Private Tales Blood Moon

[Zier Xya Zythos]

Zier attempted to listen in as she whispered about an ingredient, but he didn't catch a word. When she asked the questions, Zier didn't answer. It sounded rhetorical.. so he just glanced awkwardly at Xaldin before returning his gaze as she slid the paper back, which he took and slipped into a small, brown sack he keeps on his waist.

A very explosive boil? to kill vampires? he's heard and read of those monsters. He knows they're powerful and that it's best not to mess with them. At least, he wouldn't mess with them. That judgmental look she shot at Xaldin makes him wonder what the fuck this guy gets himself tangled with.

This creature was carrying a vampire killing recipe. It's quite odd. Zier wasn't sure if he wanted to take the offer for a batch or not. The thing obviously had some sort of connection with the recipe, so maybe it'll help them somehow? "Uh.. Can you make enough of that stuff for four people? not much. Maybe just a bottle each?"

Doran Trante.. it doesn't ring a bell at all, but is he involved in this mystery? Maybe he could provide some assistance. "Who is Doran Trante? Does he own that dagger?"

 

[Nikaia]

The dwarf behind the counter of the Dancing Dragon took a look at the key, confirming that it was, in fact, a key to the eleventh room of his establishment. He sighed and looked between the two women who'd disturbed his rather peaceful evening.

"Give me one moment, lassies," he said in a thick accent.

He stepped off his stool and waddled to a bookshelf behind the counter, where he stepped up another stool to retrieve a large book locked with a key. Coming back to his position by the counter, he pulled a key from a necklace strapped around his neck and unlocked the book.

The dwarf flipped toward the end of the book, revealing that it was a recording of all the customers who'd rented rooms at his inn. His finger traced down the list, trying to find the last listing under room eleven until it stopped under the last name.

"I don't usually reveal the privacy of my customers," the dwarf raised his eyebrows, "but the man currently under this room is named Ellion Sharp. I can't say I remember everything about my customers, but I can say that he hasn't been back in a few days."

The dwarf sighed again, rubbing his temples, "Seeing as you have the key to the place, go ahead and do what you want. If he's not coming back, then I'll have to throw his stuff out."

Once the two made it to the Ellion's room, they would find a heavily disgruntled sight. Against the wall the bed laid against, they would find an array of spears, unmistakably iron in make and shaved into a stake on the other end. There was a desk standing underneath the only window in the room which was covered in a stack of books detailing vampires, The Danger of the Moon and An Alchemist's Guide to Vampires being a few.

In the center of the desk, neatly folded and stamped was a letter addressed to a Melina Sharp.

Nikaia thanked the dwarf and walked into the room with roving eyes, taking in every detail. She went to the desk, and after taking note of which books were present, she read the letter. She wasn't sure what to expect, but she doubted that it was going to be good.

With the heavy indication of vampire involvement and the anti-vampire weapons in a room, the key to which was in the pocket of a monster. She'd guess that it was a vampire, recently turned, that they had fought, and he had been hunting vampires before becoming one.

 

[Kiara]

The elf gave a little nod, thanking the dwarf before following after Nikaia.

Clearly the room had more purposes than a simple place to rest, it was stacked with weapons and books,. and the main topic... vampires. In the end Kiara's theory proved to be correct, the creature that they had killed, was previously human, Ellion Sharp. By the look of his rented room, either he was a vampire hunter who had the misfortune to be turned into the same creature that he hunted, or someone stupid enough that tried to get rid of a vampire without having experience. Right now the main question was why? Maybe the letter contained the reason. As Nidaia read it, Kiara listened carefully.

Melina Sharp, since it had the same last name most likely she was Ellion's family, wife or sister, who knows, but that was not important. Once Nikaia finished, Kiara sighed."We should take the letter with us, if by any chance we find this Lady Melina, we should give her the letter. It's the least we can do, she deserves to know what happened to Ellion."

The spellsinger went for the books, taking a quick read on both, information is never too much, knowing the enemy and their weakness was always a good start.

 

[Xaldin Abelon]

Aracel gave a nod to the request of four batches of the broil and set off to work. She grabbed a large vile and some strange looking leaves, followed by a clove of garlic and a cauldron. She crushed the leaves and garlic, then slid then into the cauldron. After filling it with the entirety of the contents of the vile, which could only be the sunwater, the broil began to bubble and pop. It was sizzling. Burning.

Xaldin peered into the cauldron only to be slapped away, Aracel's hand brutally falling onto his shoulder.

"Back up," she said, "This stuff may not kill you, but it'll still leave you with some nasty burns."

Xaldin stepped away from the counter.

"Doran Trante is a blacksmith. He made that dagger," keeping her eyes on the broil, Aracel pointed to the mark on the sheath, "His shop is at the end of the street, near the center of the slums. By the fountain. The place doesn't have a name. It's only got a board with this mark on it."

By the end of her spiel, Aracel had packaged the broil into four clear viles, the glass nearly an inch thick. She pushed them down the counter, "That'll be eight gold. And you better promise me not to drag Doran into whatever mess you're in. He's too good a man to lose."

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Nikaia read the letter:

Mother,

I know I haven't been home in some time. I apologize. Work at the manor has been grueling and . . . strange. I've discovered something horrible and I didn't want to get hurt. I know it must be hard for you to keep the house and I'm sending all the money I can, but I must tell someone else about what's been happening.

The man who owns the manor is named Jorvan Flay. I'm a servant. As you know, I've been working there for nearly a month, but I almost never see the man. I almost never see any of the other servants. I was able to sneak out and live in an inn for a while because of it.

Flay is a monster. About a week ago, I accidentally went into the room on the top floor on the manor. It was there that I saw something I'll never forget. He had a man chained to the floor, gasping and crying to leave. Flay had an army of the most horrible looking creatures surrounding him. They filled the room. There must have been hundreds!

Flay kept talking about a plan to overthrow Alliria, starting with the slums. He wants to unleash his army of creatures into the city and take revenge. I haven't a clue what the man had against the city, but then he bit into the neck of his captive. And I watched him turn.

His skin turned grey and his eyes turned red. His teeth multiplied and his body transformed into that of a beast. I fled immediately. I haven't been back since. But I've been planning. I want to try and stop Flay from carrying out his devilish work. So I taught myself everything I need to know.

He's a vampire. And a very powerful one. I've deduced that he must be of a transformative strand and that's why his creatures are all unrecognizable. That means that Flay himself must be so incredibly powerful that he could overcome complete transformation. He can control it.

Please, mother. If you don't see me again, spread the word. And get out of Alliria.

When the Blood Moon rises, he plans to strike.

-Ellion

On a calendar on the wall, Nikaia and Kiara will find that a certain date is circled in red. The Blood Moon is scheduled for tonight.

 

[Zier Xya Zythos]

Zier watched closely as Aracel began preparing the ingredients. Alchemy has always fascinated him, but he's felt that taking up the practice would be too complex for him. Don't touch those funny looking leaves. As the concoction started to sizzle, he was also about to lean in and take a peak until Xaldin was smacked away from doing so. He backed up as well. I mean... It's not like I haven't been burned before..

Now we're getting somewhere. Of course, they can't exactly keep this promise. They have to know the connection between Doran and this monster. They're not-- hopefully-- dragging him into a mess. A few questions and they might be done with him. He reached into another hole-riddeled baf, pulling out eight gold pieces and sliding them across the counter.

"Thank you for th-" In short, Zier is a dumbass. The glass may be one inch thick, but anything that's hot enough to sizzle so quickly and be placed into glass viles in approximately 1-2 minutes is bound to incredibly hot. He grabbed two viles with both hands and...

"FFFFFFFFFF--"

Zier released both bottles back onto the counter. The string of profanities that were weaved into a nice web of Elvish and Common tongue on this fine day would've made an Orc blush or an Old drawf exit a tavern out of embarrassment. "WOO! That'll wake you up! Thank you for the batch." He gave an ingenuous smile, waiting for the viles to cool before passing Xaldin two of them and grabbing the others. Again, he can't promise Aracel anything because a mystery this good can't be left unsolved!

He exited the shop.

 

[Nikaia]

"We need to get back to the others. Grab the books, quickly look through the nightstand, I'll look through the desk drawers for more information. Do so quickly, we have no time to loose if this calamity is to happen once the sun is down." She says quickly searching the desk for more information, and once that was done she hurried out of the inn, and began to jog quickly and steadily to the agreed meeting place.

She was certain that this was going to be bloody, something she could live with. Perhaps she'd be forgiven if she came back with the head of the one responsible. But she, Kiara, Xier and Xaldin had to figure this all out first. She hoped that they had answers.

(Sorry for the delay.)

 

[Kiara]

Kiara nodded her head and grabbed the books. There was no time to waste, right now they were against the clock.

Once warrior and sorcerer left the inn, they hurried to the meeting point. Xaldin and Zier needed to know what was about to come, and both parties needed to share all the info that they have found, in order to fully understand the situation and came up with an effective plan to stop the imminent vampire attack.

The situation escalated really quickly, and no one was prepared for what was about to come once the sun went down. The city was defenseless, the guards unprepared and the citizens unaware of the calamity that was about to the unleash! Kiara had seen this before, back in Elbion. By the time she arrived, it was too late, the city was already immersed in complete chaos and many died on that terrible day.

She hoped that this time she could make a difference, they still had time, it was not too late!

 

[Xaldin Abelon]

Xaldin tucked two of the viles, which, as Zier had confirmed, were horrendously hot, into a pouch on his side. He would give them to the girls when they met up. He bowed his head in thanks to Aracel and followed Zier out of the shop.

They had to meet up at the fountain. Leading Zier down the ruinous stone streets, he wondered what they'd gotten into. Xaldin had been hunting monsters for three years now, coming up on four, and he'd never seen anything as disgusting as the monster they'd managed to take down earlier that day. The ashen skin and bulging teeth were the stuff of nightmares. But Aracel had mentioned vampires. Was that thing a vampire? Why would it have a recipe for such a destructive broil in its pocket?

Pushing the thought from his mind for the moment, Xaldin noticed the fountain in the center of the slums grow slowly closer.

"Here it is," he told Zier, pointing to the crumbling stone in the distance.

When they arrived, Xaldin caught the sight of the knife's mark from the corner of his eye. It sat at the end of the street, the sign swaying in the wind.

"I can see the blacksmith's shop from here," he said, "We can wait for the others here and then go investigate."

 

[Zier Xya Zythos]

Did he stumble over a few cracks in the street, almost drop a vile and shamelessly play it off like he was dancing? Yes he did. He then glanced over at Xaldin, who appears to be lost in thought. He figures it's possibly about that strange monsteri. It was very horrifying. That image is burned into Ziers mind and he will certainly see that creature again next time he leaves a pile of clothes on a chair, then tries to sleep.

He doesn't really like the slums. It's... shady. Not really his style because there isn't must to look at. How is a merchant shop going to be that plain?
He nodded in agreement when Xaldin said they should stay and wait.

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"...And THAT..!" He took a dramatic, unnecessary pause before continuing, "Is why I'll never fight lionmen again." While they waited for the others to arrive, which was about two or three minutes, Zier had taken the liberty of recounting-- and probably pestering-- Xaldin with a strange, and possibly inaccurate, story of him fighting lionmen and later seeing a dragon egg in Falwood. Did he buff himself up in the story? yes he did, shamelessly.

He turned, seeing the others arrive. He was going to say What's up but the thing that was 'up' must've been something incredibly urgent by the looks of worry on their faces. "You both look upset. Don't worry, we got you presents," He held up his viles and shook them slightly. "The temporary and deadly kind!"

He has no idea what that means.

They looked perturbed by something and joking around is his best remedy.

 

[Nikaia]

"Thanks, I hope by deadly includes deadly to vampires, because it looks like tonight is scheduled for a vampire invasion of some sort. It is scheduled for the red moon, which is indeed tonight, and I can only assume that it will make them even more dangerous. It turns out that our monster friend from earlier was investigating this, I can only assume that they were turned by whomever was responsible. So we need to hurry up and finish what he started, and inform the city guard just in case we can't handle this on our own."

She was beginning to find the teenager more and more annoying. Sure he had a cheerful personality but she wasn't a very cheerful woman when on the job. And he seemed to still be little more than a child. But she wasn't going to complain when he proved so useful in a fight, so long as he wasn't disruptive.

 

[Kiara]

Kiara was worried, and that was a fact. The memory of Elbion devastation still lingered in her mind, and the possibility of a similar thing happening to Alliria was stressing her out. True that the elf didn't have anyone dear on that city and neither she knew those people, but being a gentle soul as she is, Kiara feared for those lives.

"You both look upset. Don't worry, we got you presents," He held up his viles and shook them slightly. "The temporary and deadly kind!"

The spellsinger looked at Zier, blinking a few times. That comment out of nowhere... Then a little giggle escaped Kiara' lips, while a smile graced her features. She glanced at the trio feeling a bit relieved, remembering to herself that she was not alone in that fight.

"I agree with Nikaia, we need to inform the guards, so they can be prepared to fight, also to order citizens to stay indoors. Something similar happened to Elbion, back then no one knew what was about to come, it was a massacre! Plus, a single vampire can bite and turn its victims into monsters in a matter of minutes, now multiply that for a few more vampires, and soon we would be fighting against a vampires swarm. If people stay in their homes, that scenario can be avoided."

In the end the elf turned her head, then something caught her attention. "Hmm... Isn't that mark the same one has the dagger?" The spellsinger said as she looked at a shop that had a board with the mark on it.