Vampire Country (Woof, Rasmus)

TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA

Diana usually stayed away from Eastern Europe, but a request from a dear old friend gave her motive to reconsider. From South East Asia she found herself train hopping through to mainland China, then the trans-mongolian railway, then continental Europe, passing through Germany and Poland, and finally in the cold, rural wilderness of Transylvania. Despite her knowledge of arcane lore throughout the world, the Asian swordsman was unfamiliar with Europe physically, feeling more at home among the Samurai and Shaolin than with knights and chivalry.

So it was that her train ride ended up in this remote central location in Romania, where much of popular culture would refer to as vampire country. GPS was her primary means of getting around, as speaking to locals in english pegged her as some kind of crazy Asian-american girl.

The last leg of the journey was from the Capital of Bucharest into rural Transylvania, and Diana saw civilization give way to the past- pastoral villages that seemed unchanged for hundreds of years. Yet, there was something immediately wrong with her arrival. It was a bright winter midday, yet a silence hung over the village, as Diana peered into the traditional village buildings. Meals being eaten were left on the table, while computers and TV screens were still on- well at least it wasn't completely rural- and even animals left in the middle of the road, as folk quickly evacuated in their cars, as black tire marks in the streets would testify.

there was no time to take in the view of the countryside. A large hole exploded in the side of a windmill by the river, as some kind of monstrosity pursued its horse riding prey. The rider could only be described as a lady knight in shining armor, an armor of shiny silver and gold accentuated by a blue gown. About her levitated a set of high tech swords, aglow with plasma blades.

The monster in question leapt through the blade barrier, the technological marvels unable to harm the supernatural toughness of the bat-thing. Its long claws swiped at the horse, relieving it on a hind leg in a gushing spray of blood. "...Back monster, back!" the lady knight threatened, even as she was backed into a corner, bringing two swords to her hands, ready for a last battle.

"Hilde!" Diana drew her katana, and quickly went to her friend's aid. This bat monster, this Ekimarra- would make short work of anyone not prepared to face it.

Lost. That was all Rasmus could muster to think of himself. He was lost. Not only physically, having now wandered aimlessly through what had once been his ancestor's far reaching kingdom for what seemed like forever. But he was lost existentially as well. So much had changed, he barely recognized the world around him. Magic it seemed had become far more prominent in the centuries since his death. Every man woman and child seemed fit with all manner of strange artifacts. He had sat back, observed their ways, but he was still no closer to understanding just how this strange new world functioned. More importantly, he was lost in his own body. No longer was he a being of flesh and sinew. That tissue had long since rotted away, leaving him a literal husk, a skeleton, a member of the dreaded living dead. The thought still chilled his aching bones. In his life he had seen his father slay more than on lumbering corpse. But he was not like them, he couldn't be. Within those dark creatures resided no soul, no essence of life. He could feel that wellspring of vitality somewhere inside him, invisible. And yet he certainly could not call himself alive either. The feeling of cold against his bones as he wandered into ever more familiar territory could attest to that.

The wind whipped at his fossilized skeleton, finding in it a hard edge to stop against. While he felt the cold, it was not as he did in life. When he had been among the living, the current weather would have demanded a bit more than his traditional armor to remain warm, but not now. Now he marched unimpeded by the chill of the winds. He felt it certainly but it was more like a fact than a sensation. His observing of the temperature was no different that pointing out that the grass was green or the sky grey with clouds. He experienced these things certainly, and yet they brought to him no sting in his nose or numbness in his fingers. This like so many other things were bitter reminders of his nature.

And so he wandered, the skies grew darker and the grass gave way to fresh crisp snow. His surroundings too began to change, giving him more of a sense of familiarity than the alien landscape he had dug himself out from underneath. Here there will small villages and cobbled roads. It was a peasant's village by his observation but he would take anything he could get at this point. But something was wrong. This place felt hollow, static. The air was stagnant from a lack of movement and the click of his bony feet against the pathway echoed eerily through the snow covered town. Whatever the case was, the inhabitants it seemed had fled from this small colony leaving personal belongings and anything they could not carry with them in their wake.

Rasmus felt on edge. Had he hair, it would be standing up as he heard the abrupt crashing from a few houses down. Turning on his heels he looked the the silhouette of a windmill up ahead and the beast which burst from within. Vile creature he clicked through his teeth, instinct kicking in over fear. This strange beast must have been what had drawn the villagers out of their homes and on to the ever treacherous road. Though he had died centuries ago, this land was still that of his family and he felt honor bound to defend it.

In a dash he bolted from his location, weaving between buildings and drawing his father's sword from his back as he prepared for battle. The small huts gave way to a clearing and a lady knight clad in armor weapon raised to make a final stand against the feral creature. Without hesitation Rasmus plunged his father's sword into the freezing earth. From behind him a regal throne of stone and steel emerged from the dirt. Placing himself in the throne, he clutched to the swords pummel and willed between the woman and the beast.

With a spray of dirt and snow, Rasmus and the throne burst from the earth directly in the path of the oncoming scourge. He sat statue still and stalwart, his skeletal hands gripped hard to the sword awaiting the beast's assault to collide with his immovable body.

"Face it Marcus. We're lost.. arrr bugger." One thing he liked about Chicago, never got lost, because he had no where to go. But now he was somewhere in European territory and why? Because he was bored and heard rumors. Particular rumors such as vampires which Marcus at first thought was funny but over time his brain thought it over and he decided that if he could exist then surely vampires could too, also the fact that he had encountered Spider Nazi's helped.. maybe these would be vampire Nazi's.. "Hehe.. Vampire Nazi's.." Marcus giggled to himself as he went on, his goal had been for.. Transylvania but he had no map or directions, well some directions but that was from a few hours ago. Otherwise he had been exploring the vast country side and towns, enjoying the quiet seclusion that came with this scenic route.  

However Marcus was never all so use to the quiet for soon enough, noise stated to pollute his ears from a nearby town.. maybe a village? That really wasn't the matter, the matter was that something crashed and there was yelling which meant excitement and Maaaybe vampires. Jogging in the direction of the crash, he could see in the near distance his eyes making out three.. maybe four able body's clashing about. A hand wiggled it's way into his pocket and he felt the dice like object Madeline had given him, giving it an affectionate rub for luck and then moving forward prepared to join this killer party till something big got right in front of him. Stepping back, Marcus took in the bat like form in front of him, very confused by it's presence. "Your not a vamp--" Marcus could not finish his line as the thing lunge at him with fast speed, causing Marcus to try and jump back to avoid the incoming slash to no avail, razor sharp claws digging into his chest as he was thrown back by the force of the clawed hand scratching him by only a few meters. Standing, Marcus took a few seconds to get a better look at this... thing. It was really, large. Bigger then him.

Again, the thing rushed forward, arms reared upwards to take down what the creature must have felt was something easy but Marcus would grant it no such satisfaction as he gathered the shadows around him and turned them into spiked tendrils, shooting upwards and piercing the creature as it closed in on Marcus, pinning it in place. Stepping away from the thing, Marcus laughed a giggled laugh as his mask formed over his face and he let the shadow like tendrils leave the creature. "You made that too ea..." Marcus said in his demonic voice but stopped as he noticed the puncture wounds the many tendrils he had made inside the things chest began to heal at an alarming rate and again the thing charged at him, fur and tooth closed in and Marcus found himself... pressured. He hadn't dealt with something that could heal.. actually he hadn't fought a great deal of things after he had met the demon goddess. Demon goddess. The thought reminded Marcus about his new feature, the snake like tattoo that rested on his arm all the way to his hand, it's red eye shined as Marcus focused on it and a dagger appeared. Focusing on the fast Bat thing, Marcus jumped back and swung the dagger outwards, connecting with the beast's flesh and causing it to back up, blood dripping down it's fur as the semi deep cut didn't heal like before. "Heh. Got you."

The bat creature however did not seemed fazed by this new outcome and merely growled a weird noise before once again, charging forward and so Marcus raised his shadow from the ground, forming it into a tendril and aimed at the chest of the creature while also raising his dagger, prepared for the fight ahead.

The Ekimarra was a feral beast, and did not foresee interruptions to its hunt. Its vision was centered on Hilde, seeking to rip her apart and sup on her warm blood, and Rasmus's cold, dead form did not register in its senses. Earth and stone collided with its thick hide, stopping it in its tracks. "SKREEEEEEE!!!!" It screeched in annoyance rather than agony, trying to get away.

Once confronted by the undead warrior, the beast instinctively began to use one of its esoteric powers, its fur beginning to ripple and distort the light around it, vanishing from sight. It beat a hasty retreat through the village.

Vanishing from sight alone barely meant it went undetected though. A third player had waited patiently for the creature, biding her time to either close it in or cut off its retreat. Diana's honed senses heard its mad scramble through the snow, its footsteps giving it away. The bat sensed the dark figure awaiting it, and scrambled to attack, but Diana stepped back into the narrow gap between buildings and thrust her blade through the monster's mouth, up into its brain. From this the creature spasmed in paroxysms of agony, pushing itself deeper onto Diana's blade.

"Hrrrgh..!" Diana had to hold her ground as hard as she could, as the monster proved dangerous even with brain damage- its camouflage faltered only so slightly as a claw lashed out, forcing Diana to duck and twist her blade free, but the weapon was held fast by reacting muscles. Diana was swatted aside by a wing, knocking some air out of her as she hit a brick house. The creature staggered backward, slowly trying to remove the black sword lodged in its mouth, becoming vulnerable to Rasmus and Hilde. It bellowed and growled, the sound of it reaching out for miles...

= = = =

...The wounded ekimarra's cries of pain registered as a mutual warning, and Marcus's ekimarra weighed its options. There were threats in the vicinity that could deal with them now, and fighting alone proved extremely detrimental. Weighing its options, the creature flees from Marcus with the use of its invisibility, and going to aid its pack mate, perhaps pooling their strength a better option than hunting on their own.