Ruby Albino Spider Hunt

## Preface

Quite drunk on the prospect of acquiring a firearm, Alucard was stumped, then ponderous, then emboldened when he learned of the cost of making a weapon that fits his specifications of a - essentially - one-handed sniper rifle in the form of a pistol. While originally not quite sure where he would find the money for the fee that measured up to about **30,000** gold pieces, he, thankfully, was referred to one Lord Undryl Yale, the richest man on the continent and the man that, through their previous dealings in the Three-sided Conference, might be open to the idea of giving such a sum of money to the Count. After his arrival in Sylvanfel with the party, bar Bob, who was in Myrathel at the time, Alucard hurried to the Lord's mansion, with the hope that the aforementioned weapon would soon be his. While not at all suprised at the amount of money needed, be it simple pocket change for the opulent Lord, he would expect a favour in kind however - the capture of one of the extremely rare and poisonous ruby albino spiders, found only in the mountain Kyl'nael. Aside from that, the time limit for this favour would be the next 2-3 days.

Accepting quickly, the vampire would set off to speak with the others that were with him in Sylvanfel, Grey and Shiraori, while Bob was informed of the party's heading through a Message from Alucard. With some preparation, like the purchase of a cage for the spider, the party set off for Kyl'nael mountain before sundown, with Bob joining the party around that time as well having arrived from Myrathel.

## The Hunt

The road up Kyl'nael was mostly uneventful, except for the last couple of hours. In those few hours, the party would encounter many things:

### Chest for the Worthy

After the hours-long ride in one of Shiraori's typical custom carriages, the journey would halt, when one of the wheels of the carriage ran over a body, previously unseen by Shiraori, leading to the party exiting the carriage to investigate the corpse and the surrounding area. Nailed and dotted among some of trees in this particularly forested area of the trail up Kyl'nael, was the "Wanted Dead or Alive" poster of a criminal, pictured more specifically to be a girl, in about her early twenties, wanted for several accounts of murder in this area of the mountains. The party wouldn't react much to the posters, being equally blacker-than-white morally themselves, bar Alucard, who said that "allowing a young girl to be such a threat was on them". Aside from the posters, several more bodies of different trail-goers would be found in a weird petrified, and certainly dead, state. Shiraori, while inspecting one of the bodies a bit away from the trail, and also having despawned the carriage, would find a rather peculiar wooden chest with an escribing in Sylvan that, despite their lack of knowledge on the language, would be able, through their reading and mastery of other languages, figure out the meaning to be something along the lines of: ***"For the One Worthy"*** . Quickly deducing that this is probably the thing responsible for the scene around them, Shiraori quickly backed off and alerted the others on the strange chest. After gathering around and discussing, whether or not to just leave the murderous chest there, the subject of discussion would suddenly leap to shoulder height at the unexpecting Shiraori, as if attacking them or trying to hug them with arms it doesn't have. The party would laugh at this scene at first, comical as it is, before the chest remained untouched by both magic and weapon, while still trying to fly at Shiraori's direction. The chest would finally latch onto Shiraori, draining them of their energy slowly, the party would be confused on how to react, as the chest followed with the demon, in running, dashing, teleporting away and even morphing into slime, it still being there on them through it all. Alucard then jokingly suggested that "The Chest of Worthiness might appreciate the honesty of the Unworthy one!" and to try and placate to it with the truth, that idea. suprisingly, really worked - the chest released its' invisible grip on Shiraori and dropped to the ground, after they exclaimed that they were not worthy of the bounty within the chest. Seconds later, the party's favorite shopkeeper, the ever-endearingly weird, Baba Zhaba arrived on the scene with her pet bear and carriage. Understanding the scene only partially, she asked with interest if the party was going to open the chest, the party quickly greeted her and answered that they probably aren't worthy to open it in the first place, so they won't plan to try. She, quickly picked it up, and just as quickly, it opened in her hands. A voice emanating from the surrounding area and the judging wooden box itself inquired the woman with "***What do you wish for?***". She, at first looked confused at the question, pondered for a half-second, and answered that she wished for a sandwich, of all things. The chest quickly disappeared and in her palm remained only the food wished for previously, Baba Zhaba took one bite, before saying that it wasn't that good and subsequently throwing it away. The party looked on with a mix of disappointment and amusement, before quickly being huddled into Baba Zhaba's mystical shop.

### Roadside Purchases

With all the mystical wonder and fullness of the shop with all types of magical baubles, items and beings, the party was, despite having spent a lot of their coin here last time, ready to spend even more. After exchanging pleasantries and dialogue on the absence of the half-orc, Gruumsh, the party began their purchases, here they are in order of events:

* Shiraori requested a wand that would amplify their spellcasting abilities in combat, Baba Zhaba delivered - offering them the **Wand of the War Mage** for **1,000** gold, Shiraori sought that was exactly what they wished for and bought the item for the price set.

* Alucard was not interested in something material this time and inquired more about Baba Zhaba's collection of animals, and whether or not she had more creatures from the Underworld, like the imp he had bought as a joke the last time she had met the party. She answered that he will have to be more specific with his desire, because of the quantity of animals she has at her disposal. Alucard then gaugingly asked for the largest hell hound she had, she quickly shot him down though, saying that he will not be able to afford it - it being a gigantic creature the size of a mansion. Alucard, with now set expectations, said that he wishes for one such hell hound of about human size, Baba Zhaba quickly presented such a creature and stated its' price of **525** gold pieces, the Count quickly accepted and expressed thanks to the merchant for her wares. The important twist here being that Alucard would not bond or tame the hellish creature, but instead, practice his **Form of True Crimson** for the first time, morphing into a mass of blood and black ichor, before enveloping the creature and eating it alive, therefore adding it to his beginning army of "**Familiars**" as he calls them. After the hounds "death", Alucard named the creature, now part of his being, **Baskerville**.

* Bob, after whatever Alucard just displayed, wished for a wolf, a true companion of sorts to follow him into combat and help him in his struggles as a halfling, with the idea of also being able to ride said wolf. Baba Zhaba, with some hesitation after what just happened, presented **Ser Lancelot**, a semi-armour-clad, sword-in-mouth, talking direwolf. Quickly enamoured by the wolf-be-knight, Bob asked for the price, which would be set at **100** gold pieces. Despite the blow to his funds, Bob accepted the deal and bonded with the knight-wolf, now called "Master" or "Lord" by the creature.

* After everyone else, Grey requested a new piece of armour, wishing to finally change the one he has had for so long. First he was offered a blackish piece of armor that allowed the user to engulf another creature in darkness for up-to 3 times a day, Grey however refused, stating that he wishes for more mobility while in combat, maybe something that has teleport feature, Baba Zhaba immediately delivered, not before stating that the armour she was about to offer has no name and is in fact illegal, because of how easy it is to kill in it. The price she set was originally **800** gold pieces, but due to Grey's worryingly quick acceptance in her eyes, the price rose to **1,000** gold pieces - with little protest, Grey accepted the new deal. Now flat broke, he donned the armour, suddenly falling into a trans-like state that sent him to a dream of a giant black winged figure sitting on a throne, looking directly at him. Before he knew what was happening, he was sent back in a bit of dazed state. Due to the vision he had received, he named the previously unnamed armour the "**Angel of Death Armour**".

After everyone had made their purchases, they were quickly hurried out before saying goodbye to their strange shopkeeper.

### Happy City, Happy Citizens

Wandering further alongside the cliff-side road, the party would begin to find more and more of those wanted posters, now more in number, and placed on trees, rocks and even the road itself. A great number of these posters followed, until the party turned a corner in the pathway and arrived near the gated entrance of a walled city settlement right on the path. The party, however, didn't feel too good about this town, with the posters now being absolutely everywhere, the party turned back with the idea of maybe finding a less-known route somewhere down the road. That would not be though, as the party was quickly onset and encircled by white, reflective-armoured guardsmen, all wearing masks with two eyes and a happy smile, and no other features. Through the circle of spears and armour, the party was approached by the probable leader of the town, also masked like everyone else. This woman would essentially talk hollow pleasantries before directly placing an ultimatum on the party to find and capture the girl on the previously seen wanted posters and bring her to them. With supposedly no real choice, the party, through gritted teeth, agreed to go on another fetch quest, while already being on a fetch quest. Needing to pass through the town to find both the spider and the girl criminal, the party would be shown a rather depressing sight of empty town streets, with little-to-no buildings lit up in the night, posters with supposedly motivational quotes, and one or two guard lynchings of people not wearing their masks to "show their happiness". The party quickly hurried out of the town before hurling different insults at both the place and the woman that strong-armed them into doing her bidding with "hellhole", "bitch", "stupid mortal" and the like, with Alucard stating that he wishes to butcher the town for derailing his goals.

### Alliance against False Happiness

Despite just having received their second goal, this would be the one the complete, at least partially, first. Wandering beyond the trail past the town, the party would find themselves in a rather gruesome scene - a splattering of blood and corpses, through the onset mist, the party would hear a shuffling in the foliage that surrounds them, before a man would run at them from the mist and bushes, screaming and raving as he went closer. Before he got anywhere near them, however, his head would fall cleanly off his shoulders and his body would stumble to the ground, his falling form revealing behind him a small-in-stature girl with a giant pair of golden scissors. This girl perfectly fit the likeness drawn on the wanted posters from before. With the party's general distaste for the "happy" town, they quickly made allies with the wanted girl, named Dreamy Kuu'tar. She, after her brief introduction, would state her interests and likes - like maiming people and turning them into dolls for tea parties and the like. The crew quickly shared their on history of killing with little remorse for what they were doing, this then boldened the interest of Dreamy, the idea being that this will lead to more dolls to be made, to join this rather weird and colourful party in their, unknown to her, spider catching quest. Now all together, they promised to kill the woman leader in the depressing town after they have completed their first objective, for that however they would need to venture further into Kyl'nael, as the central area of the mountain is where the ruby albino spider can be found more consistently. Returning back to the trail from before, the party would once again be surrounded by the reflective armoured guards, about 20 or so in number, and by a purple beading eye that would look upon them and speak in a rather familiar voice to the party, except for Dreamy, that being the voice of the Elven leader Gwenelyn. She expressed her disgust with having to see the party again after their last interactions, and stated that, for them not completing their assigned task, she would finally be able to watch them die. The party's majority reaction to this would be hurling insults and middle fingers at the eye above them, before Gwenelyn finally gave her men the order to attack.

### Not-so-Scary a Battle

With the battle now initiated, the party, given callouts by Grey, began fighting their encirclement. It would not be that easy, however, with the unique thing about these guards being the the reflective armour that they wore, which send the spell used on them back at the caster, this reversal effect would not be indefinite however, needing a recharge of sorts, shown by a decrease in the overall shiny reflectiveness of the armour itself - a spell strong enough would be able to use up all the armours "charge" in one go. After some heavy attacks from the party's main magic caster, Shiraori, the armour for the back row of guards would deplete quickly, allowing for the likes of Alucard and Dreamy to attack close range. Dreamy cut down 3 of the guards with her scissors all by herself, while Alucard broke party cohesion - just simply glaring at the floating eye above them, before, for the first time for real, transforming into his brand new "Form of True Crimson", the form, quite terrifying looking and to soon-be-seen equally deadly, scared the guards in the backrow, sending them fleeing back to camp. That simply would not do however, as Alucard, now a mass of blood and ichor, began "consuming" their comrades closest to him, while Shiraori pestered them with magic - all in all, Alucard would "kill" 5 guards through this new horrifying way to die, while Shiraori blasted 4 to ash. On the front row, Grey with his double-handed swordsmanship would take down and slice up 4 of the guards, with Bob simply cutting the throats of the remaining 3. With all the guards now dead on the ground or "added to the banners", Alucard, with his form's dozen of red burning eyes, would profess to Gwenelyn that the party will now return to her "hellhole" with the goals of finding and maiming the "long-eared bitch". The eye would then disappear from above them, not before stating that they could do no such thing. With the eye gone, Alucard's normal human form returned and the party would unite around the idea of killing Elenwyn, after talking about it in idle conversations for so long. Instead of pushing further into the mountain for the prized spider, the party heads back down the path leading to the town.

### Burning Joy

Trekking back, the party found the town gate's closed and it being even more eerily silent, except for the light rain that started to form splattering on the wooden spike walls. Seemingly a good opportunity to use of their favourite spells, Shiraori cast **Create** **Bonfire** on the wooden walls, setting them ablaze immediately. Alucard would just as fast express his dislike of burning the town, knowing well enough that the fire will spread to the mountain that surrounds the walls. Shiraori, recognizing their mistake, tried to control the rainy clouds above the town to rain more water on the frenzying flames but to no avail, the fire spread quickly from the walls, then house to house, then to the forest around. There would be a slight boon to this ecological disaster, though, when a small, ever-wanted, ruby albino spider crawled up to the party, interested and attracted to the heat billowing out of the town-sized fire. Slowly crawling towards Dreamy's leg she would quickly notice it, and just as quickly slice it without knowing how prized it was. The others then would notice this, immediately be frustrated, worst of all being Alucard, practically livid that he lost his extremely easy chance at getting the weapon quicker. He would then storm off back up the trail, hoping to find one more of the extremely rare spiders. The Gods would both joke with and grant Alucards' wish on this day -another ruby albino spider crawled up to Bob's leg this time, attracted to the same burning flames. Bob would deftly snatch it in his hand and call out to Alucard to return with the cage. Alucard having heard of this, returned, quickly opening the cage and waiting for Bob to place it in the cage, during this operation though the spider would bite and inject its' venom into the halfling's hand. With their ally poisoned and their quest complete, the party hurried past the burning town and back to Lord Yale's mansion.

### Cheque, Please

Riding back in Shiraori's carriage, the party watched as Bob's condition worsened, first beginning with general dizziness, then full paralysis, and then slowly succumbing to the poison, trying his hardest to stay awake during the ride. Hoping to alleviate some of the pain and remove some of the venom, Alucard filtered some of Bob's blood through his teeth before cutting his head off as soon as he felt the dizziness of the extracted venom. This would slow down the ,now a bit depleted, venom's effects, but an antidote was still vital to the halfling's life. Finally arriving back at the opulent Lord's mansion, the party quickly hurried in. Inside, Alucard would deliver the spider, while Bob was given medical attention by the mansion's butler. With the favour now completed in less than one day after receiving the contract, Alucard was given the **30,000** gold piece cheque he wished for, while Bob, Lord Yale having seen his efforts, gave him a grant of **1,000** gold pieces. During this exchange, Dreamy would also express her secondary, though equally major, like for cookies, which would be obliged to her by the Lord for her to stop ruining his library. After having received the money, the party quickly left for Myrathel, as Alucard pushing to have his new wonder weapon as soon as possible, offering Bob no recovery time for his poisoning. The party leaving Sylvanfel would conclude the Ruby Albino Spider Hunt.