Wamphyri Aerie

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Area Designer:

Thibor

Directions:

9ws4wnwn6w2n (from New Thalos central square)

Reset Time:

35 minutes (occupied)

Story/History:

Little is known about that forbidden land the inhabitants of the mountain villages call the Aerie. Legend has it that powerful vampire lords and their disciples came to the mountains long ago to escape man's persecution, but it is only in recent years that mysterious deaths and other signs of encroaching evil have threatened the surrounding area. Details are scarce; recent reports of dead livestock and disappearing children have frightened into silence everyone who lives within several days' travel of the black stronghold.

Many of the strongest fighters of the villages have gone to investigate and try to dispel the evil, but few have returned, and those who have returned from that dark place could say nothing of their ordeal and slowly wasted away, dying only scant months after their return. They are said to have been crazed and listless, though otherwise seemingly healthy, and no known leechcraft could help them.

The nobility of the realm formally requests the dispatch of a group of fearless adventurers to investigate and eradicate the evil that lives deep within the mountains.

Story Origins:

The Wamphyri are a form of vampire described by Brian Lumley in his Necroscope series.

Lumley has reinterpreted the traditional vampire legend. In his stories, a vampire is a leech-like parasite from an alien world which forms a symbiotic relationship with a host creature, usually a human or sometimes a canine such as a wolf. While the symbiosis puts great demands on the host (such as requiring to feed on blood to survive), the benefits include increased strength, speed, and resilience, a seemingly infinite lifespan that stretches into millennia, magnified senses, base emotional stimulation, access to latent psychic power such as ESP or telepathy, metamorphic flesh allowing flight or disguise, and certain hypnotic effects.

The vampires in the story have great control over people who are weak-minded, and could easily dominate the Earth if allowed to achieve their full potential. They also have the ability to produce lesser breeds of vampires for different purposes.

The Plot:

Sixteen years ago, Ben Trask, along with other members of British E-Branch, experience a shared nightmare and are compelled to return to their headquarters in London. Once there, they use their combined extra-sensory powers to project a hologram of their shared night vision into view.

They see a body of a man, burned and blackened by fire, spinning in the darkness. Suddenly, he bursts into golden shards of light: one of the shards seems to come out of the projection and leave the room. They realize they have witnessed the death of Harry Keogh in the Vampire world. (Necroscope V: Deadspawn)

Returning to present day Earth, Nathan is trapped inside the entrance of the Wormhole Gate in Perchorsk, Russia. Unsure if Nathan is human or Wamphyri, the commander of Perchorsk, Turkur Tzonov, a telepath, contacts British E-Branch for help. Ben Trask and Ian Goodly agree to go to Perchork as advisors.

Once at Perchork, Ben's talent immediately tells him Nathan is human. Nathan is moved to a cell in the complex where Turkur begins an interrogation, but Nathan stays quiet, only using his telepathy to talk to Ben. He realizes that the British Agent knew his father (having learned this from reading Turkur's mind), and wants to know more so he accepts their help. Another Russian telepath, Siggi Dam, feels sorry for Nathan and allows him to escape. He flees into the mountains where he is finally intercepted by British Special Forces and taken to England.

Once there he is told about his father and speaks to some of Harry's dead friends. E-Branch also reveals knowledge of the Continuum and how Harry used it to teleport. Eager to learn this ability, Nathan starts to learn mathematics from a tutor but soon surpasses him. He then starts taking lessons from members of the dead, in particular Harry's own teacher a dead British headmaster.

E-branch also shares with Nathan the location of the second gate in Romania which he can use to go home, but Nathan must wait until the river there is at its lowest to get to the entrance, so he spends many months with the British learning about the world and his father.

While Nathan and Zek Foener are on a trip to visit the grave of her husband Jazz Simmons, they are attacked by Turkur's men (still trying to recapture Nathan). Having nowhere to run they are forced to flee to the ocean. Meanwhile in England Ian and David Chung suspect their friend is danger and power up a computer in Harry's room at E-branch. A golden dart escapes the monitor and disappears. It finds Nathan, who is still in hiding, and strikes him. Nathan instantly acquires Harry's knowledge of the Möbius mathematics and how to transport. He teleports both himself and Zek straight back to the E-Branch office though the Continuum.

While all this has been happening on Earth, back in the Vampire World, Nestor, has ascended as the Wamphyri Lord, Nestor Lichloathe, and has discovered the dread power of Necromancy. He is afflicted with leprosy from contact with the leper village. The Wamphyri of Turgosheim have also been busy as well, been making flyers and fighting beasts to follow Lady Wratha's group across to the west in order to wage war against them.^[1]

Mobs of Note:

Boris Dragosani - (thin white gloves, murky vial), cartilage beast - (tarnished shards of a silvery sword), Dramal Doombody - (ring of weakness), dweller - (talisman of innocent blood, scroll written in blood), Faethor Ferenczy - (ornate necklace), Fess Ferenc, Grigis - (blood-red potion, spiked sleeves), Harry Keogh - (silver scythe, long black coat, black cape, hat), Janos Ferenczy - (cracked black urn), Jazz Simmons - (silver crucifix), Lady Karen - (white leather dress, Wamphyri War Gauntlet, wamphyri warrior's scale), Lardis Lidesci - (large wooden spike), Lesk - (wide leather patch, fine silk sash), Menor Maimbite - (smooth leggings), Shaithis - (bloodsoaked cloak), Thibor - (ring of delusion), Volse Pinescu - (spiked sleeves), warrior beast - (tusk of the warrior beast), Yulian Bodescu - (bloody pick-axe), Zek Foener - (white jumpsuit)

General Zone Strategies:

Trogs and vampires are aggressive and have memory. Vampire mobs are hidden and glowing.  Lady Karen, Lascula Longtooth, Faethor Ferenczy and Dramal Doombody may drain experience and mana.  Lady Karen, for example, can drain over 300K experience per melee.

Watch your alignment!  Nearly all of the major mobs are evil. Work your way up from the first floor by opening trapdoors located in the ceilings of rooms leading up to the next floor. Don't overlook stairs down to the lower levels!  A rare Avenger part loads in the Vats on a single Cartilage Beast, downstairs in the lower basement. 

There are no death traps located in this area.

Equipment of Note:

The Aerie provides a wealth of SAC (sacrificial equipment: equipment that is relatively less powerful as fighting, casting or regeneration equipment, but that carries large + bonuses which are helpful when sacrificing equipment in order to become immortal .)

ITEM	TYPE	MOB	LOAD %	DISPLAY
black cape	about	Harry Keogh		mL 0 !rests 4 ac 1 str
black cape	about	Lascula Longtooth		mL 0 !rests 4 ac 1 str
blood-red	potion	Grigis		mL 0 !rests 2 x cure critical
cloak, blood-soaked	about	Shaithis	50.0%	mL 15 ms! !g 4 ac 1 dam 10 hp
coat, long black	about	Harry Keogh		mL 0 !e 4 ac
crucifix, silver	neck	Jazz Simmons		mL 0 g! 3 wis
white leather dress	body	Lady Karen	50.0%	mL 15 !twj 12 ac -1 str 20 mana
wooden spike	treasure	Lardis Lidesci		mL 0 !rests
Gauntlet, Wamphyr War	weapon	Lady Karen		mL 0 !g 3D4 7.5 avg 2 hit 2 int
gloves, thin white	hand	Boris Dragosani		mL 0 !mj !n 3 ac -1 hit 1 dam
hat, widebrimmed	head	Harry Keogh		mL 0 !rests 6 ac 1 con
jeweled key	key	Lady Karen		mL 0 !rests treasure room
leggings, smooth	leg	Menor Maimbite		mL 0 !rests 10 ac -1 str
necklace, ornate	neck	Faethor Ferenczy		mL 0 !rests 1 ac 1 con -20 mov
pick axe, bloody	weapon	Yulian Bodescu		mL 0 !mc !g 7D2 10.5 avg -2 hit
ring, delusion	ring	Thibor Ferenczy		mL 0 !rests 2 ac 1 hp 1 mana
ring, weakness	ring	Dramal Doombody		mL 0 !rests -5 str -20 mana load lim 1 invis
scale, wamphyr warrior's	shield	Fess Ferenczy		mL 0 !mb !g 12 ac 6 acM ench!
scythe, silver	weapon	Harry Keogh		mL 0 !cm 5D2 7.5 avg 5 acM
shards, tarnished silvery sword	component	Cartilage Beast		mL 0 !rests !rent
sleeves, spiked	arm	Grigis		mL 0 !rests 2 ac -1 hit
spiked sleeves	arm	Volse Pinescu		mL 0 !m 2 ac -1 hit
talisman of innocent blood	neck	dweller		mL 12 !twpnb !g 5 ac -2 hit 15 mana
the Vacuous Grimoire	treasure	Dramal Doombody		mL 0 !rests -1 int -2 wis
tusk of the warrior beast	weapon	warrior beast		mL 0 !mctnjsrb 1D6 3.5 avg
urn, cracked black	container	Janos Ferenczy	50.0%	mL 0 !rests
fine silk sash	body	Lesk the Glut		mL 0 !g 3 ac -1 str 30 mov
vial, murky grey	potion	Boris Dragosani		mL 0 !rests 1 x harm 1 x sleep
white jumpsuit	body	Zek Foener		mL 0 !e 1 con
wide leather patch	head	Lesk the Glut	50.0%	mL 12 !rests 6 ac 20 hp -10 mana
written in blood	scroll	dweller		mL 0 !rests 1 x sanctuary

Maps:

• 
  Wamphyri Aerie (by Dank Cysterian, c. 1995)
• 
  Michael French's Aerie masterpiece with mob annotations.