Hell Bend

[Ironsmith]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Haabeth will quickly find a pair of keys on the nightstand; large, brass affairs dangling from thickly-woven cloth tags. It also readily becomes apparent she won't need them; the room door locks automatically, such that it can be opened from inside without issue but requires a key (or a good set of lockpicks) from the outside. If she closes the door behind her, nobody except for maybe the owner or a member of staff is going to be able to open it... though conveniently, there's also already a "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging from the doorknob.

A floor plan isn't hard to acquire, either; the building is small enough that Haabeth could probably get a fairly good feel for it just by looking around, but she'll also find a map at the end of the hall marked "in case of fire" and giving her a fairly comprehensive view of the building. The hotel's upper three floors consist of a single hallway apiece, with a stairwell at either end and a series of rooms on either side. The ground floor has a similar layout, with one set of stairs leading down into the lobby and the other to another fire exit. The left side of the ground floor also doesn't have any rooms, in favor of various facilities; there's a kitchen, a laundry, and what looks like it's probably an all-purpose storage room down there. The map is marked in such a way as to indicate that the hotel has a basement, but there's no map of it; presumably considered unnecessary information, since going past the exit in the event of a fire is generally not a good idea.

-

Tiff shakes her head. "Petty keeps a handgun under the front desk, but that's it. This is a hotel, not a bunker. We're not really equipped for this." The succubus closes her eyes and leans back against the wall. "...Don't worry about me. Right now, the priority is settling in and maintaining order. Keeping the soldiers out there isn't going to mean jack-diddly if the demons in here end up turning on each other anyway. We're going to have to ration the food, get these people in rooms, try to keep everyone calm..."

Petty frowns. "How long do you think we're going to be stuck here? You're making it sound like weeks."

"It could be. Hell Bend isn't very popular and I doubt Vigil has the manpower to repel the invaders entirely, at least not right away. Not to mention the politics of the situation; the practical thing to do would be to sit and wait for the situation to resolve itself. Which would probably involve us being starved out."

"...Geez, Tiff... and people call me jaded..." The bellhop succubus grimaces.

"...The underlying point being, we should prepare for the worst. If Vigil does come in and clean things up, we're okay. If not, I'd rather be braced for it."

As for furniture, Blanch will find some chairs and low tables in the lobby... not very many, though. With some effort, she could probably block the doors and not much else.

[Morty]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Haabeth takes the key and closes the door behind her. Having a place to hole up in can be useful later. She opts to go the basement for now. It may or may not hold the key to the barrier and a bottom-up approach to searching the place is probably smart anyway.

[Shadowcaller]

[Crimp's Casino]

"Soldiers only fall when they refuse orders." The archangel replies before cutting the conversation off.
Since this ignorant creature was right about one thing. There was more important things to worry about right now.

*****

"Then tell us who knows more about this place. A name, a location." The angel inquires, unless the demon was lying of course. All those eyes made them good at spotting such things. Or at least they represented something they were conceptually good at.

[Madame Fidelity's House of Delight]

Meanwhile, the angel at the house of delight continues to try to find Ilpholin. She even tries calling out her name.
"Ilpholin. Can you hear me?"

Outskirts

The three shining beings all stare at the pair(?).
Or is at least doing something other than replying since there are no visible eyes to stare with.

"TURN BACK NOW, MORTAL." It repeats. Either ignoring or missing the 'we' part. "YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS HERE."

[Thursday Violist]

[Streets]

"Eep!"

Mallory lands flat on her back, the rope wrapped tightly around her chest, both arms and one of her wings. Zophiel, being much heavier than her (probably) provides enough of an anchor to stop her in her tracks, leading to the resulting slapstick.

"Let me go! Let me go, you stupid-" Mallory begins, struggling against the ropes, before stopping just as abruptly and breaking out into sobbing. "Please... please, I didn't mean it, I didn't want to hurt you, I swear, she made me... please don't kill me..."

[Streets]

As a matter of fact, Zophiel is pretty heavy.
Comes with the territory of being as big and muscled as he is.

When she stops struggling, though, he speeds up even more to get to her. He would've much preferred it if she had continued struggling until he had caught up, since stopping and sobbing is one sign that the rope's about to break apart.

Once he catches up, he grabs her and lifts her up over his shoulder. With her wings, there's not really much other way he can easily carry her. "Lucky for you, you only tried to kill me, you didn't succeed." Punishment should be more proportional to what someone actually did, not what they wanted to do.

Zophiel stands in place as he tries to decide what to do next.
'She made me'?
A thought crosses his mind: when he did that magic sight thing earlier, her face looked puppeted. Is that related? Or is that just a property of how the demons in Hell Bend work? Really, it could go either way.

"I had considered grabbing you by the neck and holding you until you decided to start talking," he mentions. He holds tighter to keep her over his shoulder. "But, since you 'didn't want to hurt' me, I'm sure you'd also be okay with answering my questions."

Well...in the middle of the street might not be the best place for this. And he still has to get back his swords. So, to better remember how to get back to that house, he first heads back towards the burger stand while carrying Mallory. And, to not waste time, he starts the questions while walking. "One. Who 'made you' try to kill me?" "Two, I suspect you actually do know what mind control the missing girl was under. Tell me about it."

[quillpleasant]

Outskirts

The three shining beings all stare at the pair(?).
Or is at least doing something other than replying since there are no visible eyes to stare with.

"TURN BACK NOW, MORTAL." It repeats. Either ignoring or missing the 'we' part. "YOU HAVE NO BUSINESS HERE."

Pair is relative. There appears to be only one person, but her arm seems to have a life of its own. It's at least capable of talking, and seems to be getting increasingly annoyed.

"Who're you calling mortal? You want us to leave, come down and make us!"

The woman's eyes widen at the threat, laughing nervously as she half turns to put herself between her arm and the angels.

"What my compatriot means to say is, it looks a little bad when there's a bunch of murdered demons and three angels hanging around. I'll leave if you tell me what's going on, and confirm you're not responsible." She seems to have taken it on herself to play detective.

[Reinholdt]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Mecha-Squiggles comes to a halt. There we go. A clear, straight shot at the target. The mortar ensemble atop Mecha-Squiggles folds down converting to a rail gun that adjusts its angle with a slight whirr. Lights towards its base flare up as it powers, each successive light coming on along the track providing a visual for the completing firing sequence.

When the barrel is fully lit, it fires. It is purposefully aimed at the upper section of the barrier. In the event it actually works any blowthrough would be directed to the higher floors where their operative isn't at the moment. Mister Squiggles has his doubts about it working at all, but this is the weapon designed more for the heavy single target piercing. Especially compared to the mortars from earlier, whose effectiveness is more in spreading out. He has a more creative solution to the barrier problem but it's the kind that takes more time. As a Spider of Science, he's compelled to test this option first.

That's when a text pops up for the elves and spider tank.

Status Report.

[Morty]

[Havnaught Hotel]

One of the elves sends a quick update shortly afterwards.

We converged on Havanaught Hotel. Demons put up barrier. Haabeth is inside, trying to find source.

[Arkhosia]

► SHOW SPOILER

[Havnaught Hotel]

Tiff shakes her head. "Petty keeps a handgun under the front desk, but that's it. This is a hotel, not a bunker. We're not really equipped for this." The succubus closes her eyes and leans back against the wall. "...Don't worry about me. Right now, the priority is settling in and maintaining order. Keeping the soldiers out there isn't going to mean jack-diddly if the demons in here end up turning on each other anyway. We're going to have to ration the food, get these people in rooms, try to keep everyone calm..."

Petty frowns. "How long do you think we're going to be stuck here? You're making it sound like weeks."

"It could be. Hell Bend isn't very popular and I doubt Vigil has the manpower to repel the invaders entirely, at least not right away. Not to mention the politics of the situation; the practical thing to do would be to sit and wait for the situation to resolve itself. Which would probably involve us being starved out."

"...Geez, Tiff... and people call me jaded..." The bellhop succubus grimaces.

"...The underlying point being, we should prepare for the worst. If Vigil does come in and clean things up, we're okay. If not, I'd rather be braced for it."

As for furniture, Blanch will find some chairs and low tables in the lobby... not very many, though. With some effort, she could probably block the doors and not much else.

[Havnaught Hotel]

"I am not letting that happen," Blanche affirms with a surprising conviction. "VIGIL will be here to help, I can promise you that." And if it isn't, she's going to personally throttle whoever's responsible for that decision. "In the meantime, we need to find ways to keep people busy. The more we can give them to do, the less time they'll have to stew in paranoia." She turns to the anxious gathering and raises her voice.

"Alright folks, looks like we're going to be stuck here together for a little while! The barrier should keep us safe, but just in case - you two, help me set up some barricades." She points to a pair of demons, and then gestures to three more that seem strong. "And you, look through the nearby rooms for more furniture we can use. We're going to need it." Even as she speaks, Blanche already sets into motion, making a beeline for one of the tables and beginning to shove it in the direction of the door.

[Ironsmith]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Haabeth takes the key and closes the door behind her. Having a place to hole up in can be useful later. She opts to go the basement for now. It may or may not hold the key to the barrier and a bottom-up approach to searching the place is probably smart anyway.

[Havnaught Hotel]

"I am not letting that happen," Blanche affirms with a surprising conviction. "VIGIL will be here to help, I can promise you that." And if it isn't, she's going to personally throttle whoever's responsible for that decision. "In the meantime, we need to find ways to keep people busy. The more we can give them to do, the less time they'll have to stew in paranoia." She turns to the anxious gathering and raises her voice.

"Alright folks, looks like we're going to be stuck here together for a little while! The barrier should keep us safe, but just in case - you two, help me set up some barricades." She points to a pair of demons, and then gestures to three more that seem strong. "And you, look through the nearby rooms for more furniture we can use. We're going to need it." Even as she speaks, Blanche already sets into motion, making a beeline for one of the tables and beginning to shove it in the direction of the door.

[Havnaught Hotel]

Mecha-Squiggles comes to a halt. There we go. A clear, straight shot at the target. The mortar ensemble atop Mecha-Squiggles folds down converting to a rail gun that adjusts its angle with a slight whirr. Lights towards its base flare up as it powers, each successive light coming on along the track providing a visual for the completing firing sequence.

When the barrel is fully lit, it fires. It is purposefully aimed at the upper section of the barrier. In the event it actually works any blowthrough would be directed to the higher floors where their operative isn't at the moment. Mister Squiggles has his doubts about it working at all, but this is the weapon designed more for the heavy single target piercing. Especially compared to the mortars from earlier, whose effectiveness is more in spreading out. He has a more creative solution to the barrier problem but it's the kind that takes more time. As a Spider of Science, he's compelled to test this option first.

That's when a text pops up for the elves and spider tank.

[Havnaught Hotel]

The railgun lands a direct hit, but as Squiggles already predicted, the attack has no effect. The barrier doesn't even flicker or respond to the impact in any way; there's smoke rising from the area where the shot landed, but that seems to be more from the munitions themselves than the target.

-

As the sound of a railgun striking the barrier crackles outside the building, Tiff lets out a distressed yelp, curling up into a ball as she tries to cover the anguished sounds of her breathing with slightly unhinged laughter. "...H...ha... that's their biggest gun, isn't it?" She rasps, leaning against the wall. "If they're not gonna be able to hit me with anything harder than that... yeah, I can hold. I can hold all the way to Thanksmas."

"...Glad you're, um... feeling so confident about that, Tiff." Petty grimaces, before going to join Blanche and the demon crowd in barricading the door.

If the goal is to keep the demons distracted, Blanche is going to find it doesn't do that for very long. With as many as are here in the hotel, the work of lifting up the furniture in the lobby and getting it up against the doors goes by fast. It takes longer for them to sort out which two she hand-picked to help her than it does to set up the barricade. The first-floor rooms are all locked from the inside and the demons can't get inside for the furniture, but it doesn't seem like it'll matter; the doors are already blocked to a hopefully-satisfactory degree.

Meanwhile, Haabeth is going to encounter a minor problem. Trying to get to the basement requires that she go through the lobby, either from the stairwell right next to it or from the far end of the first-floor hallway. Unless she can turn intangible, there's no way to get to the basement door without going through a crowd of frightened demons.

[Crimp's Casino]

"Soldiers only fall when they refuse orders." The archangel replies before cutting the conversation off.
Since this ignorant creature was right about one thing. There was more important things to worry about right now.

*****

"Then tell us who knows more about this place. A name, a location." The angel inquires, unless the demon was lying of course. All those eyes made them good at spotting such things. Or at least they represented something they were conceptually good at.

[Madame Fidelity's House of Delight]

Meanwhile, the angel at the house of delight continues to try to find Ilpholin. She even tries calling out her name.
"Ilpholin. Can you hear me?"

[Crimp's Casino]

"I- I don't know!" The fancy succubus stammers, clutching her dress frightfully. "I... Gnash! You want Gnash! He's an incubus that works as a go-between for all the big players around here! If anybody knows what you're looking for it's gotta be him! Now please! Please let me go!"

The succubus's eyes widen as she realizes how her request could be taken and she clamps her hands down on the angel's wrist, holding on for dear life.

[Madame Fidelity's House of Delight]

"...Can I help you?"

The angel will find themselves addressed by what they probably presumed was a corpse sitting behind the reception desk. She... really doesn't look like she should be alive. What with the large, bloody hole in her chest. And yet here she is, one nail file away from acting like this is a normal Tuesday for her.

[Streets]

As a matter of fact, Zophiel is pretty heavy.
Comes with the territory of being as big and muscled as he is.

When she stops struggling, though, he speeds up even more to get to her. He would've much preferred it if she had continued struggling until he had caught up, since stopping and sobbing is one sign that the rope's about to break apart.

Once he catches up, he grabs her and lifts her up over his shoulder. With her wings, there's not really much other way he can easily carry her. "Lucky for you, you only tried to kill me, you didn't succeed." Punishment should be more proportional to what someone actually did, not what they wanted to do.

Zophiel stands in place as he tries to decide what to do next.
'She made me'?
A thought crosses his mind: when he did that magic sight thing earlier, her face looked puppeted. Is that related? Or is that just a property of how the demons in Hell Bend work? Really, it could go either way.

"I had considered grabbing you by the neck and holding you until you decided to start talking," he mentions. He holds tighter to keep her over his shoulder. "But, since you 'didn't want to hurt' me, I'm sure you'd also be okay with answering my questions."

Well...in the middle of the street might not be the best place for this. And he still has to get back his swords. So, to better remember how to get back to that house, he first heads back towards the burger stand while carrying Mallory. And, to not waste time, he starts the questions while walking. "One. Who 'made you' try to kill me?" "Two, I suspect you actually do know what mind control the missing girl was under. Tell me about it."

[Streets]

"Her name is..." Mallory cuts herself off, shaking her head. "...No, no, I shouldn't say. I don't want her to hear me. If I say her name she's going to realize what's going on and then we're both in deep shit." She whimpers. "...But that's what she does. She makes me do things. Things I don't want to do." The succubus shrinks into Zophiel's shoulder, pulling herself into as close a shape to a ball as she can manage. "She... she didn't just want me to hurt you. She wanted me to do what I did to the last five people who came to my house. She wanted me to knock you out and... and..."

The succubus swallows, shaking. "...I used to love cooking." She whispers. "I... I used to love it so much. I could make the most delicious food, and I could make so many people so happy... all I wanted to do was that, forever." She sniffs. "...I... I just wanted to..."

Mallory turns herself to give Zophiel a pleading look, tears in her eyes. "...I never wanted to know what you taste like." She sobs.

When Zophiel asks about mind control, Mallory just shakes her head, mouth and nose buried between her hands. She doesn't seem to know what he's talking about.

[Reinholdt]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Mechanical chitters of disappointment come from Mecha-Squiggles. The tank moves closer, getting an upward angle by climbing the nearest structurally sound wall with distressing agility for a mecha-tank. The rail cannon shifts into a more focused laser looking weapon and begins to fire a continuous beam not at the barrier, but at the ground in front of the barrier, carving a away a section at a brink pace. The barrier may be strong but the ground is quick to melt away into vapor.

We're pulling out. If possible, send a runner to relay this message to one of the angels - the glowing balls of light in the sky.

The angels are hard to miss, given two have been just hanging out smiting demons in the streets. Some of the elves have probably seen them by now.

The laser stops, perhaps out of surprise. The spider sends a reply.

I believe I can carve a sinkhole beneath the barrier sphere and cause the whole hotel to collapse into it at a steep angle, crushing itself against its own barrier. I just require time.

Negative. Return home.

There's a moment of reluctant tension but the laser shuts off, exposing the pit-like area it had already dug out. It folds away and Mecha-Squiggles climbs down, turning and walking down the street away from Hell Bend.

[Thursday Violist]

[Streets]

Zophiel walks to the side of the road and stops walking.

There's too many questions, too many uncertainties, too many complicating factors, and more and more keep on coming up.
Who is it that Mallory claims to have been manipulated by?
Is it related to the weird puppetry thing on her face that Zophiel saw while using magic sight earlier?
If she was being puppeted then, could the same thing be happening now?
Is there a way to stop it?
How much is Mallory at fault?
Did the missing gal stop by the hotel before or after here?
Is this missing girl among the 'last five people' or were there five others after she left?
What is being 'with DAMN' mean?
Who was it that was manipulating the missing person? Was it the same person manipulating both of them for some sick joke, or has he stumbled across some kind of factional war or influence game?
Is this going to keep on happening?
How much is Mallory telling the truth, or is she just saying things to make her appear more repentant?
The biggest problem is that Zophiel has a long history of taking people at their word and trusting what they say and are feeling. Which...he's come to be aware of this weakness. He instinctually wants to trust Mallory when she's acting like this, but he's also aware that just as easily as she could be telling the truth, she could also be...not.
He needs to simplify and answer some of these questions.

With that in mind, he turns to face a wall.
He adjusts to grab Mallory under the armpit with one hand, and then pushes her against the wall. The paladin's other hand reaches into his pocket to grab a small vial of ink.

He punches the wall next to Mallory's head, crushing the vial and causing his knuckles to start bleeding. The ink and his blood start to mix together.

One thing that's really nice about Hell Bend is the abundance of demonic energy. Quite a number of Zophiel's powers are extremely difficult to do without demonic energy in the environment, so simply being here makes it so much easier to use - although, sure, he does have to be a lot more careful to not overuse it, unless he runs into a big player or someone extremely dangerous, he doubts he'll have to go that far.

The ink-and-blood mixture drips down to his fingertips, and he starts to trace out a magic circle around his eye, to reabsorb more demonic energy and give him back the magic sight. He wants to watch Mallory's face again to see if it is currently doing that oddity he previously saw on her face.
Since it's the second time he's done this today, his eye changes much quicker - and the part of his face around the eye also changes, too. His eye becomes as black as pitch, except for the iris - turning a burning red that almost looks like actual hellfire. The skin around his eye appears to burn away to reveal...something that looks softer, but for now otherwise pretty similar. His fingernails also grow.
And Zophiel starts being able to see magic and the flow of other kinds of energy out of that eye again.

He tries to look the succubus straight in the face.
"The girl that I'm looking for. Was she one of 'the five'?" he asks directly.

[Morty]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Haabeth, who had retreated from the lobby and was weighing her options (which seem very thin on the ground) swears when she sees the message. They're pulling out and she's stuck here? This doesn't bode well for her longevity. And the demons might have worse in store for her than killing her...

i'll hide in here and try to escape when the barrier goes down

After sending that message, she retreats back to the room she entered through.

Outside, the other elves wait for Mr. Squiggles' direction.

[Ironsmith]

[Streets]

Zophiel walks to the side of the road and stops walking.

There's too many questions, too many uncertainties, too many complicating factors, and more and more keep on coming up.
Who is it that Mallory claims to have been manipulated by?
Is it related to the weird puppetry thing on her face that Zophiel saw while using magic sight earlier?
If she was being puppeted then, could the same thing be happening now?
Is there a way to stop it?
How much is Mallory at fault?
Did the missing gal stop by the hotel before or after here?
Is this missing girl among the 'last five people' or were there five others after she left?
What is being 'with DAMN' mean?
Who was it that was manipulating the missing person? Was it the same person manipulating both of them for some sick joke, or has he stumbled across some kind of factional war or influence game?
Is this going to keep on happening?
How much is Mallory telling the truth, or is she just saying things to make her appear more repentant?
The biggest problem is that Zophiel has a long history of taking people at their word and trusting what they say and are feeling. Which...he's come to be aware of this weakness. He instinctually wants to trust Mallory when she's acting like this, but he's also aware that just as easily as she could be telling the truth, she could also be...not.
He needs to simplify and answer some of these questions.

With that in mind, he turns to face a wall.
He adjusts to grab Mallory under the armpit with one hand, and then pushes her against the wall. The paladin's other hand reaches into his pocket to grab a small vial of ink.

He punches the wall next to Mallory's head, crushing the vial and causing his knuckles to start bleeding. The ink and his blood start to mix together.

One thing that's really nice about Hell Bend is the abundance of demonic energy. Quite a number of Zophiel's powers are extremely difficult to do without demonic energy in the environment, so simply being here makes it so much easier to use - although, sure, he does have to be a lot more careful to not overuse it, unless he runs into a big player or someone extremely dangerous, he doubts he'll have to go that far.

The ink-and-blood mixture drips down to his fingertips, and he starts to trace out a magic circle around his eye, to reabsorb more demonic energy and give him back the magic sight. He wants to watch Mallory's face again to see if it is currently doing that oddity he previously saw on her face.
Since it's the second time he's done this today, his eye changes much quicker - and the part of his face around the eye also changes, too. His eye becomes as black as pitch, except for the iris - turning a burning red that almost looks like actual hellfire. The skin around his eye appears to burn away to reveal...something that looks softer, but for now otherwise pretty similar. His fingernails also grow.
And Zophiel starts being able to see magic and the flow of other kinds of energy out of that eye again.

He tries to look the succubus straight in the face.
"The girl that I'm looking for. Was she one of 'the five'?" he asks directly.

[Streets]

Mallory lets out a startled yelp as Zophiel intentionally bloodies his knuckles just next to her head, her gaze flicking over to the injured hand warily. The gruesome and unexpected nature of the action seems to have gotten through to her, and she shrinks against the wall as he goes about tracing out that circle around his eye again.

Which confirms for Zophiel that she is, in fact, still a marionette of sorts. Her movements are not her own, there's something puppeteering her just beyond the bounds of his sight. Zophiel will once again see those markings around her own eye and mouth, both of which slightly radiate darkness the more he stares at them.

She looks dead-eyed back up at him, her lip stuck out in an insincere little pout. "N...No, she got away." Mallory replies shakily, splayed against the wall. "I tried to track her down... I didn't think she could have gone too far, I hurt her ankles really badly... but she still got away. I don't know where she is."

[Shadowcaller]

[Crimp's Casino]

The angel lets go.

The succubus might survive the fall. Or she might be able to use those wings before her meeting with the ground.

Either way, it wasn't their problem anymore. They had spared their life after all. If they couldn't survive after the fact wasn't their problem and they were already being too generous considering their mission objective.
Of course, the succubus hanged onto their arm and they were not going to shake them off either. Instead the dispassionately watch them struggle as they fly down to the ground once again.

But with the information that they now had the archangel can be seen leaving the casino and descends upon the demon matching the description of Gnash. Their huge wings extending out in each direction to form a barrier around the demon. Preventing him from escaping. "Do you know anything about the portals?"

--

At this point the demons escaping the casino might note something else odd. There's an unusual amount of pigeons sitting on the nearby buildings staring at them as they're fleeing. Or are they staring at the angels? It's hard to tell, especially as they probably don't pay them much attention while feeling for their lives.

[Madame Fidelity's House of Delight]

The angel gives this post-mortal body a quick scan, trying to determine what made this body animate. Possession? An enchantment? Illusion?
"Where is Ilpholin?" They nonetheless ask this likely demon in hopes of at least a clue.

Outskirts

"THIS IS OFFICIAL COURT BUSINESS, LEAVE NOW."The angel repeats, apparently not interested in answering questions, as light start streaming out of each of the three angels in what seems to be a threatening manner.

But something else has happened while this conversation has been going on. An unusual amount of birds of some sort are circling around in the air above their heads. They don't appear to be ravens or any other kind of scavenger bird however.

[quillpleasant]

Outskirts

The woman shrugs helplessly. "I thought I was being pretty firm, maybe I need to work on that? But well, the answer's no, we're not leaving without an explanation. I don't even know what 'court' you're talking about." At her side, her arm says nothing, but its fingers begin to twitch, lengthening slightly into claws.

The angels are worrying enough, but now the appearance of the birds further draws her attention. She shades her eyes, peering past the glowing being to try to see more details. If they're not scavengers, then their appearance is clearly unnatural in some way, and definitely of note.

[Morty]

[Havnaught Hotel ==> Crimp's Casino]

As the other elves fall back, one of them tries to reach one of the angels. Either he's the bravest or he drew the shortest straw. He's got blonde hair and isn't wearing any armor, nor weapons. Only a wooden wand at his belt.

[Thursday Violist]

[Streets]

A thought crosses Zophiel's mind:
...If she escaped and left the jewelry here....is she no longer under the effects of whatever the earring did?
Also, he notes to ask Tiff if the gal was injured when she saw her. That could set up a time-table.
...
More questions he needs answered.

Fortunately, right now seems like a decent time to check something. When he last saw Mallory's face, he didn't really want to do anything because he didn't know if the magic-puppeting face was the default state of these types of demons or if it was unique to her.

Zophiel looks around, at the other succubuses on the street, to see if they all also share this weird magic puppetry.

"Hm. It's good that she got away, then."
He looks back at Mallory - especially the marks around her eye and mouth.
It's been a while since he last countered and removed something like this. And...the last time he had a perfectly cooperative and willing person. "I might be able to block the magic effect you're under. I've done it before," he says matter-of-factly.

[Arkhosia]

► SHOW SPOILER

[Havnaught Hotel]

The railgun lands a direct hit, but as Squiggles already predicted, the attack has no effect. The barrier doesn't even flicker or respond to the impact in any way; there's smoke rising from the area where the shot landed, but that seems to be more from the munitions themselves than the target.

-

As the sound of a railgun striking the barrier crackles outside the building, Tiff lets out a distressed yelp, curling up into a ball as she tries to cover the anguished sounds of her breathing with slightly unhinged laughter. "...H...ha... that's their biggest gun, isn't it?" She rasps, leaning against the wall. "If they're not gonna be able to hit me with anything harder than that... yeah, I can hold. I can hold all the way to Thanksmas."

"...Glad you're, um... feeling so confident about that, Tiff." Petty grimaces, before going to join Blanche and the demon crowd in barricading the door.

If the goal is to keep the demons distracted, Blanche is going to find it doesn't do that for very long. With as many as are here in the hotel, the work of lifting up the furniture in the lobby and getting it up against the doors goes by fast. It takes longer for them to sort out which two she hand-picked to help her than it does to set up the barricade. The first-floor rooms are all locked from the inside and the demons can't get inside for the furniture, but it doesn't seem like it'll matter; the doors are already blocked to a hopefully-satisfactory degree.

Meanwhile, Haabeth is going to encounter a minor problem. Trying to get to the basement requires that she go through the lobby, either from the stairwell right next to it or from the far end of the first-floor hallway. Unless she can turn intangible, there's no way to get to the basement door without going through a crowd of frightened demons.

[Havnaught Hotel]

Blanche flinches as the impact lands, but tries to ease the discomfort on Tiff's part by gently placing a hand on her shoulder for a brief moment. That's how you comfort someone, right? She has, by her own admission, never really been very good at this.

"Petty, any thoughts on getting rooms together? Do we have an itinerary of where's available, anyone here you think we can trust with delegation?" She arches a brow, allowing the woman to speak - or any of the demons in the lobby to volunteer. "You and I can't run all of this alone. We need someone to take stock of supplies and figure out rationing, people to get a headcount and organize shelter for everyone, and probably a few folks to check and secure any other exits the building has. Setting up a watch or general patrol wouldn't hurt either, just in case." And she's not exactly willing to leave Tiff without an armed guard as she is - doing that seems like tempting fate.

[Ironsmith]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Blanche putting her hand on Tiff's shoulder seems to have the opposite of the intended effect. Not just in that it seems to stress out Tiff further (she pulls away the moment she realizes Blanche's hand is there), but also in that having her hand there seems to do more for Blanche. The moment their skin makes contact, Blanche will be able to feel a sort of soothing warmth radiating up her arm and washing away all of the stress and adrenaline that normally accompanies being locked in a building bombarded by mortar shells and rail guns.

But only for a moment. The sensation comes back when Tiff pulls away.

Petty, meanwhile, points back toward the wall behind the front desk. "We keep all the room keys here." She explains. "It works a bit better than paper. If there's a key on the hook, the room's not occupied. If there isn't, the room's either occupied or close to useless to us, because we don't have the key to give to the occupants. And, um, as for delegating..." She shakes her head. "I mean... we don't really have a whole lot of staff here. Just me, Tiff, a-... well, actually, that's basically it."

"Hey! Look! They're leaving!" Someone calls, pointing out the window at the retreating Mecha-Squiggles.

---

Haabeth won't have any trouble getting back to the room she entered through. There's nobody in the halls just now, so no chance of being spotted. All she really has to worry about is being locked up in a room with a pair of corpses for the foreseeable future.

...Though with that said, Haabeth will probably notice that the corpses aren't as she left them. They're both closer to the window, with visible blood trails where they'd been dragged there, somehow, in the time she was gone. There's a flurry of movement in the corners of the room as she enters, but nothing identifiable.


[Crimp's Casino]

"Ohgodsohgodsohfuckohgods-" The succubus can be heard panting to herself as she and the angel work out the logistics of her getting out of this situation intact.

-

Gnash is an easy man to pick out from the fleeing crowd. That'll be the incubus in the suit that made his exit by deliberately throwing the guy in front of him into the angels' waiting wings, slipping through while they were distracted with the gruesome murder.

He doesn't have quite the same reaction when the archangel catches up to him and cuts off his escape.

"...Ah, great." The incubus shrugs and turns his attention to the archangel. "Yeah, gates. Sure. What do you want to know?"


[Madame Fidelity's House of Delight]

None of the above. Unless the angel takes a particularly broad view of "magic" and can identify localized distortions in reality. Within the small area the demoness occupies, it looks like decartication simply isn't fatal, among a few other changes (most of which seem to revolve around other forms of bodily injury). If she tried to leave, she'd probably drop dead.

"...Ah, great. This shit again." The succubus secretary mutters, yanking open one of the desk drawers and producing a pack of cigarettes. it takes her a second to get the packaging open (her fingers are still slippery thanks to being covered in blood), but she manages it all the same and puts one in her mouth, flicking a lighter up to the other end. Once she's finished with that, she wordlessly holds the pack out to the angel, offering one to them.

Regardless of whether the offer is accepted or refused, the secretary leans back in her chair and puts her feet up on the desk. "Xar'cha took a meeting with three of my bosses." She explains finally, taking a draft of her cigarette. "Which, existence-on-this-mortal-coil-wise, doesn't bode well. If I were you, I'd start asking for memorial photos and set up a GoFundMe for her funeral. Or get in touch with her family or something. I don't know, what do I look like, her financial advisor?"


[Streets]

A cursory look around the street reveals that, thankfully(?), this puppetry thing is relatively rare. There are only a few demons who seem to be subject to it, all of them quietly going about their business. All of them have facial markings, much like Mallory, though not in the same place; some have marks on their cheeks, others their mouths, still others their eyes, and yet others their foreheads. Zophiel might also notice that these markings are, themselves, much more common than the puppetry; there are demons who are marked that don't seem to be puppeted, but not vice versa.

Three of them stop in the middle of their walking and turn to face Zophiel briefly, flashing him identical wicked grins, before turning and resuming as though nothing were happening.

"Do... do you think you could?" Mallory asks, reaching up and holding his hands. "Please... I would very much like to be my own person again."

[Morty]

[Havnaught Hotel]

What the hell? Maybe they've got some spirits here to do the cleaning. Finding dead bodies probably isn't unusual in a place like this. Haabeth strides up to one of the corners and tries to press her hand to the walls, grab whatever is there - if there's anything to grab.

[Arkhosia]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Blanche putting her hand on Tiff's shoulder seems to have the opposite of the intended effect. Not just in that it seems to stress out Tiff further (she pulls away the moment she realizes Blanche's hand is there), but also in that having her hand there seems to do more for Blanche. The moment their skin makes contact, Blanche will be able to feel a sort of soothing warmth radiating up her arm and washing away all of the stress and adrenaline that normally accompanies being locked in a building bombarded by mortar shells and rail guns.

But only for a moment. The sensation comes back when Tiff pulls away.

Petty, meanwhile, points back toward the wall behind the front desk. "We keep all the room keys here." She explains. "It works a bit better than paper. If there's a key on the hook, the room's not occupied. If there isn't, the room's either occupied or close to useless to us, because we don't have the key to give to the occupants. And, um, as for delegating..." She shakes her head. "I mean... we don't really have a whole lot of staff here. Just me, Tiff, a-... well, actually, that's basically it."

"Hey! Look! They're leaving!" Someone calls, pointing out the window at the retreating Mecha-Squiggles.

[Havnaught Hotel]

Blanche blinks in shock as the surge of comfort washes through her. She stumbles upon pulling away with a small, awkward "Er, sorry," before focusing on Petty. "So effectively just you for now, then. We'll need to get some volunteers."

Before she can turn to ask for those though, the situation starts to shift. She moves towards the window and frowns. "This quickly? But there's no way VIGIL or anyone else could've moved in. Why would they-" She hesitates, biting her lip, then pulls away. "I don't like this. They could be preparing for another surge. We should be cautious - who here's got a sharp eye?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Crimp's Casino]

The elf will come across a scene of more than a dozen dead or injured demons and among them a group of three angels. One which has move and larger wings than the others.
They appear preoccupied with interrogating one of the demons laying on the ground.

"What is the entity beyond them? How are they controlled?" The archangel asks Gnash as some of the eyes on it's glowing wings turns to focus on the approaching elf.

The angels are vaguely humanoid figures seemingly made up of sunlight. When first laid eyes on their appearance is literary blinding but given enough time an observer can make out variations in the light which gives them a vaguely avian-like appearance. Though there isn't a lack of more humanoid facial features either.

It does look like the angels are looking at the elf without actually turning to them. As if expecting them to speak first.

[Madame Fidelity's House of Delight]

The angel will stare at the offered cigarette but doesn't seem to understand the gesture or the intent behind it at all.
"...and who are your 'bosses'?" She tentatively inquires without showing any hostile intent.

Outskirts

The angels are unmoved by this show of force.
"LEAVE." Another voice declares, coming from right behind woman. If she turns she will see another glowing beings have appeared.

However, before any of them can attack one another the birds who has been watching the situation suddenly descends upon the woman and the angels. They're pigeons that seems to be infused with shadowy energy.
A shadowy energy which extends over the area, leaving everything in pitch-black darkness that will leave them those with a light source and/or dark vision completely blind.

[Morty]

[Crimp's Casino]

"We are leaving. Ilpholin Xar'Cha has ordered us to regroup outside this place." The elf, unnerved through he might be, is avoiding the word "retreat". Hopefully the angels listen this time.

[Thursday Violist]

[Streets]

A cursory look around the street reveals that, thankfully(?), this puppetry thing is relatively rare. There are only a few demons who seem to be subject to it, all of them quietly going about their business. All of them have facial markings, much like Mallory, though not in the same place; some have marks on their cheeks, others their mouths, still others their eyes, and yet others their foreheads. Zophiel might also notice that these markings are, themselves, much more common than the puppetry; there are demons who are marked that don't seem to be puppeted, but not vice versa.

Three of them stop in the middle of their walking and turn to face Zophiel briefly, flashing him identical wicked grins, before turning and resuming as though nothing were happening.

"Do... do you think you could?" Mallory asks, reaching up and holding his hands. "Please... I would very much like to be my own person again."

[Streets]

It really appears that there's unquestionably a correlation between the markings and the puppetry, but that's nowhere near enough to show any kind of causal connection. At best, the markings might denote a particular susceptibility to the puppetry.

Zophiel sighs.

Helping Mallory now will put him one more day behind the missing woman. He could just leave now that he has at least some lead that she survived this encounter and left and a definitive question to ask Tiff or that other succubus. If he helps Mallory now, he's going to lose - at best - an hour or two, or at worst several hours. And by then, it'll be too late when he gets back to the hotel...and he remembers being told that mornings tend to be busy at the hotel.

Zophiel sighs again.

It's not even a question.

"Yes," he says. "But not out here in the streets." He goes to pick the succubus up again - this time more gentle than before, not just slinging her over his shoulder - and tries to take her to that [Intact House]. It was a decent enough place, and besides he needs to pick up his swords anyway.

[quillpleasant]

Outskirts

The woman is just about to tell the angels exactly how fed up she is with them not listening to her, when the shadowy pigeons divebomb the area. If they had been ravens or crows it might be less surprising, but pigeons with powers of darkness are one of the most unexpected things that could happen, especially darkness strong enough to hide the light of the angels.

Letting out a cry of shock, the woman drops into a crouch, clearly unable to see in such conditions. She lifts her right arm above her.

"Kraujo, find a way out!" she calls up to the demon arm. In response, there's a faint rushing sound.

Those able to see in the dark will observe the blood hand lengthening, its fingers fusing together as it becomes a long, twisted tentacle. Smaller tendrils descend from its base, creeping down the woman and onto the ground where they spread out further, creating a spiderweb of blood seeking the edge of the shadows.

Meanwhile the tentacle whips around dangerously overhead. Although Kraujo can't see in a normal way, he can sense the faintest ripple of motion or sound in the air. The darkness doesn't deter him in the slightest.

[Ironsmith]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Haabeth's rampant groping at the air turns up results; as soon as she feels something, a small red creature materializes in her hand, staring up at her with wide, whiteless eyes. It's humanoid in shape, rather cubby, with stubby little fingers and tiny hands and feet. A long, spade-tipped tail dangles off its backside, and a thin membrane stretches between its arms and legs, not unlike what she might see in a flying squirrel.

As soon as she grabs it, the creature lets out a frightened squeal, sending nearly a dozen others running from their hiding spots and making for the door and window.

---

Tiff nods her agreement at Blanche's assessment of the situation. Notably, despite the toll it seems to take on her, the barrier stays up; she doesn't trust the retreat, either.

Her call for someone with a sharp eye is met with blank stares. In the back of the room, one of the incubi raises his hand and goes on to state what they all seem to be thinking. "Aren't you a sniper?"


[Crimp's Casino]

"Now, see, that's the wrong question." Gnash begins, straightening his tie. "Let me start you off on the right track. How badly do you want to know that? Is it enough to start cutting deals with those demons you haven't massacred yet? Because if it isn't, any more questions are pointless." The incubus raises his hands defensively. "And I'm not just talking about myself, here. Nobody in their right mind is going to start selling out secrets to you if your plan is to cut them up afterward. Why bother?" He makes a placating gesture with his hands. "So how about you have your friends here stand down and we start talking terms, hm?"


[Madame Fidelity's House of Delight]

"Who are my-" The secretary stares at the angel in bewilderment, then sighs and shakes her head, putting the cigarette down and taking a draft from her own, a little puff of smoke rolling out of the gaping hole in her chest. "...Oh my god." She mutters irritably. "You guys really don't have any idea what you're fucking with here, do you? And I'm guessing you didn't even bother to try to find out. How stupid does one get?" She shakes her head and props her feet up on her desk. "And you of all people should know better! What's that saying again? 'Fools rush in where angels fear to...'" She snaps her fingers a couple of times, trying to summon the remainder of the adage to her brain, before deciding it's not worth the effort. "Ah, whatever. You get the idea."

The secretary takes another drag from her cigarette. "Okay, lesson time, then. What would you say if I told you that you were fighting a god? What comes to mind, hm?"


[Streets -> Intact House]

Mallory doesn't struggle this time; Zophiel seems to have earned her confidence that she isn't in any imminent danger and is, in fact, getting a free ride to wherever it is they're going. Which it turns out is her own house. Jolly good.

The house looks a bit different from how Zophiel left it last. For starters, there's a rather conspicuous plywood patch where his swords were leaning last time he was here, covering up the hole they made when they came through the wall. Likewise, there's a forest shark running around in the front yard (probably); Mallory never quite managed to shoo her off, but she's barred the house itself from entry. The interior no longer smells so strongly of bleach, and absent that, it seems rather homely... apart from still being a little cold inside.

[Morty]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Haabeth curses up a storm. It's pointless to try to kill these things; there's too many of them and they're too small and quick. But if she lets them out, they'll bring others to her location pretty much immediately. Instead, she lets go of the one she caught and gets in front of the door, trying to herd them towards the window. Maybe they barrier will open for them? Worth a try.

[Arkhosia]

[Havnaught Hotel]

Blanche blinks, then raises a hand to massage the corners of her eyes. Jeez, did organizing a large group of people always feel like pulling teeth? Surely Wenomir wouldn't have this much of a problem if he were here. Maybe she's in sore need of practice. "Yes, but I'm going to need other people to keep lookout on every side of the building. We're not gonna get much of an idea about what's going on out there otherwise."

[Thursday Violist]

[-> Intact House]

As Zophiel approaches, he gives a whistle for the forest shark, as a signal to tell it what to do.
It uses the wall of the next door building and a few other things to jump up on the roof. Basically just up there to 'watch' the area through scent.

Well, that's good enough, the paladin thinks.

He sets Mallory down at the door, so she can open it as he plans what exactly he'll need: not much, to be honest. Just a lot of time and a constant influx of ambient energy so that his magic-vision doesn't wear off during all that time.

Honestly, it's times like these where Zophiel wishes he was as adept at magic as his daughters. He's sure they could solve this in minutes, while he needs hours to accomplish the same. At least, in his favor, he can intuitively figure it out...after a long enough time.
"You'll need to sit down," he says. Or lie down, alternatively. Just be in a position that would be comfortable for a few hours, basically. He looks for a chair for her, and then sets up another magic circle on himself to constantly absorb ambient energy for himself, to maintain the eye-thing.

And so, he spends the next long while analyzing and looking and trying to figure out how it works and what affects what in the magic and everything like that, before even attempting to actually alter it directly with magic circles and by modifying the magic behind it.

[Shadowcaller]

[Crimp's Casino]

The archangel does at the very least spare the elf a glance but Gnash reply makes their attention immediately snap back to the demon. Needless to say, they don't look very pleased with it.
But luckily for Gnash and perhaps the elf as well the archangel don't get the chance to reply as another voice can suddenly be heard.
"You will stand down and retreat before you make more unwise decisions, war-leader."

It isn't immediately obvious where the voice is coming from until a black pigeon settles down on the ground before the archangel. It is a peculiar bird alright, while the color of its feathers would have been unusual in itself what really stands out is that it seems to emit a strange unnaturally black smoke.

The archangel stares down at the bird and then takes a quick glance at Gnash and finally the elf before making their decision. "We're done here. Full retreat."

"We'll discuss this again out of mortal eyes." The bird declares, seeming agreeing with the decision as it takes to the skies again.

And just like that the archangels and their cohorts just flicker away. Leaving the elf completely alone with all the wounded demons laying about.

Well, besides the black pigeon which lingers around for a bit. But there's a lot of pigeons here for whatever reason. Just flying in circles in the skies above them.

[Madame Fidelity's House of Delight]

"...we have fought gods before. The title matters little however. So tell us more about these beings. If they're so powerful why aren't they showing any of it? Aren't gods about grand displays of their power?" The angel seems oddly curious. Though it's hard to tell her exact intentions with this line of questioning with their facial features being difficult to perceive.

Outskirts

Then Krajuo can sense about a dozen birds moving all around them.
They're not attacking them in any sense of the word, they just seem really confused. Just flying in random directions and sometimes into one another or any other object that gets in their way. Since unlike Krajuo they seem unable to see in the dark. Which is strange as they seems to be the ones conjuring the darkness somehow.

The angels, or at least the larger sources of movements that aren't so up-close to them, seems to be moving away however. Perhaps discouraged by either their willingness to fight or the strange darkness which was just conjured up around them. Also, unlike what they saw earlier, Krajuo can only detect two sources of such movement. Meaning that either some of the angels have already moved out of their range or something else.