I'm currently running a short-term solo game (storytelling only, we'renot rolling dice of any kind) set in Sithicus, based on the 3ed Ravenloft book published by Sword and Sorcery. So far, it's going well, but I'm having problems incorporating Inza. It's not an incredibly original storyline, but it's filling in time until we start our Dawning Star campaign.
I've spoilered the campaign just to avoid it being a massively long post.
Here's how it goes so far:
The character, Rose, is a young girl raised in Sithicus. She's an innocent and has, so far, been the only one to resist the demiplane's Guilt aura. Some time ago (about 5 years) she met a travelling cleric of the Morninglord, and learnt a few things before he was headbagged (forgive me, I've been watching V for Vendetta) and stolen away by the Politskarae. She has since become a 1st-level Favoured Soul of the Morninglord, and has been quietly working at her family's tavern in a tiny roadside town.
In the ten years since the Hour of Screaming Shadows, she's done little, but has been fervently praying to the Morninglord to make her family's lives better.
[/backstory]
Rose goes to see a Vistani caravan as it's in town, and pays her silver coin to the eerie crone who claims to be able to see the future. The fact that the woman's been talking about "hidden things better left underfoot" troubles her, since she keeps her holy symbol in a false heel in her boot. The woman draws a Tarokka reading for her (which I made up on the spot), saying that 'the Innocent' represents her, 'the Knight' is her destiny, 'the Darklord' opposes her, and 'the Knight' guards her... another knight (this 'duplicate' card is cracked, like the paint has been burned slightly)? Yes, the Vistana is thoroughly creeped out, and orders Rose out of the caravan, so she goes walking in the woods.
There, she hears a far-off howling of wolves, and the air grows misty. She is guided towards the howls by a raven (I haven't played Ravenloft for about ten years, but I remember wereravens were good), and eventually is attacked by a pack of Goblyns (Dragon 339), but is rescued by a massive, black-armoured figure wearing a greathelm (it's Lord Soth!! AAAGH!! But it's actually the Blessed Knight, a sort-of ghost of Lord Soth who's been haunting the woods, and has taken an interest in her, as an innocent). He helps her up, then walks away into the forest without speaking a word. Shaken and torn, Rose heads towards the howling, and finds a clearing filled with mists, where a wounded knight is defended by his warhorse against a pack of wolves (Inza's minions). She drives the wolves off with her holy symbol (well, more her presence than the symbol, but it's a solo campaign) and heals the knight, proving that she really does have clerical powers and affirming her faith.
The knight, it turns out, is from somewhere completely different, and has no knowledge of Sithicus or Ravenloft, in general. She helps him up, and while he recovers, she checks his pack for what he's carrying. She finds a wrapped bundle, which he claims isn't his, and tells her to keep it, if she likes. She finds it's a broken shard of mirror, which reflects her face perfectly.
<<Skip a few days>>
Jacen, the knight, has settled in with some discomfort, and starts to understand why he's here. It turns out his father, a noted paladin, travelled to Ravenloft in his youth and returned (with great difficulty) with a Vistana wife, but she left when Jacen was young. He's been feeling guilty bout that ever since (which is why the mists sucked him up). He makes an impression around the town, and Rose decides it would be better for him to leave before the Politskarae take him away forever, like her mentor Petrof.
However, the night before he leaves (and she decides to leave with him), she wakes during a dream where she could hear tapping at the window... and then, just as she's about to sleep again, she hears tapping at the window. Opening the shutters, she comes face-to-face with the black-armoured knight again, who warns her in a hollow voice that "Traitors storm your gate. Look to your guest." She runs to Jacen's room and wakes him just in time to fend off an attack by three Secret Police (who die in the attack). Her family bundles her up, warning her that her brother-in-law is missing, and Rose and Jacen ride at full pace down the road, away from town.
Now here's my 'advice needed' part.
Basically, I'm going with a quickish story based on the Dragon article, and we're both just having fun. I plan to resolve the story, and we probably won't come back to it.
If you want to know my (ideal) resolution, it's also spoilered below.
As I said, I know it's not completely original, but hey, it's my game.
What I'm asking is how others would include Inza... I'm finding my player is focusing on King Azrael Dak and his 'prison camps' a lot, and wants to go find/free her mentor, and I want (at some point, basically Act 3 of 4) for the Blessed Knight to take Rose and Jacen to Nedragaard Keep so they can gather the other fragments of the Memory Mirror (being undead, he can't do it, or some guff like that).
I can't quite get the idea of Inza as a darklord into my head... she's a rogue/wizard who can transform into shadow, that's fine... but I don't quite see how she fits into Sithicus as a whole. She's hurt by sunlight, she can't stay in the same place two nights running, and it doesn't fit (to me, anyway).
I was thinking of making her a bit more like a travelling version of Michelle Pfeiffer's character in Stardust, but younger and able to turn into shadow... but I don't see her motivation. What does she do with her time? She obviously doesn't have any long-term plans (and what happens when she runs out of places to sleep?).
Anyway, to stop rambling (it's past 11pm where I am, and I need sleep)... what are anyone else's ideas? How can I introduce (and fit) Inza into the campaign, so as to properly have her as the BBEG for later?
Ah. I wasn't aware of the second one. I've only read Knight of the Black Rose.
Thanks, Boxhead.
PS: Hi! We're playing in Vikings and Vampires together.