Centrum Glacies 2023 Session 44: Blood Haze
Week 44 in 2022 of this Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues beyond Jarrar as the party succumbs to a blood haze.
Like my other campaign, I’m turning this one into a book series. You can check out the first one here.
Anyway, just like my other campaign, there is a whole lot going on and I don’t want to elaborate on every moving piece in the story. You can see the whole thing in the book series.
!!!Trigger Warning!!!
This story deals with a cruel world with some horrific twists. So far, this campaign has featured: Animals getting killed, Genocide, lots of body horror, evil cults, brainwashing, torture.
Most recently one of the party members had an eye gouged out and lost an arm. Not exactly the way it happens in Berserk, but that might have been the inspiration for it. The group at large is currently succumbing to magical wounds that appear to be turning them into Demons.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
Deep underground, the party now transformed into Demons swam through lava filled caves. They were only keeping their blood haze in check. The very power now coursing through their veins demanded they kill and harm anything they came across.
A good thing then that it was not innocent people that appeared in their way, but their enemy. The Cult of Obsidian had done this to them. And even Jyona who normally was against killing living people had no issue rushing to attack.
Yet this time their enemy fled. Apparently Jarrar had told them that at worst they would be fighting a weakened group desperate to survive. Instead, four Demons fighting against a blood haze had come. And even seasoned monsters like those who served the flame had no interest dying pointlessly.
But fleeing presented another problem. Maybe these ones wouldn’t fight. But if they warned others in nearby bases what was coming, then the party even empowered by their Demonic Forms might have trouble.
For this reason, Malcolm made use of the fact that this new form let him teleport short distances. The Cultists couldn’t outswim him in the lava. Even with their unique protection from the extreme heat, they stood no chance against a furious Demon attacking due to a blood haze.
Another Base:
Though the fleeing Cultists had been dealt with, they had left a parting gift for the party. They found the entrance to another Volcano Base. Though they had no idea what they might find once they left it. The group didn’t know where they were after all.
Turned out they were expected. Olanna appeared as they entered the base. Not only did she reveal that she was one of the leader of the Flame Adherents: the name the Cult of Obsidian used for themselves, but that she was higher up in the hierarchy than Jarrar. She expressed no surprise that the party had dealt with him either.
Teztcal remembered her too. And he was furious that she had tricked him too. Did he have any real friends? All the ones he had been around turned out to be enemies. Would that include the rest of the party too? Well he didn’t think about that for too long. Not when his blood haze commanded to kill.
And Olanna seemed happy to oblige to their Demonic urges. She called out to all Cultists in the base to kill the party. Apparently they were too dangerous to let live. The lack of worry over what would happen if the party won this battle was not lost on them either.
When it became clear that the Cultists couldn’t kill the Demon infused party by conventional means, they shifted to more extreme methods. Methods like setting themselves on fire and exploding in the group’s faces. But even that only slowed them down. And only for a moment.
Wrap Up:
The party feels unstoppable as they kill enemy after enemy. But what would happen if they fully embrace their blood haze and become feral Demons?