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>>5007143
If you’re going to war with an undead occultist and a demon—and the allies they’ve mustered in Goblintown—you’ll need every edge you can get. Luckily, Irinnile isn’t your only tool—

‘Nnf, yeah, USE me baby!’

—you also have martial arts and weapons skills honed over several bloody battles, illusion magic awoken in your daytime study sessions with your arcane-inclined boytoy, your natural aptitudes for stealth and manipulation, and an expanding network of contacts from various walks of life, from the City Guard and the Mages’ Tower to high finance and the nobility, including prostitutes, journalists, conspiracists, technologists, and even (ironically) human supremacist thugs. Best of all, you have the aid of your Dark Gods!

‘Ugh, those guys…’

The Dark Gods Below and Beyond, patrons of your Reptilian Master Race, have turned their gaze upon you! They have leant you access to <The Akashic Record of the Dark Gods>, a time-and-space-spanning record of secret knowledge acquired by their operatives across the eons. Greater still, they have leant you a single <DIVINE FAVOUR> which you may call upon in effort to resolve a situation through their direct or subtle intervention… Though you’re wary to waste it.

‘We don’t need ‘em anyway!’

Despite her bravado, you can feel Irinnile’s trepidation to face the Devil-Zivic directly. You have to admit: it feels like walking into a trap, knowing how the last kidnapping of Roth led you right into a nest of wererats. Maybe your hated foe captured him a gain specifically to lure you into this place?

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>>5007144
[LEVEL UP: You have become better still at mentalism, stealth, and armed combat.

When facing a matter where success is not guaranteed or terribly likely, failure has notable consequences, or I’d feel railroady making you fail or cheap forcing a success, I will roll dice. Currently, that is 1d20 for most tasks. You get to roll 2d20 (taking the highest) for tasks involving intimidation or armed combat. You roll 3d20 for matters related to dance, stealth, seduction or politesse, and arcane studies; where blades are involved, you get 3d20 for armed combat rolls. In matters of illusion, mentalism, or occultism, you roll 4d20. Combining aptitudes, such as seduction and politesse or emotion-affecting illusion, can secure you the coveted 5d20. This is based on choices you’ve made.

You also have an inherent bonus to disguise attempts when relevant, can use human magic items without your Reptilian race’s usual penalty, and you have a decreased difficulty to rolls wherein you fight an untrained opponent hand-to-hand due to martial arts training.

Having formed a symbiotic pact with the succubus Irinnile, you can also shapeshift (including to create wings or natural weapons), sense and influence emotions and even read surface-level thoughts or enter dreams, and you are seemingly immune to permanent injury as a result of fire and mundane weapons.

As a general rule, DCs are 15, but disguise, magic item use, and favourable melees as discussed have DC 10. Thanks to Irinnile’s powers, you also currently have this reduced DC of 10 for nighttime or shadowy stealth checks, seduction rolls, and single-target illusion or mentalism checks.

However, your demonic powers are not without a price: Irinnile has a powerful sense of <WANT> at her core. Every time you use her powers or deny her something she desires, the <WANT> grows stronger, increasing the DC of rolls to control her impulses. Should you fail, she will subsume your personality long enough to satisfy herself, sometimes at the cost of lives and the risk of exposure. However, having both humbled and befriended her to some extent, below a <WANT> DC of 18, she will no longer risk actions likely to get you killed or exposed. Your current level of <WANT> is DC 16.

You have also gained a one-time invocation of your Dark Gods’ <DIVINE FAVOUR>, and access to their <AKASHIC RECORD>, as mentioned before; the DC to access it varies depending upon how long ago the event took place, how far away it occurred, and whether you have a relevant focus.

Rolls will be used when relevant (though not necessarily for every pretty little lie or funny flirtation). Overuse of demonic powers may cause them to be more frequent than they would otherwise. Exhaustion can further impede your rolls, and it should be noted that you haven’t had a proper rest in many nights…]


[ Previous volumes, for those of you just joining us, are at http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=reptoidqm ]

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>>5007146
It’s the moment of truth, with revenge and Roth’s very fate on the line… But it’s also a precarious situation with unknown threats awaiting you.

What do you do?
>You can tarry no longer—ascend on your demon wings over the wall, hopefully avoiding late-night guard attention, and dive into the depths of Goblintown to lay siege to Zivic’s likeliest hiding place
>Shapeshift into a less conspicuous form and attempt to enter into Goblintown and approach Zivic’s hidey-hole more subtly
>Use mentalism and glamour to rally the guards to your aid in uprooting a ‘conspiracy against Hawksong itself’, which IS almost half true
>Hold up—you could use back-up, maybe in the form of those human thralls you ‘befriended’, who were so eager to assault even a law-abiding half-human orc a few days ago
>Forget this “fighting a demon at night on its home turf” business—go get some sleep and come back in the morning, with a better plan
>Write-in

>>5007151
>Shapeshift into a less conspicuous form and attempt to enter into Goblintown and approach Zivic’s hidey-hole more subtly
>Hold up—you could use back-up, maybe in the form of those human thralls you ‘befriended’, who were so eager to assault even a law-abiding half-human orc a few days ago

Might as well call in backup, and I want our WANT satisfied before we go balls deep into Zivic's hiding place.

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>>5007151
>Shapeshift into a less conspicuous form and attempt to enter into Goblintown and approach Zivic’s hidey-hole more subtly
I'd rather not shapeshift, since that will cost us fuel, but if we're doing it, then ask Irinnile to give us a stronger "regular" body and body/face covering "clothes" picrel.
This way nobody can recognize us and we might not have to resort to turning back into a demon/further shapeshifting if things get bad.

>Hold up—you could use back-up, maybe in the form of those human thralls you ‘befriended’, who were so eager to assault even a law-abiding half-human orc a few days ago
Zivic is probably somewhat aware we can come tonight and as such, we should prepare for guards/watchmen standing in our way. Probably enter through a less expected path.

>>5007252
>>5007179
You take a step back from the precipice, such as it is. You cannot act rashly, if Zivic is likely to expect you. Two Reptilian Infiltrators dead or captured is worse than one, after all.

‘Y-yeah, good point, Lispy,’ Irinnile says. You can feel her relief within you, the uncoiling of tension.

She's not off the hook yet, though. As you turn around and head back into town, you begin mentally reviewing your plan—a plan that involves Irinnile at multiple steps.

‘Well, if you're lookin' for someone to make you big and strong like some kinda' ogre, that ain't me,’ she pouts, clearly less than enthused about returning to Goblintown after all. ‘But… yeah. I can shift our shape of course. Makes us all inconspicuous. What are you thinkin'?’

As you head across town to fetch your minions, you are ware of how early dawn comes to Hawksong this time of year. You beat your black-scaled wings faster—if you don't hurry, it will be daylight by the time you strike! Eventually, though, you arrive. Necessarily, you abandon your demonic wings. To your happy surprise, this small reversion in shape doesn't worsen your <WANT> as it might once have done.

‘Your mind and body aren't puttin' up the same resistance that they used to,’ Irinnile says, with a lewd titter. ‘It's like I'm training you to my shape.’

You ignore her innuendo, and knock upon the door of one of your minions: a middle-class adventurer wannabe by the name of Davide. He's a forgettable human in many regards, but reasonably competent with bow and blades. It was he, Joris, Amelie, and their late friend Bros who followed your lead into wererat-infested sewers a few night earlier.

>>5007489
“Kamunu?” Davide asks, surprised at your presence. His nearly-shaved head is hidden beneath a flat sleeping cap, and he is wearing a robe over striped nightclothes.

He looks around rapidly, and steps outside rather than inviting you in. You suppose you must be a startling figure for him to encounter, at his residence where you have never been invited. The last time you and he were together, he'd witnessed a friend's murder and had found himself compelled by overwhelming urges into an orgy with you and those allies who remained.

‘That was a pretty fun night,’ Irinnile reminisces.

“What do you want?” Davide asks, voice low. “I'm… Do you know what time it is?”

“Not too late to help rid Hawksssong of another menacce?” you ask hopefully, your Northern Common tinged by your Reptilian accent—luckily, unrecognizable as such to the locals.

“What?” Davide asks, face going pale. “None of us see you since. Since Bors, and… And now you're back, and the Gods know WHAT hour of the night and you want me to go back into that hell with you?!”

Hm. Less receptive than you'd hoped. What do you do?
>Blackmail him into compliance
>Appeal to his sense of honour, and his obligation to his friends
>Use feminine wiles and glamour to lure him along [lower DC, temporary effect]
>Attempt to meddle with his mind to erase or modify the more troubling memories [high DC, more permament effect]
>Screw it—and him. Seduce him, drain him a little to feed your <WANT>, and try one of his friends next
>Write-in

>>5007491
>Appeal to his sense of honour, and his obligation to his friends
Won't hurt to try this first.
>Attempt to meddle with his mind to erase or modify the more troubling memories [high DC, more permament effect]

>>5007489
>big and strong like some kinda
Not what I meant at all, actually.
If she can craft fabric out of our skin, then why not also make it thicker or durable for the time being?
Please give us a face-covering hood, at least. I don't want random fags to recognize Ismena's face.

>>5007491
>Use feminine wiles and glamour to lure him along [lower DC, temporary effect]

Why do we need a permanent effect, he's probably dying tonight? Take the lower DC lol.

>>5007537
Tbh. I just tend to prefer mental fuckery over seduction.
If he survives we'll have to do mindfuckery, tho. Can't allow them to keep recovering and eventually realize this snake psycho is seducing them into becoming a suicide squad.

>>5007491
Changing my vote (>>5007502) to:
>Appeal to his sense of honour, and his obligation to his friends
Still wanna try reason first, if it fails:
>Use feminine wiles and glamour to lure him along [lower DC, temporary effect]
Tits.

>>5007551
>If he survives we'll have to do mindfuckery, tho
or just finish him off ourselves, I'm not sure he's worth the WANT

>>5007589
The chess anon is gonna kill himself if we do that deliberately. Not sure I want him to.

>>5007732
Chess anon should learn to recognize when a piece should be sacrificed

>>5007491
>Appeal to his sense of honour, and his obligation to his friends

>Use feminine wiles and glamour to lure him along [lower DC, temporary effect]

>Have sex with him before leaving too, our <WANT> is pretty high

>>5007491
>Appeal to his sense of honour, and his obligation to his friends
>Attempt to meddle with his mind to erase or modify the more troubling memories [high DC, more permament effect]

We need to make sure he doesn't flake in the middle of the job, which is what I assume the temporary nature of the glamor is all about

>Satisfy WANT, but quickly

>>5007737
It isn't so much about being unwilling to sacrifice as it is about making sure the help doesn't falter from the job. Plus, do need some helpers for our extracurricular activities, such as saving Roth's ass a second time.

>>5007881
Guys like this are a dime a dozen, we can easily find replacements.

If you're that concerned about not having thugs on call we can look around before leaving Goblintown for some big orcs.

Rolled 11, 6, 4, 14, 16 = 51 (5d20)

>>5007537
>>5007551
>>5007810
>>5007881
Looks like we're leaning...
>Appeal to honour
>Seduction and glamour
>Fuck/feed
Rolling, and will post sometime this evening!

Just a heads up: I have a party to attend this weekend, so while I'll likely post tomorrow morning, I doubt I will in the evening, and I MAY skip Sunday morning if I'm hungover or busy with chores.

>>5007910
Congrats, and thanks for the warning. I hope you have a great time at the party!

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>>5007910
“Come now,” you say, “do you think Borss wantss to have died in vain? Do you want Amelie and Joriss to face down the degeneraccy of Goblintown ALONE, without your aid?”

“I couldn’t give a shit!” Davide cries, throwing his hands up in the air. “What, you think I hate greenskins so much I’ll throw my life away for it? Goblintown isn’t coming to my neighbourhood, are they? Tell me when they are and we’ll see, but this… It was just a thing to do with friends, right? It wasn’t meant to be a… A WAR!”

“The war’ss coming,” you say seriously. “I have it on good authority that the goblins and orcs are mustering ssome ssort of… OCCULT ritual.”

“Then call the Paladins! The Tower! The fucking Merchant Marines! It’s none of my business.”

Hrm. Well, it was worth a shot, you suppose. Time to turn on the old razzle dazzle.

“Davide, pleasse,” you say, stepping closer and activating your glamour. He steps back slightly, but that just allows you to pin him in against the door he shut behind him. He has no escape as you press your body to his, and cling to his robe. “I’m sscared… I don’t want to let those beasstss get away with thiss, but… I don’t want to go alone. And you’re sso sstrong, and sskilled… I need you there.”

You can hear the intake of breath as he takes in your scent, can feel his heart hammer in his chest as your magic and your natural aptitude for seduction work their talons into his mind and body.

‘You know,’ Irinnile says casually, ‘he wasn’t half bad last time, and I could do with a bite to eat.’

‘Very well,’ you reply across the psychic link, beginning to kiss and nibble at Davide’s neck, and then down his body. ‘Leave him enough energy for tonight. I still need him.’

Before long, you are smuggled up to Davide’s room, and Irinnile is fed. By the way Davide goes to work, it’s as if the young man truly thinks this night might be his last… But when the two of you leave, he has donned his armour.

<WANT: 15>

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>>5007973
With Davide on board, your next stop is Joris’ residence, which is a little closer to street level in physical height and general financial status. Perhaps that has something to do with his greater hunger for conflict, his resentment of foreign and inhuman intrusion into the local society and economy.

“About time we reminded those bastards what we’re all about in this city! No more rats, and no more green vermin either!”

He arms himself and armours up without so much as a sly handjob—something Irinnile whines about, but which is much better for your timetable and maintaining your magical reserves. Of course, there’s still Amelie to persuade—the least forthcoming and most troublesome of the three. She’s also the elast competent in combat, truly more in the ‘adventure tourism’ scene for the fashion (and, you suspect, for Joris) than for the racial animus. Still, many hands make light work…

Do you bring Amelie along?
>Yes
>No

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>>5007975
Along the way, you pretend that you need to go relieve yourself. Slipping into a dark alleyway, you expend a bit of the desire Irinnile absorbed from your quick bout with Davide, and see about a change of appearance.

‘You can manifest fabrics,’ you note. ‘Why not armour?’

‘It’s all about my spheres,’ Irinnile says. ‘I can give you features I HAVE, like wings and horns and claws and shit, right? But my real body doesn’t HAVE big thick armoured skin, so making it is… Tricky. Fabrics are easy, as long as we keep ‘em shiny and leathery, ‘cause… Well, I’m just modifying our skin, really. Maybe if you were one of those Steeltalon guys, like that hunk from the Akashic Record vision…’

You sigh. No such luck, it seems.

‘Hey, come on! It’s not so bad. We’re still immune to mundane weapons…’

‘Well, can you at least hide my face?’

‘That, I can do! Strip ‘em, Lispy, and I’ll give Agatha a run for her money on the tailoring side of things!’

You do as instructed, and with but a little expenditure of Irinnile’s abilities, your skin stretches, warps, and shifts across your body until you are earing a rubbery black catsuit with a tight face-mask and a loose shawl about your hair. She also manifests quite high heels and a thicker rear-end—of COURSE she would—but you find you have no more trouble walking upon this modified lower body than you did upon digitigrade legs and hooves when first you assumed a demonic visage. Only an incredibly close inspection would reveal your attire was actually horrifically-reshaped flesh rather than sexy-and-stealthy suit and, though both Joris and Davide look as if they’d like to give you such an inspection when you emerge from the shadows, you do not give them the chance.

<WANT: 16>

As you approach Goblintown, it is still night for another hour or two—still dark. What is your plan?
>Bluff and glamour your way past the guards at the gate [specify if you have a lie in mind]
>Sneak through the sewers—now cleared of wererats to your knowledge—and enter Goblintown that way
>Use the adventuring gear the others have brought to rappel over the wall between patrols
>Storm the gate, taking out the guards and bringing the pain down on any denizens of Goblintown foolish enough to get in your way
>Write-in

>>5007975
>Yes

All hands on deck, but I'm not really picky if she doesn't go as well.

>>5007977
>Sneak through the sewers—now cleared of wererats to your knowledge—and enter Goblintown that way
If we can deal with the Tower's wards.

>Bluff and glamour your way past the guards at the gate [specify if you have a lie in mind]
If we can't deal with the sewer wards.

>>5007975
>Yes
She's the one that most needs to die. If she won't come, we should kill her after.

>Use the adventuring gear the others have brought to rappel over the wall between patrols

>>5008013
Personally, I want to train our mental abilities on them before any killing (preferably draining them fully to feed our WANT), but I'm curious as to why Amelie must die, more than the others? And I mean a reason beyond just having a Murderboner.

>>5007975
>Yes
Fingerbang and drag her along.

>>5007977
>Sneak through the sewers—now cleared of wererats to your knowledge—and enter Goblintown that way
Extra caution cause Zivic knows we used sewers before.


I have an idea. Can we use Irinnile to destroy someone's mind during sleep? We could reeally easily deal with Yosefs that way...

>>5008150
She's always been the most reluctant, and the most likely to get spooked and take everything she knows to the watch.

>>5007977
>Yes
>Bluff and glamour your way past the guards at the gate [specify if you have a lie in mind]

>>5007989
>>5008013
>>5008420
>>5008508
[It seems you're bringing Amelie, but that you aren't certain whether to try the sewers first or to just bluff your way past the guards. I'll wait a bit longer for a tiebreaker, then roll for that if need be so I can post before I leave today.

>>5008504
I agree with this, actually. She acts like she's two steps away from ratting on us to the guard unless we break her mind or kneecaps.

>>5008510
NTA, but I think (>>5007989) was a vote for sewers, unless we can't deal with protective magic down there, in which case it'd be back to glamour.

>>5008517
>a vote for sewers, unless we can't deal with protective magic down there, in which case it'd be back to glamour.
[I counted it as a vote for both, because while you can probably evade wards like the alarm you triggered before now that you know what to look for, you can't possibly know what else might have been done since then without committing to going inside and checking.]

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Rolled 2, 14, 7, 5, 6, 11 = 45 (6d20)

>>5008510
[3d20 stealth, 3d20 arcana]

>>5008574
Amelie is easily won over—albeit not HAPPILY so—when you arrive with Joris and Davide. She will go where Joris goes, it seems, and between the aggressive young man’s enthusiasm to bust some heads and your glamour, spirits are actually at a relative high point among your minions by the time you arrive at…

>QM COIN FLIP

…The sewers. You might need to abandon this yet, you realize. The Tower has been down here, and the guards, investigating the aftermath of your last foray into the undercity. Who knows what defences have since been erected? However, now you know what to look for. You’re not going in blind, as before, and it’s a good sight better than trying to bluff your way past the guards up top. You might be disguised, but you are obviously so, and none of your cohorts have the same concealment for their identities. You can’t risk them being traced back to you.

As you descend into the stinking depths once more, you lead the charge. Irinnile’s vision—and thus your vision—are not hampered by the darkness as with a human’s. Moreover, your senses are not purely material and physical as theirs are. Almost immediately, you begin to spot the telltale signs of invisible or faintly-etched runes, of lattices of wards and alarms. However, you navigate around them with relative ease—disabling them, perhaps, is a step too far to attempt unnecessarily.

Your thralls, however, have a trickier time of it.

“Ugh, so… I swing my leg over like this?” Davdie asks, assuming an awkward pose to crouch under one arcane array over over another.

“Yess,” you reiterate, “but NOT on that brick there, or any within two bricksss of it.”

“How long do you think my legs ARE?” he grumbles.

“Guys,” Amelie whines, “this is stupid! We’re obviously not supposed to be here!”

You glare at Amelie. She’s going to be trouble, you sense.

“Come on, Amelie. It’s easy! Davide’s just not exercising properly,” Joris taunts. “It’s just like this…”

You jump slightly as you feel the sudden signal-pulse of energy.

‘Oh shit, Lispy…’

‘I see it, Irinnile!’ you shoot back.

>>5008581
Joris, in fact, does NOT demonstrate a superior prowess. He instead slips on a slick patch of sewage and faceplants through one ward and two alarm spells, knocking himself instantly unconscious and setting him aglow with faerie fire. The other humans scream, jumping back and further activating Tower traps. Amelie, too, is now alight with the eerie glow, and is slapping at her arms and torso as if trying to put the fire out…

“Hu-hey, it doesn’t burn,” she says after a moment, half-whimpering still.

“What the fuck?” Davide mutters, hands on his hand, staring between the two of his companions, and then to you. “What’s going on? What the fuck is this?”

It’s a marker, meant to identify an intruder. A perpetrator, using the now-emptied undercity—a sewage system they perhaps cleared—for purposes which the Tower and Paladins do not know but CLEARLY wish to learn more about.

‘We gotta’ get out of here, babe,’ Irinnile urges.

She’s right, one way or another. The Tower wouldn’t twice make the mistake of setting alarms they were too far away to respond to swiftly.

What do you do?
>Leave the three humans to take the fall, and head straight for your objective
>Drag Davide along, using the other two as a decoy while you beeline for Goblintown
>Attempt to dispel the faerie fire and head topside with your thralls to lay low, and try another approach when the heat dies down
>Enough—slay the humans to ensure they don’t rat you out, and use your demonic stealth to hide until the Tower passes by
>Write-in

>>5008582
>>Enough—slay the humans to ensure they don’t rat you out, and use your demonic stealth to hide until the Tower passes by

>>5008582
>Enough—slay the humans to ensure they don’t rat you out, and use your demonic stealth to hide until the Tower passes by
Please do it quick and clean, try to make it look like it wasn't backstabbing. Dump the bodies in the sewer if applicable.

This is why I was skeptical about employing cheap thugs. Fox was too dangerous to control, chessanon.

>>5008582
>Enough—slay the humans to ensure they don’t rat you out, and use your demonic stealth to hide until the Tower passes by

>>5008823
I'm not chessanon but Foxy coulda made it past these wards at the very least.

>>5008582
>Attempt to dispel the faerie fire and head topside with your thralls to lay low, and try another approach when the heat dies down

While I'm not against killing them after this, killing them here and now will just cause futher Tower investigations and autism into our affairs.

>>5008823
Well, when you kill off the good help, you’re left with the cheap thugs.

If you’re afraid of not being in control when you have access to literal mind control and other occult mentalist tricks, you have unrealistic standards anon.

>>5008582
>>Leave the three humans to take the fall, and head straight for your objective

>>5008893
They have TRACKERS on them. If we take them out of here, everyone will see them and Tower will also get us.

>>5009276
What part of
>Attempt to dispel the faerie fire
do you not understand?

I would understand if we failed to dispel the faerie fire and panicked, but not attempting to dispel and just offing them before we face Zivic, under the Tower’s nose?

Honestly, it unthinking shit like this that’ll drive me up the wall.

>>5008582
>Enough—slay the humans to ensure they don’t rat you out, and use your demonic stealth to hide until the Tower passes by

More trouble than they’re worth

Try and make it quick and hide the bodies

>>5008582
Since murder succeeds, make it look like they were chasing somebody, and make it look like the fox-woman did the deed. As much as I want to call it quits, I want Roth back in our hands before the day starts.

I can’t wait for for the murderautism to force us to kill Roth and Edwin btw.

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>>5009282
Oh ffs, my bad. Sorry anon, I must've lost a lot of braincells to get this blind and biased. Honestly embarassing.

>>5008582
Gonna change my shit (>>5008823) to
>Attempt to dispel the faerie fire and head topside with your thralls to lay low, and try another approach when the heat dies down
But if we fail, then
>Enough—slay the humans to ensure they don’t rat you out, and use your demonic stealth to hide until the Tower passes by
...really just shiv them.

[Still hung over and chilling by a lake, but it LOOKS like we're still narrowly leaning towards killing the humans. I'll post later today, one way or another.]

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Rolled 3, 16, 8 = 27 (3d20)

>>5008727
>>5008859
>>5008893
>>5009065
>>5009282
>>5009295
[Vote's closed; rolling to tie up loose ends!]

Rolled 7, 9, 8 = 24 (3d20)

>>5009793
You fume silently. You know at least part of the blame lies with you for not spotting every magic trap and trigger. A part of you can’t even help but admonish yourself that, had you been able to keep the fox-woman alive, she might have been more useful for this endeavour… But then, she would also be more difficult to control.

Still, these human pawns are no longer useful, and their continued flailing about and cries of confusion in fact present a serious liability. You need to act fast, to avoid these panicked fools attracting attention and potentially revealing your involvement in the wererat massacre, and thus the other peculiar events around town—maybe even your true mission to subvert the city. That, you cannot allow. You draw you dagger, and set to work.

Davide is so focused on his seemingly-aflame friends that he doesn’t even see you approach with killing intent. He doesn’t even realize the threat until her has already been stabbed twice, and is already being shoved into the sewer. The kill is quick and clean, and by slitting his throat on the way down, you silence any cries. With Joris already unconscious, he is an even easier kill—you stab him once through the neck and, with a solid shove of your organic ‘boot’, you push him off to sail down the sewer with his friend.

Only then does Amelie, now whimpering rather than screaming, look up.

“Hey, where are…”

The female trails off, eyes finding her allies’ bodies. She stares in silent horror at them, and then looks to you, and to your bloodied blade. She opens her mouth to scream…

But the scream never comes.

[Cont., rolling stealth.]

>>5009798
You have three bodies to dispose of, and little time. With your succubus-enhanced stealth, you nevertheless hope you can do SOMETHING to hide what has occurred here from the Tower officials, or to at least disguise the nature of the event. You begin to drag the bodies through the sewer water, shuddering at the feel of the filthy waste-water upon ‘clothes’ that are, effectively, your bare skin.

‘Some people pay good money for this, ya’ know,’ Irinnile jokes.

Somehow, you’re not quite in the mood. You drag the humans to a deeper area and attempt to submerge them, like a jungle predator caching a kill…

‘Ah shit, babe, don’t look now but…’

You can hear the footfalls just as well, hear the voices crying out. There are at least two investigators—you’d wager Inquisitors, and thus combat0tarined mages—headed your way. They can see you, and there’s no way they won’t find the bodies now. You curse your luck, and your late, clumsy thralls…

But your pursuers are human, and you are disguised. They haven’t seen you, and wouldn’t recognize you if they did. You still have a chance to turn this around—to escape, or even to turn this to your advantage.

What do you do?
>Escape, and disappear into the night, leaving this another unresolved mystery
>Take the Inquisitors on directly—if they die, they can’t report what they’ve seen, and you can return to the night’s work
>Shapeshift into a wererat (or the next best thing), to pin this crime on the sewer-dwellers and shift suspicion
>Make it clear that you are a DEMON, and flee towards Goblintown—turn one enemy upon another!
>Attempt to ensorcel the Inquisition, to make THEM into your new minions [DC ???]
>Write-in

>>5009821
>Escape, and disappear into the night, leaving this another unresolved mystery

This is why I didn't want to go through the sewers.

>>5009821
>Shapeshift into a wererat (or the next best thing), to pin this crime on the sewer-dwellers and shift suspicion

>>5009821
>Escape, and disappear into the night, leaving this another unresolved mystery
Leave more question marks

If we reveal ourselves as a demon - they’ll up the anti-demon defences at the Gala

>>5010071
Reveal ourselves as a were-rat, we send them chasing tall tales and dead ends.

>>5009821
>Shapeshift into an orc/goblin (or the next best thing), to pin this crime on the sewer-dwellers and shift suspicion
>Flee towards Goblintown—turn one enemy upon another!
Why not turn their attention towards Goblintown while we're nearby? If possible, make ourselves a face rag so that they can't be sure who they saw.

>>5010259
I'm alright with this also, so +1 instead of >>5009916.

Rolled 2, 17, 16 = 35 (3d20)

>>5009847
>>5010071
>>5010259
>>5010267
[Rolling and posting for wererat disguise + escape!]

>>5010439
Escape is your priority now, and time is of the essence! However, that doesn’t mean you can’t make this disaster of a situation work for you. You are, after all, a bonafide shapeshifter now, which means you can easily frame just about anyone for your atrocities! But who to cast these aspersion upon, you wonder?

Well, what about the wererats? You could imitate their tail, their snout, even their mangey hair… But then, to what end? They were an easy scapegoat, and might yet be, but Boss Leo is dead and his servants slain or scattered. Why frame someone absent and defeated when you can yet turn the Inquisition against an enemy who still troubles you?

You consider transforming into a demon, or mimicking the appearance of Zivic herself, but then think better of it—what if the Tower increases anti-demon defences at the Gala as a result? As a demon-possessed individual yourself, it would through a real hurdle in your way.

<Days to the Tower Gala: 7>

Finally, you settle upon it, and with no time to spare: a goblin or an orc!

‘Goblins’re probably a liiitle outside my abilities, with what you’re workin’ with’ Irinnile says. ‘You’re actually fairly tall, ya’ know?’

‘Then an orc!’ you snap. ‘Hurry!’

You feel the transformation take hold, warping and shifting your flesh slightly to make you blockier, more imposing, with the slight piggish snout of an orc and the tusked underbite to boot. You still have the leathery face-covering Irinnile crafted you, and so you pull this up over your face… But not entirely. You allow your pursuers JUST enough time to cast their magelight upon you, to see your newly-distinguishing features.

“You, orc! Don’t move!”

But, of curse, then you do. You bolt, praying to the Dark Gods as you dodge lighting and fire from behind. You may be immune to mundane weapons with Irinnile inside of you, and even the fire, but magic lightning will still slay you as sure as anything. Luckily, you know these tunnels better than the Inquisition by now, and you know where you’re going. You flee not towards Roth’s home, nor The Pretty Kitty, Engel Manor or anywhere else compromising to your various identities.

You flee towards Goblntown, coming up on that side of the wall.

You take a brief peek topside, at the crowded shanty-town of hand-built wooden and brickwork structures, and take a deep whiff. Your human companions made much of the horrid smell of the place, but after the Hawksong city sewers, it might as well be a perfumed back room at TPK. You haul yourself up and disappear into the shadows between buildings, catching your breath.

<WANT: 17>

>>5010455
Eventually, one of the Tower’s agents catches up with you. A familiar face emerges, newly spectacled once again: the Inquisitor you accosted at the docks! You looks about for you, holding his hand outstretched with fingers flexed and crackling with power. A few goblins round the corner, yammering loudly in an alien tongue, and then catch sight of him and immediately squeal and backpedal. He does not pursue, but casts his gaze about for you. Several times, it passes over your hiding place, and you fear you will be detected—that his enchanted glasses have locked onto you with their tracking magic…

But as he silently fumes and lwoers his hands, you can tell that he has had no such luck in his hunt. Even with that magic, it must have been impossible for him to draw a bead and pinpoint you in the darkness below the city. Still, it doesn’t seem he’s going anywhere… And back-up may arrive any moment.

What do you do?
>Skulk in the direction of Zivic’s hiding-place, to rescue Roth and end this tonight
>Take out the Inquisitor before back-up arrives—this is your best opportunity for the kill
>Attempt to brainwash the Inquisitor with your mental powers [DC ???]
>Stay put and observe, and hope they don’t find you lurking in the shadows
>It’s too risk, with the Tower present and exhaustion in your bones—you must return to Hawksong for tonight [please specify where you choose to rest]
>Write-in

>>5010456
>Skulk in the direction of Zivic’s hiding-place, to rescue Roth and end this tonight
Can't leave our damsel in distress in the clutches of evil

>>5010456
>Skulk in the direction of Zivic’s hiding-place, to rescue Roth and end this tonight

The Inquisitors are not our focus and a dead one would just increase security ahead of the gala

>>5010488
>>5010761
You certainly have no desire to provoke or draw the ire of the Tower's Inquisitors, but nor will you allow their presence to scare you off. You still have a dragon to save from a fearsome damsel, after all.

Irinnile giggles at the thought, remarking ‘Roth ain't living this down. Serves him right, the old prude.’

You sneak out the back of the alley and, not desiring to draw attention, join the other people walking the crowded and winding streets. There aren't many—you recall from your studies of the surface-mammals that goblins and orcs are crepuscular by nature rather than truly nocturnal as humans often believe. Likewise, their darkvision is not so well adapted as that of your mother’s race—nor your own darkvision, with Irinnile's aid. There are no great throngs, and nobody sees you with the clarity to second-guess any failings in you imperfect orc disguise.

Going off of earlier intelligence, you know—or strongly suspect, at least—that the Devil-Zivic bases her operations in an apothecary (or, well, a ‘mycologist’ storefront) and the apartment above. The corvids she uses as vessels for her voice and eyes in the sky—which you have seen none of tonight, Dark Gods be praised—have been seen with a mysterious hooded half-orc who you take for her chiefmost instrument, while she uses goblin thieves, pickpockets, and runners to obtain curious items towards unknown ends from other denizens of Goblintown or Hawksong proper. You scout the building in question, and find no signs of light or life in the lower floors; there is, however, a faint glow as if through or around thick curtains from up above.

You creep closer, casing the entrances and exits: one main doorway, barred; two small windows below and four up above, each scarcely big enough to squeeze through and with the lower ones shuttered; one side entrance, locked and blocked to your cursory inspection; one rear exit, narrow but less defended from the outside than the others.

You see a small greenskinned goblin—female, dirty-fingered and attired as if for labour—step out of this last doorway to take a long drag on a thin pipe with a satisfied wheeze. A shop owner? Employee? Agent of the enemy? Following her smoke upwards from your hidden place in the dark, you see the billows of a chimney as well, puffing despite the unseasonable heat.

What do you do?
>Accost the goblin to interrogate her for intelligence on those inside, and perhaps to have her simply let you in
>Circle around to slip in through a lower window, and to creep upstairs
>Shapeshift wings and crash in through the uppermost window—shock and awe!
>Climb the building and descend the chimney--you're immune to fire, after all, and they'll hardly expect such an approach
>Draw the Inquisition'a attention to the building and let them do your dirty work and provide a distraction for your rescue/assassination efforts
>Write-in

>>5010858
>Accost the goblin to interrogate her for intelligence on those inside, and perhaps to have her simply let you in

>>5010858
>Accost the goblin to interrogate her for intelligence on those inside, and perhaps to have her simply let you in

Wonder how Zivic has manifested

>>5010858
>Accost the goblin to interrogate her for intelligence on those inside, and perhaps to have her simply let you in
Let's try to talk our way in, since we still look like an orc. If goblins use different language, either make Irinnile translate our speech or let her talk directly.

Do we know what types of items Zivic collects in case we need to explain our entry?

Rolled 6, 3, 13 = 22 (3d20)

>>5011211
>>5010926
>>5010863

File: 6c91165f0321bd00ff73aeffb(...).jpg (26 KB, 474x472)

26 KB JPG

>>5011297
Since you still look like an orc, you decide you might as well take advantage of this to gather some intelligence, and perhaps to even talk your way inside.

‘Irinnile, I may need you to translate,’ you say, stepping out of the shadows.

The goblin immediately steps back, narrowing her wide yellow eyes and looking you up and down with great scrutiny.

‘Huhwhat?’ Irinnile asks, with a nervous laugh. ‘Babe, I don’t speak gobbo.’

You smile casually, but in your mind you are screaming ‘What do you MEAN you don’t speak Goblin?!’

‘I mean that no goblin has ever summoned me for nookie, or for nothin’ else! Why would I know Goblin?’

The goblin girl spits on the ground and takes another puff, asking something of you in a language you don’t understand, and evidently have no chance of understanding.

“Um…”

“Ugh,” the goblin says in Northern Common-tongue. “Half-orc, huh? Don’t even know your own language?”

‘Oooh!’ Irinnile laughs. ‘That was ORC! I, uh, I don’t speak that neither.’

You fume at your own ill-preparedness, but are grateful at least for the goblin’s creation of an easy excuse for you.

“Yesss,” you say, “I’m half-human. You sspeak common?”

The goblin looks at you with annoyance and suspicion. “Better than you, I’d wager. Who fucking doesn’t, in fucking HAWKSONG? What, you think when guards like you come over here doing ‘building inspections’ I negotiate the bribe in Gob-Lang?”

>>5011306
This is going poorly. You scan her surface thoughts, but they move fast, feel almost disjointed. Suspicion. Irritation. Appraisal. A need for another puff on her pipe. A desire for you to leave. Idle speculation about market opportunities. Fear of something else—some other entity.

You decide to try a fresh approach. “I undersstand there are—”

“Why do you TALK like that? Sstop ssslurring!” The goblin says, barking a harsh laugh at your accent.

“—that there are opportunitiess to earn a bit of coin here.” You finish the thought, ignoring her mockery despite your annoyance. “That ssomeone sstaying here iss willing to pay for the right sstuff.”

“Oh?” the goblin girl asks. “And what have you heard? What ‘stuff’ do you think this person wants, huh?”

“I wass… Hoping you could tell me,” you say.

The goblin girl laughs again, once. “Knew it. Copped you for a fucking guardie. They got themselves a cute little pet half-orc to spy on us, huh? Come back with your helmet, guardie-girl. I ain’t no snitch. Fuck off.”

Ugh. This is going poorly. You need a different approach.
>Get physical, using your greater size to intimidate the goblin into compliance [DC ???]
>Use glamour to seduce the goblin into inviting you inside [DC 13]
>Attempt to knock the goblin out, and use Irinnile’s mentalism to scan the goblin’s brain for details [DC ??? for combat, DC 15 for mentalism, +1 Want]
>Play up the guard angle, explaining that you have the Inquisition on the way to lock this whole place down and ask these questions much more ‘insistently’ if she isn’t going to cooperate with your investigation into the occult [DC 15]
>Forget this nonsense—kill the goblin and walk right in with dagger in hand [DC ???]
>Write-in

>>5011308
>Use glamour to seduce the goblin into inviting you inside [DC 13]

>>5011308
>Play up the guard angle, explaining that you have the Inquisition on the way to lock this whole place down and ask these questions much more ‘insistently’ if she isn’t going to cooperate with your investigation into the occult [DC 15]

>>5011308
>Play up the guard angle, explaining that you have the Inquisition on the way to lock this whole place down and ask these questions much more ‘insistently’ if she isn’t going to cooperate with your investigation into the occult [DC 15]

Rolled 6, 1, 15, 18, 10 = 50 (5d20)

>>5011362
>>5011436
>>5011733
[Intimidation + politesse, with a small bonus for playing to existing assumptions = 5 dice!]

>>5011743
“Fine, you want to play it like that?” you ask, squaring up. “You can play your ssilly little gamess with the Inquissition.”

“What now? The who now?” the goblin asks, straightening slightly.

“What, you think we came to invesstigate an occult enterprisse without tipping off the Tower Inquissition?”

The goblin doesn’t respond right away, her eyes flitting back and forth and shoulders hunching as she instinctively seeks an exit strategy. Her surface emotions all turn to fight-or-flight. You smirk knowingly—it’s working!

“My father wass from Goblintown,” you begin to spin the yarn. “I thought perhapss I’d cut you sslobss ssome sslack, out of ssolidarity—”

“Screw you s-s-sssolidarity!” the goblin spits, but you can feel her fear mounting.

“—but the Inquissitorss have ways of making you talk. Terrible ways, I hear. Your brain iss never the ssame, afterwards.”

The goblin girl’s green skin goes a shade paler, and she drops her pipe before scrambling to pick it up.

“Hey, HEY now, it doesn’t have to play out like that…”

“Oh?” you ask, feigning casual curiosity, while inwardly you feel sadistic glee at the successful manipulation.

“I didn’t know he was doing any illegal occult shit!” she protests. “I just did, you know, some gophering.”

“Gophering?” you ask, puzzled.

“Yeah, you know—go fer a walk, come back with some pretty rocks, or weird chalk, or a half-dead cat. Go fer a bit of thie—borrowing, bartering, begging. Go fer this, go fer that. Gophering!”

“Who hass you doing this?” you ask. “A half-orc, like me?”

“Y-yeah,” she agrees, nodding rapidly. “That’s right! His lip has a scar. Dark blue eyes, human eyes, like yours but… You know, bluey! Real stern, not very talky, with a bit of that ‘big dick’ energy, you know?”

You roll your eyes at the goblin’s crude priorities in the description, conveniently ignoring Irinnile’s metaphysical drooling at the last part.

“Is this half-orc upstairs right now?” you ask.

The goblin nods.

“And do you know what exactly he’ss doing? What he needss all thiss for?”

“Not really,” she admits. “I mean, wo cares? The bruiser pays, he pays, you know what I mean? Questions just get answers. Answers don’t pay bills.”

Hm, curious.

>>5011762

“Did you ssee anything… Esspecially unusual lately?”

‘Heh, guess you can’t just straight up ask “hey, did anyone haul a big-ass lizard with a stick up his ass upstairs tonight”, huh?’ Irinnile jokes.

The goblin shakes her head. “Nah, just swung by to collect my pay and to drop off some reading stone.”

You narrow your eyes, recalling some readings from your time in the library with Lord Bianchi, the occultist whose rendezvous with Zivic you had interrupted just earlier this night. “Ulexite?”
The goblin snap her fingers. “That’s the shit! Yeah! You-lexite! Half-blind old fucks use it magnify shit, right?”

…And some rituals use it to channel a spirit between two vessels. This could be related to Devil-Zivic’s plans to possess Bianchi… But then, it wasn’t present, apparently, when that ritual was in the works. Could it be related to what she has planned for Roth?

What do you do with the goblin girl?
>’Deputize’ the goblin, offering her amnesty if she provides you with aid
>Slay the goblin to cover your tracks, having got what you needed
>Get the goblin’s address to call on her later
>Tell the goblin to scram
>Write-in

And what is your plan for Zivic and her half-orc toady?
>Create a distraction and sneak in by another entrance
>Storm in hacking and slashing
>Head upstairs directly for some hostage negotiations
>Set the building ablaze—it’s the only way to be sure!
>Draw the Inquisition’s attention here, and let them handle it
>Write-in

>>5011763
>’Deputize’ the goblin, offering her amnesty if she provides you with aid
>Get the goblin’s address to call on her later

Use, then succ, but only after Roth's secure.

>Create a distraction and sneak in by another entrance

Sneak snek.

>>5011763
>’Deputize’ the goblin, offering her amnesty if she provides you with aid

>Create a distraction and sneak in by another entrance

these options seem perfect together
gobbo can make a legit looking distraction

burning the building down is also pretty tempting
roth would survive that right? dragon blood?

>>5011763
>’Deputize’ the goblin, offering her amnesty if she provides you with aid
>Get the goblin’s address to call on her later
Might use her to steal shit and get things done, right? Only problem is we will have to change appearance specifically for her or introduce her to real Ismena.

>Create a distraction and sneak in by another entrance

>>5011882
I'm all for setting shit on fire, but that would attract attention of everyone and expose Roth alongside the cult.
We could set things aflame once we locate him and make sure he can escape, tho.

Do we have any idea how to check whether he is possessed or brainwashed? Can maybe Irinnile do that?

>>5012066
>>5011882
>>5011812

“What’ss your name?” you ask the goblin.

“Zi,” she replies quickly. Too quickly. You suspect it’s a pseudonym for nosy ‘guards’ like you.

“Congratulationss, Zi,” you tell her anyway, “you’ve been deputized. You’re going to help me catch thiss blue-eyed half-orc of yourss.”

“What?” she barks. “If I wont’ snitch, what make you think I’ll work with you helmet-headed fuckers?”

You shrug. “Ssuit yourself, but when the Inquissition gets here, do you want them to think you’re the occultisst’ss co-consspirator, or a helpful member of the local community?”

The goblin squirms, chafing at the idea of working for the local law in any capacity but clearly dreading the consequences of NOT doing so… At elast, as you have framed them.

“Fine,” Zi growls. “But if anyone asks, this isnt’ a law thing, right? This is just some kind of criminal takeover, driving the smug half-humie out and taking his shit. Just plain old ambition. Got it?”

You acquiesce to this ridiculous request, and formulate your plan. Zi the Goblin is to return from whence she came, claiming to have been shorted some of her payment for the ulexite, while you will sneak in through another entrance. While a part of you would rather just burn the place down and be done with it, counting on Roth’s relative heat-tolerance to keep him alive, you hardly want to bring the ACTUAL Inquisition presence you drew to Goblintown in your wake down upon your active operation.

Zi begrudgingly enters the building to do her part, while you circle the building and plan your approach. You don’t necessarily want to increase your <WANT> anymore than you already have without good reason—

‘Shame we couldn’t have fucked around with those humans we killed in the sewer before that all went down, huh?’ sighs Irinnile wistfully. ‘Davide did alright earlier.’

—which would leave shapeshifting wings once more seems to be off the table for now. Breaking through any of the lower doors or shuttered windows would unavoidably create noise. However, you DO have rappelling gear, taken from your dead ‘ally’ Joris in the undercity.

‘Rappelling gear you ain’t never used before,’ Irinnile points out. ‘Come on, baby, lemme’ out a little. I promise I’ll be good!’

‘And this has nothing to do with the goblin’s comment about the half-orc’s stern blue eyes and hypothetically large phallus?’ you ask.

‘We-eeeellll…’ Irinnile titters nervously.

You sigh, and command Irinnile to 'Just focus on determining if Roth is... Influenced at all.'

What do you do?
>Rappel in [1d20, DC 15]
>Shapeshift wings and fly in the chimney [No roll necessary except for stealthiness at DC 10, +1 WANT]
>Shapeshift claws and climb in the window [No roll necessary except for stealhiness at DC 10, +1 WANT, gives you a supernatural weapon to wield immediately]
>Screw this, smash your way in down below and hope that the goblin’s distraction is sufficient to preclude and immediate counter-offensive
>Write-in

>>5012120
>Rappel in [1d20, DC 15]
Fuck it, we need to learn to deal with Irinnile shortages.
But also...
>Shapeshift claws and climb in the window [No roll necessary except for stealhiness at DC 10, +1 WANT, gives you a supernatural weapon to wield immediately]
...can we shapeshift claws midair if we fail the climb noncritically?

This vote is awaiting QM confirmation.

>>5012178
[You can try, but there would be a roll to see if you even do it in time]

>>5012240
Then let's try it.

>>5012120
>Shapeshift claws and climb in the window [No roll necessary except for stealhiness at DC 10, +1 WANT, gives you a supernatural weapon to wield immediately]

Rather just go with claws, with only 1 dice rappel succeeding is unlikely

>>5012120
>Shapeshift claws and climb in the window [No roll necessary except for stealhiness at DC 10, +1 WANT, gives you a supernatural weapon to wield immediately]

We should've just drained the goblin, because out WANT just became out of our control, now requiring a DC of 18 not to lose control. Good luck trying to sort this mess out lads.

Rolled 8, 11, 14 = 33 (3d20)

>>5012555
>>5012293
>>5012178
[Stealth roll; post coming later.]

>>5012591
Once the goblin has had enough time—by your imperfect reckoning, at least—to create a distraction, you set to work.

‘Alright, Irinnile. Claws.’

‘Alright, babe!’

‘But behave yourself,’ you admonish her, even as your hands begin to shift and warp into elongated talons, enriched by demonic energy.

‘Aww, come on, not even a little snack? That half-orc sounds DELISH, and I'm staaarving…’

<WANT: 18>

Despite the clawing sensation of Irinnile's appetites at the back of your skull, you ignore both your roiling stomach and your throbbing sex to focus on the mission. You can find a say to sate the succubus later—right now, you need her other aptitudes to recue Roth and end the threat of Zivic. You centre yourself and, with devilish silence, ascend the rickety scaffolding of the goblin built building to the upper windows.

You find only softly-billowing curtains between you and your target, but by the sounds of it he is not alone. You can hear Zi the Goblin's harsh, high-pitched protests of insufficient payment, but the voice which replies is neither that of a half-orc—nor, for that matter, the croaking voice of a bird possessed by the Devil-Zivic. It’s a woman’s voice, but not Zivic’s either. You reckon it human, perhaps—not so shrill as a goblin or deep as an orc. Another acolyte or lackey?

>>5012662
Having the advantage of stealth, you move the curtain aside and peer in. The room within is cast in dim candlelight, but this is no impediment to you of course. You see a familiar array of apparatuses and accoutrement: the arsenal of an occultist laid out on the floor, across a wide blanket. Another blanket, a rich red one, wraps a rope-bound parcel, still as the grave and roughly the shape of a man—or a Reptilian. Could it be so easy—Roth, unguarded?

Looking past him, though, you see the backs of two figures: one tall and broad-shouldered, a hood over his head. The half orc! Next to him is a more womanly—but no less muscular, you note—individual with her greyish hair tied up in a bristly topknot, and her own hooded cloak worn loose. On her shoulder sits that damned devil-bird you have come to recognize as a symbol of Zivic’s presence, her surveillance. Luckily, it is not looking your way. Beyond them, you hear Zi’s arguments weakening.

“Look, come on, that was just a sample. A bit more coin, and I can buy you better shit than I can steal, right?”

“Then why would we pay you NOW instead of THEN, you useless little twit?” the woman demands, ahdns on hips. “We’re busy. BEGONE, filth!”

“Fucking hobgoblins thing you’re so much fucking better than everyone else… We’ll see if I deal with you again. ASSHOLES!”

Despite Zi’s grumbling, her footfalls—so heavy, for one so small—begin to depart. And why not? She was only protesting on your behalf. You’re honestly surprised she got so into the ruse. You suppose she must have decided to see if she could ACTUALLY score some additional money. Still, her distraction is done. You must act fast, to do so before you are spotted!
>Grab Roth and dive out the window, manifesting wings at the cost of additional <WANT> and an Irinnile-control roll
>Take down the woman—hobgoblin?—and the bird first, for Zivic is the truest threat
>The half-orc is the biggest and mightiest opponent here, and the ringleader of the operation as you have heard it, so slay him before he presents a problem
>Stand between the occultists and the Roth-shaped bundle, and amp up your aura of intimidation at the cost of additional <WANT> and an Irinnile-control roll
>Just stay put and observe, to learn what they’re planning and strike when you can inflict maximum damage to their operation; besides, can you be sure that the bundle is Roth?
>Write-in

>>5012663
>Just stay put and observe, to learn what they’re planning and strike when you can inflict maximum damage to their operation; besides, can you be sure that the bundle is Roth?

It ain't that easy.

>>5012663
>Just stay put and observe, to learn what they’re planning and strike when you can inflict maximum damage to their operation; besides, can you be sure that the bundle is Roth?

Finally we can spy on Zivic instead of the other way around

>>5012663
>Just stay put and observe, to learn what they’re planning and strike when you can inflict maximum damage to their operation; besides, can you be sure that the bundle is Roth?
We gotta act fast once we see Roth, though. Don't want them to cast any funny spells before we grab him.

Something tells me, that if everything goes well, a reptilian will get raped later this night.

>>5012814
>>5012786
>>5012684
The half-orc male and the hobgoblin female turn around, and you shift backwards and crawl along the side of the building until you are the next window. Their low-light vision is a threat to your stealth, after all, if you were to just remain in the windowsill with curtains pulled aside. That doesn’t mean you can’t listen in, however.

“Well that was distracting,” the half-orc grumbles, his voice a low rumble.

“Irritating, more like,” the hobgoblin replies.

You peak in, and get your first view of a member of that particular race: taller and more human-like in skintone and proportions than the little green Zi, but with the same wolf-yellow eyes, large pointed ears, and flashes of the same sharp teeth.

“I don’t know,” croaks the bird upon the half-orc’s shoulders. “I think she has her uses…”

The half-orc chuckles. “You’re a dirty old woman, even now, you know that?”

You glower at the familiar sounds, and the association. Lady (Devil-)Zivic.

You observe the two (three?) go about their business, setting up for some sort of ritual. Amongst their preparations is the unfurling of the cloth and untying of the rope around ‘Roth’, or at least the bundle you had expected to be Roth. To your surprise, you see not a Dragonblooded Reptilian, but the dead, naked body of a half-elf woman. It’s no one you can recognize, but the features are as finely-cut and symmetrical as anyone of prominent elven blood; fresh in her dead, she is unblemished by decay.

“You’re sure about this?” the half-orc asks.

“Yes, are you?” scolds the hobgoblin. “Don’t be vain now, demon. I know you prefer to… Cohabitate… With females, but that lizard-man you had me capture is a far more useful body, and transference into a living shell is a far more permanent solution than a corpse.”

You feel your nerves tingle at mention of Roth (and with only a single, small intrusive Irinnile idea about inflicting penetration upon his cloaca as a reward for his rescue).

>>5012991
“No, I think not,” the crow-like bird speaks, with a rattle you take for a sigh. “That creature has no ambition—not even the imagination of such. Not like my current partner. Not even like either of you. It is a slave to another master, and while dominating it would be a trifle, it would be an ill-fitting suit for any occasion.”

You follow the half-orc’s unconscious gaze towards a door on the far side of the room when the hobgoblin speaks.

‘Our peggable dragon-butt is in there!’ Irinnile declares.

The hobgoblin sets about lighting incense and the half-orc takes out a scroll. She takes out a small silken handkerchief and unrolls it to reveal a translucent, whitish stone, which you recognize as the ulexite obtained by Zi for the ritual of spirit transfer.

‘Our best chance at directly striking at Zivic—or the incubus—is right her,e though,’ you reply.

‘What’s the play?’ Irinnile asks.
>Attempt to use the Akashic Ritual and the information you have learned from Bianchi to interrupt the ritual at its apex and to bind the incubus to the ensorcelled scroll-case you took from he fox-woman
>Sneak around the building while the occultists are busy with their ritual, to liberate Roth; he can help with whatever comes next
>Attack now! Destroy the half-elf’s body before Zivic can transfer into it, and then destroy the bird which apparently serves as her demonic patron’s primary host right now!
>Slay the half-orc, and maybe the hobgoblin—she can’t perform the ritual without them!
>Keep watching—you kind of enjoy being the one doing the spying for once in this rivalry
>Write-in

>>5012992
>Attempt to use the Akashic Ritual and the information you have learned from Bianchi to interrupt the ritual at its apex and to bind the incubus to the ensorcelled scroll-case you took from he fox-woman
Time to pull our ace out and then we can deal with real greenskins. My bloodlust is still present, but I'm open to using half-orc as a pawn if you anons so desire.

>roth has cloaca
>rqm compared me to irinnile
darkest point of my life

>>5012992
>Attempt to use the Akashic Ritual and the information you have learned from Bianchi to interrupt the ritual at its apex and to bind the incubus to the ensorcelled scroll-case you took from he fox-woman


The POG move

>>5012992
>Attempt to use the Akashic Ritual and the information you have learned from Bianchi to interrupt the ritual at its apex and to bind the incubus to the ensorcelled scroll-case you took from he fox-woman

It’s what we’ve been training for!

>>5012992
>Attempt to use the Akashic Ritual and the information you have learned from Bianchi to interrupt the ritual at its apex and to bind the incubus to the ensorcelled scroll-case you took from he fox-woman

Time to get this over with.

>>5013011
But Irinnile, the half-orc is too dangerous to work with! Better to preg and be done with it, I say.

Rolled 14, 2, 12, 5 = 33 (4d20)

>>5013011
>>5013098
>>5013214
>>5013279
[Rolling for our uncharacteristically unanimous decision! Post coming later.]

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>>5013315
The half-orc begins his chanting, lifting a burning spring of herbs and waving it through the air as if to trace runes or sigils. The hobgoblin holds back, but bows her head slightly, reverently, and mumbles along with the chant. The bird hops from shoulder to shoulder, its inhabitant unable to contain its excitement. They are utterly absorbed!

This is the moment you've trained for—what all this meddling in the occult has been for, what the Dark Gods gifted you the Akashic Record to accomplish! You pull put the scroll case from your pack—that rune-etched leather tube, taken from the fox-woman upon her slaying earlier this night. Though you do not know the exact ritual to bind this beast with which Zivic's soul consorts, you are no longer an inexperienced amateur—you bound Irinnile, after all—and the Gods’ own record will fill in any gaps in your knowledge.

You close your eyes, entering the trance. It is a struggle, different than it is normally. Irinnile and her frustrated desire, her HUNGER, stand titanic in your second sight. Her burning urges fill this place between realms, like a haze between yourself at the ephemeral tome that you have come to envision as the mental manifestation of the Akashic Record. Still, against the gale-force winds of your distracting passenger's skewed priorities, you open the book and gaze within. Page by page, you laborious sort through eras and continents to find it: the memory of past Reptilian agents, who bound and bartered with demons! From their experiences, you draw what you need for the ritual ahead.

You begin to move your hand, to whisper the incantation. Eyes still closed, reading from the fading memory of a scroll which may well have burned or crumbled to dust in the century hence, you uncap the scroll case. Only then, with the ritual nearly complete, do you open your eyes to behold your triumph…

And look directly into the dark little marbles of the corvid, behind which Devil-Zivic watches you calmly. Silently. Even the chanting has ceased.

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>>5013343
‘Oh shit!’ Irinnile cries out within you, but already the half-orc's great hands are upon you. He may be a scholar, but a scholar born with orcish blood can still throw your comparably-slight frame around like a child's doll, and so he does. You hit the opposite wall with a painful thump which leaves you dazed. Before you can get back up, a sandal-clad foot catches you across the face, knocking your jaw temporarily out of palce: the hobgoblin.

“My my,” the bird croaks, looking down at you with tilted head, “is that Miss ‘Kamunu' Rosgard, the reptile spy, who I see behind that shifted flesh? Your kind are resourceful… And you've followed my lead and found a demonic patron, I see! It's almost a shame: it was your shifting of the mystic energies in this place that gave you away.”

You look to where the scroll-case lies upon the floor, realigning your jaw—thankfully an easy task, with Irinnile rendering you largely immune to mundane attacks. Unbidden, you recall the words of the fox-woman: ‘A demon like that one, what it is growing to become, will not be bound so easily.’ You never even got a chance to test the theory.

The bird leans low over you, tilting its head this way and that. It rumbles, almost a purr. “You have changed and grown in MANY ways. I like the new look… And the confidence with which you staged this little rescue attempt. Funny, I’d been led to believe by Tokunbo that your kind weren’t prone to loyalty…”

The hobgoblin stands ready to do battle, even with the bird perched upon her. The half-orc keeps his distance, drawing a warding sigil in the burning herbs and with his fingers, muttering quietly. This will be no easy ambush, now, but a fight.

‘Or we could grab Roth and go!’ Irinnile suggests desperately. ‘Or even, I dunno’, just GO. WITHOUT Roth, even!’

There is that option, too…

What do you do?
>Fight your way to the bird—you’ll shove Zivic’s bird body into that tube if you have to! [specify if you have a specific tactic or order of priority for your foes in mind]
>Negotiate your way out of this [how? Specify a bargain.]
>Make a break for Roth’s holding room, to save the dragonblood and free him from whatever bondage he’s in
>Dive back out the window, and leave this place—you aren’t prepared to risk your life for this misadventure
>Call in the [DIVINE FAVOUR] to smite these heathens with Dark and Godly might!
>Write-in

>>5013344
>Fight your way to the bird—you’ll shove Zivic’s bird body into that tube if you have to! [specify if you have a specific tactic or order of priority for your foes in mind]

We already have claws used to climb the wall, and hob doesn't seem to have drawn any weapons. Rush the orc super quick just to interrupt whatever spell he's casting and make him restart, then tear the hob apart.

>>5013344
>Fight your way to the bird—you’ll shove Zivic’s bird body into that tube if you have to! [specify if you have a specific tactic or order of priority for your foes in mind]

Spook the half-orc with an illusion, break his concentration on his spell, then knock out or kill the hoboblin and shove the bird into the fuckin tube.

>>5013375
It's clear that the hobgoblin is either a mage or a shaman of some sort, hence the lack of a weapon.

>>5013385
As long as she's not casting right now she isn't the priority. Plus between a caster half orc and a caster hobgoblin I'm betting we can secure a quicker kill on the latter.

>>5013344
>>5013375
>>5013391
I'll second this

>>5013391
Should we consider setting Roth's holding room on fire if opportunity arises?

Rolled 10, 20, 18 = 48 (3d20)

>>5013615
>>5013391
>>5013385
>>5013375

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Dark Gods approve of the bloodshed.

>>5013720
>>5013715
Remembering your mixed-discipline combat training, you do as you were taught: take down the spellcaster first! The hobgoblin is between you and the half-orc, but that’s no matter. She advance towards her, cracking your neck and flexing your claws, and she scowls and likewise closes the distance… But as she draws near and swings for you, you duck the blow, roll sideways, and catch the half-orc off-guard. By the rising of his voice’s volume and intensity, you expect that his spell was nearly complete, but that just means he can ill-afford an interruption. You reach out and slash open his calf and calcaneal tendon, and he cries out, thoroughly interrupted.

You start to stand, but your own senses and Irinnile’s voice in your head give you pause.

‘Watch out—incoming hobgoblin!’ she shouts.

You brace yourself with your hands and mule-kick the hobgoblin in the face, using her own speed against her. The force of your attack is such that you lift yourself off the floor and belly-flop right back down, but you ignore the pain and roll onto your back, flip onto your feet, and press your advantage.

The hobgoblin is near the doorway out which Zi disappeared. She is seated on the floor, clutching her broken nose and swearing in a harsh and shrieking tongue you can only assume to be some dialect of ‘Gob-Lang’. In her other hand she holds a dagger which, even at a quick glance, you recognize as a bone blade bearing ritual-affirming magic—something capable of slaying you. Above the hobgoblin: the stairwell. Above her, flapping and fluttering frantically, the possessed bird that runs this operation.

You and the hobgoblin lock eyes. She moves fast, martially trained, but you have the same training and demonic vigor besides. You move faster, dodging a slash of her blade and then kicking it out of her hand. It spins end-over-end and out the window—gone from the equation.

“You BITCH!” the hobgoblin roars, rising and reaching behind her, into her belt.

Another enchanted weapon or tool to use against you? Well, you can’t have that. Luckily, the orc has powered through his pain and is hurling his superior size and weight at you in an ill-advised tackle. You don’t even turn around: you simply wait for the two waves of hostile emotional energy to converge… And step aside. The half-orc barrels into his saucer-eyed accomplice, and they both disappear down the stairs in painful-sounding crunch, followed by a successively-distant series of thumps. You sense that neither has perished, but with their hostility waning, you can only infer that they are unconscious.

>>5013729
Devil-Zivic’s host continues its squawking, but not for long. The corvid’s inner demon sees how the battle has gone, but too late. It beats a retreat towards the window, but you draw your own dagger and hurl it into the bird’s back. You catch the left wing, and send the creature tumbling out of the air.

“Waaaiit…” it croaks, as you retrieve the scroll-case.

“No, I don’t think sso,” you say simply, a you uncap it.

It is a messy business of ruffled feathers and broken bones, but before any further complication can arise, the bird is stuffed in the case, and it is capped. Then, and ONLY then, do you take a moment to breathe.

‘Lispy,’ Irinnile says, ‘if I wasn’t already up inside you, I would jump your bones SO fucking hard right now.’

You smile in satisfaction.

What now?
>Finish off Zivic’s acolytes, just to be sure
>Question Devil-Zivic about something [what]
>Transfer Irinnile into the half-elf corpse on the floor—you’d been musing about finding her a host
>Burn this place to the ground
>Get Roth and get out of here, before the Inquisition spoil the evening
>Write-in

>>5013730
>Finish off Zivic’s acolytes, just to be sure

Mindfuck and drain their ass.

>Get Roth and get out of here, before the Inquisition spoil the evening

Grab the corpse and put it on ice. We'll switch Irinnile to it before we go to the Gala, after we calm Mina down, figure out Edwin's dream visitor, and get our Tower thot firmly wrapped around our finger (and maybe try for that Tower secretary as well). Otherwise, that's our main side project largely taken care of.

>>5013730
>Get Roth and get out of here, before the Inquisition spoil the evening
Let's free Roth first and foremost.
>Finish off Zivic’s acolytes, just to be sure
...then we can drain life from those two if we have time.

So is demon bound to the bird or am I misunderstanding things here? I'm not even sure whether Zivic and this demon are the same entity or separate like Ismena with Irinnile.

>>5013730
>Finish off Zivic’s acolytes, just to be sure
>Get Roth and get out of here, before the Inquisition spoil the evening

>>5013804
>So is the demon bound to the bird?
It seems to be based upon your understanding, but you have only been studying occultism for a month or two and (while you're a quick study), the fox-woman and Tokunbo both described the demon as something unusual.

>Are Zivic and the demon the same entity?
Tokunbo and the demon itself both described it as a demon that had bound and assumed the soul and identity of Zivic, as part of a pact

>>5013884
>Tokunbo and the demon itself both described it as a demon that had bound and assumed the soul and identity of Zivic, as part of a pact
So Roth zero'd Zivic's benefits from that pact and sent her bare ass straight to the demon? Holy shit, lmao.

>>5013888
Conceivable. You don't know the specific conditions of her agreement with this demon.

>>5013730
>Finish off Zivic’s acolytes, just to be sure

I agree with mindfucking them and destroying their asses.

>Get Roth and get out of here, before the Inquisition spoil the evening

Don’t worry about the corpse. Lugging that around would be a hassle

>Burn this place to the ground
Just something quick - throw a candle onto a stack of papers before we leave

>>5013730
>Let Irinnile drain the half orc
He can curse his fate for being born male. We can maybe recruit the hob though. Martially and magically trained? No guarantee on the magical but she could make a valuable asset.

>>5013932
Actually based, but only if we pull Roth out of wardrobe first.

>>5013730
I'm (>>5013804) tweaking vote to
>Get Roth and get out of here, before the Inquisition spoil the evening
Again, freeing him is priority in case we have to bail.
>Finish off Zivic’s acolytes, just to be sure
Idk why mindfuck if we're killing them, but definitely steal life energy if we can do it quickly.
>Quick search the bodies for useful items
Horc and Hoblin, not the Helf.
>Burn this place to the ground
Drop a candle, but then also drop Roth's fire breath to make sure fire spreads quickly.

>>5013730
I almost forgot

>Loot the good shit, that magic knife especially

Rolled 96 (1d100)

>>5013744
>>5013949
>>5013945
>>5013932
>Grab Roth (and any obvious loot)
>Kill the acolytes quickly, draining them IF time
>Start a fire on the way out

Did I get the gist? if so: will post later tonight. Rolling for possible event/interruption

>>5014227
Actually, I wanted to check their memory, see if we can gleam any useful intel before we drain them, as well as leave it open to anons if they wanted to turn them into pawns. I personally don't think that the murderanons will go for the pawn plan, but I figured I'd leave the option upen since other anons brought up the pawn bit themselves.

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>>5014259
Most votes seemed to be to mindfuck and/or destroy them, possibly after Irinnile actually fucked the half-orc, and so...

>>5014227
Saving Roth is priority number one. It’s what drew you to this place, after all. With you desire to eliminate and best Zivic sated—well, hopefully sated, if you understand the nature of this devil-pact she’s formed correctly—there is nothing else to focus upon.

‘But what about riding that big, half-orc—’

‘There’s no time, Irinnile.’

‘Aaawwwww.’

Despite the aching <WANT> within, Irinnile doesn’t rebel. Still, it behooves you to feed that particular beast soon. Your mind constantly drifts as you check the door of the adjacent room for traps, fantasizing about the half-orc, the hobgoblin, Edwin, Roth, the bird in the tube, ANYONE. You compartmentalize it all, pushing it down as you were trained. There will be time for that later. Right now, your focus is on the drooling, unconscious red-scaled humanoid slumped on the floor before you.

Roth’s amulet of disguise is gone, and a quick scan of the room reveals nothing. His clothes, too, are half-ruined by the reemergence of his tail and his rough, dragon-like scutes and bony protrusions. He’s clearly been drugged—it only makes sense, given his lack of crying-out during (or active interference in) the previous conflict. You have no super-strength by dint of your pact with Irinnile, not really—she fills you with vim and vigor, but she is no demon of wrath and physical domination. This much larger male is thus a difficult burden for you to heft and carry out of the building. Still, you will not leave empty-handed. You try.

As you exit, you sneer at the ritual circle, the half-elven corpse. You could transfer Irinnile into the body, if only you had the time… But you don’t. With the magic dagger kicked out the window, you honestly see no items of immediate value here… Save the ulexite. You take it, pocketing the clean-cut slab of stone. Then, on a spiteful whim and out of a desire to cover up evidence of your presence, you swing Roth’s limp tail into several still-burning incense candles.

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>>5014303
As the flames begin to spread through the poorly-constructed apothecary, you descend the stairwell which Zivic’s acolytes tumbled down.

At the base of the stairs, you pause.

‘You mean I can…?’ Irinnile chirps hopefully.

‘Take what you can. Quickly, CLEANLY.’

‘So… No waking up Mister Tall-Smart-and-Muscly for a ride?’

“No,” you say aloud, with a sigh.

‘Won’t get much, then,’ Irinnile pouts. ‘I’m a desire demon, you know. I need some, ya’ know, PASSION.’

You rummage through the unconscious lackeys’ clothes and find a ring studded with a raw gem which radiates power, and a necklace which does likewise. You pocket both for future examination, and then draw your own blade again. You slay both of them, uttering a short incantation of power transference which you’d planned to sue in a different capacity earlier. It isn’t much, but it allows Irinnile to capture a bit of the soul-terror which accompanies their deaths.

<WANT: 16>

With Irinnile sated, you finally leave…

‘SHIT shit SHIT shit SHIIII—’

…Just a bit too late. You see the familiar spectacled face of your pursuer, and two pointy-capped accomplices. They aren’t immediately focused upon you and the mycologist’s store you’ve exited, but only because those goblins who fled the rooms below at the sound of your conflict above, and the smell of smoke, and running helter-skelter in disarray attempting to muster a militia, fire brigade, or crowd-based funding campaign to rebuild all at once. The chaos has slowed and disoriented the Tower’s agents, but not for long. You are, after all, a talon-handed half-orc, still matching the rough description of the perpetrator the sewer murders, and carrying a red-scaled lizardman slung over your shoulders.

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>>5014305
“PSSST!”

You hear an obnoxiously-loud stage whisper pierce the shrieking, swearing, and bemused cheering of the goblin crowd at the spectacle of the chaos and the now-burning building. You turn your head, and see Zi, the goblin you coerced, beckoning you towards some rough-dug basement entrance to a building across the street. You can see that she holds the mystic bone-dagger which once belonged to hobgoblin in her off-hand. This implement, capable of killing you as easily as any non-possessed humanoid, gives you pause.

“Come on, you dumb bimbo!” she hisses. “You think I’m going to just keep waving to you forever? The Tower is here!”

Why is she even helping you, if she still thinks you’re a guard? If she’s pieced it out that you aren’t, why not leave you to your own devices? What if she just tries to stab you and take your loot for herself?

‘Do we have much of a choice, babe?’ Irinnile asks. ‘Plus, she’s kinda’ cute…’

‘There’s always a choice,’ you say.

What do you do?
>Follow Zi the Goblin
>Shapeshift into a less conspicuous form and hide Roth in an alleyway, waiting out the Tower’s agents and escaping when there is an opening
>Grow wings and fly away from here as swiftly as possible—in all the chaos, what will the agents really be able to discern?
>Return to the burning building—you and Roth are both mostly fireproof, and the Inquisitors aren’t
>Write-in

>>5014306
>Follow Zi the Goblin

I want that dagger, and dealing with the goblin while encumbered if more preferable than allowing the Tower to get a read on us with those glasses, as well as letting Roth be seen in public out of his human form.

>>5014306
>Follow Zi the Goblin
Let's get rid of the claws as soon as possible.

>>5014306
>Follow Zi the Goblin
Get rid of the claws though

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>>5014523
>>5014393
>>5014314
It isn’t for lack of options that you follow the goblin, you decide, but because it is the BEST option. You look both ways, making sure no great deal of attention is on you, and then you make a break for her hiding place. Along the way, you allow your knife-like claws to melt away to your usual dainty digits.

<WANT: 17>

‘Irinnile, what in hell? I thought your efficiency was improving!’

‘I’m hungryyyYYYyyy!’ The succubus whines, stomping her metaphysical feet on your mindscape. ‘You can’t just expect me to be satisfied nibbling at unconscious souls!’

Well, no matter. You still have control, and you’re out of the street now. Zi scampers ahead of you, guiding you into a basement of small rooms and tunnels more like a rabbit warren. Many rooms are filled with bags, crates, or shelves of assorted goods, stored foodstuffs, or other such things. Many more are full of cots, some on roughshod bunks to allow many goblins to sleep in a small, cramped space.

Zi beckons you along past such rooms which are occupied by goblin-folk doing business or resting, to one mostly unoccupied. Still, you can hear the chattering of Gob-Lang in both ears, echoing in muffled form and interspersed with cracks of laughter, as if from all sides. Only then does she abruptly stop, motion for you to do the same, and turn to face you.

“So, want to tell me what the fuck you have me involved in, ‘guardie’?”

What do you do?
>Lie to the goblin about your purpose here [specify your lie]
>Tell Zi a fraction of the truth—you are here to rescue your lizardman friend from dangerous occultists, and need to avoid the authorities because you are also an occultist
>Offer Zi gold to keep her trap shut and to help you get back into Hawksong in the morning
>Threaten Zi into silence, and warn her about the danger of asking further questions
>Just kill the goblin—you want that dagger and you don’t answer to vermin
>Write-in

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>>5014722
>Tell her we were doing some "gophering" of our own and to keep her gob shut unless she wants the inquisitors to know who helped arrange a demonic ritual in Goblintown
>Offer Zi gold to help you get back into Hawksong in the morning

Goblin has no reason to not snitch if it means extra profit, so we better make sure she knows that we will absolutely drag her down with us if she talks.
So this is kind of a mutual blackmail plus a deal for her to make some gold.

Or we can just demote her from being a potential witness for all I care, but this is hardly a place for it and we have a blueballed demon inside, so.

Did we leave Roth behind?

>>5014773
>Where's Roth
Still slung over your shoulders

>>5014722
>Tell Zi a fraction of the truth—you are here to rescue your lizardman friend from dangerous occultists, and need to avoid the authorities because OF UNRELATED REASONS

lmao we lied
but don't say we're an occultist because we want her to believe if we both get caught she'd be in more trouble. Tell her it's because we impersonated a guard or something.

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>>5014824
>Still slung over your shoulders
He owes us a proper massage for this.

>>5014722
>Tell Zi a fraction of the truth—you are here to rescue your lizardman friend from dangerous occultists, and need to avoid the authorities because OF UNRELATED REASONS

>Offer Zi gold to keep her trap shut and to help you get back into Hawksong in the morning

>Use a glamour to make us appear more trustworthy and seductive to her. A beautiful girl in distress who just wanted to rescue her friend

>>5014722
>Just seduce the goblin, satisfy WANT

First things first.

[Drunk and sad. Rough night. Will post ASAP.]

>>5015221
I'm sorry to hear that RQM. I hope tomorrow is a better day for you mate.

>>5015221
Hope you feel gooder soon, QM. Take your time.

>>5014773
>>5014834
>>5014997
>>5015027
>Offer Zi silence for gold and aid
>Tell Zi a fraction of the truth, but NOT about your own occult dealings

“I lied,” you say with a shrug. You wince under Roth’s weight, and begin to gently set him down.

“No shit!” Zi exclaims. “Yeah, I got that. Guard-girls don’t set buildings on fire or flee the other authorities carrying lizards like big feather fucking boas, do they?”

“I guesss you could ssay I wass doing ssome ‘gophering’ of my own,” you say with a smile, nodding to Roth. “I wass… Retrieving a friend who got in over hiss head with thosse occultisstss. Thingss got carried away.”

The goblin sniffs. “Pff. Gift for understatement, that.”

“That’ss not the only gift I can produce,” you say. “I appreciate the offer of shelter, but I doubt it comes for free…”

“Definitely fucking not,” Zi agrees.

“Well, if you can keep the two of uss ssafe until morning, and then help me get back into Hawkssong with my companion undetected, I can promisse this,” you pause, producing a gold coin from your pack for effect, “and more.”

Zi’s eyes sparkle nearly as brightly as the coin, but she replies: “And if I just hand you over to the wolves up to, let the Tower have you? Bet I’ll get a pretty little reward, won’t I?”

“You were sstill aiding and abetting unlawful occultisstss,” you point out.

Zi throws her hands up. “You have a fucking LIZARDMAN down here!”

“Sso we’ll BOTH be brutally interrogated and locked up forever,” you agree. “Better to jusst keep this between uss and earn ssome eassy coin, yessss?”

Zi hesitates, then tilts her head slightly. “Yeah, alright. You got a flair for this, for a half-orc, you know?”

You raise you head and realize tusks, underbite, and small porcine nose remain. Well, better still—she doesn’t know your real face! Besides, you can’t shapeshift again without worsening the <WANT>…

‘Oh, I don’t know,” Irnnile says with unconvincing innocence. ‘I can think of a couple ways to scratch that itch…’

>Wait out the night—Edwin’s at home, and you don’t exactly have the privacy you need here to properly feed Irinnile
>Rouse and arouse Roth to satisfy your WANT
>Attempt to seduce Zi to satisfy your WANT

Do you do anything else as you await daylight?.
>Chat up Zi, learn about Goblintown and the little goblin herself
>Try to get Roth alert enough for a debrief about his capture
>Rattle the scroll-case and ask the bird-Zivic-demon for more details about something [what in particular?]
>Attempt to banish the demon outright
>Screw waiting—you can evade a few Tower stooges with a bit of help from a native of the slums, and darkness will give you better cover!
>Write-in

>>5015764
>Attempt to seduce Zi to satisfy your WANT
>Try to put Roth in a deeper sleep so he doesn't wake up while we're in Goblintown.
I think it's better to be safe and not irritating Irinnile further is also in our interest.
As for Roth, he isn't gonna like this situation... which on its own would be fine, but not when we look like a fucking orc and have inquisitors nearby. Sure, we could juggle skins, but that comes with the risk of being found out that is hard to justify.

>Chat up Zi, learn about Goblintown and the little goblin herself
Let's try to break her street smarts with seduction to get genuine information, whatever it might be. Ask about the horc, hob (maybe we can score extra points for having killed her) and what the locals thought of the cult. Also where she got the stone from.
Maybe where/when she can be found in Hawksong once we disappear.

How are you feeling, RQM?

>>5015764
>Attempt to seduce Zi to satisfy your WANT

>Chat up Zi, learn about Goblintown and the little goblin herself

Goblintown seems like a great place to leverage as an infiltrator

also make sure zivic is covered up and inaudible because she will totally ruin the mood

>>5015864
>Goblintown seems like a great place to leverage as an infiltrator
Sure, but we gotta make sure that guards or the Tower don't get to the people we hire. Good thing we can use the shapeshifting to be our own proxy now.
>make sure zivic is covered up and inaudible
Yeah give that demon some crumbs and gag her beak.

>>5015877
>Sure, but we gotta make sure that guards or the Tower don't get to the people we hire

Do we? As long as we make sure they can't be traced back to us I don't think it's the end of the world if they get caught. Of course we'd want to protect anyone competent we find but Goblintown should be big enough for a good amount of disposable labor.

>>5015896
>As long as we make sure they can't be traced back to us I don't think it's the end of the world if they get caught.
Yeah sure, but only if we use goblins for inconspicuous, miscellaneous work. If it's something occult and more specific, then tower could build a profile for our operation based on what the goblins tell them. We don't want that.

>>5015908
good point, good point. We'd keep it very need to know in the expendable cases then.

>>5015841
I'll be alright

>>5015225
>>5015509
Thank you for the understanding, and sorry for the delays

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>>5015954
That's good to hear, QM.

>>5016031
splendid gif

>>5015764
>Attempt to seduce Zi to satisfy your WANT
>Chat up Zi, learn about Goblintown and the little goblin herself
>Try to get Roth alert enough for a debrief about his capture

Yo Roth, you're gonna need a disguise.

>>5015841
Unless we're planning on date-raping Roth (or more dream-shenanigans, which I would support), we need to get Roth a disguise ASAP.

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Rolled 12, 17, 3, 14 = 46 (4d20)

>>5015841
>>5015864
>>5016247
>Attempt to seduce Zi to satisfy your WANT
>Chat up Zi, learn about Goblintown and the little goblin herself

>>5016349
Goblintown seems like a great place to leverage as an Infiltrator, and so you take advantage of your need to lay low to get the lay of the land… And that’s not the only thing you plan to lay, either. It may be Irinnile’s influence upon you, but Zi is indeed ‘cute’.

“Sso, are you FROM Goblintown, or an immigrant?” you ask.

“Ha! Horky, nobody’s FROM Goblintown, not even if you’re born here. Goblintown isn’t a place you LIVE, it’s a place you work, and do business, and EXIST, and not for longer than you can help it.”

As the goblin launches into an impromptu rant about squalid living conditions, oppressive authorities, backstabbing neighbours, racial tensions, and dreams of metropolitan fineries dying on the vine, you casually pop open the tube containing the avian vessel of Devil-Zivic. The bird struggles weakly, beginning to poke its head out, but you simply stuff a tattered, dirty rag from atop a nearby barrel into the container to muffle any squawks of protest.

“What was that about?” Zi asks, pausing her monologue.

“Hm?” you say. “Jusst didn’t want thiss little pesst I caught sspoiling the mood.”

“Snack for later, huh?” Zi surmises. “Yeah, I get you.”

“It ssoundss like hard living,” you interject. “But… I musst admit, it ssounds like pretty much what I have heard of how goblinss live in their natural environss, anyway.”

“Hey!”

“No offencce meant. I’m beginning to ssusspect that I don’t know nearly as much about goblinss as I thought I did.”

“Pff. Most don’t. We don’t pile up and live on top of each other, for one thing. A village’ll break apart well before it gets to this size, you know? Won’t stay put in one place, either. Filth doesn’t pile up. Tempers don’t flare as hot.”

“Then why sstay here?” you ask.

“Same as everyone else: opportunity. You hear about Hawksong, where the Paladin King says the rules and the laws apply to everyone equally, and we all have a fair shake, and the roads are safe and the food’s plenty, and everyone has more than they need. And it’s true!... Sort of.”

Zi’s tone turns bitter.

“Truer for those inside the walls than those of us outside. And true, just enough, to keep some of us here, hanging on, trying to scrape by and build up respectability, or just to avoid raids, and adventurers, and banditry. At least here there’s always a sucker you can barter with or steal from, and even if you do the second one, he doesn’t get a mob together and light your house on fire…”

You give her a half-smile, and Zi laughs aloud.

“Okay, present company excluded. But whatever you were doing it for, those fuckers had it coming, far as I’m concerned!”

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>>5016390
“Oh?” you ask. “The occultisstss weren’t popular?”

Zi spits, despite being indoors. The floor is hardly going to get filthier anyway, you suppose.

“Fucking hobs can fuck right off, far as I’m concerned. Warmongering, hoity-toity blueblooded slaver pricks, you know the type? And that half-orc…” She pauses, looking thoughtful.

“Good hunk of man-meat, if I’m honest, but seasoned with too much trouble for my liking. A quick copper is a copper I’ll take, but we don’t need that kind of Inquisition-roaming-around heat here. The regular old guards give us enough trouble as is, and every out-of-towner or uppity son of a whore who decides to start doing demon shit here is one more excuse to crack down and start doing inspections and deportations.”

“It sseems I did you a favour, then,” you say. “You’re welcome.”

Zi snorts. “Don’t be expecting payment. I’m already sticking my neck out for you.”

“For gold,” you correct.

“Yeah, well,” Zi shrugs. “Well, yeah. But you seem alright, weird accent and dubious intentions aside.”

“You’re not bad company yoursself,” you remark. The goblin has grit, and gumption. She could be useful. “I find you… Admirable.”

The conversation continues for sometime, as darkness deepens and you wait for dawn. The two of you sit up against a wall, waiting for Roth to awaken and the Inquisition’s attentions to wane. You become increasingly familiar, and as she tells her tale of a life scraping by and seizing every opportunity with greedy, grabbing hands, the tale is equal parts repulsive and impressive.

When Zi sends a runner to fetch him some robes at your request—useful for sneaking him into Hawksong in the morning—you make your move.

“That and the rag are going to cost you extra, you know?” she says.

“However can I repay you?” you ask mischievously, leaning forward and reaching out to rest a hand upon her thigh.

“Woah!” she says. “H-hey, you’re a tall mug of ale and all, but unless you’ve got something, you know…”

Zi uses her arm in an obscene, swinging gesture between her own legs to signifying a male organ.

“…You aren’t my type.”

You want to sigh in frustration, and let he matter rest, but all this flirtation and delayed pleasure has pushed Irinnile just a little too far.

<WANT: 18>

“Actually,” you hear your own voice say, “I have a sssurpsise you might appreciate.”

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>>5016393

You aren’t sure whether Irinnile is speaking to you or to Zi, or perhaps to both. The goblin certainly isn’t the only one surprised when your hand moves—without your conscious will—down between your legs, to open a flap in the tight leather pants Irinnile shapeshifted for you to produce almost a foot of excess material that you’re SURE wasn’t there earlier this night.

“Woah!” Zi says, almost jumping back as her yellow eyes fixated on this new focal-point of all your stifled, demonically-amplified need. You find your own attention pretty focused on it, too, not least of which because of the overwhelming and half-familiar sensations emanating from the obscene and alien organ.

‘Irinnile?’ you call out in your mind, on the verge of panic.

‘Ssshh,’ Irinnile soothes you, with a hint of smugness. ‘I’m the captain now.’

“Where the fuck were you hiding THAT cucumber, green-girl?” Zi asks, eyes flitting only briefly to your face. “Or is ‘girl’ the right word?”

Irinnile shrugs your shoulders, and playfully suggests: “I wass thinking of hiding asss much of it asss would fit insside you. You know, assss repayment for being sso understanding?”

The goblin looks conflicted, confused and alarmed… But her sharp little teeth also chew her lower lip unconsciously, like a starving vagrant staring at a steak dinner.

“Fuck it,” she says eventually, shimmying urgently out of her pants, and licking her lips. “Going to need to lube it a bit first. Fuck, that’s big.”

You don’t even need to use your glamour. As it turns out, at least SOME hearsay about goblins is correct.

<WANT: 15>

By the time dawnlight is upon you, the small amount which shines in the low window to your basement hideaway is glistening off of two sweat-and-otherwise dampened bodies, with Zi’s small, trembling firm clinging to your own.

“H-hhoooly shit,” she whispers.

You can’t help but agree. The experience was… Novel. You have control of your body once more, Irinnile having receded to snooze in your subconscious like a well-fed cat after a successful hunt. Still, you struggle to move. You are stunned by what happened, and the sensations still roil through you.

There is a knock at the door, and another goblin—a female, shielding her eyes and grumbling about freakish indecency in the communal warren—hurls an oversized, patchy brownish-grey robe into the room and slams it shut behind her. You take a deep breath, sitting up and focusing on the mission once more. Zi waddles, bow-legged and hissing quietly as if in pain, over to her scattered clothing to recollect herself and get dressed, and you set about rousing Roth who, gratefully for both of you, slept through this particular sexual awakening.

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>>5016396
“Hrrgh?” he says, eyelids and nictitating membranbce sliding open to reveal drug-dulled eyes. “What?”

“There will be time for that later,” you say in your native tongue. “You were captured again, Oh Experienced Infiltration of Many Great Successes. I saved you.”

“Who… What?”

“It is I, ‘Rosgard’. Put on this cloak and stay silent. We are secreting you back to your base.”

He does as you ask, with considerable need for assistance from you, but still—and you look over to Zi and a few of her compatriots.

“You were saying the sewer was out-of-the-question, right?” she asks, recalling your conversations from last night. She avoids direct eye contact, still flushed from your exertions.

“Yess,” you reply. You’re as refreshed as if you had a good night’s sleep, your <WANT> sated, and yet… The goblin looks hardly the worse for wear, aside from obviously needing some proper sleep. Maybe there’s something to the tales of goblin resilience against magic, after all, if you can drain her physically and spiritually like this without knocking her out!

“Alright, then get this cloak on like your buddy,” she says, hurling a similarly-shoddy cloak at you. “And then get topside, and hop in the hamper we have rolling by. You’re going in with the miscellaneous fabric some of our boys peddle to the seamstresses. From there, you’re on your own.”

What do you do?
>Tell her you know someone in that district, actually; loop in Agatha, to help see you and your ‘buddy’ the rest of the way back to his home in Hawksong
>No need to further complicate this—you’ll get Roth the rest of the way to his home yourself
>Offer the goblins additional gold, and maybe future work, if they can smuggle Roth right to his smithy
>Actually, I’d like to go somewhere else… [specify]

>>5016397
>No need to further complicate this—you’ll get Roth the rest of the way to his home yourself

Reduce complication

>>5016397
>No need to further complicate this—you’ll get Roth the rest of the way to his home yourself

>>5016397
>No need to further complicate this—you’ll get Roth the rest of the way to his home yourself

Why would we let anyone else know the location of Roth's smithy? If they wanted to take us all the way I'd have turned them down.

>>5016397
>No need to further complicate this—you’ll get Roth the rest of the way to his home yourself

What just happened.

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>>5016520
>What just happened.
Pic related

Writing!

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>pegging Roth is off-limits
>QM randomly gives female MC a dick and runs a train on goblin because succubus is horny

>>5016409
>>5016415
>>5016464
>>5016520
This honestly works out for the best. You would have refused the goblins had they suggested bringing you any closer to your destination. Why risk such relative strangers knowing the location of Roth’s smithy? You have no particular desire to involve Agatha Johan (your first surface ‘friend’ and a seamstress) in this aspect of your life, ether. It will be harder to move inconspicuously through the daylight streets this way, but you trust your own skills. They got you this far, didn’t they?

‘OUR skills and abilities,’ Irinnile corrects lazily. You ignore her, and she returns to her repose.

You guide Roth to the surface, following the goblins’ lead, where indeed a cart awaits you. It is a smallish covered wagon, full of spools and hastily-folded bundles of all sorts of fabric—off colour batches of off-cuts, purchased from passing merchants who doubted their ability to offload them full-price in Hawksong, you’d wager, as well as things that ‘fell off the cat’ while near Goblintown. You guide Roth in, tucking his sluggishly-dragging tail after him and piling fabrics atop him. You climb in next, nestling close to your highblooded Reptilian cohort out of necessity. He doesn’t complain, surely a testament to his grogginess and disorientation.

Zi steps up to the cart, slapping the side like the flank of a warhorse, and says “Well, how we handling this payment, then?”

She is still having trouble meeting your eyes directly, and a quick empathic scan with your succubus-senses let you know she’s feeling not shame, but a mix of affection and embarrassment FOR that affection.
>Arrange a meeting at the edge of Hawksong for tomorrorow; you'd love to see her again [+affection]
>Ask her to meet with you somewhere in particular, to talk business [write-in]
>Assure her that you’ll find her, and warn her not to come looking for you, or else [-affection]
>Write-in

>>5016755

When your business with the goblin girl is concluded, a burly and hairy brute of an orc grabs the front of the cart and begins to drag it slowly and steadily behind him towards the gates of Hawksong. You duck your head, and stay quiet; Roth does likewise. Your trained mystic and acquired demonic senses alike allow you to keep a figurative eye on things, though, as you roll along.

The guards stop the smuggler at the gate, asking him (perhaps not entirely illegitimate) questions about where he came by the cloth. He answers them with (perhaps not entirely feigned) ignorance—he just moves the cart. The buyers and sellers are both waiting on him at the market. One guard begins to fingers the goods above you, and you resist the urge to stab upwards with your knife—only then do you remember your little green helper still ahs that enchanted, ritual-ready bone dagger. Damn! Regardless, the guard loses interest before uncovering you and forcing your hand, but you’re startled at the intensity of the urge to kill.
<Bloodlust: 60%>

The cart rolls onwards after a time, and you keep your breathing to a minimum, entering an almost meditative state. At least, that’s what you tell yourself. The truth is, you cold go for some torpor. It has been many nights since you rested without gallivanting through dreams and you didn’t even get that sort of half-sleep last night, between Roth’s rescue and Irinnile’s… Captaining of your vessel.

‘Hehehe,’ you hear the succubus titter.

The cart stops, at long last, and you hear the grunt of the half-orc negotiating his rate with chattering goblin merchants, eager to inspect and unload the goods. The voices move away from the carriage—your best chance at escape with a minimum of witnesses.

What’s the plan?
>Sneak stealthily through the backstreets of Hawksong, back to the smithy
>Turn on your glamour and shapeshift to a less conspicuous form, so that anyone who looks too closely at the two of you finds their attention drawn to an attractive human female and not… Roth
>Find Roth a disguise in this area—perhaps a mask or something?
>Find Roth somewhere to hide here, and come back for him when you have a more comprehensive plan and he is more alert
>Purchase a room a an inn--you both need rest
>Write-in

Also, status update:
<Seven days to the Tower Gala>
<Edwin Affection: 91%>
<Irinnile Affection: 75%>
<Shirin supplies: moderate>
>ONGOING MISSION: Destroy the Yosef Bloodline
>ONGOING MISSION: Infiltrate the Tower Gala
>ONGOING MISSION: Subvert the City Defence Program
>ONGOING PROJECT: Establish a Shirin Supply & Distribution Network
>ONGOING PROJECT: Preserve The Pretty Kitty Lounge

>>5016748
When did I ever say pegging Roth was off-limits?

>>5016755
>Arrange a meeting at the edge of Hawksong for tomorrorow; you'd love to see her again [+affection]

I'm gonna need my knife back babe.

>>5016757
>Turn on your glamour and shapeshift to a less conspicuous form, so that anyone who looks too closely at the two of you finds their attention drawn to an attractive human female and not… Roth
>Purchase a room a an inn--you both need rest

Just so we're clear, we didn't leave Roth's place unlocked with the corpse of the fox-woman placed there unattended, right? We're not so retarded as to not take precautions with the wanted corpse in our Reptilian handler's base of operations, ya?

>>5016755
>Arrange a meeting at the edge of Hawksong for tomorrorow; you'd love to see her again [+affection]

>Sneak stealthily through the backstreets of Hawksong, back to the smithy
>Find Roth a disguise in this area—perhaps a mask or something?

why not both

>>5016757
>Assure her that you’ll find her, and warn her not to come looking for you, or else [-affection]

>Turn on your glamour and shapeshift to a less conspicuous form, so that anyone who looks too closely at the two of you finds their attention drawn to an attractive human female and not… Roth
>Find Roth a disguise in this area—perhaps a mask or something?

>>5016755
>Arrange a meeting at the edge of Hawksong for tomorrorow; you'd love to see her again [+affection]
Let her fall for us, at least she won't snitch.
>>5016757
>Turn on your glamour and shapeshift to a less conspicuous form, so that anyone who looks too closely at the two of you finds their attention drawn to an attractive human female and not… Roth
>Find Roth a disguise in this area—perhaps a mask or something?
>Purchase a room a an inn--you both need rest
We should drag him upstairs and if he's still unconscious, leave a letter telling him to stay put and then go get some of his clothes.
Just make sure to ask the inkeeper if guards/tower fags visit the place first. We don't want to end up in a place frequented by members of either of those groups.
How do we get a new amulet for him? Does he keep any spares or is it a more unique thing?

Aaaa.

>>5016783
Supporting this

Also, do we have enough money to pay off the goblin?

Or are we just going to seduce her again and then kill her?

>>5016965
Given she lives in relative poverty, a few gold coins from Edwin's purse should probably cover it.

>>5016965
She lives in gobtown bro, it's the fantasy slums

even >>5016983 seems like a lot

>>5016783
>>5016812
>>5016817
>>5016826
>>5016965
>Arrange a meeting at the edge of Hawksong for tomorrow; you'd love to see her again [+affection]
>Turn on your glamour and shapeshift to a less conspicuous form, so that anyone who looks too closely at the two of you finds their attention drawn to an attractive human female and not… Roth
>Purchase a room a an inn--you both need rest
>Find Roth a disguise in this area—perhaps a mask or something?

You shapeshift into a more human-like form once more, only belatedly adding pointed ears and a paler complexion to further differentiate yourself form your other identities. After all, you don’t need anyone connecting the dots between you, the events in Goblintown, and your more conventional ‘human’ identities as Kamunu or Ismena.

<WANT: 16>

The exertion, and the invocation of your glamour, further exerts you. You decide an inn is best—after all, you arranged to meet up with Zi near the boundary of Hawksong tomorrow. You see no reason you shouldn’t meet with the charmingly-crude and grungy goblin again, be it for business or for pleasure. She’s resourceful, and spunky—

‘And can ride us like we’re the whole damn rodeo,’ Irinnile chimes in.

—and important to keep on-side. An emotionally-invested Zi is a Zi less inclined to sell you out to the human authorities. Anyway, even if you wanted to beeline it for the smithy and head back to The Pretty Kitty or Engel Manor, your partner-in-conspiracy is even more out-of-it than you. In his current state, Roth is both too conspicuous to easily move through the city unnoticed AND too disoriented to make up for this deficit with his infiltration training. Instead, you fashion him a crude face-covering from some stolen cloth and haul him out of the wagon.

The two of you travel as casually as you can, you supporting the weaving dragonblood with an arm and shoulder. He grumbles in a low tone, below audible understanding, but you plainly understand (and enjoy) his humiliation at being dependent on you in this way.

>>5017192
You find the two of you room in a slightly-dingey inn which asks few questions, above an even less-appealing dive of a bar. An Edwin-provided gold coin and a glamorous smile is enough to make the balding male human at the counter shrug along with your explanation of Roth as a doddering old beastman (hence the slight snout) in town to amuse and entertain some up-town rich folk at a party.

“What’s with the face-sheet?” the man asks, not hostiel or suspicious but merely curious, and maybe a little bemused at the foreign wackiness.

“It’ss cultural,” you say. “Bessidess, he’ss really quite hideouss. People tend to sstare.”

The man laughs. Roth doesn’t.

Once you’re upstairs, you command (with no small satisfaction) the male of superior heritage to rest up. Begrudgingly, complaining about the decadent softness of even his lumpy mattress as unbefitting a warrior, he does so. Before long, he is once more in a state of torpor, hopefully recovering.

You yawn, stretch, and lay down in your own bed—you have no energy to peg the poor old male, even if you were so inclined. You have planning to do, after all: disguise amulets don’t grow on trees, but are rather gifts from the Serpent Priests themselves, and Roth can hardly assume his false identity and duties as a contact point without a human guise. Roth plainly has no idea where it is—he’s been heavily sedated and barely knows where HE is.

What do you do (after your nap)?
>Interrogate the demon in the scroll case about the whereabouts of Roth’s amulet
>Flip through Roth’s little black book of other Reptilian agents and visit one of them to see about sourcing a replacement
>Attempt to access the Akashic Record of the Dark Gods and to perform a ritual to create a new one yourself—after all, you ARE uniquely gifted in illusion magic and occultism among your Degenerate kin, so why not?
>Flag down some goblins, namedrop Zi, and pay them to scour the area where Roth was held for the amulet
>Write-in

>>5017193
>Interrogate the demon in the scroll case about the whereabouts of Roth’s amulet

Good opportunity to chat about this and other stuff

>>5017193
>Interrogate the demon in the scroll case about the whereabouts of Roth’s amulet
>Attempt to access the Akashic Record of the Dark Gods and to perform a ritual to create a new one yourself—after all, you ARE uniquely gifted in illusion magic and occultism among your Degenerate kin, so why not?

I want to try my hand at it before we find Roth's old amulet.

>>5017214
[Feel free to specify the other stuff]

>>5017193
>Attempt to access the Akashic Record of the Dark Gods and to perform a ritual to create a new one yourself—after all, you ARE uniquely gifted in illusion magic and occultism among your Degenerate kin, so why not?

We’re decent at this stuff…right?

>>5017193
>Attempt to access the Akashic Record of the Dark Gods and to perform a ritual to create a new one yourself—after all, you ARE uniquely gifted in illusion magic and occultism among your Degenerate kin, so why not?
Sure as fuck. Somewhat fast solution to disguise problem, free experience, way to make Roth seethe over our skillset and humiliate him with an amulet made by a Degenerate with help gifted her by the Dark Gods using demonically enhanced abilities.
But.
>Flag down some goblins, namedrop Zi, and pay them to scour the area where Roth was held for the amulet
We wouldn't want the Inquisition to find a Reptilian disguise amulet in the middle of the street, now DO we?
Get those goblins to work and don't overpay them or we'll quickly become a subject of gossip.

>>5017286
Their life plans from this point on.

Rolled 14, 11, 2, 9 = 36 (4d20)

>>5017233
>>5017214
>>5017359
>>5017372
>Akashic Record, DC 16

>>5017604
lol

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>>5017604
You awake from your torpor a short while later—by the incline of light through the window, you estimate it to be early afternoon—and you force yourself up and out of bed. Your mother’s race ‘sleep’ but lightly—present, poisoned company excluded—and you have long been the same. Despite this, you feel as if you could well sue another few hours of torpor. Perhaps you have been overtaxing yourself lately? Duty does not rest, though.

Roth needs a disguise, you conclude, and no crude thing of cloaks and sheets which can be torn away and leave your entire conspiracy exposed. You need an amulet capable of hiding his nature from prying eyes. Luckily, you have the Akashic Record of the Dark Gods! While such amulets are normally the sole purview of the Serpent Priests, they are the very definition of agents of the Gods Below and Beyond, and that means their every activity is recorded within The Akashic Record, if only you know where to find it… And you, by now fairly experienced in navigating it, know where to find it.

Unfortunately, it seems to there is a gulf between FINDING the information on how to make such amulets and employing it. The amulets are a powerful enchantment indeed, but also subtle: they shift the shape of a wearer somewhat, as well as cloaking their identity. Normally, such an amulet would radiate magic outward to cursory inspection, but the amulet ITSELF is in this case cloaked from notice. Both agent and amulet show only the faintest hint of illusory enchantment—too much to stride unbothered into a Tower Gala or other such mage-heavy, high-security events, but enough to get by in the city without attracting undue attention from anyone sensitive to the arcane. Their creation is beyond you—beyond even the Serpent Priests!—except when the stars are aligned perfectly for a ritual to imbue each amulet with the essence of the Dark Gods.

You curse your luck as you open your eyes. There will be no producing such an amulet on your part, not today. However, you ARE able to glean some knowledge on how to produce a more rudimentary, agnostic version of the same illusion… Given the right materials. Iris agate and aura quartz, a night-blooming flower, and water from a seasonal stream trapped in clearest glass, worn as an amulet and enchanted by arcane means that MAY be within your grasp… If only you can master enchantment, a field that you’ve struggled with.

>>5017616
“Dege—Infiltrator?” Roth rumbles, stirring and beginning to rise. “What are you doing? Where are we? I… I recall an ambush, a goblinoid, a cart full of cloth and… What is this on my face?”

You don’t respond right away, still trying to plan what you will do. You could source the ingredients—maybe the goblins would be helpful—and hope you are able to produce such an enchantment with concerted effort. But what if you fail? Is Roth to just stay here, in this room, perhaps for days? Or perhaps the captive demon could be useful, by telling you where the old amulet is, where the goblins might look for it? It would certainly be a blow to the secrecy of the cause if a Tower Inquisitor found such a uniquely-enchanted item…

What do you do?
What do you do (after your nap)?
>Ask Roth where you might acquire an additional amulet for him
>Flag down some goblins, namedrop Zi, and pay them to collect the necessary ingredients to make Roth a DIY enchanted amulet
>Interrogate the demon in the scroll case about the whereabouts of Roth’s amulet, and have the goblins seek it out
>Leave Roth here for now—you have other matters to attend to, and cannot waste your whole day cleaning up his mess
>Write-in

>>5017618
>Flag down some goblins, namedrop Zi, and pay them to collect the necessary ingredients to make Roth a DIY enchanted amulet
>Interrogate the demon in the scroll case about the whereabouts of Roth’s amulet, and have the goblins seek it out

>>5017618
>Interrogate the demon in the scroll case about the whereabouts of Roth’s amulet, and have the goblins seek it out
I already wanted to do this even before OP brought up how bad it would be if the tower found it.

>>5017618
>Interrogate the demon in the scroll case about the whereabouts of Roth’s amulet, and have the goblins seek it out

>>5017618
>Flag down some goblins, namedrop Zi, and pay them to collect the necessary ingredients to make Roth a DIY enchanted amulet
>Interrogate the demon in the scroll case about the whereabouts of Roth’s amulet, and have the goblins seek it out
Both in case we fail again or they are unable to recover the og. Also
>Get a debrief about Roth's capture

Tell him we thought that this particular rag really brings out his bloodshot drugged eyes and that he got pegged during the demonic ritual. Cackle at his reaction and only then tell him the truth.

>>5017618
>Interrogate the demon in the scroll case about the whereabouts of Roth’s amulet, and have the goblins seek it out

>>5017634
>>5017637
>>5017638
>>5017734
>>5017876
You motion for Roth to wait with his questions, a gesture which causes his nostrils to flare and smoke slightly as if taken aback. Still, he doesn't protest outside of annoyed grumbling, which you honestly derive more pleasure form than even his compliant silence. It helps to give you the confidence you need as your attentions settle upon the scroll case, and the entity therein.

"Demon," you speak allowed, shaking it slightly, "do you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Ismena," comes a voice--not a raven-croak, but a human voice, female, familair. "But why so formal? Are we not friends and associates? We've all been through so much together!"

You shiver slightly at the slight wrongness to the voice. "Fine then, Demon-in-a-Zivic-ssuit."

"Are you a succubus wearing the skin of a Reptilian Infiltrator, then?" the scroll-case asks, in Zivic's bemsued voice.

You don't dignify the question with a response--you are YOU, of course, and Irinnile is but your servant--

'Sexy secretary,' Irinnile corrects.

--and what you encountered in your dream after Zivic's death was, if anything, the polar opposite. But that is neither here nor there. Your cocnerns this day are more practcial than philosophical quibbles of identity, and who steers whom.

"What did you do with my comrade'ss amulet, when you captured him?"

Roth's grumbles quiet. He wishes to know, too, obviously, and is just as aware as you are of the consequences of its discovery.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" the Devil-Zivic says. "And then what? You'll slip back into Goblintown and retrieve it, with all the eyes of the Inquisition on you? I'm not ignorant of goings-on outside this prison, you know..."

You are silent.

"You and that goblin had quite the night, didn't you?" the demon inquires, then chuckles quietly. "Maybe you'll send her as your 'gopher'?"

"Sspeak, or be banished." It's a simple offer, but direct and to the point.

"What banishment are you capable of, to preclude my re-summoning?" the demon asks, as if genuinely curious. "You can't think that I was the demon's only servant, or those two you killed in the mycologist's?"

"Or maybe I'll keep you as a paperweight?" you muse aloud.

The scroll-case rattles with laughter. "You think I'm helpless in here?"

>>5018145
"The beast bluffs," Roth snarls. "It would have struck while we slept, if it was going to."

"My murderer speaks truly," the Zivic-voice replies, taking a harsher tone. "I could have killed you while you slept, if I was so inclined... And I might have, for what you've done to me, to my plans for the future. All in spite of my offer to work together!... But I'm not able to do so."

You are silent.

"...And since I can't slaughter my way to freedom, I'm not inclined to give up my only leverage."

"You have no leverage here, ape-witch! Demonic filth!" Roth is furious, and you are forced to shush him like a hatchling.

"How much longer do you think it will take the Inquisition, scouring the area for the Terror from the Undercity and discovering the remnants of an occult ritual site in Goblintown, to find the amulet if you don't first?" Zivic's voice asks. "Free me, and I will return the amulet. I'll even make a pact to that effect."

"We will not treat with lowly, parasitic scum masquerading as a surface-worlder," Roth spits.

But will you? Can you afford not to?
>Take the deal
>Counter-offer [Make your proposal]
>Attempt to use Irinnile to overpower and dominate the demon, binding it to your will entirely [RISKY to Irinnile, and maybe yourself, but effective if successful]
>Take the demon to Bianchi for his aid and expertise in managing this affair
>Screw it--leave Roth here and travel to Goblintown to handle this yourself!
>Write-in

>>5018146
Demons are bound by pacts, right? I want to add the condition that it can never again act against us or the reptilian race as a whole without a reasonable level of further provocation, and before escalating to violence it must first make an attempt in good faith to resolve matters diplomatically in case of misunderstandings.

>>5018146
>Counter-offer [Tell me now, and I'll promise not to destroy your soul. You're in no position to bargain, and if the Tower finds out about us, it's you who'll suffer death first.]
>If the counter-offer fails, take the demon to Bianchi for his aid and expertise in managing this affair

You're in no position to bargain, bird.

>>5018156
We ain't freeing freeing Zivic without securing her and the demon's knowledge of the Reptile Conspiracy in totality, and definitely not with the provision of letting them retaliate at any level, because what we and the demon determine as reasonable are two different things.

>>5018146
>Attempt to use Irinnile to overpower and dominate the demon, binding it to your will entirely [RISKY to Irinnile, and maybe yourself, but effective if successful]
I'm feeling particularly retarded and this Zivifuckery just makes me anxious from the lack of control or understanding.

In case of tie between other anons, I'll support >>5018228. Not doing pacts anymore.

>>5018146
>>Take the demon to Bianchi for his aid and expertise in managing this affair

>>5018413
>>5018347
>>5018228
>>5018156
>Counter-offer
>If the counter-offer fails, take the demon to Bianchi for his aid and expertise in managing this affair

"Tell me now, and I'll promisse not to destroy your ssoul” you counter.

“Oh?” the vice whispers from the scroll-case. “Do you even know how to do that?”

“I’m a fasst learner,” you say. “You're in no possition to bargain, and if the Tower findss out about uss, it'ss you who'll ssuffer death firsst."

“Ah, but death is nothing new to me… And I already know well what you two will do to a game-piece once it is no longer required. How about you take me back to Goblintown, and once we’re there—”

“Superior One,” you interrupt the Devil-Zivic to address Roth in your own tongue, “remain here, and remain unseen. I have paid enough to secure this lodging for some time. I will retrieve the amulet.”

“What?” Roth asks, confused. “Where are you going?”

“I have cultivated a contact who may be some assistance in mastering this demon,” you reply.

You wrap your robe around yourself again, snatch up the scroll-case, and leave the room without further ado. Lord Bianchi can be a short-sighted and greedy fool, but he is also a man in possession of many an occult tome, and with a certain sort of expertise in the field… For an amateur. Between his private library and the Akashic Record, you should be able to find a way to bend the demon to your will… or at least make good on your promise to destroy it.

It is a long trek across town, but the demon in the scroll-case has the common courtesy not to speak around others. At first, you fear you will need to find a more effective way to muffle the possessed bird, but you suppose being outed as a demon would do your foe as little good as it would do you. This isn’t to say that the dark entity remains silent the ENTIRE way: when you are both in relative seclusion on a stretch of street, Zivic’s voice pipes up again.

>>5018556
“Do you ever wonder how many of your problems—myself included—could have just been avoided by not trying to brute-force your problems by listening to your fiery cohort back there?”

You say nothing.

“We could still be good together…” she muses. “You know, my patron is not unkind to his brides and grooms. Even now, he could easily shed my soul, lock it away and stop pursuing my goals, but he is keeping both letter AND spirit of our pact. He would surely do likewise for you.”

‘We’re flattered, but she’s already taken,’ Irinnile snaps back, though only you can hear her.

“I’ve been checking in on you, from time to time. You want more than your Serpent Priests are prepared to offer you… We both know it.”

“I am chosen of the Dark Gods themselves,” you say, finally, unable to take this blasphemy.

“Oh?” she says. “And what promises did they make you?”

None, you suppose, but then what promise would you make to even a most useful gecko, as a great crocodile? What meaning would such an unenforceable promise hold? They have gifted you knowledge, power, purpose! What more do you need… Right?

“We’re here,” you say, instead of interrupting.

Indeed, you ARE here: you have arrived at Lord Bainchi’s manor. You shed your elf-like disguise to adopt your true form—give or take Irinnile’s augmentations—and make your presence known. The servants of Lord Bianchi know you well, after last night, and you are swiftly let in and, before too much longer, guided to Lord Bianchi’s room. There, the young nobleman is still recovering from having a bookcase toppled over upon him in the midst of a demonic ritual—by you, in fact, though he believes you to instead by his savior.

“Miss Rosgard,” he greets you, raising his eyebrows. “Back so soon?”

What do you do?
>Ask Bianchi to pay a visit to his library
>Ask Bianchi directly about rituals to bind, banish, and destroy demons
>Ask Bianchi about the nature of demonic pacts, and the selling of souls
>Offer Bianchi the demon in the scroll-case as his new slave, if he can help master it
>Write-in

>>5018558
>Ask Bianchi directly about rituals to bind, banish, and destroy demons

Option 4 would just give us possessed Bianchi

>>5018558
>Ask Bianchi to pay a visit to his library
>Ask Bianchi directly about rituals to bind, banish, and destroy demons
>Ask Bianchi about the nature of demonic pacts, and the selling of souls

Frankly, I'm not opposed to working with Zivic, but we clearly need some control over her and the situation, whether they be safeguards or assurances, for anons to even remotely consider the posibility of working with her and not simply murdering her on the spot. It's also best that we gain more info on demons, how they operate, and how to deal with them properly.

>>5018558
>Ask Bianchi about the nature of demonic pacts, and the selling of souls
>Ask Bianchi directly about rituals to bind, banish, and destroy demons
>Ask Bianchi to pay a visit to his library

>>5018611
Afaik, Zivic is dead and this demon is basically pretending to be her while speaking about itself. All the while proposing us nice pacts despite knowing we've backstabbed people in the past.
Not the most trustworthy creature, I'd say.

>>5018558
First!
>We wanted to check up on him and make sure he is okay

Then
>Ask Bianchi to pay a visit to his library
>Ask Bianchi directly about rituals to bind, banish, and destroy demons

[Expect a late post tonight--RPG with friends!]

>>5019103
Nice!

>>5018859
>>5018666
>>5018611
>>5018585
“I wanted to check in on you, of course!” you say. “Wass the doctor any help?”

“Somewhat,” Bianchi says dismissively. “But don’t play coy, Rosgard. The library, right?”

“Maybe,” you admit, with a small smile. “But I wassn’t lying about wanting to check on you, either. I would love to dissscuss ssome matterss of demonology with you while I read. May I keep you company?”

Bianchi huffs, and shrugs. “It’s not as if I have anything else to occupy me.”

You can sense his pleasure at your presence, though—his appreciation.

“Just make sure the servants do not see which books you fetch,” he instructs, and so you are careful.

“’Commande and Controlle of Foule Fpiritf’?” reads Bianchi. “’The Oaths Which Bind?’ ‘Exorcism Rites of the Ancient Northwestern Shamans’?”

You nod and smile. “I wass hoping you could guide me on a fact-finding mission. I need to know about… Demonic pactss. The sselling of ssoulss. The binding and banishment of demonss.”

“Ismena,” Lord Bianchi says, leaning forward with a wince. “Is this about… The demon from last night? Did you find something?”

There is a muffled sound, perhaps a “why, actually, yes,” which emanates from your bag. Both your gaze and Bianchi’s snap to it, and then you turn back to meet his eye.

“Did you find a way to entrap the demon?” Lord Bianchi asks, torn between a sort of envy and admiration. You sense fear, too—where before he saw opportunity, he now senses danger. He defers to you, and to caution. “Are you certain this is safe, Miss Rosgard?”

“Not ccertain,” you answer. “Not yet. That’ss where I need your help.”

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>>5019250
Lord Bianchi, motivated by a desire to profit from the occult without now directly risking himself, is eager enough to help you in your studies. Of particular interest, perhaps, is his learned theories on the nature of demonic pacts and soul-bonding. The selling of a soul, he reasons from his readings, is not so different from the bond one might form with a demon through any other pact.

“When summoner and spirit—or demon, but any spirit really—are one, the ancient shamans would say that one is ‘riding’ the other: one is dominant, directing actions, supplanting the other more easily than vice versa. The complete selling of a soul is simply a pledge to commit one’s energies, and sublimate one’s will, to the other soul or spirit in that partnership.”

‘Mmm,’ Irinnile murmurs. ‘Ride me ANYTIME.’

And yet… Irinnile does seize control quite readily, doesn’t she? Perhaps what Zivic is doing is merely an extreme form of this same power dynamic, where the incubus she has bound herself to may allow her escape—or deny it—from its own will as it sees fit?

“As for banishing a demon, or binding its will, I have many such rituals for that… Though most are a difficult thing to do without multiple pairs of hands, and preparation. One person to serve as a conduit, others to speak the incantation and maintain barriers, as we did with the succubus. And just as the succubus, these rituals can be sued to banish a demon as well.”

Irinnile titters nervously. ‘Haha, yeah, imagine if you had just, like… Not done that, right?’

“We had its truename for that,” you note aloud.

Lord Bianchi nods emphatically. “It’s vital, to ensure the success of the spell. Without a true name, the spell requires more powerful focuses, and renewal. With it… A demon may be rendered helpless. Destroyed, even, rendered utterly inert or without any free will or mind of its own until the end of time.”

Irinnile’s silence this time is one of a deep discomfort.

“What do you have planned for the demon you’ve ensnared?” Bianchi asks, intensely curious.

>You wish to subsume it, to bind it to yourself as a source of further occult power
>You seek a demon slave—a servant you can direct, with little to no will
>You seek an ally, to perform tasks you yourself cannot, to advise you on secret matters, and to serve as a proxy
>You wish only for a single one-off deal, and then its banishment
>It’s too dangerous to allow to live—it must be destroyed
>Write-in

>>5019254
>You seek an ally, to perform tasks you yourself cannot, to advise you on secret matters, and to serve as a proxy
with a blend of
>You seek a demon slave—a servant you can direct, with little to no will
But only when concerning matters (or people) directly related to us and the Reptile conspiracy. I don't want to subsume it (at least until after the Gala if finished with), and I only really care about her not fucking with (harming/revealing) us, our people, and the Reptile Conspiracy as a whole). Otherwise, I could care less what she does in her spare time.

I will ask however, what do we gain if we subsume the demon?

And how did the RPG go mate?

>>5019254
>You wish only for a single one-off deal, and then its banishment
We already have Irinnile. Besides, this incubus is a big player in the city which leads me to believe he has more brains and resources to fight back than our horny and somewhat obedient succubus.

>>5019254
>>It’s too dangerous to allow to live—it must be destroyed

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>>5019254
If my vote doesn't get support, I'll support (>>5019474).
Whether it's banishment or assisted ego death, I wanna clean this mess up and put the incubus out of the picture once and for all.

Also tell Irinnile we don't plan on fucking with her. She isn't a threat to us or waving pacts designed to trap our soul in front of our face unlike certain other individuals.

>>5019254
Assuming no one want to work with Zivic (given our loner murderhobo tendencies), consider my vote switching from >>5019300 to supporting >>5019467, as getting the amulet back is more important.

For future reference, I do consider not using the captured demon to our advantage a waste. This murderautism is starting to grate on my nerves.

>>5019527
>>5019537
Sorry anon. I swear this is not about killing, but paranoia that those individuals were gonna be problematic and come back at some point. Cutting ties is just like the cleanest solution.
I admit the fox was too far, though.

>>5019300
>I will ask however, what do we gain if we subsume the demon?
Power, and access to the demon's network and resources if you can impersonate it successfully or earn its cooperation.

RPG night was short, but good.

>>5019503
>>5019474
>>5019300
It seems we have a three-way tie, but the contingency vote at >>5019503 leans in favour of destruction. Writing it up!

>>5019608
“Desstruction,” you say. “It’ss too dangerouss to let live. Look at what it did to you!”

Lord Bianchi, despite all the reasons you’ve given him to fear and hate the creature trapped within the tub, looks to it almost wistfully. He still can’t help but see the Devil-Zivic as a path to power… But it’s a testament to your psychic and emotional manipulations that he does not argue the point.

“You’d need its true name to affect real destruction,” he reminds you. “Do you have it?”

You don’t… And you aren’t certain even an exploration of the Akashic Record would yield useful intelligence. This demon has only seemingly become a big player recently, in Hawksong, and its only known involvement with agents of The Dark Gods are engagements with yourself and Roth.

“What about banishment?” you ask, while you mull over your options for destruction. “There is a question I have for the demon, but after that… I want it gone, and a guarantee that it won’t come after… Uss. After you, or me, or anyone elsse either of uss may care for.”

“Well you could certainly try to make a bargain with it,” Lord Bianchi notes. “Demons are bound by their word, true-name or no. Out in the Southern lands, there was a practice among learned men of bottling demons in vases or lamps, as gifts to royalty. Even a novice or one without time to set up necessary precautions could then extract concessions from the demon in exchange for their freedom, and the demon would be obliged to follow through on their end of the bargain… But only until the task is complete, as I understood the legends.”

“Sso no lasting guarantee of peace?”

Bianchi frowns. “Not without further rituals, or a true-name. A banishment would work, but…”

>>5019621
“But what?” you press.

“But someone summoned it, or it otherwise found its way here. Summoned a second time, it could return immediately—albeit weakened—if it was not destroyed.”

Hrm. Troubling, but it liens up with the Devil-Zivic’s own boasts. You glare at the scroll-case inside your backpack. If only you could negotiate openly with the demon inside! However, to allow it to speak in this mixed company was to potentially reveal your darker, more subterranean secrets to Bianchi…

>Do it—you need Bianchi’s aid in this matter still, and you can attempt to wipe or alter his memories once more when you’re done
>Ask Lord Bianchi to stay in bed, for his recovery and safety, but ask to use his ritual room to attempt a more in-depthpact with the Devil-Zivic [specify a trade, ie. location of amulet and silence on the reptilian conspiracy for freedom, etc.]
>You need privacy to do your work. Find an abandoned storehouse or other such building and make a simpler pacts [specify terms, ie. amulet for freedom]
>Enough of this—banish the demon and let the Dark Gods sort it out!
>Keep the demon sealed away—it can do little harm there, and you will find the amulet yourself
>Call in your [DIVINE FAVOUR] from the Dark Gods to gain the demon's true name, enabling true mastery and destruction
>Write-in

>>5019537
Anon, if you can present a plausible play to solve this imcubus situation without leaving anything up to the fate, then I'm up to doing with the incubus as you please.
Myself I have a bit of problemsolving paralysis, because we lack the information about origins of this demon and all the things he managed to achieve in the city.
The solution would be to turn Hawksong upside down to find that missing info of course, but if he really has an ace up his sleeve, he might interfere or escape meanwhile.
In all honesty I really dislike dealing with demons in this quest and that's why I aggressively tried to shut it all down.
Hard to admit after doing it for so long.

>>5019622
>Do it—you need Bianchi’s aid in this matter still, and you can attempt to wipe or alter his memories once more when you’re done
or
>Ask Lord Bianchi to stay in bed, for his recovery and safety, but ask to use his ritual room to attempt a more in-depthpact with the Devil-Zivic [location of amulet, silence on the reptilian conspiracy, not becoming problematic or creating problems for the reptile conspiracy, and a favor for freedom]

Destroying a demon that's also subverting Hawksong just feels like we're doing the Tower a favor, especially if we can cut a deal, enslave, or subsume the demon. Beyond knowing about the Reptilian Conspiracy (and Roth's autism triggering most of this fallout), do we even have opposing goals? Honestly, we're throwing away not just the power, but the network potential as well. Just consider it a moment before we decide to throw it away.

>>5019655
I can respect you coming to terms with that. I guess the main question is, if you want to deal with more demons and the occult. If that answer is no, then I can respect that, and am willing to let this fall to the wayside just to make things more comfortable for y'all. I just wanted to understand your position and give our options a fair shake.

Frankly, the only way I see you being comfortable with keeping the demon alive is if you have total control over him. Personally, I'm fine with making the bargain of keeping him quiet and not causing trouble for us in the future, but I think that'll just drive the paranoia into overdrive here.

So it just comes down to whether you think using our [Divine Favor] is worth enslaving the demon to our will in totality, beyond question. We'd need to get his true name first, but after that I'm sure it'll be enough for the [Divine Favor] to work it's magic.

Again, this is only if you decide you want to dabble with demons more instead of focusing on other avenues of subversion, and whether you consider the [Divine Favor] to be worth the price of not leaving this up to fate. If that isn't how you want to play this quest, that's fine, I just want to make sure we clear the air, here and now.

>>5019682
>Frankly, the only way I see you being comfortable with keeping the demon alive is if you have total control over him.
Yeah, either this or having him genuinely on our side like Irinnile. But we're dealing with a mf that controls who knows how many people and has others depend on his power to grant their wishes.
Based on the last update, we'll probably have to uncover his summoning pact to get to the roots of the problem.
>Personally, I'm fine with making the bargain of keeping him quiet and not causing trouble for us in the future, but I think that'll just drive the paranoia into overdrive here.
You're correct, unless we know who and how summoned and bound that incubus and on what grounds he's seemingly free to do as he pleases. That way we could ensure that he has no way to circumvent what we say.
>So it just comes down to whether you think using our [Divine Favor] is worth enslaving the demon to our will in totality, beyond question.
Nope. We're saving that for seducing the king, kek.

My last nitpick about striking a pact with capital-subverting demon is that we aim to weaken and eventually boot the mankind to let reptilians take over. Letting him roam (somewhat) freely in Hawksong would be a problem for lizards that come, if our pact doesn't specify he is to gtfo when masster rase comes.

>Destroying a demon that's also subverting Hawksong just feels like we're doing the Tower a favor
It also means they invest less in antidemon measures that also have an effect on us. It also puts them on a higher alert in general.

>do we even have opposing goals
We have 0 idea on who summoned this manhoe and how he got out of control. He could still be working for his summoner and be told to lie about it, for all we know.

I'm starting to realize it'd be wiser to restrain the demon as much as we can and go after the source and uncover the whole story and people behind it. At least the very one/s who brought him to Hawksong.

>>5019622
>Ask Lord Bianchi to stay in bed, for his recovery and safety, but ask to use his ritual room to attempt a more in-depthpact with the Devil-Zivic [specify a trade, ie. location of amulet and silence on the reptilian conspiracy for freedom, etc.]

Pretty much the same deal as I suggested before, freedom in exchange for amulet as well as letting go of the grudge - it can't act against us or any other reptilian unprovoked, and even when provoked it would have to try and talk things out before escalating. Obviously spreading word of the reptilians would be acting against them, so that would be covered.

I know before people were concerned that Zivic might be overly liberal in what it considers provocation, which is why there's that attempt at diplomatic resolution in there. If you guys want you could try for can't act against us under any circumstances but I don't think Zivic would take that deal, as it would be left even more helpless than it is now.

>>5019622
>Keep the demon sealed away—it can do little harm there, and you will find the amulet yourself

>>5019622
>Ask Lord Bianchi to stay in bed, for his recovery and safety, but ask to use his ritual room to attempt a more in-depth pact with the Devil-Zivic.

Specifically:
- assistance in recovering the amulet (more useful than just its location
- eternal silence on the reptilian conspiracy
- a vow to not act against reptile conspiracy or it’s agents
- a vow to leave Hawksong and never return

All in exchange for freedom.

I want this pest to leave us alone forever, but for him to help us before he leaves

>>5019622
>>Keep the demon sealed away—it can do little harm there, and you will find the amulet yourself
Short term solution and a possible weapon to be used at the right time

>>5019622
>Enough of this—banish the demon and let the Dark Gods sort it out!

[We seem to have a slim preference for leaving Bianchi in bed, and attempting to make a pact for the amulet, non-intervention, and mutual conspiratorial silence on one another's affairs. Is this correct?]

>>5020113
Sounds good to me

>>5020113
Also if others are willing and the deal goes through I'd want to offer Zivic some help getting back on it's feet in exchange for knowledge of what it told Mina about us, as well as who else it talked to about us/reptilians and what exactly it said.

>>5019723
It seems like you're more worried about the original summoner than the demon itself, and as it relates to the demon, he can keep the humans after we take over. I see the demon as a useful destabilizing agent in Hawksong, and if we let him go a distraction from our own goals. If we enslave him, we'd have his power, but I'm more interested in his network, as we need some assets to assist us, and larping as demon could be the skinsuit we could be comfortable with, given that it protects the conspiracy.

But seems that this won't change your mind. If you can devise a way for us to get the information of the amulet out of the demon in a way that doesn't give it freedom' I'd support it. But the amulet is time-sensitive, and I won't tolerate the Tower investigation the Reptile Conspiracy, even unknowingly.

We're going to need Yosef's glasses after this.

>>5020113
While that is correct, I'd prefer to resolve the paranoia that will cause us to kill this demon in spite of the deal. If we do get an update this post, just add it's true name to the deal. If we can't resolve the paranoia, we can gain some measure of control if we need it.

>>5020136
Why not have it as part of the original deal then?

>>5019682
>>5019723
>>5019799
>>5019806
>>5019845
>>5019987
>>5020047
You dwell on the implications of the devil’s destruction—if you could even accomplish this—let alone its (temporary) banishment, or even keeping it bottled up while the Tower draws ever closer to finding Roth’s lost amulet. Is its true name worth the [DIVINE FAVOUR]? Even with its annihilation would you be safe from whatever force summoned it to this city?

“Ismena?” Bianchi interrupts your thoughts.

The interruption forces you to stop circling the same course around your skull. As always, an Infiltrator knows when to act, and the time ahs come.

“Sstay here,” you say sweetly. “I have a plan, but jusst in case… Well, you sstill have healing to do.”

“Are you scheming without me?” he frowns. “I am perfectly capable of…”

Lord Bianchi pauses as you rest a hand on his arm. He meets your eyes, swallows, and nods.

“Be discreet,” he says. “I need no rumours spreading, undermining my own efforts.”

“I always am,” you say brightly.

Internally, you are less cheery, less confident, but you at least know your path froward. You descend into the bowels of the ritual room, which still faintly smells incense and deadly violence. Locking the door behind you, you pocket the key, open your pack, and extract the scroll-case. It stirs, shakes, but the bird and the beast within remain trapped.

“Not sso fasst,” you say. “Devil, Zivic, I have come to negotiate.”

There is a brief spell of silence, and then two voices—one rumbling, low, distant, one distinct, feminine, refined, and familiar. Both say:

“Oh?”

The eagerness in the entity’s the gives you hope, lends you confidence. You stick out your chest, raise your chin and your voice, and say: “I am going to erect a ccircle, becausse I am no fool, and then we are going to make a deal.”

“Take your time,” taunts Zvic’s voice, once more alone. “I’m sure the Tower’s inqusiitors aren’t in any hurry, either.”

You force yourself not to rush. You can afford no mistakes. Between the Akashic Record and your studying with Bianchi, you know what to do—you just need to make sure you do it PROPERLY, and with thoroughness.

“Don’t forget the second-outermost circle,” Zivic chimes in, condescending in her helpfulness. “That protects against the mental assault we have planned.”

You narrow your eyes and hiss in irritation, but you do indeed make a couple minor corrections to the patterns within that circle before gingerly stepping inside, setting the scroll-case down as if it might explode, and loosening the cap.

>>5020336
The bird begins to worm its way out, crushed wings spreading and knitting, croaking in relief, but you are already outside the circle and ready to make your bargain.

“You’re free from your prisson,” you say, “for NOW. But not thiss basement…”

“…And you can just as easily send us back into the tube.” The crow hops out of the scroll-case, knocking it over and hopping as far towards the outside rim of the circle as it dares. “I recognize the runes well, Infiltrator. State your terms, if you please. Neitehr of us has all night.”

“Freedom for non-intervention,” you say simply. “You abandon Zivic’ss venegancce against myself, my ally, ad the Reptilian race. We keep each other’ss ssecretss, sstay out of each others ways, and we will commit by PACT to ssettle our conflictss without violence or ssabotage.”

The bird tilts its head in silence.

“You’ll also guide me to the amulet,” you add awkwardly. “Obvioussly.”

“And in exchange, I go free?” the bird asks.

“…Yess.” You pause. “But you may find that, when the masster race comess, this ccity iss not sso welcoming. I recommend you leave.”

“Ah,” the Zivic-voice speaks, “so you ssee the loophole, too. Your Serpent priests and Dark Gods and whoever else can still move against me. My agents, likewise.”

You grimace. You ahdn’t even really thought about it, but the revelation that you could have gotten such a thing by the demon—and didn’t—stings.

“Let’s close that loophole,” Devil-Zivic suggests. “Then… You have a deal!”

You are a little taken aback by the eagerness to take the deal, even with that amendment, but you start to speak your agreement.

“Unless you’d rather pursue a more… Intimate alliance?”