[size=29:f826206f40][u:f826206f40][b:f826206f40][i:f826206f40]The Mistridge Files[/i:f826206f40][/b:f826206f40][/u:f826206f40][/size:f826206f40]

[img:f826206f40]http://mort.level5.net/mistridge.jpg[/img:f826206f40]

Morathi made her way though the dark passage, her senses detecting cool clean air indicating she was coming to an exit...

[i:f826206f40]<< Greetings dead one... Welcome to our lands... >>[/i:f826206f40]

A voice whispered softly, Morathi looked about for the source but had the distinct impression the speaker was agile enough to just stay out of her direct line of sight she could hear a faint flutter of wings and playful giggles, she concluded from her limited knowledge of Fae that she must be dealing with a trickster type of Fae, ones that were inclined to play with guests rather than defend their territories from them or be actively malicious towards guests such as herself...

[i:f826206f40]"Ummm... Hello... I'm seeking your aid..."[/i:f826206f40]

She tried to address her host but it was evading her and she did not wish to potentially upset the fae by taking more active measures to locate it she would play along with its game for the time being...

[i:f826206f40]<< We know what you seek... >>[/i:f826206f40]

[i:f826206f40]"Can you help then..."[/i:f826206f40] She asked, suspecting there was going to be a price...

[i:f826206f40]<< We can.... And we will help you find out the answer... As long as we find your story interesting... >>[/i:f826206f40]

[i:f826206f40]"My story?"[/i:f826206f40] A slight hint of confusion

[i:f826206f40]<< Yes... But we will let you find out on your own.... it would spoil the fun... >>[/i:f826206f40]

Distinct giggling could be heard now, and Morathi was starting to wonder if perhaps it would have been simpler to have encountered a more confrontational Fae... But work with what you have... She continued walking towards the clean air, noting a mist she was passing through tingled slightly and her vision blurred momentarily...

[i:f826206f40]"Are you ok madam?"[/i:f826206f40]

A different voice asked in polite toned english, human, she turned to face it noting the mist fading as a train rumbled on its way leaving steam in its wake.... She paused... Steam Train?... Glancing around in confusion she realised she was in a railway station, one that looked strangely familiar... She had been here before yet it looked different to when she had seen it last...

[i:f826206f40]"Miss?..."[/i:f826206f40]

The concerned voice broke into her deja-vu confusion again, she looked for the speaker a station guard his dark uniform almost absorbing the light from the nearby gaslamps...

[i:f826206f40]"I'm fine thank your sir... Just... A little lost..."[/i:f826206f40]

She tried to smile to mask her own inner confusion, her eyes soaking up as much detail from the surroundings as possible to help her place where she was... Bath... That was where she was... The town that had been her home for the best part of a century, it just looked so different, soot from the coal burning trains and local households had not yet been scoured from the usually distinctive Bath Stone that much of the town was built with, lending a darker and less welcoming look to the station. She caught a sight of herself reflected in a window, correctly dressed as a young lady travelling alone as she was should be, her raven black hair was in a tidy braid. Its colour matching her future incarnation but aside from that inconsistancy she recognised her appearance as that she presented when she was a young neonate...

[i:f826206f40]"I see miss... Well thats the last train stopping here this evening I trust you have a place in town you intend to travel to... I can call for a carriage for you..."[/i:f826206f40]

[i:f826206f40]"That will not be needed thank you... I think I'll walk and remind myself of the streets... I've not been here for many years... it seems to have changed so much..."[/i:f826206f40]

The man glanced at her as if she had said something odd, but nodded.

[i:f826206f40]"Well take care miss... There are often carriages outside if you change your mind..."[/i:f826206f40]

He then left her alone to start locking up the station for the night. Morathi made her way outside the station, almost feeling like she was walking in a memory of her past... Then she realised she was. The Fae had recreated her arrival in Bath after her sire had sent her there to be trained in the hidden Chantry there... But why had the Fae chosen this time and place...

She reached into her purse and as she suspected she would found a letter. She opened it reading the letter of introduction from her sire. The man she would come to destroy as a traitor to house and clan over a century later. Perhaps she could unmask his activities now and end the harm he would cause later, it was possible but she had no idea how she would ever prove a future betrayal. No this was a dream based on her memories although she could use her knowledge of the future to change the future in the dream's reality she could not effect a change of the passing of events in the true world... There was something in this time the Fae wanted her to re-experience, perhaps a puzzle she had not been able to solve or even be aware of at the time...

[i:f826206f40]<< Ah you have caught onto the nature of the game much sooner than I expected dead one... But will you be able to solve it >>[/i:f826206f40]

A hint of laughter intruded on her thoughts and faded leaving no clue to its source. Deciding she would have to let the dream play out she proceeded towards the Chantry letting history repeat as she studied her surroundings with more experienced eyes, looking for something she originally missed at the time...

*Time in the Dream passes...*

Her unlife as the newly arrived apprentice had started much as she remembered. As her mortal scientific skills related to the still evolving sciences relating to ecology of the period and not the occult she had been flung into the deep end of an intensive schooling in the occult and the basics of Thaumaturgy.

Again her fellow apprentices had treated her like an outsider not fully trusting her quiet and watchful presence. This mistrust became more evident after Morathi in an effort to impress her new tutors with her efficiency had highlighted flaws she had discovered developing in projects managed by her peers. Far from gaining her respect for her attentiveness and developing skill, it only deepened her isolation from her fellow apprentices and she as a result would spend even more time interacting with her mentors than her fellow apprentices driving the wedge deeper as she decided to use the chantry as her Haven to facilitate her ability to be of aid to her mentors in their experiments. This resulted in her learning her required lessons swiftly and even starting to overtake her peers in her understandings of the occult and blood magic. This was however not without cost, her developing heightened senses often picking up whispers of [i:03af4a3664]"There goes the Jackal"[/i:03af4a3664] or [i:03af4a3664]"Here comes the Regent's pet"[/i:03af4a3664] preceeded her or in followed in her wake.

The more seasoned Morathi watching herself repeat history recognised that this was likely the point her dedication to her duty over interacting with her peers had developed. It would lead to a certain Pontifex a century later practically ordering her [i:03af4a3664]"Go out and have some fun"[/i:03af4a3664] an order that had resulted in her meeting Eveshka and the development from bookish scholar into her singing and more sociable side...

The problem was that history WAS repeating as she had remembered it. Her years as an apprentice had been very unremarkable allowing her the focus on her duties and studies that would later allow her to adopt the role of Julius' aide. Morathi was starting to recognise there may be a trap in allowing the dream to develop this way and she may have to relive over a hundred years of study and chantry politics looking for something that may not even be there.

Perhaps it was time to open a new chapter in her story, and uncharacteristicly for the Morathi of the time she decided to leave the chantry and visit Bath's Elysium, a place she had originally only visited once when she had presented her arrival in Bath formally to the city's Prince...

An aristocratic female Ventrue was Prince of Bath, her claim a legacy of Bath's roman origins although politics of the night had seen the 'crown' settle on many different heads in the years since the roman empire's interest in their more distant lands had waned. This prince had the delicate task of balancing the interests of the local Ventrue's interest in maintaining tradition with the Toreador's constant flux of reinventing themselves to mirror the Victorian age and covering up a few flare ups amongst the city's thankfully few and scattered Brujah and Gangrel hotheads. The Nosferatu for the most part kept themselves to themselves and watched. Victorian England had been witness to a surge of interest in the occult and this meant Tremere like Morathi were able to research far more freely without attracting too much attention, giving the clan a temporary 'Fashionable' status as night time politics and interests started to mirror those of the daytime world the Tremere found that other Kindred often had a thirst for the occult knowledge they knew or assumed the Tremere could provide.

Thus it was with interest that the prince watched quietly with interest as the city's latest Warlock entered Elysium. Very little was known about this young one except she occasionally left the nest of the chantry to feed with care upon unwary students at the recently founded University. The princed watched quietly how the young Tremere avoided the company of her fellow Warlocks and wondered if the young one was isolated even within her own social circles.

The prince glided quietly up to the young vampiress...

[i:03af4a3664]"Morathi Yes..."[/i:03af4a3664] It was more a statement than a request for confirmation. [i:03af4a3664]"Such an interesting name... Not your original one I take it"[/i:03af4a3664]

[i:03af4a3664]"No my Prince... Its what my sire chose to call me..."[/i:03af4a3664] She curtsied keeping her eyes low...

The prince noted the young warlock answered with confidence yet in respectful tones, wisely avoiding eyecontact without seeming too overt in it. In truth the more 'experienced' Morathi had answered instinctively forgetting she was supposed to be unfamiliar of the unspoken rules of Elysium conduct...

[i:03af4a3664]"You seem a confident young lady...."[/i:03af4a3664] The prince smiled warmly, inwardly the more seasoned Morathi recognised a predator masked behind the smile, this was not going to be a 'chat' the prince wanted something... [i:03af4a3664]"I trust you have settled into your new home well..."[/i:03af4a3664]

[i:03af4a3664]"I have thank you my Prince... If my House and Clan may be of service you have but to ask..."[/i:03af4a3664]

The prince smiled as she recognised the young vampire was not quite as inexperienced as she had first assumed...

[i:03af4a3664]"Well.... As it so happens I have a small problem perhaps you can help me with...."[/i:03af4a3664]

The prince steered her out of the more public areas of the Elysium towards more private chambers so they could talk. Morathi thought for a moment she heard a snicker and a flutter of small wings from an unseen listener as she followed the Ventrue Prince...

________________
[i:03af4a3664]"OOC: I was intending to take a little more time on this, but time heatwaves and a bout of writer's block was not on my side so I'll try and wrap this little mini adventure up in a few days so I can tie it into the main SKM plot..."[/i:03af4a3664]

[i:9e53f97080]"Ulp!..."[/i:9e53f97080]

Morathi ducked as a fine and most likely invaluble china plate whirled past where her head had been mere moments earlier. The projectile was travelling at substantial velocity and crashed into a suit of plate armour on a display rack, neatly 'Decapitating' the helmet which fell to the floor with a crash...

[i:9e53f97080]<"A small problem...">[/i:9e53f97080]

The Prince's words echoed in her mind as she made for the cover of a sturdy looking oak table, overturning it to form an improvised tower shield to hide behind as a barrage of priceless antiques smashed into it with enough impact to start forming small splits in the fine wood.

Risking a quick glance out from her cover Morathi noted her objective a set of stairs heading to the top floor of the shop she was in. It would take her past the presumed location of the unseen poltergeist but she could not afford to wait too long. Such a spirit was fortunately not powerful enough to pose a serious threat to her, but given time it may find something more lethal to hurl at her. She prepared herself burning a little vitae to boost her dexterity and broke cover heading for the stairs...

Not looking back as she charged the stairs she could hear soft whistles whipping past her as the poltergeist had located a silver plated tableware set, and knives, forks and even spoons impaled themselves into walls or shelves as the spirit tried to track the path of the the vampire that had intruded upon its haunt. Morathi had managed to reach the stairs and dared a glance back, immediately dropping to the floor as a halberd from the decapitated suit of armour slammed into the wall above her as the spirit had finally predicted her path with a degree of accuracy. She quickly scrambled to the top of the stairs noting the spirit contented itself to remain on its floor and rage at the room below at her escape...

Briefly Morathi thought she heard the flutter of wings and a giggling sound as she tried to filter out the sounds of destructive rage downstairs to focus on her new surroundings. The gaslamps were out, lending a particularly dark cast to the landing as a small amount of moonlight filtered in through an open doorway to the shop's living area. Deciding to start there she softly padded forward reviewing why she was here as she did so...

The prince had a substantial investment in buildings in Bath, the store's owner was one of her more lucrative investments, unknowingly acting as a fence for the Prince to dispose of the more expendable parts of her collection of antiques through or to track down and procure items as boons and gifts for her Toreador supporters. However the owner had recently committed suicide without explanation. Morathi suspected it was his spirit that had been hurling things at her with murderous intent presumably fettered to the store itself. This haunting was keeping the prince from successfully replacing the old owner with a new puppet and her supporters were starting to turn elsewhere for their boons, Morathi's task was to resolve the haunting so the prince could resume the status quo...

Having been inside the building long enough now Morathi had decided that the poltergeist was a symptom of the building's haunting not the cause of it, something else, something malignant had stirred up the destructive spirit's rage until it had unleashed the frenzy of destructive behaviour she had just evaded.

Laughter... This time it was feminine... She turned towards the source too late, feeling an unseen icy cold grip grasp her throat and use the hold to slam her into a wall. It seemed the malignant force had sought her out now that its minion had failed....

[i:9e53f97080]"This place is mine now... You will pay for plundering my tomb..."[/i:9e53f97080]

A soft female whisper in Morathi's ear that sounded as if speaking behind a wall, she could feel the grip tighten painfully about her throat as the unreasoning Spectre clearly was attempting to strangle her...

Struggling to whisper ancient words of Hermetic Latin that a novice apprentice such as herself should not even know let alone form together in the right sequence to enact a minor ritual, the more 'seasoned' Morathi called upon the path of the levinbolt to focus her body's static electrical charge. The spectre having become corporeal to a limited degree released its grip in anger as with an audible 'Snap' and reek of ozone, raw elemental energy discharged from Morathi's body and stung the vengeful spirit enough for her to break free of its grip...

Frantically Morathi looked about, <Tomb> the spirit clearly did not belong here... Something the store had handled must have been a fetter to the spectre, if she could find it and destroy it she could break the spirit's connection to the physical realms, but what was in the room that could be the fetter, it was filled with artifacts the store owner was clearly appraising or cleaning before his untimely death...

[i:9e53f97080]"Unnnngh!..." [/i:9e53f97080]

Morathi winced as unseen spectral talons struck the side of her face in a backhanded slap that hit with enough force to cast her across the room to smash into a open wooden packing crate, the soft packing materials inside cushoning the impact slightly after she had splintered the wooden exterior. The blow disorientating her in the darkness she opened her eyes, burning vitae to enhance her visual senses to see beyond simply the visible, her refocussing astrally enhanced nightvision concentrating on a label listing the crate as having been imported from Egypt, maybe this was the most recent arrived artifacts the store had handled...

Her musing was interrupted as the now barely visible spectre persued her she managed to stall it by summoning up a barrier of ice that delayed its approach, buying herself time as she knew locating the spectre's fetter was her best option in defeating it.

[i:9e53f97080]<Egyptian tomb artifacts> [/i:9e53f97080]

She thought to herself her enhanced vision cataloging the room's contents as she warily evaded the spectre. Now she could see something of it she noted the spirit was dressed as some sort of priestess she tried to focus on the head dress, a stylised desert cat...

[i:9e53f97080]<Bast... a priestess of Bast>[/i:9e53f97080]

[img:9e53f97080]http://www.per-sekhmet.org/images/bast_gld.GIF[/img:9e53f97080]

Her gaze finally settled upon a golden statuette of a Cat... That had to be it... She headed towards it. as if realising her intent the spectre tried to block her but too late. Morathi had reached it first and summoning magical flame melted the statue into a glowing molten puddle. The spectre screeched in horror and fury as Morathi discovering a canopic jar inside the molten remains, stamped upon it shattering it and the spectre's fetters upon the physical realm. This resulted in a strong gust of freezing wind that blew throughout the store. Morathi heard a crashing sound as everything levitated by the poltergeist downstairs suddenly dropped to the floor as the destruction of the evil spirit that had driven the store owner to suicide laid his spirit to rest...

Morathi panted, wiping a little vitae out of her eyes that had come from a small gash in her eyebrow where one of the spectre's talons had slashed her from the backhanded slap musing that although she had done as the prince had asked, was Bath's prince going to be happy about the mess the termination of the haunting had caused. This night's activities had deviated from the history she knew and she had no idea how her dream might develop from the ripples of changing the way her past had developed even if she did everything else the way she remembered...

She however did not get a chance to find out as the store dissolved into mist and Morathi found herself agin in the darkness of the tunnel she had first encountered the Fae. Sure enough a flutter of wings and sounds of amusment could be heard, this time from many sources and she suspected she had drawn a crowd during her dreaming state, but despite her efforts they were staying just out of her line of sight again, fluttering on the very edges of her vision...


[i:9e53f97080]<< Well done dead one... You managed to avoid the trap of letting history repeat itself... You might have dreamed your entire unlife up to the point you met us again and again as we then sent you back to the start we chose for you over and over >>[/i:9e53f97080]

The fae's amusement was plain...

[i:9e53f97080]<< And you survived the changes you made... >>[/i:9e53f97080]

Morathi suddenly realised vitae was still dripping into her eyes from the aggravated wound the spectre had inflicted, she expended some vitae to heal it as best she could but it would take time for such a supernaturally inflicted wound to heal, inwardly she could feel the wraith in her heart chastising its symbiotic host for almost meeting potential final death in a dream...

[i:9e53f97080]<< Well a bargain is a bargain... you have amused us... we will amuse you with the information you require >>[/i:9e53f97080]

Morathi realised as she committed the solution the fae revealed to memory, that Julius was not joking about only a Malkavian could come up with some kind of insane answer. Although she did not know the nature of the riddle itself the solution provided 'WAS' insane and made absolutely no sense but she dutifully committed the solution exactingly to her memory and simply had to hope the fae were not playing one final prank on her...

Carefully she headed out of the tunnel back to the hidden chamber she had parted company from Julius...

______________________
[b:9e53f97080][i:9e53f97080]TO BE CONTINUED IN "Whispers of Shal Ka-Mense"[/i:9e53f97080][/b:9e53f97080]