Part 8: Northern Quarter

We last left off on a dialogue choice.



Majority vote says...




Fitting that his name is Mercurio.

Boss fight!



Mercurio is one of the hardest boss fights in the game. He has this DoT spell called Plague Wind, which will probably damage both Wilhem and Christof both unless they're on opposite sides of Mercurio. Even then, it can still damage both. It also raises frenzy over time, and combined with the fact that one hit from Mercurio's staff will raise your frenzy level up by a quarter, it's almost impossible that you'll get through the fight without frenzying. Another annoying thing is that if Mercurio hits you with his staff and your back is turned -- most likely trying to get away from Plague Wind -- it's a one-hit-kill. The first time I played the game, it took like 30 tries before I beat him, because a lot of it has to do with the fact that your dexterity is so low that you'll miss most of the time when you attack. I don't know what they were thinking, having a boss be this hard this early in the game.



Mercurio drops this when he's killed.

Watch





I suppose it's fitting that Christof unquestioningly believes what he reads in dogmatic books.



But I didn't expect it from Wilhem.



Watch



Let's check out what's in that chest in the room.



Wilhem will equip it, and we'll exit the monastery.

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We'll go into that in more depth later.




Cheer up, champ! Wilhem is totally Christof's vampiric dad.




If you want to become an alcoholic, that's ok too.




Uh...



I suppose this could be classified under the Anger stage in DABDA.



Is that seriously the best thing you could come up with?




Watch




Accursed like me. Man, that so deep.



He didn't even move!




And those fangs!





What?













This would mean so much more if Christof didn't arbitrarily find it on the ground.







She's still holding the amulet!



Whatever. We need to go back to Ecaterina, but we've accumulated a lot of loot from the last dunegon. Let's go to the blacksmith to sell some of it.




Now we go back to the university.



Watch








That's what he said.




The Ventrue prince?



Oh yeah, I somehow know about this, now.







I don't need to elaborate on that at all.




Why not go tonight? I suppose it could be close to dawn, but we'll risk it.





Then we get to level up. Note that our humanity hasn't changed. What's the Protean dicipline?



Eyes of the beast. I've never found a reason to use this power, and I only invest in it to get other powers under Protean.



5 in strength, dexterity, and stamina. 8 in manipulation, for lower prices as stores. Also a dot in Blood Dexterity, Blood Stamina, and Awaken.



I didn't mention this before, but Wilhem also has Protean. He's got Feral Claws, which is one of my favorite powers in the game, and access to Earth Meld.



Other than that, he's got all the other powers that we have. A dot in both Celerity and Awe, and two dots in Potence, Feed, and Blood Healing.



So we'll put a dot in Blood Strength, Blood Dexterity, and Blood Stamina, as well as add 5 to strength and 3 to stamina. His humanity is 70, for some reason.

Our quest log is updated, but it actually spoils the next plot point, so I'm not going to show what it says. Regardless, we still need to go to the Northern Quarter.



But let's first buy some new gear. Studded Leather Armor for both Christof and Wilhem, and Christof is now an exquisite bastard. _{I Carlos Mencia'd inflatablefish.}



We haven't looked at the map in a while, and that's because the past two dungeons don't have their own maps. None of the dungeons do, which can be pretty confusing.



While we're out, let's stop at the gypsy's store.

Watch




"I live for thine redemption." That certainly won't come up again.



We'll replenish our blood supply and move on to the Northern Quarter.




Uh-oh. Looks like the Tzimitze already got here...




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He seems so nonchalant about it.



That wasn't even a question!





What?



Oh well. Note that the path to the left is a dead end, so we have to go forward.





Maqqabah translates to Hammer.

Another boss fight!



The golem smashing that pillar was completely silent.




The golem's standard attacks are manageable...



...but it has this uppercut which knocks out half your health and increases your frenzy by half.




So remember that whole scroll thing? That doesn't come into play at all.



The pillar didn't make any noise, but the golem exploding is really fucking loud.



Watch


I still don't understand how this works.



So let's do that.

Watch


What? Demon?




Oh my god...




Christof, you're a vampire! Settle the fuck down!





Someone who knows more about Judaism could tell you if that's what Kabbalists actually say.




Clearly it has.



But a minute ago you called Mendel a "Blaspheming Sorcerer".




Too bad this never comes up again. I guess the writers didn't want to give Christof's character any depth.



What? That doesn't follow what was just said!





Now we get to increase our stats, again. I don't know why - we haven't much more experience from our fight with the golem.



6 more in manipulation for Christof.



2 in stamina and 3 in dexterity for Wilhem. Note the updated resistances for each character.



Garinol was trying to study the golem for protection for his haven -- also why Mercurio sabotaged the Golem -- so we'll bring it to him instead of Ecaterina or someone else. No, we don't get a choice.





Oh, hey Christof! We just happen to be waiting outside for you.

Watch






Note that Ecaterina said absolutely nothing about this. She was talking about the Jews owing the Brujah a boon, not Garinol. For all we know, she would have wanted to keep the scroll for herself.



Word certainly travels fast.





I guess it worked out for us, anyway. Serena is now a party member.



But she doesn't have any equipment.



And her stats suck. It wouldn't be so bad if she had a consistent supply of blood, and the game had some sort of 'spellcaster' ai for party members, but as it stands she'll just have to be a shitty melee fighter.



She has 2 dots in Blood Healing, Feed, Fortitude, and she's got access to the Auspex discipline, Heightened Senses, and Aura Perception.



Mortis, Shambling Hordes, Vigour Mortis...

Because she doesn't have any armor, we'll go to the blacksmith again and get some more equipment.



She's using the rapier that Christof was previously using.



Here's Wilhem's equipment. Christof now also has a helm. Now we gotta go back to the haven.



Watch


Say...





Now we rest.



Again? Fine. 1 in manipulation and 1 in stamina for Christof.



2 in dexterity for Christof.



Nothing for Serena.

Watch Christof's dream









Anezka isn't in the convent, if that wasn't clear.

Watch


But nobody said anything about Anezka. Also, why do Wilhem and Serena look like they're ready to fight Ecaterina?




I wasn't talking to you







Christof's robes lifted up a little bit after he read that.




Good advice. Too bad Christof won't take it from anybody.





She specifically said "in another time". Settle down, Christof.




Watch



Wilhem and Serena still look like they're going to attack.




There we go. Hint at it like a christmas gift.







Christof is always the lady's man.




I'll shake my fist at you!





The graveyard was on the map, previously.








There's nothing we can do out here.




Let's head to the Northern Quarter.



They cleaned up the bodies, but the blood was just too much to do in one day.




This is where we fought the golem, earlier.






Watch



Burn!





What? Why be indirect about it? Just ask if they get to the Cathedral!



I'm sure he was flexing as he said that.



This is perfect for my saturday evening plans...



Charming.




You'll find out, Christof. Get on your knees.




That should have been your first question.



Uh...



Christof didn't seem very offended by that. Let's go to the only elder we know: Ecaterina.



Watch Ecaterina pull some magician shit



What the fuck? She just happened to have a goblet full of her blood that she pulled out from behind her back like a magician or something.



That's the letter from Anezka we already read. We need to go back to the graveyard.



Watch




The next dungeon is for the next part.


Bonus!
Inflatablefish wanted me to show the other dialogue option, so here it is. I'm not going to comment much on it because it's not part of our VtMR canon.

Watch




Then we fight him anyway. Here's what the boss fight looks like using the Femur, which kills Mercurio in 2 or 3 hits.

Watch



If you notice, you can hear Christof's frenzy ended partway through the conversation.



We would have lost 10 humanity if we took that option.

Lastly, here are some failed attempts at the boss fights for this part. I thought they might be interesting to watch.