Victor knew nothing about what had happened in Beauclair, much less that a certain sorceress had begun investigating him.
The evening of the following day, after leaving Mère-Lachaiselongue Cemetery, the group arrived at a set of ruins south of Francollarts known as Tesham Mutna.
"Wow!" Standing before the abandoned fortress, Angoulême couldn't help marveling at its grandeur and magnificence.
Built against the mountainside, its towering stone walls displayed an exquisite sense of design. Even with modern construction techniques, humanity would struggle to reproduce such a work of art.
"Tesham Mutna..." Regis, who was leading the way, spoke in a deep, hoarse voice. "We've arrived. The chamber of torture and suffering lies beneath the fortress. Vic, have you heard anything about this castle's history?"
Following the higher vampire, the witcher climbed the stone steps.
"I've heard a few things. According to the records in the palace library, there was once a vampire named Khagmar in Toussaint. He was extraordinarily bloodthirsty, and supposedly even drained an entire village in a single night... Tesham Mutna was the lair from which he conducted his reign of terror."
"Victor, my learned friend, your account comes remarkably close to the truth. Unfortunately, at the most crucial point, it's complete and utter nonsense..."
Stopping before a stone wall decorated with strange patterns, Regis reached out and gently caressed its surface.
"In reality, this place was a torture chamber..."
The cool light of the waxing crescent moon fell gently upon the courtyard, bathing everything in a pale glow.
"Long ago, shortly after the Conjunction of the Spheres brought us into this world, Khagmar developed an addiction to human blood and embarked on a murderous rampage. His actions brought trouble upon every vampire species.
"Unwilling to live in perpetual fear, mortals began hunting vampires. They sought help from mages and witchers, desperately searching for our whereabouts and experimenting with all manner of methods to attack us."
"Is that where wooden stakes, garlic, holy water, and religious symbols came from? But they couldn't actually kill you... Even silver was merely more effective."
Having fought Regis head-on the previous day, Victor was particularly qualified to comment on the matter.
A higher vampire in a weakened state was already an exceptionally formidable opponent. Just how terrifying would one be at full strength?
Besides, if Regis had decided to flee, Victor would have had no way of stopping him.
"...And yet, they won. Because they were simply too much of a nuisance. Forgive the comparison, but it's the most appropriate one I can think of. Imagine mosquitoes constantly buzzing around your ears. That's how irritating they were!
"Regardless, the other vampires concluded that the situation could not be ignored. The pointless conflict had to end, and Khagmar had to be punished.
"However, killing one another violates an ironclad law of our kind. Therefore, we constructed a torture chamber beneath Tesham Mutna. Using a special alloy of silver, meteorite iron, and dimeritium, we built a cage in which we imprisoned him together with his insatiable cravings."
Shaking his head with a sigh, Regis suddenly transformed his right hand into a cloud of blood mist, which spread across the mural on the stone wall.
A deep rumbling followed.
The stone wall descended, revealing the pitch-black entrance to a dungeon.
"Welcome to Tesham Mutna!" he declared.
Angoulême was astonished.
"W-what just happened!?"
"A protective measure against unwelcome visitors. Only the blood of a higher vampire can unlock the entrance."
With that explanation, Regis took the lead and descended into the dark passage.
Victor produced a torch and tossed it to the girl before following the vampire inside.
"A secure locking mechanism and a concealed refuge. Toussaint must have been quite important to your people in the past?"
"Indeed. During the Conjunction of the Spheres, the gateway connecting our homeland to this world was located on this very land. We first set foot in Toussaint, much as humanity first arrived in the Pontar Delta."
Descending the staircase, they eventually reached a spacious underground chamber with prison cells lining both sides of the passage.
Nothing escaped Victor's Blue Rinnegan.
He noticed water troughs, feeding boxes, wooden barrels, and racks whose purposes were unclear.
Judging by the various skeletal remains scattered throughout the cells, the witcher suspected that this place had once served as something resembling a "wine cellar."
He remained silent until his gaze happened to fall upon the books on a nearby shelf.
"'Human Husbandry and Care'? Regis, is this book serious?"
Victor took the volume down and opened it.
The herbalist leaned against the wall.
"Hmm... The author was entirely serious. He spent several years raising humans, observing their appearances and behavior. He even went so far as to infiltrate their society and live among them.
"At the time, undertaking such research was rather like attempting to understand the ecology of cattle by eating and sleeping in their barn. Despite its moral shortcomings, it was a remarkably comprehensive study."
"What a shame that you describe it as having merely 'shortcomings'..."
Victor's sarcastic remark was casual, but his attention had already shifted to two other books sitting nearby.
"Battery-Cage vs. Free-Range Humans" and "Transcript of a Conversation with a Lower Being."
The witcher reached out to take them.
"The first one is somewhat better, but I personally wouldn't recommend reading the second. I'm concerned it might leave you with an exceedingly unfavorable impression of my kind.
"Most higher vampires still alive today have abandoned such notions. After all, centuries of coexistence have demonstrated that our former practices were sorely lacking in empathy and were far too... evil..."
With a snap, Victor closed the book and placed the volumes into his herbal satchel.
"Rest assured, Mr. Regis. I'll examine them critically. Whether someone is evil has never depended on whether their teeth are sharp and shiny.
"The most evil monsters I've encountered so far were north of Vergen. They carried swords, axes, and hammers. They were enormous, filthy, bald, and had yellowed, blackened, and missing teeth..."
They continued onward, soon arriving at an enormous circular hall with a cylindrical interior extending several stories upward.
And there, right in the center of the hall, stood a peculiar cage.
It resembled an enormous birdcage, magnified several times over.
"Wait a minute, mister... Don't tell me that's the cage they used to imprison Khagmar? Why have you brought us here? Didn't you say we were coming to collect the ingredients for Resonance?"
The girl voiced her questions curiously.
Upon seeing this familiar setting, Victor immediately recalled this part of the game's story. He also knew exactly what Regis was about to say.
"Allow me to explain. For Resonance to awaken the memories contained within tissue, the solution must include a blood sample from another member of the same species. Therefore, to track Dettlaff, we require the blood of a higher vampire."
"Then... why did we have to come all the way here? Regis, are you unwilling to help?" Angoulême asked, thoroughly confused.
"Of course I'm willing to donate my blood. Unfortunately, matters aren't quite that simple. The blood must be extracted while the donor is in a highly agitated state for it to be effective.
"I'm certain you both noticed during that battle a few days ago that vampires can alter their bodily structure. When our bodies transform, the chemical composition of our blood changes accordingly.
"Simply put, I must enter a state of extreme psychological agitation. Hmm... A state of frenzied, uncontrollable rage. There's no need to mince words with you two.
"However, that would be exceedingly dangerous, particularly for anyone in my immediate vicinity. My emotions would run wild, rage would consume me, and an overwhelming thirst for blood would fill my entire being!"
"Like when you were fighting Vic?"
"You wouldn't want to experience it. When I'm truly enraged, it's twice as bad, and then twice again."
Victor spoke softly.
"So that's why we've come to Tesham Mutna. You intend to enter this cage and transform, because it's already been proven capable of containing a higher vampire."
"Precisely. In a certain sense, there's an element of truth to Toussaint's legends. Tesham Mutna could indeed be considered Khagmar's lair.
"When he was imprisoned here, forced to endure the torment of his insatiable thirst for blood, his furious, agonized screams echoed throughout the fortress day and night, without respite, for two entire centuries..."
"I'm sure he would have preferred death."
"He chose complete madness instead."
"All right, Regis. How exactly do you intend to drive yourself into such an agitated state?"
The herbalist produced several vials of alchemical preparations and an oilcloth bundle filled with rotten meat.
"In a moment, I'll lock myself inside the birdcage. Have you noticed the caves surrounding us? Place these preparations and the rotten meat at their entrances, and they'll lure the underground monsters out.
"Then you'll slaughter them here, spilling enormous quantities of blood. The sweet, intoxicating scent of fresh blood wafting through the air will drive the prisoner mad and strip him of his reason."
The witcher glanced down at the ground.
A network of winding channels crisscrossed the floor, designed to ensure that the scent would disperse evenly throughout the chamber.
It certainly lived up to its reputation as a torture chamber.
Although Victor had witnessed this scene in the game, now that he was actually standing here, he couldn't help asking a question.
"You haven't consumed blood in centuries. Why would you willingly subject yourself to such torment? Making such an enormous sacrifice for humanity seems almost too noble."
"Of course I'm not doing it for humanity. I'm doing it for Dettlaff!" Regis replied with a smile.
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