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Role Playing Games => Vampire The Masquerade => Drakilian's Games => Side Quests => Topic started by: Drakilian on October 04, 2015, 07:22:48 pm
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April 2ndth, 4:53AM, 1199
Steepleton, Tihuta Pass
Domain of Count Radu Bistri, Prince of Bistritz
It's been two days since Steeple has returned to his lair at Steepleton, the human seneschal he'd left in place had held it together in his absence - though the Malkavian is acutely aware of how vulnerable his little fortress is without him being present as its protector and keeper.
However there is little of interest in the - admittedly, beautifully built - fortress for the wandering madman and his wise advisor Prince Maurice. So when a letter left for Steeple is found by Nadia at the balcony to the seneschal's office, its messenger nowhere to be seen - well, he cannot help but be interested.
Breaking the seal, Steeple's eyes run across the carefully written script.
To Lord Steepleton Carson Olaf Trevesky the Fourth,
Evening, my good lord of Tihuta pass! As a noted friend to the Tremere and a well-connected individual recently fallen on difficult times, I believe that our clan has a well-vested interest in ensuring your continued well-being. As such, I have an offer prepared for you - one might say an offer of prestation, in fact! I have recently discovered a rather fascinating set of ruins, within which I believe information of vital importance related to old Koldunic Sorceries might lie. I should wish to have your aid in clearing the ruins, and your insightful mind in understanding what is found. If you intend to seriously consider my offer, simply go to the highest point of your tower and leave a reply for me, my messenger will retrieve it and bring it back to me within the day.
With respect,
Celestyn, Master Librarian of Ceoris
"Adventure my dear lad! Adventure beckons and calls, it thrills the dead heart within your flesh! Think of what mysteries we might find in these hidden ruins!" Maurice exclaims.
Of course, Steeple's mind is already set on something else - the master librarian of Ceoris! While very few kindred can even sum up what Ceoris is, Steeple is aware that the name is that assigned to the chief chantry of the Tremere, the hidden stronghold of the Transylvanian mages and the greatest chantry of House Tremere. Whoever this Celestyn is, he would have access to such an incredible wealth of knowledge as to keep Steeple well occupied and interested in study for centuries!
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"Very interesting," Steeple muses, writing a reply on a small sheet of parchment -
Venerable Master Celestyn,
I would be most pleased to be included in this expedition and to make your acquaintance. I have the utmost respect for your clan and its honored traditions. I accept this opportunity to prove myself a valuable ally.
Please let me know where and when you would like to meet.
Sincerely,
Steeple Carson Olaf Trevesky the Fourth, Seneschal of Tihuta Pass
Steeple then takes the letter to the highest tower and waits to see who (or what) will come to retrieve it.
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Moving through the decorated walls of his fine fortress, it occurs to him again to be grateful to Sylvian and Zelios for their exceptional work in creating the fortress. It is truly a wonderfully built area. Pleasing enough, if there was something to do other than stare at the walls all day.
He'd only had to do some very minor renovations to add a touch of sconces here and there. Sure, the builders said it would be a fire hazard, but since when is fire dangerous for his kind anyway? Prince Maurice loved it as well.
Reaching the top of his tower, Steeple notes the creepy looking gargoyle statue and then looks around for the messenger.
It's with barely concealed surprise-terror that he turns around after the tap on his shoulder. The gargoyle had moved.
"Holy Fark!" Maurice exclaims, like he'd just jumped in surprise too.
Oh yes, it had slipped his mind ever so briefly - the Tremere have these creatures as their fanatically loyal servants. He'd never actually been by one face-to-face. It, uh, it's not too pleasant.
The ugly thing looks at him silently and expectantly. It shuffles about, almost as if to illustrate to Steeple that yes, it is in fact sentient and alive, and then settles back into place with a grunt, holding out its hand.
It occurs to the malkavian that it wouldn't be too hard for the thing to throw him off the tower. Something to keep in mind if he ever angers the Tremere - stay away from rooftops.
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Steeple hands the letter to the Gargoyle.
"Oh my, you are positively gothic!" Steeple smiles; "When shall I expect a reply?"
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The gargoyle grunts out a reply, "The master will answer in a few nights. He will come to you first."
It then leaps off the top of the tower and spreads its wings, somehow its incredible stone bulk is thrown out into the winds whistling down the Tihuta pass and the monster flies off.
Is there anything Steeple should like to do before Celestyn comes in the few days of preparation available to him?
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While awaiting a reply, Steeple takes the time to see that the affairs of the castle are in order and that the men will continue to remain vigilant in his absence once again.
He informs Nadia of the expedition and invites her to either join him or remain at the fortress to rest, depending on how she feels about taking up another quest so soon after the salt mines affair.
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Steeple also gathers spell components and renews any Rituals that would be of use. On the day he is to meet Celestyn, he'll be sure to have Extinguish ready (just in case) ...
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Nadia informs steeple that she isn't sure she would be of much use on the venture and would prefer to take some time to recuperate in Steepleton.
April 6th, 12:45 AM,
Steepleton, Tihuta Pass
Domain of Count Radu Bistri, Prince of Bistritz
There is a knock at Steeple's door.
The Malkavian had been awaiting Celestyn's arrival eagerly ever since the gargoyle's grumbled message, but there had been no returned letter or clearer message to clarify whether or not the master librarian was prepared for him.
Calling out for whatever servant to come in, expecting news or a message from the Tremere - he is surprised to see two men he's never seen before walk in! His servants are nowhere in sight.
The first is a hearty and well-muscled looking young man, with dark blond hair and brown eyes. His face is better described as pleasing than handsome. He is dressed in the loose and practical clothing of a peasant.
The other is dressed in the robes of a scholarly magus, his features hidden by his clothing and his face covered by his hood.
"Seems an odd match, wouldn't you say?" Maurice mumbles.
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Yes, I wonder if it's the old prince and the pauper routine, Steeple thinks to Prince Maurice.
To the visitors, Steeple motions for them to come in and offers, "Welcome to my humble hearth. As you must know, I am Steeple Carson Olaf the Fourth, Seneschal of Tihuta Pass; To whom do I owe the pleasure; and do you bring word from Master Celestyn?"
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The muscled young man grins, showing off large, predatory fangs that quickly slide back into place.
"You're looking at him! I prefer not to wear those old robes on expeditions, far too impractical. These suffice. It's a pleasure to meet you myself Steepleton, your home is as beautiful as it is practical. Mercurius here will be our transport, he can bend space very skillfully to drop us off wherever we need to be."
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"By Jove! The Path of Mercury! Haha! I would be most pleased to see it in application!" Steeple delights.
'Pay close attention Maurice!' Steeple thinks to his Prince, 'Maybe this is something we can pick up for ourselves!'
"And yes, the castle really is a marvel," steeple continues to his guests; "Its design was overseen by the Master Mason Zelios himself and our own Sylvian Bastian Beaulieu, of artistic renown. I'm am quite taken with the marvelous sconce-work myself. Such exquisite attention to detail haha!"
"At any length," Steeple finishes, "if you will excuse me, I will gather a few things and alert the concierge of my departure. May I offer you a quick bracer while you wait?"
Steeple motions for them to wait in the antechamber, were a small bar is stocked with an assortment of fine spirits - and of course, the elixirs more appropriate to the Kin. In preparation for the esteemed visit, Steeple has set out three carafes chilled in fresh spring water - one labeled 'Wild Fling' that contains the blood of a sultry prostitute; one inscribed 'Salt of Earth' that contains the blood of a hard working villager; and one called 'Innocence' that holds the mixed blood of young children (none of which were killed to take the samples).
Steeple excuses himself briefly to hug Nadia and tell her to take care of herself and keep an eye on the castle while he's gone. He then takes a moment to finish the Extinguish Ritual and grab his things, before returning to his guests with a ready grin.
"The expedition awaits!"
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The Tremere both nod in appreciation at Master Zelios' name before the seneschal leaves to make his final preparations.
When Steeple returns to the room he finds that the "Salt of Earth" and "Innocence" carafes have both been drained; it's good to see the Tremere willing to accept his hospitality.
"I wonder where these ruins are?", the prince wonders aloud.
"Wonderful, i've been looking forward to this for a while now. Mercurius, if you please?"
Celestyn grabs Mercurius by the hand, and gestures for Steeple to do the same.
"You'll love the place, I hope. Have you ever been to Sighis?"
He hasn't, though Steeple recognizes the city as one located within central Romania.
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"Can't say that I have," Steeple answers honestly, taking the hand offered to him; "Central Romania though, I do believe."
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"Indeed! Unfortunately we will not be enjoying the sights, the area is close to the city, but not actually on its grounds."
Mercurius speaks a few mumbled words of power. Steeple feels the air around him twisting...
The castle fades away in an instant, replaced by rolling hills, a lush Transylvanian forest off in the distance and a ruins of a massive pagan temple.
Steeple takes a second to re-orient himself, abstaining from undignifiedly gasping or stumbling about in confusion.
Fresh air assaults him; almost like a sudden, violent push. The change in temperature and the pressure of the wind coming from nowhere near throws him off his feet.
Celestyn however, seems to be perfectly accustomed to it. Mercurius does not even register a change in demeanor.
He chuckles, "Ah, always a bit of a challenge the first time around."
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"Astounding!" Steeple replies, giddy with the thought of learning such an incredible power.
'Gives the head a spin though,' he thinks to Prince Maurice wryly.
"An old pagan temple," Steeple then says to his comrades, "What sort of history has this place?"
"I have to wonder what nasty darkness such an unrefined practice as Paganism would have dredged up here..."
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"Well now, that's what we're here to find out isn't it!"
Celestyn nods warmly to Mercurius.
"Thank you for the service my friend. Once a week, of course?"
Mercurius nods his agreement, and then flares his hands outward, this time speaking no words of power. He vanishes into thin air.
The Master Librarian turns back to Steeple, an excited grin on his face.
"From past research I believe the temple was dedicated to an extremely powerful Koldun who enthralled tribesmen into worshipping him through displays of his mastery over nature. The temple was undoubtedly constructed by his ghouls."
There's a twinkle in the old vampire's eyes as he speaks.
"I hope to study the rituals used in his worship - find tomes his followers may have used or perhaps, if we are particularly lucky, the tomes he used in his own rituals."
Then he lowers his voice and leans forward conspiratorially.
"And who knows? Maybe we'll even find the old bastard himself!"
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"Let's hope that he's not still put out by the destruction of his temple if we do haha!" Steeple grins, ready to start looking around.
Steeple activated Heightened Senses.
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Celestyn nods.
"Go ahead and look for a serviceable entrance, i'll find us a place to rest during the day. It's already been prepared in advance for us, just need to find it."
The Tremere leaves while Steeple starts his search of the Pagan temple.
Steeple's senses sharpen as he activates his heightened senses. He reads the cracks along the outline of the old building's ruins like flowing script, identifies the species of ivy growing down its walls by the pattern growing along its leaves, he smells the dust and mold growing in that dark hole within the building, almost 2 stories up....
"Well, that Celestyn seems like a fine old chap doesn't he?"
Steeple's eyes drop down to the large stone gates of the temple.
"Doesn't look like you'll be getting in through there eh lad?"
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"Yes, and much easier to get along with than those nasty 'teet-zee tee-meet-zees'," Steeple laughs in reply to his Prince.
"Hmm..." he then wonders aloud, "Probably should see what's up in that hole. Want to bet it's a horrifyingly vicious monster?"
Steeple then sets about to look for a spider to use with his wall crawling ritual - seeing as climbing with only one arm is a huge pain in the arse.
Presuming he doesn't botch and bleed out again, Steeple will climb up and around the tower to sneak a peak into the hole from over the top of it.
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Steeple finds and effortlessly consumes a spider. With Prince Maurice firmly entrenched in his sconce, the Malkavian scales the wall with ease, clearing the face of the ruined temple and reaching the dark hole.
Soft moonlight pours into the room, just enough for Steeple to properly make out the area. Rubble covers the floor, three doorways lead off further into the ruins, though only one actually seems to not be sealed off.
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Steeple takes a rope from his supplies and secures it, so he can throw it out over the side of the tower for Celestyn to find. While Steeple doubts the Tremere will actually need it to get up into the tower, it will at least let him know where Steeple went.
"I wonder why they didn't bring those gargoyly things with them," Steeple muses aloud to Maurice.
"Do you think we should wait? Or press on ahead?"
As he waits for Celestyn, Steeple give the room a thorough search.
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"Maybe we just can't see them?" Maurice ponders.
"I never took those things to be subtle, but then again, you had no idea it was in your castle till you got that message didn't you?"
"Not sure there's much point without some better lighting lad, even your senses aren't good enough to read or decipher carvings in pitch black darkness."
It's right around then that Steeple hears Celestyn calling out from outside.
"Steeple! Steeple, where are you? The shelter's all set up, did you find a way in?"
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"Hmm... You have a good point..." Steeple replies, regarding the gargoyle's visit - "We'll have to look into beefing up security when we get back."
Steeple is just about to summon Will O Wisps when he hears Celestyn. Going to the hole in the wall he waves out at him.
"Up here," Steeple calls - trying not to be too loud.
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Celestyn looks at the source of the sound and grins.
"Wonderful job! Is that a rope you have up there? Perfect, thank you!"
The Tremere jogs up to the ruined wall and scrambles up the rope to the hole with surprising efficacy.
"Good spot, good spot. Could use a bit more light though, hmm?"
Celestyn pulls out a torch and seems as if he's about to light it.
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"Ah, if you'll give me a moment," Steeple says, "I have a nifty trick for that."
Steeple then calls forth his Will O wisps.
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When Steeple finishes, Celestyn gives his applause.
"Will'o'the wisp, neat trick indeed! I know the ritual myself, just can't ever bother myself to carry around a willow stick when a fire spell and a torch will do. Everything has it's uses! Pleasure to see you using our arts, master Steepleton."
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Steeple smiles and breaks the Will O Wisp into two motes, one to light the room from above, and the other to allow him to illuminate brightly the areas that he's searching.
"I do appreciate the art of it," Steeple chats, as he looks around for anything interesting - or an indication of which would be the better route to take from the chamber; "the time it takes to use rituals does limit their application, but I enjoy all the marvelous variety of things we can do with them."
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The next few hours are spent parsing through ruins and examining the faded, cracked carvings strewn about the walls of the temples.
Celestyn seems to find joy and excitement in every new discovery - be it something as epic as a depiction of the ancient Koldun to which the temple si dedicated setting off a volcano, or something as mundane as an urn clearly used by the koldun's followers to defecate in.
When Steeple scopes out what appear to be a series of tablets inscribed with rituals of worship, the master librarian practically jumps up and down with glee, setting about to translating the work almost immediately.
It seems almost no time at all before Celestyn's head darts up from his work and he frowns.
"Tsk, the sun will be up soon. We should probably get to shelter."
He glances longingly at the surrounding ruins, perhaps contemplating trying to stay awake throughout the day to work.
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"I have Defense of the Sacred Haven; if you think it worth remaining here in the ruins through the day," Steeple suggests.
"The upper tower seems defensible, should anything still be lurking about, as are a few other areas out of the sun here."
"I'm game, if you are," Steeple then smiles mischievously, as if choosing to do this was some sort of transgression against the rules.
'Another battle against the weight of the sun haha!' Steeple thinks to Prince Maurice; 'You think that gold translatey thing will work on these tables?'
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The master librarian's already weak resolve is broken by Steeple's suggestion.
"I would love to," Celestyn says with a smile.
"Oh I doubt it, the key was to a language far older than this temple." Maurice replies.
The two find and set up a protective ritual in a room in a closed room decorated with what appears to be an armless, headless statue of the Koldun near the center of the temple, safe from the sunlight. They begin their research throughout the rest of the night.
Celestyn proves to be a judicious and extremely knowledgeable researcher, spending the majority of his time working through translations of the book (which he has determined to be a particularly obscure dialect of standard Romanian) and the rituals on the walls. He also - with the help of Steeple's imaginative authority, several suggestions from Prince Maurice, carvings from the walls and the remains of the statue in the very room they're holed up in - attempts to recreate an image of the old Koldun. The amount of work he parses through is astonishing, though even he is unable to finish each of the projects.
It's after about 14 hours of steady, relentless research (at the end of which Prince Maurice is practically crying out for Steeple to take a break), that Celestyn jumps up, enthusiastically exclaiming - "I've done it! I've identified one of the rituals of worship!"
The man begins rapidly babbling out details of the ritual, "A single person at the center of the circle, 24 cultists chanting in abject worship in a circle around the koldun and the subject, each of them cutting themselves on a different finger every 6 minutes and letting a single drop of their blood fall into the carved circle. After an hour, when each finger has been cut, the blood rises from the circle and forces itself down the subject's throat, and he is turned into stone! The statue in this room,"
He motions to the thing, "Is not one of the koldun, but one of his frozen enemies! A decoration!"
Celestyn doesn't seem worried about the ruin of their progress in reconstructing the Koldun using the statue, instead happy at the progress just made.
"Now if only I could figure out the... ah, dammit! I need to go check on the haven."
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"What is it?" Steeple asks curiously.
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Celestyn waves his hand flippantly,
"The guards there - my gargoyle Grigori in particular - will be worried and likely searching for us, I never told them I would spend the day here."
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"Oh," Steeple replies, "Then by all means, lets go check in with them."
"I'll be just a moment," Steeple adds, renewing his Extinguish Ritual for the new night.
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Steeple prepares his ritual using some of the tar from Celestyn's torches and one of his own hairs - he approximates that he can extinguish 5 large fires tonight.
---
Grigori has not yet dissolved into ash, a testament to the gargoyle's resilience even in death.
The haven lies in ruins, its mortal servants slaughtered and the Celestyn's personal gargoyle having been hacked to pieces, its head mounted on a pike and its wings damaged and broken.
Celestyn had originally hoped that his body hadn't dissolved because he was still alive, but no amount of blood would help him reform or bring light to his eyes.
The Tremere sits now with his head between his hands, heavily frustrated. It seems he's taking his gargoyle's death pretty hard.
After a while, he says - "We're stuck."
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"What? Who?..." Steeple stammers a moment, taking in all the carnage.
"Someone knew we would be here!" Steeple points out, a bit disturbed.
Then, seeing how Celestyn is taking the loss, he adds compassionately, "mayhaps we could have done something to help fend them off - but on the other hand, we might also have been dragged out into the sun to perish."
"Yes... it is fortunate that we evaded this trap; and they (whoever 'they' are) have tipped their hand... but I would bet they'll try again. Especially as they have us at the disadvantage."
"And what do you mean by 'stuck', exactly?"
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"Vovoide Rostog. The bastard has refused to honour his agreement, it seems," the master librarian mumbles.
Clearing his throat, he explains - "We had made a deal with the vovoide of this land. We wold be allowed to research the ruins here and in exchange we would share all of our findings with him. It appears he has decided against honouring our agreement and sent his servants to attack our haven. Fortunately we were not there. Unfortunately, these men were."
Celestyn is silent for a second.
"Mercurius won't check in on us for another 6 days. Grigori was supposed to be our backup messenger in case things went badly. Nor can we trust the animals, a vovoide has hold over all living things in his domain."
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"Farking teet-zees!!!" Steeple growls in ire, "How I despise those loathsome fiends!!!"
Then, tapping his forehead, Steeple continues, his demeanor now suddenly very pragmatic and business-like.
"Six days eh?"
"I suppose we should ask your man who did this and what we are up against."
"I'll perform 'Calling the Restless Dead' if you are amiable. I know this may be difficult for you, but we must survive first and mourn later. Preferably with some revenge thrown there in the middle!"
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As an afterthought, Steeple thinks to Prince Maurice - 'Our current benefactor, Count Radu aside of course. If there's one teet-zee you can trust not to be totally loathsome, it's got to be him. I'm a pretty good judge of character after all.'
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"Hmmm...", Maurice says, deep in thought.
"Perhaps it would be best not to judge Radu so nicely because he made you seneschal. It was more a power play against Stephan than anything else, him stealing his supposed ally's childe from under him. Making you all princes at all was a move by him to spread loyal, partly bonded servants into empty cities. He has influence with you. A lot of influence.
Really I suppose I like the Tzimisce, they are more open and honest about how much of a pawn you are to them. The sneaky ones, like that Vykos - they're much worse monsters. Make no mistake here Steeple, Tzimisce, Ventrue, Lasombra, Toreador - no matter how nicely they pretend to treat you, they're just waiting for a chance to use you or take away your power for themselves.
Like poor Celestyn here. A nice chap, trusting, kind, smart - he just wanted to research some ruins. Now look at him. It doesn't pay well to be all too reasonable, it seems."
Celestyn closes his eyes and rubs at his temples, hunched over with his head in his hands.
"Yes... Yes I suppose we have no choice."
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Steeple is stunned by Prince Maurice's insight.
He always knew his mentor was sagely, but such an incredible display of wisdom!
Falling to one knee, Steeple salutes his Prince solemnly; and says aloud, "I cherish your council as always. The wisdom of Solomon pales next to your omniscience! I only hope to survive long enough to put it to good use!"
Standing back up, Steeple realizes that Celestyn has just heard him, and might think him a little mad - especially given the Malkavian stereotype.
Steeple wasn't mad of course - he was the epitome of clarity right now. But still, one must take care not to alienate one's allies by ravening around them too often, lest one incur the insufferable epitaph 'Fish Malk'.
'Talking to a fish; gads, some Malkies have no creativity,' Steeple thinks to himself.
Then to Celestyn he says with a smile, "Ah... speaking to my muse."
"So, to the task at hand..."
Steeple then begins the ritual that will allow them to question Celestyn's Gargoyles about those that attacked them.
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Celestyn begins reacting to Steeple's performance, looking a little embarassed
"Well, i'm just - "
Then Steeple goes on to explain his intentions.
"Oh. Ah... okay. Suppose we should begin then, yes?"
Steeple might not be surprised that Celestyn knows the proper procedure for the ritual - though the master librarian leaves the casting of the ritual up to Steeple, a touching sign of confidence in his abilities.
Setting some few candles aflame around Girgori's head and beginning the ritual chanting, it isn't long before the ritual takes effect. Grigori's head suddenly moves, as the gargoyle's mouth opens wide to gasp, and then scream.
"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!"
The gargoyle gasps again, and then just keeps on trying to breathe - as if it was still alive and mortal and needed to do so.
It is a while before it speaks, its voice a collection of sad and broken croaks.
"Who has called me?"
Its mouth moves but its eyes seem to see nothing.
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"I am Steeple Carson Olaf Trevesky the Fourth; here with the honorable Master Celestyn," Steeple begins, "We returned to the haven to find that you and the men had been attacked!"
"Who has done this to you? Tell us, that we might take vengeance upon them for their vile treachery!"
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Grigori's voice strains it's way from his long-dead stone lips.
"Rostog sent schlacta, lead by his childe Rastovich. They stormed the haven at Dawn's approach and murdered the guardsmen. I fought but they were many and terrible. I was destroyed and put on display when they realized you were not here. They search for you even now."
His sentences are short and clipped. He does not go into detail, nor does he seem particularly capable of such. He summarizes the scene well enough though; exactly as Celestyn had believed it to be - though the addition of the vovoide's childe into the mix makes things the slightest bit more interesting.
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"This Rastovich," Steeple asks Celestyn, "do you think we could take him between the two of us, if he didn't have all his men?"
"Also, any suggestions how to proceed?"
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Steeple tries to think of any place they may have seen in the ruins that could make a good ambush spot.
"Maybe if we set up an area with the Peace of the Dead Ritual, we could take the guards out of the equation, " Steeple considers.
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"You'd rend the welp limb from limb", the gargoyle says in a discomforted fashion.
He, however, offers no suggestions.
"It is not a bad plan", Celestyn admits.
"I shall also place a ward against ghouls on the temple, and use the ritual of holding to extend the effects of your casting throughout the night. If we are given enough time I can devise another ritual to render all those who attempt to combat us trapped in time. It should give us enough time to finish our research."
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"Perhaps then, we should forego rending the Childe limb from limb," Steeple considers.
"If we can find a way to contain him, he could be ransomed to the Viovod for a Boon."
"Besides, I already have one Elder Kindred with it out for me. No sense in adding another... Unless we absolutely have to."
"At any rate, let's do this!"
-
The two mages make their way back to the temple, intending to prepare the place for the attack they were both sure was coming. A lone schlacta was found inside (having scrambled his way up the rope leading into the temple - though through some quick words of power and a touch Celestyn sets the ghoul's blood boiling, killing him almost instantly. Both Steeple and Celestyn feed off the ghoul's remains and then continue with their preparations.
Steeple sets about casting Peace of the Dead, steeling his will and wielding all his magical might in fortifying the effects of the power so as to have it encompass the half of the temple containing the only visible entrance - taking great care to exclude the central chambers in which Celestyn would be working from (lest he trap his own companion in the effects of the ritual).
His first casting goes... less than splendidly. His ritual manages to affect a tiny part of a doorway with a range of one square yard.
He tries again with more vigour and cheers from Prince Maurice, and added pomp in his voice, managing to garb a much larger area of the temple in his spell. Admittedly, not as much as he'd have liked, but a sizeable enough portion to cover all the entrances to the central chambers, at least.
Celestyn works himself while Steeple casts his ritual, enacting the Ritual of Holding to make sure Steeple won't have to recast the ritual every day. It will extend for a full week, and Steeple and Steeple alone (well, Prince Maurice too) will be completely immune to its effects.
Meanwhile, Celestyn has begun casting his second own defensive ritual.
"I'll need to be uninterrupted for five hours to complete this. Can you hold the temple in that time?" He asks of Steeple.
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"I'll hold them in here," Steeple replies, making sure to pull up the rope, so it no longer signals anyone where they are.
Steeple then sets about pushing large stones and rubble up to the edge of the opening in the tower and selecting a few nice-sized stones in the ceiling, which he plans on having fall out/over onto someone's head if/when needed (using Animate the Unmoving).
He also spikes all the doors exiting the area shut (so as to prevent/delay an easy bypass of his little trap).
Once satisfied with the preparations, Steeple hides himself in the shadows near the opening in the tower (using good old fashion Stealth).
"Let's see what kind of flies we can catch in our little web," Steeple says to Prince Maurice.
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Steeple is halfway done sealing the doors when he senses the sun beginning to rise beyond the temple doors. Cursing, he runs to Prince Maurice's encouragement to retrieve the rope from the gap in the temple, pulling it up before the sun can cast its rays over the area, shielding it form his touch.
As he pulls up the rope, however, he notices something moving in the distance - too large to simply be the idle rustling of wind over grass, certainly to focused to be the random movement of a bird or a smaller animal. He's forced back inside before he can get a good look at whatever it is.
"Well, that can hardly be anything good."
There remain 3 accessible access paths that enemies could use to enter the central chamber of the temple unsealed by Steeple, each with an environment Steepleton could easily use to his advantage given his control over inanimate objects. Prince Maurice's personal favourite are the paired guardsman statues at each unsealed doorway that Steeple can animate to run through helpless passerby.
-
"Well," Steeple remarks, "If this is a web, then I guess I'm the spider."
He then climbs up to the ceiling and hides overhead (using Unseen Presence, only if needed, to remain unseen by whoever will enter the chamber first) ...
-
Steeple places a hand on the wall and then a foot, easing himself onto it and then simply walking sideways - and then upside down, were he mortal he'd have felt the blood rushing down to his head - now feeling only the mildest discomfort at the memory of the experience.
A quiet chuckle from Prince Maurice.
"No one ever looks up."
From his hidden vantage point, cloaked by Obfuscate as well as shadows, Steeple keeps a close eye on the approaching group.
What had seemed a mere flicker of movement several miles back is now clearly a small collection of four armed and armoured men, each leading a monstrous thing before them on long metal chains for leashes. The barking reaches Steeple's super-sensitive ears and he understands that these fleshcrafted... hounds? Wolves? Whatever they are, they are likely tracking his and Celestyn's scent.
Stopping before the temple, one of the men nods, like he'd been expecting this, and then barks out a quick order to one of the others. The chosen man nods in return and then hands off the leash to who is presumably his superior (who Prince Maurice marks out as "the tall one with the rough voice") before taking off at a dead sprint back from where he came.
The three remaining spread out into the outside ruins, presumably beginning to search for another way in.
-
Steeple continues to bide his time patiently - confident that they will have to come in this way - and feeling pretty good about the potency of the sleeping spell.
With luck, he'll only have to deal with one or two himself (and hopefully get a surprise attack or two off, before having to get involved in a toe-to-toe).
-
Prince Maurice speaks up then - "Uh, Steepleton, did you ever make sure there were no other entrances to the temple?"
It, in fact, occurs to Steeple that he took the very first entrance he'd layed eyes on.
-
"Huh, I suppose not..." Steeple replies with an almost overwhelming sense of rueful chagrin.
Then, without giving it any further thought, he bellows loudly out of the hole in the side of the tower - "WHO THE FARK DARES DISTURB THE RUIN OF NINE HELLS?!?"
"YOU SNIVELING BITCHES COME UP HERE AND DIE!"
...
"AND YOUR LITTLE DOGS TOO!!!"
-
"Ah, subtlety, you've always been extremely well-versed in it Steepleton."
Steeple feels that if Maurice had been capable, he would have been nodding his head sagely.
One of the hunters points to Steeple where he hides from the sun in the shadows of the temple, and calls out to the others. One of the men takes out a grapple and some rope, while another unslings a bow and begins to cautiously take aim at Steeple.
-
Steeple doesn't wait to be shot at of course, and simply moves out of sight from those on the ground, before useing Elemental Form to shape himself into a stone ceiling support.
-
The sly madman slips further into the protective walls of the temple, breaking line of sight with the ghouls outside. No arrow is launched towards him, the archer must have stayed his shot.
A rapidly whispered incantation and Steeple molds himself into an ornate torch sconce sprouting directly from the ceiling, Prince Maurice enshrined inside the sconce.
"Ah! The wise subtlety of your actions is unquestionable Steepleton! None shall ever suspect us here!"
A grapply is secured at the edge of the entrance; Steeple hears the rope strain and the heavy breath of one of the ghouls as he pulls himself up, soon making it to the top of the hole. He draws his weapon on reaching the top and stares in wearily, but does not advance. He shouts and order down to the others, speaking in a strange dialect Steeple has difficulty understanding - though he can understand that he's telling the others to climb up.
It isn't long before the other two join him, among them the bowman and the "leader". It seems they've had to leave their dogs outside.
"All the better", Maurice says quietly. "Those looked to be some rather vicious mongrels!"
The men begin to advance, not yet within the range of the sleep ritual but not far from a weakened section of the floor that could be collapsed with just the slightest bit of magical suggestion. Directly below Steeple, in fact.
-
'Going down?' Steeple chuckles to Maurice, as he activates Animate the Unmoving to persuade the floor under the intruders to give way beneath them.
-
Steeple reaches down and through the stones, and mentally pushes outwards, striking the weak spots in the ground.
The only warning they get is a slight cracking sound. The leader's eyes widen, and he looks as if he's about to shout something out when - CRACKOOM!
The floor falls away beneath the three and they fall roughly down 10 feet below, the one with the bow landing on and breaking it in the fall. Dust flies up, stopping Steeple from seeing anything more of the group, though he does hear their pained groans and profuse curses.
-
Steeple continues to listen for any indication that at least one or two of them have fallen victim to his sleep trap.
If they climb out, Steeple will continue to bide his time.
Once the sleep trap starts to kick in, Steeple will consider trying to go down to deal with them physically - biting and draining one at the very first opportunity that arises.
-
Having fallen vertically downward, none of the men have actually entered the radius of Steeple's most masterful spell. He has been given, however, through his most strenuous efforts, a perfect time to strike at the group of three confused, injured and mostly blinded ghouls regardless of the sleep trap, and so takes it.
Prince Maurice has already started humming some sort of war-hymn in anticipation.
Taking a moment to undo his transformation and return to a more familiar form, Steeple clings quietly to the top of the ceiling where he remains unseen, clouds of dust yet to settle keeping him obscured for the moment. The men below have started coughing as the dust kicked up by the broken stones enters their lungs.
-
Activating Celerity and Strength of the Earth (all Strength), plus two Blood for Dexterity, Steeple drops down on one of the ghouls to sink his fangs in and start draining!
He hopes the clouds of dust and injuries from the fall will be enough to keep him mostly out of harms way, but is prepared to dodge (using his victim as a human shield) should the need arise.
'Tally Ho!!!' he elates mentally.
-
Steeple falls agilely and soundlessly through the air, only the slightest disturbance and a flitting shadow marking his passage.
On the ground, he hears someone ask something that vaguely resembles a question - most likely, "Hey, did you guys hear that?"
The person to ask just so happens to be Steeple's target, however, and he does not get much time to hear the answers.
He is tense but for a second, when Steeple's fangs sink deep into his neck he melts into the mad vampire's arms and lays content there, not minding in the least that his lifeblood was being drained away.
-
Steeple really wished he didn't have to kill the man, but blood could be scarce following this encounter, and he would need it to face the other two.
As such, Steeple had no choice but to continue draining the man, until he was full, or the man perished.
As he feasted, the 'Mad Python of Barbary Bay' held his victim up from behind, so as to look (through the dusty haze) as if the man was still simply stumbling around near the wall, looking for a way up.
'Granted, I haven't been to Barbary Bay,' Steeple admitted mentally to Prince Maurice, 'but it has such a cheeky ring to it does it not? 'The Mad Python of Barbary Bay!'
'And the old bastard did say I was a snake after all. Yes, a python, I fancy! Hiss Hiss Hiss! Hehehehehehe . . .'
-
Steeple continues to drain the man. He had already been limp but he grows cold and loses consciousness as more and more of his blood is taken from him. Another few seconds of this and he will die.
By now the others in the room have gone silent. The dust is beginning to clear as well.
Going to have to fight them soon, Maurice mutters
-
Realizing the man is unconscious but still alive, Steeple forces himself to stop - no sense killing him off needlessly if there's a chance he could recover and be used as a bargaining chip or pawn later.
Steeple increases Dexterity again and makes sure Celerity is still going, before lowering the man to the ground and smiling at the other two.
"Looking for me?" he asks coyly, before leaping at the man with the bow!
-
Steeple's voice alerts the two others that all is most definitely not well! One draws a blade and the other fumbles with a bow he has yet to realize has been broken. Steeple reaches him and they wrestle briefly, the ghoul managing to throw Steeple off before he could put the man into a hold.
He gives a hoarse cry and the other man moves in and takes a swipe at Steeple, who effortlessly sidesteps the blow and grapples with the huntsman again, this time managing to overpower him and savagely sinking his teeth into the man's neck.
-
'Ah, fortune smiles on us,' Steeple thinks to his Prince, draining the huntsman with gusto (and hopefully to unconsciousness); while continuing to try to maneuver, so that the huntsman's body remains in between his and the free man!
(OOC - Bump Strength to max to assist in retaining grip on huntsman)
-
The man struggles with pulling out his sword and attacks Steeple, only for the Malkavian to swing the man's companion into the blade's path. Further drained of blood and ruthlessly hacked at by the swordsman, Steeple can tell the man isn't far from expiring.
He weakly resists Steeple (snapped out of his reverie by the sudden violence) but accomplishes nothing of consequence.
-
Steeple drops the wounded man to the floor, keeps Celerity active, and bumps his Dex to max.
"I don't supose you'd consider surrendering, eh?" he asks, ready to dodge any sword strokes that come his way - and counter with some more fangs if the man is unwilling to talk...
-
The man doesn't hesitate for a second, immediately chopping at Steeple's waist. The agile malkavian simply steps back and lets the blade swing through the air in his place.
"Well, it seems he does not wish to accept your generous offer", Maurice intones.
The man spins, using the momentum from his backswing to fuel his attack. He lands with his right foot back and pushes off forward, thrusting the blade towards Steeple's guts. Steeple, again, simply sidesteps, easily avoiding the attack.
Steeple dashes forward then, and seizes the man's arms, trying to lock them together and leaning up to bite the man's neck, only for the ghoul to fling himself out of his grip (dropping his sword in the process), pushing Steeple back slightly. He lands on the ground and rolls over to the huntsman, grabbing one of the broken pieces of bow and standing up in one smooth motion.
"Oh ho ho! Clever one! Too bad you're already behind him..."
Indeed, as the man had rolled Steeple had swiftly moved along with him, and stepped behind him when he stood up, now looking around wildly.
The madman wraps his arms around the man's neck and puts him into a hold, violently swinging him into the ground and holding him there prone. From there he sinks his fangs in and the warrior ghoul is forced to give up his fight by the Kiss.
-
'I dare say this one is some kind of leader,' Steeple observes to Maurice, as he drains the man unconscious.
"You don't suppose he's too dangerous to keep alive do you?" he then asks aloud with real concern...
Once satisfied that the man is truly out of it, Steeple will haul him up the side of the pit and drop him in the center of his sleep trap. He'll then go back down and do the same with the other two - being sure to keep their weapons down in the pit.
"And what do you think we should do with those doge things?"
-
"Too dangerous for you? NONSENSE, you can take him any time, any day, any night, anywhere!"
When asked about those other two...
"Well, that with the sword cut definitely isn't going to make it. Maybe keep the other around for Cestyn, or if you need some more blood yourself."
-
"Ah, too bad then, but we musn't waste," Steeple replies in regard to the advice of his true prince.
He then drains the severely wounded man completely.
Once the other two are safely in the sleep spell area, Steeple gets a little more creative, actuall taking the time to tie them up in a standing position against the statues in the room, before using Animate the Unmoving to have each statue actually reach around and wrap them up in both arms to hold them in place.
He also blindfolds them with shreds of the dead man's tunic.
"They seem to be missing something..." Steeple says, trying to figure out what it is...
At length, he simply says to Maurice, "I just had the oddest impression that I should roll little pieces of white parchment up, stick them between their lips, and light them on the ends... Weird huh?"
-
"That seems a rather creative method of torture!" Prince Maurice exclaims, "But you would have to tighten their mouths to make sure they couldn't just spit out the parchment, otherwise they'll avoid the burns."
-
"Oh, I wasn't thinking torture," Steeple explains, "It was more... I don't know... some kind of aesthetic thing."
Once everything has been set up, Steeple goes to spy out the hole in the side of the tower again (carefully avoiding the sunlight) to see what the canine things are doing - and if anyone else has happened by yet.
-
Nothing else has appeared, Steeple doesn't think the messenger will have even reached the vovoide's childe by now, unless the vampire was already exceptionally close by.
The dogs are all leashed to a broken off pillar. They could no doubt chew through the leashes if they needed to but not for a while yet.
-
"Time to shoot some fish in a barrel," Steeple chuckles mischievously, as he retrieves the broken bow and some arrows.
Using Animate the Unmoving, he has the bow mend itself together with the addition of hoops off the handle. When that is done, Steeple takes a seated position, hooks the hoops over his feet and commences to lean back, so he can fire arrows at the war-beasts with his good arm.
-
Unable to get a shot at the hounds and shut in by the sun, Steeple is forced to leave the beasties be.
It is some three hours more before he hears them. Another few minutes before he could see them.
A veritable small horde of monstrous creatures appear to be headed for the temple. From his vantage point, Steeple sees a group of hunters riding fine-looking horseflesh besides a hooded carriage draw by a truly massively misshapen monster. Though he can't quite get a good look at it from this distance, he suspects it is one of the famed Vozhd, gigantic siege ghouls created by crafting dozens of lesser ghouls into each other, the result being a horrifyingly powerful, completely insane beast.
A few dogs are scattered here and there, but nothing special in that regard. Steeple could probably get a more accurate tally later.
-
"Hmm... look at that big dope," Steeple says quietly to Prince Maurice, regarding the war ghoul thing.
"I bet it wouldn't be too hard to set that thing off ..."
Then a deliciously evil idea forms in the sly Malkavian's head - and he slips off beyond the sleep trap area, to try out his Summon Elemental ritual.
"My Noble Prince," Steeple intones, "grant me the smallest portion of your boundless wisdom, so I can summon up a fire elemental!"
"Then we'll wreak havoc on that wanker's wagon haha!"
---
(OOC: Summon Elemental (fire) ritual - Burning Willpower as needed to get an amiable fire elemental...)
-
"Now that's an idea isn't it?"
Steeple grabs a torch from the men's packs and takes out the leader's sword, violently dragging the blade across the walls of the temple (leaving small scores in the stone) and sending Sparks flying. A few strokes is enough to ignite the torch, which Steeple quickly releases, a little unsettled by the flame.
Working the power of his will Steeple reaches into the flame with his power and seizes the spirit of the elemental, pulling it from the fire and honing it with his own magicks, pulling from the heat of the sun outside to further strengthen the summoning. The flame from the torch dies out and in its place is a ghostly creature made of living fire, taking up a humanoid shape - which Steeple puts it into for his own benefit.
Steepleton then puts his magick to work at chaining the elemental to his will. He meets with some moderate success, but has some difficulty achieving it - the elemental is a significant one.
On taking form it looks to him, saying no words but with both of the two knowing they can understand each other perfectly.
(4 successes on summoning, 3 on controlling).
-
"Burning spirit of fire," Steeple says with an impressed nod of his head, "outside the walls of this ruined temple, in that direction there..." (Steeple points) - "a rather sour man with no sense of humor resides in a hooded carriage, draw by a remarkably dimwitted monster of respectable size."
"I would be most grateful, if you could assist me in a little prank to lighten the mood a bit."
"All I would need, is for you to go light the roof of the carriage on fire. Then we can sit back and watch the giant monster try to put it out, as hilarity undoubtedly ensues haha!"
-
The fire elemental cocks it's ethereal head at Steeple, and then condenses briefly into a white-hot ball of flame - Steeple gets the impression of a spring coiling up. It launches itself through the entrance and hits the ground hard, spreading out as if it had splattered against the hard earth. The elemental rushes across the ground, the fire leaving a trail of scorched earth in it's wake. A few soldiers point and wave their weapons, most definitely not pleased at the sight before them. A few let loose some arrows, which go harmlessly through the elemental's ethereal body.
The fire reaches the carriage and engulfs it into flame entirely, setting every inch of the thing alight.
"Ohhhhhhh that's naaaaaaasty", Maurice says. Steeple soon sees what he means. The elemental, having set the carriage alight, now moves from the carriage and physically engulfs the Vozhd, which had plodded along rather mindlessly till now. The thing lets out an earth shaking roar, driven mad by the pain and fire and fear, immediately charges forward, pulling the carriage ahead of the host. The elemental drops from the vozhd and turns to Steeple, waving at him in the form of a man from the distance, and then fading back to it's own realm.
The vozhd, rushing blindly forward, trying ever so stupidly to escape the flames that have captured it, ends up slamming into the main gate of the temple (bared and sealed shut by time and ruin). It's there that Steeple realizes why these are called siege ghouls - no ram could have hit that wall. Ear as hard as the vozhd did, meaty, sizzling flesh and mistake slams into the wall so hard as to crack the stone. The Koldun's flaming carriage slams into the back of the vozhd, pulled forward by the momentum of the ghoul's charge, and breaks on the vozhd' snack, sending a figure Steeple cannot identify flying out, shrouded in the burning hood of the vehicle.
The vozhd rears back and slams it's two arms against the gate wall in frustration, again and again and again, the temple shakes each time and Steeple feels the gate begin to give away as surely as he senses the new structural weaknesses forming around him. If the place weren't so solidly built of stone it would be in rather great danger of collapse. Finally the gate breaks open and the vozhd roars, just as a chilling wind overtakes the valley. The flames die down and the vozhd drops and flails wildly in the dirt, seemingly under some greater degree of control. It eventually manages to put the fires on itself out but Steeple sees that it was at no small cost, it must be in terrible pain. Currently the thing is simply a mass of quivering, raw burns that ooze with the wetness of an open sore. Fresh burns.
Of the Koldun, there is no sign.
-
Steeple watches the entire spectacle in abject awe, utterly enthralled, as every fascinating detail plays out before him.
Pure magnificence! A Malkavian Prank for the ages!
His attention is then caught suddenly, by the seemingly far off sound of maniacal laughter - hysterical giggling - mad cackling - outright lunacy!
'Gods, what is that racket?!?' He thinks to Prince Maurice, when the sounds abruptly stop . . . and Steeple realizes that the noise was coming from him.
'Oh my ...,' he says with horrifying realization, 'do I really sound like that? Am I really mad?'
-
"Of course you are Steepleton", maurice exclaims; "but that's why you have me".
-
"Oh," Steeple replies thoughtfully, "when you put it in that perspective, I guess it isn't so bad."
"Just have to remember not to let it show so much haha!"
-
"It's okay," Maurice says thoughtfully, "it's not like many of them will live to tell anyone is it!"
-
Steeple smiles, feeling much better.
He then turns to check on the assembly of henchmen in the temple area outside the broken gate and their burning wagon/siege ghoul.
"Let's see what they are up to now, shall we?"
"You got to admit though, that was one hell of a show!" he chuckles.
-
"Hell is absolutely the right word for it!" Maurice says in perfect agreement.
Still no sign of the koldun, though his assembly of soldiers is approaching the gate. The vozhd still takes deep, pained rasping breaths. Whenever it shifts it leaves glistening wet, ruined skin behind.
If Steeple dies here, at least he'll know he'll have cost the vovoide of this land an infuriating amount of repair time on that thing.
"I doubt they'll act before their leader comes to. Maybe we should check on Celestyn? He might have finished that thing he was talking about."
-
"An excellent suggestion," Steeple replies - and taking his supplies and all of the torches, heads deeper into the ruins.
Activating Heightened Senses, he listens for Celestyn, while sniffing the air for his scent - ever wary of any traps the Tremere might have left for his enemies.
"Celestyn," Steeple calls softly every now and then...
-
Steeple hears the Tremere long before he sees him, the blood mage's incantations and chanting clearly mark out his location to Steeple's super-human senses.
He finds the man where he'd seen him before. Celestyn does not stop from his chanting to answer Steeple's appearance, nor even show a change in demeanor. Of course, such a thing might interrupt the ritual.
Looking about the room, Steeple does see a bloody note hastly scrawled and placed next to a bowl that appears to be full of shards of broken glass and sand.
-
Remaining quiet, so as not to ruin Celestyn's ritual, Steeple heads over to the note to see what it says.
-
Three simple words are written on the parchment paper - "sands of time".
Coupled with the previous description Celestyn gave, Steeple recalls the ritual in question - it is a very potent ritual that drastically slows anyone sprinkled with the substance of the bowl depending on the potency of the casting.
-
Steeple carefully takes the enchanted sands and heads through the ruins with them in the direction of the broken gate.
He needs to see if the Tzimisce guy survived his little prank and head him off before he can get to Celestyn.
"These are sure to come in handy, especially if that flaming teet-zee is still kicking around hehehe..." Steeple whispers to Prince Maurice.
-
Steeple makes his way through the corridor, bowl in hand, prince in shoulder.
"Alright chap, we're armed and dangerous, the predator in the night, the awesome mage-hunters. Keep your ears wide and your eyes open. Huh, is that how you say it or.."
While Prince Maurice rattles on almost nervously, Steeple's hyperactive senses catch the clanking of armoured soldiers moving throughout the temple halls. Dammit! It seems they've started without him.
He hears a muffled voice barking out orders, but is content in knowing that the room Celestyn is in has been sealed by himself so as to only have one entrance. Some of the soldiers might also die to the traps he's set around the temple, but he has no doubt that given a bit more time and no misdirection, they'll reach his current location.
The sounds seem to be coming from below Steeple, meaning the soldiers probably haven't found a way to the second floor yet (or come up the way he personally uses).
-
"Let's get this over with quick-like!" Steeple whispers to Maurice.
He then splits a torch to create a long thick splinter and uses Animate the Unmoving to open a hole in the floor over the sound of the Koldun below!
Presuming the Koldun is down there, Steeple will activate Celerity, Bump Dexterity by 3, and toss some of the Sands of Time Down on him and any men close by!
He'll then scramble through (using his Clinging of the Insect), bump Strength by 3, followed with Strength of the Earth all to Strength for another 3 - to grab the Koldune and drag him back up through the hole in the ceiling, where he'll juggle closing the hole up behind them, with more Celerity (if needed) and stabbing the Koldune through the heart with the torch splinter to put him into topor!
-
Steeple manages to have the floor open below him, but does not identify the vovoide's childe he just sees three soldiers making their way across.
On of them looks up at the sound of grinding stone...
-
"Well... That's rather disappointing," Steeple complains, about the distinct lack of his prey being under the hole.
"Ah well... take what we can get, right old bean?"
With that, steeple uses Celerity and bumps Dexterity, as he tosses Sands of Time down on the three men and scuttles spider-like through the hole and onto the ceiling over them, to get a better look at what he's up against.
If it's just the three men, Steeple will activate Strength of the Earth and take two of them out with his mace, saving the third for being drained with fangs!
-
It's almost absurdly easy.
Sprinkling a few pinches of sand down the hole, Steeple drops into the middle of the three ghoul's. Shclacta - armoured and altered for combat by the looks of them.
For the moment, Steeple sees no others in sight.
"Time for some bloody old work chap", Maurice murmurs softly.
The first ghoul is still turning his head towards steeple when the Malkavian takes out his mace, takes the time to chant an incantation to increase his strength, and then violently mashes the man's skull against the wall, leaving pretty blood spatter and brain decorating the environs.
The second ghoul's eyes don't even finish widening before Steeple drives the mace into his stomach, stepping lazily around him and bring the mace down in the back of his neck, twice. He's dead before he hits the ground, though it will take him quite a bit of time to actually do so..
The third's hand had almost reached his sword when Steeple's fangs sink into his neck.
-
Steeple completely drains the man.
With that done, Steeple cranes to listen for the sounds of the other men, as he cautiously walks along the ceiling in the direction he last heard them moving.
Thrilled by the action and giddy over the 'chase', Steeple fancies himself a sleek black jungle cat stalking its prey through the jungle.
Or maybe a jungle bat. He is hanging upside-down after all...
-
Taking what measures he can to hide himself through both obfuscate and stealth, Steeple scuttles along the ceiling of the temple after whatever men are left. He nearly spills the contents of his bowl down to the ground, forgetting for a second that Gravity didn't work for the bowl the way it worked for him, but the Prince sets him straight.
His ears pick up two more groups of men scouting out the ruins, again they are two groups of three - they appear to have split up along a crossroads in the ruins.
-
Steeple cautiously heads after the group he thinks would most likely reach Celestyn first - giving the two groups time to separate enough to prevent one easily hearing the ambush of the other...
-
Steeple finds that one group appears to have stopped moving, blocked by rubble - and so chases the other group from his position on the ceiling.
(For expediency and because the encounters will be so easy):
He finds them quickly enough, and jumps from his veiled position on the wall, twisting midair so as to land on his feet while sprinkling the sands of time down into the group.
He lands in the centre of the group of three. He notes one of the flesh crafted hounds slinking along very silently - though still held by the sands.
Drawing his sword cane from it's sheath, Steeple uses the motion of the pull to open one of their throats. For a second Steeple is captivated by the beautifully slowed down burst of blood - the line in the man's throat becoming visible as blood begins to well out of the cut.
Droplets fly out into the air and with a smile, Steeple sticks his tongue out like a child in the rain, catching the droplets as they reach his tongue.
"Back to business Steepleton!"
Spinning with mad glee, Steeple moves around the blade of the ghoul who had managed to get his sword nearly to the malkavian's back. The man has a furious look in his eye, and his two beefy arms look to be driving his sword forward with terrible strength.
"I don't like the look he's giving us Steepleton!"
Finding that he agrees, the madman stabs the ghoul twice, once through each eye. Leaving the sword cane well-embedded in his skull, Steeple takes out his mace and casually bashes in the ghoul hound's skull.
Just one left. Steeple notes that this one appears to have decided to run away. His back is turned to Steeple and he currently hangs midair, looking for all the world like an extremely realistic painting of a running man stopped in place.
-
"That is so cool!" Steeple says in awe, admiring it for a moment, before baring fangs once again to top off his blood pool!
"Do you think we could take out that war ghoul with this stuff?" he asks Maurice as an aside.
-
Steeple runs up the side of the wall and opens his mouth, letting the man run slowly but inevitably into his fangs, the momentum carrying his neck into Steeple's mouth.
Steeple finishes draining the man before the sands of time are spent, when he hits the ground (along with each of the others) it's as a bloodless corpse.
-
Maurice thinks to himself for a bit,
"Normally, I'd say no. I mean, I'm not sure wend even be able to hurt it normally. But if you strengthen yourself on their blood, you use that burning weapon enchantment, then you might be able to wear it down considering it's already pretty badly injured from being set on fire and breaking itself against the gate.
-
"Sure would be keen to try haha!" Steeple laughs, "But I don't fancy having to kill an army just to get to it. Too much 'wet work' there for my taste. Nasty business this killing. Probably should just stick to the script for now I guess."
Steeple, mindful of the Sands of Time, heads in the direction of the other group now.
Ironically (and in spite of his recent thoughts on the unsavory business of killing), he really looks forward to jumping them and anyone else he finds lurking about in the ruins.
"The jungle bat/cat lurks," Steeple whispers, "in the darkness, searching for its next meal, searching for something to pounce on."
-
Steeple catches the next trip of ghouls off-guard. Deciding to be a little innovative, and save a bit of his sand, Steeple strikes from stealth - viciously hacking apart the back most ghoul with blood-boosted strength and frightening precision. A second slash opens the belly of another ghoul, grabbing the interest of the flesh-hound (who immediately starts indulging itself). Letting the momentum of his swing spin him around Steeple takes out his mace with his left hand and smashes the third ghoul's jaw apart mid swing.
All of the disoriented and down, it's child's play for Steeple to finish off the remaining ghoul's and top off his own blood pool.
Having executed the scouting party, Steeple waits for further action from the vovoide's childe. About half an hour passes and the sun sets outside the temple before Steeple hears them - the scrabbling of claws on the tiled temple floors, the barking, the howls - it would appear the childer has ordered the hounds to sweep the temple.
-
Steeple takes a moment to rip the bottom of his shirt off and seal the container holding the Sands of Time with it. That way, he can deal with the dogs the old fashioned way, without having to worry about spilling the precious cargo.
He then writes a note on a scroll for the Viovod's Childe and rolls it up - tucking it into his belt.
That done, Steeple then heads back up to the ceiling with his mace, seeking out the hounds to kill them one-by-one from above - save the last hound. That one, he only wants to grievously wound - enough that it will run back to its master, with Steeple's note pinned to its back by a dagger.
The note Reads: "Too easy. Send in something Bigger."
-
To enact his plan, Steeple begins with spending a prodigious amount of blood to physically strengthen himself as much as possible, massively increasing his level or resilience, strength and slightly increasing his strength. He keeps his reserve of vital energy topped off by draining the remaining corpses he'd made fully, and then decides to keep his positional advantage on the ceiling.
Then they come.
The hounds all run in a mass of rabid, furious flesh, making no sound save the unsettling scrabble of dozens of claws against the stone floors of the temple. They seem to know exactly where Steeple is, and head towards him almost instantly, over 20 of the things coming his way.
It occurs to Steeple with terrible certainty (as he takes in the incredibly muscular hind legs of each hound) that they will be able to reach him if they jump, ceiling or no ceiling.
-
"Hmm... that is a hell of a lot of teeth!" Steeple remarks, retreating back through the hole in the ceiling he had made earlier.
There, he readies the Sands of Time, to throw some pinches down on the ravenous beasts, if it looks like they will overwhelm him (using celerity to ensure he goes first).
From there, he'll taunt them, and smash their heads as they try to jump up through the hole.
-
Steeple's superior dexterity (and a little incantation to grant him the elemental speed of the wind) allows him to outrun the pack to the hole he'd made in the ceiling, which he pulls himself through.
Having outrun the hounds, Steeple sets himself up like batter at home plate and simply waits for the beasts to jump through the distinctly Steeple-sized hole (which means they'll have to jump through one at a time).
From the way the first one is crushed by the mace, Steeple quickly realizes (with much relief) that these aren't ghoul-hounds but far, far more fragile simply fleshcrafted beasts. He's literally just fighting a pack of dogs.
It's almost comically easy for Steeple to bat the dogs out of the air with his mace as they leap up into the hole, sending them flying into the thick temple walls.
"Steepleton, I think these things were meant to point out your position and reveal you - be careful!" Maurice whispers in suggestion to his long-time companion.
After 8 of the dogs are batted out and killed with comic speed, the remaining dozen or so of them stop jumping into the air to their deaths and wait at the bottom, barking and growling at him.
-
Relieved to find them less durable (and toothy) than he originally thought, Steeple takes the Sands of Time and goes back down through the hole to finish the rest of the pack off, before any reinforcements can arrive.
If possible, he'll try to stick his note onto the last of them, but failing the success of that, will simply set the note atop the pile of wrecked dogs for the next wave to find.
-
As steeple spreads the sands down into the pack below, he hears the telltale clank of armoured men heading his way. He'll have to be fast.
Dropping to the ground Steeple burns blood and attacks with wild abandon, ripping into the dogs like the madman he is with his mace. 12 lie dead, crushed horribly wounded in various places before the soldiers show up. He hears shouting as they point him out.
"Lots of them there," Maurice says.
"Perhaps lead them on? If this many soldiers are in the tunnels, they have to have left their master lightly guarded... Well, unless you count that monstrosity back there.
-
"Now's our chance, hehehe..." Steeple grins wickedly, leading the men deeper into the ruins, so he can double back on them with obfuscate when they are sufficiently committed to following him.
"HA HA HA HA HA!!!" Steeple laughs mockingly, to ensure they'll follow - using Celerity if needed to keep just out of reach.
Once he loses the men in the tunnels, Steeple will hurry out to see what sort of guards the Viovod's Childe has left to protect himself from a mad Malkavian's mischievous machinations of murderous mayhem.
Should the opportunity to 'top off' on a straggler or rear watch present itself, Steeple will take advantage to refuel his blood pool once again.
-
His clever maneuverings and the occasional use of blood magic to open and close paths literally makes the soldiers chase him (or go in) circles and let the Malkavian get through the small army chasing him through the temple while ensuring Celestyn's safety.
Using some of his remaining Sands of Time Steeple captures a small cadre of soldiers and devours them all to fuel his upcoming confrontation. He notes that he is now coming to be dangerously low on his remaining stock of sands - perhaps only 7 uses left in total, which should still be enough to deal with whatever the childe has left to protect himself.
"Here it comes Steepleton. It's.... The Final Countdown! Dananana! Dananananaaaaaa! Dananana! Danana-na-na-na-naaaaaa-nananaaa-nanaaaa-na-na-na-nanaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
With sick music blaring in Steeple's head, the Malkavian prepares to confront the childe. He steps through the final corridor into the wide entrance room - where the gate that the Vozhd shattered leads to a cool, clear night sky.
The vozhd is exactly where Steeple saw it last, laying motionless in the rubble. It no longer heaves in pain like it did some few hours ago, at least.
Steeple spots the silhouette of the vovoide's child sitting by the beast on a stone chair. Where he got it from is a complete and absolute mystery.
No other living beings are in sight, as far as Steeple's senses can tell.
-
'That chair?' Steeple thinks to himself, 'That's weird... unless... Oooh! That rotten bastard is using his bodyguard as a stool! Typical teet zee shit right there!!!
---
Using Unseen Presence, Steeple Blood Boosts Strength and Dexterity to Max; then overpowers his might with Strength of the Earth!
Seething with raw power - and a giddy sense of euphoria at the glorious battle about to commence - the crazy Malkavian activates Celerity and sprints to his prey!
There, he tosses the Sands of Time on the Childe, his stone chair, and as much as needed to slow the monumental monstrosity that is the Vozhd! Following that, it's the wooden stake through the Childe's heart, the mace for the bodyguard, and the Burning Blade for the Vozhd!
"THIS IS FOR YOU MAURICE!!! GLORY!!! GLORY!!! GLORY!!! AAAAIIIIIEEEEEEE!!!!!!!"
Steeple allows himself to be embraced by - nay, Exalts in - the savagery of his assault! (Burn Willpower as needed to ruin that farking Vozhd)
-
The vovoide's childe stands as Steeple rushes towards him, noticing him before the crazed malk can attack!
"Watch out!" Steeple feels the air around him heat and he flings himself to the side just as the space he'd previously occupied bursts into flame. With the Red Fear clawing at his resolve, Steeple nevertheless rolls up and throws a pinch of the Sands of Time into the childe's face - freezing him in place! The vovoide's hands struggle to reach towards Steeple and lay some magical curse on him. One that will never reach him, of the Malkavian has his way.
As he deftly pulls the stake he'd prepares from his belt, Steeple's attention is captured by the sudden roar and burst of putrid air that violently assaults his senses as the vozhd stands with unfair speed, it's massive body and arms reaching around to hammer Steeple into a stain!
(http://reference.l2fury.com/images/a/a1/Vozhd.png)
In a fit of panic, Steeple throws a handful of the time dust out, closing his eyes and holding his hands up to protect himself from the massive misshapen creature's unstoppable charge.
A second passes.
"Are... Are we still alive?", Maurice seems to say?
Opening his eyes, Steeple scrambles back on seeing the Vozhd's clawed arm - easily twice as large and thick around as Steeple himself - a bare inch away from his body. Another second and there would have been two Steeples in this fight.
Taking out his stake and stabbing it into the Tzimisce's chest, Steeple prepares himself for the grim task of dismembering the giant vozhd. He raises his sword and prepares to hack at, uh, one of it's sort-of heads.
"Wait - do you hear that?"
A... A cracking, gurgling sound coming from somewhere... Wha
Steeple grunts stumbles, feeling his legs give out from under him - though he seems to be standing just fine regardless. He looks down at the bone spike that is currently protruding from his stomach, and his eyes fully follow along its length up to the vozhd, where the spike comes from. He sees it exit what approximates the Vozhd's chest. It retracts itself, and Steeple rapidly heals his severed spine so as to keep his feet, stumbling back from the Vozhd.
He sees the Vozhd's flesh bulge and squirm. Loose skin and flesh part or is ripped apart to reveal a terrible bone-armoured creature with a scorpion like tail that protrudes from its back and reaches up to over its head, covered in the blood and flesh of the Vozhd. It moves unhindered by the time stopping spell placed on the Vozhd. It stands not nearly as tall as the Vozhd itself, but a comfortable 7 feet regardless. Steeple feels it could reach higher than that were it not stooped due to its long tail.
As Steeple watches, it's left hand seems to extend into a long, discomforting weapon-like scythe. On its back broke little wings flutter.
(http://projects.inklesspen.com/fatal-and-friends/images/a7b4b65c6f84449920f1f1196d20c041c0c852c056e477913800d4923d7c07cd.jpeg)
Scrambling through his pouch, Steeple realizes he has none of his time dust left - maybe a trickle at the most, enough to lightly slow the thing. Will it be enough?
-
"Dirty trick!" Steeple shouts, activating Celerity and sweeping the Viovod's Childe up over his shoulder to use as a human shield.
Throwing the last trickle of Sands of Time at the horrifying monster, Steeple prepares to flee with full Celerity and full defense away, if the sands don't offer at least a minimal tactical advantage.
All the same, he yells at the thing - "BACK OFF! Unless you want me to rip the Childe's heart out!"
-
The last of the sand is thrown onto the thing and it slows down... For a second. Steeple is given enough time to sling the childe over his shoulder and uses him as a shield. He notes confusion in the thing's eyes as it begins to move at nearly a quarter of its intended speed. It seems to struggle for a second, as if to power through the enchantment - and Steeple's eyes widen as it moves again at normal speed!
"Holy shit!" Maurice exclaims.
It cocks its head at Steeple and his proposition, then it leans forward, it's tail lashing out at Steeple with terrible speed. Relying on the childe for protection, Steeple places him in front of the path of the tail - and the blade of the tail rips straight through the childe's midsection, nicking Steeple, before pulling out with terrible force - Steeple could hold onto him but he decides against it as he would be sent flying. The childe is launched directly into a brick wall and Steeple winces at the tell-tale sound of snapping bone. He hits the ground nearly rent in half.
-
All sense of glory, bravado, and self-confidence, instantly deflate, flatter than the head on a cheap tavern grog.
"Holy shit that's farking unfair!!!" Steeple screams, as he flees, full Celerity/full defense, away from the devilish monstrosity about to waylay him.
If his luck holds out, he'll make for the tower he originally entered the ruins in. Maybe the sleep trap there can offer a modicum of protection from the foul thing?!?
-
"If I live," Steeple remarks to Prince Maurice on the run, "We'll have to leave this part out!"
-
Steepleton takes off running, moving with prodigious speed! He doesn't look back but he can tell that the thing is falling behind him, still slowed by the remaining time dust.
He reaches the wall just as it regains full control of itself, and scales it effortlessly. He reaches the hole when it slams into the wall, it's limbs finding or making handholds to help it climb after him.
"Or at the very least," Maurixe shouts back, "we'll need to spin it a little better!"
-
Steeple hurries into the area protected by the Tremere-boosted sleep trap and draws his burning blade - ready to make a final stand.
As the thing climbs up the wall, Steeple uses Animate the Unmoving to drop the upper face of the tower on top of it - or, should it get up before then, the ceiling directly above it.
-
"I only have one regret," Steeple laments aloud, "I was fooled by a stone chair!"
-
"NO REGRETS!!" maurice cries out.
"JUST FREEDOM!"
Steeple reaches into the crumbling facade of the temple with his thaumaturgy and digs into the cracks. The sound of stone grinding against stone fills the air as chunks of the temple come free and begin raining down on the ghoul chasing Steeple.
Though he cannot see it, Streeple tracks the monster's movement through his sharp hearing. He can tell it's avoiding the falling rocks, stabbing into the wall and swinging itself around the chunks with frightening agility.
With increasing anticipation, Steeple waits to see the thing pull itself over the edge of the hole - when he's struck by a sudden bit of brilliance! Tracking the path of the thing's dodges, he reaches into the part of the wall it's about to latch onto and weakens it - when it tries to latch onto the area the wall crumbles and it falls with it!
The sound of a heavy thud and the sound of cracking bones fills Steepleton with a sense of satisfaction.
"HUZZAH!" Prince Maurice exclaims.
Walking over to the edge of the hole, Steeple sees the thing - its tail and part of its head stick out from under a massive pile of rubble.
For the moment it stays unmoving, eyes closed, muscles in the neck limp.
-
Without hesitation, Steeple sprints down the wall at the thing - ready to dodge the tail - truly expecting it to strike out at him from the ruin.
Hoping to shove the burning blade down through the top of its skull to finish it off, Steeple also bares his fangs, just in case it's only playing possum. If he can sink his teeth into its neck, perhaps it can be drained!
The thought occurs to Steeple that blood from this foul thing might not taste very good (in fact, he imagines it will be something akin to sucking festering pond scum through a dead raccoon's bloated carcass) - but that's a small price to pay to keep one's skin...
-
Steeple's suspicions are proven correct - as soon as he is wishing reach, the thing practically explodes out of the rubble, sending rocks and dust raining down on the surrounding area. Steeple twists out of the way as the ghoul's tail slams into the wall besides him, ripping through and becoming embedded in the temple wall. A quick swipe of his burning blade cuts through the damaged armour plating and severs the end of the tail.
Roaring in what sounds like indignation, the thing darts in and seizes Steeple with impossibly fast and powerful arms. It pulls him into a bear hug and begins crushing Steeple's body, squeezing the undeath from him.
As it does this its ghoulish head just forward and it's teeth lock on Steeple's nose, tearing it (and half the skin on his face) off. It swallows the flesh without chewing.
Another bite removes Steeple of his lower lip and all the skin on his chin, then a third locks onto his left cheekbone and breaks it off.
His face undoubtedly ruined (he'll have to grow it back before facing Nadia!), Steeple relies on the few weapons he has left to him - his fangs, and his blood.
Boosting his strength and healing a small amount of the damage done to him, Steeple darts forward like a wasp stinging a bear and sinks his teeth into a weak, broken point in the armour, breaking through it and reaching the thing's throat.
He drinks some of the thing's blood - knowing it must already be weak from all it had already spent. He then jerks his head back - the muscles in his neck standing out thickly as he strives to tear open the monster's throat before it kills him.
"FOR THE GLORY OF STEEPLEVILLE!"
What little of the bone ghoul's blood remains in its body pours out of its throat, washing over Steeple. He can feel the thing's grip weaken and struggles out of it, letting it fall back to its gradual death.
In the distance, the temple shakes as the Vozhd - freed from the time spell - makes its discontent known.
-
Steeple drinks deeply, swilling on the crimson flow, using the blood to heal his face.
When it is clear that the thing is good and dead, Steeple pulverizes its head and chest with his mace to make sure it wont ever be getting back up.
"NO GOOD ROT-TEN CHEAT-ING JACK-IN-THE-BOX HID-ING UG-LY MOTH-ER-FAR-KER!!!" Steeple yells, pounding with each syllable.
When the deed is done, steeple steps back laughing nervously.
"I... I can't believe we did it! Haha!" he remarks to Prince Maurice - "We actually did it!!!"
Then, with the Vozhd's angry roar bringing reality abruptly back, Steeple grimaces.
"Faaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrk..."
Taking the note he wrote earlier out of his belt, Steeple pins it to the remains of the ghoul monster with a dagger and hurries back up into the tower - to look out and see if the Vozhd knows which direction he went, trying to think of what to do next.
"That thing is going to wreck this place! What the heck are we supposed to do now? I really hope Celestyn is about finished with whatever it is he was doing!"
-
The thing twitches as Steeple destroys it, first in pain, then in nerve damage, then not at all.
"If Celestyn was done I think he would have sent us a message. Maybe we should check in on him anyway?"
The temple shakes again at the Vozhd's furious assault.
"Or maybe take down that Vozhd before it brings the whole place down on Celestyn's head."
-
"Maybe I can lure it on a wild goose chase?" Steeple replies, heading back into the tower to drain the two men he had captured earlier of their last remaining drops of blood.
"Sorry boys," he says consolingly, "But it's for a good cause - 'the preservation of self' I like to call it!"
Steeple then heads back out toward where he left the Vozhd.
The plan it to try to find the Childe's body first, dismember it and take the staked heart, then (staying way way way back), taunt the Vozhd into chasing Steeple to the opposite side of the ruins from where Celestyn is...
-
Steeple finds his way back unhindered (to be fair, most of those who would hinder him are dead or broken) - everything is almost as he'd left it - save the Vozhd seems to be in the process of dismantling the temple. It attacks with haphazard fury and destroys vital load-bearing columns and decorative walls alike. Steeple can hear the panic in the soldiers inside.
It doesn't take him long to find the childe, still ripped almost in half and abandonmed where his own protector had flung him.
As Steeple sets himself to the bloody knife work he'd planned he feels a dizzy spell coming on.
Oh, that sweet immortal blood...
"Steeple. You won't survive this without some blood in your system. Kill the childe - the Tremere will take the blame, there will be no witnesses. Drink."
Some small part of Steeple wants to protest at the thought of diablerie - but it is a weak voice and holds little substance in his mind. Maurice's urging seems to overcome and wash awaY his doubts.
"Feed Steepleton. Don't worry, I'll protect you."
Feeling the beast begin to claw its way to the surface, Steeple struggles for a second - and then another soothing word by the Prince puts him to rest.
"Just do it, no doubts, no regrets..."
Steeple's fangs slide into his throat.
Pure, undeniable ecstasy wracks the malkavian's body. Around him the ruins of the temple crumble under the assault of a monster of terrible strength, and not a single care in the world could be found on him. The vovoide's child has been pulled into an embrace more intimate than a lover's, his head cradled in the shoulder of Steeple's false arm. The vampire's face shows nothing but bliss.
Hot fire pours through Steeple's veins when he reaches the Heart's Blood - a pleasant burning, like the strain in the muscles after intensive excercise.
Memories begin to flood into his mind, memories of years spent as a favoured ghoul in a Tzimisce court, memories of over a decade of learning the archaic rituals of the Tzimisce - they are fleeting but there, the fire of his soul holding enough light to illuminate the vampire's life for Steeple - but not nearly enough to overcome Steeple's will.
In this short battle of minds Steeple feels the colossus - his beast and his madness both rage through him with perfect unity, driving him forward. He snuffs out the childe's soul like a man pinching a candle wick and swats aside his beast. He consumes him and then destroys him.
When he regains consciousness Steeple groans out loud in pain. He suffers but not physically, the best way he could describe it is that fragments of the Tzimisce's soul scratched up his when he tore it to pieces. He feels like little bits of it are still embedded in him.
His name was Artur, the thought comes unbidden to him.
Artur, childe of Rostog
-
Artur, childe of Rostog, Steeple thinks to the memories...
Undone by Steeple Carson Olaf Trevesky the Fourth. Your Judge. Your Jury. Your Executioner. The punishment for your arrogant cruelty; the sentence for your unbridled hubris - exile in the mind of a madman until the end of time!
Welcome to the Assylum.
AH HA HA HA HA HA!!!
-
Maurice takes a long time to answer, when he does it is shakily and with confusion.
"Welcome to the asylum indeed", he says, echoing Steeple's words.
It feels like something in Steeple's mind shakes itself awake then, and Steeple can feel Maurice's amusement.
"It was getting rather lonely here after all.
I do believe Celestyn must be done by now, don't you Steepleton? What say you, shall we run through this collapsing temple or do we challenge the beast in front of us and stick one last thorn in Rostog's side?"
Steeple feels Maurice's desire to do battle with the Vozhd, to prove his greatness in yet another battle.
And who knows - with the blood of the childe giving him strength, maybe it isn't so foolish a notion after all....
-
Something about Maurice is different, but Steeple can't tell whether that might be 'greater confidence' or 'greater recklessness'.
Either way, what kind of Malkavian would Steeple be, if he passed up the opportunity to charge headlong into certain doom?
Besides, that freakish monster that popped out of the Vozhd really killed Steeple's buzz earlier - and a rematch with the Vozhd might be just what the doctor ordered to lift his spirits again. That, and while the demon-ghoul thing was a nasty surprise, it might also be just what Steeple needs to undo the Vozhd.
If that seven foot tall monster could hide inside the Vozhd, then so could Steeple...
Hatching a truly insane plan, Steeple uses the blood of the Childe to heal his wounds and then bumps Dexterity to max. He then uses pure (non-Discipline) Stealth (and the cover of the ruins) to sneak up behind the Vozhd, as it is distracted rampaging on the temple.
When he is close enough, Steeple plans to bump Strength, use Strength of the Earth, and Celerity (and Burning Blade if necessary), to rush up and dive into the cavity that once held the war-ghoul!
Once inside, Steeple will sink his fangs in and suck it dry! - burning off the excess blood each round with Celerity, Healing, Stat Bumps, and just plain purging if needed. It will have to harm itself to blindly stab at Steeple inside, and hopefully, our friendly neighborhood Malkavian can keep up with the draining, healing, and not getting impaled repeatedly, long enough for it to fall in battle before he does!
-
Steeple sneaks up to the Vozhd effortlessly, the large monsters senses not being the sharpest in the world. It is a creature to be directed, not to act on its own.
Steeple makes it to the monster's very feet before it takes notice of him, and by then it is too late. As the creature pulls back to take another chunk out of the temple foundations, Steeple leaps into the hole left in it's body - climbing in with incredible ease through help of his ritual on the creature's flabby, bloodied skin. He jumps forward and drives his cane sword deep into the Vozhd's flesh, right up into the hilt.
The creature roars and swings around, clawing furrows into the stone and swinging Steeple about. The Malkavian burns blood to increase his strength, then holds on the cane sword anchored in the Vozhd's flesh to keep himself in place.
Steeple starts to feel dizzy from all the blood he's spent... The smell of the Vozhd's blood hits his nose...
"STEEPLETON", Maurice roars into his mind, "FEED!"
The beast grips digs claws into Steeple's mind, the Malkavian can feel its chains break as it rides his skin like a vengeful wraith.
Steeple shoves his face into the Vozhd's flesh like an overly enthusiastic lover and begins draining the creature's blood. The life force of the dozens of injured creatures that make up the monster fight back against Steeple's Beast, but Steeple clings to the thing's side like the parasite he is, his savage attack on the thing increasing in intensity as he steals the Vozhd's strength.
Already weak from the myriad injuries it's suffered, Steeple can tell that there isn't much fight left in this thing. Worse, Steeple's Beast can tell it too.
In its arrogance, the Beast guiding Steeple's hands underestimates the Vozhd.
The thing starts jerking its body with incredible speed, it's day and muscle and limbs twitching about and throwing Steeple back and forth. It grabs hold of a ruined pillar and uses it to help its efforts. The cane sword snaps in Steeple's grip and he flies out of the Vozhd, hitting a chunk of rubble with a frightening snap. The Vozhd slowly turns around to face him, dragging its arms across the floor.
Healing his broken spine, Steeple rolls nimbly out of the way of the Vozhd's next attack, which craters the bit of ground he'd been resting in.
The next flurry of blows each misses, though Steeple grows increasingly desperate as he uses up the little bit of blood he'd taken from the Vozhd giving himself the speed to do so.
Still on the throes of Frenzy, Steeple's Beast is nevertheless a cunning fighter. Wary now, and on his last limbs, Steeple steps into the Vozhd's guard and back into the hole carved into its gut. He reaches into the Vozhd's stomach and grabs his cane sword by the blade, grimacing in pain as he cuts his hand down to the bone on the edge of his own weapon. He pushes the blade further into the Vozhd's body, then rios open it's flesh to burrow deeper into the monster. Blood is everywhere, and a fair amount finds its way into his mouth, but that isn't what the Malkavian was looking for. He reaches a massive wall of bone plating inside the Vozhd's body and punches at it, once and then a second time, shattering the armour. The Vozhd's body contracts wildly on an attempt to crush the Malkavian from within, but Steeple is far too deeply embedded to be stopped now.
Pulling himself blindly through the bone plating, blind, deaf and covered in liquid - not all of it blood - Steeple reaches the string of hearts that beat within the Vozhd, and devours them all.
When the Malkavian regains control of his own faculties, he finds himself terrified and horrendously sick. He slowly drags himself out of the Vozhd and slides onto the floor, covered in bile, shit and blood. He retched and looks on in disgust and surprise when a large stream of bloody chunks leave his stomach. He winces at several broken ribs and a hole in his side that seems to have gone into his lungs (for he has difficulty making sounds) and left a long cut down his side.
"Another notch under our belts lad," Maurice says softly.
And indeed, the Vozhd lies broken, dead or dying as Steeple lays his back against its cooling flesh.
He doesn't even hear the soldiers marching out into the field of battle between him and the three monsters. Doesn't notice their horrified faces until they start dropping their weapons and undoing their armour, running away to their vovoide in the throes of terror.
Good thing too. They'd have probably killed him.
-
"Holy shit, we did it haha!" Steeple laughs - then abruptly grimaces from the pain of doing so.
"Think I'll just wait here for Celestyn," he says, not really wanting to move at the moment.
"Yeah, just gona rest a bit."
-
It's a few more minutes before Celestyn pops out of tin air, an escort of Tremere and gargoyle's (at least 10 of each) with him. He looks at the scene, ridiculous surprise etched on his face (and everyone else's).
One of the mage's mutters a spell, then exclaims - "He's still alive!"
Celestyn rushes over to Steeple's side then, and kneels by his side.
"Holy shit Steeple, you've been raising hell haven't you?", he murmurs.
The burly mage lifts Steeple up telekinetically, another murmured spell powering the effort.
"What happened?"
"Time to tell our story!", Maurice exclaims with extreme enthusiasm.
-
"I broke my cane sword," Steeple explains wearily, "inside the Vozhd."
"Could I trouble someone to mend it for me?"
Then realizing they meant about the whole battle, Steeple begins (rallied by Maurice's prompting), "Oh this? Yes, Rostog's Childe and I had a bit of a disagreement over the matter of disemboweling our good friend Celestyn here."
"I said, Vozhd or no, I wouldn't stand for it. Though I must admit that war-ghoul was a bit of a nasty surprise - confounded thing popped up right out of the Vozhd - can you imagine? That's tantamount to cheating right there I say!"
"I had to drop half of a tower on that one to even put a dent in it!
"The Vozhd though, that was my favorite haha! Had to get up close and personal with it to take it down. Which, as I mentioned before, was how I broke my sword."
"So, you can fix it right? I'm a bit partial to that sword - especially now, more than ever, given the current circumstances and all."
-
Celestyn looks to another of the mages, who nods. He starts shaking his head, and a deep, rich laugh rumbles out of his throat.
"You're unbelievable! I don't think our Clan has ever been so well-gifted with such clever friends. Not even in the old days.
Can you walk?"
-
"I can try," Steeple grins; genuinely lifted by the Tremere's compliment and laughter. He then attempts to stand and walk on his own.
'See my Prince?' Steeple thinks to Maurice, 'We have allies who see that we are a boon! That appreciate what we have to offer! And I couldn't have done it without you!'
-
Steeple manages to move after he heals some of the damage to his legs. He grows pale from the lack of Viate however. Noticing, Celestyn takes out several blood-red rubies and floats them through the air to Steeple.
"Bloodstone. I'm skilled in many of our Paths, among which is the path of Transmutation. With that path we solidify blood for storage. Drink."
He flicks his fingers and the bloodstone liquifies into orbs of blood that hang before Steeple.
"I will have to repay you for this. You've done much more than was asked of you - much more than I could ever have asked of you, for that matter."
Another motion and the pieces of Steeple's cane fly out of the Vozhd. Celestyn mutters a spell Steeple recognizes - Animate the Unmoving - and another that he doesn't. The cane is soon back in one piece, and seems to be in better condition than it has been before his attentions.
"I am limited by the wishes of my masters but what repayment I can give, I will. You wanted knowledge from our libraries.
Ask, and you shall receive.
One of the Tremere looks indignant at this, and steps up to Celestyn - "We cannot give this outsider our-", "QUIET!" Celestyn roars out at him. "Do you not see what he has done for us? Do you not understand how easily he could have abandonned me? He is loyal, and more that, he is competent. I will not hear any more from you."
Celestyn mutters another spell and the tremere tries to answer hi back - only to find that he can no longer speak. Not even a faint croaking sound can be produced.
Fuming, the tremere storms off.
Steeple recognizes Mercurius in the lot.
"We found what we needed", Celestyn tells Steeple. "I will have to transport what I can back to our private chantries. Mercurius can bring us back to your Castle. We can discuss more there, yes?"
-
"Yes," Steeple replies with a bow, readily soaking up all the praise and grinning broadly.
Praise was not something Steeple's Sire ever gave (even when he had done everything that bastard had ever asked of him - the last episode of defiance notwithstanding).
Yes, these were Kindred Steeple could give his loyalty to. These were the allies he had hoped to gain. It would be with them (and the Nossies of course) that Steeple would throw his lot in with.
-
Celestyn looks to Mercurius and the man grabs hold of Steeple's shoulder and Celestyn's own. The scenery shifts and they are then alone in a familiar study - Steeplems own, in fact.
"Thank you Mercurius. Come back for me in an hour, make sure the artifact is transported safely."
Mercurius phases out of sight. Celestyn then immediately begins mumbling a host of spells that Steeple doesn't recognize, followed by a liberal sprinkling of his own blood from rapidly slit wrists onto the walls. The blood fades away without leaving a stain.
"We have a few minutes to speak privately. I'm afraid I was a bit less than honest about the original intent of our expedition. We didn't go to that temple to discover old Tzimisce ritual magicks, we went there for the legendary Koldun who inhabited the temple. While you were defending me I unearthed him in his torpor, nearly woke him up too. He is to serve as fodder to one of our seven council members, to strengthen their ties to Caine and help grant our clan legitimacy. Rostog likely realized what we were doing and likely came to protect his grand-sire."
"Be careful lad. This is information you could be killed for...", Maurice mutters
"I want to be honest with you because I despise the practice and you've risked far too much on my behalf. My master Etrius is against it as well, though he is forced to engage in it lest he be vulnerable to the other council members, particularly Goratrix. I'm sorry, truly, for lying to you."
-
"I understand," Steeple replies solemnly. "Think nothing of it. We all do what we must. And I appreciate your forthrightness in the matter now."
"You have my strictest confidence in what you have shared with me; as well as my sword and friendship should you ever have need of them - both forged in the crucible of glorious battle!"
-
Celestyn gives a wan smile.
"Yes, well? You won't need your cane much longer I think.
Now, you asked for rituals - I can give you this...."
When the two are done haggling over rituals, Celestyn takes his leave and tells Steeple to expect another, secondary gift in a few night's time. He thanks Steeple for his help once more and gives him a pack of bloodstones "to remember him by".
-
Three nights later
Steeple is sitting in his study, pouring over the rituals he has recently received from Celestyn, happy at that he's finally gotten the chance to get to studying them (Nadia's been keeping him busy the past few days, particularly enjoying his description of the Diablerie).
He's about to leaf through some pages covered in the delicate calligraphy that he has come to associate with Etrius' works when he hears crashing sounds coming from above. He hears some of his men crying out to sound the alarm before they are in turn silenced. Steeple hears some terribly heavy footsteps move to his door, and then... A knock?
-
Thinking it one of the heavy stone gargoyles, Steeple goes to answer the door himself - opening it with a welcoming smile and expecting some sort of message from Celestyn...
-
A large, brutish gargoyle wielding a superbly crafted, wicked looking bone sword with a bloodied hilt awaits Steeple behind the door - though, even as Steeple watches, the blood on the hilt seems to fade away - no, it's absorbed by the hilt.
It kneels immediately at Steeple's appearance, its wings tightly secured at its side, and it plants the sword into the stone at Steeple's feet.
"Father, what is my name?"
-
!!! ...
Steeple gawks in surprise at the Gargoyle, his gift, and the query at hand.
'No way!' he thinks to Prince Maurice, 'They didn't!'
'Tell me they didn't just give me my own Gargoyle!!! Squeeeee!!!'
Overjoyed, Steeple gives some thought to the name. It has to be powerful, regal even - plus, 'Sanchez' was already taken.
"You are Maximus Ferrum; you have a heart like iron; the strength of an anvil; welcome my son!"
Steeple places his hand on Maximus' shoulder and nods with approval. Then picking up the bone sword (Strength of the Earth to pull it free), he motions for Maximus to come inside.
"I want you to meet my Nadia," he says, "She is dearest to me, so as my faithful one, it will be your duty to protect her from harm."
Steeple then calls to Nadia to come see the newest member of their family.
-
On picking up the sword Steeple immediately finds his senses overtaken by a powerful, familiar voice - he soon recognizes it as Celestyn's, coming off the sword itself. An enchanted message to him?
"Steeple! It would appear that one of the newborn gargoyles has gone renegade and stolen a sword Etrius had crafted to test a newly developed ritual. Be careful and wary, they both are very dangerous! The gargoyke is known for his clever tactics, and might even be your match in creative combat - bastard butchered 7 of his kin with that sword he stole in order to escape."
The tongue-in-cheek warning brings a smile to the Malkavian's face, even as Maurice says - "A wonderful gift, clear tribute to our greatness! The sword has something carved onto the sides, look a little closer eh Steeple?"
Sadly, the writing appears to be in Latin - which Steeple recognizes from his studies but cannot speak himself.
Meanwhile, the gargoyle gives a wicked, satisfied grin.
He stands then, to his full height of seven feet, thick, bulging stone muscles standing out. "I am Maximus Ferrum, smallest childe of the thirteenth Scout brood, slayer of the thirteenth Warrior and Sentinel broods. I shall be your wings, your eyes and your blade."
Nadia comes up, holding an iron pot like a club, and shrieks at the sight of Maximus.
-
"Nadia, Nadia dear," Steeple calms the woman, "He is of our house now. This is Maximus Ferrum; and he will be your brother."
-
Maximus darts over to Nadia with entirely impossible agility - which sends her back screaming even harder.
"I am to protect you, sister Nadia. It will be difficult, for you are soft and weak and bleed mortal blood, but I welcome the task."
Nadia runs away, with Maximus Ferrum chasing her.
"Sister wait, let me protect you!"
End Sidequest
-
OK, blood bond Maximus, use Blood Walk on him, have Nadia bound 1 step to Maximus, teach Maximus Obfuscate, try to get Nadia to learn Fortitude and Potence.
Have Vozhd spleen delivered to Sophia.
;D
-
Steeple's ritual uncovers a two-step bond to Celestyn, a two-step bond to an unknown, and a three step bond to Steeple himself.
Nadia has a one-step bond to Maximus. An unknown has a three step bond to Maximus.
-
Steeple will also use it on himself...
-
An unknown has a three step bond to Maximus.
Oh, cool! Steeple will be sure to ask Maximus about it!
-
So, first off, it should be noted that you cannot search the true names of blood bonds, only the true names of Maximus' ancestors (in this case, the vampires who were killed to make him and their sires).
With that out of the way:
Nosferatu half:
Geoffrey (Killed to create Maximus): Typically ugly features of the cursed clan - lesions all over the face, twisted and malformed, absent nose.
Romanov: Sire to Geoffrey, Leaky pus-filled left eye, emaciated facial features, scars under the left cheekbone, malformed jaw.
Gerlando: Sire to Romanov, face looks like it has been shattered, and healed badly. Grey skin.
The Second: Sire to Gerlando, More of the same, terribly malformed face.
Maleki: Sire to The Second, Steeple is familiar with his face.
Vasili The Penitent Dog: Hound-like features, injured face, beaten, whipping scars.
The Matriarch: Steeple cannot see her face. The name he receives is not her true name either, he knows.
Gangrel Half:
Hector (Killed to create Maximus): Brutish, squat features. Large jaw, bad teeth, pig eyes.
Kilvas: Sire of Hector, Raven-black hair, sharp eyes and a pretty face.
Barrabus: Sire of Kilvas, Large head with elongated canines and a thickly muscled neck. Forehead juts out at an angle. Disturbing intelligence in his eyes.
Argnel Mardora (The Hunter): Sire of Barrabus, Unmistakably resembles a lion, with long, thick hair that resembles that of a mane, and a thick, muscled chest and powerful jaw that brings to mind the shape of a majestic cat. Even the skin is a golden shade similar to a lion's fur.
Bartholomaus Faust (The Archbishop): Sire of Argnel Mardora, The man bears a striking resemblance to his child (or at least, a lion - which his child bears a striking resemblance to).
Ikkenai: Steeple can tell the name is real but he cannot make out a face.
Ruler of Andora: Steeple can neither make out a name or a face.
Steeple's own bloodline:
Stephan Vladivostok: Sire to Steeple. Steeple is familiar with his face. The man's true name is obscured to him.
Petaniqua: Sire to Stephan Vladivostok, (http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/whitewolf/images/1/18/Petaniqua.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/200?cb=20140121195142)
Cybelle the Demon Queen: Steeple cannot make out a face, and feels he should not want to for fear of madness.
Malkav: Steeple's ritual falls apart as it tries to find the Antediluvian's face.
Oh, cool! Steeple will be sure to ask Maximus about it!
Maximus will try to evade telling Steeple about it. Want to RP the little scene out?
-
Steeple takes some time to sit down with Maximus in the study. He has been 'walking the blood' and is curious about who could be bound to his Gargoyle retainer.
"Maximus my faithful son," Steeple begins, "I wish to know the details of my grandson... the one that is bound to you, as much as you are bound to me."
-
Maximus eschews the chair in favour of kneeling.
"There is no such one, my lord. I need no servant or guardian and thus have none."
-
Steeple activates his Auspex as he listens to try to determine if Maximus is intentionally hiding this from him, or why.
"Maximus?" Steeple asks, "How much do you remember of your birth? Do you have memories of your former life? Do you ever feel as though there are other voices in your head beyond your own?"
-
"I was torn from the womb of the stone mother fully grown, fused from the flesh of two unworthy creatures and made into something worthy. I have no memories of my past lives. I have no voices."
Maximus answers each question matter-of-factly. Steeple senses no deception.
-
"You have one bound to you in some manner," Steeple replies calmly, speaking as a father would to his son, as if counseling over some important life issue; "I can see it with the sorceries I wield."
"I have to wonder, if it is a remnant of one of those that went into creating your more perfected form."
"Perhaps one of them had a very strong bond to someone... and that transferred through the womb to you..."
"Unless you know something that you are hesitant to tell me, I think we shall have to summon the spirits of these two creatures and enquire of them the meaning of this thing. No?"
-
"I suppose such inquiries shall be necessary," Maximus states.
Suddenly a frantic squeaking sound fills the room and Maximus lowers his eyes to the ground, sighing.
A large grey rat springs from the folds of Maximus' wings and lands a Steeple's feet. It stands on its two hind legs and spreads its little arms, then squeaks at him.
-
"Oh ho ho!" Steeple grins at Maximus, shaking a finger, "You naughty boy!"
"And what is your name?" Steeple asks the rat, reaching down to offer a hand for the creature to climb up onto, if it desires.
-
"It is Minimus Ferrum, my lord," Maximus says.
"Please, he is friend! Not a servant or a guardian, for I am his servant and guardian! I would not put him in any danger!"
The rat tentatively reaches for Steeple's hand with its own, then climbs into it and settles itself into a comfortable position.
-
"Minimus..." Steeple replies, stroking the rat gently.
For a moment he considers offering the creature some of his own blood, but then defers. No, this is for Maximus. Something that he can truly call his very own.
"Appropriate," he says simply, handing the rat ghoul back to Maximus.
Then smiling mischievously, he adds, "Probably best we keep him hidden from Nadia for now. It wouldn't surprise me at all if she has one of them womanly fear of mice or something haha!"
-
"Thank you my lord!" Maximus says, leaping upwards and scooping Steeple up into a painfully tight bear hug. Minimus Ferrum leaps onto Maximus' shoulder and moves back into the folds of his wings then.
~End Scene