~SYSTEM~

HOST YOU HAVE BEEN ASLEEP FOR SIX DAYS. BLOOD LEVELS HAVE DROPPED TO 45%. FOR MAXIMUM HOST OPERATIONS PLEASE FOCUS ON MAINTAINING RESOURCE LEVELS.

Great…now I am being woken up by a sarcastic AI alarm clock! Well, fuck it, guess it’s time to rise and shine.

Marie cracked open one of her eyes and saw that the interior of the tree was lit up, which ironically meant the sun was down as she was not being blinded by its hateful rays. She quickly opened the other eye, and sat up with a series of audible cracks from her spine. With a groan she stood up and started stretching her stiff muscles until everything was warmed up and moving smoothly.

Checking her clock, maintained by the AI and displayed on her GUI, Marie noted that it was just after sundown and she was almost a week into being a vampire. The scariest part of that is she had slept almost the whole week, clearly being a child of the night required significant naptime.

I need to start planning and acting, rather than reacting. It makes sense up until now, I have been trying to survive a series of tribulations, but I really need more information so I can make better decisions in the future. Tonight, in addition to topping up my blood levels, I need to see if I can find anyone to question.

Marie went about getting ready to head out by wearing some clothes, and then her armor. She was pulling her hair back to bind it into a ponytail when she realized that it had grown a significant amount while she was asleep, and she had to dig out a few extra pieces of leather to get it all tied up. Her skin was now even paler, almost a milk white and she could see a series of blue veins running under the surface.

“I must have slept so long because my body was still working on transforming itself. I hope I don’t have a bat-nose like the guy who bit me…” She frantically reached up to feel her face as that thought occurred to her but luckily it felt normal.

All ready to go, she squeezed out of the gap in the trunk once more and out in to the forest. She could feel the oppressive heat and moisture in the air, but it didn’t seem to register on her skin and that was a blessed relief. She headed in the direction of the road that she had previously been traveling on, hoping she might find some Adventurers to question. She had put the leather hood and mask on in hopes that she could conceal her changed features in the night, but it didn’t help that her red eyes were slightly glowing.

After traveling back to the place where the massacre had happened, she found that there was no one there but that someone had either buried or carted the bodies off as there was no trace of them beyond a lingering scent and some stray viscera. Marie started moving up the road toward Elfhame at her top speed, keeping alert for any sight, sound or smell of travelers. After running for over an hour she had traveled a considerable distance, and the map in her GUI finally showed a spot that had been noted as a well-known rest stop nearby.

The young vampire stopped moving quickly, and started to move quietly which was greatly aided by the fact she could see so well. It was a lot easier to avoid stepping on a dry twig or tripping in a hole when the night was bright as day for you. As she drew near the camping spot it became clear that there were indeed people staying there, she could hear voices, see body heat and the light from a campfire.

Marie started circling the campsite, checking to see if anyone was leaving the main area or standing guard, and slowly closing the circle in so she got closer and closer but always staying in the shadows. Eventually she got close enough, and in a good spot, to see that there were three figures sitting around a low campfire.

They were all elves, with long blonde hair and pointed ears, and still wearing their maille armor. All three of them were women, which was an interesting thing for Marie as she knew that the elves were more egalitarian but it was her first time running across them in the flesh. She struggled with the best course of action to take, whether she should grab one and run off to question them, or risk going in and pretending to be one of their kin. In the end her decision was based on the fact that even if they were more powerful than her, she didn’t think they could prevent her from fleeing.

She waited in the shadows for a while, listening to their discussion to see the mood of the camp. The three elves were simply discussing mundane things, with no sense of tension or fear in their voices, so after a while Marie moved away from the fire a distance and then started moving towards them without trying to conceal her footsteps.

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“Hello the fire, do you have room for a weary traveler?”

Marie called out at them from the night in Elven, thinking it would be less suspicious here in the Ancient Forest ruled by the Elven Marshallate. Her pronunciation was perfect, the language had been implanted in to her head via her AI and she had the vocabulary of a master.

“Come to the fire’s edge so we can see you!”

The voice that echoed out into the night from the campsite was high-pitched, but strong. Marie could hear the sound of weapons being readied and she questioned herself as to whether this was really the better choice, but in for a penny in for a pound.

Marie moved up to the edge of the light shed by the fire and stood there, her hands carefully away from the hilts of her weapons. Three sets of eyes turned her way, taking her in from her concealing hood to her armor and kit. The longer they sat there examining her, the more nervous she got.

“Alright, come on in and take a seat. We wouldn’t want to leave a soul out in the dark. How did you end up out on the road so late? You should have been bedded down somewhere by now, no?”

The speaker was holding a long spear, which she set aside to beckon Marie into the campsite.

Marie moved in a few steps and started to take a seat when one of the other elves reached up a hand to do an armclasp. Marie remembered that this gesture was the local equivalent of shaking hands so she clasped forearms with the lady. The elf was smiling up at her curiously, and then she rotated her forearm so that Marie’s was on top and hers on bottom and looked down at it.

“My, what pale skin you have…”

The elf was now gripping the arm with considerable strength, more than enough to crush the bones of a standard mortal.

Marie was immediately concerned at this, and started to pull her arm out of the elf’s grasp, when she felt a concussive blow on her ribs and looked over to see the first elf staring at the snapped off tip of her spear aghast.

Marie patted herself on the back for buying the set of titanium maille before she came to this side of the Portal. It wasn’t magic but it was the next thing to it.

She finished yanking back out of the elf’s grip, but she had to step to the side to avoid the swing of a greatsword from the hands of the third elven maiden.

“Foul creature! How dare you attempt to come upon us in our own territory! Your depredations will end this night!”

The first elf was yelling loudly as she tossed aside her ruined spear and drew a longsword .

“What the hell! Why did you attack me?”

Marie could not stop herself from responding to the accusation, still completely taken aback at being outed so quickly.

The second elf had pulled her own shortsword out now, and she was chanting something in a language that was similar to Elven but unintelligible. The air around her was starting to warp as her chant rang out in the night, and Marie knew that she was actually seeing magic for the first time.

Fuck me! This went sideways quick! I need to flee, but I also need information. Let’s see how I can do against some real opponents, and if it seems like I am gonna lose I’ll run for it. I can always live in the woods eating goblins for a while more…

The young vampire moved on the greatsword-wielding elf, ducking a swing and then getting inside her reach. Marie grappled with the elf, and then she used her foot to sweep one of the elf’s legs from the inside, causing the elf to fall in to the fire with an enormous explosion of sparks and ash all over the area. Since she knew it was coming, Marie had closed her eyes to escape the worst of it.

The elf’s chanting stopped, interrupted by this cloud of detritus, and Marie knew that it would take her a second to respond so she moved on the first elf who was wielding a longsword now. As she moved in the elf swung at Marie’s trunk, and the vampire let it hit trusting in her armor. She was just grateful the elf did not think to strike at her unarmored limbs and used the time to get in close. She grabbed the elf by her armor and pulled her in close, trapping the sword between them, and then quickly wrapped an arm around the back of the elf’s neck, crossed it over with her other hand that braced against the elf’s face and snapped her neck.

The elf dropped to the ground bonelessly after Marie released her, already dead and voiding her bowels.

That move was able to kill people quickly even with a normal person’s strength, for Marie it was like breaking a twig. She was feeling pretty good about that when she felt the crashing blow of a greatsword against her right shoulder, and an actual spike of pain went through her system. The young vampire allowed her body to follow the force of the blow and went over forwards into a roll, hoping to gain some distance from the elf attacking her.

She came to her feet, rolling her shoulder and wincing as it made an ominous popping sound. She turned around and the elf was already charging her with a raised greatsword. Scrambling, Marie pulled her dagger out with her left hand and when the greatsword can whistling down she tried to parry it and slide it to the side. Of course, the greatsword blew the dagger right out of her hand and cut off the index and middle finger of her left hand.

Marie yelled in rage and pain as she was mutilated. She was ready to run, this was turning in to a total loss and she wasn’t stupid. That was, until she was lit on fire. The other elf had finished her chanting and pointed at Marie, an evil grin on her elven lips.

The vampire went up in flames like an oil-soaked rag, a pyre of fire lighting up the stygian blackness of the night. Marie felt her skin melting and running off her body, and all the nerves that were left in her undead body were processing as many emergency signals as they possibly could. Her red eyes lit up even brighter, and she reached up and ripped the remains of her hood off and threw it to the ground hatefully.

“Oh, it’s ON!”