Hunting Vampires Step One: Obtain Book

Rolling, rolling, rolling.

The member 'Samira Nassar' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

"Ah, thank you for coming, Samira!" The older gentleman known as Easton stated cheerfully once he opened the door to his office and saw with his own eyes the renown mage standing on the other side. "It has been a bit of time since I last heard from you. I sent that message for you weeks ago."

"Yes, I apologize for the delay. There were other matters I had to give attention to first. You were not the only one I was forced to ignore." Technically she wasn't even supposed to be there even then. Most of her spirits were absent for the next few days though for some meeting or gathering. The ones that remained didn't care where she went or what she did to pass the time. She figured that she may as well take advantage of it while she could. The first thing she did was read through her messages and letters. One had been from Easton requesting her help for something important. He was truthful when he said it had been a while since the sent date, but he was thrilled to get a response at all despite the delay.

"Understandable. I couldn't imagine the sort of daily tasks the more renown mages of the world have to see to." Easton motioned for her to step further inside the room and towards one of the empty seats that were in front of a fancy and clean desk. "Please have a seat. I have two more guests that I would like to introduce you to. It has to do with why I requested your help, and after receiving your message I have sent for them as well. They should arrive momentarily. I'm afraid that you arrived much quicker than I anticipated after receiving your reply. I keep forgetting those with magic have easier access to quicker travel methods than those of us born without the ability to wield such power. I can send for tea if you like while you wait."

"Just water is fine if you do not mind," Samira told him as she walked over and claimed one of the empty chairs for herself. Tea wasn't something she particularly enjoyed. Tolerated the beverage was more accurate, and politely accepting if given no choice.

Easton nodded in acknowledgment. "I will inform Nancy then. She will bring it to you while I attend to something else real quick and meet the other two guests. It shouldn't be too long of a wait." With that said, he excused himself and left the room. Samira was alone now. Free to leave her seat and look through the many books on the shelves that lined the walls. The water she had requested arrived but she was alone once more when the servant made her exit from the room to move on to another task. The silence was noticeable. Rare was it that it was so quiet in the surroundings around her, but also in her mind. Having most of the spirits gone temporarily was freeing. Relaxing even. Though, the silence abruptly came to an end when she heard voices on the other side of the wall in the hallway. From the sounds of it there was some arguing and the voices got closer until the door to the room swung open with so much force it slammed against the wall. The source of that rather rude and loud entrance was a tall man that looked as if he had seen his fair share of battles recently. Bandages were wrapped around his neck and the long dark hair did nothing to hide the scratches and injuries on his face. His body was covered in black leather armor, but Samira was certain there was likely more bandages underneath there as well. Samira could hear a woman down the hall shout "Thayor!" and mixed in with that was Easton shouting "Mr. Darkmore, please wait!" That was enough to deduce the name of the man, who seemed none to happy to be there. Or maybe it was just him unhappy with her. The hardened glare sent her way as he stomped towards her was giving a clue to the latter.

"So you are the one responsible for the deaths of my brothers and sisters?! A fancy spell weaver at the top of the social hierarchy that makes people in need wait for weeks?! You might as well have-" The man stopped shouting and looked Samira up and down while she nonchalantly took a sip of her water. If she didn't know any better he seemed to realize just what he was staring and yelling at. He must have thought the aid of some tough looking powerful wizard was standing there, but instead was a woman that looked like she was dressed for some fancy ceremony in a desert civilization instead of being ready to tackle a mission. Samira could admit the golden headdress and other jewelry might have been a little much, but the white dress was appropriate enough as a basic outfit. It wasn't her fault that some of her more mischievous spirits switched out her normal attire and insisted on not leaving her alone until she walked out in public with the fancy accessories. The man that had just exploded into the room didn't seem impressed regardless. His face squinched in disgust and he turned back to the door where Easton and a woman wearing the same type of armor and had the same dark features as Thayor stood. "Is this a joke? She looks weak enough that she wouldn't make it out of this town unscathed. And you expect her to return with what we need?!"

"I assure you that she is very capable despite appearances." Easton spoke up. His own nerves had settled now that Thayor had stopped his shouting and was seemingly more calm than a few seconds before. Not that, that meant he was pleased. No one in the room seemed to be.

"So I have heard," added the woman that had yet to be named. "We do not follow news of the mage world, but some names are nearly impossible to avoid hearing. We are aware of several."

The younger man scoffed. "So capable that we are put on a waiting list while she goes about the business of the common celebrity."

Samira ignored that comment and instead glanced over towards Easton. "Am I going to be filled in on the details so this makes more sense? I do enjoy listening to conversations without participating, but this one is starting to get more personal than I would like."

"Yes, I suggest that your... Concerns be saved for after I have had the chance to explain the details to her. It was ill suited to tell in the letter and I had not had the chance to do so prior to your arrival. Do you have anything more to say? Hm?" Easton gave Thayor a stern stare, daring the younger man to attempt making more unnecessary comments. A mere scoff is all that Thayor let out as he looked away and then walked over to a corner of the room and stood there, leaning against the wall. There he remained, listening, but didn't care enough to add more to the conversation.

(Word Count: 1213)

"First introductions. They already know you so I will jump to theirs. The man is referred to as Thayor Darkmore, and here," Easton motioned over towards the woman, who bowed her head respectfully, "we have Amelia Blackbird. They are two leaders of a secret hunting organization known as The Order of the Ebon Cross. They specialize in eliminating our world of the more dangerous kinds of the supernatural. In this particular case vampires. They are specialists, but something unprecedented has happened to where they need outside help. None within the organization use magic. Its their way and because of this their old methods, as reliable as they are for them normally, are now not enough. Many of their hunters have been killed as of late."

"He speaks truth," the woman, now known as Amelia, added in and took over the explanation after that. "We thought to be dealing with the common vampire, but none of our traditional methods have worked on these new targets. Our most experienced hunters that have survived these encounters believe this to be a breed that has far surpassed the enemies we have known for generations. This is a new breed, or more accurately, an ancient breed. One that we are incapable of fighting with our limited knowledge."

"I am afraid that I lack the knowledge in that area to help."

"Yes. That is so. We do not come to ask for advice. It is believed that the knowledge we need exists elsewhere, and we need you to claim it for us."

A retrieval mission. Fantastic. Further proof that even high ranking mages could not out-rank the most basic of quests. Samira had expected more details to be given and waited, but when none came she saw fit to just ask about it instead. Something was preventing the hunters from getting what they needed for themselves. "Is that so? Does this knowledge happen to be protected by a guardian of sorts?"

"In a way. There is a legend among our organization from our first generation of hunters. It speaks of a master hunter that could kill any supernatural being and from his hunts he had collected vast amounts of knowledge that was never fully passed on to the organization itself. They remained scattered throughout many of his hide outs and bases of operations. Some we claimed centuries ago. Leads of new locations pop up from time to time and before our recent troubles began we were able to find out about a new possible location. If it is one of his, then there may be information about this breed of vampire located there. In a codex most likely. The problem we have run into is that this house has a barrier around it that prevents us from entering. We require someone with magical capabilities to either destroy it or pass through, and bring us the codex within if it exists. As you have been told, we have none within our ranks that use magic. I am grateful that my family has been close to Easton's for generations. It is through him that we were able to find a mage that can be both trusted and capable. Or so he has assured me. You see, just hiring any guild or mage to do this for us is out of the question. I was very limited with my solutions because of it."

"Hmmm, and where is this house and codex you mentioned?"

"Within the Cursed Lands. I do not know what will be inside the house once you get through but I expect the common supernatural entities that you would find in haunted houses. Unless you are lucky and it's completely empty of all of that. There is a chance the defenses the ancient hunter put into place long ago still work. I wouldn't get my hopes up on that though."

"I suppose I could take a look and bring back anything significant. It would not be my first time in those lands." As unfortunate as that was. Samira suppressed all urges to cringe at the thought and memories of the past experiences within those lands. That poisonous mass of land had way more visitors than it should have. She could have refused the current mission that was being given to her. Although, it seemed as if they were all already thinking that she'd take it on without question. No doubt Easton had already confirmed that she would long before she even got there to know what was even going on. Oh well. It wouldn't take long by her estimations. It was a pretty basic sounding mission with most of the details there.

"As I would have expected from a mage of your rank. Here," Amelia reached into her pocket and brought out a worn necklace that had a pendant at its center. "This pendant has a sigil upon it that will protect you from any harmful spirits that you may run into while inside. Its use may not be as powerful as the nukes mages are capable of, but in my time I have seen very few mages that possess the ability to ward off even the most basic of ghosts."

Samira gratefully took the pendant. It would come in handy for certain, and there would always be appreciation for any help that could be provided regardless of how minimal it could be. "Thank you. I am sure that it will provide great aid to me." Considering her handling of ghosts wasn't anywhere near expertise level, she really needed that thing just in case. After that, they said a few more words and exchanged more information that would be needed for the Wizard Saint to complete the mission. The meeting was then concluded so the hunters could get back to relay the news to their organization, and also so Samira could get started on the job they had given her.

(Word Count: 983
Total So Far: 2196)

Later on in the day, Samira had arrived at the location where the book supposedly was hidden away. Like the name 'The House of Lost Souls' suggested, it was indeed a house. One that was not only randomly located in the Cursed Lands, but was also all alone in the middle of no where, in a country that itself could have fully been labeled in the middle of no where. Some might have been alarmed to be standing there in a place that could have spooked many, or be dangerous, but it wasn't the first trip to the Cursed Lands for the summoner. It wasn't even the second. At that rate she might as well find an abandoned house and renovate it so she could have a home there as a proper excuse to be there.

Thus far, Samira didn't notice anything particularly abnormal about the house. No 'lost souls' to be sighted. Maybe it was in reference to the graveyard she had passed by to get there. She didn't know. It was likely to be weird inside if the house worked like the Haunted Castle did too. After glancing around the outside of the house to see if anything suspicious was lurking about that would be cause for worry and finding nothing, Samira walked up the path that led to the front of the house and up the stone stairs to stand on the porch. Se didn't feel anything. If there was a barrier there to keep the magic-less away from the house she didn't pick up its magic signature at all, not even when going through it. Maybe it had been removed and the hunters were unaware. Well, she was there now. She might as well go ahead and claim the old book herself like they all planned instead of reporting that detail.

Since the house was abandoned, Samira didn't see the point in knocking. The door to the house was pushed open easily, the old worn out door making a creaking sound as it slowly moved. Many cobwebs were in the way of the doorway, the whole house even. Samira swatted through many just to make her way inside. Thankfully, no spiders were currently on them. It was hard to see though for the house was pretty dark, and the eternal dark lands didn't provide much of a light source through the boarded up windows. Certain pieces of furniture could be made out as her eyes naturally adjusted to the darkness, but that was hardly going to be enough to go deeper into the house and locating a hidden book. Her eyes glowed and shifted to a purple color as she activated a spell to better help with seeing in the darkness. That was an improvement. Now she could see the details of the awfully decorated Halloween house.

Since she had been informed that the book was probably hidden away in a special chamber connected to the basement, Samira saw no reason to head upstairs. Not that she trusted the staircase structure to be so intact that it could support her weight if she had to go up there. That helped in fighting off her curious nature. Her steps took her down a hallway. More cobwebs, toppled furniture, broken patches of the floor, and even open doorways got in the way, but she was moving around them all in her search for the proper door to the basement.

There was a sudden sound. A creak on the floor that had not come from her. Samira stopped and turned around to look behind her, but of course nothing was there. The sound of a door closing behind her in the other direction then broke the silence. Then the doors she had passed by also closed and locked themselves. Oh joy. It was going to be like her trip to the Haunted Castle. Samira could only hope that the troubles were on a lesser scale than back then. The summoner kept moving in her search, ignoring the whispers that she started to hear. Whispers that spoke a language unknown to her. Or was just gibberish to begin with. The voices mixed between male and female. Adult and child. Sinister and cheerful. Yep, best to be ignored. She'd be there all day and night trying to decipher all of that, and she was no ghost whisperer anyway.

Eventually Samira had found the kitchen. It was just as messy and uncared for as the rest of the house. She went by the counters and tables, immediately setting her course for the closed door on the other side of the room. That had to lead to the basement. Something stopped her though as she moved for the doorknob to open it and check on her theory. The air around her suddenly turned cold to the point that she could see the air she had exhaled.

Samira could guess well enough the cause for the sudden drop in temperature, and it wasn't the event of some ice mage losing control and the next ice age. There was a ghostly presence around her. She had recalled that detail given to her from the conversation back in Easton's office. More so though, she also recalled that the charm given to her would work against the ones that tried to do harm to her. She lacked salt, sage, an exorcism book, and even magic that was useful against that type of spirit so even the Wizard Saint was very grateful for the charm that Amelia had given her. It wasn't as if there was much room to run as a last resort.

Thus far the ghostly presence didn't do anything more than gives her the chills. Perhaps it could sense the charm on her person and decided against doing anything rash. Or it could have just been a more peaceful ghost that was curious or just passing by. Samira waited a few moments for something to happen, for it to appear, but instead the temperature rose again. The ghostly spirit had left the scene. For now. There were bound to be others even if that particular one did not return. Still, Samira was relieved nothing more happened. She didn't want to find out if the charm could fail or not and be left with little alternatives at handling ghosts.

(Word Count: 1053
Total So Far: 3249)

Samira opened the old door that led towards the basement and then started to carefully descend down the stairway that led into the dark depths under the house. Once at the bottom, she took a moment to check out the scenery there, and for any clues that would help her access the hidden room. Thayor and Amelia had mentioned their best guesses based on what they knew about the legendary hunter, but of course it wasn't a one hundred percent certainty. Thus far though, the house itself and the basement were pretty ordinary for a property of a known supernatural hunter. The room was pretty void of anything particularly interesting. Just a bunch of random tools, wooden work benches, shelves that had cans and jars of... stuff that were unlabeled and truly unrecognizable by that point in time. Yep. Preeeettttyyy ordinary.

She had the thought of moving and pulling certain things out of place to see if that triggered one of the walls to spread open and reveal the hidden room, but Samira wasn't having much luck with what she tried. It wasn't until the return of the cold temperature came back that the hideout was revealed. Samira heard a clicking sound from behind the wall, and then one of the walls parted, revealing not a room but a metal covered square door on the floor. The wandering spirit must had opened it, or something of that nature. She wasn't going to stick around and think of why. Waving the dust that had risen away from her face, the summoner stopped what she was doing and went over towards the newly revealed door. The metal covering had a design of crosses and the same marking that was on the charm that Amelia had given her. That was close enough! It had to be the correct one. With all her might, Samira knelt down and grabbed the old handle that was on it. Pulling with all she had in her, she managed to get it open with a lot of effort. Natural strength wasn't her strong suit at that moment. Yet, she managed. Barely. If she had to resort to exploding the door open with a spell it might have taken the house with it.

The hidden door led to yet another staircase that led further underground. Shocking. What was surprising though was that she could see the flickering lights of torches down there. That wasn't normal and gave her pause. It wouldn't stop her though. She descended downwards until she was standing in a room that was decorated with weapons, armor, books, trinkets, hunting trophies from kills, and other gizmos and gadgets that a magicless hunter needed. Well, that finally proved that she was not in the wrong abandoned house that had a residency in the Cursed Lands. One interesting thing to note was a coffin that was standing upright against the wall. Samira couldn't fathom why someone would need one of those in their basements, except for one pretty obvious theory. Vampires stayed in those, correct? And the whole mission was concerning vampires. It made sense, but at the same time it didn't. Why would a vampire be in a hunter's house? Unless it was brainwashed to be the guard of a long dead man's possessions. Very odd. But well, there's always the hope that a randomly placed coffin was just an empty one. So her focus went towards the pedestal that was on the opposite wall. There was a book there that was separated from the rest, as if to imply its significance over all the rest of the common useless books in the room. That most certainly had to be the codex.

After approaching the codex, Samira took the time to flip through the pages a bit. Lots of hand written passages were on the pages, in a language that she could not really read, however. The hand drawn pictures were easy enough to decipher, and the hunter's name was also written on the first page. That seemed like a good enough indication that it was the correct book, but without being able to read the pages it was a guess at best. As a just in case measure, Samira decided to just take all of the books in that room. Using Janus' powers, the books vanished into their own mini portals, and piled up in her personal vault that would be emptied of the books as soon as she returned to Easton and the two hunters. They might not be too thrilled at getting a whole library when they asked for one book, but oh well. Better safe than sorry. She had no intentions on coming back.

The main codex she also let disappear in a swirl of magic particles; it too having been transported. That made the little vampire that had silently moved out of the coffin and was creeping along behind and towards Samira very unhappy. Not that he could do much about it. Her guard wasn't exactly down. She had already predicted that possibility. Added on was the fact she had been a part of a monster hunter guild in the past. No mere vampire was going to be able to sneak up on her from behind without using some sort of magic to do so. The one in the room with her did even attempt it. He was of the weaker variety.

Samira turned around and started to make her way towards the exit. The vampire she didn't even acknowledge. The only thing she did was release a small amount of energy that pulsed around her and spread through the entire room. The vampire was struck instantly due to his proximity and being unaware of it about to happen. His body became transparent, and he could not move. He had been banished partially into a different realm and was now inbetween two. The effect wasn't permanent. He'd be able to move again in time as it wore off. Destroying him wasn't really necessary, after all. She got what she wanted, and she'd be out of the house and back to civilization long before he even had the opportunity to head upstairs to follow. And so, with that out of the way, Samira headed back the way she came. Her exit from the house went smoothly and without interruption. If there were more vampires in there, they left her alone or were unaware. With the protective charm the wandering ghosts also kept away from her. The continuous whispers also went ignored. Now there was just the final part of making it back to town and giving the collection of books to the hunters.

(Word Count: 1110
Total So Far: 4359)

3500 for To Hunt a Vampire
500 for D Rank Freeform

For the grader, House of Lost Souls board was wiped out during the board clean up a couple of years ago. It used to be in the Cursed Lands however so hopefully that will suffice to meet job location requirements.