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

To the Bronze then, you decide. The night blurs past you as you run with a speed that would astonish any mortal watching you. You are definitely not the fastest of your brethren, that honor likely belongs to Sir Metas the Penetrator, the Arch Demon form of your predecessor's friend. Nor are you the fastest creature on this plane, but you are much faster than a mortal, your Demon Soul empowering your body.

The air whispers around you, pushing through the leaves on the trees, the grass, and slipping through the alleyways. You in turn push through it, leaving it only quietly disturbed as your closely held shadows mask your presence. Most of the humans are returning home it would seem, rumbling along in their cars, while you rush past them beneath their notice.

The houses however, are all weighed with a sense of… hopelessness. Fear. The closer you get to the Bronze the further the feeling intensifies. It is not just the Rat King, a part of you notes. It is a well worn feeling in the air, made noticeable by the strain the thing is putting on the community just by its very magic.

It is somewhat similar to the feeling you sensed during the Harvest. When you cross the tracks into the district containing the Bronze, buildings starting to rise around you, you do not feel the mystical brush across your senses which would indicate that you have crossed the metaphysical "border" that you expected.

You turn and pause in an alley to taste the air and carefully watch the magic all around you, concealed from prying eyes. The air is fragmented with magic, but it is not a whole thing of magic. The bleeding heart of it has been ripped out. The foothold is broken and fading quickly. Angel…? You wonder to yourself.

You blur out of the alley and search through the other backstreets, avoiding the drunken humans bumbling about, for a way down into the under-ways. You find it, near a vent releasing steam from within a building which seems to be some kind of eatery. You silently slide it out of place and drop down. It is completely pitch dark below, the only light being from the entrance.

The eyes you have can see perfectly fine however. You leave the entrance open as you scan, looking for the right direction. To your right runs parallel to the tracks you crossed. Your left runs in the opposite direction until a distant turn. The fragments in the air seem to be leading you right, a faint sort of organization still remaining to them.

With silent steps you dash through the tunnels, Angel's scent cropping up around you frequently. He went down this tunnel, you think. You follow the strange vampire's scent. You are also watchful for any spies or rat warriors, though none of their essences are in evidence when you look.

A few turns down the way and you find the occasional corpse, or pieces thereof along with several of the weapons the rat warriors use. It would appear then that Angel fought through them while moving through the tunnels. The trail of destruction frequently stops and disappears until you follow the scent further and find a new patch.

There's even a very quickly rotting hunk of rat fur and meat which you think is one of the rat giants which you have to maneuver around, stuck with several of the rat warrior's weapons and also burnt like it had been shot with the same weapons. It will be useful then to have assistance when I assault the second foothold, if this is the forces arrayed near this foothold. The corpses peter out after that, with the pulse of magic becoming far more raw beyond it.

It takes you about a quarter of an hour after that, but eventually you find something deep within the dark tunnels. Suffused in Angel's scent is the remains of a broken altar, of a kind. You examine it critically with your mundane and mystical sight. On the surface it is mostly ash, a giant burn mark going up the wall from where some shap leaned against it.

The bits and pieces that remain seem to be bones, likely human, or at least humanoid. And fur. Beneath the ash you can also see markings and pieces of destroyed writing. There is a scent of old blood here, and sacrifice. Brushing through the ash you come upon a chunk of crumbly, almost broiled meat which your senses cannot identify the source of.

It would appear that this altar was sustaining the foothold before Angel destroyed it via scattering and burning. Mystically the thing was definitely some kind of artificial place of power, bridging the gap between the dimensions of this place and where ever the Rat King hails from. Not quite like an Archstone. But kin of a sort. A part of you notes what remains of it for future use.

That is… not very suitable a different part of you thinks. This is because it means it may be possible for a portion of the creature's power to survive in this world after its destruction, though the possibility is slim. What you have here is not like your Revival spell, or the tales your predecessor hear about the Miracles. But the powers at work here are different enough that you are not certain the Rat King could not come back in some fashion if you leave these in place, perhaps by bestowing power onto a surviving minion or a prepared mortal to create a new Rat King.

The mystical remnants are not something you can do anything with, too broken and burnt to actually be useful as anything other than detritus. You retreat from the altar remains. You do not head back the way you came however. First you will see what might be happening near the Bronze.

While the power of the Rat King is nearly gone here, it is not entirely gone, and you would not trust your opponent to be unintelligent. Not entirely. So, you move deeper, the dank air of the tunnels sliding off of you. Shortly thereafter you come to the tunnels near the Bronze and see the Souls congregating inside it. No rat warriors.

And then below the mass you sense a Soul very close to you. Angel. You turn and then there he is rounding the corner a moment later, presence subdued. He seems only mildly surprised to find you here, though the way his expression flickers into a false more surprised look makes you think he was probably warned through some supernatural means he doesn't want people to know about. Probably scent or hearing.

"Fancy meeting a lady like you down here." His smooth voice says in interest. His posture relaxes, going languid while remaining upright in a way that likely has mortal women throwing themselves at him.

You tilt your head right, mimicking an interested expression.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Sir Angel?" You say calmly as you approach, before pausing just outside easy reach and imitating a forgetful gesture. "Dear lord where are my manners. I'm Latria, if you haven't heard already." You say, imitating a slightly embarrassed tone and body language, as you offer to shake hands like you've seen people do here.

"I hadn't actually, it's a pleasure all right." He says as he shakes your hand. His grip is a warriors and so is his essence. Definitely a vampire, a part of you notes. But quite different from the rest of his kind if the Soul you can see burning within is anything to go by. An old Soul as well, perhaps a third to a fourth as old as yours and thus one of the oldest you've sensed in this world.

He straightens then, becoming more serious. "I was out hunting when I came upon a rumor of strange sacrifices. One thing led to another and so, here we are." He says, mild smile touching his face. You nod. "Indeed, I found a ruined altar a ways back and a rather… prodigious number of corpses. Your doing?" You say, with a smile of your own.

He chuckles. "Yes." His expression darkens. "It is not the only thing going on down in these tunnels however, as I'm sure you've noticed?"

You imitate a sigh. "Yes. But let's walk, I do not wish to speak its name in a place so recently part of its domain." You turn and lead the way, with him falling into step beside you. From the way his body settles as you walk you can tell he's settled into a state of extreme alertness, though none of it is exactly aimed at you.

Most definitely a useful tool. You eventually come upon a stairway into a side area full of machinery which leads up to a door and out into the surface, which is conveniently also unlocked, by way of the lock having been forced a long time ago. Which going by the scent lingering on it, was probably done by Angel at some point in the past.

The two of you find yourselves in a small storage building of a sort. As Angel shuts the door you Move on out of the building entirely, and find an appropriate in the alley it opens up into and seat yourself gracefully on a nearby crate. He follows you out and leans on the outer wall of the storage building near the door, such that he could grab anything that bursts out of it. Looking at you he smirks slightly, gesturing for you to go on. "Ladies first."

Clasping your hands in your lap regally, you speak.

"The thing of most import is that we are dealing with an incursion from a Rattenkönig." He stiffens at that, and at your brief questioning expression he nods for you to continue. "Its name is Raflenging." He tilts his head at that, thoughtful expression on his face. "I recognize that name." He says on a sigh, before continuing.

"I read in a book once that he was cast out by angelic powers wielded by a saint. Unfortunately… we seem to be short of those."

You nod before responding, kicking your feet slightly. "Your Warrior friend and her companions have found an alternate method involving copious use of poison." You raise an eyebrow as a smile flickers. "Fitting, for a "king"."

Your expression sharpens in imitation of seriousness. "However, we have another problem." You lean forward slightly, his eyes staying locked on your face.

"There's another altar, I can sense it. Recently raised." He straightens from where he's leaning on the wall. "I know my demons well enough to know that's a bad thing. Where?" His tone is completely businesslike now, not that you care that it wasn't before, beyond it making him easier to manipulate.

"Distant, by the school." You watch his features flicker darkly for the briefest instant, anger surging in the air from him as well as a hint of fear. "I can give you a ride in my car, how do you want to do this?" He asks you.

You quirk an eyebrow and tilt your head right. "Rather… presumptuous but, that's okay." You don't exactly smile, but a quirk of the lips is enough. "I will guide you." You get up and follow him as he takes the lead into the dark. Quite the suitable tool. A very quiet part of you muses.


So that happened and Angel wants to go now. What are you going to do?

[] Go to the second foothold with Angel and destroy the altar, then make a suitable excuse to retreat back to your home. You have preparations you should make before tomorrow night comes.

[] Go with Angel to the second foothold and destroy the altar, then convince him to go deeper with you. Keep the Rat King occupied with recovery to delay it putting up the next one.

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This update wanted to be shorter, and I ended up re-writing a portion of it. The bigger bits come next update, when you'll probably see a reason to hurry up. If you'd gone for the second foothold you'd wouldn't have met Angel until later in the evening and this whole thing would have gone a bit different.

Vote lock at usual time of 6:00 pm UTC June 14th. Same deal as last week I'll be taking my usual break on Saturday.

Have fun and stay awesome!