My team consisted of a Mage, a Heavy, a Medical Priestess, two Demolitions Experts and an Engineer. We willing went into the notorious ruins known as the Divide to claim the Old One's Relic. It was supposed to be a simple recovery expedition; get in, get the loot, get out, split the pay and party. If only things went as they were supposed to.
The entry went rather well with little to no conflict. We met two Hunter Confederates and two Darkmoon Knights supporting each other near the surface levels against some Dwellers and Watchers. Normally, the Confederate Hunters exclusively support other Confederates while the company of the Darkmoon Knights support those of the Blue or track down and eliminate enemies of the Old Royalty as Agents of Vengeance. So seeing those two factions working together was a surprise. Once we exchanged greetings and information, the Expedition team and I went further into the ruins. Normally, Watchers tend to work alongside the Dwellers to maintain the ancient structure and its deeper catacombs even though the Old Lords have no longer been part of this world for untold millennia. It's strange encountering descendants of the Old Lords alive in our time. It seems that the legends about how the Old Lords were of great power were not exaggerations that often plague ancient cultural folklore as The Descendent was not an easy battle when he began to attack us. Upon his defeat and subsequent death, a seal was released and we were now one level closer to the Relic and newer challenges.
Beyond the Surface levels of the catacombs are the crypt depths and that is were more of the Ancient Ones were said to have physically resided before the transcended beyond their physical forms. Unfortunately, some of the life that was common amongst the ancients still resided here and they were much stronger than the Dwellers and Watchers above. The first tough battle was with the legendary Watch Dog, a giant canine seemingly composed of flame and rock with molten stone for its blood. The Priestess and Mage were working overtime to keep all of us in fighting shape with extra power behind us while the Heavy and I took a constant offense. We needed a rest after the Watch Dog and temporally established a makeshift camp. After our much needed rest, we continued down into a land that looks similar to the fabled Fireside, Realm of Light. This was by far one of the calmest areas strangely, as there were no Shadow Wraiths or even simple overgrown spiders just calm air. The central chamber of this level had only two inhabitants, the Champion of Embers and the Tender of the Light. Together, those two have provided safety, supplies, and a massive morale boost since we knew that the end was near. The Champion of Embers and Tender of the Light lead us to a gate that would take us to the last level of the Divide and finally get the old One's Relic: The Abyss.
The Abyss is a void like space of all-encompassing dark that is almost solid. I felt genuinely sorry for the Priestess as she was more spiritually attuned to Creation and was able to "feel" more of the Abyss around us. The teachings of the Old Royalty stated that the Dark of the Abyss was dangerous and unnatural since it would be an end to things. However, being down in the Abyss didn't feel dangerous. Instead it was quiet and calm, there was a peace to it. With no light, since that hindered us by fading into the eternal dark, we wandered until we finally found the Old One's Relic: A pendant and a tear stone. Once we claimed the artifacts, the dark surged around us and when we thought we would be consumed, it deposited us to the surface and we finally saw the truth of our world. We say what the Ancient Ones can see and we could physically see the Great Ones and we all reacted to the new insight differently. The Heavy simply rested, the Priestess got on her knees and wept, the Mage ran off to learn new Mysteries, the Demolitions Experts wandered together and the Engineer began to create inhuman works of marvel.
I can do was laugh.
New story idea that was floating in my head for a while. Hopefully this is much better than my RWBY story but to be sure of that please review and provide constructive criticism. Thanks for reading.