Fantasy Hunter's Moon [IC] [CLOSED]

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil continued to freeze the floor in the kitchen, further weakening its integrity and expediting its imminent collapse. As he concentrated, he noticed above him the aura of Camille... and another... while faint, it was very reminisce of that of Mariette's back at the inn... although it felt different in some unexplainable way at the moment. Ethraeil nonetheless continued his work, seeking to offer Camille, and the rest of the Inquiry, an escape route.

 

[Radley]

Erwin jumped slightly as Galina made astonishingly quick work of the mercenaries. He would have opted to shooting them, but as they now retained some air of surprise it was probably worth the silent killing.

"Least give us some kind of signal next time." He said as he turned towards the mansion where the chaos was ongoing.

"The kitchen would be our best bet. There's three of us and they think we are on their side. If anyones guarding the entrance, we simply walk up all friendly and lay them in the dirt with a few pieces of lead."

 

[Viper Actual]

As the men died Galina scanned her surroundings. She hoped the others fared well inside. Moments later Cassandra came flying out the window, grabbing the attention of the remaining guards.

She glanced at Erwin. "Go. I got this."

Galina rushed up to the men and pointed at Cassandra. "Shoot the vampire! She killed our lads inside!"

 

[Radley]

"C'mon then!" Erwin shouted as he gestured for Theodore to follow. The commotion of Cassandra flying through the window had diverted the guards away from the kitchen entrance. Stoping outside, Erwin noticed a oil lantern that was hung from a hook that was still burning.

He starred at the lamp for a brief moment before snatching it, turning up the flame and tossing through a window a floor above. The room, which happened to be a separate parlor, caught fire almost instantly. The dryness of the room, along with its humongous eshaxian rug and walls of books, slowly began to take fire as it's fierly tendrils spread.

Continuing onwards, Erwin flung the door open and he and Theodore made their way inside, weapons drawn. As they emerged into the proper kitchen, they found Camille in a standoff with Mariette. Erwins eyes grew narrow and without his mask there was a clear anger on his face that bubbled to the surface.

Sensing the tense air surrounding the altercation, Erwin raised his revolver and pointed it towards Mariette. "Valeria has vouched for you. But I've always prefered gold over mouthed promises." He said, pulling the hammer back.

 

[Breadman]

"Merde" Theodore cussed under his breath as he pointed his revolver towards Mariette "Serves me right to have hopes for one of your kind." Before he fired, he figured he'd ask the question regardless "Do you want help with this? Or are you insisting on a duel?"

 

[K0mori]

A look of disappointment and annoyance took over Mariette's expression and she instantly put the tip of Cassandra's saber down to the ground. "It won't work, you two," she said, and with the snap of a finger, she removed the disguising illusion which had kept her original vampiric pallor. Having fully revealed herself as a pureblood, she shook her head. "I have the power to kill you all. I had it once before, too, when I drank the Romanov blood Cassandra gave me, on the night she gave it. I don't want to, and I never did. It might have been daft of me, but I thought I had a chance here to scare this woman away from all her insults and vitriol if I stung her a bit in a fight, now, while everyone thinks I'm a traitor anyway. It certainly wouldn't have gone well if I had tried doing it after I turned on my supposed 'new friends,' Cassandra and Duke Ashwood-"

At that moment, the floor gave way suddenly beneath her.

 

[Dmaster]

Camille didn't believe any of it for a minute, not responding to the hunters flanking Mariette with anything beyond a knowing glance in their direction. Her hands tightened their grips on her weaponry, those elegant gloves of her making none of the intense creaking that her leather ones would from such an action. In the moments that Mariette said her piece the creaking of wood and ice crackling beneath her feet got her to look down, only to gasp in shock as the floor suddenly caved in! In the blurred moments that followed she pushed herself forward, aiming to absorb the shock from the fall with her right shoulder down to her hip to perform a roll that would leave her relatively unscathed. It was a less than pleasant impact, but she could still fight through any lasting pain.

She coughed amidst all of the rubble and rose to her feet, knowing that this was her chance. As soon as she caught sight of the countess trying to get up, she let loose one dagger followed by another upon her. The Escarian huntress barely noticed the lich right next to her, but she was confident that this was his own doing, and she was somewhat ashamed to admit that she owed him her life. At least, that is what she had believed, fully expecting to die against Mariette moments before. "She's a pureblood! Hit her with everything you have!" she shouted up to her allies, starting to run up to the vampire with her rapier brandished. Once the gunfire ceased, she would move in.

 

[Infab]

"Are you crazy? She's our boss! Why the hell would we shoot her?! Shoot the headless woman!" spat the guard, shoving Galina away before taking aim with his single shot rifle and opening fire on Rosanna. The shots from the other guards continued to crack in the night air, as the rounds hit and pierced through Rosanna's body. The volume of fire started to slow her down, preventing her from moving forwards at a decent pace towards Cassandra, whom was moving away from her as fast as she could.

Nearby, a cluster of guards moved a small wagon over next to the courtyard. Upon it, something covered in a grey tarp. As the other guards continued to focus their efforts on Rosanna, the men climbed onto the wagon and jerked the tarp away.

Beneath it was a gatling gun. A magazine was loaded into it quickly, as another man moved in behind it and took aim at Rosanna. A few moments later, the crank began to turn. Rapid high caliber shots impacted Rosanna across various parts of her body, punching huge holes through her. An arm was ripped off, and her knee was blown apart as the fire from the gatling gun remained focused on her. Eventually, her other leg was shot off and her remaining arm was shot to pieces. Rosanna's rampage had been ended by automatic fire. Cassandra climbed to her feet, cackling loudly. "HahAHAH! Marvelous!!" she shouted, before scarfing down another vial of blood from her coat.

------

Inside, a fire began to rage upon the second floor of the mansion. It was on the opposite side of the house from the study that the duke had met Mariette in, buring through bedrooms and other areas of the large home. Below, the floor began to give way throughout the house as Ethraeil's plan worked. Frozen chunks of flooring cracked and shattered, sending whatever stood or lay atop them falling through the floor into the basement.

Camille and Mariette would fall into the basement, quite near where Ethraeil lay in wait. Ready to strike upon the aura he had detected before. He didn't know if it was Cassandra or not, but he didn't have time to deliberate as Camille told those still above to open fire on whomever it was. Ethraeil formed a long, sharp blade made of solid ice, before quickly rushing forwards and swinging at neck level on the pureblood that had fallen into the basement with them.

 

[K0mori]

When Mariette had hit the ground, she was slow to get up. It wasn't because she was hurt, but rather because she had expected the others to hold back when she had made clear her intention not to fight them and felt no need to rush. If nothing else, she was trying to reveal to them the identity of Cassandra's employer the moment she had fallen into the basement, but in their rush to kill the monster, everything else was forgotten. She was hit with knives and bullets clad in silver which did practically nothing, and rose calmly to her feet. Before she could say another word, however, her head was completely separated from her body. It hit the ground and rolled, leaving the rest of her to flop ungraciously to the ground at Ethraeil's feet.

 

[Viper Actual]

Galina cursed as the mercenary shoved her away. "Well, it was worth a try." She then spotted the wgaon being rolled up and before the tarp had been removed she knew it was bad news.
Quietly Galina snuck around and watched as the gatling gun was revealed and as it opened fire on Rosanna. Not good.

Galina, standing behind the wagon, took a knee and steadied herself. She shouldered her rifle and counted her targets. She took a deep breath. Behind her the pale figures arose from the ground and chanted out the names of those dying or about to die inside the mansion.

Galina pulled the trigger. Again. Again. She wasn't gonna stop untill the mercenaries at the wagon had been taken care of.

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil had expected his mark to be none other than Cassandra, after all who else could it have been? After his combat with the artificial pureblood at the inn, he was looking forward to a rematch and one that he would end decisively. However, as his blade met its mark he stilled as he realized it wasn't Cassandra. He looked upon the head of Mariette as it fell to the ground in complete shock, causing him to stumble back. "What is this..." he muttered before anger rose up within in. "WHAT IS THIS?!? AN ILLUSION? SORCERY?!" He took another glance at whom he had just felled, attempting to make sure he wasn't deceived by any means. Was it truly Mariette? If so... what had happened that led to this? Had she turned? Was it treachery at play? Or perhaps it was the machinations of something else?

Quickly he then realized partly what had occurred: Mariette had been turned into a pureblood much like how Cassandra had been. In a slight panic, he slowly came to hypothesize perhaps why. The hostility, the anger, the resentment in the group, it may have led to this. And his tone towards her didn't help. He suddenly felt as he himself had pushed her over to this fate, to fall to temptation of power... it reminded him how he was pushed to his own fate...

His mind began to whisper...
YOU TURNED HER TO EVIL.
YOU HAVE BECOME WHAT YOU TRULY HATE.
CORRUPTER.
YOU DID THIS.

"No... no, no, no, no... no..." he muttered as he dropped the ice blade, shattering it on the ground. "Please... no, no..." At this point it was almost as if he was whimpering like a dog. Ethraeil then roared in a mixture of agony, fear, confusion, and rage as he ran towards the basement door and blasted it open with his magic before running off into the forest behind the mansion.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob followed Valeria into the kitchen, just as ordered. Still holding tight to Rosanna's head, he used Aleister's gun to fend off incoming mercenaries. Once inside the kitchen, his heart sank as he saw Mariette and Camille about to fight. He was in utter shock, unable to say anything or even attempt to stop it, but despite Mariette being a pureblood, she hadn't killed Camille yet. He couldn't figure out what the Countess was saying, but it felt as though she were betraying the party. Then, the floor suddenly collapsed. As the dust settled in, he saw the blue flames of Ethraeil standing still, completely broken as the beheaded body of Mariette lay at his feet.

"Oh gods! No! NO!" he shouted. He couldn't believe it. What just happened? He wasn't sure about the intentions of the Countess, but he felt this was a terrible mistake. He looked at everyone in the room for a moment, before the sound of machinegun fire cut the scene short. Jakob immediately looked to Valeria as the machinegun brought about horrible memories of the past. "We need to get the hell out of here NOW, ma'am!"

 

[Radley]

Erwin held his gun steadily at Mariette as she explained her reasoning. In a faint moment, Erwin thought he recognized the glint in her eye. Anger. Angry perhaps over trying to prove oneself even when ones character was doubted at every turn. He felt some connection to this perceived shimmer in her eyes.
Suddenly the floor cracked and twisted, swallowing both Mariette and Camille into the darkness of the basement. Both Theodore and Erwin jumped and fell backwards as the floor nearly gave way under them as well.

As they gathered themselves, Camille ordered to fire. In the heat of the moment the pair took aim at Mariettes dazed form and began shooting.
The countess was riddled with bullets and blades, but just like Cassandra it didn't seem to make a difference.

And then, like a flash of lightning, Mariettes head came off like split log and her body fell to the dusty rubble with a soft thud.

The silence was deafening. It seemed almost as the world around them, like the chaos inside the mansion and the gatling gun outside, faded into obscurity.

The silence was broken when the lich began whimpering before abruptly storming through the cellar door and out of the mansion in a scream fit of rage.

With Theodore in tow, Erwin made his way into the basement carefully. They spotted Camille, standing amidst the debris whilst breathing heavily. She looked intensely on the body of the countess. Stepping over the pieces of the crashed floor, Erwin located the head of Mariette and lifted it by the hair. Her face bore a grimace of shock, like everything in her life had been swept away by circumstances beyond her control. After over a hundred years living with a curse that was finally mitigated, she met her end in a way that she would have never expected while so many of her plans remained incompleted.

This is how it feels to be mortal. Savour it.

He then glanced back at the body, then to Camille and Theodore.

"We need to put her head back and revive her."

 

[KRIY]

Wesley hid from a concealed position as he was using his crossbow to shoot at the guards. one by one, some of the surrounding guards who were shooting at Jakob and the others fell from Wesley's crossbow bolts. Wesley went out of his concealed spot and went to a pile of debris near his companions, safe from being mowed down by the Gatling gun.

"Mr. Phillomon! Are you okay?!"

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob was silent, caught in the moment, having lost Mariette felt like he had lost a soldier. It took him a while to snap back into the present to realize that young Wesley was next to him. He looked at the young man and patted him on the shoulder. "That doesn't matter! Stick close to us and if you see Cassandra, RUN." he said while awaiting the next set of orders from Valeria.

 

[KRIY]

Wesley peeked his weapon out of cover and shot a bolt blindly and went back in. attention still focused towards the constable "I can't just leave everyone to die here when Cassandra comes, Mr. Phillomon! I promised myself that not one of our companions would have their lives taken!... but it seems that its already done." Wesley glancing at Mariette's decapitated body.

 

[Breadman]

"If you hope to revive her, it would be pointless monsieur Erwin." Theodore replied with a hint of sadness in his voice. This was not the way he would want things to end. Not for her. "The countess will just separate it again." Undoing his jacket, Theodore walked over to where the body lay lifeless. He got down to one knee and fished a vial out of one of his inner pockets. It was rather grisly work, he had to admit, but there was no better time than now. One after another, he filled the vials from his jacket directly from the neck stump, when the blood stopped flowing he had to find an artery and squeeze to fill up the rest. After the fourth vial, he looked at the contents inside and glanced towards Camille "You better have been right about her being a pureblood." his eyes focusing on the object in his hand again "Otherwise, I'd be just like my father right now. A butcher without a cause."

Theodore turned his head towards Erwin "The heart, we get that, we can catapult pureblood extermination forwards by years."

 

[Radley]

Erwin looked around the scene in a baffled way as Theodore did his work and talked. "What are you saying?" He finally replied. "Valeria said we only need to stick her head back on her body and it will regenerate."

He looked upon the roughed and shredded corpse of the countess. "And what about the Duke? And the plan she spoke of? Right now, all we've done is put another haughty bloodsucker in the dirt."

He lifted the countess head so that it seemed to be looking at the scholar, "If we bring her back we can use her knowledge and power to find the maggot nest in this rotten house so we can burn the whole thing to the ground." He said in a exasperated fashion.

Erwin himself could scarcely believe the words that were coming out of his mouth. He had detested the countess for being not only a creature of the night, but one with such despicable ambitions as well. Yet somehow, the events that had lead up to this moment had made everything seem clearer to him. Almost as if by some divine intervention of the mind. Whatever it meant.

 

[Breadman]

"And who will carry out the interrogation?" Theodore calmly responded as he got up and moved the head aside as if he were shooing away a fly "Are you going to restrain her as she regains her full strength and starts tossing people around like rag-dolls? And if we lock her up, where would we do that? Her allies would likely come looking as we try to tie her down. The Citadel? Isla del Korvoia? Th Vault? Her allies would come looking no doubt to either prevent the truth from escaping or to bust her out of whatever imprisonment we find. One pureblood can takes a small army of inquisitors to..." Theodore stopped himself. He looked towards the severed head hanging as Erwin had a grasp full of her hair "Wait a second...why didn't I think of this sooner...." Theodore began to speak in a more hushed tone as he paced back and fourth, almost mumbling to himself

He stopped when he noticed Erwin was getting more and more confused by the second. At this point he must think the scholar mad. Never the less, he began to explain.

"The body. Destroy the body, keep the head!" His tone was becoming more rapid almost like a desparate man trying to plead his case. "The lich, his necomantic powers. We keep the head, we reanimate it when we are a safe distance away and he will make it talk." In Theodore's case it was to plead his plan not to sound like pure insanity. What he suggested was nothing short of heresy and going against what the gods stood for. Nothing a normal person would consider.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister was right behind Jakob as the gunfire continued, prepared to go out to find Wesley before the Inquisitor ordered them all to the kitchen, and the young man appeared anyways with his crossbow. This was utter madness. He had lost sight of Mariette, wondering what in the divines that woman had planned. Rosanna was already fighting hand to hand with Cassandra and seemingly winning before that dullahan tossed the pureblood out of a window. If he made it out of this alive, then this would certainly be one of the more interesting tales he could delve into.

Not wanting to take off into the mess alone, and fearing for the others, Aleister remained with the constable. He used his body as a shield for any stray bullets, hoping they weren't silver. At least if they were lead, he could potentially save Jakob a great deal of pain and possibly his life. Silver rounds would be an absolute hassle to deal with but at least they wouldn't kill him.

He made it to the kitchen with the others, spotting Camille and Mariette getting ready to show down. Gods damn it, don't you fools do it! He was contemplating getting between the pair of them in all its foolish logic when the floor finally gave out. Aleister was fairly dexterous. He enjoyed being able to move fluidly and use his speed to his advantage over brute strength. While it was startling, he crouched low as he fell and braced himself - landing on his feet and hands like a cat.

Through the soot, dust, and plaster of the collapsed floor, he saw figures moving and Camille shouting. His heightened awareness was forcing him into stalling, thinking of far too many possibilities and actions all at once. He was torn between jumping into the action, helping the others, or waiting to see where he was needed when he finally saw it. Mariette decapitated, and her corpse falling to the floor like a sack of grain.

The shock of seeing her go down was gut wrenching. Despite their earlier argument at the stairs, he still counted her as a friend, if only being foolishly reckless in her antics to become a pureblood and deceive Cassandra. He didn't truly believe her to be turning traitor, but he knew the others wouldn't realize that, and her actions here would bring about more pain than it was worth. In the end, it seemed he was right, but not for the reasons he expected. She was dead.

And then like the carrion birds they were, Erwin and Theodore descended upon the fallen vampire. The mad scholar was taking blood from the decapitated head. Aleister couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Away! Away you fiendish vultures! Don't you lay your filthy hands upon her!" He stormed across the wreckage, caked in blood and dust. He heard what Theodore had suggested about reanimating her head to make her talk, and his hand instinctively twitched out as if he was going for the man's throat but he stopped.

"If you even dare repeat that suggestion, I will bind you to a pyre and burn you myself for such blatant disregard for any sanctity of life and death," he snarled, baring his teeth. He got down on his knees beside Mariette's corpse, wondering just what the hell he was to do.

"Valeria will decide what to do. If she is not revived, she will be burned, or buried. Keep away from her. I will oversee this." While he was enraged at their actions towards a friend, the priest side of him was ready to declare Theodore a heretic right here for his suggestion to use necromancy, and Aleister was already an incredibly unorthodox clergyman.

He looked over the corpse and was prepared to carry the body with the grimoire out of the basement when they could safely leave. He had no idea what was going on anywhere else.

 

[Radley]

So many things were happening in rapid succession that Erwin didn't know quite which emotions were suitable for the scene that was unfolding.
As Aleister had charged out of the darkness, Erwin put his hand on the pistol grip and almost drew on the vampire, but restrained himself when Aleister did.
He looked on as the marquis fell to his knees next to the lifeless body of Mariette. It was a macabre image, yet tragic. Like some grand painting in a nobles study.

"You see to your proceedings, preacher" Erwin said in a solemn tone, eyeing the bloodied Aleister with a grave look, "But the head comes with us."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"Absolutely not," he snapped, looking up at Erwin. "Where the body goes, the head goes. I won't allow you to do your macabre parlor tricks with it. She deserves a burial. Especially after this... this farce of night."

Ideally, he wanted to send the body back to Escaria so that she could be interned in her estate, but in the state of the corpse and where they were, sending a body back on ice would be an incredible fortune, and they may not even have time for it. Either they could get it to some experts with the church to preserve it, or she would go in the ground here in Grimtham. Such a venerable vampire deserved far, far better than this - even a foolish one.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob descended into the basement, carefully holding Rose's head close to his chest. He got close to Aleister as he crouched down to look at the corpse of Mariette, while he was fascinated by Theodore's knowledge, the fact that he wanted to do such of unspeakable things to the corpse of Mariette made him feel disgusted with the scholar. "For the love of Gyasis Theodore, she is the woman who saved us from being killed by Cassandra at the lodge, have some respect!" he then looked at the corpse, his sadness growing even bigger as the priest held the countess body, even if she wanted or had the intention to betray the Inquiry, a woman like her deserved better than this. He then looked at Erwin as he insisted on carrying the head, to which Aleister snapped. "You are not going anywhere with her head, Erwin, you are going to give the head to Aleister now, it's not up for discussion."

 

[Radley]

Erwin glared at Jakob and switched the head to his left hand, using his right hand to pull out his revolver again and leveling it on Jakob.

"Im afraid it is. And it's a discussion you're gonna have with Mr.Couldt here, if you have any further opinions."

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob saw Erwins reaction coming, he was quick to answer aiming Aleister's revolver at the highwayman "I said... it is not up for discussion, drop your gun... NOW."