Café de Nuit

Mistipedia mentions this...

"The Brightblade is the former blade of Sergei von Zarovich and was possessed by Dr. Rudolph van Richten for a time. It's current wereabouts are unknown."

Where is the reference for this?

Gaz 1 p 118

Though the blade came into possession or RVR, it vanished from the herbalit's shop under the nose of the Weathermay twins not long after the doctor's disappearance in 750.

And no other wereabouts is mentionned after.

Wait what? There was a break-in in RVR's shop under the nose of the twins?
Could the Were-Weathermay have taken it without realizing?

They do occasionally travel and come home tired and/or injured. A sufficiently skilled thief could have snuck in and nabbed the sword while they were recuperating.

There's one other earlier mention, since presumably it's the "sunsword brought from Castle Ravenloft" that's mentioned as being in the cellar in Dragon #260's "Van Richten's Legacy: The Herbalist Shop."

That article also mentions that the neighbor, Mrs. Polk, helped clean the place and was able to do so while van Richten was away, so she presumably has a key.

The Dark wrote: Fri Nov 21, 2025 4:53 pm That article also mentions that the neighbor, Mrs. Polk, helped clean the place and was able to do so while van Richten was away, so she presumably has a key.

SHE took IT!!!!

So those nice girls won't hurt themselves by accident...?

Messires,

I understand that you have been discussing the theft of the Brightblade from Van Richten's Herbalist Shop. I would ask that you not impugn the Mademoiselles Weathermay-Foxgrove in that discussion. I am the one who was on duty at the shop in their absence on the night that the Brightblade was stolen, and it was I who endured the shame of allowing myself to go unconscious when struck in the back of the head by an object suspiciously like Mrs. Polk's rolling pin.

Willem Abernathy, Clerk
Van Richten's Herbalist Shop

Messires,

Warm (and slightly sweaty) greetings from Sri Raji. The sun is glorious, the tea perfect, the beaches are divine, and the food… well, let’s just say my tongue has filed several official complaints to the cook.

If you would be so exceedingly kind as to rent my former residence—and promptly send the rent to:

Mrs. Harriet Polk
Bahru, Sri Raji

I assure you, every coin will be used responsibly. Mostly for aloe vera, tea and milk.

With tropical regards,
Mrs. Polk, Retiree and Totally Innocent Citizen

Here I was, merely trying to imply that a potential thief could easily have stolen a key from Mrs. Polk, and y'all just run with her being a criminal mastermind.

Off topic: I don't suppose the sword has any connection to the Krynnish paladin Storm Brightblade RIP?

(If it's accidental, this isn't even a case of 'TSR writers never spoke to eachother' - Tracy Hickman wrote both The Dragonlance Chronicles and the OG I6 Ravenloft module!)

So maybe it's an in-joke.

The Dark wrote: Sun Nov 23, 2025 8:28 pm Here I was, merely trying to imply that a potential thief could easily have stolen a key from Mrs. Polk, and y'all just run with her being a criminal mastermind.

Welcome to the internet if people have an opportunity to invoke the 'innocuous old woman who's secretly a mastermind' trope, they'd run with it.

TheArcaneWeirdo wrote: Tue Dec 09, 2025 2:39 pm Off topic: I don't suppose the sword has any connection to the Krynnish paladin Storm Brightblade RIP?

(If it's accidental, this isn't even a case of 'TSR writers never spoke to eachother' - Tracy Hickman wrote both The Dragonlance Chronicles and the OG I6 Ravenloft module!)

No direct connection (the Krynnish Brightblade is a bastard sword with a silvery blade, while Sergei's Bright Blade is a longsword with a glassteel blade), but it could be (and probably is, in my opinion) an in-joke by the Hickmans. It's not the Bright Blade in I6. It's only referred to as the sun sword, and it doesn't have the back story with Sergei. In I6, it's a weapon Strahd tried to destroy ages ago, but the wizard he hired to do it only got as far as separating the hilt and blade. The blade was stolen by his apprentice and lost, and the party can reassemble the weapon if they have both pieces. It's referred to as the Bright Blade and becomes Sergei's sword in RM4 House of Strahd, which (like I6) was by both Hickmans.

Working through the real world timeline, the change between I6 and RM4 makes sense. According to Allen Varney's interview with Tracy Hickman in Dragon #250, I6 existed before Dragonlance had been conceived (Ravenloft was playtested on "about five" Halloweens before it was published in 1983, and Dragonlance was brainstormed during the Hickmans' drive from Utah to Wisconsin in 1981). RM4 was a revamp in the early 1990s, so well after Sturm Brightblade's introduction to the gaming community.