Dhampir ................................................... 16 Adventures in Hazlan .......................... 115 The Weathermay-Foxgrove Twins

Born o n the world o f Tori!, the high elf jander Sunstar was an adventurer tragically transformed into a vampire. After defeating his master, he wandered far, struggling against his vampiric urges and eventually falling in love with an adventurer named Anna, who claimed to be from another world. When jander revealed his true nature, Anna's companions assisted her in fleeing him. I n a rage, jander slew all those he blamed for keeping him and Anna apart. I n the aftermath of the slaughter, the Mists gathered around jander, transporting him to Barovia. There, jander met Strahd von Zarovich and lived in Castle Ravenloft for a time. When the elder vampire sought to make jander his servant, jander tried to slay the count, failed, and fled into the Mists.

I n the centuries that followed, jander wandered as a mysterious adventurer, secretly seeking a cure for vampirism. He's discovered multiple remedies, but none work for him. In recent decades, his attempt to save a fellow adventurer resulted in the birth of Savra Sunstar, a dhampir (see chapter 1) who jander considers his daughter. Savra loathes him, though, and has devoted her life to hunting him and all vampires.

This estrangement pushe d jander to seek more radical methods of expunging his vampirism. Assisting i n the experiments of a mysterious alchemist in Mordent, he became the first to test a prototype of the enigmatic Apparatus (see "Mordent" earlier in the chapter). But the machine malfunctioned; instead of purging his vampirism, it created myriad copies of him, scattered across the planes. All believe they're the real jander, though an improbable number of them have already achieved semi-tragic ends. At least one jander remains trapped in Ravenloft, forever seeking a peace he'll never deserve. ]ANDER S U NSTAR'S TRAITS

Ideal. "Vampirism is a curse t h a t must be eradicated-from myself most of all."

Bond. " I will suffer nobly, enduring my curse so I can bring about an end to history's greatest scourge."

Flaw. "My insights and pain carry more weight than those of younger, more naive beings." ADVEN T U R E S WITH ]AN D E R SU N STAR

jander Sunstar is a vampire and one of Ravenloft's foremost experts on vampirism. He aids characters hunting vampires and recruits allies to protect him from others of his kind. Consider the following plots when featuring jander Sunstar in an adventure: • jander needs assistance in destroying another • vampire: one of his duplicates. jander asks the characters to help him save a monster hunter who opposes an overly powerful foe. Within the villain's lair, the characters discover the hunter is jander's daughter, Savra, who neither requests nor requires aid. LAR I S SA SNOWMANE

Captain Larissa Snowmane pilots the paddleboat River Dancer along the rivers and coasts of Ravenloft's domains, righting wrongs and ferrying those in need to new homes. Larissa is a legend, known for her icy-white hair, dancing skill, and mezzosoprano signing voice. As she approaches her seventieth year, she remains one of the domains' most widely traveled explorers. When danger threatens her vessel and crew, Captain Snowmane reluctantly uses a magical performance known as the Dance of the Dead, a forbidden song and dance that keeps Undead creatures at bay but slays living beings who witness it, then reanimates them as zombies. Larissa avoids rival riverboat captain Nathan Timothy and his ship, Virago, as well as the swampy domain of Souragne, where she learned her deadly magic from grim forces that consider her debt unpaid. LARISSA SNOWMANE ' S TRAITS

Ideal. "Everyone needs help from time to time. I 'll help those who have no one else."

Bond. "My ship, my crew, and those in my care are my home, and I'll risk my life to protect them."

Flaw. "I've seen terrors but have risen above them. I can triumph over any evil-except my past." ADVENTUR E S WITH LARISSA SNOWMANE

Larissa Snowmane i s a human druid with exceptional insight into navigating the waterways of the Mists. Her handsome, multilevel paddleboat River Dancer provides an exciting base of operations for wayfaring adventurers. Consider the following plots when featuring Larissa Snowmane in an adventure: • River Dancer appears when the characters desperately need to escape a domain, but the Mists • make their next stop even more dangerous. River Dancer pulls into port with only Captain Snowmane aboard. Larissa needs a crew, but she doesn't mention that her last crew died when she used the Dance of the Dead. RUD OLPH VAN R I G H T E N

A scholar and monster hunter, Rudolph van Richten has traveled to dozens of domains, investigating reports of monstrous beings and documenting them in a series of published guides, the best known of which is Van Richten's Guide to Vampires.