VAU: The Tale of Ivana Hoompalotte - Game Thread

[Feast4Crows]

"The stress of our situation must be getting to me, I must have dozed off as I had the strangest dream..." Looking around at the diminished number of guests and discovering the location of the brewmeister's body causes the doctor's face to blanche and a sheen of cold sweat to appear on his forehead. "Apparently it was a nightmare, a living nightmare."

The doctor wipes the sweat from his brow and, stenering clear of the wine, pours himself a glass of brandy and downs it. He pours another and looks around the group as he says, "I'm not exactly sure what happened in the hours before nightfall, but if what I can recollect from the fragments of my dream are true, then there are some here who may think that I simply enjoy stirring everyone up. I assure you, this is not the case. When it comes to Erik and Abel, I was apparently seeing a plot where none existed. Before I dozed off yesterday, I stated that I was suspicious of Kristof and gave my reasons why. I don't recall him appearing to defend himself yesterday and I notice he is not here again. I feel justified in casting my vote early today, especially while I'm still lucid and sober. I vote against Kristof Lars." The doctor downs the glass of brandy he has been holding and pours himself another and sits down at the table.

Vote: Kristof Lars - Chaos_Born

 

[Cromenon]

Carlos entered the hall. Unlike many of the people, he did not wake up with a corpse by his side. But he didn't know that yet.

However when he heard the Duke and Alessandro he understood. He listened to Duality and the doctor's explanations and nodded gravely.

"I agree. We must vote, this bloody night has troubled me and opened my eyes. That's why I will raise my voice against one who has raised my suspicions more and more, day by day. That one is the assassin there." He pointed at the Masque.

He sat down and poured himself a cup of juice, his left hand rested on one of his guns.

Vote: The Masque of Death - Bravo_10

 

[Raizi]

Duality comes down the stairs, carrying Erik's stiff corpse on his shoulder. He drops him on one of the empty seats and tosses the coin he had in his hand in the air, catching it midair.

"I will hold on to this, my friend. A silver coin for a painful groin, let no-one call me cheap!"

"Ha ha ha, let no-one call me cheap!"

Duality puts both of his hands on the table and tries to gather himself, he is trembling visibly.

"I think I will need something else than wine to get me past this day. Yes! Brandy it is, it should make me gay! The wine I find too deep red, soaking wet, the dwarf is dead. Ha hahaha HAHAH HA!"

Duality proceeds to open a bottle of brandy and drinks straight from the bottle.

 

[Bravo_10]

The Masque, hearing her name called out, walked toward Carlos. Upon seeing him seated, she noticed that his left hand was perched on the grip of one of his pistols. Immediately, she stopped in her tracks, preferring to entreat him from a somewhat safer distance.

"I can't blame you for suspecting me, I suppose. Few here are more visually distinct than myself. But if I may inquire, why exactly have I 'raised your suspicions more, day by day?' I would like to know at least that much."

 

[Zephyr]

Ysolda enters the main room on unsteady legs, looking sadly at Erik's corpse on the chair, and goes to read the note. After reading the first few sentences she balls her fists angrily and after some more minutes have passed she runs into her room and closes the door behind her. Retching sounds can clearly be heard.

 

[Raizi]

After drinking for a while from the brandy bottle, Duality seems to regain some of his composure. He is less prone to mad cackles and more quiet and sullen. Somewhere between his fits he has unfolded the puppet knight again and wears it in his left hand. He takes some bacon and a few roasted ribs from the platter to his plate and starts to chew on them, grease dripping from his jaw and running down the fingers of his right hand.

While his mouth is full of meat and still chewing, a loud booming voice comes from somewhere within his motley:

"I KNEW YOU DIDN'T HAVE IT IN YOU, YOU MAGGOT! YOU RESORT TO DRINKING AS YOUR FIRST OPTION WHEN FACED WITH A SITUATION THAT YOUR WITS CANNOT HANDLE. SHOW SOME HEART, MICHAEL, YOU ARE A DISGRACE!"

The glove puppet on his lef hand seems to pace slowly back and forth, while pointing the lance accusingly on Duality's face. Duality calmy finishes his mouthful, and sucks the grease from his fingers before replying to the voice:

"So, it seems our gallant Ser Gilmore decides to delight us with his presence. I find it rather amusing that you present yourself now, throwing accusations like that, when you've been quietly observing things from the back seat until now."

'Show some heart, Michael' "

Duality mocks the booming voice, heard earlier.

"At this rate we will see my heart soon enough, our dear hostess will arrange that, I believe. I wonder how you would like that? To see the beating heart of the man who took your bride from you, before you even had the chance to see her. Ha! At least I surpassed you in one field, my pompous, holier-than-thou, dear sire!"

The glove puppet on Duality's left hand begins to tremble a bit.

"YOU WORM! AFTER ALL THIS, YOU HAVE THE AUDACITY TO THROW THAT TO MY FACE! I SHOULD HAVE BEHEADED YOU IN FRONT OF HER FATHER, I BELIEVE THAT WOULD HAVE SAVED ME FROM THIS... THIS... FARCE OF AN EXISTENCE. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA..."

The booming voice is cut in by Duality's own voice. He stands up, and shouts to the glove puppet:

"Any idea of how wretched I would feel for my whole life afterwards. Any idea how hard it is to shut you two out, so I might concentrate on something else than your critique or her whining. You are the one who dragged me into this. Why couldn't you just joust your old days away in tournaments or build your own chapel or something? After you found the Grail, you had to venture on yet another mad quest. Do you have any idea how humiliating it was for me to go around asking in taverns if there were any unmarried highborn ladies around? First the people laughed when they believed I was the one seeking them, but they laughed even more when they understood it was for an old, grey bearded knight who's sword was probably already bent. I piss on your legacy, I piss on your chivalric code and I..."

Suddenly a realization hits Duality.

"I vote against you, Ser Gilmore. I believe you are one of the predators of the night and your sole purpose is only to see us torn down. I hope the vote gets you this evening!"

After his outburst, Duality collapses back to his chair, staring somewhere in the distance in a catatonic state.

Vote: Ser Gilmore - Duality - Raizi

 

[Feast4Crows]

Dr. von Ungeheuer stares at Duality as he rages. After his rant, the doctor shakes his head, stands and walks over to Duality. "Don't hog all of the good stuff, lad," he says as he takes the bottle of brandy Duality had been drinking from and pours himself another glass.

 

[Cromenon]

Carlos half smiled at the Masque.

"Cool reaction. As always." His smile broadened. "You passed the test. As I recall you voted against Frederick, who turned out to be a vampire... And your actions have been highly logical. There would be no reason to vote against you, would be?"

He tilted his head and withdrew his vote.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but hard times require hard measures..." He said, and then added in a whisper: "...and I'm almost out of ideas..."

Duality's talk with himself caught his attention.
"Strange creature, indeed..."


Vote withdrawn: The Masque of Death - Bravo_10

 

[Malochai]

*To Duality*

"I agree, I must say ... If you have multiple personalities, is it possible one knows something the others don't, or profess not to? Either way, I find you highly suspicious, and cast my vote against you, sir ... Miss ... Whatever!"

VOTE: Duality - Raizi

 

[Bravo_10]

*To Carlos*

"Thank you. Although I admit, yours was indeed a very intelligent idea. Voting for someone simply to gauge their reaction is a strategy I had not thought of."

*To Duality*

"Please, try to calm yourself. At present, you have enough votes to be killed once the day is over. Is this really what you want? While it's true that one of your personas may indeed be a murderer, would you be really willing to sacrifice all of your lives for that belief?"

 

[Raizi]

Still staring blankly somewhere between the wall and the ceiling, the right side of Duality's mouth begins to whisper in a scared, feminine tone:

"They're fighting inside. Screaming, shouting, accusing and threatening. Michael did not mean it, he did not mean it. They are shouting, just like dad did shout at mom. He shouted until mom never spoke again. Mom never spoke again. She never breathed again. She never sung again. I will go to the dark place, to the quiet place, where the shouts will not find me."

Duality lifts her feet on top of the chair, and puts her arms around her. Still staring at the same spot, she starts to cradle herself on top of her heels.

"Old King Cole
Was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe
And he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh, there's none so rare
As can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

Old King Cole
Was a merry old soul
And a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe
And he called for his bowl
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler he had a fiddle
And a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh, there's none so rare
As can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three..."

Duality sings quietly, as she rocks herself on top of the chair.

 

[Bravo_10]

The Masque lowered her head and backed away from Duality, appearing slightly disheartened that her attempt at reason had apparently failed.

"Very well. I can only hope that you regain an element of sanity before your actions bring about your doom. I doubt that you are a killer. Although, I have been wrong before..."

 

[Feast4Crows]

(To Duality) "You said earlier that we should not waste our votes. Here you are voting for one of your personalities. Seems like a waste to me. Your flippant vote could very well cost us the life of another human. You spend your time arguing amongst yourself when we should be trying to figure out who a vampire is. You truly are a fool." The doctor pours himself another glass of brandy and sits back at the table.

 

[Cromenon]

Carlos stared at Alessandro. His head was starting to ache... again.

"Look at what we got here! When you see an opening you quickly strike, eh?"

 

[Raizi]

Duality's been quiet for some time now, just rocking back and forth the chair. Without warning, he suddenly leaps on the table and starts to walk on top of the long board towards Alessandro. Duality carefully avoids all the pitchers and platters, but grabs an apple between his teeth from one bowl as he passes it.

Only his palms and fingers touch the table. He walks handstanded.

When he comes to the end of the table, he rolls on his back and jumps off the table with a spinning somersault, landing in front of Alessandro. The glove puppet has disappeared again, and he holds the apple in his left hand. Taking a bite from the apple Duality speaks:


(To Alessandro)
"I felt trapped, then something snapped. Was it my mind? I was fighting inside. Or was it a ploy? Just a brilliant decoy? Was it just a bait, so you would voice out your hate?"

"It matters not, but it seems you tripped the snare."

"Is it possible one knows something the others don't?"

Duality mocks Alessandro's voice...

 

[Nelganis]

Coming to Allessandro's aid, Isaac approaches Carlos with his hand darkened by the color of his dried blood.
"Do not blame him for striking early. At the beginning I too suspected Duality of having a murderous monster hidden behind one of his many faces."
He paused, taking a breath and sighing.
"The fact that he's voting for himself is just ridiculous...He's mostly likely drunk way too much and is dillusional. OR he's really just insane. But we shouldn't condemn his insanity just yet."
Looking back at Allessandro.
"Let him sober up abit first before any of us ready his noose."

 

[Malochai]

*To Isaac*

"You really call into question whether or not he's insane? Have you seen his 'personaliry' changes? There is something ... Evil at work, and even if it's not vampiric, it shouldn't be here!" he then proceeded to round on Carlos ...

*To Carlos*

"I strike quickly when I see an opening?!" he asked incredulously, "His ... Her ... Whatever it is, it has become steadily more deranged and fractious amongst itself as time has gone on; I could have accused him, her, WHATEVER it is, much earlier on! Do not dare accuse me of striking quickly; my thoughts on this have been germinating for days now! I haven't voiced them for fear that, if I'm right, I could end up dead, and if I wasn't I could end up incorrectly accusing someone, especially if they die. But now ... Now is the time of action. Have you seen what happened last night?!"

 

[Raizi]

Duality's been quiet for some time now, just rocking back and forth in the chair. Without warning, he suddenly leaps on the table and starts to walk on top of the long board towards Alessandro and Isaac. Duality carefully avoids all the pitchers and platters, but grabs an apple between his teeth from one bowl as he passes it by.

Only his palms and fingers touch the table. He walks while handstanding. He clearly is not as drunk as he seems.

When he comes to the end of the table, he rolls on his back and jumps off the table with a spinning somersault, landing in front of Alessandro, the bells tingling loudly. The glove puppet has disappeared again, and he holds the apple in his left hand. Taking a bite from the apple Duality speaks:

(To Alessandro and Isaac)
"I felt trapped, but then something snapped. Was it my mind? I was fighting inside. Or was it a ploy? Just a brilliant decoy? Was it just a bait, so you would voice out your hate? The tables are set, so let's throw out a bet! A voice in my head wants both of you dead!"

Duality proceeds to cartwheel around the stunned Alessandro and Isaac and after a few rounds he stops where he started.

"But I cannot decide, cannot make my up mind. You both are suspect in equal aspect. So I propose we let Erik decide!"

Duality pulls out the silver coin from his pocket and holds it in his hand.

"Heads for Isaac and tails for Alessandro. Heads up!"

Duality throws the coin in the air, catches it in his palm and looks:

Vote withdrawn: Ser Gilmore - Duality - Raizi

 

[Raizi]

"And the winner is Isaac! Congratulations, fiend!"

Duality puts the coin back in one of his pockets.

Vote - Isaac Markov - Nelganis

 

[Raizi]

"Well I must admit I suspect Alessandro a tad bit more, but a vote cast is a vote cast, right?"

(To Alessandro)

"I would like to question your logic a bit, though. Answer me this: In a hypothetical case if I would have, say five different persons inside me of which two sees themselves as men, one a woman, one a rabbit and one an elephant, what does that make me?"

After a short pause, Duality continues:

"Following your logic if one of my passengers would think himself as a vampire that would also make me a vampire? Could I also be a rabbit or an elephant if someone inside me was thinking so? I could change my form entirely to something my physical shell is not capable of being?"

 

[Malochai]

"No matter what they think they, they would still be human ... Much as one aspect of your personality could know you are a vampire, whilst the other two do not. It doesn't make you human just because you think you are! And I'm not saying one of your ... Passengers ... Thinks they're a vampire, I'm saying your BODY is vampiric, and that whilst parts of you may not know that, there undoubtedly would be parts of you that do ... And there is a pathetic exaggeration in what you said, at least in my hypothesis all the ... Things that 'make up' you are humanoid. Adding in ridiculous animals is pathetic"

 

[Raizi]

(To Alessandro)
"Well put, I must admit. The thing here is that this body is mine, but the others are only voices, shades or memories in my head. We share this shell, but I am the one who's body they were put in. My analogy between vampires and animals compared to humans was just that, although I have moderate skill in acrobatics and I am pleased to be one of those rare talents in ventriloquism, I cannot make my physical shell capable of doing the feats which are attributed to vampires. I am limited with my mortal body.

I eat, breathe and bleed just as the regular whoreson."

(Turning towards the others)

"I also get drunk like the regular whoreson, that's why I really did not drink too much of the brandy as our good Doctor might notice to his delight."

Duality points at the nearly full bottle of brandy in Dr. Victor's hand.

"The feint is easier with a bottle than with a transparent glass. But I admit, I feel I haven't been exactly myself since last evening's vote or after waking beside Erik's dead corpse. Those events certainly took their toll.

I also feel rather silly throwing my vote around like this, but for the moment I'll let it stick with Isaac, if only for the reason I might change it later, but don't yet know the right address for it yet. "

"We who have been most vocal have been picking each other apart for days now. How many wasted votes have we made? Ten of us are left and only two vampires have been found. I think there is a good chance that amongst us still the majority are human."

Duality looks towards Lorenzo

"I would like to know a bit more about his thoughts as he seems to be trying to merge into the background so we would not give any notice to his existence. During my fit today, most of you spoke out but he has been silent. I think he's been a bit too silent for a bit too long."

 

[Feast4Crows]

Dr. von Ungeheuer raises his glass to Duality, downs the drink, and pours himself another. "I may be beating a dead horse here, but speaking of being silent too long, where has Kristof gone? I spoke out against the priest yesterday and don't remember seeing him at all, let alone hear him defend himself. Any other time, our hostess would have slain a guest for not taking part in her game, yet I don't believe his corpse has been found. Today, I cast my vote against him for the reasons stated yesterday and he again doesn't materialize to argue his defense. I continue to find this peculiar..."

 

[Raizi]

(To Dr. Viktor)

"I have to agree with you on that. I think it will be most likely that his demise will come to us as some nasty surprise, as it did when we didn't see the dwarf for a few days.

I just don't understand how Lorenzo can coolly keep up on drinking, without much notice on what happens around him. He does not partake in any conversations and doesn't seem to have too much to add to any debate. I can understand that to a point, but given there are so few of us left I would think that a mortal man would be more interested in his survival.

We have found only two vampires as it is and should we fail in our vote once or perhaps twice again, I believe it will be the end of us as vampires become the majority."

 

[Duke Danse Macabre]

*Part draining his tankard lost in his thoughts as people rant back and forth*

He can drink because he chooses to, its one of the few aspects we have control over whilst we are here and where as none of us should allow it to influence our mindset it is at least calming.... *Taking and savoring the taste of his ale*

No what concerns me is we have all let fear cloud out judgement, more so each night.
Its normal but its not helping any of us. *A look of regret plain on his face*
We still have at least one foul beast in here with us but I am not so convinced it is influencing us at all, we are all jumping at shadows as it is, its the people who are silent and do nothing which have me worried.