Good morning! It’s Jonathan here with a recap of the major Story events of our recent November Game: BLOOD FEAST. The goal of these Story Recap posts is to help fill in the blanks for those that might have missed an important mod, been at NPC camp or even sleeping, or simply were not able to attend the game. These are major points of continuity that might be important as our season continues, and I hope this will help with the FOMO feels.

There were a few major developments during the BLOOD FEAST event:

Gutscourge

Over the last few weeks, characters that live near Bravado or travel there regularly started to feel HUNGRIER than usual. These symptoms might have come on suddenly, or gradually, over the last 4 weeks. The symptoms were a bit innocuous at first and if a person was not particularly observant, they might not have even noticed the changes! But starting on the first night of game, it was increasingly clear that something was wrong. A large part of the population had been infected with a terrible new disease that was quickly identified as GUTSCOURGE.

Victims infected with Gutscourge were irritable, feverish, and experienced intense pangs of hunger that can only be sated by eating. They were increasingly focused on eating any food available or even eating raw meat, as as the disease progressed it turned them into voracious cannibals capable of devouring blood and flesh in lieu of food. Each step of the disease compounded the last and once normal food no longer satiated their hunger, the infected could frenzy at the slightest provocation. For those that rode the edge of oblivion, the advanced stages of the disease deadened their nerves and turned them into unstoppable killing machines capable of shrugging off bullets and blades alike.

A literal puzzle the players had to solve as part of the Research Challenge

The town collectively poured their resources into researching and understanding the disease. The horrifying resolution of Gutscourge was discovered - if a cure was not found, the infected would progress and become terrible BLOOD GHASTS and be lost forever, no matter how many Infection they had left. However, no matter what treatment the town came up with or how much food they consumed, they could not permanently cure the disease but only send it into remission temporarily. Some other factor was making the disease incurable and resistant to medical treatment.

The town eventually discovered an old family recipe of the Lovelace Family to create BLOOD SOUP that helped them combat the disease. This “meal” not only served to satiate the hunger of the infected, it could even reduce and contain the disease that was ravaging their bodies. However, since the Blood Soup required the players to spend Body points to create the meal by bleeding into the concoction, it was costly to prepare.

In addition, three strange side effects of the disease emerged, each too specific to have been naturally occurring but rather aspects of the disease that had been purposefully advanced and WEAPONIZED. It was clear that this disease was an attack on the town by some nefarious villain.

For Whom the Bell Tolls - Each and every time the GRAVE BELL sounded in town, anyone infected with Gutscourge was sent into a frenzy of violence and hunger AND their disease would advance one Stage. The Bell is normally sounded by the Groundskeeper EVERY time a person dies, so each death caused by frenzies ended up causing more and more chaos through the weekend. Somehow, the necrokinetic energy of the Bell was sustaining and advancing the disease.
Object of Veneration - The most insidious side effect of Gutscourge is that it made the infected susceptible to coercion and control by someone they respected and looked up to. Whenever an NPC made a call of “Object of Veneration”, players infected with Gutscourge had to either spend Mind points to resist the compulsion or follow the commands. The Widow’s Tea on Saturday afternoon became particularly bloody as Widow Clauthia ordered her loyal Widows to bring her victims to consume.
Infectious - Gutscourge was purposefully very, very transmissible. Every time an advanced Stage infected fed on a target, they would also spread the disease to them. If that person was already infected, BOTH players would increase their disease one Stage. Particularly advanced patients were so infectious that even players using Medical skills on them could risk infection if they were not careful. The disease even seemed to be even more infectious on Landsmen, particularly the Quiet Folk of the Lovelace Family.

Dr. Nichols’ Revenge

Last month, one of the most infamous Lifers known as Eyeless Jack was captured by the town. This month, his father came to town seeking revenge on both the town that captured his son and the Family that made him an outcast from his home of Widow’s Peak. Jack’s father is a Quiet Folk doctor named Dr. Hannibal Nichols-Lovelace. He operated a small free clinic on the outskirts of the Lovelace lands, and was sometimes called “Grandfather Nichols” by the locals. He was thought of as mostly harmless, but was kept at arm’s length by the Lovelace Family because of the crimes his son committed.

Nichols was being brought to Bravado to answer for crimes that he had been recently implicated in. It appears that the “good” Doctor had more of a direct hand in teaching his son Eyeless Jack to be a serial killer than was first known, and gory trophies of travelers that disappeared on their way to Widow’s Peak were discovered in his clinic. Alongside Daniel the Quiet, one of the Lifers still at large, Dr. Nichols was being brought to a trial at the Gauntlet. Accompanying the accused was the majority of the Lovelace Family, including the matriarch of the family, Immacula Lovelace. The stage was set for Dr. Nichol’s plan and betrayal of his former Family.

The night of his arrival, the fanatic followers of his son known as the APOSTLES OF EYELESS JACK attacked the Law Dogs escorting him into town, and freed both him and Daniel the Quiet. Witnesses even reported that Immacula Lovelace gave her weapon to the doctor as if compelled before he escaped into the night. For the hours that followed, Dr. Nichols prowled the night, purposefully spreading the disease of Gutscourge while talking about “experiments” and ambushing travelers on the roads. It was quickly apparent that not only was Dr. Nichols the mastermind behind the plague, but that he had lured his family to the town on purpose to infect and destroy them. As the bell tolled from early deaths in the night, Lovelace Maniacs set themselves on the town in a cannibalistic frenzy. While nominally still people, they couldn’t help themselves from feasting on those they attacked and put into Bleed Out.

The Cure & Project Mutagen

The next day, Research plans continued and uncovered a bit more about the depth of Dr. Nichol’s plan to destroy his family. During the Indulgence, the Unstable genius known as the Butcher tasked the Lifers with gathering biomass from townsfolk as part of something called “PROJECT MUTAGEN”. It was quickly evident that Dr. Nichols was progressing the project forward and was actively involved. The weaponized disease of Gutscourge was the culmination of these efforts, combining aspects of the Bad Brain Disease with parts of the Bloodscouge disease spread by Blood Ghasts. With the ability to infect and create powerful super soldiers that would follow the orders of those in charge, the plague represented a major step forward towards calamity for the San Saba Territories.

After collecting water samples from around town, testing various meals cooked by the chefs of Bravado, harnessing blood samples from captured Blood Ghasts, the inhabitants of Bravado were able to create a cure for these disease and a treatment plan to mitigate the threat. However, no matter much they tried, each time the GRAVE BELL rang the disease surged again and spread. Something else was sustaining the disease.

After their hard work continuing the research, they realized that the disease had introduced tiny psionic crystals into the victims. These psionic crystals were reacting to the Grave Bell and sustaining the disease. Based on intel gathered by the town, it was discovered that a SECOND Grave Bell was being used by Dr. Nichols in the sleepy corner of Widow’s Walk that needed to be stopped in order to permanently cure Gutscourge. At the same time, Dr. Nichols was again out and about capturing residents as “guests of honor” for something he called FAMILY DINNER. If the town was to solve the crisis, they would have to deal with both the cannibal Lovelace Family and neutralize the second Grave Bell.

Family Dinner & the Death of the Lovelaces

Dr. Nichols final masterstroke took place in the candlelit dinner area constructed within Widow’s Walk, the traditional sanctum of the Widows of the Lone Star, another aspect of the Lovelace Family in the San Saba Territories. Joining him for dinner were his family members, Clauthia Lovelace, one of the leaders of the Widows, Immacula Lovelace, the matriarch, Abby Lovelace, her daughter, and Daniel the Quiet, the black sheep Lifer of the family. Alongside a throng of the Lovelace Maniacs, the family came together to celebrate their “guests of honor” that would be served as the MAIN COURSE of dinner.

When the town tried to interrupt the ritual, they discovered that not only was Dr. Nichols mind controlling each of the Lovelace family members to do his bidding, that he was functionally IMMORTAL. As soon as he was hurt, the wound would heal and his family would cry out in pain and anguish. He kept mocking the assembled heroes, saying that “My family sustains me. You cannot stop me” while attacking from the darkness. With an immortal enemy, waves of Lovelace Maniacs, and powerful Lovelace leaders, the Family Dinner was a scene of chaos and danger.

Eventually, the town concocted a plan to free the gathered Guests of Honor from their manacles securing them to the dinner table and survive the attacks of the Lovelaces while a second group worked to disable the second GRAVE BELL. With the help of some clutch uses of Master Biogenetics and a coordinated rush on the bell once the guests were freed, the insidious bell was silenced for good.

Frustrated by the plan being stopped, Dr. Nichols executed Immacula Lovelace at the dinner table and nearly escaped into the darkness. He was finally caught and captured outside of the General Store, but not before killing several other townsfolk. He was questioned and executed, but not before a chilling proclamation that Project Mutagen had been a success and had been shipped to his mysterious client that afternoon. Someone out in the wastes now has a tool to create dangerous super soldiers or the ability to sell that technology to the highest bidder.

The town had successfully stopped the evil Dr. Nichols and found a permanent cure for the disease of Gutscourge, but it came at a high price. The Lovelace Family has been decimated by the disease, and while several members of the Family were rescued and cured of the plague, the once powerful faction is now in shambles. It will take effort, money, and new blood in the ranks to rebuild after Dr. Nichol’s plot of revenge, but the Lovelace Family will endure.

EPILOGUE - The Monolith

At the end of the event, as the town was wearily gathering themselves for the last moments of printing, farming, and playing silly games, a dire warning came from the outskirts. Rising from the ground, a MONOLITH of flowing black stone has erupted from the Mortis Amaranthine at the edge of town. The tower of strange stone beckons exploration, and agents of the Grave Council have quickly moved to secure the perimeter of the structure. Whatever this Monolith may be, the similarity between it and the Fountainhead in Essex cannot be dismissed and you know that the next crisis facing Bravado is ahead, in our December Game - THE LONG NIGHT.