Castlevanialoft

I'm reworking a 5th ed published Ravenloft, so it's Ravenloft but the characters are from the Castlevania world. There are enemies and other characters from the CV world in the Ravenloft setting as well. As for elves, I'm kinda torn on including them. They are part of the written adventure. I've been thinking of writing them out, but it's kind of a shame because since they naturally have life spans that stretch hundreds of years they can add great story elements that span the history of the area without having to be vampires.

So far in the adventure it's all humans, and that makes it feel much more Castlevania than D&D. My ultimate goal is to use the best of both worlds, and elves might have to be part of that. They are rare anyways. No other races will be encountered. Elves are cannon in Castlevania though.

castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Elven_Cape

castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Luminus

castlevania.wikia.com/wiki/Dark_Blade

Off topic and not that I should have to say this, but it's a high crime if you look into the DM side of an adventure. Even if they are not 5e, all Ravenloft published adventures are off limits. You will certainly spoil things for yourself if you cheat.

Ah, the random Tolkien references thrown around in SotN. I didn't know until now that Luminus and Dark Blade were originally Orcrist and Glamdring, lol. "Marsil" is certainly a bit more obvious. lol how crazy would it be if Middle-earth was canon within Castlevania? lol.

All those flea men...are they actually filthy hobbitses?!??!

Just random reference stuff the team wanted to use though, pretty much. Kind of like how SotN also has "NY style pizza" lol. In regards to elves specifically though...I don't think I have a problem with it, so long as perhaps they're portrayed as very reclusive and/or have a reason to have been unknown as a presence until now, outside of having made some legendary items from the series. The item descriptions paint a picture mostly of wood elves, too.

lol yeah, it was surprisingly difficult to get the team together. Only two of us were from the forum.

Putting up Elias' full background here. This was first sent to Mike back in June or so. It has been talked about by Elias bit by bit to the party since the game started, some in-session and some not. This is about 99% of his past that I've put together, just a tiny bit remains:


Born Elias Asher (though the others know this name might not be his) to a German father (Ehren) and English mother (Ellyn Trantoul) shortly before they traveled from his father's land in 1409 as part of Teutonic forces against the allied Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania (Battle of Grunwald). The family's participation however was only in a support role and with an ulterior motive, his father a cook and mother a talented seamstress forced into work. As the battle was underway, the young family left with a handful of others in camps, taking the opportunity to defect as they had intended while the Teutonic Knights were soundly defeated by the allied armies. They began to travel farther southwest.


The family's goal was to reach a man whose passion they had heard and believed in, seeking to free control of their lives from the papacy and Holy Roman Empire, reforming the church, as they had witnessed senseless wars and terrors, and sought what they felt was instead a true service of God. The man they sought was Jan Hus, a Czech bringing about a large movement in Prague.


On their eventual arrival, tensions were already quite high. Not long after settling in Prague and meeting brothers to share their belief with, in 1412 Hus delivered the address that asserted "no Pope or bishop had the right to take up the sword in the name of the Church; he should pray for his enemies and bless those that curse him; man obtains forgiveness of sins by true repentance, not money" (real quote). Happening in young Elias' first memories, in response to this, three lower class men who stayed in community with the Ashers and shared the stated sentiments were beheaded. At this point, Elias' family, most notably his father, starts to be recognized as a follower/heretic.


Gaining followers and inciting riots, some time passes, and Hus with some of his companions including this family left the city. However, in 1415, Hus is tried and burned at the stake for heresy (historic event). Elias, now 5 years old, is present for this and made to watch with the others, taking in the sight and smell of his family's mentor burned alive. The local unrest moves to a point of strife as the three of them attempt to escape the violence. Imploring his wife stay behind in a safe location with other women, Elias' father departs farther southeast away from the imposing threat to find safety for his child in distant relatives. There were also fellow believers much further south, bearing signs and symbols they would recognize as safe codes.


Unfortunately, father and son did not travel far before they were waylaid by agents of the "church" who recognized Ehren, the father. Though these men carried themselves outwardly as men of God, they identified themselves at this point as being part of a dark sect of a chivalrous order, the Order of the Dragon. What transpires next is often recalled with fog and nightmarish visions for "Elias": the boy is beaten and bound to lie next to his father who is burned before him with no trial, chance for defense or ceremony. Elias recalls these events in nightmares as a demonic dragon burning his family alive while he is helpless, his senses flooded by the scene.


The men of the Order stayed a bit to watch, but were dispersed as nearby travelers came to investigate the screams. No one dared challenge the armed men, however, and they did not leave before declaring this an ordered execution. Elias, a mute at this point, escapes the situation with minor injuries and accepts the kindness of a merchant heading south further to Wallachia.


After a few months of travel, the new pair come across a monastery somewhat different than others they'd seen in the area. Following the merchant's standard showing of his potions and dyes to nearby common folk, Elias asks to enter and investigate the sanctuary. On the outside, a stone cross was affixed with a crown, something he had not seen on them in the yards of other churches, and though he did not remember the importance, recalled his father and the others speak of looking for "a crown". The monks there take notice of his curiosity and introduce themselves, and after a discussion with the traveling salesman, agree to take the boy in as an orphan. Though not still a mute at this point, he does not communicate with the monks because he didn't know their language.


As time passed, it became more clear that this group was in part made of those Elias' father originally sought for shelter, but not all. Some seemed to hold true devotion to the Holy Empire, or at least acted as so when rounds were made to check on them, or when official visitors came. Elias and several others, however, seemed to hold secrets. They would go on to hold studies among themselves, sharing thoughts and ideas similar to what Jan Hus and Elias' father had said before them. Some assumed Elias was taking a sort of vow of silence, but in truth he still couldn't actually speak the same language as them, being somewhat of a running joke between certain brothers. Eventually, as the years passed, Elias would open up and learn to communicate better in Romanian, becoming fluent as an older teenager. These were years of relative peace, and growth, as a man of God, though the dragon nightmares of the past would still visit him every so often. A desire for justice against that evil would burn within him for some time, and not yet knowing the true extent of evil associated with it he would come to face. His relative safety and peace contrasted harshly with the outbreak of conflict with his former fellows fighting against the Church proper in what would be known as the Hussite wars.


On two occasions throughout these years, he would travel back to the areas of greater Bohemia, and the rural areas surrounding Prague, unsuccessfully able to locate his mother. In these troubling times, he is not able to extend his journey as much as he would like, with the fear of past happenings also biting at him and a certain degree of cowardice - the wars were still ongoing, and he far from fancied himself a fighter just yet. Jan's moderate ideal was reconciliation with the Church, after all, not a bloody conflict...?


Many more years pass in service as a cleric and speaker. Late in the year 1448, word of a nearby witch trial reaches their monastery. A few men depart upon the hearing the news, some in support and some to contest it. Upon their arrival however, the scene is already grim: around a dozen adult females have already been burned at stakes, and those leading the execution are beginning preparations for a handful more. Some of Elias' companions stand ahead of the crowd against it, though he himself is frozen in the shock of the scene, his own horrid early years clawing at him now not in a nightmare, but during the clear day.


The brothers and a number of townspeople begin to fight against the Order putting on the event, but not before the "knights" present hasten their efforts and proceed to cut down the remaining witches. One particularly very young among the accused, no more than a mere infant, crawled and shuffled away from the chaos, appearing in front of the sick, panting and heaving Elias.


"Sypha!" One of the older women called out from the scene, reaching her arm out towards the child before she was beheaded. Elias saw her eyes, darting to him before her life ended: Pleading, desperate, afraid. He took the child and ran.


The aftermath was grim. All except a couple of Elias' brothers and a handful of quick villagers, knights and otherwise, seemed to have been burned in the end. No one that escaped could say exactly what had transpired, but some held to the thought that it had something to do with a strange figure in the distance. Elias himself has no knowledge of this, at least not that he is conscious of, as he most often chooses to avoid the topic.


*Regarding the tale of the "witches" the Order was executing: When stories are told, as this occurs, a few present are able to recount a faint glimpse, in a wooded area in the distance, of what looked to be a naked female figure resting atop a giant skull, laughing.



After Elias' urging, the monks of the monastery accept "Sypha" as an orphan, just as they had done for him before her. The similarity of their early years struck him clear and heavy, and he vowed to not let repeat instances of it occur in her life as it had his. And certainly, one day, he will face "the dragon".


To this end, he begins training himself more in combat and the practice of evoking miracles through God's power. Presently, before he is able to get too very far into this training, a profound issue with the undead has risen in nearby areas. Being one of the few in his number able to deploy into combat as a church hunter, he reluctantly agrees to leave Sypha in the care of his fellows. Her gender and association with the "witches" would be kept a secret to the majority of them and the nearby settlers, so that she would be raised and trained as any. Still, just as the fires of those old days constantly lick at his psyche do the eyes of that woman he presumed was Sypha's only family pierce his heart with their desperation and hopelessness. His idle moments are wracked with gnawing questions, fear, responsibility and how he can fit into divine purpose.


New content on meeting the others coming soon. I also have some other things to write.