Butu the Vampire, Ch. 9
Butu is trapped
CW: assault, violence, murder, blood, vomit,
Intended for mature audiences
Previously…
505 AD, Brittania
Roll: 1d10 - 1d6 = 8 - 6 = +2 → Prompt #61
I see a woman in a village who reminds me of a long lost beloved. I can not remember who it was I lost or their name, but I do remember that I loved them and this woman reminds me of that. I approach her and am able to present myself as a native. We get along well.
I create the mortal Etain, and check the skill Gone Native to curry her favor.
Roll: 3 - 5 = -2 → Prompt #59.2
Aedh betrayed me. He led the villagers to me in the night, finding me resting at the Beautiful Tree. The villagers held torches and axes or whatever other weapons they could find. They attacked. I escaped but they lit the tree on fire and it burned, ablaze in the night. I cried as I fled, sobbing at what I’d lost.
Afterwards, I searched for Aedh, sneaking through the local villages but he was nowhere to be found.
I lose the resource Beautiful Tree and check the skill Skulking.
Roll: 8 - 4 = +4 → Prompt #63
I was usually able to acquire the bare essentials I needed through hunting or stealing, but one time, in a village, I was seen and called out as a thief. Watchmen came after me but luckily I was able to slip away and hide within a crowd.
I check the skill Inconspicuous.
Roll: 1 - 4 = -3 →Prompt #60
I spent longer within a town than usual, and my hunger for human blood grew. I killed and drank from two watchmen at night, slaking my thirst. Someone saw and more watchmen came after me. I turned a corner and found a beggar sleeping in an alley. I picked him up and presented him to the watchmen.
“Here, here is the killer!”
They were apprehensive but I was very convincing and took him as the killer.
I check the skill Diplomacy.
Roll: 7 - 1 = +6 →Prompt #66
Your knowledge is outmoded. Lose an unchecked skill which is now useless.
I no longer wanted to live in this time and attempted to sleep as I had before, to enter that state of rest that could last for a century but I found it impossible. I felt exhausted but could find no rest in the short fits of sleep I managed.
I lose the skill Torpor.
Roll: 3 - 2 = +1 →Prompt #67
I could no longer use language to express myself or understand others. They spoke of concepts and ideas that I couldn’t process. I struggled to grasp even the simplest meanings in the conversations of others.
A woman named Fedelm noticed my difficulties and attempted to help me, realizing that I could read and write to understand and express myself, even if I couldn’t understand verbal language.
I create the Mortal Fedelm and gain the skill Literacy.
Roll: 8 - 4 = +4 → Prompt #71
News traveled from a nearby town of a surprising event. A thing described as a monster, or creature of the night, or demon or witch was found out and killed. The creature had been preying upon the town, killing and feeding on blood. The creature’s name was ‘Chione’.
I looked through my diary after learning of these events. The name Chione showed up in bits and pieces, so I had some kind of connection with her. Had she come after me and been found out? And killed? I didn’t even know a creature like me could be killed. I realized I could die. I learned that supposedly they’d killed her with fire.
I took comfort knowing if I needed to, I could retreat back into the wilds, and forage and hunt for myself, as I once did before.
I cross off the Immortal Chione. I create the skill Hunting from a Memory.
Roll: 2 - 6 = -4 → Prompt #67.2 →Alternative Prompts
Randomly generated number between 1 and 132 = Prompt #90 67
You try to build something that will outlast you. What is it? What do you sacrifice for it? Lose a Resource
With the knowledge of my own possible mortality, I set about building something that would outlast me. Off in the woods, where the tree I had loved burned down, I began to build a pillar of stone. I sold the silver ring for materials and got to work.
I lose the resource silver ring.
Roll: 1 - 2 = -1 → Prompt #66.2
I lose my diary and all the associated memories. I cannot grasp what was lost.
I lose my diary.
Roll: 4 - 6 = -2 → Prompt #64
Vast numbers of humans are migrating around the world. What group becomes easy to feed upon? How do you capitalize on their helplessness? Create a resource.
Barbarian tribes were migrating across the land once held by the Western Roman Empire, straining the empire’s resources. Scots were flooding into Caledonia to invade and colonize. In this time of chaos and uncertainty, I found it easy to prey upon women and children who stayed behind while their men fought in battles. I forced them to pay me for protection and those who couldn’t, I fed upon.
I gain the resource Wealth.
Roll: 5 - 2 = +3 → Prompt #67.3
I cannot grasp the language of these mortals. I can imitate sounds to make them react in specific ways but I cannot share thoughts or abstract ideas. I feel truly, truly alone.
I gain the skill Isolated.
Roll: 5 - 1 = +4 → Prompt #71.2
Chione’s followers found me and blamed me for Chione’s death. My actions in the area made the mortals suspicious and alert, and Chione had come looking for me. Luckily, her followers are more lost than upset and decide to pledge their services to me.
I gain the resource, Followers.
Roll: 6 - 6 = 0 → Prompt #71.3
One night, I remembered a time when Chione and I shared a period of time together, as Vampires, hunting and feeding and enjoying each other. It brings me peace.
This is a false memory.
Roll: 6 - 3 = +3 → Prompt #74
You are physically trapped in a place from which you will never be rescued. What do you think about for the first 1000 years? The game is over.
Chione’s followers tricked me. They got me to trust them and they led me to a deep, underground cave, triggering a collapse in the passage behind me. I was trapped….forever. I curled up in a fetal position. I tried to remember the happiest time of my life, living with Chione, for as long as I could…
End Game summary and notes to come next week
Name:
Cassius,Amrit,Mshai,Butu,Time Period: 1500 AD?
Location:
Alexandria,Rome,Gupta Empire,Constantinople, BrittaniaSkills:
Performing rituals (X), Literacy (X), Ashamed (X), Humans are tools (X), Hiding (X), Fighting (X), Shapeshifting (X), Healthy Constitution (X), Feral (X), Bloodthirsty (X), Gone Native (X), Skulking (X), Inconspicuous (X), Diplomacy (X),
Literacy ( ), Hunting ( ), Isolated ( )
Humans are cattle ( ), Torpor (X)Resources
A modest home, Small gold statue of Osiris, Ritual scrolls, Potions, Servitors of the Lineage, Spear, Ruins, Diary Scrolls,Diary (battered journal), Beautiful Tree, Silver Ring, Diary(ragged bundle of pages)
Wealth, FollowersNPCs
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, has lived longer than humanly possible, has yellow eyes
Aedh, Celt who found my journal and spoke to me, wanting immortality, then betrayed me
Etain, a village woman who reminds me of a forgotten lover, I curry her favor
An unknown beggar who was blamed for my murder of two watchmen
Fedelm, a woman who took pity on my difficulty with understanding basic language, and attempted to help meImmortals
Osiris, leader of a secret cult, claiming to be a god
Chione, a female servant in the temple, who I accidentally turned into a vampireSekhmet, 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
510 AD: I try to enter a state of torpor but am unable to, I’ve lost the skill to do so.
510 AD: I lose my ability to express and understand language, a woman named Fedelm notices my difficulties and helps me perceive body language, facial expressions and tone of voice.
520 AD: I lose my ability to understand language, I can imitate sounds to get reactions but cannot share thoughts or ideas, I am truly alone.
Memory 2
510 AD: When attempting to steal, I am found out but am able to hide within a crowd.
510 AD: After killing and feeding off two watchmen, I’m found out and chased, I diplomatically convince the following watchmen that a beggar committed the crimes.
520 AD: I force women to pay me for protection while their men are away fighting or else I feed upon them.
Memory 3
510 AD: I hear news of a creature called ‘Chione’ being killed in a nearby town, I know I knew of her at some point, from pieces in my diary, but not much, I consider my own mortality.
515 AD: In an attempt to build something that will outlast me, I sell my silver ring to purchase materials and begin building a stone pillar at the site where the beautiful tree burned.
520 AD: Chione’s followers find and blame me for her death but they are lost without her and pledge their service to me.
Memory 4
515 AD: I lose my diary and weep for I know not what I’ve lost.
520 AD: I remember a time of comfort with Chione, living together as vampires. This is a false memory.
520 - 1500 AD: Chione’s followers trap me in an underground cave, collapsing the entrance with the weight of many stones. I will never be rescued. I remember my time of living with Chione for as long as I can, until all is lost.
DiaryLost 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.A weakness
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.Chione returns
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.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.Sleeping
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.
500 AD: Generations pass as I sleep, I wake up trapped and crawl my way out.My true believers
400 AD: A small group of true believers led by Mido, Lucia and Azad find and worship me.
400 AD: I fled with my true believers from Constantinople to Brittania, and worked to join the natives resisting Roman imperial rule, taking a new name, Butu.
500 AD: I find Azad impossibly alive but changed, we are happy to see each other.Aedh
505 AD: Aedh, a Celt finds me and reveals he’s read my diary, gives me a silver ring to initiate a partnership, wants the secret to immortality
505 AD: Aedh betrays me, trapping me and attacking me, resulting in my beautiful tree burning down, I escape and try to find him after but fail.Wildness
500 AD: My hunger overwhelms me and I become a mindless animal, hunting for blood and forgetting things.
500 AD: During my wild hunts, I come to find a beautiful tree that calms my animalistic soul, I rest there often underneath it’s limbs and it brings me peace.
505 AD: I find something else that calms me, a woman, Etain, who reminds me of a forgotten love, I curry her favor.
Next Chapter → Chapter 10: Epilogue
What a sudden end! I'm looking forward to your wrap-up and post-game analysis. I really felt for the protagonist (of many names) as they lost language and grew isolated from humanity.