Dungeon Raider System

Just as Uriel feared, the person they called to consult about the curse was Bella. There were many reasons why he did not want to see her, but the biggest was that asking something of her would come at a price too high for him to pay. There was only one thing she wanted in the world and Uriel was the only person who could give it to her, children.

"When I heard something about an auction, I knew you would call me sooner rather than later." Bella smirked.

"Who said anything about an auction?" Uriel asked, thinking someone leaked information from one of their meetings.

"Well, Emma, of course... she's been telling everyone about it." Bella replied.

"We need to do something about that big mouth of hers," Uriel directed a meaningful gaze towards Nika who immediately used shadowblink to give Emma an earful. "even if we were to participate on an auction in the future, we don't really need help with that."

"Really? Because if I'm not mistaken I'm the only one who's been to one. Last time we were to an auction house you didn't even knew it was one." Bella looked up placing the tip of her finger on her lips as though she was trying hard to remember, though that was actually a seduction attempt.

By pointing her finger directly to her lips she was indirectly telling Uriel what she wanted. It was supposed to be a definitive move that would grant a success rate of 100%, at least according to Nika who shared her tactics with anyone who wanted to hear them when she was drunk.

However, what Bella failed to notice was that Nika had tried all the tricks in her book to seduce Uriel for the longest time and failed despite being close to him all day everyday. And if Nika could not seduce him, there was no hope for her.

"Sure, but I don't think it'd be too difficult. You just bid on stuff you want and should you win you need to pay out of pocket. It's not rocket surgery." Uriel shrugged.

"Science, rocket science." Medusa corrected.

"There must be a reason why you called me then since you guys never ask me to hang out." Bella pouted.

"That's because we don't like you." Luna said.

"And you stole from us." Uriel added.

"And you hurt Uriel when you met him." Medusa said.

"Fine, what do you need?" Bella pouted some more.

"I heard you have some experience with curses..." Uriel attempted to speak but was cut short by Bella.

"Of course! I'm an expert on curses. Not only I come from an ancient lineage of witches, I also studied them in order to save my brother from what your frenemy did to him."

"What's a frenemy?" Uriel asked Medusa since Luna was socially inept and would likely be as clueless as him.

"It's when you're friends with someone, but you're also competing for something. It's like a rivalry, but apart from attempting to destroy each other they also like to hang out."

"I wonder if Sam would like to hang out if I asked him..." Uriel pondered.

"On a scale from one to ten, how would you rate your ability to diagnose and dispel curses?" Luna butted in.

"I can tell who's cursed and who isn't with just a glance, though dispelling a curse is actually more trouble than it's worth most of the times. There are four different types of curses to my knowledge and the method to deal with them depends on what kind is it."

"On a scale from one to ten..." Luna insisted.

"I'd say a 10 on diagnosing and a 3 maybe in treating them." Bella replied earnestly.

"A 10? Really?" Uriel was impressed.

"Sure, because I have noticed all the curses around me. If there are some curses I have not noticed yet, then I don't know about them which would also end up in me rating myself a ten."

"You're hardly a ten, a six at most." Nika scoffed as soon as she returned from scolding Emma, because she lacked context and thought she was rating herself.

"If we are talking about sex appeal, Bella is a solid 8." Luna butted in.

"Really? What is my rating?" Asked Nika with curiosity.

"An eight point five, you would be a nine if you don't speak." Luna replied.

"A-ha! I win! I win!" Nika made a small victory dance that reminded everyone of the awkward movement a chicken would make while walking.

"It is rapidly decreasing to a six." Luna sentenced.

"What about mine?" Medusa shyly asked.

"You are a ten, of course." Luna said as though it was obvious.

"I call bullshit! I'm prettier, look at this tan. I'm like a blue unicorn in these times where most people are milky white due to lack of sun." Nika showed the length of her leg by lifting it up and slowly caressing her thing up.

"I'd say Luna is being pretty accurate, but the thing is..." Uriel pondered out loud, then shifted his tone into the snarkiest one he could muster. "I am literally carbonized... can we just get over this curse thing so I can go to sleep?"

"Sure, take off your clothes." Bella commanded and the room seemingly filled with shimmering eyes, all staring directly towards Uriel. At that moment, he would have felt safer in a room filled with cryptids.

"Not a chance."

"I vote he does." Luna hurried in to say, receiving a scolding glare from Uriel.

"I do too." Nika swept imaginary drool from her mouth.

"Come on, you can't expect me to do this in front of you all."

"Fine, but if I don't find anything you'll have to do this without clothes. I need my flux energy to simmer into yours and clothing makes this more difficult." Bella explained, then proceeded to wave her hands to manipulate the air element.

By channeling a slightly excess of flux energy into that movement, she managed to to exactly what she said. From Uriel's perspective it felt as though a speck of his flux energy had been scooped up by Bella who then turned pale.

"This is a curse, it's definitely a curse and I don't know who the heck is it you pissed off this time, but no one can dispel it. It's just impossible."

"We believe it was a god, though we don't know which one yet." Uriel said after giving in to a shiver caused by the strange feeling of having his flux energy 'touched' like that.

"If that is the case and you truly were cursed by a god, then there is only one person in this world that can help you. I heard rumors back in America of a witch doctor so powerful he was able to do things not even my family was able to achieve despite possessing the knowledge of countless generations of witches."

"How do we find him?"

"I do not, I don't even know his name. All I have about him is a list of feats attributed to him. He saved someone from being ran over by a car one day. The would be victim explained it was usual for him to have bad luck and then this witch doctor offered him to help. After taking him to a secret location a ceremony took place and then this man's bad luck streak ended. And there are many more stories like that. Some of the curses he's lifted come from the ancient times, which means he's likely powerful enough to deal with a divine curse. Maybe not dispel it, but probably diminish it's strength."

"What else do these stories have in common?" Asked Uriel trying to figure out a pattern that could lead him to unveil the mysterious figure of the famous witch doctor.

"Well, everyone depicts his hideout like the creepiest place they have ever been to. It's apparently a basement of the sorts filled with candles, human skulls and weird things, but no one knows where is it because he blindfolds people before taking them there."

"Why would anybody let a weirdo blindfold them and take them to a weird place? That's dumb." Uriel scoffed.

"You have to understand that they were desperate people afflicted by powerful curses no one else could deal with. Even if the offer turned out to be fake, as long as there was a chance they were willing to take it. He's also never charged a dime for his services. Oh! and there was something else that also probably explains why they all let him take them to his basement. Everyone who ever met him described him as the most impossibly handsome man they had ever seen."

"No, no, no," Uriel muttered and shook his head as Bella spoke, until she mentioned the witch doctor's being handsome. "That is fucking Soulfire Jackobs!"

"You know him!? Then you do know how to locate him!? Right?"

"He is aboard this ship, but he's in a comma and has been for a while." Medusa replied.

"Actually..." Luna said, ominously dragging that single word.