True Monsters – Act 2 vine garden - Chapter 14 – Oh Deer

The group left there trophy's in there lodgings, they gathered a few provisions and headed out. The steward had given them a map, of the local forest trails. And a description of four foresters that had disappeared in the woods. They were to go a search the area for signs of what had happened. Originally they had thought that the foresters had stumbled across a bandit or a monster. With the appearance of the Archanist creatures, it was possible another group of them had attacked the hunters.

They were to find any trace of what had happened, bring back or rescue any survivors. Then kill or drive off whatever caused it. Martin had an air of anticipation in his voice, “we will probably see vampires, or the servants of vampires behind this, we will deliver gods justice to them”.

David had his new shield and was quite confident, “there are heavy bounty's on the vampires right?” Martin nodded, “we are talking gold hear, yes my friend we can get our hands on some real explosives with a good bounty”. Alice was more hesitant, she had no burning desire for revenge or a hunger to line her pockets.

She was not motivated by a sense of professionalism, she could not deny the sense of freedom. That came from being away from the stuffy mages tower, out from under the thumb of a tutor. And power, she had grown to actually wield a competent level of power. Having a bit of coin in her pocket was nice as well. She would like to see her family again, and being a higher level a veteran or a master might make that happen.

They proceeded down the game trails on the map, they came across a dear carcass. It had been thoroughly devoured. A fox was by it chewing away, the fox turned and looked at them. It barked and gnashed its teeth, before charging forwards. Vivian hit it with an arrow, the creature fell dead skewered from front to back. The group gathered round it. Vivian poked it with her bow, “it looks diseased unhealthy”. Alice held out her hand, “I can sense some energy it’s a bit like the thrall wolves”. Martin nodded, “I think that I know what is going on, I believe that this fox picked the thrall taint up from this deer carcass”. David nodded, “I know the drill clean it with fire”. They burnt the remains and moved forwards.

Further down the trail there was another dead deer. It was propped up against the side of a tree, an arrow stuck in it. Vivian puled the arrow out and looked at it. “Cheap iron broad head, got the animal by surprise. A precise but not powerful shot, probably one of the foresters hunting”. Alice looked about, “no sign of a struggle and no sign of a body what got him. They wouldn't have left this much meat about, its valuable they didn't even recover their arrow?” Martin looked at the dear pointing to its neck, “two bit marks a vampire got to it infected it”.

David looked confused, “a vampire deer?” Vivian hit him on the back of the head, “no a deer with the thrall taint”. Martin explained, “you probably already guessed but vampires will taint prey animals, creatures like deer and rabbit. The creatures are not an end in themselves but a source of transmission”. Alice nodded, “people eat this, and they get infected by the taint. Predators eat this they get infected by the taint, so they become the vampire’s servants”.

David added something intelligent to the conversation, “how long would it take to infect someone”. “It varies dramatically depending on the level of the person, and the strength of the vampire using the taint. Some vampires have abilities that make this more potent.” The remains of the animal were dealt with, in the customary manner.

They moved forwards along the game trail, looking for signs of more activity. There were two dear standing in a clearing, a buck and a doe. Slowly David moved forwards weapon drawn, he looked at the creatures, they stared vacantly and milled around. Martin walked over with him, “look at them completely consumed by the thrall taint, best to end then and remove the bodies”. Vivian shrugged, “it is a shame to waste resources, you can purify them after we kill them the venison and hide would be worth a few coin and a few full bellies to the village”.

Martin agreed, “You have a point”, he walked up to one of the deer and gripped it round the neck. It didn’t resist or fight, as he held his holy symbol to its skull. There was a burning smell as the taint was burnt out of the animal, a grip and a twist and animals suffering ended. He repeated the process with the second deer, the deer carcass were stashed high in a tree. They would pick them up on the return trip.

They found a camp, some bed rolls a burnt out fire a few rabbit hides. Tracks lead away along the trail. They came to another deer carcass, this one was little more than scraps of bone and hide. There were tracks all around it. David looked down, “what sort of animal did this”? Alice answered “wild boar”, “I didn’t know that you knew tracks”. “I don’t there are three wild boar over there”, the group turned round and followed Alice’s finger.

The tainted wild boar squealed and charged at them. Vivian had an iron arrow ready, “the brains are lower in the skull than you think. Aim forward and down to insure a kill.” Martin had both pistols drawn, “thanks for the tip”. A fire ball exploded catching all three creatures in its radius, they started to smell like bacon, angry squealing bacon. Martin finished off the first one, with two focus shots to the head. The lead perforated the boar's skull dropping it, leaving it to twitch and die. Vivian got the second with a power shot through its skull, the arrow shattered inside the beast skewering its brain. David let the last one close, he used and adrenalin block from his tower shield to knock the beast over. Then ended it with a power strike taking its head half way off. Its legs took a half step twitched and stopped.

They disposed of the bodies with fire and moved forwards. There were sets of tracks men and animals, walking side by side. The clearing had a thrall dread bear, similar to dread wolf at its centre. The beast was massive and misshapen, huge fangs and claws aplenty. Its fur already suffering from the taint. Surrounding it were four presumably human thralled foresters, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, to have a giant bear standing next to them. The group was filled out with a three dogs, probably hunting dogs and four more of the boars.

Vivian looked at the others, “Are we prepared to fight this battle, we might have to kill people we might not be able to save them”. David shrugged, “we have both been taught for years to kill people, there is a first for everything” Martin shrugged, “we don’t kill them we free then, either by death or purify we still free them”. Alice nodded, “I don’t want to kill anyone but this isn’t living”, “what tactics do we use”.

They didn’t get to develop a cunning plan, as at that moment one of the infected foresters noticed them, “the master’s command us kill the prey”. The mass of tainted creatures moved forwards, while the foresters took aim with their bows. Anything with the taint would work together, when instructed and ignore each other without there master’s commanded.

Martin used a focus throw to hit the dread thrall bear with the one of his thermite grenades, it was damaging and court several of the other creatures in the blast radius. A fire ball followed that up killing off the dogs, it made the wild boar look far worse for wear. Vivian had one of her good bodkin arrows ready, combined with a power shot the thrall bear suddenly had two foot of arrow buried in its side. A power strike from David finished off one of the wild boars.

The rangers retaliated, Martin was left with two arrows sticking out of his chest. they were buried in his armour barely irritating him. David felt two arrows bounce of his shield, again doing very little.

Martin used two focus shots combined with wrath to remove two of wild boars, David used a power strike to finish off the last one. Now the bear had reached him, he was going to see how good his shield was.

The foresters switched their targets, they didn’t want to hit their own allies. Martin was hit twice more, chest and shoulder he barely noticed it. An arrow struck Vivian bouncing off her helmet, she switched her aim from the thrall bear to the foresters and shot one forester. Not using a power attack as they hoped to save him, but the injury would take him out of the fight. Alice was hit in the stomach with an arrow, she had some natural armour due to her level. Some spell armour due to the three magic items and some actual armour, with the padded clothing she wore. It still hurt and knocked her on her ass. Alice could still fight back, targeted the bear in the face with two fire bite spells, only enraging it more.

The thrall bear swiped at David’s shield, he had dug it into the ground. It rang like a bell but held firm and solid. David managed to retaliate with a power strike, wounding the beast on its right arm.

Martin held his holy symbol out, “smite” a bolt of electricity struck the bear in the face, the creature staggered back. The three active foresters aimed for Alice, to try and kill her off. The fist arrow got her in the shoulder, the second in the chest not very deep thanks to the armour, but she was still badly hurt. She was almost blacking out but pushed through the pain, she retaliated with a fire ball aiming to incinerate the lot of them. Two were smart enough to duck behind a tree, they were still hit by part of the blast and ran turned to run injured. Vivian had a fraction of a second to react, she used a power shot to kill the last active forester as he aimed for Alice. It was him or them Vivian reasoned.

David hit the bear with a two power strikes, the bear took the opportunity to strike back hurting him, and his armour stopped some of the blow. Martin used a focus reload and the blessing divine retribution to get a shot off at the bear. Another power shot from Vivian and the bear decided to revaluate its chances turning and running off into the woods, heading the same direction that the two foresters had retreated in.

Martin pulled the arrows out of his armour. “Not very effective, cheap arrows weak bows little skill”. Vivian turned to him, “Alice needs help use your medic skill”. Martin nodded, “David subdue that hunter, and I will purify him later”. Martin carefully checked over Alice, “Is it going to be ok?” Martin grimaced, “I will have to make the wounds slightly bigger when I get the arrows out, it will hurt I need you to have your healing spell ready.” She nodded gritting her teeth. Martin removed a pair of forceps from his coat and sterilised the end with strong alcohol. He carefully used the forceps to grip the arrow, he pulled and twisted. “aagghh fuuck”, the first arrow was out and Alice was healing herself up. A similar procedure with the second and she breathed a sigh of relief.

Vivian held a hand out looking at the surgical alcohol, Martin nodded she took a large swig and handed it back. “There’s a first time for everything, I expected it to be a bandit or a buccaneer not some poor shmuck being mind controlled”.

Martin checked the arrows, “sometimes they poison them with their own blood to spread the taint, not this time”. Alice used her healing ability on herself one last time, then on Martin to repair the minor damage that he had suffered. They went over to David he was sitting on the injured forester. “The masters will anoint you in blood, you shall serve you shall join us”. He held out his hand, “purify” “.... ah …. uhh … what the fuck, what the hell, what was I just doing?” David checked with Martin, then let the man go. The forester was confused the arrow was removed, Martin held his leg straight and Alice healed it. The forester stood up and put his weight on the leg. He looked around “what's going on”?

Alice used her healing magic on David twice, he was soon breathing fine again. His side didn't feel like it was on fire when he breathed. Martin explained to the man, “you picked up a mystical contaminant from infected wild life. you were being controlled by a vampire”. “You killed one of my friends, you didn't have to go that far”, Vivian looked at him, “he was trying to kill one of my friends, I had no choice”. The group levelled up there and then, with no hostile creatures in the area. The forester looked at them quizzically, “how”? “We killed several tainted beasts and defeated a high level opponent”, Vivian answered.

Martin walked over to the dead forester, “Purify”. The live forester looked at him, “what are you doing he is already dead”? Martin turned picking up the body, “he deserves last rights”. “his body can carry the taint even in death, I have to be certain I don't bring it into the village.” They delta with the creatures remains and headed back to the village.

David lead the forester back, the reality of the situation slowly sunk in. “Oh god you killed him”, “he was not in his right mind”. He pointed accusingly, “You could have saved him.” Alice spoke with conviction, “If she hesitated I would be dead”, “we had to kill him.” “We did what we could, the priest can carry out last rights, and his soul will know rest.” They stopped where they had left the deer, David carried one Vivian carried the other.

Alice became distant over there journey back, the pain from the arrows hitting her was replayed over and over in her mind. She kept questioning why she was doing this, the answer was a mystery to her. She would suffer horribly if she tried to desert, even ending up in the gallows keep of the tower city. She had been distant from her colleagues at the tower, she had never connected with any of her tutors. Vivian David and even Martin were the closet thing she had to friends or colleagues, which she gave a dam about.

They got back to the village, one forester’s family was overjoyed to have him back. One family was left grieving. Two more were left with so many unanswered questions. The steward looked a little disappointed at them. Still it was progress of a sort, maybe more of a draw on hindsight. He gave them some silver for completing the investigation. At least they knew another piece of the puzzle, a vampire was actively spreading the thrall taint in the area. Combined with the archanist creatures and a powerful vampire was probably marshalling forces for an attack.

They went to the inn. They had a few drinks and a meal. Vivian had something a little stronger than the usual ale. The group divided up.

Alice spoke with Vivian, “did you have to kill that man”? “Yes I have been trained for years, I have killed several animals and several creatures. As a professional mercenary there was no other way, as far as I can see it”. Alice grabbed an ale, “why do you do this?” “What do you mean, why I chose to be a mercenary?” “No you seem to want to do this,” “I have known David since I was a child, the two of us are in it together.” “It must be nice to have a friend that good”. “It is, I admit the block head appreciates me”, “if was on his own he would have been chewed up long ago, if I wasn't around.”

“There is more is-ant there”? Vivian nodded, “The glass bay mercenaries installed a certain sense of pride in me. In the job, a job is a job a contract is a contract. What I put my mark to I stand by it.” “What did you put your mark on”? “A contract the mercenary company give me food training and employment, I follow orders and give a certain number of years’ service. I keep a percentage of bounties and the company gets the rest, David has the same deal.”

“For enough gold you can buy your way out, one big score but it can be lucrative. Why would we want out”, “what drives David on the same as you”? “I think David is starting to enjoy the fight, it’s easier if you have a mage behind you. To heal you and a holy helping hand to purify any aliments. David wants money and glory and the crowds to shout his name. I will be happy if they say she did her duty, the emerald medallion at the annual shooting event wouldn't hurt either”.

Vivian looked at Alice, “the question you should be asking yourself is why do you fight what do you want”. “I don't know, that's the problem. Until the last few weeks I haven't done much with my life. Just scrape through from one exam to the next”, “What do you want”? “I don't really know”, “what do you hate”? “I hate being told what to do, where I have to live, who I have to marry”. “How do you change that”? “I need to have power, to be a master or a grand master, they have choice and freedom”. “Do you want freedom just for yourself?”

“Yes I guess, I don't have the strength to help myself, let alone others, yet”. “If you ever live long enough, to have that sort of power. To be the one making the decisions, don't you think that it would be better to help people? To change things in your organisation”, “Yes I guess so”, “so I ask you what do you want”? “Enough power to change things, so that I can make my own choice, so that everyone in the tower system can make their own choice. So that I can see my family, so that we all can. So that I can chose who I see, so that the rest of us can chose who they can see”. Alice noticed that she was standing up, she had drained her tankard and that she was now rather loud.

On the opposite side of the inn David spoke with Martin, trying to understand there opponent.

“So I hear the term Master used in different contexts, a master and, the masters, is there a correlation are they of equivalent strength”?

Martin raised his ale, “The two terms are Miles apart, and each denotes some one of a certain strength. But it's two separate scales. For a human a master is someone who has performed a feat of martial strength. They have broken through the twenty five barrier. Then levelled up to fifty, they are powerful and rare, far less numerous than veterans”

David was dismissive, “Of course I know that, every town has one or two. What about the other use, I thought that it denoted a vampire that was level fifty, when turned or something like that.”

Martin sighed “Oh no, it denotes a group of very powerful vampires. They currently dominate vampire society.” David sat and listened, “According to text we have recovered the first vampire spent about a thousand years alone or almost alone. No other significant numbers of vampires were present, they developed an ability 'blood bound'. Any vampire that they created would be forced to obey them.”

“The vampire population increased and the progenitor when into some sort of coma or hibernation. They left a group of vampires that were called the regents in charge. loyal to a fault having been made by the vampire progenitor. A group of thirty or forty of the oldest vampires, not blood bound by the original declared themselves. Masters of their own fate, hence the term vampire master. The regents were inflexible and unresponsive, unable to negotiate.”

“A vampire civil war decimated there numbers, all but a few regents remaining went into hiding. This was millennia ago and as soon as they had won there freedom, what do you think that the masters did?”

David grinned, vampires still thought like humans, “I guess they started infighting about how to divide up the spoils”. He nodded, “That's right and they still do to this day. Occasionally they work together, there are some tacit alliances.”

“There were around twenty masters left at the end of the civil war, eight settled in this country. Over the last three hundred years we have killed two of them. The remaining six are very cautious. We have no confirmed kills, but rumours indicate two other masters have died at the hands of their former comrades in far off lands.

This was interesting, but David wanted some gauge of their power, “How old is a master vampire?” Martin though, “About seven to eight thousand years old, around level six to seven hundred”. That was perhaps more information than he wanted to know. Yet men had still defeated adversaries that powerful, “How the hell did we ever kill one let alone two of those things?”

A gleeful look passed Martins eyes, “You heard of broken peak mountain, one of the masters had a fortress at the top. It took us two decades to get enough explosive together, nitro-glycerine and dynamite but it killed the arrogant fuck”. David raised his mug Martin reciprocated, “What about the second”? Martin grinned, “it Lived in a mine we flooded it with holy water, from a dam above, took half an hour for it to dissolve the bastard.”

David went over to a game of dice on one of the tables, he only had a few brass pennies in hand so it wouldn't cost him much this time.

Sleep didn't come to Alice easily, she tossed and turned, she might need to do some horrible things but she would become strong enough to reform the tower. “I am not a monster”, she slowly whispered to herself as she went to sleep. Martin said his prayers and went to bed, he remembered a hunters saying as he dozed off, The greatest monster that a hunter should ever see is the one looking back at him from the mirror, all others should fear that”, he whispered to himself, I will be the monster.

Status Screen Name Martin Wrigt Age 29 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Vampire hunter level 24 Secondary Occupation Journeyman Craftsman Level 11 Affiliation Order of Steel and Silver / The Church of the Creator God Secondary Affiliation Bay City Guild Hall Health 323/323 Focus 160/160 Strength 11 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Agility 5 Endurance 33 Charisma 5 Dexterity 7 Perception 5 Faith Yes Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 35 Level Defence Bonus 35 Bonus Base Weapon Damage 15 Class Proficiency Bonus vs Vampire Resist Disease Resist Poison Holy Symbol usage L1 Immunity to Taint – Demonic, Thrall, Necromantic, Ghoul and Vampirism Taint Pistol Proficiency L5 Overload Shot L1 Focus Shot L1 Focus re-lode L1 Throwing knife Proficiency L3 Focus throw L1 General Melee Weapons L3 Focus strike L1 Focus Parry L1 Focus Multi Throw L1 Combat Medic support skill L2 Grenadier L4 Blade Coatings L2 Blessings Use Per Day Wrath – 25 points of holy damage unblockable x 4 Shield of Faith – 50 points of temporary health x 1 Guardian Angel – blocks first two attacks that would penetrate armor x 1 Armor of faith – ten extra points of armor block both magic and physical attack x 1 Purify – remove taint disease etc x 4 Holy Aura – five feet - ten points holy damage – per second x 1 Divine Retribution – 100 points of holy damage unblockable x 2 Circle of Consecration – fifteen feet area ten points holy damage per second x 1 Fortress of faith – 100 points of temporary health + 20 points of armor x 1 Smite – 200 points lighting damage x 1 Divine Favor – 20 hit point Regeneration for 5 seconds x 2 Hallowed Earth – 250 points holy damage in 10 meters x 1 Martyrs Sacrifice – minus 4 hit point per second + 20 attack + 10 strength + 10 agility + 10 dexterity. - (really painful) consumes focus per sec x 1 Craft Proficiency Administration L1 Woodworking L1 Leather Working L3 Mettle Working L5 Sowing L1 Perks Well Maintained Perk on all equipment Pistols – improved critical damage 30% + Armour penetration 15 points Flaws Alcoholism Zealot Survivors Guilt Status Screen Name Alice Costar Age 17 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Mage Level 16 Affiliation The Eternal Tower Mages Guild/ Royalist Court Health 63/63 Mana 160/160 Strength 3 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 21 Agility 5 Endurance 3 Charisma 5 Dexterity 5 Perception 5 Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 16 Level Defence Bonus 16 Number of Spells can Maintain 1 Base Spell Cost 4 Mana Class Proficiency Mana Regeneration L1 Analyse Magic L1 Recharge Enchantment L1 Spell List Fire Bite (5 damage + 2 per level ) 1x base mana cost Tracking Fire Bite Master (16 damage +5 per level ) 1x base mana cost Touch heal master (15 heal + 6 per level ) 1x base mana cost Ranged Heal (5 heal +1 per level ) 1x base mana cost Fire Ball Grand (20 damage +8 per level 10 foot area ) 4x base mana cost Flaws Fear of Bats Status Screen Name David Fisher Age 18 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Mercenary Level 17 Affiliation Glass Bay Mercenary Free Company / Merchants Guild Association Health 115/115 Adrenalin 85/85 Strength 23 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Agility 5 Endurance 6 Charisma 5 Dexterity 5 Perception 5 Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 17 Level Defence Bonus 17 Bonus Base Weapon Damage 51 Class Proficiency Comprehensive Training L3 Layered Armour Perk L1 Sword proficiency L7 Adrenalin Power Strike L1 Shield proficiency L7 Adrenalin power block L1 Flaws Gambling Addiction Status Screen Name Vivian Tanner Age 19 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Mercenary Level 17 Affiliation Glass Bay Mercenary Free Company / Merchants Guild Association Health 115/115 Adrenalin 85/85 Strength 23 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Agility 6 Endurance 6 Charisma 6 Dexterity 5 Perception 5 Bonuses Level attack bonus 17 Level Defence Bonus 17 Bonus base weapon damage 51 Class Proficiency Comprehensive Training L3 Layered Armour Perk L1 Bow Proficiency L8 Adrenalin Power Shot L1 Speed Shooting L6 Perks Intensive Training +1 endurance and Strength