Fantasy Hunter's Moon [IC] [CLOSED]

[joshuadim]

Once the two were out of earshot (hopefully), Ethraeil spoke up. "I have a plan on how to remove Sazak as a threat... and it might not even have to end up with killing Valeria." Ethraeil said. "I trust you the most out of anyone else with this information, as I have been giving it quite a bit of thought."

He turned his head to look behind him before turning to the marquess. "I might be able to break the connection between the two."

 

[Dmaster]

Camille appeared inquisitive as the lich spoke of his trust to her, glancing back at Valeria before looking to Ethraeil again. The pitch got her to twist her mouth, however, deeply curious how the lich could pull off such a thing. While she didn't think with the goal to offend him, he wasn't exactly an expert on getting out of such deals unscathed.

"Hrm... My plan had been to get Theodore to wrestle the blade from Valeria after the Duke was dead. Killing Sazak with it might have the chance to purge him from existence with Witlock. And if she would end up in the crossfire well... nothingness is a fine alternative to endless torture." she mused. "But go ahead with your plan. How might you pull off such a feat?"

 

[joshuadim]

"Her connection is soul-based, as deals with demons tend to be. And I happen to deal with souls quite well. If we can suitably restrain Valeria with iron in whatever fashion and with wards similar as to what we found Sazak in the first time we came across him here, I might be able to work to rip that connection apart. Aleister's holy magic would come in hand here as well." he began before going off tangent. "I know firsthand how powerful Sazak is. He may seem all words... but that's because he isn't here yet. Not really. And once he fully possesses Valeria's body, he will be practically impossible to stop without restraints. Theodore would fail almost immediately at his task."

He shook his head, muttering under his breath before looking to Camille once more. "I'm telling you, this is the best possible way we can get rid of Sazak. Do you trust me on this?"

 

[Dmaster]

Concepts of immortal souls and magic were quickly lost on her the more detail was given, yet she did her best to keep up. "Even if I stand no chance against him, I will still fight." she starts, showing that she wqs far from all words as well.

"I think there is reason that he hides behind mortal forms. If he wanted to be feared he would appear to strike me down now." she adds in a tangent of her own, soon shaking her head. "Sever the connection. It seems too simplistic of a solution, on the surface. I've no idea how it works, but if it is our only option I will stand with you."

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil gave a nod before looking behind himself once more. "We will need Aleister and Theodore on this as well. Inform them when you can, I'll keep an eye out in the meantime."

Ethraeil then rode on further ahead by himself on the road to think some more. The plan was a longshot, considering the difficulty that would be Sazak, but there was the slightest of chances that it could work. And for the first time in such a long time, Ethraeil felt something he had not felt for a long time: hope.

 

[Infab]

"...I feel c-cold." said Valeria, grabbing her shoulders. She did every time Sazak took hold to speak. This time felt worse than the others. He either was nearby, or it was simply because Sazak held her longer than the other times. Still...it terrified her. And soon it'd be permanent because Sazak would gain full control. Don't worry about the cold, Witlock. You'll get used to it. Valeria shivered, before picking up the reins of her horse once again. "...Let's get going." she finally said, looking back to Theodore. Then, she turned and started moving back up the road towards Buckshard once more. Rosanna watched, from where she sat on Rayham, with an expression of sadness on her face.

The group continued on, as the sun moved across the sky, till they finally saw Buckshard as the sun descended upon the horizon. Buckshard sat nestled amongst the surrounding hills, and seemed as peaceful as Westerly. The streets were wide. Wide enough for four large wagons to pass through side by side. The wood and brick buildings themselves never reached higher than two floors, unlike cities like Peltragow and Porthcrawl. A bridge crossed the river next to them at the center of the city, leading to where several houses were on the other side.

The odd thing was that it seemed as if there was no activity in Buckshard. Lights were on, horses stood in the streets along with a few wagons, but nobody was wandering the streets or moving about in the surrounding fields and farmhouses. Valeria stopped where she was, glancing back to the others. I hope this isn't like Oar's Rest. "...Lets proceed with caution." she said, before moving the horse along at a slower pace. Rosanna followed, drawing her lever action from its holster on the side of the saddle.

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil stayed on guard as the inquiry entered Buckshard, suspicious of the calm. It was eerily reminiscent of Oar's Rest indeed, and perhaps this could be a repeat. "Somethings off. I can't feel anything, but something's happened here already." Ethraeil muttered as he rode onwards next to the carriage.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

"...Blessed be the mother of the winds, guide of the lost souls and protector of the aelfs...Blessed be the mistress of the fires, matron of warriors, master of war, mother of mankind...Blessed be the father of the earth, creator of the stout folk, patron of laborers...grant me strength for the tests to come. Guide me and those around me in this era of darkness, devoid of your ancient light. Might those who uphold the old ways remain strong, and those who are misguided find the light. Amen."

Ser Edmond slowly raised his head, and looked at the stained glass windows of the church. They showed the new Gods of mankind, while the old ones were shown as elements behind them. He slowly got up from his prayer position, as he felt new strong and powerful auras entering the town. He slowly turned about, the faces of several children looking upon him in terror. Two young nuns tried their best to calm the children as he walked through the pews of the church. Once at the front door of the building, he grabbed a large claymore that was resting against the stone wall. "Do not open...this door...until I come back...is...is that clear?" he said to one of the nuns, whom nodded at the terrifying tall man. Edmond looked to the children, and pointed at a teenage boy. Chubby and meek looking. "You...boy...come here..." said Edmond. The teenager slowly approached the man. "Be kind and...ring the bells. The nuns need to tend to...the children..." The chubby teen slowly nodded and walked to the bell room at the back of the church.

Edmond then exited the church, marking a few holy symbols on the door with his blood to prevent any paranormal dangers from harming the children. He took a deep breath, and walked through the empty field surrounding the church. The bells began to rang, sending sound throughout the town. Several ghouls whom had been lead to the trees and small patches of forest in the hills began to look to the sky as they heard the noise. Edmond began to chant a few words in an old tongue, and soon the ghouls began to crawl out of the woods and copses around Buckshard.



As the party continued their walk through the wide streets, they began to feel several auras coming from behind them. As well as a powerful, strange aura leading them. As the sun finally sank below the horizon, out of the misty night, Edmond and his horde of ghouls emerged. They looked directly at the party, but they did not charge towards them. Edmond raised his voice, his powerful tone contrasting with his raspy voice.

"Your travel...has been impressive, members...of the Inquiry..." He and his horde of ghouls stopped, several feet from the party. "But I am afraid this is where...[breathing]...it ends." He looked to Valeria. "I'll give you all two options...stay and fight...Respectable...but...[breathing]...this won't be an easy fight for any of you." He raised his hand, and suddenly the ghouls behind him started to make a path. "Or...you can leave...allow the Duke to complete his mission...You'll be spared...and your families as well...[heavy breathing]...Our mission is not one of genocide and death."

Edmond looked at each member of the Inquiry, raising his claymore. "The choice...is...yours..."

 

[Dmaster]

Camille said nothing as they made their way into Buckshard, the eerie silence putting her on guard almost immediately as her horse trotted up the path. As Ethraeil spoke up she looked at him but remained quiet. It did not take a supernatural sense to tell that something was wrong here.

Once the orchestrator made themselves known she stopped her horse and got off of it slowly. "How gracious of you." she pipes up, drawing her rapier before pulling quills from her holster. "I don't think you granted the horde around you the same courtesy, however. Maybe you don't aim for genocide, but even one life lost to you and the Duke's horrible actions will not be forgotten so easily."

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Edmond looked at Camille for a few moments. "Madame Guigere...Am I...[breathing]...correct? The huntress of Escaria...your stories are known across the continent. An honor to...speak with you..." Edmond then looked at the ghouls around him. "You are most right...madame. Had things gone a better way...these souls would have continued to...live." He looked back to Camille. "But due to incompetent wrongdoers...I have to take drastic...measures..." He looked to Valeria. "Rest easy. Regardless...of the outcome of this night, these souls...will be liberated...[heavy breathing]...I promise that."

 

[Infab]

Valeria went to speak, but was abruptly stopped as Sazak once again made his presence known. Her eyes shifted to the black and gold of a demon, and Sazak spoke through her. "Ahhh, Ser Edmond. We meet again! How's my wonderful little experiment doing? I see you're still wheezing quite a bit...pity you never gave me the chance to fix that." he stated, forcing Valeria to smile. "And how is Lethariel, by the way? He looked a bit...sickly the last time I saw him." Valeria then grinned.

"Anyway, you know that we can't stop here, Edmond. Nor are we going backwards. We have a date with destiny, and it involves the Duke's head. I can offer you two choices. One, let us be on our merry way. Or two, these...lovely people kill you quite violently...then I get to have fun with you in the darkness below."

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Edmond remained silent as the demon spoke through the inquisitor. He wasn't surprised that Sazak was still alive. The Duke wanted Cassandra to kill the being, but as expected, she must have failed. He wasn't bothered by the demon until the mention of Lethariel. Edmond's sword arm shook slightly, but he remained calm. "My sweet Lethariel... he died in peace. That curse of yours... [breathing] ...did not break him like you wanted, fiend." He raised his sword, pointing it at Valeria. "And... you tried to break me... with your torture, and your curse... [breathing] ...you thought you made me a monster, but all you... truly did was make me stronger. Wiser... The hunger, I killed it... just like I killed your daughter Belias." He then looked at the other members of the inquiry. "I am... truly sorry you must endure this foul being... but he always finds a way." He looked back to Valeria. "You know... very well... that I can't die... [breathing] ...Now let the true inquisitor speak, you rotten thing."

 

[Infab]

Sazak then forced Valeria to let out a chuckle. "Look around you, Edmond. You are a monster. You turned the citizens of Buckshard into ghouls. You're a mutated freak, hiding beneath the guise of a tall priestly man." he stated, with a wide grin. "And...you attempt to use Belias' death against me? HAH! Belias was a pitiful wretch of a girl. She'd have been better off with that bastard Azathor and the rest of my more rebellious children. I couldn't care less about her death, or theirs." Finally, Valeria straightened up on her horse. "You couldn't die because I wouldn't let you, Edmond...and that's changed. These are your final days, and I hope you thoroughly enjoy them. Because the rest of your eternity will be spent regretting the day you were conceived."

A moment later, Valeria's eyes returned to normal, and she shivered once more. "...W-We can't go back. We have to stop the Duke." she said, looking to Edmond.

 

[joshuadim]

"You need not fight us. Our goals may yet be aligned, Ser Edmond." Ethraeil stated as he dismounted his undead horse and walked out front. "You need not be a part of the Duke's madness. I was a victim of Sazak too, and I have a plan to get rid of him. You can help us with that."

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Edmond stared at Valeria in silence, as the demon continued to speak through her. "Yes, Sazak... I have stolen their... chances of living... and it pains my soul. But... only the Gods of yore and their descendants... [breathing] ...chosen by the forces of our world will judge my actions once I have... died. If I die today...so be it, but I'll die knowing I tried my best. I won't let your... intimidations affect me. You did not... break me back then... and you won't break me even... in Hell."

Once Valeria regained control of her body, Edmond gave her a respectful nod. "If that's what... you desire... [breathing]... a respectable... decision, madame." Edmond then looked to Ethraeil. Edmond knew of the old lich, who was probably a few hundred years younger than Edmond. "A pleasure...to speak...with you Ethraeil. I am... truly honored by your offer... But I am afraid I must refuse. This... is for our sake, as someone as old as you... you know how humans are-" Edmond looked at the human members of the group, and simply shook his head before continuing. "No matter... if this is what you... [breathing] ...decide, then I hope... you all made peace with your Gods."

 

[joshuadim]

"You, nor the Duke, don't get to decide how the world should be. Especially when it has cost so many lives already. You claim to be fighting for a higher cause, Edmond. But who are you kidding? You're a hypocrite. As is your master. And you both will face justice."

Ethraeil formed a lance of ice in one hand and gathered pulsating dark magic in another as he stared at this broken, pitiful creature. "Just know that I will put you out of your misery so that Sazak won't get to you."

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Meditation was a wonderful thing. A concept he admittedly ignored often to focus on more pleasing pursuits of the mind - fantasies, fond memories, implausible circumstances, and all manner of salacious and generally inconsequential matters of thought. For one of the few serious times in his life, he took his meditation to heart, and caged his emotions. He was silent when Francis joined the group with all his disgusting gadgets, and he was silent when Sazak spoke arrogantly through Valeria. Introspection was an important matter. It would be unbecoming for him to let his own anger release again. He could feel it building up inside of him, but it made him feel sick to let it take hold of his thoughts. Arguing with Camille may have fed some part of his ego, yet the aftermath made him think of himself as some unpleasant beast.

Wesley could no doubt see the affects of Aleister's mental state in his attire. Gone was the priestly habit and extravagant clothes. Now he simply wore dark brown corduroy pants, with a white dress shirt opened low to his chest and the sleeves rolled up high. Even his hair, once carefully fluffed and parted, now was simply combed in a more freestyle manner behind his ears. His amulets were clearly displayed, and his rings still decorated his fingers. The only item of luxury was a thin, red, silken ribbon wrapped around his left wrist and carefully knotted in place.

On their arrival to town, Aleister was wide awake and quietly blessing each and every bullet for his pistol. Both lead and silver. He could sense the auras of coming creatures, as well as someone who was addressing the group from outside. He could hear some talking, and gently, he began to unravel his careful meditation.

He snapped the cylinder of his loaded pistol into place, gave Wesley a wink, and budged the carriage door open before hopping out into the street.

"I hear an awful lot of useless chatter when I dare say we rather should start the shooting before any more dreadful guests come to welcome us to this miserable town," he said loudly, pulling the hammer of his pistol into position as he stepped towards Camille, eying down Ser Edmond.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Edmond looked to Ethraeil, as he called him a hypocrite. He nodded, then gave the lich a smile. "That... might be... true, but nonetheless... I fight for what I think is right. I wish we could have done this... without violence, but..." Edmond took a heavy breath, and held it in his chest a bit. "...no matter. You have... all the right to believe what you want to believe." He lowered his blade, placing a hand on his chest.

The ghouls began to grow more frantic, some pulling their hair or laughing into the sky as Edmond kneeled a bit. Clutching his chest in pain. He began to grow in size, his black priestly guise beginning to tear. His limbs grew thinner and longer, his face began to shift, and his front teeth grew longer and sharper. Like unnaturally large canines. This creature was nothing the group had encountered in their lives. Even Ethraeil had never seen anything like it before. Edmond towered over his crazed army of ghouls, his blue eyes looking down upon the inquiry.



He raised his blade, and suddenly a pair of unnatural wings sprouted from his back and extended. "M-Might... the Gods bless... you." And with a swing of his hand, his army of ghouls charged the Inquiry in mass.

 

[Infab]

Buckshard - City Streets - BOSS FIGHT
Ghoul Army, Ser Edmond of Sherida

Buckshard Citizens (Ghoul Army) (Ultra Boss)
2145 HP (!!!) (Each Ghoul has 1 HP, and this is an army of them.)
Trait #1 - Mass Attack - Does damage to all enemies every turn unless otherwise noted. Unable to cause critical hits.
Trait #2 - Ghoul Intelligence - Can only do 1 DMG per attack.
Trait #3 - Clustered Together - Vulnerable to fire, ice, or explosives. All three do 10 DMG and halt enemy progress/attacks for 3 turns.

Ser Edmond of Sherida (Knight, Nosferatu) (Super Boss)
125 HP (!)
Trait 1: Winged Fiend - When flying, does 3 DMG instead of 1 for attacks. More vulnerable to attacks when flying (players gain +2 chance to hit.)
Trait 2: Living Shield - When on the ground, can use wings as shields. Auto rolls to avoid damage.
Trait 3: Vampiric Knight - When focused on one opponent, damage stacks with each hit. Damage resets when changing targets.

------
​

The ghouls rushed towards the group, rabid and wild eyed. Fangs bared and hands ready to try and rip them limb from limb. Then feast on their corpses. Rosanna quickly opened up on the incoming group with her lever-action, choosing to remain on her horse as she fired on them. The sheer speed she used in simply cycling the weapon was spectacular, but it wouldn't help against the numbers that the ghouls had. They needed to retreat. Quickly. "Everyone! Run! Into the city! We can't win this!" she shouted, turning her horse about. Valeria did the same, as she fired off her double barrel at the group before tucking it away and firing off several shots from her revolver as she retreated into Buckshard on horseback.

 

[joshuadim]

Ethraeil was stunned to say the least when Edmond transformed, he couldn't have imagined this at all. The extent to which Sazak experimented was beholden to him now as he watched the enemy begin their assault. Rosanna was right, they couldn't fight this in the least bit.

Ethraeil quickly planted his ice lance into the ground, casting a quick spell on it before moving to quickly mount his horse and ride after Valeria. Hopefully, the spell would slow the ghouls down or at least kill off a few.

 

[Emperor Sagan]

Aleister didn't hesitate scaling the side of the carriage, crossing over the top and around so that he was seated beside Francis on the frontboard.

"Focus on the horses, I'll keep them back!"

 

[Viper Actual]

Having remained quiet during most of the conversating on the way to Buckshard the sudden call for action came as no surprise to Galina.

The ghoul army was nothing short but a nightmare and it was obvious there was no point in fighting it.

Firing a salvo at the ghouls Galina turned Boris around and followed Rosanna.

 

[Dmaster]

Camille scowled at the ghoul army and Edmond, holding her weapons tightly as the monsters howled and charged the group. Despite her pride and combat skill, she knew it was a fight that she could not win like this. Quickly she threw a few daggers at the crowd of ghouls before mounting her horse again, flicking the reins rapidly so that she could rush toward the rest of the group.

"You'll need to pray pretty hard to keep all of those back, Aleister!" she shouts.

 

[Breadman]

"We'll need a wall between us and them." Theodore said while tossing a pair of bombs behind him as he rode.

The pair smashed into the ground and let loose flames as a result. The intent was to keep some of the ghouls behind the fire.

 

[K0mori]

The entire time Ser Edmond was speaking, Francis was opening up two of the cases resting at his feet at the front of the carriage and assembling pipe bombs. There was no way, after hearing Sazak speak yet again, this time to the mysterious man leading the innumerable ghouls, that he would be caught flat-footed against the enemy. He had made it through fashioning his sixth explosive when the creature began to display its horrifying true form, and the schoolteacher-turned-hunter let out a disgusted utterance. What in blackest abyss is that!?

Valeria urged the party to run, and he was with her; this would be a slaughter if they stayed. He was quickly joined by Aleister on the driver's bench seat as he urged the horses forward, the shotgun shoved nose-down between his legs so that its barrel rested on the floorboard. Aleister suggested Francis focus on the beasts so that the vampire could fight back against the enemy. "I can do that one handed!" Francis replied as the carriage careened down the bumpy roadway. With his free hand, he grabbed at one of the pipe bombs he had just armed. Shots were ringing out from the Inquisitor's guns, and Theodore, mounted on horseback, tossed his own incendiaries at the advancing ghouls. Seeing them burst into fire, Francis chuckled cynically. "You call that a firebomb?" he yelled before pulling the pin on his first explosive and hurling it back toward the hoard.