Abyssal Road Trip

Kerma, Saqqara, and Buto had been blood baths, even bigger than the mess they’d left in the initial mining outpost. Each of them had a similar layout to it, but the stone buildings grew progressively larger and more numerous as they headed for the coast. As each location had increased in size, the number of Demons had jumped. Demons that had been quite happy to rip each other into pieces if it would gain them the tasty morsel that was offering herself to them. Their mission was progressing well, and its death toll promised to soar with the crowd in Giza staring in rapture at Julia. Analysis showed Demons in Tiers matching Julia’s own, and for the first time, some were a step higher, yet Dominion held them equally fast. As she began dancing and pulsing Dominion’s siren song through the crowd, Danger Sense began screaming in protest.

“Enough!”

{{Spoil sport alert! }}

The command came from a balcony overlooking the square, and those closest trembled. As Julia tried helplessly to keep them within her Dominion, they struggled in confusion. A Succubus wearing a golden outfit stepped out on the balcony. Her horns swept back along the slope of her skull before hooking forward. A formation matching the Àluga Succubus that Julia was impersonating, but the horns were clearly thicker and set just above her forehead. Long black hair hung loose to shadow her sharp-edged features before running down her body as if to draw attention to her outfit.

Instead of plain leather straps framing her attributes, she wore a long mesh tunic formed from golden links over sweet, caramel-brown skin. The outfit moved with the heaviness of gold and reached from her shoulder to brush high across her thighs. As she continued moving into sight, the insignia of Set glimmered within the light of the Plane. Her beauty was a palpable thing, resonating through the square’s occupants and the air itself. Her presence made Julia understand the reaction, so many others had around her, yet it didn’t gain a hold on Julia’s mind.

“Don’t you want to play?” Julia asked as Dominion lent the words a sensation of silk and satin brushing across skin. Those Demons close to her shivered in pleasure at every syllable that spilled from her lips.

Analysis

[Name: Henite

Demonic Species: Succubus

Class: Poisoned Desires / Thief

Level: 6 / 20 / 50

Health: 3,480

Mana: 64,000

Melee Attack Power: 110

Defence: 74

Magic: 161

Combat Skills: Bite [Ad] (10), Claws [Ad] (14), Dagger [Ad] (5), Various Spell Forms - Affinity: Fire, Mental, Metal

Details: Spawned from the delta waters in the plane of Àluga, this Succubus belongs to the faction commanded by Set, a Lesser Power in the Egyptian Pantheon. She combined the Succubus and Manipulator classes at level fifty into the Prestige class of Poisoned Desires.]

Julia felt the sheer force of Henite’s personality and strength of Will push back against her own. Their Dominions swayed against each other as their auras fought among the crowd. Henite’s aura felt like a tower of pressure was digging sharp edges against Julia’s own.

[Dominion Challenge - Contested Result - Challenge ongoing

Willpower: 168 vs 102.

Charisma: 70 vs 116.

Total Levels: 185 vs 191.

Total Rating: 423 vs 409 ]

Even as she locked gazes with Henite and tried to push back, a wave of pressure within Dominion caused another notification to ping within her awareness. The field of Julia’s Dominion trembled with the effort to hold it in place, with the initial progress being quickly carved away.

[Dominion Challenge - Contested Result - Challenge ongoing

Willpower: 168 vs 102.

Charisma: 70 vs 116.

Manipulator Class Bonus: 0 vs 7 (Extended conflict stage 1)

Total Levels: 185 vs 198.

Total Rating: 423 vs 416]

Analysis: Manipulator Class Bonus - Dominion Challenge

[Dominion Challenge: Manipulators involved in an extended conflict with Dominion get a class bonus of one rank for every ten levels they possess in their manipulator class. ]

[Dominion Challenge - Contested Result - Challenge ongoing - Advantage Henite

Willpower: 168 vs 102.

Charisma: 70 vs 116.

Manipulator Class Bonus: 0 vs 14 (Extended conflict stage 2)

Total Levels: 185 vs 198.

Total Rating: 423 vs 423]

Fuck! I’m losing ground fast with this bitch.

A burst of energy manifested beside her, and caught in the battle of wills, Julia didn’t have time to dodge. A torrent of swords and smaller blades flooded out of it and swatted her from the stage. The sheer volume of metal striking with more pressure than a fire hose, rendering and smashing her into an unmoving wall of flesh. Massive hands clutched against her sides as she felt a Demon’s excitement caught between them, its length hard against her front.

With the Dominion conflict pressing on her focus, Zen State merely catalogued the effects of blades piercing her flesh. It adds extra information in each moment: the leering features of a Dretch’s face above, another’s spade-like hand grasping at a broken wing, the musky foulness of their excitement. While blades were piercing her, others bounce from the Dretch’s solidness, its hands rising her form upwards, silk catching on barbs already piercing through its leathers. The second Dretch rips its pants away, barbs and serrated edges bristling outwards from its engorging dick.

{{Oh yeah, they want to drill us. }}

((You can’t change the past, you can only change the now.))

Drill!

{{Really? You’re sick… Oh. Drill! }}

Julia stays caught in the moment’s calmness, not letting her intention out before she submits her Dominion to the other’s will. The aura that she had been straining to hold collapses in an instant, letting the intent that Henite had commanded flood through the square. Even as it locks others to stillness, it flows around Julia’s will like wild water around a rock, and Julia’s form changes. Hands that had been grasping her become enfolded with metal. Even as the shift occurs, they Teleport with her and as they fall Julia’s transformation completes.

Henite’s bones crunch like shattering peanut shells as over a ton of weight crashes through her. The Dretches drove a spiked pillar charged with Ki and blackness through her lengthwise and pierced the balcony beneath.

The enfolding metal disappeared freeing the Dretches’ hands even as the pillar splits into blades. A dandelion of destruction, bladed petals arcing in all directions to greet the sun above, as metal, Ki, blood and darkness mingle together. Gleaming wire-thin petals having sprung outwards, cutting through flesh, bone, and stone with equal ease as Ki Infusion carried crackling Jade Court Mana into her foes. The flesh of the Dretch, having shrugged the other blades aside, parts with the ease of a surgeon’s blade, yet somehow alive, they scream in rage and pain.

As Julia prepared a spell, a Wenga’s giant hand seized the base of her spiked form from below.

Seriously, everyone getting hands-on today. Just as well Ebusuku already knows I have Abyssal Affinity.

Her form was pulled through Henite as the petals became a giant nail head flat against the stone. The change enough to hold against the Wenga’s force, which pulled her downwards. A moment later, a Lightning Bolt formed of roiling reddish Mana burst upwards through the hole left behind. The fury of Abyssal Mana launched skywards, chewed through flesh and crushed bone in its wake. Before the eruption’s force faded, melted gold links, along with flesh shredded from Succubus and the Dretches alike, sprayed far away. Released from Henite’s Dominion, the stillness dissolved, and Demons flee from the square. The surge of dangerous power, and the sound of Ebusuku’s slaughter, promptly turned their departure into a stampede.

I would prefer to use other types of Mana. That stuff feels yuck, even going through abstract formations in my mind.

{{Still, it does a ripping job. }}

The Wenga’s eyes went wide, and its crest flared outwards as the spike within its grip started burning with blackness and blurred. Water Mana danced across the peaks of its crest as a metallic feline form leapt over energy that gushed from mid-air before its open maw. Though the jet appeared a hand span in front of its serrated teeth, the Demon still acted for whatever reason as if it was vomiting the watery fluid. A sizzling noise rose from the stone wall as the steaming fluid, splashed from the stonewall to spray across Demons nearby. This square’s corner no longer needed Julia’s encouragement, and as they turned on each other, she moved away. When the first injured Demon struck out at the Wenga, it turned its acidic firehose towards its foe’s upturned face.

Got to love it when a plan narrowly avoids becoming complete FUBAR.

{{ Too bad it still is, so many party-goers are leaving. }}

Teleport placed her on the entry to the square where Ebusuku’s slaughter continued to accelerate. Julia quickly got her bearings, and as her gaze swept over Demons and buildings alike she took in a shadowy alcove. Though too small even for her normal size, the alcove held a familiar Demon within. Only True Sight revealed its presence, with its form layered in Dark and Spatial Mana. Julia double-checked them with Analysis even while she reformed into the Àluga Succubus shape she’d been using. A panicked Demon cut across her line of sight, and when she moved to see the alcove again, it was already empty.

What is Lêdhins doing here?

More information fell into Zen State as Julia’s movements slid her past another Demon, and Ki Strike let her fist sink deep into its back. Mana that Ki Infusion had only just pulled within it burst outwards, Spatial energy rippled through its form, and sprayed its flesh and bone across those who had fled ahead of it.

“Spells,” Ebusuku commanded, the one word enough, and Julia kept to her side to provide ranged support.

Fuck it. She knows I have more Affinities than I’ve shown and I prefer not to use Abyssal.

With extra eyes seeking signs of his reappearance, Julia lashed out with another Lightning Bolt this time filled with Spatial force. The stream of power that burst out ripped flesh and stone apart as previously joined matter shrank, grew, or reappeared in random directions. As Ebusuku spent her ire on slaughter all in front of her, Julia’s health continued to climb, recovering from the thousand health stripped away. Set to guard Ebusuku’s flank, she lashed out with spells to cut down those that fled their combined wrath.

True Sight let her see a Xhaliáma Wizard drawing a spell form, and Julia injected it with Destruction Mana. As the ball of fire moved towards them, the uncontrolled energy tore the spell’s structure apart. Flames a deeper black than a night sky ripped apart the caster and others caught in their way. Ebusuku’s blade opened up the throat of a Demon, and she didn’t even bother to look Julia’s way.

“Cards.”

The single word and the broad smile was enough to let Julia know Ebusuku credited the explosion to her.

Fuck. Zen state leaps through options too quickly. I thought she’d seen me use that fighting in Saqqara.

Ebusuku gestured towards the left as her blades vanish and blackness burst from her fingers. A blade of power sliced out, sheered through stone and the front of a building toppled to the ground. The nearest demons already fled. She barked orders.

“Blast everything till I say. This way, I’ve got left.”

Time to mix it up a little, it seems. I need to get proper defensive spells; those blades hurt.

Analysis

[Water Wall: Creates a wall of water up to two-and-a-half metres in height and length and half a metre thick. This wall hinders the motion of all objects through it and will also slow attacks attempting to cross the space it occupies.]

Analysis

[Fire Ball: Send a ball of condensed fire from the caster to the targeted location. Once it reaches the target, it will explode outwards from the central point to no further than ten metres. Walls will block its expansion but not channel it in other directions; the flames will ignite flammable objects.]

{{Decisions, decisions. }}

Julia sent a Fire Ball set with Spatial Mana to explode near the Wenga’s brawl. The massive brute engaged in battle with a Xhaliáma, a group of Dretches and the first Fraz-gòn Demon she’d seen on this plane. Its species gargoylish features and long clawed arms more obvious in this Plane’s sunlight. Unlike the guard at ‘The Hollow’, short fuzz turned their rough hide a deep purple in the light, while their brutal snout and yellow eyes remained the same. The energy exploded over them left flesh, fur and scales pitted and rent, but the injured combatants turned in her direction. The stone wall and balcony beyond them were further damaged, but not yet broken enough to collapse.

As the injured combatants turned towards Julia, the Water Mana flared again on the Wenga’s crest. True Sight making it clear it was Power, not a spell. Julia cast Aggravated Flaws on the support within the wall behind. The damaged wall erupted with rock dust, dropping a section of the building and the large balcony above them to the ground. A rock deluge would buy barely any time, though it was distraction enough. As they recovered, Julia hit the Wenga with a very different spell.

Kill everything close to you. Now!

Julia felt the spell connect her to the Demon’s consciousness, and unlike the dreaming mind of the maid, she crashed down on its Will. Even as the other Demons rose to turn in her direction, the Wenga attacked them again, its jet of acid eating tentacles from the already injured Xhaliáma. The others split between the Wenga that wouldn’t stop its assault and the newest threat, but among them, the massive Fraz-gòn raced in her direction.

{{Should have told it to kill kitty kill. }}

Claws dug into the stone ground of the square as it raced towards her in a ground eating sprint. It had already cleared half the distance; the Dretches trailing in its wake before she could cast again. A Lightning Bolt tore through it and burnt those that followed to a crisp, yet it still came onwards. Its anger reached a furious peak, and Julia moved to meet it. Claws lashed across an extended arm, struck with blurring speed and hit Ki Armour hard enough to shred through it. The pain rippled under Zen State, which catalogued the injury with the rest of the healing still in-progress. Clawed tips had torn from elbow to wrist and gouged furrows in bones. Damage pushed aside as a twitch caught Julia’s focus. As its other hand swept in. Instead of a dodge, she stepped within its swing. A hand lifted and struck past claws to seize its thumb. Her grip held it fast she spun her like a dancer and set her back towards it.

Her wings already vanished she stood as if within the arc of a lover’s embrace. Its arm pulled her tight in reflex as it dipped its maw to bite. Half metre long spikes bristled erratic lines from Julia’s hip to shoulder. Its own momentum and strength impaled it on blackened spines. Her Flight added power and thrust her hard against it. As Ki and Energy Drain ripped its life away, its maw broke through Ki Armour. Even as its maw ripped apart flesh and bone, it fell crashing towards the ground. Though Julia vanished before it struck, and a simple rock bounced away.

Laughter and power lashed out, and even as the sound echoed in the emptying square, a rain of lightning followed as Ebusuku’s spell struck those that still stood.

“I had right,” Julia stated, having reformed before the power finished raining down. Even before the spell ran its course, the only thing left was smoke rising from Demonic corpses.

“I’d finished with left; while that was amusing you need to get faster,” Ebusuku replied, amusement still ringing within her voice.

“True,” admitted Julia, with a rueful shrug.

“No prideful objections, again with all the unusual behaviour.”

“I don’t feel like it at present; maybe next time you heckle,” Julia retorted, with a shrug of practiced nonchalance, listening to noises coming closer. “Sounds like troops.”

“Go,” Ebusuku said.

Without even stopping an acknowledgement of the order, Julia just willed herself to reappear where they had planned and saw reality release Ebusuku in the same instant.

[Combat Summary:

Lesser Fraz-gòn x2

Greater Fraz-gòn x1

Least Dretch x 5

Lesser Dretch x 10 (10%)

Lesser Dretch x 15

Dretch x 2

Succubus x1

Lesser Wenga x 1 (25%)

Wenga x 1 (20%)

Xhaliáma x 1 (5%)

Xhaliáma x 3

Demonic Shards gained: 4.1

Total Demons returned to the Abyss: 42

Total-experience to distribute: 67,710

Monk: 3,200

Succubus: 20,300

Wizard: 44,210

Fireball [B] (12->13)

Implant Command (5->6)

Dominion [Ad] (24->26)

Greater Teleport [Ad] (7->9)

Ki Armour [Ad] (35->37)

Ki Infusion [Ad] (46->47)

Silent Kill (6->7)

Spell Disruption (2->3)

True Sight [Ad] (4->5)

Protean [Ad] (28->29)

Zen State [M] (7->8)]

“Is the plan to let them settle, then try again? Lure them out? Or head on?”

“None of those options, I’ve decided we are going in,” replied Ebusuku, a sense of playful amusement coming from her.

“In? But we just left.” Julia said, puzzlement clear in her voice.

“Into the mines. We’ll kill the mining crews and see if we can get the main shafts to collapse. Or would you prefer to tell me how you gain energy that takes years through physically killing other demons? It’s even more obvious after five outposts, so what is...”

“Right, the mines it is.”

Julia’s response interrupted Ebusuku as she tried to cut off the line of questioning.

“Scamp. What Power is it? I know it’s not a spell. You don’t cast any of yours fast enough yet, so I can feel when you cast them,”

“No questions.”

Julia clipped off the words forcefully in steel tones.

“I think I’m owed more than a few with all I answered after you collapsed the channel,” Ebusuku stated, the hurt tone in her voice causing B to bubble with laughter within Julia.

Seriously, she thinks I’m going to pay because she felt like talking previously.

{{Ebusuku’s so funny. }}

“If you expected questions for your answers, then you should have asked them straight away.” Julia retorted.

“Dretched cunt,” Ebusuku pouted

“Speaking from personal experience?” Julia enquired to deflect the verbal jab.

Ebusuku laughed and shook her head before continuing to speak.

“Those two almost had you pinned between them.”

“I’m sure they wanted it that way.”

Julia ignored B’s replaying the memories of the sensations as their hands clutched at her.

“You’ve got the Greater Teleport Power, not just the Teleport Self version,” Ebusuku stated with conviction.

“Perhaps it was an item, or spell, and not a Power,” countered Julia. It wasn’t even an attempt to lie, just stating the options for teleporting she’d learnt so far.

“You’ve only one trinket with Spatial, and that’s a Storage Amulet. Too fast for your casting. Your Dominion dropped, and then you three fell on her. Let me see, in possession of a Monk type class, Protean, Greater Teleport, Spell Disruption, a way to absorb Demonic Essence, Abyssal Affinity and also Spatial Affinity. I’d only suspected Abyssal before, but it’s now confirmed. The Game will be over quickly at this rate,” Ebusuku said, releasing a heavy, almost regretful sigh.

“It’s only over when you are sure you’ve learnt everything. If you say you have and you’re wrong, won’t that be sad?” asked Julia.

“Only if you can prove you’ve no more to hide.”

Ebusuku’s banter had become almost strangely friendly.

“You know if someone is lying, so if I say you’re still missing things, you’ll know. Care to place a wager?”

((It’s not just Devils that are dangerous to make deals or wagers with. ))

Yes, If I lose this bet I’m screwed. But if she guesses my secrets, I’m screwed regardless.

((This will attract her interest, but it seems you were already fascinating to her. ))

“What sort of wager?” Ebusuku asked, her voice suddenly vibrant with interest as her gaze gleamed.

“A fine if you guess wrong, either when you bring up a secret you think I have, or that I have nothing more hidden.”

“Alright, I’ll bite. What do you want if I’m wrong?”

“You find something out for me, or if you already know it, you tell me the information truthfully,” declared Julia.

“You want information. I’m not a knowledge Demon.” dismissed Ebusuku, with an almost offended tone in her voice.

“I only know one knowledge Demon, and I’d like to know about Devils.”

“Devils?! Most Demons don’t learn about them, just look to kill them. What if I’m right?”

Ebusuku’s voice kept its puzzlement even as she continued, jumping from feigning insult back to the wager again.

“About the secret or about having nothing more hidden?” Julia asked, ready for the haggling to start.

If I’ve ever got nothing more hidden, I’m so screwed.

“About a secret?” asked Ebusuku, her light tone clearly only probing.

“The game goes on and the challenge continues to keep your boredom at bay.”

“Doesn’t sound like I get much,” Ebusuku observed, the bored response not matching the intensity in her gaze.

“Depends on how bored you are. Isn’t keeping boredom at bay worth it? Plus, if you want to avoid the fine, you just have to stop playing. Stop playing and live with the doubt wondering if you were right or not.”

“I’d answer a question if it wasn’t something secret or dangerous to gain. What if I guess right there is nothing more hidden?” probed Ebusuku.

“The game ends,” Julia stated, keeping her tone neutral and calm.

“I want a prize if I find out everything you have hidden,” Ebusuku said, her tone clearly seeking an opening.

“No deal,” said Julia, her tone and body language clearly intent on shutting down the haggling.

“Oh, this won’t hurt. My prize if I guess everything you’re hiding is you, willingly, mine,” Ebusuku said, and a heat burnt like an inferno in her eyes.

Julia snorted out of reflex, not able to believe the statement.

I want to get out of here, but everyone wants a piece of me. Do I have a tinder account I’m not aware of in this reality?

{{Maybe they can just smell how sweet you are! Go on, let her have a lick or five. }}

“I’m not joking, fledgling. You remind me of him. The strength of will inside you, the way you move in combat. I miss that in battle and bed,” Ebusuku said, her words filled with an grinding intensity as if she’d taken offence at the rejection.

{{No Dick, no chance of pregnancy, not a complete bitch, and potential for orgasms. Come on! }}

“You miss the mortal Monk?” Julia asked, confused by the request and unexpected intensity in Ebusuku’s words.

I don’t swing that way, and I’m no one’s substitute.

{{You don’t want to swing in any direction. }}

“No. Not exactly. Maybe. I miss teasing him while he focused on his practice, and him focusing on me afterwards. I miss his stamina, the fucking, looking in his eyes and his intensity burning hotter than the inferno. All the ways he had of challenging me to do better, be more dangerous, we’d rip through foes together and leave death in our wake. Then after fucking for days, we’d be killing all over again. You are both so alike, the strength of will in you, your intensity, I couldn’t scry him either.”

{{Getting to know you. Getting to know all about you. }}

What she couldn’t scry him? Willpower or something else?

“If you can’t scry him, how do you know he lost?”

“I never heard from Farhad again. He would have been boasting to me if he’d won,” Ebusuku said, a tone of strange longing clear in her voice.

Zen State kept Julia’s face calm even as her mind spun from Master Farhad’s name.

It could be someone else, though he said something about mistakes in his youth. I think we’re going to have to chat.

“I’m sure there are other Demons with strong Wills,” said Julia, seeking to change the subject.

“Ones that want to bend others, yes, but that wasn’t what I saw when you glared at me. It was clear you didn’t want to bend another, you just refused to bend. I’ve seen skilled Manipulator Demons with weaker wills. I don’t want to own you or control you as the Lady does. But if I get to know your secrets, I want you by my side.”

((Eternity can mean more boredom after they’ve had something greater. ))

((Sometimes fallen can find a reason to Rise and not just Ascend in Tier.))

She was born a Succubus.

((All beings calling this home have fallen. Some just began in that state. ))

Are you including me in that statement? Or yourself?

((Were you not cast from grace and a chance at peace? This is not my home merely a prison.))

Zen State didn’t keep Julia from wishing she could slap the stuffing out of V rather than fight Julia acknowledged it and moved on.

He challenged her, and she misses him. No wonder she had spoken of the end with such cold disappointment and longing.

((Why risk this? ))

She has family in Hell and I need information if I’m going to help Rach and Sarah.

“Then you need someone that makes you feel that way, instead of making a bet with me. It sounds like you’re lonely Ebusuku, as well as bored.” said Julia, shaking her head to reject the deal.

“Lonely,” Ebusuku stated, rolling the word as if tasting it, “No, I’d say bored is more the point. This game had best become a challenge, so far it’s been easy.”

She’s not the only one learning things, but I can’t tell if she’s misleading me. I’ll just have to mislead with the truth.

“Maybe you’ve just got the easy pickings so far. Things I mostly didn’t care if you learnt.”

Ebusuku’s eyes narrowed, and Julia could see the tip of her tongue trace along her upper lip for a moment before she spoke again.

“That’s not a complete lie. Very well, it’s a wager.”

“I’m not your prize when the game ends,” Julia stated, her tone set with conviction.

“You don’t want that, yet,” Ebusuku purred with certainty and anticipation.

Yeah, that’s not happening.

{{Spoil sport. }}

“Shall we get access to the mine now, or wait till they’ve calmed down?” asked Julia, wanting to move along from the uncomfortable spot the conversation had taken her.

Ebusuku just smiled before replying softly, her gaze lingering over Julia.

“I believe that’s a question.”

“One that was operational only.” Julia corrected, rolling her eyes at the odd eagerness in the response.

“We’ll give them a few bells,” Ebusuku said, with an almost petulant tone.

“There was a powerful BrÍn in the outpost, they left when the fighting started.”

“How do you know they’re powerful?” asked Ebusuku, arching an eyebrow at Julia.

Wonder if she thinks I’m giving away another ability?

“I recognised them. I was told they had a Black Knight Prestige class, plus at least one other,” Julia said, letting a smirk flit across her lips at the truth of the words.

“Interesting, Fighter-Assassin Prestige, third or fourth Tier from memory. I’ve only met a few BrÍn with it. Name?”

“Dös Lêdhins Fy.”

“Darn, that’s a pain. He’s got three Prestige classes, not one. Wonder what job he’s on, or if he’s just wandering,” Ebusuku pondered, clicking her long nails against each other.

“He vanished through Shadows.”

“There are a few spells that could be.” said Ebusuku, caught up in consideration.

If it was Fourth Tier, so level sixty when he took it, and Lêdhins said it was his first Prestige class.

Fuck! He still thinks Demonic Instincts is his Demon talking to him. What if it’s his Id as well?

{{What if it is? Going to bump uglies if it’s just the Id inside wanting to fuck your brains outs?}}

No.

“If you have an Assassin Class, I’d offer you a bounty.” Julia stated, considering the surge of experience she’d gained, and wondering if it might gain her some goodwill.

Ebusuku isn’t a complete freak like Naz’rilca but I’ll need to take great care.

“We can’t offer each other bounties it doesn’t work that way,”

“I’ll offer you one then,” said Julia, getting back to her original intent.

“What’s in it for you?” Ebusuku asked, gaze narrowing in suspicion at the offer.

“If it helps you get a level, you handle a request for me,”

“Deal,” Ebusuku said, the word snapping out as if she didn’t want Julia taking the offer back.

That was fast. Wonder if she’s in the mountain climbing stage of her Prestige Classes.

“A Bile for every Demon you kill while we are working on this mission.”

“A yellow coin? That doesn’t even get a drink.” Ebusuku huffed.

“It’s enough to set a contract, and completion will get you progress.”

Ebusuku’s smile regained some of its spark even before Julia finished speaking.

“Better than the Sisterhood, we’re just hired to do the work and they don’t offer individual bounties. Fine. I’ll earn thousands by the time we’re done.” said Ebusuku, her consideration of the Sisterhood had heat in her voice, that had calmed rapidly.

Yeah, bad blood right there. Does the Lady love to paint signs across her own throat saying cut-here?

Or she’s playing it up since I offered to help her Progenitor. I’ve still had no confirmation of her Progenitor’s situation.

{{Since you always thought Lilith got a bum rap, not like you wouldn’t have helped her daughter. }}

{{You find it easy to be hard on people you know have committed horrors. All the rest are just innocent lambs. }}

If nothing else it would weaken the Lady just like this, hopefully hurts Set.

{{Hopefully.}}

((It will. ))

“I’m good for it. I’ve got funds with the Treasury earned after the Castellan sent me to Ternòx. I’ve got more than enough funds to buy you a lot of drinks.”

I’ll need all the information I can get about Hell.

“Okay, you’re not lying. Since I have a Prestige Class that involves Assassin. Agreed.”

Not sure I want to consider what level her Prestige classes are at present.

“Fine. Agreed. I’ll heal first before we go into the mines.” Julia said, when she knelt to meditate, Ebusuku’s gaze showed something strangely foreign.

Sadness? What will I be like in centuries to come with only memories to sustain me? Once I reach Named, I won’t be able to get onto the Material plane easily.

[Perception [Ad] (3->4)]