Café de Nuit

Hey everyone,

In Gazateer III it mentions the Gauldemon family and the fiend 'Lou'gal the smiling one'. I'm planning on having my players take a trip to the lightless forest, and end up in the Gauldemon mansion for one of Lou'gal's theatrical events...

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for a twisted theatre productions. As of yet I'm planning for the players to find themselves actually on the stage, which will entitle a weird encounter with many of Lou'gal's followers attacking them as if it were part of the show. Just like any good play, this one needs to have certain movements; some fast, some slow, all demented and horrifying. Basically, a show of horrors, with Mr. Lou'gal as the grand finale.

What I need are short 'horror skits' for the players to go through. Nothing that will take the entire session, however, since I'm not looking to make this last for more than one session (Example: human bodies tied on string and made into puppets drop from the ceiling and attempt to choke the players with their wire). Esteemed embers of the Fraternity, I am interested to here your contributions to the skript of smiling dread.
Thank you in advance, any and all ideas would be great.

Not very creative on my part, but have you taken a look on the web for horror plays? I just did a quick search and there are dozens of free scripts for various plays that could give you plenty of ideas.

And if that fails, borrow scenes from Shakespeare (dealing with the witches in MacBeth, or trying to save themselves from owing Lou'Gal a pound of flesh ala the Merchant of Venice) with elements from Dante's Inferno for a more demonic feel.

BBG

The Pcs could enter into a puppet show with marionettes acting out the battle of Strahd over the Goblin King. As all the 'enemy' puppets fall the puppet Strahd turns and orders his army to attack the interploers IE: the PCs.

Hm... I've been working a bit with Lou'gal myself.

Here's a hint: baernoloth.

Chris Nichols

Baernoloth?

Where can I find that?

The Baernoloths are the creators of the Yugoloths.

I shudder to think about one being in Ravenloft.

So wait, a fiendish general in Mordent? I never pictureed Lou'gal as an ULTRA powerful fiend, not even a moderately powerful one. The dread realm already has the GC, Inajira, Drigor, the Black Duke, and various other fiends that mess about with the realm enough.

Lou'gal I never saw as a physically powerful demon. He's more one to attack players mentally (horror saves, madness, mind control, Tasha's hideous laughter), which fits much better for a Mordentish campaign. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is it fitting of Mordent to have a demonic general cascading around?

Undead Cabbage wrote:So wait, a fiendish general in Mordent? I never pictureed Lou'gal as an ULTRA powerful fiend, not even a moderately powerful one. The dread realm already has the GC, Inajira, Drigor, the Black Duke, and various other fiends that mess about with the realm enough.

Lou'gal I never saw as a physically powerful demon. He's more one to attack players mentally (horror saves, madness, mind control, Tasha's hideous laughter), which fits much better for a Mordentish campaign. Correct me if I'm wrong, but is it fitting of Mordent to have a demonic general cascading around?

Baerns are subtle. They hide in the shadows. A baern can work in Ravenloft, but they'd have to be played very carefully.

For one of the slower ones, what about some kind of pantomime sketch? There are some villagers who have been captured and are now unable to speak (your choice as to how; Lou'gal might have torn out their tongues, sewn their mouths shut, or just cast silence over the entire stage). One of Lou'gal's followers is particularly powerful and has some kind of special ability (a lycanthrope or a really nasty spellcaster, maybe); the villagers have seen this follower in action and know he's going to be coming at the end of the act, but can only warn the PCs in pantomime and dance. (Heck, if they don't know about Lou'gal, the whole thing could be warning them of who he is, with the villagers trying to recreate his smile and his evil actions in order to warn the PCs.)