Thousand Year Old Vampire: Session 5 (The End)
The end. Image by Midjourney
I'm playing Thousand Year Old Vampire by Tim Hutchings. Check out the introduction or character creation. I'm not listing the results of every dice roll but I am including the text of the prompts I land on so you can see how I interpreted them. The prompts you experience are determined by deducting a D6 roll from a D10 roll and moving forward or back that many prompts. Raynar the Vampire will die when he runs out of skills and resources.
Events
Prompt 35 (1359)
You encounter the descendant of an old foe and help them in some way. Why did you do this? Check a Skill. Create a mortal Character.
"I have no memory of the next few years after I destroyed Mar on the riverbank. I continued living as I had, in the secret chamber within the house in Lubeck. I didn't see Gytha again, I suppose she cared for Mar and had cut ties with me.
Some years later the Blaug family sold the house to an English lord by the name of Guy Warren. When he moved in I heard him searching the house all night. Suspicious, I decided to throw open the door of my chamber, which was disguised as a wall panel in one of the rooms. He greeted me by the name I had used in Canterbury all those years ago, and told me a strange story.
He was the descendent of Geoffrey Warren, the vampire-hunting pilgrim. Geoffrey's family had guessed what I had done, and spent generations researching the immortals and tracing my path across Europe, even marrying into a noble family to increase their resources.
Suddenly I was overcome with guilt, something I had not felt in centuries. I dragged a trunk full of gold coins and jewellery from the chamber, all the wealth left from my bookkeeping fortune, and gave it to him as compensation for the murder of his ancestor.
He seemed taken aback by this act of repentance and said that maybe his family had wasted their lives seeking revenge on me for something that happened so long ago, and quoted a Bible passage about forgiveness. I thanked him profusely, and we agreed that I should stay one more night in this chamber, where I write this now, before leaving him in peace in his new home. As I settle down to sleep this morning I feel strangely at peace with myself. It is funny how things turn out."
From the journal of Lord Guy Warren, 13th of November 1359
"When I awoke the next morning I knew what I had to do. It seemed the demon had fallen for my ruse, so I opened the door to the small windowless chamber, taking with me a sharp wooden stake and an axe. The creature was sleeping in a coffin there, a serene expression on its face. Without hesitation I plunged the stake into its heart. Its eyes snapped open and it screamed - the most hideous noise I had ever heard. Before it could do anything else I brought the axe down on its neck, severing the head.
A strange dark red powder fell from its neck in clumps, crumbling away. Those dry tomes in the Vatican archives were right - it had died a second death. Later that morning I built a funeral pyre from the furniture in the house, and burned its corpse to ash. Finally I had done what my family had tried for so many years. I had avenged Geoffrey Warren's murder.
Final Character Sheet
Characters
Gytha Harling (Immortal)
My wife. Although I am not popular in Croghyrst, Gytha is known as reliable and trustworthy, often helping the other wives in their doings. Killed in my first bloodlust but rose as a vampire.
Aelfred Goffin (Dead)
Meek farm labourer from Croghyrst. My only friend in the village. Died of natural causes in 1078.
Laiesse (Immortal)
The Norman vampire who turned me. He stowed away on William the Bastard’s fleet and found me bleeding at Hastings the night after the battle. I know little of him other than that he was in life some kind of artisan on the continent.
Mar (Dead)
A cruel vampire who was in life a Christian priest, then an offensive mockery of one who hunted me through the ages until I ambushed and killed him in 14th Century Germany.
Geoffrey Warren (Dead)
A vampire hunting pilgrim from Canterbury. I poisoned him to quietly be rid of him.
Pieter Blaug (Mortal)
The local magistrate who moved into my mansion with his family during the century I slumbered through.
Lord Guy Warren (Mortal)
The descendent of Geoffrey Warren, he bought my house from the Blaug family in 1359.
Memories
Memory 1
Experience 1
Memory 1
When the Vikings invaded in the year of our lord ten thousand and sixty-six I was conscripted as a fyrdsman into the local lord’s army.Experience 1
I was in the frontline against the Normans at the battle of Hastings but soon cut down and trampled. That night, bleeding and drifting to the next world, the vampire Laiesse came to me and revived me as a creature of the night.Experience 2
After fleeing Croghyrst with Aelfred, we lived in a boarding house in Rye.Memory 2
I spent one hundred years doing nothing but feeding on victims, without thought for anything else.Experience 1
I found Aelfred’s grave in the churchyard at Rye.Experience 2
Mar the vampire tracked me down in Rye and blew my cover in front of some fellow storehouse workers. They attacked me and I killed one, and fled.Experience 3
I preyed on and wiped out a group of pilgrims from Cornwall on the road to Canterbury.Memory 3
I spent time in Canterbury, working as a night watchman at the Cathedral to begin with.Experience 1
A pious pilgrim called Geoffrey Warren detected my dark nature. I poisoned him before he could act against me.Experience 2
I murdered a cruel ratcatcher who I witnessed mistreating his dog.Experience 3
A Canterbury monk taught me to read and write, and I began my diary.Memory 4
I fled England for Germany in 1227.Experience 1
I fled from the Canterbury night watch to Lubeck in Germany and started work as a bookkeeper, taking the name Richard Harcourt.Experience 2
I slept from 1239 to 1339 and found my house long since repossessed and sold off.Experience 3
Mar hunted me down in Lubeck but I ambushed him and killed him once and for all.Diary
Diary Memory 1
I would often make up funny stories in the alehouse and make Aelfred laugh.Experience 1
Once Aelfred laughed so much he choked on a crust of bread and almost died.Experience 2
Aelfred discovered me on my second night as a vampire. He took pity on me and we fled Croghyrst for Rye.Experience 3
In the deep night, a cruel and evil vampire named Mar attacked Aelfred and I on the road. He bent my seax in half and almost overpowered me, but I impaled him on the sword and he fled into the darkness.Diary Memory 2
Gytha, my wife, was my main reason for living.Experience 1
Gytha and I spent several nights camping in the meadow beyond the field the year we were married.Experience 2
I killed Gytha in a bloodlust on my first night as a vampire, leaving me devastated.Experience 3
Gytha wrote me a letter while I lived in 13th Century Germany. She is a vampire and a protege of Mar.Experience 4
Gytha confronted me in Lubeck and warned me that Mar is after me. I told her I was not interested in fleeing my home, and he was welcome to come for me.Skills
Sword Fighting ✔
Herbalism ✔
Storytelling ✔
Bloodthirsty ✔
Sense Immortal ✔
Ambush ✔
Literacy ✔
Resources
Mark
My eyes are pure white, which often makes mortals think me a blind man.
Summary
And there ends the story of Raynar Harling, Vampire. The prompt said to check a skill but he had no skills left to check. What an interesting and challenging RPG. Totally different to any other I've played, it was quite unpleasant at times but really rewarding and fun doing bits and pieces of historical research on Wikipedia.
I'm glad I got to experience both blending in among mortals and living in a secret vampire lair as well. I highly recommend this game, especially if you like writing. You can buy it the website: Thousand Year Old Vampire
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