the hunt is on

[groundrules]

HOUNDS, HOWLING

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Summary: To the injury of Taravast’s failure to deliver the fee of magical weapons that protects it from undead invasions, add the insult of breaking the mirror that sealed half of rival warlord Anurr’s strength. The undead coalition that takes tribute to preserve Taravast’s freedom sends their herald to remind the citadel the benefits of their alliance.

The Huntress, a horsewoman followed by horrors, rides into Taravast. Until she leaves freely, she must be diverted from lingering in one place and corrupting it.

His powers returned, the warlord Anurr calls the dead of Taravast to him and enshrouds a district in ghastly cold — leading to hostilities with one of the Huntress’ masters, the undead Three. The Beastmaster unleashes his hordes into Taravast to confront Anurr.

Facing creatures of nightmare, characters must reactivate at least two of Taravast’s fortified towers, to reinstate wall defences and deny the Beastmaster’s legions further entry.

Taravast’s sorcerers and nobles gather in shelters that need reinforcement, while humble residents require help to survive.

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THE WICKED COLD

CONTENT WARNING: ghosts, suicidal ideation, undead

Undead warlord Anurr regains his missing power, after Five and Winnie break the mirror that absorbed it.

Unseen but heard since his arrival in Taravast, Anurr engulfs the largest, southern residential district in a nearly impenetrable mist of wretched cold, which expands incrementally over time.

■ Temperatures in the district drop sharply, with normal fire quick to perish. Roads drown in snow, while winds howl bitingly.

■ Trapped inside, locals beg characters for deliveries of supplies and for deathless fire from the witches of Bessis.

■ Characters who spend extended periods (>2h) outdoors find their limbs frozen for hours. They hear the voices of those they have failed, encouraging them to end their lives.

■ Anurr calls out to the undead through whispers in the wind that spread through Taravast. Those who have died or come close to death are especially vulnerable to the summons and drawn to the district.

■ Any undead that enter the district fall under Anurr’s command. Necromancers find their control of these dead brutally severed.

■ Anurr cannot be reached over the NPC inbox during this event.

THE HUNTRESS

CONTENT WARNING: undead, ghosts, nudity.

Within days of resurrecting Anurr’s power, characters receive a message from the Merchant:

”She comes! You face the Huntress, scout and emissary to the Three. She is a harbinger, not an executioner. Where she lingers long, sickness and the dead follow. Stone grieves. Life withers. The earth crumbles. Taravast once lost a district to her.

She must not loiter in one place. Fire and sorcery lure her. Run with her on your trail. She will leave of own accord, within days. We do not know which of the Three follows her. If it comes on pale horse, flee Taravast without a parting glance.”
As the merchant foretold, a rider appears in Taravast within hours — an exceptionally beautiful woman, bare but for her long hair, atop a large stallion. She travels at great speed, unarmed and weeps silently, never raising her eyes. Where her steed steps, its hooves crackle ground and sunder grass.

■ The Huntress starts her journey in the healing district, but travels throughout Taravast. She avoids Anurr’s location. The Huntress must be prevented from staying in the same place, or the sicknesses spread by her stallion infect crops and greens, suck the life from nearby residents and crumble stone.

■ The Huntress is distantly pursued by strings of dead she summons awake and by ghostly apparitions — including a monster or monstered adaptation from the home world of existing characters. These creatures stalk and attempt to kill their 'creators' — along with anyone else. Submit a monster here.

■ Meeting the Huntress's gaze pushes characters to relive their deepest tragedy.

■ Any undead in the Huntress’ vicinity join her retinue. Any necromancers or those who have come especially close to dying feel compelled to do the same.

■ The Huntress can be lured on a mad chase with torches, candles, fire or sorcery. Casting magic will especially draw her attention, but simply being highly magically powerful can attract her.

■ Run fast. Her monsters will pursue you. Ideally, work in teams: baits and those opening roads for them, or directing their travel efficiently. Sign up here.
■ The Huntress disappears within three days. Her creatures linger in Taravast another day after. Characters who joined her go free. Any necromanced undead remain forfeit.

SHELTER SOUGHT, SHELTER GAINED

Amid the chaos, Doxe Bonaccorso, Vannozza and Macaluso withdraw to offer sanctuary to the city’s finest in Artes Mundi, the sorcery district defended by the witches of Attaryl and Bessis.

■ The sorcerers undertake 12h-watches to uphold ward walls of the elements (fire, water, stone, air) or pure, crisp energy. These wards repel most infantry but remain partly vulnerable to magic.

■ Refugees vie for scant makeshift sleeping arrangements and camp fires. The tower of the Bessis is ruined, but its twin spire of Attaryl can be explored.

■ Characters can donate their (replenishing) life force or magical energy to the witches to maintain the ward walls, feed and heal refugees, complete services for the gentry or explore the Attaryl tower.

MASTER AND COMMANDED

CONTENT WARNING: xenomorphs, opt-in body horror, parasites

Once the Huntress has fled, one of the Three — oath brothers to the deposed warlord Unhalad, who have conquered most living citadels — enters Taravast. He is the horseless Beastmaster, who stays at Taravast’s periphery to lead in xenormophic creatures: large organic mutations that are surprisingly agile and silent, but weak-sighted. Many hunt in packs.

The Beastmaster’s legion primarily heads to the southern residential district to clash with Anurr. Humans in their path become collateral. While not animals, the Beastmaster’s creatures are living. If killed, they can be necromanced awake.

In all their variations, they are highly nimble and have excellent hearing. Their hard carcasses give them additional, but imperfect, protection from blows and missiles.

■ Evacuate the southern residential district.

■ Avoid the Beastmaster. Undisrupted, his and Anurr’s forces will carry out two days of intense battle.

■ The Bessis witches propose a gambit: given their previous prowess, characters should infiltrate at least two of the abandoned fortified cardinal-point towers at the north, south, west and east of Taravast. Once at the top of the towers, characters must speak passcodes — two towers online will revitalise the wall wards of Taravast, bolstering the sorcery of the witches of Bessis, as they mount the battlements and rain fire down on the Beastmaster’s incoming creatures. Further activated towers bolster the defences.

■ Reach the towers amid the Beastmaster’s legions and go up the spires, which are infected with smaller, semi-humanoid creatures that spring out from the dark to capture prey. They communicate with shrill shrieks and utilise echolocation. Be silent.

■ Those captured in the tower awaken hours later in a web-like cocoon, their limbs and spine starting to contort and develop the sheen and hardened shield-flesh of the creatures. They are vulnerable to light, drawn to humidity and sensitive to sound. If they cocoon extensively, they experience agony as their bones contort, their fingers develop sharp talons, and teeth extend to fangs. They obey the Beastmaster and attack former allies, painfully returning to “normal” within 6-12h of leaving the Tower.

■ Sign up to activate towers. Once active, a tower must be held for two hours, with at least one passcode speaker staying alive throughout, until the witches of Bessis reach their wall positions.

■ If two or more towers are activated, further Beastmaster forces cannot enter Taravast, with the Bessis burning down incomers from the defended walls. The Beastmaster withdraws from Taravast after a violent clash with Anurr. Some of his creatures require hunting down. Anurr also flees Taravast, with the undead under his protection.

■ If two towers are not activated, the event outcome will be covered in another update.

QUESTIONS