Count Ivan Gretsky

A nobleman who turned into a vampire to avoid dying from a terminal disease. He was cast out from his family after his transformation and has been attempting to quit his addiction to blood. He is a member of the Friends of Bethel at Polaris University. He first appears in Down for the Count but has reunited with the party on several occasions.

## Summary

Count Ivan encounters the party in the Teenage Woods, asking if they are the Friends of Bethel. With the university missing from memory, he feels the urge to be at his meeting but is unsure where it is. The party tricks him into believing they are his support group, only for Albee to raise suspicion when she claims to be their founder, Bethel. He attacks the party and is nearly killed by Stirfry, only to return after drinking the blood of a passing elf. He saves the party from a swarm of bearowls, but demands compensation for their deception and lack of mercy. Unwilling to give up Stirfry, the party holds a Friends of Bethel meeting with Ivan. He accepts this gesture and leaves the party to their travels.

Ivan returns in Dial E for Elf, though he is disguised as Blaine. He is spending the night at Lindsingham Manor, having refused to help with their murder mystery. He speaks very plainly while posing as a normal human, abandoning his accent. His cape still billows in the air as if a wind was blowing, but he claims to not understand why. When the party determines that he was the one that murdered Vance Lindsingham, he proudly reveals his clever disguise. The Lindsinghams try to kill him in revenge but the players step in to intervene. They refuse their reward in return for sparing Ivan, who repays them by giving them his billowing cloak.

The party meets Ivan again in A Stranger Comes To Town. Johnny Ketchup tries to sell crates of dirt from the Teenage Woods to Fort Casual. Before he can seal the deal, Ivan reaches out of one of the boxes and drags him inside before ripping his head off. Ivan emerges and proudly proclaims that he didn't drink any of the blood before he's tackled by local guards. He's hastily arrested while he tries to catch up with the party.

Ivan is set to be executed for being a vampire, but the party organizes a jailbreak. He joins them in their travels towards the Teenage Woods, openly unsure of his plans for the future. He spends most of their time hiding from the sun out in the desert, but happily spends a day in the sun with Cordelia casting Invisibility on him to hide him from the daylight during Riddle Guy.

In Thirsty Falls Part 2, Ivan is possessed by the demon SERVANT. Ivan, Blaine and SERVANT then fight over Ivan's body until Stirfry and Albee attempt to take off Ivan's hoodie so he will be killed by the sun. They fail, but Ivan realizes the only way to get rid of SERVANT is to sacrifice himself. He takes off his hoodie and bursts into flames, killing them both.

A manifestation of Ivan appears in the episode You Wish when the party visits The Room of Wonders. Cordelia asks to see him and they exchange pleasantries before he gives them directions on how to escape the tunnels.

When the party visits Hell, they come across a sickly Ivan. He fails to recognize any of them besides Frederick, being the soul of the human Ivan Gretsky with no memory of being a vampire. The party is dejected to realize this, but he finds it insulting that they prefer the disease that killed him over the mortal Ivan. He still offers to transport them across Hell and guides them towards Polaris University.

## Abilities

Ivan can turn into bat and communicate with other bats. He can coordinate them into deadly swarms to overwhelm his enemies, but it helps when he knows the local bat community since their dialects and temperaments can vary.

He can teleport himself and others, and heal himself from the brink of death by feeding on blood. He possesses some level of enhanced strength and commonly fights with his bare fists. He catches fire and will quickly die in direct sunlight, but turning invisible through magic allows him to remain unharmed.

## Quotes

* *Ivan: "I'm just saying, Albee, it sounds like you are lost."Albee: "Yea."Ivan: "Yea. Great. Welcome."*

## Trivia

* The Gretsky family served under the de Bonesbys. Ivan shares no such loyalties since his banishment.
* Count Ivan drinks the blood of animals to avoid drinking humans when he can help it. He does his best to respect most living creatures, but he doesn't consider elves to be people. He has failed this goal many times in moments of weakness, but he remains adamant on the matter whenever he can. He commemorates these failures with his countless 30 day (and other increments of time) chips from his meetings.
* Ivan uses Blaine as an alter ego and disguise, but insists that the persona is addicting and has some mind of its own when he pretends to be him. This proves surprisingly useful when he is possessed by SERVANT, as the secondary persona leaves the demon confused and helps keep it at bay.
* Ivan gained his accent when he turned into a vampire.