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see-arcane · 6 months

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The Vampyres--The Bones and Blood of the Book

Good news! I’m not dead and the book isn’t either! Just shambling slowly through the wasteland of the publication process. It’s been a bit since I last waved this bloody morsel around. So, consider this a progress report on the state of the novella, the prospective publishing options, and a few other questions that have been bouncing around in the inbox.

EDIT:

I have a website now! For some reason.

It's See Arcane Scribbles.

Smaller Edit:

Got a Spotify too for story soundtrack goodness:

COVERS

First things first—and the first part of a finished book is the cover. Here are some mockups I’ve been juggling, starting with the original placeholder. They’re far from perfect, but I’m proud of what I managed with a fairly skinny graphic art skill set.

FINISHING, FORMAT, AND FINANCE*

*(OR, THE HEADACHENING)

Copyright: Technically speaking, you have the copyright to your own writing once you put it to paper or screen. But this is somehow a different thing from a legally-binding registered copyright, which everyone declares is a must-have if you want your work to be protected with more than a non-textual trust-fall exercise, hoping nobody steals your work and runs.

That said, electronic registration with the copyright office is $65, or $45 to register one work by one author.

ISBN: I only recently learned the words behind this acronym. ‘International Standard Book Number.’ It’s the ID on a book that marks it as unique and helps commercial booksellers and libraries circulate it. Each iteration of a book—paperback, digital, hardcover, new editions, et cetera—has its own ISBN. When you’re publishing on your own, you purchase ISBNs through a service called Bowker.

One book/version’s ISBN costs $125.

There are better bargains the higher the number of books and/or versions you go, starting at a bulk of 10 books for $295. But as I only have the one (1) skinny novella on the table, that’s a no-go. Which begs the question of how many ISBNs are in store for this little monster. It depends on how many formats I go with.

eBook: The quickest and most cost-efficient option across the board for any self-publication service. Short, sweet, no printing pains of trim sizes or distribution costs or formatting, oh my. Nice.

Paperback VS Hardcover: …But I am now and forever a sucker for physical media. Even though it’s a teeny brochure of a thing, I want to hold a physical copy of The Vampyres in my hands! So bad! And every service I’ve looked through has stated the obvious: Hardcover costs more than paperback. My heart won’t break if I have to stick with paperback to spare everyone’s wallets—hardcovers are pricy in both directions!—but I am a little torn. Especially as physical size might affect the price too.

Here we have two of my favorite quick reads, an anthology of Poe stories and Clive Barker’s novella, The Hellbound Heart.

The Poe book is a clothbound hardcover. 6.5 x 4.5 inches, a bit over 120 pages.

The Hellbound Heart is roughly 8 x 5 inches (about standard for a novella), at 164 pages. But unlike Poe, it looks like Barker took some liberties with the spacing and font size.

Standard size dimensions cost less than unique cuts, which means that whether paperback or hardcover, I sadly have to say goodbye to the petite palm-sized edition I was hoping for. On the upside, good news to us crap-vision readers—the font’s going to get H U G E in order to make the book more than a pamphlet with delusions of grandeur.

Audiobook: The fact is, my voice is not up to the task of reciting anything with appropriate gravitas and I think we’ve all been spoiled by @re-dracula and assorted other podcasts’ skill in orating. I don’t have the cash to hire a professional and I’m not about to accept anyone’s freebie offers. I won’t pickpocket friends for their talent. If an audio version ever comes along for any story of mine it’ll be down the road when it proves worth the format’s effort and cost.

REVIEWS (and a Foreword!)

It was the best of times (People reading the thing! Commenting on the thing! Good good good—), it was the worst of times (The Mortifying Ordeal of People Reading and Commenting on the Thing). Time for what every advice site declares a book absolutely must have the moment it’s thrust into the wild.

Reviews, reviews, reviews.

I’ve already bitten several bullets and passed copies out to a handful of fellow scribblers to scrutinize, their reviews destined to be hung up like literary gold stars on their bookselling site of choice, my own included. Now comes my preliminary grovel to readers en masse to please drop a review, a comment, a blurb of any shape or size where you can once The Vampyres drops. I’ve already gotten some early comments that have consisted mostly of screaming. Screams also count as a review.

As an aside, there are two folks in particular who I reached out to who exist in the stratosphere of Coolest People in the Vampiric Lit scene. They promptly exploded me into disbelieving giblets when they told me, yes, they’d be happy to read my little story and offer up a review and a foreword for the book respectively.

I’m not sure what the decorum here is, but for safety (and surprise’s) sake, I’ll not name names. But they are names I’ve been happy to come across for the past two years while neck deep in the undead book club. I’m infinitely grateful to both of them and am waiting on pins, needles, stakes and kukri blades by my inbox so I can pin their words up inside the book itself.

FUTURE SCRIBBLING

To get one of the biggest questions out of the way, let’s talk about Barking Harker.

My very own object lesson on sunk cost fallacy.

I wrote my way through a goddamn cinderblock of text without even grazing the finish line of the first section of the story. A story made of so many convoluted triple-decker layers of subplots and side characters that it had the structural integrity of a monolithic Nature Valley granola bar, just waiting to fall apart under its own weight. Such is the hubris and curse of too-many-words-itis. The Vampyres remains a miraculous fluke, jotted down during an overdue break from BH’s slog. Not just because I tripped and fell into finishing the story, but because it’s comparatively compact! Brevity at last!

For those still craving the assorted gothic and ghoulish promises of the initial novel idea, don’t worry, those aren’t going anywhere. I’ve just crumbled the metaphorical bloodstained granola by my own hand and have done the sane thing of parsing out the various subplots to become the foundations of their own stories. Which they really should have been from the get-go. Insert 100+ clown emojis here.

On that note, I am turning into WIPs Georg over here. Good god.

I hesitate to throw myself all-in again and make promises of X Story that may leave me spinning my mental wheels or ballooning the plot out into a behemoth that can’t be steered back on course. Even so, here’s a peek at a few ideas I currently have on the brain.

So.

Not exactly lacking for stories. It’s just a matter of seeing which of them breaks ahead of the herd and squeezes out into the publication ether first.

LAST BIT

Blah, blah, requisite reminder that I have a Ko-Fi where you can donate a buck or commission my best attempt at art, blah. Any pennies are a help.

But I’m betting very few of you came around here for my doodles. Somehow, a good amount of people tripped into this pit with me because you enjoy the rambles and horrors I’ve written over the years. Maybe some of you will even buy my book once it’s out. And you, there, on the other side of the screen—you’re reading this right now. You made it all the way to the bottom of this pile of exposition just because you wanted to. So, thank you.

Thank you for reading this far. Thank you for reading before and reading what’s to come. Thank you for giving me the confidence to even consider shouldering my own work out into the wider world.

Thank you.

P.S. If you want to re-read the preview, go here!

#this one is a Big Boy #the vampyres #my writing #my art #horror #the vampyre #dracula #barking harker #Spotify

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pinkiepiebones · 11 months

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Renfield prompt: Rebecca helps Robert celebrate his first post-Dracula Halloween

The day before Halloween, Robert is home. He's finally mending the damaged arm of his arm chair, affixing a fabric sunflower he had cobbled together from remnant scraps to the torn upholstery like a cheery bandage. Rebecca texts "yo open up" and as Robert crosses the living room to get to the door she's already knocking.

Rebecca gestures to his door. "You're really not decorating for Halloween? Not even a little ghost or somethin'?" Robert shrugs and steps aside so she can come in and sit on the sofa in what was unofficially her spot. He moves back to keep working on his chair.

"I just don't see the appeal of Halloween, Beck," he explains. "I've seen enough in my lifetime that nothing can scare me, which I have gathered is the big draw of this holiday for adults." He pauses to thread his needled onto a new piece of embroidery floss. "That and dressing up in, um. Not much."

Rebecca purses her lips in thought. "Really? None of that appeals to you?"

"Not really, no."

"What if I tell you that part of being human is doing stupid shit like dressing up and getting wasted with your friends while 'Monster Mash' and 'Thriller' get played on repeat?"

Robert stops to admire his mending work. And to think.

"I spent the last week at work decorating cakes for Halloween parties, and my free time's been here, sewing patches for my furniture." He looks at her, then, a kind of mischief lighting his eyes. "What sort of costume can one find at the last minute?"

Rebecca grins.

The Spirt Halloween Store is a strange thing, Robert thinks. Rebecca had told him how the stores set up inside the decayed husks of former businesses. "Much like a real spirit," Robert had commented without further elaboration. Robert is unphased by the animatronics and the sacks of bones and body parts. He mentions something about the offering of zombie costumes being 'bad stereotypes,' whatever that means, and expresses genuine perplexion over whatever the fuck a Fortnight is.

Rebecca hesitates when she sees Robert stop at a display of vampire costumes and accessories. The display featured capes ranging from cheap polyester to high collared velvet lined silk, red and black suits and gowns, fake fangs from saliva-pooling plastic dentures to unnervingly realistic enamels, chewable blood capsules, contact lenses, press-on claws and black nail polish, gaudy bat-themed jewelry, walking sticks and parasols, top hats, wigs with pronounced widows peaks, red-tinted glasses, pallid face powder, latex appliqués of bite wounds, and a stack of black T-shirts with the slogan I VANT TO SUCK YOUR DICK printed on them in a dripping red font. Rebecca is about to touch Robert's arm, ground him, see if he's okay, when he laughs. He picks up one of the shirts and holds it against his chest and turns for Rebecca to see.

"This is so, so crass, but I kind of want one? Maybe for a sleep shirt. It's just- fuck it, I'm getting it."

Rebecca chuckles. "So you don't want a vampire costume?" Robert makes a face.

"Fuck, no. Vampires are pricks, the lot of 'em." He starts to head towards a wall of masks when something else catches his eye and he wanders over like a moth to a flame.

"That. I want that one."

Rebecca looks up to see what he's been transfixed by and blinks in disbelief.

"Rob. You're a fucking weirdo" Rebecca teases.

"Well, it's a good thing I'm in similar company, isn't it" Robert teases back. He reaches up and starts looking for something in his size.

Rebecca sighs and and goes to find herself a costume that will not look like it's associated with Robert's at all.

Halloween night, a flapper girl and a tiger walk into a bar. Rebecca stops to adjust her wig and motions for Robert to bend so she can adjust his ear headband.

"How're my whiskers?"

"Purr-fect. How's my dress?"

"It's the bee's knees."

Rebecca nods and gestures with her cigarette holder.

"Happy Halloween, Rob. Let's go get drunk."

#renfield #I'll leave it up to you how silly his costume looks #and yes he does dance with some slutty vampires

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sidhewrites · 6 months

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21! Who even knows! but we're having fun! Also i forgot to establish that only kaz can read the fancy spell book so just kind of accept it for now.

Project Info

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

[Action and rising tension. Make the next scene shorter]

From our hiding place, Josie opens the book, and turns it towards me. "You're the one who bled on it, so you get to read it. What does it say?"

"I don't know -- I can't--" I fumble, looking everywhere but the book.

"You have to," Josie insists.

"You can do it," Lucy says gently. She reaches out, putting a hand near my shoulder. Not close enough to touch, but enough that I feel a certain coolness prickling on my skin. My heart flutters, and I'm grateful she doesn't say the quiet part out loud. Because if I can't do this, the entire town is doomed to be sucked off into the afterlife to be tormented by ghosts for the rest of eternity.

I swallow hard, squeezing my eyes shut, and let out a long, steadying breath. When I open them again, the page is exactly the same as before, but I understand the symbols on it now, as easily as if it were written in English. Ending the visitation of unwelcome Guests, it reads, which, I suppose, is the polite way of putting it.

I read aloud, desperate for Josie to understand the directions better than I do. Lucy's presence is a reassuring balm, keeping me as focused as I ever could be under potential-apocalypse-induced stress. And I think I do pretty well, since Josie's face goes from fear to confusion to bemused acceptance as I read. Once I'm done, I turn to her and say, "What's the SparkNotes version, teach?"

"We need to create a cage," she says. "Something made of this world to trick him into thinking we've given him a new bodily host, one stronger than the skeleton he's haunting now."

"Cool," I say, and then say it a few more times for good luck. "So the locks of hair or pieces of ourselves? Just -- you know, making sure I understand."

"That's to create the body."

"Cool," I say again, because I am a font of eloquence in even the most trying of times. "So what goes into a body?"

"Uh...The spell didn't clarify. Usually, though, it's kind of just..." She mimes cutting her hand open.

"If you say blood sacrifice out loud I'm going to go join the ghosts."

"It's just that it's the most powerful! You know, the blood is the life and all that. It contains an intrinsic piece of you."

"Don't use my love of Bram Stoker's Dracula against me." I hug Renfield closer. He's still unconcious, but his breathing is even, and getting stronger by the minute. If she even thinks of getting close to him with a knife, I'll -- okay, I won't kill her, but I'd do something drastic.

"We could do other things. Saliva, a personal valuable, a hair clipping."

"That one. We do that one."

Josie sighs, but ultimately agrees. "Okay. A lock of hair from all of us with a physical body.

"Aw, no witchcraft for Lucy," I say, and pull the multi-tool out of my pocket and pulling out the tiny scissors while Josie looks around for something to use. She settles on a nearby metal urn meant to hold flowers, long-since rusted over and dented. "How much hair do we need?" [Establish a bit earlier in the story kaz always has a multi-tool on her in one of her pockets, and also that she wears cargo shorts. ]

Josie shakes her head, expression tight. "Some. I don't know." I wonder if this is the first time she's ever done real witchcraft like this. I know she's done chaos magic in the past -- rituals coupled with intent that help you with things you're already doing, like study for a test or get the job she wants. But I have a feeling this is more than even she ever imagined doing.

Rather than sitting around in discomfort, I let Renfield go just long enough to cut off a three-inch-long piece of my hair, faded pink and sad-looking. My side-shave is growing in unevenly as well, but I don't know if I've ever cared less about my hair than right now.

Josie takes it from me, and places it carefully in the urn. I snip off a bit of Renfield's fur as well, and do the same. Then I hand the tool over to Josie, who adds her own hair to the urn. She pauses, looks at me, and doesn't even give me a chance to say please no before switching the scissors for the multi-tool's tiny knife and drawing it along her hand, just enough to draw a bit of blood. She hisses, but holds her hand out, letting a few drops fall into the urn before flexing her fingers and handing the tool back to me.

"Thank you for the biohazard," I say, stashing it in my pocket.

"I'm sorry."

I pause, fighting every urge to be sarcastic at her about apologizing, and nod at the spell book. "What's next?"

"We have to perform an invocation. A chant," she adds, glancing at me pointedly. I don't like that she knows I don't know the meaning of the word invocation, but whatever. "I'll write it down. Kaz, can you read it again?"

As I reread the magic words (invocation, ugh), Josie transcribes it into her notes app, much to Lucy's fascination. She leans over Josie's shoulder, watching Josie's hands fly across a digital keyboard, barely holding in her questions about how the touch-screen works.

"Okay. We have to say it together," Josie says. "Power of three. Just trust me."

I do. We both do. Josie puts one hand over her heart, and the other on the urn. Our chanting is uncertain and unsteady, and we have to pause when Josie's phone times out and goes dark.

She fumbles with the settings so it won't do that again, and we start over. It's clumsy, and I feel like this would work better if we were speaking in perfect unison, but Josie had always told me magic was as much about intent as it was the ritual itself. I don't know how this works, and I have to fight to stay focused on reading the words, rather than whether or not my intentions are strong enough or whatever. I picture a psychic beam of make this work at the urn.

After long enough, it works. A faint blue light spreads out from our hands, lighting up the old rusted metal until it glows.

I stop chanting for a second, looking around to cheer on our success, but Lucy and Josie keep going, shooting glances my way. I fumble and rejoin them, going over the last few lines and desperately hoping that I didn't fuck up everything. But the glowing doesn't fade, and we finish more or less confidently.

"Okay," Jose says. "Let's go get this guy." But when she glances up, any hint of confidence fades. "Well. Um. Hm."

Lucy and I follow her gaze, though we don't have to look up very far. Our work has attracted the attention of other ghosts around the cemetery -- half-formed specters, shapeless auras. The dead stand around us in a circle. And above us, the sky has turned a sickly green, reflecting off the clouds and giving the world an evil look.

Tag List

@adaughterofathena

@ambreeskyewriting

@carnelianflames

@feather-dancer

@halfbloodlycan

@nadunacreates

@serenanymph

@vigilantdesert

#graveyard lesbians #nano #nano 2023 #nanowrimo #writeblr #writers on tumblr #writers and poets #wlw #wlw fiction #supernatural romance #original fiction #mystuff #writing

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cedarboughs · 2 years

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I visited Forks, Washington this week, which is on a bit of land amidst reservations and logging cut blocks and national parks, a place where the local burger joint still charges $4.00 for strawberry lemonade and calls it “Vampire punch,” written on the menu in what I’m pretty sure is the font used for the title on the cover of Twilight. It’s a beautiful area, and solemnly atmospheric, gothic in its fundamental character, isolated on a peninsula in the pounding Pacific, the apex of all that makes the Pacific Northwest unique – surrounded by primordial hemlock forest, perpetually in shadow and concealing countless silent mossy hollows where who-knows-what could be lurking. A centre of deep-rooted social conflict between capitalist resource extraction, indigenous tradition, poverty-driven job seekers, and conservationists driven far from the heartland seeking out the last ancient places still worth protecting. Pretty much the perfect setting for a haunting supernatural novel populated with a cast of outcasts and subtly, allegorically exploring those conflicts and the purpose of shadows and forests to the many outcasts of America and those on the literal and euphemistic edge—

And Twilight is the fantasy novel that laid claim to it?

Im not upset, it just feels like there could have been more, like Meyer could have really dug into the place and its literary feel, or like it could have been written by an author more familiar with the region. And, er, less Mormon.

Like, imagine: the vampire mythos intentionally contrasted with the American capitalist ethos of sucking the land dry for sustenance. I know that there’s like good vampires and villainous vampires, right? And that the vampires and werewolves are at odds because reasons? Imagine that one clan of vampires stays out of the sun beneath the trees, where they can hide in humble shadows, while another stays out of the sun in boardrooms and limos and penthouses using power as a means to blood. To commit the ultimate Washington State heresy and put a Fleet Foxes lyric in a Twilight-adjacent post, the men who move only in dimly lit halls and determine my future for me. Imagine shape-changer tricksters based in the real mythology of the Northwest (there’d have to be more ravens; see Eden Robinson’s Trickster Trilogy.) Imagine our human heroine, disillusioned with her home in some flyover state where the sun glares constant and remorseless, plants shrivel in the dry air, and the sky induces borderline agoraphobia, entering into this world first through a love of the woods and the life-filled solitude of the place itself, and then realizing the solidarity she feels with one (or two? And on some level all) of the ultimate outcasts, thriving in the shadows of the cedars for almost the same reason. And imagine the ultimate conflict being a truce of solidarity between indigenous Tricksters and the one group of vampires, who are descended from colonists but have tried to minimize the blood-sucking that their economic system I mean vampiric curse requires of them, against the true vampires, who like Stoker’s Dracula being of old nobility have built everything around it, who’d take away the trees that both factions of rivals love – the spirits more ancient than any of them – because they shelter in their own trees of steel.

I should admit that I haven’t actually read any of the Twilight books in full, and it’s been more than ten years since I saw one of the movies, so for all I know, all of this might actually happen. But from everything I’ve heard, I doubt it. And I want to make it clear that I don’t hate the series or anything. It’s not 2009 anymore and I’m not in late elementary school anymore. It’s more like, I’m a bit melancholy thinking about the wasted storytelling potential of a place and concept that has so, so much potential.

#washington state #washington #twilight #fleet foxes #books #pacific northwest #pacific northwest gothic #I’d say twilight fans dni but I think it’d be funny if I’m just absolutely wrong about a fandom I know very little about so come on in

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movies-tv-more · 2 years

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BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA 4K Blu-ray Steelbook

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola’s retelling of Dracula, a steelbook will be coming home in time for Halloween on October 4, 2022.

Special features on the 4K disc:

PREVIOUSLY RESTORED IN 4K

DOLBY VISION/HDR PERSENTATION OF THE FILM, including the original theatrical English subtitle font for texted instances

NEWLY ADDED "Love Song For A Vampire" Music Video by Annie Lennox

NEWLY ADDED Blood Lines – Dracula: The Man, The Myth, The Movies Featurette

(x)

#bram stoker's dracula #dracula 1992 #francis ford coppola #winona ryder #gary oldman #keanu reeves #anthony hopkins #4k steelbook #4k #steelbook #30th anniversary #horror #bram stoker #dracula #october 4 #sony pictures #cover art #1992 movies

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vertoludum · 3 months

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im always thinking about how bram stoker did everything but write in gigantic font BLOOD = SEX. the way lucy needs blood transfusions from three different men other than her fiancée/husband and they all decide to keep it a secret from him or else he'd be consumed by jealousy, the way dracula was obviously seducing everyone and drinking their blood (or trying to) the way he shoos his brides when they're scaring the hoe (johnathan) and yells "this man is mine" (🤨) it's like okay you get me. tell me more.

#fellas is it cheating if yr girl gets life saving blood transfusions from other dudes #dracula #bram stoker #vampirism

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badkatdesigns · 1 year

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Dropping today at 12:30 GMT!

This month’s theme was Vampire Beach Party, inspired by Dracula Daily and the fact that it’s hot as balls already and I would love to be at the beach. I went all fucking out on these rewards, so I hope you guys like them! :)

We’ve got 4 rigged and skinned 3D models: a dilfy man-bun aristocratic Dracula, a bratty and emo-inspired fruity bitch Lestat de Lioncourt, a sultry Vampirella and an athletic but still on-theme Karmilla Karnstein! Available for my £15 patrons, you can get them in OBJ and FBX formats to import into your own projects, or print the STLs for your desk (the images above are of their posed STLs)!

I truly went so hard on the props this month! The drop includes the vampire beach set itself, just a spooky island with 2D emissive moon and stars, as well as a whole bunch of other stuff! There’s vampire-themed pool floaties, drinks, and patio furniture (the table is rigged, and has bones for any drink, simply parent the objects to said bones), and some ground plants and trees. Available for my £10 and up patrons in both FBX and OBJ formats for importing!

This month’s Clip Studio brushes are more classically vampiric in energy; we’ve got a blood drip brush (11 brush tips, grey colorspace), a bat spray brush (7 brush tips, grey colorspace, my personal fave), and a spooky coffin brush (3 brush tips, grey colorspace, color jitter on the interiors)! Available for my £7 and up Patrons :) They can be used with any drawing program that uses the SRT format for brushes!

For fonts this month we have Pina CoBlooda, a drippier take on the classic tropical font, with skull and batwing flourishes, and Vampire Party, a ding-style illustrative font that centres vampires, skeletons and lots of beach party iconography with trad tattoo energy. These are available for everyone from the £5 tier and up; they’re TTFs and can be installed on any system!

Get them here! :)

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glittergroovy · 1 year

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#flyleaf #I’m so sick #lyrics #Flyleaf lyrics #gif warning #glitter text #blood of dracula font #green #green outline #thick outline #oie

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grindhousecellar · 6 years

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I like to have legit releases of Franco films but sometimes you have to settle for bootlegs of bootlegs with burnt in Asian subtitles.

Jess Franco Friday!

#Dracula Prisoner Of Frankenstein #trailer #movie title gif #Asian subtitles #bootleg a bootleg and cut out the middleman #Jess Franco #Franco Friday #Jess Franco Friday #grindhousecellar #movie title #title #gif #blood drip font

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kreativproject · 4 years

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Chill Blood - Bloody Typeface

Chill Blood – Bloody Typeface

Download Chill Blood – Bloody Typeface

Chill Blood

Indroducing the blood dripped style typeface, Chill Blood ! Unique style, crafty and creeepy typeface, great for your creepy design!

Features: -Uppercase -Lowercase -Numeric -Symbols -Multilingual Support

Files : -Chill Blood OTF, TTF, WOFF

Thanks for your support, hope you like it!

Chill Blood – Bloody Typeface font details

Formats: OTFTTFWOFF

View On WordPress

#blood #Blood Dripped Font #bloody #Corporate License #dracula #halloween #Halloween Craft #halloween font #Premium License #Slime Font #Spooky Font #vampire

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gaming-thoughts-by-an-idiot · 2 years

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The Call of Cthulhu

Spoilers ahead :)

Chapter 1:

"Okay, aah, shark-"

"Okay, lots of blood. Cool cool cool"

"Ew, I dont like this game and I'm only a min in."

"Uh, how do I 3rd pov"

"What's the controls like?"

*camera sensitivity, vibration, invert*

" *half laugh* wow, thank you, so helpful"

"Alright then"

"Onwards we go"

"To crouch press B??? NO??? EEE! IF IT SAY X TO RUN I AM GONNA CRY"

"Omg I'm so scared"

"Theres a meme for the face I'm making, the harold in pain."

"This is very scary"

"Can I run?"

"WHAT WAS THAT????"

"Ok, maybe our octopus baby is just scared of the light... that's ok, that's good."

"I have a lamp and I'm not afraid to use it. I'm actually scared if I dont"

"He speaks to me"

"Did lovecraft dude make the octodaddy a man?"

"Pff, I went from 'imma piss my pants' scared, to calling cthulhu Daddy"

"From the cover pic, cthulhu got a dad bod"

"AAAAA DONT FIGHT??? IT SAYS HOW TO RUN, BITCH-"

"Thank god, it was a dream"

Main character: I hate whiskey

Me: same

"Can i turn this shit music off?"

"The phone is ringing... imma ignore it"

"I dont like auto save games, especially not when i cant manually save aswell"

"Yoo, wtf is this? Hes like a pokemon"

"Or it's like level up skyrim and fallout"

"Omg fiiine"

"Would be fun if there were a sherlock Dracula game, like debunk him"

"Oooh, I get to choose my character points, like dragon age"

"Most on investigation... and strength ofc, no wait, I dont want that, one less... medicine or occult info... hmmm... i have zero % on occult... guess I'll do that then"

Sanity: confident in your abilities and your cartesian mind-

Me: a what?

*googles*

Me: logical and self aware, ok I guess

"This is interesting"

"So, she was a psychic? If she just 'sees' things"

"So far? Good game"

Pierce: something's queer-

Me: yeah, me

"Isnt it like, if you talk about or draw or whatever, it draws power to cthulhu?"

"I'm gonna find that honking car outside his building, and set it the fuck on fire"

"Darkwater island? I have to think of something else, but it sounds familiar?"

Chapter two:

"Basic achievement! Yay :D"

"Darkwater sound like a very nasty homebrewed beer"

"The loading screen is so slow, it takes me back to windows 96"

"Aa- I think the game got offended, suddenly it moved fast"

" 'Enter madness' lmao, same"

"What would happen if a boat didnt want to take him to the island?"

" 'A game by Cyanide studio' spooky"

"Scary stones in the water"

"I like the fonts of the title"

"I mean, some whale ships had it coming"

"I failed the skill test, wow, rude. Put points into medical, people"

"I was on the 'he started it', and now I'm not allowed to drink, ugh... I have to play by me, not what can get me things"

"Wait, those are the same thing. Damnit"

"Oh lookie here, a woman. How do I know? Shes clearly wearing lipgloss!"

"Damn, this game isnt good for me, I'm failing all of these dialogues. I'm a terrible detective"

"The captain is just watching me as I go through his stuff"

Captain Fitzroy: us men of the sea are superstitious folk.

Me: as you should.

"Killer whales are fucking assholes"

"I have heard of the depths, yes"

"Love me some mythology"

"Like, why, would you put the dead whale, back? How is it even on land??? Did they drag it? Or did it just appear ON land? Cuz bruh, I wouldnt even touch it then"

"I dont wanna look at a leg that's been on a dead man, ew"

"Tell me about the hella whale"

Me: I snooped through you shit, heres my thoughts-

Him, as he should: wtf??? Dont touch my shit

Me: understandable, have a good day

"Wtf is the jetty?"

"Thanks man, I'm about to talk to people and make more mistakes"

"No wonder I'm a failing detective"

"My sherlock days are behind me, I'm a fool"

"Hes running like hes not wearing shoes, and theres puddles on the ground"

" 'They were all burnt up' that's so fucking creepy"

"I can lockpick????? Fuck. Yes."

"I broke it :("

Pierce: statue of saint dude for sailors, vandalism, cant even say what language

Me: angry language

Bootleggers: if this (didnt pay attention) gets out, we will get in trouble with you-know-who.

Me: Voldemort?

"Oh, I had a lighter"

"How do I turn it off"

"Hah! You think you can fight me! Oooooh ouch, the penis, she kicked it"

"Ugh, this game is hard. This is why I always die quickly, I just cant stop being sassy"

"Cat looks like she needs to pee"

"Oh no, ah, if I do this, I might owe her a favour... HMMMMMM, god... am I gonna regret this? Probably"

"Yes."

"I dont like to say this, but she should get laid or, ya know, SLEEP, Go and sleep in a soft bed, take a bubble bath... wait, did they have bubble baths at this time?"

"Google says 1940, and this is like 1800 something... go take a relatively warm bath, Cat."

"Shes so angry, is she ok?"

"She needs a hug. Not from me, nuuuh"

"In a romance movie or something, Pierce and Cat would date"

"... or am I thinking fanfics"

"See! Anger and strength isnt the way to go."

"I clearly made a mistake asking for her help. Next play through. Is gonna be better"

Chapter 3:

Game: enter madness

Me: already there, baby

"Its odd that her husband had the final saying on the grave location..."

"Me avoiding the main quest, only to do exactly what the main quest wants me to to do, ugh"

"Okay! The guy, mr winchester is very angry and very scary- and I just got an achievement that says just that"

"I dont understand the way to choose level points, but ok"

"So from what I saw, the couple did have a fight... but there were also a third person... so that's not arson or a crime of passion... but I guess I'll have to say it was a fight"

"Eyy, I got a point I can use on something"

"This is odd"

Pierce: the lyrics of the drunken sailor-

Me: I know that one!

"I want to read lovecraft's books, but they sound extremely scary"

"Hahahha! He burned himself with the lighter"

".... that was a skull... a skull just, flashed in the corner of the scene, what"

"Its so dark in here, isnt there any light???"

"Lol, not gonna lie, the kid's drawings are like the Slenderman game"

"Oh no... the kid got the vision too"

"Huh, that painting kinda looks like pierce"

"!!!PERSON IN MASK"

Officer: where did he go??? Theres no way out!!

Me: dude, they're legit marks on the floor, secret bookcase

"Having some trouble with this damn puzzle"

"Eyy! I found norway on the globe"

"Italy looks like a shoe, and Norway looks like- well, better not say it"

"Damn, either I am really stupid...or this is actually hard"

"Gotta take a pic of the map"

"OH YOY BLOODYBFUCKI-- ARE YOU SERIPUS ARE ANFNAKBQKHDA I AM GOING TO FUCKING SCREAM"

"WOW, OK, HERE I AM- OH THANK YOU XBOX FOT THE ACHIEVEMENT, SO HERE I AM, TOOK A FUCKING PHOTO OF THE FUCKIBG MAP, REALIZING I CANT READ MAPS- AND I, JUST FOR LAUGHS, DECIDE TO PRESS IN THE COMPASS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GLOBE! AND GODAMN WOULDNT YOU KNOW HHHHHHHHHHH I'm so irritated."

"Wouldnt we hear it? If the person ran down there?"

"I wanna say, if this dude stole a painting? Just let him? This is a scary cave"

"I dont want to go there alone ;-;"

Chapter 4:

*spooky Blair witch type of thing hangs from ceiling*

Pierce: it's a dream catcher

Me: *sweating*

"I dont like that the lamp needs more oil, it gives me amnesia vibes"

"Nothing might happen if I touch the 'dream catchers', but I'm not gonna test that, crouching squad"

"Eating that huge whale must've made the sailors mad, crazy mad"

Sailors: we're gonna die, horribly

Cthulhu: here you humans go, a snack :)

Sailors: praise the lord!

Cthulhu: >:(

"100% what happened"

Pierce: OH MY GOD, WHATS GOING ON IN HERE? HMM

Officer: *softly* finally, there you are-

Pierce, not softly: SHUSH, WE ARE NOT ALONE

*very clear echo in the cave*

Officer: fuck. This is your fault, clearly, ugh

Pierce, still not quiet: LETS MEET DOWN THERE

"... theres a bloody, nasty hole in the ground... dont say it dont say it-"

"CTHULHU'S VAGINA"

"Or, I guess butthole"

"Oh no, we fell into it, terrible."

"Ew, 'the pit of horror', yeah xbox, this is definitely that"

"Oh wait, I was here earlier :)"

"Oh my god... I was here earlier D:"

"Cthulhu daddy will speak to me soon uwu"

Pierce: *picks up latin book*

Also Pierce: I cant read latin :(

"Oh... oh ok, 'Y' is where u take away the lighter"

"I dont think that's latin, m8"

"Keyboard smash sounds"

"Wow, they really just assumed cthulhu's gender"

"I wonder if the officer is gonna become a sacrifice"

"UHM???"

Cultist: ah! I... I feel him-

Another dude: shh~ you're gifted, indeed. Let him pass through every part of you.

Me: ... ew what

"Oh fuck. Omg. I thought that was it for me."

"I'm just crawling around, and then a dude, WITH A LAMP walks past me, I just froze, actually held my breath"

"Bradley died, the Charles dude is alive and looks like what a baby would look like, if Charles and cthulhu had a baby"

Chapter 5:

"I'm at the hospital:)"

"That was not a nice thing, I dont want to be a subject, sir"

"Wtf was that"

"BRADLEY IS THAT??? WHO IS THAT"

"I dont like this"

"I'm in a patted room"

"Guess I'll sleep then"

"Oh, where am I now? This looks like a clean place"

"For a 1800th standard"

"OH! Damn, I feel so dumb. Leviathan. Cthulhu, ugh."

"Go on, mr leviathan"

"Hes not very nice to me"

"Alrighty female person, lead the way"

Marie: find a way to get past these dudes lmao

Pierce: how???

Marie: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

"Hhhh, the game tells me to be stealthy, I'm scared"

"I can hide in a closet, oh no, I dont like"

"Almost caught"

"This is stressful"

"I'm lost :)"

Pierce, pulls a random switch: have I? UwU activated something?

"Ok, apparently I'm doing something right"

"????? Ok, ok, I'm in, ok..."

"Dude wtf"

Chapter 6:

"I'm doing this in one go, baby"

"I chose to tell the truth to the wife of the crazy man"

"No, I'm trying not to drink"

"Cat is here at the wife place"

"Digging through some stuff here, tell me more"

"Its good to invest in charisma, look at all this info"

"So, he just saw a vision of the Sanders dude stare at the painting... and scratch his eyes out... and Pierce is like 'I must see it', bro???"

"Okaaay, let's look at the painting that's gonna drive you mad :)"

"Is this like smile dog?"

"Omg, ew ew??? Wtf is that????"

"Run run run"

"Hhh, this reminds me of Alien isolation"

"I broke a glass to get a knife"

"RUN"

"I JUST SCREAMED"

"AND I JUST DIED"

"That was a loud scream too, its 2am"

"Omg i cant do this, I keep dying"

"What happens if I just stay in the closet? Will he die from a heart attack?"

"Think I'll call it quits, and try another day :)"

"He just screams, I'll try and grab a knife"

"Nah, I died..."

"Uuugh"

"Hmm, it's not scared of the light"

"I'm just trying shit, cuz it's still scary, but idk what to do now"

"Hmmm... died again"

"Okay, another day"

#gaming #funny #relatable gaming thoughts #call of cthulhu #the call of cthulhu #slight horror game imo #spoilers #call of cthulhu spoilers

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docrotten · 3 years

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HORROR OF DRACULA (1958) – Episode 109 – Decades of Horror: The Classic Era

"I am Dracula and I welcome you to my house." Are you falling for that old trick? Join this episode’s Grue-Crew - Chad Hunt, Whitney Collazo, Daphne Monary-Ernsdorff, and Jeff Mohr along with special guest Dick Klemensen (since 1972, the editor and publisher of Little Shoppe of Horrors Magazine - The Journal of Classic British Horror Films) - as they enter the House of Hammer once again with one of the company’s best, (Horror of) Dracula (1958).

Decades of Horror: The Classic Era Episode 109 – (Horror of) Dracula (1958)

Join the Crew on the Gruesome Magazine YouTube channel! Subscribe today! And click the alert to get notified of new content! https://youtube.com/gruesomemagazine

ANNOUNCEMENT Decades of Horror The Classic Era is partnering with THE CLASSIC SCI-FI MOVIE CHANNEL which will now include video episodes of The Classic Era! Available on Roku, AppleTV, Amazon FireTV, AndroidTV, Online Website. Across All OTT platforms, as well as mobile, tablet, and desktop. https://classicscifichannel.com/

Jonathan Harker begets the ire of Count Dracula after he accepts a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, forcing his colleague Dr. Van Helsing to hunt the predatory villain when he targets Harker's loved ones.

IMDb

Director: Terence Fisher

Writers: Jimmy Sangster (screenplay), Bram Stoker (novel)

Music by: James Bernard

Cinematographer: Jack Asher (director of photography)

Production Design: Bernard Robinson

Makeup Department:

Philip Leakey (makeup artist) (as Phil Leaky)

Roy Ashton (assistant makeup artist) (uncredited)

Special Effects: Sydney Pearson

Selected Cast

Peter Cushing as Doctor Van Helsing

Christopher Lee as Count Dracula

Michael Gough as Arthur Holmwood

Melissa Stribling as Mina Holmwood

Carol Marsh as Lucy Holmwood

John Van Eyssen as Jonathan Harker

Valerie Gaunt as Vampire Woman

Olga Dickie as Gerda

Janina Faye as Tania

Charles Lloyd-Pack as Doctor Seward

George Merritt as Policeman

George Woodbridge as Landlord

George Benson as Frontier Official

Miles Malleson as Undertaker

Geoffrey Bayldon as Porter

Barbara Archer as Inga

Paul Cole as Lad

Whitney had a “reel” treat when she first saw (Horror of) Dracula at Geoffrey Rayles’s Rayle Archives in Lenoir, NC where she was able to view the 1958, 35mm, Technicolor print along with a couple reels of the early 1960s re-release. Of course, she loved the movie. What’s not to like with Cushing, Lee, and Gough? For Chad, (Horror of) Dracula changed the way he looked at the Count and, along with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), this one is his favorite Hammer film. Chad also has a heck of a story about the first time he saw the film at his grandparent’s house. Daphne had great fun watching Cushing and Lee, especially in the few scenes they had together in (Horror of) Dracula. Jeff is a big fan of Dracula (1931) but also loves Lee’s more feral, animalistic interpretation in (Horror of) Dracula.

You might say Dick Klemensen gives truth to the statement, “If you show it, he will come,” when he drove over two hours across the state to catch a showing of (Horror of) Dracula at a drive-in theater in Des Moines. According to Dick, if you want to show someone a Hammer film who has never seen one, this is it. The film has everything: action, blood, fights, and pacing.

Incidentally, if you haven’t read an issue of The Little Shoppe of Horrors Magazine, edited and published by Dick Klemensen since 1972, head on over to their website and order yourself an issue (or two or three). They’re stock full (at about 100 pages of 8-point font) of interesting articles and art about classic British horror films.

Also be sure to check out The Men Who Made Hammer shorts (running between 15 and 60 minutes each) featuring Dick and produced by Constantine Nasr on the Scream Factory Blu-ray releases of the following Hammer films: X the Unkown (1956, Jimmy Sangster), The Brides of Dracula (1960, Jack Asher and Terence Fisher), The Curse of the Werewolf (1961, Roy Ashton), The Phantom of the Opera (1962, Anthony Hinds), The Kiss of the Vampire (1963, James Bernard and Bernard Robinson), The Lost Continent (1968, Michael Carreras & film commentary), and Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974, Roy Skeggs). The other entry in The Men Who Made Hammer series features Tony Dalton (author of Terence Fisher: Master of Gothic Cinema, 2021) discussing Freddie Francis on The Evil of Frankenstein (1964).

October is a great month to revisit this Hammer gem! As of this writing, (Horror of) Dracula is available for streaming on HBOmax.

Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era records a new episode every two weeks. Up next on their very flexible schedule is one chosen by Daphne, Antonio Margheriti’s The Long Hair of Death (1964) starring Barbara Steele!

Please let them know how they’re doing! They want to hear from you – the coolest, grooviest fans: leave them a message or leave a comment on the site or email the Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast hosts at [email protected]

To each of you from each of us, “Thank you so much for listening!”

Check out this episode!

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grailfinders · 4 years

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Fate and Phantasms #52: Vlad III

It’s only a week until October begins, so this build is frustratingly close to being well timed. Anyway, today on Fate and Phantasms we’re building the Son of the Dragon, Count Dracula! Kind of. Vlad III is an Undead Warlock/Shadow Sorcerer, who’s all about cribbing as much as he can from Bram Stoker, whether he wants to or not.

Check out the level-by-level breakdown below the cut, or the build summary over here!

Race and Background

The noble Vlad III Dracula wasn’t a Vampire, but you are, so you get +1 to Wisdom and +2 Charisma. You also have 60′ of Darkvision, Vampiric Resistance to necrotic damage, and the ability to suck the blood from willing, restrained, or grappled (by you) creatures with your Bloodthirst. This deals 1 piercing damage and 1d6 necrotic damage, healing you and reducing the target’s max HP by the amount of necrotic damage it deals. Drinking blood this way also gives you a Feast of Blood, giving you advantage on Strength and Dexterity saves and an extra 10′ of movement for a minute. Feasts stack, so feel free to go on a blood sugar high for big bursts of speed.

I called you noble in the last paragraph, and I meant that both in personality and literally. Nobles have proficiency in History and Persuasion. Honestly all servants should have History as a proficiency, and vampires can warp the minds of those under their thrall.

Stats

Strength is going to be your highest stat: shoving chunks of metal through people takes some elbow grease. After that is Dexterity, you’re so fast on your feet it’s like you’re flying. Third is going to be Charisma; it’s not just how charming you are but how spooky you can be, and you are very very spooky. Fourth is Intelligence: your madness enhancement doesn’t affect you that badly; at least not in terms of your smarts. Your Constitution’s a bit low, but you can always get that from other people. Finally, dump Wisdom. You agreed to show up as Dracula, so you’re clearly not in your right mind.

Class Levels

1. Warlock 1: Today we’re answering the question on everyone’s mind: can you be your own patron? The answer is yes! Kinda. Taking your power from The Undead Count Dracula, you gain Pact Magic using your charisma to cast and a Form of Dread. You also get proficiency in Wisdom and Charisma Saves, and two warlock skills. I’d think vampire lore would fall under Arcana, and you’re pretty scary, so grab Intimidation too.

As a bonus action, you can use Form of Dread to transform into a monster for 1 minute, gaining 1d10 plus your Warlock level in temporary HP. Once per turn when you make a damage roll from an attack, you can force it to make a wisdom save or be frightened of you until the end of your next turn. You’re also immune to the frightened condition while transformed. You can use this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest. Basically, this is your version of rage, except it doesn’t prevent you from casting spells.

Speaking of, grab the cantrips Chill Touch for some spectral hands gripping at your fores, and Eldritch Blast for some ranged spears. For first level spells, False Life will make you even tougher, thanks to your increased HP, and Arms of Hadar will give you a short-range spear burst.

For weapons, the Spear is an obvious choice for the impaler.

2. Sorcerer 1: Have I mentioned you’re a vampire? That also qualifies you for the Shadow Sorcerer class! First level sorcerers get more Spells that also use your charisma to cast. This time multiclassing spells is easy: Your warlock levels have their slots, and your sorcerer levels have theirs. You can also cast warlock spells with sorcerer slots or vice-versa. Shadow sorcerers also get Eyes of the Dark, enhancing your darkvision to 120′ feet, and Strength of the Grave, meaning you might not die when you die, as long as you aren’t taking radiant or critical damage. Y’know, like from the sun or a stake to the heart. This only works once per long rest though, so don’t go counting on it.

For your spells, Mage Hand will let you caddy around some extra spears in case yours get “lost”, Message will let you telepathically communicate with your thralls, and Control Flames will give you an extra bit of dramatic flair. Also, grab True Strike. Your favorite targets for impalement are pretty small, so some advantage wouldn’t hurt.

For first level spells, Charm Person is a gimme for a vampire, and you should also grab Sleep. Drinking blood? Best done on a sleeping person. Waiting for them to fall asleep? Dumb. Make their dreams happen literally so you can make your dreams happen figuratively.

3. Sorcerer 2: Second level sorcerers become a Font of Magic, giving you sorcery points equal to your sorcerer level, and the ability to burn spell slots for more points and vice versa.

For your spell, Ice Knife broadens the range of materials you can stab people with. To be fair, you could always flavor your eldritch blast as just “whatever’s nearby at the time”, but having spells with different types of damage is good for you. Diversify.

4. Sorcerer 3: Third level shadow sorcerers get another part of their Eyes of the Dark to kick in at this level. You know the spell Darkness without it taking up a spot on your list, and if you cast it with three sorcery points, you can also see through it.

You also get two kinds of Metamagic, letting you customize your spells the way you want. Extended Spell doubles the duration of a spell, up to 24 hours, and Distant Spell doubles the range of a spell if it has one greater than touch or lets you cast touch spells from 30 feet away.

For your spell, grab Shadow Blade. It does psychic damage, but so do all impalings if you do them right.

5. Warlock 2: Second level warlocks get Eldritch Invocations, letting you customize your you the way you want. Armor of Shadows lets you cast Mage Armor at will on yourself. You’re pretty squishy, and that fancy outfit you’ve got on isn’t going to offer much protection. You also get a second invocation at this level, but just grab what you want, we’ll switch it next level anyway.

For your spell, grab Cause Fear. Fear: you cause it. It’s really that simple.

6. Warlock 3: Third level warlocks get their pact boon: the Pact of the Blade lets you summon a magical weapon to your hand as an action for even fancier stabbing. You can also turn a magical weapon into your pact weapon if you want as part of a 1 hour ritual. So swap out that other invocation now for Improved Pact Weapon, adding 1 to your attack and damage rolls with your pact weapon, and letting you use it as a spellcasting focus.

For your spell, grab Hold Person. This lets you grab hold of a person using magic, restraining them for the duration if they fail their wisdom saving throws. Vampires typically go for more of a hypnosis angle, but the effect’s the same so I wouldn’t sweat the details.

7. Warlock 4: You’re finally grabbing your first ASI at seventh level. Planeshift Ixalan gave us the vampire race, but it also gave a vampire-specific feat. Vampiric Exultation lets you spend an action to partially transform into mist, giving you a flying speed of 30′ that lasts for 10 minutes. You can use this once per short rest.

To further sell this new mist-based form of travel, grab Misty Step as your spell for this level. Now you can totally transform yourself into mist and teleport 30′ away. For your new cantrip, grab Frostbite for even more of the grave’s chill.

8. Sorcerer 4: Fourth level sorcerers also get an ASI. The Piercer feat increases your strength by 1 to get rid of that pesky odd number, and you can reroll one piercing damage die per turn. Scoring a critical piercing hit also adds one more die to the damage roll.

For your spells this level, Friends is Charm Person but less taxing on the slots, and Knock lets you invite yourself into people’s homes! It’s also really loud, so if anything it’s probably better as a distraction while you move towards the real way you’re sneaking in somewhere.

9. Sorcerer 5: Fifth level sorcerers get third level spells. Haste adds 2 to a target’s AC, gives it advantage on dexterity saves, doubles its speed, and gets an additional action on each of its turns. After the spell ends, the target can’t move or take actions for a turn, so get out of the limelight before that happens.

10. Sorcerer 6: Sixth level shadow sorcerers can summon a Hound of Ill Omen, a medium sized direwolf that counts as a monstrosity instead of a beast. You also summon it with half your sorcerer level in temporary HP. For three sorcery points, you get a hound that will chase down one creature who was within 120′ of you when it was summoned. It can pass through objects as difficult terrain, taking damage if it stops inside something. It can only move towards the target though, and only use its action to attack the target. If the hound is within 5′ of the target, they have disadvantage on all saving throws caused by your spells. The hound sticks around for 5 minutes, or until it or its target is at 0 hp. According to Stoker, you can turn into a wolf, so this is a nice compromise that won’t get fur on your suit.

Erupting Earth lets you make spears launch out of the ground in a 20′ cube, forcing dexterity saves for any creatures caught inside, and turning the whole area into difficult terrain, requiring one minute per square to clear away. Don’t let the bludgeoning damage fool you, these are totally spears.

11. Warlock 5: Fifth level warlocks also get third level spells. Gaseous Form lets you make your form gaseous, with a flying speed of 10′. You also get advantage on strength, dexterity, and constitution saves. There’s a lot of overlap between this and the exultation, but if you need to get through a wall, there’s no substitute.

You also get a new Invocation at fifth level. Thirsting Blade gives your pact weapon the Extra Attack feature, letting you make two weapon attacks in a single attack action.

12. Warlock 6: Sixth level Undead warlocks become Grave Touched. You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe, and can replace an attack’s damage type with necrotic damage. If you’re in your Form of Dread, you can add an extra damage die when dealing necrotic damage as well.

To complete the effect of the Legend of Dracula, we’re also grabbing Animate Dead for some undead minions.

13. Warlock 7: Seventh level warlocks get fourth level spells. Shadow of Moil lets you wrap yourself in, well, shadows, dropping the light within 10′ of you by one level (dim to darkness, bright to dim). You get resistance to that pesky radiant damage, and taking hits from something within 10′ of you causes shadow spears to shoot out of your body, dealing 2d8 necrotic damage to whatever hit you.

You also get another Invocation at this level. You can use Gaze of the Two Minds to see through another humanoid’s senses for a turn, but you can use your action on each turn to maintain the connection. Not everyone has proficiency in a disguise kit, and now you don’t need to try.

14. Warlock 8: Use your next ASI to round out your Wisdom and Charisma for better saves against other spells and worse saves against yours. We’re also grabbing a spell from the Undead spell list, Greater Invisibility. Getting caught is for mortals, don’t do it.

15. Warlock 9. Ninth level warlocks get 5th level spells. Negative Energy Flood forces a ton of bad juju into a creature based on their constitution save. If it kills them, they pop back up as a zombie that isn’t really under your control, but will go around biting people anyway.

You also get another Invocation! The Unearthed Arcana Superior Pact Weapon adds gives your pact weapon a +2 to attacks and damage that doesn’t stack with the improved pact weapon. Hold on to IPW for now anyway, we’ll have something to replace it with a little later.

16. Warlock 10: Tenth level undead warlocks become a Mortal Husk. You resist necrotic damage now, which you already could, but you’re totally immune in your Form of Dread. Also, when you hit 0 HP, you can make your body explode. This deals 2d10 plus your warlock level in necrotic damage to creatures within 30′, and you show up again at 1 hp where you died. You keep all your stuff, and gain one level of exhaustion. After you revive this way, you can’t do so again for 1d4 long rests.

For your cantrip at this level, grab Infestation. Technically Dracula can control rats, but fleas are the biggest we can do on short notice.

17. Sorcerer 7: Seventh level sorcerers get fourth level spells. Blight lets you suck the life out of a creature within range, dealing 8d8 necrotic damage on a failed constitution save. It’s also weirdly effective on plants for some reason.

18. Sorcerer 8: Use your ASI to increase your Constitution for some more health and better concentration saves.

19. Warlock 11: Eleventh level warlocks get a Mystic Arcanum, a sixth level spell they can use once per long rest. Create Undead lets you make fancier undead minions, Ghouls.

20. Warlock 12: Your final level gives you one last ASI, which will boost your Charisma for higher spell saves. Also, at this level you can replace that Improved Pact Weapon that’s just sitting around with Lifedrinker, adding necrotic damage to your pact weapon’s attacks equal to your charisma modifier.

Pros:

The combination of sorcerer points and warlock spell slots is really powerful. Use your sorcerer slots as normal, then right before a short rest you can turn your warlock slots into points, and get a lot of spells back for almost free.

You have multiple ways to defy death, and plenty of way to pad your life total as well, making you a bit tougher to kill than your HP total would suggest.

Your distant spells and minions helps you keep a combat presence over a wide area without having to put in all the legwork or opening yourself up for attack. If you’re willing to spend only one short rest a day on just zombie upkeep, you’ll be able to make 15 zombies a day, or maintain control of 24, for absolutely no cost. Add to that the occasional wight and Hound of Ill Omen, and you’ve got a veritable undead horde on your hands. Even if your enemies wade through your zombie army, you can just fly away from them and their dumb whip. Sorry, wrong Dracula.

Cons:

Your health total and AC aren’t great, especially for someone who’s waving around a melee weapon. If you do get cornered, it could be a short fight, especially against paladins. Your low constitution also means low concentration, so keep your distance if you’re charming someone.

Your low wisdom score can be an issue when up again magic users. Fortunately, you being charmed won’t directly affect your minions, so you’ve got a way to break free.

Mixing spellcasting classes means you don’t get ninth level spells. An army of the undead doesn’t mean much to someone who can just wish you were never born.

Next up: He’s so fluffy, everyone’s gonna die!

#Vlad III #Fate Grand Order #fgo #D&D 5e #Fate and Phantasms

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