Session 44 – You don’t want to meet the thing that goes bump in this night
Alexis
My eyes quickly adjusted to the oppressive gloom and I surveyed my surroundings. Shadows crept across craggy landscape. Blackened trees reached their clawed limbs toward dark skies. An eclipsed sun peeked out around the edges of a shadowed moon, its tendrils stretching out and under and around everything from one horizon to the other.
The Cerberus looked at me and I at it. "FUCK!!" I fell into the dust, dragging nails through rotten soil as I narrowly escaped its snapping jaws. In the distance, I could see dead trees rising out of barren dirt. If I made it to the tree line, the monstrosity would be slowed more than me. My legs opened up into my widest gait and arms pumped as I screamed for my life and sprinted full-force toward sanctuary. Its thunderous paws shook the ground, the impact of each headlong step like the stride of an angry storm giant. Only there were four of them.
I tripped on the uneven rocks; tumbled loose to bounce around in the dirt by the mountain of death hot on my heel. A coarse gash opened on my knee as I barely caught myself. Fucking ouch. That's totally not fair! I'm a wandering and lost soul, I shouldn't be able to feel pain like that. And yet, it hurt like every other time in my life. So then, deal with the now, and whine about it later.
Like the gates of Helm's Deep, I slipped between the cover of blessed trees just as massive claws tore through bark and pulp as if they were wet tissue paper. I squealed and scrambled, my own lesser infernal claws scraping at everything around me as I pushed and propelled myself off the trees; pinballing my way deeper and darker into what I hoped was not a haunted forest. Fresh on my trail, I could hear the lumbering Cerberus crashing through trees and underbrush, sending large rocks flying uncomfortably close to my head.
A sheer rock face of jagged obsidian rose up out of the trees in front of me and extended in every direction. I skidded to a violent stop, heart pounding and pulse racing. Shit. Trapped. Left and right. No hiding places; nowhere to run. My back pressed against the rock. I prepared to face Oblivion. The Cerberus came charging through the trees; silver eyes gleaming with hunger and sharp teeth dripping saliva. Its breath smelled of... actually, nothing. I giggled uncontrollably as the tension and nerves broke me. It made sense that the beastie didn't have bad breath, it eats spirits! My sides started to hurt as I bent over double, laughing myself to tears.
Three heads as one tilted in confusion as the Hellish monstrosity paused and stared down at me. I pulled myself together and returned the stare, although awkwardly, because I didn't know which head to focus on so I just looked at the middle one. "Hello. How's things as a big fuck-off monstrosity? Eat any tasty souls lately? What does a soul taste like? I gotta imagine it's kinda something like a marshmallow?"
Seemingly no longer sufficiently perplexed by my spiritual energy, the dog lunged with snapping jaws and razor-sharp teeth. Whelp, my momma didn't raise no bitch. I dug deep, deep down to where I imagined my Precepts sat and grabbed ahold of those little orbs. They're little glowing orbs in my imagination, okay. Like Materia or something.
My hand rose sharply between us and I barked. "HEEL!" It whimpered and yelped, skidding to a stop in the dirt before me. The Cerberus bowed its faces low and covered two snouts with its paws. "G-good.. uh, boy or girl?" It lifted a hind leg. I peeked and then sucked in my lip. "Ooooookay. Um... g-good for you! Uh, good boy." I patted him on the middle head. "Okay then. I made friends with a Hellbeast. Just a typical.. uh, I want to say Saturday?" He started panting as I scritched him behind an ear and his tails wagged. "So, we're friends now?" The monstrosity, who seemed somehow a lot more cute and fluffy now, barked and dragged a large spongy tongue over my face.
"I'm gonna call you Cerbe. Is that okay?" One head nodded, followed by the second, and finally the third. "Alright then. I'm guessing your tails need more time to recharge after three rapid shifts?" His head bobbed again. "Well, let's take a look around, I guess." We followed the obsidian wall until the forest thinned. And now, I was a lost soul wandering blindly through the Shadow Falls with my Hellbeast companion. What even is life. But hey, at least I was still alive. Wait. At least I still existed. Oh fuck, I can't eat, can I? That's a depressing thought. No more tiramisu, banana pudding, or macaroni and cheese casseroles. Oh shit.. I'd never lose my virginity.
The trees gave way to a walking path which we followed for an amount of time that was impossible to track. I looked up at the eclipsed sun that hadn't moved an inch in the sky; it still hung low and dark, the same as when I arrived. The path led to a small town. Single-story clay-brick buildings were leaning dangerously on either side of the dirt path. This place was in serious need of some repairs and fresh paint.
Cerbe gave a nervous and inquisitive growl. I shrugged my shoulders. "I've never been here, either. This place has been on the decline for quite a while judging by the disrepair and.. stench." I pinched my nose and tried to breathe through my mouth as we walked into the town. The Hellbeast huffed and shook all three heads in agreement.
A large ominous looking mansion menacingly rose up at the rear of the town, seemingly trying to strike out at the low-hanging sun. I looked at Cerbe and he looked at me. "Vampires?"
"Rawr!"
"Yeah, that's what I figured. Let's uh.. let's tread softly." All around us, I realized that the doors were closed and the window shutters stood shuttered. "Hmm. We may have arrived at a bad time." Hooking a thumb over my shoulder, I gestured to the rear of the closest building. Cerbe nodded and we padded over as quietly as a girl and her ten foot tall Hellbeast could. We had barely gained cover of the building when our eyes were drawn up by screeching and flapping. A swarm of bats flew into the middle of town, and with a dark shimmer of magic, took the form of a tall pale humanoid with red eyes and jagged ears.
That's a vampire. Specifically, Viscount Mordrakk, unless my guess was very far off. Shit.