Strix and the Nightmare Lands

[KingCorn]

In DnD canon, Night Hags are heavily tied to dreams. They can see them and control them, and use nightmares to torment their victims and harvest their souls.
In the Mists, the Nightmare Court controls the dreams of men, so its possible Strix may have had dealings with them.

[Igor the Henchman]

Do you mean Styrix the night hag living in Martira Bay, or Strix the character from Dice, Camera, Action?

[KingCorn]

Do you mean Styrix the night hag living in Martira Bay, or Strix the character from Dice, Camera, Action?

Styrix of Martira Bay

[Igor the Henchman]

I can see her and Mullonga being pals.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Only until one of them decided she wanted something the other owns.

[Cromstar]

Only until one of them decided she wanted something the other owns.

Not sure either could obtain something the other owned, though.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Only until one of them decided she wanted something the other owns.

Not sure either could obtain something the other owned, though.

Stirix is, in all likelihood, a genius with a will of solid mithral.
She managed to find a way to enter and leave the Demiplane of Dread, presumably in defiance of the Dark Powers. Azalin is unaware of her achievement, so unless she flaunts it in his skull the moment she leaves, he'll never be tormented by the fact that a 'lowly' Night Hag achieved something he couldn't. Apart from the Rift Spanner becoming a tool to get the Dark Powers something they want out of the larger universe that they can't just grab for themselves, I don't see how it would serve them to let Stirix go, not when she can sow a lot of horror in the Demiplane.
I have every confidence that if Mullonga has anything Stirix wants, Stirix will find a way to take it.

[Baron Von Stanton]

Stirix is, in all likelihood, a genius with a will of solid mithral.
She managed to find a way to enter and leave the Demiplane of Dread, presumably in defiance of the Dark Powers.

She hasn't left yet, as she has not yet completed charging the Riftspanner.

[Cromstar]

Only until one of them decided she wanted something the other owns.

Not sure either could obtain something the other owned, though.

Stirix is, in all likelihood, a genius with a will of solid mithral.
She managed to find a way to enter and leave the Demiplane of Dread, presumably in defiance of the Dark Powers. Azalin is unaware of her achievement, so unless she flaunts it in his skull the moment she leaves, he'll never be tormented by the fact that a 'lowly' Night Hag achieved something he couldn't. Apart from the Rift Spanner becoming a tool to get the Dark Powers something they want out of the larger universe that they can't just grab for themselves, I don't see how it would serve them to let Stirix go, not when she can sow a lot of horror in the Demiplane.
I have every confidence that if Mullonga has anything Stirix wants, Stirix will find a way to take it.

The sweetest despair comes after the brightest of hopes are crushed.

[KingCorn]

I just realized something that makes Stryx a whole lot scarier: Night Hags are said to have deep connections to the Etheral Plane and the Plane of Shadows, the two planes that are connected to the Demiplane of Dread. So not only can she go into the Nightmare Lands as she pleases, she could basically go anywhere. With her reality wrinkle allowing her to cross domain borders, she could fast travel anywhere and everywhere. She's an everpresent threat!

[Muggs]

I just realized something that makes Stryx a whole lot scarier: Night Hags are said to have deep connections to the Etheral Plane and the Plane of Shadows, the two planes that are connected to the Demiplane of Dread. So not only can she go into the Nightmare Lands as she pleases, she could basically go anywhere. With her reality wrinkle allowing her to cross domain borders, she could fast travel anywhere and everywhere. She's an everpresent threat!

Nice! This could make Stryx a dark mirror to Isolde with the Rift Spinner being another of the moving domains - say a mini-domain of dread that teleports around Ravenloft - each time needing more and more souls to try and escape the mists.... with the Dark Powers ensuring that no matter how many souls she gets - it will always require more? This could be her punishment for trying to outsmart the Dark Powers.

The other options is that if you want to get super-meta, have her escape then take Stirix's plane hopping it to the extreme... "@the_strix" is the twitter handle of one of the writers of VRGtR.
Historical DND has characters crossing into the real world and directly interacting with the game's designers and this is supported by the naming conventions in 5th edition - Tasha aka Iggwilv is a DMPC in my game and openly talks about her recent book - though mostly to complain about the title and how they cut the best bits from it.

The Nightmare Lands and Ravenloft as a whole could be twisted by narrative, maybe Stryx escaped and used the power of story to punish those who previously did her harm, by directly writing parts of the lore/rules of Ravenloft she twisted how it was imagined to better suit her needs. This is the kind of meta stuff I love, for me Ravenloft is directly tied to the dreams, fears and hopes, so changing what people fear can have a real impact on the landscape of Ravenloft - for example vampires in my game have lost power/status purely because people started thinking vampires were 'sexy' over scary.
This means that Strahd is the most powerful vampire in Ravenloft not because he's the oldest but because he's the most famous/feared.

[Mistmaster]

I just realized something that makes Stryx a whole lot scarier: Night Hags are said to have deep connections to the Etheral Plane and the Plane of Shadows, the two planes that are connected to the Demiplane of Dread. So not only can she go into the Nightmare Lands as she pleases, she could basically go anywhere. With her reality wrinkle allowing her to cross domain borders, she could fast travel anywhere and everywhere. She's an everpresent threat!

Nice! This could make Stryx a dark mirror to Isolde with the Rift Spinner being another of the moving domains - say a mini-domain of dread that teleports around Ravenloft - each time needing more and more souls to try and escape the mists.... with the Dark Powers ensuring that no matter how many souls she gets - it will always require more? This could be her punishment for trying to outsmart the Dark Powers.

The other options is that if you want to get super-meta, have her escape then take Stirix's plane hopping it to the extreme... "@the_strix" is the twitter handle of one of the writers of VRGtR.
Historical DND has characters crossing into the real world and directly interacting with the game's designers and this is supported by the naming conventions in 5th edition - Tasha aka Iggwilv is a DMPC in my game and openly talks about her recent book - though mostly to complain about the title and how they cut the best bits from it.

The Nightmare Lands and Ravenloft as a whole could be twisted by narrative, maybe Stryx escaped and used the power of story to punish those who previously did her harm, by directly writing parts of the lore/rules of Ravenloft she twisted how it was imagined to better suit her needs. This is the kind of meta stuff I love, for me Ravenloft is directly tied to the dreams, fears and hopes, so changing what people fear can have a real impact on the landscape of Ravenloft - for example vampires in my game have lost power/status purely because people started thinking vampires were 'sexy' over scary.
This means that Strahd is the most powerful vampire in Ravenloft not because he's the oldest but because he's the most famous/feared.

Or she could really be smarter then the Dark Powers.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

I'm just going to point out her name is spelled 'Styrix'. ^^;
'Cause every time you guys write 'stryx', I'm reminded of the winged humanoids from Pathfinder.

[Mephisto of the FoS]

'Cause every time you guys write 'stryx', I'm reminded of the winged humanoids from Pathfinder.

On the contrary I am reminded of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWk9mEAtbwY&t=48s

Great costumes, I guess this is how the "inhabitants" of the City of Nod look like.

Stryx was an Italian TV series, aired in 1978 on Rai 2. Stryx thematically referred to Hell, devils and underworld. The surrealistic scenography featured elements resembling Middle Ages-like gloomy castles and caves. The show featured acting as well as musical performances from such artists as Amanda Lear, Asha Puthli, Grace Jones or Patty Pravo.

A small trip to the Terrain Between https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcfMoxS3iEc

An Abber Nomads party: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9sSAPUhtt0

And a wereleopard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfIOJyHsXNY

[KingCorn]

Speaking more on characters and the Nightmare Lands, what about Banemaw?
Banemaw might not be real, but he is in the minds and nightmares of many in Nidala, and especially in the guilt ridden dreams of Elena Faith-Hold. Conjured in the Nightmare Lands, the Dream-Dragon is as powerful and fierce some as imagined, but is cursed with the knowledge that it is simply a dream, a lie cooked up by a deranged fallen paladin.
Infuriated by its own false-existence, it conspires to bring itself into the waking world, to become a real being. Could make for a powerful encounter or interesting adventure in the Shadowlands.