TWILIGHT'S COVEN

"FOR MAD SCIENCE!! TIME TO GET EXCITED, YOU GUYS."

---

TWILIGHT'S COVEN NEUTRAL 10Y JOB DESCRIPTION

TWILIGHT'S COVEN JOB SIGNUP APPROVAL

---

It had been some time since Faustein’s last adventure which had been on that involved heading to the Cursed Lands on account of his clients being resident there. He had been requested by them to investigate a certain mysterious house with allegedly moving statues which only seemed to move when no one was directly looking at them. Apparently, a lot of the clients’ kith and kin had gone into the house in the past several months and mysteriously vanished without a trace to never be heard from again afterwards. So, finally, the clients had been fed up with having people go missing that they had come to rely on the services of a dark guild mage, aka Faustein, in this case to investigate these mysterious disappearances and to find out/neutralize the cause as well as to rescue any of the missing people if they were to be alive somehow after all that time. Naturally, since the job promised a hefty reward, Faustein accepted readily despite his initial grumbling when he was preparing for this job back at his mansion/clinic in Magnolia Town. It took quite a while to go through destroying all the enemy statues, discover their secrets, and to look for clues to the whereabouts of the missing persons, but finally Faustein was able to discover them…or rather their remains in the hidden dimensional lair of the enemy leader which was a gargantuan, corpulent, and hideous looking ogre statue. After that, he had to fight said ogre statue, destroy it, and only then could he escape the evil clutches of that accursed house and return to his clients for that job to make his report and collect his reward.

Since finishing up  this most recent job, Faustein had once again returned to the grind of his daily life in Fiore. That is, he had gone back to working further at his profession as a practicing, full qualified physician-scientist mage yet again since this was the field in which he had established himself and been maintaining his position and renown in as one of Earthland’s preeminent authorities, the other being cutting edge magical and scientific research. Of course, his daily life would not be complete without his true love beyond all else, namely his ongoing and ever-burgeoning mad science research, though it was considered as “mad” in the eyes of others in his acquaintance, but not by him, of course. Thus, time began to march onwards yet again for him from then and all was relatively peaceful for some time after that once more, with him managing to start making some more major progress in his next series of even more exotic and not exactly ethically/morally viable research projects. Alas, this period came face to face once again with yet another rather abrupt intermission, which came in the form of yet another job notification which was sent to his iLac as per the usual protocol regarding job request notifications which he had established with his clients ever since he had acquired his iLac some time back.

---

OOC:

Appearance (CREDIT TO DORAN 2019 FOR ARTWORK):

---

Spoiler:

"FOR MAD SCIENCE!! TIME TO GET EXCITED, YOU GUYS."

Hrmhhh….egads…no…t…aga…in…an…d th…is slu…m…ber…was just now…begin…ning to…set i…n too…

Faustein grumbled under his breath thusly as his keen ears picked up the distinctive sound of the special ringtone he had programmed to be associated with important job request notifications, that ringtone being none other than the “Voices of War” soundtrack which he had acquired a while back as a special DLC reward for being a frequent player of one of his most favorite iLac mobile game apps of all time, the one called “Oda Nobuna’s Ambition”. However, having ample financial reserves was of great importance to him and to his ability to continue and maintain his line of work aka his beloved, ongoing, ever-burgeoning mad science research, so despite his body and mind protesting so much, Faustein had no choice but to drag himself up off the linoleum floor of his lair of ev…er his pure and wholesome sanctuary, aka his research lab/staff quarters in the Elysium guild hall where he had been fast asleep due to crashing after several consecutive weeks of self-inflicted sleep deprivation.

The cause for said sleep deprivation, of course, was the current research he had been doing toward the development and final formalization of his second magic system which he had been in the process of developing over the past several months. However, since he now had a job to do once again, he realized he would have to put that on temporary hold until such a time that he returned to Sin and to the hallowed halls of the Elysium guild of which he was an active member since his induction some time back. So, with that in mind, he begrudgingly set himself to task of booting his mind and body to full operational capacity, a feat which was not easy considering his systems had completely crashed after having been in overdrive for the past several weeks due to his obsession with his research.

Alright, now then, on to the examination of the job request…vampires…haunted guild…locket to be retrieved…my, what an intriguing job this will be…even more than that house with the moving statues and missing people…

Faustein mused silently thus as he read over the job request message attached to the notification that he had just gotten on his iLac. So, with that in mind, he set about readying himself for the job looming before him and at the end of this process he donned his signature physician-scientist’s outfit which also donned as his custom light armor suit as per his usual protocol. After that, he finished by putting on his smart holographic glasses and strapping his spacetime manipulation chronograph to his left wrist as per the first of the final steps of his usual job prep protocol once again just as he had done on his most recent job. Once that was done, he holstered his iLac and took his military grade backpack with the rest of his field equipment and other on-the-go tools and items inside and set off to exit his lab/mansion yet again just like with his previous job. After exiting his lab/mansion, he headed over to a private transportation company in Magnolia which he usually used due to personal acquaintance with the owner and hired transport to the Cursed Lands region, intending to save the use of his spacetime manipulation chronograph for the return trip back home just as he had done on his most recent job which was also located in the Cursed Lands region just like this current one.

The journey there was yet again a rather lengthy one due to the sheer amount of distance between Fiore and his destination which was well outside of Fiore’s territory, so Faustein used this time to read over the job request once more thoroughly so that he could, as the saying went, hit the ground running upon meeting with the clients for this job. So, the next several hours passed without much incident and at last, Faustein was dropped off at the Cursed Lands region.

First, I have meet with the client and see if I can acquire some more data about these vampires and any other enemies as well as potential problems that I may face on this job…

With that in mind, Faustein set off for the client’s designated meeting place which was an old and now abandoned guild hall located deep within the Cursed Lands region, making sure to keep his wits about him.

---

OOC:

Appearance:

---

Spoiler:

"FOR MAD SCIENCE!! TIME TO GET EXCITED, YOU GUYS."

It took a while to find the Haunted Guild area of the Cursed Lands region because it was hidden deep within said territory, but eventually Faustein did manage to find it. Once he did, he spotted the abandoned guild hall in question and headed there while staying on alert for any unsavory surprises. Upon reaching his destination, he saw someone standing near the guild hall and so he went to meet them.

“Are you the client for this job request to rid the Haunted Guild locale of its unholy denizens, perchance?”

Faustein inquired thus and then fell silent to allow the person to begin his narrative.

“Indeed, I was once upon a time a staunch member of this coven of vampires and related denizens, but they expelled me from their fold for being too free-thinking and disobedient towards the leader of said coven…”

The vampire client paused to check whether Faustein was following his narrative and upon seeing Faustein nod in the affirmative, he proceeded

“As if that were not heinous enough, the leader of the coven, the one they refer to only as ‘The Count’, stole my precious locket before excommunicating me. Hence the bipartite nature of this job request, you see.”

Faustein nodded once more to show he was still following, but then the client gave him a brief once over with a skeptical look on his wizened face and remarked while gesturing to Faustein’s only slightly built frame

“You have my gratitude for accepting my job request, of course, but you do not seem to be any sort of combat mage, more like a twig of a researcher who belongs in a lab somewhere peering down a microscope at some specimen…do you truly have what it takes to handle such formidable foes as the one you will be facing soon?”

Faustein smirked as he heard this as his clients often began by doubting his prowess in battle due to their preconceived notions about his background as a researcher and intellectual and the usually expected lack of physical might.

“You are correct, of course, I am no combat mage and am a researcher as well as physician by trade, but since you doubt my capacity to fulfill your request, let me demonstrate a small sample of my ability to allay your concerns by using those Thralls that are heading towards us right now as the demonstration specimens, o ye of little faith.”

He said with that same smug smirk on his thin, cyanotic lips as he sensed a small horde of Thralls racing towards their location. It did not take exceptionally long for said first wave of enemies to confront Faustein and his vampiric client and soon, both were beset by a group of about twenty of them. From what Faustein could tell by his cursory examination of this group, the individuals seemed to vary from young and demure Fioran woman to the manliest of Joyan cat folk. Additionally, Faustein could not sense even the faintest glimmer of magic signature emanating from them and each one of them was as pale as the ominous looking moon that was hovering above the Cursed Lands region at present.

---

OOC:

Appearance:

---

Spoiler:

"FOR MAD SCIENCE!! TIME TO GET EXCITED, YOU GUYS."

To that end, Faustein merely pointed at the group of twenty Thralls which currently surrounded him and the client while uttering the specific single word incantation to activate one of the abilities of his newfound “Bringer of Death” special power with his usual rich baritone but melodious voice

“Mortem.”

With that, his mana flared up inside him, activating said ability of that special new power of his and then it caused a wave of jet-black darkness to issue forth from his body in an ever-expanding spiral which grew rapidly to encompass all twenty of the Thralls surrounding both him and his vampiric client in its effect range. In the next split second after he had activated this ability, all twenty Thralls immediately collapsed to the ground one after the other with all of them dying in the brief time it took for their bodies to hit the ground beneath them with soft thuds as accompaniment to this spectacle.

I see, so then this ability can indeed only be used once per encounter only as I surmised from the data on it that I gathered during last time I used this on that other job I did recently in the Cursed Lands region…Perhaps I will test out one of the other abilities of this power on one of my future jobs…This is becoming quite intriguing…

Faustein mused thus silently and after that, Faustein turned to his vampiric client and observed him to gauge his reaction to this demonstration. As would be expected, the client was stunned speechless for several moments and even stepped back a pace or two with his face showing visible consternation, a sight which made Faustein’s smug smirk that was currently playing upon his thin, cyanotic lips grow wider still, now stretching ear to ear and this, in turn, made his sallow face with its marked signs of extreme sleep deprivation aka the dark circles under his eyes and the various facial scars and suture lines on it present a truly hideous sight.

“Wh…how did…?”

Faustein chuckled briefly and cut off the client with his interjection at this point

“That…is a trade secret, but more importantly…are you now convinced that I will be able to handle this job?”

The vampiric client regained his composure upon hearing Faustein’s query and then cleared his throat briefly before responding

“Y-Yes, of course…I am now confident that I can put my trust in you fully…now then, as added insurance, take this silver dagger with you. It will undoubtedly be of great use to you since, as you probably know, vampires and related such entities tend to be quite vulnerable to silver.”

Faustein nodded and added to this list of vampiric weaknesses with his own knowledge

“Their other weaknesses are fire, holy/light magic, lightning, consecrated water, garlic, and white ash wooden stakes if memory serves…for being such apex predators, it seems they have their fair share of Achilles’ heels…would that be due to their unique constitutions, perhaps?”

He inquired with his curiosity on the matter being reflected in his voice with a raised eyebrow and a quizzical look on his face to which the vampiric client responded

“Perhaps that is case indeed…but we can discuss that at length later once you finish this job at hand. You had better make your way inside the grounds of the Haunted Guild before any more groups of these Thralls come to greet you…”

There, Faustein heard the vampiric client give pause for a few moments and then he continued his narrative, now with a remorseful look on his face and this sadness evident in his voice as well

“…Poor things, I do feel sorry for them now that I look from an outsider’s perspective…They are basically livestock which are kept alive only to be remorselessly fed upon by these vampires and their kin daily…There is only blood left within these empty husks because they lost both their lives…and their humanity…when they were first enslaved by the heartless creatures you have come to hunt here today. So, if you do meet any more of them, I ask that you do them the final service of putting them out of their misery as that is the only thing that we can do for them at this point…”

Faustein nodded one last time with a somber look on his face and after taking the silver dagger, he headed deeper into the Haunted Guild.

---

OOC:

Enemies:

• 20x Thralls: 20/20 killed via use of "Mortem" effect of Faustein's "Bringer of Death" Ascendant Ability
  
  
• 10x Shadow Beasts: 10/10 remaining
  
  
• 5x Vampire Fledglings: 5/5 remaining
  
  
• 1x The Count: 1/1 remaining
  

Appearance:

---

Spoiler:

"FOR MAD SCIENCE!! TIME TO GET EXCITED, YOU GUYS."

It took a while, but Faustein finally managed to enter the maze of shadowed hallways and halls that made up the first section of the Haunted Guild building. As he made his way further and further down one path after the other, throughout these halls of the Haunted Guild and the hallways connecting each one, Faustein’s keen ears could still detect the haunting screams of the tortured mages who once resided there whilst the guild was still active in its heyday, which were now presumably used by the ‘The Count’ like lullabies for putting the vampires under his command to sleep

It is times like these that make me glad that my mind is insured against such mental assaults since most regular people without such psychic defenses would no doubt consider these cries of anguish to be shockingly unsettling to them…

He chuckled as he contemplated the issue briefly and then moved onwards, but before he could reach the next area of the Haunted Guild building, he met his next wave of enemies in one of these hallways. These were a pack of ten Shadow Beasts each of which was basically a demonic canid creature that had an emaciated quadrupedal body form, razor-sharp fangs dripping with caustic saliva which burned holes in the floor of the hallway and piercing red eyes which were constantly emanating an eerie glow.

Well that was certainly quick…but this is not good…I can feel my caniphobia starting to exert it influence…

He mused silently as he sensed a rising wave of panic spread throughout his body and that ended up causing him to flee the scene, heading ever deeper into the building. Unfortunately for him, the path he chose led him to a dead end after what seemed like several hundred meters of sprinting at his top speed. Even more unfortunate was the fact that the ten Shadow Beasts managed to catch up with him even with the large amount of distance he thought he had put between him and them and as they came near, he could hear them howling and growling as they coordinated their movements to surround him in a semicircular formation, though with his back to the wall both literally and figuratively, they at least could not encircle him completely.

“Impressive, you lot seem to possess incredible movement velocity…and that combined with those keen canid noses of yours with their enhanced olfactory perception is the reason you were able to hunt me down so quickly…well, so be it, a fight to the death it is then.”

Faustein said to the Shadow Beasts even though he knew they could not converse with him due to lack of the ability to speak human language. While doing so, he went into a battle-ready stance with left foot forward, his right foot positioned behind, his left hand extended forward, and finally his right hand held at his right hip. Then, he set about observing the Shadow Beasts which were tensing up currently, a sign that they were about to pounce at him in short order.

That saliva looks dangerous…I had better avoid it if and as far as possible…but their movement speed will be quite irksome to counter…

He mused silently while making sure to not take his eyes off the Shadow Beasts and in the next minute or so, as he had anticipated, they did pounce on him at which point he began his attack by aiming a couple of punches at one of the nearest Shadow Beasts followed by a couple of kicks at the second nearest of the Shadow Beasts. He made sure to wait till they were in midair to execute this maneuver to enhance the chances of him hitting them accurately and at the same time to decrease the probability of the Shadow Beasts dodging his attacks. Due to this, he was able to land his attacks on both Shadow Beasts that he targeted this round and managed to kill both when the dust finally settled on the scene, thus leaving only eight remaining in the pack.

---

OOC:

Enemies:

• 20x Thralls: 20/20 killed via use of "Mortem" effect of Faustein's "Bringer of Death" Ascendant Ability
  
  
• 10x Shadow Beasts: 2/10 killed, 8/10 remaining
  
  
• 5x Vampire Fledglings: 5/5 remaining
  
  
• 1x The Count: 1/1 remaining
  

Appearance:

---

Spoiler: