>5 XP
Spend 4XP to upgrade wil from 4 to 5. That'll increase the total number of demons you can have bound, and you're currently up against the cap.

Save the remaining XP- we may use it to upgrade one of the demons in some way, as soon as we think of something creative. (I like Irateels. Anyone got any upgrade ideas better than just a stat+ for her?).

>hunt for Pride or Sloth / Pride and Envy
Could you provide some background? What would these demons be good for? Obviously, their imps would bestow lethargy or overconfident arrogance, insane envy, with their stings, but what are the tier 2 and 3 demons available?

Without information, I'd guess envy would be more useful than sloth.

>Souls
So the merc leader's soul could summon a tier 3 wrath demon? What would that be? Alternatively, what demons of other schools is he good for?

How many souls do we have at our disposal now? You must have picked up a few more during that last slaughter.

> Does the berserker have any disguise? I'm guessing he doesn't and we are gonna need a place to hide him unless we are willing to dismiss him.
I think we leave Kaz outside the city, and only call him to us in an emergency.

>>469170
A summary of available resources- souls, demons, funds, supplies- would be excellent.

Upgrade Will with experience.

Given that you've previously expressed disdain for Pride, Envy, and Sloth, do you consider either of the cities truly worthy destinations? Your preferences for demon servants seem more suited for some kind of decadent capital (Lust, Greed) or war-torn area (Wrath). How important is it to you to stick to your preferred sins?

With either city, keeping the berserker concealed is going to be an issue. We can't just waltz into a city with a gigantic wrath demon at our back, after all. What are our options for keeping him subtle? Just sneak him into the city at night, or maybe get a building outside the city proper/on the outskirts to make keeping him around less of an issue?

If we do go to one of the two cities, Kamd is the obvious choice. We could study magic there for a while, pick up a few new spells, and cultivate some sin in a few choice people while we do for harvesting when the time comes for our eventual departure.

>>469193
>Most Warlocks will generally keep a "lair" or other place where they sequester the demons they aren't using. While a demon is summoned to the material plane, that demon can they be called from anywhere in the world, and appear at the Warlock's side.
The norm is we have some sort of lair but we don't have that I think. We could leave the berserker in some swamp or forest then summon him later. The problem is if someone figures out that a demon is there. The chances of that is pretty low but it's something to think about.

Will Increased to 5

>Preferred Sins
I don't particularly prefer any Sins. I just find Pride and Sloth to take far too long for it to be worthwhile at the moment. Lust falls under the same category, we just happened to get lucky with it. Gluttony and Wrath are particularly easy to find, as is Greed. They are very... open... sins.

>Sloth
The imp, obviously, injects a poison that lowers ones desire to do anything other than eat and sleep and live. Little else concerns whoever it affects. The lesser demons of sloth are called Sleepers, and while they take numerous forms, they generally do little more than exude auras of sheer lethargy around them. The Greater Demons of Sloth are, on the other hand, a bit of a conundrum, even to themselves. They are perhaps the most hardworking demons to exist. They do not take breaks. They do not falter in their service. They almost always choose to act as personal aids or servants to someone, and then proceed to basically do their job for them, allowing their target to lapse into laziness. Then, when the soul is ripe, the harvest it for feeding and move on to the next target. The Greater Demons are often simply called Servants, as that is what they do.

>Pride
Lesser Demons of Pride are generally just as arrogant as those they try to corrupt further. It's justified, in a way, however, because Pride demons are the only demons that actually have the ability to master magic. Real magic. Like arcane or necromantic. The same can be said of Greater Pride demons, only even more so in both magical ability and Pride.

>Wrath Soul
A Greater Wrath demon is called a Rager. They are very big, at least twice the size of our Berserker friend here, and it generally takes a well trained priest of the Twins to even give the thing pause. Mundane weapons will have little chance of stopping it. I also have very little confidence I could subdue one right now, they tend to be very temperamental and very difficult to bend to ones will. I could still try but... it would be hit or miss, to say the least.

>Available Resources
For souls, I have the... Greater Wrath Soul, I suppose you could call it. 2 Lesser Wrath Souls, a Lesser Lust Soul. I think that's really all I have at the moment, in terms of souls.

Funds, I have enough to make it home, if I stick to the absolute minimum of what I need. I'd prefer not to do that, but if it's necessary. I could always acquire more through legal or illegal means, I have no qualms about either, but I'd prefer to avoid talking to noble families this far south. Most of them are far too... religious... for my tastes.

Supplies, I have the basics. A tent, map, compass, other odds and ends. Nothing in particular of any real value. I have the mask in case I need to go incognito again, for whatever reason, although if everything goes according to plan, knock on wood, then I won't ever need it again.

Do you have any other questions, Demons of my Mind?

>>>Speak

>a soul of greed, barely able to call up an imp.

Well we also have a crummy soul of greed and I don't have anymore questions. Does anyone else have any?

>questions
Okay, greater souls get us access to the third tier of demons, and lesser souls to the second. Alternatively, either can be spent to summon a demon of the wrong sin, but one tier down. (ie, Greater <foo> -> lesser <anyfoo>, lesser <foo> -> imp of <anyfoo>).

What do we call the lowest level of souls? The ones that are good for only summoning imps of a given sin?

>also
What are envious souls / demons good for? In order to make a decision between Marbtes and Kamd we need to decide whether we'd prefer to harvest envy or sloth.

>souls
Let's not summon anything new, for now. You only have one open slot for a demon. We'll hoard the greater wrath soul for now- it's too risky to go for the Rager. We'll get it when you're stronger, of if the situation warrants it, we'll summon a lesser demon of one of the other sins.

What are the lesser Envy, Greed, and Gluttony demons? Need to know all the options we have for that Greater Wrath soul.

>Imp Only Souls
Useless.

>Envy
The universal trait of Envy demons is the ability to copy appearances of various people. They work best as infiltrators and the like. The Lesser Demons are called Mimics, and they generally do exactly that, mimicking the forms of various people or objects. They can only mimick form however.

The Greater Demon version, often called Dopplegangers, can mimic both form and some of the abilities of the people they are impersonating. A Doppleganger impersonating a mage, for example, might be able to perform some of the mages spells, or if they were mimicking a priest, be able to wield some divine power.

>Gluttony
Hungerers look like starved humans, and are the Lesser Demons of Gluttony. Most of the time you can find them trying desperately to eat anything and everything they can, but the food never helps, and they just keep right on eating and eating. And they'll eat ANYTHING. Gluttony is also often seen as the other combat type, as opposed to Wrath, which goes for bloody carnage, Gluttony goes for slow and steady consumption.

Greater Gluttony Demons are Feasters, massive, engorged, putrid things. They eat even more than Hungerers, having mouths on every surface they'll fit on and a matching numbers of arms, to shovel food into those waiting mouths. Disgusting things, in my opinion, but necessary.

>Greed
Lesser Greed Demons are Watchers. They usually act as guardsman for the Hoarders, the Greater Demons. The Watchers are pretty big, as big as Kazderath here, but they usually have armor on and look a bit more human then Berserkers. Hoarders look like little men that do little more than try to stockpile as much money as possible. They're weak under most circumstances, but you'll find no one better to be a treasurer. They hate losing money, and keep meticulous records of the stuff. Hoarders are also known for their ability as thieves, since they have no qualms about stealing money to make sure they have piece of gold they can find.

>>>Speak

Nothing to say and I already picked The city of Kamd.

Okay... yeah, Kamd works.

I say we don't summon any more demons for now. We have an open slot, and the souls to summon any kind of imp, or any of the lesser demons (if we're willing to pass up our shot at the greater wrath demon). We'll leave that versatility open, and adapt when needed.

You're going to need to operate differently, though. You'll be in this town longer term- you'll have to attract less notice, and be less destructive on a smaller scale. That means stowing Kaz outside of town somewhere where he won't be discovered. That means you need to get Irateels dressed and acting such that she won't give you away.

>>469299
We can hide the berserker in a forest or a swamp if one is near us for now. We can summon demons to us no matter where they are on the world to our side. I don't know if that kind of summoning/teleporting has a cost so if it does let me know Shax.

>>469302
Yeah, that's fine. He'll be bored, but whatever.

We should keep Irateels by our side though. She's our only intelligent demon so far, and is capable of defending us and blending in (if we have to summon Kaz, something has gone very wrong). The imps can be used to scout around and cause low level mischief.

Hmm. Greater sloth demons seem pretty nice, and I wouldn't mind a lesser greed demon either. The wrath types are good for combat. But as far as being subtle goes, we're stuck with imps and Lust or Envy, and of the two I think I like Lust better.

Since we have multiple wrath souls of quality, I'm going to say that we're set on wrath for now. Using our lesser Lust soul to call up another succubus (dismissing a wrath imp to that purpose) should provide us with a solid low-profile scout and servant, as well as a reasonable combatant. Then we can settle into some more subtle activities- kick back in the city for a while and use the succubi to build up some money while working on cultivating some souls into being worthy of greater summonings of the appropriate sorts.

>>469317
Eh... I'd really prefer to see what the situation is like in town before we decide what kind of demon to grab or dismiss anything.

And I'm leery to grab a second succubus. It doesn't get us much we don't already have, and we will have to deal with the competition and the fact we're inevitably going to end up having to dismiss one of them (only so many valuable demon slots). I'd kind of prefer to keep the lesser lust soul as a spare to resummon her in case we get Irateels killed (which could happen if we're relying on her for a bodyguard. It might be better at some point to run and let her hold something off rather than dump our wrath demon in the middle of town).

Actually... looking over the demons listed, foocubi seem to make the best low profile backup. All the others stand out (unless we're someplace where an armored Watcher might work), and while the envy ones blend in better, they're more meant for infiltration.

I also recommend going to Kamd, and trying to learn some necromancy if possible.

>>469331
>envy ones blend in better, they're more meant for infiltration.
If you mean for the lesser Demons I agree, but the Greater ones seem like they'd be great in a fight with some thought put into it, whether copying an enemy to give us insight into their capabilities or fill a gap they have covered that we don't. Also it might be useful to have one copy a priest and stay with that form unless we run into a more powerful priest. Constant access to divine power could be useful when dealing with assassination attempts within' the family.(Either ours or theirs)

>>469375
Yeah, I did mean lesser, mostly. The idea of using an envy demon to duplicate a divine caster for fighting sibling demons is brilliant, though. We'll have to put getting a greater envy soul on the to do list.

To Kamd it is. The next day I begin the journey, taking a longer less traveled road to avoid running into anyone we'd rather avoid. Over the week of travel, I manage to work out a sort of cover story with Irateels. The demon can sing quite well, something she says is essential for any succubus, and its decided that she's a traveling performer. I take the role of a traveling companion, someone to help "stave of the loneliness of travel", as the demon puts it, although I think she'd just rather it be mistaken for meaning I'm her lover. Regardless, the demoness can sing reasonably well, so the story will have to do. As we near the city, I order the Berserker to hide itself away in a nearby cave that one of the imps found during its scouting, and hours later, the rest of our mostly demonic band enters the walled City of Kamd. Within moments, I can feel the tingle of magic that seems to hang in the air, and I identify quite a few people who are obvious academy students. After a quick tour of the immediate area, with its inns and shops and such, I find us a relatively inexpensive inn to rest in for the night, drop my gear in my room, and take to the streets again, Irateels following along behind in her human form, pretending to marvel at this and that while I head for the academy districts.

The tingle of magic gets stronger as I get closer, and soon enough I'm there, at the very heart of souther magical studies. The place is filled to the brim with students of all kinds, and and many of them are very young. It must be the time of year to take on new students. Most will drop out within the first few weeks, leaving only the top 5% of the applicants behind. Fewer still will make it to graduation, whether do to accidents or simple failure to keep up with the demands of the classes. Regardless, I don't plan on joining any of these places. The north is far better suited to magical study, where people are far less careful about what it is you happen to be studying. I doubt there's a book on infernal magics in this place. Still, each college has its own library. Where should I head to? The priest college is probably the most open, letting whoever wants to enter the divine sanctuary to take a look around. The arcane university here would probably not mind me taking a look around either, as soon as I show that I'm already a mage, however unskilled. The druid circle here is tucked away into a corner, surrounded by trees. I can see a few sylvans within the glade, talking to newer students, although I doubt they'd take kindly to me simply walking in. And the necromantic college, a place smelling of death even this far away. Almost as distrusting as infernal magic users, they'll likely turn me away regardless of what I do, although I might be able to make more headway if I offer to do some work or something for them.

Of course, I could just reveal I'm from the Markov family, which would likely get me accepted anywhere around here. Being from an influential family does have it's perks.

>>>Speak

>I could just reveal I'm from the Markov family, which would likely get me accepted anywhere around here.
...reveal you're from a family of Warlocks? Isn't that kind of a bad idea if we plan on gathering souls here? I suppose if no one knows what your family really does, this approach has it's advantages, but it makes it considerably easier for your rival siblings to find you. Personally, I'd prefer to avoid it.

>priest college
[sarcasm]...yes, let's take our bevy of demons in to the priest area. I'm sure that there's no way that could go wrong, or that their would be anyone capable of sensing or seeing through your demons' invisibility or disguises. And I'm sure there's so much useful faith magic you could use.[/sarcasm]

Necromancy seems the most useful school of magic to pick up. Mastery of life and death could be handy.

>>469395

It was stated earlier by Shax that his family pretends to be faithfuls and hide their true nature as warlocks. They pay a tithe and everything. Even if the trainees cannot spot your demons you have nothing to gain at the priest college and druidry doesn't seem to be your style. Go to the necromantic University and pick up necromancy, it seems to be the most useful non Demonology school, followed by Arcane. Offer to do jobs or whatever.

Let's avoid the priest and druid schools otherwise I'm up for anything.

You want me to "pick up" necromancy? You realize how much effort and study I'd need to do before wielding necromancy? It's not exactly an easy form of magic to master. Still, if you think its a good idea, I can see to at least starting to figure it out.

I head on over, although my companion looks less than pleased to be anywhere near the temple school, and as I arrive at the front gate, a skeleton places itself in front of me, hand raised in a gesture to halt. I pause, expecting something to happen, a minutes later, a black robed man exits, looking a little annoyed.

"Yes. Yes. What is it? Who are you? What do you want?"

"I was hoping I could come and do a little studying in your library, if you don't mind. Without joining, I mean."

"Why would we let you do that? That's absurd. Necromancy doesn't play second fiddle to whatever it is you normally do. It requires your full devotion and attention. Go find someone else to bother with your senseless prattle."

"Please. I'm willing to work for the privilege, but I really do want to spend some time in your library."

"Work you say? Work? Well... hmph. I suppose. Fine. Some of our student are going into the lower catocombs today. If you want, you can chaperone a group of them for us. In exchange, I'll give you permission to use the library till closing after your task is done. Is this agreeable?"

... Guarding idiot magic users who will likely be too stupid to pay attention to their elders? Not exactly a task I relish, but if it gets me in the door.

"Fine."

The man leads me and my guardian demon into the building, the skulls and dark atmosphere doing nothing to dispel the idea that they are all just a little too infatuated with death. Soon we arrive at a grand hallway, a doorway barred shut standing on one side, various people divided into groups of three on the other. Some other members of the teaching staff, accomplished necromancers every one of them, is trying to herd the groups as best they can, but the students are practically bubbling with excitement. It doesn't help when I'm announced to be watching over one of the groups.

"Silence! All of you! Useless malcontents! This man here is... what was your name?"

"Ryan."

"Ryan! Ryan will be going into the catacombs with one of the groups! He'll be your chaperone, and make sure nothing bad happens to you! The first group to have each member hurl a death bolt gets him!"

Suddenly, there's a crackle of magic and bolts of sickly green light start flying everywhere. Minutes later, I find myself in charge of a group of three, two girls and a boy, all somewhere in their late teens. The boy looks bored and disinterested(at least until he notices Irateels), one of the girls has her nose shoved in a book(Lesser Spirits and Ghouls) and the last almost immediately latches onto me.

"Hey! Hey! You're from outside, right?"

"Yes."

"That's so cool~ You're really gonna lead us through the catacombs?"

"Yes."

"Amazing! You must be a really strong necromancer!"

"No. Not a necromancer."

"Wait... you're not a necromancer?"

That last question comes from the boy, who tears his attention away long enough to stare at me in shock. As do the two others in our party, clear surprise on their faces.

"No. I want to see if I can learn, but I'm not a necromancer. I know... other things. Now then. What is the point of us going down into these catacombs?"

"We're all supposed to get our first skeleton from down there and bring it back up here. There's supposed to be violent spirits and such down there though, so..."

"Basically, bring up a skeleton and don't die. You're supposed to help make sure that last one doesn't happen."

"Right then. Let's get going."

We descend into the darkness, each of us carrying a torch except for Irateels, who can probably see perfectly fine. As we reach the bottom of the stairs and take a look at the first room, I notice various sigils and marking along the walls, as I peer closer, they rearrange themselves into something I can read, and I frown in thought. The souls of ancient criminals rest here. Do not unlock the gateways to the beyond, lest you release the Doomed One.

"How quaint."

"What was that, Mr. Ryan?"

"It was nothing. Is this where we need to be?"

"No, its further along. Um... Mr. Ryan? Do you mind going first? Death bolts are kinda... hard to do... for me..."

Oh god...

>>>Speak

"Certainly."

So uh. Go and get some skeletons I guess? Have the imps scout out ahead and try and locate some. Watch out for the various forms of undead and traps that no doubt infest the place.

>You want me to "pick up" necromancy? You realize how much effort and study I'd need to do before wielding necromancy?
Nope! That's the advantage of being a disembodied voice. We can point out useful courses of action without having to do the hard work.

>The souls of ancient criminals rest here.
Hmm. Are any of those harvestible, you think? Might be useful. (Criminals- probably greed?)

What kind of magic is useful against the dead? Obviously, necromany gives you control and manipulation. The imps aren't much use. Irateels' str would work, if we were willing to reveal her. Infernal bolts are made to hurt the living, right? It think that limits you to arcane bolts.

Veto trying to get their souls. Revealing yourself as a warlock is a bad idea(tm). You forget firegouts. Also, I see no reason infernal bolts should not work against the undead.

>bolts of demonic energy that will rip away flesh, cloth and steel and kill targets instantly if they strike the heart.

Seems to be pretty versatile destroy beam.

>>469448
Bone isn't particularly flammable. And if we're hiding our warlockness, throwing around infernal energy is a bad idea (and skeletons don't have hearts to hit, and probably can't feel pain!). And I don't believe there's a visual tell for our soul-suck thing, or that these kids are good enough casters to know for sure what we're doing.

You're assuming all the undead we meet will be skeletons. Also it's magical fire. Magic don't need to explain shit.

>the various runes and markings tattooed into my flesh pulsing slightly as the soul is trapped within the magical prison

Unknown if this is visual or tactile only but there is a sign. Also, necromancy, can probably detect soul to some degree. And you think they won't recognize soul sucking but will recognize infernal bolts? Make up your mind. The infernal bolts can rip apart steel, they should do fine with bone.

...okay, we're arguing stupidly about tactics that don't matter for situations we haven't encountered yet, about things we don't completely understand and are instead speculating about. But whatever.

>use fire against not skeletons
Yes, fire might be useful against non-bone based undead. No idea if fire is good or bad against less corporeal spirits- that kind of rule varys wildly by setting.

>And you think they won't recognize soul sucking but will recognize infernal bolts?
One is an expenditure of energy, which they might catch the flavor of. It's also more common, and the hallmark of infernal cultists. The other is the dissipation of something, and more rare- limited to true demonologists/warlocks.

I'm arguing in good fun, nothing malicious meant about it, sorry if it doesn't sound that way, I just enjoy being nitpicky. In any case I suggest we move this to discussion.

>thanks demonic magics my family has cultivated for centuries. I can hurl bolts of infernal energy at things almost indefinitely
>Shax can do this naturally thanks to the demonic influence in his bloodline, and can fire off an indefinite number of bolts.

Assuming the first is meant to refer to infernal bolts, where do you get that it is more common? A) It requires demon blood B) it is implied that it is a spell that the Markov family(badass warlocks) gained as the fruit of centures of practice in warlocky things.

Eh, whatevs. I'm drawing on this bit of info-

>A Warlock is one who summons and binds demons. If all Shax could do was hurl infernal bolts, he'd probably be labeled a demon worshiper or cultist.
Implying there are demon worshipers and cultists out their who throw infernal bolts, and that it's kind of one of the lower level abilities on the infernal skill tree. As such, it's probably easier to recognize than the secret inner art of a true warlock, of which we know there's only supposed to be one family left.

"Certainly."

I try to keep a pleasant facade, something not too difficult since I'm nobility and being civil comes with the territory, but likewise, I don't particularly like dealing with these brats. They are a waste of my time, when I could be doing something far more productive. Either way, I send the imps out to scout with some mumbled words, and lead the way into the next room. As we enter, a clattering sound can be heard as piles of bones on the floor start to pick themselves up off the ground. The chatty girl lets out a muffled yelp of fear and the boy hesitates, obviously unsure of what to do, but both myself and, surprisingly, the bookworm react instantly, myself with a hurled bolt of arcane energy, the girl with one of her death bolts. Within moments, the pack of skeletal guardians is little more than bits of bone on the floor, and I stride over and tap the remains with my foot just to make sure they're well and truly dead. The bookworm has gone back to being meek and unassuming, but somehow, I doubt that she's really as weak as she seems to let on. Regardless, I get bombarded with questions again as we continue on, passing through a few other rooms without incident.

"You're a Wizard, Mr. Ryan?"

"Among other things."

"What kinds of other things?"

"Things that don't concern you."

"Mr. Ryan, does... uh... does your friend have any... uh... is she... uh..."

Oh. The boy. Obviously he's interested in Irateels, but I don't have the patience or the care to deal with him. The demon can corrupt him for me at best, at worst, she can brush him off or inflict pain on him. Either is fine with me, and well within her rights.

"Not to my knowledge, but I wouldn't know. She doesn't talk to me about that sort of thing."

"I... see..."

"Do you have a lover, Mr. Ryan?"

"No." I do, however, have a fiance, whom I intend to get rid of as soon as possible. She doesn't interest me in the slightest, and I have no intention of wasting my time on her. She's of minor nobility and of no use to me, either as I am now or as a the Head of the Markovs.

"Then... would you mind going out with a student?"

"I've no interest, I'm afraid. Now focus on your task, instead of asking me pointless questions."

It's quiet after that, and soon we arrive in a much larger chamber. We all enter, and the chatty brat and the boy head off, going over to a small stack of bones and beginning to chant at them. The bookworm, on the other hand, turns her attention to a large sealed gateway, her eyes scanning it. For a moment, I feel a tingle of something other than death magic, then nothing, as the girl heads to her own pile of bones and starts up her own chanting. I settle down to wait, only to have Irateels wander over and start speaking to me.

"Master, I can feel it."

"Feel what?"

"The FatherMother."

"... Asmodeus?"

"Yes. Not the Prince itself, but his influence. Someone or something in this place is dedicated to his influence."

"Could you find it?"

"No. It was there only for a second."

"That girl?"

"Possibly. She's no demon if it is her. Not even a half. A witch perhaps. Or a simple cultist."

Interesting...

>>>Speak

Investigate! Have the lust imp hover closer to the sealed gateway and to the girl and then report its findings! Check the room for writing like that earlier stuff. Also I find it unlikey that there'd be a shrine to the god of lust in catacombs(unless it's a necrophilia thing I guess), so my bet is on the girl, even is she doesn't act at all like a lust witch. Wait, she may be going for the shy bookish type to seem cute and sexy. Or possibly aloof and mysterious. Really we don't have enough proof either way.

>fiance, doesn't interest me in the slightest, of no use to me, either as I am now or as a the Head of the Markovs.
...if you're not interested, and she's not useful, how did you end up engaged to her?

>something dedicated to Asmodeus
Hmm. That seems a lead worth following up on. Leave the other two to their task, lets go and have a word with the bookworm...

>Fiance
Some favor Father was returning. Before I was born apparently the noble saved him or something. As a way to return the favor, he was offered that his first child could marry the next eligible member of the Markov family. Lo and behold, I was born a few years after that, and then SHE was born a year after that. I've never even met her, although I know quite a bit ABOUT her.

Erin Hesting. Age, 23. Born as the first daughter to the Hesting family, a knight family in service to the Caplija family. The Caplija are the southern-most of the Northern Lordships, and are generally quite faithful because of their close association with the south. The Hesting Family is the most loyal of the Caplija families retainers, although recently the Hestings have been looking for a way to become Lords themselves, instead of mere knights. It seems they plan to use the Markovs to help accomplish this. The only issue I have is that the Hestings dont have anything to offer in return, aside from being knights I suppose.

Regardless, I deem it necessary to speak to the bookworm girl myself. I direct Irateels to keep an eye on the other two, then make my way over to the girl, standing next to her as she goes about her work with far too much ease, like she's doing this simply as a formality.

"You're far more skilled than you let on."

The girl jumps, having not noticed me, almost causing the spell to fail, but she recovers quickly and goes back to it with only half her concentration.

"Ah... yes... well... um..."

"Don't even bother lying. We both know you're not here for this. What's behind that gate?"

"Wha- I-I mean- Um- Uh-"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to report you or anything, personally, I was just interested in what you knew. You don't seem like a necromancer, after all."

"I... You... do you follow... him?"

"Him?"

"The... the FatherMother?"

"Asmodeus, you mean."

The girl flinches, glancing nervously about, as if caught doing something she shouldn't which I suppose is true, if the rest of her friends caught her at it. I, on the other hand, am simply interested in what she knows.

"Y-Yes."

"Than no, I don't follow him. You could say, though, that we have an understanding."

"Then... um... prove it."

"Irateels over there is a succubus. She's helping me accomplish my goals. Now then, are you going to tell me or not?"

The girl remains hesitant, then nods to herself and finishes up with her task. Once finished, she turns to me and takes a deep, steadying breath.

"Um... if... if everything I read is true, then... this place used to be a religious sanctuary for followers of the FatherMo- Asmodeus. I think... I think there's something behind that gate that is important to the Prince of Lust."

I pause to consider that, then turn and gesture for Irateels. She makes her way over, and explain what's going on, which simply causes the succubus to frown in thought.

"That... might be true. There are a few things that FatherMother might consider truly valuable though. Some artifacts that have been lost, perhaps. But I can't say for certain. Whatever's beyond the gate, I can't feel it."

"Maybe that's why it's lost, the gate might be blocking the demonic emanations. Still, if we want to take a look, we'll have to deal with those two..."

"Y-Yeah..."

The bookworm girl is silent at that, she might be serving the Prince of Lust, but she hasn't really gained his notice, and she's probably doing this more out of curiosity and actual loyalty. Still, it was fortunate we got this group. The only problem is those two.

Perhaps if I could convince them we should check behind the gate... or I suppose I could just kill them. It doesn't seem like it's all that uncommon for that to happen down here.

>>>Speak

Take care of them? Geeze, that kind of messes up your deal to guard them.

Aren't their easier ways to manipulate them? They boy is smitten with Irateels, and the girl is crushing on you. How hard could it be to manipulate them?

Heck, they both have infatuation on their minds. Use lust imp stings and Irateels aura. Leave them fucking each other senseless.

Honestly it's probably best you don't kill them at all. When you are trying to be stealthy then killing people should always be a last resort. I guess you could say you sense something and you can't let them get into danger after you open the gate if you don't feel like using the imp stings and Irateels.

>>469541
All in all this idea seems like a good one. One question though before we do this. Is it possible that people can forget the "event" if Irateels does her thing? Because if they don't then telling a lie seems like a better idea. Is it also possible that people are gonna feel the demonic emanations if we open this gate and go check it out?

>>469541
>Heck, they both have infatuation on their minds. Use lust imp stings and Irateels aura. Leave them fucking each other senseless.
This would probably work quite well, and as a bonus they'd probably be too embarrassed to talk about it to anyone afterward. Killing them might lose us the chance to look through the necromancers' library, which while not critical would hardly be ideal, either. As an additional bonus to using lust to solve this, it would impress on little miss cultist here- get her name, by the way- that we have serious power over lust, which will build our credibility and maybe let us either impress her into our service or otherwise do something useful with her.

>>469546
For example when you open the gate you could say you sense something and can't let those two in. If the "chatty brat" that's for whatever reason sightly attracted make any protest then just grab her hand, look her in the eyes, and then say some dumb line like "I don't want to see you get hurt."

If the guy protest then just have Irateels flirt with him and say cheesy lines like "I don't want to see a cutie like you get hurt." If they ask why you are bringing the girl then just say you just need a little back up.

This is if we go with the "Lie and say bullshit". I just worried that they gonna remember the Irateels is a succubus if she uses her powers because she needs to drop her disguise to use her magical seductions.

>A succubus or incubus also has the ability to disguise themselves perfectly as a human, although this stops them from using any of their magical seductions.

If we just stick with the lust imp then this becomes less than a issue but I don't know how effective that will be.

Why even bring the bookworm? I could care less about her interests. I'm simply curious myself. For now, they can all way here.

"You two!"

"Yes Mr. Ryan?"

"You three are going to stay here. I'm going to check out what's behind this gate here. Don't move and don't do anything stupid. I'll be back as soon as I'm satisfied."

"But... Mr. Ryan, you can't just-"

"I think you're all safe enough. You got your new little skeleton buddies, don't you? You'll be fine. Just don't go wandering off until I get back."

"Yes, Mr. Ryan..."

All the while this little conversation is occurring, I'm examining the gateway, muttering my way through the various symbols and runes. These are wards, although difficult to make out and slightly damaged. After a few minutes, I tap away at the right order and watch as the gate slowly swings open, a sudden feeling of... desire... hitting me. I dismiss the feeling, my own will to highly trained and potent to fall to that, but a glance over my shoulder shows the students getting a little twitchy, faces flushed red. The bookworm seems to know what's going on, but the other two are just confused and aroused. Still, if they do do something, that'll be their lack of resolve, not mine. I gesture for Irateels to follow, then make my way down the newly opened corridor, eventually reaching a small alcove with a pedestal, twin succubi statues standing guard over what appears to be a small ring. The moment the thing comes into view, Irateels practically freaks dashing over to it and hovering over it reverently. I have no idea why she's so happy over it, but regardless, I stride over and take a look at it myself. It doesn't seem like anything special, a normal enough looking ring, but I can tell it's doing SOMETHING, perhaps exuding that aura of lust.

"Irateels....... Irateels..... IRATEELS!"

"Hm? Oh! I'm sorry Master. It's just... do you have any idea what this is?"

"No."

"It's FatherMother's third artifact. It was lost thousands of years ago... this is... an incredible find!"

"Is that so? Well then, might as well take it and put it in the Markov treasury when we return."

I pick up the ring without any real hesitation, only to suddenly be assaulted by massive amount of lust and desire for Irateels, that bookworm girl, any woman I can find. I quickly drop the ring, which Irateels catches in midair, holding the thing like a fragile piece of glass.

"Master... this isn't some trinket you can move so easily. I can hold it for you, if you like Master, but... may I propose something else to do with it?"

"What's that?" I'm breathing heavily, the artifact having taken its toll even with a mere few seconds of contact with it. Just resisting that much was extremely difficult.

"Well... if you would allow me to, I'd like to return this to hell. If you would let me, I'd... I'd see about maybe earning you some notice and favor from FatherMother."

Favor from... Asmodeus? Sure, he's often seen as the most friendly of the Princes, and can often be seen in human company whenever he gets the chance, although most of the time that's because he wants to have sex with them. But still... it is one of the Princes...

>Favor
Favor is a new aspect being added. Among the various powerful denizens, some will bestow favor upon mortals. To even attempt to do so, one must first gain the Notice of one of these denizens, regardless of whether that Notice is positive or negative. Once Notice has been obtained, Shax can attempt to influence the denizens views of him, and gain or lose favor, by performing actions that aid or detract from the denizens goals.

>>>Speak

Hmm. Earning favor from one of the seven, only days into your career as an active warlock? That's pretty attractive. Especially if Irateels gets some kind of reward or power up when she delivers it.

What are the costs though? Can Irateels just pop over to hell, or do you have to release her for that, and call her back later? We do have a spare lesser lust soul for that.

What's the opportunity cost? Is their any use for the artifact here? Does it make Irateels way more powerful, for instance?

Either way, I'm leaning of favor of delivering the ring back to hell. Although maybe we should wait until after we leave- Irateels disappearance might raise questions. Well, unless walking out of here with a powerful artifact will raise more questions (if the necromancers can sense it's power).

Well if you try to take it back with you there is a chance you might have a freak out if you are having this much trouble. Another reason is that this town has a strong priest presence even if they most of them are weak. If you try to take it with you then somebody will notice that a powerful demon artifact is with you.

What's weird is that a artifact is even here to begin with and that bookworm even found out about this place when your family didn't even know. I know your family ain't demon worshipers, but it seems like the kind of thing to check up on if you knew. Just where did that girl did her research?

>>469576
Well we could probably do the summoning ritual in five to ten minutes. The only problem is if one of them walk in during the middle of it. We also lose a lesser soul if we did it, but we can chuck that up with the cost of getting favor with Asmodeus.

>>469570
That ring... if there's any reasonable chance that we can get it out of here and keep it in our possession without lighting ourselves up like a magical beacon, we should keep it. Look at its effect- that thing is a factory for building lustful souls in a way that our succubus and imp can't compare to. I bet we could cultivate a greater lust soul in a matter of days by using it; exactly the sort of tool that we need to smooth our route to power.

And it's not like we can't send it back to hell after we've used it to our advantage. Also, Irateels' "I'll see about maybe earning you some notice and favor" does not impress; when we send it back to hell it had best be in a fashion which is more than a maybe. I'm not sure how a warlock best goes about making a splash, but entrusting a lost artifact to a mere lesser demon and relying on her faithfulness and word alone to successfully bring us significant amounts of favor strikes me as an unwise gamble.

So I'm going to say keep it for now. Conceal it, get the students out of here. Get the cultist girl with you; if she had a line on this much demon lore she might know more that's useful, and it would be foolish to squander such a resource before it's fully used up. As a bonus, she doesn't seem overly difficult to impress or manipulate and we might be able to fill her soul with sin under more controlled and stable conditions than we do most others- perhaps through experimenting with the artifacts' effects?

>>469583
This is fine IF we can get out with it. Does the effect ever let up because if it doesn't I don't think we can leave with it. It seems like the kind of thing that take preparation if you want to leave with it. If we can then I have no problem with this. Especially that cultist/witch because it's just weird that she "read" about this place and the artifact was lost for thousands of years. It doesn't matter that she didn't know where it was or what a valuable find it was.

I vote for keeping the ring for now. We can always give it to asmodeus later if we need a favour. We do not need a favour currently though. I don't trust isratels with the rings. Have your lust imp take it to the cave the beserker is in and keep it there for now.

Also, if we do decide to give the ring to asmodeus dismissing the lust imp to hell would be a better idea than dismissing the succubus, can be summoned with a lower quality soul.

>I'd see about maybe earning you some notice and favour from FatherMother.
A young Warlock just starting out earning the favour of a Prince? Hell yeah!

The only question for me is /when/ do we do this?

Considering the aura this thing is giving off, could we take it out of these catacombs if we even tried? Or would all eyes be on us the moment we got to the surface?

Option 1. If we can get out without attracting the attention of the entire city. Keep the ring for a few days and cultivate some seriously high-quality lustful souls.
Option 2. If the ring will attract the attention of the entire city then we should send it to Hell and earn the favour of the Prince. It will be easy enough to distract the kids. Just have the Lust Imp sting them, since they're already under the influence of the rings aura it'll barley take a nudge before the three of them are rolling around on the flood fucking each other senseless. While the kids are out of the way we have all the time we need to send Irateels to Hell, let her deliver the ring and re-summon her.

> If you begin to unlock other forms of magic though, numerous applications could present themselves for the use of souls.

Souls allow us to bridge the gap between dimensions and a single soul can feed a Demon for years.

Clearly souls are a /powerful/ resource.

It would be foolish to ignore such a source of power that is /literately/ in your hand.

I am throwing my full support into the study of Necromancy.

This ring was obviously stored there as protective containment. Now that it has been released it likely will attract a lot of notice that you don't want, so you must prepare field fortifications and figure out secure transport for it. I wouldn't trust the succubus holding on to it without oversight--she may exploit it against your wishes despite your control of her due to the effects of the ring or the influence of other agents pursuing the ring or yourself. In short, I don't like dealing with influential objects this noteworthy, conspicuous and potent because it directly counteracts one of your major advantages until now: Secrecy and obscurity.

Irateels is only a lesser demon of lust, I wouldn't trust her to not get stomped on and having it stolen from her on her way to Asmodeus. A major find like this however could be useful for corrupting a soul into sufficient of a sacrifice to summon a greater demon of lust, and then Irateels and that demon proceeding, possibly while guarded by Kazderath in addition. Alternatively, you could perhaps use the soul of the cultist to pay your passage to and from his domain, with full current retinue?

If Asmodeus finds out about us holding on to the ring before it was brought back to him this might upset him, which would be bad. If so explain that you did not trust taking it out of your sight without greater level demon servants to transport it.

I'd like to point out we don't know, yet, if we have to release her bonds and burn a soul to get her back for a round trip to hell. It's possible we can just send her over their as a messenger, and bring her back later, as part of the bond.

>Don't trust her
What the hell is wrong with you people. Her main goal at the moment is to keep us alive and have as much fun as she can outside of hell while she can. Hell is boring, sucky, and noticeably lacking in people for her to suck dry.

The fact that she suggested going back to hell herself means she really thinks there's something to be gained by cashing the artifact in. Because otherwise she'd have no interest in heading home.

And if she wanted to manipulate us, all she had to do was hand the ring back to us, or slip in on our finger. Then she'd have a master continually so lust addled she could do whatever the fuck she wanted. Note she did not do this.

>I wouldn't trust her to not get stomped on and having it stolen from her on her way to Asmodeus
I get the feeling that when one pops into hell with one of the boss's lost treasures, it's not a deal where everyone tries to be the first to grab it and cash it in.

Also, it's not like can summon a greater lust demon to use instead. We don't have the souls for that, and Shax can't reliably bind or control greater demons as of yet.

>use the lust imp
Yes, let's trust the powerful artifact to a gibbering idiot. And then send said powerless gibbering idiot to negotiate on our behalf, instead of the intelligent ancient manipulator.

Her ultimate loyalty is however to the prince of lust, asmodeus. Never trust demons.

Her binding would prevent her from doing that I should think.

>>469643
If I had to guess, her loyalty to her own interests comes first. She serves us because of the binding, and because she'd rather be on earth than hell. She serves Asmodeus because he's powerful and it'd be stupid not to.

But really, we don't have a better option than some degree of trust. She's already proved herself to some degree (she could have easily used the ring to control us). The imp is far less trustworthy. And we can't carry it ourself.

Pretty sure it's unnecessary, but if your current binding on Irateels is insufficient to trust the succubus with delivering the artifact could you boost it before sending her?

>not exactly how I'd like to spend our remaining 1 xp, or that lesser lust soul I expect would be needed for the process, but it's good to know our options

Assuming reinforcing a binding is even possible, disregard it if doing so will take more than 15 minutes. Even if opening the gateway hasn't alerted the local priesthood, or the necromancers (hey, they maintain the crypts...), there's a decent chance someone or something (how many unbound lust demons are running around in this world these days? Oh, and aren't we in a mage city where, for the sake of the argument, there may be dozens of people capable of identifying/detecting magical artifacts) has already noticed or soon will.

Finally, annoying though I know it is try to keep the kids alive until you can return them. Our access to an education in necromancy may depend on it, and since the original plan was to stay in the city for a while we probably don't want to be linked to any deaths or incompetence in performing agreed upon tasks. If you don't have an imp with them to alert you of any trouble, send one.

It seems unlikely I'll be able to transport this ring outside without drawing attention to myself. By pretty much everything that CAN notice me, if they haven't already. Favor is better than capture. Unless...

I could reveal who I am. More than likely, I'll be allowed to keep the ring for the purposes of study, if I word it right and make the appropriate tithes to the church to shut them up. I'd also easily be allowed to take a suppression item from the arcane university here, making transport much easier. Besides, Asmodeus is notorious for giving favor out like sweets. And only if those who he's noticed start getting more lustful themselves. Reveling in the pleasures of the flesh, and all that. And while revealing myself will eliminate my secrecy, once I reached the Northlands, that cover would probably disappear rather quickly anyway, since the Northlands are far better about keeping track of who's who.

Upon questioning Irateels about her ability to return home on her own, she admits that she'll have to be dismissed to do that, although most likely afterwards she'll be easily allowed to return to my side, if I so desire it. Asmodeus likes to reward those who aid him, after all.

With these new thoughts for your perusal, Voices, what do you all think I should finally do?

>>>Speak

So you'd need to revel in the pleasures of the flesh to get the promised favour from Asmodeus? Would you be willing to do that? Couldn't one of your imps sneak the ring out of the city under their invisibility? If no to both queries then go ahead and reveal yourself, also check up on the children, they may have managed to create a beserk skeleton or something.

>>469706
I bet even if he used an imp to take the ring the lust effects from the ring would just be a dead giveaway. It's also the demonic emissions from the ring that makes it pretty obvious. You can't really hide this demon artifact without the proper materials which we can only get by revealing who Shax is.

If we do reveal who Shax is then be prepare for noble political bull. We could also never cause the amount of chaos we did in the last town ever again if we tell who we are especially while we have the ring. Just giving you something to think about.

Hmm. Revealing yourself to the priesthood would kind of make more infernal soul collecting or necromantic research difficult, wouldn't it?

I'm not sure how useful the boon from Asmodeus might be since you're not so interested in doing lust acts yourself. Then again, how useful is the ring in our possession? Can Irateels tap into it's power to boost her own seduction powers to absurd levels? That would be an excellent way to shut down a large number of opponents all at once- or possibly even useful to overpower your sibling's resistance when you face them. After all- it sure worked on you.

Actually, I like that plan. A super charged succubus has all kinds of potentially useful applications.

If Irateels complains- remind her that as long as she has it on her person, it'll be returned to hell and her Prince eventually. And in the meantime, we can reap the benefits...

We have received no statements that the priesthood forbids necromancy, why should our revealing ourselves prevent the practice thereof? There's a publically acknowledged necromantic college in the same town as a priest college, you're not making sense. :/

>>469722
I'm guess I'm just assuming the faith has a negative opinion of necromancy? And there is a distinction between disproving of something and considering it an anathema to be destroyed (ie, practicing necro might cause us public relations issues. Being a warlock would get us killed).

I suppose that was never explicitly stated. If the faith doesn't disapprove, that would be convenient (although that seems unlikely. It's not like religions are very often accepting of scientific and/or magical study of life and death).

>>469719
This assumes Irateels can block the infernal emanations of the ring. Since she is a lesser demon I doubt that is the case. Easy way to tell, now that she has the ring can Shax still detect it (feel ambient, but manageable lust)?

You know what, I think we should send The ring back to the FatherMother, not because keeping it will inevitable lead to Shax revealing himself and potentially drawing his siblings and house rivals like moths to flame, but because keeping the ring may well redefine his growth to focus around utilizing the artifact and avoiding it's sway. Add in the assumption that we will lose anonymous access to non infernal avenues of growth if we keep a obviously infernal magical item on our person (once we are able without succumbing to it) or close enough to keep an eye on... I'm not convinced those restrictions are worth it.

>>469728
>This assumes Irateels can block the infernal emanations of the ring.
Actually, no, I'm assuming she'll still be able to use the ring after Shax reveals himself and the faith sets us up with something to block the emanations. Which, admittedly, might not be the case. (The ring might be unusable in a lead box, or the wards might not be something a demon can touch).

>>469702
I am still very much inclined to keep the artifact, even with these considerations in play. If possible, getting it out of town unnoticed would be ideal so that we can avoid revealing ourselves and use that artifact to its fullest potential; if that's not practical then revealing ourselves and talking our way out with it might be necessary, but so long as we end up with this thing in hand and deployable for power, that's acceptable.

Waitwaitwaitwaitwait, we've been thinking about how to do this all wrong. No need to reveal ourselves to keep the ring, just have the lust imp hold on to it and have it stay in the catacombs, the later tonight Shax goes outside the town and summons the imp to him, ring moved from the catacombs without anyone the wiser. Also if bookworm girls asks tell her that the lust she felt is just from what has built up at Asmodeus' shrines over the years or something, she doesn't seem a infernal expert so she might buy that or another plausible pseudotruth.

>>469887
Well can demons take things with them if we teleport them to our side? I don't think it's ever been confirmed that whatever item a demon carries is taken with them when you teleport them. Of course if we can do it then I'm up for it.

The only problem if we can pull off this plan is that we won't have the suppression item so we would have to avoid cities, or leave it with a demon outside of the city with the chance of losing it if someone still senses the artifact anyways.

Just get a lead box, should work well enough.

>>469936
Wouldn't Shax say something if he could just get a lead box to block the ring? How do you know that would work?

Lead boxes are usually good for blocking these sort of things. I'm assuming here. If box fails he can just use his ward-fu on a box I guess.

Ok, I don't support Shax revealing himself, but if that's what's going to happen there are a few things to consider. Mainly there is a lust devoted cultist who probably won't be happy about a non devotee of Asmodeus hanging onto the ring (might, though unlikely, send a death bolt your way) and is aware that you have a travelling with you succubus (and may speculate you are her summoner since she seems competent). Depending on the extent to which your family's infernal activity is publicly known she may be a liability when the church (I assume there's an inquisition? Didn't see one mentioned but may have missed it) inevitably interviews her. In fact, you investigating rumors of cult activity might make a good cover story since it has some truth.

Also, if you are revealing yourself then access to necromancy education (in the unlikely event that you are not immediately leaving town) is no longer dependent on keeping the kids out of trouble.

I vote for using the ring to gain favor now, because I really want to avoid political games and because it would be difficult to hide the ring's effects. (unless shax can manage to reproduce the wards that were on the door) I also feel that we should do something for the girl so she doesn't get pissed and snitch. (ie, letting her see/hold the ring, mentioning her name to the prince, [sharing a bit of credit] or giving her one of the weak souls of lust[one which can only summon a lust imp])

>>470185
>>470192
Why would she tell Luna's followers? She would lose the ring forever and get killed if she tell how she knows. You can't accuse a noble without decent evidence.

>The priests divide themselves between the two, with Luna's followers being the more militant, believing that they must guard against the users of dark magic because we supposedly are more active at night, while the followers of Sol work to spread the Faith and provide more humanitarian aid to the world.

Some info about the faith that you may have missed.

Anyways it's probably more likely that she tries to steal the ring. If she does then you have an excuse to kill her. She also thinks you have a "understanding" with her god/demon prince so another point for her to not try anything. You can also use the research about the ring to get her on your side if you want. She also doesn't know it's the ring. She just thinks something of importance may be in there.

>it would be difficult to hide the ring's effects
That's what the suppression item is for I'm guessing.

I'm personally fine for either keeping it or giving it up for favor.

>>470203
Thanks.

I think we're working off a couple different assumptions regarding the Lunans. I expect (and could very well be wrong) that they have multiple orders with different focuses and specialties. If a powerful demonic artifact suddenly appears someone is going to kick that information up the chain of command and eventually someone (perhaps several someones) from the relevant division will be dispatched to assess the situation and determine the appropriate response. A part of that process would be interviewing witnesses.

>Why would she tell the Luna's followers?
Why would she have a choice? Is there not magic in this world?

I'm not necessarily advocating offing the cultist right now, just pointing out that the primary value in returning her and the other two students safely to their handlers is void if Shax is planning to reveal himself and that this might be a decent time to wrap up those loose ends if they may prove inconvenient down the road.

>You can't accuse a noble without decent evidence.
Agreed. I just think we/Shax may wish to consider the evidence he will be leaving.

>>470215
Well the church may not be a problem
>if I word it right and make the appropriate tithes to the church to shut them up

It's basically a bribe without calling it a bribe. One of the many perks of being a noble. Basically we can get away with the demon artifact as long as we say we are going to study it.

The only real problem is if the cultist gets caught and confess but if she made it this far without being caught then we don't need to kill her now.

I assume that we're Prideful? Leave while you can, make the two students get together, and make our cultist wear the ring in order to get a Lustful witch-soul that walks around and does our bidding.

It seems the easiest route will be revealing myself. Not ideal, but better than having to deal with somehow getting the ring out another way. Besides, I can always return it to Asmodeous at some other point in time, if we ever feel the need. Regardless, it's about time to leave.

I head back outside, Irateels in tow, and find the children already getting a little more touchy then they probably should be. I snap them out of it by slapping them all across the face, intent on at least getting them out without anything weird happening to them. The trek back takes longer than the trek forward, mostly because I have to keep stopping them from ripping their own clothes off, now that they're in such close proximity to the ring without any protection or training whatsoever. When we do make it back to the surface, almost immediately the questions start up, and the kids are herded off elsewhere. Members of all four of the other magical schools are there, all focusing angrily on me. The amount of questions being asked makes it difficult to pick out any particular one, so instead of waiting for things to die down, I get the inevitable over with.

"I hereby declare myself. I am Shax, of the Markov Family."

The crowd goes quiet, and I nod my head in satisfaction. Bastards can stay off of me. Or at least show proper respect, now. Either way, the first to snap out of their confusion is a priestess type, the high bishop of the church-school, I would guess, who comes forward and bows her head politely before digging into me with questions.

"You found something down their, didn't you?"

"Yes. A ring. A ring of lust, by the feel of it and how the kids reacted. I admit I didn't go down there to find it, but when I did... it was too dangerous to leave down there for someone unprepared to find."

"The Church of Sol will take it from you."

"Wrong. It stays with me. The Markov family has been keeping such artifacts under our watch for centuries, there is no reason I shouldn't take it back with me to the north."

"I don't find this acceptable at al-"

"Of course, the Markov family would be quite happy to make a donation to the church-school here, and perhaps provide some needed assistance if ever necessary."

The priestess goes silent a moment, then she seems to back down, taking up a more defensive feel to her and looking a bit more respectful. Other college leaders merely look on with envy.

"I see... yes, I can see how that might be worthwhile. I have heard that the Markov family is quite knowledgable about a variety of subjects. Perhaps you do have some way to defend yourself from its power... Still, I must insist a seasoned member of Sol accompany you. To ensure its safe passage into the Markov family's possession."

Damn. And they have every right. Studying or using the ring will be far more difficult with a priest around. Regardless, it's better than having it taken. And I don't plan on leaving for awhile yet anyway.

"Agreeable. I have business to finish here, however, and I'll be sure to inform you upon my departure."

"Unnecessary. We shall have our selected priestess with you in mere minutes. Out in the courtyard. Now if you'll excuse me."

Well... shit. Now we're stuck with whoever while we're here, to. Still better than I expected though. I was thinking we'd get stuck with some Luna worshipping fanatics. Least we get the more calm of the two. Regardless, as soon as the priestess leaves, I'm assaulted with questions by the other groups, and I choose to ignore them all, waving them away in favor of saying I'll visit each group later at some point. In the meantime, I make my way through the small crowd of people and head outside, where I discover another group, this one led by the noble of the region, a Belis of House Cardak. A minor family in the great scheme of things, they are almost always found attached to another house's backside. Thankfully, the Markov's have managed to steer clear of them for the most part. This one is already attached to someone, although who I can't recall, but regardless, he steps up to me the moment I come out.

"Ah! My Lord Markov! Please, do accept our apologies, we didn't even know you were in the city."

"I wanted it that way. Unfortuanatel, events have transpired to deny me my travel plans. Regardless, it's a pleasure to see you."

"Of course, of course. Please, do allow me to offer you accommodations at the castle for the duration of your stay, if there is anything at all we can do for you...?"

"At the moment, no, although I will consider staying at the castle. For now, I have business to attend to."

"As you wish, Lord Markov. I will hope to see you soon."

The man leaves, his entourage following him, and is quickly replaced with two priestesses. Both bow to me, then the closer of the two speaks.

"My Lord Markov. I am Priestess Moria, and Disciple Lara, at your service. We were instructed to accompany you on your journey to the north."

"So I've heard. It is a pleasure to meet you. You are of the Sun, I take it?"

"Yes, My Lord. My Disciple is thinking of going to the Moon, but she still must complete her basic training with me before she can decide. She is currently silenced, a punishment for some words she should not have said, so forgive her if she does not speak."

"I understand. Your to accompany me everywhere, then?"

"To safeguard the ring, yes."

By the Seven... Well, we'll just have to make the best of it. Maybe we can lose them somewhere along the way. For now, to other business. I'll need to find a way to keep this rings emanations down, otherwise things will get very interesting walking down the street. I can handle that though, given enough time alone and a spare box of some sort. We'll also need to visit each of these colleges, to perform the normal meet and greet, and decide whether we should be staying at the castle.

>I'll need to find a way to keep this rings emanations down
Shouldn't you consult your annoying priestess escort for this? I thought that was the whole reason we decided it was worth bringing them along.

>Silenced
Are you familiar with this practice? Does this mean she is unable to speak, or merely forbidden? There's a difference there, and one we may be able to abuse in the future.

>The ring
I assume Irateels is still holding it? How do we explain her ability to resist it to the priestesses? How's she taken her idea being shot down, anyways? We may need to talk to her later. We also need to figure out if how we can apply or weaponize the ring. What benefit does it give us if we're not cashing it in for favor?

In the short term, these priestesses will impede your ability to collect souls. In the short term, they may be of some use if you are attacked by your competitors / siblings. Longer term, I think your goal should be to get an envy demon and have Moria killed and replaced. A puppet priest could be useful, as could a demon with access to holy magic.

Well the first thing we have to do is block the ring's emanations with whatever method we have to do because I have no idea what goes into a endeavor like that.

>>473494
>her ability to resist it
Well hopefully they won't ask but if they do then just say she has a powerful will. They may not know how strong the lust effects are when you hold it so it's best not to let them touch it.

>Silence
An annoying spell, if its used properly. It doesn't really affect the use of magic, except for divine users, who need to call on their gods for the magical power needed, but it can make it very difficult during wars or when you need to inform someone of something. However, the priests do have vows of silence as well. I don't know which is being enforced on the girl right now.

>Demon/Holy Magic
Repeat that to yourself. The demon wouldn't be able to. They could fake the same spells, but they wouldn't be divine in any form. They would be considered demonic. The visuals would be the same though, so I suppose the end result would be the appearance of holy magic.

>The Priests for help
Hm. I'd rather simply ward a box they rely on them. They have a tendency to lock something up and never let anyone see it ever again. In the meantime, Irateels is fine holding the ring for now, and the two priestesses don't seem to notice she is, or they just haven't said anything about it. I head off, leading the way with my small entourage, through the crowds of people towards the outskirts, getting the ring away from the many people around it. It's only as I make it to the gate that I realize no one is falling down with lust for anyone else. I pause, frowning, then glance at Irateels. She seems fine, although she's holding the ring rather reverently in her hand, and she seems to have taken a slight... glow... almost. Like she somehow more energetic. I excuse myself from the priestesses for a moment, drag Irateels away, then get down to finding out what's going on.

"Irateels, why are you practically glowing?"

"Hm? Oh! I think, Master, that is because I sucking in all the lust emanating from this thing. It'll work for maybe another few days before I lose control of myself. Unless I get to work off some of the lust somehow~"

"I see... do you feel stronger with this lust inside you?"

"Um... a little, but its very unfocused. I wouldn't call it a very good boost in strength. I might be able to focus it or channel it somehow, but that might take time for me to figure out how to do, particularly with the annoyances over there."

"I see... you're not angry I didn't return it to Asmodeous?"

"Eh, it'll get to him eventually, whether from you or someone else. We demons, we live a long time. Waiting is part of what we do, a few more decades won't mean anything in the great scheme."

"Hm. I suppose you're right. Off we go then."

I head back to collect the priestesses, then make my way towards the small castle that overlooks this city. It is unremarkable, for the most part, just like every other castle or keep in the region, even the guards are unremarkable. The Captain of said guard greets me at the gate, but he remains little more than a face, and I proceed to ignore him and his rambling in favor of heading inside. There, the lord greets me, and he is similarly ignored except for the necessary niceties before being escorted to the rooms provided to us. Irateels is unceremoniously left with me, likely assuming that she's a lover or companion of some sort, but it matters little. I begin by placing a few wards in the room, hidden behind objects and the like. That should keep the ring from influencing everyone in the entire castle. Then it's time to start work. Irateels places the ring on the provided desk, and I begin by examining as best I can for identifying markings and the like. Some demonic script is adorned across the surface, but it's too small for me to make out. Irateels proves little help either, unfamiliar with anything in particular about the ring, other than it's origins. I frown, then decide that unless the local magic guilds have infernal tomes(unlikely) than I really will have to head home to study this thing properly.

I'm interrupted by that point by a knock on the door, which proves to be the annoying priestesses, or rather, just the head one, she walks in, and almost immediately backs out, eyes going wide for a second before she disappears back into the hallway. I sigh, then head outside to find the priestess breathing heavily, hand over her eyes, trying to calm herself.

"I probably should have warned you, but regardless, you really should have checked before walking in like that."

"Shouldn't that ring be affecting... everyone?"

"I've picked up some ways to block that sort of thing. Irateels happens to be one of them. She's quite good at that. Regardless, what can I do for you?"

"I was... I was going to offer to help in some way, but... I don't think I can be in that room. At least, not without protection of some sort. If I try asking Sol..."

"That might be for the best, you not being in the room, I mean. Working with demonic artifacts can be quite... difficult, especially with members of the holy arts nearby."

"Yes well... regardless, I'll see what I can do."

"As it pleases you."

The priestess leaves back to her rooms, and I reenter my room to find Irateels lounging on the bed, and a few imps lounging about on other pieces of furniture. I drop myself into the chair next to the desk and stare at the ring, mind tumbling over different theories of how to use it. For now though, plans must be set. I'll have to greet the other mage colleges before I leave, and likely get roped into some political play at some point. The local lord will have to be dealt with, either ignored politely or dealt with more forcefully. The priestesses won't be an issue as long as I keep to myself, and while I don't relish the idea, the wrath demon we have will have to continue to stay hidden. I'll have few opportunities to go soul hunting here. And I'll have to decide how long to stay in the city before moving on.

Your advice, demons of the mind?

>>>Speak

>The demon wouldn't be able to. they wouldn't be divine in any form.

Hmm. That contradicts your own explanation of greater envy demons, earlier.

>if they were mimicking a priest, be able to wield some divine power

Regardless of the actual divinity of the power, would mimicked or faked holy abilities be effective against demons? We're looking for a potential edge up on your siblings, here. If not, we could always just position or manipulate the living priestess into unwittingly helping your ends, instead of replacing her.

>it's too small for me to make out.
...I don't suppose the imps are small enough that they can make out the symbols? Even if they're illiterate, you can set one of them to painstakingly copying the symbols down on paper, large enough for you to read.

Or, alternatively, you could see about acquiring a magnifying lens, or a jeweler's eyepiece. Equipment like that must be available to craftsmen needing to do fine detail.

>>474936
Getting some magnifying lens would probably be the best especially if the imps are illiterate. We might want to ward a box first to have a place to put the ring and for the lens we could request some while preparing the box.

Politely ignore the lord. Get some sort of magnifying glass or microscope, possibly from one of the colleges. You still have study privileges from the necromancer's to redeem, so go there and try to pick up whatever you can.

>>474936
Probably not.

Hmm. Would there be any value to trying to slowly corrupt this priestess? Does that get any benefits, or just the standard soul thing?

>>475244
Well, we could try corrupting the priestess is a slightly roundabout way. Instead of weakening the seals holding the lust in the artifact in, to corrupt her, we could let Irateels work out the lust she collected on the priestess, both corrupting her and letting Ira work out the stuff before she loses control.

And if anyone discovers the priestess got lusted, we weaken the wards, say she's been getting too close and got corrupted accidentally and no will be none the wiser to our plots.

>>475334
I'd rather we tried mundane and/or conventional methods of manipulation, at least at first. Also, we don't know that the priestess would be susceptible to a succubus' charms.

>>475334
My question was not if/how we could do it, but rather whether there was a benefit to it worth the degree of effort and risk involved. Because there is always risk.

>>475376
Well, there are obviously potential benefits to a suborned, manipulated, controlled, or somehow influenced priestess of some kind. Especially since, yanno, she's the person watching us right now. And potentially we can use her as a tool to impede or oppose the infernal activities of our competitors.

Soul-wise, I dunno if there's extra benefit to turning an initially pure and holy soul into something corrupt to harvest.

But yeah, the further we take it, the greater the risk. Any move we make against her gives us greater risk of exposure- and if exposed, we have to kill her, which comes with other risks.

...although, we do have a partial cover for that already. We're transporting an infernal object. The forces of evil are going to try and take it, make attempts on our do gooder life. Such a shame the priestess died fighting off the creatures of the unknown warlock hunting us... (Obviously this story sells better after one of our siblings makes a failed attempt on our lives. Or we sacrifice a demon to fake one on ourself).

That's longer term planning, though. Short term, we just have to worry about concealing ourself, and dealing with whatever political machinations try and take advantage of Shax in town, or any magical forces that make a move for the ring.

>>475376
Agreed

>>475244
>>475334
>>475337

You know, if we get serious about corrupting the priestess we should probably use a sin she isn't expecting (after experiencing the ring's influence she's going to be on guard against lust). Not sure if it's worth a lesser wrath soul, or the risk of detection during summoning, but tempting her into alcoholism via subtle gluttony imp venom application could be easily interpreted as a mundane reaction to stress and significantly lower her resistance to other sins... 

As for the warded box (or whatever container is chosen), make sure you have some way of tracking the thing. If someone wants to steal the ring the box will make doing so both easier (harder to track) and safer (no massive corrupting lust field to deal with).

Also, if you still have that mask from the last town now (before any of the castle staff/priestesses stumble onto it) would be a good time to disposed of it (preferably by reducing it to ash without any collateral damage).

>>475623
Ah, but feeling abnormal amounts of lust around an ancient demonic lust artifact is probably not unexpected. We can probably trick her into all sorts of things to help "protect her".

>>475784
...possibly? Although the last thing we want is for her to think we're being influenced by the artifact, or unable to properly contain it. Then suddenly she wouldn't be very happy about us keeping it instead of the church.

Would a Priest or priestess lose their powers if they become too corrupt? I just asking because divine power are derived from a outside source a.k.a. the Twins Gods Sol and Luna which they get by following the faith. This could change how useful it is to corrupt the priestess.

>DIVINE magic is magic granted by following the FAITH. The Faith is a religion spread far and wide in the world, and is the most closely followed of all religions. It's often said to be the opposite of INFERNAL magic, but in reality, the two are more similar than opposites, as both forms of magic are derived from an outside source. Priest, Clerics and Paladins are the wielders of this form of magic.

>>475790
_We_ are resisting the artifact just fine. She is the one following us around while we are carrying a highly dangerous artifact to where it can be properly sealed away.

Her expierience with it is basicly "in the same room with it,- oh dear god the lust"

>>475834
No, I just meant if we try to tempt her with lust, the logical assumption she might make is we're being affected.

>>475835
Or, since we're studying the artifact, that we're either recklessly leaving the ring unshielded or are using her as a test subject.

That said we should probably try to confirm that the silent priestess is in fact a lowly disciple...probably paranoia, but sending someone inept enough to be put under a vow of silence on a dangerous, low profile mission with a fairly powerful noble (and lets admit it, a fairly strange and dangerous one at that) seems odd.

Corrupting a Priestess is likely going to difficult, especially because of their ability to use Divine magic, but... it is a sound plan, as long as we proceed carefully. We'll have to find her sin though, however small, and work on making that larger. Everyone has one, and finding it might prove a bit more difficult. Still, having someone who is thought to be divinely touched would be useful. As for the disciple... it's not uncommon for such things to happen. In a way, it's a test for the youngling. The child will be tested to see if they can follow instructions, even when there's something as corrupt filled and sinful as the ring around. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for anything suspicious, however.

Over then next week of activity, I work mostly on studying up on the ring, as well as doing the necessary meet and greets. The imps I have are sent out to go hunting, looking for any souls worth possibly working on. The larger city provides quite a few more souls, but they are all of a relatively low caliber, nothing I desire. Still, the imps keep on searching for something. The Priestesses, after that one incident with the ring, have seen fit to avoid entering my room, instead pestering me whenever they(she) can about leaving and heading towards home. I put them off, mostly because I have no desire to leave quite yet.

On what time I do have to myself and not studying the ring, I have found myself dealing with the necromantic college, studying what I can about the magic. For the most part, it involves formulas and such, at least for the alchemical parts, but when it actually comes to the magic part... you need to have some sort of connection to the realm of death, apparently. This is usually achieved by having a near death experience. I can learn all the formulas I want, make all the potions I want, and get no closer to the magic until I have that experience.

Regardless, the week spent isn't fruitless. I manage to requisition a small pack for herbs and such, and learn quite a bit about making a few simple potions, antidotes and salves for the most part. At the same time, I've been approached by the college heads of the Church and the Druids with requests to teach a class on something. I admit, demons are my only real specialty, but it's not uncommon for people to study demons themselves, as long as they aren't summoning them. I really only have the time to spare for one of the colleges though, if at all, and while I could refuse, that might seem a little odd if I refuse the Church, especially because the family is supposed to be a Faith abiding one. We'd be safer, detection wise, if we chose the Druids however.

>>>Speak

Go to the druids. We can probably improvise something about the great circle of life and the balance of nature or whatever.

Well... what subjects are you qualified to give a lecture on? Besides demons, although that sort of makes sense, given that your cover is containing and studying a demonic artifact. Go in as Egon Spengler, basically.

If you need 'safe' material, I could fill you in on a fair amount of mathematics, and non-magical physics (although, I'm not sure how much of the physics applies to your world. Newtonian mechanics and basic chemistry seems the same, but anything beyond that and I'm getting presumptuous. Math is math, though). Certainly enough to fill a blackboard for several hours, and put a suspicious crowd to sleep, if need be.

>>475987
>having a near death experience

Does the Necro college simply select its students from people that have such experiences naturally or do they facilitate them somehow?

There are several low-risk methods of inducing an NDE. Don't suppose you could get access to a G-force simulator? (something that spins you round and round and round really fast)

Perhaps some sort of drug or potion? Have you ever heard of a puffer fish? They have a venom that will induce a death-like state with the right dosage. (not to be tried without expert instruction)

If the Necro college has such a thing available then it's worth looking into.

Also, if it wasn't clear, I kind of favor going to the church.

What are the risks of detection involved though? Will sufficiently powerful divine infused people sense your infernal attunement? or are just worried about trying to sell the demon researcher, know your enemy angle without giving the warlock game away?

The Church demanded and imposed a priestess and her novice on you for the monitoring of this ring, and this priestess so far has been absolutely no help in dealing with it and irritatingly insistent on you leaving town quickly besides.

This provides an opportunity: If you want to induce a little bit of amusing infighting you can push this priestess into conflict with her church between their desire for you to provide a lecture and her desire to leave sooner. I would recommend asking her if you should leave a day later and give a lecture at their college or leave a day earlier if you want to make her less angry at you. If you want to make her more angry at you tell the college representatives that you will give a lecture at the druid college because that is being polite. and that you would welcome their attendance at this lecture. Then also inform them that in deference to the wishes of the priestess whom you are currently responsible for you will set off on your journey a day earlier instead of giving a demonology lecture at the seminary/religious college.
Either way communicate this with plenty of time for the church to go about infighting with the priestess over it.

The Necromancer's College has no means of getting me to a near death experience, unless I want to get stabbed in the chest and hopefully saved before I pass over the edge into death. Simulations, such as toxins and the like, that merely fake death don't count towards the magic.

As for the priest-training ground... detection isn't a problem, as long as those priests capable of it don't start hurling around detection spells. It's possible that one of the Twins could turn their attention to the temple as well, but the chances of that are slim to none. Even less likely they'll be searching for the minuscule amount of demonic energy I let off. And reporting to the church that my personal chaperone wants to leave early would have the opposite effect. It's actually in the best interest of the church to have the thing in the Markov vaults as quickly as possible.

As for any possible lessons, demons summoning is illegal. Studying them ins't, although it is frowned upon. I could easily give a lesson on demons though, without giving myself away as a warlock. As long as they don't find out I've summoned them myself, then we're fine.

>>>Speak

We voices note a tendency for people who hear us to experience very interesting circumstances. Accordingly, there is no point in forcing a near-death experience now when it is well within the realm of likelihood that you will naturally experience one later.
Further you revealed your identity to solve the social problem of the acquisition and removal of the ring, I think we should perform this task quicker if possible because currently our identity has been revealed and anonymity is a very strong protection from infighting ambushes that I would wish to regain as soon as possible in these circumstances. The longer we hang around this priestess chick and her trainee the more chances there are we slip up as well, so let's limit that risk the direct way. Notify family that we're coming home and why in the best way possible for avoiding infighting.
How to resolve the social problems in town and why we should bother is a question I have trouble answering beyond saying that having magic other than demonic would be good to have for many reasons, most particularly so that you have better excuses for knowing what you know and acting the way you do without making people suspicious of the truth.

You dabble with demons, hunt potentially dangerous individuals in order to harvest souls, and you have several warlock siblings out to kill you. I don't think it will be necessarily to manufacture a near death experience- there's a good chance you're going to experience one naturally.

I'm liking this church lecture less and less. Demons are a risky thing to talk about, and trying to pass your knowledge off in a useful way (know they enemy- how to counteract demons) is counterproductive.

Can't you give a philosophical/theological lecture? You'd think a lifetime as a warlock paying lip service to the church would have prepared you for that. Or if not that, let me fill your head with differential equations. We can bore them with advanced mathematics.

>>477388
Excellent points and good ideas for lecture ideas.

1. Since the NDE must be authentic its too risky to manufacture; wait for it to happen naturally. The obvious solution is to outsource it to a pride demon as those can cast both arcane and necromantic spells. Get one who is good at healing necromancy and hopefully it will save you next time you nearly die (which is good idea beyond the need for NDE).

2. Try getting some tomes on arcane magic from arcane college, you already know some arcane spells so if anyone asks you are a wizard/sorcerer. Ideally you want to get good enough at arcane to make your infernal blast be disguiseable as arcane fire (via sheathing it in arcane fire perhaps?).
2b. Probably too risky, but we could summon a pride imp and try to snatch a pride soul at the arcane college... but a the moment I am against it (until priestesses are taken care of).

3. Have Irateels seduce a jeweler to make a fake ring and then dispose of him discreetly (do not be involved with it personally even if it means missing out on a lust soul).

Make a showy genuine warded lockbox for the ring as well as a discreet warded carrying case for Irateels.
Keep the fake in the lockbox which is to be locked at all time and with you. Keep the real ring in the discreet carrying case with Irateels with her taking the ring out when she has privacy to recharge until she learns to use the power better and can wear it at all times.

Justify delays in saying you need to finish warding the carrying case. Justify not giving a lecture by saying you need to deliver the ring to lockbox ASAP. If you must give a short lecture aim at one about arcane warding schemes in the sylvan college or what was suggested in >>477388 don't lecture about demons