True Monsters – Act 2 Vine Garden - Chapter 20 – Into The Lair

The party rose in better spirits, they had breakfast with Father Richard and the layman who served as his assistant. They were quietly digging into their second portion, the priest slowly finished his food and said a quick blessing. There was a rapid banging on the inner church door. One of the militia men had a note for the priest. He nodded his thanks to the man, then unfolded the note quickly reading it.

“They found the vampire’s main base, the steward is coordinating the attack now”. David grinned “that vampire is a fool if he's still around”. Martin reiterated the sentiment, “it will be good to purge this threat from the land”, “it will be good to finally complete this assignment” Vivian smiled. “We can sleep for a week after this”, Alice grinned. They finished their meal gathered there equipment and headed out.

When they got to the lords manor they were greeted by the other remaining adventures, the steward and several guards. The steward looked round, “Good everyone's hear, yesterday the sisters of mercy caught a thrall. He was trying to get into our settlement hiding on the back of a farm wagon. It was quickly deduced that he was working for Islington. We are still investigating why he tried to get into the village. The man is no longer around he, drank a strong poison before they could use purify on him.”

The steward continued, “After he regained his senses he had just enough time and thought to spill the beans on the vampires location. The man didn't survive long enough to tell us anything else.” the sisters of battle looked at the steward, “we don't carry antidotes as we are resistant to poison. We interrogated the cart driver he knew nothing”. One of the mercenaries asked, “How did you interrogate the cart driver”. His boss put a hand on his shoulder, “Best not to ask too many questions”, David, Vivian and Alice looked shocked, Martin, only a little regretful.

The steward picked up two bundles of paperwork, handing one to Martin and the second to the sisters of final mercy. “This Lair is about eight miles out from Vine Garden, it’s near a forester’s camp. You each have a map, you will head to this point by the camp and split up.” He double checked a report on the table, “from the battles so far we believe that almost all the vampires daytime muscle is dead. There lair will be guarded with just a few pets, according to the thrall eight vampires are there. We are not sure if he meant eight vampires and Islington or eight vampires total. Please search thoroughly and confirm”.

“There are two entrances marked on the map, we will attack this day. We will not giving them a chance to relocate. There are two entrances, so there will be two groups. The sisters of mercy and Gray company mercenaries will take the entrance marked as one. The party from Broken Gorge will take the other entrance number 2, I believe that you are all fully prepared. The vampire can still attempt to escape in daylight, in a box under a cloak so there will be no chance as there are two groups of you. If you run into trouble retreat back into the daylight”.

The groups got ready, the mercenaries silvered their weapons or added holy oil from Father Richard, then they headed out of the settlement. They journeyed across the land as one group, the mercenaries with their scout up front the party in the middle and the sisters of mercy at the rear. One of the mercenaries looked at David, “I bet you a silver we get to Islington before you do.” David nodded on it shaking hands with the man. They reached the abandoned foresters camp ten minutes later then the groups split up.

The number of thralls serving the vampires might be almost zero but there were still some guards. At the entrance to the cave there were two dozen sleeping thrall bats and six thrall wolves. One of the thrall wolves looked half awake. It howled loudly as the party arrived, bared is teeth and waited for its allies to fully stir. It stayed standing in the mouth of the vampire’s lair.

Alice almost jumped out of her skin as the bats dropped down, opened there wings and started to approach. Alice shook and went pale as she cast a fire ball spell into the centre of the mass of bats. It detonated killing most of them in an instant and sending the rest all over the place. The thrall wolves following them were not of a particularly high level and quickly fell. Martin emptied both his long-range pistols not bothering to use focus shots or blessings. The wolves howled whimpered and died, bleeding out on the cold ground. David easily hacked two of them to pieces with his sword, they could not get past his tower shield. Vivian hit two of them, even iron broad heads slew these ones quickly, they were barely more than juveniles.

Vivian and David finished off the last two thrall wolves, while Martin dispatched a couple of thrall bats with his mallet. Alice picked of the last two bats with acid strike spells. She had a little smile on her face as the monster sized bats dissolved into smoking carcases. The battle was quick and completely one sided. The remains were dragged into a pile just outside the cave and set on fire. They didn't want to face that lot again as a pile of zombies, they would not give the vampires the opportunity.

They moved further into the cave, two yawning blearily eyed fledgling vampires approached them. They were woken up by the commotion and were just going to investigate. They looked almost brand new. One carried an iron mace the second a wood axe. One panicked the second gripped there weapon, like they knew what to do with it.

Martin quickly took them out of the fight, using his long range pistols. They were loaded with silver bullets, an overload focus shot combined with his “divine retribution.” blessing on one vampire then the other. The silver embedded in their skulls, it was not quite enough to kill them outright. They were on the ground screaming in agony rolling about clutching their ruined faces. One tried to reach for his axe and was struck with an Acid strike from Alice. A fire ball followed which almost killed them outright. Vivian finished one off with an adrenalin power shot with her bow through the heart. David finished the second one off with an adrenalin power strike removing its head.

Martin grinned a happy fucking creepy smile at the dead vampires. To be sure they dragged the vampires body's outside the cave and threw them into the sunlight. The remains burst into fire then subsided leaving ash and fangs. Martin collected the fangs as proof of their achievement, so that they could get paid.

They returned back into the cave wary, expecting the remaining six vampires to come from anywhere. Two heavily cloaked figures were stealthy moving down the corridor towards them. They were two woman a fledgling and full vampire trying to sneak out. The vampires looked at the group and stopped. The leader held up her hands, “look we were jumping ship you won’t see us again let us go right”? Vivian drew back her arrow, David charged forwards shield lowered Alice chanted a spell.

Martin hit the full vampire with the blessing, “wrath of the almighty”. She glowed white as holy light enveloped her body causing smoke to burn around her. She screamed as the other elemental damage took hold. After receiving six hundred points of damage the vampire was not in the best shape, but was far from out of the fight. Alice hit her in the face with an acid strike, she screamed and fell backwards as her eyes were burnt away. Martin emptied his triple pistol into her chest, it was loaded with stakes one hit dead centre she convulsed and lay still.

The other vampire fared no better, Vivian caught her in the knee with a power shot crippling her. David closed using a shield block to knock her to the ground, then cut her with two power strikes to the neck ending her. Vivian recovered her arrow Martin reloaded his pistols, they dragged the two vampires remains outside of the lair. With the application of sunlight they disintegrated, the remains of the full vampire took a little longer to burn. They were soon gone and another two sets of fangs was added to the tally.

Deeper inside the lair was a room filled with coffins, most were open and empty three were still shut. Very slowly the lid of one coffin was propped open, a very fresh faced young vampire slowly emerged from inside the coffin. He walked a discrete distance to the entrance of the room and just stepped outside. He dug around in his pocket, he struck a match and set a torch on the wall blazing. Fishing around in his pocket he pulled out a tube of rolled leaves, inside it was a mixture of tobacco and blue powder. He lit the cigar and took a deep breath, not that he needed to breath but it was still pleasant.

He exhaled relaxing, a little puff of blue smoke floated in front of him. He heard a noise slowly he turned round, there was a man in leather armour with a holy symbol in his hand. Two people in armour and a woman who must be a mage stood behind him. The vampire swallowed, “oh shit”

Martin was on him. Literally beating him down with his holy symbol, “wrath” “wrath” “wrath” each blow was proceeded by a blessing that dealt holy damage to the vampire. Soon the vampire didn't even struggle, Martin held his holy symbol to its ruined face. The hot metal slowly burnt away flesh then blacked bone until the vampire stopped twitching.

The vampire was not alone, two of the coffins sprang open a pair of vampires dressed in black rose to their feet. One picked up a morning star from a nearby table, the second retrieved a short sword from his coffin. The two vampires charged as one. The one with the morning star headed for David. The one with the mace headed for Martin.

Two bodkin arrows flew at the vampire targeting David, one missed the second pierced it though the neck it kept coming. David blocked the morning star with his shield then responded with a power attack, severing half the vampires arm. Martin used a blessing, “shield of faith” in preparation for the oncoming attack. Alice hit the vampire with a fire bite spell it slowed but was still able to strike at Martin, cracking the defensive blessing. Before it could make a second swing Martin unloaded both pistols, with silver shot at point blank range. Considering their foes the two vampires started to back off they would get Islington to help them with these foes.

They didn't get a chance as they were engulfed by two fire ball spells, before they could get fifteen feet. They tried to regain their footing but it was too late, Vivian skewered one through the heart while David tackled the second Martin staked it. If there information was accurate then these were the last vampires before Islington. Martin and Vivian dragged the vampire’s remains outside, while David and Alice covered them. A short time later and the vampires were dust.

Martins eyes glowed, he was levelling up, his grenadier skill improved again as he hit level 29. Oh how he wished that he had some dynamite. David and Vivian both hit level 24, they were very close to being veterans. They handled the wash of pain as they grew more powerful, David considering that he had enough missile blocking skills getting it up to level 4. Vivian was going to continue to build her critical strike skill up. She would push it as far as she could, so another skill point went into that. Alice blacked out as she felt the wash of pain, shortly after her body finished twitching and shaking her eyes popped open. When she got past level 25 she would no longer be knocked out from the stress of levelling up. The grand version of the acid strike was now in her possession. Her strategy of building up a few powerful spells, rather than splitting her focusing on a lot of weak spells was slowly paying off.

They went back inside, there was no additional resistance as they got to the inner sanctum. David grinned, “One silver for me”. Islington's room was quite large and to a degree opulent, in comparison to his subordinates. It contained a large painting of himself a fine bed a writing desk. There was a thrall in a butler’s uniform combing his hair, her turned and rose. “How dare you enter my chamber...”. “chain, smite” a bolt of lightning shot towards him. The thrall didn't hesitate he stood in front of Islington, taking the attack and dropping dead in the next instance.

The vampire drew his weapon, “fool that was your best chance to kill me”. Martin responded “chain smite”, “agggghhh but aagggghh you aaacch can agggglllah only … agggghh use … aaggh that agghhh once a agghhh day”, after eight seconds Martin was out of focus. Islington had taken over two thousand points of electrical damage, leaving him on his knees. Using a simple deception he had caught Islington off guard, making him think that he had avoided the one use of chain smite that Martin had. Islington saw two copper cylinders with short fuses landed right next to him.

They exploded together, engulfing him in thermite. Removing most of his skin as the molten metal burn into his flesh. The vampires face was mostly gone but his eyes were still intact. He saw Martin with his triple barrelled pistol, each barrel was loaded with a stake. The vampire tried to duck. Two hit him in the neck the third the shoulder, it was painful debilitating but not fatal. He pulled the stakes out. An acid strike hit him in the groin and a bodkin arrow skewered him in the shoulder. He gritted his teeth at the pain, then pulled the arrow free. He set about pulling the stakes out of his neck.

David was upon him, the vampire prepared a classic duelling stance, David used his shield with adrenalin block over and over again to beat him back. The vampire didn't have a chance to regain his balance as twenty pounds of iron and steel were hammered into his face, over and over again. He staggered and fell back, Martin had a stake ready. The vampire could feel it aimed at his heart and tried to twist away.

The look on Islington's face was of shock, as the stake was thrust into his eye socket not his chest. He was stunned, David’s blade came down on his shoulder with a crunching sound. While tougher than a regular human he was no elder vampire and a mercenary’s power strike delivered a substantial blow. The limb fell to the ground, it twitched releasing the sword. The remaining skin seemed to drift off peeling away becoming dust. The flesh withered and desiccated then became dust. Finally the bones crumbled into chalky white powder leaving his weapon magic ring and a scrap of fabric.

The vampire pulled the stake out of his eye socket backing into a corner. He grabbed his belt buckle and pressed an indent on it. There was a click and then he released the metal, it hit the floor exploding into a haze of smoke. An archanists weapon gave Islington the chance to run for his un-life. He dived for his own painting ripping through the middle of it, the hole revealed a third way in an escape passage. The painting was pulled back but it was too late, there was a splash. It must have led to water, an underground river or some such.

They may not have killed him but they burnt most of his skin off, taken an eye and arm. They had cost him most of his wealth, which he sunk into this endeavour. Almost every servant he had was gone, as were his allies, both his magic items and his dignity. “Come back here I want your head”! David shouted after him. Martin grinned, “It will take him months to regain any semblance of strength. If he comes back for us we will be much stronger then we will collect a gold each.”

Martin’s eyes glowed white, “he is out of range now I guess we Level up again for defeating him. He was twenty levels above us, even if it there was four of us and five more heading this way.” Martin felt power wash over him, as his body strengthened again he hit level 30. He had 378 hit points, access to three more uses of his healing blessing and four more uses of his purify blessing. He also gained a new defensive blessing, it was twice as powerful as his guardian angel blessing, guardian seraphim angel could stop four attacks and he could stack both blessings together.

Vivian and David were now veterans, they were locked at that limit until they performed a feat of martial strength. At level 25 they got the second rank of their adrenalin abilities, making them hit far harder. There layered armour perk went to rank 2 giving them twice the armour bonus. They gained adrenalin efficiency, so that it now cost them 20% less adrenalin to activate their abilities, they could now hit harder and far more frequently. Alice was one level below veteran, she now had the greater version of her acid strike spell. With her level she could now do 108 points of acid damage with a single spell for four points of mana.

The other group arrived, the mercenary leader looked around the remains of the room, “where is he, did you get him”. Martin shook his head, “we got an eye an arm but then he pulled some sort of archanist or alchemist device and fled. There is an underground river behind the painting, he is long gone now.” The mercenaries looked deflated as there payday had escaped. The sisters of unrelenting mercy looked at Martin, disappointment in their eyes. “At least he is broken it will take him a year to heal those injuries and decades to rebuild his forces and wealth”! The other hunter looked around, “he might try something desperate and stupid, then he will die”.

Martin and Alice looked over the two items dropped on the floor. Alice pulled her hand back from the sword but the ring didn't give of a harmful sensation. Martin held out his holy symbol it vibrated a little. Martin looked around the group. “Don’t touch it, it’s made with vampireic magic only another vampire can safely use it. He held his holy symbol on the object, he looked at the two other vampire hunters. “Help me to purge the vampire’s power”, the two sisters of mercy held there holy symbols to the sword, they might be forced to destroy the rapier. It used vampireic magic they used their blessings, “purify” “purify” the magic item was turned into scrap shattering undone.

Martin looked over the fragments, it was probably a mitral steel alloy. The metal would still be useable. David looked disappointed he had wanted the sword as a replacement for his own. The second item was a ring that boosted perception by 5 points, the ring of the eagle. A quick debate between the mercenaries and the party meant that the magic item would go to the party. They had cut it off the vampire’s hand. It went to Vivian, to make her aim better at longer ranges with the bow. It was wasted on David, Martin could not use it and Alice had spells that tracked targets or affected an area.

They searched the rest of the lair, it was a fairly empty place. This was obviously not the vampire’s main base it was set up temporarily. Islington had probably left most of his personal effects with his sponsor, fewer items to move fewer things to lose. Though he had now lost several items. They did find a few private papers. Diary's correspondence sent by messenger bat. It mostly alternated from the vampire patting himself on the back and praising a vampire L, his superior and sponsor. They were both in the service of an ancient Bismarck, who in turn severed the Empress of Shadows. It was all apparently personal correspondence at first glance, without any useful information. It would still be taken back, then picked through by people with the scribe job for any hidden meaning or useful information.

They did find a few extra silver coins, between the dead vampire’s meagre possessions and what would have been Islington's petty cash. This was split with other groups. The other group of adventures had been tied up dealing with vast numbers of thrall bats, including a few of the large ones that took a long time to pin down and kill. After they split the funds between them they got about 5 silver each. It was a consolation prize compared to the gold on Islington's head, but it was something. The adventures had killed a lot of vampires, Martin had all the fangs so that they could claim the rewarded, when they got to a larger settlement, typically any large cathedral town.

There was a small celebration, now that the vampire had been driven off. It was not a complete victory and Islington had gotten away, barely. It was the sort of defeat that would keep the vampires out of the area for some time, having lost so many of their number. It was also a memorial of sorts, it had cost the lives of several locals and five adventures including the caravan guards. Lord Cain with his inflated sense of the theatrics was the host.

They left the majority of their weapons in the entrance room of the lord’s manor, still in easy reach if there was an alert or attack. He had supplied several wild boar and deer that has been spit roasted, a few barrels of ale and several casks of fine wine. Those people that had been conscripted from the local settlements got a chance to relax, there job was practically done. There were several candles lit on a tray, in memory of the people confirmed dead or still missing.

At the head of the lords table the local elite gathered, lord Cain his steward, several members of his family, the merchant Alan and Barnabas a few of his senior people and father Richard. The adventures sat down at the table just below the local elite. They made small talk about local matters and the wine trade. Alan gave them some begrudging respect. “You have kept this land safe, you have skirted the boundary of death several times. Putting your own lives at risk for the local people. I said that you were incompetent, I take that back you have discharged your duty adequately seizing every opportunity to fight the foe. You are now veterans I congratulate you on surviving so far”. The party took the compliment, it was good that they would not have to worry about the angry merchant seeding further recourse against them.

They ate some fine baked goods, drank a lot of strong wine. Alice had hers watered down. A few wheels of cheese were taken out and dismantled. The name of each person dead or missing was read out, they took a drink and extinguished a candle. The five adventures names were spoken last. As the celebration ended most headed off to bed. Father Richard the mercenary Barnabas and the steward gathered round the end of the table, with the adventures that could still stay upright, “As you know we recovered some paperwork from the vampire’s lair, we have seen some patterns, they knew about what was going on inside the settlement. We don't know if someone was being blackmailed mind controlled bribed with coin. This celebration may have been premature, tomorrow we clean our own house. Tomorrow we look for the viper in our midst.”

Status Screen Name Vivian Tanner Age 19 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Mercenary Level 25 Affiliation Glass Bay Mercenary Free Company / Merchants Guild Association Health 155/155 Adrenalin 125/125 Efficiency 4 Strength 31 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Agility 6 Endurance 6 Charisma 6 Dexterity 5 Perception 5 Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 25 Level Defence Bonus 25 Bonus Base Weapon Damage 75 Class Proficiency Comprehensive Training L4 Layered Armour Perk L2 Adrenalin Power Shot L2 Bow Proficiency L8 Speed Shooting L8 Critical Strikes L4 Perks Intensive Training + 1 Endurance and Strength Status Screen Name David Fisher Age 18 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Mercenary Level 25 Affiliation Glass Bay Mercenary Free Company / Merchants Guild Association Health 155/155 Adrenalin 125/125 Efficiency 4 Strength 31 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Agility 5 Endurance 6 Charisma 5 Dexterity 5 Perception 5 Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 25 Level Defence Bonus 25 Bonus Base Weapon Damage 75 Class Proficiency Comprehensive Training L4 Layered Armour Perk L1 Adrenalin Power Strike L2 Sword Proficiency L8 Shield Proficiency L8 Adrenalin Power Block L2 Defend Against Missiles L4 Flaws Gambling Addiction Status Screen Name Alice Costar Age 17 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Mage Level 24 Affiliation The Eternal Tower Mages Guild/ Royalist Court Health 87/87 Mana 200/200 Strength 3 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 29 Agility 5 Endurance 3 Charisma 5 Dexterity 5 Perception 5 Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 24 Level Defence Bonus 24 Number of Simultaneous Spells 2 Base Spell Cost 4 Mana Magical Defence 50 Class Proficiency Mana Regeneration L2 Analyse Magic L2 Recharge Enchantment L2 Spell List Fire Bite (5 Damage + 2 per Level ) 1 x Base Mana Cost Tracking Fire Bite Master (16 Damage + 5 per Level ) 1 x Base Mana Cost Touch Heal Master (15 Heal + 6 per Level ) 1 x Base Mana Cost Ranged Heal (5 Heal + 1 per Level ) 1 x Base Mana Cost Fire Ball Master (30 Damage +12 per Level 10 foot Area ) 4 x Base Mana Cost Touch Poison Cure – 5 x Base Mana Cost Tracking Acid Strike Greater (12 damage + 4 per level ) 1x base mana cost Flaws Fear of Bats Status Screen Name Martin Wrigt Age 29 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Vampire hunter level 30 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 378/378 Focus 205/205 Strength 11 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Agility 5 Endurance 39 Charisma 5 Dexterity 7 Perception 5 Faith Yes Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 41 Level Defence Bonus 41 Bonus Base Weapon Damage 15 Class Proficiency Bonus vs Vampire Resist Disease Holy Symbol usage L1 Resist Poison Blade Coatings L2 Focus Shot L1 Immunity to Taint – Demonic, Thrall, Necromantic, Ghoul and Vampirism Taint Pistol Proficiency L5 Overload Shot L1 Focus re-lode L1 Throwing knife Proficiency L3 Focus throw L1 Focus Multi Throw L1 General Melee Weapons L3 Focus strike L1 Grenadier L8 Focus Parry L1 Duel Wield Focus Attack L1 Combat Medic 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 Guardian Seraphim angel – blocks first four attacks that would penetrate armour x 1 Armor of Faith – ten extra points of armor block both magic and physical attack x 1 Purify – remove taint disease etc x 7 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 7 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 Chain Smite – 200 points lighting damage + 50 points per second of ability stacks x 1 consumes focus per second Thy Will be Done – can see location of enemy directed to them Wrath of the Almighty – (300 holy 100 fire 100 frezing 100 electrical) damage 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 Inventory Alice Belt of the Scaled Hide – armor + 5 – long black belt Necklace of Warding + 4 armor - square cut silver and iron Druids Staff + 25 mana storage - black oak, end brass orb decorative green feathers grip bindings in brown leather. Tower Apprentices Robes + 5 natural armor blue Minor Ring of Armor + 2 points – silver ring Minor Potion of Mana + 120 points David Ring of Bores Endurance + 3 Endurance – silver ring Minor Potion of Adrenalin + 120 points Artisan Crafted – Iron and Steel Tower Shield Vivian Dagger of the Adder + 5 poison damage on strike – seven inch fancy dagger Damascus bodkin arrows x 10 Ring of Eagle eye - + 5 perception Martin Monocle of clarification – low light vision – read target approximate level hp