Rudolph van Richten

Rudolph van Richten is an infamous monster hunter of Barovia. He sometimes travels in disguise as a performer named Rictavio.

Dealings with the Waffle Crew
Prior to the events of Season 1, Van Richten killed Paultin's parents, which Paultin then forgot. He also, much later, helped enact the ritual to fend off the death curse.

When the Wafflecrew were trapped in the Amber Temple, Van Richten created a tunnel and helped them escape. He also used a scroll of raise dead to bring Strix back to life.

He lead the group to his tower. There, he told them of a ritual that they could use to trap Strahd's spirit in the Strahd doll. He attacked Paultin, trying to get some of his blood for the ritual. Dee broke it up.

While in a vistani camp, Murderbot killed a boy named Joseph. Van Richten said he would bring the boy back to life only if the group killed Arabelle with the hag pin. Diath killed her. Despite the fact that the the group was furious with Van Richten, Evelyn did heal him to prevent him from dying later on.

The group ran into Van Richten at Citadel Adbar. He was with some clerics of Lathander, hunting Lilith. He convinced the waffle crew to protect Lilith and kill the clerics.

Van Richten enacted a ritual wherein Evelyn gave up her soul so that the death curse could be staved off for Strix and Diath. When the ritual was over, van Richten was lying on the ground. The heroes removed his goggles, and saw that he had no eyes, only empty holes in his eye sockets that spewed forth smoke.

Backstory
The group found a page of Van Richten's journal and learned a lot about his past:
 * Vistani abducted Van Richten's son, Erasmus.
 * They sold Erasmus to a vampire named Baron Metus.
 * His son became a vampire spawn, and Van Richten had to kill him.
 * Metus killed Van Richten's wife in retaliation.
 * Van Richten killed Metus and became a vampire hunter.
 * Van Richten is cursed by a vistani. He brings doom to all that he befriends.

Allies
Van Richten has a number of associates and allies, including Dee and Ezmerelda. In Waterdeep, the heroes met two brothers named Dragomir and Balthazar who claimed that Van Richten trained them as monster hunters.

D&D Lore
Van Richten is a D&D NPC who has appeared in many older products, but is probably best known for the 2nd edition line of monster-specific products such as Van Richten's Guide to Ghosts, Van Richten's Guide to Vampires, and others.