Latest / Story Games / Episode 25: Thousand Year Old Vampire pt 3 FIXED
Transcript
- 25 PODCAST TYOV Ep 3: Friends, and welcome back to Story Games, a podcast all about your favorite narrative-driven games. My name is Momo and I will be your host. Today we are continuing our playthrough of Thousand Year Old Vampire, and today is exciting because we're actually getting into the gameplay. If you have not gone back and watched the first few episodes of Thousand Year Old Vampire, I highly recommend you do so, otherwise you might be a little bit lost. But yes, today we are playing the game, and I am so excited to see where our vampire takes us. Without further ado, here is Thousand Year Old Vampire Episode 3. Hello friends, and welcome back to Heart of the Dearnicorn and welcome back to Thousand Year Old Vampire. We are actually getting into the gameplay today. Now that we have set up our game, we have done character creation, we have our character, we're ready to actually begin playing the game, which is very exciting. But for a little recap, let's go over who our character is. I've got my journal here. And I did tell you guys last time that I would be drawing my character, and I have. So this is our lovely Guinevere. She is in full vampire form in this picture that I drew of her. But yeah, I wanted to draw her, so I did. I really like how she came out. I think she looks like a spooky vampire, which is exactly what I was going for, so I'm pretty happy. Let's go through some of her skills and memories and resources just to kind of refresh both you and also myself. So for skills, we've got gossip slash strategy because she is the lady in waiting to a princess. We've got horseback riding and we've got dancing. For resources, we've got a jewel necklace, a chainmail pouch, and a bone letter opener that's kind of like a dagger, but you know, ladylike because she's a lady in waiting. You can't just give a lady a dagger, God. Then we've got some characters that we know. We have Princess Sabine, who is our friend and also the princess to our lady in waiting. She is naive and kind-hearted. We've also got Sir Noel, who is our lover, a chivalrous knight and a hopeless romantic, who we may be breaking hearts here. We've got Alice, our cousin, who is motherly and looks out for Guinevere. And then we've got Dimitri, our immortal. The one person we trusted who broke our trust and turned us into an immortal vampire. And if I remember correctly, we were supposed to marry Dimitri. he proposed marriage, but before we could get married, he turned us into a vampire, hoping that we would be, you know, together forever. and it turns out that actually Guinevere hates him now and hates being a vampire, and it has made it her sole mission in unlife. To exact her revenge. Fun. For marks, we've got blood red eyes that reflect like a cat. And remember, marks are the things that physically show up on our vampire to prove that they're a vampire, basically. So it's like, you know, things that that show that they are not quite human. Memory number one, I am Guinevere, lady in waiting to Princess Sabine of Wales, born in the 14th century. I am an ambitious woman with many suitors. Memory two, Alice gifts me a beautiful jewel necklace to celebrate my coming of age. It shows how much she cares for me. Memory three: I compete in a horse riding competition and win a sharp letter opener with a bone handle. My bond with my horse is stronger than any of my human relationships. Memory four. At my first ball, I dance so beautifully that Sir Noel notices and immediately professes his love for me. I find him amusing so I keep him close, but never too close. And memory five. Dimitri proposed my hand in marriage, and when I accepted, he cursed me by attacking me with his teeth and nails until I too became an immortal vampire. He fled when I became murderously enraged. So he's still out there. We've got a diary that we can put memories into. And then we've got our character portrait. Yay! So we are ready to begin playing the game. So I'm gonna turn to a new page. And then I think I'm just gonna start writing. I don't think I'm gonna do any kind of decorative border or anything. I think I want the writing part to just be writing. Mainly because I'm excited to get into the game and I just wanna start playing. So I'm gonna put my journal to the side for just a moment. And I'm gonna get the game book out. Okay, I'm also just reminding myself exactly on the diary mechanic, so I'm gonna read through that a little bit. so a diary can hold up to four of your vampires' memories. Diaries are physical objects that are added to the resource list. You may freely create a diary whenever you need to move a memory into it. it can be lost. When that happens, strike out the memories in it. A memory that is placed in the diary is no longer in the vampire's head. It exists only in the diary, and the vampire accepts whatever is written as truth. So I think that's a fun mechanic where our character can kind of bend the truth even to herself. She can be a bit of an unreliable narrator, if we wish, by writing whatever she wants in the diary and then accepting that as truth later on. So I think that's a really cool mechanic that I definitely want to take advantage of. Once a memory has been transferred to a diary, you may not add any further experiences to that memory. So that is also good to know. We will start adding things to our diary when we start filling up our memories with experiences. Do do do do do do do. Okay, perfect. So when we create a diary, give it a short description and add it to the resource list. I will do that when we actually start moving things into the diary, because I think that would make more sense. Cool. Okay, so now we're gonna actually start getting into gameplay. it says to review, so I'm gonna read through our review too, just because I forgot exactly what we're doing. Okay, so start counting up prompt one on the next page, subtract a d6 from a d10 and move that many prompts. I do have my dice right here. A positive number moves you forwards and a negative number moves you backwards. You may not move backwards past prompt one, just encounter one again. A zero keeps you on the same prompt. When you land on a prompt, resolve your first entry at the top of the page. If you land on a prompt again, you resolve the next entry for that prompt. If you've landed in a prompt three times and encountered all three entries, skip to the next prompt. So we're going to go to the prompt pages. my gosh, this is so exciting. Okay, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. And I'm gonna roll my dice. Subtract D6 from a D ten, so eight minus two is six. So I move forward six. Do I count number one? Okay, I'm gonna move forward six, which will bring us to seven. So one, two, three, four, five, and six. Boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boop boo. So our first prompt: your body manifests some trait related to the vampire that created you. How do you become more like them? Create a skill that reflects this. Ooh, okay, fun. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. we're getting into games. we're playing the game. that to the side and get my journal out in front of me. I've got my nice juicy pen. Your body manifests some trait related to the vampire that created you. How do you become more like them and create a skill that reflects this? I think the trait that I get to make me more like the vampire is a bloodthirstiness. That's a pretty obvious one, but I think that's one that's gonna be important. so we crave blood now, part of being a vampire. And how do we become more like them? Is we are insatiably thirsty. And we gain a skill, the hunting skill, I'm gonna say. and we start hunting animals first because we don't know yet that we can hunt humans. we just crave blood, and because we're still kind of in this weird in-between brain of a human but body of a vampire, we're like, animals. I will just I will eat animals because that's going to cure my bloodthirstiness. does it work? No, I don't think so. Maybe it satiates her a little bit, but not quite. So I'm going to write about that and then I'm gonna come back and tell you guys what I wrote. Okay, my friends, here is what I have written down. I awake after some time. My memory is hazy, foggy like the early morning. I remember flashes from last night, sharp teeth at my throat, claws around my wrists. Dimitri, no longer the handsome man I once knew, now some kind of monster. Rage fills me when I think of him. Rage and something else. It's at this moment that I realize how thirsty I am. A thirst like nothing I've ever experienced eats at my insides. My hands curl into fists as I claw at the dirt under me. I must find something to quench this terrible feeling. I writhe and cry until out of the corner of my eye I spot movement. Faster than I ever thought myself capable, I launch myself onto a rabbit. Trigger warning animal death. Its death was quick as I sink my newly sharpened teeth into its soft neck and I drink. Hot blood fills my mouth and I come to the realization that I too am a monster, just like Dimitri. And then I gained the skill hunting. We did it! We're a vampire! We're playing the game! Okay, so I'm going to write down my new skill in my skills column. Skills, skills, skills. So we're going to write down hunting. And then did write down that I gained the skill hunting too, just so I can kind of keep track of like what we do with our with our game. Okay, so I think we're ready to move on to the next prompt. Okay, so we're on prompt seven, we're gonna roll the dice. Five minus two is three, so we're gonna move backwards three. So one, two, three. We are on number four. And it says, you are exposed and flee to a neighboring region. Lose any stationary resources. No, check a skill. Immortal fleas with you. What new name do you adopt among these strangers? Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. Okay, that sucks. Cause we lose any stationary resources. I don't know if we have any stationary resources. I think all of our resources can come with us. So that's good. But I do need to check a skill. Ooh, okay, I think the skill we can check is horseback riding because maybe we flee on horseback. And then what mortal flees with you? Probably our cousin Alice. Because Sabine can't come with us. We don't really like Sernel that much. so Alice is the only one that can come with us. And Alice is the only one who probably would come with us, honestly. Do I tell Alice? Well, we are exposed. So Alice does know I'm a vampire, but Alice loves me anyway. okay, there's a lot here. There's a lot to write down. So I'm going to I'm going to write and then I'm going to come back. Okay. I actually did forget a step. We need to create an experience and we need to put that experience inside of a memory. So I'm gonna get my journal back out for a second. So the experience needs to slot into a memory that makes sense. They need to kind of coexist. And luckily I do have memory five, which is when Dimitri turned me into a vampire. So that slots really nicely right underneath it. That I experience bloodlust for the first time. Okay, so I wrote down under memory five, I awake to find myself bloodthirsty for the first time, I kill and eat a rabbit. So I think that is good. So I believe unless otherwise stated, every prompt will create an experience. And we can have up to three experiences per memory, and then once those fill up, we'll have to start crossing out memories. E, but then we do have the journal or the diary, and we can put them in a diary as well for the really important ones. So Okay, cool. So we are exposed and flee to a neighboring region, lose any stationary resources, check a skill, immortal fleas with you. What new name do you adopt among these strangers? I need to give myself a new name, that's kinda fun. Maybe one day I'll forget what my original name was. that's interesting. Okay, so the first thing I'm going to do is check a skill. So we are going to check horseback riding. Let's put a big check here. Check it. Once the skill is checked, we cannot use it again unless otherwise stated. I'm not sure if we can uncheck skills. I'm not sure if that's a mechanic. But we can't use that again. So okay. So I have to establish quite a few things with this prompt. I have to establish we are exposed, we flee, we use a skill, a mortal flees with me, and then we get a new name. Okay, let's do all that. I'm gonna be gone for a minute. I'll be right back. Okay, I wrote quite a bit, so I'm going to read it all to you, so let's do this. I leave a trail of dead animals in my wake as I find myself returning to the castle, my home, my sanctuary. Surely someone here can help me with this terrible curse. I shuffle forward through the gate, hiding my face from the sleeping guard. As I pass him, an odd feeling comes over me. I approach his unconscious form, my hands reaching for him. I lower my teeth to his neck. I can feel the blood under his skin gently pulsing. It would be delicious, I realize. This is what would satiate my thirst. This is what I need, what I crave. I'm about to pierce his soft flesh with my teeth when I hear a shrill scream. A passing milkmaid has spotted me mid-bite. She drops her milk pails and flees further into the castle grounds, shouting the word vampire. My entire body goes cold. Vampire. I am a vampire. There is no cure for me save a stake through the heart. I'm frozen for just a moment before I start to run. Inhuman speed carries me to my bedchamber and I collide with someone. She goes flying, sprawled out on the floor. For a moment I'm overcome with thirst again, that horrible, terrible thirst. Then I hear a small, scared voice say, Gwenny, is that you? The nickname only one person was ever allowed to call me, Alice. I suddenly feel the urge to cry, but no tears fill my eyes. Instead I say Yes. We stare at each other for a moment. I reach out a hand and she flinches, eyes wide. I retract my hand, hiding my newly sharpened claws and my bloodied skirts. I need to go, I tell her. I'll come with you, was her immediate reply. I open my mouth to protest and she cuts me off, saying, I promised your mother I would protect you, and I failed. I'm coming with you now, and I won't abandon you. Not like this. I sob, still no tears roll down my face. I explain to her my run in with the milkmaid and we start to pack our clothes. I notice her face goes visibly pale when I tell her about how I almost drank from the guard, but she says nothing. I don't ask her if she knows what I am. I don't want to know the answer. In the morning fog we saddle up our horses and flee. I don't know where we're going or where we'll end up. I try to ignore the gnawing thirst inside of me as we ride. My name is Margaret, she says after a while. I am your maid, and you are a French noblewoman. Marie, I say. Yes, Marie. We will start over. Your French is good. We will be fine. We will be fine. So that's where we are. my gosh. Okay, I am loving this. I am really, really loving this. I'm so excited. I think I will do one more prompt and then call it a video though. Okay, so let's roll again. So we are on number four, so we're going to roll. We have got six and six is zero, so we stay on the same prompt. You are adopted into a strange cult who take you in despite or because of your outlander origin, check a skill and create a resource, the secret cabal. How did they find you? What vile initiation ceremony do you undergo? Do they know what you are? Ooh, okay, this is so fun. Okay, ooh, I love cults. I love a secret cabal. Wait, this is so exciting. Okay, let me cook for a second. I think they definitely know I'm a vampire, and that's why they choose me to take me in. maybe they are some kind of vampire worshipers. And maybe the old vampire that they used to worship died somehow, and they were looking for a new vampire to kind of be their their you know object of worship. How did they find you? They found us on the trail, maybe. what vile initiation ceremony do they do you undergo? I definitely they give me like a sacrifice. Like that, that has to happen. They give me a sacrifice. It's the first time I've actually tasted human blood, and this is what cements, yes, I am a vampire. okay, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. And then I get a resource, which is the secret cabal. That's awesome. So now I'm traveling with this cult, is what I'm assuming. That's crazy. Did not expect that to happen. Cool. But I also have to check a skill again, which I don't love checking multiple skills. Do I check hunting? Is that how they find me? Is they find me hunting? That would make the most logical sense. I'm gonna do that. Okay. And then we also have to write down experience for our last prompt. So let me also do that. Okay, so this one actually does slot into memory too fairly easily. Alice gifts me a beautiful jewel necklace to celebrate my coming of age. It shows how much she cares for me. in that similar vein, she's showing how much she cares for me by accompanying me as a vampire to my new life. So I'm gonna write that under memory too. Okay, so I wrote down, when I become a vampire, Alice accompanies me on my journey to a new life, once again proving her love. Yes. And I'm already getting ideas for this like secret cult situation. Because of who my character is, I think she actually would love the fact that these vampire worshipers worship her. I think this is the start of her villain arc. because I don't want her to be a good person. I Don't want her, I think the kind of person who would have to thrive being a vampire and survive for a thousand years kind of has to be a horrible person. So I think this is going to be the start of that, of her realizing how powerful she is and how much power she can wield over people, and she likes that. So that's kind of the mindset I'm going into with this. Okay, I wrote a lot for that one, so prepare yourself. Also, trigger warning for murder? Yes. Okay, here we go. We were on a trail when they found us. I had taken some time to go hunting, both so Alice could eat and so I could drink. I was trying desperately to quench my thirst, especially when I found myself staring at the back of Alice's neck for a little too long. I was trailing a deer. The meal would make for an excellent stew, and the blood would satiate me for at least a day, maybe two. I was draining her blood when I heard a gasp from behind me. I whirled around, expecting to find Alice, and was instead met with a robed figure. A black shroud covered their face, and a strange emblem was chained around their neck. I waited for them to run screaming into the forest, but to my great shock, they fell to their knees instead. great one, they whispered, barely audible. Then they whistled, one loud rang into the forest, and half a dozen more shrouded figures emerged from the trees. Each one fell to their knees besides the first. We have been waiting for one such as you, the first figure spoke, pure reverence in their voice, for one to lead us again. Lead us, and we will be your faithful servants. We will You will want for nothing, for we will provide. Then one by one they bowed their heads to me. I was stunned. Speechless, I am a monster, but these people bowed before me were treating me like a god. A smile slowly made its way across my face. What can you offer me? Anything, everything. We only ask that you let us worship your dark power, O ancient one. Suddenly I realized that these people had no idea that I am not who they think I am. They must see me as a powerful immortal vampire, worthy of being worshipped. They didn't need to know that I've only been just turned. I approached the first figure and placed my hand upon their trembling head. You will provide everything I need. You will protect me and my mortal companion. You will not ask questions, and you will not disobey me. The figure in front of me began to cry. I allowed them a moment before I led them back to where Alice and the horses were waiting. Alice looked up from her pot of stew and let out a little scream. I smiled warmly at her. We really are going to be okay, I told her quietly. Then I turned toward the figures. You will protect this mortal with your lives, I told them. Alice stared, wide eyed and speechless. Her mouth opened and closed, but she couldn't seem to be able to form words. One of the figures approached me. great one, they started. Alice flinched, and I smiled. It is custom to pledge ourselves to you. We must perform the initiation ritual. Another figure approached, and I could see them beaming through their shroud. Without another word, the first figure brought forth an elaborately decorated dagger and slashed through the throat of the second. For you, great one, the figure said. I could hardly hear Alice's screams over the bloodlust that came over me. Without a second thought, I was crouched over the body of this sacrifice, hot blood filling my mouth. It was more delicious than anything I had ever tasted, more satisfying. Finally that horrible thirst inside me calmed. I giggled a little, suddenly very amused that I ever thought animal blood would suffice. No, human blood was the only thing that could ever quench my thirst. Yay! Plus, resource, the secret cabal. So here's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking that up until this point, Guinevere really thought that she could sustain herself on animal blood, and she was maybe a little bit in denial over the fact that she was actually a vampire, and now after. Getting this little rush of power and seeing, I am being treated as this ancient, immortal, powerful being, I kinda like that. And then after tasting the blood, she's like full in. Now she's like, no, I'm a vampire. I need human blood to live. And I have this this this cult of people who are going to do whatever I say. And she's absolutely going to abuse that power, which I'm very excited to explore. Okay, so now we need to write a memory, an experience, I mean. And I honestly don't think that any of this slots into any other memory. So I'm gonna have to cross out a memory. So I've got I Am Guinevere, Lady in Waiting. I'm gonna save that one. I might even put that one in the diary because I think it's important to know where we came from. Memory two is about Alice. Memory three is I compete in a horse riding competition and win a sharp letter opener. I think I have one. Yes, I have one about Sernel. Sir Knoll is gone. He is like long gone. So we're gonna cross that one out. Boop. And we're going to replace it with the first time we drank human blood. Okay. Okay, so here's what I wrote for our memory. I drink human blood for the first time, a sacrifice given to me by a band of devoted vampire worshippers. So we have forgotten Surnel, he is long gone, not even on our radar anymore, and we've replaced that memory with the first time that we've drunk human blood. Okay, cool. So that I think is where I'm going to end this session for today. We have completed a lot, we've become a vampire, we've had to flee, we have a cult of vampire worshippers who are going to accompany us wherever we go. I am so excited to see where I take this. Especially because now I'm leaning more into the I'm a bad guy kind of vibe. And I think that's gonna be really, really fun to explore. Plus, we can also start putting some of these memories into our diary eventually, which is gonna be a fun mechanic. So I'm excited to see where this takes us. My intention for this playthrough is for Guinevere to not necessarily be a good person or a good vampire. because I feel like The kind of person who thrives in a vampiric setting like the one I'm describing here, where it's a very Nosferatu vampire, very old school vampire, no Edward Collins ear. I feel like to thrive in that kind of environment, you gotta maybe not be a great person. You gotta be willing to kill, you gotta be willing to do what it takes to survive, which maybe doesn't make you the morally correct person, but We're gonna see where the story takes us. But without further ado, let us get into the next prompt. Let's see where Guinevere slash Marie, Alice, and now her cult go next. So I was on prompt number four on the second prompt. So we are going to roll our dice. So I got a two and a two. So I got the third prompt on number four, which is okay. I'm just gonna read it to you. The secret cabal, without your knowledge, performs a dark ceremony that changes a mortal character into a horrific alien and immortal thing. Convert a mortal character into an immortal enemy. What alien objectives does this new immortal pursue? Did the cabal manipulate you into helping with this creation? How does this change your relationship to the cabal? no, Alice. Okay, let me think for a second. So, okay. I kinda like the idea that maybe the Cabal knew she was a brand new vampire, and Guinevere originally thought, I'm being so smart because I'm pretending to be something that I'm not. Maybe she actually wasn't smart at all. Maybe she was very incorrect to trust this secret cabal right out the gate. and they take advantage of her naivete and turn Alice into some kind of thing. my god, some kind of like grotesque. I'm imagining zombie. I'm imagining they kill Alice. reanimate her corpse and she comes back as some hulking undead thing. And bop bop bop. What objectives does this new immortal pursue? I think she just wants to cause chaos and destruction, and maybe that's what the cabal is after. Like the secret cult does not want to worship an immortal thing. They just want to wreak havoc. On things and they just wanna they just wanna do bad stuff. and how does this change your relationship to the cabal? I still have them as a resource, which is interesting, like I don't lose them, but maybe I am wary of them for sure. Ooh, okay, I'm going to start writing and kind of see what comes up. And I will come back with an answer. boy. Okay, I wrote a lot. So settle in for a minute. I think I wrote like three pages. Here we go. It's a few nights later when it happens. We spend our days lurking in the shadows as we continue traveling south, avoiding sunlight whenever possible. My body increasingly reacts to direct exposure, burns manifesting whenever I'm out in it for too long. My loyal followers keep my thirst from growing by abducting anyone we encounter along the way. I begin to learn the easiest and cleanest methods for draining blood, sinking my teeth into the soft flesh of the neck until I've had my fill. Alice has been uncharacteristically quiet. She can't seem to look me in the eyes anymore, not since that first sacrifice. She rides behind me on her horse and flinches if I get too close. There is a part of me that is heartbroken over this, but the stronger part of me is almost indignant. I didn't ask to become like this. In fact, I didn't even ask her to come with me. I ride ahead, stewing with complicated emotions. We are alone one night, the cabal members off securing me my next meal. Alice turns to me, the firelight casting harsh shadows across her face. For the first time in days, she takes my hands and hers. We don't need these people, she tells me. I don't have a good feeling about them. They frighten me. Let us take our horses and head east. We will start over just the two of us. I pull my hands away, and who will find me blood to drink? I ask her. Will you? Will you do what needs to be done to sustain me? Her face pales. We will find you animals, she says weakly. I laugh. It's a hollow laugh that echoes off the trees around us. You naive fool, now that I've tasted human blood, I will never be satisfied by anything else. Tears well up in her eyes, and the cabal returns, an elderly man in their wake. Alice turns away while I feed. That same night I'm awakened by a scream. I rise from my bedroll and I'm surprised to see that I am alone. I hear another scream, panicked and guttural. Fear strikes my heart. Alice is gone too. Before I have time to think, I'm running through the forest. Branches tear through my skin as I frantically search for Alice, for the cabal, for anyone. I finally see the glow of a candle. I follow it into a clearing. A circle of candles surrounds a sprawled-out figure, Alice. I rush toward her. Only to be held back by a member of the cabal. Fury rushes through me. This pathetic creature thinks they can stop me. I bare my teeth and raise my hand to tear out their throat when a force brings me to my knees. I look up to find the leader of the cabal at Alice's head, a dark crystal in their fist. It was so easy, they say softly. A hand reaches down to caress Alice's face, and I snarl, an inhuman sound I've never made before. Do not touch her, I growl, an immovable force still bearing down upon my back. The leader looks at me then, and I see their eyes for their first time. Their hood falls away from their face, revealing slitted green eyes like that of a snake. Their head is bald, with crisscrossing scars marring their skin. Of all the immortals we've encountered, you have been the quickest to trust, the easiest to manipulate. Balthazar thanks you. With a flourish, they brandish a dagger and plunge it into Alice's heart. Dark smoke erupts from Alice's body. It clouds my vision completely. A hand suddenly grabs my chin and forces me to look upward. I see her then, her body contouring and writhing. Where once were legs was now a long scaled cord of muscle and scales. Her face, once beautiful, was now split, her mouth too wide and full of too many teeth. Fingers with razor sharp nails clawed at the ground. What have you done? I managed to whisper. The hand holding my face released me as the leader of the cabal entered my field of vision. Balthazar needed a host, they said, awe and reverence in their voice. So we've been slowly feeding this mortal your blood to weaken her body and spirit, the perfect vessel for our dark god Balthazar to return to us. I sobbed. Why her? Why us? The leader glanced at me then. You were so eager to believe us, so ready to be worshipped. So blinded by your own selfish self-importance. Why would we worship a fledgling immortal like yourself? No, our true God is all powerful and terrible, an unholy abomination like the world has never seen, and now she returns to us. I look at Alice once more. I failed her, I realize. This is my fault. The one person willing to risk everything to protect me, and I failed her. Balthazar looks back and smiles. So that happened. Alice is no more, and in her place is the dark god Balthazar, who in my brain is kind of like this snake god. so it kind of took over Alice's body, turned her into like a weird, horrible snake creature. I left this page blank because I actually want to draw Balthazar on this page. I think that could be really fun. And I have like a lot of cool ideas for what Balthazar looks like, so that is what I'm gonna do there. And yeah, that kinda sucks. That kind of sucks for for Guinevere. damn, that's brutal. Okay, so I'm going to go into my characters and I'm going to write a little note under Alice. Immortal Balthazar. Just so I can make a note. And we are going to continue on to our next prompt. Okay, so we are going to open up our book again and we are gonna go to the next prompt. So I'm gonna roll my dice. Six minus two, which is four, which is an even number, and we move forward four prompts. So, one, two, three, four. Okay. You are recognized for what you are by another creature like yourself. Create an immortal character, lose a resource, and gain a skill. What did you lose to them? Ooh, okay, okay, okay, okay. Let's see. I have to write a memory first. Or an experience under a memory. Probably should go under the Alice memory, right? Do I have an Alice memory? Yes. Unfortunately, that is going to be our last experience under memory number two. Okay, so I wrote, Alice is turned into a horrible creature, a vessel for the god Balthazar. So we have filled up our memory slot for memory number two. we've got Alice gifts me a beautiful jewel necklace to celebrate my coming of age. It shows how much she cares for me. When I become a vampire, Alice accompanies me on my journey to a new life, once again proving her love. And then Alice is turned into a horrible creature, a vessel for the god Balthazar. So that sucks. That sucks for Alice. That is unfortunate. Okay, so let me cook for a second. You're recognized but for what you are by another creature like yourself. Create an immortal character, lose a resource, and gain a skill. What did you lose to them? So let's look at our resources. Okay, we've got a jewel necklace, a chainmail pouch, a bone letter opener, and the secret cabal. I would like to get rid of the secret cabal. Okay, here's what I'm thinking. I think I flee the cabal because I am scared, and I make it to a town, and in that town I meet another vampire who teaches me how to sever the connection that I have with the cabal because we're still kind of tied somehow. Maybe there's some kind of like psychic bond happening. And I meet this vampire and they teach me how to sever that bond. So that is how I lose the resource. and maybe they even like take the connection themselves for their own nefarious purposes. and then I gain this skill, which is like hiding or camouflage or something like that. That is what I'm thinking. Okay, I'm gonna write that down and come back to you. Okay, here is what I have. I have been running for three days. After my encounter with Balthazar, I couldn't bear to be in the presence of the Cabal any longer. So, like a coward, I fled. I head east, like Alice suggested. I introduce myself as Marie, a noblewoman traveling through town. The townsfolk give me sidelong glances but say nothing. At night though, I hear them. I hear them whispering to me. I hear Alice's voice begging me to come back. I am strolling through town at dusk one day when I hear Alice's voice behind me. I spin around, only to be met by a young woman. Her golden hair curls down her shoulders and she flashes me a smile. Two fangs shine in the lamplight. I must look shocked because she giggles and takes my arm in hers. I let her lead me into a small cottage at the edge of town. You smell new, she tells me when we get inside. She lights a candle and begins rummaging around in her small kitchen. I say nothing. Every nerve of me is tense, waiting for an attack. She looks over at me. relax, you're fine. For now at least. She hands me a cup of warm red liquid. I ask no questions and drink it immediately, my thirst finally weakening as I do so. I'm Charlotte, she says. I glance at her. Murray. She nods. I've been following you since you got to town. You're not very sneaky, you know. I could tell what you are as soon as I saw you. I look down into my cup. I have had a rough few days. I'm not exactly trying to hide anything. Well you should, especially if you want to survive. I'll show you. I become instantly suspicious. I don't need your help. I spit. To her credit, Charlotte doesn't flinch. Sure, sure. Keep hearing voices that aren't there then. That made me pause. How do you know about that? She giggled again. Darling, every immortal in Europe knows about the cabal of Balthazar. We've all run into them at some point. She looks at me with pity. We just know better than to engage with them. I look down at my shaking hands. Emotions coil within me. Rage, despair, regret. Help me, I whisper. They've got you connected to them somehow, she said. We just need to break the bond. Why are you helping me? I ask her. She looks at me. Because I was you once. Before I can ask any questions, she gently places her hands on either side of my face. A sharp pain tears through my head, and I feel a strange popping sensation. And also, I really needed some new thralls. These will do just fine. Okay, so We have Lost Resource, The Secret Cabal, Gained Skill, Camouflage, so we can blend in better with humans. And we have met Charlotte, who is a new vampire character. So I don't have a whole lot of ideas for Charlotte yet, but I think she is fun. She's definitely an older vampire. And I like the idea of her taking Guinevere under her wing, even for just a little bit, but definitely has her own ulterior motives for doing so. Like she's not. Completely doing this altruistically. And I do think she is going to take the cabal and turn them into her thralls. Not sure what's gonna happen with Balthazar slash Alice yet. but maybe we'll find out. Maybe she'll come back, we'll see. But I'm going to add Charlotte to my characters page, and I'm going to add skill camouflage to the skills page and cross out the secret cabal from the resource page, and then I'm going to write a memory. Okay. So, skills, we have got camouflage. I don't think that is how you spell camouflage, but I'm doing my best. Resources, we've got the secret cabal. Cross out. Characters we have got Charlotte. I'm gonna have to cross out a memory. I don't want to forget Alice. I will forget the thing about the horse. Okay, so I wrote, I meet a vampire named Charlotte who helps me break my psychic bond with the secret cabal. And then we can continue on to our next prompt. I think that's actually where I'm gonna call it today. I know this is a bit of a shorter episode, but I ended up writing a lot. I've covered a lot of ground today. So that is where this video is going to end. I will see you guys next week for more vampire adventures. I've got a feeling this is gonna be a long series. So strap in. I hope you're enjoying it. I hope you're having a fun time. I might also edit the amounts that I'm writing. I am having fun writing, but it does take up a lot of time. So we may speed run through the rest of the series. Let me know what you think about that. Let me know if you like me kind of taking my time and writing paragraphs and paragraphs, or if you would rather me write maybe a few sentences and then skip on to the next prompt. Anyway, if you would like to get a copy of The Thousand Year Old Vampire yourself, you can do so through our website. I will have the link down below. And I will see you guys next week for more. Fun vampire adventures. Bye friends.