Diabolic Possession Ruins Dinner Party

Campaign: Game of Fangs (Krevborna, 5e D&D)

Characters: Magnus (dhampir mastermind rogue), Florian d'Targan (half-elf lore bard), Orest (human divination wizard), Maria Marzistrada (human crown paladin)

Events: After slaying two devils of ice and ash attempting to enter the town through the Traitor's Gate (and driving off the rest), the group found themselves with two inhuman corpses on their hands. Not wishing to alert anyone quite yet about infernal interference in the affairs of House Maylak, they decided to spirit the bodies away. Magnus and Maria took one unholy corpse into the woods outside of town to bury, while Orest and Florian disguised the other as a wrapped parcel and brought it inside Castle Maylak unobserved.

Orest and Florian smuggled the devil's corpse down into the catacombs beneath the castle, where they found an obscure, abandoned chamber that would serve their purposes well. Orest brought forth a number of eldritch objects, fearful instruments, and drew the required protective circles: he and Florian were attempting to perform an arcane autopsy to discover the nature and motivation of the devil! (1) Unfortunately, even in death the devil's will proved too powerful for Orest to break; unbeknownst to Florian, the diviner was now possessed by the spirit of the devil. The devil chose to bide his time and let Orest remain in control of his actions...for now. To Florian's eyes, the ritual had simply failed.

That night, both Orest and Florian were beset with horrid dreams of drowning horses, grinning hanged men, and the approach of an unending winter.

Meanwhile, despite her pledge to stay out of the group's way as they went about foiling the plot on the Baroness's life, Lady Emelda continued to be a thorn in Magnus's side. Magnus had set himself the goal of seducing Baroness Maylak, so that he might use her power as his own, but Lady Emelda kept finding ways to diminish Magnus in the Baroness's eyes--specifically, Lady Emelda kept drawing attention to Magnus's status as a bastard son of House Rhiannon who had yet to be fully recognized by his father. Magnus confronted Lady Emelda about her meddling, forcing her to pack her belongings so that he might send her back to Castle Rhiannon.

Magnus also received a messenger who told him that his aunt, Lady Kristianna Rhiannon, is coming to Castle Maylak to pay him a visit. That doesn't bode well.

Maria had heard about a convent inhabited by warrior-nuns at the foot of the mountains just north of Castle Maylak. Given that she had been raised in a convent herself, Maria saw an opportunity to make allies for the dark days that lay ahead. And so, Maria made the lonely journey to the Convent of the Heart-in-Twain. She claimed to be interested in the nuns' renowned mead brewing, but as she spoke to the sister in the nunnery she skillfully turned the conversation to martial matters; she maneuvered the situation so that she would be asked to spar with the sisters so that she might impress them with her own battle-hardened prowess. And the sisters were impressed with Maria's skill with a blade--so much so that the sisters now regarded her as a friend with an open invitation to visit again. (2)

Magnus was shocked to learn that Lady Emelda had not retired from Castle Maylak, but had simply requested new rooms in the castle--rooms that would be harder for Magnus to venture into without being noticed. Thinking like a courtier, he decided that the easiest path to getting Emelda out of his way would be to involve her in a romance of her own. He picked out a likely candidate: Markos van Trappel, a scholar whose poetry was currently much in fashion at court. However, Magnus's approach and sly insinuations offended the sensitive poet; where he had meant to make an ally, or at least a pawn, he had managed to make an enemy instead.

After a lavish dinner, Orest was called upon to offer a prophecy to Baroness Maylak. This is when the devil possessing him chose to make itself known. Instead of speaking vaguely of future events, the devil caused Orest to speak insults and blasphemies against the Baroness. Orest was seized by the Baroness's guards and dragged from the room, kicking and frothing at the mouth. Florian attempted to artfully intervene on Orest's behalf, claiming that this was all part of a playful performance, but he was publicly thrashed for daring to interpose himself against the Baroness's orders. (3) Maria and Magnus, more shrewdly perhaps, stayed silent as their compatriot was hauled down into the dungeons beneath the castle.

* * *

(1) Since this campaign is more narrative-focused, I'm letting the Arcana skill be used for vaguely defined "rituals" to accomplish investigative or social ends. These Arcana checks are run like 4e's Skill Challenges, with the caveat that failure is going to be quite catastrophic. Catastrophic as in "your character is now possessed by a devil that is going to fuck up your plans at the worst possible moment."

(2) Maria's success means that the nuns of the Heart-in-Twain are friendly with her. They will pass her information and would likely give her a place to hide out if needed. They aren't her personal army, yet.

(3) Florian now has a nasty wound that will give him problems at a later date.

Murder at Lava Lake, Little House of Horrors, Amputated Toe Cocktail

Murder at Lava Lake: The Unsolved Crime That Still Haunts Central Oregon (Sonya Vatomsky, Mental Floss)

Little House of Horrors: Laura Ingalls Wilder and the Bloody Benders (Terri Osbourne, The Lineup)

Stolen: An Amputated Toe Used to Make Cocktails (Cara Giaimo, Atlas Obscura)

The Changeling Barber of Windermere Parish

Campaign: Krevborna Open Table (Google Hangouts, 5e D&D)

Characters: Marek Miazga (human battlemaster fighter), Tobias Rune (human pact of the chain warlock), Thane Ganymede (darakhul wizard).

Objective: Discover why citizens are disappearing in Windermere Parish.

Events: Nikolai Rodescu asked the party to help him get to the bottom of a spate of disappearances in Windermere Parish. Half of those who went missing remained missing; the other half returned with no memory of their abduction, and each was sporting freshly shorn locks.

A serving girl named Julia who numbered among the returned was examined. The party determined that her hair had been cut by expert hands, as it was quite stylishly arrayed. She told the party that she had been planning on getting a haircut anyway, and that she sometimes went to a local barber named Jorge.

The party paid Jorge's barbershop a visit the next morning. The man had a strange iron tooth and curly, but coiffed, blonde hair. While Marek posed as a country boy in need of a trim, Tobias had his imp Malphas scout the barn out back. The barn held a strange fey approximation of a cow, its udders multicolored and odd. Malphas also scouted the upper floors of the house and discovered Jorge's daughter playing at marbles with a blue-skinned faery with a head much too big for its body and bulging, yellow eyes.

As Marek's haircut and shave were completed, the questions he put to Jorge elicited an untoward response: the barber-surgeon pressed a button on the back of the barber's chair that sent it rapidly descending into the basement on a mechanical track. Marek leaped out of the chair in time to avoid being whisked down into the depths. Jorge attempted to run down the stairs underneath the trapdoor, but Thane incinerated him with magic before he got very far.

The party heard murmuring just beyond the landing that was in view from the trapdoor. They soon found themselves in melee with horrible, shaggy fey creatures. After slaying the evil fey cohort, the group explored the basement beneath the barbershop, discovering a gruesome chamber for dentistry (including horrific drills and pliers), a strange throne made of twisted and knotted roots, a number of preserved human heads sporting wigs made of real hair, a chamber lined with shelves of bottles, and a door--behind which they could hear the sound of rhythmic snipping.

The magical nature of some of the jars inflamed Thane's greed, but attempting to retrieve them led to a battle between the party and a massive, thick strand of hair that protruded from the back wall of the chamber. Marek kept the powerful strand focused on him while Tobias and Thane blasted the malefic hank with spells. 

Marek found himself in the unenviable cyclical position of having his head entangled by the hair, only to break free and be re-ensnared moments later. When Marek's strength failed him, the hair began to crush his head--sending him to death's door. Luckily, Tobias's magic felled the vicious lock of hair. Unfortunately, the "death" of the hair caused the back wall of the chamber to collapse on Marek, but he was soon revived with a healing draught.

Deciding it would be best not to have to fight their way through foes should they need to retreat later, the party opened the door they had heard the snipping sounds coming from; they found another Jorge, this one giving a haircut to a murderous redcap--the redcap's bloodstained hat lay at his feet. After killing this other Jorge and the redcap, the adventurers decided to venture down the crude stone steps that had been revealed with the collapse of the wall after the previous battle.

As they ventured down the twisting steps, they saw more impossibly-long hair snaking its way into the gloom; at one point the hair rose up and beckoned like a finger to lure them onward. The hair led them to a chamber in which an imperious woman sat upon another throne of roots and brambles; the woman's resemblance to a witch the group had slain in a previous adventure was unmistakable: this was Baba Maela, sister of hag Bonnie Maedra!

There were further disquieting sights in the room: a cloven-footed fey man with a huge shock of unruly hair and beard was manacled to the wall, yet another Jorge stood by the side of the witch, and a human-shaped figure lay at the Jorge's feet--wrapped in a cocoon of white-blonde, grizzled hair. As the party had guessed by now, Baba Maela was behind the  disappearances in Windermere Parish; it was all a ruse to draw the group into investigating this strange crime so that she might get revenge upon them for killing her sister!

The battle was hard fought, and the party got more than a little-lucky--the supernaturally strong Baba Maela was clumsy in her lunges, so the group managed to largely evade her crushing grasp. However, the party did not manage to finish her off; she wiped blood on Marek's face, saying "This isn't over," before dissolving into ash.

The party freed the captive fey creature--a korred that Maela had enslaved for sinister purposes. They also freed the real Jorge from the cocoon of hair in which he had been confined. Jorge vowed that he would pack up his things, and his daughter, and move far from the horrors of Piskaro. Perhaps his daughter's fey playmate would accompany them to parts unknown.

NPCs: Nikolai Rodescu (watchman of Windermere Parish), Jorge (a barber who made a disastrous pact with a hag) and his daughter, a boggart (who watched over the daughter in her father's absence), a korred captured by Baba Maela.

Foes: Jorge changelings, xvarts, corrupted korred hair, a redcap, Baba Maela (witch-hag, sister of Bonnie Maedra).

Loot:
835 gp and 8 cp each in coin and saleable jewelry

Potion of Poison Resistance

Potion of Fire Breath

Iron Tooth of Baba Maela - allows you to communicate with Baba Maela over any distance

Assorted monster teeth - can be implanted in someone's mouth, giving them a 1d4+ Str bite attack

Comb - Combing your hair with it will cast Evard's Black Tentacles; after using, it crumbles into dust

Grotesque Skin Mask - placing the mask on a restrained creature subjects it to Tasha's Hideous Laughter

Green Vials (4) - when rubbed into hair they give the user the effects of jump and spiderclimb spells for seven hours, but each time you use the abilities granted by either you take 1d4 acid damage

Blue Vials (3) - when rubbed into hair your body emits loud sounds (fail all Stealth checks and disadvantage on Perception checks for seven hours, but you can cast a thunderwave once in that seven hours)

Purple Vials (4) - When rubbed into hair your mouth functions as a decanter of endless water for seven hours

Vial of Gelatinous Substance - when rubbed into your hair, your hair cannot be mussed by anything until you wash it

Spellbook - contains sleep, hold person

XP: 1773 each.

The Power of Yes

One of the great mentors I've had in life explained to me the Power of Yes. Before going into teaching full time, he had run an independent bookstore. He said that the most rewarding part of the job was the various ways he could say "Yes" to a customer to make their lives a litter easier, a little better.

"Do you have any books on...?"
"Yes."

"Can you recommend a book for my grandmother?"
"Yes."

"Can you point me to the history books?"
"Yes."

Of course, all of this presumes saying "Yes" only to reasonable questions and requests made by people asking in good faith. Saying "Yes," is accommodation and the affirmative of a comrade; it makes things easier, it fosters fellowship, and validates yearning. It satisfies both parties, where possible. Saying "Yes" is mostly good--by a wide margin.

It turns out that saying "Yes" to reasonable requests in my D&D games also feels nice. There are definitely things I'd say "No" to in terms of fairness and setting mood, but mostly you lose nothing by being accommodating. Here's some Things I’ve Said Yes To in 5e D&D:

Can I play a warlock that uses their Intelligence for all their class-based abilities instead of Charisma?

A warlock who uses their wits instead of their force of personality to bargain with an otherworldly horror for arcane power? Faust-as-lawyer? Dope, let's do it.

What do you say to a pact of the blade warlock who can manifest two finesse weapons to dual wield? Or, like, a pact crossbow?

People love their two-weapon fighting. Neither of those options is strictly better than manifesting a two-handed weapon, so nothing breaks there.

Would it be okay if I swap my eldritch knight’s access to evocation spells for access to necromantic spells?

You've got a cool concept for an eldritch knight experimenting with poisonous magic? Excellent.

Can I have a weapon like X that does damage type Y instead?

There are a couple holes in the combination of damage type and properties, though. It's not a big deal, but if we're going to add stuff to the game we might as well add stuff that's actually not there yet. Here are some armaments I've made available to purchase in my games:

New Martial Melee Weapons

Weapon	Cost	Damage	Weight	Properties
Greatspear	30 gp	2d6 piercing	7 lbs.	Heavy, two-handed
Polehammer	20 gp	1d10 bludgeoning	6 lbs.	Heavy, reach, two-handed
Saber	25 gp	1d8 slashing	3 lbs.	Finesse *

* If a character is proficient with rapiers, they are also proficient with sabers.

Can my character to suffer complications for the injuries they’ve sustained?

Wait, you want me to fuck your character up even more? Umm, sure, if that's how you get your rocks off.

I’d like to play as a plant person or an insect person, can we find a race for that?

Yes! I don't own these supplements with weird-ass races in them for no reason.

Can I use Deception or Sleight of Hand to make a sneak attack?

Yes, and I made a full house ruling about how I handle that sort of situation.

Can I use the playtest versions of the mystic, artificer, or revised ranger?

Yeah, let's see how those playtest versions shake out.

Will you tell me more about this facet of the setting for your game?

You actually want me to blather on about my dumb special snowflake setting? Settle in, for I will a tale unfold.

This polearm feat doesn’t apply to spears or pikes, can I use it with them too?

Yeah, it's dumb that it doesn't work with those weapons. I dunno what they were thinking.

Under the Poppy

Although perhaps best known to BBfBP listeners as an author who helped redefine the horror genre in the early 1990s, Kathe Koja has written novels that span numerous genres. Her 2011 novel Under the Poppy is a romance set against the backdrop of the Franco-Prussian War, featuring a band of demimonde survivors whose activities and intrigues influence goings-on at the highest levels of society.

When is a hooker with a heart of gold character more than just a hooker with a heart of gold? What are some of the interesting things contemporary writers can do with a historical setting? Does this book contain the secret XXX origin story for Bojack Horseman? Find out in this month's episode of Bad Books for Bad People.

Intro: "I'm a Marionette" by ABBA / Outro: "I'm a Marionette" by Ghost

Find us at BadBooksBadPeople.com, on Twitter @badbooksbadppl, Instagram @badbooksbadpeople and on Facebook. You can discover where to get all the books featured on Bad Books for Bad People on our reading list.

Aeon Flux and the New Weird

I've read a lot about the New Weird "genre" in my explorations of the evolution of the "Weird Tale" at the end of the twentieth century, but at this point I'm mostly convinced that it isn't a clearly definable approach, style, aesthetic, or set of literary conventions. This isn't unique to the New Weird; generic definitions are almost always more about marketing than they are about descriptive utility. You might reach the same conclusion if you read:

Working Definition of New Weird (Jeff VanderMeer for the New Weird anthology)

What is the "New Weird" - and what makes weird fiction so relevant to our times? (Michael Moorcock, New Statesman)

The new world of New Weird (Damien G Walter, The Guardian)

New Weird (TV Tropes)

Cross-Crafting with a Vengeance: The New Weird (Karen Ostertag, New City Library)

Basically, all I've learned is that:
a) If a book is described as "New Weird" there's a better chance I'll enjoy it over books that are just described as "fantasy" or "science fiction."
b) M. John Harrison seems like a really grumpy guy.

My unpopular opinion: the "New Weird" started with Dune.

Anyway, what I'm most interested here is what media typically gets excluded from the umbrella of the New Weird. In contrast, the Gothic is a migrating genre--it started off as a descriptor for fiction, but it quickly adapted itself to stage drama, film, comics, etc. You get a little migration and adaptation with the New Weird; TV Tropes identifies some comics and tabletop games that seem within the bounds of its generic reach. But it's unusual to find film or television described as New Weird, which is interesting given the genre's supposed propensity to mash up disparate forms and mirror the transmedia state of modernity. 

So I'll make a case for a something that is either a hidden precursor of New Weird or perhaps even an early example of the form: 

Aeon Flux.

Here's how it stacks up:

Urban, secondary-world fiction that subverts the romanticized ideas about place (VanderMeer): The nations of Monica and Bregna are not of our world, or at least not recogniably of our world. And yet, the tension between the two is set-up as a space to explore modern anxieties without the romanticization of place found in fantasy fiction; while the two are analogs for fascism vs. freedom, both are irreducible to the category they supposedly represent. Both nations are urban and industrial (if not post-industrial).

Often uses elements of surreal or transgressive horror for its tone, style, and effects (VanderMeer): Tonally and stylistically, Aeon Flux does not adhere to traditional narrative devices; it remains purposefully obscure by short-circuiting narrative expectations by way of surreal or transgressive elements such as the recurring death of its protagonist, disconcern for additive narrative continuance, Gnostic and philosophical elements, existential horror, allusions to fetishistic practices, et al.

It's a specific genre of Scifi/Fantasy/Horror literature that does not follow the conventions of derivative Sci-Fi, Fantasy or Horror, without being an outright parody or deconstruction (TV Tropes): Aeon Flux combines aspects of science fiction, pulp adventure, philosophic horror, cyberpunk, literary decadence, and fantasy, but the intention of the admixture is to avoid the derivative concepts of any of those genres. Although the show has elements of humor, parody, and deconstruction, those are coexisting elements rather than the point; the show is also serious, existential, and "academic" in its approach when the amusement wears thin.

Game of Fangs

The Lamashtuan Intrigue Campaign aka "Game of Fangs"

Premise: the characters are all in service to the noble House of Rhiannon in vampire-ruled Lamashtu; they engage in politicking, intrigue, spying, and occasional violence to advance the cause and position of their house--but they also each have a secret agenda they are covertly pursuing.

Feels like: the talky bits in Game of Thrones, and occasionally the violent bits, but with vampiric feudalism.

Rules hacks: lots of 4e style skill challenges based on social skills, social encounters handled a bit like combat, definitely tracking Renown and making it matter.

The characters:

Magnus
Race: Dhampir
Class: Mastermind rogue
Level: 3
Background: Noble
Str: 9 Dex: 18 Con: 11 Int: 13 Wis: 10 Cha: 18
Personality Trait: Flatterer
Ideal: Power
Bond: I must forge alliances in my house's favor
Flaw: I hide a truly scandalous secret
Magnus is a bastard son of a minor vampire noble of House Rhiannon and his mortal concubine. He sees his service to the house as a way of proving his worth. His goal is official recognition by the house's elders through acts of <redacted>.

Florian d'Targan
Race: Half-elf
Class: College of lore bard
Level: 3
Background: Entertainer 
Str: 8 Dex: 14 Con: 12 Int: 16 Wis: 15 Cha: 19
Personality Trait: Insulting
Ideal: Creativity
Bond: I sympathize with the downtrodden
Flaw: I once satirized a noble who still wants my head
Florian poses as a mere musician attached to House Rhiannon, but in truth he is as much a collector of arcane secrets as he is a collector of songs. His goal is <redacted>.

Orest
Race: Human
Class: Divination wizard
Level: 3
Background: Seer
Str: 9 Dex: 14 Con: 14 Int: 16 Wis: 14 Cha: 10
Personality Trait: I must make people heed my visions
Ideal: Manipulation
Bond: I will have revenge on the man who destroyed my family
Flaw: I loathe charlatans
Orest's origins are a mystery, but he has proven useful to House Rhiannon because of his gift for accurate prophecy. He has glimpsed far enough into the future to know that it is his destiny to <redacted> House Rhiannon.

Maria Marzistrada
Race: Human
Class: Oath of the crown paladin
Level: 3
Background: Cloistered scholar
Personality Trait: I am awkward and stiff in social situations
Ideal: Power
Bond: I have been searching for knowledge about the fate of the gods
Flaw: I would sacrifice anyone or anything to gain information
Str: 18 Dex: 11 Con: 13 Int: 12 Wis: 14 Cha: 13
Maria was a foundling, reared in a nunnery and prepared for a life of military service to House Rhiannon. Her ambition is to claim <redacted> in the name of her masters.

First Session
The party has been sent as a diplomatic mission from House Rhiannon to the court of Baroness Maylak, but they come with knowledge and a purpose. They know that there is a plot within the court of House Maylak to assassinate the Baroness; they have been sent by House Rhiannon to expose the plot, not to the benefit of House Maylak, but rather as a ploy for House Rhiannon to gain power over House Maylak.

Traveling with the party is the dour, raven-haired Emelda Rhiannon, a minor noble of their house. Strangely, Emelda seems uninterested in bringing House Maylak under House Rhiannon's heel. 

After settling into their appointed rooms in the ancient, crumbling Castle Maylak and paying their respects to the Baroness, the party split up and began to pursue rumors they had heard circulating during their reception (and the later feast) at the Baroness's court. Florian and Maria had heard of an unorthodox cult posing as a scientific society (The Society for Celestial Inquiry is a cover for the Cult of the Solar Truth), and managed to find their meeting place and infiltrate their ranks. Maria's attempts to draw them out by debating spiritual matters was a dead end, but Florian's pointed mockery managed to throw the secretive cultists off just enough to reveal that they were expected allies to arrive in three days, at dawn, at the Traitor's Gate of the town surrounding the castle.

Meanwhile, Magnus barged into Emelda's rooms within Castle Maylak to sound her intentions and true allegiances. Magnus's approach was a peculiar form of seduction--he wanted to reawaken her loyalty to House Rhiannon. This exchange ended in something of a stalemate; Emelda is clearly hiding something, but she pledged to stay out of the group's way as they went about the business of foiling the plot against Baroness Maylak's life.

Orest found time to explore the frigid catacombs beneath the castle, and was able to determine that what the party suspected was correct: there are a number of secret passages hidden within the ancient tombs that lead outside the castle's grounds to various places in town. Orest's magically exploration also discovered that fiendish spellcraft had been used recently in the castle's dungeons. However, Orest found it difficult to navigate his way back--the corridors and rooms in the lower depths rearranged themselves for an unknown purpose.

On the appointed day, the party hid themselves near the strangely unguarded Traitor's Gate to intercept the Cult of the Solar Truth's allies. The allies arrived hooded and cloaked. The party ambushed these new arrivals and discovered that they were devils, fiendish beings of ash and ice, not men and women! Two of the diabolic cohort were slain in the melee, but the rest managed to escape by conjuring a wall of wintry storm that held back their would-be pursuers.