Vampire: Dark Ages (Vienna) - Chapter 1: The Estates

[Faelan]

"Edward you will stay here and assist them in whatever they need. You have military knowledge so you will be of some assistance. If they need me send a boy to come get me. I will be heading to the Prince to find out what he needs me to do."

Faelan starts to walk towards the Prince's place

[Goatkiller666]

(Can I activate Presence 1?)

[Of course]

A few minutes later, von Althenhof descends the stairs with his doorman following after. He is wearing a sleeping gown with a heavy robe over it. His demeanor is gruff, but once he catches sight of Casper and Ulricht, he seems to relax a bit. "My Lords, you must excuse my dress, but I assumed that anything to bring you by at this hour was urgent enough that I should forgo my normal toilettes." He shakes hands, leaning in close to inspect their faces. "You are Lord von Hausberg, are you not? I believe my cousin has introduced us once or twice." He then walks to a large plush chair to one side of the room and lowers himself down with a groan. The doorman takes a blanket from inside a nearby cabinet to cover his legs and feet, then stands aside.

"Now, what may I do for you?

[Goatkiller666]

Edward agrees and heads straight to the church where he can be seen speaking quietly to what looks to be a minor lordling of some level.

Faelan continues on to the Ducal palace where the Prince is rumored to lair. The Prince's letter of invitation instructed him to present himself to the Duke's Counselor of the Exchequer at any time. The guards at the front gates to the palace notice Faelan's approach and shift nervously, but take no aggressive actions while he walks up.

There are two men with halberds outside the closed doors, wearing the Duke's colors. The elder of the two says, once Faelan has approached, "Well met, Lord. What business have you with the Duke's household at this dark hour?"

[Casper von Hausberg]

"I am. This is my friend, Sir Ulricht. We are here on a rather urgent issue. I've heard rumors of an attack on this city. I can't waste time on very many details, although if you insist, Ulricht can explain it better than I can. But essentially, I need you to rally your friends and any forces they can spare in defense of Vienna. When the time comes, I will help you organize them.

Please, Lord, you know I would not come to you if this wasn't urgent. Time is of the utmost essence, and if I just get your word, I will be out and you may return to bed. Those in favor of God require your help to fight the forces of evil."

Casper looks at the man with dead seriousness, adding just the right tone to convey both respect and humility."

[Faelan]

"Greetings, I am Sir Faelan Meiclaissre and I am here to see the Duke's Chancellor of the Exchequer. it is very important."

Faelan follows the guards to meet with the Chancellor.

Once alone with the Chancellor Faelan asked "What is going on here. It looks like you are getting ready for an attack. If I can be of any assistance please let me know"

[Goatkiller666]

The old man looks concerned. "An attack you say? By Simjen's beard, that will not do!" He rises slowly and unsteadily, but with a fierce gleam in his eye. "I was a soldier son, before my brother passed from the flu. I've a friend or two left in the guard, and many a knight owes me a favor for some blacksmithing on credit. The van Althenhof's won't stand aside when the city's in need!" The doorman steps forward to grip his elbow, and keep him from falling over in his hurry.

"Where shall we go? Which part of the walls?"

[Goatkiller666]

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Donnerhimmel III, rises from behind his desk to silently shake Faelan's hand. He peers at his visitor for a moment, then leans down to sniff his hand before letting it go. "Ah, vampyre. I imagine that the Prince would be happy of your good arm, sir. But I will leave the telling of why to her. You are here to be presented, I presume?" He doesn't wait for an answer before leading Faelan through a rear door. At no point does he release the hand, placing it on his arm like he would a lady's hand at a ball. "Please, follow me. Her Highness has much yet to do this evening, and will not want to be interrupted afore long with visitors."

They go into a spacious office (not the large room from the court), where the Prince is seated in a large chair, too small to be a proper throne, though still bigger than any other seating in the room. There are several others with her, going over maps on the wall. When the old man and Faelan enter, they stop speaking. "Your Highness, this gentleman has come to be presented to you."

"Yes?" she replies, waiting patiently?

"That is all, your Highness."

She gets cross. "Fool, then present him!"

The man looks confused. "Oh, I don't know him." He releases Faelan's hand and returns to his office. The prince just watches him, then glares at Faelan and demans, "Well then, who are you?"

[Faelan]

Faelan bows deeply to the Prince. "My name is Sir Faelan MeicLaissre. I am of the gangrel clan. I come to your fair city hoping to make a home. I am at your service"

[Casper von Hausberg]

"Your troops will be needed to the north and east walls, in the direction one would come from Passau. Now, I am sure you know what to do from here. I may have further need of you, but if not, may God's grace be with you, Lord."

Casper makes a move to leave for the door with Ulricht. He doesn't leave the room entirely, in case the baronet requires to himself. Out of earshot, he speaks to Ulricht.

"That was easy enough, no? If the night was only a tad longer, I could go on doing this a dozen more times." Casper grins.

[Goatkiller666]

Prince Katarina smiles. "A gangrel? Excellent. Oh, from the Holy Land. I remember you from Stephen's letter. I had assumed you were his childe, but... a gangrel." She thinks for a moment, "Have you much experience hunting lupines? You might be particularly useful to us, then."

[Goatkiller666]

Von Althenhof, followed by his doorman, begins to make preparations, forgetting that Casper and Ulricht are even there.

Ulricht watches the man wander through the house, muttering to himself, and giving orders to the doorman. Turning to Casper, he grins in response. "Excellent work, lad. Do you want to continue, or shall we return to Isabella, heroes in the night?"

[Casper von Hausberg]

Casper smiles at the praise. "I think we've done enough for tonight, as we will have a bigger chance during the ball. Let's go tell Isabelle and Hannelore the news."

[Faelan]

I have experience in all kinds of battles. I havent actually had to fight any lupines but Stephen did give me some advice when fighting them. He said "They are deadly in close combat. You best strategy is to use silver arrowtips. This way they will be wounded by the time they get to you."

As for my skills. I am a master swordman and a master archer. I am at your disposal

[Goatkiller666]

On their return to the manor, Isabella is seated in the parlor furiously writing a letter. She looks up at them without her hand stopping motion, and says "We must hope that the mangy wolves do not attack in the next two days. It will take some time to prepare, even for me. We must organize a ball in only a day."

Hannalore is nowhere to be seen.

"What have you two accomplished, then?"

[Goatkiller666]

The Prince listens to Faelan intently. "Yes, indeed. At my disposal."

She sits back on her nearly-throne and waves at the door. "You are welcome in my city, Faelan of clan Gangrel. Obey all the normal rules, and be prepared to fight lupines. One or own was destroyed not two days gone, killed by lupines. Our knights are on the road to avenge him, but if the lupines arrive here instead, we are preparing ourselves. You are dismissed." By the time she's done saying all this, she is looking at the maps again, clearly done giving Faelan her attention.

[Casper von Hausberg]

Casper looks around, slightly alarmed (but not scared) at the disappearance of Hannelore. "Isabelle, the Baronet von Althenhof has pledged his support. He will use his diplomatic weight to rally more of the low nobles to our cause. There are many knights that will take up arms for us.

Now, pray, tell me. Where is Hannelore?"

[Faelan]

Faelan leaves the audience and heads back to the Church of Mary Magdalene. Once he arrives he explains the situation to Edward and begins to make plans.

"Edward you will need to gather up some silver to make silver tipped arrows. It will help us slow the beasts down. I am gonna go over my maps of the city to try and plan defenses. During the day I want you to go over my notes and scout out the areas. I will go over any problems you discover tomorrow night. You might as well get some sleep cause you will be busy tomorrow."

Faelan spends the rest of the night making plans to defend against a possible attack.

[Goatkiller666]

Isabelle pouts to Casper. "You report your business, then ask about your pet? No concern for my state?" She turns to Ulricht, "I feel used, my love. He has been released from my care for all of a few hours, and already he limits himself to talking business." Not even attempting to hide the smirk on her face, she raises the back of her hand to her forehead, "Oh, I am struck down. Surely I am. None are so debased as I, to have lost the fickle love of my childe so quickly."

Ulricht snorts, "Do not tease the child so, my love. Now that he is released to the world, that girl is his responsibility. Yesterday, she was not. It is only proper for her to worry over her."

Isabelle pouts at Ulricht now, then pushes him away. "Fine." She turns to Casper, "She is fine, dear childe." Her voice perks up here, "Better than fine, in fact. She will be the center of the ball, you see. Am I not a great patron of the arts, here in Vienna, along with my mercantile interests? Is she not an artist of some skill?" Then her tone becomes less excited as she continues. "To call a ball, I needed a reason. It is perhaps a bit early for this, but I have decided that tomorrow night, Hannalore's work, and her person, will be brought out for the city to enjoy. And with that excuse, all of the great lords and ladies will come to my door and hear me tell them how we must all come together to defend our great city, so that this promising young artist can grow into the talent she has so far only hinted at."

"She is, at this very moment, being fitted for a new gown. When the water is warmed, she will even get a bath, with all the care I would get myself. Of course, this will be during the day, while I rest, and another bath will be drawn for me, when I wake." Conspiratorially she says to Ulricht, "Artists must suffer for their art, but their patrons need not suffer for them."

Isabelle waves Casper up the stairs. "She will be found in the sitting room, in the west wing, I believe. Make haste, if you would speak with her before my army of maids descends upon her. I'm sure there will be no impropriety in my household between unmarried girls and foul bloodsucking beasts of the night." She laughs at her own joke, since the entire household is used to all kinds of debauchery going on between her and Ulricht, sometimes involving many of the household staff.

[In order to keep the three Vienna "in-town" characters lined up, I'd like to fast-forward to the next sundown for Casper. It's getting close to sunrise at this point. You'll have the opportunity to chat with Hannalore, and give her (or any of the servants) whatever small day-time instructions you want them to follow. Be aware that Isabelle has already given them quite a list of things to do as well, so don't overload them.

When you post, feel free to include any conversation with Hannalore you want for this evening. She's very excited, and very nervous, about being presented tomorrow night as an artist. She doesn't feel she's ready for such a rushed presentation, though of course she wouldn't say anything to Isabelle along those lines.

Other than that, presume it's now sundown and start from there.]

[Goatkiller666]

Edward nods his assent. He spends a few moments reminding Faelan where his new residence is, and where to seek shelter once the sun comes back to the world.

"The men I spoke to in the church will also be seeking to collect silver, so I cannot guarantee how much I'll be able to get. And even then, a handful of spoons and forks won't help us much against anything at all. I've suggested that all of the knights living near this church pool their silver and hire a good smith to turn it into weapons we can use. Arrowheads should be simple to make in quantity."

The maps of the city show it to be, militarily, well defended. It's in the corner of a river, with deep water to two sides. On top of that, a stagnant moat is built around three sides of the city, with only four bridges crossing it. Three are large, meant for wagons and groups of horsemen. The fourth is only a footbridge, is long and windy, and designed to be burned through well before it can be crossed. That's the peasant's bridge.

Inside the moat is a thick wall around the entire city, including the un-moated section to the south, where the docks are. Heavy towers guard the edges of the docks to make sure that enemies cannot easily get around the moats, and the city's guard also has several river-faring ships where archers and larger ranged attacks can be sent up or down river to help where needed.

There are rumors of underwater defenses in the river as well, which can be stood up to stop anything larger than a rowboat from passing into or out of the city's docks area, or hidden chains that can be pulled tight from inside the city walls, cracking the keel of any boat foolish enough to try to approach.

Against normal foes, armies of mortals or brigands, the city is quite impressive. What you would expect of a city from the Holy Lands, if they hadn't had all the constant warfare knocking down their defenses to often. This is the setup they can only dream about.

However, you're not sure how this would work against a werewolf. You know that they're supposed to be as strong and as fast as some elder vampires, larger than any man, with claws and teeth. There are all kinds of fantastical rumors of mystical powers they're said to have, but you have no way of knowing what those might be. Still, if you were to assume that the city were being attacked by a group of strong, fast, clawed and fanged elders... you can come up with some ideas.

The best bet, of course, is to keep them outside the walls, and shoot them with silver tipped arrows. Only the greatest elder could ascend those 40' walls before taking a score of arrows. Once inside the city, you see several places where you could form secondary defenses. Narrow streets with stone buildings on either side. (I'll assume that you've found such a place or two, and you can describe the specifics if you want to go there and set up ambushes.)

In the evening, Edward is standing the room when you rise from slumber. In the past, he has described the experience of watching the moment as wholely disconcerting and not one he would wish to see again, so it is his habit to "give My Lord some privacy until you are ready to step out into the world". He reports that things have gone better than he could have planned.

"The knights at the church here, they are very eager to fight and defend the city, but they lack organization. Many of them are unbloodied, my Lord. I described you, only in the vaguest terms, and said that not only were you a seasoned veteran of battle, but that you had some idea of what we might face and how to defeat them. I'd suggested that you'd locked yourself in prayer, swearing to speak to none but the Lord God until sundown, not eating nor drinking neither." He looks a little chagrined, "I'm sorry my Lord, I was pressed to produce you on the spot, some time just after the noon bells were rung. It was the only idea I could think of so quickly. I hinted that it was the continuing part of some penance you had taken upon yourself while in the Holy Lands. Please forgive me my boldness."

He looks to Faelan quickly for forgiveness, but before his master can really form an opinion or say anything, he resumes his report, "... and they have chosen to follow you, my Lord. There are 20 knights, of noble birth but mostly young, all unblooded except for duels."

"Also, I reviewed the notes that you made, and looked at the places you mentioned. All of them seemed suitable. One of them, there was even a pile of hay to one side, for the stables of the next building. It could be burned to block escape, if needed. Also, there is a smithy on that road. The lame smith who runs it says that he was a soldier, and he seemed to know his bladework, my Lord. He swears that he'll let nobody save the Duke's order move him from his smithy, and he'll use sword and fire to keep it so. And with his leg like that, I doubt he could retreat or advance anyway, so holding the line or dying are all that's left to him."

He stops speaking finally, both excited and nervous that he's perhaps overstepped his bounds. "Oh, and the others have arrived by coach during the day. They were told by agents of the Duke to speed their way to the city, and are only just arrived. So you may feed from them, if you've need."

[Casper von Hausberg]

Leaving Isabelle and Ulricht, Casper goes off to find Hannelore. Entering the sitting room, he quickly shoos away the servants before approaching Hannelore with a flattering smile. "Hannelore, dear, you look beautiful. I am sure that all the bachelor knights and artists at the ball tomorrow night will want a chance to speak with you, my budding Minerva."

Now that he has her relaxed around him, Casper adopts a more serious expression. Putting a hand on her shoulder, he continues, "Then again, that might be because of your craft, as well. Yes, that could be it. It will be an important evening for both of us- you as an artist and myself as a vampire. I need you to follow Isabelle's instructions precisely. But I advise you to stay strong and maintain your dignity. I know for a fact you can do it, Hannelore. If you do, and this goes well, you and I will be the happiest pair in all of Vienna." He grins at her, gives her a quick embrace, and hurries out of the room.
---
The next night, Casper leaves his chamber after dressing himself for the ball in a midnight blue shirt dyed with indigo imported by Isabelle and a red cloak. Searching down the hallway for Isabelle, Hannelore, or Ulricht, he runs into Ines, one of his personal servants. Irritated, he barks, "What are you doing moping around, girl? Isabelle needs you. I need you! Take me to her right now, unless you have a better idea."