Trail of the Puppetmaster (was: EWW Yako Vormoff)

[DeepShadow of FoS]

The OP mentioned changing the NPC's name.

What about just shifting a letter?

Yakov Ormoff

Sounds great to me! Whew, now I can safely let his pre-Puppetmaster name drop at some point without inviting a cartoon skit.

[The Lesser Evil]

Oh the preexisting scenarios, the anti-vampire thing might not work in PF rules (or 2E AD&D, oddly enough), which specify no specific prohibition on crossing running water (they can be killed by immersion, but there's no prohibition on crossing over it- which apparently is a 3.5 only thing.) If the prohibition were implemented, the vampire could cross by being taken by minions in its coffin- putting a ban on coffins to compensate might be difficult because it would prevent or complicate corpses being delivered to Yako. Also, the Unholy Order of the Grave does have vampires in its ranks. (Some kind of bypass like a sigil of some kind might work for the last two problems).

I wonder if you might connect the satyr music/dancing minotaur thing to the mythology of the Church of Milil (Kartakass in Heart of Midnight or Liffe/Aferdale in the Book of Crypts)/Cult of the Ancestral Choir (Gaz 1). Something from the stories of the peasant hero Olya (see HoM p. 187-189) or Kakaphon of Discord (an evil figure whom committed the three only sins in the faith: blasphemy, murder, and suicide, see HoM p. 164-165). There could, for example, be a scene in Olya's story where he had to dance with the minotaurs, etc.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

The OP mentioned changing the NPC's name.

What about just shifting a letter?

Yakov Ormoff

well played, sir

[DeepShadow of FoS]

Okay, so now I have fleshed out my stations better. After they get across the bridge, it goes in the following order:

1) The hubris of Gregor Zolnik: "Gregor" standing in a magic circle, half-transformed into a werewolf. They have to enter the circle to figure out where he hand is pointing. The circle won't do anything to them, but it causes lycanthropes to change form and go berserk. This weeds out other Kargat members.

2) The cornering of Jacqueline Montarri: A group of Strahd zombies chasing the woman who robbed from their master. There was some license here by having her wear a ribbon around her neck. This one is testing for greed. Montarri's bag will be open and brimming with treasure, but it's all cursed/trapped somehow. Yakov struggles to make stuff like he used to, so they his rejects come here: Amulet of Inescapable Location, Bracers of Arrow Attraction, multiple Loadstones that look like gems, etc. In addition, any coins taken from the sack fuse to the skin and make it hard to wield a weapon. Yakov has a Midnight Cat familiar/ally that is the source of the gold curse, and can remove any curses for the items to be returned here once a person has been sufficiently humbled.

3) The court of Lord Soth, with visiting minstrels from Kartakass led by Grandfather Wolf dressed as Meistersinger Harkon. Again, there's artistic license to have a satyr playing pipes with minotaurs and elves dancing. There will be roasting boar over illusory flames with illusory music. The dancers are all programmed illusions, frozen in place until someone takes the position of the missing dancer, at which point they have to keep mirroring the actions of their partner or it all resets. Unbeknownst to them, the motions of this dance also complete a ritual that dispels all ongoing magical effects (dispel magic, not break enchantment, so the curses from section 2 are still in effect).

4) The Three Hags around a cauldron. They have brewed something, and one of them is holding up a vial and pointing to it. They have to drink the stuff to get their next clue. This is actually a minor love potion, more like a "like" potion, that makes the drinker trust Yakov implicitly--basic charm. It also creates a telepathic link to Yakov that he can use to read their mind and assess their intentions. Once Yakov gets that link, he sets up the final clue.

5) The Lady of the Lake. An ally of his, actually a higher-quality golem created from a reanimated and a dolphin or tuna. When the link to Yakov is established, he signals her to start singing to let them know which way to come. She tests the party with Sphinx-like riddles, aided by minor psionic powers she retains from her old life. Between this and the psychic link, Yakov should know pretty much everything he needs to know about the party. If they pass her tests, she gives them a sword that will guide the way to the camp of the Puppetmaster.

So that's it: each of these suggests he has many ranks in Forbidden Lore, and serves a dual purpose of softening them up or filtering out unwanted types.