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7 yrs ago
Current Sorry for my lack of posts lately. I've just... been struggling to get the energy to write something up. I'm trying some new meds through so hopefully that will change soon.
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I'll get a post up tomorrow. Sorry for the delay.






Edit: Alright, this is ready for inspection now.
Eastern Yharnam, outside the Hunter's clinic


While Draco believed that he had done his Oedon given duty towards his fellow man by stopping the group of men who had been about to run by into a highly dangerous situation before they had gotten themselves killed, the longer he remained in their presence the more red flags were raised in his mind that something was... off with this party of Yharnamites.

For starters the fact that all four of them were bloodstained without any clear sign of injury suggesting that the blood was their own or weapons to suggest that it was someone or something else's was raised a few very worrying questions, but for Yharnam standards that was honestly the least worrying thing about the whole situation. The fact that there was a group of unarmed men wandering a part of Yharnam that had clearly been abandoned for some time as the sun was going down and the beasts started to leave their lairs was somewhat of a more pressing concern... but what truly set Draco's instincts off was the fact that one of the group had made no small show of sniffing him and then relaxing when something about his scent reveled that he wasn't a hunter.

...Something that had disappointed the insane hunter that had killed Stefan rather recently when he had done the exact same thing.

All together, this wasn't quite enough for Draco to justify lashing out and hoping the element of surprise would allow him to even the odds a bit before the group (the term 'pack' raised its ugly head) recovered to counter attack properly, but it was more then enough to ensure that he didn't trust the four in the slightest.

However, the information that there were hunters nearby fighting beasts offered a possible addendum to the plans of surviving the night. Turning to look at the flock he had taken over the task of shepherding, a course of action was selected. "I'm going to go in there and talk to the hunters inside. I doubt they'll care enough about us to escort us to shelter but I'm sure they'll be very curious about the insane hunter murdering his peers at the bottom of the elevator... and if they're just happening to be taking their hunt in the direction of incense covered shelter and clearing out the dangerous shit in the way for us, all the better!"

While he had his doubts about the group who was running away from said hunters, he couldn't exactly express his doubts without playing his hand... so turning to his group of civilians he simply said "Anyone who wants to come with me is free to do so, otherwise stay here and don't wander off. I am not going to be investing that much time or effort into chasing after idiots who get themselves separated or lost right now."
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?"
@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?
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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