Bright_Ops

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

Eastern Yharnam, relatively near the Hunter's clinic, on the high plateau

Baring witness to the beast filled horror that was Old Yharnam was... well, a complicated feeling for Draco. Logically he should have felt fear or dread at the sight of so many beasts lurking in lairs formed in the burnt out ruins of the city, but in truth it was hard to feel such things when the monsters were so distant that they weren't an immediate threat. He didn't feel anger or hate for much the same reasons; The beasts were too far away to drum up the raw emotions required for such things.

As he escorted his flock of civilians along the path, the huntsman found himself performing some self reflection on the matter and was mildly surprised by the answer. He was humbled by the sight. There was something about seeing the sheer scale of the problem plaguing Yharnam with your own eyes that put into himself and his place in the world into perspective.

This line of thought was, of course, a distraction to try and pull his thoughts away from a more immediate, but no less deeply troubling problem for him then the beast filled Old Yharham; They had overshot the shelter they were trying to get to. In their haste to put as much distance between themselves, the beasts, the giant and the insane hunter that had murdered their escort, they had been forced to pass it by via taking the elevator to relative safety away from the battle down below but leaving them exposed to the night.

The way Draco saw it, they had three options to choose from going forward if they wanted to stay alive.

The first was to locate a sturdy, empty building nearby, fortify and trap it as much as possible to discourage beasts and other nightly terrors from breaking through and bunker down to try and survive the night without incense to hide their scent. Not a great plan by any means, but it was somewhat aided by the fact that this section of the city seemed to have been abandoned for some time; With any luck, a history of lack of prey would result in an incredibly low number of beasts searching for food. In theory, the beasts most likely to come this way would be those who were young and inexperienced or those weak enough to have been chased off of better hunting grounds by other beasts or hunters and whom were looking for scraps.

The second was to wait a while for the battle at the bottom of the elevator to finish up and the victor moving on, leaving the original path they intended to take to their original shelter for the night hopefully open. This of course had its risks. Namely, if they waited too long or moved too soon there was a serious risk that they would be detected and pounced on before they reached safety... even with the promise of incense, the insane hunter made Draco weary; As beast like as the man already was, he was collected enough that he liked was aware of where some of the shelters were... and incense wouldn't stop him from crossing the threshold and start killing if the thirst for blood and death was strong enough.

The third was to seek out an alternative shelter for the night. Considering he didn't know where one was, that was kind of an issue. Wandering around aimlessly looking for one on a night when the beasts were active was the most dangerous damn thing anyone could do.

Before he had a chance to explore his options fully and present them to his followers, a band of five Yharnam men, battered, bloody and unarmed, came into view with clear intent on making their way towards the elevator they had arrived via. These men were not a threat... but Draco still stepped forward and barked "You don't want to go that way just yet. We just came up; Left behind a three way fight between one of the church giants, a pack of beasts and an insane hunter that killed our hunter escort before leaving us be to join the brawl because we were beneath him at the time. What are you running from?"

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

@Dark Jack

Random question but... where exactly is the shelter that Draco is trying to lead his group of Civilians too? Is it the Clinic itself or somewhere else?

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

Eastern Yharnam, relatively near the Hunter's clinic, top of the elevator.

By all rights, what Draco should have seen when stepping out of the elevator was a scene of carnage. The blood was there, the signs of struggle were easy to see... and yet, the carnage wasn't present. No bodies to be seen and a trial of blood stains leading down the one path that they knew for certain would lead them in the direction of where they needed to go. Under other circumstances, Draco would have preferred to take his chances via going through the deserted buildings and praying to Oedon that there would A) Be a path through them that lead them to where they needed to go and B) Were devoid of beasts in hiding.

However, the escape from the mad hunter had made him deathly aware of the fact that there was a superhuman, still somewhat intelligent lunatic down at the bottom of the elevator shaft that was more then able operate it and pursue them if his disgust for killing things 'below him' run out when the beasts and giant he had been fighting were dead. Putting as much distance between themselves and that man was vital if they wanted to continue living.

Weapon held firmly in both hands, Draco started to lead the way along the blood stained path. His movements were cautious but unafraid; It went a long way to reducing the noise that he was producing and allowed him the chance to strain his senses as much as he could in order to stay alert for threats before they had the chance to spring whatever traps or ambushes they had planned. He wasn't foolish enough to believe that if something was laying in wait that he would be able to handle it one on one, but the the only way to survive the night was to get somewhere safe and secure and to get there, he needed to get to the end of a very scary path. If something just so happened to be waiting for him along side path, he was just going to have to deal with it or die trying.

Removing one of his hands from his weapon for a brief moment, he silently made a 'follow me' gesture to the civilians he was shepherding in order to get them to follow after him. They still had ground to cover after all. Message sent, he secured his hold back on his weapon as he did the only thing he could under the circumstances; Move forward.

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

Draco has faced Mad Ones before and not only survived, but has actually been apart of a group that's downed two of them! (Not bad for normal humans). So an insane hunter charging at him doesn't have the same degree of pants shitting terror that it might have for most humans; That said, Draco is going to need to seriously unwind when he gets the chance to. Poor boy be shook.

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

Eastern Yharnam, relatively near the Hunter's clinic, bottom of the elevator

Having already abandoned the Hunter Stefan to his death already (through the guilt and regret of that action would no doubt linger for some time), Draco had absolutely zero issue with leaving the insane hunter with a pack of scourge beasts and a wounded church giant. Some people might have been insulted by the idea of being to pathetic to kill; Yharnamites tended to call those idiots outsiders for a reason. Anyone in Yharnam with that kind of suicidal arrogance had died a long time ago.

Without hesitation, Draco smacked the pressure plate on the floor to get the elevator to rise. As far as he was concerned they had just been granted a stay of execution and he had no intention of hanging around for whatever divine good will that he had just received to dry up. Draco had enough resolve not to show fear because the civilians he was escorting needed a leadership figure right now to guide them to safety and with the death of Stefan, he was the next best thing, but the memory of that hunter charging right at him... the moment they were in relative safety and he could be alone he was going to have to work his way through that horrible memory if he wanted to have a chance of sleeping anytime soon.

Taking a deep breath as the elevator rose, he carefully moved himself through the crowd so that when it reached its destination, he could be the first one out. Someone had to lead the way after all... "Alright. The shelter shouldn't be too far. We're going to move in an orderly fashion, but I want everyone be be as quiet as possible and keep an eye out for danger. We're not safe and sound just yet."

Hopefully there would be someone at the shelter they were heading to that Draco could inform about the fate of Stefan, alongside a description of the insane hunter that killed him. While he personally had never encountered a hunter who had lost their mind to the point that they were dangerous to everyone around them before, he wasn't naive enough to believe there wasn't some kind of system in place to deal with the occasional hunter lost their mind to the beast plague. Better they be made aware of the problem sooner rather then later.

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

Eastern Yharnam, relatively near the Hunter's clinic, bottom of the elevator

As he impatiently waited for the elevator to hurry up and come down, Draco couldn't help but feel in his soul that he had made a mistake by not trying to aid Stefan. This wasn't the first time he had contended with guilt before, but that didn't change the fact that he had likely ensured a man's death by abandoning him to fight alone even if there wasn't much a relatively normal human could have done to turn the tides.

Only really paying attention to the fight between the giant and the beasts to make sure that none of those taking part turned their attention away from it towards himself or the civilians he was protecting, Draco's attention was focused on the way they had come. Granted, if any of the three scourge beasts decided to leave the Giant alone in order to come after them they would likely be a very dangerous threat... but despite how deadly they could be, right now the real concern was the thing that Stefan had been fighting...

And which had started to pursue them at inhuman speed, covering a lot of ground very quickly.

Draco could see his death approaching and knew what it was. Even if the battle with Stefan had wounded the human like beast badly, a part of him suspected that it hadn't been quiet enough to tip the scales in his favor... or at least balance the field of battle. So he prepared himself, shifting into a stance that would allow him to use his pitchfork to the best of his ability... all while holding out for the ever decreasing hope that the stupid damn elevator showed up so that he could get inside and close the door behind him rather then die stalling this thing as long as he could.

As prepared for combat as he was going to be, even if he didn't like his odds of being alive at the end of it, Draco decided to try a tactic that might buy a few moments without costing him anything but words. He honestly doubted it would get results, but if he was really lucky there was still enough human left in the bastard to want to lord his power. "You've already killed the hunter! I doubt you'll get whatever thrill you're after killing us after that!"

Please, whatever powers that might be, let there be enough human left in this monster to gloat! To savor the fact that both of them knew that he had the power to kill them all the moment he desired to!

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

Streets of eastern Central Yharnam, just south of the plateau elevator

As Stefan's situation grew ever more grim and dire, Draco honestly did consider rushing over to try and aid the hunter. After all, watching a man fighting a monster inspire instincts to go to his aid but experience tempered the desire to rush into the fray. All jumping into the fight against such a monster one on one could do was result in a pointless death.

While reluctant to do so, Draco turned to follow the fleeing civilians, abandoning the hunter to his death. Despite the justifications that the hunter would be dead before he had even had the chance to close into combat distance with the monstrous foe, or that even if he did all he would have been doing was getting himself killed, regret haunted his thoughts regardless.

That said, Draco wasn't making the same blind dash as the civilians he was protecting. Part of that was him sacrificing speed in favor of carrying his weapon safely, being tripping over while carrying what was effectively a pitchfork with fire was generally a awkward experience at best, but it was mostly so he could pay attention to his surroundings. If the monster that was killing Stefan decided to pursue the group, it would reach Draco first... and even if it would only end one way, he fully intended to inflict as much damage as possible to stall it and slow it down to let others escape from it.

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

The marching orders given by Stefan to make a break for the elevator past the giant were somewhat hard to ignore for Draco... however, his 'job', such as it was, required that he took care of the various civilians to the best of his ability. If they were going to be making a mad dash to the elevator, a little bit of preparation was going to be required... and a humorless smile grew on Draco's cloth covered face because this had been something that had been bugging for a while now.

Taking a moment to light the torches hooked up to his weapon, he looked at the gathered crowd of people that he was now in charge of as he made a commandment of his own to go with the hunter's. "Right. Anything that you can't carry with you at a dead sprint, dump it over there. No bitching, the beasts don't give a shit about that kind of stuff and anyone crazy or desperate enough to roam the streets on a night like tonight has other things on their minds. Odds are it'll still be there in the morning, so the question is if you'll still be here to reclaim it."

There were protests and complaints of course, but Draco would have his way. When put in a situation in which ones life was actually on the line, the value of material goods in comparison tended to put things into proper perspective. Plus Draco was very much armed and clearly knew how to use his strange weapon of choice while they weren't, which as a diplomatic move was remarkably effective.

The process of dumping the junk and items that they could live without took precious time... and while Draco was keeping an eye out for more immediate threats to himself and his little group, he could see what was happening with Stefan in the distance. As much as he wanted to rush offer and try to help the hunter in his dire situation, two key facts made him stand his ground. The first was the humbling truth that by the time he actually managed to get even halfway to where the combat was, the fight was going to be long over one way or the other; His attempted involvement would not change the outcome for Stefan.

The second was worse in its own special way: Beasts tended to travel in packs. Just because there was one actively fighting a hunter didn't guarantee that there wasn't a second one lurking in the wings... or making their way towards Draco and the civilians, because who knew how the mind of a beast truly operated in relation to things like 'loyalty' and other such high ideals. Moving to add Stefan might give an unseen enemy the opening it desired to strike at a defenseless target.

So all Draco could do was watch and wait for the civilians to lose their baggage and start running before he could somewhat bravely follow at the end of the pack, prepared to try and slow down anything chasing after them.

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

Streets of eastern Central Yharnam, just south of the plateau elevator

Having shifted a little in order to allow people to have walked past him so when the group got moving again, he could step into his position as rearguard, Draco finally got a glimpse of the giant ahead and the fact that it clearly seemed to be in combat of some kind, through against who or what exactly couldn't be seen from this distance. The look on Draco's face at the sight suggested a degree of uncertain distrust; Even after over four years of living in Yharnam proper, there was something about the Church Giants that was unnerving to him. They were monstrous things... and while the Church claimed that they were tame, one couldn't help but doubt.

It was as Stefan moved to lead the group towards its detour that things went horribly wrong. Unlike before, when the howls and screams were far enough away that they were background noise (and far enough away that even if they were inclined towards trying to help their fellow man, they would arrive far to late anyway), the sudden outcry of screaming, sudden silence and then more screaming that rose up was far to close to walk pass in good conscience. The screaming of children in particular made it even more distressing.

Draco wasn't a fool; Unlike some, he was painfully aware of the difference in strength between himself and those who had fully been consumed by the scourge of the Beast. If his brothers had been alive and with him, he might have been more inclined towards rushing towards the screaming himself, but the sad truth was that the only person there who had a hope in hell of changing the outcome of whatever was happening was Stefan... and with a gulp Draco barked in a no nonsense manner to the Hunter "Get going! We'll stay here, but right now those people need you. I'll keep watch here. Go!"

Taking responsibility for the civilians was not in his job description, but leaving innocent women and children to be torn apart by beasts was something Draco couldn't do. While unable to go and help himself, he grimly pulled out a torch and slid it into the holster on his weapon, not lighting it just yet as he reached back into his pack for the second one. Turning towards the scared civilians, he tried to keep a professional, commanding air to him as he said "If anyone has anything on them that can be used as a weapon, now is the time to bring it out."

Night of the Hunt - a Bloodborne RP

Draco would have sighed softly to himself, but the situation required silence... or at least as much silence as could be claimed when one was traveling with a pack of idiotic civilians who did not seem to grasp the concept that they were in a dangerous situation... or at the very least, didn't understand that they themselves were in direct danger. Talking far to loudly, carrying personal belongings that only served to slow them down further... Truth be told, he suspected the presence of Stefan was causing some of them not to take the situation as seriously as they really should have been.

Then again, it was his own fault that he was in this situation. He should have been back at the apartment that he shared with his father and sister, but he had been halfway through a delicate piece of metal work for one of the simpler trick weapons employed by hunters and had he abandoned it just because the sun was starting to set it would have been ruined and thus, he would have needed to start the process from scratch again. Delays may have been a fact of life, but the Hunters and the Healing Church tended to start getting snippy if you let the good metal go to waste.

So instead of going home in a timely manner to settle in for an incense scented, somewhat restless night he had stayed at the forge and gotten the job done. He would still need to finish the weapon proper the following day, but the hard part was over with and he wouldn't need to redo it. Of course, the payment for his diligence was even more work as he found himself wielding his pitchfork at the back of a traveling group of civilians, helping to shepherd them and make sure no one got lost or fell behind as the Hunter guiding the group walked at the front to find the safest path he could.

The group could only move as fast as its slowest person and so Draco, one of the few in the group with any combat experience and had the presence of mind to actually be armed, had naturally taken up a rear guard position. His job, as he justified to himself, was a combination of making sure no one got lost or fell behind while also keeping an eye behind the group to make sure they didn't have anything tagging along, trying to sneak up on them. His senses and ability to detect threats likely weren't up to the same levels as Stefan's likely were, but having a second pair of eyes and ears who actually knew what to look out for as far as something trying to sneak up or approach with haste never hurt.

Couldn't trust the Civilians to do it properly. They flinched and nervously started murmuring among themselves at every little thing; Sure, the animistic howl of what was likely a giant, terrifying creature somewhere in the distance was a noise that should inspire some degree of caution, but it was clearly a loud, public and far away noise and thus wasn't their concern. It was the local, quiet sounds nearby, such as that of stealth betrayed, that were likely to be their problem.

Of course, they soon came to a stop. As much as Draco would have liked to have gone to the front of the group to get a look at whatever danger was ahead, experience told him that now was the time to keep on high alert since the group had come to a complete stop and if anything was planning to leap out, now would be the time. When it failed to manifest, he simply answered softly "Lead the way. I'll continue keeping a rear guard."