Vengeance's appearance changes depending on the current personality (see "Roleplaying" below), but there are some things that stay the same. His skin is always extremely pale and cold, his grey eyes gleam with an unnatural brilliance; his hair (if any) is grey and usually at shoulder length. He is always dressed in a torn prisoner uniform, and his hands are manacled with heavy steel armbands, a small length of chain attached to each.

If wounded, Vengeance's blood is black and gooey, and he hardly seems to notice the wound.

The story of the foul entity known as Vengeance began several hundred years ago in Nova Vaasa, before it entered Ravenloft. In those times, in the city of Berguitsa, the "forbidden keep" (now abandoned and in ruins) loomed high above the city, reminding the criminals of the city the fate that expected them in punishment of their deeds. The place was a prison, a hellish place like any medieval prison, or so it seemed.

During those times, an overzealous lord was entrusted to look after the prison, unfortunately, the man was not exactly stable, he had lost his only son to a cowardly murderer, and was convinced that prison or even hanging was too good for those "earthly demons".

The man instituted something called "The Purge"; once a year, he would select the worst of the worst prisoners, and then they would be sealed inside the walls of the prison, suffering a horrible death. This barbaric practice continued for several years, unknown to anyone outside the prison (after all, the criminals who went to the "Forbidden Keep" were just placed there and forgotten).

When the lord died of an infectious disease several years later, the truth about his rather unorthodox methods was finally told, and nearly all the guards on the keep were dismissed or judged for their participation in "the purge".

Even after that, the prison was still used, but its sight was far more macabre and sinister than ever before, and rumours began spreading of evil spirits screaming from the walls at night (these were just false rumours). When Nova Vaasa entered Ravenloft decades later, the land of dread made the rumours come true; prisoners and guards alike were terrorised by ghostly apparitions, the sound of screams, blood pouring from the walls, etc.

The prison was abandoned soon after, never to be used again, or so it was intended to be...

Two years ago, the corpse of the five year old son of a wealthy man was found on the small forest outside Berguitsa, it was found by one of the rich man's servants, Jean Hoche. The boy had gone to the forest to play, and Jean was supposed to look after him, but the boy evaded the servant and became lost in the forest, and was found by a plains cat.

Even though an animal murdered the boy, the enraged noble could not be happy unless someone else was punished. And there was no legal way to punish Jean, at least not with death. The noble used his money and influence, and instead of Jean receiving the fitting punishment, he was taken to the now abandoned forbidden keep and sealed in one of the prisons to die of starvation. Hoche's family was told that he had escaped and disappeared.

Every night, the evil spirits of the keep would appear to terrify Jean, when he died, he had already been driven mad by all he witnessed in the cursed place.

For the last two months, Lazard Hoche, Jean's son, had been having vivid nightmares of his father's suffering, pleading him to go to the keep and recover his corpse for a proper burial. Not really knowing what to believe (he had never believed the authorities' version), Lazard entered the cursed keep at night.

Inside, his father's spirit came to him, and told him all that had really happened, and that he had called him so that everyone who had wronged him and all the others who had suffered the same horrible fate paid dearly.

The next night, on the first day of "The Purge", vengeance first appeared.

The beginning of Vengeance's predations is roughly corresponding to the time that "the Purge" took place. Vengeance's power will remain for a week, and then the spirits will be forced out of Lazard's body. During that time, the numerous spirits that make up Vengeance will be loosed upon an unsuspecting Berguitsa.

The whole of the spirits is the personality that calls itself Vengeance, but individual spirits can also manifest in a dominant position over the others, these personality switches also alter vengeance's appearance, modus operandi and agenda, and even his powers. All of them have gone mad and are worse than when they were alive. These are some Vengeance's many personalities:

Now these are the personalities I remember Vengeance had when I played him, but he had numerous others. You may wish to create others, just remember to make them different, the problem the PCs have when facing Vengeance is that he has no pattern, he changes personalities constantly. The only set pattern he has is when he becomes Vengeance at midnight.