Shade and the Guthias Stake

The dormitory room that Shade had been assigned in the West Wing of the palace was generous and well appointed.  It wasn't exactly to his taste, but he had brought in a few touches to make it feel more like his own.  

The wooden floors were now covered in a thick dark carpet, woven by the clever artisans in the Duchey of Vesh.  He had purchased an oil chandelier from a silver smith in the tower market of Garmon.  And he had thrown out the government bedding, and replaced it with fine linens and a silk undersheet from somewhere unpronounceable in the Far East.  

All of this had set him back a pretty penny, but what was the point of wealth if not to liver comfortably?  But none of this was on Shade's mind this night.  He sat in a stuffed chair near a full (but rarely used) bookshelf in the corner of the room.  His right sleeve was rolled up, and he was staring at the Guthias stake that had integrated itself into his forearm.

Twisted vessels ran from his own flesh into the stake, and blood pulsed from his own body into the ancient wood.  It was draining him.  He knew that now.  It was sucking him dry.  He was eating and drinking more.  He was exhausted, sleeping away most of the day, and unable to sleep at night.  And there was that whisper in his mind...just at the edge of his consciousness.  A single word burning on the fringes of his mind, over and over and over again.  "Thirst."

Shade was not sure what to do.  In his gut, he still believed that what had happened was more blessing than curse.  Against all reason and logic, he felt like perhaps he was meant to carry the stake.  That it was his destiny, and could be the key to great power.  If he could only figure it out what to do.  He was certain that if he let things play out, he might be dead within the week.  That this ancient weapon would drain him dry.  That wasn't how this was supposed to end.

He stood, and shook his sleeve down to cover the stake.  No.  He could do this.  He would find a way to make this work, and unlock the weapon's power.  He had to!

Without much thought, he found himself pulling on his cloak.  It was hours past midnight, but he could not stay pent up in his room.  The answers weren't here.  They were out there somewhere.

Shade stumbled out of his dorm, and down the hall.  A familiar guard at the end of the hall nodded to Shade as he passed.  "Wine or ladies, Sir?  Not much else out there for a gentleman this time of night."

Shade forced a smile, and a pleasant tone.  "One or the other...perhaps both."  This made the guard laugh.

Shade made his way out the palace, passing guards as he went.  Many of the Survey teams were housed in the West Wing, and there were treated as honored guests.  They could come and go as they liked, and the guards were there to protect them.  Not keep track of their activities.

The City of Bassot was resting.  Most of the streets were empty and quiet.  The only sound Shade heard was that raspy whisper at the back of his mind.  "Thirst."  His feet took him in a direction that did not even seem of his own choosing.  And he found himself approaching the Quartier de Plaisir.  Here in the Quartier, the streets lamps burned all night.  People were out and about in numbers.  Men, from all stations in life, walking from this bar to that one, a drink in hand.  Scantily clad women, called to the men from high windows, urging them to pay for a visit.

Shade pulled his hood up over his head, and stuck to the shadows.  The mixture of joy and desperation around him sickened him in a way he had never experienced.  He found himself wondering at the point of it all.  These people were animals, serving base needs and nothing more.  It was all posing, and a weak attempt to escape the numbing pain of existence.  No amount of booze and rutting would make these people happy for more than a fleeting moment.

Shade felt his blood pulsing out of his forearm and into the stake.  His knees wobbled.  He was getting weak.  That whisper urged him on, but to what?  What could he do?

Shade heard a woman's voice from a nearby alley.  "Pssst.  Handsome.  Don't bother with the house-girls.  Come get a little of this."  Shade saw the woman there in a darkness.  No more than nineteen years old, though her overdone makeup made her look older.  She had her dress hiked up, and her white hand was running up her thigh.  "Come here, and make me feel good.  I'll give you a deal if you do things right."

"Thirst."

Alley

Shade stumbled toward the girl, and she smiled.  He knew that smile.  She had found her mark, and for 15 minutes of sweaty effort she would make enough for her meals tomorrow.  It was a smile of relief that she would make another day's living, and nothing more.  Her hand reached the top of her thigh, and she reached out toward Shade with the other hand.  "Come to me.  No one will see what we're up to in the alley."

"Thirst."

Shade took the girl's hand, and she led him into the darkness of the alley.  She had stopped touching herself, and was now groping Shade.  "A gold piece for the regular, but two for something really special."

"Thirst."

It was Shade's turn to smile then.  He knew what to do.  He knew how to protect himself from the greedy stake.  Shade wrapped his right arm around the young whore and pulled her close.  He put his left hand over her mouth.

Startled by this, she struggled a bit.  But, it was too late.  Vessels from the stake writhed at her clothing, finding gaps here and there, and pierced her pale flesh.  Blood pulsed from her body with each heartbeat, and the Guthias stake drank deeply of her essence.

Shade's eyes were locked with her's in the dark alley, and he watched them for several minutes.  They flashed from anger, to fear, to sadness, and then nothing.  Her eyes became dull and dead.

The vessels retracted, and Shade lowered the girl's drained corpse slowly to the dirty cobblestones.  His weakness was gone, and he feared the stake no longer.

Comments

    • Mark Stinson

      Chris, I'll give you information along the lines of the research you described.  I'm not sure I'll get that done before the Sunday game, but I'll definitely get it back to you sooner than later.  :-)

      Mark

       

      • Chris Snevets

        Recherche d'Apaisement.

        Shade's research is a todo list of people and places to visit, libraries to research, (public and private).
        Anything that he can get his hands on for the history of the Vampire and those that destroyed him. (And in the process, created the Guthias Tree. 
        What were the hunters llike? How powerful were they? Where did they create the stake in the first place?
        He uses Investigation to unravel the hidden mystery.
        He breaks into mage's homes to peruse their private book stores.
        But, Shade is only looking for arcana on the hunters and the vampire they destroyed.
        He poses as religious prospects and asks about the current holy war against vampires and the histories thereof.
        And breaks into church's sanctuaries where occult libraries hide.
        Anything to learn about the stake, the power, the evil and how to control it. And how to tame it. And if necessary, how to remove it. 

        • Chris Snevets

          Mortimer the Mortician

          Thurston demanded much. It was alive and in order to stay strong, Thurston needed to feed. ‘Thurston’ was the name Shade gave to the Gathias Stake, for it was thirsty… for blood. It called out to Shade, “Thirst.” It showed Shade what was needed in a dark alley in the red-light district. Shade was mortified. But he would survive. If only there was a way to feed and not kill?

          The stake was a perversion of nature. The blood of many souls nurtured the seedling and after a time, blossoms sprang, and roots grew deep. After the fall of the great tree, the stake was like a newborn. It needed coddling and attention.

          Shade was chosen to be its caretaker. However, Shade was a mere mortal and needed help to raise Thurston properly. Shade thought he was doing right. He did the one thing that Thurston needed to most. He created followers

          Instead of killing his prey, Shade tempered Thurston’s wanton desires and let creatures live on.  Shade begged, borrowed and stole every blessed holy symbol he could find. Sympos was all too happy to provide blessings and platitudes in the name of Rukin.

          While wearing this necklace of hope, his victims would survive the feeding process. The tendrils extended toward the warm-blooded creature and took part of their soul. A part that would drive the victim to live to be in touch with the essence that is the Gathias Tree.

          However, it was not, yet, a tree. It was a seedling planted in a human pot. It needed fed once a month, to be precise once every 28 days. The thirst was greatest during a new moon, the darkest of nights.

          The first time Shade tried to reign in Thurston, he managed to corner a Rukin follower named Mortimer. He was a colleague of Sympos and was in high esteem, skilled in the arts of preparing and sending the dead onward.

          Mortimer was cornered in a cemetery. They were inside a mausoleum with one way out. It was simple enough. Shade had a body to prepare for the afterlife and asked Mortimer for help. Ever since the night of the living dead, Shade was known for helping the city deal with the dead. And being close with Sympos made the guise that much easier.

          Shade needed the body to be ceremoniously decomposed. Sympos would see through the guise and Sympos did not deserve what Shade unleashed upon poor Mortimer.

          A mass of tangled and barbed tendrils extended out of Shade’s arm. It was during the prayer Mortimer gave over the body. Shade wrapped his arm tightly with his necklace of holy symbols. It burned and left branded images of the symbols on his arm.

          Some of the tendrils decayed, lessening the life draining suction coming from the ancient vampiric artifact. Mortimer screamed and appeared dead, frozen in mid bless.

          Shade turned away, aghast, “What am I going to do with two dead and drained bodies? Sympos will know!”

          Then laughter echoed in the chamber from behind Shade, “Muhahaha. Do not fear Massster. Mortimer will aid you and serve us.”

           

          • Chris Snevets

            Fade Red to Black

            Some nights later…After they were done, another lady of the night says in full satisfaction, "If I never make love again, I will look on this night."

            Shade turns away with a look full of guilt and unleashes 'Thirst'.

            Thurston sprang forth from Shade’s arm. The attack was quick and deadly. There was a fluttering of movement, as if hundreds of birds were suddenly loosed in the room. There wasn’t time for a scream and it was over.

            How he wished there was a way for his victims to survive. He would become more wanted with living witnesses. However, his guilt was pilling up and so were the bodies.

            Shade took the dead whore with tears in his eyes and made his way back to the cemetery pushing his tumbrel. It’s how he helped Sympos with keeping the city sanitary.

            However, Sympos could not see this particular body. It was covered in suction marks and devoid of blood. It would raise too many questions. Best to bury it quick.

            • Mark Stinson

              Guthias Stake Vessels

              This is the Guthias Stake in its more active form.  Reaching out with blood vessels to connect with a living being, and drain its blood.

              • Mark Stinson

                Inert Form of the Guthias Stake

                In its inert form, when it is not attached to anyone, trying to attach to someone, or feeding.