A Trip to the Pleasure Castle

A rickety carriage, carrying four individuals, rolled up to the remote unassuming town. All of them had come for the same purpose, that being the mysterious job application that had shown up suddenly one day. It was vague, and a little concerning with its wording, but it promised great riches to those that could oust the source of their peril. No doubt midara related, although none of the four could know for sure. Besides, it couldn't be that bad, right?

The carriage came to a stop, and the little town came into view. The carriage driver's voice sounded out from the front.

"Well, we're here. Banbust. Used to be a nice place. You sure you group wanna be here? Nasty rumors are putting it lightly."

"I think the nasty rumors are exactly why we're here." Test said, sounding more nervous then he'd intended. He opened the door and stepped out of the carriage. What worried him most was not the vagueness of the job, but the number of people sent. He had never seen anyone send more then two adventures to deal with a midara related problem, four almost certainly indicated a serious problem.

Griffin had gone to attempt the job, traveling about in his ongoing quest to find his friends. Along the way, he'd take jobs to gain money to keep himself and his new companion going. For this job, he elected to go by himself, wanting to improve himself and to keep Daphne safe in case this place was as dangerous as he was expecting. "Well, hopefully with a group like this, we'll be okay. Don't worry about us!"

Tobias take a look at the place when he finish he nod as answer for that griffin said "Yeah, don't worry about us,we'll be fine" he didn't show any sign of nervousness or something like that he stepped out of the carriage and wait for the sign to enter with his companions, meanwhile he prepare his skills charpening some knifes and hitting the air with his fists.

Alita looked at her new group of adventurers she was helping and smiled at how brave they all looked as she held her boomerang and nodded "Everything will be okay! I know it!" She continued to repeat that in her head making sure nerves didn't take over

"Well, it's your funeral. Don't say I didn't warn you." As the four adventurers stepped off of the wagon, the carriage driver was quick to pilot his horse into the opposite direction. "I'm getting out of here, though. This place spooks even the horses. Good luck, and all that. Try not to die...or worse. There's much worse then that." With a flip of his reins, the carriage trotted off the way it came, through the surrounding woods.

Because of the vague details that the quest gave, all of them were in the dark about it all. The only thing they really knew was that bad things were present in this town, and the looming castle above was ominous as could be. Going into a dangerous situation blind was a terrible idea, and a town was right in front of them. The best course of action would be to fix that situation of theirs. Hopefully the townsfolk would be friendly.

However, that wasn't quite the case. Those through the town were either barred within their homes, or looked at them with caution and worry. The atmosphere was oppressive, as if they weren't supposed to be there. Getting anything out of this jittery bunch wasn't going to be an easy ordeal.

On their horizon, however, they noticed a young man, no more than 20, carrying buckets of water over his shoulder. He looked tired, but he wasn't avoiding them. That was a start! He even waved at the group as they approached. "Ho, travelers. Try not to be offended by the others; many are simply paranoid of what could happen to them. I take it you're here for the job, then?"

(I realized that since Griffin is here this must be "Final" Test or else the timelines don't match up. Not that it really makes much of a difference.)

"Yes we're here for the job. Although the specifics of what needs to be done and how we can help elude us. Do you know anyone who can give us the details?" Test asked. With all the locals so visibly scared the buildup of midara activity must be as bad as Charlotte had warned. Test was increasingly relived to have backup on this mission.

I'm sorry, I didn't think about anything regarding Griffin, I just wanted to try this dungeon out))

"I'm with them on this, going in there without any details wouldn't really be ideal." He looked towards the castle in the distance, the sorry state of the town lingering in his mind. So this was the kind of lengths a bad situation can get in this world. Maybe it was good that Echo brought him and his friends here, then.

Alita waved at the man and nodded "Yeah i have to agree too. can you please tell us the details of this job and maybe any advice for what we are getting ourselves into?" she looked at castle excitedly thinking of the coming challenge she was going to face.

"Well, where do I even start...? Well, everybody's terrified out of their minds to even step foot out of their doors, as you've probably seen by now. Bunch of hooligans and worrywarts, if you ask me. If we holed up in our little shacks forever, no one would ever get anything done around here!" The man scoffs, clearly not daunted like the others they had seen so far.

"Guess you guys don't know a whole lot...the old geezers that got it out likely didn't have a lot of time to make it super detailed. Few months back, people were passing out on the streets, and no one could wake 'em up. People got worried when they were out for a few days, but then they woke up...and that's where the troubles started."

He pointed up to the castle on the hill, which had no doubt caught the attention of the group at one point or another. "They woke up like they were possessed, barreling up the hill to the old castle. No one's lived up there in decades, but clearly something's up there now, and it has a tendency to happen to just about anyone. No one's safe. We sent a few up there to investigate, but, uh...we're not fighters. We're country-folk. They didn't come back."

He swung back around to face the group with a bright smile on his face. "And that's where you guys come in! I'm sure you can put two and two together from there. You're the first ones to answer the call, so we're counting on you. Finding why they're up there would be a good start. Dragging 'em back would be another. And from there, who knows, really? I..." The man lets out a large yawn, almost stumbling on his legs. "Woah...must be more tired than I thought, today...guess I should call it...for...today..." The man wobbled, before toppling over, spilling the buckets of water as he landed to the ground with a thud so suddenly.

Test rushed fourth to try and catch the falling man but was too slow. Instead he made sure to check him for injuries before turning to his new companions. "Whatever's up there we need to deal with it quickly." He said, stating the obvious.

"Well ,is time to work dudes, we have a trouble maker to stop" said tobias walking toward the castle not wanting to waste time ,he focused on the castle and were he started the path to have a reference .

Griffin tried to catch him as well, having seen people collapse plenty back home, so it was practically instinctual at this point. Test made it to the man first, but he wasn't going to skip out on his own inspection of the unconscious man. No injuries, he'd probably just ache a bit when he woke up, or rather if he woke up. He nodded to the declaration made by Test, knowing that whatever it was that was causing this could not be allowed to continue. "Then we need to get going as soon as possible!"

Just before getting up, Griffin summoned Pixie to his side, the ethereal form of a fae creature appearing before everyone. "Patra!" he commanded, his Persona pressing her heads against the fallen man's chest, a green light shining off it. He wasn't sure if it would work in this case, but he had to see if he could wake the man up.

Alita gasped as the man fell over and rushed over quickly checking for any injuries and slowly giving a small amount of her energy to the man hoping whatever happened would be stablized by her magic before turning to the group "So what's the plan here? just rush in and get destroyed by a threat we have nothing on? shouldn't we be a bit more careful?!"

Griffin's quick thinking would have worked on most any other situation, as his powers were unique in an unexplainable way to most. However, even with his own projection doing its part, it was unable to even rouse the man. It was as if something was keeping him asleep, a force much stronger than projection resembling a fairy could muster.

He was well and truly out, and the mood shifted to the castle on the horizon. The man's words still rung on each of their minds, and images of his fate went through them as well. If it was anything like the others, it was an unpleasant sight at best.

A man came from one of the houses towards the group. His hair and thick beard matched that of the man who had collapsed, many years his senior. He silently regarded the group, before checking the man, feeling his pulse, before slinging him over his shoulder.

"Should be about half a day's hike, if you're going up there." He threw his hand up towards the castle over yonder. "Both humans 'n midara go in. No one comes out. No one knows what's in there. Best be prepared for anything." He gave the group a nod, before turning back the way he came. The look on his face was grim, but also had a deep sadness behind it. It was likely the group understood all that needed to be said, without the words coming out.

Information clearly wasn't going to come easily. Most wouldn't come out of their homes, and it was easy to see why, with the looming danger of ending up just like that man they had talked to. For all they knew, they might end up like that too. Tobias had already started making his way up the path, and it was clear he may have the right idea in this scenario.

It was a bad idea to rush in without information, but in this case it looked like no matter how hard they searched no information was likely to present itself. Nothing to do now but go to the castle and hope their skills would protect them. Test began to follow Tobias up the path. As he walked he realized that in all their time in the carriage he'd been so busy worrying about what they might find that he'd never introduced himself to the others nor learned their names. "Hello. I'm Test, knight of the east. Since we'll be adventuring together we should probably all exchange names." He suggested, even as he continued to head towards the castle.

After the man was carried away, Griffin followed the others without hesitation. There wasn't going to be anymore information at this point, he was certain. If no one who ever went in came out, then their hopes for any useful intel were little to nothing. Along the way, he looked to Test upon his introduction, letting a small smile, albeit strained by the weight of this upcoming task, come to his lips. "Probably a good call, Test. My name's Griffin, it's nice to meet you all, even if the circumstances aren't really ideal. I'm from... a long ways away, let's just say."

"Name Tobias, half midara and don't worry that half is undercontrol " he smiled while continúe walking up the castle he was detenerminated to unfold what is going with this town and bring down the danger in this castle "i'll show the owner in this castle that midara can live in harlomy without hurting humans"

Alita looked to the man getting carried away and sighed before hopping up and sprinting after everyone "oh nice to meet you all my name is alita I'm a human that turned to this dragon like form after learning the way of the dragon from my sensei! If you need any kind of support let me know!" She tried her best to keep in a good mood if the darkness of this curse was so heavy maybe attitude had something to do with it

The four talking with each other up the path was enough to lighten the mood, even just a little. Considering both what they just saw, and the unknown that awaited them, chances are they needed what little reprieve they could get, to not focus on either as much as they could.

On the side of the path was the forest they had crossed, but from this high up, they could see how massive the entire thing was. Fir trees that went on for miles, and yet all of it felt so...empty, in a way that was hard to put into words. Clearly, the town below wasn't the only thing that was affected by the presence of whatever was awaiting them.

It was around afternoon, and the castle started fully coming into view. It was more long than it was tall, and despite its age, it looked fairly taken care of. Perhaps because of the efforts of what was living here now. The large, ornate door was colored with red and gold, and to call it imposing was an understatement. The large handles on the door were just small enough for them to knock with, although they could also try to push down the doors. It was likely it might be too heavy for that, however. Perhaps a little tact might go a long way, instead?

Griffin knew it would be difficult for them to open such big, heavy doors under normal circumstances. If worst comes to worst, he could summon one of his Personas to try and break the door down, though that wasn't likely given the level his Personas we're at right now. He did, however, switch Personas over to Cheshire to prepare for a possible fight.

Seeing the others prepare for a fight Test drew his halberd. "Well I kind of doubt the four of us will be very stealthy, so unless you guys wanna try pushing the door open I think knocking and hoping whatever's inside opens up might be our best bet." He said, placing a hand on the knocker.

Alita nodded as they knocked on the door and grabbed her boomerang and prepared it to be thrown as she stayed towards the back of the group just by a little so she would be able to have more freedom to help if a fight started "Should we decide who will lead this group before we go in or are we just gonna go with the flow?"