This section contains information on the Nocturnal Sea, some of its major islands, and Vechor.
The Noctural Sea
The Land: The Nocturnal Sea is a frigid body of water east of Nova Vaasa and Necropolis. Until three years ago, it was completely hidden by the Mists that surround the Core, although daring ships had been setting out from Egertus since shortly after the Grand Conjunction. Still, even before the Mists retreated, several islands were discovered, and new islands are actually being discovered in the Nocturnal Sea continually.
Although the Nocturnal Sea is no longer hidden, it is still hazardous to navigate. Perpetual cloud cover hangs over the dark, choppy waters; no sun, moon, or stars ever penetrates these clouds - although some of the islands enjoy sunny days. At night, the sea is plunged into an inky blackness that seems to dull the infravision of the demihuman races. Sailing the Nocturnal Sea is even more dangerous than the Sea of Sorrows. The clouds make navigation all but impossible for ships that do not carry magnetic compasses, and banks of fog rise from the cold waters almost without warning, completely engulfing vessels and causing them to lose their way. Further, jagged rocks hide beneath the waves near virtually every island, and sometimes in what appears to be open water. The skeletons of great ships mark the locations of some of these hazards while others remain undiscovered.
Nonetheless, the lands in the Nocturnal Sea have all proven either interesting or profitable enough to spur both the adventuresome and greedy to keep looking for new lands across the sea and in the Mists. Some explorers believe they have found the eastern shores of the Nocturnal Sea with the domain of Vechor, but others maintain that Vechor is just another large island. Others claim that the sea has no boundaries, and that if a brave sea captain plots a straight course east into the Mists, he will eventually emerge in the Sea of Sorrows. However, no captain who plies the Nocturnal Sea is known to have attempted this, and certainly no one is known to have succeeded. Most consider the idea wishful thinking on the part of the merchants in Martira Bay and along the Core's west coast, since more islands with inhabitants willing and eager to trade have been discovered in the Nocturnal Sea in a few short years than have been discovered in the Sea of Sorrows for a century.
Among the most noteworthy islands discovered so far in the Nocturnal Sea are the following:
Graben Island - Located about seventy-five miles off the coast of Arbora, Graben is the second largest island in the Sea of Sorrows. It is home to four villages and ruled by a family of nobles who share their name with the isle. The largest village on the island is the village of Graben, which boasts about one thousand people. The other settlements are home to roughly three hundred each.Native Player Characters: There are no native player characters from the Nocturnal Sea, though they can be from individual islands.The people of Graben are an insular lot, so no steady trade has been established.
Further Reading: For details on Graben Island, see the adventure module Ship of Horror.
Isle of the Ravens - Before this island comes into sight, its primary inhabitants make themselves known to approaching ships: Large ravens swoop around the ship and perch upon the riggings and in portholes, seemingly studying the ship's crew and passengers with eyes that glitter with intelligence. When the island comes into view, crews see a heavily forested island thal roughly covers one square mile. At its center is a tall tower reaching into the cloud cover, around which hundreds of large ravens swirl like black clouds.
Cultural Level: Unknown.
The Darklord: Though her name is not known, the isle's darklord is reputed to be a mage of some skill and is the island's only known human inhabitant. This petite woman with pale skin and straight black hair lives in the tower at the center of the island. Reportedly, a group of sailors landed on her island, and when they tried to take advantage of her hospitality, she transformed all but one into ravens. The sailors took flight and joined the circling birds overhead, while the remaining one fled to tell the world of the dangerous woman on the Isle of the Ravens,
Knammen - Immediately west of Graben, this island contains the small fishing village of Meerdorf.
Further Reading: For more information, see the adventure module Ship of Horror.
L'ile de la Tempete - This ten-mile long, kidneyshaped island is one of the most dangerous locations in the Nocturnal Sea. It is surrounded by some of the most treacherous shoals so far discovered. However, a large lighthouse stands at its center. The lighthouse beam does not sweep across the waves as a normal lighthouse would, but is instead constant, so captains who do not realize what it is will still ground their ships on the jagged rocks just below the surface.
The Darklord: The island is in fact home to Captain Alain Monette, a werebat. Once a cruel sea-captain, he is now the darklord of this tiny island, cursed to never sail his beloved sea again.
Further Reading: For details on Captain Monette, see the Darklords accessory.
Liffe - This large island contains several cattle farms, rolling fields - although the corn grows sickly here, due to the scarcity of sunlight - and three settlements: Armeikos, which is home to three thousand people; Moondale, home to one thousand people; and the small village of Claveria (located on the estate of Baron Evensong), home to four hundred people. Between these three settlements and the island's farms, Liffe is completely self-sufficient.
The people who live here are fishermen, farmers, and artisans. These commoners serve a small nobility, which is gradually being replaced by a middle class that has cropped up due to trade with Nova Vaasa. In their thirst for exotic items from beyond the dark waters, the nobles are creating the class that will some day replace them.
The deep-water harbor of Armeikos, as well as the shipyards there, are making Liffe a frequently visited island, despite something of a language barrier. It seems the tongue spoken by the people of Liffe is closely related to the language known by the elves of Sithicus.
Cultural Level: Medieval.
The Darklord: Baron Evensong.
Further Reading: The game accessory Book of Crypts features adventures set in Armeikos, Claveria, and Moondale.
The Nightmare Lands - In addition to the islands mentioned above, rumor has it that somewhere within the Nocturnal Sea is a place known as the Nightmare Lands. This island reportedly is a point where dreams and reality intersect. So far, no mariner has been able to navigate to it, although Captain Onid Rhelarian claimed to have sailed the famed scholar Rudolph van Richten and Dr. Gregorian Illhousen to that place some time ago. (See Chapter Four for details on this domain.)
Todstein - Located sixty miles east of Graben, Todstein is forever surrounded by icy storms, and no one is known to ever have safely landed there. It appears to be little more than an ice-coated rocky knoll. This is the island upon which the new lord of the Nocturnal Sea dwells, Meredoth the Necromancer.
Further Reading: For more information, see the adventure module Ship of Horror.
Encounters: There are several monstrous denizens of the Nocturnal Sea. Among these are bowlyns, reavers, and sea spawn, all of which are detailed in the first three RAVENLOFT Monstrous Compendium Appendices. Other encounters vary by island.
Further Reading: The darklord of the Nocturnal Sea, Meredoth, is detailed in the adventure module Ship of Horror.
Meredoth
20th-Level Human Necromancer,
Chaotic Evil
| Armor Class | -2 | Str | 10 | ||||
| Movement | 12 | Dex | 17 | ||||
| Level/ Hit Dice | 20 | Con | 15 | ||||
| Hit Points | 50 | Int | 19 | ||||
| THAC0 | 14 | Wis | 12 | ||||
| No. of Attacks | 1 | Cha | 5 | ||||
| Damage/ Attack | By spell or weapon | ||||||
| Special Attacks | Spells (6/6/6/6/6/5/4/4/3) | ||||||
| Special Defences | Immune to attacks from undead | ||||||
| Magic Resistance | Nil | ||||||
Meredoth is a wizened old mage who stands just over six feet tall. He has piercing, cloud blue eyes, and flowing, frosty-white hair, beard, and mustache. His skin is pale and always cold to the touch. His long fingers end in twisted, dawlike nails that have a purplish tint, like that of a corpse. He typically wears black or purple woolen robes.
Background: Meredoth lived on the world of Mystara (from the MYSTARA campaign setting). There, he was granted a barony in the Alphatian province of Norwold.
Meredoth was not much of a ruler. He accepted the land grant because he knew Norwold was a wild and untamed land and assumed that he would be able to work on his spell research undisturbed. He settled on an island off the coast of his territory and ordered his retainers to deal with establishing suitable colonies for Alphatian immigrants.
The first winter in Norwold was harsh, and Meredoth lost many of his retainers. However, it was a small matter to simply animate them and use them for menial tasks such as clear-cutting. Meredoth's chief retainer, however, objected to this, so the mage killed him as well.
As an increasing number of his retainers and the immigrants arriving from Alphatia sought audiences with the baron, Meredoth found less and less time for his magical studies. He knew he could not kill everyone, so he devoted time to their petty concerns. However, what time remained for his research was devoted to a way to improve both retainers and colonists so that they would not constantly bother him with such concerns as defense of the settlements and food shortages.
In the dead of winter, two years after Meredoth had been made a baron of Norwold, he discovered the solution. It could not have come at a more opportune time, because the colonists were all on the verge of dying from starvation. He poisoned them all and made them into unique zombies that retained their former intellect while making them slavishly loyal to their master. The colony would continue to exist, but there was no need for food, and no one would ever bother Meredoth again. That same night, however, a violent storm raged. When it cleared, Meredoth found that his island sanctuary was no longer off the coast of Norwold. Instead, it had become part of the Demiplane of Dread.
Meredoth did some exploring and found that his island existed in a body of water with a handful of other islands. Mists surrounded it all, and those Mists prevented any escape. However, there were people living on nearby islands that would serve nicely as test subjects for his necromantic magic. After a century in the Mists, Meredoth was finally rewarded with rulership of the Nocturnal Sea.
Current Sketch: Meredoth has not yet realized that he can now draw test subjects from the many islands of the Nocturnal Sea - and even the Core. His attention remains focused on the islands of Todstein (which is an exact duplicate of his island home on Mystara, although it is forever locked in severe winter weather), Qraben, and Knammen. He has turned the noble family of Qraben into undead, and they are presently his primary minions. Meredoth has come to view life as an enormous experiment, and the living as experiments waiting to happen. He has no regard for the value of life, and considers humans to be nothing more than crops waiting to be harvested. His undead minions aid in this harvest, by abducting merchants who spend any time on Graben, and his own island of Todstein is riddled with a variety of traps set to catch those who manage to land there.
Closing the Borders: Meredoth can generate such turbulence around the islands of the Nocturnal Sea and along the eastern coast of the Core that the water becomes impassible. Fifty-foot-high waves and mile-wide whirlpools ensure that those within do not escape with their lives.
Combat: Meredoth has the spellcasting abilities of a 20th-level necromancer. He is immune to attacks from and effects of undead of five or fewer Hit Dice.
If Meredoth's home or island is infiltrated, he considers it to be an "extermination problem". His traps are constructed to secure potential experimentation subjects. He typically arrives at a trap to ensure that it is sprung, then retreats to another part of his home.
Meredoth is loath to enter melee. Although ruthless in battle, he maintains a safe distance as long as possible, casting spells at maximum range. He always casts protective spells upon himself before combat begins (unless the urgency of the situation prohibits such precautions).
The necromancer has a variety of magical items that he will have with him at all times, and most of these are potent in combat. These items include the following: cloak of protection +3, bracers of defense AC4, ring of shooting stars, rod of smiting (11 charges), staff of the serpent (python), wand of flame extinguishing (16 charges), bag of holding, broom of flying, and a decanter of endless water. Meredoth's homeworld of Mystara is a very magic-rich world, so when he entered Ravenloft, his spell books contained every spell in the Player's Handbook. Ravenloft has granted him the power to know and cast any spell that was once in his spell books, which were not transported with him when he was seized by the Mists, up to his daily limit of spells. He need not spend time memorizing spells each day, but may instead cast these spells whenever they are needed.
Note: Many of the islands in the Nocturnal Sea are domains of other darklords. Meredoth has no control over those territories. However, any island without an independent darklord is part of his domain.
