Investigating The Dark Temple

Job Details:

Job Sign-Up: Page 5, Post Number 123

-On the outskirts of Haunted Village-

Wearing her navy blue long-sleeved t-shirt and navy blue cargo pants with black boots and hydration pack on her back, Diana stood on the outskirts of Haunted Village and looked around for walking corpses, ambulatory scarecrows, or other supernatural threats before proceeding into the village itself. The village was having enough trouble without her leading even more trouble to its doorstep. Lately it had experienced another rash of zombie attacks that forced the mobilization of the village militia for home defense and forced the mayor to request Diana's help for a third time.

The mayor suspected that the source of the trouble stemmed from the ancient temple on the hill that was a good distance from the town, but the villagers were too frightened of the zombies and other things that went bump in the night to investigate the temple. They currently did not have the money to equip the village militia with Holy weapons or buy special ammunition for the militia's firearms, so they had to call Diana for help. The mayor feared that the village was facing danger from more than just zombies and wanted a mage on the job in case his fear turned out to be justified.

Diana did not come unprepared for this job. A few days ago Diana had acquired a new weapon called Saint Sinner Valentine, which was a red assault rifle that looked weathered and was held together by duct tape placed at strategic points but had a special attribute that made up for its unimpressive appearance. That special attribute was that the weapon could switch from normal ammunition to magazines of special ammunition on demand and never run out of either type; the only significant downside was the wait for the magazine types to change over before being able to fire again. What was more, those magazines of special ammunition had been tailored to deal with specific threats that ordinary firearms had difficulty handling. Those threats included ghosts, werewolves, vampires, armored opponents, and even mages.

Rounding out the different ammunition types was a special less-than-lethal type that acted like bean bag rounds, delivering painful hits but not killing the target outright. That gave Diana a welcome option for dealing with targets that did not have to be killed.

Diana now had a weapon that could deal with a wide variety of threats without the downside of having to buy special ammunition for it, a feature that the huntress appreciated because it eased the burden of logistics that came with ensuring a constant supply of ammunition for normal firearms. She also appreciated it because she could now deal with mundane and supernatural threats without having to use her magic as often, which allowed her to save magic power for her most powerful spells should she need to use them. Saint Sinner Valentine had a lot of promise and tonight would be its first field test.

Diana could not wait to test her new weapon on the undead infesting the area, but Saint Sinner Valentine was not the only new purchase she had brought with her. In her right cargo pocket sat a recently purchased pair of the latest smart glasses called SHG-IV. They had the ability to be a walking multimedia platform with full video recording and playback features plus other features relevant to multimedia and social media, but what had attracted Diana to them was the screen that marked threats and displayed their vitality. Those features would give the huntress both a way to keep track of exactly how many enemies were in her field of vision and how much vitality they had left before they were no longer a threat to her.

Satisfied that there were no threats approaching the village, Diana entered the village through a set of sandbag defenses that had been set up and paused near a group of farmers wielding shotguns. To avoid being riddled with buckshot she set Saint Sinner Valentine down on the ground and slowly produced the job notice from her left cargo pocket, then handed it to the man in charge, a burly fellow in a red flannel shirt and overalls with brown boots. Another farmer held up a lantern and the burly man read the job notice, then handed it back to Diana.

"OK Miss, you're good to go. I hope you can deal with whatever's up in that temple on the hill 'cause we sure can't. Everyone's too scared to leave the village and I don't blame 'em. There's been reports of strange things in the woods, something stranger than walkin' corpses. The mayor will have to tell you more 'cause I don't know anything beyond that." He admitted to her after Diana pocketed the job notice. She picked Saint Sinner Valentine up and continued towards the mayor's house, where she would be briefed further about the nature of the menace threatening Haunted Village. Diana saw that every house in the village had a glowing yellow lantern hung outside of it... presumably it was meant to give the villagers a psychological boost by having the entire village lighted so that nothing could sneak up on them. She thought that instead of protecting the village the lights might just serve as a beacon for whatever creatures were roaming the forest looking for a meal.

Diana made her way to the mayor's two-story home without incident and met with two men armed with semiautomatic rifles who asked her business here at this hour. The blonde mage calmly set down her weapon and presented the job notice to the two men stationed outside the house. They read the notice by lantern light and nodded their satisfaction, then returned the notice and gave her permission to enter the mayor's house. Once given permission to enter Diana picked up her weapon and went inside to be briefed on the threat by the mayor.

-Inside the mayor's house-

"Ah, Miss Winchester! You have a penchant for arriving at just the right time! Please, do come in and sit down!" The mayor bade her from the comfort of his chair. Diana wiped her feet off at the door and approached him, setting Saint Sinner Valentine in the corner of the room just right of an unoccupied wooden chair and sitting in it so that she faced the mayor.

"I understand that your town is facing a new threat from the forest." Diana said to him.

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The mayor sipped from a white porcelain tea cup with a blue border he held in his left hand before answering the question.

"Yes, Miss Winchester. There's another threat from the forest. A few local hunters disappeared in the forest over two weeks ago while hunting for wild game for the village. We sent a search party to find them and the search party only made it a short distance into the forest before they were attacked and forced to retreat by something most peculiar." The mayor filled her in on the threat. Diana remained calm and patiently waited for more details. Her patience was rewarded when the man spoke again after taking a sip from his tea cup and looking pensively towards the empty fireplace.

"According to the search party, they were set upon by strange men in black robes. The men didn't have any weapons, but they led an army of zombies. Those zombies followed their every command without hesitation. The zombies also included the missing hunters." The mayor added a little more background information about the events that had led to Diana being called for help. Diana raised an eyebrow. Hearing about the black-robed men and their fetid entourage made her think of many possible reasons why they had chosen to terrorize Haunted Village. It was an isolated target occupied by people with only basic weaponry and no mages who could put up any real opposition. Diana put that thought aside when the mayor spoke to continue telling her more about the search party's findings.

"Most of the zombies were run-of-the-mill walking dead, but that's not too much of a problem for us because we're used to fighting zombies. The real problem is that the dead hunters in their army were somehow able to use their rifles and shotguns with the same dexterity and accuracy as the living. If those strange men manage to amass an army of gun-using zombies, that could pose a real problem." The mayor told her of the true danger that the strange men and their undead army posed to Haunted Village. Diana could easily see how an army of gun-using zombies could threaten the village and possibly other regions if allowed to spread unchecked. The men were attacking the village both for new recruits and for weapons and ammunition with which to arm their undead marksmen.

"The search party reported that the undead hunters go down just like any other zombie when shot in the head, but the trouble is that most people aren't used to fighting a zombie that can shoot back at them and their aim suffers as a result. Then there's those men who control them. The search party reported that somehow the robed men weren't hurt by normal bullets. When they were shot they didn't die, not even when shot in the head. The bullets were simply pushed out and the wounds healed over in no time. You're gonna need some serious firepower or some serious magic to hurt those people." The mayor advised her that while the undead hunters were vulnerable to bullets to the head, the robed men did not share that weakness.

"Do you happen to know how they managed to get such a resistance to mortal arms?" Diana asked the mayor. The older man looked pensively at the fireplace and looked back at her.

"I've only got a theory, but I'll tell you anyway because it's the only explanation I can offer you. There's an old temple on a far hill overlooking the village that none of us dare go to, not even the teenagers who'll take any dare you give them. Some really dark things happened there centuries ago, things like demon worship and blood sacrifices. I'm thinking that those men bargained away their souls to some demon in exchange for their powers." The mayor offered a possible explanation for how the strange men could ignore normal bullets and heal any wounds in a matter of seconds. Diana did not like the sound of that, but she had Saint Sinner Valentine with her plus she had her magic to fall back on. In between those two options the huntress should be able to find a way to deal with the bulletproof men in robes.

"Is there anything else that I need to know before I set off for the temple?" Diana asked the mayor.

"I'd suggest that you keep your wits about you, Miss Winchester. At this time of night zombies are out in force and those hunter zombies are sure to be with them. Stick to the main path and don't stray from it no matter what happens because if you leave it you may never get out of the forest alive." The mayor sternly advised her. Diana could tell that he was not joking and nodded.

"One last piece of advice before you go, Miss Winchester." He said to her.

"My grandfather was a hunter and one of the very few townspeople to venture to the temple and return from it alive. He never talked about what happened there in any great detail, but the few times he brought up the subject he always talked about how he wouldn't have made it out without his silver sword. Unfortunately he died about forty-five years ago and his sword was buried with him, so you'll have to find another silver weapon." The mayor advised her.

"Will silver bullets suffice?" Diana asked in all seriousness. The mayor nodded.

"If you can find enough of them, they should suffice. Just be careful out there and make your shots count." The mayor replied in the affirmative before wishing her luck. Diana stood up, grabbed Saint Sinner Valentine from its resting place in the corner, and left the house to start her trip through the forest. She wished that she had brought Ami with her for a little company and some firepower from above, but Ami would be of little use at night since she did not have night vision capabilities, the forest canopy obscured vision too much for accurate fire from above, and Diana currently had no way to communicate with Ami once the android was airborne. At any rate, the huntress would just have to go it alone this time.

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-Outside the mayor's house, Haunted Village-

Exiting the mayor's house with her objective in mind, Diana walked a few steps away from the front door and took a few moments to put on her SHG-IV glasses before proceeding any further. As soon as she put them on the lenses flickered to life and lit up with numerous green markers, marking out the villagers in her line of sight. Diana ignored the markers and reclaimed Saint Sinner Valentine, then began to make her way out of the village and towards the path which led into the woods she would need to pass through to reach the temple. Diana could use her natural infrared vision to detect threats; her primary opposition would be zombies and they did not give off heat signatures, so any humanoid shape that did not give off heat was fair game. However, she wanted to try her new smart glasses and see what they could offer.

Diana calmly walked past a patrol of villagers making their rounds of "main street" with Saint Sinner Valentine's muzzle pointed at the ground to avoid making the locals any more nervous than they already were. The weapon was loaded with normal ammunition since both normal zombies and the gun-wielding zombies could be killed by a normal bullet to the head; she would save her silver bullets for the bulletproof robed men or whatever else lurked in the woods. She weaved through sandbag defenses manned by five villagers and was about to approach the forest trail when she spotted a small gang of seven humanoid shapes approaching. Diana saw the gray markers light up the potential targets, but she did not shoot yet because she did not know if they were friend or foe.

"Did you happen to send anyone into the forest?" Diana asked one of the men nearby.

"No, Miss. Everyone's stayed in the village." A thin man holding a bolt-action rifle answered. That answer caused Diana to switch to her natural infrared mode to check for heat signatures. The humanoid forms did not give off a heat signature, which meant that they were zombies.

"They do not have heat signatures. I believe that we are dealing with zombies." Diana announced. She raised Saint Sinner Valentine to fire when one of the figures raised a long object and a muzzle flash appeared. A bullet whizzed by her left temple and most of the villagers ducked down behind their sandbags.

"It's those hunter zom-" The man with the bolt-action rifle started to sound a warning before a bullet pierced his forehead and he fell backwards to the earth. More rifle rounds started whizzing by and Diana took a knee to make herself a smaller target. A few brave villagers raised themselves up and propped their weapons on the sandbag to return fire; Diana watched the markers ahead of her flash from gray to red and she took careful aim with her weapon.

She peered through the scope and settled the crosshairs on the head of a zombie dressed in hunter garb with a bright orange safety vest, then opened fire with a carefully measured five-round burst. Three of the bullets found their mark and the hunter zombie spun around and fell to the earth while its fellows kept firing. One villager on her left made the mistake of standing up for a better shot and he too was shot through the forehead. He pitched forward and flung his rifle over the sandbag barricade, the upper half of the man's body hanging lifelessly over it like a macabre decoration.

Diana aimed and fired at the offending zombie's head; two of the five bullets hit it in the head, but those two were enough to kill the zombie and avenge the nameless villager to her left. Diana shifted aim to a shotgun-wielding female hunter wearing an orange hat and aimed at her head, then fired a three-round burst. All three bullets hit and the zombie flung its shotgun high and fell face first to the earth. Four hunter zombies were left.

Diana finished off two of the gun-wielding corpses that had switched from firing on the villagers to firing on her and watched the other two aim at her. The huntress remained calm as rifle bullets whizzed by her head and right shoulder, then took down one with a three-round burst followed by a takedown of the other in the same fashion. Once all the hunter zombies were dead Diana waited a moment before standing up. The surviving villagers manning the defenses followed her lead.

"Damn Miss, that was some good shootin'!" A burly man in a green flannel shirt, woodland camouflage pants, and boots with a pump-action shotgun complimented Diana on her shooting ability.

"There's bullets flyin' around and you kneel there in the middle of it like it's just rain! Nothin' scares you!" A young woman in all-camouflage clothing holding a bolt-action rifle complimented Diana on her courage under fire.

"I will go into the forest and draw their attention away from the village. Collect the weapons and ammunition of the fallen hunter zombies so that more of them cannot be armed." Diana suggested to the villagers. Another five-man patrol hustled up to the site of the battle only to find that it was over. Diana walked forward and towards the dead hunter zombies while some of the villagers gently carried away their dead and the rest followed behind Diana to take the weapons and ammunition from the fallen zombies. The huntress left them to their work because her quarry was in the temple on the hill overlooking the village. She would have to pass through the forest to get to the temple and there was no telling what lay in wait for her in the forest.

Diana reloaded Saint Sinner Valentine and continued to calmly walk towards the dark forest. She continued walking until the glowing lights of the village were out of sight. That meant that she was well and truly alone in the woods, but Diana was not afraid because she had been alone most of her life and had taken on many jobs by herself.

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-In the forest-

Carefully watching her surroundings and keeping her eye on the smart glasses in case they picked up anything out of the ordinary, Diana followed the main path and kept Saint Sinner Valentine at the ready with a full magazine of normal ammunition. She recalled the mayor's advice to stick to the main path and to stay on it no matter what. Diana had dealt with zombies before, but the hunter zombies were of particular concern to her. This was her first encounter with zombies that could operate firearms and they had the same level of accuracy as a reasonably experienced human marksman. When that accuracy was combined with the zombie predilection to travel in groups the hunter zombies could put a lot of lead downrange, which made them something to be wary of.

Diana listened out for any nearby rustling foliage as she walked down the path. She proceeded down the path until she came across a human corpse that had been lying on its back with dried blood staining the dirt beneath it... she estimated that the person had been dead for a little over twelve hours. The huntress brought out her Suppressed Handgun to quietly put it down in case it rose to try and take a bite out of her like she was a roadside snack. She switched to her natural night vision mode to examine the corpse and saw that the throat had been torn out and the left arm gnawed off at the elbow. The dark green clothing was consistent with that of a hunter, but the man in the village told her that they had not sent anyone into the forest, so where did he come from?

Where he came from was rendered irrelevant the moment the blonde heard a raspy exhaling noise and the corpse twitched. Its right arm began to twitch and slowly reach for the sky. Diana did not wait around for it to open its eyes... she aimed the Suppressed Handgun at the forehead and fired two quick shots, stopping it before it could fully rise. The corpse went silent and all was quiet again. Diana looked away from the now-deceased zombie and looked for any more of its fellows lurching down the path or for any hunter zombies emerging from the bushes with weapons aimed at her.

The smart glasses did not show anything and the bushes did not rattle, so the huntress decided to keep going towards the temple on the hill. She dispelled her Suppressed Handgun and walked around the deceased hunter to get a move on before more zombies showed up. While she had more than enough firepower to take them on, the noise of the fight would draw more zombies to the scene and she did not know how many zombies were roaming the forest in search of a meal.

-Further down the path, twenty minutes later-

Diana was roughly twenty minutes down the path when she heard the sound of sniffing in the air and rustling in the bushes roughly ten meters away and to her right. She paused in place and took a knee, aiming Saint Sinner Valentine towards the source of the noise roughly ten meters away. The huntress silently waited for the target to break cover so that she could get a better look at it and was rewarded when a shotgun-wielding zombie in hunting garb broke through the bushes and a gray marker appeared. Soon five more markers appeared as more hunter zombies wielding pump-action shotguns emerged from the bushes.

Diana quietly made her way to a nearby tree for cover because she did not want to be out in the open when the shotguns started firing. Shotguns fired buckshot, so they did not need to make a direct hit to ruin her evening when they could just wing her with a pellet or two and make her life more difficult, especially if she took a hit to the right arm. Diana had just reached cover when she heard a shotgun pump and its report sound before a chunk of wood close to her head was ripped from the tree.

They were onto her!

Carefully leaning out from behind the tree, Diana took potshots with Saint Sinner Valentine and hit one zombie in the head with a three-round burst before she was forced to duck back behind the tree as splinters flew off of the trunk. She waited for another storm of buckshot to pass her by before she leaned out from the tree and quickly aimed, firing another three-round burst to kill a second hunter zombie. She ducked behind the tree again and waited out the return fire, then leaned out and fired another three-round burst to take down a third zombie. Half of the undead hunting party was dead, but the other three were still active and had their weapons trained on her. They were firing on her to keep her in place, but for what?

Diana waited for the gunfire to cease and soon heard the sound of shells being loaded into a tubular magazine. They were reloading... now was her chance! She popped out to take a shot when the blast of a shotgun made her quickly pull back before she got hit. Two of the zombies were reloading but the last one had held its fire to fool her into thinking all three were reloading!

Diana was surprised that they knew such a basic tactic, but the mayor did not know the full extent of what the hunter zombies could do, so he could not warn her of what was an unpleasant surprise for the huntress. However, she still held the advantage because she was human and thus had superior speed, dexterity, and the ability to think. She took a deep breath and slowly leaned out, drawing the fire of the zombie with a loaded weapon. Once it fired and raised the weapon to pump she leaned out and fired a three-round burst to the head that killed it, then killed another that had just finished reloading with a three-round burst. The final hunter zombie had just pumped its weapon and was aiming at her when the huntress aimed and fired a final three-round burst to the head that killed it.

All of the red markers had faded, but Diana still chose to use her infrared vision to look and make sure they were truly dead. The huntress slowly peered from cover and took a glance at the bodies. None of them had a heat signature and none of them were stirring at all. Bringing out her Suppressed Handgun for a second time, Diana shot each one in the head twice to keep from getting another unpleasant surprise when they rose and attacked her from behind. Without any sort of armor the chances of Diana surviving a shotgun blast to the back were slim to none, so it was imperative to avoid letting the hunter zombies aim a shotgun at her unarmored back to begin with. Now satisfied that they were truly dead, Diana dispelled the handgun, reloaded Saint Sinner Valentine, and walked deeper in the forest to put some distance between her and any zombies making their way to the scene.

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-Outside the temple, one hour and twenty minutes later-

By moving at a brisk pace Diana had made her way through the forest having only stopped to handle a few encounters with zombies of the normal, unarmed variety. When she had finally navigated the forest by following the mayor's advice to stick to the main path, she saw one last small group of normal zombies that barred the path up the hill that led to the temple she needed to get into. They numbered five in all, so disposing of them would be easy. Diana took a knee and carefully aimed Saint Sinner Valentine at the head of an adventurer zombie wearing chainmail and leather boots, then commenced clearing the way.

Diana brought down the zombies with a single shot to the head apiece, but she did not relax just yet. The sound of her weapon might have drawn more unsavory company to the area and not all of the newcomers might be shambling corpses. After the brief skirmish Diana stood up and looked around her position to check for new arrivals looking for a snack. She also looked up to the temple to see if some of those bulletproof men had noticed the fracas below and were heading down to stop the intruder before she got inside. The huntress stayed where she was for a few minutes and listened for more trouble but did not hear any, so she reloaded Saint Sinner Valentine and started walking up the trail that led to the front of the temple.

So far Diana had a favorable impression of Saint Sinner Valentine. The weapon was a perfectly serviceable one that had manageable recoil, good accuracy, and respectable power behind the normal ammunition. The rate of fire was also at a happy medium that put enough rounds on target without draining the magazine at too fast a rate to make it viable for protracted fights. The only downsides were that Saint Sinner Valentine lacked a suppressor and that its red paintjob and weathered appearance made it a distinctive weapon that would be linked to Diana Winchester, so taking it on clandestine jobs for the guild was not an option. So far the evaluation of the weapon was leaning towards the positive, but she still wanted to test the efficacy of its special ammunition, which was the primary reason the huntress had bought the weapon to start with.

Diana would get plenty of chances to test its special ammunition once she entered the ancient temple and came face-to-face with what was inside the old place of worship. She recalled the mayor's advice to use a silver weapon and recalled how he had said that silver bullets would be an acceptable substitute for a silver sword. Thankfully she would have an endless supply of them, but the problem would be reloading the weapon in close quarters while fending off multiple adversaries. Diana's magic would be a good close-range defense that could buy her time to reload, but unlike with the bullets her magic supply was finite and needed to be used wisely. Diana would have to manage her resources if she wanted to get through the temple exploration alive like the mayor's grandfather had done many years before.

Diana approached the double doors of the temple and could feel dark energy seeping out of the walls of the place. The sheer force of the dark energy made the fears of the villagers entirely justified. While the huntress did not show fear, she definitely felt apprehension at the back of her mind, especially when she recalled the mayor's belief that demon worshipers had taken over the place to use as a base of operations. Diana took a deep breath, then gently pushed open the left temple door and entered.

-Inside the temple, the foyer-

Diana gently shut the temple door behind her and looked around for a welcoming committee. She did not see any zombies, demons, or bulletproof robed men waiting for her, so the blonde looked around the area and spotted another set of double doors in front of her, a single wooden door off to the right, and a stone stairway to the left that led up and around a corner. Diana was not familiar with temples, but there was a possibility that it could lead to a bell tower with a bell that once summoned the faithful to worship. Diana was at a loss as to where she should go from here, so she opted to head right and check out the door to see where it led.

She walked as quietly as she could towards the door and listened out for anyone entering the area, but she reached the door without incident and placed her left hand on the old metal doorknob while holding Saint Sinner Valentine at the ready in her right hand. Diana twisted the knob left and the door creaked open. She went inside the room and shut the door behind her.

-Inside the storage room-

Diana looked around the small room and quickly gathered that it was a supply closet of sorts... or rather, it had once been a supply closet. Now there was nothing here but empty and worn-down wooden pews that had been neatly placed in the makeshift storage room. The fronts faced the left stone wall and all of them were perfectly aligned. There was nothing of interest in here, but Diana switched through all of her vision modes just to make sure she did not miss anything. She switched through night vision, infrared vision, and a new spectral vision mode but did not spot any clues that she had missed the first time around.

Sometimes a storage room was just a storage room.

Diana quickly opened the door and walked through it. Once outside she closed it behind her and did not give the storage room a second thought. Going into the room was a fruitless side trip that had only wasted time and had brought her no closer to figuring out what was going on at the temple, but there was something to be said for checking every room for clues and hostiles.

-In the foyer-

Diana shut the wooden door behind her and looked first towards the double doors to her right and then to the stone staircase straight ahead of her. She was not sure where to go first, but eventually she decided to go up the stone staircase and see where it led to. Keeping Saint Sinner Valentine at the ready to deal with any threats that might pop up, Diana walked past the double doors and towards the stone staircase to climb it and see what waited for her upstairs.

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-On the stairs-

Diana had ascended the stone staircase that led from the foyer to what she believed was the bell tower and was now facing another wooden door. Walking over to it to open it with her left hand while Saint Sinner Valentine was held in her right hand, Diana carefully grabbed the doorknob and turned left. The door opened and she quickly and quietly swept into the room.

-In the room-

Diana quietly closed the door behind her and looked at her new surroundings.

Underneath her feet was a well-worn red carpet with gold borders that had nearly faded away altogether. To her left was a view of the temple floor... she had walked into an upstairs gallery which afforded her a bird's eye view of the floor. In front of her was a pair of pews positioned to face the altar and to the right of the pews was another wooden door that was most likely the door to the bell tower. Mindful of the possibility that a stealthy robed man could sneak behind her and shove her over the wooden railing yet unable to resist the temptation to peer down at the floor, Diana took this chance to get a peek of the temple from a bird's-eye view.

At first glance the space below looked like that that was in the floor plan of any other house of worship. The wooden pews were neatly arranged facing the altar, which had behind it a large stained glass window depicting a blonde woman in white robes with a veil over her face holding her arms out to the viewer as if beckoning them for an embrace. Other eye-catching features were a wooden podium positioned diagonally right of the altar and a very old pipe organ to the far left. That was all Diana could see from her perch, so she turned around and proceeded to the wooden door and tried to open it.

It was locked.

Diana looked around the gallery for the key. Maybe it had been dropped under a pew or hidden under the carpet she had trodden upon when she first entered the gallery. She checked under the pews and under the carpet, but there was no key to be found. Perhaps it was hidden down on the main floor of the temple. With nothing else to do here until she could unlock the door, Diana left the gallery and began her return to the foyer.

-In the main floor-

After a brief five-minute walk Diana had entered the main floor through the left door and closed it behind her. In front of her was a red carpet with gold borders that led down the aisle and all the way to the altar. She obligingly walked down the aisle with Saint Sinner Valentine at the ready and focused on the stained glass window behind the altar. The closer to it Diana got the more them woman in white appeared to welcome the blonde mage into the house of worship with open arms. Turning away from the window, Diana spotted the wooden podium and stepped up on the raised platform it was positioned on to check it out.

Diana examined the wooden podium and saw that there was nothing special about the podium itself. Of greater interest was a silver key sitting on a small shelf inside the podium. Diana picked it up and examined it. It was a typical key except for the depiction of a bell crudely etched on the handle, meaning that it must have been labeled for the bell tower. She pocketed the key and made a beeline for the doors so that she could return to the bell tower and see what was in there that warranted locking the door.

-In the gallery-

It was a good thing that Diana had chosen to wear boots because she was doing a lot of walking. Another five-minute trip later and she was back in the gallery and standing in front of the bell tower door. She located the keyhole and fished the key out of her right pocket, then turned the key right and tried the doorknob again. This time it opened without resistance and let the huntress through. Diana took the key out, pocketed it, and entered the bell tower without further delay.

-Inside the bell tower-

Diana shut the door behind her and was faced with a stone room with an opening to the left. She walked through it and stood at the threshold of a small living space furnished with a simple bed, a small square wooden table, and a large brown book sitting next to an empty wooden plate on the table. She also spotted a large bronze bell with a crack that nearly split it in two sitting in the top left corner of the room. This room was at one point a bell tower, but now it was used for something else.

Diana found herself drawn to the large brown book sitting on the table and walked over to thumb through it and get a glimpse as to what life was like however many years ago the book was written. The huntress used her left hand to gently pry open the book and her eyes settled on a page that was written in beautiful calligraphy instead of printed text. It was a hand-copied book from a time long before printing presses and social media existed. Diana recalled learning in history class that before the printing press was invented monks copied books by hand because they were among the few people who were literate in the medieval era. They usually did so at the behest of a noble client or the religious organization they were a part of.

The book Diana was reading looked to be a book of prayer written in calligraphy, but aside from its value as a historical curiosity and a collector's item it did not have much value to the huntress. She closed the prayer book and started to walk away from it when she noticed something unusual about it. Near the end was a small but noticeable gap where a bookmark sat to mark a section for later perusal. Diana walked back, opened to the section, and found that the bookmark was instead a handwritten note.

"All is not what it seems in this temple! The monks are actually demon worshipers who serve a dark mistress! Check beneath the bed of Brother Lucas in the monk's quarters to find the truth and remember... the power of silver protects!" The note read. She recalled the mayor's advice to use a silver weapon and wondered how the author of the note knew this. Diana would not get a chance to ask because the author of the note was dead one way or another. Either he had successfully fled the monastery and died of old age while in hiding or the servants of the "dark mistress" had caught up to him and killed him at some point.

Diana pocketed the note and closed the prayer book back, then took a deep breath before conducting a more thorough search of the bell tower. What seemed to be a straightforward mission was getting to be more and more complex the deeper she delved into the temple. Such unexpected complexity was par for the course for the huntress who led a double life.

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[Total Word Count: 6,710/11,000]

-Inside the bell tower-

Diana switched Saint Sinner Valentine over to Silver Bullets so that if anything unholy came in here she would be ready for it instead of having to fumble desperately for the "change ammo" button and hope that the changeover took place in time. It took roughly five seconds for the weapon to reload, which was not too long when one was conducting a leisurely search of an area but was an eternity in a situation where seconds could mean the difference between life, death, or something worse than death. The ammunition was changed over and now she was ready for anything. Diana had just about completed the process of searching the small room for any more clues when she looked around, behind, and under the cracked brass bell and did not find anything other than giant clumps of dust mingled with cobwebs. There was nothing special hidden under the bell.

Diana searched under the wooden table for anything special like another key or perhaps a silver object that could protect her from the denizens of the temple. At first she felt nothing except the grain of the wood, but then her fingers touched something metallic. They scrabbled repeatedly over the object and eventually her fingertips pulled on something slender and beady, something like a rosary. After a little more effort the object clattered to the floor and Diana picked it up to examine it.

It was a simple silver bracelet with some words engraved on the front that read "Those who walk the path of righteousness shall never fall."

Diana was not sure if that applied to her. Some of her past actions were less than righteous and she had arguably fallen the moment she agreed to be part of a secretive guild that carried out contract killings and other unsavory acts. She called herself trying to "balance the books" by limiting the contracts she accepted to people who truly deserved to be killed like mob bosses and human traffickers, but it still felt like she was trying to have her cake and eat it too. One day the huntress might have to take a stand and make a firm decision on where she stood, but right now she had a job to do.

Diana put the bracelet on her left wrist and felt an odd sense of peace wash over her. She was not sure if she had put on a genuine bracelet of protection or if she had just put on something that would cripple her when the demon-worshiping cultists spoke the right words aloud. Or it could be a plain silver bracelet and the peace that she felt just a placebo effect after reading the note about the power of silver. Who knew? Equipped with the bracelet and having exhausted every possibility in the room, Diana left the bell tower and made her way back to the main floor.

-Five minutes later, the main hall-

Diana found herself back in the main hall looking at the stained glass window with the woman in white, who still had a look of benevolence and still beckoned her for an embrace. She approached the altar and took notice of the old pipe organ on the left side of the room just fifteen meters away from the altar. Diana approached it and noticed that it was very dusty; upon further inspection some of its keys were missing, but a tattered book of sheet music still sat on a stand as if waiting to be played. The huntress' first instinct was to check behind the sheet music for anything special.

She moved the book aside and was rewarded with a silver key with an etching of a book on the handle. She wondered if there was a library on the premises, which was a high possibility since a key for it sat in her hand. She put the book back in place and turned to face a wooden door straight ahead of her that had somehow escaped her notice from the gallery and the search of the podium. Figuring that it led to the library or at least some place new to explore, Diana began to approach it and noticed two flights of stairs that led to a lower level of the temple less than ten meters behind the altar as she passed by it. There was a set on the left and a set on the right and both were roughly five meters apart.

Diana would have to travel down them later... right now the door in front of her had her complete attention. She approached it and tried the newly discovered key with the book etched on the handle. It was inserted into the lock and the doorknob turned left. It opened without resistance and Diana pocketed the key, then walked into the room and shut the door behind her.

-Inside the library-

Diana closed the door behind her and looked at her new surroundings for any hostiles in the area. She had found none, so she shifted focus from being ready to fight to exploring the library that loomed in front of her. In front of her were tall shelves full of scrolls and books and off to her immediate left was a stone staircase that led upstairs. Diana was not sure which area to explore first, so she opted to go upstairs and see what was there. She turned and began to ascend the staircase.

-The library, upstairs-

Diana reached the top of the staircase and found wall-to-wall bookshelves filled with books and scrolls in protective tubes. Dominating the floor were eight wooden writing desks with wooden chairs where the monks copied books by hand on behalf of wealthy patrons or their religious order. Moonlight filtered into the room through a medium-sized circular window set high into the stone wall, giving the room an ethereal feel. Set in the walls several meters ahead of the writing desks were bookshelves filled with more scrolls in protective tubes. Diana looked around her at the vast collection of books and let her curiosity take over.

Picking a bookshelf at random, Diana walked right and took a glance at the books stocked on a shelf on the right wall. A few of the titles were Faith and Worship, The Foundations of Faith, and Sites Of Pilgrimage: Tracing the Path of the Faithful. On the surface all of them appeared to be religious works, but the note in her pocket and the mayor of Haunted Village claimed that something sinister was going on in the temple. Diana was not sure what faith the books on the shelves were written to support... the faith of the previous tenants or the faith of the new, more sinister tenants.

Diana did not think too much about the question because she looked to the bookshelves set in the wall and walked past the cluster of writing desks to approach them. Something was off about them, but she did not quite know what that something was. A closer look at them was in order.

[Post Word Count: 1,180]
[Total Word Count: 7,890/11,000]

The inquisitive Diana reached the bookshelves and began to push on them: they could be hiding a secret passage to another part of the temple. One by one she pushed on them with her left hand and one by one they refused to budge. It was time to try something different. Maybe they were designed not to move when pushed and there was another way to open the passage.

Diana turned her attention from the bookshelves themselves to the contents of the shelves. Maybe pulling on one of the numerous books would open the path, but pulling on every last one would take all night, so she focused on books that were different from the others in shape, size, or color. She spent ten minutes pulling on any books that were different and did not get any results with that approach either. Perhaps there was a button hidden on one of the shelves by a book or protective scroll case?

Trying one last approach, Diana began to lift and inspect the books out of each shelf when she heard footsteps behind her. She had brought no one with her and Ami was at home, so chances were high that the person behind her was either a zombie or one of the demon worshipers. Diana turned around and saw a man in black robes approaching her?

"Expecting to find a hidden passage in this sacred library? You watch too many movies!" The man mocked Diana. She raised Saint Sinner Valentine and aimed it at his chest. The man laughed.

"Foolish child, mortal weapons cannot hurt me!" He taunted as he walked around the writing desks and approached Diana with his hands raised to grab her. The huntress took a deep breath and aimed for his chest, and fired six Silver Bullets into it, banking on the mayor's advice to pay off. It paid off when the man fell forward onto the floor and writhed in pain.

"How did you know... what could hurt us?" The robed man asked her. With great effort he raised his head and glanced towards the huntress, spying the silver bracelet around her left wrist. That prompted him to frown.

"Brother Lucas was a wise man. It is unfortunate that... he opposed the... mistress." He said before expiring and collapsing to the floor. Diana was not sure what he meant by what he said about Brother Lucas, but at least she knew that Silver Bullets could hurt the robed men. Certain that there was nothing that could help her in the library, she reloaded Saint Sinner Valentine and walked past the dead man to return to the main hall and go down one of the flights of stairs she saw a short distance behind the altar.

-In the main hall-

Diana shut the library door behind her and turned around to find that she was far from alone in the main hall. Now she was facing down five robed men about thirty meters away and they were not happy to see her. One of them pointed her out to his fellows and bellowed.

"SEIZE THE INTRUDER!" He bellowed. Diana raised Saint Sinner Valentine and fired six single shots into the man's chest and he fell backwards, prompting the other four monks to reconsider following that order. Instead of retreating their hands began to glow black as they chanted in an unknown language. Not wanting to let the men begin hurling magic or summoning lesser demons to do their bidding, Diana began firing at them with more Silver Bullets.

One man went down with six bullet holes in his torso before he could cast his spell, but the other three had finished preparing their spells and began hurling black fireballs and black lighting bolts at her. Diana did a forward roll onto her right shoulder to avoid the magic aimed in her direction and ended the roll in a kneeling position, quickly aiming and taking down another man with six bullets to the torso. She stood up and shifted aim about a meter to the left and took down another robed man, leaving only one left. He hesitated for a moment and fled towards the altar to retreat down the stairs, but Diana picked him off with two shots to the side of the head.

He lurched sideways in mid-run and lay sprawled off to the left side of the altar. Diana was about to leave the main hall behind when she saw something twinkle next to him. She walked over and picked up the object, which was a silver key. She looked at the handle and found a crude etching of hands clasped in prayer, which likely symbolized the monks' quarters. The huntress pocketed the key and proceeded towards the left stairwell while reloading Saint Sinner Valentine. She expected to encounter fierce opposition downstairs because there had been a lot of commotion in the main hall and any robed man within earshot was preparing to defend their temple.

-Downstairs-

Diana walked carefully down the stairs and saw a cramped stone hallway lit by torches in wall sconces. The hallway was barely wide enough to accommodate two people and it was barely six feet high... anyone six feet or taller would have to lean down to pass through this hallway. Diana was surprised by the lack of opposition. She had thought that the passage would be full of hostiles by now, but there was nothing to stop her from progressing down the hall and to a wooden door on the right side. She produced the key from her pocket and placed it in the lock, turning it to the right and then turning the knob left.

The door did not open. Had she turned the knob the wrong way? Diana tried turning the knob to the right and the door opened without further trouble. From the doorway of the room she saw beds with the heads pushed against the walls and a simple wooden footlocker located at the foot of each bed, an arrangement that was much like a modern military barracks. This room had to be some kind of quarters for either the monks or their guests. Looking behind her to make sure that she was not being followed, Diana entered the quarters and shut the door behind her.

[Post Word Count: 1,052]
[Total Word Count: 8,942/11,000]

-Inside the quarters-

Diana looked around the sparsely decorated room and noted the layout's similarity to a modern military barracks with eighteen beds on each side of the room and a clear path down the middle. She also noted the presence of a gray shield with a red cross hanging on the left wall with two swords crossed behind it. Were the previous tenants of the temple a monastic military order like those she had read about in history class? She was not sure. The layout of the room and the wooden footlockers made her think of a modern military barracks, but that could be entirely coincidental and not indicative of a monastic military order.

Aside from the sparse decoration and the layout, Diana also noted the sheer amount of dust and cobwebs in the room, especially in the corners of the floor and ceiling. It had obviously not been used in a long time and had not been cleaned in an even longer time. Diana wondered why that was.

Remembering the contents of the note in her pocket, Diana began to search for the bed that had once belonged to Brother Lucas to find what he had left behind. Starting all the way from the left, Diana carefully looked over each and every bed, paying special attention to the footlockers in case they had names etched onto them. On the top of the seventh wooden footlocker Diana noticed a name etched on top in small letters.

BROTHER LUCAS

Diana bent down to open it and saw that the bracelet glowed silver before she lifted the lid. A silver shield dispelled and the lid opened without any resistance. Inside was a small gray book with a small red cross in the center. Its coloration was the same as the shield on the wall, a resemblance that was hardly coincidental. She picked up the book and opened it to the middle.

"...I have noticed that lately the order has shifted away from protecting the minds and bodies of travelers in the Cursed Lands to worshiping some mistress of unknown origin. I am confounded by this change in focus and have brought up the matter with the abbot, but so far he has not answered me. He claims that all will become clear with the passage of time." Brother Lucas had written in an entry made on a spring day roughly 125 years ago. Diana thumbed through the journal to learn more about the change in focus and her eyes settled on another entry made in summer of the same year.

"The abbot still refuses to give me a clear answer to my questions. I noticed that the order has become more secretive and has excluded me and other doubters from its rituals. I feel that is for the best because I noticed that lately guests who stay the night tend to vanish without a trace. I suspect that something foul is going on." Brother Lucas had written. Two pages later Diana found another observation dated for two weeks after the summer entry; this one concerned a meeting with other members of the order who had expressed reservations about its change in mission.

"Today I met with Brother Matthias, Brother Benedict, Brother Maynard, and Brother Henry in the bell tower to discuss the unsettling changes within the order. They too are perturbed by the abbot's refusal to give clear answers to our questions and they too suspect that something foul is happening. Brother Maynard reported that last night another guest has gone missing from the guest quarters. This has to stop!" Brother Lucas reported. Diana moved on and thumbed through more of the book, stopping on an entry dated for the middle of winter.

"Brother Matthias, Brother Benedict, and Brother Henry have left the order to go their own way. I can hardly blame them. Lately the order has become obsessed with worshiping the Mistress to the virtual exclusion of its other duties. It has also started drinking wine at its rituals when wine has been expressly forbidden by the rules governing the order. Brother Maynard suspects that the "wine" is actually blood from the missing guests, but since we have nothing but suspicion, we cannot prove that their drink is blood. Brother Maynard is going to continue his investigation.

I wish that I was brave enough to join him, but I am too afraid. Brother Maynard and I are among the only dissenters left and our days are numbered." The entry ended. Diana thumbed through one last time and found an entry in winter dated just before the new year.

"Brother Maynard has gone missing! Before he vanished he told me of blasphemous rituals conducted in honor of a Dark Mistress that involve human sacrifice, details I have recorded both here and in another journal I am taking with me because I fear that my life may soon end and I do not want any information on the cult's activities to die with me. I have locked my journal in this footlocker and have enchanted it with a spell to protect it from the demon's servants so that they may not find and destroy the evidence of their activities. My bracelet, which I have hidden in the bell tower, is one of the only things that can break the enchantment.

I feel that the demon worshipers are onto me, so I must depart as soon as possible. I will leave this journal as a warning to any who may find it. If they are wise and fortunate enough to escape with their lives, they would leave this place and never return!" Brother Lucas had written. Diana noticed a red cloth bookmark and opened the journal to it. On the pages were Brother Maynard's description of the rituals involved in the worship of the Dark Mistress. They involved human sacrifice along with bloodletting by the monks and the drinking of blood. Diana closed the book and put it in her left side pocket, then turned to leave the room with the information she had acquired.

-Outside the monks' quarters, in the hallway-

Diana shut the door behind her and peered left and right to look for trouble, but the hallway was empty. No black-robed monks, no demons, nothing. Diana turned to the left and went back the way she had come. As she walked up the stairs she felt a surge in dark energy coming from the main hall. That might have been a sign that the cult was preparing a last-ditch effort to keep the huntress from escaping, so Diana mentally prepared herself for a fight.

-In the main hall-

Diana emerged at the top of the stairs to find that there was a welcoming committee waiting on her. Around two dozen monks were waiting for her and at their head was a white-haired young woman with red eyes, a black dress, fangs, and a curious black collar with a pearl necklace. Was she the Dark Mistress?

She had to be.

The dark energy spike was centered around her. None of the black-robed men with her were nearly as powerful as she was. The young woman looked at Diana with curiosity.

The Dark Mistress:

[Post Word Count: 1,200]
[Total Word Count: 10,142/11,000]

Diana felt strangely drawn to the young woman, who was not showing any signs of hostility whatsoever. She continued to look at the huntress with curious red eyes and a smile that revealed her fangs. Why was she not attacking Diana or having her army of devoted monks attack on her behalf?

"Welcome to my home, stranger. I did not expect such a beautiful intruder into my domain." The young woman greeted Diana. The huntress was wary of her but did not raise Saint Sinner Valentine or perform any other actions that might be interpreted as hostile. The monks remained wary but did not attack the blonde mage.

"Tell me, stranger. Why are you here and why have you killed six of my faithful followers?" She asked Diana.

"I am here to investigate this temple on behalf of the villagers of Haunted Village. They have reported a rise in zombie activity and have sent me to stop it." Diana answered. The Dark Mistress looked at Diana like she had no idea what the huntress was talking about.

"It was not by my hand that the dead have risen." The Dark Mistress asserted. Diana did not entirely buy that, but a look at the white-haired vampire's body language told the huntress that the young woman was not lying. Diana was not sure what to make of that.

If The Dark Mistress was not responsible, than who was?

"Then why did the villagers report men in black robes accompanying the zombies?" Diana asked further. Cassandra appeared to be genuinely surprised by that question and hesitated for a moment before answering.

Diana felt like she was being played, but she did not have any evidence to support the case of the vampire being responsible, so she would have to listen to her before commencing hostilities.

"I suspect that it is what is lurking beneath this temple that is responsible for the village's woes... and for the possession of some of my faithful followers." The young woman asserted. Diana was interested in what she had to say.

"What do you mean?" Diana asked.

"This temple was desecrated long before I got here. I arrived here only seventy years ago and wiped out the original inhabitants, who were serving a demonic cult that was formed to bring The Dark Mistress into this world. I have been working to keep The Dark Mistress contained for the past several decades." The young woman asserted. Now Diana was really getting confused. If the young vampire was not The Dark Mistress, then who was?

"I have long forgotten my original name, but I am Cassandra. I have read some of the books in the library and find the name ironically appropriate. Many a vampire hunter and holy knight has come here seeking to destroy me. I have told them many a time that I am not the cause of the village's woes and that The Dark Mistress is to blame, but they would not believe me." Cassandra told Diana.

"Since you have not yet attacked me, perhaps you will break the cycle of those I have tried to persuade of the real danger and have had to kill in self-defense when they insisted on attacking me as the problem." Cassandra continued. So far Diana could see that the young vampire was telling the truth about everything. What exactly was going on here?

"Show me proof." Diana said laconically.

"Look to the stained glass window behind you." Cassandra requested. Diana turned to face the window and saw that a shimmering red portal had opened and a female face was staring into the room with a calm facial expression like she had all the time in the world and that her arrival was only a matter of time. The face had long violet hair with matching eyes. Diana felt a stronger dark energy coming from the portal than she did Cassandra or her followers. Moments later the portal closed and Diana turned around to face Cassandra.

"Do you see what I mean now? Will you heed my words or will you be the latest in a long line of easily avoidable deaths?" Cassandra asked Diana with a veiled threat. After what had happened just now, Diana was willing to go on faith here.

"I see what you mean. What needs to be done to defeat The Dark Mistress?" Diana asked the vampire. Cassandra turned to the men and nodded. They stood down and so did the huntress.

"When I arrived I caught the cult in the middle of their summoning ritual and wiped them out, but I was unable to seal The Dark Mistress away. My followers and I have been able to only contain her. To truly vanquish her, we must go into her realm and defeat her there." Cassandra told Diana.

"I must prepare for the journey and so must you, stranger. I will send for you in a week's time. If you help me in this endeavor, you will save the village and the world. I will also reward you for your help." Cassandra told Diana with a salacious edge near the end. Diana felt another strange compulsion, this time to approach Cassandra. The blonde mage barely resisted the compulsion.

"I will be here in a week's time." Diana promised the young vampire.

"I will keep my men inside the temple to aid me in preparing for the ritual and to allay the fears of the villagers. Go now and tell their chief that the zombies will no longer be a problem. The robed men will no longer be a concern either." Cassandra instructed Diana. The huntress agreed to this arrangement and hoped that Cassandra would keep her end of the bargain. Cassandra and her men bade Diana farewell and left to go down the stairs and deeper into the temple.

Diana left the temple to return to the Haunted Village and tell the mayor of what she had seen here. She would present Brother Lucas' journal to him as proof that his claim of the temple once being home to demon worshipers was true and hope that that would distract him long enough for Cassandra to prepare herself for the journey into The Dark Mistress' realm. Diana would return to the temple one week from now and help the young vampire put an end to the real threat that was targeting the Haunted Village.

Diana just hoped that she was not being played like a cheap kazoo by Cassandra.

-Outside Haunted Village, almost four hours later-

After fighting through more zombies of both normal and hunter varieties during the return trip, Diana had arrived in Haunted Village and given Brother Lucas' journal to the mayor. She had also told him that the temple was indeed a site of cult activity and to keep the villagers away from it. He vowed to do just that. When asked about the hunter zombies and the robed men Diana told him that she had eliminated as many as she could find and told him that they would no longer be a concern. The mayor thanked her and paid her for her services.

Diana had then left the mayor's home and started back for home. She was taking a big risk here. Cassandra had better come through on her end of the bargain to suppress the zombies and robed men or things could get really ugly.

[Post Word Count: 1,234]
[Total Word Count: 11,376/11,000]