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Sarafan Stronghold

Raziel enters the Stronghold. A short way in, he is stopped by two Sarafan warriors and a sorceress.

Sorceress:
Seize him!

Dark Chronicle - Chapter Seventeen - Cornered In The Stronghold

Raziel has pursued the Sarafan to their Stronghold, resolved to avenge Janos Audron's murder, recover his heart, and reclaim the stolen Reaver.
Charging through the Stronghold's corridors, Raziel finds himself at a dead end, in an antechamber off of the cloister. The Reaver is here, laid out across a basin in the center of the room - as if propped here for Raziel to discover.
Raziel stops short - for here is the blade that stirred such unsettling premonitions when Janos presented it to him. As before, he feels no distortion in its presence, which troubles him - he is repelled and afraid, yet irresistibly drawn toward the sword.

Raziel V.O.:
Suddenly and inexplicably, I discovered the Reaver, suspiciously laid across my path.
Again, I sensed nothing of that 'temporal distortion', the peculiar sense of displacement I had felt when I encountered the Reaver in William's chapel.
Cornered here with the blade, I suffered the same nameless dread that I had experienced when Janos first presented the Reaver to me.
I felt at once repelled by the blade, and yet overwhelmingly compelled to seize it.

Suddenly, Moebius and the Sarafan Malek appear in the doorway behind Raziel, cutting off his exit. He's been ambushed.
Wheeling on them, Raziel summons the wraith-blade - but Moebius has arrived bearing his staff, and as the orb flares, the wraith-blade flickers and dies.
Moebius's demeanour has changed dramatically since their last encounter. Gone are all the signs of the snivelling, pandering magician - Moebius is cold, focused and completely in control.

Moebius:
So, Raziel - here we are, finally.
You have no choice but to confront me now - and I am not so foolish as I've let you believe.
We have business to conclude.

Raziel: (enraged)
You knew I would lead the Sarafan to Janos, you vile bastard!
You've been orchestrating my every move!

Moebius:
(Simply laughs)

Raziel:
My destiny is an amusement to you?

Moebius:
It was fun, while it lasted.

Raziel takes a threatening step forward, and Moebius motions to Malek.

Moebius:
I think not, Raziel. Malek, do not let this creature leave. He poses a danger to the Circle.

Malek steps in front of Moebius, brandishing his pike -

Moebius:
Poor, deluded Raziel... did you somehow imagine you had the guile to change history on me?
I'm the Time-Streamer - I knew your every intention before you did, you imbecile.

Suddenly, the sounds of a far off disturbance echo through the chamber. Screams, terrified cries for Malek, and the unmistakable laughter of the vampire Vorador reverberate through the stone corridors.

Vorador: (in the distance)
Call your dogs - they can feast on your corpses!

Malek turns instinctively, prepared to defend the Guardians he has sworn to protect - but Moebius calmly raises a hand to restrain him. Malek entreats him -

Malek:
Lord Moebius, there is trouble within. The Circle is under attack -

Moebius: (cold, focused)
Hold fast, Malek.
This one is the real danger to us.

Raziel backs slowly toward the basin where the Reaver is laid out.

Raziel:
What are you trying to concoct here, Moebius?

Moebius: (hatefully)
You toxic creature - did you imagine I'd simply allow you to run loose, corrupting everything you encounter?

Raziel:
I admit that I've underestimated you to this point, Moebius - but it's a mistake I won't repeat.

With his wraith-blade disabled by the influence of Moebius's staff, Raziel has no choice but to take up the Reaver. He grabs the hilt and advances on Moebius and Malek.
This is the moment Moebius was waiting for -

Moebius: (ominously)
Wrong again, Raziel.

Moebius and Malek back out of the open doorway.

Moebius:
Now Malek - bolt the door!

Raziel rushes forward, but the portcullis slams down just as he reaches the door.
Turning back toward the chamber, he contemplates the Reaver now clutched in his grasp, and realizes that he has no choice but to press forward into the cloister.

Raziel V.O.:
Using his staff to disable my wraith-blade, Moebius had effectively disarmed me, leaving me with only one choice of weapon.
And yet I confess, it was not the lack of options, but blind rage that made me take up the Reaver - in my fury, it felt as though my hand had acted of its own will.
And now that same hand clutched the hilt with unyielding strength - and I felt a constrained tingling, a remote but palpable sense of longing as the disabled wraith-blade tried vainly to embrace its physical twin.

Sarafan Stronghold (Continued)

If Raziel attempts to put down the Soul Reaver -

Raziel V.O.:
Now that I had taken it up, the Reaver and I were inescapably joined. The harder I tried to release the blade, the more tightly my hand gripped the hilt, as if possessed of its own will.

If Raziel tries to shift into the Spectral Realm (by accessing the menu) -

Raziel V.O.:
The Reaver exerted some mysterious power over me. It sustained my energy, enabling me to prolong my physical manifestation indefinitely. In fact, bonded to the blade as I was, I could no longer shift into the spirit realm at will. Nor was I able to summon the Reaver's twin, for my wraith-blade had been disabled in the confrontation with Moebius.

Dark Chronicle - Chapter Eighteen - Vengeance

As Raziel pursues the Sarafan through the Stronghold, he confronts each of his former brethren in turn, exacting revenge for Janos' murder.
After being ambushed by Moebius and Malek, Raziel proceeds cautiously into the cloister, now armed with the Reaver. Here he encounters Melchiah and Zephon, who have apparently been dispatched to confront him here.

Zephon:
Come to take your revenge, demon?

Melchiah:
Back to hell with you!

Raziel looks upon his former brethren with disgust, relishing his advantage over them.

Raziel V.O.:
I recognized these two as my former brethren... in life as Sarafan; and in unlife as Kain's vampire 'sons'.
Melchiah and Zephon, the weakest of Kain's brood... These bastards had no idea what future lay in store for them - how they would become the very thing they so despised.
The Reaver hummed with anticipation - Janos had called it a 'vampiric' blade, endowed with the power to drain its victims of their lifeblood.
I was eager to see what the Reaver would do to these two...

The battle ensues, and the two Sarafan fall easily before the power of the Reaver. With his former brothers-in-arms lying dead at his feet, Raziel revels in the intoxicating power of the Reaver.

Raziel V.O.:
As Melchiah and Zephon fell before my blade, I felt the Reaver's blood-thirst as keenly as I ever had when I was still a vampire.
I could sense the boundary between us dissolving - the Reaver was consumed with my rage, and I was intoxicated by its bloodlust.
The blade had a vitalizing effect on me - my physical energy no longer decayed over time, and the wounds inflicted by my foes healed almost instantly.
The Reaver had made me invincible.

Raziel proceeds into the Stronghold's main Sanctuary, where he discovers Rahab and Dumah waiting for him.

Dumah:
Have you come to reclaim the monster's black heart?

Rahab:
You'll have to get through us, first.

Raziel readies the Reaver eagerly, savoring his newly-discovered role in their ultimate destinies.

Raziel V.O.:
My former brethren Dumah and Rahab confronted me next - this all seemed so elegantly choreographed.
Exhilarated by the Reaver, I was drunk with revelations...
I could finally appreciate the delicious irony of Kain's blasphemous, private joke - and I revelled as I colluded with him across the centuries.
For it was I who put these bastards in their tomb, thus providing the corpses for Kain to raise as his vampire sons a millennium from now.

Upon defeating Dumah and Rahab, Raziel proceeds into the choir of the Sanctuary. Here, finally, Raziel is confronted by Turel - his former second-in-command, both as Sarafan and vampire.
Turel advances on Raziel with self-righteous contempt -

Turel:
Get back to the pit you crawled from, demon!

Raziel regards his former brother-in-arms derisively -

Raziel V.O.:
And here at last was my brother Turel, who along with Dumah would bear me into the Abyss without questioning Kain's command.
So dutiful and righteous, even as a vampire... I guess some habits die hard.
The vampire Turel had eluded my vengeance; the Sarafan Turel would not.

Dark Chronicle - Chapter Nineteen - Renunciation

Armed with the Reaver, Raziel has confronted and slain each of his former Sarafan brethren in turn. Entering the Chapter House of the Stronghold, he finally comes face to face with his former self - the Sarafan Inquisitor Raziel, who has apparently been waiting for him here.
As he crosses the threshold, the portcullis slams down behind him - this is clearly a trap, calculated to channel Raziel into combat with the most formidable of the Sarafan commanders.
The Inquisitor addresses Raziel with self-righteous disdain, blissfully ignorant of this demonic creature's true identity.

Sarafan Raziel: (hatefully)
So, vampire - here we are.
You've destroyed my brethren - and now you've come for me? You'll find I am not such easy prey.

Raziel:
I don't want to kill you, but I will if I must.
Return the heart to me, and we can end this now.

Sarafan Raziel: (mocking)
So you've come to avenge that filthy parasite, and reclaim his foul heart?
You're a righteous fiend, aren't you?

Raziel: (referring to Sarafan Raziel)
Apparently I am.

Sarafan Raziel: (icily)
No, vampire. This is where it ends, but you won't be leaving this room.
Now, let's finish this - I'll make it mercifully quick.

Raziel:
As you did for Janos.

Sarafan Raziel: (laughs coldly)
No, that beast had eluded us for far too long.
It would have been a shame to end him too quickly.

He continues, goading Raziel into battle -

Sarafan Raziel:
It's ironic, really - the 'great Janos Audron' turned out to be no challenge at all... thanks to you.
Did you hear his cowardly screams when I tore that black heart out of his carcass?

Raziel can no longer contain his rage - raising the Reaver, he lunges at the Sarafan Inquisitor.

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