Fantasy Hunter's Moon [IC] [CLOSED]

[Emperor Sagan]

"Warlord speak better and sound nice. And-" she paused when the new prisoner was forced past, screaming and struggling against her captors. This one had long pointed ears. Inari watched the scene until they were mostly out of sight, but she could hear the elf be thrown into a cell.

"...and that one very lively, put me over there if not by warlord."

 

[Breadman]

"Do you mind, we're having a four-way conversation, you rude bastards!" Henderson yelled at the two guards as they dragged in what he assumed was Velin's latest victim. Not victimized enough to get burned at a pyre.

 

[Dmaster]

Hudson merely stepped to the side as a new prisoner was moved in. Seems like the amount of bodies for this mission were only increasing. He could only roll his eyes at Henderson as he shouted at the men just doing their jobs. "Sure. I'll just push your cell over to hers since I still don't have the keys to any of them." he said to Inari, but was looking at the elf as she stared on at him.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"If you no have keys, go get keys like other man say. Don't be child, be man. And get food, and get funny people," Inari said. "This place not entertaining enough."

 

[SniperComZero]

"Come in, elf. Don't just look about like an idiot." Gwenaelle froze. There's no way she's that obvious, right? No-- no one brought it up before.

She stepped inside. brushing off her clothes. A smile over those pale lips, and she shook her head. "Ah, no-no. There is a... mis... understanding, yes?" She extended her arms out to either side, showing she had nothing to hide. Besides whatever was under her hood. "I am a... ah, traveller. From Esca...ria." And then Loque starts to pop off at what she'd assume is quite the important figure in this church. Uh oh.

 

[Viper Actual]

"You", said the elf. She was looking directly at Hudson. Her eyes narrowed. "Come closer." The eyes shifted, studying the other doors. "I don't wish to consort with lowborn scum."

 

[Doomevil]

"Hello there." Senya turned towards the new person wearing the hood.

 

[Infab]

Velin grunted. "Be glad you're already going back to the Abyss, demon." she responded to Loque, before turning to the approaching woman in the hood. "...I know you're an elf. You're far prettier than the others I've seen around here, and you're a bit dainty. Plus, I'm a goddess. I can tell what you were when I saw you." said Velin, once again pointing to the statue of her at the end of the grand hall. "I am Velin, Goddess of Judgement."

---
​

Riberta chuckled from her cell. "Oh, wonderful. She thinks she's royalty." she said, grinning in her cell. "Tell me, elf. What did you do to get dragged down here with the rest of us...'lowborns'?"

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Lowborn scum? Inari covered her mouth with one hand and laughed. "Fufufu... the lively one is very funny. Lowborn are always good. Who else to fill army with? It seem my wish is made true, entertainment arrive."

After Riberta spoke up, Inari joined in. "Elf too dumb like child. No lowborns here, only princes and princesses."

 

[SniperComZero]

Gwenaelle hardly thought that her being dainty would have given it away, but, sure. A compliment was much appreciated, though. Glad to see that elves are still appreciated for their beauty. She was about to do a curtsey, in any case.

"I am Velin, Goddess of Judgement." How funny. She would've played it off, were it not for the statue looking... well, exactly like her. Humans, those superstitious little idiots, don't often take well to blasphemy. And wouldn't build a statue like that in a heartbeat. Needless to say, the elf was bricking herself.

 

[Dmaster]

"No." was all Hudson said to Inari's demands, and he decided to humor the elf by stepping closer to her. "I'm listening. I'll tell you what I told the others; I'm no warden. If you're after comfortable pillows or anything like that you're shit out of luck."

 

[Doomevil]

This banter was starting to bore her already. She needed information what the group will be expecting on this mission. Senya switched her view to Velin and wanted to ask about something.

"With all due respect Velin. But I think it's only fair to give us the full detail what is this contract about other than the basic description such as finding a specific Inquisitor in the Abyss. It's a rarity to find mutants, elves, demons and sorcerers working together on a high risk job. So, why are we venturing in there?" Senya genuinely asked to the Goddess of Judgement.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"Be glad you're already going back to the Abyss, demon."

"I'll remember to send you a post card." She folds her arms. "I assume you will also need someone to finance this journey, yes?"

 

[Infab]

Velin glanced back to the Red Warden. "The mission is to locate and rescue a member of the Vigilant Order by the name of Valeria Witlock. She was used by the Icon of Vainglory, Sazak, to gain control of two artifacts. The Ring of Adona, and my executioner sword. Both need to be retrieved. And if possible, kill that bastard Sazak as well." she replied, before looking to Loque. "The Church can finance things, but if you are willing to use your own money to assist us, it is more than welcome."

Afterwards, she looked back to Senya. "I will fill you in on the remaining details at a later time. We have two weeks to prepare for the journey into the Abyss, and I am waiting for Cassiel to bring me the rest of the group that will be joining you. There are several members down in the dungeon beneath us that will be going with you."

 

[Viper Actual]

Ignoring the others the elf squinted at Hudson. "I'm not looking for a warden. I'm looking for my loyal advisor so that I may cut him down like the coward he is. Tell me, do you know of a 'Faelnir' by any chance?"

 

[Doomevil]

Early on Cassiel mentioned about two divine artifacts a demon stole, finally confirmed by Velin herself. She even added this wasn't all the people who will be joining them on this inquiry. Senya wondered who else were they recruiting? The Red Warden nodded with content, turning to the others. "I understand."

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"The Church can finance things, but if you are willing to use your own money to assist us, it is more than welcome."

"I suppose I could... But is there a chance I will be reimbursed for what I spend? I don't normally put my life at risk free of charge, especially for an organization that hunts and kills people like me."

 

[Dmaster]

"Never heard of him." he said without much pause. This was interesting, she seemed to be a bit out of sorts and was looking for someone. "When did you last see them? A few days ago or several hundred years ago? Makes all the difference."

 

[Viper Actual]

A hundred years ago? The elf raised an eyebrow."Are you mocking me?" She shook her head. "I don't know when I last saw him. All I know is that something is...wrong. I woke up in a field with neither my advisors nor my army nearby. How does a hundred thousand thralls vanish without trace?" She paused and eyed Hudson once more. "And how did the slaves rebuild their filthy cities in such short time?"

 

[Infab]

"I suppose I could... But I assume I will be reimbursed for what I spend? I don't normally risk my life for free, especially for an organization that hunts and kills people like me."

Velin hesitated, before eventually nodding. "You will be reimbursed accordingly." she replied. "The church always pays its debts."

 

[Dmaster]

He chuckled quietly, shaking his head at the elf's lack of understanding of the situation. In a way, it was almost adorable were it not for how misguided and rude she was. "You were displaced from your home time and sent here, that's how. I'm no historian so I can't give you the exact dates; but welcome to new Adonia regardless." Hudson said, giving a rather lazy bow to the elf woman.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"The church always pays its debts."

"Well that settles it then! I will make purchase whenever and wherever necessary in my service against the Abyss!" she says, a touch of sarcasm still present. “But one more thing..." She gets a little closer to Velin. "This is but a ‘small’ feeling, but I suspect you and the church won’t let me live even after what I am about to do. So, do I have your word that I will walk after this mission is complete?”

 

[Infab]

"This is but a ‘small’ feeling, but I suspect you and the church won’t let me live even after what I am about to do. So, do I have your word that I will walk once this mission is complete?”

Loque couldn't tell, but beneath Velin's helmet, she was grinning. "...Yes. You are free to go, should you make it back." she responded. She fully expected most of them to die in the Abyss anyway.

 

[Damian0358]

Takato had arrived at the cathedral doors, and having opened them several times before, did so again. He noted from the doorway that there were several people in the main hall, doing something... their auras being all very peculiar. The two that really caught his eye were the one that reminded of the oni of the northwest, and the intensely holy one... was it Velin!? He hadn't yet the chance to meet Velin, having only seen her statues within the cathedral whenever he entered. What a curious occurrence, he wondered what was going on. Whatever it was, it likely had nothing to do with him.

After entering, he took a right and began heading in a different direction, hoping to bump into Cassiel and give him the milk.

 

[K0mori]

October 8th, 1880

Somewhere in rural Daristein, a werewolf bounded its way through the woods at speed, a large burlap sack bouncing on its back as it hurtled between the trees on all fours. Soon, the beast came upon a clearing where, exactly as the map had told it, there was an ominous door. Pausing there, the beast stood up onto its hind legs, shaking its head hard once, twice, and then on the third time with a nasty crick, and its face began to shift and change. It let out a pained growl as it began to resemble a human once again, and soon Anya was able to retake control of her form. It was slow and difficult, much harder than becoming the wolf, to become human again. But after several minutes of work, she felt the beast go completely dormant within herself, and she set about dressing herself with the clothes in the bag.

Along with the outfit she had departed Tsavania with, she also donned a hat and a few other pieces she had stolen from a house somewhere along the trek that brought her here. There was a muzzle-loading revolver in a homemade leather holster as well as a short, straight-bladed sword with a silver edge that she had pilfered from the residence. The latter was probably a ceremonial piece, but given that Anya had little plans for the future aside from killing other werewolves, it was too tempting to pass up. She unfurled a bundled quilt and set it on the ground, and then took out a folded tarpaulin. With a few sturdy branches, she constructed a makeshift tent and then sat down.

She would stay three days at this location, and no more. The burlap bag would make a decent pillow in the meantime, wadded up as it was on the quilt, and she could catch and eat just about any food she could sight in her surroundings by using her wolf form. She had seen a stream no more than a verst north of her camp, and just thinking about the succulent meat of the fish caused the flesh of her mouth to ripple and the bones within to crack. She gripped her face and fought the changes back, nearly cutting herself with claws which seemed to leap out of her fingertips at the most minor of provocations. Her fragile humanity once again returned, and, crestfallen, she laid down on her temporary bed. Every day was a chore, it seemed.

That Dullahan better not have lied to me, she thought. The gods forsook me once to this curse; if they tease me with salvation now and abandon me again, perhaps I'll truly go mad.

---

Meanwhile, in the Mountainous Border of Escaria and Daristein

A crumbling stone tower and grand but dilapidated log cabin graced the side of Mont Forteresse, an aptly-named wall of impassable stone jutting up from the landscape of the border frontier. Centuries prior, this imposing structure overlooked the surrounding landscape like a silent but vigilant sentry, but now it sat on the verge of total obscurity as the relationship between the once-rival petty kingdoms which controlled these lands was now a distant memory.

Although there still existed strongholds where the Escarians could defend against their norther neighbors, they were slightly further from the border. The military leadership of the venerable kingdom knew that an aggressive war against their republican neighbors was beyond imagining, and so, from a purely defensive perspective, it was favorable to allow the incoming armies to make the difficult and taxing journey over the ice and stone themselves before becoming blocked on the Escarian side, where they would have extreme difficulty resupplying themselves and would no doubt find cavalry impractical and possibly even beyond avail.

That meant that the old fortress sitting atop the mountain named for it would be left unoccupied by government forces, and eventually inaccessible as the road which connected it to the nearest town, which relied on a number of old rotting wooden bridges, was erased by the passage of time. Now, it seemed, only vampires could reach it by means of climbing up the rock wall itself.

Three years prior, the vampiric lords and ladies of Chalmette Florissante were stunned by the terrible news of their esteemed colleague, Lady Mariette of La Cygne, had died suddenly while travelling in northern Atraca to locate the much-feared Raven of House Giguere from visiting their duchy. Surprisingly, the cause of death was not the Raven's sword, but suicide, although beyond that it was much a mystery to her countrymen. Juste was also forced to reveal more unnerving news: in an amendment to her will, send to her estate just before her death, Mariette had chosen to transfer her estate into the hands of a living human relative, rather than a more deserving vampire of the local political sphere.

The latter move greatly insulted the nobles, and there was plenty of confusion over the decision until news broke of the Goddess Velin's return. Although Mariette had simply grown cynical of attempts to create a vampiric kingdom and wished to remove La Cygne from the rest of Chalmette Florissant's plans, the move was instead interpreted as a warning to the other lords and ladies. Within weeks, a flurry of official, but secret correspondences with the King of Escaria's court helped alert the monarchy of the vampires' intent to flee violence should it come to their doors. The court replied that the King preferred "disappearance" to violent opposition to Church doctrine.

Soon after, the Inquisitors flooded into the duchy in search of its famous vampiric leaders, only to find that their titles had been quickly transferred to human recipients. The vampiric subjects who were once well-integrated with society had suddenly vanished as well, although many were found and executed as they tried to flee the country. The nobles, of course, scaled the cliffs of Mont Forteresse and took permanent residence within its ruined halls, and although the search was ongoing, the church regarded their efforts as a partial success, as Chalmette Florissant was free from supernatural misguidance. However, the locals held a different opinion.

Longstanding businesses began to suffer from their truncated leadership and the loss of skilled workers, some of whom had been working their trade for literal centuries. In fact, the winery at La Cygne ceased operations for several months in order to locate new vignerons to cultivate their product. Unfortunately, Lady Lisette Travere, the new owner of the estate, was a lowborn woman from the far north of Escaria with no experience in wine making or even running a business. At the same time she entrusted Juste to manage operations, she also ordered him to cut expenses and increase output, failing to understand that the product would already be damaged from the loss of the expertise offered by the vampires who fled, but would be irreparably ruined by a transference to a quantity-over-quality mentality. In one of her only sound decisions, Travere compromised by renaming the new, cheaper product after herself instead of the vaunted estate.

Despite the increased production, the product sold abysmally, and after three years the La Cygne estate was nearing bankruptcy. Lady Travere was beginning to explore reviving the old method to reintroduce La Cygne's signature wine, but Juste informed her it would be impossible, and so he departed to seek investors in Daristein who traded in cheap and disreputable spirits and wines. In reality, this was just a cover story. Near the border, he diverted from the road and climbed a well-concealed rope ladder up to a winding footpath which eventually brought the old steward to the door of the vampires' refuge. If anyone could supply the money needed to revive their product, it would be these few esteemed, but temporarily embarrassed, ladies and gentlemen.

It was just after sunset on the mountaintop when Juste knocked at their door. After a minute or two, he was identified and the door swung inward, revealing the spartan interior of the old barracks, now converted to a more comfortable communal living space. Although there were no padded chairs or soft, pillowy beds, the vampires successfully imported quality rugs from Eshax via human contacts and former servants to cover the cold stone and wood floors, good-quality candles and kindling for a fire which, cleverly, had its smoke diverted into a suspended tub of water in such a way which separated the soot from the heat and prevented a dark column from rising out of the building. The windows were covered to prevent sunlight from entering and the interior light from alerting anyone from below. They were comfortably invisible, here.

Of course, there were also large cases scattered about, each one locked and requiring a unique key. They were filled with enchanted blood vials and what remained of their fortunes, either in gold coins or certificates. By their estimates, at the time Juste arrived the vampires could survive in this place for at least a decade before they would be brought low by poverty. Juste bowed respectfully as he entered to a chorus of cheers. The lords and ladies adored company, now that they had experienced isolation once more after so many years of social prominence. At that moment, Juste couldn't be sure if he had truly come to beg for money, or if it was a matter of pity for these fading friends of his. He would need to be careful, as their desperation made them vulnerable to give almost any amount, for fear of losing Juste's future visitations. Sadness crept over his normally implacable expression as he wondered just how long madness would continue to grip Adonia.