- Hello, and welcome
back to Lunchbreak Heroes for the final episode of our
Ravenloft Companion series. Today, we're going to be talking
about Rudolph van Richten, Nikolai Wachter, Father
Donavich, and Zuleika Toranescu. (orchestral music crescendos)
(droning intermission noise) First up, we have Rudolph van Richten, also known as Rictavio
the Carnival Master. He's here in Barovia under the
guise of this carnival master so that Strahd doesn't outright
catch him and murder him. So part of your party's
journey is to unmask Rictavio, or gain his trust, so that
he reveals his true identity. So what is Rudolph's
motivation in all of this? Well, he's here to kill Strahd. Rudolph van Richten is probably the most famous monster hunter in all of the Domains of Dread, and he's here in Barovia on business. Now, how do you gain his trust and have him include you in that business? Well, once you have gotten him
to reveal his true identity, or tricked him into it, you
can gain this trust simply by informing him that
Madam Eva has sent you and proving to him that she
has revealed his destiny. Now as suspicious and distrustful
as he is of most Vistani, he puts some weight
behind Madam Eva's words. If he knows that you are instrumental to him completing his mission, well, he's going to let you travel with him. That's right, I said
let YOU travel with HIM, not the other way around. So what are the pros and cons of having Rudolph van Richten as an ally? Well, on the pro side, we have the fact that he is a very
accomplished monster hunter. He's got an impressive array of skills that he is proficient in. In addition to that, he's got a wealth of knowledge about the forces of darkness because he's been
fighting them for decades. So if you want to know anything
about any single monster in Barovia, he's the guy to
ask - especially vampires. In addition, Rudolph
came to Barovia prepared for the job that he is about to do. In our guides we modified
Van Richten's tower to include a whole bunch
of monster hunting supplies that he's stashed on the first floor. His protégé Ezmerelda has
only added to that stash. So if you can get in good
with Van Richten or Ezmerelda you can gain access to
that stash and, you know, gain the upper hand on
killing some monsters. Van Richten also carries
a scroll of Raise Dead which makes him one of the few sources of resurrection in all of Barovia. It's either him or The Abbott or, ehhhh, one of the dark powers. And if I had a choice between those three I know which one I'd want. Over on the con side we have the fact that Strahd is actively
hunting for Van Richten. He knows this monster hunter is in town, he just doesn't know where he's at. And unlike your party,
whom Strahd is toying with and he wants to see what they can do, Strahd just wants to capture Van Richten and torture him to death. So traveling with Rudolph really paints a big target on your party's back. On top of that, Rudolph carries a pretty hefty curse on his shoulders. This is the curse that
was bestowed upon him by Ezmerelda's mother,
who may or may not be a Vistani depending upon
which book you read first. This curse dooms Van Richten to have anybody he grows close to die. So, he's very reticent
to travel with anybody lest he grow close to them and have them kick the bucket
for one reason or another. Now, if your party travels with him he's going to remain aloof and distant, but that doesn't mean that
the curse won't strike. Before we move on to the next ally I want to point something out to you. The Deck of Many Quests is
available on indiegogo.com. You can get our first product today. The digital version is
available and ready to be used. The physical version will ship around the August and September timeframe. This is a quest building
system based around cards. We've got 200 cards in every deck. You draw a quest card. It gives you a prompt with
Mad Libs style blanks here that you can fill in
with creatures and items. We've got 200 cards you can
build basically any quests. The deck itself creates
over 200,000 unique quests. You add in some imagination
and that number is infinite. So go ahead and check that out. We've got some great reviews for you. I'll link one down in
the description below. I want to hear what you think about it. If you have purchased
The Deck of Many Quests, or if you want to, go
ahead and let me know what you think about it
down in the comments below. (droning intermission noise) Next up we have Nikolai Wachter, the patriarch of the
Wachter family in Vallaki. Nikolai is one of the allies that is dead when you first meet him. And unlike a lot of the undead allies Nikolai is actually stone cold dead. Nikolai died some time ago. I honestly can't remember if the cause was specified in the book. I don't think it was. But his wife, Fiona, has
cast a Gentle Repose spell on his body, and she's been
sleeping next to him ever since. And you thought Strahd was
going to be the creepiest thing in this book, but no.
Fiona takes the cake. Now, assuming your party can
actually resurrect Nikolai, what is his motivation behind becoming an ally for your party? Well, Nikolai is an
enterprising kind of guy. He has his family's interests first and foremost in his heart. And, you know, his family has
flourished under Strahd's rule for generations, but Nikolai
thinks they could do better. If Strahd wasn't around they could enhance their business interests and push them forward and whatnot. So he doesn't want Strahd to
be Lord of Barovia anymore. He wants somebody else in charge. And maybe your party's the kind of people to help him achieve that. So how do you gain his trust? Well, you probably guessed it. You bring him back to
life. It's that easy. If you can achieve that and
give Nikolai a second chance at achieving his ambitions,
he is your patron. So what are the pros and cons
of having Nikolai around? Well on the pro side,
there is no richer ally in all of Barovia. Nikolai
is freaking loaded. If you need money, he's got it. If you want to buy something, it's yours. Money is no object for Nikolai. And if something is priceless? Chances are he's got the connections to figure out how to get it
for you no matter what it is. So, he can hook your party up. Beyond financial assistance, Nikolai is a political powerhouse. He's got influence all over the place being one of the wealthiest
men in all of Barovia. If he is restored to life he
can probably wrest control from Baron Vallakovich, who is seen as incompetent and annoying,
and probably also quell his wife's little "book club" if you play your cards right. Now although very few people
actually like Nikolai, everybody either respects
or fears him and either one of those emotions is going to open up a lot of doors for your party. Especially if Nikolai is
physically accompanying them. All he has to do is look at somebody in his imperious manner
and they're basically giving him whatever he
wants before they know it. It's how he's gotten
everything he has in life and he can turn that talent
towards your party's favor. Over on the con side we
have the fact that Nikolai is basically useless in combat. He's right up there
with a few other allies that you don't want to take into a fight. However, his AC of 15
and his parry ability do offer him a little bit of defense. Right along those lines,
Nikolai doesn't want to get into a fight. He's already died once
and that's quite enough for a few years, thank you very much. So he's going to try to stay out of fights as much as possible. In fact, he might not actually accompany your party just so he can stay safe. On top of that, Fiona
Wachter probably isn't going to want to bend to her
resurrected husband's will. She's been sleeping next to
him for God knows how long, and she's been living with him as an idea, as a memory, and maybe a few things that I don't want to mention on camera. But as an actual person she's
just not used to him anymore. So his ambition of overthrowing Strahd really isn't going to sit well with her. And depending upon how
much power she has acquired for herself with her little "book club", she might not want to deal with
her husband's crap anymore. And your party might find
themselves in a bit of a marriage spat / political
battle / all out feud. (droning intermission noise) Next up, we have Father Donavich, the priest of the Morninglord
in the Village of Barovia. Donavich's son once went off
to join the peasant uprising against Strahd following in
the Mad Mage's footsteps. Obviously that didn't work out so well 'cause Strahd's still in power and Doru is a mindless vampire spawn that screams, "Father! I'm
starving!" from the undercroft. If you've read the
Village of Barovia chapter of our Raising the Stakes Guide you know that we've put a dark spin
on Donavich's character in regards to his little,
you know, thing with his son. So if you want to have Donavich as an ally I recommend skipping that entirely, because it makes Donavich
a more complex character and a lot more likely
to die before the party ever actually gets him as an ally. So what is Father Donavich's motivation? Well, now that Doru has
come back as a vampire spawn Donavich basically has
nothing left to lose. He is determined that no other parent in Barovia should ever see
their child become a monster. And prior to this, he didn't have the will to oppose the Lord of Barovia. But now? He's ready to throw down. So how do you gain his trust? Well, gaining Donavich's trust is a bit of a sad and grizzly matter. You see, ever since Doru came back Donavich has been wrestling with his faith in the Morninglord and
his love for his son. He knows that Doru is
lost to the light forever. He is now a soulless, monstrous shell. But he cannot bring himself
to end his son's existence. If your party can help him do that, and hopefully in a humane fashion, Donavich is willing to
cast off his vestments, leave the village of
Barovia and travel with you. So what are the pros and cons
of having Donavich as an ally? Well, first up he's got
some pretty useful spells. One of them is Cure
Wounds, making Donavich one of the few allies that
has any source of healing. In addition to that, he's
got Bless and Sacred Flame. Sacred flame is a reliable
source of radiant damage which can disrupt the healing
abilities of vampires. That's super handy! Donavich is also a devout
follower of the MorningLord, as if you couldn't guess by, you know, the fact that he's a priest. But by virtue of that, he is
sure to know some juicy bits of Barovian lore that can
certainly help your party. He'll definitely know something about the, uh, the Knights of Argynvost. Maybe even some rumors of the Amber Temple if you, as the DM, are feeling generous. On top of all that,
Donavich's devoutness to the Morninglord can open up a
lot of doors for your party. He's one of the few priests
in the entire valley so he's well-known and respected. If Donavich says that your
party is on the up and up the Barovian people
are going to trust him. And then they'll trust you guys. Over on the con side, we
have the fact that Donavich is a pretty fragile fighter. He's not one of those allies
that you want to leave on the sidelines or stick
in a town somewhere. You actually want to take'em with you because of his support spells. But, don't put him on the frontline. He'll get killed. His Cure Wounds spell is really handy but it has a range of touch,
meaning he's gonna have to get in close to the fighting
at least some of the time. So be careful and keep an eye on 'em. Lastly, Donavich's sanity
and emotional wellbeing are hanging by a thread. The whole thing with Doru
has him wracked with guilt, and understandably so. Additionally, he's convinced
that this whole adventure is going to be the end for
him one way or another. Either he succeeds in overthrowing Strahd, and then his last purpose in life is gone, or he's going to die in the attempt. So one thing that your party
might want to try to do is find an additional
purpose for Donavich. Give him something to live for beyond the goal of just killing Strahd. Let him see a light at
the end of the tunnel. (droning intermission noise) Last up, we have Zuleika Toranescu, the werewolf of the Night's Children Clan. We've gone ahead and renamed that clan because we made a lot of changes
to the werewolf den itself. Go ahead and check that video
out if you haven't already. Zuleika is of course residing in the den where she bides her time until she can kill the current alpha, Kiril Stoyanovich. Kiril was responsible for
locking up take'em mate, Emil Toranescu, because
Emil challenged his rule and said, "Hey. I don't like the fact that you're kidnapping children and turning them into werewolves." So, you know, Emil is now
over in Tsolenka Pass. We've moved him from Strahd's castle. Go ahead and check out
our Tsolenka Pass video if you haven't seen it. All of that being said, what
is Zuleika's motivation? Well, she believes that Emil is dead. She has no idea that he's
just being held prisoner and experimented upon. So she wants to seek revenge. She wants to kill the pack leader, Kiril, and see his lifeblood
drain out at her feet. Once she's done with that
she wants to go after Strahd and see if even the devil can die. So how do you earn her trust? You help her kill Kiril. Killing the pack leader
is out of her reach. She isn't strong enough
to do it on her own and the rest of the pack
is too cowed to help her. So if you can swoop in
and help her shank Kiril, absolutely, she's with
you. And bonus points if she is the one to
land the killing blow. So what are the pros and cons
of having Zuleika as an ally. On the pro side, she's a werewolf. That makes her one of the apex
predators in all of Barovia, second only to Strahd himself
by her own estimation. She could put those
wolf ears and wolf nose to good use tracking
anything throughout the land. As a werewolf, Zuleika is immune to any nonmagical weapons
that aren't silvered. That means you can barely
put a scratch in her. She's basically invulnerable
throughout all of Barovia. There's not much that can
actually put a dent in Zuleika. This makes her a fantastic tank in combat. On top of that, since all
of the werewolves in Barovia are one pack and Zuleika has a pretty high ranking among them, she can diffuse basically
any werewolf ambush that your party can walk into. Additionally, she has some sway with the normal wolves in the land. She can't control Strahd's dire wolves but the regular wolves
will lend her an ear and maybe do what she says. On the con side, Zuleika is still a violence prone kind of person. She may not be as fanatically
violent as her brethren, but it's still one of her first go-to responses to any problem. So don't be surprised if Zuleika just outright kills a peasant if she no longer thinks
that they're useful. Additionally, if Zuleika's
werewolf nature is ever revealed, the people of Barovia are going to be none too happy with
your party and Zuleika. You see, the werewolves
have terrorized Barovians for generations and they
just don't like them. So they're not going to treat with you and they're really not
going to like her very much. They're liable to run you out of town if not try to just kill you all
with pitchforks and torches. That wraps up all twenty of
the Curse of Strahd allies. If you haven't seen the
other videos in this series go check'em out! And if
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