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Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken


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Vezina raised her nose and took in a long breath, sniffing the air for signs of someone or something lying in wait. This was too quiet and she didn't like it.

Heightened Senses, listening, smelling, seeing, whatever she can to sense a trap before it's sprung.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

Aside from the cold night air Vezina can pick up little besides the typical noises and odors of the night. Though she does catch sight of thinnest gleam of light from a pipe on the deck of the ship, a man sits still heavily cloaked in dark furs looking towards them.

The complete lack of a scent from the man is the only odd thing Vezina picks up, with her senses.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

Still walking, without pausing, but steadily slowing her pace, she turned towards Anabelle and whispered low.

"There is only one man on that ship, and he watches us from the deck. He bears no scent at all. That is a trick no mortal can pull off easily."
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

"Let us go say hello then. Try the peaceful approach. Far as I know, we have no quarrel with whoever this ship belongs to, and I frankly don't care if their pissing off all the Kindred in London. I just want the information we need," Anabelle said, before carefully walking up the gangplank, and stopping a fair distance away from the man.

"Saol fada chugat," she said to the man, raising her hand from her sword hilt in a slight wave as way of peaceful greeting.

Something still felt very wrong though, and she wondered how much blood was going to be spilled tonight.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

The fur clad man stands up from the small barrel he is seated on and raises his head as a dog would when smelling something new. With a toss his hood is thrown back revealing an ashen pallor to his rough face. He seems oddly tall and makes no effort to hide his hands which are covered in coarse hair. His features remind Vezina of the Magyar from her homeland and his accent is similar to her own as he speaks.

"Is that a greeting of peace or a challenge to fight? Hopefully it's the former for your sakes." He tilts his head and sniffs the air again before glancing towards the full moon and smiling.

"I am known as Menyhert to my acquaintances and if my fellow kindred would care to take a seat instead of fight I would be more than happy to share information." Retaking his seat he waits for the pair to respond. Something about his words seems both sincere and dishonest all at the same time. Much like a practiced con artist or street thief.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

"We have no quarrel with you," Vezina said, being cautious in her approach. She wished now that she had her bow and arrows with her. The dagger in her cloak was for emergencies, and she doubted she could wield it well enough to overcome an supernatural fighter. "We are looking for a ship. We were told you might have seen it. The Hyperion."
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

Anabelle raises an eyebrow, but takes a seat opposite the hairy man, and gestures for Vezina to do the same. Listening to her partner speak, she continued on.

"The harbour master said you might know more about it,"
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

Menyhert nods his head as Anabelle sits opposite him and seems to muse the name of the ship over in his head by looking up at the moon. Finally he speaks to neither of them in particular. "I seem to remember seeing a ship by that name before leaving Gravesend but my memory isn't the same it used to be. Perhaps I could be sure of what I saw if you were willing to part with a bit of information about our fellow kindred in this fair city."
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

"Speak your question," Vezina said, still standing. "If it is within our power to answer, we shall."
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

"I merely wish to know something of the power structure amongst our kind in this city? I have passed through London on occasion but have spent enough time to learn of it's inhabitants. I think it's wise to know more about a place before you decide to settle in the future, don't you?" Menyhert asks with a shrug of his shoulders.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

"We've recently arrived ourselves. All I know for certain is that the seneschal is one named Valerius. Who he truly is, and where his home is, I do not know for certain," Anabelle said plainly.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

"And Mithras. He is nominally in control of the city," Vezina added, and then, on a hunch, Vezina spoke in her old language, one that overlapped with the tongue of the Magyar and might be understood by him.

"<By your accent, I would think you were from Hungary.>" she ventured.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

"Ah newcomers like myself, just my luck. Still a deal is a deal and the ship you seek was indeed in Gravesend when I left. I think they should be along before long." Menyhert answers them while playing with the pipe in his hands.

When Vezina speaks in the tongue of her homeland he seems to think for a second before answering in a similar tongue. "<If that is what they refer to the lands around the mountains of Kuppala these days. Then yes I am from Hungary.>"
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

Vezina merely nodded. "Welcome to London then, Menyhert. We thank you for your information, and shall be on our way."

Vezina glanced at Anabelle to see if she had any other business she wished to discuss with the odd kindred before they left.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

As the Hyperion approached London in the dark of night, a solitary hooded figure was standing at the starboard railing. Eliza's kiwi eyes gleamed from beneath her hood as it rippled from the gusty London winds.

Frowning in annoyance from the cold and the wind, Eliza wondered what sort of barbarians must inhabit this dank, miserable looking city. It certainly paled in comparison to her Maltese home on the Mediterranean.

Even without the annoying weather, Eliza had already been quite cross. The hyperion was delayed in Gravesend by a couple of opportunistic night raiders who now found themselves at the bottom of the river, courtesy of Eliza's rage. Still, the incident combined with a storm meant Eliza had to take cover from the impending sunrise.

The ship was slowly nearing port now. Eliza's eyes slowly scanned the docks for any sign of her brother.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

Menyhert merely smiles as Vezina thanks him for the information and reaching down strikes something against the deck. A small flame appears in his hand which he lights his pipe with, the small flame is far to small to cause rotschrek in either Anabelle or Vezina but they still naturally shy away. The strange Cainite before them merely sits puffing on the pipe without a reaction and says.

"Fare thee well then, perhaps we might be of service to each other again sometime in the future."

In the distance Anabelle catches sight of another small ship making it's way past them in the fog shrouded waters. It seems to be headed for the main docks back were the other ships sit.

--------------------------

With the exception of the grand fortress to her left as the ship made it's way up the Thames the city was indeed rather dank looking. The fortress appeared rather new and the Norman architecture didn't match the older walls.

A single ship sits off to her right in the whirling fog, though she can make little detail on the figures aboard out. More storm clouds are beginning to roll back in from the north causing the light of the full moon to fade.

Soon the small ship is beside the dock and the sailors make haste to secure the vessel. As soon as they are secured they quickly put the gangplank down and hurry off to do their other chores. Eliza gets the feeling that she makes the peasant sailors of the smaller vessel nervous. The nervous captain bids her farewell as she scans the shore for Jourdain, who doesn't seem to be on the deck. Unless he has turned into the decrepit old man stiffly hobbling towards the ship along the docks.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

"Fare well, may we meet again," Anabelle said as she got to her feet and bowed slightly, before her gaze flicked out over the waters.

"I think that may be her there," she said, tapping Vezina's shoulder. With another gentle bow to Menyhert she turned and left his ship, and moved down the docks to where the new ship was approaching.

She watched with a curious eye as the sailors did their work, before lowering the gangplank to allow a cloaked figure to disembark. Striding forward Anabelle stepped before the woman and bowed slightly once again.

"Are you Eliza?" she asked not bothering to waste time beating around the bush.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

Vezina trailed behind Anabelle by several steps, in no particular hurry to address the cloaked stranger, though there were obvious signs that whoever she was, she was kindred - which narrowed down the possibilities significantly. She drew her own cloak about her and looked around the docks at the mortals walking here and there. For the most part she was thinking about hunting again, but she supposed securing this Eliza for Jourdain was important at least.

If she was addressed, Vezina would nod in greeting and introduce herself.
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

Eliza glanced toward the Hyperion's captain for a long moment until she reached into her cloak and pulled out a silver coin, twirling it in her fingers before his eyes. She placed it in the captain's palm and stared into his eyes.

"You would do well to forget this voyage ever happened."

With that, the cloaked cainite whirled on her heel and walked down the gangplank slowly. Her eyes darted from the two approaching cainites, one more assertive than the other and to the hobbling decrepit man.

Eliza was suspicious. She did not like the idea that all these people were interested in her arrival, and Jourdain was no where to be seen, something uncharacteristic of her brother. Knowing that this city had only recently become welcoming to the Lasombra clan made her even more distrustful, even worse since her boat had been recently attacked. When she replied, her voice was low and cold, attempting to sound disinterested.

"Who's asking?"
 
Re: Chapter 1: The Road Not Taken

"Friend's of Jourdain... and you do know that gives away your identity just as easily as saying yes?" Anabelle said, unable to help the amused smile from crossing her features.

"My name is Anabelle, this is Vezina," she continued.
 
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