The Red Haunt

First formally introduced in Quoth the Raven Issue 27, The Conferences of Victor Gagné IV, although an earlier draft had been presented on the Fraternity of Shadows discussion forums.

The Red Haunt is a Devoratrix, a variant type of Succubus Tanar'ri (a tribe of Fiends also known as Demons) created by the evil Faerunian goddess known as Shar[1]. Like many of her kind, the Red Haunt chafed at having to serve at the beck and call of the malicious goddess as a Shadow Auditor - an inquisitor sent to worm her way into the confidence of users of the Shadow Weave[2], test them for loyalty to the goddess, and weed out the unfaithful.

Origin

The fiend's last target in service to Shar was a Mulan Red Wizard/Shadow Adept[3] named Girin. Rather than treat the demon as a tool or a slave, as most who fell for the deceptions offered by Devoratrices did, Girin treated the demon as a partner, an equal, even as a friend, and together they plumbed the stygian depths of the Shadow Weave for secrets and power. While Girin continued as a Specialist Wizard and Shadow Adept, the fiend studied as a Bard and Shadowcaster[4].

When Shar demanded a report on the progress of the inquisition, the fiend realized she was far more 'fond' of Girin than she felt loyalty to the goddess who had created her demonic strain. Girin returned the sentiment, and together the two dark arcanists decided to flee to some other world, where Shar could not reach them. The two of them plunged into the Plane of Shadow, managing to retain their hold on the Shadow Weave that empowered them, but Shar sent assassins to hunt them down. Girin suffered lethal wounds, but the two companions had set up a contingency plan before fleeing. Together, they sealed Girin's soul in a ring set in the fiend's navel. The plan was for the fiend to seduce a male mortal and conceive a child, then to channel Girin's soul into the pre-natal fetus, allowing her to be reborn as a half-fiend. As the fiend plunged further into Shadow, she was surprised to notice a dense fog rising around her. When the fog lifted, the demon had arrived in Darkon. The year was 581 BC.

Birth of the Red Haunt

The fiend attempted to escape Darkon and the Demiplane of Dread with all its might, trying again and again to pass through the Plane of Shadow, only for her to be delivered back into Darkon. She attempted to bully locals into revealing the way out, to no avail as none could answer her questions. Just as her frustration was reaching its peak, the fiend realized something dreadful: her memory was being eroded by some unknown force. In spite of her reality wrinkle, Darkon's 'residential curse' was rewriting centuries of the demon's memory, including her memories of the one person she had ever loved. In her extremity of emotion, the fiend took a desperate gamble, and placed a curse on herself as she had observed Vistani do from afar: No name, no past, no self, save that which you make by efforts your own. Remain unfixed by all hands; let all what would chain you suffer and moan!

The curse wiped clean the demon's memory in one fell swoop -- but it also prevented Darkon's influence from supplying her with new ones. A fiendish tabula rasa, the demon awoke near Nevuchar Springs the next morning, vaguely aware of what she was, but wholly unknowing of the who, where, when and why. As she travelled around Darkon, the demon eventually came upon Il Aluk, where she felt a great attraction to the University. Keenly aware of the void in her memory, the demon decided to fill it with knowledge. Of course, an education would cost money, and so the demon created a persona that could earn her the cold, hard cash she needed; a ferocious bandit who would wander Darkon's roads and cities, forever on the lookout for chances to shed blood and reap funds. It was at this point that the demon discovered the second effect of the curse she had forgotten placing on herself; as she engaged in the bandit's life, she found herself with two personalities coexisting in one body. One was the primal fiend who had awoken near Nevuchar Springs, eager to learn, breed and feed; the other was the bandit, hungry for battle and brigandage. Rather than fight, the two personalities were delighted to discover each other's existence.

This pattern has repeated itself over the following centuries. The demon has studied arcane magic at the University of Il Aluk; has honed her combat skills as a bandit and mercenary for Josephine Chantreaux of the Council of Brilliance in Falkovnia; has mastered science in Lamordia and pursuing post-doctorate studies with Victor Mordenheim; she has become an influential priestess of Brightwell and scholar of religious lore; she has studied many fields of knowledge and gathered power almost as an afterthought. Every time she discovers a new field of study, a new identity is born within the seething, insane matrix of the fiend's essence, allowing her to tackle her studies with a fresh perspective and expand the knowledge and skills available to the whole.

Grudges

• The Red Haunt is noted to deeply dislike both Falkovnia and Lamordia, albeit for different reasons.
  • The fiend dislikes Falkovnia's lack of culture and learning, considering most of the people she meets there to be unlettered thugs - good for fighting in her persona as Charissa Schlosser and good for robbing or collecting bounties on, but nothing else. (Presumably, she has never visited or found insufficient virtue in the Radiant Tower.)
  • In contrast, the fiend likes the scientific development of Lamordia very much, but considers its people to be myopic and close-minded. Her Katia Schlosser-persona feels insulted by Victor Mordenheim and still resents the fact that she was driven from the hospital she ran there due to the actions of an old enemy, Boyce Vinctus. Charissa Schlosser considers the Lamordians to be 'boring' to fight and kill.
• The Red Haunt's Imogen Schlosser-persona holds a deep, lasting hatred for Meredoth, not merely because the old Necromancer tried to infiltrate her household with Lebendtod so he could rob her, but because she finds his very nature to be repulsive. Whereas the Red Haunt is creative, driven and holds a twisted respect for scholars of all kinds, Meredoth is a thief and an arrogant magic-supremacist who achieves nothing in the wider world. As a Dread Possibility, the Red Haunt is pursuing a plan to sink Todstein into the ocean, whereupon she will attack and murder Meredoth while he is still confused. While the old crank is incapacitated and his troops are scattered, the fiend plans to rob him of his magical treasures and spellbooks.
• At one time, Alanik Ray (possibly unaware of the Red Haunt's true nature) tried to track her down and bring her to justice. While the fiend has made no mention of a true vendetta against the great detective, she refers to him as 'old Alanik Ray' in discussion with Victor Gagné, expressing some disdain for the man while simultaneously acknowledging his skill as an investigator.

Scion

In 622 BC, the Red Haunt meets Tressac in Forlorn. While they did not care for each other, both enjoyed swapping lore and agreed to meet again. In 626 BC they reunite for a few days and nights of exchanging secrets - and the Red Haunt has invited other guests. This marks the informal founding of the Scions of Irul, a loose organization of monsters and outcasts that meets every four years to trade in secrets and self-made items. The Red Haunt deeply enjoys the exchange of creativity and knowledge, and actually protects the Scions from Tressac's clumsy attempts at manipulation.

Nemesis

As she went along her way, sowing harm and studying in equal measure, the Red Haunt came to realize her forward progress was being stymied by an unknown force. In game terms, each consecutive persona has less room to grow by means of gathering levels in a character class. In addition, her early experiments at escape from the Demiplane of Dread went disastrously wrong for no logical reason she could discern.

Over time, the fiend became convinced of the existence of the Dark Powers. Blaming the obstacle to her growth, the thwarting of her experiments and possibly the void in her memory on these secretive but all-pervasive forces, the Red Haunt decided that something needed to be done about her oppressors. She is highly fond of the Lands of Mist for their opportunities for study and their malleability, but the Dark Powers? They have got to go.

Centurion

In 740 BC, the persona of the Red Haunt known as 'the Centurion' is born. In 751 BC, during a meeting of the Scions of Irul in Cortton, Kartakass, she co-founds the Centurions of the Night with the aid of a rogue Fraternity of Shadows-Brother and fellow Scion Aleister Smythe. The Centurions have a single, devastating goal: to cast down the Demiplane of Dread, kill the Dark Powers, and rebuild the Land of Mist in their own image through an act of 'Cosmic Necromancy'. Almost as an afterthought, the Red Haunt seemingly kills Tressac as he tries to disrupt the meeting. (Unknown to her, the Necropolitan survives, trapped in a Domain of his own as its Darklord.

Source of Shadow

While it is unknown whether the Red Haunt is aware of the events of the Spellplague[5] and the resulting dissolution of both the Weave[6] and the Shadow Weave[7], the fact remains that she is a nexus and source of the Shadow Weave in the Demiplane of Dread. Even if Shar no longer sponsors this dark Weave, it appears to still be vital and functional in Ravenloft -- and the Red Haunt is eager to spread it and instruct others in its use. In a sense, this means the Red Haunt has surpassed her former mistress, and is the foremost authority on the mysteries of her chosen style of magic.

Powers and Abilities

Apart from being a potent Bard in all her incarnations, the Red Haunt has access to three Land-based powers, one of which allows her to conjure an dense fog within her reality wrinkle, one to forcibly warp the [Demiplane's Weave of Magic][8] (as acknowledged by both Hags and the Church of Hala) within her reality wrinkle to the Shadow Weave, and one that grants her a smile capable of driving people who see it insane.

All personas of the Red Haunt share a familiar's bond with Imogen Schlosser's Dread Familiar: a Stitched-Flesh cat named Gregory.

Phylactery

The Red Haunt's collective phylactery is a book bound in red leather, which she named the Record of Memories. When the Red Haunt awoke after having cursed herself, this book lay at her side and was small enough to carry by hand. As the fiend has lived, learned, piled on experiences and developed new personas, the book has steadily increased in size until it has become the size of a fully-grown man.

The Record of Memories contains all of the Red Haunt's memories, from each and every persona, and is invaluable as a reference document for her personas' research. Because it is also a risk to her security and existence, the devoratrix has hidden the book in a room without doors or windows underneath a distant mountain range. (The location of this mountain range is undisclosed at this time.) The book is chained to a metallic golem of some sort, and the room and the area around it are full of deadly traps. Whenever the Red Haunt wants to reference her phylactery, she uses glass orbs that allow her to see into the room and contact a skeletal undead librarian-thing to turn the pages for her.

Children

The Red Haunt is currently known to have two daughters and a third child of undisclosed gender, who also dwell in Ravenloft:

• Victoria Schlosser, a Neutral Evil female half-fiend Bard 5 / Scientist 2. Victoria was sired by none other than Victor Mordenheim without his consent. She currently lives in Leidenheim, running the hospital previously managed by the Red Haunt's 'Katia'-persona.
• Clementine Schlosser, a Chaotic Evil Succubus Bard 5 / Centurion of the Night 2. Clementine is the Red Haunt's parthenogenic daughter, and currently dwells in Paridon as the Centurions' official agent in the Zherisia Cluster. She works relatively closely with her mother and has her own rooms in the Retreat.
• The Infant is a child the Red Haunt conceived after assaulting Victor Gagné during his stay in the Retreat.

Statistics

D&D 3.5

• 'Mother/Madam Schlosser': Chaotic Evil female Devoratrix Bard 6 / Shadowcaster 4 / Noctumancer 10
• 'Charissa Schlosser': Chaotic Evil female Devoratrix Bard 4 / Swordsage 5 / Ebon Phoenix Mage 10
• 'Imogen Schlosser': Chaotic Evil female Devoratrix Bard 1 / Wizard 7 / Ultimate Magus 10
• 'Katia Schlosser': Chaotic Evil female Devoratrix Bard 17
• 'Lillian Schlosser': Chaotic Evil female Devoratrix Bard 4 / Cleric 3 / Mystic Theurge 10
• 'Vinaash Schlosser': Neutral Evil Devoratrix Bard 4 / Erudite 3 / Cerebremancer 9
• 'Amourette Schlosser': Chaotic Evil Devoratrix Bard 7 / Sublime Chord 8
• 'Harmony Schlosser': Chaotic Evil Devoratrix Bard 5 / Alchemical Philosopher 9
• 'Solange Schlosser': Chaotic Evil Devoratrix Bard 4 / Dread Witch 4 / Shadow Adept 5
• 'Centurion': ?? Devoratrix ?? ??
• 'Genevieve Schlosser': Chaotic Good female Devoratrix Bard 4 / Crusader 4

Chronology

• 581 BC Arrival in Darkon; curses herself. Birth of persona 'Mother'. Birth of persona 'Charissa Schlosser'.
• 585 BC: The Red Haunt encounters Robert Gauldamon, lost and wandering in the border mists of Darkon. Intrigued by his seething hatred and madness, she nurses him back to health and nurtures his Evil before unleashing him onto the Core.
• 587 BC Charissa accosts Ciphramir and his then-apprentice Federlin on the roads of Darkon. Ciphramir attempts to dissuade her by citing the fact neither he nor Federlin carries money; Charissa senses something in Federlin that even she finds disquieting and permanently scars the woman to mark her. Ciphramir drives her off with a sonic blast that bursts both her eardrums.
• 588 BC Birth of persona 'Imogen Schlosser'.
• 593 BC Imogen Schlosser exposes and shames Boyce Vinctus before their class at the University of Il Aluk. Boyce flees into the Boglands to hide his disgrace.
• 594 BC Imogen Schlosser graduates from the University of Il Aluk.
• 622 BC The Red Haunt meets Tressac in Forlorn. After swapping lore, they agree to meet again in four years' time.
• 626 BC First semi-official meeting of the Scions of Irul.
• 648 BC The Red Haunt finds the Kalidnay grimoire in Kalidnay.
• 650 BC The Red Haunt arrives in Lilliend by ways of the Threefold Path.
• 684 BC Birth of persona 'Katia Schlosser' in Lamordia.
• 688 BC Victor Mordenheim tries to poison Katia Schlosser, so he can transplant Elise's brain into her skull. Katia tortures and rapes Victor, then feeds on his mind and leaves Schloss Mordenheim. Victor does not remember the events of the night of torment he endured afterward. Katia opens a hospital in Leidenheim and starts using the steady flow of patients to test new medical procedures, and the bodies of the dead for ... other ... research.
• 689 BC Birth of Victoria Schlosser. Due to her inhuman heritage, the girl matures far faster than a regular human child, and proves an eager student for Katia's brand of science.
• 693 BC Summer. Boyce Vinctus finds Katia's hospital and massacres the patients in an attempt to intimidate her into revealing the location of Imogen. The Red Haunt transplants Boyce's brain into the body of an adult male seal.
• 693 BC Birth of Clementine Schlosser in Dementlieu. Charissa Schlosser teaches her succubus daughter to hunt, seduce and murder, first in Chateaufaux and later in Port-a-Lucine.
• 694 BC Birth of persona 'Lillian Shlosser' in Sri Raji.
• 700 BC The Red Haunt converts to the faith of Brightwell in the Wartorn Cluster.
• 703 BC Birth of persona 'Vinaash Schlosser' in Sri Raji.
• 712 BC Clementine Schlosser asks leave to explore the Demiplane of Dread on her own. The Red Haunt suggests her daughter attend a University and attains an education.
• 713 BC Birth of persona 'Amourette Schlosser' in Hazlan.
• 713 BC Clementine Schlosser enters the University of Dementlieu as a student.
• 720 BC Birth of persona 'Harmony Schlosser' in Paridon
• 723 BC Clementine Schlosser graduates with full honours from the University of Dementlieu.
• 733 BC Birth of persona 'Solange Schlosser' in Dementlieu.
• 738 BC First Lebendtod 'sleeper agents' present themselves at Imogen Schlosser's tower on Darkon's eastern sea-border, with orders from Meredoth to infiltrate Imogen's household and copy her spellbooks. Imogen interrogates and dissects the spies.
• 739 BC Second group of Lebendtod 'sleeper agents' presents itself at Imogen's tower. The Fiend dissects these as well, but has now become intrigued as to Meredoth's nature and starts to investigate him. What she discovers sends Imogen flying into a rage, and she departs the Core for the domains that will become the Wartorn Cluster.
• 740 BC Birth of persona 'Centurion' in Masogan.
• 742 BC The Red Haunt and Clementine Schlosser meet in Paridon to discuss the future. Clementine becomes the first apprentice of the 'Centurion' persona.
• 743 BC Imogen Schlosser starts her plans against Meredoth. (Dread Possibility 'That Gnawing Feeling' in The Conferences of Victor Gagné IV.)
• 745 BC Alanik Ray starts researching the cold case of the 'Killer Prostitutes', actually the lessons Charissa Schlosser gave Clementine Schlosser in hunting humans in Dementlieu. Through his criminological genius, Alanik manages to connect the killings to the tale of the Red Haunt. Whether Alanik Ray realizes the legendary bandit is a Fiend is unknown, but he does believe she is still alive and active in spite of the time that has passed. In spite of his best efforts, the Great Detective does not manage to apprehend either of the two fiendish killers, and other cases beckon.
• 745 BC The Red Haunt becomes aware of Alanik Ray's interest and investigation, but refrains from acting against the Great Detective openly for some reason, possibly out of respect for his skills as an investigator and his contributions to the science of criminology.
• 748 BC The Red Haunt announces her imminent return from the Wartorn Cluster to the Scions of Irul through the Shadow Weave.
• 750 BC Doctor Rudolph van Richten disappears.
• 751 BC Founding of the Centurions of the Night, exactly one year after the disappearance of Rudolph van Richten; the Red Haunt recruits many of the surviving Scions of Irul for this new group. 'Death' of Tressac.
• 752 BC Birth of persona 'Genevieve Schlosser' in Lund. Owing to deliberate efforts by all preceding personas, Genevieve is 'born' Chaotic Good, rather than Chaotic Evil.
• 752 BC Amourette Schlosser, working together with Mu, Victor Mordenheim and an unnamed engineer (not to mention some behind-the-scenes help from other personas) creates the World Engine.
• 753 BC The World Engine is activated on the spring equinox at Schloss Mordenheim and does ... something.
• 754 BC Using the World Engine, the Red Haunt creates an artificial oubliette that shall become known as the Retreat, thereafter her primary lair.