A small group of five, An experienced hunter and his disciples, were doing their own things at a place called Coalstrike, a reasonably important and prosperous 'Fortress-City' of Kiruth, one of the few places that is, for the most part, absolutely safe against Beasts. Two of the students, a Nickolaus Schulze and a Sapphire Amaryllis, put the generosity of their teacher to good use, acquiring new clothes to replace the remnants of their old ones, tattered by the recent 'incidents' they've been in.
They were mostly just waiting for their first Switch-Weapons to be produced and tweaked to their specifications, and when Joshua, their teacher's, list of errands was completed, he showed them to a little 'hideout' he had saved. He notified it was effectively collectively theirs, and went to do 'unrelated, private things'. As the party began to settle in, it was not long before an arguement started unintentionally. Nickolaus, leaning on a wall, was beckoned into one of the rooms by Sapphire. Schulze took control of the situation.
A conversation turned into an interrogation, but the other two in the little housing couldn't hear the specifics, aside from a loud bump as if something was knocked over, and the door swinging open loudly as Sapphire, angrily began to walk out, raving. "I should've known better then to trust you people!", she yelled, dissapointed and furious. exiting the building, she slammed the door behind her, finishing with a "You're all the same. You make me sick."
Eventually, Sapphire, in her bottled up anger, found herself sitting alone at the top of one of Coalstrikes' few towers, jumping there from one of the rooftops. It was somber as the sun began to set, but she could still feel she wasn't completely alone.
...Not in the metaphorical sense, she actually began to hear someone else apparently climbing the tower after her. Who the hell could this be?
Back at the Quartets' hideout, the headcount continued to decrease as Schulze followed Sapphire's example, angrily, yet also sadly, mumbling things about the unbelievable unproffesionalism of everyone, including himself. Not wanting to even associate with this group of idiotic misfits anymore, he quickly exited and made his way out of town, abandoning Joshua's 'teachings' and deciding to make his own damn path.
Now, Imgor and Alex were pretty much alone, together, as the Quartet turned into a Duet.
That escalated quickly...
In the harbor of Kiruth a different group of Hunters in training arrived just after sunset. They disembarked from the boat that got them through the fairly long journey. The harbor itself was the definition of deserted. After sunset few people ventured near it as it was one of few places still vulnerable to plagued beings. Even fewer sailors dared to dock there at night, but there were exceptions.
Four people stepped on the ramp leading from the boat to the pier itself. Willo Luelle, Ramone Truvo and Aelar Starseeker were all nearing the end of their training under Drake Lazarus, a man with dark, shoulder-length hair who typically wears a fancy, black trench coat with red sleeves. Despite training under him for months on end they barely knew anything about him except that he had a straightforward and sometimes rather cruel attitude. He was an enigma to them and everyone else, but somehow he was famous at the same time. If you would ask around for his name, you would find that every other person has heard of him at some point, yet nobody knows anything about him.
The fact that he had managed to train his quartet through words only already hinted at skill. During their training he had not revealed the nature of his combat abilities even once, yet when sparring with him he proved untouchable without even having to use any spells or weapons. The second clue was the fact that he was one of the few if not the only hunter not to carry any physical weapon. And his training was not to be taken lightly. The four individuals training under him found themselves facing seemingly insurmountable tasks again and again. And for some of them it proved to actually be insurmountable. What once was a quartet of Hunters in training had become a trio. Ironically, Darke’s favorite among the four was the one to lose his life during one of the assignments. The trainee was cool headed, logical thinker yet ruthless at the same time and didn’t show much emotion. His fellow team members on the other hand. . . Willo usually maintained a generally cheerful and lighthearted attitude of which Drake disapproved. Likewise he questioned Ramone’s dislike of killing and Aelar’s preference for support rather than offensive. He constantly voiced his disapproval including during their trip to Kiruth. Regardless of all that he had taught them all to the best of his abilities. Weak points of plague beasts, advanced combat techniques with the weapons they had chosen, the importance of knowing your enemy and not rushing into battle. But most of all, he offered them opportunities to gain hands on experience in combat.
As they reached the end of the ramp Drake began explaining. His voice was deep yet oddly soft.“I’m sure all of you have heard of Castle Bloodleaves. It was built centuries ago by a dynasty of nobles. They had a curious fascination with blood.” Drake paused as he pondered on what he had just said, realizing he hadn’t given it a lot of thought in the past.
“It holds plagued beasts that a long time ago could not be killed by normal means. As such they had been imprisoned in this Castle. Some of them have vanished, possibly escaping and now some freely roam the basement of the glorified prison. Your assignment is to secure the first and second basement of the castle. I will be joining you one last time as we clear the first basement. Successfully do this and I will declare you fully-fledged Hunters. For your sake I hope you have retained what I have taught you. Take note that the second basement is of . . . extensive size. You may have to setup a camp while in there. You can stock up in town tomorrow but I would hope that you have already prepared as necessary so we can move on straight to the castle right now.”
He stopped and turned around facing the trio. His expression was bland and emotionless as usual. The trio had never seen him show any form of emotion throughout their time spent with him and today was no different. They stared back at him for a few moments without saying a word.
“Well?”
They were mostly just waiting for their first Switch-Weapons to be produced and tweaked to their specifications, and when Joshua, their teacher's, list of errands was completed, he showed them to a little 'hideout' he had saved. He notified it was effectively collectively theirs, and went to do 'unrelated, private things'. As the party began to settle in, it was not long before an arguement started unintentionally. Nickolaus, leaning on a wall, was beckoned into one of the rooms by Sapphire. Schulze took control of the situation.
A conversation turned into an interrogation, but the other two in the little housing couldn't hear the specifics, aside from a loud bump as if something was knocked over, and the door swinging open loudly as Sapphire, angrily began to walk out, raving. "I should've known better then to trust you people!", she yelled, dissapointed and furious. exiting the building, she slammed the door behind her, finishing with a "You're all the same. You make me sick."
Eventually, Sapphire, in her bottled up anger, found herself sitting alone at the top of one of Coalstrikes' few towers, jumping there from one of the rooftops. It was somber as the sun began to set, but she could still feel she wasn't completely alone.
...Not in the metaphorical sense, she actually began to hear someone else apparently climbing the tower after her. Who the hell could this be?
Back at the Quartets' hideout, the headcount continued to decrease as Schulze followed Sapphire's example, angrily, yet also sadly, mumbling things about the unbelievable unproffesionalism of everyone, including himself. Not wanting to even associate with this group of idiotic misfits anymore, he quickly exited and made his way out of town, abandoning Joshua's 'teachings' and deciding to make his own damn path.
Now, Imgor and Alex were pretty much alone, together, as the Quartet turned into a Duet.
That escalated quickly...
In the harbor of Kiruth a different group of Hunters in training arrived just after sunset. They disembarked from the boat that got them through the fairly long journey. The harbor itself was the definition of deserted. After sunset few people ventured near it as it was one of few places still vulnerable to plagued beings. Even fewer sailors dared to dock there at night, but there were exceptions.
Four people stepped on the ramp leading from the boat to the pier itself. Willo Luelle, Ramone Truvo and Aelar Starseeker were all nearing the end of their training under Drake Lazarus, a man with dark, shoulder-length hair who typically wears a fancy, black trench coat with red sleeves. Despite training under him for months on end they barely knew anything about him except that he had a straightforward and sometimes rather cruel attitude. He was an enigma to them and everyone else, but somehow he was famous at the same time. If you would ask around for his name, you would find that every other person has heard of him at some point, yet nobody knows anything about him.
The fact that he had managed to train his quartet through words only already hinted at skill. During their training he had not revealed the nature of his combat abilities even once, yet when sparring with him he proved untouchable without even having to use any spells or weapons. The second clue was the fact that he was one of the few if not the only hunter not to carry any physical weapon. And his training was not to be taken lightly. The four individuals training under him found themselves facing seemingly insurmountable tasks again and again. And for some of them it proved to actually be insurmountable. What once was a quartet of Hunters in training had become a trio. Ironically, Darke’s favorite among the four was the one to lose his life during one of the assignments. The trainee was cool headed, logical thinker yet ruthless at the same time and didn’t show much emotion. His fellow team members on the other hand. . . Willo usually maintained a generally cheerful and lighthearted attitude of which Drake disapproved. Likewise he questioned Ramone’s dislike of killing and Aelar’s preference for support rather than offensive. He constantly voiced his disapproval including during their trip to Kiruth. Regardless of all that he had taught them all to the best of his abilities. Weak points of plague beasts, advanced combat techniques with the weapons they had chosen, the importance of knowing your enemy and not rushing into battle. But most of all, he offered them opportunities to gain hands on experience in combat.
As they reached the end of the ramp Drake began explaining. His voice was deep yet oddly soft.“I’m sure all of you have heard of Castle Bloodleaves. It was built centuries ago by a dynasty of nobles. They had a curious fascination with blood.” Drake paused as he pondered on what he had just said, realizing he hadn’t given it a lot of thought in the past.
“It holds plagued beasts that a long time ago could not be killed by normal means. As such they had been imprisoned in this Castle. Some of them have vanished, possibly escaping and now some freely roam the basement of the glorified prison. Your assignment is to secure the first and second basement of the castle. I will be joining you one last time as we clear the first basement. Successfully do this and I will declare you fully-fledged Hunters. For your sake I hope you have retained what I have taught you. Take note that the second basement is of . . . extensive size. You may have to setup a camp while in there. You can stock up in town tomorrow but I would hope that you have already prepared as necessary so we can move on straight to the castle right now.”
He stopped and turned around facing the trio. His expression was bland and emotionless as usual. The trio had never seen him show any form of emotion throughout their time spent with him and today was no different. They stared back at him for a few moments without saying a word.
“Well?”
