Komm, Süsser Tod [Solo Halloween Hunt]

[Capsule]

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It was that time of the year again: Halloween. The day was drawing closer and closer, but for a month now, people were already celebrating. They flaunted the clothing and items given as rewards for completing the Purple Mirror Mansion last year, or just the festive skill skins. The former was limited to only a few, whereas the latter was largely in the possession of those who had forked over thousands of gold. The revamp to the economy made it unreasonable for even the wealthiest Adventurers (Capsule included) to spend gold on them now. Why those prices were not adjusted down to suit the new economy, she would never know. Even gachapons would be desirable. But alas…

The commercialized aspect of the holiday (popular among Americans) was only introduced to Germany a few years ago, much to the distaste of many of its citizens. Part of the blame was placed on immigrants, as far as she could remember. At some point in her teen years (or maybe even before that, who could tell), Middle Easterners began moving to Germany. This enraged her father to no end. The man was shamelessly xenophobic, and spoke incessantly at how "these people" were going to ruin their culture and overcrowd their cities.

"Do you know why they really came here, Meike? For our welfare, which comes out of the pockets of the citizens! From real Germans! Good Germans. And then they expect us to pander to their needs. And the politicians are even worse! They appease them, like the Allies appeased Hitler. It is all downhill from there, let me tell you… Not even Oktoberfest is safe." This was the typical talk around the dinner table, and her father would waggle his fork in such a manner that her and her brothers would mock him behind his back.

Capsule was too young and preoccupied with her own hobbies and schoolwork to notice or particularly care. Besides, many of them were refugees, as she understood it. Their home country was in such a crappy state that they did not feel safe there, so why not move somewhere that could offer stability and relative safety? As for the migrants who were irrelevant to the refugees, did they not have the basic human right to do so, especially if it could make them happy or provide them with work? Despite being young and impressionable, she was capable of forming opinions that differed from her parents.

And then things escalated. First, more and more foreigners migrated to their city. They brought along their culture with them, which included the negative and undesirable traits. It was not as drastic as what happened to Sweden after, their parliament changed the country into a multicultural one some forty three years ago. Violent crime increased by three hundred percent, and the number of rapes shot up over one thousand percent. As far as she knew, it was still listed as number two of rape countries, with Lesotho of South Africa being the first.

Her father adamantly believed that the refugees and immigrants were all to blame for the sharp decline of safety in Sweden, and she could not argue with those facts, having written an essay on the subject. Surely nothing like that would befall Germany. Those Swedes were simply too neutral for their own good. Germany, despite the controversial history left behind by the regime of Hitler, was too grand a country to allow something similar to occur.

And then the girlfriend of one of her brothers was sexually assaulted by one of the refugees. There were many cases of the same happening to other girls throughout Germany. Said girlfriend was attending the same international school as her assailant, where tension had been mounting for a while. Capsule had some trouble at her own school, to the point where she did not feel safe wearing skirts. Once, her only fear was of male students (older or younger, it did not matter) flipping or tugging down her skirts. Some claimed it was all in good fun, while a few others might have actually tried to do something, had it not been for the protection of her older brothers. But when the crime rate was escalating in your city, not even the implied threat of an ass kicking helped. Capitalizing on her skill in parkour saved her life many a time.

A few years ago, PEGIDA or "Patriotic Europeans against the Islamization of the West" formed, after a former pro footballer (and thug, as her father referred to him) made an anti-immigrant rant on Facebook. After that, concerned German citizens began staging protests at the opera house. The number of participants started off with only a few hundred or so. Later, thousands joined in. It was fairly consistent -- every Monday, in the evening. Capsule even attended a few times out of curiosity. It was exhilarating to participate in such an affair, and to sing along or wave a small flag…

A small, bitter smile formed upon the countenance of the Enchanter. A small child or dwarf, clad in a cheap costume of your stereotypical witch, stopped in front of her. She held out a small bag, already heavy with candy and other sweets. Trick or treat. That obnoxious part of Halloween that did Samhain no justice. Capsule knew that many Germans found it annoying, but she used to think it was kind of cute – and even fun. She never gave out candy, but leftover bread from St. Martin's Day. It was sort of like Halloween, except children carried lanterns as they sang for treats, and in reward they were given pieces of bread shaped like little men. If they were lucky, sometimes they got to attend the bonfires.

But this demand and expectation of candy… Trick or treaters would play tricks on her and others who did not comply with their standards. A sneer claimed and twisted her smile. She reached down and snatched the bag out of the child’s small hands. "There are no treats here. Only tricks."

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∝: 1007
♫: A Promise
✏: Thanks to Blood for the research.
@: Capsule

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[Capsule]

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After taking the candy from the baby, Capsule hopped down onto her feet. Before her reminiscence was broken by the brat, the woman was rested on a low hanging tree branch. Said branch was attached to a largish tree outside of a village in Avon. From other, sturdier branches, old nooses swung in the cool October wind. This was Warden territory, where they once tried Heretics. She supposed the nooses were more for show these days, as a grim reminder to all who roamed this land.

A cry sounded from the false witch, who was now screaming and demanding that her bag be returned. A few feet away, other children in various types of costumes stared. Standing behind them with her mouth gaped open in shock, was an older woman in robes of midnight blue. Her lips were moving, and her false wand was jabbed in Capsule's direction, but nothing was coming out of the hole in her face. Quite frankly, Capsule did not need to be told that she was in the wrong. She knew what she was doing, and she could take responsibility for her actions.

Just as the chaperone found her voice, Capsule bolted into the night. "I hope the Ripper Jack gets you," a tiny voice called out after her. Ripper Jack, eh? Was that one of the absurd Halloween monsters she had heard so much about lately? A few Adventurers were hunting the monsters for hope of acquiring a candy themed weapon. Capsule was only interested if it netted her a weapon closer to her level than her current gear. The downside was that she might look silly once the seasons changed, but eh. Beggars could not be choosers, and she was still waiting on the Funeral Parlor to complete her commission.

Regardless of what she wanted, an encounter seemed unavoidable. Living Jack- o –Lanterns soon entered her vision. Off the main road on either side, they were lined up neatly, almost as if they were programmed to do so. The soft light they provided saved her the trouble of summoning her Magic Light. Mini Jacks and Helio Jacks, the monsters were called. The Mini Jacks had a level range of one to five, whereas the Helio Jacks ranged from six to ten. These sorts of mobs were for Adventurers who were lazy and had not leveled their main class for some ungodly reason. They would provide no challenge to someone of her caliber.

She was content to live and let live, as the monsters were non-hostile. Even then, she could always talk them down. That was one of her main reasons for switching to the Animal Trainer subclass so long ago. Capsule did not believe in brutalizing something for the sake of killing or proving herself the stronger party. She was mostly pacifistic in nature, and could appreciate it when other beings (be they monster or Adventurer) recognized that. There was always that one asshole, however…

This one sent a spherical fireball crashing into the ground behind her, the impact so strong it knocked her off of her feet.

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∝: 515
♫: A Promise
✏: Bluh bluh notes.
@: Capsule

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[Capsule]

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Her mistake lied in assuming that there were only the Mini and Helio Jacks to be concerned with. It had not occurred to her that there would be some hostile monsters sprinkled in among the gentler mobs. Capsule scanned the vicinity as she rolled over onto her side, and spotted her assailant almost immediately. There, hovering only a few feet away, was a red Jack- O -Lantern; a Flare Jack, to be precise. It was sneering down at her, the cheeky little bugger. Oh, how cute.

From her spot on the ground, Capsule summoned forth her Crystal Reindeer, Kasper. She had been meaning to raise his levels up to her Trainer level. What better time than this? «Kasper. Snow Curtain.» This put herself at risk as well, though Capsule was not the one who was weak to ice damage here. For a monster that was obviously elemental based, she did not need to consult her divining rod. Kasper was also not on par with her main level, and she had her Prana Drain skill waiting in the wings to patch up any damage she took.

So while Kasper covered the surrounding area with a snowstorm made out of diamond dust, Capsule lied around like a leech, draining life from the lesser Jack- O -Lanterns. Unfortunately, a few of the other mobs suffered damage from the snowstorm. These poor casualties were not wasted, however. Kasper was receiving experience points for killing them, as was Capsule. Her Animal Trainer level would ideally go up to sixty soon enough, and then she would be able to relax a bit and focus more on her research. She still needed to research revival items, though anti-element potions had also caught her eye as of late.

When the snowstorm finally died down, the Flare Jack and other lesser pumpkins had disappeared. Despite the flawless assault, something else had survived the storm with very little damage. These pumpkins were blue in color, and obvious siblings of the Flare Jack. Frost Jacks. What was next? The so called Ripper Jack the child had spoken of? Capsule rose to her feet, glowering at the pumpkin. If it wanted a fight, it had come to the wrong neighborhood. «Kasper. Red Nosed Reindeer.» Fighting ice with ice would get her nowhere fast.

While the reindeer charged up his nose, Capsule readied a fireball in one hand. She had never once regretted taking this skill. It was mostly used for lighting fireplaces, but had proven itself to be useful in battle, too. Fighting Praesepe for the first time was perhaps the greatest use of it. The damned hornets were weak to fire, as was this pathetic creature. The blinding light fired from Kasper dazzled the dumb pumpkin, lowering its odds of escape. Capsule threw the fireball at that moment, knocking the blue Jack to one side. In retaliation, the pumpkin froze the ground beneath their feet, turning the surrounding ten meters into an ice rink. Kasper’s legs wobbled, as did Capsule’s. "Uh oh…"

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∝: 501
♫: A Promise
✏: Bluh bluh notes.
@: Capsule

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[Capsule]

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You know what this fight could use? Yes, that is correct – more bears. A polar bear, in fact. Darling Kasper, with his small boost in levels, was swapped out with Aleksei. The bear was resistant to ice, and was practically born and raised on the frozen landscape. He could punch a hole into ice with the ease of swatting a fly, and enjoyed sliding around on it like a penguin. Hell, according to him, he and the other polar bears enjoyed a sport they referred to as "penguin curdling". The bear was big, tough, strong, and could hit like a truck.

The bear roared with delight at the field of ice. He grabbed Capsule with one massive paw, and placed the woman upon his back. She hugged his thickly furred neck, happy for the warmth. It was not winter yet, but the air weather was getting there. The Frost Jack fired a beam of ice cold air, which Aleksei absorbed with very minor change in his health. A normal monster might have flinched, but Aleksei merely patted himself and scoffed at the pumpkin. If it had any hopes of actually damaging the bear, it would have to try harder than that.

Fun time was now over, kids. Aleksei lowered his head low to the ground, the only warning the Frost Jack would be getting. Bulldoze activated as the bear surged forward. To its credit, the Frost Jack was not stupid. It teleported a safe ten meters away as the bear came upon it, but did not account for several factors. The first was that Capsule was an Enchanter, and had ways of binding enemies in place. Before it could move any further, its body was anchored by Astral Bind. As for that second thing… polar bears could cover small distances at the speed of twenty five miles per hour.

The force with which Aleksei collided into the pumpkin utterly demolished a huge chunk of its health. The bear seized the pumpkin between his paws, and with the brutality of Aslan fighting Jadis, the White Witch, bit into the Frost Jack. The Jack- O –Lantern uttered a high pitched squeal of terror and pain as half of its body was ripped apart by the strong jaws of the bear. Chunks of frozen pumpkin were spat out onto the ground. As to be expected, a Frost Jack did not make for a decent treat.

The bear threw the remains of the now dying pumpkin on the ground, in a manner that reminded his owner of American football players (not soccer, but what they called their… sport). Capsule had to tighten her arms and legs around the bear as he stood up on his hind legs, and proceeded to… her twelve hundred pound polar bear was performing a victory dance. It started with him skipping in place, then strumming an invisible guitar, and ended with the bear dropping down onto his knees (did polar bears even have knees?), and shooting little finger (paw?) guns into the air. This shameless showboating made her embarrassed to be seen in public with him. «Ok, Aleksei. That is enough for now.» Capsule just wanted to go home before more of these annoying monsters showed up.

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∝: 538
♫: A Promise
✏: Bluh bluh notes.
@: Capsule

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[Capsule]

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A hush followed the impromptu victory dance. Capsule observed a few of the lesser Jacks respawning in the distance. Soon, the Flare and Frost Jacks would be following suit. She buried her face into the soft, white fur. That was the cue for Aleksei to move on, and with a little pressing of her heels into his sides, he did. The woman closed her eyes and allowed herself to fall into a light doze.

Jack- O -Lanterns were carved for the sake of scaring away evil spirits from your home on All Hallows Eve, were they not? She could never call herself a superstitious woman, and even religion was beyond her grasp of understanding. It all reeked of horse manure to her, more so in the real world than here. All they had to go on in the old world were hints, bad omens, and substantial evidence. One had to rely more on faith than cold, hard facts. This irked Capsule to no end. Video games and novels were one thing, but she expected people to be able to back up their wild claims. It was just one of many reasons why she could not believe in the presence of a god. The claims were far too outlandish for her logical mind.

Capsule considered carving a few pumpkins anyway. It would be something to do, and she had a feeling that more trick or treaters would be knocking at her front door. It would be nice to give the little brats a small fright. Plus, she could get Mute to put the pumpkin filling and seeds to good use. Her cheeks flushed a deep red at the thought of indulging in her beloved’s home cooking. Fresh pumpkin pie and roasted pumpkin seeds… oh boy!

So absorbed in the daydreams about her significant other, Capsule overlooked the low groan from Aleksei. It was uncharacteristic of the bear to flinch during a leisurely stroll. He was stronger than the other monsters below Elite level, and aside from the monstrous crab man, Brachyura, rarely was there an encounter he could not dominate. It made him the perfect candidate for an offensive and tanky companion. He could be brash at times, as seen with the Frost Jack, but he could also back it up. So when his massive body shivered with pain, it gave Capsule cause for concern.

"Aleksei -- urk…" Blood pooled and gurgled in her throat as she attempted to speak. Something colder and sharper than winter frost was embedded in her flesh, penetrating the back and coming clean through the other side. Another blade slipped through the palm of her hand, which was raised to explore the previous wound. There was pain, icy hot and attacking her senses, but nothing debilitating. She barely even felt the third blade stab into her shoulder, or the fourth that slashed into her spine. The creature or person assailing her could not be too high leveled, otherwise her health would have taken a greater hit.

Blood dribbled down the chin of the dumbfounded Enchanter, and onto the pure white fur of the bear. Why? What was the purpose of this senseless violence? More blood stained the bear’s coat as she struggled to turn herself around, to face her mysterious stalker. A fifth blade whistled through the air and struck her forehead. Capsule lost her balance and toppled onto the ground, just as a flurry of knives rained down on her and Aleksei. The bear fell into a state of Hibernation to replenish his health, leaving Capsule alone to twitch on the ground.

Weaving in and out of her vision was a shadowy figure. It was robust and round, and appeared to be grinning down at her with fiendish eyes. A foot that smelled strongly of earth and upturned soil was placed atop her chest. Capsule recognized the sensation of that of a vine, like the very same used by her Thorn Bind Hostage skill. The wicked face lowered itself until it filled her vision, obscuring even the bulk of the slumbering polar bear beside her. At this range, Capsule could see the creature for what it was: a Jack- O –Lantern. An ugly chuckle rolled out of its ugly maw. "Trick or treat." Its voice was thick and deep, and in a permanent state of wry amusement.

A spray of blood pelted that hideously grinning face. Capsule dug her hands and heels into the ground in desperation. The Ripper Jack dug its foot in deeper, and twisted around to pick up something lying nearby. When it turned back to its captive, the stolen bag of candy was in its shadowy hands. Capsule shook her head from side to side as it reached into the bag. That damned kid had cursed her after all! "Trick or treat," it repeated.

"WHAT do you want from me?!" Yelling pained her more than anything, but at this point she was incapable of caring.

"TRICK! OR! TREAT!" From the bag, it held up a bar of chocolate.

Capsule bared her teeth in defiance at the monster. Was it serious? Did it really care about the candy, or was it just screwing with her? Better yet, did she have anything to lose by playing along with it? "T-TREAT! TREAT! TREAT, YOU PHUUUCKING PSYCHOPATH!" Her mouth tasted like pennies at this point, and breathing was becoming problematic. Regardless, it was enough to appease the Ripper Jack.

"Treat," the demented pumpkin purred. It stuffed the candy bar – wrapper and all – into its mouth. "Mmmm. Treeeat." Bits of chocolate clung to what she supposed were teeth. The bag was dropped onto her chest, and the pressure from the small foot was removed. The Ripper Jack was moving away with the silent steps of a cat, hurrying off to intercept its next victim. It was only level thirty. A weak monster like that had had the gall to target opponents far stronger than it? It made sense in retrospect. Get the drop on your victims, and run before they could retaliate.

Defeated and humbled, the woman rolled over onto her side and next to the polar bear. His fur was singed in one place, and badly slashed in another. Most of those invisible knives were used to subdue him and leave Capsule exposed. The damage was far from severe; he would be up again in a few seconds. Her own injuries were more of an inconvenience than true burden. "Trick or treat," she muttered into his ear.

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∝: 1084
♫: A Promise
✏: Bluh bluh notes.
@: Capsule

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