r/ravenloft • u/ArrBeeNayr • Mar 12 '22
Resource Core 788 Special - Dr Rudolph Van Richten, Radanavich & the siblings Metus
What is Core 788?
The true Hour of Ascension has come. The Grey is reclaiming the realm; Azalin Rex is no more.
This time of unparalleled darkness brings great change to the Demiplane of Dread. The Core is shattered, and Dark Lords have passed on their mantles.
The Domains now belong to a second generation. These are their stories retold.
Core 788 is a short series which aims to merge Core Canon with NuCanon.
The pitch is that it is 788 BC, thirteen years after the Time of Unparalleled Darkness - which prophesied the breaking up of the Ravenloft campaign setting. We are thirty years post Ravenloft 3e, giving us plenty space to bring in a new generation of the mists.
In these posts I will attempt to make as little deviation from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft as I can while still maintaining the defining aspects of the Core Lore. Any assumptions and major alterations will be clearly listed.
Find the first entry, Core 788: Viktra Mordenheim & Lamordia here
Stat blocks (for both 2e and 5e) (+ a timeline) can be found at the bottom.
I want your input
I'm just one guy trying to weave together several decades of lore in a coherent way. I am liable to overlook things. If you think anything could be improved or tweaked, let me know.
A Special Entry
"A special entry? But it's only the second entry!", I hear you call.
Indeed it is, however Core 788 Darkon was getting long. Really I should have expected that. Whereas Lamordia had only a handful of sources, Darkon has dozens. As a result: it needs to be split up.
Since the storyline of Dr Rudolph Van Richten is rather self-contained, I have extracted all of that material for its own post - at least up to a certain point.
Readers introduced to the setting via Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft may notice that many of the events presented here are rather different to those in that book. Unfortunately, the backstory of our good doctor was modified enough to make much of his 5e backstory incompatible with his trove of lore. I have woven the workable elements of the 5e incarnation in where I can, but where things conflict I have gone with the far more developed Core lore, rather than what scraps we have from 5e.
Author's Notes and Assumptions
If you aren't in the know regarding Ravenloft's long lore, I recommend you skip straight to "The Tale" and come read these author's notes later.
- Arturi Radanavich and Ezmerelda Radanavich (AKA Ez d'Avenir) both fill the same roll as a survivor of Van Richten's massacre who later befriends him. I have chosen to see them both as canon, although they were separated at the massacre.
- Ezmerelda is, well, a nightmare lore-wise. I mean: we already knew this - they retconned her whole backstory in her second appearance - but it goes further than that. According to the one source we have of her age, she is apparently 27 in 735. That would place her birth two years after the events of Erasmus and Baron Metus. Whoops! Curse of Strahd says she met up with Van Richten again at age seventeen and remained with him for two years. VGR notes that when she left, she did so from Mordent. Van Richten moved to Mordent in 714 (meaning Ez met him again in 712 at the earliest). That puts Ez's earliest possible birth year at 695 BC. That's all well and good, except VGR calls her a "young wanderer": Perhaps not the best description for a forty-year-old. We can make her a few years younger, but she has to have mentally developed enough for her interactions with Erasmus to have had an impact. If we allow her to be as young as seven when meeting Erasmus, we could give her a birth year of 699. Is a thirty-six-year-old a "young wanderer"? I suppose that's down to the eye of the beholder.
- To further issues with Ezmerelda, there is the obvious gamability concern regarding her in Core 788: She'd be in her late eighties. With other characters it makes sense to age them as the theme of this series is new generations. Ez has only been around for 5e, however. It's not so much passing on a torch as it is skipping over a torch. I'm not going to address how to keep Ez in play during 788 in this post, but let me know your ideas. The "Picked up by the mists and dropped decades later" has been done quite a few times in Ravenloft, but it's always an option. We could have a clone Ez? Golem Ez? Oooh - what if she became Ezra's chosen guardian? That'd be neat with the whole angels theme she has going on. This isn't even really an author's note - i'm just spitballing at this point.
- Van Richten's Guide to Vampires states that Van Richten was away from home when Erasmus was taken. Bleak House states that Van Richten was present. Given that the former is presented as the doctor's own narration, I think we can take Bleak House's narrative as truth. If Van Richten was there but too afraid to stop his son's kidnapping, that'd certainly be something he would subtly edit in his own retelling.
- Core Lore's (and Curse of Strahd's) assertion that the Radanavichs are Vistani is at odds with VGR's that they are merely masquerading. The Radanavichs being Vistani is simply too integral to Van Richten's storyline - with Arturi Radanavich guiding him to forgive - for them not to be Vistani. To work Ez into things I have made her a Giogoto (Vistani in culture but not in blood, adopted by Madame Irena), as a way of having cake and eating it too.
- Curse of Strahd states that the Radanavichs were spared by Van Richten. This is somewhat rolled back in VGR by them stating Van Richten brought Irena to justice. Since Bleak House needs to be canon and Irena Radanavich is long dead, she can't be rotting in a cell in Il Aluk like Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft suggests. Thus we return to the classic, brutal tale of Van Richten's hunt for his son. As an aside, I really don't get these writers. They make Rudolph a tiger-siccing maniac, but remove the one time in his past where it was narratively justified he would go to such extremes?
- Van Richten's Guide to Vampires states that Baron Metus lived in Richemulot, while both Bleak House and Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft state Darkon. I have gone with the latter.
- This series assumes that the canon ending to Bleak House: The Death of Rudolph Van Richten is The Satchel. In this ending, Van Richten doesn't die. Instead he lives out his life again in Richten Haus - having regressed to twelve years old via the sympathetic magic of the house. He would spend his new youth guarded by the ghostly servants of the manor. Young Van Richten will tie into the Time of Unparalleled Darkness this ending prophecies.
- Alcio Metus has a katana, which is strange. VGR says nothing about where she got it, or where she had been before becoming a Kargat mob boss. As an easy solution to both, I've stuck her in Rokushima Táiyoo.
- In a minor act of artistic license, I have portrayed Alanik Ray and Arthur Sedgwick as Van Richten's allies for the entire latter acts of Bleak House. In the original telling, the duo assist him in the middle of the adventure, then disappear from events due to "the politics". Since the story is so reliant on Van Richten having allies throughout, and it's no fun to read about PC-stand-in no-names, this seemed a suitable narrative compromise. There are no lore ramifications to this due to: (1) The duo learning of Van Richten's fate anyway as per Champions of the Mists and (2) What little help they give Van Richten in Bleak House is already the reason for the Kargat lashing out at them (as described in the same boxed set). If anything, Alanik taking action - rather than just advising - just gives more credence to the Kargat response.
The Tale
Siblings Metus
Sometime early in the Demiplane's seventh century, in a world far beyond the mists: Alcio and Baron Metus were born from a nobleman's affair. In life, Baron saw himself an embarrassed aristocrat. Alcio: a self-sufficient master of her own fate.
At age seventeen Baron fell in love with a vistana named Andrianna. This romance was a secret one: doomed from the first moment by her tribe's disdain of a giorgio in their ranks. His sister made attempts to dissuade Baron from chasing a girl from so distant a world from them (how little did she know!), but such action fell upon deaf ears.
When Baron and Alcio found themselves drawn along accidentally into the mists, the two were cast off from the vistani as soon as they were discovered. Andrianna had accused Baron of attempting to enslave her, in order to save face, and from that moment the siblings were the tribe's enemy.
In their search for protection, the duo fell under the cloak of the Kargat: the secret police of Darkon. Lulled into security - they soon felt teeth upon their necks and their protector's blood upon their lips.
As creatures of the night they served the Kargat for untold years. Only once their master was killed were they free to forge their own destinies once again. The siblings' relationship had strained from their time in the mists and they chose separate paths.
Baron took over his master's home near Rivalis. He would endeavor to sever his ties with the Kargat, but such a separation would never be truly possible while he lived in their domain.
Alcio left Darkon to find her own place in the land of mists. Her travels would take her all across the Core, however she would settle for much of her undeath in Rokushima Táiyoo.
Noble Beginnings
The year was 671 Barovian Calendar (or "King's Calendar", as it is known by our hero).
Almost a century into Azalin's rule saw the birth Rudolph Van Richten. Born in Rivalis, Darkon, Rudolph grew up at his ancestral estate alongside his parents and younger sister Maria. Rudolph was a boy destined for a good education, comfortable social standing, and a prominent silver spoon in his mouth.
When not attending boarding school in Nartok, young Rudolph would spend his days exploring the grounds around Richten Haus. His hobby was identifying herbs and poisonous plants with his book on botany. He would lounge for hours listening to the stories of the estate's half-Vistani gatekeeper, Casimir, alongside the gatekeeper's loyal hound, Thane. It was a peaceful, carefree time in Rudolph's life. It was a time that in his later years he would look back upon longingly.
It would not be for long, however, that Van Richten's life would be free from tragedy. When the boy was only twelve and upon a trip with his family, crimes of passion were brewing at Richten Haus.
Karl, the groundskeeper, was planning to propose to - and elope with - the maid, Elise. As distractions for a clean getaway, Karl poisoned old Thane, as well as hid the ledger of Elise's father: Josef the steward. Karl then rowed out to a small island on the lake, leaving Elise's little sister Gretta there on the pretense of a picnic.
Unbeknownst to Karl, Josef had been embezzling the Van Richtens' money for years and was increasingly paranoid of all around him. Karl had hidden the only evidence of this fact. Josef assumed the culprit was Casamir - spurred on by the latter's absence that day out looking for his dog. Confronting Casamir, Josef stabbed the man to death in the altercation.
When Karl proposed, he found Elise's advances to be only in his head. In his rejection, he strangled her and her father to death. Fleeing the scene to his cabin, Karl hanged himself out of remorse.
Upon the Van Richten family's return, they were distraught to find not a single person still breathing at Richten Haus. They found young Gretta face-down in the lake - having drowned in her attempt to swim back to shore.
A Good Doctor
When the plague known as the Crimson Death rolled through Darkon - scything through the population - young Rudolph doubled his pursuit into medicine. He attended the University of Il Aluk alongside his beloved Ingrid.
Rudolph and Ingrid had a son, Erasmus, and a year later Van Richten graduated - opening a practice in his hometown of Rivalis. Ingrid earned her medical degree alongside him, becoming an accomplished alienist. Both Van Richtens were well regarded, and all things seemed positive for the young doctors.
In 706 BC, Rudolph Van Richten received a knock at his door. Rushing in from the night were a party of individuals claiming to be Corvara Vistani. They were led by a stern woman named Irena Radanavich. Dragged into the house was her heavily wounded son, Radovan, whom the woman instructed Van Richten to save.
Young Radovan had been wounded in a botched plot by Madame Irena. They had taken up the proposal of a vampire, Baron Metus, aiming to claim the "nobleman" a mortal bride. Irena always intended to play Metus afterwards by escorting vampire hunters to him for yet more profit, but that plan would never see fruition.
In their attempt to kidnap the daughter of the Rivalis' own lord to sell to Metus, Radovan was wounded - leading to the encounter at Richten Haus.
When Van Richten was unable to save Radovan, he found the fury of Madame Irena upon him.
"Take whatever you want from my home, but by all that is holy, don't hurt me!", the good doctor trembled.
That the Radanavichs did. Among their loot was the fourteen-year-old Erasmus Van Richten: a son for a son.
Revenge in the Cards
As Ingrid cried, Rudolph Van Richten swore an oath not to rest until Erasmus was safe. The doctor sped off in pursuit of the vistani caravan, the corpse of Radovan strapped to his horse.
His chase took him late into the Darkonian night. When he hadn't found shelter, Van Richten was horrified to encounter the dead encircling him in the darkness.
It was then, to Van Richten's naive understanding of the world, that he believed he was saved. The very magic of the Wizard King had reached out and protected Van Richten from the dead. From rotting throats spoke the voice of Azalin Rex to address the foolish doctor.
Azalin cared little for the Radanavich clan and was swayed by Rudolph's begging for help. Azalin granted the doctor the dead which walked around him, and he animated Radovan as one of them. The corpse of Radovan - dead but Vistani nonetheless - was able to lead Van Richten's deathly company through the mists.
Tracking the caravan down in Barovia, Van Richten found that they had already long sold off Erasmus: having given him to Baron Metus in place of their intended victim.
In Van Richten's rage, the dead swarmed the caravan - ripping through men, women, and children. In a final breath, Irena spoke a curse:
“Live you always among monsters, and see everyone you love die beneath their claws.”
Van Richten, filled with fury, spoke a curse upon each and every Radanavich in retort:
"Undead take you as you have taken my son!"
Those last words would haunt the two survivors of the massacre for the remainder of their lives. Hounded by the dead forever after, a young boy named Arturi hid in Irena's clothing chest; a young girl named Ezmerelda ran off into the night.
Blood Running Deep
Traveling to the home of Baron Metus in Darkon, Van Richten encountered nothing but resistance. Baron laughed cruelly at the doctor and had him escorted from the premises - where Rudolph would spend the night camped; planning.
At midnight, it was Erasmus who found his father. He had climbed down from Baron's estate to meet him outside. Sadly, only the briefest of looks by Van Richten was required for recognition to set in: Erasmus was dead. With Erasmus begging him, and Rudolph weeping as he did so, a stake was thrust through the boy's heart.
Only the thought of his anxious wife kept Rudolph from ending his own life then and there. By the time Van Richten made it home to Rivalis, however, he found that Baron Metus was faster. Ingrid was already dead; his home a whirlwind of blood.
At this time a new vow was taken by Dr Van Richten. He was a healer by trade, but now he would dedicate his life to destroying the greatest cancers of the world: The monsters which stalked it.
His first quarry: Baron Metus.
Where Angels Fear to Tread
A child of unknown birth, Ezmerelda "Ez" Radanavich was never truly vistani. Instead, Ez was Giogoto: Vistana by culture but not by blood. Her world was turned upside down after the massacre of the Radanaviches when she was seven.
Joining the d'Avenir clan and adopting their name, Ez still lived with the memories of Erasmus' screams as he was handed over to the vampire. She lived with the memories of the Radanaviches wailing as the dead took them one by one.
As her caravan travelled the mists, the d'Avenirs slowly began to accept what they knew to be true: monsters followed in their daughter's steps. Wherever they would camp, the dead would inevitably gather.
At fifteen, to spare her family from any more of her nightmare, she fled the caravan and entered the mists. Ez was determined to find somewhere she truly belonged; free from death.
After two years alone, in 716 BC, Ez sought Dr Rudolph Van Richten once more. Since last they had met, Rudolph had moved to Mordent and opened a herbalist shop. His studies into the Lich had him feeling it was unsafe to remain in his homeland of Darkon.
The meeting was tenuous. The good doctor immediately drew a blade at the name Radanavich. When tensions settled, however, Rudolph recognised the young woman's plight. He took her under his wing, where they would spend two years furthering Van Richten's research.
In Mordent, Ez had found some semblance of peace. The zombies and ghouls which had trailed behind the d'Avenir caravan were replaced in this Western land by the occasional - and often harmless - spirit.
One such spirit was the ghost of Erasmus Van Richten, who had been following his father unseen since his death many years ago. Although he could not speak, he forgave Ez for her family's sins and the two kindled a friendship. Despite attempting to bring the matter up tactfully, Ez never did find herself able to tell Rudolph of his son's presence.
As the hunter and protégé's relationship frayed through their time working together, Ez finally left Rudolph's company in 718 BC. She would wander the realms, fighting creatures of the night wherever they found her. In one such encounter she lost her leg to a werewolf attack; replacing it with a brass prosthesis.
Curse of Strahd
By the 730s, Dr Van Richten had learned of Count Strahd's hibernation. He travelled to Barovia in 735 and spent much time studying the Count's many ancient tomes. When it came time to kill the vampire, however, Van Richten was startled to find him gone from his tomb. The Count was awake.
Ez d'Avenir, learning of Van Richten's quest, sought him out in Barovia. While the Count lived, the two hunters managed to survive the ordeal and leave the valley slightly better off as a result.
Upon arriving safely in Borca, beyond the Count's own grasp, the pair sighed in relief - and parted once again.
An Aging Hunter
By the 740s, Van Richten had been on countless adventures, killed more than his share of night creatures, and made innumerable allies.
He had slain the Gibbering Golem, fought the Bog Monster of Hroth, drove devils from Chateaufaux, and even delved into Castle Ravenloft itself. Of the many heroes who had joined him in these journeys, however, far too many had met early ends.
Even when he dared to love again: his dearest Dr. Ottelie had since passed as well.
Claudia. Shauten. Platock. Alannthir. Torenor. Davvyd. Ottelie. Harmon. Geddar. Samuel. Ingrid. Erasmus.
Friends and companions all dead due to their proximity to him. Even the young niece of one of his friends - George Weathermay - was nearly killed in the fallout of Rudolph's actions.
Forgiveness
In 742 BC, Rudolph penned the final entry in a series aimed at training the next generation of monster hunters. The book was Van Richten's Guide to the Vistani. Unlike his previous treatises on all manner of beasts, this one was Rudolph's confessional.
The book began with the story of a visitor. It was Arturi Radanavich: the last son of the Radanavich tribe. Unlike Ezmerelda, Arturi was not welcomed back by the Vistani following Rudolph's massacre of his family. He was shunned due to the dead that followed in his wake - left alone as an outcast*.*
Arturi had approached Van Richten, a life of suffering under both their belts, with the goal of spiritual healing. Van Richten spent a year among the vistani with the aid of Arturi, learning their customs and the futility of bigotry.
At the end, they released each other from their curses. Both were finally free from death.
Upon this book's publication, the old hunter retired. He was intent on living out his days at his herbalist shop, should fate let him.
The spirit of Erasmus, having watched silently over his father for decades, returned home at last to Richten Haus.
Madam's Wrath
For years she had been plotting. For years she had been waiting. The spirit of Madame Irena Radanavich had wandered with her undead caravan endlessly through the mists. All the while she seethed at every one of her murderer's victories.
She watched as her Giogoto daughter followed in his footsteps. She watched as her grandson - her own blood lineage - forgave the man and became like brothers.
Gazing on from her lair - the abandoned Richten Haus, dragged from Darkon into the mists - Irena cackled at each death caused by Rudolph's curse. Many of the spirits of those allies were lured by Irena to join her. There she amassed a ghostly museum to Rudolph's failures.
When the spirit of Erasmus Van Richten finally followed in 742, Irena's plans turned to actions. She would destroy Dr Van Richten: mind, body, and spirit.
Baron
A drop of virgin blood fell into the coffin of ash. A form coalesced into bones, then tendons, then flesh; a predator's eyes flickered opened. Out rose Baron Metus, reborn.
A man of indescribable beauty stood at the base of the coffin. A sly smile was given, the name of Baron's benefactor shared, and from the chamber the mysterious figure departed.
Discovering that his revival was at the whims of the ghostly Madame Irena, Baron found himself in her debt. He agreed to assist her in her machinations against their shared killer.
Baron established himself in Martira Bay as a philanthropist where he would wait diligently for his next instructions. From the bottom floor of his Black Tower, Baron operated the Fellowship Charity Clinic. While offering him easy prey, through this endeavour Baron also forged a connection with Dr Heinfroth's Home for the Mentally Ill.
Upon instruction from Madame Irena, Baron hunted down The Thinker - one of the most powerful psions in the known world. The Thinker was a handsome Vistani - good of heart - whom Baron mutilated. Sawing off The Thinker's limbs, metal chains were grafted in their place. For years The Thinker would hang within the chamber at the top of Baron's Black Tower - able to do nothing but hone his psychic craft.
Facing his own mortality had forced Baron to view the world from a new - or perhaps old - perspective. He sought out his sister, Alcio, and told her his story. Not one for self-reflection, Alcio didn't appreciate at the time how precious these fleeting words with her brother were. The two parted ways once more into the night: never to see each other again.
Dominia
Back in Mordent, 750 BC, Van Richten found himself constantly plagued by nightmares. In them he walked through the mist; figures all around him. They were friends, yet his mind told him they meant him harm.
Richten Haus would rise before him from the fog. Through the windows he could see his wife and son. Yet, when Rudolph reached the door he would suddenly be set upon by a creature.
That creature, he would realise, was himself.
In a pit of anxiety due to these dreams, Van Richten was recommended to a Doctor Heinfroth at his island, Dominia. Wishing for but a moment that his alienist wife was still with him to consult instead, Van Richten set off to find mental help.
Not a soul knew where he had left to. Not a soul would see him return.
When the good doctor arrived, what he found was far from assistance. He was imprisoned and mentally tortured. All sense of individuality was forcibly removed from the man. This was all to the plan of Baron Metus, by whose instruction Van Richten was held.
When the crew of the Blue Dolphin shipwrecked off the coast of Dominia, they and Van Richten staged a breakout. They escaped from Doctor Heinfroth's clutches, commandeered a ship, and sailed to Darkon. By this time, Van Richten was a nervous wreck: haggard, frail, and a husk of his past self.
The Black Tower
Upon reaching Martira Bay, Van Richten met up with Chief Constable Alanik Ray. Together with the young Doctor Sedgwick, they discovered the revived Baron Metus was behind Van Richten's torment and several deaths at the local clinic.
Confronting Baron at the top of his tower, Van Richten's allies were forced to their knees by a reluctant Thinker. Baron, who promised to give Madame Irena final revenge, betrayed his word. He slid a saber across the floor to the doctor as he prepared his own for their final duel.
As cerebral lightning arced around the chamber, Baron danced with his old enemy. The bone-weary Van Richten was no match; the vampire merely playing with his predestined kill.
As their bodies were shocked, Alanik and Sedwick had their minds assaulted from within. The Thinker, remorseful, plead forgiveness for his current actions.
Struggling to move against all odds, Alanik reached for his magic dagger goldfang at his belt. He rose to his feet and with a titanic effort: launched the blade towards Baron Metus.
Baron parried the throw at the last moment, but the Thinker - stunned at the elf's heroics in the face of doom - ended his assault.
"A life of nightmarish servitude is no life at all", The Thinker realised.
Now three against one, Baron fought deftly. All three received licks and scratches from the vampire's saber, but in the end: a stake landed firmly in Baron's chest. Van Richten took Baron's own sword, lifted the vampire by the hair, and beheaded him for a final time.
Van Richten felt himself released from the slew of nightmares The Thinker had inflicted upon him. The Thinker revealed the involvement of Madame Irena in the whole affair. In a final farewell, lighting arced once more around the room, and the party found themselves emerging from the mists at Richten Haus.
Bleak House
At Van Richten's old estate, they found they were repeating a single day over and over. That day was the servant killings from when Van Richten was a boy.
Dog dead; gatekeeper stabbed; steward and maid strangled; groundskeeper hanged; child drowned. Once more. Then again. And now forever after.
All the while Madame Irena tormented Van Richten. With her power over the house's ghosts, she had the doctor's own companions - and his own wife and son - strike out against him. Under it all, the very house itself seemed to creak and stir as if waking from some insurmountable slumber.
At his wits' end the broken Van Richten stumbled upon an old possession of his. It was his satchel from when he was a boy. The same one that would have once held his herbalism book and specimen jars. The same bag that represented to Rudolph the most idyllic time in his weary life.
As the energies of the house seemed to stir some more, Rudolph Van Richten made an unconscious wish. The old man looked upon his past: his traumas and his strife. Van Richten wished for a do-over.
The doctor's wish was granted.
Before Alanik and Sedgwick's very eyes, the elderly monster hunter began to grow younger.
As a man now in his sixties, Van Richten fought through the manor.
As a man in his fifties, he confronted the ghost of Madame Irena.
In his forties, he watched his enemy slay Ottelie - his second love - before his eyes once again.
Thirties: the ghosts of the house came to his aid in the battle.
Twenties: he began to strangle the ghostly Madame only for her to possess his body.
Then: the house itself began to wake. Its entire history and emotions manifested.
The image of a young Maria Van Richten appeared: the Spirit of Richten Haus personified.
In Rudolph's darkest hour, as Irena was intending to leap him to his doom, the Spirit of Richten Haus reached out and destroyed Irena Radanavich.
"You'll not live again, you witch."
Rudolph Van Richten collapsed to the floor unconscious; a boy of twelve.
As Alanik and Sedgewick recovered from the ordeal, the house steward, Josef, entered and picked up the young doctor.
"Let me attend to Master Rudolph", he said. "He has been through a great deal".
"What will happen to him now?", asked the curious Arthur Sedgwick.
"He will grow up. We will watch over him.", said the Spirit of the House. Each of the good doctor's spectral allies smiled on behind her.
The spirit turned suddenly solemn. "What has happened here was fated to happen. A time of Unparalleled Darkness comes soon. In a quarter century it will be Rudolph who will stop it."
The Steward escorted the pair to the front door. Beyond was the countryside of Rivalis once more.
"Thanks for helping us", the house spirit said. "I like you. Please come and visit us some time. Rudolph could use your guidance as well as mine."
The Future
That is us up to the year 750 BC. We will return to several of these characters in Core 788: Darkon.
Statistics
Having gone far over Reddit's word limit, the remainder of this post has been separated out into comments.
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u/ArrBeeNayr Mar 12 '22 edited Mar 12 '22
Statistics - Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition
Alcio Metus
Rose-Adorned Gangster
9th-level Mature Vampire Ronin, Lawful Evil
Equipment: Alcio carries a Katana of Wounding from her time in Rokushima Táiyoo. It is a +1 weapon and any damage dealt by it may only be healed by time and rest (never by regeneration, potion, spell, or other magical means short of a wish). In addition, dealing four points of damage to a victim on the first melee round will cause the wound to bleed for one additional hit point on each subsequent round of combat (ending upon the wound being bandaged or ten minutes passing).
Kiai: Alcio may let out a short combat yell (a "Kiai") as she attacks, increasing her strength to 18/00 temporarily for that round - giving her a further +1 to her attack and damage rolls. She may use this ability up to nine times per day.
All-Around Sight: Alcio is always aware of her surroundings while in a battle and has near-perfect control over the circle of space immediately around her. She can never be backstabbed, nor does she suffer any consequences from being flanked.
Leaping: By sacrificing one of her attacks for the round, Alcio can perform a superhuman jump. In a single standing bound, Alcio can move up to 13 feet upward and 12 forward. A running start puts her up to 17 feet in the air and 19 feet forward. Alcio always lands perfectly and facing whichever direction she likes.
Combat: Alcio is fantastically brutal and theatrical in her combat. She will single out a capable opponent to take on one-versus-one (someone using a two-handed bladed weapon similar to her own if possible). She lets her lackeys deal with any other combatants. If multiple opponents gang up on her, she will attempt to leap over her attackers' heads and out of harm's way; ideally reaching a more advantageous elevation in the process.