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

Grabbing your unconscious minion by a foot you pull her out of the center circle. Dragging her over towards the armchair you leave her on the floor near it for the moment. Grabbing the blooding knife from the floor nearby, you store it on a shelf by the armchair. After this you move back to the center and hum a note, activating the central circle, prepping it for the examination of the Gauntlet you are going to do.

Turning, you carefully examine the objects laid out on the shelves before you. The mass of weak magical objects and the money are of no particular use, at the moment. They are not for this, you know. Considering the three major items you possess, you select the binding incense censer. Carrying it carefully in your upper hands, you kneel and place it at the northern side of the array.

With another note, this one A flat, you activate the anchor arrays in a pulse of Soul magic. Rising, you carefully taste the magic flowing in your sanctum. It will do, you think. Pulling the Fog from within, you spread it out through the room. When it washes over your minion you feel a hint of her dreams.

Dreams of flight and wings and cold and Fog. And a terrible dread Tower. As it should be then, you muse. Turning your brief attention away from her you coax the Fog into the stone inside the central circle. As it soaks and seeps in, the stone floor begins to glow a ghastly white and grey. Flickering with the power of your Demon Soul, the sanctum is now ready.

You then retrieve the Gauntlet from its place of honor. Cradling it in your lower arms, you run your upper hands over it. Peering into it, you can feel the magic within the reservoir of the device begin to stir faster now that it is in contact with a living being.

Carrying it close you return to the circle, this time standing before the southern half. With your full attention bearing down on it, you carefully pass the Gauntlet over the boundary of the circle. Its magic reacts subtly, the core threads of it twisting and lashing like sparks of lightning. It is faint but gives you a hint as to where to go.

Gently you place the Gauntlet in the exact center of the circle. As a part of you the Fog laid into the stones of the circle will act as a mirror, enhancing your sight, similar to when you searched for a convergence. Carefully standing you step away from the circle and reach for your magic. Diffuse white Soul light gathers between your upper hands in a mass.

Like a smith judging a piece of metal, you strike the Fog stained stone below the Gauntlet with the mass of your own magic. The impact resounds on the mystic plane, bouncing off of and within the Gauntlet. Show me what you hide… you think, as you watch the ripples travel and merge and split like currents.

What you get back is intriguing. The item expands across the mystic plane, multiple spectral images overlaid with its physical existence. The working reminds you of the Enchant Weapon spell, at least at first. Further examination reveals finer details which show that such a similarity is false. The taste of lightning strikes is all over this device, and it would be more accurate to say the weapon has been imbued with images of itself made of lightning, repeatedly.

The physical portions of the glove are made of iron and leather. However, these materials were forged to accept the enchantments which have been laid down and thus do not truly resemble their base heritage any longer. The specific method used to do this involved techniques you cannot divine the exact nature of, beyond that of lightning needing to have struck the metal while it was being forged.

As a consequence of this, you can determine with relative ease that the Gauntlet is incredibly sturdy. No mortal weapon would break it and most forces of the elements would simply slide off of it, leaving the device entirely unharmed. However, as a price for this, you can sense that there are places in the structure which will come undone and destroy the Gauntlet if it is placed in something you cannot yet identify.

You also see the reservoir you had sensed before. With your current efforts however, you can now see complexities in its structure. Channels, nodes, and a hint of multiple chambers all laid out before you on the mystic plane. Looking closer, you can see that the device also has portions of its structure which will react to sound produced by a wearer. Pulling away from the working you are performing, you consider what you have found so far.

It is obviously a device meant to gather energy and store it for later use, as you had previously surmised, and now confirmed. The details of this are that it is specifically fueled using lightning, based on the elemental touches you can sense, and is "opened" through some command word, though you do not know the details of it as of yet. As a consequence of the way it is designed, the device is also rather poor at containing anything other than natural energies. You will not be binding creatures to it, not without a lot of extra work and risk.

The sturdiness of the weapon indicates that it has quite a significant capacity, regardless. Fully charged it'd be a lethal threat to you. There are multiple strange pieces of the magical portions which you cannot identify, along with hints of multiple chambers in the reservoir which may potentially be for other elements. You need to look closer to know for sure.

Walking to the northern head of the circle you settle into a seated position. Retrieving your spell book you consider the next step. Hmmmmm… yes, something from the Stonefangs will do, you decide. The crafters of that place would know much of enchanted devices and constructions. Turning to the correct pages in your book, you begin to chant a short ritual to draw out a portion of the energies which reside inside the Gauntlet.

"Veni, veni, veni.
Res autem metallum et tonitrua.
Procellas in RECENS.
Veni, veni, veni.
Surge ex carcere.
Ostende mihi."

The circle pulses in time with your chant and when it ends the Gauntlet remains stubbornly unchanged. Hmmmm? You tilt your head left, staring at the device in curiosity. It would appear that the magic of the Gauntlet is extremely specific when it comes to verbal triggers. Placing your book aside you try a different approach by reaching out and placing a hand on the device, while extending a chunk of your magic into the censer as an anchor.

Feeling out the shape of the currents within the weapon with another portion of your magic, you follow them, gently pushing your Soul along them. Until you catch on something and tumble inwards.

Understanding what is happening, you let the fall continue until it runs its course. When you stop you find yourself standing on a blasted and charred field of shorne wheat. In the distance is a lightning blasted tree. At the foot of the tree is the Gauntlet. In this dream state you watch and wait.

After an interminable moment the sky breaks with a terrible lightning strike. It rushes in a river of light to the tree and then the Gauntlet. The crack that follows is not the sound of thunder, but a name. Myhnegon.

Very gently you prod the structure of the vision with your own magic. The response is immediate, as you feel the other reservoirs you had caught hints of unfold and begin to activate. In the vision, rain and wind begin to pull at your clothing and to buffet the tree. The lightning returns and then continues to fall in an unbroken curtain of light and noise.

You watch, unblinded by the display. You listen, teasing out the meaning in the sounds. As the Gauntlet tries to lash your Soul with lightning, you resist and begin to divine further details. The other two chambers in the reservoir are revealed to you and given context through the vision. One summons and stores the winds at the behest of a command phrase, and the other summons and stores rain at another command.

Myhengon is an entity related to the device, though it does not inhabit it. Most likely it was involved in the Gauntlet's construction. Peeling apart the layers with your mystic sight you can see that each reservoir can be used individually and you speculate that there may be some way to use them in conjunction, though you cannot determine even a hint as to how.

Prodding the vision in another direction, you see the rain and wind disappear, and the lightning take over entirely. The drumbeat of its thunder is at first incoherent. However, as you listen you begin to hear a chant.

Tar chugam a chumhacht Myhnegon! Before each strike.

Tar frim! As each strike falls.

The meaning of such visual metaphor is clear to you. The first phrase "opens" the Gauntlet, summoning lightning and fueling the weapon. The second phrase is a release phrase of a sort, meant to channel the lightning back out of the glove in a directed stream. You carefully note that information down. You may be able to adapt similar concepts into your own spellwork with more study.

You prod at the vision and the Gauntlet further, but find no indications as to the phrases which control the other chambers. You get the impression that the device needs to be worn in order to find those. With that thought in mind, you begin scanning the device for more information on how to wear and remove it as you pull away and let the vision fade.

With the vision gone, you study another part of the thing's structure, near the limbs which will plunge into a host's arm. Inspecting them, you look at each component and how they interact with the mystical form of the Gauntlet.

What you find is that they are keyed to the life of the wearer, by means of the blood and flesh. It would retract when the wearer dies, but you confirm your initial impression that you could coax the thing to retract before then. There are particular arrangements of magic inside of it that let a wearer force it out by channeling magic through their blood in a particular fashion which resembles flames and elemental fire.

Such a thing would take time for you to do, but is technically possible if needed. The issue most mortal practitioners would likely face is the intense damage and pain involved with literally channeling flame touched magic in their blood. If they even knew how. For you it would hurt and weaken you for a time, but you would survive the process. Further study might refine the removal method.

Thinking on this and the vulnerabilities you noticed earlier, you realize that the mystical nature of the device is susceptible to specific kinds of flames. Placing the object in a flame of a particularly magical nature will destroy the Gauntlet, though you cannot identify the specifics of what kind of magical flame is required.

Considering how it binds to the wearer you are also certain that you cannot hide it with a seeming if you are wearing it. At least not currently. The way it ties itself to the host's own magic and Soul prevents such illusions from actually taking properly.

Further study when you are more powerful, or wearing the device, though you are disinclined to do that, will allow you to learn more about the other powers you caught hints of. As well as better control the output of the Gauntlet itself when using the lightning functions.

Reaching into the slowly deactivating circle, as the Fog drains out of the stone floor and returns to you, you grasp the Gauntlet from where it almost seems to sag in the middle. Rising, you turn and carry it back to the cloth upon which it rested. With that task complete for now, you check the time using the energy of the Hellmouth.

Hmmm, it is dawn soon. That examination seems to have taken you most of the night. Looking at your minion where she lays near the chair, you can see that she is fine. A brief examination indicates that she will likely wake some time just before the sun sets, if not later. Her Soul is recovering nicely, but it is apparent that her mortal body needs rest.

As for what you can do now…

You can try to contact Giles again to ask him about the Master and for the aid of the Warrior in clearing the meeting place and perhaps the witches. While talking to him you will also have a chance to ask him questions about the Gauntlet. You will need to leave before you expect your minion to wake up of course, cutting short the amount of time you can get information from him.

Your other option is to begin studying the Volumen ex Inferna Daemon. You are pretty sure that the book has information you can use, based on what you can feel coming from it. Magical information tends to "leak" out when it comes to books of magic, you find. As a side benefit, you can also stay here within your sanctum and watch for your minion's awakening.


What do you decide to do?

[] Go to the school and find Giles. Ask him more about the Master and the meeting place, as well as the witches and information on the Gauntlet
[] Stay home and study the contents of your book on Demons and wait for your minion to wake up.

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Blark, insomnia sucks and makes the update slow. Anyway! I didn't expect this update to be this big, but apparently my muse thought it should be. Also mini vision quest yay!

Magic incantation for those who want to know.

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