Vampire: Dark Ages - Act III - Scene 2: The Cursed Village

[Goatkiller666]

Several days later, Alina wakes in the wagon, again in her seat between the gargoyle and Mircea. She knows from the last few evenings that she probably has 10minutes of privacy before her new teacher himself wakes. The gargoyle was instructed to move aside for her to exit the wagon if she wished to step out early.

Through the walls of the wagon, she can hear the sounds of people. Once again, Mircea's gypsy band has joined them, with seven other wagons each holding a complete family. The wagons should be pulled into a ring around the central campfire, each one facing outwards so the rear-facing doors all open to the center of the camp.

Alina can feel Dara's presence. The owl has come much closer to the camp than before. Alina can feel unease from her familiar. There you are. Something is wrong, here. This place is tainted.

[Alína Nyárí]

Her eyes opening and her senses heightened, Alína feels the unease radiating from her familiar.

Erev tov, Dara. What is it you sense? Let me get my bearings and make my salutations to the camp, then I will grab my bow and hunt my break fast with you.

Arising from her seated position, the Jewess makes her ablutions for the day, straightens her sheitel, and descends down the wagon steps in to the intimate circle of the camp. Nodding at the others of the gypsy band, Alína wends her way around the area, trying to look as if she was familiarizing herself with landmarks, but actually handling outcroppings and trunks, logs and leaves.

[using Heightened Senses, Soulsight, and The Spirit's Touch, learn all I can about this new location on my own, before it is influenced by the input of others.]

Having made her assessment of the area, the healer sits and waits for her tutor to appear so she could properly greet him, before heading out to hunt for her own meal.

[Goatkiller666]

I don't... it's just... you'll see.

As Alina moves through the area, especially away from the clearing, she begins to sense what Dara is talking about. The clearing itself has been used as a campsite for many generations, and is filled with banal memories of strangers going about their evenings. No one image really sticks, but the sheer repetition of various people gathering wood here, peeing there, enjoying the sunrise over the mountains over there... it adds up into a strange amorphous person doing each of those things.

But once outside the campsite, the true flavor of the area becomes known. It is not any set of memories or actions, just... a dark and noxious aftertaste to the otherwise vibrant life aura of the forest. Alina inspects each tree and animal with Soulsight, and can find nothing wrong. But still there is a sense that below that, or across it, or... some aspect of the area in a dimension she is not used to considering on its own... something is just slightly off.

So, do you see what I mean?

[Alína Nyárí]

a dark and noxious aftertaste to the otherwise vibrant life aura of the forest. Alina inspects each tree and animal with Soulsight, and can find nothing wrong. But still there is a sense that below that, or across it, or... some aspect of the area in a dimension she is not used to considering on its own... something is just slightly off.

[ooc]doing my best to interpret what I am being told here. would this be similar to reading the aura of someone who has committed diablerie? I understand those auras are more marked. but perhaps because it is a larger area than a person and may have happened long ago, it has been diffused?[/ooc]

So, do you see what I mean?

Nodding slowly as the healer answers her familiar, Yes, something is not right, but I can not put a finger on it. Perhaps Mircea will shed some light on our location when he awakens.

[Goatkiller666]

Eventually, Mircea rises. The gargoyle steps out of the wagon and looks around, followed by its master.

"Ah, there you are apprentice. What do you make of this place? We are here to investigate. Well... I am, I suppose. You are here to learn from my investigation. However, there is one thing you may already be able to help with."

He turns to his followers, then, and says something in Rom. Alina plucks from their minds that he has noticed their dour mood, and asks that they do something to cheer things up. Mircea turns back to her, assuming she followed what he'd said, "This gloom is probably related. So, let us fight the sadness with joy."

Several of the gypsies smile, and step into their wagons, returning soon with various bottles. One man instead brings a fiddle. The girl by the fire tosses a few more logs in, to give some more light. Another woman brings out a small box, and takes out spices to add to the cooking food. Alina also plucks from her mind that these are rare spices, and should heighten everyone's enjoyment. From the woman's memory, Alina recognizes the plant the woman picked. Used properly, it has mild hallucinogenic properties. And it seems like the woman knows her craft.

While the fiddler starts to warm up, Mircea resumes talking. "We are not many, but we pay attention. A few of our ghouls make a point of collecting news and stories from all over the area. One of them reported that this area we are in now has been cursed. Exactly what that means is unclear, though there usually is talk of stillbirths."

[Alína Nyárí]

Alína absorbs this news with interest. "I have helped with many a difficult pregnancy and birthing, Master Mircea. Is this the matter in which you believe I may be of help? Or is there something else I have yet to learn?"

[Goatkiller666]

"If there is a curse effecting these births, can you identify it?"

[Alína Nyárí]

The healer casts her eyes downward; feeling as if she would be blushing if she had the excess blood to do so. "I can not answer, Master. As far as I know, I have never dealt with a curse before. But I have studied kabbalah and other lore which talks about them."

Raising her eyes up, she looks at her teacher and takes a deep breath. "I am willing to try and help all I can, of course."

[Goatkiller666]

"Well then. Up that way is a village. Go find out. Surely one of them has tried to breed. Let us learn what we can of this curse."

[Alína Nyárí]

The Jewess nods, then rises and reenters the wagon to collect her bow, her quiver of arrows, and her satchel with her medical supplies and statuettes. Once again outside, she makes note of the camp's locale, and then heads cautiously towards the village in the direction her tutor indicated. Once a fair distance from camp, she calls for Dara and waits for her familiar to land on her shoulder or forearm.

[Goatkiller666]

Dara flies down and lands on Alina's shoulder, but seems uneasy. Never being still, her sharp claws stopping short of hurting, she keeps adjusting her perch, looking around, and shivering her feathers up.

Alina follows the road to the east for a few miles and finally spots the village. A small huddle of houses around a crossroads. A dilapidated church sits catty-corner from what passes for an Inn, neither seeming to get much use these days.

The village is in a small valley, and from what Alina can see of the size of the valley, there should be more people here. There's plenty of room for crops and pastures here to support a larger village. And, the soil for the past few miles smelled lush enough to grow decent crops. But not only are there fewer buildings than she'd expect, they are in worse care as well. No animals are left outside, and no light seems to escape their shuttered windows. The only sure sign that there were even people there now is the plumes of smoke rising from the chimneys.

They're afraid of... something.

[Alína Nyárí]

Cain, Dara. But the only way to learn what is frightening them is to try to meet them. Find a safe perch where you can observe what is happening, if you will. I will start at what appears to be the village inn.

Watching her familiar fly off, the Jewess then turns towards the inn and makes her way inside. Finding a spot near the hearth, where she hopes she may be able to strike up a conversation, she settles herself and waits to see what occurs.

[ooc]apply all pertinent attributes, abilities, advantages, and merits, please[/ooc]

[Goatkiller666]

The tavern is small: little more than a dirt-floored common room with a large hearth to one side. There are only five people inside, seemingly a single family. All of them, even the children, share a disturbing deformity: each has only a single eye. More than just a missing orb, there is smooth flesh where the right eye would otherwise have been. The three children each quickly avert their gazes when Alina enters, but she can get a good look at the father. It seems that there is no eye socket beneath the flesh, only solid bone.

Through her Auspex, Alina deduces that the five are all mortal, and they are all deeply afraid. Terror has seeped into the very pores of this home. Further, though the common deformity is disturbing to look at, it seems to be the natural state of this family.

The innkeeper rises from the table where they all sat and shuffles over to Alina meekly. Keeping his one-eyed gaze lowered, he asks "How may I serve, mistress?"

[Alína Nyárí]

The Jewess looks up, a small smile of friendliness upon her face. "I have been traveling for a while and welcome a fire and some company. A mug of hot tea and some conversation would be nice, for a start.

"Tell me, what is this place where I have found myself?"

[Goatkiller666]

The innkeeper moves to the kitchen for a pot of water from the fire. "Tea it is, milady."

The eldest daughter, just beginning to blossom into a woman laughs. "This is the living Hell."

Her mother takes her by the shoulder and says, "Tsst! Show respect for our honored guest."

Her father, entering from the kitchen area with a pot of water in one hand and a large clay mug, really more of a bowl, in the other. "Don't mind her, honored Lady. She is willful, and I suffer from a father's curse... I cannot punish my lovely daughter, even when she deserves it." The man is clearly afraid, as he says this. As if he believes Alina will harm his daughter for her comment.

He puts the mug down, already with a thin layer of dried leaves in the bottom. He pours the water into it, and steam rises immediately, as the tea begins to steep. "This place is Lunca, an it please you. We are pleased to serve our Lord Dâmbovița, when it pleases him to visit us."

He puts the pot down on the table next to her mug, and returns to the table with his family. "Are you an potentate of our augustine lord? We can offer you our best rooms for the night, or as long as you require them. Any minion of our lord is always welcomed by my fire." His pride in the last statement almost eclipses the fear apparent in his voice.

[Alína Nyárí]

Frowning slightly at the daughter's response, and her parents' attempt to shut her down, Alína waits for a better opportunity to pursue it.

"Lunca," the Jewess repeats with a small nod, setting it to memory.

"No, I know not L-rd Dâmbovița," she continues. "I truly am a stranger to these lands. However, I have some small measure of healing skill with herbs and technique. Is there a healer in your community I could drop in on and perhaps share trade talk?"

[Goatkiller666]

The boy, perhaps only five or six, yelps. "A stranger?" His sister adds, "Why would anybody come here on purpose? You could go anywhere else, and be safe."

Their mother, looking more and more afraid, says "Tsst! Tell no false tales to our honored guest. She might report that we weren't proper hosts. Lord Dâmbovița's reputation for hospitality must never be smudged, do you hear me? Never!"

The father rises again from the table with his family to approach Alina. "We've an Old Mother who helps us with ailments sometimes." (The way he uses the term "Old Mother" makes it sound more like a title than just a description. Alina has heard of similar titles being used with some variations of the old religions.)

[Alína Nyárí]

Smiling, Alína nods her thanks, then gently addresses the women at the table. "I truly am a stranger to these parts, passing through on my way elsewhere. I have heard no rumors of Lunca or any of these lands being unsafe. Are you able to enlighten me as to any danger, so I may better prepare myself for further travel?"

[Goatkiller666]

The father answers, instead of the mother. "The greatest danger, of course, is if you abuse our Lord's hospitality. He will brook none to abuse his people, his livestock, or his game. Some areas, his Lordship reserves for his private enjoyment, and trespass there is forbidden on pain of death. But if you stay in the villages or the roads through them, his guards will question you and send you away if you are where you shouldn't be. If you are off the roads, in the wilds, and the guards find you... they assume you do so for malicious purpose and will skip the questioning."

The daughter says quickly, "Do not be too pretty."

"Tsst!" The mother adds to Alina, "What she means is that our Lord is not fond of wonton behavior. Be it heavy drink, or lecherous dress, it will only bring the Lord's ire. But you are safe, Lady. Your beauty is modestly displayed. I believe his Lordship would find no fault there."

"Mother! It wasn't the Count's ire that brought him to Laura."

The slap comes quickly, and hard. "I'll have no ills spoken of his Lordship under this roof, girl." says her father. "You'll apologize to the lady for telling lies, and then you'll spend the night in the yard. Do you hear me?"

[Alína Nyárí]

The healer winces as the slap reverberates through out the room. Palming a soothing balm, she discretely slips it to the girl when she approaches and offers her apology.

As the girl departs, Alina makes note of the direction she heads in the yard; then turns her attention back to the room.

"My thanks for warning me not to wander off established roads. I tend to hunt my own food and gather herbs and other medicinals as I travel. Perhaps your Old Mother can advise me further."

Nodding to herself, Alina continues, "I will gladly experience your hospitality further, though I do not require your best rooms. A simple place to lay my head, well shaded so no sunlight could overheat my herbs and other medicinals, is all I require. Do you have such a place?"