Post by Head Moderator on Nov 21, 2012 19:07:57 GMT -5
a vision bereft: Log On
a vision bereft: ^v^ 11/14/2012 12:49:24 AM ^v^
a vision bereft: Mission: Undead Study #3 - The Vampire
a vision bereft: State your information - name, rank, hit points, defense
dc, and if you have healing points (non self heal)
a merciful edge: Kyle, Topaz Champion, 22 hp, def 14
a vision bereft: Joelle Petrov, Amber Champion, 2d52, 31hp, DC15, 14 heal
points.
a vision bereft: Kyle 0/22 [14] || Elle 0/31 [15] (0/14)
a vision bereft: (one moment)
a vision bereft: (unless you wanna start us off?)
a merciful edge: (I'll give it a shot)
a merciful edge: So! Once again, the burgeoning undead hunters were ready to
go out and, in Kyle's case, probably embarrass himself publicly. At least
undead didn't tend to hang around crowds. He wanted to get their samples in a
timely fashion, and
a merciful edge: since neither of them had been severely injured in last
night's debacle, why not go again tonight? Why not indeed. So once again, he
got himself all geared up and ready to go, not that he had a whole lot of
gear. He'd taken the
a merciful edge: liberty of listening around for rumors about vampires this
time, so he wouldn't just have to let Joelle do all the thinkin! Of course,
he still didn't know the area very well, but he had heard that a little ways
outside of town was
a merciful edge: an old mansion that nobody wanted to go to, as it was
alleged to be haunted! A little further research led him to believe it was
probably a vampire hiding out rather than ghosts, which suited him just fine.
Naturally he'd shared the
a merciful edge: information with Elle!
a vision bereft: An old haunted mansion with a vampire in residence?!
Sounded like somewhere they needed to go and get their final undead piece.
She was ready to go as well, and met him down in the tap room with her cloak
already fastened. She'd
a vision bereft: sent word to the stables to have the horses already ready
for him. "Ok.. I've got a couple stakes, what else do we need to kill a
vampire?" She wasn't too keen on the reasearch about them, but she figured
they had to be
a vision bereft: weak to something. Sunlight?
a merciful edge: "Uh." He stared at her blankly, then shrugged. "I have my
sword. I've heard both that a stake to the heart will kill them by itself,
but I've also heard that the stake is just to disable them long enough to
take their head off. I
a merciful edge: figured both can't hurt. We're not really gonna be getting
any daylight around this time, so I suppose it'll have to do. Maybe we should
go when the sun's up?" Andy was just assuming it was night!
a vision bereft: "True." She gave a little nod and adjusted the pack on her
back. "I have five sunrods in my pack, does that count as daylight?
Sun...day.... who knows." She shrugged and headed out the door to her waiting
horse, and was quickly
a vision bereft: mounted and ready to go. She grabbed the reins and said her
thank you to the stablehand, and waited for Kyle to be ready as well, she
wasn't sure which way out of town the mansion was located.
a merciful edge: "I've got know idea if it does. If we need to, I suppose
it's worth a shot. Maybe they'll weaken it at least?" They could find out if
they started getting their asses handed to them. "Maybe we'll be in luck and
it'll already be dead
a merciful edge: and we can just take the fangs or something." He chuckled
and mounted the same horse he had before, then thought back to the rumor.
"It's supposed to be north of town, not too far out. They said it's almost on
the lake, so it can't
a merciful edge: be that far."
a vision bereft: She smirked and tugged her hood up over her head, leaving
soft layers of brunette waves hanging free. She gave a little click of her
tongue and began moving towards the north gate of town. Moving at a normal
a vision bereft: pace through town for even at night certain areas were
bustling, and only kicking in her heels for a quicker pace from Padric when
they got out of the gate.
a merciful edge: He'd let her set the pace, just..hopefully not too fast!
His horse would certainly not be able to keep up with Padric if she went too
fast. It wouldn't be more than half an hour before they'd be able to spot the
mansion! It did
a merciful edge: indeed have a view of the lake, but it was far enough
inland from it that it certainly wouldn't be considered on the lake, so..all
in all, he got rather good directions, it seemed! A run-down, abandoned,
creepy lookin place.
a vision bereft: Not too fast! She wasn't galloping or anything. Trotting,
cantering something along those lines, who knows! For now, they needed no
light because at least one of the three moons in the sky was full and casting
a soft
a vision bereft: light over the road for them. As they approached the
mansion, she glanced around as much as she could from where she was and noted
how creepy looking it was. A big old abandoned place like this, surely had at
least one kinda monster
a vision bereft: that went bump in the night! She tugged Padric to a halt
and slid off, then tied him up. "I bet this was quite a beautiful place in
its heyday. Sitting right on the lake like that." She wondered for a moment
if her father's home was
a vision bereft: anything like this, but she just gave a shrug to her
thoughts and started walkign towards it.
a merciful edge: He hopped off of his own horse and tied it up as well, then
eyed the mansion with a little wrinkle of his nose. "It reminds me a bit of
where I grew up. Or rather, where I was supposed to have grown up. Just run
down." And not quite
a merciful edge: as big, his family practically had a palace, but this place
really must've been nice back in the day. He rubbed at his pinky stump
briefly, then reached his hand up and drew his sword, as he'd rather not be
caught unready by a
a merciful edge: vampire. And then over to the door he went to give it a
test and see if it was locked!
a vision bereft: "Your family was wealthy?" She followed behind him, her
seax drawn and held in her gloved hand, and a stake held in the other now.
When he went to the door, she waited to see if it was locked or not. He'd
find that it was indeed
a vision bereft: locked, though several of the windows on the bottom floor
were broken enough that if they wanted to, they could climb in that way. She
headed over to one of the windows and peered through the broken glass inside.
a merciful edge: "Mm." He nodded once. "Apparently only a few steps shy of
royalty, or so they liked to say. I didn't get to live in much of it, only
long enough to be able to blend in, learn manners and whatnot. I wasn't
raised there." He
a merciful edge: considered giving the door a good kick, but a broken window
would likely be easier. He moved over to the window she was peering through,
then pulled on his gloves. He'd got one made for his missin finger hand too,
so he wouldn't
a merciful edge: just have an empty finger bit flopping around. And then he
started carefully clearing out as much of the glass as he could so they
wouldn't cut themselves going in.
a vision bereft: "Ahh. And here you are, associating yourself with a lowly
gypsy girl." She used her cloak and broke out a few more of the glass shards
so that they could get inside without cutting themselves up, then saw him
doing the same with his
a vision bereft: gloved fingers. Once they got the glass cleared away, she
grabbed the sill and hefted her small self through the window and into the
room. It was much darker inside than outside though at least the moon was
still shining through
a vision bereft: the windows. There were shelves on the walls, that must
have once been thick with books. The books on the shelves now were thick with
dust, swollen with humidity.
a merciful edge: "Oh, it's fine. I'm sure if I went to go associate myself
with them again, I'd likely be captured and executed. For not being pretty
enough, I'd imagine, if they couldn't find a legitimate reason. Of which
there are quite a few." He
a merciful edge: climbed into the window after her and looked around the
room as well as he could, moving over to try and see what sort of books they
were! Some people kept specific collections, after all, and he was curious
whether this was one, or
a merciful edge: just a random assortment. So naturally, he brushed dust off
of a spine to see what was written on it, if anything.
a vision bereft: "Not being pretty enough?" She snickered softly and gave a
shake of her head as she lowered her hood once inside. Stake was put in a
pocket for now, but she kept her hand on her weapon as she moved around,
looking for any clue that
a vision bereft: someone, or something was living here.
a vision bereft: SPOT CHECK
OnlineHost: a merciful edge rolled 1 20-sided die: 14
OnlineHost: a vision bereft rolled 1 20-sided die: 5
a merciful edge: (no bonus)
a vision bereft: +2 = 7
a vision bereft: Elle, probably because she did not have any sort of
darkvision or low-light vision, did not see much to let her know of such
things --- but Kyle... he noticed a thick book on the shelves, a book that
had NO dust on it and looked
a vision bereft: quite thumbed through.
a merciful edge: Well he didn't have dark or low-light vision! He had spent
a lot of time in the dark as a youth. "Yes, not pretty enough. They'd take
one look at the scars and deem me unfit for public viewing as a member of
their family. It's fine,
a merciful edge: though, I disowned them years ago anyway. I just wish I
knew whatever happened to my sisters.." He sighed a little, and then found
that book! He tilted his head, then tugged it off the shelf to have a better
look.
a vision bereft: "How many sisters did you have?" This was all new
information for her, though, it wasn't as if they really knew each other TOO
well yet. "My father was disowned from the family, I don't know if I ever
told you that. I don't have any
a vision bereft: brothers or sisters though." She moved over to beside him
when he pulled the book out. "Find something?"
a vision bereft: The book was heavy, and when it opened it'd reveal a secret
area cut out from the middle, where there were at least 6 or 8 vials of what
looked like blood stashed there, and a folded up note of parchment.
a merciful edge: "Two sisters, twins. They'd be.." He thought for a moment.
"Twenty-seven now, I believe, a few years younger than me. They were the only
ones I was really close to, during the brief visits I was allowed at home,
mostly because they
a merciful edge: were born after I was sold, they didn't have any
..expectations of me, I suppose you could say. I was allowed to be myself
with them. I still beat myself up for leaving them, sometimes." He lifted a
brow when he spotted what was in
a merciful edge: the book, and carefully pulled out the parchment to see
what the note said! The blood he'd leave be for now.
a vision bereft: The note was written in an elegant script, in common. It
was to someone named "Lord Valinore" and spoke of a shipment that would be
arriving on the 15th of this month, and that the rest of payment was
expected. It was signed, "W".
a vision bereft: "You should look them up sometime. Family is so important.
I miss mine, well my extended family. My mother and father and grandmother
are all dead, not that I really saw my father much after he left us." She
a vision bereft: wrinkled her nose at the vials of blood, then moved on out
of the room into the hallway and looked up the stairs, then shook her head.
"If it's here, it's probably down below, don't you think?"
a merciful edge: "Hm." He wrinkled his nose a bit. If the guy wasn't
actually feeding off of poor innocent people, and was just drinking delivered
blood instead, that might change things a bit. Of course, that would also
involve a full investigation
a merciful edge: into who this W person was, and where they were getting the
blood they were leaving for Lord Valinore. He put the note back into the book
and slipped it back into the shelf. "We should come back here on the
fifteenth, there's
a merciful edge: something I'd like to find out. And yes, I suppose I
should, but it could be dangerous for them, depending on their situation. I
don't know that I'd feel comfortable risking that." He glanced down at the
floor and nodded at her
a merciful edge: question. "Yeah, I'd imagine down below. Too easy to get
hit by stray sunlight otherwise, I'd think. The real question is, how do we
get down there?"
a vision bereft: She nodded to him, understanding at least a little bit,
and then she began looking around, and opening every door she could find. A
parlor, a dining room, a kitchen area, a storage room...aha! The door that
had a stairway going
a vision bereft: down into the depths of the cellar and basement, or was a
cellar and basement the same damn thing? Whatever it was, down she went, as
the steps began to creak under her slight weight. She tried to be as quiet as
she could but, she
a vision bereft: could not see at all. It was pitch black down there. She
stopped walking and reached into her pack and brought out a sunrod and gave
it a hit on the wall, letting it spark and light up. now they could see!
a merciful edge: Cellars were tiny and terrifying, basements were where it's
at. In Andy's experience, anyhow. He kept his sword in his hand as they moved
through and he helped with the door searching, until she found the one
heading downstairs.
a merciful edge: Before they headed down, he placed his free hand on her
shoulder and pulled her close to whisper hopefully where the vampire, if down
there, couldn't hear. "I think it best if we do not attack unless we are
attacked first. If he's
a merciful edge: open to communication, we may be able to do this without a
fight." And then he went down! He let her lead the way until she brought up
the sunrod, and then he moved in front so he'd take the brunt of any attack
that might come!
a vision bereft: When he moved in front of her, she held back. He had a
bigger blade anyway, as long as he wasn't gonna drop it! She held the sunrod
out, trying to see around and boy was the basement even creepier than
upstairs. Jars of spoiled food
a vision bereft: some spilled. Rats moving about where they could see, and
where they couldn't see. Cobwebs everywhere, and crates and boxes and old
furniture. But, along one area of the basement the floor was clean as if
walked back and forth a
a vision bereft: lot. The stairs, right up the middle of them weren't
covered in dust either. The path led around the corner of a wall.
a merciful edge: Well basements were generally more creepy than the rest of
a house, but still not as creepy as a cellar. Although honestly having a
basement this close to a lake was probably a bad idea, but hey! Maybe that's
why it was so far back
a merciful edge: from the lake? Sure. Anyway. He led closely so that he
could still take advantage of that light she was holding, following the path
of no dust! And sure, he had his weapon in his hand, but he was at the same
time trying to make
a merciful edge: himself look non-threatening. He didn't want to make the
vampire attack them on sight out of self defense, but he also didn't want to
just be ripped to pieces while unarmed!
a vision bereft: As they approached the wall, they'd hear the scurrying of
rats around them again, in fact the rats were running away from behind the
wall, even across their feet. And then, the vampire appeared... turning the
corner and looking
a vision bereft: quite shocked to see the two of them in his house. He eyed
the blades, and the stake and just gave a sigh and held his hands up. He
looked quite wealthy even if he was skulking about the basement. Rings on all
his fingers, even a
a vision bereft: signet ring with a cursive V on it. He looked in fairly
good shape, but he looked like a middle aged man. No handsome young vampire
here. He was elderly, and didn't even look to have a weapon on him. "I
thought I'd sufficiently
a vision bereft: scared all the kids away. Guess there's always a new batch.
Hello to you both, please don't strike I am unarmed." He smiled, of coruse
showing his fangs, but he couldn't help it! "I was... in the middle of
dinner." He wrinkled his
a vision bereft: nose as he motioned to the swarming of rats that had gone
past them.
a merciful edge: Well, surrendering! That was..actually very much better
than what he'd been expecting when the vampire showed up. He shifted his
sword in his hand and sheathed it, then offered the man a faint smile, happy
to disarm if he wasn't
a merciful edge: going to attack. Kyle had a rather flexible mind. "There
are vials of blood upstairs, I apologize if we ruined your meal. You're
rather more polite than I'd feared we might run into....we were following up
on a rumor." He glanced
a merciful edge: back to Elle and shrugged, then looked back to the vampire!
"Most of the rumors say there are ghosts here, it took some digging to find
anything else. Uh..." He tilted his head a little. "May I ask where you've
been getting that
a merciful edge: blood I found? More specifically, what or who it comes
from?"
a vision bereft: Elle paused behind Kyle and peeked around when the vampire
showed up, but made no move to attack them. She glanced along his body, fine
clothes, rings, no weapon and gave a slight frown. Still, she didn't like the
undead even if
a vision bereft: he was an old man. "Rumors... I wish those things would
die. Ghosts? Yes, yes I do have quite a few tricks set up to scare those that
come into the house but honestly I haven't had anyone come out here in months
so I wasn't
a vision bereft: expecting company." Said the old vampire. "Or else I'd have
frightened you both away by my ghosts and spirits and flying teacups." He
laughed.
a vision bereft: "It's blood that a hunter I am ...friends...with brings me
when he has a fresh kill."
a merciful edge: He grinned a little, mostly because he did like some
showmanship, and rigging up fake ghosts? That was showmanship at its finest!
"Well if it'll help you out, we won't tell anybody what we really found, and
just perpetuate that it's
a merciful edge: ghosts." He thought for a moment on that last bit, then
furrowed his brow a little. "I assume it's a hunter that hunts animals, yes?
If you're minding your own business and subsisting off of what you can, and
not harming people, I
a merciful edge: see no reason we can't simply part ways peacefully."
Figured he may as well explain why he was pressing for info!
a vision bereft: "Well then, well... that would be delightful. You both seem
the decent sort, then. Yes, a hunter of beasts and animals. I do have a
particular craving for red dragon blood but it's very rare. I've been
promised dragon blood soon,
a vision bereft: so I do hope that tides me over at least a few months. And
I've got rats, my gods I've got rats. Worst blood ever but good in a pinch."
He nodded and moved on by, patting Elle's cheek as he did. "Pretty thing.
Pretty, warm, lovely
a vision bereft: thing aren't you?" Then he kept walking. "Did you come to
slay the big, bad vampire then?"
a vision bereft: That did sound pretty funny to her, rigging up ghosts and
spooks but if it worked then that was just fine. Dragon blood, she gave a
shake of her head. So unclean, the whole thing of it. And drinking rat's
blood was almost enough for
a vision bereft: the gentle woman to throw up then and there. She cringed a
bit as he touched her with his cold hand but then smiled and spoke softly,
"Thank you." What else could she really say? She looked over at Kyle as if to
say, we don't have
a vision bereft: what we came for.... and blinked a little.
a merciful edge: He felt the briefest of urges to lop the vampire's hand off
when he patted Elle's cheek, and turned to follow the vampire, making sure he
was once again between her and the old man. Dragon blood got him to lift a
brow, that seemed a
a merciful edge: bit much. He looked to Elle at that look she gave him, and
he knew they didn't! He was getting to that, just had to make sure the guy
was friendly. "Nothing so violent, we're assisting a student of magic in her
study on necromantic
a merciful edge: phenomena. Collecting samples of tissue or bone, mostly. I
had the thought that if the vampire rumors had died down so thoroughly,
perhaps it was because the vampire had been slain and we'd be able to find
the bones, or fangs or
a merciful edge: something to take back."
a vision bereft: "Ah alas, research and studies, I do remember my youth so
long ago when I studied at the university in Navahla. Those were the golden
days, for certain. Well, it's not as if I won't heal myself, I suppose in
exchange for you not
a vision bereft: spreading the rumors that a vampire does indeed live here,
I could give you a tissue sample." He dug into the pockets of his fine
jacket, even if it was a bit worn, and pulled out a small dagger - one that
someone might whittle wood
a vision bereft: with, and looked over at them. "Get your container ready."
a merciful edge: Well that was Elle's job! He hadn't thought to bring any
sort of container. Hopefully she had?
a vision bereft: This vampire was strange, and Elle had an inkling that
maybe there was more to him than they were finding out, or maybe he was just
a vampire trying to make it in the world. She dug into her pack and brought
out a glass vial and
a vision bereft: handed it over to the vampire.
a vision bereft: He took it, opened it, and with his knife cut off a rather
nasty looking slice of skin along his thumb, nearly to the bone! The piece
fell into the vial and he handed it back then wrapped his handkerchief around
his thumb. "There we
a vision bereft: are, then. Pleasant journies." He shuffled along the
basement following the path the rats had taken, disappearing into the
darkness.
a merciful edge: Oh he had the feeling there was more to this guy than met
the eye, but he also didn't want to tangle with a vampire on home turf at
night if he didn't have to. He'd investigate further, starting with this
deliver that was to happen
a merciful edge: on the fifteenth! For now, he offered a bow of his head to
the vampire and smiled faintly. "Thank you, do take care of yourself." Of
course if he heard that this vampire attacked anyone in the near future, he
woudn't need any
a merciful edge: investigation, he'd just assemble a hunt!
a vision bereft: She mouthed to Kyle, "that was odd" Then capped the vial
and tucked it away. They had what they came for, and so she held the sunrod
out and headed for the stairs and began moving up the creaky wooden steps
until she got to the top.
a vision bereft: Of course, going along pace with Kyle so he had light as
well. She opened the door and stepped out, it was then that she noticed a
painting hanging in the hallway, covered in dirt and cobwebs. A painting of a
younger man that had to
a vision bereft: be that vampire, in his younger days. She pointed to it,
and gave it a little wipe at the face then shook her head. "This is his
home."
a merciful edge: "Well we found out the sunrod didn't do a thing to a
vampire, so there is that." Unless it weakened the vampire and that's why he
seemed to want a fight as much as Kyle did! Who knows. He closed the door
behind them and then looked
a merciful edge: over to the painting, furrowing his brow a bit and nodding.
"Hm, so it seems. The state of the place makes me wonder how long he's been
here."
a vision bereft: "I do wonder that as well. We have a name, what was it...
Valinore? We could look it up." She headed for the front door, since they
really didn't need to crawl back through the window, and unlocked it and
stepped out. She made sure
a vision bereft: it was locked again so when they pulled the door shut it'd
be locked. Not that others couldn't just climb through the windows like they
did. She could see their horses, and she waited on the porch for Kyle then
headed towards the
a vision bereft: horses. This had turned out to be much easier than the last
ones they had!
a merciful edge: Yes it had! Oh and Kyle was still poor, since Andy forgot
to say so at the beginning
a merciful edge: .
a vision bereft: Noted!
a vision bereft: Log off
a vision bereft: ^v^ 11/14/2012 12:49:24 AM ^v^
a vision bereft: Mission: Undead Study #3 - The Vampire
a vision bereft: State your information - name, rank, hit points, defense
dc, and if you have healing points (non self heal)
a merciful edge: Kyle, Topaz Champion, 22 hp, def 14
a vision bereft: Joelle Petrov, Amber Champion, 2d52, 31hp, DC15, 14 heal
points.
a vision bereft: Kyle 0/22 [14] || Elle 0/31 [15] (0/14)
a vision bereft: (one moment)
a vision bereft: (unless you wanna start us off?)
a merciful edge: (I'll give it a shot)
a merciful edge: So! Once again, the burgeoning undead hunters were ready to
go out and, in Kyle's case, probably embarrass himself publicly. At least
undead didn't tend to hang around crowds. He wanted to get their samples in a
timely fashion, and
a merciful edge: since neither of them had been severely injured in last
night's debacle, why not go again tonight? Why not indeed. So once again, he
got himself all geared up and ready to go, not that he had a whole lot of
gear. He'd taken the
a merciful edge: liberty of listening around for rumors about vampires this
time, so he wouldn't just have to let Joelle do all the thinkin! Of course,
he still didn't know the area very well, but he had heard that a little ways
outside of town was
a merciful edge: an old mansion that nobody wanted to go to, as it was
alleged to be haunted! A little further research led him to believe it was
probably a vampire hiding out rather than ghosts, which suited him just fine.
Naturally he'd shared the
a merciful edge: information with Elle!
a vision bereft: An old haunted mansion with a vampire in residence?!
Sounded like somewhere they needed to go and get their final undead piece.
She was ready to go as well, and met him down in the tap room with her cloak
already fastened. She'd
a vision bereft: sent word to the stables to have the horses already ready
for him. "Ok.. I've got a couple stakes, what else do we need to kill a
vampire?" She wasn't too keen on the reasearch about them, but she figured
they had to be
a vision bereft: weak to something. Sunlight?
a merciful edge: "Uh." He stared at her blankly, then shrugged. "I have my
sword. I've heard both that a stake to the heart will kill them by itself,
but I've also heard that the stake is just to disable them long enough to
take their head off. I
a merciful edge: figured both can't hurt. We're not really gonna be getting
any daylight around this time, so I suppose it'll have to do. Maybe we should
go when the sun's up?" Andy was just assuming it was night!
a vision bereft: "True." She gave a little nod and adjusted the pack on her
back. "I have five sunrods in my pack, does that count as daylight?
Sun...day.... who knows." She shrugged and headed out the door to her waiting
horse, and was quickly
a vision bereft: mounted and ready to go. She grabbed the reins and said her
thank you to the stablehand, and waited for Kyle to be ready as well, she
wasn't sure which way out of town the mansion was located.
a merciful edge: "I've got know idea if it does. If we need to, I suppose
it's worth a shot. Maybe they'll weaken it at least?" They could find out if
they started getting their asses handed to them. "Maybe we'll be in luck and
it'll already be dead
a merciful edge: and we can just take the fangs or something." He chuckled
and mounted the same horse he had before, then thought back to the rumor.
"It's supposed to be north of town, not too far out. They said it's almost on
the lake, so it can't
a merciful edge: be that far."
a vision bereft: She smirked and tugged her hood up over her head, leaving
soft layers of brunette waves hanging free. She gave a little click of her
tongue and began moving towards the north gate of town. Moving at a normal
a vision bereft: pace through town for even at night certain areas were
bustling, and only kicking in her heels for a quicker pace from Padric when
they got out of the gate.
a merciful edge: He'd let her set the pace, just..hopefully not too fast!
His horse would certainly not be able to keep up with Padric if she went too
fast. It wouldn't be more than half an hour before they'd be able to spot the
mansion! It did
a merciful edge: indeed have a view of the lake, but it was far enough
inland from it that it certainly wouldn't be considered on the lake, so..all
in all, he got rather good directions, it seemed! A run-down, abandoned,
creepy lookin place.
a vision bereft: Not too fast! She wasn't galloping or anything. Trotting,
cantering something along those lines, who knows! For now, they needed no
light because at least one of the three moons in the sky was full and casting
a soft
a vision bereft: light over the road for them. As they approached the
mansion, she glanced around as much as she could from where she was and noted
how creepy looking it was. A big old abandoned place like this, surely had at
least one kinda monster
a vision bereft: that went bump in the night! She tugged Padric to a halt
and slid off, then tied him up. "I bet this was quite a beautiful place in
its heyday. Sitting right on the lake like that." She wondered for a moment
if her father's home was
a vision bereft: anything like this, but she just gave a shrug to her
thoughts and started walkign towards it.
a merciful edge: He hopped off of his own horse and tied it up as well, then
eyed the mansion with a little wrinkle of his nose. "It reminds me a bit of
where I grew up. Or rather, where I was supposed to have grown up. Just run
down." And not quite
a merciful edge: as big, his family practically had a palace, but this place
really must've been nice back in the day. He rubbed at his pinky stump
briefly, then reached his hand up and drew his sword, as he'd rather not be
caught unready by a
a merciful edge: vampire. And then over to the door he went to give it a
test and see if it was locked!
a vision bereft: "Your family was wealthy?" She followed behind him, her
seax drawn and held in her gloved hand, and a stake held in the other now.
When he went to the door, she waited to see if it was locked or not. He'd
find that it was indeed
a vision bereft: locked, though several of the windows on the bottom floor
were broken enough that if they wanted to, they could climb in that way. She
headed over to one of the windows and peered through the broken glass inside.
a merciful edge: "Mm." He nodded once. "Apparently only a few steps shy of
royalty, or so they liked to say. I didn't get to live in much of it, only
long enough to be able to blend in, learn manners and whatnot. I wasn't
raised there." He
a merciful edge: considered giving the door a good kick, but a broken window
would likely be easier. He moved over to the window she was peering through,
then pulled on his gloves. He'd got one made for his missin finger hand too,
so he wouldn't
a merciful edge: just have an empty finger bit flopping around. And then he
started carefully clearing out as much of the glass as he could so they
wouldn't cut themselves going in.
a vision bereft: "Ahh. And here you are, associating yourself with a lowly
gypsy girl." She used her cloak and broke out a few more of the glass shards
so that they could get inside without cutting themselves up, then saw him
doing the same with his
a vision bereft: gloved fingers. Once they got the glass cleared away, she
grabbed the sill and hefted her small self through the window and into the
room. It was much darker inside than outside though at least the moon was
still shining through
a vision bereft: the windows. There were shelves on the walls, that must
have once been thick with books. The books on the shelves now were thick with
dust, swollen with humidity.
a merciful edge: "Oh, it's fine. I'm sure if I went to go associate myself
with them again, I'd likely be captured and executed. For not being pretty
enough, I'd imagine, if they couldn't find a legitimate reason. Of which
there are quite a few." He
a merciful edge: climbed into the window after her and looked around the
room as well as he could, moving over to try and see what sort of books they
were! Some people kept specific collections, after all, and he was curious
whether this was one, or
a merciful edge: just a random assortment. So naturally, he brushed dust off
of a spine to see what was written on it, if anything.
a vision bereft: "Not being pretty enough?" She snickered softly and gave a
shake of her head as she lowered her hood once inside. Stake was put in a
pocket for now, but she kept her hand on her weapon as she moved around,
looking for any clue that
a vision bereft: someone, or something was living here.
a vision bereft: SPOT CHECK
OnlineHost: a merciful edge rolled 1 20-sided die: 14
OnlineHost: a vision bereft rolled 1 20-sided die: 5
a merciful edge: (no bonus)
a vision bereft: +2 = 7
a vision bereft: Elle, probably because she did not have any sort of
darkvision or low-light vision, did not see much to let her know of such
things --- but Kyle... he noticed a thick book on the shelves, a book that
had NO dust on it and looked
a vision bereft: quite thumbed through.
a merciful edge: Well he didn't have dark or low-light vision! He had spent
a lot of time in the dark as a youth. "Yes, not pretty enough. They'd take
one look at the scars and deem me unfit for public viewing as a member of
their family. It's fine,
a merciful edge: though, I disowned them years ago anyway. I just wish I
knew whatever happened to my sisters.." He sighed a little, and then found
that book! He tilted his head, then tugged it off the shelf to have a better
look.
a vision bereft: "How many sisters did you have?" This was all new
information for her, though, it wasn't as if they really knew each other TOO
well yet. "My father was disowned from the family, I don't know if I ever
told you that. I don't have any
a vision bereft: brothers or sisters though." She moved over to beside him
when he pulled the book out. "Find something?"
a vision bereft: The book was heavy, and when it opened it'd reveal a secret
area cut out from the middle, where there were at least 6 or 8 vials of what
looked like blood stashed there, and a folded up note of parchment.
a merciful edge: "Two sisters, twins. They'd be.." He thought for a moment.
"Twenty-seven now, I believe, a few years younger than me. They were the only
ones I was really close to, during the brief visits I was allowed at home,
mostly because they
a merciful edge: were born after I was sold, they didn't have any
..expectations of me, I suppose you could say. I was allowed to be myself
with them. I still beat myself up for leaving them, sometimes." He lifted a
brow when he spotted what was in
a merciful edge: the book, and carefully pulled out the parchment to see
what the note said! The blood he'd leave be for now.
a vision bereft: The note was written in an elegant script, in common. It
was to someone named "Lord Valinore" and spoke of a shipment that would be
arriving on the 15th of this month, and that the rest of payment was
expected. It was signed, "W".
a vision bereft: "You should look them up sometime. Family is so important.
I miss mine, well my extended family. My mother and father and grandmother
are all dead, not that I really saw my father much after he left us." She
a vision bereft: wrinkled her nose at the vials of blood, then moved on out
of the room into the hallway and looked up the stairs, then shook her head.
"If it's here, it's probably down below, don't you think?"
a merciful edge: "Hm." He wrinkled his nose a bit. If the guy wasn't
actually feeding off of poor innocent people, and was just drinking delivered
blood instead, that might change things a bit. Of course, that would also
involve a full investigation
a merciful edge: into who this W person was, and where they were getting the
blood they were leaving for Lord Valinore. He put the note back into the book
and slipped it back into the shelf. "We should come back here on the
fifteenth, there's
a merciful edge: something I'd like to find out. And yes, I suppose I
should, but it could be dangerous for them, depending on their situation. I
don't know that I'd feel comfortable risking that." He glanced down at the
floor and nodded at her
a merciful edge: question. "Yeah, I'd imagine down below. Too easy to get
hit by stray sunlight otherwise, I'd think. The real question is, how do we
get down there?"
a vision bereft: She nodded to him, understanding at least a little bit,
and then she began looking around, and opening every door she could find. A
parlor, a dining room, a kitchen area, a storage room...aha! The door that
had a stairway going
a vision bereft: down into the depths of the cellar and basement, or was a
cellar and basement the same damn thing? Whatever it was, down she went, as
the steps began to creak under her slight weight. She tried to be as quiet as
she could but, she
a vision bereft: could not see at all. It was pitch black down there. She
stopped walking and reached into her pack and brought out a sunrod and gave
it a hit on the wall, letting it spark and light up. now they could see!
a merciful edge: Cellars were tiny and terrifying, basements were where it's
at. In Andy's experience, anyhow. He kept his sword in his hand as they moved
through and he helped with the door searching, until she found the one
heading downstairs.
a merciful edge: Before they headed down, he placed his free hand on her
shoulder and pulled her close to whisper hopefully where the vampire, if down
there, couldn't hear. "I think it best if we do not attack unless we are
attacked first. If he's
a merciful edge: open to communication, we may be able to do this without a
fight." And then he went down! He let her lead the way until she brought up
the sunrod, and then he moved in front so he'd take the brunt of any attack
that might come!
a vision bereft: When he moved in front of her, she held back. He had a
bigger blade anyway, as long as he wasn't gonna drop it! She held the sunrod
out, trying to see around and boy was the basement even creepier than
upstairs. Jars of spoiled food
a vision bereft: some spilled. Rats moving about where they could see, and
where they couldn't see. Cobwebs everywhere, and crates and boxes and old
furniture. But, along one area of the basement the floor was clean as if
walked back and forth a
a vision bereft: lot. The stairs, right up the middle of them weren't
covered in dust either. The path led around the corner of a wall.
a merciful edge: Well basements were generally more creepy than the rest of
a house, but still not as creepy as a cellar. Although honestly having a
basement this close to a lake was probably a bad idea, but hey! Maybe that's
why it was so far back
a merciful edge: from the lake? Sure. Anyway. He led closely so that he
could still take advantage of that light she was holding, following the path
of no dust! And sure, he had his weapon in his hand, but he was at the same
time trying to make
a merciful edge: himself look non-threatening. He didn't want to make the
vampire attack them on sight out of self defense, but he also didn't want to
just be ripped to pieces while unarmed!
a vision bereft: As they approached the wall, they'd hear the scurrying of
rats around them again, in fact the rats were running away from behind the
wall, even across their feet. And then, the vampire appeared... turning the
corner and looking
a vision bereft: quite shocked to see the two of them in his house. He eyed
the blades, and the stake and just gave a sigh and held his hands up. He
looked quite wealthy even if he was skulking about the basement. Rings on all
his fingers, even a
a vision bereft: signet ring with a cursive V on it. He looked in fairly
good shape, but he looked like a middle aged man. No handsome young vampire
here. He was elderly, and didn't even look to have a weapon on him. "I
thought I'd sufficiently
a vision bereft: scared all the kids away. Guess there's always a new batch.
Hello to you both, please don't strike I am unarmed." He smiled, of coruse
showing his fangs, but he couldn't help it! "I was... in the middle of
dinner." He wrinkled his
a vision bereft: nose as he motioned to the swarming of rats that had gone
past them.
a merciful edge: Well, surrendering! That was..actually very much better
than what he'd been expecting when the vampire showed up. He shifted his
sword in his hand and sheathed it, then offered the man a faint smile, happy
to disarm if he wasn't
a merciful edge: going to attack. Kyle had a rather flexible mind. "There
are vials of blood upstairs, I apologize if we ruined your meal. You're
rather more polite than I'd feared we might run into....we were following up
on a rumor." He glanced
a merciful edge: back to Elle and shrugged, then looked back to the vampire!
"Most of the rumors say there are ghosts here, it took some digging to find
anything else. Uh..." He tilted his head a little. "May I ask where you've
been getting that
a merciful edge: blood I found? More specifically, what or who it comes
from?"
a vision bereft: Elle paused behind Kyle and peeked around when the vampire
showed up, but made no move to attack them. She glanced along his body, fine
clothes, rings, no weapon and gave a slight frown. Still, she didn't like the
undead even if
a vision bereft: he was an old man. "Rumors... I wish those things would
die. Ghosts? Yes, yes I do have quite a few tricks set up to scare those that
come into the house but honestly I haven't had anyone come out here in months
so I wasn't
a vision bereft: expecting company." Said the old vampire. "Or else I'd have
frightened you both away by my ghosts and spirits and flying teacups." He
laughed.
a vision bereft: "It's blood that a hunter I am ...friends...with brings me
when he has a fresh kill."
a merciful edge: He grinned a little, mostly because he did like some
showmanship, and rigging up fake ghosts? That was showmanship at its finest!
"Well if it'll help you out, we won't tell anybody what we really found, and
just perpetuate that it's
a merciful edge: ghosts." He thought for a moment on that last bit, then
furrowed his brow a little. "I assume it's a hunter that hunts animals, yes?
If you're minding your own business and subsisting off of what you can, and
not harming people, I
a merciful edge: see no reason we can't simply part ways peacefully."
Figured he may as well explain why he was pressing for info!
a vision bereft: "Well then, well... that would be delightful. You both seem
the decent sort, then. Yes, a hunter of beasts and animals. I do have a
particular craving for red dragon blood but it's very rare. I've been
promised dragon blood soon,
a vision bereft: so I do hope that tides me over at least a few months. And
I've got rats, my gods I've got rats. Worst blood ever but good in a pinch."
He nodded and moved on by, patting Elle's cheek as he did. "Pretty thing.
Pretty, warm, lovely
a vision bereft: thing aren't you?" Then he kept walking. "Did you come to
slay the big, bad vampire then?"
a vision bereft: That did sound pretty funny to her, rigging up ghosts and
spooks but if it worked then that was just fine. Dragon blood, she gave a
shake of her head. So unclean, the whole thing of it. And drinking rat's
blood was almost enough for
a vision bereft: the gentle woman to throw up then and there. She cringed a
bit as he touched her with his cold hand but then smiled and spoke softly,
"Thank you." What else could she really say? She looked over at Kyle as if to
say, we don't have
a vision bereft: what we came for.... and blinked a little.
a merciful edge: He felt the briefest of urges to lop the vampire's hand off
when he patted Elle's cheek, and turned to follow the vampire, making sure he
was once again between her and the old man. Dragon blood got him to lift a
brow, that seemed a
a merciful edge: bit much. He looked to Elle at that look she gave him, and
he knew they didn't! He was getting to that, just had to make sure the guy
was friendly. "Nothing so violent, we're assisting a student of magic in her
study on necromantic
a merciful edge: phenomena. Collecting samples of tissue or bone, mostly. I
had the thought that if the vampire rumors had died down so thoroughly,
perhaps it was because the vampire had been slain and we'd be able to find
the bones, or fangs or
a merciful edge: something to take back."
a vision bereft: "Ah alas, research and studies, I do remember my youth so
long ago when I studied at the university in Navahla. Those were the golden
days, for certain. Well, it's not as if I won't heal myself, I suppose in
exchange for you not
a vision bereft: spreading the rumors that a vampire does indeed live here,
I could give you a tissue sample." He dug into the pockets of his fine
jacket, even if it was a bit worn, and pulled out a small dagger - one that
someone might whittle wood
a vision bereft: with, and looked over at them. "Get your container ready."
a merciful edge: Well that was Elle's job! He hadn't thought to bring any
sort of container. Hopefully she had?
a vision bereft: This vampire was strange, and Elle had an inkling that
maybe there was more to him than they were finding out, or maybe he was just
a vampire trying to make it in the world. She dug into her pack and brought
out a glass vial and
a vision bereft: handed it over to the vampire.
a vision bereft: He took it, opened it, and with his knife cut off a rather
nasty looking slice of skin along his thumb, nearly to the bone! The piece
fell into the vial and he handed it back then wrapped his handkerchief around
his thumb. "There we
a vision bereft: are, then. Pleasant journies." He shuffled along the
basement following the path the rats had taken, disappearing into the
darkness.
a merciful edge: Oh he had the feeling there was more to this guy than met
the eye, but he also didn't want to tangle with a vampire on home turf at
night if he didn't have to. He'd investigate further, starting with this
deliver that was to happen
a merciful edge: on the fifteenth! For now, he offered a bow of his head to
the vampire and smiled faintly. "Thank you, do take care of yourself." Of
course if he heard that this vampire attacked anyone in the near future, he
woudn't need any
a merciful edge: investigation, he'd just assemble a hunt!
a vision bereft: She mouthed to Kyle, "that was odd" Then capped the vial
and tucked it away. They had what they came for, and so she held the sunrod
out and headed for the stairs and began moving up the creaky wooden steps
until she got to the top.
a vision bereft: Of course, going along pace with Kyle so he had light as
well. She opened the door and stepped out, it was then that she noticed a
painting hanging in the hallway, covered in dirt and cobwebs. A painting of a
younger man that had to
a vision bereft: be that vampire, in his younger days. She pointed to it,
and gave it a little wipe at the face then shook her head. "This is his
home."
a merciful edge: "Well we found out the sunrod didn't do a thing to a
vampire, so there is that." Unless it weakened the vampire and that's why he
seemed to want a fight as much as Kyle did! Who knows. He closed the door
behind them and then looked
a merciful edge: over to the painting, furrowing his brow a bit and nodding.
"Hm, so it seems. The state of the place makes me wonder how long he's been
here."
a vision bereft: "I do wonder that as well. We have a name, what was it...
Valinore? We could look it up." She headed for the front door, since they
really didn't need to crawl back through the window, and unlocked it and
stepped out. She made sure
a vision bereft: it was locked again so when they pulled the door shut it'd
be locked. Not that others couldn't just climb through the windows like they
did. She could see their horses, and she waited on the porch for Kyle then
headed towards the
a vision bereft: horses. This had turned out to be much easier than the last
ones they had!
a merciful edge: Yes it had! Oh and Kyle was still poor, since Andy forgot
to say so at the beginning
a merciful edge: .
a vision bereft: Noted!
a vision bereft: Log off