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Velstein was a small village on the outskirts of the Empire. Settled next to a forest and wide river, Velstein was a viable place to make a living with its fishing and logging community. Life in Velstein was relatively peaceful, but the town kept a small garrison of soldiers whose sole job was to patrol the main road to protect traders from the occasional bandit. Unfortunately the garrison of Velstein was not prepared for what would happen in the small logging town.
Hans and Sans strolled down the single road leaving their village. The two men had drawn the short straw that night and were forced to patrol the road until morning. There had been talk of the drawings for shifts being rigged, as the same soldiers seemed to draw the over night watch regularly, but neither of the men could figure out a way to prove this to their superiors. As Hans pondered on how he could prove that the shifts were being unfairly set against him he heard Sans grunt and move toward the tree line. Neither Hans nor Sans talked much during their over night watches. Both men had grown bored of each other quickly and ran out of things to discuss. The men had lived in the same village all their lives and had the same trade all their lives which made for boring conversation. Hans knew this to be Sans signal for needing to relieve himself and stopped his progress down the road.
Hans leaned against his halberd and immediately started dosing off, his head sliding it's way down his weapon, when he heard a high pitched shrieking followed by the screams of a man. Hans readied his halberd and ran toward the tree line where Sans had disappeared. After plowing through the brush a short distance Hans stopped to look around for signs of Sans. Hans saw no sign of his watch mate and debated on his next course of action. While standing in the dark with his halberd at the ready Hans saw a large shadow detach itself from the darkness and move through the woods toward him. The shadow moved slowly like a wolf stalking its prey, but it bolted into action the moment Hans attempted to turn and run back toward the road. Hans barely made it five paces before he was overtaken by the monster.
The following day the small town was consumed by news of the two missing soldiers. Their absence was quickly noted by their sergeant who immediately reported his missing soldiers to the captain of the guard. The captain immediately labeled the missing soldiers as deserters and sent out men to look for signs of the two missing soldiers. The captain of the guard also knew that protocol demanded that he request an official investigation from a representative of the Elector Count. The last thing the captain wanted was for some privileged court appointed investigator to be poking around the small town, so the captain firmly labeled the soldiers disappearance as desertion. Unfortunately for the captain the townsfolk would not simply forget about the incident as he greatly wished they would. Instead the townsfolk quickly escalated the official reports to wild rumors ranging from the soldiers were part of a local cult of the false gods to daemon abduction. Once these rumors began it did not take long for them to spread beyond the small town of Veldstein.
Sturm sank low in his saddle bowing his head so the wide brimmed hat he wore would keep the heavy rain off of his face. Trusting his horse to keep plodding down the road, Sturm was able to review the events that led to his assignment to a small town like Veldstein. Sturm had never been one to play the political game that other men in his order seemed to naturally play. As a novice his mentor would often berate and punish him for speaking his mind to his betters, but Sturm had never learned to keep his mouth shut. Sturm was humble enough to realize that trait was exactly the reason he was soaked to the bone slowly riding toward a small town most people of the Empire could not find on a map. His order had heard the rumors coming from the small town about the two missing soldiers, but like the rest of the citizens who heard about the soldiers Sturm's order had assumed they were the gossip of the common folk. That is until Sturm got into a shouting match with his new superior officer.
Having been recently awarded the rank of full brother in his order Sturm was assigned to a small role as an instructor. The elders of the order thought Sturm would best serve as an instructor to the young members of the order. In this capacity Sturm would never venture out of the chapter house and would never be assigned to actual missions like normal brothers of his rank. This did not sit well with Sturm and instead of seeing the instructor position as an honor he viewed it as a slight against him. Angered that he had been put to the task of being a glorified babysitter Sturm stormed into his superiors chambers one evening and explained, loudly, that he did not deserve this slight and should be assigned immediately to field work with the other brothers. To Sturm's surprise his superior did not immediately start screaming back at him and instead he quietly instructed Sturm that he had a field assignment that Sturm would be perfect for.
As Sturm's horse came to a stop he looked up through the heavy rain to see the village he had been assigned to investigate. This small village had no protection from outsiders and was more a small collection of communal buildings than a proper village. The town was a small collection of buildings surrounded by small farms. While Sturm took in the landscape he found himself hoping this would be a quick stay.
After pausing to note the layout of the village, Sturm made his way to the center of the town's square. He assumed he would find an inn there and knew that would be a good place to start his investigation. It did not take long for Sturm to find the inn that had a small metal sign handing out over the street which read “Logging Lodge”. After tying his horse up to a post in the front of the inn Sturm made his way up to the door and noticed he could hear the roar of conversation coming from inside. Sturm took his hat off, rang it out of all the rain, and stepped inside the inn. The first thing he noticed after stepping inside was how crowded the establishment was. He looked around and thought that the majority of the townsfolk must be packed into the common room of the small inn. Sturm also noticed as soon as he walked in the conversation that could be heard from outside had died down to a low murmur as the patrons noticed his presence. Taking a look around the common room Sturm made his way up to the barkeep who was behind the long bar at the back of the inn.
It took Sturm a few moments to secure lodging for himself and a stable for his horse. After instructing the stable boy on what to do with his belongings he ordered an ale from the bar and turned around to survey the crowd. Sturm barely had a chance to inspect the patrons of the inn before the barkeep got his attention to ask how long he planned to use his room. Sturm did not want the townsfolk knowing he was here to investigate the disappearance of the soldiers, but from the whispers and quick glances he was getting from all across the common room, it looked like discretion was now going to be impossible. Sturm decided that the direct approach was appropriate at this point and asked the bartender about the missing soldiers. The innkeeper informed Sturm the two soldiers were known to patrol the main road at night. The man told Sturm that it was also well known that both soldiers were very unhappy in their duties and to him it seemed like they had simply had enough and decided to strike out on their own. The innkeeper said it was obviously a poor choice for them since they were soon found dead, most likely from bandits. Sturm asked the innkeeper if anyone had bothered to search for the missing soldiers' killer and the innkeeper just laughed in response. He proclaimed that it would be a waste of time looking for the bandits and quickly added that they must be leagues away from the town by now. The innkeeper then proclaimed that he had an establishment to run and if Sturm had any questions that the watch captain would be the man to see. Sturm thanked the man, paid for his ale, and headed toward his room. He could see the captain in the morning when he was better rested he reasoned.
Sturm awoke in the middle of the night by the creaking of floorboards outside of his room. The sound of the lock to the door assisted Sturm in waking quickly from his sleep and to get himself prepared for his unexpected visitor. As the door creaked open Sturm quickly and silently moved to the opposite side of the room behind the doorway. The intruder moved past him toward the bed. Sturm had successfully tucked himself into the shadows of the corner of the room where it was impossible for him to be seen. The intruder moved quickly and stabbed his arm down toward the bed where he thought Sturm was sleeping. As the sword slammed home into the bed the intruder knew his prey was not asleep or in his bed. Turning quickly the intruder had just enough time to get his short sword up to block the thrust from Sturm's rapier. Sturm and the intruder both stepped back after their blades engaged in order to size up their opponent. Sturm noticed that this man was dressed in all black with a black cloth covering his mouth. The intruders eyes gave away his intention to strike and Sturm was able to defend his attackers series of thrusts. After the quick exchange of sword work Sturm had the measure of his opponent. This man was a competent swordsman but Sturm knew that he was better with a blade. Trained from an early age in swordsmanship, Sturm had rarely found his equal in duels or in the training ring. Sturm went on the offensive knowing that the assassin would let his guard slip quickly. This intruder was a man trained to strike at helpless prey from the shadows. He was not a man who preferred, or who thrived by, fighting a fair duel. While the two men traded blows Sturm saw the opening he was waiting for. The assassin attempted a foolish thrust in order to mortally wound Sturm and left himself open. Sturm stepped inside the assassins guard and used his sword arm to push his opponents arm wide while quickly drawing his dagger with his off hand to plunge the dagger into the intruders side. The assassins eyes went wide as Sturm threw his dying body to the ground.
After ensuring the assassin was dead Sturm walked over to the door of his room. Someone must have heard all the commotion he had caused. It was strange no one from the inn and come to see what was happening. Moving out of his room and down the stairs toward the inn's common room Sturm discovered why no one came to check what was happening at the inn. The common room was completely empty of the townsfolk to include the innkeeper himself. This alone would not alarm Sturm, but coupled with the fact that not even the innkeeper came to check what the commotion was, proved to Sturm that something was seriously wrong. Moving back toward his room Sturm gathered his things. After shouldering his pack Sturm moved toward the stair again until he heard the door to the inn slam open. Multiple footsteps could be heard moving around the wooden floorboards in the inn's common room. Sturm did not believe the people entering the inn where there for food or ale at this hour. Knowing he did not have time to hide himself or his attempted killers body he moved quickly out of his room and down the hall toward the back of the inn. Odds were that these men, whoever they were, had someone covering the rear of the inn. But also odds were that the rear of the inn would be less well guarded. Unfortunately Sturm quickly discovered that there was no way to get to the first floor of the inn except the main staircase that he had left behind. At the same time Sturm realized this he heard a man curse loudly as he found his dead companion in Sturm's room. Sturm did not know how many men had come looking for him, but he knew that it was more then one, and he had no intention of tempting fate by fighting them all. Moving to another room Sturm kicked in the door and quickly moved to the window by the back of the inn. Knowing that the noise from the door alerted the men inside the inn Sturm opened the window and jumped out to the ground below. Sturm feel from the second story of the inn and hit the ground rolling. Taking a second to check himself Sturm realized he was not injured and jumped up to move toward the stables and his horse. He knew he must get his horse and get out of this town as quickly as possible. Any organization that had the confidence to ambush him in this small town's only inn must have considerable sway over the whole town. Sturm did not make it around the corner of the inn before he ran almost directly into another man, dressed as a twin of the assassin in his room. The second assassin drew a long sword in one hand and long dagger in his other hand. Sturm knew that to even attempt to fight with a sword and dagger took great skill and he knew he would have to be wary of this new attacker. Sturm and the second man in black traded a few probing blows exactly as he had with the first man in black from the inn. Sturm quickly found that this man was a far superior fighter to the man who broke into his room. This fight would not be over quickly and Sturm knew from the shouts and footsteps he heard that he did not have the time to trade blows with this man. Sturm moved into a series of blows aimed at putting as much distance as possible between him and the man in black. When his opponent was as far away as he could get him Sturm turned and sprinted down an alley across the street from the inn. Sturm made it into the alley and turned to look behind him. The black clad man did not even attempt to chase after Sturm, but four of his companions ran around the corner of the inn. The man in black pointed down the alley Sturm was in and the men quickly ran toward Sturm. Counting four attackers running in his direction Sturm turned and moved to the other side of the alley until he hit a dead end where two small building met each other. Sturm searched either side of him for a door but found not so much as a window which he could escape through. Turning to face his attackers Sturm saw that the four men were now walking down the alley with the man in black. The calm way the men walked down the alley toward him filled Sturm with rage. The attackers were not even bothering to ready their weapons. Sturm was not foolish enough to think that he could survive a fight with five men and live, but he was determined to kill as many of them as he could before he fell. Sturm readied his rapier and drew his dagger as his attackers finally readied their weapons. The four men charged in. Sturm quickly flipped his dagger and flung it at the closest charging attacker. This surprised the four men and seemed to slow their charge. One mans charge was completely stopped as he slowed to deal with the blade that had suddenly sprouted from his shoulder. Seeing his missile hit home, Sturm charged forward to meet the other attackers. He quickly disarmed the closest attacker by cutting a large gash in the mans forearm. Moving past the unarmed man Sturm then squared on the remaining two armed attackers. Before he could cross swords with the men in front of him he was knocked senseless by an explosion of blunt pain from a strike to the back of his head. The next thing Sturm knew the ground was rushing up to meet him. He was unconscious before he hit the ground.
Sturm awoke with a pounding pain in the back of his head. His head felt like it was being subjected to the same blow that knocked him out over and over again. As the pain subsided Sturm's eyes came into focus he saw he was in a small cellar. Sturm guessed it was the cellar of the inn. Finally Sturm noticed the man in black was standing in the cellar staring at Sturm.
Sturm asked the man in black how long he had been unconscious. A few hours was the answer from the man in black, but the words did not sound like any voice Sturm had heard before. His voice was impossibly deep and seemed to echo on its own while giving Sturm a sinking feeling in his gut. Sturm slowly stood and steadied himself against the wall. He asked the thing in black what it was because he knew it could not be human. The thing pulled down its hood and revealed a pasty white skin tone and a bald head. The Sturm gasped as he saw the mask covering the monsters face come off. Two large fangs protruded from the top of the vampires mouth. Sturm, now fully recovered from his blow to the head, stood straight and prepared to defend himself against his undead foe. The monster reached behind itself and pulled out Sturm's rapier. A fine silver blade forged for the work his order performed. There were no finer blades in the world. To Sturm's surprise the vampire tossed the blade to him. Sturm caught it and readied his weapon before realizing this beast knew that Sturm was no threat to him. His order, once a powerful force in the world which banished things people no longer believed in, had grown weak after decades of a world with less and less supernatural predators. Sturm vowed to make this things overconfidence its down fall. He could be the first of his order to slay a true vampire in decades and return his order to power and usefulness once more. Charging in Sturm parried and thrust his rapier as quickly and strongly as he could. Each successful defense of the vampires attacks made his confidence grow. Eventually Sturm saw an opening in the vampires defense which would allow him to impale the create on his silver blade. As he plunged his blade forward Sturm cried out in surprise as his blade struck nothing but air. Out of the corner of his eye he witnessed the vampire spin on his heel faster then anything Sturm thought possible as the vampire brought his sword around in a high sweeping backhanded arc which would cleanly severe Sturm's head from his body.
It was a strange sensation, Sturm thought, to see ones body stand still as he felt a falling sensation. He had just enough time before he died to understand that more of his order would come to investigate this village. And that more of his order would die.
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