Darklords' weaknesses

[Kessler]

After DMing RL for some five years I finally decided to make a campaign which I wanted to do looong time ago. But always got better ideas.

The campaign's idea is that players are hired/seduced/blackmailed to destroy all Ravenloft darklords, ending with Strahd. And for the sake of the game, I've ruled that there's big chance that domain disappears after its lord's death. Other smaller possibilities are merging with other domains and getting a new darklord.

Considering this I have a problem how to kill (permanently) different darklords. Some of them have special weakness, some don't, but I'd like to engraft to all darklords some special weakness for destroying them, so that PCs could get the clues beforehand.

So, I ask your help and ideas: is there any single source that states their weaknesses? Or if not, have I missed some from canon? And for those who doesn't have canon weakness, what could it be? Or any sources to find a clue?

That's what I have till now:
1. Harkon Lukas – kill all dire wolves in Kartakass and then Lukas
2. Strahd von Zarovich – ??? As vampire? Holy Symbol of Ravenkind?
3. Tristen ApBlanc – during 4 days (2 solstices, 2 equinoxes, druidic holy days) is in comatose and can be permanently killed: reverts into purely mortal form.
4. Hazlik – ???
5. Adam – kill Mordenheim and Adam at the same time
6. Vlad Drakov – ???
7. Death – destroy the Shroud
8. Azalin Rex – ???
9. Jacqueline Renier – chemical bane: dove feathers
10. Wilfred Godefroy – Gryphon Manor torn down and stones scattered
11. Dominic d´Honaire - ???
12. Gabrielle Aderre - ???
13. Ivana Boritsi - ???
14. Ivan Dilisnya - ???
15. Inza Magdova Kulchevich – possibly drive shard of Gard though her heart or shadow
16. Alfred Timothy - ???
17. Urik von Kharkov – killed by Cat of Felkovic
18. Gwydion - ???
19. sir Trister Hiregaard/Malken – kill all Hiregaards male descendants and maybe Romir
20. Lady of the Lake - ???
21. the Three Hags - ???
22. Tristessa - ???
23. Morgoroth – break the mirror
24. Arijani – hit by Ravana’s Bane
25. Anton Misroi - ???
26. dr. Dominiani - ???
27. Frantisek Markov - ???

[Willowhugger]

1. Harkon Lukas – kill all dire wolves in Kartakass and then Lukas
2. Strahd von Zarovich – ??? As vampire? Holy Symbol of Ravenkind?
3. Tristen ApBlanc – during 4 days (2 solstices, 2 equinoxes, druidic holy days) is in comatose and can be permanently killed: reverts into purely mortal form.
4. Hazlik – Destroy his amulet then him.
5. Adam – kill Mordenheim and Adam at the same time
6. Vlad Drakov – Simple blade will work.
7. Death – destroy the Shroud
8. Azalin Rex – Same way all Lichs die.
9. Jacqueline Renier – chemical bane: dove feathers
10. Wilfred Godefroy – Gryphon Manor torn down and stones scattered
11. Dominic d´Honaire - Blade will do.
12. Gabrielle Aderre - again blade.
13. Ivana Boritsi - Ditto.
14. Ivan Dilisnya - Ditto.
15. Inza Magdova Kulchevich – possibly drive shard of Gard though her heart or shadow
16. Alfred Timothy - Blade of Silver.
17. Urik von Kharkov – killed by Cat of Felkovic
18. Gwydion - Summon Cthulhu to fight him and when one wins, summon Ultraman to kill the other.
19. sir Trister Hiregaard/Malken – kill all Hiregaards male descendants and maybe Romir
20. Lady of the Lake - ???
21. the Three Hags - Kill all three before they can regenerate one another.
22. Tristessa - ???
23. Morgoroth – break the mirror
24. Arijani – hit by Ravana’s Bane
25. Anton Misroi - ???
26. dr. Dominiani - ivory stake then decapitation with wafers.
27. Frantisek Markov - ???
28. Yango Petronova- Place the Amulet Fragment into his altar
29. Anketepot- ???
30. Diambel- ???
31. Sodo- Prevent him from using the Fang of the Nosferatu then slay him

[Kessler]

11. Dominic d´Honaire - Blade will do.

I meant something special, which makes killing something different than simply rolling dices.

Kind of "28. Yango Petronova- Place the Amulet Fragment into his altar"

Except Drakov, whose connection to the land is weak anyway.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Rotipher's Guide To Cruel And Unusual Darklord Disposal:

2. Strahd von Zarovich – ??? As vampire? Holy Symbol of Ravenkind?

Using the HSoR and the Bright Blade would be a better nod to I6. Calling up Sergei's ghost for assistance might be a nice touch too.

4. Hazlik – ???

Destroy the amulet is step 1. Then sabotage his Mulan-killing ritual so it only affects his own domain, and prevent him from body-swapping with Eleni as he'd planned.

6. Vlad Drakov – ???

Render him helpless and let his own brutalized peasents tear him apart.

7. Death – destroy the Shroud

Trick him into reading the book from Azalin's library that relates his real past history as Dachine, forcing him to face up to the lie he's been living. Then destroy the Shroud.

8. Azalin Rex – ???

Confront him with irrefutable evidence that 1) his son Irik would've made a far better king than him without his coaching, and 2) that the Dark Powers honestly don't give a rat's heinie about any of his schemes, thus shattering his ego, and he'll probably smash his own phylactery out of sheer embarassment.

11. Dominic d´Honaire - ???

Dominic vs Living Brain in a "Scanners"-style psionic smackdown.

12. Gabrielle Aderre - ???

Have Malocchio capture both Matton and Ardonk, then threaten to kill one of them, thus forcing his mother to make up her danged mind for once. Then have her daughter turn into a wolfwere and eat her.

13. Ivana Boritsi / Ivan Dilisnya - ???

Get the pair to make amends and fall sincerely in love with one another, thus forfeiting their respective half-darklord status and stripping them of their inherent immunity to poison. Unfortunately, they're both still toxic to the touch: when they kiss at last, they horrifically kill each other.

16. Alfred Timothy - ???

Tick him off so thoroughly that he "loses it" and throws a temper tantrum at a crucial ceremony to the Wolf God in front of all his fanatical followers. Then sit back and watch as he turns into his human form -- a frail, graceful form which, to werewolves, looks and smells absolutely delicious -- and watch the fur fly as they fight over who gets to eat the first bite of him.

18. Gwydion - ???

Break the link formed by the Obsidian Gate completely and release him back into the Plane of Shadow. The DPs never really wanted this bugger in their sandbox anyway, AFAIK; he's too strong to kill, so let him be the one that got away.

21. the Three Hags - ???

Break up the covey by convincing each of the sisters that the creep who'd spurned all three in the first place really had loved her, and the other two had conspired to hide that fact out of envy. Then ambush and kill all three, simultaneously, while they're separated and thus weak.

22. Tristessa - ???

Find the ghost of her drider baby and reunite them in death. If that's too merciful for Ravenloft IYO, you can always rule her kid's not happy to see her, and retaliates (perhaps aided by thousands of infants' spirits) a la Godefroy's wife and daughter.

25. Anton Misroi - ???

Cause the real loa Lord of the Dead to manifest and kick the poser's butt. Rather than destroy him, the true Lord might strip him of all of his powers and intellect, reducing Misroi to nothing but an ordinary zombie.

26. dr. Dominiani - ???

Gaslight him so he thinks he's finally lost it. Then stick him in a rubber room and forget about him: let him starve a la Leo Dilisnya, because once he's stricken by madness, he's no longer worth the effort.

27. Frantisek Markov - ???

Better humiliated than killed. Lead a new Lamordian colonial expedition to Markovia, then have the colonists ally with the broken ones and burn Diosamblet's compound to the ground. If Markov survives, stick him in a cage in the zoo for Lamordians to gawk at and broken ones to throw things at.

[Undead Cabbage]

Rotipher hasn't outright stated it, but a common theme in a lot of his endings there is that the Darklords meet an ending that reflects their beginning. The DPs are not likely to just let one of their toys be thrown away in the middle of their sentence. However if their sentence was capped off with their sins 'coming back to get them', then it would give a neat sort of irony which is a common theme in Gothic Horror.

Here are my thoughts on a few of them:

Strahd Sergei definately needs to be involved. Get Tatyana in there, Jander Sunstar: Strahd's death should have a lot of players in it. Indeed, one could base a years worth of campaigns just on his downfall. He is the King of Ravenloft, after all. Much like how his ascention was a meeting of many peoples, so should be is down fall.

Azalin Rex Roti says it all, but I'd also add that maybe he should also be betrayed by 'S'. Ya, ok, I'm only saying this because I see her as his clone. But 'S' could be a great way to destroy his pride even further. I'd also have Azalin's fall result from summoning something: indeed that's a common theme with him.

Dominic Dominic should be humiliated in front of everything, much in the same way he does others. Ideally, his infatuation with women could be what destroys him. Helene the traitor would be a good device for this. So far she has recieved some special treatment; automatically a sign of vulnerability on Dominic's part.

Ivana + Ivan I'd throw the Jongleur in there. It's pretty well assumed that he's a GC child, and he's bound to be there for a reason. My interpretation was that Ivana eventually resorts to seeking her desires from him, as his demonic nature would shield him from her poison.

Of course, in the end the Jongleur might recieve and order from Daddy to kill her. A reflection of how Camille order Ivana to kill her first lover

Ivan could potentially become jealous of Mr. Jongleur, once again a reflection of his ascension to Darklord ship.

Gwydion Roti's right, don't even bother. Gwydion wasn't meant to be killed by PCs.

Wilfred Godefroy This one I've been working on, as my PCs have been playing in Mordent for the entire school year. I've got a whole scheme. Sorry if this post is huge, btw.

- Wilfred Godefroy uses Daniel Foxgrove to set up the PCs and frame them. They are put on trial. (reflection of Wilfred's escaping the law in life)
- Possibily Daniel, but someone commits suicide before letting the players know about Godefroy, killing him/herself so to spite Godefroy, as he would likely want to kill them himself for causing him such trouble. (Wilfred commited suicide in order to escape the ghosts of his wife and daughter)
- Wilfred is Defeated on the night of the Nocturne (i.e. Halloween in Mordent). Besides its apparent convenience, it was on the last day of October that Mordent was thrown into RL, and Godefroy named its Dark Lord.
- Godefroy's defeat somehow leads to a strong leader in Mordent, most likely a female from a different lineage. I pictured this as the point when Gennifer would finally take on Mordent. (Godefroy wished for a male heir of his Pedigree to be the leader of Mordent).

It might also be neat to somehow involve the Renier family, as it was a Renier that built the mansion.

These are just might thoughts though.

[Spiteful Crow]

Anketepot - Wait for him to drain someone's life force and revert back to a normal human, then kill 'im!

Diamabel - Pharazians have a superstition about children born with black eyes, and will normally kill them at birth. Have one of them survive and come back to assist in killing Diamabel. Or... maybe the black eyes are the sign that the child is an Aasimar. Have the Aasimar come and fully reveal his celestial heritage, and then rebuke Diamabel as a fraud.

You can just mess with the Obsidian Gate to get rid of Gwydion, but what about the God Brain? It's almost as powerful as Gwydion, and I'm pretty sure he'd notice if you try to pull a stunt like pouring things in his pool.

[Grigg_Deadbreaker]

Tristan/Malken can be put to rest and the curse ended if he is stabbed through the heart by a woman who truly loves him, IIRC. I think that this info can be found in The Awakening adventure, but I'm not sure. I know I saw it somewhere in a canon book. Of course, seeing as how the only woman who loved him that much (even if he did not return those feelings) died giving birth to his youngest child, it may not be likely to end until the curse has been tranferred into the younger generation of Hiregaards.

To permanently lay Strahd to rest, you should definitely bring several elements together. The current incarnation of Tatyana, the Baal Verzi dagger, the Holy symbol of Ravenkind, and Sergei's Sunsword. Exactly how these must fall into place is up to the DM, but they should all be involved. More than likely, Inajira should be involved as well, perhaps he could be the one who puzzles out the required ritual.

[Scarycount]

Here's how I think Strahd should die: Have Sergei's reincarnation meet Tatyana's. Strahd comes closer than ever to making Tatyana his bride, but at the last minute, he sees that Sergei has stolen her back. Strahd always suffered when Tatyana died again, but the Dark Powers didn't kill him, because he hadn't suffered enough yet. He knew that Tatyana would come back, but this time, she would not, and Sergei will have her forever. This would be the final, mortal blow to Strahd. It would be even more ironic if you could have his death come about thanks to a stake (ie. dying of a broken heart).
P.S. There should be an Icon for evil laugh.