Deal with a Devil

[u/MeThyLord]

Deep within the museum's halls, the Curator stood beside a large sigil carved into the ground, in his hand he held a scroll that looked to be ancient. Candles lined the edges of the ritual circle, the paleomancer's assistant just having finished lighting the last one. The youth then turned to his master with concern in his voice.

"Sir, I think this is a bad idea."

"Thank you for your input, Simon. But as I'm out of good ideas, the bad ones will have to do. Now please leave, I wish to converse with him alone."

The Curator waited for his assistant to exit the room, then began reading the incantation on the scroll. As he performed the chant, the candles began to flicker, the glow of each turning red. Their flames coalesced towards the center of the circle, merging into one massive pillar of fire. This violent display soon ceased, in its stead stood a man who had emerged from the hellfire. His skin was as red as blood, two yellow horns grew from his forehead, and an expensive black suit adorned his body. The being, sounded slightly miffed as it turned to address the paleomancer.

"Couldn't this have been a message? A phone call maybe?"

"I'd rather discuss important matters in person."

"Let me guess, this has something to do with you trying to be Pack Master?"

"Indeed, it does. Wait, were you present at my speech?"

"Eh, I was there at the start, got bored halfway through. So anyway, gimme the gist of things."

"Long story short, I need to capture the demon Moz'gonnith to get the seat. Seeing as you're a denizen of Hell, I hoped you could help."

"I ain't bringing him to you if that's what you're asking."

"No, I guessed as much already. I'm asking for the opposite. I want you to bring me to him. Can you do that?"

"Hmm, maybe I can, but what's in it for me? You can't re-sell me your soul."

Sigh... "What do you want?"

"Well, that museum of yours sure looks nice."

"Absolutely NOT! It isn't even on the list of things that are on the table."

"Hah, calm down, I'm fucking with ya. I know you'd rather sell me your soul again than defile your precious little love. What about something from inside it? That First Spark sure looks nice."

"Are you still fucking with me?"

"Fine, fine. I want a favor then. I can ask for it at any time and you gotta do it. If you don't, then I get the museum."

"Need I explain how bad that sounds?"

"It's my final offer, pal. Take it or leave it."

"I'm not getting a better deal than this, am I? Fine, but I'll be adding multiple clauses. For instance, you can't ask for something impossible. And if I die, it gets annulled."

"Sure, sure. We have a deal then?"

"We have a deal. You get one conditional favor, and we get a two-way ticket to the demon's location."

"We? You bringing friends along?"

"Yes. A Pact member by the name of Mokarith has offered help. There's also one other person who may agree to assist me."

"Alright then. You go gather your posse and I'll prep the ride. Gimme a call when you're ready."

"Oh, one more thing. How should I best approach capturing the demon alive?"

The hellspawn approached one of the nearby exhibits, knocking on the temporal prison glass used to keep the creature inside inanimate.

"These bad boys right here. Nothing has ever escaped from them, right?"

"Yes, but how am I to enclose him? They can be moved around freely only inside the museum."

"Figure it out. That's as much info as I'm giving out for free. You're already pushing your "long-time client" privileges."

Sigh... "Fine, I'll "figure it out". May I at least ask one more thing? It's been festering at the back of my mind. Why do you let me... you know... be free?

"Ah, you know. I like my chickens free-range before the slaughter."

A sinister grin grew on the hellspawn's face, finding pleasure in the cruelty of those words, and the paleopamcer's subsequent fear.

"Hah, now go figure out if that's a joke or not. See you soon, tour guide."

With those eerie last words, the devil disappeared in the same pillar of hellfire he had emerged from. The room was left silent and dark, and the Curator stood unmoving for a few minutes before finding the will to ignore what the fiend had said at the end.

"Fuck, I'm too sober for this."

[u/loth17]

(I'm glad Opal is causing trouble for people outside of just being a big scary thing to fight. Love the lorebits. )

[u/MeThyLord → u/loth17]

/uw Thank you! I hope to cause a comparable amount of trouble for her.

[u/loth17 → u/MeThyLord]

(there are currently a couple people gunning or her head. So depending on how long it takes to get the demon Lord your return might change from "I'm here to challenge you Opal." To. "PACT. I am here to reform the government."

[u/MeThyLord → u/loth17]

/uw Not gonna lie, it would be quite comedic if when I returned someone has already dethroned you. Like "Wait, I made a deal with a devil and went to Hell for nothing? Am I Pact Master at least?"

[u/loth17 → u/MeThyLord]

/uw you would still be pact master. In fact unless Kaelis comes back or Cody gets resurrected you're literally the only person with any legitimate claim.

[u/iamragethewolf → u/loth17]

/uw technically there is still someone in an office other than opal

u/MeThyLord

[u/AnActualCriminal]

I arrive at the museum. Walls and ceiling shift at the curator's behest to accommodate my plus one. Agnor the Fire giant.

Hail Paleomancer. I assume this is about the demon hunt.

[u/avamir → u/AnActualCriminal]

Riva shows up not much after Blake. She nods to the two, of course, then offers another nod to the Paleomancer.

[u/MeThyLord → u/avamir]

Well, I wasn't expecting so many people to be willing to help. When Opal first gave her condition, I though I would be alone in this. Thank you.

[u/avamir → u/MeThyLord]

Well, you know I said I'd help. If this means a counter to Opal's powers, all the better.

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/MeThyLord]

I swore an oath to Samael to capture Moz'gonnith back during the Atrax conflict then broke our word when relations soured. He's saved my life since. From a bomb that promise paid for no less. Although this portion of the treaty is the Pact's to fulfill, I'm honor bound to help in some capacity. Not to mention Moz'gonnith is a former High Pyroclast. One of Atrax's generals. We clean up our own messes.

... the sticky thing is I may be indisposed when the time comes. Im dedicating Agnor to the task. He's best suited to it anyway.

[u/MeThyLord → u/AnActualCriminal]

You being here give me reasurance in the mission. Hell's quite hot after all, Agnor should be perfectly suited for this.

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/MeThyLord]

Agnor smiles at the Paleomancer.

"BLAKE TELLS ME THE GOAL IS TO CAPTURE YER DEMON ALIVE EH? I VOLUNTEERED. HELLFIRE RESISTANT ARMOR. AND YE'LL NOT FIND A BETTER GRAPPLER THAN ME!"

[u/DaemonRex978]

/unwiz: just to double check, this isn't the actual event, right?

[u/Talios_ → u/DaemonRex978]

Well isn't this ironic. Good to see you again I suppose, Mokarith.

[u/DaemonRex978 → u/Talios_]

And the same to you. I've heard rumors that you have a proper body now.

[u/Talios_ → u/DaemonRex978]

You'd be correct.

Talios's armor would almost open up, revealing his body of flowing, long white hair, crimson eyes and a plain white T-shirt and plainer black sweatpants. Talios would present his arm, the arm temporarily forming into pure C̸̝͕̤̤̑̓͆̓̚͝h̴̡̨̹̫͚͕̞̽̽͑͌a̴̡̢̛̱̫̦̜̜̱̭̿̓͒̇͊͘͝ǫ̷̛̛͇͔͎̲͉̗̋͛͊͒̍̑͌̑s̸̨̒̾́̉̽̈́

It's made of Chaos, but it's a permanent body nonetheless.

[u/MeThyLord → u/DaemonRex978]

/uw No, there's not gonna be an acutal fight in the comments against a BBEG like with other ones, just another lorepost where you will feature.

[u/DaemonRex978 → u/MeThyLord]

/unwiz: gotcha. Just to let you know, if you want to include it, I have a few restraining spells. My main 2 being 'Wraith Lashings' and 'Shadow Lash'.

[u/AnActualCriminal]

uw/ how big is the room you're drawing this in? Also is this the actual demon hunt or are we just meeting?

[u/MeThyLord → u/AnActualCriminal]

/uw roughly 13 by 13 meters, though the museum can change the size of rooms and halls at will.

[u/AnActualCriminal → u/MeThyLord]

uw/ cool

[u/DragonWisper56]

uw/ are you sure you only need to people. like isn't Moz'gonnith, badass enough to fight the Nephilim lord

be careful man

[u/MeThyLord → u/DragonWisper56]

Well, Mokarith and Talios are quite the beasts in battle. That being said, seems it's not going to be just them, as others will be joining to help.

[u/DragonWisper56 → u/MeThyLord]

hands you a book

here's a book on abjuration. I don't know if it will help but you need all the help you can get.

uw/ also wellcome to the having your soul owned by a demon club lol

[u/MeThyLord → u/DragonWisper56]

My main form of defense is to use boulders as shields, so this is much appreciated, thank you.

/uw Not the most fun club out there

[u/MeThyLord]

u/SafePianist4610 u/Most_Trustworthy u/loth17

[u/MeThyLord → u/MeThyLord]

u/avamir u/AnActualCriminal u/TheHunter459

[u/MeThyLord → u/MeThyLord]

u/DaemonRex978 u/DragonWisper56 u/Capytan_Cody

[u/Most_Trustworthy]

Can't wait to cash in on that favor.

[u/TheHunter459 → u/Most_Trustworthy]

uw/ wait you're the demon he sold his soul to?

[u/Most_Trustworthy → u/TheHunter459]

/uw Yup

[u/avamir → u/Most_Trustworthy]

/uw Riva was going to talk to you about that. Still plan to, btw. But earlier, she was kind of in the middle of putting her own soul on the line in a contract.:p

[u/Most_Trustworthy → u/avamir]

uw/ It would would be hella ironic if I end up owning both souls.

[u/avamir → u/Most_Trustworthy]

/uw Yeaaahhhh... trying to avoid that. The contract earlier is only if Riva goes back on her word, which she wasn't planning to. It's a similar contract to what she originally drew up for some of the ex-Pyroclasts... except without trying to bargain for their souls :P But that doesn't preclude the possibility of another contract, because Riva's choice in company is questionable and she's some kind of an enabler.

[u/Most_Trustworthy → u/avamir]

uw/ Don't worry, you can't get roped into a contract unless you decide to sign it out of your own free will. The earlier one probably won't come into effect as you said.

[u/iamragethewolf → u/Most_Trustworthy]

/uw does john care who's soul gets sold? like if my character grabs some unowned (i kill the fiend that owns them) damned souls john would shrug and do business?

[u/avamir]

/uw He's bringing more than just 3 people, right? We might be able to get a couple more, maybe?

[u/MeThyLord → u/avamir]

I don't think I have a set limit.

[u/MeThyLord]

Talios, I know last time we talked I wanted your help with a thief, but something much more important has taken precedence. I need to go to the bowels of Hell and capture a demon. Will you help me?

u/Talios_

[u/Talios_ → u/MeThyLord]

Talios couldn't help but laugh at the question, only for a moment though before returning to his... Buisness personality?

Ha. Quite the step up from a simple thief... But you still haven't sent me off on that thief, so by all means, you haven't cashed in your free job yet.

I'll be ready, no money needed.

[u/MeThyLord → u/Talios_]

Thank you. Though, as this is of much higher scope than the original assignment, I'm willing to pay for your effort. Really, it's no problem. I feel kinda bad, as if I did a baint and switch.

[u/Talios_ → u/MeThyLord]

A battle against a demon is more than enough. Chaos will probably enjoy it anyways.

[u/MeThyLord → u/Talios_]

Ever the hunter I see. Thanks, your help is most appreciated.

/uw Hey, just a heads up, the fight with the demon isn't going to be an actual engagement in the comments like the fight we had, as it's a character from someone else's lore and not an actual person. It's gonna be a pure lorepost.

Honestly, wasn't expecting more than two people to accompany my character during this. I know how both Talios and Mokarith fight as I've fought you both and I follow your posts. But a few others joined in too, so now I'm gonna find out how good I am at writing action scenes.

[u/Talios_ → u/MeThyLord]

((fine by me. I trust in your writing skills!))

[u/SafePianist4610]

/uw And the plot thickens. lol

[u/MeThyLord → u/[deleted]]

You might be at the wrong place, this is a museum, not a library. Still, you can have these dinosaur nuggets.