Dionys Club

Tyran's vision slowly faded, losing what felt like gallons of blood by the second, all the while staring at the ceiling. He clutched the bloodied stump that was once his arm in a vain attempt to stop the bleeding, wincing at every sting that came with it.

He was so far gone, he couldn't even hear the conversation that Spawn and Crowley had. It sounded muffled like how one would hear words when underwater. Minutes that felt like hours passed before his nose picked up the scent of something burning. He weakly looked to the side to see the barroom had been set on fire and was spreading fast. The Hellspawn was nowhere to be seen, so no doubt it had gotten the heck out of dodge.

The fire then gave him an idea.

He raised his remaining hand - easier said than done in his current state - and drew a spell circle. His hand then started glowing a bright orange before igniting in a blaze, the fire not actually burning away the flesh on his hand. He then directed his ignited hand to his bloody stump, sharply inhaling in pain as the heat cauterized his wound. After a few seconds, the bleeding stopped, but the stinging sensation of burning lingered.

After taking in a few deep breaths, the ogre used every last ounce of willpower to move his body to the side, then to its front. He then used his one arm to haul his body over to the entrance of the club, a grunt for every few feet he crawled.

As the heat from the fire became more and more intense, he began to reminisce about his battle. It was exhilarating! The thrill of battle was the thing that gave him life! It is why he became a hunter in the first place. So he can move past the weakling witches and demons and engage in proper challenges like the mighty Slitherbeasts, or the Great Wyverns.

To think the Hellspawn was holding back… It would be all the more satisfying to rip his head off when he fights him again on proper terms.

As he was lost in his thoughts, Tyran failed to realize that he was already at the entrance to the club, passing by what looked like the residue of blood and organs on the way there. With several grunts of effort, he made it past the open entrance where a metal door once stood, taking in the fresh air away from the soon to be blazing building.

He grinned an ever toothy smile at his success. But his triumph was cut short when he stopped in the middle of the road, his eyes feeling so… heavy.

Before he knew it, everything was black.

"What is this guy made of!?" A Coven Scout asked as he and another Scout used all of their strength to carry the one-armed ogre to the carriage, "Bricks!?"

"Quit your yapping, Abb," their Superior Officer said, not even bothering to look at his struggle, "just get him onboard. You too, Cost."

"Easy for you to say," Cost muttered quietly to himself as both he and Abb finally hauled the mass of muscle onto the carriage, taking several deep breaths as it rolled away.

"Oh, Titan…" Abb exasperated, damn near collapsing on the floor.

"You're telling me…" Cost said as kneeled down to get some much needed rest.

Around them, several other Scouts and Guards set up perimeters around the burnt husk of the club, blocking the ever curious and ever annoying media reporters from sticking their noses in business that wasn't their own. Coven Scouts carried dozens of body bags out of the ruined and burnt husk that was Dionys Club. And by body bags, it was individual sacks.

As the carriage rolled down the street, the driver hummed a tune to himself to alleviate his boredom with hardly a care in the world. He then felt a bump hit his carriage, making him slightly jump. He then shrugged it off, continuing to hum the tune, before feeling another bump.

"I thought they repaired this damn road," he muttered as the bumps became commonplace. It wasn't long before he realized the bumps didn't come from below… but behind.

The wall behind him exploded into splinters as a gray arm grabbed him from behind and tossed him out of the carriage. A hulking gray form burst out of the wooden cage, surprising many onlooking pedestrians, Scouts, and Guards. With a roar, he tossed many aside with but one swing as he ran up and above alleyways, streets, and buildings.

In the far distance, Abb and Cost stared at the scene, jaws dropped beneath their masks. They felt a pat on their shoulders, turned around, and saw their superior officer staring at them with his arms crossed.

Abb chuckled, "we're fired aren't we?"

The Laboratory

Griffin listened to his fellow family heads, discussing the aftermath of last night and what it meant for them.

They weren't happy.

"If he can find one of our hideouts, he'll find the others," Wilkes said from her end in a rather fearful tone.

"This only happened because Crowley was a fool," Orlok interjected, "his gaudy domain was practically a magnet for unwanted attention. It's a surprise the Hellspawn hadn't found him sooner."

"Way to show you care, Orlok," Morningstar commented in an angered tone before addressing the problem at hand, "but Wilkes is right. Anyone of us could be next. It's only a matter of time."

Griffin finally decided to speak up, "I recommend we go into hiding," he held up a finger, "safe zones that are known only to a select few."

"Are you suggesting we cease all operations?" Morningstar asked, receiving a nod from Griffin. The witch sighed, "has it really come to this?"

Wilkes looked dejected at such an idea, "In all our years of business, never had we had to resort to such a thing!" She exclaimed.

Do you have any better ideas?" Morningstar inquired, "Besides, every moment we waste time discussing is a moment where this asshole gets closer to us!"

Wilkes looked like she was going to retort, but stopped herself and crossed her arms in a pout,

"Going into hiding isn't so bad," Griffin commented, "the solitude could allow us to find more creative solutions to our problems."

Draven exhaled, presumably in agreement, "you have no idea…" he said, rather ominously, which unnerved the others, except Griffin, who stood ever emotionless.

After a period of silence, Morningstar spoke up, "so we're all in agreement, then," he said in an irate tone, seeing the nods of all the Syndicate members. He nodded, before piping up again, "good. But there's another matter we have to deal with: The power vacuum. We'll have to find a way to fill it before any trigger happy dumbass gangs declare war over it."

"There's little managerial talent that Crowley didn't perform by himself," Griffin responded, ever full of solutions he conjured at the speed of light, "I recommend we split up the territory and crew."

"Evenly, I presume?" Wilkes commented with a smirk, receiving a nod from the scientist in response.

Morningstar nodded, "alright. We'll work on splitting his crew and turf. In the meantime, if possible, we'll also work on finding a replacement for Crowley's position as family head."

"Good luck," Wilkes muttered, which Morningstar heard and gave her a dirty look that she smiled at.

"Alright, then," the witch said with a sigh, " consider this meeting dismissed."

They all then left the call, the mist forms dissipating away for a few seconds… before Draven's spot reformed again, "they are gone?" he inquired the scientist.

Griffin nodded, "we are free to have a little chat."

The lich grumbled, "the Hellspawn has proven to be a major thorn in our side," he then raised his ever raspy voice, "if this continues to spiral out of control, my plans will be ruined!"

The scientist smirked, "you mean 'our plans?'"

Draven hissed, "yes. 'Our plans.'" He said with what little teeth he could grit together. He then composed himself as he continued, "but the fact remains that we cannot let this continue on."

"Everything is going on schedule, despite the hiccups," Griffin reassured him, "there is no need to panic."

Draven growled, "are you certain?"

The scientist silently nodded, "I'm known for a lot of things, my decayed friend, but lying is not one of them."

This seemed to calm down the lich as he exhaled, before proceeding to rant, "I spent centuries planning this. I will not let the Hellspawn ruin it," he clenched his hand for emphasis, his hand crackling with red lightning as he did so, "the Day of Unity is fast approaching. We cannot allow for anything to delay us, Griffin."

Griffin crossed his arms and nodded, listening to Draven's speech, "I have seen the rise of this empire…" the undead unclenched his fist, the lightning dissipating away in a flash, "... and I will see its fall."

Griffin nodded again, "I assure you, there will be no delays, my friend."

Draven nodded before the mist hologram dissipated away, leaving Griffin alone to his devices. He turned to a dissection table, where his still yet to be ready homunculus was laying, grabbing some tools and resuming his work.

Or he would have, had he not heard the distant sounds of crashing beyond his doors.

He looked up, his lips slightly thinning at the nuisance. The doors to his laboratory then crashed open, showing the eight foot, one-armed frame of Tyran, huffing and puffing to catch his breath. The form of Three-Eyes in the back, hugging the wall out of fear at his sudden appearance.

"Doctor…" Tyran said with a growl, pointing to his stump of an arm, "I need a patch-up."

Griffin did not verbally respond. Only putting his tools down with an infinitesimally smallest of huffs.

The Market

As the afternoon sun beat down upon the marketplace, Eda was busy ordering up another batch of her medicine at Mr. Elixir. She placed the bag of coins on the stand and received quite the hefty bag of elixir.

"Thanks for the discount, Morton," said the witch with a smile as the glass bottles inside the sack clinged with every movement, "I really mean it."

The elf smiled, "anything for my favorite customer,"

"Awww, stop it."

Morton chuckled a bit as he spoke, "you know, I should be the one thanking you, I was about to close up shop early."

The Owl Lady raised a brow, "how come?"

Morton just spread his arms around, signifying the area. It was only now that Eda noticed just how… empty the streets were. She's seen the streets on slow days and even they still had a few pairs of folks walking around or two. But here? It was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop on the floor.

Eda was flabbergasted at this, "whoa," she said before turning back to the Elf, "where is everybody?"

Morton shrugged, "it's this new vigilante guy. Everyone's scared to go out in the streets now." He placed a hand around his arm in fear, "I've never seen the place like this in my whole life."

Eda narrowed her eyes at that mention before speaking again, "me neither…"

"Plus they just announced a curfew that will start going into effect after sundown."

Eda's ears perked as she had a befuddled expression on her face, "curfew?"

The elf nodded before verbally responding, "got the notification on my Penstagram not too long ago. Any other shopkeepers still outside pretty much left immediately after that, too."

Eda now sported a worried expression. Had things gotten that bad in the span of what? A week? Maybe two? She brushed aside those thoughts and decided to speak up rather bluntly "things have been getting pretty crazy, lately, huh?"

"No kidding," Morton responded.

The Owl Lady sighed before letting Owlbert descend into flight mode, "well, I gotta get some things done. Love to chat, but you know how it is," she turned to the elf with a smile, "stay safe out there, Morton."

The elf nodded before grabbing the shutters, "you too, Eda."

The Owl Lady only nodded seeing the elf close the shutters. She placed the sack of elixirs over her shoulder and hopped on Owlbert, flying off from the streets.

"Should have known that creep would cause something like this," she muttered to herself as she flew away towards another part of the city, "it seems like everyday things are just getting worse and worse."

As she flew, she couldn't help but wonder what could have caused such a thing. She just had a gut feeling that something like this wasn't supposed to happen, but it was and she, along with the thousands, if not millions of residents in the Boiling Isles, had no control over it.

She cleared her head as she flew near a house in the middle of some street, grabbing the sack of elixir and knocking at the door. After waiting a few seconds, the form of her sister, Lilith Clawthorne came into view, big glasses and all.

"Edalyn!" She exclaimed happily, "what brings you here?"

"Just dropping by to say 'Hi'," the Owl Lady responded, then opening the bag and pulling out some elixir bottles, "and doing a little favor."

Lilith cooed, "aww, Edalyn, you shouldn't have," she said as she grabbed the bottles from her sister's hands, "do I owe you a favor, later?"

Eda dismissed her, "nah, don't worry about it." She then pulled out some more bottles to hand out, "I just did this incase you forgot to buy some yourself."

Lilith giggled, "I run a thorough schedule, Edalyn, so I find that highly unlikely."

"Yeah, yeah, it'll happen to you before you know it."

The two sisters laughed before Lilith spoke again, "I would chat further, Edalyn, but I'm rather busy at the moment. I'm still applying for the position of museum curator and it's kept me rather occupied."

"Yeah, I understand, Lil," Eda responded with a hand on her hip, "I've been rather busy myself, keeping extra eyes on Luz, making sure she doesn't get into any more trouble, you know?"

"Good luck with that," Lilith snidely said, earning a mock laugh from her gray-haired sister as she turned around with the bag of remaining elixir and hopped on her palisman.

Just as Lilith turned around back into her new apartment, Eda called out to her, "Hey, Lil!"

Seeing Lilith turn around, Eda did a two-finger salute, "stay safe."

The dark-haired sister smiled, "you too, Edalyn."

As Eda flew away, in the darkness of an alleyway, an arachnid demon watched, narrowing his four eyes before crawling to the walls of the alley, tapping an oracular orb, a hooded figure revealed himself in the orb.

"What have you found?" the figure said in his shrill voice.

The arachnoid clicked his mandibles before answering, "tell the boss when he wakes up that I found one of them," he said, rather vaguely.

"Excellent! Any details?"

"The former head of the Emperor's Coven lives at 0720 Allapoe Street," the spy said with a click of his mandibles, "as for the other, I believe she lives on the outskirts of the Isles. I'll have to continue my tracking-"

"That will not be necessary." the hooded figure interrupted, "we only need the one for now. Taking one will draw the others out, like sheep to the abattoir."

The arachnoid stroked a mandible at his words, nodding, "understood," he said, "I presume there is nothing else you need more for?"

"Nothing at all. You have served us well."

"A pleasure doing business with you, then."

The hooded figure nodded and grunted, before cutting off from his end, the image fading away on the crystal orb.

Castle Orlok

Dusk was beginning to settle down. The orange, red, and purple light painting the sky in a beautiful canvas of colors as the twinkling stars began revealing themselves with each passing minute. Eventually, the darkness of night took over, the only form of color being the perpetual lavender that shone in the twinkling stars above.

By the time the night sky settled, Orlok was already up and awake, sitting on his cracked throne, looking out upon a window that showed the forest ahead. He tapped his fingers against the arms of his throne in sheer boredom, a glass of blood in his other hand being swirled away as he did so. He took a big sip from the hema drink as his ears picked up the sound of an approaching servant, his ever meek frame hunched over.

"Master," the servant said, "I have something to inform you. Something of utmost importance!"

Orlok furrowed a brow, "spit it out, Reynolds," he commanded with a miffed tone.

"Our tracker has come back with information regarding the Clawthornes," the servant responded as he pulled out a scroll, "we have one of their addresses and locations!"

"Why would I care about those two nuisances?"

"Their connection to the Hellspawn, of course!" Reynolds enthusiastically responded, "Loose ends to be cut! Our spies have confirmed it!"

"I presume you carried out these orders while I was asleep?"

"Or course, Your Excellency!"

Orlok only narrowed his eyes, putting his glass of blood down on one of the throne arms and rising up from it, "and what exactly made you think you could deal with this matter yourself?"

Reynolds took a step back in shock, "M-master, I meant no offense-"

"SILENCE!" Orlok roared, interrupting the meek fool and walking towards him, "you dare try to assert yourself to the top!? Do you automatically presume that due to my ailing body that I am unfit for simple duties!?"

At this point, the servant tripped over himself as he took several steps backward, "no, Your Excellency!" He cried out, "I was just trying to-"

Orlok interrupted him, "spare me your excuses, you pathetic sycophant!" He exclaimed before covering his mouth to start violently coughing for a few seconds, each hack sounding worse than the last.

He wheezed in a few breaths before proceeding to question his servant, "do the other Syndicate members know about this?"

Reynolds stammered in his answer, "n-no, Master."

Orlok snarled before clearing his throat, taking several steps away from Reynolds. "Master?" The servant meekly asked, wondering what was going on as he followed Orlok to a long broken balcony.

"Take care of the castle," the vampire said as he turned to face his servant, "I won't be gone for long."

Reynolds hated asking questions to his easily irritable master, but his curious nature could not be denied, "where are you going, Your Greatness?"

Orlok only smiled, "tonight… I hunt."

Without warning, he spread his arms and dropped off the broken ledge like a sack of potatoes. His arms spread out as he fell, gaining fleshy membranes as his already long spindly digits elongate even further. His face became more distorted and animalistic than it normally was and he gained pale white hair throughout his body.

Suddenly, gravity stopped having an effect on him as he could control his momentum with a simple flapping of his newfound wings. His bat form then let out a blood curdling screech which echoed through the night as he flew towards Bonesborough.

Meanwhile, Reynolds watched all this and clapped excitedly, giggling like a child about to open a present. He couldn't wait to see what Master would bring.