>>513064
I think that hanged corpse in front of you is likely to come alive and take a swipe at you as you pass to get closer to the devil himself. That's the sort of prank I expect.

But approach anyway.

As if he's say "Hello I am here to tempt you" if he was.
Anyway, ask what exactly is the nature of this threat that has the devil of all people worried. (Also, it occurs to me to wonder what this evil superwizard has been spending all his time doing while we were busy being crazy.)

"I can talk and listen just fine from here, thanks."

Possibly the corpses are there in an attempt to intimidate you.

Like that would work.

>>513122
This. Tell him if he wants to help, he can start by telling us what exactly we're fighting. We'll have to be sure not to believe everything he says, though.

Man you guys, chill out. The evil one does not need to resort to petty trickery to achieve his ends. Indeed, simply lying to his would-be victims would often completely fail to achieve those ends. He seeks to guide souls WILLINGLY down the path to his door.

Be wary as prudence dictates, but assume that what he tells you is in at least the general shape of truth. Do not assume that the options he suggests to act upon that truth are the only ones available.

The Revenant Mage 2013/05/29(Wed)00:18 No. 513285 ID: 0eef61
File 136981191688.png - (47.16KB , 800x600 , 52.png )

"If you want to help me," I approach him, creeping gingerly around his hanging corpses. "Then tell me what I am fighting. Tell me what makes the Devil work with the Divine."

The greatest thing a man can become before he becomes a god, Ferrucio. The most powerful mage the world has ever seen. Ansirous is the logical end of the Lord's little experiment, Ferrucio. The conclusion. The dot on the i. And the Lord, in all His wisdom, has charged you with stopping it. I suppose He's too busy restringing his harp.

But He knows everything, and He knows you can't do it alone. You're already accruing a little list of lapdogs for yourself. That's good. That's very good. You'll need them. But God isn't going to give you direct aid. He's not going to point you the way. He's not going to catch you when you fall.

There is no face. Not really. Flakes of dried blood drift and spin from where it should be.

He expects me to do all that, I suppose.

I am here to offer you a companion, Ferrucio, if you'll take it. Satan's little helper.

He must understand that you require a token of trust. Something to incontrovertibly ensure that this is not elaborate sabotage.

>>513285
"The Lord has offered me redemption should I not stray from the path. Will this helper be obedient? Will taking him endanger others? Will he listen to me, before you? Will I stay the course, if I take him?"

if he wanted you dead, you would of been dead a while ago. no, i think you can trust him.

>>513290
He is the personification of Dishonesty
WE CANNOT TRUST HIM
even if he is on our side

The Revenant Mage 2013/05/29(Wed)01:09 No. 513293 ID: 0eef61
File 136981499081.png - (54.95KB , 800x600 , 53.png )

"You are the personification of dishonesty," I say. "If I am to trust you, I need incontrovertible assurance you can be trusted. Will your helper be obedient? Will he endanger others? Will he heed my call before he heeds yours? Will he stay the course?"

My assurance, such as it is, is yours. As is she.

A creature of liquid, sinuous grace steps from the darkness of the Great Adversary's robe.

She is coated in downy, dark fur. It ruffles gently in the breeze. She moves with the assured, molten step of a panther. Her hips sway with a feral, unabashedly lubricous gait, like a cold, black tide.
She looks at me with pale, lidded eyes that sparkle with a foreboding luster.
Parts of me that I thought long since rotted away thrum and course with the tread of her slick hooves.
She has hooves. Fur. A narrow snout. I should not feel this way.
It is an untenable feeling of unregenerate want. Were I weaker, younger, more flesh than I am, it would threaten to overpower me.

It does not.
I think of Rebecca. I think of my soul. The tumescent, lizard coils of my brain reorder themselves.

Command her to be silent, and you will never hear a word from her. Command her to hide herself from your presence, and you will never lay eyes upon her. Command her to kill, and she will kill on the instant. Your word is sacrosanct, synonymous with her will. Call her... a gift. A familiar. Or Layla, if you would give her a name. She is a mage of no small power, a tool to surmount the obstacles that lie thick and fast in your way. And she is yours. In power, in mind, and in body.

Command her to stop with the weird succubus rays. We'll have to bat off Spidrift and numerous other men, possibly even an army over her. Spidrift has good resistance but if it's quaking old rotten bones than there's no fucking chance he can hold back.

Personally I find this suspect. I think we can have victory without resorting to this...though it might be more difficult...

It might be considered immoral just to have such a creature, to dominate the will of a sapient creature. Practically mind control. Can we really condone such action?

>>513295
We could work to redeem her just as we must with Spidrift. Perhaps redeeming others shall be the road to our own redemption. Certainly, she already exists, and from a moral perspective we would be better company for her than the alternative.

>>513296
But Can we redeem ourselves from engaging in MIND CONTROL. Redemption means nothing if she isn't in control of her actions. As a succubus we cannot trust her if she is in control of her actions leading to the moral quandary of how we can have her as a companion without Some sort of evil taking place. Either by our hands or by hers.

IS IT mind control or perfect obedience?

The more the merrier.
Although this is certainly a trap of some kind. Hopefully it's merely an attempt to sway you from your path, I'm sure we can handle that.

>>513300
is there a difference?
Look, the big evil dude even said and I quote,
"Your word is sacrosanct, synonymous with her will"
If it's 'perfect obedience' and she still has some manner of choice, we cannot trust her to always obey us. She might even pervert our orders.

We cannot afford to take on this companion if we are to have a moral victory.

>>513304
And to anyone who says 'Oh just tell her not to pervert our orders' or some variation on that

Restricting her action is inherently immoral as it is furthering the effects of mind control.

Remember she is not following us out of loyalty like Spidrift
She is either bound to our will, in which case accepting that binding and utilizing it are both immoral and evil acts

OR she is Obeying her master, The Lord Of All Evil. In which case her obedience is unreliable and she will likely be a corrupting influence on our party.

In both cases, accepting her assistance would be in itself an immoral act.

>>513293
Uh, having a succubus on our side seems like it might ruffle a few feathers. I mean, how do we go around claiming to be a normal person if there's a hellspawn following us around at our beck and call?

Does he have any ways to assist us that won't scream "I'm working with the Devil"?

Hrmmm...
So. The guiding hand of good, versus the empowering aid of evil.
I... Suspect the idea is this: take the path of good, and know the thing to do. Take the path of evil, and nothing can stand in your way. But if we profess to be good, and yet still use this demon, or whatever she is... Yea, that would be a problem.

>>513293
at what price?

as long as there is no cost or strings attached, very well.
first order of business: never attack me, be hostile to me, offend me, deceive me, tempt me, flirt with me, arouse me, try to stray me from the path of good - the path of redemption, or from Rebecca. all of that (except for that last one) goes for any companions i have now or will acquire along the way.
you will not try to peruse any of satan's agendas without my explicit consent and knowledge of their full extent and nature. you will hold no alliances other then to me, you will not knowingly advance any agendas other than ones i will consent to
and know fully about, you will not deliberately hide information that i will find even the least bit interesting from me.
and lastly, you will warn me whenever you or Satan's interests, agendas, plots, ploys, desires, endeavors, attempts, pursuits, ventures, or intents will conflict with my own.


secondly, more than power and companions we require information.

>>513323
That won't work. The nature of this succubus means we cannot trust her actions without subverting her will.

This is an obvious trap don't fall for it.

Also, if he can offer nothing stronger than his word, then regardless of the morality of accepting this servant we cannot do so. His assurance, such as it is, is worthless. Politely turn down the offer.

>>513331
i'm not sure. if she has her own will, but still follows orders perfectly, we can prevent her from backstabbing through a Code she'll follow and deal with the rest as it comes. if she doesn't have a will of her own, can she even be considered sapient?

The Revenant Mage 2013/05/29(Wed)15:32 No. 513439 ID: 0eef61
File 136986673423.png - (84.34KB , 800x600 , 55.png )

"If I am to take you," I say, "how would I justify a hellspawn following me?"

She can take care of herself. Can't you, Layla?

"Yes, Revenant," she says. Her voice is long nails scratching silk. "I can will myself into cloaked invisibility upon command. Until you have need of my skills, I am air."

"And will you cease with your succubus aura?"

"My what now?"

"I cannot spend all my time beating my male adherents off you with a stick."

"Oh." She laughs, low and syrupy, and raises one eyebrow. "I'm not a succubus, Revenant. A succubus would be useless to you. I am a warmage." She grabs her chest. I look away. "And there isn't really a way to shut off the Twins. I'm, uh, glad you approve, though. I... could throw on a sweater? Or a habit?"

"I cannot condone a servant with no will of her own," I say, attempting to change the subject of conversation.

"My will is to save creation, kill the mage Ansirous, and earn glory, astonishing bragging rights, and a place of power in the kingdom of Hell," says Layla. "My Lord the Southern Dragon and Great Foe tells me the only way to do that is to serve you. Your will, therefore, is mine."
"You are a demon."
"And you're a Revenant," she laughs. "My place is to punish souls. Yours is to destroy them. In the eyes of God, you are ten times more wicked, and ten times again. What does it matter, what we are? What matters is what we do. And I will do," she says, her marshfire eyes narrowing, "whatever you would have me do."

>>513439
In total fairness, we are a pretty motley crew here. I think a Demon Mage is not going to be too out of place with a Revenant Mage and a Butcher Mage.

>>513439
she has will of her own and she doesn't want or need redemption. there is hope here, as long as we can mitigate her influence on our own redemption.

make sure we can dismiss her at will, make a bunch of rules for her to follow to cover our ass then accept her. if she ever does damage we'll toss her back here and we can probably handle whatever it will be. if possible, ask that if we decide she did us harm that she will be punished when she returns - as extra incentive.
right now the worst she could do is interfere with our companions - Spidrift's redemption and getting Astrea to trust us. we will need to include something about that in the rules.
>>513323 would make a good start, but it's far from complete.

>>513440
Yeah, true.

Also, she has to teach us her own Words, right? So there's that. Besides, we can redeem her, too.

I don't like this....Everything about this encounter screams Trap...

I have a feeling we can be victorious through our own merits rather than relying on the power of a servant of hell.

>>513439
Uh, okay then. She is just unnaturally attractive because she's a demon, probably. Or perhaps the curves below the neck and above the knees are close enough to human for your instinctual libido, Creator? What distresses the mind may not worry the body. It is irrelevant, whatever the case may be.

She should know that we plan to be a goody-goody two shoes. She should behave herself if she wants to stay in our good graces. That also means no tempting mortals down the path of evil, not that she is likely to be able to while invisible almost all the time.

Aside from that, yes. We need the help, and with motives like that we can trust her to ensure Ansirous dies. I'm not concerned with her backstabbing us after the fight, as long as Ansirous dies.

>>513447
first rule of opportunism. even if it is a trap, we should use it to our advantage.

>>513445
remember, she has will of her own. She does not necessarily NEED to follow our orders, she chooses to so that she can prevent her own destruction, as well as Gain glory and power. Her intentions seem to run parallel with ours for now, but there is no way to be sure they will in the future, especially after Ansirous is defeated. And I say defeated not killed. While it is unlikely we can defeat Ansirous without killing him, I would at least like to keep the nonlethal option open. This companion has deliberately stated a will to kill Ansirous. Accepting her will make it more difficult for such an outcome to be possible.

Why do we need to take her along with us anyways? Could we not just have her as support for the final battle? We would not have to worry about her influence then. She is already a powerhouse, I doubt we will be able to improve on her abilities much.

If this devil guy really wants to help us now, ask him to give us some words of power rather than send along a companion who we cannot trust.

>>513450
>at least like to keep the nonlethal option open
What Ansirous does is MORE EVIL THAN EATING SOULS.

Why would you not want to kill that.

>>513452
What is a greater symbol of good than showing mercy even to the greatest of your enemies.

What could be more redeeming?

If it was possible to ensure that Ansirous was no longer a threat without killing him, It would be the most noble of acts. He may be a being of pure evil now, but recall, so were we. We were given a second chance. Is he no more deserving than us?

>>513450
that's not what it says on the label.
"Your word is sacrosanct, synonymous with her will." if she could pick and choose orders than she is no good to us at all, but i don't think that is the case.

>>513459
It's not that she can pick or choose which of our orders to follow. It's just that she can still act on her own, and she is not loyal to us. we merely share a cause. She has several other motivations that may come into conflict with our own. She may become a corrupting influence on us and those around us.

Even if these negatives CAN be mitigated, why take the risk. There is simply no point in her accompanying us. Her power will be best used and least risky in the final conflict, not against the standard threats of the world.

>>513467
If we just asked for words of power we could gain more versatility without so much risk.

Sounds like she will be accompanying us... I reccomend we explain her presence to the other two mages in our group as soon as we can do so safely. This way, we'll be able to watch each other's backs, as it were. Due to our position as leader, by Spindrift's loyalty and Astrea's...Resignment to her fate, corruption on us may end up corrupting our quest.
I'd like to turn her down, or at least have her work seperated from us, somehow, perhaps by spying on Ansirous and his movements/ spell effects, learning his words of power, and what not. A Mage with her eyes on a palace in hell could be far worse for our PR then Spindrift ever could be.

The Revenant Mage 2013/05/29(Wed)23:15 No. 513537 ID: 0eef61
File 136989453851.png - (58.68KB , 800x600 , 56.png )

"There shall be rules," I say. "I will think of them, and they will be most restrictive."

"Does this mean you accept me, Revenant?"
"It does," I say. "With great, wide swathes of caveats and regulations. But it does."

She breaks out into a jagged, flashing grin. A thin tail rises from behind her and swims through the air. "Whatever you think is best, Rev."

The Revenant Mage 2013/05/29(Wed)23:16 No. 513538 ID: 0eef61
File 136989456174.png - (68.36KB , 800x600 , 57.png )

Look at this. So many new friends made in one evening.

The pale pilgrim steps between us.

It warms my heart to see it, Ferrucio. Layla is fresh, and she is untested, but I see already that the two of you will be an excellent fit. Take her and use her however you would use her. We're all counting on you, you know. Our lives are in your hands. If you should fail, Ansirous will grow and swallow the sky and remake the Earth concomitant to his unspeakable soul

So let's not let that happen, hmm?

You're gonna take care of him. And if you don't, and you fail, then in the twilight of the world, before he drags us all into oblivion,

The Revenant Mage 2013/05/29(Wed)23:16 No. 513539 ID: 0eef61
File 136989457527.png - (98.44KB , 800x600 , 58.png )

I

will take care

of you.

The Revenant Mage 2013/05/29(Wed)23:16 No. 513540 ID: 0eef61
File 136989459388.png - (5.21KB , 800x600 , 59.png )

I awaken.

My shredded lungs are a billows with my labored breath. My ruined heart flutters and thumps.

If I fail, I shall deserve it.

>>513540
Where God uses a carrot, the Devil uses the stick.

Layla is probably here already. One simple guideline is "Don't do anything evil." She likely has a better understanding of evil than us, considering she punishes evil souls.

>>513540
if she is here already you need to set the rules BEFORE you sleep or you risk her doing evil stuff during the night. up creator, there is work to be done.

Suggestion 2013/05/30(Thu)10:15 No. 513558 ID: 1cf691
File 136993410997.jpg - (75.55KB , 500x500 , She_rules_you.jpg )

Tell Layla to show herself, it is time to lay down the law!

The Revenant Mage 2013/05/30(Thu)19:47 No. 513588 ID: 0eef61
File 136996843033.png - (6.74KB , 800x600 , 60.png )

"Layla?"

It is dark and silent in the room. I sit up and crane my neck. Perhaps she is invisible.

"Layla?"
My voice is breathless and flat, absorbed quickly by the enfolding bedclothes.

Above me, Spidrift snores and turns over.

Was it a dream? It could not have been.

End of Part 2 The Revenant Mage 2013/05/30(Thu)19:47 No. 513589 ID: 0eef61
File 136996843592.png - (215.28KB , 800x600 , 61.png )

A dream could not give me this leaden feeling in the pit of my stomach.