Thousand Year Old Vampire- a play through

[hawkeyefan]

THE VAMPIRE CHARACTER SHEET

Name: Eadric Streona

Memories

Memory 1: I am Eadric, eighth child of my house

• My father is a minor noble of the middlelands; my ambition is stronger than my station, and I will take what I can from this life
• I abandon the name Eadric, and assume the identity of Colum of Orkney, a Scottish noble visiting Boulogne in Flanders.
• .

Memory 2:

• My skill for subterfuge and intrigue are recognized, and I’m placed in command of a company of soldiers nominally tasked with defending the realm, but our true task is eliminating the king’s political enemies.
• I kill Sigefirth, my closest confidante, before he can betray me and reveal my true nature.
• .

Memory 3:

• I'm named Earl of Merica, in the middlelands; I bring my task of recognizing and eliminating the king’s opponents to a larger stage.
• I am forced to flee Lundenburh, forfeiting my title and authority.
• After being humbled by Wulfstan, I agree to leave England.

Memory 4:

• I marry Eadgyth, the daughter of King Aethelred’s sister; her dowry makes me rich, and allows me to continue my work on the king’s behalf.
• After my encounter with Aija, I find myself changed, and upon returning home to my wife, I'm overcome with a bloodlust and I drain Eadgyth.
• I have Sigefirth dispose of Eadgyth's body, and then use her disappearance to convince the King that his enemies are growing bolder; he urges us to double our efforts to root out his enemies.

Memory 5:

• I am seduced by Aija and corrupted into something both more and less than a man; she wants me to betray my kinsmen to the Danish Prince, Cnut.
• I recall the encounter more clearly, and realize that my victims will be left with incomplete recollections of the feeding as long as I only drink a little.
• In the town of Twywell, I learn from Wulfstan the name for what I am: vampire. He shares much of what it means to be a vampire.

Skills

• Cunning Insight
• Manipulation
• I never take blame
• Bloodthirsty
• (X) Slake Subtly
• Vampiric Sense
• I know my place as an immortal

Resources

• A group of loyal armsmen
• Title, Earl of Mercia
• A stash of plundered gold

Mortals

• Aethelric Streona, my father, a minor noble of the middlelands; he thinks highly of his middling accomplishments; he loves my oldest siblings, but had little time for me
• King Aethelred, my liege, a fool who does not deserve his crown; he is called the Unready for a reason, he is not capable of dealing with the threats that face Briton
• Eadgyth, niece of Aethelred, I married her for political gain; she is fair enough and kind, but it is her family’s power that I need
• Sigefirth of the Seven Burghs, a member of my armsmen and my right hand; when I feed too greatly he disposes of the bodies
• Cnut, a Danish Prince who seeks power in Britain, he wants to marshal allies
• Edmund, called Ironside, son of Aethelred and crown prince; he is what holds this crumbling kingdom together

Immortals

• Aija, a member of the court of the Danish Prince Cnut; she is mysterious and strange, often said to be a witch
• Hemminge, spymaster of Prince Edmund; his connection to Aija is uncertain, and his true aims unknown
• Wulfstan, an ancient vampire of great strength, existing alone in the town of Twywell, he taught me about vampires and commanded me to leave England after I attempted to betray him

Mark

• In the light of the day, my shadow behaves randomly, often in ways that betray how I truly feel about others; I avoid going out in the day, and when I must I take measures to try and cast no shadow.
• I have an aversion to religious symbols and ceremony.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Prompt 15 B

An immortal proves to be much more than they appear. Check a Skill or else lose a Resource or Memory. Gain a Resource or Skill.

It was not long until I learned how vulnerable a vampire could be. Of course, it was not Wulfstan who proved vulnerable.

A month after departing Twywell, I had traveled north toward York. Too many in York would know me, so I stopped in a small town south of York. I was debating heading north into Scotland, or perhaps crossing the channel to Frankia. I had sufficient gold to buy passage for myself and my thralls, and I grew weary of the lingering considerations of my mortal life.

It was then that Wulfstan struck. I didn't even sense him coming. I had taken rooms at an inn, and was indulging in a drink of the innkeeper's wife, when I became aware of a commotion in the common room. It was brief, and was followed by a knock on my chamber door. Wulfstan swept in, covered in the blood of my thralls.

I released the innkeeper's wife, who slumped to the floor in a daze. I stood, unsure of what to do.

Wulfstan merely smiled at me. My betrayal was neither surprising to him, nor harmful. He didn't even elaborate on how he dealt with the thegn and his men, it was that insignificant a problem for him. He explained to me that he was centuries old, much older than he'd previously led me to believe, and his abilities were vast and potent. Dealing with mortals was trivial to him. Dealing with young vampires such as me, was only slightly less so.

"You are to me," he said, and gestured to the young woman struggling to rise, "as they are to you."

It was a sobering moment. So much of what was happening to me was unclear, but this dynamic was familiar. I'd been dealing with similar structures all my life. I acknowledged his standing above me, and blamed my betrayal on ignorance. I'd seen enough men beg for mercy to know how it was done.

And he gave it to me. But first, he drank my blood as I drank of the mortals. It was an overwhelming experience, I could feel whatever vitality I still had flowing into him. Mere drops into a vast pool of centuries.

When he'd had his fill, he dropped me to the floor beside the woman.

He told me to leave England. To go somewhere new, so that I could begin my new existence in earnest. England, he said, was his.

**********************
Resource Lost: A group of loyal armsmen
Gained Skill: I know my place as an immortal
Added to Wulfstan's entry; noted he is an ancient vampire of great strength
Added Experience to Memory 3:

• After being humbled by Wulfstan, I agree to leave England.

I re-posted the character sheet at the top of this page for ease of reference, and also edited the original to match.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Clearly the idea of posting almost daily was a bit optimistic. I also am amazed at how often I wind up interrupted once I start a post.

 

[hawkeyefan]

Prompt 24

You are forced to adopt a new name. Why?

After being humbled by Wulfstan, I crossed the channel into the land of the Franks. I lingered in Flanders for some time. I wandered the countryside like a vagabond, secluding myself from the mortal folk, except when I felt the urge to feed. I lived that way for a time... how long, I cannot rightly say. My sense of time was becoming capricious.

After some time had passed, I felt the need to be among people again. I spent my time in isolation imagining a new beginning for myself, here among folk who'd never heard of Eadric of Streona. In my mortal life, I'd managed to rise to a place of prominence mostly through sheer determination. How much further could I climb given my new abilities?

I replenished my dwindling supply of gold by waylaying merchants on the road. With my powers, it was easy to enthrall the mortals and take their coin. But it felt somehow beneath me... banditry no matter how you dress it up. Still, a necessary evil in order to create for myself a new identity. One that would allow me to fit into mortal society.

I purchased some finery and took on some new thralls to serve as my retainers. So it was that I arrived in the city of Boulogne as Colum of Orkney, a minor Scottish noble.

I felt invigorated at the idea of a new beginning. I would see what this new city... this new existence... had to offer.

***********************************
Added Experience to Memory 1:

• I abandon the name Eadric, and assume the identity of Colum of Orkney, a Scottish noble visiting Boulogne in Flanders.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Clearly the idea of posting almost daily was a bit optimistic. I also am amazed at how often I wind up interrupted once I start a post.

I'm absolutely loving the creativity.
It has been far too long since someone wrote a story I followed on Enworld about a character named Eadric.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I have a question for you, @hawkeyefan, is there any particular rhyme or reason to your allocation of Experiences to Memories? It sort of seems like you're just trying to avoid replacing a memory with a new one at this point. It feels like there might be more RP value in doing it in a more structured/logical manner (IE like a specific memory might relate to a certain topic, or a certain time period, something like that). Then when you get into forgetting there would probably be more logical coherence to the fact that you have, say forgotten who your family was.

 

[hawkeyefan]

I have a question for you, @hawkeyefan, is there any particular rhyme or reason to your allocation of Experiences to Memories? It sort of seems like you're just trying to avoid replacing a memory with a new one at this point. It feels like there might be more RP value in doing it in a more structured/logical manner (IE like a specific memory might relate to a certain topic, or a certain time period, something like that). Then when you get into forgetting there would probably be more logical coherence to the fact that you have, say forgotten who your family was.

That’s valid and something I’d noticed a bit. It was not intentional. And I tried to group them in a logical way, but sometimes the connections seem nebulous at best. I think I need to give each memory a kind of category; the book is explicit about doing so for the first memory which kind of summarizes who you are, but less clear about subsequent memories. I should have just added it and it would have made things clearer as I played through.

I plan on picking this back up soon (I’m amazed it’s been over three weeks since my last post), I’ve just been incredibly busy at work, which is normally when I tend to have time to post. I think I'll be proceeding soon. Maybe I'll look at the memories and see if I can organize them a bit better. At this point, there's almost no chance I can avoid losing a memory soon, so it may make sense to do that when I resume.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

That’s valid and something I’d noticed a bit. It was not intentional. And I tried to group them in a logical way, but sometimes the connections seem nebulous at best. I think I need to give each memory a kind of category; the book is explicit about doing so for the first memory which kind of summarizes who you are, but less clear about subsequent memories. I should have just added it and it would have made things clearer as I played through.

I plan on picking this back up soon (I’m amazed it’s been over three weeks since my last post), I’ve just been incredibly busy at work, which is normally when I tend to have time to post. I think I'll be proceeding soon. Maybe I'll look at the memories and see if I can organize them a bit better. At this point, there's almost no chance I can avoid losing a memory soon, so it may make sense to do that when I resume.

Thanks for the feedback.

This is a great thread! I love the idea of this game, and I think you did it quite well. I may have to go buy a copy, lol. A whole slew of ideas occurred to me, which is cool.

 

[Fenris-77]

This is a great thread! I love the idea of this game, and I think you did it quite well. I may have to go buy a copy, lol. A whole slew of ideas occurred to me, which is cool.

It's a fine place to work on narrative and whatnot without all those smelly inconvenient players getting in the way.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'm currently 12 days into my first run-through of Thousand Year Old Vampire, doing one turn a day. It's been really interesting, with NPCs showing up when I wasn't interested in new ones arriving, only to be yanked away from my vampire too soon.

My vampire has just started losing some of his key memories -- his own name and pre-vampire life now only exist as a record in his diary, and if he loses that, that's all lost to him.

It's also been interesting seeing what I've had to learn about through Wikipedia and the broader internet in the course of my vampire's first 150 years of life. There's the Heresy of Orleans, the names of medieval Catholic demons, ships of the early middle ages and the (weirdly under-discussed) Muslim empire that stretched across much of Southern Europe and life in medieval Portugal.

I have some general ideas for the next time an immortal NPC shows up -- there were some bloody days in France that cleared out all of the supporting characters in a few rounds of play -- but I have no idea what the future holds for this character, who's now on his third name and no longer remembers being called by his original one.

Based on the prompt numbers, I'm about a third of the way through his story, although the way the dice go, he's gone backwards and stayed still more than once, so he could easily live far longer than usual with "bad" rolls of the dice.

His story is a little darker and more violent than the ones on this thread, so once his story is over, I'll probably post it as a single Actual Play thread with warnings that it's rated with a soft R.