[X] The Best Defense
[X] Follow Anya and meet up with Lara. She might need some help dealing with the problem. Besides, you have the sneaking suspicion that "handling the problem" might translate to a lot of fire, and you'd like to figure out what's going on.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea," You tell Anya. Leaving Lara to deal with whoever sent that zombie golem, leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Besides, its hard to think of a more fitting test subject for your newest Charm. "I'll come with."
Lara's dorm had a great deal more decoration than yours. Part of that might have been because you didn't want to bring much on a flight, and that Anya seemed to not care at all. Mostly, it was because her roommate was an artist. They seemed to spill out from her room, and the sketches and drawings varied wildly in medium.
"Anya? Soheil? Why're you here?" Lara asked, "Wait, Soheil, weren't you still hurt?"
You grin and show off your left arm, "Nope, just fine. Wasn't hard to fix up something to heal myself. And we're here because we figured you might need some help."
"Yeah, what did you think, that we were going to let you have all the fun by yourself?" Anya asks.
"But - I-" Lara stutters before sighing, "Fine. I guess some back up won't hurt."
As you followed Lara, you wondered what someone would think if they saw the three of you. It would have been a strange sight , even in a school for Willworkers. Anya wasn't wearing anything unusual but she had used a few of her Workings. It was almost impossible to look at her straight on, and where shadow fell on her she was seemed invisible. Lara hadn't done anything as overt, but when you looked closely you could see the outlines of armor under her sweatshirt. You had placed Wasted Glory at the small of your back, using a handful of string and your Will to make it stay, and while you had tried to keep it low key, the Murderous Visage you had painted around your eyes was clearly not eyeshadow.
"Alright, we're getting close to where he's been staying." Lara said, "Watch where you step, he likes to set traps."
Anya frowns for a moment before asking a question. "Who is this guy anyway? And why do you know him?"
"Well… The Ramsund family is pretty old - we go back hundreds of years in Germany, and even then we're a descendant branch of an even older family." Lara begins, "A lot of the well-established Willworkers in Germany are related somewhere along the line, it's why I know him. His name is Victor Grap, although he prefers Vik. We've been… call it rivals, since we first met. He'd test out his newest monster on me, and I'd go hunt him down. It was even kind of fun sometimes, but this was too much! He almost killed you!" She ends angrily, smoke beginning to waft from her nostrils.
"Er, how does that kind of relationship get started?" You ask, a little confused. It didn't seem like a very natural course of events. "Like, you don't generally attack someone with a monster like that unless you're trying to kill them." Shuddering a little, you remember the gaze of that golem. It seemed… excessive.
Lara hesitates. "It wasn't like he was sending huge teleporting monsters at me, it was a game." She says, starting to look pensive, "He never sent anything so obviously designed to kill me."
Victor had set up shop in a mostly vacant apartment complex, and on the lowest floor. The entire place looked like it needed some tender love and care, but the hallway that Victor was in was worse. It didn't stick out immediately, but it smelled faintly of old blood and rot.
Lara tries the handle to his door and it swings open. The lights were all on, and you could see a plate of food, half eaten and decaying. You enter last, and as soon as you do the smell assaults your senses, suddenly stronger. A tall boy, who you guessed to be around sixteen, was lying on the floor. The wall behind him was covered in dried blood, as was the ground.
"Vik?" Lara gasps, before she runs to him. At once you feel a familiar ripple across the Ethereal. A spirit of red flame tears its way into the room, separating Lara from the rest of you. It was a flickering thing that seemed almost unreal, a caricature of a man seven feet tall, and entirely of a pale red fire. Its presence seems to warp the room, and a dull echo builds in your skull. You find yourself reaching for an Encircling Aegis you don't have.
The spirit grins and you can almost imagine it laughing. It waves a hand almost playfully towards you, and the walls to the adjacent rooms shatter. Zombies spill from the new entrances, and you notice a disturbing detail as they lurch towards you. Their eyes were rimmed with the same red fire of the spirit, and it reminded you of the corpse golem that maimed you the day before.
Drawing Wasted Glory, you find yourself taking a few steps back. You could hear Anya, practically growling, from your left but you couldn't see Lara at all. The echoes within your skull resound a last time, and as they recede you find you know the spirit's name - Pyrphoros of Pyres Forgotten.
[X] Deal with the Zombies. Your Second Skin should be able to protect you from them, and hopefully Anya can go help out Lara. The only problem is that you're not exactly used to dealing with a dozen enemies in melee. (Second Skin + Empowered Strikes + Engage the Zombies, Anya moves to help Lara)
[X] Weaken Pyrphoros. You aren't very knowledgeable when it comes to spirits, and that fire doesn't look pleasant, but you can still help out. You'll rely on Anya to hold the zombies off you, and do your best to weaken Pyrphoros. (Harbinger + Murderous Visage + Engage Pyrphoros, Anya holds off Zombies)
[X] Blitz Pyrphoros. You have no clue what Pyrphoros is trying to do, but you don't really care that much. Anya can deal with watching your back, and you'll see if you can't knock Pyrphoros on his ass. (Empowered Strikes + Hail + Engage Pyrphoros, Anya holds off Zombies)
[X] Write In
Current Status : No Effects
Health 30/30
Will 25/25
Wasted Glory : Murderous Visage
Current Charms : <Dust Devil>, <Murderous Visage>
Enemies : Pyrphoros of Pyres Forgotten, Thirteen Zombies
(You've actually gained 2 new entries in the "People" category of your character sheet - Lara's roommate and Victor, I just didn't want to clutter this post with them.)
