Under A Blood Red Sky

After sleeping for a while, the characters awaken in a forest. Their first impression is that the light is extraordinary. Indeed it is, for in the twilight, all colors are shades of red. It looks like an old black-and-white film filmed with a red filter lens. After walking for an hour, the characters come to the edge of the wood. This opens an even stranger vista to them.

They look at a valley where a stream of blood-red water flows gently. On the horizon, a dark red light, which must be the sun, glows unnervingly. Everything is shaded in red: the clouds, the grass, even the sheep herded by a little boy. Down in the valley at the blood river lies a small city. Farther away, on the hill that the river springs from, rises a tower, glowing unholy red in the eerie light.

Possibilities

1     Do vampires dream? Yes they do! This is the domain of a strange vampire lord. (For an example, see Brain Lumley’s Necroscope.)

In the vampire’s long unlife, he has had more than enough time to dream, shaping a whole nightmare realm in the Dreamlands. It lies in the Stony Desert on a high plateau. He is a counterpart to King Kuranes, having created an entire realm out of nothing. The vampire has made himself a retreat in the unlikely case that vampire hunters should kill his body. In his domain he is a god-king. His seat is the Citadel of Blood, the unholy red tower on the hill. He is a ruthless ruler.

The characters have been drawn to this plateau because a good wizard has seen how the vampire lord’s subjects suffer. But, the vampire is a mighty foe, and the wizard cannot face him alone. Therefore, he has summoned helping hands. On the outskirts of the city he looks for the saviours.

2     The characters are not in the Earth’s dreamlands but in those of an alien world. They are archaeologists or geologists and in the waking world have discovered a strange meteor. This meteor is of a stony material in varying shades of red. Everyone touching the stone will dream of the planet from which the meteor comes. How is the curse broken?

3     After watching a horror film named The Mad Butcher, with much blood-spilling and then eating lots of pizza, the characters have a simple nightmare. But why do they all have the same nightmare?

© Mathias Braun