CASE OF THE FEYWINERY FIEND
They called us to the Lilting Dew Winery when the cleaning crew found the body this morning. I had barely gotten my morning drink before the Argent Moon interrupted me. Hopefully no one checks under the bed. I do hate a cold drink.
At any rate the winery is on the outskirts of Castin. They primarily sell to the elven district of Castin proper. If you’ve never tried feywine, I highly recommend it. It pairs amazingly with meat of all kinds, which is ironic, as elves aren’t big carnivores.
As always Galt blamed Tuck, who was proving to be Galt’s unicorn – mythic and uncatchable. Whether the vampire assassin was responsible, it was evident there was some monstrous foul play here.
BEAUTY IS FLEETING
We arrived at the winery shortly before sundown. Galt was hoping the fiend would return for a second helping. I know he was hoping for Tuck, but Tuck wouldn’t be elusive if he was stupid. A predator, particularly one who feeds on people, would be wise to either leave no evidence of his passing. Preying on a city is remarkably easy. There are always dregs of society – the homeless, the drunks, the cruel, that no one would even report missing. Fixtures like the town drunk, the mayor, or the sweet woman with the pies, will be noticed, and attract attention.
- The owner of the winery, one Lyrael Tani’tanrael was found in the wine cellar. He was identified only by his clothing and signet ring.
There were signs of a struggle. Significant bruising about his body. He was apparently thrown through a wine cask. - Lyrael was known for his otherworldly beauty. It was gone. The body on the floor was haggard, shriveled and aged. As if the centuries of life finally caught up with it.
Hypothesis: Alternative feeder. Drains youth and vitality.
I presented my findings to the group. Galt is excited. He’s not sure what it is, but knows he hasn’t killed one before. The barbarian and his trophies.
Problem: Elves don’t sleep. They go into a trance for 4 hours. Thus they can and do party all night. If this feeder is a local, and elf is on the menu, then there should be more missing elves. None have been reported before now.
Unless it’s one of the cleaning crew.
MOONLIT METHODOLOGY
To be an effective hunter, whether bear, baboon, rabid turtle, you must understand your prey. I indulge the men of the Argent Dawn. They enjoy trying to figure out why and where it hunts.
- There were several workers at the winery last night. The only one attacked was the elf. This shows preference of prey.
- The attacker was clearly strong, as evident by Lyrael being thrown through a cask. This was not a strong human. This thing was abnormally strong.
- The attacker was stealthy. Only a few footprints are visible in dead grass and ivy that popped up through the floor. Did this things touch kill the plants?
- There was also patches of dead ivy on the walls. About shoulder height.
- Lyrael’s jaw was broken. His death mask, and the bite marks on either side of his mouth indicate the feeder literally sucked the life out of him. Violent and personal.
- There were patches of footprints in dead grass outside as well. The grass outside the footprints were fine, though some showed signs of decay.
MOONLIT HYPOTHESIS: VAMPIRE STRAIN
CLUE #1: Twisted and Deformed
Lyrael Tani’tanraelwas beautiful even by elf standards. Never short of lovers, and as an elf likely had a string of broken hearts behind him. This corpse was grotesque. It was twisted, and gnarled. Hair was completely gone. Even the teeth were misshapen now. Shadows and torchlight, If not for his signet ring the old decrepit corpse would remain unidentifiable.
CLUE #2: The Missing and the Dead
A trip to the death house proved fruitful. The “burnsman” said they had a more old deaths than normal in the last week or so. I was able to check a recent addition. It was, or had been an elf. The new additions had come from the slums of Castin. Ironically, a few elven workers, a guard, a sanitation worker, a bard, had also come up missing. I fear they have already met our hunter, and the burnsman.
CLUE #3: Black Thumb
Whatever this thing was, nature itself was not pleased with it. Living plants withered and died at its touch.
Observation: The creature is definitively a vampire of some kind. It’s relatively new to the area, and it had been hunting in the slums. It was likely hunger that made it seek out the winery.
It is not a typical vampire. There was no blood loss that wasn’t attributed to the violent attack. Let me throw you through a giant barrel, see if you don’t bleed. All the victims were elves, and I’ve never met an ugly elf. Until those carcasses.
This narrows it down considerably.
VAMPIRE STRAINS
Nature loves variety. Think of the sheer number of bugs, or plants in the world. Many of them don’t make sense unless you take into account their environment. Ivy finds the tiniest cracks on a rockface or wall. It not only thrives but will make a right nuisance of itself if not pruned.
It’s surprising, but apparently as much as nature hates the undead, as any druid will tell you, there is quite a bit of variety there too. Your run of the mill vampire for example has an established “birth” cycle. In most cases a fledgling vampire was created by another vampire. If released by its master, either with its death – or less often, willingly. Your average vampire is not the stuff of legends, contrary to popular belief. Seductive? Yes. Dangerous? Absolutely. Nightmare fuel? Utterly.
Elder vampires are worse.
Other vampire types are arguably even more so.
When one is hunting, one needs the right tools. You don’t hunt boar with a dagger. Same tools apply when hunting vampires. Holy water, wooden stakes, silver or blessed weapons are indispensable. Never hurts to have a fiery spell or two handy. Still vampires are apex hunters. They are cunning and not to be underestimated. Expecting the tools to hand you a win is like expecting the boar to lay down when you have spear in hand.
Here’s the curious thing. Even the Argent Moon has no idea what makes an elven vampire. Or for that matter, dwarven, or gnome, or even orc. If you think of vampirism like a disease, it manifests a certain way in the general populace. Then it hops species and for some reason becomes something different.
Gnaw me sideways… This requires caution.
This is what is known about elven vampires.
- They feed on beauty.
- They actually hunt during the day.
- They are notoriously difficult to harm. Unless you have blessed or magical weapons, they are as untouchable as the mists.
- It is believed the first elven vampire was not from this world, but crawled out of the Pit.
CLOSING NOTE
We hunt something that even nature abhors. As an observer, I don’t have to get involved in the gruesome violence. Galt of course disagrees.
By shadow and fang, if the creature sticks to the slums, or hunts in the forest however I doubt the Argent Moon will be able to track it, much less kill it without help.
If it chooses to stay in the city however, gnaw me sideways, I fear the burnsmen will not get a day off.
The Argent Moon Hunter’s Guide to Vampires
Field Edition – Pending Review
Until then, these notes remain personal.
— Tanner, Loremaster of the Argent Moon
A Darkness Rising 