Why isn't Joshua here?:

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Gunter would be standing outside of Oakland Church, waiting on his comrades, his friends in arms, to be joining him. Unfortunately he heard that recently, Josh the peasant in piss rags, the king of golden showers, the Yellow King, unfortunately passed away. As Gunter stands outside of Oakland Church, reminiscing of a man he met one time, he waited for a friend that also tried to kill him. He thought back to Tomoe on that bridge while awaiting Rinni's arrival. He thinks to himself "You know what, those two would probably get along."

As he stands there, Kratos is standing next to him, eating hot dogs by the dozen, shoving weenies down his gullet with every bite. Without looking at Gunter he says as bun and weenie fly out of his mouth like a filthy savage "Oh man this is fucking good. What're we doing here boss, we gonna fuck some people up? Get in there and fuck some nuns? It's a damn shame that some little fucking werewolf girl wasn't uh..." hot dogs continue flying out "A year younger, would've been my fucking meal."

Gunter looks at Kratos and says "Remember to play nice now. There are plenty of meals out there." and Kratos responds with "Alright, fine mom."

Eventually Gunter would notice a figure in the distance, and as Gunter waves, Kratos would say "Can I still eat the white rat?" to which Gunter would reply "No."

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Word Count: 239/2,000

The young teen wolf couldn't believe what Gunter had gotten her dragged into. It was her own fault, of course. She could have said no. But, to be honest, she needed the jewels. And Gunter promised it was a good job and would pay well. Her first A-rank Quest. She was so excited. That was until she saw the place. Her steps slowed down as horror stuck her. Of course, Gunter would bring the girl to a haunted church. A haunted. Spooky. Broken down. Church.

She spotted Gunter and Kratos immediately, the former of the two waved to her invitingly. How could he be so cheerful all the time? She hadn't even gotten inside yet and she already regretted her decision to come here. She did kind of feel as she owed it to him after trying to kill him before. But, to be fair, after everything she had piled on her she lost control. So, Gunter shared fault in that whole ordeal. He'd probably never admit that though, as from his point of view Rinni probably looked like the monster.

But who was the real monster? Her eyes fell to Kratos who appeared to be eating something. Winter whimpered and hid behind the girl's legs as they walked. She silently reassured the small white fox. She wouldn't let her get hurt. She remembered Kratos and his remark toward eating her companion. She'd kill him herself before she let him touch Winter. As she near the man and his beast, she couldn't hide the glare in her eyes as she gazed up in annoyance at her partner for this quest.

"A haunted church? Seriously?" she chided him in an annoyed tone that had a low growl behind it. She no longer hid what she was, at least not around him. She was quite open about baring fangs and claws, no longer suppressing her growls. She had learned that day that she can control it. And what she is was nothing to be ashamed of.

She then looked around noticing it was only her, Gunter, and their companions. Wasn't a friend of his coming with them? Was he running late? "Hey, where's your friend? I thought you said someone else was joining us?"

[WC: 367/2000]

As Rinni arrived and asked where the other arrival is, Gunter would look at Rinni and say "Oh yeah, Joshua from Penumbral Guard was supposed to join us but..." he then turned to look at the crater near Oakland Church "He was supposed to meet us here but that's all that's left of him. He ran into Tomoe and Tomoe fucking slaughtered him. Damn shame, we lost another Penumbral Guard member. He's ashes now. Anyway, let's get going!" Gunter would say and then turn to walk into the church.

As Gunter stepped in while also listening to Rinni's response behind him, he would look around the broken down church and he could tell right away that this place was haunted more so than what the townsfolk mentioned. Books were flying around, walls were bleeding, this place looked like a straight up horror house. For a second he thought he was back in Samhain. In the center of the church stood a priest whose eyes were missing from his sockets. He looked at both Gunter and Rinni and said "Get out!" It sent a few books flying at Rinni and Kratos.

Kratos simply batted the book away like it was an annoying fly, and Gunter kept walking into the room while looking around. Eventually, Gunter got closer to the center of the room and the ghost flew towards him slightly while screaming at Gunter to get out. Before it could even finish what it was saying, Gunter just slaughtered the ghostly spirit with his sword still in the scabbard, watching its ectoplasmic brain splatter on the ground. It disappeared into a cloud of black smoke and Gunter said in a disappointed voice "That's it? These things are that weak? Fuck. This will be a cakewalk." He would then turn to Rinni and say "I'm pretty sure if we sent Kratos in here with a pitchfork he could clear it out in five minutes." and Kratos would respond "Try three. This is a fucking joke."

Gunter would then start looking at some of the bookshelves, seeing if there's any interesting books around. He found one book on Illumin and decided to toss it in his pocket dimension ring. Perhaps it held some valuable information, though doubtful. He would then look at Rinni to see how she's been holding up due to the ghostly priest with no eyes getting his skull bashed in, and Gunter and Kratos' general banter.

Curious to see how she's holding up, also due to the fact that she just found out there was a Penumbral Guard member so close who is now a crater. He'd look at Rinni and say "How are you holding up? Wondering if you're a bit pissed at Tomoe who put another Penumbral Guard member in the ground." Gunter would say in a serious way, trying to sound not dickish. He would also say "I'm glad to see that you're not letting that beast inside you control your actions."

As Gunter would be saying this general banter and Rinni responding, Kratos would be standing there eating a hot dog. As to where he got the hot dog or where he hid it, even Gunter couldn't know. But he was eating a hot dog. If anybody would ask, Kratos would simply say "I found it." hinting at the potential that he had maybe stolen it off of some hot dog stand.

Suddenly, Kratos would notice a small ghost child on the second floor of this church, and Kratos would say to Gunter "I'll be back, I think I saw something to eat." and he would start running up the stairs towards the small ghost child and vanish out of sight. Gunter would watch Kratos run up the stairs, turn to Rinni while scratching his head, and say "Alright, I guess we'll head down to the catacombs. Or else we'll never get this done."

Gunter would then turn to walk down to the catacombs below.

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Word Counter: 899/2,000

Gunter began his response by revealing Joshua to be yet another Penumbral member. She hadn't met him before and based on Gunter's following words she never would. She was shocked to learn Tomoe had enough power to create a crater that large. She was even more shocked to discover he had killed Joshua, and that crater was the man's final resting place. Her hands instantly flew to her mouth to cover the gasp of shock that followed. She was stunned beyond words. Another Guildmate dead. The killer? They old Guildmaster! Why? Why was Tomoe doing this? Before she could respond or properly react...

Anyway, let's get going!

Gunter and Kratos were already heading into the church, leaving the teen werewolf and her six-tailed fox behind. "What... wait... hey, wait for me!" Rinni called, scooping Winter into her arms and chasing them into the scary as hell building. It was dark, decrepit, falling apart, and full of spider webs. The dark didn't bother her, of course, as she could see everything perfectly. Her nose scrunched up at the musty smell of death and mold. The dust caused her to sneeze at least three times. She watched a spider crawl across its web, the sight causing her to shiver and run up to stand beside Kratos.

In front of the party stood... or rather floated... a ghost dressed in priestly garbs. He wasn't too friendly, nor was he entirely happy to see them. In fact, he was screaming at them to get out. Without much warning nor provocation, the spirit tossed a few books toward Rinni and Kratos. Kratos easily swatted the book away, Rinni however had three books toward her way. She sidestepped to the left dodging the first. She then leaned to the right as the second hurled past her head. The third she blocked by throwing one arm up defensively causing the book to fall lifelessly to the ground. She clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Hey! What the hell did I do to you?" she demanded, annoyed that Kratos only had one book thrown at him.

Rinni watched as Gunter dispatched the ghost with his sword. It exploded into dark smoke and ectoplasm. Gross. But, were they really all as easy as that one? They really had no idea exactly how many ghosts were in this place, nor all their strengths. That was, after all, the first of many. Still, Gunter expressed his disappointment and Kratos made his disdain obvious by countering that Gunter gives the ghosts too much credit. Rinni looked toward the two as they talked among each other, not really acknowledging her presence at all. Were they always this way?

Well, it was mostly Kratos who chose to ignore her. After browsing some books, Gunter turned toward the girl and voiced his concerns for her wellbeing. He proceeded to ask if she was pissed at Tomoe for putting another Penumbral Guard member into the ground. In this sense quite literally. She thought about the crater outside that rested not too far from the church. Had Tomoe slaughtered Joshua on his way to join herself and Gunter? She shuddered at the thought, realizing more and more how dangerous Tomoe had become.

"I'm fine." She lied. "I'm more curious than pissed..." More like terrified. "I really would just like to know why he's doing this. But... I'm afraid to hunt him down to ask him. If he's killing Penumbrals... he might try to kill me on sight."

I'm glad to see that you're not letting that beast inside you control your actions

"Don't worry about that. I'm fine. Besides, you and Kratos are here with me. If I show any sign of losing it, you can knock me down a peg or two." She said, half-jokingly, emphasizing it with a cute giggle.

She then caught the scent of a hotdog among the musty orders of the building and old books. She looked toward the source of the smell. Kratos was casually eating a hotdog. "Kratos, where on earth did you get that?" She pointed toward the half-eaten hotdog. When he responded by simply saying he 'found it' Rinni simply stared in confusion. "Found it!?"

When Kratos proceeded to inform Gunter that he may have found something to eat, Rinni looked even more appalled by this beast of a companion that Gunter kept in the company of. "But... you JUST ate! And I really don't think it's a good idea to..." And he was gone. "...split... up... okay then..." She sighed in annoyance.

Placing Winter onto the ground so she could be more useful in combat (kind of hard to use a bow with a fox in your arms) the girl followed Gunter down into the catacombs. It was obvious at this point that nothing she shared an opinion on mattered to these two. They'd just ignore her and do as they please. That was the curse of being young... and a female.

As they entered the catacombs, a spider dropped down in front of Rinni's face causing the teen to squeal and run up behind Gunter crashing into him from behind in a panic. She encountered humans, werewolves, a lich, and now ghosts. That was nothing for the adventurer to handle. Spiders? That was a different story. They terrified her to no end. She now debated which was scarier... Tomoe or spiders?

Spiders.

Definitely.

The catacombs were worse than the church up above. Musty, filthy, broken, and filled with various spirits. Some aggressive and others not so much. Rinni wasn't against the concept of helping a spirit pass over without a fight. She spotted a child spirit in a corner crying and approached, squatting down to speak to the child. "Hello there. Please don't cry. I'm here to help."

Without warning, five evil spirits grabbing Winter and tossed the small creature into Rinni's arms then proceeded to toss Rinni into Gunter. After making not so pleasant nor planned physical contact with the man, she blushed in embarrassment and gave a nervous laugh. "I... meant to do that. You know... for uh... science." She excused lamely. Then to show she wasn't a total loser, She used her Pocket Dimension Ring to summon her bow and proceeded to fire five arrows, rapidly destroying the angry ghosts who, like the one upstairs, exploded on impact.

[WC: 1,359/2000]

spells:

As Gunter proceeded walking down to the catacombs below, he was suddenly startled as Rinni screamed and squealed in panic. As he turned around and had Rinni bump into him, he noticed the cause of this panic: a spider. He thought to himself "Really? A spider?" but simply smiled at the young girl's response. Gunter would then crush the spider with his sword and say "There you go, I killed it. Now it can't harm you anymore." With that, Gunter would continue down into the catacombs while saying "Keep your wits about you. There's bound to be more than just spiders down below."

As Gunter got down to the bottom of the catacombs, he would notice out of the corner of his eye, a cloaked figure disappearing through a door. Literally through a door. As he slowly proceeded down this hallway towards the door, he was met with the sound of Rinni being tossed. As he turned around, he ended up catching Rinni in his arms while noticing five spirits. Being that Gunter is cheeky, he would respond "You really like ending up in my arms, don't you? I mean if that's the case, all you have to do is ask."

He would listen to Rinni's response and watch sadly as Rinni managed to kill these five ghosts before he was able to. Gunter would lower her and let her stand on her own two feet while continuing down the hallway and saying "I saw something go through this door, let's check it out." with a coy smile on his face. As he gets up to the door, he puts his right hand on the handle, looks at Rinni and says "When I open this, have your bow ready just in case." Gunter would then suddenly open the door quickly, but also getting out of the way so that Rinni would get in quickly and fire off arrows at whatever would be inside.

Inside the room, Gunter would be met with a ghostly figure.

The wraith would say "I am Thamiel, champion of Thamyris. Lich of the Ash Lands. How dare you enter my domain!" Should Rinni fire an arrow at this thing, the creature would die immediately. Upon its death, Gunter would respond "Some champion you are." and spit at its ectoplasm.  

Gunter would then look at Rinni and say "Nice shot. Let's clear out the rest of this place and get paid." As Gunter and Rinni would continue clearing through rooms, they would come to a more open location. A large circular room with sixteen ghosts. All floating around and clumped together. Gunter knew this was a perfect moment to kill them all in one go, so he would use his Lightning Cutter spell, annihilating them all with a single spell. After the room was cleared, he would then look at Rinni and say "I know I asked before. But jokes aside, I am kind of curious. Would you ever be interested in joining my guild?" he would say with a thumbs up. "If not, no worries. I understand. But I like you kid, you've got guts. And I'll be honest, I can use someone with your skills. In fact, it would be my honor to have such a skilled archer like yourself."

If she would say yes, Gunter would be ecstatic. But he figures she will say no, and prepares himself for a sad frown. If she says no, he would be like "Oh, okay. Well shit. Can't blame a guy for trying." and regardless of her response, they would continue on.

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Word Count: 1,491/2,000

Rinni was at this point hugging Gunter around the waist, eyes shut, trembling like a frightened mouse. She felt his shift as he used his sword to kill the spider. A bit of an overkill, but his assurance that it was gone was enough to snap her back to reality. She released him, stepping back with a hint of blush to her cheeks as she awkwardly cleared her throat trying to act tough. "I... I wasn't scared..." she grumbled, only for Gunter to inform her that she needed to stay alert as this place had far worse than spiders within its walls. To this, the girl gulped and nodded in silent agreement as she followed him deeper into the catacombs.

Rinni was blushing redder than a freshly picked tomato when Gunter caught her in his arms and made the most embarrassing comment she heard since Ko Lesalt's blatant flirting. She couldn't tell if this man was joking or flirting, but either option was embarrassing. After taking care of the ghosts she wiggled in his arms in protest. "Ugh... put... put me down!" she explained in pure humiliation. As he did so, she dusted herself off and ran her hands through her hair smoothing out any stray hairs that may have gone wild from static. "I... I would never... Why would you even...? I... I don't even like-.... UGH! Let's go!"

Flustered, the teen continued onward ahead of Gunter. As she heard him mention that he spotted something pass through the door, she nodded and followed his lead. She readied her bow, aiming a yellow magical arrow toward the door as she waited for him to open it. The arrow sparkled with electricity as it waited to land its mark upon the unknown target, and as Gunter opened the door and sidestepped, Rinni would enter and gasp at the massive entity that stood before her.

As it spoke, she released the arrow and it pierced through the spirit splattered ectoplasm everywhere. Gunter would spit on its grave, no to speak,  adding insult to injury both literally and metaphorically. The man completed Rinni's skills with a bow before they moved on together to clear out the rest of the dungeon. She watched as Gunter destroyed 16 ghosts with one spell. She couldn't help but frown at that, as he didn't even check to see if any of them were friendly and simply needed helping passing on. Instead, he slaughtered them as though they were nothing.

She couldn't help wonder what Kratos was up to. He hadn't returned from upstairs yet. Was he just as busy as they were?

Rinni took down 5 more spirits using her Arcing Bow with relative ease. For an A-Rank mission, this wasn't as difficult as she had anticipated. She shuddered as she noticed a group of spiders scattering along the walls. This caused her to move closer to Gunter, bumping into him in the process. It was then that the man beside her glanced down at the young girl and spoke in a more serious tone as he inquired once more as to rather she'd consider joining his guild or not. To this, the girl sent her bow back into her Pocket Dimension Ring as she looked up at him. Still wary of the amount of creepy crawlies in this place, she gripped into his arm and stuck to his side.

"I'm... flattered you'd even consider me to be a part of your guild... but I'm also confused..." She began, speaking slowly as she thought out each word carefully. "I'm... I'm not sure if... we're friends or enemies... and I'm confused on my feelings toward you. You took my home, my family, my friends from me. You slaughtered innocent people. Yet you claim it was in the name of good. But... you also spared me. And haven't once lied nor tried to harm me... as far as I can tell, at least... And umm... my brother went on to join the Rune Knights as soon as we discovered the collapse of the Guild... and I'm left Guildless... and alone... I mean... I still have my parents but... I'm not a little kid... I need a life of my own..."

She trailed off realizing she was rambling her thoughts out loud. It was a simple question. A simple yes or no answer would do. Why was this so difficult? She sighed and, after an awkward silence, continued. "...Ye-... I'll... I'll think about it... I just... I feel like finding my friends should be my number one priority... Though, it would be nice to have a place to belong... not a lot of people accept werewolves..."

If they were finished with the ghosts, Rinni would proceed to quietly follow Gunter to meet the guy for their payment. However, if they were not finished she would watch him destroy any stragglers in silence, lost in her own thoughts, before following him to the exit.

[WC,000/2,000]

Spells:

Gunter would listen to Rinni's response about his question of her joining, and would say "I would like to consider us friends, though obviously not close friends due to our past actions. I did take your home, family and friends from you, and as I've said before and will say again, I apologize. I prefer not to slaughter innocents, but in a time of war it happens. Their sacrifice will lead to a better world. As to the sparing you, that's false. I never had any intent of killing you. If you think that finding your friends is your top priority, then think on my offer and I will assist you in finding your friends. Besides, I'm sure they would have a thing or two to say about me. Best to get that out of the way. But I can promise you one thing, if you did say yes, our guild would be your home, and we are very much accepting of all walks of life."

At this point, Gunter would leave it at that and continue being on guard and searching the general area for any more spirits. After ten minutes, Gunter would look at Rinni and say "I think that's it, let's head up." and with that he would make his way upstairs and out of the catacombs, and upstairs he would see Kratos with a bit of ectoplasm on his face, sitting there and holding two hot dogs. Gunter would look at Kratos and say "Did you get more hot dogs, or did you just find those?" and Kratos would say "Yeah, I tried to eat the ghost kid but he fucking gooed all over me. Then I got hungry from the kid, thought dinner, and kind of just left the church, got some hot dogs, and decided to come back and sit here until you guys cleared out the place. I thought about helping you, but ehhhhhh, you guys had it. No point rushing in and taking all the glory like always." Kratos would say while looking at Rinni with a smile.

Gunter would smile and shake his head while also laying to any potential response out of Rinni. They would then make their way out of the church towards the employer, a priest waiting outside. The priest went running up to them, saying "S-So are the spirits... are-are they dealt with?" and Kratos would pipe up and say "Oh yeah, it's a fucking cakewalk. Clapped those ghost booty cheeks no problem. This time, they're definitely dead and rested."

Before the priest could continue, Kratos would look at Gunter and say "Alright boss, I'm gonna fuck a hooker and buy some hot dogs, so I'll meet you back at the suite." Kratos would then walk right by the priest, right past Rinni, and start making his way to the red light district of Oak. Gunter would simply smile and shake his head as he watched Kratos walk away. He'd then look at the priest and say "As my friend rudely said, we cleared out the church and there should be no more issues. You and your fellow worshipers should be able to head back in and do your thing."

The old man would look at Rinni and Gunter and say "Thank you, thank you, you've done our church a great service!" and begin shaking Rinni while saying "Thank you, thank you! As per your service as per the job said, your money, right there, counted three times, the exact amount...!" as the priest would walk past them into the church while thanking them once again. "And may you two lovebirds have a fantastic day."

Gunter would not respond to the priest's comment, but simply look right down at Rinni and smile. He would then say "Looks like we paid, lover." He would then listen to her response and smile. Gunter would give a bow to Rinni and say "Let me know if you want my help finding your friends, and do think on my offer. Now if you don't mind me, let me leave before my companion eats someone. Again. Anyways, have a good day."

Gunter would then run after Kratos thinking about how he doesn't really want another bounty. Not yet.

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Word Count: 2,000+/2,000

Exit