"-so anyways that's how I found this gun at the bottom of a mine!" Teach proudly said, holding up what looked like a heavily modified flintlock pistol.
Ryder had finally found the pirate in what seemed to be a lounge of sorts, plenty of chairs and a sofa were the main lounging spots, then there was a surprisingly big fireplace that looked like it could easily heat up the whole room.
Teach seemed to be recounting his exploits to any who would listen, which at the moment was Melia, Laurence and Oto.
It was a surprising scene to say the least, but it did give Ryder the slightest bit of hope that things would get better, especially if Teach was already integrating into the group as well as he did.
It didn't take long for Teach to notice him, stopping mid story as he did so.
"Lord Ryder!" he happily called out, placing the flintlock pistol down before waving him over. "Came to hear one of my stories, did you?"
"Not right now, sorry." Ryder politely replies, what Shade had said before still lingering in his mind. "Though I did want to talk with you alone for a bit, if you don't mind that is."
Everyone seems a little surprised by this, Oto and Melia seem a bit suspicious of this, yet no one objects.
Laurence, upon hearing that, simply nods and stands up.
"Well, I thank you for the delightful stories, but I believe that is our cue to leave." he calmly states while looking at both Oto and Melia.
Neither one wants to leave but, with no choice in the matter, they stand up and follow Laurence out of the room.
"Take a seat, I imagine we'll be here for a bit." Teach casually remarks while putting his flintlock pistol away now. "After all, seems like you've got some questions you want answered."
With a heavy sigh and confused mind, Ryder takes a seat on a free chair across from Teach. "That obvious huh?"
Teach nods solemnly. "Aye, that it is. You've got the look of a Delver in your eyes after all."
"A Delver? What's that?" Ryder asks, though that same fog in his mind from before begins to stir around, as if he'd known but just forgotten what it was.
"Delvers are researchers who explore the deepest depths of our world, finding answers to things we don't know." the pirate begins, almost seeming to recount his own memories with these types of people. "You usually can tell them by a certain look in their eyes… no matter how well they're put together, or how deeply they explore themselves, they're still lost." he points at Ryder now. "I can see it in your eyes, you're more whole than you were before but you're still lost, lost in this dream of never ending twists and turns."
His words hit dead on, stunning Ryder and leaving him at a loss for words as he gazed at Teach.
Upon collecting himself all he can say is. "You're more perceptive than I would've thought."
"I need to be, can't be the best damn pirate in all of the world if I'm not perceptive!" Teach jokes with a carefree smile on his face. "Now then, what's troubling you?"
Ryder finds himself hesitating for a moment, rethinking this entire thing.
Would it really be okay to push forward with this, to ask about Alice's family behind her back?
He'd connected with her, sure, but that moment is still hazy.
Not all the details are clear… and he needed to know what awaited him going down this path.
So, he took a deep breath and began.
"I want you to tell me everything you know about the Wolfsbane family." Ryder said, voice only faltering slightly as he did so.
Teach seemed surprised as he heard this, his eyes widening a bit and sitting there in silence for a moment before sighing. "What brought this on? I figured you already trusted her if you recruited her."
"It's not that I don't trust her… it's just complicated." Ryder meekly replied, trying to make sense of his own rampant thoughts and questions. "Shade said some things that made me worry, that and there's this strange feeling I've had since I looked into Alice's soul-"
"YOU MELDED WITH HER?!" Teach shouted out of pure shock, unable to contain any emotion in that moment.
His voice boomed loud enough that it shook Ryder and made his ears ring for a moment.
Ryder covered his ringing ears for a moment, letting out a slight hiss of pain before replying. "Not so loud!"
"Right, sorry." Teach composes himself before sighing and shaking his head. "Still, no wonder you're all kinds of weird right now, you're still being affected by the melding and that lord hunter's words."
"Yeah, and it's why I need to know more about her family, their history and traditions, along with anything else you can think of." Ryder replies in a hushed but rather serious tone. "Please."
After mulling it over for a moment Teach relents, shaking his head slightly. "Alright, but this stays between us, alright? This is the kind of lineage that you don't want to make an enemy of."
Ryder nods, the anticipation making him worry more and more as he awaits the story.
With a sigh Teach leans back in his seat, scratching his beard slightly. "Well, where to start then…"
The Wolfsbane lineage is one that has been around since the beginning of Terminus, back in the early days when the continent was rife with dangers beyond comprehension.
In this time the mortal races struggled to survive, only being brought to greatness through the help of Primordial Man and those who served under him, among them was the first Wolfsbane.
A Woman so fearsome and knowledgeable of all matter of beasts that she was thought to be a goddess, her silver sword seeming like a divine light to those in need.
Yet she was nothing more than another mortal, one who had the willpower to never give up, to always learn and adapt to the situation at hand.
Once her time came, she was embraced by death like anyone else, the only thing she left behind was her silver sword… a blade that held her story engraved in its blade.
Thus the Wolfsbane's first major tradition was born.
Each hunter in the family would craft a silver blade at the end of their life, engraving it in a way that tells their story, so they could be forever remembered and lead the next generation even after death.
Though every blade is hidden away, only those of the Wolfsbane heritage know its location.
"Wait, silver blades are what now?!" Ryder asks in a panic, cutting off Teach's story at that moment.
"Divine symbols and essentially epitaphs." Teach calmly responds, clarifying the point further. "That sword Alice is carrying can either be just a hunting blade, or her epitaph."
Ryder leans back in his seat, absolutely floored by this revelation.
Had Alice accepted her death, is that why she was encased in ice in the first place?
Was she letting Reckham take over in hopes someone would come along to fully kill him?
No, that didn't make sense… not fully anyways.
Just what was going on here?
"You said that was the first tradition, right? Well what's the second?" he calmly asks, trying to maintain his composure and keep his thoughts collected.
"Ah that one, well we'll have to skip over some stuff to get to it." Teach mumbles a bit as he says this, trying to remember exactly what it was. "If that's fine with you then I'll skip to that point."
"I'm fine with that, so please, go on ahead." Ryder replies, getting ready to take in whatever new information may come his way.
Teach clears his throat, thinks for a moment and then resumes the story.
At a much later date in time the Wolfsbanes became more important than they would ever could've imagined, for they were chosen to be one of the balance bringers.
Warriors gifted with a special blade meant to help keep balance in this world, so that neither light or dark could run rampant.
One family had been gifted Dawnseeker, a blade able to carve through darkness with ease, bringing light to all in need.
The Wolfsbanes however were given the arduous task of wielding Shadowbringer, a blade that devoured light and ate through even the holiest of entities with ease.
However, due to the nature of this weapon, it was viewed as a cursed blade and any who wielded it went against the Creator herself.
Thus the Wolfsbanes became known not as a proud family who kept balance, but rather a group of interlopers planning to strike down the gods.
Yet they did not cry or plead for others to see them any differently, no, they carried the blade and kept all of Terminus safe no matter how they were viewed.
They performed their task with a heavy heart and the fiercest wills known to the gods, the only time their wills could be shaken is when it was time to pass the burden on.
When the sword calls to a new host then it is their turn to carry the burden, no matter how one would wish otherwise.
"Wait, but-" Ryder stops and thinks for a moment, recalling all the memories he'd seen while connected to Alice.
In the few later memories he'd seen he saw no such blade, could it have been too late?
Could that sword have already been passed onto the next person?
Was that why Alice had succumbed to Reckham and let him take over?
"The answers are likely far more complicated than you think, dear champion of mine." Yuria's voice sweetly spoke in his, surprising him and making him practically jump out of his chair in surprise.
"Yuria?!" Ryder yells out, completely surprised by the fact she was actually there. "Where were you? What happened to you?!"
"Oh nothing much, I got separated from everyone due to that daemon's blizzard and the reality warping of Alice's dream." Yuria calmly states, now hopping into the chair to take Ryder's place. "Simply put, while everyone else was trying to stop the blizzard, I was preparing for the real battle."
"How? Everything was frozen over!" Teach remarks, narrowing his eyes a bit as he glares at her.
"Every spellcaster has their secrets, it's my job to know and yours to figure out on your own." she cheekily replies, now leaning halfway off the chair with her usual mischievous smile. "Don't worry though big man, I'm not betraying anyone here, I just made our lives easier is all."
"And how did you do that?" Ryder asks, locking eyes with her and seemingly surprising her with this.
"Well, if you really need to know…" She begins, happily looking towards the crackling fire now, her mischievous smile only seeming to grow in size.
"I got help from a friend."
"Alright, everyone ready?" Aranea asks, placing her hand on the map in front of them.
The group had temporarily taken over the dining table, using it as a meeting area. "We'll go over the current plan one last time."
"Yeah, we are." Ryder says, nerves seeming to spike a bit more than he would've liked as he gazes down at the map of the area.
It was decently drawn, and seemed to show most, if not all, details of the current area.
"Right, then let's begin." Aranea points to what looks like a giant hole marked in the ground, or perhaps it was a pit? "This is the Pit of Absolution… or what remains of it at this point, most of it has been covered by a rather large tree created by some form of magic."
"Creation." Demea chimes in, her face a little more serious than normal. "The person we're going to be fighting against drank from what I can only describe as pure mana, pooled from beyond the cosmos… this gave her the power to create one ultimate spell from beyond the normal understanding of magic."
"Sounds like some pretty heavy stuff then." Teach replies, crossing his arms as he stares down at the map. "I take it that tree is heavily guarded then?"
"Not by your average enemies." Aranea replies, quickly pulling out another parchment and putting it on the table.
On the parchment was a curious drawing of what seemed to be holy looking soldiers, knights, and all sorts of warriors.
They were adorned with white armor with gold trimming, their weapons seemed rather ornate in nature as well.
"This is the legion that followed Saint Lucent on her journey, they were the best of the best in Resovult at their time, blessed by the new God of Light; Cecil."
"Wait, how are they alive?" Alice asks, clearly caught off guard. "I knew some of these people, I watched them march to their deaths…"
"By the Lord's Rite." Laurence calmly replies. "Each Lord chooses what they can do with their Rite. Since Lucent can't currently fight on her own, she instead brought back those she knew would fight on her behalf."
"She brought the dead back to life…" Alice mutters, looking away now.
"No, not fully." Teach cuts in, narrowing his eyes a bit. "As someone who used a Rite it's not that simple, she'd be able to raise the bodies with their memories but it's impossible to call a soul back without it being willing."
"Not without Dark Magic that is." Laurence chimes in once more. "Which brings us to our current dilemma… the necromancer assisting her."
"Ah, don't worry about that, you all can focus on just getting to Lucent." Yuria finally comments, her usual smile on her face. "I've already got that part taken care of, so there's no need to divert our forces thinner than they already are."
"You already got it taken care of?" Aranea asks worryingly, not liking that mischievous smile that never leaves her face.
"Yup, that's why I didn't find you guys sooner, I had my own issues to take care of." Yuria calmly states, that smile never leaving her face. "That was just one of them."
"Alright then… well in that case that means we can kill the enemies and not have to worry about them reviving, our big problem now will be navigating the dungeon and fighting the boss." Aranea continues, pulling out another two pieces of parchment now. "First of all, we don't know how much the dungeon has changed so this map here might be useless." she says as she tosses the map on the table. "Secondly, if you find a room that looks to be the pit, do not enter on your own, if you do you'll be fighting Lucent's personal guard on your own."
With this Aranea tosses the last parchment on the table, revealing a new figure carefully painted on it.
The figure looked vastly different from the rest of the soldiers, almost jarringly so.
Donning a dark silver armor that was heavily engraved with many different symbols, his helmet looked simple but effective with the only ornate detail being antlers mounted to it.
His weapon on the other hand was something terrifying, a giant two headed hammer that looked to be bigger than the man himself.
It appeared to be the same material as his armor, yet bore none of the symbols… in fact it looked closer to a slab of metal that'd just been molded into a rectangular shape.
If he could really lift it without the pole attached to it breaking then they'd certainly be in for a world of trouble.
"This is Tavish Durmont, Lucent's personal guard and a beast of a man who was unstoppable last we fought." Aranea begins, seeming to recall the bad memories from the beta days as she shook her head a bit. "There was no one who could beat him, and for good reason! His hammer is strong enough to break through anything that is not a great shield or some kind of magic armor."
"So what are we supposed to do then? Just dance around him and hope he doesn't touch us?!" Oto yells out, now seeing the entire situation as pointless. "For gods sake, what are we supposed to do against something that can one shot us?!"
"Oto." Feros' calming voice comes from his right, making the rash assassin freeze up.
With a reluctant sigh Oto looks away, waiting for Aranea to continue now.
"Well, that's only if we don't send in people we know could probably take the hits." She looks around the table. "Those being, Teach, Regis, Ryder… and Alice." She places four tokens on the map now, each seeming to represent one of them. "Additionally Melia will be tagging along, she may not be able to fight but her support skills will come in handy." with that a fifth token is placed down in the center of the group.
"Me?!" Melia practically shouts, terrified now. "I could die in a single hit there!"
"Yes, but that's why Regis will be acting as your guard." Aranea replies, motioning to Regis in the process. "She's the one who can most easily defend you and fight at the same time so no need to worry."
"That's still…" Melia begins, looking at Regis nervously before relenting. "...I'll go."
"Good, then that just leaves the rest of us, we'll split off into our own group of five and work on clearing out the dungeon-" Aranea continued the explanation though Melia quickly and quietly left the room, not seeming to be noticed by anyone aside from Ryder.
Curious and slightly concerned for her, he too quietly leaves the meeting, following behind her.
She had moved surprisingly quickly up the stairs and into the private study, hoping to find some peace and quiet only to be surprised upon hearing Ryder.
"Melia, are you alright?" his calm and surprisingly soothing voice came from behind her, it held nothing but concern.
Yet something about that concern sickened her to her core.
What was it exactly?
It wasn't anything to do with Ryder… no, it was something else.
Melia remained quiet before shaking her head. "No, I'm not alright." she honestly admits to him, yet refusing to look his way. "I'm really not, not with everything playing out the way it is." Her voice is shaky and filled to the brim with fear. "I never wanted this, any of this! I never wanted to be stuck in this kind of situation!" Without warning she falls to her knees, tears flowing forth as the emotions overwhelm her.
Quietly Ryder sits beside her, not really knowing what to say as her sobs fill his mind.
God, what would he say in this situation? He was always so good at handling these kinds of things.
[If I may, perhaps you should just speak from the heart? At least, that's what he used to do.]
Astaroth's voice rings through Ryder's mind, earning a solemn smile from him.
"You know, I never really stopped to think about how everyone else was feeling this entire time." Ryder softly admits, a wave of guilt and embarrassment rushing through him. "This entire time I've just been going from one encounter to another, losing myself in this strange dream-like world, trying to make sense of… well… anything really." He sighs a bit, looking down at the old floorboards now. "Even now I still find it hard to believe any of this is really happening… losing so many people so quickly… honestly I feel like if I stop moving for even a second everything will come catching up with me, that's always what seems to happen." there was a lingering pain in his voice now, dozens of memories racing to mind.
Melia sniffles a bit, quietly trying to gain enough composure to speak, yet still unable to look at Ryder. "You too?" her voice was quiet, but surprised and curious.
Ryder lets out a bittersweet and dry laugh, now seeming to barely be holding everything together. "Oh yeah, even now I'm still running, afraid of what'll happen when it all finally comes tumbling down." tears sting the corners of his eyes, threatening to escape now. "Some champion I am, right?"
"What did you come here for?" Melia asks, now looking at Ryder, shocked to see the usual facade of carefree nature has fallen.
"My brother he-" Ryder gets caught on his words for a moment, not finding the right words to say. "-he passed a little bit ago and I… I don't know, I guess I had hoped this would finally bring me some closure, to see his final piece of work with my own two eyes." Silently he wiped away a tear before continuing. "What about you?"
"My fiance." she replies with her own melancholic tone, yet a fondness hiding in it. "We'd known each other since we were kids, grew up liking the same things and had even planned on playing this when it launched… but I guess fate had other plans." her voice breaks a bit, the emotions becoming more sorrowful as she continues. "He passed away two years ago, he was diagnosed with Thelman's Disease and instead of trying any of the risky operations he just wanted to spend what time he had left with me…"
"Then, you're here for the same reason?" Ryder asks, now looking over to her.
With a nod and sad sigh she responds. "Yeah, I came here hoping for some kind of closure… but now I've gotten way in over my head and everything's come crashing down around me." she lets out one more shaky sigh. "I just… I never wanted any of this, but I can't stop now."
"Yes you can." Ryder replies, placing a hand on her shoulder now. "You don't have to do all this, you don't."
"What about you and everyone else then?! Am I supposed to just sit around and let you march to your deaths?!" Melia practically yells out, a range of emotions flowing through her now.
Anger, sorrow, reluctance, all merging like a storm in her heart.
"Yes, because we won't be marching to our death." Ryder says, trying to calm her down. "Everyone will be fine, especially with people like Regis and Teach assisting us."
"But-"
"But nothing." Ryder stares her dead in the eyes, a brief glimpse of Lily flashing through his mind. "Do not force yourself into a position you do not want to be in, just focus on surviving and keeping yourself happy."
Before Melia can respond another voice comes from the doorway, where a very surprised and apologetic Oto can be seen standing. "Sorry, Ryder, You're needed for the meeting again…"
"Right…" he sighs before looking back at Melia. "Seriously, think over what I told you." With that he stands up, moving to Oto and following him back downstairs, leaving Melia all alone now with her thoughts running rampant.
[Kind of hypocritical to tell her that when you're in similar situations, is it not?]
[You wouldn't listen to your own advice after all.]
Astaroth speaks to Ryder, trying to understand his actions.
"You're right, but she has a choice… as the one with this power I don't, they need me to push through." he silently replies, his resolve shaken but still standing.
"Besides-"
[You're used to this.]
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