Path of the Vampire forum

Ismael was at first alarmed with Mason informing him she smelt blood, as Mason and him were going to just relax at an Ice cream parlor before anything else. Yet as Harper Rock has it, there is never a peaceful. Thankfully this happened after Ismael and Mason took some quick showers at his apartment, so they both didn't smell like death and concrete. However, it was a weird thing for Ismael as he isn't used to the whole vampire thing, so he needed to invite her into his home. Hmm, it seems like a real pain in all honesty, especially when trying to hide.

Ismael was slightly pissed off by these turns of events, as he wanted to at least have some food before they got another situation, but what can you do? He did, at the very least, rearm and reload himself on ammo, and now having his weapons, he might have an easier time fighting. So he did have that going for him. His clothing is pretty similar to his cloths he normally wears, a thick black jacket, a long sleeve, an undershirt, and some thick jeans.

With Mason having her own gear, this will made life easier as Ismael wouldn't need to give her a weapon to fight, she can fight without worry and he can fight without needing to use his knife. They can at least now work together in a better manner, as they both are in their 'best' shape. Ismael was still injured he just didn't need to worry about bleeding out.

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As they both finally made it to where the smell of the blood is the strongest they notice a crowd of people holding different signs slowly being dispersed by the Police. When inspecting the area it seems to be a rally against vampire rights, trying to have even further restrictions placed on them. With the different banners depicting vampires as a menace and a threat to the safety of everyone. Ismael didn't find their sentiment entirely wrong, he has found himself a bad record of vampires. One of the good experiences he's had so far with vampires was with Mason, and right now that feels like a rare occasion.

As they look around they can see the rally looks pretty normal to say the least. A large wooden stage that seems to have been moved in to allow for the people who were talking to be seen by everyone, A few large banners, and some very large trash cans that seem to be pushed slightly out of view of most passerby's. Other than the trash and forgotten posters on the floor, nothing else seem to really be strange, but Mason can smell blood in the air and a good bit of it. The question is where?

Ismael is more interested in the people who were around the area as he starts asking them questions. "So what was going on here?", "What were they doing?", "Did they do anything peculiar?", just stuff to get the general gist of what was going on and seeing if he could pry deeper to find some more juicier information.

It was good to be back in her own clothes, not just a torn up coat. What she wasn't used to however was the need to be invited in to a house. That was still something that bothered her, among other things. Actually there wasn't much about being a vampire that didn't.

Oh well, their short break didn't exactly last long. Armed, properly clothed, and ready to go.

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Present:

Mason could probably smell the blood a good bit better then Ismael could, naturally. It was what was supposed to keep her alive. So finding the location wasn't exactly hard, and once they were both on the scent. Well things didn't exactly look good. It was near a crowd as it was being dispersed. And hey, look at that, against vampire rights. Mason probably would be in that crowd if she actually trusted anyone to do it right. She doubted it though. She wasn't completely insane, she knew not all vampires were bad. And she knew not all humans could be trusted with them.

While aggressive, the protest was little more then expected. Stage was minimal, they had plenty of signs but that was normal too. Even allowed people to pass by. But that blood was still there. She turned her head to Ismael as he started asking questions.

Vampires. That's what they were doing, existing. Threats to humanity, feeding off them when pigs would suffice. They were a virus. A virus that unfortunately Mason was a part of, "We need to find this blood." she muttered, she didn't shut her eyes. Just tried to follow the scent. It was really fortunate she could hide amongst humans when they weren't carrying mirrors or in broad daylight. Tatooes and normal skin and complexion, they were both signs of being human. Vampires were supposed to, well be paler then they should, but also heal away any tatoos or deformities. Mason conciously put the effort to prevent that for her.

"They're mostly right you know. Vampirism is a disease. Whether any of them like it or not. And they just give in more times then they even need to. They can drink blood of pretty much anything that has it." She muttered, "Just wish humans were off that menu."

As Mason begins to search for the scent of the blood she begins to find the scent become more pungent when heading towards the trashcans. Ismael mostly followed when Mason seemed to have a scent with a wave to the person he was talking to and thanking them. Ismael mostly confirmed what they both already knew. This was an anti-vampire protest and the idea of it was to try and get more reform and more restraints on Vampires. They did find out this wasn't the only one either. There was multiple other protests going on in Harper rock.

When Mason began to talk about vampirism Ismael immediately knew this was gonna be another vampire bashing. Mason did make some very good points, Vampires are known to give in and feed more than needed, and could drink from anything with a pulse. But one thing Ismael doesn't agree with her that it is a disease, "Some people chose it from fear, others for desire, and some might just get roped in. For some it is an answer, some a curse, and some a hope. All I can say is don't look too bad on all of vampire kind. After all they are still people, and besides humans are not all perfect angels either. They just don't eat each other in the normal terms, we just do it in other ways. We claw and step on each other for what we want, we consume others dreams to just gain another dollar".

Ismael takes in a deep breath as he then sighs and says, "Sorry got a little too philosophical. I just find myself seeing Vampires as people, after all not all humans are good, so there is no way all vampires are bad. After all, you exist". Ismael says this with a smile trying to at least get Mason to think a little better on vampires, there has to be vampires out there who are didn't want to be a vampire but now is, just like Mason. Maybe they wish to live a simple life, and these accusations hurt that as it paints them as a bad person even if they never did a thing.

When they near the trash cans the smell of blood is even noticeable to Ismael as he holds his nose and says, "Ohp, I think we found where it's coming from". As Ismael begins to open the trash can.

As when the trash can is open there is a body stuffed into it, she looks to be beaten and stabbed in multiple places, including two small insertions into the base of her neck looking like vampire bites. Then on further inspection of the woman it is found her canines have been pulled out and a large white sash has been put on her with the words written in red text, Fang Lover.

==========AUTOMATED RANDOM EVENTS SYSTEM==========

Mason hears a strange and inexplicable shuffling, followed by the distinct stench of rot.

Mason looked at him over the shoulder as he started going into how it might not be exactly right to blame all of them for it. It wasn't exactly that she disagreed. But in her eyes, it was greatly disproportional when it came to vampire related crime. And besides, vampirism itself was a disease to her.

Then he added the bit about if not all humans are good, not all vampires are bad, and using her as an example. She smiled, "Thank you Izzy." she responded. Though perhaps she wasn't completely convinced, she was still not going to bring it up anymore. At least not right now. Eventually they got really close where the smell was strong. Whatever it was, it was strong.

A shuffle was heard in the distance and her eyes darted to the source, but she couldn't catch exactly where it went. What she did notice was that awful stench though, rot.

Ismael opened the trash can and Mason swallowed as the saw a body stuffed inside, beaten,s tabbed, possibly a vampire bite even. But, when they checked, they found a white sash and "Fang lover." Mason gritted her teeth looking at the body. It was not the first she'd seen. She'd seen human bodies killed before, she'd caused plenty of vampire bodies.

But whatever this was, it was unacceptable. On the one hand the woman may have fang marks. Based on the rest of the evidence, she was uncertain, they were supposed to heal closed too most of the time. What they did know was that whatever this was, it was anti vampire. And hate vampirism as much as Mason might, this was unacceptable. And it showed.

She turned away from the body cracking her knuckles and clearly trying to calm herself before quietly saying, "Ok, alright, some imbecile did this. Or imbeciles. That is a murder. I don't even care if I hate vampirism. That's not allowed. The problem is." she looked into the crowd, "I have no idea who could have done it. A crowd with an objective may not want to tell us who did it. Especially if, well"

Mason looked at Izzy, and held out her hands, "They knew about me."

Ismael looks into the trashcan with his one hand and his hand on his nose and revealing a body, and a bit of anger slipped into his words, "God damn animals". Ismael normally doesn't normally feel anger. Disgust, yes. Annoyance, absolutely. But he doesn't normally feel anger. But this is absolutely intolerable. People turning on people, what a wonderful night. Soon his anger began to swell, as he looked at the woman he began picking apart everything on her and it had to be torturous, bruises all over her, slash and stab wounds, and bite marks on her neck. Them being there means that it was done by something else as with his experience with vampires, bite marks disappear once they finish. What is this a Salem witch trial? Why are they looking at a woman who was murdered for what? Supporting Vampires? Or even just not hating vampires?

Ismael shut the lid and sighed out in frustration. He's killed zombies before, and he's seen bodies, yet just knowing what had happened makes seeing it that much worst.
Ismael finally calmed down as he says, "We probably won't find any answers here. We'll probably need to find one of these other 'Protests' for answers". Ismael says this with hate as he knows this is beyond what a protest is. This isn't some hate towards vampires this is terrorism in the streets.

Now as Ismael is finally calming down the smell of rot hits him like a sledgehammer. Being knee deep in rot on multiple occasions have left the smell as a normal scent to him. So when he isn't in the right state of mind makes it hard for him to care about much else. He breaths in and out finally focusing he says, "Ok we'll figure all of this out. Firstly lets find the producer of the rotting smell. It has to be bodies and it could…" as he sees a few different knocked down trashcans around the area with each being completely empty, "Oh ****".

When looking around they begin to hear low moaning then a few different people screaming. There are multiple zombies that have came out and started attacking people

Mason grunted in agreement as he called them animals. "It's filthy." she muttered. It was true Mason had a serious focus on destroying the undead, but there were things humans could do that would really get on her bad side. This was most assuredly one of them.

She glanced over to him as he explained they'd have to find the answer in the protests. Yeah, among the filth that caused it. She hated vampirism too, despised it with everything she had. But the morality of this act was out of the question. And it had to be dealt iwth.

That sure was an awful...and familiar smell though. Something Ismael brought up. And then...screaming. Macon looked around to see zombies out in the crowds already after people, "Dang these people." she said, her pistol goldfinger was out in a flash as she rushed for it. But there was too much risk she'd hit someone behind it so she was forced to holster it, instead swinging polyphemus her sword in an attempt to decapitate the zombie.

If she succeeded, the zombie body would fall to the ground headless. And she'd preform another quick strike to sever the torso from the legs, just to be sure. Before turning to see what she was supposed to do next.

If she failed however she would slightly miss the zombie, which would turn on her and manage to cut into her arm.

==========AUTOMATED POST==========

Mason attempted to fight an easy enemy, and was successful!

Ismael and Mason both knew what was going down at this point so they both ran in opposite directions to clear the zombies as fast as possible. Mason ran off to kill a zombie who was about to leap onto a women, as her body moved swiftly she transferred that energy into he swings. Making two quick cuts, they nearly flashed like light forgot to follow as the zombie collapses into three pieces and subsequently dies. As two other zombies are nearby as well, yet in opposite directions of Mason, One was preparing to start its attack on two men trying to run, while the other just knocked someone over and was about ready to pounce.

For Ismael he had a less than graceful approach to fighting zombies. His fighting is either brutal and fast, or cautious and deliberate. And right now caution needed to be thrown to the side as he needed to save people, so his immediate reaction was to throw himself at the zombie. He knew guns were not an option as people can get hit with missed shots and bullets that pass through, so he brought both of his knees up to dig both them into its back to drop it to the ground and bring his knife high and drive it into its head to kill it immediately.

If he fails the zombie will slip out and knock Ismael off balance and the zombie would be able to attack him more effectively.

Either way another zombie would also be nearing him in moments so he would have no time to rest.

{Edit}- I seem not able to use the combat thing, so I will roll on grid to see the result.

Mason cussed under her breath, she had to decide fast. There was a zombie chasing two men, or one who had already knocked someone over. She noticed Ismael had already taken to going after one himself. So she had to make her choice right now, she had to go for the one who'd already knocked someone over.

She leapt towards it, bringing forwards a kick attempting to knock it off its prey. And then follow that up with a quick beheading attempt. There was little reason to try and use her powers on zombies like these, she took out worse without them. These were basically fodder. Unfortunately, they were still a threat to regular people.

Should she succeed, the creature would lose it's head and fall to the ground. Meanwhile Mason would turn on the other one chasing the two men and start rushing after that one. No time to waste on these creatures.

Should she fail Mason would be struck by the zombie in the head, cutting into her forehead causing it to bleed and forcing her to prepare for a second assault by backing up.