You aren't going to let this fat fuck get a chance to possibly shoot you in the back, plus you're too pissed about him trying to molest you.

With a couple quick moves you pull out your dagger, stab him in his arm and relieve him of his fancy pistol. Graham screams out like a little girl and now pleads for his miserable life.

"Please! No, don't kill me!" he whimpers pathetically.

Once again, much like how it was Klint, you show no remorse and pull the trigger of the pistol.

It's the first time you've ever used one; so the unexpected kickback nearly causes you nearly drop it. You also weren't expecting it blow half of Graham's stinking face off. His obese corpse slumps lifelessly against the carriage wall.

"Shit." You remark to yourself being in awe of the power of the weapon.

Never being one to miss an opportunity, you quickly deprive Graham's body of the jeweled rings on his fingers. You then also go through the pockets that you can get to and get a bag full of gold coins.

After looting Graham's body, you remember that there is a skirmish going on outside. A quick glance shows several bandit types fighting the mercs. The mercs are out numbered, but thanks to their armor and better training, they're doing a good job of fending off the bandits.

You get out of the carriage with the intent of just running off into the woods, but then you might get lost. It occurs to you that you do have an advantage that will allow you get away a lot faster and still stay on your course.

While one of the mounted mercs bashes in the head of a bandit you take the opportunity to shoot him while his back is turned. The merc's armor is of no protection and he cries out as he falls from his horse.

"Who the hell is that guy?" one of the bandits shouts.
"Dunno, but who cares, he's killing their side!" another says.

You quickly run to the now ownerless horse and clumsily get on. You're a bit vulnerable for a few seconds, but fortunately the bandits seem to now think you're on their side and don't focus on you (and the remaining mercs have their hands full)

You soon manage to control the horse (which is anxious to get away from the chaos anyway) and gallop away until the skirmish is far behind you and you're basically left alone again. Unfortunately your horse suddenly starts wheeze and wobble. You manage to hastily get off before it collapses.

There on it's left side you see what the problem is. In all the ensuing the chaos, the horse actually took a few crossbow bolts. Probably damage to vital organs and its adrenaline is finally wearing off. Bad luck for you and even worse luck for the horse. Not having many more options, you start walking.

In any case there's two more bodies to your count now. Granted Graham deserved it, but that merc…well he made a living risking his life, it just happened that today his time was up. You had to survive a dangerous situation and that's it.

That's how you're justifying that one anyway.

Still, you at least acquired a few goodies for your troubles. You're going to have to learn more about how to take proper care of this pistol because it's far too valuable of a weapon to neglect. It'll certainly make dealing with shit in Holgard a bit more manageable.

The rings are what surprise you most. You're no jeweler, but you have stolen enough cheap baubles in the past that you can tell a fake when you examine it in greater detail. The gems in the rings are actually common, but altered slightly (especially their color) to resemble more valuable ones. Even the ring is gold plated rather than pure. Looks like Graham wasn't as rich as he made out.

However, the little pouch of coins is real money so there's that at least.

You continue along the road, which as you guessed starts alternating from being intact, to dirt with a few stones to being little more than a well worn path in the grass. Even the occasional signs aren't much help given that many are flat out damaged in some way.

Your natural instinct to just keep going in a straight line like you were doing, but unfortunately for you, the path completely disappears into forest. Doesn't help that the road also branches into several paths that twist in different directions. You weren't expecting that so you aren't sure which way to go.

While you're pondering this decision, a voice calls out to you.

"Hey! Where youz tryin' to get to?"

You then see a person dressed in simple clothing coming out of the forest. He's a little shorter than you, in fact he's a little greener than you too. Doesn't look like an orc though, not nearly big or massive enough. Goblin perhaps, but he's taller than one and almost a bit human looking. A short green human with a few warts on his face and a bigger than average nose.

In any case, you maintain your usual caution.

"Okay, that's far enough. Who are you?" you ask.
"Me? I'm just Warts." He answers picking his big nose.
"Appropriate name."
"Grhm. So youz tryin' to get to Holgard?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Well cuz, I can lead you to it. Lotz o' paths in this forest lead lotz o' places. Easy to get lost if you don't know da way."
"You know the way huh? How do I know you aren't going to lead me into an ambush?"
"Youz don't I suppoze. Take yer chances going alone an' getting lost, don't care. I just try to earn a little extra coin for drink an' leadin' clueless humies like yerself gets me some…well when they aren't throwin' rocks at me that is."
"What are you exactly?" you ask.
"Huh? What you mean?" Warts replies.
"I mean, you don't look quite like any greenskin I've ever seen."
"You seen a lot o them have ya?"
"Well no, but I've heard tales…"
"Then you don't really know nuthin' then do ya?" Warts says in a perturbed tone.

Actually he's got a bit of a point.

You decide to get right to the matter.

"Alright, assuming I take you up on your generous offer, how much is it?" you ask.
"Oh, yeah price…hmm, you want to go to Holgard right? Five gold coins." Warts answers.
"Five gold coins just to lead me through the forest? That's fucking outrageous!"
"Holgard is tricky to get to if you don't know the way. Lot of false paths get made. Besides, you lot usually have more than enough gold. I see you humies travelling all over in your rolly boxes filled with goods."
"Do I look like I'm in a rolly box carting around a wagon full of treasures? I'm just a simple traveller down on his luck."
"Down on luck huh? You should pray to Yag more. Anywayz five gold. Final offer."

This greenskin obviously has no concept of haggling. It really isn't like you don't have the coin, it's more like you don't want to give so much to the likes of him after being fortunate enough to acquire it in the first place.

Ultimately, he's either telling the truth about the forest being that treacherous or he's completely bullshitting you. You'll just have to decide for yourself.

You go it alone

You're not paying him shit, this is probably some sort of set up.

"Yeah, I think I'm good on my own." You say.
"Grm. Suit yerself." Warts says and then without another word he disappears back into the forest. You thought for sure he'd at least try to lower his price if you declined his help, but you guess not.

In any case you still aren't sure of which way to go, so you gamble and just pick a path that looks the most promising. You figure you could always backtrack if feels like you're going the wrong way. (You hope)

You walk along your chosen path for a while, still keeping an eye out for any potential ambushes. In fact you don't even walk directly on the path, you mostly just stick close like you were following a river.

Speaking of which you eventually come across a real river with a bridge and everything. There even looks to be a sign post nearby, which makes you think that you are probably going in the right direction.

Unfortunately it also looks like a group of four bandits has boldly decided to set up a blockade of sorts here. They haven't seen you yet, so that's at least one good thing in your favor. Of course while you only see four bandits, who knows if there are more hiding nearby with bows or something. In fact you probably shouldn't linger here too long. You slink away and head upstream hoping you'll find another way. (And not get too lost in the process)

You don't have too much luck for the most part, but then you see one area where the water looks low enough to cross. You decide to make the attempt.

All goes well until it turns out the water wasn't as low as you thought and you're now knee deep in it. You're already a third way across however and you press on.

By the time the water is nearly up to your chest, the current begins to pull you and you're soon not walking across the river bottom anymore. You try to maintain control of the situation, but the current is swifter than you anticipated, not to mention you don't know how to swim.

You're fortunate in that you don't get pulled too far downstream or go completely underwater before you manage to grab hold of a rock which is close enough to the other side that you pull yourself to the other side of the river bank.

Your possessions are another story however. You've lost your coin bag, along with the pistol you just managed to acquire. About the only thing you have left is your dagger. You curse your luck along with the forest, the river and your situation in general. After releasing a torrent of swearing, you move on.

Eventually night falls and along with now being cold and wet, you're also starting to feel tired. You aren't even sure if you're heading in the right direction anymore since you got a bit discombobulated when you were struggling not to drown.

Still, you press on and that's when you think you see a slight respite in this mess.

You see a cabin, though probably an abandoned one as there is no light coming from it. You just hope there isn't anyone or anything lurking inside.

You cautiously approach the cabin and while you have a feeling of unease the entire time, when you explore around it, you don't find anything out of the ordinary. Of course it is dark, so maybe you're missing something, but so far it doesn't look like anyone is making camp here.

As soon as you try the door though all your senses start to scream danger and you draw your dagger and spin around. You are met with the sight of a man in a robe standing nearby. It's hard to see his face, but the light of the moon shows he's a lot older than you.

You lift your dagger up in a defensive stance, but the man isn't moving.

"Put that away son, it wouldn't do you any good again me or anything else out around here I'd wager. In fact you shouldn't even be around this cabin. Bad things happen here." The man says.
"Yeah? Well what're you doing out here then?" you ask.
"Good help is hard to find nowadays. What's your story, you look a little worse for wear."
"What's it to you?"
"Sheesh, just trying to make conversation. You don't look like one of the many bandits out here. You ain't green, so you aren't hobgoblin. Can't see any points in those ears, so not an elf either. Given your age though, what you do look like is a lost lamb in the woods. Is that what you are?"
"No and I'm doing just fine out here."
"Bullshit, kid. You look like a half drowned rat. What'd you do, fall in the river?" he says and starts to step forward.

"Get the fuck back old man! I'm no damn lamb in the woods, I've killed people!" you say thrusting your dagger in his direction a bit.
"Is that right? Hmm, perhaps you could be useful. You just a fighter? You got any other skills?"
"Yeah…I mean what the hell you wanna know for?"
"Because as I said, good help is hard to find and I got a lot of tasks that need doing. Now I know you're lost out here, but I'll tell ya what, I'll get you out of this forest and set you up with a place to stay and whatever else you might need if you help me in my tasks."
"No thanks, I already killed one old pervert in exchange for his so called help."
"Well that explains why you're so mistrustful. Look kid, I barely even think about that anymore and you don't have the right equipment anyway. I'm a wizard and I do a lot research and experiments. Unfortunately, the material that I sometimes need requires me to come outside which I'd rather not do. I used to have an apprentice of sorts to help out on that front, but well let's just say shit happens."
"A wizard that does experiments? And how do I know that I'm not going to be one of those experiments?"
"Because if I wanted you for that purpose, I would have already cast a spell to immobilize you and taken you back to my place already. I'm just looking for someone to help me do the grunt work I don't want to be bothered to do. I can also promise to pay you, if saving your life just isn't good enough."
"How much?"
"We can discuss that later, but I need to know if you want the job, because I'm not staying out here all night."
"Well where is your place? Holgard?"
"Pfft, not that cess pit. Though it isn't too far from there."
"How far is it?"
"Oh, don't worry about that, I can get us there real quick. So you in or not?"

You go with the wizard

"(Sigh) It seems like I don't have that much of a choice seeing as I'm pretty fucked out here." You say.
"So that's a yes I take it?" the wizard remarks.
"Yeah, I'll accept your help."
"Great, now hold still."

Before you even know what's happening, a bright light flashes before your eyes and encompasses you. You're blind for a few moments and then when you open your eyes again, you find yourself in a room with fancy paintings, expensive furniture and some heads of creatures unknown to you.

Just as you're admiring the new view, you're spun around and find yourself face to face with your "savior." He briefly grabs your left wrist and you feel a tingling sensation on it. Needless to say you pull away and step back.

"What the fuck?!" you exclaim rubbing your wrist.
"Really, I hardly think that's anyway to talk to the man who just saved your life." The wizard remarks

Your wrist stops tingling and when you look down at it, you notice a new little symbol on your skin that resembles an eight.

"What the hell did you just do to me?" you ask.
"Nothing bad I assure you, but I suppose much like you I'm a bit on the mistrustful side, so I wanted to secure the agreement we made." The wizard says.
"What did you DO?"
"Put a geas on you. Don't worry though you still have lots of freedom."
"What the hell's a geas? And what do you mean by I still have lots of freedom? Did you just magically enslave me or some shit?!"
"(Sigh) I hate it when it's put like that. I suppose if you want to look at it that way, then yes. I'm the only one who can take it off though so you might as well not kick up about it."
"Oh? Well I can imagine the spell also doesn't work when you're dead either." You say and draw your dagger.

However as soon as you do, you feel as if you've been dealt a hefty kick to the crotch. You fall to the floor holding on to your nether regions.

"That was a very silly thing to do. Even if I couldn't blast you into ash before you'd even reach me with that pig sticker, the geas prevents you from harming me in the first place. You're just lucky I'm not fond of pointless cruelty. Most of the time when one tries to directly defy a geas, it causes extreme pain throughout your entire body. I altered the spell of course." The wizard remarks.
"So I'm supposed to be glad you're only magically kicking me in the balls instead?" you ask as the pain slowly begins to fade.

The wizard at this point puts a hand to his face and shakes his head. He paces a bit and then speaks again.

"Okay look, let's start over. Hello my name's Ral and I'm your new employer until I feel our contract is done. In return for your service, you will receive lodgings and food. Quality lodgings too I might add. I will also provide whatever equipment you need for whatever task I send you on. If I don't have it, well I'll provide coin so you can go buy whatever you need at that cess pit Holgard which as I mentioned I don't live too far from."

Ral pauses a bit before continuing.

"Now before you start arguing with me again, let me tell you about the exact nature of your geas. First of all, you've still got all the freedom you want. You want to leave my home and go drown your sorrows in whores and booze, go right ahead. Holgard's just a couple days away and I'm not going to stop you. In fact you can go on a three-day bender if you want, but after that, I'd advise you to start making your way back before you start feeling the effects of the spell. The pain will start in your genitals as you've already experienced, but the longer you resist, the geas is going to start taking on a more traditional role and you will feel that pain all over your body. Depending on your constitution you MIGHT be able to last up to three weeks of defiance. No more than that though and you really don't want to know what happens."
"What happens if something else prevents me from reaching you or I'm otherwise detained?"
"Well I suggest you don't let it detain you for over a week."
"That's fucking bullshit. You claim I got all this freedom, but you've just stated I'm practically tethered to the area!"
"Y'know I would have thought someone in your situation would see this as an opportunity, not a reason to complain. Not to mention being grateful that I just saved your life. Despite your boasts of being a killer, you stink more of common thief. You're on the youngish side, so you were probably originally from a boring small backwoods town and going to Holgard to make a name for yourself or whatever. Well guess what? You would have been just one of many cutthroat vagabond thugs there. Your chances of succeeding would have been minute at best. If the Ebony Claw Syndicate didn't do away with you for encroaching on their territory, they would have used you up and spat you out if you were dumb enough to join them. Not to mention the whole city is a mass riot waiting to happen. Mark my words, you'll be thanking me that I did you this favor by next year."

At this point Ral tells you he's done speaking on this matter right now as he has important work to get back to. He tells you the lay out of his home, where your bedroom is and how you can help yourself to whatever food and drink you want in the kitchen. His home is your home as he puts it.

He then mentions that Holgard is west of his home if you need to go there. He also says there's a small village called Dert to the east as well which is actually a lot closer, but his opinion of that place is even lower. From his descriptions, it sounds similar to your hometown, but smaller, poorer and even more insular.

"I'll give you a month to get accustomed to the surrounding area and your situation, but I fully expect you to be ready to perform my tasks by that time, and none of this ungratefulness any longer." He says and then leaves you alone in his living room.

You just slump down in one of the cushy chairs and despair at your new situation. Your eyes wander the room for a bit until they fixate on one of the stuffed creature heads.

"Well at least my head isn't up on a wall yet I guess." You say with a sigh.

You time passes...

Chapter 2C: Indentured Servitude



Year 17

A year.

A year of this magical slavery has passed already and you're far from thanking Ral for this despite what he told you. It hasn't been as bad as it could be, but it certainly could be a hell of a lot better.

Boredom and tedium are the main enemies mainly because Ral has you doing an endless amount of mundane tasks such as cleaning his home or gathering shit for him and unfortunately, that usually consists of various plants in the forest. Which you suppose has made you a bit more knowledgeable about the outdoors, but that isn't exactly knowledge you ever desired!

If you're lucky, he'll send you to Holgard to acquire something and that's really the only time you bother going to that city. Only having a week of "slack" doesn't give you a whole lot of time to go venturing out to Holgard like you probably would on a regular basis. Two days to get there, two day back. It's hardly worth it most of the time hence why you tend to do all your thievery during these mundane trips.

The thing is, you don't even really need to steal anything since everything is provided for you. You aren't really doing it for the thrills either because you're forever pissed about your situation. You're more or less doing it just to stay in practice. The only good thing is you believe your time there is so infrequent and your mark so insignificant, that you haven't ever drawn the ire or even the attention of any of the other criminal organizations in Holgard, let alone what passes for the law there.

Sometimes you'll go to Dert to "practice" though you don't really like to mainly because there's no challenge. You suppose it's just as well as you just doing it to keep your skills from rusting, because you certainly wouldn't be getting rich from taking anything from those poor bastards that live there.

The people there aren't exactly welcoming to you either and you feel like you're going to get lynched at any time. If that ever actually figured it out that you've been stealing from the place as opposed to passing yourself off as a "herbalist." (All that time gathering plants has at least come in handy for something)

You've been trying to figure out some way of escape, but there doesn't seem to be anything for it. You actually did disappear for more than a week once, but you returned pretty quickly after two days of increasing pain. You can't imagine what you would have felt any longer than that. Ral didn't even seem fussed that you attempted it.

Killing Ral is out of the question since about the only thing you can do is briefly think about it on occasion. You've wondered if he has anything lying around that could break the spell, but even if you got lucky and found something of Ral's that could help you (and could actually figure out how to use it), Ral keeps important rooms like his lab and his library magically locked. (And who knows what other protection he has)

So you're stuck for now. In the meantime…

"Ah, you're here good." Ral says poking his head into your room
"Where else would I be? Not like I can go too far. Can't you just track my location with the spell anyway?" You say.
"More or less, but considering it's easy enough for me to just peek in the rooms of the house you have access to, I didn't really see the need to do it immediately. Anyway, I have a job for you."
"I just gathered a bunch of plants for you yesterday!"
"I'm actually in need something on the rarer side, that's harder to get a hold of, I need you to get a plant called gray blossom. Fortunately I know someone who has it. Unfortunately, they probably won't be willing to give it up very easily."
"Oh? So I'm actually going to use my natural talents for a change?"
"In a manner of speaking yes, though if you can steal from a vampire, I'd be very impressed."
"Did you just say vampire?"
"Yes, she's the only person I know that has the plant that I need for my experiments. Or at least within the area and least amount of trouble to get it.

Easy for him to say, he isn't the one that has to get it.

"I'm sure you're aware that dismal village Dert has that huge graveyard not far from it, well she lives in one of the old crypts there. Now if you really feel your skills are up to the task, you could try to sneak in there while she's asleep during the day and get the gray blossom, but I had a more conventional trade in mind." Ral says and then produces a jar of red liquid. You can already take a guess what it is.

"Wait, she'll just readily accept a jar of blood as payment?" you ask.
"This isn't just regular blood, it's a jar of sprite blood. She loves the stuff." Ral answers
"Aren't sprites really small? Looks like a lot of blood for a sprite."
"Obviously that's because it's at least thirty of the little buggers. Now Isabella will probably try to use her vampire abilities on you like mesmerism, but don't worry, that spell you hate so much will keep you perfectly safe from such attempts at charm or mind control."
"Oh yeah? Well what if she decides to just rip my head off instead?"
"No it wouldn't protect you from that of course. Though she doesn't just go around killing people on a whim, indeed that's why Dert still exists at all. This is also why I'm suggesting that you just give her this blood for the blossom. She might be difficult and try to barter with you or even imply violence if she got up on the wrong side of the coffin, but she's not likely to just kill you. If she catches you stealing however, well her violent reaction is going to be on you."
"Not sure if that wouldn't be an improvement on my current situation." You remark.

"You'll find her in a mausoleum that says Mablava at the top front of it. From there, you'll have to fumble around and find the secret button revealing the stairs that lead to the underground crypt where she makes her home proper. I think it's somewhere on the bottom right wall. It's been awhile. Anyway, I'm sure you'll find it. I'd advise you to announce your presence and state your business right away before you even descend. Probably would be best to do this at dusk when she's just getting up. If you do it in the day, she'll be asleep and she won't be pleased about you disturbing her slumber. If you wait until night, you might miss her since she might have left her home. Now assuming you didn't piss her off, I'll expect you back fairly soon. Off you go."

Having given you your orders and the sprite blood, Ral starts to take his leave as if nothing else needs to be said, but you still have some concerns.

"Hey wait! That's it? I mean shouldn't you be giving me some magical weapon, or something silver at least?" you ask.
"What for? Wouldn't do you any good anyway. Do you even know anything about vampires, or just what you've heard from stories? Look, if I actually thought your life was in any real danger, I'd provide you with either the proper equipment or the coin so you could go buy it. I dare say even if you do something foolish like try to steal from her and get caught, if you drop my name she'll probably still let you off the hook, though perhaps with a nasty scar. This should be a simple enough task that you aren't going to have any difficulties." Ral says.

You don't bother arguing any more since you know Ral's made his mind up and is barking the orders that you're going to have to obey anyway. You can only hope he's correct about his vampire associate.

You make your way to Dert, which doesn't take long. By the time you which the vicinity of the area, it's still day time which means you still have time to spare waiting around before meeting up with this Isabella. Since you don't especially feel like putting up with suspicious dumb ass yokels today, you decide that you'll just head straight to the graveyard and wait there.

When you arrive, you never realized just how damn big the place was as you've only ever glanced at it from afar and certainly never had any reason to go there. In fact, it's almost the same size as Dert itself, in fact, it may even be the same size. You can't imagine why the village would need that big of a graveyard. Was Dert bigger at one point? Plague perhaps?

In any case you spend some time looking for the mausoleum and eventually you find it. It isn't very big; though you imagine that underneath it is where all the space is. Must be for a family, though they must have been richer than everyone else in that village. This all makes you wonder if Isabella is an original inhabitant of this village or maybe she's just making her home her in this place.

You also start wondering if there are other creatures potentially lurking about here. Ghouls? Ghosts? You haven't seen or heard anything since you've got here and the entire place has been as empty and silent as a well…tomb.

As you creep yourself out, you're getting less enthusiastic about just hanging around a graveyard waiting for night to come. Maybe you should just steal the gray blossom now while day still exists.

You steal the Gray Blossom

Meeting a vampire at night just seems like a bad idea even if you were properly prepared. No, you're going to go with your instinct on this rather than Ral's suggestions.

You begin looking for the secret button on the right wall. As it turns out, this uses up a lot of time because you have a hell of a time finding the damn thing since it's in a near inaccessible place behind a solid stone sarcophagus. At this point you're hoping you get out before the sun sets.

After stretching and reaching for the thing, you hear a click and a section of the floor on the left side opens up. You look down, but only see a dimly lit stairway, which you hope doesn't lead you through some catacomb maze.

When you get to the bottom, you find a better-lit crypt that is fairly clean all things considered. You see several sturdy coffins lining the walls and you can also smell a faint whiff of some sort of flower. Nobody is here, though you see another entryway, which looks like it leads further into the bowels of this place.

As much as you don't like the idea, you'll have to go further in because there doesn't seem to be any plant life here or at least none that resembles what you were tasked to find.

You go through a long corridor which occasionally has smaller rooms off to the side, but you don't find much in any save for some neatly placed furnishings. Other than the coffins you already passed you haven't seen anything else like that, so you aren't sure if this Isabella sleeps in one of those and you already passed her or she's deeper within this place. Either way, you just want to be out of here before she wakes up.

You continue further and unfortunately just like you thought you start getting to forks in path. Still not knowing where to look, you just pick a path and hope for the best.

You eventually come to a room, you sort of wish you hadn't. You see several naked people chained up and the room stained with blood. The people aren't screaming or calling for help though. They're just standing there in a trance condition. You can only guess this must be some sort of feeding room for Isabella. You don't linger too long.

You continue to go through twisting corridors, which increasingly start becoming less "polished" with a lot less torches and you also feel like you're starting to go deeper underground. You're starting to feel like you're not going to find what you're looking for if you keep heading this way, so you decide to turn back.

And then you suddenly stop when you hear a voice coming from the direction that you are currently heading:

"I know someone is here, lurking about in my home. Hope you're a very well prepared group of adventurers or skilled vampire hunters because it's not going to be good when I eventually find you. And I WILL find you."

You genuinely piss yourself at that point and in desperation you immediately run back into darkness. You have no idea where you're going and you end up stumbling and tripping quite a bit as you make your hopeless escape.

"Only one of you huh? That was quite foolish. You realize that you're making a lot of noise correct? I'm a lot faster than you are and know my home better than you do, if I wanted to catch you right now, I could. You should probably save yourself time and just sit put. If you do, I'll promise to make it quick and not keep you around as a blood slave." You hear Isabella's voice say. You don't know how close she is now, but she doesn't sound as far away as before.

Alone, scared and in pitch darkness, you scream out.

"Isabella, please! I don't want to die! Have mercy!"
"Don't want to die? Then why the hell did you intrude on my home in the way you did? In fact, how the hell do you know my name or even how to get in here in the first place?"
"Ral! Ral sent me! He even gave me a gift to give to you!"

There is silence for a moment.

"Ah, that explains some of this then. The old bastard must want something from me, and he sent a lackey to do the job. However, he must either not value your life or he's gotten forgetful in his old age, because I can't imagine that he would have told you to come wandering down here without at least announcing yourself."
"He did! He did!"
"Oh? Then YOU must be stupid or not a very good servant to Ral if you didn't follow his instructions. Either way, I don't think he's going to miss you. This might have gone very differently had you not rudely trespassed on my domain. Don't bother begging anymore, I'm not listening."

With this confirmation that you are well and truly fucked, you gather your remaining strength and continue to run blindly in the dark. You're stopped when you hit something. It isn't a wall though, it's softer than that, but much deadlier.

It's pitch dark, but even at this close range, you see the faint glow of inhuman eyes along with pearly white teeth that sink right into your neck.

The life literally drains from your body as Isabella feeds upon you.