piece
you realize that large sections of it are empty for each question asked, adding “A lady has to
and untended. In more than one place, the look after her own interests, these days.” If the
tiled roof has crumbled beneath the PCs bargain with her, she will answer three
pounding of time and weather, and most of questions for 2 sp.
the windows stand vacant, empty of glazing. The DM should draw Sinara Doom’s answers
Only the central section seems still selectively from the information about Ejrik
occupied, and only because of the worn path found at the end of this adventure, making sure
of earth leading to the front stoop. The door not to divulge the part about the small chest
stands open, and beyond, you glimpse all containing the heart. If asked who Ejrik
manner of things hanging from the ceilings: Spellbender inhabits, Sinara Doom does not
mandrake roots, chicken feet, and scrolls of know.
papers moving listlessly in the breeze. As
you approach, a voice cracks the silence. When Night falls
“What can an old woman do for such fine
young folk?” The voice came from within the Wherever the characters decide to spend the
dark house, and as you peer past the door night, Ejrik uses his sleep abilities on the whole
you see a bent old woman with sightless party and takes control of the cursed character.
eyes-white spheres like two eggs in her Regardless of characters’ intentions or abilities
head. to stay awake, Ejrik’s sleep ability overpowers
them (see his description at the end of this
adventure). Then, unbeknown to the players or
The woman is dressed in bright, cheerful
colors and seems welcoming, but an aura of the characters, Ejrik slips away to commit the
foul murder of Alisia. When the party awakens
in the morning, the cursed character is again The message is written in the same hand as
with them. the other messages Jovis showed you. It states,
“Such a touching pair, these two, like father
and daughter they died. But as statues, they
Encounters of the Second Dag carry that elegant pathos to the grave. Ejrik
hough the DM is encouraged to allow the Spellbender.”

T party to wander on the second day, the

encounters that follow proceed in a
definite order.
If the characters search the room, they find
that Alisia’s hand holds a slip of paper. The
characters can pry her rigored hand open
If the party decides to investigate any enough to pull out the following hastily
location in town again before they have paid scribbled note, addressed to the characters:
another visit to Alisia, they are approached en “I have rethought my resolve not to help you.
route by Jovis Blackwere. He tells them, “There Ejrik is too evil to let him roam. I remembered
has been another murder. Please come with a clue that Thea Gyntheos told me: Ejrik once
me.” He then leads the characters to the house gave her a small cedar chest to keep, but made
of Thea Gyntheos, and the DM should skip to her swear never to open it. I hope this helps.
the boxed text that follows. Alisia.”
If, however, the party heads to see Alisia If the characters try the speak with dead
before they return to check the house of Thea scroll on Alisia or Carl, they discover that they
Gyntheos, they find Jovis Blackwere outside cannot answer. Alisia’s own magic prevents any
Alisia’s home, his face grave. He tells them, spells from operating on their bodies.
“You had better have a look inside.”
The Cedar Chust
Death of Alisia If the characters return to the house of Thea
Gyntheos to look for the cedar chest, they find
The once-airy sanctuary beyond the door
several signs posted in the yard proclaiming all
now wears the reeking aspects of a
access forbidden by rule of the constabulary.
slaughterhouse. Blood is spattered on
The house, however, is currently unguarded.
everything. Upon the pillows scattered about
If the characters rummage through the
the floor lies a mammoth crimson corpse
house, they may each roll a Wisdom check
that you recognize immediately as Carl. His
once per turn to locate a trap door under a rug
empty eye sockets seem to be weeping
in the kitchen. The door leads to a five-foot
ruddy tears. In his ponderous arms, cradled
square cellar with walls and floor made of
like a child, rests the woman he spent his life
packed earth. The room is empty except for the
protecting: Alisia. She, too, is rubied in
chest. It measures 4 X 3 X 6 inches. The box is
blood, sightless unto death. Her scarves are
closed with a small lock.
now starched with the red stuff. From the
If the characters pick or break the lock (20
bloody streaks across their clothing and on
points of damage), it still does not open: the
the floor, you can tell that they were posed in
chest is wizard locked. Once this protection has
this position.
been dispelled, the box opens easily. If the party
Jovis Blackwere, his nose covered with a
does not have a dispel magic at their disposal,
rag, mutters, “Happened sometime last
they can sneak the box off the premises or
night. He left this.” The captain waves a scrap
smash the wood to open the box (30 points of
of paper in your direction.
damage).

.... ,
 The stench of blood and rot pours from the roll succeeds, the character will regain control.
chest as the characters open it. Inside this Thereafter, horror checks will be required each
well-craftedbox lies a human heart. A tiny, round to maintain control.
stained scroll protrudes from one of the red- If Ejrik takes control, he fights the party with
brown arteries. all the nonmagical abilities that the cursed
When this scroll is removed and unraveled, character has. If during the battle (or at any
the name of the cursed character unmistakably other time) the heart from the cedar chest is
appears. If the named character reads his name destroyed (burned, stabbed, sliced, crushed,
or hears it being read, the DM should take him etc.), Ejrik will be driven from the body
aside immediately and read to him the NPC immediately and permanently. Until then,
Roster entry for Ejrik Spellbender. (As he reads, however, the character will have to keep rolling
the DM should replace mentions of “the horror checks to try to regain or retain control.
adventurer” with the word “you.”) After this If Ejrik doesn’t take control immediately and
reading, the DM should require the character to the characters don’t destroy the heart, the
roll a Ravenloft horror check. If the character cursed PC will have to make a Ravenloft horror
fails, the DM should tell the player, “You check each round to remain in control.
suddenly realize that Ejrik is taking control of If the characters don’t think to destroy the
you and plans to fight the party to keep from heart, the DM might suggest a visit to Sinara
being captured.” The character should be Doom. She will tell them to destroy the heart.
allowed to reroll the horror check for each
round of combat until he succeeds. When the
 But Ejrik was ready for him. With hi
Thr NPC Rostrr modification of the magicjar spell, Ejrik could
take over the body of another character and be
Joub Blackwutr wholly immune to the effects of dispel magic.
8th-level Human Fighter (Rank: Captain)
The immunity came at a price: one of the
H P 77 THACO: 13 material components was the still-beating heart
AC: 6 AL: L N of Ejriks old body. That heart would become
Str: 17 Dex: 14 Con: 15 the magic jar, within which Ejrik had t o conceal
Int: 17 Wis: 16 Cha: 16 a small scroll with the name of the victim. Ejrik
Jovis Blackwere is 46 years old and the had no chance to rehearse this spell.
captain of Armeikos’s constabulary. Born of When the adventurer entered Ejriks lair, the
poor parents, he deems himself lucky to have a decrepit necromancer fooled him into revealing
place of authority in the town. his name, then cast the spell. All went as
When a band of marauding thieves killed the planned, and Ejrik, in his new body, sliced the
previous captain, the town held a vote, electing still-beating heart from his old, slumbering
Jovis Blackwere to the position. Twenty years body and placed the scroll with the victim’s
later, he daily proves to the town that they name within it. He then locked the heart in a
made a wise choice. small cedar chest, placed it in his pack, and set
Jovis Blackwere is widowed and has three out for adventure.
children who are in their mid-twenties. Ejriks depravity caught the attention of
Ravenloft’s powers, and he was ushered into the
land. Once there, Ejrik discovered that the spell
Urik Sprllbrndrr had not functioned as well as he had hoped.
H P 45 THACO: 18 First, the spell rendered him incapable of
AC: PC’s AL: N E enjoying the carnal delights he treasured so.
Str: PC’s Dex: PC’s Con: PC’s Because he owed his present state to slaying an
lnt: 18 Wis: 18 Cha: 14 adventurer, only murder provided him pleasure.
Second, the spell took from Ejrik his power
Ejriks study of necromancy began late in life to memorize and cast spells, save for the
when his strength was failing and his life force low-level sleep spell, which had been part of the
ebbing away. Before that time, Ejrik had no improved magicjar. He thus gained the power
interest in magic. But, like a dragon with its of inducing sleep in a manner greater than the
horde, Ejrik eventually grew jealous of anyone spell (his spell can affect up to 10 Hit Dice or
who might thieve away his troves of mortal levels of creatures).
pleasure. And so he turned to necromancy t o Third, the magicjar spell had failed to
conquer the greatest thief Death. remove the adventurer’s life force and place it
Sadly, the inexorable decay of his body into Ejrik’s old heart. The victim’s mind,
out-paced his advances in arcane knowledge. stunned though it was, still occupied the
A t 96 years of age, he stood defenseless upon adventurer’s body. And soon the mind, being
the threshold of death, lacking the magical arts native to the body, took it over again. Now Ejrik
needed t o become a lich. So he devised another was trapped, and could only take control when
plan. He cast a series of animate dead spells on his host slumbered. Eventually Ejrik learned to
successive nights, sending skeletons into the use his sleep ability to force his host to black
streets of the local village. Soon an adventurer out, then he took control more often. As time
(the chosen PC) took the bait, seeking out the passed, Ejrik grew stronger, hoping one day to
evil necromancer to slay him. slay his host’s mind altogether.
 "utup
his adventure is designed for three
to five characters of 5th to 7th
level. The party should ideally
contain a lawful good character,
inexplicably disappeared.

Screams from the Woods

1
vanished. Though you stopped in your tracks
when the light failed, the path has

but the adventure also works if at

least one PC is of a good No matter what methods the characters use
to search for the trail, they cannot find it. The
In Corrupted Innocents, the breeze has turned into a chill wind, and its
characters unwittingly enter moan deepens. Upon the wind the party hears
Ravenloft while traveling a trail the unmistakable screams of a small child
through a deep forest. There, they nearby, coming from about 200 yards away. If
meet a lost little girl whose "guide" they ignore the cries, the screams intensify and
through the forest has been seized continue for three rounds. If the party still does
by an evil treant. The party will not go to investigate, the child comes running
hardly suspect that the aristocratic through the woods, discovers the party, and
child is in fact an ermordenung relates the horrible incident described
created by lvana Boritsi of Borca (see the following. The DM should then skip to the
RAVENLOFT" boxed set), or that her doll is a section "The Girl-Child." If, however, the party
ruthless golem. At any time in this adventure, if rushes immediately to find the child, the DM
a character attacks the child without good should read them the following.
reason to suspect her evil nature, the DM
should make a Ravenloft powers check for the The cries pierce like a beacon through the
character at 10%. thick forest, growing stronger and clearer as
you thread your way through the maze of
trees. The way seems easier ahead. After
The Adventure passing a few more trees, a clearing opens.
There, framed between the ponderous
The trail you follow winds deeper into the trunks of two ancient trees, stands a small
woods, weaving a slender thread into the girl. Beyond her trembling silhouette, an
gathering night. Enormous trees crowd the enormous tree pitches maniacally from side
path, their massive trunks like the columns to side, as though caught in some
of a temple for fell beasts. Except for the otherworldly gale. As you draw near, you see
tread of your feet, the dusky air is smothered that the tree's branches do not move with the
in silence. The last glow of day glimmers randomness of wind, but instead with
upon the canopy of leaves high above, like calculating and sentient evil. Even the
light upon the water. brawny roots stir, pulling from the stoney
For a moment, light flees the leaves, as ground, lashing out across the clearing, and
though an impenetrable cloud has engulfed sinking down again.
the sun. Under the heavy trees, it is dark as Now you catch sight of the body of a man,
night for a few seconds. Then the glow snagged among the higher boughs and
returns, grayer now, and a strange breeze seeming to writhe in a futi1.e struggle to
suddenly moans through the forest. break free.
You look to the ground to check your
bearings, but the trail seems to have
 p

Treant, Evil (1): Int Very (12); AL CE; A C 0; MV damage (half its total), it flees.
12; HD 11; hp 54; THACO 9; #AT 2; Dmg 4d6; Once the man is consumed, the party may
SA Nil; SD Nil; SZ H; ML Elite (13); XP 13,000. continue the battle until the treant flees, or the
party may flee with the child. The treant will be
More information on evil treants can be too busy eating and digesting the man to worry
found in the Monstrous Compendium Appendix about pursuing.
for the RAVENLOFT” setting. DMs who don’t
have this appendix may refer to the entry for
the normal treant in the Monstrous
The Girl-Child
Compendium, noting that evil treants are Once the party and the young girl escape
carnivorous, chaotic evil, and have elite rather from or kill the treant, the DM should read the
than champion morale. following.
Upon encountering the evil treant, the party
members may need to make a fear check (as Now that you have made your escape in
per instructions in the RAVENLOFT boxed set). the failing light of dusk, you finally get a
If the party attacks the treant, it fights back. good look at the child. She appears to b e
However, as soon as the treant inflicts 10 points about seven years old, with bronze-colored
of damage t o any one character, it chews up hair that emerges from beneath a frilly hat
and swallows the man the party was trying to and flows smoothly to her shoulder blades.
rescue. The treant also consumes the man if it An aristocratic beauty hovers elusively about
(the treant) suffers 20 points of damage. her, despite the fact that her eyes are wide
Therefore, regardless of whether the party slays with fear and she is shaking all over. Her
the treant, they d o not save the man or recover complexion is pale and smooth, and her eyes
the body. If the treant suffers 27 points of
 her uncle’s house.
are a deep azure. She wears a long box coat
A character who casts detect lie on Elenia
of fine red wool, with brass buttons and a
receives a confusing response that cannot be
stand-up collar. From under the cuffs and
interpreted. The DM may suggest that her
collar protrude a finely embroidered sateen
agitated state might be contributing to the
waistshirt. Upon her hands are silk gloves. In
confusion. (Elenia wears a ring o f mind shielding
one had she holds a few torches, and in her
that is hidden under her glove.)
other hand she holds a doll in a lacy dress.
If a character casts detect magic on Elenia, a
The girl’s walking skirt is made of royal-blue
moderate radiation of magic can be detected,
wool and she wears thick stockings and
but the particular school cannot be discerned. If
high-button boots.
a PC asks her about the magic detected, she
In addition to her understandable terror,
says that just before the treant attacked, Uncle
you notice a marked sadness that haunts the
Dory cast a spell on her “to protect her from
child’s features-a sadness that seems to
bad things.” According to Elenia, her uncle was
extend beyond the terror of what she has just
a dabbler in magical arts.
seen.
If the characters try to detect eoil, they get no
sensation of evil from Elenia. If they cast know
The child becomes insistent that the PCs alignment, Elenia can secretly save vs.
light one of her torches, even if the party is spell-even if she fails, the characters detect
carrying other sources of light. She says that only lawfulness. If a character casts true seeing
fire will keep her safe from the bad things. If or has a gem ofseeing, Elenia looks no different
the characters ask her name, she tells them she as a result of either. (Though Elenia has two
is Elenia Windalla. If they ask her how she natures, the child nature is dominant unless she
ended up in such a predicament, the DM should is attacked.)
read the following. If the PCs volunteer to take care of her, they
realize that the night has grown too dark and
Tremors of fear and distress play across the forest too thick for Elenia to determine
her smooth face, and horrible images seem which direction she was headed. If the
to stream past her eyes, like the reflection of characters ignore her plea for help and try to
racing storm clouds. At length, the child abandon her in the forest, the DM should make
gathers her strength and begins to speak: a Ravenloft powers check at 2% for each
“Mother and father were poisoned and character.
Uncle Dory came to take me away but he
said we have to go through the bad woods
and he says if we have fire we’ll be safe but firus and further Threats
the bad things didn’t come at us for one Whatever the party’s response, the DM
whole day so Uncle Dory says we’ll use should read the following.
torches only at night but then the tree
started moving and grabbed him and now Something huge and shapeless shifts in
who will take care of me in the bad woods?” the shadows beyond the ring of trees.
Though the breeze is gentle, you hear the
Elenia begs the PCs to escort her through the unmistakable sound of branches crunching
woods to her uncle’s house. She is all alone and and striking against each other. The child
will surely be killed in the woods unless screams and throws her torch onto a dead
someone protects her. She will not stop crying
and pleading until the PCs agree to see her to
branch lvina near the center of the clearing. I
 She mutters frantically, “Need fire! Need adventures-battles and monsters, darkness
fire!” Flames leap up on the branch, casting and dawn-shreds of sensations tumbling
fiendish shadows upon the trees around. The like leaves through your mind. Then a tide of
motion beyond the clearing ceases. Then fear slowly seeps over the whirling
comes a slow, grating sound as though an memories, fear darker than night. The terror
enormous monster is backing away from the congeals, black and hard, into a depthless,
clearing. suffocating night.
The child dashes about the woods and Suddenly, a glimmer of hope, like a
begins t o gather more wood, piling it on the piercing searchlight, slices through the black
flames. Frightened, she tries t o convince you terror. You feel you may go blind staring at it,
and herself, “We’ll be safe if we have fire!” but it is too beautiful to tear your eyes away.
As you gaze deeper into the radiant hope,
If the party helps Elenia build the fire and you see that Elenia is its source.
decides to set up camp for the night, all will be
safe as long as the fire lasts. If they decide to Oruam 2
pursue and attack the beast, or leave the ~

clearing, they encounter an evil treant with You dream of the innocent
identical statistics to the first treant. If they stay child-Elenia-sitting quietly upon a grassy
in camp, but let the fire die, the evil treant will hillside. As far as you can see, all is fair and
return and attack. The party cannot prevent the beautiful. Fragrant peace hangs in the air.
fire from going out unless it posts watches. The world is a massive-indeed endless-
plateau of hope in the dark waters of despair.
Night of Dreams But suddenly, a shadowy figure steals up
the hillside, approaching Elenia unawares.
Any character who sleeps during the
Though you can’t see its face, you somehow
night-even those who sleep only for
know the shadow is one of your companions.
moments-will dream. Elenia casts a dream
It raises an awful scythe and slays the
spell on each party member, against which the
innocent child. With a mighty roar, the
slumbering targets receive no saving throw. But
plateau sinks into the inky waters of despair.
because Elenia’s magic is so deeply rooted in
You are drowning.
evil, her dream spell fails on the character
whose alignment is closest t o lawful good. This
character’s dream will differ radically from the Oruam 3
dreams of the other PCs. ~

The DM should secretly read one of the You dream you are flying. Above you
following dreams to each of the characters hangs the blue vault of the heavens, and
upon whom the spell succeeds. If there are below you drift mountainous clouds on a
more than four players, the DM may invent continent of air. Not by wings or magic do
additional dreams or repeat any of the dreams you fly, but by holding to the hand of a child.
below. Elenia soars beside you, lending power to
your flight. She smiles at you, her eyes filled
Oruam I with joy and hope.
Then something goes terribly wrong.
A s you sleep, your mind cycles through Elenia is pitching unsteadily. A stream of
phantoms and fragments of your recent crimson issues from her back. You spot an
 The PCs are likely to have of a number of
arrow that has shot through her. Suddenly
reactions to these dreams. If the lawful good
you are plummeting, and the sky and the
character attacks Elenia, she seeks protection
world below turn to blackness.
from the others. If they all attack Elenia, the
DM should g o to the “Fighting Elenia” section.
Dream 4 If the characters quietly discuss their dreams
among themselves or keep their silence, the
You dream that you are falling from a cliff. DM should read the following.
The rocky face tears your body apart as you
tumble hopelessly downward. When you
smash into the ground, you are merely a
A Little Child Shall Lead Them
broken pile of bones and flesh. Yet you live,
The morning dawns cold and damp. A s
and you suddenly have to wonder if you
you stretch your aching muscles and gather
cannot die.
your provisions, you note great troughs and
The merciless sun pounding down on you
scars on the ground around the edge of the
is abruptly eclipsed. It is Elenia, leaning over
camp. From the massive disruption of soil,
your broken form, laying her hands upon
you can see that at least one evil treant
your wounds. You feel life-energy course like
circled the camp a few times last night.
fire into your frame. Gashes close, broken
Elenia stands in the midst of the camp,
bones fuse, and the terror and pain in your
gazing up toward the canopy of leaves. At
mind turn to joy. You are whole again-whole
length, she announces to no one in partic-
as you never have been before.
ular, “Uncle Dory said g o toward the dawn.”
Though you cannot see the sun because of
Dream for the Good PC the thick forest, you can tell that dawn came
in the direction the little girl is pointing.
Elenia casts the dream spell on all the
characters, but the spell fails on the PC whose
alignment is closest to lawful good. The The DM should allow the PCs to make any
following dream should be read only to that preparations they wish. When the party is ready
3 move on, the DM should read the following.
character.

You dream vividly. Elenia appears to you in All through the morning, the child leads
a deep woodland. You see that her heart is your party through the dark and rambling
black as coal, and she knows you know her wood. She insists upon carrying a torch, and
secret. The child-guise she wears peels away. looks to every side for more attacks, but
Beneath the innocent exterior, she is a none come.
withered, craggy sorceress of evil. Her By noon, you reach a narrow, weed-
fingertips are black with poison and her choked road. A stone’s throw down the road,
clawlike nails are sharp as daggers. She you see a gypsy wagon. Its canary-yellow
swipes viciously at you. Her claws sink in wheels and cherry-red sideboards starkly
deeply. You feel the poison seep into your contrast the oppressive grays and greens of
blood. All goes dark. the forest. Then you spot a gnarled woman
In the final ebb of your dying mind, you draped in a ratty but colorful shawl sitting
realize that Elenia must die! Elenia must die beside the caravan. She is motioning for you
. . . must die. . . must die. . . . to approach her.
 If the characters approach the gypsy, Elenia
protests, saying that her Uncle warned her to stay h

away from gypsies. Even if the party doesn’t

approach the gypsy, the old woman will call to
them and invite the characters within, offering to
1
tell their fortunes for two silvers. If the characters
refuse to have their fortunes read, the DM should
tell the characters they hear a violent rustling
approach from the woods. Elenia shrieks and
begins to climb a tree. The DM should then turn
to the “Lupine Attack’ section (following). If the
characters agree to have their fortunes read,
Elenia still protests and refuses to go inside the
caravan. If the characters enter the wagon, the
DM should read the following.

Dark Scrgings
Despite the cheerful colors and cleanness of
the wagon’s exterior, the interior feels
cramped and cluttered, and carries the weary
smell of a place that serves as bedroom,
kitchen, parlor, and transport. The bent old
woman moves through the wagon with a
surprising deftness that bespeaks a lifetime
clear crystal with amazing delicacy. The glass
of such confinement. She arranges small
ball seems to be another eye for her.
crates and rickety stools, enough for the
Although the crystal does not glow, you
party and herself, then settles like a vulture
suddenly realize that the room has become
upon a low seat. She produces a small
unsettlingly dark. Then the crone’s voice
crystal ball from her robes, then sets a
rings out:
piercing eye upon you. Her withered hand is
Much darkness. . . much darkness. . . one
out before you, palm up.
among you is deceived. . . one among you
thinks to do the right thing, but does evil . . .
If the characters inquire, the Vistani woman one among you, though good once and kind
says her name is Madame Nygar. She does not has been turned to great evil by this land. . .
remove her outstretched hand until the PCs one among you must be slain to save the
give her two silver pieces. She will not read others.. . .
their fortunes separately, for she does not read The shrill shriek of a horrified child rings
palms. However, she will scry in her crystal for out from the woods outside. The crone leaps
the fate of the whole group. The DM should up, jostling her crystal ball, and rushes for
read the following. the door. Glaring daylight spills into the dark
wagon as the gypsy rushes out.
The old gypsy woman leans laboriously
into her task, her craggy hands caressing the
 As the party pours from the caravan to If at any time the lawful good character (the
investigate the screams, the DM should read character who had the dream revealing Elenia’s
the following. true nature) attacks Elenia, she will plead for
help from the other party members. If they
refuse to help or also attack, the DM should
Lupine Attack skip ahead to the “Fighting Elenia” section.
The rest of the day passes without further
The child screams in fear as she tries to
incident as the party wanders along the road.
scramble up a tree, dropping her torch onto
The DM should allow PCs ample time to
the road below. From the thick undergrowth
discuss among themselves the nature of their
lining the road, four black forms suddenly
little companion.
surge. They are wolves, snarling and
drooling. In moments, they reach the base of
the tree, and carefully skirting the torch, The Sucond Wght
they leap for the screaming girl. One catches AS night begins LO settle in, the DM should
hold of her dress. For a moment she loses read the following.
her hold on the tree branches and slips down
lower. She shrieks in terror as another set of Darkness deepens among the trees.
slavering jowls clamps brutally on her dress, Occasionally you hear fell sounds-sounds
yanking her down. of creatures shifting in the woods beyond the
flickering torchlight. You look ahead to
DM’s Note: These wolves were summoned by where Elenia marches along and you can see
Elenia herself using the conjure animal spell. she is trembling, either from fear or cold. A
They will not harm Elenia, but only appear to bestial cry rings out from the forest, a mile
mean her harm. away. Elenia stops in her tracks, spins
around to face you and says, “We must make
Wolf (4):Int Semi (2-4); AL N; A C 7; MV 18; HD a fire. Uncle Dory said we’d be safe if we
2 + 2; hp 10;THACO 19; #AT 1; Dmg 2-5; SZ S have a fire!”
(2’-4’);ML Average (10); XP 65 each.
If the party agrees and begins to build a fire,
If the PCs attack the wolves, the creatures Elenia will be placated and will begin settling in
release Elenia and engage them. Meanwhile, for the evening. If the party refuses, Elenia
the cowardly gypsy woman climbs aboard her builds a fire herself and refuses to continue. If
wagon and flees as quickly as possible. After the party continues on without her, she will wait
the first round, no trace can be found of the until they are out of sight, then will stalk them
wagon. and cast sleep on all but the lawful good
If the party does not attack the wolves, the character (or character closest to lawful good
hem of Elenia’s dress rips away and she is able alignment). The DM should then skip to the
t o climb out of reach. The wolves then turn on “Fighting Elenia” section.
the rest of the party and attack, and the gypsy If the party decides to set up camp and
rides away. A s soon as a wolf sustains 5 points assign watches, Elenia will pretend to sleep,
of damage, it flees. waiting for the watch of the lawful good
The wolves will not battle past the 8th round. character. She will then cast sleep over any
If a wolf is slain, its body disappears in the 13th other characters who remain awake, arise, and
round. Elenia will work hard to lure the party confront the lawful good PC. The DM should
away by that time. read that character alone the following section.
 sorceress. If attacked, Elenia activates her doll
The Suduction golem to attack the party (the golem wins
surprise unless the party knew it was a golem).
It is the darkest hour of the night and the
Statistics for the doll golem are listed at the
other party members lie absolutely still. A
end of this book. Then, if she hasn’t already,
slight movement catches your eye. It is
Elenia casts stoneskin upon herself, then sleep
Elenia, rising slowly to her feet and fixing
on all but one of the characters. While the
her piercing gaze upon you. “I am afraid,”
golem engages the conscious character, Elenia
she mutters sadly. “The night is dark and
casts charm, hold person, or ray of enfeeblement
scary. Can I sit with you? I would feel so safe
upon him.
to sit beside you. You are the nicest person in
this group.”
If Elenia’s spellcasting fails, she will let the
She picks up her doll by one hand and
golem fight while she remains out of harm’s
takes a step toward you, “Please, can I sit by
way and pleads with the character. If Elenia’s
you? I’m so afraid.”
spellcasting succeeds, she will call off the doll
golem and lock her victim in a powerful
Before Elenia slips out of her blankets to embrace (she has Strength of 18/50),then
approach the PC on watch, she casts stoneskin speak softly and soothingly to the character. To
on herself. If the wakeful PC lets Elenia any character caught in such an embrace, the
approach, she will try to snuggle up next to him DM should read the following.
or her and steal a kiss on the PC’s lips. If kissed,
the character must make a save vs. poison with
a - 4 penalty t o the roll. Llenia’s Plea
Elenia’s statistics are listed at the end of this Though she holds you in a vicelike grip,
adventure. Since she has already used spells her voice is still soft, loving, and childlike.
during the day, her current spells are listed “Why are you struggling? I love you! Why do
here. you hate me so? I just want to be your
Current Spells: Charm person ( X 2), ray o f daughter. I just want us to be happy together.
enfeeblement ( X 4), hold person ( X 4), stoneskin Swear you will stay with me, love me and will
( X 2),and dream ( X 5). never leave me, and I will let you go.”
Elenia is an ermordenung-an ordinary
human transformed by lvana Boritsi of Borca If the character refuses to swear to these
into a lawful evil creature with a poisonous things, Elenia says, “Farewell, my loving father
touch (see the Monstrous Compendium page at [or mother]” and plants the kiss of death (see
the end of this book and the NPC Roster at the Elenia’s statistics). If, however, the character
end of this adventure). She is, in truth, not a swears to love and care for Elenia, Elenia will
child, but a wicked sorceress seeking to win the release him or her. If the character attacks,
acceptance of the party, then slay them with her Elenia will reactivate the doll golem and will
kiss of death. attack with her poisonous touch.

fighting Llenia The Sleepers

If Elenia is attacked (and only while she is The other party members will not awaken
under attack), the attacker can see her true until the spell expires or unless the PC kicks or
nature: she is actually a hoary, withered shakes them. If they are awakened, Elenia will
try to cast charm, hold person, or ray of shielding on her finger.
enfeeblement upon them. If successful, she When morning comes, the DM should read
locks her victim in a powerful embrace and the following to the survivors if he wishes the
speaks her plea (the DM should refer to PCs to exit Ravenloft. If he wishes them to
“Elenia’s Plea” above) before administering the remain, he should skip the box that follows and
kiss of death. Because her stoneskin is simply describe the scene to the players.
susceptible to magical attack, Elenia will
embrace an awakened mage or priest first. The The morning dawns cold and clear upon
first 10 nonmagical attacks against Elenia are the camp. The once-blazing fire now
turned by her stoneskin. Then she casts the smolders dimly, sending a sickly smoke into
spell on herself again. the hazy morning sky. The ground and the
If the golem is destroyed, Elenia pleads with trees around bear the marks of the horrible
the remaining party members not to hurt her, battle. As you gaze at the forest canopy-its
for “she loves them and only wants to be their leaves moiling in the early breeze-the world
daughter.” If characters attack her after her seems to go black for a moment. When the
golem is destroyed and her spells are all used, light returns, you look down to find the
she returns the attack, lunging to touch their bodies and the fire gone, and the scarred
skin with her old, gnarled hands. (Remember, ground healed.
anyone attacking Elenia can see her true form.)
Anyone she touches must make a saving throw As accidentally as the characters arrived in
vs. poison with a +4 bonus. If successful, the Ravenloft, they have departed it.
character suffers 10 points of damage. Failure
indicates that the character dies.
If Elenia or her doll golem slays the first PC NPC Roster
before any of the others can be awakened,
Elenia will awaken another PC. Breathless with
Elenia Windalla
feigned fear and horror, she will lead the PC to Ermordenung
the slain body, then in feigned terror clutch Int High (14); AL LE; AC 9; MV 15; HD 12; hp
tightly to the PC’s leg and burst into tears. If the 40; THACO 15; #AT 1; Dmg by spell or poison
character bends down to comfort her, she will 10; SA Poison touch (victim saves vs. poison at
attempt to grapple him with her 18/50strength -4-success indicates 10 points of damage,
and then make her plea (see “Elenia’s Plea” failure indicates death); SD immune to all
above). If the character suspects Elenia and poison except that of other ermordenung; SZ S
attacks her before she can grapple the PC, (4’ tall); ML Champion (16); XP 1,000.
Elenia summons the doll golem and the Str: 18/50 Dex: 16 Con: 14
process begins again. Int: 14 Wis: 13 Cha: 17
The night continues in this fashion until the
whole party, or Elenia herself, is dead, or until Spells: Charm person ( X 2), sleep ( X 4), ray o f
someone agrees to act as her parent. If enfeeblement ( X 4), hold person ( X 4), stoneskin
someone agrees to become her parent, Elenia ( X 2), dream ( X 5), conjure animals ( X 1).
will become inseparable from that person and Elenia’s beginnings are shrouded in mystery.
slowly poison him or her (the PC loses 1 point All that is clear is that she came from
of strength per week until Elenia is slain or the somewhere beyond the dark pale of Ravenloft.
PC escapes). If Elenia is killed, she reverts to But whatever her childhood, it must have been
her twisted adult form. If anyone checks horrible, for it led her to the domain of Borca
Elenia’s dead form, they find a ring o f mind
and the dark arts of sorcery. spells upon the potential parent, hold him or
Elenia-now an old, withered, and evil her in a tight embrace, and plead to be taken as
mage-grew envious of Lady lvana Boritsi, a daughter. If the person did not agree, Elenia
ruler of Borca. Elenia coveted the lady’s throne administered the kiss of death.
and her youthful beauty, and so plotted to kill Soon the townsfolk learned of her and a?
her and take her place. But being cowardly, angry mob drove her into the woods. Since that
Elenia was fearful of carrying out the task time she has wandered the woods, latching
herself. So she traveled the lands of Ravenloft, onto any travelers she happens upon and trying
seeking out an evil priest to construct for her a to win her way into their hearts. When the party
doll golem. Once Elenia had commissioned her of PCs happens into Ravenloft, Elenia has just
golem, she returned to Borca and awaited an pulled the,p&sdned corpse of an unwilling
opportunity to use it. father into the reach of an evil treant. She used
That opportunity came when Lady lvana his body to bait her hook for the PCs.
invited her people to appear before her to Combat: Elenia retains some of her wizardly
present gifts of their esteem and ask favors of abilities, including her Hit Dice. In addition to
her. In truth, lvana planned this occasion to her spellcasting abilities, Elenia has the normal
pick out handsome men, then seduce and slay ermordenung combat abilities: poison skin, a
them. But Elenia had different plans for this powerful embrace, and the “kiss of death.” If
day. She polyrnorphed her old and ugly body Elenia touches exposed flesh in combat (Le.,
into the form of a beautiful girl-child, then took makes her attack roll), the victim must save vs.
her doll-the most precious gift the child could poison with a + 4 bonus. Success means 10
offer the lady-and set out for Ivana’s home. points of damage; failure means death. If
When lvana received the gift and saw the Elenia’s attack roll is a natural 20, she causes
child’s beauty, she was so taken by them both 20 points of damage with a successful save.
that she immediately imprisoned Elenia in the In noncombat situations, Elenia will embrace
manor house and performed upon her the dark a victim with her 18/50Strength. Characters
and brutal process that made her an weaker than herself must save vs. paralysis with
ermordenung. Elenia was trapped in her a - 4 penalty in order to pull away; characters
childish form, her skin now turned poisonous to of equal strength make a normal save; and
the touch. And all that remained of her powers stronger characters save with a + 4 bonus.
of sorcery were the spells she had memorized, Once in a hold, the victim may receive from
which were now imprinted upon her mind and Elenia a “kiss of death,” for which he must save
regenerated every morning. vs. poison with a - 4 penalty. A successful save
The process of becoming an ermordenung means 30 points of damage, whereas a failed
was so horrible that Elenia went insane. save indicates death.
Forgetting her past as a sorceress, Elenia
became convinced she was a parentless child.
She stole back the doll golem and escaped
Ivana, who had been cruel to her. Then Elenia
traveled Sturben and Levkarest, seeking
someone to become her parent. She latched
onto anyone she happened upon, hoping the
person would adopt her. Invariably, though, her
target learned her dark secret and sought either
to slay or escape her. After several such
experiences, Elenia learned always to cast
 WUP Thu Aduunturu
his adventure is recommended for he scenario begins as the player characters
six to eight characters of 5th to 8th
level. A map of Aferdale is found
on page 51, which the Dungeon
T enter Aferdale.

As you approach the outskirts of town, you

Master can photocopy for the
see a bulky, weathered sign. The name
players’ use. Each building is
Aferdale has been burned into the wood.
detailed in the “Aferdale” section.
Beneath the name, a series of descending
numbers has been haphazardly scratched
During the course of the
into the molding planks. The first number is
adventure, the player characters
1,183; the last number is 1,008.
discover a monastery that is not
Ahead of you, on the town’s main street,
what it seems. Its thick stone walls
you observe several dozen commoners
hide a temple dedicated to Malar,
walking behind pallbearers carrying a pallet.
the Beast Lord, an evil deity in the
There is no casket, but the pallet is strewn
FORGOTTEN REALMS@campaign with flowers. The procession weaves its way
world. Malar’s worshipers cloak
between battered houses and dry, rotting
their society in secrecy because they are
barns.
shunned and often hunted for their heinous
The sad wails of the mourners float
religious rites. They search out and attempt to
through the town and all but drown out the
destroy druids and rangers, and they
music made by a group of young boys and
relentlessly terrorize civilized areas.
girls who pluck stringed musical instruments
Malar is a demipower from the planes of
as they follow the grief-strickenadults.
Tarterus. He is not a popular god, and his many
The cavalcade shuffles to a graveyard,
devoted followers invoke him only to prevent
where a priest presides over the gravesite.
his intercession in their affairs. These dread
The people stand around a flat, grassy,
invocations are heralded by the capture of wild
untouched patch of ground.
beasts that are slaughtered by the dark gods
Since there is no casket, there is no need
priests.
for a hole. A chipped, marble stone marks
By the time the PCs encounter Aferdale,
the gravesite.
nearly every wild beast within three-days’ travel
Once the ceremony is finished, the priest
of the monastery has been eliminated by
steps over to a small cluster of townsfolk and
Malar’s malign followers. The worshipers have
bows to them. Wiping a tear from his eye, he
resorted to more drastic measures to acquire
leaves the site, solemnly walking back into
the animals needed for their dark
town.
rites-polymorphing Aferdale’s residents into
wild beasts and sacrificing them instead.
This band of Malar’s priests is lead by an If the characters approach the priest, the man
illithid named Malisha; her contemptible stops, introduces himself as Abane, and talks
mannerisms make her a figure to be feared and with them.
hated.
“The ceremony you witnessed was for a
boy of twelve, a lad loved by all. We had no
body to bury, and now we have only
 If the characters ask who is responsible for
memories. In Aferdale, if someone is missing
the deaths, the priest is unable to give an
for more than 60 days, his memory is buried
answer. “If you could find those accountable,
t o put the family at peace.” The priest
the town would be forever in your debt.”
trembles and rubs his hands together. Visibly
pale, he looks at you and offers a weak
smile. Af erdale
“The boy we just laid to rest was the 12th
victim this month. I would have liked to hold Location #I
out hope that the youngster would return,
This is a small family farm owned by a short,
but 1 could not put off the ceremony any
longer. You see, the people here are a plump man named Baggs. A variety of
vegetables and grains are grown in well-tended
superstitious lot. They believe that if the
fields. The predominant crops are wheat and
dead are not buried within two months, their
spirits are forever cast into Tarterus, where barley.
all the forsaken and forgotten stay for Baggs and his family will be friendly to the
player characters and will go on at great length
eternity.”
about how the recent deaths have thrown the
town into despair. Baggs is certain that the
Abane is a tall man with uneven, people living in Building 10 are responsible for
mousy-brown hair. He uses a dagger to cut his the disappearances. “They are such a rough,
hair, and keeps it cut short. His beard is also unfriendly crowd,” he says.
short. The priest dresses simply, usually in gray Baggs’ family has experienced one loss-a
robes. His sandals expose road-hardened toes teenage girl who was working as a farmhand
and yellowed nails.
disappeared six months ago. The town’s Location #2: The Aferdale Cemutrry
residents presume that she, like the other
missing youngsters, was kidnapped. The graveyard is bordered by a stout
Baggs does not know that the girl was killed wrought iron fence that casts shadows of
by a farm hand (and Malar worshiper) from prison bars across your feet. Weeping
Location 8. One year ago, Baggs decided to willows draped with budding grape vines dot
grow alfalfa on several acres of unused land to the well-tended land and shade many of the
compete with the farm at Location 8. The girl crumbling tombstones.
was hired to tend the alfalfa and chase away As you open the gate, the rusty hinges
birds in the fields. As harvest time approached, groan. The ground is moist, and your feet
she was killed when the Malar worshiper set the sink into the marshy grass as you walk into
field on fire. Her charred body lies in the prairie the cemetery. There are several hundred
grasses, and her ghost now haunts the field. graves here marked by hand-chiseled stones
of many sizes. A few of the stones are tall,
If the characters enter the field, the ghost almost monolithic, but the majority are short
rises from the dark soil, wailing a sad melody of and worn. Each eulogizes the deceased’s life
pain and misery. The ghost tries to scare the in a single sentence.
characters. Those who do not flee in terror can Dominating the graveyard is a large
speak with her. She fights only if attacked. expanse, edged by a narrow ravine to the
south. Hundreds of uniform stones stand like
“I am Dara, and I was killed,” the ghost soldiers across it.
wails in hauntingly beautiful tones that waft
over the barren field. “I was killed by an evil
The inscriptions on the stones vary. Consult
man who sought to ruin this field. Alfalfa and
the list below.
a dark god filled his life, and for that I was
killed. I now search for my murderer so that I
1. “Ourmissing beloved”
can rest.”
2. “Until our paths again meet”
3. “We have not lost our hope”
If the PCs ask her about the disappearances 4. “We wait for our reunion”
of townsfolk or the absence of wild animals, she 5. “Until the patrons bring us together”
offers a clue: 6. “Our souls weep for your retwn”
“I have witnessed masked men carrying
struggling bodies to the east, across the location #3
cattle ranch and toward the cemetery. Evil is The proprietors of Weppe’s Inn prey upon
involved, that I sense, for evil and death walk adventurers and travelers. All prices here are
hand in hand somewhere in Aferdale. I know double those listed in the Player’s Handbook.
nothing more. I am trapped here until my
butcher is dead.” A moss-covered sign hanging crookedly
from a grounded stake proclaims this
Ghost (1): Int High (13); AL N; AC 0 or 8; MV 9; building Weppe’s Inn. The steps to the front
HD 10; hp 70; THACO 11; #AT 1; Dmg Age door creak and bend under your weight.
10-40Years; S A Special; SD Special; SZ M; ML Inside, the inn is quiet. The patrons and
Special; XP 7,000. employees gape at a dead body that lies near
the doorway. The dead man is dressed only
 in a pair of worn trousers, and just above his Scared and livid, Daniel Hireman’s ghostly
waist, a dagger protrudes from his abdomen. gaze darts from one of you to another.
Despite the blood that continues t o pour “There is more to this town than meets the
freely from the wound, you know he died of eye,” he whispers. “Do not trust anyone.
another cause-a quarter-inch hole Everyone is guilty of something. They either
punctuates the middle of his forehead. steal each other’s belongings, or they steal
each other’s lives.
Although the corpse lies in the tavern room, “My life was ripped from me because I was
barmaids continue to serve the patrons. If the closing in on Dara’s murderer. I was to meet
PCs state they are scanning the crowd, have with a man tonight who promised to sell me
each character roll ld20. Anyone rolling vital information that would close the casket
one-half of their Wisdom score or less notices a on this case.” His body shudders, then he
barmaid lifting coins from a man’s pocket. continues. “When I entered this
The barmaids will not chat with the PCs, as establishment, I was ushered to a woman
they are working and do not want to have their dressed in black. Her eyes pierced my soul
wages docked. They refer all questions to the like a cold steel blade, and I felt her mind
innkeeper. The innkeeper is friendly, outgoing, caress mine. The next thing I knew, I felt a
and will freely talk to the PCs if they buy hot scalpel carve my insides. As my life
something to eat and drink. The innkeeper is drained from my body, I saw those who were
not as suspicious as most of the townsfolk. He once my friends remove my boots and
believes people have been disappearing simply clothing. Deathly cold hands rummaged
because they are starting a life elsewhere, through my pockets. I think I was closing in
where there are more opportunities. on something bigger than just a simple
The innkeeper knows the dead man in his murder.”
establishment was Daniel Hireman, an
investigator employed by Baggs. The location #4
investigator was searching for a teenage girl
who was one of Baggs’ farm hands. The Adventure’s Rest is another inn which preys
innkeeper claims he does not know how Daniel upon strangers. The owner charges prices triple
died. Further, all the patrons and barmaids say those listed in the Player’s Handbook.
they don’t know what happened, either. No
Adventure’s Rest, a large, multi-story,
amount of questioning will reveal additional
stone building, stands sullen in the dying
information. If the patrons are threatened,
evening light. The roof is flat, and archers
however, they claim a black-robed stranger
and ominous strongmen with tattoo-riddled
rushed forward, killed Hireman, then bolted
bodies walk about on it, peering down into
from the building. They say they did not
the street. A portcullis hangs open above an
interfere, as they prefer not to get involved in
open wooden door. The bright light from
personal disputes. Further, one of the patrons
within splashes against the darkening street.
sarcastically suggests the PCs ask old, dead
Hireman what happened.
If the PCs cast speak with dead, they can If the characters try t o simply walk in, the
discover the information that follows. For the guards slam the door shut in front of them. A
sake of mood while in Ravenloft, the DM may moment later, a burly man with chest hair as
read the following passage rather than answer bushy as animal fur opens the door. His arms
the PCs’ questions. are as thick as hams, and he screams at the
characters, “What do you want?” If they state pieces or more as a bribe, he picks a random
anything other than the fact that they are location and places the blame on the people
looking for murderers, they are allowed there. There are 18 locations on the map; the
inside-under the stern brows of the doorman DM should roll ld20, ignoring 2, 7, 19, and 20,
and his two identical twin brothers. If the PCs and choose that spot. “Yes, I have seen them
say anything about looking for a murderer, they luring young people there with gifts of food and
are shoved roughly into the street and ordered refreshment. I have told many people this story,
to stay away. but no one wishes to believe a drow. So the
If the PCs knock on the door, the triplets murders continue and the disappearing souls
open the door and block the view to the inside increase.”
with their cattle-likeframes. They ask the Dronom attempts to mislead the characters
characters for the password, and the center because the Malar priests have him under close
brother extends a hand, palm upward. If the scrutiny. The three burly guards at the entrance
characters do not contribute at least three gold are Malar worshipers-and they have
pieces, the three men slam the door. threatened to kill the drow if he reveals any
If the PCs force or kick the door open, they information about the temple. If the characters
are met by the three burly triplets mentioned threaten Dronom, he slowly points at the triplet
above. The trio loves to fight. They are here to guards and says “they are the toes of a bigger
keep “riffraff” out. Because the door has been evil.” Later that evening, the characters find
damaged, they must now be bribed in excess of Dronom’s body pegged to a weeping willow
10 gold pieces before they let the PCs in. near the center of town.
If the PCs defeat the guards, they can walk However, if the PCs have defeated the triplet
in without a problem. guards, Dronom tells them to seek the temple
of the wind god. “The wind that blows there is
10th-level Fighters (3): Int Average (8); AL NE; hot and dangerous,” he says. “The temple is not
AC 2; MV 12; HD 10; hp 74,70,68; THACO 11; what it seems.”
#AT 2; Dmg ld8+4/1d8+4 with swords; SZ M;
ML 16; XP 1,400 each. location #5
The inn is full. Along three walls, fragile This is a horse ranch with an ample supply of
female dancers in leather and shackles parade stock. The Malar priests leave farm animals
alone, as they believe only wild animals work in
about on elevated stages. The patrons scream
their rituals. Though expensive, all the horses
and whistle toward the unfortunate
entertainers, who do all they can to dodge food for sale are of fine quality. The current offerings
and bottles thrown their way. The inn’s include:
proprietor is a young drow named Dronom. He * 22 draft horses at 250 gp each
tends bar in a darkened corner of the inn, near * 10 heavy war horses at 700 gp each
a set of rickety stairs that lead to the basement. * 12 medium war horses at 400 gp each
Dronom will converse with the player * 24 light war horses at 280 gp each
characters only if they purchase food and drink
* 30 riding horses at 110 gp each
or rent a room. Rooms cost 12 sp per night per * 10 ponies at 60 gp each
person. The drinks are watered down and range
from 4 sp to 2 gp per glass.
If the characters inspect the grounds, read
the box that follows.
Dronom, twirling a gold piece, claims he
knows nothing about the disappearances of the
townsfolk. However, if the PCs offer him 5 gold
 ranch sells live cows at 20 gold a head, a calf
As you wander through the fields and for 12 gold.
ravines of this ranch, you notice several They jerky much of their meat, selling it for 1
graves on the premises; most of these filled gp per pound.
holes are extremely old and have long If the characters ask questions about the 1

grasses covering their tell-tale mounds. disappearances, the workers become

unfriendly, saying, "we don't know nothing,"
If the characters dig up these sites, they find and go back to work.
old human corpses and skeletons. While However, later that night, the cattle workers
prowling the area, the characters hear the crack harass the characters, attempting to hurt them
of a twig behind them. A single man stands so they will give up their quest and go home.
looking at them. He is unarmed. The workers are priests of Malar.

Malar Priests (12): Int High (14); AL LE; AC 5;

MV 12; HD 7; hp 36 each; THACO 16; #AT 12;
cautiously around you, inspecting the Dmg ld4 with fists and kicks; SZ M; ML
ground. He is dressed in baggy trousers and Average (10); XP 975 each.

The Malar priests operate this farm to

If asked about the graves, the man says, "We provide food for the worshipers. They sell the
do not use the cemetery. We are born, live, and excess cattle to common residents and
die on the land, so we are buried here. It is only travelers who are willing to pay their prices.
proper to return to the land that cared for us. The priests have been making a reasonable
Do you not agree?" income from the farm; with the wild animals in
The man, Waldo, is the owner of this ranch, the area gone, the residents are forced to buy
and he knows nothing of any murders or cattle if they want meat.
disappearances in the town. He avoids what he
considers the hustle of city life. He and his hires Location #'I
keep to themselves.
This is the secret temple of the Beast Lord,
Malar. His followers are the culprits who have
location #6: Cattle Ranch been kidnapping the people in this town. The
followers polymorph these people into wild
Hundreds of head of cattle roam treeless
boars, wolves, bears, mountain lions, and other
plains, feeding on the tall prairie grasses. As
animals to be sacrificed to their evil god. The
you approach the fence, a dozen ranch hands
priest's leader is named Malisha.
walk toward you, one waves a friendly hello.
"Good day to you all! Are you in need of This building appears well kept. The
jerky?' The ranch hands are rough-looking,
shutters are newly painted and properly
but seem congenial.
hinged. The walls are covered in fruit-bearing
grape vines that reach for the eaves twelve
The beef they sell is of good quality, tender feet overhead. The front door is open.
and not too stringy. They butcher cows before
they become too old to fetch a good price for
If the characters watch the temple, they see a
their meat. A butchered cow costs 24 gold; a pair of blue-robed priests carrying a struggling
quarter of beef costs 12 gold. In addition, the deer inside. If the PCs question the priests, they
 explain they are having venison for dinner. A between the higher priests, because each one
while later, the PCs will see more priests bring wants to rule the temple. It is their belief that
in a struggling bear cub; the priests explain this only the strong should command.
animal has no mother and needs to be looked
after. The PCs should realize something is The Tumplu
wrong, as there are no wild animals near the
town. These animals are actually townsfolk who The temple’s main room is cavernous and
have been polymorphed. takes up half of the complex. It is 120 feet wide
The PCs will not be able to learn any more by 150 feet long. The building’s other three
information without going inside. The temple is rooms are each 120 feet wide by 50 feet long,
a simple complex of four rooms and a cellar, and they are each connected to the main room
detailed below. If the PCs elect to enter the via an ornate wooden door.
temple, read the following: 1. Worship Room. The polished wooden floor
is dotted with woven rugs showing clouds,
Just inside the stoop, you notice an rainbows, and birds. The walls are covered with
insignia resembling a clawed paw against the tapestries depicting the sky; half are blue and
wall to your left. To your right is a mural of a filled with clouds, the others are black and have
cloud in an azure sky. As you enter, a lightning bolts and stars scattered through
stunning woman approaches you. She is them. In the center of the room is a table laden
dressed in a flowing blue robe and an ornate with fruit and pitchers of cool water. The Malar
fur cloak. “Welcome to the temple of priests in this room all wear blue robes.
Weeshy, god of the wind. Although you may There are eight priests in this room. They act
worship who you wish in our monastery, the cordially to the PCs, especially if Malisha
Wind God reigns here. Our abode is yours. If escorted them inside. She quickly exits the
you need anything, feel free to ask. My name main room, entering Room #4, then retreats to
is Malisha.” the cellar-leaving the characters in the hands
of her underlings.
The priests offer the PCs fruit, which is
To the common traveler and to the majority
drugged with sleep poison. This is how they get
of the town’s residents, the temple appears to
some of their victims. Newcomers arrive at the
be dedicated to Weeshy, the god of wind. It is
temple, eat the fruit, fall asleep, and the priests
doubtful the player characters will have heard
polymorph them into animals. The water in the
of this god, as the Malar priests made him up.
pitchers is not drugged.
They did not want to masquerade as followers
Any PC who eats a piece of fruit must save
of an actual deity, fearing that deity would
versus poison or fall into a deep slumber. PCs
investigate the temple and take action against
who successfully save are aware of a tingling
Malar.
sensation in their limbs, and they should get
Several dozen followers live and worship
the message that something is not right.
here. When venturing out in public or when
The priests discourage the PCs from entering
meeting the public within the temple, they wear
any of the other rooms, claiming they are only
blue robes with a cloud design stitched on the
for the priests. If the PCs insist, the priests
right shoulder. When spoken to, they profess
attack them.
the wonders of the wind.
Initially, the priests use spells such as hold
However, within the inner confines of the
person and command, then they melee with
temple, the priests wear black robes
them, fighting to the death.
embroidered with tigers, lions, and other wild
animals. There is a constant power struggle
I
4th-level Priests (8): Int High (14-16); AL CE; animals or plants; charm person or mammal,
AC 3; MV 12; HD 4; hp 20 each; THACO 18; heat metal, silence 15’ radus; dispel magic, hold
#AT 1; Dmg 1-6by staff; SD Nil; SA Spells; SZ animal.
M (6’ tall); ML Elite (14); XP 175 each.
Each priest has the following spells 10th-level Fighters (2): Int Average (8); AL NE;
memorized: command, create water, cause light AC 10 (wearing robes); MV 12; HD 10; hp 65
wounds; charm person, hold person. each; THACO 11; #AT 2; Dmg ld8+4/ld8+4
with long swords; SZ M; ML 16; XP 1400 each.
2. Sanctuary. Here, priests of Malar rest and
concentrate on spells. If the PCs enter, there are 3. Inner Chamber. Simple rituals are carried
two black-robed priests lecturing a pair of out here. The walls of this room are specially
fighters on how best to sacrifice animals. If the enchanted with a permanent silence spell. No
priests hear a commotion in the large temple sounds leave the room, and noise from rooms
room, they-wait two rounds, then send the elsewhere in the temple cannot be heard.
fighters in to attack. Next, they prepare spells Because of this, the room’s occupants are
so they are ready to meet any intruders who oblivious to the PCs’ presence.
burst into the sanctuary. There are two priests in this room preparing
a wild boar to be the evening’s offering.
6th-level Priests (2):Int High (16); AL CE; AC
3; MV 12; HD 6; hp 36 each; THACO 18; #AT 1; Opening the door, you are greeted by a
Dmg 1-2(fist); SD Nil; SA Spells; SZ M (6’ tall); horrid sight. Two men in flowing black robes
ML Elite (14); XP 575 each. decorated with the visages of snarling
Each priest has the following spells I animals stand over a boar tied to a small I
memorized: command, detect good, locate
 15th-level High Priest (1): Int High (16); AL
marble altar. The animal is struggling CE; AC 3; MV 12; HD 15; hp 65; THACO 12;
fiercely, but the ropes do not yield. One of #AT 1; Dmg 1-6(dagger); SD Spells; SA Spells;
the men looks up at you and smiles evilly. SZ M (6‘ tall); ML Elite (14); XP 5,000.
The other draws a dagger and raises it above Spells remaining in memory: animal
the terrified animal. friendship,cause light wounds, light; chant,
enthrall, flame blade, speak with animals; dispel
If the PCs do not act immediately, the priest magic, feign death, hold animal, meld into stone;
slaughters the boar, which is actually a animal summoning I, call woodland beings,
commoner who had been polymophed. If the divination, neutralize poison, tongues; animal
PCs try to prevent the sacrifice, the second growth, commune, cause critical wounds; blade
priest attacks, interposing his body in-an barrier; fire storm.
attempt to allow the ritual to proceed. The high priest wears bracers o f defenseAC
3, carries a specially-designed wand of
4th-level Priests (2): Int High (14); AL CE; AC polymophing usable by clerics, and has a
3; MV 12; HD 4; hp 32 each; THACO 18; #AT 1; dagger coated with Type M poison.
Dmg 1-4by dagger; SD Nil; SA Spells SZ M (6’
tall); ML Elite (14); XP 175 each. 4th-level Priests (9):Int High (14-16); AL CE;
Each priest has the following spells: AC 3; MV 12; HD 4; hp 25 each; THACO 18;
invisibility to animals, protection from good, #AT 1; Dmg 1-4 by dagger; SD Nil; SA Spells;
remove fear;flame blade, speak with animals. SZ M (6’ tall); ML Elite (14); XP 175 each.
Each priest has the following spells in
4. Altar Room. The walls of this room are also memory: animal friendship, command,
enchanted with silence spells, as the loud invisibility to animals; flame blade, spiritual
screams of the animals might disturb hammer.
commoners outside or in the main temple.
Stairs lead from this room down to the cellar. Cellar. This large, open room contains the
animals the priests use in their sacrifices. There
Dried blood covers the massive altar in the is a massive iron cage with four mountain lions
center of the room and the floor around it. A inside it, a pen holding a dozen wild boars, and
slaughtered mountain lion lays atop the altar, a small iron cage containing two badgers.
its blood spilling from its sliced throat. Your Malisha, detailed at the end of this adventure,
senses spin as you attempt to accept what is in the cellar looking over the animals. If she
you see. Tapestries on the walls depict black- hears the PCs coming down the steps, she
robed priests sacrificing animals. They look hides in the shadows, plans her assault, and
similar to the men who stand about the altar. attempts to kill them with her spells and illithid
“Intruders!” a man shrieks, as he gestures abilities. If her own life is in jeopardy, she uses
in your direction. “More sacrifices for Malar!” her spells to escape or to feign death.
With that, the priests yank the hoods away
from their faces and advance. Captured Heroes: If the priests manage to
better the characters in battle, the PCs are
The priests begin their assault by casting bound, gagged, and healed to the point of
spells-directed first at the PC wizards and consciousness. They are taken to the cellar and
clerics. Next, they attempt to immobilize the put in an empty pen-minus their weapons
fighters with hold person and other spells. The and armor. The priests plan to have them
priests will not melee unless the PCs close.
polymorphed soon. The PCs should be allowed The priests are suspicious of the owners of
an opportunity to escape, and depending on the inns, as they believe people are charged too
their actions, they might still have to face the much in the establishments. They do not
temple’s occupants. If the PCs do not escape, approve of the other temple in town. The Milil
the high priest uses his special wand to priests assume the town only needs one
polymorph them into boars, and they are held temple-theirs. The Milil priests and the
prisoner to be sacrificed in a special ceremony. “Weeshy” priests are not on friendly terms.
Resolution: If the PCs capture and question any
priests, they learn that the townsfolk are being location #IO
polymorphed into animals, and that the animals This is the Parsed Lip. Most villagers do not
in the cellar are, in reality, commoners, frequent this establishment because it appeals
farmers, merchants, and youths. If the PCs are to the rougher crowds. The Parsed Lip’s main
successful in defeating the priests and stopping clientele includes travelers and adventurers.
the threat of the Malar worshipers, the town Nansen, a 13th-level fighter, manages the
declares them heroes. Dispel magic will return tavern; He has three 10th-level fighters as
the animals to their human forms. partners who also serve as bouncers. Refusal to
pay for a drink or meal guarantees the patron a
location #8 broken arm or leg. These men make sure
This is an alfalfa farm. At present, the alfalfa patrons pay for what they order-or the patrons
is almost four feet tall, ready for harvest. leave the establishment unable to walk or work.
The people here are good and kind, except If the PCs ask too many questions about the
one worker who is a Malar worshiper. Everyone disappearances, murders, or anything else, the
but this man tries to be as helpful as possible. bouncers order them to leave. If the characters
They suggest the characters investigate the refuse, the bouncers fight them.
monastery at Location 7, as they do not trust If the characters defeat the three fighters,
the people who worship the wind. However, the Nansen offers them jobs as bouncers, and
Malar worshiper suggests they investigate the provides them with a little information about
temple to Milil. the area. Nansen knows that wild animals
The Malar worshiper at this location is began disappearing several months ago. This
responsible for Dara’s death (Location #l). No frustrated him, as he enjoyed hunting wild boar
one knows he is the culprit. and large bucks. About three weeks ago-the
time of his last hunting expedition-he couldn’t
location #9: Tumplr of Milil even spot a rabbit.
Abane, the priest who buries the town’s dead
and performs ceremonies for the missing, is the
location #II
high priest of this temple. Everyone is welcome This is the Yearning Goblet. Townsfolk
to worship their own gods here, although they congregate here for ale and dinner. This is also
will first hear a sermon about the benefits of the local rumor-mill. If anyone is looking for
worshiping Milil. information, this is the best place to find it.
The priests will attempt to be helpful to the The tavern is managed by Rose and Markus
player characters. The priests are disturbed Silpher, a middle-aged couple who are Aferdale
about the missing townsfolk-and puzzled, as natives. Their knowledge of the world outside is
spells indicate that some of the missing people sketchy, but their awareness of what transpires
are dead, and that some of the missing people within the town’s boundaries is second to none.
are still within the confines of Aferdale.

If
 If the PCs ask questions here, they will learn 6 How about a meal? Are you hungry?
the following: 7 When is Daddy coming home?
* The Middle Inn is full of cockroaches. 8 Malisha is your woman. Malisha is
* Nansen is a confirmed murderer. He’s innocent.
probably the one killing everyone, but don’t 9 What’s your name? I’m Darak, usually.
quote me on that, I don’t want to get killed. 10 Rooms are only 1 silver piece, yes, only 1
* The temple of the wind has a new leader, silver. One silver will get you a room. Would
somebody named Malisha. Ain’t never seen the you like a room for 1 silver?
guy’s face, though, but 1 hear he is really ugly, 11 My head hurts.
with weird growths on his face and everything. 12 Yeah, Malarites everywhere-you have to
* The priests of Milil don’t get along with the watch your back.
priests of the wind god. Aren’t clerical types
supposed to like everyone? location #I3
%‘ * The worshipers of the wind god must be This is the Wagon’sRest. It is a small,
doing something right-hunters from their
one-story inn-with an insect problem. The
temple are always snaring deer and boars. We price is 1 silver piece per person per night,
haven’t been able to find a wild animal including a breakfast in the common room.
anywhere around here.
Marinetta runs this inn, and leaves only to get
* I hear Marinetta is having an affair with the supplies. She knows no one except the ranchers
Constable. Imagine that. and farmers around town. She cannot give the
P
* Ain’t seen wild animals anywhere around for characters any information, but she is worried
quite some time. I wonder if there’s something about the disappearances.
big and nasty in the woods frightening them
away. At least the cows and horses seem safe. location #I4
location #I2 This is a large farm. Several dozen men live
and work here. This farm has lost one-quarter
The Middle Inn, a well-kept, two-story of its workers in the past two months, and the
building, is the nicest inn in the city. Their
rest of the workers are starting to think evil
prices are 1 silver per person per night. The spirits haunt the farm. Many are considering
price does not include a breakfast like many
leaving.
inns provide. The man who runs this inn,
If the characters watch this farm, they can tell
Darak, is a little unusual. He talks in circles the laborers are not happy. They mill about
constantly and rarely makes sense as a result of
lazily, preferring to move slowly about, and are
a head injury several years ago (he fell down a always looking over their shoulders.
flight of stairs). If the characters question him,
If the characters talk to the workers, most of
roll ld12 on the following table for his answers:
them complain about the spirits that wander
1 The brain-suckers are back in town. the fields at night, looking for bodies to feed
2 It sure is cold today. upon. If the characters watch the fields, they
3 I wish it would cool down because the see nothing.
cows are upsetting Captain Bristol’s Kara Tur
navigation charts. location #I5
4 Have you heard from Aurelia lately? I sure
miss her a lot. Haven’t seen her in, oh, probably This is a farm with immense barns and grain
128 summers. spires. Currently, 100 workers live here, tending
5 Put down that knife! the grounds year-round.
J
 This farm has experienced the most losses in
head. I hope too many people didn’t hear me
recent months-40 men have vanished. The
cry out. I have an image to maintain.”
remaining workers are considering leaving
town-in force-within the next few days if the
disappearances do not stop. The workers here If the PCs ask for a description of the thing,
think Location 14 is haunted, and that the older man says it could have been a man or
poltergeists there wander in search of victims. a monster. “Whatever it was, it wore a black
~
robe with the outline of a tiger sewn on it.”
As you look about this farm, a faint, The attacker was actually a hungry Malisha.
high-pitched scream cuts through the air-it
came from the vicinity of the tall wheat. It is Location #I6
immediately followed by the guttural bellow
A barracks-style building sits near the edge
of a man. The farm seems to come alive with
of this extensive farm. Vegetables and wheat
everyone rushing toward the cries.
are the farm’s staple crops. Nearly 50 people
work the land.
If the characters investigate, read the
Several of the people who work here have
following:
families on the premises. They have
experienced a number of missing persons, but
As you approach, you have to push your
not nearly as large a loss as the farm at
way through the crowd of farm workers.
Location 15. The people here know little about
There, on the ground, lies a man in his late
activities in town.
teens. His head and face are bloodied, his
If the characters ask any of the workers about
mouth frozen in fear. On the man’s forehead
the disappearances, they say, “That farm,
is a quarter-inch round hole where the bone
(pointing at Location 14), is haunted. The evil
has caved in. His eyes are turned up as
spirit steals and consumes the flesh of the
though they were looking toward his
young to ease its savage nature. If you want the
now-empty skull. A terrified young girl
killings to stop, you have to kill the beast and
stands near the body.
its vile owner. We have told the constable many
times, but he just smiles and does nothing.”
Any characters looking at the body must
make a saving throw versus paralyzation. Those
who fail their save are stunned and cannot act Location #I7
for l d 6 rounds. The young girl is more than This is the local constabulary and jail. The
willing to talk about what happened. She says: policing agent, Wellis Andreman, is a 9th-level
ranger. He has attempted to investigate the
“We were walking, everything was quiet. disappearances and murders, but he has yet to
Then this horrid thing came out of nowhere. find any clues.
It grabbed my boyfriend in its ugly arms,
then Jarak went limp, and I screamed. I tried This building stands tall, yet leans to the
to run away, but I couldn’t move.” east at a sickening angle. Bricks near the
“And that’s when I showed up.” A middle- cornerstone crumble from the unearthly
aged man with thick, dirty fingernails weight of the sliding foundation.
extends his hand to you. “I saw this thing Inside, a single office takes up the entire
sucking the young boy’s face, and 1 lost my first floor. Stairs leading to barred jail cells
make their way to the darkness above. A
 women of all ages sit within its gloomy walls,
man drifts down from the blackness of the fidgeting or resting their heads on open palms.
second floor. A second man sits alone behind
This is the local hunter’s guild. The
an enormous desk. His rickety chair squeals membership has dropped in the past year
as his eyes focus on you. because there is no game. If the characters ask
why everyone looks so depressed, they are told
The man at the desk is Wellis. He believes the following:
there are several different groups working
together to cause Aferdale’s problems. He does “In the past twelve months, we have not
not have a clue about who is responsible, but found a single track anywhere within two
he dedicates his evenings to patrolling the area, days’ travel of Aferdale. It’s as if the wildlife
trying to assure the people’s safety. He offers just left. Even the rabbit and possum
the characters 20 gp each for information population has disappeared.
leading to an arrest and conviction of the ‘‘If you ask us what’s behind it, we say it is
villains. He guarantees 30 gold each for solving an evil someone-or many someones.”
the mystery and putting an end to the ordeal.
If the characters ask for any clues, Wellis
gives them the following information:
*“No one has seen any wild game in these NPC Roster
parts for more than 18 months.”
* “Over 100 persons are missing to date, and it Abane
seems that someone disappears every day.” 10th-level Priest of Milil
* “Even though there is a shortage of wild HP 45 THACO 14
game, the monastery seems to find a few AC 4 Age 55 AL CG
animals now and then.” Str 16 Dex 14 Con 15
* “A ghost haunts Baggs’ farm (Location 1). Int 16 Wis 18 Cha 15
Some believe the ghost is the spirit of a
long-lost employee.” Abane is the high priest of the temple of
*“The bouncers for the Parsed Lip (Building 10) Milil. He allows everyone who worships a gooa
are some of the roughest customers I have seen diety to use his temple for worship.
in a long while. At night I have seen them Abane carries the following spells: bless,
prowling the city. When I have confronted combine, command, cure light wounds; aid, find
them, they claim they are looking for the traps, goodbeny, slow poison; continual light,
criminals responsible for the disappearances.” cure disease, prayer; cure serious wounds,
* “One of the only places not experiencing divination, neutralize poison; commune, cure
disappearances is the temple of Weeshy. The critical wounds.
priests there say the confines of their mystical
walls and their oneness with their deity protects
them from all harm. Yet, two persons from their
Malisha
temple died six years ago in a carriage 15th-Level Female lllithid Priest of Malar
accident.” HP 65 THACO 12
AC 2 Age 36 AL LE
location #I8 Str 18 Dex 14 Con 17
Int 17 Wis 14 Cha 18
The exterior of the building is lighted and
cheery-looking. Inside, however, men and
 Malisha dresses in long flowing robes
embroidered with wild animals. When she
Ulellis Andreman
9th-Level Human Ranger, Constable
leaves the temple where she resides, she always
cloaks her head, hiding her tentacles from HP 86 THACO 12
sight. This allows her to walk within Aferdale AC 0 Age 38 A L NG
without notice. Str 17 Dex 16 Con 18
Malisha became the head priest in the temple Int 16 Wis 17 Cha 15
of the Beast Lord Malar when the former priest Wellis Andreman is the town constable. He
depleted the wild game population with his has attempted to find the cause of the missing
excessive Malarite ceremonies. When this persons (or murders), but has yet to find any
happened, the other Malarite priests killed him. clues or bodies.
Malisha devised a plan to appease the deity by He is a handsome individual with an amazing
polymorphing the people of Aferdale into wild tenacity. He wears elven chain mail + 3 with a
boars, wolves, bears, and mountain lions to red eagle patch on the right shoulder. His body
sacrifice to their evil god. In return, she was is riddled with tattoos depicting the major
given the right to eat their brains immediately battles he fought during his youth as a soldier.
before the ceremony. He wears his brown hair in a three-foot-long
Several dozen followers live and worship at braid down his back.
the temple with her, with several of these lesser In spite of his failure to solve the mysterious
priests vying for her leadership position. She disappearances, he has continued to look,
has successfully thwarted every take-over hoping to find some clue with the next corner
attempt since her induction two years ago. he turns. He has been attacked six times
Unfortunately, those who have attempted to recently by those responsible-or so he
discrown her were never seen again. believes. This makes him assume he is getting
Malisha has all the attacks, benefits, and close. Wellis thinks there are several different
limitations of normal illithids. In addition, she groups working together because the
has the following spells currently in memory: kidnappings appear to be well orchestrated. He
animal friendship, combine, cause light wounds, does not have a clue as to who is
detect good, faerie fire, sanctuary; chant, charm responsible-yet.
person or mammal, detect charm, heat metal,
hold person, spiritual hammer; cause disease,
dispel magic, feign death, locate object, meld into Nansen
stone, stone shape; cause serious wounds, cure 13th-Level Male Fighter, Parsed Lip Owner
serious wounds, detect lie, divination, protection
from good IO’radius, tongues; cause critical HP 115 THACO 8
wounds, cure critical wounds, flame strike, plane AC 2 Age 41 AL CN
shift; blade barrier, conjure fire elemental; unholy Str 17 Dex 16 Con 18
word. Int 16 Wis 17 Cha 15
Malisha wears an amulet ofproof against Nansen is a rough-looking individual. He has
detection and location, wears bracers of defense more scars on his face, neck, and arms than
AC 2, and has a clerical wand ofpolymorphing. most adventurers get on their whole bodies in a
lifetime. A cruel man, he came to Ravenloft
soon after a military campaign that left
thousands dead. He is now cursed to spend the
rest of his life in this forsaken land.
 1 setup
Sgnopsis for the OM
his adventure is designed for two to he PCs enter a town that appears normal in
three characters of 8th to 11th
level. At times, the characters may
seem overmatched, while at others,
T all respects. However, at random intervals,
all aspects of the town (architecture,
businesses, people, weather, and so on) change
they may find their competition to a completely different look. The PCs do not
unworthy of their skill. Such are change geographic location, but the
- the insane manifestations of the
foe they are about to meet.
appearance of their location changes. Buildings
remain in the same positions, for the most part,
The PCs are about to meet but they change to completely new buildings.
Davion, an insane man with the If, for example, the PCs leave an object in the
power to change reality. As far as street, it never moves. Objects left in buildings,
the PCs can tell, everything and however, disappear when the scene changes.
everyone around them change The mechanics of the changes are described in
without warning, but the people greater detail later.
around them claim that nothing These alterations are due to the multiple
has happened. Are the PCs trapped personalities inhabiting Davion’s body. The DM
in some bizarre cycle, or is everyone around should read Davion’s complete description at
them insane? Can they convince everyone that the end of this adventure before proceeding.
they themselves are not insane so they can get
the world back on track?
As real as the NPCs in this adventure may
The Adventure
seem, none of them actually exist. Every object his adventure begins when the characters
and every living creature the PCs will encounter
are manifestations of Davion’s alter egos. To
the PCs, however, these illusions will seem
T enter a town named Thornewood. As they
approach the town, the Dungeon Master
should read the following.
unfalteringly real.
If the PCs cast detect magic at any time As you pass a vine-covered sign reading
during this adventure, they learn nothing about Thomewood, you see several buildings and
the truth of their surroundings, as if the spell streets peeking through the dense woods
failed. Magical items carried by the characters that surround the city. The cobblestone
reveal their magical nature normally. The PCs streets are broken and crumbling as though
will not know why the spell failed until they a massive earthquake ripped through
complete the adventure and solve the mystery. recently. Large chunks of the ground have
If the characters cast know alignment, the moved to create steps as high as four feet.
spell also appears to fail. The spell never Most of the half-timber buildings sit
functions properly in Ravenloft-it reveals only precariously on these newly-made cliffs,
law or chaos-but in this case, not even these while a few have splintered into useless junk
extremes are revealed. If the PCs attempt the that clutters dying gardens. A few people
spell on Davion, however, he is revealed as both walk about and climb over the demolished
chaotic and lawful. The PCs will not learn the sidewalks.
reason for this until they discover Davion’s
secret. If the PCs try to chat with the villagers, the
people are pleasant but wary. They do not stop
Monette survived from day to day by capturing made to pursue the phantom light, the ship and
and eating some of the bats. Just as he had its crew are drawn into Ravenloft.
satisfied their hunger, now they gave him the When they come across the island that is at
strength to live on. the heart of Monette’s domain, they are almost
What Monette did not know, however, was certainly shipwrecked. Monette has absolute
that his close association with these creatures control over the currents in the sea, and the
was causing him to change. Each night when waters in his domain hide many savage reefs
he slept, the bats would drop down and taste and shallows upon which unsuspecting craft
his blood. With the coming of the day, he would can be dashed.
catch them and take it back when he fed. In the
end, he all but became one with them.
The Domain
I onette’s domain is an island known as
Current Sketch 1,: Iduh
rile de la Tempete (pronounced LEE1

us ith the coming of the high tides each

day, Monette finds himself transformed
into a werebat. He has no control over
this change, for he is, in essence, an infected
lycanthrope. It is while he is in this state that
lah tah-PET). It is some ten miles
long and roughly kidney shaped. Covered with
scrub forests and rocky soil, its temperate
environment makes the place similar to the
islands one might expect to find in a northern
Monette seeks out his victims and feasts upon climate.
their flesh. Near the center of the island, a rocky spire
Monette delights in luring ships to crash breaks above the otherwise low geography.
upon the reefs and shoals that litter the sea Standing atop this monolith of stone is the
around his island. Those who survive the lighthouse that Monette uses to lure seafarers
shipwreck are stalked and killed by the evil to their deaths.
Monette, who takes great care to see that he There is little animal life on the island,
never leaves a victim alive. although insects, such as flies and gnats, are
The one thing that Monette craves more than common enough. Most of the plant life suffers
anything else is the high adventure and travel from the overly salty soil that covers the island.
that he enjoyed as a seaman. He cannot stand Those who try to sail away from the island find
his isolation and the thought that he is forever only endless sea. Still, in the minds of many, it is
stranded on this island. However, each time that better to die like a sailor at sea than to fall victim
he attempts to sail away, he find himself to the cruel fangs of the werebat.
growing weaker and weaker. It is certain that he rile de la Tempete is surrounded on all sides
would die before he ever lost sight of the island. by a harsh and rocky coast. The surf crashing
Since coming to Ravenloft, Monette has built against the shore sends shivers throughout the
for himself a large lighthouse that he calls the entire domain. Anyone taking the time to
Eye of Midnight. Atop it, he has placed a skull search an area of the coast finds evidence of
that is enchanted with a continuallight spell. On - _.
the nights of the full moon, he sends out a
beacon from this eerie lantern. Mysteriously, this
beacon of light has the power to beam into the
Prime Material plane.
Seafarers who do not recognize the light for
what it is and decide to follow it or investigate
it are doomed. The moment the decision is
countless shipwrecks here. Bits of metal and
wood lodged in cracks, bones from dead Excerpts horn the log of the
sailors, fragments of sailcloth, and the like
litter the entire place.
merchantman Dragon’s Gold
l o t h day of Ches, Year QSunrets: 1 f . r thdt I
Confkonting Monutte have made a Jredhl mistake. h t night the man on
Werebat, Lawful Evil datch spotted afaint beacon in the darkness. Fearing
Armor Class 10 (5) Str 15 that it c a m e ~ o manother ship in distress, I ordered the
Movement 12 (9/FI 15 D) Dex 14 helm to m e about and make best speed to rende%us.
LevellHD 8 Con 14 Nod, de Jrad nearer to an island that is not on our
Hit Points 71 Int 15
charts. 3 h e naJigator says that he cunfinb none Qthe
THACO 13 Wis 10
No. of Attacks 1 (3) Cha 12 stars de knod and curses his inability to& our
position. I curse too, but it is myself that I blame for
Damage/Attack: See text
Special Attacks: See text all our failings.
Special Defenses: See text
Magic Resistance: Nil
1Ith day of Ches: What more can go drong? 3 h e
ship has run aground on a shoal and tom open the huU.
Numbers in parentheses above are unique to his
werebat form. Other numbers apply to both forms. Our best man says that he may be able to& it in a
deek or ten days.
When engaging in combat, Captain Monette
prefers to fight in his hybrid form. When he must
17th day of Ches: h t night marked the sixth
do battle in his human form, he makes use of a
brightly polished cutlass (treat as a short sword). attack Q the creature. Half of our cred is dead and I
He is also an expert with the arquebus. suspect that most ofthe others are on the ltrink of
In his hybrid form, the evil captain cannot mOdne5S.
employ weapons effectively, so he attacks I have seen the creature myself nod. It is a large
unarmed. His sharp claws and needle-like teeth thing that resembles a foul cross betdeen a bat and a
are more than a match for most adventurers. In
each round he may strike twice with his claws man. Hod I d s h that de had a &.turd d t h us on this
(inflicting ld4 points of damage with each). In voyage, for I have little knowhdge of such things. I
any round that both of these attacks hit, he suspect that if1 kned more, though, I n~ouldonly be
follows up with a bite that inflicts 2d4 points of more despondent.
damage (normal attack roll required).
In either form, Monette can be harmed only 29th day of Ches: Only myself and the second
by silver or magical weapons. mate are left alive. We have agreed that de dll not let
In addition to the normal powers associated
with a werebat, Monette has several powers as a the eJil that rules this place taste of our blood. I can
darklord. His lighthouse can lure victims from only pray that the gods dUforgive usfor dhat de are
other worlds. (See “Current Sketch.”) about to do, but de dare notfall Jidim to this unholy
Furthermore, he can control the currents in the monrta
seas that surround his island (at will). Thus, he % least the end dll be quick.
can make it impossible or deadly to attempt
swimming or boating.
 ishes born of love and pain, vowed she would sacrifice anything to see her
whispered anxiously to the night, love return. The woman began to wish that she,
A
can lead to deadly results. These like her fiance, were dead.
1- words often penetrate the fabric of Her pleas did not go unnoticed. A villainous
darkness, arousing loathsome phantom, native to a darker realm, came to her
spirits who are only too eager to in the night. He took the form exactly of her
respond. beloved, with a single exception: his left foot
So it is with Ravenloft’s Leederik, was cold, flat, and wide, like that of a reptile.
known in other realms as the The long, clawed toes were covered with shiny
Phantom Lover. When a grieving black scales, and joined by a velvet black
bride longs for the return of her webbing. In her dreamy enthrallment, the
dead husband, the Phantom Lover woman failed to notice. Each night, the
goes to her side, to forever ease phantom visited her in her bed chambers. Their
her misery. meetings left her ever more listless and pale.
Slowly but surely, he took her life and her will;
she gave it willingly, so lovesick had she
w Appearance become.
he phantom is a creature of countless At last, after a fortnight had passed, the

T faces and forms, most of them human. He

takes the appearance of a lost loved
one-a husband or a sweetheart. The guise is
phantom said that he could come to her no
more. To ensure their togetherness, he said, she
would have to follow him before the dawn.
utterly convincing; he is the mirror of his Then, and only then, could they marry, and be
victim’s love in size, shape, and even voice. as one until death did them part.
Only one aspect fails to ring true: his left foot is She put on her wedding dress and followed.
the foot of a small, black-scaled dragon. He led her to a cemetery, to a grave that
The phantom lover may also take the shape seemed freshly dug. This, he said, was her
of a reptile, such as a black snake. His true marriage bed, and together they disappeared
form has never been seen by any who lived to into the pit. Her handkerchief was later found
describe it. Legends say that he is neither man upon the cold, frosted ground nearby. The
nor beast, but something in between, blacker woman was never seen again. She was a victim
than can be imagined. No one knows for sure. of Ravenloft’s Phantom Lover, and she is now
married to the night.
Background
n the Forgotten Realms, near the mountains Current Skutch
I of Cormyr, the following tale is told. A
young woman, newly betrothed, was
grieving deeply, her tender hQpesdestroyed by
ike many of Ravenloft’s lords, the Phantom
Lover feeds on sorrow and pain. A small
part of his domain slips into other worlds
the sudden, savage death of her fiance. By day each night, drawn by the anguish of a woman
she was silent and withdrawn. By night, she grieving for lost love. Her chamber becomes his
passed the hours longing for her husband’s domain. A moist haze marks the invasion-like
return, praying that time would reverse itself, or the faint mist formed by a steaming kettle. It
that she would somehow wake from the wicked carries a sweet, heavy smell. When the haze
nightmare that caused her despair. She cursed disappears, so does he, though the odor lingers
the gods who had wrought such sorrow, and faintly until morning. The phantom can never
stay behind with his intended when the sun
I

.
breaks the horizon, nor can he step outside her never seen again.
room and wander the rest of her home. He is Though he could surely drain all life from his
bound by the Mists of Ravenloft. victim and leave her stiff body behind, the
When the phantom visits his victim, he stays phantom rarely does so. Perhaps it is actually a
no more than an hour-and then only so long perverted longing that compels him, for he
as his victim allows it. He can do nothing that always refrains from killing her, so that he
she does not agree to; she does only that which might draw her alive into his realm. If it is
she believes is her own wish. The deeper her company he seeks, he will not have it long.
grief, however, the more desperate she is to His victim cannot survive in his domain. She
please him, for fear he will come to her no languishes there, in a dark, damp realm that
more. If the connection between them is strong, few can describe. She cannot leave. Some say
his power extends into the daylight; she will she is simply too weak to do so; others claim
steal, lie, and even kill for him while he is away she is paralyzed by the realization of what she
from her. Never will she reveal him to another, has done. It is said that she may appear before
so strong is their bond. (She is under the effects her parents as a vision then, telling them not to
of a powerful charm, which cannot be magically worry and bidding them goodbye. Soon
detected or dispelled. Victims may still roll a thereafter, she dies. Her spirit is trapped in
saving throw, but with a - 4 penalty.) Ravenloft, like those of the victims who knew
Each night he comes, draining her Strength the phantom before her.
(1 point per night) and eroding her will. When
nearly all is lost, he beckons to her to forsake
all other things and follow wherever he leads.
The Domain
She must agree or he cannot take her. Yet in he Phantom Lover’s domain is unlike most
her weakened state, intoxicated by the dark
love he brings her, she can hardly refuse.
The phantom’s domain can penetrate one
T others in Ravenloft. Its foundation is a
small, underground labyrinth, upon which
a round tower is seated, rising up from the
other place in his victim’s world: a nearby ground and extending into the night sky. Water
graveyard. Somehow the victim knows this, for drips from the walls of the labyrinth, and
she is likely to haunt the place by day, darkness pervades. All normal light is
searching for him. She will not explain her true extinguished; torches sizzle and smoke as it
reason for being in the cemetery, except to say they were drenched with rain. Even magical
she is visiting her lost love. Many are apt to light is diminished here; it only serves to
think she is simply visiting her real love’s grave, surround its user with a faint, unearthly red
as a grieving widow might do. glow.
It is to the graveyard that the phantom takes The tower atop the labyrinth is constructed of
his victim, on the eve following her vow to go polished black stones. The uppermost room of
with him. They appear together at the gates of the tower is the phantom’s lair, where the living
the cemetery (via teleport without error) and are kept. The tower has no windows, but a small
wander to an uncommon grave. There, before stair in the tower room leads to the crenelated
the headstone, lies a gaping, rectangular pit, roof. The stones there are slick and shiny. Beyond
descending into the ground. No bottom can be the tower lies perpetual darkness and fog. The
seen. The phantom leads her into the depths. ground is not visible, and a pebble dropped from
(They teleport to the lowest level of his the tower plummets with no sound to mark the
underground labyrinth.) In the graveyard, a end of its fall. Those who leap from the tower fall
piece of clothing or something she carried lies into the Mists of Ravenloft, which return them to
behind. The woman herself, in most cases, is the labyrinth below.
 The land is distinguished by its ability to the rescuers must find her within the labyrinth.
extend an arm of itself into other realms. It can Then they must lead her back to the portal, if
invade the room of the grieving victim. When they can. If the sun has begun to rise in her
this occurs, the room becomes nearly as dark world, the rescuers can take her only to another
as the phantom’s labyrinth. For a moment, the domain in Ravenloft-provided they escape
victim sees the phantom in the shape of her before the sun clears the horizon. When the sun
beloved. Then candles are immediately snuffed, has fully risen, she is lost, and they are trapped
oil lamps sputter and g o out. She can still hear until the phantom visits another victim,
and feel him, but his shape is little more than a opening a portal to that world.
shadow, made distinct by the faint blue light
that streams in her window. The doors and
windows of the room lock automatically,
Confronting the Phantom
becoming impenetrable by others except by Phantom Lover, Lawful Evil
great or magical force. The victim can open Armor Class 0 Str 16
them herself, however-if she chooses to do so. Movement 12 Dex 12
The Portal: As noted above, the phantom’s LeveVHit Dice 5 Con 17
domain can penetrate one other location Hit Points 6 lnt 17
outside Ravenloft: an earthly place of the dead. THACO 15 Wis 14
The phantom carries his victim to a graveyard, No. of Attacks 1 Cha 12(18*)
teleporting from her room to the graveyards
gates, with no chance of missing his mark. He DamageIAttack: 2d4
slinks across the cemetery to a certain Special Attacks: Strength drain (1 pthight),
tombstone. There, a portal leading to his charm ( - 4 penalty for victim), control over
domain takes shape, hidden in the shadow of doors (see text), sleep, etc.
the headstone. The portal is his victim’s only Special Defenses: Change to mist, snake,
entry into Ravenloft, and she must step through gargoyle; command snakes and gargoyles
it willingly. (2d8); 75% Hide in Shadows; + 1 or better
The portal forms as soon as the phantom blessed weapon to hit; control over doors
begins his seduction of the victim. It appears to (see text)
be the same as the shadows that stretch out Magic Resistance: 10%
before the other tombstones in the light of the * Charisma in the eyes of his victim
moon. On the night during which the phantom
The phantom shares many traits with vampires,
intends to steal his victim away, the portal
and is classified as one by some scholars. Like
becomes an open grave. Anyone who steps into
a vampire, he drains the life from his victims
the grave with purpose enters the phantom’s
and erodes their will. Though he drains spirit
realm in Ravenloft; those who merely stumble
rather than blood, the effect is virtually the
upon it fall to the ground beside the grave,
same. He erodes their willingness to live and
paralyzed with uncontrollable fear for ld6
brings them fully under his influence. His
rounds, suffering l d l O points of damage from
victims, like those of a vampire, begin to shun
shock (no saving throw).
the daylight, wanting only the dark. They
The portal exists only at night. It appears
become addicted to his attentions, so much so
when the phantom goes to his victim. When the
that they are blinded to all but their desire for
first light of dawn shimmers on the horizon, the
him. Eventually, they will sacrifice
portal disappears.
anyone-killing family and friends, even
It is possible to rescue a victim by following
themselves-to do the phantom’s will.
her and the phantom through the portal. First,
 These are not the only similarities between brawny shoulder.
the phantom and common drinkers of blood. The door to his victim’s room may do more
Like a va pire, the phantom can assume many than simply prevent access from the outside.
-tl“
shapes. e can become mist. In addition, he
may take the form of an animal-although not
When someone’s hand is on the knob, the
phantom can change the knob’s shape, so that
the traditional wolf or bat, but rather a black, it holds fast to the person’s hand and strives to
vile reptile. The phantom may appear to be a crush it even as it heats to sear the skin. The
large black snake, for example, among a swarm wood of the door may twist and warp to form
of smaller, identical snakes that do his bidding. another hand that reaches for the throat of
Or he may take the shape of a small black someone nearby, gouging the skin with shards
dragon, among many similar grotesque, living of wood (THACO 20; damage l d 6 points). If
gargoyles that he can summon from the skies someone attempts to guard the woman by
in his realm to protect him. staying in her room, the phantom still comes,
Those who watch a woman grow more listless darkening the room as he arrives. He attempts
with the passing of each night may suspect she to puts the onlookers to sleep (they must roll a
is the victim of some unholy visitation. (She successful saving throw vs. spell with a -5
loses one Strength point per night, as desired penalty; elves and half-elves have a 45%
by the phantom.) If it is a vampire they resistance to this spell). Those able to resist his
imagine, they may place garlic over her power may be paralyzed with horror (roll a
windows, or place a holy symbol around her horror check with a - 4 penalty; a failed roll
neck. Garlic does nothing to deter him. The results in paralysis) as they watch the
holy symbol offends him, and it may cause him phantom’s actions and feel their own bodies
to hesitate momentarily, but if the phantom growing cold by the nearness of death (ld6
asks her, the victim is certain to remove it. points of damage per round). In this vulnerable
Moving the woman to another room does not position, their throats may be cut by the
thwart the phantom; he simply invades the new phantom’s intended, for she will do it if he asks.
chamber. Only keeping her in the open air can In the Graveyard: If the phantom is in
dissuade him. The victim must be kept danger, he retreats to the cemetery. The nearer
outdoors for three consecutive nights, else the he is to his domain in Ravenloft, the more
phantom will return. The victim will resist powerful he becomes. In the graveyard, he can
staying outside until his spell is broken; she will create a force that hurls a victim through the air
steal away to her chamber if she can. (if a Strength check is failed) and slams him
A protection from euil spell will not sway or against a tombstone (ld4 points of damage).
halt the phantom unless he fails a saving throw The phantom can also animate the dead, who
vs. spell with a +2 bonus. Negatiue plane will claw their way out of the earth to grasp the
protection has no effect. ankles of passersby, and then slowly rise up to
As noted above, those who attempt to check attack, like common zombies.
on the woman during the night will find the The phantom can summon the black snakes
door to her chamber locked; only acts of whose form he mimics, using them to confound
extraordinary strength or magic will budge it. his pursuers. (Use combat statistics for a
(For example, a successful open doors attempt common poisonous snake; the phantom’s
or knock spell would do the trick.) This is not creatures are no more than a foot long,
the only door the phantom can affect. He can however.) These creatures may either slither up
cause any portal in the house he visits to shut from the graves or drop down from the trees.
and lock, one following the other, though The phantom’s gargoyles (he can summon
anyone can open these doors with a key or a 2d8) come with him into the cemetery each
night, and wait there for his return. If he is in
danger, they attack; otherwise they usually only Fragments of a Oiarg
threaten. They favor swooping onto a victim
20Jan. '01 - I kned I$ could not be so cruel, that
from behind, landing on his back, and then
!hefates could not rob me of him on the day of our 90~s.
raking his face and neck with their claws. Even
after the phantom himself has left the
Zm I b l e d or am I cursed? It mutters not. a i r t e e n
Jays of mourning have yielded miracles and joy. H i s b e is
graveyard, the gargoyles may remain behind
undying, and that is vkut has brought him back into my
until the portal disappears. They lurk in the
trees and atop mausoleums, their leathery ndwming embrace. Under a blanket Qshadod, my arm
wings fluttering occasionally. kisses dll erase the chill of death.
None of these brute actions may be 23 Jan. '01 - .?f I am dreaming, let me never duke.
necessary, however. The phantom may well EfIam mad, bar sanityfTom returning. Fear dissohes dth
elude his pursuers. Wherever he goes, he can the night, and reason along dth it. I no longer dsh to
create low, drifting veils of mist that help to think, only to feel. I amf;lled dth such yearning,
conceal him. In the graveyard, he can slip from unbearably bittersdeet. Darkness$& my chamber like a
shadow to shadow, with a 75% chance of sea qf black, and he dllfollod on its currents 50012.
seemingly disappearing (though pursuers may 2 Feb. '01 - I have lost all desirefor the daylight.
still hear a rustle of leaves, marking his-or a 3he sun no longer n ~ a mmy fish; it only reminds me hod
minion's-progress). cold and empty the days dthout him have b e m e . 3hese
In the Lair: Characters who follow the hours bdore the night leave my body deak, my heart
phantom into his lair are unlikely to encounter aching dth hnekness and despair.
him there; he avoids combat. If forced to do 3 Feb. '01 - M y fiends, not understanding my
battle there, he takes on the visage of someone behadw try to urge mef;Mn my roomfor idle recreation,
his attackers know-either one of them, or a if
ar that could erase him from my thoughts. M y brothers,
companion who recently died. in l~hontI co@ded, seek only to deny my happiness. 3hey
Destroying the Phantom: Only magical tel me he is dead, and that only by acceptins this lie can I
weapons with a + 1 bonus or better can harm hope to be dell. But I do not n&h to be dell!
the phantom. These must be blessed, however, If he is Death, then I dekmne him only more, f~ it is
or they have no effect. Holy water thrown upon
only in darkness nod that I can knon, h e ; it is only in
him causes him to halt for one round, but
that black m r ofthe night, dhere no one kt my beloved
inflicts no damage. If he is reduced to 0 hit
and I can go, that I am alive.
points, he retreats to a hiding place in his lair. A
dispel evil or sunray spell will also drive him 5 Feb. '01 - Why hasn't he m e ? M y spirit is
back into his realm, although he can make a dark and myfleSh grads cold. 3he sun isfading, and 50 am
saving throw vs. spell to avoid it. It is unlikely I, dthering dthout his touch. $he does not m e I shall
that he will return to the same victim again disappear altogethet; melting aday in the misery of his
after this is accomplished. abrem.
Despite such efforts, the Phantom Lover can -
7 Feb. '01 I leave myfamily behind, and dth
never truly be destroyed. As long as there are these dords I ask theirforgi~eness.I mustfollotc, mJhere my
sorrows and grief of immense proportion, he h e takes me. I cannot knov I$ dthout him; id$ I
will return to the realm of the innocent, seeking dwld sacn$ct? my o h ;fit dould take me to him nod. Do
out a new victim. not deepfor me, for I am gidng mysef to an undying
psion, and dll therebyfind myself happy at last.
 mbition can grant much wealth and one hundred political assassinations in his
Fame, but the price of such rewards life-even before he entered Ravenloft.
is often qujte high. For the King Oderic never liked the marquis’s
darklord of Ghastria, a small grandstanding, especially since Stezen often
4 domain on the western border of
Sithicus, the cost of ambition was
seemed to have more popular support than he.
Still, the king saw that having one highborn
his soul. Luckily for him-and politician dear to the people was better than
sadly for those who accept an none-for Oderic was certain that he lacked the
invitation to one of the marquis’s marquis’s talent for lying to the commoners.
masques-he has found a way of For a time, the monarch let his courtier appear
recovering, if only for a time, what to be the peasant’s friend, and he used Stezen
ambition cost him. to quell unrest. The masses were far less likely
to revolt when they thought that they had some
Background voice in government.
Still, it was obvious to Oderic from the start

s everal hundred years ago,

Stezen D’Polarno was an
influential courtier in a land
far removed from the dark domains of
Ravenloft. In the court of one King Oderic IX,
that Stezen would eventually try to use his
popular support for his own gain. That time
came during a winter in which public grain
stocks were dangerously low and unrest was
dangerously high. Stezen revealed that the king
Stezen held great power. Much of that strength had a secret, bountiful store of food. Riots
was afforded the marquis by the commoners of broke out, carefully orchestrated by the
his realm. Stezen appeared to the masses as a marquis and his followers. Yet the king was
benevolent, even philanthropic nobleman. He prepared; his loyal nobles shattered the
openly championed the causes of the peasants rebellion before it gained momentum. Key
and fought for lower taxes, fewer public rebels were executed, the rest of the population
beatings, and greater, more spectacular festival given a share of the grain (which the king
entertainments. claimed was being held in trust for them), and
Stezen’s greatest asset was his vibrant Stezen was cast into the dungeons.
personality, his overwhelming love for life. King Oderic didn’t know what to do with the
Commoners recognized this energy as a clear rebellious nobleman. While Stezen’s best allies
mark of greatness; the nobility saw hisjoie de abandoned him once the attempted coup was
&re as a refreshing spark in their often crushed, the people still looked to him as a
stultifying court life. The marquis’s parties were hero. It was clear that to kill the marquis was
always the best attended, his public addresses unwise-at least until the harsh winter was over
the most well received. His movements were and the people had food again-but Oderic also
followed as closely as the sun’s. knew that Stezen would abuse his position
In actuality Stezen was a very shrewd, again if left unchecked.
duplicitous politician. He publicly supported The solution came from one of the king’s
popular causes while privately working for mistresses, a practitioner of evil magic.
personal gain. He kept his real alliances Oderic’s mistress cast a complicated variant
carefully hidden. Anyone from the court who of trap the soul upon Stezen. Through this spell,
threatened to reveal Stezen’sagenda to the only part of the marquis’s life force was stolen
people turned up dead. None of these murders and caged within a magically prepared
could ever be traced back to the marquis, but it painting. The king was specific about what
was said that he was responsible for more than facet of Stezen’s character he wanted siphoned
from the dangerous courtier: his vibrancy and paintings of the D’Polarno family. According to
love for life. The evil deed done, the prisoner legend, the paintings sometimes speak to
was released. The king had various protective Stezen, haunting him with voices only he can
spells cast on the portrait, then had the canvas hear.
put on display in his throne room. Stezen stood in the hall, absolutely baffled by
Marquis D’Polarno became a drab, vindictive, his present whereabouts. He woridered if some
blatantly self-serving politician. He shuffled other of the king’s mistresses had cast yet
unhappily through Oderic’s court, offending another spell upon him or if he’d just woken
both peasant and nobleman. The king had his from a very bad dream. As if meant to sooth his
revenge; even though the marquis was still confusion, a lovely young serving girl entered
alive, he soon alienated the masses and the few the hall and presented Stezen with a drink. The
courtiers that still supported his cause. Stezen marquis questioned her extensively, but all she
could do nothing against the king directly, could say was that they were in the village of
however. Oderic made it clear that any attack East Riding in a land called Ghastria and that
on the royal family would mean that the Stezen himself was ruler of the tiny domain.
marquis lost all hope of regaining his soul. Stezen dismissed her, his mind reeling. As
A year passed in which the soul-less courtier the girl bowed demurely and went on her way, a
was made the brunt of all criticism against the single thought presented itself to the marquis:
court. Realizing that the little spirit he had left if my heart were not so dead, I would seduce this
was atrophying quickly, Stezen rallied himself girl. I wish I had my soul back once more. But
for a final revolt against the king. Using a trick before she left the room, the girl glanced at the
that would make Ivana Boritsi, the “Black portrait of Stezen. She froze in place as if
Widow” of Borca, proud, the marquis poisoned mesmerized.
the entire royal household during a feast. A ghostly fog streamed from the girl’s mouth
Stezen D’Polarno regained the painting that and nose, then flowed toward the painting. The
still held a fragment of his soul, but found that portrait glowed blood red as the fog hit it, and
he could not release his trapped lifeforce; the Stezen himself was rocked by a surge of
canvas could not be destroyed nor the curse emotion and energy. For the first time in many,
removed by any means. many months, the marquis felt alive again.
What it was that directed the attention of the Faster and faster the fog bled from the girl
Dark Domain to Stezen is unknown. It could until, at last, she crumpled to the floor, dead.
have been his murder of Oderic’s court or his The marquis fell to a riot of revelry and
great sorrow at the seemingly permanent loss debauchery, but he quickly learned that the
of his soul. All historians of Ravenloft know is effects of the wondrous event were short-lived.
that Stezen was transported from his home. As Within an hour, his soul grew cold again. He
he sat emotionless in the great hall of Oderic’s forced all the,servants he found in the manor
castle, the grim-faced corpses of his victims house to gaze-at-the painting, but nothing
sprawled around him, the Mists engulfed the happened-until three months later, when
marquis and brought him to Ravenloft. autumn turned to winter in the land of Ghastria.
Though he had entered the demiplane of Only then did the painting work its magic
dread, he was not yet a darklord, but Ravenloft again.
recognized the marquis’s potential for great
evil. Once he was in the demiplane, he found
himself in a manor house much like a country
estate he owned on his home world. The
enchanted portrait hung in a hall full of similar
 killed as any normal fighter of his level of
Current Sketch experience. Obviously, the marquis is very
nce a season, Ravenloft allows Stezen to careful about the danger to which he exposes
regain his love of life; when people are himself during those brief hours each season.
gazing at the painting, the marquis need Stezen has also learned that it is unwise to
only wish to have his soul returned to him. The expose a large number of locals to the painting.
painting then drains the lifeforce from the Apart from the animosity the murders tend to
unwary victims and deposits that energy with generate toward Stezen, it lessens the work
the darklord. Up to 50 people can be drained by force too much. He realized long ago that he
the painting at one time, and Stezen gains one needs peasants to work the orchards and grain
hour of renewed vigor for each person so fields that surround the manor.
attacked. His ability and combat scores are not
altered by this transfer, but his personality
changes radically.
The Domain
Anyone looking at the painting when Stezen hastria is a relatively green domain, with
makes his wish will lose his lifeforce, then die. fields of wheat, orchards, and vineyards
Player characters who are bound for some common. Yet the food harvested from the
particular fate after death-a specific plane, for domain’s soil mirrors its lord’s curse: it’s lifeless
example-are free to travel to whatever awaits and bland to taste. The natives have learned,
them in the afterlife. however, that food taken during certain times
The painting casts a modified magicjar spell, of each season tend to have a more lively taste.
similar to the one used to capture Stezen’s soul. The truth is that anything gathered during a
No saving throw is allowed against the potent time in which Stezen is experiencing renewed
attack since it is a gift to Stezen from the Dark vigor is far more flavorful. Such produce
Powers themselves, but an amulet of rife gathers a high price at the marketplace in East
protection will save a person from losing his Riding, but most of it is taken as tax-payments
lifeforce. A psionicist can use the mind bar by Stezen himself.
power against this assault, with a -3 penalty to All roads in Ghastria lead to the village of East
his power score. Riding, the only major gathering point in the
Virtually nothing can destroy the painting. small domain. There are two inns at the village,
Flames lap at it harmlessly. If it is slashed, it the Gold Wolf and the Dark Heart. Both are
mends itself. If it is removed from the domain, willing to take strangers as guests, but the
it returns. Only if the marquis dies can the marquis learns of any newcomers’ presence
painting be destroyed, for then its powers are shortly after they register at either inn.
lost. Other points of interest in East Riding
Over the years, the marquis has learned two include the large, open-air marketplace and thd
things. First, the curse has seemingly made ruined church that sits at the village’s center.
him immortal. Stezen has incredible powers of Travelers can buy food and some handcrafted
regeneration (5 hit points per round), and even wares at the marketplace, though the victuals
if he is dismembered and burned, his body will are tasteless and the craftsmanship is rather
reform. Nor does the marquis age. Not a single shoddy.
gray hair has graced his head since he appeared The burned-out church was once a thriving
in Ravenloft. meetingplace. The clerics who practiced their
This invulnerability does not apply when worship there imparted a certain happiness to
Stezen has been rejuvenated by the painting; the oppressed citizens of Ghastria, a happiness
during those hours, he can be attacked and Stezen found unsettling. He had the building
UlllAGE Of EAST RIDING
put to the torch and hung the clerics outside his To gather victims, Stezen holds a seasonal
manor for a fortnight, claiming they had stolen party to which all strangers in Ghastria,
money from his coffers. especially those new to the village of East
By day, there is a 30% chance of an Riding, are invited. At the masque, the marquis
encounter in Ghastria. The chance rises to 50% treats the guests in high style, but in mid-revel,
at night. Common encounters include bandits, he gathers the unwary together and unveils the
bats, rats, snakes, and wolves. Rare encounters painting. Some guests, particularly attractive
include carrion crawlers, ghosts, ghouls, and young women, are spared from the art show so
wights. Stezen will have someone with whom he can
Stezen rules the domain apathetically so long spend his new-found energy.
as the crops are harvested and he has enough The casualties from the party are often
to eat and drink. Unless crimes involve disposed of quietly. If a particular group of
strangers-who interest the darklord for other adventurers or locals has been troublesome of
reasons-he lets the local law deal with the late, Stezen will invite them to the party, then
problem. Local law, in this instance, means leave their corpses at the crossroads in the
mobs with lots of rope. village center. This has been known to keep the
The marquis can usually seal the domain at villagers in line from time to time.
will. If he so wishes, the borders of Ghastria are Usually the marquis is encountered in his
replaced by huge paintings, much like the flats manor, and, since he can use the
used for plays. These paintings appear as energy-draining powers of the portrait only
panoramic, twisted landscapes, and only by once every three months, he often appears as a
walking into one does a player character listless, depressed, tactless nobleman. He
discover it’s not real. The paintings rise higher always dresses neatly, though his somber
than player characters can fly and deeper than moods often make him appear less dashing
they can dig. They cannot be harmed or than he really is. His hair is stylishly cut, with
breached in any way. The borders of Ghastria long sideburns. A rapier is standard armament
can’t be closed when Stezen is under the for Stezen (ld6/ld4; size M; type P). Among his
rejuvenating influence of the portrait. collection of these weapons is a special
blade-a rapier of quickness (which functions as
Confronting O’Polarno a short sword of quickness). D’Polarno also
carries a dirk, concealed in his high leather
Human Fighter, Neutral Evil/ChaoticEvil boots.
After the restorative powers of the portrait
Armor Class 0 (-2 Dex bonus) Str 14 have been used, the marquis is an outgoing
Movement 12 Dex 16 wastrel. Since the renewed vigor is fleeting, he
Level/Hit Dice 8 Con 11 is greedy for any new sensation he can
Hit Points 49 Int 14 experience. For these few hours, Stezen is
THACO 13 Wis 10 driven by whim and his alignment changes to
No. of Attacks 312 Cha 17 Chaotic Evil; he would be equally likely to
reward a stranger with a gift as he would be to
Damage/Attack: By weapon murder him on the spot.
Special Attacks: Nil
Special Defenses: Regeneration
Magic Resistance: 25%
 I his living hand, now warm and
capable
Of earnest grasping, would, if it
were cold
Tiyet dresses in flax-linen sheaths with
straight, narrow straps covering her breasts.
The left strap partially conceals a faint white
scar, which marks the incision made to remove
4

And in the icy silence of the tomb, her heart. Most of the garments Tiyet wears are
So haunt thy days and chill thy white. She may also wear a diaphanous linen
dreaming nights gown made with a flowing, pleated fabric. Her
That thou would wish thine own feet are sandaled but otherwise bare. Her body
heart dry of blood, is always adorned with jewelry-a wide gold
So in my veins red life would stream collar inlaid with turquoise, lapis-lazuli and
again. other semi-precious gems, silver arm and ankle
And thou be conscience-calm’d. bracelets, hair ornaments, and rings.
See, here it is-
I hold it towards you.
-Keats
Background
iyet once lived in a desert kingdom whose
J W
People of the Black Land believed
that death was only a journey to T history was over 1,000years old. Her
father was a scribe who served Khamose,
fourth son of the pharaoh. Khamose could not
another existence. In the afterlife, all would
remain essentially as it had been before, fail to notice Tiyet when she visited his estate
provided one had been good and kind, to see her father; she was lovelier than any
provided one’s heart had been true. woman he had seen before. When Khamose
This is the story of a woman for whom that asked for Tiyet’s hand, she agreed without
cycle held no comfort. Because her heart had hesitation, for she was as ambitious as she was
been fouled with misdeeds, she knew that only beautiful. One day, she believed, she might live
horrors would await her. Terrified of judgment, in the palace of the pharaoh. Marrying
she sacrificed life and spirit to avoid it. In the Khamose brought her closer to that goal.
end, she only condemned herself to a fate that Tiyet was not Khamose’s first wife. His
was far worse. She became one of the living half-sister, Nufreri, held that honor, and was
dead, a mummy whose beauty is everlasting, therefore known as his Grand Wife. (Marriage
but whose heart and hope are lost forever. between family members was not uncommon
among nobility.) Although Khamose called
Tiyet his wife, she was little more than an
Appuarancu esteemed concubine, just as Khamose’s mother
lthough some might think of Tiyet as a had been. Tiyet shared a chamber with two silly

A mummy, the wrappings of the grave are

gone, and she is no more withered than a
living woman of 20 years. She is slender, standing
harem girls. Nufreri’s chamber was located
beside her husband’s.
This arrangement did not suit Tiyet well, and
only five feet three inches tall, yet her attitude is she sought to change it. Through clever
imposing. Her skin is brown, smooth, and manipulation, she placed Nufreri in a
polished. Her large, almond-shapedeyes are dark compromising position with a male slave.
and rimmed with a lead-based kohl, the lids Khamose, his honor stained, ordered that
tinted with a malachite shadow. Her fingernails Nufreri suffer the fate of all adulteresses: death.
are gilded, her thick hair blackened with oil and Though Nufreri pleaded her innocence, she
laudenum. Her lips are dark red, stained with a was thrown into a pit filled with wild jackals.
mixture of red ochre, tallow, and blood. Her remains were burned upon a pyre in public.
Tiyet herself was in the crowd, observing with In Tiyet’s dream, the scale tipped toward the
great satisfaction. Now she was Khamose’s heart. The fiendish serpents and creatures
Grand Wife. d o s e d in around her, tearing her flesh from her
None suspected Tiyet-none, that is, but a bones. One placed its claws at her heart, and
powerful priest. This man, known as began to pull the organ from her body. At that
Zordenahkt, was well acquainted with Tiyet’s moment in the dream, Tiyet awoke.
beauty, and he wanted her for himself. The following day, Tiyet told Zordenahkt of
Zordenahkt was not a good man, nor were the her nightmare, and begged him to find a way to
gods he secretly worshiped beneficent. Armed prevent this from happening. There was only
with the knowledge of Tiyet’s crime, he coerced one method known to him, he said-a
her affections from her. procedure that would forever bind her to the
In time, this unlikely pair fell in love. Tiyet earth above, and prevent her from passing into
succumbed to his power, Zordenahkt to her the Underworld. He explained that this could be
charms. Tiyet tired of her husband, and lost performed only on the newly dead-not the
interest in promoting him, thinking him too living. And he was not willing to try it, for the
stupid to rise above the pharaoh’s other sons. true consequences were unknown. The
Each day, she disappeared, under the pretense nightmare did not return, and Tiyet did not
of taking offerings to the tomb of Khamose’s mention it again. She and Zordenahkt
ancestors. In truth, she entered the nearby continued to meet each day, rapturous in each
Temple of Apophis, God of the Darkness, other’s company.
devourer of the sun. There she and Zordenahkt Khamose was not as foolish as Tiyet
would enjoy clandestine meetings. imagined. He noticed that her attentions, once
Tiyet was now an adulteress as well as a ample, had waned. He assigned a young servant
murderer. At night, the weight of her wrongs to spy on her, to learn how she spent her hours.
began to play on her mind, and she slept The servant followed her successfully to the
fitfully. One night she dreamed of her journey temple. Hiding in the antechamber, he listened
to the Underworld-a journey that all members to Tiyet and Zordenahkt as they spoke.
of her nation would take. She joined Anubis, When Tiyet returned home, she overheard
the jackal god, on a barque that floated upon the slave talking with Khamose, revealing her
the River of Darkness toward the Hall of secrets. Khamose was incensed, and vowed that
Judgment. As they journeyed, foul creatures Tiyet would face a death even more horrid than
clawed at the barque-creatures hungry for Nufreri’s before her. Tiyet knew this was true.
Tiyet’s body and soul. One managed to gouge She also knew that a second, still worse, fate
her ankle, and she saw black, thick blood would follow.
bubbling from the wound. Tiyet returned to the temple and sought out
In the Hall of Judgment, Osiris sat in Zordenahkt. She begged him to kill her, and
observance. Maat, goddess of Truth, stood perform the ceremony that would save her from
before a balance, holding a feather. Tiyet was terror in the Hall of Judgment. When
about to undergo the test of truth, a test that all Zordenahkt refused, she drew a dagger from
had to take before passing into the afterlife. her gown. Begging for the mercy of the god
Maat took Tiyet’s heart from her body. If the Apophis, she plunged the dagger into her
heart weighed less than the symbolic feather, chest.
Tiyet’s afterlife would be peaceful. If the heart Deep within the temple, Zordenahkt
was heavy with sin, it would tip the scale, and performed the ceremony that she had desired.
only a second, more horrid death would await He bathed Tiyet’s body in the precious oils of a
its owner. nobleman’s embalmer, reciting a common spell
:ale)
des
to preserve her beauty. Then he made an of her domain, and they are no more in her
incision in her chest, and removed her heart. control than visitors from other realms.
The idol of Apophis looked on, as it had She lives in a nobleman’s estate; the palace
looked on each day Tiyet and Zordenahkt met she once sought is beyond her reach. There,
in his temple. It was a great, black serpent, she may sometimes hold grand parties, like
made from cedarwood. Inlaid jewels and black those the wealthy in her native land once
glass served as its scales. Two rubies set in onyx enjoyed. No one comes; she only imagines
were its eyes. them. The land of Ravenloft creates the sounds
Zordenahkt placed Tiyet’s heart in a stone jar of guests and their revelry for her. Zordenahkt’s
filled with oils. He placed the jar before his voice is sometimes among them, but it speaks
serpent god. The words he spoke offered Tiyet’s not to her, and it is elusive, fading as quickly as
heart in return for her safety from torment in it came. Pity the person who is drawn by these
the Underworld. Then he wrapped Tiyet’s body sounds and the lights of Tiyet’s home,
in linen, and carried it to his own family tomb. intending to join the guest list.
There he poisoned himself with the venom of Tiyet is a lonely, bitter creature. Yet even
an asp, and laid down beside her to die. when someone visits the oasis near her estate,
Tiyet rose the next night. She pulled the Anhalla, she is reclusive. She may be seen only
strips from her eyes, and saw the body of fleetingly,standing for one moment at the edge
Zordenahkt beside her. Still wrapped in the of the pool, then disappearing as suddenly as
linen swaddling of the dead, she crossed the she was seen. It is not that she is shy. Tiyet
desert and went to the estate of Khamose. Each prefers not to mix with the living, and she
heart within the house was audible to her, resents their intrusion into her realm.
beating with a maddening pace. Loudest was She is now a creature of dark desires, one
the heart of Khamose, sounding like a drum, who craves not only blood, but also the pulsing
compelling her to seek it out. organ which drives it through the body. Though
Tiyet stole into his room, silent as a shadow. she despises what she has become, she often
She placed her hand upon his chest, and found cannot resist the temptation of a living heart.
that the heartbeat slowed. Khamose stirred, and Its beating can drive her to madness, shutting
his eyes opened wide. His mouth gaped, but out all else but that singular desire to stop it
before he could scream, Tiyet paralyzed him from beating-to stop it by pulling it from its
with her gaze. Then, even as he lived, she haven and devouring it.
reached through his chest and drew out his Tiyet controls all the dead in her
heart. Tiyet placed the bloody mass to her red domain-the mummies in the temples, in
lips and swallowed it. The audible beating of particular. It is likely that visitors will confront
the other hearts in the household stopped; these terrors before they meet Tiyet herself,
satiated, she could hear them no longer. even though they may see her watching from a
Tiyet returned to the tomb and lay down distance.
beside the still body of Zordenahkt. When she All this may change if Tiyet needs to feed.
awoke, she was alone. She had become the lord Once a year, she must eat a human heart. She
of Sebua, a domain in Ravenloft. will not die if this does not occur, but she is still
driven to the deed. Tiyet can hear the beating
Current Sketch of living hearts. This ability (described below) is
enhanced with time. The longer she goes
iyet has lived in Sebua for more than 100 without devouring what she requires, the louder

T years. She is the lord, but she only rules

the dead; there are few living inhabitants
a nearby heartbeat will sound to her. She will be
consumed by an obsession to feed, her body
racked with unbearable pain. When she does Of all the temples in the valley, only that of
find a victim to finally satisfy her desire, she . Apophis still stands. The others lie in ruin, their
may not be satisfied with just one. Like a tall columns still standing, their walls and roofs
starving man who finds a meal, she may gorge fallen. When the sun is high, the ruins are a
herself even after her physical hunger is contrast in light and shadow. Only the tops of
relieved, even until the shock of it makes her the columns are bright. Illumination between
sick. the columns is gray and diffuse. Behind them,
it is black.
The valley is also the site of great tombs,
Thu Domain belonging to former kings, nobles, their
ebua is a small wasteland, less than 40 officials, and their families. These tombs are

S miles from one border to the other. It is a

desert but not without variety, including
soft dunes, rocky flats, and steep granite cliffs.
cut into the walls of the cliffs, most showing
only their great facades to the valley itself. At
night, shadows run about outside the
Waterholes and small oases are scattered tombs-shadows of men, racing. Some, no
across the domain, but a third are dry, and yet doubt, were once inhabitants of Sebua. Others,
another third are foul. perhaps, tried to rob the stores of wealth in the
The Valley of Death lies in the northeastern tombs.
quarter of Sebua, cutting from north to south The massive rock formation from which the
like a scar across the face of the domain. Once Valley of Death was carved marks the
the bed of a river, the valley’s floor is now a red, northwestern border of Sebua. Explorers who
barren ‘expanse that bleeds into the desert. The manage to scale the heights to reach this
earth is dry, cracked, and scattered with stone. border see that the mountains end abruptly,
An occasional small flower, dark and thorny, plunging into an abyss that seems to have no
pushes up from between the cracks. bottom. Dark, heavy clouds hug the wall of the
Sandstone cliffs from 500 to nearly 1,000 precipice several hundred feet below the edge.
feet high form the valley’s walls. The rock is The city of Anhalla lies near the center of the
warped and brooding. In the crannies, sand domain, not far from the mouth of the valley.
periodically spills from the ledge far above, Like the temples in the Valley of Death, most of
cascading to the valley floor with a soft hiss. At the city has been ravaged by time and the
the northernmost end of the valley, the walls forces of Ravenloft. Buildings that were once
meet, forming a trap from which the only several stories tall are now marked only by
escape is retreat. Few who walk here will ever their foundations, and perhaps a stone arch,
leave this valley, however, for its residents are still bearing an intricate design in red and blue
no longer living. paints. At the center of Anhalla lies a vast
The valley was once the site of great temples oasis. Although the great buildings that once
honoring the gods of Earth, Sky, and the surrounded the oasis are gone, small mud-brick
Underworld. Here, too, is the Temple of Apophis, houses have taken their place. In the 100 years
which holds Tiyet’s heart. The heart is not since Sebua’s formation in Ravenloft, these
unguarded, however. Shadowy little asps houses have been built.
(poisonous black snakes) fill the inner chambers. Weather: By day, Sebua’s deserts are
Furthermore, a great, black-scaledcreature sits scorched with heat. Even so, the sky is often
before the stone jar that contains the oily, dark. Storm clouds gather in the morning,
shriveled heart. This creature is the manifestation lowering in the sky. By afternoon, the clouds
of Apophis himself, devourer of light. (Use the may release a brief, intense torrent, which
combat abilities of a purple worm.) quickly seeps into the ground. More often, the
clouds simply dissipate, leaving a hot hazy sky The temples and tombs of the Valley of
that eventually clears as it gives way to the Death are filled with Sebua’s bats-ugly,
night. hairless creatures with pale, translucent skin
Sometimes it is not rain that the dark sky that reveals the veins below. Brown beetles with
portends. At any time, the sky may turn first shiny carapaces cover the floor beneath the
from green and then to black. This signals the bats, subsisting on their dung as well as the
coming of a sandstorm, more dangerous than flesh of their dead. A dead bat will fall to the
rain. floor, where it is quickly covered with a moving
Nights in Sebua are cool and breezy, but not brown carpet. At nightfall, the bats stream from
frigid. Only in the valley is it truly cold, because the temples, flying down the valley and into the
an icy draft spills down from the cliffs and village to feed.
settles on the valley floor. The sky is black but Ill-tempered monkeys and vicious baboons
virtually starless. The moon is always orange, overrun the village of Anhalla, stealing and
casting an amber glow upon the rocks and marauding at the oasis. Their numbers are
sand. curbed only by the occasional assault by a pack
Life: Sebua has few natives. Despite the of wild jackals.
newly constructed homes in Anhalla, no one Most oases in Sebua are fringed with reeds,
but a handful of shy, elusive, wild children live where hordes of bloodthirsty mosquitoes breed
in the city now. The only remaining residents of and hatch. Each night, the sky above the oases
Sebua are nomads, traveling from water hole to is filled with these creatures, along with the
water hole with their herds of camels. (It is hairless bats that feed on them. Along the
rumored that they may even leave this domain. eastern edge of the hills is a small lake, its
If this is so, they travel only to Har’Akir, another waters tainted red by mineral deposits. The
desert domain in Ravenloft.) A small group of mosquitoes at this lake are especially vampiric,
the nomads comes to Anhalla perhaps once coming out after sunset to form black clouds
each month, staying no more than a day. They darker than the night sky. Cloth and thin
can be seen by the oasis, gathering dates, leather are no defense; the female’s long,
slaying a wild goose, or milking their camels. slender feeding tube can pierce through them.
The nomads dress entirely in black. Their A character’s face, unless completely covered,
robes hang to the ground. Their headcloths are is especially vulnerable to these insects. In less
drawn across their faces, concealing all but than a minute, exposed eyelids can become
their dark eyes. These people are not friendly. swollen shut.
No matter where they are encountered, they are The Estate: Tiyet’s home is a nobleman’s
unlikely to speak to anyone who approaches. estate not far from Anhalla. A high wall
Though they will allow a stranger to take water surrounds its well-ordered grounds. The house
from a source, spears are raised in defense. itself is one story, with a grand porch at the
While human and other races are uncommon front, followed by another, somewhat higher
in Sebua, animal life is abundant. Like the porch. The walls of the house are built from
nomads, most animals are inhospitable. sun-dried brick, which has been plastered and
Vultures soar over the desert, forming lazy whitewashed. The roof is flat, with a low stone
circles in the sky. Black clouds of locusts cross barrier surrounding the edge. The barrier is
the land once every seven years, devouring adorned with a stylized lotus-flower relief.
plants and even clothing. Scorpions are Beyond the front entrance is a wide hall,
commonplace; often they swarm from a fetid which opens into a large formal living room
waterhole when the stone that covers the well is used for entertaining. The roof of this room is
pushed aside.
 c
TIYET’S €STATE

Bath
Porch

Main House
Stair to Roof
Storage
32 w Y r e m E z K r i e s

Pool

1 square = 5 feet 7
Loggia / Family Sitting Room
Main Hall
Work Area Kitchen

ervants’ Quarters

Main House and Garden

1 square = 10 feet
higher than that of the rest, and clerestory victim may not understand what has caused his
windows at the top let in light. The windows, affliction.
like all those in the house, are covered with a Tiyet’s kiss-a third touch attack-drains 1
heavy iron screen. Strength point per round. This loss is
To the side of the living room, a stairway permanent as long as the victim remains in
leads to the roof. Beside it are Tiyet’s bedroom Sebua.
and bath. Rooms on the opposite side of the Tiyet’s most frightening powers directly
house were traditionally offered to guests. (Of affect the heart. By focusing her paralyzing
course, Tiyet rarely has guests.) gaze upon the victim’s chest, Tiyet can wreak
havoc with his (or her) physical well-being.
Provided her victim is within 60 yards, she can
Confronting TirJut slow a heart until he suffers the signs of a heart
Neutral Evil attack: labored breathing, profuse sweating, a
Armor Class 10 Str 8 crushing weight upon the chest, pain in the
Movement 12 Dex 12 neck and jaw, and intense pain in the arms,
Level/Hit Dice 12 Con 13 particularly the left. She needs no attack roll,
Hit Points 60 Int 12 and there is no saving throw.
THACO 8 Wis 10 With four minutes of concentration (ld4
No. of Attacks 1 Cha 17 rounds), Tiyet can cause the muscle fibers of
the heart to twitch in an uncoordinated fashion,
Damage/Attack: l d l O + 4 preventing the heart from beating effectively (if
Special Attacks: See text at all). As a result, the heart quivers like a can
Special Defenses: + 1 or better magical weapon of writhing worms. (This is ventricular
to hit fibrillation.) She cannot kill a victim-that is,
Magic Resistance: 20% cause cardiac arrest-unless she touches him.
Tiyet does not rely on brute strength to take the The first round of Tiyet’s assault on a heart
hearts from her victims. She is a small, slight reduces a victim’s hit points by 25%. The
woman. Although she is supple, she is no second and third rounds accomplish the same,
stronger than she was before she became a leaving the victim with only 25% of his hit
creature of Ravenloft. points remaining. At this point, the victim is
She does not require brawn, however. The unable to move on his own; the pain is too
land has granted her other strengths, which are great. During the fourth round, the character’s
far more impressive. Her gaze can paralyze hit points drop to 10%. This is as great a
anyone she can see. Those who do not meet her reduction as she can cause in this fashion. To
gaze are allowed a +2 bonus to their saving kill her victim-stopping his heart
throws, however. If they meet her gaze, they completely-she must touch him.
save normally. If she touches them, and Tiyet kills by cardiac arrest only when
chooses to paralyze them, they roll a saving necessary. If a heart ceases to beat, she cannot
throw with a -2 penalty. feed upon it. For this reason, she usually
Tiyet’s touch can have other debilitating paralyzes a victim. With her unique ability to
effects. (She may use only one touch attack pel reach through his chest, she draws out the
round, however, including the paralysis.) If she heart, which, miraculously, continues to beat
chooses to inflict damage, her touch can cause outside the body. Only a beating heart can
l d l O + 4 points per round. This can be satisfy her need.
delayed, however, up to two hours, so that the This lord finds it difficult to ignore her curse.
Heartbeats of any intelligent, humanoid
creature within a mile are audible to her until the bidding of an evil sorcerer. Since travelers
she feeds. Then, only hours later, she can hear and grave robbers occasionally destroy her
the beats again, first faintly, then ever stronger. mummies, Tiyet sometimes creates new
If she has not fed for 11 months, the sound is mummies, using the bodies of her victims.
painfully loud, echoing inside her skull. Death alone does not create them; she must
Tiyet’s remaining powers seem mundane in mummify them in the common manner. At her
comparison to such horrors. Only magical disposal are the vats and supplies in an
weapons with a + 1 bonus or better can harm embalmer’s house, which lies on the outskirts
her. Once a day, she can create a sandstorm, of Anhalla. Visitors may sometimes find a body
using a unique form of the control weather drying there. (See “A Recipe for Fine
spell. The storm covers up to a square mile, Mummification” on page 11 for details.)
and lasts up to two hours, depending on Tiyet’s Weaknesses: There is only one way to
wishes. She can move the sandstorm as she destroy Tiyet: trick her into eating her own
pleases. She requires three rounds to create the heart. (The organ still lies where Zordenahkt
storm, but her powers are not restricted during left it long ago-in the temple of Apophis.) If
that time. The Dark Powers augment this the heart is brought to her lips, it begins to
ability when Tiyet wishes to close the borders beat, and she cannot resist it, no matter how
of Sebua, creating a storm that exists only recently she has fed.
along the boundaries of her domain. Only magical weapons with at least a + 1
Once each day, she can summon a swarm of bonus can harm Tiyet. If she is reduced to 0 hit
beetles. Some will attempt to crawl into the points, she has been defeated but not
ears and noses of their victims, driving them destroyed. Her body crumbles into a pile of
mad with pain until the insects are removed glittering sand. Within a month, Tiyet’s body
(victims must roll a successful saving throw vs. re-forms somewhere in her domain’s Valley of
spell or be incapacitated for l d 4 rounds). Death.
Three times each day, Tiyet can change
shape to assume the form of a huge white owl
with almond-shaped eyes. Like an owl, she can
see keenly at night; by day in this form, she
sees as well as a human. As an owl, she can fly
across her domain to seek out a victim, or cross
the skies at night to observe intruders from
above.
Tiyet also has another form. At will, she can
assume the form of a small monkey with sharp
little teeth. She appears this way only if she
desires to hide among the many monkeys that
roam her gardens and her domain. It is also
useful because it allows her to get close to
otherwise cautious victims, who may think the
monkeys are cute when the creatures offer fruit
to a visitor. In this form, her touch can still
inflict damage, and she can delay the effects to
avoid detection.
Mummies in Sebua can be controlled by
Tiyet, just as zombies and skeletons may act at
 ong ago, when the world was still
firmly rooted in Chaos, men sought
Background
the power of beasts. Prehistoric ne year, winter came early to Gregor’s
hunters wore caribou skins upon village, with a snow so heavy and deep
I their backs, so that they might gain BO that the ponies could not drag their sleds

PV the speed of the caribou they through it. The temperature plummeted. The
hunted. Centuries later, Norse wind did not blow hard, but it penetrated the
warriors donned bearskins in heaviest cloak and chilled the marrow in a
battle, so that they might be as man’s bones.
fierce as the creatures they The hamlet of Vorostokov was starving. The
emulated. heavy snow had covered the fields before the
This is the story of a young man haying was done, and late crops were ruined in
who also sought the powers of a the field. Stores were low; the previous year’s
beast. He desired the wolf‘s keen crop had been meager. Four months later, in
senses, and wished that he, too, the dead of winter, oxen were weak and the
might catch the scent of prey goats gave no milk.
I across miles. He coveted the wolf‘s Hope for survival lay with the hunters. Each
ferocity and wished that he, too, day they braved the cold, but to little avail.
might down a creature twice his size and rend Their tracking led them only to the carcasses of
its flesh with ease. elk and caribou, which the wolves had downed.
Unlike the hunters before him, Gregor Zolnik Then fate intervened on Vorostokov’s behalf.
gained everything for which he asked. In doing A young hunter, Gregor Zolnik, was making his
so, he sacrificed his humanity. He became a way home, having stayed far too long in the
loup du noir,a new breed of werewolf in forest. The trees were casting dark blue
Ravenloft. shadows upon the white snow, signaling the
approach of twilight.
Not far from the village, he came across a
Appearance lone black wolf that had been injured while
n his human form, Gregor looks like any taking down a bull elk. The wolf lay next to the

I swarthy man, except that his dark eyes are

bloodshot and cruel. He is burly, as might be
expected of a hunter. By day Gregor usually takes
elks carcass, too weak to leave Cith its fellows
after the feast. Gregor watched the dying
animal for several minutes, envying the
his human form, although he is not limited to prowess of its kind. “If I had your stamina and
human form during daylight hours. sharp senses,” he said to the wolf, “I would not
At night, Gregor most often goes to his secret now be starving with the rest of my village. I
cave and crawls into his wolf skin. (This process would kill enough to feed my mother and
is described later.) Like natural lycanthropes, he sisters-and then I would kill some more.”
is not bound by the moon; he can transform Gregor recalled a legend that his grandfather
himself anytime he wishes to. He becomes a had told him long ago. It was a tale of men who
huge black wolf weighing just over 150 pounds. could change into wolves.
His white fangs are unusually large. Saliva drips The old man had claimed that when some
from his maw, and his dark eyes become men dressed in the skins of wolves, and called
piercing and yellow. The transformation to wolf upon the mysterious magic of the night, they
form requires a full round, and it causes Gregor would become beasts. To accomplish this, first
acute pain. When he becomes a wolf, however, they killed a wolf under the light of the moon.
he is healed of all damage. Then they drew a small circle inside a large
 c
Bone Doll
CWmERRAIN: Any Any
FREQUENCY: Very rare Very rare
ORGANIZATION Solitary Solitary
ACTIVITYCYCLE: Any Any
DIET: Nil Nil
INTELLIGENCE Non-(0) Non-(O)
TREASURE: Nil Nil
ALIGNMENT: ' Neutral Neutral

NO. APPEARING: 1 1
ARMOR CLASS: 0 4
MOVEMENT: l2 15
HIT DICE: 14 (70 hp) 10 (40 hp)
THACa 7 11
NO. OF m C K S : 1 1

SPkGk'IXCKS: See below See below

SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below See below
MAGIC RESIS'CANCE: Nil Nil
SIZE: M (6' tall) T (1' tall)
MORALE: Fearless (20) Fearless (20)
XP VALUE 18,Ooo 7,000

Bone Golem

As already mentioned, the bone golem is built from the previous-

ly animated bones of skeletal undead. These horrors stand I
lit
3
roughly six feet tall and weight between 50 and 60 pounds. They
are seldom armored and can easily be mistaken for undead, Doll Golem
much to the dismay of those who make this error.
The doll golem is an animated version of a child's toy that can
Combat: Bone golems are no more intelligent than other forms of be put to either good uses (defending the young) or evil uses (at-
golem, so they will not employ clever tactics or strategies in com- tacking them). It is often crafted so as to make it appear bright
bat. Their great power, however, makes them far deadlier than and cheerful when at rest. Upon activation, however, its features
they initially appear to be. There is a 95% chance that those not become twisted and horrific.
familiar with the true nature of their opponent will mistake them
for simple undead. Combat: The doll golem is, like all similar creatures, immune to
Bone golems attack with their suprisingly strong blows and almost all magical attacks. It can be harmed by fire-based spells,
sharp, claw-like fingers. Each successful hit inflicts 3-24 (3d8) although these do only half damage, while a warp wood spell
points of damage. They can never be made to use weapons of any will affect the creature as if it were a slow spell. A mending spell
sort in melee. restores the creature to full hit points at once.
In addition to the common characteristics of all Ravenloft go- Each round, the doll golem leaps onto a victim and attempts to
lems (described previously), bone golems take only half damage bite it. Success inflicts 3d6 points of damage and forces the victim
from those edged or piercing weapons that can harm them. to save versus spells. Failure to save causes the victim to begin to
Bone golems are immune to almost all spells, but can be laid laugh uncontrollably (as if under the influence of a Tasha's un-
low with the aid of a shatter spell that is focused on them and has controllable hideous laughter spell) and become unable to per-
the capacity to affect objects of their weight. If such a spell is cast form any other action. The effects of the creature's bite are far
at a bone golem, the golem is entitled to a saving throw vs. spells worse, however. The victim begins to laugh on the round after
to negate it. Failure indicates that weapons able to harm the go- the failed save. At this time, they take ld4 points of damage from
lem w il now inflict twice the damage they normally would.
l the muscle spasms imposed by the laughter. On following
Thus, edged weapons would do full damage while blunt ones rounds, this increases to 2d4, then 3d4, and so on. The laughter
would inflict double damage. stops when the character dies or receives a dispel magic. Follow-
Once every three rounds, the bone golem may throw back its ing recovery, the victim suffers a penalty on all attack and saving
head and issue a hideous laugh that causes all those who hear it to throws of -1per round that they were overcome with laughter
make fear and horror checks. Those who fail either check are (e.g., four rounds of uncontrolled laughter would equal a -4 pen-
paralyzed and cannot move for 2-12 rounds. Those who fail both alty on attack/saving throws). This represents the weakness
checks are instantly stricken dead with fear. caused by the character's inability to breathe and is reduced by 1
point per subsequent turn until the character is fully recovered.
CLIMATE/TERRAIN: Any B O I ~ ~
FREQUENCY: Rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitarv
ACTMIYCYCLE: Any
DIET: Omnivore
INTELLIGENCE Very (11-12)
c-
TREASURE- w (1)
lh-’

ALIGNMENT: Lawful evil

NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 10
MOVEMENT: 15
HIT DICE 4
THAC& 17
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGEIATIACK: Special
SPECIAL AlTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: Nil
SIZE: M (6‘ tall)
MORALE: Champion (15-16)
XP VALUE 650

The ermordenung are a dark and evil people found almost exclu-
sively in the domain of Borca. Here, they act as elite agents who
serve Ivana Boritsi, the ruler of that dread domain. On rare occa-
sions, they are sent on missions outside of Borca to further the
interests of their mistress.
Ermordenung appear as normal human beings of surpassing
beauty. The men are tall, normally no less than six feet in height, Those who survive this horrid attack may attempt to break free
and smoothly muscled. They seem to radiate an inner power of the embrace (see below), but will be kissed again on the next
from their finely set classical features. The women are tall, often round if they fail to do so.
only an inch or two shorter than the men, and have the perfect Breaking the grasp or embrace of an ermordenung is very diffi-
features that every artist tries to create. Both sexes are marked by cult, for they are considered to have an 18/90strength if male or
raven hair and penetrating dark eyes that, it is said, are almost an 18/50strength if female. Weaker enemies must make a saving
hypnotic. Their complexion, however, is rather more pale than throw versus paralysis (with a -4 penalty to their roll) in order to
that common to most of the people in Borca and contrasts greatly pull away from their attackers. Those of equal strength need only
with their dark hair and eyes. make the saving throw itself, while those who are stronger than
The ermordenungspeak the commorrlanguageof the people of the ermordenung must save with a +4 bonus to their roll.
Borca. Their dialect, however, is marked by an aristocratic man- Ermordenung are immune to nearly all forms of toxins them-
ner and they cany themselves with a noble bearing that sets them selves. The only variety to which they have no natural resistance
apart from all but the ruling family. is that of their peers-any ermordenung is as vulnerable to the
deadly touch of their kind as a normal man.
Combat: In combat, an ermordenung will attempt to grasp an
exposed area of flesh on an opponent’s body so that their deadly The ermordenung live as members of the ruling
touch can do its work. Any successful attack roll indicates that elite inDorca. I hey seldom mix with “the common f o l k unless
the target has been touched and must save vs. poison (with a +4 acting on behalf of their mistress, Ivana Boritsi.
bonus on their roll). The effects of the ermordenung toxins are The fact that the ermordenung cannot touch another living
felt within seconds-those who fail their saves are instantly slain, creature without causing it to whither and die causes them
while those who succeed suffer 10 points of damage. endless heartache. They have been forever denied the physical
If the attack roll is a natural 20, the ermordenung has managed pleasures-the caress of a lover‘s hand, the embrace of a close
to get a firm grip on his enemy. In such cases, the victim must friend, the affectionate hug of a child-that mean so much to
make a saving throw vs. poison (with no modifiers). While fail- mortal men. Their inner suffering and agony has been marshalled
ure to save still results in death, success indicates that 20 points of to make them cruel and heartless agents who cany out the orders
damage are inflicted. If the target is unable to pull free of the grip of Ivana Boritsi without question.
(see below), they will be subject to the same saving throw each
round until they are slain or they escape. Ecology: The ermordenung are normal humans who have been
In non-combat situations, the ermordenung will often use their transformed, at the command of Ivana Boritsi, mistress of Borca,
great physical beauty and overwhelming charisma to lure would- into nightmarish creatures. The process by which these creatures
be victims of the opposite sex close. Once their victims are at are created is dark and mysterious, but is believed to be so brutal
ease, they draw them into a deadly embrace and slay the hapless to its subjects that only the most physically fit can survive it. Be-
souls with their toxic kiss. Victims of this ”kiss of death” are enti- cause of her own passionate nature, Ivana Boritsi selects only the
tled to a saving throw vs. poison (with a -4 penalty to their die most physically beautiful of her people for the ”honor” of trans-
roll). As usual, failure indicates instant death. Success, on the formation.
other hand, indicates that the victim suffers 30 points of damage.
CLIMATEfTERRAIN Any
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
ORGANIZATION: Solitary
ACTIVITY CYCLE: Any
DIET: Assimilation (see below)
INTELLIGENCE Variable (3-18)
TREASURE: Variable
ALIGNMENYT: Chaotic evil
NO. APPEARING: . 1
ARMOR CLASS: 8 (Base)
MOVEMENYT: Nil
HIT DICE: 8 (Base)
THACO: Variable
NO. OF ATTACKS: Variable
DAMAGEIATTACK: Variable
SPECIAL ATTACKS: See below
SPECIAL DEFENSES: See below
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 20%
SIZE: L to G + (Rectangular area)
MORALE: Fearless (20)
XP VALUE 2,000 to 100,000+

Living walls appear to be normal walls of stone or brick,

though they radiate both evil and magic if detected. Infra-
vision does not detect any peculiar heat patterns. However, a
character who casts a true seeing spell or peers through a
gem of seeing will see past the illusion: the wall actually con-
sists of greying and sinewy flesh-faces, hands, broken
bones, feet, and toes jutting from the surface. Characters level tighter. For every mage or priest absorbed, the wall
within 5 yards of the wall can hear low moans of horror, pain, gains spell attacks. The spells usable, however, are only
and sorrow issuing from it. Even if a silence spell is cast, the those the mage or priest had memorized (and has material
moans still rise. components for) at the time of absorption. Each of these
A living wall contains the melded bodies of any humanoid spells may be cast once per day. (Material components are
or monster who died within 100 yards of the wall since its not consumed.) Thus, if one absorbed mage has three fieball
creation. Thus, those who die fighting a living wall are ab- spells memorized and a second mage has one fireball in
sorbed into it and actually strengthen it. Characters and memory, the living wall can attack with four freballs per day.
monsters retain all abilities they had in life; as part of the If the wall assimilates a paladin or lawful good priest, all his
watl, they become chaotic evil and fight any creature that special powers are reversed (e.g., detect good rather than de-
approaches t o the best of their abilities. tect evil, harm by laying of hands rather than heal, etc.).
If a wizard becomes melded with a living wall, his spell- Magical items absorbed with characters grant the wall
casting abilities are retained and can immediately be used in their spell effects, though items that grant A C improve-
future attacks. The wizard retains any spells memorized at ments are less effective because of the wall’s size. The wall
the time he is absorbed into the wall; these are renewed each gains a 1 point improvement in Armor Class for every 3
day. If a warrior loses his lifein combat with a living wall, his points of magical improvement to AC. Thus, a ring ofprotec-
fighting abilities and weapons come under control of the tion + 3 lowers the wall’s A C by 1.
beast: The weapons are hidden within the wall until it at- When a character is absorbed, his hit points at full health
tacks, then are pushed through the graying flesh to the sur- are added to the wall’s base hit point total of 64.
face. A hand attaches itself to the weapon, and eyes jutting Nonmagical armor, packs, and purses are lost by ab-
from the wall guide the attack. If the wall absorbs characters sorbed characters. The piles of loot at the base of the wall
with ranged weapons, the weapons become useless once the often attract bystanders, bringing them close enough to be
arrows, quarrels, or other projectiles are expended. seized by one of the wall’s hands.
Though a living wall will not initiate an attack, characters
Com5at: A living wall never initiates combat, except against who come within two feet of the wall may be grabbed by its
its creator, whom it despises. When such a wall is attacked, unseen hands as the wall implores for deliverance. (The DM
every creature that is part of the wall returns one attack per makes a regular wrestling roll for the wall and looks for a
strike against the wall. Thus, if a wall is made up of 12crea- hold result). Sometimes PCs who hear voices imploring
tures and one creature lands a blow on the wall, that creature “help me! pull me free” grope about until they grab a hand.
is subject t o 12 return blows from the wall. In either case, the character must roll a save vs. spell or be-
All creatures in the wall fight according to their) normal come absorbed. If another character is holding onto the first
attack modes. These attacks can be magical, physical, or character, he must also roll a saving throw vs. spell or be-
mental in origin. The type of attack and its damage often de- come absorbed into the wall. If the save vs. spell succeeds,
pend upon who or what is melded into the living wall. the character is able to break free. Viewing the wall’s absorp
If a 10th-level fighter and a 6th-level fighter are absorbed tion of any creature requires a horror check.
into the wall, it attacks as one 6th-level fighter and one 10th- Once absorbed, characters are lost forever. A wish spell,
worded carefully, can remove one or more trapped charac- preparation and spellcasting are required. A minimum of
three corpses are necessary for the spells.
spells do not atlow an individual to g o through a
Characters must either cut through or blast As known only to one or two inhabitants of Ravenloft, liv-
ing walls also arise as rare manifestations of Ravenloft’s
power as response to despair and dread. These walls ale
born of curses, midwived by death, and nursed on massacre.
The seed for such a living wall is planted when one sapient
creature willfully entombs another in a wall. The hapless vic-
tim may be bound and walled alive in a rock niche on a wind-
ne to all planar and temporal spells. swept mountain trail, a sill in a fetid catacomb, a corner in an
and similar spells reveal a cacopho asylum, a cave wall, a mausoleum facade, or any other stone
d voices. The caster learns nothing or brick wall. Once so entombed, the victim will suffocate,
dehydrate, or starve in utter darkness and solitude. But even
this agony is not sufficient to wake the land’s attention-the
entombed creature, in his terror, must curse his slayer,
screaming loudly enough for his voice to carry beyond his
tomb of stone. Only then does the land hear his agony.
When the victim dies, his life force is trapped within the
whether these monstrosities are limited in wall. As he struggles to escape, his life energy becomes
Walls as large as 15 feet high, 30 feet long soiled by the soot of his screams and curses, which thickly
have been reported. Living walls do, how- coat the inside of his stone sarcophagus. In a matter of days,
madness corrupts the trapped life force, changing it to cha-
otic evil.
At this point, the bodies of any creatures that have died
within 100yards of the wall within the last month rise, sham.
ble to the wall, and meld with it. Even corpses that have been
bove all else, to slay the creature who buried will dig their way to the surface and converge upon
0 , or the creature meets its end within
the wall. Although the wall retains its previous appearance,
, the corpse of the hated creator is as- it is no longer stone, but a gray and rotting bulwark of limbs,
ngs trapped in the wall are freed to re- ribs, hands, bones, and faces, twisted and fused together.
Bodies of any subsequent deaths occurring within 100yards
ure of stone, with the corpse of its creator entom6ed also rise and wander to the wall for assimilation.
Most cultures and all good-aligned characters attempt to
destroy these creations wherever they are found. But many
ogy: Chaotic evil mages occasionally create these mon- of these assaults merely strengthen the wall with more
. :thc ’ s unknown, t several years corpses.
 I
- -
TL.rr-3
7
powerful and feared characters in
AAAwuc
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the RAVENLOFTTM game system, ‘HMYJIRE?!
T he brand-new Van Ricnten’s Guide to
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ADBD and ADVANCED DUNGEONS 8 DRAGONS are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc RAVENLOFT and the TSR logo are tradem
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 1 - 1 Of

Book of crypts
read curses, gypsy fortunes, and in disguise. And watch your back-no one
danger at every turn-this must be can be trusted in Ravenloft!
Ravenloft! Book of Crypts is 96 pages of the finest in
twisted horror. Nine short adventures await
Enter the world of the unknown-the land you, promising new, hideous villains and
of dark mysteries, the realm of inexplicable spine-chillingstories of dark minds and
terror. Adventure in a land where nothing lost souls. Be warned-these tales are not
is as it seems, where the innocent are evil for the weak of heart!

by Dale "Slade" Henson with J. Robert King

TSR, Inc. TSR, Ltd.

POB 756 120 Church End
Lake Geneva Cherry Hinton
WI 53147 Cambridge CB1 3LB
USA United Kingdom

ISBN 1-56076-142-3

111'11"1''
8 10.95 U.S. ADVANCED DUNGEONS E DRAGONS is a registered trademark owned by TSR, Inc.
f6.99 U.K. RAVENLOFT and the TSR logo are trademarks owned by TSR. Inc.
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"1991 TSR, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the U S A .
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