The Shadow
Hero
New Scene: Mopping up the Demons
With the amount of firepower - both physical and magical - that the Knights of St. Michael could bring to bear if sufficient need existed, it didn't take much to roll up the Demons. The Shepherds of Gideon even sent a liaison to the operation, Brother Hezekiah White. (Pete grimaced inwardly at that. He and Hezekiah had history together, from the summer he'd spent with the Shepherds under their mutual 'exchange program' with the Knights.)
[The Shepherds are the Reformed Protestant counterpart to the Knights. Unlike the Knights, they officially regard all magic as intrinsically evil, and all creatures of Shadow as 'Hellspawn'. But both groups are pragmatic enough to work together when the need arises... Magic may be wrong, but there's overflowingly ample proof that Michaelite mages and the Hellspawn aren't on the same side!]
Q(Unlikely): Do any of the Demons escape? NO.
Q(Somewhat Likely): Any of them killed? EXCEPTIONAL YES.
The gang members suffered under the disadvantages both of being creatures of Shadow and of being human. Michaelite mages could track them once they knew what to look for, but the possessed gangbangers proved unable to draw on sufficient power in the Earth plane to be real threats.
Their master proved pitiless indeed. Several of the Demons died by remote command shortly after capture; several others were found dead before they could be captured. Only a few were taken alive and placed under powerful wards before they could be discarded. Goat was, thankfully, one of them.
Q(Somewhat Likely): How about Billy? YES.
Pete asked Sir Athanasius (a mage on loan from another province that he didn't know well), "So, what do you think? Can they be cured?" The older man snorted. "Not so long as they've got kill-commands bombarding them the second the wards come down, no. The wards scotch our own best efforts too... Honestly, though, as deeply embedded as the changes seem to be, I don't think the prognosis is good even under ideal conditions. If they've freely chosen to be infected... That makes everything harder."
Pete nodded sadly. At least under ward their darkhound personae would be removed from Shadow. "Well... Let's see what we can find out." He went in to talk to Goat.
[Removing the Demons from the NPC list other than the named members.]
NPC List: Mark, Ryan, Goat, Billy, the illusionist, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate, Brother Hezekiah, Sir Athanasius.
Thread List:
Free Ryan from the darkhound curse.
Free myself, for that matter.
Take Goat down a peg or three.
Make ready for the trip into Shadow.
Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake.
Get to the bottom of my relationship to the illusionist.
Chaos Factor: 6 -> 5
New Scene: Interrogating Goat
Q(Unlikely): Goat still got the attitude? NO.
Q(Unlikely): Does he want to make a deal? NO.
Pete entered Goat's cell, followed by Sir Athanasius, Fr. Leo, Brother Hezekiah, and a few other Knights. "Hello again, Goat. Or should I say Aaron?" They knew his name now, of course.
Aaron Taylor, otherwise known as Goat, was rather deflated from the smirking youth Pete had seen last. Being shackled to the wall and dressed in prison clothes somehow didn't bring out his sparkling personality... He didn't meet Pete's eyes. "Whattaya want, Teach?"
"Answers, mostly. I would suggest giving them while we're asking nicely. Because we don't have to play nice."
Aaron snorted. "What are you gonna do? Kill me? I'll already die the second I step out of here. Torture me? Get in line. I've had pain before, I don't think I'll crack." He sounded more sullen than defiant, though.
[The Knights would never torture him, of course. But they could try to cure him of the deeply-embedded darkhound curse, which Aaron probably wouldn't enjoy at all.]
"Maybe not. But how'd you like to have your life back?" The young man shook his head. "You can't give me that." "We could... if we took your boss down." Aaron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's gonna happen. But even if you could... You'd let me go free?"
"Relatively speaking. We wouldn't let you run off and form your own gang again, no. But you also wouldn't be beholden to an inhuman thing from another dimension, either."
With a deep sigh, "You just don't get it." "What don't I get?" "Being 'beholden to an inhuman thing' was the point." "Ah. That's how you felt bigger than other people, got it. How you felt like you actually mattered."
Goat glared at him. "What would you know about it, huh?! You're a f*ckin' wizard, you got a centuries-old magic f*ckin' sword, you got everything!"
Pete shook his head sadly. "And that's what you don't get, Aaron. Yeah, a lot has come down to me... but it's not all fun and games. Duty comes with it. I'm called to protect people, not to gratify my own desires."
Aaron laughed bitterly. "'With great power comes great responsibility', huh? Great, you're f*ckin' Spiderman." "Nope. I'm Uncle Ben. I'm trying to encourage you to be a hero, Aaron. You want to be a hero? You want to help take down a threat to the entire Earth? Because that's what I'm offering you. You can be somebody like you've never been before."
"Sure, sure. And who'll know about it?" "The most important person of all: You will. And if it matters to you at all, so will I - the guy who's got everything except the answers you can give. And so will these gentlemen."
"Thanks for the PSA, Teach. That was a real Important Message this fine Saturday morning, I feel really f*ckin' uplifted." "Good, glad to hear it. So talk."
"Why should I?" "Why not?"
Aaron deflated a little more. "I don't know anything you can use, anyway." "Try us."
It took a lot more encouraging, but Goat eventually spilled his guts.
Q(Unsure): Does he actually know anything useful? NO.
There wasn't a whole lot there, other than some contacts in occult matters the Knights would definitely want to follow up. Nothing they could use against their primary enemy... though Aaron did confirm that his erstwhile master - who in his dealings with the Demons took the grandiose name of 'Azazel' - had a highly personal grudge against Pete.
Afterward, Sir Athanasius mused, "Nicely handled," while Brother Hezekiah added with a glower, "Aye, you maneuvered him like a proper Jesuit."
Pete laughed. "Coming from you, Hezekiah, I'll take that as a compliment." "That you should not." "I know. Which is why I will." At this, Hezekiah threw up his hands and exclaimed, "Papists!" while the Knights exchanged amused glances.
[Hezekiah's speech patterns are a deliberate affectation - a few of the Shepherds are like that, longing for the Good Old Days.]
[The thread of taking Goat down a peg or three is now clearly resolved.]
NPC List: Mark, Ryan, Goat, Billy, the illusionist/Azazel, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate, Brother Hezekiah, Sir Athanasius.
Thread List:
Free Ryan from the darkhound curse.
Free myself, for that matter.
Make ready for the trip into Shadow.
Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake.
Get to the bottom of my relationship to the illusionist.
Chaos Factor: 5 -> 4
With the amount of firepower - both physical and magical - that the Knights of St. Michael could bring to bear if sufficient need existed, it didn't take much to roll up the Demons. The Shepherds of Gideon even sent a liaison to the operation, Brother Hezekiah White. (Pete grimaced inwardly at that. He and Hezekiah had history together, from the summer he'd spent with the Shepherds under their mutual 'exchange program' with the Knights.)
[The Shepherds are the Reformed Protestant counterpart to the Knights. Unlike the Knights, they officially regard all magic as intrinsically evil, and all creatures of Shadow as 'Hellspawn'. But both groups are pragmatic enough to work together when the need arises... Magic may be wrong, but there's overflowingly ample proof that Michaelite mages and the Hellspawn aren't on the same side!]
Q(Unlikely): Do any of the Demons escape? NO.
Q(Somewhat Likely): Any of them killed? EXCEPTIONAL YES.
The gang members suffered under the disadvantages both of being creatures of Shadow and of being human. Michaelite mages could track them once they knew what to look for, but the possessed gangbangers proved unable to draw on sufficient power in the Earth plane to be real threats.
Their master proved pitiless indeed. Several of the Demons died by remote command shortly after capture; several others were found dead before they could be captured. Only a few were taken alive and placed under powerful wards before they could be discarded. Goat was, thankfully, one of them.
Q(Somewhat Likely): How about Billy? YES.
Pete asked Sir Athanasius (a mage on loan from another province that he didn't know well), "So, what do you think? Can they be cured?" The older man snorted. "Not so long as they've got kill-commands bombarding them the second the wards come down, no. The wards scotch our own best efforts too... Honestly, though, as deeply embedded as the changes seem to be, I don't think the prognosis is good even under ideal conditions. If they've freely chosen to be infected... That makes everything harder."
Pete nodded sadly. At least under ward their darkhound personae would be removed from Shadow. "Well... Let's see what we can find out." He went in to talk to Goat.
[Removing the Demons from the NPC list other than the named members.]
NPC List: Mark, Ryan, Goat, Billy, the illusionist, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate, Brother Hezekiah, Sir Athanasius.
Thread List:
Free Ryan from the darkhound curse.
Free myself, for that matter.
Take Goat down a peg or three.
Make ready for the trip into Shadow.
Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake.
Get to the bottom of my relationship to the illusionist.
Chaos Factor: 6 -> 5
New Scene: Interrogating Goat
Q(Unlikely): Goat still got the attitude? NO.
Q(Unlikely): Does he want to make a deal? NO.
Pete entered Goat's cell, followed by Sir Athanasius, Fr. Leo, Brother Hezekiah, and a few other Knights. "Hello again, Goat. Or should I say Aaron?" They knew his name now, of course.
Aaron Taylor, otherwise known as Goat, was rather deflated from the smirking youth Pete had seen last. Being shackled to the wall and dressed in prison clothes somehow didn't bring out his sparkling personality... He didn't meet Pete's eyes. "Whattaya want, Teach?"
"Answers, mostly. I would suggest giving them while we're asking nicely. Because we don't have to play nice."
Aaron snorted. "What are you gonna do? Kill me? I'll already die the second I step out of here. Torture me? Get in line. I've had pain before, I don't think I'll crack." He sounded more sullen than defiant, though.
[The Knights would never torture him, of course. But they could try to cure him of the deeply-embedded darkhound curse, which Aaron probably wouldn't enjoy at all.]
"Maybe not. But how'd you like to have your life back?" The young man shook his head. "You can't give me that." "We could... if we took your boss down." Aaron rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's gonna happen. But even if you could... You'd let me go free?"
"Relatively speaking. We wouldn't let you run off and form your own gang again, no. But you also wouldn't be beholden to an inhuman thing from another dimension, either."
With a deep sigh, "You just don't get it." "What don't I get?" "Being 'beholden to an inhuman thing' was the point." "Ah. That's how you felt bigger than other people, got it. How you felt like you actually mattered."
Goat glared at him. "What would you know about it, huh?! You're a f*ckin' wizard, you got a centuries-old magic f*ckin' sword, you got everything!"
Pete shook his head sadly. "And that's what you don't get, Aaron. Yeah, a lot has come down to me... but it's not all fun and games. Duty comes with it. I'm called to protect people, not to gratify my own desires."
Aaron laughed bitterly. "'With great power comes great responsibility', huh? Great, you're f*ckin' Spiderman." "Nope. I'm Uncle Ben. I'm trying to encourage you to be a hero, Aaron. You want to be a hero? You want to help take down a threat to the entire Earth? Because that's what I'm offering you. You can be somebody like you've never been before."
"Sure, sure. And who'll know about it?" "The most important person of all: You will. And if it matters to you at all, so will I - the guy who's got everything except the answers you can give. And so will these gentlemen."
"Thanks for the PSA, Teach. That was a real Important Message this fine Saturday morning, I feel really f*ckin' uplifted." "Good, glad to hear it. So talk."
"Why should I?" "Why not?"
Aaron deflated a little more. "I don't know anything you can use, anyway." "Try us."
It took a lot more encouraging, but Goat eventually spilled his guts.
Q(Unsure): Does he actually know anything useful? NO.
There wasn't a whole lot there, other than some contacts in occult matters the Knights would definitely want to follow up. Nothing they could use against their primary enemy... though Aaron did confirm that his erstwhile master - who in his dealings with the Demons took the grandiose name of 'Azazel' - had a highly personal grudge against Pete.
Afterward, Sir Athanasius mused, "Nicely handled," while Brother Hezekiah added with a glower, "Aye, you maneuvered him like a proper Jesuit."
Pete laughed. "Coming from you, Hezekiah, I'll take that as a compliment." "That you should not." "I know. Which is why I will." At this, Hezekiah threw up his hands and exclaimed, "Papists!" while the Knights exchanged amused glances.
[Hezekiah's speech patterns are a deliberate affectation - a few of the Shepherds are like that, longing for the Good Old Days.]
[The thread of taking Goat down a peg or three is now clearly resolved.]
NPC List: Mark, Ryan, Goat, Billy, the illusionist/Azazel, Thomas, Fr. Leo, Jake, vampire, Jamie's memory, Teresa, Paddy, Jon, Kate, Brother Hezekiah, Sir Athanasius.
Thread List:
Free Ryan from the darkhound curse.
Free myself, for that matter.
Make ready for the trip into Shadow.
Find the guts to make a clean breast to Jake.
Get to the bottom of my relationship to the illusionist.
Chaos Factor: 5 -> 4