Dance with a Dark Prince

The pale moonlight illuminates a dark and menacing manor sitting atop a lone grassy hill. The fauna has begun to die where the walls begin. Two dozen yards from the entrance, a ten foot high fence stands to separate this sight from the normally bustling town around it. At the gate, a single, aloof guard stands. Six individuals approach the gate. Sen looks off into the distance, pondering something. “How do you think the others are doing?”   Hodan responds. “We can only hope they’ve got it handled.”   This elicits a chuckle from Gellard. “They’ll be fine. Your pet projects seem pretty capable. And if there’s one thing I know about Lyla, it’s that she knows how to handle herself in a tough situation.”   As they approach the guard standing at the gate, he makes no movement or reaction to indicate his knowledge of their presence. Hodan steps forward.   “Stand aside. We’ve business with the mayor.”   No response from the guard. This elicits a chuckle from Gellard.   “Asleep on the job? Or maybe you just bore him?”   Hodan glances disapprovingly over his shoulder before attempting to communicate again.   “We need to get by you. Will you let us through?”   A head slowly rises from its angled lull. The guard utters three words slowly.   “Who… are you…?”   Sen and Duzi share a look. Then, the monk directs attention to the guard and smiles.   “We’re old friends of yours. You were going to let us in to see the mayor. Weren’t you?”   A change in behavior. The guard begins to stand straighter.   “I… was going to——“ *WHUMP*   A thunk echoes across the still street when Grodd’s fist meets the guard’s forehead with all the grace and subtlety of a ballista shot. Sen gasps horridly, rushing to the guard’s side and pulling a tonic from her bag.   “GRODD! He was about to let us in!”   The half-orc protrudes his lip forward, both tusks outwardly turned.   “Small man was too slow. Grodd fix problem.”   Gellard strolls passed the crouched-down Sen and begins to walk up the hill. He stops about halfway and surveys the manor. Not far behind him is Hodan, who joins him in observation.   “Not getting cold feet, are you?”   A scoff falls across Gellard’s face.   “You know I’ve killed giants before?”   “Oh, I’m fully aware. But a vampire is different.”   Interest is shown by the scarred man. “How so?”   “A vampire is sneaky. Cunning. Brutal to no end. A giant might try to break your bones, and crush your body. Vampires care little for the physical. No, they’ll break your spirit. Crush your soul. Leave you nothing more than a whisper of what you once were, a fading echo lost in the moonlight.”   Silence. Then,   “You should go into poetry. Good stuff.”   Gellard starts off. Soon, the others are in tow behind Hodan. The group opens the large wooden doors with a creak, and trek on into the lair of their enemy.           A wooden door creaks open, pouring a small amount of moonlight into a dark, foreboding main hall. An enormous red rug decorates the rich, wooden floorboards that have now begun to collect dust. Walls decorated with trinkets loom over the six people entering, almost as if to tell them of an overwhelming presence that lurks behind every corner. The six fill the room, taking. Note of their surroundings.   “Quite the homestead.” Gellard says. “Too bad it’s turned to this.”   Soveran takes hold of a small trinket engraved in silver. “So much history in these walls.”   “Come on, wood elf. Where’s your sense of adventure?”   Soveran turns. “This is a desecrated land.”   Sen takes note of this. “I thought you were a Forest Ranger, Soveran. Not a cleric.”   “I speak not so literally. This place was once very important to someone. Not so much any more.”   A wind sweeps itself across the room. Hodan draws a sword.   “Heads up.”   The company prepares. Gellard whips out two sharp knives. Duzi takes a stance, fists forward. Soveran nocks an arrow in his longbow. Sen holds her lyre at the ready, and Grodd brandishes his great axe with a sense of malice. But it cannot compare to the malice that emanates from the man rounding a corner at the top of the large stairway. He looks over the company, a smile plastered across his face.   “Welcome to my homestead. Can I help you with something?”   Hodan speaks first. “Spare us the act. You are not who you say you are.”   But the smile does not leave his lips. Instead, he simply tilts his head slightly to the side, in a state of pondering. Once coming to a conclusion, a hand briefly covers his face. What comes away is a face cloaked in shadow. Two bright red eyes shine from behind the shroud.   “My, my. It seems I’ve been found out… and so soon! This town certainly is… special.”   Sen’s voice is the next to cross the gap between them. “You’ve conspired against the town of Raywick, deceiving its people and corrupting its structure. For that, you will die.   The vampire is amused. “But that’s not the only reason you’re here. Is it?”   Sen’s voice catches itself. Here eyes go down, briefly ashamed before meeting the two irises that bore into the group from the top of the stairway.   “You’ve done something to a friend of mine. I’d like to know how to fix it.”   Gellard inquisitively looks back. Hodan’s eyes never break from the vampire’s.   “Sen, this is not the time.”   “He’s dying! I can see it happening.”   “We’ll figure out how to deal with it later——“   “But what if we never figure it out? What if this is our only chance to save him? MY only chance?!”   A mocking inward gasp comes from the top stairway.   “Oh. Poor thing… you blame yourself, don’t you?”   Silence. Then:   “How do I fix it?”   The vampire begins to descend. He runs his hand along the scaffolding, stopping midway down the stairs.   “Honestly, I haven’t the slightest idea how to reverse it. I’m undead, not undying. It’s quite out of my field of expertise.”   He makes a show of turning his eyes over his audience, before stopping at Duzi. “What about your spiritual friend there?”   The group begins to turn before a shout comes from Hodan. “DON’T look away from him.”   “Oh, you are a feisty little human, aren’t you?”   He centers himself on the stairway.   “To be fair, I’m in quite an unusual spot. Normally, I’ve much more knowledge of my opponents and they have much less knowledge about me. But you’re different. Aren’t you, Hodan?   No reaction from Hodan. “I’ll wait here as long as it takes for you to slip up.”   “Oh, I’m quite certain of that. But you don’t have the time.”   No response.   “Don’t pretend like you’re not interested to hear what I have to say.”   Still, no response. Soveran speaks up.   “Hodan, I think—“   “QUIET.”   A moment passes before Hodan turns his head to the group, all the while keeping his eyes on the Vampire.   “Everyone listen now, because I won’t repeat myself. He will say ANYTHING to break our guard. And it’ll all be bird shit. He’ll try to turn us on each other, bring up old relationships, names that he couldn’t, shouldn’t know. And the moment we break, the moment we show any sign of weakness, we’ll have already lost.”   No one says a word.   “Impressive.”   The moon continues its journey through the sky.   “You’ve encountered my kind before… haven’t you?”   “This would be a lot easier if you just shut up. Soveran, move left.”   The wood elf begins to slowly flank the staircase, and pulls the string of his bow back. The arrow glistens at the tip, moonlight reflecting off of the silver. A purple hue suggests magical incantation.   “My, my. You came prepared as well. And yet, here I still stand. Why could that be, I wonder?”   A bead of sweat forms on Gellard’s brow. “We’re burning time, Marsk. What’s the call?”   Hodan’s eyes briefly flick to the left of the stairs, where a door can be seen leading into the cellar. Then, they flick once more towards the mayor’s study on the upper floor. He seems conflicted.   “You know about the girl, I take it.”   Gellard’s brow raises. “What girl?”   Taking some motionless cue from Hodan, Duzi moves to the right. “Barnabelle. The mayor’s missing daughter.”   Gellard heats up. “Why didn’t you tell me about this, Marsk?”   “It wasn’t important.”   This sets him off. “Not IMPORTANT? It’s a fucking hostage!”   “Given your group’s track record with hostages, I figured it’d be best to keep you focused.”   Gellard breaks eye contact. The moment he does, a loud bang is heard from the kitchen to the left. For just a brief moment, The group’s focus is lost. But that moment os more than enough. With a maleficent hiss, the vampire strikes.         The vampire jets forward in a puff of smoke and strikes Hodan in the stomach. Hodan coughs up blood, and the vampire throws him to the left, knocking over Soveran in the process. The silver arrow is released, but the aim is untrue. It embeds itself in a painting of the Falbarrow family, just above the fireplace on the rightmost wall. Duzi looks up and rushes to the wall, climbing his way up.   Meanwhile, Gellard brings both knives around and lashes out towards the vampire. This beast of the night utters a spell under his breath and the knives deflect off of an invisible barrier. Gellard inhales sharply, and the vampire forcibly strikes him in the chest, sending him flying back into Grodd, who throws the rogue off of himself and charges into the fray with a roar. Hodan and Soveran are up on their feet by now, but the vampire extends his cloak, and half a dozen bats fly forth from its shadowy depths. Soveran and Hodan become preoccupied, leaving Grodd to exchange blows with the beast. The vampire deflects one, two hits… but the third strikes true, and the creature is cleaved— into a cloud of mist. He reappears quite quickly just as Duzi reaches the stuck arrow, blocking the monk’s path. However, Sen cries out with a melodious tune, and a blast of sunlight erupts from her lyre, striking the vampire center-mass. He screams in agony and falls past Duzi, who delivers a powerful punch, sending the vampire sprawling to the floor. Duzi reaches the arrow once more and pulls it from the picture, but the bats swoop in and put him off balance. He falls five feet and catches himself on a sconce, dropping the arrow in the process.   Gellard tosses a knife as the vampire reaches for the arrow, clattering the projectile across the wooden floor and onto the carpet. Hodan makes a run for the arrow, but the vampire gets there first. Duzi, however, delivers another swift punch and knocks him off balance, leaving Hodan to rip it from the vampire’s undead hands. Mere moments after he does so, a bat comes swooping in and steals it from Hodan’s clutch, flying up into the air… only to be impaled by another of Gellard’s knives, which rockets the bat to the top of the staircase, embedded in the scaffolding. The arrow slowly drops from its jaw and clatters down the staircase. Soveran slides forward and picks the arrow up off the ground, nocking it in his bow once more.   Grodd, angered by the commotion, charges the vampire with reckless abandon, blocking Soveran’s line of sight. The vampire smiles. Hodan screams “GRODD, NO!” But his words fall on deaf ears, as the half-orc rushes towards the vampire, illuminated by a now burning fireplace… and is set aflame by an inferno cast forth by the vampire from the hearth. Grodd howls in agony, skin sizzling and popping… and slowly falls to the floor, setting the carpet ablaze. A smell of burnt flesh fills the room as the vampire directs his arcane inferno towards the other adventurers, cackling maniacally as the entire hall is caught in the flames. The remaining bats fall victim to the blast, and burn to a crisp.   Sen freezes. Looks towards the smoldering corpse of her friend. She begins breathing fast as the flames spread around her. Falls to her knees. Then, in a scream of emotional agony that bursts forth from her with the will of an unknown entity, the flames are snuffed. A sonic boom shakes the foundation of the house, but the last remaining embers ignite once more. Sen rushes to Grodd’s corpse. The vampire sprints at unnatural speed towards Hodan and tackles him to the ground, sinking his teeth into Hodan’s neck. Hodan screams out and goes silent as his blood begins to drain. Duzi knocks the vampire off with a swift kick, and begins beating him into a corner. Soveran struggles to get a clear shot, but the rising flames and Duzi’s form in the way prevents such an occurrence. Finally, Duzi is knocked away, and Soveran lets the arrow loose. The vampire turns just in time to bring his hand up and block the arrow from impaling his heart. His palm begins to burn away as he closes the distance between himself and Soveran, who fires arrow after arrow before the distance is closed. The vampire takes him by the neck and slams him against the wall, and the flames close them off from the rest of the group. Smiling in foul-blooded ecstasy, the vampire begins to gloat.   “You were so. Close. So close to winning. So close to killing me. But now? Your party will burn with me in this estate.   Duzi and Gellard look on in horror.   “And do you want to know the worst thing?”   The vampire leans in and whispers something in Soveran’s ear. His eyes go wide. He tries to call out to the group, but the vampire lunges for his throat, sinking his fangs into Soveran’s jugular. The light in the ranger’s eyes begin to fade. At the last second, Soveran uses all of his remaining strength to twist the vampire’s reforming hand and jam the impaled arrow into the vampire’s chest. The beast inhales sharply, followed by a slow and painful exhale. Both of them sink to the ground, and the immortal beast’s form breaks down into ash. Soveran desperately tries to call out to his friends, to relay one final message, but his words fail him… and the light fades from Soveran’s eyes. Duzi and Gellard look in shock, before the spreading flames brings them back to reality. Duzi turns.   “Help me grab Hodan.”   Gellard starts, but then looks back towards the cellar. He is conflicted, then makes up his mind.   “Go. I’m gonna find that girl.”   Duzi looks as though he wants to object, but bites his tongue and simply nods. The monk turns, slings the still unconscious Hodan over his shoulder, and makes his way to where Sen still wails over Grodd’s corpse. Gellard descends into the cellar.   “Sen, come.”   She looks up, tears streaming down her face.   “I can’t leave him like this…”   Duzi grabs her arm forcibly.   “Come!”   Sen protests, but Duzi overpowers her, dragging her with him out of the burning manor and into the cols air of the night.   Gellard comes into a dark cellar, with multiple storage rooms. He busts through the door to each one, cursing each time as they come up filled with nothing but barrels and crates. Finally, he breaks through the last door to see a chained and malnourished girl, her red hair dirty and tangled.   “Bingo.”   He rushes over and leans down, trying to undo the chains to no avail. “Oh, I do not have fucking time for this.”   When reaching for his knife, his hands come up empty as he remembers his using them as projectiles. Another curse escaped his lips, and he looks over to see a red glow coming from the entrance. His face contorts in frustration. He looks down at the poor girl chained to the floor, and frustration is replaced with resolve. Gellard’s hand goes into his cloak and pulls out an amulet. His voice begins speaking in tongue as the flames close in.   Outside, Duzi makes it past the gate, Hodan slung over his shoulder and Sen a sobbing mess behind. He looks back at the manor just as it collapses in a pile of burnt wood and broken dreams. Regret washes over him when Gellard is nowhere to be seen. Then, a bright flash. Duzi and Sen are briefly blinded when a light appears from nowhere in the middle of the street. After a moment, a blast of wind is felt from the source. The light fades, and in its place, kneeling over an injured girl, is Gellard. He looks up as the amulet in his hands turns to grey.   The three share a moment to look back at the wreckage and feel the weight of all they’d lost before taking off towards the First Voyage Tavern