Fixing the Cedar Chest

[Black Knight]

If anyone's familiar with ye olde Book of Crypts then perhaps you'll agree that it's a rather hit-and-miss book. As a newbie GM I had some success with the Cedar Chest, and now I'm running it with new players in a new campaign, all these years later (different rules, et c.).

It's a nice story, with some proper dread but ... where to start on the issue. Looking over it, I think I must misunderstand it somehow, because things don't make sense on a scale beyond Ravenloft's usual early ... oddities.

Ejrik Spellbender the necromancer doesn't want to die. He summons an adventurer in the traditional fashion - murdering random people until one comes a knocking. One of the characters came along, had a magic Jar spell thrown at him BOOM - Ejrik's mind is implanted in one of the characters. He forgets the episode, but Ejrik's waiting to take control again.

Time passes and the character has black-outs while Ejrik takes control. He murders random people, gouging out their eyes and then murdering them. The character and any around hir don't notice the random excursions.

More time passes and Ejrik uses the character's body to kill again - this time getting a girlfriend and later killing her. Apparently the characters in the party don't notice this either.

The characters are finally asked to investigate these murders. A local enchantress then immediately tells them that Ejrik is 'inside' one of them. I missed that bit out last time. I'm not sure why the characters wouldn't want to be tied up or some-such while investigating these murders. Surely they can do something such that no character may leave in the night to murder again? However, Ejrik - armed with an automatically succeeding sleeping spell - wanders into the night to kill again after sending the other characters to sleep. He succeeds in hampering the investigation.

Finally, the characters use 'speak with dead' to chat with a murder victim. She points them to the spell's base - Ejrik's old heart. The characters then destroy it.

And the fix? I'm not sure. I'd like the characters to personally know Ejrik before the adventure starts - he could be an immoral mage, but still on their team. Then the murders start. The characters might only find out later that they're chasing someone inside one of their own minds so they begin by thinking they're after an external murderer. I'm still not sure about this whole 'You were in a city, got a girlfriend, murdered a load of people, but didn't notice missing time and neither did your companions' bit. In fact, it's a miracle that the adventure (from the Weekend in Hell days) thinks to place the character in the same place on two separate occasions for a long time each. Maybe Ejrik kills the character's girlfriend, and she thinks that the character was responsible?

Any thoughts on fixes?

[Dark Angel]

Look into MadStepDad's run in the Journals section as he did a wonderful adaptation to the adventure (that I "borrowed" for my own campaign).

VIEW CONTENT:

I took a (different) intelligent sword that was slowly dominating its player and worked the background in from there.

My more recent bit: Corrupted Innocents.

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How can the little girl not have a hag as her monster type instead of the emordenung? It just works better and explains her associated monsters as well. I am trying to have it be the 'terror in the woods' scenario in a vain attempt to scare my players as they will not see the treants until the very end of the adventure. I am throwing a caravan (out of Falkovnia) full of people who will get ripped apart over the course of two-three days.

[Black Knight]

The sword is interesting - is that the same Blackrazor as from White Plume Mountain? One of my players in the original set of stories actually *had* that sword, which is fun.

In general, it doesn't seem to solve the issues. The character still has long black-outs. That said, it would be nice to have a character with a *very* powerful sword turn on the other PCs and eventually have to have the sword destroyed. Perhaps Ejrik could be inside the sword? The reveal would need to change of course, as there's little reason that Ejrik's original girlfriend would know about the sword but leave the knowledge be, like she does with the cedar-chest heart.

[Dark Angel]

It would be dominating the PC and could only control at night. The PC I used it on was not a spellcaster (no need for sleep) and healed the PC while in active combat (any damage suffered would be gone). The sword would then be dominating some one from the past and they would be the one in the relationship, not solely the weapon. The sword was revealed the same way and the PC was able to escape

Not sure if the sword is from White Plume Mountain (but MadStepDad probably could have, he is as old school Ravenloft as they come it seems) as I made mine a custom weapon I knew my players would not turn down (see below). I borrowed some inspiration from 'Cutter' from the Drizzt Book series (that is definitely Realms) and tweaked it with sword rules from the Encyclopedia Magica Volume 4.

Shalashias- Saber +3, Int 15, Communication- Telepathy, Languages-Darkonian, Borcan, AL-LE, Ego-21, Detect Invisible objects in 10’ radius, Detect secret doors in 5’ radius, Strength (1/day, wielder only), Special Purpose- Defeat nonhuman monsters, Power- When a “20” is rolled, the target makes a save vs. death magic or dies. Even if the save is made, the target is still struck for triple damage (i.e. 3d6+9/3d8+9). The sword strives combat, always seeking out the best swordsman to wield it. When in combat with nonhuman monsters, it rewards the user with a hitpoint per round (even if target is retreating or fleeing).

[Black Knight]

Right - I think I have a workable plan.

Ejrik (while in his original body) gets a degenerative disease. He has a limited time to live while going insane. Syphilis, maybe?
He marauds around town, de-eye-balling people and slowly killing them. He even takes one as a girlfriend. Some few get away with only the blinding, most die. The PCs are asked to hunt him down - one finds him but he forces his own soul into the PC's, using his own heart as a component to seal the spell. The PC remembers nothing of this event as sie was asleep for it.

Some while later, Ejrik gains control of the PC's body and murders people anew. The PC's start to chase the murderer wherever he goes, but always find him one step ahead. The characters interview the dead, but they never saw Ejrik in the new or the old body. Finally, one of the later victims - possibly Ailsa's man-servant - is killed. Once dead, he can reveal that Ejrik is one of the characters.

Oh - and possibly time to chance some names to Dementlieu-sounding names. 'Ejrik Spellbender the wizard'? 'Sinara Doom the Prophetess'? Possibly too much.

This should retain most of the dialogue in the adventure, the overall structure, and adds some tensions as the characters wait longer to figure out whom they're chasing.