The society of supernatural enthusiasts
Weekly Digest, vol 52 issue 4
A roaring crowd greeted Sir Singedham’s treatise on the great phoenix. Following the tale of hope, despair and love, subscriptions to the digest exploded, and we would like to welcome all our new readers. Sir Singedham has promised us , the novelisation of his journey to the Rowbel Ravine is almost complete and will be premiered at an exclusive book signing before years end. Stay tuned mystery hunters!
Creature profile no 9: The Alp
Few other monsters inspire so many myths and fallacies as the alp. Folktales describe their charms and their beautiful, seductive voices, as well as their loathing of virgins. What is true beyond any doubt is that they move without a sound and attack by surprise, rarely giving their victims as much as a chance to scream in terror.
Blood Addict.
As higher vampires, alps, or alpor as they are also called, don’t need blood to survive but are extremely addicted to it. Of all the higher vampires, alp are the weakest when it comes to controlling their darkest urges. They lack the restrain and manipulative skills of the bruxa or the cunning edge of the katakan, making it very difficult for them to hide in the midst of civilization. To indulge in their addiction alps rely mostly on the poor judgement or social isolation of their prey, hunting lonely men, drunkards or notorious perverts.
She-Devil.
Alps, just like bruxae, are womanoid, exclusively appearing as female creatures. They have the power to change into a beautiful female humanoid, often an elf, and for this reason they are commonly mistaken for succubi, people believing them to be lecherous and inclined to seduce handsome young men. Some even pretend they are able to turn into a black dog or a venomous toad, but this is pure nonsense.
Home Invader.
If cornered, alps are more than capable fighters, their natural magical abilities allow them to daze and feed on their prey easily and their hands end in dangerous claws. Truthfully though, alps prefer to attack unconscious victims. They will sneak into bedrooms at night, draining the blood of the sleeper and leave before dawn. The alp will then return the following nights to feed again on the same victim, until it’s caught or the victim dies. For some unknown reason, alps seem to develop a mystical connection with their sleeping victims, having a hard time to let them go.
This weakness can be used against the alp, for it makes its behaviour somewhat predictable.
Between Beasts and Men.
Alps are ambiguous vampires, they cannot stand to be too far from humanity, as they need to satisfy their blood addiction, nor can they hide directly among men, due to their lack of control. Therefor an alp is reduced to share the same refuges and lairs than lesser vampires, lurking between the world of men and beasts. To the contrary of lesser vampires, alps do care for comfort and will build their lair accordingly, garnishing it with furniture and accommodations, even art sometime
SS.
Popular request
A number of budding members of the society have enquired after the mythical gemstone dragons these last few days. A man of the people, and always keen to act upon the inspiration provided by his wonderful listeners, SS has performed some research and is crowdsourcing an expedition to uncover new information on these spectacular creatures and return to Namburg with stories to regale his supporters.
Preliminary research has provided a number of leads – Windsoar castle houses the last great transmuter Zarini who was known to be close friends with A particular creature who was reputedly made entirely of rubies – he will likely delight SS with his tales and we expect them to become fast friends.
Other chapters of this upcoming best seller include SS following up on rumours of a great saphhire beast spotted centuries ago by shipwrecked sailors on the great Knaru Isles, shrouded by impassable storms – they were rescued by court wizards who were able to both scry and teleport them to safety. Their tales were thought to be hogwash, but your discerning author suspects otherwise! Only a sailor extraordinaire such as SS could navigated the tempest to bring you the greatest stories known to Namburg! By the twins! (can we still print this? -editor)
Our journey will continue on a vaulwide tour de force as we visit the deserts of the east to hunt for around Rini where a mountain of amethyst was said to appear in the sands shortly after our victory moon greated us ! The e.m.a.i.l is as hot as it gets!
Dragons have been spotted at both the mountains east of Selegina, and a red dragon (ruby?) was allegedly seen swimming through the sea to the south of South Hallow.
Finally, The sunless sea is surely the perfect location for an ancient and mysterious creature to hide itself from our curious eyes, no? Your author suspects that deep veins of topaz found in the frozen north near Caer Mynn may lead to deep and excellent adventures!
Donations are now being accepted – expected cost for this expedition is 500,000 g. This will include the building of a custom airship, an accompanying fleet of sailing vessels, the battalion of soldiers and wizards tower for research and defence. The expected completion date is within the decade, so hurry fast! Applications are welcome to join the adventuring party, must have own health insurance, minimum 6 months campaigning experience, no magic items are provided, proven survival under extreme circumstances and any direct contact with gemstone dragons extremely desirable. Bards need not apply.
Tier 1. [ supernatural enthusiast] 1g-10g / year. – you will be thanked in our book series and receive easy access to the first draft!
Tier 2. [ supernatural obsessive] 10-20g/year . All the tier one awards, and your name will be emblazoned across the bow of our airship, working name “ The Supernaturalist”
Tier 3 [ supernatural champion] 20g+/year. All the tier 1 and 2 rewards plus. We will read your name to the first gemstone dragon we find and tell them you said hi.
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