Vampire: Dark Ages - Scene 4: In the Halls of the Dead

[Taduz Illyannovich]

Blood, in the air again.

Even though she's now behind me, I close my eyes, and see everyone's reactions to blood in the air again while focusing on myself inside, shoring myself up in case that Voice comes back..

It's a small amount, but I hope we don't have another drumming ahead of us

Ready in case it's siren's call beckons me

And if it's Olaf who breaks, I hope her...thing... can keep him indisposed.

[Alína Nyárí]

Shaking her head at the extent of Gedeminas' injuries, the healer starts to dig bandages out of her pack. "His head is precariously shattered, and his ribs can use some support," she mutters as she gingerly starts to wrap a bandage around his head. She stops suddenly as she can see the shards of Gedeminas' skull begin to repair themselves.

Chuckling softly so as not to disturb him from his self-healing, she continues to wrap his head to aid the fusing taking place under her eyes. Marvelous! she smiles to herself. I have a lot to learn of this new "life" and its gifts. Shechinah, I praise you for what gifts you have bestowed upon us, cursed though we may be. I look forward to learning what gifts there are to be discovered in this new existence.

Her bandaging done, the healer uses what strength she has from tilling her small plot of land to try to hold Gedeminas' flailing still. Fortunately it is vague movements, and he groans as his own healing takes place. Rejoice that you mend so easily! the healer sings inside. Before the dinner you would have been laid up for weeks.

Her smile growing ever wider, the kabbalist silently pictures herself dancing in the moonlight in an expression of joy as she continues to watch her patient mend before her, the spilled blood at the nearby table totally unnoticed.

[Sabine]

I drink all the blood from the deer. Then I run over to the second deer, but it's already dead. That's no fun.

I remember what Szolt showed me, how to smell the deer. I follow the third buck.

[2 blood to dex]

[Goatkiller666]

The Hunting Estate
------------------------

While the pack consumes their two fallen bucks, Sabine moves off after the third, by herself. With her increased dexterity, she's running very quickly through the night, and has picked up the buck's scent.

In a few minutes, she's caught up enough to hear the buck moving through the forest, still trying to get away.

The Red Lamb Inn
----------------------

Bojan wasn't watching as Seska borrowed his mug, and didn't notice her replace it. He's sitting with his head bowed, eyes closed. Then, he seems to make a decision, and reaches for his drink. He quickly takes a gulp, thinking it's ale, but then looks at it in surprise. "Why is there wine in my ale?" Then he takes another big gulp, and quickly finishes off the mug.

"That's the best wine I've had in years. I couldn't even taste the spirits."

[Seska Karantanija]

Having been lost in her own thoughts, Seska didn't catch Bojan taking back the drink she had stolen but left unfinished. He is mid-drink when she does notice she starts to interject, but stops, realizing it is too late.

Her face wrinkles into a mixture of concern and resignation. "At least you liked it. I had claimed it for myself when you weren't looking. Turn about is fair play, eh?" she says, the liquid still running down her cheek to her chin.

[Erick Shinnings]

With no animals about to possibly invoke to guide me safely away from my pursuers, I merely continue to run until I find a thick area of brush or something which appears adequate to hide away in.

[Gedeminas]

As Gedeminas heals, he feels his hunger growing at the same rate the injuries receed. Realizing that if he returned to full health, he would lose control of himself again, he stops short, while he still retains some control.

[ooc]After the 11 blood lost in the beating, and the blood spent upon waking, Gedeminas only has 7 blood left. Instead of spending it all to heal, and thus entering hunger frenzy, he spends 4, bringing him to three levels of damage, and three points of blood.[/ooc]

As he groans and slowly sits up, he burys his face in his hands, showing the embareassment Alina saw in his aura. His hunger quickly overcomes this embarassment, however, and he get up, apologizes for his behavior, and generally acts in a fashion that indicates that he needs to leave quickly. He walks outside, and heads to his wagon, where he approaches the horses, and, understanding the need for moderation despite the hunger, takes two points of blood until his pool is full, finishes healing, takes another few points of blood to go to full again, and turns to see Danukas staring at him, obviously disconcerted by the change in Gedeminas despite what he has heard from the others.

[ooc]Given the size of the wagon, there should be plenty of horses for him to feed from in the above manner, without bothering Danukas' personal horse, or the leader of the team.
Humans can provide up to three points of blood with no problems beyond injury, so I'm assuming that horses can as well. Even if they have slightly smaller blood pools, they should at least be able to give out 2 without difficulty, and 2 points of damage shouldn't damage the abilities of draw horses.[/ooc]

[Dante Nachtzehrer]

(ugh, chase scenes are so boring)

Dante chases Erick through the deeping forest, the thought of food and survival overpowering his mind.

[Erick Shinnings]

[Meh...I really don't feel like being made a target of elimination from the game, this soon as well from a fellow player...]

I find some underbrush and try to hide out, hoping to lose my trackers...

[Taduz Illyannovich]

While watching the scene unfold, and quickly end.

The hand is like clay, it already worked on me feet...

Pushing, massaging my forearm.

Soft like wax, let nothing spill, leave the bones, delve into yourself.

I admire the clean, round divet in my arm, to the bone. No blood spilled, the bones perfectly visible.

It seems my gifts would be of good use in the healing of others.

Filling in the hole, and letting it return to it's normal state.

I'm tempted to see if I can move bone without flesh, but that seems, well, messy, and the last thing I want now is to spray gore when we're all on edge.

I try to follow Gedeminas's exit, but reach the end of my sensing and can't.

"So, since most of us are here, and the...entertainment, is hopefully over for the night"

Be serious.

"What are we going to do?"

I hope together we can get through this. Our very li, er, existance depends on it.

[Alína Nyárí]

"So, since most of us are here, and the...entertainment, is hopefully over for the night...

"What are we going to do?"

Watching and marveling as the injuries to Gedeminas heal at an astounding rate, the healer's head rises slowly at the tutor's question. She turns her head to look in the direction of Hardestadt 's man, Rodirigo (I am assuming he is still currently with us), assessing him and awaiting his reply with a raised brow.

"She may be a part of your master's cartel," the Jewess mutters in Rodirigo's direction under her breath, "but I trust the magics of Durga Syn. I would feel much more at ease if she were to somehow accompany us.

"However...
If wishes were horses..."

[Sabine]

I run up to the buck. Silent. I move alongside and then lunge for its throat. If I get it, I start to drink. Until it dies too.

[Goatkiller666]

Hunting Estate
--------------------------

Sabine darts up past the deer, brushing it's legs as she passes, but before it can veer very far away, she darts ahead and then lunges for the neck. The deer is moving quickly, and is juking hard from fear, but Sabine's augmented dexterity more than makes up the needed difference. She latches onto the deer, as it jerks upwards to avoid the pain. She can feel it trying to shake her off to little effect.

Castle Giovanni
---------------------------

[I did Dexterity + Athletics rolls for all involved, and after 7 rounds, Erick hasn't been caught yet. I thought I'd describe things to this point in case anyone wanted to do something different after this. Seemed weird to do 37 combat rounds all by myself.]

Erick has a small distance (10') between him and Gunter and Wolfgang. He spends too much time looking for a nearby ally and the two brothers make it almost close enough to grab him before he snaps to it and starts to run in earnest. Dante lags behind the others more each round, but sees that the two brothers are still close behind him. At no point does Erick get far enough away to go into hiding in some shrubbery.

Up ahead, the road to the castle approaches an open area, where it runs along the side of a crevice, slanting downward with one side open to a very steep drop. Erick remembers from his wanderings here these last few nights that the incline isn't quite a cliff. A careful person could descend it directly, though certainly not at running speeds.

The Red Lamb Inn
-------------------------------

Bojan smiles, trying not to be embarrassed over every faux pas he makes tonight. "My apologies Countess. My head is all over the place, this evening." This wine is quite good, though. He takes another sip, then a heftier drink. As he's putting it back down, he looks at the surface of the 'wine'. He swirls it around in the mug. Absentmindedly, he says "It's very thick. Almost like blood." And as he says it, another look of fear crosses his face and he quickly scans the table for a wine bottle. "Countess? This isn't wine, is it?"

Vida gasps as she hears. Pierre grins and slaps Bojan on the shoulder. "Now you'll be able to walk again, too."

Bojan smiles uncertainly. "Mistress, am I to be like you, then?" He closes his eyes and tries to sense any changes in himself. "I feel… better. I feel good, in fact. Quite alive." His face reddens slightly, and he shifts slightly in his seat. "Oh yes, quite… um… alive." He looks at Seska, seated across from him, and then lowers his eyes, again embarrassed. Then he turns to Vida and fixes her with a steady, intent stare. "My Lady, I would suggest that you keep better guard of that stuff. It's… it doesn't seem appropriate for polite company. Though, I can imagine this being quite popular on the nights of a full moon, when everybody is… ahem."

[Roderigo was actually outside, but he will conveniently enter the room at this point in order to hear Taduz' question.]

"The horses need to rest now, and so do I, but in the morning I'll take start the final leg of the trip. We should arrive at the Inn by nightfall tomorrow. Then you all can convince your sires that you need their help." He pauses a moment, thinking of how much damage has already been done here. "Remember, My Lord Hardestadt has promised that you're to protect me while we're there. Giovanni isn't to kill me. Right?"

"In fact, I will take myself to bed now, if you've no further need of me tonight. It's been a very tiring day of driving the team, and we must away early tomorrow. Please do me the favor of waking me before sunrise, so that I can have you all settled in place before your own slumber."

[Sabine]

I drink it all. I turn back to a girl. I spend five blood on strength. Then I pick up the dead deer. I carry it back to the pack for them to eat. [Animalism 1] "Here. Have more."

[Goatkiller666]

The Stables
----------------------

[I'm NPC'ing Gedeminas, as he'll be out of town for a couple weeks. This is a summary:]

Danukas follows Gedeminas out to the stables, where he watches him systematically drink blood from, and then feed some of his own blood to each of the horses in his team. They discuss at length what has happened to Gedeminas and the others, and he shares what he knows of the vampiric condition with his servant. He also feeds his blood to Danukas and his personal mount.

Hunting Estate
----------------------

Two deer wasn't enough to fully feed all 30 dogs at once; they were jostling for space a lot. So when Sabine walks up with the much larger buck over her shoulders, several of the dogs flock around her. They're owned animals, so they know to wait until the food is given to them. But they're very eager, jumping around and yapping.

The Red Lamb Inn
--------------------------

As Roderigo heads for the door, he stops. "You know we can't bring all of these people with us, right? You must appear to be weak and helpless to your sires. If you arrive with a whole court of followers, they'll never believe you. Can we send everybody somewhere in the mean time? This is Claudio's village, even if he's fled it. If it is known that your people await you here, it would... go badly."

[Taduz Illyannovich]

This may work.

"One moment Slave."

The others may not agree with my strategy.

"This Inn where they are at, how many exits does it contain, the layout, and how sturdy is it."

The tactics will happen as this goes.

"If there is a chance of them not believing us, why put ourselves in their hands?"

They wanted us inhuman, I am more than willing to play their game.

"Ambush and assault. They are unaware and will be trapped there."

[Seska Karantanija]

The Red Lamb Inn
-------------------------------

"I do not think I am in much position to chastise you for such behavior this evening, Bojan." She gives him a reassuring look. "It... is not wine, however Roderigo has assured us that simply drinking it will not cause you the same malady as us. Quite the contrary, it seems to bestow improved health." She motions at Pierre, "I was only hoping to save our friend here, to repay his kindness, but as you can see it did much more. You should speak with Roderigo about it tomorrow. He knows much more about this than us, and can speak from experience."

"Speaking of...," she pauses to let Roderigo talk after entering. To his question she replies, "We play a dangerous game. You are going as an admitted and captured agent of Hardestadt and it may be necessary to do unpleasant things to convince Giovanni of our allegiance. I shall endeavor to keep you alive, and I give my word I shall devote what is necessary to restore you should injury be sustained due to our ruse."

When he departs for sleep she picks up again, "I should let you know of our plan. Our... sires... fled. Hardestadt wants us to track them down and thwart whatever their plans are, eliminating as many as we can." She pauses and looks around to make sure it is only her fellow embracees present, though she doesn't lower her voice, "I do not like that one any more than our sires, and I shall do what is necessary to extract myself from both their grips and return home."

Seska looks down, then at each directly as she speaks, "I would like very much for all of you to accompany me. There are things I cannot do anymore -- daylight is my bane. This is dangerous and events are surely strange. If any of you do not want to be involved you can return to the Count and I shall understand. Pierre, you almost gave your life to save me once and that is more than I asked for. Bojan, you have been a stout guard and I am proud of how you have grown since your return to us. Vida. My dear Vida, you have been with me for a long time. Your presence would bolster my resolve, but I am loathe to ask you to endanger yourself. I shall not demand it of any of you. This must be your choice."

[Alína Nyárí]

The Jewess knows she has long cared for herself and others. She first thinks to herself, Dara will accompany me, for a short time at least, while she observes my "condition."

Looking at the others, she then says aloud, "Zoja can serve as a draft animal, if we find we could use another. But except for those I am traveling with in the same situation as I, I have no human companion to accompany me."

Turning towards her Lady as she speaks of helping Hardestadt's man in case of injury, then speaks of getting out from his grip to return home, the healer slowly nods her head, again rubbing at her brow. "I have some small skill in the mundane form of healing, milady. In case Hardestadt's man should choose to not partake of the means we seem to have found for easier healing among our living friends. Who knows what may happen if he mixes Hardestadt's blood, and his service caused to him by that blood, and your own? Perhaps what skills I have outside of these new gifts will be of service to him instead."

[Olaf_Magnusson]

Eyes lighting up at Taduz suggestion, "Yes, YES by the All-Father! Let us claim weregeld for ourselves! If there is but a single door, let Lady Seska use her newfound gift to create a human barricade....Taduz, if you might make of yourself living weapons and guard the next easiest exit. I will go through the door. I know not what gifts you others have received, but I very greatly wish to do this. While grand strategy I always left to the chiefs, my tactics were always canny."

[Taduz Illyannovich]

Why send off perfectly good fodder?

"If the faces of your associates are known, let their faces be changed."

Can I do such fine changes?

"If allowed, I will work my craft of molding and sculpting upon their faces."

More targets for the sires if my plans goes wrong.

"Thus, we have more then just our party against the 13."

Do as your mistress commands, and hope she throws in with my plot.