As I threatened... er... promised... er... implied, DNAWC has updated.  Issue 4 was done with a dip pin and ink, rather than a sharpie marker.  I also had a lot more fun with the fonts.  In retrospect, it would have looked better if I'd carefully cut the bottom left caption so it was blocked by the contours of the drafting table, but that lies far beyond my feeble Photoshop skills.  Right now, about all I can do is clean up a stray line here or there and do the lettering.

There will almost certainly be a 5th installment.  I have a wacom tablet I haven't used much.  Learning to ink digitally seems like a good idea, so my plan is to draw it in pencil, scan the pencils, and ink over them with the tablet.  And if that doesn't work out, I'll go back to pen and ink. :)

This isn't my only web comic.  I'm working, slowly, on a more serious one with my friend, Lisa Hartjes.  When we've got the first issue done (about 12 more pages, I think) we'll start posting.  In the meantime, I may decide to post some of the artwork for that here.

I should really put up some new gaming content one of these days.  The thing is, I've used up most of the old stuff, and nothing has really grabbed my attention for new stuff.  Still, I can't very well be a rogue game writer if I don't write any game stuff, so I should try to dig up something.

See y'all later.

Victory was actually mine five days ago, at 10:45 PM central time.  I finished the first draft of my NaNo.  I'd technically "won" two days earlier by breaking 50,000 words, but I didn't consider the job finished until I got to the end of the story.

Now I'm letting it sit for a while before I decide what to do with it.  I think it's a decent beginning of a book, but it needs a lot of work.

In the meantime, I'm not sure what I'm doing next.  Probably just focusing on the very slowly progressing webcomic I'm working on with Lisa.

I'll try to come up for something to amuse my legions of fans before too long, though.

Hi y'all.  Things have been quiet here for a few weeks, and now I'm ready to tell you why.  I've been getting ready to write a novel.  Every year, on November 1st, thousands of people join in the task of trying to write a short (50,000 word) novel in 30 days.  Since the inception of National Novel Writing Month, every year previous to this one, I remembered that fact some time after November 12.  But this year someone reminded me ahead of time and I have decided to go for it.

During the past several weeks, I've mulled over ideas and pulled together an outline and some character descriptions.  And today, about four hours ago, I started writing.  As of right this minute, I have 1230 words or so.

I'm trying to decide if I want to post the novel here, or leave it more private.  At the very least, I think I'll get around to writing up some of the characters in Unisystem, just for the amusement value.  Since I'm not exactly using the Buffy setting, there will be some compromises, but they might still be useful as NPCs.

But mostly I'll be writing like mad, since I need to write about 1667 words a day, seven days a week, to finish on time.

We will return to our (ir)regularly scheduled gaming content in about a month. :)

Acherix (Aka Hive Demons)

 

The Acherix demons are not native to Earth and never arrive on their own.  Instead, they must be summoned here.  This, unfortunately, is something that all to many sorcerers are willing to do, as having control over an Acherix colony gives one vast power.  This is a dangerous path to power, however.  A hive is a hungry thing, and more than one occultist with more knowledge than wisdom has found himself in the feeding pits of his own colony.

 

Short of a nuclear strike, an Acherix colony is difficult to remove.  A group of dedicated hunters might kill scores, or even hundreds, of workers and slaves, but still might never reach the queen or her drones.  As long she survives, she can breed up a new colony.

 

The infestation begins when someone summons the queen, using the ritual of Belial’s Wine and inducing a chosen victim to drink the bitter draught.  Within a few days, she will be transformed into a queen, and will start picking drones.  The summoner would be wise to protect himself from the queen’s wiles, as she can be most persuasive.

 

Thereafter, the queen and her drones retreat to a place of safety and begin to breed.  Their complete transformation takes one full moon, during which time they will acquire a few initial hosts for workers and warriors.  The hive will be established somewhere safe, often isolated or well hidden.  Acherix are far from mindless.  Their hives will be defended as well as humans could defend them, and will always have some kind of cover that explains their isolation and behavior.  Doomsday cults were popular in past centuries, as were isolated villages, although these could run short of humans before the hive grew very big.  Today, cults are still popular, but so are survivalist communities and subterranean homeless “cities.”  And those are fairly limited possibilities.  A queen with the proper resources at her disposal, or with a wise “handler” could set up a popular religious movement, a housing subdivision, or perhaps even a corporation.  The colony might have interests all over the world, although it will always have a central hive where all members spend at least some of their time.  Extensive seperation from the hive weakens a lone member.  After about a week, they start losing one point off each of their attributes per day until Strength and Constitution both reach zero, at which point the acherix dies.

 

Types of Acherix

 

The Queen

The queen always requires a female host, and prefers an attractive one.  (If the initial offering isn't attractive enough, the Queen will emerge very angry and nearly uncontrollable, and will, after likely killing the summoner, magically transform the host to be pretty enough.)  Somewhat like a vampire, the Acherix queen demon overwhelms the human soul while maintaining the body and mind.  And very similar to a vampire, the queen has new goals.  She wants drones, and she wants sex.  Then she wants a safe place to breed.  She may pursue these goals in different orders.

 

 

 

Name: Acherix Queen (Stage 1)

Motivation: "Do me, baby."

Critter Type: Demon

Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 7, Constitution 3, Intelligence 3, Perception 3, Willpower 5

Ability Scores: Combat 20, Muscles 12, Smarts 12

Life Points: 99

Drama Points: 5

Special Abilities: Emotion Control: Lust (-3 to resist), Infection, Increased Life Points, Hard to Kill 5, Hypnosis 3, Natural Weapon (Str x2 shashing + paralytic venom), Regeneration (Con/hour), Supernatural Senses (Basic, Night vision)

 

Combat Maneuvers

Maneuver	Bonus	Base Damage	Notes
Dodge	20	None	Defensive Action
Grapple	22	None	Resisted by Dodge
Kick	19	4 Bash
Punch	20	3 Bash
Stinger	20	12 Slashing	+ Venom

 

Description

At this stage, the Queen looks pretty much like a normal person, most of the time.  There's a stinger in her throat that can extend like a whip, about three feet long.  It's razor sharp, and delivers a paralizing poison (Roll Constitution to resist.  Each SL on the hit roll adds a progressive -1 penalty).  Further doses of the venom can turn a male victim into an Acherix Drone (see below)  She wants sex, lots of sex.  And fairly soon she'll start producing eggs, which must be implanted in hosts (either male or female).

 

Name: Acherix Queen (Stage 2)

Motivation: "All will love me."

Critter Type: Demon

Attributes: Strength 3, Dex 7, Con 8, Intelligence 3, Perception 3, Willpower 9

Ability Scores: Combat 20, Muscles 12, Smarts 12

Life Points: 134

Drama Points: 5

Special Abilities: Armor 10, Emotion Control: Lust or Worship (-5 to resist), Infection, Increased Life Points, Hard to Kill 10, Hypnosis 3, Natural Weapon (Str x4 slashing + paralytic venom), Regeneration (Con/minute), Supernatural Senses (Basic, Night vision, Telepathic link to all "children"), Telepathy.

 

Special Drawbacks: Limited mobility.  The Queen can't move on her own at more than about a foot per combat turn.  She is easily outmaneuvered, and could well be too large to ever leave her nest.  Antisocial Impulses (Anger and Greed)

 

Combat Maneuvers

Maneuver	Bonus	Base Damage	Notes
Dodge	10	None	Defensive Action.  Mobility Penalty.
Grapple	22	None	Resisted by Dodge
Stinger	20	12 Slashing	+ Venom

 

Description

A fully evolved Acherix Queen is barely recognizable as human.  Her limbs atrophy and her belly swells to monstrous proportions to support almost daily multiple births.  Plates of chiton cover her body in places, and her face is stretched by mandibles and antennae.  She can no longer speak, as her mouth-stinger is now much larger and longer.  She can hardly move on her own, and is constantly tended by dedicated workers and drones.

 

Her lust is unabaited, and her mindcontrolled drones are only too happy to service her.  However, her temper is very short.  If her "children" fail to please her, she kills them.  Drones are particularly vulnerable.

 

 

Drones

The Queen's first few victims will be males, generally attractive males.  One by one, She'll seduce them, magically or otherwise, and have sex with them.  Then she'll sting them into oblivion.  When the unfortunate guy wakes up from "getting lucky" in about twelve hours, he will be an Acherix Drone.

 

Drones are completely devoted to the Queen.  They'll do whatever she needs them to do.  Initially, there are two things: Keep the Queen happy and bring her hosts for her first eggs.

 

Drones look pretty human, though as they get older, their insect-like features become more prominent.  By the time the Queen is in stage 2, most of her initial drones now have compound eyes and stubby antennae, and have lost the ability to speak.

 

Name: Acherix Drone

Motivation: "We love you, mummie."

Critter Type: Demon

Attributes: Strength 3, Dex 3, Con 3, Intelligence 2, Perception 2, Willpower 2

Ability Scores: Combat 12, Muscles 12, Smarts 10

Life Points: 54

Drama Points: 1

Special Abilities: Armor 5, Increased Life Points, Natural Weapon (Str x2 slashing), Regeneration (Con/hour), Supernatural Senses (Basic).

 

Combat Maneuvers

Maneuver	Bonus	Base Damage	Notes
Dodge	12	None	Defensive Action
Kick	11	4 Bash
Grapple	14	None	Resisted by Dodge
Melee Weapon	12	Varies
Parry	12	None	Defensive Action.  -2 against thrown attacks
Punch	12	3 Bash

 

Workers

Once the Queen has drones, she needs workers.  Before her transformation goes too far, she can recruit a few herself, but a lot of them will be recruited by the drones.  Hosts for workers can be male or female.  Their creation is a simple matter.  Once the queen lays eggs, those eggs need to be kept warm and provided with food when they hatch into larva.  So the queen inserts into the stomach of a paralized human, where they grow, eventually eating most of the human host's internal organs and taking over the body. The process is excruciatingly painful for the host, who doesn't die until it is complete.

 

Workers are completely loyal to the queen and not as limited as Drones.  They do all the hard work like maintaining and expanding the hive and dealing with the public.  They're not much good in a fight, but will defend the nest to the death.

 

Name: Acherix Worker

Motivation: "We hear and obey"

Critter Type: Demon

Attributes: Strength 5, Dex 2, Con 4, Intelligence 2, Perception 2, Willpower 2

Ability Scores: Combat 10, Muscles 16, Smarts 10

Life Points: 56

Drama Points: 1

Special Abilities: Armor 5, Increased Life Points, Natural Weapon (Str x2 slashing), Regeneration (Con/hour), Supernatural Senses (Basic).

 

Combat Maneuvers

Maneuver	Bonus	Base Damage	Notes
Dodge	10	None	Defensive Action
Kick	9	6 Bash
Grapple	12	None	Resisted by Dodge
Melee Weapon	10	Varies
Parry	10	None	Defensive Action.  -2 against thrown attacks
Punch	10	5 Bash

Warriors

 

Worker drones modify a few of the queen's eggs out of every batch to be warriors.  The warriors are more powerful, but more limited than the workers.  They can look mostly human, although there's something "off" about a warrior, but when they need to fight, they transform into armor-clad, clawed, fang-mawed monstrosities easily as powerful as any vampire.

 

Warriors mostly guard the hive.  They leave it very rarely, excpet to help workers on missions.  Warriors are incredible bloodhounds.  They can follow a scent trail anywhere.  Even in human form, their mouths and jaws have been modified too heavily to permit speach.  They are armed with stingers similar to the queen's, albiet without the infectious properties.

 

Name: Acherix Warrior

Motivation: "Kill, Mangle, Maim!"

Critter Type: Demon

Attributes: Strength 7, Dex 6, Con 6, Intelligence 2, Perception 6, Willpower 2

Ability Scores: Combat 18, Muscles 20, Smarts 10

Life Points: 82

Drama Points: 1

Special Abilities: Armor 10, Increased Life Points, Natural Weapon (Str x3 slashing + paralytic venom), Regeneration (Con/hour), Supernatural Senses (Basic, Tracking).

 

Combat Maneuvers

Maneuver	Bonus	Base Damage	Notes
Dodge	18	None	Defensive Action
Claw	18	21 Slash
Kick	17	8 Bash
Grapple	20	None	Resisted by Dodge
Melee Weapon	18	Varies
Parry	18	None	Defensive Action.  -2 against thrown attacks
Stinger	18	21 Slash	+ Venom

 

New Spell

 

Ritual of Belial's Wine

Quick Cast: No

Power Level: 1 (technically 0)

 

Requirements: Six ounces of Royal Jelly from a single beehive.  Various rare and noxious ingredients.  A dozen apricots picked by a virgin girl on a night of a full moon.  The ingredients are mixed together according to an ancient formula and allowed to ferment for a full lunar year.  On each night of the  full moon, the cask must be placed in a mystical circle and chanted over for a full hour, beginning at midnight.  (Fully prepared casks are available from certian shady dealers.  Sometimes on eBay)  On the thirteenth full moon, the magician pours the resulting brew into a vessel along with a live queen bee larva and recites a magical chant.  If she's done everything correctly, the larva will disolve in a flash of steam and the mead-like brew will take on a dark, red color like deep wine.  To use the spell, the caster must get a female human (no vampires, demons, or whatnot) to drink the entire glass.

 

Effects: Belial's Wine transforms a female human into an Acherix Queen.  The full transformation takes place over the course of a day, with growing symptoms leading up to her becoming a full-fledged stage-one Acherix Queen.

 

At first, she becomes more attractive and alluring.  The effect is more psychological and mystical than physical.  She gets the benefits of the Attractiveness Quality without necessarily changing physically.  Every three hours, she gets one additional point of Attractiveness.  Every eight hours, she gets one additional point of Mental Problems (Lecherous) to go along with it.  She is not incurable until the passing of the 24th hour.  Before that, various purification rituals might save her.  The longer the delay, the greater the risk.  The cure involves coughing up the Queen Larva now growing within the host.  The victim has to make a Survival Test with a penalty of -1 for every three hours she's been infected.