Open Chronicles The Town of Gorinsbin

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Erën made his ascent in good time, and as Malak crested the stairs across from him his feet found the top of the wall. He bounded around a corner, and made his way toward the swirling smoke. But then, it departed and retreated quickly back into the castle. The woman it had just surrounded, bolted out of Malak's path and descended intobthe courtyard. She bound after the smoke and into the castle, the doors closed behind her with a slam.

Overhead, the crows dispersed to reveal a now overcast sky.

Erën grunted in dissatisfaction, regarding Malak with a nod as he made his way toward the stairs he'd came up from, "well that was a waste of our time..."

Maybe.

It was interesting to him that the vampire's spell had singled that one out. As they made their way back into the courtyard, Erën addressed Traecon Maxwell with a nod.

"If you're here for the hunt... now's the time to reconsider. Otherwise... I suppose we'll make for the main hall. We have two others already gone ahead. I suggest we work together."

​

The skeletons were indeed reduced to little more than heaps from Elijah's magic. Distant shrieks echoed through darkened halls at their demise, followed by a singsong laugh that fluttered through the air. The sound of bustling rodents grew apparent, joined by the sound of their biting and squeaking.

And the door for the main hall. It buckled, and slammed, and behind it something screamed out an agonizing roar. It continued to slam against it, daring the paladin to enter in and face it.

​

As she made her way through the castle's halls, the smoke led Heike. From time to time, the figure would appear in it and beckon to her and guide her with her hand.

Come... sister...
​

Far she was led, away from the main hall and instead farther past, and down. Down, down into the dark. The cold, the damp. Down they would go, and deep through a long corridor. Then, the light of fire could be seen in the distance, and the corridor of laid stone became those of chiseled earth, descending into a cave. Farther down, and into a great chamber where across to the far side was the image of yet another castle, carved into the stone of the earth deep beneath Gorinsbin. All of the great chamber was lit but torches innumerable, fueled by some dark magic without any doubt.

And there, and the gateway into the black castle ahead the smoke swirled around the ghostly figure which had once more taken shape.

Come sister, we are within. Come in, and come to the silver pool, and you shall meet our Mistress...

We won't let you be alone.

Heike Eisen Malak Baske Elijah Khalo Celasaer

​

 

[Traecon Maxwell]

The mist dissipated, but he nearly missed the blur (No definite features - it was that damned fast) shooting past him and away in a particular direction. Bloody hell, it wasn't a human speed, even augmented by enchantments. He could only spy a dust trail left in its wake, following it with a brief glance behind him to the two people on the wall. More than the two, others had already went on ahead. He could work with that, as well as these two individuals who had encountered him.

"By your call." And he marched ahead, sword out. He slowly worked into a sprint to build up momentum for his next action.

The blur had left a door open with such speed it was swinging back shut even on its rusty hinges. Traecon could not care less, as he charged, breaking through it with all the force of a raging elephant, and into a stone corridor. Slowing to a stop, he yet trailed the dust left in the entity's wake, showing it was headed... deeper but somewhere. His blade's skull crossguard bleeding fire, he held it like a torch, inspite of its size. The light was less than viable from the dim torches.

He turned back to the two. "The trail is fresh. Follow?"

He then tensed as the very castle trembled. The very stone itself seemed to vibrate with an unknown force, and even through his armor, he felt ice-cold fingers like bone crawl up his spine. A most unpleasant feeling, and an obvious sign of foul magics in play. A sensation that physically manifested as more mist, blacker than the darkness that spread over the corridor he was in now. It crawled out from the architecture, from the gaps in the stone floor and the statues lining the hallway.

His response was to simply repeat the feat shown earlier, clenching the fingers on his left gauntlet as it built up molten energy. The resultant blast dispersed the mists, and the chilling sensation disappeared. A frustrated hiss, and the torches gained a little more life, giving the corridor proper illumination.

He turned back, to the two men. "Wise to move, and not dally."

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Malak Baske

 

[Malak Baske]

The woman who Malak had rushed to break free of the Vampire's hold bolted off of the wall, storming into the castle. Malak continued a few more steps before breaking his momentum, then let out a shrug.

"I'd say at least we learned something, but alas." Malak responded to Eren'thiel Xyrdithas. They hadn't gained anything by trying to Heike Eisen , but Malak was certain they'd see her again before long.

Malak would descend the stairs and come back to the castle, joined by the newcome Traecon Maxwell. He recommended following the trail of ash into the castle, and Malak couldn't think of a reason to disagree. Except that they were probably walking into a trap, but Malak had already accepted that possibility when he entered the castle. Few had the luxury of facing vampires outside of their own turf.

The newcomer had some sort of magic talent, dispersing the mist by clenching the fingers of his gauntlet. Silently he wondered at Eren's talents. Between this newcomer and the paladin Elijah Khalo Celasaer Malak was beginning to wonder if he was average man out.

"I'll want the one with the pretty hair. You two can decide between gauntlet man and middle ages." He heard the sound of opponents, but still no heartbeat or breath.

"Three of them. Twenty meters away and on the left." Malak whispered to his companions, still getting information from his ear of bat potion. He drew his sword slowly, aiming not to make much noise. He suspected anytime now they'd come into an ambush.

 

[Elijah Khalo Celasaer]

Elijah's confidence was growing exponentially with every victory. Turned out the animated bones were real, but he made the right call in not assuming they were illusions, otherwise he might have learned otherwise a bit too late.
He faced the final door and reached for the handle when the whole door buckled from a tremendous force. Dust and debris fell from the aged wood of the door and the connected frame and ceiling.

The creature on the other side roared an inhuman screech. A challenge, a dare, a threat, a promise. As the beast pounded against the door Elijah began to count, following the rhythm of the assault, the pattern of the blows against the door.
Finally he lifted his sword and thrust it into the door, the holy blade cut through it like a hot knife through butter. Elijah was rewarded with a scream of pain from the other side.
He then simultaneously withdrew his sword and gave the door a solid kick from his armored boots, it didn't give at first but on the second kick the door splintered and gave in, falling from its hinges to the dusty floor inside.

Elijah calmly walked inside with his sword raised, ready for anything!
Or so he thought...

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike could have slowed herself. Should have slowed herself. Conserved blood instead of spending it for inhuman speed. It would have been better to go slower, to give those adventurers behind her a chance to catch up. To come along with her, even if appreciably removed, as she all but glided through the Castle's halls and descended down into the corridor of laid stone and then the corridor of chiseled earth. (She was just "scouting ahead," right?)

But she did not. She felt herself picking up some speed in her stride before she had even reached the cave that followed from the corridors of stone and earth. Such speed strained the possibility that she could be reliably followed. Cast doubt on the chance of having someone to watch her back when she encountered the vampires. (But were these sisters vampires?)

The cave seemed to open into a vast expanse, like the yawning maw of a slumbering gargantuan, eldritch beast. Sounds were almost visible in their echoing intensity within the great underground chamber. The light of the countless strange torches lessening the darkness into a dimness of early morning or coming evening.

Another castle. One in hiding beneath Gorinsbin's own on the surface. A black castle that had never before been touched by the sun.

The smokey figure stood at the gateway. Beckoned Heike once more.

Keep your wits about you, Heike.

(Isn't this what you wanted?)

You just need to see.

(You just need to see.)

Heike walked now. Retaining some level of caution. But in through the gateway and into the black castle she went. Her head swiveled and her eyes scanned, but there was nothing of note. A castle, not unlike the Citadel of Reikhurst itself.

Her footsteps the only sound.

She walked softly into the main hall of the black castle.

And sought out the silver pool. Approached it slowly. Stood at its edge and let her eyes be inevitably drawn down to it.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Malak Baske Traecon Maxwell Elijah Khalo Celasaer

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Erën - Malak - Traecon

​

Erën looked upon the trail, leading deep into the darkened castle. His frown moved to one side as he thought on what had just transpired for a moment. He was unsure what to make of this person who they had just moved to aid. Apparently she'd hardly needed it - but he was uncertain if she was chasing away the dark magics, or following them.

"I'll want the one with the pretty hair. You two can decide between gauntlet man and middle ages."

"Three of them. Twenty meters away and on the left."

Erën heard them too. His eyes darted into the dark of the castle, following the sound. He drew forth his sword, and a light welled within it. He began forward, brandishing it. He took point. He took careful steps forward, and then there came a point where the dark no longer fled from the light.

Erën paused.

And with a shriek three ghostly figures lashed out at them.

Elijah

​

The door to the main hall fell with a mighty slam, and kicked up a thick cloud of age old dust. As he walked through, it parted to reveal...

Nothing...
​

At the far end of the hall, on past great stone pillars at the end of a long, ragged runner rug and up a set of stairs atop a platform was a throne. Nestled within was the skeleton of a long dead king, crown still atop his head, sword buried through his chest. But then, as the Paladin approached, he would behold a strange mass begin to take shape. It was bulbous, and silver, and it grew out of some invisible hole in the floor, its tension wrapping it like an inflated parachute.

Then, with no warning it broke, and sprawled out to create a wide, silver pool which crept up to his toes. But no further. He could turn back now, no doubt hearing the shrieking of banshees attacking his comrades behind him. But...

​

Spoiler: ...if he looked into the pool...

... then a ghastly sight he would behold. His second, bound to a cross and hung upside down. Around her, four shadowy figures lurked about. They tortured her, laughing and snapping and taunting her... and as one turned its head to him, taunted him as well. Then an abrupt splash of the silver pool, and the dark smoke emerged again to dissuade him from entering further.

Heike

​

As Heike peered down into the pool, at first she would see little else than the reflection of the jagged stone above. But then, a soft rippling effect, and then the image of a girl looking back up through the pool - only she looked as though she too were leaning over to look through as Heike was. A smile came across the girls face, and she knelt down to stretch her hand out through the pool.

And it emerged through, gently waving her fingers, beckoning her to come. Now was her chance to turn back, and alert the others of what she had found. But...

​

Spoiler: ...if she took her hand...

...then a feeling of weightlessness would find her, and her feet would leave from where they stood. With a sensation similar to falling, her body turned upside down and then she was pulled up in through the pool.

Hoisted up onto what she could safely assume was solid ground, she was wrapped in the arms of the one who had pulled her through, and several others of similar facade came near. They offered what appeared to be genuine smiles, and all at once they said,

"welcome, sister."

Just beyond to the other side of the pool to Heike's back, the scene of the second paladin's misfortune took place.

But there, likely in Heike's view now while held in Nyrial's embrace - another, likewise pinned. Only he was yet right side up, and his head was bound to one side with his neck... deliciously on display. The adventurer, who had arrived before this troop.

"you are no doubt... hungry..." ​

​

Malak Baske Traecon Maxwell Elijah Khalo Celasaer Heike Eisen​

 

[Malak Baske]

Shrieks filled the halls, and Malak stumbled a moment. The volume and echos of screams were overwhelming to the ear of bat-fueled Malak. He backpedeled and put his sword in a defensive stance. He spotted a swipe coming at his right shoulder and moved his blade, only to be punished with a dagger coming to the left side of his gut.

Malak swung forward, but the vampire seemed to simply float away from his edge. His ears continued to ring, Malak not able to hear the steps or words of his assailants or companions. Relying on his eyes Malak kept on the offensive, trying to press the vampire back and maintain his footwork. The creature glided left, right, and back as Malak pressed forward with his sword. The vampire swung with it's claws, and Malak blocked right, left, then was too slow. A slash ripped across his stomach. The hunter let out a groan and recoiled, but moved his blade fast enough to stop a second blow from landing.

Malak pushed back against the vampire, swinging his sword to cleave the vampire's left shoulder. The vampire dodged back, and Malak continued to press. Bringing his swings to the edges of the vampire's frame, prompting it to dodge backwards until it's back hit the wall of the hallway. Malak pulled his pommel to his chest and thrust forward, plunging his blade into the man. He saw a breath escape the vampire's mouth, before it's hand fell to it's side.

One down.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Elijah Khalo Celasaer Heike Eisen Traecon Maxwell

 

[Traecon Maxwell]

He felt it long before he saw it coming. A blur of movement, then his breastplate seemed to dent beneath some force. Felt like he'd been shot with a ballista at close range. Bones groaned beneath the shock, the attack nearly flaying vessels and muscles in its intent to kill. He withheld the spit from flying, gulping it down in defiance. His feet ground against the stone floor, halting his flight until he stood a foot from the door. The fist that protruded from his chest was ebony in the dim light, a clawed gauntlet so ghastly in appearance it seemed more beast than armor.

He followed it to a set of crimson eyes, its eyebrowa quirked in interest and surprise. "Curious. Even a hardened orc or one of Molthal's half-breed bastards would not be so indifferent to such an attack."

The swordsman's eyes burned with wrath, his right gripping the offending limb with such force, the metal folded beneath his fingers. And it did not stop, the grip intensifying until the armpiece no longer resembled a piece of armor, but scrap metal. Blood did not flow from the vampire, but the torn muscles and cracked bone were all too visible even in the dim light. The adversary could not even remove his own grip on the furious warrior, his red eyes calculative and wary.

With a savage jerk, the limb was removed. Quite literally. Traecon's rage at the sudden attack had enabled him to tear off the vampire's arm, armor and all in a single move. The sheer strength behind the action sent the vampire stumbling back, but it did not pay the wound any heed. Given its nature, it was only expected. Traecon tossed the limb aside, flexing his clawed hand. Glowing eyes fixed on bloody red irises, as he contemplated his next course of action.

Then he spoke, lacing each syllable with a fire to scorch. "Your first mistake, undead," He reached for the blade, the vampire tensing.

"Was not killing me with that one blow."

Even if the undead had been a swordsman of the finest human caliber, it would not have survived past the next moment. Where the vampire had been a blur, Traecon had simply disappeared from the undead's enhanced sight. Rage and control refined his speed, and he only needed to move in one direction anyway. His greatsword was gripped in one hand, as he stepped away.

The vampire could not even speak, as he fell in half, cleft in twain by the warrior's attack. The swordsman had laced the blow with concentrated heat, cauterizing and searing the skin, whilst also striking at the 'self' of the foe. A killing strike, as the two halves fell onto the stone ground, unmoving. Breathing out a stream of fine mist between clenched teeth, the swordsman nearly buckled under the sudden exhaustion, but stood his ground, sheathing his blade. He hadn't meant to move at such blistering speed, as with his bulk it was more harmful than effective. But he had been quite enraged at the time. His foe was dead - he had done his research, as these were not unlike any other undead he had faced. The seared skin would prevent regeneration, even with magic. The ability to strike at the 'self' of the vampire was also a unique trait of the blade, severing the entity's connection with the unholy power that bound it.

He took a glance to make sure, the ashes confirming it. Now for the others to finish their... disputes.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Elijah Khalo Celasaer Heike Eisen

 

[Heike Eisen]

The taking of another's hand was a task made more difficult--required more care--with her claws. It was always more so the other who had to grasp Heike's hand, while Heike herself flexed her clawed fingers back enough such that they would not by accident pierce even slightly into their hand or their arm.

But she took the offered hand.

And with it, a peculiar inversion as she drifted into and through the pool and during this crossing the feeling of falling down wheeling about into the sensation of being pulled up. Disorienting.

Yet any strangeness from the experience evaporated the moment Nyrial embraced her. Embraced her. Without condition nor reservation. Accepted her. And as Heike melted into Nyrial's embrace she could do nothing more than to hug her back. In that moment the weight of carrying Reikhurst's memory, that of her home and her family, the weight of her very Oaths which she had sworn to live by until her dying breath, all of it dissipated like the fading afterimages behind one's eyes. And she wanted nothing more than what she had now.

welcome, sister.

Heike opened her eyes. Didn't even realize she had closed them. And she saw the man that was bound and with his neck exposed and heard the words spoken:

you are no doubt...hungry...

On Heike's face, as she slowly pulled back, the ruination of hope. Gradual at first. Then utter.

She took a step backward. Looked to Nyrial. The sisters gathered around and the captive man. Back to Nyrial.

It happened again. It had happened again. The succumbing to the one weakness which could so easily pierce whatever steel resolve she mustered. Her Oaths, the Trinity of Oaths that she had fought and sweat and bled for the privilege of being able to swear upon herself, those Oaths which defined her life and which held her to a higher standard, those Oaths which so elevated her above a normal Citizen of what was once Reikhurst and into a Citizen and Warrior...were powerless. Powerless against the simple, seductive charm of wishful thinking.

And it had been wishful thinking all along. For these sisters were vampires. Kin to the very monsters which had destroyed everything she loved and defiled her. And yet it was Heike's damning flaw, her burning desire, that had persuaded her that this was not so. That these sisters could have been something--anything--else.

Heike's voice was hollow. Lacking the mettle she meant for it to have.

"You're...you're all monsters..."

It was the voice of one betrayed.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Malak Baske Traecon Maxwell Elijah Khalo Celasaer

 

[Elijah Khalo Celasaer]

He didn't turn away from the silver pool, he had no fear of the darkness or black magics of this place, it was placed upon him that his faith was so unshakable... but what he saw... his ally, his comrade, his subordinate, his friend.
She was stripped of her weapons and armor, hung upside down, and was being tortured by vampires.
When the vision ended black smoke arose to dissuade him, but righteous anger rose in his chest. he slashed the smoke with his blessed blade and was about to continue when he saw a blur rush past him through the door he was about to try. He caught a glimpse of red eyes.
Even though the pool was gone they continued to mock him?!

He grit his teeth. The door had shut after the speeding figure, but that was no obstacle to him. He kicked through the aged wood. He had all but forgotten about his allies not far behind him, he didn't care anymore. He had to save his second in command and purge the vampires once and for all.

He began tracing the steps of the vampire as best he could, using his sword as a compass. It glowed more brightly when the presence of darkness was greater.
He was going down deeper into the depths of the keep, he could tell that much, and travel was getting difficult for one of his size.

It took a while, but eventually he found himself in the chamber where Heike disappeared. He looked around, looking for any sign of where she might have gone.

 

[Nyrial]

Her hands slid harmlessly against Heike as she pulled herself away. It was inevitable for such things to be startling, and jarring at first. The transition through the pool, the sight of their prey, the blackness and cold of the surround. She smiled, and he head canted to one side. She studied Heike for all she could. She was a tormented one, that much she could tell. And she was different from they...

Their Mistress had taken diligent care in breaking each and every one of them here, under her care, before their turning. No single part of their former selves remained whole - it was all scattered and mashed and entwined with foreign intrusion and control. They were the Mistress', nothing more.

But Heike could be something more... perhaps... Mistress will know.

"You're...you're all monsters..."

Nyrial's hand came up to her mouth as she let out a soft laugh, and then began backward with a twirl. Her humour was joined by the others, and several of them came close to her as she drew nearer to the man who waited helplessly for his fate.

"We are no more monsters than any predator,"

Nyrial came close to the chained man, running long, sharpened nails against his exposed skin. There was a lusting in her touch, one that was far from kind. But she resisted, and turned back to Heike.

"This man sealed his fate in coming here to destroy us," there was a ring of amusement in her voice, "and much like a barncat would to a mouse... we pounced upon him.

The same goes in the fields... even the streets, all through the night.

Such is our domain sister. Where man and elf would kill for their lives through the day, so too do we in the night.

It is not a choice.

It is only what we are."
​

Mistress would be proud. Very soon.

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Each one of the fallen ones had chosen their prey, and in turn the three warriors accepted their challenge. He lunged forward, and his chosen foe disintegrated before his eyes causing his blade the pass harmlessly by. The dark smoke rolled past him, and he whirled around to face it. It reappeared, and lunged at him with clawed hands, bearing its fangs at him. Red eyes glaring at him.

He raised his sword, and it grabbed his wrist. He in turn, grabbed it's other. It leaned into him, yearning for his blood. He resisted.

He closed his eyes.

And when they opened again, they burned brightly as white light. A blue aura wrapped around he and his entangled enemy. Then, he unleashed an electrical assault on the vampire that in the end reduced it to a charred husk.

He regarded the others, likewise having dispatched their assailants. 3 for 3.

Then, he listened. Carefully. Ahead, his elven ears heard the sound of who he could only assume was Elijah. He inclined his head, and took to running after their comrade.

Into the main hall, and traces of silver fluid left here and there. Its scent, he found peculiar. Almost like blood.

On through now, following his senses after the paladin. All the while the castle itself seemed to lurch and groan around them - as though it were coming alive. Breathing even. Eyes in distant shadows appeared and then vanished, and faraway laughter echoed through the halls.

A slam here. A crash there.

And the sounds of rodents, and creatures, and all manner of ghastly gross thing. And down, deeper into the ground, into the earth. And soon after Elijah, the three others had come. They came into the room, slowing their pace and readying their arms.

"Paladin," he hollered, "what say you?"

In the depths, in a chamber beyond Nyrial, hidden by dark magics and shrouded in evil mist, she yet slumbered.

For so long she had slept.

But even now... locked safely away still, she began to stir. Soon, she would wake.

Malak Baske Traecon Maxwell
Elijah Khalo Celasaer Heike Eisen​

 

[Nyrial]

And seemingly of its own accord...

...the pool of silver began to part, showing the image of a stairwell...

...and faraway whispers beckoned for them to enter.​

 

[Elijah Khalo Celasaer]

Elijah called back.
"This is their inner chamber, but it must go deeper. They are close, I can feel them nearby. They have my second and she may not have very long. We must find a way through to their sanctuary before their master awakens and night is falling fast."
Elijah was growing angry and frustrated. He looked around for any passage, following the glow of his sword, tapping the walls, looking for hidden or magical levers, turning the torches.
The trail couldn't end here, did that silver pool have something to do with it?

He looked at the silver pool, and it began to change. It parted revealing a stairwell.
"This way!"
He went down it blade first, of course he had to duck to fit, but he was beyond hesitation now. He had to reach his comrade before they killed or turned her.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike shook her head, curt little motions side to side. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. Still she stood her ground, her claws still raised in menacing way, but not a step forward she took. Her Oath of Justice demanded that she do all she could to save the man, to slay the monsters who imperiled him. Yet even now, the sting of betrayal was not quite strong enough to overcome that deadly hope--reinforced through Nyrial's brief embrace--that Heike could find the warmth of acceptance where civilization at large rightfully spurned her, banished her.

Banished her because she was a predator of them. Like these Sisters.

Banished her because she had no choice. Like these Sisters.

Heike shook her head with a renewed vigor. Then stopped. Wide eyes, teetering between one irrevocable decision and another, both tearing desperately at her mind.

She said, "I will not allow myself...to become like this...like you. This is not 'only what I am.'"

Lonely, Heike...

"I am Herr Heike Eisen, Knight-Valiant of Reikhurst. This, before all else."

Despite her perhaps impressive tone of voice, she could not move. Could not lunge forward and attack Nyrial and the Sisters. Could not do as her Oath demanded.

Her legs were paralyzed. The last vestiges of the deadly hope, poisoning her veins.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Elijah Khalo Celasaer

 

[Nyrial]

The stairwell would lead them to the others, yes. But not as direct as it had been for Heike, no. It would take them down, and down, and then somewhere along the way and without their even noticing... they were no longer descending the stairwell, but now climbing it. Up, up, and up they would go...

She stepped back toward Heike now. Just one step. Her eyes softened, and her smile displayed her lengthening fangs.

"Oh dearest..." she said, he voice still sickeningly sweet, "...but not a one of us chose this, no more than we chose to be born."

"I am Herr Heike Eisen, Knight-Valiant of Reikhurst. This, before all else."

Another step, "yes. Once."

She turned to one near her, and she came close. She too bore an elven visage, a fairness like Nyrial. But then, she beckoned from the other side, and another came forth. She was darker, her skin more olive, her ears round.

She gestured to the first, "yes, she was once Tylri, of Falwood," then to the second, "Nyasha, from the Eaglehead."

Then she stepped forward again, leaving them just behind her, "and I..." a hand touching her chest, "...Ellisandre, from Sharyrdaes," she canted her head, having come to a halt still a few, safe meters from Heike.

"Did you choose, sister? Did you choose to be what you are? To be hated for what you need?

There is no... allowing yourself.

The choice has already been made, and it was not yours to make."

As it had been with each of them - though in part they had been made willing, none of them had ever chosen to come here to her. To Mistress. But then... even she, powerful as she was... the choice had not been hers either.

And up into a great chamber they would come. Across, on either side of a great silver pool like the one that had parted for them were two seperate gatherings. One, around the man with several others standing out before. The other, surrounding the paladin's second. Unfortunately... her time was all but spent.

They turned on a great wheel, and the cross she had been bound to turned upright. And then, those near her turned to see the champions as they came into the chamber, and then as though taunting him they stared at Elijah. Then they turned, and bit into his second - whose screams rang out and echoed throughout the chamber.

And then, after her cries were silenced... in the distance - there was a mighty slam.

Elijah Khalo Celasaer | Heike Eisen | Malak Baske | Traecon Maxwell

 

[Elijah Khalo Celasaer]

Elijah finally entered the main chamber and look at the two gatherings before him. On his left was his comrade and he grit his teeth at the sight he came out to. Was she dead? Did they kill her, or worse?... No, he couldn't think about that right now.
"No! gods damn you to the lowest pits of hell for this! Let her go you thrice cursed spawns of darkness!"
He yelled at them from across the pool and aimed his glowing blade at the vampires, including Heike.
"Cease all resistance and prostrate yourselves before the light of the gods, receive judgement and let your hearts convict you!"

He raised his sword and stepped forward through the silver pool, his eyes flashed with white light as did the blade.
"I am an instrument of the gods, if thine heart be pure then thou hast nothing to fear of their righteous judgement, repent and the light will be shown within thee and thou shalt live. But if thine heart is black, tremble in terror, for the righteousness of the gods will wipe thee clean of all thine evil deeds done from an unrepentant soul."
He heard the loud slam echo in the distance... A cold dread seeped into his heart. They took too long, the sun was all but down and they had yet to even find the coffin.
He tried to charge the vampires holding his comrade but a second wave of terror struck him, the light faded from his eyes and sword and he fell to his knees, splashing in the silver liquid.
"So... Now the master reveals itself."

 

[Heike Eisen]

Don't let them, Heike.

Don't forget your Oaths.

Don't forget Reikhurst.

Her rage began to win against the hesitation of hope, to boil over and rejuvenate the strength and control of her arms, her legs. Heike forced herself to see again in her mind's eye the fires of that night, the wanton slaughter, the army of vampires devastating Reikhurst and her people. The valiant struggles of those who fought back, the sinister sneers of the vampires that held her captive and forced her to watch. They were monsters. They were all monsters.

Tylri, of Falwood. Dead, because she had allowed herself to die.

Nyasha, from the Eaglehead. Dead, because she had allowed herself to die.

Ellisandre, from Sharyrdaes. Dead, because she, too, had allowed herself to die.

All of them, allowing themselves to die, and to become monsters instead.

Heike's face contorted into a crackling scowl. And she snarled, "The choice has been made for you, MONSTER!"

And she rushed forward, exerting herself with an expenditure of blood for an incredible burst of inhuman speed, swiping the claws of her right hand in a vicious upward arc at Nyrial. There had been a voice behind her, shouting, but it was lost in the rage which had now subsumed Heike's conscious thoughts.

For these. Were the monsters. Who destroyed.

HER HOME.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Elijah Khalo Celasaer

 

[Eren'thiel Xyrdithas]

Down they delved, into the pool, descending stone steps. And hurried was their pace, so much so that when things changed and as suddenly as they did - he missed it. Not until he had taken several steps ascending the stairs did he realize. But it was something he could not address now, for the darkness was split by the dim light of fire, and up into the main chamber he emerged.

He came up, and whirled around to behold the tragedy that was set before them, across yet another silver pool.

And the paladin advanced toward his second. Erën's eyes caught the flash of movement on the other side. The one Heike - unknown to him - but familiar as the stranger from before, attacked one of the vampires. Her clawed hand tore into her foe, loosing a wretched screech from her.

The vampire - Nyrial - drew back, greivously wounded. Though she'd moved to avoid the attack, her shoulder was terrible torn and even hung loosely, eliminating the use of that arm. But just as quickly as that unfolded did the blond vanpire retreat into a cloud of smoke, bolting back to quickly coalesce near the bound traveler - her face turned away, diving into the poor man's neck.

Meanwhile the other two that had been near came unto her place, and attacked Heike with extended claws of their own - but they sought not to harm it seemed, instead only to hold at bay.

Erën moved to go to her aid, but was startled by the great slam in the distance.

And then the sudden cold.

He turned to the paladin, who seemed wrought with defeat.

"So... Now the master reveals itself."

Before he could reply, he was stopped by the sound of a dreadful, terrible laugh. It echoed throughout all of this place as though it came from the very stone itself. And all around them seemed to grow closer. Tighter. The air grew thick. And beyond... light steps could be heard clicking against the solid ground.

Elijah Khalo Celasaer Heike Eisen ​

 

[Elijah Khalo Celasaer]

The dread was almost palpable around him, the true essence of fear was pressing in around him, washing over him in great waves and crashing into him with every echoing step that drew closer. His comrade hung limp on the cross, no matter what happened next it was too late for her and now he prayed she was dead to save her from her fate otherwise... He shuddered at the thought of being the one to slay her... Or perhaps that shudder came from the terrible laughter that seemed to come from the stone itself.

But something caught him by surprise. One of the vampires attacked the others. He heard her call them monsters and in that moment he knew that there was light in that one's soul that won against the ever so seductive darkness.
The seductive darkness... gods knew how many times he's teetered on the edge, danced the line with that darkness... Danced as he did now... How easy it would be to simply give in to that darkness, that easy magic and easy strength... It took monsters to kill monsters...

But the monster attacking the other monsters told a different story... One of regret for however she came to be as she is... One wishing she had fought the darkness harder but failed. If she could find the strength to fight back why couldn't he, a devoted servant of the gods, even find the strength to stand? What did she have that he lacked, or what did he have that blinded him to what she could see?
But what she did gave him hope.

He used his sword to pull himself up to his feet, the terror was there but he didn't feel it so sharply now that he had something to focus on. He wasn't about to allow himself to succumb to this vampires spell, she will die tonight, once and for all.
He spoke a prayer, but it wasn't one of piety or request, this prayer was spoken in anger.
"Dear mother Astra, brother Tychan, sister Metisa... Why hast thou grown tired of thine loyal servants? Why hast thou abandoned us to the claws of our enemies? Was our devotion insufficient? Was our faith weak? Was there a secret sin of the heart that brought thee to abandon us all?"
He drew a silver dart from his belt and threw it, catching one of Heike's opponents in the back of the head and turning her to dust.
The vampires before him that so enjoyed taunting him hissed and lunged at him faster than a blink, but clashed and slammed up against the the holy field of magic temporarily produced by his holy symbol of the celestials.
"What is the worth of thine servants soul to thee? These holy gifts of light? These blessed abilities that aided thy servants in slaying hundreds of heathens and monsters of darkness... All of these to allow us to die now?"
He dropped the holy symbol, it's magic spent, into the silver pool. The vampires advanced again more manageably and he began dealing death to them with his sword and comparable giants strength.
"Thy servant has served thee for his entire life, faithfully, dutifully, loyalty... But non of these things have I received in turn. Shall I be loyal to a creature so fickle?"
He dealt with the vampires expertly, but he was surrounded quite easily by their numbers, steel rings popped and snapped as blade and claw found cracks in his armor and pierced his chain mail, drawing blood from a dozen wounds. But one by one his holy sword hunted down the unrepentant flesh. From dust they came, and to dust they returned.
His eyes caught sight of one of the vampire bitches drinking from the man tied to the second cross, he could yet be saved.
He threw a vial of holy water, the glass broke on contact with the cross and rained over both of them, raising steam a burns like acid on the vampires skin and wounded shoulder. Evidence of how ferociously the good vampire fought for her own inner light.
"See? There is one, a creature of darkness that battles for light. She doesn't serve you, so why shall she find hope while your devoted fall to darkness?!"

With his last outcry he burried his blade in one last vampire before releasing the hilt and letting the blade stab into the floor where the creature died.
Blood leaked from his armor like a dam filled with holes. He withdrew a silver spike from his belt and approached his comrade where she hung on her cross. To his dismay her chest still rose and fell steadily, as if asleep, but she awoke at his touch and looked up at him.
"Elijah... Have I been...?"
He nodded, tears threatened to overcome him.
"Yes... I'm sorry my friend... There is nothing to be done..."
She simply nodded and closed her eyes.
"I know... please, end it before the hunger takes me..."
He placed the tip of the spike against her chest just over her slowing heartbeat.
As tears threatened to blind him he used his palm and rammed the spike home.
"May the gods have mercy on your soul... And let them remember your vows when you go to meet them."

Before he could give in to grief he looked up, and saw true master of this place, the ancient vampire in all her glory. And he stood in defiance of her.

 

[Heike Eisen]

Heike's claws found home in Nyrial, and it felt good. A kind of good that defied the values of her knighthood, of the decorum and standards in which and to which she was expected to conduct herself. A kind of good that was ancient and powerful, stemming all the way back to the very first act of fulfilled vengeance perpetrated among the oldest ancestors of Mankind. This deep satiation carried all the way from those bygone millennia to now through the blood and bones and heart of Heike, for she may have been turned into a monster but she inevitably had been human once and retained still this humanity--for better and for ill.

Nyrial retreated. Away from Heike's claws. So intensely focused was she on Nyrial that she lunged forward, her tunneled vision not allowing her to see the other two--Tylri and Nyasha--come at her. They (strangely) didn't attack her in turn, but gripped onto her arms like two guards arresting and restraining some unruly woman in the streets of a city.

Heike struggled mightily against them. Exerting herself to foolish extents in her rage. She thrashed and brute-force swung her arms about and even lifted Tylri off of the floor and slammed her back down with one arm. Yet both of them still held firm, preventing Heike from advancing.

And saving the man.

"Get your fangs off of him!" Heike bellowed in vain as Nyrial fed from the bound man's neck.

It was then that the clouds of rage parted just enough for Heike to become aware of two things.

First, the knight in the impressive armor, heard and then seen as she turned her head to look back over her shoulder. She witnessed as he dispatched other vampires, other sisters of Nyrial who--whether to outright attack or perhaps restrain him as well--had charged him.

See? There is one, a creature of darkness that battles for light. She doesn't serve you, so why shall she find hope while your devoted fall to darkness?!

His words helped tremendously to dispel the powerful but blinding rage that had overcome her, bringing back a tempering forbearance. It sounded promising, his words. A recognition that Heike was on his side, him and his elven fellow.

And then the second thing of which she became aware.

That ringing laugh throughout the whole of the silver pool chamber. The stifling quality of the air, as if phantom hands pressed against her throat and indeed the whole of her body. And then the light steps. Echoing. Coming to them.

Heike, restrained still, turned her head slowly toward the sound.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Elijah Khalo Celasaer

 

[Nyrial]

And she appeared, carried by a casual stride.

Then her footsteps ceased.​

As she entered into the darkened chamber, she reached her arms up high, and arched her back in a long, lazy stretch. Then gently, her arms fell to her sides and she scanned the room. Her eyes stopped upon each one of the newcomers, drifted over to Nyrial who sought to mend her wounds with the life-force of another. Her smile revealed her fangs, and then her head turned, canted, and she looked again upon Heike with an amused expression. Then back to the elf, who stared at her with a startled and frozen contempt. And then finally, her eyes came again to the paladin, a flash of excitement in her eye.

Now aren't you something...​

She eyed him, curiously. His holy magics would indeed prove troublesome if he decided to get a little too close. It was one of the more dangerous powers to be used against her, as it was with all vampires no matter how mature. As for the others... without him they would likely prove less problematic. However, one of their own could also prove to be equally as dangerous, should she give in a little more to her newly grifted nature. Well, at least newly gifted compared to one such as herself. That one too, would need to be kept at a distance.

"Tell me holy one," the Mistress' voice was also deceptively sweet, and carried across the room like a smoothly running stream, soothing and warm.

"Can you truly believe your friend is..." she almost giggled, "saved? You do not realize what you have robbed her of, and condemned her to..."

Then her eyes turned again back to Heike, this time with a hint of anger in her eyes, "robbed of a lasting life, which should be embraced as the gift it is.

To live on,

as we see fit, with no fear of death.

Could there be any truer freedom?

Is there anyone who would truly seek anything else? If only you could understand,"

Then she addressed them all,"but no, instead you follow after your own hollow righteousness, hidden behind the creeds of false gods long dead and gone."

She snarled, dismissively waving her hand for Heike to be released, and then once more she regarded them all,

"attack me then!

Make your gods proud."

 

[Traecon Maxwell]

"AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

The bark of laughter was harsh, bitter, echoing in the chamber with great guffaws. Traecon had never seen the likes of this one before, but dare he say, personality-wise? It was quite a resemblance to others he had faced in the depths of the Forbidden City. Those whom gave up their souls and their humanity for power, eternal life. When it was in fact, a curse. Turning such people into parasites, leeches and bottom-feeders of Man. The very monsters that heroes would put down.

How bland. Droll. Insignificant.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Twin gleaming eyes fixed upon this... vampire and broke out in laughter once more. His right hand gripped the sword even tighter, and the skull upon its guard responded with fire, bleeding from its eyeholes and flowing to the blade like the lifeblood of an elemental. Runes lit in response, and the air in the chamber was heated ever so slightly. Not a building heat, but the kind that comes before a mighty explosion.

His response to her taunts, her scathing remarks, equaled the flames coating his sword's edge. He would forgo being a stoic bastard just to tear this one apart, verbally and physically.

"And just who are you then vampire? To parade your longevity, like it is some great prize you consider to have earned?"

He stomped a foot forward in emphasis, the ground cracking beneath the armored boot, but not giving into the pressure. He raised the flaming sword, now a sizzling weapon glowing with vermillion runes, and pointed its tip at Nyrial, sustaining herself through the blood of another - a cost of the so-called eternal life that the other one had claimed was a gift. This newcomer should have considered what was happening around her before throwing that sales-pitch at the rebel vampire and the paladin.

"No gift I see here, but a vile hunger quenched by the lives of innocents. A bootlick, I'd say, but the fact you claim it is true freedom, when you are ruled by that same hunger makes you a fool as well as a bootlick."

He laughed again, a cruel and unforgiving drawl that seemed the death-gasp of some unearthly creature. He spared Heike Eisen a sideways glance, then refocused upon this unnatural beast. Resting the blade upon his shoulder, unharmed by the heat radiating along its edge, he reached down with his left gauntlet, and held up a skull. "What are these then vampire? If not victims of your so-called gift?"

He crushed the bone like an egg, dust and fragments flying about. He pointed at the bound man. "We are nothing but food to you." He rumbled, legs bent in a stance, sword clenched even tighter to the point the finger joints growled with the strain.

"And one last mistake, regarding me, vampire."

His sword rippled with power.

"I answer to no god."

Life's been a bit harsh on me following the discharge three months ago. Apologies for the long absence

 

[Heike Eisen]

The Mistress descended down into the chamber of the silver pool. She set about to talking to the paladin. Speaking lovingly of the abhorrent affliction that both she and Heike and the rest of the sisters gathered here suffered under. She invoked freedom of all things, in so doing all but desecrating Heike's Reikhurstan notions of that ideal.

Another man, robed and hooded (whom she had missed out in the courtyard), had come and traded words with the Mistress. He had given Heike a glance that roused within her a tremor of fear, for it remained uncertain that he (and the elf for that matter) might show her clemency. And what he had said was true. It was a vile hunger, and innocents often did suffer under its wicked tyranny, and Heike was as subject to it as the Mistress. And it might well be that Heike would merely be the last vampire slain in this room.

So be it then.

If she had the opportunity to take some of these monsters with her.

Once the Mistress signaled for Heike to be released, she wasted no time. Turned immediately to swipe at Tylri before pouncing on Nyasha and seeking to burrow all ten of her claws into the vampire's face and skull. A vicious scowl, contorted by rage, marred Heike's face.

Eren'thiel Xyrdithas Elijah Khalo Celasaer Traecon Maxwell

 

[Elijah Khalo Celasaer]

The queen spoke to him directly, which caught him by surprise. He half expected her to intentionally overlook him just ram home how insignificant he is... But somehow her direct attention was far worse. Her witheringly sweet tones were smooth as oil and felt as if a vice had slipped past all of his defenses and slowly squeezed around his heart.
His breath suddenly came up short and quick as if the room was quickly being filled with water.

Still he heard her words even as she bade them to attack her. Freedom from death... Could there be such a thing without slavery to life? But more importantly, did he make a horrible mistake in trusting the gods to have mercy when it was now so clear that the gods had grown tired of them? He anguished at the idea. However, the presence and words of the newcomer snapped him back to reality, he was a person with fire in his soul and hellfire anger in his eyes and struck a devilish appearance with his flaming sword. But after seeing a vampire attack her own kind he was more than willing to believe a demon would be there to help and not hinder their mission...

Their mission...

Yes, they had to complete the mission. This vampire had to die, her lair purified.
But there was several problems that came to mind in the same brief instant that he thought all these things.
The first was that this was a master vampire, in her lair, at night.
She taunted them to attack her, but the only reason he could imagine that would explain why they weren't dead yet under these conditions is either because she's just woken up and hadn't had her evening blood yet, or she was toying with them.

Still, a chance was a chance and Elijah was ready to take it, if everyone around him could stand defiantly in the presence of her evil, then he could do it too. For what is the point of a giant if he doesn't stand tall?
And stand he did, having been on his knees in grief before he now rose to his full height, his armor gleaming in the reflections off the silver pool from the light that still radiated from the holy blade thrust into the middle of the strange fluid.

Elijah towered over the vampire mistress, but instead he walked calmly to the middle of the pool and drew his sword from the stone floor beneath, where the ashes of a dead vampire now floated.
Sword in hand the holy light flashed brightly as he once again turned and faced the vampire.

"What's done is done. Neither of our sins can be reversed. You will die this night vampire, I only regret that you will die here without a final look at the open sky before you disintegrate into ash by my blade."
He pointed the tip at the master vampire without waiting for a response.
A beam of pure light lanced out directly for her heart.