The Gathering

The Gathering

Hemomancers.

They were not unknown to Elizabeth. They were among a long list of the ever growing types of dark arts users. Worshippers of the dark gods whether they were aware of it or not. They existed in the prime plane as well, but mostly just as idiotic teenagers running around thinking they are vampires. No, true Hemomancy would be something to fear. Especially for the unprepared and unknowledgeable. To hear of it having such a impact in this dimension that it had taken over a entire area. Well, that impressed Elizabeth. The dark mages at the Outpost were not doing much to further the darkness but these witches certainly were. The dark witch herself was torn on whether or not to actually oppose them. They were merely helping pave her way forward...

The raid alert went out to everyone who was 'logged in' and could be found later in the mailbox of those who were not. Elizabeth was unsure whether it was entirely done by the 'players' or if the false rulers of this world, the game creators, were behind the message. It really did not matter at this moment. What did matter was that the Hemomancers were about to be attacked on their home turf. Assuming the raid was a success of course. If the rumors were true, they were formidable, and well they should be.... they were masters of the dark arts.

So why did Merkaba even involve herself in this? For that matter why not join the witches and wreck havoc? While the thought tantalized Elizabeth. It would ultimately be fruitless. Why at her current level of power and influence, would she want to oppose a army of 'heroes'. These people would gain respect and adoration from those that were fearing the hemomancers wrath. What better way to gather some followers than to attract the unwary to a dark mistress that would protect them instead of maim them? Once converted, Elizabeth could easily enough fanaticize them. So it would be, that for now Merkaba would play a supportive role to these heroes and even advise them about the darkness they may face.

Elizabeth investigated those that were joining the raid. The names were longer then she thought. So many wanted to gain fame from this. It would be interesting to see how these people worked together and what their strength's and weaknesses were. Very helpful for the future... After finding the members of Vanguard 1 (easy enough since they had V1 in front of their screen names). Merkaba sent each a invitation to gather at a disclosed location in private. It would be a place visited by nearly no one. A place that Merkaba had only recently discovered and found herself coming to frequently. The dark old church far outside of Stokbon...

Merkaba

Hello members of Vanguard One. I am someone who is well versed in dark practices. I would like to offer my assistance in your efforts. Please feel free to come to the location sent in a file attached to this message. It would be worth your time to meet each other in person and discuss your tactics. I await you there as well. You may bring your weapons if you fear a trap. I assure you I am sincere my friends.

Come, I am sure there is much to discuss.

With the message sent out. Merkaba would take the time to light up the church and make it look more... inviting for others. The angel statue with the path to the secret path to the catacombs was set back into the ground and everything was looking much 'nicer'. There were still cracks around and the benches in the church hall were still old and decayed looking.There was also little she could do about the endless dark sky and huge nightmare inducing grave yard out back but.... hey a dark witch tried to make life look brighter!

On the set day for the meeting, Merkaba would be nowhere to be seen at first. Leaving the gloomy place even more unsettling.

@Aaron Marone , @Dempsey Fabijain

 

Aaron frowned, reading the message that he had received once again. Why would anyone choose to submerse themselves into dark magics out of anything other than necessity? For a player in this world, there should be no need for that at all. It worried him, that people would choose to do something like that in a world where they could have chosen anything. What secrets of the human heart would this world reveal to everyone? Was it a part of the basic human condition to seek the nearest rotting pile of filth and bathe in it?

Yet despite his withholdings, Aaron had arrived at the church nearly half an hour before the designated meeting time. He frowned at it's appearance. There was something sorrowful about a holy place that had been abandoned, and even more so when the hints of a dark presence were so mockingly clear, as if the evil of this world wanted very clearly to make it known that they were present, and would pounce upon anything that was not kept closely guarded. Aaron clenched his shield tightly. He wasn't going to enter the church with his shield drawn, but he sure as hell wasn't going to enter it unarmed.

He pushed the doors inward, and they creaked angrily, the sound clearly distinctive of an irritation existing that anyone would desire to enter this holy place once more. Once inside, Aaron looked around the sanctuary of the church. Rows of pews ran from nearly the front fo the back. All of them showed some form of decay, some of them vastly worse than others. Dust and cobwebs hung from scattered places, though there was evidence that some cleaning had recently been attempted. Most unsettling of all to Aaron, however, was the lighting of the room. It didn't seem evil itself, but it lacked the holy feel that the lighting of a church should have, he felt. "Fiat lux. Semini tuo dabo terram tenebris. Locus ad spem," he spoke, gesturing toward the holy symbols of the church. With his spell intoned, the church's holy symbols would begin to shine with his illumancy powers.

With that, Aaron would approach the altar of the church. When he reached it's foot, he drew his sword and knelt before the altar, holding his sword in front of him like a cross. He bowed his head in reverence, and spoke a solemn vow. He didn't know if there truly were anything akin to gods in this world, but there if there, he would act in their service to drive out those who would prey on the innocent and the weak. If they did not want his service, he would do it anyway.

 

Lucia couldn't help a faintly bitter sigh with the contents of the message being sent to people. This person was obviously out of their gourd. Of everyone in this game, the one who likely knew hemomancers the best were limited to her, the strange would be paladin she partied with, and the disturbed felis character that went with them. Anyone else claiming to have knowledge of those kinds of arts was surely blowing it out of the crack of their behind. Lucia felt the need to show up and make an effort to lead the conversation before they got too obsessed and immersed in their own misconceptions. Though the person's talk about dark practices made her sigh. How intricate could this person's skills be? Did she understand the complexities of magic formations? did she even make an effort to apply hexes? No matter how hard she struggled when she imagined this person they were throwing around balls of darkness swinging around a scythe and cackling about how they wouldn't be able to control their dark powers much longer.

Trying not to dwell on it, she found that the door to the church was already open, uncaring about whether or not it was a trap, Lucia herself was the type who felt others wouldn't be able to compete with her on a level playing field if they didn't grossly over power her. She had that much confidence in her skill set at least. With the door already open, she peered in, stepping in to find someone already illuminating the church, but the illumancy that was currently active made it partially clear that this person was likely not the person who sent the mail. She gave herself a quick dusting off before gesturing at the man who seemed mid prayer waving a hand in his direction. "Hey, no need to get so into it right? It's a disheveled building. You wouldn't stop to pray at every run down church right?" Lucia offered hoping to curb the atmosphere a little, the heavy weighty atmosphere wasn't something she appreciated. While she could be serious as well, a gentle touch was often most perferred in regards to being in the spotlight.

"Since there's only two of us, why don't we start the discussion while we wait for the others? I've already had a run in with the coven, they've been pretty active in small villages and towns apparently. We're also not alone in this endeavor, so why not put that away and take a seat mm?" Lucia made a proposal hoping to calm this person who seemed to be mid-motivation. Lucia herself was naturally armed as well, as she usually was. The bound book she carried with her was strapped to her waist, though it wasn't particularly useful or powerful it got the job done. Alternatively the bow on her back was a bit more striking, her identity as a ranger was a bit clearer then any negative connotations that one might take with her. Her back had a bag of arrows, far removed from a simple quiver, it was a bag made to hold and separate arrows like an ammo bag. It was a change she'd taken after getting some mats to have someone build something for her.

The bag itself separated arrows by bundles, though what purpose this served only Lucia knew, each set of arrows had a different hex on them, each one made to either rot her opponent's flesh or drain them of one of their meters. While they weren't as powerful as her magical formations, they were meant to be used on the fly when preparation was impossible. After all, a lot of Malefimancy's power came from preparation, Lucia spared no effort to research the most optimal ways of using hexes and curses. "Not many places to sit though..." She murmured finally glancing around the various benches of the church, dusting one off to take a seat. "That aside, what information do you have to share if any? It would be nice if we could compile everything together." She offered trying to be direct and forthcoming.

 

She'd known about the upcoming patch, and the first raid content in the game included in it for days now, and was one of the first ones to sign up for it. She was excited to finally face a very real challenge, and less excited about the group she'd been assigned. Aaron was alright, but she was terrified of Merkaba, and just the other day was on the verge of punching Amalia. Lucia was alright. A little weird, but she'd never actually seen what she was capable of besides learning that she was a magic user and archer.

Dempsey crept in quietly, clinging to the shadows and advancing cautiously. She'd only seen Merkaba on one occasion, but the woman gave her the complete and utter creeps. For all Dempsey knew, the woman was calling them all here to murder them all and offer the heads, or blood, or souls or what have you to the witches coven in order to garner their favor. She had debated whether or not to come to this meeting for hours, finally deciding to go if only because Lucia would be there, and she also didn't think Aaron deserved to be offered to some strange blood god either, if that's even what these witches did with their victim. she'd have to get around to learning some magic one day. 'Good news, if this raid goes well, I should have enough mp to unlock my fourth mastery..' she mused to herself.

she crept in through the front double door of the church that someone had left open, and immediately vanished into the shadows once again. she heard Aaron and Lucia already engaging in conversation, but Merkaba was nowhere to be seen. This seemed like quite the red flag to her, and she decided to double-down on her "stay hidden and see what happens" plan. the room wasn't big or dark enough for her to move freely and still go unnoticed, so she settled for crawling slowly and silently beneath the pews of the church and waiting beneath. If the meeting somehow turned to be nothing more than innocuous meeting, she would resort to playing the trickster and play it off like it was all just her being silly.

if things looked like things were going to go all red wedding though, she'd be ready. She couldn't see much beyond the bottoms of benches, dust, and two pair of feet, but there were literally zero other places she could reasonably conceal herself. She couldn't even risk lifting herself into a lying position on one of the benches, afraid that creaking wood would reveal her presence. She quietly rolled onto her back and waited.

@Amalia Leblanc @Merkaba

 

Merkaba

Hello members of Vanguard One. I am someone who is well versed in dark practices. I would like to offer my assistance in your efforts. Please feel free to come to the location sent in a file attached to this message. It would be worth your time to meet each other in person and discuss your tactics. I await you there as well. You may bring your weapons if you fear a trap. I assure you I am sincere my friends.

Come, I am sure there is much to discuss.

Alpha didn't know how to feel about the message considering that Merkaba had sent it. Not that she had anything against the woman, but their last encounter hadn't ended so well (even though she still considered Merkaba a good friend, she didn't know whether or not the woman had felt the same way). Still, she dismissed her worries as just that—unfounded fears, and had went to gather supplies for the future raid. Terry had accompanied her as usual and Alpha had mixed feelings on whether to introduce Merkaba and Terry since Terry had an intrinsic hatred for cats and dark magic (in that order). She didn't know if it was just the dog's unique personality, instinctual guidance, or the basic programming of all NPCs in the game to despise the darker arts in a way, but the fact that he'd lash out is reason enough for Alpha to hesitate. She was terrified of Merkaba, and that was a definite truth of whoever meets the woman, but Alpha knew that there must be kindness in her soul for taking care of the energetic and overtly-enthusiastic Alpha for such a long, perilous journey (especially considering that Alpha had done nothing much other than travel, eat, and turn into a cat at the end of it).

She shivered at the memory. The haunting, red glare had spiked fear in her as a cat and she hoped that Terry didn't feel that same, drowning feeling of terror wrack through him as she did. It was probably only a thing that affected animals since she hadn't felt that same level of helplessness as a human (or, at least she hoped so since she hadn't met up with Merkaba after the incident when the transfiguration potion wore off). Alpha sighed as she walked up to the merchant with Terry in tow, the dingo sniffing the air for treats and, possibly, threats (though Alpha doubted that the dingo was particularly looking for that as the dog would rather find a trove of fish and food instead of cutthroat criminals). The merchant was a plump, bearded man who looked quite old compared to Alpha, leading to a stark contrast in their conversational interaction. The man was humongous compared to her, at least two feet taller and put on twice the weight. Alpha, however, didn't falter. The man was a nice distraction from her internal predicament of whether or not to attend the meeting.

"Hi there!" she smiled, her face betraying the unease she felt. Her laughter and natural charisma came naturally as she stood on the tips of her toes, trying to at least be able to meet eye contact with the man without looking up and craning her neck. Terry looked uninterested at the display and wandered off. Alpha knew he'd come back sooner or later, though, and ignored the drooling, starving dog. "Do you sell potions and stuff here? Like ropes and stuff?" she asked. If she was going to the raid, she and her team would need a lot of materials to get ready and Alpha had more than enough gold on hand to at least get them started. She held her bag open, eyeing the inventory. The merchant, however, snorted. "I'm sorry kid, but the stuff here costs real gold," he gestured to his supply. "It's for adults, okay?"

A few minutes later, she walked down the road to the meeting place with Terry in toe, around 150 gold poorer but twirling a heavy bag with a victorious smirk on her face. She wouldn't question how her lousy knapsack could hold ten different potions, five piles of rope, and five torches. "We're almost there, Terry!" she enthused, finally getting over the initial hesitation at meeting up with Merkaba. She had checked her partners list soon after she had purchased the goods and, much to her excitement and surprise, there listed 'Aaron Marone' and 'Dempsey Fabijain' as her other partners. One man, 'Jack Anders', sounded familiar yet she didn't spend much time thinking hard about that. There were quite a few people she had met and, if she couldn't remember a Jack Anders from recent memory, it was probably a trick of her mind or something (or so she convinced herself). Finally, she stumbled upon a creepy, gated lot and saw a few people standing idly by. Her eyes shining in anticipation, she pulled up her game screen with the clenching of her fist and began to write.

Alphabet Chocolate

Look behind you ;)

Then, sharing a mutual gaze of acknowledgement with Terry on their next course of action, they both launched themselves over the gate and rushed to the group, the same grin splitting their faces. "Aaron! Demps!" she called out, arms wide and ready for a welcoming hug. Terry, however, didn't need words to express his happiness at reuniting with the knight and landed atop him, licking his face clean with his slobbery drool. Their team would be the best, Alpha knew.