Devil Ways IC

Dragongal

Dragongal

Miss Medic
The temple was rather dark, as was to be expected in the middle of the night. The building had no resident priest, rather, it was open to whomever in the village wanted to use it. Nothing inside was worth stealing, there was a raised dias in the front, a few lines of benches, and a simple raised balcony in the back. The odd thing, though, was that the temple wasn't completely dark. Rather, the central brazier was lit and a number of men and women stood around it. All of them had something that they were upset about, some reason to be there. It was the last one of a number of meetings; the next meeting would be by all rights an event.


The meeting was beginning to close. The men and women, all dressed in black garb, stood up. Their leader, a man with gold trim around his black robes, made a few parting remarks of how confident he was that the group would have "retribution" for all of their perceived wrongs. His voice was enthusiastic, loud, and clear; until the fire in the brazier suddenly went out completely and plunged the room into darkness.


Most of the cultists were asking questions or requesting torches, yet the leader didn't speak for some reason. When a cultist lit a torch he'd had nearby, it was clear that the leader and a few other cultists were unconscious, if not dead - they lay on the ground and didn't move. Whoever had the torch suddenly fell with a cry and the light of the flame dimmed on the ground. It was enough to reveal the throwing dagger in the center of his chest, but little else. Immediately the cultists panicked and drew weapons if they had any. A cultist picked up the torch just in time to reveal Daniel. He was wearing full black, but unlike the cultists, his clothing was fitted to his form and he had his head and face wrapped in black cloth so only his eyes were visible. In his hand was a staff that looked odd in the low light. 


Skilled though some of the cultists were, Daniel had little trouble disarming them or defeating them with his staff. He was extraordinarily quick in dodging and in striking, and unlike his enemies, he didn't trip over benches, but rather used them to keep the numbers he fought thin. Only two mages were present, which was lucky. Daniel initially focused on taking them out so he could deal with the rest.


@InsanEleven


When all was said and done, a few cultists lay dead, killed with their own weapons or a throwing knife, and the rest lay unconscious or had surrendered, in which case they were still unconscious as Daniel didn't particularly want to deal with them. One cultist had stayed to the back, though, and had showed a distinct lack of aggression. That one, Daniel intended to either question or deal with in time. 
 
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Delai had been quiet among the cultists, listening and watching for weeks as one of them. The illusion he had cast up as a cult member strengthened both magically by a charm around his wrist and a good deal of experience on how they all worked. Soon enough he had been shown the details of the summoning, this so called "retribution" to be released. And thus he had set to work; by night as a good cultist to complete their spell, by day to craft the counterspells. When the demon had been summoned he would have captured it immediately, studied while it was safe and send it back. But sometimes these things didn't work as they should have; sometimes cultists attracted the wrong attention.


The man having killed them rightfully so being classified as wrong attention, but luckily for him the attention was not yet entirely on him. So now he figured he had not that much of a choice; try and flee with the knowledge intact or stay and surely end in a perilous situation. A spell to silence his motions, to hide him against the background. If he acted fast he could gather the books and make an escape into the night.


Thus he moved as quickly as the heavy black robes allowed him, to the small side room. Little more than storage, but he knew where they kept the book hidden. Quickly he stuffed the book in his satchel under his robes, where he kept all his necessary papers. Including the said counterspell. Now all he had to do was turn back and go...


@Dragongal
 
Delai was easy to keep track of for Daniel. Unlike the others, nothing in Delai's description made him seem mad. Everyone but him seemed to think they were in the right - in fact, they seemed to think it was their right. Delai was different, he hung back, he didn't attack, he slunk off. So either he was going to ambush Daniel with a spell, or, he wasn't a threat. Luckily Delai was in a small room with a single exit. For too many nights, Daniel had stayed up to listen to the rumors and study the church. Despite being physically twenty-one, he was tired. 


With a silent sigh, Daniel stretched in the darkness of the main room, then went back to the single room Delai was in. He would need to find the book and papers behind this, if they existed. That was his cool-down time, when he could relax and still say he was working, and he was looking forward to it. No damned coward would take that from him. So Daniel leaned on one side of the threshold and set his staff against the other side of the threshold so he was unarmed. He wasn't looking at anything in particular - much like someone who was tired and just wanted to go home. All he had to do was wait for Delai, get the books, and leave.
 
Delai had turned around only to find the man in black lean against the doorway. Thus he hadn't been quick nor silent enough, mistaken in the idea that he hadn't been noticed. Furthermore it had caught him surprised; a twitching motion in his hand wanting to catch a spell in defense, and him stumbling back away in the small room. The silent spell interrupted by a far less silent fall as he tripped over a stray bucket that send him tumbling backwards. His head making a quite unpleasant sound smacking into the stone wall.


First he saw red, and for a little while that numbed his head of any urgency. Soon enough though the red faded and the blotched shape of a man reminded him that he was quite possibly about to die. His first spell interrupted by his fall, the second attempt didn't fare any better as he meakly mumbled some words, only to get confused by his own finger motions halfway though. Now quite certain he was dead he just lifted his hands defensively shouting his possible last words.


"Wait! I'm not... not one of them!" Mid sentence he took off a silver bracelet around his wrist, and instantly the illusion around him shivered and wafted away. What had first been an old man now clearly about 40 years younger. Staring up still somewhat dazed with his hands held high as if those would really help.
 
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Daniel had watched the indignant display indirectly. He never looked directly at Delai, but rather the walls and his fighting staff. The fighting staff was actually a steel rod meant for scaffolding, and very, very heavy - which was why only Daniel could carry it. When Delai spoke, Daniel turned his head to look at him questioningly. He had heard Delai hit his head, but hadn't shown his concern. Now his concern was rather clear, though. Because of Delai's injury, Daniel realized it would be best to speak, no matter the consequences. The fact that Delai, now looking like a young man, reminded Daniel of Conroy helped Delai's case considerably. "I assumed as much," Daniel said rather quietly and with a sigh. His voice was rather average, not too deep or too high, just... normal and tired.n "You can calm down, I'm not going to kill you unless you attack me. But I need the information you're trying to steal away. And may I know who you are?"


For once, Daniel stood up straight and actually faced Delai. There was very little light in the room, but Daniel didn't need it - he had a magicked pendant that allowed for him to see in the darkness. If Delai had a similar ability, he could have seen that Daniel had retrieved his throwing knives, most of which were bloodied. Of course there was no sign that Daniel was going to attack, because he had no intent to. 
 
Delai frowned slightly, trying to make sense of the situation while slowly lowering his hands as he wasn't yet dead. Rather slowly the meaning of the man's words got through to him as well.


"Er... I'm Delai, I study demons. Their papers are very... very important for my research." It must have been either an unhealthy sense of stubbornness or the hit on his head that caused him to deny the document to a man like Daniel. Then the very familiar smell of blood wafted along, at first believing it to be from where he hit his head. However, running his fingers across his head he found he wasn't bleeding. Despite that it seemed to somewhat clear out the dazedness and realise that despite not being in the danger of getting killed he had no reason to believe this man wouldn't employ other methods to get information. Perhaps he would be better off handing a man sounding rather unfazed from killing a dozen people a book. He could get other books... but then again other books wouldn't be this one, and he'd have very little academic integrity if he just handed a rare magic book over to be destroyed, no matter the reason.
 
Few people studied demons, and far fewer hunted them. In fact, to his knowledge, Daniel was the only legitimate demon hunter in the kingdom. What did that make Delai? A rarity, a liar, or someone who was rather insane?  Clearly, Delai cared for his own well-being. "I'm not sure what research you're conducting then, kid. I'll place a bet on what's in the book. Studies of black magic and summoning magic, the names of some demons, and a lot of notes about the leaders believing they were in the right. Probably discontent with the simple village life, but they had some stupid reason not to just move away. That was what they said in their meetings, right? Here's the truth. Either they were discontent themselves or some demon trying to escape stirred the discontent. Which, judging by the numbers, is what happened. The demon couldn't properly escape on its own, so it managed to influence. Not that it'll be a problem anymore." Daniel's assessment of the situation was clear, concise, and definitely from someone with experience. He held his hand out for the book. He didn't want to hurt Delai. All he wanted was to get his job over with and sleep. "Please, give me the book. I need to look it over for anomalies. It's not safe to leave it out for anyone to read. There's too much personal information about these people that can be used against them. Have some pity on them. I doubt they were all even in their right minds." The book would certainly have information scribbled in the margins about these people. How one woman, a mother, hated her husband and didn't care about the kids, how another man knew his wife was cheating but was too scared to confront her, how a woman felt betrayed by her friend who had gotten married while the woman remained alone, all the information would be there, and those people had a right to privacy.
 
Delai looked up reluctantly, but then his facial expressions eased and he nodded.


"Okay, you win... I'll hand it over." Quietly he crawled up, having somewhat trouble with his balance but staying upright albeit with a slight sway. Reaching for the satchel under his robes he searched around a bit.


Apparently he had found what he was looking for, but it was neither a book nor any paper. Instead his eyes hardened with determination and with a quick gesture he initiated the spell he had held prepared. Immediately a bright flash appeared from his outstretched hand, a cone of flames bursting violently outward blasting the man through the doorway with enough force to slam him into the wall of the church.


Delai was not going to check whether Daniel was alive or not, really he had had no specific intention to kill but rather to get himself out. The smoking body of the man would have to sort out for itself if it was dead or not; he was just storming out of the door before the townsfolk came. Vanishing into the night with rapid paces. His cultist's robes useful for hiding his features until he had made it out to the empty road leading toward the next town over. After that they were discarded; a simple vanishing spell annihilating it into cultist robe smoke.


But with a still dizzy head, his mana reserves depleted and out in the middle of the night he could easily say there had been better moments for him. With heavy and tired steps he just carried himself to the other town, the weight of his satchel with an added source of knowledge easing his mind enough for him to not feel utterly miserable.


Once there he would go to the inn, not even bothering with a meal despite mana depletion making him well beyond hungry. Instead he just fell down in a heavenly subpar bed to be instantly gone to sleep.
 
For some reason, Delai's reaction hadn't been a surprise to Daniel. Later he even wondered why he hadn't expected it. The moment Delai had begun to gesture, Daniel had brought his arms up to protect his face, and a second later the spell hit him. Oddly enough, the most painful part wasn't the fire, but rather hitting the wall of the temple. When the force holding him to the wall was gone, he collapsed onto the floor and decided it would be prudent to not bother moving. At least the scorching on his clothing wouldn't show since he was already wearing black. That was his line of thought as he laid on the ground, anyway. 


With a quiet groan, Daniel got up to his feet. Delai was long gone, and there was no point in searching for him. Daniel looked around the church and heaved a sigh, then set to finding as much evidence as he could that the people were guilty. Once he had that and he bound it together in some twine, he carried the bundle to the village leader's house, where he left it on the doorstep with a handwritten explanation of events.


The moment that he was able, Daniel headed for the next town where he had a room in the inn. On his way he picked up his rucksack and stopped by a river nearby to clean the soot from his skin. First he washed off his hands, taking off blood, dirt, and soot. Then he unwrapped the cloth around his head and face to reveal dirty-blonde hair, light olive skin, and a scar going through his left eyebrow. Knowing he was alone, Daniel stripped and cleaned himself, and his clothes, off in the river, then got dressed in more fitting traveler's clothing: a green long-sleeve shirt, brown pants, and brown walking boots. Oh, and of course, he wrapped a black-and-silver scarf around his neck so that the ends didn't hang and his neck was covered. 


Once he got to the next town, and his inn, he didn't even bother to go to bed, but rather got a plate of hot eggs and warm bread. Kicking ass and getting his ass kicked had taken a lot out of him, and he was thankful for the food.
 
When the sky had turned grey Delai had woken up; a raging headache and his stomach feeling like it was about to melt itself. He wondered about crafting another illusion, but his magic power had not fully restored and quite frankly he didn't feel like spending the time and effort as he was only staying here another hour. Although the man he had blasted against a wall would most likely be looking for him he was rather sure he could not be found that quickly. To make a long internal argument short he wanted breakfast and he wanted it quick.


It was not long after he had sat himself in the dining room with some steaming hot porridge and a thin notebook. Jolting down the few details of that same night before he could forget them or his headache would drastically alter them as he thought back. 
 
Daniel had hardly finished his food when Delai sat down. He recognized Delai, but he didn't want a fight. Hel, he wanted to go to bed, but now seemed a good time for introductions. With a sigh, Daniel got up and went to the counter and ordered a cup of tea, then walked over and took a seat across from Delai. The hunter'd allowed Delai time to write in his notebook. He Idly drank his tea and looked over at Delai's notebook. "Did you write anything about me in there? I had to wait two hours for a few nights, it'd be a shame for that to have been left out." Daniel chuckled and said, "You should probably stay quiet. Cause a fuss and everyone might freak out a bit. News of the deaths and demon summoning haven't reached here just yet." Before Delai could panic, he said, "Again, I'm not here to hurt you. I'd like to at least talk."
 
Delai had looked up quite in shock as he heard the man comment, but then quickly straightened his face realising that he hadn't been dead last night, as he wasn't dead now, so at least something was keeping this man from outright murdering him for being related to demons. Closing his book he looked at the man in front of him, considering him surely lucky to come out of his spell rather unscathed.


"I assure you that if you want to keep me from honest research we have rather little to introduce eachother to, but do try and surprise me." Most of his behaviour was a bluff; he had an awful headache, no mana and no intent to kill the whole inn. His integrity however seemed to hold some importance, whether it were academical or physical. 
 
Daniel laughed quietly and looked around the inn casually. "Trust me, I could surprise you. For example, I haven't attacked you. You attacked me. Speaks a bit to personal nature, right?" Slowly, he sipped his tea, then shrugged. "Not to mention, I'm just asking to have the book when you're done. You want to study it, be my guest, though I don't understand why you'd want to study that. Few people bother. Anyway, you can't keep the book. I'm going to need to take that, sooner or later." At no point did he explain that he was a demon hunter, and he made it clear that Delai would have to either ask or figure it out.
 
Delai had just straightened his back and shook his head in polite but stern disagreement.


"You talk like you're borrowing me a book but the late term is death. Now I neither think it belongs to you nor do I want to give you this knowledge. Who's to say you're not a thief with ill intent? A rival cultsman? Someone with a mad idea to tear the planes open? You talk like it's a given, but I don't know who you are and what you want, and in that instance I'd rather burn it myself than giving it away at will to any murderous passerby who comes asking for it nicely." 
 
Why does this kid have to make it hard on me? Daniel growled quietly beneath his breath. "I am not a murderous passerby. I have more right than you do to that book." After a few moments of silence, Daniel said, "I can prove it to you. Not in public, though. It'd have to be in private. I doubt you'd be willing to accept that, though." "Funny, you're wondering if I'm the dangerous one. You're the one who cast a spell that scorched my clothes and pelted me across the church. I only hurt people who were about to hurt others. Hel, they were already practically gone, if I may be blunt."
 
Delai just let out a little sigh, trying not to let the frustration of the argument get to him. "Don't you see that all you are doing is fighting the symptoms without ever knowing what the disease is. You cut out rot but you never stop and wonder why it is rotten in the first place? Just do it again and again won't you? I'm not looking for these books to archive some forbidden knowledge in a far off ivory tower. I'm trying to find a way to get rid of demons, close the rifts, see if there isn't truly a way to get those 'too far gone' back. And maybe I won't succeed, but if you keep it all to yourself no one will."
 
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With seemingly inexhaustible patience, Daniel calmly said, "If I may be blunt, I already know most, if not all, of that. But you won't believe me unless I prove it to you, right? First off, the rift? Heals itself over time, the problem is, it's not getting time to heal. And it's small already, but there were always the ones that escaped anyway. Part of the reason people go mad and summon things is the influence of those demons - something small, like having a few gold less at the end of the day, becomes completely intolerable. Strange dreams are another way that the demons get into people's heads. I'm not saying I understand all the magic parts - I don't. What I am saying is that those people have their names in that book and they deserve to have that privacy. Not to mention, chances are there is a demon attached to that book in some way or other, and you open the right page, you'll get its attention, and then... I don't know if I could help you, kid. I don't want to fight. I don't like fighting. I can prove this all to you, then you might understand. I'm just doing my job."
 
And I'm just doing mine. They clearly weren't going to get any further with quabbling about whom deserved what. But maybe he could find a practical use for this guy and get out of it with something better than this book. Clearly he had some experience, and wasn't just some run-of-the-mill farmer who had had an ideological awakening or worse. So perhaps... it was worth a shot? Clearly he wouldn't be able to rid himself of the man otherwise and he wasn't in the mood to discuss job descriptions.


"What if I said I can get you other books? We trade this one for one without private names. You can do yours and I can do mine and we both walk away with what we want."
 
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Daniel sighed and slowly rolled his head to pop his neck. This wasn't going to be easy. Maybe he could lie his way out of it? Maybe it wasn't to that point yet. "So, you follow me for your research and I give you whatever knowledge I find. Is that what you're suggesting? Because if it is, it's a bad idea." He was specially equipped to do his job - this kid wasn't. It would be reckless and inhuman to bring the kid along. "You're a scholar. You do have some fancy tricks up your sleeve, I know. But to bring you along... would be inhuman of me." Hadn't he brought Conroy along, though? That had been different... right? But was it not inhuman for him to work on his own? No, it didn't matter. He was inhuman anyway. Finally he sighed, and shifted in his seat a bit. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Alright. Let's make a bet. You win, you can come along with me and get all the information I get - if you promise to respect the people's privacy and keep the books to yourself - and if I win, you give me the book and pretend you've never seen me. Deal?"
 
Hmm, a book for the potentiality of getting help? Quite frankly he would have gone after the other works by himself already. Infiltrating, convincing, and weeks worth of work would be gone if he could just pick up after this guy. And despite what the man said about his 'tricks' he knew he could hold himself. That fire magic wasn't his forte wasn't the problem.


"What are the conditions?"
 
"Conditions? I'll put myself in an unfavorable position." Daniel took a gold coin from his pocket. Delai had to remember that if they were separate and hunting cults, Daniel wouldn't leave a trace for Delai to find. "I will flip this five times. King's emblem up once, I lose. Simple. If, at all, any of the five times or all five times, the King's emblem shows, then you will win." It was clearly almost an impossible bet. Out of five times, the chances of one side never showing up was nearly impossible, and Daniel knew it well. He would lose. But what Delai didn't know was the influences Daniel had favoring him. 
 
Delai just snickered a bit then shrugged. "You seem awfully confident in your 'random' coin. Take one of mine." He put one of his own silver coins in front of the man; either he called off the bet because his fake coin wouldn't work, or he had an awful lot of trust in his tossing skills.
 
Daniel chuckled and took the silver. Of course, he looked it over - if the coin had been tampered with or enchanted, thnen it wouldn't truly be left to chance. In which case, he would not be given favorable interest. "Nice coin. Same as before, if the King's Emblem shows once, you win. Blank side five times, I win." After a second to weigh the coin and check it for irregularities, Daniel flipped it with full confidence that it would be blank five times. Except, it landed with the Emblem up. For a few seconds, Daniel just stared at it with a puzzled look, then he looked at Delai. "Did you tamper with this? Bloody mage - " He flipped it again. And again. And again. "Gods be damned!" After ten times, every single time had had the Emblem up, Daniel growled, "Damned passive-aggressive b-" Daniel caught himself and didn't continue. He, of course, didn't seem to be cursing Delai; he was cursing out a specific god. Finally he tossed the coin back to Delai and leaned back in his seat. "Well, apparently fate favors your travelling with me for some reason. I take no responsibility for what happens from here, blame the gods. I was against this." 
 
Delai didn't even seem that happy considering he had 'won' the bet. Instead just looking at the silver coin with an incredulous look, taking it from Daniel and tossing it himself after... only to have it land on the blank side. Which made him look up again back at Daniel, wondering why he'd been so confident before and at the same time so cursed the mathematical laws of chance apparently didn't work on him. In all honesty he'd been preparing an small illusion under the table just in the case he somehow did manage to land blanks a few times in a row, but he was more surprised it managed to land a time or ten in his favour.


"Now I know why they thought me true chaos can come back all the same... never thought to see it though..." Guess he was keeping that coin as a lucky one from here on out.


"So..." Despite not being too trusting of Daniel, he seemed dedicated to his bet. And oddly enough he trusted him more than those perhaps listening over their slightly louder than should have been discussion. At least enough to pull out a rather interesting tidbit of information he had gathered: taking a thick piece of canvas from his bag. Folding it out over the desk a large map of the North revealed itself, on it a large amount of red dots. "This, is where your bet is going to take you." He poked firmly at a big red circle, bigger than most of the dots. "I hope you have a knack for archaeology."
 
Daniel scoffed a bit. "I'd have found it eventually. Trust me, kid. But your map would be quite helpful, if you're willing to share." He didn't betray what gave him his confidence, but rather, got up and sighed. The God of death had made it evident that he was to assist him. "Evidently you're to follow me. You'll have to keep up. Get your stuff, I'll get mine, and we go."
 
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