Hell's Hoods: Meet the Avernus Family

Damned souls fresh of Charon’s ferry from the Underworld, step off into Hell’s quarantine and processing centers. All this territory along the docks on the Acheron, is controlled by the Avernus crime family. It’s boss, Andras, was described yesterday. Now, let’s take a look at a few of his subordinates:

Murmur: Andras’s moll--and his underboss. She appears is a pale woman with straight, black hair, wearing a cloak of vulture feathers and little else. She wields an obsidian knife when forced to do so. She is an adept necromancer, and will summon the spirits of the dead for a summoner for interrogation. Murmur runs the processing center and ensures every one of the damned go to their appropriate reward.

Barbatos: The consigliere of family Avernus, he appears as a thickly-bearded old man dressed as an Old World peasant. He roams near the docks of the Acheron like a vagrant, mumbling to himself and setting simple traps for vermin. He could be just another of the damned, driven mad by his experiences. The old devil may be damned, but he is far from mad. He knows the languages of birds and animals. He’s adept at settling disputes, mostly in his family’s favor.

Flaures: A captain with the appearance of a humanoid leopard with flames dancing in his eyes. He’s sometimes mistaken for the Cat Lord--which is a good way to earn the Cat Lord’s ire. He dresses in dapper suits suggestive of Ascianan styles and smokes cigarettes in a holder. He performs most of his assassinations by fires. For a summoner, he can answer questions on past, present, and future, but is also willing to make contract hits on demons or devils.

Hell's Hoods: The Owl

The devil known as Andras the Owl is the current boss of the Avernus family in the Hell Syndicate. His family’s territory is closest to the Astral Plane. As long there as been a Hell, they've been tasked with the processing of new arrivals: both run-of-the-mill evil souls and those fulfilling general faustian contracts.  

Andras rose through the diabolic ranks as a hitman and since he became boss, the Avernus family has gone into the business of murder for hire.

In the modern age, Andras appears as a thin man with the head of an owl in an immaculate suit (of conservative cut) and gloves. His large, soulless eyes glow like headlamps.  He never speaks; communications are carried out through surrogates (sometimes a Hell Syndicate made man, other times a black dire wolf that accompanies him) with whom he seems to communicate telepathically. He smells like clove cigarettes. His angular, razor-edged shadow can cut creatures less than 1 HD that it falls on.

Combat: Andras uses knives of a silver-like material that cause wounds that will not heal normally. A favorite tactic is cutting a mortal’s face in a Cheshire grin, then coming back to kill them on a night of the new moon months or years later.  The blades will sublimate if exposed to sunlight in about an hour. He also has a high-powered rifle that appears to be made from the fossilized bone of a qlippothic beast and fires hell-glass bullets containing fragments of a sphere of annihilation. Any entity hit by them is sucked into the void contained within.

Diabolical Abilities: Andras's unblinking stare can cause severe inflammation of the eyes, resulting in temporary blindness.(lasts 1-10  rounds of successful saving throw, 2-20 days on failure). Once per encounter, he may issue the croaking cry of a night-raven which may cause fear in those who hear it.

Pacts: Andras will take contracts for hits on any mortal being, particularly if doing so will put others’ souls in peril. A petitioner must fatten 13 white mice on his own blood and then feed them to an owl of pure black plumage.  The petitioner must collect the regurgitated pellets and use them in the drawing of a ritual circle. Summoning wards must be strong; if Andras escapes he will most likely kill everyone present.  

In Oceans Deep

For a race that has long bedeviled the surface world, the gill-men remain mysterious. Any school child in the City knows the story of Horatio Stormalong who repelled the last incursion of the creatures, but the only modern account of them in their native habitat comes from the memoir of a journalist held hostage by the merman separatist and terrorist known as Nemo.

Nemo’s vessel seems to have been captured by the gill-men in the ocean’s depths and taken to a sunken ruin of ancient Meropis where the gill-men lived.  Though this point was never entirely clear, it seems the gill-men consider themselves the descendants of the Meropisians. If this is true, the forces led to their smaller stature and inhuman appearance are mysterious.

Gill-men seem a distinct species from the sea devils, who are larger with toothier maws and may be (horribly) interfertile with humans.  They also seem unrelated to whatever species the head of Thraug belongs too.

Nemo’s encounter with the gill-men shows they have made advances in technology since their last attempted invasion, even if not exactly at pace with humanity's.  This fact, combined with their belligerence and organization, suggests the gill-men remain a potential threat to the surface world. 

[Mechanically, treat the gill-men has aquatic versions of humanoids of some sort. Either goblins or hobgoblins.]

One of the divers from Nemo's vessel captured by Gill-Men

   

And the Killer is...

Continuing our Weird Adventures game last night, things got more serious in Westerly Manor as Rothger Croston (the lawyer) disappeared just as he was about to reveal who stood to benefit the most from the current heiress Cordelia's death.  Investigation revealed a secret, magical passage behind the bookcase in  the library that twisted upward in some extra-dimensional space and led to the master bedroom upstairs.  There, Boris found Croston's dead body and another secret panel.

Loone and Diabolico went up to the tower and found a window that allowed one to get out on the flat roof around the skylight.  Someone had used it recently, because the window seal was damp with rain.  Also, there was a rain-smeared remnant of an occult circle drawn in chalk.  If they needed any further proof, there was a candle left behind that reeked of extraplanar energies to Loone's acute mentalist sensitivities.

A line-up of the would-be Westerly heirs revealed only one with any chalk stains on him.  Charlie Wildman had one damp knee with a smear of chalk on it.  The boys were sure he was their man, but he was playing it cool and didn't admit to anything.  Boris even roughed him up a bit and he still didn't talk.

However, those harsh interrogation techniques opened a door for Loone's mental powers.  He discovered an ancient evil within Charlie and our heroes figured out the truth: Charlie was possessed by the spirit of his wicked, sorcerous ancestor, Curwen Westerly.

Loone and Harley Blythe apprehended the now-ranting Charlie/Curwen. That's when the Shrike made his appearance from the basement.  Boris pulled out his shotgun, beloved Ivanka, and blasted the fiend.  The Shrike was wounded, but not dead.  Boris made sure he stayed docile by judicious application of his crowbar.

Feeling Curwen was the actual murderer and Charlie an unwitting accomplice, they tried to induce the spirit to leave.  They didn't really have any methods at their disposal, until Curwen let slip that he had a laboratory in the basement: The locked room they didn't search before!

They hauled him down and restrained him while looking for some sort of malign spirit remover.  Diabolico discovered another magical tunnel whose other end was movable and allowed travel to the secret passages in the house if one just thought of the location. Loone got the idea to ask it to go to the land of spirits--and it opened a portal to the gray, dreariness of the Underworld.  A couple of helpful dead guys were willing to pry Curwen's spirit out of Charlie's body and wrangle the thing.  The portal closed with Curwen trapped.

Croston was dead, but Cordelia made good on the payment owed "Team Victory." Boris made a public show of returning the Shrike to the sanitarium and got some positive press.

Another mystery solved!

Warlord Wednesday: Fire and Sword

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"Fire and Sword"

Warlord #99 (November 1985)

Written by Cary Burkett; Art by Andy Kubert; Inks by Pablo Marcos.

Synopsis: The Shamballans trudge through a swamp on the way to a new camp.  Their old camp has become too dangerous with the instability of the Fire Mountain volcano.  Morgan and Machiste scout the way.  The march is abruptly halted by a rise of a hydra creature from the muck.  Morgan predicts it will be hard to kill—and he’s right.  The thing drags him beneath the surface and almost drowns him before he slays the last head.

The group forms two camps. Machiste leads the group with the women and children, and Morgan leads the camp of soldiers.  When Krystovar asks what their next step is, Morgan (predictably, if nonsensically) says he’s going it only.  He intends to take out the big boss, Cykroth the Unholy, Wizard-King of New Atlantis, by himself.  He walks off alone to do some planning, but Krystovar and Jennifer decide to help him whether he wants them to or not.

Meanwhile, Tara is cooling off in a stream, when Graemore comes along doing the minstrel thing.  He’s heard that she stayed by his side while he was healing.  He leans in and kisses her.  Tara pushes him away.  He’s misunderstood.  He was her first love, and she’ll always care for him, but she loves Morgan.  Graemore, downcast, finally gets it.

In New Atlantis, Cykroth summons the chief of the Vashek assassins before him. He commands the warrior to take on a solo mission to find and kill Travis Morgan. He imbues the man with some of his wizardly power, making him grow bigger, stronger, and faster. He also summons a dragon for the warrior to ride.  The Vashek flies forth, following the psychic trail left by Morgan’s visit last issue.

Back in Skartaris, Krystovar and Jennifer are hard at work.  Krystovar pores over scrolls of Norrad he snagged in New Atlantis. Jennifer uses her power to probe Cykroth’s mystic defenses.  The wizard cyclops senses her and sends a blast back down the line, but in doing so, he inadvertently reveals something about the source of his power.

Sitting alone, Morgan is attacked surprised by a blast of fire from the assassin’s dragon mount. He gets off a few shots with his pistol, but to no effect.  He heads for the forest and manages to ambush the Vashek, wounding him.  Soon though, he’s forced to retreat again.  The man is too strong and too skillful.

Still, he notices that the dragon flies slower once the man was injured.  He surmises the two are linked in some way.  He sets up another ambush using his helmet on a stick as a lure.  He’s able to knock the warrior out of the sky, but soon he’s fighting defensively again.  Seeing the dragon coming in for an attack, Morgan takes a desperate gamble and positions himself between the two:

Link as they are, his foes are both destroyed.

Returning to camp, Morgan’s greeted by Krystovar and Jennifer.  Krystovar has discovered there’s another way into New Atlantis besides the sea route.  Jennifer has realized that Cykroth draws his power from his Atlantean subjects. Morgan stares at them for a moment, and comes to a realization, himself. Embracing them, he says they should go find the others and tell them what they’re going to do—together.

Things to Notice:   

• Why Morgan is intent on going it alone here isn't really clear. Residual effects of the spell banished last issue?
• Cykroth gets a sobriquet this issue ("the unholy") that hasn't been mentioned before.

Where It Comes From:
The title of this issue refers directly to the dragon-riding Vashek assassin.  The story seems mainly set-up for the big confrontation to come--giving Morgan and crew a way to get the upper hand over the Atlanteans.

The multiple-headed swamp monster is a reference to the Lernaean Hydra, a mult-headed reptillian monster of Greek myth, killed by Heracles in the second of his Twelve Labors.

Gimme Your Weird Adventures Contest

Back from Gen Con and ready to get to work on a long percolating idea: a companion to Weird Adventures.  To help lazy ol' me generate content, I’m turning to the time honored internet tradition of crowdsourcing--and sweetening the deal with a little competition.

Here’s what i’m looking for: give me your best adventure seed in the in the world of Weird Adventures.  Inspiration from the usual suspects (B-movies, pulp stories, comic books) is always appreciated, but whatever you think would work and highlights the fun elements of the setting. The seed can be for a sorter incidental

I want the entries in the following format:

Title: this should ideally be something pulpy and possibly hyperbolic.  The titles of the adventure seed boxed pieces in the book are good examples--and check out this old post on “weird menace” titles.
Tagline: a one sentence teaser like found on the contents page of some old pulp mags.
Set-up: a brief rundown of how the setting and situation of the adventure.
Highlights: a montage of the interesting/critical things in the adventure--important encounters, possible set-pieces, some evocative sensory fluff.

Ok, here’s a quick example:

“Burial On the Far Side of Hell”
An ancient plea brings the promise of riches and unimagined danger.
The Set-up: In a oddities museum, the PCs happen upon a Native mummy who puts out a psychic plea: “return me to my ancestral grounds for burial, and I'll show you the hidden riches of my people."  What the mummy does not know--and neither does anyone else--is that the road back now cuts through a dangerous stretch of badlands swallowed by a black dust elemental and crawling with black dust zombies.
Highlights: the fury of a malevolent storm; shambling,moaning zombies, all but invisible in the swirling, choking dust; an isolated town with desperate survivors are wholed up; a mad preacher fallen to worship of the demonic storm.

Easy! So give it your best shot. All of them I like will get included in the next Weird Adventures supplement (with full credit, of course), and everyone who’s entry makes the book will get a free pdf.  The best two entries will get either a $10 Amazon gift certificate or a hardcopy of Weird Adventures (whichever their preference).

All entries should be submitted by Monday September 17 at noon Eastern Time.  Email them to me at theinscrutabledr3 on gmail.

Game, Interrupted

Our Weird Adventures game got postponed last night, so we’ll have to wait another week to find out what happens in Westerly Mansion. 

Here’s a little background I sent the players earlier this week to tide you over:

"MANIAC CAPTURED! ELDRITCH VALLEY SLEEPS SAFELY AGAIN" (26 Swelter, 5887)
Tranquility has been restored to the usually quiet communities of the Eldritch Valley.  Fennix Orgo, the so-called 'Shrike' killer, has been apprehended by law enforcement and returned to the Blufton Sanitarium, where he is to spend the rest of his days.  Orgo was responsible for at least seven deaths by brutal, bestial means, including the murder of J. Wyllard by impalement--a grisly deed which earned him his nickname.

[from The City Inquirer - a little over one year ago]


I’m off to Gen Con today.  Maybe I’ll see some of you there!