The Ideal Nemisis for Strahd?

[Scarycount]

Who is the quintessential gothic hero, who is a worthy enemy to the master of Castle Ravenloft? Tell me what you think. I'll start with my idea.

A cleric of the Morninglord, found on the steps of the main temple in Krezk as a baby. He is actually Sergei von Zarovich reincarnated. He has taken up vampire hunting.

[Mortepierre]

Well, canon-speaking, Strahd already has two nemesis, one (sort of) Good, and one (very much) Evil: Jander Sunstar and Inajira the Arcanaloth.

I could add Azalin but those two are more rivals than nemesis IMHO.

If I had to create my own, I would use a not-so-friendly/naive reincarnated version of Tatyana who is a Cleric (Morninglord)/Herald of Dawn. Not only would she have all the abilities to resist/destroy Strahd but the latter couldn't possibly bring himself to kill her. It's one thing to yearn eternally for a fair maiden and quite another when said fair maiden is trying to put a stake through your heart!

[NeoTiamat]

That is cruel...

Well, thinking back to Dracula, the proper Nemesis should probably Dr. Abraham Van Helsing = Dr. Rudolph Van Richten.

Of course, what with Bleak House and all, that ends up being problematic, but if Van Richten were to survive that somehow...

ToUD perhaps?

[Rotipher of the FoS]

If you simply want to kill Strahd, any of the above would be classic ... although, IMO, it might be tricky to explain why the DPs haven't already done some of them.

If you want to make him miserable, OTOH, the ideal way to do that would be to have him finally succeed in converting one of the Tatyana-duplicates into a vampire's bride ... only to discover that he and she have nothing whatsoever in common (when did they ever, really?), and that she's repelled by everything about him, for reasons other than the age-difference Strahd had always -- conveniently for him -- blamed her rejection on.

(Oh, and now that he's made her "just like him", she immediately starts chasing Sergei's reincarnation, to spend her own vampiric eternity with. "Just like him", indeed.... )

[Jasper]

I had a similer idea for Sergi being strahds nemisis but instead of being reborn as a baby I rewrote the idea of Sherif von Zarovich and made the sherrif the risen form of Segi as a dread revrent. He remembers little of the night of his death and thinks a monster has killed and taken over his brothers name and appearance. Due to a overwhelming averson to standing within the castles shadow he has yet to attack Strahd directly. Instead he has begun killing both thieves and any vistani who stray from the pool in hopes of drawing out this new "Devil Strahd" from the castle and into a final fight on hollowed ground.

[Catman Jim]

Jeren Sureblade, 15th level paladin, in possession of a Rod of Lordly Might & the Sunsword, from the 'pick-a-path' gamebook 'Master of Ravenloft' is the only character I have ever had 'beat' Strahd!

[Jester of the FoS]

Jeren Sureblade, 15th level paladin, in possession of a Rod of Lordly Might & the Sunsword, from the 'pick-a-path' gamebook 'Master of Ravenloft' is the only character I have ever had 'beat' Strahd!

I'd have gone with him too.

[VAN]

If you want to make him miserable, OTOH, the ideal way to do that would be to have him finally succeed in converting one of the Tatyana-duplicates into a vampire's bride ... only to discover that he and she have nothing whatsoever in common (when did they ever, really?), and that she's repelled by everything about him, for reasons other than the age-difference Strahd had always -- conveniently for him -- blamed her rejection on.

(Oh, and now that he's made her "just like him", she immediately starts chasing Sergei's reincarnation, to spend her own vampiric eternity with. "Just like him", indeed.... )

Wow! That's really very twisted ! Spend so much time to do a person you love "just like you" and then realize that you have nothing in common! Some times that happens in real life too...

Excellent idea!

[NeoTiamat]

When it comes to fiendish and twisted schemes, no one can surpass Rotipher.

[Scarycount]

Of course, once this happened Strahd would pull a "Soth" and sink into deep despair, at wich point the DPs would send someone to kill him.

[VAN]

Not be so sure, the DP are pretty evil, maybe this situation becomes his new course. He will live... ehm... exist knowing that despite he does everything he could to make Tatyana "just like him" in order to love him, now they have nothing in common and most of all she continues wanting his brother!

[Scarycount]

hmm, then Strahd would of course try to find his brother and kill him.
I wonder what Tatyana would do if he succeeded? Perhaps she'd destroy him, and become the new darklord? That would be ironic indeed. The person who was victimised so that Strahd could be a darklord would then be a darklord herself.

[HuManBing]

Anybody remember Bane's Adder - a gunpowder weapon first listed in Forged of Darkness? The backstory for that item was fairly barebones - they just said there was a hunter named Bane who had mastered the martial arts and who also wielded a gunpowder weapon shaped like a snake - the Adder. Strahd von Zarovich sent him to assassinate Azalin, but Bane failed and the Adder fell into Azalin's hands.

I decided to extend the backstory behind this.

"Bane" is actually the Western name for a monastic traveller from the Asian-style lost realms of Ravenloft. (His full name is Bei Ying, meaning "North Eagle", transliterated into English as "Bane".) His stats and further backstory are here.

Bane had escaped a conflagration at his monastery, the TieZhu Si (Temple of the Iron Bamboo), where a foreigner suspected of lycanthropism was responsible for the destruction of his temple. Bane's main motivation is to avenge his temple's misfortune, and to make contact with former TieZhu travelling monks who made it to the Western Core. A monk who has already made considerable progress in honing his bodily perfection, Bane despises those that are "impure" or "of bad blood" - which includes those suffering from lycanthropy primarily, but which also extends to a profound distrust of all shapeshifters.

After crossing the Nocturnal Sea, his initial point of entry was into Eastern Darkon, and he travelled to Il Aluk. There, he reunited with some of his temple brothers who had founded a training temple in the city. After a few adventures with the PCs, wherein he proves himself a fearsome hunter of aberrations, shapechangers, and lycanthropes, he attracts the attention of the Kargat, who report him to Azalin as a possible weapon.

Azalin already knew his Kargat had taken partial control of an independent expedition to the Gundarak/Kartakass/Barovian border, which might hold interesting destabilization possibilities (Feast of Goblyns). Azalin decided to pull a few strings and set Bane on Strahd's track (House of Strahd) with the PCs to help him get into Castle Ravenloft.

After the tumultuous political events of Feast of Goblyns, war between Dominiani's Gundarak and Strahd's Barovia seems imminent. At this point, the PCs and Bane are given precise instructions to infiltrate Strahd's castle behind enemy lines and assassinate the ruler.

Bane and the PCs enter Castle Ravenloft and eventually are immobilized by the Count and thrown into the dungeons. Partially through amusement and mostly through curiosity, Strahd subjects the group to routine interrogations and eventually lets them go - largely unmolested - after revealing to Bane the true nature of Azalin. Strahd also puts a geas on Bane to destroy Azalin. (And hence the events reported in Forged of Darkness occur.)

Entirely as Strahd expects, Bane's desire to save his temple brothers from the very type of undead illusionist that he swore to destroy outweighs his revulsion at Strahd, and they make haste back to Darkon. This leads to From the Shadows as Bane launches an attempt against Azalin which fails utterly.

Azalin needs a misguided lawful-good clergyman to carry the Holy Symbol of Ravenkind to Nevuchar Springs, and then to assist him in atrocities there. (I haven't fleshed this part out but I think Azalin would find it easy to convince Bane somehow that the elves there were aberrations and needed to be purified.)

This perversion of justice, performed with the lynchpin artifact of Ravenloft's goodness, is the keystone event that causes the Grand Conjunction. (In game mechanics, it pits the Dark Powers - who are trying to force Bane to take a Dark Powers check - directly against the protective powers of the good gods of Barovia, perhaps the Morninglord? This causes the v3.5 equivalent of a divide-by-zero error and thus the Grand Conjunction occurs.)

In my campaign, Bane's the closest person to a successful Strahd-killer that I've got. He's not really a nemesis per se, as he doesn't devote himself single-mindedly to Strahd's overthrow. He's more like an exotic martial powerhouse who could be a great force for good, except that he is easily led astray, as he does not understand the culture and the corruption that occurs in the Western Core. He ends up causing the Grand Conjunction and the PCs are the ones to stop him before they fight Azalin at the end of From the Shadows.

Bane's a little like Anakin Skywalker, perhaps.

[ChrisNichols]

Well, canon-speaking, Strahd already has two nemesis, one (sort of) Good, and one (very much) Evil: Jander Sunstar and Inajira the Arcanaloth.

I could add Azalin but those two are more rivals than nemesis IMHO.

If I had to create my own, I would use a not-so-friendly/naive reincarnated version of Tatyana who is a Cleric (Morninglord)/Herald of Dawn. Not only would she have all the abilities to resist/destroy Strahd but the latter couldn't possibly bring himself to kill her. It's one thing to yearn eternally for a fair maiden and quite another when said fair maiden is trying to put a stake through your heart! :twisted:

So, Tara Kolyana then?

One of the thing I would have liked to try is an adventure placing the PCs between Strahd and a triple-entente of Lyssa Von Zarovich, Inajira, and Jander Sunstar.

Chris Nichols

[DeepShadow of FoS]

One of the thing I would have liked to try is an adventure placing the PCs between Strahd and a triple-entente of Lyssa Von Zarovich, Inajira, and Jander Sunstar.

My old campaign ended with pretty much this scenario, only instead of Lyssa I used Ivendra Gorgion, a Kargat agent IMC who was turned into Tatyana's duplicate in order to assassinate Strahd. All she had to do was go to Barovia and act like she didn't know what was going on....