Fool's Adventures: A Demon's Souls/Buffy the Vampire Slayer Quest

Rituals are all about preparation. You had little need for them during your time in the Tower of Latria beyond the revival spell, but your predecessor the Queen made good use of them. Returning inside you head to the first floor to deal with something quickly before you leave to find the hall of metal you need.

Looking around for a key to the front door takes only a few minutes, and you eventually find one hidden in a cupboard in the kitchen. Forgotten and dusty, but usable. You hang it on your hip next to your book and scroll. Leaving in your seeming, you secure your new lair behind you and then head to the gate. You pause there momentarily to tie the chain into a knot around the gate.

Under the light of the moon you walk into town again, keeping a wary eye on the magic in the air. You decide to head north first, heading straight up Crawford Street, hugging the shadows between the lights.
It is quiet as you travel, passing homes and grocers and buildings you have no name for but obviously have some use for human business. At one point an hour or two in you pass near a very tiny hole in the wall building selling liquors and spirits from the smell with a raucous handful of adults piling up into one of those large vehicles with a storage bed in the back. The clothing is rather strange, as is the prevalence of shoes.

No matter, you have no need for shoes.

They do not notice you in the shadows across the road and you move on, using the repelling magic you sensed before as a landmark.
After some more time searching later, as the sky lightens with the approaching dawn, you begin to sense another spot of magic very close to you. It is much more chaotic and… muddled, than the repelling magic. Turning away from your current path in another neighborhood of quaint homes you head for it through the alleys and streets.

Cutting a path through the town brings you to it quickly, revealing a small little blue and white hut entitled "The Magic Box". Tilting your head to the right you taste the air around the building. The slide of magic on magic is clearer now. It feels like a bunch of individual and small magical sources squished into close proximity.

You cross the street to it and peer into the windows. On the shelves you can see a plethora of magical knicknacks and oddities. Glancing up at the sky you take note of the time and the location of this place in relation to your lair. Your workroom would look good with the more powerful items present in the little hut, though none of them will help with your current plan.

After this ritual to gain some of your magic back is complete, you shall take them.

Delaying no longer you move on, heading toward the center of town as the sleeping Souls start to stir around you.
The sun is fully above the horizon and day is in full swing when you reach the source of the repelling magic. It is a building with several tens of dozens of Souls mingling around it. Circling it unseen at a distance from the shade of a nearby stand of trees and buildings, you have found the people in this town to be almost willfully unobservant, you spot a sign entitling it "Sunnydale High School".

And then… you sense something else entirely. Head whipping toward a larger crowd, hair ornaments clanging, your eyes narrow and a low metallic grind rumbles in your throat. A powerful Soul is among them. The thought whispers through your mind as you reach out with your magic. Yes… She is quite strong, touched by shadow.

You cannot locate Her with your eyes in the crowd however. The bodies of the other young ones block your sight of Her. A loud clang diverts your attention to see a young boy fall on the ground near some stairs, a flat, wheeled contraption rolling away from him. A girl approaches him and you watch them begin to converse. You are about to turn away, until a closer look at the girl reveals a… well in her Soul.

She has mage potential, her Soul dances to the magic in the air. You ponder this development of two strange Souls so close together in silence for a time. Watching them, tracking them as they head into the building. You do not gain a glimpse of the strong shadow touched Soul again.

Receding into the shadows of the trees and homes around you, you circle the school. You can vaguely track their Souls through the walls. Tension crackles through you as you contemplate what this discovery of strong Souls means. Another pulse of your magic seeking out more knowledge and the accompanying weakness you feel pulls you out of your reverie.

You turn away from the school, striding back into your search. Such a strong Soul… I must hurry. Your thoughts speed along your course as your feet eat the sidewalk.
As your trek continues and with the sun climbing higher and higher in the sky, the amount of people around begins to increase rapidly. To avoid attention you stay amongst the alleys. Your search has carried you toward the edge of a neighborhood, where a pair of rails which go off toward the horizon is embedded in the ground.

Just on the other side of the rails you can see a maze of older and worn buildings. The scent of hard work and fire, with a hint of grave rot and blood, permeates the air. A smiths quarter, after a fashion. Haunted by a creature. There is another scent however, a subtle scent of hot metal and congregated Souls which pulls you forward. You will find what you need here, you are certain now.

Drifting inwards you carefully scan the various buildings around you, tracing the scent. To meet your needs, two criteria must be met. First your location must have the four corners, the walls, and the roof be clad in metal or preferably be made completely of metal. This shall satisfy the "of metal" criteria. You find many options which partially fit this criteria.

Large warehouses with walls partially of stone or brick, wrapped in corrugated metal. One enormous brickwalled structure with the scent of old machinery and gears clinging to it. Several other locations which are partially ruined and abandoned. A few incredibly old buildings with frames of metal and wood planking as the walls, rank with fish scent and smoke. The variety of slightly off choices is enormous.

Your second criteria has to do with that scent of "hot metal and congregating Souls". To be a "hall" in the style of the Northern Lands, and eligible in their ritual for a Lunar blessing like you are seeking, it must be a place of merriment. Where Souls gather to dance and let the drink flow freely. They must open themselves to the power of companionship within it. And this nature must permeate into the metal of the hall for it to work as a location, a focus for the ritual.

It takes several hours of seeking, following the scent past a plethora of slightly off foci locations, and the sun nearing the far horizon before you find it. A building whose four corners are strong and hearty metal beams and its roof and walls are corrugated steel.

The Bronze.

It is soaked in the scent of hot metal and Souls. You watch from around the corner of another building as a small trickle of people enter it and faint music emanates from it. Some are young, wearing colorful jackets like you saw that "Blayne" boy wearing, while others are older but clearly do not watch the children.

Slips of paper, money you gather, exchanges hands between patrons and the fat guard seated at the door before they can enter. Anticipation wiggles through you as you drift past the rear of the line, listening to the inanities of the small crowd as they chatter. Unmindful of your presence among them.

"I heard that she--"

"I saw this amazing dress Becky! You gotta-!"

"Dude, check that out!"

"So Vic, I heard that this one guy was found--"

"I'm serious she was wearing this--!"

It runs on and on, winding like a babbling brook of sound, as you round the corner of the building unnoticed. Running your hand along the wall you feel the building with your magic. It will do very well for this. There are some flaws in the structure, it was not purpose built for this, but they are small and do not matter. The name, the primacy of metal in the construction, the permeation of hot metal and Souls, all come together to make it suitable.

You find a backdoor into the building, more of the music leaking out from beneath it. Examining it critically you judge that you could force it open after blasting the lock. As you lean closer however, you get a nose full of that grave rot scent and blood. The essence of the Man-Things lingers in it.

Is this one of their hunting grounds…? You wonder to yourself. Your head tilts to the right, ornaments chiming gently, as you consider this fortune. Perhaps they too are drawn to the scent surrounding this building. You retreat from the building, plotting, your Soul bubbling gently.

Your lair and the Soul blessing awaits.

Reaching your home, as the sun dips completely below the horizon, you untie the knot of chains with a groan of abused metal and enter into your yard. To do this you will need to prep your work room. Securing the gate again you enter your lair, dropping your seeming and heading into the strange room with the cold box.

Searching through it you find two knives. The longer has a blade nearly the length of your forearm, reminiscent of a single edge dagger, while the other is about half that. You walk almost noiselessly up the stairs to the third floor and your work room. Examining the open spread of the floor you elegantly drift to the center and spin slowly in place, examining the floor and ceiling.

Digging through your memories provides you with an appropriate circle design. Taking one of the short knives in your upper right hand you carefully cut the tip of your pointer finger on your upper left hand. Focusing on the wound you push your Fog laced ichor out of it and, walking widdershins, scrawl a perfect circle into the floor. Feeling the circle's energy begin to build under the careful ministrations of your Soul and hands you draw a square into the circle, each corner meeting the inner side of the circle.

When the final black and gray line meets its fellows you feel the circle "click" into place. Examining it extremely closely with your mystic senses you verify its integrity. It hums quietly in your mind, perfectly formed. In the physical world it is an almost silvery piece of elegant geometry.

Grasping the short knife in your cut hand you remove the long knife and place it so that its point faces east. Pulling your spell book out with your lower hands you page to the proper chant and locate yourself at the northern half of the circle, the "head".

Taking a breath infused with Soul you begin to incant:

"Audīte mē! Per potentia Animae meae!" The circle burns to life with Fog light as your voice pounds the air.

"Propono aurae loricae et durum squama rumpam! Sub pondere invoco somnia nocte!" The glow reaches inward towards the blade, making it vibrate and flicker with shades of Soul light.

"Hoc durum erit fortis, hoc telum benedicat tibi cum meis!" The blade gains a golden sheen like flame writhing around it, hissing and snapping like a serpent.

"Interfice tuum adversāriōs, ENCHANT WEAPON!" And then with a sound like an in drawn breath before a roar all of the light flows into the weapon, leaving it glowing on the floor, almost sizzling in the circle.

Reaching down you pick it up with a lower hand as you secure your book and examine the shining golden blade. Passing it gently through the air you listen to the hum and watch the flow of the light on the blade. It is serviceable.

You had designed the ritual to work similarly to the Enchant Weapon spell used by the Slayer of Demons. However, via the ritual, you modified it to last for much longer at the cost of sharpness and power using your experience with spellcraft and Demonic nature. It will last till midnight on the night of the convergence, just a bit more than a day.

Resting it carefully on one of the shelves in your workroom you must now plan how you will spend the rest of your night. You still have a Beastly Sinner to find, and determining if you can feed on the strange energy by using a Soul as a filter.


What shall you do?

[] With the discovery of the Bronze you have a perfect hunting ground for a Sinner. Seek one out and disable it, taking it back to your Mansion.
[] Find and hunt a Soul in the night to test your theory about consuming the Magic of this town.

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You get a plot hook, you get a plot hook, and yoouuuuuu get a plot hoooook~~~! Do the Plot Hook Dance!

For those curious this is a decent approximation of the incantation which is actual Latin, hacked together with my rusty and basic education on the language from four years ago and reads something like this:

"Hear me! By the power of my Soul! I declare that golden armor and hard scales will break! Beneath the weight of the sorcery I call this night! It shall be hard and sturdy, this weapon I bless with my power! Slay thy foes, ENCHANT WEAPON!"

It wouldn't be Buffy without bad Latin spell incantations now would it?


Also, I will take a break from writing an update on Saturday and will instead devote that day to just interacting with the thread. Come armed with your questions and comments and curiosities, I'll be happy to discuss them with you!

Welcome to the Sunnydale Board of (nighttime) Tourism.

Locations of interest:

Sunnydale Natural History Museum.
A larger and better funded Museum than you'd normally expect to see in such a small town. It boasts respectable Archaeology and Palaeontology departments. The Museum contains a number of exhibits and artefacts that are rumoured to be of a supernatural nature.
Someone might suspect a sinister individual was funding the Museum as a means of gathering magical items and resources.

Sunnydale Zoo.
A larger and better funded Zoo than you'd normally expect to find in such a small town. It contains a wide variety of animal enclosures, containing members of the animal kingdom from all around the world. Including a number of rare exhibits, containing animals not normally found in captivity. Several of these rare animals are the subjects of various myths and legends.
Someone might suspect a sinister individual was funding the Zoo as a means of gathering magical creatures and resources.

Sunnydale Cave Network - A Natural History Site.
While largely unmapped, it is speculated to be the largest cave system in North America - one of the largest in the world. Unfortunately, the cave system has proved highly dangerous to explorers and surveyors, making proper mapping extremely difficult, meaning the local cave system can not take its place in any record books.
All those spelunkers and cave divers going missing, you'd think there was something hostile down there.

UC Sunnydale.
A fully accredited University of California, UC Sunnydale boasts the most generous student loan rates in all of California and a higher student acceptance rate than any of its peer institutions. However, despite its sprawling campus and first rate facilities, it also has the highest student drop-out rate in the country.
You'd think someone just wanted to bring in a renewable crop of careless young people each year, away from home and without nearby friends or family that would report them missing immediately.

Kingman's Bluff.
A well known local couples spot, the Bluff provides a stunning view of the Pacific Ocean and is an excellent spot for picnics. Also a site of local legend; following an earthquake in 1932 which swallowed up a classical Gothic Church, leaving no trace of the magnificent structure.
It's like the world itself rose up to destroy the building. Almost like it was acting in self-defence.

Sunnydale Sewer System.
Not traditionally a tourist destination, but an item of local pride. The Town Founder, Mayor Richard Wilkins the First, was a student of civil engineering and believed a job worth doing, was worth doing right. Thus the town of Sunnydale boasts a sewer and drainage system greater than many Major Cities in Monsoon regions.
It's like an underground highway system. You could travel from one end of town to the other, without ever seeing daylight.