A medieval vampire wants to get into a castle. He has manipulated the guards and they allow him entrance...

A medieval vampire wants to get into a castle. He has manipulated the guards and they allow him entrance. He has been invited inside.

Unknown to the vampire, there is a moat with running water just under the drawbridge. He is unaware of it.

Is he able to enter the castle?

how is he unaware of a fucking moat

fpbp

Can a blind vampire be affected by a cross?

Could this methood be used to scour for underground rivers?

This.

Depends on the setting:
If running water prevents him from entering because magic, then his awareness doesn't matter.
If it superstition, then he can enter.
If it is the Lost Boys, you and your river have no power over him any more.

Shrubbery. He is hard of hearing and cannot hear the running water either. It is a small moat.

No. He would have to ride a coffin across.

No

How is a vampire unaware of running water near his target? How did he bribe guards without finding this out?

Yes. A vampire functions as a dowsing rod, thus fulfilling an important role in society.

The problem is not as binary as that. A setting might magically stop him based on his awareness and / or intent.

Yes but he will be stripped of his powers until he returns to the original side of the running water.

>desert communities where vampires are valued members of society and people will happily donate some blood so they can always find water sources below the dunes

>based on his awareness and / or intent
He still can't get in, then.

...that should be 'he can still get in', obviously.

Fund it

>vampire lives in the fucking desert, is completely dependent on the tribe during the day because whereas a non-desert vampire can survive daylight by running from tree to tree, house to house, a vampire in the desert has nothing to save him or herself from the sun
>special caskets with peeping holes, so the vampire can see outside and communicate
>the age and supernatural memory of a vampire acts as both an oral library as an education system
>vampire is a tribal role, like chieftain and shaman. the tribe vampire educates a youngling with the right qualities into being a vampire when the vampire grows weary of life and one night leaves his or her coffin to walk until sunrise
>ashes of a vampire are taboo. they cannot be collected and must be left to rest until the wind blows them away. accusations of people collecting ashes from vampires are taken very seriously.
>tribes and desert vampires are horrified to hear about non-desert vampires and their predatorial behavior, as well as the murderous tendencies of non-desert people towards vampires. this makes the desert tribes very insular, they don't like having outsiders in their camps and caravans.

Vampires are stopped by running water, not just any water. Moat water is still, not running.

What if you sunk a refrigerator in it?

What if the castle stands on the bank of a river and the moat was made by digging a canal around the castle that connects to the river at each end, thus making the moat water run?

Depends.

The original legend is that natural flowing water cannot be crossed. But that would mean aqueducts, any kind of moat - even one with running water - and water running down the gutters is not a defense. The smallest of streams and the most sluggish of riers are a true barrier still, as is the ocean.

However, the other part of the legend is "without assistance". Meaning a vampire can be carried over the ocean in his coffin, or can be helped over a bridge by someone.

Stealing this for my game

For starts OP, it depends on his age, whether he could swim in life or had a swim speed, and whether he's a 10th level lifedrinker, and what type of vampire he is, because trust me, THERE ARE A LOT.

Presumably yes

Do the guards really have the authority to invite someone into a place they don't own and merely work at?

>mfw peninsular arab
>mfw this actually kinda fits

Dude, the night is actually the good time in old arab culture anyway.

Daytime is considered sinister, when evil things lurk the scorching desert.

>Thicc MILF Arab Niquab Vampire lady sensei
Oh sweet fuck.

You'd have to go and catch it.

>Vampires are so pure they can't stand the touch of the sun.

Why'd you have to make it weird? It didn't need to be weird.

...

And in a modern setting, oil, and suddenly it makes sense of the whole mess.

This is great, what other monsters could find their place in society?

...

Depends, does he have muddy shoes?

what happens if you flush a toilet a vampire is sitting on?

Force Blender.

Better question, how does a moat of running water surround a castle?

I can see a drawbridge over a river, but that river couldn't surround the castle.

They were usually artificial and or connected to a river.

He always carries a fisful of dirt from his homeland in his pocket. He's fine.

Large island, with a small river on both sides.

Built on a confluence?

Island
The river runs around an island

The Castle is built on the island

One corner of the moat rests higher than it's opposing corner, and the river flows around the island castle.

This isn't even something new, you ignorant piker.

An island in the middle of a river would be great for defence, but geography isn't always that obliging. More commonly, you'd want to build your fortification of choice alongside a river (for reliable access to fresh water), and then dig a channel for extra protection on the sides that need it.

These makes me wonder about the efficacy of moats in general

Sigh

Time for a wiki rabbit hole

He knows there's water, he doesn't know it's running.

Succubi can find and execute sex offenders?

and they could wear sandnigger robes to protect themselves from the sun

Women in burkhas are actually vampire tribespeople?

Ah the Vice Squad

Centaurs can get rid of feminazis

Ghouls are must-have in any city experiencing a plague. Just give them your dangerous dead bodies, and they spirit them away to their underground city with thanks and a smile.

Go fucking kill youself

??

Yes, if you abruptly introduce it to the gray matter of his brain.

Ushering in visitors is probably a regular part of their job, the vampire just has to hypnotise them into thinking he's expected.

Stealing that.

Depends; do bridges and boats nullify the danger of the mystical, purifying powers of running water in your setting? There are examples in mythology and popular literature of evil spirits exploiting this loophole (e.g. Stoker's Dracula famously got shipped over to Devon), and that's not even counting malevolent water spirits...

Regardless, I find it fascinating that most genuine vampire legends originate in the region between the Danube and Dnieper rivers, decreasing in number/variety the farther one gets from the former and being almost completely nonexistent in the British Isles, separated from the mainland via the English Channel. Perhaps there may be a grain of truth in the old stories after all...

You've piqued my curiosity. Do you have any examples of evil spirits/ djinn/ monsters coming out during daylight hours?

If I conjure a water elemental with legs, and make it run at a vampire, what happens?

My folklore professor mentioned this

Spooky...

They pretty much all do, but ghouls are the usual suspects. Succubi are night demons but we seem to share those with all the other Semites. Daytime is deadly out in the desert, especially high noon. Evil spirits will try to lure you out from the safety of the camp into the deep desert.

>I find it fascinating that most genuine vampire legends originate in the region between the Danube and Dnieper rivers, decreasing in number/variety the farther one gets from the former and being almost completely nonexistent in the British Isles, separated from the mainland via the English Channel

Not actually true. Vampire legends existed, but died out much earlier in England and the rest of Europe, whereas they lingered on for centuries more in eastern Europe. This gives the false impression of being local to that region, but if you go back far enough, they're found all over Europe. (And other places as well, though they take different shapes outside the Christian world)

>Evil spirits will try to lure you out from the safety of the camp into the deep desert.
So basically desert equivalents of "come follow this innocent light, you totally won't get lost in a swamp and drown"?

>My folklore professor

I'm guessing he means like...you know...college?

>However, the other part of the legend is "without assistance".
So, on the original question, does that mean that the vampire could fake a cramp, and just have the guard to help him across the bridge?

No, because he is still actively hobbling,

If he could get the guard to give him a piggy back ride it should work. Though now that I have typed this it would probably be a bad call because his face would be very close to a neck.

The guard would need to princess carry him.

so wait, i thought the legend was a vampire can't ENTER running water. you're saying they can't even be over it?

My guess would be an anthropology professor teaching some elective course.

"Cannot cross running water" is the common phrase.

How is the moat water running?

Yeah. It's why Dracula is coffin bound the entire trip over the ocean.

If a vampire can only enter a building once invited, does it have to be by the legal owner of the residence? What if you're renting or squatting there? Does the vampire need to see a deed of property issued by the local authorities? How do they handle different legal systems in a culturally diverse fantasy world?

He has to be invited, so presumably the person has to have some authority.
You couldn't say "Yeah sure go into that random house it's cool", but if you were hanging out at your friend's house I think you could say "Welcome come on in" and it would work.

Maybe it depends on the vampire.

If he thinks of that as your home then as far as the rules apply to him it is your home.

>Daytime is deadly out in the desert, especially high noon.
>especially high noon

>Both the Greeks and the Chinese state in their myths that vampires can not cross running water such as a stream or salt water such as an ocean. The vampires could be carried across in a boat or over a bridge and could also cross it at high or low tide.
> over a bridge
That solves your problem user

Doesn't he progressively kill the sailors on the ship?

nah, it's pretty conservative

Clever girl.

Yea could had sworn that when i read it that he kills the sailors on-board; could be wrong though been forever since i read it and it was a very dull book.

I think that was the case with the movie Bram Stoker's Dracula.

and course don't forget the value of a trade city next to an important river, which would need protection

...

Pretty certain the ship beaches as a shipwreck with only the captain on it, lashed to the helm and dead

Like it has been a long time since I read it, but I did not find it dull

I don't know; maybe it was because the two characters i found the most interesting, Dracula and Helsing, kept doing stupid things and whenever something exciting was going to happen to someone it jumped perspective to someone else who ended up doing nothing for the plot for what felt like entire chapters.

That's a fair enough criticism. To be honest I can't remember the details well enough to say now - I only remember enjoying it at the time

Then an easy way to filter out vampire would be to say "Well, this isn't my home, but come on in"?

The vampire can't betray it

I get it.

>>He has been invited inside.
Yeah, but someone who doesn't have the authority to allow guests, especially if they've been 'manipulated'.