My Darkest Dungeon - chapter 4

Author's Notes: So, I've actually been trying to get the next chapter of My Miraculous Academia up and going, but for some reason it's really kicking my butt... Serious writers block on that one. Writing future chapters is easier, but to write a connecting chapter is a bit harder for some reason. So I'm going to focus on another story for a bit, and come back to that one. I'm still hoping to have it ready before Christmas... Let's see how that goes, lol. 

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A Mecca of madness and morbidity… your work begins.

“C-come on Kachan, it’s not that bad, we’re just -”

“Shut up Deku, I’m still not talking to you.”

“-We’re just going to go in, g-get a feel of the area, and leave. We s-shouldn’t need a lot.”

“That’s not the freakin’ point! We’re here to save their ungrateful asses, and they’re making us pay out the nose for shitty torches and shovels! And I said I’m not talking to you!”

“If I may intrude, the townsfolk truly don’t have a lot. It only makes sense that they would be reluctant to part with what they have.”

“You shut up too! Until I see how well you fight, you’re just an extra. Tin Man is the only one that can speak to me right now.”

“I am… honored? But I don’t believe that that is the privilege that you feel it is.”

“Oi, Don’t push it. You’re on a short enough rope as it is.”

Izuku sighed at the conversation. At least it was a good sign that they weren’t all tense before the mission, right?

It was the morning after they had talked with Mayor Aizawa and Caretaker Toshinori, and the group of four were now slowly making their way up the winding path to the ruins of the Cathedral, the sun barely peeking over the bluff.

He hadn’t been quite sure what supplies to get, and unfortunately they just didn’t have the funds to buy some of everything. In the end, they had purchased several torches, some bandages, and some anti-venom.

If his position hadn’t granted him room and board, their future meal prospects would be looking pretty bleak according to his very empty coin purse.

Izuku frowned at the thought. Their future meal prospects weren’t looking good even with that, come to think of it. Food was in short supply for everyone, and he didn’t want to take advantage of them by eating more than anybody else. The obvious answer was to import food until things stabilized, but he wasn’t sure if he could entice any merchants to come considering how poor the village was. Then there were the bandits of course…

He jumped as a hand touched his shoulder.

“You are troubled,” Ibara murmured quietly as Iida and Bakugou continued on while arguing about something, the Vestal keeping pace with him while giving him a concerned look.

Izuku turned to her with a sheepish grin, “Sorry, just, uhm, thinking about stuff.”

“To have such an active mind can be a true blessing,” she commented with a smile, “but if I can give any advice, it would be to save such thoughts for later. To walk into darkness with clouded thoughts shall only blind yourself further.”

He winced, “Y-yeah, you’re right.”

He did know that, he scolded himself. His old mentor would no doubt have scolded him for being so distracted. Granted, that man had walked into said darkness with the intent to use the darkness, but the theory remained the same.

Still…

“There’s just so much stuff that has to be done,” he murmured in slight frustration, his hands itching to bring out his book. “Even if things go perfectly on this mission it will only help me figure out what’s going on, I’ll still need to come up with a plan to fix it. Then there’s all the other problems the town is facing that need to be fixed, followed by the other areas…”

Ibara’s hand brought him out of his thoughts once more before he went on a muttering spree.

“Such a kind Lord you are.” She noted with a gentle smile, “but it has been but a day since you have arrived, and many of these problems have been around for a while. These are not issues that will be solved quickly, nor on your own. You might be the Lord, but the Mayor and the Caretaker have been around for far longer than even myself. Both I’m sure would be willing to talk with you about various plans to pursue.”

He let out a sigh, “T-true, but I, uh, don’t think that the Mayor really likes us.” He winced at the memory.

The Caretaker had been surprisingly welcoming, and Izuku could see himself going to him with questions, but the Mayor was a different story. He hadn’t been outright hostile, but he hadn’t been pleased either. That, and he had definitely been suspicious of them, something that Izuku couldn’t really blame him for but that would make things harder overall…

“I believe that is how he usually acts.” Ibara noted thoughtfully, “at least, he has kept up that air of disdain since my arrival. Yet by his actions I know he cares for the villagers in his own way.”

He nodded, “That’s good at least,” he murmured before looking at her with bright eyes, “so you’ve been in the Hamlet for a while then? Why did you come?”

Before Ibara could respond a shout interrupted them.

“Oi! Extra! Grab Deku and get up here!”

He winced and gave the woman a sheepish smile, “S-sorry about that… Kacchan kinda takes a while to warm up to others.”

“I have yet to prove myself to him,” she replied with a small shrug. “He is quite grating, but I have experienced worse.”

He breathed a sigh of relief that she didn’t seem upset.

“Regardless, he does have a point.” she continued on while gesturing in front of them. “The time for focusing has arrived.”

He looked ahead. And then up. Huh. Hello Cathedral, when did you get here?

The massive gothic cathedral, overgrown and as ruined as it was, was imposing. Sections of the roof looked caved in, windows - stained or otherwise - had been smashed in, vines and ivy had long had their own way with the walls… And yet there remained a timeless sense of grandeur about the ancient building.

The group of four walked up to the entrance, a large broken archway that once held a pair of double doors, the doors themselves just inside and askew, as if bashed in with a battering ram.

“This hardly seems like it would provide a fortified position,” Iida murmured as he moved up to the doors. “It would take great force and effort to bash the doors in like this. Why not go in through the windows?”

The others turned towards Ibara, who simply shook her head. “I am unaware of the events that led this place to this state.” She replied calmly.

“Who cares?” Bakugou growled as he stomped across the threshold. “Maybe they had a reason, or maybe they were a bunch a freakin’ idiots!” He looked around the entryway with a frown, “Deku! Where you gonna do your nonsense?”

Izuku frowned as he followed, shuddering at the weight that seemed to press in on him the moment he walked through the doors. “W-we shouldn’t need to go in too far,” he replied as he began searching through his robes. “just until we find a confluence of energy. A ritual site would be best.”

There were reports of undead. There were going to be ritual sites. Even if you removed the physical trappings, the tainted energy would remain for a while.

Both Iida and Ibara grimaced as they followed. The entry hall was large, but barren. It was easy to see that it had been picked clean by looters long ago. The only thing of interest was a faded mural on the far wall, with an offering table in front of it. Two doors on opposite walls led deeper into the cathedral.

“Ah! Here it is,” Izuku let out a sigh of relief as he brought out a crystal on a string.

Bakugou looked at it for a long moment before giving him an exasperated look. “So your arts and crafts is as shitty as it was when we were ten. Good to know.”

He felt his face heat up, “Kacchan!” He yelped, “T-that’s not the point. L-look…”

He cupped the crystal in his hand and murmured a short chant, activating a rune carved in the crystal that caused it to start emanating Light. Letting it go while holding onto the string, he let it sway.

“The Dark, undirected, has a tendency to absorb the ambient aura around it, while the Light tends to do the opposite.” He explained as he watched the crystal begin to stabilize and begin to drift in one direction. “We just need to follow it until we find a greater concentration of Darkness.”

“I asked where you were gonna do it, not how your freaky shit worked.” Bakugou snarled before looking at where the crystal was pointing towards, “So you wanna walk around aimlessly or do we start bustin’ walls down?”

He knew Kacchan wasn’t serious. But, well, undead were a serious issue, and the building was already destroyed in places…

Bakugou cocked an eye towards Izuku before glancing at the two more religious members of the party. “What? You not gonna complain about destroying church property or something?”

Iida sniffed, “I am fully aware you are trying to get a rise out of me,” he replied stiffly, “I am giving your suggestion as much seriousness as you are putting into it.”

“And if you were serious,” Ibara noted nonchalantly, “fire has long been an appropriate response to destroy the clinging of the Dark, as distasteful as that sounds.”

Izuku coughed, “T-there won’t be a need for that!” The walls were too thick for any method they currently had anyways, and there was a good chance they’d collapse the upper floors on them. “We’ll walk through the Cathedral like normal. Iida, can you take the lead?” He asked the knight as he gestured to one of the doors. “Ibara, you’ll be behind him. Kacchan and I will bring up the rear.”

“Of course!” Iida declared, happy to have a direction to work towards. Bakugou thankfully didn’t argue, while Ibara moved in position behind Iida. The door shrieked loudly as Iida opened it, and they began their trek in.

While the entry hall had been gloomy, it had been open and illuminated. Abandoned, there had been a surprising lack of grime due to the elements and traffic.

The connecting hallway was anything but. Devoid of windows, it quickly descended into darkness. Moving in, Iida promptly lit one of their torches, providing some light while throwing everything else into twisting shadows.

They were about halfway down the hallway when they came to a door, and Iida gestured for them to pause.

Izuku frowned as he consulted the crystal. “The spot we’re looking for won’t be in there,” he said softly.

“We have no idea what is in each room.” Iida explained as he brought out his sword. “I’d rather we not leave potential adversaries to flank us.”

Well, when he put it like that…

He waited for them to get in position, and Izuku took the torch in his place. Of the four, he was the most useful with one hand

Instead of opening the door slowly and carefully, as Izuku expected, Iida did the exact opposite and shoved the door open, shield at the ready -

And nothing happened.

The crusader waited for a couple of beats before lowering his shield. “Nothing,” he stated calmly, and the rest of the group filed in.

Half the room was buried underneath a collapsed roof, and parts of the floor above them could be seen. Rotted and broken furniture could be seen, dust clinging to everything, but the rest was fairly empty.

“Let us move on then,” Iida instructed after a few minutes of searching.

The second and third rooms revealed themselves to be similarly picked clean. Not that Izuku expected otherwise, being so close to the entrance, but the suspense was getting worse.

He was almost grateful when the fourth room wasn’t empty.

Iida burst through the door once more, only this time they were met with the sound of angry chittering and shrieks.

“What the fuck is this?!” Bakugou shouted as he brought his pistol up and fired as three spiders emerged from the darkness. Impossibly large, each coming up to his waist in height.

“I believe I mentioned the intrusion of giant spiders,” Ibara called back, her tone calm yet her expression was determined as she moved up next to Iida, preventing one from trying to bite his side as she struck out, snapping its front legs while Iida slashed with his sword.

Izuku took a steadying breath and chanted a few words, his censer glowing as a blue mist spread out and surrounded his friends.

The invigorating vapors increased reactiveness. He had seen the glistening on the spider’s fangs - better to not have to test the effectiveness of their antivenom.

“You said ‘giant spiders’ like it was the size of those stupid yappy dogs noblewomen get!” Bakugou roared back, his next shot hitting one of the spiders dead on and splattering them, “Not monsters the size of a freakin’ Doberman!”

Iida moved in front of Ibara and raised his shield just in time for a spider to fling itself forward. “We can discuss proper units of measurement for monstrosities later,” he grunted, pushing back as the Vestal slammed into it from the side. “Focus!”

Bakugou growled at that but complied, shooting once more before one of the spiders dashed around Iida and made for them. Izuku dashed forward and slashed at it with a knife, causing it to screech and draw back long enough for Bakugou to shoot it. Another spider down.

With only one spider left, it was simple for Iida and Ibara to finish with the last.

“Was anybody bitten?” Iida promptly asked, looking at each of them.

“N-no, I think we’re good.” Izuku replied, studying the corpses for a bit.

He had been expecting corruption like this, but not to this scale. That had some disturbing implications he didn’t want to think about without more evidence.

“So, any other creatures around here you’re understating?” Bakugou growled as he rounded on Ibara.

She tilted her head curiously, “Beyond the unholy dead that prey on both the body and mind, as well as the insane cultists that would raise them to do their bidding, I can’t think of whatever else you might misinterpret.” She replied blandly.

Izuku could practically hear the blonde grinding his teeth before breaking off with a huff, to Izuku’s surprise. He had been expecting worse.

Bakugou and Iida began investigating the webbing, while he and Ibara checked out the rest of the room. By the looks of it, this place had been a study of sorts. Several small bookcases (books long destroyed) a desk (in surprisingly good condition, though the chair was smashed). Whatever else there might have been had long been taken. He took the desk, Ibara the bookshelves.

“Only two corpses,” Iida mused as he cut away a swath of webs, a pile of bones being revealed. The flesh had been picked clean already. “These are the first creatures thus far. I would have expected more.”

Bakugou lifted a small bag from the pile, the bag clinking slightly as he did, “You probably got some chumps made to make the rounds, gather the loot. The good stuffs already been taken.” he grumbled.

Izuku lifted a box from where it was hidden behind one of the drawers. “I don’t know about that,” he murmured with interest. He couldn’t undo the lock himself, but giving it a quick shake made it clear something was there. “We’ll take what we can carry, but it’s not our main objective. We need to keep going.” He decided.

The next two rooms had similar spiders, but in lesser amounts. Now that they knew what to expect it wasn’t terribly difficult to dispatch them safely. Their money pile was slowly growing, along with some black gemstones that Ibara had found.

So of course it was then that they found their first undead.

They came to an open chamber. A dirty window was making a valiant, if failed, attempt to let light through the grime, and a faded mosaic could be seen on the floor. On the far wall a spiral staircase could be seen, leading both up and down.

In the middle of the room stood four skeletal figures. The first wore armor similar to Iida’s (an older style, Izuku cataloged. Different from the distinctive style the Church favored. Mercenary?) the next two markedly less well off. No armor, clothes barely there, and wielding clubs (difficult to place, various bites in the clothes suggest spiders. Either former villagers or just used to harvest from the spiders. Maybe both.). The last was wearing a fancy fur coat with noble trimmings. It almost seemed… Laid back, as it stood on the back with no discernible weapons, only holding a goblet like it was at a banquet. (Nationality unknown, don’t trust whatever is in the goblet. Either a buff for itself or a weapon, and since it doesn’t have a digestive system it’s probably a weapon. Coat probably has a weapon within)

They were also clearly anticipating a fight, and were already in formation. Which made sense, since they hadn’t exactly been subtle fighting the spiders previously, but it was still unpleasant.

Iida barely had time to raise his shield to block the sword skeleton before it was on him, the other two close behind.

“By the Lord’s will, return to your sleep,” Ibara commanded, a searing light Illuminating the room and alighting on the skeletal rabble, causing them to stagger back in seeming pain. Bakugou let loose several shots, but beyond glancing off of rib cages it did nothing of note.

“Aim for their heads or spines!” Izuku called out as blue mist flowed from his censer and swirled around the room. “Their heads should be the source, cutting the spine disrupts the flow of energy!”

“Not the time for a lecture Deku!” Bakugou snarled, yet he did shift his aim.

Iida grunted as one strike slid into the joint at his shoulder. “I fear these creatures have less weak spots than we do,” he managed, bashing his opponent with his shield and slashing at its head, its helmet rattling loudly but not acknowledging the blow otherwise.

The skeleton with a goblet dashed forward from where it stood, ignoring the melee fighters as it tossed the contents onto Bakugou with a cackle before retreating. Black liquid splashed into the blonde’s face, causing him to splutter in shock for a moment.

“What was that you bony piece of -“ he blinked a couple times, “What the fuck is that?!” He roared at a corner. Izuku looked closely, but couldn’t see anything. Some kind of hallucinogen?

“Steel your mind against the lies of the Dark,” Ibara ordered Bakugou, gasping in pain as a club slammed against her arm with a sickening thud. “May the Lord guide mine blows,” she murmured quickly, her mace glowing with power, and with a flash of light she bashed the skull of one of the rabble. Iida broke off from his fight to slash at its back, severing the spine and causing it to break apart.

Izuku focused, and a stream of green mist swirled around Iida and Ibara, hopefully dulling the pain and healing a bit till they had time to treat it properly.

Bakugou growled, “You don’t see them?” His voice sounded oddly concerned.

Who?

“I see three skeletons left,” Izuku listed off as he directed another green mist towards Iida, “soldier attacking Iida, rabble attacking Ibara, and noble in the back - no, he’s attacking Ibara now.” Ah, he was right, there was a knife in that coat.

He nodded silently and promptly began firing once more, only for the noble skeleton to retaliate by throwing the contents of its cup at Bakugou once more.

“Gah! Shitty bone face freak!” Bakugou raged as he furiously wiped the black liquid away. His eyes were darting from side to side frantically, but he kept focused on the noble. “DIE!”

Looking towards Iida, Izuku noted that the knight and skeleton were stuck in a deadlock, both looking battered. Thinking quickly, instead of using another spell be dashed forward and flanked the skeletal soldier while it was distracted. Taking his knife, he quickly lodged the blade into its neck, scrambling back when the skeleton jerked.

Iida shoved hard, pushing the soldier back, but the dead had already returned to death, and collapsed. He swiftly turned to the rabble fighting Ibara, and soon that one was down as well.

Bakugou had given up on shooting (Izuku noted his shaking hands. Despite wanting to know what he had seen, he knew Kacchan would never tell if asked directly). Instead, he charged the noble and attacked  him directly. The skeleton attempted once more to throw the black liquid only for Bakugou to grab his hand and slam it into the wall. The bone cracked, and while some liquid still got on him Bakugou ignored it in favor of punching the skeleton furiously. After several seconds, he wrenched his pistol out and shot it in the skull, point blank.

For several seconds everybody was silent with the exception of Bakugo’s heavy breathing. Eventually he straightened and gave Izuku a look, “How much farther till we find your shitty room?” He growled.

Izuku was worried about him, but held his tongue. “T-This room should work,” he stated instead, taking out various tools from his robes. He liked to think he knew Kacchan pretty well. Asking anything right now would just make him upset, so he wouldn’t.

The next day was a different story entirely.

He quickly made a circle with a salt boundary (capture the essence inside, prevent further corruption from entering or leaving) and set several items in a specific arrangement. His censer, a focus that would help him disseminate the Darkness. And an old map of the surrounding lands he got from Toshinori, to provide reference.

As he worked he heard Ibara treat Iida’s wound while blessing it, the clinking of Iida’s armor, and Bakugo’s shuffling, but thankfully they were quiet for the most part.

He let out a deep breath and began to chant the ritual. This one was actually one of the first his old master had taught - nothing was more dangerous than walking into an unknown entity's territory, or worse - thinking it was a different entity.

His censer began to rattle angrily for a moment at the memory of his old master, but he restrained it with a well practiced thought. Halfway through the chant, a bright green mist left the device, swirling around the circle with purpose. If one looked closely enough, they would see a stream of darkness being funneled in.

Nearing the end of his chant, he carefully pulled out his ritual dagger and made a small cut on his palm. Waiting for the blood to pool for a moment, he then began to draw symbols on the map parchment.

He really hoped that Iida and Ibara didn’t ask about the ritual later. It would be kinda awkward to have to explain that it was kinda sorta Dark.

… Ok, that sounded bad, but it really wasn’t! (So long as you were careful). But that was most things in life, wasn’t it?

Yeah, better for it to never come up.

He was nearing the end of his chant when he nearly stumbled, his heart leaping into his throat. It was only through years of practice that he managed to continue.

The ritual was following its designed purpose. Gathering the Darkness within the confined space, he drew it in the censer, allowing him to isolate the signature. His blood on the map granted him a measure of control over the parchment, the age and locations on the map providing a symbolic link to the actual locations. This would allow them to figure out which areas had the greatest concentration of Darkness.

The ritual was doing exactly what it should be doing.

Yet within the Darkness,  he was identifying not one signature, or even two. Pulling the pieces apart, watching the symbols burn themselves into the map, he felt at least eight.

Eight. The influence of EIGHT entities. That was four times the previous max he had been aware of, and there might even be more!

How was anybody still alive?! No, seriously, how had the entire territory not been wiped out?!

His chant finished, he stood shakily, his reactions immediately noticed by Bakugou.

“Oi! You manage to figure something out?” He demanded, his grip tightening around his pistol.

Before he could stammer out a reply, he walked out of the circle… And nearly doubled over at the increase of Darkness. Cloying tendrils that seemed to passively wrap around him.

The others were speaking, but he heard nothing as he realized what had just happened. The circle he created did its job of isolating the darkness (and him) from outside interference. Exiting the circle would expose him to outside interference once more. It’s hard to notice when it’s gradual, but to go from one to the other made the difference all too clear.

Something was generating a large amount of Darkness. Something that was attempting to be stealthy.

Izuku did not want to be here when it got here.

“W-w-we have to go,” he shook, his eyes darting towards the staircase. Nothing physically had changed, but now every instinct was screaming at him. He grabbed the map and roughly shoved it into his robes. “W-we have t-to go now!”

Iida stiffened at the tone and immediately took point. “As you say,” he responded. Izuku couldn’t have been more grateful that Iida was used to following urgent directives. “The same way we came in?”

Izuku nodded rapidly, shoving all excess energy through his censer to provide a small boost to everybody. In all honesty he didn’t care how they got out - even the windows were a viable option - they just needed to leave,

They began backtracking swiftly, even if it wasn’t as fast as he’d like. So when they ran into a group of skeletons, he felt close to freaking out because it was behind them and he didn’t even know what IT was!

“We need t-to get past them quickly,” Izuku murmured tensely. There was a new type wielding a spear, but two were similar to the soldier skeleton that Iida killed in the previous room, followed by another noble. “k-killing them is really not important right now!”

“So be it,” Iida nodded before turning to Ibara, “are you familiar with the Seventh Light Brigade?”

She tilted her head curiously, “Did they not die to the man merely two years ago?” At Iida’s sputtering, she shrugged and clasped her hands together. “I am aware. Prepare yourself.”

Iida sheathed his sword and brought his shield up with both arms. “Be prepared to move,” he advised the others. “Now, For the Light!” He bellowed… And charged the skeletal group.

They might have been undead, but they apparently still had the capacity to be taken aback in their own way. Still, they all had their weapons prepared to strike Iida the moment he came in range.

Until Ibara let loose a stream of light directly into the skeletons. More unfocused than her previous holy attacks as she was aiming at more than one target, it still burned them (however slightly) due to their unholy nature. More importantly, it blinded and distracted them.

The crusader slammed into the front lines with his shield in front, knocking one down right off the bat and putting the other off-balance enough for him to throw against each other.

That was all the signal that Izuku needed. He and the others took off, slipping by the staggered and prone skeletons and continuing on. He heard a vicious snap, and glancing back he saw Bakugou grinning viciously, the goblet of the prone noble skeleton in his hand.

… Nope, he wasn’t going to comment about that.

They made it to the entrance of the Cathedral without further interference. (Which was good, since Iida was bringing up the rear). It was almost jarring to be back in the sunlight after the gloom of the Cathedral.

Still, he didn’t stop. Bakugou tried to question him, but he put it off and encouraged them to keep on going. Just because they could see the sun didn’t mean they were out of danger.

They were about a mile out before he finally slowed down and they all took a break (Izuku was really impressed Iida had kept up in his armor actually). But all Izuku would say was that they’d debrief back at the Hamlet.

The truth was he needed the time to come to terms with everything he just learned, let alone how to explain it.

He had assumed the night before that things were going to be difficult. But somehow things got worse.

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Kurogiri’s mist flowed around his form in slight agitation, the skull briefly visible.

Not that the trespassers got away, oh no. That happened on occasion, however infrequently.

What was truly rare was for trespassers to realize he was coming while he was making a conscious effort to remain hidden. That was far more aggravating.

It stung his pride if he was being honest.

Beneath that, however, was curiosity. They weren’t villagers. Too well dressed, equipped, and trained for that, especially considering the pickings the last several months had been. Two of the newcomers were clearly from the Church, while the other two were unknown.

Interesting… Alas, that meant he would need to report this to Shigaraki, which meant he would need to report his failure.

He wasn’t worried about the Necromancer - despite his appearance, he was FAR more than some simple undead - but Shigaraki took failure of any kind poorly.

Still, there was nothing for it. His Master told him to work with the man, and work with him he would.

Besides, there was a good chance the adventurers would return.

Their types always did.

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“Alright, spill.” Bakugou glared at Izuku, “one moment you were fine, then you were scared shitless. Just what were we running from?”

They made it back from the Cathedral with no ambushes, for which Izuku was grateful. After the revelations he had just learned he was pretty shaken, and would have done poorly in any potential fight.

Making their way back to the house they had been given by Yagi, they were now situated in the living center room to debrief.

“I, d-don’t know what was chasing us,” Izuku admitted. Bakugou’s furious expression at that admission was intimidating, but expected, so he was able to push through it. “The buildup of Darkness was too sudden for it to have been natural, even in a place like that. Either it was a powerful Dark creature, or it was a Dark spell being cast. Either way, we were not prepared for it, and needed to get out.”

Being mentally prepared was important. They had a list of things they were expecting, and whatever was coming up those steps had not been a corrupted creature, cultist, or undead.

… Or if it was, it wasn’t a regular version . If any of those could be called ‘regular’.

Iida and Ibara might have been somewhat prepared, but he felt Bakugou was already near his limit. He had already confronted things he thought were impossible for the second time in as many days. Izuku had no desire to push it.

He was brought out of his thoughts as Iida stood up and bowed deeply, armor clanging. “I must apologize - you entrusted us to stand guard and I failed to notice anything occurring.”

“Neither did I,” Ibara noted with a worried frown, “I must be out of practice, to miss the signs.”

“It’s not your fault!” He interjected hastily. “They were clever about it, it was only by chance that I saw it.”

“Yeah yeah, you’re all bad at noticing stuff that ain’t there.” Bakugou dismissed. “Did you at least get what you wanted?”

Izuku grimaced, “yes,” he admitted, bringing out the map and placing it on the table, smoothing it out as best as he could.

“The darkened spots represent areas with high concentrations of Darkness.” He explained to the others as they looked it over.

The fact that the entirety of the map had darkened slightly was by far the most concerning, if expected at this point. But other areas were nearly black.

“Arbor’s Point, Timberhold, and Augur are all quite dark,” Iida mused.

“Not nearly as dark as the Cathedral.” Ibara noted, “and you can’t even see the Mansion at all.”

That was true, and actually kinda concerning actually. Apparently Aizawa had been telling the truth when he said it was dangerous.

Bakugou grunted, “So we know a bit more of how much of a shithole this place is. What’s our next step? You gonna wave your hands and do some mumbo jumbo to fix it?”

Izuku couldn’t help but grimace, “Under normal circumstances, m-maybe.” Runes and barriers could be constructed, wards to dilute the Darkness or prevent its spread… “But this is different.” He gestured to the various areas, “Before I can do something like that, I need to know what entity it is, to key it into the wards. I don’t know how, but the influence of multiple enemies is spread everywhere, meaning I can’t do that.”

Iida and Ibara looked properly disturbed at that news. Bakugou -

“So our next step is…” Bakugou drawled with a glare, “Sod it all Deku, I’m tired and want to take a nap! Just tell me what we’re doing so I can get some sleep!”

… For all his rough spots, Bakugou really was good at dispersing tension in his own way and cutting to the important stuff.

“W-well, we’ll need more time.” He murmured, his eyes narrowing in thought. “This is too much for just us. We need more people, we need the town fixed up to help the people survive” and not die of an epidemic or something if what the hospital was any indication, “and we need to reestablish ties with the other towns.”

Izuku let out a deep breath, shaking his head. “One thing at a time. People. For now, we need more people than just the four of us.” He paused, “Well, five including Yaoyorozu once she’s healed. I’ll feel more comfortable if we can double our numbers before we attempt to make any more ground.”

Bakugou let out a snort, “You gonna put a notice in the paper?” He smirked, “‘Suckers wanted as meat shields.’ I’m sure it’ll go over great.”

He was surprised when Izuku nodded. “I mean, we’ll need to workshop the phrasing obviously, but that’s not a terrible idea…” he grimaced. “Or, it won’t be when we get more money. Which we need to figure out as well. But until then, we’ll need to start a bit closer to home.” He looked back and forth between all of them, “Do you guys know anybody that you could ask? People you can trust?”

He had a few friends he had made. Tokoyami was probably getting bored with New England right about now, he just needed to phrase it right…

Ibara gave a slow nod, “There are a couple people I can think of,”

“Indeed! It would be unbecoming of us to place all of the responsibility on your shoulders after all - if we can trust the carriage to not be set upon once more, I know of a few people that would leap to the chance to assist!” Iida assured him.

The three turned towards Bakugou, who scowled, looking like he had bitten a lemon. “Yeah, yeah, fine. I know a person. He ain’t free though.”

“That’s fine,” he assured him, breathing a bit easier. He had a tendency to catastrophize, that he knew. He learned that focusing and attacking one problem at a time helped. “Tomorrow we’ll send the letters off with the stagecoach. In the meantime we’ll focus on the town and do what we can here.”

“Very well,” Ibara stood and gave a small bow, “if that is all, then I shall retire to my residence for the evening.”

“Ah! Of course!” He gave a hasty bow back, “thank you so much for joining us today, it would have gone much worse without you.”

She gave a tired smile, “I am merely thankful to be of assistance. Please keep me informed - whether it is for another expedition or to help around town, I am pleased to lend my assistance.”

“I will retire as well!” Iida bowed towards both Ibara and Izuku, “it has been a pleasure to work with a Vestal once more, and I believe our actions today have been beneficial. I look forward to working with you in the future!”

Bakugou didn’t bother saying anything beyond a grunt of acknowledgement to Ibara before he stalked off to a room. Iida went to another room, and Ibara left to go wherever she was staying, leaving Izuku by himself

He sighed - but unlike the others, he couldn’t relax just yet.

He did a quick inventory of what they had earned from their expedition. The loot might have been considered a lot for a single person, but in terms of the entire town it wasn’t much at all. Expenses needed to be considered. Still, it hadn’t been the focus of their mission, so he was happy with it.

They also had the locked box and the two goblets from the skeleton nobles that Bakugou had taken out.

The box would need to be looked at, but he wanted to avoid damaging it and potentially the contents. He’d ask the Caretaker if he had any thoughts. As for the two goblets… He carefully put those in a container he found in the house and put it to the side. He wanted the contents of the cups analyzed before they did anything with them, but once that was done (and were thoroughly cleaned) he was sure they would sell for a decent amount.

In total, they had accomplished part of their objective, found some loot on top of that, and most importantly they all made it back alive.

He should be happy.

He slumped down in his chair, his eyes going to the map.

So many different influences… He still didn’t understand how it was possible.

You never could ‘win’ in a fight against an entity. They weren’t human, or even mortal. You could mitigate their influence, you could make it not worth their time and effort, or you could play along and hope they liked you enough to not drive you mad.

Mitigating the different influences in each area was going to be problematic, and would definitely require some digging to figure out who was doing the influencing - his ritual had been unable to untangle them from each other enough for that.

He’d need to talk to either the Mayor or the Caretaker. Maybe they’d be able to provide some clues.

He grimaced at the thought, laying his head down onto the table for a moment.

He was grateful that nobody had asked about going to either of them for help yet. The simple fact was, he wasn’t sure if he could trust them.

Something like this didn’t just happen overnight. Sure, apparently his father was scum of the highest level, and could (and probably should) shoulder much of the blame. But even taking that into account, it seemed too much for one person.

Even if they weren’t involved in the degradation of the area, they obviously knew more than they were saying. Withholding information like that could be deadly.

Until he felt he could trust either of them, he’d limit what he told them. He’d have to be satisfied with that. It wasn’t in his nature to be paranoid, but experience had taught him quite a bit.

Only after he finished with the logistics and made a few rough plans for the next day did Izuku finally let himself go to his room to rest for the day.

He never noticed the slightly open window in the kitchen, nor the other small indications that somebody had been there.

-------------------------------------------

Toru slid out of the window silently. She would have left earlier, but she was worried about the cleric lady or the gunner boy spotting her.

Making sure nobody saw her, she quickly made her way over to an alley.

“They’re hiring Mina!” She practically sang, as she walked over to a figure leaning against the wall.

While she knew she could easily slide into a crowd and disappear if she wanted to, Mina was the exact opposite.

If dying her hair pink wasn’t extreme enough, she also had pink warpaint decorating her face and arms. That, combined with her leather armor decorated with bones, a giant halberd peeking over her shoulder…

Yeah, no. Mina was her bestie since forever, and they had been together for so long she couldn’t imagine being away from the other girl. BUT, she would be the first to say the other woman wasn’t good at hiding in any way shape or form. And she knew it.

So she didn’t even try.

“Sweet!” The pink haired girl cheered, “so what’s the new Lord like? Any idea what they’re planning?”

“They checked out the Cathedral this morning, and they did a bit of looting while they were at it.” Toru smirked, happy at that confirmation. “Sounds like he wants to try fixing things up around here.”

Mina raised an eyebrow and looked around at the dilapidated and broken down buildings before looking back at Toru.

She sighed dramatically, “I know, I know, but that’s what he‘s saying.”

It was kinda cute how determined he was. But this place was pretty messed up - fixing things was definitely easier said than done.

Mina looked skeptical for a bit longer before giving a shrug, “Eh, so long as he can pay, he can believe whatever he wants. And hey! Spirits willing, maybe he’ll be good for the place!”

Toru didn’t have nearly as much faith in the spirits as Mina, but who knew? If it happened, it happened.

More than that though, she was tired of being alone, and she knew that Mina felt the same. If they didn’t have each other, they’d have been driven crazy sooo long ago.

Running away from her parents had been rough, but she’d been picked up by Mina’s tribe, where she found Mina. Years later, being away from Mina’s sister-warriors was even rougher, but they managed.

They survived, but wandering as they had been wasn’t very enjoyable. They were too social, too used to being around others.

“So tomorrow then?” Mina asked, to which Toru nodded.

Tomorrow, maybe they’d finally find a place to be.

-------------------------------------------

Arbor’s Point

“I’m sorry Miss -”

“Call me Investigator.”

The mayor of Arbor’s Point did his best to control his expression. “Very well Investigator. I’m sorry, but I don’t see how these disappearances are connected.”

The woman gave him a blank stare, “eight disappearances, each a month apart, and each one a woman between the ages of fifteen to twenty five. And you don’t see a connection?”

He grit his teeth, “I agree it sounds suspicious, but I have been assured the cases have been handled appropriately. And the sheriff did find evidence of them being independent of each other.”

“Yes, independent…” she gave him another dry look. “A suicide note with no body, another with a note declaring she ran away, ‘eyewitnesses’ that won’t come forth again, and anonymous witnesses that are apparently too scared to speak to anybody but the police.”

“Well, it’s good to see that the people trust the police so.” He replied with as much cheer as he could muster.

‘Blast the sheriff and his half-baked attempts at subtlety’, he raged internally.

She stared at him in silence for several moments before standing up, “Thank you for your time.’ She stated blandly, “I have another lead that I need to talk to.”

“Of course Miss Tsuyu.” He walked her to the door, “I apologize that I wasn’t able to assist.”

“Call me Investigator.” She repeated coldly, walking out of the office.

The mayor collapsed into his chair and growled. He stayed like that for several moments before the door opened, and he looked up to glare at the sheriff.

“I thought you said you had it handled,” he growled. “You said nobody would go looking for them, that nobody would find anything about them!”

The sheriff glared back, “Half of them were homeless nobodies, and the other half had nobody to care about them!” He protested.

“Well apparently somebody did.” He shot back.

The sheriff scoffed, “How’d that woman even get into a man’s job like that?” He spat in contempt.

“Doesn’t matter.” The mayor grunted, “We have to deal with her now.”

The sheriff gained a contemplative look that slowly grew into a smirk, “so, you thought of a way to do that then?“

The mayor raised an eyebrow at this tone. “I assume you have?” He asked archly.

“It is coming to about that time again,” the sheriff explained. “And the ‘investigator’ is about the right age.”

The mayor stroked his beard. Now there was a thought… “You think she hasn’t been with a man yet?”

“Bah, who’d have her?” He spat back.

It was a bit of a long shot… But then again, it would solve their problem rather handedly.

“Very well,” he declared. “Set things up. In a weeks time…”

“Investigator Tsuyu Asui shall be the next sacrifice.”

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Current Roster:

Izuku Midoriya: Antiquarian

Katsuki Bakugou : Highwayman

Tenya Iida : Crusader
Ibara Shiozaki : Vestal

Momo Yaoyorozu : Shieldbreaker

Future Roster :

Mina Ashido : Hellion

Toru Hagakure: Gravedigger

Himiko Toga : Flagellant

Shoto Todoroki : Abomination

Koji Koda : Houndmaster

Fumikage Tokoyami : Plague Doctor

Mezo Shoji : Leper

Eijiro Kirishima : Man-At-Arms

Kyoka Jiro : Arbalest

Tsuyu Asui: Investigator/[SECRET]

• Call of Cthulhu games usually have the investigator looking into stuff, right? Well, introducing Detective Tsuyu. I’m not afraid to make use of classes from mods, or even make up new classes entirely.

Hamlet Leadership :

Shoto Aizawa (Eraserhead) : Hamlet Mayor

Toshinori Yagi (All Might) : Caretaker

Nemuri Kayama (Midnight) : Barkeeper

Hizashi Yamada (Present Mic) : Town Crier

Higari Maijima (Power Loader): Blacksmith

??? (Snipe) : Guild Trainer

Nezu : [Secret - No spoilers]

Leadership of Timberhold:

Ken Ishiyama (Cementoss) : Mayor

Enemies :

Shigaraki : Necromancer Lord

Kurogiri : Collector

Muscular : Bandit King

Stain : The Fanatic

Mirai Sasaki (Sir Nighteye): The Prophet

• Yep, Nighteye is a villain here…Sorry, buuuut not sorry. :) powers match too well. And the Prophet was originally a good guy that was eventually driven mad due to things he saw. Ergo, Mirai is a villain.