It was a dark and windy night, and most people had long since gone to bed by now. Even the numerous people who dived deep into the Dungeon were normally asleep by now. Either that, or they were heading out now. However, there was a single group of people gathered on the edge of where the Dungeon began, waiting for the last of their number to join them. When that final few members arrived, they stood at attention as their leader spoke to them.

“Brothers and Sisters! Those sired of my line, those who desire that blessing, and those whose prowess on the field of battle knows few, if any, true equal! I have heard your pleas, and now you stand here on the cusp of a battle unlike any other that you have fought!”

Their leader stood taller than the rest of them, clad head to toe in armor that was colored a deep blood red and had little to no ornamentation. At first sight, one might have mistaken her for a man, given how she was built like a stereotypical fantasy barbarian and yet wore the armor of a generic full-plated knight.

In fact, had you not seen her face nor heard her voice, you might very well have been led to believe that she was a man. Although, if you asked her about that she would have likely smashed her entire arms and fist straight through your skull from the front for daring to assume that a woman could not do as well as a man could on the field of battle.

This person that led this group was a vampire. And she wasn’t just some run-of-the-mill vampire, either. No, this was Valka Draconis, the House Founder of House Draconis and the most jock-like of any House Founder that there was, bar none. Of course, calling her ‘jock-like’ would be a great disservice to her actual behavior, as while she espoused the virtues of strength, skill, endurance, athleticism, and all of that, she was also a woman who did not think poorly of the virtues of honor, duty, mercy, loyalty, and both tactics and strategy.

House Draconis was built upon her ideals; to be both merciful yet merciless in equal measure. The ideals that, to be a true member of House Draconis you must show loyalty, compassion, self-sacrifice, and honor to that which you served and to whom you protected, and yet also be more than willing to use violence and savagely cruel brutality to display to the foe that resistance would only result in unneeded pain and suffering.

As for how the House looked from the outside, well it was what you might get if your crossed Generic Vikings with Generic Knights, added Vampirism, and made the resulting mess a bunch of party animals that loved to fight, get drunk, compete against each other, get drunk, fight, smith weapons and armor, get drunk, fight, and… wait, did I say that they liked getting drunk and fighting already? I feel like I have…

Anyway! As you might have guessed by now, the people assembled outside the Dungeon were all House Draconis vampires. Well, okay, that isn’t entirely correct, as there were a metric fuckton of mortals along with them. This was not to say that they were not members of House Draconis, though. They were, instead, what you could call ‘initiates’. They were here tonight to prove that they had what it took to become a full member and gain the gift/ curse of vampirism.

By being here, they had already proven one simple thing, as the process for selection had many tests that must be completed to reach this final selection point. Looking at them now, it was plain to see what their previous test had been, as they were all utterly, completely, impossibly drunk. And by that, I don’t mean that they had a buzz, or that they were what most people think of drunkenness as. No, they were so utterly shitfaced that the only reason that they were even able to stay standing, let alone attempt to prove themselves in the upcoming fight was that the booze that they had consumed was essentially forcing their bodies to run on autopilot.

Already heavily magic-infused booze laced with House Founder blood tends to be able to do some really crazy things, and there was a definite reason why it wasn’t available on any markets, black or otherwise. These drunks had already proven a bit earlier that they could match a new House Draconis vampire in terms of alcohol consumption, and now they just had to let the brew drive their empty heads down a gauntlet and earn glory and honor while also achieving certain objectives along the way.

But back to what Valka was saying.

“Tonight is a night we have seen many times before, and now it is nearly time for our newest members to prove that, even with a mind consumed by drink, they can meet the requirements needed to be a true member of House Draconis! If I were a bookworm like Alec, I would have a multi-hour speech for you that you’d be forced to sit through, which would, in turn, make you less drunk. If I were a slut like Elileth, I might offer you some sensual reward or punishment. Hell, if I were like Dion, I would be doing some other crazy shit, to say nothing of Grathe and his craziness…”

Valka limbered up, letting the tension she had building in her body surge to every corner of her being. A massive, toothy grin formed on her face as she tilted her head just a bit, her eyes filled with glee as she knew exactly what was to come.

“But I’m not any of them, so I’ll get straight to the point. Initiates! You’ve been told what you’ve got to do, so go do it! While you’re off proving that you’ve either got what it takes or need a bit more time, I and a few others will be testing out that new part of the Dungeon.”

Valka’s face then shifted into a bit of a frown as she tried to remember what this new part was called.

“Uhhhh… Hey, Eivor, what was the new part called again?”

“They call it ‘The White Room’, Founder.”

“Ah, right. Well, let's get down to business then, shall we?”

The gathering split in two as the initiates and some of the more seasoned members of House Draconis went to start the second to last trial. Valka and a gathering of others, on the other hand, went directly to the White Room and watched with a mix of surprise and awe as the empty, white space transformed around them.

“Ah, Founder, you never told us what we’d be fighting here.”

Valka hefted her massive two-handed greatsword with a single one of her own hands. She swung it around like a child swinging a stick as she held a Dane ax in her other hand. Both weapons were way too big for any normal person to wield like that, but to Valka, they were like toothpicks.

“What? Didn’t I say already?” Her smile returned as a cloud of dust from thousands of galloping horses appeared in the distance. Simultaneously, the sounds of many members of the Eastern Roman Empire crying out in… well.. surprise, came from behind the vampires.

Valka tilted her head from side to side and then lowered her posture, gearing up to make a mad dash at superhuman speeds towards her foes. “Like the giant trash can man said, whenever you say ‘Let’s get down to business’, you’ve got to say that it is to, and I’m quoting him on this, ‘defeat the Huns’! Now, let’s go kill this ‘Al Tilly the Bum’, or whatever the hell his name is!”