Bonnie stared at the quest window for a moment before tuning to Elistrae, “Two sets of gear? Is it random or how we end the quest affects the rewards?”
“It’s about how we deal with things,” Elistrae nodded.
“And which one is better? I assume the difference is not just cosmetic,” Bonnie continued.
The elf smiled, “You are right. The Vampire Hunter set is about dealing damage to vampires. And fighting against them. It’s a niche set of gear. But basically it makes you deal five times more damage, and be between five and ten times more resistant to a vampire’s skills. It’s great, but again, a niche. Even if it will work against vampires in other dungeons. I will say that the hard mode is likely balanced for those who have that set. The vampires in there are nasty. Then again, it does have its uses outside dungeons. When you face any enemy that is being affected by a drain ability. Like mana drain, or energy sap or whatever. The buff is still there. Reduced to just a 30% buff, but that still counts. That will work for both people using that skills and being targeted by the skill.”
“How about the Vampire Lord set?” Alex asked.
“That one is better for general use. Some pieces give mana drain, the daggers heal you as you deal damage. The crown can make you hide in the shadows, the cape gives you a low level flight ability. There is a short range teleport, stuff like that. People like the vampire lord set better, but the look is more… unique.”
“Edgy as fuck, right?” Alex asked, getting a nod in reply.
“Yeah, the vampire hunter has that mix of apocalypse survivor mixed with what you would call an Old England vibe. A bit different, but not that strange. The Vampire Lord, on the other hand… Think Gothic nobility that wants everyone to know who they are with just a look. If you get one of the accessories, or the cape, it’s not that bad. But the crown or the other things… it’s not for everyone,” Elistrae finished the explanation.
Bonnie turned to Alex, “Vampire Lord?”
“Yeah. I think we both want the same one. Mana drain.”
“Or the cape, so I can fly. Being able to do that would be helpful,” Bonnie shrugged.
“To get that one, we need to help the vampires, right? Where is the lord?” Alex turned back to Uav.
“Today, he is in the factory. His daughter is playing,” the vampire hunter explained.
“Oh shit. That’s her? That explains it,” Elistrae nodded.
“What?” Bonnie asked.
“You’ll see. Come, I know how to get there,” the elf turned around and started walking across the city. She turned here and there, moving with purpose and the confidence of someone who had walked these streets dozens of times before. After around 15 minutes, they arrived in front of a large warehouse looking structure with some tall exhaust towers on the back. From the outside, the place looked abandoned. However, some lights could be seen from the windows. Not enough to show an actual party was happening inside, but it still confirmed that people should be there.
They approached the entrance and saw a line of people outside. Without even worrying about anything, Elistrae continued walking directly towards the door. She approached the bounced and smiled while playing with her hair, “Can my friends and I go inside?”
“Yeah… No, I mean. You need to go to the end of the line,” the man quickly composed himself.
“Oh. Can we stay here, then? I would feel safer near you than all the way in the back,” even the elf’s voice had shifted. Now being a bit more high pitched, which made her sound younger.
“Is anyone giving you trouble?” the bouncer asked.
“Not really, but you’ve heard the rumors going around the city. The streets are not a safe place at night. I’m just worried I’ll get in your way. But I promise I’ll do my best not to keep talking to you,” she paused and bit her lower lip, “Even if I really wanted to.”
Alex just glanced at Bonnie and clearly saw her getting flushed. The assassin just rolled her eyes, to her this was more cringe than flirty.
“You are right. It’s better for you to be safe,” the bouncer glanced at Alex and Bonnie, “Those are your friends? Come, you can go inside,” he turned back to Elistrae, “I’ll check on you later tonight. Maybe when my shift is over.”
“Thank you so much,” the elf opened a large smile and walked inside. The two humans were right behind her, hearing the boos and complaints of the crowd outside. Once they were far enough away, Elistrae turned back to her companions, “Sorry about that. I know I said I wasn’t going to help, but staying in line would be boring as hell. And we would lose the best part of the show. Besides, it’s always a good way to practice that kind of thing.”
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“What if it didn’t work? Or the bouncer was gay? Actually, can he be gay? Or is it always the same guy?” Alex asked.
“Same guy, but he can be gay. If that was the case I would just use this,” Elistrae pulled a small concert ticked that read ‘Bloodmoon Manor,’ in large red letters and a picture of the mansion with the red moon behind it on the background, “This is a VIP ticket for all the events in the dungeon. As long as you show it to security or whatever, you and four people can enter any secure area in the dungeon. Well, with the exception of the manor, there things are a bit different.”
“Why didn’t you use that, then?” Bonnie asked.
“It’s more fun like this, besides,” Elistrae glanced at Alex, “I needed the ego boost.”
The assassin didn’t say anything and just continued walking. Soon they passed a set of double doors that opened into the real party. There should be a few thousand people in this small space, with bars on the sides, and in the back of the room. A stage was located on the other side of the room where a group was playing rock music.
“Shit… that’s a lot,” Alex said.
“Yeah… how are we going to find the vampires in the middle of all of this? Maybe I can use the Pyxis, or the Octans constellation. They are more about navigation, being a sextant and a compass, but it could work,” Bonnie looked around.
“No, I don’t mean that. I already know who is a vampire here. There are just a lot of them,” unlike Bonnie, the Purifying Light could see all the vampires in the area.
The [Visions of Corruption] skill could show any ailment, debuff, and magic based poison in someone’s body. However, that was just a side effect. The main function of that skill was simple. Finding curses and other forms of corruption. Vampirism was, by every definition, a curse. Sure, it came with its benefits, but this was the exact kind of thing that her legacy was made to fight against. Just by scanning the area, she could see the vampires. For Alex, they all had red lines all over their bodies. And it wasn’t just on the skin, those lines were still present over their clothes.
“Are you going to be ok?” Elistrae turned to the assassin.
“Yeah. I just see the issues, there is nothing pushing me to fix them. If that happened, I would have to avoid people with tattoos like the plague,” Alex shrugged. Her eyes landed on the guitar player on stage. It was a brunette woman with long hair, black ripped jeans, a leather jacket, and a leather top. A pair of spiky bracelets and a thick black collar around her neck. Her makeup was heavy and there was a line of red coming from the side of her mouth. But that was just makeup, not part of the lines Alex was seeing. How the Purifying Light was so sure of that? Simple, the lines pulsated like a heartbeat. And the pulsating lines that covered the guitar player followed a rhythm that was inexistent in the red mark.
“Can you tell who is the vampire lord?” Bonnie asked.
“I don’t think so,” Alex looked around once more and froze, "Scratch that. I know," she pointed to a man who was backstage, watching the show.
He looked like an older rock star. Long hair, leather clothes and a hat that could only be described as unnecessary. It was very large, white with a black stripe round and the brim was perfectly flat. But the red lines covering his body were starkly different. They glowed like rubies, or precious gems, and instead of the randomly drawn pattern, his lines had a style to them. Each strand left the center of his chest, warped around his body a couple of times and connected back to where they started. And there were thousands of those lines, which created almost like a crystal heart in the middle of his torso.
Alex turned to Elistrae, “Do you mind if we use that ticket?”
“Not at all. I can’t get us backstage without doing some things that I don’t feel like doing now,” Bonnie turned to the elf and raised an eyebrow, making Elistrae to continue speaking, “I’m not going to fuck anyone. I just have to dial my dumb innocent girl routine to eleven, and in that case, even I cringe at what I say.”
They quickly shuffled towards the side of the stage, flashed the ticked and walked over to who Alex believed to be the vampire lord.
“Excuse me. Can we talk for a moment?” Bonnie asked as she approached the man.
“I’ll give you an autograph soon. Just let me enjoy this song,” the vampire lord replied without even looking at the Astral Witch.
“We need to talk about the treaty,” Bonnie replied without missing a beat. That line made the man turn to her and nod.
“I understand, but this is the last song of my daughter’s band. Can this conversation wait just a couple of minutes?”
Bonnie turned to Alex and Elistrae, and both nodded in confirmation, “Sure.”
They watched as the band continued. The song was pretty good, even if rock wasn’t the favorite type of music of any of them. While they waited, the vampire lord didn’t make any attempts to run, he just stared at the guitar player with a proud smile.
A couple of minutes later, the song was over and the band left the stage, being replaced by a DJ that would continue the next part of the party. The guitar player came out and hugged her father, but before she said anything, the man gestured to Bonnie and the others. Without saying a word, they walked back towards the dressing room, accompanied by the ones running the dungeon.
“Thank you for letting me watch my daughter’s show. Now, what can I help you with? If you came to me, I assume you know who I am,” the vampire lord asked.
“We found a body in an alley today. Killed by a vampire,” Alex replied.
“What?!” the guitar player gasped.
“That is some very serious accusation. I hope you have proof to validate your story,” the vampire lord
Alex and Bonnie glanced at each other but Elistrae pulled up her tablet, “Here is the picture,” the elf winked at the two humans who were not expecting this kind of thing.
“This is… Who else knows about this?” the vampire lord asked with wide eyes. He clearly wasn’t expecting this to be real. If Elistrae didn’t tell Bonnie and Alex that they could help the vampire lord, there would be some doubt if this was just a setup and the man was behind everything. But since they already knew this was an ally, they didn’t have any suspicion.
“One other hunter, for now. The other hunters are missing. They vanished after going to the mansion,” Bonnie explained.
“I…” the vampire lord shook his head and steeled his resolve, “This is not something that we condone. Whoever did that is a rogue agent. I can help you with anything you need, just tell me what. Also… if, when you find this person, you can bring them to me instead of bringing them to the hunters, I will be eternally grateful.”
They nodded, but Alex also spoke up, ignoring the quest for a moment and focusing on what she came here to do, “Actually. Aside from any help with the case, do you know any vampires who are willing to be test subjects? I might be able to cure vampirism.”