NPC Index

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Ok, I have finished collecting all the names, unless someone gives me a positive review on Death Unchained or the release The Shadow Rift pdf.

Hey, good news, they just released the Shadow Rift pdf.

[Band2]

It does seem that one of the two sentences: "Prince Kethmar knighted Tristan in 683, and they soon became fast friends" and "Kethmar died shortly into his second term as Prince" has to be false in some way (either Kethmar wasn't Prince in 683, or it wasn't his 2nd term when he died, or it was Ingemar who knighted him, and the friendship with Tristen passed from father to son.) It's an easy oversight to make, I'd imagine, for whoever wrote those lines. If I had to resolve it, I'd say he wasn't Prince then, and either was allowed to knight Tristen himself, or influenced his father Ingemar to do it at his request (perhaps as a reward to Tristen for saving Kethmar from some sort of danger).

I was thinking that Ingemar would have knighted Tristan and that led to his friendship with Kethmar. Either Kethmar was knighted at the same time or Tristan met him at some point during the proceedings.

[Band2]

Hey, good news, they just released the Shadow Rift pdf.

Yes, I see that. I guess I am not done yet. I will probably order that and Death Unchained soon and add them to the list.

Here were my last few questions. I'll see if SR or DU create any more:

A couple of questions about companions of van Richten.

First is Geddar and Gedlan Ironheart.
In Bleak House and Guide to Ghosts, Geddar is a retired night watchman turned tavernkeeper, who helps van Richten on a quest after thieves die in his tavern. Geddar dies during the quest and comes back as a ghost in Bleak House.
He was only on 1 adventure with van Richten but he is mentioned again in Guides to Vistani and the Walking Dead and the VR Society Research Files: Doppelgangers. It is possible that the mentions in Guide to Vistani and Doppelgangers are just part of the same journey. But Guide to Walking Dead has him help fight the lich Phantom's Bane.
Guide to the Lich, has Gedlan as the one who helps fight Phantom's Bane. He is also mentioned in Guide to the Ancient Dead.
I was going to assume they were brothers, with Gedlan joining van Richten's crusade after Geddar died, though they could be related in other ways. Cousins, uncle and nephew. Mistipedia has them as one person who is called either Geddar or Gedlan. But I do not see how he could have squeezed all that adventure out of one quest.
The only contradition is in the battle with Phantom's Bane. Guide to Walking Dead said it was Geddar but Guide to Lich has it as Gedlan.


The next question is on Claudia DeShanes. In Guide to Ghosts, she is a powerful spiritualist who joined van Richten after discovering her powers only to be killed by Merilee after being with him for 1 year. She then returns as a ghost in Bleak House.
A couple of other times a Claudia is mentioned as a companion to van Richten. She spent a year with van Richten, so she had time to go on more than 1 adventure before she died, so all of the mentions of Claudia could be the same person. But most do not use her last name. Does anyone think there could have been 2 Claudias?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I think Occam's Razor says Geddar/Gedlan is one person and ditto for Claudia.

There's nothing in Bleak House that says Geddar's final quest with Van Richten was also his first. I would expect that if Gedlan were supposed to be a relative of the fallen Geddar that Van Richten would have mentioned it when he first mentioned Gedlan. I've always imagined that Geddar ran his inn most of the time, but left with VR on adventures when needed. The account of that final adventure in VRGtG certainly makes Geddar seem like an experienced adventurer. yes, that could be explained by his time as a watchman, but if Geddar was just a one-time companion to VR, it seems less likely that he'd be pulled in the Richten Haus. A frequent companion and friend makes more sense to torture Rudolph with.

It just seems like the authors' intent was to reference the companions from previous products, so why would they invent new ones with the same (or similar) names?

[Band2]

I think Occam's Razor says Geddar/Gedlan is one person and ditto for Claudia.

There's nothing in Bleak House that says Geddar's final quest with Van Richten was also his first. I would expect that if Gedlan were supposed to be a relative of the fallen Geddar that Van Richten would have mentioned it when he first mentioned Gedlan. I've always imagined that Geddar ran his inn most of the time, but left with VR on adventures when needed. The account of that final adventure in VRGtG certainly makes Geddar seem like an experienced adventurer. yes, that could be explained by his time as a watchman, but if Geddar was just a one-time companion to VR, it seems less likely that he'd be pulled in the Richten Haus. A frequent companion and friend makes more sense to torture Rudolph with.

It just seems like the authors' intent was to reference the companions from previous products, so why would they invent new ones with the same (or similar) names?

I agree about Claudia. It was just an idea.

Geddar/ Gedlan
True there is nothing that specifically states that was his only adventure with Van Richten, but that goes both ways. Bleak House does not say Geddar knew van Richten before the thief died in his common room. All it says is that the thief died in his common room with stolen grave goods so Geddar joined van Richten to return the items and died during the quest.

And he could still be one of the ghosts in Bleak House. Instead of someone van Richten knew for years, he was someone van Richten met once. Haunting van Richten that his curse effects even those who he works with only a short time. And the author of Bleak House appears to be selecting companions who were specifically mentioned as having died in one of the Guides, as evidenced by 3 of the 7 companion ghosts coming from the Guide to Fiends and the debacle against Drigor.

I have the impression that back then Wizards named relatives with similar names often, though I cannot think of any other examples right now. Such as all siblings having a name that begins with the same letter.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

I agree that it's not definitive, and however you want to do in your project, go ahead. You're just the first person I've heard of who thought they were not the same person. So be prepared for a good chunk of the fandom to disagree with you.

[Band2]

I am working through Shadow Rift and Death Unchained now.

I only have 2 open questions.
1) Morgoth from Champions of the Mists/ Tapestry of Dark Souls. What is his race?

2) The Alexandre du Cire that moved to Ghastria. Is he the human or the golem?
I am fine with leaving this one unknown. Just thought I would ask the authors what they intended in case I missed something.

Since this worked once already, let's try it again. So the project is almost finished, unless they release A light in the Belfry on pdf.

[Band2]

Finished. I will wait a couple of days to see if I get an answers on one of the above 2 questions or if a new pdf comes out before sending it to the Fraternity.

[Band2]

Sorry for not turning this in last fall. Real life, work, and then the holidays got in the way. And a new Quote the Raven was released. I have been working on added QTR 21 to the list. So far I only have one question:

Abernath Gearling of the Rue des Pisolets is mentioned as a clockwork-themed character. Who is that? Race? Profession?

I should be finished soon, and will send it to the Fraternity when finished.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Sorry for not turning this in last fall. Real life, work, and then the holidays got in the way. And a new Quote the Raven was released. I have been working on added QTR 21 to the list. So far I only have one question:

Abernath Gearling of the Rue des Pisolets is mentioned as a clockwork-themed character. Who is that? Race? Profession?

I should be finished soon, and will send it to the Fraternity when finished.

Abernathy Gearling. From RLDMG, Rue des Pistolets section. He's a gnome gunsmith.

[Band2]

Abernathy Gearling. From RLDMG, Rue des Pistolets section. He's a gnome gunsmith.

Rue des Pistolets is in Richemulot or Dementlieu?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Rue des Pistolets is in Richemulot or Dementlieu?

Port-a-lucine, Dementlieu.

[Band2]

Since finishing this project, I have bought a few more Ravenloft products and plan to update the index for them. One of the adventures I now have is A Light in the Belfry, that I bought from DM Guild. It does not include the CD that came with the original adventure, and it seems that a lot of the back story of the main characters is only explained on the CD. I thought I have seen mention on the board here of a transcript of the CD that was available online. Was the transcript available on the Fraternity's website? I cannot find it anymore if it was there. If not here, was it on another site? The old Kargatane site?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Those files were at the Kargatane site, and sadly aren't even available on the Wayback Machine archive of it. We never had them here.

[Band2]

I am back adding to my index and have some questions about Quote the Raven 22.

From the Midnight Market, here are four members of the market that I am unclear on what their race should be:
Araignee Veuve Noire Grissoie
Charles Emmanuel Grey, Esquire
Jeremy Carter
Kasim al-Darish

Most sound like they could be human, but also they all sound like they could be something else. Fey? or just Unknown?