A question from Vampire of the Mists

[DarkLordVilmos]

Hi, I'm an artist and a reader and I love Ravenloft!
And i have a bunch a books from them, I've been trying to draw a pic of a vampire that has died and turned into the creature in what vampire of the mists talked about. Only problem is I can't find my book, and i was wondering if someone could give me the name of the creature. I remember thats one of the reasons why Jander didn't want to die is because of what he heard about that.
If you can thanks.

[Isabella]

I believe it was a Crimson Mist - anyone who read the book more recently want to confirm?

[DarkLordVilmos]

Ah you know what I think you are right now that I think about it.
Thanks i'll look it up.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Haven't read the book recently, but I'm fairly sure it was a crimson mist. Pics available in the 2e Monstrous Manual and the 3e Monster Manual II, I believe. But it's basically a bank of fog, ranging from white when it's starving to blood red when it's recently fed, so go nuts.

[The Giamarga]

Crimson Death aka Mist, crimson death aka Mist, Vampiric.

From the Sulerin monster index:
Crimson Death
Mist, Vampiric
Mist, Scarlet Dancer (rumored to be the immature form of one of the above)

Mangrum's CRIMSON DEATH LORE (! What an awesome thread!)
the 3E MM2 pic
Crimson Death in an online Monster Compedium (with description and i thinkt the picture from Monstrous Manual)
2E Monstrous Compedium Greyhawk appendix (MC5) (check page 39 for a description and a very different picture)


Here's the description of the Crimson Death from the 2E Monstrous Manual:

The crimson death is a malevolent, vaporous creature that feeds on the bodily fluids of its victims. The body of the crimson death is a humanoid-shaped cloud of pale color. It is difficult to distinguish if seen against fog and nearly invisible to infravision. During this time, the creature has an initiative bonus of +4. When the creature is fed, it develops a crimson flush that is easily visible by normal or infravision. The cloud possesses humanoid features. The fingers elongate into tentacles when it is feeding. Because of its behavior, sages believe that a Crimson Death Mist is the result of the actual death of a vampire. The crimson death's language is a barely audible series of whispers. It can communicate with other vaporous beings such as air elementals. It communicates with humanoids only if it is their captive.


The description for the Vampiric Mist from MC5 differs a little bit:

Thses gaseous monsters prey on all living creatures, enveloping them with their gaseous tendrils, then draining the blood for food. Vampiric mists appear as thich, billowing clouds five to eight feet in diameter. Color ranges from pale pink when hungry to crimson red when sated. Vampiric mists can speak no language, but they communicate through a limited form of telepathy. These creatures reek of old blood and are often smelled before seen.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

AFAIK, the idea that crimson mists/deaths are derived from destroyed vampires was never officially established as true. It's up to you whether the theory is correct IYC or not.

[Amicus]

That seems profoundly unfair, somehow. The whole reason for killing a vampire is that it wants to drink your blood. So you battle this incredibly powerful supernatural entity, and you kill it... and it immediately comes back as a different supernatural entity that wants to drink your blood. Only this time it's incorporeal and near-invisible.

If you kill a crimson mist, it probably comes back with the ability to teleport.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

True, it's frustrating ... particularly since you might've fought that same vampire on a dozen different occasions, before you could actually stake it and make its demise as an undead permanent.

Of course, at the time the crimson death/vampire connection was first introduced as an hypothesis, there weren't many other monsters in the game that had a reputation for draining blood. (Not that pre-3E vampires actually had a blood-draining power, but that's another debate...) Drawing a connection between them could've been a simple case of assuming that since A and B both do C, A must equal B.

By that faulty grade of logic, of course, stirges would have to be what you get when a vampire in bat-form mates with a bat.

[order99]

Well, it's just a rumor then, like Werewolves becoming Vampires when they die, or nipping potential Undead in the bud by burying the corpse face down or nailing it into the coffin with spikes...just Folklore. It's up to the DM to decide, and the Players can make up whatever theory they please!

[Igor the Henchman]

Caterpillar - > Werewolf - > Vampire - > Crimson Mist - > Butterfly

It's the cycle of life. Nature is beautiful.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

That seems profoundly unfair, somehow. The whole reason for killing a vampire is that it wants to drink your blood. So you battle this incredibly powerful supernatural entity, and you kill it... and it immediately comes back as a different supernatural entity that wants to drink your blood.

In my campaign, I made it that Crimson Mists only occur when you kill a vampire incorrectly. Don't follow through with the whole "garlic in the mouth, cut the head off" thing, and unless they vaporized in the sun, they might come back.

[cure]

I am not sure I like the Crimson Mist idea, but were I to run with it, I would insist upon both a suitable delay (measured in weeks if not months) and the wiping of the memories of its previous existence. So the vampire qua individual is dead once and for all. But an echo and shell eventually returns to wreck mayhem.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

At least within Ravenloft, I suppose one could rule that crimson mists are created when a vampire gets lost in the Mists and, not being found worthy of darklordship, is gradually transformed into a mindless Mistborn rather than starving to death. In effect, it'd be the vampiric equivalent of a Mist Horror.

[Korumil]

It is my understanding that the only way a Crimson Mist can be created is by the willing suicide of a vampire, hence Jander's hesitation. He would rather exist as an abomination with free will than as a creature whose only driving purpose was to kill.

I always thought it would be interesting if the son of Van Richten became a Crimson Mist after he let the sun take him.

[Rotipher of the FoS]

Erasmus van Richten wasn't destroyed by the sun. Poor Rudolph had to physically stake and decapitate him, once the dawn put his boy to "sleep". That's why Erasmus's ghost in Bleak House appears with a stake in his heart.

Jander's hesitation to suicide was only because he'd heard that a destroyed vampire became a crimson death. This doesn't guarantee that what Jander'd heard was true, only that he wasn't willing to risk it being correct. IIRC, he asked Sasha whether the young priest had ever seen a crimson mist arise from a staked vampire's remains, and was relieved to hear that Sasha hadn't witnessed any such thing.