Starcrossed: A Ravenloft Comic Discussion

[Isabella]

You people are so cynical. Maybe it's a friendly glow. Like a nightlight!

I also like how purple eyes has completely overshadowed everything else that has happened so far.

[NeoTiamat]

Mostly because we're idiots who can't see the hands in front of our faces.

Anyways, I went back and re-read the chapter so far, and quite a few things suddenly become very obvious. Including much of the sheds history.

Fact One: Monsieur Gravois did not build the shed. It used to belong to a M'sieu Doucet, and came with the land which Gravois bought.

Fact Two:: When Girot last saw it, he noticed nothing odd about it.

Fact Three: While there have been many rumors of disappearances, the workers all think that it started after Gravois got the shed, and that the first person to disappear was his wife, Madame Gravois. They think it's her ghost.

Conclusion One: The shed is not an originally evil place. No ancient burial ground or the like, or at least nothing active. It acquired its evil reputation from some action of Monsieur Gravois.

Fact Four: Gravois, his son Etienne, and the big Souragnien whom I conjecture to be the field supervisor, are all aware of the shed's nature and use it as a punishment or a disposal system.

Fact Five: When we actually see an ethereal resonance of the shed's nature, we see a man named Rene, who looks remarkably like a young Gravois, with a bound woman rather resembling the Late Ms. Gravois, who is bound and begging him to stop.

Conclusion Two: For one reason or another, Rene Gravois murdered his wife and buried her in the shed (possibly alive). This has caused the shed to become a haunted place, and thus M'sieu Gravois has been leaving people who cross him to the spirit of the place (hence the many reaching arms in the vision).

Question One: Why did Rene Gravois murder his wife?

Question Two: What about the murder caused such a powerful ethereal resonance, enough to spark a shed capable of consuming people somehow?

Question Three: If that's Etienne's mother who was killed in the shed, why is he so content with leaving people there and still working for his father? Is he aware of the cause of the shed, or only of its effects?

[Nathan of the FoS]

Unpleasant surmise--Gravois didn't bury them. He didn't have to. His wife's burial alive triggered the creation of a living wall, and the building can now absorb anyone who stays in it too long.

[NeoTiamat]

That.... makes an unfortunate amount of sense. And to think I always considered the Living Wall to be one of the more ridiculous monsters in the Denizens of Dread.

Also, Gravois is a really, really impressive villain.

[Isabella]

Gravois becomes slightly less impressive.

[Nathan of the FoS]

It is a living wall (shed)!

I think Gravois just got pwnzred by the Shield of Ezra. Probably LN edition. Either that or Santine is just creepy.

[NeoTiamat]

Demon Child! With DR 10/Silver or Cold Iron!

I knew it!

[Rotipher of the FoS]

It is a living wall (shed)!

Can you have a "living floor"? Like a living wall, but flat?

[DocBeard]

Sure.

And man, living walls are creepy. Anything that can drag you inside of it to become a part of it is creepy as hell.

Kudos on using a non-standard monster for the Domain, Is. Putting a gothic slant on any D&D monster is one of my favorite parts of the setting.

[ewancummins]

Creepy!!!

[NeoTiamat]

You know, I have this sudden desire to stick a Living Wall in my campaign. Sadly, two of my PCs read this comic too.

Alas.

[Isabella]

Can you have a "living floor"? Like a living wall, but flat?

I don't think there's anything in the rules about it. But if you do that to your players, I maintain you deserve a sock in the jaw.

[NeoTiamat]

Fact of the day: I'M RIGHT! SANTINE IS THE DEVIL CHILD!!!!

*ahem* Sorry about that.

Also.... our heroes are scarier than our villains. I still think Gravois is sinister and cool, but Santine is scaring me.

[Nathan of the FoS]

So...if creepy purple eyes and creepy yellow eyes have kids, what color eyes will they have? And will they be ultra-creepy, or will regression to the means save them from creepiness?

[Isabella]

So...if creepy purple eyes and creepy yellow eyes have kids, what color eyes will they have?

From what I recall of color theory..... brown.