Pidlwick II

Not to be confused with Lord Pidlwik Dilisnya from the main campaign setting canon, Pidlwick II is an NPC from the 5th Edition module Curse of Strahd. Curse of Strahd's "Fool of Dorfniya" represents on that phrase's means. Instead of being a cuckold duped into raising another man's children, Pidlwick II is quite literally a fool, that is, a jester, or rather, a mechanical copy of the original Pidlwick that served Duchess Dorfniya Dilisnya.

History

During the duchess' frequent visits to Castle Ravenloft, the original, human Pidlwick provided constant amusement for Sergei von Zarovich and Tatyana Federovna. In an effort to please the Von Zarovich Family, Dorfinya commissioned Fritz von Weerg to construct a clockwork toy duplicate, Pidlwick II.

Unfortunately, the madness of its creator seeped into Pidlwick II, and it was both creepy and not a capable entertainer like its human counterpart. During a cold winter, Duchess Dorfinya and the human Pidlwick found themselves stuck in the castle. Jealous and knowing it could never get the attention it wanted so long as its predecessor lived, the construct murdered its human counterpart and made it look like an accident. Pidlwick II attempted to pick up where the first left off, but it failed miserably, even disturbing Tatyana. Falling into disuse, Pidlwick II was kept in a closet but occasionally murdered a guest. Strahd knew of this murderous tendency and took advantage of it from time to time. After Sergei and Tatyan's demise and the castle becoming largely empty of the living, Pidlwick II emerged and began stalking through the corridors.

In Curse of Strahd

Pidlwick II craves to be noticed and appreciated, though it become murderous and vengeful if it is insulted. Pidlwick holds a deep and abiding fear of Strahd, though Madame Eva's reading of the tarokka may reveal Pidlwick II as Strahd's Enemy

Now a ghost, the original Pidlwick may appear if a character plays the harp in Strahd's dining hall well enough. If asked who killed him and Pidlwick II is present, Pidlwick I will point out his killer

Art

P. 236

Game Statistics

Pidlwick II has his own unique block of game statistics. He is a Construct of Neutral Evil alignment.

Speculation

Although never explicitly called out as such (since the concept is not mentioned in Curse of Strahd), it is likely that Pidlwick II is a dread construct, given the madness of its creator spilling over into the construct's own psychology.