Inside 71: All I Want For Thanksmas Is You

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

Oh no! Rose is snatched!

"You better still be there when I come back for you, buster!" she admonishes the home wrecking soul she just spit up as she's whisked away, her wings flapping uselessly. He had been getting torn to pieces and stitched back together over and over again so he might not be looking forward to that when contrasted to hanging out with the infernal gaiad.

And now?

She's standing before the King of Terror. Or maybe floating before. Rose sees echoed in him herself shackled again, once more a slave. She sees that, in spite her every effort to help make the world a better place, she failed to make any meaningful difference.

And maybe worst of all she sees huge bloated ticks crawling all over each other.

Rose hates tick.

Ugh.

She does her best to suppress a shudder of revulsion.

"Uh, hi?" Rose replies. "I'm glad I finally found someone to talk to. I'm looking for my friend Sekhmet. She's a succubus like me. Well, not exactly like me. She's only got two legs and this ball of fire that floats between her horns."

Rose waves her hands around above her head as a useful visual aid for floating fire orbs.

"A devil out in the swamp said she might have come here so I decided to check. Oh! If you were watching what the castle was doing she looked just like the devil that just got stabbed."

Hopefully the arch devil feels like chatting about things Rose is interested in.


[Arkham Street]

"We were stuck as Chimera for about three years. You get use to it. But believe me getting hands back is a huge relief. But don't worry! There are ways to cope," Snaps says. "I don't really know about sphinx stuff. But Lydia sure does! She'll definitely be able to help you out."

On the subject of artifacts, though...

"Well he was lame, right? So maybe his walking staff? Or maybe the needles he shoved in his eyes after his mom hung herself."

A beat.

"Geeze the classical stories sure were grim weren't they?"

[Deathkeeper]

Arkham Street

"Three years?!" Sphinx exclaims, practically slumping to the ground.
"I don't want to be stuck like this for years! I don't even know how I feel about the no-pants thing! Or the shirt thing. Or the inevitability of bra shopping thing. Or how the heck I'm supposed to change clothes anyway. How am I gonna even do...anything? At least you didn't have this weird halfsies thing when switching from human to quadruped. Chimera doesn't need clothes." Sphinx seems to have hit her capacity for suppressing all this.

[Recaiden]

"The mortals? I mean, I suppose. If you wanna. I'm not gonna risk it though, these days beings like me are kill on sight and even if they decide to be merciful, they probably wouldn't believe me." He gestures at Yone. "You think they'll believe you? Since fey have a pretty bad reputation too these days. I mean, speciesism in the nexus? What the world has come too."

As he's talking the other imps are carefully approaching Yone and are starting to pull back the nets using small but long hooks. It looks like they're about to turn at flee the slightest sound from the fey.

"I don't know what mortals you've been talking to. Or...not talking to. But there are plenty who will listen to a warning."
Yone tries to stay very still for the removal of the iron, but she has to tense up at the approach of all those hooks.

[bc56]

Dread Castle

The dark entity chuckles deeply. "She is not here." He gestures at Rose. "You claim to have battled my sister in person, and my castle confirms it is true." Images of Rose's battle with Sapphira flash through the room, shown from her own perspective. "All in the name of this... Princess you serve. I sense something momentous is about to happen. Tell me about her."

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

"I knew it!" Rose proclaims triumphantly. "No offense but your castle really botched its attempt at making me believe I had failed Sekhmet. I think just having a dead Sekhmet in the room I checked would have been more convincing."

Rose is just providing constructive advice here.

Then she's frowning at the images of her shoulder-checking Sapphira right in the nose and following up with the flash of holy light. "I really don't think sucker-punching her and then running away counts as a battle..."

It might! Just depends on a person's battle definitions.

Then a question!

Rose wrinkles her nose a bit.

"About Sekhmet? Well, she's a good, kind person. She helped me after Sapphira had corrupted me to make me into one of her priestesses. I just felt like... helping her and protecting her was important. Because she's important. She can help everyone. Maybe even you arch-devils. After having just four damned souls talking in my head, I can't imagine what it must be like having millions. It must be terrible."

Is she... expressing pity?

For an arch-devil? Right to his face?


[Arkham Street]

"Three years!" Snapdragon confirms. "It was pretty weird at first but once we got use to it then it was actually pretty fun. Still like being human more, though, since hands rock."

Never under-estimate hands.

Hands are the best.

"Neh, don't sweat it too much. You'll figure it out. I mean, Lydia did so you could too, right? So you can too! Everything will be fiiiiiine. Anyway this is me tree," she says, pointing at a nearby plum tree. "So I'm going to bail. If you want to stop by and chat any time feel free! And once you've figured out what artifact you need to get yourself back to normal just let me know and me and the other two talking-heads will help you out. Byyyyyyyyee Sphiiiiiiiinx~!"

BIP!

And off she goes.

[bc56]

Dread Castle

"Hah! My kind are beyond redemption. Is she Sakiril-Ess?" Rose knows what that means. Fated One. A title of great power. Rose can't be certain, but it seems very likely the answer is yes. "Do you know what I was before? I was an angel. A weak, cowardly fool. These souls are freedom, freedom from petty moral codes and obligations. I don't expect you to understand, not until you've grown."

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

"Well, the people at the church thought I was beyond redemption but Sekhmet helped me," Rose offers hopefully. She looks thoughtful at the Fated One part. "Pretty sure? We did a thing with Sister Iris and Brother Oyster where we held hands and Sekhmet disappeared. When she came back she said we had to go get the crown Sapphira had me steal for her. Sekhmet probably returned it to the church already."

Ah the crown.

Without that crown Rose probably wouldn't have had occasion to deck Sapphira in the schnoz.

"I already felt that freedom after Sapphira tried to poison all the Buttercup out of me. It was terrible. I think-"

Rose gives a little gasp as a pair of blossoms suddenly grow in her hair, indicating two more voices in her mind. Two more souls forever tainted by a life of corruption. Both practitioners of dark arts. Both seducing others away from light and faith to darkness and corrupting power. Their knowledge of witch-craft is added to Rose's already significant store of expertise. Both were punished by having molten lead poured onto their tongues.

The infernal gaiad gives her head a shake as they begin whispering to her how she ought to draw others into devil worship and how she'll be rewarded for it.

Terror will have a good view of Rose growing not in size but in presence.

"-I think these souls are all sad, broken people. They aren't freedom. They're chains."

[bc56]

Dread Castle

"Let me see what she's done to you." Terror reaches forward to grab Rose's face by the chin and force her to look into his lack of eyes. There's that sense of clarity again, and Rose will be able to see the shape of Terror's soul. A pulsating blob of darkness, once and a while lit by a pulse of light, like a weak, irregular heartbeat. "Fascinating. Now go! Before I destroy you as the abomination you are!" The window slams open and Rose is released.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Castle]

Guess what isn't fun?

Getting grabbed and forced to stare into the heart of darkness.

Or maybe the eyes of darkness.

But in that moment Rose sees something. Something she thinks might be important.

A spark of light buried under all the grime. Not much, but... maybe it's just obscured like hers was? It makes her wonder if these beings aren't as beyond redemption as they say they are. What would drive Terror to release her? Maybe just curiosity to see what Rose grows into? Sapphira (Corruption?) seemed impressed with what Rose had grow into as well.

Or maybe.

Just maybe.

There's still hope under there.

Hope that Rose is right.

She turns and prances away, leaping out the window and opening her wings. Out of the castle she goes and back into the bog, searching for any modest patch of land she might be able to find. That... and any sign of a lost soul that hasn't been eaten by any devils yet. She wants to try talking to one of them before she tries making a pathway back to her hellish weald.

[bc56]

Dread Bog

A patch of solid ground is tricky to come by, but after a while, Rose can satisfy both things she's looking for at once. On an island in the swamp, a lone soul is huddled in a roaring downpour that seems to cover only them. Their island is slowly sinking into the swamp, the water licking at the soul's feet.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

Well.

That seems pretty miserable.

But this place seems pretty uniquely tailored to being miserable, doesn't it? Like making people miserable forever is the whole reason why it exists.

Rose, being curious and needing a place to plant a rose bush, decides to investigate. She dips a wing, spiraling down out of the gloomy sky and landing in the bog not too far away from the island. Beating her tail and kicking her feet, she begins slogging through the mess toward the damp soul who is, she suspects, damned to an eternity of getting rained on. In the grand scheme of things that doesn't strike Rose as being nearly as awful as some of the other fates she's learned of thus far.

Once she's a bit closer, she'll wave one arm above her head and call out to the soul.

"Hey! It's pretty soggy out here do you mind if I join you?"

It might not be immediately obvious that Rose is a devil given that her lower half is submerged in the mire, especially due to distance and rain.

[Deathkeeper]

Arkham Street

Oh, dear. Now Sphinx is alone. No one to carry that bag.
Guess she has to use her teeth. Bleck.
Sphinx heads home. She has some phone calls to make tomorrow.
Maybe a lot of phone calls.

[Shadowcaller]

"I don't know what mortals you've been talking to. Or...not talking to. But there are plenty who will listen to a warning."
Yone tries to stay very still for the removal of the iron, but she has to tense up at the approach of all those hooks.

"Shouldn't be much of a problem for you finding these mortals then. I'll even have whoever I'll send with you certify the claims, not that I think it matters. I mean, it's not about contacting people, it's about contacting the right person." The imp lord doesn't seem particularly enthusiastic about the whole prospect.
But by now the imps have pulled off most of the nets so Yone should be able to get free on her own as the little demons are all pulling back.

Furthermore, if the imps could get control of the chariot they will have started to drive it back by now.

[Recaiden]

Yone hops to her feet and stretches. Ah, free! And good that she didn't panic there, in the end.
Then, with a wave, the chariot appears next to her. By this time, I think the imps could have gotten it under control. Hopefully that includes the brakes.
She picks up her paintbrush again.
"Let me know once you've appointed someone to accompany me. And which of you was it operating the voice of that false-human?"

[bc56]

Dread Bog

The soul doesn't respond. It doesn't even seem to notice Rose talking to it. It just keeps despondently staring as the water rises to its ankles. It seems terrified of the rising waters, huddled and shivering.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

Hmm.

Are all the lost souls mentally addled somehow?

That would be... really sad, honestly.

Rose climbs up out of the water onto the island and will move to kneel down in the mud along-side the lost soul, stretching out one wing over them like a canopy. Her scales aren't glowing with heat right now. She's definitely hot, but not scalding. One can feel the heat radiating off her just from being close.

"Hey, can you hear me?" she asks, hoping maybe her presence nearby will rouse the soul from their fugue. "What's your name? Do you know where you are?"

Why is it so important that she tries to get through to this person?

If she were listening to her stomach she would just snap them up on the spot. That's what any other devil would do, right? But no. No, getting through to them is important somehow. Rose isn't sure why this is so important but it is. She needs to make the lost souls aware.

[bc56]

Dread Bog

The rain is kept off the soul. And after a while, it notices. Slowly, the withered face looks up at Rose. And it's changing, gaining definition, filling back out. An aged, bearded man with a long scar across his forehead watches Rose with hope in his eyes. "Albrecht 'Greybeard' Hofstadt, Fräulein. I know not where we are." Rose will of course still feel tempted to consume this soul. But now a new temptation is creeping in. She went through all the trouble to wake this soul up. Why not fill him with her power, if she won't fill herself with his? She has plenty of fiendish energy to spare.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

Eat him and take his power!

Corrupt him and make him into a minion or something!

He gave you his name! Take his mask and give him one of your own devising!

Oh I know how about you shut up supernatural monster instincts? How's that for an idea, huh? Just stuff a cork in it.

Rose takes a deep, slow breath, doing her best not to gag at the smell of the fetid bog. Then she slowly, evenly lets it out again. She's probably dealing with a terrible person here. If someone is down here in this pit, it's because they were terrible. They went to their deathbed unrepentant. But... she wants to see if maybe, just maybe, that impenitent heart can change.

"Hello Albrecht, I'm Rose," she replies, smiling that preternaturally alluring smile of hers. "I guess I have to be the bearer of some bad news. You died. And this is hell."

Her maw salivates. The sting on her tail twitches. Rose ignores both. No. I will not.

"This bog. Everyone who's here terrorized others in life. Do you know why you're here?"

[Chaotic Bob]

[Some Street]

"I have always wanted to meet a necromancer," Obsidian says. "I mean, I met one, but that was not actually her job and even though she was really good at it, she didn't really look like she enjoyed it, so I thought that maybe she would not want to tell me how to do it. But! Yes, I have always wanted to meet one so they could tell me how they do it and then we can talk about all sorts of things."

The tree staircase actually goes into the tree, but because it was a gift to her, her player does not know what it is like inside. Likely some small rooms and such.

When complimented on the tree, she puts her hands on her hips, and looks up proudly. "Yup! It is pretty magnificent, isn't it. And it will continue on growing and getting bigger and even more impressive! Fitting for the secret base of the Dragon Thief of Hearts."

The questions grow.

A natural necromancer then? You have a rare talent there.
Thankfully. If everyone knew how to raise the dead there would be problems.

Trees take quite some time to grow, but I imagine that won't be much a problem for a young dragon. You have a long life ahead of you. May I ask about the "Dragon Thief of Hearts" title?

[bc56]

Dread Bog

Come on, Rose, it's just one bite or one quick sting and it's all over. You can't bring a soul with you through your rosebushes, so you should either just eat him or convert him into something that can actually survive out here without being gobbled up.

"I can't recall," Albrecht lies. Rose knows he's lying. And she knows what he did. He was a mutineer. He bullied the other sailors on his ship into supporting his mutiny, and then when he failed, he was thrown overboard. His punishment was to be marooned on a forbidding and rainy rock for eternity.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

No, I'm not going to eat him. No, I'm not going to sting him. Not... not yet anyway.

Another deep breath.

Rose crooks her wing, pulling it closer to her body and very likely scoots Albrecht right up against herself. This close she smells overwhelmingly of roses and just a hint of brimstone. It's enough to overpower the bog.

"Please don't lie to me," she admonishes, sounding hurt. "You started a mutiny aboard your ship. What drove you to do that?"

The infernal gaiad makes a sweeping motion out across the bleak landscape.

"Do you think it was worth it?"

Of all the lost souls she has encountered and learned about thus far, Albrecht seems to be, perhaps, the least terrible.

He made a terrible choice.

[bc56]

Dread Bog

Albrecht's demeanor sours. "I had to! He wouldn't respect me! The others were all too fool to see it. So what if I roughed then up a little so they'd side with me!" Rose gets an image of a man beaten to a bloody pulp as an "example." That's not roughing someone up "a little." "I did what I had to do and there's nothing wrong with that."

[Rebonack]

[Dread Pit]

"I don't think you had to," Rose replies, her tone still gentle. "I don't think you had to hurt those people as much as you did. They didn't respect you, either. They were afraid of you. And when you were thrown overboard they were relieved you were gone."

She gazes out over the bog, eyes peeled for any approaching devils. Shrouded under her wing as the sailor is, Rose is pretty sure that her prey-

No.

No.

-her new acquaintance is unlikely to be spotted by anyone else.

"You wanted to be respected? The path you chose never would have won you the respect of anyone. Only their terror. You made a mistake. A terrible, foolish mistake. And it ended in pain for others and death for yourself. So I'll ask you again-"

Rose turns her gaze from the bog down to the lost soul, her eyes burning into his own.

"Was it worth it?"

[bc56]

Dread Bog

"...No." Albrecht finally replies. "No, it wasn't. So what? Now you're telling me I'm stuck here because of it? Thanks a lot." He seems a little angry at how he'd been woken up from his miserable stupor just to be told he messed up and he deserved it.

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

"No, I'm not here to tell you that you're stuck forever," Rose replies. "I'm here to try to free you."

Rose isn't totally sure how this all works.

She's just going with what feels right.

What binds a soul to hell?

The evil they've committed.

So long as they hold on to that evil they're chained here, right?

But...

What if they renounced the evil?

What if they let go of the stone holding them at the bottom of the river?

"Do you think you can repent of what you did? Really, truly repent?"

[bc56]

Dread Bog

"You don't look like the saving type, Fräulein." Albrecht shrugs. "I don't think it's that simple. If I could repent and get out of here, do you think I'd be here at all? No, I had my chance."

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

Rose laughs. It isn't a nasty laugh. Or a mirthless one. Or a malevolent cackle.

It's a genuine, actual laugh of delight.

"I sure don't, do I? Not even a little bit. But this wasn't really the look I would have chosen. I made a bunch of really bad choices, too. But... I think I can say genuinely that I made them all because I was trying to help someone. I was even in a bind like you for a while. I died. But I had someone there to pull me back out."

Specifically Anastasia.

Raise dead is a literal lifesaver.

"So let's say it's possible. And let's say repenting won't get you out of here. But maybe it's the first step toward getting out of here," Rose says before giving the man a searching look. "Did you leave anyone behind? Anyone you care about? Anyone worth living for?"

Rose gives a little, wistful sigh. "I did. I had friends. No family, though. The bad deal I made, it wasn't enough to help them."

[Recaiden]

[Hodgepodge Street] ((Open))

This street here, it's a perfectly fine street. A little run down, maybe, but it's not like they're in a Red Zone or anything.

A manhole cover in the sidewalk pops open and out scrambles ... some sort of creature, concealed beneath a stained filthy cloak, hissing in pain. A weathered hand grabs the manhole cover, which tilts and glimmers oddly in the grip, and slams it down behind them, squishing an insectile claw that was reaching after them.
Then they stay perched on the manhole cover, their weight holding it shut as something slams against it from below.

[bc56]

Dread Bog

"I had a wife. Two daughters. The sailor's life is a hard one. You leave every time knowing... It might be the last." A genuine tear is brought to Albrecht's eye. "Even if I get out of here, I'll never see them again, will I? How long has it been?" Many decades, most likely. "Just get me out of here. They knew the risk I was taking. No doubt they've already had my funeral and moved on."

[Rebonack]

[Dread Bog]

"I miss my son," Rose says quietly, a tremor in her voice. "Not just for the babe in my arms or the growing boy, but for the man I saw in him. The man he could have been. Seeing him work his Stanton in the forge. Seeing him begin to take a fancy to the McGev's daughter. Hearing his dreams of moving out of our little town... It's a terrible thing to out-live your child."

That was why Alexander had set out as an adventurer all those years ago. For the memory of his wife and son. The hope that maybe, just maybe, he could make a difference. He could use the infernal power he had bargained for to make sure fewer parents would have to bury tiny coffins. There's an awful lot of evil and ugliness in the world, evil and ugliness Alexander did his best to quell.

"I don't know how long it's been. Time here is strange. But these wastes are prowled by devils that devour lost souls. You're the first I've seen that's free out here in the bog."

The prisoners in the castle don't really count, Rose figures.

"They've probably moved on. But maybe I can help you find them? Or their children, at least. But... I still need to hear it. Repentance. A desire to do better. To be better. I can carry you out of here with me, but I don't need or want another voice telling me to commit acts of cruelty and evil. I want to help you. But I can't do that unless you can help me, too. And to help me I need to carry penitent hearts."

Rose isn't sure if this will work.

She has no idea whether or not this will work.

But she has to try.

She must.

And if it does?

She can go back to her weald and release her souls one by one and confront them with their sins like she has with Albrecht.