Café de Nuit

As I am returning to Ravenloft after a long absence, having not ventured into the Misty Border since the Domains of Dread hardback in 1997, and the Ravenloft 2nd Edition material I kept is not as extensive as I thought, I find myself somewhat unfettered by the events that occurred after the Grim Harvest.

Which means that I can re-shape the Demiplane of Dread to my liking…

So, for my first proper post here, I thought I’d take a look at one of the most under-developed Domains, but one that I think has a fair bit of potential, namely Tepest.

Now, bearing in mind that for ‘canon’ source material for this Domain, I only have the Black Box, Red Box, Domains of Dread, Darklords and Ravenloft Appendix II, I want to try and maintain the flavour of the Domain, but tweak it slightly to ‘fit’ with my vision of what it should be.

As far as I am concerned, Tepest is the Domain of storybook witches and twisted fairy tales, in the spirit of the Brothers Grimm. At present, the canon version of Tepest seems to be a mish-mash of anything related to fairies, so suffers from the same issues that Liffe has, in that it doesn’t appear to be a cohesive whole. So, the first thing it to jettison the Shadow Fey…

Now, I’m not saying that creatures from Celtic myth and legend have no place in Ravenloft, I just think that a whole population of Shadow Fey doesn’t really fit in with what I think the feel of Ravenloft should be.

Removal of the Shadow Fey effectively removes the need for the Inquisition, which basically returns Tepest to what it was before the events of Servants of Darkness – a small isolated Domain, allegedly ruled by three hags.

Prior to the Great Upheaval, Tepest featured one of the only two passes through the Balinoks, which meant that it received a fair amount of traffic from other domains. Since then, it has effectively become a dead end, as to the West and South are the Shadow Rift, to the North, Keening and the mountains of the former Arak, with the only real access via its border with Nova Vaasa. Without the influx of travellers, the goblin tribes and the hags would therefore prey on the native Tepestani more frequently. This I feel would make the Tepestani more militant, with the possibility of an actual militia or fraternity of trained warriors, whose job is to protect the Tepestani from the depredations of the wilds… which fits in with what I have planned for the Domain.

As Darklords go, the hags, whilst definitely evil, don’t really warrant a Domain of their own. Unlike the other Domain rulers (according to the Darklords accessory) should one of the hags die, they can be recreated by their sisters or replaced by one of their offspring. This doesn’t strike me as something the Dark Powers would allow, if the hags are supposed to be Darklords, which would suggest that maybe the hags aren’t the actual rulers of the Tepest…

Deep In the Northern woods of Tepest, surrounded by the warrens of the goblin-folk, lies a castle. It is difficult to discern the shape or condition of the structure, as it is heavily enshrouded in briars, brambles and rose bushes. The upper reaches of the castle is alive with movement, as it serves as the roost for a vast quantity of crows. Within the highest chamber of the tallest tower, surprisingly clear of vegetation, lies a crystal coffin and within this coffin lies the true Darklord of Tepest…

Many years ago, a beautiful but vain witch and leader of a coven, sought more power within her land and engineered the death of the current queen. Using a mixture of her own physical charms and magic, she seduced the king and became the new queen. However, the king and queen had a daughter and as she grew into womanhood, she blossomed, eclipsing the queen’s beauty.

The queen, being vain, could not stand the thought of not being ‘the fairest in the land’ and plotted the death of her step-daughter. She was successful in this and the king was overcome by grief, eventually dying due to a broken heart (allegedly). The queen now had complete control of the kingdom – not only was she the most powerful woman in the land, but also the fairest. However, over the years, when she questioned her scrying glass as to who was the fairest in the land, more often than not the answer came back that it was not she. Through her magic and her coven, she ensured that all those deemed fairer than her were disfigured or killed. However, age was taking its toll, so she began to research a means to preserve her beauty for all eternity.

She discovered a ritual that would enchant a crystal coffin, which would preserve her beauty forever, but required the sacrifice of innocent blood to empower it. She considered this a small price to pay and sent her witches to gather all the children born within the last month. Upon the night the ritual was to take place, the people rose up and stormed the castle. As they battered down the doors to the highest chamber in the tallest tower, the witch-queen climbed into her coffin and felt the power of the ritual renewing her beauty. Then the Mists rose up and the chamber was found empty when the door was finally breached.

The witch-queen wanted to rule and be the fairest in the land and the Dark Powers have granted her wish. She now rules the Domain of Tepest, which is a mere shadow of her previous kingdom. Not only that, her beauty is preserved for all eternity – as long as she remains within the crystal coffin. The remains of her coven have joined her in the Mists and are represented by the hags of Tepest – not just the three mentioned in the Darklords accessory, but the others hinted at. These are her ‘hands’, as she is confined to the castle, not being able to stray far from her coffin or she lose her beauty, youth and eventually, her life. The coffin also acts as her scrying glass and can be used to spy on any location within the borders of the domain. She may ask it who is the fairest in the land once per day, and if it responds with anything other than “You, my Queen”, the crows are dispatched to her hags, who will engineer the corruption or death of whatever is deemed ‘fairest’. This is how the fairest oak in Tepest became the corrupted blight on the Brujamonte now known as Blackroot.

As for stats for the Witch-queen, I’m leaning towards using the 2nd Edition Elven Vampire as a base, with the witch-queens border-closing being a wall of briars and thorns.

(NB: As the Shadow Rift represents a rent in the fabric of the demiplane, my ruling is that Darklords cannot close the border of their Domain where it borders the Shadow Rift. However, this only gives the players the option of plunging into the shadowed depths if they want to escape. And as the realm of the Shadow Fey does not exist in my version of the Core, what exactly will they be plunging into…?)

So, a very rough first draft – I have more thoughts, including weaving in versions of Hansel & Gretel, Rapunzel (both stolen from FFG’s Grimm RPG), and developing the Brotherhood of the Woods, a la the woodsman from Red Riding Hood, as a group operating within Tepest.

What does everyone think of it so far?

I like the idea very much; I will say however, that the whole kingdonm was plunged in Ravenloft; Let Tepest be a full fledged nation, with a capital city, all surrounded by forressts, dotted with small viallges.

Interesting idea. Given that Tepest is one of the smaller, less-developed Domains, as it stands at the moment, I feel that I would have to expand the size of the Domain, as it is essentially a wooded mountain pass.

As I was planning on removing Von Kharkov from Valachan anyway, the above background might fit better within the territory occupied by Valachan, as this already has several towns AND a castle already. Maybe an amalgamation of the terrain of both, but occupying the same space as post-conjunction Valachan? The names in both current Domains do suggest a Germanic origin.

Alternatively, expand Tepest's territory as above, but leave it where it is in the Core. I was planning on adding Kislova and Sanguinia to the Core in place of the Shadow Rift sometime post-Grim Harvest, which would reinstate the Balinoks as a complete mountain range, with Sanguinia occupying the space left by Markovia. As Sanguinia is actually smaller than Markovia, according to the maps in the Black Box, it would make sense to make Tepest bigger.

I would strongly suggest looking at the Kingdom of Fairhairfen from Quoth the Raven 15 for ideas to crib for remodeling Tepest (including for your witch queen), as it was explicitly made to be a fairy tale domain.

Carrion Crow wrote:Interesting idea. Given that Tepest is one of the smaller, less-developed Domains, as it stands at the moment, I feel that I would have to expand the size of the Domain, as it is essentially a wooded mountain pass.

As I was planning on removing Von Kharkov from Valachan anyway, the above background might fit better within the territory occupied by Valachan, as this already has several towns AND a castle already. Maybe an amalgamation of the terrain of both, but occupying the same space as post-conjunction Valachan? The names in both current Domains do suggest a Germanic origin.

Alternatively, expand Tepest's territory as above, but leave it where it is in the Core. I was planning on adding Kislova and Sanguinia to the Core in place of the Shadow Rift sometime post-Grim Harvest, which would reinstate the Balinoks as a complete mountain range, with Sanguinia occupying the space left by Markovia. As Sanguinia is actually smaller than Markovia, according to the maps in the Black Box, it would make sense to make Tepest bigger.

I took inspiration from an online map source and added my own things to create my own campaign map (http://www.fraternityofshadows.com/wiki ... enloft.JPG) with Sanguinia and Vorostokov added to the Balinoks like you suggested. I never liked the Shadow Rift as it was, altering it to more of an Underdark type environment (the dotted lines in the areas of Keening, Tempest, and Borca represent that). I do like your idea of the Shadow Rift being the only way out of domains as it's a tear in the Core. I may 'borrow' the idea of the witch-queen ruling from her coffin (but keep the domain the way it is otherwise with the Inquisition and the belief that hags and fey rule the forests). Very cool stuff.

Thanks all. It's a pleasure to be able to be able to discuss this stuff with people who actually know what I'm talking about.

Nice map, Dark Angel. Interesting choice of Domains. And I will be sure to check out Fairhaven - I'm currently working my way through the Books of S- series, making mental notes of the bits I intend on using.

I have been thinking a bit more on my revision of Tepest. As previously discussed the new Darklord is the Briar Queen, a beautiful but vain enchantress. She has the abilities of a specialist Enchantress in 2nd Edition terms, with a few additional powers. She has complete control over the rooks which roost in the castle (i changed this from crows, as I thought that as they are uglier birds, this would be more suitable), which she uses as messengers to the remains of her coven. She also has complete control over the briars that engulf her castle, and can withdraw these from specific areas, or cause them to entangle visitors. She can also drain Charisma with a touch, but only under specified circumstances, as i'll explain below.

The Briar Queen has a maximum Charisma score of 19 and the crystal coffin will only maintain her current Charisma score, for which she must spend a number of hours in the coffin equal to her current Cha in every 24 hour period. So 19 hours for a 19 Charisma. Whilst she's in the coffin, she can scry any location within the borders of Tepest, unless protected by non-detection magic, within the bounds of normal vision. (i.e. if it's an unilluminated cave, she won't see very much). Should should not rest for the required time within any 24 hour period, she loses a point of Charisma. This can only be regained by draining Charisma from other people. However, only the prettiest folk will do, so regained Charisma can only be drained from those with above avergae stats.

So why would her Charisma drop? She may be interrupted from her 'rest', although it"s likely the rooks would alert her to intruders, which she would then entangle. But she has one other power tied to her Charisma. From the briars she can create a Briar Wolf, similar to a topiary golem or bog hound, which she can send out to punish those of her coven that have dared to disobey her or to hunt down particularly pretty victims anywhere in the Core (as long as she has a token to track them), which will stalk and engulf its victim, carrying it back in its thorny belly. This is the Big Bad Wolf of Tepest. However, for every HD spent in its creation she must sacrifice a point of Charisma. So a 6HD Briar Wolf would reduce her current Charisma by 6. Time to lure some more pretties to the castle...

What do you think?

If you want you could have a Loup-de-Noire working for her, as an actual Big Bad Wolf.

I like this whether it's a Tepest revision or an entirely new domain

I'm guessing this is already in your head-canon, but the fraternal warriors, might they be Huntsmen?

Given the Huntsman's association with the Briar Queen, might the Huntsmen be the "official" protectors of the people, but oft suspected, while the people themselves tend to trust their safety more to the hands of the Woodsmen, a wilder group, more knowledgeable in the old ways. Some folk whisper that the Woodman's axe is the only weapon that can kill the Briar Wolf and one legend holds that the victims of the Briar Wolf might still be saved if the beast is beheaded by a Woodsman before the sun rises.

The Huntsmen, for their part, do not truly understand the peoples lack of trust, yes they have heard the stories, that the founder of their order did so with the payment received for delivering the heart's blood of the fairest into the hands of the witch, but that was generations ago and even if it were true, surely the good that has been done by the order since then has washed away any stain from that time? The Grand Master Huntsman knows the truth however, for he, like his predecessors before him, has endured the ritual that saw a hag reach into his chest and remove his still beating heart, place the twitching organ in a rosewood box and send it, via raven, across the forest of twisting thorns to the top of a tower with no doors. Though he has never had to face the choice, he knows that the Briar Queen holds his life in her hands and should he ever go against her she could snuff his existence out. He has learned, however, that while the removal of his heart has removed all compassion from him, it has also removed any fear of death. He takes some grim satisfaction in remaining true to his previous ideals, though they are meaningless to him now, simply out of spite for the Queen, and has resolved to go to his death unblemished by service to her. Unfortunately, his inability to care has lead to him not noticing that the younger members of his order have grown resentful of the locals lack of trust, and have began to demand respect with threats of violence when they think they can get away with it.

Oooh, I like! Thanks for the input Kris. That fits in exactly with my vision of what Tepest should be.

A bit more background...

The Singing Tower

When the Briar Queen and Tepest was drawn into the Mists, the remaining members of the coven joined their queen. Previously, they were all beautiful young women, but each was transformed according to their nature. Leticia, Lorinda and Leticia Mindefisk became the three hags that everyone assumes are the rulers of the domain.

However, one of the coven was not as committed to the Briar Queen's cause and this was taken into account, so she became a Bruja. Knowing that her only chance of survival was to hide her nature, she isolated herself near the border with G'Henna, creating a walled garden and setting herself up as a purveyor of herbs known as Dame Gothel.

One evening she caught a local man purloining herbs from her garden, who explained that his expectant wife craved them. Recognising the man and knowing of his wife, she was aware that their child would be beautiful and therefore become a victim of the queen, so bargained with the man, stating that the price of the herbs was their child.

When the time came, the child was delivered to Dame Gothel, who installed the babe in a specially constructed tower, imbued with enchantments to protect the child and prevent her detection. As the girl grew, she became beautiful, as Dame Gothel had predicted. She named the child Rapunzel, after the herbs the mother had craved. As she grew, so did her hair and this is how Dame Gothel ascended the tower, through the only entrance, the tower window.

Over the years the enchantments on the tower evolved, gaining a degree of sentience, its goal the protection and happiness of its charge.

Unfortunately, due to her isolation, Rapunzel was quite naive and when a wandering minstrel observed Dame Gothel visiiting her charge, he discovered both the beauty and how to gain entry to the tower. After several secret visits, Dame Gothel became suspicious, and a chance comment from Rapunzel that her dress was becoming tight sealed the minstrel's fate. Horrified at what her "mother" had done to the minstrel, Rapunzel fled west and wandered the wastes of G'Henna.

During Rapunzel's years in the wilderness, the Briar Queen discovered Dame Gothel's defection and dealt with her. The tower, having its reason for existing removed, pined for the loss of its charge. As the years wore on, it became bitter and infested with spiders. Feeling useful again, the tower used its powers to draw prey for the spiders, who poisoned and devoured anything that entered.

Then one day, whilst the tower was 'sleeping', Rapunzel returned. The spiders immediately pounced, killing Rapunzel. The tower roused and was overjoyed to see the return of its charge. The spiders, having also gained sentience from their relationship with the tower, realised their error and to keep the tower happy, infested the corpse, convincing the tower that Rapunzel still lived.

This has continued ever since, with the tower using its powers to entice 'friends' for Rapunzel, who climb the long tresses into the tower, to be confronted by the dessicated corpse of the animate Rapunzel, her jerking, twitching movements the result of the poisonous vermin splling from every orifice...

The tower is happy that Rapunzel's friends never leave...

(Adapted freely from Horizon's Grimm D20 supplement)

Cool, huh?

Carrion Crow, I like the cut of your jib. Those are some wicked takes on classic tales. The image of Rapunzel's body jerking spasmodically with thousands of spiders beneath the surface, ready to boil out of gaping rents in her desiccated skin, is wonderful imagery. Much like yourself I followed very early Ravenloft developments and then drifted away to other worlds for a long time. I didn't even know about the whole Shadowfey/Inquisition angle of Tepest. For me, your version of this domain is more interesting, satisfying, and in spirit with what the domain was always supposed to be. I love that sentient tower by the way. The only thing I'd change is the name of Rapunzel itself. I know many of RL's domains are pretty thinly veiled analogues of existing tales - nobody could possibly miss the parallels between Strahd and Dracula, or Adam and Frankenstein's Monster - but I feel it's important to make at least some cosmetic effort to differentiate the two. Not a critique, your content is wonderful, just a suggestion.

The name of the herb the pregnant woman craved in the original story was called rampion, aka bellflower. The root of said plant (the edible part) was compared to a turnip, which are sometimes called "neeps".

And wouldn't "Neep" make an interesting name for the girl as she is now-- or at least the strange noises she makes?

Thanks Viking Legion. As you've probably gathered, I've been mulling this over a while. And both you and Brandi are correct in your suggestion that 'Rapunzel' probably should be changed.

Interestingly (at least to me), 'Rapuinzel' is one of the German names for what we know as Lamb's Lettuce. Unfortunately, none of the alternative names for this plant actually sound like names. And surely 'neeps' would be the expression that would be uttered by those encountering the shambling horror?

I will give it some thought...

As the latin name of the 'Rapunzel' plant is Valerianella locusta, it would seem sensible to change the name of my 'maiden in the tower' to Valeria.

More background now, at the other end of the Domain...

For my next part of my revision of Tepest, I will be returning to one of the few resources I still hold, namely the Darklords accessory.

Now, on page 40, there is this interesting snippet:- “Another hag, it is said, once lived in a cottage not far from the village of Kellee. She had two young children in her clutches, but she was not very smart. After she had fattened them up, the captives managed to push her into an oven.”

And that’s all you get. Until now…

Approaching the village of Kellee on the Timori Road from the east, the first indication that travellers are nearing their destination is the mouth-watering aroma of baked goods. These issue forth from the constantly smoking chimney of the renowned Tod’s Bakery. Originally run by the kindly old Mother Tod, following her recent passing, the bakery is now run by her grandchildren, Hans and Greta, who continue to provide all and sundry with a variety of delicious pies, pastries and confectionary.

Or so everyone believes. The truth is a little more ‘Grimm’…

The witch who became known as Mother Tod was previously an Eremite, who specialised in ‘baking’ her spells, rather than brewing them. When Tepest was drawn into the Mists, each of the Briar Queen’s coven was transformed according to their nature and Mother Tod became a Mountain Hag, a variant only previously seen in Rokushima Taiyoo, where they are known as Onibaba. Whilst the Mountan Hag shares the physical strength and ability to alter its appearance of its cousins, they are weaker and only have the spell-like ability to cast Suggestion.

Retaining her skills in baking, but now lacking the ability to imbue her pastries with enchantment, ‘Mother Tod’ set up the bakery on the outskirts of Kellee, using her Suggestion powers to ensure a steady stream of both customers and victims.

As she preferred her ‘meat’ cooked and her oven did not provide the continuous heat she required for the ‘perfect roast’, she decided to summon a minor fire elemental to power her oven. Unfortunately, the Dark Powers had other plans and she ended up with more than she bargained for…

Rather than a minor fire elemental, she summoned a Hearth Fiend. Due to the nature of her casting, the creature was bound to the oven, unable to transfer its essence between conflagrations. However, it discovered that its charm ability had increased and it soon dominated the weak-willed Mother Tod. Now the victims enticed by the hag’s Suggestion fed not only her, but her fiendish oven as well.

However, the oven was more ravenous than the hag, and she slowly declined in strength. Finally realising that its pawn was failing, the oven encouraged the hag to ‘recruit’ two orphans, with the promise that they would share the repast equally. However, it had other plans and whilst the hag fattened the boy up, the oven whispered to the girl and, when the time came, it was the hag who was devoured by the oven. The oven now had two dominated slaves, whose diet meant that they would not deprive the oven of its prey and the devouring of the hag had provided the oven with her power of Suggestion, but only as far as the aroma of its baking reached.

With this act of betrayal, the Dark Powers granted the oven an additional power. As it had been bound to the oven, the Hearth Fiend was unable to utilise it Ember Eyes. Now, however, every Gingerbread Man baked in the oven became an extension of it, a miniature golem under its control, through whose iced eyes it could view the world outside…

A final post on this topic, before I move on to the next Domain.

Currently, Tepest has only two villages, namely Kellee in the East and Viktal in the middle. From the various descriptions of the Domain, it has very little in the way of natural resources. However, it does state that sturgeon are fished in Lake Kronov and the Domain has a large number of goats.

So, replace Briggdarrow (whatever that actually is, as my researches have so far failed me in this respect) with another mountain village, namely Relfren. This first appeared in 'The Wererats of Relfren', a scenario in Dungeon #16. This would introduce to Tepest the Emerald Moon Cheesery, which fits in with the general feel of the Domain, and, along with the delicious sturgeon of Viktal, would give people a reason to visit Tepest during its 'dead-end' phase.

The scenario was originally written with the old D&D in mind, and the wererats featured were those of that particular game, meaning that the greater wererats were effectively the same as AD&D wererats. However, if you replace the Greater Wererats with standard AD&D wererats and the 'normal' wererats with Goblin Rats from OA, the scenario will work for AD&D.

At some point I will be typing this all up, including 2nd Edition stats, as a mini-gazeteer kind of thing for my revision of Tepest, which I will be quite happy to share, should anyone be interested. Obviously, as I only have 2nd edition resources, should anyone wish to contribute stats for later editions, maybe as an appendix, that would be welcome and make it more useful for others.

I'll post on this thread once it's done.