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Night of the Walking Dead (Incomplete Conversion of 2E Ravenloft Module)
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<blockquote data-quote="Stormonu" data-source="post: 5710846" data-attributes="member: 52734"><p><strong><a href="http://community.wizards.com/stormonu/blog/2009/10/30/night_of_the_walking_dead_part_2_encounter_4" target="_blank">Night of the Walking Dead, Part 2, Encounter 4</a> </strong></p><p></p><p> Friday, October 30, 2009, 12:39 AM CST [<a href="http://community.wizards.com/stormonu/blog/cat/dungeons_and_dragons" target="_blank">Dungeons & Dragons</a>] </p><p> </p><p> You can download the original module at <a href="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads.%C2%A0" target="_blank">www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/do...</a> You will need the module for the story, background and plot. I will only be presenting the updated/revised encounters here.</p><p></p><p></p><p> <u>[ATTACH]91347[/ATTACH]</u></p><p></p><p> </p><p> Exterior basis for mansion map.</p><p> <strong>Night of the Walking Dead, Part 2, Encounter 4 - The Dinner Party (EL 3 - 775 XP)</strong></p><p></p><p> The characters investigate the Tarascon mansion after dark, and discover that the servants have become ghouls - and are waiting for them.</p><p> <strong>Setup</strong></p><p></p><p> The following creatures are used for the encounter</p><p> <strong>2 ghouls ("G", MM, p )</strong></p><p> <strong>1 Zombie ("Z", MM, p274)</strong></p><p> <strong>1 Corruption Corpse ("C", MM, p175)</strong></p><p> <strong>3 Rot Hounds ("R", Open Grave, p158)</strong></p><p> Read the following to start the encounter</p><p> <em>A lone window alights the Tarascon mansion. A quick examination reveals all the other windows on the house to be shuddered and dark, and the doors are likely locked as well. With care, you make your way up to see into the lone unshutter set of windows on the mansion's first floor.</em></p><p> <em>Beyond the window lies a spacious dining room with fine appointments, showing taste and wealth. A chandelier of burning candles fills the room with a warm and pleasant light. A number of large, covered serving trays lie upon the table in center of the room, and places have been set for four of the eight seats at the table.</em></p><p> <em>Three well-dressed servants enter through a gap in the curtain that curtails the room from the rest of the house. Each servant's head is bowed deeply as they walk. One of the servants moves to the table, and with a flourish, lifts the lid from the grandest platter, revealing tonight's meal: the remains of a freshly dead young man. Dried blood covers much of his pale flesh, and a wicked cut stretches from ear to ear. Suddenly, the young man's eye's flash open and with a moan, he sits up, attempting to push his bulging organs back into his opened chest. With feral glee, the servants turn their attention from the meal before them to gaze at you with yellowed teeth and sunken, glowing eyes - clearly, they are undead!</em></p><p> <strong>Player's Map (</strong>You might want to conceal rooms until the players can actually see them<strong>) </strong></p><p> <strong><em>Note:</em></strong> North is towards the <em>bottom</em> of the map.</p><p></p><p></p><p>DM's Map</p><p></p><p>[ATTACH]91348[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p><strong>Player's Map</strong></p><p> </p><p>[ATTACH]91349[/ATTACH]</p><p></p><p></p><p><strong><a href="http://community.wizards.com/stormonu/gallery/view_gallery.one?pid=91480691" target="_blank"></a></strong></p><p><strong><a href="http://community.wizards.com/stormonu/gallery/view_gallery.one?pid=91480691" target="_blank"></a></strong></p><p> <strong>Chairs:</strong> Intact chairs can be used as two-handed clubs dealing 1d10 damage. After first use, they break and all that remains is an improvised club that deals 1d6 damage.</p><p> <strong>Crops:</strong> On the right side of the house is the mansion's plantations, tall rows of barley that rise about 3' - 4' tall; just high enough to provide heavy concealment the rot hounds or anyone crouching or laying down in the fields.</p><p> <strong>Doors:</strong> The interior doors are hollow wood and a mere 10 points of damage will break them down. The exterior doors are much tougher; they can take 60 points of damage before they break. All doors can be locked and require a Hard Thievery check to open if locked. Doors can be held shut, requiring opposing Strength checks to get through. Up to 3 people can hold or wedge open a door at a time.</p><p> <strong>Inner Walls:</strong> The inner walls are made of thin wooden strips covered over with a veneer of plaster or wallpaper. It takes a mere 6 points of damage to create a hole in a wall, though it takes 30 points of damage to tear down a section large enough to squeeze through.</p><p> <strong>Rug:</strong> A rug can be used as an improvised net or perhaps yanked out from someone standing on it as a Str vs. Reflex attack, knocking them prone on a success.</p><p> <strong>Outer Walls:</strong> The lower half of the house's first story outer walls are made of a foot-and-a-half of stone that is topped with wood construction.</p><p> <strong>Windows:</strong> Most of the windows are covered over with stout shudders that require 10 hp of damage to destroy. The windows themselves can be shattered with a single point of damage. Those leaping through a window need to make a saving throw to avoid 2 points of damage (the undead are unaffected).</p><p> <strong><em>Breakfast Dining Room:</em></strong> The table can be tipped over to use as cover or as difficult terrain. The chairs can be used as clubs.</p><p> <strong><em>Dining Room:</em></strong> The table can be tipped over to use as cover. The chairs can be utilized as clubs. The cutlery can be used as improvised daggers/knives.</p><p> <strong><em>Foyer:</em></strong> A bearskin rug lies on the ground, it can be used in a manner akin to the other rugs in the house.</p><p> <strong><em>Kitchen:</em></strong> The stove is not lit, but can fit a halfling-sized character (possibly if stuffed there by a ghoul). A liqour rack stands against the bottom wall; the individual bottles can be used as improvised clubs or daggers (when broken). A character or monster doused in alchohol can be lit up with a successful Dex vs. Reflex attack if the attacker wields some sort of open flame. A burning character/monster takes 1d10 damage per round until they make a successful saving throw.</p><p> <strong><em>Living Room:</em></strong> The chairs here can be used as clubs. The couch can be tipped over for cover or to act as difficult terrain. The coffee table can be used like a club like the chairs or used as an improvised shield.</p><p> <strong><em>Master Bathroom:</em></strong> The chair can be used as a club. The dresser can be used to attempt to block the door, granting a +2 bonus to attempts to hold it shut.</p><p> <strong><em>Master Bedroom:</em></strong> The curtains provide concealment. The bed is difficult terrain. The nightstand can be thrown to deal 3d6 + Str damage, but breaks after use. The mirror can be used as an improvised shield or cover, or spun to make an attack (Dex vs. Reflex), dealing 1d8 + Dex mod damage. It breaks after such use. The wardrobe closet is large enough to hide a halfling or a crouching human. If tipped over, it can be used as an attack (Str vs. Reflex, 1d10 + Str mod damage). Tipped over, it counts as difficult terrain.</p><p> <strong><em>Music Room:</em></strong>A creature or character can be damaged if he/she is pushed under the open lid of the piano and it is slammed down on them. This is a Str vs. Fortitude attack dealing 1d6 + Str damage. There is a rug on the floor that could be used.</p><p> <strong><em>Study:</em></strong> The bookshelves can be pulled down on an individual with a successful Str vs. Reflex attack, dealing 1d8 + Str mod damage. The desk can be tipped over to use as cover or difficult terrain. The chairs can be used as clubs.</p><p> <strong><em>Tea Room:</em></strong> The table can be tipped for cover or to make difficult terrain. The chairs can be used as clubs.</p><p> <strong>The Second Floor of the Mansion is not displayed here.</strong></p><p> <strong>Mood</strong></p><p></p><p> The initial display is meant to be frightening, a warning to the player's fate if they fail to destroy the ghouls. If a player falls in combat, you might want to have one of the ghouls use a minor action to loom over the character, smacking his lips or tearing out a hunk of flesh, or the rot hounds tear at the fallen character's flesh (this doesn't have to cause more damage; just try and use it to scare the bejeezus out of your PCs) You might want to play up the "rustling from the nearby fields" as the rot hounds emerge from the fields and garden to attack the PC's flank.</p><p> If the characters remember who Colin and Teresa are, you can add to the fear by describing them (the two ghouls) so that the players recognize them. Likewise, you can play on the fact that the ghouls were waiting to ambush the PCs - talking ghouls, who explicitly talk about how they intent to dismember PCs while they still live or mockingly plead for help as they rip PCs apart, should help to instill some fear into the group.</p><p> For additional fun, you can have one of the undead (possibly the zombie) drag a paralyzed PC into the house and to the kitchen, where it then puts them onto the table and starts attempting to hack the PC up with kitchen cutlery. Or, you could have the ghouls retreat into the house after initially paralyzing a few PCs to conduct a game of cat and mouse through the rooms (dragging a paralyzed PC inside if the characters are reluctant to follow). Encourage the PCs to take the fight into the house; there's a lot of things they can use (as can the undead) to make the fight more interesting.</p><p> <strong>Development</strong></p><p></p><p> The two ghouls leap through the window as part of their initial move action, attempting to paralyze as many of the PCs as they can, as the zombie shuffles forward to bash down anyone it can reach. Meanwhile, the corruption corpse (the young man on the table) hangs back, hurling globs of himself at still-moving PCs to keep them off-balance. The rot hounds attempt to flank the characters, cutting off any chance of escape. They gang up on a single PC to use their rot breath to nasueate the character as they attack.</p><p> <strong>Aftermath</strong></p><p></p><p> If the PCs manage to defeat a ghoul, as it falls it seems to come out of a trance, remembering it's true self as Colin or Teresa, and begs to be saved (you should track negative hit points/death saves at this point). The other undead, however, become aggressive towards the fallen "ghoul" and attempt to destroy it if allowed. If Colin or Teresa are saved from destruction, award an extra 125 XP for each. If the characters save Colin or Teresa, they can confirm that Jean Tarascon is behind the murders and disappearances.</p><p> If the characters search the mansion afterward, they will find evidence that several of the missing people were here; their personal belongings lie on a shelf in the kitchen. Likewise, in the study on the desk can be found Jean's journal of recent events, most importantly, the details of his brother's recent death and a few other clues, including a warning for the PCs.</p><p> ----------------------------------</p><p> <strong>Jean's Journal</strong></p><p></p><p> <strong>Just Over Three Weeks Ago</strong></p><p> "I must convince Marcel to stop this madness. Damn Luc and that journal he found in the library. Marcel has become obsessed with finding this 'Scroll of Hykosa'. I do not know what he intends to find in this scroll, but I expect it is no more than dark magic as it comes from those untrustworthy Visanti vagabonds Luc has visited."</p><p> "Now Pierot has come to me, telling me he had to drive off Marcel and Luc from the cemetary. This cannot continue; we cannot have the populace believing we are necromancers or grave robbers."</p><p> "When my two brothers return this evening, I will have words with Marcel about this matter."</p><p> <strong>Two Days Later</strong></p><p> "The unthinkable has happened. Marcel and Luc left this morning for errands in town at d'Cann's bakery, including bringing me back licorice as a peace offering."</p><p> "However, despite my warnings to Marcel to stop this foolishness, both he and Luc returned to the cemetary to continue their search for the accursed Visanti scroll. I did not learn of their duplicity until one of the Bordell children came to tell me, at d'Cann's urging, that he had fresh licorice - and that neither Marcel nor Luc had visited the store that morning."</p><p> "Knowing where they had gone, I raced to the cemetary to stop my foolish brothers. As I neared the cemetary I <em>felt</em> something horrible had occured to my brother. I managed to evade Pierot and found my way to both in the inner vaults. Luc was backed into the corner as ...things poured over my brother's umoving body. I had the forethought to arm myself and I drove the monsters back into the darkness, but it was too late. Jean was dead."</p><p> "Luc, his senses scattered, tried to show me that they had found the scroll. I knocked it from his hands and dragged my brother to the church of Shaman Brucius. Luc followed, now lost in his own deranged world of shadow and madness."</p><p> "Shaman Brucius saw my anguish and attempted to perform a rite to bring life back to my brother. But it has failed so competely, utterly and totally. We are now forced to bury my brother in the same crypts that took his life.</p><p> "Shaman Brucuis has said he would take and care for Luc. I care not, my brother is lost!"</p><p> <strong>Next Day</strong></p><p> "Am I mad? My dreams are filled with images of my brother, decayed and rotted, but he calls out to me. He whispers dark, mad things - things I dare not contemplate. Has he been lost to me forever, even damned for daring to seek out that cursed Visanti scroll?"</p><p> <strong>Two Days Later</strong></p><p> "Again, the dreams have come. I know now what I must do. My brother calls to me from beyond the shroud. He is still with me. I feel it. He whispers words of encouragement; secrets so that I might join him in death. I will need help. Surely my servants will understand."</p><p> <strong>Two Days Later</strong></p><p> "It begins. Jean has told me how I might cheat death by becoming death itself. I have shared my secret with my servants and now they will aid me in my quest to forever be with my brother. This town will become the altar to our triumph. Not even death shall keep me from my brother's side."</p><p> <strong>One Week Later</strong></p><p> "My brother whispers to me to find the scroll, before the blood moon rises. I will not! We do not need it; we are invincible! Jean whispers that we must find Luc and kill him for he, too, knows the scroll's secrets. In this, I am in agreement, but when I went to see him at the church, the Shaman said he had taken him elsewhere. I let my rage get the better of me, and the Shaman drove me out. Fool! He should have destroyed me, for I will put him upon our altar of blood!"</p><p> <strong>Two Days Later</strong></p><p> "The blood moon is coming; I can feel the bond between myself and my dead brother grow stronger each day. Jean has shown me the secret to make the dead walk and heed my command. They are better servants than the pathetic living husks in the village below; I cannot wait to transform them all into our willing servants."</p><p> "We must make preparations for the blood moon. I have informed Colin and Teresa to attend me here at the mansion. They do not need to defile themselves with the living any more."</p><p> <strong>Four Days Later</strong></p><p> "The cursed Visanti are preparing to leave. Good riddance to those thieves and charlatans! It is they who brought this misery upon our heads. But I shall soon reverse our fortunes and emerge ever stronger beside my brother when he is returned to me. We are sure the blood moon is the key."</p><p> "He still asks me to find for him the scroll, but I have hidden it back where it was found. We do not need it and soon enough we will be one, unconquerable and ruler of this pathetic rabble that squirms before us."</p><p> <strong>Yesterday</strong></p><p> "Cursed strangers have come to our town. They threaten to undo all I have wrought to bring my brother and I together once again. I will not allow it! I will turn them into unthinking automatons for daring to oppose me!"</p><p> <strong>Today</strong></p><p> "I have prepared a trap for those meddlesome strangers. If they do no fall to it, I can always comfort myself in knowing that the living must still sleep sometime - and the night belongs to me and my brother!"</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Stormonu, post: 5710846, member: 52734"] [B][URL="http://community.wizards.com/stormonu/blog/2009/10/30/night_of_the_walking_dead_part_2_encounter_4"]Night of the Walking Dead, Part 2, Encounter 4[/URL] [/B] Friday, October 30, 2009, 12:39 AM CST [[URL="http://community.wizards.com/stormonu/blog/cat/dungeons_and_dragons"]Dungeons & Dragons[/URL]] You can download the original module at [URL="http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/downloads.%C2%A0"]www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/do...[/URL] You will need the module for the story, background and plot. I will only be presenting the updated/revised encounters here. [U][ATTACH=CONFIG]91347._xfImport[/ATTACH][/U] Exterior basis for mansion map. [B]Night of the Walking Dead, Part 2, Encounter 4 - The Dinner Party (EL 3 - 775 XP)[/B] The characters investigate the Tarascon mansion after dark, and discover that the servants have become ghouls - and are waiting for them. [B]Setup[/B] The following creatures are used for the encounter [B]2 ghouls ("G", MM, p )[/B] [B]1 Zombie ("Z", MM, p274)[/B] [B]1 Corruption Corpse ("C", MM, p175)[/B] [B]3 Rot Hounds ("R", Open Grave, p158)[/B] Read the following to start the encounter [I]A lone window alights the Tarascon mansion. A quick examination reveals all the other windows on the house to be shuddered and dark, and the doors are likely locked as well. With care, you make your way up to see into the lone unshutter set of windows on the mansion's first floor.[/I] [I]Beyond the window lies a spacious dining room with fine appointments, showing taste and wealth. A chandelier of burning candles fills the room with a warm and pleasant light. A number of large, covered serving trays lie upon the table in center of the room, and places have been set for four of the eight seats at the table.[/I] [I]Three well-dressed servants enter through a gap in the curtain that curtails the room from the rest of the house. Each servant's head is bowed deeply as they walk. One of the servants moves to the table, and with a flourish, lifts the lid from the grandest platter, revealing tonight's meal: the remains of a freshly dead young man. Dried blood covers much of his pale flesh, and a wicked cut stretches from ear to ear. Suddenly, the young man's eye's flash open and with a moan, he sits up, attempting to push his bulging organs back into his opened chest. With feral glee, the servants turn their attention from the meal before them to gaze at you with yellowed teeth and sunken, glowing eyes - clearly, they are undead![/I] [B]Player's Map ([/B]You might want to conceal rooms until the players can actually see them[B]) [/B] [B][I]Note:[/I][/B] North is towards the [I]bottom[/I] of the map. DM's Map [ATTACH=CONFIG]91348._xfImport[/ATTACH] [B]Player's Map[/B] [ATTACH=CONFIG]91349._xfImport[/ATTACH] [B][URL="http://community.wizards.com/stormonu/gallery/view_gallery.one?pid=91480691"] [/URL][/B] [B]Chairs:[/B] Intact chairs can be used as two-handed clubs dealing 1d10 damage. After first use, they break and all that remains is an improvised club that deals 1d6 damage. [B]Crops:[/B] On the right side of the house is the mansion's plantations, tall rows of barley that rise about 3' - 4' tall; just high enough to provide heavy concealment the rot hounds or anyone crouching or laying down in the fields. [B]Doors:[/B] The interior doors are hollow wood and a mere 10 points of damage will break them down. The exterior doors are much tougher; they can take 60 points of damage before they break. All doors can be locked and require a Hard Thievery check to open if locked. Doors can be held shut, requiring opposing Strength checks to get through. Up to 3 people can hold or wedge open a door at a time. [B]Inner Walls:[/B] The inner walls are made of thin wooden strips covered over with a veneer of plaster or wallpaper. It takes a mere 6 points of damage to create a hole in a wall, though it takes 30 points of damage to tear down a section large enough to squeeze through. [B]Rug:[/B] A rug can be used as an improvised net or perhaps yanked out from someone standing on it as a Str vs. Reflex attack, knocking them prone on a success. [B]Outer Walls:[/B] The lower half of the house's first story outer walls are made of a foot-and-a-half of stone that is topped with wood construction. [B]Windows:[/B] Most of the windows are covered over with stout shudders that require 10 hp of damage to destroy. The windows themselves can be shattered with a single point of damage. Those leaping through a window need to make a saving throw to avoid 2 points of damage (the undead are unaffected). [B][I]Breakfast Dining Room:[/I][/B] The table can be tipped over to use as cover or as difficult terrain. The chairs can be used as clubs. [B][I]Dining Room:[/I][/B] The table can be tipped over to use as cover. The chairs can be utilized as clubs. The cutlery can be used as improvised daggers/knives. [B][I]Foyer:[/I][/B] A bearskin rug lies on the ground, it can be used in a manner akin to the other rugs in the house. [B][I]Kitchen:[/I][/B] The stove is not lit, but can fit a halfling-sized character (possibly if stuffed there by a ghoul). A liqour rack stands against the bottom wall; the individual bottles can be used as improvised clubs or daggers (when broken). A character or monster doused in alchohol can be lit up with a successful Dex vs. Reflex attack if the attacker wields some sort of open flame. A burning character/monster takes 1d10 damage per round until they make a successful saving throw. [B][I]Living Room:[/I][/B] The chairs here can be used as clubs. The couch can be tipped over for cover or to act as difficult terrain. The coffee table can be used like a club like the chairs or used as an improvised shield. [B][I]Master Bathroom:[/I][/B] The chair can be used as a club. The dresser can be used to attempt to block the door, granting a +2 bonus to attempts to hold it shut. [B][I]Master Bedroom:[/I][/B] The curtains provide concealment. The bed is difficult terrain. The nightstand can be thrown to deal 3d6 + Str damage, but breaks after use. The mirror can be used as an improvised shield or cover, or spun to make an attack (Dex vs. Reflex), dealing 1d8 + Dex mod damage. It breaks after such use. The wardrobe closet is large enough to hide a halfling or a crouching human. If tipped over, it can be used as an attack (Str vs. Reflex, 1d10 + Str mod damage). Tipped over, it counts as difficult terrain. [B][I]Music Room:[/I][/B]A creature or character can be damaged if he/she is pushed under the open lid of the piano and it is slammed down on them. This is a Str vs. Fortitude attack dealing 1d6 + Str damage. There is a rug on the floor that could be used. [B][I]Study:[/I][/B] The bookshelves can be pulled down on an individual with a successful Str vs. Reflex attack, dealing 1d8 + Str mod damage. The desk can be tipped over to use as cover or difficult terrain. The chairs can be used as clubs. [B][I]Tea Room:[/I][/B] The table can be tipped for cover or to make difficult terrain. The chairs can be used as clubs. [B]The Second Floor of the Mansion is not displayed here.[/B] [B]Mood[/B] The initial display is meant to be frightening, a warning to the player's fate if they fail to destroy the ghouls. If a player falls in combat, you might want to have one of the ghouls use a minor action to loom over the character, smacking his lips or tearing out a hunk of flesh, or the rot hounds tear at the fallen character's flesh (this doesn't have to cause more damage; just try and use it to scare the bejeezus out of your PCs) You might want to play up the "rustling from the nearby fields" as the rot hounds emerge from the fields and garden to attack the PC's flank. If the characters remember who Colin and Teresa are, you can add to the fear by describing them (the two ghouls) so that the players recognize them. Likewise, you can play on the fact that the ghouls were waiting to ambush the PCs - talking ghouls, who explicitly talk about how they intent to dismember PCs while they still live or mockingly plead for help as they rip PCs apart, should help to instill some fear into the group. For additional fun, you can have one of the undead (possibly the zombie) drag a paralyzed PC into the house and to the kitchen, where it then puts them onto the table and starts attempting to hack the PC up with kitchen cutlery. Or, you could have the ghouls retreat into the house after initially paralyzing a few PCs to conduct a game of cat and mouse through the rooms (dragging a paralyzed PC inside if the characters are reluctant to follow). Encourage the PCs to take the fight into the house; there's a lot of things they can use (as can the undead) to make the fight more interesting. [B]Development[/B] The two ghouls leap through the window as part of their initial move action, attempting to paralyze as many of the PCs as they can, as the zombie shuffles forward to bash down anyone it can reach. Meanwhile, the corruption corpse (the young man on the table) hangs back, hurling globs of himself at still-moving PCs to keep them off-balance. The rot hounds attempt to flank the characters, cutting off any chance of escape. They gang up on a single PC to use their rot breath to nasueate the character as they attack. [B]Aftermath[/B] If the PCs manage to defeat a ghoul, as it falls it seems to come out of a trance, remembering it's true self as Colin or Teresa, and begs to be saved (you should track negative hit points/death saves at this point). The other undead, however, become aggressive towards the fallen "ghoul" and attempt to destroy it if allowed. If Colin or Teresa are saved from destruction, award an extra 125 XP for each. If the characters save Colin or Teresa, they can confirm that Jean Tarascon is behind the murders and disappearances. If the characters search the mansion afterward, they will find evidence that several of the missing people were here; their personal belongings lie on a shelf in the kitchen. Likewise, in the study on the desk can be found Jean's journal of recent events, most importantly, the details of his brother's recent death and a few other clues, including a warning for the PCs. ---------------------------------- [B]Jean's Journal[/B] [B]Just Over Three Weeks Ago[/B] "I must convince Marcel to stop this madness. Damn Luc and that journal he found in the library. Marcel has become obsessed with finding this 'Scroll of Hykosa'. I do not know what he intends to find in this scroll, but I expect it is no more than dark magic as it comes from those untrustworthy Visanti vagabonds Luc has visited." "Now Pierot has come to me, telling me he had to drive off Marcel and Luc from the cemetary. This cannot continue; we cannot have the populace believing we are necromancers or grave robbers." "When my two brothers return this evening, I will have words with Marcel about this matter." [B]Two Days Later[/B] "The unthinkable has happened. Marcel and Luc left this morning for errands in town at d'Cann's bakery, including bringing me back licorice as a peace offering." "However, despite my warnings to Marcel to stop this foolishness, both he and Luc returned to the cemetary to continue their search for the accursed Visanti scroll. I did not learn of their duplicity until one of the Bordell children came to tell me, at d'Cann's urging, that he had fresh licorice - and that neither Marcel nor Luc had visited the store that morning." "Knowing where they had gone, I raced to the cemetary to stop my foolish brothers. As I neared the cemetary I [I]felt[/I] something horrible had occured to my brother. I managed to evade Pierot and found my way to both in the inner vaults. Luc was backed into the corner as ...things poured over my brother's umoving body. I had the forethought to arm myself and I drove the monsters back into the darkness, but it was too late. Jean was dead." "Luc, his senses scattered, tried to show me that they had found the scroll. I knocked it from his hands and dragged my brother to the church of Shaman Brucius. Luc followed, now lost in his own deranged world of shadow and madness." "Shaman Brucius saw my anguish and attempted to perform a rite to bring life back to my brother. But it has failed so competely, utterly and totally. We are now forced to bury my brother in the same crypts that took his life. "Shaman Brucuis has said he would take and care for Luc. I care not, my brother is lost!" [B]Next Day[/B] "Am I mad? My dreams are filled with images of my brother, decayed and rotted, but he calls out to me. He whispers dark, mad things - things I dare not contemplate. Has he been lost to me forever, even damned for daring to seek out that cursed Visanti scroll?" [B]Two Days Later[/B] "Again, the dreams have come. I know now what I must do. My brother calls to me from beyond the shroud. He is still with me. I feel it. He whispers words of encouragement; secrets so that I might join him in death. I will need help. Surely my servants will understand." [B]Two Days Later[/B] "It begins. Jean has told me how I might cheat death by becoming death itself. I have shared my secret with my servants and now they will aid me in my quest to forever be with my brother. This town will become the altar to our triumph. Not even death shall keep me from my brother's side." [B]One Week Later[/B] "My brother whispers to me to find the scroll, before the blood moon rises. I will not! We do not need it; we are invincible! Jean whispers that we must find Luc and kill him for he, too, knows the scroll's secrets. In this, I am in agreement, but when I went to see him at the church, the Shaman said he had taken him elsewhere. I let my rage get the better of me, and the Shaman drove me out. Fool! He should have destroyed me, for I will put him upon our altar of blood!" [B]Two Days Later[/B] "The blood moon is coming; I can feel the bond between myself and my dead brother grow stronger each day. Jean has shown me the secret to make the dead walk and heed my command. They are better servants than the pathetic living husks in the village below; I cannot wait to transform them all into our willing servants." "We must make preparations for the blood moon. I have informed Colin and Teresa to attend me here at the mansion. They do not need to defile themselves with the living any more." [B]Four Days Later[/B] "The cursed Visanti are preparing to leave. Good riddance to those thieves and charlatans! It is they who brought this misery upon our heads. But I shall soon reverse our fortunes and emerge ever stronger beside my brother when he is returned to me. We are sure the blood moon is the key." "He still asks me to find for him the scroll, but I have hidden it back where it was found. We do not need it and soon enough we will be one, unconquerable and ruler of this pathetic rabble that squirms before us." [B]Yesterday[/B] "Cursed strangers have come to our town. They threaten to undo all I have wrought to bring my brother and I together once again. I will not allow it! I will turn them into unthinking automatons for daring to oppose me!" [B]Today[/B] "I have prepared a trap for those meddlesome strangers. If they do no fall to it, I can always comfort myself in knowing that the living must still sleep sometime - and the night belongs to me and my brother!" [/QUOTE]
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