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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Voadam" data-source="post: 7936508" data-attributes="member: 2209"><a href="https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/17488/RR1-Darklords-2e?affiliate_id=17596" target="_blank">RR1 Darklords</a>2eAnhktepot, Lord of Har'Akir, Greater Mummy: Pharaoh Anhktepot ruled centuries ago in the great desert land of Har'Akir. The pharaoh, like most of his culture, was obsessed with death. The religion of the people revolved around death, and the pharaoh was the link between men and the gods. Anhktepot himself was a priest of Ra, the sun god.Anhktepot commanded his priests to find a way for him to live forever. Many slaves and prisoners died horribly as subjects in Anhktepot's gruesome experiments. Totally frustrated with the lack of success, the pharaoh had several temples burned and razed. He stalked into the Kharn temple, greatest of all in Har'Akir, and cursed the gods for not granting him his heart's desire. Ra, sun god and patron of the pharaohs, answered Anhktepot. He told the pharaoh that he would live even after death, though he might wish otherwise. Ra did not elaborate.Anhktepot left the temple elated but confused. He still did not know how to cheat death. That night, everyone he touched died. His wife, several servants, and his eldest child—all were dead. According to custom, they were mummified and entombed in great buildings in the desert.One day the priests rebelled against the pharaoh and murdered him in his sleep. The funeral lasted for a month. During it, Anhktepot was awake and helpless, trapped inside his own corpse. His mind screamed as they mummified his body. He was nearly insane when they entombed him.As the sun set, and Ra's power waned, the borders of Ravenloft seeped into the desert kingdom to steal away the tomb of Anhktepot and the nearby small village of Mudar.Strahd: ?Nephyr, Greater Mummy: Pharaoh Anhktepot ruled centuries ago in the great desert land of Har'Akir. The pharaoh, like most of his culture, was obsessed with death. The religion of the people revolved around death, and the pharaoh was the link between men and the gods. Anhktepot himself was a priest of Ra, the sun god.Anhktepot commanded his priests to find a way for him to live forever. Many slaves and prisoners died horribly as subjects in Anhktepot's gruesome experiments. Totally frustrated with the lack of success, the pharaoh had several temples burned and razed. He stalked into the Kharn temple, greatest of all in Har'Akir, and cursed the gods for not granting him his heart's desire. Ra, sun god and patron of the pharaohs, answered Anhktepot. He told the pharaoh that he would live even after death, though he might wish otherwise. Ra did not elaborate.Anhktepot left the temple elated but confused. He still did not know how to cheat death. That night, everyone he touched died. His wife, several servants, and his eldest child—all were dead. According to custom, they were mummified and entombed in great buildings in the desert.Soon the great pharaoh came to understand his curse. So long as Ra shone upon him, he was safe. But once he was no longer under the sun's watchful eye, whomever he touched died horribly.Shortly after the final ceremony of his wife's funeral, Anhktepot was visited in the night. A mummy wrapped in funeral linens entered his chambers. By the vestments he knew it was Nephyr.The Banshee, Tristessa, Lord of Keening: Nearly all banshees were evil elves in life, but Tristessa was not born of an ordinary clan. She was a drow—a dark elf who lived underground with the rest of her black-hearted kind.Sages in Darkon say that a party of Arak's drow arose from the dark kingdom one night, dragging Tristessa and her child along with them. Arak's surface was then lush and green. That night, the sky was cold and clear, and the blades of grass shone like silver in the moon's light. Tristessa's captors staked her to the ground, and laid her child beside her. Then they abandoned the pair.Morning broke. As the sun climbed high in the sky, screams echoed across the landscape—screams so shrill that even the drow below could hear them. Tristessa and her infant could not survive the harsh rays. Mother and child dissolved into the wind, which rose, howling fiercely, and destroyed all life upon Arak's soil. The storm moved west, enveloping a nearby town with its fury. Then the town and storm disappeared, and Keening was formed.The Beggar Woman, Unique Wight: She is undead, held here only by the strange bonds of Ravenloft.The Beekeeper, Zombie: ?Keening Crawling Claw: ?Skeletal Rat: ?Rotting Rat: ?Lady Kateri Shadowborn, Geist: ?Headless Horseman: Nearly every domain haunted by the Headless Horseman knows a different tale of his origin. In Falkovnia, some say the spirit was a victim of Drakov's men, wrongfully beheaded. In Barovia, they say he sliced off his own head rather than fall prey to one of Strahd's minions, who later gave the head to Strahd.In Borca, folk have the most specific tale, which they are sure is most true. Borcans say the Horseman was once a bard who had the misfortune of meeting Ivana Boritsi, the lord of Borca. Ivana invited him to her private baths (an offer he could not refuse). Unfortunately, she was in a fickle mood, and he was unable to entertain her. Inspired by the sickle shape of the moon, she had him beheaded, continuing her bath in his blood.The headless body, as the story continues, was cast into the river near Levkarest. (As to what Ivana did with the head, no one is sure.) The corpse floated downstream until it neared the road to Sturben, where it became lodged beneath a bridge. On the night of the next sickle moon, the body arose.Heads: They are what became of the horseman's victims.Medusa Head: ?Maedar Head: ?House of Lament: Perhaps Mara's spirit became one with the house, evolving from the tormented to the tormenter, until every timber and stone in the structure was the embodiment of evil. Or perhaps Mara still exists in the walls, alone and full of sorrow, and the house, wanting to comfort her, encourages the living to join her.For in many lands it is understood that only the warm blood and flesh of the living can ease the cold misery of the dead.The House of Lament is an entity of evil, of which the spirit that was Mara is only a part. How this came to be is not fully understood, yet some sages would say that the site was always a gathering point of malignancy and evil, even when Dranzorg first built his castle there. Then the malignancy only served to influence the mood of those within it. Mara's absorption was the catalyst that enabled it to grow.Mara: When dawn's first light was on the horizon, Dranzorg released Mara from her prison. His men brought her to his chambers. "Did you know," he asked, "that an offering must be made to the gods to fortify a keep?" It was a custom in those lands to entomb a cat or a stag in the walls of a castle as it was built, in order to strengthen it and bring good fortune. Mara knew well of this custom. She did not answer, suspecting what Lord Dranzorg had in mind.As Dranzorg watched, his henchmen dragged Mara to the base of the tower, where the wall had been thickened on the inside. A small alcove with a bench lay open, cut back into the old wall, the opening flush with the new.Bravely, Mara cursed Dranzorg and his men, and proclaimed that her father would see her death avenged. Dranzorg was amused. He ordered that her finger be pricked with a sedative, so that she would not disturb the work to come. When she collapsed, his men placed her limp body on the bench in the alcove, and proceeded to seal the wall. Mara was entombed alive.By nightfall, her screams sounded throughout the castle. They continued through the night, and on through the days and nights to come. Each day, the men of the castle complained to Dranzorg, saying they could notbear the unholy noise, for surely the woman should have died in less than a day. Finally Dranzorg agreed. He personally opened the tomb. The screams subsided. No one lay within.Baron Urik Von Kharkov, Nosferatu Vampire: Ulrik burned with hatred over the humiliation of being turned into an animal by Morphayus. It was in this frame of mind that he entered Darkon. There, an impoverished bard told Ulrik tales of the Kargat vampires. Lured by thoughts of immortality and dark power, Ulrik traveled to the city of Karg and sought out a vampire. Ulrik's dream of untold power and eternal life soon turned to ashes in his mouth. True, he became a vampire, but as an undead slave to his vampire master. Ulrik won immortality at the expense of his precious humanity.Merilee Markuza: As the brigands were about to depart, one of them spotted the young girl. In terror, she turned and fled. Her tiny feet had not carried her a dozen yards before a pair of crossbow bolts brought her down. Certain that she was dead, the criminals collected the last of their spoils and rode off.Some time later, as the last of the child's vital energies were draining away, a dark figure came upon the wounded girl. The mysterious shadow seemed to move quickly over the scene of the murders, taking care to note something here or there. Merilee was too weak to call out for help, but managed a moan of pain. The stranger flashed to the side of the girl with supernatural speed.Over the course of the next few days, Merilee was to learn much about her "rescuer." The mysterious figure was a tall, slender woman named Keesla. Many years before, Keesla had become a vampire. When she found Merilee, the woman knew that there was no earthly way to save the girl's life. Seeing in the innocent child a striking resemblance to her own daughter who had died decades earlier, she decided that Merilee would not die. Bending over the wounded girl, Keesla began the process that would eventually transform Merilee into a vampire.Keesla, Vampire: ?Tiyet, Mummy, Lord of Sebua: People of the Black Land believed that death was only a journey to another existence. In the afterlife, all would remain essentially as it had been before, provided one had been good and kind, provided one's heart had been true.This is the story of a woman for whom that cycle held no comfort. Because her heart had been fouled with misdeeds, she knew that only horrors would await her. Terrified of judgment, she sacrificed life and spirit to avoid it. In the end, she only condemned herself to a fate that was far worse. She became one of the living dead, a mummy whose beauty is everlasting, but whose heart and hope are lost forever.Tiyet returned to the temple and sought out Zordenahkt. She begged him to kill her, and perform the ceremony that would save her from terror in the Hall of Judgment. When Zordenahkt refused, she drew a dagger from her gown. Begging for the mercy of the god Apophis, she plunged the dagger into her chest.Deep within the temple, Zordenahkt performed the ceremony that she had desired. He bathed Tiyet's body in the precious oils of a nobleman's embalmer, reciting a common spell to preserve her beauty. Then he made an incision in her chest, and removed her heart.The idol of Apophis looked on, as it had looked on each day Tiyet and Zordenahkt met in his temple. It was a great, black serpent, made from cedarwood. Inlaid jewels and black glass served as its scales. Two rubies set in onyx were its eyes.Zordenahkt placed Tiyet's heart in a stone jar filled with oils. He placed the jar before his serpent god. The words he spoke offered Tiyet's heart in return for her safety from torment in the Underworld. Then he wrapped Tiyet's body in linen, and carried it to his own family tomb. There he poisoned himself with the venom of an asp, and laid down beside her to die.Tiyet rose the next night. She pulled the strips from her eyes, and saw the body of Zordenahkt beside her. Still wrapped in the linen swaddling of the dead, she crossed the desert and went to the estate of Khamose. Each heart within the house was audible to her, beating with a maddening pace. Loudest was the heart of Khamose, sounding like a drum, compelling her to seek it out.Tiyet stole into his room, silent as a shadow. She placed her hand upon his chest, and found that the heartbeat slowed. Khamose stirred, and his eyes opened wide. His mouth gaped, but before he could scream, Tiyet paralyzed him with her gaze. Then, even as he lived, she reached through his chest and drew out his heart. Tiyet placed the bloody mass to her red lips and swallowed it. The audible beating of the other hearts in the household stopped; satiated, she could hear them no longer.Tiyet returned to the tomb and lay down beside the still body of Zordenahkt. When she awoke, she was alone. She had become the lord of Sebua, a domain in Ravenloft.Banshee: Nearly all banshees were evil elves in life.Ghost: Ghosts of others the banshee has met on the mountain haunt the places of their demise.Undead: ?Greater Mummy: Pharaoh Anhktepot ruled centuries ago in the great desert land of Har'Akir. The pharaoh, like most of his culture, was obsessed with death. The religion of the people revolved around death, and the pharaoh was the link between men and the gods. Anhktepot himself was a priest of Ra, the sun god.Anhktepot commanded his priests to find a way for him to live forever. Many slaves and prisoners died horribly as subjects in Anhktepot's gruesome experiments. Totally frustrated with the lack of success, the pharaoh had several temples burned and razed. He stalked into the Kharn temple, greatest of all in Har'Akir, and cursed the gods for not granting him his heart's desire. Ra, sun god and patron of the pharaohs, answered Anhktepot. He told the pharaoh that he would live even after death, though he might wish otherwise. Ra did not elaborate.Anhktepot left the temple elated but confused. He still did not know how to cheat death. That night, everyone he touched died. His wife, several servants, and his eldest child—all were dead. According to custom, they were mummified and entombed in great buildings in the desert.Soon the great pharaoh came to understand his curse. So long as Ra shone upon him, he was safe. But once he was no longer under the sun's watchful eye, whomever he touched died horribly.Shortly after the final ceremony of his wife's funeral, Anhktepot was visited in the night. A mummy wrapped in funeral linens entered his chambers. By the vestments he knew it was Nephyr. He fled from her down the long halls of the palace. Finally she cornered him. Unable to talk, the mummy Nephyr tried to embrace Anhktepot. Horrified, he screamed for her to leave him forever. She turned and left. Nephyr walked into the desert and was never seen again. Her tomb remained open and empty.Anhktepot was also visited by the mummified bodies of the others whom he had killed. He came to understand that he controlled them utterly. They did his every bidding. He used their strength and his own touch of death to tighten the reigns of his evil power over Har'Akir.He killed many of the kingdom's priests, making them his undead slaves.Any character who is mummified alive while infected by Anhktepot's rotting disease becomes a greater mummy under the control of Anhktepot.Mummy: Any character who is mummified alive while infected by Anhktepot's rotting disease becomes a greater mummy under the control of Anhktepot. If you don't have the RAVENLOFT Monstrous Compendium appendix, just make his minions regular mummies.Tiyet sometimes creates new mummies, using the bodies of her victims. Death alone does not create them; she must mummify them in the common manner. At her disposal are the vats and supplies in an embalmer's house, which lies on the outskirts of Anhalla.Zombie: The phantom can also animate the dead, who will claw their way out of the earth to grasp the ankles of passersby, and then slowly rise up to attack, like common zombies.Wight: ?Spectre: ?Nosferatu Vampire: Anyone who dies from being drained by Baron von Kharkov becomes a nosferatu vampire.</blockquote>

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