Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

As the lord of beasts, Vespertillo had exceptional ease converting creatures such as animals and monsters into vampires, the physical changes occurred by this were much less severe than when used on the likes of humans and elves, his scions of blood were referred to as bat-faced for a reason.

The days of travel, Loimos spent them scanning the bustling life fellow for signs of death, remaining all by himself for the majority of the time, he did not seem very approachable after all, only Rummy eventually decided to come and exchange a few words with him.

"Say, Golpilz, why do you do what you do? For the money? For the thrill or something else entirely?" she asked him, leaning up against the railing.

This method of transport was rather odd, it was much like hoisting up a structure that did not belong in the air, looking more like bridge-like construct that one would find built upon shallow waters, there were no rooms, just a singular cube were people could answer nature's calling, dropping their droppings from great heights, far from the eyes, far from the nose.

"I work for the betterment of this world" for once, Loimos did not lie.

The death hunter seemed taken aback for a second, but quickly fell back on her usual, most bizarre attitude, Rummy cupped chin into her palm, covering the mouth with playful fingers.

The undead turned to her, his voice currently imitating that of a young man, just gruff and stoic, as if scarred by past events, it was completely copied from a random adventurer that Loimos had to murder not too long ago, this mister had been a bit too stealthy where he should not have, witnessing something problematic.

Which had called for his brain to get a whiff of fresh air using a stray rock, he had not sounded nearly as composed at that time.

"What about you?" he asked, feinting interest. Find more to read on empire

Looking over her shoulder at the two fellows, she leaned closer, her joyful expression receding a slight bit, her pink eyes still hidden behind her odd glasses.

"Most death hunters join for simple reasons, either that is something that they do in their family, the hatred of the dead passed down the generations from times long past, still just as ardent as it used to be, others, they had the misfortune of having something taken from them by an undead, those two over there, they both had their parents slaughtered and devoured by a bat-faced vampire, I did force them to come, but only by telling them that I suspected Laba was the hiding spot of those particular vampires…"

"They are willing to put their reason and logic aside for a time, they yearn to find the one individual that robbed them, but to be honest, I doubt they ever will, and I hope they never do, people like them, they are driven solely by vengeance, they have no idea what to do after, they don't think about it, their sole focus is revenge, if they get what they want, they'll be left completely hollow, without purpose, funny how its an undead that makes them so full of life, heh?"

She chuckled without humour, shaking her head.

"My old man has been in as a vampire hunter because his lover was turned into a nosferatu, he looks for nothing more than a cure, essentially a cure for death, just that… Not to mention that even if he finds one, they would have grown completely apart now, many hope that a cure can be made-"

She met Loimos's gaze, who was just listening silently.

"Ah, you did ask me specifically, well, I am neither of the two really, always thought it was silly, this fight between us and the undead, I was always under the impression that if something existed, then it was just meant to be, alive, dead, undead, spirits, sentient golems, I am certain we could just make do without wiping one another out, the world is more interesting with a great blend of people, would you agree?"

Loimos did not respond immediately.

"My own opinion is that only one can truly thrive, but my will is of little importance" he did not lie, having the impression that it would be a bad move to do so, of course, he wasn't completely honest.

Silence encroached in between the two of them, the vampire hunter meaning to say something, cut off by the conductor.

"We have arrived, I won't go any further than this" he called out, he was going to remain stationary for a set amount of time, waiting for the group to come back and he was far from willing to stay in place anywhere deeper than the very edge of Laba, clearly visible as the trees stood higher than everywhere else, forming an opaque canopy, where the sun could only rarely peer into.

Similar to the veil of frost above Dracula's domain, Laba was perfect for a vampire to settle into, even during the day, sunlight struggled to get in, and the terrain inside was said to be far less flat, going up and down, filled with hidden caverns and stalwart hills.

"To be honest, I have already visited Laba once before, Abraham had gotten himself to think that the progenitor of the nosferatus might be hiding here for some reason, I was but a wee lad back then and we found absolutely nothing, but the second time's the charm!" slapping the undead on the back.

"Ouch, forgot you were wearing armour under all that…"

The flying transport slowly lowered itself until it was just above the treeline, from there, the members of this impromptu expedition had to slide down a rickety rope and then climb down from the trees.

Rummy slid down with panache before everyone, closely followed by her two fellow hunters, most certainly not meaning to leave their rowdy junior alone for too long.

The two demons came right after, getting down there with impressive speed, their bodies meant for this sort of exercise.

Loimos approached the conductor, exchanging some words with him, the three beastfolks were not very reassured with how they had to go to the soil below, but seeing that the undead was busy, they steeled their resolve and followed one another down the rope.

"I am certain you were not expecting an additional passenger, here is a little something as compensation" Loimos handed over a bloodred crystal, which could barely fit in the palm of the conductor, and was covered in rough edges.

"It is not much, but it has value, I can assure you" the undead stepped away and slid down the rope, standing as straight as an I.

The human man had not even minded the additional person, so even if this thing had no value, it was always more than he had expected.

He waved the adventurers goodbye, putting the crystal in his pocket.