Vampire: Dark Ages - Act II - Scene 1: The Crossroads

[Marianna]

The fear and pain in my head roar to a crescendo and then abruptly...stop. The place in my head is empty. I'm so disoriented. I run to where I last felt the sensations and see the others standing in the room.

"What has happened here?? What happened to my...my...I don't know what he was, but he was mine and now he is gone. He is gone from my head. Who said you could do this thing?"

I'm not angry, I'm confused. My body feels like lead. I do not like this form. I know I look like a ghoul, but I don't want to be dead. I want my old life back. What was my old life? Was I always this thing? I look at my arms and they are white and cold. I don't know whether to be sad or angry and these people are all standing there...staring at me. Do they want to kill me? I don't remember them. I don't remember anything from my old life. All I know is waking up in this place and the pain in my head. I'm hungry. What do I eat? This thing...this thing that I am feels fast and strong, but leaden. Have I always been this thing? The others are staring at me. Do they know me?

[Seska Karantanija]

Seska sees Marianna enter the room where they have gathered and her expression turns from disapproving to concerned hostess. "Ah, Marianna. Good of you to join us. I feared you would sleep the night away."

She looked pale and drained, more so than the rest of the Kindred created in the chaos of the Conspiracy of Isaac and Hardestadt's clash, and doubly so compared with Seska who somehow kept her mortal pallor.

The Countess looks confused when she realizes Marianna is lamenting the destruction of the thing which was once Lothar. The events at the monastery must have been overwhelming for her. No telling what effects the counter ritual she performed had, or even if she had been in possession of her own faculties. The Capaddocians were playing politics at a level she could scarcely comprehend.

"Dear, I am not sure why you are concerned about that... worm. If you are worried about retribution from Claudio, you need not fear. His own actions earned his reward, and if necessary I shall vouch that you played no role in his passing."

"Did he send you here to learn with the rest of the Conspirators' Childer? What ever it was you did seemed to upset that Augustine fellow's plans. I cannot imagine it was safe to leave you near that one."

[Sabine]

I interrupt, "Lothar was yours? Wasn't he Lord Claudio's beast?"

"Maybe that's what Voragg meant."

[Seska Karantanija]

"Who is Voragg?"

[Sabine]

"Voragg is the fairy who made Lothar so powerful, just now. You could see him under Lothar's skin."

[Seska Karantanija]

Seska frowns. "Why was Lothar dealing with faeries in my home?

[Sabine]

I try not to laugh.

"It wasn't his choice. Fairies were dealing with him."

[Taduz Illyannovich]

To Marianna "This miserable wretch has been a thorn in our side since even before that cur Giovanni met us in person. And since then, attacks upon our person, attempted murder, and in general being an utter ass have been his trade."

Smiling warmly, "As such, I saw an opportunity. Something spoken of in whispers, but not spoken aloud." Taduz squares his shoulders and stands a little taller, "I must say it was a resounding success. Alot was learned, and the world is a better place now that M'lord's wish was granted."

Cocking his head at Sabine's "fairies" comment, "You saw the Fae?"

I didn't summon any fae. Voragg deals in a different currency then the dreams the Fae bargain in.

[Sabine]

"To be sure. They were gathered all around the room, and Voragg was the best of them."

"Unseelie. I think you call them malevolent spirits. Or demons. It's all the same."

[Taduz Illyannovich]

What? I summoned no Fae.

"I brought forth Voragg, he answered my call. Others came to see. Such actions gather the attention of spirits, since so few of the liv, er, humans have contact with them, much less have dealings."

Are we still human? Living, no. Wait, she thinks I summoned a

"My dear Sabine, I brought forth no demon with this calling. The denizens of the lower regions are a different breed entirely. To do so within the house of another, without proper preparations would be to invite disaster. Only the insane, or a fool, enslaves themselves to a demon."

Fools indeed.

"I sent a calling, Voragg answered. A spirit. Not affiliated with the Fae, nor a Demon of the nether regions. A spirit, that answered the call."

[Sabine]

"Yes yes. Spirits, fae, demons, unseelie, seelie, angels, banes... all are one. Just like moors, gypsies, saracens, aryans... all are one."

"You summoned Voragg. It came. It occupied Lothar. Lothar died. Voragg was free. Voragg spoke of being bound."

"Now the Christ-slave speaks of what was hers being gone. I think Voragg spoke of being bound to her."

"

[Taduz Illyannovich]

Emphatically "They are not all the same. I summoned no Demon here."

[Seska Karantanija]

"Spirits, demons, fae... I do not care how they are referred nor what you consider them. Lest they are allies of Kupala, Kostroma, or those whom we are pledged, I would ask you not deal with their ilk in my lands lest my people suffer for it."

[Taduz Illyannovich]

Bowing to Seska, "As M'lady wishes."

We are not all alike. Moors are misguided fools, Saracens worship who knows what in their sandy hellholes...

To Sabine, "I doubt any would mistake me for an Aryan."

Or does she mean human. We may have gone past that...

[Sabine]

"You humans like to find order, and divide everything into pieces. But you are born the same, you bleed the same, and you die the same. You have the same passions, the same fears, and you are worth the same to my kind."

[Marianna]

[Question: Can I hear Sabine?]

[Seska Karantanija]

[Yes. We are all in the same room now.]

[Marianna]

"Christ-slave? Who is this Claudio? Why can't I remember anything? This one that you killed. He was mine, but I don't know why. You lot don't seem to want to kill me, but beyond that, I know nothing."

I slide down a wall and sit on the floor. Something tells me that I need to keep my back to a wall to keep myself safe, but I don't know why.

"This body...I look like a corpse. What has happened to my body? Do I have plague? I don't feel ill. I am tired. I don't remember any of you."

I pull my knees to my chest and watch the others warily.

[Sabine]

"Oh, poor dear. You were kind to me once, before I woke. Let me help you."

I crouch down in front of Marianna, and hold out my hand to her.

"You don't look like a corpse. You are a corpse. Claudio drained you like a barrel of mead, and turned you into this."

I pat her on the shoulder, and stand up again. I smile at the others. There, I helped.

[Marianna]

My eyes widen and I gasp in horror. "I'm...I'm an abomination?" I'm trying not to scream. "I'm damned? What...what did I do to deserve this?"