Romania, in the 15th Century. Three monks find themselves chained to the wall of a dripping cell in the castle of Vlad Dracula, Voyvoyd of Wallachia. More commonly known as Vlad the Impaler, he is most terrifying ruler of Medieval Europe, a psychopathic mass-murderer and the only man who stands between Christian Europe and the advancing armies of the Ottoman Turks. From the outset the monks are tested, climaxing in a trial of brutality in which they are called to answer truthfully whether Vlad Dracula will be warmly received in Heaven. Waiting for them is a forest of wooden stakes, ends rounded to stop them puncturing internal organs, prolonging their gruesome effect. The most appallingly slow, painful death imaginable will be their fate if they choose the wrong response. It was this vicious story that gave birth to the Dracula character of fact and fiction.