Break the World: A Contest

[Le Noir Faineant]

(I love the Jester-ette Have a HAPPY LIFE, David)

Hear, hear! Many congratulations!

[artemis wands]

And the winna(s)....

The main winner is Leyshon Campbell aka DeepShadow. Mostly for the second of his three adventure hooks.

But we'd also like to send a shout-out to Bob Mason aka ???? (a messageboard username wasn't given). While his submission as a whole didn't win, one of his ideas begged for inclusion and will be added to the mix.

That's me! Yay!

[Lord Cyclohexane]

So, did the summary of the winning "Break The World" adventure ever get posted?

I'm not necessarily nagging (unless it'd help ) but just curious, seeing as I'm in-and-out of the Boards rather often and so would have missed it if it's already been posted.

[Jester of the FoS]

It didn't get posted because that would defeat the purpose of writing the adventure (underway as I write).
I'll post the proposed summary of it and the others after I get the first part done.
I've pretty much torn his idea to shreds though, there's been alot of changes that have crept in.

[Lord Cyclohexane]

It didn't get posted because that would defeat the purpose of writing the adventure (underway as I write).

A good point, though I always imagined that the summary would basically be like the ones on the back cover of game modules, more to hook and tempt people into buying it and (hopefully) not giving too much away beforehand.

I'll post the proposed summary of it and the others after I get the first part done.

Does that mean what I hope it means? That we'll get to see all of the submissions and not just the winning two? (tries not to get too excited, lest that not be the case)

I've pretty much torn his idea to shreds though, there's been alot of changes that have crept in.

Which is to be expected. Me, I'm just glad that this is being done at all, of having a Ravenloft adventure that represents the change from 3E to 4E, as I really like the idea of explaining the out-of-game rules changes with in-game stories of the change in the local physics / magisterium. My thread RL Natives' View On The Change From 2E To 3E might have even been the seed of all this, if accidentally and unconsciously, if I'm lucky. Regardless, I just plain think this'll be cool.

Not to mention, it's also somewhat traditional, seeing as the whole Grand Conjunction was an in-game explanation for the out-of-game removal of some repetitious domains, ones that didn't fit the gothic feel, etc.

Can you give us any hints and tidbits, however? Like around what domain(s) the story will primarily be centered? Feel free to say "No," as, come to think of it, it might be a bad idea to do so. (I dunno, I've never written anything that people knew would be written beforehand, so I have no idea how that works)

[Lord Cyclohexane]

Just curious if the "Break The World" description was ever posted.

Also, since the adventure wasn't going to line up with the original plot idea anymore anyway, I'm curious if we could all learn what it originally was anyway, since it'd no longer end up spoiling the real adventure.

[Le Noir Faineant]

Oh, and the Halloween entries from 2006...?

[Jester of the FoS]

Eh, why not

[Jester of the FoS]

1

My idea was this: Ravenloft suffers a Grand Conjunction with the Plane of Shadow, rather than the Material. Among other horrid effects (such as an endless night allowing vampires and other night creatures to roam and reign free), this frees Gwydion from the Obsidian Gate. Now free to do direct battle with the Dark Powers, his struggle wreaks havoc on the domain's metaphysical fabric, eventually breaking most if not all of the domain borders. The darklords can leave their domains now (but not the plane itself), but are powerless to stop incursions or imprison citizens within them. Vlad Drakov can finally invade someone. Malocchio's bonds are broken. Perhaps Strahd and Azalin have another showdown. Meanwhile, the nature of magic itself begins to go haywire, another consequence of the cosmic battle. Wild magic effects dominate all spell-casting, usually in macabre fear-, horror- or madness-check inducing ways. Maybe there are even bizarre changes to the landscape, along the lines of what happened to the Forgotten Realms during the Avatar crisis. The whole Demiplane is being ripped apart.

Unable to rely on any of the darklords to muster their resources and preserve the Demiplane, the Dark Powers require someone or something powerful enough to match Gwydion directly. A dark emperor, perhaps (sounds better than "Dark Overlord," though maybe a title like Dread Tsar would be more fitting), who is nothing less than one or more of the Dark Powers themselves made flesh. A sort of mega-darklord whose "domain" is the entire Demiplane, who can impose order on the chaos, re-bind darklords to their domains (or just kill them outright), control or change domain borders, charm the Vistani, etc. And maybe this Dread Emperor develops free will and decides he knows better than the Dark Powers and has no plans to "retire" once Gwydion is defeated.

This wouldn't necessarily require epic battles or massed armies. Both Gwydion and the Emperor can work behind the scenes, on scales beyond the ken of most mortals. The Dark Powers would draw in or reveal some artifact(s) or ritual(s) capable of defeating both the Emperor and Gwydion, or at least reversing the Shadow Conjunction and binding them to domains. Sadly, I have no specific ideas right now about what such an artifact or ritual might be; I'm just brainstorming. But I have faith in the Fraternity's creative abilities.

2

This one is for and about the Fraternity of Shadows. Isn’t it time the scholars of secrecy took center stage?  With all those irons in the fire, shouldn’t some of their actions have repercussions on the Land of Mists?

A bold experiment conducted by the FoS (or an ambitious splinter cell) brings down the Borders of the Realms for a whole year… (I think the religious ceremony of the Requiem of 761 could be a good date to start off with its history and all).

Here are some events that happen after the Borders fall (which could be an adventure by itself), multiple adventure hooks, a possible adventure(s) coming from the activities of the FoS or this rogue cell. (I think all of them hold the possibility of radical change or a way to bring back things to the way they were.) All of the FoS’s actions can be conducted through the actions of the PCs (who probably won’t know they are being manipulated).

Barovia, classical: Possibly sent by mysterious patrons, a party infiltrates castle Ravenloft (although this has been done to death, I seem to recall a monastery somewhere…) in search of something. By the end, Strahd should be dissolved ambiguously into Mists or go into hibernation.

Darkon: Azalin should be stripped down by quite a few levels and share the throne with (unknown to everybody but Azalin) a Father of the FoS (or some kind of semi-lord, characters who have failed multiple Powers Checks, who should be given more room in general)… Azalin should come back, but how many years will it take him to regain those levels… And what will he do? (Damn, just what was his plan in the GAZs?!?)

Falkovnia: The unthinkable happens (!). Drakov attacks and leads his troops himself… but Darkon is not his target. Did he learn from his mistakes? NNNNOOOOOOO…. He simply heeded the advice of one of his (illegitimate) sons… Obviously, the son prepares a coup. Does it happen during that year or does he become a close ally of the Kingführer waiting for the right time?

Invidia: Mallochio Aderre should side with Drakov while Vistani mayhem increases within the Core with a mass exodus into the Islands and Clusters for a few years…

Hazlan: Parts of Hazlik’s plan should come to fruition in some way (the killing of the Mulan) while helped by FoS Fathers who are curious. And Eleni of Toyalis becomes an even more prominent character in the realm.

Lamordia: The FoS should approach Mordenheim asking him for a tool to blend Magic and Science: The result should be catastrophic, an explosion in the mountains, both arcane and scientific. Some of the action happens inside one of the mountains, while on an errand for Mordenheim (or Adam). Throw in an act of kindness where Adam saves Mordenheim from some wreckage, something to force Victor to rethink his relationship with the Creature. Castle Mordenheim is partially destroyed, it could take years to rebuild.

Mordent should have some showdown between the WF twins and Natalia (not crazy about this one).

Necropolis: The FoS should meddle with all things Necropolis. This gigantic necromantic bubble is just standing there… The outcome should be some kind of stalemate of positive and negative energy making the undead / Shroud less powerful or cyclical, maybe making the city available by day or through catacombs underneath where the Shroud does not affect things, possibly some newfound underground amaranth grove (protected by a mad druid?).

The Shadow Rift, Gwydion escapes but to a plane that doesn’t affect the Core directly (making way for a high-level game on another plane). The Shadow Rift “open up” every full moon, people may climb in or out without fear of dissolving.

Sithicus suffers from the Return of Dragons… Do they stay or go back to where they came from? Just what do they want? And what about the Black Rose?

Tepest: A civil war/purge erupts. Family, neighbors, villages and friends can’t trust each other, the atmosphere of paranoia grows too intense.

Clusters: The Fathers need an artifact from each Cluster, paving the way for adventure and/or mini-gazetteers (with Surveys in the pipeline, don’t know how much I want this one…)

Shadowlands: Find the dragon (figure out there is no dragon and confront Lady Shadowborn).

Zherisia: I think Paridon has suffered enough.  Really. I think whatever affects the demi-plane should make the Dopps snap out of it and something should splinter the group for a while so a part of them unites with the Paridoners to protect the city… (At the same time as this new threat happens, the Mariktih cause mayhem and madness above the streets…)

Rokushima Tayioo should engage in an all out be-all end-all war with one warlord coming out on top… At least for a while…

3

I offer here a trio of adventure hooks, intended to be played as a trilogy but adaptable as you see fit--take one or all, it matters not to me. So as not to bog you down with details, I will present them as three simple hooks before fleshing them out with my adventure outlines. All three of these are tied together by a single plot wherein the Fraternity of Shadows (or a branch of them) are manipulated by the Gentleman Caller via Tindafulus to experiment upon certain Darklords, in order to learn more about their connections with the Land.

In the first hook, Malken separates himself from Tristen using the Apparatus, leading to a powerful revelation about Malken's past and diabolical suggestions for his future.

In the second, the Nightmare Court wage war upon the Van Richten Society for the publication of Illhousen's Journal, only to be caught off guard when desperate dreamwalkers release Gwydion into the Nightmare Lands. Gwydion revels in his freedom but is unable to handle it, and his tantrum turns the Nightmare Lands into a lordless Feywild.

Finally, Strahd is split by the Apparatus, removing him as darklord of Barovia. Invidia usurps Barovia and Malocchio takes over, while the mortal Strahd seeks out the secrets of the Apparatus in Mordentshire and discovers Tara Kolyana. Strahd turns his back on Barovia to remain mortal for her, but fails to follow through and repeats history all over again.

Each of these hooks allows for redesigns of various RL elements. Taken together, they could theoretically reach every corner of RL.

Adventure 1: Through a Glass Darkly

Backstory: Malken seeks out the Apparatus in the hopes of being rid of his better half, and the FoS have expedited his search with manpower and ancient lore.

Synopsis: Nova Vaasa. The PC's are entrusted with the delivery of a package that is intercepted by the watch for forged papers. While the PC's cool their heels, Tristen Hiregaard discovers that this package is of great interest to his alter ego, Malken. Intrigued, Tristen opens the package and finds plans for building the Apparatus in a sea cave under Egertus, with which Malken hopes to divest himself of Tristen forever. The tantalizing possibility of being separated from his dark side forces Tristen to take a terrible risk: allow his nemesis to build the device, but arrange for hidden allies to rescue him and slay Malken instead. The PC's are allowed out of jail in exchange for their assistance, and they slowly win Tristen's trust. As the Apparatus nears completion, the PC's play dangerous double agents, slowly ferreting out the secrets of Malken's criminal network while planning for the final confrontation against Malken. Additional complications ensue as the Kantora Strangler, Prince Othmar, The Fraternity of Shadows, and Desmond Larouche all take sides in the confrontation. The final showdown reveals the horrible truth about Malken and Tristen and sends a shockwave through one of the largest domains in the Core.

Foreshadowing: The Fraternity plays a role in future adventures, so their appearance here is key. There is the possibility that a PC will glimpse a Fraternity member conspiring with Tindafulus through a mirror, which hints at the Gentleman Caller's role in things. Perhaps the most direct foreshadowing is the construction of the Apparatus itself, which leads directly to Nor Iron Bars a Cage (below). Likewise, the Fraternity is expunging of all their records of dreamwalking in preparation for the Nightmare Court's actions in The Witching Hour.

Key Players:
The Fraternity of Shadows--working furtively to help Malken build and use the Apparatus while hoping to capture Tristen for their own dark purposes.
Malken--wants to separate from Tristen physically and keep Tristen his prisoner in Darkhaaven.
Othmar--wants to gain control of Malken's network, and/or blackmail Tristen.
Desmond Larouche--wants to slay Tristen, because he thinks this is the only way to destroy Malken.
Talgaard Bolshnik (aka The Kantora Strangler)--wants to destroy Malken as part of his penance for following Malken's tutelage.
Lucre the Coin Golem--a lieutenant of Malken that is suspicious of the PC's.

End Result: The DM has some options as to how the adventure ends, but the most significant change is in Malken: during a temporary separation from Tristen, Malken rediscovers his true nature as the fragmented soul of Romir Hiregaard, Tristen's father. Romir is a kind of ancestral ghost that can only possess members of the Hiregaard family, and even then only if they have been tainted by darkness. The lingering madness in the Hiregaard blood is revealed to be fragments of Romir, and it may even be possible that the Darklord can reassemble himself by slowly corrupting and exterminating his own line. If the PC's fought alongside Talgaard (the Kantora Strangler), he may introduce them to Illhousen, to hook into next adventure. If Malken has acquired the ability to seal his domain, then the PC's may have to take refuge with the Carnival to escape to Invidia. Likewise, this leads into the next adventures.

Purpose: This adventure has two purposes. First, it will set the stage for other darklord/domain transformations in the next two adventures, especially with regard to the Apparatus as used in Nor Iron Bars a Cage. Second, it will retcon Malken into a workable villain with a detailed network and a consistent theme.


Adventure 2: The Witching Hour

Backstory: A week before this adventure begins, the Nightmare Court discovered that their mutable domain was becoming increasingly rigid and stable. A slow "settling" of their fluid domain had plagued them for years, but it was now accelerating so dramatically that even the Forest of Everchange itself will cease to change in under a month. They discovered that the Van Richten Society had just released a heavily annotated copy of the Journal of Dr. Illhousen, which previously was only available through a few hand-copied pamphlets. As dozens of people read the books and tried dreamwalking, the land was forced to give them shapes drawn from the mind of Dr. Illhousen. Infuriated, the Nightmare Man created special dream stalkers to remove the offending memories from the meddlesome Van Richten Society and any other dreamwalkers who use Illhousen's book. In a simultaneous attack, his mortal allies destroy the books and any other such records. The attacks are slated to begin all over Ravenloft at 3 AM on (insert date here), a time that the Nightmare Man's allies refer to as "The Witching Hour."

Synopsis: Any domain (if the PC's joined up with Carnival after TaGD, this should take place in the Carnival encampment in Invidia). The PC's may or may not have some warning about the Witching Hour, as both the Fraternity of Shadows and all of Darkon have been wiped clean of all offending records and memes. They are present when a dreamwalker (The Illuminated Man, a VRS member, perhaps a PC) is attacked in the dreamworld. The character screams as the dream stalker destroys his memories, and as PC's gather at his bedside, a nether portal opens up and Harrod Tasker shows up with a gang of FoS thugs to ransack the dreamwalker's belongings. The PC's defeat the thugs and Tasker surrenders. He agrees to take them through the nether portal to fight off the dream stalker and save their friend. In the Nightmare Lands, the PC's meet other dreamwalkers and Tasker spills everything: the Court has declared war on them all. The dreamwalkers and PC's begin jumping into nether portals to rescue more of their fellows, possibly using FoS hoods and Tasker as an unwilling guide. They manage to prevent some deaths/amnesias but not others. Some fey-touched dreamwalkers bring word of a dream-power that could fight the court, imprisoned by the shadow fey. By dreamwalkers (possibly including the PC's) acquiring the dream-versions of all the regalia and taking them to the dream-version of the Obsidian Gate, Gwydion extends his dream-self into The Nightmare Lands. This proves to be a great strain on the Nightmare Lands, and the Court flee into the mortal realms as the domain rejects them in favor of Gwydion. PC's track them through nether portals to their points of origin and force them to destroy the dream stalkers. Meanwhile, the Shadow Rift crumbles and the shadow fey are scattered across the core. In an attempt to gather them, Gwydion extends his flagging dream-essence through the nether portals into all the domains where the shadow fey are scattered. While he stretches himself thin, Loht seeks out the PC's and demands that they put things right: as the possessors of the dream-regalia that allowed Gwydion into TNL, the PC's are in a position to shut him in the Obsidian Gate again. The PC's return to the reshaped Nightmare Lands and trap Gwydion's essence in the dream gate.

Key Players:
Fraternity of Shadows--helping the Nightmare Man destroy all the copies of Illhousen's Journal. They have agreed to help to avoid becoming targets themselves, and to give themselves access to many of their rivals' books. They have already expunged all the copies from their records, using hypnosis to wipe their minds.
Harrod Tasker--leader of the of mortal servants of the Nightmare Man. If he survives the earlier part of the adventure, Tasker knows he has betrayed the Nightmare Man and escapes to Dominia while the PC's are rescuing the dream shaman held captive there (see below). He knows from earlier forays into the dream world that Dominia is to his liking, and that cerebral vampires are out of the Court's reach.
Kargat/Kargatane--Azalin has got wind of the Witching Hour, and has wiped the minds of all Darkonese to preempt attacks on Darkonian soil.
Ward Zero--One of the many victims of the Witching Hour is a patient in Dominia, a dream shaman who belongs to this new secret society of asylum inmates.
Carnival--If the PC's are traveling with them from the previous adventure, they will be present for an attack on the Illuminated Man, or else they may have an opportunity to save him later. Also, anyone who caught a glimpse of Tindafulus in the mirror in Through a Glass Darkly might notice that Tindal looks familiar.
Malocchio--The Gentleman Caller has been to see his favored son lately to prepare him for what comes next. This has led the Carnival to Invidia, where Malocchio may pay them a visit, foreshadowing the final adventure.
Easan the Mad--The PC's pay a visit to Vechor while tracking Morpheus back to his point of origin in that domain. Easan is mildly curious about them.
Hazlik--The PC's pay a visit to Hazlan while tracking the Ghost Dancer back to her point of arrival. Hazlik is part of her history, and would like to see her destroyed forever.
Gregorian Illhousen--His war with the Nightmare Court has spilled over into a mad obsession, but the ancient Illhousen is still a vast resource for the PC's. Just before their final epic battle with Gwydion, Illhousen reveals that he has been in contact with Van Richten in Richten Haus (preparation for the final adventure).

Foreshadowing: To continue the foreshadowing of the previous adventure, the FoS's plans to experiment with darklord's connections should now be laid bare, but it should also be evident that their plans are bearing unforeseen fruit, and that someone else may be pulling the strings of the puppetmasters.

End Result: The reshaped, hyperextended Nightmare Lands becomes the feywild of Ravenloft, a lordless border plane like the Near Ethereal. It also opens up possibilities about the 4E eledrin, either as a new shadow fey subrace, or perhaps as existing shadow fey that have shed their old forms to avoid Gwydion. Gwydion is no longer lord of the Shadow Rift, nor of the Nightmare Lands...but that's not to say he's gone. Unless the DM rules that he died, Gwydion's wounded essence is still out there, biding his time and regrouping. Fragments of the sorcerer-fiend are cut off from his essence while seeking out the shadow fey. Some of these go mad, others die, and a few continue their mission. These fragments are partly responsible for the new wave of warlocks that come with 4E. The Shadow Rift is replaced by surrounding domains and settling islands, possibly Addar's Grove. Tepest should be on the short list for expansion, so that the Celtic Pantheon can play a greater role in 4E Ravenloft. Any surviving Nightmare Court become more like bogeymen, roving non-lords who are creatures of the Mists.

Purpose: The main purpose of this adventure is to shake up the world. Darklords dethroned, domains vanishing or appearing, a new border plane, new class potentials, etc. The social world should be equally shaken up, as many of the secret societies are decimated, reconnected, or revealed to the outside world. A secondary purpose is to shed light into dark corners heretofore unexplored: Vechor, Dominia, and the backstories of the various Nightmare Court.


Adventure 3: Nor Iron Bars a Cage

Backstory: In the previous adventure, the Carnival arrived in Invidia on the heels of the Gentleman Caller, and as they left to Barovia, Malocchio arranged for his half-sister Lucita to be kidnapped and moved to Barovia. Gabrielle Aderre is unable to go herself, so she sends Ardonk, only to find that Matton has also set off after "his" daughter. Meanwhile, a secret enemy of Strahd modifies the Apparatus constructed in the first adventure so that it can draw souls--or parts of them--across planar or domain boundaries*. When the borders of Barovia fall, Gabrielle's desperation to enter Barovia cause her to usurp control of the domain.

Synopsis: Barovia--Ardonk Szerieza and Matton Blanchard arrive, each demanding his daughter's safe return...to him. The inevitable confrontation is preempted as word arrives that Malocchio Aderre is invading with all his forces, plus the Falkovnians. Malocchio heads straight for the Tser Pool to wring the secrets of his imprisonment out of the Zarovan, but they've disappeared. The PC's discover Strahd wandering the Old Svalich Road, trying to hide the horrible truth: he has lost his undeath and his lordship, and has no idea why. They may or may not recognize him, as he uses his Vasili alias while he figures things out.

Strahd helps the PC's reunite Lucita with her mother, and Gabrielle discovers she's been played. Figuring Malocchio had a hand in Strahd's discomfiture, Gabrielle decides to help him regain his status. By now she's charmed/dominated all the PC's, and she loans them to Strahd. Guided by her tarokka reading, they journey with him to Mordentshire and the House on Grypon Hill to fill in the memory gaps. Unfortunately, the info he needs was stolen long ago by the Kargat and taken to Azalin's Black Vault...beneath the Grim Fastness...in Il Aluk. While in Mordentshire, he sees a picture of Tara Kolyana, and sends the PC's to the Necropolis while he seeks out Tara. In the Black Vault, the PC's discover that Strahd has been split using the Apparatus, and that he must find his other self and reunite. They also find there the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind and Icon of Ravenloft, which they use to cause havoc in the Necropolis and escape from Death.

Back in Barovia, the resistance is taking a huge beating. Many of the Gundarakites prefer Malocchio to Strahd, and Gabrielle has to deal with her family fiasco. Matton changes form during the confrontation, and Ardonk calls Gabrielle a monster and flees. The PC's arrive in time to save Gabrielle from Matton's murderous rage, and they rally her forces to defend the village of Barovia under seige. Strahd arrives with a mystified Tara in tow, and they all retreat to Castle Ravenloft, where Strahd's vampire self has been asleep all this time in the dungeons. Strahd casts a teleport trace and opens a portal back to the Apparatus atop one of the towers of Ravenloft. He's about to take the sleeping vampire through to Nova Vaasa and confront the master of the Apparatus, but Tara begs him to remain a mortal. Strahd renounces his dark past for her, but his vampire side stirs in its sleep...and calls to Tara with Sergei's voice. Her remaining memories rush back, Strahd stabs "Sergei" to death in a rage, Tara runs and jumps off the tower...and it's all just like last time.

To complete the vital juxtaposition: Realizing she has one chance left to contain the evil she has released, Gabby takes Lucita to the Carnival, kisses her one last time, and goes out of sight to take her own life. As she presses the vial to her lips, she finds herself face to face with Madame Eva, who thanks her for her great sacrifice to save the Vistani from the Dukkar...and removes the curse her mother placed on her. As Invidia shrinks to its original size again, it takes Malocchio as its lord. She deliberately tried to kill herself to contain her son's evil and save the Vistani; Gabrielle may survive, but she is no longer a darklord.

Key Players:
Fraternity of Shadows--trying to stir Gabrielle up to full darklordship again, they help kidnap Lucita and frame the Carnival.
Van Richten--giving some advice from within Richten Haus via the Dreamworld. He specifically warns about the coming of Sergei, who must be reincarnated before the Time of Unparalleled Darkness has arrived.
Wilfred Godefroy--outraged by Strahd barging into his home, but cowed by Strahd's spellcasting powers. He mostly contents himself to harass the PC's rather than face Strahd's wrath personally.
Death--Wants Strahd as a lackey in the fight against Azalin. Disturbed at the thought that yet another "mortal king" has escaped its clutches.
Gabrielle--Comes to grips with the fact that stopping Mallochio is more important that hurting the Vistani.
Malocchio--Wants to take over Barovia, wring the secrets of his curse out of the Zarovan, and destroy all the Vistani. Wants his mother to extend her domain so that he can move around more.
Tara Kolyana--torn between her curiosity about Barovia and her fear of what awaits her there. Tara is still the pure-hearted pacifist, and she fully believes that even Strahd can be redeemed.

End Result: Strahd regains Barovia again, and becomes a vampire again after being "slain" by Malocchio's thugs; Malocchio's forces scatter without his leadership and in the face of Strahd's regroup. The Zarovan return to the Tser pool once Malocchio is gone, and they also help set things right. Tara survives by use of a gaseous form spell to escape, and now recalls her past life as Tatyana. Sergei's newly released soul is taken by the Mists to await his role in the ToUD. The Vistani are shaken; the Zarovan know that Strahd almost gave them up in exchange for Tatyana, and they themselves are no longer trusted by the other Vistani. Vistani groups are in a position to break new ground--seagoing Vistani, riverboat Vistani, or other variations, possibly new tribes and tasques. The collective curses breathed out at Strahd, Mallochio and others might yet bear bitter fruit--perhaps drawing out more of the Vehrteig. This might even be a good time for Madame Eva to travel back in time and allow herself to be slain by Jaqueline Montarri, thereby opening up the leadership of the Vistani to another. Of course, the largest loose ends are the identity of the person who used the Apparatus on Strahd, and the possibility of it being used this way on others--including other Darklords--in the future.

Purpose: This adventure's primary purpose is to return Ravenloft to its roots in the Strahd mythology, and illuminate one of the few dark corners in that storyline. The map changes, new darklord powers, and new Vistani that result should take second chair to the juxtaposition of Gabrielle and Strahd. Both were given opportunities to cease being darklords, but only one of them took it. Gabrielle's stepping down is a further condemnation of Strahd, because it shows that he could be happy if he'd turn away from his inhumanity. After the previous two adventures, this shows that even as things change in Ravenloft, some things never will. As a bonus, it gives longtime fans a chance to dungeoncrawl through Castle Ravenloft, the House on Gryphon Hill and the Black Vault in a single adventure.

* The truth about the Apparatus: The original Apparatus was constructed by Strahd and Azalin to send Strahd out of Ravenloft...a little at a time. First, his mortality was sent with a subconscious program to create a second Apparatus. This became the Alchemist Strahd, who created the second Apparatus to summon the rest of himself. The versions of the Apparatus that have been discovered since are inferior copies that do not have this power...until now. Thus, the Improved Apparatus in this adventure has two additional powers: it can send souls (or fragments of them) to other planes, or call them from there to itself. In Ravenloft, this ability works across domain boundaries.

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Just curious if the "Break The World" description was ever posted.

Also, since the adventure wasn't going to line up with the original plot idea anymore anyway, I'm curious if we could all learn what it originally was anyway, since it'd no longer end up spoiling the real adventure.

That's not entirely true. While Jester has expanded and reworked my original idea, there are still applicable spoilers.

[Jester of the FoS]

4

It all begins with a mysterious stranger. Let’s call him The Mistwalker.


First, he arrives in a small island domain. He approaches the resident Darklord (whom he knows by sight and can find easily no matter where they have their lair), professing to be able to free them from their imprisonment. Doing whatever he has to do to convince the Darklord of his power, he then gives them the very to escape their individual curse. How does he do it? He lays out the rules of the Demiplane for them plainly, showing he has knowledge far beyond anyone ever encountered before. For some, it is not easy to give up their lifelong obsessions and conceits of power, but most eventually listen to his persuasive words about this only being a shadow realm and that if they escape he will return them to their original homes where they can pursue whatever goals they wish.


This results in several Islands of Terror dissolving. Somehow, the Mistwalker grows more powerful with each domain that disappears, while the fabric of the Demiplane grows weaker.


Meanwhile, the people of the Core start to realize something is wrong. Their homes and neighbors start fading and losing color, or else objects blink in and out of existence. There is an increase in madness and strange new diseases begin to crop up and spread like the plague. Creatures of the night seem to have multiplied, and have even started attacking people openly in the daytime. It seems like the entire world has gone mad. Even the Darklords are not immune to these changes.


The Dark Powers have also begun to take notice of the upheavals in the Demiplane, and have sent their own agents to attack the Mistwalker. Azalin has also sent his own people after this mysterious figure, to find out if he is truly what he says he is or just another ploy of the Dark Powers.


It is at this time that the Mistwalker appears out of a fogbank in the land of Barovia. He approaches a group of adventurers to help him get into Castle Ravenloft. He eventually finds Strahd, and tries to tell him the rules of the game, but the vampire lord doesn’t believe him. The Mistwalker then tells him he can get him the one thing he desires, Tatyanna’s present reincarnation.


The group of adventurers is sent out to bring Tara Kolyana back to Barovia from her home in Hazlan. Along the way, the agents of Azalin seek to capture her and the adventurers, while the Dark Powers seek to destroy them before they can complete their mission (think lots of monster-infested fog banks).


Eventually, the heroes make it back with their package, and Strahd and the Mistwalker are there to meet them. The Mistwalker tells Strahd that the Dark Powers will never let him get Tatyanna, and he has brought Tara to prove it. Sure enough, some deux ex machina pops up and kills Tara right before the vampire lord’s eyes. Strahd goes insane for a while, killing anything that is in his path.


Meanwhile, everything is going according to plan for the Mistwalker, who approaches Strahd after he has exhausted his wrath. Wearily, the vampire lord agrees with the Mistwalker’s plan to kill him and release Barovia from his grip.


The adventurers must escape before they are caught by Strahd, but are held up at the border which is closed. Suddenly, just as the sun rises, the fog lifts and the adventurers find themselves in a whole new world…


THE MECHANICS:


The Mistwalker is a complete unknown. He could be a rogue Dark Power, or a good outsider sent by the gods of the multiverse to finally wreck the Demiplane. Whatever he is, he gains power with each domain that is dissolved while the rest of the Demiplane is weakened.


I didn’t want to use the Dukkar, the Gentleman Caller, Azalin or Gwydion because that would be too obvious. And bringing in any outside entity powerful enough to destroy the Demiplane wouldn’t have feel like a Ravenloft story.


The reason that his tactics work is because he doesn’t just kill Darklords outright, he makes it impossible for their domains to work the way they are set up. He either gives them the thing they want most, thereby canceling the curse of the Dark Powers, or destroys the mechanics of the domain, so there is nothing to hold the Darklord to the place. He can’t send them to another plane, but he can kill them and make sure their spirits are free from the Dark Powers hold.


After he gains enough power, he decides to go right to the lynchpin of the Demiplane: Barovia. I wanted a more personal story within this worldbreaking plot, so I threw in Strahd and Tara, because this is basically the story that began the Demiplane, and if the cycle is broken then it would lead to the destruction of the Demiplane.


Don’t ask me how it all survives and gets rewritten, I just thought it would be a fitting ending for the world and cleaning the slate for whatever changes that would be instated later.

5

50 years ago, Azalin the liche made the acquaintance of an outlander knight who greatly impressed him. Unlike other paladins or their ilk, this knight dedicated more to righteous principles than to any gods. This knight had also become something of a RavenLoft veteran. He had come to realize that the lives of regular people in these cursed lands depended as much on the actions of the evil as well as the good. He had seen just as many people saved by the action of evil people (if only for their own reasons) as he had of the good. He was also an associate of Rudolph Van Richten so he knew of Azalin's undead nature. Long story short, Azalin and this knight became allies of sorts for the sake of the common people. Azalin, still attempting to be a dutiful king at this time, most often kept the decadent destructive nobility of his beleaguered land in line by playing them off of greater evils like those gathered in his Kargat.
The knight saw Azalin as a great evil riding herd on greater evils for the sake of the common people. He hoped to work within the government of Darkon on behalf of the people while urging Azalin to be more even handed in his enforcement of the law.
Azalin saw the knight as someone who practiced principles which generally didn't last for very long in RavenLoft but yet somehow he was able to make work, for wherever the knight went he seemed to gain followers and others attempted to adapt his principles. Azalin had seen the church of Ezra rise under similar circumstances and therefore considered the knight and his methods worthy of further study. This alliance was put into practical application as another war with Falkovnia broke out.
As he became familiar with the methods of the Falkovnian military, the knight became determined the wipe the stain of Vlad Drakov's evil from the face of the world. With tacit support from Azalin, the knight led a band of trusted companions and a group of Darkonian soldiers into Falkovnia and seized three villages. Rather than butcher or imprison the villagers and captive soldiers, He gathered them together in one place and gave what has come to be remembered as 'The Great Speech." He railed against Drakov and his cruelty. He explained to these people that they had never had anything to expect from Drakov other than a long life of cruel drudgery made shorter only by one of his stakes and that the only way they would ever know freedom was to topple Drakov once and for all. He reminded them that they were people, not beasts, and that men had no claim over other men's lives. He convinced them that, in the end, they really had nothing to lose rising up against Drakov. Even some of the captured soldiers joined the ranks. To those that did not, the knight released them.
"If you think you can expect mercy from such as Drakov," spat the knight contemptuously, "Then GO!! Chase your folly!!'
When one of the soldiers asked for his sword back. The knight returned it to him only to have the soldier attempt to slit his own throat. The knight intervened and asked the soldier what he thought he was trying to do.
"If I do not die here," cried the soldier, "My family will be killed for birthing a traitor!"
" Flee to the hills," counseled the knight. "Take advantage of what is about to happen between us and Drakov. You should be able to free your families."
Taking the knights advice, the soldiers arms were returned to them and they fled into the hills in hopes of putting the knights plan into action.
The response to the knights actions was swift and universal. The entire nation of Falkovnia mobilized against the knight's considerably smaller army....and found itself stymied at every turn. The knight proved to be evry bit as able as Drakov at using terrain, weather and surprise tactics against the Falkovnians. He also continued to convert captives to his way of thinking. Most importantly, the knight allowed documents to fall into Falkovnian hands naming Drakov as a coward and a pretender. When these documents made their way to Drakov himself, he flew into a rage smashing everything and everyone around him. When he finally regained himself, he mounted horseback for the first time in years and led the army, himself against the knight. All this under the watchful eye of Azalin who observed everything carefully.
In the final battle, the knight and Drakov found each other and clashed mightily. Drakov was not used to being faced with such a potent opponent and was eventually put on his guard. Just as it looked as if the knight would be victorious, the mists rose obscuring the whole battlefield. The fighting continued only where the two armies could find one another and even Azalin's magical means of observation were blocked. When the mists cleared, the knight and a few of his closest followers had vanished and the knights army was without it's leader. Drakov was quick to seize the initiative, but the knight and Azalin had prepared for this eventuality. They retreated along a prearranged route into Darkon. Any who were cut off, fought to the death rather than face Drakov's lack of mercy. When Drakov was stopped at the border, he flew into another rage and had three innocent villages full of people impaled publicly claiming that they were in fact the knights army and that none had escaped. This is the way the history of Falkovnia remembers this battle and for a long time Drakov looked for the knight in every shadow. To this day, it's one of many things which nobody in Falkovnia discusses. Azalin accepted the remnants of the knights army as citizens of Darkon but treated the entire episode as a failed experiment and thought no more of it....until recently.
Not long ago. Another young knight of the same order and bearing the same name appeared in RavenLoft. More than few have tried to impersonate the knight over the years but this one appears different. There is some resemblance and the young knights beliefs are completely identical. When the young knight finally finds his way to Darkon (Despite several kidnap attempts by Falkovnian agents) Azalin learns from him that he is, in fact, the son of the first knight. When the mists had risen, all those years ago, the knight and his companions had been taken away to some other land beyond the mists, from which they were eventually able to return to the knight's homeland. There, they had all settled down and lived quietely. The knight had married and had many children- the young knight and his brothers and sisters- the , the young man says, the knight had always been haunted by his failure to destroy Drakov. Azalin sees this as the Dark Powers parting blow to the knight. The knight had survived, but more importantly, Azalin realizes, the knight had ESCAPED!!! Now Azalin is casting his mind back to that original experiment. He wonders if he attempts to cultivate the same moral principles as the knight and his son espouse in his people and himself, might they all not become as unpalatable to his tormentors as the knight had been and be cast from the cursed lands because of it. It is less a moral realization and more an effort to practice things which the Dark Powers will find unacceptable. Azalin doesn't believe in the principles with any degree of faith nor does he necessarily disbelieve them. He is simply attempting to recreate an event which happened once. Azalin keeps the young knight close but knows full well that if he is to be the one who escapes, then he must be the one who leads this movement. To further aggravate his tormenters, Azalin reaches out to other DarkLords attempting to start them down the same path. He has some success with the DarkLords Adam, Von Karkov, and Tristan Hiregaard. (He knows better than to even talk to Strahd. Strangely enough, this movement manages to take hold in most civilized domains. It's become all the rage in places like Richemulot and Dementlieu. Every university is fascinated with the base principles. Azalin is pleased with the preliminary results but who's to say where it will go from here.

6
Using the science fiction standard concept of a time travel paradox, Azalin creates an infinitely recurring loop and “traps” the Ravenloft timeline so that nothing can progress past a certain point in time. Heroes may be able to undo the manipulation and correct the flow of time to escape.

This requires a few assumptions:

that Azalin can send things or ideas or information back in time, and thus

he could influence his past self to do things in a different way that causes time to endlessly repeat itself in Ravenloft.

This would essentially create a closed loop where once the last time unit is used up, the Ravenloft Universe would snap back to where Azalin did his meddling and then progress from there as usual, then reach the end and snap back, repeating ad infinitum.

Plotwise, this fits in well with the idea of a lich who has gotten tired of trying to escape and has decided to break the Universe if he can't leave it. It's also one of the few things I can think of which is actually WORSE news than a Grand Conjunction.

Explanation:
The famous grandfather example: I go back in time to kill my grandfather before I was ever conceived. This will create a "bow-tie" snap, as the Universe infinitely alternates between two contradictory timelines:

T1: HMB is conceived and born. He grows up, leads a dissolute lifestyle, and then somehow commandeers a time machine in 2007 and goes back in time to 1940, when his grandfather is a young boy. HMB kills his grandfather and does not even think twice of the consequences. (He's a bit stupid that way.) He either uses the time machine to get back to 2007, or he stays in 1940 Taiwan and enjoys the whole Sino-Japanese war thing. It doesn't matter to the timeline - a paradox is born.

T2: The Universe progresses in a different way now. HMB's grandfather never sires HMB's father. HMB's father never does anything because he never existed. Then, come 1980, HMB is never born. The Universe goes on happily until 2007, when it needs somebody to go back in time to kill HMB's grandfather.

This is impossible now because HMB doesn't exist. Therefore, the relevant date in 2007 comes and goes with no time travel attempt, and HMB's grandfather survives an assassination attempt that was never made.


The Universe snaps back to 1940 as HMB's grandfather lives happily on, siring HMB's father who sires HMB, who goes back in time and ungratefully tops his grandfather. And so on forever alternating between the two contradictory timelines once the Universe reaches the relevant date in 2007.

Applied to Azalin:

Azalin has already sent people back in time before, and he is very careful about it. Consider From the Shadows, where he only sends the PCs' consciousnesses back in time (i.e. nothing material, which is physically strictly impossible in time travel). He also chooses a time and place where their actions don't disturb too much, since the wedding guests will all be dead anyway. The PCs occupy bodies of people who will all die anyway – the only difference is where in the castle they will fall. This does not have any serious repercussions on the flow of time.

Ultimately, when Azalin manipulates time in this way, he limits the possible aftershocks of what his servants do, so nothing contradictory happens.

So far, so good.

But what if Azalin decides to do something to himself in the past? Say Azalin decides to do something very drastic, e.g. prevent himself from ever becoming darklord of Darkon.

This would be very bad. Because Azalin has been darklord of Darkon for very many years and done lots of things, changing something so early and so fundamental means the alternate timeline will be vastly different. Worse still, in order to prevent the altered Universe from snapping back to the point of the contradiction, you'd need an Azalin or somebody else being around in 755 (or whatever the present day is) and being able to send changes back in time to prevent Azalin from becoming darklord!

This is very difficult, however. Imagine my grandfather analogy. Say HMB decides to tell a friend about his plan and asks his friend to use the time machine to send a barrel of lit TNT beside his grandfather's corpse after HMB has killed him.

Apparently, this would seem to prevent a loop, right? HMB kills his grandfather, then a TNT barrel destroys the remains. Then HMB is never born, and the grandfather survives, but then a lit TNT barrel comes through and renders him dead.

However, there is a fatal flaw in this plan. The friend's activities are still dependent on HMB telling him what to do. Thus, if HMB's grandfather died, HMB would never have existed to tell the friend what to do. Thus, we would still be caught in a loop.

As you can see, it is very hard to avoid a loop. The preponderance of the likelihood is that one will occur, and in order to make sure that one doesn't, you have to take special steps.

Now apply this to Azalin. Say in 755 he's feeling upset and decides to send magical energies back in time to 735 and kill his past self for good. (He does something bad to the phylactery and then something bad to his corporeal existence, destroying both.)

This is a classic bow tie snap. Azalin755 casts the spells and Azalin735 dies. Darkon progresses in mourning for the loss of their king for 20 years... whereupon the Universe checks to see if anybody can go back in time to 735 and kill Azalin, and it realizes that nobody can!


So it snaps immediately back to 735, assuming that Azalin735-2 survived the nonexistent assassination attempt by Azalin755-1. This will continue infinitely. If Azalin735-2 then survives to 755, he'll go back in time to kill Azalin of 735, and the pattern repeats again. Ravenloft's Universe timeline would be trapped in a 20-year recurring cycle, never progressing beyond 755 - the year that Azalin Broke Time.


This already constitutes a pretty bad situation and could make for a fairly compelling adventure for the PCs. In order to break the cycle and restore the normal flow of time, perhaps the most absolute method available to the PCs is:

a) make sure Azalin in Timeline 1 does not send the spell in 755,

b) and they must do so before 755 occurs.

Because the timeline snaps back at 755, any plan they might have that extends beyond that point is doomed to fail because it can never be realized before the snap.

Assuming the PCs have some high level magic, they might be able to time travel too - but they'd have to be very careful because changes they make could automatically cause the pattern to disrupt. Given the best case scenario, they'd have a period of time equal to the difference between the earliest point and the latest point (in this case, roughly 20 years) to plan and execute.

In this scenario, a PC would probably want to disrupt the loop by interfering with AzalinT1’s actions so that AzalinT1 never succeeds in manipulating time in the first place. This could be as simple as finding AzalinT1 a few hours before he’s due to cast his spell, and defeating him in combat. AzalinT1 cannot cast the spell while he’s recuperating in his phylactery. Thus, the timeline will pass by the critical point in time without the confounding factor that triggers the paradox, and continuity will be restored.


This is an imperfect solution at best, however. Azalin755 could undertake to interfere with time at any point after 755 if he wants to, starting the whole process over again. A bit like a suicidal inpatient could at any time try to do himself in again after discharge.

Making the disruption to time truly “unparalleled”


Consider another theoretical situation. Say Azalin does something similar to the aforementioned paradox. It doesn't have to be killing his past self. But he does something, or makes another person do something, that creates an endless loop paradox.

Ravenloft alternates between two universe timelines, as we’ve established.

Now, imagine this: Azalin plans the same thing, with a hitch. Each iteration of the timeline snap, somehow (perhaps through judicious leaking of important information), Azalin contrives to occur earlier and earlier. Say that Azalin in 735 starts doing research on something and comes up with a solution in 755. He then sends a time-saving message to himself in 735 telling his earlier incarnation how to speed up the research. This in itself is a disruptive event, creating a second timeline, as the T2 Azalin in 735 can complete his research earlier. For the sake of simplicity say the efficiency is one solid year’s head start. Assuming T2 Azalin sends the same message back in time at 754, a third timeline comes into existence, with T3’s Azalin completing his research in 753, and so forth.

This is very dangerous, as it brings the critical end point in time earlier and earlier, leaving a decreasing window of time between each iteration.

Say the future Azalin, in addition to doing the paradoxical act, also encodes some information in the universe that will reveal the grand plan to the Azalin2 (i.e. his own self in the successor timeline). Azalin2 then has extra information as to what to do, so he himself undertakes to do the paradoxical act earlier than Azalin1 did.

Likewise, Azalin2 leaves information for Azalin3 to pick up, and Azalin3 gets to meet his milestones earlier, and so on.

Eventually, the time period involved becomes very very compact. Almost as though the final Azalin never needs any research or trial-by-error - he just knows exactly what he needs to do and does it. This would likely involve a powerful and carefully worded Wish spell.

Nightmare scenario: Imagine the Demiplane of Dread, forced to alternate between ever-decreasing universe timelines, until it reaches equilibrium bouncing between paradoxes that are merely a few hours apart!

Chronologically, Ravenloft would become like a black hole. Anything travelling into it during that time would become trapped in the bow-tie snap, unable to get back out again. Any plan the PCs come up with would have to be executable within the few hours it takes Azalin to memorize and cast the Wish.

Outside observers observing Ravenloft would see the Demiplane never progressing ever beyond 735 (plus a few hours).

Internal meddlers trying to stop Azalin must do so within a few hours. Conceivably, they can leave the Demiplane (never an easy task) as long as they either thwart his plans or leave the Demiplane within those few hours' time. With a few minutes to spare, the PCs could use a Scroll of Return or something similar to escape to their home plane, watching Ravenloft collapse as time never progresses beyond 735 plus a few hours.

Theoretically, PCs who have a lifeline to another plane could judiciously jump into Ravenloft again and again during the timeline to try to stop Azalin. Of course, they'd have to deal with their leftover previous selves from the previous time trips...


This is an extremely bad situation. Timewise, the Ravenloft timeline will have become a singularity, snaring anything that wanders in and which doesn’t leave before the critical end time.

But an even worse hypothetical exists.

So far we've just talked about Azalin condemning Ravenloft to eternal time-paradox-snaps. However, during a brief period of time in Roots of Evil, Ravenloft expanded to include every Prime Material plane, and quite possibly other planes of existence as well. If Azalin times his paradox start point carefully, he can narrow the hours' worth of snap time to occur during the Grand Conjunction, and by extension, to other planes of existence.

What does this mean?

It means the earlier quotation “Outside observers observing Ravenloft would see the Demiplane never progressing ever beyond 735 (plus a few hours).” is now entirely wrong. Outside observers looking at Ravenloft would see nothing, because the entire multiverse would be within Ravenloft, and thus would be trapped in the few hours' snap-loop created by Azalin.

Now that there's nowhere else for you to retreat to, it doesn't matter what your home plane is. You literally have only a few hours to stop Azalin, otherwise you're stuck in the time paradox loop. This goes for whether you're Hazlik of Hazlan, or Hazlik of Thay, or even Elminster of Faerun. Everybody everywhere is affected by Azalin's manipulation of time.

This is, as you can imagine, entire orders of exponents harder than the situation where you can jump out of Ravenloft and recover to the safety of your home plane if things go wrong.

There's a lot of science fiction here, and discussion of time travel, but I *think* the logic holds up. It's just a fun little digression as to what the ToUD might be, especially for a lich who's given up any hope of escape and now just wants to "pee in the rice cooker" (Cantonese expression meaning "to spitefully make things bad for other people").


If you accept the premise (questionable) that deities are also affected by timeline changes, then Azalin could very possibly break the entire multiverse, gods and mortals included, by a Brief Manipulation of Time.

If you’re into parallel universes, this also gives rise to a nice pun on the entire issue of “Unparalleled Darkness”.

A sample disruption:

Say, A755 decides to send a message back to himself specifically at the moment of being "slain" in battle at the end of From the Shadows. This is convenient for A755 because a) he knows exactly where he was, b) very shortly thereafter, the phylactery breaches the Misty Border, triggering (or at least cementing) the Grand Conjunction, and c) A755 has time to send a fairly lengthy message if he needs to - A735 doesn't have much else to do except hang around in his phylactery.

In an “ideal” environment, Azalin755 could cause Azalin735 to create a bow-tie loop of his own surrounding the Grand Conjunction. (See below.)


The devil’s in the details:


The above hypothetical situation is very unlikely to occur. Once you start trying to apply rationality to it (e.g., how would Azalin735 react to a self-destructive order from Azalin755?), there’s no way it can work because Azalin735 would likely see through any attempt to start a bowtie loop. Remember that during the Grand Conjunction, Azalin735 is supremely confident and likely delighted to be free of Ravenloft again. He would have no reason to share Azalin755’s suicidal tendencies.


Stylistically too this has its flaws because it’s just a rehash of the Grand Conjunction. [Although personally I feel the campaign setting sort of climaxed prematurely because the Grand Conjunction was already pretty impressive and anything more impressive would have to be even more world-shaking than that.]


Another problem – including Mallocchio:


One problem with this is that it doesn’t make much use of Mallocchio, and after the dramatic buildup that he’s received, this is probably a bad thing. Certainly anticlimactic.


One possible workaround is to assume that the Dark Powers will operate in a way that perverts or subverts Wishes like this so that it simply won’t work. They’ve certainly done so before. If you accept that axiom, then a second axiom is needed: Mallocchio can defy (or at least is not as subject to) the Dark Powers’ manipulations. Something about him is special so that his mere presence means that magic works normally. (The DPs don’t want to alter magic around him, or they can’t, or what have you.) This could mean that Azalin needs to wrap his Wishes around Mallocchio, to make sure that the Dukkar serves as a purifying conduit for his spells to affect time.


This argument touches slightly on the issue of what the Dark Powers’ motivations are. I do not intend to impose my interpretation of them on anybody else and it is not my intent to start a discussion on that matter here.

[Jester of the FoS]

7

Short Description: Vaasi Revolution / Death of a Darklord

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Basic Idea (Political): With the steady growth of a middle class in Nova Vaasa (5% as of Gaz V, which matches the size of the nobility) and a large number of ignored and powerless lesser noble families that would ally with them, along with a large number of said nobles and likely richer merchants sending their children to study in the Western Core and learn Renaissance notions, along with the note in Arbora's town section referencing an Astrid Chekiv as a "revolutionary philosopher", along with crushing taxes and a cruel government along with so much more...

Nova Vaasa is ready for a revolution, leading to Ravenloft's first Republic. In keeping with Nova Vaasa's culture, however, only landowners will be allowed a vote, thus retaining power between the noble houses and those of the emerging middle class who're successful enough to obtain land and influence.

Revolution should be more like French or Roman Revolutions and less like Russian Revolution, as communism/socialism grew out of the Industrial Revolution.

However, the idea of a Communist Revolution in a domain as beaten-down as Nova Vaasa sounds better, especially as Hazlan will have no nobility at all, after Hazlik casts his spell and slays them all, thus requiring Hazlan to have a People's Government as the nobility is gone altogether.

Basic Idea (Rules Change): Hazlik wants to cast a spell to kill all Mulan across all of the Planes. He realizes he can't escape Ravenloft and so will have to strike from within Ravenloft and have his shot hit the outer planes. Problem: how to shoot outside of Ravenloft? Get a deity to open a hole (Vecna proved it, which documents from Cavitus prove). Problem: How do you get a deity to pay attention? Kill the old ruler of the Church and force the deity to bless the Rite of Ascension. This also, coincidentally, solves the problem of the Church taking power as all of the Mulan die, allowing the Rashemi to take control. So it sounds like an awesome plan. In theory. But who knows how such a plan, shooting a spell outside of the planar boundaries, will affect the planar boundaries themselves and how it'll affect the local physics of the shooter's plane?

----------

By adventure's end, what will have changed?

1) Nova Vaasa breaks into 6 seperate sub-domains which still comprise one proper domain, ala Necropolis. Physical boundaries of the subdomains matches that of the 5 duchies plus Ehrendton. Open warfare between the duchies remains at adventure's close; no true head to the Vaasi Republic just yet. Hints to larger wars in the Core's future, as the War of the Western Core should come along soon enough.
a) Lara Vistin as Darklord of Kesjermark Duchy.
b) George Weathermay as Darklord of Pommel Duchy.

2) Malken is presumed dead as Hiregaard family is being killed to the last, ala the Romanov family in the Russian Revolution. However, just as a Romanov survived, so does one of Tristen's grandchildren, one of the Yorgi or Sasha's sons. Malken is *not* Darklord of Borchava Duchy as Malken will not re-emerge until Tristen's grandson hits puberty. The idea is that Malken makes a *great* idea for a villain NPC but a pretty poor Darklord, so it'd be nice to keep him alive.

3) Church of the Lawgiver's power is shattered due to assassination of the Himmelsk Naeve and the Pave of Nova Vaasa. Pave of Hazlan becomes new Himmelsk Naeve, leading to a more liberal form of the Church, like the one followed in Hazlan.

4) Hazlan now under control of the Rashemi population, as the Mulan are all dead; potential annexation of Hazlan as another subdomain to the Vaasi Republic, now headed by Eleni (Hazlik), depending on whether Eleni wishes to join this political framework. Note: I consider Hazlan as a Vaasi country due to similarities of culture and language and Prime Material world of origin, so it can join the People's Republic.

5) Othmar Bolshnik dead, power of the five main noble families shattered.


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Darklord Motivations that drive the plot:


1) Malken.
Motive: to finally rid himself of Tristen Hiregaard.
Method: a) get Tristen to question Othmar and have Othmar see the need to kill Tristen, b)
convince Othmar to act like Jokum Rivtoff (Gaz V, p23) and prune rival families to controllable members.
Madness: the Hiregaard family rises to protect Tristen and the slaughter goes too far


2) Azalin.
Motive: destabilize Nova Vaasa so trade can flow via Nova Vaasa instead of via Falkovnia
Method: tell Malken how to get his wish and watch Malken do the rest
Madness: this will later inspire Borcans to revolt and Falkovnia to invade Borca...


3) Hazlik.
Motive: to cast his spell to kill all Mulan, but first needs to protect his domain
Method: destabilize the Church, as it'll be the only power structure remaining in Hazlan
Madness: none? Eleni is prepared and so Hazlik doesn't successfully take her body?


4) Strahd.
Motive: ??? (I see no reason for him to act in this adventure, unless he sees the potential future ramifications this will have for the Gundarakites or sees this as a creative attack by Azalin using economic warfare instead of military. NOTE: I do see the Vaasi Republic as being a great battlefield for Azalin vs Strahd in terms of trade and cultural warfare; after all, Azalin's people love him whereas Strahd's merely fear him, so what better way to attack the linchpin of Ravenloft than to undermine Strahd's Darklordship via revolt of the Barovian people?)


5) Three Hags.
Motive: ??? (I've never been able to read them or what their motives are)


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Basic storyline (er, not so basic anymore...):

- Azalin seeks to purchase the Eye of Sekhmaa, owned by Malken and obtained from Sachmet's tomb in Koshka Bluffs. However, it's not the Eye he wants; rather, he wants to be in Malken's debt, as he knows Malken will ask him how Malken can be rid of Tristen Hiregaard. Azalin listens to Malken's story and deduces, through his knowledge of Ravenloft, that Malken is a hereditary curse that will be passed down to the next member should Tristen die, and so Malken should feel free to arrange Tristen's death. Malken immediately makes plans to leap to a more malleable member of the Hiregaard family.

- However, Malken can see how the loss of Tristen will affect Othmar Bolshnik's grip on political power in Nova Vaasa, as it'll now be an even match of those families supporting Bolshnik's regime and those opposing (Bolshnik and Chekiv vs Rivtoff and Vistin; Yorgi Hiregaard being too new to provide any weight from House Hiregaard). As Malken is allied with Bolshnik, and as Bolshnik's crushing obsession with law is necessary for Malken's empire of vice to really thrive, Malken can't just have Tristen killed.

- As such, Malken convinces Othmar to follow the path of Jokum Rivtoff of old (Gaz V, p23) and kill the current head of House Rivtoff, Soren, who has been loudly clamoring against Othmar's rule. Due to the precarious political situation, Malken gets Othmar to plan an assassination for Soren Rivtoff.

- As Malken cannot directly kill Tristen, Malken instead plans to have Tristen slip up and give Othmar no choice but to kill Tristen. As such, Malken informs Tristen of his alliance to Othmar Bolshnik and of the assassination attempt on Soren Rivtoff, seeking to undermine Tristen's support for Othmar. Tristen, as expected, does not believe Malken but cannot fully doubt him either; as such, he hires adventurers (the PCs) to travel to Castle Everwatch, situated at the heart of the Ivlis Duchy, to investigate.

- PCs now become involved, hired by Tristen.

- The PCs, told only to watch for "strange occurrences", do not catch the assassin before the deed is done. Soren Rivtoff dies, the castle goes nuts, but the PCs should be able to keep up with the assassin as (s)he runs out. Want to have Rivtoffs believe PCs are assassins? Fight guards in desperate battle to get outside and keep an eye on the real killer?

- PCs, on horseback, engage in chase scene from Castle Everwatch to Bergovitsa, always able to keep the assassin in sight, occassionally skirmish with the assassin, but the assassin should always be able to use the terrain (plains cats, nightmares, etc) to throw the PCs off and regain some distance. Or if the PCs capture the killer, he reveals his contact in the black market of Bergovitsa.

- In Bergovitsa, the PCs find a city gone mad. Bergovitsa, perpetually fought over by House Rivtoff and House Vistin as to who will control it, has exploded due to the death of Duke Rivtoff. Vistin supporters seek to press their advantage, now that House Rivtoff is weakened. Rivtoff supporters are angry and they want to show it, so they smash some heads. The Law seems content to let this continue, as Othmar will use it to explain the need for further centralized control of the Nova Vaasan state. PCs are, again, caught in the middle of conflicts between two other groups (guards vs assassin, assassin vs nature, Rivtoff vs Vistin), which will be typical of the mood of this adventure.

- PCs either follow the killer's trail or the killer's information down into Darkhaeven, which is currently under Bergovitsa as Malken awaits the killer's report. PCs have to make a choice whether they'll try to fit in, fight their way through, etc. If the killer is still alive, Malken will reveal to the killer that the deed was done on behalf of Prince Othmar in some expository dialog for the PCs to overhear. Also revealed is the death of Lod Ragnaar, Pave of Nova Vaasa, done in the confusion of a town at war. Malken will word it in such a way that the PCs will mistaken Lod Ragnaar's death as being ordered by Othmar; in truth, it was ordered by Eleni, Hazlik's right-hand woman, on behalf of Hazlik. Malken will give the killer his next assignment, the assassination of Pieter Jergaar, the Himmelsk Naeve, in Kantora. If the killer was caught by the PCs, this is all revealed to another assassin in Malken's employ. NOTA BENE: Eleni's influence should not yet be revealed; Himmelsk Naeve need to believe that Othmar ordered his death so that HN will remove the Church's blessing from Othmar's reign, thus allowing the revolution.

- PCs rush to Kantora to inform the Himmelsk Naeve of the assassination order. PCs will arrive first and can tell the HN. If desired, killer arrives and PCs save him. HN will inform the PCs that, since the assassination of Soren Rivtoff, Tristen Hiregaard advanced the claim that Prince Othmar ordered the assassination. HN, now wishing to withdraw Church support of Othmar's regime due to Othmar ordering HN to be assassinated, tells the PCs that he believes that Hiregaard is also in danger and sends them off. If killer not faced, HN not concerned as guards will protect.

- (For the moment, assassination plot on HN ends; Hazlik still needs Himmelsk Naeve dead, but current plot fails. Later, Eleni herself will display her raw eldritch talents and destroy the main temple in Kantora and kill the HN herself, proving to be Hazlik's best pupil and show the threat from Mytteri on the Church, leading to a true split in the Church of the Lawgiver for 4E)

- PCs arrive at Castle Faerhaeven in time to see a massive army striking and burning it. PCs now engaged in attempt to save any of the Hiregaard family possible. Tristen will, of course, die nobly by making sure that others in the family survive. Depending on PC planning, many or few Hiregaards survive. In any case, at least one Hiregaard survives to continue Malken's legacy.

----------

Damn, I ran out of time. Shorter followup:

- Himmelsk Naeve condemns Othmar's regime for failing to follow Hojplad's commands, removes the blessings of the Church.

- Outright war begins between noble families. Othmar Bolshnik has greater numbers, so Bolshnik + Chekiv vs (Hiregaard) + Rivtoff + Vistin still looks bad. Hiregaard armies run by lesser family, Boragaards (Gaz V, p34).

- Cities also revolt, showing microcosm of war if better way to run it.

- Other families win, not by much. Severely weakened.

- During war, in Kantora, PCs have to deal with Eleni's attack on Himmelsk Naeve
but are not successful.

- The People, long repressed, now no longer have the Nobility or the Church holding them down, and as Gaz V clearly shows, they'll let loose if they aren't forced to control themselves. (Represents Malken freed from influence of Hiregaard). May have a People's Revolution, like the Communists, perhaps sufficient knowledge of the concepts came from Western Core.

- Trade guilds and lesser noble houses are the only ones retaining any power. They'll likely speak for The People and end up being the ones in control.

- With the Church's influence currently gone, Hazlik forces the Pave of Hazlan to perform a particular rite using an item Eleni has stolen from the main Church in Kantora during her attack. (PCs should have followed her, found out about the above changes in Nova Vaasa as going through cities on their way following her back to Hazlan).

- Taking advantage of the rite, which theoretically opens a gap back to the Real World (the one Nova Vaasa was stripped from, which would also be the one where those who humiliated Hazlik reside) so as to communicate with the Lawgiver and get Him to appoint and confirm His blessings on the new Himmelsk Naeve, Hazlik unleashes his spell to kill all Mulan across the planes. In theory from the rite, The Lawgiver reaches his arm into the dimension of the faithful; Hazlik seeks to have the spell effect ride that arm back out of the plane.

- However, Hazlik didn't take into account what effects would be created as the magic rips across the planar boundaries. The resonance causes all sorts of problems with Ravenloft's local physics, shifting and contracting domain borders as desired, and perhaps temporarily dropping domain borders altogether (I'd say no on that, as it makes Dukkar seem more special if only they can do it).

----------

Other little notes:

- Planned to make Lady Lara Vistin, the current head of House Vistin, the Darklord of Kesjermark Duchy, as it's later revealed that while Othmar killed House Rivtoff down to a controllable family member and did/planned the same to House Hiregaard, Lara Vistin was the one who killed her own husband so she could be regent over her infant son. She merely *claimed* that Prince Othmar had done that to her. Perhaps Malken got the history lesson from her and passed it to Othmar without sourcing it.

- Was considering bringing the insane Talgaard Bolshnik back from the Nightmare Lands to fight against his brother, perhaps even reveal him as being the Gentleman Caller's progeny. (Human looking but "prone to hallucinations and fits of violence," as per p149; hallucinations being the Vistani visions and the violence being the demonic side of his nature?). Didn't use Talgaard Bolshnik at all because ideas are already too long, but I liked the idea of a person from the Nightmare Lands being the one to sell the DREAM of a People's Government.

- Astrid Chekiv, p38, listed as "female human Ari2/Brd4 (revolutionary philosopher)" seemed interesting but I couldn't think of a way to involve Arbora, located in the Pommel, into things as its too far away geographically from EVERYTHING. It was interesting, for a moment, to consider bringing George Weathermay in with Astrid Chekiv.

- ***SUPER-NOTE***: It was interesting to consider "The Weathermay" as the new Big Brother, seeking to redeem his sins by being the leader of the People's Government. He's slowly slipping towards evil in his hunt against Natasha, but I couldn't think of something to "seal the deal" and give him Darklordship over the People's Republic of Nova Vaasa MUCH AS I WANTED TO. Perhaps he controls a branch of Chekiv forces fighting in Vistin territory and burns down the entire town seeking to reveal and finally kill Natasha? HE'S FAR ENOUGH GONE THAT HE'D SLAUGHTER INNOCENTS TO GET REVENGE; make him head of an army and he'll definitely do so. Make him Robespierre afterwards and he'll kill ANY to protect "Goodness."

8

The Shakles of Sins period

- In the year of 762 BC probably the Gazetteers will be completed and Azalin will be executing his plan. Such plan may involve the use of the reality wrinkles of the children of the Gentleman Caller. The darklord of Darkon would summon 12 children using a magic cage (VR arsenal), so, using a captured fiend that performed a power ritual in the mists (so possessing the mist-travel ability) he would take the 12 children to Invidia, where their reality wrinkles joined would give a temporary freedom for the Dukkar.

- Azalin wants the dukkar in a magical ritual in which he will infuse the very fabric of the demiplane with the power of the Dukkar´s reality wrinkle, permanently changing the nature of the demiplane´s rules, in a way that the darklrods will be freed fromtheir curses (but still trapped insid their domains).

- The Gentleman Caller don´t want Azalin using his children (that he wants to use in his plan), and, having a greater inteligence than Azalin and a major understanding of the demiplane, he will take measures to stop Azalin´s plan. He will indeed, manipulate the things in such way that Azalin´s plan will not only fail, their results will be distorted according to the ends of the Gentleman Caller (wathever it be, maybe to cause the TOUD in the future, or just because is his nature to spread chaos),bringing more chaos to the demiplane and leaving his children intact for future use (the Dukkar again being transported by the mists to Invidia and being imprisoned again).




- The plan of Azalin will leave collateral efetcs both for the demiplane and the darklord. Even if the plan failed, a parcel of the Dukkar´s power infused in the mists changed something in the demiplane, maybe one time per year (or in some specific event) the DArk Powers will not being able to control the darklord´s curses, so during this day of the year all of them will start to pursue his objetives. They will propably fail, but during their desperate attempts great chaos and destruction will occur and many innocents will suffer.




-In relation to Azalin, his darklord curse willbecame even worse. The Gentleman Caller (or someone fooled by him, or even a redeemed ‘S’) , will go to Necropolis and take an old tome described in Gaz 2 containing the real name of the lich, using it to control Azalin (just the enough to end the ritual), making the ritual end. As a consequence of it, Azalin will share his body with Irik´s soul, making his curse worst, since somethimes Irik will be in the control of the body, plus, with both souls in a body will be harder for Azalin to concentrate even in the spells he knows.










Other Forces Involved in Azalin´s Plan




-Darklords like Anton Misroi, The God Bain (by reading ‘S’ thoughts) may becme aware of the plan of Azalin, and they may try to help the lich´s plan as a way to get rid from their curses.




- In order to torment Strahd, Azalin must hire a group of adventurers to ‘rescue’ Tara Kolyana from Hazlan during the disastrous ritual of Hazlik, taking the anchorite to the Nevuchar Springs sect in Darkon, so even if Strahd is free from his curse thanks to the lich´s plan, he will not find Tatyana´s reincarnation.




- Azalin can even spread the information that Tatyana´s reincarnation is in Invidia, what will cause Strahd´s armie to invade the domain. In this event Azalin will send his servants to kidnapp Gabrielle´s daughter and deliver the girl to the Dukkar. Doing this the darklord of Darkon hopes to gain the Dukkar´s help in the right time.




The Following Events (consequences of Azalin´s plan)




-In the confusion caused by Azalin´s plan (failling or not) a young member of the Fraternity of Shadows, Lucian von Crucius (or one of the umbra, or any other NPC…) discover about the Doomsday Gazetteers and all the info concerning the demiplane inside the tomes. This member of the FoS may take advantage of the situation and steal (or take copies) of the Doomsday Gazetteers*. With this information in the hands of the FoS, they will start their own plans to control the demiplane, what can be the cause of many darker future events.

(* Gentlman Caller : In this and other hooks presentes feel free to use the GC as the catalyst for the events, for example as being the one who instructed the FoS about the Dommsday Gzetteers, or to don´t use him at all),




-“S” can fanally find redemption, and can be na opposing force to Azalin. Intead trying to ressurrect her daugther, she destroys her child, going in a different way than his master, and even being able to help adventurers to twart the lich´s plan.




-One of the members of the FoS may even be able to transfer his soul to the body of one of the Dukkars, now being free fromthe Dark Power´s rules, thanks to his reality wrinkle. Or the FoS can start experiments involving reality wrinkles , trying to usurp some areas of the demiplane from the Dark Power´s control.




- Vlad Drakov, allied with Malocchio can start a new attack, against Borca and Richemulot, and if Azalin´s plan worked enougth to ensure a periodic release fromthe darklrod´s curse, Falkovnia and Invidia will be able to crush Borca and Richemulot.

Another events in the demiplane (Paving the way to the TOUD)


The following ideas are events that if combined may lead to the Time of Unparalleled Darkness. They are not set in a determined year, so they can be placed anywhere in the timeline, and some of them can take some years to produce efects in the setting.

The devil known as « The Black Duke » presents himself as the avatar of the lawgiver, gaining control of the entire Nova Vaasan sect. Surely this will bring horrible consequences for the people of Nova Vaasa and for the followers of lawgiver from Hazlan, that can be declared heretics.

The soulstone of Ivana Boritsi may eventually reach the limit, cracking and releasing all the stored souls. This can happen sometime during a Falkovnian invasion.

The Syndicate of Enlightened Citizens´s leader was instructed by the Gentleman Caller, about the whereabouts of the shards of the shield of Ezra. He took one or more of these shards and hide it. After this he planted evidence among the church that the sards were stolen by Nevuchar Springs sect of the church. By doing so, he hope to creat a true war among the church of Ezra, a war tha he will use to erradicate this superstitious religion…and maybe other religions…

One of the Knights of the Shadows is corrupted of tricked, resulting in the failing of the annual ritual that keeps ebonbane trapped in Alexi Shadowborn´s body, releasing the darklord.

Gwydion controls an undead servant, and attaching a little sample of his severed tentacle lying outside the Obsidian Gate he sends the ceature to procriate with hags through the Core. All the children birth with dark and deformed limbs, and later are changed by human children through the ‘ Cucko´s egg’ spell. When the propper time arives, Gwydeon´s undead will kill these children and join their corrputed limbs to form an humanoid body that Gwydion will be able to control from his prision, and that he will use to collect the Regalia of Arak, to open the obsidian gate again.

Maekon (or other Verteigh – from Dark Tales & Disturbing Legends), becomes pregnant of the Gentleman Caller. The result of this is a creature with the power to remove the darklords curse for a little time. At the cost of the life of an innocent, the creature removes the darklord´s curse for 1 day, during this time, everione inside the creature´s reality wrinkle will suffer the effects of the darklrod´s curse. Another power the creture has is, in charge of an innocent´s life, remove permanetly the corruption (from stage 1 to stage 5) of any creature that failed a power check.

Van Richten is being trained in Bleak House, now lost in the mists. Along with his training he watches the doings of the noble souls that fight aginst the darkness in the Land of Mists (including the player´s characters). When the Gentleman Caller instructs some corrpupted being how to make Bleak house to be forever lost in the mists, the party must stop this or the legendary Van Richten never will be able to leave Bleak House to deal with the TOUD.

Malocchio Aderre uses the demon Marasmos and the resources from the domain of Nosos to create a disease the will erradicate the vistani.

The Gentleman Caller seduces Jaqueline Montarri. She uses Madame Eva´s head to discover how to dispel the Sphere of Binding trapping the Dukkar in Invidia. In a complex ritual that will involve the use of the other 12 sons of the GC, the face painting´s of the Skurra, and the tricking of innocent vistani women (that will need to pronounce by free will, words of libertation of the Dukkar), and the cruel sacrifice of these woman finishing the ritual, the dukkar, Malocchio Aderre will be released.


* The Gentleman Caller is mentioned in many of the hooks. I used him as a catalyst for some ideias, but you must feel free to don´t use him at all, or to replace him for another NPC that can by behind these events.

[The Giamarga]

No, just the contrary. Just was allowed to sneak into a great RPG-author's manuscript, and that will surely kill my weekend freetime. So, no FoS contest for me this year.
The project I am allowed to have a look at has absolutely nothing to do with Ravenloft. I cannot disclose anything further than it is supposed to be d20 and that it might see publication some time next year. And that there has passed some time since I read a RPG supplement I liked so much.

So Rafael, is the mystery supplement released yet? What is it?

[The Giamarga]

Will the Regalia of Arak tie into this adventure? (I always wanted to have the reincarnation/heir of the Erl King return)

Or perhaps everyone´s favorite Vampire Jander Sunstar? (another epic NPC who has been lost in the Mists/the unknown for a long time and who only recently resurfaced. Also he is tied to the begining of RL)

Will the other entries in the contest be made available in the adventure hook or domain of the month section?

[Jester of the FoS]

The eventual adventure (part 1 of 3 is about 90% done) will feature something very similar to the Regalia (because I don't want to assume people have GazV to play said adventure).
It will also feature: new Dream rules, backgrounds on the Nightmare Court, the return of an old 'friend' (not Jander), a Gwydion smackdown, a screaming skull, a conjunction, some bedbugs, the Twins, and much more.

You can bug Stephen when he's back from his vacation to put the Hooks/submissions elsewhere on the site