One Shot - 'Calling All the Monsters!'
The man leisurely sauntered through the street, his cane twirled between his slender, gloved fingers as he whistled tune that rang out in the eerie silence to complete the picture of his easy-going manner.
Clad in pristine hunter attire, standard save for his flawless white gloves and black fedora, his gaze remained straight ahead as though he felt no concern.
"Olly-Olly-Oxen-Free!" The man paused his whistling to call out, his gaze now moved to survey the surrounding area with a maniac grin on his lips. The sound of mass movement, boots against the ground and heavy debris thrown out of the way, burst into life all around him, down alleyways, behind houses and barricades, and even in the homes that surrounded him.
He took a deep breath, one sharp inhale, before he called out into the dreary night once more in a thickly accented voice.
"This is the Hunter Alexander - fawkin' - McKlaine, you bloody bastards! And I'm callin' all the munsters out to play!" He cackled as he then brought up the slender cane and jabbed the tip against the stone path several times, each time sending out the metallic clang of metal on stone.
Cries of defiance rang out in a cacophony as numerous Huntsmen burst from the alleyways and doors, wooden crates and destroyed doors preceded their entrances as they knocked the obstructions away.
Something was taunting them, and they would not be stopped from getting to it.
They shot out in a horde of rushed movement, only to pause as they came out into the open area they'd been summoned to by the boisterous man.
The Hunter gazed about the horde that surrounded him, taking in the appearance of the former residents of Yharnam. Many wore torn and tattered clothing, filthy with dirt and blood from their long hunts as the Huntsmen of Yharnam before and after their own infection. Numerous wielded pitchforks, others held blades, from butchers knives to short swords that were likely done with haste by a blacksmith flooded with too many orders.
Others stood much taller than the rest, thin and wiry in form and wielding a combination of weapons: some held plows, other held large saws and torches, and the rest wielded great spears that dripped a dark substance in the night light. The infection on these creatures was much more advanced, their appearances distorted in some way or another from what they had likely looked to be as full humans, but they still were not complete beasts.
Then there was the Huntsman's Minions, giant, burly creatures that wielded bricks and statues to bludgeon anything that moved, as well as the black clad, axe wielding Executioners that dwarfed even the troll-ish minions with their bulk.
The weapons held by each of the gathered individuals all showcased some degree of gore on it's business end. Swords, pitchforks, spears, and the blades of the Executioner's axes dripped fresh blood and had older blood dried to them.. Bricks and statues had brain matter and fragments of skull and bone plastered to the surfaces.
All-in-all? A fantastic audience.
"I called ye all here tonight, ye sons o' whores, to participate in my hunt!" Alexander barked out with a whimsical glee, his grin only widened as he took in the crowd. "What we're lookin' for, lads, is a group. A group of monstrous creatures that stand the height of a man, look like a man, and even talk like a man! But that group is not comprised of man, not anymore! It's comprised of creatures, murderous spawn in the guise of man, that seek only to hunt and kill anything that walks and isn't one of their own! Friends! Loved ones! Neighbors! Even the wee babes in their cribs!"
He cackled, and the horde began to creep in. Instinct, human instinct buried beneath the infection that made them what they were, cautioned them against a charge; no matter the size of their horde, they would not charge such a terrifying being.
"Can ye guess what I'm hunting, Huntsmen?" The Hunter's voice had lowered to a hiss, a bare whisper that the creatures themselves strained to hear from human habit.
Several dark masses dropped from the rooftops, each made their landing in the dark shadows behind the hordes.
"YOU." Alexander answered his own question with a shout and a piercing cackle. "Cry havoc, my friends! For tonight, we hunt the Huntsmen! My friends, who are hungry for death, ye are our target!"
As one, the dark masses threw bottles into the air, numerous bottles from each individual mass, and they all made their appearance in the shattering of glass and the billowing whoosh of raging infernos spawned from the thrown Molotov Cocktails sent into the crowd. The sudden threat brought the creatures from their stupor and, while several charged forth, the others turned to the unknown masses at their backs whom stood to reveal themselves as Hunters.
Alexander snapped his left wrist out and to the side, the cane grasped firmly in hand extended with a grind of metal on metal to form a long pole, and his right fished out a small sickle from beneath his cloak that then extended to form a side handle and large scythe blade. The two then snapped together in a moment as he brought the top of the pole and the base of the handle together in a shower of sparks.
He then stood, legs separated and his weapon at his back as he readied himself to attack heavily at the oncoming horde that closed in on all side.
"The Reaper says hunt, my comrades! For tonight, the Huntsmen are the HUNTED!"
Author's Note
Hello, Readers.
So, I figured I'd write a little snippet here as a One Shot to showcase my Hunter on a little hunt. I have always loved the idea, ever since I began playing the game of Bloodborne, that your character can be what you want him or her to be. That there is no real limits on how your character can fight beyond your patience and your creativity. The weapon combinations are plentiful, the armor sets unique, and the number of play styles, while not as many as the true Souls games, is many.
Then, as your character lacks any true personality beyond your choices in a few dialogue choices and your choices to either kill any NPC you see or not, you can create a vivid character with its own background story, fighting preference, weapon preference, motivation, and everything else in between.
It's easy to create your own idea for your character that you guide through the many challenges and fights that it faces.
Maybe I'll do more with this character, maybe not. A full story for Bloodborne, or the Souls series, does sound interesting due to how the games play and the stories without both.