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

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

“People will lust for anything you know, I’ve seen it happen. Especially if they’re... driven to it enough.” finally pipes up Loque towards Uloth. “So why not something that’s weird and foreign but still human enough, like an elf?”

 

[K0mori]

"Tsavanian." she said, waving at the woman to get her attention. "We need to keep going." she said, pointing after Jakob and Hudson before following herself as she walked over near Aliana. The bodies and gore didn't bother Riberta in the slightest. She herself had done things in a similar manner before.

Anya nodded, vacantly, before plodding along behind the rest of the group, trying to avoid the other werewolves as she went.

 

[Infab]

The group continued on, gathering and moving down the path away from the area in front of the door. As they walked, Vincent glanced back to see that the statue had shifted again. This time, it was frozen waving them goodbye. It was certainly friendly for a demon slaying statue. He turned back about, and continued on, walking back up to the front where Hudson, Jakob, and the others were. It was indeed rather cold, which clashed with how most viewed the Abyss. Hellish and hot. Instead, it was cold. A 'sun' hung above them, providing their path with light. The flames that some of them had conjured only served to stave off the cold.

The area around them was mostly covered in dark colored dirt. There was no vegetation to speak of along the thin path ahead of them, and the rocks scattered about were rather sharp and jagged. Quite different from how the mortal realm appeared before they entered the doorway. The bodies thinned out, and soon the path was mostly clean. Then, the steep rocks to their right slowly shrank, and they got a far clearer view of the Abyss surrounding where they had came in.

​

 

[SniperComZero]

As they finally made their way away from that horrific field of gore, Gwen observed the others flicking fire from their hands to keep themselves warm. Following suit, the elf took one hand away from her shoulder, reaching into a flat, leather pouch, and procuring a piece of parchment. Giving it a quick glance over, she then put it back, closing her palm. "Chaleur ancestrale." She quietly muttered, before opening her palm. What seemed to be a sprite, just a little orb of heat and light, flew close to her, occasionally darting from one side to her other.

"Miss Murder by Lust." That damnable phrase stuck in the royal's head like it were tar, making her grit her teeth behind her lips. She was only half-listening to what the stupid creature was blathering on about. Then, she simply scoffed, not even taking her eyes away from her steps on the ground. "'Decency'. Pah, idiocy, more like. The intelligent one should only view open combat with a rival as a last resort." She finally turns her head to face the orc, seeming rather nonplussed. "...But, perhaps your hatred comes from a... jealousy. Perhaps your lack of intelligence to weave an intricate web of contacts and plots, non?"

 

[Damian0358]

The light provided by Takato's qi spheres, Loque's fire sphere and Senya's flame (hardly Gwen's sprite) would give way to the light provided by what looked to be a sun. Takato briefly paused, looking at the sun, eyes squinting... a sun underground... how odd.

The sight of the area in front of them brought about some oddly-founded nostalgia within Takato - after the oni retreated underground, beneath the mountains of the northwest, following the Age of Darkness, it was there that their home laid. The Northern Oni even named their part of the underground in honor of their ancestral home, the New Abyss. He spent half a dozen years as a child within the lands of the Southern Oni before beginning his journey as a hermit, and following that only ever returned briefly to those cold, misty lands. And yet, he could see why the oni chose the underground as their permanent home... it truly was reminiscent of the Abyss... he wondered what his ancestors would think now.

What appeared to be mist and haze seemed to cloud the area they were entering... goody! Only truly entering hermitdom after 500 years, when it came to food, he could now primarily subside on mist and haze, just as his human master did. He preferred haze unlike his master however, and opted to drink liquids rather than take in mist. He motioned his right hand at the haze nearby, and with his qi, tried his best to bring it forth. He brought some close, and began taking it in orally.

He coughed a few times, as the composition of Abyssal haze was rather different to haze found on the mortal coil, but it would be something he would have to get used to.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob looked down for a moment, reminiscing over the good times of the inquiry. While not many, he still had fond memories of its members and the adventure they had. "It all started in the town of Airedale. I was transferred in a month before due to church orders...I was a constable back then, you see. They told me I had to work with an inquiry lead by Valeria Witlock. A young senior inquisitor. Along with me were 9 others. Erwin, Galina, Ethraeil, Aleister, Rosanna, Theodore, Wesley over there..." Jakob pointed to Wesley as the young man walked behind them. "Mariette...and Camille." He eyed Hudson while mentioning his wife.

"It started with a simple investigation...then it grew into a bigger plot. The Duke of the island, Joseph Ashwood, was a pureblood vampire. He wanted to gather the most powerful artifacts to create a vampire kingdom. Powerful enough to overwhelm the human kingdoms." Jakob looked out over the Abyssal landscape around them. He felt weird about it. It had a peaceful, yet...unnatural feeling to it. "...But it turned out that Sazak was involved. He used the Duke to get the Ring of Adona, then used Witlock to get the Sword of Velin. The group fought against the minions of the Duke." Jakob looked at Senya. "From traitorous soldiers in the Atracan army, such as Colonel 'Stonewall' Wallace...that bastard, and his second in command Lieutenant Archer. A pair of necromancer twins...a pureblood vampiress named Cassandra Bainbridge, and a pair of supernatural knights. Ser Tristyn and Ser Edmond."

"I...sadly was unable to travel to the end with them. I was wounded in battle against Archer. The others had to continue on without me...Mariette died." Jakob cleared his throat, as Mariette's death still hurt him. "...So did Rosanna. Witlock...was unable to lead the group. She was a good inquisitor on her own...but just wasn't a good leader. Sazak eventually possessed her in the end...and he got both the Sword and the Ring after they slew the Duke." Jakob looked down at the ground once more. "...And Sazak cursed us all in the Inquiry afterwards."

 

[Dmaster]

"That's the long and short of it, just about." Hudson chimed in, helmeted visage still pointed forward as they went down the path. He didn't react in a visible way when Camille was mentioned, but it was clear that she had filled him in on the events of the inquiry beforehand. The brim of his hat prevented the pallid sunlight from hitting his eyes, and out from the sides of his helmet his breath puffed out visibly in slow streams of warm mist. He did not seem all that bothered by the cold, and even then his rather heavy vestments had their uses when it came to both temperate and frigid environments. Still, being from the highlands he was rather adept at dealing with chilly environments.

"Not sure why Velin's order didn't receive word on the crisis. Had I been there perhaps things would have turned out differently."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Inari followed along, close to the others to keep an ear on the conversations. It was nice to see they had some sorcerers as they helped make light and warmth. More room for her on the front line, it seemed. She knew a number of wizards, employed them too, and rarely did they step near the battle line.

She heard them talking about the elf, Gwen. Apparently the woman's sin involved lust. Now that was a little piece of excitement. She heard the orc chatting with Gwen and she drifted over.

"Lust sin is good sin! If my not vainglory, I chose lust. Well maybe both," she said happily.

She heard a few parts of Jakobs story and heard about how Sazak cursed a lot of folks. That was some bad business, no doubt. At least he had the honor to come back for revenge.

 

[Infab]

"Not sure why Velin's order didn't receive word on the crisis. Had I been there perhaps things would have turned out differently."

Riberta spoke up after a moment. "I'm the reason why." she stated. She glanced over from where she was walking. "...Most of the Order's forces were preoccupied with me and my clan in Daristein. I'm sure you heard about the massacres." She glanced down at Aliana, whom was clutched onto her arm, before looking back over to Hudson once more. "The military got involved eventually, and then they brought in the Alchemists. My clan is either imprisoned or dead by now. So I'm now a warlord without an army."

 

[Dmaster]

"Well isn't that just unfortunate." he muttered sarcastically. "I was knee-deep in uprooting a cult in Southern Atraca. Even if I had received word at the time I probably wouldn't have felt it right to abandon that duty." The futility of it just got Hudson to shake his head, but he chuckled lowly to himself. "How's the saying go? C'est la vie?" His pronunciation of the Escarian phrase was absolutely butchered, both in part by his accent and the fact that he did little to actually follow through with the intricacies of the language, such as the 't' not being silent as well as the last word coming out more like 'vye'. "Doesn't matter. It was all planned anyway."

 

[Breadman]

Henderson observed the hellscape in front of them. Quite lovely. The Abyss had it's own sun and probably a moon. Time moved slower here supposedly, so he wondered if they passed through the threshold. Something else was different. The sun wasn't giving off heat. It's rays illuminated the path in front of them, but it didn't warm at all. Everything here was different. He wondered if drinking the water would make you more thirsty or if eating anything would make you more hungry.

While thinking about these curiosities, he overheard Jacob's tale. Inquisitors, Theodore, Sazzak and a curse? He picked up the pace slightly to get behind him.
"You wouldn't happen to know a man named Theodore Boivin, now would you, lad?"

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob looked back at Riberta. The woman had a mean look to her, a true killer no doubt. But seeing Aliana's arm holding her's so tightly, and Riberta not saying anything about it, meant there was more to the hybrid than met the eye. "...So it was you, huh? I remember Winchester told us about the Order being unable to move men to the island." Jakob looked at Hudson. "I don't know if things could have changed. Sazak had held Valeria by the ...well, by the balls. It was either her soul or death. Not easy for any man or woman out there." He took a deep breath before continuing, hearing the weird Redonian woman and the Orc talking with the sultry elf. Jakob gave the kitsune a smile, but he looked a bit weirded out. "You know, lust is good 'n all...but you know what's better?" Jakob smiled. A hug from your loved one every night! That's what I always say." He then looked to Henderson, whom mentioned Theodore's full name. Jakob seemed surprised. "Yeah, Theo. Smart man...he currently works with me. You know him?"

 

[Breadman]

"Know him? Why, he's practically my best friend. I was his best man at his wedding with Paige. Lovely woman she was. Shame what happened to her." Henderson looked Jacob as he gave away information that was clearly not shared "I suppose he never did talk too much about that. Too painful of a memory I suppose."

 

[Doomevil]

Senya listened to what Detective Jakob had to say regarding the incident on Grimtham Isle. She caught notice he looked down as soon as she asked the question. Once he started to get into detail who were the members of the Inquiry, Valeria Witlock was the Inquisitor they needed to rescue. And this demon named Sazak ultimately possessing this woman didn't surprise her at all. Some demons were tricky that way as the Red Warden experienced during demon contracts in Valencia. Although what Jakob described seemed like a Vampire case when he talked about the Duke's plans for a Vampire Kingdom. Initially, Senya thought.

Putting the pieces together, of course Sazak took advantage of the Duke's plot. They were all pawns in the demon's scheme. And the worse thing was that Jakob was injured to the point he couldn't even help out his partners in the end. The Inquiry seemed to be a failure in the end unfortunately, the demon placing curses on the Hunters. Senya shook her head, no one should have to go through that. The Red Warden gave her sympathies, she knew enough that this was personal business for the Detective and his other friend Wesley. Maybe things will turn out alright if the Dragons are merciful and the first flame is still out there.

"You have my condolences, Detective. But fret not, we all have a role to play here. May Aldras give us resolution for this contract." She said, gesturing a peace sign towards Jakob in an act of common interest. Once they were out from the pile of gore and blood, they eventually saw a sun that gave them all the light they needed. Her senses tingled, closing her eyes to take in the atmosphere. If only she could meditate here, it would be perfect, but for now she was on duty.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"Warlord without army?" Inari echoed, her head swiveling towards Riberta. "Me too! That make us like sisters! Aha!"


She then looked at Jakob a little more curiously. "Hugs? Sure, sure. I hug all the time. Like my new sister here. Ri-ber-ta. I hug her later, and maybe elf girl, too," she said, smiling at Gwen.

 

[Frankafurter]

The Orc chuckles at Gwen's chirping back, "I wouldn' be jealous of ya, lookit yer body, tiny an' frail, only fit fer bein' bed vestiges or a skulkin' coward. As fer plots an' schemin', no time fer it, follow yer gut an' you'll outlive mos' who spend too much time thinkin'." When she hears Riberta's story of how she's basically a warlord without an army, she feels a small pang, she hopes the kin she covered the escape of made it out, she doubts that they would have gotten the same fate as her, she chimes in, "Aye, I was warchief, we were terririzin' tha' humans an' then th' smug gits in th' top hats showed up. I grabbed a gun liken this one in me hands an' started cuttin' down tha' humans so me kin could escape to fight 'nother day. Top hats pulled some magic kerfuffle outta ther' arses an' captured me, then I ended up 'ere with you lot an' th' gobshite elves."

 

[SniperComZero]

Whilst Uloth and her speech made clear to Gwen that she was pretty slow in the mind, Inari seemed quite the opposite. Annoying and crude as she may be, there was a cunning to her that, at least until now, Gwen hadn't seen in the not-so-jolly green giant behind her.

She pursed her lips at the kitsune right beside her. "Much as the judgement of pompous, self-righteous underground fairy sprites doesn't affect me, I'd rather not choose a sin. It sounds bad." Her head was then tipped back in the direction of the orc. As much as accusations of being a coward made her roll her eyes, as did her spiel of not spending time to think, the situation that she described as how she made her way to the group? "...Resourceful, if nothing else." Not that she made any effort to make it sound like a compliment.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob looked at Henderson as he mentioned Theodore's wife. He indeed rarely talked about his past, but Jakob knew that whatever happened to him before had severely scarred his scholarly friend for life both physically and emotionally. He'd have to talk to him if he ever got out of the Abyss. "I...see...Theo's a good man. He deserves better." Jakob looked away, but Inari answered him after she was being awfully touchy with Riberta. "Well good! Hugs are gre--" He then paused for a moment, his friendly expression changing into a face of slight disgust mixed with an awkward smile while he cringed a bit. He wasn't angry with the Redonian, as he tried to talk past his chuckling. "...Gods, please don't do what I think you want to do. In the Abyss of all places!" He then shook his head and simply looked back to Hudson. "Yup...We might be in trouble."

 

[Breadman]

"Oh he is a good man." Henderson crossed his arms behind his back, letting the little scene play out in front of him. "I say any friend of Theodore is a friend of mine. After all" A smile creeped across his face "He is the reason I am the man I am today. Can only imagine what good he's done for you."

 

[Dmaster]

"Oh come now, that's hardly the reason to lose your smile so soon." Hudson said, rife with sarcasm per usual.

"If you're so confident that we'll make it out of this alive you're gonna want to keep those spirits high as can be. Considering that this place is made to literally whip it out of you." he said before Henderson interjected. That got him to turn his head, looking on at that smile likely born of sadism or twisted irony. The hunter just shook his head before looking back to the path again.

 

[joshuadim]

With the vista now less of carnage and more of the regular Abyssal terrain that he was used to seeing from his prior visits, Venextos walked more confidently with his staff held out front as he walked. So far, the coast was clear and it was relatively peaceful. Although how long it stayed that way would have to be seen, and it probably would not take long for news to spread of their arrival to break this peace. Nonetheless, Venextos walked at a calm pace along the rest of the group and listened in onto what the others were saying from time to time.

 

[Frankafurter]

Uloth laughs at Jakob's discomfort, she has no comment for it. She looks back at Gwen again, "Dunnae look so glum, knife-ear, we're in this mess togeth'r, so yer kin ta me for now, as are tha' rest of ya. Dunnae mind me bullshite'n around, yeh? Jus' helps me relax." She makes sure the rest of the group can hear the last part.

 

[Doomevil]

Senya took note of the Orc's statement, giving an affirmative nod while they viewed the scenery. It's a relief to know some of the members were at least trying to get along. She had to admit, she's not used to teamwork, preferring to work alone all the time. But this Abyss is going to test them, one way or another.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

"Rather not choose sin? Silly. Choose sin so sin don't choose you," Inari pointed out to Gwen. She then glanced at Jakob, expression blank.

"What else hug mean? I say hug, I mean hug. Funny man." She shook her head, though her eyes flickered slightly.

 

[Fubuki]

With some light bickering and banter being shared between the group, she kept quiet as she clung to Riberta's arm. Her head rested near her shoulder, trying to keep warm in the cold of the Abyss.

The rough, hard-to-understand orc lady was loud. Not as loud as the door, but, almost enough to make Aliana want to cover her ears. The feud between Gwen and the rough lady was a bit humorous, if she had to admit, but was too focused on the area around her as she walked to pay much mind to it. She swears she can hear things in the distance but cannot recall what it sounded like, or if there are any sounds at all other than the groups talking.

She probably wouldn't make friends with the angry, loud rough lady, having heard more than enough talk of her kind to steer clear of her. Then the overly cheery woman who can't seem to string a set of words properly, and the talk of hugging...

"A hug would be nice, but not from most of these people..." She thought, sooner expecting a knife in her back than actual physical affection. She looked up at the sun, noting that it doesn't blind her as she does. Everyone had some sort of ability to create warmth, and Riberta isn't too warm. She clings tighter to her arm, closing her eyes as she lets Riberta guide her.