Oddities for a Vampire Lair
What lurks in a vampire's lair? Being d-infinity, you know we aren't talking about the usual bug-eating thralls, vampire brides, and your standard children of the night. We're talking about oddities!
When villiagers are drained of blood, the bats have left the bell tower, and a sickly seemingly sentient mist clings to your robes at night you know there is a vampire lairing nearby. But what else is lurking in the vampire's lair? Being d-Infinity, you know we're not talking about the usual bug-eating thrall, vampire brides, and other children of the night. We're talking about oddities, those inexplicable little horrors that even an immortal couldn't see coming. This Halloween join us as we present a new collection of ever growing, ever changing encounters, objects, and NPCs to liven up the dwelling of your next undead adversary!
- A recently constructed casket wrapped in chains with the lid nailed shut. Something struggles and murmers within, its voice distorted by a gag. There is an equal chance the coffin contains an incompitent vampire slayer, a thrall being punished for a grave transgression, or a fledgeling vampire hoping to master a new undead power under extreme stress.
- A wine rack filled with dusty old bottles. Each bottle contains a sample of alchemically preserved blood, enough to fill a glass or go down in one hearty quaf. The lables on the bottles hint at this, as they depict the choice victims from whence the blood came, as well as thair age at the time it was taken.
- The lair is filled with paintings in all sizes and styles, both modern and classical. Each painting depicts a sunrise, sunset, or a pastoral scene lit by enchanting natural light.
- A paniced bat flies screeching through the lair persued by a vampirit cat, its eyes gleaming a playful red, that runs up the walls and cealing.
- Haunting organ music echoes throughout the lair. Somewhere, a bard thrall plays an elaborate organ with pipes made of bone. Until this grim concerto ends all undead within the lair benefit from the bard's darkly inspiring performance.
- A grotesque marble fireplace dominates the room. Within the fireplace a roaring fire plazes away. Through the flames one can clearly see the fuel for the fire is a pile of stakes, mallets, holy symbols, and the charred bones of the vampire slayer who once wielded them. There is a 50% chance the fireplace conceals the entrance to a secret passage.
- A scroll case decorated in gothing filigree. The case contains a complex formula for Blud™, an alchemical blood substitute that vampires find nourishing but unapetizing.
- A large stone vat filled with murky, brackish water. Within the vat stirs an ancient vampire so lost to the hungers of its metamorphic flesh that it has become a hideous man-sized leech. The leech-thing's eldrich blood is singularly potent, and it is for this reason alone the master of the lair keeps the sqirming thing around. The leech-thing longs to end its pitiable existence, though it lacks the means to communicate this fact.
- An elegent birdcage covered in a black velvet cloth hands from a stand in the corner of the room. Within the cage is the master vampire's favorite pet, a trained mosquito grown to the size of a parrot thanks to a diet of vampire blood.
- A barrister writing out a complex legal document on a scroll 2d6 feet long, the divorce papers for one of the master vampire's undead brides, who has grown weary of a century of marriage.
There are more coffins to open and more bats to belfry. Check back as your favorite d-infinity contributors add to this list, and if you're inspired add a few oddities of your own! And if you can't get enough undead oddities, check out 100 Oddities for a Graveyard and keep your players scared and in stitches!
