"A hunter? An outsider? No, no, I wonder what you are. But what a mess you've been caught up in. And tonight, of all nights.", the plague doctor - lookalike said it out loud. She then nodded towards her.
"Eileen the Crow at your service, and who might you be?", she nodded at her.
What's her name again? All this time, she just refers to herself as keeper but this obviously wasn't going to work here. She's a 'different' person after all. But whatever, it's just a name anyway. She didn't see any problem in referring to herself as just keeper.
"Thou mayst refer to me as keeper.", she replied, her eyes still focused on the costume. It attracted her in the way that she wanted to try it on herself. It looked pretty cool would not be a wrong statement if she said it out loud.
"Keeper?", she voiced it like she was raising an eyebrow.
"Clearly not someone I have heard of. Neither a beast nor a hunter, very curious indeed. Oh, that does not matter. You kept Father Gascoigne in line and that is what matters most. I would advise for you to stay inside. Even the likes of Gascoigne had gone mad. What a shame...
But no matter, those are your children, are they not? Go inside, before they deems you a threat. The Black Church Hunters can be quite annoying", Eileen shooed them away waving her hands and walking away as if she could not be bothered to learn more about her.
And she was right. Around the corners of her eyes she could already see black-garbed men and women prowling about watching her every move like hyenas, ready to jump at any moment should she become a threat.
"Doth thou hath anything more to do for this night?", she asked Eileen before she walked away.
"The night is never over, my dear girl but I understand what you are trying to say. I do not have anything to do for this night. Can't say the same about the rest of the nights. You look like you have questions. My apologies but do carry it onto another hunter. I have no desire to stay."
"Doth thou truly not have no interest in this?", she held out her scythe.
Despite her face being unseen behind a mask, she noticed the Crow's eyes on her primary weapon. Maybe the the origin of the weapon shall be revealed in this dream.
"I will admit I'm a bit curious but it no longer has anything to do with me.", she paused for a bit but continued to walk away.
This was not good. She need to know her purpose in this dream. What exactly was she supposed to do here. So far, the only clue available was the woman walking away from her. Instead of speaking, she chose to let her actions do the talking.
She raised her hands as tiny wisps of flames flew around her. In a depressing and dark environment like this, it was simply beautiful. Moreover, they weren't just for show, these flames flew over to the Crow and softly sunk into her body healing her of her old injuries.
She could feel the astonishment of the children behind her as they saw their mother released a small wisps of fire. The black-garbed hunters watching her also stumbled for a moment clearly not knowing what to do. She could feel a hint of bloodlust coming through but it was only a hint.
"I could aid thee in thy journey, my dear Crow. All I ask is for thee to fulfill this desire of mine. That thou shall come over for just one night."
The Crow stopped walking away as she looked like she was pondering for a bit. She turned around and walked right up to her as she observed her. She raised one hand in a motion that was obvious to all.
"Go ahead, milady to the place you call home and I shall follow."
She did not make a fuss further and bent down to pick up her daughter and motioned for the boys to follow her. They kept close as their hands clasped the edge of her dress. It warmed her heart as she let out a small smile at this.
They continued to stare at the Crow with scrutiny. She could not see the features of the Crow but she had a feeling that the old woman was smiling under that plague mask. Not at her but at her children. Old people problems, she guess despite her possibly being one too.
She walked back quickly to her house without any incidents this time. When she got there, it was just a matter of opening the door and walking in. And so, that is exactly what she did. She let the children go to the back so she had time alone with the Crow.
"So, what is it that you want from me, my dear keeper? I am most curious", Eileen started as she stared right into her.
She thought of what questions to ask but the most important and urgent one is her purpose here. She needs to know what she must do in this dream. Purify Yharnam? Hunt down every single beast? Kill someone? Or help someone survive?
At first, she thought her children as clues to her purpose but even after scrutinizing them, she could not get a single clue, so she brought her thoughts back to the beginning before she got into this 'dream'.
That would be Lady Maria. Nobody knows the purpose of the Great Ones but Lady Maria was there for a reason. And her mannerisms and the way she acts makes it hard to believe she was not of some renown.
"I speak of a lady with pale hair, pair complexion and grey-bluish eyes using blood as a weapon to help her --", she started.
"You speak of a Vileblood, dear keeper. Beware not to speak it out loudly for it will not go unnoticed by the Healing Church. You too seek the Cainhurst Castle?", Eileen cut her off in the middle.
A Vileblood? That was a new term she has never heard of. But she decided that her purpose here must have something to do with the Cainhurst Castle.
"Yes, twas the right answer. I am looking for the Cainhurst Castle."
She has no idea what the Cainhurst Castle even was.
"You will be having a hard time trying to inquire about the Vilebloods. After all, they were all hunted down by the Executioners."
"The Executioners?", she asked.
"You do not think all hunters belong to the same camp do you?", Eileen replied in a tone that implied she was raising one of her eyebrows.
"Forgive me. That was rather naive of me to assume so.", she answered.
Indeed, it was far too simple to just assume everyone to be one organized group.
"So, you don't really know much about hunters, do you?"
"I would not consider it a wrong assumption. It would be much help if thou shalt explain to me about the different factions of the hunters. I fear this might be a much needed knowledge for future affairs."
"Explain to you about the different factions? I can do that. After all, it's basically common knowledge. But it would take quite some time. There are many and some even I have no knowledge of."
"We have the entire night to ourselves, my dear Eileen. Do go on. I need not sleep now. Only some answers."
"Well, let's start with the hunters of the Church. They are probably the most familiar to you. There are two types of Church hunters. The ones dressed in white and the ones dressed in black. The White ones are essentially researchers and doctors.
The Black ones are the ones surrounding you today. You probably know them well. They go around eradicating any traces of the beastly scourge in Yharnam.
But even the black hunters are not immune to the disease. Like the old Father Gascoigne you saw today, they can still very much get drunk on blood and mutate into beasts. A hunter can do much more damage than a usual beast.
And so, another faction called the Hunter of Hunters emerged. Only one exists at a given time and that is me. My faction existed long before in a response to the curse of Kos. When a hunter gets drunk on blood, they go mad and turned into beasts. I am responsible for hunting them down and granting them mercy."
"The Curse of Kos?", she asked. There were more and more coming up in this conversation.
"It is said that Gehrman, the first hunter, alongside his students and other members of Brygenwerth slaughtered a village by the name of Hamlet where a Great One named Kos resides.
Kos is long dead, but you cannot kill the essence of a Great One. The Will of a Great One along with the pure hatred of the villagers against the hunters laid a curse to everyone. All hunters, no matter who you are will eventually become drunk on blood and go insane.
Then, they shall be drifted to the Hunter's Nightmare by the Amygdala. The Hunter's Nightmare is said to be a hellscape, filled with blood drunk hunters and beasts slaughtering everything they see.
That includes me too. But, before drifting to the nightmare, I shall bring mercy to those cursed by Kos. Ignore it for now. It is far too soon for you to dabble with the likes of the Kos. Furthermore, I do not hold much knowledge over it."
The Curse of Kos and the slaughtering of Hamlet. Another mystery to boot. In a sense, it was quite overwhelming. She was basically trying to understand and dabble with the secrets of a new world in one night.
Before she interfere in the matters of dreams and nightmares, she should first dabble into the waking world of hunters and their various factions. She must learn humans and other creatures before trying to move onto the Great Ones.
"Now where was I? Oh yes, let us continue with the factions. I will start from Gehrman, the first hunter.
He was the first Yharnamite to take notice of the beastly scourge and hunted them. More and more followed in his footsteps and so, the first hunters emerged.
The Hunter's Workshop of Gehrman were the very first faction of hunters. They cooperated with the Healing Church to hunt down beasts. Now, do not make mistakes. The very first hunters were not lackeys of the Healing Church. They were only cooperating.
From the Hunter's Workshop, emerged the Oto Workshop. They loved firearms and created weapons similar to cannons and muskets. They were masters of the machine. But soon, they fell to decline.
The Oto Workshop was succeeded by the Powder Kegs. The Powder Kegs are declared heretics by the Church for reasons unknown even to me. Their love for explosions and fire are second to none.
With the rise of popularity in hunters, the Healing Church too, started its own branch of hunters to command. Unlike Gehrman's hunters, they were directly under the Healing Church.
The first of them was Ludwig and under him were the Holy Blades. They were reminiscent of the heroic, glorious knights of the past. Of course, the Holy Blades, too fell into decline and what's left is the Church Hunters you are familiar with today. The Black and White ones.
And of course, this was not enough for the Healing Church. There's another faction called the executioners that is said to have ceased to exist. They are essentially the military force of the Church and regularly fought against the Cainhurst Knights.
That's what you are interested in, isn't it?"
"Yes, do enlighten me one the affairs of Cainhurst.", she replied dutifully.
In fact, she was interested in everything. Not just Cainhurst.
"Cainhurst is an old enemy of the Church and the centre of the Vilebloods. Unfortunately, that is all I know of Cainhurst. Try seeking for a hunter called Alfred. He is probably the most knowledgable on the matters of the Vilebloods. You can find him praying at one of the shrines in this city.
I will be taking a leave after telling you about the last factions I know of. I too, have things to do.
One more faction exists under the authority of the Church. That is the Choir. They are an elite delegation under the Church. Think of them as scholars. They use the arcane of the Great Ones as weapons so do not underestimate them under any circumstances.
Next are the hunters of Yahar'gul. A mysterious bunch, they are. It is not even confirmed if they actually exist but what is known is that they are followers of Micolash, a very very mad scholar so do look out for them.
I have very little information on them. After all, I have had my hands filled with just the Church Hunters that's gotten drunk on blood. Try looking up for information on the school of Mensis if you wish to look further into that.
Another faction can be considered an offshoot of the Hunters of the Church and those are the Spark Hunters. They too are from among the rumours. It appears that they are hiding from the Church. I don't know much about them either. You can probably go by with just ignoring them.
The last fact I know of is the League. Beware of them. They are lead by another mad man called Valtr. I hold little knowledge over them too. I have met him and have to agree with some points Valtr made about wretched beasts, freakish slugs and mad doctors but they are like mad dogs.
The attack anything and everything they deemed to be Vermin. I hold no knowledge over what Vermin means but it is undeniable that Valtr holds nothing but pure disgust for what he deems Vermin. Try looking for him if you wish to learn more."
Ahhhh.... She felt like her head was about to burst open. It is the same feeling she got when she first arrived on Earth and learned about taxes.
At first, she felt like she had no purpose being here. Now, she felt too many purposes to this trial. So much that she do not even know where to start. A load of information has been dumped onto her for little reason. Well, she asked but it was still too much.
Eileen had already got up and was preparing to leave. But before she let the crow go, she had one final question.
"Why? Why dost thou tell me this? Is there anything thou wish for me to do?"
"You are a powerful one who is neither a beast nor a hunter. Not an offshoot of a Great One or a Great One itself. I am old, my dear keeper. Whether I like it or not, my ability to grant mercy to those drunk with blood is declining day by day."
"Thou wishes for me to be a successor?"
Eileen paused for a moment before opening to door and walking away. She just sat down there and watched as the Crow was leaving.
"Maybe, my dear keeper. Maybe. We will be meeting each other again sooner or later. Perhaps our purposes will be clearer by then.", Eileen then disappeared into the dark of the night as she closed the door.
For now, she shall rest. It has been quite a night and her children require rest too. After this night, she will look for Alfred. He is the easiest person to find after all, according to Eileen.
.
.
.
.
.
This is Chapter 147.
Sorry for disappearing for month. I will try uploading again regularly.
Also, sorry for the info dump as blood borne is way too complicated for me. I made sure to make this chapter extra long.