7Hex Dragons: Current Campaign

Lord Dranyon, Vampire Prince of Insects

The turning point came when he stumbled upon a small, struggling Hymenopteran nest in the hills south of the WildWood. With his innate telepathy we was able to "lurk" and over hear their collective thoughts. He spent months getting to know the hive and then started to infiltrate them. He started injecting thoughts into the collective and expanded his own powers with Hymenopteran and insects in general. He guided them to food (cattle, small villages and other livestock and wildlife). He, too, viewed humanity as a food source and felt no compunction in guiding them to feed on humans. The hymenopterans started to depend on the voice in their hive they had trouble identifying but it rattled around with good fortune and food. They prospered and Dranyon fed them orcs and elves and humans and livestock. He spared one orc tribe by calling the hive off during an attack and the orcs gave him tribute of hostages for the Hymenopteran and pledged service in exchange for leading them in plunder.

He kept his minions separate: the Wolves and Giant Rats, the Shadow Wights, the Hymenopterans and the Orcs. He did not want to attract undue attention. His activities seemed to be the random acts of a variety of spread out nasties you would expect in and near the WildWood. Still he nursed his plans for revenge.

When the Orc tribe and the hymenopterans had started to increase their dominions and become strong, he started his own coven. He went far east to capture stray bandits, wandering sheepherders, disgruntled youth and lost travelers. He learned much of the towns, cities and orc tribes of the East. He would never strike more than twice in a 50 mile radius and he never left witnesses. His spawn grew in number. He was becoming mighty and his adventures in the WildWood, the Borderlands and along the coast had netted him magical items and many skills. Many of his spawn feared him and stayed spawn. Some escaped after breaking with him, but many stayed, seeing great things in him.

The wolves, bats and rats provided him intelligence on his former coven mates and he struck suddenly with singular genius, bringing the hymenopteran and orcs together, he divided the coven just before dawn, locking some out and surprising the rest as they were settling in for the day. He was ruthless those who had attacked him over 250 years prior. He buried some of them in chains underground to live for years in a semi-starved state before digging them up and exposing them to the sun. He gave the rest to the hymenopteran where they were instructed to entomb them in cocoons and feed on them when food was slack. He moved back into the WildWood for a short time, resting after decades of ceaseless activity thinking he would find peace and slipped into a semi-hibernation interupted by half-conscious feeding forays.

He awoke from that hibernation fraught with deep anxiety at his state, he no longer had revenge on the Coven to organize his life and give it purpose and he had become what he had sought revenge on. He wanted power and a deeper knowledge of the state he was in and what to expect from the next life, if there was one. He returned to his caves and found the Shadow Wights still there and a few of his coven also. The others had moved into the manor that they had helped conquer in the WildWood. Dranyon re-established himself with all his old allies and took command of both Covens after overcoming the leader of the WildWood coven in a single duel. He made deeper forays into the WildWood and sent his Vampires to collect stories of the fate of the Demons that used to haunt the Kirean Kingdom. He still had a sense of the lost glory of the Kirean Kingdom from his Grandfather and sought to find the power that had sustained, glorified and given purpose to the Hand of God on Earth. He had a new vision, he would retake the WildWood and the eastern Borderlands by controlling the Demons as the Kireans had done (wining the orc tribes over immediately). He had decades and centuries to nurse his plans but had to keep the IS off guard.

He started following up on myths and rumors and using his Hymenopterans, Night Gaunts and Orcs to stage raids on manors and villages to feed his growing, if disparate, forces, and to follow up on reports of buried Demons. He used the Hymenopterans for quick strikes and to keep vampires and orcs in line. He delved into the Wildlands and into the outskirts of Kirea Atlon. He was beaten back by warped creatures who would not heed his call.

It was one of his princes working the myths and stories around Delpan who discovered the Orc Shaman and his relics. Dranyon was also having increasingly active dreams of past glories (the Kirean Kingdom, Delpan under the Orc shamans, etc) as he used his telepathy to search for Greater Demons. The Greater Demon in Delpan was calling out to him in a dreamlike manner and warping his dreams. Dranyon arranged for the sack of Delpan by his hymenopteran to facilitate his search. He kept an eye on the Orc Shaman and planned to go himself and find the source of these dreams of power if the Orc Shaman is on to something. He is considereing capturing him, but does not fully know how powerful he is.

Due to pressure from the Elven and Centaur Rangers and some of their Necromancer allies, he has abandonded the manor in the Wildwood and moved into a deserted mansion in Gleremere. He has kept his ability to bend hymenopterans to himself and is currently spending a good bit of time infiltrating the two stronger hives near the edges of Gleremere.

Here are Dranyon's stats:
ST 24 IQ 26 DX 17(14) ARMOUR 11/7 without shield, 13/9 with Armourer's Belt on

Items he tends to carry on him:

• 20ST Battery Necklace
  
• Intelligent Black Glass Gleremere Bastard Sword (sword has ST12 IQ9 and can cast Shadow, Detect Life, Aid, Confusion. Can't be Dropped or Broken with the spell or a bad roll) has the usual Drain Life and Darkness spells built in (normal ST cost)
  
• Armourer's Belt,
• Blur ring
• Circlet of Darkness
• +2 Enchanted Fine Plate
• Fine +2 Shield (if expecting a fight)
• Scorpion Staff for days he is not expecting combat and just walking about.

• Summon Night Gaunt (similar to Summon Spectre)
• Control Person
• Control Animal
• Telepathy (no ST cost)
• Mage Sight (no ST cost)
• 4 Hex Darkness
• Confuse
• Flight
• Invisibility
• Summon Wolf
• Become Wolf/Bat
• Control Night Gaunt (no ST cost, one at a time)

• New Followers
• Sword and 1H Sword Master (see 7HexDragon House Rules)
• Diplomacy
• Shield
• Tactics/Strategist
• He subconsciously controls the insects around him (they feel his emotions and will attack if he is threatened, swarm if he is attacking, and encircle if he is negotiating, etc). He gained this power in dealing for years telepathically with the Hymenopterans, some of their collective consciousness rubbed off on him somehow and it takes a great effort to stop it and makes for great interactions with him to describe the insects responding to his moods (all moods, even calm there are an undue number of insects around). If attacked where there might be a good number of insects around, I have between a -1 and -3DX to attackers depending on the denisty of insects that could be expected to swarm in his defense and sometimes even 1 hit of damage per round, armour does not help).

He has a NightMare: ST28 IQ17 DX14: 5 Point Barding and a necklace of Flight (2/ST turn taken from the NightMare, 3ST if flying with a rider). Mentally in tune with Dranyon, will come when he needs if within 2 miles.

Usually with him is a fierce Night Gaunt who has long since forgotten his name in life, and simply goes by "The Mauler". He is in telepathic contact with Dranyon while insubstantial. He ends up being the enforcer/hitman for Dranyon where an Hymenopteran intervention is too much. He is fiercly loyal to Dranyon and gleefully kills and tortures for him.
ST23 IQ11 DX14: Keeps a Black Gleremere Glass Great Sword around (courtesy of Dranyon, while insubstantial a eunuch servant carries it for him, also courtesy of Lord Dranyon). He can cast Induce Fear (as out of 7HexDragon House Rules), 3Hex Shadow, Control Person, Sleep, Drain Life, Confusion. When substantail "The Mauler" does have a bloodlust on, but still has a decent IQ and can perform a goodly variety of actions outside of killing. Mostly he has his enuch do the drudge work.

Other Minions:
He has 6 Princes under him and 35 Vampires, three dozen Night Gaunts and well over 50 spawn in addition to the usual run of about 120 henchmen between them all. They are scattered, with the highest concentration in the ruins of Gleremere and his old Caves (there are a several scouting parties in the WildWood and serveral scouting pariteis in the Borderlands, including the one following the Orc Shaman in Delpan). He has influence with 2 hymenopteran hives numbering about 300 each. He has influence with a nomadic tribe of orcs numbering about 400 orcs. He has enslaved some fishermen to feed the henchmen in Gleremere (no orcs allowed in Gleremere). There are 12 Shadow Wight Mages who have shadow, darkness and Control Person in addition to Drain Life (ST 10 IQ 12 DX 10 each, plus or minus). It is believed these are some of the Mages of Gleremere who may have gotten stuck in a Soul Mirror when it was broken and have a shadowy existance. No one is sure, and they will not say.

While Dranyon is not afraid of a good fight, he isn't going to risk centuries of his grand plans in a silly scrap, especially if he is out numbered. He also is an excellent strategist, plotting a good strategy to crush his opponents and will likely join only when the attackers are losing very badly, if at all. Most (though not all!) of his minions will gladly sacrifice their lives for him.