The newly appointed Prince of Brasov or Kronstadt has to build the foundations for his powerbase in the city. His Coterie helps him, either out of friendship or out of lust for their own power.
Can Prince Alexander Samplonius distinguish friend from foe?
Date in World of Darkness: Friday 3rd of October 2003
Played at: Anouk
After the sudden change of our host’s disposition I got a phone call. Apparently the plane was warning about a general malfunction, quite possible after the storm, and a diagnostic had to be run. The pilot estimated that this would take two days. I told the others and at first Maud, who considered to leave by car straight away. Harold, ever the voice of reason, suggested that this would probably take even longer then the two days it took to run the diagnostics. Also last time they travelled by car for any serious distance they were attacked by ghouls with bombs and arrows. Because there simply were no other options we decided to stay.
Dragomir was very pleased at hearing our request. He could use the help after being controlled nominally by a demonic entity for nearly two years. He wanted to know if we could inform him of the current situation and the recent and not so recent events in his domain. In the meantime Alexander was taking a stroll around the castle walls leisurely inspecting them and taking the time to sort his thoughts probably. While walking around the castle he astutely notices that in one corner the foundation of the castle has take some serious damage. There are huge cracks in the ground and the outside of the walls. Some of these cracks are old but some are quite recent. He returns to the castle after deducing that they are all in the corner where we placed the inscription. When he returns he informs our host of his findings and we leave to survey the cracks. While walking there he tells us about the castle and why the moat is dry and a lot of other things. He remembers having an appointment about two years ago with someone who was going to do something about it, but he can’t remember whether they came or not. I ask him since he told us earlier that he hadn’t left for three years how he fed. Suddenly he got very reproachful and told us to go inside and that he had some pressing business to attend to guessing what it was we sent Maud after him. When she joined us she told us that Dragomir had opened a hatch and had stood there frozen to the ground for several seconds. Thereafter he shook his head and walked of. When Maud had opened the cellar she saw two people in advanced stages of decomposition their flesh was bloated and starting to liquefy there were craters of eaten or rotten away flesh. Maggots and other carrion eaters crawled over the bodies and the stench was unimaginable it permeated every pore of your body, wafted into your nose even though we do not breathe. It is clear that only a Settite could withstand this level of corruption as will soon be demonstrated. Secretly I suspect her of even enjoying it a little in that dark and perverted way. We decided to let Harold, who has experience in these matters being a forensic pathologist and all, examine the bodies tomorrow. After this we took to bed deciding to sleep in one room.
The following evening I practised one of my morning rituals to everyone’s dismay. Feeling refreshed soon after I ran up to our host’s room who apparently is not an evening person since I caught him just leaving his bed. He was a little less than courteous and requested us to wait in the dining hall downstairs where he would bring us breakfast. The blood tasted excellent although it was a little to much. When we were done we heard an unearthly howl coming from one of the upper levels of the castle. Asking him about it he responded that it was a scream of ecstasy which our host had to attend to. Maud and Alexander decided that this would be an excellent opportunity to distract him so that Harold could do his research outside. It would be best not to leave anyone alone so I accompanied him. When we arrived he set about an almost ritualistic preparation first donning mint under his nose putting on latex gloves and so on. When he finally had reached the proper state of mind he opened the hatch and as I said the stench was unbearable. We decided to close the hatch again and prepare better this time. The second time still was to overwhelming and again we quickly closed the hatch and had another breather. The third time being the charm we opened the hatch and began our observations. We roughly estimated that there were four to five hundred bodies there in varying sates of decomposition. Some of the bodies had been torn apart, but none had been as savagely mutilated as one can expect from a Tzimisce. The bodies still had clothes on and soon we came to the conclusion that the voivode had to drink roughly four litres a day for two years to amass this pile of corpses in two years. Meanwhile while we were scientifically discussing the carnage found Alexander and Maud were distracting Dragomir. He had gone into a room in the upper part of the castle. When they listened in on the room and its occupants they heard the same sounds that they heard earlier during dinner, but softer this time. When Dragomir came out Alexander demanded to know what was going on in there. He engaged him in a moral discussion so that Maud could sneak in, what else can you expect from a Settite. After some talk between Alexander and Dragomir the latter was offering him to show the work in process. Maud hurriedly left the room and waited for them on the stairs and joined the exhibition. In the room were three ghouls, one male and two female and a corpse lying on the table. Dragomir gave a little treatise on how he ghouled them and showed the ghouls and the attributes he used in the process explaining its function in the greater whole. Later that evening while Harold and I were still inspecting the cellars, Alexander and Maud were invited to watch the feeding of the ghouls. The male was very jittery and completely fixated by his master, one of the females was enchanted by Maud’s hair and was continually attempting to touch it, the other female was sitting in a corner sulking somewhat. Dragomir poured his blood into the corpse after which he allowed the ghouls to drink. With the exception of the feeding the ghoul who adored Maud’s hair continued to try and touch her eliciting very primal and childish behaviour from Maud probably born out of lack of affection. With this the night was drawing to a close.
The following evening, because of their sakes I held my morning rituals to myself, the Coterie left early just after breakfast. The plane was ready for takeoff and we had a quiet trip home. Everyone decided to return to their respective havens for the day. When Our Prince arrived with the Settite at Elysium he was shocked it had been completely renovated there were storm shutters placed in front of the windows that shut out every bit of light. A security system had been installed the doors and windows had been made burglar proof. The whole thing was rather unsettling. After checking everything and finding no fault they decided to risk it and stay the night. The following night Alexander informed with his ghoul what had happened and who had done all this. The ghoul told him that he thought that his master had arranged al of it. Upon further inspection it turned out that an elderly gentleman with a French accent had ordered the construction. When I arrived I was impressed by the work and hearing of the strange way in which it had come about I offered my assistance. I left forthwith to investigate. Meanwhile at Elysium a man who looked a lot like Salvador Dali arrived and introduced himself as Felix Moga. A subhuman piece of streetscum had told him that we were the new boss in town and he required our help. The man runs a Buddhist club called the Opium recently he had become the victim of the beginnings of an extortion attempt. One of two influential crime families, the Moldovan and the Bulea, had decided that it was about time that the club started paying protection money. For several nights now a man had come in hyped. He started dancing to music only he could hear that was far wilder then what was on. Every time a second man took offence and they started smashing up the bar. When the proprietor had asked around it was a well-known tactic to extract protection money and the men who came to his club belonged to the Moldovan family. After some talk the coterie apparently promised to help the man and would come soon to see the problem with their own eyes.
