Vhakizla – Chapter 9

"Summer of 67. Second Age. Vhak.
All this ain’t to say that vampires are invincible. Far from it. Take it from me, someone who spent three decades hunting them hither and yon across an entire continent.
You need to kill a vampire? Listen closely.
Forbiddance. Means that you don’t invite them in, they can’t come in. Sounds a little silly, I agree, but come in handy more than once dring those years of storm and siege.
Running water hurts ‘em like acid. Probably won’t be much help to you lot, I suspect, as they’ve ensorcelled all the rivers to a standstill but nevertheless.
Stake to the heart’s my preferred method. Make sure you pack plenty when you’re rolling up on the bloodsucker’s sarcophagus. That’s the only time it’ll do mucha anything.
Sunlight’s the real killer. Not torchlight, not magical light but honest-to-gods sunlight’ll slay them outright. Craven bastards’re pretty canny to avoid it but, if you wanna be sure, that’s the only way.
If you don’t got none of that, well, a good silver blade’s better’n nothing."
– Beholder's Log, Gnoson 21 2A

Returning from their conversation with Tem, the party stumbles across a trail at the scene of Min's murder. Griffon follows the trail left behind by the live rat sewn into the victim's mouth, taking the party back down into the catacombs. Better equipped to dodge the dangers they find, the mercenaries trail the unsuspecting creature back to its lair – the lowest level of one of the Old City's tenements. Sending Mouse ahead to scout, they sense the presence of many Sanguine, just beyond the doors of the dozens of apartments that comprise the safehouse. Following the sound of raised voices, the Commander's Tent bursts into a conference between two vampire spawn. While one instantly turns to mist and flees down a crack, the other screams a challenge and combat is joined.
The battle is brief and bloody. Griffon fights in the bottleneck, dispatching Sanguine fighters who attempt to pour into the room. Mouse is caught and drained of their blood early, coming within inches of death by the vampire's fangs. Unobserved for a moment, Remorhaz takes a hit of slaver and fights like a demon. It's Umber who ultimately puts the spawn down, flirting with her in equal measure.
As a vampire, however, her "death" is an illusion, dissolving into mist upon that final blow. Due to fortunate timing, however, the vampire's coffin is located here in the room. Barricading the door, they fashion an improvised stake and pin the vampire spawn in place. Realizing that they need sunlight to adequately slay the creature, they drag the coffin through the tunnel, the Sanguine rebels on their heels. When they find a patch of sunlight, they open the coffin and interrogate her, promising to remove the stake. She betrays information to them – that Strategos Kharix is a traitor to the Sanguine and the Sixfold Faith – before they expose her to the sunlight.
Returning, exhausted, to the Temple of Vhakizla, Griffon expresses regret and dissatisfaction about how they broke their word to the vampire. He also questions Remorhaz about the drug he took but the elf brushes this aside. When they reach the temple, they give new orders to their unit of infantry – search the Old City for evidence of which tenement the Sanguine are hiding within.
When he returns to his room, Griffon discovers another ghastly message waiting for him, written in blood.

Campaign: The Menagerie
Game Date: Gnoson 21, 67 2A
Starting Point: Izla
Player Characters:

• Griffon
• Mouse
• Remorhaz
• Umber