It had started out so normal, hunting the beasts, slaughtering them for their blood, and moving on to the next area. She had chosen to wake in Central Yharnam, to kill the beasts there then work through the Cathedral Ward and then heading back to the Hunter's Dream to channel the collected blood for more strength. It was supposed to be simple, so simple; but no there is no such thing as simple in the world of Yharnam.
She takes in a deep breath of exasperation as she crosses the bridge, stepping over the corpses of the beasts that had fallen victim to their own trap of the firey ball of death. She's covered head to toe in blood, not hers of course. She shortens her axe and pulls out her blunderbuss, shooting the ogre to aggravate it. She steps back a bit as it comes charging at her, quickly sidestepping it before it can land a blow. As it turns around to face her she quickly extends it and lands a few good blows before stepping back again to dodge the attack that threatened to crush her. As it reared up to try and smash her again she quickly took her chance and impales the beast. She watches it fall to the ground in a heap of lifeless limbs, feeling the strength of the blood flood into her. She quickly spins around and buries the now shortened axe into the shield of the beastly man behind her, knocking his shield away then proceeding to bury it into his chest. Another body, more blood.
She staggers a bit as she takes a step forward, feeling a bit lighheaded. A headache pounding against her skull, she shakes her head and straightens up agian. Was it the Blood Echoes? Was it the maddening enlightenment of Insight? She doesn't know, perhaps its time to channel the blood into strength, perhaps that will stop the pain. She huffs and mentally scolds herself as she climbs up the stairs to Odeon's Tomb.
'You're still too weak, if you can't handle carrying this much blood within you how can you hope to defeat the Beast Starved of Blood?'
She looks up as she reaches the top of the stairs, spotting the lantern. She can't help but smile to herself, the thought of safety in this neverending nightmare is a great comfort to her. As she walks closer to the lantern she begins to feel rather nervous. She walks to the small beacon of safety and kneels down, looking concerned, Instead of the light purple glow that usually illuminates the lantern, a dark orb occupies where the light should be. None of the messengers even appear to the base of the lantern.
She looks around, feeling concerned. Like something is watching her, she keeps a hand on her blunderbuss.
She kneels down and holds a hand out to it, perhaps she can still reach the Hunter's Dream. Perhaps the darkness she's seeing is the Insight fooling her again. She tries to will herself to the Dream, to the haven. All she senses is darkness, unending churning darkness that seems to hunger for something...
As she tries to peer through the darkness she hears a loud moan and a bubbling sound. She looks up in shock and then looks down, seeing a pool of darkness at the base of the lantern. A messenger, a single little white ghoul fighting through the thick oily darkness with a small item in it's hands. It sees her and moans in desperation, holding out the small item to her. She sits there, frozen in shock and question. The small messenger keeps trying to hand her the item until small black hands start to pull it down. It moans even louder, begging her to take the item. Before it's pulled into the starving shadows she snatches the item and watches the lone creature fall into the depths of darkness.
She looks down at the item. A small bell, it looks similar to a Resonant Bell. A small purple glow emenates from it, strange symbols carved into the bell. It turns it over in her hands, looking at them in question, nearly all of them unrecognizable except for one; the Hunter's Sigil. She puts the bell in her bag and looks towards the lantern once more. Thinking...
What had just happened? Was it the madness taking a hold of her mind? If she can't make it back to the Hunter's Dream, then what would happen if she were to perish? Death truly seemed something to fear now if that were to be the case. She looks in her bag, 10 Blood Vials left and 18 Quicksilver Bullets left.
"Unable to reach your Dream young lady?" A cocky voice asks.
Out of reflex she quickly dashes forward and looks to where she was. Two figures. One in dark clothing, a dark aura surrounding him. A hood over his face, something from Yahar'gul or so it seems. A saw cleaver in his hand, and a pistol in the other. The second, a bit shorter, a long cloak draped over them. The dark material covers most of their face, but not their nose or mouth. A devious smirk decorates the visible part of their face. No visible weapon on them but strange symbols decorate the cloak.
She stares at them warily. "Who are you?" She questions, a hand reaching towards her trusty axe. She eyes the Blade of Mercy on her belt, feeling it will come in handy.
The taller figure chuckles. "You don't need to know missy, but I feel like YOU shold be aware of the current situation." He chuckles, adjusting his hat a bit. "You know...the hunt is awfully dangerous tonight. A pretty little something like you shouldn't be out on a night like this." He presses the trigger on his weapon.
She growls softly as she grabs her axe and blunderbuss. "What do you want?" She asks, louder, more defiant.
The taller figure laughs again. He sighs as he looks at her. "I think the...proper hunters...should be the ones roaming Yharnam and working to the end the long night. We shouldn't have to rely on outsiders." Before her eyes were able to register the movement she felt the razor ends of the blade bury it's hungry teeth into her shoulder. She screams in pain then quickly forces herself back, ripping her body rom the blade. She huffs as she uses a blood vial to relieve herself of the pain.
"You just can't make this easy on us can you?" He asks.
She scowls and extends the axe, the long reach will surely aid her. She quickly steps to the side as he buries the saw blade into the statue that was behind her. She takes what seems like an opportune moment and buries the axe into his back. She smiles at his yell of pain, but the satisfaction is shortlived when she feels a jolt of electricity shoot through her body. She yells in agony and is knocked to the ground by the saw blade. She pants as she gets to her knees, looking up the the two strange hostile figures. The shorter cloaked one as their hands out, pure energy swirling them. Shadows dance around their feet. The saw-cleaver weilding man's wounds begin to disappear, the skin and clothing healing seamlessly.
Fear is prominent within her, she knows. These two...they can't be from here she's never seen anything like them before! A regenerating hunter...and such a powerful arcane user. Stronger than any of the arcane users she's seen so far. She looks to the direction of the bridge, perhaps this is the only lantern she can't use. The one in Central Yharnam may work, or even the one in Iosefka's Clinic. She gets to her feet as she looks back at them, yelping as she barely bodges the next attack of the cleaver. Before they can attack her again she bolts, running down the stairs and past the two monsters she hadn't bothered to kill.
She hears them, both of them, maniacal laughing and pounding footsteps. Before she's about to run across the bridge she turns around and throws a Molotav Cocktail at them. The taller man dodges it, but the arcane user takes thr damage. Yelling in pain and anger. Before she has the chance to turn around and run again she takes a few swipes to the chest from the Cleaver Hunter. A growls as she steps back and quickly lands a few blows back to him. A few of the blows restore her vitality, wounds closing slightly. She uses get another blood vial. Before he takes another swipe she grabs her blunderbuss and shoot off a few bullets, six of them. That stuns both of them a bit and she takes the chance to run again. Quickly descending down the ladder. The elevator wasn't on her level and she had no time to wait for it.
As she runs through the sewers, past the corpses she yells in pain as she feels a sharp pain in her back. She pulls out the item that causes the pain, a poison dagger. She coughs a bit, feeling the poison coursing through her veins. She keeps running, doing a quick check in her bag, no Antidotes. She quickly uses another blood vial and runs up the small steps, seeing the ladder ahead. She can hear the footsteps of the other two behind her. She rushes to the ladder and sees another poison knife soar over her head and bury itself into one of the corpses.
She uses another blood vial as soon as she reaches the platform before climbing the next ladder. She feels the life drain from her with every step up the ladder. Her vision starts to go blurry as she stumbles forward onto the platform. Another two blood vials, the poison should almost out of her system by now. She looks down and sees the Cleaver Hunter almost up to the platform, she huffs as she bring the axe down, hearing the scream of him as he falls down. Before leaving she chucks another Molotav at the Arcane user to gives out an inhuman screech of pain.
She gives a soft chuckle as she stumbles forward a bit, using another blood vial.
'Damn, this poison is the worst I've ever seen...or rather felt..' She thinks to herself, going over to a ladder and climbing up. She looks at the dimmed window of the home of the ittle girl she had given the brutal truth to. She shakes her head as she walks through the gate quickly making her way through the area, only held up by one of the dogs that had spotted her. Quickly dispatched. She limps throught the town, going as quickly as she can, soreness plauging her body. Past the carriages, past the first set of stairs and up the next. She only gives the two dead townspeople a passing glance.
Up another set of stairs, past the chained coffins and battered wooden crates then up the next set. She sighs in relief as she approaches the lamp. Kneeling down and holding out a hand to it, she pulls her hadn away once she gets a better look at the lantern. It was the same as the one in Odeon's Chapel. The dark orb where the soft glow of the candle should be.
"You'd think that you'd learn after the first time." She looks up and dodges the thrust from the extended cleaver. She backs up a bit and finds herself close to the edge of the ladder, she can see the Clinic. It's an unfounded hope, but perhaps if she gets there fast enough...
Thinking over her possibilites leads her to lowering her guard, to which the Cleaver Hunter takes the opportunity and kicks her off the ledge. She yells in pain as she lands on the carriage, pain rushing throughout her body from the rough impact. She gasps and quickly rolls off the carriage as the Saw Cleaver impales where she was a moment ago. She uses another two blood vials, she feels it, the serious effects of everything. The soreness, the pain. Just because the wounds are gone doesn't mean the pain leaves. Three vials left.
As she's about to make a dash to the clinic, past the gates, when the arcnane user appears in front of her. She doesn't have enough time to react when the arcane user knocks her back with a ball of flame. She groans in pain as she crahses against one of the rusty railings that are meant to prevent one from falling to their death. She shakes her head as she stands up, watching the two hunters approach her. She clenches her fist, a Bold Hunter's Mark in one fist. She kicks down one of the rusty railings and takes a step back, her right heel off the ledge.
The tall one scoffs. "Really? You're threatening to jump? I suppose this truly does prove something about you." He presses the trigger on his Saw Cleaver again. "You're not cut out to be a Hunter." He chuckles.
She scowls, and as she's about to jump she hears something. So distant, but she heard it. A ring, a high octave chime of a bell. A small purple glow comes from her bag, she unconsciously pulls out the source of the glow. The strange bell.
The Cleaver Hunter freezes, staring at the bell. "Where did you get that?" He asks, a look of want in his eyes. He takes a step forward. "Where, did you get it?" He demands.
She scowls at him, hearing the chime again. A question, a question she must answer...to be summoned by this person's call and find possible safety...or to ignore and suffer her fate and the hands of these two. She looks at the fall behind her then looks at the two Hunters. "Go to hell." She says, ringing the bell, answering the call as she throws herself off the ledge.
"NO!" The man yells, as a purple mist starts to envelope her as she falls. Before she's whisked away she's struck with yet another poison knife, this time in her side. A gun goes off, the bullet burying itself into her right shoulder. Her vision starts to go dark as she's whisked away...to only God knows where.