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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SolidSnake" data-source="post: 981" data-attributes="member: 102">October 21st, 747- "He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword."Monsette watched the acres upon acres of vineyards wash by his vision as the Virgo approached Karina.  Captain Timothy was talking about something, but it couldn’t distract Monsette from the gorgeous view.  The leaves were beginning to change color…“So I’ll be staying at the Black Swan if you are interested in REAL entertainment,” Captain Timothy announced.His attention now diverted, Monsette began to ask about the city of Karina and where one could find the “Maiden’s Kiss.”“That is far too expensive for my tastes…but since you asked…go down East Front Street to the Wine Garden until you hit Brewer Street…even you three can’t miss it,” Timothy said with a slight chuckle.Entering the city with weapons proved to be rather expensive, but almost worth the economic impediment.  Everyone appeared to be joyous and merry.  No one was without a glass (or in some cases a bottle) of Karina’s finest wines as they danced through the streets adorned with colorful costumes and masks of interesting design.  Monsette was about to go explore a small stand selling interesting trinkets when Shinlaiden grabbed him roughly and pointed into the crowd.  The investigator couldn’t see anything at first, but after a few moments he spotted Vanyel in the throng of people!  Using Sam and Shinlaiden as human plows, Monsette pressed forward.  Grabbing Monsette, the group made for the nearest quiet area…which turned out to be Vanyel’s room (located in the Maiden’s Kiss).  As it turned out, Vanyel had no idea how he got in Karina, or even that any time had passed at all.  Right after he vanished into thin air, Vanyel remembered floating a void with a grey, white, and black orb.  The orbs told him that he would be tested and then he woke up in this Inn.  Needless to say Monsette wasn’t satisfied with this answer…“The creature that kidnapped you said that you were ‘half-dead’…care to explain that,” Monsette said with a rather penetrating stare.With a heavy sigh, Vanyel began to recount his tale.  “Ever since I was a young boy I had been deemed “special” by all those around him.  I have powers that come naturally, beyond the arcane instruction the True Way have so generously donated.  I am attuned to the life energies around me; I feel the life in all living things.”“Why didn’t you tell me this before,” Shinlaiden demanded.“I am your superior Shinlaiden…you need to know whatever I decide is necessary,” Vanyel said with a hint of irritation. Sam burst out laughing.“We are fighting for our lives out here and you are still concerned with pulling rank,” Sam gasped between fits of laughter.  “We are finished out here!”“Sam, we shouldn’t lose hope.  We are doing good deeds while looking for a way out of this situation,” Monsette declared in the hopes of diffusing the situation.After checking into the Maiden’s Kiss, Monsette inspected the guest list for any signs of Gunter Edel.  Sadly, the man had checkout out of the Inn a few days ago.  Angry, Monsette decided to call it a day.  The rest of the night past quickly in slumber once every door and window was checked…with the addition of a secret passcode only known to the party…___________October 22nd, 747In the morning Monsette saw his reflection in the wash basin smile wickedly back at him.  The day pretty much started the way it ended…badly.  A pipe full of tobacco later the group was off looking for Gunter Edel.  The search party consisted of Sam, Shinlaiden and Vanyel.  Monsette wanted to stay behind in the off chance that Gunter would come back.The excursion party seemed to do more sightseeing than searching.  Karina was indeed a beautiful city; the huge clock in the center of the city was testament to the creativity of the people.  Nestled between two rivers, Karina seemed to have mild weather at any given time of the day…the drawback was that the humidity produced fog.  Vendors littered the streets, making it difficult not to sample many of the wines available.  People from all over the realms were at the Festival: Borkans, Barovians, Falkovians, and even merchants as far as Dementlieu.  The only contrast to this joyous occasion was that for some reason gallows had been erected in the middle of the main plaza of the city.  Further inquiry revealed that at the completion of the Festival, prisoners were to be executed.Sam, Vanyel, and Shinlaiden returned to the Inn empty handed and a bit inebriated.  Getting anywhere in the city was difficult because of the sheer number of people in the streets.  Luckily everyone made it back without injury, even after an arrogant nobleman attempted to ride the party down because they did not move quickly enough for his tastes.  Shinlaiden and Sam rested a bit before Monsette switched places with Vanyel…More searching and questioned revealed little, if not the layout of the city.  The city seemed constructed around the great plaza housing the clock.  To the east lay Brewer street, with its rich shops, eloquent minstrels, and lovely cafés.  To the west lay what people referred to as the Maze…it was an extremely poor section of town, inhabited with prostitutes, street thugs, and other degenerates society had to offer.  Directly south of the Maze was the Falkovian Quarter.  Apparently Falkovian merchants were able to purchase an entire section of the city together.  Where the Maze was chaos, the Falkovian Quarter was absolute law.  Apparently the Falkovian merchants brought some soldiers from their home country to ensure that none of their goods were “liberated” by the local populous.  In the center of the Quarter stood a small fortress with a flag bearing the symbol of a hawk on it.  The locals described the Falkovians as cold and ruthless disciplinarians...no one with half a brain would antagonize such people.  Monsette made a quick appraisal of the environment: “east part of town nice, west part of town bad.”While staying on the pleasant side of the city, the party the party was privy to many wonderful sights and sounds of the Festival.  The day was not completely without its brush with reality; however.  While through the Wine Garden, the band noticed a duel break out between two important members of a wedding: the man to be married and what appeared to be the “Best Man.”  The fight was quick and brutal, with both men dying instantly after drawing blood…Monsette didn’t need to be an alchemist to know that poison was at fault.  That wasn’t the strangest part…during the fight a woman approached Sam as if nothing was out of the ordinary.  Between the screams of horror and rage, the woman began to flirt with him!  Monsette agreed that she was well beyond the bounds of gorgeous, but he refused to let Sam endanger his vows of chastity over a woman.  Monsette explained the reason for Sam’s inability to speak: mental retardation.  The priest of Viminau, sworn to the pursuit of the truth, told the fair maiden that Sam couldn’t speak because a donkey had kicked him in the head when he was a boy.  Needless to say that the woman didn’t stick around for much longer once she was presented with that piece of information.  Sam was about to ask why it was that the woman left when he noticed Shinlaiden staring down a man in the crowd.  It was the very same noble that had nearly run down the party earlier in the day!  Cracking his knuckles, the 6’ bruiser strode forward with purpose.  Stopping two inches in front of the noble, Shinlaiden simply stood menacingly.  The noble seemed no stranger to fights, because his eyes bore right into Shinlaiden’s skull.  Things might have gotten out of hand had Monsette not intervened with soothing words for both men.  The priest was so successful; in fact, that the noble invited the party into the nearest tavern for a drink.  Ordering Sharp (local ale), the noble sat down with the members of the party.“I can tell that you men are foreigners from your manners.  Frankly I don’t care where you’re from or what you are doing here.  My name is Matton Blanchard and I have invited you here to offer you a very important job,” the man said contemptuously.Before anyone could respond to the man’s “offer,” he continued on unabated.“A woman of great importance was recently kidnapped by a she named the “Gentlemen Caller.”  I have found out that she is being held captive in a mansion not far from Karina.  The man who holds her is evil beyond understanding, which is why I will pay you five gold marks per day to find and return her to me.  There is some entertainment scheduled tonight at a warehouse in the Falkovian Quarter…if you want the job, meet me there at the stroke of midnight.”Leaving the tavern in a contemplative mood, Monsette directed the party back towards the “Maiden’s Kiss.”  The group was about to turn down Brewer Street when they heard a barker hail them.“Brave the ghosts of the past for a modest fee,” the man challenged.He was instantly recognizable as a Vistani from his dark skin tone and colorful clothing.  He stood next to a large wooden box with a curtain hanging over the face.  An exotic bird was perched on top of the box, squawking at the pedestrians passing by.“Come…it is safe,” the man encouraged.Monsette was really in no hurry to get back to the Inn and it seemed that Shinlaiden was in need of some entertainment, so he sanctioned the immense warrior to give it a try.  Logically speaking, Monsette didn’t really know what a box with a curtain over it could really accomplish in the way of entertainment.  From the look of its depth, it would appear that Shinlaiden would only be able to walk in and out…if barely.  Shinlaiden stepped into the box and the Vistani closed the curtain behind him.  Sam and Monsette starred at one another with looks of confusion for a few minutes and then went back to watching the box.  What could he be doing in there that could take this long?  It was then that his questions were answered.  Shinlaiden fell out of the box on the verge of tears; he looked like an emotional wreck, but he was physically fine.“What have you done to my friend,” Monsette demanded.“The help you need can be found at Vulpwood…if you have the courage,” the man replied just before slipping inside the box and disappearing altogether.Trying to drag the troubled Shinlaiden back to the Inn was difficult.  His eyes were wide with fear and he kept yelling about how he was a dead man.  Monsette waited until they got back to the Inn before questioning the poor man about what happened.  Recounting the tale was slow going, because Monsette was barely able to piece together the fragments of fear Shinlaiden was experiencing.  To the best of his ability, Monsette managed to get this out of Shinlaiden’s incomprehensible story: the were-panther that had attacked him back in Invidia was somehow contained in that box.  This was impossible as Shinlaiden barely fit in the box, not to mention that no sound was emitted the entire time Shinlaiden was inside.  However, according to the story he had fought with it inside and managed to wrestle it to the ground somehow.  In a fit of rage, he snapped its neck…or so he thought.  When he looked down again it was himself he was holding and his neck that was snapped…very disturbing indeed.  Monsette would have continued to try and piece things together had not Raul burst into the Inn’s common room!The Vistani looked haggard, like he had run all day and all night with no rest in-between.  Dashing over to the table the party was sitting at, he sat down quickly…a wild look in his eyes.  Before he could speak, Monsette spoke:“Raul, mind telling me how you got here?  Never mind the fact that you don’t have Nikki with you.”“Nikki is back at the camp with my people in Vulpwood!  The Mists transported me somehow from Barovia in order to fetch you for the Zarovin clan.  They are the oldest tribe of the Vistani people and they summoned me here to get you!  You must come quickly,” Raul said out of breath.No one wasted anytime talking, they just acted.  Within minutes, they were heading towards Vulpwood completely ready for anything that could possibly happen.  The group was heading towards the North Gates on the High Road when Vanyel and Monsette heard “Watch out!” from directly in front of them.  People had only seconds to react to the oncoming barrels.  The driver of the cart was thrown out of his seat as his horses went wild and bolted down the street.  His cargo unfortunately was casks of heavy liquid that were hurtling towards children playing in the street.  Everyone reacted at once.  Shinlaiden ran towards the kids while Sam tried to stop the horses from trampling any other innocents.  The burly man did manage to save one child from injury, but he could not rescue the other from a broken leg caused by the heavy barrel.  As soon as the danger was over, the parents of the children ran up to Shinlaiden and Monsette to retrieve them.  Everything instantly went back to the way it was…like no one had seen anything.  Monsette was livid!  The driver of the cart nearly killed two innocent children and he didn’t even apologize for his negligence!  Monsette was about to grab the nearest pedestrian and demand what was going on when he spotted a child scowling at him from across the street.  He was obviously a noble of some sort from the way he dressed: black and white finery.  All time seemed to slow...the boy and the man simply looked at one another.  A group of revelers unconcerned with the chaos passed between them laughing…once they had passed, the boy was gone.  Monsette continued to stare at the spot where the boy was.“What should we do Monsette,” Raul asked.“Nothing…no one cares anyway,” Monsette replied sourly.The group moved quickly to make up for lost time.  I want answers!  This had better be worth it!</blockquote>

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