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Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Lissa frowned as she studied the carved marking on the tree. She had come across many languages on her travels, and learned quite a number as well, but all that she could determine was that it was Krysan in nature, and probably old. The Raam idly wondered how old the script used had to be that she could still identify it as such but not actually decipher it. After a few minutes of frustration, she moved on deeper into the forest, wondering when she would finally find where this necromancer girl was residing.

When she came across a small camp of Krysa, though, she wasn’t too surprised, though indecisive at how she would approach the complication.

For the moment, eavesdropping would be sufficient.

Hiding behind a particularly thick tree, she listened into the conversation the small ratpeople were having around their fire. Surprisingly, it seemed like they were trying to find the same necromancer that she was looking for… although with a brute force method without using a charm.

The thought to approach the group came into her mind, but she quickly dismissed it. It was her hunch that allowing them to find this girl, either intentionally or inadvertently by being followed would probably cause more trouble than would be worth than hitting them up for more information. There was also the potential that they would attack her as well, however unlikely…

So Lissa just shrank back into the forest, leaving the Krysa to their own devices as she continued her search for the Yaga girl.

Not before throwing a questionable glance in the air, however.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Polina tried to give her a reassuring smile. Having originally been a war refugee, she knew the girl’s plight. Producing one of her bags of macarons from one of the folds of her dress, she handed the sweets to the girl as a minor distraction as she made her way with Lucrecia to the old theater. She didn’t have very many words to console the child with, though, as she concentrated on the matter at hand—staying alive and recovering the original team of maids that had been inserted into the city.

Upon reaching the theater proper, though, things didn’t look too good. A quick reconnaissance showed that the entire place was swarming with demons, not to mention that higher demon that the young girl had mentioned. More importantly, though, were the obvious sounds of fighting from within. The Farisian gave a critical eye over the state of the building. Part of her education, surprisingly, had taught her a bit of something about buildings, and frankly, it didn’t look like the place would last much longer—especially with a whole section collapsed completely. It would probably compromise the rest of the structure soon, if it hadn’t already.

It didn’t take a genius to assess the situation wasn’t good, and whoever was still defending against the demons within would eventually be overwhelmed, if not buried by the collapse of the theater. The conclusion she came to, however, did not mirror that of her companion. “I cannot accept that, even if it is obvious the situation is dangerous for my current charge. I propose a compromise—I will back you up from behind. Now, go!”

If the child could do so, she would shift to have the girl cling to her back like a backpack, with a little bit of assist with her powers. Otherwise, she would keep a larger distance, but nonetheless, she unslung her rifle, checked its magazine, before reloading it with two stripper clips as she had originally intended. In the meantime, she kept a defensive ring of her blades around her and the child, kept at the ready if any of the demons were to move at her. Bringing the weapon up to her shoulder, she made to support Lucrecia with the ring of several shots as she went in.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle simply let the men talk amongst themselves, only pausing to give a perfunctory nod when she was questioned for a confirmation. Some of the other humans in the group seemed fairly paranoid, but she was not going to judge. From what little she had seen of this era so far, paranoia was what kept you alive.

Perhaps that meant something as the man she had been talking to was marginally more trusting, but that gave her and her peers an easier job re-integrating into this world. Regardless, it seemed the concern over her announcement had won out, as he rang the alarm. The white-haired vampire opened her mouth to respond to his rather generous offer when one of Akyasha’s little gorebats alighted atop her head. She frowned for a moment, given the startled reactions the already paranoid humans gave, but she decided to affect an awkward, reassuring smile, as if this were a silly thing that happened often.

At Dragan’s prompting, she shook her head, before answering.

“Your offer is appreciated, and I’m sure some of my friends will accept your generosity, but it seems one of our companions is still in need of assistance. I will return once I’m assured that everything is safe.” Giving the former paladin a shrug, she stepped in the direction of the forest, waiting to see what the creature wanted. She was slightly apprehensive of being split from the group now, but she at least trusted the cleric and her familiars to not get her into too much trouble.

“Alright, alright. Let’s see what you want now, shall we?”

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

In the end, while it wasn’t quite the true assurance that Lissa had been looking for, she at least had a way forward to approaching the volatile situation with the Yaga and Kyrsa—enlisting the help of this necromancer Yaga girl. Lissa had her own apprehensions about a girl that was willing to dabble in such dark magics, but she was always willing to listen to a story, or hear out a redeemed character. In the end, she knew that political expedience was always the king, even if she disliked it at times.

After accepting the anti-illusion charm from Jolca, Lissa headed straight for the forest.

Ever onwards, after all.

Her trip through the forest was blissfully uneventful, enough that it made the Raam-in-disguise question if she had followed the directions correctly, or had been given proper directions at all.

She did come across a lone Kyrsa in the snow-covered forest, though, and the marking that she did on the tree made her curious enough to wait for the Kyrsan figure to leave before inspecting what they had marked. If it wasn’t anything of significance, she would continue on searching for the necromancer’s abode.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Polina decided that her choice to switch back to her battle rifle had been a good one upon seeing the devastating effect the high-power rounds had on their bodies and attempts at regeneration. Oh, they still regenerated, but not quite as easily if she had stabbed and slashed at the creatures repetitively. Had she not been carrying the girl as she jumped back and away from the humanoid demons, she would have emptied the rest of the magazine and loaded in another pair of stripper clips.

Instead, she fell back to keeping them away with some of her blades, and a combination of cobblestones and debris for good measure, even if they were less effective. Thankfully, it seemed the demons began to think better of pursuing her and Lucrecia too vigorously. Who knew they had such an adroit sense of self-preservation?

Once the situation had calmed some, the girl finally began to respond to stimuli. Hearing the girl let out a cry, Polina looked down at the girl in her arms. She paused for a moment to consider her question, before responding. “Yes. Do you know where other maids went?”

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle suppressed a frown when Aleksiya attached herself to her arm like a lost, frightened child. For one, she felt it was beneath her peer to act in such a way, even now, and more importantly, it meant that she had to quickly change the narrative of any explanation that she might have to give, or otherwise limit her options.

It was too late, though. The white-haired vampire held up her free hand in both a wave and a placating gesture, before quickly affecting a slightly apologetic expression upon hearing one of the men’s complaints. Privately, she questioned his awareness. She had, after all, made more than enough effort to make herself known to not startle any of these humans.

“Hardly. My name is Giselle,” she offered, deciding against giving Aleksiya a name for the moment. “And yes. My home was destroyed, as were my companions’. We’ve traveled a long way to find someplace safe.” This was all true. In a manner of speaking… but still completely true.

The undead princess would have continued the conversation along these lines when she caught Dragan and Akyasha approach from her periphery. That was not part of the plan, but she rolled with it. As Dragan engaged the men in conversation, she was approached by the cleric, with some… complications. She frowned, both at the news, and for the men as well. It would look bad if they had just arrived and brought trouble for these villagers if they were meant to get anything out of the interaction.

“…Sorry, I’ve bad news. One of our other companions keeps overwatch on the road… they’ve spotted beastmen approaching and a girl fighting off undead... perhaps one of yours? We may have to prepare for a fight. If you have an alarum, I would raise it.”

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Unfortunately, it seemed like the young girl was too traumatized to respond to her questions. Polina was only able to spare a few moments to speak to the girl; just a moment later, she was back to fending off the demons.

Lucrecia was also right, and Polina knew as well that their position here was not very tenable. They would have to pull back soon. Seeing the humanoid creatures’ unusual regenerative properties, the maid switched strategies. She quickly unslung her rifle as one of them charged at her, working the bolt of her rifle twice as two high-power shots rang out to slam into it. Relying on the tendency for the high power slugs to chunk its flesh on exit, she then directed a pair of blades to finish the hounds.

Thankfully for their situation, Polina was uniquely suited to rescuing little girls without compromising too much on her offensive and defensive ability. The moment the immediate threat was gone, she swooped up the crying girl in one quick motion, before jumping back to regroup with Lucrecia. “Hang tight with me, okay? We’re getting out of here.” Keeping her in a princess carry, she gave her a pat on the head.

If any additional demons continued to approach as she left, she would direct more projectiles at them.

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Lissa raised her eyebrows at the girl’s response. She wasn’t wrong, but Jolca’s behavior was starting to get a bit beyond social propriety as she clasped her hands over hers. It probably wasn’t nearly enough to keep Lissa there if she had really wanted to leave, but it left her wondering if it was some sort of negotiating tactic while she continued her dialogue with Ambros. Considering that she had gotten them out of a tight spot earlier, the Raam wouldn’t begrudge her for some strange behavior when she still owed the girl.

“Mm… I see. That’s helpful to know, at least,” she nodded, taking his words at face value for now. Lissa had no doubt the nuances of the situation were far different than what he was probably saying; internal politics were hardly ever that simple, but if she could work with him right now to get that caravan and other merchants through, then that was good enough for her.

What Lissa didn’t expect was the potential third party. Frankly, though, a necromancer and an enemy of the Death Goddess didn’t sound particularly promising. It sounded very dangerous instead, and her kneejerk reaction was to agree with Ambros.

Then again, she was a Raam, and certain aspects of such dark magics didn’t particularly faze her…

“I wouldn’t mind looking into this witch if we have an accord… Just give me some more information and I can see what I can do. Jolca, what makes you think she would help against the Krysa or getting the merchants though? Now, those patrols, hmm. They would let me or my companions just do that? There’s the envoy status, but that sounds a bit provocative.”

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Perhaps the journey was long for a day trip, but Giselle spent most of the time keeping a keen eye on all that they passed. In the absence of major threats, with what existed merely acting as inferior food for the her and the other lords, she could spare the time to investigate the state of what the world had turned into. It was a luxury that she unfortunately didn’t have to examine in detail in the city proper given the state of Alavaris.

Sadly, the state of the world had become as drab as Giselle expected. In the absence of Light, most living beings of the good and proper variety had long died and withered to dust. The state of vegetation, sadly, was in a dire state, and it was a miracle in and of itself that humans and more wretched beasts managed to eke out an existence in this dead world.

Even so, aside from speaking with the other lords on details and musings on things that had happened since their slumber, she occupied most of her time keeping a mental journal on all that she saw.

Nonetheless, she was glad when the human settlement came into sight. She observed the architecture, noting its familiarity with buildings from her era, and then the ramshackle repairs and inferior new construction. More importantly, she kept in the mind what was likely a sentry of some type at the settlement’s highest vantage point. If they hadn’t already been observed, they would be seen soon—which meant the time to make a decision would be short.

And short it would be indeed, given that they could already hear voices of the people inside the village. Perhaps surprisingly, they seemed rather happy.

Giselle turned to her fellow lords as Akyasha sent off her gorebats. “I suppose it’s time to see how the humans of this era will react.” If there were no objections from her peers, she would approach the village entrance, a story already crafted in mind. With absence of any gate guards, she would speak to those speaking, but not without being cautious. She remained casual, but alert, and elected to make enough noise on her approach as to not startle before she appeared.

“Greetings. Perhaps you might spare time for questions from some travelers?”

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

It seemed her hunch had been wholly unsuitable in the scenario of a sudden and severe mass demon attack. Against mortal foes, or even lesser demons, guard stations and armories were miniature bastions unto themselves. And indeed, as Polina and Lucrecia investigated the ones that they came across, they had been used for their intended role by the city’s defenders… only the defenses had been wholly inadequate. It was not that hard to deduce that, after seeing a more-than-token resistance, the demons had brought in something specialized to bust through the thick walls of those structures.

They showed a worrying level of cohesion and tactical understanding.

Polina had nearly written off the hope of finding survivors and had been simply treating her assignment as a mere mop-up operation when she was alerted to the faint sound of crying nearby. Homing in on the sound with her guard up –there could still be demon trickery, after all—she came upon a gruesome, grotesque scene. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the two distinctive bright red dresses, narrowing at the sight of an obviously deceased maid. More importantly, though, one of them was still alive.

Her eyes flicked over to the humanoid creatures near the girl in question. By her assessment, the downed girl could be mere moments from being gored, and Polina acted immediately.

“Lucrecia! I’m heading in— keep the rest of those creatures off me.”

With that, she sprinted forward with a ruffle of her dress, firing off a fan of blades towards the humanoid demons as she drew her blade once more, inserting herself right in between the awful creatures and the survivor. She made sure to add an extra blade directed at the one directly partaking of the bodies, even if it wasn’t quite the most efficient decision.

Glancing back when she could do so, she checked in on the crying girl. She kept to brief, important questions—unfortunately, consoling her would have to wait. “Reinforcements are here. Can you stand? Do you know if there are any others still hiding?”