Wyrdysm Games

avoiding attention, nathaniel carefully made his way around the crown of demosn already assembled. too busy discussing the earlier events, noone noticed as he slipped through a door beside the stage. he came into an antechamber, and passing through found himself in larger room with a desk and a circle of chairs. four other demons were in the room, he recognised two of them as Naamah, the cryptic representative, and Nisariel, presumably who'd been trying to contact him this morning. he stepped into the room quietly yet confidently and pulled up a chair for himself, slightly away from the other demons

Nammu looks at the hodded man, with slight disgust. Suzanna hated smokers and Nammu didn't see smoking as a very desirable habit either, giving the man a slightly frosty stare she walked down the stairs, wary of any sort of symbols etched into the walls and went into the underground room, wondering what the master ofthat flesh puppet looket like. A slathering beast perhaps? or maybe just a demon inside a mortal host like herself.

Nammu opened the door with a creak, then stepped in, bracing herself for, Whatever thae man had to throw at her.

(I hope this post is better than my last Anna)

Nisariel listened to the questions, nodding his head slowly and rubbing at his chin, "Good questions. Ones that are difficult to answer." He looked to Danielle, "Support is something that's... tricky. If you're in an emergency and need assistance, I might be able to send help if you contact me, but otherwise we Faction heads have all agreed not to interfere, to prevent anyone from trying to... well, get the upper hand."

"Naamah is the one you should contact with any information you uncover. Deadlines and contingencies are... something that we haven't worked out yet." He mumbled.

Naamah nodded her head slightly, "This is a complex situation." She said, glancing to Gabriel, "Suffice it to say, you're not expendable, but someone needs to do it and you were chosen as the most suitable candidates, due to your skills and your loyalty."

Nisariel glanced to Nathaniel as he stepped backstage, "Ah, Dantanian. So you're one of the Faustian candidates then? Hm. Alright, then. That makes four of you."

******

Suzanna stepped into a large, circular underground room, the walls a deep, dark red stone, cracked and worn with age even more than the rest of the building upstairs had been. In the center of the room stood an ornate stone pedestal, and buried inside that ancient stone was a sword, equally as ancient and yet looking unworn, pristine and silvery-white, the edge of it razor sharp. Suzanna felt a presence from that sword. A very old, very powerful presence.

"Nammu." Echoed a voice in her head, a voice she remembered, that of one of the Barons she served during the war, Balthazar, "You answered my summons. That is gooood. I am in need of more servants to do my will."

The hooded, clawed man stood across the room, chuckling a little, "Master likes you. Always said good things. Said you weren't afraid to get your hands dirty."

Glancing at the new member of this investigative team, Danielle withdraws a pen from her purse, before reaching under her skirt and withdrawing a slim, small, black book that was strapped to her right upper thigh. Flipping past the pages filled with small, well-scripted passages (with the occasional sketch), she finally arrives at a blank page.

The book was filled with various bulleted details, filled with abbreviations, and without any particular organization. It detailed demons, an ancient war, and the valorous angels filled with the righteous wrath of God who fought them, and an extensive bit of detail about a 'male' angel (with many words describing how hot he is) falls in love with an ordinary girl, and fighting for her.

Both Samekhel as well as the fragments of Danielle that persisted had an extremely dry sense of humor, at times.

"How many members does this team consist of, and what skills is each person chosen for?" asked Samekhel, taking notes.

Nisariel watched Danielle with a vaguely amused expression, "Well, right now it's just the four of you, but there are still four more positions on the investigative team that have yet to be filled."

He points to each of the demons, starting with Gabriel, "Gabriel Lynch, host of Adirael. Asharu House. Made something of a reputation for himself during the war, occasionally tangling with several of the Angelic Host at once. Though his skills really lie more in healing, he's quite willing to get his hands dirty. Doesn't remember much about the War though, last I heard."

Then he gestured to Pia, "Svarog. Annunaki House. One of the best damn weapon smiths we had during the war. Your host is... Pia, right? We chose him... her, largely because if anyone can figure out how best to break an Earthbound, Svarog is probably that person."

Then he looked to Nathaniel, "Dantanian, why don't you tell them about yourself?"

Nammu found that having an entity talk to you through telepathy was quite unnerving, however this was a baron she served under during the war, so she trusted him, at least more than she would trust most people. Gathering up her thoughts, Nammu stared at the sword intently and said "what is your bidding, baron?"

Nathaniel grinned slightly and chuckled under his breath. "Well, what is there to say?" he asked out loud, putting on an air of confidence mixed with anxiety, "I tend to do the talking." 'And leave the real work to everyone else,' he added to himself.
"My host's name is Nathaniel Brooke, he helped organise the senator's election campaign a few years ago and the senator took a liking to him. I only had to use a small portion of my abilities to gain quite a lot of influence, which may prove useful in our investigations."
He made note of this, he should get someone at the office to try and get some background info from the police for him, perhaps a contact. It'd definately be useful.
"But that's enough about me" he continued, carefully skipping his faded and mostly unwanted memories of the war, "from what I've heard already we'll be requiring a delicate approach to our search. If this truly is an earthbound that we're on the trail of, then i doubt that going in with guns blazing won't leave much of us left to heal."

Pausing from her writing for a moment, Danielle gave both Nisariel and Nathaniel a small curtsy in gratitude, before resuming her notes.

"I appreciate the information. And no, I hardly expect open force to be a wise course of action. First of all, I doubt we'll need it Second, I'm fairly certain it'd play directly into the hands of whoever did this - Ravener or Earthbound. This body has never touched a weapon deadlier than a cooking knife, and I don't expect that to change."

Recalling something of importance, Pia sat up straight with a sudden jerking motion.

"Erm, if I may, Samekhel", she stammered out of the blue. "I've come across something that, now that I think about it, might have something to do with the events of this morning."

She sighed anxiously, letting out a breath she didn't remember holding, then continued.

"An actual banishing circle was posted online earlier today. Stupid, but true. Around the same time as the killings, I think. I couldn't identify its creator, but I could tell that it was meant to return a demon to the Abyss, and that a fairly complex ritual would be needed to activate it. There might be a connection here."

Gabriel sweeps his eyes over everybody at the table as Pia talks, then leans forward.

"The banishing circle... Did anybody express interest in it? Suffice to say that it is a threat, but did anybody actually -believe- it? And yes, My host body and I are healers, and we were both once soldiers. I know I don't look the part. I hardly have any money."

He rubs his forehead, then leans back on the chair and begins talking to the roof, although he is obviously addressing Dantanian.

"Could you see if we can get a list of the names of the corpses, and if you could arrange us access to the scene of the crime? Looking for patterns is a good way to start."

With an apologetic glance to Dantanian, Samekhel interjects. "Actually, I can help with that. I happen to know someone in the police force with authority who was assigned to the case. The list of names will be as easy as watching a sunset, and access will only be slightly more difficult. I highly suspect that visiting the scene will prove very fruitful."

"I agree with you there, Samakhel" continued Dantanaian. "The church is the obvious place to begin our investigations, although we must be careful not to appear suspicious. Not that the police may suspect us, but who, or whatever causes this may be watching the activities of the police, and we don't want to give ourselves away at such an early stage. I'm sure between us all however we'll be able to find some way of making our prescence go unnoticed."

Naamah nodded her head slightly, "I see you have several leads already. I'll leave you all to it, then. Nisariel and I need to talk with the other Faction heads about their representatives on the investigation team anyway."

"Start your investigation wherever and however you like. Just remember to be careful." Nisariel said, rising to his feet and straightening his tie, "Investigating the Church sounds like a good starting point."

******

As Nammu stared at the sword, she heard the voice of Balthazar in her mind again, "There are some mortals I need killed. Subtly. Quietly. I expect you to do this for me. Are you up to that task, Nammu?"

Gabriel got up from his seat first, dusting his jacket off and checking his watch before addressing the rest of the investigation team.

"Almost two. I suppose Samekhel will need time to arrange access to the scene before we can start investigating. We'll need to meet up some other time. Can we agree on a time and date after Samekhel has arranged access to the crime scene? I should be free just about any time. The people where I work are very loose with work hours."

Pia shrugged. She could afford to bend her schedule a bit.

"I don't particularly care about the date, so long as we don't need to meet up too early in the morning. My host can be... quite hard to stir at times."