Madame Irena Radanavich

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Madame Irena Radanavich is perhaps one of the influential people in the recent history in the Demiplane of Dread, for it was through her own actions that she set Dr. Rudolph van Richten upon his course as a hero and hunter of monsters by kidnapping his son Erasmus and selling him to the vampire Baron Metus. After Madame Radanavich and her clan were slaughtered by Rudolph van Richten and the undead minions of Azalin[1], she eventually rose as a ghost and became the darklord of Richten Haus, conjuring the spirits of Dr. van Richten's former adventuring companions and loved ones in preparation for his death.[2]

History

Irena Radanavich was born into the Radanavich clan, a family of the Corvara Tribe. As she matured, she became developed great beauty and magical potency, and she eventually became raunie of her tribe. Radanavich also proved skillful at organizing confidences games and robberies of giorgios. These abilities, plus her skills as a seer and fortuneteller, made her recognized as a formidable force both by the Vistani, and her reputation caused fright and trepidation in the central and northwestern parts of the Core. She gave birth to several hale and hardy sons, including Radovan Radanavich. Under her leadership, the Radanavich clan gained a fearsome reputation too.[3]

Madame Radanvich's transgressions eventually caught up to her when she attempted to provide a companion for the lonely vampire Baron Metus. Madame Radavich's trusted tarokka deck had revealed the potential for a rich reward should such a prize be delivered. As such, the Radanavich clan planned to kidnap the daughter of another baron. However, the botched kidnapping resulted in Radovan's unexpected injury, one for which left him on death's door.[3]

To save her son, Madame Radanavich delivered him to Dr. van Richten, a nearby physician and herbalist of noted skill.[4] However, the wounds proved too great for van Richten to alleviate, and Radovan perished. Madame Radanavich blamed van Richten for his death, even going so far as to accuse him of deliberately sabotaging Radovan's recovery. With the threat of a Vistani curse put upon his head, Dr. van Richten implored the Radanaviches to take anything they wished, just to leave him be. They did just that, secretly stealing away van Richten's own son, Erasmus, and leaving behind Radovan's corpse as a reminder of the failure to save her own son.[5]

Madame Irena Radavich and her clan delivered Erasmus to Baron Metus, whom transformed the boy into a vampire companion. Following this transaction, the Radanaviches returned to Barovia, well beyond Dr. van Richten's reach. However, he rode after them anyway (with the corpse of Radovan in tow), before being accosted by the undead minions of Azalin Rex. Van Richten begged the undead to spare his life, at least long enough to save or at least avenge his son from the Vistani. As he held no love for the Vistani, Azalin granted van Richten not only his wish but lent the assistance of his undead. Further, Azalin reanimated Radovan's corpse as a zombie and ordered the Vistana to lead van Richten and Azalin's undead through the Mists to the Radanavich clan's camp.[6]

In Barovia, van Richten confronted the Radanavich clan and demanded the return of his son. Madame Radanavich revealed his son has been sold to Baron Metus. In return, van Richten revealed Radovan's gruesome fate. Horrified and disgusted, Madame Radanavich cursed van Richten to see all those he cared about fall before the monsters that he would encounter in his life, beginning with Erasmus. She then revealed Baron Metus was a vampire, and soon Erasmus will be his eternal slave. In anger and grief, he cursed her, and the entire Radanavich clan in return, to be hunted by the undead and ordered Azalin's undead to attack. A bloodbath ensued. Sensing the depth of his transgression, tried to call off the undead, but they did not relent.[7] All of the Radanaviches were eventually slain, save for Arturi Radanavich, a young child who hid in one of the wagons.[8][9]

Van Richten fled the massacre, forever changed by it. He later located his son, now Metus' vampire companion, and put him to rest. Van Richten also destroyed Baron Metus, but not before Metus slew Ingrid van Richten in revenge for putting down Erasmus. After , van Richten knew he could never return to his own life, as he had been forever changed, as much by his own dark acts as those of others. He rededicated his life to hunting the creatures of the nights, losing many companions along the way.

Dr. van Richten failed to realize the effects of Madame Randanavich's curse upon his companions until many years later, whereupon he discovered its effects thanks to a diviner. Van Richten fell into a deep depression, one from which he would not recover until he was approached by a now grown Arturi Radanavich to reconcile van Richten with the Vistani and remove both their curses. With Arturi's aid, van Richten studied with and learned about the Vistani and published Van Richten's Guide to the Vistani in 742 BC. The curse Madame Radanavich put upon van Richten was removed by Arturi, and in turn Arturi was freed from the curse van Richten put upon his clan. At last, van Richten retired from his long career in monster hunting to his herb shop in Mordentshire.[10][11] All seemed well. However, this was not to be, for the ghost of Madame Radanavich had not rested easy in the years after her death and longed for revenge.

After Madame Radanavich's death, she, along with her tribe reanimated as a throng of corporeal undead, eventually drifted to the manor of Richten Haus, where she fumed with hatred for van Richten. The Gentleman Caller, in the guise of a Vistana, tempted her with the ability to bring revenge upon Van Richten. After she agreed, he raised Baron Metus from the grave once again as a vampire. Before departing into the Mists, the Gentleman Caller also taught Radanvich the ability to conjure and imprison the spirits of Van Richten's fallen companions.[12]

Since her meeting with the fiend, Madame Radanavich has gathered those who have perished due to the Van Richten curse and spirited their souls away to be imprisoned in Richten Haus. With their imprisonment, Radanavich too herself became a prisoner, the darklord of Richten Haus. Her imprisonment did not keep her from launching a conspiracy with Baron Metus and Dr. Dominiani to break the mind, body, and soul of van Richten.[12] Baron Metus captured and rendered helpless a powerful Vistani psionicist, the Thinker[13], to deliver an endless string of nightmares to undermine van Richten's sanity. Teetering on the brink of madness, Dr. van Richten committed himself to the Asylum for the Mentally Disturbed in Dominia. There he fell pray to the machinations of Dr. Dominiani[14], whom had no grudge against Dr. van Richten but was all too happy to experimentally determine what makes such a famed monster hunter's mind tick.[15]

Adventurers eventually infiltrated the Asylum and freed van Richten before entering Richten Haus. There van Richten and his allies confronted Madame Radanavich, though she had prepared for this eventuality. She conjured the souls of van Richten's fallen allies and family to aid her against him. Ultimately, van Richten gave his life to end the threat of Madame Radanavich.[16]

Game Statistics

female Vistana Fourth Magnitude Ghost, Neutral Evil[3]

References

  1. The Crucible of Dr. Rudolph van Richten, Tales of Ravenloft
  2. Bleak House: The Death of Rudolph van Richten
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Bleak House: Heroes, Monsters, and Settings p. 15
  4. Bleak House: Heroes, Monsters, and Settings p. 16
  5. Tales of Ravenloft p. 8-9
  6. ToR p. 1-13
  7. ToR p. 13-16
  8. Van Richten's Guide to the Vistani p. 6
  9. Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium III p. 98
  10. Van Richten's Guide to the Vistani p. 4-6, 86-90
  11. Van Richten's Monster Hunter's Compendium III p. 98-99, 177-180
  12. 12.0 12.1 Bleak House: Homecoming p.3
  13. Bleak House: Heroes, Monsters, and Settings p. 6
  14. Bleak House: Sea of Madness p. 4
  15. Bleak House: Heroes, Monsters, and Settings p. 10
  16. The events of van Richten's confrontation with Madame Radanvich are played out in the Bleak House boxed set, allowing for multiple possibilities in van Richten's ultimate end. In all of them, van Richten seems to be claimed by the spirit of Richten Haus. Later game products seem to assume van Richten never emerged from Richten Haus, as he is missing and presumed to be deceased by the Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins.

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

Bleak House

Bleak House:Heroes, Monsters, and Settings - p17

Bleak House:Heroes, Monsters, and Settings - pp15-16

Bleak House:Heroes, Monsters, and Settings - pp15-16
Bleak House:Homecoming - pp33-34,pp58-63
Tales of Ravenloft: The Crucible of Dr. Rudolph van Richten - pp13-16