The One Eyed Hunter

[Kudzu Aura]

In the village of Izoold, there was a wooden door built into a great stone wall, the village jail. Inside it, a man with shaggy green hair, an eye patch over his right eye while that same side of his face had a cross shaped scar going from his forehead to his jaw, was currently hanging upside down while chained to the wall. The jailer outside however, merely spoke to the man, as if the this was a normal thing.

"So Keith, what's pissed you off enough that you turned yourself in before you wrecked the docks in a brawl... again?"

The man, Keith didn't say a word, and only glared for a few minutes.

"I got some bad news, and I need to calm down." he said, "I'll let you know when you can let me out."

"Will do Keith.... Hey, what was that news anyway?"

Keith then groaned and glared at the jailer from his position. His mind then went to what he read in a letter he recieved from his older brother, Charles, that morning when he visited the Katz guild.

Dear Keith,
I have some news you might be interested in. It started out with Mother, as usual, ordering me around like a servant, even having me go and do another task in the middle of one she gave earlier. During this, I met with Katrina.... and by that I mean I felt the Waldrip Rage and went to the source. Anyway, she seems to have started travelling, and after begging her to see mother for terms of inheritence, she, her travelling companion, and a young man she offered to pay for coming along stayed for dinner.

Mother, of course, was rude to Katrina, well, ruder than usual due to the incident with Butch, and, well, Katrina's companion actually STRUCK mother for her rudeness. I was making dinner, but I definitely heard the slap as our neice went upstairs. Later, I fetched her for dinner, and then it happened. Mother was once more rude to her, and I don't know, but, our neice's companion, a man with pale skin, long brown hair, and unnatural good looks.... revealed he was in fact, a monster. He became his true form, and frightened mother to death. The hired man revealed his ability to use magic as he sent a fireball at the monster, but, I do not know why, Katrina used her shield to block them. The monster roared in my face, and I sat in horror as he made a whole in the wall and then grabbed Katrina, kidnapping her.

Brother, please, I beg of you to find that man and our neice and rescue her as soon as possible! I fear he may do terrible things to her... I... I will stay in Palmacosta and take care of mother's funeral, I would join you in your search, but, I am too broken a man to fight. My sincerest apologies, I know that in the past I was once one of the best fighters in Palmacosta with my razor wires, but now I am a shell of a man, and I need time to recover. I trust you will save our neice, please, rescue her as soon as possible!

Your remaining brother,
Charles Starsvelt.

After reading that letter, the one eyed man roared in anger and had went straight to Izoold to preemptively turn himself in before he accidentally caused a brawl at the docks, and possibly kill a man.... leading to his current state.

[RedLyonArchfiend]

Another lone hunter heard the roar of his comrade, and quickly turned his head to see what all the fuss was about. He was filing a report about how he suspicions about one of the town's residents about being an undead in secret; but he was a Descardes, he was always paranoid about the battles of the past being waged once more.

He walked over to cell that Keith was in, and knelt over to the man. "Uhhh... You ok there, buddy? You look like you'd just seen a bigass ghost or something...."

[Kudzu Aura]

Kieth looked at the man who spoke and glared with his one eye.

"No, not a ghost, just trying to calm down before I go after the bastard who kidnapped my neice and killed my mother... my neice being the greater reason." he said, his current position of hanging upside down starting to cool him off.

[RedLyonArchfiend]

"Oh? well whodunnit, sir? T'was it a lich? A vampire perhaps? Ooh, maybe even a werewolf!" Ross said, almost as giddy and excitedly as a boy who'd just been handed his first firearm and sent off to battle. "...I mean, er, uhm, I'll help you rescue the fair maiden!"

[Kudzu Aura]

The one eyed man just stared at the weirdo in front of him.

"Hell if I know. All the letter my brother sent me was that the monster looked like a red bat winged thing and his disguise was a man with brown hair and yellow eyes." He said flatly. "And I won't need your help. I can handle myself against monsters, studied the remains of several I... preserved."

[RedLyonArchfiend]

"...If this is who I think it is, you need my help. The man you just mentioned is a Dhampir, a half-vampire, half man hybrid. I know him as Lucien Phera, an ally of my clan in our eternal war against the lich-Lord of Evil, Matthias." He said, scratching his head. "...My name is Ross Descardes. I think we can help each other here."

[Kudzu Aura]

"This bastard is an ally of yours?" Keith asked, a bit of anger in his voice. "Why the hell did he kidnap my neice?!"

[RedLyonArchfiend]

Ross winced a bit at Lucien being called a bastard. "Look man, Loose Luci' didn't mean anything by it, bub. He was just probably looking out for her, or at least thought he had the best intentions. Don't worry, we'll find him."

[Kudzu Aura]

"Loose... Luci?" Keith said, suddenly getting the image of a perverted man violating his neice. "Jailer, let me down. NOW!" he said, and the jailer soon rushed in, unchained the one eyed man, and watched as he stood up. Grabbing his crossbow and bolts, he looked at Ross.

"Tell me everything you know about the culprit. Strengths, weaknesses, abilities, history, the whole bit."

[RedLyonArchfiend]

"Ummm... OK, I'll tell you everything my dad told me about Lucien Phera. He is a Dhampir, and the son of my clan's immortal enemy, Matthias Tepes. He's capable of dark magics, and wields a powerful holy whip that can kill horrible beasts... Not to mention he IS a horrible beast himself. But he is still our ally in the neverending fight against evil, my friend."

[Kudzu Aura]

Keith collapsed the crossbow and put it in a holster at his side, right next to the quiver of bolts.

"So, he's the son of your enemy huh?" he said, "How do you know certain personality traits didn't rub off on him? For all you know, he may be alone with my neice right now, doing Goddess knows what to her."

[RedLyonArchfiend]

"...Uhm, Lucien Phera is no monster. A dhampir he may be, but..." Ross said, scratching his head a little bit. "I assure you the danger she may or not be in is not immediate, but if Lucien 'kidnapped her', he may have just been trying to protect her."

[Kudzu Aura]

"Kid, Monsters are monsters, he may be part human, but I doubt he has full control over the insticts of the monster half." Keith said, exiting the jail and looking around Izoold, the fishing village had a few boats near the doc, and the bulletin board for announcements and other things was empty.

"For all you know, he may be trying to out her in a false sense of security before giving in."

[RedLyonArchfiend]

"First off, I'm not a kid. I'm a Lich Hunter. Second, Lucien is more human than monster. His mother could tell you that out of anyone, Goddess rest her soul." Ross said with a sneer. "I will aid you in finding my comrade but you are not to harm him, understand?"

[Kudzu Aura]

"Fine. But if I catch him doing anything harmful to my neice, all bets are off. Understand?" He said, and then walked to the docks. "Our first stop is Palmacosta. There we will interrogate Charles, and anyone else that might have spotted them."

[RedLyonArchfiend]

"Alright man, you're the boss. But if fark goes down, I can't let you off Lucien, ya dig?" He said, sighing. "He's an ally of my bloodline's, we kinda need him when everybody's favorite Lich comes back from the dead."

[Kudzu Aura]

"Very well. We'll go see Max first and take a ship." Keith said, stepping onto the docks, and started scanning the fishermen for the man he was looking for.

[RedLyonArchfiend]

"Aye aye one-eyed bro!" Ross said, going right along with him, keeping an eye out for a ship to take them out to sea.

[Kudzu Aura]

Keith looked around and groaned.

"Great. His ship isn't here... looks like we have to go the long way... which means crossing that bridge to go into the Asgard Region, and stopping in Hima, Luin, Asgard, and then going through Hakonesia Peak before making it to Palmacosta..." he said, facepalming. "As if this trip wouldn't be quick... there's no telling what trouble Katrina may be in. I swear if that Lucien caused her any harm, all bets are off."