Meeting Dr. Van Richten

Tenny Pinheiro
Nov 4 · 10 min read

The heroes left Castle Ravenloft; in the courtyard, they tried to prevent a family from jumping from the castle bridge. The family was being sold by the vistani as slaves it seems, to Lipsiege, a servant to the castle.

Arriving in Vallaki they found the city under siege. Smoke coming out of the Townsquare region, tents to cater to the ill, many people were missing family members, and many survivors missing limbs. The people in the village were divided between the ones in shock and the ones angry, trying to force themselves back into their homes now isolated by the quarantined zone. A massive chunk of the Townsquare area, involving about sixty houses was quarantined and off-limits to anyone but the guards.

Shortly after the heroes were met by Aldo, the constable who took them to the house Dr. Van Richten was staying it. A mix of apothecary and alchemy shop, the house belonged to a shop keeper named Ooling; Ooling was killed in the events of the past week. V.R took over the place as some sort of headquarters to research the phenomena that is taking place in the town and set up an attack plan.

Talking to V.R the heroes discovered he had captured “the bride”, Ireena Kolyann, and that she became a hybrid between a flesh construct and a vampire. They also uncovered many different pieces of the puzzle that is their arrival in this place.

One interesting thing the good doctor shed a light into was that Joralemon sleep walking behavior is not coming from a natural place. He mentioned he has been corresponding with Dr. Gregorian Illhousen, chief physician of the Clinic for the Mentally Distressed in Egertus, Nova Vaasa. Dr. Gregorian specializes in study dream phenomena and he recently uncovered some evidences that led him to believe that such nightmares are in fact caused and controlled by what he called the nightmare court. A body of different entities each one able to feed into the victim’s emotions in a different way. Dr V.R mentioned that Joralemon explanations on whats happening fit the description of how one of such creatures treat their victims. The name of this member of the nightmare court is The Ghost Dancer. A powerful entity that lived a tragic life and now feeds on remorse and guilt. There was not enough time for a deeper discussion to follow and Dr. V.R promised to investigate it further and write to his friend in order to reach a better diagnostic.

The good doctor mentioned he made a partnership with Jacqueline Montarri and they both broke into Castle Ravenloft to steal Strahd's diary, the Tome of Strahd. They managed to fetch the book from Strahd's study but Jacqueline betrayed V.R, stole the book and left him to die in the castle. When asked if he thinks these events set free Bulg, the clown, the good doctor just answered: It's possible, but I can't prove it.

He also mentioned that the mark the heroes carry on their forehead, is a symbol in Patterna meaning "Shadow keepers" and that it allows them to time travel when entering the mists, without having control on where or when they are heading to.

Keep in mind these are V.R’s theories about what happened, what V.R knows to be true for sure will be marked with a *.

  • *Strahd manipulated them into fighting Olga by playing tricks with their minds, making them believe that while possessed by the dolls they murdered woman, man and children in his castle.
  • The Doll House is not a dungeon, not a simple cave. It was one day, but today it stands as a domain from which Olga is the dark lord.
  • Bulg is Olga's brother. Another Von Weerg creation. Bulg was created under the emotions of hate and revenge. Olga was brought to life powered by love and sadness. Dr. V.R theory is that the events taking place are in motion because of Bulg not Olga.
  • Bulg was the one that released the lid for the Doll House connecting it back to Vallaki after four centuries of isolation.
  • Strahd didn’t get involved not because he was concerned about Vallaki’s economy/trade/people, like he said. But because he just can’t cross into a new domain. (This theory for V.R is what sparks the idea of the place being its own domain).
  • *During the "normal" years. Vallaki's theater would open once a year, for one night. All the children would attend. One adult would then be marked by a toy to be killed in their houses. This would always happen at one of the houses connected to the underground tunnels mentioned on Von Weerg's diary (read below). The victim, usually a person that mistreated a child, would then be dismembered in place and its parts would be carried through the tunnels and dropped in a shaft that, V.R believes leads to the entrance to the doll house. With the sacrifice, equilibrium would then be back in place, for another year.
  • V.R believes that Bulg disrupted this equilibrium routine after it was set free.

After conducting a series of experiments with the bride V.R concluded the following:

  • Afraid of fire.
  • He uncovered an elixir, made of herbs, that when injected paralyzes the beast for two hours.
  • Super strenght
  • has all the reactions of a vampire, including acidity on its blood, no mirror image, holy water, but she can stand sunlight without issues.
  • hyper-regeneration.
  • can raise the dead without effort.
  • behaves like a fiend when it comes to crossing circles of power.

Dr. V.R also mentioned that he is concerned.

“Here is what concerns me. Ireena was captured about a week ago, as per Aldo’s information. This construct, by all accounts, shouldn’t exist. …. Yet… its clearly here.”

The doctor explained to the heroes that a flesh construct can take anything from four to six weeks to be built. That is if the person behind it has the means and the power to do it. It is also a costly endeavor.

Dr. VR also mentioned that Von Weerg’s, Olga’s father, body was never found but people uncovered a barrel full with acid and a siringe containing a numbing susbstance. V.R thinks he killed himself by numbing his body and entering the acid in order to avoid the same fate he gave to his creations.

The good doctor also had a theory about the inhabitants of the doll house:

The dollhouse has five breeds, or race, of citzens.

- Broken ones: Flesh constructs created by failed Von Weerg experiments.

- Discarded ones: These are toys that have no master. They have no power to takeover humans. These are fiendish souls. Some are depressed, sad, but not necessarily evil.

- Posessed ones: These are actually real people, living inside the toys for the period of possession they know everything they knew before.

- Servants. These are toys serving children. They rare in the doll house as they live with their masters (a better life outside), they are usually teleporting in (after starting posession) or out, back to their masters.

- Bulg soldiers. Created to serve the clown. They blindly serve bulg as slaves.

Here is the diary V.R recovered from his incursion into the tunnels:

From Von Weerg’s Diary.

348 BC, Fivral

“We have a new ruler. His name is Strahd Von Zarovich, his armies defeated King’s Dorian Vistan’s army. I don’t really care. Dorian was a pig. As long as the war stops and we can start trade again. I need to rebuild my shop and take care of Olga”

350 BC, Dekavr

“My dear Olga is sick with the plague. Damn this place and its new ruler for the lack of care for his people. People are dying to the dozens every day and all this Count Strahd cares about is tax money for the remodeling of his castle.”

351 BC, Fivral

“Today, I was comissioned to create a special doll as a gift to Tatyana, Sergei Zavorich’s bride. I was even invited to the wedding and tasked with preparing the festivities. My own daughter is dying but instead of attending to her I will have to spend weeks in the workshop. Strahd himself sent his soldiers to guard my shop and the materials for the doll.This man, Sergei, is a good man, but this is not what I need to be doing right now, my heart is not in it.”

351 BC, 15th moon of Mart

“It’s been three weeks in the making of Bulg, that’s how I’m calling it. The name came to me in my dreams, but why should I care? My Olga seems better this week. She was able to play and eat a little bit. I’m happy to see her health improving. “

351 BC, 20th moon of Apryl

“Olga is not feeling well. I tried to ask Lord Strahd to send a doctor or medicine through one of his soldiers. But the count got me whipped four times in front of my daughter, for being a beggar. He also ordered I can’t see my daughter anymore until I finish the toy, as this, in his mind, is the reason for the delay. They took my sweet Olga to the hospice today.”

351 BC, 12th moon of Mai

“I heard today from the priest that my sweet girl passed away, she died alone in a cell. I couldn’t kiss her goodbye. They dropped her body at my frontdoor. I keep staring at her and I still can’t believe she is gone. My life be damned.”

351 BC, 28th moon of Mai

“I finished the damn thing today, just in time for the wedding. My hands never crafted something so beautiful that I hate so much. Bulg is alive. I can hear it in my mind. I wish with all my heart that the toy brings nothing but disgrace and damnation over castle Ravenloft, its ruler, this damn wedding and the entire Zarovich family.”

351 BC, 30th moon of Mai

“Today I started a new project, one that will indeed take a long time to be completed, but it doesn’t matter, I’m bringing Olga back to life. I found a way to preserve her body, I need to run some experiments first before working on her.”

362 BC, 3rd moon of Octyavr

“I’m gathering materials for my 13th attempt. The problem is not with the ones that I failed to animate, but with the successful although broken ones. It was never my intention to bring these aberrations to life. I don’t know what kind of soul these things have, but they don’t seem to have human souls. I’m comissioning the construction of tunnels, a space to keep and feed them just so they don’t walk the streets of Vallaki hunting again. They don’t attack me, but people in the village will get me stoned if they discover. I need to keep myself alive for Olga’s sake, I’m so close.

367 BC, 14th moon of Fivral

“The faceless man in my dreams… for weeks now I keep seeing it… he says he has the solution for my problem, that he has a way to bring back Olga’s Soul. I think I’m working too hard. I need to take some rest.”

367 BC, 19th moon of Fivral

“Today again I saw the thing in my dreams, today it was a men-like figure wearing the head of a Jackal. The thing proposed to teach me how to bring Olga back for a price. I refused.. But this time I regreted doing it. Again another deformed beast had to be discarded in the tunnels. This was my 18th attempt.”

367 BC, 26th moon of Fivral

“I brought back my daughter, it took me 16 years and almost twenty failed experiments, but I finally did it. She lives. My sweet girl is back.”

367 BC, 29th moon of Fivral

“Olga worships me. She is like a baby, a blank slate, and today she called me father for the first time. She needs to be taught even the most basic of the things. I’m enjoying every little step of the process.”

367 BC, 30th moon of Mai

“Olga tried to talk to a maid today in the house, the woman reacted poorly, shrieking and causing a scene. Since then she turned pensive. I’m removing all the mirrors from the manor, they also seem to upset my little girl”

367 BC, 18th moon of Avgust

Today I finally received the instructions of how to fullfil my end of the bargain with the faceless man. I am supposed to build toys. That’s it. That’s all I have to do. Isn’t it funny that I thought all this time I was about to be doomed by my debt? Have my soul taken or something worse. I guess I got lucky. I have my Olga and all I need to do is get back to work, and make more toys”.

368 BC, 26th moon of Sintyavr

“Today Olga left the house and returned with the dead body of a girl her age. She dragged the thing for five miles, all the way from the village to our farm house. She sat the girl in the couch and waited for me to come home. When I entered the house she asked me to make her again, and this time as beautiful as the little girl. I couldn’t believe my eyes. My sweet girl, I need to teach her better ways”.

368 BC, 6th moon of Neyavr

“The toys I’m creating, they are not simply toys. They have a life of their own. They have, souls? I’m not sure about that. I’ve been selling them to people, that’s what the voices in my head say I am supposed to do.”

368 BC, 9th moon of Neyavr

“I’m afraid for my life, Olga tried to kill me today. She has the strength of ten men. I managed to trick her and lock her down at the doll house. That’s how they call it. The toys call the hole where I disposed my old experiments the Doll House. What have I done? Can I ever get my sweet girl to behave normally?”

368 BC, 23th moon of Dekavr

“Today I went down the Doll House for the first time. My god, what have I done? I decided I can’t live with the horrors of my work anymore. One last work I need to do, a guardian angel, someone to take care of the poor creatures I’ve created, feed them, and keep them locked away, including my little girl.”

Together they went on to lay out a plan to get into the Toyshop find Von Weerg’s lab and try to stop the production of gollems.

Dnd Campaign: ShadowKeepers

Ravenloft (2e -> 5e) Campaign

Tenny Pinheiro

Written by

Dnd Campaign: ShadowKeepers

Ravenloft (2e -> 5e) Campaign

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