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

You will use your nominal allies, you decide, as your small smile fades. The Warrior and her companions will be how you strike the first blow against the Rat King. Your mind pauses briefly as it considers the vampires which also beset you. It is rather unfortunate you cannot do the same to the Master while his location and even his essence continues to evade you.

Considering the nature of the two beasts it is quite probable that they will fight tooth and nail against each other. Useful… a part of you thinks. You rise then, pulling on your usual seeming, a shorter version of yourself with a human number of limbs and no tattoos or markings of demonhood. Your dress becomes an ankle length construction of smooth and fine wool, and your hair ornaments clank quietly upon your brow. The stone floor is comfortable beneath your bare feet.

"Guard the lair." You tell your minion. She nods silently and then rises to follow you as you leave the sanctum, following your unspoken command. You lock the sanctum wards as she crosses the threshold and tighten the other wards as you leave. Standing outside the gate you can feel your minion watching you as you travel the surface paths.

You put her out of your mind for now. The air of the town is disturbed. Magical power roils and bubbles all around you, even this close to your isolated home. The weight of the Rat King is pressing onto the flows of the Hellmouth, distorting them. As you expected, it is gaining in strength as time on this plane passes.

With shadows clasped close around you, you run through the oncoming night. Your first stop will be the school. If the Warrior or her companions are not there you will follow their scent till you find them.

The rot scent you sensed before is intensifying and you can smell a hint of wet rat fur rising with it now. You cannot sense many vampires at all. And the humans all around you, bundled up in their homes, add a miasma of fear scent to the mix.

It only takes you a short time to make it to the school and its area of repelling magic. You can see two Souls within. The mage potential, Willow, and the scholar, Giles. Cloaked as you are in shadows, nothing sees you as you approach your prefered window and slip into the classroom. Settling to the ground you taste the air. Nothing out of place yet…

Where is the Warrior then… you wonder. After a moment of thought you decide to simply ask her two companions here while reinforcing the deception you are laying. The classroom door slides open silently as you flicker through the halls. A handful of minutes later you arrive at the doors and hear a conversation drift out of it as you release the shadows around you.

"...shouldn't we go after them...?" A worried sounding girl's voice.

"They will be safe I'm sure… probably." The scholar, who sounds like he might be intending to follow the Warrior.

You push through the door then and enter silently. There you see the central table stacked with a variety of books, most of the visible imagery connected to rats. Seated near the table is the red headed mage potential, Willow. With his back to you is Giles, leaning against the table.

Crossing your arms, your bell like tones echo through the silence. "Troubles Mr Giles?"

The man flips around quickly, his expression extremely surprised as you see the girl child lean around him to look at you. Her face is a mix of incredibly surprised and curious.

"Witchy Girl?" She ask at the same time the scholar speaks.

"Miss Latria? What are you… oh dear." The scholar blurts out in momentary confusion, adjusting his glasses nervously. You tilt your head right, hair ornaments clanking quietly, which you note catch the eye of the girl child.

"It would appear, that you two are surprised to see me. Why? And who are you girl?" You ask as you glide into the room gracefully on silent feet, gaze flicking to the girl child. "Hi? Um… I'm Willow." She says shyly. "It's nice to meet you Willow, I am Latria." Willow's eyes flick down in embarrassment to your bare feet at your response. Her expression becomes extremely confused, though she seems too shy to say anything. You stop slightly to the right of them, forming a triangle.

Mr Giles sighs, running a hand through his hair. "Well we had thought you went into the sewers to hunt the things you described in your note. Buffy was rather insistent she try to save you." You sigh in imitated amusement.

"There is very little I need saving from in the night Mr Giles. However." Your mild amusement transmutes to imitated seriousness abruptly, causing them to straighten.

"I bear news of our mutual enemy. It is a Rat King, come to this dimension with its brood of warrior children and spies. Please tell me what you know of it, quickly." You say somewhat bluntly, Latrian accent thickening, pulling at the edges of your words. Giles brightens slightly at that.

"A Rat King? Ah! Where did I put that..." He says, and then turns to sift through the pile. Shortly he grabs a book from the table, an extremely thick tome with pages of vellum and turns it to show you. "Here." He says. In it is a picture of a creature composed of multiple rats all wrapped around each other, tied together by bound tails in a knot covered with foul, dripping, eyes. Giles continues, setting the book on the table, as you lean closer.

"From what you say and the portents I have also seen, we face a Rattenkönig, according to the old German here." You nod, and examine the image more closely. It pulses at you with mystical malevolence, and you can hear a hint of that grinding laughter.

"Yes, this has the shape of what I saw. A nasty beast. It doesn't specify how to kill it unfortunately…" You say, scanning the page. You can see from the corner of your eye Giles looking at you iin interest. "You know old German?" You look up at him and smile briefly. "It is similar to my home tongue." You say, which is not entirely a lie. The true tongue of the Fog demons is in its own way somewhat kin to all the mortal tongues, but the language of Latria is also somewhat similar to this "German".

You straighten then and nod, looking at Giles. "Where did they go?" You ask gently. He straightens and responds readily. "Ah! Here let me get… Willow, your help please." He says, breaking away from the book. She nods, speaking nervously, "One sec." They dig through the pile of books till another tunnel map emerges, along with some newspapers like the one you saw.

"Here we go. After examining the pattern we deduced that the creature may be somewhere near here." Giles says, gesturing toward a circled dot on the map somewhat close to the cemetery you arrived in. It is somewhat near the epicenter you can vaguely sense. You nod, pushing your hair back over your shoulder elegantly and look at them both.

"Please try to find a way to kill the beast. I'll make sure they come back safely." You say that last bit while staring at Willow, before turning to leave and moving to the door. She responds with a quiet and thankful, "Good luck?"

You are out the door and a ways down the hall when you hear a whispered question.

"Why didn't she have any shoes?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea, but I think it'd be best to follow her advice. Pass me..." You hear Giles respond.

You ignore them then and draw the shadows to yourself, speeding down the halls like a shade of ill omen. You slip through the halls until you come to a different classroom than the one you came in through. Pushing through the door you find a strange room full of glass beakers and smelly chemicals which your memory says might be some kind of lab for the mortal's sciences. Going through a window you exit out into the night, heading for the sewer entrance Giles pointed out.

It takes you several minutes to get there, but you eventually find a little metal hut, soaked in the scent of the Warrior and her male companion. "Xander" you think his name was. You drop in and land gracefully.

The scent of rats is strong in here. But, interestingly, so is the scent of vampires. Tensing, you move quietly through the shadows, deepening them around you. You move swiftly, your steps silent like a thief's. After only a few turns you begin to hear the sounds of a struggle, masculine grunts and the deep liquidy squeals of a very large rat-like throat.

You do not particularly sense any Souls. What you can see with your mystic eyes is the distortion which you sensed traveling with Darla briefly and a strange knot of rot and gossamer. Rounding the final corner you come upon a duo of creatures. One is a vampire, red-headed and burly with his face distorted, struggling to keep a grip on the weapon of one of the rat creatures as it buzzes and squeals at him.

"Hmm." Both creatures stop in stunned surprise at your hum of interest, their heads swiveling to look at you. Before they can separate you vaporize the vampire's head with a Soul Arrow. The rat beast screeches at you in a squealing roar. It charges, weapon raised high to crush your skull. Much faster than I expected.

Zhew! Zhew! Your first bolt takes it in the weapon arm, sending its aim askew but not disabling it. The second one catches it in the tiny eyes and you can smell them burn. It hisses and buzzes in pain, swinging its weapon wildly at you. You spin around it, gracefully and shoot another arrow into the side of its head.

It squeals annoyingly as it keels over on its side, unbalanced from its swings and your spells. The blows to its head have also stunned it. Quickly gathering your power you launch a arrow down its squealing mouth. It dies then, messily, and shrivels to loose skin and bones as its essence seems to flee towards its creator.

You grab that essence with your Soul and consume it. Oh… that is distasteful. Your nature recoils somewhat from the "Soul" of the thing. Your instincts guide you to finish it however, and you do gain some strength from it. When the last little piece disappears into your inner Fog, you hear and feel the thing writhe in anger, the mystical plane rumbling.

Quiet returns to the tunnels a moment later, except for the drip of water. Or other fluids. Listening intently, you hear no more signs of battle. You are also too far to see the Soul of the Warrior or her companion. Scenting the air subtly you detect their trail and rush at a relatively human speed after them.

Moving along you sense another warrior rat. Then you are upon it as you shoot out of a tunnel to its side, spells at the ready. Squealing in terror-rage it raises its weapon at you. Seeing the rise of magic you dodge to the right. A flaming bolt of rat bones flies past you as you shatter the things hands with a Soul Arrow.

Ranged weapons.

This annoys you.

Zhew! Zhew! Squeaaaaaaaak!

You launch two more bolts at its torso, bouncing it off the wall behind it as it squeals in anger. Surging forward on four limbs it gnashes teeth at you. Dancing back you shatter those teeth and stun the creature with another bolt. Your final bolt kills it, and another bit of essence is consumed.

You move on, contemplative of the lack of anything but vampires and rat warriors. The lack of the watchers you saw in your vision is strange to you. You would have expected to see at least one of them by now.

It is not your priority right now however, so you put that aside for the moment. You continue on, running through the tunnels, on the scent of the Warrior. You catch one other creature by surprise and down it with three bolts in quick succession, consuming it on the fly as you run. A few turns after that you see the Warrior's Soul and her companion. Surrounded by knot of the warriors.

You rush down the tunnels and eventually hear them fighting, or more likely in the case of Xander, scolding a rat frantically. Heading down a side tunnel you see a decent sized circular room, lit by flickering yellow lights. There the Warrior is holding off three of the creatures at once, with one of their own weapons. Her companion is on the ground behind her, desperately trying to keep the creature attacking him from bashing his brains open with its spiky weapon.

Zhew!

Your bolt flies out of the tunnel, impacting the rat on Xander and flinging it off to squeal and twitch on the ground, its side smoking. What pitiful creatures… You burst out of the tunnel then, hand glowing with another Soul Arrow.

"Buffy! Duck!" Zhew!

The girl bends forward at the waist, narrowly avoiding a sweeping strike from the left most of the three creatures, as your bolt flies over her to take out the furthest right creature, sending it sprawling. You run past the boy, seeing him stare at you in a daze.

"Witchy Girl?! Where did you come--Ugh!" The Warrior calls out to you as she dodges another strike, and then locks weapons with one of the creatures. Judging she has those two handled, you focus on the one you knocked over, which is trying to rise again while squealing piteously. And possibly cursing you in its own tongue, you aren't paying attention.

Zhew! Zhew!

You two bolts take it in the head and kill it. When you turn, the Warrior has already dealt with the last one, slamming her stolen weapon down onto its head with a gruesome finality. The battle, ends. After a moment of relaxing tension the Warrior looks at you, her expression confused.

"Sooooo… thanks for the save. Latria right?" She says, posture loose but poised to strike at anything which might attack you three.

"Indeed. I hear you were trying to save me?" You say, voice liliting with an imitation of suppressed amusement.

Her face becomes mildly embarrassed as she sighs. "Yeah… Oh!" She slaps a hand to her forehead before looking at you. "I'm Buffy by the way." You tilt your head at that, a fake smile flitting across your face, not that she notices its false nature.

"I know, you're starting to gain some fame in the dark corners." Her face sours at that and she slumps.

"Ugggghhh, just when I was hoping for some actual freetime!" She huffs, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face.

At that moment a rather pitiful groan emanates from the ground near your feet. You both look down at the boy, Xander, as he holds his head with one hand.

"Agghh ow… freaking Rat-Man." He groans out and sits up shakily. Being closest to him you offer him a hand. He takes it without thinking.

"Thanks, Buffy…Uh?" He stops whatever thanks he was going to say as his eyes land on your face, and his expression becomes very confused. You let him go, and tilt your head right. Since he seems to be stricken with a sudden bout of speechlessness you take the reins of the conversation.

"So, I am the woman you were trying to save. My name is Latria. Who might you be?" He seems to recover from his daze, somewhat, at your throaty voice.

"Uh. Um, X-Xander… My name's Xander." He stumbles through an introduction. Hmmm… quite the bumbling jester. You hum in response. "Nice to meet you Xander." He twitches as you say his name. Looking away from him you glance over at the Warrior. She seems to be trying to suppress a smile and failing rather badly.

You cross your arms and relax your posture into a more elegant version of the Warrior's own. Layering another piece onto the deception. Looking at the both of them, Xander rubbing the back of his head when he thinks you aren't looking, you speak.

"So, I think it would be best if we decamped, your companions are concerned for you and there should be many more of those Rat-Men." You watch as mild chagrin goes through them and then the Warrior looks curious.

"You talked to Giles and Willow?" She asks. You tilt your head left and respond. "Indeed I did, they've found out more about what you face. When I left they were trying to figure out how to kill it."

The Warrior looks confused for a moment, "It?" Then her expression shows a realization, and a measure of disgust as her face scrunches up. "There's a really big one isn't there?" She asks. You nod. "Yes. I can sense it, and we should go before it sends more." You suit action to words and begin walking out.

"Uh. You can sense it?" This is from Xander, as you hear them both follow you. You look back at them.

"I'm gifted, as you probably saw." You say impassively. The Warrior nods, realization crossing her face. She walks up alongside you, matching pace, while her companion limps along behind you two. She seems to realize something suddenly then and looks down at your feet.

"Oh no! Did you lose your shoes somewhere?" She asks, somewhat alarmed. "What? Shoes… Um?" This is from Xander. You look at them, imitating the eyebrow raise of a schoolteacher you once redeemed.

"I have no need for shoes Buffy." You say, imitating mild amusement. "Um… okay then? Magic thing? Magic thing." She says, seeming very confused before she apparently comes to a decision.

You take the silence to look at them more carefully. The Warrior is wearing pants, a rather strange custom of this land, and a blouse like pinkish shirt your minion called a t-shirt. The boy is wearing jeans and a striped long sleeved shirt. You turn away from your very brief examination and lead them through the tunnels.

After a few more minutes of walking, during which you are pretty sure the boy is staring at your lower half, the Warrior speaks up again.

"Soo. How long have you been in town? Giles said you arrived recently." You glance at her and decide to share. "About six days ago." She hums in acknowledgement at that. "Where are you from? You don't sound very Valley Girl."

Your tone becomes an imitation of wistful. "Far far away in a tiny kingdom, in a little village with no name." You say. In the silence that follows, while the Warrior is looking down the tunnel, you look over your shoulder and glare at the boy, imitating annoyance. He makes a little squeal as his eyes shoot up to the ceiling. The Warrior doesn't notice.

The walk proceeds on in silence for a time until you come to a crossroads. "Stop." You raise a hand, scanning as you sense three of those Rat-Men coming towards your group. "More Rat-Uglies?" The Warrior asks. "Yes." You say. "Crap." Xander says as he shuffles around to face the way you came.

"From the left." You say, walking over to the left side of that path, motioning the Warrior to go to the other. She darts over, and then tenses against the wall. You feel a twitch in the magic around you and then you hear a mass of chittering. Barreling around a corner on all fours comes three of the rat warriors, weapons not in evidence.

Your first bolt stabs into the face of the leftmost one, burning away its eyes in a squeal of agony. The Warrior flips around the corner of the intersection and solidly kicks the rightmost one into the middle one. Zhew! Zhew! Zhew!

Your bolts kill the one your first hit, sending its corpse careening down the other tunnel like a ragdoll, while the Warrior proceeds to kick to death the one she attacked. Her superhuman strength is rather impressive, you observe mildly. The middle one is annihilated by your last bolt.

Silence descends. The Warrior looks at you. "Anymore?" She asks, tense. You reach out with your senses. "No. But we should hurry." You respond.

From there it is a quick run to the entrance you used to get in. You emerge in the dark of night, street lights flickering around you. Before either of the two teens with you can say anything, you speak.

"Give my regards to Mr Giles and Miss Willow, but here is where we must part." Looking at them you can see tiredness starting to seep in around the edges from the run. Thoughts of killing them briefly flit across your brain, but your instincts and mystical knowledge say you would likely fail to actually kill the Warrior, even now. She is the equivalent to any Slayer of Demons you once fought. You discard that line of thought and start to leave.

"Bye! Thanks for the help!" That's the Warrior saying farewell. You look back and wave goodbye slightly, before disappearing into the shadows of an alley. At which point you sprint away silently and pull the shadows around yourself.

That went suitably, you muse to yourself. Now with the first blow struck, comes the next move in this little game. You could go down into the depths by yourself and kill more of the rat warriors and try to find a watcher thing, circling inwards as you approach the epicenter before retreating with a corpse for study. Or you could head for the area of the Bronze and try to find Angel, to drive out the influence of the beast from another area and strike a more strategic blow.

The night isn't over quite yet after all…

What do you do?

[] Go into the tunnels alone and kill what you find, seeking watcher things and a rat warrior corpse for further study
[] Find Angel and descend into the tunnels with him to fight against the foothold the invader is creating near the Bronze

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And that's your first foray against the Rat King's forces. He's got a lot of them though, being rats and all, so this adventure has some more teeth to it yet.

Operation "Be a mysterious witchy girl" is going well so far.

As usual, I'll be taking a break from updates on Saturday, and will be here to chit chat. Vote lock at 6:00 pm UTC June 8th. Also, would you guys prefer if I space out the vote options by one break for easy selection, or is it fine as it is?

Let's hope I don't fall asleep while writing the update like I have been recently.