So my players finished off The Amber Rage on Wednesday night.
I honestly thought it would be a somewhat uninteresting adventure and didn't think my players (for whatever reason) would buy into the big decision as regards the shadowmoss, the knight from the other town, and the return to Sothmere. Boy was I wrong! There was almost a mutiny within the group against the party 'employer' (a player character) when he tried to take all the shadowmoss. Then on the way back to Sothmere the fight with Ser Vilja was really tense. Some PCs ran with the shadowmoss, others stayed to fight Ser Vilja. Our Avvar was going toe to toe with Ser Vilja and doing well until one of the villagers caught him with a crossbow bolt which dropped him. Vilja yelled for Dobreela (the mage) to heal the Avvar. When he was well he knocked him out.
The two PC's with the shadowmoss escaped to Wichford but Vilja captured the Avvar and two others, one of which had been infected with the Amber Rage (3 of the 5 in the party were infected O.o). Vilja's story came out as the PCs and NPC's conversed and the Avvar told him to take the vile of liquid (the one to stave off the rage) with him back to his village and maybe their shaman/wiseman can use it to buy them some time.
Vilja took it and knocked out the PCs. The PCs then awoke to find themselves untied and alone.
Anyway, the story concluded back in Sothmere but now my PCs want to go to Wulverton to see if they could help.
I had a flash of an idea and wanted to run in by people. Here's what happened:
Ser Vilja takes the vile back to his shaman to try to buy time to find another cure or get to the grotto and take the remaining shadowmoss, so he can save his family and his village. The shaman takes the vile but is unable to replicate it. This shaman also happens to be an apostate and a blood mage. I don't mean a big bad twisted evil blood mage, more like Jowan in the CRPG. So he tries to use the blood of a rager along with this vile and enacts a spell. His new 'cure' is given to those suffering in Wulverton and within minutes the signs of the illness have gone: the smell, the jaundiced skin, all of it. The shaman is a hero and the townsfolk celebrate their luck.
Less than a day later screams are heard. One of the 'cured' is found on one of the side streets of Wulverton standing over a body. They have not succumbed to the Amber Rage. Something new has been born. A hunger burns in them, like the rage drove others to violence this hunger drives them to feed or be consumed. Only the blood of another can sate their hunger and keep this new mutation at bay.
When my players get to Wulverton they will find it deserted. They'll find bodies and alot of blood but they will also find signs that some people of Wulverton have simply packed up their belongings and left. The people who are corrupted by this new illness can live a perfectly normal life but once every few days they must consume blood or be transformed into an abomination not unlike those who succumbed to the original Amber Rage.
So that's my idea. Essentially a Dragon Age take on vampirism. Feedback?
