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Role Playing Games => Vampire The Masquerade => Drakilian's Games => Side Quests => Topic started by: Drakilian on April 28, 2015, 04:55:59 pm
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1199, February 25th, 3:39 AM,
Balgrad,
Domain of Heldric Haikans, Emissary of Michael's Chosen
Steeple waits outside the entrance to the Guild Hall.
It had been near a year since he'd been by to Krakow to investigate the Salt Mines there - he'd decided to expand his business there recently to help mitigate the damage done by Vladivostok only to find his workers disappearing and his people refusing to enter the mines.
Adding to that, Kasimierz - the Capadocian Steeple had previously encountered who warned him something was wrong with the mines - had disappeared; none of Steeple's envoys were able to find him. Unsure whether or not this was the work of Vladivostok or the work of some other unknown danger, Steeple knows it is best not to investigate alone - and so he has come to Balgrad to ask his budding ally - perhaps even friend - Heldric to help him in fixing the problems in the area.
He found Andreas, hooded and silent, in the tavern where Heldric's haven was hidden; Andreas then led him to one of the many guildhouses recently established in the city, where Heldric was meeting with Julius and a bonded guildmaster.
Heldric comes out, in his mortal guise, along with the elder Brujah - who rapidly notes Steeple's presence.
He leans over to Heldric - "It seems one of our own has come to present himself to you, Heldric. I'll leave you to it."
Julius leaves, and the two cainites are alone.
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Heldric quickly notes Steeples presence and smiles, an actual smile since he is in his presentable form at the moment.
He heads Steeples way "Steeple welcome to my city friend I haven't seen you for a while." he looks around and indicates they head to a more private area before cocontinuing. "So what brings you through in person?"
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"Heldric! It's good to see a friendly face again! How's Mr. Whitey, that leathery little rascal!"
Steeple gives the idle chit-chat a moment and then comes to the crux of the matter.
"Something is going on in Krakow... More specifically, I find myself in need to go there in person to investigate some Salt Mines."
"You see, I recently expanded my business there, to help mitigate the damage Vladivostok is doing to my ventures - only to find my workers disappearing and now refusing to enter the mines at all."
"Adding to this, Kasimierz - my Capadocian contact - has disappeared; and none of my envoys are able to find him."
"I'm not sure if this is the work of Vladivostok or of some other unknown danger."
"So I was wondering - Do you feel like a road trip? I need someone I can trust to watch my back, as I try to sort this all out in Krakow."
"Adventure awaits my friend! What do you say?"
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Heldric thinks careful while he replies to the idle chat "Mr. Whitey is doing well, he finds the city good for obtaining food to chase."
"My reformations are taking hold well and I believe my allies will faithfully uphold my orders while I am absent. This might also be a great opportunity to increase the trade to my city." he thinks. "Though being polite to people all the time is hard I guess I can keep it up for now."
Then finally outloud. " I do believe I am able to help you with this, the city can handle my absence for a short time and Andreas is certainly looking for a chance to let loose recently. Are the preparations for the travel complete already?"
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"Of course!" Steeple replies with a broad grin - "Wouldn't have asked otherwise!"
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March 9th, 9:30 PM
Krakow,
Domain of Razkoljna, the Dragon
It's been a comfortable few weeks of travel - there was plenty of prey out and about during the spring time, neither Steeple nor Heldric wanted for sustenance and there was no trouble to be found on the road.
At the gates of Krakow Steeple and Heldric are halted by the large, imposing stone walls (more than five meters in height); they are let through the gate without contest from the two guards there and enter the city proper.
Steeple remembers the path to the salt mines from his last visit; but it may be prudent to pay Razkoljna a visit first.
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"We should present ourselves to Razkoljna - the Prince of this city," Steeple says to Heldric.
"He knows about the mines, maybe he has heard something concerning what has transpired there."
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Heldric nods and takes the time to adopt his appropriate visage for dealing with others. "That would be wise, though we should be careful incase he is dealing with your enemy too. Andreas and Mr. Whitey can come but we will need suitable lodging to conceal them after too."
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"Wise council my friend," Steeple replies, reading himself to meet with the prince.
Steeple will prepare Impressive Visage and Extinguish before meeting with the Prince.
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The two Cainites make their way through the university quarter and the collegium Mainus, one of the greatest institutions of learning in the world - one his parents had wanted to send him to when he was still a mortal. They note that the city seems worse off - even here, in one of the finest quarters of the city, there appear to be less people than usual, the clothes are dirtier than they should be, the streets are in worse condition. All is not well in Krakow.
By the time they make it to Wawel hill there is still some few hours left before the sun rises. Wawel Castle, along with its adjoining cathedral, sits atop Wawel Hill, in the southernmost portion of Krakow. This enormous complex towers above the city and symbolizes both temporal and spiritual power. Erected on the site of fortifications from the eighth century, both castle and cathedral command the attention of all who enter the city. Wawel Castle is a rectangular structure that houses more than 70 halls arranged around a courtyard, framed on all sides by graceful arcades. The cathedral also reflects power in its ornate facade, to which stonemasons continually add mote elaborate ornamentation. Castle and cathedral remain under constant construction, growing grander and more complex with each passing year.
They pass a cave at the foot of Wawel Hill that bears the name SmoczaJama, or "Dragon's Den," and reportedly marks the home of Krakow's legendary dragon. In fact, it serves as the secret haven for Razkoljna, the Cainite Prince of Krakow, and even now the two make their way to the Fiend's lair...
A guard greets them at the entrance to the den, and demands to know their business.
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"We are here to present ourselves to Razkoljna," Steeple replies calmly, "Steeple Carson Olaf Trevesky the Fourth," he says pointing to himself.
Then with a bow he introduces Heldric - "And Prince Heldric Haikans the Awesome of *mumbe mumble cough*, erm... Balgrad. Yes Balgrad!"
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"Hmm".
The guard eyes them both warily, then aquiesces.
"Be careful. The dragon is in a bad mood."
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Heldric nods "Thankyou for the warning" and ignores steeples version of his introduction as he is used to his strange mannerisms now.
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As they head to see the 'Dragon' Steeple whispers to Heldric - "I always wondered why they called him the 'Dragon'.
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Heldric thinks but comes up short "I would guess either appearance or ability. That or he gets angry very easily and loudly." He whispers back making a mental note not to test the last option out.
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"Or it's because he lives in an old dragon's den, and the Tzimisce are traditionally associated with Dragons." Prince Maurice muses.
Making their way through the tunnel networks that would lead to Razkoljna's lair, both Steeple and Heldric are abruptly thrown off their feet as the earth suddenly rocks and cracks. Dust comes down from the tunnel ceiling and for a second both vampires think they might be subject to a cave-in - but the rumbling soon stops and they are able to get back up, perhaps a bit frightened, but uninjured all the same.
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"I have a bad feeling about this..." Steeple says, but continues forward nonetheless.
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When the two finish making their way to Razkoljna's main chambers, Prince Maurice lets out a long, low whistle.
"Maybe we should come back later? Or never?"
A spiderweb pattern of cracks spreads out from a single point on the cave wall, it fills half of the large chamber, snaking its way across the floor, the side walls and the ceiling. Stalactites have fallen in great numbers, but most notable is the blood and other unidentified series of liquids that oozes out of the cracks at the origin of whatever struck the wall.
On the other side of the chamber - the unbroken side, Razkoljna sits expectantly on a throne raised from the earth itself.
Tall and big-boned, Razkoljna projects the aura of a warrior-princess. Her high cheekbones and pale blue eyes give her face a stern and regal appearance. She wears her long, dark, golden hair in a single braid wound with gold thread and dresses in a wine-colored, woolen gown edged with gold braiding. Her right hand is stained with blood.
"Welcome to my domain, wanderers. What brings you here?"
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"Steeple Carson Olaf Trevesky the Fourth at your service, oh magnificent one," Steeple says with graceful bow.
"And may I present my associate and financial mentor, Heldric Haikans the Worthy, Prince of Balgrad."
"We have come to enquire as to the fate of the Salt Mines I have recently acquired here in Krakow; which seem to have met with some unfortunate adversity of late."
"I abjure thee mighty one, have you any advice to grant us in the proper handling of this matter?"
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Heldric stays a step behind and to the side, giving an obviously deferent bow to the scary lady that just turned somthing into mush with enough velocity to crack the stone on the other side of the room.
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"Unfortunate adversity?"
The Prince of Krakow's voice is not unpleasant, but the carefully re-asked question is said coldly, there is a sort danger in the air.
"How was your trip here?"
The question is abrupt and unrelated; asked harshly enough that it might throw one more used to the hospitality of the Tzimisce.
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"Yes," Steeple replies, apparently unaware of the subtleties of the Tzimisce court - "It seems that my workers are disappearing from the mine and now those that remain refuse to enter the mines at all."
"I also, seem to be missing my Capadocian, Kasimierz."
"The trip was uneventful, but not unpleasant," Steeple smiles.
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Again Heldric keeps quiet, letting Steeple speak. He is still more used to listening from the shadows than speaking to those in power but he knows his voice might come in useful if used at the right moment.
He very carefully, so as to not cause offence, studies the 'Dragon' and her surroundings.
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"Then you are one of the rare few who was not troubled by Ludmilla. The bitch has been instigating the pagan population to stop trade by killing merchants and their guards, stealing their goods and burning their caravans.
Perhaps she is at work in your Salt mines, and Kasimierz was taken as well." She says, dismissively.
"Your concerns are just some of many, I suggest you not waste my time with them any longer."
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"Of course," Steeple bows.
"By your leave then," he says, smiling again, before bowing once more and leaving the chamber.
"That was informative." Steeple whispers to Heldric as they go to leave.
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Once clear of the Dragon's chamber he comments to Heldric, "So much for a Prince's... er... Princess's?... hospitality. Looks like we got to find our own place to crash."
"I was thinking of heading right to the mines after getting some rest, but maybe we should ask around about this Ludmilla first."
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On his way out Heldric bows to the dragon "Thankyou for your help and perhaps if we remove this... Disturbance from your realm we might be more worthy of your time." He uses his enchanting voice to ensure he does not appear cheeky.
Then when also clear.
"Indeed, it looks like this pagan troublemaker is the cause of many problems in the area so it stands to reason she might be ours as well. We need to gather information after we find a safe haven to rest in."
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"Worst case, we just rest in the wagons," Steeple sighs, "I suppose we would be allowed to stay in the courtyard or bailey of course."
"For this pagan thing," Steeple continues, "Do we care that she is pagan?"
"I mean, unlike say Anton, I'm not terribly religious - given the whole 'living dead monster' thing."
"Maybe we can strike up an agreement with her to secure my mines, if she is the one behind it that is."
"I hear that she has doings with wearwolvies."
"Wouldn't mind a few allies like that - if such a thing is even possible..."
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As Steeple awaits Heldric's reply, he rubs his pet rock, now securely ensconced in the armguard and gauntlet combo that hangs from Steeple's shoulder.
'You were right about the dragon lady,' he thinks to Maurice, 'Of course I never doubted it for a moment. I hope the pagan lady is easier to deal with - but you know what they say about women haha!'
'Can't live with them; can't live with them!'
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Heldric nods along and thinks before replying "If we could secure her as an ally it might help the mines however it seems like the Dragon might be forcing a reckoning with her soon judging by her language before. We might get our selfs in the middle of somthing here so best we proceed carefully. Though a werewolf ally would be nice to have." He looks around "I guess we could inquire about lodgings or stay in the wagons as you suggested."
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Research into the town's current situation reveals to Heldric (less so to Steeple) that the Cainite closest to Ludmilla would be Jolanta - an unfortunately insular Gangrel deeply ingratiated in Krakow's pagan population whose location is currently unknown.
Ludmilla herself is known as a respected herbalist and priestess to those who refuse the Jewish and Christian faiths. She is not in the city, which usually means she is at her cottage in the Niepolomice forest - grounds known to be infested with highly dangerous werewolves.
As far as Heldric can tell Ludmilla is having her pagans strike at the merchant caravans entering and leaving the city - which might be why he and Steeple were untouched, attacking them would have done nothing to cripple the city's trade routes.
She may have also done something to the city's salt mines, but neither of the two cainites can tell what, exactly. Workers have been disappearing from there for months, Steeple was even getting reports long before the current pagan revolt - perhaps whatever is going on there is unrelated?
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"Ah well, I had hoped for a more clear picture of what we faced," Steeple says to Heldric.
"I guess there's nothing for it, but to feed, and then go see what lurks in the mines."
Steeple then turns to the stone ensconced in his shoulder plate - "With your leave of course!" he says to to the stone and salutes sharply.
"I'm quite hoping that the mines aren't completely filled with tentacled horrors and abysmal under-lords by now," he absently mentions to Heldric, "I hate it when that happens."
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Heldric looks at the rock for a moment before responding "Yes, that would be a rather unfortunate turn of events." Then shifting back to the world unrelated to steeples singular mind "Then assuming we are granted permission (with a nod to the rock) l agree on the feeding and heading to the mines."
Heldric will procure someone for him and Andreas to feed from knowing they will die and ensures Mr. Whitey is fully ready to go after eating some of the corpse (just a short game of catch the limb from the air). He has other preparations to do as they set out too.
He heads to the meeting spot near the edge of town that he and Steeple agreed upon once finished
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"Excellent!" Steeple agrees with Heldric, "I'll meet you again after the hunt and we shall head to the mines."
Steeple then takes leave to use his Mirror of Second Sight to look around for a suitable snack (with Maurice's permission of course), whilst avoiding potential dangers.
He won't kill anyone, but will drain a little from each, to get his fill.
He'll also make sure Nadia is sated as well.
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Dragging some helpless passerby into a nearby alley, Heldric and his two ghouls brutally kill, drain and devour the poor bastard; Steeple takes a more subtle approach and feeds from taverngoers and late night stragglers with care to not take too much.
He also ensures to give Nadia some small amount of blood to keep her own desires sated.
When both are done with their preparations Steeple leads the two of them over to the Salt Mines in Tyniec.
Protected by its own garrison, Tyniec's Benedictine Abbey drew most of its annual revenues from the Wieliezka salt mine, selling its valuable commodity to traders from Krakow who then profited in its resale. Kasimierz maintained his haven within its cloistered halls before it went missing.
Having sold the rights for the mines to Steeple's family for an admirably large sum (after profits had already begun to falter due to disappearing workers), the abbey prospers while the mines next to it have closed down.
The entrance to the mine is as a yawning tear in the earth, a black hole unlit by any flame; uninviting even to these creatures of the night. Heldric, Steeple and company arrive unmolested - for now.
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Heldric begins by staying unseen but activates his newly gained ability to see through darkness as if it was clear as day to enable him to observe the entrance and surroundings better
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Steeple, activates Heightened Senses and steps into the gap - then takes a few moments to cast Will O' The Wisp (for light) and Clinging of the Insect (for utility).
He has already cast Burning Blade on his sword cane, though it is still sheathed, so as not to emit the eerie burning glow.
Once prepared, he is ready to venture in ...
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Hell dric of course simply follows at a short distance keeping stealthily invisible and with his ability to see in the dark permanently active now.
He plans to follow behind Steeple and Andreas as they investigate and will only reveal himself first if he notices a great danger and is certain that the two in front have not noticed it.
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Heldric's eyes glow a low red - though none other than those he keeps shrouded can see the light gleam in the darkness. Heldric notes how unnerved Nadia is by all of this - and when she turns to look at him she does not seem assured.
Steeple summons up a ball of light outside of the cave before the group enters, soon he finds a spider suitable to his purposes in the abandoned - the group halts for fifteen minutes while he goes through the motions of the ritual.
Mr. Whitey stays close to Heldric and Andreas, Heldric notes Andreas' discomfort, though the brutish Nosferatu says nothing - perhaps for fear of breaking the obfuscate?
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Heldric has Mr. Whitey lock eyes with Andreas to communicate with him then pass back the message. If needed he will let mr. Whitey loose his protection then recast it on him once Andreas has passed a message. Heldric keeps an eye on the walls, floor and ceiling, he especially does not trust the ceiling.
He continues acting as rear guard incase they are followed
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Andreas lets out a series of emphatic growls, and Mr.Whitey translates.
No animals anywhere. I hear no bats, there is no telltale scurry of rodents, they are all gone - or they are quiet.
As Steeple's ritual begins to near completion, he begins to gasp. Blood starts to seep out of his pores, dripping down his body and soaking him completely. Nadia screams at the sight while Andreas growls (in disgust or thirst is unknown).
Stumbling slightly in a state of disorientation Steeple slips in his own blood and falls to the ground, where he begins sliding around in the dirt and grass. His blood is much slicker than it should be, he slips unaturally smoothly over the ground.
Thirst burns Steeple horribly, so much of his blood was gone - and so suddenly. He needed blood, now.
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"Stay Back!" Steeple chokes out at first - "I think I'm about to frenzy!"
He then tries to move away from the mine onto the road to see if he can get more traction there.
"I need blood!" he gasps.
"But not from any of you!"
"I don't think I can stop once I start!"
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The smell of Steeple's blood fills his nose, even as he tries not to bleed it in. He tries to get up but slips and falls back onto his back. His head pounds, and he lets out a loud, long groan that slowly turns into a growl.
Prince Maurice's voice begs Steeple to keep control, but it begins to fade.
The sound of rattling chains fill Steeple's ears, with dread he recognizes what has been roused within him.
Steeple continues moving frantically, falling over and slipping continually in his own blood in an attempt to make it away from the others.
The chains break
All Steeple can see is red.
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Heldric realizes very quickly that Steeple is no longer... in control of his faculties, let's say. He thrashes helplessly in his own (abnormally slippery) blood, for now, but if he manages to get free the consequences could be rather... undesirable.
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Heldric realizes that this might be one of the bad points of traveling with those suffering from severe mental issues, he makes a note to not be near Steeple in the dark or around spiders, who knows what set this off.
He quickly signals Andreas that they are both to use their strength to grab and pin steeple down, Heldric burns two blood on Dex and one of strength to assist in this task. Avoiding the blood.
Once in control of the situation Heldric plans to call Nadia "while we pin him cut your wrist and let some blood flow into his mouth."
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Steeple digs deep (Willpower) to resist the Frenzy for a turn - warning the others to "stay out of the slippery blood" and allowing them to pin him down - it means free blood after all.
"Yes, my precious! Let me take a little sip. A little sip is all..." he says reassuringly (yeah right).
If possible, he'll try to regain permanent control of himself again after getting some blood.
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The Beast claws at Steeple's mind as he fight for control of himself, his warning comes out as more of a guttural "stay away" than a a warning about the slipperiness of the blood, though his message does get across. Nadia seems scared by Steeple's request but she edges closer...
Heldric and Andreas manage to secure Steeple for now, as Steeple has stopped moving and remains perfectly still - though both of them are having a hard time keeping their grips on the vampire.
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"Not working!"
"Nadia - back!"
"ROAR!!!"
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OOC - Burn 1 more Willpower to allow them to either get away or start draining. Better choose quick!
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Hearing the roar Heldric changes plans
"Change of plan."
Heldric begins beating on him with his buffed strength burning a will to move quickly, "Andreas, Mr. Whitey, help me knock him out!".
He hopes that between himself, Andreas and Mr. whiteys tail, they can knock him out.
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Steeple tries to bite Mr. Whitey's tail.
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Nadia stumbles back, but looks on worriedly.
"Steeple, Steeple please, i'm here for you!"
Heldric begins trying to beat Steeple into a state of incapacitation. Actually hitting the slippery devil is a pain but Steeple does his best to try and keep himself from fighting back, and Heldric manages to land a few blows in - though they just barely affect the frenzying vampire.
Steeple tries to grasp and bite onto mr.Whitey's tail - though the Albino (now red) crocodile just slips out of the vampire's grasp.
Andreas lets go of Steeple and prepares himself. He lets out a small growl, Mr.Whitey translates as always (though it's a little hard to hear it over Steeple's struggling).
He says "I'm sorry for this".
Nadia shrieks as Steeple's face implodes under the strength of Andreas' blows, when the Nosferatu is done Heldric is no longer able to recognize his friend as his entire face has been reduced to a sort of pinkish, squishy substance, sprinkled with fragments of shattered bone.
"What have you done?! No, Steeple!" Nadia shrieks angrily - drawing a dagger and moving to try and attack Andreas herself.
Heldric is indeed a little worried - But Steeple should be fine, he should have survived that. He hopes.
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Heldric keeps an eye on Steeple to make sure he doesn't suddenly rise up and Attack again while he speaks quickly and commandingly, using his vocal abilities to their fullest to ensure everyone ,is tens to him (Enchanting voice, command)
"Andreas, do not hurt her and Nadia stop! Do you really think Steeple is weak enough to die from this, do you have that little faith in him? He had to do this much damage to simply reader him unconcious. He will have healed these wounds and not show any sign of them at all by tomorrow, my face on the other hand is permanent."
He glances around the area as he thinks of the next move "I hope the fool survived that Attack or we will have to deal with Nadia too. Who has their blood squirt out like a fountain then turn so slippery? If this was one of his jokes then I am going to smash one of the sconces in his haven!"
Finally outloud he continues his uncustomary commanding "this wasn't an Attack or they would have struck by now, we retreat and let Steeple heal overnight. Andreas, carry him back whil Mr. Whitey acts as our rear guard, we will deal with Steeple first them we can all decide the next move once he recovers."
He casts cloak the gathering on them all as they retreat.
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Nadia's face sets into a rather furious glare directed at Andreas - but she puts away the knife.
---
The innkeeper was rather amiable, staying at the same place he'd stayed at the first night, Heldric goes back to his room and deposits Steeple on the floor. The slipperiness of Steeple's blood appears to have worn off.
Nadia has brought in a bucket of water and has begun cleaning Steeple's body,
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The day had not gone well, massive injuries and not much to show for it.
"Keep cleaning him while Andreas and I fetch him some food. We will return shortly."
Heldric heads out with Andreas to find and have him knock out a drunk attractive man who seems to be squandering their wealth. If someone had to die for this mess it might as well be someone like that. If not just a drunk should do.
He cloaks himself and Andreas while Andreas in standing in the entrance to a dark alley, not moving, then has him carry the human back to the inn. Using a window to get them into then into the room if possible, cloaking Andreas and having him be as stealthy as possible while he entered if there was no easy window.
The plan is to wait a couple of hours then feed Steeple blood.
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Steeple wakes to the sweet taste of blood.
A pounding headache (despite his lack of a heartbeat) immediately strikes Steeple as he regains consciousness. He reaches up to feel his face and it feels uncomfortably raw and, well, wrong. It most certainly does not feel like his own face - it is so malformed and broken that he wonders if a fleshcrafter might have been to work on it.
The blood carries with it a pleasantly vibrant sensation, he feels surprisingly happy despite his headache.
Opening his eyes - or eye, rather, as he finds himself unable to open the other, mostly because it is no longer present in any form that can be considered sufficient for sight, he sees Heldric looking over him, holding a cup to his lips.
---
Heldric sees Steeple begin to move again. It took a few tries to find the hole that would lead into Steeple's digestive track, but it eventually worked.
Nadia holds the hand Steeple isn't using to feel his face, she seems to be waiting for him to speak (or perhaps heal).
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Steeple begins to heal his wounds, concentrating on his face.
When he has recovered enough to speak he groans out, "not... the... sconces!"
He also wonders why Nadia is holding his gauntlet.
"Not a prank," he then explains to Heldric (as his mouth and tongue begin to reform); slightly embarrassed at the grave mishandling of his own spell.
"It was, ah... something about that place. Bad mojo there."
"We have to go back, but not until we're at our best again. Something really powerful is behind this."
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Steeple then smiles at Nadia and says genuinely, "I'm glad I didn't harm you my dear."
He also grins at Heldric's man - "And you sir, hit like a farking mastodon!"
'Holy shit I got to get me a servant like that!' Steeple thinks to himself, making a mental note to look into how to go about it later.
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Heldric gives his twisted Impression of a smile "Excelent, I'm glad you are recovering quickly. Andreas has the physical prowess to balance my more subtle skills, it is why he is so indispensable to me." He sighs and heads over to take a seat.
"First you must fully recover and we can rest the last of the night then try tomorrow when we have had time to prepare, you gushing up blood turned into some strange substance was... Unnerving to say the least."
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"Agreed." Steeple replies to Heldric, then slows the healing down to a careful balance between fixing himself and keeping himself from getting too hungry too fast.
"While I recover, it might be of use to track down any of the miners that didn't disappear into the mines."
"You know, the ones that refused to go in and quit the job. Find out what they are so afraid of. Also ask them what happened to the Cappadocian."
Once Steeple can amble around again, he considers how to fill back up on the blood he'll need to not only finish healing, but to also buff up for their descent into the unknown...
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Heldric assists as much as he can without touching too much but really leaves all the work to Nadia. Once Steeple is at least walking he lays out a small plan.
"You will definitely need to feed again as you lost most of your blood back there, I will cloak you to make it easy for you to catch prey and feed until you are fully healed and refilled. I can ensure Andreas and I are also in our best condition that way too."
He thinks further for a few moments before divulging somewhat of a secret to the Malkavian before him "I can act in the day better than most of our kind. I can therefore be useful in helping track down your workers who quit during normal human hours, though I would ask of you, and the Prince of course, that you keep this information to your selfs."
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Steeple manages to heal all his injuries injuries with remarkable speed, his body reforming through the dead man's blood he'd been fed - though he remains absolutely ravaged by thirst by the end of it.
Andreas grins in acceptance of Steeple's praise.
It's good to have you back old chap, I was getting worried about you. the Prince says jovially.
Good thing you didn't go into that cave, you've never been a more delectable treat.
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"Of course," Steeple replies to both Heldric and Prince Maurice at the same time, then suddenly realizes that Heldric is one of the only ones to ever give Prince Maurice his due.
Steeple then considers telling Heldric about pilfering the golden key in broad daylight back before the fortress was complete. After all, his friend just revealed something to Steeple that showed a trust in his ability to keep it to himself and was treating Steeple's Mentor with remarkable respect.
When he is sure that no one other than Heldric can hear, he leans in and quietly says "Your advantage is safe with me my friend. And, while it may be easier for you to move around during the day, I am able, when it is a dire necessity."
"Therefore, as a show of mutual trust (and because of your generous help in our current endeavor), I give you this - If you ever find a need for it, the golden translation key we 'lost' during the construction, is buried under the grave of the apprentice stonemason in Tihuta Pass."
"I felt most keenly at the time, that the key was in danger, so I hid it."
"Keeping that information from the rest of the Coterie was a means of insuring that it could not be lost again through more than one route - given that knowledge like that can be extracted from the unsuspecting mind."
-
Heldric simply nods as he speaks, thinking carefully about the responce he would give. "hmm he stole the key, however he has only hidden it for now. Causing problems here would only lead to a fight and Malkavians are clearly unbalanced. For now best to stay acting as a friend, a fight is rarely to my advantage. He also might spew blood again."
Finally outloud he responds "If it is hidden and safe then that is good news. I must admit I had my suspicions but never anything worth damaging our work over. For now shall we begin trying to locate some of those workers?"
-
"Yes, to the adventure at hand!" Steeple says, ready to go out and feed again.
-
March 10th, 9:36 PM
Krakow,
Domain of Razkoljna, the Dragon
After the terrible first foray into the salt mines, Steeple and Heldric took a day to rest, recover and gather some more information.
Steeple refilled his rather depleted reserves of blood from some taverngoers with Heldric's invaluable aid, and then the two began the quiet questioning of the city's retired miners - of course, there is the question of finding out where, exactly, they would be.
-
"What say we ask around the tavern nearest the mine," Steeple suggests, "if there are any of the miners left, they'll surely be known to the tavern."
"After all, the first place a salty miner is going to go after a hard day of toil is the nearest place to get a drink!"
-
Heldric nods (In his presentable to humans form) "let us check through a few quickly as they won't stay too long after dark, we should be able to find some affected by the alcohol and willing to talk."
Heldric will try to remember if they have seen a rowdy looking tavern where labourers would feel at ease.
-
This early in the night the tavern is rather crowded; working men from the town's lower class have come in to spend their hard-earned wages on drink and food and grab at the serving wenches away from the prying eyes of their wives. The places is rowdy and loud, a rather large change of environment for Heldric, though he sees that Andreas seems to be in his element.
-
Steeple uses Dominoe of Life to allow him to drink. He figures that he could buy some drinks here and there to loosen a few tongues and that it would seem suspicious of him not to drink with those he's going to be talking to.
"I'll see if the barkeep can help us out first," Steeple says to Heldric, heading over.
Once there, Steeple will order whatever seems to be the most common drink among the crowd; then will ask the barkeep, "I'm looking for any of the men that worked the salt mine, to tell me what happened to it, so I can see about getting it back in operation. Can you help me out?"
-
Heldric is less than happy surrounded by rough people so he decides to have a different tact. He also orders a plain drink from the quietest part of the bar then retreats into the quietest corner of the room where makes himself less noticeable and listens in to the surrounding conversations.
-
The barkeep is pudgy man with an aged body and spiderwebbed hands, he pours stale beer into several dirty tankards and passes them off to a serving wench before he actually begins paying any attention to Steeple.
---
Heldric takes a quieter corner of the room, staying there by himself and listening into the crowd with Andreas standing by him. Andreas' naturally intimidating stance keeps most of the other taverngoers away from them, though it also attracts a bit of undue attention. For the most part, however, the Nosferatu surmises that most of the men here are busily celebrating the birthday of a rather well-liked individual named Piotr.
Tracking Steeple's progress through the bar, he sees the Malkavian buy several pitchers full of whatever foul drink the mortals were interested in and bring them clumsily, spilling a few drops as he swings them about, to the table - where he is met with cheers as a long-lost friend.
---
Steeple doesn't seem to be able to get much out of the men, they're too busy celebrating - but they are more than happy to take his drink, unpleasant as it is.
What questions he does ask are typically met with temporarily sad stares - it seems that the fate of the salt miners was a rather unpleasant one. One of the men eventually points Steeple out to a man who appears to be passed out in a corner of the tavern, not too far from Heldric in fact. He was a former miner, it seems.
-
Steeple thanks the men and wishes the celebrants well.
Going back to Heldric he says. nodding to the unconscious man nearby.
"They said that guy was one of the miners, though I'm not sure about waking him up and trying to question him here."
"Do you think we can get him out of here unnoticed? Maybe to a more secluded place?"
-
Heldric glances around him "Should be possible, can you buy three more jugs of that swill and loudly ask which tables want it? Andreas and I will attempt to vanish around that time with our new guest."
He then signals Andreas closer "just before attention is drawn away from us, Leave like you were bored and slightly inebriated, that should distract the others, I will follow shortly."
Heldric boosts a couple of blood points into strength then edges closer to the sleeping man. He prepares vanish from the minds eye on himself and the unconcious man to then lift and depart the tavern with him, ensuring the man stays out cold if necessary.
-
"An, excellent plan!" Steeple says to Heldric, taking a small mirror out and looking about the room through it (Mirror of Second Sight).
Presuming no otherworldly creatures besides themselves, Steeple will order a couple of trays of drinks to put the plan into motion.
Should he find something in the mirror out of the ordinary, he'll be sure to tell Heldric about if first and then consider how it might impact their plan.
-
Steeple's mirror reveals that they are alone, for now. Though he notes, disturbed to some degree, that Heldric does not register as a supernatural on the mirror.
Heldric's little gambit pays off well, he and Andreas manage to get the man outside without a single hitch.
Dragging him into a nearby alley he sets the man upright. He stinks of the tavern's swill.
Examining the man Heldric notes that his clothing is of exceptionaly poor quality, and rather dirty as well. The man hasn't washed in weeks, at least, and he doesn't seem well-fed either. Seems more a beggar than a miner.
-
Heldric stays with the man and sends Andreas to collect Steeple when he exits the tavern, intimidation might not be the best tactic here and is basically Heldrics only persuasive ability.
In the meantime he simply stays hidden and weary of anyone approaching
-
Steeple plays it up in the tavern, rather enjoying all the attention and revelry.
After a few minutes however, he drifts off and heads out to find Heldric and the rest.
Allowing Andreas to lead him to their man, Steeple finds the man's state completely appalling.
Before even attempting to wake him, Steeple returns to the tavern a moment to bring back a hunk of bread and a tankard of the 'house special'.
Waving them both under the man's nose, he says - "Hey bub, wake up. Anyone in there?"
-
The man doesn't respond to Steeple's persuasions, he truly seems out cold.
-
Steeple bites his own wrist and tries giving the man some of his blood, by dripping it down his throat.
-
The potent vitae startles the man awake. With a gasp of air his eyes fly open, and he looks about in surprise.
"Wh-where am I?!"
-
Held roc stays a few steps behind steeple but speaks up, keeping his face as calm as possible (not risking facial expressions he is less familiar with now)
"You are just outside the tavern, we brought you some food and drink as you seemed in need of it." He indicates the food and drink steeple brought.
-
Steeple will attempt to hide the fact that he just fed the man blood, counting on the darkness of the night alley to assist. Handing the man the food and drink, Steeple gives the miner a moment to accept or reject it before speaking.
"I am Steeple Carson Olaf Treveski the Fourth," he says; "Until recently, you were a worker in my salt mine."
"I need to know what happened there."
"I'm not asking you to go back or anything - just help me understand what became of it."
"Where is everyone? Where is Kasimierz?"
-
The man hesitates, but at the sight of the food and drink an almost audible growl comes from his stomach. He accepts the stuff happily and eats almost ferociously - though Steeple and Heldric note that he very carefully ensures that not a crumb goes to waste.
"They're in the streets, like me. We never made much money in the mines to start with, but after It was closed down we couldn't do nothing for work. We have families to feed, we couldn't just do nothing. When the attacks started, most of us started hiring ourselves out to the merchant caravans as guards against the bandits, but the monsters..."
For a second, the man stops stuffing himself and look Steeple grimly in the eye. He swallows his food:
"They were almost as bad as whatever's in that mine."
Raising a big mug of the tavern's house special in Steeple's direction, he goes on - "It's a hell of a world to live in right now."
Downing half the mug, the man goes back to his food. Thin as he is, he's undoubtedly stuffed - but he keeps on eating. Heldric understands - he doesn't know where his next meal will come from, if it comes at all.
"Not many of us left now. Most are dead, some are crippled, a lucky few like me are out begging in the streets or working the jobs normally given to children for the change to drink ourselves out of this."
Steeple sees Nadia holds her hands to her heart, she's clearly at least partly moved by his story.
"Kasimierz? The poor man, he was good to us. He always promised he would drive the evil from the mines, would give us food and drink or help heal our wounds with the help of his two aides. One day he went down into the mines alone to drive the evil from it. We stood at the entrance to the mine as he went, we prayed for his success. If you'd been there, you would understand the evil that holds that place in its grip - he went down and the earth shook, the demon was not stayed by his righteous strength for an instant. He screamed briefly, some curse laid on the creature, and then we heard nothing more. He went down months ago, no trace of him has been seen since. His two aides still pray for his return at the abbey."
Steeple is dismayed - Kasimierz was a powerful elder of the Capadocian clan. Prodigiously difficult to destroy, possessed of extreme faith and lords of the dead, the clan was among those most feared in the Cainite world. Even the Warlocks don't possess nearly so thorough a mastery of spirits as the capadocians. What could destroy one such as him?
He recognizes the two aides mentioned in the man's story - Kasimierz had two ghouls, monks at his abbey. Perhaps they could be useful to him.
-
Steeple gives the man a few coins and thanks him.
Leaving the man in the alley, he says to Heldric - "We need to go see Kasimierz's ghouls at the abbey. They may be able to tell us what Kasimierz was trying to do to expel the demon."
"Maybe it's something we can finish with their help."
-
"Wait a moment." Heldric calls, holding out a shiny coin for the man to see.
"What of the monsters you mentioned and did you ever see the 'Demons' handiwork or did the miners simply vanish? The more information the better if we are to end this."
-
"The monsters that were attacking the merchants? They were beasts, beasts of the kind you wouldn't believe. Massive things whose claws rent flesh like clean water."
The man begins undoing his shirt, which was tied together through several strings at the centre. A massive scar envelops his entire body, from his left shoulder down to his right hip, five long marks, like those of the claws from an immense beast, extend across him, evidence of his encounter.
"They... They left me for dead. When the caravan was found I Was brought back to the city, there they sent me over to Kasimierz. He was a gifted healer that man. What would have been a lingering death at best with any other healer, he healed in little more than a week. The strength of the Lord ran deep through him.
As he puts his shirt back together, Heldric thinks to himself that no mortal could possibly heal a wound of that incredible magnitude in months, let alone a week - even with a skilled herbalist it would have been impossible to heal in that time. The Cappadocian must have fed the man his blood, and no small quantity either.
"We would feel as if we were being watched everywhere we went. Sometimes we'd hear a scrape, as if someone was behind us. Sometimes a quiet laugh, quickly dismissed as a hallucination. It was toying with us, whatever it was. When people started to go missing we thought the mines had gotten unstable. You, mr. Trevesky, payed for better reinforcements and better safety measures, but there were no cave ins, expeditions found no one or worse, also disappeared. We never found any bodies, we never saw anyone being taken. People would simply disappear.
"
-
Heldric tosses the man the coin then nods to Steeple to indicate that he will follow him to the Abbey.
-
The man catches the coin out of the air and then scrambles to his feet.
"Wait, just what do you intend to do?"
-
Hearing of the man's encounters with what could only be the werewolves of that Ludmilla lady, Steeple wonders how the man isn't one of them after receiving such a wound.
He double checks the man's reflection in his mirror...
"Think he's a werewolf?" Steeple whispers to Prince Maurice in his pocket.
-
"Of course not lad, werewolves are born, not made." Prince Maurice responds.
-
"I've been lied to!" Steeple says aloud, snapping his fingers in disgust.
"Oh, not you guys," he adds, indicating those currently around him (and Prince Maurice of course) with a wave of his hand.
Replying to the miner, Steeple says, "Well... I guess we'll talk to the lads at the Abbey and see what Kasimierz was trying to do. Maybe we can finish what he started. I'm a bit of a religious man myself, though I don't like to boast."
-
The man's face sets itself grimly.
"You've been good to me, so I warn you now - please, do not go into that mine. You will die."
-
Heldric cuts in thinking "boost allies Rep here for gain later."
"Our esteemed colleague" indicates Steeple "is too honourable to leave such a man of the Lord to his fate in the mine, we came... Prepared for difficulties of this sort."
-
He shakes his head briefly.
"Nothing could prepare you for what waits down there. But if you insist then... Then I suppose all I can do is pray for you. What are your names, that I may know who to mourn?"
-
"Yes, yes; Enough of the doomsaying," Steeple tuts; "And look on the bright side - if we survive, it means you can have your old job back."
-
Steeple nods to Heldric, indicating that he is ready to head to the Abbey as soon as Heldric is.
-
"Heldric, if you so wish"
He says to the man before they head to the Abbey
-
Andreas croaks out some sembllance of an answer. He seems to truly want to give a name to the man but only a dull rasp comes out as he speaks.
Before Heldric can do anything Nadia smiles and puts a hand on Andreas' elbow.
"His name is Andreas, mine is Nadia. Thank you."
The man nods, making the sign of the cross as he wishes them all farewell.
"May God watch over you."
All this religious stuff is making Steeple a bit antsy of course, Prince Maurice is also uncomfortable - "I hope he doesn't" the rock mumbles, in response to the man's parting blessing.
-
"I hope all they got is abbots at this abbey," steeple shudders, thinking about the nuns that stole his arm...
-
Heldric glances at him before hiding his expression again "he definitely makes for an interesting traveling companion" he thinks as they walk
-
Making their way back to the Tyniec abbey, Heldric notes the abundance of rats in the city - they seem particularly bold here, some even going so far as to try and snatch food from some of the homeless passed by in some dark alleys - yet another sign of the city's current state of poverty.
One of the abbey's guarrison waits at the entrance, bearing the insignia of the city guard. He makes no move to hinder the progress of the vampires or their retainers (mr.whitey, being invisible, gets a free pass).
Steeple remembers the ghouls were brothers Feliks and Jakub, two devout members of the Christian faith and monks at the abbey.
In fact, brother Feliks meets him at the entrance - he and Jakub took care of the abbey at night, they had become accustomed to their master's nighttime schedule.. Looking further into the abbey, Heldric notes another monk praying by the altars, surrounded by the glow of candles.
A look of sorrow and, Heldric notes, hunger, is visible on both monk's faces. In mourning, Feliks speaks:
"Greetings master Trevesky and company, welcome to the house of the lord, may his blessings rain down upon you."
"Greetings master Trevesky and company, what can we do for you this good night?"
-
Heldric simply nods in greeting and waits for Steeple to handle things, he was the one with the link to the monks afterall.
He does note the abundance of rats though and plans for their use later.
-
As Heldric examines the room, Mr Whitey brushes himself against Heldric's leg, Heldric feels the crocodiles vibrating body and realizes it's silently communicating with him.
Andreas says he saw you looking at the rats. He says he thinks you're not the only one who had that idea.
-
Have him keep a close eye on them and see if he can learn anything about who or what might be using them. If he thinks he won't be detected ask him to start controlling some for us, they are smart enough to be of use.
He replies through eye contact
-
"Well met friends," Steeple replies with a smile.
"My esteemed colleagues and I are here to see about dealing with the problem plaguing the salt mine."
"What can you tell me about what Kasimierz was trying to do when he went down into it?"
-
Brother Feliks bids everyone follow him, he bringd the group to where brother Jakub kneels in silent prayer.
The monk looks up when he finishes his prayer and welcomes everyone, his eyes belie his exhaustion. In the candlelight Steeple can clearly see many new wrinkles on both of the ghouls' faces - they've been without blood for a while now, it seems, for they are at least fifteen years older than the last time Steeple saw them. A few more days of this rapid aging and they would be dead.
Brother Feliks starts:
"Father Kazimierz has resided within this abbey for more than a hundred years, with us alone surviving through an era alongside him. He was a holy man, he vowed to subsist on the blood of the faithful as penance to God for the sins of the world. He tended to our dead, he spoke to the spirits and aided them in passing on to the Lord's kingdom. He was a good man, and he shared with us the secret to his longevity, with the power of his faith and his holy blood we have long been with him."
Brother Feliks momentarily puts his head down and says a word of prayer, while brother Jakub continues for him.
"He began to hear of the stories miners told about the monster within the mines. He knew at once that it was some demonic creature inhabiting it, he went down alone one day to exorcise it. We tried to go with him, we insisted, but he declined - he told us that it was dangerous, that only those whose faith was strong enough could survive the coming trials. We were outside, praying with the miners when it happened. He... We heard his voice in a brief scream, and then nothing more."
Brother Feliks lays a hand on his contemporary's shoulder, and continues:
"We have prayed for his return ever since that day, but we both felt something, brother Jakub and I - we felt the power of his faith break within us. We fear he is gone, forever. Indeed, we have begun to age and die, as we can no longer have the father's faith sustain us. We pray night and day, but it is not enough. Soon, I think, we shall descend into the mines to do what the good father could not - and should we fail, we shall simply have to join him once more in God's realms."
-
"There is yet a chance for continued service to our god," Steeple replies.
"I have in my possession, a holy relic of divine power that perhaps can give you what you need if your faith is great enough. Not to mention a new place in Tihuta Pass, if you are willing."
"Steepleton is a little village supporting the fortress there, but it grows daily and could use a bit of enlightenment."
Steeple takes out his Vessel of Transference, a small silver urn, sealed tight (with a hermantic symbol hidden on the bottom).
"If the legends are true, this vessel holds fragments of the thorns that crowned the head of our lord."
"It is empowered by prayer and faith. You must pray over it and then touch the top at the end of the prayer, so that it can renew the strength of your faith."
"It can only be used once per night; though I will bring it back again on the morrow if you wish."
"So, who's first?" Steeple finishes, carefully placing it down where one of the ghouls can pray over it.
-
Heldric attempts to look like he is in reverence of the 'Holy Relic' whatever it is
-
The two monks look at the relic uncertainly. Brother Jakub begins to push Feliks forward but the brother shakes his head.
"No, you have suffered far more than I have from Kasimierz' disappearance, you should be the one to take in the relic's power first."
Jakub, visibly the older of the two monks, nods, and then reaches out to the silver urn. Steeple's blood rapidly changes place with his, and the man freezes in shock.
"This... This is..."
He takes his hand from the relic and stretches his hands, surprise etched into every line on his face.
"Where did you aquire a relic of such power, master Trevesky?"
-
"I rescued it from Jewish Illuminati in Prague," Steeple replies proudly, "They were trying to bury any holy relics that could prove the power of the Christ, as they refuse to recognize their grave error in crucifying him."
"Anyway, as reward for doing so, an angel of light granted me stewardship over it, saying that God would withhold its powers from any who tried to usurp it. And, that through a small servant such as myself, great things would be brought to pass by it."
"So... here, try it," Steeple says to the other monk - motioning for him to touch the urn like the first one did.
Knowing that the urn won't do anything for the ghoul, Steeple wants to use this as a display of his "Faith".
'Once the other ghoul touches the urn, Steeple thinks to Prince Maurice, 'I'll pick it up (replacing it with my own blood), say a humble prayer of faith, and have the man try again. Hehehehe...'
-
Heldric repectfully leaves them to the ritual and begins subtly examining the church for anything out of the ordinary
-
"A fitting tale indeed, for a relic of the Faith." Brother Feliks replies, as he takes the urn into his own hands from the still-shocked brother Jakub, before passing it over to Steeple.
After Steeple prays, brother Feliks takes the urn into his own hands and a look of shock, much like that of brother Jakub. Steeple and Heldric, of course, can tell that their reaction is simply due to the severe withdrawal they'd been suffering from.
---
Heldric, meanwhile, leaves the group and begins examining the church for something abnormal - something special, perhaps. He doesn't find much, at least not from his cursory examination - the Benedictine abbey is a small but relatively wealthy institution of the christian faith within Krakow, it is a place of learning and he knows it to have been the haven of a Cappadocian necromancer - and yet it seems so quaint and calm.
Nicely decorated with hanging tapestries depicting various scenes important to the christian faith, Heldric sees depictions of the destruction of Sodom, where God rained hell down on the vile city that would so willingly defile strangers, right alongside tapestries depicting the the resurrection of Lazarus by Christ. It might seem oddly appropriate that scenes of both death and the raising of the dead were so prolifically displayed in Kasimierz' home, perhaps he had arranged for it.
Heldric notes a large wooden door - the latch is closed but there is no visible lock. A sign next to it reads "Crypts".
-
Steeple bows his head in false reverence; "It is another miracle! Our need must be dire, to be granted a second helping of the Lord's power in one night!"
"I feel that I must now ask the two of you to accompany us into the mines, to rid it of this great evil within. That is why God has refilled your faith!"
-
Heldric looks at the latch and decides that it is clearly somwhere he needs to visit. A powerful kindred was here and likely that is where his haven would be.
"Andreas, I will be examining the crypts with Mr. whitey, if you wait here and they come looking for us you can indicate that I went down here for some solitude to pray via mime." He pauses then adds "I they seems worried or are coming down too make a loud knocking on the door to warn me."
He then heads down with the still hidden pet of awesomeness.
-
The big door swings open soundlessly, the hinges well-oiled. The air here is dry, and smells mildly of smoke from the last visitor to the area.
Grabbing a torch (with some reluctance) from next to the door, Heldric sets off down the stairs. Other than the occasional cobweb on the ceiling, the way down is uneventful.
At the bottom of the stairway, Heldric notes a long hallway that soon splits off into three different paths, straight forward, to the right and to the left. Doors appear at steady intervals, no doubt leading to rooms filled with the dead.
He hears a light creaking up ahead.
---
Both of the brothers seem unsure of Steeple's proposition.
"Perhaps, but... If Father Kasimierz would not do it then..."
-
Steeple attempts to assuage any reluctance to agree - "It is my hope that Father Kasimierz weakened the demon in confronting it. Perhaps enough that we can finish it off if our faith is strong enough. It is the least we can do to try, given Father Kasimierz's ultimate sacrifice. 'Lay down one's life', etc, etc," Steeple finishes.
-
Heldric leaves the torch behind, Mich better to rely on ones own abilities. He activates his new protean ability to see in the dark and proceeds forwards with his glowing eyes.
He heads slowly towards the creaking sound, covering himself by using vanish from the minds eye just Incase he was spotted.
-
"Perhaps, I suppose there is no greater way to honour his sacrifice. We must wait for the power of the relic to replenish itself, however - we could not possibly defeat the demon without it."
Brother Jakub nods in agreement with Feliks.
---
His eyes now see the hall more clearly. He sees a door gently swinging open, loudly creaking as it does so.
As he turns invisible, he sees the door suddenly accelerate in its swing - it swings with intense force, slamming into the wall so hard that part of it splinters.
-
"Right," Steeple says, "So, can you take me to where Kasimierz studied? Maybe he left us something in his manuscripts that would shed light on what we face or how it can be exorcised?"
-
"Of course master Trevesky. He made his home down in a hidden room in the crypts. He slept among the dead due to his ability to calm the restless."
Jakob's picks up - "when he came here almost a century ago this abbey was plagued by horrid spirits, his presence would calm them. He told us he would do his best to convince them to move on to another life. I fear his passing means that the spirits shall become restless once more."
"Yes," Feliks says grimly.
"We have already been receiving reports of strange happenings in the crypts."
-
"Oh dear," Steeple tuts, "I shall have to see what can be done about them after the mines are sorted out."
"Please lead the way," he then smiles, concerning the hidden room.
-
Heldric pauses, hoping that being invisible would ensure he is not directly attacked at this moment. If no other moment is detected after a few seconds he slowly approaches the door, keeping clear of other movable objects, to check out what was behind the door.
-
The two brothers stand and lead Steeple to the crypt doors - where they find Andreas knocking at the door and waiting patiently, tapping one foot as he does so.
He turns to look at them with some surprise, clearly he wasn't expecting them. He appears to be waiting for someone to answer the door.
---
Heldric detects no movement - the hallway in front of him is clear, nothing there for him to disrupt.
Approaching the door, he looks behind it - and he sees no one. The room is completely empty, save for coffins meant for the dead.
Suddenly, he hears Andreas knock on the door from upstairs.
-
He moves quickly back nearer to the entrance where he laid the torch, but out of sight of the door, before revealing himself and adopting the position of what he assumes would look like he was praying with his head bowed and hands clasped.
"they came quicker than I thought, but that does mean I have support if whatever moved the door chooses to Attack" He prepares to dodge if anything attacks him of flies his way, he carefully checks the ceiling and walls around him before releasing his sight and stopping his eyes from glowing.
-
Steeple waits for the monks to open the door, telling Andreas, "we're going down into the crypts to see if Kasimierz left anything that will help us deal with the problem at the mine."
-
Opening the doors, they all immediately find Heldric on his knees at the bottom of the stairwell, by some torchlight.
"What are you doing here?!" Feliks asks, surprised.
-
Heldric looks up at them as he gets to his feet.
"Ah I am glad you arrived, I came seeking solitude to pray when I began hearing strange noises from here. I assumed there was another brother or pilgrim here so came down but there was only the strange noises and events." He indicates further down the corridor "A door was slammed with tremendous force with nosing of a person moving it so of course I began praying."
"I've heard enough of the superstitious poor say similar things at least" he thinks to himself.
-
"They got restless spirits Heldric," Steeple offers, "But they'll have to wait for another time."
"We need to see if Kasimierz left anything that will help us deal with the problem at the mine."
-
"Of course, we understand." The two brothers say in response.
"Do you have family buried here?"
-
"I cannot say for sure as my ancestors are spread throughout this region and sadly much of my ancestry is lost, but if you both are here I should not fear these spirits Steeple has mentioned. If you do not mind I will follow where you are headed?"
-
"Of course. Be wary, Kazimierz' absence has resulted in rather unfortunate restlessness among our dead."
Feliks leads the way forward, and Heldric hears that same creaking he heard when he first came down the stairs.
"That sound... it comes from Kazimierz' chambers," brother Jakubs says, seemingly hesitating to move forward.
-
"Lead on," Steeple urges, "Can't let the dead meddle in the affairs of the living after all."
-
Heldric nods "Agreed, men of the lord should fear no evil."
-
Steeple mimes a cliché 'BLA BLA! I VANT TO DRINK YOUR BLOOD!' with raised 'talons' behind the two monks' backs at Heldric's suggestion. He finds what Heldric said highly amusing, given that they certainly could be considered any of 'dead', 'meddling', or 'evil'.
-
As the Kine and Kindred make their way down the hall, it starts to rapidly cool down. The door to Kazimierz' crypt keeps on creaking as it gently starts to swing shut from its previous open position. Everyone hears scratching coming from around them, like the claws of some great beast dragging across the stone.
Nadia huddles closer to Steeple, while Maurice whispers warnings - "I don't like the feel of this place old chap, like something'll jump out of the shadows at any moment. Almost like those nasty Shadow Priest friends of yours."
Andreas briefly makes the sign of the cross over himself - again, Heldric is surprised. He would have never thought Andreas devout (or have thought the terrifyingly strong Nosferatu to be scared by ghosts).
Of course, as if to dispel any worries, the brutish man moves ahead of the group rapidly, almost sprinting to the door that all had heard begin to close.
It starts to swing faster as he runs, soon out of the range of the torchlight. Everyone hears a crash and the sound of wood splintering, and a howl echoes down the hallway.
-
A bit confused, Steeple mumbles aloud, "Shadow Priests?"
He activates Heightened Senses and moves forward to see whether Andreas smashed the door down, or what?
-
Heldric calls forward "Andreas, did you get caught by the door?" He makes to move forward quickly, ushering the priests with torches forwards
-
Steeple's advanced perception reveals that Andreas is holding the door open by the tips of his fingers, arm stretched out just in time to catch it, straining against whatever force is in the process of trying to close the door. The wood must have splintered from the force of the sudden stop.
Andreas moves in closer and gets a better grip on the thing. Against his prodigious strength the force is nothing, and he opens the door completely.
Heldric and the others soon arrive to take this all in.
-
"I guess this was the noise we heard, Excelent work Andreas."
Heldric says as he arrives.
-
Steeple nods to the man holding the door and goes in for a look around.
-
The second Steeple steps into the room a skeleton immediately bursts out of a nearby coffin, flying through the air before flinging its arms around his neck, in an almost intimate and entirely unexpected embrace.
-
Heldric pauses,waiting for steeple to make a move but prepared to retreat if things turn messy. Even if steeple is ripped apart by skeletons it is best the group survives right?
-
"Egads!" Steeple yells, "What do you want? It wasn't me! I didn't do it! You can't prove a thing!"
Steeple activates Strength of The Earth, blood boosts Strength to max plus left over to Agility - to fling the skeleton forcefully to the ground, where he'll stomp on it (Celerity?)
-
Steeple easily throws the (harmless) skeleton, where it falls to the ground without resistance and shatters as ages-old bones break against solid stone.
Brother Feliks stands perplexed while brother Jakub looks annoyed.
"More tricks by the spirits, rather aggravating isn't it?" Brother Feliks says.
"I shall stay here and clean the body, please, go to Kazimierz' home," Brother Jakub continues.
-
"Oh you naughty spirits!" Steeple chides, rather embarrassed that he overreacted to the skeleton so badly.
"You always get the false scare, before the axe murderer jumps out for real," Steeple says mater-of-factly - before heading further in, to search around, etc.
-
Heldric follows in to search, keeping a couple of steps behind Steeple at first just incase.
-
Prince Maurice laughs heartily in Steeple's mind, as brother Jakub gets to putting the pieces of the skeleton left over into the coffin.
Steeple finds little in the room, if only because he doesn't know where to look, with torchlight being a poor illuminator. It's a simple crypt room, decorated with coffins of the long dead, their names carved in plaques attached to the sides of the coffins. The one of the skeleton that jumped out of him reads "Anamaria Bogza".
A human-sized, surprisingly well-carved statue of an unknown angel stands guard at the back of the room, looking over the dead bodies. Brother Feliks goes directly to the statue, where he reaches up to the angel's eyes. He reaches up and holds the angel's head in between his hands, placing both of his thumbs directly atop the angel's eyes, as if making to gouge them; they recede into the angel's head and there is a grinding sound as the wall behind the divine statue swings open, revealing a small passage to Kazimierz' sacred haven.
-
"A modicum of caution," Steeple says, entering the hallway and motioning for the others to hold off a bit so he can 'check it for traps'.
This entails stooping over and swiping the dust off the floor with a finger; tasting said dust; holding said finger aloft; and resolutely declaring - "NOPE. NO TRAPS!"
He them ambles carefree to the other end of the hallway.
-
Brother Feliks tries to intervene and tell Steeple that there are, in fact, no traps - but he finishes in his trap-finding methods so quickly that all the monk can do is shrug and move on.
Kazimierz' haven is a rather spartan affair. There is a bed shoved into the upper left corner of the room, at its foot is a small wooden desk with two drawers. Atop the desk, leaning against the wall is a tall obsidian mirror. Besides the mirror there is also an inkwell, a small knife and a collection of writing feathers.
Opposite the desk is a fireplace - most likely put in there for show, a vampire would despise being in such a small, enclosed room with an open fire.
Opposite the bed there is a small bookstand, with a collection of religious works. Nothing Steeple sees here would imply anything more than a slightly paranoid and creepy priest.
-
"Ah, at least he took care of himself to the extent of having a fire" Heldric annouces as he heads over to the Hearth as a pretext to turn his back to the priest who came with them and search the fires surroundings and disturb the ash a bit. He then proceeds to 'examine' other areas of interest in as not suspicious way as possible.
"there has to be more to that mirror than meets the eye, he couldn't have left without a single clue or better haven protection than this.
He makes sure to look at the mirror to examine the room through it incase the papers or room appear different in its reflection.
-
Steeple searches the desk and drawers, then tries to deduce if there is a secret door in the room - perhaps behind the books, mirror, bed, or fireplace.
-
Searching the desk and drawers, Steeple finds more writing utensils and papers/papyrus to write on. The books hide nothing but dust and cobwebs - seems Kazimierz did not spend much time perusing his varied religious works. Briefly lifting the mirror to the side, Steeple confirms that there is nothing of consequence behind it as well.
Moving on to the fireplace, he sees that the ashes within it are cold - not recent leavings, though he cannot tell just how old they are. Most likely irrelevent information, Kazimierz has not been here in over a month
Sticking his head in to see upwards, he disturbs a bat, which screeches briefly and shoots up the tiny chimney shaft, showering Steeple with ash.
The bed holds no greater information - though Steeple does notice the brief gleam of torchlight shining off the eyes of a rat as it skitters away from him.
---
Sitting down at Kazimierz' desk, Heldric looks into the Obsidian mirror, searching for clues as to something unusual in the area, when he sees her.
Subtle, very subtle. At first he can only see her at the edge of his vision; turning to focus at her - even through the mirror - wipes her from view. The longer he stares into the dark reflection the better his view of the spirit whose hangs herself so casually off of brother Feliks' shoulder.
Curly blonde hair frames a cutesy face marred by the blood leaking leaking from one of her missing eye sockets. A cut throat pours the stuff down a frilly blue dress, and the remaining eye, a bright blue, looks boredly into his own.
Heldric feels an unnatural chill come over him as the light of realization hits the eye. The spirit, already close to Heldric, lets go of brother Feliks and lays a hand on the small of Heldric's back. Even as a vampire, he begins to shiver as her touch sends the muscles on his back into a small series of involuntary spasms.
"I see you."
Heldric can feel her breath frosting the side of his face as she leans over and whispers into his ear, her voice plainly audible.
"Now you see me too."
---
Steeple's attention is pulled away from the rat when he notices Heldric shivering violently in Kazimierz' chair, where he looks into the obsidian mirror the malkavian had previously discarded.
"Egads! Good thing you only checked out the BACK of that mirror!" Prince maurice declares.
Andreas seems concerned, but the burly Nosferatu also seems, humorously enough, too afraid to go help his Domitor.
Nadia, meanwhile, has begun to nervously dust off Kazimierz' bookshelf.
-
Heldric stays still trying to think about what to do with a spirit since he is not so well versed in them.
could it possibly be friendly or reasoned with? He thinks somewhat desperately
"I do indeed see now, Kazimierz was blessed with the ability to deal with spirits and has left a holy relic allowing us to do the same." he tries to think quickly "Spirit, is there a reason for you waiting in this place? Can we aid you to your rest?" he prepares to flee
-
"Spirits, eh?" Steeple says, "I wonder..."
Steeple tries to scan the room through the reflection of his own magic mirror.
-
Through the mirror Steeple sees a young girl bent over Heldric, seemingly whispering sweet nothings into his ears.
"The dirty old dog, didn't think he'd go for the young ones, him. Hell, she's a ghost!"
Steeple understands that the Prince believes Heldric is ecstatically spasming about.
Unfortunately, Steeple is unable to hear whatever she is saying.
---
The girl pouts, what would have perhaps been an endearing look if her face had not been so horribly marred by blood.
"Daddy Kazimierz went and got himself killed by the monster in the mines, and now I don't have anyone to play with anymore."
Jumping up and laying her hands on Heldric's shoulders, so cold as to almost make him jump.
"Will you play with me?"
From terrifying to childish, it isn't entirely clear to Heldric which of the two is the act.
Andreas has begun to slowly back away from Heldric as he realizes there is, in fact, a real live ghost in the room. Nadia's efforts are actually raising a cloud of dust into the air, so frenetically does she clean.
-
"What is she saying old chum?" Steeple asks Heldric; "I can see her, but I got no volume control on this thing..."
"I have an old ritual for chatting with the dead, but it seems a waste, when you know, you seem quite able to *ahem... have dialog with her and all."
-
Heldric takes a calming breath "Could a ghost really harm me? I get the impression she really could"
Then outloud "She was a spirit who Kazimierzs... Looked after but she has been stuck here alone since he went into the mines and wishes for me to entertain her, although I have no experience with spirits I can seemingly see and hear her due to the mirror."
He matches eyes with her in the mirror.
"We actually came here to bring Kazimierzs back from the mines, meaning he could return to look after you again. Do you know any details of what happened to him or if he left any relics behind that might help us?"
-
She puts a finger to her lip, looking as if she's thinking hard.
"Nope. At least, not while everyone else is here."
She smiles, "If you want to see daddy Kazimierz' things, you'll have to stay here alone with me."
-
Heldric pauses "this might be a bad idea but I can also vanish from her sight if needed. I think. Any powerful relics left behind might be valuable beyond compare"
"Would everyone mind leving me alone in here for a short time, the spirit wishes to tell me somthing in private." He tries to seem calm about it
-
"Oh, by all means!" Steeple replies, herding Nadia out.
"If you need anything, just scream."
-
Prince Maurice chortles within Steeple's mind.
"Oh sure, she needs to be "alone" with him. We all know what that means! Bleugh!"
-
"Finally, now we get to play together! How about Hot and Cold first?" The ghastly child asks sweetly.
-
"Ah, first you mentioned some of his items that might be of use to us." I really don't want to play these games though "show me somthing useful first, then we can play, we can keep taking turns like that! Although can't you just show me the items and come with us, then you could play with us more often?"
-
"The game will show you where daddy Kazimierz' real home is, I promise!" The girl says, her hands closing on Heldric's left arm and dragging him out of the chair. The Nosferatu suffers a sudden bout of disorientation before regaining his faculties to find that he sits on the floor, his back against the door leading out of Kazimierz' secret haven.
The second he tries regaining his feet, however, he suffers a bout of nausea - rather unusual for one such as himself, to say the least. The room spins around him. He feels hot.
In the old children's game, hot used to mean that you were getting closer to your goal. Is it the same case here?
-
Heldric gives himself a moment to think "So I was wrong, ghosts are very dangerous but I can't get out of this now, making her stay happy or at least not angry would be best. "Oh, we get to play and find the real home, perfect, I would love to!" He adds outloud trying to sound sincere
"So hot means I am getting closer then?"
He burns a blood point for healing just incase it did somthing then tests out a couple of steps back into the room very slowly and carefully due to the nausea to see if he feels hotter or colder. If hotter he very slowly follows the feeling across the room, if colder he turns and slowly starts out of the door.
-
The blood does nothing to heal Heldric, the damage being mental and not physical. He stumbles about the room almost drunkenly, trying to find the hottest point.
As far as he can tell, the room is coldest around the mirror and hottest around the fireplace - but he cannot get close enough to the fireplace to examine the area, when he gets to about a foot away from it the air gets so hot as to almost melt his skin, any further and Heldric is afraid he would burst into flame.
The girl sits on the chair in front of the mirror, screaming out hot or cold whenever Heldric would come across a hot/cold area.
-
Out in the hallway, Steeple waits idly.
"You think he's all right in there?" Steeple asks Nadia, making an attempt to be more inclusive with her from time to time.
-
Heldric pauses as close as he dares to the fireplace while he speaks to her "Unfortunately I don't think I can move any closer to the fireplace without injury. You wouldn't be trying to hurt me now would you?"
While he talks he tries to stare at the fireplace looking for anything that might resemble a catch or trigger to open a secret passage.
-
Out in the hallway, Brother Feliks and Jakub talk nervously to each other, they aren't sure leaving Heldric in there was the right decision. Andreas has edged as far back from the door to the ghost-room as physically possible. Mr. Whitey's hidden presence is now the only measure of whether or not Heldric is still alive.
Nadia appears to be keeping her obvious fright under wraps, though she also seems to be muttering about needing to spruce the whole place up - it really was too dusty in here, wasn't it? Steeple catches something of a manic look in the maid's eye as she says this.
She answers him non-comitally - "I'm sure he's fine, probably."
Prince Maurice, still believing Heldric is a total perv, gives some sarcastic remark about how fine Heldric really is.
-
A giggle from the corner of the room by the mirror.
"Of course not silly. Do you need a hint?"
Heldric sees nothing of the kind.
-
"Ok give me a hint for this one, then next game I'll give you a hint!"
-
She cocks her head, "That's not how it works silly. If I give you a hint, then you'll owe me a favour. You'll have to do one thing that I ask you to do, is all."
-
She cocks her head, "That's not how it works silly. If I give you a hint, then you'll owe me a favour. You'll have to do one thing that I ask you to do, is all."
"Ok then, let me try one more thing before I ask for my hint" He very very carefully, keeping low to the ground heads for the mirror to try and examine the fireplace through it and to carefully touch its surface.
-
Doing for the first time something that no one else up until this point had thought of doing, Heldric goes to the Obsidian mirror. Examining the fireplace through it, he tries to touch the mirror - and finds that his hand goes through the mirror as easily as air. A strange tingling sensation is felt on his hand on the otherside... it appears the mirror is more than just an magical mirror enchanted to make you see spirits.
-
"So I was after the cold and the mirror is a portal." He mumbles to himself as he slowly tries to pass through it
-
Positioning himself that he might pass through the portal that is the mirror, Heldric leaps through to the other side - only to find that the air there burns with the same heat that the fireplace in Heldric's world had burned with. The very second ALL of Heldric is through the portal, his clothes start to smoke, his skin sags as it begins to melt under the heat, and he feels his blood boil within his veins.
The girl stands before him, more life-life and real than ever before. He no longer has to look through the mirror to see her, for she stands right in front of him, flesh and blood as real as his own. "Hot! Hot!", she cries happily.
-
Heldric instantly sticks an arm back into the mirror hoping that having part of him in contact or through it would stop the burning. While he does this he scans his surroundings, looking for artifacts etc.
Should just having his arm through not work, he will try and grab the girl before he leaps back across.
-
Heldric's hand bursts into flames before it reaches the mirror - once he tries to reach through it, he finds with some panic that his hand begins to disintegrate before he can bring himself through the portal. He retrieves his arm completely on fire, missing the tips of his fingers on his left hand. The red fear twists and pulls at his psyche, but Heldric manages to hold it off - for now.
-
Heldric immediatly moves further frame mirror, toward the 'girl' in the hopes that is gets cooler that way. (If this is a reflection of the main room he heads for the fireplace)
-
"Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?" Steeple asks, wiping his brow.
"You all right in there Heldric?" Steeple then calls through the door. "You're not getting schooled in there or something are you?"
-
It is, in fact, a reflection of the main room - heading immediately towards the fireplace, Heldric finds the place to be absolutely frigid. The blood within his veins start to cool rapidly, so much so that he is afraid if he stays too long he'll freeze solid. Far colder here than the mirror was on the other side.
The girl stands next to him, now.
"See, you went through the mirror, so now everything's reversed!" She giggles happily.
"Colder", she says, when she's done.
---
The monks look at Steeple strangely, "no, master Trevesky - nothing has changed. If anything, it's grown a slight bit colder ever since we entered the father's room."
Steeple receives no reply from the room.
-
"Great..." Steeple remarks, and opens the door to the room to look in.
-
Heldric moves to themiddle of the room where his temperature is balanced to give him some moments to heal if at all possible (2 blood if it actually works on anything that is happening.)
"So before the fireplace was too cold hot to get near but now it is too cold." He mutters to himself as he scans his surroundings for somthing out of place or different from the main room, a special dagger on the wall with a card saying "Kills ghosts" or somthing like a strange artifact or ok that was not present in the true reflection.
He talks to the girl while he looks "So is this his hidden haven or do we play hot and cold to go... To another place?"
-
Heldric manages to heal his molten skin, fixing it back up into place - but there is nothing he can do for his missing fingertips or his burns without much more concentration and time.
He does not find the much desired dagger, much to his chagrin. In fact, the room appears identical through the mirror as it did in the normal world - the only thing that has changed, so far as he can tell, are the temperatures.
"Oh, so you want your hint now?" She asks, excitedly.
---
The door does not open. Straining his absolute hardest, Steeple finds himself unable to pull open the door. The monks seem alarmed, though they are unable to help him in the least.
-
Steeple motions for Andreus to smash the door down.
"If you would be so kind?"
As he waits, Steeple begins casting Calling the Restless Spirit.
-
Heldric carefully heads over towards the girl herself "Hmm on this side you are much more real. I'll hold out on the hint for now." So long as she isn't hanging out in one of the most dangerous areas Heldric attempt to catch her hand in his less damaged one.
-
Andreas stays where he is, practically whimpering. He shakes his head a gentle no.
"What a little bitch!" Maurice declares within Steeple's mind.
"Show him you don't need his sorry help, tear down the door Steepleton, TEAR IT DOWN!"
"Mayhaps with Nadia's help"
"Should probably throw the monks in there as well."
"Hey, where did the perv's crocodile go anyway?"
-
The girl does not struggle as Heldric grabs her hand, though he finds her to be almost as cold as the fireplace. She continues grinning happily, blood that had dripped down the side of her face showing in her teeth.
-
"So you are definitely solid here at least, what happens if you touch the mirror then?" He asks
-
"I touch it, silly," she says, looking at him quizzically.
-
"I see..." Steeple says, dryly - and continues his ritual.
"The door is nothing," he says to Prince Maurice; "If it comes to it, I can always just walk right through. Ghosts aren't the only ones with that trick up their shrouds, haha!"
-
"So you can't pass through? Hmmm." Heldric pauses to assess things, he can't go near the mirror side of the room without being burned to nothing and the fireplace side freezes him to death, he can't even carry the mirror to the fireplace to cancel them out.
well the cold side worked last time but for now I guess more information he thinks
He carefully moves are lung the room, not going too close to any extream temperatures in order to get a proper layout of the gradient, were there other spots that were hot and cold or just the mirror and the fire.
-
Prince Maurice retorts - "But that ritual also takes time! Who knows what that ghost is doing to Heldric right now?!"
---
Heldric finds that the farther he moves from the fireplace, the hotter it gets - there are no other cold spots in the room save those which emanate from the fireplace.
-
"I do believe it's called 'having one's way with'," Steeple replies to Maurice, grinning wryly.
'Hey, dryly and wryly rhyme!' he thinks to himself, quite pleased.
-
Heldric likes to avoid danger, and people, but mostly things that might kill him, but he is out of options now so he braces himself then burns two blood for dexterity and moves as fast as possible to the fireplace to examine it.
He aims to touchy he mantle first, then the ashes and then to investigate whether there is a false back or hidden lever of any kind.
However if he feels himself freezing up he will retreat for a turn before continuing (OOC: using however many turns it requires to full investigateit without freezing solid.
-
Heldric begins the slow and arduous process of examining every inch of the small fireplace while retreating to the hot spots of the room to thaw himself when it became too much. He continuously feels out the mantleplace, which has nothing to it. He eventually moves down to the actual wood and ashes and begins to scatter the stuff, when he sees a small trapdoor that certainly hadn't been visible in his own world (or else Steeple would have spotted it).
On the other side of the shroud though, he sees a way down...
The girl stands by him. No more giggling this time, in fact she seems a little distracted.
---
Steeple's ritual is nearly done, he only has a minute of preparation left to do before he can call the spirit of the girl to him.
-
Heldric shrugs, spends a blood point to keep himself unfrozen then heads down the trapdoor.
-
The trapdoor pops open briefly, and for a second Heldric feels fear. Something dwells below the fireplace. Something he does not want to find.
A cold blast of air bursts from the fireplace's mantle, and Heldric sees the frost collect on his body. His vision blurs as even his eyes start to freeze.
He succumbs to the Red Fear, and Heldric rushes immediately towards the mirror, as slowly as he can. The hot spot is much weaker this time, just barely enough to weaken the blast of cold. Through the mirror, Heldric sees his own self sitting in his seat - if he was capable of rational thought he would wonder at how strange it was; he'd jumped through that mirror full-blast when he'd gone through, and all of him had passed. He'd left nothing behind.
Yet in the throes of Rotshrëck, he simply rushes the mirror and leaps into it. His body flies through the mirror and he... he recedes into himself. With a start Heldric feels like he is in control of himself again. The fear of what is behind that mirror is gone, but more than that he feel like he can move again. Strange, hadn't he already been able to move?
Flexing his hands, Heldric is surprised to see that his burns are gone and his fingertips back in place.
The girl is nowhere in sight. What the hell had happened?
---
The girl is a horrifying little thing, with a bloody throat, a missing eye and a smile that shows off teeth like that of a cannibal with bad hygiene.
She pouts at Steeple now, while Andreas curls into a ball in the corner of the room, feeling the chill despair that her presence casts over the room. Nadia has edged closer to the two monks who themselves look wildly uncomfortable.
"Jeez, that's one ugly little girl." Prince Mauric delcares.
"Now why'd you have to go and interrupt the fun?" She asks.
Steeple is the only one who can see her or talk to her, for now.
-
Hendric is very confused. He a.so wants to get out. Getting out trumps decide ring everything that just happened, he runs for the door, pausing only long enough at the door to look slightly more dignified as he opens it.
-
"What are you doing in there with my friend?" Steeple asks the girl sternly. "You haven't been haunting him have you?"
-
The girl just gives Steeple that same ghastly smile.
Brother Feliks looks at Steeple strangely, "Seems that's what the ritual was for", he mumbles.
Just then, Heldric bursts into the room, looking somewhat bewildered. Andreas just barely looks up from where he is, terrified. Heldric cannot see the ghost now.
-
"Oh, Heldric old boy; we were just talking about you," Steeple says to Heldric casually.
Then turning back to the ghost girl, he grins playfully - "Seems you were haunting him after all, haha! Such a naughty girl!"
"But anyway, we need to know what Kasimierz was working on, before he left for the mines; and what may have become of him. Do you know?"
-
Heldric stares for a moment, there is no mirror for him to look through however Steeple is clearly addressing her. "She said she knew things and about where Kazimerz real room was but it seems after a few tests she was trying to trap or kill me."
-
"Such wicked behavior!" Steeple huffs at Heldric's report.
"Is any of this true?" he asks the ghost girl with a wink.
-
"Of course not!" she says, pouting.
"He's just a scaredy-cat, he won't play with me." she crosses her arms and looks for all the world like a child being told she can't play with her favourite toy. The image is somewhat marred by her gruesome appearance.
-
Heldric simply watches Steeple for a response or new information, he is no longer actively afraid of the ghost girl, just quite confused and angry. Slightly relieved though that it seems Steeple is her new target.
-
"Hmm..." Steeple thinks aloud - "We really must attend to the business at hand," he says to the girl, "which is finishing Kasimierz's work if we can."
"You obviously know him; being that you appear to reside with him in his haven."
"Tell you what; If you help us, I promise to come visit you after our business is concluded, and we can play any game you like. Maybe I can even convince Prince Maurice to play with us too."
-
She looks about, seemingly confused.
"Who's Prince Maurice?"
"Bah, of course she cannot see me!" The good prince retorts; "Steepleton, take me out and let them all bask in my glory!"
-
"Anyone who's anyone, knows the great and mighty, magnanimous master of sophistication and suave, the enigmatic pinnacle of cerebral apogee, the one and only imperceivable preponderance of unequivocal proprietary provocation - did I mention he's solid, like a rock? - I present to you the Grand Eminence that he is - Prince Maurice of..." *cough *cough "Avalon..." *mumble... *mumble... "... lantis."
Here Steeple just smiles and bounces his shoulder, where a sconce in his armguard holds (to all who would care to look) a smooth flat river stone.
-
Heldric inclines his head slightly to the madman's rock. It is best to keep people like this happy and friendly, especially if they are rich.
-
The girl just kinda looks at Steeple like "What were all those big words I just heard?", and then stares at the rock in confusion.
Then, a look of realization comes over her face.
"Ohhhh, you're crazy!" She says, before bursting into a series of giggles.
Prince Maurice is absolutely livid. "THIS MAN IS THE SANEST MAN I HAVE EVER MET YOU ABSURD SHREWISH LITTLE WITCH! STEEPLETON, LET ME AT HER!"
The two monks look at Steeple strangely.
-
Heldric realizes that the monks might turn on them if they believe Steeple to be possessed, it was the kind of thing you heard about when you grew up in small rural villages. He cuts in on the monks behalf having not heard the ghost, he moves over to them quickly "He is somewhat versed in dealing with Spirits and this one is particularly tricky so he might say many eccentric sounding things in order to trick the spirit. It is best that we simply go along and pretend to agree with him as non of us are as adept as Kazimerz was."
-
The monks look unsure, but they nod.
Heldric would do well to realize that these are no rural townfolk, however - these are century old monks who served as ghouls to a notable necromancer.
-
Steeple sighs loudly with a hint of exasperation in his voice. He should have know that no mere dead girl could handle the awesomnimity that was Prince Maurice.
"Of course not," Steeple then replies to the girl between her giggles, "I'm talking to you aren't I? Though, perhaps you are just a girl, wasting a grown up's time."
"Ah well. But without Kasimierz, once we leave, who will you have to talk to or play with?"
"I'm willing to come back, but only if you begin to show proper manners and are willing to help us now."
-
The girl laughs again and - before Steeple's eyes, vanishes!
It appears she's done talking with him.
Out of the corner of Heldric's eye, he sees something move in Kazimierz' room.
-
Steeple moves to step into the room.
"Heldric, what did you find out whilst in here with her?"
-
"Not very much I can make sense of for the moment at least. Although I am taking that mirror with me when we leave."
He heads inside to see what the movement is, and if he can still see the Girl/ghost, while he does so he re-checks the fireplace for that trapdoor.
-
There is a gaping hole in the ground where the fireplace used to be. Heldric sees no sign of any sort of movement.
-
"Hmmm" he simply makes the noise as he heads for the hole to examine it. Keeping his eyes to the monks and using his protean vision if needed.
-
Steeple is right beside Heldric, inspecting the hole in the fireplace. If need be, he'll activate Heightened Senses to facilitate a finer search.
"Looks like she decided to help us after all..." Steeple remarks.
-
Lo and behold - the hole in the floor is yet another passage, a set of stairs leading down into who knows where. Heldric no longer feels the dread he felt looking down when on the other side of that mirror.
Looking at the top of the trapdoor, Heldric sees that it is expertly disguised - and that it cannot be opened from the top, only from below. Curious.
-
"So she opened it for us?" He has survived her once and she doesn't actually seem to directly want to kill them just... Play, so for now the risk seems worth it.
He heads down
-
Prince Maurice speaks to Steeple, still kinda pissed.
"Steeple, maybe the monks shouldn't go down there? They might not like what they see."
And indeed, the monks look bewildered at the fact that there's a hidden trapdoor in their old master's secret room. Clearly they've never seen it before.
(Taking a liberty with Heldric here to move things along)
Heldric - not wanting to mess with whatever's going on with Steeple and the monks - uses Vanish from the Mind's Eye on himself, Andreas and Mr. Whitey. Everyone forgets that Heldric is/was here. No one sees him go down the stairs. No one sees Andreas walk down terrifiedly after him, holding mr.Whitey to himself as he does so.
After using Gleam of Red Eyes in the lightless area, Heldric finds that the room below looks almost like a textbook example of a evil sorcerer's dream. Human skulls line shelves on the wall, a pentagram has been painted in blood around a stone covered in tiny names painted in blood. A quick look identifies Steeple's name to Heldric.
Candles of various size and colour also litter the place, along with bones.
Another obsidian mirror is down here, though this one is small and is so sharp as to cut flesh.
Of particular note is a strange, ancient looking decorative helm on the wall, as well as an old skull decorated with old vitae around the eye sockets and teeth.
Having examined it from the outside, Heldric steps into the room.
The strange skull's mouth drops open and a piercing, horrifyingly loud shriek sounds forth, loud enough to wake even a vampire during the day - and surely the other monks of the abbey.
Andreas bawls like a baby, hugging Mr.Whitey so tightly as to almost crush the poor crocodile.
From above, Steeple winces from the sudden blast of sound. Nadia hugs Steeple's arm fearfully.
-
"Hooo Damn!" Steeple remarks at the sound.
"This place is truly haunted, something fierce!"
"Best you all stay up here and I'll check it out myself," he directs to Nadia and the monks.
With that Steeple heads down to investigate the area below.
"Hey ghost girl," he calls as he goes, "is that you making the unholy racket?"
-
"Andreas, back upstairs! Take Mr. Whitey with you and look after him, he doesn't like ghosts." he says to get Andreas out of the way before he flips out.
Heldric then decides that he wants the help and small mirror, he however does not know what might happen so he prepares to flee.
He heads for the heads intending to grab it, the mirror and anything else looking small qnd relic like before heading for the stairs again.
"I'll tell Steeple to take the screaming thing and the rock if he can." he mumbles
-
Steeple receives no reply.
The monks huddle together on their knees and pray at the entrance.
Andreas flees, though Heldric's obfuscate has been broken and now everyone is surprised to see Andreas storm out while holy shit is he holding a white dragon what the Fark is that oh my god.
Heldric rushes in despite the hellishly loud screams coming from the skull smashing into his ears. He snags the helmet and then goes to the mirror - only to cut his hands on the edges. Swearing briefly at the pain and healing it away with a blood point, Heldric grabs the mirror carefully by the face and back before practically running into Steeple, who comes stomping down the stairs.
Steeple takes a good look at Heldric, holding a relic-y looking helmet in one hand, an absurdly sharp obsidian mirror in the other, while a skull among a row of skulls screams almost like an alarm in the back, the Nosferatu looking for all the world like a horrendously incompetent thief just having been caught red-handed with a large collection of ill-acquired jewelry.
-
"AHH! HOW DO YOU TURN IT OFF?!?" Steeple yells, drawing upon Strength of the Earth and heading over to the skull to try to smashing it with his mace.
-
Steeple clubs the thing with his fake arm and it shatters, though the wooden shelf on which it rests with several other skulls also breaks, throwing all the heads to the ground where they break collectively.
The horrid scream slowly begins dying down, though it is nowhere near done being absurdly loud yet.
-
Steeple looks around. When he sees all the names written in blood on the stone in the pentagram, he'll take a moment to think through his occult knowledge about what they all could mean, before getting close enough to cross the pentagram.
-
Heldric heads back up the stairs to leave Steeple to it. At the top "Very strong possession there, Steeple is handling it." if they are still nearby he indicates for Andreas to head all the way out back into the church and re-casts obfuscate over Mr. Whitey.
-
Steeple occult knowledge fails him, he has no idea what the thing does.
What he DOES know, on approaching the thing, is that his name is among those scrawled onto the stone.
"Well, that can't be good." Maurice says, stating the obvious.
---
After recasting obfuscate, mr.whitey's appearance is smoothed over. Though Heldric knows that the priests will remember it later, which might be problematic - to say the very least.
As if on cue, as soon as Heldric "explains" the situation to the priests the screaming begins to die down.
Brother Jakubs looks suspiciously at the things Heldric is holding, but Brother Feliks grabs him then - "Hurry, brother, we have to explain things to the other abbey priests. They will no doubt have been woken up."
The two monks leave the area then. Nadia looks concernedly at Heldric.
"What have you done to Steeple now?"
-
Heldric grumbles to himself "I dislike dealing with people at the best of times never-mind lying to the smart ones."
Then out loud to Nadia "I didn't do anything but there was an alarm triggered, I have no idea how to deal with it but Steeple has done so by the sound of things."
Then then more closely examines the two objects in his hands. He knew he was going to try wearing the help at some point and the mirror is unnaturally sharp if nothing else. He quickly takes some cloth (From the room if there is any, tearing his own clothing if not) and makes a sort of bag/sling for the items, carefully placing the mirror so it wouldn't just cut it's way out.
-
Perplexed, Steeple huffs - "Damn! I knew that 'Occult Studies Correspondence Course from Cameroon' was a sham! Worst 30 gilders I ever wasted!"
"Ah well, might as well go straight to the source," he muses, just knowing he is about to get screamed at some more.
Casting Wooden Tongues, Steeple queries the stone with the names written on it, "Hey you! What was the necromancer meaning by writing my name on you?"
Steeple braces for the ensuing maelstrom.
-
Steeple is hit with no maelstrom - in fact, he is hit with nothing but an astonishingly underwhelming "I dunno".
Upon further inquiry, Steeple finds out that Kasimierz (or at least, someone he assumes is Kasimierz) would paint blood onto the rock, chant a few words and, well, that's the extent of what it knows. No spooky lights, no explosions, no demons summoned from the nether realms, no horrors the likes of that little girl.
"Well that's boring." Maurice comments.
---
Wrapping the two objects in Kasimierz' bedsheet, Heldric packs them away into his bag, presumably while carefully looking away from the obsidian mirror that, to him, seems to dominate the room now. He gets the uncomfortable feeling something wants him to look back into it.
By now the wail has spluttered down to a low shriek, to the monks upstairs it could very well be nothing.
Nadia looks at him unpleasantly.
"What are you doing with those? If I didn't know any better -" this last remark is not said with complete confidence - "I'd say you just robbed a grave."
-
"Well this is a crypt and I AM dead" Heldric replies grumpily "If you want to leave possibly powerful necromancer artifacts lying in the creepiest room I have ever seen be my guest. Why not go down and check on Steeple while you see for yourself?"
He then heads for the door, he doesn't wants to be anywhere near the mirror and what might be lurking there anymore.
-
Nadia harumphs but makes no effort to stop the Nosferatu. Andreas waits with mr. Whitey still clutched within his brawny arms. The crocodile appears to be suffering.
-
Heldric sighs "Andreas, stop crushing mr. Whitey. The spirit is gone for now." He says, but in a way Andreas would know is a softly spoken order. Heldric took the on long breeding and training Mr. whitey.
Heldric prepares to leave as soon as Steeple returns, they should really be dealing with the mines and getting back to his city, being with Steeple brings up too many interesting situations.
-
Andreas reluctantly releases Mr.Whitey, then goes a step further and apologizes to the crocodile for his behavior. Mr.Whitey's response is unheard by Heldric, though it seems to satisfy Andreas.
-
Heldric shrugs, Andreas and Mr. Whitey were more than capable of sorting it out themselves without him ordering them around anymore. "Right, let's wait for Steeple. Then get out of here." He announces before finding a place to sit down.
-
Annoyed at the rock, Steeple picks it up and rubs his name off it.
-
Steeple's name stays solidly on the rock, despite attempts to remove it. Steeple hears steps coming from upstairs.
By now the screaming has died down completely.
Nadia appears, holding a femur bone threateningly.
"Steeple? Where are you? Are you okay?"
-
"Gah! Darn magical whatsits!" Steeple huffs, dropping the stone in his pocket and looking around for anything else of immediate interest.
"Ah Nadia," Steeple replies, "I am fine; and over here; just about ready to head out."
-
There are a hell of a lot of things of interest, it's a necromancer's lair. But if Steeple intends to leave now...
It also occurs to Steeple maybe they should find a way to shut this thing closed, before the monks saw it. That would not go down well.
-
"I suppose we have what we need for now," Steeple says to Nadia, ushering her back out.
Once back up himself, Steeple uses Animate the Unmoving to warp the trapdoor shut - rendering the secret passage down into the lair inaccessible for now.
-
Seeing that Steeple has emerged, Heldric waves him toward the door "It is time we were leaving and getting to the mine, you can return here at your leisure after we are finished."
-
"Perhaps," Steeple replies cryptically.
-
The trapdoor twists and molds itself along the passage way so that one would have great difficult breaking through to the chamber below - though Steeple recognizes immediately that it will neither be enough nor will it be as secure as the hidden trapdoor was.
-
"MUTHA FARKING PAIN IN MY ASS!" Steeple screams in rage at the bullshit worthless 'why the fark bother' results of his less than stellar use of what is supposed to be his "great powers".
"You all just go along without me," he waves at the rest. "I'm just going to stay in this crypt and sulk in the darkness for the next few centuries..."
Steeple the used Animate the Unmoving once again - this time on the fireplace itself, to make it 'close its mouth' (completely blocking itself up entirely).
-
Heldric just sighs as he heads for the door "Nadia, we shall meet you and Steeple outside once he uses his powers to fix everything and cheers up."
He signals Andreas and Mr. Whitey to follow, making sure the crocodile is invisible.
-
Much better.
The mouth of the fireplace stretches and closes shut. The stonework is noticeably irregular but solid, and if the monks want to get through they'll have to destroy the whole floor. Eventually they might find it, but certainly not before both Steeple and Heldric have made their way out of the abbey - and their memories - forever.
Heldric hears the sounds of a confused argument going on once he reaches the base of the stairway, it's going on between the ghouled monks and the other abbey-dwellers.
-
"Damn." Steeple sighs at his handiwork.
'Looks like someone forgot something' he thinks, throwing his cloak over the mirror on the wall and taking it with him.
"Ok Nadia, let's get out of this dump," Steeple says, offering his hand to lead her back up into the abbey.
As they go, he teases with a smile, "you're looking rather lovely this evening. Is this what you wear to all the crypts?"
-
Heldric is about to carry on past but changes his mind, he signals Andreas to wait for Steeple then vanishes them all from the minds eye and heads up to listen in.
-
Steeple finds the Mirror rather heavy, and whispers some few words of power under his breath to strengthen his only working arm enough to carry it safely. The edges are sharp, though not so sharp as to cut the cloth.
Nadia blushes but otherwise says nothing. Perhaps because by now they've reached Heldric. The Nosferatu waits patiently for them, and on their arrival quickly exerts his power over the group, managing to cover himself, Steeple, Nadia, Andreas and mr.Whitey, though he feels some strain - he's never covered this many people before. He thinks he can manage one more person if he had to, though he'd be tapped out by then.
The group walks right by the monks, who are trying to convince their increasingly frustrated colleagues not to go downstairs, that the haunting is being managed by a great holy man.
-
Heldric thinks about revralinghimself and explaining however he doesn't really want to talk to more ppl and getting out before holy men get angry is good for survival. He heads for the exit.
-
Steeple follows Heldric's lead, waiting until they get outside and away a pace before stopping to ask, "So, should we bring the monks with us then?"
-
Noting that Steeple is no longer pouting and therefor possibly less likely to start spouting blood again Heldric feels a little happier "It might be a little difficult explaining to them all, especially with us having vanished but you are welcome to head back in and try to get them to follow if you wish."
He looks to the sky "I would like to get to the mines soon though while we still have the night"
-
Steeple looks into the night sky as well.
'Yep. Night Sky.'
'Reminds me of the ocean. Only black and full of space, rather than water. Speaking of water, I wonder how deep the ocean would be if it didn't have all those sponges in it. Would a sponge also soak up space?'
'These questions and many more bear further study.'
'Maybe I should ask a wise man about it sometime.'
'I think I have a sponge laying around somewhere... Just have to get it up into the night sky somehow. Perhaps test it in the ocean first to have a comparative value to work with. Set a base line. That sort of thing...'
Steeple snaps out of his thoughts.
"I'm thinking we can use the help," Steeple replies.
"But I'm spent and they need to come find us first. I say we head back to our rooms for now."
"I'll send them a message telling them to meet us at the mine tomorrow evening and we can go from there. What do you think?"
-
As an afterthought, Steeple asks, "So Heldric, there was almost a gap in my memory of you being at the abbey (much like what the monks must have experienced with your sudden appearance). Some of your Nos Powers eh?"
"Do you think you could do that on the Monks again, to make them forget about seeing the trapdoor to the crypt?"
-
"They just forget me and what I was doing whenever I do not wish to be seen, the information often returns in time or if I am discovered but I cannot make them forget what they saw and heard." he says this lightly as if it is no big deal.
"for a crazy man his will is strong. I'll have to keep being careful"
-
"Ah, no matter then," Steeple replies to Heldric.
"Let us retire then, and go about the mine next evening. I don't want to risk being trapped in the mine with something wicked on one side and the burning sun on the other..."
Then turning to Nadia he asks, "Nadia, would you be so kind as to deliver a message to the two Monks of Kasmodeus in the morning, to meet us at the mine; dusk tomorrow?"
-
"Until the morning then." Heldric replies before a snack for himself and Andreas to make sure their blood is full (Mr. Whitey gets the corpse) and retires until early evening ready to explore the mines.
-
Heldric, Steeple and co. returned to their haven in the unremarkable tavern they'd homed in before the coming of daytime. Heldric went through his usual process of brutal murder and disposal of bodies. Heldric gets the impression that the various disappearances around the tavern are starting to arouse some unfortunate interest, particularly given the two outsides who only go out at night have been in the city ever since the disappearances started. They should probably finish their work soon. Andreas seems rather frightful of the thing Steeple carries with him, and after a while Heldric realizes that under the cover is the Obsidian mirror he'd originally jumped into.
Steeple also quenches what little thirst he has on various taverngoers and returns stumbling to his room, the prince raucously singing some pirate's song all the way back.
March 9th, 9:30 PM
Krakow,
Domain of Razkoljna, the Dragon
When both vampires waken Nadia is already gone, having left to deliver Steeple's letter to the two monks. They pack up and make their way back to the entrance of that rather foreboding mine, though Nadia and the brothers are not there when they arrive.
-
"I am going to try this one more time, while we wait for the monks" Steeple says, flipping rocks over a little ways from the mine itself, looking for a spider.
(OOC - preparing Clinging of the Insect) Take two.
-
"Of Course" replies Heldric "I will make a few preparations myself" He then walks a short distance away but in full view of Steeple and the mine, just Incase the blood fountain has a recurrence.
In reality he just stands around and waits for Steeple to finish casting before cloaking the gathering in preparation for the incursion.
-
Despite everyone's expectations (and perhaps some's hopes), Steeple's ritual goes on without a hitch. He finds a spider and eats it in quick succession, before beginning the eldritch incantations that would allow him to crawl across any surface that can support his weight.
-
"Any sign of them?" Steeple asks, concerning Nadia and the Monks, when finished his prep.
'You don't think they ate her do you?' Steeple thinks to Prince Maurice.
-
There is no sign of Nadia or the monks, thought Steeple still has a few rituals to do if he wants his usual arsenal of enchantments ready to fling at his enemies. Perhaps she will arrive in that time?
"No good dirty cannibal priests, they're everywhere I tell you, everywhere!"
-
"Holy mackerel!" Steeple agrees aloud - "The nuns could very well have gotten to the monks and corrupted them!"
"You don't think that's why the took my arm?!?"
"Fancy a snack mother superior?"
"Yes, that limb looks tantalizingly tasty young man..."
"NO!!! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT! MY ARM! MINE!!!"
"Mwuhahahahaha!!!"
"Fine. Take the damn thing. I don't need it anyway. I hope you choke on it."
"..."
-
Andreas just kinda stares at Steeple.
-
"Erm... Yeah. Got to watch out for them nuns." Steeple says to Andreas with a cough.
He then readies Extinguish; followed by Will O' The Wisp...
-
Heldric simply hides his feelings and says "Of Course." before pretending to be busy as he waits for Steeple to finish preparing
-
Both rituals proceed smoothly, and Steeple finishes up with his daily enchantments - His supernatural senses then pick up the sound of people approaching. Soon Nadia and brothers Feliks and Jakub make their appearance, though not in the same condition he'd left them in. Steeple sees that Nadia has some blood on her - clearly not her own, for she has suffered no wounds, and Jakub and Feliks both look stunned.
-
"Ah, there you are. I was beginning to get worried..." Steeple begins as the group approaches, then noticing something is off.
"Is something wrong?" He says, looking at Nadia; "Are you hurt? What happened?"
-
Brother Feliks, ever the more vocal of the two monks, speaks for Nadia - who seems willing to let him summarize the situation.
"They... They called a mob on us, called us foul necromancers, said we had been cursed by the demons we had summoned into the mine, that our immortality spells were failing and that we dealt with black magics to try and stop it, that this was why the abbey was haunted by those spirits..."
Brother Jakubs continues where Feliks seems to die off:
"They found Kasimierz' secret room and thought it ours, the place we would stay when summoning evil spirits. They noticed warped stone and concluded that we were using demonic powers. Nadia killed one of the mob, he made it farther than the others..."
"We are simple holy men. How could they think so horribly of us, when we deal with those touched by God...?", continues Feliks.
"Well, you know, technically, you ARE touched by God." Maurice says.
"Just not in a good way."
-
"Ugg, this is a mess," Steeple says, frowning and rubbing the side of his temple with two fingers.
"Funny how they know the mines have something unholy in them, yet where are they to deal with the problem?" Steeple ask with building ire - "Where is their faith in the mighty god to deliver?!?"
Then with a dramatic sweep of his arm he points at the two monks - "You are holy men! And you know in your hearts that this is true. And I know it!" Steeple declares boldly.
"Their jealousy and pride have lead them to conspire against you. And in doing so, they conspire against god's will! For god has chosen you, not them!"
"Come, we must rebuke this demon before he can exercise even more power in the hearts of our enemies, to move them against us!"
With this Steeple turns to lead everyone into the mine.
-
Heldric nods and follows Steeple pausing only to say "God often gives us test, and when some fail those tests, they fall into fear and dispare. The ones who turned on you simply chose you as scape goats for their own fears and failing rather than face it, that is all."
He then continues following Steeple towards the mine, waving Andreas and the cloaked (as always) mr. Whitey after him.
-
Feliks nods shakily, "I... yes, we must do what has to be done."
Jakub agrees silently, though Steeple sees great trepidation in his stance as he follows Steeple.
Nadia hurries up to walk beside him, a little pride in her step.
---
The mine is dark and incredibly dry - the powerful odor of salt in the air also seems to suck the moisture right now, leaving the lungs of the mortals in the group uncomfortably dried out. In some places eyes would even sting from the high concentration of salt hanging in the air. The occasional pattering of rats or the flapping wings of a bat disturbed by their passage shows that there are still things which live within the mine. Occasionally, Heldric catches a glimpse of some of them retreating from Steeple's Will'o-the-Wisp. Heldric also notes the mild awe the brothers show to Steeple's use of the "holy light".
Many tunnels comprise the mine, each of varying length and depth, each entirely unknown to the vampires and their various servants. Unknown to Steeple, both of the monks have pulled out crosses and have begun to murmur quietly in prayer to themselves, possibly in a (most likely worthless) effort to protect themselves from the demon they believe inhabits the mine.
-
"Just keep going down," Steeple says, not looking back to see what the Monks are doing. If there is anything important back there to see, he'll be able to tell by all the screaming...
"It has to be at the bottom. It's always at the bottom..."
-
"Just keep delving, delving, delving ..."
-
Heldric begins preparing, he hangs back a tiny bit more so hr is partly in the shadow and grows out spikes from his knuckles, just the length of his fingers so that in the dim light they might be mistaken as such until he made a fist...
"I will guard the rear, Andreas. Stay near our brothers and Nadia to guard the centre." he quietly calls ahead before adding "There are still bats around at least."
He then attemps to call a bat to him in the dark behind the others to give it the command "fly ahead of uthe light, make noise whenever you locate another creature" he keeps trying this and signals to Andreas to try and control some bats too.
-
A bat dashes down briefly and sits carefully at Heldric's shoulder, listening to his instructions before flapping off into the darkness. The monks both stare at him as he does so, their looks foreboding in the dim light of the Will'o-the-wisp.
Andreas does the same and many bats go off into the darkness. Soon the cave screeches endlessly as mutitudes of bats and rats - Heldric notes far, far more than should be in this cave - begin screeching every time they run into each other, which would be often. Nadia and the monks look distinctly uneasy, and their prayer grows louder. Steeple winces as the shrieking begins to play with his enhanced senses.
-
"Wow, that's loud!" Steeple remarks, "So high pitched and 'squeaky'!"
-
Glancing at the minks Heldric covers a little.
"God is obviously the ruler of all animals so I was able to bring these to our aid, though not as successfully as I had hoped. They are making noise each time they see another creature in order to give us warning however there are far more than normal here so they are making far more noise than normal. I will try and calm them."
Heldric tries to recall the bats and change the instructions to creatures at least twice their own size, again signalling Andreas to do the same.
-
For a second Heldric wonders how much longer the monks will continue to believe these outright lies. Indoctrination can go a very long way, however - perhaps they would ignore thinks they didn't want to see.
The thought fades as heldric finds the screeching intensifying, the bats continuing scream loudly - despite his or Andreas' attempts to calm them down. The pain from the screaming becomes so unbearable for Steeple that he has to stop using his altered senses, turning them off for the moment - while the bats swarm around the small party. Nadia lets out a loose scream as the bats begin scratching away at her, terrible little claw and bite marks adorn her face and that of the monks, who have knelt to the ground and begun holding up their crosses, as if to ward off the evil.
Then... silence. The bats stop. A small army of them, easily over a hundred, stand in the small section of the tunner where the group waits, their beady little eyes reflecting the light of Steeple's Will'o-the-wisp. They stare expectantly at Heldric and Andreas. Their gaze is unnerving. Rarely has Heldric been surrounded by such a large number of animals, all so still and quiet as statues, all staring at him. Even Andreas is unnerved.
-
"This does not bode well," Steeple says, taking out his Mirror of Second Sight and scanning the area and bats with it...
-
Not a single supernatural thing. The bats are all completely, perfectly mortal.
-
"Nadia, are you all right?" Steeple asks, waiting for Heldric to do something with all the bats.
'Hopefully he gets rid of them,' Steeple thinks to Prince Maurice, 'if he's able to control them, then no doubt a nasty demon can too...'
-
"This is not how my gift usually acts"
Is all he says out loud got to think this through carefully
He looks at then a moment more before meeting their eyes and sensing a new order to them "fly away from the light deep into the tunnel and Attack any creatures larger than your selfs there, but do not enter any areas lit by light."
"I hope this works, prepare for the worst, they might be acting this way due to demonic influence." Heldric prepares to fight the bats off if they swarm again.
-
A deafening flutter as over a hundred bats all leave at once. Soon the cave is silent again. Nothing returns to Heldric. No screech is sounded.
-
"Well it appears we are safe for now from them, let us continue." Heldric ushers everyone on.
-
"Moving on then," Steeple replies, doing just that.
-
The groups on, choosing tunnels haphazardly. Everyone seems extremely uncomfortable with being here, for obvious reasons. Yet still they've yet to be confronted by any dark power of any kind.
Out of nowhere, Steeple and Heldric feel a sudden, slight stabbing pain at his left foot. He hears a startled "yip!" as the monks and Nadia feel it too. Andreas makes no sound.
Looking down, everyone sees that a swarm of rats covered in rock dust, completely hidden from view and moving far more silently than they should have, have bitten each of them on the exact same place at their feet.
Looking a bit closer, illuminating them with the dull light of his magic, Steeple sees that they are immense, vicious rats. Easily the size of small cats. Heldric sees that they are much larger than rats have any right to be.
He also notices the dull red glow of their eyes.
-
Heldric immediatly acts to try and kill the rats, they are either strange ghouls or possessed "Kill them all quickly!" He shouts as he burns a blood for Str and one for Dex then tries to kick the nearest rats.
-
"Pray the lord to hide us from their eyes!" Steeple yells to Heldric, not wanting to engage the rats and waste effort before a potentially much bigger battle.
Even so, Steeple draws a dagger and pokes it at the nearest rat.
-
Hearing Steeples cry Heldric attempts to cast vanish from the minds eye over the entire group.
-
(OOC - presuming Heldric's power works, Steeple will refrain from dagger-poking said rat, so as not to undo the effect)
-
The rats move as Heldric draws his cloak over the others - though Heldric quickly realizes he will be unable to cover everyone present. Andreas, Mr.Whitey, the two monks, Nadia and Steeple - one person will be left out.
While Heldric wonders who to sacrifice to the rat swarm, Steeple jabs at the massive thing that's begun clawing its way up his body, using its claws to tear up his clothes and form a grip for it to climb up further. He runs through the litte creature, killing it easily.
Nadia has begun to stab about with her own dagger, while the two monks kick with surprising force, sending the little things flying. Andreas looks sad that he can't learn Potence 7 yet and just kill them all at once joins the monks, his kicking resembling a most amusing riverdance. Mr. Whitey feasts.
It all amounts nothing. More rats appear, and now the bats have returned, their little claws raking over everyone's faces, their wings buffeting and blinding the group.
Heldric, in a brief moment of perceptiveness, notes an especially large rat not moving, just staying in place ahead of the swarm, staring at him. It's eyes gleam a powerful red, and he cannot help but see amusement in its gaze.
-
The others are doing well for a few moments so Heldric tries somthing different than originally planned.
He casts quickly on himself only, so only he would vanish from the minds eye, then rushes the larger smirking rat. He aims to punch and run it through on his Potence claws the moment he gets to it.
-
Steeple Continues trying to keep rats and bats at bay.
[OOC- Presuming his Willpower is high enough, Steeple will wonder why Heldric is singling out one rat in particular. When it sinks in (or becomes apparent), Steeple will activate Celerity and Strength of Earth to go after the 'king rat' too, should it still be in one piece after Heldric gets to it...]
-
Heldric's cloaking ability manifests itself and he shimmers out of few... sort of? Staring hard at the spot where Heldric had stood Steeple (when his eyes aren't being scratched at by bats) sees that a ghostly image of Heldric remains, though it is very difficult to verify in this light.
It is, however, enough to confuse the none-too intelligent rats. Heldric takes the opportunity to dash across the little cave and strike at the rat, which has begun squeaking at him in a manner that uncomfortably resembles human laughter.
Heldric grabs the thing and struggles for a moment, squeezing the life out of it. It bites down hard on his hand, just barely piercing the skin, before it is no longer able to struggle.
The red glow in its eyes fades. As quickly as they appeared, the cave creatures are gone.
Everyone takes a second to assess their wounds - no one came away uninjured, though the damage was not as bad as it could have been to a mortal (who might have possibly been killed in that short amount of time).
(Steeple: 3 lethal damage, Heldric: 2 lethal damage. I assume you heal it all so i'll just deduct blood points).
-
Heldric lets out a small hiss
"Whatever it is, it can posess the creatures in this cave, we will have to be extra vigilant." He adds, trying to sound less like a very angry monster himself.
He keeps moving ahead though, it seems like whatever is fighting them might well be a cainanite too.
-
"How are you holding up?" Steeple asks Nadia, taking her aside a bit from the others, to talk to her privately.
-
Nadia seems frightened (with good reason) and she shakes as she answers Steeple.
"I'm scared, Steeple. We shouldn't be here. Whatever's in here is playing with us, rats and bats didn't kill the workers at the mine. We should run, before it decides to stop playing."
Prince Maurice rumbles on in a low tone - "Can't say I quite disagree old chap."
The monks seem torn whether or not to follow Steeple or Heldric - but decide on Steeple, seeing as the madman was the one who offered them his "blessing".
Heldric moves on a short distance ahead from the group but the willo-the-wisp does not follow him - his eyes begin to glow red as he is forced to use his own abilities to move forward.
What he sees frightens him. Steeple's willo-the-wisp had provided a mild but dim light that didn't fully illuminate the caverns and tunnel's they'd been going through. Now, with his superior eyesight letting him distinguish the finer details of the cavern, Heldric wonders at what they might have missed coming up to this point, because ahead, he sees the statue. Unclear and somewhat undefined from here, Heldric sees a statue partially sunken into the mine walls.
-
Steeple, tries to calm Nadia, pulling her in for a hug.
"I am prepared to abandon the mines if I have to," he says, "but not before I know the reason why."
Then turning, so only Nadia can see, he offers her the vessel of transference, in case she needs a blood boost.
-
Heldric quickly casts vanish from the minds eye once more, just incase, then approaches the statue carefully to try and examine it without actually touching it. He obviously checks the floors, walls and ceiling around for anything out of place as he does so.
He is expecting to find either some form of state monster from which he is fully prepared to flee the instant it moves or a mine worker/Kazimierzs turned I to a living statue and melded to the wall somehow.
-
Nothing seems out of place to Heldric, the mine appears exactly as he would expect a salt mine to look like. He notes that the air is particularly dry here, the air heavy with salt. He notes that if he still had to breathe, he would barely be able to speak here.
They must be fairly deep. It's been a while.
Approaching the statue, Heldric is very careful to not touch it. The statue does not move, and in fact appears to be little more than a statue - until Heldric moves in close enough to see its face.
He stops himself instantly. Is that...? No! No, it can't be! Not him, it couldn't possibly be him. No demon in some salt mine could do this...
So why does he see Maleki's true face, frozen into a state of terror, long-formed salt crystals decorating his face? Why does his sire's arm extend towards him, a pleading look on his face, as if begging for mercy?
Heldric hears a choking gasp, as Andreas recognizes the figure half-merged with the mine wall.
---
Nadia welcomes Steeple's embrace. She's warm to the touch, her heartbeat a memory of times long gone.
When he offers his blood she takes it happily, a thank you whispered into his ear and a gentle squeeze of his wrist all she can show of her gratitude.
The monks just kind of shuffle their feet awkwardly and look away, though soon enough Feliks clears his throat.
"Master Heldric went down that way master Trevesky, I do not think we should stay so far for so long."
"Yes! Yes, we should probably move down old chap, can't let Heldric have all the fun now can we?" The prince says, insistently.
So capricious, the prince. One second he wants to flee, the other he wants to charge ahead.
-
"Andreas, tell me what you see, quickly!" Demands Heldric in an urgent whisper
-
Mr.Whitey rumbles a response after some urgent gasps from Andreas.
"He says it's the man who ripped out his tongue."
-
"I see tha same." Heldric replies slowly "but I do not believe it. He would never beg, he would never make that pose. This is some trick, we shall hear what the other see first!" There is the smallest of doubts in his voice but he wills it to be mostly hidden.
"Steeple, I have found somthing but I cannot make it out with your light so far, come here!" He calls back, he makes sure his eyes do not glow when they approach.
-
Steeple gives Nadia a gentle pat on the shoulder and then turns to follow the monks to where the others are.
"What is it?" Steepls asks, using his mirror of second sight to sweep over the area.
-
Steeple sees nothing supernatural in the area through the second sight.
He does, however, see a massive river pebble (more of a boulder in size really, steeple is unsure why he initially thought it a pebble) in place where Heldric and Andreas are staring with wide eyes.
The monks fall to their knees at the sight of the Boulder. Tears shine briefly in their eyes, lit up by the will-o-the-wisp.
Steeple then hears the boulder... Speak?
"Steeple. You have found me at last."
Prince Maurice's voice echoes from the Boulder, slightly deeper and more powerful than before.
-
Heldric watches their reactions, they couldn't know his master so why would they react like so?
"What do each of you see, I think it is a trick or hallucination" he says
-
"It's a boulder," Steeple points out flatly.
"Are you guys all bonkers?"
Then hearing Prince Maurice calling from within, he replies with a loud huff - "You can just get right back into your regular stone now, Mr!"
"I'm NOT even going to try lugging that thing around!"
-
"Perfect, we all see somthing different. This means it is a demons trick and we can ignore it or destroy it!"
Heldric adds triumphantly, his sire would never loose in a place like this.
-
Prince Maurice's ancient, powerful voice causes the air to hum around Steeple.
"My old friend, this is my true form. For centuries I have been incomplete, from when some ancient horror stole off a part of me and cursed my mind to wander within that pebble for all of eternity. It threw me into a river, where I was lost for what felt like everything since the dawn of time itself until you found me. You saved me Steeple, now I ask you to do one last thing.
There is a hole within the back of me. A small hole, perfectly shaped to the pebble you carry in your sconce.
Put that part of me inside. Do it, Steeple, and we shall both ascend!"
The cave rumbles at the boulder's last shouted phrase, salt clouds fill the air now and Nadia starts coughing, finding it difficult to breathe. She also looks confusedly at the everyone's object of interest, her eyes rapidly shifting between the boulder and Steeple.
The two monks are nodding their heads yes at this point.
"We understand. We're so sorry."
---
Andreas looks nervously at Heldric, and the Nosferatu is suddenly conscious of something being shouted at him - is that? Yes, it is... Malachite - or perhaps some demonic vision of Malachite - is telling Heldric that the demon is right behind him, posing as Andreas...
Heldric's keen eye picks out that of everyone here, Mr. Whitey seems to be the only one who appears to be unperturbed by whatever is happening at the moment.
-
"Not ready to ascend just yet old bean..." Steeple replies, quickly retreating away from the boulder and pulling Nadia back with him.
"What do you see down there? What do you hear?" he asks of her.
-
"Mr. Whitey, stop whatever is affecting us, it should be somthing over there!"
He quickly tells the croc through his eyes before looking at Andreas again... Just incase...
-
Mr. Whitey begins slithering across the ground towards Malachite, crawling on his little feet.
Andreas is slowly backing away from Heldric, the nosferatu notices that his blood brother's arms are slowly being raised into a fighting position.
Nadia shies away from Steeple, her eyes begin moving more wildly now. She tries to shout something at him but just explodes into a coughing fit, the salt clouds from the rumbling mine silencing her.
It occurs to Steeple that there's a good chance they might soon suffer a cave-in. He failed to notice it on the way here but the supports to this part of the mine seem to be almost obscenely old.
Then it reaches him. Through the intense smell of salt hanging in the air, Steeple breathes in blood.
Whirling around to face the source of the smell he sees both monks with blood dripping from their hands onto the ground.
The walls explode.
A cloud of salt fills the air as salt crystals are vaporized in the sudden burst of force. Steeple's will-o-the-wisp is clouded by all the dust and Heldric is unable to see anything through the salt clouds. The mortals all cough and wheeze, even mr.Whitey is forced to close his eyes or be blinded by the pain.
For a moment, the tunnel is silent. The rumbling's stopped, Prince Maurice's voice is gone - the only sound is that of Nadia retching from the massive amount of inhaled salt.
Then - a slight scraping sound and a click as something moves.
A voice, coarse and weak, speaks up, disturbing the obscured silence.
"Yes father. We will destroy the demons for you."
-
Heldric instantly uses vanish from the minds eye on himself and Mr. Whitey, survival comes before all else. Mr. Whitey has his orders so should continue trying to destroy the source of whatever this is. In the meantime the monks are going homicidal at an astonishing rate.
He quickly moves to try and circle back behind the monks whilst invisible, moving as carefully as possible. He also avoids going near Andreas as he might actually be the demon in disguise, or think Heldric is, either way staying clear.
Should he be attacked or detected during his movement, he dodges by diving to a new area and casts Vanish (shortening it cos typing it out repeatedly is tiring) again.
-
Steeple splits his will O wisp in two and has each flare brightly. One wisp remains in the area with Nadia, while the other goes out ahead of Steeple as far as possible.
Using his Heightened Senses, Unseen Presence, and/or Stealth, Steeple quickly moves deeper into the mines to the point that he is in between the two motes, with each as far out as he can see in either direction.
He desperately searches, as he goes, for anything that could be the source of the demonic power.
"This isn't the first time you two fools have been tricked by demons," Steeple mocks, then uses Elemental form to meld himself into the stone - hiding from the monks to wait for them to pass by on their way to the next mote of light.
-
The air becomes blindingly bright, as a thousand infinitesimally small crystals hanging in the air suddenly flare with life, banishing the surrounding darkness.
Immediately, something both Steeple and Heldric notice is that there are far, far more people in the tunnel with them than there should be.
They are very close by.
A quick estimate places them at about 12 extra bodies.
(Letting you reconsider the situation and your actions here).
-
Heldric immediately casts vanish once more on himself. Mr. Whitey, Andreas, Steeple and Nadia. They will have to look after themselves from there.
He then moves quickly but Silently to get free of the bodies and behind where the monks were so potential enemies are only on one side of him. They might be enemies or zombies or even illusion but he does his best to avoid them as he moves.
If he sees any attacks coming him way or notices that anyone registers him other than allies, he immediately dodges and recasts vanish.
-
Steeple starts at the jarring revelation, but instinctively activates Celerity and Quickened Vision to make a mental assessment of the new development.
-
Steeple's hyperactive senses warn him to the sound of the blade cutting through the air directly behind him. He dashes forward but the sword still cuts through his fanciful clothing - though luckily for him it does not break the skin.
Turning to face his attacker Steeple notes the sound of a heavy clank and another blade speeding towards his neck. He manages to duck under the blow before it opens his throat to the world and finish his spin, bringing him face to face with whoever was assaulting him.
Steeple narrowly resists the urge to retch.
The thing in front of him appears to be an ages-long rotting corpse, its eyes long having been pecked out by crows and its face contorted painfully, as if it had died truly horribly. It's dressed in the ceremonial garb of a soldier and holds what appears to be an ancient yet remarkably well maintained blade.
Where the hell were these bodies? How did the brothers resurrect them? A quick mental run-through reveals to Steeple that these are most likely Athanatos, the inspiration behind most tales of powerful necromancers who would raise armies of the dead and the mainstay of Cappadocians well versed in the practice of cadaverous animation. It would take an unusual level of mastery to raise so many bodies. It should be impossible to have raised so many so quickly, unless the caster practiced on a level far beyond what was attainable by mere ghouls.
Steeple also realizes immediately that the dead have no mind to be fooled by mental tricks. Whatever Heldric does will not prevent these creatures from ripping them to pieces. He should probably be told that.
-
"THEY ARE MINDLESS HELDRIC!" Steeple yells, "THEY WILL SEE US AND RIP US TO SHREDS! FIGHT FOR YOUR LIVES!"
With that, Steeple Blood Boosts Strength by 2, Dexterity by 1, and Stamina by 1; and activates Strength of The Earth (all 3 to Strength) - [Leaving him with Str 7; Dex 7 Sta 4].
Using Clinging of the Insect, he gets a secure footing on higher ground and draws his Burning Blade to strike at the ancient horror that attacked him.
-
"Watch out for those treacherous monks!" Steeple also warns, trying to get a bead on them as well...
-
Heldric hears the cry and immediately changes plans, if cannot go invisible, then he has to fight.
He immediately burns 2blood for Dex and two for Str and sets about using the claws he had already grown to punch thr nearest enemies away from him.
"Andreas, take out the possessed monks!" he shouts
-
A quick word of power massively boosts Steeple's capacity for physical destruction. Using his newfound strength he leaps straight up into the air, hitting the roof of the tunnel (and killing one of many bats that had been there silently watching the group).
A small swarm screeches and disperses when Steeple hits the ceiling, clinging there much like, well, like an insect.
The Athanatos cannot reach him here, high as he is. From his upwards position he searches through the crowd for the monks but cannot make out anything more than indistinct shapes in the salt clouds. He cannot even tell his allies apart from his enemies in the current obscurity.
Steeple hears a guttural roar as Andreas leaps to where he'd been standing just a moment ago and grabs the warrior that had attacked him. The Nosferatu's fist bursts right through the Athanatos' chest, sending bone, rotten flesh and rent metal flying. The brute then grabs the warrior by the arm holding the blade and exerting himself - a sickening squelch is heard as Drakovich rips the arm out of its socket, before he proceeds to use arm (still holding onto the sword) to beat the thing's skull into some unrecognizable mush.
Steeple has never found himself so grateful that he changed positions when he did. Had he not there was a very real chance Andreas could have done... well, what he just did, to him.
He might also finds himself grateful for the salt cloud. The sound of the brief conflict was sickening enough, he is very sure he wouldn't have wanted to see the result.
A brief grunt of pain is heard as two more humanoid figures leap into the battle and viciously attack what Steeple has assumed to be Andreas. He sees the flash and glint of the same ancient swords of the first Athanatos that had attacked him hack away at the Nosferatu and sees his opportunity.
Standing upright (downright?), Steeple lets his body swing downwards while holding his cane sword above him, moving like a bladed pendulum. His sword is easily visible through the cloud obscuring the area, but the undead makes no move to avoid it. Striking with savage strength, Steeple splits another Athanatos' head wide open, also getting a clearer view of the thing that had so viciously savaged one of the others. He easily recognizes Andreas on his knees, right fist pressed against the ground as if kneeling with cuts adorning his body and his left arm nowhere in sight.
A screech is heard, Nadia's voice crying out in pain as plain as day as the Athanatos presumably find her. Steeple manages to pinpoint her location (she has somehow moved past Heldric's last seen position near Prince Maurice and deeper into the salt mine).
---
Heldric strengthens his own self, warily surveying the area, his fierce red eyes piercing the surrounding darkness.
Ignoring the brief flutter of bats on the ceiling squeak and flee in protest, he shouts out his order to Andreas. Heldric's blood brother steels himself and answers with vigor, for the moment ignoring his doubts as to Heldric true identity. The Nosferatu leaps over to where the monks had been nearest to (Steeple's position).
He hears Andreas' roar and the subsequent flurry of combat as the Athanatos engage. He briefly scans the salt clouds, searching for the two monks. He finds nothing of interest and has to quell his frustration while he thinks the situation through before the Athanatos reach him.
He examines the area where the monks had been and checks to see which figures are doing what. He sees that many figures appear to be moving towards him and Steeple and, in particular, Andreas - no doubt Athanatos attempting to kill them all. Eyeing the figures he keeps a careful eye out to see who moves closer into melee combat and who stays back - hopefully the monks are not eager, vicious hand-to-hand combatants, or they might be impossible to distinguish from the things they raised.
Heldric's observations are interrupted by the rapid approach of the Athanatos.
He hears a brief scream of pain somewhere further down the salt tunnels - the voice is familiar, is that Nadia's? How did she get there?
Heldric lashes out at one of the approaching figures and his fist dents what appears to be ceremonial armour. When he retrieves his hand he notes rent flesh underneath the armor of the horrific zombie approaching him with the spry enthusiasm of a large cat on the hunt.
Heldric unleashes a second blow that obliterates the undead's chest and sends it flying back several feet. It lands loudly, its armor clanging against the tunnel floor.
His satisfaction at his victory is cut short when the blade sprouts from his chest. As he suppresses his gasp of pain and tries to react to the attack, he feels a gauntleted hand grab at his hair and forcefully jerk his head back, baring his neck.
A third Athanatos then leaps for his neck, blade flashing through the air. A white flash dashes across the ground before the blade reaches Heldric and Mr.Whitey's massive, powerful jaws clamp onto the Athanatos' arm, saving Heldric the trouble of decapitation.
Mr.Whitey jerks his head down and pulls the Athanatos off its feet, though the undead warrior quickly shifts position to try and lock the crocodile in place, punching the albino right between its two reptilian eyes.
-
"the monks have taken Nadia!" Heldric guesses "Everyone charge out in the direction of her scream!"
He burns blood to heal and any left over for Dex then slams his body back into that of the undead, he is run through anyway, reaching to grab the hand on his scant hair to tear it off him and throw it into the one punching Mr. Whitey, allowing escape.
"Mr. Whitey, tail swipe them away!" He shouts
-
"Nadia!" Steeple yells, scuttling across the ceiling after her cries.
As he goes, he sends one mote of light off ahead to try to illuminate her position, while keeping the other not too far from where he heard Heldric (not wanting to put Heldric and Andreaus in total darkness)...
-
The mote races ahead of Steeple to where he'd heard the cry, past the salt clouds and deeper into the mine. Steeple races ahead himself, running along the ceiling as effortlessly as he would across the ground.
Racing through the tunnel he quickly leaves the fighting (and the clouds stirred by the Athanatos breaking out of their prisons) behind. It is for this self-same reason that he finds Nadia completely unharmed, sitting down, her back against the tunnel wall, her arms holding her knees to her chest.
She views the appearance of the will-o-the-wisp with relief, and cries out again - "Steeple, where are you?!"
---
In the very thick of the fighting, Andreas lashes out at the thing that had cut off his arm, sending it flying back into the cave wall and sending more dust flying into the air.
Blood flows freely out of Andreas' left shoulder, taking the solid form of flesh as it does so. The brute leaps into the clouds towards another Athanatos and strikes it down with his left arm just as it reforms, crushing its head like an overripe watermelon.
Three more figures come out of the darkness, each attacking with terrible bloodlust, the flash of their blades in the wisplight foretelling the end of Heldric's blood brother.
Another roar shakes the earth as Drakovich is cut down by the dead.
---
Heldric slams back into the warrior holding him down, ripping out his own hair (and part of his scalp) in the process; thrown back suddenly, the Athanatos leaves its blade in Heldric's chest and has little time to react when the Nosferatu grabs it, launching it towards the thing fighting with Mr. Whitey, knocking both off one another.
Mr. Whitey leaps toward the tangled mess of Athanatos and claps down on the one who'd attacked Heldric, crushing it's neck between his powerful jaws, before swinging around and smashing the second even further away with its tail.
The second Athanatos gets up again and runs at Mr.Whitey, its weapon lost. It makes as if it plans to attack him - but instead vaults over the crocodile for Heldric, tackling the Nosferatu into the ground - though he inadvertently impales himself on his comrade's sword as he does so.
As Heldric desperately tries to heal his wound the undead knight violently assaults him, powerful, long-dead hands raining down blows on him.
-
"Up here!" Steeple replies, looking around to see where the nearest danger might be - "Where are the monks?!?"
"HELDRIC! THE WAY IS CLEAR! COME THIS WAY, SO I CAN ASSIST!" Steeple yells back up the tunnel, watching for anything (besides his allies) trying to follow and ready to meet them with his sword.
-
Heldric hears Steeple's call for him to run already while he's getting pounded in the face by an undead warrior whose movements aggravate the sword currently sunk into his chest.
---
"The monks?" Nadia says briefly confused.
"There were no monks. Something pulled me through the fighting here, I don't..."
There does not appear to be anything or anyone nearby.
-
"Wait here then!" Steeple directs, "I must go help Heldric! I'll return for you!"
Steeple turns away enough into the darkness, so that his viewing Nadia in the reflection of his Mirror of Second Sight (just in case) will be subtle. 'Please be my love,' Steeple thinks to himself...
-
Heldric uses his strength to try to throw the one punching him clear (straight back so it slides off the sword again) as he orders mr. Whitey "kill the monks!" Is all he shouts before attempting to leap at and climb the wall to get away from them, he didn't have long strong fingers from spying on humans for nothing...
-
Steeple starts - Nadia isn't -
Delicate hands wrap around his wast and hug him.
"Please don't leave me Steeple..."
A nagging voice in the back of Steeple's mind tells him something is wrong - how did she move so fast? Nadia wasn't quiet, either, he should have heard that. He, however, checks the mirror ever so briefly - it's still her, and his suspicions die down ever so briefly.
Strange, Prince Maurice hasn't spoken in a while.
She turns the Malkavian towards her and places a hand on his cheek and smiles.
The pain comes from nowhere, originating from some unseen force that seizes him and just squeezes. Steeple crumples to the ground without a sound, every bone in his body shattered, his heart exploded in his chest, his eyes pushed wildly out of his sockets.
Just barely awake, Steeple feels Nadia's lips brush briefly against his ear.
"Shh, go to sleep my love."
The pain strikes him again, and then everything goes dark.
---
Burning blood to fuel his Potence, Heldric pushes angrily at the Athanatos, throwing him clear of the sword and far enough away from Heldric that he can get up.
Heldric runs for the wall of the tunnel then, and, using his inhuman strength, he forcefully claws his way up the rocky face and leaps across to a thick, strongly anchored Stalactite on the wall.
Below, Mr. Whitey clamps onto the Athanatos that had attacked him and begins wildly swinging his head, throwing the undead warrior about like a ragdoll, ending its servitude by way of decapitation..
He then backs into the corner, trying to make out the monks from his position, waiting...
Things move in the dark, though the salt clouds have died down more or less enough that Heldric can partially note the positions of the Athanatos. The monks aren't quite clear yet, unless....
That blob of 6 standing there. It has to be. The two monks have surrounded themselves with their undead guards.
With a chill Heldric realizes that he smells blood in the air through the salt. Could they be summoning more of the dead?
His estimation places the undead originally summoned at 10. 6 have been destroyed, there's no possible way he and Mr.whitey could destroy the remaining four along with the monks - perhaps if he has Steeple's help?
-
"Steeple, where are you? We are almost winning but need your help!" he shouts
He stays ready to jump away and flee in the direction hr assumes Steeple went, he calls down to Mr. Whitey "Hold for now, prepare to flee with Andreas"
-
Something darts into the area from where Nadia's scream had come, moving far more quickly than anyone has any right to.
There's a brief flash as something glowing moves through the salt clouds - Heldric recognizes the burning blade of Steeple's enchanted swordcane.
He watches with amazement as three of the dead are rapidly felled, Steeple cutting them down with ease using his enchanted blade - only for the thing to go dark as the enchantment wears off.
It doesn't stop Steeple, however - who, still moving, rapidly maneuvers around the fourth Athanatos, cutting off its head in a careful but brutal swipe. The body falls, each of the undead destroyed in one spectacularly fatal assault.
Steeple must have really been training his speed, to move so quickly now...
The two figures that Heldric had assumed to be the monks then fall to the ground. Heldric never saw any attack hit them, but it's very possible he missed it, given how quickly his friend was moving.
Steeple's voice reaches Heldric's ears.
"Woohoo! Fark yeah, I got them buddy! Get down here!"
-
Ooc: dammit
"Couldn't you have done that from the beginning?" Heldric calls down as he assesses himself, better pull the sword out before the jump down does more damage. He starts pushing it through with one hand as he prepares to drop "Just let me get this sword out of my chest and I'll be there, can you check on Andreas? He took a lot of damage."
He attempts to carefully push the sword free and starts healing his wound before dropping to the ground, he is still very careful and suspicious of the dead around him though. (Standard reflex action of attempts to use vanish just before leaping away if attacked, as always)
-
"I suppose I could have,"
Heldric is chilled to the very bone. That voice - he hasn't heard it in decades, every since his master ripped out his tongue.
Heldric hears a scrape as something moves behind him, "But then where's the fun in that?"
Andreas?
Something cracks, the earth around Heldric shacking and the salt clouds filling the air once more - for a second he thinks the dead have risen and carefully checks the area so as to dodge.
The ground beneath him explodes, a massive wave of force hurling him upwards into the stalactices at the roof of the tunnel. The last thing Heldric remembers before his world goes dark is the sword in his chest being pushed out by the stalactite that had taken its place.
-
???
Salt Mine of Krakow
Domain of... Razkoljna?
Steeple starts awake.
A thousand screams echo through the Malkavian's newly mended bones, memories of terrible injuries inflicted in but a moment by his love.
The last thing he remembers is lying broken while Nadia sweetly whispered into his ear that he sleep. What the hell happened?
He struggles to open his eyes, sealed shut as they are by a large accumulation of salt crystals. Soon he succeeds, little bits of his eyelids tearing open as he looks upon the world of the living again.
If... is this the world of the living?
Steeple tries to move his arms only to find them stuck fast to something. From his position he believes himself to be encased entirely in crystallized salt.
Ceasing his struggles (for now), he examines his immediate surrounding area.
Light streams in from some unknown origin, reflecting along and illuminating a massive structure that appears to be made entirely of salt crystals. Inside, dozens of bodies lie frozen, many bearing faces filled with terror, bodies perfectly preserved in what the malkavian assumes are their final moments.
He briefly wonders what he looked like when he was still frozen.
Among the bodies Steeple recognizes Heldric, Andreas and the two monks - though with some trepidation (or perhaps relief?) he does not find Nadia.
With some horror he recognizes Kazimierz frozen in place, confusion etched into his features, along with a slight hint of fear.
All of the dozens of bodies have been arranged into a perfect circle (Steeple included), and at the center of them all is a beautifully carved sculpture of an ancient hag.
"Steeple? Steeple, thank me, you're awake! Gods old boy, I thought we were done for there. I don't know how she stopped me from talking to you but damn it all, you can hear me now right?"
Prince Maurice practically screams into Steeple's ear.
---
Heldric stirs painfully, unable to stretch his body or move from his fixed position. The Nosferatu goes through much the same process as Steeple, though when he wakes, he sees his friend alert and ready, listening to something only he can hear.
-
Heldric does not move at first but checks himself over to try and ensure he is still in a shape to flee if needed. He then looks over Andreas and for Mr. Whitey too. If Steeple looks his way, then he signals with his eyes so he knows he is awake too.
-
'Holy crap!' Steeple replies to Maurice in his head, 'I can't believe you wanted to be a giant boulder! No way I was carrying that thing around! But really really glad you came back to your senses.'
Then looking around, he sees Heldric and signals back.
Still 'talking' to Prince Maurice, he continues - 'Hey... You don't suppose that is Lot's old bag do you? Seems like some kind of a 'salt' theme going on around here after all.'
As this goes on, Steeple takes the time to see if he is capable of snaking free of his salt cocoon.
---
(OOC: -1 Difficulty to escape bonds)
-
Steeple breaks free of the salt with a little more effort - it does not appear that this was designed to imprison, but rather to display. He breaks out of his place on the wall with a loud crack and a cloud of salt.
"The statue? No, that's an old god, or at least, something so old that it might as well be one.
That's what i'm telling you old chap! That wasn't me. Something else was speaking to you back then. You can't be sure that when I speak it's really me, hell, you can't even be sure that what you see over there is Heldric. Whatever's got a hold of you has powers like you wouldn't believe."
Heldric finds that he is in perfect shape - it's as if he'd never been wounded to begin with. Strangely enough, he also feels that he is completely filled with blood - so much so that he does not feel any hunger despite his having just woken from what should have been a year-long sleep.
-
"Did somthing have the power to heal me like this?" he wonders as he sees Steeple breaking free. He immediatly does the same with plans to head over to Andreas and break him out too.
-
'Well, that certainly pees in the punch,' Steeple thinks to Maurice, 'though I am glad that it's you, even if it isn't really you, because you're the best either way my good man. And hag gods just can't fake that kind of awesomeness.'
"Don't free these treacherous monks!" Steeple then whispers to Heldric, checking to see the state of Kazimierz.
As he does, he continues to ramble aloud - "She's an ancient god Heldric, older than the Children of Cane. No telling what she wants with us, beyond passing amusement."
"I don't see Nadia here, I hope she's all right."
"Those innkeepers better not have hocked my mirror!"
-
Approaching Andreas, Heldric finds that his blood brother has also been completely healed - though he remains in the sleep of ages, not stirring even when the Nosferatu breaks him from his salt shell. Heldric lays down his retainer's (rather heavy) body.
This is, of course, assuming Andreas (or anyone else in the room) is even still alive. There's no way for any of them to tell without using some form of Auspex or
---
"I appreciate the sentiment lad, I really do.
I don't think anyone'll be getting anywhere near that mirror, lad. Or your room, for that matter. Hell, that inn might not be habitable by this point. A bigger danger is that the whole thing has been burned down by now," Prince Maurice says, going on for a bit. Steeple kinda has to wonder why any of this would be the case - what was going on with that mirror?
Kazimierz's deathly pallor and emaciated figure accentuate his ascetic features. His heavy-lidded eyes make it seem as if he has been locked into a state of perpetual (though troubled) prayer. He wears the habit of a Benedictine monk.
There's no way for Steeple to ascertain whether Kazimierz is alive, sleeping, standing very very still or outright dead - at least, not without his mirror of Second Sight. Searching himself he finds that it is gone - likely dropped when Nadia (or whatever was masquerading as her) did whatever she did to him.
However, if the Cappadocian had sustained any injuries in whatever "battle" he had with the thing that lived here, he does not bear them - much like himself and Heldric, really.
---
Whatever the two vampires are doing is then interrupted by a laugh - a quiet little chuckle that echoes through the Salt Castle's walls.
"I see you've taken an interest to my children. They are beautiful, are they not?"
-
Heldric immediatly moves closer to Andreas and drips some blood from his wrist into his mouth, just Incase.
He of course prepares to Leap away and cast vanish if needed.
-
"This one's got some potential," Steeple replies, motioning toward Kazimierz -
"But these two - YEEESH!!!" Steeple shudders in revulsion, grimacing in disgust at the two monks. "You can have them. They make me sick!"
-
Breaking open his skin using his nails, Heldric drips blood into Andreas' mouth, though it does nothing to stir his blood brother from his sleep - should he be sleeping.
No attack seems to be incoming, though given the result of the last attack Heldric doubts the effectiveness any resistance he could marshal.
It occurs to him that whatever is in here would probably not want to destroy this small haven either, so if it did attack, it would not be nearly so destructive as the last time.
---
A long, cracking laugh echoes through the castle.
"Oh please let her have a sense of humour," the Prince mutters.
"They were only following their beloved master's orders, you really should be more gentle. Especially since they're still alive. In a way."
-
Heldric pulls back to between two of the statues to use a shields
"You manipulated our minds to give them those orders and have us fight eachother?" He asks quietly, just loud enough for his voice to carry as he scans the surroundings to try and locate their assailant.
-
"What's your game?" Steeple asks, "Of what use are these trophies to you?"
-
"I simply showed everyone those who had changed them the most in their time as living or dead. Maybe that is a manipulation, maybe not.
Trophies, trophies! Hahaha, these are no trophies my dear guests, these are my children all, and a poor necromancer who made the mistake of wandering into my domain. They live, each of them, frozen forever in worship of the Goddess."
-
Heldric does not like this. He likes the opportunity of escape and while the path he follows tells him to aid allies it tells him that his own survival is much higher on his priorities.
He keeps looking around the room for a way out "So you Trap them here facing that statue?"
-
Heldric's gaze runs across the room and he quickly locates what appears to be the only way out, a small rounded doorway opening in the southern end of the room.
Still unsuccessful in finding his assailant, he listens to her next bit of dialogue - "Oh come now, are you trying to run already?"
All of a sudden Andreas wakes forcefully, leaping up and violently rushing Heldric - pushing him onto the ground with a painful thud, salt again filling the air. He looks madly into Heldric's eyes and then opens his mouth, his fangs out, his throat empty of a tongue - and screams - "DO YOU REALLY THINK YOU CAN HIDE FROM ME, LITTLE RAT?!"
Then Andreas is gone, as suddenly as he'd jumped from his magical sleep he is back in it, lying on the ground unconscious.
Steeple sees Heldric drop all of a sudden, apparently for no reason, looking with wide eyes at something that appears to be above him.
-
Heldric stands and checks himself for wounds before looking at Andreas "So you can even make Andreas Attack me? Or was that another mind trick because I saw the exit is back there?" He asks the voice while backing away from the crystals.
-
"The Crone I have heard of, but why are you?" Steeple asks, "And what have you done with my Nadia?"
Steeple uses Quickened Sight to scan around, searching for anything that might hint to who the spider of this web might be.
-
Heldric appears to be entirely unwounded
The voice speaking changes up now, it's a young, familiar woman's voice. Where there had previously been nothing but disappointingly difficult to trace echoes and silence, now shadows streak through the shining crystal salt and clear, crisp steps are heard. A distorted humanoid form is seen moving through the salt walls, headed for the exit (and entrance) to the Crone's chapel.
"Why? Now that's a question I rarely hear. Whatever tickles my fancy, sweet guest. Hunger and sacrifice in Blood and Salt, tickle my fancy quite often."
Nadia steps through the entrance to the Crone's chapel, looking ragged, bloody and delicately holding a knife to her own neck by the tips of her fingers, where Steeple can almost hear the pulse of her heart.
Nadia runs the knife along her neck as she speaks, almost playfully so.
"I've been sleeping for a very long time, you see. I woke up quite recently - I believe to you it would be sometime in the 9th century - and i've made a quiet little home here for myself. I have little need for more. Should I want for more, Steeple?"
-
"Nadia!" Steeple gasps; then clenches a fist and slumps a bit. 'How can something be so all powerful?!?' Steeple thinks to himself with a frustrated growl; 'Why can't I be all powerful for a change?!?'
Then speaking to the thing in front of him he says - "I'll presume that you really have my Nadia and that this is not just another manipulation - out of respect for what she means to me."
"And no; what more is there, than absolute dominion over your own slice of creation?"
"I do like what you've done with this whole salt theme too."
"As owner of this particular mine (the entry parts at least) - I mean not to imply any ownership of this, your sovereign domain - I could ensure that no one ever came down here to try usurping what is rightfully yours."
"I could close the mine if you like. Or perhaps continue to mine the upper regions - allowing the random miner or two to occasionally venture your way? A proper tribute to your exceeding grace in allowing four humble creatures, such as ourselves, to escape this marvelous web you have fashioned down here."
-
A high-pitched laugh escapes Nadia's throat, beautiful where from the unseen hag's throat it had been a rotten cackle. Steeple feels his hands tighten when he sees Nadia almost lose proper hold of her knife, nearly cutting her own throat while laughing. No doubt a taunt of some sort.
"The flavour of your madness is invigorating little Malkavian; your words are nearly as sweet as your blood. But tell me, what stops me from doing all of that myself?"
Prince Maurice whispers into Steeple's ear, sensing his frustration.
"Because she doesn't want to. She doesn't do it for the same reason she doesn't rule Krakow, or rule half of Transylvania. She doesn't do it for the same reason the greatest Tzimisce ancients are no longer vovoides but hermits like Yorak, tender of the Cathedral of Flesh. She just doesn't care enough."
Another giggle sounds from the thing inhabiting Nadia.
"Well now, how far do you think you can trust the little voices inside your head Steeple?"
-
"Implicitly!" Steeple declares - "My Prince (when it is really him) is beyond reproach!"
-
Heldric keeps quiet,best to keep out of the affairs of madmen and they both seem rather mad at this juncture. He also is getting more desperate to leave, having Andreas assault him, even as an illusion is unsettling enough without this... Creature flaunting it's even greater powers
-
Nadia grins.
"Your confidence in your broken prince is wonderfully naive. Keep careful mind of what happens when others like myself use him against you."
The knife falls out of Nadia's hand and clatters to the ground.
"I find your terms for release... acceptable. You may operate the upper levels of this mine in return for a monthly tribute to be added to my collection of sons and daughters. I shall consider the necromancer and his two followers to be your first.
In return I will ensure that your pitiful sire's efforts do nothing to cease efforts at the mine."
Nadia says so with a sort of surprising finality - who is she, buried deep in the bowels of her salt kingdom, to halt the workings of one such as Vladivostok?
-
"Wait, where is Mr. Whitey!" Heldric bursts out with, then remembering who he is speaking with "He is an Important friend I cannot leave without."
-
Nadia sputters out a last few words, still the wicked smile plastered on her face as the thing withdraws from her body.
"Perhaps we can speak on that matter more personally, little brother. Stay when Steeple leaves with his little mortal thing."
Nadia collapses then, unconscious onto the ground.
-
"Thank you your grace!" Steeple exhales in relief and wonder - rushing to pick up Nadia.
"Heldric, I don't mean to be in a rush my good man, but I'll meet you with will O' wisps out in the tunnels that go up."
Steeple then heads out with Nadia, well into the darkness, before taking a few minutes to cast Will O The Wisp to light the remaining way.
'What did she mean 'broken'?' Steeple asks Maurice, 'you have not so much as a crack or a chip!'
-
Heldric ensures he can see and awaits the... Whatever it is alone in the strange room, getting more than a little nervous knowing he has no choice in the matter.
Since the most nervous one always breaks the silence first "I am here alone now, you said little brother, does that imply Nosferatu?"
-
"She's a damned wicked bitch is what she is, she doesn't know what she's talking about", Prince Maurice angrily mutters in response.
Steeple makes it out of the salt castle and sees that the light filling the cavern comes from dozens of softly glowing wisps flying through the ceiling of the immense cavern in which the structure is located. Pillars of Salt reach hundreds of feet into the air to the ceiling, clear as diamonds, sending wisp-light spinning outwards like the heavenly lights Anton would describe seeing when using his Dark Sight on a particularly black night.
The air here is, again, painfully dry.
Steeple quickly realizes he has none of the ingredients necessary for his rituals - he could try nicely asking the Salt Queen for it, perhaps...
Very luckily for him, however, one of the wisps flying high above the salt castle floats down to him - though as it comes closer Steeple comes to realizes that it is no wisp nut... Oh...
"God, didn't she say they were still alive?"
Kazimierz' ghostly apparition stands before Steeple, his body illuminating the surroundings. The Cappadocian motions for Steeple to follow him.
"I will lead you out of this mine, Steepleton."
---
Slowly, the faces in the room begin to change. Kazimierz remains the same, his face keeping the same monkish, prayer-enthusiastic features - however every other body in the room suddenly begins to warp and twist horribly. Most notable to Heldric is the horrible disfigurement that the two monks undergo - so she turned them?
A low, rasping voice then whispers into Heldric's right ear, "turn around little brother, look at me with your young eyes."
-
Heldric turns slowly and with trepidation, luckily being a Nospheratu himself, very little could phase him in another's appearance.
-
"Uhm... yes, right," Steeple replies, following the ghost Kazimierz.
"Sorry about the whole 'not being able to save you' thing..."
"Maybe in a few centuries, I'll have become enough of somebody, to come back and barter for your release?" he offers weakly...
-
"You could have done nothing, she would have dismantled you piece by piece in seconds. I only regret that you drew my two acolytes into this.
Perhaps it is best, nothing but a slow death awaited them without me." Kasimierz says, sad as ever.
"Whatever you do, never come back here Steeple. You might be tempted by her children, each sired of her own potent blood - but it is not worth it. Her pets alone are horrors enough to pacify an army, and she has tunneled her fortress so deeply into the heart of Krakow that she is untouchable within its confusing depths. That she contents herself with the occasional miner is a blessing. There are things so old as her who would sate themselves with entire villages. As for what would happen if her children were ever unleashed... Krakow would be in ruins within days.
Don't come back for me, Steeple. I am dead, consider this my warning from beyond the grave."
Kasimierz stops, and looks at Steeple intensely, as if to make sure what he's saying.
"I wonder if it's really him", Maurice mentions.
"I wonder if he'd really give up his only hope of rescue."
---
The smell of salt overpowers the room. For that, Heldric is grateful.
The Salt Queen's form is a grotesque parody of her mortal self. Her wizened, stepped body, twisted by arthritis and covered with thousands of wrinkles, is a sickly greenish-gray. A few strands of long, white hair hang from her scalp. Although her eyes are rheumy, Heldric does not doubt that her eyesight is keener than any hawk's. Centuries within the salt caverns have left her permanently encrusted with salt crystals.
A sudden, terrible thought pops into his head - Steeple loudly exclaiming (with a little dance) "Well my good lady! If the nossies had an ugly contest, I have no doubt in my mind that you would be the reigning champ!"
Steeple then nods to the air besides him.
"Indeed my good Prince! She makes Heldric look downright huggable - in fact, come here Heldric!"
The thought then drifts off into the realm of fanfiction, while Heldric realizes the Salt Queen still stands before him.
She laughs.
"Oh please, don't hurry to lavish such praise upon Gutka, she has heard so much already."
-
"Perhaps it is best that they never lost their 'faith'", Steeple replies glumly. "Ah well..."
Then to Maurice he answers in thought, 'It is in the hands of She Who Dwells In Salt now. Either way, I suspect it would be the same.'
-
"It seems you can see not only my intentional thoughts but whatever pops into my head unbidden" he thinks at the strange appearance of an ancient salt Queen.
"Though as a nosferatu myself, I find appearances somewhat less important or astonishing." he adds outlook, trying his best to sound calm and collected.
-
"Perhaps it is best that they never lost their 'faith'", Steeple replies glumly. "Ah well..."
Then to Maurice he answers in thought, 'It is in the hands of She Who Dwells In Salt now. Either way, I suspect it would be the same.'
"Maybe, maybe old chap. Not something they ever deserved, maybe their God will be kind enough show them some mercy."
"It seems you can see not only my intentional thoughts but whatever pops into my head unbidden" he thinks at the strange appearance of an ancient salt Queen.
"Though as a nosferatu myself, I find appearances somewhat less important or astonishing." he adds outlook, trying his best to sound calm and collected.
"Of course, of course, why else would I bother showing myself to you little brother? Now, you can take your adorable little lizard pet and go, he's waiting for you outside. I simply have important news. One of the Niktuku passed by 14 days ago. I believe it was either a young one or a childer of one of the original agents, for I was able to lure it into my mines and destroy it. I tell you only because you are the Prince of Balgrad and should know of such things."
-
Heldric's face instantly shows a mix of fear and awe, the Niktuku are the most dangerous enemy he could imagine, hunting his kind relentlessly, killing methuselah and childer alike in their quest. Yet she destroyed them and still had enough power left to toy with them like ants
He almost stutters as he speaks "I owe you greatly for this information as well as for destroying it. I shall be ever more vigilant and of course pass any information I gather to you incase more follow."
He then looks for Mr. Whitey, preparing to leave. He does not want to outstay his welcome, or be anywhere near a Niktuku, dead or finally dead.
-
"The information you should mind is not that it is dead, young Prince of Balgrad. It is to watch for the others when they start coming.
There is a reason there are so very few Nosferatu princes, it is not because of our famously admired appearances. Consider an alternative, if you would."
Gutka fades from sight, and Heldric takes it as his cue to leave.
Steeple is waiting for him outside with Kasimierz' ghost.
-
"We should leave, urgently" he says as soon as he sees them
He then collects himself a little "Kazimierzs, it seems you have ways around your imprisonment? I have some questions regarding a helm and small mirror, but we really should leave here quickly, our host is... Beyond our current comprehension of abilities."
-
Kasimierz starts leading the two up the mine tunnels, Heldric carrying Andreas slung over his shoulder, Steeple carrying Nadia.
"Not ways around it Heldric, I fear there is no way around my imprisonment here. She pulls our souls out of our bodies and has us wander the tops of the castle as adornment to her goddess' temple. I assume it is a ritual back from the days when she was still the mortal high priestess of the Crone. Helm and a mirror you say?"
-
"Oh yes," Steeple adds, "And I have your ghost girl mirror - who is she anyway?"
"And this," Steeple continues, pulling out the stone with the names on it. "My name is on it too."
-
Kazimierz mutters something about thieves stealing from his tomb before he's even a few months dead before replying.
"The stone's a petty little thing I use in a finding ritual, useless to you even if you were to learn the proper magic as you have to write the names in blood yourself. Essentially, you write the name of a person you know in blood onto the stone and then the spirits whisper their location into your ear, if they are capable of finding him. They almost always are, very few people think to hide from ghosts. They could give me your location with unfaltering certainty."
Kasimierz pauses a second to clear his throat - though he couldn't possibly have any need to do so in his current condition.
"As for the mirror... well, I think you'll find Seelie to be a lot more trouble than she's worth, at least if you don't have the power to reign her in properly. I call her Seelie but that's just what she calls herself, she doesn't actually know her own name."
Steeple grasps the importance of this almost immediately - many rituals involving necromancy rely heavily on usage of the spirit's name. If the girl addresses herself as "Seelie" it might still have some power over her, but not that of a proper name.
"She's bound to the mirror - I didn't do that to her, it's her fetish. I found her after a duke begged for help when the mirror his wife had bought had left her possessed by some sort of demon. She protects - or at least, used to protect my haven.
It's good that I'm dead, if she was still seriously protecting my haven I doubt you would have made it out. You looked into the mirror right? You really shouldn't ever do that. It gives her complete power over you, only a skilled necromancer or a man of extreme will can break out of it, otherwise you'll be nothing more than her playtoy.
She can only affect an area of up to a 30 foot radius around her mirror. Don't, uh, don't break the mirror. I'm not sure what would happen but she'll either be let loose or she'll be banished back to the shadowlands. Not really worth risking it to find out.
If you plan on taking her, tell her... tell her "pater est mortuus". She'll understand."
-
"You've been dead hundreds of years" Heldric mumbles back before asking properly "And what of the helm and small mirror?
-
"So you've been stealing from my haven as well, hmm? Of course. Courtesy is dead."
Shaking his head in disgust, Kazimierz answers Heldric.
"The helm is a keepsake of Liahm, a british tribesman who died fighting the armies of Rome and current general to the armies of the Laughing Lady - Deathlord of the Penitent Legion of Stygia. While I am sure none of those words mean anything to you (they don't), suffice it to say that it is a notable artifact from the shadowlands that belonged to a mad, powerful wraith before I had cut a bargain with him for the thing. It bestows the wearer with the ability to communicate with wraiths and see into the shadowlands. It also has a tendency to drive them insane - the constant whispering and suggestive voices take a toll on the sanity of the wearer. I would suggest using it sparingly.
As for the mirror - I'm not sure which you are referring to, I have a good deal of mirrors I use in my rituals. The only one of any particular note, however, is the mirror holding Seelie in place."
-
Held roc nods along careful to make a mental note "Well I will take care of them for you incase you ever get free of this place." Heldric replies "It will be good to get out of here now though and see what mess awaits us on the journey home.
-
"Agreed! I wonder how long we slept," Steeple replies, quickening his pace.
-
Heldric happily keeps up "I am not sure but I assume not too long, she did not seem to harbour me I'll intent. Though either way I think I will enjoy returning to my haven soon."
-
"Yes, well, thanks for your help in all of this sordid little affair haha!" Steeple says to Heldric.
"I can tell the workers to come back to the mine; work the upper levels; It's a dangerous profession with some natural attrition; It won't be unusual for a miner or two to disappear from time to time..."
"Pretty crazy spooky down there though, right, haha!"
-
"Very, I'm and sure I will remember almost being a salt crystal for many centuries to come." he pauses searching for words, he hasn't had many talkative companions so far "Allies help eachother out, it is how our kind survives and furthers our dream."
-
"Allies yes," Steeple agrees, "And Adventure Buddies for Life, or unlife, or whatever may be, HA!"
"Let's see, that would be A.B.F.L/UL.O.W.M.B. maybe? Hmm... perhaps if we used Greek letters instead..." Steeple begins to ramble off on a tangent...
-
Heldric is happy to let his companion ramble as they exit the mine...
-
Kazimierz leads the two young thieves through the mines to the surface, listening intently as Steeple rambles on about Greek letters, occasionally stopping as the voices in his head chime in to give their opinion on the situation - usually greeted with great enthusiasm and respect.
He also watches Heldric's similarly intently listening face with great interest. The Nosferatu doesn't say much but he takes everything in; not uncommon of their kind.
I wonder if they'll try to save me anyway.
Perhaps it is best. I will regret throwing away my only hope at salvation in a few years, but at least I was strong enough to do it now.
The soft glow of moonlight starts to light the caves, Kazimierz lowers the intensity of his soul's glow.
Heldric's happy cry when Mr. Whitey slithers into the cave to welcome and assault him gives Kazimierz pause, bringing a smile to his face. The sight of the albino crocodile gleefully crushing and rolling about with his master is a happy one - perhaps one of the last he shall ever enjoy.
The necromancer cocks his head to the side, listening to an unheard voice. His thoughts race quickly, and the words are out of his mouth before he can reconsider.
"Gutka has given me permission to roam for a short while. I will follow you to the tavern, I wish to say goodbye to Seelie personally."
---
Steeple and Heldric are both incredulous - seemingly, not a day had passed since they went into the mines. Both wonder at how Gutka managed to make the salt crystals grow around them in such an amazingly short amount of time. There should be about 2-3 hours of night-time left, and they wonder briefly at what to spend the rest of their night doing.
They also marvel at their lack of a need to feed - where did Gutka get the blood to feed them?
The realization that the ancient had almost certainly begun a first step blood-bond on them strikes Steeple first, but Heldric realizes it soon afterwards. It is not a pleasant realization.
While the two discuss their situation, Kazimierz deals with his own business. Inside the prison world made by the mirror, he holds Seelie's head to his chest in a gesture of comfort.
"Then you understand what I need you to do girl?"
"Yes Father Kazimierz. Are you sure about this?"
"Yes, I am certain. But... before you do, how about we have Heldric try on the helm, hmm? I've always wanted to see for myself what you described."
"Of course father. I'll be sad to see you go."
"Don't worry about it girl. There are worse fates; among them yours. Be good to Steeple, he is not yet a bad man. Perhaps he will stay that way."
"Yes father."
---
Kazimierz' request comes as something of an oddity to Heldric but the Nosferatu was dying to try out his new awesome ancient relic so, well, why not? Heldric grabs the Helm by the side and slides the thing onto his head. He notes with apprehension Kazimierz' sudden gasp.
---
Blazing flames surround the fierce warrior standing before the necromancer. Holes adorn his broken armor, memories of the spears that were driven through into its occupant. The helm glows fiercely with terrifying power, almost blindingly bright. A thousand whispers fill the air with every shaky movement the warrior makes.
Kazimierz laughs, clapping all the while.
"The Helm of the Penitent General suits you quite well Heldric. I never quite believed Seelie when she told me this but it changes you when you put it on - your ether changes into that of Liahm, with quite a few theatrical additions. You cut a rather intimidating figure!"
Kazimierz sobers up quickly from his brief, almost childlike joy at the discovery.
"My companions, I thank you for your efforts, however unsuccessful, to save me.
Steeple, Heldric, before I go, I wish for you to assure the head of the Tyniec abby that myself and the brothers died combatting some evil dwelling within the mines. But it has been cleansed now. Do you understand? I cannot bear for those good and holy men to cast my name and those of my companions aside in evil disdain."
Kazimierz feels a tug on his soul as Gutka grows tired of his freedom. Before either vampire can answer, he says out loud - "Now Seelie. I'm sorry girl."
Kazimierz gasps as the very essence of his soul is torn apart by a sudden blast of obliviating power that spreads out from Seelie's hand. The girl is crying her blood tears, her hand shaking where his shoulder had used to be - though be it from sadness at his destruction or because of the pain caused by use of the Obliviating Arcanoi he is unsure.
Kazimierz hears Gutka's howl of rage as his soul comes undone before he can be pulled back to her lair. His last thoughts are of satisfaction at her failure, and gratitude towards Seelie.
---
Nadia wakes with a flutter after Steeple drips a tiny bit of blood into her throat, his life force merging with and augmenting her own. Waking, she immediately sits up and pulls Steeple to her after a short, choked cry.
She asks questions that he answers slowly and patiently, and then she pulls him to her and asks him not to leave her for the rest of the night. He gladly complies.
---
Andreas wakes much less gracefully, coughing up small salt clouds from the crystal vial of Gutka's blood that Heldric surmises had been hidden inside of Andreas to break or melt and wake him. Andreas looks about and first grabs his blood brother, pulling him into a brutal hug that pops more than a few bones, before doing the same with mr. Whitey.
Andreas mutters something in a low series of growls, and Heldric knows what he means before mr.whitey ever tells him.
"This place is hell. Let's get out of here brother."
---
The abbot at the Tyniec abbey understood Heldric and Steeple's mentions, and promised to give the brothers and Kazimierz an honourable final ceremony. He invited the two to stay at the abbey for a few more days but the Prince and Seneschal had to return to their individual cities. They both received blessings for their efforts.
Leaving the city the next day, the two have a happily uneventful trip back home. The howling of wolves in the countryside might unsettle some, but neither of their carriages are assaulted by the roaming packs of Shadow Lords.
It's almost as if something was watching over them. Or perhaps looking up at them would be a more appropriate analogy.
---
April 19th, 6:00 AM,
Salt Mine of Krakow
Domain of Gutka the Salt Queen
Dimitri coughs loudly.
The air in the salt mines was always very dry, terrible for the lungs and worse for the eyes. Not as bad as a coal mine but not good nonetheless.
He puts aside his pickaxe and takes a long swig from his canteen, and hears his friend calling down from below; excitement filling his voice.
"Dimitri, come down here! You won't believe what i've found! I think there might be gold here! Come on, hurry!"
The miner stumbles while running down - if there was gold down here then they might be able to sneak some ore away before more stringent measures were put up. Gold in a salt mine! Who would have thought?
Then again, miracles were always possible after what Mr. Trevesky, Heldric, Nadia and Andreas had done. He'd been sure they would die when he saw them off but lo and behold, miracles of miracles, they and Father Kazimierz' two disciples drove the demons from the mines. Good men there.
He comes to where he'd heard his friend call out and starts looking around, turning and searching for the man.
"Daniel, where are you? Dan-"
Gutka stands inches away from the man, her wrinkled, haggish, salt-encrusted face burning itself into his brain.
She speaks slowly and deliberately, her voice mimicking Daniel's exactly.
"Mr. Trevesky lied."
She strikes before he has a chance to scream.
---
Deep within the salt mines of Krakow, there is a temple made from crystal salt shaped by the skilled hands of the high priestess to the Crone. At the center of it about 40 of her childer stand in a circle, their petrified bodies frozen in abject worship and fear of the ancient goddess and her earthly incarnation. The most recent addition is a man whose twisted body is covered in the scars of his mortal combat with monstrous creatures - most notably a scar coming from his left shoulder down to his right hip, five long marks, like those of the claws from an immense beast.
The temple dwells within a cavern lit by the souls of her children, the only sound being the whistle of a cold wind that shouldn't live pushing through the empty, dry air.
The souls circle the cavern, the glow they make made into a sparkling display by Pillars of Salt.
End Sidequest