Story Post: Richardo’s Sixteenth Expedition
Having heard Koda’s story and seen her certainty that an ancient evil has been unleashed, Richardo decided that he needed to see what was happening in the Crypt for himself. So once again he strapped the shield to his arm and ventured into the night. Father Bartlebas fixed him with a baleful eye as he entered the Cathedral, but said nothing; the von Nestor name still commanded too much respect in this town for the priests to bar him passage from the Crypt.
From the familiar mosaic of the Crypt Entrance, Richardo took stock. Koda had described the recent state of the rooms to the south and west, and someone had erected a rushed but sturdy barricade to the north, so he proceeded to the east.
In the Library of Souls, Richardo was shocked to find the usually placid books in a frenzy. They were channelling power to the souls of the Vampire Lords as usual, but now they were also thrashing and snapping at the ends of their chains, and flying from shelf to shelf as if possessed. Could this be due to the communion that Koda had had with them on a recent expedition? Richardo could speculate, but not for long, as a steel-cornered book whizzed off of a shelf and clattered into the side of his head, causing a Grievous Injury. Knocked off of his feet, he spotted an average chest under a reading desk; staying low he scuttled over to it, and flipped it open, finding a Depleted Ring of Warding. Keeping his head down he surveyed the room; the north exit was blocked, the south led to the familiarity of the Blood Pit, and the west was where he had come from, so he continued east. The Glyph bearing the legends of lemonfanta, Jumble and Clucky slurped eagerly at the blood Richardo had left behind him.
He found himself in a new environment: some demonic alchemist had set up a lab here, and the room was full of alembics and burners and leather-bound phylacteries. He wandered into the room, staring at the equipment in confusion and wonder. He picked one of the finished potions, which were stopped and sealed with wax; it said “LETHAL POISON” so he put it down. He picked up another; it said “GATORADE” so he unstoppered it, took a sniff, and then took a small slug. There was an immediate sensation of burning sweetness on his tongue and a crackling, burning on the roof of his mouth, and then an acid shock as is passed through his oesophagus; with a small scream he started hopping around the room. The potion caused him a Light Injury but while hopping he tripped over a small stool and fell face-first into a tall glass apparatus, shattering it and incurring a Grievous Wound‘s worth of cuts to the face. Only at this point did he notice that the entire floor of this room was another Glyph to lemon, Jumble and Clucky. He scrambled out of the room, to the East.
After the horrors of the Library and the Lab, the relatively straightforward horror of the bunny head room was almost comforting. Richardo paused a moment to take stock, and then headed north.
He had to squeeze through a gap in the vine to get into the Subterranean Hothouse, but he was careful and did so without injury. However, as soon as he was through the magic of the room pushed him straight back the way he came, causing the sharp thorns on the vines to rip and pull at his flesh, causing a Light Wound.
Back in the Bunny Head room, this time spotted a Sepulchre belonging to the Vampire Lord Brendan. “Oh good,” he said, “someone who might be having a worse day than me.” He grabbed a pickaxe from the pile of implements used to torture the giant rabbit and used it to smash in the side of the huge stone coffin; immediately the room started to shake and tear itself apart. “Rest in peace, bunny,” he said, surveying his choices; south or back west, to the Lab. He started south, but then remembered that he had seen a potion in the Lab labelled “Elixier of Healing”, and that sounded promising, so he went back to the lab.
The Elixier of Healing was, of course, poison. Richardo took a Grievous Injury and a Light Wound and then retreated, demoralised.
Stat changes:
Vampire Lord - Puissance - Influence
ais523 - 5 - 0
Brendan - 6 - 3
Chiiika - 6 - 1
Clucky - 7 - 25
Jumble - 7 - 0
Kevan - 6 - 1
lemonfanta - 6 - 50
Raven1207 - 5 - 0
So there’s something in here that may be open to dispute.
Vampire Lords says
While a Vampire Lord does not have a Sepulchre, changes which would increase their Influence instead do nothing, and any Vampire Lord or Richardo von Nestor may set their Influence to 0.
We have commonly inferred that to mean that VLs without Sepulchres don’t gain Influence, but that’s not what it says: it says “changes which would increase their Influence”. But Unlife says:
Any Puissance or Influence that would accrue to an Enthralled Vampire Lord instead accrues to the Vampire Lord who Enthralls them
So Jumble gaining Influence does not increase Jumble’s Influence. That means that he accrues it, even though he doesn’t have a Sepulchre, which means lemon accrues it, which means she gets paid for two crypt entrances, six grievous injuries, six room entrances, four light injuries and two chest openings in one run.
I don’t know if this is intentional or not but it’s a great scam!
Anyway, CfJ if you disagree.
Josh: he/they
nb the wiki edits include the Purification of the shattered stairway, which netted everyone 1 extra Puissance plus 1 for each of the sigil-holders.