Task: Vampire Investigation

Requester: Roland, a Historian

Quest Rank: E-rank

Rewards: 12 Large Copper Coins

Description: I got reports of not one, but 2 different vampires appearing out there in Ternus... This makes no sense! Vampires are supposed to be extinct!

... Well, recent research discovered they were only sealed actually... Still, this makes absolutely no sense! There should be no way they're escaping the seal.

Were there some vampires that escaped the sealing endeavor in the old times? Or was the seal broken and they started coming out?

Please investigate the matter, I need to know more about this!

After reading the reports made by adventurers who took on past quests, the guild concluded that the return of the vampires was a possibility. In turn, they issued a quest for an adventurer or two to investigate the matter of how the supposedly “sealed” vampires escaped from their demise. Zinc was always interested in the supernatural especially since he had the opportunity to read about a medical book in potential treatments of lycanthropy. Upon hearing about vampires, the doctor was the first to sign up for the quest.

On this trip, he decided to bring some backup in the forms of Arsenic and Silver. According to the legends told by the drunken veterans dawdling about at the tavern, vampires and werewolves have an innate aversion towards each other. Naturally, that’s the same with wolves. By bringing Silver along, Zinc had hoped that the wolf could track down the vampires as well as have some way of deterring their kind.

Now, according to the previous reports, the only location mentioned was Hero’s Port where a vampire was sighted nearby. So, Zinc decided to head over to the area to try his luck. There was quite a distance to Hero’s Port. Traveling by horse, the dwelf estimated that he would reach there in about a week or so. To prepare for the long trip, Zinc went to the local inn to grab some rations as well as some raw garlic before heading out on the horse he had rented. Throughout the trip to Hero’s Port, the journey was uneventful. That was until he made a quick stop at a local town a few kilometers outside of the port to restock on water.

Zinc walked into the Rusty Buckets while Silver stayed by the horse. The tavern was rather desolate as the doctor could only see one drunken customer lying sprawled on top of the table in the distant corner and two men eating some drumsticks by the counter. The bartender sat by the counter while lazily fanning himself. Upon hearing Zinc approach, the bartender quickly stood up and flashed a professional smile.

“What can I do for you? Food or a place to rest?”

“Both. How much?” Zinc gave a quick reply as he looked around.

“That’ll be 10 small copper a night. Food comes with room.”

“Here.” Zinc reached into his pockets and dug out 10 small copper coins. “Them chicken drumsticks look good. I’ll have some of that.”

“Alright, coming right up. Anything to drink?”

“Ale.”

“Alright!”

While Zinc waited for his food, he couldn’t help but overhear the conversation occurring between the two men sitting to his left.

“Did you hear? Old Larkson’s dog died.” One of the men, a burly-looking lumberjack, gossiped to his companion – a middle-aged man with spectacles.

“So? About time Old Larkson put that rabid dog down.”

“No, you don’t understand. The dog was found dead, its throat torn.”

“What? Is there a wild animal around here?”

“I’m not sure. But according to the village chief, the dog was drained of its blood.”

“How’s that possible? Don’t tell me…vampire?”

“That’s what I thought too!”

Zinc, upon hearing vampire, couldn’t help but walk up to them. “Excuse me, I couldn’t help but overhear you saying something about vampires?”

“Who are you?” The lumberjack asked as he looked Zinc up and down.

“My name is Zinc, I’m an adventurer from Nagrand.”

“Nagrand? Where’s that?”

“Um, I’m from up north past the mountains.”

“What are you doing all the way down here?”

“I was tasked with investigating about the appearances of vampires…you said something about vampires, can you elaborate on that?”

The lumberjack looked at the bespectacled man as if to discuss something, but seeing the glasses-wearing man nod, the lumberjack continued. “Old Larkson’s dog died last night. Its throat was torn open and its blood was drained. If this wasn’t a vampire’s doing, then what is?”

“Don’t vampires drink human blood?” Zinc questioned.

“I don’t know. Maybe the vampire was trying to suppress that urge in order to not cause a commotion.”

“And draining a dog doesn’t cause a commotion?”

“Like I said, I don’t know. If you want to know more, go look for Old Larkson.”

“Alright, thanks for the info. Next round’s drinks are on me.”

“Now that’s more like it! Thanks!” The lumberjack laughed heartily as he ordered another mug of ale.

After the bartender arrived with Zinc’s food, the doctor continued to chat with the two men. Soon, the food was finished. Zinc decided to check out Old Larkson’s house. As he made his way towards the house as directed by the bespectacled man, he heard a loud crash coming from inside the house. Zinc rushed towards the house and barreled in through the door. When the doctor stood up, he saw a messy-looking man trying to bite the old man under him. Vampire!

Zinc sprung into action and knocked the man back. He flung the window curtains wide open to let the noon sun in. The sunlight landed on the man’s skin, causing the man scream in pain as his skin began to blister. The man stumbled back and tried to attack Zinc at a different angle. The doctor reached into his pockets and threw out some cloves of garlic. Seeing the garlic, the man hissed before fleeing in clear panic. Zinc charged towards the man and pulled out a mirror. The man screamed in terror and turned sharply, crashing into a wall. Just as Zinc was about to draw out his Amputation Knife to behead the unconscious man, the old man pulled him back.

Zinc looked at the old man and checked his body for wounds. “Are you okay? I’m a doctor.”

The old man got to his knees and begged. “Don’t kill my son. It’s not his fault!”

“Your son?” Zinc gaped at the old man in surprise. “Your son’s a vampire?”

“He thinks he is but he’s not. He’s just really sick.”

“That’s what they all say.”

“No! He wasn’t like this before. He really is sick. You said you are a doctor? Please help him.”

“Is he really sick?” Zinc mused over this new development.

Before he could ask any more questions, the messy-looking man charged towards him. Zinc swung a fist and knocked the man back. Before the man could get up, Zinc approached him and punched out once more. This time, the dwelf knocked the man out cold. Zinc bent down and checked the unconscious man’s pulse. Erratic…but unlike real vampires…there’s a pulse. But then, what about those vampire-like tendencies? Could it be? If he was to look at this man from a doctor’s point of view…then it made sense.

To confirm his suspicions, the doctor questioned the old man who turned out to be Old Larkson. “Old Larkson, is that really your son?”

“Yes. My adopted son to be exact. I found him rummaging through my garbage a decade ago. He was a pitiful child.” The old man replied.

“Is your son a vampire?”

“No! He can eat regular food. He’s just sick. You gotta believe me!”

“Fine, I’ll believe you. Tell me…why was he scared of the cloves of garlic I threw at him?”

“He’s allergic to garlic. Even the slightest touch could cause his skin to irritate.”

“I see…that can explain it. What about the mirror? Why did it terrify him so much?”

“He’s been like that since he was a young child. I don’t know why…but I think it had to do with the time before I found him.”

“Like some sort of trauma?”

“Yeah…yeah! Just like some sort of trauma. That can happen right?”

“Yeah, it can. Then, what about the sunlight? How did it cause blisters on your son’s skin?”

“It’s because he’s sick.”

“How can you say that? Not every abnormality is related to an illness…wait.” Zinc paused as he rubbed his brow. “Nevermind…I think there was a book referring to a similar case. What was the illness called? P-Por…Porphyria! That’s right. It matches if you think about it.”

“What is?” The old man asked.

“Your son must have suffered from porphyria. Tell me, on the week before this all happened, what did he do. Did he consume anything? Was he feeling different that week?”

“The week before he became like this…ah, I remember! He came home that day in a coma. A few of the neighbors found him foaming outside the town gates. There were blood and bruises on his body. The village doctor said he was overdosed with opiates. It took me nearly a month to nurse him back to health. He wasn’t the same ever since.”

“Overdose on drugs can cause porphyria. That might be it. Was he all bitey as well?”

“No, that happened only this morning.”

“Hmm…so something else. Alright, I’ve a clear picture on what to do. Give us a minute.” Zinc replied as he tied the messy-looking man to a wooden post.

“B-But….”

“If I need you, I’ll let you know. Trust me. I’m a doctor.”

“O-Okay.”

Zinc tied up the man and conducted a more thorough examination. The man’s canines were larger than normal…possibly an abnormal tooth growth from when he was a child. The drugs the man took a few months ago was still in the man’s system. Either he took a lot or the drugs were extremely potent. It will take quite some time to get rid of the toxins within the man’s body. As the toxins persist in the man’s blood, which results in the man wanting to drink untainted blood to sustain himself, the only way to solve this issue was through bleeding.

Zinc told the old man of his solution and though Old Larkson disagreed at first, he finally agreed after the dwelf discussed the pros and cons of not following with the treatment. Next, Zinc waited for the young man to wake up in order to tell him of the treatment options. Like Old Larkson, the man disagreed at first, but he gradually understood his situation well enough to agree in the end. With both parties agreeing to the treatment, Zinc got to work. Spending about a week or so, he started bleeding the man bit by bit to let out the tainted blood. Then, he fed the patient with blood enriching foods and herbal tonics in order for the patient to regain lost blood. During the week, Zinc also gave the man some medicine to treat his mild case of rabies. And after the week’s end, the young man was cured of his diseases.

Now that the young man was clearheaded, Zinc asked him about his life’s story. The young man told the doctor of his childhood. He grew up in an orphanage. His parents had dumped him for having abnormally large canines. Because of his teeth, he was made fun of every day. The nuns at the orphanage he lived in always punished him for his “sins”. They mocked him saying how hideous he looked, causing him to hate mirrors and even fear them. As he grew older, he ran away from the orphanage and was adopted by Old Larkson. He tried to fit in, but the neighborhood kids teased him for his allergies towards garlic and for his fear of mirrors, calling him a vampire. It got to the point where he even half-believed that he was a vampire. And after the incident with the drugs, he thought he had actually turned into a vampire.

Curious of this turning point in the story, Zinc asked the man what he did during that. The man continued by stating how he developed cravings for blood and that he would go out and drink the blood from his family’s cattle. He didn’t want to kill the cows, so he only took a bit of blood each time. But as time goes by, his cravings for blood increased. He didn’t want to drink human blood, so he researched about vampires in hopes of finding a cure or at least a preventive treatment for his tendencies. That’s when he found out about the seal. One of the many books he read described of a seal that could unlock the secrets and knowledge of vampires. He drew a magic circle…he conducted a blood sacrifice…but nothing happened. He did not feel better.

Zinc asked him for the book and the young man happily presented them to him. The title was a bit obscured but he could make out “Unsealing the Secrets of Blood”. Maybe the young man's search for a cure had unwittingly caused him to break the seal that exiled the vampires of old. Zinc thanked the young man and told him to stay healthy before he prepared to set off. Once he made his way back to the guild, he submitted his report as well as presented the guild with the book. Maybe the book would provide some help with what was going on with the vampire sightings.