Elder God:
You are weak - you must feed.
Raziel:
The old hunger has left me; I have no desire for blood.
Elder God:
You are changed. Your blood-thirst is replaced by a deeper need - you have become a devourer of souls.
To sustain your strength, you must hunt the lost spirits of the Underworld, and consume the souls of your enemies.
Raziel encounters a material-plane portal for the first time.
Elder God:
These portals are your conduit between the spectral and material realms. With their aid, you may gather matter and will yourself to become manifest in the physical world.
This is taxing, however - your strength must first be fully restored.
You require no conduit to return to this plane - you may abandon your physical body at any time.
Sustain your strength to prolong your manifestation in the physical world. If you fail to feed, or absorb too many wounds, this fragile matter will dissolve.
As my agent, you are beyond death, Raziel. Your enemies cannot destroy you.
If you grow too weak, however, you will always be drawn here, to recover.
As soon as Raziel steps into the next hallway, he stops abruptly as he realizes there is water below him. He stands at the edge and looks down, as the Elder God instructs him:
Elder God:
You are young yet, Raziel - you still retain many of your vampiric weaknesses. Immersion in water, while not fatal, will dissolve your physical body, forcing your return to the spirit world.
Be aware that in the spectral realm, water has neither heft nor lift. It stands as thin as air.
At the other end of the hall Raziel comes upon a door.
Elder God:
Your efforts are futile, Raziel - such objects are but shadows in the spirit world.
Raziel first sees the devolved vampires of this new Nosgoth.
Raziel:
What are these creatures?
Elder God:
Do you not recognize them? They are the children of your brother, Dumah.
Raziel:
Thats impossible - these foul, scuttling beasts could not be kin of our high blood.
Elder God:
Do you suppose that time stood still for you, Raziel? Much has changed since you passed from the world of men.
Raziel:
I knew my opponents? weaknesses, having suffered them myself. Physical wounds are fleeting - a vampire's immortal flesh begins to close as soon as it is cleaved.
Vampires need only fear those wounds that impale, or inflame. Water scorches like acid, and fledglings are devastated by sunlight?s touch.
I would have to modify my tactics to suit my foes.
When Raziel has dispatched his first vampire soul:
Elder God:
Unfettered from the flesh, a creature's soul fades swiftly into the spectral realm. Draw it in quickly, Raziel, or you will be compelled to follow.
After Raziel has destroyed the two vampires, he approaches a large stone block which, by its size, appears immovable.
Elder God:
Your physical prowess surpasses what you knew in life. Even massive obstacles can be moved effortlessly.
As Raziel enters the coutryard from the tunnel he stops, dumbstruck:
Raziel:
My God...
The Sanctuary of the Clans, reduced to ruin...
Beyond these walls lay the Pillars of Nosgoth, the seat of Kain?s empire. How humble it now appeared, collapsing into the dust of its former magnificence. And yet I had only just emerged... In the instant between my execution and resurrection, centuries had apparently passed...
The ground shakes violently; Raziel is nearly knocked off his feet.
Elder God:
This world is wracked with cataclysms - the earth strains to shrug off the pestilence of Kain's parasitic empire.
The fate of this world was preordained in an instant, by a solitary man. Unwilling to martyr himself to restore Nosgoth's balance, Kain condemned the world to the decay you see. In that moment, the unraveling began... now it is nearly played out. Nosgoth teeters on the brink of collapse - its fragile balance cannot hold.
Raziel pulls uselessly at the large metals doors of the Sanctuary, which are impassably sealed. He stops and scans the building's facade for a possible breach.
Raziel:
The doors of the Sanctuary were immovable, either barred from the inside or rusted shut. I would need to find another means of entry.
Raziel continues to the Lake of the Dead.
Raziel walks onto the main platform and to the edge, then peers down into the Vortex below.
Raziel:
This, at least, had remained constant. The endlessly swirling vortex of the abyss. My tomb, and the womb of my rebirth.
He rises, surveying his surroundings.
Raziel:
Though much of Nosgoth's landscape had changed, these cliffs gave me my bearings. My clan territory was to the west - I was anxious to see how my descendants had fared during the centuries of my absence.
