The Black Vault Haul

[IanFordam]

Escher's Harp
Escher's Harp is not actually cursed. It just has consequences. If you enter the near Ethereal, something just might notice you.

What if it actually attracts ghost making someone playing it surrounded by them and slowly going crazy...
It could also be connected with the Citadel of Karina and maybe Escher's ghost haunts/controls the harp after cursing his torturers inside the citadel.

I wrote this up just before going to bed, when I was too tired to come up with a curse that I liked. However, I had confidence that somebody would have a good idea. As you did, and I thank you for that!

And, yes, the Citadel of Karina works just fine in place of Castle Loupet. Even better, perhaps, since Mistipedia tells me there's at least one canonical ghost there to be drawn to the harp's music.

[IanFordam]

That last clause is invalid as per the Primeval pact, section 6, article 125 comma 3 No soul can be sent to the Nine Hells if a)they are not Lawfull Evil, or B) ifthey have not knowingly and purposedly sold their soul with a specific contract. No damnation by side effect or curse is allowed.

Hee!

[Baron Von Stanton]

That last clause is invalid as per the Primeval pact, section 6, article 125 comma 3 No soul can be sent to the Nine Hells if a)they are not Lawfull Evil, or B) ifthey have not knowingly and purposedly sold their soul with a specific contract. No damnation by side effect or curse is allowed.

Technically yes, but no, because section 6, article 125, comma 4 then states "Previous stipulation is null and void if the soul in question is lost due to the previous owner failing to heed any fine print or hidden clauses, especially if said failure will benefit Asmodeus."

[Mephisto of the FoS]

This Scroll of Damnation conversation made me realise that it was good that in 3e they made Strahd CE compared from 2e where he was LE because he didn't actually keep his side of the bargain with Inajira.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

I guess this topic was inspired by Keys from the Golden Vault 5e adventures. Are they good for Ravenloft in your (everyones) opinion?

I haven't gone through them yet but after a first look I made this list. (Yes I know most of those presented have been placed in Darkon but it is more high fantasy than other places and in my opinion more appropriate for demihuman based senarios).

• The Murkmire Malevolence (University of Dementlieu or is the Brautslava Institute better?)

• The Stygian Gambit (Martira Bay, maybe having Styx complicating things...)

• Reach for the Stars (The Thaani population of Immol? Maybe replacing Marcos Delphi with Burgomaster Petre Teodorus and the Delphi manor wit the Teodorus Archives?)

• Prisoner 13 (Tempe Falls or Corvia?)

• Tockworth's Clockworks (Mayvin)

• Masterpiece Imbroglio (Maybe replace Constantori's Portrait with D'Polarno's and the Marquis hires the adventurers to retrieve it).

• Axe from the Grave (Kartakass)

• Axe from the Grave (This could be set anywhere but Silver Fingers Society could be replaced with any other criminal organisation such as The Circle Sinister of Port-a_Lucine, the Thieves' Guild Sly-Var or Toyalis, Malken's or the Brain's organisation as well as the Buried Hands of Lekar.‎ Though for the last one the adventurers don't know exactly what membership to this thieves guild entitles as well as I would make The Last Mistress rival to possibly be a vampire, (not that the others proposed are better...).

[Mistmaster]

That last clause is invalid as per the Primeval pact, section 6, article 125 comma 3 No soul can be sent to the Nine Hells if a)they are not Lawfull Evil, or B) ifthey have not knowingly and purposedly sold their soul with a specific contract. No damnation by side effect or curse is allowed.

Technically yes, but no, because section 6, article 125, comma 4 then states "Previous stipulation is null and void if the soul in question is lost due to the previous owner failing to heed any fine print or hidden clauses, especially if said failure will benefit Asmodeus."

But section 6 article 126 comma 5 adds "a binding contract must still be directly signed for a soul being lost." The Scrool of Damnation actually do not include any signing on itself. So the clause is unvalid. Of course this not mean that the souls will not be taken to hell at the end of their life, only that they can successfully appeal at the Infernal Court in Phlegestos and have their soul freed. Coming out of Baator might still be a problem.

[Speedwagon]

I guess this topic was inspired by Keys from the Golden Vault 5e adventures. Are they good for Ravenloft in your (everyones) opinion?

I haven't gone through them yet but after a first look I made this list. (Yes I know most of those presented have been placed in Darkon but it is more high fantasy than other places and in my opinion more appropriate for demihuman based senarios).

• The Murkmire Malevolence (University of Dementlieu or is the Brautslava Institute better?)

• The Stygian Gambit (Martira Bay, maybe having Styx complicating things...)

• Reach for the Stars (The Thaani population of Immol? Maybe replacing Marcos Delphi with Burgomaster Petre Teodorus and the Delphi manor wit the Teodorus Archives?)

• Prisoner 13 (Tempe Falls or Corvia?)

• Tockworth's Clockworks (Mayvin)

• Masterpiece Imbroglio (Maybe replace Constantori's Portrait with D'Polarno's and the Marquis hires the adventurers to retrieve it).

• Axe from the Grave (Kartakass)

• Axe from the Grave (This could be set anywhere but Silver Fingers Society could be replaced with any other criminal organisation such as The Circle Sinister of Port-a_Lucine, the Thieves' Guild Sly-Var or Toyalis, Malken's or the Brain's organisation as well as the Buried Hands of Lekar.‎ Though for the last one the adventurers don't know exactly what membership to this thieves guild entitles as well as I would make The Last Mistress rival to possibly be a vampire, (not that the others proposed are better...).

It’s funny you bring up Keys From the Golden Vault, Mephisto, cuz I was going to make a thread on how to convert these adventures into Ravenloft ones!

I think they can be good for Ravenloft as I’m a strong believer in making things work out from one source to another in some fashion so here are some of my thoughts (at risk of derailing the thread, sorry Jeremy16!)

Murkmire Malevolence: Brautslava Institute works best here, since the egg could be from a creature warped by the Boglands

Stygian Gambit: Martira Bay is a good choice but you could also use Nevuchar Springs with some modifications like changing the Tieflings for Elves?

Reach for the Stars: Yeah I agree

Prisoner 13: I’ve always thought that Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden would be a great book to convert for the Frozen Reaches (Vorostokov especially) and I did that in one of my campaigns recently. The Revel’s End prison was (IMC) a Hazlani-Vaasi construction in the far side of Vorostokov to take advantage of the Bleak Road to place certain types of prisoners from both domains. Zolnik allows this as he can use the foreigners to feed his people instead of preying on his own populace.

Masterpiece Imbroglio: I agree for Ghastria, but it can also be good for anywhere with high culture like Dementlieu or certain parts of Darkon. It’s honestly my favorite adventure in the book!

Tockworth’s Clockworks: Yup, Mayvin.

Axe From the Grave: I thought this could connect Darkon and Liffe, with a bard from Darkon being grave robbed and the conservatory being in Liffe.

Vidorant’s Vault: Second favorite adventure, anywhere with high crime and organized crime.

Heart of Ashes: Darkon? Hazlan (5e)? Maybe Vechor?

Party at Paliset Hall: Shadow Rift?


Shard of the Accursed: Amber Wastes, no doubt.


Fire and Darkness: Cavitius. No, really.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

For some reason I failed to notice the other adventures thats why they weren't mentioned but now that I discovered them here is my take on them.

• Shard of the Accursed (Well this could be well adapted to Falkovnia too, with the crime syndicate being the Buried Hands, an undead thieves' guild in Lekar guarding the Last Mistress's).

• Heart of Ashes (OK this screams Azalin and 5e Castle Avernus from miles away... Castle Cinis image is similar to Castle Avernus from VRGtR. So I recommend an alternative Ravenloft universe (like 5e Ravenloft) were the adventures have to retrieve the dried (black) heart or Azalin Rex himself and save Darkon from destruction. As a rival party I would use agents of the Unholy Order of the Grave. This needs much work though as Castle Avernus is much larger than Castle Cinis. Blueprints of Castle Aversus fro the adventure From the Shadows).

• Affair on the Concordant Express (I am not a fan of this one but it is obviously Cyre 1313 involved, maybe the PC's are onboard as spirits with the goal actually being finding a magical item that can bring them back to life but if someone wants to follow the adventure as it is with a few changes maybe the PC's manage to board it after becoming ethereal and search for some of Ravenloft's fiendish True Names).

• Party at Paliset Hall (OK this is a stretch but what if this adventure was taking place in Arak during the Grand Conjunction with the Hags of Tepest wanting to get back the shard solitaire form Maeve. This combined with Gwydion's actions creates the Shadow Rift when the Grand Conjunction collapses).

• Fire and Darkness (Cavitius sounds like a good option, but I am personally not a big fan of Vecna, except in Stranger Things, so I would possibly place this in Pharasia or in one of the many transformations of Vechor).

PS
Sorry Jeremy 16, I will make up to you with another post describing a Black Vault item

[KingCorn]

• Affair on the Concordant Express (I am not a fan of this one but it is obviously Cyre 1313 involved, maybe the PC's are onboard as spirits with the goal actually being finding a magical item that can bring them back to life but if someone wants to follow the adventure as it is with a few changes maybe the PC's manage to board it after becoming ethereal and search for some of Ravenloft's fiendish True Names).

What about the Lamplighter from the Western-Core Train Line from QtR 15? Thats a good ghost train to use, with the Gauldamon family and their fiendish riturals being involved

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Foolheart's Breastplate

I didn't mentioned it before but I was planning to write a background for this too based on the story of Ivanhoe and involving jousting tournaments unrequited love, scorn and betrayal. But you beat me up to it Ian so...

Fists of Fury (Although I could make something inspired by the Bruce Lee movie of the same name I did something completely different).

Vajra-musti (meaning "thunder fist" or "diamond fist") refers to a "fist-load, knuckleduster-like" weapon and is also a form of Sri Rajan wrestling in which the weapon is employed. This weapon is sometimes called Indra-musti which means Indra's fist. Matches are patronised by the higher casts of Sri Raji and wrestlers called Jyesti Malla are held in high regard while renowned athletes and professional fighters usually act as bodyguards for the rich. One such wrestler was Narayana Sirasikar who was sponsored by a wealthy merchant Dasra Anagal and was notorious for being undefeated but also hot tempered. When Narayana came to an age that would ultimately lose by someone younger he decided to retire rather than have his ego get hurt by a possible defeat. He was employed by his former patron Dasra Anagal as Neha Anagal's, Dasra's daughter, bodyguard. But while Narayana was a good wrestler he was far from being a good man, it wasn't long before Narayana forced himself on the beautiful Neha, the young woman resisted him fiercely which made Narayana extremely angry and beat her up to death with his knuckledusters. It didn't take long before Narayana was arrested and executed by Dasra's men but not before he promised his former employer that he would take revenge for his death. Not long after that incident Dasra was presented with the pair of knuckles that had killed his daughter, he ordered them destroyed but they seemed to be impervious to any means of destruction, be it being hammered or fire. The person who was responsible for destroying them feared that his failure could mean losing his head so he lied of having destroyed them when he actually sold them to a party of adventurers who were trying to find way out of Sri Raji.

Each piece of this pair of cursed knuckleduster-like weapons are made from a different animal, one is made of an elephant tusk while the other is carved form the horn of a gaur, a bovine animal native to Sri Raji. They are both plain with no depictions to make them seem special, each having seven points giving each weapon the shape of a lotus flower. When someone wears the knuckles and is involved into a fight they gain the benefits of a rage power similar to that of a barbarian of the same level. After the user of this pair of exotic weapons draws even a single drop of blood from an opponent the curse makes them more aggressive and hot tempered and all NPC's initial attitudes are considered unfriendly at best. After each encounter where the owner of these cursed items uses them the owner has a permanent -1 penalty to all Diplomacy checks thereafter. This penalty is cumulative after each encounter where these knuckleduster-like weapons are used. As time goes by the curse makes the cursed individual even more hot headed and disliked after each use of these weapons and this hostility effects also friends and family. There have been many individuals who have used these weapons and ended up fighting their former friends and family members as they couldn't even stand that persons presence anymore. Most owners of the fists of fury have ended up dead, having been killed by their friends and family or have lived a lonely reclusive life only to be killed by the first person they encounter.

[IanFordam]

Foolheart's Breastplate

I didn't mentioned it before but I was planning to write a background for this too based on the story of Ivanhoe and involving jousting tournaments unrequited love, scorn and betrayal. But you beat me up to it Ian so...

Please know, Meph, that I won't be at all offended if you present alternate takes on any of the Black Vault items that I've written up. My intention all along has been to stir the pot, not to call preemptive dibs. So if you've got another spin for Foolheart's Breastplate, by all means, post it!

[Mephisto of the FoS]

Robe of Ruleship

This purple royal mantle has a cloak with a long train, is decorated with gold threaded fleur-de-lis the speculated emblem of Richemulot royalty and is lined with white fur. It's history is long lost (even a legend lore or vision spell fails to give any information on it) but some theoretical historians from the University of Richemulot associate it with the legend of Le Roi nu ("the Naked King") inscribed with frescos inside Le Palais, the headquarters of Roi Nu Watch company in Mortigny, claiming it is depicted within that buildings walls. The story goes as this, a rat-catcher boy was in love with a beautiful princess. However the king, the princess's father, was a foolish dictator and was not happy with their affair as he wanted his daughter to marry the king of a neighbouring kingdom, to cement his ruleship and lineage. After learning of the rat-catchers involvement with his daughter the king ordered him to be executed, for laying a hand on the princess. Two rebellious friends of the rat-catcher devised a plan to avenge his death and ridicule the king hoping to stir up a rebellion against him. They posed themselves as weavers capable of making a prestigious supernatural garment that was only visible to people loyal to the king so he could detect who of his subjects was loyal to him and who wasn't. Thus, they wanted to trap the king by making him appear naked in front of all his subjects, on the day of his daughter's wedding to his cousin. The king hired them, and they set up looms and went to work. A succession of officials, visited the weaver's workshop to check their progress and report to the king but after seeing the looms were empty they pretended otherwise fearing they would be considered disloyal to the king and executed. When the weavers reported that the kings's suit was finished they mimed dressing him up, the king himself who was hiding his insecurities behind his cruelty could also see himself naked but perceived it as a result of his insecurity of not being fit to rule over his kingdom, after all he had usurped the kingdom from his brother after assassinating him. When the "weavers" "finished" their work and the day of the princesse's wedding came the king wore his royal mantle and crown and set off in a procession before the whole city. The townsfolk uncomfortably went along with the pretence, not wanting to appear disloyal and put to death, when a child blurted out that the king was wearing nothing at all it was arrested and swiftly executed. The king of the neighbouring kingdom and his own subjects didn't say anything either fearing that exposing the king's new clothes as fake and thus ridiculing his would be father-in-law would definitely anger the naked king and start a war between them that was something he wanted to avoid. The theoretical historians and scholars speculate that this massive sense of fear, mass gaslighting acceptance of unreality and blind obedience to the naked king as well as the sacrifice of a child to it gave the royal mantle its power to give its wearer the ability to command anyone to the most absurd request as well as its curse. As everyone around the wearer of this enchanting robe get enspelled by it, the wearer ends up being surrounded by "yes-men" in a life of loneliness and uncertainty of their decisions and actions.

The robe of rulership enables the person who wears it to impose their will to would-be subjects. Anyone present before someone wearing it feels a wave of compulsion washing over them, a telepathic call to fall to their knees and obey the wielder although persons of strong mind can withstand the effect of this cursed royal mantle. Anyone who wears it automatically commands obedience from any humanoid creature within 120 feet of them. Each target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw per round in the presence of the wearer or be dominated by the one wearing the royal mantle for 8 hours. While enchanted in this way, the creature regards the wearer as a trusted leader and blindly obeys that person. If harmed by the wearer or their companions, targets can make another saving throw with a +4 bonus (per attack) to cease being enchanted in this way for a day. Subjects commanded to do something contrary to their nature, receive a new saving throw with a +2 bonus, even obviously self-destructive orders can be carried out but with a +6 bonus and resisting the robes effects renders them immune for a day. Once control is established, the range at which it can be exercised is unlimited, as long as the wearer and the subject are on the same plane and the wearer of this cursed item need not see the subject to control it. The curse of this royal mantle manifests with waves of insecurity and the loss of personality (Charisma) as the person wearing it becomes depended on this cursed item to interact with other people. For every day the robe of ruleship is worn the wearer is drained permanently of one point of Charisma, when the wearer's Charisma falls below 1 then the wearer becomes a lost one discards the mantle and roams aimlessly in a catatonic state. After a week wearing this cursed powerful item the wearer must also make a Madness check or suffer the effects of paranoia as the waves of insecurity the wearer feels are also projected outwards.

[Baron Von Stanton]

My intention all along has been to stir the pot, not to call preemptive dibs.

So that's why you called dibs on the Witch's Spoon?

[IanFordam]

My intention all along has been to stir the pot, not to call preemptive dibs.

So that's why you called dibs on the Witch's Spoon?

Well, y'know, how better to stir the pot?

[Baron Von Stanton]

My intention all along has been to stir the pot, not to call preemptive dibs.

So that's why you called dibs on the Witch's Spoon?

Well, y'know, how better to stir the pot?

Well, there's the Magimixmaster 6666, but good luck buying it from Tasha's Catalogue of Everything.