Antonina Zolnik

First presented in the Darklords sourcebook, Antonina Zolnik is an NPC for the Ravenloft campaign setting, specifically the domain of Vorostokov. Although she is living as of that sourcebook's publication, she is killed by her son Gregor Zolnik as part of the background in the module Dark of the Moon. However, she is not truly deceased but rather a malevolent ghost.

Biography

Antonina was the mother to Natalya Zolnik, Elena Zolnik, and Gregor Zolnik. Gregor's corruption did not touch sisters or mothers in the same way. Whereas they did not become lycanthropes as he did, they turned to witchcraft to further support his dark desires.

The affection Gregor showered upon his second wife, Sasha Zolnik rendered Antonina and her two daughters jealous. The birth of Sasha and Gregor's children, Alexei Zolnik and Mikhail Zolnik, exacerbated this envy. When Antonina reached her limit, she manipulated Sasha into following Gregor and Alexei for the latter's induction ceremony into the Boyarsky. She witnessed the boyarsky's transformations into werewolves but was detected as she gave flight. Chased onto a sheer cliff, Sasha fell to her doom. Gregor sniffed Antonina's scent upon the dead body and became infuriated. In retaliation, he murdered her. In response, Gregor's sisters abandoned him and disappeared. The year was 754 BC

Antonina did not rest quietly and rose as a ghost, sometimes haunting Gregor's old house.

In Dark of the Moon

Though hard to contact, Antonina plays an important part in DotM as she is the only soul to know how to permanently destroy her son. (However, as a malevolent spirit, she does not tell Mikhail how to cure himself of his lycanthropy. If the player characters ask Marik the Mouse-eater how to permanently destroy Gregor, He will direct them to Gregor's old hut.

Game Statistics

As one of the Living

• wizard 8; Lawful Evil

As one of the Undead

• Ghost, 10 Hit Dice; Lawful Evil (Note that some of her powers are different from the standard ghost)

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Dark of the Moon Darklords
		Dark of the Moon - p48
		Dark of the Moon - p49 Darklords - p96
		Domains of Dread - p100 Dark of the Moon - pp7-8,48-49 Darklords - pp90-96