Introductory story for the Exalted Blasphemies - Fan-Made Expansion for Diemension Game's Deep Madness board game; designed for the Epic Monster: Omega Ravenous. Phil Blake championed the Expansion set, and there will be another post for how to access/download/print that. For now, enjoy a short dose of horror by S.E..... get lured into Deep Madness.
Game Overview for "Hunger Pains" (featuring Epic Monster Omega Ravenous)
Dome Three Mess
Hall closed at 10 p.m.. It will not open to employees again until 4 a.m.. That is
hours from now! Stomach growling, mouth salivating, head aching, you are
starving. Who has hours to wait? In minutes, hunger promises to spark some desperate,
preternatural urge to hunt. Recalling the Mess Hall has vending machines, you stride
there boldly in pajamas. Slippers beat the vacated corridors, footsteps echoing
over buzzing fluorescent lights.
The vaulted
chamber of the Mess Hall rivals a gymnasium. Three trains of tables run
parallel across the greater length. Each line has ten tables positioned end-to-end,
and each table spans six feet. White linens adorn them. The Hall is devoid of life,
as empty as your stomach. Where are those vending machines?
What’s this? The
tabletops are not flat. Gossamer veils cover amorphous heaps. Perhaps the staff
has prepared a special breakfast—the cloths must cover hundreds of chafing dishes. Who needs vending
machines if there is a buffet available? Sudden abdominal cramps compel you to
collapse. Crawling, while cradling a roiling tummy, you approach a table.
Grasping for support, the cloth gets in the way. It’s not linen. Tugging on it
more, a blanket-sized gauze pad spills onto the floor. Red gore streaks the
shroud.
From the
opposite end of the chamber, wet slaps demand attention. Peering around the endcap,
a humanoid creature can be seen in the distance, its ribcage split open like a
turned mouth, a tentacle-like tongue flapping from a malformed head. Red gore
splatters as it mounts a table. It pays no attention to you. Whatever it is, it
is hungry; and it has a carcass to eat.
Food! Swelling
organs push against your ribcage, buckling the sternum. Pain lances through each
rib as they strain. Rolling in the fetal position fails to alleviate the
pressure. Your heart rate plummets abruptly. An aura of peace stills any panic.
Four more beasts have joined the first. As the pack grows, any reluctance to rise
wanes. Pain and mental resistance recedes.
Standing, the
tabletop comes into view. Food is not on the menu. A splayed deceased miner
lies supine and naked. A recent, unfinished autopsy left its raw internals
exposed. This not a cafeteria table. This is a gurney. This is no Mess Hall,
but a mortuary. How did you get here?
The ravenous
creatures across the Mess Hall do not radiate fear now. Dozens feed in a
cluster, focused and frenzied. As they aggregate, fear lessens. They do not
appear like grotesque demons anymore. They are familiar and share a common
hunger, an urge to consume. Succulent, human meat beckons. It looks delicious! You
lean into the offerings. A cannibal is born.
“Intrusion
Alert!” the intercom sounds as emergency lights strobe. “Dome Three, Level Two,
Mess Hall. Alert!” A band of investigators armed with crowbars, axes, and
utility knives breach the chamber interrupting the feast to attack…
