Café de Nuit

Jeremy16 wrote: Fri Nov 07, 2025 7:24 am

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Tue Nov 04, 2025 6:55 am Hazlan

I kinda scared myself with this one. TW: genocide.

So my theory is, that Hazlik simply succeeded.
He couldn't wipe out the MUlan from the entire multiverse, but he could do something just as good: to wipe out from his domain not only the Mulan's existence, but also their memory.
Nobody is Hazlan, including Hazlik himself, remembers the Mulan ever existed. Even their language is extinct - every Vassi speaker who enters Hazlan nowadays starts to forget it (similarly to how immigrants in Darkon forget their homelands), and every text written in Vassi inside the domain or taken into it turns blurry and then erased - this also solves his issues with The Church of the Lawgiver, who can no longer act in the domain even if they sent new missionaries, due to their refusal to use another language. Unopposed, Hazlik was finally free to redesign the entire social order in order to facilitate his magical experiments.
Very few remain who remember Hazlan's real past, (many of which idealize the nearly just as horrible former situation) and they are considered insane or attention-seeking liars - if someone even remembers they said something.
But.
As Hazlik couldn't remember the cultural background of his transgressions, the dark powers gave him false memories of worse ones. They made up for him an alternate past where he was accepted, where he was loved, and he threw it all away for his ambitions. A past for which he had no one to blame. He could not remember and regret what he had done, so they let him drown in shame of what he hadn't.
And - as he'd copied Azalin's means of magical censureship, the powers repayed him with the same coin, giving him Azalin's old curse as well.

I think using "amnesia" is a lazy fix. If you were so inclined, that excuse could be used to explain away the differences in ALL the "new" domains. Valachan? People forgot Kharkov. Tepest? People forgot the hag coven and the shadow fey.

I'm not saying that's your fault, btw.

As I see it that's the main problem with bad storytelling in general and something that I see in all kinds of serialized fiction. When a new writer comes on board and wants to "fix" what came before, they most often resort to the easiest tool they have to reset the status quo; in effect, stacking one bad cliche on top of another. So the whole scenario gets more convoluted and further and further away from the original premise.

I've seen it at least a half dozen times with my favorite comic book herovSpider-Man, and each iteration just makes me, a diehard fan, like the character less and less. VRGtR feels the same way or me. It's Ravenloft, but needlessly re-imagined and more bland.

At least that's my 2 cents.

Jeremy16 wrote: Fri Nov 07, 2025 7:24 am

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Tue Nov 04, 2025 6:55 am Hazlan

I kinda scared myself with this one. TW: genocide.

So my theory is, that Hazlik simply succeeded.
He couldn't wipe out the MUlan from the entire multiverse, but he could do something just as good: to wipe out from his domain not only the Mulan's existence, but also their memory.
Nobody is Hazlan, including Hazlik himself, remembers the Mulan ever existed. Even their language is extinct - every Vassi speaker who enters Hazlan nowadays starts to forget it (similarly to how immigrants in Darkon forget their homelands), and every text written in Vassi inside the domain or taken into it turns blurry and then erased - this also solves his issues with The Church of the Lawgiver, who can no longer act in the domain even if they sent new missionaries, due to their refusal to use another language. Unopposed, Hazlik was finally free to redesign the entire social order in order to facilitate his magical experiments.
Very few remain who remember Hazlan's real past, (many of which idealize the nearly just as horrible former situation) and they are considered insane or attention-seeking liars - if someone even remembers they said something.
But.
As Hazlik couldn't remember the cultural background of his transgressions, the dark powers gave him false memories of worse ones. They made up for him an alternate past where he was accepted, where he was loved, and he threw it all away for his ambitions. A past for which he had no one to blame. He could not remember and regret what he had done, so they let him drown in shame of what he hadn't.
And - as he'd copied Azalin's means of magical censureship, the powers repayed him with the same coin, giving him Azalin's old curse as well.

I think using "amnesia" is a lazy fix. If you were so inclined, that excuse could be used to explain away the differences in ALL the "new" domains. Valachan? People forgot Kharkov. Tepest? People forgot the hag coven and the shadow fey.

I'm not saying that's your fault, btw.

As I see it that's the main problem with bad storytelling in general and something that I see in all kinds of serialized fiction. When a new writer comes on board and wants to "fix" what came before, they most often resort to the easiest tool they have to reset the status quo; in effect, stacking one bad cliche on top of another. So the whole scenario gets more convoluted and further and further away from the original premise.

I've seen it at least a half dozen times with my favorite comic book herovSpider-Man, and each iteration just makes me, a diehard fan, like the character less and less. VRGtR feels the same way or me. It's Ravenloft, but needlessly re-imagined and more bland.

At least that's my 2 cents.

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Sat Nov 08, 2025 12:06 pm As for VRGtR in general - I think it's simplified because it's designed to attract newbies rather than to give the old fans more content. It did some things better and some things worse, but it gets folks into the fandom. It got me in. Now I'm having fun reading the 2e books for extra lore, but I wouldn't have gotten into it had I not found first something more accessible to the modern player. It's alright if it's not for you; You're not the one it's meant for.

The Dark wrote: Fri Nov 07, 2025 9:24 am Half-seriously and half-joking, I don't think amnesia is going to explain how Valachan went from a cool, damp forest that resembles the Pacific Northwest to a hot tropical jungle straight out of Darkest Africa.

Speedwagon wrote: Sat Nov 08, 2025 3:22 pm I think that take for Hazlan, now that you've laid out your specific design philosophy and what sorts of fears you're trying to bring to the surface (thanks by the way for sharing that, you didn't have to but it was appreciated and helpful) AND a few ways for PCs to interact with the domain, works for it. Also, I learned something new with the Amalek story (I'm Muslim but my girlfriend is Christian and she talks to me about her teachings from her own Bible class but this hadn't come up) so thanks for that!

For me, I like to think that the Dark Powers don't just target Azalin when it comes to magical mishaps. I like to think that Hazlik did succeed, as the timing for Hazlik's success would be right around the time of the Spellplague in the lore of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting (so during 4e). But there's a little bit about the ritual that doesn't kill all Mulani (though it does like life for Thay and the Mulan miserable during the Spellplague) and instead backfires dramatically into Hazlan, with the land warping and shifting into something like Vechor as a result of Hazlik's carelessness. But I like what you propose as well!

To help with your ideas of reconciliation, there are a few people I've seen on Reddit that have thought of ideas. The user Parad0xxis has been really killing it with his own attempts to bridge canon, found here: & & & &

And if you look up "Core 788" on the Ravenloft subreddit, you'll find some interesting ideas as well there:

Furthermore, the Mist Hunters campaign and its finale strongly imply (if not outright state) that Azalin's most recent attempt to exit the Demiplane is what caused the reimagining, with the campaign finale taking place in Darkon. I believe you can find the details written about that extensively in this link:

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Sat Nov 08, 2025 12:06 pm As for VRGtR in general - I think it's simplified because it's designed to attract newbies rather than to give the old fans more content. It did some things better and some things worse, but it gets folks into the fandom. It got me in. Now I'm having fun reading the 2e books for extra lore, but I wouldn't have gotten into it had I not found first something more accessible to the modern player. It's alright if it's not for you; You're not the one it's meant for.

I think so as well, but I definitely can't begrudge older fans for hoping and wanting to see a continuation of the product line as they had remembered it from 3e onward. I also got into the fandom from VRGtR, so I have a special place for it in my heart. And I definitely agree that it did some things better and some things worse. I suppose I just wish there were more, is all. More officially published adventures, more splatbooks, so on and so forth. But I think that's a criticism I levy towards most of 5e's publication style as a whole, and I also have to recall that people weren't buying enough of the mass-produced splatbooks of older editions enough for the publishers/distributors to justify such a purpose.

(I'm Muslim but my girlfriend is Christian and she talks to me about her teachings from her own Bible class but this hadn't come up)

Speedwagon wrote: Sat Nov 08, 2025 3:22 pm I think that take for Hazlan, now that you've laid out your specific design philosophy and what sorts of fears you're trying to bring to the surface (thanks by the way for sharing that, you didn't have to but it was appreciated and helpful)

To My Dearest, Arthur,
My new work in the Martira Bay constabulatory is going quite well - on the surface. I managed to solve in the last few months multiple cases the local police had been strugggling with for years, and my colleagues seem to admire me to an almost embarrassing degree (I blame your literary portrayal of me - my deputy had even noted reading 'The Casebook' as a youth was his inspiration for becoming a lawmaker. Weird how fast humans grow, isn't it?).
However, as much as my new comrades are amazed by my brilliance, I am growing even more amazed with their corruption. On one case, an officer casually suggested we'd frame a suspect we couldn't get our hands on - I obviously refused, and threatened to fire the man if he ever offers such an outrageous proposal again, but I wonder how many times this sort of thing was done here for the men to dare speak openly about it. I have tried reporting to my superiors, but they seem to be apathetic - possibly even sympathetic - towards this scandal! And to make things worse, on multiple occasions I was ordered with no discernable reason - even offered bribery - to stop investigating a case. How deep does this corruption go? - considering what our mutual friend always said, I assume it goes all the way to Avernus.
My goodness, Arthur, I am now reminded why I ran away from Darkon in the first place - this domain is one big hornet nest, and Martira Bay is no better than Nebolus! If I have to investigate until I expose Azalin himself, so be it - these people have asked for The Great Detective and they'll eat the stew they cooked - but it is a tiring and frightening state of mind, having to suspect everyone and everything. I miss our time together in Mordent, where I only had to suspect half the people and half the things. If only there was one man, woman or cat I knew I could could trust here...
I hope your days are spent in a calmer manner, among friends and family. Send them my regards.
Love you,
Constable Alanik Ray.

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 6:28 am This discontuinuity post isn't about a domain.
It's about an NPC.
I took here some inspiration from the Gazetteers and some from a familliar Sherlock Holmes story.
(Disclaimer: This is another case of 'VRGtR had some cool ideas but I have cooler ones'. More like what I did with Vladeska than with Mordenheim or Saidra. Also, this story is gonna be the first in a trilogy, so if things don't look at the end like they're supposed to look, it's because it's not really the end.)


Part one: The Death of Alanik Ray

There are people in this land and others who wish the words you are about to read were never written.
Many of which, I must assume, would want me dead for the very knowledge required to put them on paper. If you are one of those, know you are too late by far: I arranged this story to be printed by five different publishing houses in three different domains and pre-sold to 2,000 bookstores across The Core. Good luck finding and disposing of every single reader without starting a war.
But wait, I get ahead of myself.

This story starts with a letter I wish I'd never answered.

To My Dearest, Arthur,
My new work in the Martira Bay constabulatory is going quite well - on the surface. I managed to solve in the last few months multiple cases the local police had been strugggling with for years, and my colleagues seem to admire me to an almost embarrassing degree (I blame your literary portrayal of me - my deputy had even noted reading 'The Casebook' as a youth was his inspiration for becoming a lawmaker. Weird how fast humans grow, isn't it?).
However, as much as my new comrades are amazed by my brilliance, I am growing even more amazed with their corruption. On one case, an officer casually suggested we'd frame a suspect we couldn't get our hands on - I obviously refused, and threatened to fire the man if he ever offers such an outrageous proposal again, but I wonder how many times this sort of thing was done here for the men to dare speak openly about it. I have tried reporting to my superiors, but they seem to be apathetic - possibly even sympathetic - towards this scandal! And to make things worse, on multiple occasions I was ordered with no discernable reason - even offered bribery - to stop investigating a case. How deep does this corruption go? - considering what our mutual friend always said, I assume it goes all the way to Avernus.
My goodness, Arthur, I am now reminded why I ran away from Darkon in the first place - this domain is one big hornet nest, and Martira Bay is no better than Nebolus! If I have to investigate until I expose Azalin himself, so be it - these people have asked for The Great Detective and they'll eat the stew they cooked - but it is a tiring and frightening state of mind, having to suspect everyone and everything. I miss our time together in Mordent, where I only had to suspect half the people and half the things. If only there was one man, woman or cat I knew I could could trust here...
I hope your days are spent in a calmer manner, among friends and family. Send them my regards.
Love you,
Constable Alanik Ray.

I was deeply concerned by the situation Alanik was describing; Apparently, though, I wasn't concerned enough. In my next letter, I asked if he'd like me to join him in this investigation - to which he'd responded positively. In retrospect, though, I should have noticed a red flag: The response letter was typed.

It was early evening when my ship docked at the port - late enough for shadows to start growing long, but not the hour in which you expect sinister things to creep from behind corners. Nevertheless, I had at this point enough experience with sinister things to know they don't keep a uniformed schedule, so I wasn't utterly surprised to find a woman following me. I tried to get her off my trail as The Great Detective had taught me, but to no avail: She found me over and over again.
Eventually, I used the quickest way I could concieve to end the chase: I confronted her in front of the whole street.
"Ma'am," I turned around and said dramatically, "My head must be playing tricks on me, but I see you today wherever I go! That is a pleasant sight indeed, but one must wonder: Are you following me?"
"Following you?!" She gawked. "I'd never! Must be a coincidence! Where were you going to?"
"Captain Malbrot's." I lied.
"Oh, I'm there on the way to meet my sister, she's coming back from Port-A-Museau today!" She answered. "Her husband had been working there for three years. Three years, I'm telling you! And they only visit in the holidays. I'd host them myself, but they have nine kids, and I don't have that sort of place in my apartment - "
She's a marvelous liar, I'd give her that.
"Ma'am, this is a very strange way to get to Captain Malbrot's!" I remarked. "I only chose it out of fear of being followed."
There was a particularly satisfaying 'oh crap' look on her face. I could understand why Alanik loved those so much.
"Fine, Dr. Sedgwick." She sighed. "Let's get to buisness. May we go somewhere more private?"
"Do you think I'm out of my mind?" I chuckled. I had no intention to let her drag me into some dark alley. As if it helped me.
"No," She approached me in a threatening posture, "But your friend is miles away from his."

I stared her down silently. She'd have to talk first.
"Mr. Ray," She finally gave in, "Had gotten himself into some serious trouble. Are you aware of that?"
"It sounds to me," I responded, That he's about to get you - or whoever you're working for - into trouble, and you're starting to panic."
"Which means he's in trouble." She concluded. "One you, Mr. Sedgwick, can help him out of."
"And by 'help him out of', you mean - "
" - You see, I don't want to lose my best detective simply because he's doing his job too well, Mr. Sedgwick." She explained. "I tried to clarify that to him. I offered him large sums of money, but he proved to be incredibly stubborn."
"Did you really think you can just bribe Alanik?" I laughed. "When he sees a good mystery, he has to find the answer. That's just how it works. You never stood a chance to achieve this way anything other than revealing yourself as a crook."
"So I found." She shrugged. People came and went around us, seemingly obvilious to the scene. "I had to find a more efficient way to ensure his silence. I looked through his history, searching for some embarrassing secret or the like, but found nothing - except for you."
"I'll pass the 'embarrassing'," I tried to hide my surprise, "But how exactly am I a secret? On the contrary, I've become something of a public figure myself! Too much of it to my liking, to be honest."
"Oh, but there's one thing the public had never heard of, isn't it?" She grinned as if about to throw a theatrical villainous laughter. "You had never mentioned in any of your books that you and Mr. Ray are partners in more than one way."
I blushed.
"I heard you in Mordent are very traditional, aren't you?" She remarked. "Do your parents know you're homosexual, Dr. Sedgwick?"
"Bisexual, in fact, and they know since I was fourteen." I shrugged. "It's my publisher who insists on censurship - he says it'll hurt the sales. It was always a common fan theory, though, which I neither approved nor denied. Alanik had been out of contact with his family for decades, in case you didn't know - And you know nothing about him if you think he'd be ashamed of our love."
"What a pity..." She snapped her fingers, and six of the so-called bypassers surronded me, raising their guns. "I guess I'd have no choice but to kidnap you."

My captivity is not an experience I'd like to elaborate on. It was notoriously boring, and I spent most of it under the influence of a saditive. It's enough to say two things:
The first, that from overheard talks in my rare moments of clarity I'd learned of the existence of the Kagrat, Darkon's secret police. Its higher ranks seem to be made almost entirely out of vampires, and its agents are everywhere, advancing Azalin's conspiracies throughout the land. These are not people serving their country: the majority of them seems to be motivated, much like their master, only by the ambition for magical power. And I dread what will be of our world if they achieve it.
The second is that on the third night, Alanik came to my rescue - and like any lover would in this situation, I wish he hadn't.
"I demand to see him." I heard him declare from behind the wall.
"As you wish." The agent led him to the room where I was sitting, tied to a chair. He kneeled in front me, laying his hand over mine.
"You came!" I sighed in relief.
"Sorry I got you into this." He gace me an apologetic look, then turned to my captor.
"What do you want?" He asked in a grim voice. My fingers tickled, and I noticed he was meddling with my bonds.
"Two simple things." She answered. "Obedience and silence."
I said nothing. We were on to a vicious conspiracy here, but if he surrenders to free me, couldn't he break his promise later? Would it not be wiser to flee this cursed city, gather our allies, then strike back on our own terms?
"If I agree," He narrowed his eyes, "Would you set Arthur free?"
"And give up such a useful tool?" The woman laughed. "No. But if you don't agree, we can torture him until you do."
"I see." He nodded, and helped me up - revealing the untied rope. He raised his gun and handed me another. "I offer you another deal, sucker - let us out or get shot. Kapish?"
She pulled her own firearm, seemingly undisturbed.
"Nik, watch out!" I cried. "She's a sucker of the - " He shot her between the ribs, but the bullet bounced from her skin. " - Bloodier sort!"

We were forked.
Two mortals against a vampire, with no magical weapons, no holy symbols and no way out. A certain TPK if I'd ever seen one.
"If this is the end," Alanik dodged a bullet, "At least we face it together."
I was about to nod, but then a crazed idea popped into my mind.
The Kagrat took away my suitcase and gun, but they didn't bother searching my pockets. I didn't hide any conventional weapons there, but I happened to carry with me a snack: A Little bag full of sugared ginger cubes.
"Don't lose hope." I shook my head, opening the bag.
You see, in the midst of the fight, I found myself recalling a wild theory Gennifer Weathermay-Foxgrove had shared with me once: Garlic, as is known, has strong antibacterial propreties; Thus, it symbolised health and life. Could this be the reason it repelled vampires? And if so, could other plants with these propreties have a similar effect?
Knowing more than my own life is placed on this gambit, I jerked toward the agent and shoved a ginger cube into her eye. She wailed in agony as her eye blackened, and collapsed on the floor.
"Genny, you're a bloody genius!" I laughed in relief. "Nik, let's get out before she regenerates. This is a mission for more than two."
He nodded, and we started running for our life.

We stopped two carriages: one to take us to the port ASAP, and one to drive ASAP to the other side of the city.
Our ruse almost worked.
We made it to the docks and started looking for a ship when we were suddenly engulfed by the strange mist I recognised as a vampire's gaseous form.
"Hello!" She materialised in front of us. "Missed me? I missed you!" Her bullet passed just above my head. "But my aim is getting better!"
We rolled our eyes.
"What's the time?" I asked.
"Three AM." Alanik picked at his watch.
"Think we can make it til sunrise?"
"No. But there's a faster way."
"What way?"
"I can drown her." He whispered. "Vampires don't need to breathe, but they say that for some reason, they die if fully sumberged."
"You can drown her?!" I stared him. "Nik, what are you up to?"
He handed me his suitcase.
"Arthur, this case contains all the evidence I could find about the Kagrat and the Kagratane. Take it to Mordent and consult with Van Richten, or someone else that you fully trust. Try to finish my job, please."
He ran toward and beyond her, stopping dangerously close to the edge of the dock. To those of you who have never seen a port, I'd explain that for large ships to dock in one, it takes a small cliff - natural or artificial - to hang above the shore. In horror, I realised what he's planning.
"Hey, sucker!" He challenged the vampire. "It's me you want! We've been chasing eachother around for months, enough with the games! Come and fight me like the woman you are!"
She grinned. Suddenly I recalled an important detail.
"Running water!" I cried, unsure if he's close enough to hear me. "Nik, they need to be sumberged in running water! The ocean wouldn't work! You'll kill yourself in vain!"
It might have been my imagination, but I a moment before she lashed out, I thought I hear him saying: "Not if it saves you."

Forgoing the guns, the two wrestled on the edge of the cliff.
It was a mighty duel, and as far as I could see in the darkness, my beloved was a worthy challenge for this dreadful monster, who surely did not expect a puny little mortal to rival her speed. At last, he managed to grapple her, and jumped into his death - hopefully taking, at least temporarily, his foe with him.

And so, dear readers, I regret to inform you of The Great Detective's death.
None shall be mourn his passing more than I do, though I'm certain some of you - and many of the people he'd saved and the families he'd brought justice too over his long-and-yet-too-short career - will come close.
But his sacrifice had saved me, and I'll make sure it was not in vain. I publish here his findings. This might be the greatest scandal the Darkon government had faced since Dr. Van Richten had exposed King Azalin as a lich - let this serve you as a reminder to what happens when you piss off a doctor.



-- A story published by Arthur Segdwick three years ago







TO BE CONTINUED