Dr. Rudolph van Richten
Rudolph van Richten is a legendary monster hunter known throughout Barovia and beyond. A native of Darkon — a place with which none of our heroes are familiar — van Richten has allegedly fought many fearsome creatures and lived to tell the tale. He is the author of many guidebooks for those seeking to expand their knowledge about and defeat dark creatures, including Van Richten's Guide to Vampirism and Van Richten's Guide to Lycanthropy.
When our heroes first met Ezmerelda, who claims to be an old friend of van Richten's, she said she thought he may be somewhere in Barovia. She had hoped to find him and help him in whatever he'd come here to do — given his resume, it's easy to guess who his next target might be.
A handful of days later, our heroes were informed that Dr. van Richten. They then assisted in reviving him, to find out whether or not it was true that he'd attacked the Vallaki Vistani camp, leading to the deaths of several people, including children. van Richten readily confessed to the crime, though he wrote his answers, rather than spoke them. According to him, what he had done was an act of necessity, the children collateral damage. The Vistani are one of Strahd's most valuable resources, he'd written, and the only ones who can pass through the mists and come and go from Barovia at will. Eliminating them means eliminating Strahd's access to the outside world.
Our heroes were not impressed with van Richten's rationale, and when Strahd and his posse turned up to abduct him, they weren't that choked about it, tbh.
Later on, our heroes saw van Richten again, at the very camp he'd attempted to destroy. He had since been turned into a vampire spawn, bound to Strahd's will, and ordered to guard the camp he'd tried to wipe out. He and Ezmerelda had a chat, in which he was not the most sympathetic character they'd ever seen. Whether this is his usual personality, part of the orders he's been given from Strahd, or a reflection of the fact that he's had a rough week is unknown.
Notably, a ghost appeared beside van Richten while this was happening. The ghost appeared to be that of a young man, and he seemed to be incapable of speech — unusual, for ghosts. Instead, he seemed to communicate by manifestation brightly coloured shapes and images, though Ezmerelda saw him desperately mouthing two words over and over again: KILL HIM. His relationship to van Richten is unknown; he disappeared shortly after, and van Richten showed no sign of being able to perceive him.
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