Wednesday 8 June 2016

Necromancer Slippers

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The game is afoot in the MERP as the players finally  encroach on the lair of the Witch King. As mighty and feared as the Nazgul were, as a GM one has to address a significant amount of detail in order to maintain a certain level of ambience and context. It consequently means that I have had to give some thought as to the layout and décor of the habitat of said undead. Now I get the impression from the Lord of the Ring books that the Nazgul were trapped in the very throes of death yet sustained in unlife, tortured, with no choice but to scream in torment to enact the will of their Dark Lord. But in all of this melodrama would they not have had some respite in the little things? A comfortable throne to sit on or perhaps a nice pair of slippers for the evening. The point is that I have had to determine the living arrangements of a long dead and forgotten King. But of course the clue is in the question as not actually being alive does mean that living arrangements are sort of missing the point somewhat.
 
So Nazgul habitats exhibit the presence one would expect from former Mage Commanders of  great evil armies and also the regal but wasting décor of long lost palaces; their bodies having long since corrupted away reflects in their now abandoned fortresses and the lands over which they governed.
 
 
The party have thus entered the ruins of Minas Ithil and whilst the stone tower and battlements have remained standing, the interiors have all collapsed. Our party worked their way up an immensely long winding stair to the summit of the main watchtower. From here stood four doors; two leading West and South outside to a viewing balustrade, one magical but closed to the East and one open to a glowing corridor to the North extending beyond the physical limits of the tower itself. Our mage did attempt to open the door to the East as he had accidently been reading evil books earlier in the day that he shouldn't have and picked up a very powerful 'undoor' command. But like anyone wielding great power that is suddenly thrust upon them quite late in the evening, mistook undoor for unlock and vaporized the aforementioned gateway and its lintel, the tower roof groaning structurally in reply.
 
 
Still, building regs notwithstanding they party have skipped down a magical rabbit hole and are now somewhere else entirely....

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