[ Concussions make Trevor clingy. It's been a lot, and among all the concerns of becoming what was before, there's the knowledge that this could easily end as tragically as it did then. He pauses for just a moment, long enough to pull Alucard closer before letting go. He lets his knuckles brush against Alucard's as they walk, but nothing more.
The trees become more sparse as the castle becomes visible, and the oldest of them bend away from it at ninety degrees before growing upwards once again. And it's- fairly normal, all things considered. Not an unimpressive castle, at least as far as he's concerned. But nothing to signify that it might be terrible in the same way as Dracula's. ]
Would you rather get your comments on the architecture out of the way now, or share them as we go through?
[That last moment is everything. If this all goes to hell (it could so quickly go to hell), those little things will be all there ever were. All the more reason to indulge the impulses now, even when the timing feels ridiculous and inappropriate for the situation's gravity.
Alucard's ice cold sobriety returns with every step, until his usual demeanor is back when they reach the end of the forest. He'll call the place the forest of Eternal Silence for now, and perhaps that name shall stick in the future.
The edifice that greets them is normal. Uninteresting. And so all Alucard says as he begins to cross over to the door comes with a terrible smug look.]
[ The door opens. There's no resistance, nothing like the defenses of the castle. That, at least, he knows to be deliberate. Walter wanted visitors. He thrived upon them. ]
There ought to be a staircase leading downward, at first.
[ They have maps of the place. One theoretical, made by Mathias based upon intelligence gathered from outside. The second is from Leon's journals at the hold, a working map made for himself when he explored it - more reliable but less complete. He nods when he sees the staircase - this place isn't living. Isn't rearranging itself the way Dracula's castle was known to be capable of. That, at least, is a relief. ]
Leon said there was- something down there. Didn't say what, he just didn't like it. Through here, there'll be corridors into the inner parts of the castle.
[There's no reason for a defense. The owner is long dead, and this place so very abandoned. Dust has settled on the interior. Four centuries worth, and as Alucard walks in, the pathway he makes is reflected in that dust.
Leon's journals, the ones here, they were the only guide to go on. Trevor's their strategist, which means everything in those journals has been commited to memory. (They'll be brought to the Hold when all is said and done, to rejoin their siblings. No silver bindings though.)]
Ahead, just to your left.
[There's no windows here. It's the castle of a vampire, why should there be? Alucard moves in that direction, aware his superior eyesight is key here.]
Something down there is probably long dead. We should confirm that, or else destroy what still lives.
[ His hand touches the Morning Star delicately, just for a moment, to be certain he's ready. Whatever is down there, it drove fear into Leon far more than Walter, or anything other than Sara's injury and turning, ever had.
He's not quite certain they're ready for that. But they have to at least know. ]
Downstairs. There might be torches on the way down, it seems like it would be appropriate for the tone.
[By tone Alucard means over dramatic. It was the one word he kept thinking over and over again in reading research beyond Leon's notes, and here, it was an asset.
The downstairs steps are too easily found. Alucard descends the first several, his hand tracing over the wall. Dirt gathers on his gloves, but more importantly, he does fined a torch. He takes it in hand, fiddles for a few moments, and it is lit. (God he misses Sypha.)]
'Here I came upon a great beast wreathed in flame, with skin strong as iron, guarding the place where-' [ 'Where my best loves were kept from me' ] '-the beast was asleep, and the cell he guarded empty, and I knew them to either be dead else taken elsewhere. The beast took no quarrel with me, nor I with it, for I would suffer no delay. These choices, I am certain, is why I live to write, for in all my travels I never saw to terrible a creature. I doubt not that even the Lord of this Castle should tremble before the thing.'
[ He recites the appropriate passage from Leon's journals as he moves down the stairs, tracing over the wall in the same way that Alucard had the whole way. He's careful, because he cannot hit his fucking head twice in one trip. ]
'The beast allowed me to live, and I it, but as I ventured into the galleries of what Mathias called the 'Ghost Theater', I heard the terrible bellows from below. The beast was crying out in rage and pain, and I was consumed at once by the desires to leave this place at once and to return to its side and console it through whatever suffering brought such dreadful cries from it. My quest, however, would tolerate neither.'
[Iron's not an Alucard Problem. Iron is fae and ghost and things that aren't vampire problem, and so he keeps going ever downwards, hand still trailing on the wall. It's to feel for extra torches (he takes one just in case) and it is to keep his balance. Both are needed, and after what feels like an eternity, the ground is solid under Alucard's feet again.
He takes a moment to sniff the air. It's inert here, whatever beast Leon met is long since dead. But there's something strange in that, and Alucard takes a second sniff at the air.
This is familiar. That is wrong.
All the way down and now further in. Alucard gives up at staring in the dark. He lights the torch, and the shadows that flicker show nothing but cell bars.]
[ He breathes when he reaches the end of the staircase. Going back up he'll be able to handle, but going down a set of very steep, uneven stairs in the dark is unpleasant even with Alucard going first, both able to float and stable enough to keep his balance if he's fallen into. He moves closer to the cell bars, frowning as he runs a hand over the metal.
And then there is that great roar that Leon wrote of as a massive engine in the centre of the room bursts into life, fire boiling water which turns things and pulls things and he's not going to pretend he understands that much of it. A light turns on, loud and far too bright. Lightning trapped between two rods, like a far larger version of the small bulbs in the castle.
Papers are scattered across the floor of the cell, visible now in the bright light. Some detail the workings of the great engine. Others are an attempt at a scientist's interpretation of the experienced of being turned, starting rational and measured and twisting into pain and fury. There are bottles everywhere, some broken and some empty, some half-filled with long-dried blood and some still sealed. Walter had kept his precious alchemist well-fed. ]
[Alucard doesn't stay back, because this? This he knows. That engine, the shape of it isn't refined but he knows it and there's no fear in approaching. A grim smile of satisfaction flicks over Alucard's face.]
It's an early version of how the castle moves. Moved, rather.
[Because Sypha still broke it. He takes advantage of the light in order to observe what lies around them, and the pages on the ground have that familiar handwriting too. The writings about the engines, they evolve into diagrams quickly. Alucard can't help but start to gather them up, because to unbreak the castle would be to afford safety if a matter like Carmilla strikes again. (He ignores the cell. The bars. It aches in horrifying ways he never knew existed before, and now that information shall be the domains of new dreams.)
This isn't a mission to gather paper. Alucard doesn't care, he holds the pages close to his chest.]
Too much originates here. But that also means that any extremely strange passages might be a matter of encountering more technological marvels rather than real demons and the like.
[ He repeats it with a lot more feeling, because- well shit. ]
...you know that we have to destroy this before we leave France.
[ He's glad that Alucard found it and everything, but- they can't let this stay here. Where it could be found so, so easily by anyone. It's a miracle that nobody's stumbled upon it before now. ]
[He's too smug when he makes that claim for it to be real.
There's a moment when Alucard looks around again, making sure he's picked up every page. When they go back, he shall put the pages in order. (Alucard does not want to sleep tonight, for fear of dreams. For fear of sharing a cell with his father, and the terrible bonding of it.)
Beyond the engine, there is more. The less time spent lingering here, the better.]
His poetry is fine. He just doesn't know the difference between a monster and a- that thing.
[ To be fair, neither would most people in 1095.
There seems to be another of the arc lamps at the top of the stairs, if the loud sound of it and the light flooding down the steps is any indication. It makes the stairs easier to climb, and Trevor's grateful for that much. ]
'Before me lay six paths. One led to a building that was a church in all but the Lord's presence, dismantled and rebuilt exactly within the castle's walls where He could not enter. Another led to a great theater. A third led to the prisons where those among Walter's army would be kept, and a fourth to the laboratories where he forced my best love to share his great wisdom. The fifth led to a great garden where the plants grew by eternal moonlight. The final door, I knew, would lead to Walter's solar.'
The arc lamp is a relief. Any and all the comforts of home are a relief, even if this castle is basic. An inferior version of what home is, what it became, what his father actually created on his own rather than at the prodding and torture of another.
He listens, considers, and nods.]
Chapel, theatre, cells, laboratory, garden, primary room for confrontation. My instinct says laboratory and garden, those are more involved rooms and might have more documents, but if we're looking for greater indicators of a man, then the first three shall reveal much more.
Of the three, the theatre is the strangest to my ears. Let's begin there.
[ He'll accept 'basic' now, because that seems more and more like what this truly is - the first form of what became Dracula's castle. From here he can hear water rushing through metal veins, the same way it does back at the castle. The sound of it echoes through the hallways, along with the constant whining of those lights and the creaking an groaning of the first version of the engine.
(It really does sound pained. He can see how, thinking it a living creature, Leon would have wanted to comfort it. Even if his own thoughts on what to do about the sounds venture less toward 'comfort' and more toward 'put it out of its misery') ]
The theatre, then. That would be- this door, I think.
[ He pushes it open. The corridor behind it is dark, but a light at the far end means there must be another of those lamps around a corner somewhere. Even in the dark it is- overly decorated. ]
'Sara had heard rumour of a pair of performers found on the edges of the forest, half-dead, half-starved and half-mad. She bade Mathias ride out with her to tend their wounds and, once they could travel, had them brought back to the safety of the estate. Here she stayed with them, soothing the injuries done to their hearts with her healing presence as Mathias had soothed those done to their flesh, until they had the presence of mind to speak. This was how we came to learn of what Mathias calls the Ghost Theatre.
The Theatre was a gift, created to win the loyalty of Walter's most trusted general. Responsible for selecting and turning the poor cursed children who would become his soldiers, she possesses the power to appear in the form of the most sorely-missed love of her captives. The performers, both grown men who had seen her as their lovers, referred to her as the Succubus, but Mathias has taken to calling her the Matron, as he suspects that she controls the captives she turns by taking the forms of their mothers.
Though the Theatre is hers, the performers claim that Walter visited nightly to attend the performances. Some of these performances, such as the one that our informants were originally part of, were legitimate plays. This was how they were tempted to come to the castle, for love of their art, with promises of a great theatre to perform in, wearing costumes made of the finest and brightest cloth. Most were not. In some, the Matron would tell stories of terrible bloodshed, throwing human captives against their turned children or compelling them to fight amongst themselves. Others would be torture sessions or executions, and the two men who spoke to us told of seeing their troupemates skinned alive by her young soldiers.'
[ They're nearly at the end of the corridor as Trevor reaches the end of that, and around the corner is the source of the light - more of those lamps, illuminating a large and lavishly decorated room. Seats stetch out below them, all facing a massive stage.
Trevor moves on to the other passage that Leon had written on this place, later on in the journal. ]
'This being the domain of Walter's most favored general, it is also the location of the quarters of the army that she created for him. I wish, more truly than anything, that I had never come to learn this. I will write upon this no more, save to say that: To Rinaldo, brightest of Mathias' apprentices, best trusted ally of House Belmont, I am sorry.'
So I'm expecting a cheery sort of place. [ He adds dryly. ]
[Reading through the journals back at the estate had established the importance of preventing this terrible resurrection from passing. (They had a month and change, if Sypha's hunch was right. Alucard saw no reason it wouldn't be, not with every passing detail they learned about what Walter was.) But hearing it said out loud is a very different experience indeed. Jabs about poetry aside (there were some sidebars in that journal that were clearly a) proto-sonnets and b) absolutely not meant for anyone else to read ever), the descriptions were clear eyed and beyond helpful for the task at hand.
Going through the corridors, Alucard continues to rely on the torches. Overly-decorated means a real fortune, even more so than it does now, and as the description of what lies ahead continues, the look on his face grows grimmer and grimmer. He cannot reach into his coat for something to stuff his ears with if need be, the hand not holding the torch is clinging to his father's scattered notes, but the inability to act gives him a terrible thought.]
Do the journals note the Matron's fate?
[If she is loyal. If she believes in the work. If she has seen the aftermath of Dracula's death and known that there must be some truly fearsome vampire power, then the question of who the culprit is might lie at her feet. Or she may be an ally of whoever is responsible. Alucard hates both options, but they need this information.
He still follows after Trevor. His face is too still, as if expecting something to leap out.]
Cheery and with no blood removal spells ever applied.
tmw ur a brit but ur spellcheck is american and you have to use the word 'theatre' 700 times
I'm not going to recite that part. It went on for twenty fucking pages. But yes. Leon slew her and Walter was defeated before he could make good upon the promise of immortality he made to his most loyal servants. She fought him wearing Sara's appearance, and he had a fuckload of feelings about it. Used the phrase 'most dearest love' seven times in one paragraph.
[ He looks down over the theatre. It's near pristine, save for the dust. Pristine and grand and beautiful enough to have inspired awe in any other two people. As it is, Alucard is more than used to this kind of shit and Trevor has been raised with a healthy distrust of castles. ]
Leon never finished his map of this place. [ Presumably because, between having to fight Sara and finding the place where Justine had been imprisoned, he didn't care to stay any longer than necessary. ] So we have Mathias' to go by, I'd guess made based on the word of the prisoners they rescued. There should be dressing rooms, a storage area, an area behind the stage where props and such are kept. Then there'll be the Matron's quarters, and the place where her turned soldiers were kept.
Neither of you get to complain about my overdramatics ever again.
[Alucard says it with a little bit of warmth. As much as he can dare for this situation. But that is all, because as over poetic as Leon is, there's too much aching familarity in the rest. They're all keenly aware of it.
The idea of this Matron wearing the form of others though, that sets Alucard's teeth on edge. Not because of the cruelty of the act it forces (an act both of them have committed now), but because he knows exactly how he could be gotten with such a ruse. Worse. His father would too.
Now isn't the time for that thought. Practicality is the rule of the day, and Alucard listens as Trevor speaks, carefully trying to picture the backstage areas in his mind.]
Let's begin with the area behind the stage. It will likely have the easiest exits if we must make use of them. Take the quarters last, those would be the hardest to escape from, and the lowest point if I had to guess.
[And if they're going backstage, then fuck it. He's walking on the cursed thing for spite. Down the aisles Alucard goes, then hauls himself up onto the performance space. The wood underfoot is in good condition, no creaks or groans or complaints.]
Just because there's someone more dramatic than you doesn't mean you're not an overdramatic fuck. I don't see you refraining from complaining about my manners just because pigs exist.
[ He follows Alucard onto the stage. It's sturdy, with a few trapdoors that he chooses to not step on. from the front, it seems innocent enough. From on-stage there are a few more warning signs visible - hooks with chains hanging from them attached to the walls and hidden from the audience by curtains, deep scratches on the stone that couldn't have been made by human hands, implying that even some of Walter's vampiric enemies had found their way here.
The backstage area is a small space, lit only by what light from the lams finds its way in. Trevor's estimation of it being used to store props wasn't quite correct. Instead it has a great system of ropes tied to bars at different levels against one wall. Two tunnels go under the stage, not quite big enough for either of them to fit through (or at least, in Alucard's case, not as they are). ]
Those tunnels were- probably for the children to navigate the place. [ He guesses, and that's an upsetting and uncomfortable thought. ]
I am perfectly dramatic when the need arises for it, and only then. This [Alucard gestures to what is around them] is screeching dramatics from on high every day of one's life. Consider a scale, and have this be the highest, most dramatic end of it.
[The trapdoors are obvious, at least, and Alucard keeps his focus down rather than up. He expects something to come from below, and when it is clear nothing shall, his eyes do catch on what Trevor has already noted. The grim look on his face intensifies somehow, and he is glad to be free of the sights.
Using the torch in hand is better than relying on the lights to show what the backstage is. The ropes, the bars, those make sense. Operates curtains, operates the hooks, controls the production. Beyond that is the usual discomfort.]
Most likely. I'd expect such tunnels run under more than just this theatre. More of a torture to move through these things than to just walk through a windowless castle.
[The torch shines down the tunnel anyway. There's a chill, but only for the fact the tunnels are deeper in the earth.]
You picked Sypha up and span her around until she got dizzy because the blackberries came in a month early.
[ No he's not going to forget that incident. And yes it's a little more forgivable with the context of the early harvest meaning that they'd be able to eat the berries before they left. But also Sypha's sandal flew off and hit him so. He's going to bring that up forever.
Trevor measures the tunnel's width with his hands, then brings his hands up to his shoulders to check and- nope. There's no way he's going to fit in those. ]
Sypha needs better sandals, that was the lesson there. And none of you complained at the evening, so your harping upon this incident is pointless, Trevor.
[Alucard hangs back as measurements are taken. Considered. Dismissed. Perhaps that's for the better. There'd be naught but bones and dried blood in there, Alucard suspects. They're happier in speculating than being certain.]
He backs up carefully so that Trevor still has light, and then begins to move towards the storage room. It isn't far, and it remains unlocked.
Within are the props that were anticipated backstage. Some expected, like lanterns or faux flowers, the rest at home in the way only a vampire would consider the things comforts of home. Nasty looking halberds with blood long dried to them. A noose with terrible nails set into it. A stockade which probably had a sinister purpose. Beyond them, scrims. Painted scenery. Actual pieces any theatre might employ.]
I didn't say it wasn't worth it. I said it was dramatic.
[ There's nothing terribly interesting here. Even the more horrifying things, they're expected. The most noteworthy thing is a lantern with a handle, which he promptly takes for himself, borrowing Alucard's torch to light it and hooking it onto his belts.
The dressing rooms, when they move on to them, seem fairly normal save for the thick straps of the arms and legs of the chairs. Various costumes hang from a rack, fine clothing and military uniforms of the time, representations of various animals, intricate things meant to impersonate fairies and other otherworldly creatures. Various containers of creams and powders line the tables. ]
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cryptsleeper) wrote2018-11-10 11:26 pm
no subject
Concussions make Trevor clingy. It's been a lot, and among all the concerns of becoming what was before, there's the knowledge that this could easily end as tragically as it did then. He pauses for just a moment, long enough to pull Alucard closer before letting go. He lets his knuckles brush against Alucard's as they walk, but nothing more.The trees become more sparse as the castle becomes visible, and the oldest of them bend away from it at ninety degrees before growing upwards once again. And it's- fairly normal, all things considered. Not an unimpressive castle, at least as far as he's concerned. But nothing to signify that it might be terrible in the same way as Dracula's. ]
Would you rather get your comments on the architecture out of the way now, or share them as we go through?
no subject
Alucard's ice cold sobriety returns with every step, until his usual demeanor is back when they reach the end of the forest. He'll call the place the forest of Eternal Silence for now, and perhaps that name shall stick in the future.
The edifice that greets them is normal. Uninteresting. And so all Alucard says as he begins to cross over to the door comes with a terrible smug look.]
As I said before. It looks basic.
[And like that, he's at the door.]
no subject
There ought to be a staircase leading downward, at first.
[ They have maps of the place. One theoretical, made by Mathias based upon intelligence gathered from outside. The second is from Leon's journals at the hold, a working map made for himself when he explored it - more reliable but less complete. He nods when he sees the staircase - this place isn't living. Isn't rearranging itself the way Dracula's castle was known to be capable of. That, at least, is a relief. ]
Leon said there was- something down there. Didn't say what, he just didn't like it. Through here, there'll be corridors into the inner parts of the castle.
no subject
Leon's journals, the ones here, they were the only guide to go on. Trevor's their strategist, which means everything in those journals has been commited to memory. (They'll be brought to the Hold when all is said and done, to rejoin their siblings. No silver bindings though.)]
Ahead, just to your left.
[There's no windows here. It's the castle of a vampire, why should there be? Alucard moves in that direction, aware his superior eyesight is key here.]
Something down there is probably long dead. We should confirm that, or else destroy what still lives.
no subject
He's not quite certain they're ready for that. But they have to at least know. ]
Downstairs first, then?
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[By tone Alucard means over dramatic. It was the one word he kept thinking over and over again in reading research beyond Leon's notes, and here, it was an asset.
The downstairs steps are too easily found. Alucard descends the first several, his hand tracing over the wall. Dirt gathers on his gloves, but more importantly, he does fined a torch. He takes it in hand, fiddles for a few moments, and it is lit. (God he misses Sypha.)]
It's steeper than it looks.
no subject
[ He recites the appropriate passage from Leon's journals as he moves down the stairs, tracing over the wall in the same way that Alucard had the whole way. He's careful, because he cannot hit his fucking head twice in one trip. ]
'The beast allowed me to live, and I it, but as I ventured into the galleries of what Mathias called the 'Ghost Theater', I heard the terrible bellows from below. The beast was crying out in rage and pain, and I was consumed at once by the desires to leave this place at once and to return to its side and console it through whatever suffering brought such dreadful cries from it. My quest, however, would tolerate neither.'
So something shitty, is what I think he's saying.
no subject
[Iron's not an Alucard Problem. Iron is fae and ghost and things that aren't vampire problem, and so he keeps going ever downwards, hand still trailing on the wall. It's to feel for extra torches (he takes one just in case) and it is to keep his balance. Both are needed, and after what feels like an eternity, the ground is solid under Alucard's feet again.
He takes a moment to sniff the air. It's inert here, whatever beast Leon met is long since dead. But there's something strange in that, and Alucard takes a second sniff at the air.
This is familiar. That is wrong.
All the way down and now further in. Alucard gives up at staring in the dark. He lights the torch, and the shadows that flicker show nothing but cell bars.]
no subject
[ He breathes when he reaches the end of the staircase. Going back up he'll be able to handle, but going down a set of very steep, uneven stairs in the dark is unpleasant even with Alucard going first, both able to float and stable enough to keep his balance if he's fallen into. He moves closer to the cell bars, frowning as he runs a hand over the metal.
And then there is that great roar that Leon wrote of as a massive engine in the centre of the room bursts into life, fire boiling water which turns things and pulls things and he's not going to pretend he understands that much of it. A light turns on, loud and far too bright. Lightning trapped between two rods, like a far larger version of the small bulbs in the castle.
Papers are scattered across the floor of the cell, visible now in the bright light. Some detail the workings of the great engine. Others are an attempt at a scientist's interpretation of the experienced of being turned, starting rational and measured and twisting into pain and fury. There are bottles everywhere, some broken and some empty, some half-filled with long-dried blood and some still sealed. Walter had kept his precious alchemist well-fed. ]
Well shit- I think that might be Leon's monster.
no subject
[Alucard doesn't stay back, because this? This he knows. That engine, the shape of it isn't refined but he knows it and there's no fear in approaching. A grim smile of satisfaction flicks over Alucard's face.]
It's an early version of how the castle moves. Moved, rather.
[Because Sypha still broke it. He takes advantage of the light in order to observe what lies around them, and the pages on the ground have that familiar handwriting too. The writings about the engines, they evolve into diagrams quickly. Alucard can't help but start to gather them up, because to unbreak the castle would be to afford safety if a matter like Carmilla strikes again. (He ignores the cell. The bars. It aches in horrifying ways he never knew existed before, and now that information shall be the domains of new dreams.)
This isn't a mission to gather paper. Alucard doesn't care, he holds the pages close to his chest.]
Too much originates here. But that also means that any extremely strange passages might be a matter of encountering more technological marvels rather than real demons and the like.
no subject
[ He repeats it with a lot more feeling, because- well shit. ]
...you know that we have to destroy this before we leave France.
[ He's glad that Alucard found it and everything, but- they can't let this stay here. Where it could be found so, so easily by anyone. It's a miracle that nobody's stumbled upon it before now. ]
no subject
[The response is firm and confident. And then, because he can't help it:]
We should get Sypha to do it.
no subject
Do you have everything you need? Hopefully it should be easier to see with this thing on, at least.
[ He laughs again, though this time there's a little less humor to it. ]
We can find out all the rest of the shit that Leon got wrong.
no subject
[He's too smug when he makes that claim for it to be real.
There's a moment when Alucard looks around again, making sure he's picked up every page. When they go back, he shall put the pages in order. (Alucard does not want to sleep tonight, for fear of dreams. For fear of sharing a cell with his father, and the terrible bonding of it.)
Beyond the engine, there is more. The less time spent lingering here, the better.]
Let's go judge his poetry then.
no subject
[ To be fair, neither would most people in 1095.
There seems to be another of the arc lamps at the top of the stairs, if the loud sound of it and the light flooding down the steps is any indication. It makes the stairs easier to climb, and Trevor's grateful for that much. ]
'Before me lay six paths. One led to a building that was a church in all but the Lord's presence, dismantled and rebuilt exactly within the castle's walls where He could not enter. Another led to a great theater. A third led to the prisons where those among Walter's army would be kept, and a fourth to the laboratories where he forced my best love to share his great wisdom. The fifth led to a great garden where the plants grew by eternal moonlight. The final door, I knew, would lead to Walter's solar.'
Where do we start?
no subject
[He'll accept the point though.
The arc lamp is a relief. Any and all the comforts of home are a relief, even if this castle is basic. An inferior version of what home is, what it became, what his father actually created on his own rather than at the prodding and torture of another.
He listens, considers, and nods.]
Chapel, theatre, cells, laboratory, garden, primary room for confrontation. My instinct says laboratory and garden, those are more involved rooms and might have more documents, but if we're looking for greater indicators of a man, then the first three shall reveal much more.
Of the three, the theatre is the strangest to my ears. Let's begin there.
no subject
(It really does sound pained. He can see how, thinking it a living creature, Leon would have wanted to comfort it. Even if his own thoughts on what to do about the sounds venture less toward 'comfort' and more toward 'put it out of its misery') ]
The theatre, then. That would be- this door, I think.
[ He pushes it open. The corridor behind it is dark, but a light at the far end means there must be another of those lamps around a corner somewhere. Even in the dark it is- overly decorated. ]
'Sara had heard rumour of a pair of performers found on the edges of the forest, half-dead, half-starved and half-mad. She bade Mathias ride out with her to tend their wounds and, once they could travel, had them brought back to the safety of the estate. Here she stayed with them, soothing the injuries done to their hearts with her healing presence as Mathias had soothed those done to their flesh, until they had the presence of mind to speak. This was how we came to learn of what Mathias calls the Ghost Theatre.
The Theatre was a gift, created to win the loyalty of Walter's most trusted general. Responsible for selecting and turning the poor cursed children who would become his soldiers, she possesses the power to appear in the form of the most sorely-missed love of her captives. The performers, both grown men who had seen her as their lovers, referred to her as the Succubus, but Mathias has taken to calling her the Matron, as he suspects that she controls the captives she turns by taking the forms of their mothers.
Though the Theatre is hers, the performers claim that Walter visited nightly to attend the performances. Some of these performances, such as the one that our informants were originally part of, were legitimate plays. This was how they were tempted to come to the castle, for love of their art, with promises of a great theatre to perform in, wearing costumes made of the finest and brightest cloth. Most were not. In some, the Matron would tell stories of terrible bloodshed, throwing human captives against their turned children or compelling them to fight amongst themselves. Others would be torture sessions or executions, and the two men who spoke to us told of seeing their troupemates skinned alive by her young soldiers.'
[ They're nearly at the end of the corridor as Trevor reaches the end of that, and around the corner is the source of the light - more of those lamps, illuminating a large and lavishly decorated room. Seats stetch out below them, all facing a massive stage.
Trevor moves on to the other passage that Leon had written on this place, later on in the journal. ]
'This being the domain of Walter's most favored general, it is also the location of the quarters of the army that she created for him. I wish, more truly than anything, that I had never come to learn this. I will write upon this no more, save to say that: To Rinaldo, brightest of Mathias' apprentices, best trusted ally of House Belmont, I am sorry.'
So I'm expecting a cheery sort of place. [ He adds dryly. ]
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Going through the corridors, Alucard continues to rely on the torches. Overly-decorated means a real fortune, even more so than it does now, and as the description of what lies ahead continues, the look on his face grows grimmer and grimmer. He cannot reach into his coat for something to stuff his ears with if need be, the hand not holding the torch is clinging to his father's scattered notes, but the inability to act gives him a terrible thought.]
Do the journals note the Matron's fate?
[If she is loyal. If she believes in the work. If she has seen the aftermath of Dracula's death and known that there must be some truly fearsome vampire power, then the question of who the culprit is might lie at her feet. Or she may be an ally of whoever is responsible. Alucard hates both options, but they need this information.
He still follows after Trevor. His face is too still, as if expecting something to leap out.]
Cheery and with no blood removal spells ever applied.
tmw ur a brit but ur spellcheck is american and you have to use the word 'theatre' 700 times
[ He looks down over the theatre. It's near pristine, save for the dust. Pristine and grand and beautiful enough to have inspired awe in any other two people. As it is, Alucard is more than used to this kind of shit and Trevor has been raised with a healthy distrust of castles. ]
Leon never finished his map of this place. [ Presumably because, between having to fight Sara and finding the place where Justine had been imprisoned, he didn't care to stay any longer than necessary. ] So we have Mathias' to go by, I'd guess made based on the word of the prisoners they rescued. There should be dressing rooms, a storage area, an area behind the stage where props and such are kept. Then there'll be the Matron's quarters, and the place where her turned soldiers were kept.
Your choice.
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[Alucard says it with a little bit of warmth. As much as he can dare for this situation. But that is all, because as over poetic as Leon is, there's too much aching familarity in the rest. They're all keenly aware of it.
The idea of this Matron wearing the form of others though, that sets Alucard's teeth on edge. Not because of the cruelty of the act it forces (an act both of them have committed now), but because he knows exactly how he could be gotten with such a ruse. Worse. His father would too.
Now isn't the time for that thought. Practicality is the rule of the day, and Alucard listens as Trevor speaks, carefully trying to picture the backstage areas in his mind.]
Let's begin with the area behind the stage. It will likely have the easiest exits if we must make use of them. Take the quarters last, those would be the hardest to escape from, and the lowest point if I had to guess.
[And if they're going backstage, then fuck it. He's walking on the cursed thing for spite. Down the aisles Alucard goes, then hauls himself up onto the performance space. The wood underfoot is in good condition, no creaks or groans or complaints.]
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[ He follows Alucard onto the stage. It's sturdy, with a few trapdoors that he chooses to not step on. from the front, it seems innocent enough. From on-stage there are a few more warning signs visible - hooks with chains hanging from them attached to the walls and hidden from the audience by curtains, deep scratches on the stone that couldn't have been made by human hands, implying that even some of Walter's vampiric enemies had found their way here.
The backstage area is a small space, lit only by what light from the lams finds its way in. Trevor's estimation of it being used to store props wasn't quite correct. Instead it has a great system of ropes tied to bars at different levels against one wall. Two tunnels go under the stage, not quite big enough for either of them to fit through (or at least, in Alucard's case, not as they are). ]
Those tunnels were- probably for the children to navigate the place. [ He guesses, and that's an upsetting and uncomfortable thought. ]
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[The trapdoors are obvious, at least, and Alucard keeps his focus down rather than up. He expects something to come from below, and when it is clear nothing shall, his eyes do catch on what Trevor has already noted. The grim look on his face intensifies somehow, and he is glad to be free of the sights.
Using the torch in hand is better than relying on the lights to show what the backstage is. The ropes, the bars, those make sense. Operates curtains, operates the hooks, controls the production. Beyond that is the usual discomfort.]
Most likely. I'd expect such tunnels run under more than just this theatre. More of a torture to move through these things than to just walk through a windowless castle.
[The torch shines down the tunnel anyway. There's a chill, but only for the fact the tunnels are deeper in the earth.]
We can come back to this part later.
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[ No he's not going to forget that incident. And yes it's a little more forgivable with the context of the early harvest meaning that they'd be able to eat the berries before they left. But also Sypha's sandal flew off and hit him so. He's going to bring that up forever.
Trevor measures the tunnel's width with his hands, then brings his hands up to his shoulders to check and- nope. There's no way he's going to fit in those. ]
The storage room, then, and the dressing rooms.
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[Alucard hangs back as measurements are taken. Considered. Dismissed. Perhaps that's for the better. There'd be naught but bones and dried blood in there, Alucard suspects. They're happier in speculating than being certain.]
He backs up carefully so that Trevor still has light, and then begins to move towards the storage room. It isn't far, and it remains unlocked.
Within are the props that were anticipated backstage. Some expected, like lanterns or faux flowers, the rest at home in the way only a vampire would consider the things comforts of home. Nasty looking halberds with blood long dried to them. A noose with terrible nails set into it. A stockade which probably had a sinister purpose. Beyond them, scrims. Painted scenery. Actual pieces any theatre might employ.]
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[ There's nothing terribly interesting here. Even the more horrifying things, they're expected. The most noteworthy thing is a lantern with a handle, which he promptly takes for himself, borrowing Alucard's torch to light it and hooking it onto his belts.
The dressing rooms, when they move on to them, seem fairly normal save for the thick straps of the arms and legs of the chairs. Various costumes hang from a rack, fine clothing and military uniforms of the time, representations of various animals, intricate things meant to impersonate fairies and other otherworldly creatures. Various containers of creams and powders line the tables. ]
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