Café de Nuit

What do we know exactly about it?

Apart from the small entry in GAZ II, that is.

There is a one-sentence reference to it in the introduction to chapter 4 in LotB, but that's all. At least, all that I am aware of.

Has someone been fleshing out those scaly marauders?

Well, their leader, the Basilisk, is a larger than normal kobold, so I'd say that makes him either an advanced kobold or a half kobold/half dragon (I'm leaning towards half green or half brass).

Drinnik Shoehorn wrote:Well, their leader, the Basilisk, is a larger than normal kobold, so I'd say that makes him either an advanced kobold or a half kobold/half dragon (I'm leaning towards half green or half brass).

Um... I guess I'm missing something here (and I don't have Gaz II in front of me to reference)... a kobold and a dragon?!

I mean, I know the basic biology involved, but... how?

A wagon load of wine, a dinner by burning villagelight, a little Barry and a hole LOTA lube....

Hmm...now if only I could remember where I put that copy of "The Quintessential Kobold". Then again, even I had trouble not laughing at some of the stuff in there. Kobold monks idolizing the power of dragons indeed...or maybe it was the part about using asbestos vests doused in alchemist's fire to make themselves deadly grapplers that really put it over the top.

The Baslisk should probably be a Half-Dragon (green or black) Rog/Sor. The Spawn of the Lizard use stealth and traps, not frontal assaults. They probably focus on stealing food and supplies, with occaissional assaults on Drakov's men.

If dragon-hybrids are too un-Gothic for your tastes, you could instead say that the Basilisk is a Twisted reject from the Carnival with who-knows-what kind of abilities -- maybe "Basilisk" is meant literally, and it petrifies enemies with touch, venom and/or gaze? -- or perhaps a yuan-ti whose appearance just happens to be more lizard-like than serpentine, who'd convinced the kobolds it's a "divinely-gifted" member of their race so it could gain some minions on the cheap. Other options might include that it's a werecrocodile a la Har'Akir, a curse-disfigured Talon who fled his own liege to avoid enslavement as a "freak", or even a kobold variant on the vampire (which hasn't been published AFAIK).

Kobolds rule.

But this one could just have a few levels in fighter and sorceror. A little arcane might can go a long way in a place like Falkovnia.

Rotipher wrote:If dragon-hybrids are too un-Gothic for your tastes

I am of the oppinion that dragons and anything related to dragons is completely un-Gothic.

Here's is a quote of David Wise's comment on the Ravenloft Campaign Setting (Red Box):

"[...]In a related decision, the Kargat judged drow too foreign to the tone of the setting, as are dragons [...]"

I would like to add that I agree with the Kargat, dragons are not gothic at all.

And yet we still have Ebb...

Cole Deschain wrote:And yet we still have Ebb...

And Gloom, if you like Dread Possibilities...

And, if I'm not mistaken, a small red dragon in Vampire of the Mists or Knight of the Black Rose (can't remember which, but it's supposedly one of Strahd's minions in Castle Ravenloft)...

And the four red dragons in I6 - the one in Vampire or Knight is presumably one of those, or possibly a descendant.

Don Fernando wrote: I would like to add that I agree with the Kargat, dragons are not gothic at all.

Perhaps not an actual dragon, but used as a title, symbol, or in dreams a dragon could find itself suitable in a gothic setting.

Malus Black wrote:And the four red dragons in I6

I thought they were more like statues of some sort than actual dragons.

Actually I find very interesting the idea of a dream dragon, a Dream Spawn that attaks only people from Sithicus, for example. Then again, even though unique monsters are a Ravenloft Trademark, try to imagine the possibility of seeing a giant lizard using his breath weapon against a vampire...I guess it's not scary at all...

A dragon of mist would be scary.