HEXEMBER: Crimson Crystarium

Before we begin, here's a recap: Hexember is a month-long series of posts, each of which presents a hex and its points of interest, tailored for OSR hexcrawls (but compatible with most games). If you need a simple procedure for exploring hexes, I included one in the first entry!

CRIMSON CRYSTARIUM

✦ At first glance

Sharp, ferrous, perilous and yet strangely magnificent, this region is covered in blood-red crystals, tended for and fed by a ravenous vampire clan, the Sanguine Grievers. Long ago, these vampires were known for their nobility and influence, but after a hunter destroyed their progenitor, they left all of that behind, seizing these lands as their territory and starting a centuries-long ritual to bring him back. 

By sacrificing the blood of travelers and trespassers, the Grievers have grown a garden of crystals — or, as they call it, a crystarium — that stretches as far as the eye can see. These crystals are slowly taking the form of the clan's former estate, but its completion is still centuries away. Still, their effects can already be felt, as the Grievers are completely immune to the sun's baleful reckoning in these lands.

1-3. The Hunting Grounds

Anyone unlucky (or incautiously brave) enough to travel through the Crimson Crystarium will probably find themselves right in the middle of the Sanguine Grievers' hunting grounds. Surrounded by their gruesome creations, the travelers will immediately be approached by one of three hunting packs; roll a d4 to determine which.

• 1-2, the commanding, proud and honorable Heirs will openly approach the party and challenge them to a fight. If their challenge is accepted, there are d4x2 Heirs in the pack; stat most of them as regular vampires in your system of choice, but give their leader +2 HD. If half of them are defeated, or if their leader loses over half of their HP, they will humbly recognize the party's valor and propose an end to the battle. If the party accepts, they shall henceforth be under the pack's protection, and will be granted free passage through the hunting grounds now and forever. If, however, they decide to fight to the death, all three packs will be permanently hostile and will attack on sight the next time the party enters their territory.
  

• 3, the savvy Growers will send a delegation of d4+1 blood servants to intercept the party. These servants are pale humans dressed in ruined clothes that may have once been worn by nobility, but hasn't been in use for centuries. They come with an offer: if the party agrees to accompany them back to the pack's den, no harm will come to them (proceed to the next point of interest). If not, they will be at the mercy of the other packs (roll again!).
  

• 4, the sadistic Stalkers will pursue the party for hours, but won't engage them directly unless any character looks sick, weak or wounded. The torments doled by the pack tend to take the form of hideous laughter in the distance, exsanguinated corpses dropped in the party's path, tempting promises of immortality whispered directly into each character's mind, copious, graphic descriptions of what they're going to do to the party once they catch them, and finally, as the hunting grounds are departed, an invitation to "come play with us again". In the event of a fight, the Stalkers are to be statted with -1 HD, and there are 2d6x2 of them. They won't fight to the death, however, and once they make at least two characters bleed, the whole pack will skulk back into the shadows, laughing all the way.

 

4. The Scarlet Chapel

The section of the Crystarium claimed by the Growers is slowly taking the shape of a chapel, though it is very far from finished. In any case, a party that decides to parlay with the pack will be welcomed with pomp, circumstance and a strange proposal: they may take a crimson shard with them, but in exchange, they must willingly feed the Crystarium, sacrificing d6 HP in the process. As long as it's fed with blood once a week, a crimson shard will recover d4 HP for every party member on a daily basis. If the characters refuse the bargain, they will be allowed to leave unharmed... this time. If combat is engaged, treat the Growers like the Heirs, but with d4x4 members, no leader and an inclination towards surrendering and bargaining if defeat seems inevitable.

INSPIRATIONS

Vampire: The Masquerade was the obvious inspiration here; this is basically what The Eldest (as the Tzimisce Antediluvian is commonly known) became beneath New York, but as a crystalline sprawl instead. Innistrad was also conceptually important for the Crimson Crystarium, even if the Sanguine Grievers have more in common with Ravnica's vampires than with Innistrad's vampiric families.

USING THE GRIEVERS AS A FACTION

Factions are one of the best parts of any hexcrawl, and the Sanguine Grievers could easily be expanded into a full-fledged faction (although a regional one, at best). If you decide to do so, I recommend creating at least one important NPC for each pack. Give them one or two extravagant personality traits (a seductive, flirty and sadistic Stalker will immediately leave an impression on the party, especially if they're Astarion fans), and let them act as the pack's "face" when interacting with other factions and the party. 

You should also consider giving each pack a clear goal for the future, and at least one way of achieving that goal. The Heirs could be recruiting valiant warriors from neighboring hexes in order to expand their ranks, while the obvious route with the Growers is proselytizing their progenitor's word throughout the land, slowly building an insidious cult. And when the Stalkers start hunting outside the Crystarium, well, that's the perfect excuse to set up some inter-faction conflicts!