??? Kaed 2018/04/10(Tue)17:26 No. 878199 ID: 497b5f
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It's been a dull day so far. The climate is a little chilly for my tastes here, and I've been waiting in this room for several interminable hours for a meeting. I don't like having to wait, and that's all I've been doing, with only a single conversation partner, and he wasn't being a very entertaining host at all.

"When do you think that excitable little thief will be back? He seemed so eager to right societal wrongs I would have thought he would lollygag less." I swirled the contents of the crystal glass he had graciously provided me with, but sadly, no response was forthcoming from the khal apprentice. He just hadn't been the same since I broke his heart, and he continued to sulk in silence. "You know, it's not really my fault you didn't study your summoning ritual properly, and stood in front of a lit fireplace. All swords of accidents can happen with a powerful fire daemon. Ha ha!"

I took a sip from the wine glass, and wrinkled my nose, pulling it away and scowling down at the liquid inside. "Now, really. What is this swill you've given me? How did you ever get someone to agree to apprentice you with so little magical aptitude?" I tossed the crystal glass behind me, where it shattered, splattering it's contents all over the unpleasant pastel green walls of the lounge. "I mean, I guess I can understand why you'd want my help, but there's a certain amount of audacity in calling me when you can barely hold together a summoning circle."

I flopped back into the chair, absently licking the remains of the glass off my claws, and stared up the ceiling, groaning. "If that thief doesn't get back soon, I might have to burn something down, because you're certainly too boring to be fun. Couldn't you even manifest a vengeful spirit, you useless neophyte?"

Man. Them loopholes.

So... got any other hot takes? Is there a specific reason for trying to get a rise out of a dying (dead? crippled?) summoner?

Any demon girls you planning on summoning?

>>878199
What exactly are your goals, now that you're on the mortal plane?

Ah mortals, arn't they just the funnest things. And by funnest I mean arn't they just the worst things ever.
So not counting this once-living stain on the floor what other puppets do we have running around?

>>878199
Is that wine or blood we are drinking?

So how come you're not bound to your summoner being alive? Was he really that dumb?

Graezzit Kaed 2018/06/28(Thu)01:26 No. 890364 ID: 9ba167
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>>878204
>>878263
>>878328

The amount of entertaining things in the room was in sharp decline. Therefore, lacking a better thing to do, I sat up, moving over to my late and much-lamented summoner, hefting him up against my knee to have a heart to heart, daemon to worthless neophyte. They were still warm, so maybe there was something there to work with. I'd never studied mortals very closely beyond that they leaked potentially tasty blood - not that this one had been work the effort of gathering it in a wine glass - all over if you poked them with something pointy. "So, hey. I'm getting you're experiencing that whole 'mortality' thing from the sharp end, but you know... worthless piece of offal that you are, I feel like I've taken a little bit of pity on you." I injected as much 'sympathy' into my words as I could. I've been told I can even make it sound half real on a good day! "Tell you what. Why don't we make a deal. Since you're going to lose your soul pretty soon anyway, how about you sell it to me, and I'll let you live through this? How's that sound?"

I waited several long moments, looking down at the apprentice, and he dribbled more blood from his mouth onto the floor and all over his robes. Growing impatient, I added in a mildly irritated tone, "Just nod your head or gurgle agreeably, some form of acknowledgement is needed to seal a contract. This is literally the most basic form of pact I can offer you." I gave them an encouraging shake by their robes, but their body just sagged a little more. Finally, I was forced to admit that they were probably past the point where they had any tenancy in this sack of meat, and I tossed the corpse off my knee, scowling. "You are an utter disappointment. I was around in the days when even apprentices had to know how to survive a knife or two to the stomach from rivals. Pathetic.

>>878417

I looked across the room behind me, at the hearth, and the candles around the room. All of them still burned green, which was good, because it meant there was plenty of time left to come up with a better plan than trying to heckle a soul out of his summoner. He had not necessarily been stupid so much as foolish and ignorant, and had used a binding more properly intended for lesser daemons and imp summons - rather than binding the summoning to his own life, he had created the simple stopgap of binding it to my element. All the fires in the room currently contained the imprint of my essence, which was what was holding me to this plane. Normally, this would have been contained within the candles around the summoning circle, allowing him to put them out at the end of our conversation and send me away. Regrettably for him, the khal lacked a proper understanding of who he was summoning, namely myself, the illustrious Graezzit of The Envious Flames, and I was able to spread my essence into all the fires in the room, including the fireplace, which lead to the lamentable situation where the swords on his mantle mysteriously melted out of their holders and impaled him.

This meant his death did not inhibit me, but it did create the mild inconvenience of having to eventually find a way to carry the flames from this room in some fashion, possibly with a lantern or candle, and having to constantly feed them with new fuel or be banished the moment the last of the flames died.

>>878273

Much more fortunately, it had not been very long after the apprentice who summoned me suffered his terrible accident that a D'navian slunk into the room, apparently having been interested in looting the place. He had expected the place to be abandoned - I have a feeling the apprentice did not tell anyone he would be here - and after a mildly interesting conversation I convinced him to make a pact with me. I granted him the boon of my hexfire, with which could easily combat his hated khal oppressors, something something social injustice nonsense that mortals are always so concerned about, in exchange for service to me. It had been some time, however, since I sent him off to set things on fire and whatnot, and I had expected him to return a long time ago to fulfill his part of the bargain. It was coming to the point where I would probably have to leave this place and track him down to find out why he was so late. But I certainly wasn't going to leave my flames behind for someone to find and put out, so I had to decide how to take it with me. Perhaps grabbing a candle would suffice, or I could try and search the place for a lantern. As for actually going outside, the last I heard, daemon summoning was tediously out of public vogue and 'illegal' in this particular era, so I would need a disguise. Changing my shape to a small animal could work, or I could go incognito by finding a spare pair of whatever hideous off-yellow shade of spare robes my late summoner had laying around.

Both had their benefits and problems, including whether or not I could actually hold a lantern if I found one.

Lantern. Less susceptible to be snuffed out by wind or breath.

Change into a dog or something. Even a person may suffice. Just take any form that would make the least suspicion of carrying a lit lantern.

Go for the lantern, shame he had to go bleed all over his robe the inconsiderate bitch but maybe his pants are still usable and maybe we could get lucky and find some other robes or just some cloth while looking for that lantern.

Lantern, unless there’s issues with the material. I assume the problem is with accidentally melting certain metals like with the mantle fasteners?

Then go with a person disguise. These can’t be the only spooky robes this guy owns... can they?

Graezzit Kaed 2018/07/02(Mon)19:27 No. 890912 ID: 9ba167
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>>890400
>>890403
>>890456

I don't mind changing my shape, becoming something small that is unobtrusive or flight capable was one of the great benefits of not having a physical body stuck in one form. The main benefit of bringing a candle was that if I needed to become something small for extra mobility or an escape, I could take it with me. A lantern could only be carried if I was in a size that can lift it, but I nevertheless decided to not change my size and go with a lantern. It should be enough, considering no one was actively looking for daemons in the city. Yet. It turned out that this was a small home isolated from any particular manor, and probably had belonged to my summoner, or at the very least had been broken into by him for the purposes of calling me. I found some unpleasant yellow robes that fit me after some rummaging, and a closet with a working lantern that I could appropriate.

I shoved the corpse into the same closet to keep it out of the way. It would start to decay eventually, but there wasn't a lot of time to clean it up for me. Right now, I needed to find my pactmate so he could fulfill his end of of our contract. Possibly he thought if he avoided me he could renege. Mortals sometimes think they are clever or resourceful enough to not pay me back for services rendered, so I needed to find out is this D'navian was going to be the problematic type.

Soon after, I was opening the gate and walking out into the dark streets. It was night now, and the bright light of Verdigris in the sky to the north lit the streets enough that the lamp posts build along the sides were probably unnecessary. But that might be because my eyes were better with darkness than a khal. It appeared that the khal had developed some new architectural tastes since I last was out and about in their world. They had taken to rimming their streets with walkways and fencing around everything. This appeared to be an age of thinking with strict rules and boundaries, where everything was kept in a predesignated route and place.

I disliked it already.

The strongly ordered city had its benefits, though. Hardly anyone was around at this period of night, except two khal talking under a lamp a bit up the street. Their dull and nearly identical armor indicated they were guardians of the city order, and I had no interest in speaking to them or drawing their attention at this time. Regrettably, I could sense that my pactmate was roughly westbound from this location, and the closest visible street that went that way passed right by them. The subtle curve of the street I had stepped into suggested I was standing on some sort of outer circle of road that formed a rim around the city, and presumably there were other roads that formed the 'spokes' of this city's allegorical wheel. None of them were in immediate sight, however.

I had a choice to go South, farther along the road and whatever lay that way, or to go up the street to the road heading West, passing the guardians and potentially drawing myself into their attention.

I see no reason not to go south. Even if the D’navian got away due to your detour, it’s not as if he can run forever. That’s just silly. It’ll only be a matter of time before you catch up, one way or the other.

Go south. Mortals carrying a pact of such weight and power cannot run forever without something "going south."

>>890912
There's something about this art that reminds me of something but I cant put my finger on it. Like if main character was human with his face completely obscured by the shadow of the hood or if he was a skeleton then it would be very video game/album cover art.

Anyway mortal hands don't work that way man, if you keep doing that shit people will know that there's something "wrong" with you.
Go South, avoid unnecessary attention.

>>891009
Oh, yeah, and you might want to consider fixing your eye and fur color, assuming those are abnormal by mortal standards (even if there’s not much you can do about the green flame).

I would suggest South is the wat to go, less contact with people asking why you have a green lantern. Who knows if there are magic-restricting laws?

No chance to walk on the roofs of buildings?

West is always the preferred direction

Graezzit Kaed 2019/01/08(Tue)00:04 No. 916759 ID: 9ba167
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>>891011

There had a been a time when I'd been summoned at least once every couple lunar months, and not even just by inexperienced apprentices in the dead of the night in secret, like calling me up for a talk and pact was some kind of crime. When I was sent out on errands back in those days, you couldn't walk ten steps without seeing at least some minor imp fluttering about on some less important, inane errant. Ah, mortals had been so free and casual with their souls in their vaunted 'Golden Age'.

But daemon calling had fallen our of vogue in recent centuries, and I had almost forgotten how bland the khal all were in appearance. I like to think I've got one of the more appealing color schemes among my fellow fire daemons, going for ashen with green highlights when most of them pick garish and obvious colors like red, orange, and yellow. Many of them say I am just being willfully incongruous, but I know in truth base jealousy colors their accusations.

In any case, since khal can't be bothered to look fashionable, I resigned myself to meeting their low standards while in disguise as one of them. It wasn't difficult, and simply involved changing my appealing highlights to ashen tones, and shifting my eyes from a firey orange to a golden yellow that was more dull and typical of their race.

>>890919
>>890999
>>891009
>>900116

Not wanting to deal with guards, even while in a moderately convincing disguise as an apprentice up far too late, I headed south, along the abandoned road. For some time, the light of the moon and my lantern were my only company in the dull and monotonous city street, but eventually, I came upon something more interesting at the next bend in the road.

A pair of khal haggled over wares on an impromptu table set up on the street corner, and from the vendor's assorted wares and disreputable appearance - and aroma - I presumed he was what was commonly referred to as a fence. Their patron was an anxious and indecisive youth who seemed to be attempting to haggle. I approached close enough to overhear their conversation, but not close enough to be obtrusive.

"-don't know, are you sure it's safe? I've, uhm, never done this before, and I've heard that taking it is dangerous, and-"

"Listen, kid. What kind of business do you think I'm running here? My faethir dust is the good shit."

"Yes, uhm, I'm sure anyone would say that when-"

"Kid, come on. I'm not gonna hold my coat open all night for a guard to see and come sniff me down. Are you gonna buy a bag or not?"

Ah, the follies of youth and their exploration of vices and new sensations. Given a few years and the proper choices, this khal youth might fall into indulgence and excess, and pave their own way to the underworld. However, gluttony was not my sphere of interest, and I therefore had no interest in them at this time. The fence was the subject of my interest right now, as he looked like the sort I might be able to ply a Deal out of, perhaps by offering information about a certain house whose tenant had recently died in a tragic mantle-blade accident and left all sorts of valuables laying around.

You need to get his attention with a curve ball. This man clearly breathes commerce, he sees what can be conned and sold.

So do the impossible and make it tickle his primal desires:

Change gender. Enhance knockers. While they're both watching.

If the young one is of no use, scare him away and tell the fence that you know a spot which could certainly use a quick once over by a man of his talents. And for a good deal.

Graezzit Kaed 2019/01/08(Tue)15:06 No. 916807 ID: 9ba167
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>>916776

Fortunately, the indecisive youth finished their transaction quickly, trading a discreet pouch of wealth for a discreet pouch of their desired illicit substance. As was typical of their ilk, they did not even bother to check what was in the pouch they received before scurrying off, giving me a nervous glance. After I flashed them a grin, they began to move faster and I put them out of my mind as I advanced on the fence.

They closed up their coat immediately, putting on a more cautious front as I leaned against his counter, setting my lantern down and grinning up at him. "Times are tough indeed, are they not, my friend? Surely you would rather have wares you could peddle in the daytime."

They blinked once, chewing on the little strip of wood in their jaws, and shrugged. "Maybe. Times are always tough, why?"

I imitated looking from side to side furtively, even though there were no guards on this street, and probably would not be for some minutes yet. "I've got a proposition for you, friend. I happen to know of a place whose tenant has suffered an accident. Perhaps I could be convinced to share where it was, and well, if some of his things should go missing before the guards arrive, what is that to them or me?"

The fence contemplated this for a few moments, then did his own sweeping check of the street with his eyes. "Go on."

I put one arm around my green lantern, leaning in closer to it."Well, first, I must insist on discretion on this matter, my friend. You must tell no one of our meeting or this bargain, and I want you to remain here your stand for a half hour after I leave at least, before you go treasure hunting."

The fence shrugged their shoulders again, but I could tell they were interested now, mostly because of the mystique of the offer. "Alright. What do you want for this info?"

I thought for a moment. I had several choices in what I could get from him.

Some of his wares looked actually valuable. I could take one of them to use for Assets later, as there might come a time when I needed physical wealth rather than just my cunning and magic. Material wealth is a cornerstone of khal society as much as magic is.

Alternatively, since I'm sure this fence probably had Clothing to spare, I could claim a set from him. Apprentice robes were passable, but they sort of stuck out on the street at night, not to mention being an odious color. There might be a time when being an apprentice by appearance was unfeasible.

Finally, I could just go with my old standby of demanding a Favor of him, to be rendered at a later time of my choosing. I am certain someone this familiar with the city underworld would be useful for me in the future, once I finished handling my problems with the missing d'navian.

He doesn't know you're a demon. Ask for a favor and get ready to troll him across the sticky floor.

>>916847
Not sure what was meant by “sticky floor,” but I agree. An agreement to mutual backscratching can easily be interpreted to be a demonic pact without him ever being the wiser. Unless that’s not how it works with you. Even then, we can make him want it, perhaps playing coy with “a personal secret of ours” later down the line.

I thing clothing woul be a good idea for a starting transaction. It can open a lot of doors.

>>916807
>>916882
Second on the clothing. New duds are great.

>>916807
Get some better clothing.

You can already detect your thiefling 'friend', so unless you have longer plans to stay (gotta fix the fire for that), perhaps it's best to ensure the soul. I'd go for clothes for now. We can remember this guy's position to offer them more goods in the future for an eventual favour.

Clothing is much more useful right now,

Graezzit Kaed 2019/02/16(Sat)22:33 No. 921743 ID: 9ba167
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>>916847
>>916882
>>916936
>>917062
>>917328
>>918061

I decided new clothing would be the most ideal choice in this situation. Apprentice robes the color of dirty urine did not really match my new ensemble and disguise color scheme, anyway. I spread my arms, showing off the ugly robes for a moment. "I could use a new outfit. This one doesn't really fit me, you know?"

The fence eyed the ugly yellow robes and made a vague sound of agreement, and I added, "I want a full outfit of my choice from your possessions - any accessories that come with it included in the trade. Though, since I like to keep my options open for later trade, I wish you to agree not to replace the outfit from where I take it from your stocks, in case I wish to make an exchange later for something else.

The khal shrugged again and said, "Yeah, sure. Whatever you want. It's not like many people want clothing anyway."

I smiled toothily and held out my hand. "A bargain, then? The terms as agreed on of one outfit for one location of a building to repossess the belongings of?"

The fence shrugged and took my hand, shaking it with a tight grip, and the Pact was sealed. Wonderful. While complex contracts signed in something like blood were ideal for dramatics and formal dealings, a simple verbal agreement could be sealed by a symbolic gesture of agreement, and was just as binding.

Some khal - usually dedicated mages - have enough arcane senses to detect when they have been bound in a pact, but this fence clearly lacked that, as he made no comment once it was done. Instead, the khal crouched down and pulled a large sack from under his stand, turning and beginning to sift through the bag, which was full of clothing items and other things that clinked. "So, what kind of outfit are you looking for? I don't have any House colors, since I don't want to get arrested for fraud, but I've got a bunch of different neutral colors."

I just smiled, raising a hand, and replied. "Oh, I think I'll have that outfit." Then I snapped my claws, and through the magic of our pact, claimed what I wanted. Within the terms of our agreement, naturally.

The khal froze, looking down for a few moments, then back at me in confused shock. "... What?"

"It's actually not a bad choice, I think. Despite the stains on the shirt. The earrings are a nice touch, too."

"What."

I turned and pointed back the way I came. "Oh, Sorry! I haven't fulfilled my half of our agreement. Head up the street that way until you come to the first intersection. There is a gate that is slightly ajar. The small cottage there is free for you to loot as you please. Once you can leave the stand, I mean. Remember, you agreed to stay here for a half hour after I leave."

"Excuse me?!"

>>921743
I think he will soon find a problem with this sequence of events. You told him he couldn't replace the outfit, which means he can't put on any clothes until you make another trade.

So let's do another trade right away. Trade him your old robe for one of his valuables.

>He's stuck, naked, and stuck naked
pfft

You've got him on the ropes. Slowly increase your volume as you turn towards the public street until he starts panicking. Make a pact to give him something to wear in exchange for three items of your choosing.

Then give him back the one you don't like and tell him to wear it.

>>921746
Depends if "on him" counts as "from his stocks", otherwise he can put clothes on.

Why trade with this man again, you've done some good mischief. Head off to where you need to go unless you won't be able to tell if he has broken your deal. Though I dont think we said what we would get for him breaking the deal...we might want to let him know that punishment before heading off. More fun to watch someone struggle with the idea they HAVE to be nude forever unless they want a terrible fate.

Graezzit Kaed 2019/02/23(Sat)14:47 No. 922909 ID: 9ba167
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>>921746
>>921764
>>921888
>>922226

The khal scowled at me, reaching into the bag of clothing and pulled out some of his spare clothing, muttering. "Fucking mages. This information better be good, or I'm going to find you. I need my jewelry and wares back, by the way, they're expensive and... I... uh...?" The fence trailed off in confusion as they began to have trouble handling the clothes, seeming to drop or fumble the articles of clothing as they attempted to put them on. There was no punishment for attempting to violate a pact - it was simply impossible to do for the parties involved, and the khal had not grasped why he was having trouble dressing himself. "The hell?!"

I allowed myself an amused smirk, opening the coat to look inside at the items, several pieces of jewelry, bags of drugs, and a timekeeping device. "On the contrary, our bargain was for one outfit, including any accessories. I am dressed as a street fence right now, and fences need illicit wares and tacky jewelry to be convincing. Thus, they belong with the outfit."

The fence dropped the clothing in frustration, looking up at me as he tried to pick another one out of the bag. This one was not very bright. "Now hold on, you can't just steal my stuff, that wasn't.... rrrfn." They reached up and clutched their throat, having difficulty speaking. They made a few soft unintelligible sounds, then looked up again, rasping. "What are you doing?!"

Out of pity for the poor confused idiot, I offered them some helpful, obvious exposition."Nothing, my friend. You agreed not to discuss our deal with anyone, among other things. I am someone, thus per our agreement, you are not speak with me about the details."

The khal thought about that for few moments, and then looked down at the shirt he was unable to properly put on himself, then it finally clicked what was going on. Somewhat, anyway - he began to snarl something about 'pervert mages' and 'nudity curses', but at that point, I wasn't really paying attention anymore.

Because I had just detected that my other pactmate was finally beginning to use the hexfire I had gifted him in our own Pact. The active use of my hellfire gave me a much stronger insight into his location and condition, and I could tell, for a few moments, exactly where he was in relation to me, and had a general insight into his condition. The d'navian was in some kind of battle within a building, and within moments he became heavily injured from multiple blunt trauma and stab wounds, before losing his focus and control of my hexfire.

With that, my intense awareness of his location and status faded, and I was back to only having a general sense of his direction. I turned back to the angry fence and smiled. "Sorry, ah, whatever your name is. Something has come up. I'd love to make another bargain with you, but I don't have the time. Maybe I'll find you later and we can talk." I picked up my lantern and began to walk away.

"Get back here! I'll kill you!" The khal fence lunged after me, but was held back as he tried to leave the vicinity of his stall. I glanced back at him, giving him another grin. "That's the spirit, friend. Make a lot of noise so a guard comes before you can leave. I'll come find you in your cell later, if you like."

They struggled against the bindings of their pact with little success, but in the end, his distress wasn't immediately important. That d'navian was probably dying, and hadn't even sold me his soul yet. If I didn't get to that mansion he was robbing, whoever had just trashed him - probably a guard - would probably finish him off, assuming he didn't bleed to death first. And then the whole pact would have been a waste of time and energy.

However, even if I knew exactly where he was, there was some town between myself and him, and I did not have the luxury time to meander my way there through cross-streets, so I had two immediately obvious options:

-Ignore the terrain and buildings by using obvious magic to bypass them, and potentially break some arbitrary khal law about in-city travel, and probably be seen by multiple guards, who might not be able to stop me, but could potentially be a problem later
-Attempt to ask for directions from a guard, and run there, using the streets. Somewhat less suspicious, but potentially more time consuming, especially if some other slack-jawed law enforcement official tries to stop me to ask why I'm running down the streets in the dead of night.

Ask for directions
Being seen by a bunch of town guards using obvious daemon magic means town guards go get the Town Guard mages

Who gang up on you and you get to go home in a puff of dismissal

Ask for directions. Also keep note of your current location, need to come back to torment this guy again. Everyone needs a hobby.

You're a pretty powerful demon with strong legs. Ask for directions and run on full extent when you're not in guards' view