28/04/2016 - Journey to Transylvania (1)

Adam Crapstone is a highway man who carries out small time robbery on the road from London to Oxford, along with his companions Lucy Western and Christopher Haines.

They get really lucky one day and managed to steal a lot of money (£10,000) which a nobleman is carrying with little protection. The nobleman dies of a heart attack afterward and all the other witnesses are dead, so they got away with it.

Adam and Lucy are lovers and they have a child, Gordon. They decide to settle down, takinh on the guise of rich gentry and adopting the names Antonio and Lucy Tremere, along with their travelling companion Christian Neptune III.

Their disguise proves difficult to maintain though as they have no background and some people become suspicious. They soon fine that England was not an easy place to buy your way into gentry / nobility.

Search for a Noble Title

Antonio asks a solicitor who does not ask too many questions, Peter Magpie, to look into buying him a title. Peter suggests that England may not be the best place to find to this, and he may have more success in Europe.

Peter eventually finds sucess in Vienna, where the Emperor is selling an obscure Romanian title, Boyar (Baron) of Dorau, in Transylvania in the Holy Roman Empire. He travells to Vienna to secure the title for his employer, while pocketing a tidy profit for himself.

Eventually, he writes to Antonio in England, telling him he should travel to Vienna.

Travel to Vienna

Antonio organises a travelling party to go with him to Vienna and onwards to his new estate in Transylvania. He takes Lucy and their son Gordon, plus Christian and a number of other people.

Father Jacob Westley, a Priest to teach Gordon and advise them.

Johan Van Der Veldt, the Dutch family doctor and his apprentice William Dyke.

Horatio Wolfgang LeFleur, a Belgian mercenary and his companion Magnilda Falkenrath for protection.

Pierre and Rene, two former French Musketeers who Antonio has Horatio employ as extra armed escorts.

The party journey to Vienna in two stage coaches, with the Musketeers driving. When they arrive, they are left waiting for two months before the Viceroy grants Antonio an audience and sells him his new title.

Peter and his assistant, a dumb boy who his dismissively refers to a “Scribe” or “Boy”, decide to come with them to the new estate to cover any legal problems. In reality, Peter has, through his satanic seer powers, senses something important in that area and wants to investigate it further.

As they are travelling into less civilised areas, they employed two Austrian wagon drivers, Hans and Herman, to drive the coaches. Pierre and Rene can concentrate on protection.

They pick up a Romanian guide, Bogar, who knows the area and head eastwards towards the Carpathian Mountains in Transylvania.

End of Episode One