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Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

The Raam-in-disguise couldn’t help but to raise an eyebrow at just who had answered the door. She had expected a Yaga girl of some sort, not a foreign human of some import, and certainly not a man and his fox…. Hmm. Could they be from Mie’s caravan? The attire fit the profile. Lissa quickly ran the calculations in her head; had they too been petitioning for help from this necromancer girl? If so, they hadn’t been very successful, it seemed.

She was nearly taken off guard by the man’s parting question. In lieu of answering, she kept that raised eyebrow for his answer, before heading inside.

“Great. Well, if you can spare another moment of your peace and quiet, I do have a request. An unorthodox one, nonetheless,” she hedged, inviting herself into the Yaga girl’s home as she closed the door behind her. The first thing that struck her after entering was the manner of dressing of the necromancer girl. It was a bit unusual for the area, yes, but frankly, to Lissa it seemed downright cute and maid-like for a practitioner of dark magic. It was almost disarming. Her eyes briefly roamed over the girl’s cabin, curiously inspecting its interior, before her eyes fixed back on the necromancer’s green ones.

Judging by her dismissal of her pervious petitioner, this was likely the only chance or hook she had to get a serious consideration from her. Thankfully, Amos and Jolca had armed her with some somewhat useful information.

“I’m here to request the rite of Amaranthine Adjudication.”

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle mused to herself as she leaned to the side, giving just enough space to avoid contact with the creature before she sunk her blade into its flesh. It was quite cathartic, exciting, almost, to have a bit of action like this. Strange, perhaps, when she had preached neutrality from conflict for over a millennia, but those were more geopolitical goals than anything, and her doctrine of peace had always been the variety of being armed so much that sane people wouldn’t want to annoy the peaceful peoples that also happened to be armed to the teeth.

Not that the Paladins happened to be particularly sane or rational, as much as they or their followers might have preached.

Their crusade had been the reason that she had personally picked up a weapon for the first time in an entire age, however. Despite her power then, there had been some growing pains after so much idleness, but she had learned from the experience, even if it had killed her in the end. She had also been reminded of the fact that beating things up was in fact, or had always been, quite enjoyable. Her maids had always said as much. She would have to figure a way to bring back Polina and her sister in the near future.

And from her perspective, that experience was mere days ago. Her power might still be much reduced, but she improvised, that re-honed battle instinct making her move as a second beast descended from above. Recognizing danger of its forward momentum, she palmed the ancient ceremonial dagger that she had picked up with her free hand, even as she slashed upwards with her sword. Twisting as it entered past the blade’s reach, she tore into its wings with the ceremonial blade, giving a glance of acknowledgement towards Akyasha’s gorebat in appreciation for the help… even if it was obviously self-serving.

After all, she had told it to get off her head in the first place.

Returning the ceremonial weapon to its place, she took this very brief respite to craft ammunition in her revolver, just in time for the gaggle of beasts to reform around her. She immediately fired on the hound charging her, before shifting her body and unceremoniously sending it away with a low roundhouse kick to its side. Giselle used that momentum to spin away from the antlered creature, firing twice into its side once she stabilized.

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

Polina raised an eyebrow. “Well, I could repeat back some of what I thought I heard. I believe I heard some very interesting things, after all,” she responded, keeping up her usual dry tone. She angled her body away as Lyssa destroyed the beast, shielding the young girl still clinging to her back from the worst of the gore.

Not that it helped too much, considering the entire theater itself was just a glorified charnel house at the moment. Oh well, the girl was probably traumatized enough as is. Witnessing a little more violence wouldn’t do much further damage.

“Polina. Let’s,” she agreed, her face softening some as they continued to exchange pleasantries in the middle of battle. “That is… unfortunate news, but it is good to know.” With the immediate need for information satisfied, she turned her attention back to the thinned-out herd of demons. With the three of them here, the Farisian maid reasoned that this would more or less be a mop-up operation from here on out.

With a child still clinging to her, she took a more passive position here, letting the absolute juggernaut that was Lyssa at the moment crush the beasts with Lucrecia’s support, while Polina filled the gaps, shoving knives and blades where they needed to be… like turning one of the large headless ape things into a pincushion, for example.

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Giselle internally chided herself the moment the humanoid creatures homed in on her, regardless of the illusion. Of course such creatures might react with different senses. In her haste and pragmatic sense to preserve most of her meagre vampiric energy, she had crafted merely a basic illusion. Had she taken the time to create something more comprehensive, then perhaps she would have remained undiscovered for longer…

But that was all water under the bridge.

Seeing the creatures quickly react, she immediately met them with her sword, helped on by the gorebat with the vampiric equivalent of a shot of adrenaline as the small creature injected the blood it had been carrying into her body. Invigorated by the boost of energy, she fell onto the humanoid abominations with the paladin’s sword, slashing and dicing at them, as it once had against other undead in the hands of the fallen paladin eons prior. Despite its legacy, she had no qualms using such a weapon as a practical tool. In truth, had the paladins merely stuck with culling such creatures, abominations that made a bad name for the rest of the beings that shared a moniker of ‘undeath,’ she might even have tacitly approved of some of their actions.

“I suppose it would seem fit to use such silver as it was truly intended,” she mused to herself.

With characteristic elegance and grace that had been her brand, the white-haired vampire leapt out of the way of the charging beast, before using the momentum to turn back in towards the creature and stab it in the back with the holy weapon. Pulling the weapon from its burning wounds, she met the next creature with a great slash, giving little quarter as she advanced on the rest while they were still stunned. If the situation didn’t change, Giselle intended to destroy them all where they stood with the silver blade.

Epic of Beginnings - Dawns Cradle

Lissa

Lissa, perhaps, might have gotten some amusement out of the remaining campfire discussion among the Krysa, but she was long gone by the time they had finished. With an obvious solution to simply avoid the marked trees, she had a more obvious path forward. Finding the Yaga necromancer’s abode, then, became more or less child’s play with her charm as a guide, the trinket heating up as she passed by certain wards or illusions.

It wasn’t before long that she arrived at a clearing with a quaint little cabin in the center of it all.

For the home of a supposed dark magician, it looked downright comfortable and welcoming compared to what the Raam had been expecting. Still, she approached its door with some apprehension. Before she moved to knock on the door, she caught on to some words from inside. Had one of the ratfolk made it to the cabin before her? She couldn’t help but to briefly eavesdrop, but nonetheless, she rapped her knuckles against the door, before announcing her presence in a more vocal manner.

“Hello? Am I interrupting something?”

The Maids Guide to Demon Hunting

Polina Laye

Farisian Maid

---

The state of the interior… was about what Polina expected. Utter ruins. What the maid didn’t expect, though was that there was just one single maid inside, and she was not just holding her own, but devastating the demon hordes surrounding her. Enough so that the Farisian had to actively dodge the demons’… corpses… being flung away from the pink-haired maid beating down on the creatures.

It made Polina briefly wonder why the creatures from earlier had been so reluctant to engage herself and Lucrecia, while these demons were throwing themselves into the meatgrinder that was very obviously the combat instructor’s daughter…

But now was not the time to be worrying about those troublesome thoughts, especially when she still had a child to protect and actually had to actively dodge dead demons to avoid being splattered herself.

More concerning was that Lyssa Stauhans sounded almost like that high demon that she had engaged only a short time ago. The same foul, sadistic mouth… but Polina suspected it was a similarity in personality, rather than a possession, given the situation.
Which meant the mask had slipped.

She winced as watched a demon nearly get torn in half, but she did let herself relax slightly. This maid… did not need rescuing.

When the pink-haired girl finally acknowledged her, she schooled her features and cleared her throat. “…Yes, but clearly you are not in need of assistance,” she replied with a deadpan tone. Yet, she couldn’t help but to have the edges of her mouth tug upwards as she continued on, but not before planting a volley of blades into a demon that had been sneaking up on her. Reckless, perhaps, especially in the middle of a fight with a girl on her back, but she had also reverse pickpocketed macarons into the pockets of this sadistic girl’s equally sadistic mother only a short while ago… “And, no. For your information, I did not hear a single peep of a rather spirited rant about the performance of the Enemy… You do look like you’re having fun, though.”

Bible of Ichor: Septet for the Dead

Giselle de Farry

Undead Princess, de Farry

---

Despite the man’s protestations, Giselle dismissed his concern with a word of appreciation before she followed the tugging gorebat, with some mild annoyance at the way it tugged upon her hair as if it were guiding her like mere cattle. Even if she was without her land and subjects now, she still had the pride of a sovereign princess that had ruled for a thousand years… and that was a treatment that was more than beneath her.

She flicked at the small creature with her index finger. “Enough of that. Shoo. Lead me properly.”

Giselle waited for a few moments for the bat to make its moves before continuing on, examining the state of the village as she passed the houses on the street. Given the danger the era and the beasts clearly presented, it wasn’t all too surprising that the rows of buildings and houses on the outskirts of the village bordering the forest were damaged or burned. More curious were the barrels placed in obvious chokepoints or strategic places. She wondered what was held within the barrels; were they just to act as barriers, they would have been augmented with other materials such as overturned tables , for example.

Once past the village proper, she found the beastmen in question. And rather curious beastmen these were. They looked suspiciously like the dead creatures that her group had encountered not too much earlier. Upon further examination, it was clear the twenty of them were in fact creations of vampiric origin… which was a rather curious thing, when it came to what else resided in that blackened forest. Would she discover a friend or foe lurking within the dead woods? Whoever they were, Giselle did not have a high opinion of whoever created such monstrosities. In her lands, she would never have tolerated such grotesque twisting of the human form, nor such corruption of wildlife and fauna. Those that created such things outside of her territory she might not have touched, but it was an open secret that she looked down on those that preyed overmuch on humans or engaged in the more intolerable experiments into vampiric magic.

Giselle did not have much trouble making the decision to exterminate this group herself. While she still remained quite weak from her recent reawakening, she still remained confident in being able to take this group. Unholstering her revolver, she unloaded six carefully aimed shots into the group. Even in this state, it was child’s play to create the illusion that the shots had been fired from the window one of one of the houses in the village. Giving the creatures a moment to respond as such, she emerged from the trees behind them with her new silver sword to fall upon the stragglers before engaging the main body of beasts.

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?”