Table of Contents Introduction...... 2 Through Darkened Eyes (Vistani Darkling) ....4 For 4-8 characters of levels 3-6, incl. fighters of levels 5-6 (28 total levels) Undying Justice (Ghost) ...... 12 For 4-6 characters of levels 3-5 (about 20 total levels) Gazing Into the Abyss (Lich: Vassalich) .....21 For 4-6 characters of levels 4-6 (about 24 total levels) Family Feud (Lycanthropes) ...... 30 For 3-4 characters of levels 4-6 (about 16 total levels) The Surgeon’s Blade (Golems) ...... 32 For 3-4 characters of levels 6-8 (about 24 total levels) The Scarlet Kiss (Vampire)...... 40 For 3-4 characters of levels 7-9 (about 27 total levels) Ancient Dead (Greater Mummy) ...... 49 For 3-4 characters of levels 7-9 (about 27 total levels) The Taskmaster’s Leash (Fiends)...... 56 For at least four characters of 7th level or greater Sample file TSR, Inc. TSR Ltd. 201 Sheridan Springs 120 Church End, Lake Geneva Cherry Hinton WI 53147 Cambridge CB1 3LB Credits USA United Kingdom Design: Lisa Smedman 9495XXX1501 This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United State! Editing: Allen Varney of America. Any reproduction or unauthorized use of the material o Review and “Family Feud” Adventure: artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written Steven Miller permission of TSR, Inc. Project Coordination: Harold Johnson Random House and its affiliate companies have worldwide distribu- Graphics Coordination: Sarah Feggestad tion rights in the book trade for English language products of TSR Inc. Distributed in the book and hobby trade in the United Kingdom Art Coordination: Peggy Cooper by TSR Ltd. Distributed to the toy and hobby trade by regional dis Cover Art: Scott Burdick tributors.

Interior Art: Mark Nelson ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, ADGD, and RAVENLOFT Cartography: David C. Sutherland 111 are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. The TSR logo is a Electronic Prepress Coordination: Tim Coumbe trademark owned by TSR, Inc. Typesetting by Angelika Lokotz Printed in the U.S.A. 0 1995 TSR, Inc. All Rights Reserved. r '.. ,

vi1 comes in many forms: the cruel smile of For tho Oungoon Mastor a vampire; the chilling touch ofa noncorporeai hand; the glitieting eyes of a man in whom the slavering beast lives; and the shuffling Each of the adventures in this book is designed for player character heroes of varying levels. eir adventures may be played in any order, but should be interspersed throughout a campaig rather than used back to back. In addition to the core ADGD rulebooks, you need the RAVEN LO^^ boxed set to play. Chilling Tales is designed to complement the and lively steps of a Vistani dancer are no more Van Richten's Guides. These sourcebooks are not than a front for thievery and murder. You may think me obseszd-me who sees only shadow and never fight. You-may think it fourid in this book. odd that I, Dr. Rudolph Van Richten, once a atim when Van simple herbalist and healec have dedicated my life to eradicating evil. summarized in But you have notseen the horrors that I have. My son, corrupted by a vampire and begging me to drive into his heart the stake that would end his young life. My wik, torn to pieces in an act of murder and revenge. Sample file How could I continue to merely heal the bodies of my patients with my simple herbal remedies when fheir very souls were at risk? Until the evils that feed on oursociety are forever uprooted and error Tips destroyed, not one of us is safe. Not one. Faeveloping an amospnerq Dear companions, I implore you. Give me what n essenttal part of the Ra aid you can in this long and dangerous task I rnming the lights, draping the have set for myself:A strong arm, a keen mind- laying soft, spooky music can B even a kind word is welcome. We must all do loch to the game. So too can tl- what we can to return decency and kindness to iat appear boxed throughout this bc this world. p sugge&s ideas on how to expand DKZ&dh@ti Vun !@&ten rolling and note taking. I ho react in an appropriate manna these situations (by having their characters lint, shriek in alarm, or draw back in terror) iould be rewarded with more experience Dints for that encounter, and are exempt fror I laking fear and horror checks. adviser to the heroes. He lets them take the BackgroundfCurrent Sketch: Van Richten’s active role in any investigation. background appears on pages 91-93 of the Domains and Denizens sourcebook from the second edition RAVENLOFTboxed set, and in the Or. Rudolph Uan Richten various Van Richten’s Guides. When not out 10th-level Thief, Lawful Good hunting supernatural creatures, he makes his home in Mordentshire, a city in the domain of Armor Class 10 str 11 Mordent, where he runs an herbal shop. Movement 12 Dex 16 Combat: Due to occasional battles with Level/Hit Dice 10 Con 10 creatures that can drain levels, Van Richten’s Hit Points 76 Int 17 level varies between adventures. For this reason, THACO 16 Wis 16 his hit points and thieving abilities differ in each No. Attacks 1 Cha 10 adventure in this book. The introduction to each Damage/Attack By weapon adventure notes Van Richten’s current level and Special Attacks Nil the adjustments needed to the statistics given Special Defenses Knowledge of evil creatures’ above. weaknesses The adventures are arranged in order of Van Magic Resistance Nil Richten’s level, as well as for progressively more powerful parties. If Van Richten has not yet PP 15% OL40% F/RT85% MS 40% appeared in the campaign, he can debut at a HS45% DN65% CW70% RL80% low-level and rise as the heroes do, until he reaches the 10th-level abilities listed here. Dr. Rudolph Van Richten is a middle-aged man, If the heroes previously knew Van Richten at a short in stature and not terribly strong. He has higher ability level, or if the adventures here are graying blond hair that is thinning on top but that run in a different order, he can explain his he has allowed to grow long in the back. He decreased abilities with some story such as this: dresses in unassuming clothes, usually plain “I tracked a spectre that escaped from the brown pants and a tweed jacket or cape. Samplehaunted Gryphon file House in my home of The introduction at the beginning of this book Mordentshire. The trail led me to the local and several of the passages found in the Van orphanage. You may imagine my horror when I Rich ten‘s Guides are presented in the words of Dr. found the spirit leeching the very life out of Rudolph Van Richten. When role-playing Van helpless young children! My companions and I Richten, try to speak in a similarly overwrought destroyed the spectre, but only at great cost and fashion. This man has stood on the brink of after the deaths of many innocents.” insanity and confronted the world‘s horrors many When traveling, Van Richten carries with him times. When speaking about the evil that his standard monster-hunting kit. This includes a permeates his world, his eyes open wide, his holy symbol, a vial of holy water, a small mirror, nostrils flare, and his hands are raised in dramatic a silver dagger, and a wooden stake. Each gestures. adventure gives a list of additional equipment Emulate some of the doctor’s mannerisms. carried by Van Richten in that adventure. When lost in thought, Van Richten strides about the room, his hands clenched behind his back. When summing up what the heroes have learned, he ticks off points on his fingers. And when thwarted by a powerful monster, he shakes his fist in the air and vows to return to vanquish the fiend another day. ven hatred of vileness Recently the Gojanovic tribe cast out one of its distorts a man’s own: Lomar, a man who stole his sister’s tarokka features. deck and sold a number of its cards to giorgios Bertolt Brecht (non-gypsies) as curiosity pieces. In return, his To Posterfty (1938) sister Vianchi cursed him, making his fingers sticky so that he could not put down any object “Through Darkened he touched. Furious, he killed her-and was res” is designed for immediately denounced by the tribe. Even his ur to eight heroes of wife, Sashine, closed the door of her uardo in his ?Is 3-6. Because this face, and turned the eyes of Lomar’s son, Kinar, adventure is from him. combat-heavy, the group Lomar has become a darkling-a caricature of iould include at least two the proud Vistani man he once was. He seeks fighters, preferably of levels 5-6 revenge on the Gojanovic tribe, and thinks that d armed with magical weapons. Van Richten (and his companions, the heroes) will this adventure, Van Richten is at make the perfect tools. level 4. Adjust his statistics by deducting 6d6 hit points and 180 percentage points from his thieving abilities. He carries with him his standard Starting the Adventure monster-hunting kit, plus a scroll ofprotection us. he adventure begins with a carefully poison and a potion ofsweet water. contrived lure that seems to paint Lomar as a This adventure is set in Tepest, but it could take victim of the Vistani. Eventually, the heroes place in any domain where the Vistani are active. T.-xn that Lomar is their true enemy, but initially he appears quite innocent. The heroes are traveling with Dr. Van Richten in Background his private coach along a country road in ong before Dr. Rudolph Van Richten began his northern Tepest that winds its way past isolated quest to eradicate evil from Ravenloft’sSample file farmhouses. Just ahead, they spot a thin plume domains, he was a happily married man, of smoke. When they round the bend, read the 1content to putter about with herbal remedies. But following: then the Vistani, Ravenloft’s wandering gypsies, stole his 14-year-old son and sold the boy to a vampire. Van Richten saved his son-by staking his heart. But ever since, he has harbored a loathing, deep in his soul, for the Vistani folk- and, in particular, for the Radanavich tribe of Darkon. Van Richten’s first step down the path he now walks was the gruesome revenge he took upon the Radanavich tribe, and his subsequent efforts The “farmer” is Lomar. After hearing that the have partly been his attempt to remove the stain famous doctor would pass this way, the darkling of blood from his soul. In this adventure, set up this tableau for him. He is about to offer however, Van Richten’s subsiding hatred is bait that Van Richten is powerless to resist. fanned to full flame again, and turned upon the Van Richten stops the carriage, alights, and Gojanovic tribe of Tepest, whose om(the asks if he can help. Assuming the heroes follow grandmother who rules the tribe) is sister to the and are close enough to overhear the resulting Radanavich oma. conversation .sad the following to the players. Lomar, who introduces himself as “Brissell,” says the Gojanovic tribe is camped a short distance away. He claims to know the direction they are headed in next-along a road that leads through a narrow valley. “It is useless to strike at them in their camp,” he says. “But in the valley, we might have a chance. We may yet recover my son, Kinar, and take our vengeance upon the foul Vistani.” Lomar Gojanouic (“Brissell”) Van Richten visibly pales at the name Gojano- Darkling, Chaotic Evil vic. His fists clench, and he begins to tremble. “The Gojanovics,” he mutters under his breath. AC 8 (10); MV 12; HD 2; hp 9; THACO 19; “Kin to those that stole my own dear Erasmus.” #AT 1; Dmg Id4 (dagger) or ld6 (short sword); If the heroes have not yet heard the story of SA Poison (Inject: immediate death), euil eye; how the Vistani kidnapped Erasmus, Van Richten SD Foreseeing; MR Nil; SZ M ML Avg (9);XP 650. tells it to them now. He makes every attempt to press them into recovering Lomar’s son. Str 16 Dex 17 Con 12 Int 12 Wis 13 Chn 7

Sample file Lomar looks like the typical Vistani: swarthy skin, neighbors (all of whom live several miles away) flashing eyes, and jet black hair. He has only re- they learn that the farm is owned by a widow and cently become a darkling, and thus does not have her two daughters. Her husband’s name was the gaunt and sunken features associated with indeed Brissell, but he died five years ago. these creatures-although he is getting a little thin. If the darkling realizes that the heroes suspect Lomar coats each of his weapons with Type E him, he slips away in the middle of the night, mak- poison. He wears a powerful ring ofregeneration ing his “disappearance” look like a Vistani kidnap- that restores 3 hp per round. He also wears a ping. Van Richten, of course, insists on “rescuing” frayed black cloak (wings of the bat). If cornered Brissell by going through with the ambush. in combat, he uses it to escape, hiding by means of his ring ofinuisibility. The Ambush he ambush plans seem feasible. There is only Recognizing Lomar one road for the Vistani to take, and the he first clue that all is not as it seems is that ambush site is perfect. “Brissell” uses a “Brissell’s”grief dries up very quickly. He Tspyglass to learn which uardo holds his son. He seems somewhat impatient to get his “wife” points to Sashine’s uardo, where Kinar sits beside Tand “daughters” buried and get the group on their his mother. way. He explains this seeming lack of compassion Van Richten plays right into the darkling’s as a burning desire to rescue his son “before those hands, insisting the attack on the Vistani caravan foul Vistani have worked their evil magic on him.” be as ruthless as possible. The second clue is that he keeps using words The Gojanovic tribe has 35 members. Of these, from the Vistani language. He is careful not to say ten are children or elderly, and do not participate anything really stupid, but occasionally words like in any battle. Twenty-two are fighters or thieves. uardo, giorgio, and orna slip out. If the heroes The latter attack with daggers coated with a notice this, he simply says that he has a “good paralyzing poison (Type 0).The remaining three ear for languages” and learned theseSample words from file(the orna Goja, Vianchi, and a woman named the gypsies’ frequent visits to his farm. Helvia) are wizards who specialize in divination, at The third clue is the darkling’s sticky hands. He loth, 6th. and 3rd levels respectively. is at first reluctant to talk about this, but Finally, the Gojanovic tribe includes four eventually admits that a Vistani cursed him after dancing bears. At the first sign of trouble, these he stole something from her. At the same time, he highly trained animals are let off their leads and “reluctantly admits” that this theft is the real ordered to attack. Rather than mauling their reason why the Vistani killed his family. He tries to targets, the bears hug them to their chests, gain Van Richten’s sympathy by explaining that holding them until the Vistani can subdue them. the object he stole was a jeshka-a murderer’s (A Strength ability check breaks free of the hug.) heart, studded with thorns, used to summon “powerful evil beings.” Lomar says he stole the Vistani thieves (14): Int 12; AL N; AC 7 (leather jeshka to destroy it and prevent its use. armor); MV 12; HD 3; hp 12 each; THACO 19; Van Richten, blinded by his hatred of the #AT 1; Dmg ld3 (dagger); SA Backstab; SD Nil; Vistani, accepts this story at face value. (He has MR Nil; SZ M ML Avg (8);XP 120 each. heard of jeshkas, but he has no idea what they might summon.) Thoughtful heroes might wonder Vistani fighters (8):Int 12; AL N; AC 7 (leather how an uneducated “farmer” could recognize a armor); MV 12; HD 6; hp 42 each; THACO 15; jeshka-let alone steal such a powerful magical #AT 1; Dmg ld6+1 (sling or broad sword); talisman from an armed Vistani camp. SA Nil; SD Nil; MR Nil; SZ M ML Steady (12); If the heroes think to question the nearest XP 270 each.