Outside: Grass touch place

[Magtok]

[Tower of Oujet]

The acid doesn't seem to bother the OTHER zombie all that much and it does its best to pounce on Laz and begin raking at her with its gross oozy claws.

Thankfully it doesn't seem like any of the REALLY BAD acid zombies have gotten in here. Just the smaller, faster ones that are still for the most part recognizable as something that was human at some point.

Saint Lazarus struggles to maintain her footing. That's why you're not supposed to have fights on staircases; it's really easy for some gross freak to knock you over and-

"GET OFF!" she shouts, shoving against the zombie with her foot, hoping to kick it down the staircase so it can go break its neck over there, and leak its stupid acid further down the steps where her poor armor won't get soaked in it any further. Ugh, hopefully Anika has a spell that works like a water hose or something, otherwise these repairs are going to be really tiresome and expensive.

"Anika, how's that pylon situation going? Anika?" Oh no, did she ditch the zombie knight? Was the possibility of being faced with a puzzle too much for her simple brain?

[Hraithre]

[Wildfire]

Outside is, well, outside reach of civilization. But every once in a while, some brave souls venture forth, trying to expand that reach. Weirding Wood hamlet was one such attempt - a cluster of small farmsteads at one of the safer corners of wilderness, its industrous folks slowly but surely working their way into the ancient forest, clearing the trees for fields.

Who knows, maybe, if given time, the settlement would've grown into a town, then a city, maybe even a Side of its own. But like many good things, it wasn't meant to last. Pillars of black smoke now arise from amidst trees, tongues of flame licking the trunks. Wild beasts and monsters are fleeing en masse, trampling all in their way.

What was the cause? A spark from an abandoned campfire? A strike of lightning? A cigarette carelessly tossed aside? The men of the settlement can but wonder as they rush to rein in the flames and keep the from reaching the buildings. Nobody expected this. The season has been cool and wet, thunder has not passed over the region for months. They had every reason to think themselves safe from this kind of calamity.

Their efforts prove futile. Just when it seems they've stopped the advance of flames on one front, frightened shouts alert them to raining embers having set a house on fire in the opposing direction. How? Distance from the treeline and soaked ground should've kept that building safe. By the time the men reach it, there is nothing left to do except watch it burn.

Quickly, their emphasis shifts from controlling the destruction to evacuation. There is a road from the village across open country, towards bigger towns. They can, at least, cut their losses and escape that way. That's when they hear it - a sound akin to sails of a massive ship banging in the wind. It comes from the sky, descending from smoke-stained clouds.

People stare in horror as a great avian form lands on the road, cutting their way. Large enough to crush a passenger car under one taloned foot, it does not look like it will let them pass. It stretches its gold neck and stares at them with malignant, crimson eyes, daring any to approach.

One brave soul, hesitantly, tries his luck. But, even though he moves slowly, tries to give wide berth to the gargantuan rooster, tries to be as unassuming and non-threatening as possible... it is to no avail. It does not matter what he doed - his mere existence is enough to provoke ire of the majestic beast.

When its steelen beak strikes him like a meteor falling from the sky and crushes him into a bloody pulp, all semblance of organized retreat disintegrates as the people become little more than a panicked animals, scattering to the four winds, running across the fields in vein attempt to get away from the raging flame behind and the hateful bird ahead.

[Ironsmith]

[Wildfire]

"Pitiful wretches."

The observation comes from a rather unperturbed-looking man sitting just outside the settlement, quietly sipping a glass of what is presumably wine as he observes the chaos. He's more than a little out of place here, dressed in an unstained crimson suit and resting on an ornate, possibly antique, kitchen chair, just outside a now-collapsing house near the edge of town.

"But then, what can one expect? The can't possibly have expected that they could simply settle down here." The man sneers. "Everywhere is home to something. And nothing takes kindly to its home being invaded."

Naturally.

And almost certainly wrong, not that he cares.

[bc56]

Forsaken Cathedral
The pair clamber down into darkness for an uncomfortable amount of time. Finally, Charcoal emerges first into an underground chamber, damp and cold. "I found something! It's... Strange."
The room is a narrow cavern path, flanked on either side by natural stone pillars in the shapes of beautiful humanoids. They don't look carved, nor do they look like they grew into those shapes, but rather they must have been shaped by supernatural power. "There's so much power in the air, the artifact must be close by."

[Ironsmith]

[Forsaken Cathedral]

"I'll take your word for- actually, no, holy hell, I can feel that too." Miranda winces as she pulls herself out of the crevice, looking down the cavern path. "And I'm pretty sure I'm whatever the magic equivalent is to being nose-blind." She keeps her back against the wall as she sidles around, eying the statues curiously. "...Huh. From what you've told me about Sapphira, I'd say this looks a lot like her work. Her or someone like her." She frowns. "Which makes sense, but... might be a bit concerning, as that would imply somebody of a similar disposition up ahead."

Joy.

[Wolfbane]

The Triple B

”It’s for when I want to feel strong. It doesn’t do anything special.” she smiles weakly as the form modifies itself into a more blatantly draconic shape with wings and spikes.
”Better? Or too ostentatious? I’ve been told dragons are a close relative of my people. I’ve been trying to come up with more shapes.

But Um. To answer your question…no I still don’t know how to dance. At all.”

The Triple B

Lydia purses her lips in thought, looking over the draconic shape and even reaching out to poke at one of the spikes if allowed. "It's not the sort of dragon I'm most familiar with, but to most I imagine there's a good deal of resemblance." She admits. The Oni behind the bar seems to be keeping a very close eye on the two now, as if something bad was likely to happen, but all that occurs is Lydia stopping as a thought crosses her mind and she tilts her head.

"...what do you do with all your extra mass? Or where do you get it from? Isn't it troublesome to deal with?" She asks, as if speaking from experience.

[Keeper]

The Triple B

Anri shrugs.
"I'm not entirely sure, myself. My essence is smoke and ash, really. I assume the mass comes from the same place where things come from when people wish for them. Energy is converted...somewhere."
She wasn't given a manual on the physics of how djinn work.

[Wolfbane]

The Triple B

For a brief moment, for a very brief moment, Lydia's presence looms large, almost oppressive and suffocating within the confines of the club before she stamps her foot cutely and lets out a frustrated scream. "And I had to figure out gravitics to get mine to work! Everyone else is so damned lucky!" She slumps back onto a seat, looking very tired as she rubs her face and groans. "...you have no idea how aggravating it is to see so many with true shapechange and masschange rolled up in a nice neat package."

[Keeper]

The Triple B

Anri cringes but relaxes when she isn't decked.
"Well. You know. I did spend a year as a robot with a beer tap for an ass to make that happen. And it does come with baggage. People can make requests all they want and even if there isn't a debt they still have a chance of it happening."
She glances at the bartender, as if wondering if he'll try to make a wish right there.

[Wolfbane]

The Triple B

Lydia gives a sigh, and the Oni just shakes his head. "...Anri, I weigh well over 300 tons. Even now. I would have killed for a good mass change spell or effect a long time ago. Had to figure it out myself." She holds out her hand towards the bartender, and after a moment wriggles her hand a bit to try and get across that she needs a drink. He sighs and gets working on one, getting out the hard booze. "I'm a dragon, Anri. A full fledged one. Big too. I guess some would call me a wyrm or wurm, though that's a dumb distinction."

[Keeper]

The Triple B

"Yes, and I would have killed to make it not a thing that someone once made a wish that retroactively changed half my life. We all have problems." Anri frowns, crossing her arms.
"...but we shouldn't make it a contest. Besides, that makes us family. Kinda. Apparently. I don't know if the 'dragons are our cousins' was a metaphor or not, really. I can't really imagine being three hundred tons..." her momentary flash of indignance has melted back to pity. She can't imagine having to spend most of your time outside just because you won't fit.

[Wolfbane]

The Triple B

Lydia tilts her head side to side as she weighs it in her head until an old fashioned is served to her. After a sip she'll finally speak. "Honest truth? It's more...awkward than anything. The love life is terrible...mostly, I did meet a lovely dragoness that sort of rocked my world..." She gives a distant sigh, looking off with glassy eyes for a moment before snapping back to reality. "Half of it is thrilling! You get to just be so...impervious to most things. Time passes in years rather than days, you can see and feel history being made, and you can feel your weight in the world itself making an impact." She admits.

"The other half is that you don't forget the betrayals, pains, and losses so easily either. Plus it is damned hard to get a good burger when it would take eight head of cow for a slider. Hard to feel anything too when you're so covered in scales too. Figuring out shapechange let me feel just how lovely the wind was."

[Keeper]

The Triple B

Anri does her best to sit down at the bar despite her current shape.
"Well, I can certainly say that I know exactly what you mean when it comes to missing how to feel things on your skin." she taps her claws on the bar.
"Uh. This shape isn't offensive, is it?" It is essentially a mock-up of a dragon in front of a dragon, after all.

[Wolfbane]

The Triple B

For a moment Lydia looks confused before waving it off. "There's enough kinds of dragons out there, and it'd be like me asking if a human was offended that I took the shape of one that I created entirely on my own. Not like I'm actively copying someone and taking their lifestyle." She points out as she sips her drink. "Don't actually try to be an imposter and you'll be fine. I've seen enough partial dragons that you'd fit right in anyway."

[Keeper]

The Triple B

Anri shrugs, a motion which heavily includes her wings.
"Well, fair enough. I've been trying a whole bunch of looks anyway. Might as well, you know?" She grins, revealing very pointy teeth.
"What sort of thing do you think suits me?"

[bc56]

Forsaken Cathedral
"She's dead, it can't be her," There's a shiver in Charcoal's voice. "The thing is derived from her power, someone like her would want it." The statue's seem to furtively watch as the succubus slowly approaches the passage onward and starts into the darkness withe her burning staff held ahead of her.

[Ironsmith]

[Forsaken Cathedral]

"That's about what I thought." Miranda nods, following back just outside clear visual range of the staff. "...This is a lot of trouble to for a heist tunnel." She adds, looking up at the statues as they walk down the hallway. "This corridor was already here for a while, wasn't it? The extra tunnel's new, but this... this had some sort of purpose before now." She frowns and looks up at the statues. "...Hard to imagine what, though. What's the point of a tunnel that goes nowhere? And of decorating it, no-"

She stops abruptly and looks back up at the statues, rubbing at her chin. "...Or maybe not. If the statues are the only things here, that might be because they're the only things meant to be here. That would make this some kind of storage room, if I'm not reading too much into it."

[Shadowcaller]

Sky Library

"No, I don't. But if I came home and discovered someone had broken in and left before I arrived, even if they didn't take anything, I would do all in my power to find them and ensure they wouldn't do it again. So, using myself as an example, I did what I thought most prudent in averting doom. I would like to return home, at some point. My son is seven months old, and I would like him to know his father." Benedict still doesn't emote much, and his voice is clear and even throughout. Mergei, however, is looking far more worried.

"I might also be persuaded to be merciful at a promise of reparations. I have a library of my own, and any books within that you want I shall give to you. Save only the books I have already promised your librarian, as it would not be right to offer the same book twice." It's about mystic architecture, but Earl can't recall the title of the book nor to whom exactly he promised it.

[Hog Heaven]

The few people at the bar quickly lift their drinks away to make room, some laughing, some grumbling. By the sound of things, outrageous behavior wasn't exactly out of the ordinary here.

Miccel - a tall, tan man in a stained white apron and a paper hat - presses one gangly finger to the front of the machine. A panel - one of several - beneath a glass bubble flips and flickers through songs with blinding speed. It finally clicks to a stop, and Miccel lifts his thumb with an affirmative grunt.

"The machine might have it, but I've never heard of it," Tsumi laments. "I hope you'll lead. Don't worry. I'm a quick learner." She smiles.

[Tower of Oujet]

Anika decides to ignore the puzzle (probably a good idea, let's be honest) and ascends the stairs instead. She makes it up to the second floor and there are like some cabinets and things in here? The sort of stuff you might expect from someone's room. Boring. The third floor, though, is way more interesting! There are a pair of gold and marble cubes just sort of sitting around on the ground, about as wide as Laz' arms out-stretched. And when Anika gets close they unfold into a pair of threatening looking robots with four spidery legs! Each is equipped with a blaster made of that same weird blue stone as the column and an axe with a blade fashioned from the same. One of them opens fire on Anika while the other moves in to axe her a question.

Yeah! Goblin magic things! This is probably way more exciting than messing with puzzles.

Meanwhile!

Laz is also making friends.

And by making friends we mean killing a zombie.

It explodes like an acid bomb.

Because of course it does. The results here probably aren't nearly as bad as Laz imagined it probably would be. They aren't like aliens with acid so strong that it just eats a hole through a metal floor in seconds flat. But it DOES sizzle and fill the air with acrid fumes that makes it difficult to see and breath. Of course, Laz doesn't actually HAVE to breath. And the acid doesn't instantly melt her sword. She'll probably want to get all this stuff cleaned off when she's done because it WILL eat holes in things over the course of a few hours.

The acid doesn't seem to bother the OTHER zombie all that much and it does its best to pounce on Laz and begin raking at her with its gross oozy claws.

Thankfully it doesn't seem like any of the REALLY BAD acid zombies have gotten in here. Just the smaller, faster ones that are still for the most part recognizable as something that was human at some point.

[Tower of Oujet]



Saint Lazarus struggles to maintain her footing. That's why you're not supposed to have fights on staircases; it's really easy for some gross freak to knock you over and-

"GET OFF!" she shouts, shoving against the zombie with her foot, hoping to kick it down the staircase so it can go break its neck over there, and leak its stupid acid further down the steps where her poor armor won't get soaked in it any further. Ugh, hopefully Anika has a spell that works like a water hose or something, otherwise these repairs are going to be really tiresome and expensive.

"Anika, how's that pylon situation going? Anika?" Oh no, did she ditch the zombie knight? Was the possibility of being faced with a puzzle too much for her simple brain?

[Tower of Oujet]

Hold on now.

Contrary to popular belief Anika isn't just going to rush ahead. Not when a coworker was fighting off an entire army by herself. That just wasn't right.

She first pauses for a moment when she notices that there wasn't the usual Big Door blocking her way on the second floor. That was odd, but maybe the puzzle door was on the next floor?
Yet as she ascends up to it and encounter the two golems she knew that something was up.
There wasn't a quest door!

So rather than engaging the guardians Anika turns and runs back. Dodging the beam by getting back into the staircase.

On her way back she turns into her saber form to run faster, getting past the second floor in record time before turning back to her humanoid form as she descends the final staircase.

"LAZ! THERE'S NO DOOR! WE CAN JUST GET UP HERE!" She screams out once she hopes she's close enough for the ghoul knight to hear her.

[Hog Heaven]

((Will try to post here tomorrow.))

Sky Library

"No." The dragon declares stoically. "That won't be necessary. This is after all not a shop and you are allowed in here by my merciful nature and the fact that this is a library. I hoard the containers not the information itself." She grins, seemingly amused by something. "So you were never in any danger other than perhaps from your own nature. Since you might need all those measures to protect your belongings but I? Dragons live for a long time. If anything is stolen from here it will find its way back one way or another, I will make sure of that personally."

[Rebonack]

[The Tower of Oujet]

A zombie is hurled at another zombie.

Thankfully that isn't hard, it wasn't much heavier than a regular not undead and mutated human. And Laz seems pretty strong!

So now two zombies are tumbling down the stairs giving Laz just enough time to notice three things.

First?

Anika isn't tending to the pylon. It's been shoved up against the central pillar but the clamps haven't been engaged. It's just sitting there, a flashing button on the control pad beeping forlornly every few seconds entreating anyone within earshot to complete the coupling sequence.

Second?

Anika is at the stairs leading up to the second floor shouting about how there isn't any door blocking their way. That might not be too much of a shock since the tower seems to be utterly lacking in doors but quite abundant with elegantly arched doorways.

Third?

A pair of gold and marble murder bots are scrabbling down the stairs after Anika firing bolts of arcane energy at her. Apparently she made some friends recently.

[bc56]

Forsaken Cathedral
"They don't look like they can be moved," Charcoal comments. She's right, they seem fused into both ceiling and floor. "This seems like a natural cave, I don't think this room was meant to be anything, the statues might have just been made here so it's not empty." She really has no idea, she's just guessing. She steps back into the room.
Is it some trick of the light, or is she somehow more attractive than when they started this expedition? Succubi tend to have very idealized bodies, so there's not much space to go up. So it must just be the light... Right?

[Ironsmith]

[Forsaken Cathedral]

"That would be pointless. Even assuming there was no physical effort involved, because, you know, magic, someone still would have to have come down here and plot out these statues that nobody would ever see, because there's zero foot traffic through here, and-"

...Huh.

Miranda tilts her head inquisitively as she notes that Charcoal's moved up a few notches in terms of attractiveness. That... probably wasn't voluntary on her part, was it? There's no reason for her to suddenly be concerned with her appearance, any more so than usual, at least. And there certainly wasn't any reason for Miranda to notice; she's strictly uninterested in women, in that sense. Usually. The only time she felt anything different was in the immediate aftermath of getting a dose of succubus venom. So unless what little was still in her system was somehow reacting to all the statues...

bap!

Miranda runs her hand down her face and sighs. "Sorry. It's obvious in hindsight." She begins. "Her Majesty told us about this before we left. Sapphira's artifact warps reality around it. We're in a natural cave with a bunch of attractive statues that might not actually have been here before. This means we're close, that's all. Sorry for over-analyzing it."

She does that sometimes.

[Earl of Purple]

Sky Library

"I am... very glad to hear that. We have not taken anything, though I have read one of your books. I was looking for clues to help with my grandfather. He made a foolish decision a while ago, and my family has been living with it ever since. Fortunately, I believe I can correct the mistake and solve the problem with the knowledge I gained from said book." He's mentioning it since this is a library, and it explains why he was in the library even though he wasn't planning on taking anything.

[bc56]

Forsaken Cathedral
"Then let's get moving. We should get it back to her majesty as soon as possible." Charcoal want to be stuck in a reality-altering aura any longer than she needs to. She heads to the next room, expecting Miranda to follow.

The next room is equally dark and damp as the last, with the same strange statues. A stream flows through it from the left (where the magic seems to be stronger) towards the right. It is not, however, unoccupied. A shockingly attractive man with umber skin is bent over the stream, slurping up water with his mouth. He's wearing only a simple loincloth which leaves none of his impressive musculature concealed. He doesn't seem to notice the pair of interlopers entering from behind him.

[Ironsmith]

[Forsaken Cathedral]

...Well.

In hindsight, she probably should have expected that. Sapphira's artifact could make attractive humanoid forms from featureless stone. That it might have affected some of the local wildlife similarly. At least she thinks that's the local wildlife. The loincloth suggests otherwise, unless that, too, was part of the magic.

If that thing gets confrontational, do you think you could take it alone? Miranda thinks to Charcoal, not wanting to risk giving away her position by asking it out loud.

[Shadowcaller]

[Hog Heaven]

The few people at the bar quickly lift their drinks away to make room, some laughing, some grumbling. By the sound of things, outrageous behavior wasn't exactly out of the ordinary here.

Miccel - a tall, tan man in a stained white apron and a paper hat - presses one gangly finger to the front of the machine. A panel - one of several - beneath a glass bubble flips and flickers through songs with blinding speed. It finally clicks to a stop, and Miccel lifts his thumb with an affirmative grunt.

"The machine might have it, but I've never heard of it," Tsumi laments. "I hope you'll lead. Don't worry. I'm a quick learner." She smiles.

[Hog Heaven]

"I'm more of a solo-dancer so there's going to be some watch-and-learn first." Dena puts her hand on her hip as she looks in the direction of the music box. Waiting.

Then as the music starts she slowly starts moving to its rhythm. First simply her head moving to the beat but soon the rest of her body as well. Swaying her hips from side to side while starting to clap her hands. Picking up the pace as the music does.

Then as the first lyrics are sung Dena puts her hands together and then holds them apart in a open-armed gesture at the oni as she moves towards her.

She's resplendent, so confident
La Seine, La Seine, La Seine

As she walks towards Tsumi her gait turns into an exaggerated strut. The gorgons arms now stretched to the sides as if she was about to swan dive but with her hands gesturing back at herself.

I realize, I'm hypnotized
La Seine, La Seine, La Seine

But rather than walk right into the oni's embrace she suddenly turns to the crowd, a hand to her right ear as her upper body circles forward as if scanning the room with a confident grin. Her movements are deliberately slow as she's keeping to the relatively low pace of the music. But during the refrain they suddenly pick up and her circle-like movement suddenly turns into a spin with her arms outstretched.

I hear the moon singing a tune
La Seine, La Seine, La Seine

Her spin concludes as Dena puts her hands into the mass of snakes that made up her hair and leans backwards with her right leg held into the air for a moment until she places it firmly on the table again. Waves of movement then seems to ripple through her entire body as she starts to move her hips in a circular motion.

Is she divine? Is it the wine
La Seine, La Seine, La Seine

Around and around again her hips move in an almost hypnotic fashion as her hands move through the snakes and down to back of her neck which is when she suddenly breaks off by circling her entire body around. Now turned towards Tsumi with her hands placed just below her elbows on either side. Dena then repeats her circular hip movements but now with her attention turned to her supposed dance partner. The only difference being that this time her hand are slowly moving down along her curves as her hips are moving.

I don't know, don't know, so don't ask me why
That's how we are, La Seine and I
I don't know, don't know, so don't ask me why
That's how we are, La Seine and I

Finally once her hands are all the way down onto her hips she suddenly holds the right hand up and gestures for the oni to join her.
As she acquiesces Dena quickly grabs a hold of her hands and takes the lead.

She raises their left arms into what should be an overhead position while leading with their right hands. Putting them in the direction that their legs now move. First it might just seem like back and forth to Tsumi but she might quickly realize that Dena actually wants to move her in a clockwise motion. Their hips moving upwards as they go from side to side together across the table only to end in the same position as they started at the end. Seemingly a parallel to how Dena's hips were also moving clockwise earlier, just from another angle.

I feel alive when I'm beside
La Seine, La Seine, La Seine
From this angle like an angel
La Seine, La Seine, La Seine

They move back and forth along the table in this manner until the oni can suddenly can feel Dena pushing her hips into hers while she stops leading for a moment. Forcing Tsumi to push her butt out. Then Dena quickly lets go with her left hand to put her hand on said butt. If the oni is indeed quick to pick up on things she will realize that Dena is actually wanting her to mimic her hip movements. Instead up moving their hips up and down she wants them to copy the way the gorgon were moving them earlier. Moving them together in a more horizontal circle.

Dena's hips are guiding hers so she probably won't have too much trouble with it as their hips start move around together.

I don't know, don't know, so don't ask me why
That's how we are, La Seine and I
I don't know, don't know, so don't ask me why
That's how we are, La Seine and I

While grinning widely the gorgon soon pulls her into a spin and at the end of it she suddenly breaks away from their embrace and steps away. She dramatically puts her hands against her heart before positioning herself with her arms raised horizontal to her shoulders as she both kicks and tosses her head backwards at the same time. This shortly before actually stepping backwards off the table.
Yet her fall seems to be controlled somehow as her legs instantly find purchase. Since despite moving backwards it almost looked like she fell forwards. Her body twisting to correct her momentum mid-air.
After this stunt Dena stops for a moment to wink to Tsumi and gestures for her to follow before she spins away with her arms stretched wide into the least occupied area of the bar.

She stops there and claps her hands together before stretching them outwards while opening her mouth as if taking a deep breath all while her hips keeps rocking back and forth. Then her hands are held forward as she once more seems to beckon for the oni to join her. Assuming Tsumi has left the table and stepped in closer Dena is quick to close the distance between them and embraces her by grabbing her right hand and placing her left hand onto her hip again.

Upon the bridge
My heart does beat
Between the waves
We will be saved
The air we breathe
Can you believe?
Learn to forgive upon the bridge

She then leads her across the floor, letting them move in the same clock-wise up-and-down movement she should be familiar with by now. Only occasionally switching to moving their hips more horizontally and making small leaps as they dance.

That's how we are, the Seine and I
That's how we are, the Seine and I
That's how we are, the Seine and I
That's how we are, the Seine and I

And suddenly the song is over and Dena let's go, taking a deep breath through her nose as she looks at her dance partner with a smug smile. "So how was that?"

Sky Library

The dragon grins at them, though this time it doesn't seem like its intended to be threatening at least. No matter how terrifying it looks. "Of course, perhaps I can even be of assistance then? I am Megeshi of the North Wind and I'm considered quite learned even by the standards of the scholars who venture here. Must be all the books." Her gaze moves across the wast sea of ruined and destroyed books and paper which she's nearly completely submerged in.

[Earl of Purple]

Sky Library

"My grandfather summoned a devil and asked for immortality. It was granted, in exchange for autonomy. He's spent over a century sealed into the family mausoleum trying to get out, unable to die so long as the devil remains inside him but equally unable to do anything but follow the devil's agenda. Which is of apocalyptic scale; rule one of diabolism is 'don't deal with devils'. Demons, imps, succubi, rakshasa, all can be approached safely with the right technique. Devils wish only to spread, and any deal made with one will see that aim met." The issue with the other fiends mentioned is that they cannot grant immortality; the closest is a raksha, offering an extended life in exchange for a finger.

[bc56]

Forsaken Cathedral
Charcoal nods. "It's just one guy," She steps forward and rushes towards the man with her staff and dagger. He turns at the noise and meets her gaze with his eyes, hypnotic pools of golden liquid, and suddenly she stumbles and falls flat onto her face. Before she can right herself or catch her breath, he's on top of her, bludgeoning her wildly with his arms - clearly he has no idea how to fight effectively.

[Ironsmith]

[Forsaken Cathedral]

Unfortunately for him, Miranda does.

pyut-pyut-pyut-pyut!

Four shots come out of the dark, two aimed for the man's head and two for his chest. If his internal anatomy is at all like a human's, and he's not quick enough to dodge projectiles moving at subsonic speeds, this is going to be a very short and somewhat messy fight.

[bc56]

Forsaken Cathedral
Miranda proves she can fight well, if not fair. Bullets splatter into flesh, but no blood is forthcoming. Instead a clear fluid leaks from the wounds. Her target is, however, hardly holding still. The headshots miss, which gives him a chance to look up and attempt to meet Miranda's eyes.
If he manages to make eye contact, she'll suddenly find her legs collapsing beneath her as she loses all sense of balance. This must be what Charcoal fell victim to when she charged - and it's an ability no normal animal would have.

[Hraithre]

[Wildfire]

"Pitiful wretches."

The observation comes from a rather unperturbed-looking man sitting just outside the settlement, quietly sipping a glass of what is presumably wine as he observes the chaos. He's more than a little out of place here, dressed in an unstained crimson suit and resting on an ornate, possibly antique, kitchen chair, just outside a now-collapsing house near the edge of town.

"But then, what can one expect? The can't possibly have expected that they could simply settle down here." The man sneers. "Everywhere is home to something. And nothing takes kindly to its home being invaded."

Naturally.

And almost certainly wrong, not that he cares.

The animals fleeing from the fire certainly didn't take whatever started it kindly. Unlike them, the giant rooster does not fear the flames. It struts through the burning hamlet, pecking at or crushing underfoot those few people who are either too slow or paralyzed in fear. A boy, maybe ten years old, staring at it with awestruck eyes; an elderly woman who stumbled and fell flat on the ground; a woman trying to carry her three-year-old daughter to safety; all turned into puddles of blood, broken bones and mangled flames.

At the end of its tour, the avian monstrosity arrives at the collapsing house. Having determined it to stand on the highest spot, the rooster takes a short flight and descends on the wreckage, with what remains of the building ground to dust and ash under its weight. It stretches its neck, raising its head high, puffs its chest, and lets out an unholy crow.

"KRA-KRA-KRAAAAA!"

The sound is only slightly more musical, and just as loud as, the crackle of lightning of a storm right above. It goes on for almost a minute and returns thrice as an echo even after it ends. The survivors fleeing across the fields stumble and fall, covering their ears.

Its dominance firmly asserted, the bird looks around, its massive crimson eyes settling on the one, seemingly, humanoid being that's still around. It leers at the crimson-suited man, narrowing its eyes - whatever such expression would convey on the face of common fowl, here it seems to be adopted just to convey anger to the apparently humanoid observer. An unvoiced question hangs in the air: who is this man, and why is he here? Surely, he does not seek to challenge his position in the pecking order?