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PattPlays
Senior Scribe
469 Posts |
 Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 01:36:58
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~Magical Tattoos in The Forgotten Realms, North Underdark.~
Welcome to yet another of my Out Of The Abyss (Underdark) threads.
This time around, a new party has descended into the Underdark in search of the Lost Tomb of Khaem, which I have spoken and theorized and collaborated upon at length in one of my two only other threads on this site. Of this party (Human EK Fighter Daughter of a Cormyr merchant lower noble, Yuan-Ti Thief Chultan exile Zhentarim Faction Agent seeking revenge for their only loved one, Firbolg Deep Delver Folk hero Land Druid of the underdark, and...) there is a surface dwelling Drow outcast who is a Blade pact GOO warlock of Ghaunadaur. The playef of which came to me asking (I am not allowing UA in this game, as I feel that a new core rulebook will emerge soon.) if I may make an exception for this new document: Magic Tattoos!
https://media.wizards.com/2020/dnd/downloads/UA2020-SpellsTattoos.pdf
I promised to look for a natural way to include an NPC withthe capbility to perform at least some of the tattoos included, through a new in-setting form of magical artistic expression. The weave has a history of being compelled through many unique systems. I believe I can find a place for this.
The party is acting for an unnamed lore keeper near central Faerun, whom is in association with Candlekeep, and they have descended several miles, or several dozen miles south of Slooplobdlidop through a Hollow Hill which previously contained the aforementioned and previoisly discussed Lost Tomb of Khaem. They will soon meet the presence of Demogorgon, and discover how much adventure truly lies before them.
Candlekeep! I bid your collective inspiration. What cultures, what lost art forms, what faiths could tie into the Upper Northdark and the surrounding lands? What distant travelers? What kind of person and place in the grand underground and aboveground realms could reasonably host a magical tattoo artist or clan, during this time when demon lords walk the prime? Let us discuss!
PS: The fighter, an eager scholar in her own right, dreams of the secret stone library of Gravenhollow. We have all pasts and futures to pull from, as the stone giants of the underdark serve as a possible connection to that great place for any avid tattoo artists. And the demonic madness of several princes are a unique inspiration for sure. We can pull from any depths of creativity, as can our newly to be created NPC(s)! What do we think?
@Patt
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:The world's greatest OOTA fan/critic: :"Powder kegs within powder kegs!": :Meta-Dimensional Cheese: :Why is the Wand of Orcus just back?: :We still don't know the nature of Souls and the Positive Energy Plane: :PC on profile, Aldritch Elpyptrat Maxinfield: :Helljumpers, Bungie.net: :Rock Hard Gladiator, RIP Fluidanim, Long Live Pluto: :IRC lives:
https://thisisstorytelling.wordpress.com
T_P_T |
Edited by - PattPlays on 12 Apr 2020 06:00:18
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Lord Karsus
Great Reader
USA
3737 Posts |
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sleyvas
Skilled Spell Strategist
USA
11695 Posts |
Posted - 12 Apr 2020 : 23:44:25
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| As already mentioned, definitely Thayans. I'd also place Deneirans firmly in the camp for magic tattoos, since they are a form of "glyph" or "symbol" in many cases. I wouldn't be surprised if some followers of Sune do the same, but theirs would be more pictorial/artistic. There may be some more religions for which this would be a "thing" but they aren't necessarily coming to mind. I can also see gnomes and other cultures being interested in "animated tattoos" in the form of illusions. Along those lines, I once had a Thayan Daeroness who was a mystic theurge of Talos as an NPC who had 3 lightning bolts on her forehead that would simulate movement and crackle and thunder when she was angry. |
Alavairthae, may your skill prevail
Phillip aka Sleyvas |
Edited by - sleyvas on 12 Apr 2020 23:48:00 |
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PattPlays
Senior Scribe
469 Posts |
Posted - 13 Apr 2020 : 02:26:34
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Fantastic.. this is all working perfectly with what I have since decided.
I will share a screenshot in three hours, when I am on desktop. (Using a BBcode forum on mobile is kind of hilarious xD) I have decided to use the mad god-complex ridden derro Buppido to introduce the tattoos.
Buppido is a ritual serial killer suffering from what is common among his kind in Gracklestugh: insanity. I was planning on hiding one of his ritual grottos in one of the party's paths anyway- and now that they have indeed headed that way (and seen the mark of Demogorgon on the Ixitzatchitl priest they defeated) I have reflavored this small bloody den to be the spot where the derro has unknowingly tapped into the most reckless and torturous version of the magical tattoos. His most recent victim was driven mad from Demogorgon's influence, which in this setting is known to twist and mark and split the physical forms of those who go fully mad. I sought to twist Buppido's ritual into something far worse. Buppido now finds sufficiently vulnerable minds and speaks to them whilst ritually mutilating their loving, waking body as they speak lies and contradictions. They convert the victim into a mad dying servamt of Demogorgon whilst himself caring little- considering his divinity to be plenty enough to consider the demon prince "not a concern to my divine fate".
When doing so for the first time, he watched as the skin of the creature was scrawled with fractal spiral patterns and magical runes, creating a spell that birthed lesser demons from the still living body of the victim, and then the demons fed on the brain and limbs and organs that buppido had been ritually carving. Astonished, Buppido flayed thr victim's skin as the lesser fiends were busy eating the organs he had removed, and bolted.
You see, Buppido is scheduled to appear in the Demogorgon corrupted duergar city of Gracklestugh. There he is encountered in another of his ritual grottos. However, the book expects a low leveled party to encounter this cr-less creature as a reuniting from the prison escape of Velkynvelve. My party are lvl 5, and this gives me the chance to power up the lowly derro. On his way to Grackletugh, Buppido will walk within the path of Demogorgon itself as it walks east of Slooblooplidoop. By the time the party reaches his next grotto, he will be on his way to discovering the tattoo for Summon Greater Demon. His stat bloc will still be no much more than a Cult Fanatic, but he would be able to use his flayed skins to perform a reckless and clueless gross reinterpretation of thr art.
What I want to see the party accomplish is bringing one of recovered skins of his victims and present them to a duergar or giant inside Gracklestugh, or even with the artisans of Gauntylgrym!
I hope the party can pull a Scary Monsters on this and seek a more reliable art form to adapt and counter his horrid style of magical summoning via painted flesh. |
:The world's greatest OOTA fan/critic: :"Powder kegs within powder kegs!": :Meta-Dimensional Cheese: :Why is the Wand of Orcus just back?: :We still don't know the nature of Souls and the Positive Energy Plane: :PC on profile, Aldritch Elpyptrat Maxinfield: :Helljumpers, Bungie.net: :Rock Hard Gladiator, RIP Fluidanim, Long Live Pluto: :IRC lives:
https://thisisstorytelling.wordpress.com
T_P_T |
Edited by - PattPlays on 13 Apr 2020 02:28:53 |
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PattPlays
Senior Scribe
469 Posts |
Posted - 13 Apr 2020 : 08:37:56
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quote:
Originally posted by sleyvas
As already mentioned, definitely Thayans. I'd also place Deneirans firmly in the camp for magic tattoos, since they are a form of "glyph" or "symbol" in many cases. I wouldn't be surprised if some followers of Sune do the same, but theirs would be more pictorial/artistic. There may be some more religions for which this would be a "thing" but they aren't necessarily coming to mind. I can also see gnomes and other cultures being interested in "animated tattoos" in the form of illusions. Along those lines, I once had a Thayan Daeroness who was a mystic theurge of Talos as an NPC who had 3 lightning bolts on her forehead that would simulate movement and crackle and thunder when she was angry.
Wow... This is why I come to candlekeep. I don't even know how to properly digest all of this...
Just did a quick bit of research reviewing thayans and Deneir, and the base wiki doesn't have anything good for me to go off of. I do know that I want to have some grouping of creatives of all kinds who will be settling in the mostly empty Gauntylgrym, but that's far off. Buppido and his art-form, which he doesn't understand at all (I like the idea of just pushing someone into insanity and cutting them until something works as his way of summoning demons from flesh, which also covers the material components for the conjuration spell- hilariously.) is only one small part of the UA for tattoos. He's making a spell-storing tattoo and is basically just making a b-line for summon greater demon. I can stat him up as a Derro Savant and give him Lightning Bolt and the other spells from his stat block, but he likely will have no tattoos other than spell-crafting ones.
What I really want is a piece of information and/or place and/or NPC for the party to notice in the near future. In Gracklestugh, there's plenty of stuff to work with there-in alongside the Stone Giants, again with that Gravenhollow connection. However, the party may not chase Buppido north-west to the Duergar fortress. I want to get the other tattoos opened up for a "oh hey this is like that flayed skin spell tattoo thing only less grotesque" and litter them about the map. The party is currently one session away from choosing between three paths. One leads into the Long Chasm, where their target lies. (The Lost Tomb of Khaem has sunken into the bottom of the Long Chasm, tearing through the Silken Paths.) Another leads to the Darklake, running parallel to the long chasm and going through Velkynvelve prison. (This path is the least likely. The river they are following right now has been blocked up by rock-flow, and only a 5 ft vortex exists beneath 60 feet of backed up water. If they allowed themselves to be sucked through, they would be in a river-sized chamber with only a shallow stream. Walking the drained river for several days would be quite unlikely to appeal to them.) The third path, which I am highly excited about, is down along the river-bed beneath the bloated stoppage. I put the Oozing Temple here, for baiting my Guarandadur warlock to investigate- since Jubilex is serving as their unknown enemy down here. I have the small dungeon set in reverse, entering through the leaking ceiling and allowing access to a new deeper tunnel system. Here I can have them have a tunnel that would take them into Auromycos! I could teach them about Faerzress there.
As of right now, magical tattoos beyond the small piece of unflayed skin on the victim of Buppido's first spell is what they will have available. I really want to put a new tattoo or glyph tease in both the Darklake (the sea hag there could serve as a possible source of old magics, as well as the mummy tomb hidden in the Darklake under a water wierd) as well as in Auromycos. But the real question is Khaem's tomb...
Nobody mentioned Netheril... I'm still wondering if I can put any ancient magical hints in there... Maybe I can reflavor the half-elven sorceress to be a glyph mage! Soemone with their own unique style, unseen since their tomb fell from the sky and was buried in the Hollow Hill. Such an artistic magical form would have been both accesible by the ancient mages- as well as possibly being a factor in her social exile as well as her turn to insanity. I could even power up the lowly Spectres and the Wraith of Brysis herself with these unique spells and abilities. Prying open the coffins could show the bodies all drawn up with patterns...
Wow. YES! Took me a while to get around to it, but the very temple they are seeking (which is devoid of context and interest besides "hur dur netheril and ghosts, also random legendary sentient sun-blade) could hold some secrets that could make this warlock and her friends into the most learned but untrained experts on the topic of magical tattoos.
@Patt
EDIT: And apparently Derro have a nack for self tattooing! If they have human ancestry in the Illithid experimentation... what overworld culture from long ago could be conjured? CAN I GET SOME CHULT IN DIS?? |
:The world's greatest OOTA fan/critic: :"Powder kegs within powder kegs!": :Meta-Dimensional Cheese: :Why is the Wand of Orcus just back?: :We still don't know the nature of Souls and the Positive Energy Plane: :PC on profile, Aldritch Elpyptrat Maxinfield: :Helljumpers, Bungie.net: :Rock Hard Gladiator, RIP Fluidanim, Long Live Pluto: :IRC lives:
https://thisisstorytelling.wordpress.com
T_P_T |
Edited by - PattPlays on 14 Apr 2020 06:29:33 |
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2020UA Incorporation in OOTA (2016) - Magical Tats
