to create

"Curious." She isn't startled, the feeling of his approach was easy to discern. As so, she looks up from the new book for her collection, The Cult of Our Demon Prince, "Speak freely, we are 'friends' now, right?

❝staring at it like that long enough might sharpen it, ❞ damira says flitting her eyes to the blade in the human's lap. a violet and sparkling spectral hand floats over to the drow and pops a scavenged berry into her mouth. ❝or you'll get older... i'm almost interested to see which happens first.❞

FROSTMOURNE? WOW? THE WORDS coming out of this strange goth man’s mouth were absolutely impossible to decipher. for a moment, elizabeth had to wonder if he’d come from another world, through a tear. but – no. that was unlikely. he looked as out of place as she, but considering the oddities she’d already encountered here, that didn’t mean travel through timespace was the culprit.

this city was the culprit. it always had been. the stranger’s words barely left time for elizabeth to open her mouth when he hissed out a “shut up,” as if someone else had spoken to him in those intertwined seconds. she glanced around, but it was just them and a growing pile of imps. and then he spoke to her. had – had the ‘shut up’ been to stop her from speaking? anger bubbled up in a righteous, white-hot bloom. ❝ don’t tell me to –– ❞

and then, in a flash of cold metal, he swung his sword in a wide arc toward two advancing imps. elizabeth couldn’t see much of what happened, as the light blinded her for a moment, but when he brought the weapon back to his side they were gone –– just dark blood, pooled on the asphalt. 

❝ woah. ❞ 

it almost felt familiar, standing here and watching a man commit violence. well, elizabeth certainly wasn’t going to be a sitting duck. stepping back with a deep, centering breath, she reached out with her senses until the air tingled around her. with a quick snap of the hand, a whispering line of white light flickered into existence under the feet of three imps that advanced on her new friend from behind. her arms met in front of her, then she flung them out to the sides as the tear underneath them opened. 

❝ don’t step backward! ❞ elizabeth called, for the street now held a perfectly circular portal into a horrible, yawning darkness. perfect. another creature advanced upon her, and she slammed a book into its skull, sending it careening into the pit with a fading cry. 

There was a part of him that actually wished Pete and the other guys were here to see this: him, pretty much singlehandedly, handling this situation. Maybe he’d send a selfie afterwards, nah maybe just a pic of the dead imps with his middle finger in frame. He hadn’t done... great on the whole subway situation so- 

Whatever, that didn’t matter

He shook the thought away from his head and swiped at an imp that tried to get out of the reach of his blade, ATTACK ROLL (17… HIT!), managing to mangle its leg as it scrambled away. Cody knew that evil wasn’t really the vibe he was going for, but he did love the look of naked fear evident in its beady black eyes. So absorbed in this display of submission, he just barely caught that the girl tried to tell him something. 

“Wha-? Whoa!” As he shot a look over his shoulder, he noticed that the heel of his shoe was precariously close the edge of a hole carved into the pavement: a clean cut made circular that led into.... nothing? “That’s so fucking metal.” The genuine smile that crossed his features at witnessing something so vast and dark remained as he looked towards her, nodding knowingly. “A fellow student of the dark arts. I shouldn’t have misjudged you.”

I mean, books were still for fucking nerds, but she seemed like one of the few cool ones. And not too shabby mopping up at good chunk of them with that spell of hers. With the injured one still crawling until its back meant brick wall, there was only four left... And he had the perfect way to end it. 

The cigarette was still in his mouth, he took a deep drag from it, far more than any human would normally be advised to and held it. He closed his eyes and held his breath, kept the burning sting in his lungs to help channel the dark emotions that welled in him. It was easy to keep a general vibe, but Ricky had mentioned that a part of using his powers was to focus that emotion, to give it some sense of direction- Gladiator flashed in his mind. It was then that a horned, red aura formed over his head once he finally let the smoke leave his lungs, pouring out in front of him like a fog machine and when he opened his eyes, they were a crimson red. 

“Fuck. OFF!” And with the the squeal of an abused microphone, Cody’s voice thundered up and down the road, not doubt audible to the people in the brownstone buildings that lined it, but nevertheless was firmly directed at the imps. A beat passed as their eyes widened, another as they considered each other. One beat was all they needed to take the skies, their wings flapping and voices screeching in fear.

Not gonna lie kid, this is still something that can work in our favor. Better for them to run off scared to tell the tale than you just dropping them, y’know? 

    “YES.” She answers so fast, it sounds almost like a bark! Looking up at him, H I M, the servant of darkness, sword-wielding tough guy who’d reached out to HER and HER ALONE. He was so… Oh. “Uh, yes, I know them! I- We’re close, super close. In nomine patris, as we say in the society!”

  Blink. Hands brought together, sidling a bit closer, trying not to stammer, stutter and sweat. “That- th… that means- never mind. I’ll help you. I’ll absolutely help you. F-follow me, I can take you there.”

    Don’t breathe too hard, Casey. Be normal, act normal! “Wanna- Um. Wannatakemyhand?” Casey!!

He nodded, turning away to make sure no one was too close to catch what they were saying. Normies wouldn’t even be able to make sense of what they meant by ‘society’ but Pete and Kingston did mention how other magical elements could take advantage of what he didn’t know. Not like anything worse could happen to him now, though: he already sold his soul! 

“Awesome.” He took a drag from his cigarette, showing some semblance of decorum by blowing smoke away from her face. “Yeah, man lead the way. I’ll keep an eye out...” How ironic that in his eagerness to keep watch that he’s hopelessly unaware of the threat right by his side. 

Hey kid! They’re talking to you.

“So do you know Pete and uh- Esther or-?” 

Was it racist or something to assume that all the wizard and sorcerer types knew each other? The Dream Team had all been well acquainted well before Cody ever started running with them so he didn’t really think so... (INSIGHT ROLL: -1) 

Yeah, she was probably on the up and up.

WHILE COMSTOCK TOWER STOOD TALL OVER central park south, in her escape ( and subsequent panic ) elizabeth had found herself in wlliamsburg, brooklyn. as it turned out, fleeing into the city and melting into its millions of inhabitants was a lot harder when your alleged kidnapping was all over the mundane news outlets, but she’d kept out of trouble… mostly… for a while.  the imps came for her last night. elizabeth had been careful to siphon funds into a bank account she’d begged robert lutece to create for her, to “have one thing of her own that her father had no hold on.” being the kinder of the two, he’d begrudgingly accepted her plea. for the most part, she’d been good about keeping the money’s use for necessities so as not to draw attention: rent for a nice studio apartment, utilities and bills. however, the streaming subscriptions had drawn her in! netflix… hulu… HBO max… there were so many. and all of them were so inexpensive.  six romcoms later, though, elizabeth’s pure excitement and curiosity had caused a tear to open in her living room. it was unopenable, too far away in space, and from the other side, someone… something… looked back at her.  and then they came, one at first, then another and another –– through the windows, up through the floorboards. it seemed like they were after the stack of books she’d taken from the tower. well, there was no way in hell she was letting these intruders get what they wanted, so she grabbed the books, stomped on one of their heads with an alarmed squeak, and bolted out the front door.  unfortunately, her daring escape only lasted about five minutes before something slammed into her from behind, sending her spindly frame and all of her cargo crashing to the ground. oh –– it hadn’t been an imp after all, but… a man? and despite his absolutely vulgar language, he seemed apologetic enough to reach out a hand. ❝ i-i’m alright, ❞ elizabeth replied, though her voice shook with adrenaline as she clasped his hand and pulled herself to her feet. ❝ those things are after my books – get – off – !! ❞ a sharp kick landed right into the center of an imp’s stomach, sending it flying a few feet onto its back, and she snatched the book it was … the book … but it wasn’t. suddenly, the creatures were ignoring them. they were encroaching on her, jaws snapping, horrible little eyes glittering with some unknowable intent. 

her heart dropped into her stomach as they surrounded her and the stranger in a tight, menacing circle, somehow even more numerous now than they had been a moment ago. elizabeth glanced at him – very goth, strangely dressed, oddly composed for someone affected by the veil – and noticed something huge and gleaming strapped to his back. what… was that a –     ❝ is that a sword? ❞

He didn’t quite get why those books were such a big deal to her (INSIGHT ROLL: 2 ), but her kicking a monster and actually managing to send it skidding across the ground into a wall. It was kinda kick ass for a nerd, the promise of a fight was all the pretense Cody needed to bring his sword out, a replica he had bought at Blizzcon from some guy who made weapons and armor for the serious cosplayer. But even Avery Faeth had give him some credit making a snapshot in fantasy into reality: rescuing some chick being attacked by monsters? If only the cops hadn’t taken his Buster Sword.

Aw fuck, man. That thing this broad just kicked? That was an imp, my dude.

“What?” But even Cody wasn’t so lost on the fact that there had been a red tint to the creature she just kicked.... and the fact that said red tints were forming a writhing mass as they swarmed and surrounded him. He only clenched his teeth, a wicked smile taking over his features. At least right until the woman spoke again, her question showing her ignorance to the respect his sword demanded.

“C’mon, this is Frostmourne. You have to know about WoW, right? No one’s that much a normie.” Her lack of a response and slow blink spoke volumes. “Ugh-Whatever! I’m just going to have to show you what a sick-ass sword this is.” 

Dude? These were the guys we were supposed to get on our side? C’mon, lemme just tell you what to say and- 

“Shut up-” He hissed, hopefully keeping his voice low enough that she couldn’t hear. He didn’t have a lot of opportunities to be a dark hero of justice when the rest of the guys were with him and he wasn’t about to let the creepiness of a dude just talking to himself ruin the awesome impression he was about to make. “Just let me have this moment.” 

A slow breath came into through his mouth and hot air blew through his nose. Two hands held the blade parallel to his chest and Cody considered the number of devilish freaks in front of him. If the girl had managed to drop one with a kick, there was no way they were that strong. “Ahem- I mean... Just let me handle this.” 

ATTACK ROLL ( 23.... HIT!) 

ATTACK ROLL (19... HIT!) 

He was fucked. 

It was pretty rad having Bazathrax sealed into him, but Cody was quickly coming to terms with the fact that he was impressed with the act itself in that moment rather than the realities of living day to day with a demon. He didn’t really care about looking like a freak whenever he tried talking to his patron (inside voice? how the fuck? he wasn’t a telepath), but the shit Bazathrax said was really getting to him. Every impulsive, vulgar, hedonistic thought you could think of passed the demon’s lips with no filter and he couldn’t even hear himself fucking think. It was a chore trying to wring out any useful information out of him at times. But trust me, dude. Those fiends? Those imps I was talking about? We can rally ‘em under our control - no problem!

“Imps? Like in Runescape? That fucking sucks!” He scoffed, shaking his head as if the act would be enough to rattle the devil. Pete had said he was in his head, right? “Whatever, I guess we can get started with some minions.” He let Bazathrax talk him through the directions, following it step by step rather thoughtlessly with no regard to his actual place in the city. Brooklyn, maybe? 

“Man, what am I looking for? I know I can see all this shit now but- uh!” He buckled over when he bumped into something, maybe several somethings on account of the multiple thuds that hit the ground. 

“ I make no promises on seating arrangements. Get in the stagecoach. ”

“I’m getting on, I’m getting on...”