01 [London, August 26th, 1251. Time: Early evening (times are tough).] #01 [It's the day after returning to London, and there can be quite a lot on a wampyr's mind, as they have quite the mission from both Lord Mithras and Matriarch Salianna - two wampyrs one should make extra effort not to cross. Unfortunately, there's another wampyr involved who's probably even worse: Troile, the current Brujah antediluvian.] #01 [All of this might be on Moriel's mind. Or maybe not! He's just returning from feeding, in any case, taking the best advantage he can of the limited night hours available during the summer. As he approaches his domain, he finds Eliana in front of the church's doors, looking out towards the street. Oh dear, there might be eye contact. She is, as typical and despite the heat, dressed for winter, with her hood up.] #01 [Mini Start!] #06* Moriel hesitates in mid-step for the barest moment on seeing Eliana, but then he continues towards her. He says softly, "Good evening, Mistress Casale. Do come in." #06* Moriel holds the door for Eliana courteously. At the same time, he manages to mostly avoid making eye contact with her. #06* Eliana nods once to Moriel and moves to enter, saying in Latin as she does, "" #06* Moriel looks up at Eliana for a moment. Then, "" He leads her into the back of the church, then down a flight of stairs into darkness. #06* Moriel doesn't even bring a candle; apparently he doesn't need one. Eliana might want to make some illumination for herself, though. If she does, she'll find the walls of the narrow hallway they've entered are lined with bones. Apparently, Moriel is taking her into the catacombs below the church. #06* Eliana does follow, then, and wordlessly. Once plunged into total darkness, she does in fact light a small flame on one palm. #06* Eliana examines the bones and corridors with interest as they walk. #06* Moriel stops at an otherwise unremarkable section of hallway after a minute or two of twists and turns. He kneels down and...does something. Whatever it is is hidden in the flickering shadows, but a section of stone slides away, revealing the entrance to a small room. #06* Moriel looks over his shoulder at Eliana with a faintly anxious expression. Ever polite, however, he gestures her inside first. #06* Eliana just eyebrow raises back at Moriel before stepping in. [Once inside, Eliana can see that the room is made entirely of stone, and utterly bare. There are two doorways (lacking doors) leading into other, apparently equally small rooms, which are not quite so empty...if she cares to look into them.] #06* Moriel actually has to duck to get in the entrance - it's quite small. Once he does, however, he turns and presses some kind of trigger on the wall beside the entrance, and it slides closed again. #06* Moriel gestures around the empty room and says in a subdued voice, "Will this suit?" #06* Eliana looks around. "Yes." Her eyes linger on the doorways, taking in what she can, but she doesn't actually move for them. #06* Eliana shifts the flame to her shoulder, where it burns more brightly than it did before. She to look Moriel in the eye. #01 The Salubri. You're still interested? #06* Moriel looks up at Eliana, meeting her eyes. "Yes." #01 Fortunately, our library had a number of Salubri texsts - they were quite willing to leave written record. Unfortunately, much of it is somewhat contradictory. #06* Moriel cocks his head to one side. "How so?" #06* Eliana shrugs slightly. "'Golconda' seems to mean a number of different things. But it's quite clearly a state of mind or being." #01 The texts I read state that when achieved, well... #06* Eliana starts ticking off on her fingers, "Power equal to Caine. Power equal to an antediluvian. The ability to walk in sunlight. No need to feed. The Beast leaves the kindred. The Beast succumbs to the kindred. Complete mortality and humanity. Death, but the soul is saved." She looks a touch disgusted at the last one, but continues: "And there is more, I am sure." #06* Moriel 's eyes widen as she goes through the list. "I'm sure..." It really is contradictory. #06* Eliana shrugs with one shoulder. "Unsurprising, given the haphazard way history is generally pieced together." #01 There are legends of a fourth second generation kindred, instead of our typical three, who achieved golconda. And others of a kindred who achieved it before the great flood, and so was not destroyed. #06* Moriel nods, still thinking. "Yes." #06* Moriel 's gaze flicks upwards again. "I may have to go seek one of them out...Demetrius suggested it, but I didn't know how..." #06* Eliana snorts. "Easier said than done, and you *are* aware that I cannot really help you on that front." #06* Moriel nods. "I know. Thank you, Eliana. For this." #01 Of course. #01 I can also give you this: All legends do agree on one point. Goldconda requires a level of restraint and morality that most kindred - and I would argue kine - find impossible. One of the Salubri tenets is to try to remain as close to human as they can in order to achieve that level of morality. #06* Moriel flinches and looks away. "Ah..." #01 But it does not seem to be enough to be human; one must be a particularly *good* human. Attempting to find this 'Path of Mercy' supposedly mentioned to Caine would be no easy task, and I'm certain most Salubri never achieve it. #06* Moriel looks back up at Eliana, frowning faintly. "...path of mercy?" #06* Eliana sighs, a touch annoyed, then closes her eyes and quotes in Latin: "" #06* Moriel stares at Eliana. His face is going strangely blank, and though his voice is calm there's something indefinably wrong with it. "...where is that from?" #06* Eliana opens her eyes and regards Moriel curiously. "The Book of Nod. I assume you've had some exposure to it." #06* Moriel 's eyes have gone unfocused. "I have." Moving like a sleepwalker, he pulls a small volume from his pocket and holds it out to Eliana. "Find it for me." If Eliana opens the book, she'll find it's a well-worn copy of the Book of Nod - with that single verse neatly left out. #06* Eliana takes it from Moriel and opens the book, flipping through it for quite some time before finding the passage she's looking for. Or lack thereof. She frowns, turning a page back and forth, and indicates a spot between two passages. "It should be here." #06* Moriel looks down at where she's pointing, but he doesn't really seem to be seeing the page. "Ah. Of course." He starts to smile - and if ever his smile was creepy before, that was only a warmup. A brilliant spark of madness is rapidly expanding in his empty eyes. #06* Eliana 's eyes widen, and she takes an involuntary step back. "Moriel?" #06* Moriel starts to laugh. Softly at first, but it quickly grows louder until he's wrapped both arms around himself and he looks close to dropping to his knees. #06* Eliana 's hand was reaching back towards the wall, but when Moriel starts laughing, she hesitates and then clenches her hand into a fist, and she just watches him laugh. #06* Moriel actually does hit his knees a moment later. His entire body is shaking. If he were still human, he'd be hyperventilating. #01 Moriel MacRae! #06* Moriel chokes mid-laugh. He's bent double, his forehead nearly touching the stone floor. His loose hair is hiding his face, but he's staring wide-eyed at the floor if Eliana could see it. After a long moment he says softly in his normal voice, "Wrong name." #06* Eliana frowns. "Really." #01 What's the right one? #06* Moriel sits up a little, but his head is still bowed, his hair hiding his face. He sounds tired and grieved and ashamed. "My sire gave me that name. I..." He shakes his head and his silvered hair swings around his face. "I don't use my human name any more." #06* Moriel shakes his hair out of his face and looks up at Eliana. "I'm sorry." #01 For not using your human name? Who does? #06* Eliana walks over and offers Moriel a hand. #06* Moriel shakes his head. "No, for - " Then he looks back up and notices the offered hand. For a moment he just stares at Eliana in astonishment. #06* Moriel takes Eliana's hand after a moment, and after another he gets to his feet. #06* Eliana is just as cold as ever, even through the gloves. #06* Moriel looks down the floor. "For...losing myself like that." #06* Eliana gives Moriel a small, crooked smile. "Who doesn't." #06* Eliana also places Moriel's book back in his hand. #01 You are going to need a new copy. #06* Moriel looks down at it. "Yes, I suppose I am." #06* Eliana nods. She's silent for a moment, then she says, "My sire didn't give me my name. I did." #06* Moriel looks up at Eliana, surprised. "Why? I mean...why did you pick that one?" #06* Eliana brushes her hood off her head, shaking her hair out. "It's an Italian variation of the name I used in the convent," she says, as she runs some fingers through to untangle a few curls. #06* Moriel blinks at her. He opens his mouth uncertainly, then closes it again. "...I see." #06* Eliana apparently decides Moriel's more or less together, and she startspacing a bit, glancing through the doorways again. #06* Moriel watches Eliana for a moment and smiles faintly, though it still looks a little painful. "I...would offer you a tour, but, well...there's little to see." His glance through one of the doorways is troubled. "And...I am not always proud of...myself." #06* Moriel 's eyes lighten and he smiles. "But - " #06* Eliana stops at the 'but' and looks at the other wampyr curiously. #06* Moriel steps to the left doorway and beckons to Eliana. If she looks through, she'll see an equally small, nearly as bare stone room - but this one has a small tidy desk with a bookshelf, writing implements, paper... A large bible is sitting open on the desk right now. #06* Moriel walks past it to the bookshelf and pulls down a large volume bound in deep blue. He holds it out to Eliana. #06* Eliana 's eyes light up. "Your workshop, then? I'd wondered." She heads in and takes the book, opening it and leafing through. [It's the mathematical text she translated for him, now bound.] #06* Moriel smiles. "I read it. You're right, it's certainly more advanced than any I'd encountered before. It took me a little time." #06* Eliana continue flipping through the book. "Most things worth learning are. The binding's very well done. #06* Moriel smiles at her a little ruefully. "Well enough. I've seen better, but I was only starting to learn. I was careful with it, though." #01 Appreciated. We never did manage to discuss mathematics. #06* Eliana closes the book and hands it back to Moriel. #06* Moriel takes it and carefully replaces it on the shelf. "Ah, well...did you get the books I left with Miss Leftherder?" #01 I did, thank you. #06* Moriel says carefully, "You're welcome." Suddenly he smiles, eyes bright with amusement. "I have yet to find a book about how fish breathe water. If I do, I shall bring it to you." #06* Eliana laughs softly. "I would like that." She looks over the other books on display, and glances at the bible. #01 Are you going to attempt it? Golconda. #06* Moriel sobers abruptly. He reaches out as if to brush the open page of his bible, but he stops just short. "Yes." He looks back up at her. "I...can't go on like this, Eliana. I'm mad. I'm growing madder. Some night...the madness will be all that's left of me." #06* Eliana nods. #01 It sounds... incredibly difficult, assuming it is even possible. Certainly, it wouldn't be possible for me. #01 Tremere texts claim the Salubri are lying concerning golconda, that it's a great myth for recruitment and power in past courts. They claim the clan does not wish to heal anyone, but rather devour their souls. #06* Moriel looks up at Eliana, wide-eyed. He wraps his arms around himself and shivers convulsively. After a moment, though, he smiles faintly. It's an oddly wistful expression. "...even if that's so...does it matter? To be consumed, slow or fast...the end is the same. I have to try." #06* Eliana snorts. "I'm of the opinion that even the possibility of a soul is questionable, so certainly, that's a fair level of reasoning." #01 Regardless, if my clan discovers I'm assisting in an attempt to achieve golconda, or that I support the Salubri on any level... #06* Moriel 's head snaps up. "I won't tell anyone you helped me." Demetrius told me to seek the Salubri himself; reason enough. #06* Eliana smiles thinly. "Reason enough. In the meantime, you still have enough information to progress." #06* Moriel 's brows draw down. "Yes." #06* Moriel looks up at Eliana again. "Thank you again." #06* Eliana nods. "Of course." #01 Who gave you that copy of Nod? #06* Moriel looks down at where he'd set it beside his bible. His face darkens. "My sire, of course." #06* Eliana nods. "And he named you." She's still perfectly calm. #06* Moriel glances sideways at Eliana, not certain where she's going with this. "Yes." #01 Perhaps, then, you should consider adopting a different name. #06* Moriel 's face tightens for a moment. "I...do not know what else I would call myself." Then, suddenly, he smiles. "Besides. It is a good name. Just not in the way he intended." #06* Eliana regards Moriel for a moment before she nods. "As you like." #06* Moriel tilts his head to smile up at Eliana. "I am not what he wished to make of me. I can make my name my own as well." #06* Eliana lets out a faint 'heh', and pulls a white ribbon from her sleeve. She dangles it in front of Moriel. "Your hair is a mess." #06* Moriel blinks at Eliana for a moment, then smiles wider. He takes the ribbon and combs his hair back from his face as best he can, using the ribbon to tie it back. "Can't possibly be as bad as your gets," he teases. #01 True. Feel fortunate. #06* Eliana turns and heads into Moriel's entry chamber, looking for the switch in the wall. "Sometimes, I just want to chop it off. I wonder if there's a way to do it." #06* Moriel laughs. "If not, I'm sure you can find one." #06* Eliana smirks. "It's just a matter of time and effort." #01 There are more important things to worry about right now. #06* Eliana finds the switch and activates it, the wall sliding open. #06* Moriel nods as he follows Eliana. "Yes." #06* Eliana gestures for Moriel to lead, as well, this is his haven and the way out is fairly twisty, even if Eliana has a good memory. #06* Moriel kneels to close the hidden entryway, then proceeds to lead Eliana through the twists and back up into the back of the church. And just as he usually does, he opens the heavy front door to see her out. #06* Eliana pulls her hood up, but before she actually leaves, she turns to Moriel and asks point blank, "Why were you avoiding me?" #06* Moriel is taken aback. "Ah..." He looks down and away, then back up at Eliana. "You...I...you were helping me. And I was grateful. But...I...didn't want to push you. I was afraid...if I came to you...you'd take it wrong." #06* Eliana studies Moriel for a long moment, then nods. "I see. Good evening, Moriel." And she sweeps on out into the night. #06* Moriel stares after her for a long moment. Why does he always end his conversations with Eliana feeling completely bewildered...? #01 [Mini End!]