>>44542207

Petra's wound – her right arm, taken cleanly at the elbow – is a serious one, fatal if not for Gabriel's swift attentions. Even so, with the redhead still clinging to life, you doubt she'll ever be able to fight again. If she had lost her left arm, maybe, but...

Of course, that wasn't the only loss. Cernunnos lost all but one of his warriors – the finest in the fairy kingdom, if he was to be believed – and the sole survivor was mad, his sanity clawed away by a nightmare pursuit through that darkened, cursed forest that Chernobog had made his home. As he had left, returning to his homeland, Cernunnos had seemed unusually taciturn, his shoulders set in an uncommon slump. There won't be any victory feast tonight, that's for sure.

Knowing full well what kind of welcome to expect – not a cheerful one – you rise to your feet and start walking, trudging slowly across blackened, dying moss and slushy snow. Making slow, monotonous progress – almost wishing for a demon to pop up and pick a fight – you make your way back to the heart of the desolate city. Once you see the familiar flames burning atop leering, tilted skyscrapers, you start to feel... more peaceful, perhaps. No happier, certainly, but more peaceful.

Stopping at the gateway, you reach out and let your hand brush against the twisted ironwork, the light squeal of ancient metal grinding together like a razor against your unsettled nerves. Maybe, you murmur to yourself, maybe not. Later, perhaps, but not now. It might be nice to visit Marco again, or even see if you can track down Cassandra. Marco, of course, is still at the Hellfire Club, while Cassandra... East, you imagine, past where Joseph was being imprisoned.

>Visit Marco at the Hellfire Club
>Try to find Cassandra
>Quit stalling and go to the fairy kingdom
>Other

>>44542217
>>Visit Marco at the Hellfire Club
Running into Raph, Uri or Mike would be lethal at this point.

>>44542217
>>Visit Marco at the Hellfire Club
Petra might want some time alone as well.

>>44542217
>Visit Marco at the Hellfire Club
Maybe send Cass a text seeing how she is doing, if only to hear that at least she is doing all right.

>>44542354
>>44542324
>>44542297

A pause, a moment of hesitation, and you find yourself taking your hand away from the iron gate, letting it creak back into the usual, slightly ajar position. You'll... you'll be back later, you promise yourself, you just need to check on Marco first. It's not that you're worried about him – he's probably the safest human in the entire wasteland, right now – but it offers you the perfect opportunity to be elsewhere for a while.

At least you're honest enough to admit it to yourself. You're running away – and so what? After everything you've been through, you've more than earned a break from danger and responsibility. With that thought burning bitterly at the front of your mind, you turn away from the gateway to the fairy kingdom and slouch off into the city. With numb fingers, you fumble out your phone and turn it over in your hands, feeling the dull edges of the hard plastic casing. East lies danger – too much danger for you to go wandering in alone – but you can at least send Cassandra a message. Just to see how she's doing, if nothing else.

After a moment's thought, you decide to stick with a cautiously neutral message – you're up and about again, it reads, and how is she doing? Reading it over once more, you send it off into the void, to be carried to its destination on whatever strange airwaves fill this world. No reply, not immediately at least, but you weren't expecting a prompt response. When it comes, you don't even know what kind of message you'll get – wishing you well, or something that matches your careful tone?

It doesn't matter, you mutter aloud as the Hellfire Club looms high ahead of you, hearing from her will be good enough. Burying your phone in your pocket, you push open the club door and let yourself in, the warm air welcome against your raw skin.

File: Spoiler Image (143 KB, 692x1952)

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>>44542478

Immediately, you sense that something isn't right here. Definitely not right – the club is busy, true, but there is no hum of background chatter. The patrons all have their various glasses, cups and flasks of unknowable alcohol, but none amongst them dares to take a drink. Everyone here is frozen, staring hard at the floor or the tables – never at each other. The door bangs behind you, and that sudden explosion of sound is what breaks the trance.

One by one, the various demonic patrons stand up and file out, either pushing past you or slipping around you. Soon, once the last of them has left, you find yourself alone. Then a new sound – booming footsteps, echoing as if coming from the guts of some vast canyon. Thundering closer and closer, the noise grows to a climax as the doors to Marco's chamber and blasted from their hinges, the splintered wood transfixed in mid air by violently stabbing tendrils of shadow. As you stand, motionless with weary fear, a figure emerges.

Blonde, clad in a pristine blue dress and polished black shoes – like a child wearing her Sunday best – Alice steps through the frozen destruction and looks at you, a smile playing across her doll-like features.

“Hello!” she begins, her accent perfectly English, “You'll play with me, won't you?”

>...Of course I will. What do you want to play?
>What did you do to my father?
>Where's... Mister Black?
>Other

>>44542519
>What did you do to my father?
Really not in the mood, death goddess or no.

>>44542519
>Depends some games I'm better at than others.
>What did you do to my father?

>>44542519
>>What did you do to my father?
Looks like someone didn't want to do her homework.

>>44542554
>>44542546
>>44542537

This isn't a very good time. You're tired, you're weary, and you are NOT in the mood to be dealing with a spoilt child.

Even is she is a spoilt child capable of spreading death and destruction on a whim.

What, you ask slowly, did she do to your father?

“Hmph!” Alice pouts, “I'm tired of homework, and I'm tired of times tables! I want to go out and play, and he can't stop me! You understand, don't you? Don't you want to play a little game with me?”

That depends, you shoot back cautiously, you're not so bad at some games. Others – like some of the more lethal ones, say – you'd rather not play. Although really, you're starting to suspect that ANY game Alice chooses to play ends up as one of the lethal ones – even something as simple as a snowball fight. Right now, you could use Mister Black's advice, or at least his experience in dealing with Alice's capricious ways. Yet, of course, he is nowhere to be found.

“He's not BROKEN!” Alice whines suddenly, causing you to freeze in place. You were trying to edge around her, creeping into the labyrinthine corridor, but this stops you. “I don't break ALL my friends,” Alice continues, her bottom lip trembling with an oncoming sulk, “Oh, but you're my friend, aren't you? Don't leave!”

This is quite the awkward position, you think bitterly to yourself. You could turn and run, fleeing into the endless corridors in hope of finding, eventually, your father. Of course, that would require turning your back on the petulant death goddess, something that strikes you as, somehow, unwise. Just how much protection does Scathach's corset really offer you?

The alternative, though, is to try and keep Alice amused until... well, you're not sure about that. Until Mister Black finds you, perhaps. “Vague” barely begins to cover it.

>Break and run. Hopefully the corridors will make sense this time
>Offer to play with Alice
>Try to attack Alice
>Other

>>44542731
>Offer to play with Alice
There's no real choice here.

>>44542731
>Offer to play with Alice
>But make her promise not "Break" us.

>>44542731
>>Offer to play with Alice
I remember what happened to Leon. Even with Null Dark, I wouldn't like to try her.

>>44542773
>>44542751
>>44542749

Alice takes a step forwards, causing you to take an equal step backwards. The distance between you – a nice, safe distance – remains intact, but the simple motion prompts you to take action. You'll play, you blurt out, you'll play with her!

“Oh wonderful!” Alice cries, the distance between you closing suddenly as she bounds forwards to take your hands in hers. There is a slight tingle as her skin touches yours – you shiver at the sensation, for her hands are as cold as ice – but that is all. You don't drop dead, the skin doesn't wither away from your limbs, nothing. “I've got just the game, just you wait and see!”

You shudder to think of what kind of game could get Alice quite so excited, but she doesn't give you a chance to back down now. Letting at least one of your hands drop free, Alice tugs you along as she skips out of the club, singing meaningless little nonsense rhymes under her breath. The few words you do catch – weird mumbling references to fallen angels, and doing terrible things to their flesh – discourage you from listening in too much.

“It's a big game!” Alice promises as she skips along, her feet poised beautifully atop the white snow. By comparison, you slog through it like a beast of burden, leaving a thick trail behind you. “Lot of people are playing – it must be so fun!”

You start to ask for a few more details, but then a distant noise causes you to fall silent. There is the sound of battle, clashing blades and muffled explosions, coming from not too far away – behind the next row of buildings, if you could take a guess. This game of hers... it's not going to involve wading into the middle of a pitched battle, is it?

“Of course!” Alice chirps, beaming at you, “They're keeping all the fun to themselves, the meanies!”

>>44542930
>call Joseph
>PLEASE COME TO THE HELLFIRE CLUB, THE DEATH GODDESS WANTS TO PLAY AND SHE WANTS TO PLAY WITH ME, SEND ELLIOT

>>44542961
It should be fine. ish. From the way it sounds we'll be fighting alongside her.

File: Valkyrie.jpg (93 KB, 600x826)

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>>44542930

Following Alice, you peek around the buildings at the battle raging beyond. One side seems to consist of all manner of angels, their wings and flowing robes pristine despite the churning battle around them. The others are less uniform, but the majority seem to be whooping warriors that ride atop blood red horses and brandish swords with violent passion. The occasional shout of “Valhalla!” or “Witness me!” emerge from the tightest knots of the fighting, where blood has stained the snow red.

“Angels!” Alice coos, pointing and practically jumping up and down with excitement, “Look at them, they're so pretty!”

You... guess?

“Oooh, but look at the horses!” the young girl – or rather, the thing that wears a young girl's face – squeals, “Maybe I should ask for a horse...”

Please, you plead, please no. You've got enough problems without a personification of death riding about on a horse, spreading mayhem and chaos.

“So...” Alice asks, watching the battle with wide, childish eyes, “Who do you want to win?”

>The angels
>The warrior women
>You'd rather just leave them to it
>Other

>>44543028
Which kind of angels? Dogmatic, violent Michael angels or Cass's kind angels?

>>44543042

>The dogmatic kind. They're definitely violent!

>>44543028
>It has to be a close fight. It's no fun if you already know who's going to win.
>What if they have to earn points? 1 point for killing someone, 5 points for getting someone back on their feet for more fighting?

>>44543028
>You'd rather just leave them to it
>I can't really say. A game's no good if you don't know what's what and who's who.

>>44543028
>The warrior women

>>44543095
Seconding.

>>44543028
>>44543095
Let's go with this. Make it more of a game.

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>>44543095
>>44543115
>>44543137

Personally, you'd rather just leave them to it – this isn't your fight, and you're not exactly desperate to make it your fight either – but you suspect that Alice wouldn't be quite so satisfied with such a carefully neutral answer. So it has to be a close fight, you tell Alice, there's no fun in watching a totally one sided battle, one where victory is over long before it ever started.

“Huh?” Alice sounds confused, “But it's fun watching something getting crushed, it's like “boom”, done!”

Maybe so, you admit patiently, but... how about this? They have to score points to see who wins – one point for a kill and, say, five points for getting an ally back on their feet. More fighting that way, you add hastily when you see the petulant look crossing Alice's face again, more fighting is better, isn't it?

“I GUESS,” Alice sighs, “But I think killing should be worth – oh, look! She just got launched, how cool is that?”

Pretty cool, you admit, as you watch the lightly armoured warrior woman getting hurled through the air, a powerful blow casting her up and away. One point to the angels, you tell Alice. The score grows equal soon after, as the angel is run down by a pair of the mounted fighters. The fight continues in this tune for a while, neither side gaining a clear advantage. There IS plenty of carnage though, enough to keep Alice's eyes fixed on the scene.

Then, the tide turns. At the order of a particularly angry looking angel – it's the missing eye that makes them look angry, you decide – the winged soldiers form a defensive line, a forest of spears bristling in the face of the cavalry charge. Crashing into the wall, lightly armoured bodies are punctured, impaled and cast away, leaving the horses to scatter wildly.

“I can't count that many points!” Alice wails in dismay.

>>44543297
>it's the missing eye that makes them look angry,
So Nyarly stopped torturing him?

>>44543320

>Well, Nyarly has more interesting things to occupy him now. He's got a whole world to torture!

File: Eligor.jpg (893 KB, 1920x2644)

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>>44543297

Before the battle can turn into a complete rout, there is a new arrival. Another horseman, but this is no lightly armoured skirmisher. This is a brute, clad in ancient armour of crimson steel. His horse is a mighty beast, snorting and stamping at the earth. Whenever that beast treads, the snow around it sizzles and melts. The rider himself carries a mighty lance, flames dancing around the tip. Everything about his bearing suggests a figure of great martial pride and skill – a warrior of deadly strength and power.

“Woah...” Alice breaths, her eyes drawn to the new arrival, “How many points is HE worth?”

You have no idea, you admit, you couldn't even begin to guess. What you DO know is that he has to be their leader, much like that one-eyed angel is the leader of the divine forces. Glancing across, you notice Alice's face settling into a rather worrying look – the look of someone who has just made up their mind to do something foolish.

“Come on!” she hisses, tugging at your sleeve, “I bet WE can win this game! All we need to do is take his head...” she points to the towering horseman, before switching her finger to the lead angel “...Or maybe his. He's the boss too, right?”

You just hope she doesn't get any other ideas, like-

“Maybe we should kill BOTH,” Alice says, as if plucking the idea from the surface of your mind, “Oh, that sounds like so much fun!”

...No it doesn't.

“Boo,” the girl sticks out her tongue at you, “I'm going down there, and you can't stop me!”

>Let Alice join the battle, sneak away while she's busy
>Hunt the armoured devil with Alice
>Hunt the lead angel with Alice
>Other

>>44543393
>>Hunt the lead angel with Alice
What luck he scraped together just ran out.

>>44543393
MUST PROTECT ELGIOR. KILL THE ANGEL.

>>44543393
>>Hunt the lead angel with Alice

File: 1323128592032.jpg (95 KB, 259x350)

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>>44543393
>>>Hunt the lead angel with Alice

Man, that Dominion just can't catch a break. That said:

>>44543393
>>Hunt the lead angel with Alice

>>44543393
>Hunt the armoured devil with Alice
Loyal horseman will definitely remember Amelia.

>>44543551
So you want to kill him?

>>44543576
FUCK I HIGHLIGHTED THE WRONG THING FUCK

>>44543551 SHOULD HAVE BEEN
>Hunt the lead angel with Alice
I SUCK MARAS

File: Dominion.jpg (998 KB, 2012x2660)

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>>44543415
>>44543416
>>44543418
>>44543419
>>44543439

Well, if her mind is set on fighting, the very least you can do is point Alice towards something that she can probably kill. Mister Black might even reward you for this little act of babysitting later, should you keep his young mistress safe.

Even if she is intend of getting into as much danger as possible.

Whooping and cheering – reminding you, in a strange way, of those scattered warrior women – Alice scrabbles up the snowy ridge and skips into the fray, spinning around with giddy excitement. You follow, sighing inwardly at the whimsical path she follows. Never moving in a straight line for more than a few paces, Alice bobs and weaves around the dead and dying warriors, leaning down to peer into glazed eyes and to poke at bloody wounds. By the time you've caught up with her, she is crouched by an angel, the divine soldier mouthing silent pleas for mercy. You approach, but before you can kneel as well, a great spear of solidified blackness erupts from the ground and impales the fallen angel, lifting them up into the air.

Crying out in their death agonies, the angel practically splits open as Alice's spear guts her. A thin rain of blood falls from above, drizzling onto both you and Alice. You'd complain, but then a strident voice rings out.

“Monsters! Defilers of the dead!” the one-eyed angel cries, “Is there no depravity that you won't stoop to? No matter – I, Dominion, the angel of the second sphere, will put an end to your evil this day!”

“Evil?” Alice asks innocently, “What does that mean?”

Before things can devolve into an ethical debate – the last one of those you went ended up in bloodshed as well – the armoured devil stamps closer. “Whatever luck you have scraped together,” he booms, “Ends today, angel. I am Eligor, archduke and general of Hell. Today, we shall lock blades!”

File: Throne.jpg (23 KB, 512x480)

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>>44543732

At least, you think wearily, you won't be fighting alone. Between Alice desperately eager to get a piece of the action and the new arrival – Eligor, he said his name was – you could probably rest easy. They might even do all the hard work themselves, leaving you safe to-

“You won't outnumber me so easily!” Dominion snaps, thrusting his hand up into the air, pointing at the dull haze that passes for a sun, “Warriors of the Great Will – to me!”

What answers his call, falling from the sky, is what appears at first to be a pair of fireballs. It's only when they circle you, spinning wildly, do you realise that they are giant wheels, a thin figure entwined with the spokes. They trail fire, and sing songs of praise as they spin around, finally forming a defensive wall in front of Dominion. If you want his head, you'll need to get past those weird... wheel things. Of course, you've got just the thing for getting past obstacles like them...

>Summon a demon and battle the Thrones
>Summon a demon and fight personally
>Blink past the Thrones and fight Dominion personally
>Other

>>44543732
Dominion just can't seem to catch a break, can he?

I like how at this point Mia isn't even horrified. She's just annoyed there is blood all over her now.

>>44543769
I think that's a law of the universe or something.

>>44543776
Kid's going to be a prime murderhobo when she grows up

>>44543760
>Summon a demon and battle the Thrones
Let's weaken the wall.
Lilim Rakunda

>>44543760
>Summon a demon and battle the Thrones
Lillim?


Also Eligor made Archduke? Way to go big guy, I hope he got a power increase to go with it. Dudes earned it.

>>44543760
>>Summon a demon and battle the Thrones
Go Lilim, yeah. Fighting personally doesn't seem like such a hot idea after what happened to Petra.

What if this Dominion was siphoning luck from Petra via eye.

>>44543760
>Summon a demon and battle the thrones

Let's go with Lilim. AND FOR THE LOVE OF AMELIA, START WITH TARUNDA!

File: Lilim.jpg (41 KB, 520x1054)

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Rolled 88, 43 = 131 (2d100)

>>44543914
>>44543884
>>44543803
>>44543794

So they want to make a defensive wall, do they? Well, you've got other ideas. Letting Eligor and Alice step forwards – although in Alice's case it's more like skipping forwards – you hang back and summon Lilim, giving her a stern look before she can make any comments. She frowns at the sight of the rank of angels, but keeps an obedient silence. When she finally speaks, it is simply to ask a question. “Take them down, boss?”

Cut them down to size, you confirm, smiling a little at the wicked grin that passes across Lilim's face. She does so enjoy the chance to give some angels a kicking, even if things rarely go well for her. Throwing out her hands, one glowing purple and the other alive with green light, Lilim casts her withering enchantments on the pair of guardians. Their flames fade a little – although you wonder if that's just your imagination – and then they both explode into motion.

Spinning furiously, the angels wind around you in a figure eight loop. One glows with a white light, the light of pure divinity, while the other pulses with gathering fire.

“Uh oh,” Lilim yelps, as she watches the gathering power.

>Please roll 3D100, for Lilim, Eligor and Alice. I'll take the highest of the first three

Rolled 4, 92, 5 = 101 (3d100)

>>44544026

Rolled 27, 46, 55 = 128 (3d100)

>>44544026

Rolled 100, 2, 2 = 104 (3d100)

>>44544026
Moment of silence for Lilim please.

>>44544094
Irony: the post

>>44544094
More like a loud WOO!

>>44544094
>>44544117
>>44544127
>inb4 we can eventually level Lilim into Lilith

>>44544185
Lilith is her own demon, anon. She was at the first cornerstone, remember?

>>44544210
I remember. I also know Devils can lose divinity or get demoted.

Rolled 2, 2, 50 = 54 (3d100)

>>44544059
>>44544069
>>44544094

“Oh no,” Lilim mutters as the divine light grows to a fever pitch, the angel glowing brightly enough that you can't look at it without pain. You wince as the light seems to overflow, exploding into the world with a crack of displacing energy. For a moment, you can't see, can't even think, and then your eyes clear. When you open them, you see... nothing. Or rather, nothing different from the moment you closed your eyes. Even Lilim is perfectly fine, although she does look slightly browner, as if the holy light had just given her a hint of a tan.

First giggling, and then cackling with delirious glee, Lilim throws her head back and roars with laughter, lightning gathering around her nimble fingers. When she finally regains her composure enough to actually aim her magic, the effect is instantaneous and... magnificent. The angel, his divine energy spent, can barely begin to move before Lilim's lightning bolt strikes it, blasting it with infernal power. It freezes in place, held in place by convulsions, as Eligor charges. The armoured devil crashes into the angel, his horse rearing up to trample it. The steed smashes its hooves down upon the wheel, cracking it and driving it to the ground but, before Eligor can strike the final blow, Alice takes the kill.

As another spear of blackness lifts the angel into the air, the wheel shattering into splinters as it dies, the second throws out a relentless wave of fire. Lilim effortlessly hovers over it, and Eligor barely flinches as it washes across him – in fact, you swear you can hear him yawn – but Alice shrieks. Not so much out of fear or pain, but more... outrage.

“Rude!” she screams, darkness erupting out around her to stab and grasp at the nearby corpses, “I'll teach you!”

>Another 3D100 please, for Lilim, Eligor and Alice. Best of the first three again!

Rolled 46, 28, 33 = 107 (3d100)

>>44544258

Rolled 34, 68, 74 = 176 (3d100)

>>44544258
Lilim and Eligor have it easy.
also
>gave her a tan
Angel dun goofed

Rolled 28, 31, 64 = 123 (3d100)

>>44544258
Fucking wheel skeletons.

Rolled 9, 42, 79 = 130 (3d100)

>>44544239
Yes, but how does that go into Lilim become Lilith? If anything, it would mean that Lilim would take Lilith's place. The only example we have of that happening is Ose into Ose Hallel and even then it's him regaining his divinity.

>>44544258

>>44544312
Yeah Lilith is probably too unique for someone to transform into.

If anything she'd probably transform into a Succubus or maybe...whats its name, starts with a V I think. It looks half human half Demon split right down the middle.

File: Persephone.jpg (35 KB, 452x754)

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>>44544409
Persephone?

>>44544457
No thanks, she's fine as is.

File: Vouivre.jpg (18 KB, 512x480)

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>>44544409
>>44544457
>>44544482
Vouivre

Rolled 54, 75, 3 = 132 (3d120)

>>44544278
>>44544291

Thundering towards you, spinning wildly in an attempt to crush you, the second angel throws up powdered snow as it clatters across the ground. Lilim weaves around it easily, fluttering up into the air and looking down, smiling coyly, at the angel. She waves at it as it passes – or at least, you think she waves. A few moments later, when the angel freezes and tumbles, twitching furiously, to the ground, you have other ideas.

Your other warriors don't waste the opening. Spitefully aiming to wound, rather than kill, Alice stabs needle thin spears into the angel's hands and feet, propping it upright like someone miming crucifixion. It's Eligor, in the end, that strikes the final blow – thrusting his lance into the transfixed angel's side, as if to complete the mocking tableau that Alice began. Bleeding like a stuck pig, the angel sags low on his wheel and begins to disintegrate, blowing away like dust on the wind.

“You...” Dominion stammers, his wings fluttering pathetically as he watches the scene in horror, “You devils, you fiends! I see... I understand now...” A wavering grin passes across his face as he lifts a set of gilded scales, “I commend my soul the the Great Will – He will show me the mercy that you so clearly lack. In the name of the Law, I will be a martyr once more!”

He's brave, you'll give him that. Foolish, but pretty brave.

>Swap Lilim for another demon?
>If not, please roll 3D100 for Lilim, Eligor and Alice. Best of three, as normal

Rolled 39, 17, 54 = 110 (3d100)

>>44544552
She's been doing well.

Rolled 12, 41, 24 = 77 (3d100)

>>44544552

Rolled 18, 10, 22 = 50 (3d100)

>>44544552

He's weaponized bad luck.

>>44544582
>>44544631

For all his claims of martyrdom and such nonsense, the angel's first move takes you off guard. He hurls himself to the side, wings beating powerfully as he takes to the air. Soaring up into the sky, he laughs freely and presses one finger to one side of the scales, tipping them until all semblance of balance is lost.

“This time...” he laughs, “This time, I'M the lucky one! Accept your punishment, sinners!” Taking his finger away from the scales, he points once more to the sky. A great peal of thunder rolls, the sound churning you to the very bone, and then twin bolt of lightning stab down from the sky, striking both Lilim and Eligor. Lilim shrieks, barely clinging to her physical form as the divine power torments her. Eligor takes his punishment with more stoicism, grunting and slumping low on his horse as dark smoke emerges from the joints in his armour.

“Get down here!” Alice cries, sounding polite and eager once more, “We can't PLAY if you hide up there!” As she calls this out, another beam of darkness surges up – not a spear this time, but a rope. It snares Dominion's ankle and drags him from the sky, hurling him down with enough force to splinter the concrete below. Groggily, he rises up and gives his wings an experimental flutter. Nothing broken, or so it would seem.

“Boss...” Lilim groans, every inch of her skin smouldering, “I'm just about done...”

>Change tactics?
>Lilim is close to death. Eligor is at roughly half health. Alice is injured.

>>44544894
>Change tactics?
Lets switch her out for Hua Po, she did good.

And I think we've been a non fighter long enough to catch Dominion by surprise with a gunshot so lets take a shot sometime he's distracted in the next round.

>>44544894
Nadja, heal Eligor.

>>44544931
>>44544950
Combine these. Have Nadja heal Eligor up while we shoot Dominion in the face. See how his luck holds up to that.

>>44544894
Let Lilim rest. Have Nadja heal Eligor and back up Alice.

File: Nadja.jpg (153 KB, 1040x1688)

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Rolled 40, 104, 92 = 236 (3d120)

>>44544998
>>44544986
>>44544950
>>44544931

Lilim, you decide, has earned a rest. Allowing her to retreat into storage, you call out Nadja instead. Appearing with her usual flourishes – clean white light and the scent of freshly grown grass – the little fairy lifts her arms in a stretch and grins at you.

“Been a while,” she jokes. You shudder, slightly, as you recall the sight of her bisected body flying apart. Raphael's doing, and something you need to pay him back for. “Ah, don't look so down!” Nadja winks, “C'mon boss, let's get to work!”

“It won't help you,” Dominion grunts, as he pulls himself out of the shattered crater he found himself in, “I'm on a winning streak, you vermin, and you can't stop it!”

You'll see about that, you mutter as you touch the grip of your pistol. You just need an opening, a window of opportunity, and you'll be only too happy to empty that skull of his. You smile painfully at that thought – when, exactly, did you get so violent, so jaded?

Well, no use complaining about it. Like Nadja said – it's time to get to work.

>Please roll 3D100, for Eligor, Alice and Mia. I'll take the highest of the first three.
>Nadja is currently occupied with healing

Rolled 66, 94, 53 = 213 (3d100)

>>44545157
Didn't even realize he was using d120s until now. Shouldn't Alice classify as an above average demon though?

Rolled 38, 64, 21 = 123 (3d100)

>>44545157
I guess thats a miss by Mia.

Rolled 43 + 1 (1d50 + 1)

>>44545184

>Technically, yes. However, I don't know if you can roll different dice at once. It might come down to a limitation of the system.
>Rolling to test this.

>>44545246
Yeah you can't. We'd have to make separate posts.

Which I suppose we could do though it might be a bit cluttered.

Rolled 86, 77, 51 = 214 (3d100)

>>44545253
Bosses are always weaker when you get them on your team.

>>44545272
Yeah but thats game logic you know? We've distanced ourselves from that a decent amount.

I just don't like the idea that a Pixie with Tarukaja can potentially dance circles around Alice just cause she got the 'Ally debuff'.

>>44545314

>I do agree with that, actually. It's an area of the mechanics that I've never been entirely satisfied with.

>>44545353
You could add flat mods instead of a bigger dice pool. Its going to be rough for those that don't get the mods though, but it might mitigate the randomness and you can assign proper strength to demons in different situations.

For instance you roll d100s for Dominion like normal but give all his rolls a +10 or +20 for being 'above average'.

Same with us but you give Alice a +10/+20 for being 'above average'

Also can work with situational modifiers like Mia surprising Dominion by shooting gets her a +10 or something.

>>44545432

>That's true. It's an idea worth trying out, I think. It should be easy enough to understand as well. Next fight, I'll try it out!

>>44545476
Might be a little extra work and a little number crunchy but I think it could work.

Like here's an example.
>Dominion +0 (-20 Tarunda/+20 Strong demon)
>Throne -20 (-20 Tarunda)
>Power +20 (+20 Sukukaja)
Then you roll.

Update here

Then ask us to roll
>Please roll 3D100, for Eligor, Alice and Mia. I'll take the highest of the first three.

>Alice +20 (+20 Strong Demon)
>Mia +10 (+10 Flanking)

Rolled 95, 3, 71 = 169 (3d100)

>>44545184
>>44545272

As Nadja's palms glow with a white light, the smoke escaping Eligor's armour is abruptly halted, his wounds healed in an instant. If only humans could be repaired quite so easily! Barely waiting for the spell to end, Eligor spurs his steed on and charges at Dominion, the knight's gleaming lance lowered for a gouging blow. It's a good blow, one that lands square in the angel's torso in a spout of blood.

That's your moment, you realise, your moment to strike. While the angel is writhing on the end of Eligor's lance – like a bug stuck on a pin, you think with vague distaste – you run closer and draw your gun, holding it tightly as you press the ornate muzzle to Dominion's forehead. But up close, staring into his single eye, you notice just how human he looks. It's not much, but the moment of hesitation is all he needs. First battering away your hand – the gun discharging harmlessly into the ground – Dominion then swings around and smacks you over the head with something blunt and heavy.

Sitting down hard, dazed by the blow, you hear a wet tearing sound as Dominion rips himself off Eligor's lance and takes to the air once more. Glancing up, you realise that it was a book – a bloody BOOK – that he struck you with. At least his flight doesn't last long, and he comes tumbling back down to earth a moment later. With that wound, you're amazed he was able to fly at all. Hell, you're amazed that he's even alive.

Alice prowls closer, her bared teeth giving her the look of a feral child, but then Dominion opens that same book, a brilliant white light bursting from the pages. Alice cries out in shock and pain, stumbling backwards as she claws at her eyes. Bleeding, disorientated, it's clear that Alice is in no position to fight. Damn it all – you just need someone to land the killing blow!

>Please roll 3D100, for Eligor, Nadja and Mia. Highest of the first three.

Rolled 78, 3, 20 = 101 (3d100)

>>44545724

Rolled 20, 47, 50 = 117 (3d100)

>>44545724
Looks like Nadja has it.

Rolled 40, 91, 43 = 174 (3d100)

>>44545724
I am fucking astounded by how lucky this asshole is all of a sudden.

>>44545773
I told you. He took Petra's luck using their connection with the eye.

Little did he know, Petra's normal luck isn't the best either.

Moloch's Internet might have finally bought it.

Rip Moloch, Nyarly got to him.

>>44545745
>>44545766
>>44545773

As he grins at you, blood glistening on the white of is teeth, Dominion raises his scales again. “Looks like the scales,” he sneers, “Have tipped in my fav-”

He doesn't get to finish his quip. A thunderbolt hammers down from the sky – from the raw elemental fury of the clouds, rather than from any kind of divine source – and hits him like a meteor. There's really no way of describing the results that doesn't sound grotesque.

He explodes violently, bursting from within as the magic destroys him in an instant. Bits and pieces are scattered everywhere in the aftermath, shards of bone and wet rags of meat along with fluttering scraps of smouldering paper. It's a display of such complete devastation that nobody, for a good long moment, can bring themselves to say anything.

“Woah!” Nadja blurts out eventually, “Was that me? I think that was me...”

“My thanks,” Eligor tells you, his voice as rough as gravel, “That last attack could have finished me off. God's vermin are out in force today, it seems.”

You're not quite sure how to deal with this situation, the armoured devil thanking you and speaking to you as an equal. Stammering slightly, you ask for a moment and return your attention to Alice. She's weeping angrily, drawing in great gulps of air between sobs, and rubbing at her reddened eyes. Reddened mostly, you notice, with blood from where she nearly clawed them out.

Nasty, you murmur, very nasty.

“You... you brute!” Alice cries eventually, kicking at one of the larger chunks. If she can throw a tantrum, you decide, she's not about to crumble into dust.

That's good. Probably.

>Technical troubles again, so I'll have to end things there for tonight. Next thread on Tuesday – maybe – and I'll stick around as long as possible in case of any questions
>I apologise for the recent delays, circumstances beyond my control!

>>44547857
No problem Moloch, thanks for running.

We should have Nadja heal up Alice a little.

Eligor the only survivor from that fight?

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102 KB JPG

>>44547913

There were other survivors on both sides, but they quit the field once things started getting serious.
I was planning on running for longer today, including getting Alice back to the Hellfire Club, but I thought it might be best to wrap things up while I had the chance. I don't know why my internet is so bad lately!

>>44547976
Is it your ISP that's dropping the ball?

Was Amelia's Valk in that fight?

>>44548010
>Is it your ISP that's dropping the ball?
I honestly couldn't say. I'm not much of a tech person, even at the best of times. I think it's a weather issue, because we've had storms near constantly since the start of the year.

>Was Amelia's Valk in that fight?
It was the gang she was running with, yes. She survived, fortunately!

>>44548078
Shieet all we need is Undine and we got a Amelia Vet party.

>>44548157

Well, I can't guarantee everyone getting back together, but it would be pretty damn cool

>>44548257
Well Hres is a bird, Morrigan never really had a chance to be part of the team/get a connection. Pixie is probably lounging around the Kingdom. Nyarly is Nyarly.

Eligor and Undine were the main two she actually talked to.

Wonder what Gurr is up to. More vandalization?

>>44548328
>More vandalization?

I can't recall if I had an idea of what Gurr ended up doing. Causing trouble somewhere, I don't doubt!

>>44548407
So is there going to come a point where Moh, Hua Po, and the other little girls we have our team, much as I love them, will be too weak to take down some of the bigger threats?

>>44548616

Honestly, they're probably starting to lag behind at the moment, and it's only going to get worse. It's just about time for a recruitment drive!

>>44548734
Any potential transformations for any of them, like how Ripper turned into Heartless?

Could Hua Po's experience with Sati have done anything?

>>44548734
Will any of them get upgrades like Nyarly did? Lilim levels to succubus or something, Nadja gets a new form, Hua po fusion(kek) dances with Sati.

>>44548791
>>44548805

Hua Po had learned a bit about controlling flames better from Sati, and I did give her a slight bump in relative power. Not to hint too strongly at anything, though, but it might be beneficial to check on Sati sometime soon!

And Lilim does have the opportunity to evolve - into Succubus, though, and not Lilith. You might need to consult a high ranking devil about that, though!

>>44548853
>You might need to consult a high ranking devil about that, though!
Isn't there one right next to us?

For serious though it's time to get stronk. Too many people are getting hurt.

>>44548853
>but it might be beneficial to check on Sati sometime soon!
So back to the tower?

>>44548923

I'll mention something in game next thread, so the knowledge isn't out of character. News tends to spread quickly in the demon world, after all

>>44548906
>Isn't there one right next to us?

And what do you know, you just helped him. That might be worth a thing or two!

>>44548923
Gehenna too. Talk to Moloch's Demon counterpart about our reward and maybe find some opportunities for more help. Within reason.

>>44548967
What kind of items could Moh make?

>>44549245

Well, her governing element is wind, so I imagine it would be something related to that. A ring, perhaps, that would reduce wind damage. Alternatively, something related to flight - not complete flight, perhaps, but something close. Faster evasion, or being able to drop from any height.

>>44549363
Flight/Fast Evasion coupled with teleportation would be pretty useful if used skillfully.

And considering Mia's armour slot is taken by a not so protective corset it might be more prudent to not get hit rather than tanking them.

>>44549475

Well, I can confirm that an evasion ring would seriously improve Mia's chances of surviving a direct attack, such as Raphael's dive from a few threads again. Not something to be sniffed at!

>>44549475
Combine that with Sukukaja and we got sanic

>>44549363
Is it possible to learn magic or have an item that can cast magic?

Like can there be a glove that can shoot fire or Tarunda?

>>44549704

Humans can't cast spells directly, but I can't see any reason why enchanted items couldn't do exactly the same job. So, yes, a glove that shoots fire or debuffs enemies would be entirely possible!

>>44549763
a wand to cast the spells any of our demons know?

>>44549763
We must go on a long journey to acquire the 3 in one Debilitate Glove!

I bet Nyx has one.

Seriously having debuffs always around would be extremely useful.

>>44549787

You'd only be able to use spells that the demon forged into the wand could cast. Fusing Lilim into a wand, for example, would give you lightning and debuffing magic, but not fire or ice.

>>44549816

It might be easier to trade for such a thing. Does anyone owe us any favours?

>>44549873
>It might be easier to trade for such a thing. Does anyone owe us any favours?

Moloch
Sati
Scathach for the book
Maybe Mister Black for babysitting?

>>44549922

Mia's certainly been busy!

And yeah, Mister Black is going to owe Mia big time for this one.

>>44550026
Wonder if it's big enough for the Deathstone

>>44549816
Debilitate OP. What was the buff version again? Luster Candy?

>>44549363
>Teleport to great height
>Fall
>Use ring to convert downward momentum into RAMMING SPEED
yup, Mia is a chuuni now.

>>44550775
>Debilitate OP. What was the buff version again? Luster Candy?
Correct, sometimes called Heat Riser. Also an extremely useful ability to have on hand.

>>44550806
That one may be more prudent to get. Angels are prideful enough that they'd nosell debuffs, but that same pride means they wouldn't care to remove enemy buffs from mere humans.

Although guessing from MP costs, an item might only have 1 or 2 charges on it for a long time.

>>44550862
Not sure if pride has anything to do if they have Dekunda or not. As for the charges it can probably recharged like Midnight can if there is that limitation.

>>44551033
Mastema didn't seem that affected by debuffs, I don't think Dekunda is strictly a thing here. Just as well, as it would take up an action to cast it.

I mean that it might have some trouble in successive fights, whereas Midnight just needs to be used more sparingly, you can't really use "only a little bit" of Luster Candy/Debilitate.

>>44551117
I think the reason we did so damage to Mastema was because of Rakunda.

Remember how Moloch tracks damage. Certain enemies need an amount of 'hits'. A Rakunda'd enemy or if we hit their weakness counts as extra 'hits'.

>>44551166
and I'm saying that debuffs can be resisted, not negated.

>>44551280
Well whatever the case, we are going to need both going forward, either Demon or item.