⭐ HUNTERS ⭐ Urban Fantasy ⭐ IC [Still Open, See OOC]

[Durmatagno]

Victoria Aurelia Fawn
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

The wave of despair rolled over Victoria. Overpowering, overwhelming, as if she was back home all over again. Everything felt weak, like she should...just give in. She almost did, her pistol slipping from her hand, dangling just from the strap she used to keep it on her wrist. Then, then Gabriella's gunshots, loud in her ear, snapped her focus of the thing. How dare this thing? She couldn't, no, wouldn't, she refused to give in, to let something else control her life. She struggled to stay standing, but if there was one feeling in the world she knew better than any other, it as staving off exhaustion. Her eyes fixed on the wraith-thing, her arm raised, shaky and unsure though she was, she refused to let this thing beat her. The barrier of light surrounding her shimmered as she drew new mana, and a ball formed in her hand. Before, suddenly, a wide, bright beam shot out, flowing down the hallway. Paint peeling, rock glowing, and the air smelled of ozone. A Solar Flare, Victoria's single strongest attack. Normally she would restrain herself more but...this thing was tearing at her mind itself. She did not want to let it through, let it in, and to stop it, that meant destroying it. She was still weak, still shaky, like she was when she'd gone days without sleep, but awake and focused she was.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Head!"

[Sraelyn]

Viktor Farkas
Santa Marina, October 30th

---

Snip

“I’ll be sure to ask you for the comics later then.” Viktor reclined on the seat, quite satisfied with the meal. “ And I’d like to hear about your writings someday if you’re willing to share them. I actually enjoy some reading, but never really consider myself much of a writing person myself, but it wouldn’t hurt to give it a shot.” After Tavian's electrical demonstration, he let a mildly surprised expression, followed by a hearty chuckle. “That’s a pretty neat trick you got there, never took you for an ‘unlimited power’ guy Mr. Palpatine. You should definitely try for the team next year, It’d be fun to have you around.”

“I think that settles our plans for tomorrow then, let’s see what this fucking city has to offer us. Not sure if you drink, but I’m sure we can find some place that will serve you, never understood why you needed to be 21 to drink anyway, but whatever. Wasn’t planning on inviting too many people though, maybe Tristan if that’s fine with you, I haven’t hung out with him in a while. Olympia too if she’s down for it. I’ve seen her tear down other people, so it’s good too see you’re also cool with her.” Looking over at Tavian’s side of the table, Viktor stood up, gathering his own empty tray. “If you’re done with you lunch, we could head out of here. We’ll iron out the last details for tomorrow’s night later, but feel free to invite anyone else you might like. Maybe some lucky chick you’d like to get closer with or something.” He added with a grin.

[Forest State]

Candace Marin & Vivian Shaw
North Side, Santa Marina
October 30th, 2020

---

The thing that they were dealing with in the hallway, however, was good at taking damage and moving on from it - very good.

The things didn’t show visible signs of damage, whether or not they were actually hurt from the attack. Rather, they remained where they were, still postured forwards and still having that devilish look on their faces - that look that was kind of a smile, but definitely otherworldly enough to make it more chilling than natural. It didn’t exactly help the image of the two slender beings that their teeth were completely razor sharp, making it look like it was the smile of a shark and not the smile of a person.

There was also the slight matter of the things not having eyes which were visible, which if someone was already afraid, was probably enough to push them over the edge and make them surrender themselves without even attempting to get away or oppose whatever it was that they were seeing. Supposedly, that was one of the reactions in the range of them that had been witnessed by civilians and Hunters in the field who had run into this mysterious enemy without a name before.

And the team here would have to fight hard to not just surrender - judging by other reports, doing that might be a one way trip to finding themselves dead under suspicious circumstances, by jumping off a building or something similar along those lines but equally bad in terms of fate.

The effect that the lead being was broadcasting, it didn’t stop. Gabriella’s bullets didn’t do anything and even she was affected by the mental attack, just less than the others since she had some way of defending against it where others didn’t.

Cassia, though, was holding on via force of will. “Does anyone have some kind of plan here? We can’t just stand around forever… They’ll do something more, eventually.”

“I have a spell for this… Should work on psychic abilities but it doesn’t deal with them completely-” started Vivian, before being cut off by Cassia.

“Need something right now, we’ll cross the fuckin’ bridge of what to do with the rest of the enemy’s ability when we get there,” Cassia reminded, her pistol still extended as she stood in the hallway with the others, panting and focusing her eys in on the enemy and nothing else. It was one way of keeping her mind off the enemy’s attack and on what was in front of her.

“Right…” said Vivian, reaching out with the hand that didn’t have a pistol on it, casting magical energy into putting up a five hundred meter null zone around herself and everyone else… Its effects could be noticed immediately, the feeling of despair not as strong. But it was still there, which was a problem.

“We runnin’ after this or anyone have plan to fight these things?”

A question that desperately needed to be asked...

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

Gabriella tsk'd as she watched her bullets do nothing, she couldn't see if they'd just passed through harmlessly or if they'd shattered off of some form of shield from where she was, and her scowl only deepened as her shield shattered as Vivian's null zone settled over the apartment complex.

Well, that had all but rendered her useless, since most of her arsenal was psychic magic, the same type that Vivian's null zone worked against. And given her CZ 85 B's bullets, even blessed, didn't seem to have much of an effect, it was time to switch firearms. She slid her handgun back into its holster before reaching around and smoothly drawing her Contender across her body, channeling mana into the the bullet within as she did so. She took a brief second to line her shot up before her Contender roared as she tried her luck again.

"Not sure how much help I'll be if we do fight, Vivian's all but shut me down in terms of what spells I can use." Gabriella shook her head slightly as she moved to holster her contender, a golden glowing rapier appearing in her hand. "I can heal you if you get hurt, but that's about all I can do so I'll go with whatever."

[Forest State]

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The date is Halloween - and strange lights have been seen over Santa Marina, magical in origin. The Hunters Association has quickly called together a team of available Hunters to look into the incident, but little does the group know that what they find at the source of the magical event is not just one incident but the opening to an entire rabbit hole of trouble, danger, and intrigue… All of it connected to a shadowy group of figures committed to making the spirits walk the Earth on this Halloween night.

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H U N T E R S - HUNTING DOGS MISSION 1: “THE SKY ON FIRE”
Santa Marina, Florida
October 31st, 2020
Collaborative post between Forest State and Lunas Legion

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Many nights in Santa Marina weren’t exactly normal - Halloween wasn’t an exception, and if anything, something strange happening on this night was more expected than surprising… And something had of course happened to warrant the attention of the Hunters Association office in Santa Marina, as well as plenty of other people in the city who had just happened to see the event with their own eyes even if they didn’t know what it was and didn’t know what caused it other than that it was most likely magical in nature. The Hunters, though, knew better.

Fact of the matter was, when the sky lit up with the effects of magic, it meant something big was going down… And it usually wasn’t good. It also wasn’t the kind of thing that the Hunters could just sit around and ignore. The lights didn’t just show up because they were pretty, they showed up because something was happening - in this case, the lights had been red, showing themselves over the southern suburb of Santa Marina like a bloodshot version of the famous Northern Lights, a more chaotic version, the energy more unstable and prone to shifting rapidly before breaking apart altogether in pseudo-explosions which had made the sky look like there were 4th of July fireworks. For most people, it was just an anomaly.

For the Hunters who knew better, it warranted pulling together a team as quickly as they could to look into the events, and see if they could get a glimpse at the person that had caused them - it’d be even better if they could arrest the person that had caused this. Someone who did something like this wasn’t doing it for good reasons, nine out of ten times. And few Hunters in this case believed they would be surprised by an exception to that rule happening this time.

And it was for that exact reason that the dour, grey-haired man was far from in the best of moods. Part of why Ashley Bryen had become a retainer to a family like the Bianchi-Costas was that, the vast majority of the time, things were quiet. But he went where he was ordered, and so here he was regardless, a scowl on his face as he entered the Hunters Association’s main office in Santa Marina. His companion was his exact opposite, a tiny blonde woman who’s eyes looked over everything, eager and searching as she followed alongside him, occasionally bounding a few steps ahead. Kelly Thornhill was a Hunter not because it was the family business, or even because she had magic, but the simple thrill and joy of the act of hunting itself.

They both knew what they’d been called in for; lightshows were almost always responded to with some force to investigate, but there was detail to give, locations to be provided and most likely reinforcements as well.

They’d be met as soon as they showed up to the Hunters Association office by someone a bit younger, but still formidable, and plenty experienced - Sieg Kuhn, one of those who balanced working as a Hunter with working as an instructor at the Santa Marina Hunter Academy in this very city.

“Ain’t no rest for the wicked… Or for the Hunters,” Sieg said in greeting… Most people could skip work on a holiday. Not them, unfortunately. “How much do you both already know about the situation we’re responding to?”

“Flashy lightshow.” Ash shrugged. “Beyond that, little. Great many things that can do flashy lightshows, none of them good.”

“Same, really.” Kelly nodded. “Seen a few similar things, but, well, it’s a roll of the dice on what’s on the other end. If you know more say, I don’t like going in this blind.”

“Available info isn’t much. Come on, we can fetch any equipment from the armory while I explain,” Sieg said, turning and moving further into the building. “Main thing is, though, that whatever this is was big enough to get seen all over the south side. Which is… Suburbs. We have imagery of where the closest houses to the lights were, which might say something about who’s behind it, but we’re going to have to think of going house to house on this one until we’re sure. And of course, whoever is behind it probably wants to stay out of sight of us - which means speed is going to matter.”

“So, a very flashy lightshow and needing to go all breach and clear quickly. Just how I like my evenings.” Kelly commented, only the faintest hint of sarcasm in her voice as she followed after Sieg, Ash remaining silent and following after her.

“I assume that any civilians who aren’t dead have evac’d?” Kelly continued. “If we’re going house to house just tossing grenades in every room should speed things up.”

“Can’t evac everyone from an area just because of lights… Hard enough getting local law enforcement to listen up when there’s stuff even more pressing than that. Besides, you could see these things all over the south side. City’s not going to want to move everyone that might be affected in some way if this actually is something,” Sieg pointed out.

“I guess.” Kelly waved dismissively. “I’ve got an ‘oh shit evac’ mindset since, well, I only remember the times someone didn’t and got eaten by a demon or turned into a zombie or whatever. Normal style it is then.”

“Better that than explaining why you blew up a dog.” Ash snarked, grinning. “Probably should bring one anyways. Don’t know what they’re doing for the fancy lightshow after all, might be demon summoning or some long-forgotten ritual.”

They arrived at the armory, and Sieg gestured inside. “I’ve already got everything that I’m going to need for this - you two, whatever you want to grab, now’s the time to pick it up… Quickly.”

Kelly and Ash nodded, the former quickly moving to grab a pair of fragmentation grenades along with a single flashbang, swiftly joined by a M1911 pistol and a M16 assault rifle, Ash taking an FN SCAR along with a pair of night vision goggles before taking a pair and handing them over to Kelly. He likely wouldn’t be using them, owing to his branch of magic, but better to have and not need than vice versa.

“Alright, time to roll,” said Sieg, nodding at them once they had their equipment and moving back through the corridors and hallways until they were walking through the front doors once again and into the parking lot, a vehicle already waiting outside for them - pretty standard fare for Hunters, it was a black Charger that had plates registered to the Association. Sieg moved around to the front, opening the door and waiting for the others to get in before peeling backwards and turning to exit the lot, accelerating under the night sky and following a GPS route towards the general area.

“Our intel points us to some houses, as I said, but because of intuition, I’m going to check out the park that’s only a block or two away from the main location… Something like a summoning is easier to pull off in a park than it is in a backyard. Open space tends to be a requirement for something like this,” Sieg said while driving, going just under the speed limit and not wasting any time. “Have we all decided what we’re actually doing if we run into the… summoner, or whatever else it is we’re facing here?”

“Depends what the situation is.” Ash grunted. “We could be dealing with one very dangerous mage, or multiple less competent ones. Take alive if possible, kill if not, find out what they were doing for sure if we can unless you have any objections to any of that, either of you. If they’ve got too much for us to handle, we withdraw, call in backup.”

“Don’t want to commit to something too much, would rather rely on instincts… But if we run into something hostile, I’d say we should strike first, yes,” Sieg elaborated, continuing on until they were closer to the location.

With the location, of course, being the park that was about a block away from the origin of the lights. Or the apparent origin, anyway. Was impossible to know for sure. Sieg stopped the car, climbing out near the entrance of the park and waiting for the others to follow. “So… Get ready to move in and start throwing spells or lead if whatever we find in here is hostile.”

“Roger.” Kelly said, bringing her rifle up into a shooting position, Ash doing the same barely a second later after climbing out of the car, slowly edging forwards, rifles moving slowly across the area in front of them. Even if speed was of the essence, there was being quick and there was being stupid.

When they actually entered the park, though, there was nothing immediately a pressing concern, nothing jumping out at them or nothing that they needed to obviously investigate. It was dark, but some areas were lit up, and there were a limited number of civilians walking around the area - it was a holiday, of course people were out on the streets tonight. And it wasn’t that late, either. The civilians weren’t concerning… But it just seemed like there would be something more.

“Let’s check out the clearing in the middle,” said Sieg, moving in that direction while the others followed.

The park was made up of a bunch of pathways and forested areas, and between those there were some clearings with nothing but grass. The largest of those was in the middle of the park, almost squarely. And if someone was going to conduct some kind of ritual, this was a good place to do it… Which made it unsurprising when the group would pick up something, traces of an excess of mana which had just expended, the aftereffects of it still hanging in the air in a way that could be felt.

“Whatever they did, it’s left a hell of a lot of mana loose.” Kelly commented, eyes and rifle dancing as they moved across the park as they moved forwards, surveying and watching. “Never a good sign.”

“If we’re there it’s not a good sign.” Ash snarked, watching the other side of the path from Kelly.

Sieg nodded silently, taking a visual look around the area. “Might be more than just traces we’re noticing… Stay on the lookout,” he stated, continuing forward but at a slower pace.

Except, they’d stop as a group seconds later, when they finally heard it - the voice belonging to someone that was almost certainly connected to this… This entire incident. “What are you doing here, Hunters? Go home… Take the day off. Don’t mess with something that you’re already late for.”

“‘Fraid I used all my leave.” Ash commented, quickly turning in the direction the voice had come from and pointing his rifle towards it, Kelly following after. “Besides, if you didn’t want a party you shouldn’t have had the fancy fireworks.”

“Party’s already over,” the voice continued, before they would be able to see the person that was speaking - a girl stepped out in front of them, her bright orange hair standing out even in the low light setting they were in now, and some interesting things about her face visible even with the shadows… Markings of some kind. Had a faint glow to them. Didn’t look like tattoos, but they also didn’t look like they were runes applied with regular paint, despite the mana that flowed through the markings, which took the form of lines that twisted and sometimes crossed each other, running symmetrically on either side of her face. It was something that no one in the party was exactly familiar with. Wouldn’t even be able to say what the markings were. “So I’ll ask again, what are you doing here, Hunters?”

“You caused a mini-aurora of magic and didn’t expect someone to show up wondering what was going on?” Kelly asked, curious as she stepped to the side, away from Ashley but keeping her rifle trained on the unknown, finger twitching against the trigger but not opening fire quite yet.

“Besides the point. It’s Halloween… Where’s your sense of celebration? Don’t you… Believe that other worlds should walk the Earth?” the girl asked simply, standing where she was for a moment longer before waving her hand… Immediately behind the group, they’d hear the sound of three more figures jumping out to get right up on them, but these ones weren’t human in nature, no, they were something completely different, almost like dogs but otherworldly, beastly, and on fire… Magical beings. Hellhounds of some kind, either summoned or created. Either way, regardless of their origins, they were a danger. And it was impossible to tell just yet what their capabilities were.

“And this is the fight we were waiting for…” said Sieg, looking back and forth and going to a spell right away, long chains of dark energy forming, wrapped around his wrists. “Who’s taking what?”

“I’ll take Fido.” Kelly said, turning and training her rifle onto one of the hellhounds, her magic already being channeled into her body to toughen herself up. “That’s the doggo on the left.”

Ash said nothing, simply motioning in front of him towards the girl. If not making a move quite yet, then at least letting the others handle the hellhounds until they could all move to fight her. Unknowns were never a good thing to fight, after all.

The hellhounds sprung forwards first, all three of them… Two of them towards Kelly, one of them towards Sieg. And they didn’t exactly move like they were regular dogs, because they weren’t, they were something different entirely and it showed… They were able to leverage more thrust behind their jumps, able to throw themselves harder and push off the ground quicker, making it seem like they were more missile than physical being.

Kelly stepped sideways, pulling the trigger of her rifle as she leveled it at the lead lunging hellhound, channeling more mana as she did so, her forearm starting to bleed for a brief moment before the blood solidified and was flung off towards the second hellhound, a cloud of razor-shard shards.

The attack would shred part of the outer layer of the constructed being, but it wasn’t enough to throw the being off the path regardless. The rifle rounds would do a bit more when they hit, the creature not making any effort to get out of the way or dodge, but just like the shards, they didn’t have enough force behind them per say to keep the hellhound from continuing on its current path and slamming into Kelly directly in the chest… While nearby, the one that was lunging for Sieg was hit with one of the heavy chains, the chain itself knocking the thing to the side but the effect of the dark energy it was made out of burning and doing some extra damage on top of that. It was still in the fight, however, still on its feet and ready to jump right back into the fray.

The girl, on the other hand, was standing calmly while she watched, one of her hands balled up in a fist as she held it in front of her, flexing and unflexing it. “Still set on causing trouble?”

“We just showed up wondering what was happening, lady.” Ash grunted, not saying anything else and remaining focused on her. Kelly, meanwhile, channeled her magic into her fists and muscles, lashing out wildly at the hellhound in front of her, barely having remained on her feet from the impact, her rifle lying on the floor beneath the hellhound after she’d dropped it. She didn’t need it anyways here.

The hellhound, however, was much heavier than she was… By a fairly large margin. One of the advantages of being a magical construct rather than a regular being. It’d start snapping at her face, the movements coming quickly and aggressively, each one its own challenge to block. And after each strike, Kelly would have to reset quickly to avoid getting hit with another… It wasn’t a good spot to be in, wasn’t entirely possible to get out of it one hundred percent intact either.

Kelly grinned viciously, more mana pouring into her skin, long since used to pain; one had to be, when one was a blood mage. Her skin hardened and then shattered, blood coalescing into a number of barbed prongs and armoured plates across her face as she headbutted upwards.

Ash, meanwhile, finally turned and fired a few speculative shots off towards the hellhound atop Kelly, sending an invisible wave of force out after his shots towards it and taking his eyes off of the girl for a bit. If she was going to intervene, she would’ve already.

The force did a good enough job of throwing the hellhound off Kelly while the bullets did some damage too, not lethal damage but certainly putting the being in worse conditions than it had started off in - around the same time, Sieg took the offensive against the third of the group, the one that was the closest to him, firing off a series of spikes of infernal energy which mostly penetrated the enemy successfully, the spikes sticking around and remaining in the wounds as that one hellhound was thrown back…

But they still had another one to deal with, and turning their backs on the girl would be a mistake. Because the girl happened to be quite powerful in her own right. Turning her attention to the fight and deciding that it was time to step in, she struck out with a barrage of her own, directing her hand forward and throwing what seemed like a number of crystal projectiles - and quite quickly, enough force behind them to make them credible threats. The ones that’d take actual hits from these projectiles, however, were Kelly and Sieg, Ash finding himself missed by all of them as two crystals a piece embedded themselves in the two other members of the team, a homing effect applied to them perhaps.

Ash turned his attention back towards the girl, a flick of a hand sending a flashing white light of force towards her followed in quick succession by an explosive fireball as Kelly staggered to her feet, spitting blood and forcing her body back together, bone piercing her skin as she armoured herself to keep herself together. She turned to face towards the nearest hellhound, eyes glowing an angry red as she lunged for it with mana-enhanced strength, spines of blood and bone extending from her arms and hands.

Beating a creature like this in a physical test of strength, however, wasn’t a good idea - it replied to her lunge by lunging for her once again and pushing into her, slamming her back down to the ground with the force that came from more powerful back legs and a magically enhanced physique that went much further than what Kelly had. The girl standing behind the fight, in the meantime, raised her other hand as soon as Ash had moved, creating a clear five foot tall shield that was attached to her arm, moving with it but not taking a completely tangible form…

The fireball hit the shield and dispersed, the flames going around her but not exactly hitting her as Ash had intended, and she lowered the shield for a moment after that and kept her eyes on the scene behind Ash - the hellhounds were joined by others, not more hellhounds but three people that were definitely human, but wearing hoods that made it harder to see their faces, and dark jackets… Not civilians, as seen by their matching dress and their general shared style.

“These people showed up to interrupt the fun…” the girl said to the newcomers, as if explaining the situation to them. “But I believe we have them handled…”

It was at that point that both of the hellhounds that weren’t attacking Kelly looked towards Ash, identifying him as the top threat and lunging forward once again, this time aiming to take Ash off his feet and remove him from the desperate fight.

Ash grimaced, surveying the field. He tapped the ground with his heel and fire bloomed around him, an indiscriminate explosive blast of flame and force aimed against the pair of hellhounds charging him. Kelly screamed out in rage and pain as her body twisted again, a spike of bone sprouting from her abdomen to impale the hellhound atop her, forcing herself to keep fighting despite the pain.

The fire attack didn’t exactly take the enemies out but it did force them to withdrawal - and now both of them were circling in different directions, cutting Ash off from the others, while Sieg turned his attention to the one attacking Kelly… The impalement attempt resulted in the bone being driven into the body of the creature, remaining there even as the creature attempted to fight on through force of will, the wound only being ripped open further with every movement… With that being said, magical beings often had a way of fighting on when it would be impossible for a regular person to do the same.

Which was the reason why Sieg jumped into the fight, lashing out one more time with the chains and cutting into the hellhound enough to throw it off of Kelly, a large wound appearing along the neck, from the infernal energy. Although, with the almost ethereal appearance of the beings, it was hard to tell the difference between wounded and healthy tissue. It was at that time, though, that further orders from the office came in via radio.

“Whatever you’re in the middle of right now…” said the voice of Nam-joo Yi, another Hunter and instructor from here in Santa Marina. “There’s bigger things to deal with. Santa Marina is under siege… From all kinds of things. Lot of reports coming in about magical incidents and entities.”

“Well, shit…” muttered Sieg… Was this what the girl had referenced before?

“Better call an end to this afterparty then.” Ash muttered, a beam of white force shooting out towards the hellhound near Kelly as she began to step backwards and away from it, breathing heavily and a shield of bone starting to grow out of her arm held up defensively as she moved backwards, eyes watching the hellhounds and ready to counter-attack if they tried to finish her off.

“‘Fraid we’re done here, other work calls.” Ash announced, a barrier of force and flickering flames forming between himself, Kelly and the hellhounds, firing off a white-hot ball in the direction the girl had been in as he likewise began to fall back.

The shield, however, was enough to deflect the attack, the hellhounds seemingly jumping back and letting the group past… They weren’t pursuing a fight. For now, anyway. “Let this be a lesson for you…” the girl said simply, and cryptically. “I doubt this is the last time or two sides are going to meet… Well at this point, I know.”

“I’ll bring some dog biscuits next time.” Ash snarked, keeping an eye on the hellhounds and the girl as they retreated, not willing to let his guard down quite yet. It was most likely going to be a long night anyways from the sound of things.

[Theyra]

Snip

"Sure I am willing to share my idea, once I am done writing it that is. I do not know when that is going to be and I hope you like Sci-fi". Tavian turned his head slightly and thought for a sec. "Uh, Palpatine never been called that but, now that I think about it. That is an idea for a costume since I do have the lighting". Tavian send small sparks from his hand, "Though I would need a cloak and maybe a mask but, I doubt I have the time to get either". Even though he is not going to dress up for Halloween, still an idea for if he ever felt the urge to dress up.

"I do not think I will be drinking since I am not 21 but, who knows maybe someplace may be lax with that. I am okay with Tristan coming, I never met him before it would be nice to meet him. And yeah we should keep this small to not crowd things". Now that he thought about it, it has been a long time since he has hung out with Viktor like this. It felt nice and with Tristan and Olympia along, it felt like a proper fun time was ahead of him. Tavian saw that Viktor stood up with his tray and looked down and he stood up and picked up his tray. "Yeah, let's head out and", Tavian shrug, "I have not met many girls here yet to start thinking like that but, who knows who I will meet tomorrow. I am optimistic and with the four of us out on the town. I felt like things are going to be good tomorrow and I just hope if I do drink, I do not drink too much". Tavian walked to put his tray away and when Viktor was ready to go, he will follow him.

[Forest State]

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Santa Marina is currently under a sustained attack from magical entities of all kinds - one of the teams sent to respond to this problem, Quick Reaction Force Six, may be a part of the Hunters Association in name… But in truth and in spirit, is something completely different. This team has been dropped in Santa Marina with the goal of clearing out the Halloween night attackers - which will only end up pitting them up against an unrecognized and challenging new threat…

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H U N T E R S - HUNTING DOGS INTERLUDE 1: “MERCENARIES”
Santa Marina, Florida
October 31st, 2020

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Santa Marina was under siege - the words of Nam-joo Yi were holding strong on this Halloween night in the Floridian city… It wasn’t surprising at all that it was happening on this night, either, it was fitting even. Fitting enough that it was almost certainly an artificial action, connected to the mysterious mage that the Association’s investigative team had uncovered in one of the city’s suburban parks. The source of the lights, and the source of the incidents that were being reported all over the city, however, wasn’t something that was known to everyone. For some people, it was simply a crisis that had come out of nowhere… A crisis that had interrupted the usual Halloween festivities of dressing up and trick or treating, or hosting parties. One moment, those parties had been going on regularly, and the next, magical beings of all kind had been scene around the city, most of them hostile at that.

For others, this was just another task to be dealt with. They didn’t know all the details, but then again, they rarely did know the full details of what they were being sent to handle. That wasn’t their place, and the details weren’t exactly relevant to their job. They were doers, not thinkers. Their place wasn’t thinking about the merits of what they were doing, their job was to handle things as efficiently as possible when they were deemed important enough to issue a quick response - or when it was something the Association didn’t want to deal with officially for whatever reason.

This kind of work, the dirty work as one could put it, it was thankless. They did some of the same things that legitimate Hunters did, but they didn’t get adoring crowds of people watching them, and in fact, most people wouldn’t know their names - a far cry from some of the celebrity Hunters who’d become well known in their cities or in the larger internet for their adventures and their clashes with the forces of evil. Even their faces were hidden most of the time, behind thin masks of black, made from some kind of hybrid fabric that was meant to be both breathable and tight fitting to the face - the lower halves of their faces were hidden like this, but the occasional mask would have a design on it, something like a skull or a noticeable pattern.

Their bodies, too were covered in black. It was a running theme for them, one that was doubly present when they were moving at night, as they were now. Collecting praises was hard, when there were almost no identifying physical features shown fully by their outfits, designed to hide and fully mask the ones who wore them.

And yet, with Santa Marina in crisis, these were the people that were making up part of the first response… Quick Response Force Six, they were called officially. In reality, though, they were as much a part of the Association as mercenaries were a part of a native military. Hexerei Services Ltd. was the name of the place they were actually working for, not that every one of them had much option in that fact, but few were in the know about that fact… Few people were in the know about QRF6 in the first place, let alone the company that they really worked for, or rather, the one that had been contracted by the Hunters Association.

The ones who took some of the first actions to resolve this crisis would receive none of the credit.

“Six-One, through the gate,” said a voice, as a figure clad in black emerged in the street in Santa Marina, an ethereal portal or ‘gate’ glowing directly behind her and slightly lighting her black outfit up from behind - but there weren’t enough gaps in the darkness for anyone to see anything major as far as identity went.

“Six-Two, also through,” said another voice as a second figure emerged out of the gate, also wearing a similar outfit with a rifle in hands - the same setup as the first one, for the most part.

The process continued, a number of other team members making it through the gate. “Six-Five… Close the gate,” said the leader, once they were all through, and the portal snapped shut behind them, leaving the group in their new location, somewhere not far from downtown in Santa Marina. They could tell from the style of buildings even though they hadn’t been completely sure where the spell was going to put them. Everything around them was tall and arching upwards… They weren’t far from the reported threat. Or more accurately, one of the reported threats.

“Let’s move,” said the leader of the group, waving forwards while the rest flanked behind her, their own weapons moving around in a fanning pattern to cover the entire area in the case something jumped out on them.

“What are we even looking for again?” asked Six-Three, moving off of the right shoulder of Six-One, rifle lower than the others… Six-Three wasn’t the one to put the most effort in when it wasn’t required yet, and it was apparent sometimes at times like this.

“We’ve already been over this…”

“Yeah, in a briefing, and that was a while ago. You know how I am.”

“And how is that?” asked Six-Three. She knew the answer… She was just pressing, being a bit more annoying to get back at her comrade for not paying enough attention.

“There’s magical entities all over the city. Our job is to put them down wherever we see them - but to secure this district first. Push them out of the financial district and downtown and they’ll be on the back foot. And then, I assume, we’ll push them even further. I doubt we’re going to get much rest tonight,” Six-One replied in response, letting out a slight sigh and stopping in her tracks. “In other words, if something isn’t human and we don’t know if it’s friendly, it’s hostile.”

“I can live with those rules of engagement,” Six-Two said, stopping next to the others and looking through a set of infrared binoculars… Six-One, on the other hand, noticed the same thing just through the force of being perceptive and reaching out to sense a magical entity using magic itself. “Spotting an unidentified group…”

“Hostile,” Six-One declared, without having to think about it.

She raised her gun right away, lining the sight up with her eye and depressing the trigger, sending high caliber rounds barreling towards the group of five or so enemies… They weren’t strong ones. Goblins, or something along the lines of that. But just because they weren’t much of a match for a well trained group like this didn’t mean they couldn’t cause chaos and destruction for regular people and even for regular law enforcement that wasn’t trained in dealing with them. The large caliber rounds, however, designed specifically for dealing with durable magic based enemies like these, did their job, ripping into the smaller bodies of the creatures and taking out four members of the group before the goblins could make it halfway to their formation.

The last one would be dispatched by Six-One herself, who moved her rifle to the side for now and reached out with one of her hands, hitting it with a blast of ball lightning and sending it flying back, smoking from the spot where the lightning had impacted with it. “Show off…” muttered Six-Two, looking at the scene.

“Work’s not done yet, don’t slack off.”

“Hardass,” Six-Two replied simply, as the group continued down the street…

Only to see a car burst into flames moments later as a result of interference from the goblins. It seemed no one had been it it, fortunately enough, but that didn’t mean this wasn’t a problem that had to be dealt with. The car had been attacked by an entire pack of the things, which just provided more targets for the QRF6 operatives that found themselves staring down the scene in front of them… “Let’s clean these guys up,” Six-One said.

Once again, there was a hail of bullets sent forward, but there were also one or two magical attacks - they didn’t have to throw a ton of magical attacks to be successful in their plans… The ones that they did send at this enemy were quality. Six-Two replied to the goblins setting the car alight by sending a fireball of her own towards the wreckage of the car, but when it impacted with it, the car exploded a second time, the combustive effects of the fireball taking effect and causing the fire overall to flare up and consume the smaller beings which had been latched to the outside…

There were one or two more goblins, but the rifle fire was enough to deal with them, the pavement quickly turning red with their blood as they were ripped apart by the specially designed bullets, dropping dead where they ran.

“This is all we have to face?” asked Six-Three, drawing a roll of the eyes from Six-One.

“This is on the easier end of what we have to face,” pointed out Six One, spinning around and looking over the rest of the group under her command. “And we’re not even close to done clearing the district, so let’s keep moving, we don’t want to have to hang around here until the sun is coming up… Although I feel like we might end up doing that anyway.”

After finishing off the second group of goblins, they started moving again and set a course further into the financial district, but it wouldn’t be long before they would get a call over their communications channel which had some concerning news… Concerning for their client, anyway. Not that any of them on this team would care genuinely. “Six-One, this is Owl… Assignment has been updated. Or rather, they changed the priorities around. Group of… Mages or some kind of beings of magical nature showed up, they’re an actual challenge to fight unlike some of the smaller things running the streets. If the reports we were given are accurate, they’re making moves on downtown as we speak.What do they want from there and who are they, exactly? Well like usual, we haven’t exactly been told much in that area. There is a chance they’re just there to make trouble...”

“You heard it,” Six-One said to the rest of the unit, causing them all to turn and set their sights on an alternate path. One that would take them closer to where a group of intruders on this district would likely be coming from, rather than further inwards. “Looks like we have something else to deal with… Let’s hope whatever this unknown is, it’s nothing too much to deal with…”

“Nothing’s too much for us,” said Six-Two, and with that, they were off once more.

[Durmatagno]

Victoria Aurelia Fawn
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

Victoria panted and straightened even more as the weight of despair lifted from her shoulders. She kept her hand raised, and a second beam of light roared forward, identical to the first, with the heat in the hall now uncomfortable as she once more began to heat the walls and floors, enough that walking into the path would not be recommended. The stone around them had a dull cherry glow to it, enough to spark a small fire, but it'd cool fast enough, and honestly, there wasn't a lot of oxygen to burn in the space of the beam. The flare itself was doing it for them.

"I have one more of those in me, if this thing doesn't go down soon, we need to get the hell out of dodge."

Victoria kept her hand raised, already prepared to shoot the third spell once she could. She'd be completely tapped by that point, but if it took this thing down, it took it down. They still didn't know what it was, but this much was obvious. It was more spectral than not, the bullets hadn't done anything, and Victoria wasn't even sure about her flare.

"Cassia, you got something you can throw at it?"

[Forest State]

Cassia Marin
North Side, Santa Marina
October 30th, 2020

---

“You know I do… But I don’t know how much it’s going to do against something like this. Tough sonuvabitch…” Cassia said, eyeing the scene in front of them and the fact that they attack that had just been thrown by Victoria seemingly didn’t do anything - it might have done some damage but it wasn’t the kind of damage that could be seen by them. Whatever these things were, they were durable just as the rumors had said, and now it seemed like they had another advantage as they simply shrugged off what would have been a powerful attack for anyone else.

Whatever they were dealing with here… It wasn’t normal. And so Cassia had less confidence than usual as she went into an attack, channeling astral energy behind her into three separate orbs which would spin around her before firing off in the direction of the being after the other, each one having a concussive effect and exploding on impact with the ground, sending splinters flying from the floor and knocking the lights out immediately above the spot where the concussive blasts had went off…

Unfortunately, all of that damage to the surrounding area wasn’t enough to keep the apparition itself from moving forward after the group once again, causing Cassia to back up - the others would probably follow in her lead, too. Not like anything they had done to this point had actually worked. No, they were out of options so to speak, unless someone came up with something… The psychic null zone by Vivian protected them from some of the actions of the enemy, but it didn’t help them out against any physical attacks or weaken the enemy’s defenses.

“Fuck! Guess we’re going to have to run…” Cassia said reluctantly, starting to back away. They were outpacing their enemy now, but it wasn’t clear just how long the apparition was going to just let them walk away easily like this with no struggle. If they gave chase, it seemed like they’d be able to catch up to the group of human mages.

“But someone should, y’know, get a fuckin’ picture before we go,” Cassia added in… Part of the reason they were doing this was for clout, after all. They wouldn’t get any of that if all they had was unconfirmed stories. They needed something better than that. Pictures, video, whatever. But they didn’t have the time exactly to hang around and record a full video, one that would be stable and would show details… So pictures it was, for better or worse.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

"No need." Gabriella shook her head as she began to back away from the apparitions, eyeing them warily as she did so and fully aware of just how useless she was in this situation with her guns seemingly having had no effect and Vivian's null zone having shut down the vast majority of her arsenal. "Mental mage, remember? Telepathy and illusions, I can re-create exactly what we've seen here under safer circumstances as needed, but-"

Gabriella reached inside her jacket, pulling out her smartphone and reflexively tapping through to the camera, a series of small clicks audible as she took a series of photos of the things down the hallway.

"That's probably enough pictures of it itself I'd say, so we run now?" Gabriella finished as she continued to back up the hallway after the others, a glowing sword materializing in her hands. Not that she had any intent of using it, but it made her feel safer to have it in her hands to defend herself with, the glow brightening after a few seconds.

[Kita-Hinode]

Collin de Haan
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

"No worries, mother. Things are all fine here." Collin said via phone to his mother, sitting on his bed with a couple of books to his left. His parents had been very talkative to him this past couple of days, although he assumed it was out of guilt for having misled him into a place that he probably didn't want to be at. Yet, Collin had found the place to be not so bad. His friendship with Tristan was pretty good and the other people weren't all terrible with the due exception here and there.

"Oh, so my sister is getting married?" He asked with a curious look on his face. "Oh, uh... I'll have to see if I'm able to go to the marriage, actually. I don't know if the Academy will allow it." He grimaced after saying that. "No, mother, I don't have a girlfriend. No, mom, I don't swing that way- Uh... No, I don't think I have any friends interested in going. W-Well, I made one friend but that's about it, yeah." The Canadian was in quite a talk with his mother, at the moment, not realizing that he should be getting ready for Halloween.

[Gerdon Laughis]

Hunters Academy.
Elijah D. Eisenbaum
Good Luck

It was cold. October air stinging his face as he approached the gates of the School. Driving through the day, escorted by his Hunter Handlers, the hedge mage was to be enrolled here to hone his skills and learn to be a productive member of the magical community, and serve the greater good.

He moved swiftly, like a spirit crossing the veil on the night before Halloween, making his way to where he'd be lodging, and checked over himself quickly one last time before entering. His necklace was clasped behind his neck, hanging with a comforting pull. His bracelet of wooden pearls remained tightly wound around his neck, and he softly ran his fingers over the Shield runes carved on the outside of them. Shifting slightly, he placed his left hand on the revolver that hung on his belt. Removing it slightly, he weighed it, feeling the balance, and methodically fiddled with the trigger before holstering the firearm and entering the Apartments.

His handlers had given him a small packet with what he'd need. Keys, a map, rules, etc. He was joining late, but his teachers were aware of the situation and he would be accommodated for. Apparently rouge mages turning up was not as strange an occurrence as he had thought, but then again he knew very little of the Magical World or practical applications of magic in general. Hefting his bags, he began heading to his room, making his way to a random hallway that seemed to lead to his room.

[Lessoni]

Hunters Academy.
Elijah D. Eisenbaum
Good Luck

It was cold. October air stinging his face as he approached the gates of the School. Driving through the day, escorted by his Hunter Handlers, the hedge mage was to be enrolled here to hone his skills and learn to be a productive member of the magical community, and serve the greater good.

He moved swiftly, like a spirit crossing the veil on the night before Halloween, making his way to where he'd be lodging, and checked over himself quickly one last time before entering. His necklace was clasped behind his neck, hanging with a comforting pull. His bracelet of wooden pearls remained tightly wound around his neck, and he softly ran his fingers over the Shield runes carved on the outside of them. Shifting slightly, he placed his left hand on the revolver that hung on his belt. Removing it slightly, he weighed it, feeling the balance, and methodically fiddled with the trigger before holstering the firearm and entering the Apartments.

His handlers had given him a small packet with what he'd need. Keys, a map, rules, etc. He was joining late, but his teachers were aware of the situation and he would be accommodated for. Apparently rouge mages turning up was not as strange an occurrence as he had thought, but then again he knew very little of the Magical World or practical applications of magic in general. Hefting his bags, he began heading to his room, making his way to a random hallway that seemed to lead to his room.

Sean Taylor

Sean walked through the halls. He hated to admit it, but he was lost. He thought he was on the right floor, most likely, but he couldn't remember his apartment number. His spirits lifted when he saw another person, thinking they might be able to help him, but they shrank once again when he saw the bags in his hands. He had obviously just arrived. Still, couldn't hurt to make a new friend.

"Hello there. I'm assuming you just got here? Name's Sean Taylor, you?" said Sean to the new guy, taking stock of the gun on his belt and the glow in his eyes. Odd, but hey, magic could do that to you. Apparently.

[Recuecn]

Tristan Glesbrecht
October 17, 2019
Mood

---

Tristan sat under the autumn sky looking at the treetops and watching the leaves blow in the breeze. He was alone. It was a cool October day, but the sun shone down clearly. Somewhere, a chickadee whistled. It was after lunch, a pleasant, sleepy moment, except that the day felt so alive in a vibrant yet calm sort of way. It was a very mindful, meditative moment.

Tristan had found a way up onto the roof of the dorm building at the academy. He definitely wasn't supposed to be here, but he'd found that the spot was exactly what he needed at times. Secret, secluded, away from people... and elevated, with a view, close to the sky. Tristan wasn't totally sure why he felt such a need to be up high--it was almost a cat like instinct, climbing things and just sitting there, looking out. He had been very lucky to have a second floor room with a window. But sometimes that wasn't enough. It was strange that this would be a personality trait he would take from the fairies--obviously, fairies could fly and loved the air, but Tristan didn't have that ability. The preference, however, appeared to have been passed on.

The need for alone time had more to do with Tristan himself. He was very outgoing, typically, but he was finding he had so little in common with most of his classmates that he needed a break sometimes just to process things.

Tristan had stretched himself out here on the roof, his back propped up against some kind of vent. The roof was flat with a low wall around the edge of it, so no one could see him from below. As he watched wisps of cloud drift past, his eyes glazed over, half closed. This too, was something he had learned from the fairies--a sort of mindful mediation. To the outside observer, it was as simple as sitting in nature and vegging out, but his mind was swimming along through the events of the day. Things that had happened lately... his plans for recent conversations... his emotions... all these things ran through his head.

So much had happened, and all so quickly. Tristan's whole life had been spent in the same place, in a timeless existence that didn't worry for schedules or appointments. Now, for the first time, he had moved far away, and he couldn't imagine anywhere being more different from his home. At school, things were always busy, life was always packed, and expectations were high. Spending all his time learning about magic was wonderful and rewarding, but exhausting, too.

Perhaps the biggest difference seemed to be the culture. Tristan got along great with his roommate, Collin, but he didn't really feel that he'd clicked with anyone else yet. There were just too many differences between him and everybody else. There was one whole group of girls that seemed to be focused in an anal way on outdoing each other and everybody else around them. Tristan was here to learn how to be a hunter, but it was hard to find a moment to be open and let yourself be taught when everyone ridiculed the slightest mistake. Certainly, in his case, no one had come for him personally, but seeing the standards others set for themselves made him nervous--he'd have to do the same thing for himself, and it wouldn't be easy.

Sitting up here with the breeze and the fall weather was certainly a welcome relief from the stress of navigating that whole situation. Tristan leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He'd have time later to worry about whatever came next.

[Durmatagno]

Victoria Aurelia Fawn
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

Victoria heard the clicking of the phone as she backed away. Her limbs felt more sure of themselves, maybe it was the adrenaline. She didn't know, she panted, tired from the power she'd poured down range. Thing was still standing, of course it was. It had to be, this couldn't be simple. Nothing could ever be simple where magic was involved. She raised her hand, the orb glowing, and another beam flashing forward, new areas of the hall getting damaged as she continued to back away. The moment the spell ended, she grabbed Cassia and Candace, the people closest to her, and pulled them as she turned to run, not even bothering to look and see if the thing was dead. It didn't matter, where there was one there could be more, and they still needed to get out of here. She let go of the two the moment she had them turned around, but now was no time to stop and wait. She yelled as she moved.

"JUST GO, WE HAVE WHAT WE NEED, JUST GET OUT!"

She stopped long enough at the end of the hallway to see if they were following. Her face flushed from the heat, her body tired, her mind assaulted. In time maybe she'd find a way to shield herself with the magic she already knew, but she had to rely on others for now to protect her from things like this. She didn't like that, it wasn't her way of doing things. She liked being independent, self sufficient. She brushed a strand of hair out of her eye, clearing her vision. She wasn't going to leave anyone behind. She peered into the glowing hallway, trying to make out if the thing was dead while she waited for the others to get out.

[Forest State]

Cassia & Candace Marin
North Side, Santa Marina
October 30th, 2020

---

The apparition, upon the second blast, would dissipate - it was interesting to watch, not that anyone in the group actually was standing around and watching the results of the blast instead of running as fast as possible and trying to get to safety. It was like watching a shadow get blown apart… Not just blown apart, ripped apart like it was being torn at the seams, individual slivers of shadow shooting off into the distance as they were thrown every which way down the opposite end of the hallway from the one that the group was running down.

Cassia, though, wasn’t the happiest about the arrangement.

“Let go of me! I can handle shit like this on my own…” she complained, yanking her arm away from Victoria as she continued with her pistol in hand, following after her and the rest of the group.

They hadn’t accounted for something, though, and that was the fact that Vivian had detected a second enemy in the same building. The second enemy had actually, in fact, been quite close in proximity to the first one… But they hadn’t actually seen it. And in not accounting for that second enemy and moving to look for it and destroy it like they had the first. - if repeating their victory was even a possible thing - they had guaranteed that the second enemy would be able to make a move for them…

It seemed to phase out of one of the walls, appearing in front of their path, the same terrifying smile running across the face, the teeth nearly shining in the light… Those teeth were perhaps the most recognizable thing about the figure that was otherwise all black, and none of them wanted to find out what would happen if they managed to touch someone’s skin. Not that the thing needed to use its physical attributes to win. It seemed its mental magic was the stronger factor if reports and the first encounter were anything to go on.

But they’d hear footsteps at the end of the hallway… The sound of another person there. Candace spun around quickly after hearing it, wondering if it was just some civilian, but no, this was someone different…

She had dark hair, dark clothes, everything was dark essentially, her outfit a combination of what one might expect from a mage around here, that was to say, a dark skirt and stockings, and something more militant, the straps on her outfit clearly being meant to hold different weapons in place when she wasn’t using them. And she had some of those weapons on her right now, ranging from machine pistols to grenades, and a couple of things Candace didn’t recognize at one glance.

When she spoke, she was completely calm despite what they were facing down with. “Get out of here…” she commanded. “You’re in over your head dealing with this…”

They would then feel the next attack from the being before they could hear the rest of what was being said. Kind of like the last one, but it was stronger, and this time they weren’t feeling despair - they were just feeling static, like all the empty space in their head was being filled with it at one time. To say it was frustrating was an understatement… But it wasn’t so crippling they wouldn’t be able to run.

They still had a chance to get out of here. Unless their curiosity about the strange Huntress was strong enough to make them stay despite the circumstances...

[Durmatagno]

Victoria Aurelia Fawn
Santa Marina, October 30th, 2020

Victoria didn't hesitate, she was basically out of mana, and they'd only just killed one of the things. Now there was a second and a complete unknown, no, it was time to get out. She turned and sprinted, grabbing the slower Gabriella as she moved, showing her ancestry with both her speed and strength. Once they were back outside, she did put Gabriella down and panted next to the car, more out of coming down from the adrenaline than from being tired, physically she was fine, mostly. It took a bit more than a short sprint to tire her out. She waited for Cassia to get the car open, hand on top of it as she steadied herself. No time to admire or appreciate it for now, that could wait. Right now she wanted to be gone, and maybe high, but the second could wait. First they needed to get out of here before something else unexpected happened or went wrong.

[Forest State]

Cassia Marin
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 31st, 2020

---

Halloween… Perhaps for some, the focus would be on the holiday tonight.

For Cassia Marin, it was on something entirely different. Fact of the matter was that things weren’t normal right now, and things hadn’t been ever since last night. Ever since last night when they had faced those mysterious… Beings. It was hard to say what they even were. Seemed too strong to be magical constructs, or normal ones anyway, but they also didn’t give off the appearance of demons. Not any demons that had been seen before, or that Cassia and her friends were aware of.

Truthfully, it wasn’t her problem. Wasn’t like she lived in Santa Marina full time and she wasn’t a student at this academy, either. She was just here visiting her sisters and having some fun around the city in the process… But the encounter stayed with her. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing that could be dealt with through just ignoring it, and she had the feeling that even when she went back to New York City, she would have to deal with this somehow.

It somewhat felt like… This was only the start of something that would build in the future. They had heard reports of other Hunters dealing with things like this, and now they had seen these beasts for themselves… So how could they expect them to just go away if they didn’t do anything?

Eventually, they would have to fight this enemy, whatever it actually was.

And as Cassia Marin rested in her sister’s room, sitting on her laptop while Candace was on the bed, staring at the ceiling rather absentmindedly with a joint in one hand and her phone in the other, she wondered just how they were going to deal with it. Sure, it wasn’t her job to deal with, and it wasn’t Candace’s job either, with Candace still being a student and training to become a Hunter but....

Cassia was around Santa Marina enough, and Candace and their other friends lived full time in Santa Marina. When something affected the city this much, it’d affect them, too.

Staring at the web page in front of her, a site called Mage Forums, Cassia started to type… If she didn’t know this much about what they were dealing with here, and what they had seen the night before, maybe someone else would. The internet was a big place. There weren’t a ton of mages in general compared to regular people, but one wouldn’t know it from looking at their little section of the internet.

Saw this in Santa Marina, on the night before Halloween… Never seen something like this before. Maybe someone else has?

She linked one of the pictures they had taken on that night as she looked over her post before she pressed the send button, slightly wondering if her post would even be believed in the first place… Because when truth was stranger than fiction, it was easy to accuse something of simply being faked.

She knew, though, that what she had seen was very real. The experience was still with her.

Cassia looked down, though, when her phone buzzed, noticing she had received a text. It was from Vivian, interestingly enough.

tell candace to check the news...

“Yo, Candace,” Cassia said, reaching for the remote to the small TV that was in the room and clicking it on, stirring her sister who was on the bed into stretching and sitting up. “Viv texted me, said to turn on the news. Something’s going down, I guess-”

Cassia was cut off by the voice of the newscaster, speaking as part of the local news channel that covered most events around this area. The subject on the news, though, was indeed out of the ordinary. This was no ordinary Halloween. In fact, it wasn’t an ordinary day by any metric imaginable… Something big was going down. And there was a large chance it somehow tied into what they had seen before.

“The Santa Marina Police Department is struggling to respond to magical attacks throughout the city… Goblins, human mages, tentacle monsters, and a manor of other things have all been spotted on the streets of the city, many of them showing up downtown, causing tends of thousands of dollars in property damage in what is being speculated as a planned attack. Reporting live from the scene…”

Tuning out the rest of what was said, Cassia set the remote down and looked to Candace… They couldn’t just sit around during this.

“Fuckin’ hell… Let’s find the others. Maybe we’ll be able to get a fuckin’ clue on what’s going on.”

[Lessoni]

Jack Dredd

Jack awoke from an admittedly nap to the tv blaring, a special news announcement. It told a tale of demons and ghouls attacking the city, perhaps fitting for the day. Halloween, day of spirits. Letting out a deep sigh, he rolled out of bed. He had a feeling the students would get into this somehow, and he was almost eager to get into a brawl.

As he raced down the halls he listened close for any announcements over the loud speakers, but nothing ever came, and he was finally outside. Summoning his greatclub and hefting it onto his shoulder, easy in his grip, he went off to find someone who could tell him what to do.

Sean Taylor

Sean had been dawdling idly on Minecraft, the ambient music blaring through a decent set of speakers, when his phone started buzzing. News alerts, attacking demons, and all just in time for Halloween. Turning off the tv, he picked up his gear and slung it over his back as he went down the stairs, heading outside at a leisurely pace. It was only when he was halfway across campus when he realized he forgot his gun.

God dammit, he thought as he pulled out his knife and hammer, stowing them under his belt. It appeared it was a magic sort of night.

[Lunas Legion]

Gabriella Sara Bianchi-Costa De Inferenza
Santa Marina, October 31st, 2020

Gabriella was not the type of person who really did halloween. It wasn't much of a thing in Switzerland in the first place, so it was a bit of a novelty really to her and not something she really got involved in, it wasn't really something to her tastes. So, instead, while everyone else was off partying or whatever, leaving her to her own devices, she'd decided that she should be productive instead.

Well, semi-productive. She happened to quite enjoy shooting for the simple pleasure of it, that it was also a useful skill was simply an added benefit. It was late in the day so the firing range was empty but for herself, but that just made it easier for her to focus. Her pistols were laid out on the table in front of her, side-by-side as she checked them over, her previous target sitting under them. It was... Satisfactory, not exceptional, but good enough for shooting so late in the day. She picked up her CZ 85 B, slid in a magazine and picked up a fresh target, attaching it to the board. Satisfactory would not do.

Olympia Galatas
Santa Marina, October 31st, 2020

Olympia, meanwhile, was... Somewhere. She wasn't entirely sure where, but she had her phone so she could find out, and it wasn't something that bothered her. She knew she could handle herself. She glanced down at the bottle of wine held in her hand, unsure of quite where she'd acquired it from. She knew she wasn't drunk, maybe just a bit tipsy.

Still, even being a little bit tipsy didn't stop well-honed reflexes kicking in at the sound of a gunshot, bolting upright from where she'd been sprawled out on a park bench, hand quickly drawing her pistol from its holster under her leather jacket, eyes scanning the edge of the park but not seeing anything out of the normal for now. Still, she could feel there was mana in the air now, more than there had been, so she headed off at a slow measured jog.

[Kita-Hinode]

Collin de Haan
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 31th, 2020

Collin was actually watching a hockey game at the time. His cousin, Lucas, played for the Indianapolis Racers, one of the teams that were on the ice that night, but the game was stopped midway through due to the urgent news. Collin grumbled, crossing his arms. He had been prepared exactly to watch the game, wearing a Racers hockey jersey that his cousin had gifted him and the television itself was a gift from his older sister Anna (who had married a Korean two years ago). He looked around, searching for Tristan, the one with actual magical powers. "Yo, Tristan! You might want to check this out, I sure as well don't!"

[Recuecn]

Tristan Glesbrecht
October 30
(Done in collaboration with Sraelyn)
As Tristan turned the corner into the hallway where his room was, he saw Victor coming from the other direction. It had been a little while since the two had had a real conversation--the last time was probably the day they had moved in, Tristan realized as he thought back. Of course, living next door to each other, they'd seen each other in passing (as well as at team practices), but they hadn't had much opportunity to catch up.

"Hey Victor, how's it going?"

“Hey Tristan!” Viktor’s slightly surprised expression soon turned to a large smile, as he approached Tristan and grabbed him by the shoulder.

“I’ve been doing good brother, just had lunch after hitting the gym for a while. How've you been yourself? We haven’t really hung out in a while, and I was actually looking for you. Say, you’ve got anything planned for tomorrow?”

Tristan returned the gesture, putting his hand on the back of Viktor's shoulder in imitation. "Uh, tomorrow? Not that I can think of... no, I'm free. Why, what's up?"

"That's fucking great. See, I was just hanging with Tavian and we got to talking about what to do tomorrow, Halloween and all, and thought we could head downtown. Maybe find a bar, or party, or something you know, have some fun for once. So, what do you say? It'd be great if you could join us brother."

"That sounds like a fun time! Count me in! I'll catch you tomorrow then!"

Tristan headed into his room, looking forward to the chance to get into town tomorrow, not aware of what that would mean...

[Durmatagno]

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As the crisis in Santa Marina on Halloween night continues to develop, a new threat has been spotted on the streets… One that will lead to new leads and an unlikely alliance for the irregular forces of the Hunters Association.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

H U N T E R S - BOOK I – HUNTING DOGS MISSION 1 PART 2: “PRISONER”
Santa Marina, Florida
October 31st, 2020
Collaborative post between Forest State and Durmatagno

_______________________

Halloween night was, of course, chaos…

The streets of Santa Marina found themselves in flames as spirits walked the Earth, not because of any holiday, although the symbolism wasn’t lost on the ones behind it, but because of an intentional action by one person… Or perhaps one group of people, to send a message. Whatever that message was, it wasn’t one hundred percent clear yet. Things like this, though, they didn’t happen randomly. Didn’t happen for no reason. And the wave of goblins, hellhounds, and other such beings moving through the streets right now and overwhelming whatever they came across was definitely not something that had come about by chance, but something that was meant to happen.

Something that had been set into motion by someone.

Because really, this was the largest such incident that the city had seen since… Well, most people wouldn’t even remember the last time something had happened like this, owing to the fact that they most likely hadn’t been born yet. Things like this just didn’t happen, because most of the time, when someone attempted to cause something like it, or circumstances just brought events in the right order for it to happen, the Hunters Association was on top of it. For whatever reason, that wasn’t the case here.

The Association was able to handle most threats successfully… The few times they weren’t able to get to something before it kicked off, however, it was a major story. It ended up being something like this most of the time. They were on the matter right now of course, but by the time they were able to do anything significant to stop the trouble, there’d already be hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages… No, that was the conservative estimate. Too conservative. Millions was the more probable one.

And yet in all of the chaos, there was some order… Even among the side that had started all of this, the side that was running wild through the city at the moment.

There were more than just inhuman beasts moving through the city and causing damages - some of them were much more capable in all areas, including intellect and mental ability. Although, it was possible to question whether they were monsters in their own right, just in a different way. That was to say, this was more than just something being carried out by one lone but powerful mage that for whatever reason had an agenda against… The city of Santa Marina, or maybe something larger, with Santa Marina being used as a means of getting attention.

Even amidst the chaos, a clear order was issued. “Venator squadron, forwards!”

With the message being clear. Even meeting resistance from law enforcement, and the Hunters Association, the ‘elites’ that formed the most dangerous part of this attack were to keep moving, to continue with what they were doing, and to not stop until they reached the target they were looking for… Naturally, the city hall. Because what better way was there to send a message about something than to show up at the proverbial heart of the city itself?

Anything that was between them and their goal was irrelevant. Because the fact of the matter was that they were more than capable of holding their own out here, even under these conditions… Turning back due to anything other than a crippling injury was simply cowardice.

Sage dropped another cop foolish enough to stand in her way. These guys were easy, between her armor and her strength, they were like reeds in a storm. Just move straight through them, and keep going. It was when mages showed up that things got...interesting. Usually to their detriment, but it was more fun than dropping some new cop that couldn’t slow her down. She didn’t much like killing them. It was Halloween, she’d much rather be eating candy, and watching...something, she didn’t really know what she’d be watching. She enjoyed fighting sure, but not this. Still, she had her orders, and even if she wasn’t happy with them, she’d follow them. She always did, always would.

Suddenly, though, one of the members of the Venator squadron was hit by something that seemed… More dangerous than anything else they had faced so far. Crystal armor fragments went flying, the air around the site of the hit flashed for a moment with an explosion - the truth was, they weren’t human… They were constructed for this, designed for it even… But that didn’t mean they were invincible. And something capable of hurting them had finally showed up.

“Missile launch, front!” was the immediate callout… Whatever had just struck one of them, it wasn’t even magic, but something more conventional… Something still deadly, however, and capable of penetrating armor without too much of a problem. Sometimes, to counter something like magic, one simply needed to go back to the basics - it didn’t always take a mage to beat a mage.

But they didn’t know what they were dealing with here, period. Whether it was someone affiliated with the Hunters Association, or somehow someone other than that.

“Move for cover… And someone move number five with us. That didn’t look like a fatal shot… We’ll find out who fired it, damn it,” the leader of the group barked out to the others - standing over the rest of them and towering over the regular populace, her status was somewhat marked clearly by the distinctive spikes protruding from her own armor… As for her name, she was simply known as Pantera. There was a method to the madness even in the chaos, and it fit the ‘scheme’ so to speak of the unit as a whole… ‘Venator’, after all, was a meaningful name.

Sage grabbed the Five, and pulled them behind cover with her. Sage peered past the building she was using, looking to where the shot had come from, they needed to know what they were dealing with and how many.

“I’ve got five, we got a headcount of the new threat?”

She called out, checking to see if anyone was seeing something beyond her. As she waited, she pressed her palm against the ground, and pulled a crystalline javelin out of the floor. It was cheaper to pull it up out of the Earth than make it from pure mana, but she could do both. With her strength, it’d get through most forms of normal armor, and many kinds of mid grade magical armor.

Gunshots hit around them - wasn’t clear where they were coming from, and the shots weren’t coming too quickly, but they kicked up quite a bit of dirt when they did hit. Whatever kinds of shots they were… They were high caliber.

“Not yet. Looks like they’re hitting from a couple directions… It’s not regular police-”

No, they weren’t.

Before the sentence could even be finished, the magic hit - at least, an attack like this had to be magic presumably, because there was no sign of a conventional weapon being fired or showing up in the general area before the effects set in… As for what those effects actually were, however…

There was a flash of white. Enough to fill the vision, blocking out sight of anything else for a moment. And then there was just static. Not harmful, but it served a different purpose - when the mind was filled with static, it couldn’t work on other things. And when an enemy was focused on getting static out of their head, there was no way for them to respond to other things.

Perhaps this was just part of some elaborate ruse, a distraction of sorts… But if it was, it was a damn effective one.

Sage had only one solution to try and rid her head of the static. Probably a stupid one, but i it worked it was better than the static. She slammed her head backwards into the wall, bricks cracking under the force, between her armor and her strength. Pain rocketed into her head, but it let her focus, even if only for a moment. Rifle in one hand, javelin in the other, she popped round the corner, let loose a burst from the rifle as she tossed the javelin at the nearest apparent hostile, then ducked back around the corner as the static set back in, though dulled through the pulses of pain.

It only seemed that her action had led to her mind being singled out - suddenly, something was focusing not just on the group in general, but on her specifically after she had made her attack, and it would give her head a piercing feeling like she was the one under attack for whatever reason. Like a mental spike was driving itself into her head…

Sage was glad she was behind cover, because now she had her head in her hands. She wasn’t screaming, her eyes were just shut, doing everything she could to focus on trying to drive the spike back out. It was definitely magic, and she was no psyhcic, she wasn’t going to win this fight, but maybe...maybe she could buy herself some time. Long or short term, if she could just buy a little time someone else might be able to help.

From above, more specifically from one of the windows of one of the nearby high rise buildings, of which plenty could be found here in downtown Santa Marina, there was a quick flash - the moon shining off of something, a scope to be specific - before a puff of smoke indicated another rocket of some kind had been fired… No, not a rocket, a missile. Fact of the matter was, this was actually a guided attack, and it spiraled towards her quickly… The missile could cover a lot of ground, after all, leaving the target in this case with only a few seconds to even respond.

Sage heard the missile coming, she didn’t have time to get out of the blast, she could barely think, let alone plan. Instead she slammed her hand against the ground and a wall of stone rose in the path of the missile. It wouldn’t stop the damage entirely, she’d still get thrown back and slam into a dumpster, denting the metal, but she was alive, her armor was...mostly intact. The pain give her a second to think, she raised her rifle, and emptied the entire clip at the window where the missile had come from, having no trouble keeping it on target.

The target in the window, however, was already gone by the time she fired. Around her, the rest of the unit was falling back in the opposite direction from the second missile attack, their quick retreat leaving Sage somewhat exposed. But there wasn’t an active threat in the area… Not right now, anyway. More accurately, there wasn’t an active threat that any of them could actually see. Surely, whoever was responsible for the other attacks hadn’t just left without a trace.

Sage’s mind was clear, sure it hurt, but it was clear. Standing up, she reloaded her rifle, patched her armor, and then grabbed Five, before making a quick dash from cover to cover to try and link back up with the rest of team. Acting alone was a sure way to end up dead, or worse. If she could get back to them, things may just work out better for them...probably.

It happened again, however… Another blast of smoke followed by having a few seconds reaction time to deal with a spiraling projectile that was rapidly approaching, fired from a surrounding building and a bit closer this time… Not that the missile needed to start off closer to do the job.

Sage was already on the move, so she just used some more mana to add another burst of speed, at the same time, another wall of stone rose behind her. The missile destroyed it of course, and now she was burning mana faster than she wanted. She could feel shrapnel in her back now, which had already been bruised, and her footsteps faltered, but she was still alive. Still moving, but not in a position to even try to retaliate. Instead she just used her further enhanced speed to try and get back to the team, before a missile caught her square or another mindspike brought her to her knees.

The pursuit continued - this time, the attack came in the form of something lighter but still heavy in its own right… It was from the end of a gun barrel, but the gun that had been fired was no normal one. The large caliber weapon may as well been the kind of rifle used for taking out vehicles in combat… Now, the round which had bene fired from yet another building was large enough to penetrate armor for sure.

Sage could see and hear it coming, well not the bullet but she knew it would hit. She didn’t have time to stop it, didn’t have time so dodge or raise a wall. Best she could do was start to try and throw Five, but the round hit her before she could even do that. She dropped, her armor absorbed some of it, but then there was white, and black.

---

When she opened her eyes again, and her vision unclouded, the first thing Sage would notice was that she wasn’t alone. No, standing with her in this room - wherever it was… Was a figure towering over her. Not because the figure standing in front of her was tall, but because she herself was on the ground, infernal restraints on her wrists behind her back, and the one in front of her was standing straight up.

Her captor, a girl with a masked face and hard eyes, one of the few things that could be seen through the mask and hood, had a gun pointed at her face.

“...she’s up,” the girl reported to someone else… She didn’t move the gun just yet, keeping it there just in case she needed it. Someone else walked from another spot within the room - as for the room itself, it was perhaps some kind of warehouse, either one in use or one of the abandoned ones that had been left in Santa Marina by landowners that hadn’t found a business to sell it to. The economy wasn’t the worst around here, but that didn’t mean finding abandoned buildings like this was possibly… Was all that hard. There were plenty of them. And they served as good sites for things like this.

Things that needed to be kept out of sight and out of mind, that was. Such as interrogations by strange figures like these ones.

“You can put the gun down,” a second female voice said, a brunette walking into Sage’s field of view and looking directly down at her, folding her arms as she did so. “She’s not getting out of those bounds, anyway.”

“Better safe than sorry,” the original girl replied, although after a minute she complied with the demand and lowered her weapon.

“I’d rather make a good impression… If something goes wrong, I’ve got you on standby,” the brunette replied, her face uncovered unlike her colleague. Both of them had something in common, though. The clothes that they wore weren’t that far off from each other… Almost fatigues, but not quite. They seemed like military, but they weren’t military by any definition that was usually used… They were something else. What they were, though, wasn’t clear.

After settling the matter with her colleague, the brunette turned her eyes towards Sage. “How are you feeling?” she asked, raising her hands to show that unlike her partner, she didn’t have a weapon right now. “Look… I’m sure this is… A little rough for you. But know that this arrangement is just so we can ask you some questions.”

Sage tasted her bonds, she couldn’t see them to know what they were. She definitely wasn’t breaking those, not as she was now. She stared up at the one speaking to her, focusing on the only face in the room she could see. Alabaster skin, silvery-white hair, and black eyes looked up at her. Compared to many kinds of demons out there, it wasn’t that disturbing a sight, but it was one fairly unique to Sage herself, whatever it was. She didn’t say anything, she’d answer questions only as them came through, and only if she wanted to, they’d given her no reason to speak yet. Never speak without being asked to.

“If you don’t talk to us, it’s just going to be harder on all of us… Not everyone might be that patient,” said the brunette when there was no reply, a slight frown crossing her face as she looked back at her masked colleague, who waved the pistol as if for effect. It seemed they did have different views… The latter was much quicker to bring force into the equation, apparently.

“I will talk, when you give me something to talk about.”

Sage said, her voice calm and quiet. She had learned to keep her voice low a long time ago. Despite how perfect her visible skin was, she still held mental scars from the things that had taught her as such. There were still some physical ones, but they weren’t from punishment, but creation. She went back to being quiet, her all black eyes unreadable to most.

“Good progress this is getting you…” the masked figure said to the one in the forefront, her voice obviously sarcastic. But the comment didn’t seem to be taken to heart, as she kept her focus on Sage.

“First off… Who or what exactly are you? Let’s get to the bottom of that, first. And then we can talk about just why you were out there, causing chaos,” said the brunette, calmly. The questions were simple enough. For now.

“My name is Sage Nordstrom.”

Sage said simply enough, it was who she was after all. She waited to see how her captor would react to that. She blinked, but kept her focus on what appeared to be the leader. The others didn’t matter, not for now anyway. Even from where Sage was she could tell she was bigger than the woman in front of her if she was standing upright, though some of that was by choice.

“And as for the second half of my question? The question of what you are?” the brunette continued, looking at Sage for a moment before looking back at her colleague. “You very clearly aren’t human. None of you and your… Allies are.”

“I was once, no more. I do not know what others call us, but we call ourselves Arcanum.”

Sage said simply, she barely knew what they were, a name like that wouldn’t reveal much, though she had a feeling there would be questions coming up she couldn’t answer, and others she just wouldn’t. She was quite sure whatever this was was bad news. For her, for her...family such as they were, all of them. In the end though, she had lost, she didn’t have much choice now.

“You once were?” the second figure in the group asked, the brunette nodding towards her as if she was acknowledging her question as a legitimate one. It was a perplexing statement, after all.

“Correct. A different life, but it was mine nonetheless.”

The masked girl tsked, deciding that the answer wasn’t enough. “You’re going to have to start talking if we’re going to get anywhere. Don’t mean vague answers… Some fuckin’ context would be nice. We’re asking for the story of your life, yeah?”

“I was born human. I was taken. I was changed, and I was trained. My life as a human no longer matters, and my life as an Arcanum has been brief and...mostly what you’ve already seen. Not much else I can tell you, I’m not even sure how I was made.”

Sage said simply again, she wasn’t lying. She could never go back to what she was, so that life was over. Her new life had been training and missions, that as about it. Her life story was short, complex, and simple all at once.

“Changed by who?” asked the brunette, looking for further information - more information on just who was behind the chaos on this Halloween night, and the sudden appearance of these… Strange and not quite humna beings, of which a number have been spotted.

“I can’t tell you that.”

Sage said simply. She’d been bred to not betray her master, been trained from the ground up for it. She didn’t like her master, but they were still her master. She wouldn’t give them up that easily, even with the position she was in now.

The brunette fell silent for a moment, before one of the other members of this… Group emerged, someone that was taller, towering over the brunette but not looking all that different from her in terms of appearance. Her eyes traveled to Sage, her look indignant. “You’re going to give her trouble, eh? You realize she’s one of the reasons you’re still here?” she questioned. “Patched your injuries after you were hit up pretty bad…”

“I still can’t tell you, they beat loyalty into us from day one. I cannot tell you who they are. All I can tell you is that I can’t tell you. Not won’t, can’t.”

Sage’s speech was slower, as if she was struggling to phrase it in such a way that her conditioning wouldn’t stop her. She’d always been strong willed, it hadn’t taken as...deeply as most of her kin, but it still had a vice grip on her. The difference between a bolt and nail she supposed.

“Let me dig into her mind,” said the masked member of the group, turning to the other two, seeming eager to use some kind of magic to find the answer that they were looking for. The brunette, though, didn’t exactly seem like she wanted to jump right to that option.

The brunette held her hand up, looking back to Sage. “Look, you realize if I let my partner get this information from you in another way, it’s going to end up very bad for you… Right?” she asked, ensuring that Sage understood the situation. Then again, it was somewhat clear that at least one person in this group had strong psychic ability, based on some of the attacks that had been used earlier. Apparently, that ability extended to other things also.

“Believe you me, if I could tell you this easily I would, but we’re conditioned from day one not to betray them. I am sorry, I can’t tell you anything more than...a name.”

Sage struggled to figure out how to phrase it. These people treated her better than...anyone but her kin had. She didn’t want to screw them as much as she didn’t want to. Her master had treated her cruelly, and Sage’s biggest reason for her loyalty was, beyond simple conditioning, protecting her family, broken as it was.

“Name’s...Cercei.”

Sage still struggled to get it. Magic or no, the conditioning was effective, but Sage had a great amount of time to figure out workarounds. Not many, but small ones, such as letting her tell an ‘enemy’ the name.

The brunette nodded, letting out a slow sigh. “Right. If you can’t give more information, you can’t give more information… I get it… To an extent-”

“I can get it,” the masked girl said, her voice frustrated at being held back, as she took a hard step forward and in front of the brunette, waving a hand in front of her face. “I don’t see why we’ve gotta help her or anything when she’s one of them, she was out there causing the mess we’ve gotta clean up in the first place… Might as well just be some demon or something that we would’ve shot already-”

“And it doesn’t seem like she wants to be on their side, so I don’t see why we should go to the harshest options,” the brunette said in reply, cutting off the other girl. “We have more of a lead than we had before, the HA’ll have something to work with when we send back all the info we got from this. And aside from that… We haven’t seen her kind before so there might be something to be learned from having her around.”

“Speaking of…” the brunette continued, turning back to Sage as she slightly pushed back the masked girl, stepping past and around her. “Do you… Want to go back to the people you were working for before right now?”

“....yes and no. My family is with them, broken and messy at is it. My sisters, the handful of brothers. On the other hand, I don’t like working for them. Sending me out to wreck such havoc on my birthdays of all days…”

Sage let slip more than she intended, but it wasn’t anything she had to struggle to say. She never broke her gaze from the leader, the only one she could clearly see anyway.

The brunette paused for a long time while she considered their options. “Essentially… We’re working with the Hunters Association, but we aren’t quite Hunters ourselves… I’m not sure if we have the… Ability to hold you for very long, given our current position and the fact that we’re kind of doing all this on a budget… Which leaves us with the option of… Letting you free when we have the information we need. Is that what you want?”

“I would rather be free than wrapped in chains. Be they of flesh, chain, or magic it matters not. I am as chained here as I am there, so I...will remain. Do not expect me to kill my siblings if I am helping you, I will not slay the only family I have ever had.”

“We kill whoever the boss orders, sweetheart,” said the taller girl, speaking for the second time as she rested her arm on the shoulder of the brunette, her eyes meeting Sage’s. “We aren’t necessarily recruiting you… But if we are, you should know what it is that you’re getting into.”

“My siblings are as chained as I am, I would free them before I would kill them.”

“They’re also, at the moment, the enemy,” the taller girl stated flatly. “They’ve created this mess that we’ve been sent here to clean up. With that being said… The final call, I believe, comes down to what Six-One thinks. But asking us not to do our jobs… Kinda a tall task. Assuming we even stay on this job.”

“Fine, I would kill those I have to, but there’s a few I will not kill, even on pain of death. Ashura, Carolina, and Oliever. They are easy to spot, Carolina is only eleven, Ashura has six arms, and Oliever...well, she works with ice the same I do rock.”

The brunette spoke once again, making eye contact with Sage and taking a long pause. “You have a choice in front of you right now… I would tell you to think about it… We’re in something of a grey area. Between working with the Hunters Association and working on our own. It’s not a glamorous life - we don’t exactly have all of the independence that we would want, nor do we live in rich conditions because of our work. No one is going to praise us, and we don’t exactly have the security of working with a large organization… No, it’s a rough life. A life cleaning up the mess of other people for no credit… You can join this life, or you can return back to what you’re from, or you can… Walk free and head elsewhere. We can’t offer you much. We can offer you a start, though. A chance to flee.”

“Either way…” the brunette continued after a pause. “We won’t be able to hold you as a prisoner for too long.”

“I was made to fight, and it is all I know how to do, beyond some costuming. No credit? Already have none. No luxury? A proper bed is a luxury for me, I sleep on a cot.”

Sage stated after some thought. She didn’t know if it was worth it or not, but she had no clue how to survive on her own, she’d much rather have people to work with than not, and...she didn’t have to go back. She didn’t have orders now that her mission failed.

“I don’t think you’re making a good decision, One-” the masked girl started, before the brunette raised a hand to shrug off her concerns.

“If we end up backstabbed because of this, we have you to sort things out,” she said, letting out a slight sigh in reply as she looked to her colleague. “And I trust my intuition on this. Have the feeling that she’s not that far off from us-”

“Your intuition has been wrong in the past.”

“About as wrong as yours has been at other times,” the brunette stated, before her eyes settled back on Sage. “We’ll give you a couple hours to think about it… Which should also be around the amount of time until the sun comes up. We’re headed back into the city once that happens, to deal with this crisis furter. Or the leftover parts of it, anyway. Whether or not you come with us… Is your own choice.”

“Mmm.”

Sage settled into her spot, eyes closed. She had much to think about, and a lot of justification to find a way to not go back. She hated her life with Cercei, but leaving it was no simple task. Not alive anyway. In time, perhaps, but not now. Still, she’d much rather be here than there, unknown as it was to her.

[Forest State]

Quick Reaction Force #6 and Sage Nordstrom
Santa Marina, Florida
November 1st, 2020
Collaborative post between Forest State and Durmatagno

---

It was nearly sunrise… Which meant that it was nearly time to head back out into the city and deal with the leftovers of the mess that was out there. Something like this didn’t often get resolved in a matter of one outing, and while the largest problems had been dealt with for the most part, plenty of damages befalling the city in the process, there were still fires burning in both the literal and the figurative sense. There was no rest for the people that had to deal with the clean up, such as these… Associates of the Hunters Association.

One could say they were doing more than the Association itself was right now, at least in terms of activity and putting in the most raw hours on the street containing the problem while the Hunters Association worked on giving a more targeted and specific response. They didn’t handle the things like the masses of goblins directly as much as they did some of the larger things, and while it was reasonable, the responsibility to deal with some of the other things still had to fall on someone.

Someone like this ragtag team, whose ties to the organization and whose own backgrounds were either unknown or hazy to most, at the very best.

They were obviously more open with each other, however, and from the looks of things they had a new member joining them - the paperwork hadn’t been filled out, and they hadn’t gone through the traditional process for bringing someone on, but sometimes life threw surprising events and this might be one of them… Help could come from unusual places. That was something they’d learned in the past, and the composition of their team wasn’t even something that was traditionally decided by themselves.

So when help happened to fall in their lap, accepting it wasn’t the strangest action in the world. Wasn’t like they had much say in the selection process normally anyway, when someone new was assigned to the team. They operated fairly independently, but they did work under a boss after all - multiple bosses if one counted the ‘client’ they were under, that was to say, the Hunters Association.

The apparent leader of the group led their newest member out of the smaller side room and into the main room of the warehouse, after the restraints had been removed… The scene out here was calm. Calmer than many places in Santa Marina right now. Not much could be heard outside. The chaos wasn’t hitting this part of town right now and few people were on the streets due to the events happening elsewhere. The building itself was indeed a warehouse of sorts, one of the abandoned ones that one didn’t have to go too far to find in certain parts of the town, and the floor of the place was for the most part clear except for some boxes which remained there from whenever the place had been used last - they were all empty, though.

Wasn’t the cleanest place, wasn’t the dirtiest either. It was decent enough as a place to lay down a sleeping bag and get a couple of hours of rest before moving back into action, which happened to be just what these… These mysterious operatives were here to do.

“We’re moving out soon,” the leader said, gesturing to the others in the room, who were mostly going through their equipment and weapons, checking it. “So we should go through some introductions before we do, yeah?”

Sage looked around at the people in the room, her true face still showing as she’d not wanted to risk putting up a new one. They already didn’t trust her, she didn’t want to make things even worse for herself, so here she was. She’d never been good at introductions. Contradictory to her appearance, she wasn’t the most social person. She stood nearly seven feet tall right now, her size one of the only things that didn’t reset when her disguises dropped. She gave a small, almost...embarrassed wave to the people in the room.

“Hello, I’m...Sage.”

The others returned looks but didn’t say anything for now - they were busy with their own tasks, it seemed, or they just didn’t want to bother with talking with someone that was new and that they didn’t entirely trust. Hadn’t been their call to bring on a newcomer. It had been the call of the leader, and that seemed clear here.

“I guess I should introduce myself… The name’s Kodiak. Or Six-One. I’m the leader around here, or at least, the leader of this specific team. Quick Reaction Force Number Six. We… Work for the Hunters Association for now, but they’re not the ones putting money in our pockets,” the leader explained. “I’ll go into more detail later, when we’re not about to move out…”

She gestured to one of the others, the one who was standing on an elevated pair of steps and watching the street outside closely through the scope of a long ranged rifle - definitely an anti material rifle judging from the size of the thing. “Six-Three! Look over here and take you mask off!”

There was a grumble from the girl, who ignored the call for a moment before complying, resting the rifle in the window ledge before turning around, pulling her mask off to reveal a head of pink hair which went down to about her shoulders - in the back, anyway. It was shorter around the side and the front. Her face was sharp, tomboyish perhaps, her eyes belonging to someone that had seen quite a lot and perhaps experienced quite a lot. She seemed to be one of the more respected people around here, but she had also been against Sage joining them, instead stating that she preferred to use her magic on her to get the information they needed before discarding her. That alone was enough to show her more pragmatic view of things. “I’m not doing this introduction shit,” she said, turning back towards the window. “She knows my callsign if she needs to say something in the field.”

The leader just sighed slightly, folding her arms as she watched the girl go back to watching the street, hyperfocusing on the scope apparently as she rested the anti material rifle out the open window. “That’s Tali… Or Six-Three, by callsign. She’s… A bit of a handful.”

“Looks like you taking me in wasn’t a popular decision…”

Sage said bluntly, looking around at the various people around her. She was no stranger to a fight, hell this team already knew that. It’d taken what, two rockets, three different mental attacks, and then an anti-material rocket to take her down? Course, adrenaline, instinct, and her isolation from the rest of the team had all been factors. They didn’t know what magic she could use so they hadn’t been able to prep for it. Now they knew at least some of it.

“You were on the other side only a matter of hours ago, and you’re an unknown factor… It’s not a surprise,” Kodiak stated, lingering for a moment before she started moving to find the next person.

She gestured to another girl that had pink hair, although her appearance was distinctly different from the other one, and her hair was longer, stretching down to her mid back… There were a pair of horns on her head, perhaps indicating some kind of demonic ancestry. No, they almost definitely indicated that. “Aqua Schone, also known as Six-Two. My second in command… More bombastic than me, I think you’ll notice,” she stated, pausing slightly. “But plenty capable. And in a fight, you’ll be glad to have her around.”

Looking to the side, she pointed out one of the ones that had been in the room earlier, the tall woman that towered over her and had offered some advice - she had also been against taking Sage in, unsurprisingly. Right now, she happened to be going through her weapons, a variety of guns laid out while she inspected each of them, a bag in front of her as she prepared for their next outing. “Six-Four, or Shyla Hale. My cousin… Also a fire mage,” she said, watching Shyla continue to get ready without paying much mind to her or Sage. “Not really as intimidating as she looks, deep down…”

“Even if they don’t like me, they look like a good team, Kodiak.”

Sage tilted her head at the pair of pink hairs, she’d never experimented with non-natural hair colors. Though for her kind, faded pinks were among the natural possibilities. She’d need to choose a new face if she was basically starting a new, third life. She didn’t know what yet, but she had time to decide. For now, she’d just need to prove taking her in wasn’t a bad idea, that’d take long enough anyway.

Kodiak continued walking through the building, although her pace wasn’t in a rush, and she gestured to the last member in the immediate area, a boy working behind a laptop on some electronic task that had captured his entire focus. “Elex, or Six-Five. Not the most frontlines in terms of skillset, but you’ll find that his work makes a difference for us either way… Never go into a fight without information,” Kodiak said, before turning to Sage herself.

“You might have noticed that the callsigns have a specific system to them. As the newest member of the group, I think you’re going to be Six-Six,” she stated. “We just use the callsigns in the field… That’s how we’re supposed to do it according to proper guidelines, anyway. So memorize the signs of the others and get used to it, because you’re going to have to get good at using them over comms, and recognizing when someone’s talking to you over them. That’s everyone on the field team that I’ve just introduced you to, but we do have a handler a bit higher up that isn’t here right now… Minerva, callsign Owl. We’ll get most of the important instructions through her, so if you hear her on the channel, pay attention.”

“Mmm, alright.”

Sage said after a moment, just taking a second to burn the callsigns and names into her memory. She was going to have to work hard to earn her keep here. Trust was not something easily gained, especially when she’d tried to kill some of them only a few hours ago, if it’d been them with the missiles anyway. She was ninety nine percent sure it had been then, but her memory was a little fuzzy. On account of her head being assailed just as her body.

“Suppose you’ll want to know what magics I can use?”

“That would be useful, yes,” Kodiak said, pausing for a moment and turning back to Sage. “As for myself… You could say that I’m kind of an unusual mage, a specialist in nullifying other magic rather than attacking with spells of my own. My own spell, the only one that I’m really good at, attacks someone’s mind at the root and makes it harder to transmit the signals that are used to start moving mana through the body and use magic… Like I said, my cousin is a bit more flashy, she’s a fire mage. As you might be able to guess, Aqua’s magic is infernal owing to her demonic ancestry, while Tali… Has a very potent set of psychic spells that can win one versus one with most individual enemies.”

Sage nodded, and added this information to her memory, taking the time to look at each person she could in order to better cement it. She turned to Kodiak finally, and spoke.

“I use...Earth, Physical, and Biological magic. Have an aptitude for all three, though Earth is my strongest.”

While the crystal armor had been of her making, it hadn’t been fully reinforced, that’d have taken to much mana before the fight even started, but the stuff was still tough. She’d have to change her patterns and colors, didn’t want to look like the people that’d attacked this city even if they were half a continent away.

“Right…” Kodiak said, looking to the side to see the progress that the others were making with getting ready. Eventually, she started moving again, this time in the direction of the exit to the place. “About time to get going,” she said, looking back over her shoulder at Sage. “Don’t know how ready you are to join us, but you’re coming along because we might not head back to this place again once we head out. If you have any regrets… This is your chance to turn back without getting invested and wrapped up in our business.”

She stopped in her tracks, her voice serious. “Otherwise, consider this your first outing.”

Sage shook her head and moved to follow. She’d already made her decision, if all she ever did was second guess herself, she’d never get anywhere, so she was sticking to her choice.

“Thanks, but I already made my choice, I’m staying.”

Kodiak nodded silently, waving for the others to come on and pushing open the main door to the place as they picked up their things and stated moving. “Alright, Six-Six… If that’s your decision, welcome to your first little experience with this life…”

[Forest State]

Freya Jung
Santa Marina Hunter Academy
October 31st, 2020

---

The chaos going on in Santa Marina wasn’t something that Freya Jung could just sit around and ignore…

She had to do something about the current state of the city, but that was a tall task for someone like her, someone who was ‘just’ a student here, training to be a Huntress but not entirely there yet… Hell, she was just a first year, even if she did have more experience than most of the others in her class did, owing to her experiences in the past before she even came here. This level of experience, though, also meant something else to her. It meant she couldn’t just sit around while the city burned in the background.

Not when she was one of the ones that could actually do something to handle the damn problem.

Not that doing something was going to be easy for someone like her. Wouldn’t be easy for even the experienced mages, let alone someone that was still in training and still didn’t have a full set of skills, even if what she did have now wasn’t short of being impressive - both the skills she showed everyone, and the ones that she kept more hidden.

She had help, though. She looked to the raven on her shoulder, issuing a quick command before sending the thing flying off. “Get Tia and tell her to have Gabriella get those mana crystals she was supposed to be making… Wish we had a bigger supply but looks like I’m going to have to burn through it now, damn it,” she said…

Seconds later, the raven took off and flew off into the distance, and Freya threw a backpack over her shoulder and then started on the move. She had other work to do. Preparations. Hopefully, they would make a difference in how the city was burning right now.

She wouldn’t find that out until the person she had asked for showed up with what she needed, however...