Story Post: Richardo’s Sixth Expedition
The last run had taxed Richardo; he could not sleep at night for visions of lemonfanta’s face crumbling and fading into dust under his silver-tipped stake. He had briefly considered hanging up the whip and shield for good. But the evil stirring beneath Zahndorf could not be ignored, so reluctantly, he gathered his belongings and headed once more for the Crypt. Feeling him approach, the Sepulchres of ais, Brendan and Jumble all compound the Power of their owners.
Arriving in the mosaic entrance hall, he resolved to ensure that lemonfanta’s Sepulchre was gone for good, and moved west.
He was surprised to find that, instead of the burned-out Hallway of Wonders, to the west was now a vast space filled with nothing but infinite darkness and one thin, rickety Tenuous Bridge. In the darkness, Richardo’s leg falls through one of the slats, and he Lightly Injures his ankle; in the darkness far below, ais’ Glyph responds to his torment, causing the Vampire Lord to grow strong. Richardo crosses the bridge and exits to the North.
In the Pillar Room, Richardo finds that the centre of the space dominated by another massive stone Coffin. This one is wrought with an elaborate coat of arms, and no legend beyond the family name of Brendan - one that Richardo knows well from the chronicles of the Massacres of Scandinavia. Lamenting the lack of a weapon to plunge into the beast’s heart, Richardo contents to set the room on fire before exiting to the East.
As Richardo enters Room BA is is fortunate enough to see a swarm of the hockey-puck shaped guardians of the room disappearing into a crack in the masonry. He opens the fine chest here and collects a silver-tipped stake, a rod of smoothing, a holy tincture and a secret passage map; he immediately uses the last two of these.
The map guides him through a storm drain to a room that had not previously appeared on the maps: the Hollow Room. The room is completely empty, dusty and full of cobwebs, except for a moonlit dais holding a plain wooden coffin, which is covered with a fabric bearing the legends and acts of the great Vampire Lord ais523. This time Richardo is better prepared, and slams his silver-tipped stake into the Vampire Lord’s chest causing the eternally youthful flesh of the demon to pucker, dissolve and dissipate into the air. He sets the room aflame and then exits to the North,
In the Gravity Room, Richardo finds himself drawn back south, but his Rod of Smoothing erases the ward on the Western door, breaking the spell. He notices a fine chest here but ignores it. He exits into the west.
He finds himself back in the familiar surroundings of the Shattered Stairway, but is uneasy to note that the sharp stake pit has been smoothed over, almost as if the stone of the crypt had healed itself. There is a Laughing Gargoyle here; with the last of his strength Richardo lashes at it with his whip but the Gargoyle merely mocks him before racking at him with sharpened basalt wings. Exhausted from this Grievous Injury, Richardo retreats to his home to rest.
Here are the stat changes from that run:
Influence Puissance
ais523 - 2 - 3
Brendan - 1 - 1
Chiiika - - 1
Clucky - - 1
Darknight - - 1
Jason - - 2
Jumble - 1 - 2
Kevan - - 2
lemonfanta - - 2
Phil - - 2
Raven1207 - - 2
