With Halloween around the corner, I’m going to cover some spooky topics this month. This article was inspired when one of my Patrons asked about infamous vampires in Eberron. One of the things that struck me is that the standard, baseline vampire—the form of vampirism employed by the Qabalrin, the Blood of Vol, and the Bloodsails—isn’t especially mysterious in Eberron; it’s a practical tool. Among the Seekers, it’s basically a job you can aspire to. But the Qabalrin vampires aren’t the only form of vampire in Eberron, and I want to look at a few different things you could do with the Vampire stat block and the broad concept of the vampire as inspiration. With that in mind… meet Lady Talon.
You’ve noticed the owls, then? Watching from every corner of the Whiteroof Ward? They weren’t there when I was a boy. She brought them with her. Lady Talon, the Countess of Riverwood, driven from her roost by the rebels and their druids. But I see you don’t know the story.
Not many elves with noble titles, surely you know that. People don’t like the thought of one person ruling for centuries. And in her, we see why. Eudokia ir’Talyn was granted her title by Galifar himself. Some say it was a reward for wise counsel; the Countess is a gifted diviner, there’s no doubt about that. Others say that Eudokia bewitched the king, and she is most charming. But there’s a few that say while both those things are true, there’s more to it. There’s a power in the Riverwood, a hungry spirit… and Eudokia, she knows how to keep it quiet and keep both river and wood sage. That’s why Galifar gave her that domain—because she was the only one who could hold it. And that’s why she took the owl as her sigil, because the owl is dear to that power in the woods. These are all stories, of course. But there’s no question that she welcomed owls into her seat at Riverweep. And Keldon’s Crossing, where she kept her library and her arcane school? Why, it only took a century or two for people to start calling it Owl’s Perch. The Countess, she’s not a wizard or a wandslinger, throwing fireballs with a snap of her fingers. But she’s a brilliant ritualist, weaving divinations and illusions like Aundair herself; small wonder, as Eudokia tutored the young princess before the kingdom bore her name. She taught divination at her tower in Owl’s Perch, but only to a few chosen students at a time. It’s said that Lady Talon has dozens of familiars, that every owl in her domain serves as her eyes and ears. Perhaps they’re still doing it today.
So what’s this have to do with the owls in Fairhaven, hmm? Well, Talon was the Countess of the Riverwood, wasn’t she? And the Riverwood was claimed by those Eldeen Druids, along with everything else west of the Wynarn. For a time they let her stay, not as ruler no, but holding to her mansion. It was a Greensinger—Silvertongue himself—who finally drove her from her roost. I don’t know what happened, but the word is that it didn’t happen easy. The Greensingers know the fey better than most. I heard a story that Silvertongue learned a secret about ir’Talyn and the spirit of the Riverwood—something foul that the Countess had long kept hidden. Why, I can’t credit the source, but I heard someone say that the Countess herself was bound to the spirit by a foul pact, and that she would hunt in the form of an owl and feed it the blood of her victims to maintain her long life. For she is older than any elf I’ve ever known, or you have. Still looks like she could be in her first century, though with her skill at glamor that doesn’t mean a thing. Still. You ask in a Whiteroof tavern and they’ll tell you Eudokia just had enough of the druids and their rot, that she came to Fairhaven to be in Aundair proper. But I wouldn’t trust the river elves on this, no. Many of those in Whiteroof were born in Riverweep, and they still love their countess. Sovereigns and Six, Eudokia never took a spouse, but if you listen to some of the tales, it could be that half of those river elves have a touch of her blood in their veins.
Why am I telling you this? It’s the right of an old man to ramble, and that’s the truth. But it’s more than that. The owls aren’t just in Whiteroof Ward any more, no. I’ve seen ‘em watching me. Seen her watching me. Lady Talon, she’s still tied to the spirit of the Riverwood, and it’s still hungry. The Countess is spreading her wings across Fairhaven, and she doesn’t much like those who can see it. If I go missing one of these nights… you go looking for my bones in a Whiteroof Alley.
The Night Hunter
Set aside the stories and look at simple fact. Eudokia ir’Talyn was once the Countess of the Riverwood. Appointed by Galifar himself, she held her position for nearly a thousand years before being driven from the Eldeen Reaches. That makes her old even for an elf. She doesn’t show her age, but there is nothing surprising about that given her talent for illusion. As noted above, Eudokia isn’t a practicing wizard, meaning she doesn’t have spell slots and can’t cast any spell in six seconds. But she is a brilliant ritualist skilled with divination, abjuration and illusion. Given sufficient time and materials, she can scry on her enemies, cast auguries about the possible outcome of her actions, and shield her mansion against the scrying eyes of others; her manor is protected as if by the spell nondetection. She has an affinity for owls, and surely has more than one familiar; the idea that all of the owls in the Whiteroof Ward are her spies could well be exaggerated, but she has brought many with her. Eudokia is a proud Aundairian noble stung by the loss of her domain; she despises the Eldeen druids and is a strong voice urging Aurala to retake the Reaches. And in the meantime, she is surely seething at her humiliation, living in a single manor when she once governed a vast realm. It could be that this is all there is to the story—that Eudokia ir’Talyn is an old elf and a gifted mage, a proud noble driven from her land, but that there is nothing more sinister to her story.
Or perhaps there is more. Perhaps Eudokia’s seeming youth isn’t the result of illusion, but rather another form of magic that sustains her. If you go to Riverweep and ask the Khoravar that still dwell there, you might hear a different tale. They would tell you that the Riverwood was always wild and restless, and that it reached into the Wynarn River and made it dangerous to run. That a young elf made a bargain with the spirit of the wood, promising to keep it fed with blood if it would just leave the river and those who worked it be. That she held this post long before the rise of Galifar. Some that share this story say the Countess was a good woman, that when she served as the hunter of the wood she’d only prey on those who deserved killing. But others will say that she was never meant to hold the post forever… that the Keeper of the Riverwood is a role that should pass with each generation, and that Eudokia should have surrendered it long ago. Fearing age and death, the Countess has clung to her tie to the forest, and in so doing, corrupted both the Riverwood and herself. This has only grown worse since she’s come to Fairhaven. The Greensingers sought to break her connection to the Riverwood, but Eudokia has clung to that power. But every year she is away from the Riverwood her bond is increasingly corrupted and her need for blood grows. And so she is spreading her influence in Fairhaven… and urging those with power to reclaim the Eldeen Reaches for Aundair.
Again, Eudokia COULD just be a well-preserved elf diviner with a grudge against Aundair. But if the stories are true, she is something more. She is a Night Hunter—a form of vampire, but tied to Thelanis rather than Mabar, tied to the story of the Riverwood. She uses the Vampire stat block with the following modifications.
- Lady Talon is Fey, not Undead. Her life is unnaturally sustained, but she is not tied to Mabar or Dolurrh.
- Replace any use of the word “bat” with “owl.” Eudokia can summon swarms of owls and can assume the form of an owl or an owlin. When outside she may summon wolves or giant owls.
- Remove the Harmed By Running Water trait. The Riverwood is tied to the water, and Eudokia regains 10 hit points if she ends her turn in running water.
- Eudokia doesn’t take damage from sunlight, but does have disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls in sunlight; she is a nocturnal hunter. However, she is vulnerable to the light of the moon Olarune. Eudokia has clung to her power longer than she should have, and Olarune looks down in anger. When Olarune is full, and for one day on either side of this, Eudokia suffers 20 radiant damage when starting her turn in moonlight, as well as suffering disadvantage on ability checks and attack rolls.
- While she is resistant to sunlight and strengthened by running water, Eudokia is vulnerable to fire damage; she burns as quickly as dry wood.
- There is a chamber in the basement of Eudokia’s manor filled with Riverwood soil and a sapling from the forest. She rests in this soil, and returns here if reduced to zero HP.
- Eudokia’s vampire spawn share her vulnerabilities as described above. Her spawn can also use an action to assume an owlin form, or to return to their natural humanoid form. While in owlin form the spawn has a flying speed equal to its walking speed, provided they aren’t wearing heavy or medium armor.
Beyond this, Eudokia is a skilled ritual spellcaster specializing in illusion, abjuration, and divination. It is up to the DM to decide what she can accomplish with her rituals. Certainly, she has shielded her manor and herself with the effect of nondetection. Within her manor she will have glyphs of warding, arcane locks, and clever illusions concealing things. She can scry on known enemies, given time. Other abilities are at the DM’s discretion.
Eudokia has deep ties to the Riverwood and to the river elves of Aundair. Despite the name, these “river elves” are Khoravar—half-elves who have long worked the rivers of Aundair, some in cooperation with House Lyrandar, others preferring to stay independent. Many of the Khoravar of Riverweep feel a sense of loyalty to the Countess, and the city was always a haven for the Khoravar. However, there are warlocks and elders among the river elves who know the Countess was holding power that should have been passed on—and know that to do so, she was in fact drinking the blood of those who worked the river; the Greensingers also sensed this imbalance. Likewise, Eudokia has a great reputation as a teacher of magic, but it’s hard to find any of her students from the last century — because she fed on them as well. The concept is that she once was a legitimate guardian of the Riverwood, but that her hunger to cling to her power and immortality has been corrupting her, requiring her to drink ever more innocent blood to survive; this is combined with an obsession to reclaim Riverweep from the Eldeen.
So how does this all come together in an adventure? Countess Eudokia ir’Talyn is a well-known figure in Fairhaven. Since she’s arrived, she’s caused a stir among the nobility with her hawkish position on reclaiming the Reaches. She’s charming and admired for her arcane talents, and some are hoping she will agree to tutor their heirs in magic. She has a loyal group of Khoravar retainers—river elves who came with her from Riverweep. Her manor is in Whiteroof Ward, known for its population of Khoravar; most know the Countess by reputation but aren’t devoted to her as her servants are. Owls have become common in Whiteroof and may be her spies. Lady Talon is spreading her influence both through the Khoravar community in Whiteroof and through those who can help her advance her agenda against the Eldeen; she could be building up a movement to rival the Brelish Swords of Liberty, preparing to seize power if Aurala won’t take action against the Reaches willingly. And beyond this, Eudokia’s appetite is increasing—the longer she stays away from the Riverwood, the more blood she needs to consume. It may be that she needs to drink the blood of river elves, or at least that it’s the most nourishing for her — so while the people of Whiteroof celebrate the countess for her past, there are ever more disappearances in the ward. It could be that a Khoravar elder or a Greensinger agent could come to the adventurers and ask them for help investigating the Countess. Alternately, it could be that a player character is a STUDENT of the Countess—or that a Khoravar adventurer has family in Whiteroof that might be drawn into Eudokia’s schemes.
I would have her defeating the druids and staying in power in Riverwood. She is way more interesting in a position of power.
Eudokia in Fairhaven is something of a parallel to dealing with Dracula in London instead of in his home. She’s NOT in charge, and her resources are limited. She’s actively recruiting allies and spawn and seeking to expand her influence—which gives adventurers lots of little opportunities to stumble across her schemes, to clash with a spawn or a cultist, to work with a local constable to investigate the mysterious string of Khoravar disappearances. It’s also a story that draws adventurers into the politics of Fairhaven and Aundair. In Eudokia, you have a noble who maintained order in her domain for centuries, a respected elder who taught some of the greatest wizards in Aundair, who’s been driven from her home. On the surface, that’s an entirely sympathetic story. And part of the point of this is that it could be the entire story. Maybe she’s NOT a night hunter — maybe she’s just an exceptionally long-lived elf. She could even become a patron for a group of adventurers who sympathize with the Aundairian Lost Lords. She might send them to Owl’s Perch to recover relics she was forced to leave behind… and it’s in that adventure that the characters might learn more about WHY she was driven from the Reaches. If the adventurers are entirely sympathetic to the Reaches, then Eudokia becomes a threat not simply through her personal power but because she is a driving force for Aundairian aggression; that gives adventurers a compelling reason to fight her politically as well as with a stake. But I definitely see an endgame of dealing with her being something where she ultimately returns to Riverweep — potentially seizing the city even if she fails to trigger an all out war between Aundair and the Reaches — and the adventurers have to face Eudokia in her lair. And THEN, I’d say that to finally and truly defeat her they will have to actually enter the Riverwood itself, and have a confrontation with the spirit that has empowered her all this time—and that, perhaps, a NEW person must volunteer to take her place as the Keeper of the Riverwood.
That’s all for now. Thanks as always to my Patreon supporters for making these articles possible—I’ll have some surprises for Patreon later in the month!