River Dancer

Also known by its former name, La Demoiselle du Musarde, the River Dancer is the showboat owned by Larissa Snowmane and formerly owned by Captain Raoul Dumont. The River Dancer is featured heavily in the Ravenloft product line novel Dance of the Dead (Novel) and name dropped in Tales of Ravenloft:The Rigor of the Game. The River Dancer is also described in Champions of the Mists under Larissa's NPC writeup.

Specifications

Two hundred feet long and fifty feet wide, the River Dancer is a great paddlewheeler vessel powered by magic. Its paddlewheel is a striking red, and it boasts a gold-colored wooden griffon for a figurehead. Four terraced decks are stacked upon each other like a layer cake. A calliope sits upon its stern. It spouts both jolly music and multicolored steam. Its white hull glows in the moonlight, but the vessel is not decorated to the point of ostentation. All of the Dancer's cabins, save for the relatively luxurious captain's, are small, a legacy left by Dumont. The wheel is bulky and requires sinceree effort to turn. Two people attended the pilothouse at all times.

The River Dancer boasts its own theater. A camouflaged (but not hidden) door leads to a storage area, and beyond that area there is a hold for livestock. Some of these spaces were formerly used by Dumont to hold the various magical creatures he kept as slaves. Under Larissa's command, this practice has ended.

Beyond a theater, the River Dancer must have enough space to enable gambling.

Captain Dumont put up various wards and protections to keep it from harm and to keep prisoners in. These were enhanced by certain magic words and rituals embedded in the theatrical play the Pirate's Pleasure.

Other Information

Oliver Arkwright claimed to have won a big haul at the River Dancer at some in his life.

Data from the Ravenloft Catalogue

		Champions of the Mists
		Champions of the Mists - p61