Author: Urban Sniper

#Lore24 – Entry #197 – Supers Month II #16 – Why Have One World When You Can Have Many?

Musings of Demon Lord Kurae

For all of her flaws, I do have to give credit to my dear sweet mother for one thing:  spawning me.  The rest of her accomplishments, if you can call them that, have amounted to what?  A failed invasion, a pitiful attempt at keeping her hordes sustained during the lean times by feeding upon the souls of the kerryns and what few souls they could get through the barrier enacted by their annoyingly resolute goddess, all before it came crashing down when that upstart kerryn slave and her aerian murder machine put her down? 

Fortunately, I was never cursed with mother’s shortsightedness and refusal to take in the wider picture.  I suppose that’s why I’m senior amongst my sisters, and the most powerful demon lord around, isn’t it?  I knew long ago that focusing an incursion into a realm through a single world was doomed to fail, but for whatever reason, she simply could not see that.  I was happy to take up the rear guard, so to speak, during that whole fiasco, bolstering our defenses, gathering more power for myself, creating this realm that I have full dominion over, just waiting for the day of her inevitable failure, when there would be need to seize control from the others who so blindly believed in her plans. 

I figured this out ages ago, you see.  Why focus all of your power on invading a single world with the entirety of your forces to create a bastion with which to conquer that realm when you can much more easily invade a world here and there, take what you want, then slip away before you can be molested by the greater powers that exist within the realm that world is in?  Create a little chaos in your wake, deflect attention from your actions, and be gone with your diverse platter of tasty souls before the powers that be can retaliate.  Seems simple enough, doesn’t it?  Goes against the traditional mindset of my kind, I suppose, but that’s why I’m a visionary and still alive all these many millennia later, and dear old mother was snuff out.

Her desires far exceeded her capabilities, I would say; I’m much more pragmatic in that regard, and much stronger than she ever was because of it.  And that’s why, my delicious little morsel, that you’re here, and why you’re going to be telling me all about your world, the next world I’ve chosen to be graced by my illustrious presence, the one with the ever so boring name of Earth.  A pathetic world in comparison to many others I’ve defiled, certainly, but the souls there have a peculiar flavor that I simply must partake of.  So speak, pet, tell me of Earth, of the humanity of this world, and all that you know about it.  Oh, don’t worry; I love it when my pets resist me; your coming screams only sweeten the suffering that I will inevitably extract from you.  If it’s one thing that I’ve found universal in the many worlds I’ve plundered, it’s that humans are particularly responsive to pain.

#Lore24 – Entry #196 – Supers Month II #15 – Learning a Thing of Two About Scheherazade’s Legacy

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

Richard done knew what it was I came for, once we’d settled down and had some coffee goin’.  I was rather amused that our tastes hadn’t changed; I liked mine much like anyone else would, if on the thicker side; he liked his boiling hot, and Assane preferred her’s on the cold side, though I noted she had taken to adding ice cubes to it now.  He’d been trackin’ “Granny Scheherazade’s” relics for a time already when he had found out that they were makin’ headlines on the museum circuit a few decades back, but it was only in the last few weeks that they’d started movin’ again, and comin’ together in one place.  He’d been tryin’ to track down who was pullin’ the strings and comin’ up emptyhanded.

Before he could dig into Assane too much for not doin’ her share of the whole “protectin’ the world” thing they had sworn themselves to, I inquired what those relics were meant to do, and whether or not they were related to the genies in any way.  I’d heard the name of Scheherazade plenty over the years since I’d joined up with the Order; she was one of the greatest arcanists to have ever belonged to it, after all, though nobody, not even Chrona, knew exactly what had become of her.  Richard admitted he didn’t know the full extent of their power, but given that they were all aligned to the element of fire in some what or another, it was either destructive or creative.

Between his and Assane’s knowledge of the past, given their heritage and experiences in the Dark Ages and even earlier, and what Liz had told me about her experiences with Kitsune and the visions she’d experienced around the relics, we had a right decent idea of what Kitsune’s leash holder was plannin’, just lackin’ on the details of where, who, and when. 

So, as we figured it, they was plannin’ a big ritual.  That dagger would be implemented as daggers usually are for that sort of thing, for drawin’ blood, or, more likely, sacrificin’ to draw more power from what we figured were human souls, not no animals.  The bracelets would focus the energy of the ritual into whoever was at the center of it, and the staff would draw in even more power, though it could be used, so they told me, to draw in souls as well, perhaps even from the ancient past.  Combined with those visions Liz described, that dark figure and the demonic army, we reasoned out that Kitsune’s plan involved either summonin’ up a horde of demons to rampage across the world again, or resurrectin’ that dark sorcerer from Liz’s vision, maybe even both for all we knew. 

I tried to get more details out of the two about that dark sorcerer, but they couldn’t figure on who it was.  They looked at me like I was a bit slow, then proceeded to tell me about what history called the Crusades, and how the history books left out all the juicy parts about the many demonic invasion attempts, the dozens of dark sorcerers commanding armies of them and the undead, of how the genies were brought into play, and all kinds of other details.  They simply couldn’t figure on exactly which one of the dozens they could tell me about might be the target of a resurrection or soul summonin’.  Even though the one in the visions had been wearing those bracelets, that didn’t narrow it down much, since they’d passed down to many a sorcerer over the centuries. 

But then they went and threw in another possibility that didn’t sit well with me neither, not that any of the options they’d suggested did.  Since it seemed that Kitsune was workin’ with help from outside our own realm, that could mean damn near anything was possible.  Maybe those relics weren’t even meant to cause trouble on our world; though they were more powerful here, they weren’t lackin’ for power elsewhere in the multiverse, so they could be doin’ something along the lines of what they’d suggested in another realm entirely and might not even have eyes on our world.  None of us believed that one for a second, though.

Needless to say, we found ourselves comin’ together just like the old days, and knew that we had our work cut out for us.  Now that they had some challenges laid out before them, they’d work out their latest spat and start workin’ toward their purpose, and head for Sentinel City to see what they could glean from there, while I’d head back to the Sanctum and let Chrona and the Order know what we’d reasoned out, then coordinate our efforts from there.  They reminded me not to get too excited just yet, though, cause even though I was a mage of the Order of Hecate, and had me approachin’ two centuries of life, we were likely dealin’ with things that see the passin’ of centuries as blinks of their eyes.  Even though magic was runnin’ wild in the world and comin’ in from somewhere, it could be months or years before they made their move. 

I didn’t think so, but they did have a point; no sense runnin’ off and getting’ all worked up when a good long look at things could be beneficial.  So, I bid them farewell for a time, and headed back home to give my report on what I’d learned and would begin workin’ to figure on what our next step was to be. 

We were in one of our libraries, lookin’ over dozens of tomes of ancient lore and studyin’ a map of leylines and connected interdimensional pathways when I got the warnin’ that Liz was in trouble from that charm I’d insisted she wear.  Knowin’ that the youngin’ was headstrong and damn near capable of handlin’ about anything, I knew whatever she was facin’ musta been downright fearsome.  Asher was waitin’ for me in the portal chamber when I got there a couple minutes later, loaded for war, and we headed off toward Sentinel City to pull her bacon outta the fire.  Whatever it was that had got her to call on me, I weren’t about to let it get away with hurtin’ my girl. 

#Lore24 – Entry #195 – Supers Month II #14 – Reuniting with the Genies

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

And so it was Asher and me stepped out of the leyline portal for the first time since I’d brought Liz home.  At first the world seemed not to have changed too much since then, but it weren’t long before I’d start to see just how different it was, even after only forty years, give or take.  Actually takin’ a few moments to take it all in, I decided it was downright alien out here now.  I went lookin’ for Assane first; Chrona told me she was somewhere in Los Angeles.  Last time I’d been out this way, you could still see the hills and valleys around the city; now it was all pretty much city everywhere I looked, and not a nice one, neither.  I had my cloakin’ spell up, since I figured seein’ a lady ridin’ a horse through town dressed like a cowboy might not go over so well.  After an hour or so of wonderin’ around, though, I don’t know if the spell would’a mattered or not; saw some right freakish things wonderin’ those streets, downright depraved a good number of them, and what with them “smart phone” things glued to people’s hands like they were, I doubt I woulda been noticed anyway.

I could go on for a long spell about what I found terrible about that city, and the one I’d be visitin’ next, but I’ll save that for later on and just focus on my mission.  It took me a day or so to track down Assane; though I didn’t know what she looked like these days, it weren’t too difficult to spot her once I’d tracked down her magical aura.  It was a bit stronger now, but looked just the same as the last time I’d seen her.  She looked like a youngin’ again, and was chatting and walkin’ along with a fellow that looked right ghoulish to my eyes, and I knew what she was doin’.  So, I hung back and let her work.  Weren’t long till they went to that pervert’s car.  She musta been worked up somethin’ fierce, cause it weren’t a minute later that I heard the screamin’ and saw the icy spikes shootin’ from that car, turned it into somethin’ resemblin’ a hedgehog.  She stepped out a few moments later, lookin’ quite pleased with herself, her icy creations lingerin’ and radiatin’ cold even in the heat of the summer sun, the pained cries of the pervert lingerin’ on along with it.  Well, guess he wouldn’t be doin’ that kind of thing no more.

I called out to her, and I think she was actually surprised when she recognized who I was, but then she was all smiles and hugs for a spell, eager to catch up on what I’d been doin’ with my time.  We rode off to a more pleasant spot, one of the parks that weren’t filled with homeless people and filth, but even then Asher didn’t care much for the grass there.  I told her what had finally dragged me out of the Sanctum, explainin’ what all trouble Liz had gotten into, and what it was that got taken by that Kitsune and her boss.  Though I could tell they were havin’ another rough patch, I told her I needed to hunt down Richard too, cause Chrona had requested they get involved in these matters, given their relationship with Scheherazade and all.  She weren’t too pleased, but agreed to help us; was why I went to her first, cause she was always the more level-headed of the two.

And so we headed off toward the other side of the country then.  I let Assane take us there to save some time, since she was far better at teleportin’ than me.  We hopped through one pond or river or lake to another, all across the country, in a handful of minutes, comin’ out in the middle of Central Park in New York City.  I could go on about just how much that city had declined since I was last there, but I’ll refrain, though I’ll say it was somehow slightly less unpleasant than Los Angeles; the depravity weren’t quite so obvious, I suppose is one way to put it. 

Assane led me right to Richard, who was holed up in his office somewhere in that chaotic urban sprawl, a little blink and you’ll miss it kinda place that was as run down as near everything else in the area.  He was a mite drunk when we got there, but it didn’t take long before that burned right off once Assane started her mouth.  Once again, I found myself bein’ the mediator between the pair, and he finally realized I was there after I’d preempted the shouting match between them.  He was all smiles and pleasantries with me, but even with me tryin’ to keep him on track, he just kept digging barbs into Assane because of her appearance.

I’ll never understand these two, I don’t think. 

Anyway, once I’d smoothed things over and got them to be civil, we sat down in his little office and had us a chat about their grandmother and her legacy that got stolen out of that Sentinel City museum.

#Lore24 – Entry #194 – Supers Month II #13 – Taking on an Apprentice

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

As it was, it wouldn’t be too awful long before I got to experience that moment when you realize that the world is just movin’ right on by you.  I’d spend several years roamin’ all over the world with Assane and Richard; they’d been about everywhere already, and I was feelin’ like it was my duty to try an’ keep’em in line, but that was a job I just wasn’t equipped for.  We had more than a few misadventures durin’ that time, but the things we were huntin’ kept dwindlin’ more and more, and the world was movin’ fast.  When you’re a skilled mage, your agin’ slows down after a while, and trips into the Sanctum slow it down to almost nothin’. 

It was somewhere near the turn of the century when I pulled outta the world, when I started seein’ them “automobiles” start showin’ up everywhere.  Seemed like there weren’t much in the way of mystery left in the world, and I was becomin’ a relic of past times, getting’ gawked at by them “civilized” folk in this new world.  My friends could sense the change in me and knew what was comin’.  Bein’ immortal as they are, and havin’ lived more lives than I could have imagined then, and them bein’ not wholly human, they had a different outlook on things, and weren’t affected by what was affectin’ me, that sense of no longer belongin’.  So, after a while longer, we said our goodbyes, and I returned to the Sanctum.

I wouldn’t poke my nose outta there for nearly a century after that.  It was a quiet time in the world; all them supernatural problems we used to deal with had mostly vanished, magic was ebbin’ to almost nothin’ out there, and even travel into the world could only be done through the strongest leylines.  Even Chrona weren’t sure what the future would hold for us, though I don’t know if maybe she was just keepin’ it to herself since she’s real careful not to try to influence that future. 

Still, there would come a day when we’d spot a promising future mage comin’ into the material world, the first one since me in fact, and her awakenin’ would be not unlike my own in some ways.  We watched her for a time when our seers found her, pickin’ up on the mana she was usin’ when her powers started wakin’ up.  This was in the mid 1980s, right near a century since I’d last been out there, and the world was right alien to me now as I watched this girl, Elizabeth Powell, from afar.  Seein’ as I was the most experienced in the “modern” world, I was volunteered for the job of bringin’ her home to the Sanctum. 

Her powers were just startin’ to awaken, and she was havin’ all kinds of trouble with controllin’ them, and strangeness was followin’ her around, only there weren’t nobody who knew what was goin’ on besides us.  By now, there weren’t no sense of the magical in the world aside from fiction and some games they played; it was all ‘bout “computers” and big corporations and all kinds of stuff I don’t rightly care for these days.  Anyway, the poor girl would suddenly experience her dam burstin’ right dangerously, and Chrona caught it soon enough that I could rush down there and keep Liz from burnin’ down her house and hurtin’ her family. 

I musta’ looked right strange ridin’ in there on Asher, appearin’ out of that leyline in the middle of one of them highways and boundin’ through all them cars, rushin’ for Liz’s home, then bustin’ into their house as her powers ran wild.  Poor girl was in hysterics, and her family was cowerin’ in fear as them electronics were blowin’ up and fires were croppin’ up all over the place.  It’d been a while since I’d faced power like she had in her, and for this day and age, she was somethin’ else.  I worked some magic and got her outburst under control and walked her through the basics of control to get her calmed down and not an immediate danger to everyone ‘round us.  It was an odd conversation to have with her and her kinfolk that evenin’, cause they didn’t rightly know what to make of me dressed as I was and what I was sayin’ ‘bout magic, but they finally took to understandin’ sooner or later.

I stayed with Liz and her family for a few weeks, teachin’ her the basics, and explainin’ what it was the Order of Hecate did, and the history of magic as I knew it, at least, how it had been goin’ in the last couple centuries.  Were Liz and I not workin’ spells right in front of her kin, I figure they’d have thought me right looney.  It was a rough decision for a girl her age, but in the end, it were decided that she’d be headin’ back to the Sanctum with me.  She’d made her own decision ‘bout that, and made her family accept it; she’s nothin’ if not headstrong, always was, and still is.  I gave her space to spend some time with her family and the few friends she had before she made her exit, and with some help from the Order, we smoothed over the particulars of makin’ a kid disappear in this modern time; apparently it was a lot harder to vanish that it used to be.

And so it was that the Order welcomed in its newest member, perhaps even its last member for all I knew at the time.  Understandably, Liz was a little sad for a while, but once she got her head on straight and started to settle in, she took to learnin’ like a duck to water.  Well, mostly; she could be a little hard to reign in when that stubborn streak of hers kicked in, but usually she weren’t no major headaches.  Oh, I had to tan her hide a few times over the years, but we developed somethin’ of a mother-daughter kinda relationship because of how things worked out.  I’m right proud of the youngin’ in spite of her ways, but that’s just the nature of us growin’ up in completely different times.  I still don’t understand some of my fellow mages and their oddball ways of actin’ that they picked up back during the Dark Ages or the Renaissance times.

Things was quiet for a while there, but then somethin’ strange started happenin’ in the material world.  Magic started to creep back in all of a sudden, then it exploded back on the scene.  Chrona had warned us that some major changes were a comin’, but none of us imagined that was what she meant.  It sent shockwaves through the Order, and after Liz started sneakin’ out to see what was goin’ on and ran into that Kitsune, Dollface, and whoever else they was workin’ with, we knew we’d been caught with our pants around our ankles. 

Can’t say I was ready to go back into that world again, but Chrona set me the job of findin’ my old companions, Assane and Richard, and findin’ out what they might know about what was goin’ on, and so I packed up my gear, checked my guns, and got ready to head into that concrete and glass hellhole that was the modern American city. 

#Lore24 – Entry #193 – Supers Month II #12 – The Order of Hecate

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

And so it was I got inducted into the Order of Hecate that day.  I was right surprised at seein’ just how many mages there were.  Less than a hundred in all, and many of them a couple hundred years old, many not lookin’ more than thirty, but knowin’ there were that many was just a shock.  Then the Sanctum itself was somethin’ else.  I weren’t exactly well versed on the “interdimensionality” stuff, and still don’t rightly think I’m where I should be on understandin’ all that, so I was gawkin’ like a child as we traversed the halls and libraries and alchemy labs and all the other places in the Sanctum before I was showed what would become my room. 

They’re a right friendly lot, and apparently, I was the first new member to join up in over fifty years, so it was somethin’ of a special occasion.  I kinda felt bad leavin’ Assane and Richard behind back at the Tower, but I didn’t know how the Sanctum behaved then, wouldn’t know it till later on when I finally returned to the “real” world, in fact.  After I’d got settled in and had some vague idea of where I was goin’ in the Sanctum, I started learnin’ more about what the Order did and how they did it.  More or less, they were doin’ the kinda thing I’d already been doin’ all on my own, protectin’ the world from them supernatural and magical things that wanted to see people hurt, killed, or somethin’ worse. 

They used to be more of a widespread group back in the ancient times, were spread all over the world back then, little chapter houses here and there, but over time, as magic began to fade and be replaced with technology, the Order shrank and began to recede from the material world.  Now they mostly exist to handle the worst of the threats to our world from the realms beyond, though our world don’t usually rank too high in terms of bein’ targeted by outer-planar threats these days. 

Chrona is the head of the Order, has been for longer than anyone can rightly remember, and is the only one who has mastered the intricacies of chronomancy.  I still ain’t got much of a knack for it myself, and probably never will; takes a special kind of talent, I reckon, and it’s just not somethin’ I got the head for.

I spent what felt like a few weeks learnin’ more about my own magic and gettin’ to know the place and the people, but my soul weren’t quite ready to settle down just yet.  I still had more places to see back home, and more work to do.  I’d learnt a few more tricks and methods to enhance my own abilities while I was there, though, and had worked on fine-tunin’ my gun magic in whole new ways that I’m not ashamed to admit I’m right proud of.  I daresay I can put any spell into a bullet and get it on target, even healin’ magic, though that one always gets me some weird looks and nasty stares when they ain’t expectin’ it.  Not that I blame’em; getting’ shot is a right startlin’ thing.

Anyway, once I was ready to pick back up and head out, Chrona showed me how the portal chamber worked, and taught me how to return once I was ready to come back home, and told me how time flowed differently in the Sanctum.  I went right back to the Tower, and by the time I’d come back to Assane and Richard, found that only a few hours had passed for them.  They knew right then what I’d been up to, sensin’ how my magic had grown.  We camped out there that night, then set off on more monster huntin’ and adventurin’ for the next few years.  I’d upgrade my gear, finally getting’ my hands on some proper revolvers (I’m particular to the Schofield designs myself) and repeaters, even a Sharps.

I could go on for hours ‘bout all the shenanigans we got into, but that’d take too long.  I can jaw about them stories for hours if’n you want to know more.  Suffice to say, I’d come back to the Sanctum sooner or later, havin’ experienced more than my fair share, and learnin’ why it is that most mages eventually decide to pack it in and depart from the material realm.

#Lore24 – Entry #192 – Supers Month II #11 – A Timely Meeting with Chrona Tempora Quanta

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

I found out not long after we’d cleared out that demon that our actions were bein’ watched by more powers than what we figured on.  Or at least, mine in particular were, cause Richard and Assane were already spoken for, so to speak.  As we continued on to the northwest through them Black Hills, a couple days after we’d recovered from our demon-slayin’ and I’d restocked my supplies with some ammunition from the dead town, which, ironically enough, Richard would send off with a proper funeral pyre, I began to hear this callin’ in my head.  It weren’t like nothin’ I’d experienced before.  I knew it was a voice reachin’ out to me, and I suddenly knew exactly where to go.

So, I led the way, and soon enough, we’d spotted what later came to be called Devil’s Tower by the majority of folk, loomin’ up in the distance, and even this far away, I could sense the power of the place.  It was an ancient place, the kind that many people over the centuries and eons had used for various rituals and magics and interdimensional travel and the like, and here it was that someone was callin’ me to it.  I’d told Richard and Assane about the call, and they’d told me to trust it, cause they were pretty sure they knew who it was, but it was up to me to answer it or not.

So, me an’ Asher rode on, the genies followin’ behind, though they’d wind up waitin’ for me at the base of the tower.  Usin’ one of the tricks I’d learnt from my companions, I spurred Asher on right up the side of that tower, and we rode to the very top.  I weren’t sure exactly what I’d expected to find up there, but I could feel the warp in reality as I traveled upward.  Atop the tower I passed through a cloakin’ spell like nothin’ I’d ever experienced before, and then, as I topped the rise, passed through the dimensional barrier.  In an instant, I found myself ridin’ down an ancient stone pathway, through a garden filled with strange plants and scents I didn’t recognize but surrounded by a strange sense of calmness and serenity.  Loomin’ up beyond the garden was a massive castle, or something like a castle, huge and ancient and radiating power the likes of which I’d never seen before.

There was a pond at the center of this garden, and waitin’ for me by it was a lady dressed up in some fancy duds, stuff I thought might’ve come out of England, but, bein’ the uneducated sort I was back then, were actually a whole lot older.

This lady introduced herself as Chrona Tempora Quanta, head of the Order of Hecate.  I was not exactly sure what any of that was, nor had I heard a name like that before, but I introduced myself in turn once I was dismounted.  I certainly felt small then, but in spite of the distance of her nature, Chrona put me at ease soon enough.  She said that she’d been watching me for some time, since I’d decided to get involved in that affair with the dogmen near Bowling Green, in fact, and had approved of what it was I was doin’ with my time.  She was rather amused at my choice of traveling companions, though when she called them children, I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.  Course, I didn’t know Chrona’s nature, nor her type of magic then, so it wouldn’t be for some time that I’d get what she meant.

She told me all about the Order of Hecate then, and had I not known magic myself, I’d have called her a loon, but somehow the idea of an ancient order of mages that existed on the boundaries between our world and the many beyond it seemed a good thing.  I would have much to learn, certainly, but with my aid in banishing the demon, I’d more than proven myself to join up with them.  She told me then that there would be lean times comin’ as far as magic was concerned in our world, and that, for a good while, I’d be the last recruit the Order would have, but that I’d always have a home with them, and could learn more about magic and how to hone my own in ways I’d never considered before.  And, if I wanted, I could continue doing the good work back on Earth for a while longer, cause she got the impression I weren’t quite done seein’ what the place had to offer.

It was a lot to take in, but the more questions I asked, and the more she told me, the more I knew I’d found myself a place to belong.  We must’ve talked for hours, but never did time seem to pass, and given what I’d learn about Chrona, that was no surprise.  But, after that good long chat, she bid me and Asher to follow along so that she could introduce me to the rest of the order and get me all settled in.

#Lore24 – Entry #191 – Supers Month II #10 – Mines and Monsters

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

A couple days later we’d ridden into the Black Hills area, and before long, we’d found where this thing had wanted us.  Weren’t hard to find, I suppose, considering there was a whole mining town that this thing had consumed for itself, leavin’ the bodies of the miners and townsfolk behind as mindless, walking corpses with a right fierce hunger for fresh meat.  It was grim work, but it had to be done, lest these diseased things spread their condition around the whole area.  Figure it was this demon’s plan to help tire us out before the real fight, cause while the zombies weren’t much of a threat to myself or my two ever-bickering companions, it did take us the better part of the day to clear’em out, even with Assane and Richard’s considerable magic.

We could sense the presence of the demon all over the place, and we knew exactly where it was hidin’, deep in the mines.  I never was one for the underground, and after this, I surely wouldn’t feel no better about goin’ into tight and dark places like’em.  Still, there was work to be done, and I weren’t goin’ to let a little thing like that stop me from dealin’ with that evil bastard.  We knew goin’ into the place it was gonna be dangerous, traps abound from the dynamite and sabotaged bracings and the like, no doubt.  My companions didn’t have so much to worry about if they mistepped down there, but I was under no such protections, and, as much of a handful as they are, it was rather touchin’ that they were bein’ extra careful on my account. 

Weren’t just traps in there, though; the demon had some more undead roamin’ the place, and as we got further down, some lesser demons it had called up, bunch of little imps and flyin’ things that were more or less balls of teeth that spat acid everywhere.  Was a good thing I knew some curin’ magic, cause I would’ve been right deaf before it was all said and done.  My magic reserves weren’t nothin’ like Assane’s and Richard’s, so I had to be careful with what I used up.  Not that I had a ton of powder on me at the time, so I had to be careful regardless, though my magically enhanced toothpick did its own fair share of the work down there.

So, it was slow goin’, and well into the night when we finally navigated our way through the maze of tunnels and drops into the deepest recesses where this thing had took up.  We knew we was close when we heard the chantin’ and saw the red glow in the dark of the tunnels ahead.  I hadn’t counted on there bein’ a cult of humans ‘round the demon, but of course, I weren’t as learned on them as I was followin’ this whole thing.  I could see the magic swirlin’ about and knew we was in for a rough time of it.  Still, we marched right in there, knowin’ what needed to be done and with some idea how to do it.  I was the weak link, bein’ the most inexperienced and the only one who could die permanently, but the pair, for all the trouble they had put me through, had taught me several tricks I’d never had thought up on my own.

Turns out, this demon, and its cult of worshippers, were after Richard.  I honestly weren’t surprised by this revelation, nor was Assane.  Turns out he’d been at the center of a nasty fire some years back that nearly wiped out some city over in England, and some of the wealthiest survivors were none too pleased that they’d been put out like they had.  So, they’d been nursin’ the grudge for a good thirty or more years, just tryin’ to track Richard down so they could kill’em off and had learned the dark arts to make sure that happened.  Assane was of a mind to leave them to it just to get it out of their system, but I ain’t for sure if she was just doin’ that to throw them off their guard or what. 

Needless to say, things got real messy, but it was the first time I’d seen Richard and Assane unleash their full elemental genie natures, turnin’ into bein’s of pure fire and ice.  These Limey cultists weren’t unskilled at what it was they were doin’, and the magic they’d warded the place with was provin’ difficult to deal with, but in the end, we managed to see it through.  In the heat of the moment, I didn’t think about it too much, cause my life was on the line, and who knew how many others if we didn’t kill this demon off, and in a moment of desperation, with my bullets expended and my magical reserves nearly exhausted, I called on that damn spell I’d learnt from Arrnor.  Don’t think that demon expected me to call out to another demon, and it certainly weren’t expectin’ what that spell did to it, but it did the trick, and let us do what was needed to banish that sucker back to its own little corner of the pits it had came from.  Think that spell might’ve broken the resolve of the cultists too, cause it weren’t much trouble to finish the clean up after that.

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, even if it ain’t always the smartest or best thing.  In the end, that demon got cast out of our world for a good long while, the cult that called it up got wiped out, and we made it back out without the whole place fallin’ in on us.  All in all, I’d call it a definite positive on the scale of things.  That event would lead me to the next big change in my life, which I’ll be getting’ to right shortly.

#Lore24 – Entry #190 – Supers Month II #9 – A Right Mess of Things

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

Course, wouldn’t be long before Assane and Richard done decided to make things even worse for us.  We’d been on the trail of that demon for a couple more days when Richard up and stopped right there in the middle of the prairie round noon and declared he had the solution to the problem.  Assane and me were skeptical, and we didn’t hide that when we glanced at one another.  But then he told us his bright idea and I was floored, came just a hair fallin’ out of my saddle right there. 

“To catch this demon, we’ll need to summon one of our own!” he told us, and he was somehow sure we’d agree with him, judgin’ by that smile on his face.  I was the first to disagree, recovering myself enough to call him right crazy amongst a few other choice words.  Assane was a little less heated on the subject, as was her way, but it weren’t long before the pair were snarlin’ and snappin’ at one another again.  I rode on ahead just to get the two out of earshot for a while, and stayed that way the rest of the day, ever on the watch for signs of our target.  Never got sign that it was near, but had that feelin’ like it was still a watchin’ us, and we hadn’t spotted no carrion birds flyin’ around, so we hadn’t needed no other signs to guide us along, apparently.  We were generally headed northwest, and there were some rocky hills comin’ from what I could see.

Anyway, I stopped as the sun started goin’ down and waited on the two, and it weren’t long before I heard’em still arguin’ back and forth, but it weren’t about no demon this time, just which one they was gonna summon.  I couldn’t believe that Assane had been won over on the idea, but she just plainly told me he’d made a lot of good points.  Knowin’ this could only end bad, I likewise knew I couldn’t talk the two out of it after just a few minutes.  They fought all the time, but when they were in agreement, weren’t no force on this planet that could get them to change that. 

And so it was that I learnt the intricacies of summonin’ up a demon that night under the new moon, and no, I ain’t gonna detail it here.  That knowledge is forbidden for a reason, and this was just one of those times that called for extreme measures, I guess.  They assured me this demon was friendly with them, though, and that they’d dealt with it many times over the centuries.  Assane even called him a “lovable little scamp.” 

Well, I’d call it a little more on the goofy-lookin’ side personally.  This particular demon weren’t one of the big ones like I’d been thinkin’ they meant to call, this one was called Arrnor, and his head was bigger than his whole body, comedically large, to the point I just couldn’t make head nor tails of how he was possibly movin’ around on his own two legs.  Assane’d told me it was just because he had such a high opinion of himself and it had literally gone to his head, but I’m still not sure if she was jokin’ or not. 

When they started with the negotiations, I didn’t miss the fact that the two had started to strip down, and then when the demon’s eyes fell on me, I somehow was expected to do the same.  I put my foot down, right hard, and said I wouldn’t be party to none of their debauchery, but since I’d been there when they started up the ritual, I didn’t have no choice, lest I get us all dragged into the demon’s realm for a century of torment at his hands.  Needless to say, I weren’t happy, and told’em they should’ve stated the details clearly, only to be told they thought I knew already, and just shrugged it off like it were nothin’. 

I still regret that I learned of all this knowledge first hand, for Arrnor is a right indecent demon, even amongst his kind, I reckon.  See, whereas most demons will just kill and torment and drive people mad and such, Arrnor just likes to play, and knows all the most wretched of ways that get humans all worked up in ways that nobody ought know.  I ain’t proud to admit that the ritual was one of the most intensely pleasurable experiences in my life, nor am I proud that I was gifted with knowledge of his signature spell, one of the forbidden ones cause it taps into his essence to use…nor am I proud that all of us got to experience it for ourselves that night.

But, once we had come back to our senses, all tangled up in each other’s arms there on the prairie, we had the information we had been huntin’ for, and knew what it was we faced.  Maybe it was worth the price, and maybe it was worth the stain on my soul in the name of the greater good, but I’m still strugglin’ to work that one out.  Regardless, we set off, bound for the Black Hills, to face that monster and get the job done.

#Lore24 – Entry #189 – Supers Month II #8 – Hunting What Hunts You

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

I ‘spose it were sometime in mid-spring, somewhere in the Nebraska or Dakota Territories when we had some trouble that weren’t of the normal variety.  We’d managed well enough to avoid trouble with the Indians, well, ‘ceptin’ that one incident, but that ain’t nothin’ to get into here.  My travelin’ companions were bickerin’ back and forth as they usually were when we was on long stretches between civilization, ‘bout something that happened back in the Dark Ages, I reckon, how it was Assane’s fault Richard got drawn and quartered for somethin’ she’d started, or somethin’ or other like that.  I was ridin’ on a little ways ahead just so me and Asher could have a little peace and quiet for a time when everythin’ went all deadly quiet. 

We was on alert, stopped cold in the middle of some old Indian trail in the middle of the woods when this feelin’ of dread just came rushin’ into me like nothin’ I’d ever felt before.  I had my pistol in one hand and a protection spell in the other before I knew what was goin’ on.  I scanned around the area with my mystic sight but didn’t see no signs that we’d come into one of them ‘bad places’ where things was known by the Indians to be unnatural.  Didn’t see no Indian signs aside from the trail in fact.  Asher couldn’t get a bearin’ on anythin’ either, and he was downright spooked like I ain’t never seen him before. 

As the two genies came back into earshot, they realized, for a wonder, that somethin’ was wrong, cause they were suddenly very alert when they saw me standin’ stock still on the trail, and had their own protections up.  They took to the air and split up to scout from above, but by then that dreadful feelin’ had started to fade, and a few minutes later, the sounds of nature started comin’ back.  When the two came back, they played it off as them spookin’ away whatever it was, but I could tell they was a little rattled by whatever had been there.

We’d get our first clue a bit further on down the trail that we was bein’ hunted by somethin’, and that it wanted us to know we was getting’ hunted.  We came up to a clearin’ in the hills, real idyllic little scene with a pond and a freshwater spring.  Well, it woulda been were it not for the pile of rottin’ meat we found on the shore and the smaller chunks floatin’ around the water.  I figure it must’ve been a whole herd of deer what were massacred there, and though they was rottin’ off the bone, it couldn’t have been done too long ago.  We set to cleanin’ up the mess, Richard burnin’ the corpses while Assane worked on purifyin’ the water.  Whatever had just come through ate a little of each one, the organs like the heart and liver and even the brains, but left most everything else.  Weren’t no messages left behind other than the bloody mess, but it wouldn’t be the last one of those we came upon.

Was maybe three or four days later when we ran up on that feelin’ again, drawin’ us to the north, only this time when we came up on the massacre, it were a bunch of Indians, maybe two dozen of them, all warriors.  They was missin’ the same parts as the deer were, but this time, instead of bein’ thrown all around, they was laid out deliberate-like, in some kind of dark ritual, their innards splayed out in specific ways, devilish signs made in their blood.  Worst part was they was all still alive somehow, cryin’ out in agony, even without their brains, it was like their spirits were still trapped in the bodies.

I hadn’t never seen nothin’ like that before, and couldn’t evern start to imagine what could’ve done it.  My companions had some thoughts about it, though, cause it was their job to know this kind of stuff, so they had told me many times, and for once they agreed it were some kind of demon runnin’ around, and likely sent after us by someone or somethin’ that we’d pissed off.  Most likely it was their fault, cause I didn’t reckon I’d done nothin’ to deserve that kinda attention just yet.  They was pretty sure it was leavin’ a trail for us to follow, just waitin’ for the right time to strike, when it was good and ready, meanin’ we had to somehow find it first.

It weren’t no happy trail we’d found ourselves on, that was for damn sure.

#Lore24 – Entry #188 – Supers Month II #7 – Conversations on the Trails into the West

From the journal of Abigail “Sassy” Dawson, Mage of the Order of Hecate

Once I’d calmed myself down and gotten over my shock at seein’ the pair alive and kickin’, I was of a mind that they were out to get revenge on me for it.  But that weren’t the case, cause neither of them held a grudge, even admitted to havin’ died plenty of times before.  I’ll admit, that one threw me a bit.  So, I took a seat and started askin’ the tough questions. 

They weren’t shy ‘bout talkin’ to me ‘bout themselves, since I already knew they weren’t what you’d call “human”.  Turns out they were only half-human, the other half bein’ genie.  Found that one hard to believe, but they was dead serious ‘bout it, and they’d been around for centuries.  Back when the great mage Scheherazade (always thought she was just a character in them “Arabian Nights” stories till I met these two) had first whipped up the true genies, breedin’ was one of the first things humanity felt they had to do with ‘em.  Here I thought modern times was right indecent in that way, but turns out, ain’t nothin’ had really changed.  So, they was amongst the first of the half-genie children that were made, and some of the few still roamin’ around on Earth.  They had taken up the duty of guarding the planet, they told me, from all kinds of supernatural evils and the like. 

You could say I was doubtful, but that would puttin’ it mildly given what I’d seen the two get up to in the town they’d very nearly destroyed.  That they shrugged off as just one of their “little arguments”.  They’d been huntin’ a particular vampire that had been roamin’ the town, they said, one with a taste for children, so Assane had gone and changed up her appearance to that of a child as bait.  When the deed was done and the vampire was dusted, she’d decided to stay that way for a bit, and this got Richard all riled up cause he thought she wasn’t attractive when she looked that way, and then it had spiraled out of control, she’d gotten drunk, lost control of herself for a few days, and then the rest was as I explained it earlier.

Apparently when you live forever, time don’t mean much, so what’s a few days or weeks in a drunken stupor? 

Anyway, they’d been married early on, sometime during the Crusades I reckon, though I don’t rightly know which one, both bein’ of royal blood and all.  And apparently, they’ve been causin’ trouble all over the world ever since, whenever they get into arguments or if they ain’t too careful in who they cozy up with.  Turns out these two might’ve been responsible, well, more or less, for more than one tragedy one the centuries, but that ain’t a story I’m tellin’ here; you want to know, you ask them about it.

With them revelations out in the open, I started askin’ them ‘bout how they did their magic, cause it was a good ways beyond what I could manage back then.  Turns out most of their powers came natural to them, given that they’re elementals to some extent, given their genie heritage and all, though they’d learned plenty of spells and rituals beyond what their elemental nature let them do.  I got the impression they felt I was about as capable as a newborn babe on the scale of our magic talents, but I ‘spose they saw somethin’ in me, cause as we’d travel further on, they’d teach me plenty that Granny Opal had never even imagined, or at least, had never bothered to mention.

After ridin’ down the Mississippi for a while, we disembarked in St. Louis and started headin’ west.  We didn’t have much in the way of a goal at first, cause all of us were curious to see the new side of the country that had opened up, and to get away from the nastiness that followed the war.  They hadn’t been in America too awful long themselves, just a few decades, and most of that was spent on the east coast.

Turns out there was plenty of things to keep us busy out there.  My eyes were opened up to all kinds of things I had only thought of as fanciful stories or myth till I started hangin’ round these two.  First night in St. Louis we wound up takin’ down another bunch of vampires (they just love the city life, good food supply), and it weren’t a week later we were trackin’ down a right ornery bunch of werewolves that were terrorizin’ the people travellin’ out west.  For all their rash behavior and dang near childlike antics at times, they were mighty impressive to watch when they worked.  They’d always try to make introductions and handle things peaceable, even when we came up on that pack of werewolves while they was in the middle of eatin’ their most recent kills.  Basically the choice was to get the hell out of this world and off to another one, or die where they was standin’, and bein’ pretty sure of themselves, lackin’ proper arcane trainin’ and all, they had no clue what they was facin’.  Guess the ways of the Old World weren’t so well known in these parts.

And so things went for the better part of the winter months that year, more or less without misfortune, movin’ on from one town to another on the trail of some maneater or troublesome fey or some cult doin’ magic they had no business delvin’ in, the kind dealin’ with elder bein’s from beyond, that kinda foul thing.  I had to act as mediator between the two half-genies a few times, and they’d manage to rope me into some rather…intimate affairs I ain’t gonna speak of here.  They’re nothin’ if not passionate, I’ll say that. 

Our good deeds wouldn’t go unnoticed, though, and soon enough we’d find ourselves bein’ the ones that were getting’ hunted.