Mash, also known by his actual name Otirik Vuhsen, is one of the members of the Darklight Crusaders. A former noble from Zaubarovia, he is a hunter of the Blackreyne Brotherhood. After the events of the The Light of Lunaria, he became Headhunter after Can Vanadiyin.

He uses the Graviturgist's Twin Shashkas as his weapons of choice.

Biography

Early Life

Otirik Vuhsen was born in the small northern town of Griffordam, under the swan banner of House Vuhsen. His mother died during childbirth, and he never knew her. House Vuhsen has long been a merchant family, who finally took over as counts of the town around a century before his birth. Like most nobles in the Magocracy of Zaubarovia, he was supposed to learn magic, and eventually go study at the prestigious College of Zaubarovia.

However, he could never summon magic, not even a cantrip. Even the best teachers couldn't coax a single sparkle out of Otirik, much to his father's growing frustration. His father was never kind to him, and Otirik was instead taught swordplay by his uncle, Count Bryce, who was always nicer to him. This family life eventually blew up when Otirik was 18, and Bryce's own son was only 7. The seven year old Damon Vuhsen was quick to grasp magic, and mastered the basic light cantrip at that young age.

This pushed Otirik's father over the edge, and after a long argument, he deemed him useless and threatened to disown and disinherit him. Bryce and Armin fought for a long time, but eventually, not even his uncle Bryce would be able to save him from his father.

That night, Bryce hired a small cart and put Otirik on it, along with a small pouch of gold. He apologized, and introduced him to his friend- Heigall Nikitovich, a Blackreyne Hunter from down south. With that, Heigall took young Otirik away from Griffordam forever, and gave him the first piece of advice: "Find a new name."

Over the next 10 years, 'Mash' has become a hunter of the Blackreyne Brotherhood. Under tutelage of the Blackreynes at Night's End, he finally made a breakthrough while being taught by Heigall and the Headhunter, Can Vanadiyin- He could literally slice into the weave using his weapons. Utilizing this rare magic, he became a magus. During his training, he accompanied experienced hunters on monster hunts, mostly monstrosities and minor fiends. His first true test as a solo hunter was to kill a vampire spawn- something he barely succeeded in. At that point, he was made a full hunter, and has wandered the continent from job to job as a monster hunter occasionally returning back to the HQ at Night's End.

The Light of Lunaria

In 3E498, Mash arrived in Dobuka alongside Viktor, who accused Ilya and his brother Zhenya for the murder of Brush, the only witness to Luka's theft of the Dark Filial. Dmitri took Ilya to Neogathol Prison, where they had a discussion with Viktor. Favian and Esfir were forced by Gordon to work with Mash, and ended up relying on Lady Anwela Neonenko for help. Eventually, Viktor revealed the truth about the Dark Sceptre to the party, and how his secret client had bought the Dark Filial that Luka stole during its journey. He instructed the party to recover it from the Shadowfell, sending Mash alongside them.

As the group ventured toward the Shadowfell, they journeyed to Neosk and the darkening Alphwoods. The mayor of Neosk told the party of the corrupted Father Borys and how the Shadowfell gate opened within the town. The battle with Borys ended with them saving the town, but ending up on the other side of the gate within the Shadowfell. The shadowy realm tested their resolve and abilities, as they faced shadows, mimic creatures, cloud giants, and dangerous Shadar-Kai assassins while traveling to the city of Moonruin with two companions named Oshki and Zuria. The party's arrival at Moonruin introduced Luka, who had become the lord of the city. He and Esfir's former teammates had taken over the city using the Dark Filial. The party ended up capturing the orc Vadim, gaining some information from him before talking to the town's dark priest, Viziel. He was neutral in their fight against Luka, and introduced them to him where the party pretended to turn to Luka's side, especially after noticing the shadow dragon Mynvokun under his command.

He tested them first by sending them on a treasure hunt in an abandoned prison nearby, where they found a strong artifact that would prevent death. Favian decided to create a replica and present Luka with a fake version of the artifact, which somehow worked and they seemingly gained his trust. Luka and Viziel revealed that the Dark Hunt's invasion is going to happen within the next two years. The party then stole strong artifacts from Luka's treasury, using said artifacts to finally fight him and kill him for good. Esfir ended up killing both Zanasha and Luka in the fight, and Ilya claimed the Dark Filial from Luka. After an argument on what to do and where to take it, the party decided to make a dark pact to prevent betrayal among themselves. With Viziel's help, they bound their souls with that of Mynvokun, the Shadow-Dragon. The Dark Oath made sure that any decisions the party makes had to be voted on, and no one could betray the rest of the party without having Mynvokun consume their souls. They decided to make this pact until the apocalypse of the Dark Hunt is prevented.

They decided to contact Viera Blackreyne, the Archhuntress of the Blackreyne Brotherhood. They warned her of the impending Dark Hunt invasion as well as Viktor's involvement, and she told them to meet her at her mansion in Taltigo. They plane shifted to the Lunar Sea. Meeting Viera in her mansion there, she revealed to them Viktor's history and how she distrusted him. She wouldn't mind if he were to die, even. She told them to ask Lady Lyn for help in locating whoever ordered the Filial to be shipped to them, but warned them not to owe her a favor. Lady Lyn agreed to help the party, and in return they had to travel to Torishu and kill Pirate Waterlord Ozran for her. She sent her daughter Myranda with them on the small ship called The Disgraced Eel. As the party reached Torishu, they fought off a Shinobi ambush and hid at an onsen. The party then defeated the Waterlord Ozran in combat, and asked his corpse all the information he had about dark artifacts. They learned that whoever had ordered the Filial's shipment already owned one piece of the scepter that they had gotten from Skion. They also learned of a buried treasure Ozran hid away that he had stolen from Xaniv the Whisperer. They uncovered Xaniv's Book of Vile Darkness, and then decided to bury it again after only learning a few spells from the evil book. They said their goodbyes to Myranda at Taltigo, and Esfir named the party 'the Darklight Crusaders'.

Lyn revealed to them that the shipment was meant to be delivered to Akhlezh and was ordered by Ballista Libra of the Golden Church, who was in Kalkipol at the moment. The party discussed their options and decided to have Dmitri sneak into the church to gather intel. Upon making it to Kalkipol however, they were immediately caught and apprehended by Ballista Virgo, who took the Dark Filial from Ilya momentarily. Libra chastized Gemini, and then cut off Dmitri's right hand. Virgo then left, releasing the party from their bounds and dropping the Filial. The party then quickly escaped the Church by breaking a window and disappearing into the dark alleys, having picked the Filial back up. They took shelter in an abandoned warehouse, where they reflected on the true apocalyptic plans of both the light and the dark.

The party went to the Sabatcieni warehouse in the city where Ilya met his sister Anya. Favian immediately recognised her as looking extremely similar to Dmitri and they realized that they are siblings. They were then ambushed by Gold Monks as well as a Gold Inquisitor, leading them to seek out an alliance with House Koporev. They ended up meeting Bolt Matros Koporeva, and revealed everything to her including the Dark Filial. She hired them as official Kuprum Explorers, and promised to hide the Filial somewhere safe. She then sent them to Skion Labs in Gematirsk to steal information from Ballista Aquarius aka Dr. A under the guise of delivering the Soul-Sacrificial Dagger. She gave them one of her personal airships - the Sokol - as well as one of her personal trusted men, Zurikov. In Gematirsk, they infiltrated Dr A's office within Skion Labs and uncovered information about important people of note as well as communication between him and Kol-Han that revealed the Ballistas' apocalyptic plan. After a fight with Dr. A and Vortex Viktoria Vier, they escaped Gematisk on the Sokol and made their way back to St. Arbalsburg.

The party had to explain and lie to Bolt Ithila Giranenko, convincing her that they're working for the church in addition to Matros. Dmitri convinced Ithila that Favian, if he saves the world, would only elevate House Giranenko. The party then discussed what to do, and ended up deciding to head to Terros through Dobuka to look for Baron Gideon Huxley, stopping over at the Sabatcieni near Dobuka first. The party departed with Zurikov and arrived at Boetsk for a short respite where they were attacked by Baba Nadira and then some Dark Hunt Bleed Killers. The party met Gordon and Anya in the Rust Bucket in Dobuka, and then convinced Anya to travel with them for a while for her safety. Over the next few days, they headed towards the terrosi city of Yawrôn to find Gideon after learning from Ingrid that Gideon was in his hometown. At the DoD they finally met Dame Ingrid Rennwald. As the Darklight Crusaders explained the situation to her and the guildmaster, they agreed to help them out in any way that they can. The next morning, Ingrid led them towards the Mountainfey Ruins, where they finally met Baron Gideon Huxley. After he was briefed on the entire situation, he realized that Anya and Dmitri are linked to the fey in some way. He tried to unlock their memories, returning to them snippets of memories.

They also revealed that Viera had gone missing, and Mash realized that with Viera gone Viktor will likely be up to some bad things at Night's End. There, Mont and Runa took the party to the library where they met Can, a wounded Otto, Naigha as well as Silas Darkgraves. Can explained the situation and how Victor and his followers were trying to make Victor the next and final archhunter. The party and the hunters on their side headed back to the main hall, where they fought through all the hunters on Viktor's side. Viktor gave a long speech on how he deserved to be the fifteenth and final Archhunter and that he's going to take the name of Viktor Blackreyne due to his connection to Archhunter Daerron Blackreyne. Mash then saw the ghost of Daerron tell him to defeat Viktor. Viktor talked about all the Archhunters as well as his brother, and he resented Viera for disbanding the Brighthunt and forcing his hand like this. The fight broke out, and it was extremely difficult as Viktor's overdrive mode made him nearly impossible to hit. However, Dmitri was eventually able to blind Viktor, which allowed Mash to get a final hit in causing him to shatter into many pieces. Can commanded the fighting to stop, and forced the ex-Brighthunt members into surrendering and breaking their Brighthunt amulets. He promised that Night's End is going to be a friendly base of operations for the Darklight Crusaders.

After that, the Darklight Crusaders had a meeting with Can, Otto, Zhalimov, Zurikov, as well as a new diplomat- Raziel of Alsiorion, the Keeper of Secrets. As they told them mostly everything, Raziel asked the party about their plans and their convictions, before revealing that the oracles of Alsorion have determined that the Dark Hunt would attack two years from now, on the Varkosi Arcanos of 3E500. He then revealed to them the location of Markal Zuriel as well as his history, and told them that he awaits them in the heavenly plane of Qaydar. The party then spent many 'months' within the heavenly planes making their way to Markal. In Asphodel, they encountered the heroic spirits of Blackreyne past, including Daerron, Ethera, and Sirakos. Daerron congratulated Mash on his defeat of Viktor and accepted many of his mistakes. However, when going to shake his hand, Daerron attacked Mash as spirits are supposed to stop mortals from ascending the planes. A friendly fight broke out, and they defeated the heroes. When they finally met Markal, they were attacked by Ballista Aries who they finally ended up killing for good. They then stepped back through her portal and appeared in Sergorod, realizing that 2 years had passed and that they only had one week until Varkosi Arcanos.

They met Zurikov and Bolt Matros who explained that a Lunar Council meeting was happening at the Table, and this would be the best time for them to make their case to the bolts that show up as well as Serebryanitsa Strela. The party revealed almost everything to the Bolts from the Church's plan to let the world end, Dr. A's letter, as well as what they did to Dmitri. Kol-Han almost convinced the room to be against the party, but Favian's pleas to Na-Bolt Anwela Neonenko worked and she ended up supporting them. Kol-Han attacked each of their characters, but in the end Serebryanitsa Strela ruled to be neutral in this affair. After the successful meeting, the party contacted Anya who told them that Libra and the Church were attacking the Sabatcieni at Rtutiv. They immediately teleported there and killed Ballista Capricorn. After killing Ballista Libra, Anya explained that the three Babas had locked themselves away for months conducting a ritual as well as that Zhenya was now much stronger and essentially leading the Sabatcieni into war.

Ilya and the party finally met Zhenya within the Sabbath, where Zhenya yelled at Ilya for joining the ‘light’. Ilya managed to convince most of the Sabbath that the Dark Hunt would be bad for everyone and that Zhenya is lost. After a decisive fight, Ilya managed to break Zhenya’s hexed strength and bring him down. There, in front of the entire Sabbath, he then executed his brother whose body fell into the ravine de-powered. Finally, Ilya was essentially the leader of the Sabbath at least while the Babas were locked away.

Afterwards, Esfir and the entire party had a shared vision of the apocalyptic future. Esfir’s patron entity 'Gigarion' then asked each of them if they were willing to give up their lives to make things better, and sacrifice their futures beyond just killing the Babas and Kol-Han. They all vowed to do what they must: Mash vowed to become Headhunter after Can, and become a diplomat between the three nations. Now that their bonds of trust were unbreakable, Mynvokun’s soul ended their soul-pact prematurely, now that it was no longer needed. The party had a fruitful discussion with Bolt Strakh in Rtutiv, but on their way out of the Merkuriyev Fortress, a magical trap tried to pull in Favian. Mash realized this in time and the party was able to follow Favian to the GIMA Bolt’s office, where Ithila and Demyan held Favian paralysed. Ithila refused to listen to reason, and even tried to kill Favian with Power Word Kill which was prevented by Dmitri. She let out their Giranium Golem on the rest of the party, and Favian and Dmitri together managed to convince Demyan to help them instead. The party neutralized Ithila to the best of their ability and took both her and the golem down. Favian made her listen to him, and she reluctantly named him Na-Bolt.

At midnight when Varkosi Arcanos began, the Dark Hunt invaded Abmarah. The barrier around Babaoga’s hut disappeared, and the party ventured into her demiplane where they finally faced off against Baba Ogafya, Baba Nadira, and Baba Imka. Despite killing the witches, their coven’s magic kept reviving them. Favian managed to disintegrate Baba Nadira before she could pull off Mash’s face, and then they managed to kill Baba Ogafya and Baba Imka together. Ilya had a touching farewell with Imka before she disappeared. The party immediately boarded the Sokol above in the Kosmosi Mountains, and rested while Zurikov piloted them to Sergorod. The crusaders reached Sergorod by sunrise, and rushed up towards the Golden Church as the Dark Hunt waged war against Lunaria and the world as a whole above them. Ballista Leo stopped them, but Markal immediately engaged the fight with the other angel. The party managed to get past Leo’s chronomancy and kill him, before rushing up to meet Kol-Han before his pipe organ. He took them high up into the sky above the city, to a cloudy altar. Chastising Gemini and vowing to destroy them, Kol-Han casted a meteor swarm and almost ended the party at the beginning of the fight. Favian’s simulacrum joined this final fight as well. The fight against the Patriarch was incredibly dire and the party almost did not make it as Kol-Han called the Lightclaw to him. Markal kept the lightclaw from reaching Kol-Han, when Dmitri finally ended him. Kol-Han died unable to reach Lightclaw, gasping for it until his final moment.

Dmitri then attuned to the Lightclaw while Ilya attuned to the now-complete Dark Sceptre. Together, the two resisted the calls to do evil and become gods. Ilya banished the Dark Hunt forever to the Shadowfell, and Dmitri let chaos into the world to end this era of order. However, outside their trance Favian, Mash, and Esfir realized that this was killing the two. They decided to let the two artifacts destroy each other, and using all their magic they forced the artifacts to touch and implode. Dmitri and Ilya were freed, as ripples in the fabric of reality brought the cosmos to a perfect balance. The party went on to all become leaders, as Favian got more responsibilities as Na-Bolt, Dmitri forced the rest of the Ballista and the Golden Church to reform as their new leader, Ilya settled the Sabbath onto a new surface town, Mash became the new Headhunter after Can’s retirement and reconciled with his family, and Esfir became a balance between all of them.

After the Campaign

Mash got promoted to Headhunter after Can chose to retire. He also reunited with his family through his uncle, finally being accepted by his parents as well. As Headhunter, he became a major diplomat between the three great nations of Aurial.

Timeline

• 3E470 - Otirik is born in Griffordam.

• 3E488 - Otirik is exiled by his father, and is sent to join the Blackreyne Brotherhood. He takes on the new name of 'Mash'.

• 3E498 - The events of the The Light of Lunaria occur, with Mash being forced to join the Darklight Crusaders by Viktor. He later defeats Viktor and is advanced to a senior role within the Brotherhood.

• 3E500 - The Darklight Crusaders return to Lunaria after spending two years in the Heavens, leading into the ending of The Light of Lunaria.

Gallery

Mash during Ch. 2 of TLoL (Credit: Daibik)

Pixel Mash (Credit: Daibik)

Mash during Ch. 3 of TLoL (Credit: Jouweria)

The Graviturgist's Twin Shashkas that Mash acquired. (Credit: Aaron)