Strahd Von Zarovich

Strahd Von Zarovich seated in his throne room in Castle Ravenloft

> "Undead is the mortal word for pioneering"
>
> Strahd Von Zarovich

Count Strahd Von Zarovich was a vampire lord who ruled Dalgenen until his death at the hands of The Lightbringers in 1570 A.W. Three months later, the Lightbringers were tricked into resurrecting Strahd while bringing Lady Vivian Holt to the Amber Temple, resulting in her possession. Strahd is believed to be the origin of vampirism in Allion and was termed "The First Vampire".

## Appearances

### Introduction

Count Strahd Von Zarovich was first encountered by the Lightbringers in the church of the Morninglord in Dalgenen Village during an argument over the fate of the local priest Fr. Donavich Moldovar. After requesting entry to the church, Strahd introduced himself to the group and mocked them for being able to provoke in-fighting in the group so easily.

### Woodland Intrusions

As the adventurers travelled from Dalgenen Village to Vallaki, Strahd distracted and tormented Vulmar Ventris with illusions of his sister. Using the commotion as cover, Strahd isolated and invaded the mind of Gokher Wraitharm to gain information on the group.

During a later travel from Vallaki to the mountain town of Krezk, Strahd once again attempted to infiltrate the minds of the group by targeting Vulmar Ventris, however Vulmar stopped Strahd before he delved deeper than his surface thoughts.

### The Krezk Massacre

Strahd's might was revealed when the Lightbringers brought Ireena Kolyana to the Pool of St. Markovia in Krezk. After Ireena was pulled into the water by a mirage of Sergei Von Zarovich, Strahd's fury was heard across Dalgenen. His voice boomed across the land, bats and wolves converged on Krezk, and thunder clouds roared above the Pool eventually culminating in a powerful lightning blast which broke through the wall of Krezk and destroyed the Pool. As the fog poured through the broken Krezk wall, Strahd emerged enraged, swearing to make the group pay. After the conflict, Samael Morningstar, Ismark Indirovich and Fr. Donavich Moldovar lay dead in the grass as Strahd composed himself and left without sustaining an injury.

### Resurrection and Repast

After the resurrection of Gokher Wraitharm in return for the sacrifice of Baldur Garrick in the Abbey of St. Markovia, Strahd invited the Lightbringers to dinner in Castle Ravenloft as an apology for his earlier lie and his emotional outburst in Krezk. Strahd provided travel in the form of his driverless carriage, bringing the group first to their treehouse abode to collect Donavich and then to Castle Ravenloft.

During the dinner, Strahd invited the group to formally introduce themselves and made conversation over delicious food. The conversation eventually turned to their conflict, where Strahd formally swore to take all that the group loved from them as compensation for Ireena's disappearance in Krezk. Strahd allowed the group to explore the upper floors of his castle, but forbade entry to the lower levels. During the exploration, a conflict between Strahd and the group erupted, which Strahd used to extract information from Gokher Wraitharm on the Martikov family.

As the group were leaving the castle Strahd informed them of his knowledge of the location of Errich Leagallow, allowing the group to choose between saving the Martikovs and Vallaki from his army's assault, or saving Errich from a fate worse than death.

### The Battle of Ravenloft

Strahd's final appearance was during the battle of Ravenloft. After discovering the source of Strahd's power in the Amber Temple, the Lightbringers assaulted Castle Ravenloft, hoping to find the remaining relics to aid them as predicted by Madam Eva. After battling through Strahd's initial castle defenses of animated dragon wyrmlings, gargoyles, zombies, and ghosts, the adventurers battled the Count in his tomb where he retreated soon after. The Lightbringers soon found the sunsword and the holy symbol of Ravenkind, and moved to battle Strahd in the location predicted by Madam Eva: The chapel of Ravenloft.

The battle moved from the chapel to the upper floors as Strahd lured the group upwards. After throwing Gokher Wraitharm through a window of a tower, Strahd sought to make his final stand on the roof of Ravenloft. He called forth all the bats, wolves, vampire spawn, and werewolves in Dalgenen to join him in the battle while thunderstorms raged above. As the battle progressed, Strahd called the Roc of Mount Ghakis to aid him in combat which landed on the roof beside him. As the fight turned in Strahd's favour, Urwin and Davian Martikov crashed onto the roof to aid the adventurers in battle. After a grueling battle, Strahd was eventually defeated by Vulmar Ventris' lightning magic, although Gokher Wraitharm, Urwin Martikov, Donavich Moldovar, Davian Martikov, and Kasimir Velikov lay dead alongside the Count. Daevalur Sunmeadow was also severely wounded, but was stabilised by Reed Tealeaf.

### Return from Death

Three months later, the Lightbringers returned to Dalgenen to fulfil a deal made between the group and Vivian Holt. As payment for putting them in touch with Draegen Vossen, the group would escort Vivian to the Amber Temple where she could gain the power needed to defend the coastal town of Doveport. After bringing her to the temple and putting her in touch with the entity that gave Strahd his powers, she made a deal to accept the dark gift of vampirism. As the deal was sealed, the final components of a dark resurrection performed by Lady Wachter joined with Vivian's body while she underwent her transformation. The amber sarcophagi containing the dark power split, and Vivian was possessed not just by Strahd, but by the darkness that created him. From this amalgam of souls within one body, Strahd's voice was heard clearly from the mouth of Lady Holt.

## Background

A man of noble birth, Strahd spent much of his life serving as a general in the Conqueror Army, as his father did before him. Years of such service took their toll upon him however, and by the time he reached middle age, Strahd came to believe he had squandered his life and his youth. With this dark mood upon him, he came to conquer the region known as Dalgenen, and assumed lordship there, taking as his residence the pre-existing castle known as Ravenloft. From this position of power and security, he called for members of his family "long unseated from their ancestral thrones" to join him, including a younger brother named Sergei.

Some time after this reunion, the Count himself fell in love with a young Dalgenian woman, Tatyana, though she rejected his affections in favor of the younger Sergei. Filled with despair and jealousy, and brooding a growing hatred for Sergei, Strahd sought magical means to restore his youth. In a moment of desperate frustration, he "made a pact with death - a pact of blood." On the day of Sergei and Tatyana's wedding, Strahd murdered his brother and pursued the grieving Tatyana until she flung herself from the walls of Ravenloft. Strahd himself was shot down by the arrows of the castle guard. Even so, he did not die, but went on to rule the land of Dalgenen as a vampire.

### The Order of the Silver Dragon

Strahd is credited with the dismantling of the Order of the Silver Dragon and the killing of the ancient silver dragon Argynvost. This gave rise to the order of revenants that inhabited Argynvostholt many hundreds of years later, led by Vladimir Horngaard.

When Strahd first invaded Dalgenen as a general of the Conquerer Army in ~1200 AW, the Order of the Silver Dragon attempted to hold back the invasion of Strahd's forces. They fought valiantly, however were eventually pushed back into their headquarters, Argynvostholt. With this retreat, Argynvost attempted to fight alongside his knights to slay Strahd and his army, however Argynvost was slain by the general. Strahd is thought to have wielded the Ethereal Blade Clarent which granted him exceptional strength during his slaying of Argynvost and his knights.