Vampire: Dark Ages (Vienna) - Chapter 6: The Road South

[Goatkiller666]

It is the afternoon of May 6th, 1205. Day 20 of the lunar cycle, and so there will be a gibbous moon (waning) in the sky tonight. Ekaterina and her five new cohorts are busy within the caves of the caern, while Sasha and Kaldrenzi are on the mountain's summit, where they don't feel so oppressed by the number of canines around.

[Sasha]

"Stupid dancer. She has new friends, so she puts me aside."

I look at Kaldrenzi. She's not very pretty, but that's because she's a rat.

"I remember the man from Vienna. But I don't remember you. Why were you following him? What did he do to Wendell? Wendell was nice to me."

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

With a tooth grin, "If you don't remember seeing me, then I did my job, no?"

"That so called 'Man' murdered Wendell for claiming he was a coward. At the bridge, after I felled their pack's leader, you and your friend headed inside, Wendell did also."

Kal's eyes go distant in memory, "They deemed it cowardice. They harried, hunted, and attacked him. 3 curs on one. I was...tasked with protecting him. I failed."

A quick shake to clear some thoughts, "This brought great shame upon me. I sought Wendell's parents. I told them what happened, how I had failed one Grandmother had smiled upon, and my people. How Wendell in the face of his own demise, fought tooth and claw against his attackers, bravely defying them even as his own demise was near. And how I brought justice to the 2 who remained to gloat over their kill. The third fled."

Kal's voice drops to a low even tone, "I was given a new mission by them. Vengeance. Find the one who fled, the last of the slaughters who escaped. I had to...requisition some materials, and was under explicit instructions about how to dispatch him. I tracked him to your cave, and fulfilled my duty."

Meeting Sasha's eyes, "Wendell's parents have proof of the deed, and all accounts are settled. And as one of their Galliards, his mother will spread word of their actions, and how Justice was to those who kill those who revere Grandmother and honor her Brood."

[Sasha]

"Who was Wendell's grandmother? His mother was the Galliard?"

I lean forward to kiss Kaldrenzi on the cheek. I don't know if she'll let me, but I try.

"Thank you for looking after him. I liked Wendell."

I think for a minute. "That means that the two who attacked me... I saved them from death, when they were kicked out of their pack."

"Trying to rape me shouldn't be what saves them." I wonder where they are. Maybe I should go un-save them.

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

I chuckle, "The cur who lost his temper within my shadows, who succumbed to his baser desire, is in what they call the Thrall of the Wyrm. He is tainted. That he lives, unmanned, and without pack, for his kind, to me that is just."

"His brother though, that is a loose end I had no reckoned on. I should tie that up too."

"Grandmother, is the One who Keeps her Brood. While they may not be of her Brood, Wendell's tribe follow Her. His mother is the Galliard who commissioned the acts you saw, and shall immortalize the folly he partook in."

"Wendell had such potential. I shall miss him, but his spirit may rest easy knowing it has been taken care of."

I'm growing to like the idea of finishing off the pack, and look up a little trying to remember the disgraced garou's appearance, name, something to latch onto.

[Goatkiller666]

Outside

A voice comes to Sasha from just behind her (Kal hears nothing), "You remember something worse, don't you kitten? Worse than exile. Worse than shame. Worse than dying."

Sasha remembers. Just for a moment, she remembers... something.

Kal sees Sasha collapse to the snow and curl up. She's too scared to scream, or even to whimper. And then... Sasha cannot remember. All she can recall is that she remembered, and how she felt when she remembered.

Sasha knows she was scared beyond anything she's ever felt, in her admittedly short memory, but has no clue as to what scared her.

[Sasha]

I look around. I'm safe?

I get up again, and I look down at myself. "I think I wet myself."

The King-of-Cats spoke to me. He made me remember. "I want to do that to them."

[Goatkiller666]

Kaldrenzi - PM

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

Rushing to her side, wary still in case this is a trap.

Cats. Never trust Cats...most aren't animals, they are hate wrapped in fur...

"Are you alright?"

What cup, knowledge, that is for the seers and bearers. I am a bringer of Justice. A sharp tooth of Grandmother.

Without inflection, "It does appear that you have wet yourself"

This can't be a trap. Cats hate being wet. and being dirty.

I am away from my kith and kin, Mother said to watch this one, report back with information.

"What happened?"

It still could be a trap, urine washes off, the smell fades quickly...

Gather Information. Report back.

The voices said drink from the cup, others said some knowledge is too dangerous...what cup?

Mother wanted information. I will fulfill my duty. They have never led me astray yet.

"You must drink from the cup, Sasha Of-No-Past."

[Sasha]

"Drink from what cup?" I remember the room at the Inn. "The cup..."

I wet myself again.

"No, I can't. It's..."

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

She's scared of the cup?

A quick look up and down spies the cup. "The cup, it contains knowledge."

"Why do you fear the cup?" Does it contain something she wants to forget? "What you seek might be just a draught away."

"The spirits whispering say that Father is close to you, and that the cup of knowledge is here. You must drink Sasha."

[Sasha]

"No. NO!"

"I don't seek. I don't need a draught. I don't need knowledge."

I back away from Kaldrenzi. She's scaring me.

"Leave me alone. I don't want to drink."

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

Scared of a cup? So much for curiosity and kittens...

"You, Sasha, do not have to drink. I gather that your Father wants you to, as he's so close to you."

In a calm voice adding, "If Grandmother made a request of me to do a deed, I would do it immediately." Do Cats understand their Obligations, to tribe and nest? "If one of the Mothers asked me, I would do it without a second thought." Solitary creatures concerned with sleep and grooming, she may have no concept of responsibility to her own kind, "If I turned my back on a Mother, I'd be cast out of Nest and home. If I turned back on Grandmother, I'd have nothing, my life would be gone too." Do Cats even care about such things?

"So I ask you, if Father wants you to do something, why do you balk? I don't understand. Please, help me to understand this fear and why you turn your back?"

I wait patiently, for this alien being to try to make sense.

[Sasha]

"Wait, Wendell's grandmother or yours? What father? Nobody wants me to do anything except you."

"I'm afraid of remembering. I think... I think I did remember. Just now. That's why I was so scared. So now, I don't want to remember. Whatever it was, I'm happy now."

[Kaldrenzi Culls-The-Chaff]

"Grandmother watches over her kind, those like me, and those who revere her. Wendell's tribe reveres Grandmother, and he did deeply himself."

Dense, or doesn't remember. Time to be blunt.

"The spirits say Father is close to you, he rides with you. Does your kind have any sort of connection, whether to totems or your ancestors? That maybe the Father they whisper of."

Going back to serious, "Father wants you to drink. I was trying to help you reach out and fulfill his wish. If you wish to turn your back on it, and thus on him, that is your choice, Sasha-of-No-Past. But just because you don't remember, does not mean others have forgotten. I am not making a threat. It is a fact. Willing blindness is dangerous."

"Knowledge is power. With the humans breeding like rabbits, the curs running rabid with supposed power and claiming all Gaia's roles are theirs, we Fera need every advantage we can get. Or we're dead."

Preaching survival to a Cat. Grandmother, this will be a story for the ages.

[Sasha]

I think. My fur cloak is still damp from when I wet myself. And now it's not warm anymore. I don't like that. But I think.

"You mean the Rat spirit, don't you? Grandmother is the Rat totem?"

"So then, Father is the King. King of Cats. He talks to me sometimes. He whispers in my ear. He made me remember just then. Then me made me forget."

I yell at the air. "But I won the contest, you old bastard. You owe me a prize! Something good, too; not scary memories."

I tell Kaldrenzi, "We made a bet that I wouldn't get here before the moot. But I did. So he owes me."

[Goatkiller666]

Sasha hears: yes, kitten. You won the game. You will get your prize. But you cheated. You were supposed to surprise the ancient, not ride with him.

Of course, I encourage cheating. But you spoiled my fun. We can't have that.

Kaldrenzi hears: many voices.

• Father speaks!
  Do you smell? Ravaging!
  No! It's a trick of the curs. They're using her.
  The cup will make her strong. Dangerously strong. Keep it from her.
  Bastet has always been friends to us.
  No! She is not her own. That smell is not Ravaging. That's the new beast the dogs created.
  DO NOT LET HER DRINK! If she serves the dogs, she must die before she can grow that strong!
  But look who her enemies were? The ones that were destroyed. She was kind to Wendell.
  Just a ruse!
  She has given us no cause to doubt her.
  She cavorts with a dog. Worse, one of the dogs who worship the new beast.
  They are enemies to the rest of the dogs.
  That is the dogs' folly. They are the worst of the dogs, for they most fully embrace the fullness of the ruin the dogs have made of Gaia's plan.
  She knows no better. And remember, the fallen dogs' totem used to be Lion before it was Bat.
  Yes. She clings to them as the Gnawers cling to Mother.
  They are hers to care for, yes. We cannot dispute the old ways.
  A ruse, I say! She hides behind the old ways. Or the curs hide her behind them. DO NOT TRUST HER!

Sasha hears: Very well, kitten. Let us learn about your past, instead of remembering it. It will be like hearing a story of somebody else, yes?

[Sasha]

"I didn't cheat. Well, I did cheat. But I thought you'd like it when I used, uh... Janos? to get there. I tricked an enemy into helping me, right? But let's learn about my past, then. What's my first step?"

[Goatkiller666]

Sasha hears: You know me too well. It was a good cheat. But it ruined my secret plan. And I can't have that.

Kaldrenzi hears: many voices.

• Mother said to follow.
  Ravaging! Mother must know what she does.
  Yes, of course. Listen to Mother.
  Follow. But do not let her drink from the cup. Take the cup. Hide it from her.
  Destroy the cup.
  No! Keep it. Let mother decide.
  DO NOT LET HER DRINK!
  Mother will decide if she drinks.
  Yes, let Mother decide. Her memories were Ravaged for a reason. It is not for you to restore them.
  We bow to Mother's wisdom.

Sasha hears: You will begin your journey in Wallachia. Seek out the Shrine of the Fallen Lion in the Temple of the Dragon. But do not involve Janos again. He is more dangerous than you know, especially to you. If he even sees you again or hears of you, you lose the game.

[Sasha]

I say to Kaldrenzi, "Where's Wallachia? How far away?"

"The King of Cats tells me to start looking for myself in the Shrine of the Fallen Lion, in the Temple of the Dragon."

"I want to find find Ekaterina and leave this place. I'm tired of being always cold. And there's a mystery!"