4th Pflugzeit 2510
Early afternoon
"Sir Mallobaude, is that
you?"
The
lead vampire reins in his… Undead horse a little ahead of his party, and regards the miserable knight with a look of sympathy. The four knights escorting him…
One vampire, and the others… Wights, I think? They don't have the flesh to be vampires, but their manner is too purposive to be skeletons or zombies dressed in armour.
"Are you injured, sir?"
The horses strike me as odd. I would have thought that a vampire pretending to be a human Bretonnian lord would have raised a living horse to be accustomed to the undead, but that's definitely not alive. It's not a skeletal horse… 'Nightmare'? It could be a reasonably intact zombie, or… I don't remember anything about non-human vampires in Warhammer, but I suppose it…
Could be a vampire horse. Or a wight horse? Are wight horses a thing?
"
Crippled in spirit, my lord.
Hale in body."
Oh, so the
vampire gets a polite response, but I get told to buzz off. I look at this lord's face for a moment. Ah, Mallobaude doesn't
know the man is a vampire. That's… A problem.
Vampires are fast. I remember when Warhammer Armies: Vampire Counts was released, signalling the switch from general undead to all-vampires all the time. There was a short story in White Dwarf where a necromancer out-magiced his Necrarch master only to be killed by his brute speed and strength. I don't know exactly what that high initiative and strength translated to in real life; I've put more effort into trying to avoid standing out than hunting the undead. I don't know if he's fast enough to kill Aranei before I can grab her, or if he's strong enough to kill me though my environmental shield.
Magically I'm not too worried. 'Levels' were a game mechanic, but vampires
do make poor magicians and Aranei has dispel magic scrolls. Destroy Magic scrolls are a bit beyond her, and she'd never even heard of the nifty hex scroll which turns the enemy caster into a toad. But unlike a vampiric lunge, spells have a bit of a build up and she should be able to warn me.
And speaking of the revenant, he regards me for a moment with a mild frown before dismissing me. Aranei gets a slightly more considered look, presumably because he thinks she's probably a user of high magic and so a major threat to the undead, though possibly because her outfit causes him to class her as 'foreign noble, probably more trouble than it's worth'.
The moment passes, and his focus returns to Sir Mallobaude.
"Have you encountered some impediment to your quest? If your trail has gone cold I'm certain we could find
something in Mousillon for you to slay in the Lady's name."
"
Her name." He gives a
huffing, desolate laugh. "
Why?
My quest is complete.
I have drunk from the grail.
I…"
"But this is
marvellous! Please, come to my estate. I will put on a feast of celebration!"
Just in
case this vampire is one of the sensible ones, I shake my head at him.
"What did you see, Sir Mallobaude? What did the Lady show you that has affected you so?"
"
We are pawns to the gods.
That is what she showed me.
All our virtue, all our martial pride, and all that she values in us is our ability to serve her."
The vampire affects a puzzled expression. "Do you not
want to serve her?"
"I expected to serve an
end!" His anger pulling him out of his funk slightly, he pushes himself to his feet. "To create something! A kingdom purged of the taint of chaos! Some recognition for my sacrifices and achievements! Instead-." He shakes his head, his passion evaporating. "Instead, the Lady told me directly that she regards us as pawns, that
our struggles are merely to get us to a point where she considers us worth investing in." His head falls. "
To hear valorous knights demeaned in such a fashion by the one they.. serve…"
The vampire nods. "It is… Shocking. As a knight myself, it…
Chills me to my heart to hear such a thing. And you are sure that the visitation was genuine, and not some… Chaos-spawned illusion?"
Mallobaude shakes his head. "No, it was exactly as the legends described. As my father described.
The Lady, the cup…
And not merely that, she told me that there is no fundamental difference between herself and the Dark Gods, merely a divergence in opinion!
That we knights are as deluded as the madmen who sell their souls to Chaos!"
The vampires nods. "This is not something you can keep to yourself. If the entire knightly class of Bretonnia is being deceived by a malevolent patron, they must be
informed, that they may cleanse themselves."
I frown. "Why?"
The vampire's eyes dart my way for a fraction of a second though his body continues to face Mallobaude, trying to convey with his general demeanour that I'm not worth listening to.
"Because a knight is sworn to truth and honour, and continuing to practise deceit upon his fellow knights fails to uphold either."
"True, but… The fact that the Lady commands Bretonnian nobles to follow a particular code for purely selfish reasons doesn't take away from the value of the work they do while following it. If a beastherd threatens a peasant village with murder and rape, do the villagers care whether their saviour cries 'For the Lady!' or 'For Sigmar!' or 'In the name of Asuryan!'? No, they do not, they merely care that they are saved. I see that your goddess being indifferent to your deeds hurts you… I'm sorry, but I've never been a man of faith myself. When I do a good deed-."
"When you save pirates from righteous vengeance."
"Come with me, and see the village their labours have built. See the new mill, the irrigation systems, the school and the forges. Speak with them, and learn how they feel about their new lives."
He gazes at me blankly.
"If you serve no god, why do you even care?"
"Because you are a man, as I am a man. Because you are distraught, as I have been distraught. Because when I do good, the consequences of that goodness are all the reward I need; the gods could spit on me and I would still be happy."
Now the vampire is glaring at me.
"And what of the service rendered? If the gods merely demand the service of mortals for their own amusement, that is not an affront that can just be
ignored."
"A saint and a highwayman are both made of the same meat. And the best revenge on a lying goddess is to live well in spite of her." I raise my eyebrows. "And I'm a little surprised that a vampire includes himself in the 'mortals' category. You are aware that you can't permanently die, yes?"
Mallobaude straightens slightly.
"A vampire?"
"A family affliction; I manage it as best I can."
I smile. "At least you're not a Nagash-worshipper. But alright; I think that Sir Mallobaude's best course of action is to devote himself to his people rather than his goddess. What would
you prescribe?"
"Tear down the faith. Show his-." He turns back to Mallobaude. "
Your fellow knights that they have been deluded. Slay the false prophetesses and the liars who serve them. Take Bretonnia for yourself, free its people from their divine oppressor!"
"And kill thousands… Tens of thousands of men and women whose only crime is to believe the same lies as all of those around them? And replace the existing order with
what? If you tell knights that their faith is a lie and they
believe you, what rules will you put in place to guide them?"
"They will follow him if he has the strength to lead!"
"He barely has the strength to stand upright! Sir Mallobaude, come to my home. Speak with my people. Let me tell you about my plans for the world, and how gods are not invited."
The vampire frowns.
"Sir Mallobaude, ignore this prattling peasant and accept my hospitality. We can send out messages to my neighbours that you may share what you have learned. Even if you choose to take no other action, they deserve to know."
Sir Mallobaude
raises his head slightly, and chooses.
Unless this Paul hasn't worked that construct out yet, unlikely as that is?