Amrit the Vampire, Ch. 7

Amrit emerges from the grave

CW: assault, violence, murder, blood,

Intended for mature audiences

Table of Contents

Previously…

Amrit the Vampire, Ch. 6

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380 AD, Gupta Empire

Roll: 1d10 - 1d6 = 7 - 6 = +1 → Prompt #45

Your body is undergoing further corruption and change…Create a Mark

Photo by David Becker on Unsplash

There were times I came back to consciousness, every few years or so. One time, as I did so, I could tell my body was withering away, perhaps feeding on itself ever so slowly. I had become inhumanly thin and skeletal. I idly wondered if I would eventually consume myself into nonexistence. I went back to sleep.

I create the Mark, Inhumanly thin.

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Roll: 2 - 5 = -3 → Prompt #42

What piece of contemporary technology can you not interact with due to your vampire nature? How did your first encounter with this technology almost get you destroyed? Check a skill.

In my state of torpor, I was able to conserve energy and after many years, I awoke, feeling a surge of strength throughout my body. I had healed and the decades I’d slept had given me a wellspring of power. I pushed my fists up forcefully through the loose dirt, bursting into open air. I pushed and pulled my body out of the grave, feeling fresh air on my face. I cried. My body was sickly and pale, as I pushed myself, shaking, to my feet.

“Vetala! Vetala!”

I heard a voice call out and turned to see a man drawing a sword, looking at me with horror but also determination. I needed to feed and thought he would be easy prey. I moved at him and he slashed at me, slicing my arm. The cut shouldn’t have hurt but it blazed with pain, as if I’d been burned. I staggered back and he came at me, slashing and stabbing. I took many more cuts, each one agonizing and he would’ve killed me but luckily, my hunger overcame my fear. I lunged at him more quickly than he could react, slashing his throat open with my fingernails, dropping on top of him, and feasting on his blood.

Later, I learned that the blade had been made with Wootz steel, and I knew then to avoid such weapons as much as possible.

I check the skill Bloodthirsty.

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Roll: 9 - 6 = +3 → Prompt #45.2

My new emaciated form allowed me to move more quickly, to hide and slink in the shadows with ease, without notice and out of sight.

I gain the skill Skulking.

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Roll: 3 - 6 = -3 → Prompt #42.2

Some of my ex-servitors found me. They fell to their knees and begged to serve me again. A small group of them had left the service of Chione and been searching for me all these long years. They were led by three. The first, Mido, claimed as ancestor the first man to serve me, his namesake. I had no way of knowing if this was true as I did not remember a Mido from my past. This Mido was once big and strong but had grown old in the years of searching. His 2nd in command, a woman named Lucia, is also aged with feverish eyes that shown with devotion towards me. The third was a new believer, a young and strong local, Azad, who came to believe the stories of a monster in the area and fell in with my old servitors.

I create three Mortals, Mido, Lucia and Azad. I develop the skill Command.

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Roll: 8 - 4 = +4 → Prompt #46

I was exposed, Chione found out I had returned and hunted me down. I fled from the city, far, far away, traveling under the name Mshai. I left the Gupta Empire behind me, fleeing back west and finding my way to the Roman Empire, at Constantinople. The Roman Empire was ruled by two Emperors, east and west. Emperor Arcadius ruled the east. Constantinople was the capital and Christianity was quite popular. I needed to be careful. I wore loose clothing to hide my gauntness and took up a job as street sweeper so I could work at night. This was a new life, I told myself.

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End of chapter notes

Another fun chapter. Amrit’s body changes from his long years underground. He emerges only to face a kind of weapon that burns him, Wootz steel. He learns his changed body is better for skulking and some of his ex-servitors, true believers, return and pledge themselves to him. This prompt was interesting because you are supposed to find that a small group are basically obsessed with you due to a Resource that you have. Considering I didn’t have a Resource left, I had to think. This prompt didn’t tell me to lose a resource so I didn’t feel like I could switch a skill for it, like you do when you lose a resource but don’t have one. I decided to actually tweet at the creator, Tim Hutchings, to ask him and he responded really quickly:

Tim Hutchings timh@dice.camp @TimHutchingsFTW

@writefirster Hmmm. There are lots of little awkward moments like this... I'd either make it about a Resource that you'd lost or make it about something that is only color (my mother's axe, but the axe is just a thing I have and not a capital R Resource)

I decided to use a resource I’d lost, The Servitors of the Lineage, and I felt that worked for the story in an interesting way. Then, after all that, I’m sent to another far off land! This led to more searching through maps, looking at different options but after much deliberation, I decided to end up back in Europe as that looks to be a fairly interesting area for the next few centuries. I’m sure other areas are probably equally as interesting but I have less background knowledge about other places at this time period, unfortunately. I also realized, after fleeing back to the Roman empire, that I no longer had any memories associated with my time in Rome, so I, the vampire, don’t even realize I’m going back to a place I’d been before. Tragic.

Also, without resources, I’m not sure how long I can last. I’m hoping to gain some in the next few prompts but with only three unchecked skills and no resources, it’s very possible my story could end soon. I’ll be honest, none of my vampires have actually lasted 1,000 years. Maybe I don’t advance time enough or I’m simply unlucky. We’ll have to see how long I last this time. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

• Name: Cassius, Amrit, Mshai

• Time Period: 400 AD

• Location: Alexandria, Rome, Gupta Empire, Constantinople

• Skills:

  • Performing rituals (X), Literacy (X), Ashamed (X), Humans are tools (X), Hiding (X), Fighting (X), Shapeshifting (X), Healthy Constitution (X), Feral (X), Bloodthirsty (X)

  • Diplomacy ( ), Torpor ( ), Skulking ( )

  • Humans are cattle ( )

• Resources

  • A modest home, Small gold statue of Osiris, Ritual scrolls, Potions, Servitors of the Lineage, Spear, Ruins, Diary Scrolls

• NPCs

  • Mortals

    • Amr, the high priest of the temple, dead by my hand

    • Jabari, my brother, a scribe, died during the time I was enslaved for a 100 years

    • Mido, a lowly peasant who wishes to become a vampire, was in my service in Alexandria

    • Hanan, a village woman who loved me and I forced her to kill her family, she burned my Diary Scroll and I forgave her, she fled with me to Italy when the army came for me

    • Seth, a Christian vampire-hunter trying to find and kill me

    • Anna, Seth’s daughter, a Christian

    • Mido, true believer and descendant of Mido

    • Lucia, true believer, feverish devotant

    • Azad, true believer, from Gupta Empire, young and strong,

  • Immortals

    • Osiris, leader of a secret cult, claiming to be a god

    • Chione, a female servant in the temple, who I accidentally turned into a vampire

    • Sekhmet, ancient egyptian vampire who enslaved me for a 100 years

    • Drusa, a strix, who recognized me as a fellow immortal, we fought and she took my spear but I managed to escape, she converted my companion to attack me but I escaped again,

• Marks

  • A hole in my chest that doesn’t bleed but doesn’t heal

  • Inhumanly thin

• Memory 1

  • 400 AD: A small group of true believers led by Mido, Lucia and Azad find and worship me.

• Memory 2

  • 380 AD: During my torpor, my body slowly feeds on itself, making me inhumanly and grotesquely thin.

  • 400 AD: My newfound emaciated form allows me to move and hide without notice.

• Memory 3

  • 340 AD: A vampire from a forgotten memory, Chione, attacks me and takes my servitors away, leaving me bloodied and broken.

  • 360 AD: Chione and her servitors bury me underground and leave me to suffer, I spend years in agony.

  • 400 AD: Chione found out I returned, so I fled to Constantinople to begin a new life as Mshai, the street sweeper.

• Memory 4

  • 400 AD: I emerge from my grave to face a man wielding a Wootz steel blade which burns when it slashes me, I kill the man and drink his blood.

• Diary

  • Fleeing to Gupta Empire

    • 305 AD: … expose me as a… …and I flee to the Gupta Empire and take a new name, Amrit.

    • 305 AD: I use diplomacy and manipulate humans in order to increase my wealth and…in this new land.

  • Anna

    • 340 AD: I find a female vampire-hunter named Anna, descendant of Seth, and help her when a couple thugs attack her.

• Lost Memories

  • Amr

    • 30 BC: Amr honors me with a small, golden statue of Osiris, I am grateful and display it in my house.

    • 30 BC: Working late with Amr at the temple one night, I am overcome with hunger and murder him, drinking his blood.

  • Chione

    • 30 BC: Chione and I begin a secretive romantic partnership, I show her some of my scrolls and read to her.

    • 30 BC: Chione sees me bloodied and we fight, I end up turning her into a vampire like myself.

  • Mido

    • 70 AD: A peasant called Mido has been following me and wants to be like me, he enters into my service.

  • Jabari

    • 30 BC: Jabari has dinner with me in my home and we discuss our worries about the war and what will happen between Rome and Egypt as Octavian’s army approaches the city.

    • 30 BC: Jabari witnesses me drinking blood from rats and discovers my condition, he promises to help me, bringing me potions.

  • How I became a Vampire

    • 30 BC: Osiris performed a dark ritual, pulling my heart out of my chest, consuming it, and having me drink his blood, I have changed into a Vampire.

  • My life before a Vampire and the decades soon after

    • 30 BC: Publicly, I am Amon, priest of Osiris, responsible for performing rituals at a temple in Alexandria, privately I am part of a secret cult led by a figure claiming to be Osiris.

    • 70 AD: A creature or goddess, Sekhmet the Bloodthirsty, enslaves me and uses me for dark purposes for a hundred years, I finally use a ritual to escape her clutches.

    • 95 AD: I find solace from my hunger in observing human lives in Rome, it brings me peace for a time.

  • My Time in The Qattara Depression

    • 70 AD: Disgusted with myself, I flee to the Qattara Depression to seclude myself from society in a cave

    • 80 AD: A woman named Hanan finds me and visits me over the years, becoming a close companion, I force her to kill her family when she resists me.

    • 85 AD: Hanan burns my Diary Scroll in anger, I do not remember what I’ve lost and I forgive her.

  • Fleeing to Italy

    • 80 AD: I find a new outlet in painting the walls of my hut and finding some peace within the beauty.

    • 85 AD: A group of mortals attacks me and burns my hut to the ground, I kill them all in their sleep as revenge.

    • 90 AD: An army comes after me, I flee with my things and Hanan to Italy and take a new name, Cassius.

  • Drusa

    • 95 AD: In a small Italian village, another immortal, a strix named Drula, attacks me, takes my spear and I hide from her.

    • 95 AD: Drusa turns Hanan against me, Hanan uses my old spear to nearly kill me, I express how ashamed I am and she can’t finish the job, I flee.

  • Shapeshifting

    • 303 AD: I drink centuries-old potions and gain a new skill, shape-shifting, which helps me elude hunters and find prey to feed on.

    • 303 AD: To sustain and increase my shape-shifting abilities, I train my body but lose bits of myself the more I shape-shift and lose a Memory.

    • 305 AD: I lose myself in my animal instincts and bloodthirst, hunting and slaughtering with wild abandon.

  • Influence in Rome

    • 295 AD: Over 300 years, the Servitors of the Lineage, created by a servant I did not remember, Mido, serve me and my interests as I grow in wealth and influence in Rome.

    • 303 AD: I kill a Christian after reading his bible and help turn the Roman aristocracy against Christians.

    • 303 AD: A Christian vampire-hunter named Seth comes after me.

  • Going through the motions

    • 310 AD: I find myself uninterested in human concerns and live only to hunt, kill, feed and sleep.

    • 340 AD: I forget specific details of some of my memories.

Next Chapter → Chapter 8: Mshai flees to Brittania