Some years later, I came upon a castle far from my original home. I wanted to see who lived there and perhaps find a new home, but I knew I must observe for a while first. I watched for a few nights, and I soon knew that it was a king who resided here. There were guards posted everywhere, but I was careful enough that they never saw me. On the third night I was there, I witnessed a slaughter, the likes of which I haven't seen since. Three creatures approached the castle in the early morning, but I could not make out exactly what they were. They had large claws and resembled animals in the way they moved, which led me to believe they bore some relation to the wolf-like being I had seen long ago, but they were nowhere near that size. They crept into the castle, and though the guards tried to stop them, they were relentless in their attack, and within minutes I heard no more screams. The silence was eerie and discomforting, but I stayed on out of curiosity. After a while, they came back outside and began devouring the bodies they had left in their wake, but it wasn't long before something else happened.
Several people came wandering out of the forest by the castle, dressed in clothing I did not recognize. One appeared to be quite young, and there was apparently a leader to this party. He was in front, walking with an air of pride I recognized from my days of servitude: Reinhardt had walked much like this. They were talking as they approached the moat, but I didn't recognize the language they spoke. It was somewhat like mine, but there were a great many words I did not know. The creatures inside heard this, and two of them sank into the ground. The other hid himself in the shadows, waiting. The leader of the new party made a motion and the chains of the drawbridge disappeared, causing it to fall. They crossed, and as they were surveying the surroundings, the creature came at them. I saw another person appear from out of the shadows within the party, but he was grotesque, reminding me somewhat of myself, but he was made of flesh. They fought, and two fell before the creature was vanquished. The party then went inside, and I stayed to watch for a few years after this incident. I decided these people were definitely not mortal. The leader used some sort of magic, which reminded me of earlier days, but I decided that perhaps all vampires of this nature were not like the master had been. After a while, I did not see the grotesque one anymore, but the young one spent her time in one of the towers, always watching.
Eventually, I decided I would try my luck with these vampires. I had come this far by trusting my instincts, and they now told me to take this chance, and so I did. The girl saw me as I approached, and she was the one who answered the front door when I knocked. She was startled by my appearance, but she bid me to enter. I spoke with the leader, who had now taken the place of the king here. He was indeed a user of magic as the master had been, but he seemed reasonable, and I offered my services in return for hospitality. Once again I found myself in the service of a Tremere, but I was not bound to this man, as he did not seek to enslave me. I spent some time familiarizing myself with my new home, which was somewhat smaller than Reinhardt's abode. I found it humorous that a king did not have a much larger place to live, but then again, the master had always been vain. I told the party about my plans to return and defeat my old master, and thatI wished to free the other gargoyles enslaved there. Damien, the Tremere, seemed to express a great deal of interest in dealing with this as soon as possible. As soon as I mentioned it, his face lit up like none I had ever seen before, but we had to wait for some time before we could embark on our journey. He had taken up the role of king here, and his rule was not properly established.
Old
Flames Extinguished
Two years later, we left the castle for London. I had come to find out that I had wandered all the way to Italy, so our trip would take a month or two. We went to the nearby harbor, where Damien did something quite odd. He performed some sort of spell on the water, out of which a ship arose. I was astonished by this display, as I had never seen magic put to good use before now. He then gathered a crew, obviously using some sort of vampire power to do so, as they seemed in some sort of trance. We set sail, but unfortunately we would not make it to London without trouble. We were close when it happened, and the light from the city was on the horizon. The ship was suddenly rocked by some unseen force, nearly knocking me off my feet. I sprang from the cargo hold, where I had been staying, and the vessel was struck again, this time harder, and I lost my footing. I was back up in a split second, just in time to see an enormous serpent rise from the water.
Some of the others seemed helpless with their weapons: the serpent was easily a good fifteen or twenty feet from the ship. The girl nocked an arrow and fired upon it, but the arrow shattered on impact, and another vampire summoned shadowy tentacles to hit the monster. I spent this time getting airborne, but being absent-minded as I sometimes am, I took off toward the creature, and it struck me with such force that I was nearly knocked from the sky. I barely retained my composure, but I knew it would not be hitting me again. I struck it, using my small claws to dig into its scaly flesh. I got a good hit on it, but I knew it would take much more to take it down. I saw the others hide behind the masts, which I did not see as cowardice by any means, as they were powerless at such a range. Damien, however, found a method of hitting the beast. He used his magic to bend a mast over and bash it over the head, which did little damage, but at least it was an attempt. One of the others then made a large orb of shadow around the serpent, which frightened it, causing it to go to the other side of the ship. Damien seemed frustrated by this, and he bent the mast over to the other side, once again striking the creature, though it seemed unharmed by it. I had managed to hit the beast another time, but I did little. One of the other vampires then made a brave move: he ran up the bent mast, striking the creature with all his might. Its scaly skin was rent asunder by the force of his blow, and it fell into the water, emitting a shriek as it was vanquished. He fell also, and Damien constructed a ladder with his magic to help the vampire back up. The serpent's tail made one final strike at him, but he retained his footing and climbed up.
We docked in the bay there, and I told Damien where we needed to go. I hid myself with one of my powers, and we called for a coach to transport us to the castle, which was some distance outside of London near another village. Alas, this trip was also interrupted by something before we arrived. After a few hours, the carriage sped up suddenly, then caught on fire. We exited with much haste, and we were just in time to see a few mortals wielding bows fall to the ground, struck down by some unseen force. I took to the air, and I caught a glimpse of something flying past me, but I could not make it out. Suddenly, Damien was taken aback by some force, and the figure of a wraith appeared in front of him. It had its hand inside his chest, as if it were trying to rip his very soul from his body, and he was taken to a knee by the next blow. One of the others, Carlos I believe, struck it with claws I had seen the likes of before, long ago when these people had first appeared. The spirit vanished, and after Damien healed himself and we all fed, we continued toward Reinhardt's castle. We arrived in the early morning, and Damien wanted to have a chat with Reinhardt before we killed him. I reminded all of them that the gargoyles were not to be killed, and they went on their way. I stayed behind, as I would most definitely be recognized and attacked on sight. They returned some time later, and Damien said that he was told to return on the following night, so we found a place to stay.
The next night, they went in once again, and I watched from quite a distance. I longed to be in there, for I wished to take Reinhardt's unlife with my own clenched fists, but I had to wait. After a while, the others called to me, and I went to see what was the matter. When I inquired about the happenings of the last few minutes, Damien informed me that Reinhardt was indeed dead. I was disappointed that I had not been able to perform this task myself, but I thanked him nonetheless. We searched the castle for quite some time, but my friends were nowhere to be found. I fear they may have been taken by someone else, once again forced into slavery, but I have hopes that perhaps they escaped and found a place far from here to call home. We returned to Italy, once again by water, and another attack was made, this time by two of the sea serpents we had encountered before. I, however, was asleep in the hold when this happened. I regret not being able to help the others, as I later found out they were nearly defeated. We arrived home, however, and I returned to my usual vigil, keeping watch for any suspicious happenings about the castle.
