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therealvinelle · 3 years ago

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What do you think the Cullens would do if some person they were talking to, out of nowhere just quite literally exploded in front of, and on them? Kinda like in that movie Spontaneous. Would they lose control and slurp up the mess on the ground, (and themselves) or would their bloodlust be curtailed by shock of wtf just happened?

I'd say something witty about how this is a strange anon to receive, but holy jesus you've sent me down a rabbithole.

Here's a trailer to the movie Spontaneous. It looks amazing. Kevin Feige wishes this had been his plot for Infinity War.

Here's a trailer for the movie Spontaneous Combustion, which I found by accident while searching for your fic. This looks amazing too. Can't believe Marvel didn't buy the rights to this guy.

I'm serious, people, you definitely want to watch these trailers. I just about died laughing.

So, on to your ask.

In the spirit of your ask, which implies a level of randomness, I thought the people blowing up should be random too. So, being in the mood to procrastinate through spending way too much time on tumblr things, I wrote a program that'll generate for me random Twilight characters.

Unsure whether the explosion should kill vampires or not, I generated an answer. The answer is yes, any generated vampire dies.

Without further ado:

Alice watches Vladimir blow up.

Alright, alright.

The first question to be answered here is why Alice is in Vladimir's presence in the first time. In canon they only meet once, at the end of Breaking Dawn.

For the sake of simplicity, we'll have Vladimir blow up then.

The Cullens and the witnesses are all celebrating being alive, when Vladimir suddenly explodes.

For the sake of the ask, Alice is sitting closest to him when this happens and making conversation.

Her first thought is utter shock. Not just that he blew up, but that she didn't see it coming (she wouldn't, because I randomly generated him. No decision was made). Her second thought is horror.

The Cullens just confronted the Volturi, now mere hours afterwards their allies are blowing up.

Holy fuck, Aro has a gifted ace up his sleeve, and he's using it to kill them remotely.

Panic ensues, not just for Alice, but among all the witnesses. Some of them refuse to leave, Bella has to shield those 24/7, though given the belief that her gift is psychic that doesn't make them feel very safe.

The others decide to go after the Volturi and beg for mercy, assuring them they never meant to challenge them.

Aro, of course, is very confused, but agrees. Why, yes, he does have a vampire who blows people up. Yes, yes he does.

Bella watches Aro blow up.

Oh I'm dying laughing at this one. And wishing I'd put this down for Carlisle, that would be even funnier, but alright.

Bella is walking about post-Breaking Dawn, minding her own business, when suddenly Aro appears in front of her. He looks around himself, utterly surprised by his sudden deplacement, and then blows up.

Bella has been living in terror of this man for years.

In Volterra he had his servant torture her and Edward and then made ominious threats, then a few months later the Eclipse disaster unfolded, finally we have Breaking Dawn where he showed up to murder her and everyone she loved.

Her shield may be powerful, but for as long as Aro was alive her family was never truly safe.

His untimely implosion changes all of that.

I imagine after a long moment of incredulity, Bella burns the rubble, just to be sure, then tells her family the joyous news.

Carlisle gives the guy a funeral. It's weird.

Carlisle watches Vassilii blow up.

Close call, due to my not switching out the names we almost had Angela. In which case Carlisle have stood there, covered in blood and in shock for several long seconds, before bringing out the bleach and gasoline for a crime scene clean.

As it is, Carlisle is minding his own business when suddenly an immortal child dressed like a medieval Eastern European appears before him. It says something in a foreign language that might mean "hi", he doesn't know but he says "hi" to it back, then the child blows up.

Carlisle stares at the rubble for a very long time, wondering if he is perhaps losing his mind. If, perhaps, Aro was right about animal blood being a slow suicide, and Carlisle has finally hit the limit for how long a vampire can go on without human blood.

He burns the rubble and prays for the child's soul, as an immortal child is doomed anyway, and keeps his silence about what happened. In part because there's a solid chance this was all in his imagination.

If Aro ever touches his hand again, and sees the immortal child that he burned a thousand years earlier resurrect, travel through time, all in order to blow up in front of Carlisle, he... well there comes a point where you say "nothing to see here" and refuse eye contact with the universe glitching.

Edward watches Randall blow up.

Randall, for the ignorants, is one of Carlisle's friends that came to witness for the Cullens in Breaking Dawn.

Suddenly he appears in front of Edward, says hi and how do you do, and then he blows up.

Edward tells Carlisle, who is saddened by this, and they try to piece the guy together. They fail.

Edward sends a somber thought to this noble man who agreed with Edward that the Cullens are awesome enough to be worth dying for.

Emmett watches Mary blow up.

Emmett will never admit it, but it's the coolest, raddest thing he's ever seen.

Esme watches Eleazar blow up.

Oh boy.

The Cullens are visiting the Denali. Irina has not been dead for long, but given the crystal clear memory of vampires, and the loss they already suffered (Sasha's death traumatized them) it doesn't really matter how long it's been, the Denali are devastated anyway.

The whole coven is as fragile as it can possibly get.

Then, Eleazar goes to join Esme in the kitchen, and explodes all over her and the kitchen.

The remaining Denali and the Cullens are called to the kitchen by the sound of Esme's screaming, and find her in hysterics, surrounded by gray rubble.

The Denali are near catatonic with grief at this point, while cooking has been ruined for Esme. One moment you're making food, the next people are exploding all over your kitchen.

Yeah.

Esme is not okay.

Jasper watches Nahuel blow up.

It's a shameful moment in his life.

But, hybrids are edible.

And that blood was splattered all over him.

Jasper has the worst control fail of his life, worse even than when he failed with Bella because this fail means he can't be around Renesmée anymore.

It's miserable all around.

The one highlight here is that it didn't happen when they were headed to the Volturi trial together.

Rosalie watches Emmett blow up.

Jesus christ, random Twilight character generator, just when I thought you were just going to give me boring results.

Not only does Rosalie lose the love of her life, the guy who kept her together, the one good thing she had going for her who made her life worth living, but he did so right in front of her, blowing up out of nowhere.

There's no explanation to be had, no culprit to be found, no reason for it. She had no goodbye, just as she can have no revenge.

She will never have closure.

Renesmée watches Renée blow up.

We go out on a high note, my god. Well done, generator, I'm laughing.

Renesmée is curious enough about her grandmother to go to Florida. She was going to watch from afar, but finds herself talking to the woman who raised her mother.

It's all going well until Renée suddenly explodes all over Renesmée.

Renesmée's first thought is nothing, she's in shock.

Then...

Well, she was controlled as an infant, so I don't think an adult Renesmée would lose it unless under extreme circumstances, like if she encountered a singer.

More, though, Renesmée might have any reasons of her own not to drink human blood, but she has been raised with this being a big no-no.

So she shouldn't.

However...

Is she ever going to get a better chance?

Ethically, she could easily argue this is the right choice. No one will be negatively affected by this, at least not directly.

The human is right there, already dead, and there's no body so while Renesmée does have to clean up the gore. Hell, if she laps up the blood on her clothes and the ground she will be cleaning up. Why waste perfectly good blood?

If Renesmée Cullen is ever going to have human blood, this is it.

It will come down to how much she respects her grandfather, and how important she believes Renée was to Bella.

Bonus, because I'm having way too much fun with this:

Bree watches Atheonodora blow up.

Bree is minding her own business when suddenly a vampire unlike any she has ever seen before, one with hazy eyes and odd skin, appears before her. They stare at each other. Then the woman blows up.

Bree takes this to mean that exploding is apparently something vampires just do sometimes, runs off in a panic and, sobbing, tells Riley.

Riley, having no idea what to make of any of this, tells her it was those evil yellow-eyes with their witchcraft and sorcery.

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zippdementia · 7 years ago

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Part 41 Alignment May Vary: The Council at Drellin’s Ferry

This is the ongoing adventure in the 5e conversion of classic 3.5 adventure The Red Hand of Doom! Not only does this detail the adventures of my three players but it also give detailed suggestions on how to run a 5e conversion of this campaign.

Tools I reference a lot: The 3.5 Red Handbook of Doom, The beastiary Revenge of the Horde, secondary beastiary Tome of Beasts.

At this point in the campaign, the players should have cleared Vraath Keep or at least scouted it, they may have the map showing the Red Horde Plans, and they have a couple directions they could take. Some may wish to head back to Drellin’s Ferry, feeling their mission is accomplished. Others may want to push back into the woods and try to see the forces at Cinder Hill. As DM, it is your job to manage these two different paths and to keep the action moving. To this end, if the party does go back to Drellin’s Ferry, you need to put things in place to move them back into the action. The easiest way to do this is to set up Skull Bridge Point as a key factor in the approaching horde’s plans.

If the players got the map from Vraath Keep, then Skull Bridge Gorge should be pointed out on it as a choke point that, if destroyed, should buy the party enough time to evacuate Drellin’s Ferry or set up better defenses. Taking out the bridge should become the next goal of the party--or preparing for the consequences of failing to do this.

If the party did not receive the map, there are still plenty of ways to come to this information. Skull Gorge Bridge might be known by Jorr, or one of the hobgoblins might still be alive after the battle and will offer up the information in exchange for mercy. If all else fails and the players truly are treating the adventure like its over, then Drellin Ferry can come under attack by an advance scouting unit consisting of a chimera and a band of hobgoblins. After the raid, one of the hobgoblins who died has a letter on him dictating that “the main force will be crossing Skull’s Bridge in three days” or some such.

Point is, you have options.

Our group decides on a dual plan: they ask Jorr to continue into the woods to scout out the bridge while they return to Drellin’s Ferry to report on what they’ve seen. Jorr agrees, as long as Xaviee goes with him for protection in case they run into trouble. Jorr has been acting more ornery than usual since they cleared out the vaults of Vraath Keep and found the body of Lord Amory, the foolish lordling who got his people killed by instigating war with the giants. Jorr even kicks* the corpse of the long dead lordling before they leave the vaults, but it does nothing to improve his mood. Regardless, he agrees to meet back up with them in Drellin’s Ferry.

The heroes head back to town, unsure of how the town’s leader will react.

*edit: originally I mistyped "keeps" here, causing some confusion. Jorr did not keep the lordling's body. That would be weird. Although maybe weirdly in character for what will happen in a couple of sessions.

“Three to five days. That’s what we have, Wiston.” Delora Zann punctuated her statement by holding up five fingers, then three, and then closing her hands into fists. They were calloused hands, especially along the insides of the fingers, where they would wrap around the hilt of a blade or mace or spear. Zann’s name was unknown to Tyrion, but he had seen her sort before. He guessed she was a retired adventurer. Her face had the hard lines and her voice a certain stubborness that told him she was used to having to make quick decisions in bad situations and to stick by them, for better or worse. He knew the feeling well.

“Well now, Delora, let us not get ahead of ourselves.” This voice belonged to the other halfling in the room, Kellin Ferryman, owner of the Old Bridge Inn. His voice was silk and his manner sweet honey and Tyrion hated him on sight, despite him probably being a far far distant cousin (an old saying said that all Halflings were related, one way or another). “We have a map, yes, and we have the word of these adventurers, but that is all we have. To take this and use it as evidence to evacuate an entire city, well now... that seems overzealous to me.” He smiled sweetly at the companions. “I mean no offense, good travelers, but you must understand—we don’t know much about you. If a stranger came to you and told you you must leave your home as fast as possible and leave all your valuables behind unprotected, you would be a little cautious, too, I think.”

The implication caused Tyrion’s temper to flare. Nysyries, too, if the growl that came from the Dragonborn’s throat was any sign. Trakki was quicker to speak than either of them, however.

“My lords,” the wood elf began. “You yourselves hired us to investigate the disturbances around this town and in these woods. We are simply reporting what we found and giving our reccomendation for what path you should next pursue. If we had wanted to rob you, we could have hatched less complicated schemes.”

“What he means,” Tyrion broke in, “is that if we wanted your pitiful belongings, we would kill you all and take them.”

Pandemonium broke out at the council table. Kellin was smiling a knowing half smile that Tyrion longed to take his axe to. Delora was pounding her fist at the table and yelling at the uncaring halfling. Captain of the Guard, Soranna, was rubbing her forehead. And old man Iormel was shouting that outsiders could not be trusted and Tyrion’s threats were proof. Trakki glared at the halfling, which was impressive considering Trakki did not have eyes. Speaker Wiston stood finally and held up his hands, which has the slow effect of quieting the noise at the table.

“If we have taken offense at the bard’s words, it is only because we gave offense first. Kellin, the veracity of this group’s information is not in question. The matter laid before us is what to do about it. We must now assume a large host of hobgoblins, perhaps accompanied by Dragonborn warriors, is coming to our town, perhaps to sack it. What are we to do?”

“Evacuate,” Nysyries broke in. “The one advantage we have here is time and the more we sit here talking, the more of that we lose.”

“I do not question the group’s truthfullness,” Iormel said in response. He was an old man with a face like a dried plum, puckered and wrinkled. “I question their bravery. If all Dragonborn are as craven as this one, why then we should never fear a horde of them. All we need to do to defeat them is draw an ominious map.” He laughed, a mean little sound.

Nysyeries’ fists clenched. But Trakki kept calm. “Maybe there is something we can do,” he said. “If we can destroy that bridge, we can delay the army long enough to get everyone safely out of town.”

Iormel scoffed. “Back to evacuations and fleeing! I will not run, I will--”

“You will be silent,” speaker Wiston broke in. “We have all seen the evidence, even before these good adventurers arrived. We have seen the increase in the attacks outside the village. No one dares take the Dawn Way through the Wytchwood anymore. And the Druid tells me that dark things move in the woods. Why, wasn’t it Franco who swore he saw a goat carried off by a three headed beast just last month? Our village is not safe anymore. We must now turn our thoughts to how to protect ourselves.”

Soranna took over from here: “If you three find a way to destroy the bridge, then I will work on the evacuation.”

“And runners should be sent,” Trakki added. “Runners should be sent to the other villages and cities of the area to warn them: the horde is coming.”

Delora stood. “I’ll get a few good men and we will head out tonight.” She shook her head. “The horde is coming... what times we have lived to see.”

The next morning, the party headed up the hill to Sera’s mansion, to see how the halfling wizard was coming along with their special project. As they approached, a loud explosion suddenly boomed out across the town and black smoke began to pour from the open windows of the upstairs floor of the mansion, roiling out into the summer sky. The party increased their speed.

“Sera!” Tyrion called in alarm as they pushed open the mansion’s front doors.

The wizard came stumbling down her stairs, face black with soot, coughing and waving a hand in front of her face to ward off a cloud of smoke that followed her into the main receiving room.

“Did you all sleep last night? Because I did not sleep last night. Do I look like I slept last night? I’m probably a mess. Do you want any tea?” All of this was delivered by the halfling wizard in a breathless monologue and before they could answer, was followed up by: “I did it!”

What Sera had done, exactly, was to build them a device that held enough explosive fiery power to destroy the skull gorge bridge. It looked like a medium sized rectangular package (”I call it Contained Corrosive Catastrophic Compound, or C4 for short!”) wrapped in thick wet leaves (”They are soaked in a stabilizing compound, it’s not a very, um, safe device. I didn’t have time or the materials to make sure it doesn’t explode on impact, so, um, avoid getting hit real hard”).

The item wasn’t quite ready yet: it needed some finishing touches. In two days, they would return to take it and head off to their mission at the Skull Gorge Bridge. And hopefully by then, Xaviee and Jorr would have returned to report on what they could expect to face there.

Notes on Setting up for the Skull Gorge Bridge

When Dungeons and Dragons is at its best, it plays like a series of set pieces, each with different challenges. It needs to be more than just the stats on a page, otherwise it quickly becomes a game of dice rolling to see who got highest, the tactical equivalent of the card game WAR (aka the most boring card game in the world). I’m always looking for ways to make a scenario more interesting and in this case found the opportunity to add in several elements to make the attack on Skull Bridge an epic moment:

High stakes: the invasion is coming! Skull Gorge Bridge is the key point to slowing this invasion. If the players succeed or fail here, it will have an impact on our story. Letting the players know that through the council and all the set up has made this battle more important than just another battle hub in a campaign of battles.

A goal that’s different from “kill everything” and “survive”: this one is key. Almost always, the goal in DnD is to survive and kill most everything. Beat the boss monster and you win the session! Mixing up those goals are the number one key way to make a campaign more interesting. In this case, we’ve set up a great goal of “blow up the bridge.” Doing so may happen without killing all the monsters and it may happen without everyone surviving. It also forces players to use their skills and abilities for more than just monster slaying and forces them to think outside of the box in terms of “I’ll just rush everything.” It also allows me, as a DM, to come up with some pretty challenging monsters, since the goal isn’t to defeat them all.

A wild card item: Items that add excitement to a game are a huge help in keeping it interesting. The Cursed Axe Tyrion wields changed his entire character progression, for instance. Now I’ve thrown in the C4, which comes with both a risk and a possibility. The risk is that if I determine the situation is right (they’ve been dealt a critical blow, or have fallen prey to a fire effect spell, or a thunder spell) I’ll make them roll a d100 to see if the bomb explodes. The possibility is that this is the item that can in one shot destroy that bridge. Even then, there will be a small chance it doesn’t go off and (Sera makes an offhand joke about this, but I do intend to roll for it) a 2% chance that it magically goes awry and builds a new bridge. I make the item this way because it adds excitement, but also because it lets me use the magic crafting rules in an interesting way. By all indications in the official rules, building a bomb like this should take weeks and lots of gold. But my party doesn’t have that kind of time, and I’m not going to let the rules turn me away from an interesting scenario. So instead Sera charges 500gp and builds the bomb in a few days... but it has a ton of flaws. It’s a way to let the rules inform the world building while also not letting them dictate your scenario and story.

A time limit: The players will have one chance at the bridge. They don’t have time for a second run, nor will they have time to strike, then short rest, then strike again. This is going to be one glorious one-shot battle.

Next time we will see how it plays out.

#Red Hand of DOom #DND 5 #Dungeons and DRagons #Campaign Journal #Fantasy RPG

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