8 Survivor

[ "The Kingdom of Istria was founded after a bloody succession war in the Kingdom of Opicina, fought between the rightful heir Matthew and his younger brother Hering. Defeated, Matthew fled with his host to the northern frontier of the kingdom, alongside many peasants and loyal nobles, and founded the city of Istria, which gave the name of his new Kingdom afterwards.

Hering remained with the original territory, and was crowned King of Opicina. The conflict between the two, however, would not progress, since the northern frontier was a savage wasteland, and rival kingdoms invaded Opicina at the time." Early Chronicles of the Kingdoms of the North]

~*~

#Effects#

After Blood Rage

{ Penalties to all Attributes

{ Duration: One day

~*~

We found the corpses of 8 adventurers.

The corpse of the mage was missing.

If I remember correctly, the mage was a woman wearing witch clothing and had a long black hair.

The sun rose, and we didn´t find her.

Discussing with Baldwin, we had many course of actions.

We could return to the wagons, but end up encountering angry assassins. There was no way we could pass by them during the light of the day, so we discarded this option.

We could make an alternative route and reach the wagons at the city of Barcola. We went with this option, since Baldwin knew (kinda) how to get there.

The problem is: we were beaten up.

Baldwin received some damaged, his face being testimony of it, and also didn´t sleep.

Me, I was debuffed by the after effects of the blood rage, and despite losing her, the vampirism didn´t go down, but actually raise up to 51%, and the insomnia with it.

~*~

#Effects#

Insomnia 3

Hidden Fangs 3

Albino Skin 3

Clear Hearing 3

Enhanced Smell 1

Enhanced Vision 1

Night Vision 2

~*~

The group of assassins must be searching for us right now.

We runned through the road for some hours, and got exhausted.

Reaching a section of the road where it diverged, I followed Baldwin towards the road that followed a river.

-"This road will take us through the mountains, leading us to a village and then to the city."

While walking by the river, an idea came to my mind.

-"Does this river goes to Barcola?"

-"Yes."

-"Does it get agitated?"

-"In some points."

Since the river flow was going in the same direction as us, we could use it to our advantage.

Reaching the village at noon, we convinced one of the fishermen to bring us to Barcola by boat.

We both entered the boat, and Baldwin fell asleep as soon as his head reached a safe ground.

Despite feeling dizzy, I didn´t sleep. Someone had to be awake if something happened. Also, the fishermen could do something bad to us if we both fell asleep.

-"Tell me, why do two young boys armed to the teeth want to go to Barcola?" The fishermen asked.

I was sitting in the other side of the boat, looking at the river.

I looked at the fishermen. He covered the head with a straw hat, was kinda fat and weared a white shirt and blue pants.

-"We are adventurers. We are going on a mission to Barcola." I replied.

His question was strange, but I replied nonetheless. A fight at this moment would surely put us in a bad place.

-"A mission? What kind of mission?"

Now I did raise my eyebrows. I replied with a serious expression on my face.

-"It is a secret."

I kept looking at him.

-"Why do you give me this look? I was only curious. Can you answer for me one more question please? Why aren´t you sleeping like your companion here?"

-"Do I look like I want to answer to your questions?"

My mind is already full of questions. This is getting me angry.

-"I smell blood from you two. Human blood."

-"That´s none of your business man."

What´s up with my eyes? They are slowly closing.

-"I´m not a man, you know."

A girl´s voice.

Before I slept, I rushed for the water in the river and cleaned my eyes with it.

Slowly opening them, the fishermen revealed to be a girl identical to the party´s mage we didn´t find.

-"You two are dead to me!" She raised her hand and started chanting some strange words.

-"W-wait! We arent´from the assassins group! We are here to help-"

-"Like I would believe in that!"

A torrent of water came out of her hand, pushing me out of the boat into the river.

The waters rapidly embraced me, leaving no room for me to breathe.

I struggled with river, trying to swim, but the weight of my soaked gambeson together with my gauntlets made it difficult to stay up water.

I managed to float after a while, but when I looked at the boat, she was standing looking at me.

-"Do you think that I finished?! This hasn´t even started yet!"

Suddenly besides me appeared a water figure of her, and without delay tried to push me more into the bottom of the river, in a attempt to drown me.

Her attempts were successful. Because of the Blood Rage after effects, I didn´t have the strength to fight against the water figure, neither the endurance to do so.

My movements became slow. I couldn´t hold my breathing any longer. The air fled, and so did my consciousness.

…

I waked up in the bottom of the river.

Some fish were trying to eat my hair.

What happened?

The sun was slowly setting. The rays of light were weak under water.

I´m not breathing anymore. My body skin had a light blue color.

It must be that I´m a vampire. Vampires are undead, so they don´t need to breathe. However, since I´m still in a incomplete form, maybe my body suffers from the lack of oxygen.

I get out of the water and look around.

This was the same place where I fell from the boat.

Did she kill Baldwin?

She´s probably going to set camp for the night. If I follow this river, I must be capable of finding her!

I throw myself at the river again. Walking by land will be slow. My clothes are soaked with water and my attributes are still debuffed. It´s better to let the river flow take me.

Night came, and it took a while to reach the place where she had camped.

Inside the forest, a yellow light from her bonfire denounced her position.

I left the river from a far distance from her.

I removed my gambeson, my boots, my gauntlets and even my scabbard. Their weight was too much for me.

With sword in hand, I approached.

-"I´m telling you the truth!" Baldwin´s voice filled the air. "We are on your side! We even rescued one of your companions, the Thief!"

-"Why do you keep lying? I saw him die with my own eyes. You ain´t fooling me."

Baldwin was wrapped in ropes and raised from a tree.

I´m not capable of fighting her. Either she gets convinced or we flee.

-"I´m saying to you! We even fought two of the assassins and won! Look at my injuries! Don´t you see the purple on my face?"

-"Your injuries don´t serve as a argument."

I think for a little bit, hidden behind a bush. Maybe I should try the poker face method?

-"He is right. We did defeat two of the assassins."

I get out of the bush.

She gives me a surprised look, but still with suspicion in her eyes.

- "Hoho, it seems you survived my underwater attack."

-"Attack? I was just bathing myself in the river."

-"Reynauld, were are your clothing's? Why are you wearing only your pants?"

-"I will explain latter."

Baldwin, there was no need for that question.

-"So, do you wanna swim with death again?" She asked.

-"Death? Woman, do you think I would show up here if I didn´t have something in mind? I deliver you two options: One, you believe in us. Two, you let us go away without resistance. We don´t have time to waste here, we need to get to the City of Barcola as soon as possible."

-"You are in no position to ask for anything."

-"..."

We trade menacing looks.

There is no other option.

I charge at her, sword in hand.

At close distance, I have the advantage.

She begins to mutter some magic, and steps back to dodge my blade.

But, it was not her that I was aiming for.

I free Baldwin from the ropes, and he falls already freeing himself from the other ropes.

She finishes her magic, and an arrow of light comes out of her hand. I try to dodge, but the arrow hits my right shoulder.

My right hand releases my sword with the impact.

-"!! Baldwin, go for the boat!"

We both start to run.

-"What?! I´m not letting you escape!"

She starts to run also.

We enter the boat and immediately depart.

She stays at the riverbank, muttering some magic.

-"What is she going to do?" Ask´s Baldwin.

-"I don´t have time to explain. Remove all your heavy armor, she is going to destroy this boat, and we will need to finish the trip swimming."

-"What?"

-"Do it quickly, she is almost finished!"

Her water figure appears in the riverbank and starts to come towards us.

-"Let´s jump and swim as fast as we can!"

When the water figure reach us, she grabs the boat and punches a hole in the back of it.

-"Now, jump!"

We both jump at the same time, and swim as fast as we can.

-"You are not going to escape!" The water figures says with her voice.

We don´t stop swimming.

The water figure almost reach us, but when she touches my foot, she disappears in the water.

It seems that spell had a limited reach.

After sometime, me and Baldwin got out of the river.

-"Man, I thought that you were dead!" Said Baldwin.

-"Me also, hehe."

-"Now, why are you half naked?"

-"My gambeson and the shirt I was wearing became to much cumbersome to wear, because they were soaked in water. The pants also but I wouldn´t get rid of it, obviously."

-"Ha, hahaha."

-"We need to find new clothing for me before we enter the city."

-"Don´t worry. I will find the wagon first, and then bring some clothing to you before you enter the city."

-"That would be extremely helpful."