Ghost Hunting [Job; Elvira Arcade & Vincent Gauss]

job info:

Today was quite an exciting day. Vincent, after his little grave robbing adventure with Aura, was excited to undertake another meaningful mission - this time to the Silent Glacier. He had learned quite a bit about certain intermediate rituals regarding necromancy thanks to the bones he had acquired from the Silent Cemetery, but for more advanced rituals he would need two things: permanently frozen salts and the bones of one who had died prematurely. The first of these two materials could only be found in caves in the Silent Glaciers and while the second could technically be found in any graveyard, Vincent thought it may be too inefficient to just dig up graves until he dug up the bones of someone who may or may not have died young. Thankfully, the job he'd found on the board that day had provided him with just the excuse he needed to visit a place which contained not only permanently frozen salts, but also most likely contained the bones of one who'd died young. It was perfect!

But who would he take? Vincent was more or less sure that Aura was unavailable and he needed to bring someone along, as the job was yet another B-Ranked undertaking. Just like before, Vincent would leave his own job listing on the board for a mage of rank C or above to assist him in getting rid of some wandering spirits in the Silent Glacier cave. Vincent detailed the time and location of the job as 8:00 in the afternoon a day from today and at the mouth of the cave in question. If no one answered his request, he would simply do the job alone - though for as active as Crystal Swan was, Vincent found it highly unlikely that he would end up with no one by his side at the cave entrance.

While Vincent was fond of the cold, he was by no means immune to it - especially when it would be as harsh as it was in the Silent Glaciers. Thus, he got to work doing what he knows best - fashioning a fire based enchantment that he cast on his robes or others clothing in general to mitigate the effect of the combination of low temperature and wind. It took a few hours and quite a lot of writing to get the enchantment in a more generalized and theoretical form. Then, it took another few hours and quite a lot of experimentation to get the general form of the enchantment into an applied form which wouldn't to set fire to whatever Vincent was enchanting, but by the end of the day Vincent managed to successfully draft his desired spell.

In all honesty, Vincent could probably have found an enchantment of the kind he wanted relatively quickly given how little time it took to create and how practical it seems, though he wanted to practice working with the volatile nature of the fire element more than anything else. With that little exercise out of the way, Vincent could finally sleep. He awoke the next morning, changed into his Apprentice's Robes, and summoned his Staff of Blaze to apply the enchantment. Once that was taken care of, he headed for the location listed in the job application to await his potential partner.

HP: 300
MP: 375 [+90 from Apprentice's Robes & Wizard's Tools, +5 from Apprentice's Robes, -20 from Staff of Blaze]
WC: 551
Total WC: 551

HP:300
MP:300

Thirty-five thousand jewels. Imagine all of the regents I could purchase with that amount of currency! I could buy an entire dragon scale, a few vials of lamia poison, a bag of werewolf fur! All of that just to get rid of some pesky phantoms menaces! Vincent thought. In his excitement in looking for a job that would send him to a dangerous area of the Silent Glaciers, Vincent had completely overlooked the reward for helping out the villagers seeking the assistance of guild mages in the first place. It's as if Neptune himself aligned the stars just for me! he thought again, wondering why he instinctively chose Neptune as his god of choice. The wonder quickly faded as he heard the guild ship descended once again to drop off another Crystal Swan member in the same area it dropped him.

Perfect! I knew I could count on someone to take up my request! he smiled, watching the approaching woman dressed head to toe in cold resistant clothing. "I think it's safe to say that you're not some lost traveler who stumbled upon this cave." he said, watching as the guild ship ascended into the clouds once again. They'd see it again when they were ready to leave, for there was no chance that they were going to walk back to their respective homes. "My name is Vincent and I will be your partner on this lovely expedition" he continued, beginning to lower the tip of his staff in the direction of his partner. "I whipped up an enchantment to keep us warm, if you enjoy feeling this biting cold I suggest you step out of the way" Vincent informed the mage before firing a thin, warm beam of red energy. Provided she stood still, the beam would spiral around his partner from head to toe before dissipating, leaving in its wake a feeling of warmth which would be comparable to that of a warm summer day.

"Now that introductions are out of the way, we should get to our shameless pilfering of the treasures of the dead and handle any spirits that think they can stop us." he said triumphantly before turning around and seeing two blue blurs rush towards him at a speed too quick for him to react beyond raising his eyebrow. Vincent felt a shooting pain in his chest as he traveled through the air quickly and past his fellow guild member before hitting the ground with an ungraceful landing - back first. He could definitely feel a lingering pain in his chest as he slowly sat up. "Oh... those blue horned rams. Knocked-" he took a breath, "-the air right out of me. They're highly territorial and settle around these cold regions. I didn't think that they'd take residence in a cave populated by spirits though. Fascinating." he finished with all the enthusiasm he could muster after taking two battering rams to the chest.

While still on the floor he raised his staff into the air and began to charge up a fireball. Without charging it at all, he fired it at one of the two blue horned rams which resulted in a bright explosion which emanated heat but didn't damage the other ram at all given the properties of his spell. When the smoke cleared all that he could see was that the ram just seemed angrier than it was before - his spell was quite ineffective. While unsurprising at this fact given that he didn't charge it, he was still shocked at how little it seemingly did. It rushed at him and Vincent fired off a fire based magical bolt at the creature before it could hit him, causing another explosion followed by a thud in the snow. One of the rams was subdued, thankfully before it could hit him again.

HP: 180 [-120 from 2 C-Ranked damage hits from Rams]
MP: 380 [+5 from Apprentice Robes]
WC: 638
Total WC: 1189

Note: Whenever I see "C or B-ranked damage" in the job description for enemies, I'll be referring to the spell damage table to keep all the numbers consistent for how much damage is taken and how much needs to be done to down an enemy.[/color]

The member 'King Zenshin' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Monster Dice' :

HP: 300/300
MP: 280/300

The Wandering Knight: 1/3 Hits, 4 Rounds Remaining
The Weeping Maiden: @King Zenshin +100 HP

Vincent rubbed at his aching chest while the other Blue Horned ram huffed and began to run at him. There was no way that he would be able to deal with it now that his only relatively quick to cast spell through a fire medium was used. Thankfully, choosing to take another mage along on this job already paid off as Elvira fired off some kind of shiny purple projectile into the ram currently threatening him. Unfortunately, now the ram had its angry sights set on her and Vincent was still a bit dazed from his earlier interaction with the animals - only defending himself through instinct more than any kind of cognizant thought. While snapping out of his present state, he turned his head towards Elvira and saw an armored knight shield her, letting out a loud metallic ringing sound. A knight? She can't be a summoner because of that projectile she shot earlier he thought, his mind already making magical evaluations for one which he'd never seen before.

To him, these Blue Horned rams were nothing more than mindless beasts acting on their primal instinct alone. Thus, he had no qualms with ending their lives; he didn't give their acts a second thought. Vincent was instead more concerned with the kind of magic Elvira was using. He liked to believe that he was more or less quite well versed in the subject of magic and so believed that he could identify any magic after not much more than a small demonstration. Before he continue to think on that question, his partner on the job looked at him and said that they ought to be more careful. "You're too kind, but I think you mean that I should be more careful" he said, still applying pressure to his chest with his left hand. The ram, after all, had only really hurt him on account of his belief that even though the rams were known to reside in this area that they couldn't reside in a certain part of the area.

Elvira walked up to him and told him to hold his hands out. Vincent was more than okay with complying with such a command, as he figured whatever she planned to do couldn't be worse than what the rams did to him. Vincent stabbed his staff into the snow, sending another shock of pain through his abdomen causing him to shut his eyes and groan internally before he reopened them and put his hands out as told. His eyes were drawn to the movement of her hands which revealed a small pouch full of what appeared to be cards. Without even looking through them, the card mage pulled out what Vincent suspected was simply the right card before putting it in his open hands. While he didn't get a good look at the picture on the card, he was definitely sure that Elvira was a holder mage which used cards as her medium. While not an uncommon choice of magic, what was peculiar about those which Elvira used was that they were no ordinary playing cards, nor were they tarot cards. They were something else, something... ancient? Vincent couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something about the magic he felt in the card he was currently holding that felt very reminiscent of the magic within ancient magical artifacts that he had handled in the past.

Before he could continue his analysis of the card, Elvira put his hands together and he could feel her channel her own magic into the card currently kept safe by his two hands. Before he knew it, water was pouring from the air just above his head and shoulders and into his clothing. Elvira seemed to be enjoying the complete soaking of his clothing, as evidence from her small smile. Vincent, on the other hand, was just thankful that he had enchanted his clothing earlier. He couldn't imagine the sting of the cold of the Silent Glaciers on some unfortunate soul with normal wet clothing. Before he could respond to her apparent useless drenching of his being, Vincent could feel most of the pain in his upper half subside, leaving only a small stinging feeling where once a terrible pain could be felt. He didn't know what compelled him, but as the water ran down his face Vincent decided to drink some. As he suspected, this was no ordinary water. With the little that he drank before the water stopped falling on him, he felt was moderate hunger or thirst he had disappear. Quite an interesting spell.

"Thank you very much. You've got an interesting set of cards there. A knight to defend you and a stream of water which can heal someone at the cost of their dry clothing. Would you mind if I ask what exactly the cards you're using are? I've never seen anything quite like them." he asked, standing and pulling his staff out of the ground before following behind Elvira. She'd pulled out some odd device to illuminate the cave, though Vincent had a better idea. He dispelled his staff and summoned his Wand of Light, allowing him to fill the cave with light as if he was the sun itself. Of course, he wasn't as bright as the sun, but he also didn't need to be in order to fill the entire cave with light. He pointed his wand to a spot on the ceiling and a small ball of light left his body and sat on the stalactite being pointed at. Vincent was no longer the source of light, but rather that ball which now waiting patiently in the air above the two mages.

"Useful, huh?" he said, scanning the cave for what he needed. Thanks to the light provided by his ability, he quickly found a stalagmite with permanently frozen salt growing all around it. "Perfect! It was here after all!" he exclaimed excitedly before running past Elvira and kneeling down next to the protruding rock formation. He pulled out a small knife and uncorked vial that he kept in a black drawstring sack by his side and very carefully scraped some of the salt crystals into his vial. Once it was about full, he put the knife down, pulled out a cork from the bag, and put the vial back in the bag. He filled four more vials in the same manner before figuring he had enough to salts to figure out a method by which he could turn regular salt into this specific kind.

He stood up, still dripping wet, and walked back towards Elvira. "That little episode you just saw me perform was one of the two reasons I took up this job. It gave me an excuse to collect those salts over there which can only be found in the Silent Glacier" he explained, hoping to seem less like a crazy person after his initial burst of excitement. "You'd think that these spirits would be more protective of their final resting place. I wonder why they haven't bothered us yet."

HP: 280
MP: 365 [-20 from Wand of Light; +5 from Apprentice's Robes]
WC: 1182
Total WC: 2371

HP: 260
MP: 250

The Sword Princess: 5 Rounds

Red Ghost: 248/320 HP
Blue Ghost: 130/160 HP
Wolf: 50/80

The member 'Elvira Arcade' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

"A hundred different wizards? I feel like I've heard this story before.... Maybe at the Academy? I can't quite recall. But a lost magic - I'm not surprised that you've decided to collect those cards for yourself with that kind of talent. I think I've only met one other person with what is called a 'lost' magic. I quite like the term, it's descriptive and concise." he remarked, intrigued at the woman's latent magical ability. To be born with a lost magic - well that was as unlikely as discovering a lost magic to begin with. Vincent's thoughts on Elvira's abilities were quickly interrupted by an ambush. Looks like the spirits finally took notice of us. Not only those, but we left perfectly good food outside for the wolves to find. I'll need to prepare an enchantment to dispose of corpses in a timely fashion next time I plan on hunting. he thought about the current situation, backing up behind Elvira.

As it turned out - Elvira was not only a mage gifted with the ability to harness the magic of these "Uncrowned Saint" cards, but she was also a swordsman. While he would have loved to see her in action and study the combat actions of a magical swordsman as compared to a conventional one, Vincent knew that there was something a bit more important that had to be done in the face of a wolf, a blue spirit, and a red spirit. Without much hesitation, he cast Blessing, a spell he created to amplify the fighting power of him and his allies. A massive and brilliant magical circle appeared beneath Vincent and Elvira, empowering them during this little scuffle.

Vincent followed up this move by sending a small ball of energy into the sky before it dispersed and became a small grey cloud. That'll be quite a surprise to whatever threatens us in a while he thought before promptly switching to his spell book "Herbology 101," causing the light in the cave to disappear, leaving only the radiance of his spell's circle to light the area. While it served as a more than effective light source for the entire cave, it would be pitch black once his spell wore off. That was not currently a problem, however, to Vincent decided to focus on the task at hand.

With a small incantation, he raised a colossal Venus fly trap from the ground in front of Elvira. His beast did what could be compared to staring at the wolf whose survival instincts kicked in. The wolf, fearing it would be eaten, and already injured, decided to cut its losses and go back to chowing down on the carcasses outside. The ghosts, on the other hand, were beyond instincts other than pure wrath. Vincent rushed at the blue ghost whose attention was currently on his monster and threw a terribly executed punch towards its face. Vincent's punch seemed ineffective, though he could feel it collide on target. While one may question the actions of the wizard who had limited physical combat experience, to put it generously, his punch had a purpose. Its primary purpose was to draw the attention of the dead sailor away from his beast and, once he had succeeded in doing so, Vincent commanded his monster to fire at his target.

A massive spike could be seen firing exiting the mouth of Vincent's plant while the blue spirit was preparing to retaliate against the foolhardy wizard. In the instant that the blue spirit was ready to attack, the spike pierced through its ghostly stomach, leaving in its wake a powerful acid. It bent over as if in pain and fell to the ground. While the projectile whose tip was now firmly dug into the stone ground of the cave didn't "kill" the ghost, the acid it left behind would certainly finish the job. That was the good news. The bad news was that there was still an angry red phantom and Vincent was out of tricks.

The red ghost did not take kindly to his ship mate being dispatched and, so, it swung wildly at Vincent whose only defense was a leather bound book. He held it in the direction of the first incoming swing, but the sword sliced through his book - dispelling it from his hands and only barely missing him. Vincent tried his best to dodge any incoming blows, though a couple made it to him: one on his upper arm and one on his shoulder. "I'm out of tricks right now Elvira, how about you?" he said, continuing to focus on not getting struck.

HP: 90
MP: 315
WC: 771
Total WC: 3142

[Note: "Blessing" spell gives Elvira +10 MP, +10 HP, +25% damage for its duration of 4 posts]

Red Ghost: 248/320

HP: 230
MP: 240

Vincent sat, well, collapsed onto the cold floor of the cave with his back against the rocky wall. He watched Elvira viciously duel the apparition. The apparent strength of her blows was staggering, though it seemed from his perspective that she was completely focused during the altercation. She feinted to create an opening and she took advantage when the opportunity presented itself. At that moment, Vincent was quite thankful that he would never have to face Elvira in combat. Eventually they were locked in a stare down, their swords pressing against each other in a kind of strength test. The ghost let out a wail and, in response, his partner did the same. Rather than some thought coming to mind as a result of this screaming, Vincent's eyes simply widened and he instinctively push towards the wall with his legs to get as far away from the two as he could.

Vincent could really only hope for a desirable outcome during the duel, for he knew that Elvira failed then they would both not be returning to their guild. I underestimated the danger that this job really presented.... I was so preoccupied with finding an excuse to gather some materials that I failed to realize that spirits were so dangerous he thought, watching Elvira use her magic to teleport into a more strategically advantageous position during her sword fight. The instant that Elvira's sword broke was one where Vincent felt most hopeless since, without a weapon, she would most likely be cut down at the hands of the vengeful spirit. Additionally, Vincent was momentarily blinded and quickly looked away as he brought his hand to his face to shield his eyes due to the bright flash caused by the sword breaking. In what appeared to be an act of desperation, his guild mate shoved what remained of the sword into the red spirit.

When Vincent's temporary blindness wore off he saw his ally horizontally in the air, kicking the sword wielding phantom with both her legs, sending it into one of the protruding stalagmites. He let out a large sigh of relief when he really parsed what just happened. The fight was over. They were victorious. "You're quite an adept swordsman Elvira. The most adept I've ever seen, though that could just be because I'm not from Fiore. As far as I know, though, this country isn't known for its skilled swordsmen-" he began, looking up at the ceiling of the cave. "-if you can, you'll find that being inside my magical circle might help with the exhaustion you must feel after that vicious engagement." The adrenaline was beginning to wear off, so Vincent began to feel the aching in his arm and shoulder which were bleeding at a not insignificant rate.

"Thank goodness that a river runs through this cave." he said aloud as he put his hand out and caused a pint of water to slowly rise out in the shape of a stream and come to him. Once the water reached him, he shaped it into a floating sphere and cast a spell on it which required no words nor any of his tools. The water began to glisten as the light from his magical circle bounced off of the previously dirty river water. Now that the water was clear and enchanted, he separated the sphere into to hemispheres: a south and a north. Then, he moved both hemispheres onto the two wounds he sustained during the fight. The wounds went from moderately deep gashes to shallow, though still present, cuts. All Vincent really wanted was for the bleeding to stop and for the pain to subside, at least a bit, and he was successful and both of those respects.

With a bit of a groan, he stood up and walked slowly towards Elvira. "I don't know about you, but I've never brushed so close with death. Well, not in an uncontrolled environment at least." he said, correcting himself as he recalled memories of experiments gone less than smoothly. He picked up the some of the jewels that fell to the ground upon the red phantom's... second passing. Mostly, though, Vincent was concerned with the gold as it was a valuable asset not only monetarily but as a reagent. He did his best to leave what seemed like half on the ground for Elvira to pick up, hoping she didn't mind that he took some of the spoils for himself despite contributing very little to the fight with the red phantom.

By this point, his fly trap had wilted and most of his spell weapons were 'resting.' "Do you think that we're done here? Was that scuffle enough to satisfy the villagers? I hope so. We're in less than ideal condition to keep fighting." he thought aloud once again while walking over to the skeleton of what was presumably a sailor judging by the tattered uniform. The bones look young. Perfect. he thought as he ripped the uniform off and began to kick at the skeleton's exposed chest. Eventually, the bones broke off into manageable pieces and Vincent picked them up and put them into his drawstring bag. "And that makes all three reasons." he said, pleasantly surprised that he actually found everything he needed.

HP: 160
MP: 330
WC: 879
Total WC: 4021

HP: 230
MP: 240

"Ya know...that used to be a person" Elvira mocked, watching him work while he collected some valuable materials. Vincent could tell that she was absolutely mortified by his desecration of the skeleton, which boded well for potentially more partnerships. "You're absolutely right! A young person too, died in what I judge to be his late teens. Quite a fortunate find if you ask me! You can't get bones like these without digging up enough graves to get you arrested for 'desecrating grave sites' or some other such law." he said, excitedly thinking about the kind of advancements that his studies on necromancy would make with these new materials. "I doubt many would care about what happened to their remains if given any good reason. The flesh eventually decays and leaves a perfectly good skeleton to simply waste away over the decades it remains underground. I can understand why, though. I'm not familiar with much in Fiore, but I'm no stranger to the reputation that necromancers have here." he said, unable to help himself from elaborating upon the restrictive circumstance surrounding the collection of particular reagents.


By the time he finished talking, his robes disappeared and he was left in a plain white t-shirt and pants. On the bright side, he was completely dry. It's times like these where I'm glad I prepare enchantments in advance Vincent thought, letting out a small sigh of relief. He was certain that he would freeze to death in less than an hour if it wasn't for his fire enchantment which, unlike his robes or spell weapons, lasted for as long as he decided. "Then again there might be more treasure back this way!" Elvira exclaimed, given Vincent a definitive expectation for what they would be doing. "I guess we don't have to cut our losses quite yet. While I don't have my robes anymore, I feel that we're strong enough to take on a few more ghosts. I don't know about you, but I really needed that little break." he said, ready to continue deeper into the cave. Without a light source, Vincent had to rely on Elvira to lead the way with her odd looking device from which light emanated. "You seem to be pretty hungry for treasure, do you have any particular uses for it besides paying bills? Looking to collect some more of your cards perhaps? I can't imagine collectors giving away pieces of their collections for cheap."

HP: 160
MP: 330
WC: 407
Total WC: 4428

HP: 230
MP: 220

I guess whatever she needs the treasure for is a secret. Oh well. I want to know more about these relics she uses, though... hm.... he thought, listening to her detailing of the cards and how they are viewed by others. "If they should be around since they can't be destroyed, then perhaps there is a way to find them. If these cards really were made by such a powerful mage using the magic of as many mages as you say, then I think it's a safe assumption to say that the magical energy contained within the cards is unique. Well, I might call that assertion a bit stronger than an assumption since I got to touch one of them." he said, setting up his request under the proper context. "If it wasn't already obvious, I study magic in all its forms. It's fascinating to me. If you'd lend me one of those cards in your collection I might be able to figure out some way to find others, or even how to use them more effectively. Of course, I would more than understand if you didn't want me to handle such precious treasures - though if they can't be destroyed you at least have one less worry." he said as they traveled further into the cave.

The prospect of studying ancient and powerful magical artifacts was not one that Vincent could ignore. Such an opportunity is half the reason why he decided to be a career wizard, after all. Eventually the two mages were rewarded for their continued spelunking, as the bow of a ship could be seen. Not only that, though, but something massive wrapped around it - a tentacle. It started the first of the two to see it, causing her to slip and fall after an exclamation of surprise. "Ah, a giant squid. These creatures are exactly what they sound like and this ship was unlucky enough to have crossed one's path." he said, the image of one of the monsters from his encyclopedia on hostile monsters encountered in cold environments popped into his head. Elvira quickly recovered from her fall and inspected the hull of the ship until finding an entrance. Vincent followed behind and was happily surprised when he saw a treasure chest. His partner didn't hesitate to crack it open and, before it knew it, his drawstring bag was full of half of the treasure located inside the chest.

"This is definitely a great find. We're going to be able to keep the electricity on for a long time with this kind of payout!" he said happily before turning his head to begin heading out. Before he exited, though, he noticed some light coming from outside. A red light and a dimly blue one. Vincent looked to Elvira and quietly said "I think we've found two more ghosts. Well, they've found us, but I don't think they know we're in here. Should we just jump out and fight them head on or do you have any clever ideas with your magical cards?"

HP: 160
MP: 330
WC: 509
Total WC: 4937

The member 'King Zenshin' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

HP: 230
MP: 175

Vincent felt as though he'd won the lottery with all of the fortune he seemed to have today. Not only did he find all the reagents that he needed, made a small fortunate, but he also had the opportunity to study a lost and powerful collection of magical artifacts! Of course, Elvira didn't necessarily agree completely to his request, but she didn't say no - and that's really what Vincent really cared about. "Get under the desk." Vincent complied. Seems like she does have some kind of trick in her deck after all. But to take on a pair of enemies that we'd just struggled against? This will definitely be something to carefully observe he thought from his hiding spot underneath the table. Soon enough, Elvira climbed into the treasure chest which supplied them with their small fortune and closed the top. What's this terrible feeling I'm getting? Impending doom? Dread? Is this from the mirrors? he thought, gazing upon the floating mirrors that were undoubtedly summoned by his companion. Before he could think on the feeling further, a sharp whistle came from inside the chest, causing the spirits from outside the ship to enter.

The spirits looked into the floating mirrors and seemed to drop their guard. What is she showing them? he thought before being startled by what happened next. Two icicles stabbed into the ghosts of the dead sailors which resulted in piercing wails. The shock caused Vincent to jump and hit his head on the underside of the desk. Despite the pounding in his head after that move, he remained as still as he could underneath the desk, knowing that there had to be a very good reason for Elvira to tell him to stay there. Before he knew it, the rest of the mirrors shattered violently in all directions, impaling the already "mortally" wounded spirits. When it seemed as though all of the shards dissipated, Vincent carefully made his way out from under the desk and rubbed his aching head. To his surprise, much more than the two ghosts were dealt with by Elvira's magic.

The tentacle of the giant squid, the captain's corpse, and a chunk of the ship itself were gone. "That's some trick you had in that deck of yours. There's something twisted about that card you just used. I hesitate to use the word 'wrong,' as I don't believe magic can be wrong, though I find myself returning to that word when thinking of what just happened. What is the name of that card?" he asked Elvira while she pillaged a small shiny object where the captain's body used to be. "Let's go." was her response. That's fair enough. She knows more than I do what exactly just happened and that response only confirms the thought about the nature of that spell. The card mage led the way back to the entrance of the cave. "The moon and the stars are the reason why I love to go out at night. You can't see the sky as it truly is during the day." he commented, looking up into space.

"I suppose we'd better just head into town for the night, we need to tell the village we're done anyways..." "Good idea. The village is just south of here." he said, continuing to walk away from the cave entrance. It wasn't too long before the two would make it to the village which originally hired them. The village was modest and had a handful of small homes and a larger looking hut that looked like an extended version of the smaller homes. The houses were all made out of logs from trees that cared little for the incredibly cold environment. "I figure the leader of the village lives in the longest house" he said, walking towards the house and knocking on the door. There was no response after a minute of waiting, so he knocked harder. Sure enough, the door opened and there was an elderly man rubbing his eyes on the other side. "Are you the mages here to clear out the cave? Do you have any idea what time it is?" he said, confused and slightly annoyed. "We already cleared out the cave. And no I don't. Would you mind if we stayed here for the rest of night?" "Already! We should've called in guild mages sooner. Make yourselves at home here, it's the least we can do. You'll get your payment in the morning." he responded.

"Thank you." Vincent responded, walking inside and looking around. There was just the entrance and two rooms on the left and right. The right room had a bed in it whose sheets were tossed to the side. His bedroom. The left room had two seats and a fireplace. Vincent walked into the left room while the old man told him something about going back to bed and sat down in the chair. He took a deep breath in and then sighed out. Vincent took a match from on top of the fireplace and striked it. Very carefully, he put it above the logs in the fireplace and cast a very basic fire spell to light the fireplace from the small fire on the match. "Well Elvira, it looks like we're going to be sitting in front of this fireplace until sunrise. If you want to tell me anything about those mirrors or any other of your cards that is like the one that summoned the mirrors, now would be a great time." he said, prompting her to speak once more about the most peculiar of the magic he saw today.  


HP: 160
MP: 330
WC: 938
Total WC: 5875