CotN: Werebeasts - Vladimir Nobriskov.

[Five]

Yup.

That ability score table is one of the best little bits in that book.

Isn't it?

[Five]

Next up, we have Vladimir's modus operandi.

He is a werebat whose family is of Barovian descent (he claims). He was born "in a bat cave on the slopes of Mount Gries". Regardless, he is innately familiar with Borca (we'll come back to this later). Traumatised by an encounter with Rudolph van Richten (the good doctor killed his parents), his brain switched to defensive or, survival mode. He blended in with the gentry of Lechberg and put on an air of being a dandy, to better throw people off his scent, and more importantly, to downplay his intelligence. Apparently van Richten really spooked him in one sense, educated him in another. Anyway, there he is, playing the role of pretty and spoiled rich kid, with an ongoing contingency for covering up his feeding habits by planting a false flag: he disguises them as a vampire attack. His worst-case is, presumably, that he is discovered, but he one-ups the hunters by knowing he is immune to "classic" vampire hunting techniques.

He doesn't kill his victims while feeding on them (rich women, for the most part), but drains them, plays them, breaks them (lets them see he has moved on to another woman), and discards them. Then, when the heat dies down some, eliminates them.

He uses his vampire bat aspect to sneak around, spy, and retreat. Also, to rewire a potential hunter's thinking into assuming he is in fact a vampire.

His means of wealth is not mentioned in the short adventure, but a red herring in the adventure can point one out: he woos and purrs his way into money. Or, that he has in the past for that initial lump sum, that he in turn used for bribes and investments. Maybe he married into money; bed, fed, bled, and...dead. Poor Vladimir! But my he is scrumptious! I have to have him...

Anyway, we're moving on.

Part of his defensive strategies would no doubt include the fact that he is "nobility" (in so much as Borca actually has one). Generally-speaking, rich people live in posh areas where those less fortunate (more than likely called worse) aren't allowed to visit. This would make it prime ground for elite security in one sense; the pay is great(er), ensuring that the guards actually do their rounds, keener on noticing scumbags that don't belong, etc. But in another not so much; exposure to violence is less than a high crime/"peasant" area, making these guards half dandies themselves, within their profession anyway (the tax collectors no doubt razz and smack these guys around for a bit of fun and just because they can). Regardless, this is Nobriskov's first line of defence. People walking around with visible weapons and armour will be noticed, and will draw the ire of money-hungry guards (that don't want to lose their place in the line for cream). Borca is CL 8. They are on the brink of turning their noses up at heavily-armed warriors, but not strangers! Nobriskov would know this, and play this as a "first card", "first filter", or "first strike". He probably chose to go deep into social humanity for this very reason. DMs should, or could, consider Nobriskov's residential neighbourhood as a "weapons check" for their PCs, or a "daggers only" zone. PCs with magic blades longer than this are now declawed; party warriors effectively hamstringed. Potentially anyway. It's only the first move.

That said, it's his residence that has me scratching my head. It is said: "A search of Nobriskov's home reveals that it is actually little used. While the place contains a wealth of luxurious items, a thick layer of dust covers everything, and only a little food is on hand. Obviously, the place is not truly where the Scarlet Prince dwells."

If I take that at face value then he isn't half as prepared for his cover to be blown as I like to think. I mean, he's practically inviting people to look deeper into his personal affairs. That seems odd, given his character write up and motivations.

Where does he liaison with these women of his? Ezra's Tit, he manipulates and feeds on them! Surely he doesn't move into their homes, or waltzes in past family members for that required alone time (1). That seems outrageous. We know he wines and dines them. Does he frequent upscale hotels for his after hours activities? If he takes them back to his place then there should be more food and more signs of movement in the place (there's nothing like eating grapes in the nude after sweat. It helps circulate whispers of sensual desire and cultivate his victim's wants into needs!). Even a gentleman bachelor would show signs of occupancy in his pad, most certainly prevent a "thick layer of dust" from covering everything.

1) As to the original poster's question, perhaps he sneaks in through open windows in vampire bat form and feeds on his victims. Now, the difference between a larger than normal vampire bat's bite and a vampire's is beyond me (width, size, etc), but it could well be similar enough to raise the superstitions in all but the truly experienced, or, scholarly. The PC's potential case-breaking (true) clue.

Apparently he doesn't have servants. Makes sense if he wants his secret kept secret, but wouldn't that fact stand out amongst his peers? He would be an outcast amongst them, in a way. Not fully embedded, or insulated. He'd come off as a pretender. Enigmatic rich man no doubt (upping his appeal to more than a few boxed-in ladies of fortunate circumstances) but miserly would probably be the whispered campaign by his rivals. This seems to me to be counter to his desire to appear the dandy, and cover his dark...habits. An occasional housekeeper would go far in both keeping up appearances and in providing sustenance. The working poor disappear all the time, no questions asked (because they can't afford to ask them!).

Or, is this residence a false front used to eliminate those that are getting too close for his comfort (implying that in the adventure Nobriskov is aware of the PCs moving in on him, and that they followed the crumbs he left for just such a thing)? A Ravenloft twist on H. H. Holmes' Murder Castle would be a cool twist for this guy! The playboy's playhouse (penthouse/suite?) to the locals, but misdirection all the same. How would he keep his true residence from public knowledge though, if it was located elsewhere?

Perhaps this is all a result of the adventure being abbreviated...?

I like to think it's a fully-staffed (and left alone/oblivious to their master's true nature) mansion or maybe even a ritzy "hotel" aboveground (ground-breaking ahead-of-its-time design, given Borca's CL and due to Vladimir's intelligence, that caters largely to visiting financiers/bankers that he leaves alone for obvious reasons; see Gaz IV, Lechberg), with links (secret chutes, etc) to a "Murder House" and his personal lair below ground. And if a servant accidentally discovers one of the place's secrets whilst going about performing their duties then he "fires" them, not knowing or caring where they went after their "dismissal", should somebody be rich enough to ask...and ends up with about two and a half months of food, give or take a week!

WIP

[Five]

Skipping ahead a bit (beauty of message boards is that backtracking/highlighting/revisiting is an easy enough thing to do), we come to what others have already put forth: traps.

DeepShadow suggested a trapped coffin. Epically added to that with a bat-trapped coffin (a great way to launch that initial savage attack while the intruders are dazed and confused!)...

We know Nobriskov is wealthy, at least, that he possesses "a wealth of luxurious items". We know he has an extremely keen mind (Intelligence 17). We know he is evil (Neutral Evil). We know he has ideas about baiting hunters (he learned, arguably, from one of the best). So what other traps would he design for would-be hunters?

In my mind I can see him using poison gas. Class O (Paralytic) and Class P (Debilitative) in particular. The Complete Thief's Handbook tells us (or, suggests to us) that poison gases are "rare, expensive, and highly dangerous." This sounds to me like something that a guy like this would use. It's fitting on multiple levels, the first being that both share these same qualities. A wealthy, evil genius lycanthrope who likes to set traps for those that would hunt him. A faux lair rigged with poison gases that drains these insolent bastards of their greatest, and personal strengths: the Mind and the Body. A spellcaster or scholar (so-called "expert") that can't move, that can only think and see (thought that can be nullified with unconsciousness; sight that can be taken away easy enough down in the "cavernrinth"); a second-story man that can barely limp shadow to shadow as they desperately try to escape; a Beowulf of a warrior who doesn't have the strength to defend themselves, let alone any of their legend-tripping mates...

All that is left is the Spirit to be crushed, before the Long Dark overtakes them.

Maybe add to that very exotic, very expensive, and very lethal poisons as a (second to) last resort. Class N as a "generic", mummy/crypt dust as something with a bit more villainous flair...? Maybe he buys some of the ultra-rare stuff through auction houses. Example: An ancient sarcophagus that he engages in a near-legendary bidding war over, but his personal interest is in extracting and developing the poison from the mummy within. Then, having no use for either object (he's got enough bones down in his lair) he "generously" donates them to a private museum/exhibition. What a queer hand!

Anybody have any other traps that they think would be appropriate? Another take on this character maybe?

[The Lesser Evil]

Kind of reviewing this kind recently, playing up the vampire as cause of murders probably isn't merely to make himself out to be a vampire, Nobriskov also uses it to mislead investigators in general- possibly to point the finger at other likely targets. (Some vampyrs do this with Jander in one of the Children of the Night adventures.) Nobriskov has the ability to telepathically order his bat minions, and he could order them to act as false flag operators to implicate other people as vampires.

In some circumstances, he could also use the ploy to eliminate himself from the list of suspects- by appearing during the day, not needing an invite to enter public venues, eating garlic, showing no aversion to sun, submitting to detect undead spells, and so on. More canny parties might know that certain vampires can lack some of the telltale signs or weaknesses of vampires, so there could still be some conceivable benefits in playing up rahhh i'm a vampire angle even when he first passed the buck onto other people.

I wouldn't make his poisons too exotic, because the more exotic a poison is the more traceable it is. Borca is presumably a land where people can get poison easily, but it is also a land where a person can get poisoned (or blackmailed) easily. So Nobriskov likely wouldn't go find something too exotic without being blackmailed- although a blackmailed Nobriskov is a perfectly fine subplot to an extended story line. An exception to the exotic poison thing would be if something was so obscure it couldn't be precisely identified, though his way of discovering it would need some explaining. He is intelligent, but he doesn't seem like an alchemist. He's a very social, finer things in life, and he's described as being a fencer fighty type- highly skilled with the rapier in his human form.