The Wine Cellar

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Jester of the FoS
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The Wine Cellar

Post by Jester of the FoS »

Tucked away between the Grand Entrance Hall and the various kitchen pantries is a lonely set of stairs. A thin, darkened wooden hallway leading into the blackness of the lower reaches of the Manoir de Penombre.

Careful steps lead down the shadowed path, what little light from above is seemingly absorbed by the inky depths.

A candle finds its way into your hand from the wall and brief illumination follows. You move off the steps and find yourself in the Wine Cellar. Cool and dark to better preserve the vintages that line the walls in caskets and bottles.

Walking slowly about the room you illuminate the surroundings, spreading the flame from your candle to the lanterns lining the walls. Thin panelling of wood lines earthen walls, a dark grainy surface. Heavy shelving covers most of the walls, save the spaces for the stairs and two other small doors.

Trying the doors you find them locked, probable storage locations for the odds and ends collected by anyone as wealthy as the Fraternity.

Moving to the shelves you are pleased to find beverages from across the Core, from Mordent to Nova Vassa with a predominance of Borcan red. A catalogue of the years would take days to complete. You select a bottle at random and examine its hue in the dim candlelight.

So many choices, so little time...
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Erik Van Rijn
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Post by Erik Van Rijn »

Half of the Invaders move swifty into the Wine Cellar while the others ensorcer the staff. Van Rijn guides him minions from the ghosty plan he currently exists in.

“It is defensible while we prepare for our next assault. They will be vulnerable while coming down the stairs. The reinforcements promised by my... allies... are still some time away, and I am not yet powerful enough to raise all the dead in the lobby.”
My talk? You'll have to wait. It will be well worth it, I assure you.
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Jeffery Terrence
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Post by Jeffery Terrence »

The traitorous Terrence ventures into the basement of the Manor, reluctantly obeying the will of his master.

"You there! Furry! Guard these stairs and set some defences. And you, grab some of the stronger vintages and stuff rags in the necks."

He examines his troops and readies his spells. He still has enough to greatly hurt those fools.
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Mayhew Donovan
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Post by Mayhew Donovan »

Zombovan shuffles about doing his masters bidding and trying to avoid groaning out the B-word.
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Viktor Hazan
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Post by Viktor Hazan »

OOC- B-word? *lol*
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Jeffery Terrence
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Post by Jeffery Terrence »

"You, smelly one! Ready the troops. We have to get to that Library!"
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Erik Van Rijn
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Post by Erik Van Rijn »

The ghostly form of van Rijn floats through the wine cellar while the injured wolfweres bind their cuts and scrapes. The largest of the them, this pack's alpha, snarls a few words of encouragemnet.

Watching the pathetic shamblings of the zombie Donovan van Rijn smiles an evil smile. His phantom hand touches the undead while he utters a mild incantation, something to focus his concentration. Donovan's eye's blaze with a new intelligent light.

"Wha... what?" a raspy voice asks from the dead throat.

"Just a fragment of your former self, a taste of what you were. There will be more if you continue to serve me. In fact, I may be able to restore your full mind"
My talk? You'll have to wait. It will be well worth it, I assure you.
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Mayhew Donovan
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Post by Mayhew Donovan »

Donovan blinks out of habit and not need. He is dead. He knows he is dead. And yet he moves. What manner of dark magics does this Van Rijn posses?!
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Erik Van Rijn
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Post by Erik Van Rijn »

Seated in the wine cellar, van Rijn allows himself to take corporeal form. "How are the troops, Janus?" he asks the alpha wolfwere in Old Kartakan.

The wolfwere shrugs, his slitted eyes flickering across the room. "They are well. A little demoralized after seeing Lukas and Jacob go down without securing the library door--I thought more of those present would side with us."

"So did I,"
van Rijn replies, his face dark. Coughing, he presses his hand to his mouth and sees the blood on it, black in the torchlight. It wasn't all an act, he thinks bitterly. My life is ending. I can't escape death...

He breathes deeply, feeling the hitch in his breath and the straining of his lungs.

I have to do it.


Shrugging slightly, he takes a small crystal ball from one pocket and focuses his attention on it. After a long moment, a thin, nasal voice echoes in his ears.

"Van Rijn. Have you made your decision?"

"Yes. Yes, I have. I accept your terms and I will deliver the plans, together with the other article we discussed. You'll have to do your part to retrieve it, though. The plans I can get alone, but not that."

"Very good," the voice says caressingly. "Very good indeed. Listen carefully, Master van Rijn. You were closer than you thought. Only the following alterations to your formula need to be made..."

As van Rijn listens to the instructions, he feels the breath wheezing in and out of his lungs, like a clockwork toy about to wind down at last. I can't escape death...but I can join it...
My talk? You'll have to wait. It will be well worth it, I assure you.
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Erik Van Rijn
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Post by Erik Van Rijn »

Jeffery Terrence obeyed his employer. He stood down the hallway from Entry Hall, the flames already spreading inward towards the Wine Cellar and the Kitchen. From behind him the bewitched kitchen staff clenched their knives and cleavers and gnashed their teeth expectantly. The couple remaining wolfweres were ready to move as soon as the rats stopped.

Jeffery continued to chant, he summoned swarm after swarm with his sorcerer abilities, choking the burning building with rodents.

Once the rats finished they would march and secure the rest of the Manoir and find whatever van Rijn was looking for. He had said it was in the Library; that it was resting in front of the books on the East wall’s shelf. But the master had just returned upset that it had been moved. No, not upset. Furious.

Now he was in the Wine Cellar doing god knows what with his miniature chemistry set.

When the rats were done... when those wretched Fraternity puppets finished them… Then they could get out of this deathtrap and go home.
My talk? You'll have to wait. It will be well worth it, I assure you.
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Erik Van Rijn
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Post by Erik Van Rijn »

Deep in the wine cellar van Rijn allowed himself to re-materialized for the second time. Damn all this climbing of stairs, he thinks angrily. For a man in my condition...

But all of that is about to end. Van Rijn stares down at the vial laid on the table--a vial filled with a strange oily liquid of a poisonous green. Picking it up, he reaches into a coat pocket and finds a small packet. Adding a few grains of the contents, the liquid seems to boil for a moment, then goes clear.

Perfect, he thinks, raising the vial in an imaginary toast. To life.

Drinking off the contents, he sets the vial down--and pitches onto the floor, convulsing. For a full minute he lies, twitching rhythmically--and then he lies still.

After a few minutes he rises and dusts himself off. Looking around the room, he notes with approval that even the darkest corners can now be seen clearly. Taking a small mirror from his pocket, he stares at what was once his face. Two points of red light stare back at him.

Death was as good as his word, van Rijn thinks. And now...eternal life is mine.

Standing, he takes the crystal from his pocket and concentrates on it again.

"Van Rijn," the same thin voice answers.

"We are ready for the Unholy Order's assault. Have the troops move in."

"Excellent."

With a muttered word van Rijn hides his skull-like visage behind a mask of illusion. "Here eternity begins," he mutters to himself, and would smile--if his new face were not frozen in a permanent grin.
My talk? You'll have to wait. It will be well worth it, I assure you.
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