Nathan of the FoS wrote:Here, it seems to me that those transformed by the Lady should all become "true" ravens, under her control; having the ravens lose their individuality is central to her darklord's curse.
Ah, good point. So yes, I agree that high-level characters shouldn't become a more powerful raven, as it does defeat the point of her curse.
Nathan of the FoS wrote:I think it makes sense to say the ravenkin would be able to have a chance to resist her "automatic takeover", just as familiars/dread familiars do; if they fail, they become ordinary ravens, but if they can resist they would make ideal spies and scouts for those who wish to work against the Lady. (For example, they could fly right into the Tower of Flint and even take out small valuables without necessarily being caught, which would be extremely difficult for almost any other kind of scout.)
Yeah, exactly. Although I slightly disagree: I think that, should a ravenkin fail its save, it'll follow the Lady's commands just as a normal raven would *but* only until she chooses to release her control (as you wrote in QtR 13, she rarely chooses to control the ravens, instead preferring to watch them live their lives freely).
Now, that said, if she catches on to the fact that the ravenkin is not a normal raven, she can always use her touch-attack to turn it into a normal raven. At that point all bets are off. And, to make sure her curse of loneliness isn't bypassed by a ravenkin who chooses to stay, I'd say that any ravenkin or other raven-related creature (dire ravens, wereravens, etc) who stay on the island subtly change into regular ravens, eventually losing all individuality anyway.
But a non-friendly ravenkin, I'd just say it's under her control only so long as she exerts her control; the second she lets go, that ravenkin can go back to sabotaging her plans as normal.
That could be interesting--a nice tie-in between the Lady of Ravens and Barovia. One could easily generate a mini-campaign from that, I think.
Especially if you add in everything between Barovia and the Sea, not to mention trying to find travel arrangements across to the Isle of Ravens.
This is a really fascinating possibility, although I'm not sure it's a workable one, given the Lady's personality...she's really pretty anti-human contact, let alone the intimacy that would be necessary here. I don't think she would trust anyone that much...
That's why I picked Dr. Tasker. He's doesn't seem like a real personable guy to begin with, so there's no worries of any intimate contact, nor even any social contact except for pleasantries. Everything on both sides is going to be about getting down to business. Even when she's telling him her darkest secrets, I can see him looking at her with a bored look on his face, not even giving a crap unless it specifically relates to the task at hand.
Additionally, on the trust issue, that's again why I picked Tasker. The Lady knows magic and knows what to fear. But this "psychology" nonsense... Truly there can't be any harm in it. But maybe it'll work. And if not, she'll just fry him with some *real* magic. Besides, he wouldn't dare betray her; she's a princess and she always gets her way, so if he does anything...
But, on the other hand, she's truly desperate, and her hold on reality is not all that strong to begin with. She might give Dr. Tasker a chance...and the good doctor might get more than he bargained for, and call up a dream which becomes too real to escape--marooning the Lady and himself somewhere on the borders of the Nightmare Lands!
If you wanted to get really Time of Ultimate Darkness with that, it might create a permanent junction between the Nightmare Lands and the Nocturnal Sea (the domain that replaced it geographically, remember!), allowing the nightmare inhabitants of the Land of Nod free access to the waking world simply by traveling from the top of the Tower of Flint, projecting into the Nightmare Lands, to the bottom in the Nocturnal Sea...
Waddya think?
To quote Keanu Reeves: "Woah."
I think that could be really cool. Especially if the Nightmare Court becomes directly involved (Nightmare Man did have a relationship with Tasker, after all) and start abusing access to the Lady's Library. Have a bastellus or two read about a few of the noble families, and all of the sudden the Nightmare Court knows who to give the worst nightmares to, thus creating the greatest misery in other countries, thus causing people to give into their own emotions and create the kind of dreams that the Nightmare Court feeds from... Things could get strange all around quite quickly.
I'm not sure the Lady could or would summon Drigor, per se; but I'll bet he would give a good deal to be able to rummage around in the Tower of Flint for a while, and he might have enough information at his disposal to get the Lady's blessing...
How big is Drigor's reality wrinkle, anyway? Would that cause any weirdness in this situation?
I'd say she could (she's an 18th Level Sorceror, after all), and if Drigor found out about the Library she's got, I'm sure he'd arrange to have her pawns unknowingly bring a volume or two of
The Madrigorian specifically to tempt her. Especially with the information he could trade (as you'd mentioned)...
His reality wrinkle is 1 mile as of VRGtF, and he has no Land-based Powers. And I wouldn't imagine his reality wrinkle would cause any weirdness, though since Darklords inside of a reality wrinkle feel disconnected from their Land, she might end up feeling even *more* alone than usual as that was the only thing she had a connection to and so might enter a fierce depression or something. (shrugs)