Fangs For Dropping In
*Title pun is followed by a chorus of groans.* - June 18th: With Eris and Tahlor remaining behind to mind the jeep, their only means of hasty retreat in this cursed swamp, Jase opted to take command for the time being and pressed into the castle with the group close behind.
[GM Note: We're in the Magic Zone, so I should probably clarify, no the swamp is not cursed in the magical affliction sense. It is, however, full of quicksand, murky water, and in all likelihood all manner of nastiness. That is all.] Proceeding inside they beheld a grand atrium complete with sweeping staircase to the upper floor and red carpet, with a hallway in each corner leading into the east and west wings. Jase, looking distracted, informed the others that he was hearing a voice asking for their help telepathically. Deciding to at least see who the girl was, for he believed the voice to be female, the group started up the stairs to the second floor following the voice's directions.
Reaching the head of the stairs they were intercepted by a pair of raven-haired, gray-eyed and pale-skinned people, who introduced themselves as William and Layla. The former was a tall, broad-shouldered fellow with a raucous air to him, and the latter a lady dressed in Victorian finery. After a brief but tense exchange, they called their 'servants' to deal with the group and proceeded through a grand pair of double doors and proceeded deeper into the castle. The group, faced with 6 skeletons at the head of the stairs and 6 zombies at it's bottom, acted quickly, Jase containing three of the skeletons within a telekinetic force-field while the others made quick work of what remained.
Squeezing past the force field, they paused only as they heard a jaw-tightening screech from behind them. Sparing a glance behind, they saw a hulking, bat-like monster with thickly muscled limbs, membranous wings, and vicious fangs. Jase caged it, temporarily, with another telekinetic bubble and the group beat a hasty retreat into the east wing of the castle, shutting the door behind them. They soon drew near to the source of the voice, and soon were fighting with the guards to the room, a pair of vampires in stylized plate armor.
[With a bat motif, of course. ] After a minute-long struggle, Jase managed to stake one vampire and Anna laid the other low with a silver bullet, and they moved to open the door, which gave Jase a tremendous jolt of electricity before he got it open.
[And yes, you read that right, the second vampire was not staked. ] Within they found only a sword, a runeblade by the looks of it, with jet-black metal and deep purple runes along its' blade. Its' hilt bore an archaic symbol [
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_KBj3Hj4Z4zk/SlvibIolK6I/AAAAAAAAAe8/LqlKRbVj5FA/s400/Tzeentch_mark.png] no-one was familiar with, and after some suspicion Jase decided that the edge the sword would
[hopefully ] give them outweighed the risks, and picked it up. Choosing to allow the sword to impart some of her
[the blade identified herself as 'Ariana'] power to him, Jase was soon wreathed in dark purple-tinged lightning. After quite a light-show it targeted his forehead, and when it was gone it had left behind a slightly oversized third eye, midnight blue and unblinking. Deciding he could live with this, and indeed seeming somewhat pleased with the added
[magical] vision this provided, Jase then opted to allow his new sword to give him yet another essence infusion. Wreathed in lightning for a second time, there was no physically obvious change, but the warrior quickly fell unconscious to the ground from the mental strain.
Shortly thereafter, Eris
[having been given a quick rundown of the situation from Persia and swapped with her for guard duty] kicked the door in, gripping a two-handed Zweihander of blue-silver coloration that nobody had seen before. Behind her, the group could see that the second vampire had indeed tried to get back up, but Eris had put a stop to it before it got out of hand, and after reminding the team that one needs to stake
[and burn] vampires to keep them down, she let Mouse and Anna fill her in on what had happened since Persia's update. She also took a look at Jase's new sword and was quite perturbed by it, seeming to recognize the symbol on it's hilt as one belonging to a 'Lore of Secrets and Deceit.' They were interrupted, however, when the bat monster arrived and tried to squeeze its' way into the room with them. Fortunately, using her wind-katana, Fujin, Eris was able to force it outside and shut the door long enough for Mouse and Anna to find an old coat-rack to use as a makeshift bar across the door.
[Which Eris then proceeded to pretzel. ] While they were safe from the bat-monstrosity for now, the group now had a new problem: they were stuck inside the room. Anna spotted a boarded over window in the rafters, and with Mouse's help they were soon squeezing into the next room. Hearing the Count of the estate, Von Trappe, whispering to them, the group were invited to the courtyard for a
'proper contest', and informed that should they refuse the vampire's offer they would lose his hospitality and be declared fair game. With little choice in the matter, and hoping for perhaps a fair contest, Eris accepted, and Layla returned to lead them to the courtyard. About this time Jase regained consciousness and was given a quick update on what was going on while en route.
[Somewhere between the empty room they had entered and the courtyard they lost track of Mouse as well, but if the vampires didn't notice then the group certainly wasn't going to say anything. ] Arriving at the courtyard, they met Count Hyram Von Trappe in person at last, a stately gentleman sharing in his 'adopted' family's jet black hair, pale complexion and gray eyes, and dressed in Victorian clothing and a top hat. A brief exchange followed, with Von Trappe revealing that the bat-monster was in fact his first adopted son, Franz, who had given in to their lust for blood. But conversation was not the matter at hand, and William stepped forward for the first duel. Jase opted to take him on, and, as much to his surprise as the onlooker's, won easily, [as in: without taking a scratch easily.
] earning his sword many suspicious looks from Eris. Round two put Anna against Layla, and the demon-hunting gunfighter went in cautious but strong, scoring some solid hits against the vampiress. Unfortunately, Layla had a trick or two up her sleeve and countered with a barrage of black magic from her eyes, catching Anna off-guard. Using this opening to her advantage, Layla shattered what remained of Anna's armor with a strike from her clawed gauntlet.
Seeing that Anna was indeed in trouble, the group were put in a dire straight. Eris, with her respect for honor, could not in good conscience step in, and besides, it would violate the rules of Von Trappe's little game and likely drag him into the fray. Jase, however, held life in higher esteem than honor and, giving his sword free reign once more, unleashed a storm of magic lightning to smash Layla into the wall opposite. Anna, not one to question things until after any immediate danger is dealt with, promptly got up and staked the vampiress to the wall where she lay.
Eris, suspecting that a preemptive attack would likely be the only way to keep Von Trappe's joining the battle from tipping the scales, leaped into action with a flurry of blows and magic. The vampire, rather than being phased
[even after taking a Lifeblast and having a Globe of Daylight put in front of him! ] merely smiled, and gave Eris a warning.
“I have lived in excess of a thousand years, girl. My homeland lies on another world entirely, one beset by war at all times, where many relics such as the one the boy holds exist, and are used. I have faced and beaten all that my world had to offer...do you truly think a surprise attack is all it will take to best me?” The group's been holding their own, but it's time to take on the Count himself, an ancient vampire of unknown potency. Annabelle's armor is shattered, and Jase possesses a sword of...dubious origins. Wish them luck...seems they'll need it.