The Bloody Machinations of Makeen

The Khorne-carved butte

The Friday night group had a gap in between games that needed filling, so I stepped in with a one-shot session. The initial premise was that they'd be playing young barbarians about to be exiled from their tribe. Little did they know that they'd find themselves in a scenario that was half the Doctor Who episode "Face of Evil" and half them being recruited by Warhammer 40k's Inquisition.

I love doing a one-shot with a twist or reveal to it, but to make that work I think you also have to deliver on the premise you presented at the outset too. I promised barbarians vs. dinosaur action, which they got, and then there was a "the fantasy stuff is actually sci fi" and "actually you're facing an AI wargame corrupted by the chaos god Khorne" layer over that.

The Characters

Aldric, an agile warrior

Bru, a brutal warrior

Chika Boom-Boom, a lorekeeper

Abendego, a hunter

Yrsa, a shaman's acolyte

The Premise

This is what the players knew going into the game:

You are youngbloods of the Rokatehm tribe, hunters and gatherers who eke out an existence in your tribal lands. Your people collect fruit from the jungle and kill the mighty thunder lizards who roam the Carnage Zone for their meat and skins. The Carnage Zone lies beyond a line of magical pillars that keep the thunder lizards from wandering into your tribe’s territory. 

The Rokatehm do not live in peace; your people suffer raids from the lizard-headed Eaters, who attempt to drag members of your tribe away to be devoured or enslaved. No one knows where the Eaters hail from–they cross the Carnage Zone to reach your village. Even your great god Makeen does not offer an explanation for the predatory Eaters.

Makeen speaks! Mostly to Gorvus Feld, your tribe’s head shaman, and only when he wears his sacred headdress. Only Gorvus Feld can hear the voice of Makeen–or so you had been led to believe.

One night, drunk on the fermented nectar of the katal-katal fruit, you youngbloods sneaked into the head shaman’s chamber ritual chamber and took turns placing the holy helmet upon your heads. Each of you has heard the voice of Makeen! Makeen has spoken to you!

You were caught during your act of transgression and dragged before the tribal council. No one cared when you claimed that Gorvus Feld had lied about Makeen’s willingness to speak to others. The chieftain sentenced you to exile–you now stand before the mystical pillars, the tribe’s warriors at your back ready to force you from your home and into–the Carnage Zone!

Events

Play began with the characters' gear being tossed beyond the shimmering protective barrier of the pillars. The character crossed into exile willingly, except for Yrsa who had to be thrown past the boundary by the tribe's warriors. The group began to pick their way into the Carnage Zone. Around them, the jungle was alive with the sounds of birds and buzzing insects; as they marched the heat sapped their strength and they were soaked in sweat.

Things went from bad to worse when a few members of the group detected the ground shaking in response to a massive thunder lizard bearing down on them and crashing through the trees. The group ran for it, with most of the party heading left and Aldric heading right in hopes that the monster would pursue the larger group. 

Everyone emerged from the jungle at the same time at the base of a butte. The butte had been carved to resemble some kind of helmet or ritual headdress of unknown origins. The maw of the helmet was actually an entrance to a cave within the butte. The characters rushed inside. From the safety of the cave, they could see that the thunder lizard that had chased them through the jungle was a T. Rex. Fortunately, the cave's mouth was too small for the thunder lizard to squeeze in, though its saliva-dripping jaws did snap and snarl at the entrance.

Inside the cave, Abendego tripped over a skeleton whose remaining clothes marked them as a previous exile from the Rokatehm tribe. Using bits of the skeleton and its rags, he was able to fashion a makeshift torch to explore the rest of the cavern. There was a slopping passage up and a strange, unnatural shaft. The shaft was "decorated" with small blue lights and "vines" of copper metal that were threaded with strands and clumps of throbbing meat. When cut, the meat bled.

With no way to ascent the shaft, the group ventured up the sloping path and wandered further into the interior of the butte. They found themselves in a chamber lined with large glass tubes (though they had no conception of what glass was) filled with murky liquid. They had a bit of a jump scare when they realized that fetal thunder lizards were floating inside the murky liquid. Atop each of the tubes were more of the copper vines and bits of pulsating meat. A metal door with no handle marked one exit from the chamber and a corridor stretching off to the side marked another. There was also a perfectly round hole in the floor of this chamber. Using his torch, Abendego could see a collection of human and thunder lizard bones done below, as well as rats scurrying to and fro.

Their exploration was halted when five of the tubes opened to disgorge fully formed (and hungry) velociraptors. The group attempted to flee down the unknown corridor, but it ended in another featureless metal door. Now they were penned in with no choice but to fight their way past the velociraptors. Axes and swords were swung, arrows were unleased, and Chika was nearly shredded by the teeth of a raptor. The group managed to slay the prehistoric beasts. Bru was particularly effective at carving a swath through the monsters.

Abendego was able to fashion a rope from the copper vines (cables, really) and descend into the bone pit, where he found a slim card that unlocked the doors in the area above. As they explored further, they found a shrine with a bronze statue with the same helm as was carved on the butte's face. Piled around the statue's feet were human skulls that were spattered with dried blood. When Aldric began smashing the skulls, it alerted the lizard-headed Eaters in the next room to their presence in the complex. The Eaters rushed in and again the party found themselves in a life and death struggle.

The Eaters were hardy foes, but once they were vanquished the group found themselves in possession of another card. This one unlocked the most horrifying chamber yet: a room filled with wheezing machinery, curtains of raw meat hung like skirt steak, and undulating organs of alien purpose. Within the room were more Eaters (one of whom was armed with a strange sword whose edge was lined with metal "teeth," yeah, it was a chainsword) and a number of dead-eyed beings who looked like Rokatehm exiles whose flesh had been combined with bits of metal and flashing lights. 

The voice of Makeen rang out as they stepped into the chamber: "Calculating winner, please stand by." The winner was announced, and it was Chika! Part of the unnerving black metal machinery opened, revealing a throne. Chika was told to sit herself upon the throne and receive her "prize," but she refused. Her refusal confused the Eaters in the room, as they could not imagine rejecting the chance to be transformed into a champion of "the Blood God." 

The group heard a sound like the shrieking of a great bird coming from atop the butte. Further conversation with the gobsmacked Eaters was rendered impossible by a woman coming down the stairs from the top of the butte who opened fire on the Eaters with a miraculous weapon. Her white hair was cut in a bob and she wore black armor the likes of which the group had never seen before. (Yes, Sister Talisa was an Adepta Sororitas.) Since she didn't know what to do with the group, she brought them up top where her leader, Inquisitor Mohandas Corrado was busy examining Makeen's "brain."

Mohandas Corrado was a dark-skinned man with a swoop of curly hair covering one eye. He explained that just about everything the group knew about their lives was a distortion of the truth. The Rokatehm tribe were the descendants of the Boom-Boom Rocket Team, a team of suborbital racers who competed across the sector until their ship got caught in a Warp Storm and deposited on the jungle planet. One of the Rocket Team members was a "naughty boy" who had a xenos artificial intelligence wargame system onboard the ship; when it passed through the Warp Storm it was infested with Khorne's demonic energies. That xenos device was, of course, Makeen (machine!) and had been breeding dinosaurs and creating Eaters to carry on the blood-soaked wargame in real time to feed blood and souls to the Chaos god Khorne!

Mohandas asked the group what they would do with Makeen, if they were in his position: would they destroy it or take it away for further study? They hemmed and hawed over this question, but ultimately indicated that they would study it further if that meant putting an end to similar incursions elsewhere. Mohandas agreed and, intrigued by the groups' ability to survive against the machinations of Chaos, offered to take them with him on his gunship so they could be trained as part of his Inquisitorial retinue. 

They agreed that leaving the planet was a capital idea, so they boarded Corrado's gunship and prepared themselves to encounter an entire galaxy beyond their wildest imaginings. 

Drathmoor Asylum and Esperhaus

Below are two adventure locations in the city of Piskaro. It just wouldn't be a Gothic fantasy setting without a horrible asylum to either infiltrate or break out of, would it? Similarly, you can never have enough venues for terrifying, empowered children. Krevborna trivia: the twin sisters in charge of Esperhaus are named after former members of the band Rasputina.

Drathmoor Asylum

Drathmoor Asylum is an infamous place of incarceration for inebriates and the mad. 

    • The asylum gives some lip-service to the notion of being an institution where the afflicted find solace, but the treatments provided there are seldom better than torture.

    • Rumors circulate that some of the procedures pioneered at the asylum have horrifying origins—serving the doctors’ desire to know the inner workings of the mind, rather than tending to their patients’ recovery and treatment. 

    • It is also suspected by many that Drathmoor is used to get unwanted and inconvenient relations out of the way.

Esperhaus

Esperhaus is a sprawling orphanage and foundling hospital in Piskaro that hides a dark secret.

    • The avowed mission of Esperhaus is to clothe, feed, and educate orphans and unwanted children according to a modern, progressive plan.

    • However, the educators of Esperhaus clandestinely test their charges for psychic potential.

    • When they discover a child with latent psychic powers, the boy or girl is subjected to experiments designed to enhance and unlock their extraordinary abilities.

    • Esperhaus is run by Carpella and Agnieszka Parvoska, twin sisters who are both scientists who have been driven to madness by their own psionic powers.

    • Carpella Parvoska is a proficient telepath able to prize secrets from even the most well-guarded mind.

    • Agnieszka Parvoska is a wild-eyed pyrokinetic who can barely contain her violent power.

Best of 2024

Bad Books for Bad People, Episode 82: Best of 2024

Jack and Kate look at what they've read and watched in the year that was 2024 and make some recommendations in the world of books and beyond. The rules of engagement are simple: the hosts each choose one movie, album, TV show, and book that was the best experience of its kind, regardless of when it was actually produced. A little bit new, a little bit old, and a whole lot of weirdness is in store!

Join your hosts for a discussion that ranges from wicked governesses to the relative merits of Italian heavy metal to gothic roadside attractions. Oh, and murder. So much murder.

Piskaro

We're moving from the Karthax Mountains down to Krevborna's coast, stopping for a while in Piskaro--Krevborna's second-largest city and busiest port. Piskaro is the gateway for nautical horrors in the setting, but it also has variety of other Gothic nonsense going on.

Piskaro

A Dangerous Seaport Fallen From Grace

Piskaro is a densely populated port city of teetering buildings crowded together like crooked teeth atop canals at the mouth of the River Krev. Piskaro is a center of thriving maritime trade and a haven for pirates. Its wharves bustle with the lading and unloading of full-rigged ships, prison hulks are moored offshore, and dangerous quayside taverns are frequented by cutthroats and whalers who call exotic ports home. 

Piskaro is governed by whichever pirate captain has recently intimidated the others into submission. The exercise of law and order in Piskaro falls on parish beadles and constables. Piskaro's authorities turn a blind eye to the activities of the buccaneers operating out of its wharves, but the city’s pirates do make examples of those they consider traitors—as the number of gibbeted skeletons hanging wharfside attest.

Perhaps because of its proximity to the strange and unknowable sea, life in Piskaro is subject to persistent oddities. Those who sleep in Piskaro often find their slumber disturbed by hallucinatory nightmares, prophetic dreams, and foreboding omens. The deformed and reeking remains of unnatural aberrations occasionally wash up on shore. Sigils and runes are scrawled onto the sides of buildings with chalk to ward off violent crime. Also, it is obvious to all that some of Piskaro’s native population possess bulging eyes, a marked lack of hair, and fish-like visages that hint at an inhuman heritage.

Hallmarks

The following elements and aesthetic notes define Piskaro:

    • Piskaro, Krevborna’s largest port, is controlled by pirate captains and their crews.

    • The city sits atop a labyrinth of canals, bridges, and islands at the mouth of the River Krev.

    • The city smells of the briny deep and the sea’s unfathomable secrets.

    • Many of the seafaring folk of Piskaro place their faith in the Lady of the Drowned, a cruel sea goddess regarded as a grim heresy by the Church of Holy Blood.

 • The taverns near Piskaro’s wharves are notoriously violent.

Hellraiser #3

This blog post continues my journey through the Hellraiser comics published by Epic that ran in the late 80s into the early 90s. As I stated in earlier installments of this series, these initial issues are all about the series finding its rhythm and discovering what kind of comic this is going to be. It's an anthology-style comic, collecting the work of diverse hands, but as the run progresses certain through-lines emerge that give the comic its own special character.

In issue three of Hellraiser, they're experimenting with the notion of running fewer stories, but allowing the stories present to run to greater length. All in all, I'd say the experiment is a success because there really isn't an even slightly below-par story in the lot. Here's what the third issue has on offer:

"The Crystal Precipice"

Jan Strnad, Steve Buccellato, Stan Drakes, Sherilyn Van Valkenburg, Michael Heisler 

As with all long-running horror franchises, it was only a matter of time until Hellraiser ended up in space. "The Crystal Precipice" even predates Hellraiser: Bloodlines by eight or so years! This story takes place on an alien planet being surveyed by four explorers. As they look through their binoculars at a mysterious crystal city on the horizon, they see a human-shaped figure waving to them.

Of course, that's not a man--that's a Cenobite. In fact, it's Face. Remember when I said he would be one of the break-out original characters of the comic? Face loves this strange alien world, calling it an "Eden of rock and dust and crystal." In fact, he has a great admiration for the floating crystalline entities that inhabit this world because they have left all the impurities of the flesh behind for lives of strict geometric order.

One member of the explorers is a great example of the unruly flesh of mankind: Ernest is a violent rapist who has been assaulting one of the women in the party. He's caught in the act and banished into the alien waste. Unfortunately, that simply drives him into the hands of Face, who uses him to lure the rest of the group to their dooms.

Ernest's revenge trip is thwarted when he accidentally hits an alien crystal while firing a gun at one of his former compatriots. Face allows for no accidents; unworthy of transformation into a crystalline entity, Ernest is instead taken to Hell and refashioned as one of the mongrel pets the Cenobites keep. 

As far as stories go, this is a strange one, but what I appreciate most about it is that the art style and characterization is heavily reminiscent of the horror comics put out by Warren back in the day. There's a wonderful throwback quality to "The Crystal Precipice" in its blending of weird science and horror that is particularly pleasing even if there isn't much depth to the story. Which is fine, as this one functions like an appetizer for the longer tales to come in this issue.

"The Blood of a Poet"

R. J. M. Lofficier, John Ridgway, Gaspar Saladino, Steve Oliff

In "The Blood of  Poet," a naive would-be poet from Kansas finds himself in 1920s Paris, hoping to find his way in the invigorated European art scene between the wars. Following a tip he gleans at an occult bookstore, which happens to have a cute employee who catches his eye, he seeks a room at the Pension Veneur--a rooming house where artists are allowed free residence. The only terms at the Pension Veneur is that any artist in residence is required to create and they must attend formal dinners within the house every night.

The formal dinners are a nightmare of rehashed arguments, recriminations, and general antisociality, punctuated by what appear to be epileptic fits. During his first night within the Pension Veneur, our poet has horrific dreams--rendered in a way that delightfully reminded me a bit of the work of Basil Wolverton--and discovers upon awakening that he has penned lines of truly decadent verse. His experience at the rooming house never improves; his fellow residents are secretive, combative, and their ways are shocking to a young man fresh from the Midwest. When he's invited to join in a sadomasochistic sex act, he demurs with great haste.

When he takes the cutie from the bookstore out on a date, he learns that her boss probably steered him to the Pension Veneur under a malign ulterior motive. That ulterior motive creeps into the picture when several small details converge: the protagonist learns that Lemarchand had a hand in the Pension Veneur and several former residents of the room house have disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Things come to a head when the main character is accosted by the other residents and chained to a wall as they operate a phallic-looking clockwork contraption that summons the Cenobites. (And they're the original movie Cenobites!) It is revealed that the Cenobites allow the Pension Veneur to exist in hopes that the artists they patronize will create works that capture their hellish ideas and translate them into artistic mediums. Those who fail are sacrificed to make way for the next batch of prospects. As the Cenobites approach, the protagonist declaims his infernal-inspired verses, impressing the Order of the Gash. They take one of the other residents to Hell instead.

The main character attempts to flee the house and the horrible bargain he has struck within it, but when he finds out that his lady love from the bookstore was slain in a random mugging he returns to the Pension Veneur, dejected but ready to accept his damnation. The artwork, and especially the color choices, in this story give it a lurid, sullen atmosphere that perfectly fits the subject matter. It's a longer story, in terms of the usual page lengths for the comic, but it uses that space to be languid rather than packed with frenetic plotting.

"Songs of Metal and Flesh"

Peter Akins, Dave Dorman, Lurene Haines, Phil Felix

"Songs of Metal and Flesh" is another story that has remained with me over the years; in my estimation, it ranks among the acknowledged classics of Epic's Hellraiser run. Like "The Blood of a Poet," this story concerns art--in this case, classical music. Since childhood, Jason Marlowe has been blind. True to the trope, Jason's "other senses" compensate for his lack of vision and he becomes a musical prodigy. He wins a scholarship to a musical academy where he not only excels, but meets a woman named Deborah who will change his life.

His sexual experiences with Deborah put all those heightened sense to good use. In their pleasure, he finds access to the "hidden melodies and mysterious harmonies" that had alluded him. However, Jason Marlowe also discovers a rival in fellow student Stephen Middleton. Unsatisfied with competing against Jason musically, Stephen also seduces Deborah. Stephen assumes that because Jason cannot see Deborah's infidelity he is incapable of detecting it, but he can feel it, smell it, and hear their "cruel excitement."

Deborah introduces sadomasochism into her relationship with Jason, tying him to the bed and slashing his chest with a knife. This not only brings a new flavor of sexual pleasure into Jason's life, but gives him another way to access "the hidden sonatas." Meanwhile, Stephen breaks into Jason's home and places razor blades between the keys of his piano so that the next time he plays he maims his hand. 

Stephen exits to a successful career as a touring musician. The story notes, with cold cruelty, that he cheats on Deborah in every city and that she eventually dies, unloved, of a cancer that eats away at her.

Jason is forced to pivot from performer to composer, but his experiences with Stephen and Deborah have fueled him to creative heights he would not have reached otherwise. Music becomes a puzzle to solve and--well, you see where this is going, right? At the cresendo of his composition, he drags his naked body along a wall studded with razor blades, then spins en pointe, sending droplets of his blood to complete the sheet music he has scattered before him on the ground.

At the debut of Jason's piece everything goes to Hell--literally. Stephen is the pianist entrusted to bring the music to life, of course, and when he does he finds himself snared on hooked chains, the Cenobites now part of the audience. What follows is pure Grand Guignol style theatrics: headless violinists saw at their instruments and the audience is flayed alive. In the end, Jason finds himself in Leviathan's realm. His vision has been restored, so that he might see the horrors around him, but he has now lost his senses of touch, smell, taste, and hearing. Once an instrument for producing Hell's music, he is now a physical instrument plucked and drummed upon for eternity.

As I said at the start, I consider "Songs of Metal and Flesh" to be a Hellraiser classic--and for good reason. It is an exceedingly cruel story, and the way it combines desire, beauty, and pain into a heady mix is entirely on theme. I also love the art style. There is a certain naivety to the coloring (colored pencils, I think) that mirrors Jason's lack of experience and unguarded descent. This one is hard to beat.

Thronzeker

One common complaint about fantasy games is that they don't feature enough dragons, even if the game has "dragon" in its name. Well, here's one from Krevbrona.

The Karthax Mountain’s most powerful villain is Thronzeker, a regicidal undead dragon.

Thronzeker

Thronzeker is an undead dragon obsessed with regicide. Indeed, it was Thronzeker who whispered of treason in the dreams of the conspirators who overthrew and executed Krevborna’s royal family. Without a tsar on which to focus his bloody ire, Thronzeker has grown restless over the intervening years. As the Church of Holy Blood has grown in secular power, his thoughts have turned toward demolishing the faith as a bastion of nascent political power.

    • Appearance: Although the bleached bones of his skeleton comprise the majority of his form, gobs of nauseating rotten flesh still adhere to his frame. 

    • Personality: He still dreams of the death of kings.

    • Motive: He hopes to render the people of Krevborna weak, vulnerable, and afraid by removing their protectors.

    • Flaw: Without a downfall to plot, he finds himself growing erratic and unstable.

Sanctum Sabbathi and Valpurga

Today's post contains two more adventure locations in the Karthax Mountains. The first is the lair of Krevborna's foremost criminal syndicate based on the fabled mountain dwellings of the Order of Assassins. The second is an eldritch library presided over by the legendary nosferatu.

Sanctum Sabbathi

Sanctum Sabbathi is a concealed fortress used as the headquarters of the Skarabasca criminal organization.

    • Sanctum Sabbathi is veiled by powerful illusions—only those who hold one of the magical keys to the fortress can perceive it. It is otherwise invisible.

    • Within Sanctum Sabbathi are vast alchemical laboratories used to create the magical intoxicants that the Skarabasca’s agents peddle throughout Krevborna.  

    • The alchemists of the Skarabasca are not adverse to dipping into their own supply; the members of the Skarabasca at Sanctum Sabbathi exist in states of paranoia, mania, and heightened aggression.

    • Sanctum Sabbathi is also home to the many seers, oracles, and diviners that the Skarabasca use to spy upon rival criminal organizations.

    • The inner chambers of Sanctum Sabbathi contain the summoning circles the Skarabasca rely upon to conjure the demons they employ as supernatural assassins.  

Valpurga

Valpurga is a lonely clock tower constructed from a weathered material that appears to be stone, but is in fact the petrified flesh of a sleeping eldritch creature. No matter the state of the weather, the tower’s “stone” is uncannily warm to the touch. 

    • The interior of Valpurga is dominated by floor after floor of library shelves, all of which are tightly packed with rare and ancient tomes. 

    • Valpurga is a repository of knowledge that has been preserved for posterity via magical means. 

    • Valpurga is also decorated by a startling amount of grandfather clocks, each of which is actually a portal leading to a different location within Krevborna.

    • The surest way to find what you seek in Valpurga is to consult Count Orlok, the librarian residing within it; Orlok is a nosferatu who is only lucid for a few hours after he has fed on fresh blood.

    • Count Orlok’s arms and legs are laden with heavy iron chains as a sign of his devotion to the otherworldly entity known as the Chained Scholar.