The Cantabria Forum is now
defunct - but these character's Tales have been salvaged:
Chewanafuge's
Tale – The monk, driven by
unnatural vampiric hunger, flees across the land seeking
sanctuary.
Corith's Tale – Captain
Corith RuneAxe explores beneath Lord Faradin's Hold, climbing down to
a mysterious lake.
Origol's Admin –
Old character sheets and revised Turn Undead table.
Makhan's Tale
- *** Coming Soon ***
Evalin's Tale - *** Coming Soon ***
Evalin's
Latest Work: The Cantabrian Undead Anomaly - Zombies, Skeletons
and Hel - RESOLVED.
Chewanafuge's
Tale Character sheets:
(Cantabrian, out-of date) Front
Back
Propadyandi -?
Chewanafugi had been hiding for two days now,
he was feeling a thirst that simple water seemed not to assuage and
all it did was sit in his stomach until he retched it up later.
It was now dusk, he had rested in the
small cave near Faradin's Hold in the darkness, hiding from the
sunlight that now seemed to burn him so much. Perhaps there were
answers somewhere, certainly the blood of the sheep he had found two
days had eased the thirst but he needed to formulate a plan. He could
return to the master that had created him, yet he felt no great tie
or he could go into to the world to see whether the curse could be
lifted or accepted by some means. Certainly at the moment Chewanafugi
felt that the discipline instilled at an early age helped him to
stave off the primal urges that had at times coursed through his
body.
Q the Accountant: I must travel to
my homelands. Maybe there the strength of my god can help me fight
these cravings
With the sun set he left his small
cave, burdened by the curse he carried and yet found that his stamina
was increased such that as he ran he found he tired only a little
compared from before. The hunger was there though, towards the end of
the night as the suns glow was barely visible above the horizon, he
had perhaps thirty minutes before dawn truly occurred he came over
the last col before the main north south road. In front of him was a
small partially fortified village. There were signs of both human and
dwarven manufacture. He had arrived in Sprit, the question would be
where would he hide the night away from the rays of the sun that
burnt he skin so easily.
Q the Accountant: I will enter the
village and seek an Inn. Expalining that I have travelled all night I
will sleep the day before continuing my way tommoorw
There was a small inn near the centre
of the village, Chewanafugi entered in and noticed that about half
the population seemed to be dwarven. He was able to obtain a room,
though the innkeeper looked at him oddly, saying:
“It’s
dangerous to be travelling at night at the moment, there’s
goblins around and although somethings being done about it you should
be careful. Anything to eat or drink ?”
He soon found himself in a small room
within the inn, and the morning sun illuminated the room slowly.
Chewanafugi was able to block out some of the sunlight with the
shutters but found that much of the sunlight still found its way into
the room. The door had a bolt on the inside but no lock, though it
seemed unlikely he would need or wish to leave during the daytime.
Q the Accountant: Hide from the
light under the covers and wait for night to fall. If anyone knocks
say that I'm not feeling well - so leave me allone
Although he was disturbed around noon
the individual soon went away, Chewanafugi was vaguely aware of it
being a young girl interested in cleaning the room and offering a
meal. Neither of which sounded appealing to him.
Dusk fell eventually and whilst
Chewanafugi had been resting he had not exactly fallen asleep but had
certainly been less than responsive during the day. In fact he
recalled that when the girl had knocked he had been aware of her
presence but been unable to act. As no threat had been imminent he
hadn't emerged from the torpor. As darkness crept through the room
Chweanafugi felt refreshed but also hungry, not for food though, but
for the iron taste of blood. The animals he had been feeding on were
sufficient but not as satisfying he suspected as human blood. The
scent of humans filtered through the floorboards from the common room
beneath.
OOC: Blood point have a maximum of
at least 10 at the moment (need to check), Chewanafugi has about 8,
once he drops to 3 or less he becomes an NPC until he feeds...
Q the Accountant: Time to travel
onwards. I must try to find somewhere way from people each day to
rest and hide from the sun. As I travel I will look for likely places
so that I can return to them should light threaten before I find
another. I will need to think about drinking. I will have to hunt at
night too. This trip will be long and hard!
SJW: The creature that was
Chewanafuge sought long for the refuge of a Hel Church rumoured in
the north of Cantabria. But failed to find it. And soon the hunter
became the hunted: by no less a hero than the Paladin Santor the Red,
Dragonslayer, himself! Yet even as this Holy Warrior closed in to
destroy the vampiric abomination, the fragment of Chewanafuge's
cursed soul that was still human cried out for mercy from his
goddess...
And mercy was granted.
The monk awoke in a different world.
The Thirst was gone - or, rather, contained. For now. He knew he must
prove himself worthy in the sight of the goddess Amaterasu Omikami
for it to be fully removed. Any lapse of dedication on his part and
the curse would return. He must not fail. Before him lay the Tower of
the Heavens. The monks there had a new prophecy: "Save Kusnir -
save the Land!". Chewanafuge's way was clear. His destiny: to
take up the power of The Sentinel, and to save this new world by his
own hand...
CHEWANAFUGE HAS LEFT CANTABRIA.
Corith's
Tale
Makhan being rather busy, he asks
Captain Corith to take some volunteers and check out the chasm down
to the Lower Lake.
The Captain, a fine climber, is happy to
accept the mission, and duly 'volunteers' the first five guards on
the roster. (That is all three new recruits, Gofur, Thorzur &
Thorli - to test their mettle - plus Bofzin, always eager to discover
more about the Seat, and Bomli, happier on a rope than on stairs).
Troopers Bomzor & Gloris of the Mercenaries also volunteer, as
they often climb together.
Corith orders a careful descent, using
plenty of rope and pitons, intending to make an easy access route for
even unskilled climbers. (Also keeping a special eye on safety - the
shame of taking casualties on a non-combat expedition that doesn't
even leave the Hold would be too much for his pride!) After ensuring
all are properly roped-up, he leads the way...
SAB: I think you are missing a
point here. The climbers can descend down the shaft but how are they
going to traverse across the ceiling? Otherwise they can go down to
the lake waters where they can get wet (the water is cold - but not
unnaturally so) I think you need a LOT of rope - how much is there
and do you have a record of how deep the shaft is? Steve
SJW(OOC): I just didn't expect
they'd get that far!
Once they've explored down the shaft (not
across the lake, but maybe had a quick look over it, while dangling),
and found it reasonably safe, then it's "Mission Accomplished".
Exploring the lake area itself can be done after the Miners have dug
the stairway down there.
I have a cutaway map saying it's about
500' down I think. I'll look it out and check. I'm sure the Hold's
finances will run to a few thousand feet of rope. Which we may well
have had anyway, doing construction work. I don't think I've listed
it before - but you're not going to tell me I need to make my
postings more detailed, are you? ;-)
Anyway, I'm no climber, but
I'd assume you'd put in two-or-three pitons as far as you can reach
across the ceiling (maybe 2-3ft), then haul across to them, then put
in some more... and so on. But that's for another time, maybe.
PS:
All that's on the cutaway map I have is notes I took from the
(player's) map you showed me at the weekend session. They put a
tunnel on the east (entrance from ants/spiders level?), a 50ft drop
to a cave, also on the east (Crawlers cave?) then down another 50ft
(to the secret door to the main dungeon/mushroom caves? - on the
west?) then a 500ft drop to an outcropping (geologically unlikely,
but handy to give falling PCs loads of damage before they fall
further!), then slopes into another 100ft drop to the water surface.
The Lake cave is noted as 200ft long east-west (80ft wide), with the
shaft coming down into it near the east end, and the waterfall at the
far west end. And it looks deep, with a mysterious submarine cave...
SB > Dangling from the ledge they
can hear the waterfall at one end and see that the lake is calm
(other than ripples from the waterfall). Nothing else of note in the
cavern can be seen.
[OOC] - another time - but it wouldn't be
easy doing that and there is an assumption that the pitons hold. I
think you had the GM map there - there isn't much more on the map I
have other than extensive notes around it! We agreed N?E?S?W? On the
maps at Quents I think. S
Their mission accomplished, Captain
Corith and his intrepid volunteers ascend back to the Hold's
inhabited levels, leaving the rope and pitons for possible future
expeditions.
Hearing the Captain's report, Castellan Makhan's
concerns are allayed and he duly authorises construction of a
stairway down...
There's work to be done...
Origol's
Admin
Character Sheets
(Cantabrian, out-of-date): Front
Back
NB:
Origol's “Turn Undead” ability appears not to have been
updated on these. As he's 8th level he should turn d12 creatures
on:
Ghoul 2*, Shadow 2*, Wight 2, Ghast 2, Wraith 4, Mummy 7,
Spectre 10, Vampire 13, Ghost 16, Lich 19, Special 20. (* =
Destroyed)
Makhan's
Tales
**** Coming Soon ****
Evalin's
Tale
**** Coming Soon ****
EVALIN'S
LATEST WORK: The Cantabrian Undead Anomaly - Zombies,
Skeletons & Hel
These
oddities, peculiar to the Cantabria region, are observed:
1)
Zombies and animate Skeletons regarded as 'not undead'
2) Zombies
and animate Skeletons regarded as 'not turnable'
3) Hel, goddess
of Death, Disease and Undead, regarded as 'not evil'
Yet
everywhere else it is known that Zombies and animate Skeletons are
undead, and hence turnable, and that Hel is a being of monstrous
evil. So why does it differ in the land of Cantabria? My researches
with Cantabrian and other sources have found this explanation for the
anomaly...
Cantabrian history relates that in the year 408AC:
“Acererak’s undead legions
plunder Khalkidia but fail to break through the Northern passes of
Cantabria” (here).
These 'legions' must
have been
of zombies/skeletons, other types lacking sufficient numbers and
discipline, yet stated as 'undead'. Similarly, Cantabrian necromantic
tomes constantly refer to these creatures as undead. For example the
Book of the Living Dead of Ashnah
the Hunted (here),
despite the writer's contrary assertion, consistently uses the term
'undead', notably within the text of the spells themselves - which
can be assumed older and more authoritative. So it is clear that in
times past zombies and animate skeletons were known to be undead in
Cantabria, just like everywhere else. So what then hid this
knowledge? Hel, daughter of Loki, has tricked the gods.
The
Cantabrian pantheon is made up of various deities who survived
Ragnarok – 'End of the
Gods'.
Previously it was known that Hel was one of three monster offspring
of the wicked trickster god Loki. Wise Odin saw she was so dangerous
that she was exiled to part of hell (Niflheim). But Odin was slain at
Ragnarok, along with Thor, Tyr, Freyr, Heimdall, Loki and Hel's
monstrous brothers Fenrir wolf and the serpent Jormundgandr.
Thereafter new gods came. However, cunning Hel donned a 'mask' of
pretence (as her priests' masks) hiding her evil nature. Her ally
Surma, a murderous beast, was cloaked in humanoid guise as her son.
Thus Ukko, the new king-god, was tricked into adopting her as a
sibling with the others.
Her rule extended over not just the
inglorious dead as before but all, including the undead, Hel plotted
supremacy and vengeance. However the destruction of Acererak's hordes
forced another tactic: a new trick - to make goodly priests forget
their ability to turn and destroy undead. A centuries-long cunningly
co-ordinated campaign diverted negative energy to block specific
turning attempts. This was combined with relentless disinformation
from Hel-controlled priests: tales of undead-slaying heroism
suppressed; false legends promulgated*; the historic turning to dust
of the lich-lord's legions forgotten. Eventually, goodly Cantabrian
priests were convinced that undead-turning was an ineffectual tactic
and did not work against skeletons/zombies at all.
(*
e.g. Rumour that a follower of Forseti destroyed Vecna (21658
E.A.) is clearly false – that religion only came with
Sarco's barbarians 4000 years later).
Once
Hel's lies became accepted doctrine, it was time to unleash her
horrors once more. Her Great
Plague ravaged
Cantabria, slaying millions – all souls giving more power to
the death goddess. Worse yet, their remains lay for the most part
unburied or at least without benefit of proper funeral rites –
so vulnerable to evil necromancy. Some places even report spontaneous
animation. Are new undead hordes
soon to rise?
