The figure with the mace in front nods as he takes out a pearlescent stone almost see through in nature. He places it in Nasars pocket on his pants.
The figure behind starts once more. You are so lucky your not lying, and he will be fine in the Abyss if he got banished back there. Demons like him thrive there, but you were his caretaker plus those 4 others. And since you were the last seen your the one responsible to go get him. The blade gives off quiet the heat from its metal. Nasar can definitely feel sweat dribbling down. You have 2 weeks to find your demon, or else your taking his place in his old cell. The stone you have been given will point you in his general direction once you've travelled to the same Plane as him. Do we have an understanding or need I explain it once more?
”2 weeks to find him, and hope he is sitting somewhere in the abyss or else we have to go plane hopping until we get lucky. And I’m guessing the consequences stay the same if we find him dead?”
Can’t wait to explain this one to the group, i’m gonna sound crazy when i explain that some angels stopped time to yell at me about Genesis putting Deract in super time out
The angel agrees, Yup... same plan, but that stone will stop working should he die somewhere along the line. And if that happens, expect to see us again. The mace angel points to Lily and Marissa. No no those two aint our problem let someone else take care of that.
And with that the blade retracts backwards and Nasar is pushed forward and blinded for a second as time begins once again. With his 2 new friends gone from the picture Lily looks back at Nasar. Woah be careful they just put that sidewalk in there hehe. and the other gals laugh a little.
Nasar rubs his eyes as he just got inadvertently flashbanged ”So the whole Deract thing just became a bigger problem instantly.”
Lily chuckles, I dont see him anywhere around here so its not toooo annoying yet. And the 3 girls laugh as Marissa fixes the Voodoo Man shes fireman carrying on her shoulders.
”Hilarious, but that’s not what I mean. Some angels just froze the world and they were pissed that Deract was gone. Threatened me and gave me this stone to find him before threatening me again.” Nasar takes the stone out of his pocket to show the girls.
Marissa pauses to look at the stone visibly worried now. Th-they threatened you? Like h-how? What are they gonna do to you?
Genesis and Lily look at the rock breifly.
Nasar rolls the stone around in his hand with his thumb. ”Well seeing how they let him out of prison to help me, I’d be the one taking his spot in prison instead. So that’s how.”
The groups eyes widen and Lily speaks, Uhh... shit ok thats really not good. If you take his prison sentence then we cant like... continue, at least not effectively. Because we need all the shadow users we can get and your like the brains of this whole thing.
Genesis pipes up, Well lets get back to the guild drop this scumbag off and figure out how to get him! Maybe theres an easier way than just going and finding him. Any type of spells we could cast?
They all talk about it as they rush back to the guild. They drop off the Voodoo Man at the Guildmasters house and if nothing needs to be said they hurry to Nasars room to plan.
Once they make it back to his room he starts speculating ”Since there is a chance Deract didn’t get sent to the Abyss, we should probably try and narrow down which plane he actually is in. Do we have any sort of magic that can narrow that down at all?”
Genesis whips out her mirror, I can cast Scry on him. But we could always summon him back with some kind of Planar Ally spell? I cant cast it but we could pay someone to cast it?
”Well I usually ring up Leo&Dendar when I need help with this sort of thing so I guess I can try doing so again. We could always ask the head of the guild for assistance first before i start outsourcing though.”
Everyone shrugs and with that they head back up to Azirels house. The door is unlocked so they make their way in and hear her and the Warlord talking breifly before they pause and call the party to sit in the living room.
”So now that we dealt with the shadow user problem, we now have a new problem in relation to Deract and him not being...on this plane anymore.”
The 2 are dumbfounded at that remark. Did you just say he's not on this plane anymore? Wasn't he under some sort of agreement to be with you? A deal struck up with angels, ya know the beings of order and LAW?!?
”Yea so during the fight he got hit with a spell that removed him from the plane which pissed off his captors. They gave me an ultimatum of finding him in 2 weeks or i get yhe luxury of being their new prisoner. They at least gave me a stone that’ll help find him but we need to figure out what plane he is on first.”
Azirel grabs a book off her shelf and flips through it, Why not just summon him by name. Maybe a Planar Ally spell would suffice to bring up his whereabouts entirely.
Genesis looks at Nasat with a :3 face in a told you so fashion.
Nasar looks at Genesis with a :| face in a I wouldn’t start celebrating yet fashion . ”If it works then that’d make life very easy. So would it be his former name or his current name that would be used to summon him, I can’t say I’ve summoned much in my life so far so I’m not well verses in this sort of affair.
Azirel flips to the page she needed, His old name will always be his true name. So to summon him we would use Deetrium. We also would need some type of offering, what does he like you guys have been around him for quiet some time?
Nasar taps on Marissa’s shoulder to ask her ”You still have that stone thing you confiscated from Deract? He wasn’t happy when you took that away so i think that should suffice right?”
She hands Azirel the talisman as Azirel makes a summoning circle. She asks that everyone gather hands and she begins chanting in an unknown tounge, the talisman glows a bright red and finnaly she yells his name as she yucks the talisman into the circle.
A loud bang is heard as the cylinder envelops in red light and Deract appears to catch the talisman. He immediatly grasps it and begins gnawing on it and tests its authenticity. He sits inside the summoning circle unmoving, he notices the team all looking at him but continues to inspect his talisman. The hole still cleary in his chest now that the spike has dissapeared.
”Hope that thing tastes good, it’s your welcome back present after getting through off the plane. How’s the hole in your torso doing...looks pretty gnarly.” Nasar takes out the stone that has served it’s purpose of sitting in his pocket since he no longer needs it anymore.
As Nasar puts the stone in his pocket it glows brilliantly as its close to the demon.
Deract stops inspecting the talisman and pockets it in his backpack. As he begins speaking he sounds almost snobby and disrespectful in his tone. As if hes speaking to someone below him in status. The hole in my chest is doing just fine no thanks to you. And yes this is quiet the present but this is merely a means to bring me here not keep me... not like I wanna stay anyway. What do you want from me?
Azirel looks very confused at the way hes refering to his teammates. She gives an eye gesture to Nasar to talk to him.
Nasar looks at him puzzled ”Uhm Deract, buddy, you feeling alright? Did your time away make you forget about the whole ‘Angels let you out to work with me’ part of our partnership. Which part gave you amnesia? The cold iron, the teleporting, or did you hit your head while on another plane.”
He smirks at Nasar devilishly, Deract... he sounds like a fun guy. If I ever change my name to hide my true one it'd be that. And yea the agreement was between you guys I was just the guy who benefited from it. And now look if we don't come to an agreement I go back home! That's how Planar Ally works Ms. Magician and her steel clad sidekick.
This definitly isn't the Deract you know. He did mention that Black Tome having some mental draw backs should he fail to properly use it... and Deract don't seem too mentally ok right now. Maybe he messed something up.
Lily looks angrily at Deract, I am going to beat the living shit out of you if you don't come with us Deract! How's that for an agreement?!
Deract laughs as he disregards her anger. Ah yes the uhh the rouges alchemical sidekick wants to pitch in now. Well sorry hun but thats not enough to just make me want to come back. I managed to find my way to the City of Brass so I'll be there when ypu guys come up with something to entice me more. Royalty like myself wont just play lackey on a whim like I did before.
He waits around bored in his summoning circle. He looks at them waiting to end the spell so he can go back.
”I take it that you’re going by the name Deetrium then if it’s not Deract. The only way that would happen would be if something serious went down, like if you read too much of the Black Tome. That could be what’s caused the sudden heel turn.”
Deract glances up at Nasar he slides the tome from his new backpack and smirks. Oh this dandy piece of literature, yea it only causes serious POWER GAIN. And when I read it again next week I'll harness yet another bit of knowledge from the past shadow user there will be no chance of dragging me back with you HA.
Lily scowls at the book. Dafuq is that...
Nasar rubs the back of his head trying to remember the conversation from that night ”From what Deract told me, the book contains information on past shadow users but it can only be read once a week i guess. He said it could cause mess you up mentally if you weren’t careful. I caught him reading it one night when you were asleep Lily and we had an agreement that he’d lay off as it could put us in danger. I’m betting that he went too far and caused him to regress back to his Deetrium phase. That or the life threatening injury caused the sudden flip. Regardless...things are now complicated.”
Deract chuckles, I mean whats complicated about it? I take my place in the City of Brass as another piece of royalty and you stay the hell away from me. Do whatever you please, kill my brother, go avenge your friends, get a girlfriend for all I care.
Nasar pinches his nose at the “get a girlfriend” line like a teenager being pestered by his parents when he talks about a friend he has thats a girl. ”Well the only problem is the angels are PISSED that you are AWOL so now I have to deal with that too. So the only places you’ll be taking is either back on mission or back in the jail cell. They aren’t giving any alternatives.”
Deract gives a halfhearted shrug, Well if thats the case that sounds like a YOU problem. The angels wouldnt dare try to find me in the City of Brass especially if its an easy enough task to just haul you away. Deract lurches his head back in annoyance. Are we doneeeeeee yet I'd like to go back to ordering some slamanders around!
Lily looks to Nasar, This dosen't look like its going to let up. Hes obviously under some sort of like mental break where he thinks hes his old self. We're just going to have to go get him by force.
Deract chuckles while checking his nails. Yea good luck with that guys.
Nasar looks to Lily with a coldness in his eyes before looking back to Deract ”Yea we’re done here”
Deract looks dowm past his red tinted sunglasses at Nasar and gives one last devilish smirk. Ta ta now! and he dissapears in a flash of fire.
Everyone stands around the room confused at the ordeal that just took place.
Nasar let’s out a long sigh before turning to the group and smiles ”No point in standing around now, we need to rest up for the work ahead of us. There really aren’t any days off for our group, you should know that by now!”
Everyone else looks at Nasar and gives a nod of acknowledgement. Azirel offers her support by lending a special orb to the gang, This orb can activate a communal fire protection spell. Nullifying the harsh heat from the Plane of Fire, the only set back is that it only emanates in a 50 foot radius. Should anyone fall out of that range they'd be immediatly subjected to the elements of the Plane of Fire. Use to this to traverse the Plane to drag that heathen of a demon back here.
”Thanks Azirel, sure this will be useful for us.” Nasar puts the orb into his bag before getting ready to leave the building. ”Guess we’ll start the hunt tomorrow, need to make the most of the 14 days.” Nasar is ready to head back to his room unless anyone else has something to say/do.
Nobody else has much to say so they head back to the room. Lily stops at the library in the guildnto see about getting a few books she takes back to the room to study through. Marissa requests to stay in the teams room so that she is in the know of anything that may arise.
Lily returns with her books on sanity and the ill effects of the mind, a book of the Plane of Fire, and a book about Salamander and Iffrit culture.
Genesis sits in a chair in Nasars room pondering the task at hand. How are we even going to get there? We can't just Plane hop at ease like its a teleport spell?
Nasar walks over to Lily and her pile of books to take a quick look at them. Checking out the front and back of the books before setting them down again. "Well I was thinking of asking Dusan. He's the one that helped travel to other planes in the past, I think that was when my previous group met Lily for the first time. If he is around I'm sure we could come to an agreement of sorts."
Genesis nods in agreement.
Nasar quickly flips through the slamander book and surmises that... salamanders are small... and the Plane of Fire is hot.
The team all heads to bed for the night and wake up around breakfast time and all head down to the mess hall for breakfast and Chak-Chak glances over to Nasar and asks. Wheres Derek?
”He’s out of commission for now, our last fight messed him up so we are riding without him for the time being.”
Nasar goes fo grab some of that delicious mess hall grub for breakfast.
Chak-Chak nods and continues on his way.
Breakfast concludes and the team searches around for Dusan and soon find him day drinking out by the front courtyard by the stables. He watches as the horses gallop around with their riders training and teaching.
Nasar approaches Dusan to stand alongside him as he drinks. "Dusan my friend! Finding entertainment in watching the horses today?"
Dusan smiles and extends his flask to Nasar, the wafting smell of vodka in the air. Yes comrade, watching the progress of others always keeps me going. Here to join me in the festivities? That young stable boy almost ate the dirt earlier when a horse got a little rowdy you should have been there! Nasar can see the amulet he needs sitting nicely around Dusan's neck.
Nasar smiles and waves off the offered flask while laughing at the thought of the stable boy absolutely getting rekt into the ground. ”While watching the younglings learn the ropes on horseriding, I’ve actually come for a favor. I need to get back to the plane of fire, one of my allies was hit with a spell that caused them to get forcibly plane shifted there. So now we have to go get them back.”
Dusan's eyes widen in confusion. And hes not dead from bursting into flames and smoldering to itty bitty ashes. A tough man indeed, Dusan will help. he burps. But first I will need the help of you before I can help you. Tsar to Tsar you understand these things. Before I hand over my Amulet I will need you to talk to the kind lady at the guilds merchant counter. She has an order I mailed in for from the outside. In there is 2 packages, one for her and one for me. You will give her the package intended for her, Im sure you will be able to tell the difference between the two. Could you do Dusan the favor of helping him make a kind gesture to the sweet lady at the desk?
Nasar is taken aback by the request as its almost shocking to hear Dusan ask for such a small favor in return for the use of his amulet. ”Yea that’s not a problem whatsoever, did you want me to tell the merchant that its from you? Nasar thinks over the request a second time before asking ”And if you don’t mind me asking, but wouldn’t you want to give it to her yourself?”
Dusan can be seen sweating on his brow as he explains. No don't tell her it is from me. And... well Dusan thinks the girl at the counter is very beautiful. Too much so that I cannot bring myself to talk to her yet. So small romantic gestures will suffice as an admirers present until I can work up the strength to talk to her. You understand this yes?
Nasar pulls down his mask and smiles, giving the big non-russian russian a light punch to the arm. "Don't sweat it big guy, I'll give her the present no problem. Gotta learn how to talk to her one day though. I'll head on over and take care of that for you."
Dusan smiles and sits back in his chair watching the horses run. Nasar makes his way over to the Merchants counter and sees Gloriana tidying up her wares before the noon rush. She notices Nasar approach the counter and gestures kindly. Well hey there! What can I get ya? and she whips out her notepad and pen.
Nasar walks up to the counter, thinking about this whole gift giving thing. "Yes I'm here to pick up two packages, should have come in by now?"
Wait...will she give me the packages if there addressed to Dusan. And if he's the one that ordered them...wouldn't she know it's from him?