Thomas woke the group with the first rays of light. David had his sword drawn Martin had two pistols pointed in the general direction Alice had a spell ready and Vivian was already drawing a her bow an arrow notched. “I guess none of you are morning people”, Thomas said. They sheathed their various weapons and got up. A quick cold breakfast of hard rations washed down with a cold brew and they were quite ready to crack the next level of the vampire’s lair open.

The vampires had sealed themselves up behind a thick tough door. They had smashed open two lairs already. The vampire prince probably didn't have anywhere left to flee to. Or they had orders to hold their ground either way there had be no attempt to get past them during the night.

Heading down they found no evidence that anything had been moved or disturbed, it was a quiet as a tomb. The vampires and their servants were not prepared to stick their necks out from behind the iron door. That was apparently the case, until they realised that the entire ceiling was covered in bats that dropped down on them.

Alice screamed “hold your …breath” as she cast a poisons gas cloud spell in the narrow confines of the corridor, it blanketed the party and the bats. Several seconds later the party stumbled out of the cloud of poisonous gas gasping. Alice had a shield spell around her that protected her. Vivian was being led by Thomas who was quite immune. Martin was dragging David he lifted his visor up and a small puff of green smoke emerged. Alice healed him, “more warning Alice, more warning”.

As the cloud dissipated there seemed to be a pile of giant bats nearly a foot thick on the floor. There lungs burnt away by the potent gas. In a side room they broke up a few sticks of furniture and found a cooking spot then set ablaze going. Bit by bit they scoped up armfuls of dead bats and threw them on the fire, the smoke found a ventilation hole and started to drift up from the underground lair. It was time consuming but better than fighting a horde of undead bats again later.

They got back to the door a few dozen more acid strike spells and Alice had a large enough hole in the door frame for Martins purpose. He carefully placed three medium thermite grenades so that they would burn through the bolts holding the door shut. The rest of the party were a long way away hiding behind an earthen wall barricade that Alice had conjured into existence. The fuses were ignited, and Martin sprinted away. There were three distinct detonations and a lot of light and heat as the thermite died away. The door looked out of place it was lose but not quite there yet.

Vivian David and Thomas had a cut hardwood tree shaped into a battering ram. They charged from behind the earthen wall and slammed the battering ram into one corner of the door. The door shook and trembled it moved the slightest bit in as if the metal still held on against the assault. They charged again, the door shook again, and a more noticeable movement occurred. There were shouts from behind the door and a panicking clatter, they had believed themselves safe now they had a panic ahead of them.

The makeshift battering ram slammed against the door Martin threw his weight behind it shouldering the door in time with the other three. The door began to show a large gap seeing this they struck it again. There was a torturous metal creaking and one of the bolts and hinges holding it in place gave way. Alice added her kinetic strike spell to the mix. In time with the rest of the group it hit the door with considerable force, like a shimmering fist impacting against the door. The door leaned over there was a ripping and its own weight did the rest. They dropped their battering ram and charged through David and Thomas followed by Martin.

There were the crushed remains of some bracing behind the door, the defenders had pulled back before the door had collapsed. A fledgling vampire snapped his fingers dozens of husks the remains of partly mummify vampires’ victims flooded into the room. The vampire tried to retreat back but Vivian got her with a silver arrow before she could use the oncoming hoard as a screen. These attackers were truly mindless, but they gave the vampires breathing room to retreat and form up.

They number over a hundred maybe a hundred and fifty but they were pathetically weak undead. Victims left behind year after year for decades or even centuries. They were fodder Martin had his mallet he activated a blessing “circle of consecration” the creatures stepped forwards into the holy energy and started to fall to pieces. Martin helped them on their way with every swing of his mallet. David cut them down in droves, the husks bounced of his armour his blade easily felling them. Vivian used her cheapest iron arrows and easily slew two dozen in rapid succession. Alice protected herself with a shield spell then started to blast the largest concentrations apart with fire balls.

There was a rattling moving down the wider corridor as the last of the husks fell. A shield wall of vampires approached maybe 40 fledgling large overlapping shields with spears a dozen vampires were situated behind them with bows. Behind them were two more vampire elites one was a wizard the other was a knight, they had a few blood thralls with sword and shield around them as a bodyguard.

Martin emptied his pistols into the oncoming wall of shields, the seven silver shots passed through the wooden shields and hit the vampire flesh behind. It was distracting but the line hardly faltered. Thomas picked up the battering ram that they had used and hurled it at the line it smashed into three who faltered and got back up. Vivian had her mithril arrows at the ready four rapid power shots and they pierced through the shields the vampire behind and lodged into the vampire behind that there was a grunt of pain as a vampire pulled them lose and dropped the arrows. Alice hit the group with her electric strike spell the wooden shields held, suffering a bit of localised damage.

Martin held his holy symbol up “pillar of fire”, the roaring blaze swept through the shield wall disrupting it. Martin hurled four small thermite grenades into the middle of the ranks Thomas hurled a further 3 bottles of holy water into the heart of the ranked vampires. There formation crumbling David charged in and started to hack away. Vivian could target them freely Alice had an earthen wall spell up to protect them and was now raining down fire balls onto the mass of vampires.

Arrows from the vampires at the back rained down with most hitting armour or a spell. Ten of the fledgling vampires were dust with twice that number significantly wounded. Martin closed into their line and activated his blessing “hallowed earth”. The strike of holy energy blasted the front rank of vampires, they responded, and Martin staggered back with a few wounds. Alice launched her acid strike spells at the vampires they were more precise. If she went for the fire balls, she would hit Martin or Thomas or David. Vivian picked of more of them with her silver and mithril tipped arrows.

The ranks of fledglings had been almost cut in half, fifteen were left and they were not in very good condition. The vampire knight charged in targeting Thomas bringing his enchanted blade down. Thomas barely flinched at the glowing red and purple blade, his own adamant dagger punched back catching the vampire in the joint between the neck and the helmet. The vampire wizard hurled a shock spell at Martin who easily blocked it with his holy symbol. “Pillar of ice” Martin responded with an icy storm centred around the vampire he took out the blood thralls guarding it as they choked and froze in the swirling vortex. David focused on cutting through the demoralized and disorientated fledglings. A spear was not a good weapon choice for an opponent that had gotten past the tip of it.

Vivian switch up to her octium arrows and stared to target the vampire archers, they could not stand against the raw power of her shots. Two of them crumbled in quick succession the rest started to look for cover. Alice threw a few fire bite spells at the vampires destroying two more of the fledglings. She used her desiccate spell on one vampire. They reacted as if an unseen hand was wringing out their flesh. The blood in their body flowed out of their veins into a pool on the floor. It was not enough to kill a vampire even a fledgling, but they were very weak afterwards.

The vampire wizard cast a hail of poison bolts at Martin, four poisonous globes of energy slammed into him doing absolutely nothing. He responded throwing back a large thermite grenade it caught the elite vampire and two of the vampire archers in the explosion. Tomas and the elite vampire knight continued to trade blows; the reaming blood thralls helped their master proving an irritation to Thomas.

David mopped up a few more of the remaining vampire fledglings his enchanted blade's fire damage and piercing damage combined to effectively obliterate the spell keeping their un-life going turning several more into dust. Vivian snipped a few more of the vampires aiming at her with bows despite their speed and their attempts at cover she got two more. Alice tried to keep the blood thralls off of Thomas, two carefully aimed desiccate spells had the same gruesome result but the blood thralls were not going to survive that.

The vampire wizard cast a physical shield spell around himself, Martin subverted it with two Tesla grenades shocking the vampire doing a little damage to him. Thomas grabbed the first thing to hand and hit the vampire knight with it, it happened to be a blood thrall, but it meant that another opponent was out of the fight, the knight was distracted for a moment. David cut down three more of the fledglings the other two fled. Vivian targeted them and they were gone in a heartbeat. Alice hurled fire balls at the vampire archers most ducked out the way two were not so quick.

David joined in the fight against the vampire knight cutting down the distracted blood thrall then bringing his blade down onto the knight’s helm. There was an almighty din like a bell as enchanted mithril met enchanted steel. Alice got two more of the vampires with a mixture of acid strikes and fire bite spells. Vivian got the last two with her adamantine arrows. Martin fought against the vampire wizard hurling his octium throwing knives to shatter the wizards shield spell, the wizard cast a fire ball at Martin only for him to doge out of the way. The wizard realised that Martin could block his directed spells and dodge his area of effect spell. This was a bad match up, would Martin run out of focus or would he run out of mana first.

Alice cast her icy tomb spell on the vampire knight, there movements were slowed as their armour iced over. David and Thomas took the opportunity to stab and bash at the knight they could take a lot of punishment, but they would not be likely to survive this onslaught for long. Vivian targeted the vampire wizard as Martin slowly got closer. Suddenly the wizard realized that he was alone, his allies all piles of dust and blood on the floor. An adamantine bodkin arrow with a nasty corrosive enchantment buried itself in his chest then another and another, he couldn't maintain his spells and staggered holding himself up on his staff.

Alice hit the vampire knight a few times with desiccate their blood flowed out from their veins, through the gaps in their armour and dripped onto the floor. Martin pulled the helmet off revealing a female vampire, David cut down with his sword removing her head. The vampire's body withered away then crumbled to dust leaving a skull with two fangs and an empty suit of armour.

Vivian's arrows pierced the vampire’s arms and legs, they dropped their staff and fell to the ground. Martin held his holy symbol against the vampire’s head as Vivian kept firing into them. The wizard flailed about as the holy symbols’ presence unravelled the spell animating the vampire’s body. With each arrow embedded in the vampire it took more and more corrosive damage, until its flesh failed, and it collapsed into dust leaving a smoking fanged skull.

That had been a tough fight most of them were wounded, but with five of them against two elites they had over run the vampires next line of defence. How many more stood between them and the elder they didn't know, but it was certain that more vampires would be further back.

The level up hit Alice reached level 83 she gained the improved version of the desiccate spell. It was a bit messy ringing the blood out of a vampire using the spell, but it really sapped their strength. David reached level 79 his soldier of fortune ability reached level 4 that was all he needed. Next time he would pick another ability. Vivian reached level 82 gaining the second level of her knock down skill, it was useful against single opponents. Martin reached level 94 he gained the 4th level of his combat dodge ability. Avoiding damage was better than being able to take the hits he had a good chance of doing both. Martin could feel himself so close to the next class level it was almost palpable soon he would reach his full potential as a vampire hunter.

Alice healed the group up as quickly as she could, David Martin and Thomas had taken the most punishment. While Vivian had a couple of bruises where an arrow bounced off her enchanted armour. Martin reloaded his pistols then set about gathering up the vampire’s teeth, they would definitely want to claim the bounty on this lot. Vivian set about reclaiming her arrows. They found a suitable side room with a vent and started a fire piling up the remains of the husks on top of the fire a little oil got the blaze going. David sorted through the dropped weapons and armour. A lot of the good stuff like the knight’s armour was enchanted with vampiric magic which shattered when Martin tried to purify it.

They wrapped the blood thralls remains in a few blankets and left them to one side. If they had the opportunity, they would be given last rights and cremated back at the cathedral. The entire group were busy watchful, would they call it quits for the day. Searching through the remains they found a few coin and trinkets nothing that was of any use. Until Alice examined the staff that the vampire wizard had dropped.

He had dropped something that would be rated as a grand master’s staff. It contained several boosts over Alice's master staff including + 150 points of mana +15 natural armour + 6 points of perception with the addition of a 30-point resist fire enchantment. The staff was made from ebony with blue leather grips channels carved in the wood had alternating mithril and octium wire running around the staff. It was capped with a silver iron cap that looked like a small mace.

She drained her own staff of mana and picked this one up. It was a shame to put lady Imoline's gift to one side, but this staff had three times the mana reserve and was slightly better in every way than Alice's current one.

An exalted master would carry one even stronger, she grinned one step at a time she told herself.

Thomas grinned, “I have been fully healed thanks to Alice and I still have two bottles of holy water, I say we keep pressing on”. Alice held up the staff, “I have about half my ... mana left, that was a good fight”. Martin had a zealous look in his eyes a grin from ear to ear hidden under his mask, “we take the fight to the foe I have lots of blessings and quite a lot of ammo left”.

Vivian's golem eye scanned about “I guess we have quite a bit to go that vampire appeared to be an arrogant twit, but they must have some brain and a powerful regenerative ability”. David gripped his sword “remember the reward is 23 gold”.

They moved a bit further. There was an open cavern two siege ghouls a dozen regular ghouls and a vampire overseeing them. The vampire pointed to the group. One siege ghoul whirled around its belly bulged and contracted, its throat and cheeks puffed up then a stream of acidic vomit hit the earthen wall spell Alice had raised to block it. Martin targeted one siege should “Pillar of fire” the beast immediately stopped what it was doing as its lower legs and chest were engulfed in flame.

Martin drew his four barrelled pistol 4 mithril bullets hit the siege ghoul square in the head, it faltered grabbed its head screaming in pain and collapsed to the floor. David and Thomas started to tear apart the lesser ghouls and the vampire. Alice hit the second siege ghoul with an icy tomb spell it slowed down, Vivian peppered it with arrows it the head and neck. A few electric strike spells and it two was nearly going down. David left the rest of the ghouls to Thomas and set about making sure that the downed siege ghoul would not be getting back up.

The vampire abandoned his place and fled. As the second siege ghoul was hit with acid strikes burning out its eyes and a few desiccate spells that caused its flesh to start withering drying up. Thomas finished on the small ghouls and started to make sure that the second siege ghoul was not getting back up. A little preparation a little fire and the ghouls were permanently dealt with, the party rearmed and prepared for what might be the last battle to reach the prince.

They passed through a few more rooms until they came to what might have been intended as a grand banqueting hall. On a throne of ebony wood and black marble the vampire elder the prince sat. A pompous looking square jawed blond man with an octium mace at his side hanging on his belt. He had blue clothes with a white under shirt all probably silk. A blood thrall held a bag full of javelins for him. He had a mithril crown and a glowing magical ring. There were four bone golems beside him of fairly standard size and construction. He appeared haughty outraged with the occasional flash of fear beneath the anger. There were ten blood thralls around him carrying crossbows, around them were another ten vampire maunders in heavy iron plate.

His voice was as arrogant as the rest of him suggested, “you came to collect on my noble head, I will collect the bounty on yours”. He had a scroll he cast shock ward on himself to resist Martins chain smite, the party didn't charge into the room they sat in the entrance way Martin and Vivian looked up. The vampire looked at them annoyed, “are you cowards”.

Alice released a fire ball into the ceiling, there was a creaking crash and a mass of stone boulders and wooden supports smashed down hard enough to make the floor tremble. They would have a lot of difficulty with this one, he had prepared a killing ground they were not going to just walk into it.

The party sat there at the entrance to the room Alice cast an earthen wall spell Thomas and David stood there prepared they targeted the largest opponents the bone golems. Vivian's iron broad head arrows started to strike the first construct one after another. It lumbered one step forwards, but the prince pulled it back. Alice sent one fire bite spell after another at the same golem, Martin joined in firing his pistol using his “wrath” blessing ten times in a row.

The prince lost his patience and sent all four bone golems forwards, he signalled, and a massive swarm of bats fell from the ceiling towards the group. Martin had his holy symbol, “field of wrath, field of wrath”, the bats were purified falling from the sky their tainted existence ended but there were more. Alice used her poison gas cloud spell blocking of the area in front of them, the bats were soon gone spent. The crossbow wielding thralls started to fire as the golems got closer. Vivian's iron arrows slowly wore away at the first golem Alice added her fire ball spells. Martin hit it with four barrels of shot empowered with his “divine retribution” blessing each time. Another fire ball and it collapsed.

The second golem was hit with the remainder of Vivian's iron arrows, Martin held out his holy symbol, “wrath of the almighty”, he hit it with that blessing three times Alice targeted it in the leg with her acid strike spell it collapsed and started to drag its self-forwards. A javelin thrown with immense force almost took Vivian's head off, the prince was starting to add his own personal might to the battle.

Vivian switched to her Damascus bodkin arrows she was aiming for the third golems knee's, intent to shatter them and bring the third golem down. Alice kept hitting the second golem with fire balls to destroy it. Martin was hit by a few crossbow bolts. He held out his holy symbol “pillar of fire” the pillar swept through the blood thralls with crossbows. Half of them managed to get out the way half didn't. More of the javelins hit and they had to duck, as Alice rebuilt the defensive wall. The golems got closer Martin activated more blessings throwing what he had at the third golem, circle of consecration, pillar of salt, field of wrath. He emptied his lion hears hammer pistol and down the third golem went crawling along the floor. The second golem expired under Alice's fire balls.

The last golem stepped over the third one “thy will be done”. The blessing revealed that the golems focus was in its lower body. Vivian emptied her silver arrows into it and switched to her mithril arrows hitting the focus and destroying the golem outright. They focused on destroying the last golem, “Circle of consecration, sphere of consecration, word of judgement” the golem collapsed breaking apart yards from reaching them.

The party entered into the hall cautiously Martin leading them holy symbol out front. The prince grinned and pulled a pair of levers. A green caustic fluid started to bubble up at the sides of the arena and a black gas began to descend. Martin reacted quickly, “cleanse air cleanse water”. The gas dissipated and the green fluid turned into water. Thomas hurled two bottles of holy water. Right at the prince, suddenly he was covered in boiling holy water and broken glass. The holy water cut through his shield aura but didn't quite reach him.

The group of vampire marauders charged forwards at some unseen signal, probably a mental call from the prince. Alice happily bombarded them with acid strike spells and electrical strike spells they kept coming. Vivian still had mithril arrows and they punched right through the iron armour. Martin began to fire off his blessings, Sphere of concentration, the vampires flinched, pillar of salt one collapsed inside his armour as he was destroyed only leaving an empty suit and fangs. Field of wrath hit the remaining vampires then 2 medium thermite grenades blasting the rest. David and Thomas made quick work of the rest as they approached. David had to block a few bolts and a javelin as he got closer.

The prince pulled another lever near his throne, two panels of the wall fell away two giant thrall boars and two large thrall bears charged into the hall. Vivian targeted the first and put bleed arrows into its skull, it skidded to the floor. Martin targeted the blood thralls with crossbows. Three uses of his smite blessing and there were only two left. Alice hit one of the beasts with an icy tomb spell it was strong enough to kill the creature on its own. Thomas tackled one of the bears and David shield bashed the boar so hard he stunned it then set about carving its head off.

Marin unleashed more blessings at the prince who finally stepped of his throne mace in hand, sphere of concentration, holy aura. The prince prepared to swing, Martin held out his holy symbol “hand of judgement” a fist formed of divine energy hammered the vampire into the ground he was barely phased, more damage was done to his pride. An acid strike spell hit him in the face while a fire ball took out his last thralls. The Mace found Martin and sent him flying he got back up. The prince was hit by a volley of octium arrows, they were enough to break his skin a scratch, but they built up.

David blocked the mace with his shield and was sent back a meter. Thomas slashed away with his adamantine blades delivering a few injures before he was sent flying, with a short swing of the mace. The prince might have been saving himself but now he was letting lose with all his strength. Alice hit him with an icy tomb spell slowing him down a little. Martin unleashed his remaining blessings three hits from “smite” a pillar of salt that made the vampire itchy rather than crumble to dust. Four small thermite grenades hit him he scratched in pain as the molten metal ate away at his skin.

David and Thomas started to beat down on him and were sent flying. Martin used his healing blessings then started to throw all his daggers at the prince a little distraction. Vivian started to nail him with her Adamantine arrows, they had a massive effect burying into his flesh. The prince pulled them out and cast them away.

.

Martin ran up to the prince activating all his defensive blessings with “litany of blessings”. The vampire looked worried as Martin held up three large thermite grenades, he set them off at point blank range the vampire elder was burnt to the bone. He got up a blue light surrounding him his supreme regeneration activated, his flesh started to return to a healthy undamaged state. Vivian ran out of arrows.

The prince twirled his mace, “you think that you could beat me”. Martin held his holy symbol out interrupting the vampire’s monologue “word of judgement”. the sonic attack did little damage, but the stun effect was still present Martin hit him with another “smite” then drew his four barrelled pistol. The witch finder had given him some octium bullets, he had four octium bullets with a mithril bullet loaded behind each one and an overload charge of powder. The alternative fire and all four barrels emptied simultaneously into the vampire’s forehead. He screamed dropping his mace and clutching his forehead. Martin held out his holy symbol one final time, chain smite, “your shock ward spell ran out”.

The bolts of electricity hit the vampire they didn't stop they didn't lesson, second by second the damage increased a cascading surge of electrical damage. A tidal wave of punishment for the vampire’s arrogance, Martin kept going until the prince's bones began to show again burnt and blackened, he had a stake. He literally fell on him plunging the stake home a glint of madness and triumph in his eyes.

As Martin sunk the stake in and twisted, he realised the vampire was dead its skeleton left behind. the first elder vampire killed in maybe a decade. They had come so very close before with lexicon, now they had made it stick.

The level up hit them, Vivian Alice and David each gained two levels. Alice reached level 85 the greater version of the desiccate spell was now available to her. Vivian reached level 84 gaining the 4th rank of the knock down skill. David reached level 81 gaining the same class level as Vivian and added the first level of a skill called battle brother which helped him to fight in a group to better respond to his teammates.

Martins bonus from killing vampires boosted his gain to four whole levels. Raising him up to level 98. From levels 96 – 98 he put them into improving his general melee weapon skill, boosting it up to level 16 the most important level was level 95 a class level. He gained another use of his circle of concentration blessing and two more uses of the purify blessing. They were small advantage in the grand scheme of things.

He gained a single use of the greater pillar of fire blessing it burnt a lot hotter covered a larger area and lasted longer than his simple pillar of fire blessing. He gained a blessing called the crusaders stride when employed for a short time a hunter could not be knocked back or knocked down. A real boon against powerful vampires. The last blessing was a strange and powerful one, martyrs’ spirit once per day he could summon the ethereal spirit of deceased hunter. They would last for ten seconds before passing back. They could deal holy damage to an opponent another good weapon to add to his arsenal.

The last gift was greater sonic resistance, Martin remembered the way he had gained resistance to poison how it felt every cell in his body was being coated in poison. He remembered how he had felt when gaining greater resistance to mind control as if something was hammering about in his head. This was not going to be pleasant at all. He dropped to the floor his head his body vibrating from a deafening noise inside his own skull that no other could hear. The noise grew louder and louder the vibrations resonating in his bone. He tried to reach out he coughed up blood his body twitched again was it seconds minutes, then thank the creator god it was over.

Martin could really despise his inhuman endurance, passing out so he couldn't feel the pain would have been really nice. Thomas helped him up, “what happened to you”? “four levels in one go, it hit me pretty hard”. He realised that blood was dripping from his eyes nose and ears. Another somewhat unsettling realisation was that he now had the three main immunities of high-level vampires. He could really start to guess what the first vampire hunters had used to toughen themselves up.

David hugged Vivian, “twenty-three gold for that bastard it as good as in our hands now”. “calm down we have a bit to go before we can spend it”. Alice and Thomas looked over the body he slammed it with a blade, she checked with magic, “definitely him …no tricks”. Martin looked around the group, “we took out an elder not the strongest but still after centuries of life he is ash”. Martin kicked the body, “and it was done by just five of us”. Thomas nodded, “normally it would be one grand master leading a half dozen masters and an army of veterans and hunters”. They rapidly set about reloading weapons and collecting ammunition, preparing for a final wave that never came.

They calmed down then set about the mundane tasks of clearing up the lair. The fangs from the fallen vampires were gathered up the remains of the thralls were wrapped up to be taken to the cathedral, intact weapons were added to the stores they had already collected. The bodies of the giant boar's were purified their meat would be good eating. the rest was piled up and ignited Alice took a particular pleasure in adding the dead bats to the fire.

Alice had a little hunt for magical items, the only thing worth keeping came from the vampire elder she handed it to David, “the ring of the challenger + 10 agility + 10 endurance + 10 dexterity you talked about needing more agility and endurance”. David looked hungrily at the mithril crown Martin threw it to him, “its bronze with a mithril paint you might get a silver for it”. He looked crest fallen for a few seconds then tried on the ring.

Alice and Martin checked out the octium layered mace the prince had dropped. It was five faced a pentagon shape, twisted from a hard metal. Vivian looked over to Thomas and Martin “do either of you want this”? Thomas indicated his blades “already got what I want” Martin grinned “I am already carrying a lot, that things heavy”. Vivian turned to Alice and David “you already got an item each this one is for me as a backup weapon”.

They searched the place quite thoroughly eating a good portion of the thrall’s food stores and drinking several good bottles of wine. They found the princes chambers a strong box papers a bit of coin. There was a second strange key and some paperwork. The key seemed to be almost the same as the first. They kept it not sure what it meant but it was important. The coach arrived and they filled it from top to bottom with loot with bodies to be given last rights bags of equipment were piled in. The two dead boars were dragged behind Martin and Thomas ended up jogging back behind the coach there was so little room.

The cathedral got on with the business of putting the thrall’s souls to rest. So, they could not be raised as a weapon for the vampires to use. A priest checked the remains and they were confirmed as the vampire elder formally known as the prince. The reward of 23 gold was paid out by the bishop with another 8 gold for the two elite vampires they had killed. Plus, just over 200 silver for the rest of the fangs that they handed in. The jewellery coin and other knick-knacks they found equalled another 400 silvers worth of items.

They saw Francis and filially collected the 100 silver from the sheep lord’s bounty. The total rewards for filially tracking down the local vampire elder was 3800 silver. Thomas took a share of 760 leaving the party with just over 3000 silver to add to their funds.

There was a big celebration at the duchess's residence, a large banqueting room was filed with dignitaries at the head of the table the trade commissioner the duchess and the bishop sat. They ate the boar that had been brought back, cracked open a few barrels of wine from Vine Garden. There was the memorial wake, a town crier slowly read out a list of names of those that had fallen recently, commoners and adventures alike. At each name glasses would be raised, as each name was said a candle set burning on a tray was extinguished, those that died in the line of duty were the last to be remembered the last to be celebrated.

Thomas came to them with Francis in tow, “thank you my friends I will always remember what we did together. The prince is dead my mission hear is over. I have been talking to Francis tomorrow I am heading off to the crusade to join the battle against the queen of rats”. The party was melancholy to see him go they had had a tougher ally. It would be some time before they met another as interesting as the strange case of Thomas Drem. They raised their glasses and sent him off with a round of cheers for the old vampire hunter. Martin did wonder if before there had been another like Thomas who perhaps worked with the formation of the hunter’s order, a mystery lost to history.

stats

Status Screen Name Vivian Tanner Age 19 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Mercenary Level 84 Affiliation Glass Bay Mercenary Free Company / Merchants Guild Association Health 455/455 Adrenalin 420/420 Efficiency 2 Strength 90 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Agility 6 Endurance 6 Charisma 6 Dexterity 5 Perception 5 Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 84 Level Defence Bonus 84 Bonus Base Weapon Damage 256 Class Proficiency Comprehensive Training L13 Layered Armour Perk L4 Adrenalin Power Shot L4 Bow Proficiency L8 Speed Shooting L8 Critical Strikes L8 Better Criticals L8 Pierce Armour L8 Shatter Shield L8 Strike Through target 8 Improved Range L8 Knock Down L4 Perks bound by oath – member of the fellowship of masters Intensive Training + 1 Endurance and Strength Flaws Status Screen Name David Fisher Age 18 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Mercenary Level 81 Affiliation Glass Bay Mercenary Free Company / Merchants Guild Association Health 440/440 Adrenalin 405/405 Efficiency 2 Strength 87 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Agility 5 Endurance 6 Charisma 5 Dexterity 5 Perception 5 Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 81 Level Defence Bonus 81 Bonus Base Weapon Damage 247 Class Proficiency Comprehensive Training L12 Layered Armour Perk L4 Adrenalin Power Strike L4 Sword Proficiency L8 Shield Proficiency L8 Adrenalin Power Block L4 Defend Against Missiles L4 Duelist vs single target L4 Defence Against Horde L4 Shield knock down L4 Bonus sword damage L4 Hail of Blows L4 Counter Armour L4 Counter Heavy Armour L4 Counter Shield Defence L4 Protect Allies L4 Contract Bonds L4 Soldier of Fortune L4 Battle Brother L1 Perks Bound by Oath – member of the fellowship of masters Flaws Gambling Addiction Greedy Status Screen Name Alice Costar Age 17 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Mage Level 85 Affiliation The Eternal Tower Mages Guild/ Royalist Court Health 270/270 Mana 555/555 Strength 3 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 90 Agility 5 Endurance 3 Charisma 5 Dexterity 5 Perception 5 Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 85 Level Defence Bonus 85 Number of Simultaneous Spells 5 Base Mage Spell Cost 1 Mana Magical Defence 150 Class Proficiency Mana Regeneration L5 Analyse Magic L5 Recharge Enchantment L5 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 Master (16 damage + 5 per level ) 1x base mana cost Aura of Healing Master (15 heal + 5 per level per second 10 seconds) allies 10 foot 10x base mana cost Physical Shield Master (6 x level resistance to physical damage) 3x base mana 25 seconds Elemental Shield Master (5 x level Resistance to Cold lightning fire) 4 x base mana 25 seconds Icy Tomb Master (7 points of cold damage per level 13 seconds) freezes target in place instant 10 x base mana Electric Strike Master targeted spell 13 foot radius (40 damage + 7 per level) 4 x base mana Illusionary Allies Master - target individual 13 copies of caster illusions remain for 6 x level seconds 4 x base mana Poison Gas Cloud Master – cast on area 10 foot by 30 foot duration 7 seconds 3 point of poison damage per level 2 x base mana Bonus Vitality Master – cast on target gets 6 x level bonus hp for 6 x level seconds – 4 x base mana Tracking Kinetic strike Master 45 + (7 x level) physical damage 3x base mana Earthen Wall Master (defensive barrier) 8 x level + 90 hp of barrier – 3 x base mana Dedicate Greater causes damage by removing water from living creatures (5 x level damage) 3 x base mana cost free aim Perks Bound by Oath – member of the fellowship of masters Flaws Fear of Bats Shy with Peers Status Screen Name Martin Wrigt Age 29 years old Race Human Primary Occupation Vampire hunter level 98 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 3214/3214 Focus 545/545 Focus efficiency 2 focus Strength 11 Intelligence 5 Wisdom 5 Agility 5 Endurance 105 Charisma 5 Dexterity 7 Perception 5 Faith Yes Bonuses Level Attack Bonus 109 Level Defence Bonus 109 Bonus Base Weapon Damage 15 Class Proficiency Bonus vs Vampire + Minion Resist Disease Holy Symbol usage L4 Greater Poison Resistance Blade Coatings L4 Focus Shot L4 Greater Psionic Resistance Greater Sonic Resistance Immunity to Taint – Demonic, Thrall, Necromantic, Ghoul and Vampirism Taint Pistol Proficiency L17 Overload Shot L1 Focus re-load L4 Throwing knife Proficiency L4 Focus throw L4 Focus Multi Throw L4 General Melee Weapons L17 Focus strike L4 Grenadier L14 Focus Parry L4 Duel Wield Focus Attack L3 Combat Medic L8 Focus Stitch L4 Trap specialization L5 Poison Use L4 Focus Diagnose L4 Focus Set Limb L4 Focus Resuscitate L4 Combat / Focus Dodge L4 Blessings Use Per Day Wrath – 25 points of holy damage unblockable x 10 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 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 19 Holy Aura – five feet - ten points holy damage – per second x 1 Divine Retribution – 100 points of holy damage unblockable x 4 Circle of Consecration – fifteen feet area ten points holy damage per second x 4 Sphere of consecration – twenty five feet area twenty points holy damage per second x 3 Fortress of faith – 100 points of temporary health + 20 points of armor x 1 Smite – 200 points lighting damage x 8 Divine Favor – 20 hit point Regeneration for 5 seconds x 13 Divine Regeneration – 20hp restored per second as long as left running also consumes focus – Overcharge can consume own hp 10 per second and stamina to regenerate Limbs x 1 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 freezing 100 electrical) damage x 3 Greater resist igna – resistance to 65 points of fire damage x 2 Greater resist lightning – resistance to 65 points of electricity damage x 2 Greater resist cold – resistance to 65 points of cold damage x 2 Litany of blessings – activates every unused defensive blessing x 1 Bastion of faith – 250 points of temporary health + 30 points of armor x 1 Citadel of Faith – 300 points of temporary health + 40 points of armor x 2 Pillar of salt – 400 point holy attack transforms enemy to salt x 3 Pillar of Fire – 400 point fire attack x 5 seconds can target spot or individual x 3 Pillar of Ice – 400 point Ice attack x 5 seconds can target spot or individual x 1 Greater Pillar of Fire – 500 point fire attack 8 seconds can target spot or individual x 1 Martyrs Spirit – summons an ethereal hunters spirit for ten seconds capable of holy damage then fades back to there rest. X 1 Crusaders Stride – cannot be knocked down or back consumes focus per second x 1 Field of Wrath – 25 points of holy damage all targets 25 foot in front of hunter x 4 Hand of judgment – 500 physical damage 500 holy damage knocks target down x 1 Word of Judgment – 500 sonic damage 500 holy damage stuns target 5 seconds x 2 Purge mind – cleans mind control x 3 Purge soul – removes demonic corruption possession x 3 Cleanse air - cleans tainted air x 2 Cleanse soil – cleans tainted ground x 2 Cleanse water – cleans corruption form water x 2 Craft Proficiency Administration L1 Woodworking L1 Leather Working L3 Mettle Working L5 Sowing L1 Perks bound by oath – member of the fellowship of masters Well Maintained Perk on all equipment Pistols – improved critical damage 30% + Armour penetration 150 points Long ranger rank 3 Grenades – improved focus throw improved distance 30% + accuracy 60% Vitality level 2 – 3 x base hit points Flaws Alcoholism Zealot Survivors Guilt Sadistic