Fantasy Hunter's Moon: Ascendancy [IC] [CLOSED]

[Infab]

Cassandra eventually spoke, voicing her choice. "I'll go with Riberta. Fighting around a blast furnace sounds... interesting." she stated, as she walked over to stand next to Riberta. "Honestly hope the gauntlet isn't actually in the furnace. That'll be tricky to get to."

Riberta smirked. "If its in the furnace, we'll let you crawl in to get it." she said, chuckling afterwards before looking to Rebecca. "They'll all be safe with me, don't worry." She then flashed her a thumbs-up.

Jakob soon decided to go with Rebecca, with the Gravedigger in tow. That was everyone, it seemed. "Well, let's get going. Keep an eye out for our friends, wherever they are down here." stated Rebecca, before motioning those that sided with her to follow.

The group split, one going in the direction of one archway, while the other moved in the direction of the archway near the collapsed rubble blocking their path. It wasn't long before both disappeared into the darkness of the tunnels, with Riberta's group taking a winding path descending downward towards the blast furnace area. Rebecca's group's path, however, was actually straight forwards. The hallway wide and lined with old tables and crates as they proceeded on towards the living quarters.

The furnace was silent, from the looks of things, as they soon entered the area at its base. The crucible was black, the massive pair of bellows sitting silent as no water ran through the systems above to power them. There were traces of coal scattered about, black smears and the occasional rock here and there. Iron ore was also found in a pile, likely waiting to be taken to the top of the blast furnace and dumped in.

The supernatural members of the group, of course, could sense the gauntlet nearby. However, it wasn't in the furnace. It was further down into the tunnels, down towards mines below. "...I think it may be in one of the material storage rooms. They stored coal and ore to use in the furnace in special rooms down here, which they could just run and grab if they needed more." muttered Riberta, motioning in the direction of the divine aura. "Be careful, and quiet. They're down here, but the question is where?"

She pointed towards more claw marks on the floor and walls. Demons were definitely there. She looked up towards the ceiling, and only saw blackness above. Nothing up there. "Careful, now." she whispered, motioning the group to follow as she moved past the massive crucible of the blast furnace.


The wide tunnel leading into the living quarters turned into three different tunnels, each with dozens of wide rooms lining each. Inside, beds and other assorted furniture. Most of them looked long abandoned. Others looked as though they had never been used at all. "I would have loved to have seen this place at its height of activity." said Rebecca softly, as she peeked into the rooms. "Listen to their stories. About life down here, or dwarven life in general."

The group proceeded on-wards, moving towards the back of the living quarters area. There seemed to be another dining area, made likely for the miners and other workers as compared to the one they had seen in the main hall. More long tables, covered in cobwebbed mugs and plates along with overturned candlesticks. To the far left, however, they noticed a large staircase leading downward. Likely to the storage rooms below. Supplies and other objects were likely kept there, and Rebecca could feel a divine presence down there.

"The staircase, over there. Take it slow and quietly." she said, glancing back to the others as she approached it.

 

[K0mori]

Sebastian wasn't entirely keen on the idea of Cassandra accompanying him and the others into the blast chamber; Rebecca had thus far done an excellent job of keeping her fully lucid and sane during their travels, but now she was allowing the pureblood to separate herself. He didn't say anything about it, however, as things were moving along rather quickly and he didn't want to start an argument here and now, especially if no one else felt the need to object.

The tunnel ahead proved to be so saturated with old soot and coal dust that nothing could be seen. Sebastian tried to walk quietly, but his legs kept nearly buckling whenever he stepped on some unseen rock or put his toes into an unseen crack in the ground. He suspected that even if he were carrying a bright lantern, it would still be a difficult passage to explore. Thankfully, they wouldn't be staying in the area for long, as Riberta indicated that the gauntlet was in a storage room below them.

"Be careful, and quiet. They're down here, but the question is where?"

She pointed towards more claw marks on the floor and walls. Demons were definitely there. She looked up towards the ceiling, and only saw blackness above. Nothing up there. "Careful, now." she whispered, motioning the group to follow as she moved past the massive crucible of the blast furnace.

Sebastian did his best to control his breathing; he was one of the only ones who needed to bother with it, and so he made sure that it wouldn't cause them undue grief from an enemy waiting in ambush.

 

[Dmaster]

Despite Camille having faith that Riberta would keep the group safe, she too was unnerved by Cassandra making the choice to separate herself from Rebecca. Should the pureblood unravel without the saint to bring her back to a state of modest sanity, the huntress had her assigned task to minimize the bloodshed Cassandra would cause. She could not very well stake her if they were in completely different areas throughout this immense castle and its tunnel system, and while the others among Riberta's group were capable Camille would rather not take chances. Indeed, things moved too quickly for her to object as well, and she remained stone faced despite that particular anxiety as she watched the team part ways.

As Rebecca commented on what life may have been like down here, Camille looked among the rooms and dining area with a twist of her lip. "I won't deny how interesting it must have been, but I could not stand to be beneath all of this rock, sealed off from fresh air and sunlight," she stated, though knew full well that certain company may prefer never being in the sun again. Beyond that comment however, the huntress kept quiet and moved alongside the group stealthily and on guard.

When the staircase was pointed out to them, Camille gave a nod of understanding. While she was blind to sensing auras, she could tell that there was something of interest for Rebecca to point out this specific path to them.

 

[Infab]

Elsewhere...


In the grand scheme of things, neutrality mattered little. If you remained neutral in this grand war across the continent of Adonia, you were simply an obstacle to surmount on the road to victory. So when a renewed King Newmont saw the current established fronts, the first changes he made were to place forces on the borders of Trechtstaat and Schwyz. The excuse to both nations were that they were simply there as reinforcements for the Daristeinian front.

It was a bold faced lie.

Four days before Rebecca's group arrived at the dwarven castle in northern Daristein, Atracan forces crossed the borders into Trechtstaat and Schwyz. Both nations were unprepared, as they had expected Atraca to uphold its own code and not violate their neutrality. Another force also crossed the border into Stiusil, passing through its mountain region and into the valleys on the peninsula.

The war with Tsavania was going so well after the major offensive that the Tsavanian lines were collapsing. Tsavanian forces were retreating back into Tsavanian lands, and were openly considering a cease fire with the emboldened and encroaching Atracan soldiers. Nivarden, a nation Tsavania had invaded and captured early in the war, was beginning to push back against their captors. Tsavania was struggling to prevent itself from falling apart, largely due to incompetence in leadership, so talks of ending the war with Atraca were now underway. Tsavania would leave the war, leaving Daristein without an ally in their efforts against Atraca and Escaria.

Battle hardened Atracan forces were soon pulled from the Tsavanian frontline, and soon placed on the Daristeinian front. As the neutral nations were pushed into and captured, catching Daristein off guard, the front line moved inward through Arnsfeld almost to the edge of the region of Darisa. It was, a sense, a blitz. More land had been taken on the front than ever before, and in such a short span of time.

There were Atracan forces being moved elsewhere too. In the badlands of western Delaplaine, in Atraca, a new division was being made using specially selected soldiers from across the fronts. Only time would tell what this group would be used for. Rumors were flying around Eternis that this new division was intended for a new front with Eshax, to use the chaos of the empire's civil war to exert some imperial will of Atraca's own and claim land.

This new push by Newmont was unnerving, to say the least. Going from simply defending Atraca and its people to openly invading other neutral nations as well as planning to open new fronts? Escaria also didn't like how their supposed ally was now operating, but was too preoccupied with repelling the Daristeinian invasion to voice their concerns.




Silvani & Casillo Factory & Rail Yard
Outskirts of Crighton's Bend, South Warren
Former Atraca/Stiusil Border

​

The clacking of horse hooves against hardened dirt was mostly drowned out by the sounds of machinery and train whistles throughout the large factory and rail yard. This was the most activity the old factory had seen in quite a long time, having only recently been bought out by House Le Rouge to use as a base of operations. it seemed... odd for a House to use a factory as a base instead of a manor or castle, or even a riverboat. Especially one as large and widespread as Le Rouge, who's method of recruiting to increase numbers simply came down to really 'bite whoever you want'.

Claire's horse stopped only momentarily, as she looked about the expansive train yard. There were some trains already finished, while others were still having the finishing touches placed on them by workers. It was quite clear that everyone here was a vampire, as this factory had been mostly silent during the day according to the peoples of Crighton's Bend. Even the Atracan military had avoided this place during the early stages of their invasion of Stiusil. The factory lay beyond, abuzz with movement and light. Sparks flew through the air from welding, metal clacked against metal as parts were assembled.

She flicked the reins of her horse gently, making it continue forth. Further into the train yard. She stood out a bit, compared to the workers. Clean skin, nicer clothing. A fully loaded pump-action shotgun resting on her lap. Le Rouge were the least trustworthy of the lot when it came to the various great houses.

 

[Breadman]

Constantine didn't know why he expected the furnace to still be working. Maybe he was hoping it was for some reason. The nostalgia comment was just a joke, but maybe there was something else that made him enjoy the furnaces in the lands of Wrath. The Abyss had gotten to him in some unexpected ways. Still he followed their guide with no hesitation, but as soon as he sensed the gauntlet he started to feel something was going to be off. They haven't encountered any of their enemies ye, but the artifact was getting closer.

Something was wrong.

 

[joshuadim]

Azathor nodded to Rebecca when she mentioned the staircase and took position behind Camilla as they pushed forward as quietly as the could. Like Rebecca, he could feel a radiant presence coming from down there though it was of less comfort than it was to the Saint given that he himself was a demon. He could feel it prickle into his chest like small needles the closer he got to it, to the point where he had to forcibly repress the feeling with deep, quiet breaths. It was also a reminder that they were close to their goal, at least half of it, and thus far he hadn't felt anything out of the ordinary aside from the powerful godly presence that remained within the artifact.

Perhaps they had lucked out at last?

Probably not. Azathor thought to himself as he kept his gaze wary and on guard as they moved forward. He wasn't eager to get attacked out of nowhere and not be prepared for it.

 

[Worthlessplebian]

Their booted footfalls through the Dwarven flagstone echoed slightly as they went, louder to the inquisitor's bestial-enhanced ears. The wide tunnel at their backs split into three paths, each one honeycombed with rooms. A few of the rooms held evidence of activity, now long gone: wrinkled bedsheets, chairs assorted in a crescent-shape, one or two books strewn haphazardly. The place was as desolated and grim as Rajko imagined it. Where the Saint approached the dwarven ruins from a hopeful outlook, Rajko could only focus on the dreary tragedy of it all — the lives lost, the work undone. His expression darker as he looked about the dining area.

"I'll toast to that." Rajko agreed with Camille, his voice a hushed whisper in the half-lit depths of the Dwarven architecture. The inquisitor sensed it. The air almost hummed with a power, the sensation was not as keen to the werebat like the demon or the Saint, like a block of glacial ice pressed against the inquisitor's back. The grip around his sword and pistol tightened as they came upon the staircase.

Without a word spoken, Rajko nodded and began descending down the steps behind Azathor. The space within felt low and cramped, as though the walls shrunk around them. Rajko kept his senses keen.

 

[Infab]

Both groups continued on in their respective directions, with Riberta's group continuing down a tunnel into the material storage areas while Rebecca's descended the staircase to a different sort of storage. Eventually, both would hear a scratching noise. Claws being dragged across stone. A few hisses here and there in the darkness. Rebecca's group would soon have the upper hand however, as she held up a hand and muttered a string of words under her breath. It was as if someone had switched on a spotlight inside the massive storage room beneath the cafeteria, as a baseball sized ball of light emerged from her hand. Most of the room was filled with towering shelves, with ladders and strange lifts fixed to each. Crates and sacks sat scattered about, some likely filled with rotten goods while others sat empty and exposed to open air.

What the group was more focused on was strange black crawling entities moving about the room on the floor, walls, and ceiling.

​

"Crawlers." muttered Rebecca, preparing her sword and shield. "That's what the markings were from. They're feral, usually used by gluttony demons as attack dogs. Teeth like broken glass, and razor sharp claws. Watch the tails, they're barbed near the end."

At the same time, Riberta encountered her first Crawler, which jumped at her out of the darkness. She managed to catch it by the throat in midair, and watched it flail around in her grip as she inspected it. It sliced her arms several times with its claws, and attempted to stab her a few times with its tail.

"Rabid little thing." she said aloud, before squeezing her fist tightly around the demon's throat till she heard three different cracks. The demon soon went limp, its neck broken. "Sounds like there's more of them coming. If someone's got a torch or lantern, best to light it now. Otherwise, we're gonna have to pull back to the furnace and light it."

Cassandra didn't hesitate, searching for any of the torches in the tunnel that could still be used. Meanwhile, more hisses came from the darkness ahead of them... and above them. Riberta motioned for the group to pull back slightly, but as they began to move, they were set upon. Riberta's fist collided one that lunged at her, sending it flipping through the air. Others moved for her as well, but the rest were more focused on the group following her.

​

"My name is Claire McLachlan. I am the Enforcer of the Sanguine Laws. I'm here to speak to your master, Lucius le Rouge."

The pair of guards looked at one another, eyes widened. "M-Ma'am, Mr. le Rouge isn't taking guests." one eventually said, looking back to her and rapidly shaking his head. The other then spoke up. "We're going to have to ask you to leave, please. We'll contact you when he's available to speak."

Claire frowned. "He'll be seeing me. Tonight. As Enforcer, I have the right to speak to him whenever I damn well wish." she responded, rather bluntly. As she finished, she lifted the shotgun, and let the butt of the weapon rest on her thigh. Finger resting on the trigger in the event she had to lower it towards someone.

"M-Ma'am, please..." responded one the guards, before the other patted him on the shoulder and shook his head at him. "Don't. Let someone higher handle it." he stated, before turning about and letting out a sharp whistle at someone further into the factory. Claire looked up, noticing someone soon on the approach. This one was more cleanly dressed, wearing a grey shirt with brown pants and suspenders. A flat cap rested atop his head, his red eyes barely visible beneath the brim. As he neared, he rolled his shirt's sleeves up.

"What is it?" he said, his voice rough. As if he had been yelling most of the night. He looked up to Claire. "I'm one of the Foremen. James Phelps. Who're you?"

"Claire McLachlan. Enforcer of the Sanguine Laws. I'm here to see your master." she responded, "Your guards here are trying to tell me no. Are you going to say the same?" Her finger tapped the trigger guard of the shotgun in her hand, as she cocked an eyebrow.

The foreman looked to the guards, then sighed. "Godsdamnit." he muttered, taking his hat off for a moment and running a hand through his short brown hair. "Ma'am... you know how Lucius is. He talks to folks when he wants."

"He'll talk to me regardless as to if he wants to or not." she responded, before gently flicking Claude's reins. The horse continued forth, walking towards the large open doorway of the factory.

"H-Hey, wait a minute!" said the foreman, quickly following after her with the guards in tow.

As the horse entered and moved through the factory floor, Claire got a good look at the inner workings. Including the workers themselves. Even though they were vampires, most of them looked particularly rough. Worn out, even. Covered in oil and grease, some with bloodied hands likely from accidents with the machinery. She even found herself stopping to listen to a literal child near one of the machines. They were apparently freshly turned, crying and saying aloud that they wanted to go home. Another older vampire, near the child, was trying to remind them that they couldn't. They were a vampire now, and would be until they eventually were snuffed out by a hunter or the sun.

Claire stared at the child for a few moments. Converting children into vampires was heavily frowned upon by the Great Houses, but House Le Rouge didn't really care. If they could be recruited to bolster the House's numbers, they were. This often meant the House had far too many members, and sometimes the types of people you didn't want as vampires. Outright criminals, and the occasional serial killer popping up every now and then.

"Ma'am, please recon--" said Foreman Phelps, finally catching up to her, but Claire quickly interrupted him.

"Shut up." she snapped, looking over her shoulder at the man, "Take me directly to Lucius. Now."

It wasn't long before Claire was being lead through the factory on foot, a different guard tailing behind her than the two from before. Eventually, she was lead up a few flights of stairs towards a set of office suites above, with long stretches of windows that allowed one to look down at the factory floor. The moment she was let through the first door into the waiting room of the suites, she was met by two more foremen and an even more well-dressed vampire sitting on a pair of sofas. All of them had been staring at the door. Waiting on her.

Claire already knew the well-dressed vampire. She had met him once before. She sighed as she approached. "Sylvain. I assume you're here to try and stop me too?" she soon stated. She was still holding the shotgun in hand, but letting it rest at her side.

 

[K0mori]

Sebastian wheeled backwards, waiting until he felt a tug at the end of his shotgun's barrel before pulling the trigger. The blast killed a crawler by detonating the creature's head completely, and the muzzle flash illuminated other creatures moving about the darkness. He pumped and fired, again and again, the repeated flashes treating him to snapshots of the enemy's position as he cleared out those who got too close to him. He didn't have a torch or a lantern to work with; all he had was matches.

---​

Sylvain looked over his freshly-polished dress shoe at Claire as it bobbed up and down on his knee. Of course this meant that he was -very- reclined, with his chin almost to his chest, so that his tailored suit and string tie did almost nothing to suggest sophistication on his behalf.

She sighed as he approached. "Sylvain. I assume you're here to try and stop me too?" she soon stated. She was still holding the shotgun in hand, but letting it rest at her side.

"If I was going to make an effort of it, I'd have bothered to stand up before you got here," he replied, a certain weariness in the timbre of his voice. "You can relax, McLachlan. Nobody's going to make a move." His head tipped to the side, eyes giving warning to the foremen where they sat: don't move a muscle. In a quieter voice, he continued, "...But you've got to let the boss feel like he's in control of the situation, and that this is business as usual. If someone were to barge in, uninvited and unannounced, well..." he gave a slimy smile. "A lot of us bystanders would probably wind up dead. Just... give him time."

Claire traced Sylvain's eyes toward a device mounted on the opposite wall; it was electromechanical, presumably some kind of signaling device like the ones used on railway bridges. The foremen were nervously watching it, apparently more afraid of Lucius' fury than Claire's impatience.

"His secretary just kicked me out of the man's office, so that's more than a little convenient for me," Sylvain said with a smirk, letting his head tip back onto the couch cushion. "I assume they led you the long way, to buy a little... more... time..."

BZZZZZT

"Ah-ha," he laughed smoothly, just as Claire had reached the limit of her patience. Sylvain gave a single, wide clap as he finally sat up, before swiping a stout top hat off the arm of the couch and planting it on his head. He then finally waved her through. "Lucius le Rouge will see you now, my dear. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make myself scarce, before any thunder and lightning comes my way."

The foremen seemed to relax as well, forcing sighs from their breathless lungs or rubbing the backs of their necks as they also stood to leave. All that remained was a short walk up the hall to the double doors of Lucius' office.

 

[Damian0358]

Xiaòzhou followed as they descended further down towards the blast furnace, the gauntlet's aura becoming ever more prominant. The silence of the area beyond their footsteps was deafening, which obviously meant having to focus further on noting where the enemy might come from, though always keeping an eye on the others too - you never knew if an attack could come suddenly with the Abyss involved. The hermit nodded at Riberta's call for vigilance as they moved towards the storage rooms.

As they trekked towards them however, it was there that suddenly the enemy appeared, jumping Riberta from the darkness, though easily dispatched by her. As they moved back slightly and Sebastian fired at them, the oni quickly conjured up a light source using his mystic powers... revealing just how many crawlers had appeared suddenly. His being the obvious source of light prompted a number of crawlers to lunge at him, which he smashed to the side using his martial arts.

 

[Breadman]

Constantine upholstered his pistol and fired off a few rounds into the darkness. From the sounds, he could guess that he hit a few of them, but they needed to actually see them. He took out his lighter and a hand up to form a fireball in his palm. The new light source illuminated the crawlers that were coming to flank them. The wraith concentrated on the ball and chucked it at the oncoming crawlers, followed by a shot from his revolver. As soon as the bullet connected, there was a small explosion that pushed the creatures back.

"Abyss take its trash back. I hate these things!"