Fantasy Hunter's Moon [IC] [CLOSED]

[K0mori]

Mariette yawned, cracked her neck, and smiled as she heard the howling and the shots fired. We've nearly caught up. Très bon...

At Valeria's cue, she stood up from the front bench of the carriage, placed a foot up on the dashboard, and leapt forward, over the draft horses, and onto the road in a full sprint. She was faster than the horses, even at a full gallop, and she easily pulled ahead of the riders in the group with her revolver at the ready.

Jakob was her main concern. Erwin could rot as far as she cared, but the constable was a decent man. Even if he, too, wished for Mariette to be buried rather than ressurected, he had the benefit of being ignorant of the truth of the matter, unlike Aleister. She simply hoped that the men hadn't been poisoned or afflicted with lycanthropy overnight, and that rescuing Jakob wouldn't be a temporary victory.

She cut into the trees, bounding from one patch of dry land to another to avoid splashing herself with mud. She didn't care that the werewolves would be able to smell her perfume; they couldn't catch her, and even if they could, they wouldn't want to.

 

[Infab]

Cassandra glanced up with a smile, folding the corner of the page she was reading and shutting the book. "Well...like I said, I don't quite remember entirely who you remind me of. He...He looked a lot like you." she said, setting the book down. She looked down to the floor for a moment, then looked back to him. "...I remember the last time I saw him, though. I had been turned...and I came back to him. I think I tried to get him to become like me, so that we could be together. His reaction was..." She paused for a moment, frowning, before continuing. "...he called me a monster. An abomination. I remember just getting...so angry at him. I said that I'd show him what a monster really was...and I killed him. I ripped him apart and left."

She went quiet, her eyes watering. She then wiped her eyes and looked up to Wesley and smiled warmly. "...You accepted, though! And I'm eternally grateful."

-------

As the group headed in the direction of the gunshots, they started to notice things moving in the corners of their vision. Before they could properly react, though, they were set upon by the rest of the werewolves of Wallace's First Platoon. Fourty-five werewolves were in this swamp now, with a chunk of them attacking the inquiry group while the rest hunted Erwin and Jakob. Valeria looked about just in time to have a werewolf plow into the side of her horse, knocking it over and sending her sailing off into the mud with shotgun in hand. Other werewolves set upon the group, slamming into their horses, or taking swipes at them as they sat in the saddle. Apparently one also got the bright idea to hurl a large rock at Aleister as he sat atop the carriage, which clipped his shoulder and knocked him off into the mud. Galina had her rifle ripped from her hands as a werewolf swiped at her, knocking her into a puddle.

Ethraeil would soon find himself being set upon as well, by five werewolves at once. His blue glowing flames forcing him to stick out like a sore thumb in the darkness. Meanwhile, a pair of werewolves launched themselves at Mariette, one from the front and one from behind. Her perfume having drawn them to her.

-------

The remaining werewolves that were hunting Jakob and Erwin did as planned, with most of them moving towards Jakob. His yelling seemed to be working. Still, Erwin would have three to have to deal with, as they moved through the brush quietly towards him.

-------

Distant fighting could be heard by Sergey as he trudged through the darkness and mud of the swamp. He'd have to stomp faster if he intended to help in any way.

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil narrowed his eyes as some of the werewolves set upon him, as they sought to overpower him with numbers alone. However, little did they know was that they stood in his domain. The murky water of the swamp submerged his feet and it was the perfect opportunity to do some crowd control. Ethraeil raised his ice lance, focusing his magic into it before stabbing it into the ground beneath him quickly. The water flash froze over before large spikes of ice grew from the affected areas and launched themselves at the attackers.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob continued to move through the swamp brush as best he could, shouting as loud as possible. Trying his best to get the attention of the werewolves, moving them away from Erwin. "Come on, you ugly dogs! I'm right here you bi--" he managed to get out before a charging werewolf leaped onto Jakob. Its claws sank into Jakob's side, forcing him to yelp in pain as he fell into the mud with the beast. He struggled as best he could against the fiend, whom was much more powerful than he was. He managed to get his knife and shove it deep into the werewolf's throat, cleaving through an artery in the process as Jakob drew it back out and stabbed again. Blood poured from the wound, bathing Jakob's face in red, until the werewolf finally collapsed atop him.

Jakob quickly shoved the corpse off, crawling out from under it, before looking back to his surroundings. He felt extreme pain coming from his right side, and glanced down to his shoulder where a new wave of pain seemed to be coming from. As he saw it, he went pale. A bite. Everything around Jakob seemed to cease making sound. The only thing he could hear was his own breathing as he stared directly at the wound. He knew the risks, and he took it. He looked at his gun for a moment, the thought of becoming one of those things surging to the forefront of his mind. The glowing eyes, the feral nature, the animal hunger. All of those things he saw during the war, and he had the chance right now to fix it with a single bullet to the head.

But no. His companion was still in danger. Jakob might not survive, but he'd make sure Erwin did. With both knife and gun in hand, he looked about. "THAT WAS PATHETIC! DO ANY OF YOU KNOW HOW TO FIGHT?! COME GET SOME!" he shouted.

 

[Dmaster]

The horse the Escarian huntress road upon was suddenly tackled by a duo of werewolves, knocking Camille off of her saddle and sending her tumbling into the mud. She was quick to get up, one knee dug into the mire as she kept the other bent and rose to both of her feet, teeth grit as she squinted into their dim surroundings. Her horse was injured, but it was still alive as it thrashed about in the swamp water to defend itself to the best of its ability. Quickly she produced her quills, drawing three into her offhand from her leg holster as the two beasts were beginning to encroach upon her.

"You knocked me into the mud. You're going to regret doing that!" she spat, throwing two daggers at one werewolf as they began their charge, her rapier poised to stab the other through the heart.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister could see the shapes of dozens of werewolves tromping through the swamp with his well-attuned dark vision. At first there only seemed to be a few, then a handful more... and more after that. Grimacing, he realized there were far more than he had anticipated. This had to have been an entire unit, if not more. While werewolves like this didn't necessarily pose a massive risk to his life, he could still be mauled pretty badly. So long as one didn't find some wood and try to pierce his heart, or lop off his head, the beasts weren't entirely lethal. A few slashes could heal easily.

The fiends began to pour in around the group, and Aleister got off two silver shots on two separate werewolves as they moved quickly towards the carriage. Six bullets left, and only four left in the cylinder. He had his silver needle-like dirk in his boot, but using that against werewolves would be most uncomfortable. Fighting hand to hand was not something he was a stranger to, but the werewolves were not creatures he fought. Had they been human or vampire, it wouldn't be so concerning, but a werewolf's brute strength was impressive.

He saw more movement on the other side of the wagon and he turned fast, firing another shot at a werewolf, only to realize there was a sizeable rock soaring through the air towards him. He made the split second decision to shoot the rock thrower first before attempting to move out of the way, but he took too much time and the damn thing hit his shoulder. The force of it sent him tumbling backwards over the top of the carriage and into the grimy dirt below. The vampire let loose a string of rather unpriestly-like curses. A second set of precious clothes to be dirtied up in only a few short days. At least this was only a little muck - that was easier to clean than dried blood, but it was infuriating to say the least.

Aleister was fast to his feet, his pistol at the ready with only two rounds left in it now. With no immediate attack on him, he quickly - and barehanded - loaded the last two bullets from the pouch into his gun. The touch caused his fingers to turn numb and a pins-and-needles sensation assaulted his hand momentarily. Four bullets, and that was it. A miserable thing against so many werewolves.

Another beast skittered past and he fired, but this one may not have hit home as it was a quick shot. They were easy enough to see, but for the others the darkness must be brutal. The beasts could no doubt see in the dark, and their smell was certainly phenomenal. The humans were at a disadvantage in the darkness....

The darkness! Aleister realized what he could do quickly. He muttered an incantation and focused his willpower to summon a spell from the depths of the divine pool he had access too. An orb of brilliant blue-white light began to appear in his left hand, growing from the size of a pea to that of an orange. It was like a miniature star was being formed as everything near the carriage was lit brightly, and the light was strong enough that it in his hand it was a great deal of discomfort to his own eyes. No heat was radiated, but such illumination near him was uncommon.

He raised his left hand up above him and forced the light into the sky. The orb shot up, leaving a glittering trail of luminescence like a shooting star into the dark sky above them, casting a white glow over the swamp around them as it came to a stop a few meters above the treetop. It hung in the air like a flare, but without the pulsation or slow fall back to the ground.

The werewolves would not have darkness on their side tonight.

 

[K0mori]

At such a high speed, the distance between Mariette and the werewolf before her closed immediately, and rather than change direction she met the danger by leaping into the air and using her legs. She hadn't envisioned it as a kick, in fact it wasn't a conscious decision, and to the fresh pureblood it felt more like she was using the wolf's face to change direction violently. Nonetheless, her boots impacted the creature's face at such a combined speed and kinetic energy that the creature's jaw was crushed into it's cranium in a gory spectacle.

Mariette careened away from the collision, rolling to a stop in a nearby thicket on legs which felt rather gelatinous. Moments later, with a few nasty cricks, they were good as new, and she rose in time to pop several silver rounds into the other fast-approaching werewolf soldier that was chasing her, causing it to rear back and dart away, searching for a safer angle to attack from.

Mariette couldn't help but gawk at her own capabilities as she combed the brush out of her hair with her clawed fingertips. She was beginning to sense Jakob and Erwin's auras, and so she set out directly for the constable.

 

[Breadman]

For once Theodore was glad for his smaller frame as it allowed him to dodge most of the incoming werewolves and their swipes. He fired off a few shots at the beasts that made an attempt to bring him down as he could still run circles around them for now. He didn't miss Aleister tumbling off the carriage however. In fact he grinned for a second under his mask. About time somebody took him down a step. Still, it would be highly unprofessional to leave him exposed like that to attacks.

A few seconds later the light nearly scared his horse enough to throw him off if he didn't had a good drip of the reigns. Thank the gods the goggles protected against flashes of light or he might have gone blind long enough to be turned into the wolves next meal. And yet opportunity arose. He spurred his horse and began to circle the wagon passing by any group of beasts he saw, an open vial in one hand and yelling for the fleabags to notice. The bottle was a pheromone he had used in the past to draw werebeasts into traps. It would serve him the same again. He circled it once and began to move away from the group.

As he gathered their attention in the other hand he held another old favorite trick. A firebomb with a lit fuse. As soon as they bunched up, he would drop it. Burning fur smelled awful to him, but sacrifices had to be made.

 

[The_Rifleman]

Sergey continued forward, slowly through the marshes focused and ears listening for anything that would give away what was happening. Suddenly in front of him, a spectacle of gunshots and howling began. Loud and close by, he stopped and waited when suddenly a bright light pierced through the forest, forcing him to cover his eyes. What in the fuck...

For a second he hesitated to go back, grab his horse and leave. However, this is exactly what he asked for, answers to his questions and plenty of specimens just through the thick bushes in front of him. He took a deep breath, manned up, and started running towards the battle not afraid of making any noise, as the guns and howling would drown out his footsteps. His guns ready to fire at anything wolf like. Twelve, silver bullets were ready to find their mark.

 

[Viper Actual]

Moments after jumping off her horse and charging into the swamp Galina was knocked down by an incoming werewolf. As she lost her footing she also lost the grip on her rifle, dropping it.

Once she regained her footing Galina unholstered a compact triple-barrel shotgun which had been strapped to the back of her belt.

She crouched down and opened fire at the closest werewolf.

 

[Infab]

The water and muddy ground around Ethraeil froze over in a flash, trapping three of the werewolves where they were. It didn't last all that log, though, as they easily broke their way free from the ice and continued forth. They effortlessly dodged the ice spears that launched from the frozen waters, eventually plowing into Ethraeil in an attempt to throw him off balance. One, two, three, then the remaining two impacted him and sent him falling over onto the ground.

-------

Valeria found herself rolling over quickly on the ground, fast enough to dodge the incoming werewolf before he could land atop her and rip her to shreds. She spun about in the mud, pointing the sawed off at the creature's hind legs before pulling the first trigger. The silver shards ripped through, shredding his hind legs and forcing him to the ground with a loud dog-like yelp. She stood, before leveling the shotgun on the creature's head as it attempted to crawl away. The second trigger was pulled, and the beast's head evaporated in a red mess of blood and gore.

Spent shells were ejected, fresh ones were loaded, and Valeria looked about for another target to put down. As she looked, she felt an odd sensation. Oh, look, a spark of actual emotional imput. So very curious, Valeria. It seems you actually don't practice what you preach to the others. Valeria knew who that was. She grunted, before quickly moving towards where Camille was.

-------

A werewolf plowed into Rayham, in an attempt to knock Rosanna off her horse. Big mistake. The horse simply stumbled sideways, before Rosanna slung her lever action around and planted a shot right between the eyes of the werewolf. It dropped dead where it had stopped, as Rosanna's lever-action cycled with a CLACK CLACK. "Fuckin' fleabags." she muttered, patting Rayham's neck before searching for a new target. Rayham could handle himself. He was a tough horse.

She spotted another soon enough, darting through the trees. She took aim, before firing off three shots in rapid succession at the beast. One hit a tree, one missed, but the last one nailed the beast in the side of the face, sending him tumbling into the mud.

------

The two daggers zipped through the air, hitting the werewolf in the chest and forcing a yelp from them. Effectively cancelling their charge. The other, however, kept up the pressure. He rushed towards Camille, arm ready to swipe at her to slice her open. His aim, however, was rather poor. As he neared, he swung, and Camille simply ducked under his massive arm and shoved her rapier through his chest. Straight through the heart. Easy enough. She twisted and yanked the blade back out, as the creature slumped over and collapsed. Dead.

Valeria arrived to find that Camille had handled herself well enough. "Nice job." she said simply, as she glanced to the corpse before looking about for another target for her sawed off.

-------

Aleister's divine fiare soared above the trees, lighting the area around them for a considerable distance. It wasn't perfect, but it'd assist them in picking their targets out in the darkness. Now the objective was to put them down and find the others. And quickly.

-------

Galina took aim and fired off a blast from her triple barreled shotgun at a werewolf nearby, running through the trees. Some of the shot from the weapon hit the werewolf, a groan sounding off to confirm the hit, but the rest simply shredded the side of a half-dead tree jutting up out of a large puddle of water. Bark and splinters were sent flying, as bits of silver and buckshot became lodged in what was left of the tree.

The werewolf wasn't out of comission however, as a large furry blur darted from another tree away from Galina.

-------

Four of the attacking werewolves caught the sent of the object that Theodore was parading around with, chasing after him as he moved off into the swamp. They moved in close, as he held a firebomb up in his other hand. Once they were in close enough, he released the device and got away quickly. A few moments later, the firebomb went off, bathing the four werewolves in blazing fire. Two of them were covered entirely, panicking before eventually burning to death. The other two managed to put out their fires by diving into puddles of swamp water and mud, rolling about to smother and douse the flames.

-------

As Mariette moved quickly through the trees towards where Jakob and Erwin's auras were, she could soon enough detect a massive concentration of werewolves around Jakob himself. That concentration would soon begin to shrink, as one by one the auras would disappear. To match the disappearances, there were several rapid gunshots as well as howls and yelps in the distance.

-------

The werewolves eventually launched their attack against Jakob, charging him almost all at once. The ensuing chaos and brutality were quite loud. Gunshots rang out, as Jakob quickly fired his pistol into several of the beasts before they were upon him. Claws and teeth met flesh, matched by bullet and blade. One by one, the beasts fell. Jakob was determined to live. Maybe it was the chance to make sure his friend got away safely, or maybe it was pure survival instinct. Jakob wouldn't go down, regardless of the injuries he sustained from the waves of werewolves.

A few moments later, the shooting and stabbing stopped. Jakob stood alone amongst the multitude of werewolf corpses. Seventeen werewolves in total. He had survived the onslaught, and came out alive. Barely. He was covered in lacerations, bleeding quite profusely from each of them including a gash across his neck. He had also sustained several bites across his body. Far too many to count.

He looked about for a moment, in a state of total shock. Eyes wide, teeth gritted. Then...he collapsed.

 

[Radley]

As the charge and following onslaught on Jakob commenced, Erwin made use of the situation.
Having noticed the three werewolves behind him, he turned around discreetly and aimed his gun at one of his pursuers.
As they were distracted by the commotion that surrounded Jakob, Erwin was able to nail one of the beasts clean between the eye. The werewolf careened forward into the muddy ground, it's momentum tossing it when it instantly died from the gunshot.
Erwin jumped out from the foliage, knife in hand and gun at the ready. "Come and get me you fucking mutts!" he shouted at them, wild eyed and bearing his teeth.

 

[The_Rifleman]

As Sergey ran through the thick bushes, he heard more yelps, screaming, and gunshots in front of him, before silence took over again. It was as if it was sudden warzone, in the middle of a swamp. He suddenly heard another gunshot, very close to his right and saw a werewolf go down, blood spurting from a hole in it's head. Smoke from a barrel of a gun ascended into the air. The gun was held by a large man, with an enclosed suit, he was panting and looked around, agitated. Sergey couldn't see his face, but all he needed to know was that the man wasn't a beast.

He also saw two more werewolves approaching from behind the thickness towards the man as he yelled out to them, ready to face them, and gunning one of them down. The man was doing quick work of his enemies. Time to be useful. Sergey crouched down, and aimed center mass at the charging werewolves, unleashing a flurry of silver bullets from his revolvers to help the man out. Who knew how many more there were and time was of the essence.

 

[K0mori]

Mariette's sprint grew more and more frantic as she weaved through the swamp. The concentration of auras and the way they disappeared one by one gave her the impression of a last stand. If that was the case, Mariette was probably too late. She homed in, bursting out of the brush to find Jakob's mauled body on the ground, surrounded by the remains of his would-be killers. Jakob's aura was so faint that she couldn't even tell if the man was alive. There was another aura nearby which she didn't recognize, but it was human and she didn't care.

"JAKOB!" she screamed, rushing to his side. The man was punctured and slashed all over. Mariette knew nothing about medicine. In all her years, her immortal body had never needed it. She suddenly felt helpless, staring at him, unable to help. She pulled out her grimoire, flipped to a dreamweaving spell, and used the Constable's own blood to make it work.

The joys of life... Think of your loved ones... Don't let them go...

 

[Viper Actual]

Galina quickly reloaded, sidestepped into cover and took aim once more. She gritted her teeth and pulled the trigger again.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister remained near the halted wagon with his revolver in hand, firing upon any more werewolves which dared get nearby. It seemed a great deal of action was happening much further ahead in the swamp. The sounds of sustained gunfire and the distant wailing of the beasts meant that there was a whole lot of killing going on. Hopefully the cessation of the gunfire meant there were no more wolves to kill and not the alternative.

He didn't doubt that some people were likely wounded, and hopefully no one ended up dead by the time this was over. He had access to healing magic that was more or less miraculous in what it could do to an injured person, bringing most from the brink of death back to good health. As they were dealing with werewolves, he was confident enough that he could prevent the spread of lycanthropy had anyone been infected. After all, he was able to prevent the spread of vampirism from those he fed from through bites.

 

[Dmaster]

Camille now had more to worry about than the mud on her suit, the expulsion of blood from the two werewolves she felled adding crimson droplets to the ensemble of filth now clinging to her. She had to be thankful that due to the precise nature of her weapons it didn't leave too opportunity to get absolutely caked in the stuff, but it was still a small bother she had shoved to the back of her mind. There were far more important things to worry about currently, after all.

Valeria came to her as she had flipped one of the corpses onto their back, the charging beast knocked prone by the daggers and driving their silver blades deeper into him. It meant for a quick death but she had to exert some effort from planting a boot on him to withdraw those precious quills. The Escarian huntress turned her head, flicking the blood off of the fan of knives in her clutches before she nodded respectfully at the Senior Inquisitor's compliment. She opened her mouth to say something, but was thrown off by the countless discharges of firearms about the swamp, only for them to quickly grow quiet. Looking to her horse, she saw the poor injured creature stagger to his feet. With nothing more than a calming pat to relax the creature, she turned her gaze to the path ahead of them. It was now brightly illuminated by the magic that Aleister had created, having to squint when she came across that dim, miniature sun he had produced somehow. Seeing these things before they come will be more than useful, so she smirked at such a boon before returning to address Valeria.

"I think I hear them shouting, and time grows short. Let's see if we can save our kin!" Camille urged her, starting to break off into a sprint to get closer to them. If they could all surround Erwin and Jakob and group together, they'd be able to repel the horde of werewolves from every angle they attack from.

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil was caught off guard by the speed at which the werewolves attacked, and was eventually knocked onto his back onto the soggy ground. He knew that he was exposed at this position, and as a result the beast would attempt to take advantage of that. To win this battle, drastic measures would need to be taken... and as such the land around Ethraeil began to wither and die as he prepared his next attack as the wolves began to pile on top of him to attack.

 

[K0mori]

Mariette shook her head in vivid frustration, snapping the grimoire closed as she finished her incantation. I have to do more, she thought, tucking the old tome away before scooping the Constable up into her arms and turning around, feeling her way around the marsh in her mind, reading the auras of distant friends and foes. "Keep fighting, mon ami," she urged Jakob in a hushed voice. She began to carry him back toward the carriage and Aleister She was vaguely aware of his magical abilities and knew that if anyone could save Jakob's life it would be him, but to her extreme annoyance, he had not traveled far from the road. Perhaps he'd like to bury the Constable as well?

She soon found herself closing on an ally, if one could call her that, in Camille. "I have Jakob, he's wounded!" Mariette barked at her as she bounded past. "Go find Erwin!"

 

[Breadman]

Theodore turned the horse around, observing how the werewolves tried to put out the flames in the mud and water. Should have kept their focus on him instead. He pulled out his revolver and approached the two rolling around in the mud and shot them down as they tried to put out the flames.

He rode to join the others before changing course to where he had heard a series of gunshots after the bomb went off. He had a hunch that he would find their stranded comrades there. Hopefully in one piece.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

The blood, the adrenaline, the rush of life flowed through Jakob as he fought with everything he had. Despite the countless cuts and wounds now covering most of his body,with knife and pistol he killed every single one of his attackers. After killing the last one, Jakob looked at the mayhem around him. He had done it. He survived and hopefully bought time for Erwin. He was ready to head towards his companion, but instead collapsed on his back. The pain started to surge in, his breathing becoming heavier. His blood mixing with the dank water of the swamp. At that moment, Jakob realized what was happening. He was dying.

During the time he was unconscious, he felt a coldness take over his body before a comforting warmth seeped in. Jakob opened his eyes, looking to his surroundings. He was no longer in Grimtham, but back at Redgorge. His tired eyes gazed at the old southern buildings of the town. He recognized all of them. The old saloon, the abbey, the sheriff's office. Looking through the buildings filled him with joy, memories of good times flashing through his mind as he walked the dirt roads of the town.

Memories of himself and his friends enjoying a night at the saloon, singing and drinking together like there was no tomorrow. Memories of his younger self marrying the love of his life. Memories of his children growing up. Jakob tried his best not to cry, as he continued to make his way through town. When he reached the town's border, he saw a single wooden door standing in the middle of the street. It was beautifully made, painted white. Something about the door made Jakob feel safe, but as he approached to open it, he heard a voice that made him stop in his tracks.

"Its not your time, pa." said the melodious voice behind Jakob. The constable slowly turned about to face its source, but noticed he was completely alone. "My boy...I miss you so...so much." said Jakob, falling to his knees. He then felt a cold hand touch his shoulder. "Keep fighting, mon ami."

Jakob snapped back to reality, his eyes as wide as they could get. He desperately gasped for air, as he was being carried through the swamp. Jakob looked to his savior, still confused by everything that was going on. His blurry vision made the graceful figure look like an angel, but after a few seconds as his eyes focused, he could see the face of Mariette. Using her superhuman strength to carry him out of danger. Jakob looked at the countess with a smile. "Who would have thought my guardian angel was so pretty..." he said, as he was losing consciousness again. "Don't...worry about me, madame. I'll be fi-" he managed to get out before passing out in Mariette's arms again.

 

[Infab]

Both of the werewolves charged Erwin, Erwin opting to open fire on the second of the two with his pistol. Three shots, one piercing the charging creature's heart while the other two hit the creature's shoulder and jaw. The other creature continued towards Erwin, but was cut down by the incoming hail of bullets from a new source. Nearby, a man had emerged from the swamp with two revolvers in hand. It looked as though Erwin had someone to thank.

------

The second burst of gunfire from Galina's shotgun was far more accurate, hitting the darting werewolf in the side and forcing him to smack into a tree he was intending to dart behind. Another dead werewolf. Now they just had the other remaining ones to deal with.

------

Valeria followed after Camille, matching her sprint before skidding to a stop when she spotted a werewolf charging. As the creature leaped, she slung the sawed off up and fired both barrels. The shot slammed into the creature's face and torso, forcing it to cut a flip before landing in the mud at her feet. "Hmph." she grunted, flicking out the spent shells in the shotgun and slapping two more fresh ones into it.

She didn't notice the other one coming up behind till a shot rang out and she snapped about. Rosanna was sitting nearby on her horse, lever-action clacking as she cycled it. "Get going! I'll mop up here!" she said, before snapping about and opening fire on another werewolf that appeared out of the corner of her eye. Valeria quickly turned back about, and continued following after Camille, whom was far ahead now.

------

As the werewolves attempted to destroy Ethraeil from close range, the area a short distance around Ethraeil seemed to...wither and die. Plants turned brown and lifeless, the ground turning a darker color. Water dried up, and the mud became dry and cracked. It eventually began to affect all five werewolves, as they started to gasp for air and fall off. Their fur turned from a dark brownish black to grey, before eventually falling off. By the time they were dead, they had become thin and hairless. The life had been entirely sucked from their bodies. Ethraeil simply stood and looked down at the corpses. They shouldn't have touched him.

------

Mariette met Camille and Theodore, showing them that she had Jacob and that they needed to focus on finding Erwin. As they departed to do so, Mariette continued on back to the carriage where Aleister, Galina, and Rosanna remained. Meanwhile, the werewolves seemed to scatter. They had killed most of the platoon, leaving only five left. Clearly they were outmanned, so a tactical retreat was needed. A few moments later, it was quiet in the swamp. Save for the sounds of horses moving about and water being treaded.

The inquiry had won against a platoon of werewolves, and a man was rather close to death. Aleister would need to act quickly to heal Jakob, lest he die from his wounds.

 

[Dmaster]

Camille kept up her sprint well after Valeria had encountered the werewolves, not stopping her expeditious charge but only turning her head back to see Rosanna and the support she offered the Senior Inquisitor. With that she was able to close the distance on Erwin rather easily, though as she ran she had her left hand level with the path ahead to quickly throw daggers at any werewolf that attacked from her front. Her hastened run was cut short as everything went quiet in the swamp, gunshots and roars of the werebeasts slowing to nothingness, the Escarian huntress' splashing sprint indicated her arrival before she was seen by Erwin and his savior.

Skidding to a halt in the mire she looked between the two of them, winded and breathing heavy but no less ready to fight than she had been earlier. She straightened her stance but kept her weapons drawn, just in case any of the straggling werewolves decided to be foolish. "You seem to be doing better than Jakob." Camille says flatly, turning her head to eye the man brandishing those revolvers. "And who might this be?"

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister saw Mariette closing on the carriage with a figure in her arms. It wasn't difficult to realize that it was Jakob, and his heart twisted at the sight of the unconscious man. He looked dead already, but he could sense that the man was still alive despite the numerous lacerations and bite marks covering his body. It was a testament to the man's physical and spiritual strength to survive such brutal wounds, but he wouldn't last long without assistance.

"Quickly, dear, place him down on the ground," Aleister said, his tone conveying his worry. There was no time to dally as Jakob was carefully lain out on the ground, and Aleister dropped to his knees beside the man. He quickly sat his pistol aside and then turned back to Jakob, eying him only for a moment before he placed one hand on his forehead and the other over his heart. Aleister closed his eyes and focused intently on the swirling divine sorcery within his reach, grasping at it and harnessing it to his will. A golden almost honey or sun colored light began to glow softly from both of his hands as the magic was channeled into the man's body, washing away impurities and mending broken flesh and bone. His weak heartbeat gradually got stronger and steadier, but the damage was still traumatic. The body would undoubtedly be healed, Aleister thought, though the mind may not recover so quickly.

His face remained neutral as he kept his eyes closed. There was still one worry. Lycanthropy. If that condition had gotten into his blood, then there was a possibility it had traveled far too deep into his being for it to be rooted out by divine magic. When he used it to stop the spread of vampirism from a bite, it was always within seconds. Jakob had been wounded for some time now.

"Undite bless you, constable," he murmured. "It is not yet your time to leave us."

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil flicked a splotch of mud off his shoulder as he calmly stepped on, and over, the corpses littering around him, breaking their brittle bones as he did so with resounding crunches. He felt the presence of Erwin and Jakob, although the latter was indeed in mortal condition. However, what piqued his interest was that nowhere in sight, nor feeling, was the Colonel. As he walked back to the group, he saw Aleister tending to the constable's wounds as best he could, though Ethraeil knew that there was little time and scarcely room for error.

"Now... where would the Colonel be if not with his men to enjoy the hunt...?" Ethraeil muttered to himself.

Once more he entered the depths of his mind to interrogate the soul he had spoke to earlier.
"Where in the swamp is the Colonel?" Ethraeil growled.