Your injuries from the battle are severe; much of the flesh and muscle on your left side is gone, and your form is spattered with holy water burns which give you the look of a pox victim even when your more severe injuries are concealed. Even with vampiric strength and speed, you shall be limited to moving at only slightly above human speed until you have devoured enough blood to restore your form.

Four servitors, summoned and bound to your will, are currently available to do whatever you ask of them- an assassin imp, fast, stealthy, and brutal; a scholar sprite, equally adept in the library or the wilderness; a mimir, a skull imbued with equally vast amounts of knowledge and self-absorbtion; and an air spirit, virtually undetectable eyes and hands.

Rhiannon, a much older vampire bride, keeps an extensive library which she allows you to reference. It is from here that you have been learning the sorcerous arts.

It is early in the night, and you have just finished summoning up your latest servitor, the air spirit. The hours until sunrise are open to you.

What do you do?

Look around for some victims, I suppose.

>>7541715
(Good to see this again)

We wait for our Imp to return with her report on the finding of bandits and other unsavory types who the world would be better off without.

>>7541727
You run through the people nearby mentally. The closest source of human blood is undoubtedly the families who live in the castle, but Rhiannon has made it clear that she will not allow you to survive preying upon them; unless you wish to draw her wrath they will have to be avoided.

There are several nearby villages, each containing a couple hundred peasants. It took you a fraction of an hour to reach them when uninjured, but it will likely take several in your current state, and if you linger too long or fail to feed sufficiently, you will be unable to return to the castle before sunrise. Upon your last visit to the village, you noticed that holy symbols are common, leading you to believe that they know vampires are in the general area and may prey upon them.

You have instructed your assassin imp to locate groups of humans outside their village; you're hoping that it will encounter bandits or similar villains which you could drain without feeling quite so bad about the murder involved. It has yet to report success, though.

>>7541705
If there's a town nearby that has a jail (not a debtor's prison, a jail for felons), go in and feed on any prisoners that have already been sentenced. Given the way that justice works in these societies, anyone who's been sentenced and is still is jail is just waiting for their execution. No sense in wasting that delicious blood.

>>7541782
Let us take some heavy cloaks with us then, as well as a cane. Disguise ourselves as an old crone of some sorts, and start making our way outside. If the sun comes up, the cloak might (hopefully) protect us.

Long term idea: see if we can work out some arrangement where we do useful shit for the villages in exchange for blood.

Long term/Medium term idea: Send the wood sprite out to scout for bandits and the like, drain them.

>>7541876
Nope, use the air spirit for that purpose. Wood sprite is a scholar, so she's more useful to us if we need help to do the thinking.

And considering the mess we managed to put ourselves into, we probably aren't great at the thinking thing.

We might want to look into summoning Blood Elementals, though.

>>7541705
Summon katana imps!

Raep the mute, fuck the hero's buddy, eat rocks.

>>7541781 >>7541793
>>7541811 >>7541781
You think upon the possibility of waiting for your imp's return, but after a moment decide that it is impractical- you have no guarantee that it will find anything. This does not seem to be a region exactly bustling with commerce which would support bandit activity, after all.

Regardless, your imp can find you without a problem even if you are on the move, so you gather up a few components for a basic disguise and set forth for one of the nearer villages, indicating to your spirit and sprite that they should accompany you.

Moving through the woods is an exercise in pain and frustration. Although the fact that you can move at all is somewhat astonishing given the severity of your injuries, you find yourself growing quickly annoyed at the slow pace that they force you to and the spiking pains that you feel as certain movements attempt to use muscles no longer present. Reaching the village takes just over three hours.

As with the other which you investigated, the village is quiet, a few dozen darkened buildings dominated by a large church with no one outside and walking the streets. Only a tavern has lights flickering inside and voices drifting out, and there seem to be no more than a handful of people inside.

A possibility occurring to you, you send your servants to look about for a jail of some sort, but after a few minutes they report that they have not located any buildings fitting your description. Perhaps the village isn't large enough that it needs to regularly hold criminals.

What do you do?

>>7541959
Feed on a drunkard as he stumbles out of the tavern.

>>7541959
Might as well look around a bit ourselves and see if there is anything that we didn't notice with our cursory glance. Also, just in case, get the air spirit to grab another vial of holy water; it could come in handy should we ever need to hurt the vamp lord.

>>7541959
>>7541988
This, except that a better option might be "seduce drunkard with promise of blowjob", then drink blood out of his straw in the alley behind the tavern.

>>7542056
Look into either finding priest or summoning something that can bless people so as to turn their blood plasma into holy water.

Then offer the vampire lord a present.

Preferably, choose a pretty girl who might be seen as a replacement for Adrienne for this purpose.

>>7541988
Do you mean drain him completely or enough to heal us a bit but still leave him alive? Also, UM, will draining a victim but leaving them enough to survive make it take more people to heal fully?

>>7542088
Somehow, I doubt you can bless water while it is inside them, and depending on the setting the blessing may require an actual ritual or need to be blessed in a church.

That said, if what you suggest is possible then it would make killing him very easy.

>>7542121

In that case, set up some sort of fantasyland transfusion apparatus, except that we're actually just circulating the blood outside of their body for long enough to bless it before putting it back into their system.

>>7542093
I'd vote for the "leave him alive" option, and just hope that the drunkenness combines with the blood loss to keep him from remembering exactly what happened.

Also, why don't we try using our vampire telepathy while we're doing it to help further cloud his memories?

>>7542056
You order your air spirit to retrieve a vial of holy water from the church. It murmurs a soft acceptance of your order and drifts off. You then proceed to investigate the town more thoroughly; it does not take long.

Most of the structures seem to be family dwellings; you can hear the sleeping heartbeats of the people inside. Some of them, closer to the center of town, double as storefronts or workplaces- a smithy and a weaver's are easily identifiable even when abandoned for the night. You guess that the other buildings are where the farmers for the surrounding fields sleep. The tavern seems to double as an inn for any travelers, though the tiny dirt road leading out of town seems hardly used.

>>7541988
With your exploration of the town done and seeing no better options before you, you decide to wait silently in the darkness outside the tavern and catch someone as they leave. As you do, you are struck once again by your ability to focus; the minutes pass in a blur, and you do not grow uncomfortable or restless as you sit as quiet and still as one of the true dead.

Someone eventually leaves, however. Three people, two young men and a young woman, exit the building while laughing and calling farewells to the proprietor. They move down the street, and you follow silently.

When they reach a house, the woman and one of the men bid the other man farewell and enter, leaving him alone in the street to walk home. Vulnerable.

You hardly wait for him to get out of sight of the house before striking. The alcohol must be clouding his senses; he doesn't notice you at all as you creep up behind him. His gasp in shock as you seize his shoulders and draw him backward is quickly cut off as you twist the body against you and sink your fangs into his neck.

Ecstasy follows, as your pain vanishes in the sweet flow of life. The thought that you should probably leave him alive flits through your mind, but somehow the benefits of doing so seem like nothing before the possibility of just a little more blood...

When it fades, you are standing over a drained corpse in the middle of the street with the dull pain of your injuries returning- they have not noticeably healed. If Rhiannon is right, it will take dozens more lives before they do. You estimate that you have three hours left before dawn.

>>7542281
It took you that long just to get out here; reaching the castle again will require that you leave soon, if not immediately.

What do you do?

>>7542292
Leave immediately. We are the dead, we can bide our time for now. Though the presence of a corpse may increase security later on, our surviving takes higher priority.

>>7542292

Drag the corpse away or get the minions to hide the body. Return to the castle. We don't want to get sun-crisped like Adrienne.

>>7542292
Get the fuck back to the castle.

Dump corpse somewhere along the way.

>>7542281
>>7542292
Leave. Head back for the castle.

If blood that's outside of a human body is still usable, I think we might want to find some way of having summons harvest blood for us and come back, without having actually killed their victims.

>>7542281

Also feel mildly concerned that we just killed a guy because our bloodlust overrode our minds.

>>7542292
Head back. Bad spot of luck us being unable to stop ourselves; perhaps next time we should drain an animal or something on the way so that our hunger does not consume us again. While they can't heal us, they do satiate our raw hunger, correct?

>>7542383

Or we could summon more cherubs, or just any creature whose blood we can feed upon and be regenerated by.

>>7542439
That would work, however I'd imagine that we'd have to feed on far more than 40 of them, considering how much less blood they have compared to a fully grown human.

Then again, we have all the time in the world available to us, so why not.

Question. How does draining already dead bodies affect us?

>>7542337 >>7542348
>>7542362 >>7542383
As you turn to depart, you gesture to the sprite and air spirit. "Conceal this body where no one will find it."

The sprite looks at the body for a long moment, then glances at the air spirit, all but invisible, before turning to you. "Lady, I fear that I cannot accomplish that task. We lack your strength."

Upon reflection, it's probably true. The sprite is all of two feet tall and not built for heavy labor; the spirit is capable of moving small objects and even fine manipulation, but cannot heft more than a couple dozen pounds. You curse softly and grab the corpse yourself, wincing as the movement sends pain shooting through your mangled left side. Throwing it over your shoulder, you turn and walk towards the distant castle.

About twenty minutes after leaving the fields, you turn to the sprite. "This should be far enough. Conceal it here." It bows in return, and you drop the body. The sprite begins to work its plant magics, and roots and undergrowth quickly move to conceal the man's bloodless skin and shocked features. The sight of your sins being so easily covered makes you wonder at the level of brutality and practicality with which you just carried out this murder, but there is no time for ethical contemplations. The body slowed you down.

You move for the castle with all speed, gritting your teeth and using one hand to hold your internals in place as you run, relying upon your unnatural strength for speed sufficient to shake them loose with the skin that normally contains them missing. The price you pay in pain is worth it, however; the sun has not yet risen when you make it to the castle and into your sarcophagus.

***

Another night is before you. What do you do?

>>7542602

See if there are any new prisoners in the castle we can feed upon.

Attempt to summon something we can feed on, 40 nights of sneak raids to the human villages will be both too painful and to dangerous for us.

>>7542424
Yes, they do sate your hunger. However, in case it is not clear from my descriptions, I should clarify that what you've proposed is like a drunk downing a lot of water before going to a bar- and likely to be equally effective in stopping excess indulgence.

>>7542510
You've never tried it.

>>7542659
>You've never tried it.

To the morgue!

>>7542659
Well drat. Looks like we'll actually work on our mental fortitude to stop from inadvertently killing our victims. Live is never easy. Or, unlife rather.

>>7542768

Maybe ask Rhiannon how she keeps control of herself and how feeding on the dead affects us.

>>7542828
Oh now /that/ is a brilliant idea.

>>7542828
Good idea.

Also, we should probably start breaking down when we tell her. It'll have been a night, which is long enough for the monstrousness of what we just did to sink in, so that seems to be a likely reaction for us.

I don't mean "we fake breaking down", I mean "from previous behavior our character probably WILL start breaking down".

>>7542947
True. Though I suppose we must keep in mind that we may develop as a character. Just because we don't break down anymore doesn't mean we don't feel bad about what happened.

I'm personally in favor of staying as pure and innocent as possible, but I'm positing this idea to keep the hardcorefags from bitching.

>>7542655
A quick look into the torture chamber confirms that it is empty of all but its equipment, a thick coating of dried blood, and the fading scent of fear. With Adrienne gone, there is no one to continually bring more prisoners to stock it. You can't help but wonder where she was securing a constant stream of multiple young people per night; if the population of this immediate region were to be depleted at that rate, they'd all be dead or fleeing quite quickly. She must have been importing them from a city somewhere.

>>7542684
Thinking of cities, you make a mental note to visit a morgue next time you are in one, and attempt to see if you can feed on the blood of the dead. The concept makes your stomach rebel somewhat as visions of rotting bodies flit through your mind, but you remind yourself that while you're devouring people, you would like to avoid killing. Even if the blood of that man last night was unbelievably sweet and the mere memory of it leaves you licking your lips in hunger.

>>7542828
With such thoughts in your mind, you move to speak with your fellow vampiress. "Rhiannon, I need some advice. I can't stop myself from killing when I... feed." Your voice falls somewhat at the last word. Thinking about it in such terms is one thing; somehow it seems like a dirty word when said aloud, even to another vampire. Why? Maybe because speaking something makes one confront its meaning, and the meaning in this case is undoubtedly evil?

>>7543003
The thing is that we're now hitting the phase where our breakdowns are due to the fact that we AREN'T having breakdowns about shit like this. It's become routine enough that we can be horrified by the fact that it's become routine.

Basically, we're further along the stages of grief than we were, but we probably have a ways to go before we reach "acceptance".

Rhiannon has no such difficulty in her communication with you, although the fact that she cannot actually speak likely helps. With a look, you realize that it is all a matter of willpower; if you try to pull back each time you drain blood and have sufficient strength of mind, you will be able to do so eventually. If you generally kill your victims, you will likely always do so, although less direct methods of feeding can be used to avoid this- an image of Adrienne with her knife comes to mind. You recall her unsettling habit of cutting wounds into her victims and licking up the flow of blood; could this have been why?

You feel your lips tremble somewhat. It seems like you will probably be killing a lot more victims accidentally in the future, unless something else changes; you don't think you had any hope of resisting the call of blood yesterday. Your throat tightens and you blink to avoid having tears form. "Well... can I feed on something else to avoid killing people? Animals seem to make me less hungry, and... dead people, maybe?"

No. Animals can suffice for a while- weeks, even if you go uninjured, though longer and you will start to lose mental capabilities. Dead people have dead blood; it is worthless. Rhiannon's gaze is level, with a grim look. There is little sympathy here, only statement of the facts. You nevertheless thank her before departing to your summoning room, where you despondently consider summoning more unsuspecting denizens of the aether upon which to feast.

What do you do?

HEY!

Hey hey hey...

Doens't blood coagulate when you die? Like in a few days? I don't think we can use that.

>>7543054
This I am okay with.

>>7543081
Then we'd have to go for fresh ones.

>>7543068
Time for another summoning or two to feed. And thanks for the clarification on animal feeding.

I'm thinking we should ask Rhiannon if we can feed under her supervision. That way, she can pull us back until we muster up enough willpower to be able to do it ourselves. It might take longer but it's certainly safer.

>>7543068
Study some autohypnosis techniques. Learn to brew willpower-boosting potions. Look into anything else that might help improve our mental fortitude.

We got ourselves into this whole damn mess because we dumped INT and WIS, and we'd damn well better start working on improving them.

In the meantime, we can try using our summons as practice for controlling our urge to feed. I mean fresh ones, not the ones we have bound to us.

>>7543171
Damn, good idea. Tack that onto my post at >>7543194 as far as things I support us doing.

>>7543212

How dependent do we want to be on her?

She seems nice, but we do not know her agenda, if she has one.

>>7543171
I don't know how into spending her nights keeping an eye on us, but if she's okay with it then wonderful.

>>7543254

She can be useful until we find our feet. Afterall, people are going to start hunting us if we keep on killing and I doubt we have the wits to survive for too long. Either that, or they'll just up and leave leaving us starved for food. Anyway, I say we also look into where Adrienne got her food from (maybe slavers?etc).

>>7543304

Looking into where Adrienne got her victims is a good idea.

I'd prefer keeping Rhiannon as a passive resource. Remember how many brides she's just watched die. We can't rely on her too far.

>>7543372
I think we can ask her for help and such, as long as we keep in mind that she doesn't have our back.

>>7543372
>Remember how many brides she's just watched die.

She also cares a lot for her castle and it's living inhabitants. If we keep on killing, there's a good chance that the humans will send mercs/whoever to stir some shit up at the castle. Bad news for everyone. We're not asking to be buddy-buddy, we're just asking for a little help to help lessen the trouble we might cause.

>>7543487
>>7543402

I'd ask her for advice, both for information and to make sure our plans don't get us on her bad side.

I just think asking her to watch over us while we feed may be a bridge too far.

>>7543157 >>7543171
>>7543194 >>7543300
You think for a moment. Perhaps you could use summons to try and practice controlling yourself while feeding? It certainly seems more practical than trying to use normal humans, when you have so much difficulty moving around quickly in your current state. Perhaps you could do this, and Rhiannon could help you with your control? You hasten back downstairs to ask her.

"Could you help me practice control? I was thinking that-" No. You stutter to a halt. No? But she was generally so helpful! "Um... why not?"

You find yourself thinking of what she had told you on previous occasions- that the vampire lord did not approve of his spawn growing close to one another. Spending a few minutes answering questions, leaving items open for use, or even doing small favors is one thing; actual mentoring in any capacity is another. Rhiannon will not cross that line.

You go back upstairs. You'll have to try this on your own. Your mind is sharp; you chant the summoning spell without flaw without even referencing the text for review. As you utter the arcane syllables in an unceasing stream, you wonder why you can remember things so well. While you were far from stupid before being turned, you find yourself focusing and grasping eldritch concepts so easily now. There must be something about your vampire nature which has changed you.

The circle glows. A small form, graced with soft wings and an angelic face, stands before you. A female cherub, of a less aggressive variety than the last. You break the circle. "Come here and present your neck."

It stares in shock, but is bound by the spell. As your fangs close on its throat you feel its hot tears spilling silently onto your cheek, a counterpoint to its hot blood spilling down your throat. The honeywine flavor of cherubic blood enthralls you once again, and you drink deeply, floating on the sensation.

As the bloodflow slows, you suddenly recall that you were going to try and stop before killing your victim. You jolt back and look at the cherub. Tracks of tears stain its unconscious face, head lolling without control. Its pulse is weak, as are its muscles. You have taken too much for it to survive much longer, if you are any judge, though it is yet alive. No sense wasting what remains. You bend its head to the other side, pierce its neck with your fangs, and suck it dry then cast aside the corpse.

What shall you do next?

>>7543597
I have been hardcorefagging all the way and facepalming at you guys for not just killing shit and get it done.

But this.... god damn

hey guys lets kill people

bawwww no no

*kills baby angel*

s'all good, amirite?

>>7543597
Find a kitten or puppy to practice on

>>7543597
summon another one.
Only way to get this down is practice practice practice.

>>7543693

Wouldn't it be better to practice on a bigger animal?

>>7543597
Bury the corpse.

Also, assuming that our summons like this are bound to do what we tell them, ask them for their names before we drink. Remember the names of those we drank from, and especially keep in mind those we kill.

If possible, we can eventually try to make amends to anyone/thing they left behind, but at the very least we can give the ones we kill as we learn to control ourselves a proper burial.

Continue summoning and feeding while attempting to control ourselves.

>>7543597

Check if it healed us. Try to rationalize that drinking a celestial is better than killing a human... somehow... Feel deep self loathing.

Ask one of our other minions what happens to minions killed when summoned.

Study our magic books to get our minds of the shame and have a minion dispose of the cherub corpse.

Wonder if we're going to get a pissed off archangel going all holy smite on us. Do more research on this.

>>7543693
>>7543724
Animals don't work. We need to drink from sentient creatures, it seems.

>>7543736
because we need a shopping list of victims to spend our unlife making amends too, right?

We're just surviving in the most basic animal sense of the word. We aren't doing anything wrong. It isn't our fault that people are our food, just as it isn't the eagles fault that the snake is his food.

It's not like we asked for this.

>>7543722
This. Practice makes perfect.

>>7543746
Animals are good as emergency rations.

as far as learning to not kill goes, why don't we have one of our summons hang out with us and watch us feed. When it looks like our food is getting too weak/drained, our other summon could tap us on the shoulder/shake/yell/somehow let us know that it's time to stop.

We seem to have trouble pulling ourselves out of the reverie of blood, having something else to remind us might help.

>>7543746

Animals do stave off the hunger a bit (although it's made clear that we can't live on them alone, and they can't heal our wounds). I'd say they'd be a good place to start to practice especially since it should be easier to pull away from them. A good way to practice, but we'll need a proper food source on top of that (either via summons or humans). As for the meantime, work out where Adrienne got her stock from.

>>7543765
We are, however, capable of learning how to feed without murder.

Therefore, we do at the very least owe some responsibility to those we murder in the process of learning how to control our thirst.

>>7543765
Yeah, but in this case the snakes can band together in the hundreds and rip the eagle to shreds. Not saying that we should try to make amends; what's done is done, and we have enough on our plate already.

>>7543821
Given the way UM described animal blood as opposed to human blood, I don't think that controlling our thirst for animals will help us control our thirst for infinitely more appealing human blood.

>>7543722
>>7543809


I say combine these two for at least a few nights in a row. If we can resist killing a cherub with honeyblood, humans should be far easier.

Thinking ahead a little. Does the master still have the wish scroll? Did Adrienne amuse him enough for him to consider using it on her or will he maybe find another bride to take her place?

We could also summon a being, have it fill a vessel with it's blood then release it before we drink.

If we can control ourselves while it's bleeing itself that'll be a step and we won't be killing.

>>7543905
I have a feeling that the master doesn't really give a shit about any of his vampire brides.

Remember, rhiannon has like a huge tome full of hundreds of names of past vampire brides. If the master was capable of caring about them, there would probably be more than one mute still around.

Just saying, I can't see the master using that wish scroll for anything other than his own self-interest.

>>7543905
He already used it, and no we do not know what he wished for.

Remember what was said about Adrienne. She cut some of her victims to prevent her from killing them. Maybe we could do the same to the summons until we learn a bit more control.

>>7543686
ANGELS AREN'T PEOPLE MAN

>>7543722 >>7543736
>>7543741 >>7543765
As you absently lick the last traces of ambrosia from your face, you stare at the corpse while desperate thoughts of justification fly through your mind. You didn't want this, or ask for it. You're a predator now, and shouldn't feel bad about killing to eat and heal. It's only a summoned creature; there will always be more where it came from and it's not like it's a human, or even something that belongs in this world.

There is the corpse of a cherub lying before you, its wings limply folded under its childlike body. Memories of the children you drained to death after being wounded in the fight against Adrienne flash before you, and you feel yourself losing control.

No. You know what you have to do. You tighten your jaw, grab the body, and throw it out the nearest window. It won't bother you any more with such thoughts. You call your sprite while preparing for another summon, and it arrives promptly. "Yes, Lady?"

You speak tonelessly, focusing on your work. "Deal with all the bodies I create tonight. There is one in the courtyard now. I don't want to see evidence of them tomorrow."

He bows. "It shall be as you command, Lady."

Then the sprite is gone, and you are back to your task.

A small elemental humanoid of some sort, more than willing to serve. Devoured as it fountained sycophantic praises.

A woodland which reminded you strongly of your sprite, unmoving and grim as it was pulled to your throat.

A miniature clockwork woman who moved with grace you had to admire. Her blood tasted of oil.

A tiny humanoid, looking like a small version of a peasant you might see walking down the street. He cowered and begged, but it did him no good. He tasted very human.

A gremlin, its form so twisted and hideous that you could hardly bear to grasp it in spite of its annoying blustered threats. Its blood was sour but still delectable.

A small knight complete in full plate, its skin icy. Pale blood tasted of lemons.

A pixie with a face that brought back too many memories. It took nearly five minutes of its questioning before you recalled its purpose there and ended its life to the flavors of summer.

Most of them died before you could stop yourself. Those who lived long enough for you to regain focus and balance did not survive afterward. The night is ending. Little time remains. You desperately avoid thinking about what you just did and walk slowly and deliberately to your sarcophagus.

***

A new evening is before you. You feel the faint traces of tears on your face, but don't recall crying. It doesn't matter, anyway. What should you do?

Check how our healing is progressing.

We can't control ourselves when our fangs are in something's neck, that's for damn sure. We should try some other method of feeding off the summons.

We should also make sure there's not going to be any sort of backlash from summoning things just to feed on them. Maybe ask our minions or study our books?

>>7544077
Let's try to study some spell for drawing out the blood of creatures; we can use that to take enough so that they don't die and then drink it. Try to make sure those who we use it on are gone before we actually drink, lest their presence remind us that they have more blood left in them.

>>7544140
We should also research if there is anything we can summon that enjoys pain and/or regenerates rapidly enough to serve as a more lasting food source provided we don't drain it.

Or if there is a way to comfortably feed off of humans, for example by having our summoned minions collect fractions of their blood...

And we could also see if anyone knows where Adrienne got her victims from. Like Rhiannon, or maybe one of the human staff?

>>7544077
Ask our bound summons for help. Ask them if they know anything that might let us learn control.

>>7544140
You examine your injuries as best you can, wishing that there was a mirror which could reflect them. There is still a great deal of damage, but you find yourself able to move more quickly without spikes of agony. You suspect that the damaged muscles are repairing themselves before any healing is applied to the relatively cosmetic injuries, like the couple square feet of missing skin.

You move to the library and speak with your mimir. "Mimir. I have been summoning and feeding on creatures using the spell we developed several days ago."

Its empty eye sockets stare at you. "And? The spell was flawless, thanks to my design; of course it worked. Although you cannot have been using it much, given your wretched current appearance. I am shamed to have been bound into service by such a shoddy sorceress."

Its criticism washes over you. You aren't certain if you are angry, apathetic, or quietly in agreement. Either way, you have questions which you need answered. "Is there any chance that something will... come after me for what I'm doing? Or that something I bind at a later time will know about it?"

It stares at you. "Have you no grounding in basic extraplanar resonance principles? Of course there is! The collective knowledge of all aetheric beings is aware of the actions you take with regard to any of them. As time passes and your actions are consistent the probability of any given summoned creature being aware of you and your general activities towards others will rise in a fashion which will asymptotically approach certainty over the course of several thousand bindings. What sort of uneducated cretin is unaware of this?"

You stare at it. You're pretty sure that it said 'yes'.

>>7544274
You turn and leave the library, pacing back and forth as you consider. "Rhiannon, where did Adrienne get her victims? She seemed to have an endless supply."

Adrienne could fly very quickly, and take others with her with little effort. Presumably she cut some sort of deal with someone, likely in a city somewhere, to provide them for her on a regular basis and keep them available for retrieval.

>>7544222
You thank the red-haired vampiress and head back into the library. There must be some sort of blood magic somewhere in here which could allow you to draw forth blood from living creatures. You turn to the tomes on the discipline, but quickly discover that virtually all of them are in languages you are unfamiliar with- blood magic has never been a popular topic in the civilized regions where your tongue dominates. Perhaps you could have your servants collect blood in vials, or something, from victims and allow you to drink it later. The method is much slower and less direct than simply draining them directly, but you wouldn't have to kill anything.

Or could you summon some sort of endlessly regenerating minion? You turn to the texts on the matter, but once again find yourself stymied- the creatures which are listed as being unkillable, or having fearsome regenerative powers, are almost inevitably much larger summons noted for strength, combat prowess, and their ravenously carnivorous natures. That would bring a whole set of problems of its own even if you had a circle capable of handling them.

The night is perhaps a third gone, and you pause for thought. The master will be arriving soon.

What do you do?

>>7544077
are we in any better shape? Has all that feeding healed us at all?

has our imp reported back with news on the bandits?


in the meantime, back to the summoning room. We shouldn't experiment with summoning larger/more powerful beings until we are at full health.

>>7544408

Can we get the Mimir to translate some books on blood magic for us?

I'd want to try the summon, bleed, release while alive approach. Having our summons become progressivly more convinced we're going to kill them seems like a bad idea.

>>7544418
have we read up on mind-domination spells?

Perhaps we could learn to dominate the mind of a human villager, and use them as a "blood bank" of sorts.


Also, if we are trying to gain the attention of our former lover, why don't we just go rambo-style on a tavern and kill off almost the whole village in one grisly swoop? Surely that will garner enough attention to bring in adventurers.
We could burn the tavern down around the bodies to conceal that a vampire did it.


We aren't "evil" enough for that kind of stuff, are we.
bleh

>>7544408
Dear god. I understood everything Mimir said. On the bright side, it means that we'd have to drain hundreds of them before it becomes a serious risk.

Let us try to summon something that can read the language that the blood magic text it is and translate it for us. Perhaps the Mimir knows of someone, and knowing their name would make sure that that is who we got.

wait, guys.

Why don't we try summoning something and cutting a deal with it?
Ask it if it is willing to provide blood for us in return for something. Offer to let it roam the material plane at free so long as it leaves us a blood "tax" regularly.
Something like that.
If it will donate it's blood in non-lethal quantities we don't have to worry about killing it.


wait, if the things we summon are dominated, we could just force it to donate an amount of blood every night. Anything that gets our fangs off of it's neck should work, since we seem to not be able to control ourselves once we chomp down.

>>7544607
perhaps the mimir itself can translate, being the smarmy ass that it is?

We haven't exactly asked it, now have we?

>>7544661
Ah, an excellent point.

>>7544566
Well now that there is no one to stop us, we could try to just send him a letter or something. Maybe contact him by magic or have one of our servants bring him a message? We don't have to kill shit to get his attention.

>>7544418
Look for texts on auto-hypnosis and other means by which to increase our own willpower.

>>7544419
You are healing, slowly. ((See start of >>7544408))

Your imp has yet to report back that it has located any large non-village concentrations of people. Hopefully it will not take too much longer; finding a group of bandits to slaughter and devour would ease your mind considerably. At least you could convince yourself that that would be okay.

>>7544542
You order your mimir to read off the titles of the books on blood magic and tell you which would most likely be useful for a beginner. Amidst its abuse and verbose explanations, you select one which you think it appropriate and order it to begin translating the text.

It promptly points out in a rather rude fashion that it has neither hands nor a blank book upon which to transcribe, which proses an insurmountable difficulty in accomplishing the requested task. You turn away, planning to think on this and return once you've come up with a solution.

>>7544566
You have not read much about mental control spells, but suspect that you don't need to use sorcery for most such- every other vampire you've known has been able to jolt you around like a puppet even without using any spells. It is likely a matter of focus and practice to move from mental communication to control.

>>7544707
Hoping that you'll be able to strengthen your willpower somehow, you start looking for books on hypnosis or other mental strengthening techniques in the library. It has been only a few minutes when you realize that the vampire lord has arrived. By the time you stand up and look towards the library door, he is standing there with a slight frown on his face.

You find yourself briefly unable to speak, but he has no such difficulty. His voice is soft and oddly compelling, his dead eyes drill into you, and his words are brief. "Explain Adrienne."

What do you do?

>>7544846
We explain what we did and why we did it. Fighting him is impossible, and he probably would NOT enjoy us lying to him. (He most likely knows the truth either way.)

>>7544846
Tell the truth. She was being unbearably bitchy and cruel, and we wanted her gone. Surely if he had wanted her to be safe he would have placed some protection on her, would he have not? And let's not forget all the other hundreds of dead wives that he has let die.

>>7544846
>Explain Adrienne

"Look at me. What is there to explain?"

>>7544846

Don't even try to embellish. "She tortured me. I killed her."

>>7544846
"She hurt us. We killed her. Don't play the predator when you can be devoured by your prey."

>>7544979
>says the prey to the predator

Lie "She was distracting me from my work, forcing me to stay in the library when I could be learning much more practical skills. She had to be dealt with. You understand, don't you. Afterall, you said that you hunger for power just as I do. You should know that if you are presented with an obsticle, then you should remove it. Besides, it worked out to your advantage, I think. She didn't like being a puppet, going by how she treated me, how she reacted to my insults and how she hated being controlled by your other bride- but somehow you made your own strings invisible. I think it's better for you that I killed her instead of reminding her that she was nothing more than your dog. She isn't a problem anymore, she might've been a problem to both of us if I did the latter."

>>7544992
We are his prey. We submit because he is stronger. Adrienne was too weak and got what she deserved.

>>7545052
Also, he's pretty much explicitly stated that he would enjoy us getting to the point where we could challenge him at least a little. It'll be more fun that way.

>>7545051

I don't think we should try lying to him. He seems like the sort to take it as an insult.

>>7544846
"She hurt me. She warped me. She did not even care enough about me to think I could ever fight back.

And for all of these reasons, I killed her."

>>7545089

Well, they are all half-truths. She did trap us in the library, she didn't like to be controlled and the notes that Rhiannon gave us indicated that it was broken by the other vampires (most probably the lord or another bride).

leave Rhainnon out of this, we don't want to endanger our only potential ally.

We need to stick up for ourselves. Be firm but polite. Show some spine but do not forget our place.

>>7545175

From what we know about the master he probably wants to break us. Trying to manipulate him seems like a bad idea. Showing some spirit is likely to win a twisted sort of approval.

>>7545232
this.
We killed her because we had no choice. She backed us into a corner and we took care of ourselves.

We took no pleasure in it, but the bitch had it coming.
We didn't tell the master because we thought it wasn't worth bothering him over.

you know, or something

>>7545293

We didn't enjoy it?

Not even a little?

Laws of nature. Even Dinosaur predators had problems against some prey

>>7544906 >>7544957 >>7544962
>>7544974 >>7544979 >>7545052
>>7545128
You find yourself being drawn into his eyes, but gather your will and take an aggressive stance, pushing the fury and hatred that you felt towards Adrienne before you killed her into your voice. "She hurt me- tortured me. I killed her."

His frown gradually melts away, to be replaced by a smile. It shows his cruel fangs prominently. "Indeed. Rhiannon's view of your interactions and fight was one of the most compelling things I've seen this decade."

Reassured, you press on. "She shouldn't have been playing the predator when her prey could devour her. She didn't think I could ever fight back. She was too weak and got what she deserved."

He raises an eyebrow. "She could do nothing else. She was an elegantly simple woman, a creature of brutal beauty. A play which I would be glad to see performed again. But we are in the next act now. Come."

He turns and leaves the library. With nothing else to do, you follow obediently. In the main room, he turns to Rhiannon. "I shall be taking her with me to Itonia. I do not expect to return before the year is out."

She nods silently, then rises from her seat to go looking through one of the desks while thoughts spin through your head. You're leaving? The concept is somehow difficult to wrap your mind around, as though the world's size had shrunk over the last few days so that it was nothing more than the castle and its surroundings, with no possibility of departure.

What shall you do?

>>7545322
I'm sure that information isn't of any concern to the master.

Unless you want to pursue a replacement strategy. Mention that it was delightful to watch her suffer as she burned, and offer to take her place.

Would certainly take care of the food supply problem as we could feed on whatever her supply was.

Would also make us a terribly cruel and sadistic creature incapable of salvation or redemption.

>>7545343
Take the mimir and all the books on blood magic.

>>7545343
pack our shit and ride off into ADVENTURE

finally getting outta this shit hole. hoorays!

More seriously, inform our summons to follow us at a distance, there is no need to tell the master about our minions until he specifically asks/figures it out for himself.

>>7545397
Oh, and CHAIN the fucking mimir to our belt. I want that goddamn skull on a lead.

>>7545343
Well crap. This is not good. Not good at all. I suppose we might as well ask him if we can stay here. He'll probably say no, but we won't know for sure until we ask.

>>7545343

Ask the master if you may ask him some questions about the journey.

If he says yes, ask him where you will be going, what you may take with you from the castle and when you will be leaving.

If he says no, just nod and await further instructions.

>>7545343
Ask this:

"Sir, I know who I was, and some of who Rhiannon was, and you've just told me of who Adrienne was. But who were you?

Who are you?"

>>7545419
why isn't this good? This castle fucking sucks.

And now we have the attention of the master, we may be able to talk him into giving us some of his blood (I'm assuming that blood of a more powerful vampire will strengthen our own powers) at a later date.

Either way, I would rather be the master's favored pet than to be abandoned in a mouldering castle full of people I can't eat, surrounded by villages too small to be worth the trouble, reading books I can't even translate, while summoning snacks that don't even heal me and slowly increase the chance of being smited by a solar or some shit.

I'm just saying, anywhere is better than here.

>>7545420
This.

Remember we need to ask the mute for premission to take books, and that our boyfriend is on his way to the castle..

Well shit, didn't we free a prisoner that was going to bring our boyfriend and a raiding party to the castle?

>>7545481
Ask Rhiannon to please not kill our boyfriend, if possible.

If we are going to travel he will probably want us to heal up, use this to our advantage and make him give us an opportunity (or make him give us) food. Full health would be a great thing.

>>7545502
And have her tell him where we are headed and who we are with... and what we are.

>>7545481
Umm.. we need to warn the mute so that he does not murderizes her. He's pretty much Link so there's not a big chance he'll lose and with us out of the castle there will be no one to explain.

>>7545471
Well let's see. We were mostly left alone here, and now the master has taken an interest, which is bad because it means that we will most likely be on a bit of a leash. We were doing work here to improve ourselves which may be left to hang if where we are going doesn't have similar resources.. The master might not want us to study anymore. And now our bf doesn't know where we are anymore.

In other words, it's change and uncertainty just when we were beginning to make some progress.

>>7545502
Our boyfriend is some kind of a Chosen World Saving Light Warrior. I don't think we need to worry about HIM.

>>7545502
>>7545516
if we want to leave a message for the boyfriend, I would suggest leaving a letter with Rhiannon that is for his eyes only.

The less anyone knows about what goes on between us the better.
Leave the letter with rhiannon, tell her to give it to the boyfriend when he arrives.

You guys can figure out what to put in the letter, specifically

>>7545529
Yeah, that too.

And thank her. For everything.

>>7545548
That's why I said "if possible".

At this point, Rhiannon's survival is higher priority than his.

>>7545578
Rhiannon is our friend, but don't we desperately love him? I'm sure they can all get along.

>>7545602
Just remember: Polygamy solves all problems!

>>7545645
I don't see why should we sacrifice one person we like for another we love, or vice versa. They are both dear to us.

>>7545549

If we leave it the letter should include something asking him to leave Rhiannon alone. Saying she had nothing to do with our becoming a Vampire and has been our only friend through the ordeal.

Maybe he'll kill her before he reads it, in which case he gets to be headfucked with guilt for a while.

>>7545602
>>7545645
Threesomes: lubricating awkward social situations since... yeah, I kind of lost track of where I was going after lubrication came up.

make sure we mention rhiannon is protecting the families that live in the castle in our letter.

I doubt the vampy lord is going to tell us where we are going.

>>7545659
He's The Hero. We don't have a name for him beside The Hero (lol. Maybe you should solve this, OP, and actually tell us about him). If she attempts diplomacy he will listen

bimp, did the op fall asleep or something?

>>7545658
Right. Polygamy lets us have them both!

>>7545754
>polygamy

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

>>7545730

new thread here

>>7545816

Is this really the new thread OP?

>>7545840
obviously not

>>7545840

OP of boyfriend quest here. No, no it is not. I did that for a bit of a laugh.

>>7545866
If the actual OP ran an 'Meanwhile..'quest it would be pretty awesome though.

>>7545886
it could work in alternating episodes I think.

But doing them both at the same time will lead to fail.

>>7545474 >>7545420
The vampire lord seems to be waiting for Rhiannon to do whatever it is that she is doing, so you take the opportunity to speak once again. Your voice is somewhat less confident than before, probably because you're somewhat off balance from his plans. "Lord... may I ask some questions?"

He glances at you and nods with a small smile, so you continue. "Where are we bound?"

His voice is soft and sends a shiver through you, for some reason. It is no less cruel than before, yet it feels like that cruelty is no longer directed towards you. Some sort of psychic effect? "Itonia. Two of my scions, Bryden and Sarai, have been managing affairs in a city there for some decades; it will make a good place for you to grow until I have need of you."

You've heard of Itonia. A cosmopolitan, mercantile nation, with a people who always sought profits and were rumored to engage in piracy. They also were widely admired for their artists, actors, and other people of culture.

"May I take anything with me?"

His eyes flick up and down your form. "If you have any possessions which could be truly considered yours, then by all means. We have some time to acquire them, though you will need to be present here for an hour or more before our departure."

>>7545775
Oh my god, fine polygamy: A man married to more than one woman. Got this from an online dictionary:

The condition or practice of having more than one spouse at one time. Also called plural marriage.

I think it means exactly what I think it does.

>>7545898
I have an idea we should learn a healing spell that way we can cast it on the being after we feed to stop it from dieing

>>7545397 >>7545398
>>7545417 >>7545474
You begin to ask why, but he waves you off, and you find yourself running to collect your things. What things do you have that could be 'truly considered yours'? Not much comes to mind, since almost everything was provided here.

A few things, though. Your servants. You mentally call them to you with all the force you can manage, and in a few short minutes the imp, sprite, and spirit are before you. You speak quickly. "It appears that I am leaving. Please follow me with all due speed, at a distance; I will call for you again when I have need of you."

To bows and acknowledgements, you go back down underground and think once more on what might be yours. Only one thing comes to mind. You take Adrienne's blade, abandoned on her sarcophagus after her death, and lift it in your hand. It weighs virtually nothing next to your strength, and gleams with a deadly sharpness that makes you suspect some enchantment. You take its belt and strap it on; it is all but invisible under your robe. No wonder you hadn't noticed it on her.


Then you return to your lord, who hands you some clothes and gestures for you to stand in a certain place. Somewhat confused, you move into the library and rapidly change. While you are in there, you notice your mimir; concluding that it will be unable to move after you on its own, you take it into the other room, order it to be silent, and attach it to a belt so that it hangs from your hips.

"Face her and remain still," the vampire lord says next, and you realize that Rhiannon has removed the tome which contains information on all the master vampire's brides once more and her hand flashes over it rapidly.

>>7545898
Take our summons and all of our notes.

...

We did make a spellbook of our own, right? we wrote things down?

It appears that your second portrait is being drawn. You remain still for some time, until Rhiannon eventually reaches for her sand and dries the picture, then waves to you. You move to stand behind her shoulder and gasp at your image.

The first is what you had seen before- an innocent, confused young beauty, pained and suffering. It is how you have thought of yourself in the past days.

The second is a terrifying image of a vampire sorceress who scarcely resembles you. Her eyes gleam with cunning and unnatural intellect, her bearing speaks of determination and power, and her clothing is that of a practical woman of the upper classes. Behind her the wheeling shapes of cackling imps and pixies are visible, and various sprites and other spirits kneel behind her. A skull hangs from her waist.

Rhiannon is a truly exceptional artist, but the vision that her work paints of your future as she sees it is horrifying. The vampire lord reaches has hand to you as you look on in a daze. "Come," he says, and you find yourself taking his hand, accepting a small message tube from Rhiannon, and hardly having time to begin expressing your thanks for her help in the past days before being swept through the air as upon mist.

You are outside in the wind, and then the ground blurs beneath you impossibly quickly. When you can next fully grasp your surroundings, the master vampire has released your hand and is facing you, backed by a vast city well-lit even at this hour of the night. "Itonia- specifically, its capital of the same name. Have you any final questions before I leave you in the care of my scions?"

What do you do?

>>7545886
OP of boyfriend quest again. Agreed, but it would probably be too much work for Undead Monstrosity and he's doing such a bang-up job with this one. Having two GM's would just clusterfuck the story.

>>7545900
except nobody is actually married.

Marriage is a holy union in the eyes of the lord.
Although the idea of a GOD-WARRIOR OF LIGHT having to live with an UNHOLY LORD OF DARKNESS as they share both a wife and a home, learning to overcome their inherent hatred of each other as they realize the two of them really aren't that different, could make an interesting sitcom.

THREE'S COMPANY, DND EDITION

>>7545900
Polygamy is any plural marriage. The specific example of a man with multiple wives is technically called polygyny.

>>7545898
Great. Rhiannon's brothers.

Well, as long as we're going to be going to say our goodbyes, let's ask Rhiannon if there's anything she wants us to tell them. And also ask her if there are any books she thinks we should take, as well as whether there are any books she might like us to mail to her.

Do all of this telepathically, of course.

>>7545926
OP, as you picked up the Quest from the previous 'failed' one I think you should establish exactly who/what/how powerful our boyfriend is and perhaps give him a name. It will make him more real as a character.

Its somewhat odd that our main motivation has barely any qualities.

>>7545932

Ask the master the scion's names and their responsibilities. Also if he has any rules or duties for me while he's away.

>>7545932
"We know who we are, and Adrienne, and Rhiannon, and we will learn who your scions are.

But who, my lord, are you?"

>>7545932
OP, what of the letter? you didn't mention it.

>>7545996
Yeah. That and warning Rhiannon about the "hero boyfriend is probably coming here, may try to kill you" thing were kind of important.

>>7545973
this.

Make sure we know what we ABSOLUTELY CANNOT DO before he takes off and we get ourselves into trouble.

Also, ask him when we will see him again.

After he leaves, call out to our summoned minions. I have no idea how far away they are.
If they can't come to us physically, it should be possible to summon them to us through a spell or something right?

>>7546003

Once we're settled in we can send a minion with a letter can't we?

>>7545958
Oh for the love of god, yeah they're not married but YOU KNOW WHAT I FUCKING MEANT!

INB4 'U MAD?' YES, I AM VERY PISSED OFF AT YOUR DETERMINED STUPIDITY AND HYPER-TECHNICALITY.

...crap, just read the rest of your post after the first sentence. Sorry for the yelling.

>>7546018
relax bro,

ah'm just fukkin' wit ya. No need to burst a vessel.

Although I admit it feels good to get under someone's skin.

hmm, perhaps there is something to this "trolling" idea after all . . .

Server fall down and go boom. Better now?

>>7546113
m00t should really stop bringing his one night stands into the serverroom for a quick shag

bampu

>>7545932

Once we've asked the master about rules and responsibilities and summoned our minions, we should go have a look around, try and find the scions or at least get a sense of our new home.

>>7546125
...

Are there cameras in the server room?

>>7545932
make with the posting

>>7546335
This.
I can only lay on the F5 for so long before I need that hand back for fapping.

>>7546439

I'll check in a bit later.

> We got ourselves into this whole damn mess because we dumped INT and WIS

we dumped WIS, if we dumped INT we wouldn't have advanced so quickly in magic through self-study!

Server went down, and I went to dinner. Sorry about the delay, all.

>>7545965
Your boyfriend is a man you'd known since both of you were young. He was not the strongest or most intelligent, but was always determined to do the right thing. He started out fighting off goblin attacks on your small village, and before you knew it had joined up with some adventurers fighting ogres, then giants, then dragons. If his reputation was even a little accurate, he was the sort of man who should have been marrying a princess any day now as a reward for saving the kingdom.

Maybe that's why he had so little time for you.

>>7545996 >>7546003
Suddenly you recall that your boyfriend might be coming to that castle, only to find you gone and no one but Rhiannon and her humans there. He'd kill her and be no closer to finding you! Thoughts that you should have warned her, or left a letter, occur to you, but it is too late for that now- you'll have to send a servant with a message or otherwise communicate with her.

>>7545987
More immediate concerns come to mind in any case. A question about your master has been bothering you for some time, and this is a rare chance to ask him directly. "I know who I am, and Adrienne, and Rhiannon, and I will learn of your scions. But who, my lord, are you?"

He chuckles, and the sound sends a shiver through you. "If you believe you have found that answer, be certain to tell me. It shall be amusing to see what you can discover. Anything else?"

>>7545973
That was frustratingly evasive. Everything seems to be only done for his amusement, in his eyes. Other questions remain, though. "Have you any instructions for me, or rules to follow?"

He shakes his head. "I have confidence that you will act in a suitable manner without my specific direction."

You are uncertain if that was more reassuring or unnerving. "And... your scions? What can you tell me of them? Their names, responsibilities?"

A slight sound in the sky makes him look up, and he smiles until his fangs show. "I believe that shall be yours to discover as well. Sarai has arrived, so I shall entrust you to her care."

A woman stands in the night, draped in close-fitting dark cloth. Her hair is short and black, her skin seems to have been coated with something to darken it, and there must be something concealing her eyes, for even their (presumably dead) whites do not show. A voice drifts from her shape, quiet and lyrical. "I shall not fail you, master." She gives a deep bow.

With a quiet chuckle, the vampire lord is but a cloud of departing mist.

What do you do?

>>7546631
Send whichever one of our summons would be fastest with a message telling Rhiannon of our worries.

After we do that, see if we can still somehow telepathically send to Rhiannon if we focus enough on her face and true name while we do it.

>>7546643
Introduce ourselves.

>>7546665
>>7546669

Introduce ourselves to Sarai. Ask her if she would be so kind as to show us around the place. Where we're going to sleep is fairly important.

See if we can find a library or drawing room or anywhere where there's stationary for writing our letter to Rhiannon.

Don't say anything, wait for orders.

>>7546813

We don't want to come across as too submissive. Another Adrienne probably wouldn't be pleasant.

>>7546631


hey UM

from the previous girlfriend quest thread, the boyfriend is a very high level Fighter. There is a monk and a wizard in his party. His fame is national (bards have songs about his deeds), and when he gave you that tiara he was talking about dancing with you in the King's Court, so he's pretty much a big damn hero.

hope that helps.

Alright, I'm calling you out Tv Tropes anon- show yourself.

>>7546901

We don't have to look submissive. We could scowl or remain blank.

>>7546996

Being passive aggressive probably won't help. I'd say it's best to treat them as equals, if they try to pull rank we can deal with it then.

((And I promptly start off by getting distracted and taking most of an hour to type. Sigh.))

>>7546669 >>7546769
Deciding that it would be best to introduce yourself and get some information about this woman, you step forward and nod. "Greetings. I am-"

She interrupts with a musical laugh. "Our lord has kept me fully informed as to your identity and actions. Come, we must move quickly; sunrise approaches and the city wakes early. Please remain quiet until we have reached my crypt."

You hadn't noticed, but dawn is a little under an hour away. At a gesture, you follow her down directly towards the town, where a man in the uniform of the guard opens a door in its walls to let you in. A polite, quiet "thank you" murmured by Sarai as she slips past him, but aside from that you speak with no one as you move quickly through the streets of the city, walking quickly and passing from dirty housing areas into a somewhat nicer district that you would guess holds the city's tradesmen. Both sections of the city are lightly populated, even at this late hour, although you draw few looks- presumably everyone has their own business to attend to. Once there, it is only a minute or so of travel before Sarai opens an unremarkable door just inside an alleyway and gestures you down it.

Inside is a steep stairway to what appears to be a cellar; Sarai moves swiftly to the back wall, grips a protruding metal bar, and shoves it to the side with inhuman force. The entire wall slides to the side, revealing a small crypt- bare but for the presence of six well-made but unadorned coffins. As you enter, you note that the doorframe is carved with tiny runic symbols. She shoves it once again so that it closes behind you, then turns to you and smiles. It is somewhat unnerving to watch, as she is covered in blackening paint of some kind. "My apologies for earlier. I will answer any questions which you have before dawn; tomorrow you shall meet Bryden."

You pause. This is a much less well appointed location than you would have expected; you'd hoped for books, or at least a desk with parchment. "I... is there a library which I can use?"


Sarai shakes her head. "I was told that you are a budding sorceress and summoner, but I have no facilities for such here. Unlike Bryden, I have no interest in establishing a dark empire of any kind; I work as a mercenary and assassin. Thus the garb; I came to meet the master directly from a job."

You frown. She's very friendly for an assassin. "Then... where could I find paper for writing, at least?"

She moves to one of the coffins and lifts the lid. It appears to be stocked with supplies of all sorts- ropes, locks, chains, paper, compasses, and much more. "Here's some. Why?"

You move to pick up some of the offered supplies and admit, "I was planning to write a letter. To Rhiannon. I did not get the chance for a proper goodbye."

"You'll want to wait until tomorrow night, then. She'd want to hear about Bryden; doesn't get to see him much, after last time they met."

This sounds interesting. "Last time?"

Sarai gives a grin. "Those two are one of the big reasons the master is so concerned about our working closely together. They keep trying to conquer nations and overthrow the him when he lets them anywhere near one another."

That was not your impression of Rhiannon at all, but perhaps you'd only seen part of her personality. Regardless, dawn will be here soon.

What should you do?

>>7547094

Try to contact Rhiannon mentally before we go to sleep. Hope your minions have caught up in the morning.

Write a letter first thing in the morning for minion delivery.

What the assassin says is interesting, however we have to wait and see before we act on any of it. If we're going to participate in these games it has to be as a player not a pawn.

>>7547094
>overthrow the him when he lets them anywhere near one another.

We should endeavor to make this happen. As it stands, let's get to bed for the day. We have a big night tomorrow.

>>7547094
>take over nations.jpeg
I have a cunning plan to go with my cunning hat.

>>7547094
I still don't trust the mimir. Let's put a bolt in its skull and replace the belt with a chain. Then we need to take off its jaw and put pins in place so we can slip it on and off as needed - that way, it'll speak to noone. And it might take the fucker down a peg.

>>7547127
This.

Also ask Sarai if she would mind if we requisition some space for a summoning circle, a bookshelf and someplace to stash components.

Is this thread over? Has it been archived?

Make with the bosting.

you have an air spirit. it will be your messenger.

>>7547473 >>7547475
Things OP is not terribly good at:
- Writing pornography
- Posting quickly

Things OP is better at:
- Being online for the better part of twelve hours at a stretch

I'm around. We'll probably plod along for several more hours.

>>7547127 >>7547212 >>7547139
The space down here is small, but you suppose that you could fit a summoning circle in here somewhere. "Sarai, would you mind if I moved some of these coffins and put a summoning circle in here? Maybe built a bookshelf..."

She laughs musically and shakes her head. "Sorry, honey, but you don't get to move in, just stay for a few nights. We all live alone. You'll have to secure your own place soon."

With that thought, you retire to one of the coffins for the night.

***

It's evening again. You wake to an unfamiliar pattern above you, and it takes a moment to recall that you are in Itonia, under the care of Sarai.

You awaken to find her dressed much differently- like a noble lady, and she looks every inch the part. You can't help but wonder how she got her skin, eyes, and hair to look like one of the living again, but quickly find at least part of your answer as you notice an open kit in one of the coffins filled to the brim with various salves and oils. Sarai must be exceptionally skilled with them.

She turns to you. "Ah, you're awake. Excellent. This evening we'll go to meet Bryden, and then I'll set you loose in the city to find your way. We'll be leaving in a bit; I need to finish touching this up."

You nod, and as she returns to modifying her appearance you move to take some of the paper you had seen before, then scrawl out a quick note to Rhiannon.

<Rhiannon-

I have arrived safely in Itonia, and have been told that I shall meet your brother Bryden this night. I will tell him of you if given the opportunity. You have my gratitude for your help during the first days following my turning.

I should warn you that my boyfriend, an adventurer of some ability and renown, may be coming to your castle to seek me; at one point a companion of his was there and I set him free. I have enclosed a letter for him, should he come. Please do not kill him, or allow him to kill you.

May fortune be with you always.>


That done, you quickly write another letter to your boyfriend, keeping matters brief and mentioning that you regret all the evils which have come into your life, love him still, and hope that he has not killed Rhiannon as she has been the sole source of any comfort and aid in the days following your death. You enclose that in the other, seal both messages with wax over a candle, and call your imp to you. Presumably it will have a much easier time than the sprite operating in the city.

When you finish, Sarai is waiting. "All done? Good. I hope you can magic that away, because we won't be stopping by the post."

You nod. "It will be but a moment after we leave."

She grins at that and heaves open the door, and you both emerge into an alley in the tradesman's district. "Mistress!" Your imp flutters down before you. "What do you wish of me?"

You hand him the letters, and decide that of your servants, the sprite is least likely to be of use- in an urban environment with no library to use, his skills will have little application. "Give these to the sprite, and instruct him to deliver them to Rhiannon, then return."

He bobs in the air and flies away above the lights of the town. Sarai watches him go. "That is convenient. We should talk, later, about the possibility of trading for such agents. I can think of many who would wish for them."

You reply noncommittally, and then are swept into the city's streets. Your host moves quickly through the thinning crowds, and soon the noble district lies before you. You pass through a guarded gate with no trouble- "They're there to keep out anyone who looks low-class," Sarai explains- and eventually come to a well-appointed mansion, where Sarai greets the guard and informs him that she and her guest have arrived for her dinner meeting with Lord Bryden. She must be known here; he bows, and it is but moments before you find yourself seated in a waiting room with Sarai awaiting Bryden's arrival.

Sarai looks to you. "It will be a few minutes; Bryden is extremely busy with his constant plots. Is there anything you wish to know before meeting him?"

What do you do?

>>7547722
How does he compare to his sister? And Adrienne?

And what does she mean by securing our own place?

>>7547722

"How is Bryden known to society at large?"

"Is there any way to discretely obtain blood? I'm still badly injured"

>>7547722
Do Rhiannon and he get along well? What is he like? What has he been doing?

Why am I getting Assassins Creed Vibes now?

>>7547824
>Its a me, Mar. . .Bryden.jpeg

>>7547722
Does he know where I can buy a chain and brass pins for ripping apart a mimir and re-assembling ti when I need to?

Is he a magician?

>>7547824

Your motorized Altaïr buttplug?

>>7547851
Dat quote

whats in the message tube rhiannnon gave us

>>7547703
>Things OP is not terribly good at:
>- Writing pornography

Aw, but then what'll happen when we finally manage to get together with Rhiannon and our boyfriend?

>>7548066
ask someone else to write it! and drawfag too!

ooh yes!

how can we go walking around, we've still got hideous facial scars, glassy eyes and deathly pale skin?

no to mention our intestines are still exposed.

and our 1 month lease on the imps should have expired by now,.

>>7548074
But I can't write well! And who else other than someone from these threads would want to write it? Or be able to pull it off while keeping in-character? Well, I guess they could read the archives to get an idea on how to portray the characters, but still. And I haven't seen a writefag thread other then the roll-a-wife ones for a while.

>>7548066

oh, i can write the porn bits. not as much fun without andy selectively dissecting us though.

>>7547784 >>7547794 >>7547796
You focus on practical matters first. "Um... what exactly did you mean by securing my own place?"

Sarai grins. Her fangs really aren't that noticeable; they could probably pass for human-sized if large canines if not looked at closely. "It means that in a week I'm kicking you out; if you haven't made arrangements for sleeping by then you get to fry. Next time the master comes back, he'll want to find you on your own, not with either of us."

That seems a rather brutal way of setting things up, but you can think of a huge number of things which you could attempt in a week. Many of them would require you to be in good health, however. "I'm still badly injured... it hurts even to walk. Is there anywhere I could discreetly obtain blood?"

"We're in the city, darling. There is always more blood to be had. If you snatch some lowlifes, those who care will be powerless to do anything. Disguise the wounds, though; Bryden and I don't need a vampire scare." She grimaces, and you get the sense that they've had them before and that they were unpleasant.

"Thank you. Then, about Bryden... is he much like his sister? Or like Adrienne?"

"Adrienne?" Sarai asks. "I've never met one of us by that name. But no, Bryden is not much like his sister. He's always tearing his way to his next goal through whatever means he can find. He has himself set up as a lord here, obviously; has merchanting interests in a dozen commodities and as many cities. Tough to pull off when one can't go outside during the day, but between the constant demands of business and a reputation for eccentricity he's managed it. She's much more reactive, as you know. Spends all her time sitting around reading, sending letters to scholars and arguing theories with intellectuals. Both of them hate the master like no other, though; they've that much in common."

You frown at her mention that she never knew Adrienne. You need more information on how the master creates and moves around his vampires, you think. But for now, more on Bryden and his sister. "He gets along well with his sister, then? You mentioned..."

She nods. "When they are together- which they aren't, obviously- they mesh in ways you'd never expect. Suddenly Bryden is talking to nobles about taking the lessons of history and Rhiannon starts running spy rings. Thirty years ago, when the old king died-"

A baritone voice interrupts. "Perhaps you should leave that tale for another time, Sarai." The speaker is a large man with a well-styled suit in dark grey and dark red hair. You can all but see Rhiannon in his pale face, which bears a bitter smile and the characteristic dead eyes of a vampire. "It is never terribly pleasant to hear of one's failures."

Sarai rises, and you hastily do the same. She gives a curtsy. "Lord Bryden, a pleasure as always." He kisses her hand. "The pleasure is mine, naturally. And this must be your lovely charge. Welcome to Itonia."

You stammer out a greeting. Where the master vampire overawes, Rhiannon hardly seems present, and Sarai is more like a friend than any sort of vampire, Bryden feels to you like a great lord, and you've never been terribly good with nobles. It's in his bearing, somehow, even knowing that he's as much a vampire as you are and must be killing people all the time.

He smiles indulgently. "If you ladies would accompany me..." He turns and walks, and the pair of you follow. You quickly come to a finely appointed dining hall. Instead of food, however, the only thing present for consumption is inside three large goblets.

The three of you seat yourselves, and Bryden begins speaking. "I was somewhat startled to hear that our lord would be providing us with another bride, as he has not done so in more than a decade. I trust that you will do well, however. Perhaps you could tell me of yourself and how you came to be here, and then I could answer any of your questions regarding the city?"

What do you do?

>>7548188
Might as well drink the blood. The deed's been done and to let it go to waste would just mean another life lost.

Tell him how we got to be here, starting from when we were cornered in an alley by the master.

>>7548188

Give Bryden the abridged version of your story.

"I was an aspiring sorceress, who was captured and turned by the Master. I was tortured for a time by one of his other brides. We fought over that and I killed her for it, though not without injury to myself. Now I'm here."

"Put bluntly I'm at a loose end. I need blood. I need money. I need time and I need space. I'm sure anything you could tell me about the city would be helpful to me in meeting my needs."

>>7548188

Tell the truth, we were an aspiring sorceress, caught his attention, got turned.

>>7548188

offer sexual favours in exchange for blood

>>7548099
Your clothing conceals the vast majority of your injuries, and they don't really bleed unless they're fresh. Also, for this excursion you were accompanied by Sarai, who looks every inch the noblewoman. That makes up for a lot of scarring and other questionable appearance factors in the eyes of the guards.

As for the imp, if you check the other threads it's actually been a remarkably short time since summoning him; under half of your allotted month of control has passed.

>>7548277
No

>>7548335

yes

>>7548335

Besides which, your guts are hanging out, and you're missing quite a bit of skin. Unless he's heavy into guro I think that's a deal breaker.

>>7548360
Don't go giving OP ideas.

>>7548360


I am led to believe we are actually quite attractive once healed. our lord wouldn't have chosen us otherwise ?

>>7548404

We've already established that undeath opens up new vistas in sadomasochistic behavior.

>>7548414

Yes, but who pays a whore up front?

>>7548438


this is partially true. once a vampire, we can endure things that would kill a human, thus andy's extreme bdsm fetish. rip our face off? no biggie. drink blood and it'll be fixed!

>>7548457
She was just in it for the sadism. It didn't hurt her.

>>7548478

Well... not until the very end. *hums here comes the sun*

fine, ask him for some blood, enough to keep our guts in at least? you'll repay the debt.

also, ask to rent out a nice unused warehouse. plenty room for our own library.

>>7548564

We'll probably need to offer him or someone else our services as a sorceress in trade to get the money to rent a place. We want to let him make the initial offer and negotiate down, if we make our own offer we could wind up screwing ourselves, either by low balling or by asking for such an outrageous price it shows how naive we really are.

>>7548226 >>7548252 >>7548255
You delay for a moment by sipping the blood before you begin. It is definitely human, but has grown cold and hardly seems to bear the overwhelmingly wonderful flavor that you have come to associate with blood. You suspect that if it were left sitting longer, it would probably stop tasting good at all. "I was an aspiring sorceress, and caught the master's attention; I'm not sure how. When I awoke I was in a castle in Walshenia. I was tortured there for a time by one of his other brides. We fought over that and I killed her for it, though not without injury to myself. Now I'm here."

You take a breath and gather yourself. Putting everything together like that, it seemed like such a small chain of events, yet each step of it had almost completely redefined your existence. You look to Bryden and continue, asking for his aid as confidently as you can manage. "Put bluntly I'm at a loose end. I need blood. I need money. I need time and I need space. I'm sure anything you could tell me about the city would be helpful to me in meeting my needs."

He gives a slow smile. "Concise and right to the point. Attractive, in the right sort of ally." He raises his goblet to Sarai, then takes a sip. "There are a few basic things which you should know. Firstly, vampires in general are territorial as well as hierarchical. You should be able to tell who serves your lord with a bit of effort; the trick is not difficult to figure out. If you encounter any who do not, either kill them or inform myself or Sarai so that we can. We keep a low profile here; do not allow a body to be discovered bearing your bite marks. This city has not had a problem with vampires in more than fifty years, and I like it that way."

You nod. That seems easy enough, though unhelpful to you directly. Fortunately, he is continuing. "Our master, in his limitless wisdom, has declared that his spawn must not render one another any significant form of direct aid in the long term. That means that you can call on us for favors, but that anything substantial will need to be paid back in full, and you do not get to live with us or accept our gifts. I can provide information on several reliable guides about the city- living, naturally- and give you occasional advice, should you wish it, but beyond that you are on your own. Blood, money, time, and space- those are not things that I can simply give you."

He glances at the goblet he holds in his hand. "Not in great quantity, at any rate. I would recommend that you bend your thoughts to finding a way to get the blood you clearly need within the restrictions which I have outlined. Money can be yours through a multitude of methods, and once you have it time and space are easily purchased."

He stands and downs his goblet. You realize that you will be moving, and hastily drink the blood remaining in yours as well. He leads you to the side of the room, where a long table bears several papers. "Here is a map of the city for your use. I've had it marked to represent population density; as a general rule the poor live closer together and there are more guards who act more aggressively around the rich."

He hands you the map. It is remarkably detailed, and will almost certainly prove useful in the days to come. "Thank you."

He smiles. "I am certain that you will find an adequate way to express your thanks. For example, did Rhiannon perhaps give you a message for me?"

You cast your mind back. You hardly had time to bid Rhiannon goodbye... but she had placed something in your hands, and you'd tucked it into your pocket reflexively. A small message tube. It sits there still.

What should you do?

>>7548680
Give him the message tube.

>>7548727
agree

>>7548680

Be honest.

"She gave me something before I left. It may be a message. She did not tell me who it was for."

We may be able to get something out of him for it. Even if we don't we should probably not make enemies off the bat.

i feel less human as this goes on :(

would our one true love even try to save us once he finds us :(

>>7548759

He'll try. He's a hero.

Whether or not he can or should... well that's still an open question.

>>7548772

do we even want him to ? we're on the road to power now. UNLIMITED POWER.

>>7548758

If he asks we should give it him though. I should have been more clear.

>>7548782
We WANT ultimate power so we can be a BBEG to him, then he'll finally notice us and love us!

>>7548801

We're kind of fucked up. We're probably going to be completely insane by the time he finds us.

>>7548782
Yes. Yes we do. Then we can go home and live together with our dog and have 2.5 children.

>>7548815
and to think we started out as such a a nice girl.

where the hell does rhiannon get HER blood from?

>>7548727 >>7548758

You reach into your pocket and hold the message tube forth. "She only gave me this, but did not say who it was for."

He raises and eyebrow and takes it, then flips open the top and pulls out the scrolls inside, then glances at them briefly. "Ah. One for each of us, it seems." He hands you a roll of parchment large enough that you can hardly believe it fit in the container, which bears a large diagram and a brief note at the top.

<Go with my blessing, little though it is. Go also with this; you may find it useful in the coming days. Please give the other message to my brother, Bryden, should you see him.>

Looking down at the diagram, you quickly realize that it is a full schematic for a greater summoning circle- Rhiannon must have copied it out of her library. A priceless bit of information many summoners would kill for. Constructing it will require a much space and a large quantity of many precious materials, but if finished there will be precious few beings which will be able to resist your call.

You look at Bryden. His missive is thousands of words, crammed together in text so small that you can hardly make out the fact that it is not in a language you know. He seems to be having no trouble with it, though. Long minutes pass as he works his way through it, then he looks up at you. "Rhiannon has quite the opinion of you. To repay you for delivering this, I will tell you this: The silver mines in Sevdia ship output once each week, melted into bar form and sent to the mint inside the city under guard. The next shipment will be the day after tomorrow, and should arrive well after nightfall due to unexpected troubles on the road. If you have need of a great quantity of silver, you can find it there."

You stare at him. You would need several bars of silver to create a summoning circle. What exactly is he suggesting? He gives a small smile and hefts the letter. "This was a valuable thing indeed. I would not let the bearer of such information go unrewarded. Fair exchange must be the basis of all our interactions."

What do you do?

>>7548896
>>7548912
Excellent. I would assume that we would need more than silver to make a Greater Summoning Circle, but we can use the silver to make a normal one. Oh, and, y'know, it's valuable silver that we can sell for money to buy someplace to stay.

The problem will be dealing with the guards. We're still not at 100%, or even 50%, so dealing with them could prove troublesome. I suppose we could try to get our minions to attempt to get a bar or two; the Imp can turn invisible after all.

Time to bump off some commoners.

bump off some commoners to re-gain strength, ask him if it would be alright if the caravan 'disapeared' if do summon a bunch more minions and prepare to take it out and cover your tracks well

Try to commit the parchment to memory while he's reading. Once he starts talking carefully fold it up and put it away.

Thank him for the information, ask if you may take the map to study as well.

Think for a moment. "Sarai mentioned that you have sidelines in commodities. If most of this shipment of silver were to fail to arrive, not just a few bars going missing, would you stand to gain or lose?"

>>7548912
Thank him.

Do ask him and Sarai if they can give us any pointers on how to control our bloodthirst, so that we don't inevitably leave a trail of corpses when we feed.

Also, we look like Winry, and now we've found out that the vampires run on equivalent exchange. Can we try stepping through our circle to find The Truth?

>>7549013 >>7549043
After a moment of thought, you decide that as long as you're killing people all the time anyway, they might as well be people guarding something useful. You'll gain as much strength as you can over the next couple day, then act on this. As you decide that, an idea occurs to you. "Sarai mentioned that you have sidelines in commodities. If most of this shipment of silver were to fail to arrive, not just a few bars going missing, would you stand to gain or lose?"

Bryden blinks at you, then starts laughing. Even his laughter ripples in a fashion that somehow sounds lordly. "You are a sharp one! As it happens, I do have interests in silver. This would be the third shipment to be extremely late or fail to arrive entirely in the last two months, and the longer that trend continues, the more money I shall make."

You cross your arms before you and smile. You'd thought so. What should you do now?

Ask him what would it be worth to him to be able to contact Rhiannon on a more frequent basis. (invisible servant postal services :P)

>>7549129
Get to work finding some rapists or other criminals to feed upon to try to regain our strength. Fuck, we can't summon and more minions. I was going to suggest casting the summoning version that binds them automatically but only for 3 days; we could have gone for more assassin imps to help us tackle the guards. Cest la vie.

>>7549129

Smile and say "If you have interests in silver, do you also know how someone could dispose of an excess of silver bars without attracting suspicion."

>>7549152

I'd hold off on that until we can establish that our communications are making it through and are not being intercepted/tampered with.

>>7549176

Sarai's an assasin. We can see if she wants in on a silver heist.

We're also going to need some way of hauling some large unknown quantity of silver away.

>>7549152
ASSASSIN IMPS, FUCK YEAR

RELEGATED TO A MESSAGE SERVICE FUCK YEAR

>>7549213
It looks like this conversation is turning your way; it feels like being a merchant, which is a familiar thing you've done since childhood. It's almost easy to forget that you're talking about a criminal enterprise. "If you have interests in silver, do you also know how someone could dispose of an excess of silver bars without attracting suspicion?"

The lord nods, still grinning. "I might be able to arrange for such a thing, were someone to have such a sudden excess."

You give him a small bow. "In that case, Lord Bryden, I think we can look forward to a long and profitable relationship."

"Indeed. It shall be a pleasure to work with you."

You turn to Sarai. "Sarai, I don't suppose that you would be free two nights from now to help me out with a small project? I would, naturally, give you a fair cut of the profits."

"You're going to be a good one in a few years, honey. I'll make time." She's smiling as well. It almost feels like you're with friends back home.

>>7549256>>7549152
Another thought occurs to you. "Lord Bryden, on a different matter, if you would be interested in contacting Rhiannon on a more frequent basis, I might be able to make that happen."

He gives you skeptical look. "The master will know if you leave the city, and several groups would attempt to intercept messengers. I appreciate the offer, but..."

Sarai speaks up. "Bryden, I would not discount it entirely. If her first message gets through, the next might."

He looks at Sarai for a long moment, then turns and nods to you. "I will keep you in mind, then, next time I have a message which must be sent."

After a few more minor pointers about the city, Bryden bids you and Sarai farewell, and you depart with little ceremony. Sarai murmurs as you leave that she'd not had a conversation that long with him in years.

>>7549118
As you walk back to the tradesmen's sector, Sarai mentions that she has other tasks to carry out tonight, and will leave you to your own devices. You tentatively inquire as to if she has advice for controlling your blood thirst, and she shakes her head. "Once you start drinking, you're probably going to finish. I've been stabbed- in the neck, no less!- during the act, and hardly noticed. Healed right up. Just burn the body or feed it to something when you're done."

What should you do now?

>>7549176
Just hit the local jail. As I mentioned, in this sort of society they don't tend to keep people in jail unless either they're debtors, they're awaiting trial, or they're awaiting execution. Just find people who fit into that third category and then feed.

Also, we can always try making the streets safer for young ladies. By using ourselves as bait, then dragging our would-be muggers/rapists/murderers into alleys, killing them, and draining them dry. Then dropping their corpses into the sewers. Or a furnace. Or whatever other means we can find.

>>7549521
We'll keep working on it anyway. We'll just focus on criminal scum for our attempts to learn self-control; after all, nobody's going to care about our fuckups there as long as we dispose of the bodies.

We will succeed in this, no matter how long it takes. We may be a monster on the outside, but we will not allow ourselves to become monsters through-and-through, whatever the cost may be.

>>7549525

Jails mean guards, and they tend to notice when prisoners are missing.

Probably better to just wander through dark alleys looking lost and vulnerable. Unless we get white knighted by someone, we'll probably find someone to dish out a little excessive karma too.

>>7549525
The only problem with that plan is our gaping injuries. But once we've healed up more, yeah, that could work.

>>7549561
I like the way you think.

>>7549572
You too.

>>7549597
>>7549614

See, don't discount the element of surprise. They'll think they're attacking a lost and helpless woman alone. Even if we're weaker than usual, we're fast, we're magic and we have minions.

Even if they might be able to take us flat out, suddenly having a simple "assault and indecent assault and robbery" turn unto "Holy shit vampire sorceress" is going going to give us a solid edge.

>>7549525 >>7549561 >>7549572
Bidding Sarai farewell, you let your footsteps take you into the sectors of the city that had been marked as higher-population on your map, which is currently sheathed inside an oilcloth against damage- Bryden is quite good with details, it seems. Lights on the street become rarer, people become quiet and either furtive or aggressive rather than loud and happy, and the buildings grow shabby.

Though your face appears pockmarked, the standards for beauty of the women that you can see are not particularly demanding. You drift in front of alleys and do your best to look harmless, and it's not long before you are approached by a group of three young men with poorly-concealed ill intent. "Are you lost, Miss? Need a bit of help?" They quickly surround you, and one takes each of your arms. You mutter something helpless-sounding and confused, and one adopts a reassuring tone as they guide you into an alley.

Once there, one of them laughs, slipping his hands under your shirt. "Oh, girl we are going to have such- what the hell!?" Suddenly, he's screaming in horror and stumbling away from you. Oh. Right. Exposed ribs and internal organs.

You move as fast you can manage, throwing the one on the other side against a wall hard enough to crack his skull, then grabbing at the throat of the one who fondled your intestines and yanking it out with an impossibly strong movement of your hand. The third takes a moment to stare before beginning to scream and run.

He doesn't scream for long. You're atop him, his spine broken while he moans in pain, only seconds later. The scent of his terror fills your nose- both his sweat and his loosening bowels. You frown in distaste, and turn to the man whose throat is missing. He's dying quickly, and his blood is spilling out. You can't have that.

You press your mouth to the front of his neck to block the flow and extend your tongue. While the conscious youth watches in horror, all the lifeblood of his first companion washes over and into your mouth. Then you turn to the second, and this time use your fangs.

The look of horror in the eyes of the last one, and the fact that he cannot scream, is a delightful garnish to the flavor of his blood.

Then you're done. Your wounds have healed a bit- not a lot, but you can notice nevertheless. The fact that you just slowly relished the pain, fear, and despair of a dying man, even a mugger and would-be rapist, is probably a bad thing in terms of your mental and moral stability. You've got three bodies to deal with, and your clothing is unmistakably soaked all down the front with blood.

What do you do?

>>7549752
Burn the bodies. Don't ask questions, just do it!

>>7549735

First of all, very funny.

Can we call our minions? Get them to bite and chew the bodies so our bites are unidentifiable, then find a sewer to drop them down.

How clean are our attackers shirts or coats? We might be able to conceal ourselves, even if it might look out of place.

>>7549787
You think for a moment that you should burn the bodies, but how? You don't know any fire spells- don't even have oil or a torch on hand. And a large enough fire to completely burn the bodies in the middle of an alley might very well catch the adjacent houses on fire- the walls are wooden. Burning down a sector of the city during your second night here seems like a bit much.

>>7549752
Now this... this is why we need to summon another gelatinous cube.

In the interim, take the clothes from one of them. Trash our ruined stuff. Then look for a place to hide the bodies.

If necessary, tear the bodies apart and stash the pieces in various places.

>>7549845


throw corpse into sewer. or chop into tiny pieces with andy's knife and then throw into sewer. rats will do the rest.

>>7549958
>>7549834
>Implying that even major cities such as this would have a developed sewer system in the poor district rather than chamberpots.

>>7549834
Having your minions chew the bodies to unrecognizability seems like a more reasonable plan. Your mimir is back at Sarai's, your sprite is on messenger duty, and your air spirit has no mouth, however, which leaves you with only the imp for the task. You call to it, and it appears immediately. "I need to conceal my bite marks on these bodies. Can you see that they are... chewed on, or otherwise obscured, such that no one will think a vampire is responsible?"

Your imp flutters in the air, looking back and forth between you and the corpses. "Dark Mistress, I hate to point this out, but they have no blood. There aren't a lot of things that do that, y'know."

You sigh. "Yes, I know, but regardless."

It nods. "On it, then." It dives down to one of the bodies and sets to work with its sword, carving the entire neck until it looks like someone had... well, taken a small blade and systematically shredded it. Then it moves on to the second, and uses its needle teeth. It seems pleased with its snack when it finally rises up and says, "That should do it."

All of the bodies obviously died of neck wounds, but all are different; that will have to suffice. You strip off the least bloody of their shirts and jackets, which bear only a few spatters, and remove your own shirt to don it; it conceals most of the blood on your upper body. It also conveniently sports a hood.

There is a large sewer grate across the street. You take a quick glance around and don't see anyone within close enough range to identify you with your hood up, so you open it and one by one shove the bodies down.

As you finish with the third one, your imp hisses, "Mistress, guards coming!" Apparently disposing of three bodies attracts attention, even in this district. You leave the area quickly, and find yourself in a similar sector of town some distance away; the slums of this city are vast.

What should you do now?

>>7549973
I know, they shouldn't have one. As it's a coastal city, in all likelihood they would be dumping their waste directly into the ocean.

But sewers are a fantasy staple; people go adventuring in them all the time. So I'm falling back on "it's a fantasy setting, of course they have sewers" on this one.

>>7549997

How long do we have until sunup?

Move away as quickly as we can without obviously running. This might just be an unlucky co-incidence. We only start running if they start chasing, because if we start running they will start chasing. Cops are rather like dogs in that respect.

>>7550034
You have many hours yet before sunup. You seem to have evaded the guards; your imp's warning came significantly before they actually spotted you.

physical status and inventory pls.
if there's a mirror, i want to see our face

>>7550017

Sewers weren't that uncommon, even in ancient times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloaca_maxima

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewage_collection_and_disposal#Ancient_systems

It's that whole dark ages thing. Europe literally got so primitive they were shitting in buckets after having had proper sewers.

>>7550052

Let's try the same again, only this time attack before someone feels our guts.

>>7550060
>if there's a mirror, i want to see our face
>mirror
>Vampire

>>7549997
Rip off there heads no necks no neck wounds

start of quest:

- crying uncontrollably about eating babies

now

- stealing silver, eating law enforcement

/tg/ is evil.

>>7550017
Fair enough; it would be a shame to not use such a classic trope.

>>7550065
Exactly. The Greeks and Romans had it made, but then they fell and chamberpots came back in.

>>7550155
Hey, I wanted us to just fucking come out and tell him that we wanted him to settle down and be around more often. And I've been trying to keep from going full-on evil as much as possible.

>>7550060
Physically, you are injured but okay. Some musculature damage, a large amount of bone damage, and severe skin damage to your left torso and hip remain. You still have massively beyond human strength and are gradually regaining your unnatural speed.

You currently have a hooded jacket, a skirt, a good shortsword on a concealed belt, a message tube with a greater summoning circle schematic, and a map of the city.

Mirrors do not function for you. That said, your appearance when clothed is that of a pale-skinned woman who has suffered severely from an illness which causes facial scarring, such as the pox, and has dead-looking eyes. From a distance or in poor light, you can pass as human; up close in good lighting, there is definitely something very wrong with you.

>>7550090
You decide that, bloodied clothing and close encounter with the guards aside, that whole matter went rather well. You adopt a similar posture and begin attempting to attract sinister attention. This time, a pair of drunks approach you, and begin to paw at you in an unsubtle fashion while making lewd proposals. You act flustered and back into a nearby alley.

They follow, chuckling to one another, and once they are far enough into the alley you strike, throwing them against the walls until they are unconscious, then cutting their throats with your blade to avoid distinctive wounds and lapping up the delicious blood as it flows. This time, you are slightly more careful to avoid staining your shirt. As you finish the first drunk and lick your lips as you move to the second, you hear a gasp from the alley entrance.

A young woman, obviously a streetwalker by her clothing, stands there staring at you in horror. She hasn't broken and run or screamed yet, fortunately. What do you do?

>>7550090


do we even NEED guts now? we're not a woman anymore, we're a terrible monster of the night.

>>7550155

Hey, we ate would be rapists, we didn't touch the guards. We're not completely evil. We've just found a comfortably anti-heroic groove for ourselves.

>>7550180

The point is that medieval technology does not necessarily preclude having a sewer system in a city. Plenty of earlier civilizations had them, it's just a matter of organization and not being willing to have human excrement coating the pavement.

>>7550205
Knock her out, dealing as little damage as possible, drag her into the dark, loot her belongings, and ravage her clothing.
People will merely think she has been mugged, and if she says otherwise people would not be likely to believe her.
Hm... Dump some alcohol on her as well I think

>>7550205
Try to use our vampire mind powers to keep her from screaming or running. Then draw her in; I don't know how we can keep from killing her, knowing what she has seen and lacking anything to block her memory, but if someone else has an idea that could work then by all means speak.

>>7550205

We don't have a choice. Grab her and silence her before she can scream keep her alive if possible and drag her back into the alley.

Some kind of mind control powers would be very helpful here.

>>7550205
We bend her to our wil!!! BWAHAHAHA

Seriously, it's about time we exploited our other vampiric gifts.

VAMPIRE BDSM!

>>7550255

We're not worried about people per se, we're worried about other vampires finding out we've been sloppy.

If push comes to shove, she has to die.

fuck that
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD

>>7550308


it would suck to be identified as a n00b on your first week here. she dies. the second drunk saw nothing. and for fuck sakes, no using the fangs

>>7550305
We already had that, and it sucked.

From this point onwards, whenever we kill and eat someone, we slit the throat and put the body over a drain.

QUICK AND EASY.

>>7550347
THAT DEFEATS THE ENTIRE PURPOSE OF KILLING THEM! We're killing them so we can drink their blood, letting it flow into the sewer is stupid.

>>7550331

that's because we were on the receiving end. the giving end would be more pleasant.

>>7550210
The concept of living without any of your insides is highly unnerving. You'd rather not try it.

>>7550255 >>7550284 >>7550292
Staring at the woman, you decide to try something. Abandoning the last few traces of blood on your lips, you point to the ground before you and say "Come." You try to focus your voice and mind towards the woman, as you do when communicating telepathically.

She moves forward several steps, not seeming to notice her own movement, before stopping, looking at you in fear, and beginning to turn and scream. It doesn't matter; she's close enough. You dive forward and tackle her, then get a hand on her throat to stifle her cries and pull her back into the alley, shoving her up against the wall next to the corpse and unconscious man. She won't be screaming unless you let her.

>>7550315 >>7550330 >>7550308
You stare into her eyes for a long moment. She's begun to cry as you hold her up against the wall. Should you kill her? You were reassuring yourself that you were going to kill criminals, so it was okay, but this woman- more of a girl, really- is no criminal. She just saw you, something she should never have seen.

That is enough. You can't let her live and carry on the story, and you need blood anyway. You raise your sword and puncture her throat, then press your mouth to the wound. She dies gurgling, never even having had the chance to beg for mercy.

>>7550347
After she is done, you feast on the next drunk, then throw the bodies on nearby sewer grates and think on your next move. You could probably keep this up all night, although the rash of murders would likely attract notice even in a city of hundreds of thousands such as this.

What do you do?

>>7550360

We drink most of the blood first, that way whoever finds the body thinks "The blood must have poured into the sewer". Well unless they realize it's a little odd that someone had their throat cut in exactly that spot and or notices there's no blood on the clothes.

I still think mutilate the bodies and dump them in a sewer works best. When they're found rats and exposure will have disguised our part in it.

>>7550205
Knock her out, finish the second drunk and make the bodies look mugged. Drag the unconcious woman into the sewers and wait for her to wake up. When she does see if we can pump her for information. If not then use her to experiment with mind powers and when we are done mindwipe her so she doesn't remember or thinks she was taken advantage of by some guy and thrown the sewers to die. Then go looking for more drinks.

>>7550205

important : do we move like a normal woman or are we hobbling like a wounded person?

if possible, try to cover up your face with your hair next time. we dont want to be too prominent. not many women around with blood red pox scars and weird eyes.

>>7550461

your landlord will not apprecite you dragging whores into HER home.

>>7550428
Hmmm. Okay, scratch more murders for tonight. We don't want to ruffle the feathers of our only allies on our first night here. Look at the map and see if there are any secret passages or easy ways to slip about unnoticed marked -- the map was incredibly detailed, after all.

>>7550428
There must be gangs in this city. If we could learn about their dynamics, perhaps we can incite a gang war and benefit as it escalates (while we drink).

>>7550428

Pull our hood up and walk home.

Head back to the Sarai's place. Curse yourself for being sloppy. Curse yourself again for thinking that matters more than a slow slide to being a callous murderer.

We should probably practice our vampire mind whammy powers on other people. See if we can influence people from a distance without them looking at us on the way back for example. We'll need to have strong mental abilities if we ever want to take on a seasoned vampire.

>>7550482
She is dead now, but I said drag her into the sewers. Our landvampiress is in a concealed passage in the back of a building within the merchant district.

>>7550428
I think five people is good for one night. That puts us at 9/40, counting the man from the village, the two toddlers and various summoned minions and the blood from the meeting with Rhiannons brother.

>>7550548

It also means we're not going to be at much more than 1/3rd strength for the heist, unless we go on a serious killing spree.

you know,a girl could get used to this lifestyle. be the bat-man, eat criminal scum, study for awesome powers..

it's just a matter of securing our independence.. then we can grow in power!

>>7550580
Well, that's just the way it goes down then. Unfortunate but we can only recover so fast without attracting attention. We can instruct Sarai to leave them alive but incapacitated since we "hired" her for this. Then we drink from the guards.

>>7550428
Ruined a perfect chance for some lesbian vampire action

>>7550677

OP isn't good at writing vampire porn. the other guy is good at porn but shit at quests. what do you prefer?

>>7550463
You generally move like a normal person, although you often catch yourself limping slightly. If you push yourself for vampiric speed, it is both agonizing and extremely obvious that you are an injured monster.

>>7550513
You pull out the map and examine it. No secret passages seem to be listed, although the streets and even many alleys are labeled carefully. You can make your way to almost anywhere in the city without a problem, but you'll have to apply your own intellect to doing so unseen.

>>7550529 >>7550548
You decide that this is enough. You raise your hood and head for Sarai's hidden crypt, wondering at the wisdom and evil of your decisions.

You murdered six people tonight. The youths you can easily convince yourself deserved it- they were planning to force you, after all- but the drunks you could probably have easily shoved off, rather than enticed. The whore was pure practicality and hunger on your part. She'd died unable to even sob, from the pure bad luck to meet someone as monstrous as you.

You hate yourself even more for the fact that you can't bring yourself to cry over it than for having killed her.

Eventually, you reach the merchant's district, and find Sarai's hidden crypt without difficulty. You enter; she is not here. You seat yourself on a coffin and think dark thoughts. They occupy you for the rest of the night. When Sarai arrives, you change into less bloodstained clothing and move to your coffin. Eventually, you feel the sunrise bring you exhaustion and drift off.

((That concludes Vampire Bride Quest for the night; we're on page nine of autosage. I'll be around for a bit, if you have questions, but no more for now. I'll run this again in two or three days.))

archive iiiiiiiiiiiiiiittttttttttttttt

>>7550742
I think the answer to that is obvious

>>7550752

This was excellent, thank you.

Do you have any more detailed idea about scheduling? I don't want to miss the next run.

right, now someone start the boyfriend quest!

>>7550803
God no. That would mess things all up.

>>7550800
It should start between 1200 and 1500, 4chan time, and run for approximately twelve hours. If it's not started by 1500 it's probably not going to run that day. Will be on Wednesday or Thursday, unless for whatever reason I am unable to make those days and therefore delay it until later. That's all I've got.

>>7550843


Ok fine, but what about the BDSM lesbian Vampire alternate reality side-quest ? :D

>>7550852

That's cool. Thanks!

>>7550581
Finding a magical method of corpse disposal would be nice.

>>7550929
Magical wood chipper?

>>7550852
Excellent. I will await the next installment with great anticipation.

>>7550929
We know how to create Gelatinous Cubes. If we can gather the herbs necessary for it we can make one to clean up after us, though it might be difficult to hide.

>>7551069


we don't know one vital ingredient. the pixie did, but we killed her and ate her :(

>>7550803
>>7550883
If anyone starts running a spinoff quest of this, I'd play just on principle. Maybe even give a shout-out, if it's quality. It would be hilarious to see a super-heroic/epic Boyfriend Quest running as he nobly quests for his girlfriend, while here in Vampire Bride Quest she gradually descends into madness and evil.

Where by "hilarious" I mean something that doesn't make me sound like a sadistic bastard. Yes.

archived yet?

>>7551138
As long as we still don't like what we've become and are trying to find a way to get better and live without hurting people, we're still okay in my books. I'd like to bring back up the possibility of Wish/Miracle to change us back.

>>7551093
I thought she told us what it was afterwards? Or was it that we asked the Sprite? Either way we can ask the Mimir.