Gettin' down in downtown! (spill-over from "A Calling")

[The Venerable Jai]

There's something in the air tonight.

At the moment, it was spraying blood as the blade of Shas furrowed the unmarred flesh of yet another random demon. Seemingly in no time at all, a relatively small band of demons (only 10 or 15) had focused and made short work of his necromantically-infused corpses. Still, most of the population of Ayenee had managed to escape. Shas had overextended himself, and an unignorable fatigue was beginning to overcome him. He regretted the decision, but he decided that moment for a tactical retreat. Assuming the vaporous form, he skulked along the ground and into the sewers. With Shas out of the way, the horde turned on whoever the could grab.

Recorporealizing, he took a moment to formulate a plot when he was distracted by the sounds of someone running in his direction. Using urban-hunting skills long practiced, Shas hid in the shadows. A teenaged boy had thought to use the sewers as a means of egress also. It was unfortunate for the boy that Shas was hungry. He sprung from the shadows as the young man ran by and Shas wrapped the boy in a crushing clasp, using both arms. He then proceeded to drive his fangs into the boy's neck and feast upon his life's blood. In a moment, he ceased his struggle as the mystical properties of the kiss overcame his senses. He went quietly into the darkness of death.

Shas cast off the body the same way a human discards the wrapping of a fast food meal. Fully fed and renewed, he assumed vaporous form and rose from the sewers to corporealize. The back of a dretch was to him and his blade cleanly severed the creature in twain at the waist. He returned to battling the hordes of demons, until he noticed the succubus slaughtering humans nearly as quickly as he could save them. Shas angrily called forth a invisible, kinetic force that flung the lessened gathering of demons that surrounded him in all directions. It was not strong enough to reach the succubus, but he would remedy that, in a moment. He stroll forward.

Any demon (or other being) that came between him and Dezlynxiari met a swift and messy demise, either at his own hands or the hands of the succubus. Both just seemed to be killing indiscriminately. In fact, there existed scant differences between vampires and succubi, when you examined their perspective abilities. "Seductress!" he hailed, "If you desire slaughter, then face me! Surely the throngs of humanity are little sport for one such as yourself!"

 

[The_Hidden_Lord]

Eyes opening for the first time in a hundred years. Systems coming back online. Computer screens again lighting the interior of that ancient suit of power armor. And out of the depths it arose, its anti-matter generator still able to power the systems, its antique mechanical musculators providing movement to its arms and limbs. Slowly, yet deliberately it arose from its hibernation chamber deep(concrete slab) within the bunker. The operator long ago fused with that futuristic tech so that man and machine would be one. A weapon of untold devastation attached to its back, the weapon's pivot point just above the right shoulder.

To its feet the power arose, systems checking. First thing, the Boom Gun swivels on its pivot point without a sound other than the hydraulic hiss as it swings over into its hand. The laser pylons next, making two perfect holes in the floor of the bunker.

*So far so good,* the man-machine thought. A quick scan of the area reveals his exit, a old blast door, probably as old as himself. A quick shine from his targeting laser and then...that only noise. A localized sonic boom as his weapon fires. Flechettes of metal, over 50 lbs of steel and iron, are propelled at supersonic speeds into the bulkhead of the blast doors. Stabilizing thrusters firing, laser pylons gripping tight into the concrete floor, the 10 foot tall suit of power armor still rocks where it stands from the recoil of the blast. The sound of ripping still as a hole the size of a man's torso is ripped in that 5 foot thick steel door.

"Oops...hope they have insurance" Laughed the man machine as he strode towards the blast doors, the Boom Gun again swinging again over to his back. Easily covering the distance to the doors in a few strides, the suits clawed hands begin to hum as a energy field encases its fingers.

"This is the way we shred the door, shred the door, shred the door. This is the way we shred door, when we don't have a key." The man-machine sang to itself as it eagerly tore into the unfeeling door. His vibro-claws tearing chunks out with each swipe until a hole large enough for its entire bulk to fit through appears.

Stepping out into some strange elevator shaft. "Shaft, haha." The power armor's systems again took a scan of his surroundings. "Well only way but up, hope there's a McDonalds nearby, haven't eaten in oh....." Its anti-gravity system coming online the suit flies upwards at breakneck speeds, occasionally bouncing off the walls of the nearly too tight elevator shaft.

Crashing through the floor of an abandoned warehouse, and the corresponding secret elevator, the man-machine comes to a rest looking around.
"Of course. Expect those guys to put me up in the cheapest dump they could find. I mean, no continental breakfast or even coffee and a cinna-bun. Come on, I'm a celebrity...well sort of."

Shaking his head in dismay, the man-machine crashes the wall of the warehouse stepping out into the sunlight. As the rays strike the "skin" of his suit, it filters, as though through a prism. Greens, Reds, Blues, Oranges, Violets, Indigos, all the colors of the rainbow sparkle and shine in the light, drawing any eyes near him. As he looks out over the City for the first time, seeing the plumes of smoke, hearing the cries of the pained and sounds of combat, the man-machine seems to smile. Clasping his hands together and jumping up and down. "Yay, must be recess."

 

[The Venerable Jai]

He was just giving them a good show. Truth of the matter is, Shas couldn't care less that the demoness was shredding humans into bite-sized morsels for consumption or just for the sheer bloody fun of it. Of course, Shas did want whatever was left of the Tanar'ri horde gone from Capital City, post haste. Most demons (and fiends) were content to lead quiet lives of more subtle corruptions and destructions, but when a horde came to town, well, it was much like Mardi Gras in Naw'leans, all the freaks came out.

A clutch of unlucky demons sought to take Shas off-guard whilst he taunted (and performed) towards Dezlynxiari. Unfortunately, they had closed very little of twenty-one yards when the ground was inexplicably ripped open and hyper-velocity metal projectiles ripped the demons into a pulpy mess. Shas had barely enough time to use his preternatural speed to avoid a few fist-sized chunks of shrapnel. "A rail gun?" he thought to himself. Such weaponry was not unheard of in Ayenee, but with the superior models left over from the ADF's war with the NDI a few decades back, the local military no longer made use of such outdated...

His keen senses detected a familiar sound. For a while, Shas was obsessed with technological advancements. He'd once owned (and used to great effect) a vibro-sword. The sound he identified was the super-sonic actuators causing an in-set blade to (for lack of a better term) vibrate rapidly, there-by aiding in the cutting of...of what? It sounded as if vibro-blades acted in concert, cutting through stone. But what could...? It was then he remembered. An alternate dimension. A Coalition of States. A suit of power armor that had laser-resistant plating and a unique, giant rail-gun (that, come to think of it, operated more like a coil-gun), affectionately named the "Boom Gun" for the sonic-boom generated by it's firing. The fact that it was underground must've muffled the sound...

The armor was nicknamed "Glitter Boy" for the affect the plating had on it. It literally glittered. But anyone who thought that arguably-comical name and facade was something to laugh about had never seen the damage one could do. A single firing of a Boom Gun could level a skyscraper, even without a direct foundation hit. It was testament to how far beneath the ground the Glitter Boy was that Shas could even manage to dodge the projectiles, or that it left any evidence of the demons it tore through. Still, he wasn't surprised to find a Glitter Boy power-armor still active in Capital City. There were other mecha (employed by the ACCPD) currently crawling the streets, dispatching roaming bands of Tanar'ri. And it's widely known to Model A1GG I-3 "Para-Mech" is a main-stay of the Capital City militia.

Still, it really said something that the destructive capabilities of that out-dated powered-armor and coil-gun were still (distractingly) impressive, even amongst rampaging hordes of demons. Shas returned to battle, disemboweling a vrock and starring down Dezlynxiari.

 

[The_Hidden_Lord]

Roaming the war-torn streets, anarchy surrounding him, the man-machine wanders aimlessly through the City. Taking any side street that seemed to catch his fancy at the moment, he quickly found himself lost in a City he really didn't know where anything was or where he was going, so I guess lost wouldn't be the appropriate term..more bored. The few demons and City militia he found still fighting were not much fun as playmates as they quickly fled after the first few shots from his Boom Gun.

"Man...these guys are such sticks in the mud. Where's the beer, the fireworks, the cake, what type of wedding reception is this?"

As he really tried to grasp what was going on, rounding another corner and coming out into a wide street. Several ACCPD mecha units had a gargantuan hell spawned beast surrounded and were laying into it with a seemingly unending stream of laser and missile fire.

*Finally, somebody with some class.* Thought the man-machine as he made his way towards the fight. "Hey guys!" Hollered the man-machine as he waved his hand towards the other mecha units as he approached them. "Can I play too?"

One of the mecha units broke off from the fighting, a 15 foot tall monstrosity bristling with weapons and armor, using its jump thrusters to cover the distance to the approaching man-machine, the unit landed a bit roughly in front of him.

"Identify yourself." A hollow and metallic voice spoke from within the mecha.

"I'm GB." Returned the man-machine in his carefree sing-song voice.

"Are you with the militia or just here to plunder?" Again the hollow voice asked.

"Uhm...militia sounds dull...lets go with plunder." Replied the man-machine.

"Then you are a threat." And with that the machine leveled its laser rifle and fired point blank at the power armor suit.

As soon as the laser strikes that magnificent shiny skin it refracted and reflected off in several directions at once, causing more damage to the already war torn terrain. "Yeah, lets play punch-for-a-punch." Said the man-machine happily, that enormous Boom Gun pivoting into position in the blink of an eye. "My turn."

"BOOM!" The Boom Gun, yes I know it's redundant but that's what it's called, rang out clearly as the flechette rounds again were propelled from the mouth of his weapon. The brief sound of ripping metal, sparks and smoke began to pour from the chest of the mecha, it's fluids and other life-blood pooling in the street. "Now your turn."

The man-machine waited a few seconds, happy to have a playmate for the moment, until his playmate didn't respond. "Come on, I'm waiting." And it just stood there, smoking and leaking its fluids in the street. The mecha and its pilot added to the piles of dead that already clog the streets of the City as it toppled over, never to rise again. "Its not nap time."

As GB stood over the smoking wreck, the remainder of the squad finished up its work on the abyssal monstrosity, finally noticing their downed compatriot. Ranking back up, the mecha's all took aim upon GB, still standing their waiting. Five in total, they fired their salvos of missiles and laser rifles at the GB. The laser blasts refracting and bouncing off that wonderfully, glittery skin. The missiles striking around and near GB, but none seeming to score a direct hit on the suit of power armor.

"Ooo..you guys wanna play punch-for-a-punch too huh?"

"BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" The Boom Gun rang out five more times, leaving five more hulking mechas with man sized holes in their chests. "Awww...nobody wants to play with me. Oh well, lets go find some ice cream."

And on it strode, where to or where from, it cared little if any, for it was having fun.

 

[The Venerable Jai]

A powered armor that vaguely resembled what the Glitter Boy unit may recognize as a PA-10A ArmaTech "Samurai" class SAMAS strode purposefully into the massacre. It hailed the Glitter Boy for a system-to-system interface for transfer of data. All malignant software scans read the transfer request and the intended package as clean. Should the Glitter Boy unit accept the package, a generic, computer-generated voice intones:
"Uploading File 66-2-GTR...Design specifications for Zero-Point Energy Generator. The Zero-Point Energy generator is a self-sustaining power source far superior to the Anti-Matter energy core currently employed by receiving unit. Modifications of this variety are available in several locations through-out the current coordinates, designated "Capital City, Ayenee."
Uploading File 66-3-GTR...Detailed Map of Ayenee Capital City. Requests that unknown, unindentified unit designated GB destroy the transfering unit upon successful download of intended data files."

 

[Dezlynxiari]

A slender brow perks, her body going still with one wickedly sharp claw imbedded in the bowels of a thrashing young male. Jackpot. She turns to face Shas, the man who had called out to her. However, she had yet to give him a verbal response. Instead, she lifts the man in her grasp, guiding her other hand to cradle his agonized face in her free hand, and brushes her ebon lips against his own. Before the vampire's very eyes, the man begins to convulse, quivering as his hair rapidly begins to gray, his skin beginning to wither and crack from lack of moisture. Within seconds the mummified husk is cast to the side, joining the many that have lost their lives in this night of death and devastation.

Her gaze momentarily deviates to the mechanical monstrosity that had erupted from the ground. Now what could that be? Though she'd never seen armor that glittered in such a way before, she wasn't exactly startled or put at unease by it's presence. Well, it's short-lived presence as it goes roaming off down an alleyway and another street. Odd.

As her eyes return to Shas, somewhere not far away, she could hear the clicks, whirrs, and booms of machinery firing and taking out whatever it was that lay in their path. Other demons, she surmised. Desiree was not familiar with the Glitter Boy unit, thus it's own particularities in sound and possible alignment were waved off as merely another mech to join the fray. It wasn't as though the creation had stopped to bless Shas and herself with it's presence, thus it's existance was not relevant.

Shas, however, was here and it seemed as though he wanted to play. A toss is given to her silvery strands and a shake given to a hand coated in precious scarlet, as if just now she'd realized how positively filthy she'd become in the fray. She might've been a creature of the Abyss, but she wasn't often one to set herself forth as unpresentable.

Oh? Are you so eager to meet your end? Think youself a match for one such as me?

Her voice, though akin to the silk in softness, dripped with pure unabashed cockiness. Perhaps a trait from her father? A bemused smile tugs at the corners of supple lips, gleaming as if freshly glossed. Slow, smooth strides carry her toward Shas as if in acceptance of his challenge.

 

[The Venerable Jai]

"Oh, she's good." Such were the unspoken thoughts of Shas. Under more civil circumstances, Shas imagined he could take advantage of several of Dezlynxiari's more subtle Succubus capabilities. At the moment, she was standing in the way of good public relations opportunities. Ried Shas...always thinking of ways to further his own temporal power. But, he was raised the son of a warrior and a politician. Despite ten millennia of existence beyond such experience, the lessons of his youth remained true: defeat your enemies, court the public's interest, earn their respect if you can or their fear if you can not, and seize the reins of power.

When this was all over, Capital City would honor him as a liberator. By any measure, Shas was an incorrigible villain. But this was scarcely public knowledge, nor opinion. He gave that disarmingly winsome smile to Dezlynxiari. Combined with the hairless, unmarred skin of his adolescent countenance, he truly seemed the picture of idealistic naiveté. To what end did he play up this innocent, perhaps slightly vulnerable artifice? Simple: He knew the Succubus as well as he knew himself. Were not the differences between he and she...trivial? He played the prey now, seemingly the quarry to this damned and beautiful huntress.

"Oh I am exceedingly eager, vixen." He sheathed his sword and called upon the truth of his form. Manicured finger-nails, covered with the grime and blood of countless battle gave way to taloned phalanges. He hooked a finger beneath each of the three quick-release connections that had been added to the torso of his armor. The armor's torso fell from his chest, leaving it bare. It was woefully pale, but virgin skin. The only marks were the jagged vertical line of a scar between his pectorals (the skin atop his sternum) and the x-shaped scar just below the left breast (above the area of the heart). He didn't bother to remove the vambraces, as they offered no hinderance.

Embracing the beast within had left not-so-subtle marks: His eyes were a piercing blue, spider-webbed with lines of lime, instead of the usual blue-green amalgam. "Shall we dance?" His voice had taken the timbre of a lower-pitch, with an echo-like distortion.

 

[The_Hidden_Lord]

*Well now I know where I am.* Thought GB as he goes over the maps transfered by the SAMAS suit. "Well thanks for the info Sam, but I just woke up, not planning on going back to bed right now." Ooo..there's a strip club on the west side of town."

With that realization GB turns on his heel, walking away from the Sam as it opens up with its rail gun on a few remaining demons stalking people through the streets. Its thrusters fire up and it darts down the tight City streets at break-neck speeds, banking and maneuvering faster then a humming bird, because thats what they were designed to do, those SAMAS suits.

GB walked back down the street, turned down the same alley he just came out of and started the trek to this "strip club" he spotted on the digital rendering of Capitol City. "BOOM!" the power armor spoke out again, 50 lbs of metal flechettes ripping through the air and a nearby building, shattering any remaining glass in the vicinity of the shot as the sonic boom spreads out. Falling glass, concrete chunks, and other detritus falls about him, bouncing off his armor but hardly scratching that incredibly hard, molecularly bound skin.

"I'm so good at this demolition stuff, I wonder if I could get paid for it..." mused GB as his picked his way through the debris littered alleyway and making his way back out onto the street. To his right, the center of town and untold devastation. To his left, a hundred yards away or so stood, a naked albino and a vision of beauty. "The strip club must be that way." said GB to no one in particular as he made his way towards the duo.

 

[Lord Scorn DarkTide]

Djarim MaskimXul​

He'd been following her for days, weeks, who knows. A toy discarded, picked up, enjoyed and tossed aside. Like any other girl they lost interest in there toys sooner or later, but if kept around long enough...they always came back.

And that is what he was...a toy. Living yes but a toy none the less. And a toy to her, his desiree.

Infatuated, he couldn't forget, leave or move on. It was impossible. The games they played, the pleasures introduced and the pain inflicted. He was hooked, addicted to a drug in short supply. As short as her attention span.

Perhaps that's why he followed and stalked. He couldn't let a good thing go.

Even the sight of her beautiful physique brought him to attention, made those eyes narrow and his heart accelerate.

Memories of their after dark games that didn't care what the light was like skirted his imagination of what could be.

And this vampire had her, his desiree's attention. Attention he craved, even if he was destined to feel pain, torment and possibly death...It was his desiree's attention!

Why he'd have to put a stop that...no...not now, he'd wait, hide, and bide his time. It would come again, his time that is.

Concealing himself in this city wasn't hard, all this panic and devastation. The creature was used to hiding in shadows and stalking the darkness. He was after all one of the best assassin's bred by the abyss, even if he was a tiefling with thick, almost neon orange hair styled impossibley in the most awkward of spikes and radiating the lightest scent of cinders.

But none of that was required... he watched from plane view, basking through the crowd, he felt a tinge of hope when Scorn went under that building. Perhaps he and his desiree would finally be free?

Of course nothing could hide his presence from his desiree, but as of yet she payed him no mind. To busy he told himself, well he wouldn't interrupt her.

For now he'd watch his desiree and the vampire. Perhaps he could some how pick her interest again and they could continue their games of pain and punishment. Oh how that made his spine tingle, or was that the big mech nearing that made him nervous?

 

[Dezlynxiari]

Did you have a particular dance in mind, stranger? Me? I prefer the tango.

The Lady of Lust's eyes roam over Shas' body - starting from his eyes, then to his neck, his bared torso, and even lower still. He might feel akin to a slab of meat one finds in the local corner grocery store because of this thorough examination of his physical form. Her smile broadens. Did she approve? It was true that the vampire's expression was of a youthful school boy not yet knowing the touch of a true woman or of battle, though one could argue the two as one and the same, those scars and the distinct change in his eyes relay a different tale.

Dezlynxiari's own garb was nearly as lacking as his. Several thin strips of smooth black vinyl wind around a generous bosom, leaving her shoulders and stomach bare. A mini-skirt of the same material hugs the curves of her waist as well as a slim white cord that perhaps serves as a belt. Matching ankle-boots have been well-met by several of the city's fallen denizens as the holes in their bodies give testament to their introduction. The last piece of her ensemble consists of a thick black strap, wound several times over, on her left wrist. Verily, she was not well armored at all.

Click... Click... Click... Crunch... Click... Crunch... Stilleto'd heels resound absurdly considering the amount of screaming and rat-a-tat of nearby machine guns. It wasn't until she was but two feet in front of Shas that she'd cease her steps. Vibrant swirls decoring the inner lining of her wings glimmer as those leathery appendages flex outward briefly and the light, alluring scent of lavendar fills the air surrounding her curvacious form.

As Djarim had surmised, she was well aware of his presence. A play thing? Nay... a dog. A servant to heed her beck and call. Whether he found himself nestled in her arms enjoying a night's foray or on the ground writhing as she flayed his flesh from his bones, he would be there to answer her summons just the same. At this time, however, he was not beckoned to. His person was ignored.

The Glitter Boy unit, on the other hand, is graced with a momentary glance as he rounds the corner and comes back into view. That was the machine that had burst forth from the ground not long ago... and it was heading back this way.

By the by... is that a friend of yours?

A perfectly sculptured brow lifts as her eyes flicker back to Shas. Of course, she meant the man-machine.

 

[The Venerable Jai]

Eyes darting to and fro. Smooth, calculated glances. He drank in the demon's beauty...a vision of loveliness, undoubtedly. Ill-armed and armorless...and still, more dangerous then a fully-armored knight. The school appearence contradicted by the furtive smirk in appreciation to the tango reference. "How appropriate," he thought to himself "A classy version of dry-humping."

The closer she got, the more tense the situation seemed. Generally, succubi didn't bother playing the same games they used on mortals with his kind. They just went straight into the fray, with all the subtlety of a rampaging rhino. He was about to leap, close the distance, and tear into her like an animal when she stopped and posed a question to him. Shas had almost forgotten about the mech. Capital City played host to such a variety of Fortean legions, what was one more out-of-place Glitter Boy?

Appearently a real concern, because the metal man of ultimate destruction was making his way towards the two of them. Immediately, Shas knew things were not going to be as simple as a vampire and a succubus trying
to rip each other into shreds.

"No, my fair temptress, that is definitely not a friend of mine. What that is, I believe, is an incentive for a temporary cessation of our quarrels." The talons slide back into his fingers, his hands returning to normal along with his eyes. "If I were you, demoness...I would run. It's quite possible you'll get far enough away from that slag-slinging gun to be safe. I doubt it, but it's possible."

 

[The_Hidden_Lord]

Whistling appreciatively at Dezlynxiari as he gets closer to the duo. "Hey whitey, hurry up, I want the next lap dance. Looks like that thing could crack walnuts with those legs." GB says towards Ried as his 10 feet of height approaches, looming over the pair.

"And ya don't mind if I video tap this do ya slut? Some freaks pay good money to watch this junk." GB laughs to himself. "Me, I prefer the real thing," GB laughs again as a whistling sound is heard in the distance.

Another trio of mecha's responding to the distress signal fly into view, the trill of their thrusters the first sound heard. At about a quarter mile out, approaching through the streets they open up with salvos of missiles. Nine in all streak through the air towards the man-machine who stands calmly speaking with the pair on his way to the strip club.

"Guess this isn't a bad city if they let the street walkers out during the day." The GB laughs to itself again as the missiles quickly close the distance. Inside the suit the active radar picked up on the three bogies before they locked onto the Glitter Boy suit and opened fire. It immediately had picked up on the nine missiles and was tracking them as the man fused to the power armor suit made casual banter with the stripper and albino.

"Awww...schucks, guess I'll have to wait a little longer before I get any action." GB spins on his heels, turning his back to the pair, the Boom Gun pivoting over his shoulder again and into his hand as the laser sight focuses on the lead missile. I smaller barrel mounted under the main barrel of the Boom Gun erupts to life, a machine gun spitting death at the approaching missiles.

The first explodes, setting off a chain reaction that rocks the city block. GB continues to fire his machine gun into the firey blast, causing a few more eruptions till all the missiles are destroyed mid-flight. The three mechas responding to the ACCPD distress call fly through the dissipating cloud landing, with the two flanking the middle one, the largest one. Some 25 foot tall abomination with the head of skull and two ominous plasma cannons mounted on its shoulders and covered in a thick, black plating. The two smaller mechas, standing just over 12 feet, each carrying a rifle with a under-slung missile launcher easily the size of man.

"Looks like the lady has an audience now," a grin present underneath that metal facade.

 

[The Venerable Jai]

Not stickin' around for this...

"I lead a charmed life..." Shas thinks to himself as suddenly, there's several mechs in formation around the succubus. The odds had suddenly tipped in his favor. Normally, the opportunistic vampire would be pleased by unlikely turn of events, such as these. Unfortunately, these were not just unlikely, they were impossible. The deranged half-man, half-machine Glitter Boy and the other mechs promised nothing good for Shas once they finished doing whatever they were going to do with Dezlynxiari.

As many times before, common sense won out. Shas decided that discretion is the better part of valor. His form broke into wispy, fog-like mist, flowing downward to settle just above the ground and softly flow into the nearest sewer opening. Down his form continued to flow, not satisfied even to coalesce in the dank, putrid, cavernous Capital City sewer system. Instead, he continued to flow until he found himself in the dark tunnels that were natural rock, but unnaturally made by various creatures that lair down here. When he finally reformed, he could look back and see that the entrance he had used was the hole that the Glitter Boy clawed his way out of.

Shas was once again standing in full armor. Though he had shed the chest-plate back above in the streets, he was close enough to it for the enchantment to read it as still attached to him. Such were one of the benefits of one of the many spells woven into his armor: when he took a different shape, the armor was still bound to him. When he regained his normal shape, the armor returned to it's correct proportion and proper place, so long as he was within a five-foot radius of it. It made donning the armor quickly a breeze...especially after those few times now-a-days that he engaged in more human pleasures.

Once again, he began to change form. This time, he was slowly lowering down into a quadruped shape. Covered now by bristly fur and made mostly of shapely, wiry muscles, he exploded into the familiar lope of the predator. Running through the monster-made caverns was less then ideal and far beneath Shas, but he felt no particular reason to stick around and watch the demoness be rent, limb from limb by the various painful accoutrements that were factory-standard in the unmodified Glitter Boy unit. He shuddered to think what death and pain-causing instruments this obviously-modified unit was equipped with.

After a brief run, the flawless sense of location Shas had always possessed told him he was in the place he needed to be in. Again, he shed corporeality and assumed vaporous form, skittering through the cracks and crevices in the rock to escape to the sewers above. And then, he continued to rise, using the familiar access points of storm-drains and manholes to, again, stand upon the streets of Capital City. He found himself standing near Ground Zero for the bard's unique attack. The Kellindil Monument and the surrounding area was utterly decimated. All of those who had been there before were gone. Scattered, as they were, off pursuing their own devices and evil intentions.

Though he had no reason to breathe, Shas inhaled. The musty, dirty wind entered him, still a myriad of disgusting smells. The dead (humans and not), the fall-out, burning buildings...and something more subtle. Hopelessness. The crushing atmosphere of despair. The eau de misère covered and saturated everything and everyone. That lilting, lying melody that the bard issued was the gone, and when it had left, it had taken everyone. And not just everyone...the hopes and dreams of everyone with it. Mostly of the mortal population of Capital City had been taken. The rest were either dead, enslaved, consumed by whatever random force or creature...

It was a good day to die. Shas smirked. "As good as any, I suppose." Remembering the abrasive, yet subtle tongue of the Abyss and all it's minions, he spoke a name. Not just any name, but a true name. He had spoken it once, long ago, and he had died for it. Shas was older now...wiser. He knew the incantation to include in speaking that name which would not only summon the demon, but bind it to his will. This would be no good. He didn't want that creature bound. Shas wanted him filled with ignoble indignation. Shas was ready to make good on his word. The time had come. The time was now.