Joshua Blackriver

Joshua Blackriver

Joshua Blackriver was an adventurer, he once wore a magnificent Full Plate armour, riding Sunshine, his powerful white warhorse, with a heavy lance resting on his saddle and his faithful broadsword sheated on his left side. The light of the Gods shone upon him, and his polished steel armour seemed to shine in this light, reflecting it in a palpable aura of holyness. He was happy, then, he had his Gods, he had his Quest , and the means to fulfill it. Then one day, the Mists came, and took him away from everyting he knew, he found himself stranger in a strange Land.

Though the inhabitants spoke a strange, musical language, he managed to make them understand that he was a champion of good, and that he meant to protect them from the dangers of evil.

He went in a village,that was weekly visited by wolves, and rid the villagers from this plague, and did the same thing for another three villages before the wolves almost tore him to pieces. When the battle was over, Joshua stood alone, barely alive, Sunshine was dead, its guts scattered across the battlefield. With his last energies, and the help of the Gods, he managed to cure himself enough to reach the village.

There he stayed for a short period of time, healing himself. Then strange Deaths came to unsettle the village's quiet life,Deaths from Wolf's fangs, inside the village's walls.

And with these Deaths came Nightmares, Nightmares in wich Joshua killed people ejoying the kill and the taste of the Flesh and the Blood...

During the days and nights until the nineth murder, Joshua could't find any clue about how wolves came inside. Than one night in which he was patrolling the village's walls with another guard,something cluthed his soul and tore it apart, and he fainted.

He awoke naked,red with blood, his comrade's blood, lying nearby the corpse of the former guard.

The Gods wouldn't shine anymore on him.

Hastily he packed his few possessions and fled far away from the village,to put as many miles as he could between any human being and the danger he knew he became. He settled in a forest far from every village, never to be seen again...

On one night in which the Wolf was sleeping deep inside his soul, he passed nearby a road, and there he sat, mourning for what he lost. Then He passed, his name is never to be known, but he was a newborn Vampire, a most hungry one. He approached the crying Joshua and with soothing words he took control of him, and began to feed.
Joshua could't resist, his soul divided between attraction and revulsion... he just didn't know what to do.

But the Wolf did. Taken to the point of death, with just a few drops of blood left in him, the Wolf surged and in a frenzy of claws and fangs he killed the vampire, feeding on him in the process. Then Joshua died...

...And awoke again, the night after!

His body was the strangest blending of of a wolf and a man, his hands had 2 iches long claws and his fur was as white as snow. He passed his hands on his face only to find an horrible elongated muzzle with fangs the size of a knife. And he was Hungry like he never had been before. He was litteraly craving for blood and just couln't resist this urge. He got on all fours, the transformation passed almost unnoticed, and begun to run through the woods howling at the night. Many wolves joined him as an answer, and they begun the hunt.

They killed deers and rabbits, Joshua drained them of all their blood, but it was never enough and hunting running through the forest as fast as the wind itself, at a speed the other wolves couldn't reach, he caught the scent of a prey: a human. He raeched him and stopped, got on his back limbs and found himself human again, only the naked fangs betrayed the illusion. As the man saw Joshua( a pale blond human, dressed in bloodstained robes, with a strange light in his red eyes ) he was paralized by fear, unable even to run, and Joshua Fed.

Pain and extasy filled his mouth, joy and sorrow flooded his soul. And his mind finally realized that not only he wasn't human anymore, but that he neither was a Lycanthrope, nor a Vampire, and again,that he was both of them. His mind shattered under the impact of such a blow,splitting his personality in two:

one part is willing to help the others, and always look for a way to return human again;

The other part only wants to get fed

The helpful personality is dominant, but the "Wolf" will demand his tribute of blood at least once every week.

He lives in sorrow, asking to himself what he had done so wrong to deserve this fate.

When he senses the beast surging, he flees far away as quickly as he can towards the nearest forest, hoping not to kill a human, but he always finds himself nearby a freshly drained human body.

CURRENT SKETCHES

As he is looking for a way to get rid of his double curse, he would join any party he thinks powerful enough to help him.
Long ago a Vistani seer told him that a powerful talisman kept in "Castello del Morto" (=Castle of the Dead: Castle Ravenloft, as it's commonly known, but that's how the seer called it) may lift his curses (the Holy Symbol of the Ravenkin, but even touching it will instantly slain him,effectively removing boyh the curses from him).

Joshua is actually in Kartakass, looking for said castle, without any clue to help him.

Climate/Terrain: Kartakass

Frequency: Unique

Organization: Solitary

activity cicle: Night

Diet: Blood

Intelligence: High (13)

Treasure: Varies

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral with Good tendencies/Chaotic Evil

No Appearing: One

Armour Class: 0

Movement: 20(human form);22(half wolf form);24(wolf form)

Hit Dice: 8+3

T.H.A.C.0:per former class (paladin)

number of Attacks: 3: Claw X2, Bite or 1 (Bite in wolf form or weapon in human form)

Damage/Attack: 1d4/1d4 (claws); 2d6 (Bite)

Special Attacks: Drains 2 levels per bite; fear aura; Command Animals (Wolves, 1d4 X 10)

Special Defenses: silver weapon (untainted by magic) to hit, magical weapons harm him olny for their magical bonus; Regenerates 5 H.P./round; Gaseous Form (as a normal vampire)

Special Weackness: Holy Symbols, Silver Mirrors, Wolfsbane, Turned as Vampire

Magic Resistance: None

Size: Medium

Morale:18

X.P. value: ?????

Strenght: 19

Dexterity: 16

Constitution:*(Vampires' Con. is always at least 18)

Intelligence: 13

Wisdom: 17

Charisma: 16 (Though his appearance would be rated 3 or 4)

Joshua must sleep in the soil, no coffin is allowed to him. For this only purpose ha can "entomb" himself and any nonliving mateirial he is carrying up to a depth of 20 feet, leaving no sign of this on the soil.
When he rises from the soil he will be in his "natural" form (half wolf-half man) and will be clean from dirt.

To be killed he must be staked with a stake freshly soaken in wolfsbane (within 1d20 rounds), his head have to be severed and his mouth mutst be filled with powdered silver. Touching the Holy symbol of Ravenkin will instantly slain him.

Wolf
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