Fantasy Hunter's Moon [IC] [CLOSED]

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob looked to Erwin, slightly surprised to see some compassion from the hardened hunter. "Well...you're right in a way. Lots of stories about immortals that once seeked to do great things only to end in horrible ways." He looked down for a moment, thinking of what to say next. "But nevertheless, I disagree. I trust Aleister, and I want to trust Mariette as well. Remember, just like one human isn't like another, no two vampires are alike. Perhaps our companions can accomplish great things in their immortality. I understand why you say this, though." Jakob looked to Erwin. "If the day comes that Aleister betrays us, I'll take responsability. I'll be the first to say 'you were right, Erwin', and probably buy you a beer." he said, with a joking tone.

 

[K0mori]

Spineless, craven, recreant, faithless, joke of a man! Two-faced apostate, pandering son of a bitch!

She wouldn't allow such words to cross her lips, but Mariette was seething at Aleister's response. The bastard wouldn't admit to wanting her dead, but would have gladly buried her to avoid rocking the boat among the utter savages, Erwin and Theodore. Perhaps she should have known, after he rejected his chance to become a pureblood, that Aleister was truly just as much of a coward as she had been before her resurrection, but with only half the mind for maneuvering. Maybe he was jealous, even, that she would seize such a prize herself, and this was his way of assuring himself that her success was actually a failure, and his inability to advance was actually the virtue of patience itself. Aleister would never again be a friend. He would never again be worthy of respect, and should the opportunity arise, she would bury him.

On the other hand, she was growing to respect the Senior Inquisitor more with each passing day. "Erwin is the one who ought to apologize, Mademoiselle. I thank you for looking after my well-being nonetheless, and if you plan to address the issue yourself, then I will leave Theodore alone."

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil glanced ever so slightly towards Galina's sketch to observe for a moment before returning to his vigilant watch outwards toward the swamp. It was indeed a good sketch, though art was something he never really appreciated nor admired. "I am on vigil, in case something decides to cause trouble." Ethraeil responded calmly. "Though if you speak as to what I think of right now... nothing comes to mind. I am meditating partly, clearing my mind of turmoil."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister hoped the inquisitor would at least make a novel show of addressing Theodore for the man's own sake, because the last thing he wanted to see was a similar attempt to 'humble' the man in a similar matter as Mariette tried on Camille. In fact, it seemed that the inquisitor needed to lay out a little more discipline for the ruffians of the inquiry. This was hardly a bunch of comrades. Professionals, perhaps, but it lacked the binding aspect he felt was needed for a truly successful group. Even a pack of unruly schoolboys running from morning communion had more cohesion and camaraderie than this group.

Mariette's attention was on Valeria know, and he shifted his own attention elsewhere. It seemed Galina had been doing some sketching of the lich while he had been talking. He blinked and leaned slightly over the wagon to get a good look at the drawing from his vantage point. From what he could tell, it was rather decent. He hadn't sketched nor painted in quite a while. Perhaps it would help kill the time he often had waiting for the others during the night.

"Perhaps you have a calling as an artist, Galina," he called out. "There is an ethereal aspect to capturing still life on the canvas. You seem to have a knack for it."

 

[Infab]

"Judging from how most of the others in the group have been, he might not take it well. Still, necromancy is a vile art and a crime against the dead and the living, as well as Adona himself. Those that practice it inside the church are renegades, whom should be dealt a harsh punishment for such heresy." stated Valeria, her voice bearing a stern tone. Eventually, she stood from where she was sitting. "I believe I've had enough sleep for the night. I shall swap out with one of the others so they may get some rest." she said, reaching down and picking up her hat. She slipped it on, before rubbing her hand where the fresh scar was, beneath her glove. She didn't plan on seeing that demon any more this night.

 

[Dmaster]

Camille could only roll her eyes as she heard the distant murmurings of conversation taking place behind her. Were they not supposed to be sleeping? If it was their turn to keep watch she may as well get to sleep rather soon. Thankfully she heard Valeria well enough to know that was exactly her intent, and the Escarian had no desire to stay awake at the same time as the Senior Inquisitor with the terrible things she said about her still hanging in the air. Getting up from her seated position she steps over to the stump and removes all of her quills, getting to holstering them one after another before stepping back toward the camp. Wordlessly she set up her bedroll and was quickly getting in a position comfortable enough to get some sleep.

 

[Viper Actual]

Galina bowed her head towards Ethraeil. "I will not disturb your watch. Meditation is key to maintaining an advantage over those who wish to hurt us. Granted, Tsavanian meditation is more about using sticks to spar hours on end."
She sat down but not before Aleister spoke up. Once again Galina bowed her head in acknowledgment. "Why thank you, Aleister."

Gesturing towards her notebook and its accessories Galina raised an eyebrow. "Would you like to help me? All I need is for you to remain still where you are."

 

[Infab]

As the day and night passed by, Cassandra kept a close watch over Wesley, as the infection began to take its course over the young man. If he needed anything, she'd disappear in a blur, and return rather promptly with it. A blanket? Done. Water? Also done. She behaved almost like a caring mother, tending to his every need. He really did remind her of someone she deeply cared about, apparently. Who, though? Perhaps a crush or lover?

------

The night passed slowly, with members of the inqury group getting their needed rest and preparing for the continuing journey to find their comrades the next day. Meanwhile, the pair captured by Colonel Wallace and his men found themselves suddenly getting drowsy and falling asleep. The reason? Their food that they had been fed had been laced with a sleeping powder of some sort. They awoke to find themselves in the middle of the swamp, darkness decending upon them as they rest against a tree. Apparently the day had flown by, and night was upon them.

Between them was a wooden box with a lid and a note attached to the top. It apparently was a note left by none other than Wallace himself, listing what was inside the box and wishing them good luck. Inside the box, two odd looking pistols as well as ammunition for both. Two large knives were also included, apparently silver edged with a sheath. A few bandages were included, as well as what appeared to be a bottle of morphine and a syringe.

As they gathered what they could from the box, there was a howl in the distance. Then another, followed by a cluster of more. It was time to go.

------

As the group continued south into the swamp, they heard howls in the distance. Werewolves. "Shit. Well, ladies and gentlemen, you better get ready to fight some fleabags." said Rosanna, drawing her lever action from its holster. Valeria drew her sawed off from the small of her back, and made sure it was loaded before looking to the others. "Stay together, keep an eye out. They travel and attack in packs." she said, before flicking the reins of her horse and picking up the pace. They had to find Erwin and Jakob before it was too late.

------

The journey towards Porthcrawl from Tergaron had been rather dull, really, for Sergey Chaykovsky. Having arrived a few days ago from Tsavania, he expected to find something exciting to delve into on the island, having heard rumors of otherworldly happenings on the island. So far, the only exciting thing he had encountered was a mansion burning down near Tresomin. He sighed as he continued to ride southward towards the port city, which had been under quarantine for the past few months. He himself a doctor, he figured his assistance could be used in fighting the ongoing plague there.

Swamps were nothing new to him, having been through the war ten years ago between Tsavania and Atraca. The most you had to worry about were insects carrying infectious diseases, or drinking from standing water. As he road on into the night, he began to hear howling in the distance. Werewolves? In the swamp? That's unusual.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Waking up in the middle of the swamp was surprising. As soon as he woke up, Jakob slapped Erwin on the chest to wake him up before noticing the box. He allowed Erwin to open it to reveal its contents. A knife for each of them, morphine, bandages, and two semi-automatic pistols. Fascinating Daristein-made wonders. Jakob looked the pistol over curiously. While he had heard of these interesting little wonders, and how they were made back in Daristein, he had never actually seen one in person. His fascination with the weapon was cut short as he soon heard the distant howls in the swamp. Flashbacks of his war days coming back to the forefront of his mind. Him scouring the land, his unit of young men and women cowering in fear as the werebeasts picked them off one by one. His eyes shifting about as he could spot their yellow eyes looking at him from the trees. He snapped back to reality, and focused on Erwin as the brigand gathered his own weapons. "Alright...okay...we're doing this, brother. We're gonna survive. I'll grab the morphine. They'll have no trouble smelling us, but if we're lucky, we can set up a good ambush. Take as many of those bastards out as we can." Jakob grabbed a few magazines for his weapon. "One more thing. If they get me, run as fast as you can while they're distracted with me...and that ain't up for discussion."

 

[Radley]

Surprised, Erwin was stunned by Jakobs selflesness in the matter. Unable to formulate a fitting response, he simply nodded in acknowledgment with a stiff upper lip.
Erwin had been equally fascinated by the firearms, but he grabbed the knife immediately as Jakob took one of the pistols and the medical supplies.
Looking over the silver edge of the knife quickly he then handed the weapons to Jakob.

In a splat, Erwin fell backwards. As he landed on the muddy ground he trashed slightly as to cover himself with the muck. Stepping up, he took one final handful of mud and smeared it on his face.
He took the gear back from Jakob and looked at him with a grave stare from behind his new mask.

"Let's go."

 

[Breadman]

Theodore was riding at the back of the carriage when the howls began. He checked his revolver and made sure the right munitions are in place. Silver bullets for werebeasts and firebombs should bring them down quick. A right toss would ignite the pack leader and the rest would scatter them into the woods or make them stop to put themselves out in the mud. If he was lucky, the flammable gasses Galina mentioned last night would come into play. Remembering her words, he turned to her as she was riding near him

"Galina, catch." He undid one of the bombs from his belt and tossed it her way "Silver mist. If the beasts get too close, cover your face and shatter it on the ground as it will release silver particles into the air. It will buy you time to get away." He turned to face forwards and spurred his horse to pick up the pace.

 

[Dmaster]

Camille drew her rapier on horseback upon hearing the piercing howls break through the dank swamp air, narrowing her eyes to place their origin. Fighting on horseback was not exactly something she was hoping to do, yet since they had to move quickly to find the others she was well aware of the necessity of it. Her left hand held at the reins and she gave a nod to the others before she spurred the creature to move faster, staying with the rest of the group as they made their advance.

"Not everyday we face whole packs of werewolves. Keep the way lit and stay alert and I'm sure we shall be fine." she called out over the stamping hooves of the horses.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob looked to Erwin as he covered his body in mud, letting out a chuckle as the man emerged from the bog water covered in swamp muck and mud. He gave the man a smirk. "Clever. Very clever." he said, before putting his suit jacket and shirt away. He grabbed a handful of mud, covering his face and most of his chest. There was some advantage to being dark skinned. "Alright, lets move." As the duo got away from their waking location, Jakob could hear the sound of leaves rustling. He made a sign to Erwin to stop, then motioned to take cover. Jakob slipped behind a half-rotten tree, looking to his surroundings as he heard more nearby howling. He readied his gun, racking the slide, before looking to Erwin and raising a fist to hold fire.

 

[Radley]

Erwin cocked the gun and took out his knife as the two crept into the foliage. He scanned the areas adjacent to the pair, so as to have a somewhat observed perimiter

 

[Infab]

As the pair moved through the swamp underbrush, stepping through puddles of standing water and dealing with mosquitos in the darkness, the rustling bushes forced them to stop. Jakob took cover, while Erwin continued through the foilage.

It was a mistake on Jakob's part.

A bush rustled next to Jakob, and a moment later a fully transformed werewolf pounced out at him. The werewolf took a swing as he flew by, the claws of his massive hand raking across Jakob's back. Not too deep, but it hurt quite a lot. The werewolf sprinted away into the darkness, slipping into some bushes and disappearing as Jakob fired off a pair of shots at the creature. More howls followed.

-------

The inquiry group heard the shots a moment later. Not too far away. "That's probably Erwin and Jakob. Come on. We gotta get to them before the Colonel's men slaughter them." said Valeria, forcing her horse to pick up the pace as she trudged on in the direction of the shots.

 

[Radley]

Erwin turned around as soon as he heard the commotion, but as he did the werewolf was already gone and Jakob had fallen to the ground.

Sprinting over, he skid the last way on the mud and stopped next to Jakob as his eyes darted around the trees and waterways.
"You all right?" He asked with a disconnected calm as his eyes zipped around with his pistol at the ready. He had no time to look down on the wounded constable.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob was looking to his surroundings as Erwin made his way through the dense swamp grass. He was ready to follow till he heard rustling next to him. Glowing yellow eyes stared him down. "...Clever guy." he managed to get out, preparing to spin about and shoot the beast, before it pounced him and slashed his back. Jakob let out a yelp, as the beast slipped away into the dark. When Erwin approached him to ask if he was alright, the constable let out a pained chuckle. "It smarts, but I'm fine." he said, getting up and looking to Erwin a bit ashamed. "There goes our cover. Fuck!" It was Jakob's fault that the werebeasts knew where they were now. "Guess I got rusty with these things. Should have kept moving like you...now they know where we are. Sorry."

 

[Radley]

"shut your mouth with the apologizing." Erwin said after pulling Jakob off the ground. "Come on. We need to go so you can get that beer you owe me."

Erwin didn't want to run. Partly because thats what the werebeasts might expect, but mostly because it would draw their attention even further. This is why he hated swamps, as even the most careful movements would make sounds in the muddy ground and ankle deep waters.

Never the less, he began moving forward slowly, motioning for Jakob to follow and keep his eyes open. Attempting to throw off their pursuers, he picked up a stick and threw it towards the direction they had originally come from.

 

[The_Rifleman]

As Sergey rode south towards Porthcrawl, he reflected on the past couple days. Having arrived to the island, he was excited at the prospect of new experiences, and new hunting opportunities. He's heard rumors his entire travel from Tsavania of all sorts things happening here, from otherwordly to massive vampiric and beast problems. Nothing he hasn't faced before and probably couldn't handle but his curiosity got the better of him. Days later, now he was bitterly disappointing. Every town he's been to, has just regurgitated rumors, but nothing more. The closest to any action he's gotten so far was a mansion burning and "mass suicide" as the locals around Tresomin put it. He didn't buy their story, and when he explored the forest near the mansion he found small craters akin to that of explosives, and bullet holes in trees. If it was a suicide, why is there a scene of conflict here?

Regardless, he couldn't find anything else and chose to ride south to Porthcrawl, towards the quarantine. Maybe something there is the root cause of all this mystery, and at the very least, he'll get to keep practicing some medicine and help a couple people out. He got as far as the swampy marshes, near town before things went from zero to a hundred. Distant shots rang out to his right, deep into the swamp but definitely close enough for him to hear. Then a loud yelp, and howling. Werewolves, and someone's in trouble.

He chuckled to himself while he drew his revolvers, and checked that they were loaded with silver bullets. What are my lucky chances that my favorite animal happens to be close by? He pushed the horse towards the nearest tree, and hooked the rope up to it, and calmed the spooked animal. He then took a small vial out of bag, a brownish color liquid inside. He opened the vial, and dosed a couple drops onto his neck and chest, before plugging his nose with cotton. Goodluck getting my scent now, as a rich aroma of mud and manure and other earthly smells filled the air, enough for even the horse to back up a couple feet. He drew his revolvers, one in each hand with the hammer cocked, and slowly began delving into the swamp towards where he last heard the shots rang out, taking his steps carefully to make as little noise as possible. He was entirely focused on the hunt, ignoring all the annoying insects and flora as continued inward.

 

[joshuadim]

"I will move ahead and kill some of the beasts, you find the men." Ethraeil said as he rushed ahead with blistering speed and straight into the murky swamp. As he ran ahead, he scouted the region for auras and felt the familiar residues of werewolves. There were many of them, and they were close too. An ice lance formed in one hand while the other formed a regular sword and he rushed towards the nearest werewolf to ambush it.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister had allowed Galina to sketch him the prior night as she suggested, as it was a fun little thing to past the time with. He had already been mostly still on top of the carriage as he was laying on his side and looking out over the others. It was rather disappointing by that point to move on as he had gotten comfortable, but there was no point in feeling that way. They had to move on quickly to rescue Jakob, Erwin, and perhaps Wesley.

He had been inside the carriage when the first of the howling was heard. Aleister didn't have anything particularly against werewolves in general, but in this case he could hardly find anything to like about them. Beasts hunting for sport in the woods. It was rather deplorable, though there were plenty of vampires who behaved in similar ways. He himself wasn't a stranger to a few playful pursuits, but in his case he never actually drank from his victims or harmed them. They often had quite the scare, naturally. A bit of youthful mischievousness that he had done away with. For the most part.

When people began moving into action, he climbed out of the carriage and back onto the top. He sat down but steadied himself with his feet, drawing his revolver and checking his silver bullets. Eight left. In the span of a few days, he had used well over half the rounds he carried with him. He had gone years before without ever using more than three. After this, he'd probably be out of silver. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more surprises after all this was done before he could procure more silver bullets.

He overheard Theodore pass a silver dust bomb to Galina, and he figured they were aware enough not to use it anywhere near him at this point, but he would keep on the carriage and well away from the blast radius. With his pistol in both hands for steady aim, he watched the tree line as they continued fast through the swamp. A few gunshots sounded and they were certainly close.

"The gods bless the righteous. We have cause here tonight, friends. Best of luck," he called out to any of the riders who departed and those nearby.

 

[Viper Actual]

Galina grabbed the silver bomb mid-air and nodded. "Understood."

The howling was getting closer. Galina grabbed her rifle and hopped off of Boris, telling him to stay calm. She tied her horse to the carriage and lowered herself before sprinting into the swamp.

"Queen of Whispers lend me your guidance."

As Galina muttered the phrase the pale woman appeared out of a nearby tree, her face surrounded by rotten bark and slimy insects native to the swamp.

"Jaaakooob..." Whispered the face with a crooked smile as she appeared out of another tree to keep up with Galina's pacing. Galina felt it too.
Tears rolling down her cheeks. A burning pain where the banshee had grabbed her arm all those years ago.

She pulled up her hood and shouldered her rifle. Galina was closing in on Jakob.

 

[KRIY]

Pain hasn't been a problem for the young Vampire Hunter. He's caught himself with pretty bad gashes and bruises from ghoul encounters back in his hometown. but this. this pain was something far different. everything in his body hurts. although the pain is rather tolerable, it was quite annoying. He decided to sit up from the hay stack bed that Cassandra placed him originally and reached over to a glass of water. he then noticed something when something clinked from the water's glass when he tried to take a sip.

Fangs.

After downing some water into his system, he placed a finger onto one of his fangs and felt its length and its pointy tip. he then noticed Cassandra from his peripheral view. reading a book, gently scanning it before flipping to another page. Wesley remembered her talk about someone who looked just like him whom she cared about. his curiosity got the better of him.

"Hey uh, Cassandra? I've got a question to ask you. If I recalled correctly, You told me about someone you knew that looked like me that you cared about in the past. is it okay if you can tell me who it was you were referring to?"

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob was happy to know he could actually depend on Erwin in this situation. He patted his shoulder as he helped him up. "You'll get far more than one beer. The whole damn bar!" he said jokingly, following the hunter through the foliage. He knew the werebeasts would still be able to track them easily, since Jakob was now bleeding a bit from the wounds on his back. As the duo made their way through the grass, they started to hear the sounds of rustling bushes and leaves all around. They were potentially surrounded now, and there would be no way they would make it out without fighting. Unless...

"I'll get you that beer someday, brother." he said, looking to Erwin with a smile. "You go. I'll try and gather most of their attention, but they'll track us both so be on your guard." He then laughed a bit. "And when you get back home, you better name one of your cattle after me, you bastard." He then turned and ventured in a different direction through the grass and bushes, making as much noise as he could to draw the werewolves towards him. "HEY YOU UGLY MUTTS! I'M HERE! COME GET ME!"

 

[Radley]

Oh you damn fool!
Erwin reached out towards Jakob as he walked away but he couldn't manage to produce any words of protest. As the constable walked away noisily, hollering as he went, Erwin took a look around.
It would be stupid for him to try and escape. Once they gutted Jakob, they would go straight after him. Had he known where he was going it would have been possible to outrun the fiends, but as he was still clueless as of their location it was a futile effort.

If he stayed with Jakob, at least they had a slight chance to fight them off and increase their survival odds. With his knife and pistol at the ready, he hid amongst some of the foliage.
Now he could only wait and pray, that the focus on Jakob was big enough that he would go unnoticed. If successful, he could spring a one man ambush on at least one other werewolf and sow disarray in their ranks.