Fantasy Hunter's Moon: The Sin & Sentence [IC] [CLOSED]

[Dmaster]

He gave a grunt of annoyance, fingers steepling about the handle of his sword as he rolled his wrist. "We're not fighting a war, you sadistic freaks. We'll get all the supplies and info we need from our gracious benefactors." Hudson added to Jakob's points, though was clear to add as much sarcasm to the mention Tariun and her lieutenant as possible.

When Riberta and Anya interjected he gripped his blade tighter, frustration clear through his body language. "I hunt demons, and I want as little to do with them as possible. It's shit enough I have to worry about the ones in our midst - I'm not adding on to it." he growled out. "And if we get out of here it'll be from me figuring what is and isn't worth my time and energy. You want to start a murderfuck party and loot lost souls be my godsdamned guest, but I'm gonna just keep fucking walking."

Turning to Anya as she admitted how scared and ill-equipped she was, coupled with her shifting episode, Hudson shook his head. "I'll tell you what my first mentor ever taught me in this line of work. If it bleeds, you can kill it. So long as you got that chance you fucking take it. If you die, go out swinging as you don't surrender an inch to whatever beast charges at you."

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob looked at Riberta with some surprise, having hoped that the woman was a much gentle soul than originally thought. But of course, being a barbarian, what else was to be expected. "Well, I certainly hoped that some of y'all ha some Gods damned soul." He then looked at Hudson, rolling his eyes. "...but then again, y'all got sent here, so I guess I was pretty damn stupid to even think that. If y'all gonna do that shit, don't get me involved." Jakob walked away from the trio of women, but stopped by Anya. "...If Adona out of all the gods sent you here, then you should know he doesn't favor this sort of shit." He walked towards Hudson and Vincent, and gave both men a nod.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"Of course this war, demon lady say as much. We work to kill demon king. That is war." Inari sighed slightly. How these weak-willed men got put into their midst was a mystery to her. "And never trust food not in hand. And also we need money."

Inari then waved her hand dismissively at both Hudson and Jakob. "We no care if no help comes from weak jesters, let strong do the work. We get job done best and better."

 

[K0mori]

"Don't tell me how to die," Anya warned Hudson through barred teeth. "I'm not ready yet."

Her eyes were bright yellow before Jakob even tried to speak to her. She gave an involuntary twitch as the detective invoked Adona's name. "You use his name in vain, Atracan. Do not forget- Murder born of sloth."

 

[Infab]

Riberta grunted, looking back to Hudson. "I never said anything about taking Hollow or Demons prisoner." she then said. "I'll do what I need to, but I'm not trusting my fucking life to Abyssal scheisse. I made that mistake once already." She gently took Aliana's hand, and started to walk past where Vincent was standing. She glanced back to Anya as her voice began to change and her eyes changed color. "Rage, Tsavanian. Control your rage, and you won't shift."

Vincent looked back to the others, and rolled his eyes. "For Adona's sake, shut the fuck up. We're not taking prisoners. We steal only when we have to, and those of you with holier than thou morals can wait while the rest of us do it. Its the Abyss. Literally Hell itself. The gods aren't watching us down here, and we do what we need to to survive. Get it?" he said, cutting a look between Jakob and Hudson before turning back about and walking off towards Sheol.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Inari turned to follow the others as they advanced, but she paused to send a little glance towards Anya, giving the woman a broad, almost sly grin. "Don't keep passions chained, yes? Is not good for soul."

Content that even the leader was on her side, she marched alongside the others, one hand on her sword and the other resting in her jacket. The Abyss was certainly a strange place. It was best to keep an eye out.

 

[Dmaster]

Hudson scoffed as Anya practically threatened him and then Riberta spoke. "Unfortunately we don't get to pick when our death comes." he said rather flatly, just to turn to the hybrid. "Real good for you. I was talking to the folk that wanted to add more Abyss filth to our happy little family."

He didn't get to comment on Inari's nonsense, as Vincent interrupted them and told them to quiet it down. "You don't have to tell me the gods aren't watching - that much is obvious. But I came here to redeem myself, and all these demons will get from me is death and dismemberment. It's all they deserve, and it's sure as shit how I'll survive."

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob stopped for a moment, as Anya barked his sin to him. He slowly turned around and stared at her. He didn't look angry, just...sad. "Yeah...I was too 'lazy' to do anything to prevent wrong doings. Is that what you wanted to hear? Or me turning and killing innocents? No, my crime was very human..." He turned back, deciding to ignore the Tsavanian woman for now. Jakob then looked back to Vincent, and the detective soon simply found himself looking at the ground and walking ahead of the group. It was going to take a lot for him to stand this situation. But he was there to do one thing: save Valeria. Anything else was irrelevant. He at least knew that Hudson had his back, should he need him. So did Wesley, even if the boy was a bit lost upstairs at the moment. He disagreed, though, with both Anya and Riberta. Both of them. He could still try to reason with them later.

 

[Doomevil]

Senya stepped out from the front end of the rowboat, putting her helmet back on while the rest followed Vincent. Her sword was sealed in its sheath, resting easily confident they weren’t gonna get ambushed this early. All she wanted was to take in the environment, unfortunately that didn’t last long when an argument erupted. Senya usually played it neutral on these issues, but they all had temper problems. Great.

“We’ll deal with this Priest soon enough. Let’s use that energy for the real task at hand.” Senya spoke up, eyeing their direction to Sheol. People are getting too caught up in emotions. They all needed to remind themselves what’s at stake here.

 

[K0mori]

For a moment, Anya went silent after Jakob replied to her once more, trying to process the meaning of what he had said. He had called his crimes "very human" in nature, as opposed to "turning and killing innocents," the type of damnable sin a werewolf would be more likely to commit. She cocked her head to the side for a moment as the fury built up within her. It was as if he was trying to say that her murders, borne from a lack of control over their common curse, were far worse than anything he had done to wind up in the same Abyss, as if the point that they were both damned was a moot one, and that he still reserved the moral edge over her. While Vincent tried to call the party's attention away from the argument, Anya was on the verge of allowing it to consume her, when two voices spoke up, one after another.

First, Riberta spoke calmly to her. Remember to control your rage, the woman said. She was breathing heavily, staring at the back of Jakob's head, but she forced herself to close her eyes and think of something different, anything different. She tried to imagine warmth, like the sunlight breaking on her tent in the wilderness just hours earlier. The cold and clear stream waters flowing through the dense forest, and how they tasted on her tongue. The long hours of quiet time under the stars, when she felt safe. She could stay in her human form much more easily in peace and quiet. She remembered, years ago, sitting at the small table near the window, reading short books that only cost a copper piece on market day, and the smell of a food pot cooking in the fireplace.

When she opened her eyes, there were tears at the corner that she quickly wiped away. She had forgotten Jakob's poorly-chosen words by now. Instead, the tears were inspired by one more part of her pleasant memory: Vyacheslav and Petya. Her expression hardened once again as cold anger filled the vacancies those two names had left in her heart. Her eyes had faded to brown and her teeth were receding. She was in control again.

Then, Inari spoke as well, encouraging her not to leave her "passions" chained. Was Inari encouraging her to let her anger back out? It was a bad idea, as tempting as it was. Anya hated to admit it, but letting the wolf take over wasn't entirely unpleasant. It brought her a sort of relief, a respite from carrying all of her rage on her back as she wandered the world, a relief from fighting the changes. And moreover, it was easier to stay as the wolf than it was to retain her human form. But cutting loose and allowing her rage to take over is exactly what caused her to be damned in the first place.

She would listen to Riberta, this time, but unless the struggle to remain human and control her impulses, the same advice given to every struggling lycan, grew easier in the near future, she knew she would become desperate. Perhaps Inari knew of another way?

 

[SniperComZero]

Gwenaelle, given how she was at the front, was the first off of the boat, boots mashing into the cold, pasty sand. With a little bit of magical help, she provided the little navigation that the group needed. All Gwen was properly making sure of was to not hit the storm that was brewing in the sea. It was only a short trip before the boat hit the shore. She had hoped that at the very least, things would be quiet on their trip to the city. Apparently not. Her head began to hurt, again, from all of the arguing that the group was doing amongst themselves.

...It did give her some plans, however.

"Ahem, ladies, please. Much as I'm loathe to common banditry as the rest--... most, of you." If not through morality, then through pride. "...This, ah, eastern woman has a point. It's unwise to rely on information solely from the one source. A bit of groundwork of our own would be beneficial to us all, oui? Perhaps we wouldn't have to... take, from everyone necessarily. Take from those loyal to their warlords, and offer the malcontents a sort of, army to fight back with. A king can't raise an army with taxes, right? And if him and these 'icons' are as powerful as some would insist, then perhaps it would be prudent to build a force of our own, non? Perhaps we use this city as a staging ground. It's bound to have some sort of supply if they care whatsoever, and I imagine it would allow us a time to refine our plan."

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

All Loque can do is just sigh and shake her head at the nonsensical arguing happening around her.

"... Are we there yet?" she says in a most dry and deadpan expression.

 

[Damian0358]

Takato had switched in and began rowing as the boat was slowly approaching the coast. While all knew his name now, his mind still lingered on the sudden reveal that had occurred right before boarding. He tried to take his mind off of it by considering what Tariun had said about the Hollowlands, or at least, trying, for she had said that after just dropping his noodles to reveal their millet nature... if he recalled, she had spoken about necromancied husks roaming the Hollowlands, the Hollow, consumed by the Abyss, both demon and human. He cringed at the thought - it reminded him of the three deaths oni can suffer, at least according to legend and Douean tradition. Based on the Internal Treasures, the loss of qi was just straight-up death, like all others, but the lost of jing would result in their bodies turning to stone, their spirits unable to depart, while the loss of shen would result in corrupt mindlessness, either wandering aimlessly, or turning insane with no chance of recovery. Of course, loss of jing and shen would result in death for ordinary humans, with the latter in particular being tightly linked to qi, to the point of calling the two together xing, or body, and the former is said to be stored in the kidney for humans, while for oni it is said to be their entire body. The attribution of the Internal Treasures didn't make as much sense for the oni, though that was expected...

As Takato got off the boat, he knew that he would have to show them mercy and spare these souls by giving them the deaths that awaited them. He looked out at the Hollowlands and its vastness. Through his sandals he could feel the coldness of the sand of the shore. As he turned to look at Vincent, he watched as an argument broke out between Inari, Jakob, Anya, Hudson, and Riberta, as Vincent stopped it. He groaned internally, as Inari continued to show her vile nature, even if it is based on thought that wouldn't be entirely unfitting for the Abyss. Obtaining more sources of info would do well for them, though whether or not they could be considered more reliable than Tariun can be further debated. And likely, they would've started looting if necessary, as really, who wouldn't anticipate them to run out of some specific supply before getting their supply drop? But the attitude Inari has, the willingness to drop to the lowest of lows even if pragmatic by Anya (though he held sympathy for her due to her equipment), shared by Riberta, Hudson's unwillingess for anything even remotely connected to the Abyss (though he respected his wish to just get the mission done, and empathized with his frustrations with Inari), it soured his thoughts on what's to come, if further arguments such as this awaited. Befriending the late-joining werebeast, the orc, and the Red Warden seemed to be a good plan going forward, especially if they're forced to split into smaller groups at some point, though he would have to keep his eye on the demon.

He ignored Gwenaelle's comment and just stood by Senya's side while nodding in Jakob's direction, hoping the werebeast could tell he agreed with him.

 

[Breadman]

"Do you people do anything but argue about inane bollocks?' Henderson said in an annoyed tone before Vincent made his own remark. He looked at their leader with a raised eyebrow "I can't believe you actually found a middle ground." Henderson wasn't one to avoid conflict. Not for a long time now. He enjoyed a good fight both physically and verbally, but he had quickly gotten tired of this group's bickering. A lot of barking, but little biting besides the werewolves. "I have to agree, however. The work we're here to do will draw the ire of any infernal baron and lordling as soon as they get a whiff of us. Hitting their subjects at random now when we have no leverage is only going to lead us to an early grave and one angry childish goddess. We need to pick our prey better than that. Preferably where the morally outraged can hide while the rest of us work." He looked towards Gwen as she gave her own reasoning.

"Oh and who will lead that force? You or the hybrid woman that lives and breathes war, the forest woman with bloodlust replacing common sense, or your stuck-up country woman that has been eyeballing me the entire journey like a farmer looks at a bull for his cows" For what purpose had that woman been looking at him like that, he could only guess, but he didn't like it one bit.

 

[SniperComZero]

As Gwen was accosted for her plan, in spite of her figuring it's the best that anyone had come up with so far, she rolled her eyes, before looking to Henderson. "Mondieu. We can cross that bridge whenever we come to it, as they say. Just because a plan is not perfect does not mean we must scrap it in its entirety." She paused for a moment or two, as she looked towards Seriphine. She shrugged. "I don't know who she is. She seems self-important-- but I don't know who she is."

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

A small burst of fire emanates from Loque's hand, igniting the end of a cigarette as she puts it in her mouth. She takes a long draw from it as she looks around at the others talking. It's gonna be like this for the entire mission, isn't it? Stupid bickering over stupid schemes thought up by stupid people, with feature commentary from the peanut gallery. Might as well try to get used to it now since this illustrious little group's not showing any signs of being functional anytime soon. She moves over to where the only sensible people are, Takato and Senya, and nudges them both.

"Tu veux?" she says, offering her smokes to them.

 

[Breadman]

"It is a question that needs to be answered before anything else is done in order to avoid infighting. The bridge is the first step. But is far from the only hole in the plan. The reason we are even capable of being here is because there is a massive army distracting the demon hordes somewhere else. They won't last much longer. So if we begin wasting time trying to maneuver the Abyssal politics and logistics and keep a war band together, we will lose our advantage as the demons decide to turn their attention to the rabble raising a ruckus at their doorstep."

"There is also the fact that we do not know how the Icons and their followers keep the peace. Do they use fear, loyalty or bribery? Or is it a combination" He shrugged as he clearly didn't know the answer to that and the only one who likely did was busy smoking instead of shedding any light on the matter. Perhaps her silence on the topic was something they should take as a sign for this "If we fail to answer with a adequate response to that, then we can forget about gaining a force in the first place." He looked at Hudson and back to Gwen "And we have our own problems with some not playing well with others"

 

[Damian0358]

Takato raised his hand in refusal. He wasn't one to smoke personally, especially the danbagu tobacco which had been brought to Redonia from those islands south-east of the Kairaku Maritime League. While tobacco smoking had grown popular in Upper Redonia since their appearance, the lack of real proper trade from the region had slowed its appearance within the region. Heck, when it did appear, it wasn't in the cigarette style found commonly in Adonia, but in another form, such as using a pipe or even sniffing finely-ground biyan, generally held in a bottle. He'd refuse even opium, as over the years, the Sindoo opium, the green spice, had slowly made its way from the south through the mountains, and has caused trouble, even displacing the native afurong, the black spice, in some places.

Takato watched as yet another discussion broke out, this time involving Henderson and Gwen. At least this was more productive than the argument that had transpired earlier.

 

[Doomevil]

Loque offered Senya a cigarette to pass the time, but as soon as she eyed the item for a bit, she avoided it for a moment. Peer pressure and some of her own personal moments were just too hard to let go of sometimes. She knew it was a polite gesture, so out of respect Senya took the smoke, nodding before giving a thumbs up. Senya reluctantly placed the smoke into the bag, overhearing the conversation between Henderson and Gwen. So far Henderson was right in that they had no idea how society in the Abyss worked. The army providing the distraction is the only chance they had to do their own business. But none of them have entered here before. Except for one person she knew. Maybe Loque can help them out if they were lost in the flames. Senya walked over to Loque, asking her a short question.

"Know anything that can help us out?" Senya jerked a thumb towards Henderson and Gwen as she was walking. If Loque can provide some sort of information it'll help them greatly.

 

[Frankafurter]

Uloth is close to last off the boat as she took the time to make sure the boat was stowed correctly and moves over to the group with Vincent's instructions. She hears the bickering of the party and just shakes her head, the amount of dysfunction in this group is beginning to worry her and she was pretty confident from the outset. If they can't get over themselves and focus on the task at hand, then she may as well just hop in the boat and head back to the gate without them and leave them to their deaths. She'd rather go face a pissed off Velin than have to wade through enemy territory more or less by herself because her fellow warriors couldn't keep a common ground between them worth shit. She picks up the pace to catch up with Riberta, Aliana, and Vincent, wanting to leave the others behind to their own issues. Right now the important goal was to reach their destination, what they do once there is entirely on the leader of this expedition. She trusts Vincent even if he is a crony of the Order, he seems to understand that regardless of the situation there's a more pressing matter at hand than personal squabbles and that they need to get it done.

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"I know plenty about this land I used to call home, Senya. I know nothing of anything that can help us here. As I tried hammering into Miss Gwen's seed brain, the Icons and the Demon King himself in particular are far too powerful; the strength they have is enough not even whatever pitiful excuse for an army you foreigners can build are enough to match even a meter of their strength."

As she speaks, she also listens to Henderson. He's asking the right questions and she feels compelled to answer him.

"It's true indeed, the Icons use various means to control whichever parts of our population they have squashed under their feet. Not all of them use the same methods however, the only Icon I know of intricately is that of Gluttony. For him, it’s fear, though you can probably guess what the other icons do to keep their subjects in line.”

She takes another draw, exhaling a large cloud of smoke.

“But don’t you think you can turn their underlings against them so easily. And you can just forget about trying to convince them to join you...” She gives a disparaging look towards Hudson. “... especially the Icon of Lust’s. Unless you nuns and priests think you’ve got a body that can withstand more than a thousand turns, if you know what I mean.”

 

[joshuadim]

Venextos had been the last to get off of the boat as they arrived onto the Hollowlands and set foot upon the Abyssal mainland, and he tarried behind for a reason: he was listening in on most of the conversations and discussions that were going about, trying to determine the makeup of this group that he had become a part of for this quest. He was disappointed by the amount of bickering going about, considering the stakes that were in play, as well as the general sentiment some had towards each other. Most notably was Hudson and his extreme, blinding hatred for anything coming from the Abyss, even if one of them happened to be on their side in the first place. Another was the bickering involving Inari, whom was an enigma to the sorcerer. She seemed to be some form of criminal or minor warlord from Redonia, but had no idea about any specifics of what she does or what led her to this position in the first place. And when the argument over looting broke out, Venextos was once again disappointed that this was even a conversation in the first place. There was not much of value here that would help them apart from anything valuable held by the more powerful demons and even the Icons and trying to loot places would only serve to waste valuable time.

As he walked with the group, he still wanted to speak to a particular figure that was an enigma for the most part: the Redonian monk. Or as he now knew him to be an Oni monk since that was revealed by Tariun. What an oni was doing here was something of interest to the sorcerer, and as such he made the effort to get himself closer to speak. "I don't think I've had the pleasure of speaking with you yet, monsieur. What is an oni doing here if I may ask so myself, and a monk nonetheless?"

 

[Damian0358]

Takato noted that the robed wizard, Venextos, was approaching him. Assuming he wished to speak to someone else, he went back to his contemplation, only to find himself surprised that the man spoke to him. He could feel the aura emanating from him, laden with qi, in contrast to most humans he had spoken with in Adonia. To be speaking with someone with such a connection to the natural world, a pleasure, to be sure. However, the question asked wasn't one he had anticipated. Takato placed his right hand behind his head, the clearest anyone could see his bandaged-up right arm so far (and it clearly didn't stop at his elbow), as he scratched the back of his head.

"Ah, Sir Venextos, that is," Takato tried to think of the proper word, "ehm, a difficult question. A long story, it is. Though presumably the story of one such as yourself and what had brought you here was equally long."

 

[joshuadim]

Venextos gave a chuckle at Takato's words, finding a bit of humor in them. "One could say that indeed. After what happened on Grimtham Isle, I have spent a considerable amount of time and resources to get myself as well as some others to be here. Although it is a price am I willing to pay since there is a lot at stake here." He took a look around at the desolate vista they were traversing through before sighing. "I even lost one of my best pupils as a result of my own meddling... yet I will not let that dissuade me from doing what needs to be done for the good of all."

 

[Damian0358]

Takato seemed glum after hearing that Venextos had lost one of his pupils as a result of his own actions.

"...beside the bodies of the dead, there are living ghosts," Takato quoted a proverb, as he joined in looking at the vista, "Hopefully they have made their way to the Heavens..."