Spoils of the Gorgon Coast: The Cult of Chalices [Randomizers]

Continuing on from yesterday, probably the hardest thing to cut from Spoils of the Gorgon Coast were the randomizers for the Cult of Chalices; the horrible cult which exists to support the Inheritors in their quest for monstrous divinity. The Inheritors in the book ended up getting more focus, as the direct antagonists; but the Cult of Chalices are the intended bad guys to fight and contend with. In all honesty I should've freely published these earlier, I was sort of holding off on it because I put out an offer for anyone who reviewed the book online to receive free further content from me; but that never really took on. C'est la vie.

Having gotten to write a bit of the setting material for Best Left Buried: Deeper, the Cult of Chalices do appear in some mentions, as does the Gorgon Coast; but they are contained to broader Maignish territory ceded in the collapse of the Imperium. I actually enjoyed writing some non-Italian/Spain inspired items away from the monstrous attitudes of the Gorgon Coast; but it is my hope that some folk might run campaigns and use my work to tarnish, invade, and destroy that broader, more beautiful world.

Blasphemous is a good inspiration.

Anyway.

As the state religion of the Coast, the Cult of Chalices influence much of the culture present in these modern days. All but the most outlying hamlet has at least one shrine dedicated to their bloodletting rites, all of storied history and some importance to the greater schemes of the faith. From the vaunted cathedrals of the city-state to the petty road shrine in the southern mountains, the influence of the Chalice is ever present.

[d10] Why is this site sacred to the Cult of Chalices?

1. An ancient Chalice-Bearer was exsanguinated where this structure now stands.
2. An Inheritor, first of their line, was birthed in this spot.
3. A martyr of the Ordo Mourner-Stigmata died defending the Chalice faithful here.
4. This was the site of an ancient purge against dissidents and heretics.
5. A terrible monster was blooded here, bringing safety and prosperity to the land.
6. The Basilisk was driven back from this site nearly a hundred years ago.
7. A false Inheritor who denied the Chalice was tortured to death here.
8. A mighty Chalice-Bearer who rose to the rank of Archon was born here, their afterbirth still stains the ground.
9. The Ordo Parasitium purged the last of a strain of vile blood at this location.
10. A wayward pilgrim's chalice was blessed by miraculous blood here, not emptying til all had their fill.

[d10] What else is of importance at this site?

1. An ancient chalice is enshrined within, stained red with age and use.
2. Xiphos swords from a more primitive age are held here in reliquary.
3. A pacified monster, brutalized docile, serves here.
4. Many ancient scrolls are held at this site, such is their importance.
5. Hidden catacombs beneath the site hold blood of ancient servants.
6. An adjacent wine cellar holds blessed sanguine from the days of imperial splendor.
7. Enshrined within is a gilded scroll that Chalice-bearers make pilgrimage to read.
8. A ritual room is attached, for rites of passage and fouler acts.
9. The ceiling of the site is a detailed painting of the night sky, with astrological signs painted in red.
10. Brass grotesques of agonized bulls and hateful men line the outside of the site.

[d10] Who is in attendance at this site?

1. A group of silent mendicants ...
2. A throng of scab-coated flagellants...
3. A few dozen parishioners in their sanguine finest...
4. A trio of Chalice Aspirants...
5. A few candle-lighter boys...
6. A cadre of peers from the Ordo of the Mourner Stigmata...
7. A heretic and a legalist, both of the Dissident Choir...
8. A dozen anemic blood letters...
9. An exorcist and apprentice of the Ordo Parasitium...
10. A red deacon and their congregation of the humble poor ...

[d10] What is it they are doing?

1.  ...holding sallow candles of ox-fat and singing the chant.
2. ...polishing knives of elegant silver and hornwood.
3. ...engaged in silent prayer, whispering over empty stone chalices.
4. ...looking upon the splendorous displays of the faith.
5. ...engaged in hushed talks of politics and war.
6. ...contemplating the vintage of a phial of blessed blood.
7. ...speaking the ills of the world and who is to blame.
8. ...spilling crimson blood into a grotesque ritual basin.
9. ...donning the Regalia Gorgoneia in preparation for a ritual.
10. ...singing the chant of blood and truth, loud and wild.

[d10] Who is the Chalice-Bearer of this locale?

1. A lesser sibling to the local Inheritor...
2. A castrated Inheritor searching for purpose...
3. A zealot who drinks too deeply of vile blood...
4. A retired exorcist who holds the chalice for fear of demons...
5. A boisterous chaplain of the Inheritor's army...
6. An atavistic anchorite, blooded of the Dog-Men...
7. An eel-throated chanter of the Dissident Choir...
8. A flame-scarred theologian who fears the eschaton to come...
9. An emaciated martyr, bedraggled by botflies...
10. The flayed child of an Inheritor, destined by prophecy for the Blackened Throne...

[d10] What is it that makes them unique?

1. ...they have fangs like a crocodile and the wild hair of a beast.
2. ...they seek the offal of a basilisk to perform a sacrament of stone.
3. ...their body is host to many parasites, slowly turning them to stone.
4. ...their hands are clawed like a vulture and their voice is like the breaking of bones.
5. ...a third eye upon their head bleeds with beatific stigmata, a mark of greatness.
6. ...they wear a stone mask, grotesque; their inner truth made outward.
7. ...they wear a raiment of crimson, dyed with the blood of a hundred "lesser beings."
8. ...they clutch tightly an ancient Imperial blackware chalice.
9. ...they deeply fear loss of influence in the coming war, that they will be usurped.
10. ...they have begun to pen their grand works in virgin blood, binding a terrible spell to the page.

[d6] The Cult of Chalices perform many profane rituals. What is the catalyst of this one?

1. Demands the sacrifice of wild bulls...
2. Commands the drowning of a child in monstrous blood...
3. Calls for the bedding of a virgin and a vile monster...
4. Demands the consumption of ancient blood...
5. Calls for slathering oneself in the ashes of charred royalty...
6. Commands the consumption of a warrior's heart…

[d6] What will result from this ritual succeeding?

1. ...it will produce an Inheritor of great value in the coming age.
2. ...it will provide insight into dweomers that prevent the coming age.
3. ...it will mantle the ritualist with monstrous mien.
4. ...it will enkindle the soul with mastery of immolation.
5. ...it will be the cause of calamity against hated foes.
6. ...it will bid the Imperator's genus loci to inhabit a new Stone Herald.

[d10] In places of splendor, what treasure does the Cult of Chalices display?

1. A grand tapestry, dyed in the sanguine blood of martyrs and monsters.
2. A stained glass window depicting the Chalice casting a red glare on the world..
3. Blessed candles rendered from the fat of fallen peers of the Ordo Mourner-Stigmata.
4. An ancient chalice of clay, cracked with age and stained deep blackish red within its basin.
5. An altar of simple stone with a deep basin so that all may drink from it heartily.
6. A grotesque teapot of scowling monster faces, large enough to hold a beating heart.
7. A set of small onyx statues depicting pilgrims carrying chalices.
8. Resplendent painting of monsters and heretics drowning in a sea of boiling blood.
9. A carpet, stained red and woven from the hair of the fallen faithful.
10. A set of red-bound books concerning the nature of contagions and purification rites.

Spoils of the Gorgon Coast: Contacts in Fallen Taurochtalia

While I do eventually intend to compile the whole of my cut content from Spoils of the Gorgon Coast into a proper module featuring the Ashen City and the fallen capital in all its glory, it feels beyond pointless for me to keep materials I had cut from the original draft of the book in some dropbox. For those not in the know, Spoils was nearly double the length we ended up going with; a mixture of cut content and my own purple prose. Those of you who enjoyed it, I suggest you indulge in Best Left Buried: Deeper when it comes to kickstarter within a week or so; as I was given a chance to write much of the geographical/faction/setting details and they're of my brand. 

What follows is a list of contacts in Fallen Taurochtalia, though in theory you could put them anywhere on the Gorgon Coast. There is one for each archetype of the original edition, as well as little randomizers to determine what it is they are up to. 

Blooded Mother Sidania (Believer)

Martyr that she is, Sidania dwells among the parasite lepers of the Plaza Gorgoneia, calling the slowly petrifying masses to the daily chant and sharing sanguine blood with new aspirants to the cult. She is a tall and narrow maiden of advancing age, dressed in crimson robes and iron rings on each finger meant to allow for ease of bleeding. Always worn around her neck is a gilded goblet embellished with patterns of sharks devouring serpents. It is her most precious treasure, a gift from an Inheritor, and when she sips from it she is under the influence of bloodscent towards whatever type of creature’s blood was imbibed. She knows the rites of chivalry and hospitality upon the Gorgon Coast, as well as the layout of many a Chalice Cult site. Sidania will never assist in acts against the Cult unless given ample cause to believe the targets are in truth members of the Dissident Choir. If properly bribed with “donations to the Cult” be it high art or the blood of monsters, she can open many doors in even the most far-flung faithful hamlets of the region.

[d6] What is Blooded Mother Sidania doing?

1. Writing correspondence to the Ordo Parasitium, offering tips on arson and fire starting.
2. Whipping a recent convert to the Cult of Chalices and collecting the blood from their back.
3. Throttling a Chalice Chanter, alleging them to be a Dissident Choir heretic.
4. Proselytizing to mercenaries and deserters with little success.
5. Warbling a song of prayer while peeling the skin from her fingers.
6. Reading coded correspondence, bitterness in her twitching eyes.

The Herald of the White Tower (Cabalist)

The slave of the Wizard, no amount of gilded thread or silvered lace upon his regalia will convince others he is anything more than a thrall. Behind a solemn chorus mask is the traumatized face of a young man, beholden to mind-shattering sorceries and dark rituals which put him the least among his peers in the other Duchies. If not for the wealth he commands by proxy, he’d be treated as the craven lunatic others think him to be. But none would dare openly disrespect the poor boy, for he is the Herald of the White Tower, and to insult him would be to risk the wrath of the Wizard who usurped the godhead. Those who have witnessed the Herald’s magic might think him merely a conduit, for his spells are accompanied by agonized screams. He dwells in the Manor of the Dogaressa, finding comfort in the abandoned libraries where old truths are enshrined. On warm days he visits the Plaza of the Ten to watch philosophers preach their knowledge. He is charged by his master to ensure whoever seizes the Blackened Throne of the Gorgon Coast will bow to the law of the Wizard; but disillusioned by the mercantile aspects of warfare he has found his attention drawn more towards attempting to preserve the arts of Ancient Taurochtalia before they are lost to war. He will pay handsomely for items of antique vintage. 

[d6] What is Herald of the White Tower doing?

1. Heading to the Tower Collegium as a puppet, eyes crackling with energy, 
2. Gripping at his brow, as if fearing his head might explode.
3. Wandering the streets in a frenzy, speaking in tongues, weeping.
4. Protesting in vanity towards sellswords, against the cruelties of war
5. Walking about and then immediately crumpling to the ground in seizures, their body rippling with white fettering energies.
6. Disrobed, pale, tired, contemplating self-harm; masks himself if noticed, fears being seen as anything other than the herald, but desires being seen all the same.

Salamach the Cyclops (Cut-Throat)

Born of the Dog-Men, Salamach is a hulking brute of a man with teeth made for rending bone and hands made for throttling the innocent. He has a bounty on his head from several notable and rival Inheritors, having earned their ire after stealing a broken helmet from the tomb of a fallen Imperator. Crafted from enchanted bronze, the shimmering blue metal obscures half his face; displaying instead an armored mask of coiling snakes around a single gigantic eye. He is unaware of its monstrous power, that should someone try to take his head he will become a slithering mass of serpents (as beetle flesh). None have been bold enough to try. By strength of arms and many enemies, Salamach has postured himself into the position of a crime lord and loan shark in Fallen Taurochtalia. He doesn’t care for the city, and would flee to foreign shores if properly incentivized. He trades in favors, kidnappings and public beat-downs, employing protagonists and sellswords to shakedown non-compliant entities. He is effective, producing brutalized abductees for a modest price. 

[d6] What is Salamach the Cyclops doing?

1. Throttling a smuggler with one hand, mocking their mother and crushing their windpipe, 
2. Taking in a fight between protagonists, laughing obnoxiously at the sound of brutalized meat.
3. Sleeping in a comfortable pile with several beautiful camp followers, their make-up smears staining him and one another.
4. Strutting through town with bawdy concubines, two on each arm. 
5. Ordering around smugglers while gnawing on a roast goose he holds in a single hand, 
6. Brutalizing a deserter for some imagined failure, popping their bones out of place.

Rigamella DiLemel (Dastardess)

The troubadours have sung her deeds for the past three years, the dastardess who collects the jawbones of rakish men, the duellist who humiliated a Jerrodine lord by removing her false beard and revealing his false claims, the brazen knave who rode naked through distant Junkai with the head of an ogre as her banner. The truth of any such deed is notably hard to improve, embellished as they are. She has returned, they say, to the Gorgon Coast so she might usurp an Inheritor and claim her rightful place as a new Dogaressa of a city-state. Of course she doesn’t seem to know anything about the Chalice Cult, so she cannot be from the Coast. Just as well, she’d have to be twice her age to have bested many of the rivals she claims to have done in. What is certain is her cunning and her grace, for she is built like an amazon and quick with a rapier. She will pay well for stories of ancient tombs and derring-do, and in her web of lies there may be truth of use.

[d6] What is Rigamella DiLemel doing?

1. Bragging proudly from atop a crate as troubadours sing of her deeds.
2. Engaged in a daring duel with a protagonist, learned eyes can note dulled rapiers wielded with grace.
3. Engaged in whimsical flights of fancy, generally involving leaping and laughter, 
4. Making a show of speaking to beggars about mundane things, for she is of the people.
5. Engaging mercenaries in braggadocios conversation about where she has fought before.
6. Getting her boots shined while practicing the Chalice Chant, butchering some pronunciations. 

Ferdinand & Isolde (Everymen)

As a middle-aged couple backed by the Bank of Calmyn, Ferdinand and Isolde are a villainous sort. They’ve come to the Gorgon Coast to further their fortune, purchase art and antiquities from plunderers, and potentially carve out a place to retire. They are thus far unimpressed; the parasite lepers and slimegorged creatures of the neighboring shoals have curdled their appreciation for the region. An encounter with blood-drinking flagellants and chalice chanters have only furthered their desire to see the region broken by “a more polite and civilized society.” Ferdinand is a short, thin man with a broom-stick mustache and a charm befitting a financial venturer; the sort of sly voice that can sell you the shirt you’re already wearing. Isolde prefers wearing elaborate dresses of fine lace and brooches of polished sea shells. Neither are prone to combat, but Isolde has shot more than a few debtors who fell late on their payments. To the average cryptdigger, the pair are agreeable, they will fund most ventures in exchange for a notable cut, and will share tactical information they’ve earned to Calmynite expatriates or shareholders of the Bank.

[d6] What are Ferdinand & Isolde doing?

1. Taking in a heavy, lavish meal and discussing business,
2. Inquiring the prices for breaking various limbs with a protagonist, 
3. Holding hands and acting obnoxiously coupled.
4. Grimacing at the sight of beggars, parasite lepers, and Chalice Chanters.
5. Engaging in ledger work and mercantile exploits with a quartermaster.
6. Inciting small disputes between camp followers and mercenaries based on wage discrepancies.

Monzamere (Freeblade)

Though his reputation seldom precedes him, no living beast-hearted fiend may kill Monzamere of Norui. A freeblade who has seen the world and fought across its fields of battle, Monzamere is a nearly ancient man of nigh-Dwarven proportions, his skin a weather beaten ebony, and his expression eternally pensive. Those who do know his reputation know he was exiled from Norui for some blasphemy. They call his blessing a curse, a sign of a coming age of monsters. He has come to the Gorgon Coast to seek another war to pass the time; and he heard rumor that all beings native to the region are “beast-hearted” in some manner. Monzamere does not care about the petty posturing of local lords, and no one can afford his prices for more than a few skirmishes. He dwells in the upper city, occasionally being courted by monster hunters and Inheritors who have heard whisperings of his prowess. Monzamere would easily be won in by legalists, should they be versed in the laws of Norui and able to see him return home.

[d6] What is Monzamere doing?

1. Commenting each move a protagonist will make in a street brawl right before they make them.
2. Cringing in annoyance at the sound of the Chalice Chant.
3. Grumpily eating a slice of fancy cheese on coarse country bread.
4. Sleeping in a plaza, naked, with a sign next to him reading "I am Monzamere, strike as you dare."
5. Effortlessly brawling with a gaggle of mercenaries, bashing them with ease.
6. Speaking with camp followers in search of hard-to-obtain spices no quartermaster would carry.

Hecuba Enande (Outcast)

Had they been born of nobility, Hecuba Enande would be among the Ordo Parasitium; and if rumors are to be true, they’d be vaunted among the Knights Basilisk by now. But Hecuba was born low, a thrall upon the slave ship Enande which toiled for pearls along the Gorgon Coast. Further misfortune saw Hecuba subjected with the afflictions of the parasite lepers, and for this they were cast overboard and into the drink. How Hecuba survived is not known, they speak of being awash in red, in fangs, and awakened in the harbor. Hecuba Enande dwells in the Old Slave Warrens, an outcast even among the parasite lepers. They hear a voice that heralds in a new age, in dreams it beckons them, and in the waking life it thrums through their body; like writhing worms. Hecuba’s grasp on reality is still salient, and vengeance propels them when it can. They want the taskmasters of the Enande brought to them in shackles, and they desire balms so their petrifying flesh does not slough off as painfully. They could be of use to a cryptdigger, strange visions aside, Hecuba knows well the cruelties of this region and their fellow outcasts will serve them in fear if plied. 

[d6] What is Hecuba Enande doing?

1. Ordering parasite lepers to attend to the Old Slave Warrens for "worship," 
2. Vomiting up serpentine worms and gazing madly at them. 
3. Gnawing away semi-petrified flesh off their person.
4. Consorting with bounty hunters, paying treasures for information on a slave ship.
5. Dragging a screaming deserter into a darkened alleyway.
6. Conversing with mercenaries about alleged criminals hiding in the Ashen City.

Bona of the Red Blade (Protagonist)

A degenerate spawn of a neighboring city-state, Bona fled the abuses of her family and took up residence in the ancestral villa of her line in the upper city of Fallen Taurochtalia. Her form is not broken or malevolent, save that in place of her right hand she has a long cutting appendage of fused bone and raw red meat. She is otherwise unremarkable, perhaps a bit tall and jaundiced in eyes, but generally bland. Beyond pawning off family heirlooms and drinking with mercenaries, Bona spends most of her time engaged in brawls or games of chance. She often finds herself awakening from drunken stupors in some sort of criminal entanglement. Those who can assist her in enjoying a life of debauchery and combat will find themselves with a shared pool of enemies; but also with an asset who knows the who’s-who of important figures in a neighboring Inheritor court.

[d6] What is Bona of the Red Blade doing?

1. Running from a gang of mercenaries; laughing madly, carrying a half-naked camp follower over her shoulder. 
2. Drunk off her gourd and asking everyone she comes across if they want to fight.
3. Passed out over a roast goose on the street.
4. Drunkenly trying to get a Chalice Chanter to teach her to dance.
5. Being too loud and obnoxious for this hour.
6. Defecating into a public fountain while chugging a bottle of wine.

Adreme Soccio Verte (Scholar)

Adreme Soccio Verte, a noted academic, currently on errantry in Fallen Taurochtalia, constructing a thesis on the influence of philosophers upon teeming masses of the violent and desperate which she has entitled “Transitional Eschatological Ethics.” Mercenaries and freeblades find her silent observations in the plazas of town to be intolerable. She has a habit of staring daggers into folk without seemingly intending to, though she believes those who claim this are overly sensitive for their violent line of work. She seldom speaks at length of her studies in a collegium of the Ten Sages, as she finds it pretentious to rest on the laurels of her alma mater; something she believes most of her peers are guilty of. Adreme has yet to properly see the horrors of war, though she has done ample interviews and studies with those who suffer from petty skirmishes. She has a deep understanding of the human mind if one can break through her ego. Notably, prior to pursuing this latest venture, she was notable in assisting those suffering from afflictions by way of therapy, drugs, and esoteric techniques. She does wish to see a battle up close and personal, but would sooner befriend mercenaries than hire them.

[d6] What is Adreme Soccio Verte doing?

1. Silently people-watching a group of mercenaries to their discomfort.
2. Asking too many probing questions to military deserters.
3. Interrogating the price of various "additional services" from camp followers, gets mad when they ask her if she's interested.
4. Listening to philosophers in the upper city preach the same tired points of human ethics.
5. Questioning a Chalice Chanter about rumors of a schism in the church, much to their anger. 
6. Engaged in polite banter with a quartermaster about being "in the thick of it" until things become uncomfortable.

Iago Herelake (Veteran)

Noted among the Dogaressa’s Guard for having survived a venture into the crypts beneath the Palace of Blackened Horns, Iago Herelake was struck partially maddened from the experience. His hair is a shock white and his flesh has become albinistic from what he encountered beneath, He was placed into a position where he would seldom encounter his peers after an incident where in a somnambulist trance, carved open the throats of his barracks bunk mates and painted a labyrinthine map with their blood. Iago seeks answers to what he saw beneath the Palace and he is haunted by nightmares of what will come if an Inheritor takes the Blackened Throne. Though formerly Chalice faithful, he has begun backing the Dissident Choir; viewing his former faith as complicit in a coming apocalyptic event. To cryptdiggers and freeblades, Iago is knowledgeable on most unpleasant subjects; but so overcome with fear, he is more likely to dissuade others from delving the crypts than fighting the darkness. He also believes the map he produced is that of a mythic underworld where something hateful seeks to escape.

[d6] What is Iago Herelake doing?

1. Nursing a bottle of wine and looking at the world through a deadman's gaze.
2. Polishing immaculate armor, not worn in years.
3. Errantly doodling a labyrinthine pattern in the margins of a book. 
4. Being pestered by mercenaries who believe he makes treasure maps.
5. Providing advice to military deserters and claiming they've made a wise choice.
6. Staring at a water fixture and mumbling to himself about "how deep and twisting it all must go..."

Conquest of the Gorgon Coast: Session 2 - One Night in Fallen Taurochtalia

Herein is the second play report for my "Conquest of the Gorgon Coast" game, playing with dear friends: Peter, Finn, Cid, and Will. It makes use of the random tables for Spoils of the Gorgon Coast, as well as randomizers cut and expanded on for the zine supplement which y'all might see soon provided we're still alive. Content warning for a suicide and general violence. 

The Set-Up

Having rescued Augistinius Gorgondi-Rex from imprisonment upon Isla Santa, the survivors of the Pact make their way to Fallen Taurochtalia to deliver the Degenerated Heir, now broken by the Basilisk Strain, to their superiors and agents of his father; and to also receive further orders.

Our Map.

The Party

• Galban Ferragamo, a veteran from the Knights Glantisant with a snaggletooth grin. Played by Will. 
• Zaira Dominitus, a displaced dastardess of the Lonely Few, cursed to live while others die. Played by Cid.
• Pike of the Ashen City, an outcast who lost their fellows in the Ruins of the Old Empire. Played by Finn.
• Flamma Lombasti, a horrifying siege engineer and murder scholar from the Cabal of the Shattered Eye. Played by Peter after Eridian’s death.

How did the session go?

Things certainly happened. This session was sort of the...Consequences of Carousing.

Firstly, on the boat, Augistinius was given the strange fleshbook from the island, which when read from aloud, caused grip checks which Galban failed and imparted upon him a strange doomsday sensation. Augistinius proclaimed that an age of the gaunt and starved shall begin, wherein all is devoured until none may yet again suckle upon a mother’s teat or know warmth of food within their belly. Zaira and Pike thought this sounded grim, but they’re not really a big fan into the Cult of Chalices anyway. Augistinius was given new clothes and he nearly ripped the jaw out of the hostage Sebastor, Sauvon Rochenne. It was a tense, odd time on the boat.

Upon arriving in Fallen Taurochtalia a day early, as the Isla Santa mission went well, the party split up. Galban sought out his superior, Knight Captain Lanza Tuttii of the Knights Glantisant; a civilized and restrained figure with the tightly wound and crumpled face best compared to an inbred master. Galban presented Sauvon in bondage, as hostage for the company to ransom. 

Lanza, the authoritarian brute that he is, had flogged Galban in the past so their meeting was very deferential. Lanza had taken a map from Iago Herelake, an albinistic and unhinged member of the Dogaressa’s Guard in the hopes that the Knights Glantisant might help hunt something in the spiraling labyrinthine patterns. Lanza refused to give the map back to Iago and after getting the progress report from Galban, gave two orders: Inform the Pact that Augistinius is to be delivered to the Shrine of the First Chalice tomorrow morning, and show this dreg what it means to make demands of his superiors. Lanza then departed with Sauvon in tow.

Galban thus told off Iago, and Iago challenged him to a duel; demanding satisfaction and his map back; for everyone’s safety. Iago drew his rapier first, but Galban took to brutalizing the fencer with a mace, two-handing it and crumpling ribs and the man’s swordarm. Galban proclaimed the will of the strong determines authority and right; Iago called him a fascist and surrendered. Galban, at the threshold of butter Grip loss, was frothing at the mouth and already seeing things in a strange combat focus.

Iago told him to give back the map, to not look at it. Galban of course, looked at the map. He got his mind lost in the patterns and scrawling endless tunnels, he realized it was scrawled upon flesh; not parchment, and when he looked up, he saw he was being watched by Chanters from the Cult of Chalices. He gained an affliction, as he was at zero Grip. Iago noticed the look, gave the man a drink of wine, and suggested they might aid one another; tonight, at the Dogaressa’s Tower upon the Gates of the Manticore. Iago mumbled that he’d see him there.

Erstwhile, Pike and Zaira escorted Augistinius around as he demanded to be able to collect old debts from years prior at the Ecclian Coliseum. Upon arriving they encountered the local crimelord, a dog-man of Cynophenia; Salamach the Cyclops. Named for his strange helmet which obscures one eye and his enjoyment for brutality. Salamach was ripping apart a military deserter who had stolen schemata from a siege engineer named Flamma Lombasti, who was watching the brutal display with errant joy.

Flamma discussed her inventions he’d interrupted; the corpse-shooter, the gore-blaster, the limb-flinger; and her arrangement with Salamach involved making sure she could spray his bones at anyone else who’d screw with her. She’s essentially a terrible giallo Jigsaw. We have fun.

Flamma, Pike, and Zaira share niceties whilst Augistinius and Salamach bicker and posture about debts and treasure. Pike wants to go on a pub crawl, but gets stuck babysitting the Heir whilst Flamma and Zaira wander off to see Flamma’s workshop and discuss the finer points in ripping people apart.

Augistinius and Salamach agree to dinner on an island villa just off the coast of the city, as it is apparently the Heir’s summer villa and Salamach has been crashing it/boozing it/sleeping there since Augistinius vanished three years ago. Pike is forced to come along. Pike hates every minute of it.

The villa is an extravagantly wealthy affair, with overgrown gardens, lush fountains lining the promenade staircase to its entrance, and with art and wealth lining every room. It is also awash in prostitutes, hedonists, drunkards, and drug-users whom Salamach parties with during his nightly bacchanales. The Heir and the Dog-Man have dinner on either side of a long table, with Pike in the middle and Pike’s dog Dandelion, sitting next to them. Things go poorly, lots of shouting between the pair. Pike is offered a bottle of wine, which Pike bites the cork off of, and begins to chug down.

Pike is informed by a servant that it is a 400 year old vintage. Pike asks if the servants wants to share. The servant doesn’t.

On the mainland, Zaira tours Flamma’s workshop; a horrible affair of half-baked machines and toxins. Zaira and Flamma conjure up the idea of making chemical weapons, but having failed their rolls, spend the rest of the night robbing an apiary, poisoning a metric tonne of bees, and wasting a lot of good potential poison. 

After leaving instructions for the morning at the boat, Galban goes to the Dogaressa’s Tower and the guards outside act viciously when he suggests he’s going in to see Iago. They ask that he kill Iago. Galban thinks that’s funny, but Galban is still unhinged. He goes in, notices the extreme disrepair and bankruptcy of the Dogaressa’s Guard. He ascends three floors to Iago’s study. Iago’s room is painted with tar, paint, shit, piss, and blood, to display the same symbols on the skin map. He keeps a circle of salt around his bed and writing desk. Iago answers the door, unlocks 20 locks, and pulls a pistol on Galban; only to let Galban in and keep the gun pinned on him.

The two discuss the map. Galban didn’t see in it what had inspired Iago to make it. Iago suggests the Cult of Chalices called something into this world, that they are to blame for Teotauria’s eruption and the desolation that created the Ashen City and immolated the souls of all within it. Iago motions to the lone window of his study which gazes out into the ashen clouds which have been present for decades over the former 60% of the capital. Galban, fool that he is. Opens the map. Again.

Coin flip. 

Galban is 0 Grip.

Galban sees something in the ash. It’s a silhouette, serpentine but not; a shadow of immense size and strange fluidity. He feels its eye upon him, the weight of its attention. His blood boils. He feels weightless. He feels flowing wind. He breaks upon the ground, several stories down, his body shattered upon the rocks.

Galban dies. Suicide it seems.

Pike wakes up in the garden of Augistinius’s villa, upon a fainting couch, wearing a fine toga, a set of laurels upon their head, a stack of cabbages behind them, 30 golden denarium upon their belly, and Dandelion sitting on a stool behind an easel. Drunks are scattered about the gardens, asleep. Pike gets up, confused. An itch upon the back of their neck. No hickies or anything untoward. Pike looks at what their dog apparently painted, a horrific display of a scene of them in repose; all clothing and organic matter made of a thin meaty film, their laurels made of teeth, the rest of them normal; albeit laying upon a pile of skulls.

Pike’s dog is apparently an excellent painter, but this isn’t the weirdest shit to happen to Pike. Pike takes the painting and dresses themself back up in their armor as they approach the villa. Apparently Augistinius and Salamach must’ve gotten into a fight, as the dining hall’s grand table has been flipped, and the Heir is sitting on the ground, flagellating and performing his morning Chalice rites. Blood seeps in slowly from the kitchen. 

They discuss things, neither have good answers for what has happened. Pike has a tattoo of a golden stag beetle’s head upon the back of their neck. Pike asks how this could’ve happened. Augistinius suggests one might’ve used a needle. Sometime in the night Pike somehow ended back on the boat from Santa Isla, as they had treasure they left on the boat and Dandelion has a note pinned to the collar. Pike convinces Augistinius they need to go if he has what he came for. Augistinius has a collected bag of treasures and knick-knacks.

The pair argue about poetry and how to steer a boat. Augistinius regrets having killed his servant staff and makes vile comments about washer women having more skill at piloting boats than Pike. Pike takes it on the chin.

Flamma and Zaira wake up on piles of dead bees their last night’s ventures a bust. Zaira continues to live up to her reputation; she survives operations while others die considerably and awfully. 

They double back to the boat, and then go to the Shrine of the First Chalice so they might talk more about future work. Within the shrine, Pike, Zaira and Augistinius are greeted by the choir and a gold-masked cabalist in white; the Aspirant of the White Wizard.

Eridian’s superior.

He chides them for Eridian and Galban’s absence, denounces them as pathetic, shames them for their losses, berates them for being bad at their jobs, and then once Augistinius is happy someone else feels the same way; the Aspirant tells Augistinius he has been denounced as degenerate and cast to the wild world. 

Pike steps away from Augistinius, expecting the worst. Augistinius instead proclaims he will bring the world to its knees and neither his father nor any foreignborn heretic will survive his wrath.  Flamma stays outside and measures Pike’s old horse, seeing if she’s good enough to be part of a limb-chopping machine project. Augistinius throws her a coin as he departs, telling her to burn it all down. 

Pike and Zaira are given a gilded plush chest filled with 30 golden beetle brooches and given new orders. The War Host needs to scout out the areas that will be a battlefield in the coming campaign, the realm between the Palace of the Hand of Virtue and the Palace of the Chalice-Heir. They also need to recruit new specialists to the Pact. After being convinced by Zaira’s glib tongue that they can in fact, do this, he asks if they received any treasure whilst away. Zaira lies. They leave.

Outside, they recruit Flamma and assume Galban deserted. They head back to the boat to figure out how to unload their stolen treasures, and Flamma knows some people.

Ferdinand & Isolde, representatives of the Grand Banks of Calmyn, are busy sowing dissent between mercenaries and camp followers about who really deserves a higher pay. As they watch poorer people fight to the death over their words, the New Pact arrive with their haul of stolen foods. Ferdinand & Isolde are insufferable. They agree to buy the whole lot; paintings, orgy masks, et cetera, for 8000 silver coins and a cut of future hauls; and asks the party to sign a contract that says none of that and also share a drink so they can write off this whole enterprise. 

Flamma signs her name, Zaira signs as Z, Pike signs as Galban Ferragamo.

They get a big sack of cash. 

Aftermath

Everyone who survived got between 3-5 XP for their various grip checks, successful schemes, and treasure gains. Zaira is officially in charge of the Pact right now, Flamma is employed. They discussed more horror shit. They're essentially using the tech trees of the Undead Scourge from WCIII. So that's fun. 

Next Session

The party heads to the Cliffs of Bissabova and the surrounding haunted plains to scout and seek out new recruits. They have a sizable personal warchest. Will, as Galban killed himself, has made a new character. Said new character is a necromancer from a company I wrote for the first supplement to Spoils of the Gorgon Coast. 

It’s gonna get weird. And maybe it’ll go into a goddamn crypt. 

Conquest of the Gorgon Coast: Session 1 - Isla Santa

What follows is a play report for my "Conquest of the Gorgon Coast" game, playing with dear friends: Peter, Finn, Cid, and Will. It makes use of the random tables for Spoils of the Gorgon Coast, as well as randomizers cut and expanded on for the zine supplement: The Ashen City. 

The Titular Region for my Campaign, Randomly Generated.

The Set-Up

In service to the Inheritor; Eschtopheles Gorgoni-Rex, the Heir of Chalices; several mercenary factions have entered in a pact with one another to ensure victory against the other war hosts now present on the Gorgon Coast.

The Knights Glantisant, those who pursue the Questing Beast, swore their swords and restless pursuit to the cause.  The White Tower Aspirants, those who seek the mantle of the divine through vile arcane rites, sought to place the Inheritor upon the Blackened Throne for their own wicked reasons.  The Lonely Few sent some of their own cursed lot to supplement others, survive them, and collect their payment; and the Knights Panther who wished to earn favor by slaying monsters of renown.

The Party

• Galban Ferragamo, a veteran from the Knights Glantisant with a snaggletooth grin. Played by Will. 
• Eridian the Heron, the cabalist of the White Tower Aspirants who is bound to apocalyptic ruin. Played by Peter. 
• Zaira Dominitus, a displaced dastardess of the Lonely Few, cursed to live while others die. Played by Cid.
• Pike of the Ashen City, an outcast who lost their fellows in the Ruins of the Old Empire. Played by Finn.

How did the session go?

Well, the party did some...unexpected things.

Former Penal Colony

They landed on Isla Santa at night, snuck through the grapefruit orchards and then split into two groups: Pike, Galban, and Ziara went one and Eridian the Heron, pain in the ass he is; went the other way. Galban & Co snuck into the city proper, whilst Eridian set up a bear trap and killed a hog. Galban & Co were able to win the affections of some townsfolk who  awoke in the middle of the night to hear a hog having death screams. Eridian was cold-cocked and taken off to a rock on the edge of the island to be whipped and tortured.

Galban & Co found out stuff about the island; namely it was run by a Sebastorii who works for the Hand of Virtue and who employs the Nacre Shield out of Hagios Golgo. They gained good reason to think the Degenerate Heir they were looking for was prisoner in the Sebastorii's villa.

In the morning, Eridian awoke, was subjected to a Chalice blooding, and not enjoying that at all; cast forth terrible flames from his open wounds which incinerated the Centurion tormenting him and sending the lesser Nacre Shield to flee, forming a mob and getting the Sebastorii in person. Galban and Pike investigated the "screams on the rock" which led them back to Eridian, whilst Ziara went to the villa with the guard as Galban's "herald."

As the mob formed in town, Galban & Pike rigged the rocks to look as though a terrible battle had taken place; freed Eridian, and then threw all his equipment into the ocean. Eridian dressed in the dead Centurion's armor and was then told he'd be thrown in the ocean too. Eridian jumped in the ocean, hurt himself, and started swimming towards the Villa. Meanwhile, Ziara noticed strange interbreeding of tea and poisons in the villa gardens and made a poor representative of herself to Sauvon Rochenne, the Sebator of Isla Santa. She managed to forestall him long enough that when he arrived to see Galban & Pike's plan, he believed it for the most part. Ziara doubled back to scope out the villa as Eridian climbed up the rocks, wounded and mangled but alive. They infiltrated the villa, posing as a wounded Centurion and a hired hand.

Galban and Sauvon barbed words for a bit, with Galban claiming as a member of the Knights Glantisant, he pursues all manner of terrible beasts and the one who "had cast fire out its backside" was known as The Heron (Eridian's nickname). Sauvon wasn't buying it fully, but Galban claimed that it might have made nests and laid eggs everywhere. It is very dangerous. Sauvon demanded proof and one day to clear out the infestation, to which Pike and Galban agreed.

Eridian and Ziara broke into the villa's basement, with Eridian mangling his hand with eldritch flame while trying to open a door--which ZIara just bashed the lock off of. When they reached another door, Ziara ran Eridian through with her sword; as he was near death, intolerable, and The Lucky Few have a reputation to uphold. She convinced secondary guard (including one who was torturing Eridian earlier) that the Heron was an infectious strain of monsters, and then she asked if he had cleansed himself today. The guards got into an uproar on cleanliness and began to abandon their post. Ziara snuck in further and stole wine.

Things got hectic, the mob dispersed, and Sauvon returned to the villa. After a time, Galban and Pike went as well to find their companions, only to witness most of the Nacre Shield believed the Heron to be a parasite strain. Playing off lowered morale, Galban and Pike offered their battlefield surgery skills; butchering every officer with well-rolled criticals and terrible violence. Once they had killed off the rival freeblades save for a single one, they ascended the villa's lone tower to take Sauvon as hostage and loot his place.

Eventually, the three remaining party-members went into the dungeon, liberated Augustinius Gorgoni-Rex; a long-imprisoned Degenerate Heir and scholar of teas and poisons. They sacked the villa, stole many portraits and a few notable treasures of noble fancy; before heading off to their boat to sail to Fallen Taurochtalia; to deliver the heir to a contact, receive new orders, and enjoy their profits.

Augustinius is thankful to the party and owes them a kindness, though he's been marked of the Basilisk Strain and cast down from station. The Inheritor of the Sallow Sea hates the Nacre Shield and might do kindly with the party in the future for humiliating them. The Inheritor of the Hand of Virtue will act against the party and their master for having sacked Isla Santa.

Aftermath

Everyone save for Eridian, who died, was able to gain about 12XP; and we're doing level-ups on the 10s for sake of longevity. It was an overwhelming success for the party, though the actions will have long consequences. Eridian's superiors serve the White Wizard after all. Eridian's player is making a new character, archetype not yet known; but she is an Engineer specialist for the Cabal of the Shattered Eye mercenary group.

Next Session

The party makes their way to Fallen Taurochtalia, to sell their plundered wares, seek out their employers, engage with contacts, and potentially plunder the periphery of the Ashen City or one of the fallen empire's notable sites of horror. Knowing the party, they'll likely just get involved in petty thuggery, shanghai shenanigans, and gambling. 

As we game in arduous times, it is a reprieve and a comfort to have fun as I have had this night.