Vampire: A City by the Sea

[LadyTevar]

"Best then to remember his words, and puzzle them out tomorrow night," Lydia replied, frowning slightly. "As we have seen with tonight's raid, his visions have much truth in them."

Then she sighed, giving Aziz and Florien a smile. "But that is for tomorrow. The morning is coming all too soon. Shall we meet here tomorrow, then, and track down my students for their first lesson?"

[Charon]

Virgil had been moving towards Lydia and the others when Demosthenes had his outburst. The Lasombra had paused, listening carefully, then his eyes went wide in surprise, and perhaps some fear, and the Seneschal went running out the door after the Malkavian. Other vampires in attendance simply shook their heads and continued their conversations. Though it did not take long for more vampires to begin filtering out of the building after the mood had been so deftly broken by the madman's ranting. Gudrun and Thorkell also took their leave, though Olaf stayed behind, continuing to converse with the various hangers-on.

[The Silence and I]

That was portentous. At least court was at the point where he could leave. The gangrel does so, making no attempt to interact with anyone else. He has other things on his mind. The next night would find him very, very hungry and wounded as well. He had counted on some spoils from the battle but the fates had other plans. He had some hours left, it would be best to stay within the city, near his haven.

Leaving the court, Ottar makes his way for some of the seedier areas, places where easy prey might be found.

[Charon]

Ottar traveled into the slums of the city. It was nearing morning by the time he arrived and so there were people beginning to rouse and go about their business. It didn't take Ottar long to find a lone man walking down the road carrying a basket. He was keeping a wary ear open, but this early in the day he didn't seem overly concerned.

[The Silence and I]

Finding a walking stick left against a building Ottar walks calmly up to the man from behind, smiling non threateningly if the man turns to look at his approach. Once his target is in range he swings the stick up from his last stride and deftly brings it around in a hook aimed at the side of the man's jaw, intending to stun but not kill.

[Charon]

The man didn't notice Ottar until the Einherjar was close. He started looking around just as Ottar struck and so let out a short yell in alarm before the stick struck solidly. The man stumbled around for a few seconds, the basket of fishing supplies he was carrying crashing to the ground as he tried to steady himself. Another blow was enough to drop him and Ottar could get to the business at hand.

[The Silence and I]

The feeding was quick and to the point, dawn was approaching and others were rising. Ottar took what he could without leaving the man helpless and dying, but that was barely enough. But it was enough, and soon as he finished he returned to his haven to await sleep. He would wake with a large blood debt, but he could hunt to pay it off.

[Charon]

As morning grew closer, each child of the night returned to their homes. Sandor had found a shallow cave which would serve to protect him for the day. Deep under the waves, something else moved along the bottom of the world. It had traveled for many nights, and was beginning to grow hungry. It reached the shallows again and slowly came up out of the water, looking around carefully at the civilization that was in front of it. The creature's eyes took in everything before it sank back into the water, sinking into the soft seafloor for the day.

During the day, a ship carrying passengers and cargo from Marseilles arrived. Among its cargo was a well sealed box that two passengers had brought with them. They had it carried out of the sun quickly and into previously arranged accommodations.

February 13th, 1230 AD

The sun set over the water and as the mortal day came to an end the immortal day was just beginning.

[Cynical Cat]

Sandor awoke and left the den he had been resting in. His ravens awaited him. "Fly ahead my beautiful ones and see if there is any shelter to be found or enemies waiting," he said, invoking his powers over beasts to make his commands clear. Ravens were clever birds and could, to a certain extent, decipher human speech on their own but Sandor took no chances. Like dogs, his ravens would respond to specific commands but for more complex actions he relied on his gifts of the blood to make his intent clear.

He rejoined the road and found the tracks of many hooves. Not at all surprising. Genoa was a major city. As before, he found the tracks of the rider who had proceeded him on the road since just before Milan. Well, that was hardly a surprise.

He followed the road down towards the coast and the smell of blood struck his nostrils. Men had died here. The road bore the marks of a frantic melee. Humans and horses turning and thrashing, blood mixed into the earth and some of that blood was Cainite.

Sandor grew still. Vampire had fought vampire here, last night while he was still within the hills. He traced some of the tracks to a low wall and the forest. The attackers had laid in wait and one of them, unless Sandor was badly mistaken, had been the knight that he had been following for this last week. Yes, it was him. The destrier was unmistakable.

So the knight had been a vampire or a vampire's servant. He had fought in the melee and his horse had fallen . . . .there.

[Comrade Rudolf]

Upon waking Lyonel raised his arms for three seconds before sitting up to view the room he was in. The room was small and most of the furnishings were in the wrong spots but that was to be expected in a new room. Mendo and Philip were there as well, ready to move things to their correct locations.

"Move the bed to that wall, the dresser there and..." he paused looking around the room. Something was needed. "Bring a wash tub and put it... hmmm... there, under the window. Philip, you shall wear your blue and Mendo will go with his green. Hurry gentlemen we have a city to see."

Lyonel chose a simple yet elegant Italian silk damask robe. He wore his woven leather belt and tied his mug and coin purse to it. Choosing the crane walking cane he and his ghouls, Philip on his right and Mendo behind, ventured out into the city night.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Florien woke up and felt a bit Peckish. It was then he remembered that he had a prisoner waiting. He took in a somewhat joyful breath and let out a whistful sigh before he began to dress himself. First the Torturing Robes, then the mask. Then the dagger that would hang around his belt, and the boots. Once that was done he took a brisk and disturbingly cheerful little walk downstairs and opened the door to find his prisoner already being worked over by Niehuis

"Danke Niehuis. Iche werde es von hier holen"

"Ja mein chef" Niehuis responded

"Hello Gustianni. Remember me?" he asked. The man who was starting to look a bit thin responded with a sad wimper. He was already in the rack, and had some rather interesting ligature marks in various places, as if his limbs were being put in a tourniquet and allowed to go painfully numb. Good choice for keeping someone warmed up. SPeaking of warmed up there were some burns on the man's feet. Perfect.

"Do you know why you are here Gustianni?"

"No, no! Please, let me go. In the name of God let me go!"

Florien shook his head

"tsk tsk tisk Gustianni. You are in no position to be appealing to God. And I think you know what you have done." he said as he turned a few cranks on the rack, bringing the man's body achingly taught

"I will be tightening this every time you lie to me, either by fact or ommission. Now, do you know why you are here?"

[Cynical Cat]

Sandor continued his exploration of the battle site. There were the remains of two fires and bodies and horses had been dragged away. He widened his search. Soon enough he found bodies of the slain and drag marks indicating where horses had been pulled away.

Further in he found the remains of a bonfire. The remains had cooled, indicating the fire was long dead. The smell of ashes, cooked meat, and moist earth filled his nostrils. He poked around.

Horse bones, blackened and burned. A skull with incisors that were too long and too sharp to be that of a man, with grooves showing where they could retract. The pieces of blackened leather and mail.

The knight had reached the city and joined some faction, joined the road ambush and died. He had been burned on a pyre, possibly as a mark of respect. But respect from an enemy or an ally? He had only been a day or two ahead of Sandor and clearly of the blood and he had been killed. Sandor would have be cautious, very cautious.

"How did you die stranger?" he whispered. "What warning could you give a fellow traveller, one who is far from his native land?" He turned away from the dead and examined the rest of the site. Multiple foot prints. Not surprising. Opened and torn saddle bags. Moist earth.

He crept closer to saddle bag and the earth that it had contained. He ran his fingers through it. Transylvanian earth. The knight had been Tzimisce, or one of those of another clan who shared their bond. Perhaps a Ventrue from one of the Saxon towns.

There was a single axehead, but no other signs of weapons and surely he would have had other weapons as well. No, this was not the pyre built by his allies. They had taken what was of value and spilled the earth upon the ground as if it was worthless. Allies would have sent the knight and his horse to the fires with his weapons and with the earth. They would not have torn open his saddle bags in a hurry to seize loot. Had there been some kind of falling out or had this been planned all along?

And what would they make of Sandor? Perhaps he should flee? Flee where? The road and the wilderness were dangerous. When he had been passing rapidly through that was one thing, but to go back after he had left signs of his passage, signs that would be fresh. The risk from Lupines or others would be much higher.

First things first. Reclaim the earth that was as much Sandor's heritage as that of the dead knight. Find shelter. Watch and learn. Sandor was a peasant, not a proud knight or a haughty Ventrue. If he needed to crawl he could crawl. He was a son of the wild, not a Voivode's childe. He knew what a luxury pride was.

He gathered the spilled earth into his own pouches and he called his ravens to him. "What have you found for me, my beauties?"

[The Silence and I]

Hunger.

That was Ottar's world for several long moments after waking. Once he controlled that he became aware of pain. A lot of pain. No matter how familiar it might be he never had gotten used to waking with a gaping chest wound night after night. It was a legacy of his embrace; he had held no intention of submitting to the afterganger that took him and he made this obvious at the time. Violently obvious. Still, it was Odin's will that he failed and the Allfather's gift was mighty. He certainly couldn't complain now.

The gangrel stumbled out of his haven, clutching his battle axe and wearing what he had slept in. Moving was painful but it had to be done. He made his way into the nearby forest. He was too weak to fight or to chase anything faster than a cow mired in a bog but he still had the Allfather with him. He began calling on his power now, drawing on the many memories of battles he'd lived through. As he relived past glory he grew more and more excited; he could feel Odin's power flowing into his limbs, dulling his pain and breathing fresh strength into his flesh. Becoming subsumed by a powerful rage he begins to gnaw on his axe handle, the last step to becoming a berserk.

So empowered by the Allfather Ottar was now capable of hunting. He remained in control, but what he currently wanted was not necessarily the best thing for his success. He could now run freely, and move without pain, but patience was... a challenge. He knew this, but knowing and doing are different things. So he'd have to bring the prey to him. This was a trick he'd used before and it usually worked in the past. Taking a deep breath he calls into the night in the language of the deer. Restless as he was Ottar could not remain in one place but roamed the country side, calling to the night. Ottar knew not fatigue, once he saw one he would run it down no matter how long it took.

[Charon]

Lyonel took his first walk out into the city and his first thought was that it was horribly unorganized. There was a hidden beauty to it, but it would take a careful hand to shape the beauty. It was a good thing he was here.

The night was young and his accommodations had been in one of the merchant sectors of the city, which meant there were dozens upon dozens of people still flittering about on chores, or heading to taverns after a long day of work. Salesmen, looking for that last it of cash were still trying to sell their wares, and the rich looking Lyonel was getting dozens of offers for supposedly fresh fish, spices from the East, bread, flowers, finely crafted plates, and a dozen other things.

_____________________________

Sandor's ravens had found no enemies as far as they could tell. There were still some men on the roads with big wooden things but no one else. They had also seen several structures, some huge, some merely large, but most had fires in them. They could lead him to the structures, but it was clear the hunt from home to home could take quite awhile and leave the Tzimisce with nothing to show for it at the end of the night.

_____________________________

Ottar's call took nearly a dozen minutes before he saw some of his prey. A large buck stuck it's head into the open and then paused suddenly as it recognized a predator for what it was. There was a pause of a few seconds as it stood perfectly still, and then suddenly it turned and bolted back into the underbrush. It was much too far away to chase down, and Ottar would waste much of what remained in his system simply to catch it, for little nutritional gain in return. As he waited, the Einherjar got few even decent prospects for feeding from an animal.

[LadyTevar]

Lydia had rose shortly after the sun set and washed her hair free of any lingering blood, before her maids replaited the dark waves for the evening. The excitement of the night had left her still hungry, yet she withheld from drinking too deeply from her herd tonight. She was a careful mistress, not wishing to leave them too weak and drained.

She took small sips from both her maids, no more than a mouthful or two, and then contented herself with blood drained from doves kept caged on the roof. The bodies would be cleaned and cooked to feed the household, with the maids Lydia had fed upon receiving a goodly portion as well as the heart, lungs and liver of the birds to help regain their strength. The dovecote would raise little suspicion, as many households rich and poor kept birds and other easily raised animals even in the midst of the city for easy meals.

As Lydia dressed, two ferret danced and mock-fought on the rug over a tuft of dove feathers, making her smile at their antics. The creatures were excellent rat-catchers and tame enough to be held and petted. Lydia slid into her tunica, dalmatica, and stola, again in plain but well-woven linen, highly decorated with strips of embroidered red and saffron fabric, with the dalmatica and stola beaded with small gilded roundels and squares. Chips of garnet and polished citrines added red and yellow glitter to the stola. Her braids were pulled back from her face and pinned in place before an embroidered cap set with small cabucons of reddish amber set in gold was set atop.

Thus dressed, Lady Lydia Nicolakis donned her cloak and walked out onto the streets with only one servant carrying a lantern, her thoughts busy with the events of the night before. She needed to speak to Virgil about the Seer's last vision. She doubted he would tell her why he was frightened, yet she might get some information from him. She could at least use the excuse of needing his aid to find where the Gangrel would meet, as she had never needed to know up until this time. Thus, her path took her in the direction of Virgil's manor.

There was also the matter of Aziz al bin Temjin, and why Karaja Pasha felt she needed his assistance. Perhaps there would be time to visit Karaja before she sought out the Gangrel. It was clear Aziz did not know, he was a little too blunt and open in his manner to hide his intents. Perhaps that was what Karaja wished her to teach him. She could hide her intents for the most part, unless the passion and anger that haunted her clan was involved. Then, she made a fool of herself, as she had last night.

A passing thought wondered if the Gangrel had buried Konstantin's weapons with him, or took them for spoils, but she shook that thought away. Such thoughts would only make it harder when she went to teach the Gangrel.

[Cynical Cat]

Houses wouldn't do. Too likely to be inhabited by a city, but Genoa was old. The site had been inhabited long ago, back to the Roman Empire although Sandor did not know this. He merely knew an old site from a young one. Such places had ruins and half buried old buildings and the remnants of ancient sewers. There should be a place he could secure for himself, if he looked hard enough.

The alternative was burning in the sun. The mystery of the ambush would have to wait. Survival took precedence. The Fiend began to hunt for a bolt hole.

[Comrade Rudolf]

Lyonel walked the streets, moving quickly but never in a straight line. He would steal the surface thoughts of those who were trying to sell him all these things. If something was needed he barter with the merchant slightly and give a fair price. Knowing how honestly each merchant was he would reward their honesty with coin. Mendo had his arms full not to long into his trip. Lyonel headed towards the water, but not to close, had to find just the right spot.

Lyonel turned a corner and froze in his tracks and Mendo nearly bumped into him. There it was, an Inn, just in the right spot. It was even facing in the right direction. "Well, what are the odds on that?" It was the perfect place to start. He headed inside to find out who owned this wonderful building and how he was going to get it from them. Lyonel told Philip to return the item home then return here with a black goat. He took a deep breath and held it as he walked though the door.

Music was playing inside and people were drinking and singing robustly. His entrance went almost unnoticed. Lyonel scanned the room and frowned. The outside was perfect but the inside looked as if it would need some redecorating. The tables were all wrong and the lights... too much, Lyonel put his hand to his head and steadied himself. First things first. He leaned against the wall and scanned the memories of the group of sailors drinking at his table. Lyonel finished looking into each of their minds. Ah, that will do nicely. He sent his instructions directly to Mendo's mind.

Mendo walked up to the table and told the six men at it that he would appreciate it if they would move to the table over there.

The men, sailors who had obviously been drinking for a while, had been listening to one of their number tell a tale and didn't look happy that it had been interrupted. "There are already people at that table son and besides, we like this table,"said the story teller.

"Yes, but for your trouble I would be willing to buy you all a couple rounds. ROUND OF DRINKS OVER HERE!" He yelled raising his hand. As the sailors all smiled and cheered to the next round Mendo moved in close to the storyteller. "I would like to hear the tale of that beautiful woman you pleasured when you were last in port. The one with the rose tattoo? I was in here three, no three and a half weeks ago and you were going on about how you showed her the best time of her life."

The storyteller almost choked on his drink and the rest of the table got really quite. Across the table one of the sailor's faces darkened and he stood up. "You told me that you hadn't touched my Linda," he finished with a raised voice slamming his cup down.

"Listen Ron, I... I... I don't know what this..." is all he got out before Ron came over the table at him. The brawl went on for a short while, then Mendo helped 'escort' the brawler to the door. Lyonel walked over to the now empty table, rotated it 30 degrees, nodded and sat down.

[Charon]

Lydia walked the street and saw a few other groups of people moving about in the rich sector of the city, but it was not many. As she and her servant closed upon Virgil's manor they saw that there were no lights on. Something that wasn't entirely unusual, Virgil often did not not keep fires in his house as he had little need for their light. But as Lydia waited for someone to acknowledge her to enter and speak with the Lasombra mystic, it becomes clear that he is not at home, which is not a surprise either.

_____________________

It took Sandor an hour, perhaps more, before he found something worthwhile. An old and forgotten stone keep. Some of the walls have fallen down, and the roof had collapsed. The building was set against a hill and had only one apparent room to it. Closer searching revealed however that there was a room that had been built into the hill. It was a small room, but it faced North. There were few items of any use left in the old keep, but it could serve as a resting place if he so chose.

_____________________

Lyonel at least had a little center of order to which he could begin his organization of the rest of the inn. It took a few minutes before a rather fetching raven-haired woman stepped up to the table. "Food and drink for you sir? Need a place to stay for the night?"

_____________________

The creature stepped out of the water finally. A pair of fishermen saw him and called out in fear and wonderment. The creature turned to look at them, and then was upon them faster than any man could move. He broke one upon his knee, and turned to the other, draining him quickly of his blood. Once he was dry the vampire pulled down, his fangs ripping through the flesh of his neck and nearly tearing his head off. The creature dropped the body in the shallow water tide and turned to the other man, draining him and repeating the process. Then, with the matter of feeding done, he turned to look at the city again, and calmly walked towards the flickering fires and towering buildings.

[LadyTevar]

Lydia did not wait long, after it was clear even Virgil's servants were not answering the door. Slightly annoyed, she motioned to her lantern bearer and started walking, wondering where to go from here.

The Prince's house was Elysium, yet tonight was not one of the nights she held Court. Virgil avoided it unless he had to be there. Going to his Sire's abode would be ... too presumptuous. She had no business with His Grace at this time.

Yet... she did have business with Karaja Pasha, and chances were Aziz would be staying with him. With a shake of her head, Lydia pulled her cloak tighter about her, and turned onto a road that would take her out of the streets where the rich and powerful lived, towards the Merchant's Row where a different form of power held sway. As she walked the cobbled street, she wished for a moment she had brought another servant or two. Merchants Row was near the docks, of necessity, but that meant that a rough crowd often walked the evening.

It would be a shame if she needed to break a would-be thief again. The blood-stain on her cloak had taken much washing to remove last time.

[Charon]

"Do you know why you are here Gustianni?"

"No, no! Please, let me go. In the name of God let me go!"

Florien shook his head

"tsk tsk tisk Gustianni. You are in no position to be appealing to God. And I think you know what you have done." he said as he turned a few cranks on the rack, bringing the man's body achingly taught

"I will be tightening this every time you lie to me, either by fact or ommission. Now, do you know why you are here?"

"I already told you! I have done nothing wrong! What more do you want from me?!" The rack tightened again and Gustianni screamed out in pain again. "It was Gorgi! He put you up to this didn't he?! That slimy son-of-a-bitch I should have known! They are coming for me! Don't think you can- AAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH!" The man's screams filled the air and floated there for a few seconds after his lungs finally gave out.

[Cynical Cat]

The ruined hill fort was a better find than he had expected. The remains of walls would serve as roosting points for his ravens and even wild ravens could make intrusion into their territory unpleasant for all but the most determined invader. He buried a small pouch of earth near the base of the hill, near a distinctive rock. He would be able to find it again and no one would know that he had been here.

Next he returned the hidden room in the ruins and checked for means of securing it against those who might disturb his rest.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"Come now Gustianni" Florien said in an almost sympathetic tone as he gave the man a little slack. He had given Florien information, and while he would not say it, information would be rewarded.

"Why would Gorgi do this to you, and where would he get the money to hire someone like me? What does he do?" Florien was interested in this for its own sake. After all, he would need to feed some other night.

"Do I need to tighten the rack, or heaven forbid move on to other rare delights for you?" he said motioning toward the rest of the room. Niehuis was standing by and moved his torch to a corner. There was a set of thumb screws, a skull crusher, a rack of various bladed, and a fireplace with an iron chair on a sliding truss next to it.

[Charon]

As Lydia made her way into the merchant district an unfortunately familiar face could be seen. It was Demosthenes, he was looking around frantically. "Have you seen it? HAVE YOU SEEN IT!" Passers-by gave the madman plenty of space as they continued on their paths. "The Dark. It is here... Here somewhere. He hides it from me but it will not be so forever! I will find it and I will devour it! Then we shall see where the wisdom lies!" Demosthenes looked around again frantically, sniffing the air and looking deeply into the shadows. He apparently saw something for he shouted out in glee and ran off into an adjacent side street, disappearing from view quickly.

_______________________

Sandor stepped into the inset room and looked around. The walls carved from the rock themselves were cracked from the wear of time, and there looked to be nothing in the room but dust and cobwebs. The room looked old enough to have been around when his sire was still new to unlife and had been long since forgotten.

_______________________

Gustianni spat loudly. "Don't play me for the fool! You're an amateur! Gorgi hired you to get his money back! Well tell Gorgi that the money is mine fair and square! If he wanted it he shouldn't have given me such lousy produce!" Gustianni's eyes flickered over to the corner of pain, then looked past them to the door, as though willing for someone to come through it.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"An amateur? Would an amateur have that equipment, and a servant to keep you worked over for several days?" Florien pulled back the crank, three clicks. Stretching the man's limbs to the point that they were threatening to dislocate.

"Niehuis, could you be so kind as to warm up the iron and bring me some seawater?"

Niehuis went walked over to a bucket and picked it up. Seawater sloshed back and forth in it, and brought it back over to Florien. That finished he went about starting the fire.

"What was this produce. Surely you were not selling Olives?"

[Comrade Rudolf]

"A bowl of stew and a mug of your most popular drink," he said to the woman, "and bring an extra plate. I will see how the food is before deciding if I shall lodge here."

After she brought back the stew and drink Lyonel proceeded to spoon out all the carrot pieces, then the beans, emptying the bowl of all but the broth and separating it on the plate. He counted each of the ingredients and reduced each of them to 8, 12, 20 or 36 then returned them to the broth leaving the extras on the plate. He sipped the drink and found it bitter but a strong rich flavor. It was no substitute for the wonders of blood but little was. He went back to the stew, stirring and watched the ingredients.