Rise of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master DireMerc

Coriandrinne was born in the Lastwall port city of Vellumis. Her human mother, Lenara Brasskettle, worked as a serving wench in the Whelming Walrus, a dockside tavern known to be frequented by adventurers and travelers. The Walrus was also suspected of catering to pirates, smugglers, and other nefarious types.

Lenara was married to Chester Brasskettle, a human sailor aboard the merchant ship, Gray Gull. The Gull and her crew were away from port for long stretches of time, and though Chester never spoke about what cargo the ship carried, he always returned with a coin purse heavy with silver. Unfortunately, he tended to drink and gamble away most of it by the time he staggered his way home.

When Chester was at sea, Lenara earned extra money by offering herself as an evening's pleasurable company to traveling patrons of the Walrus, always careful to not openly advertise, fearful that one of the locals would let slip her indiscretions to Chester.

Coriandrinne's conception occurred when the herbalist who covertly provided doses of night tea to Lenara accidentally mixed up the parcel with one intended for another local woman suffering from an absence of libido. The lighthearted flirtations of an elvish minstrel passing through (and paying for his drinks with music) culminated in a prolonged night of passion mere days after Chester had set out to sea.

Lenara didn't know she was with child until well after Chester had returned a fortnight later. Having unwittingly consumed the wrong tea the entire time, Lenara had earned quite a bit more coin than usual, and
Chester was pleasantly surprised with his wife's rekindled desire for him.

Two fortnights later, Lenara was suffering from severe nausea and vomiting. Chester called a local healer, who informed him that Lenara was indeed pregnant. Chester was so happy, he immediately told every one of his neighbors and crew mates that he was going to be a father. At that point, Lenara began counting the days in her mind and the number of men she had taken to bed, and silently hoped that the baby was his. She confronted the herbalist, and learned of the parcel mix-up. The herbalist offered to brew her a potion that would cause a miscarriage, but Lenara refused. Chester was so happy, she said, and she felt she couldn't do that to him.

Of course, when Coriandrinne was born with the telltale signs of elvish ancestry, Lenara could do nothing to hide it. Chester flew into a rage and attacked Lenara while she still lay exhausted on the birthing bed. He wrapped his hands around her throat and squeezed until her windpipe
cracked and collapsed under the pressure. Once she was dead, he turned to end the life of his wife's bastard child, but the herbalist (who was acting as midwife) grabbed up the newborn and ran.

The midwife acquired passage on a coastal trader and sailed south along the coast to Tamran, in Nirmathas. There she brought the child to the one of the local brothels run by Sacred Prostitutes of Calistria. She explained the circumstances of the child's conception and birth, and asked for the the Temple to take her in and raise her. The Calistrians agreed, in exchange for a detailed account of what happened, including the names of Lenara and Chester, so that the information could be provided to the child when she came of age. The Calistrian scribes wrote down the herbalist's entire account and placed it in their archives.
They named the baby Coriandrinne Vespida (for Coriander, a sacred plant associated lust and Vespida (wasp), a sacred animal associated with revenge). She was brought up in the temple, learning the arts of both lust and violence.

When Coriandrinne came of age, the Temple Prostitutes tattooed the symbol of Calistria on the back of her left hand. She was also presented with the account of her birth and her mother's death. Arms, armor, traveling gear, and a small purse full of gold and silver coins was provided for her with the unspoken expectation that she would return to Vellumis and wreak vengeance upon her mother's murderer.

Upon arriving in Vellumis, Coriandrinne made her way to the Whelming Walrus, and talked to proprietor into giving her work as a serving wench. She served drinks by day and plied her temple-skills by night, earning coin and collecting information on the locals, including one now-Captain Chester Brasskettle. She learned that the captain and his ship, the Constance, were expected back in port within the week. She also learned of Captain Brasskettle's sorrowful past: having lost his lovely wife and child due to the incompetency of the local midwife, who quickly left town the very day of their deaths (in all likelihood to evade arrest).

Finally, Captain Brasskettle made his appearance in the common room of the Walrus. Coriandrinne took his order, brought him his drink, then proceeded to flirt with him the rest of the evening, making her availability all too clear. In less than an hour, she was leading him upstairs to one of the rooms, where she enacted her revenge. Unfortunately, a business associate of the captain arrived several minutes later. It appears that a well-connected political figure in Vellumis had hired the Constance to smuggle illegal goods into port, and his agent had arrived to arrange transfer of the cargo. The agent knocked loudly on the door, insisting to speak to the Captain now. Coriandrinne made noises imply that he was far too busy to speak at the moment, but the agent was not deterred. He called out to the captain to answer him, but received no response. He then forced open the door, only to find Captain Brasskettle naked and tied to the bed. He was savagely beaten, and the heel of a stiletto boot was jammed into the hollow of his throat. He gurgled and gasped, as he slowly drowned in his own blood.

The agent had Coriandrinne arrested immediately. She was quickly tried for murder and imprisoned. The contents of the Constance's hold never came to light. The official's agents collected it, unopened, as evidence.

It is not merely enough to be bitten by a vampire. The process of transforming into a true vampire is a long, painful and arduous road. Some are not up to this grueling task and instead the curse overwhelms them. Instead of transforming into a vampire, they instead merely sicken and die or worse, become an almost mindless spawn fit for little more than menial service to an undying master. However, our villains are made of sterner stuff.
To become a true vampire requires an investment of five feats – a major expenditure to be sure. However, the rewards of becoming a vampire are viewed by many as being worth the cost of this ascension.

The Bitten
You have been bitten by a vampire and infected with the curse of undeath. As you sicken, your senses heighten and you become profoundly aware that every day, you are changing into something both more and less than mortal. You have only begun your transformation into the living dead.

Prerequisites: You must be bitten by a vampire.

Benefits: You gain darkvision 30 ft. and the alertness feat, however your Constitution score is lowered by two permanently.

The Dying

You are dying. You can feel it in very core of your being. Your mortal blood is failing and the vampiric curse is overtaking you. Soon, you will die and rise again as a vampire.

Prerequisites: The Bitten, 3rd level

Benefits: Your natural armor improves +2, your dark-vision improves to 60 ft., you gain a +2 racial bonus to Perception and you gain the toughness feat. However your Constitution score is again lowered by two permanently, you now cast no shadow and have no reflection in a mirror. Further, in full daylight you are sickened.

The Risen
Vampirism has overtaken you and you have died. However after three days in the ground you have risen from your own death. You are now a fledglingvampire. However, you are still unsure of your powers and only begun to understand the full reprecussions of this dark gift. Still, you are fast as lightning and full of fury. You can barely restrain your thirst for living blood.

Prerequisites: The Bitten, The Dying, 5th level

Benefits: You gain the feats Dodge, Improved Initiative and Lightning Reflexes. Your Dex score is improved by +2. You are now an undead and have no Constitution score. You gain resistance to cold 10 and electricity 10 in addition to all the normal defensive abilities granted by being an undead. You also gain the special attack Blood Drain (as per the vampire template).

However, you must sleep in a coffin every night, you gain the vampiric weaknesses to daylight (this replaces being sickened by daylight) and running water, and if you ever go more than twenty four hours without feeding on living blood you become sickened until you feed. If you are sickened from lack of food and encounter a living creature with blood in their veins, you must make a DC 12 Will save or immediately try to drain their blood. If you succeed at such a save you do not have to check again for one hour.

If reduced to zero hit points, you fall dead, indistinguishable from a normal corpse. You will remain this way until either you are healed by negative energy or fed blood enough to heal you.

The Initiated
You have been a vampire long enough that you are beginning to be able to control your condition. You need to feed less frequently and you have begun to control your form turning into mist or climbing like a spider.

Prerequisites: The Bitten, The Dying, The Risen, 7th level

Benefits: You gain the feat Combat Reflexes. You gain a +4 racial bonus to Bluff, Perception, Sense Motive and Stealth Checks (the Perception bonus replaces the bonus from the Dying feat). You gain the gaseous form and spider climb special qualities of a vampire (see the vampire template). If reduced to zero hit points, you are still sickened if you do not feed but now you need only feed every three days. However, you now recoil from mirrors and strongly presented holy symbols.

True Vampirism
You have mastered your condition of vampirism and are now a true vampire in every sense.

Prerequisites: The Bitten, the Dying, the Risen, The Initiated, 9th level

Benefits: You gain the full benefit and weaknesses of the vampire template.

Drawbacks
Aversion to sunlight is probably the most famous vampire weakness. Here is a magic item that can help a vampire participate during daylight hours. The Shroud of the Daywalker can help a vampire function during the day time.

The second problem all vampires must face is that they need to have a coffin readily at hand. They sleep within their coffin and must flee to it if reduced to zero hit points. Lugging around a coffin can be quite an obstacle but is likely a surmountable one. No doubt the vampire will either establish a lair or perhaps bring a carriage with them that contains their coffin and shields it from the light of the sun. Minions can be used for guard duty to secure the wagon when the vampire must be away from the coffin. Though not mentioned in the template, in traditional vampire lore, the coffin can be desecrated and rendered unusable by holy water or the blessings of a holy man.

The third disadvantage is one often forgotten about both in roleplaying games and fiction, but is perhaps one of the most interesting. A vampire cannot enter a private home or dwelling unless invited by someone with the authority to invite them in. It means that the vampire PC must find a way to, by trickery or guile, get invited into these places.

There is one more vampiric challenge – the creation of vampire spawn. An endlessly replenishable supply of CR 4 minions can be unbalancing. However, if you read the template carefully, this can be managed. First, the PC vampire can only control twice its hit dice in spawn. Any additional become free-willed vampires. Most newly created free-willed vampires will try to flee their creator and so will be of no use as minions. CR 4 spawn are unlikely to be terribly useful in combat at level 12 plus when the PCs are likely to actually have minions in their midst. What can you can do is allow minion organizations a one-time bonus of +2 to Ruthless checks made after dark after a vampire joins the party.