"They went to the local church. There's a big event going on, you know. Wish I could have gone, but, eh, the hours are good, at least," Eren said, before smiling widely, "If that's all, then I shall return to my work. Thank you for stopping by, sir. Have a nice da-"

The blood curdling scream went through the house.

"That damn cat. I have to take care of that bye sir," Eren said, before closing the door. She immediately turned the lock and bolted it shut.

She grabbed her pistol from the kitchen table and loaded it. She briefly considered warbing Nuul, but decided against it.

She had never relied on an ally before. She wouldn't now. She could handle a solitary doll hunter.

She took cover behind a chair, cursing the minimalism of her house. There was so little defensive cover, and not much room to manuever.

She kept her pistol trained on the door, and listened. She kept an eye on the windows, just in case the dollhunter tried to break in through one.

"They went to the local church. There's a big event going on, you know. Wish I could have gone, but, eh, the hours are good, at least," Eren said, before smiling widely, "If that's all, then I shall return to my work. Thank you for stopping by, sir. Have a nice da-"

The blood curdling scream went through the house.

That was undoubtedly a human wail, coming from under the house. I was right all along in the notion that there were foul entities afoot, and this woman was hiding it!

"That damn cat. I have to take care of that bye sir," Eren said, before closing the door. She immediately turned the lock and bolted it shut.

"Wait-"

But before Gehrman could finish his sentence the door was slammed shut in his face, giving him further proof that the woman was involved.

"Nyarlodammit!" He cursed out loud, and aimed his Nail Driver at the door's lock. He activated his weapon, and sent the door falling as it was unhinged from the impact of his blow. He stepped inside with his nailgun drawn and pointed forward. He knew that she would try and ambush him, judging by the way she stayed silent and unseen.

"I do not seek to harm you, lady. But if you try to protect the doll, I won't hesitate to kill you as well, and have you judged upon Hostimor!"

Nuul

"My, my, what do we have here?" Nuul said. Her voice seemed to come from empty air, but there was no trace of her in the room. Suddenly, the air seemed to fracture above the chair in which Eren was hiding behind. A large rift from the floor to the ceiling opened in the air as the Pursuers surged through it, but they curled around and and twisted sideways, positioning themselves into what appeared to be a staircase. Nuul stepped out from the rift, descending the staircase made by the Pursuers. "Have we all forgotten our manners in this day and age?"

Her Grimoire floated beside her, she didn't need it right now. As her feet touched the wooden floor, the Pursuers returned through the rift as it closed. "Surely we are all civilized beings, why all this commotion?" She said, as she sat down on the chair. "The master of the house is absent, what is it that you desire?"

---

The Boy

He nodded at the doll's answer, satisfied with what she said. He finished his bread and cheese, and his cat finished its sardines at the same time. He got up and dusted himself off and his cat meowed happily beside him.

"It looks like we might still have some time." He said to the doll, his confidence returning. "Why don't we find somewhere to stay for the night?"

Gehrman stood his ground and stared at the entity that appeared, his grip on his nailgun tightening. He noted the doll's ability to create servant creatures, and decided to retreat back to the doorway in case he had to bottleneck the minions. After a moment of looking at Nuul, he was reminded of something he has read years ago.

"The Umbra Infinium has records of your deeds, Keeper of Secrets! You lure mortals with forbidden knowledge, and then consume their souls! My only desire is your banishment from our plane!"

Masami

"Sure, why not." Masami smiled at the boy for a bit, although she did not know where the boy should stay in. Her smile gets smaller, as she wounders about the answer.

"Any ideas about where should we stay in? I don't have one, I'm very sorry." Suddenly, something sprung into her mind, her smile returning as well. "Actually, I do! How about we stay in a house owned by a kind person?"

The Boy

He nodded at the doll's words.

"Yes, I'm sure someone will be able to take us in." He said confidently. "There's bound to be someone kind enough in this big city."

They hadn't been here very long, but Saulbine had proved to be very large.

"Let's start knocking, and we'll see what happens." He said. With that, they started to walk down the cobbled streets, his cat and his doll following beside him.
((You can start knocking and fight someone, or maybe find another player, or maybe just find a place to stay))

---

Nuul

"Ah, of course." Nuul said, rolling her eyes. "That old pile of scraps. I should have burnt it when I had the chance."

She snapped her fingers and her Grimoire floated upright in front of her and flipped to the page she wanted. A swirling vortex of darkness appeared on the pages, and a swarm of what seemed to be bats flew out of the book, but they were slightly odd. They consisted only of a round spherical body with one large eye in the middle of it and a pair of wings on their back. She summoned the Beholders.

"You do realize, that I am incapable of taking anything that is not sacrificed to me." She said, the Beholders swirling around her. "Those foolish humans willingly gave their souls for my power."

The cloud of beholders was thick now, obscuring anything behind her including Eren. One beholder with a purple pupil flew and sat on his shoulder, this one was capable of communication.

He is ready to talk, but he is yet to awaken. It said in his mind, Don't expect assistance, this hunter is strong.

She leaned forward in her chair as the message was transmitted to Eren, placing her hands under her chin and leaning forward as some Beholders supported her arms. Behind her, the bulk of the Beholders swarmed together into a large mass, and slowly, a blinking eye emerged from the middle of it and large wings unfurled from the sides.

"Are you confident in your strength, hunter?" She said with an evil smirk, "Many have fallen by these hands of mine."

"We decree you, executed."

The squirming, writhing mass did not scare her. The Pawns behind her impaled the writhing creature by the sides, holding it up to let her grip remain unneeded as she took a step back and motioned to the Knight awaiting her orders. One simple phrase -- a phrase so often used by her sister that made her giggle inwardly to use -- gave signal to the Sentinel to take up his sword for the sake of murdering the creature that remained strapped in the marble weapons.

"Off with its head!"

The words came with a soft laugh as the broadsword sliced through the Puppeteer, chopping its body in half before the Pawns ensured its death by using their halbards to separate what remained of its corpse into pieces. With a dismissing wave as the misty creature faded from its own "life", The Transient Princess turned her head to the young girl she held and smiled.

"There we are, Alice. Chasing rabbits always gets you into trouble. Now, where shall we take you? You must have been terribly bored to want to wander down such a dark path -- and without a Cheshire in sight to keep you away from the bad things! Just say where you'd like and I, the White Queen -- well, Transient Princess, rather, will indulge in whatever whims you'd have right now. Shall we play a game?~"

The Doll had managed to retain her regality completely throughout the executing, and with a sweet tone to boot. Hopefully, this would ease the girl's worries. After all, a young lady should not be placed under such stress.

Eren considered his options. He had to somehow neutralize the dollhunter. He had his pistol, but not his knife. He was a damn good fostfighter, but he figured he'd rather not go toe to toe with that nail fist thing.

At the very least, his dress would get ripped. Worst case, his flesh would. Both were a no go.

So...an ambush. He'd have to ambush the man. But how? He could fire from the shadows, but if his initial few shots failed to take out the dollhunter, the retaliation could be quick and dangerous.

He almost flinched when the beholder landed on his shoulder, but then frowned.

Ready to talk?

Eren raised an eyebrow, and glanced to see the giant eye.

A lightbulb lot in his mind.

Eren trusted Nuul's shadows to hide him as he peered out. The moment the dollhunter moved, he would unload every bullet of his pistol on the man but two. Eren had 6 shots in the clip. If that failed, Eren would shot himself in the leg for the last one, grazing the flesh so as not to cause permanent damage. He would then limp out and act wounded, playing the part of a wounded hostage in order to catch the dollhunter off his guard.

Hooefully, the final bullet would and the fight.

Eren briefly wondered if he could gove the blood from shooting his leg to Nuul to power her grimoire. That could be a back up plan.

For now, Eren waited, pistol aimed and ready.

His gun arm unflinching and his eyes tightening, Gehrman couldn't help but keep his guard up. He was used to the Dolls making the first move against him once his hostility was made clear, but this one stayed back and attempted to provoke him, goading him into attacking first. In his time of slaying these creatures, the only ones who did so were more intelligent, and thus far more dangerous. He also didn't forget the missing woman, who was likely still hiding. He had to keep sharp, and not fall into any trap the Doll seemed to be setting.
He decided to counter the banter.

"Is that what you call your spawn? A fiend of lore should know better than to spout obvious contradictions like that. Why don't you come and show me how deadly your actual hands are?"

Masami

As Masami, her Master and his cat walks through the streets of Saulbine, one house catched her eyes. She could see the inside of the house is actually lit with some lights, therefore someone should be in the house. She hoped the people inside are kind ones, not trying to harm her. her Master or the cat.

"Hey, Master. Let's knock that house's door, shall we?" Masami calmly pointed at the house, with a sign of smile on her face.

The Boy

"Right." He nodded to the doll. He stepped to the door, raising his arm hesitantly. They had done this many times before, but he still couldn't help but feel nervous. They'd been rejected plenty of times, and accepted an equal number of times. Still, he was acutely aware that he had nothing to offer to anyone and no one really had to take him in.

Every time a door was slammed in his face, he took a shot to his self-esteem, but as long as he had Masami he knew he'd be alright. Without hesitating another second, he firmly rapped on the door.

---

Nuul

"Hmph. I am no simple fiend, and these are no simple spawn." Nuul said, her voice heavy with contempt. "Do you think someone who has been an enemy of your church for so long would rely on dime-a-dozen neophytes to survive?"

As she spoke, the swarm of Beholders around chittered angrily, and the large Beholder's pupil started glowing with an angry red light.

"These are a part of me, they are extensions of my body, extensions of my will."

The Beholder started to emit a high pitched keening noise and the red glow started glowing more intensely.

"Make no mistake, hunter. These are my hands, and they will crush you."

The keening reached it's peak, and a beam of red energy shot out of the Beholder's eye straight towards the hunter.

Annalee Diaz

Just as Annalee was about to open the door to her bedroom, she heard a knock at the front door. Who could that be? At this hour? Annalee started down the stairs and, seeing that her parents were both no longer in the living room, opened the door.

"Good evening! Who may I ask is-" She stopped her greeting short when she saw the two standing in front of her. They both looked like children, one a young boy holding a white cat who looked about Lucas's age, and the other a strangely dressed girl who looked as if she could have been anywhere from the boy's age to the same age as Annalee.

The look on the boy's face made Annalee think that he was waiting for something bad to happen, and then she realised that she had been staring at them. "Oh! I'm sorry, hello. Im just not used to answering the door for other children, at least not at this time of night. Are you lost? Please, come in." She stood to the side, waiting for them to enter.

---

MiRRor (Ashling)

"Well, should we go find them then? I don't know about you, but I'm ready to get out of this house." Ashling walked over to a window and, after looking out for a moment, jumped out.

"Well? Are you coming?"

Ryan Macfield

"I'll make up an excuse. I had to do this because my parents would suspect me of being insane if I shouted at you. Sorry." Ryan wrote to a paper, before throwing the paper, which he aimed at the ground near his Doll, with some margin for mistakes that could happen. Ryan then got out of his room, and went to talk with his parents. After some excuses, Ryan managed to make the parents allow him out, but only for this time. He quickly dashed over to his doll. "Sorry for making you wait, and throwing the paper near you! Now, let's punish them!"

Alexander
As Alexander entered his apartment room, he sighed in relief. Home sweet home. Going over to a nearby chair, he sat down and took out the money he earned from his gambling run, placing it down onto the table. He then began to sort the money based on value and intended usage. Naturally, he set aside a small portion of bills for the church, and another portion for bills and food. Unfortunately, that didn't leave much for personal use. Oh well, he still had a stash lying around. All there was to do now was figure out what he was going to do next.

Megumi
After taking a quick shower, Megumi dried herself off and covered herself with the towel, then exited the bathroom. There was the food waiting for her, a simple sandwich and some oatmeal. She honestly preferred some rice, but she didn't want to be picky. She clapped her hands together in a customary "thank you" gesture and closed her eyes as she bowed, then proceeded to eat. The oatmeal was still warm, and she ate in a refined manner. Finishing off the oatmeal, she proceeded to begin to eat the sandwich.

However, before Megumi could take a bite out of it, she heard the knock on the door. There was no one in the house except herself, Annalee, and Annalee's kid brother, so that immediately made her cautious. Annalee was her Doll Master, and Megumi had to protect her at any cost. Changing into more respectable clothing, she grabbed her weapons and silently made her way down the stairs, having already turned invisible so as to not draw any attention to herself.

As she examined the ones at the door, alarms bells began ringing in her head. The boy and the cat was of no threat, but that girl...

That was almost definitely a Doll. Not many others would be carrying around such a large... whatever it was. If that were the case, then that would mean the boy was most likely the Doll Master.

Acting quickly, Megumi ran over to the door and pushed Annalee away while slamming the door shut and locking it. Uncloaking herself and placing her back on the door, Megumi said, "Sorry, but don't trust them." as she drew one of her short swords. As she looked through the door with her thermal vision, she readied herself for potential combat. Any other Dolls just couldn't be trusted.

The moment one of the minion's eyes started to glow red Gehrman expected a ranged attack, considering the Doll itself was more inclined to sitting back instead of charging forward with punches and kicks. As the red beam shot forward, Gehrman used the doorway to its advantage, and used it as cover against the attack. He leaned from his cover and shot back with his nailgun, likely missing due to being pinned down by enemy fire.

"I'm not seeing as much crushing as I see cowardice, fiend!"

This was a problem to Gehrman. He couldn't enter through the door unless he wanted to get shot, and the constant beams the minions shot meant he couldn't get a clear shot of his own in. He considered flanking for a moment, but that would grant the Doll enough time to spread its minions around.

The boy

The door slammed shut in his face, even as the girl who had greeted them was talking.

"Um?" He stood dumbfounded for a second before regaining his senses. "Uh, hello?" He knocked again, but received no response. He pushed open the letter slot and tried to look through it. "Are we not welcome?" He asked through the mail slot.

---

Nuul

Nuul quickly raised her hand and a few beholders made a line in front of her, perfectly aligned with the trajectory of the stake. It pierced 9 of them straight through the eye before stopping at the last beholder. Each of turned back into shadow with a poof! and the stake dropped to the floor.

"Eren, were my instructions not clear?" She said, turning her head his direction. "I thought you were intelligent, move the thug before the Hunter finds him."

Masami

"There may be a person that hates me because I am a Doll. Don't know if that's true, but if it is..." Masami calmly said to her Master, to answer his question. She suspected a Doll closed the door, since the door closed itself. "I really hate that it when they do this. A wire almost invisible, used to close a door from afar... or something else, but whatever did this should come out."

"Belong to you? I think not," the nun stated, frowning at this short maniac. Like hell she belonged to a monster that had just dropped in from nowhere and fought some other monster, "Even if I'm stuck with you because of some infernal contract, it's more like you're my property if you can't exist without me."

She couldn't just kill the doll in this scenario, not with the disparity in their reach. And so long as they were contracted, Regina had to uphold her end of the bargain, no matter how much she didn't want to... even if this appeared to just be 'exist, anchoring the monster'. But if she could get to the church at some point, Lucia or someone else could deal with the problem or tell her what to do.

At least the nails would be useful in the worst case scenario, if this monster went off the leash. It couldn't exist without her, after all, so if she wasn't around any more... no more Doll.

As Shane walked through the streets, he heard a loud scream.

"Well, that seems like a good opportunity for a hunt! The game's afoot!" Shane ran to the source of the scream. He ran after the source of the noise and found a house with its door blasted off. He gulped.

"Okay, maybe it's a break in... It's just a simple break in... Hooooopefully without any of those Dolls mutilating anyone inside the house... Oh God, I'm gonna die in there, aren't I? Well... Might as well go out fighting, right?" Shane thought. He got out a small mask, one that fancy people wear to a masquerade ball. He took out his Peerless Nail and approached the house, not as Shane Gambino, but as Gambol Shroud.

Cynthia Lee

Blood sprayed from the horrible crystal creature as the weapons penetrated its body. It let out a piercing shriek and struggled, but it was too late. The sword cleaved it in half, blood and crystal shards splattering onto the cobblestones as its body was cut apart. Cynthia covered her eyes. It was... it was scary, it was really scary... but that thing was a monster! A Puppet-thing! Killing it was good, right? As the creature finally fell to pieces, blood leaking from the shards that had once composed its body, it began to fade. The blood and crystal dissipated into golden lights, which drifted towards Transient Princess. Had she felt any fatigue from the battle, it would immediately be refreshed.

Finally uncovering her eyes, Cynthia looked around. There was no sign of the puppet-thing... taking a deep breath, she looked up at the Doll. She... she was still so amazing! A real Doll... it was too fantastic to believe, but there she was! Cynthia managed a weak smile, the fear still getting to her even though the creature was dead. But... there were some confusing things, now...

"... My name's Cynthia..." she said, trying to get the whole 'Alice' thing out of the way first. Unsure of what to say to the rest(even if a game would be fun) she continued. "... Games... games are nice, but... was... was that a Puppet?"

---

VV

"... Tch, really? You're uncooperative, aren't you?" VV replied, frowning deeply. Of course she got someone who was so stubborn... Oh well, she'd just have to learn, right? It wasn't like she had the best weapons to defend herself, even if nails were the bane of Dolls regardless. And, well, there was no way VV would let her get hurt. After all, if her property died, so did she. That was the trouble with anchoring in the human world. But hey, this nun was pretty cute at least... "Oi, I'm definitely the stronger one out of the both of us. So you're mine. My Master, and my Master's my property, got it?"

She raised an eyebrow, leaning close. Jeez, if her Master kept being all weird, she'd have to punish her... anyway, it was probably a good idea to let her in on a few things. Name, fact that she wasn't going to just murder people or any stupid nonsense like that... yeah, that seemed like a good idea. "Anyway, the name's VV. Don't go worrying your pretty little Hunter head about me going and killing people or something, unless they're a threat to you. I'm not some scumbag like the Puppeteers."

Leaning back, she grinned, rubbing her hands together. "And if that doesn't give you the message, I can drill the information in another way, got it?"