Where there is a smoke... It was quite possible that there was some ground to those rumours. "The boy? You speak of someone specific?" Beatrice asked. If there was someone among them who managed to kill a vampire, it would be most impressive... She leaned bak in her seat. "So, they will be here to hunt the wolves?" She asked.
“Leo or something of the like was his name. He was a close friend of Issac, the boy taking after me. Don’t ask me for the details. I don’t know their life story, but I imagine visiting him was part of the reason for his arrival.” The old man’s thoughts were hard to read. A mix of disdain, but also a certain pride. “Hunting the wolves is still the main goal. The countess chose that girl because she was supposed to be an excellent tracker, but truthfully, I don’t know how much help she can really be. As far as I know, she’s just your standard tracker and never dealt with anything bigger than a boar.”
"A pawn?" Beatrice hummed as she took a sip of her tea. It was... a surprise. The witch thought about it for a moment. An appointment of a new priest. A vampire hunter, friend of said priest comes soon after. A decoy of a hunter. Killer of wolves... something was... She frowned. "Suspicious..." She said as she looked at the priest. "How did the countess came into contact with this... Red Talon?" She asked.
"Mngh. If you know anything about Countess Vitcher, she's not that clever. I wouldn't be surprised if she failed to understand the scope of the situation and only sent the cheapest response she could muster. I wouldn't know the details, but my gut would say is he's mostly figuring it will be a normal problem for easy pay. One expensive hunter still costs less than sending a bunch of her men."
Beatrice hummed. "What's your advice?" She asked curiously. She had a working relationship with the man before, and he would not have come here just for medicine... There was more to the man's actions.
"Advice? It's mostly fine by me whatever happens. Losing a possible doctor would still be a problem, but it ain't my post anymore. I got bigger plans for my last few years. Think of it as a professional courtesy or whatever you would call it. As far as I know, they're not here for you anyway, but no guarantee it stays that way. I suppose you could always go about trying to deal with them without killing 'em....but if you ask me, the bigger problem is still when you think about why they're here. Have you ever heard of werewolves for their common sense?" He took another drink. "If anything, letting them run around would cause more problems than some young upstarts. There's no telling if they won't just go and off a few themselves, not thinking about more than the right now. I'm no lover of witches, but at least they can think more than a step at a time."
"Hah! Such a praise! Such honesty!" Beatrice smiled as she nodded her head. Whatever happened, it had nothing to do with her... Hmm... maybe it was time to move to the city for a couple of weeks, allow the inquisitors to perform any insanity they want before they will be sent runnin by angry mob. Her lips curled in a smile. "You have my thanks for your warning. I will try to return the favour in later time. I hope that this not mean our buisness deals come to an end?" She didn't like the man, and he did not like her. But they could still work together, and for this, the man had her respect.
“There’s little I would ever need to come to you for. Do not take this as I have gotten soft over the years.” The old priest rose, still grumpy, but with his business concluded, willing to leave on his own without incident. “…that being said, you’re not even at the top of my list. The church could always do with more books, or artifacts or something of the other. Maybe make a few donations here and there to my agents in Kregezsten it might be possible to find yourself staying off the top spots for a little while longer.” ….it was hard to get an accurate picture of what he was thinking. He had many more opportunities to be corrupt before so if that was really what he wanted to do, why go through all the steps now? On the other hand, this was unnecessarily elaborate to be a trick of some kind if he meant to just use it as an opportunity to lynch her when he already knew where she was and had the authority to do that. Of course, it was entirely possible that he was telling the truth that they wanted those things to study to better counter them. Then again….
"Take care, old priest. We will be in contact~" Beatrice allowed the man to leave, only waving him goodbye. She sat for a moment in silence, contemplating the situation, but as she came with nothing she decided to drop the train of her thoughts. She made sure that the man left, after which she made her way back to her lab and resumed production of drugs... and aphrodisiacs.
Spoiler: Potion Making Knowledge: 4,1,6,8 Alchemy: 7,9 Total=35 Good success The production of potions is about as simple of a process to be expected with what materials she has. Fortunately, she was very well practiced in working the tools she had, limited as they were here. She had plenty of time in the past to at least take her limited set and optimize them very well. It paid off well. She pretty efficiently created a variety of useful potions and effects without wasting much for materials. In fact, while she was working, she had hit something of a revelation. There might be a way to increase the efficiency. While any witch knows alchemy is just as, if not more potent than magic, the main drawback is the time it takes and the limited use against only a few people at once. But...maybe there's a way too offset that. Being as versed as she was in poison magic, the concept of plague spreading was not lost on her. Alchemy had been used for biological warfare before and mass spreading of diseases, but they were still relatively unexplored territory for the complexity and unreliability of it that came with the risk of exposing yourself to the effects. Maybe that could change. Of course, the other avenue she saw a revenue for experimenting with was less grand and impressive. But any good witch knows the value of reducing the need for complex and rare ingredients. Usually this would come with having to sacrifice quality and potency, but...the flashes of inspiration were forming that thee was a way to cut down the time and enjoy the old effectiveness. While she had a surplus of ingredients at hand, there certainly was time to experiment with a new method, but not likely enough to analyze everything she was theorizing if she aimed to leave sooner rather than later.
Beatrice frowned as she thought about a new concept. The more she thought about it, the more appealing it was becoming... It would require testing. Hm~ How about using one of villages for test subjects? Yes, that sounded about right... Now question how she would do it... The water from well would be one point... or air distributed. How about an air distributed poison with a trigger to start working. Maybe aphrodisiac? Or short memory wipe working on humans but not on witches... Fascinated with new possibilities, Beatrice returned back to work.
Getting her work ready is mostly not too exciting exactly memorizing all the formulas and changes and adjustments to variables. Alchemy involves no shortage of analytic and careful study more than what parts are actually mysticism. Still, ultimately she prevails. The work is a little time consuming to conclude, but she's able to develop a few air borne and water based variants. While these kind of agents aren't uncommon, it requires expertise to ensure they work consistently. She had concluded with a few that looked promising. Untested, but she could be confident she had done all the basic steps right. Finetuning it might be a still bit of adjustments, but nothing impossible.
Curious, she started creating a potion. Something simple - and aphrodisiac, that would drive the target to sexual frenzy once it was activated and would last for three days. Activation would be... She sat back and frowned. Was she overcomplicating things? Beatrice sighted. She decided to go and sleep the problem of, maybe something new would come to her the next morning.
Thinking of it, the idea of scent or inhalation made sense…but to keep it more controlled to specific people was extremely complex. There wa no way to guarantee relabity of someone neccessirly having the same reaction. But she had already made potions that work with perfume and skin contact before, though if she aimed to keep away from the potential chaos it might have to be a bit more slow acting. To get it to act to specific circumstances….water was a possibility or perhaps even designed to react once they ingest alcohol leaving a trigger not when easily notable until it happens? Either way, she could tell that it was more than doable.
Assured in her own skill, Beatrice smiled. Yesss... she could do it! But... she simply had no reason to at this time... not now, at least. Once the inquisitors/hunting parties clear the area, she would apply the aphrodisiac to make entire village fuck for a few days~ would'd it be a delightful game? With that thoughts and smile she went to sleep. The next day, she decided, she would go to the village and discreetly check out the hunting part and the priest...
Her explorations back to the village are a small risk with her initial plans to leave before they could arrive, but if the old priest was to be believed they had no reason to believe she’s behind the attacks or suspect her of being not normal. She arrives to see a young man who could have only became an adult recently, fresh faced, but standing before a crowd to address them as murmurs of panic seemed to be erupting. “-god would never give humanity a trial that it cannot overcome! Our resolve is being tested but we must not flinch.” While his message seems to satisfy some, him being a new face and younger than most of the crowd seems to fail to calm a number of them. “We cannot lose more to these dam wolves!” “Burn their lair to the ground wherever they hide!” “Why hasn’t the Inquisition arrived?” “The countess has personally charged the slayer, Red Talon to handle these beasts. Rest assured, the church is committed to protecting its flock.” “Red Talon? I think I heard of him. He’s supposed to be really good.” “Can they really solve this?” While the boy talks for a bit more and the uproar dies down, the confidence from the villagers looks limited. While an incident is avoided for now, tensions are high. It wouldn’t take much to destroy any of their already weakening credibility.
@Tjf Should these be discovered, it should likely be taken to mean that now that you are more of age, you have used the key passed down to you. Should you have found your way to reading these prior, than it can only be believed to be it is of fate. In such a event, you must be prepared to hear a series of difficult truths. I shall start with the simplest lies of our legacy. I, Raymond Von Bohm, legendary hunter, scholar, and playwright, will confess. I am a fraud. I never wrote my most famous plays. They were simply plagiarized. Each award and adoring review is built upon nothing more than a lie. As a alleged man of learning, you will soon come to learn the true shame and full extent of my failures. Much of the cult that speaks of being a herald to the horrors beyond could never have organized or gotten as far as it did were it not for my incompetence. I have naturally come to regret my dealings with the dark Moreli clan. I had thought I was being clever. I had known there would be a price to pay, but thought it was one we would endure. Or I'd be able to find a way not to pay it. We must now pay the price. For my legacy of a hunter, I pray that by the time you will read this, I will have been able to set things right. I fear, however, that shall not come to pass. This will not be fully easy to understand, and my need to not detail everything in a single letter will become more apparent. Valerian possesses the key to the hidden room in the wine cellar. Should he have somehow perished, then observe the old clock in the center of the guest room. If it should be for whatever reason missing, then simply force it open however you must. You will come to understand in time, but I do not know if your forgiveness will come with it. Finishing reading the letter in the study, it detailed a number of things. Valerian had delivered the letter, though he certainly had time to do so well before, but it seemed he had only decided recently that the next generation of the Von Bohm family was actually ready for it.
Heinrich sits by the fire for a long moment, staring down at the letter, inner turmoil raging within. Does he feel...confused? Angry at the deception? He's not quite sure. Mostly, a wave of curiosity overtakes him. Standing, he throws the letter into the flames and goes to investigate before the moon rises fully and Helena takes over. Wanting to avoid Valerian at the moment, he goes to the guest room to look at the old clock and find whatever mechanism activates it - or just smash it to pieces.
The search is rather simple. The old thing hasn't worked in years. It had mostly just stood for decoration now, but being more aware of the potential secrets in it, he was now looking at it in a new light as he approached. While this was hardly the first place he would ever have thought to look, it became apparent by seeing it closer that it probably was done the way they usually hide secrets. Members of the Rose always seemed to have a bizarre fixation on hollowing out wood to hide things. While he never had noticed it before since he had little reason to really look at it, the paint in one of the back corners was a little discolored. It could be showing it's age and peeling...or... There was a compression shape just slightly off from the rest. A fake panel. Moving that back, revealed a small golden key. It didn't really like the kind of standard one for a door lock though. Though, thinking about it, this begged the question. If there's another door in the cellar, how come he had never noticed it before? This spelled of something overly elaborate, no doubt.
(wasn't red talon a female?) Beatrice hummed as she observed the events from her hidden spot. She could weaken the credibility of the church boy... maybe she even should. But going into situation without knowledge who would come, was a bad idea. No, she would allow the events play itself out, without her intervening. She turned around and left, leaving for her home. She decided - she would travel to the city, check on her contracts, do some business, maybe have some fun. She will return later, and only when she was familiar with how the situation developed, would she act.
