Fantasy Hunter's Moon [IC] [CLOSED]

[EdwardDewey98]

After coughing and gagging a bit more, Jakob grabbed the bandana offered by Erwin and tied it around his head. He then let out a sigh of relief. "T-Thank you, brother." he said, smiling a bit beneath the bandana. Without any other options, Jakob was forced to travel the sewers alongside the others. With that in mind, he removed his shoes, and raised his pants, in an attempt to keep his uniform dry and mostly clean. Jakob stared at the vampires as they climbed the wall, worried that they might get spotted and killed by the soldiers. "A-Alright...waiting on your orders, ma'am."

 

[Infab]

Valeria made sure that Ethraeil's bones were stuffed into a sack so that they could be transferred into the sewer when they got through the gate, before moving with the others towards the drainage tunnel. Once there, she motioned for Rosanna to get the grate off. "Watch this, boys and girls." she said with a smirk, before stepping over to the grate and slipping the tomahawk in her hand through her belt. She then reached over and grabbed the grate, before giving it a swift jerk. The bolts holding the grate to the tunnel walls snapped off, as Rosanna pulled the grate away far enough that the group could move into the tunnel. She effectively folded it in half before stopping. "There we go." she said, smiling towards the others before slipping through the new hole.

The stench inside the tunnel was horrid. Thankfully most of the group had something to pull over their faces to block out most of the smell. There were two walkways on both sides of the tunnel, so that the group didn't have to step into the sewage that was flowing through. Once they were in far enough, Valeria set Ethraeil's sack down and poured his bones out onto the walkway so that he could reform. As they stopped, there seemed to be faint noises up ahead. The sounds of groans and something being dragged. Undead. "Eyes open. No guns. Stab 'em in the head, or behead them. If you see a skeleton, shatter the skull." whispered Valeria as she stood back up, sword drawn. Rosanna drew one of her tomahawks back out, glancing back to the others. "You heard the lady. Whack 'em in the head."

---------

The men near the cannon dropped as soon as the sleeping spell was cast upon them, each laying down or sitting before passing out entirely. Meanwhile, the troops nearest the two vampires quickly found that they were without sight. Everything had gone utterly dark, and they found themselves panicking as they felt around. They wouldn't be panicking for long, however, as Aleister descended upon them with vampiric fury. Two's throats were quickly slit, while the third has his head snapped completely around so that he was facing backward as he fell over.

Meanwhile, Mariette darted ahead. Two were silenced via a silver dagger through the Adam's apple, while another had the dagger shoved through his skull as if it were made of paper. The final guard attempted to snap his rifle up to shoot at Mariette, as she darted towards him, but soon found himself without a weapon or a heart. Mariette had ripped both away, casually tossed them aside as she turned back to Aleister. Job well done, really. She also noticed that Camille had opted to join them, sitting on the top of the wall after making her way up acrobatically.

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil took the time to recompile his form, thankfully with his armor as it was brought along onto the boat courtesy of Galina. He reattached his many bones and then his armor onto himself quickly in order to prepare for battle. When he heard that undead were ahead, his curiosity was piqued as he formed an ice blade in his hand.

Perhaps I am not the only necromancer in this city.

 

[Viper Actual]

Galina climbed out the boat with her crossbow in one hand and Ethraeils sack of armor in the other.
While she wasn't exactly thrilled to go through the sewers she argued that, even with undead lurking about, they could not be worse than the sewers of Talnagrad.

She pulled up a woven tubescarf over her mouth and nose to shield her from the rancid smell of feces, sewage and death.

Before stepping inside the sewers Galina also made sure that her leatherbound bolt-carrier was fastened to her hip and within reach. She also made sure that her knives were in their rightful place.

Galina took up position behind Erwin and Sergey. "I got you covered."

 

[The_Rifleman]

Sergey waited as Rosanna went up ahead of them to open the grate, and he got a firsthand look at how powerful a dullahan truly is. "Glad she's on our side," he muttered as they all went through the grate and he followed the rest closely behind. At the sound of something moving faintly up ahead he stopped, and held his knife even tighter. Undead? Glad I sharpened my knife.

He turned back as Galina came up as well, with her weapons ready, keeping them covered. He nodded to her and slowly advanced ready to strike at any sign of enemies.

 

[K0mori]

Before drying her hands and knife on a dead human's cotton clothing, Mariette licked her bloody fingers and snickered at the morbid display. "Maybe humans wouldn't be so scared of us if they weren't so fragile," she remarked idly. She then took note of Camille."Ah, it seems the Marquess has come along with us. What a... strange... decision on her part."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister also licked his bloody fingers clean, savoring the smooth and savory flavor of human blood. He always thought soldiers had a slightly more bitter taste to them, like copper and iron. Perhaps it was a result of the strength which usually coursed through their bodies, or it was the underlying fear that taunted them every day. Artists, which were generally his favorite, were often sweet. Their blood had an enticing vibrancy to it not found among others. All of it was of course personal taste and preference. He had known a few who preferred to dine on criminals, believing the blood was enriched by their sinfulness. He personally found it unappealing.

He knelt down beside one of the bodies with a slit throat and lifted the corpse up slightly, placing his lips against the wound to drink at the still warm and pulsating blood. It would be a waste to otherwise let the body bleed out onto the stone. Still drinking, he glanced up slightly at Mariette who spoke, and his gaze went back down the wall towards the appearance of Camille. He stopped drinking from the corpse when he saw her.

"She's a hunter. I'd imagine she wishes to be where the killing will be thickest, or to compare herself to us to demonstrate she can do as we do," he said softly, letting go of the corpse. He reached for a handkerchief from within his robe and patted his lips clean, but he licked his fingers again so that they were spotless. He found himself somewhat embarrassed to drink in the presence of Camille.

 

[Dmaster]

Camille's features were hidden by her hood and the darkness of the night, for the most part, but she found it hard not to grimace on the vampires feeding on their kills. Like a pack of wild animals feasting on their prey, their civil and polite nature is lost to their inhuman cravings. It was certainly reason for Aleister to be embarrassed, yet she was in no position to criticize or be overtly scornful besides intense gazes. Even then it wasn't worth chastising the both of them later, for such horrible desecration of corpses was just in their nature. She swung both of her legs down and started to draw her knives, body keeping a lowered posture so that she could quickly hit the ground if she were spotted.

The Marquess' disgust from her vampiric 'cohorts' aside she was still intently focused on getting this leg of their mission done with. She wasn't too thrilled to be getting shot at with nowhere to run or traversing through disgusting sewers, so the lesser of three terrible options had been chosen. Her bones being broken from a forty foot drop and watching the sickening sight of vampires feasting was far better than her alternatives. On top of that she felt no need to prove herself to them or anyone, her skills would always do the talking and if they didn't measure up to tasks she would simply try harder.

Eventually, she drew closer to the scene, unmoved by the drained corpses now that she's allowed those terrible sights to ruminate on the journey over. Upon being stared at by the two of them she narrowed her eyes and tightened her lips a bit, looking between them quickly. "What? I don't fancy a run to dodge sharpshooters or a trip through the sewers." she defends, looking toward the cannon the men had been stationed at. Giving it a quizzical look, Camille then turned her attention to the path further up the wall. "I believe there are still more men waiting on these walls. Let's get to dispatching them." the huntress adds, flipping some of the quills in her hand before she quietly trots off.

 

[K0mori]

"Fair enough, Mademoiselle," Mariette replied neutrally. "However, for obvious reasons, I will take point." With a gliding gracefulness, she zipped past Camille with her dagger in a reverse grip, edge outward. Camille was the sort of expert fighter who could immediately tell what sort of attack Mariette intended long before the confrontation would begin: the vampire would use her intense speed and strength to slash throats and stab with the backhand while in a near-sprint, locking her elbow and relying largely on the shoulder to do the job. However, just before coming up upon the next group of enemy soldiers, Mariette stopped dead in her tracks and waited. While she could easily fight these men alone, she wouldn't risk a mistake and a general panic, not when she had so much assistance available from Aleister and the Marquess. She glanced back and signaled with her fingers how many men they would need to kill.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"I cannot blame you for your decision, Camille, I didn't like the other options either. Especially not the sewer," Aleister said after Mariette's response, standing and surveying the nearby wall and area. There were still a fair amount of guards left in the area that needed to be taken care of. He was quick to follow Mariette, and he paused alongside her when she stopped as well. He eyed the next group of soldiers closely.

"I'll put the furthest to sleep again. Mariette, you can take out the rest quite easily I think. I follow after you," he explained. He focused his mind again as he grasped for the magic. The more he used it, the more exhaustion he felt, and there was little he could do to offset it beside rest and feed. Thankfully, he had already had quite the meal on one of the fallen guards, so he was still feeling fresh and spry.

After casting a similar spell, he would follow Mariette to kill the remaining men.

 

[Dmaster]

She only offered a nod to Aleister as she kept creeping up behind the two of them, leveling her quills as they approached the next set of guards. As much as she disliked taking orders from Mariette she recognized the fact that she was simply an extra body for this effort, so she took note of the men she would have to take down before looking to them. Camille was well within the proper distance to make such throws with her blades, their necks clearly exposed and ready to be penetrated by the quills. The only hope she had was that they would not gasp so loud as their breath and blood seeped out of the wounds she'd deal.

"Move ahead to the ones in the back as quick as you can manage, it will let you stay clear of my knives as I dispatch the ones in the front." she adds, her fan of silver knives grasped slightly tighter as she bent her elbows. "Ready when you are."

 

[K0mori]

Mariette nodded to the two of them as she turned and bolted forward, pouncing on the nearest guard, slashing his throat and spinning away, setting her sights on the next. She was like a blur, accelerating and turning constantly beyond the reaction time of the humans, and at the very same time, Camille let fly with her quills. The guards were beset by death from multiple angles. And those further along, who might have done something, were instead brought down by Aleister's magic. Mariette never felt so capable in her life; it was almost as if she could take the whole city by herself, but she knew she couldn't become too full of herself or else she would fall to her hubris. She kept her mind on the task at hand- killing the sharpshooters to protect the inquisitors.

 

[Infab]

Cassandra grinned, as she straightened up and stood. "I hope you don't mind riding on a single horse with me." she said, motioning for Wesley to stand. "Also, I have a wonderful pair of people for you to meet! They're just outside. They're waiting for you so we can get going!" Eventually, Wesley got up, and the pair climbed down from the barn's loft before heading outside. The location of the barn seemed to be rather remote, deep in the hills, though there was a small home nearby. No lights were being emitted inside the home, and knowing Cassandra, it was likely the occupants of the home were dead. Cassandra gently took Wesley's hand with a smile, and they strolled around to the side of the barn to see three horses and two cloaked individuals talking to one another.

As Wesley and Cassandra approached, the two figures turned to face them. Wesley was a bit surprised when he noticed that they were apparently twins. Two women, with heavily tanned skin and what seemed to be white face paint. Both had hazel eyes, as well as long black hair beneath their hood. They wore odd dark purple clothes, which were quite revealing, along with circular silver and gold jewelry around their necks. A large black book hung from both their waists, and both appeared to be barefoot.

The twins eyed Wesley, before eventually speaking. "This is the one you spoke of, Cassie?" said one. "He is rather handsome. I can see why you chose him." said the other. Cassandra grinned, hugging Wesley's arm. "He is, isn't he? Anyway, Wesley, I'd like for you to meet Tarja and Rayne Devonshire. Also known as the Devonshire Twins. They're witches! Necromancers too." she said, motioning her hand towards the pair before them. The twins gave Wesley an identical symmetrical bow.

--------

The group moved into the sewer, taking care as to not cause a lot of noise as they moved. The groans began to get closer and closer...as did the sounds of bones rattling. Which certainly wasn't coming from Ethraeil's skeletal figure. There were skeletons down here as well? Eventually, they would encounter a zombie. A grotesque creature, its skin green and falling off and missing one of its arms at the elbow. It lurched towards them, its one eye fixed upon the group. It wouldn't be alive for very long, as Rosanna's tomahawk caught it in the center of the forehead. It collapsed, hitting the walkway with a thud.

Rosanna stepped over and retrieved her tomahawk with a jerk, before looking back to the others. "I sense about ten more just ahead of us on this walkway...and three bone boys behind 'em. One's got an axe, and the other two got swords." she whispered. The dark made it difficult to see really anything down here, and Ethraeil's light really only went so far.

--------

The next group of wall guards were dispatched quickly, Mariette cleaving through several of them while Camille's quills found their targets. Things were going well so far. No shots had been fired, and they were making good progress across the wall. The rifles that the soldiers were using could potentially come in handy for the inquiry group once they emerged from the sewer, too. Eventually, they cleared off two more towers. It was a massive city, however, and it would take them some time to clear the entire wall of enemies.

From where they were on the wall, they got a good view of the city itself. It was, quite literally, dead. Zombies wandered the streets, some buildings were burning to the ground or destroyed through looting. The odd thing was, the soldiers below walked among the zombies with ease. The zombies had no interest in them, simply lurching by. Still, there was no sign of Wallace yet. He was here, though. Mariette and Aleister could sense it.

 

[Viper Actual]

As Rosanna dispatched the first undead fiend encountered in the murky sewers Galina moved up. She sidestepped past Sergey and leaned her left elbow against the grimy wall and raised her crossbow. She nodded towards the others. "Lure them over here. I can slow them down and knock them off their feet."

Carefully Galina placed her finger on the trigger and squeezed gently, stopping just before the pressure point.

 

[Radley]

Erwin slowly reached onto the wall of the sewer, feeling for a loose piece of cobble. Finding one eventually, he lobbed it gentle into the tunnel. It hit the stone walkway with a smack, bouncing a few times and sending a echo through the dark corridor.

 

[Breadman]

Theodore didn't have much to add to the conversations surrounding him, so he remained quiet. The scholar instead chose to look towards the ironclad and examine it as best he could in the darkness. The siren calls in the lake would fall on def ears as his mind raced through all the possibilities of armament that could be loaded on that behemoth. And all the possible weaknesses it may have. As the boats made their way ashore he looked towards the fort walls and though of another way to bring it down. That cannon. Should the ship become a problem, the fort's cannon could be the ace in the hole.

Others might have been reluctant to go inside the sewers to press on, but for him this was routine at this point. Any inquisitor worth his salt has had to go searching the city's underground to find their target. This included the actual underground where everyone would use as a depository for their daily needs. Even the ones they rather not talk about. It was times like these that he was glad that he wore a mask. As strong as the stench was, it would be infinitely worse had he no way to cover his nose.

The presence of undead was worrisome. If these creatures were lurking about, then no doubt their master would be close too. He wondered if Ethraeil would be able to find his colleagues if he caught a sense of their magic. But that would be a question for later. There was little he could do against the creatures at present, so he would have to wait for the trap to spring.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister wondered how many more guards they would have to go through. They had already slain more than a few dozen, and at this rate, he wondered if they would simply sweep the entirety of the wall of life. He watched Mariette from behind twirl and display her dance of death, every movement flawless and lethal. No human could manage such speed and grace. Camille may have been an expert swordswoman with the rapier, but Mariette's supernatural abilities far exceeded that of any human master or expert in their field. She was also quite beyond his own abilities. While he was also above any human, Mariette was simply a step or two above him, and he began to wonder if he would be able to keep up with her if it came to blows. She had illusionary magic as well... but he had the divine sorcery of the gods, a boon granted to him. Any fight with her would be quite ugly and better avoided under essentially any circumstance.

He could see some of the guards below the walls patrolling amidst the dilapidation of the city. Some type of spell or sorcery of their own, or commands from a necromancer. Not a pleasant thought. The city itself was in far worse shape than he had expected when he heard the news of plague. The city wouldn't recover from this any time soon after the entire place was cleaned out, and even then the nature of disease and dark magic meant there would be flare ups from time to time. Porthcrawl had likely already seen its best days, and it could only be downhill from here.

After reaching a lull in their routine slaying along the wall, Aleister approached Mariette. His hands were already stained a slight tomato-like hue from all the blood, despite his constant licking to clean them. Miraculously, his robes appeared clean and orderly still despite all of the killing. It was clear where his priorities lay in the combat.

"If we keep at it like this, we may as well circle around the entire city wall and kill everyone," he said with a wry little snort. "It may be wise to make our way down to the ground and secure the other end of the sewers for the party. I don't think they'll want any surprises at the end of the sewer. Last thing we need is for them to bumble out into a horde or patrol group."

 

[The_Rifleman]

Sergey watched as a tomohawk suddenly flew from behind him, hitting the disgusting creature dead center, and knocking it down, dead. He looked over as Rosanna went and grabbed it, with a big grin. Nice to see people taking the initiative. He also saw Galina taking aim with her crossbow. He added after she spoke, "If we make a line in on these platforms and make them come to us it'll be easier to dispatch them one or two at a time." With that slowly banged the hilt of his knife against the wall hoping to draw the undead to their location.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Once the party entered the sewers, Jakob was relieved to find that there was a relatively dry walkway for him to walk on. As the others moved ahead, Jakob put his shoes back on. As he did, he sensed something lurking in the disgusting water. Sensed? This is what Aleister and Mariette feel? He looked at the water for a few moments, before noticing a pair of fingers emerge from the water. Then, a zombie dressed in peasant clothing emerged slowly, its dead eyes fixed on Jakob as the constable gazed back at it. Instead of wacking it or killing it, though, Jakob simply pushed it back with a kick and watched the undead lose its balance quickly. It fell back into the shit water it had trouble emerging from. "Huh." he said, before noticing that he was being left bhind by the others. "...HEY! You guys!" he said, while hurriedly putting his shoe back on and hopping behind his companions. Once he caught up, he saw Rosanna kill one of the zombies with ease and heard Galina suggesting leading the undead to their location. Jakob pulled his billy club, and was ready to crack skulls alongside his companions.

 

[Dmaster]

Camille stepped over to her felled targets and removed her valuable quills from their neck, her expression blank as she routinely wiped off the blood before readying them again. Wordlessly she observed Mariettes jubilant slaughtering out from the corner of her eye, trying to find patterns or habits in her combat style that she could perceive in the rapid blur of movements. Her stance was much better with a knife than a rapier, admittedly, and that was clear to see even without her going so fast. Yet Camille assumed there would be sloppiness to her technique masked by such abilties, a countess such as herself who preferred to sow seeds of chaos through dark, magical illusions would not often find themselves in the thick of things. Even still, the huntress would be helpless against such speed, leaving her to ponder on how to tackle such a battle in the near future. Currently, the process of systematic takedowns continued, the recovery periods all the same before they realized just how much more killing there was to be done.

She quietly stepped over the wall to see what Aleister was gawking at, only to grimace and ball her hands into fists as she looked over the ruined city. Was this plague random misfortune or calculated by the men who brazenly walk among the reanimated dead? Camille had a feeling she knew the answer, and she felt a twinge of anger in her heart. Atracan or Escarian, these people were innocent, and if these men were responsible they will be dealt with impunity.

"That's as good as a suggestion as any." the huntress agreed, though she looked back to Mariette and thoight to herself. If the countess is finished with her playtime, that is. "So long as the path to the ironclad is blind we can move on to assist the others in their filthy exit."

 

[Infab]

The noise that the group was making did just as expected, drawing the zombies closer to them. Surprisingly, it wasn't just the ones on the walkway ahead that were drawn to it. More zombies emerged from the disgusting water between the walkways, heads slowly popping out of the sludge and sewage. They neared the group, and soon enough Valeria gave the signal to eliminate them. Axe, club, knife, sword, and crossbow bolt eliminated the zombies one by one. Then the group pressed forwards. There were more groans, and more zombies that Rosanna could sense, but they were behind the skeletons that remained ahead of them. Rosanna reached over and tapped the wall of the tunnel with the back of her tomahawk, forcing a skeleton close to them to turn about quickly. One of the ones with a sword. "Gotta shatter the skull, so let me just..." she said, her voice trailing off as she moved in towards the skeleton.

It swung at her as she neared, arcing the sword over its head in an attempt to chop her in half. It missed, as she simply sidestepped and smashed the blunt side of her tomahawk across the skeleton's head. its skull shattered upon impact, the skeleton's body simply falling apart where it was with its sword hitting the walkway with a clank. The noise alerted the other two skeletons, which approached quickly. "I'll let you guys get these." said Rosanna, stepping back into the group rather quickly. In the distance, the group could see some sort of light. Potentially a way up into the streets? It flickered a bit, so whatever it was near was on fire.

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil stepped forward ahead of the group and brought his hand just above the sewer water, which began to freeze over. A wave of ice rushed over to the two skeletons ahead as Ethraeil sought to encase them in ice and incapacitate them.

 

[K0mori]

With a wistful Mariette wiped her blade clean on her leg before slipping it back into its scabbard. "Exterminating these hapless rats was a nice change of pace from the threats we faced before, but the novelty does run thin rather quickly," she said. "And you both are right: the Inquisitors need us at street level. The undead should be just as easy, but we would do well to focus on the humans down there, first... and not just because of their self-agency, but to protect Rosanna and Jakob from having to fight them. Or, if you prefer, the two of you can handle the zombies while I continue to cut throats. It won't bother me in the slightest," she added with a taunting smile to Camille. "I expect Aleister's divine magic should be quite useful against the undead. Either way, allons y."

 

[Viper Actual]

Defeating the undead went as expected. Galina didn't expect the dead to put up much of a fight though it was a bit surprising that there were so many of them inside the water.

Just how long had this city been overrun?

Once Rosanna moved up so did Galina. She stopped right behind her and loaded another bolt in time to see the water freezing over.

With Ethraeil slowing down the two skeletons Galina lowered her weapon, rushed forward and attempted to bash one of the skulls in using the stock of her crossbow.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

With club in hand, Jakob bravely swung at the coming undead next to Erwin and Galina. But as he continued to smack the living dead, he started to feel something growing within him. The anger of the beast inside was taking over. At one point, he started to beat one zombie in a frenzy, destroying the head till it was a bloody pulp. He was grunting like a maniac, even removing his bandana from his face as he continued to smack it about. He then looked about at the others, his eyes glowing bright yellow in the darkness of the tunnel. "H-hrh...gr...n-no. Not like this..." Jakob groaned as he held his head. "Not like this...n-not like an a-animal." He began to calm down, as he looked to the others with a pained expression. "Please go on ahead...I...I'm not myself right now."