text: lla has always had a rule against taking too many people from there lest the ignorant peasants start getting riled up, or worse, just pick up and leave.
  
  So it's mostly a lot of ambushing bandits, travellers and (ugh) hobgoblins in the forests. There's always Holgard too, but the journey even with your speed is still always a pain in the ass dragging someone from there since you have to keep feeding Lisa your blood at a regular interval. (Not to mention there's currently religious conflict going on there between the factions)
  
  Needless to say, all of this makes you a lot more irritable and tired all the time (Basically, you feel like a human by vampire standards)
  
  Months pass just like Isabella said they would, but you don't give up and eventually you start to see the signs of Lisa changing.
  
  It starts by her talking to you and addressing you by name. She's very confused at first, but as you start to explain it all to her, she doesn't even seem to care. In fact, she seems very happy that you've gone to so much effort to save her life.
  
  "Oh my beloved! I KNEW you always loved me deeply! Let me show my appreciation to you!" Lisa exclaims and proceeds to jump on you.
  
  It's a little strange, but given all you've gone through to turn her, and she seems to be so willing, you don't turn her down.
  
  Isabella still doesn't seem fussed by this turn of events. She does seem to decrease her own demands for sex though. Cleaning is still a priority unfortunately, but considering Lisa now has all this energy she starts helping you do it.
  
  It's during one of these cleanings that you start to see what Isabella was warning about.
  
  "Lisa, I bring in real food, you don't need to eat the bugs crawling around this place!" you exclaim.
  "I'm sorry honey, but I dunno...they just looked so...inviting. And they're nice and crunchy too. I like the way they sometimes wiggle in my mouth...mmmm...tehehehehe..." Lisa says trailing off into a disturbing giggle.
  "Look, just don't eat them, and don't eat anything else that isn't proper food either."
  "But...but what about your delicious yummy blood?"
  "That's still fine."
  "Good! Because I want some right now!"
  "You just had some a few hours ago!"
  "But I need it! I need to suck on you!"
  
  It's just the beginning.
  
  Year 26
  
  "Well, you proved yourself. You wanted it bad enough and I'm true to my word. You and your ghoul bitch are free. Now get the hell outta my crypt, it's still night right now, so if you hurry you can find other shelter before dawn." Isabella suddenly remarks to you during one of your few moments to yourself.
  
  You're so tired, all you can muster up is a "huh?"
  
  "You heard me, you're free, get out." Isabella remarks.
  "Now?" you ask.
  "Yes! I said get out! I'm sick of you doing a half assed job of keeping this place clean and your bitch eating my food. Never mind the fact that I don't exactly get off on hearing you lot have sex. Though I'm guessing that was your idea that she scream as loud as she could."
  "I thought you weren't jealous and didn't give a shit."
  "I don't actually. But I'm certainly not going to share you in any capacity with something that's currently up in the graveyard as we speak, digging up coffins and eating rotten carcasses."
  "What?! She got out again? Why didn't you stop her?!"
  "Not my concern and neither are you anymore. You were fun for a while and I don't regret our time. Just confirmed my original thoughts of why I stay single to begin with. Anyway, take care and a part of me hopes that deep down that you do truly love this girl, but then I've always been a bit of a romantic."
  
  Isabella tells you that you've got a short period of time to leave not just her crypt, but also the area. She mentions that if she catches you or Lisa still in the area she'll kill the pair of you since she doesn't want you lingering around to possibly fuck up her relative peace by preying upon Dert.
  
  You gather up what belongings you still value and take your leave. Sure enough when you exit the crypt, you hear Lisa snuffling about in the graveyard. You soon find that she's already dug up a grave and half eaten body parts lie all around her. She looks up from the rotten leg bone she's chewing on and wastes no time in running to greet you, though it's more like an animal loping at you.
  
  Lisa attempts to kiss you, but the stench of her breath is horrible and that's saying something considering how resilient you've gotten to such things. You turn your head away and tell her to calm herself.
  
  "I'm sorry, I know I'm suppose to stay in the crypt, but I just got so hungry and nipped out for a quick snack since I know you don't like me touching the chained up humans in that one room. Anyway, is it time to give me some more of your yummy blood? I could use a drink after that meal! Say, do you want some of this leg?"
  
  You look at Lisa and she's absolutely nothing like the girl you were so fond of years ago. She doesn't even look the same. While she's not aging anymore, she's definitely changing in appearance in other ways. Her clothes and body are constantly dirty; her hair is a matted nest crawling with insects. Her teeth have bits of decayed flesh in them and who knows what else. She smells like the same corpses she eats. Her personality is that of a spineless lackey that isn't even completely obedient.
  
  And the kicker to all this is you willingly had sex with this thing repeatedly just to gain your freedom. You can't imagine the number of times you dreaded keeping up the sham.
  
  Of course it's done now. You don't really need to go through it any longer.
  
  > take Lisa with you
  You can't do it. It's not right. You made her into this and she's your responsibility now. For good or ill.
  
  "Lisa, come on it's time to go." You say.
  "I know, I know. Back to the crypt." Lisa says.
  "No, we're moving out of there. We're going...well I'm not sure yet. But we're going."
  "Wait. So...no more Isabella? It's just me and you now?"
  "That's about the size of the situation, yes."
  
  Lisa can barely contain her joy. She immediately hugs and kisses you on the mouth. You taste a mixture of rotten meat and who the hell knows what else. It's foul and you immediately push her away and try not to show your displeasure.
  
  "Okay, okay that's enough of that. We'll have plenty of time for that later. Right now we have to leave this area. I think we probably should head to Holgard. I know of a crypt in their graveyard we can use while we figure out our next move from there." You say.
  "Whatever you say my love, I will follow you anywhere!" Lisa beams.
  
  You just can't beat undying devotion.
  
  Your journey to Holgard takes a little longer than you would like mainly because Lisa has the attention span of a small child. It doesn't help that she was relatively sheltered from the world as a human, having never really left Dert and then later as a ghoul confined to Isabella's crypt. So this is all very interesting to her.
  
  The biggest concern is when you have to dig a hole in the ground to sleep during the day. You try to pick some place relatively secluded and really stress how much you want Lisa to stay in the vicinity. She of course is full of promises, but you just assume you're rolling the dice.
  
  When you wake up, you are happy to find that Lisa has indeed obeyed your command. You see the remains of a couple small woodland animals, so you guess she might have wandered, but probably not too far. Maybe she's starting to learn.
  
  As you approach Holgard, you have to once again stress to her NOT to just go attacking the first living being she sees. She's heard about Holgard many times, so again this is a very big event for her. You know the only thing she likes more than eating flesh is drinking your blood, so you use that as a reward encouragement. Hopefully it will be enough.
  
  Entering and exiting Holgard is a big hassle nowadays mainly due to the religious strife going on between the various churches. It's going on year two at this point and has just gotten worse. Not to the extent the Varsakken family civil war did, but it could start going that way.
  
  Still, some intimidating looks and minor mental suggestion on the weak-minded human guards causes them to let you pass without question.
  
  Lisa of course asks why you didn't just kill them to which you explain that now that you're going to be living in a city, you both need to practice the art of subtlety a lot more often. Lisa seems confused by this, but hopefully she'll understand it soon, otherwise you you won't be sticking around Holgard for too long.
  
  You both head to the graveyard and find yourself an older one that doesn't look like it gets too much visitation and after a few adjustments, you make a space for yourself and Lisa. And as promised, you give Lisa some of your blood, which she happily accepts.
  
  While Lisa sucks on you, you ponder what exactly you're going to do next now that you're here. You think if it wasn't for Lisa, you'd probably have an urge to just move on and go somewhere far away. Not that you've ever been a wanderer by nature, but Holgard just doesn't hold the interest it once did when you first set out to it as a young thief so many years ago. Things have changed severely and going back to your "old life" in any capacity certainly isn't much of an option anymore.
  
  There's also the fact that there is still that holy war of sorts going on in the city. You haven't really been keeping up on it mainly because you've been preoccupied with Lisa, but you've visited Holgard enough over the past year that it isn't ending anytime soon.
  
  You still wouldn't be that concerned with it, if it wasn't for the fact that the Church of Joachim has seemingly turned from it's normal peace and love teachings and turned into a more militant faction that has been going on about cleaning up this stinking city of evil influences of the earthly and supernatural kind.
  
  The supernatural part is the bit that is cause for concern.
  
  However, you need a "stable" place to stay until you can train Lisa better since just travelling here was an ordeal in keeping track of her. Until that time, you'll just have to redouble your efforts in keeping a low profile and hopefully Lisa does too.
  
  A few weeks later...
  
  After a rare night of going out by yourself and leaving Lisa alone to her own devices, you come back and find her speaking with some woman in the graveyard.
  
  At first you think it's Isabella, but if that was the case, she would have already killed her (And probably you) Besides, Holgard is far enough away from her territory. Plus this woman is dressed in a blue and purple robe. Isabella always went around naked.
  
  Your second instinct is to just attack immediately, but given that this woman is talking to Lisa so calmly and Lisa isn't trying to rip her throat out causes you to believe there are greater forces at work
  
  Sensing that this is going to be a plate full of shit you're going to have to deal with, you merely make your presence known. The woman says nothing, but just watches.
  
  "Hello. This looks...friendly." You say.
  "My love! I just stayed in the graveyard like you told me to, and this lady just showed up. I would have killed her, but for some reason...I suddenly didn't feel like it. Maybe I'm learning restraint like you're always telling me to?" Lisa answers.
  "What have you been talking about with this...lady?"
  "Nothing much. Just about how much I love you and how much you love me and how good corpses taste, but not as much as the living people! She's been very friendly for a meat sack and just asking about when you will return. Um...you're not mad at me are you? Please don't be mad!"
  "No. I'm not mad. I'm sure my teachings of restraint had something to do with you not killing this woman. I'm very proud of you. Head on inside home, I'll be in soon."
  "Okay! But not too long okay? The sun will be coming up soon and I don't want you to burn up!"
  
  Lisa heads back home, leaving you with the robed woman.
  
  "Alright, whatever little magic trick you used to subdue Lisa, isn't going to work on me, so whatever your business is make it quick because as she said, the sun is coming up soon."
  
  The woman nods.
  
  "Don't get too many vampires making their home in the city. Passing through on occasion, but never permanent residents. In fact I believe you've passed through here on several occasions haven't you?" she says.
  "Get to the point."
  "Very well. I'm obviously not here to make an enemy out of you. Your business is your own. However, I'm sure you're aware that certain other groups in this city are less accepting of your activities."
  "Yes, I'm fully aware of the Joachim fanatics and I've been staying out of their way and everyone else's that matter. INCLUDING the followers of Dorna, goddess of magic. I recognize your robes, sorceress."
  "Yes, I'm sure you have kept your head down. But your female friend seems to be less discreet. She was dancing and singing to herself while feasting on a rotten skull when I walked up. What if I had been an angry mob of Joachimites? Wouldn't have been good, that's for sure."
  "Yeah well she's still learning. I will talk to her."
  "You're not a very old vampire are you?"
  "How would you know if I was or not? We don't age."
  "True, but the fact that you speak with mild respect about your ghoul and even call her by name makes me believe that you're not old. Most older vampires are cynical and apathetic at best and outright arrogant and cruel most of the time. The way you interact with her is almost an attempt at treating her like an equal. In fact I'd venture to guess that ghoul was probably your girlfriend at one time."
  "You keep testing my patience human, you'll learn just how cruel I can be."
  "Okay, okay. I'm out of line. I shouldn't presume. Look, I'm sure you're aware of the troubles going on. I'm not exactly sure what changes are coming, but rest assured the followers of Dorna will weather this, but we aren't stupid. We know that we are very small in comparison to the other religions here. The fact that the Joachimites gathered so many in such a short period of time took everyone by surprise I think, let alone their more violent outlook. Between them and the followers of Fel, they make up most of soldiers in this war, which hasn't completely spilled into full on war yet, but it's getting there."
  "So what do you want from me?"
  "Nothing. Or rather nothing at this time. I am merely seeking potential allies. As I said, we who follow Dorna respect magic and knowledge. We also respect magical beings and would not condemn them to die due to mere ignorance and fear. I believe if we work together, we could both make ourselves a little safer from hostile forces. In fact, we could even set you and your girlfriend up in our own private mausoleum. It would be much nicer than this public graveyard where just anyone can walk into."
  
  Nice offer, but you're skeptical.
  
  "I think we'll be fine right where we are at and as for your offer of an alliance, I'm still not sure what benefit there would be for allying with you lot. As you said, you're much smaller than the rest of the factions. I mean it seems like if I was going to ally with anyone, I'd be better off allying with the followers of Fel. I mean don't they have ties to the Ebony Claw Syndicate? I've even heard rumors that Baroness Varsakken is a priestess. Seems like they're going to be on the winning team."
  "Well that IS the safe bet. And it would perhaps be wise in your case to consider it. I'm sure they would also welcome a vampire ally."
  
  Dorna pauses for a moment as if to collect her thoughts before continuing.
  
  "However, think on this as well. If all the rumors about them are true, they are indeed very powerful. In fact so powerful that why have they not just purged all the other sects yet? There are plenty of other rumors going around that the Felians might not even be completely united. Many of the true believers think that the Ebony Claw is a corrupting influence on proper worship of the shadow god. Even the Baroness is having a hard time keeping them all in line along with ruling the city. You ally with them and you could find yourself a pawn in whatever private power struggle they're engaged in and that's along with the external troubles coming as well."
  "Maybe I'll just stick by myself, seems to be working just fine so far."
  "Again, perfectly valid. You have no reason to trust any of us. I am merely extending my hand. It's up to you if you want to take it. I will leave you to your rest. If you change your mind, I'm sure you're familiar with where our temple is, and you're invited to enter."
  
  The sorceress (priestess?) takes her leave and you head inside your home before the sun comes up.
  
  Lisa of course is waiting patiently by your resting area. You open up your wrist and allow her to suck on you while you ponder your options.
  
  You suppose that some sort of agreement with the Dornans could be beneficial assuming they're serious about providing a better place where you wouldn't be as accessible.
  
  Of course you've dealt with one wizard type before and well...you know how that turned out.
  
  > Ally with the Dornans
  You suppose it doesn't hurt to hear more. It is true that they need all the help they can get and it wouldn't be so terrible to have a group of wizards watching your back. You decide that you'll visit their temple tomorrow night.
  
  The next night before you leave for the Dornan Temple, you command that Lisa is to be more careful if she ventures out of the crypt and not to call attention to herself by singing or dancing or indulging in whatever other little quirks she has. You also tell her you may even be moving to a better place soon anyway. Lisa doesn't seem to care about that so much as she's just happy to be going where you go.
  
  With Lisa spoken to, you take your leave.
  
  Doesn't take long for you to get to the temple, though you don't really travel to this part of the city as much since you prefer to stay close to home due to all the trouble going on in the city with this religious faction war. The blue and purple temple isn't excessively large but it's ornate enough looking that it stands out.
  
  There are no obvious guards standing outside the temple, but you suspect that even with the factions at each other's throats like they are, nobody is foolish enough to assault the temple directly or even enter it.
  
  You've been invited though so you stroll in, if a bit cautiously since you still aren't sure if they have magic traps set up or something.
  
  When you enter it resembles more of a library than a place of worship, but then Dorna isn't just a goddess of magic, but of knowledge. A few priests notice you come in, but only one approaches you.
  
  "You're the vampire, correct? Heather said a vampire might be coming by and you look like one." a young man says.
  "Really? Most of the people I come across can't tell."
  "Most people are idiots that don't have the blessed knowledge that only Dorna can provide. But we're not here to dwell on the struggles of the ignorant masses, come with me, Elder Flynn will want to speak with you."
  
  The acolyte motions you to follow him which you do so to what seems to be a meditation room where you see several other priests sitting in a circle with their heads bowed down and their eyes closed. An older one stands in the middle of them all and turns his attention towards you and the acolyte.
  
  "Elder Flynn, the vampire is here." The acolyte remarks.
  "Thank you. You may take your leave now." Elder Flynn remarks at which point the acolyte bows his head and does as he's commanded.
  
  Elder Flynn motions you to come closer, but you're still a little suspicious about this so you remain put.
  
  "I'm good right here." You say.
  "Very well, I just didn't feel like shouting half way across the room." Elder Flynn remarks.
  "So what is it that you wanted to speak to me about?"
  "Well you came to us, I figured you had something that you wanted to say."
  "You were the one who told one of your minions to seek me out, I'm just here because she said that you wanted allies."
  "If she worded it that way, then she misspoke, I told her that we wanted help not allies per say."
  "Whatever, so do you want my help or not?"
  "Oh yes. Your help would be most welcome. Vampires have a lot of magical energy within them by their nature. Or unnature so to speak. Even lowly ones like you have much to offer."
  "Great idea to insult me on our first meeting. So far you haven't impressed, and I've had enough of arrogant wizard shitheads to last me a lifetime."
  "Good, because yours is about to end."
  
  And with that threat, the door behind you slams shut and Elder Flynn begins chanting something and the rest of the priests are following suit. You have no idea what he's doing, but it can't be anything good.
  
  > try to escape
  You suspect that Flynn most have some sort of magical protection around him, not to mention that even if you did manage to kill him, you're still severely outnumbered. Your best bet is to break down that door. It's solid metal and probably magically locked, but you have to try.
  
  You begin kicking near where the hinges would be, ignoring the fact that Elder Flynn and his lot are still chanting whatever it is that they're trying to do. You eventually make progress and the door begins to give way, though whatever magic is locking it is still holding it in place. You aren't going to be able to destroy the door quick enough at this rate.
  
  You back up from the door and even now you can hear the chanting getting louder, like they're starting to reach the end of it. You run as fast as you can and using all of your body weight and strength you ram into the door, hoping to break it.
  
  You hit the door, which at last gives completely away just as they complete their spell. The room you just escaped from is suddenly bathed in a bright light. Bright as the sun and it has the exact same effect it would have on a vampire such as you.
  
  You feel the burn on your backside and scramble up off the destroyed door and run for cover or more specifically the exit of the temple.
  
  "Get that fucking leech!" one of the acolytes shouts and as you're on your way to escape the priests not involved in the ritual start casting their own spells on you. You manage to slash the throat of one who is standing directly in front of the exit and get the hell out of there though you're still partially on fire and all feeling sluggish from the effects of a slow spell that was cast on you.
  
  Still, you're out of the temple now and from there you easily manage to lose any pursuing priests by ducking into a sewer entrance. After making sure you're not being chased any longer, you take a breather and then promptly swear up a storm at your situation.
  
  "Fuck! I'm a fucking vampire and I'm still putting up with shit and now I'm fucking literally hiding in it! Why the fuck does this keep happening to me?! I would have been better off just letting the mob back home stringing me up for killing Klint. At my misery would have been quick. Shit. (Sigh) Gotta think..."
  
  You can't go back home to your crypt, the Dornans are probably already heading there. Even if they aren't you don't want to risk it. Not that you don't have desire for revenge, but right now, you're hardly in any condition and you'd be fighting an entire temple of those magic fanatics.
  
  You briefly wonder if you shouldn't try to reach out towards the Felians, but then trying to get allies is what got you in here in the first place. Right now, the only person you can trust is yourself. Well there's Lisa, but you think you're going to have to leave her behind, assuming that the Dornans haven't already stormed the crypt and killed her already. You tried, but you can't be bothered to train her any longer.
  
  The situation has changed and you just need to get the hell out of this city. You don't know where, but it isn't safe for you to live comfortably here any longer. This city is probably going to suffer yet another civil war of sorts anyway, it probably would be best to leave. You don't know where you're going to go, but you need to just start over elsewhere. Hopefully away from anymore fucking wizards.
  
  You follow the sewers until you get close to the docks area of the city. Holgard always has trade ships leaving its harbor going to various locations. You exit the sewers and sneak aboard one of them. You think this one is going to the Delantium Kingdom, but it might be going to some place you've never heard of, you don't really care as long as you're away from this area.
  
  Never been aboard a ship before, so this will be a new experience. Hopefully, an uneventful one. You imagine you'll get hungry on the journey, but as far as you know there's enough crew on the ship that you'll be able to get by. Just have to be stealthy about it which even in your current condition you'll be able to do.
  
  You still don't know exactly what you're going to do with the rest of your undead life, but your days as a common rogue are over.