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

[EdwardDewey98]

Empty and Hollow. "...like vanity." comment Jakob, as he stepped into the keep and raised his gun. He motioned to the others to watch his back as he moved, looking about the main hall. "...Seems clear. I don't sense anything or hear anything other than the Hollow."

 

[joshuadim]

Venextos was quiet as he observed the castle and what appeared to be its complete vacancy, a bit suspicious as a result. "I'm not sure this is entirely right... not a sign of ANYTHING being here is odd." Venextos spoke as he looked around. After coming across so many hollows, it just didn't feel right that this whole place was practically abandoned and without any form of activity, and its something that kept Venextos on guard as the group went about the main hall.

 

[Dmaster]

Hudson stepped into the castle with the others, observing the statues and decor with apathy as his hands rested on his weaponry as usual. As they passed hollows on the way deeper into the courtyard he drew his blade and began to stab or decapitate them with ease, finding it best to put them out of their perpetual misery at this point. Uncaring for the statue of this realm's mad ruler, the hunter forged on despite the hybrid's commentary on it.

When Riberta opened the doors, they all found themselves in darkness: a yawning tunnel of blackness inviting them in closer as the group shuffled inside for the shelter they sought. For as extravagant as their surroundings had been outside, there was nothing of note to the castle's interior. There was a great basis for some decoration, yet all that could be seen were flying buttresses just barely visible in the flickering torch light provided by Hudson's caged flames. Eventually, their walking led them into the foyer that had only a grand staircase and nothing else within it. Hudson stopped in place with his sword at his side, looking about at the scant details as he surveyed if this would be a good enough place to rest for the night. He would not be able to think on that possibility much longer.

Curiously, the group began to hear something echoing in the distance - the sound registering as if it were outdoors despite them being in such a wide and spacious interior. A church bell rang at a slow and purposeful tempo, getting Hudson to start looking around as that dread began to fill him once more. He knew that sound, and it was steadily growing louder. There was movement in the shadows at the top of the stairs, and his eyes were instantly drawn to a figure that stood just behind the railing. The hunter raised his sword slightly and unfurled his whip, holding them tightly.

"You hear it, don't you?" a voice called out, raspy yet ethereal with intonation and accent quite similar to Hudson's. "The mission bell that rang on that day. Drawing you to that place, those people that you flocked to at your lowest point."

Hudson's posture stifled, yet he spread his stance and tried to remain resolute in facing this opponent that drew nearer, the being stepping into what little light they had to meet him. It looked as if it was wearing Hudson's hunting equipment, twisted with demonic features. In its left hand it grasped chains that a silver censer was hanging from, the ornate orb unfurling twisting wisps of smoking shadow that sank to the floor heavily. In his right it twisted a long barreled handgun that was fed by magazine, operating it as if it was some kind of plaything with a sickening confidence. A few twists and turns and the gun's barrel was pointed upward and the figure kept talking.

"I thought it only right. To bring you back to the moments you run from, what you so desperately cling to. Have you done everything you've hoped for..?" The shadow chuckled to itself, wearing a smile that was impossible to see yet was clearly heard. "Are you ready to be judged?"

Hudson was shaking, unable to move. Unable to speak.

 

[joshuadim]

"Merde." Venextos spat out as he quickly realized this was a trap set by the newly approached shadow demon. And now it was Hudson's time to suffer from whatever horrible mistakes he had done in the past. The wizard looked over to Hudson's seemingly petrified form as he stood in place, terrified of what he was now up against, and looked back at the shadow demon. "A demon such as yourself has no right to judge anyone." Venextos replied as he quickly moved to prepare a defensive spell to place over Hudson.

 

[Infab]

Riberta shifted her stance, drawing her claymore from her back. This was likely going to be rough, considering the beating Jakob's shadow had given then previously. A thought ran through her mind as she eyed Hudson's shadow. Was her shadow here too? Or Venextos'? She didn't feel anyone else...

 

[Dmaster]

The shadow lowered its gun as the others readied themselves, turning its head to one side as it saw Venextos weave magic around Hudson while criticizing its methods. "You're right..." it says, trailing off for a moment before it suddenly cast its censer out with a quick toss. The chains rattled and clanged as they extended unnaturally, hurtling the heavy metallic orb at the hunter who could not bring himself to move. Any magic that was crystallizing over the man's body was subsequently broken before it had a chance to fully form, hitting him squarely in the chest and sending him flying backwards with a pained gasp. "He's already been judged. I'm just the executioner; the bounty hunter coming to collect."

The shadow collapsed its form into smoking tendrils of black smoke, dispersing through the darkness and coalescing back into its form before Hudson locked into a fetal position. The hunter clutched at his chest as he breathed heavily, the black smoke rising from his helmet. It was caught in his lungs somehow, making it harder to move as he planted a fist onto the ground, trying to lift himself off the stone floor while his head shakily twisted to look at the demon looming over him.

"F-FUCK you..." he wheezed, gritting his teeth as his limbs screamed in a pain that felt as if they were being compressed by an unseen weight that clung to his form. His shadow chuckled again, now swinging his censer about as that black smoke began to permeate throughout the entire foyer, obscuring their positions in a dense fog as black as their surroundings. "You're not answering my question, Hudson." Getting a second wind, Hudson managed to get halfway onto his feet and prepared to swing at the shadow demon, just to be stopped dead in his tracks as a clattering gun brought its barrel to bear directly in front of his face. The hunter was frozen in fear once more.

"Staring down a barrel of a gun, confused and alone... A terrible way to go out, ain't it?" he chided, looking to the other members of the quartet. "I haven't got myself a hit on the rest of you - so it's best you move on and just let me deal with this sorry sack of shit."

The black smoke grew denser still. That church bell began to ring louder yet not the least bit faster, a slow and morose drawl that hung above the thickening air.

"I'll ask you one more time: are you ready?"

 

[Infab]

"If he's a sorry sack of shit, what does that make you?" said Riberta, moving in. "A fake sack of shit?" The ringing church bell was staring to grow rather iritating, pounding against her skull due to her heightened hearing. The smoke was starting to obscure their vision as well. Soon enough, she could barely make out the pair through the smoke. Damnit!

She soon found herself wandering about, searching for the masked hunter and his nemesis. She wasn't going to let the man die down here. She had already sworn she wouldn't. She couldn't even sense either of them now. Only Venextos and Jakob, but barely. It was the smoke from that shadow demon's flail. It had to be.

 

[joshuadim]

Venextos watched as the shadow demon quickly launched Hudson back with a violent hit, and was surprised at the speed which had caught him off guard. As he looked around now, it was hard to discern who was who and where they were, and so Venextos brought his staff up in a defensive manner. "You'll be dealing with us as well if you want to go after him." the wizard proclaimed loudly as he looked around. He took a few steps before standing still as he was unsure which direction to actually go, and since he wasn't attuned to feeling auras he couldn't discern where Jakob, Riberta or Hudson were exactly which began to raise the tension and unease in the sorcerer.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Yet another shadow! What are these cursed beings? Why are they hunting them through these hellish realms? Was Riberta's shadow or Venextos' around? Was the group about to be ambushed by these dark creatures? Hudson seemed to be in a state of shock as its shadow talked to him. While the bell rang across the empty castle, a blackened smoke began to fill the room and soon Jakob was unable to tell who was the real Hudson through the smoke. "I can't see shit! Where are they!?" Jakob couldn't use his shotgun, otherwise he might shoot the real Hudson. So he prepared his fists.

 

[Dmaster]

Matters only grew worse as the shadow demon swung his censer back and forth like a pendulum, the obscuring fog of darkness continuing to flow out from their position. While it wasn't quite harmful to breathe, it was somehow weighing down the other members of the group ever so slightly.

"Just be quiet and watch, the lot of you. I'll get this done and be on my merry way. Not much one to stick around and drink in the consequences." the shadow replied with scathing intent, still staring at Hudson. Despite the gun pointed at him he was struggling to get up still, his eyes filled with more hatred than fear at this point. "I... won't let you rule over me with my regrets..! You are nothing but a pathetic DEMON!" the hunter shouted, rising to his feet with a strained posture and pace. All the while that pistol remained pointed at his head, and the shadow finally fired it - the bullet whipping past Hudson's temple while the discharge partially deafened him in that ear. He dropped the chained mace he attempted to swing at the demon, his left hand grasping at his ear while the shadow swung the censer upward. Once again it hit him square in the chest, sending him flying up and back where he collapsed onto his back with a sputtering cough.

"I don't rule over you, Hudson. Your past actions do. They always have. Spending so long pretending to be something you aren't; some kind of vigilante who bleeds for humans that cannot protect themselves." the shadow says, advancing toward the man doubled over in a heap of pain. The bell continues to toll above them, around them. "Just a hollow, pathetic man playing pretend. Trying to convince himself that he will ever amount to something more than some brigand killing people for a paycheck. And you think demons to be the true monsters that take advantage of the innocent?"

Hudson said nothing, his lungs ejecting tendrils of that black smoke with a hacking cough as he slowly got back onto his feet once again.

"I think that we're ready, now."

​

Despite his injuries, Hudson decided to forge on and work through the pain. With all the obscuring smoke and darkness around him and his opponent the idea of his allies supporting him was a foregone conclusion. This was a fight he would have to do alone, and he was prepared to see it through. He managed to grasp onto one of the leads of Velin's Tears, spooling it up with a spinning motion that felt like his bones were being splintered. He could see the blackness rising up from his mouth, like cigarette smoke made of pure tar. Whatever was in that censer was affecting his body, injuring him and making him too despondent to continue the fight. Coupled with what the demon was saying to him, it was becoming all the more difficult to not give in. Hudson's breathing was shaky and rampant despite the poison in his lungs, nerves and past trauma rushing back to him. It didn't matter.

With a painful step forward he followed through on his toss, grasping the chain as it hurtled the mace toward his target. The shadow demon tossed out his censer as both objects collided with an awful clang, the spectral being aiming down the sights of his gun to fire off another shot. Once again it was another near miss, the shadow toying with Hudson as he approached nonchalantly. All the while the censer reeled back it and its chains into his grasp, the artifact defying all physics and logic as if it was operating on a pulley that could not be seen.

"Can you not summon any of your rage for me? Why do you simply stand there and gawk? Your life is in danger... Fight like it!" it taunted him with a low chuckle, throwing the heavy censer back at him yet again. This time it came for Hudson at a curved angle, and the hunter rose his bastard sword overhead and braced its blade into his gloved hand to block it. The weaponry connected and he deflected it away from him, panting as he tried to get in close where he would have the advantage. Quickly he threw Velin's Tears at him, the chains looping slightly in flight in an effort to grasp the shadow demon tightly. The lasso would have connected were it not for the shadow's ability to disperse into that intangible mist, and in an instant Hudson had a hand around his throat.

Now choking, sputtering, Hudson was lifted by his neck before being tossed forward. Wordlessly the demon swung the censer up before it was sent crashing down square onto his chest. The hunter roared with pain, immediately balling up and coughing again. His vision was fading with that strike, and he got up onto a knee as he grasped his blade tightly in both hands - surprised to see that his opponent was approaching even closer now.

"I am but a product of your sins. She only accepted you because she needed a body in her precious order. You are beyond redemption, beyond atonement." he stated just as he got into swinging range. Yet Hudson's swipes of his sword were slow and pathetic, the shadow simply having to float from side to side to avoid the piece of steel from making contact. "What other use is there for a life so wasted and worthless as yours? You've caused nothing but pain. You deserve this."

The others could see something forming in their peripheral vision, a beacon among the oppressive darkness that they found themselves in that was shining a bright white like a cloud of milky smoke. Tendrils swirled about within its foothold over the black surroundings, giving them what appeared to be a window to the 'battle' that was taking place. Within they saw the weakened hunter taking futile swing after swing at his tormentor, grunting and crying out in pain as the assault was proving to be more arduous and damaging to himself than his assailant. Try as they might to approach it or slip through the portal, it would move away from them - it's position in their view unchanging no matter how far out they ventured.

The time came where he could no longer fight, falling onto the floor by his knees as even the flickering lights of his flames seemed to begin fading. Slowly the shadow drew near, simply dangling the censer directly before him as that black poison wafted up off of it and into his lungs. Hudson soon lost consciousness entirely, slumping forward by his neck and shoulders.

To both him and the group that was viewing his fate, they soon found themselves looking upon a countryside of some kind. The tolling of the bell had ceased, and the last whimpering chirps of the birds in the trees were heard as twilight had barely begin to set in. It held no significance to them, but Hudson knew precisely where he was. They could hear the hunter breathing frantically, though the view shifted downward rather calmly - their perspective that of a rider gripping the reins of his horse. Gloved hands grasped them tightly, urging the beast forward as the pair of eyes they were looking through turned to look upon a winding road, his position obscured by the treeline. Down the cobblestone path, a carriage was swiftly approaching.

"No..." came Hudson's voice, ethereal and echoing. "Stop this..!"

 

[joshuadim]

"HUDSON! HARK! FIGHT IT, DAMN YE!" Venextos yelled out as the scene began to unravel its true intentions for the hunter, "If not for your own well being, then for those that you hold dear!" The sorcerer attempted to dispel the fog around him but to no avail, for this type of evil conjuring was vibrant with such malicious power that he couldn't muster the strength of a spell to do so. Frustrated, he took to shouting again: "Your past might be damned, but your future shouldn't be! Fight it, damn ye! For if you fall here, this shadow will take you as its own puppet! A twisted visage that would go to your wife! Your children! Get up and fight, damn ye!"'

Aimlessly, Venextos tried to walk around to find Riberta and Jakob with the hindrance of such shadows preventing him from making much ground. "Your past shan't define your future! It never has, such blind notions come from guilt and zealotry and not truth!" As Venextos continued to walk, he outstretched an arm in front of him to see if he would come across anyone. "Fight for a better tomorrow, not for a pointless death. That is what a man who truly overcomes his demons can do. It is all any man must do in their darkest hour!"

 

[Dmaster]

"He cannot hear you, you know." the shadow speaks through the illusory screen, Hudson's continued and various pleas falling on the deaf ears of his tormentor. Despite that the image continued to move without hesitation, the eyes they were looking through eyeing the swiftly approaching carriage before it swept beyond his position in the brush. "This is more of a formality than anything. I advise you just watch things unfold, see the man you are so desperately trying to protect."

The reins of the horse were dragged and rapidly whipped to urge it to move quickly, the creature breaking into a full gallop as it kept pace with his target. At this distance, those sounds of the advancement of his steed were obscured by the rattling wood and the gallop of the two horses that dragged the moving vehicle ahead. Both reins were gripped in one hand, while another reached down and retrieved a break-action gun of some kind which the rider allowed to trail at his side.

"A simple job on paper. Do you even remember what it was? Take out some noble on their way to divvy up some land grab. To your credit you did well to prepare, watched who would come down this road a day or so prior. Get to know who and what to look out for." Hudson's shadow began just as the horse was whipped into moving even faster. A single man on horseback would certainly be able to catch up with such a weighty, posh carriage.

"Why are you doing this?! To remind me?!" Hudson cried out, though said words were off pace with the hastened breathing of his past body. To the hunter it was as if he were right back there, a spectator in his own mind as the events played out. "I've been living these moments each night after they had taken place!"

"Then what is the harm in seeing them one last time before you go out?" the shadow replied, just as Hudson's horse caught up to the carriage, running alongside the driver. There was but a few seconds of stillness as the bounty hunter whipped up his coachgun with surprising swiftness - firing off a shot one-handed that unleashed a spray of pellets that struck the driver so hard that he went flying from his seat. The blast got the horses moving the carriage itself to erupt into a panic, whinnying madly as they tried to make a mad dash in opposite directions before their ties redirected them back onto the road, albeit quite crooked. Using this opportunity, Hudson pulled back on his horse's reins to slow it down a touch while his hand quickly readjusted the aim of his coachgun. He still had another barrel to fire off, and he was more than close enough. The next shot ripped right into the carriage proper, plunged right into the head of a silhouette he could barely make out against the setting sun. With that done, Hudson halted his horse entirely as the panicked carriage horses kept on riding off.

"Quick and easy, thanks to your swiftness with a gun. Don't even have to look your victims in the face, depending on how it's done. Just how much did the job pay anyway? Do you remember? I sure as hell can't and your memories are all right in front of me like this..."

"... I-It doesn't matter. Hired killing is wrong no matter what the pay is, I see that now."

"Yeah? How many kills in did you realize that? This is all you had been doing after the war... All you felt like you COULD do! Growing fat off the misery of others, just seeing it like some kind of paycheck and disconnecting yourself from the lives you snuffed out. That was of course until..."

There was a sudden, shrill cry that came from the vehicle ahead, Hudson's head snapping from the road behind him back on to the carriage. With little hesitation he spurned his horse to ride further along, traversing the distance the carriage covered before the horses pulling it slowed their panicked gallop and came to a halt. Stopping his own steed with a skittering halt, the bounty hunter hopped down from his saddle and pulled out a familiar looking pistol from its holster. Its barrel was long, the safety flicked off with caution as he holstered his coachgun and stepped up to the carriage. The veiled windows were riddled with holes from his weapon's pellets, light breaking through but little could be seen aside from a shadow-shrouded corpse and the splattered blood that coated the far side window. His left hand touched the handle of the carriage, and he paused as he could hear... sniveling on the other side.

"You finally came to see some consequences."

Swinging the door open wide, Hudson came face to face with the victim of his hit: a pale woman who did not look much older than himself, her face indistinguishable as shredded skin gave way to deep gashes. A pellet struck her eye, the precious orb popped clear open as it welled with blood, gums of her face exposed as her cheeks were blown clean off. Fortunately for her many pellets breached her skull and severed her brain, though the death was hardly quick enough as crimson liquid bubbled from her slack jaw - an indication that she died choking on her own blood due to the fatal head injuries. Clutching the fresh corpse was a small boy, crying and holding onto his mother despite the grizzly wounds she had suffered.

Hudson's gun was no longer raised, dropped to his side in pure shock as his breathing quickened to a familiar, panicked hyperventilation as his mind raced.

"No... ENOUGH OF THIS!"

Whoever he killed wasn't the target.

"You were faced with a choice. Allow the child to die a slow death in the Atracan wilderness, or perhaps take him back to town so he could turn you in to the authorities. Or better yet... How about absolve yourself of the situation entirely? Wash your hands of it so to speak?"

Hudson shakily raised his pistol, aiming it at the back of the boy's head as his breathing continued to get more steady. The man could barely look down the sights, the angle low and his wrists unable to remain steady as he towered over the defenseless child. "I knew what I had done wrong! There was no hope for me, but... I didn't want him to go on living with what came after my mistake. I wanted him to be with his mother again!"

"That is what you go on telling yourself?! You old fool. All you did was make sure your collateral damage had no witnesses, make the police case about some faceless bandits rather than implicate yourself!"

The gun grew steadier, the barrel lowering as Hudson's mind raced with the rapid beating of his heart.

"I was already beyond saving - I didn't want the kid to go on in a life of misery because of me! I tried to spare him -"

"A life of misery - is that better or worse than any life at all? To die so young, the experiences and virtues you robbed him of simply because you didn't fess up and face the consequences of your actions!"

"I HAVE and will continue to! What I do will never be enough, I'll suffer for him, I'll fight evil to make sure no one has to suffer like he would have!"

"It all makes sense when you take a moment to drink it in, doesn't it? You're only good at killing and nothing else, you only flocked to Velin because her salvation was one of bloodshed. It is no wonder you cannot even look your own children in their eyes!"

As the shadow demon spoke those last words, the child looked to Hudson, his tearful face flashing into the visage terrifyingly familiar to him: a vacuous blackness of many eyes with sharp fangs and spindly legs jutting out from the head. It kept switching from the boy to that monster he killed, Hudson's mind screaming and splintering as the weight of his guilt kept on rushing back. His pistol flashed as the muzzle flared and the slide blew back, a bullet ripping through the child's skull as one corpse became two. Hudson limply brought his weapon to his side.

"You're scared you'll end up killing them like you did the others."

The bell began to toll yet again, though it could be heard in the far distance this time. The hunter threw his pistol to the ground, drawing his coachgun to do the same as he sprinted back to his horse. He hopped on to the saddle and road off, not sparing an over the shoulder glance at what he had just left behind as he rode to the source of the ringing bell.

The vision faded for both Hudson and the group, and they were pulled back to him on his knees in front of the shadow demon. His arms hanging at his side as that very same pistol was pointed at his head. "End of the line."

"I-I'm sorry, Cam... I c-couldn't do it. I can't escape who I am, can't fix what I've done..." the hunter muttered, his voice breaking as tears welled in his eyes. "Take care of yourself. Keep the kids safe, make the world a better place. A place without depraved monsters like me."

The shadow began to chuckle as Hudson cried and spoke what may have well been his last words, pressing the pistol closer to that helmet to insure it would penetrate. "Oh she'll keep good and safe. Maybe you'll see her after I'm done with her."

"W-what..?!" Hudson rasped, his breathing going quicker yet again as a mix of panic and the slightest pangs of anger welled within him.

"They haven't told you? Typical... When you're dead - I get your body and will go to the surface to have all sorts of fun. I'm thinking I'll... enjoy your wife's company a good bit before throwing a pillow over that pretty face and shooting a bullet into it. Maybe then I'll drag her corpse in front of the kids to show them what happened, then I'll take them out too with no extra charge. All's fair in the game of bounty hunting, right?"

He breathed faster and faster, his limbs shaking as he still struggled to move. That black mist was crushing him even harder now, and the demon only gloated so openly because he knew he had beaten his original.

Once more, the pistol sounded off.

​

Yet the bullet had avoided his head completely, Hudson's left hand painfully gripped the slide of the gun as he pushed it into his own right shoulder. Blood and black mist poured out of the open wound, the damage from the bullet excruciating but not the least bit fatal. Hudson had grasped the pistol and gotten it to wing him instead of execute him just in the nick of time.

"What in the fuck?!" the shadow roared, grappling with Hudson as he tried to pull the pistol back on target, pulling the trigger again. Yet, the gun would not fire a second time - Hudson's grasp on the slide just so that it was unable to rack another bullet for the killing blow. Hudson knew his weaponry, and so long as he maintained his grip the pistol would be unable to cycle. Moving to a backup plan, the shadow reached for a blade on his back, though it was stopped short by the hunter's bastard sword stabbing up and into its chest, getting it to unleash a ghastly wail of pain. The shadow attempted to move its palm to the blade to dislodge it, trying to wrestle back the gun as the demon futilely pulled the trigger again and again. To stop the blade from continually plunging into its chest - the shadow had to let go of the gun.

With a twist of Hudson's hand to coerce the shadow into finally letting go of the pistol, it grasped the sword to pull itself off of the blade stuck through itself slowly and painfully. It fell back several paces as black blood spewed out from its chest, dumbfounded that the tables had turned in such a way. Looking back to Hudson, the man was on both of his feet again, the obscuring mist fading from the entire room as he took that cursed pistol in his own free hand. The mag release was tapped with a thumb, dropping the gun's last ammunition before he tossed the pistol away from the both of them. The hunter pulled on one of the chains for his maces, gritting his teeth with the pain of the shot that rang through him. Though the black smog was gone, the pain from that censer was still very real.

"I w-won't let that happen... Not now, not ever. If some crazed demon fuck wants to hurt my family - they'll always have to go through me." he spoke through his pained grunts, taking up his combat stance. "I am Hudson Giguere! And my past and your foul words shall no longer define me, demon!"

 

[joshuadim]

The scene presented by the shadow was certainly... gruesome. And it gave a whole new perspective to Venextos of the hunter and what exactly made the man tick in the first place. It certainly was a terrible action to have committed, along with whatever else he had done in his past, but the hunter had worked hard in his quest to repent for these actions and that's what ultimately in the end mattered. As it seemed to be the end for Hudson, the man's fighting spirit returned which brought about a smile from the wizard as the hunter finally began to fight back for real now. Now was the time to end this foul abomination, and so Venextos readied himself for combat.

 

[Infab]

Ralvas' Territory - Castle of False Pride - Shadow Battle
Shadow Hudson (Shadow Demon, 100 HP)

Shadow Hudson
Trait 1: Dark Hunter - Using Dark Magic, does additional damage to foes. A successful hit damages enemy's chance to hit. Does +3 DMG, and causes -3 chance to hit for foe struck.
Trait 2: Only a Copy - Suffers +10 DMG from the person that the shadow demon is copying (Hudson.) Can only be killed by the individual its copying, revives with full health if killed by anyone else.

---

Ralvas' Territory - Castle of False Pride - Shadow Battle - TURN 1
Hudson = 5 + 1 (6, Velin's Tears.) Does 3 + 11 DMG (14, Velin's Tears, Only a Copy) to Shadow Hudson. Shadow Hudson's HP = 86.
Venextos = 3 + 1 (4, Sorcerer Supreme.) Misses Shadow Hudson.
Jakob = 1 + 2 (3, With Badge & Gun.) Misses Shadow Hudson.
Riberta = 10. CH Roll = 5. Does 5 + 2 DMG (7, Ruthless Warlord) to Shadow Hudson. Shadow Hudson's HP = 79.


Ralvas' Territory - Castle of False Pride - Shadow Battle - TURN 1 (ENEMY)
Shadow Hudson = 10. CH Roll = 10. Does 4 + 3 DMG (7 DMG, Dark Hunter) to Hudson. Hudson HP = 8. Hudson has been affected by Dark Magic (Dark Hunter.) Chance to hit has dropped for a turn.

---
​

And so, the battle began. Hudson immediately jumped into action, lunging and striking at the shadow demon with his bastard sword. The sword caught the demon across the side of his helmet, emitting a loud clang and knocking the demon back a few steps. Almost throwing him off balance. The stumbling would throw off Venextos and Jakob's attacks, as they both launched their own attacks. Venextos' magic bolt and Jakob's shotgun blast darted by the demon, the shadow barely dodging them before straightening up and trying to steady himself. Riberta would save her attack for when the demon stopped, charging and planting her foot square in the shorter demon's spine. It launched him forwards, into a tumble and roll.

As the shadow popped back up out of the roll, his censer twirled about and struck Hudson across the side of his head. He was launched into a spin, landing flat on his chest as the demon landed flat on his feet. Ready to combat the four together.

 

[joshuadim]

Recognizing that Hudson was the one that the shadow would be most after, Venextos turned his attention to the hunter and prepared his magics to heal the man so that he could continue fighting as long as possible. Venextos brought his hands together to coalesce orange energies in between them and soon enough sent out a stream towards Hudson to aid him.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

After that traumatic scene for his friend, Jakob had nothing to say. He pitied his companion, but he had no reassuring words or kind gestures to give. He wasn't angry at Hudson for what he did, nor he thought he was despicable for his actions. He felt something rather strange in him: indifference. The same indifference he felt for William van Der Pol and his crimes that one night on the swamps. Perhaps because he cared about Hudson and saw past those past mistakes. Or he simply didn't care at the time, as cold as it might sound to some. All Jakob cared about at the moment is killing the shadow and getting this over with. As soon as he could, Jakob took another shot at the creature.

 

[Dmaster]

Hudson grunted as the censer impacted his head, completely losing his footing as the heavy object collided with his helmet. On his chest again he could feel how the smog was entering him again, those thoughts of his guilt rushing back to him as that weight worked to crush his bones. Yet this time something was different - he kept hanging on what the shadow had told him what would happen if he were to fall here. His fist wrapped in the chains of his weapon, he slammed it into the floor and began to push himself up. With a flourish he swung the mace back and prepared to throw it toward his shadow in an attempt to hit him.

The shadow itself was attempting to back away from the party, trying to maintain distance to avoid the beating that they would deliver. Though one could not see its face, the fact that Hudson had gotten up so quickly was cause for alarm. "You think this'll change anything?! Change who and what you are? It won't. You come from nothing and will remain nothing! You are a blight on this world!" the shadow roared, twisting its head toward Venextos as he cast his healing spell. "I warned the lot of you not to get involved..! I'll kill all of you!" Drawing that wicked machete on its back, it dispersed in a cloud of black smoke and appeared before the sorcerer to make deliberate swipes at the man. When he reappeared, Hudson finally cast out one of Velin's Tears to meet him.

 

[Infab]

Ralvas' Territory - Castle of False Pride - Shadow Battle - TURN 2
Venextos attempts to heal Hudson (Medical Beam.) D6 used. Chance Roll = 5. Chance Successful. Hudson regenerates 6 HP. Hudson HP = 14.
Jakob = 4 + 2 (6, With Badge & Gun.) Does 3 + 9 DMG (12, With Badge & Gun, BUCKSHOT!, Shadow's Shotgun) to Shadow Hudson. Shadow Hudson's HP = 67.
Hudson = 9 + 1 - 3 (7, Velin's Tears, Dark Hunter.) Does 3 + 11 DMG (14, Velin's Tears, Only a Copy) to Shadow Hudson. Shadow Hudson's HP = 53.
Riberta = 7 - 2 (5. Ruthless Warlord.) Does 3 + 5 DMG (8, Ruthless Warlord) to Shadow Hudson. Shadow Hudson's HP = 45.

Ralvas' Territory - Castle of False Pride - Shadow Battle - TURN 2 (ENEMY)
Shadow Hudson = 7. Does 3 + 3 DMG (6, Dark Hunter) to Venextos. Venextos HP = 9. Venextos has been affected by Dark Magic (Dark Hunter.) Chance to hit has dropped for a turn.

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Hudson's mace head darted through the air, catching the shadow copy in the side as it rushed into take a swipe at the mage. It forced him off course only slightly, the slash he planned to use to carve a gash in Venextos' torso, only catching him across his arm. Shortly beforehand, Venextos' magic beam connected with Hudson, regenerating some of the man's vitality. As the shadow demon stumbled past Venextos, Jakob's buckshot ripped through his back. Shredding the demon's coat and putting holes in the lower part of his strange, demonic helmet.

As Jakob made his move, Riberta chose to shift on the spot. Tossing her sword onto the stone floor, she growled as she slowly started to increase in size. Fur sprouted across her form, as she steadily grew, till she was several feet taller than everyone in the room. She had achieved her alpha werewolf form yet again. And she soon acted, darting in and grabbing onto the shadow demon with a hand and hurling it at a nearby stone pillar. He collided, shattering part of the pillar and causing a spiderweb of cracks to form stretching both up the pillar to the ceiling, and down to the floor below.

The demon fell to the floor, and quickly forced himself back to his feet in preparation to continue the battle.

 

[joshuadim]

Venextos clutched at his arm and the gash that had been delivered by the shadow demon as he stumbled back and away from the action for a moment. It certainly hurt, but it meant that it was one less blow that Hudson had to deal with at the moment. And so Venextos prepared another spell, this time to hinder the shadow's movement as much as possible through purple tendrils that shot out of the ground and towards the perverted version of the hunter as the wizard placed his palms on the ground.

 

[Dmaster]

"You're wrong!" Hudson shot back at the demon as his mace connected, grasping at the chain as it curved backward to meet him. In the same breath he was pushing in closer with his bastard sword, prepared to finish off his shadow. The healing that Venextos provided him seemed to be dispelling the aching discomfort that creaked through his bones, and the hunter used this renewed invigoration to push on as he closed the distance. "I fight now to make a difference in the world - to fight for those who can't! Everything I am now is in spite of what I was back then!"

The shadow was tossed like a ragdoll by Riberta now that she had transformed into her hulking, monstrous form. Quickly he righted himself back to his standing position, twirling his censer with building rage as he tossed it square at the hybrid's face. "You can't just move past what you did. You got off easy! You can't fight for justice and be immune to it yourself!" he yelled, raising his blade now as Hudson came to meet him. The two of them erupted into a melee with their weapons, the hunter attempting to get an opening to stab into the demon. "I am not immune - I won't rest, I will not stop! I know my sentence; I am going to make sure monsters like you don't get to torment people without a fight!" Hudson roared.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

Jakob pumped his shotgun, and watched as Hudson stood up to fight again despite being severely wounded. "That's the spirit, Hudson! Keep fighting! Don't let this thing consume you!" As soon as the shadow was near him, Jakob decided to try and stab it with his bayonet, and open fire if he managed to stab the creature.

 

[Infab]

Ralvas' Territory - Castle of False Pride - Shadow Battle - TURN 3
Venextos attempts to stop Shadow Hudson in his tracks. D6 used. Chance Roll = 2. Chance Failed.
Hudson = 10. CH Roll = 9. Does 6 + 11 DMG (17, Velin's Tears, Only a Copy) to Shadow Hudson. Shadow Hudson's HP = 28.
Jakob = 8 + 2 (10. With Badge & Gun.) CH Roll = 6. Does 5 + 9 DMG (14, With Badge & Gun, BUCKSHOT!, Shadow's Shotgun) to Shadow Hudson. Shadow Hudson's HP = 14. Chance for Execution. Chance Rolls = 2, 9. Chance Failed. Shadow Hudson regains HP. Shadow Hudson's HP = 25.
Riberta = 7 - 2 (5. Ruthless Warlord. Does 3 + 5 DMG (8, Ruthless Warlord) to Shadow Hudson. Shadow Hudson HP = 17.

Ralvas' Territory - Castle of False Pride - Shadow Battle - TURN 3 (ENEMY)
Shadow Hudson = 10. CH Roll = 9. Does 6 + 3 DMG (9, Dark Hunter) to Riberta. Riberta HP = 6. Riberta has been affected by Dark Magic (Dark Hunter.) Chance to hit has dropped for a turn.


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The purple tendrils that erupted from the stone floor, launching themselves towards the shadow demon, failed to connect with their target. He simply moved out of the way, as he flung his censer at Riberta. As the censer darted through the air, heading towards the hybrid as she charged, Jakob flanked in from the side and shoved his bayonet deep into the thigh of the demon. As the demon yelled out in pain, the sounds was quickly drowned out by the sound of Jakob firing the shotgun as its muzzle pressed against the demon's leg.

If it had been anyone else, the shot would have blown their leg off. But Shadow Hudson was still standing, and he was pissed. He shoved Jakob off, just as Hudson's sword managed to get through his demonic copy's block. The bastard sword pierced through the demon's chest, forcing a groan of pain from the creature. The censer, flying through the air, connected with Riberta's forehead. She stumbled forward, but it didn't stop the vicious swipe from her massive hand from hitting the shadow. The four massive claws on her fingers shredded his outfit, carving deep gashes in the shadow's side. But he still wasn't going down. Really, it seemed like he was fighting with everything he had, running on pure survival instinct.

 

[joshuadim]

With his attempt at restraining the shadow having failed, Venextos returned his attention to the group to see who needed help. His arm was hurting from the wound that had been delivered earlier, but he focused his efforts instead towards Riberta and send out a healing spell out towards her as she had taken a nasty blow from the censer.

 

[EdwardDewey98]

The shadow was nearly destroyed, and Jakob knew that the only one capable of killing this abhorrent being was Hudson himself. He decided to make one last attack to weaken the creature, and give his companion the change to attack it and end this once and for all. He aimed and fired at the shadow's legs. "Come on Hudson! You can end this, man!"

 

[Dmaster]

Hudson pierced the shadow's chest with his blade and quickly pulled it out, knowing that the fight was not quite done yet. The demon managed to avoid any attempts to bind it with magic by collapsing into shadow and reemerging not far from the conflict. It's form seemed to be unstable, shape and matter in flux as it seemed to be struggling to keep itself together. Hudson turned on his heel and began to slowly walk toward his shadow, grasping his bastard sword in his hands as he made yet another approach.

At this point the shadow had been slashed, shot at, and stabbed by the party, his gaze frantically switching between them as it started to cackle madly. "You think you've won..?! You are all nothing but a band of sorry misfits trying and failing to do right, some of you forced to." it rasped after its laughing fit. "I can't think of anything more pathetic. Your world, everything you love is doomed! You can never be strong enough to stand against what comes next!" Weakly he unfurled the chains of his weapon and cast them out, attempting to strike Jakob for the buckshot that ripped through him earlier.