>>6837437
WHAT IS IS I DON'T EVEN

BTW, Which one came first? Ravenloft or Castlevania?

>>6837437

Better scan. Nice.

So feasibly, how would we explain all of the Demons in Dracula's castle? Exalted wise I mean? I mean do Infernals and Abyssal's work together that much?
Furthermore, who do we make the Infernal? Succubus? Abbadon? Baalzebub?

>>6837507

Castlevania by a couple of years.

>>6837507

Castlevania I THINK. Don't quote me on that though.

so, once upon a time, there was this little village. the people were hard-working and good, and the land itself bountiful enough, but everybody kept to themselves, as it was common knowledge that the dark woodlands craddled dangerous creatures, and the darkest parts were called cursed, and strangers could be trouble. the people were not inhospitable, though, and would warm to travellers who showed their intentions were pure.

in this town, there lived a young ranger, Alexander Brightcandle, a woodsman that always had the town's best interest at heart. he gathered goods and materials from the forests, and patrolled the borders of The Dark Woodlands, so he could give warning to the village should trouble be afoot.

when Farmer Mursk went missing, a trail of trampled footprints leading to the borders, Alexander volunteered to go find him. journeying deep into the Dark Woodland, what he found was the missing Farmer's shambling corpse, teetering about, moaning, and uselessly grasping at tree squirrels and birds in an attempt to satiate it's unnatural hunger. gripped with terror at something so horrendous befalling someone he knew, someone he grew up around, Alexander fled...

According to wiki, Castlevania by 4 years

1. Strad, not Strauss
2. Gary is dead.
3. Gary's opinion doesn't matter.
4. It never did.

I've just set this as my Desktop...

Anyway.
Now that I think of it, has Dracula secretly got his own circle of asskickers in his Manse?
Death (Abyssal or Heretic Death God?)
Baalzebub (3rd circle demon, Infernal Exalted?)
Succubus (Infernal or Abyssal?)
Elizabeth Bathory (Abyssal)
Olrox (Abyssal)
Shaft (You're damn right)

The style of the Castlevania Dracula is based on Ravenloft's Von Strahd, as can be seen here: >>6837437

And to those of you saying Castlevania came first, Ravenloft first came out in 1983, but a fully separate campaign setting wasn't released until 1990.

> Castle as a Manse?

Nah, I'd have all of the Castle and it's surrounding grounds as basically some mix up of the Wyld and A Shaodwlands, kinda like a peice of the Labyrinth in Creation.

Perhaps it only appears every century or so because Creation literally rejects its presence? Like a Cancerous growth that always comes back?

>>6837585
after reporting to the town, the mayor called for strong and brave young men to go and retrieve Farmer Marsk's body, so that he may be laid to rest properly, and locate the cause of his state and destroy it. young men Alexander had gone to school with at the church answered this call, mostly farmers and townies, a few guards and militiamen. none of them experienced.

Alexander was expereinced with these things. at least more than most in the little village. his father had been a man of stature in town, he worked for the church. Alexander remembered little of those days, but he remembered things his father taught him, about how to run, hide, track, and fight. and how to tell when someone aught not be breathing could be up and walking about. but Alexander's father had died, out in those dark woods, and it was a heartrending month before his skelatal remains were carted back into town, wrapped in his own tattered cloak, stained with blood and mud.

>>6837676
>Nah, I'd have all of the Castle and it's surrounding grounds as basically some mix up of the Wyld and A Shaodwlands, kinda like a peice of the Labyrinth in Creation.

>Perhaps it only appears every century or so because Creation literally rejects its presence? Like a Cancerous growth that always comes back?

NOW were thinking in EXALTED!

>>6837663
>>6837622

I think you'll find that they're both just based on early film depictions of Dracula by Bela Lugosi. As for who copied who, I don't really care. Both are excellent.
Also, now that you mention it, wasn't it spelt Strahd with it a silent H?

>>6837651
Death would be a rogue god,
Beezelbub would be a 3rd circle demon, not an infernal exalted,
succubus would prolly be a deathlord, such as lover clad in rainment of tears,
Don't recall elizabeth
Don't recall Olrox
Shaft, abyssal version of eclipse cast obviously

Castle would be a 5 dot manse definitely
Belmont air aspect db family if you ask me, capes and long flowing stuff, and whips not to mention high speed running and jumpan, although alucard could definitely be a dawn caste, or full moon lunar, actually more likely a full moon
The whip is prolly a 4 dot artifact, similar to a solar cannon in that it only works for that specific type of exalt, agg damage vs netherworld creations
Subweapons fuck year, other 3-5 dot artifacts,
Knife that returns allows you to reduce flurry penalty
Axe, returning, overpowering?
Holy water...maybe do without
Stopwatch...probably more broken than the usual for exalted, though if you wanted 5dot artifact, 1ce per scene act out of turn as a full turn
Cross, i don't know how to do that prolly emulates some adamant circle sorcery
tell me what i'm missing

>>6837692
as Alexander led the mob of townsfolk to the place where Farmer Marsk had dissapeared from his fields, he showed them all the numerous trails through his wheat field that led back to the Dark Woodlands, and they cried for blood and justice. As he led them through the fields, the reminesced about the man they now hunted, and admired the crops he would never return to harvest. as they reached the forest, a few gathered sticks and branches, while others drank from flasks and toasted their guide. when they reached the borderlands, their mirth faded, and torches were lit to repel the oppressive mood of the place as much as the coming twighlight. when at last they came to farmer Marsk, laying under a tree, head lolled off at an unnatural angle, no one spoke, and some could not bear to look...

Also, how BAD are we talking Resonance wise if an Abyssal breeds? Furthermore does it ALWAYS target offspring when you vent?
I seem to recall Drac warping holy symbols when he get's summoned in the opening for the PSP Castlevania game.

Also, what would Alucard even be? Half-Caste? Ghost-Blooded? I presume there are rules for that out there.

>>6837778
can an abyssal breed?
I don't think lover has any kids...

>>6837798
they can certainly fuck

>>6837798

She's a lover, not a breeder.

>>6837755
"what happened to him, Alex?" asked one farmboy of Brightcandle.

"ghouls from the Dark Woodlands must have come and dragged him here... chewed him up but good, in the process. when I saw him, he was already one of them." he explained.

"but, he dissapeared during the day, didn't he? don't ghouls only roam at night?"

"sometimes they fall down, and lay their for hours. they're not smart beasts, it seems to take them a while to figure out they've fallen, and even longer to get back up, unless they're chasing something they wan't to eat. a band of them could have been laying in his field since the night before, and attacked him when he came out to check on his crops."

"so, why didn't we see them leaving the farm?"

"he was dead there and then in the field. they didn't get up and return to the Forest until the sun wen't down."

>>6837798
Lover also isn't an abyssal, so.

>>6837778
A point per scene. So if we're talking Wham, Bam, Thank you Ma'am, he'll get some resonance from the fuckin', and then some more from the delivery, but nothing he couldn't vent through.

And what the kid is depends. If the Abyssal is Essence 4 or higher, Half-caste. Less, and he's just a creepy little fucker.

>>6837840
I see your point sir, I am not pleased I was wrong, however the point remains that she has no kids and fucks like a beast everynight
Also, IIRC abyssals are people who have died, but the corrupt exaltation brought them back to a semi-live/dead state...mostly dead
Also I like the idea of the castle being a 5dot manse in a shadowland that only works once every 100 years, sucks for the owner of the hearthstone... because the manse disconnects from creation and goes elsewhere, chilling in its own corner of that wacky place, i totally want would use a throwing knife of returning that reduced flurry penalties so SPAM OF KNIVES

>>6837754
>Don't recall elizabeth

Chick from Castlevania Bloodlines.

>Don't recall Olrox

Really? You don't recall the Nosferatu riff who got an entire wing of the castle to named after him in SoTN?
It was a wierd boss fight, guy turned into a green giant for no reason at the end.

>Holy water...maybe do without

Replace with salt perhaps?

>Stopwatch...probably more broken than the usual for exalted, though if you wanted 5dot artifact, 1ce per scene act out of turn as a full turn

No time travel in Exalted might be a stickler. Maybe it give it some nasty pattern spider based downside.

>>6837798
>>6837818

They have rules against "creating life" I took that to imply that they could breed. Besides, my Abyssal creation lore is a little rusty - do the Abyssal's actually die when they exalt, or are they exalted right near death?

>>6837934
I think it'd be better, and a bit more Exalted-fit, if it was built in a shadowland, and fucks off to the Underworld all year except calibration, when it can exist in Creation itself.

Exalted? That seems a bit overpowered compared to the luff of the castlevaynia series.

I mean, Belmont gets his ass handed to him by little goblins throwing knives at him...

>>6837833
"... so, they were just laying there, waiti-"

the conversation was cut off by a cry from the back of the mob, followed rapidly by uneasy murmers and more cries of alarm from both flanks.

"what is it?!" cried Alex, drawing his fathers sword and spinning around to see, glangcing left and right rapidly.

"I heard a moan..." replied a shakey farmer at the back of their ramshackle column. a wave of murmurs passed through the peasants, and they shuffled uneasily, gripping torches and pitchforks tighter

Alexander sighed. the score of men he had guided to the place where their fallen neighbor lay had been reduced to quivering children by a moan in the darkness.

"sir?" questioned a militiaman next to him. "shouldn't we collect the body and be gone? this place is cursed..."

"we're also sent to avenge him, spearman. besides, we can't leave without a fight, one way or another. theyre already all around us..."

another murmur passed through the troup, and all glanced at Alex expectantly. it was the first time he realised he wasn't just guiding them. he realized with shock and horror that they expected him to LEAD them. he swallowed hard as a cold knot settled in his stomach...

>>6837934

Yeah but on the other hand, the Manse allows the Exalted attunted to it to reincarnate with nearly 100% of his memories, or possibly an infinate regen effect?

>>6837969

So do exalted. Goblins a HARDCORE in Exalted.

>>6837953
The stopwatch is pretty useless against bosses so I guess if you are strong enough you will withstand it's effect.

>>6838006
So it's like any other shaping effect ever, then?

>>6837978
his palms sweating, Alexander quickly called a rally, telling the farmers to form up in a tight circle, back to back. they faltered and shuffled, a few seeming confused as to what way they should be facing. he quickly ran around the circle, forcing them into shape, tightening their formation, and shouting for them to keep their eyes outward. more moans rose from the woods. torches sputtered. dead leaves and branches cracked underfoot, and slowly, shuffling footsteps and staggered gaits drew closer.

Alexander stood at the side of the formation closest to the fallen farmer, facing the deeper woods, as the farmers warily held their tools and weapons at the ready.

a series of cries arose from the jittery formation as the creatures entered the light of their torches. the bodies of men, given unnatural life beyond death, their movement was cumbersome, their eyes vacant, and their clothes and flesh alike, in tatters.

"Wait!" cried alex, as a few anxious farmboys moved to lash out, to charge the monsters at the edge of firelight. "Hold your place!" he told them. they fell back in formation.

>>6837991
maybe just an Immortality stone, location of manse be damned, but then dracula is already immortal no?
still don't recall Olrox, looks like its time to whip out the psp and play some SoTN MOTHUFUCKA YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!

also
>They have rules against "creating life" I took that to imply that they could breed
IIRC i think that rule applies to the creation of "Positive" life through sorcery, i can't recall anything that says abyssal babies are a no-no, though I believe you're right about generating a ton of resonance for having a child, unless of course you plan to sacrafice it :)

An Exaltation cannot bind to a ghost or to any creature
of less than human intelligence. Only living, more-or-less
human beings can Exalt.

>>6838026
Well it seems to be mostly effective against minions or to trigger certain areas. In SOTN there is a huge clock you need to use stop watch at to open certain areas.

In fact Castlevania is actually a chaotic entity itself so I wouldn't be surprised if it has several uses in the castle.

>>6838026

Maybe it's an effect that only works on things from creation?

>>6838125
They must not promote or defend life. Actively
protecting a living being from harm is always a sin.
(Fortunately the Neverborn do not consider deathknights
living beings, so they can defend one another.)
So is creating new life, whether by mundane conception
or magical genesis. Birthing such offspring is an
additional sin.

ok so its not just sorcery, but through sexan too

>>6838097
"Wait! Just wait!" he continued to tell them, trying to be reassuring, but a tinge of terror creeping into his voice. he must control them, he thought. he was responsible for them.

a few steps closer now, the rasping monsters were. emaciated, grey flesh hung on cold bones, blood did not flow through their veins, but stagnated in it. Alexander counted 6, but knew more lurked in the shadows. he watched his neighbors band together, and quietly weighed their chances in his mind.

his reverie was broken by a shout of surprise from the left flank. he spun to see a ghoul, arms raised to neck level, charging into 4 pitchforks pointed at it's chest.

"they're doing it wrong..." he thought to himself, as the farmers held the flailing beast back with their forks, stabbing its chest and neck repeatedly.

a flashback to the most important thing his father had taught him. the priests had taught him that while the heart is the wellspring of the body, the soul resides in the brain, and so, the dark magic that fills the dead with unrest does, too. his father had trained him, splitting old, dry gourds filled with soft wax. with sword, axe, hammer, and pike, when they were rolling across the ground or swinging from a rope, he split a thousand baskets, cabbages, pumpkins, and blocks of wood.

but he had never split a skull, and neither had any of the farmers. but their desperation was rapidly rising, terror was filling their hearts, and the others would not be able to resist looking back, exposing their flanks...

>>6838187

So, Dracula had a wife, had a SON, actually tried to raise the son (Kid Dracula) before he went all emo on him.

But on the other hand, he DID horrible butcher and murder a LOT of people.

So on balance, how much resonance would that be, and what sort of venting options would be available?

>>6838270

enjoying this..

>>6838288
The simplest way for an Abyssal to reduce Resonance, however, is to suffer the punishment of the Neverborn. A deathknight can do so at any time with a reflexive Essence roll.
Each success spends one Resonance point on black miracles such as Blight, Branding, Conduit or Stigmata. (Obviously, a player
cannot spend more points than the character has accumulated.) Failing the roll, however, means the character suffers a Resonance
effect with severity equal to the character’s Essence but gains another point of Resonance rather than losing any.

Sooooooooooo
depending on how much resonance dracula got

5 Resonance: The aforementioned zone of entropy lasts for a number of days equal to the Abyssal’s Essence, traveling with the Abyssal wherever she goes. Furthermore, mortals who come within (Essence x 10) yards of the Abyssal suffer one level of lethal damage per scene, causing them to bleed a thin trickle from the eyes, ears and mouth. These unfortunates also suffer a lingering -1 wound penalty while in the area from the agony of the Abyssal’s
malignant presence. A shadowland with a radius of (Essence x 10) yards opens around the Abyssal at the moment of Resonance
eruption, halting any nocturnal travel through Creation until morning. Its radius contracts by 10 yards per day until it closes. While it lasts, it serves as a beachhead for hungry ghosts and spectres to rampage into the stormwracked
Creation. Sensors in the Realm Defense Grid
as well as instruments in the Bureaus of Seasons and Fate register such incursions of Abyssal Essence into Creation, though Yu-Shan lacks the resources to follow up on every incident


HMMMM
So, if dracula did something naughty every hundred or so years, BAM shadowlands manse for a couple days or how ever you call it
BAM gone according to RAW, works out quite well

>>6838270
"Aim for the Head!" he called to them. "pin it with your forks, then destroy it's head!"

a shriek rose from the other side of the formation as two more zombies lunged into the farmers line. they held one, but a farmboy who had gone weak in the knees fell back under the weight of the monster's advance, barely keeping his woodaxe between it and himself.

"hold on! everyone, hold them back!" he shouted, as he ran around the outside of his formation again, this time to aid the right flank before they scattered.

as he reached them, a guard hammered the temple of the pinned zombie with the back-side of a hatchet, then split its skull with the blade as it recovered from the first blow. Alexander called for his help in pulling the other zombie off their ally, who lay screaming at their feet, holding the thrashing dead madman at bay with the handle of his ax barred across its chest. tegether they grabbed the things shoulders and threw it back on itself. the guard hoisted the panicked farmboy to his feet, checking him for wounds, as Alexander quickly strode after the tumbling zombie, splitting it from crown to collar as it sat up from its sprawl.

the zombie on the left flank had finalkly been stabbed to death, only to be replaced by two more, and at least six were approaching from the darkness before Alexander Brightcandle. by all the gods in the heavens, he was scarred. he was terrified. but he wouldn't run. he couldn't run. not with so many lives in his hands. their weight stayed his feet.

>>6838408

I'm not sure, but I think a personal attatchment lasting several years, having a kid (who may or may not count if he's an Abyssal Half-Caste or Ghost Born) and then forming a personal attatchment with him to for about a decade is going to count as just "Something naughty".

Castlevania Dracula was already the lord of darkness, as in he ATE THE DEVIL, long before he fathered Alucard.

>>6838486
Building or maintaining positive Intimacies with the living attracts the Neverborn’s wrath, especially when an Abyssal benevolently interacts with individuals she knew before her Exaltation. Indeed, simply living a normal, mortal
life transgresses against the Abyss, unless the deathknight is doing so as a ruse or at the direct behest of a greater servant of the everborn

man its always rules with those neverborn fags...

Anyway I'm curious how the castle manages to survive the night or few nights that it is in creation in tact, just do a Bronze Skin Bomb on that sucker, though, I'm lead to wonder why this doesn't happen to other the rest of the deathlords, until I realized the lunars are too busy trying to protect the borders of creation to do anything about it and the rest of the exalts are too busy bitching about politics to care, while the green sun princes continue to plot

(Bronze Skin Bomb for your reference is when a lunar activates the Invulnerable Skin of Bronze Charm while in a very large beast form such as that of a whale...a big whale, at a high altitude, then bombs the site, personally. gravity be damned when your made out of bronze right?)

>>6838566
Reminds me of the time a druid quicken-summoned a polar bear and cast Animal Growth on it... in mid-air, above our wizard and half-dragon fighter's heads.

We got very killed. Pic related.

>>6838471
more ghouls came. they shambled into the circle made by the light of the townsfolks' torches, and charged at the farmers and their feeble implements, but somehow disaster was averted time and again, but just barely. a line of bodies encircled the formation, and Alexander stood at the center to reinforce where he was needed most the fastest. finally he saw an opening. he commanded a few men to grab Marsk's corpse and get ready to retreat. they complied. then it happened.

as the men lifted the body, unsure of how to convey it, Farmer Marsk lashed out, quickly chewing up one young man's arm, then pinning another as they all recoiled, and biting him fatally on the neck. screams and shouts flew left and right, and confusion was flooding the formation.

Alexander cursed himself for forgetting the most important part of moving a body of the Cursed... always move the head seperate from the body.

he quickly strode out of the weakening formation and decapitated Marsk's slavering corpse and his unfortunate victim in one blow, then whipped off the blade of his father's sword and told the men to grab both bodies and heads, they were leaving.

but several men already were. running back along the path they'd came along, as they watched them go, they saw the light of their torches illuminate their dark fate. two were tackled and mobbed by the dead, three to one, and a third that refused to turn back clubbed a ghoul with his torch and sprinted away into the darkness, screaming all along, running blindly into the night, until he could no longer be heard over the moans of the assailants surounding the townsfolk.

>>6838669

Great writefaggotry!

>>6838737
Seconded for greatness

F5

>>6838669
"Leave them!" cried Alexander, as the men moved to help their allies. "we're going this way. quickly, and quietly!" he shushed all objections and dragged them away through the darkness, picking their way through the shambling dead, striking down a few here and there, slowly bringing them around, until at last they found a way, clear of ghouls, and made haste back across the borderlands.

it was in the wee hours when at last they saw the lights of the town. Alexander led his men to the church, bearing the bodies of the dead they could claim, and the heads of the few they could not. 12 heads in all, but only two bodies to match to any.they had lost 4 of their own, and two were injured. the young man who had been chewed by Farmer Marsk had his arm in a sling and tourniquet. the surgeon would later have to amputate it.

Alexander was wracked with guilt over the loss of so many. he felt responsible, but the clerics reassured him that he had no way of knowing their would be so many. but quietly, he vowed to himself that he would avenge those men, if he had to burn down all of the Dark Woodlands...

some of the heads of the dead claimed could be identified, but most were strangers, or unrecognizable. the priests blessed the remains and exorcized the darkness that bound them, and laid them to rest in graves marked only with nameless wooden crosses, as was the Cuthbertine custom there. the mayor and priests called on alexander again, to remain vigilant at the borderlands, as his father had. the peace they had enjoyed for his father's work was ending, and hardship was ahead. Brightcandle agreed.

>>6838990
short break...

Eh. I've always wanted to play in Ravenloft.

Never got the chance too, though.

>>6838990
A year passed, then another. Alexander brought corpses into town on a wagon twice a week, mostly just one or two at a time, but sometimes piled high with a half-dozen or more, always with the bodies in back, and the heads in a sealed pickle barrel. none were ever from his town. never again, he'd vowed. he'd kept his word thus far. every time he visited town to offload dead, he would barter supplies. the townsfolk knew he paid them with their comfortable sleep these past two years at the sacrifice of his own. he rarely needed coin.

every week, he grabbed a new book from the clerics at the church. their library was small, but living so close to Cursed Land and the Dark Woodland meant many were written on the denizens of these places. when he finished those, the priests took collections and traded for more from towns afar.

The town had prospered as he toiled, and surprisingly, his macabre task had increased the town's population, as messengers were sent to find people to claim their slain kin's remains. as such, some moved in, thinking a town where dissapearances are rare and the lurking Cursed Ones driven back would be safer. others simply stayed after finding their kin, having nothing to return to.

>>6839345
Nonetheless, they brought children, and Alex thought they needed to know as much as he did at their age. during the day, Alexander occasionally taught at the school in town, teaching children how to flee, where to hide, and how to escape grasping hands, drilling them on these things weekly. he couldn't talk the parents into allowing weapon training, and his worry for them doubled his diligence, while halving his already meager sleep.

on the days where he wasn't in town, nobody knew where he went, but Alexander was always there, always watching...

but as the town prospered and expanded, the job grew too big for one man, no matter how devoted. realizing this, Alexander advised the town to double the guard, and station them in perimeter patrols and checkpoints to the south and north, along the eastern Borderlands. when they told him it would take two months to train that many guardsmen, he told them to hire adventurers to fill in until the new guards were ready.

but alas, the mercenaries proved less effective than they had hoped. a man went missing from his fields, late in the evening, as he finished his plowing at the far end with dusk fast approaching.

Alexander was furious with himself when he was called to the temple and asked to find him.

MOAR

rolled 77 = 77

I dunno about Exalted, but I've been running a Castlevania game using 4e. It works FANTASTIC.

It helps that I've got a fucking amazing group to work with.

Honestly, though? You could run it using just about any system, when you get down to it. M&M could work on a low-powered level, SotC would probably be glorious, hell even WoD would work--although I think that'd be a bit weird, depending on what you allow or don't allow.

Currently, the party is about to enter the clock tower section and inevitably fight Death. They're gonna HAAATE medusa heads.

>>6839359
Even as he spun to storm out and bring the man back, he knew in the pit of his heart, he was dead. the pain of his failure was a burning pain, a burning that drove him to desire nothing short of the eradication of the Dark Woodland he had waged war against for the past two years. as he reached the door, he was stopped by a firm hand that grabbed his arm. he turned to meet the gaze of the man who stopped him, a moustachioed acolyte with gentle smile.

"... what?" Alexander demanded of him, his irritation palpable.

"Don't think that you fight alone, friend. our prayers go with you..."

Alexander's frustration with his failing was disposed to the clergy, and, momentarily, to the lack of the guards he'd requested, "I don't need prayers," he responded shortly, "I need swords!"

with that, he pried himself free of the acolyte and marched out of town, towards the farm of the missing man, to hopefully find his trail...

>>6839483
FUCKING FLYING FUCKING MEDUSA HEADS.
KNOCKING YOU OFF THE PLATFORM AND INTO SPIKES/ SKELETON GUNMEN/ MORE FLYING FUCKING MEDUSA HEADS.

writefag's story got me doodlan

obviously this is v rough

>>6839483
>They're gonna HAAATE medusa heads.
Hope someone's got a Ruler's Sword familiar.

rolled 78 = 78

>>6839500

THE HATE WILL BE DELICIOUS.

Oddly enough, only about two of the players have even played the CV games to any real extent. Which actually works out for me, as I can surprise the rest of them with the oddball shit that castle is filled with.

>>6839499
... night was falling, and the blood on the ground was fresh.Alexander Brightcandle could see his own breath, but he could not feel the cold. he had not slept, but he could not feel the ache of his feet or weary bones. all he fealt was the burning inside himself. "Never again..." he chanted to himself.

the man he hunted was more than a corpse. he'd circled back and gone home, and assaulted his own wife, trying to kill her, beat her to the ground and bite her flesh, when Alex had come, bearing a torch and his sword. the thing looked up from what was his wife, the town school-marm, when he was alive, as he had been beating her viciously on the floor of their home, deaf to the cries of their young daughter.

Alex cursed himself again as a thrice-damned bastard of a goat and an otyugh, for hesitating. he had seen the monsters eyes. they weren't the hollow, blank, hundred-mile gaze of the corpses that he hunted so regularly. there was burning malevolence in them, and the wicked curl of a sadistic grin on its bloodstained lips. it lunged for him, with a maniac roar that was equal parts whooping-cough wretch and histarical laughter. it slapped at him like it was toying with him for sport, until he jabbed his torch into its face and followed up with a vicious stab that just missed its spine. then it screamed and ran from the house, through a window and across the field. Alexander had persued it ever since.

>>6839656
Medusa heads do push the target, right?
They need to push the target.

>>6839582
"writefag" here, pausing to say

I APPROVE OF THIS VERY MUCH!

thank you, good sir.

may continued write- and drawfaggotry be combined into something archive-worthy.

back to the story...

>>6839656
Do you set your games in the actual timeline, or do you just go non-canon. Also, is Drac your BBEG, or have you got something else up your sleeve?

Actually, who says Dracky isn't a REALLY POWERFUL ghost? Takes care of respawning, power level, and resonance.

>>6839676
day was breaking in a few hours, but he knew he couldn't wait for the light. his torch would have to be enough. it was his last one, with half it's fuel left, as he'd left the last one in the monsters face when it fled from the scene. he paused only long enough to see that the woman had not been bitten, and blow his alarm whistle as he ran after the monster.

as he followed its trail of congealed bloodstains across dewy leaves under darkened boughs, he came to a place where the trail ended abruptly at a rocky gully, deep enough to not see the bottom with his torch, and sheer enough to almost call a cliff.

Brightcandle cursed to himself again. seeing no faster way down, he began to unpack a rope from his pack.

>>6839500
>SKELETON GUNMEN
These guys need to make it into a game. They were easily one of my favorite summons in PoR.

>>6839804
... Well, they were in Symphony of the Night in the East Tower, positioned perfectly to shoot you after a FLYING FUCKING MEDUSA HEAD hit you.

>>6839715
Dracula is a demon. He used to be a vampire, but then he ate the devil and because the lord of darkness. That's why Grimm is his buddy and they go play ski-ball together.

rolled 17 = 17

>>6839677

Push, with a secondary attack vs Fort that turns the target to stone (save ends).

>>6839710

Thankfully, none of the players browse 4chan, so I'm free to divulge as much info as I please.

To the first question: Yes, it is set in the official timeline. 1870, to be exact. The timeframe was a bit iffy as Order of Ecclesia isn't given an exact date other than the 1900's, so while I acknowledge the game I didn't worry about it too much.

To the second, yes, he is the BBEG--but he didn't come back under his own power. A disillusioned bishop got hold of a powerful tome called the Book of Woe, which when he read it blasted his sanity and made him raise the castle. His goal is (was, as the case will be when we finish the boss fight) to draw all the Sinners of the world into one place and then seal them, leaving the rest to be blessed by God's love.

Obviously quite insane, but given that one player is an Infernal-pact warlock who is a priest that trapped demons and devils within him to prevent them from going back to hell, it makes for some GREAT back-and-forth banter.

>>6839887
Are the Belmonts primarily a clan of Avengers?

>>6839793
he quickly scrambled for the end of his rope and glanced about for a good tree to tie off too, knowing that the monster could still be "alive" down there. he was consumed with a need to destroy it. the burning inside him had turned to rage and hate, and he'd have its head, even if he had to chase it to Hepmonaland.

as he tied his rope, a smell drifted by his nose. a smell of fire. nothing like the oil and wood and cheese cloth of his torch. something else... burnt.

dropping the rope, Alex whirled on a knee, drawing his sword in a broad arc as he did. the ghoulish creature, half it's face a mask of burnt flesh, missing an eye, lunged too late, Brightcandle's sword cutting it just under its ribs. the tow crashed into the tree Alex had been working under, Alex hitting his head on the trunk. the monster, with a horrid, cacophonous wheeze-laugh, grabbed the rope that had been knotted around the tree, but not tightened, with one hand, and slammed Brightcandle's head into the wood again with the other.

Nooooo Alex Brightcandle!

rolled 39 = 39

>>6839916

Probably. But no one is playing one; in fact, NO ONE is using a whip AT ALL in this game.

Going by official timeline, the Belmont's disappeared after the events of SotN due to some sort of 'prophecy' that meant they couldn't wield the Vampire Killer until 1999. So, as a result I disallowed anyone from playing a Belmondo, but not one of the bloodline offshoots.

Currently we have an artificer who is the descendant of Reinhard Schneider, the hero from Castlevania 64. That's as close as it gets, and the party doesn't have the Vampire Killer.

>>6839946
looping the hempen cord over Brightcandle's head, the monster licked its ragged, chewed lips with glee, and yanked on the rope. Alex, dazed, managed to get a hand between the cord and the tree, buying him precious little slack, and even less time.

the monster looped the cord over its hand again and again, yanking and pulling with all its unholy strength, screaming a bloodthirsty keen to the darkened skies above, then started beating Alex about the head and face with its free hand. it slapped and clawed at him, its hyena-like gibberish and sadistic mirth echoing through the trees. as Alex slumped, the monster gripped his black hair and lifted his face to meet its own. it leaned in close, its black, bloodstained tongue writhing.

Alex met the monsters single red eye with his own icey blue eyes, before driving his silver boot dagger up through the monsters chin, into it's brain.

>>6840051
the monster recoiled, a sickly green smoke erupting from its mouth, nose, eyes, and ears as the purified metal burned its unholy flesh. Brightcandle quickly yanked at the cord around his throat and freed himself, reclaiming his footing and his sword.

as the deranged ghoul yanked the dagger from its throat, all semblance of its sadistic joy was gone. the only thing left burning in its face was murder. it shrieked and threw itself at Alexander again.

Alex took a knee. kneeling before the monsters' onslaught, he swiped out in a low arc, and chopped off it's leading foot. the monster tumbled over Alex and sprawled on the ground, still flailing. it clawed at the ground, kicked with its knees, trying to crawl away. teetering, Alex forced himself to his feet and persued the monster a few paces, until his foot was planted firmly between its shoulder blades. he set the point of his sword at the base of its neck, right over its spine, and leaned on it heavily. writhing on the cold ground like some bizarre insect pinned prematurely in an entomologists display, Brightcandle pulled his woodsmans' hatchet from his belt, and in two swift chops, it's skull was split like a breakfast melon, and severed in three more.

exhausted, Alexander stumbled away from the thing's finally still corpse, and collapsed by his smouldering torch, as the light of dawn streamed in through the thick canopy of the forests of the borderlands.

>>6840226
Alexander Brightcandle was quite a sight that cold spring morning, as he limped into town, covered in blood and filth, dragging a corpse on a rope behind him over his shoulder, carrying a severed head with a foot in it's mouth in the other hand. he was bloodied to the nine hells and back, his face a tangle of bruises, cuts, scars, and swollen lumps. worse still was his voice, which had been reduced to an odd sort of croak until the clerics had a look at him. they prayed over him for 2 days and three nights before he was well enough to stand again. he fought them the whole time, kept saying he needed to get back to the borderlands, they had to restrain him. on the third morning, when he walked out under the sun again, he wen't straight to where the clerics had been preparing the corpse for burial.

he investigated the corpse to find what manner of creature it had become, for the monster he had fought that night in the woods was no mere ghoul or zombie. it showed pain, fear, and a will to survive. it showed a crude intelligence. it was a new threat, and he would find it's weakness.

as he examined the corpse, he came to the wounds in the face. "fire..." he muttererd to himself as stared into the blank hollow of a burned-out eye-socket. he turned the head over in his hands, examining the burns, the cuts, the hatchet-wounds. then he came to the place where he had stabbed it in the neck.

the wound was scorched as though by fire, and discolored a deep green, like the patina on bronze, in a spidery pattern leading out from the wound. after disecting the head, he found that this was prevailant throughout the wound, through the palette and sinuses, into the brain-case. then he examined his knife...

>>6840019
So Portrait of ruin is not canon for your game?

JONATHAN!
CHARLOTTE!
JONATHAN!

>>6840442
the knife was, like his sword, passed down from his father. its blade glittered with a sheen more lustrous than mere iron, a beautiful white silver knife with a curving blade and a buck horn handle. he'd never thought it was anything special as far as a weapon went, but he'd always kept it sharp and clean and close, it being one of the only things of value he could call his own.

"Blessed silver" a baritone voice interjected into Brightcandle's introspection.

"... what?" Alex was somewhat startled by the Acolyte's intrusion.

"That knife is made from blessed silver." said the moustachioed acolyte.

"Unh... you... uh..." Alex was no wordsmith.

"sorry, did I interupt?"

"No, I... uh... I wanted to... apologize... for... the other day. I know you, and the clerics, were trying to help..."

"what, the punch? that was nothing. healed right up. your were quite insistant on leaving before being treated though, weren't yo-"

"No! uh... The other day. about your prayers... I meant no offense."

"Oh, that? none taken, sir. I understand. You are, after all, a man of action."

>>6840748
"yeah, I guess." there was a long, awkward pause as Alex went back to studying his knife and the ghoul's head, until the acolyte cleared his throat. "Sorry! what was that you were saying?"

"About the knife? Blessed Silver, sir. it was given to your father by your mother's father, a clergyman here in town before you were born, as a gift on their wedding. it was made from the Candlesticks of the Old Church, after a fire damaged them and many other holy relics and items. they were melted down and made into various items. that was one of them."

"huh... so, it's not just regular silver?"

"No, sir! that silver sat on the altar of St. Cuthbert in from of priests and petitioners alike, for nealy 50 years! they served in various holy rites in the church. they were very important."

"...how do you know all this?" asked Alex. "you don't look THAT much older than me..."

the acolyte reflexively rubbed his moustache and cleared his throat into his hand. "Ahem! I learned these things from study of the churches records, Sir Brightcandle, not mere perusings of fanciful tales of demons and vampires..."

"... oh." said Alex, lowering his head. Another long awkward silence passed. finally Alex asked "what's your name, good Sir? we haven't been properly introduced..."

"Cornelius Vrane," he replied, extending a hand. "and you are Alex Brightcandle, your reputation precedes you..."

"yeah..." said alex, taking Conelius' hand with a firm shake and a smile.

>>6840763
writefaggot break! back in a minute!

>>6840801
is anybody still following this? I'm just recounting a story of a character whom I DMed for some years ago. writing it as I remember it, with a tad of embelishment to liven it up.

>>6840871
no? no takers? OK, I'll pack my writefaggotry up then.

rolled 12 = 12

>>6840465

Well it is, only that's a good 70 years in the future. So it's not very relevant.

I suppose I should point out no one is using a whip because no one CHOSE to. Which to me is mind-boddling, as its goddamn Castlevania, but there you go.

>>6841036
Well, the whip is hella-cursed in PoR, is the thing. And even after it's uncursed, it's still worse than most regular weapons, so fuck it.

rolled 17 = 17

>>6840992

Oh dude, I'm enjoying it thoroughly.

Please, continue.

rolled 66 = 66

>>6841055

Dude, what? That thing is a BEAST once unlocked.

It may not have the highest damage, but its elemental properties mean you're fucking things up left and right.

>>6841065
Only-other-dude-still-up likes it too. Unless you're tired or some shit.

>>6841083
Sure, so use it when fighting something that'll be weak against it.
The rest of the time, it's just better to sword/Charlotte it up.

rolled 17 = 17

>>6841102

Maybe for you. I stuck with the VK once I unlocked it.

>>6841117
To be fair, I'm the sort of faggot who hit the damage cap with the Muramasa in SotN. So swords just feel right for castlevania games, now.

HAY GUYS CAN I PLAY TOO?

rolled 44 = 44

>>6841616

SHUT UP YOU ARE A HORRIBLE PLOT-POINT IN JUDGEMENT

>>6841643

Ah, but he'll always be remembered as the Emerald Weapon of SoTN.

Maybe I should consider myself lucky I never played Judgement.

>>6840992
dude are you fucking kidding- like 13 people are reading this. please continue its rather good

You should play CastlevaniaRL

rolled 42 = 42

>>6843617

Unless you're lucky and got that one Lightning-absorbing circlet beforehand.

>>6846274

Yanno, I wanted to like that game, but it just felt too unpolished for my tastes.

>>6838645

Your DM is a busta. Summoned creatures have to appear on a surface that can support their weight.