ic Devil's Journey (IC)

[Supercape]

"By the chains eternal" commanded Pitch at the dog. "Slay them! I command thee!" 

 

Her words rumbled in more than just this world, full of fire and portent. And, she thought proudly, full of a good old fashioned bit of Shakespearian drama. 

 

Pausing but a moment to speak, she brought the Cantos cane down heavily, once more, smashing the skull of another four legged fiend. 

 

"You will all fall!" she swore. 

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

The enchanted mutt did as commanded, and lunged at what it thought was its nearest enemy, only barely missing the other Hellhound. The Hellhounds from the outside persisted with their fire, unable to determine whether they had any effect on their intended target, or if they did hit their intended target at all. Somehow they managed to land on Pitch, but she was once again proven to be immune to their unholy breath of fire. The two demonic wolves at her feet tried lunging at her, and one of them struck true, finding his foe's current location.

 

Heeeeere they coooooooooome! Tazel, having regained some part of his former holistic self, warned Pitch, as the elephants that were stampeding just outside her visual field until a few moments ago, were now visibly gainning ground. Wait a minute, elephants? Sure, they've got the tusks, alright, and the general stature, but these looked off... for one, they looked bipedal. For another they seemed to be adorned in golden rings, bracelets, and purple garb. Also... is that TWO PROBOSCES?!

[Supercape]

Elephants? 

 

This could easily be a stampede. In fact, it was a stampede. 

 

As tough as she was, getting trampled by a horde of infernal elephants was not on today's menu - at least as far as she was concerned. 

 

Turning heel, she waded effortlessly through the stinking smoke and headed for the trees, all the time keeping up the terrible fumes and awful fog around her. 

 

"Hold your nose, Billy!" she shouted, risking her voice. 

 

At least in the trees she would not face a wall of elephants together...she hoped. 

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

Billy did as instructed from afar, while Pitch took her time to run towards the trees for cover. The hellhounds, realizing that the darkness that veiled their sight had been lifted from them, growled angrily at the moving smoke, and they all joined in blasting their unholy firey breaths at the smoke cloud. They were, naturally, unaware once more that they'd managed to do piddly-squat.

 

The Walking Elephants, on the other hand, seemed to have no trouble stomping through whatever trees might have gotten in their way. In fact, as soon as they noticed the inconspicuous smoke move, they altered course, and headed straight towards Pitch's location, their biforked probosces trumping loudly through the hail.

[Supercape]

"Get up the tree, Billy!" yelled Pitch, hoping the dogs and elephants couldn't speak English. "I'm gonna raise hell on earth! I mean..literally, something coming up from the earth!" she cried. 

She hoped she could pull it off, anyway. 

 

In the meantime, some covering fire. 

 

She whipped out her cigarrette lighter and flicked it onto her rifle. The infernal oil caught ablaze, and the assault weapon became even more fierce, growing spikes, smoke and spitting an unnatural flame. 

 

"RAAAARGH!" she cried, as she swept the arena full of hot lead, the rifle pumping out bullet after bullet into the stampeding horde. 

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

As Billy started his long climb up the tree, it seemed that the Hellhounds possessed a one-track mind, intent on pelting the walking smoke area with their unholy breaths of fire, completely unawares that they were not even scratching Pitch's skin, much less melt it off. The rampaging Elephant Ogre, on the other hand, upon witnessing his two fellow demons fell under Pitch's voley of attacks, and nearly succumbing to the same fate himself, stopped right dead on its tracks. Using his twin probosces, he unleashed a gigantic torrent of water that leveled everything on its path. It seemed like Pitch's smoke would suffer the same fate, but in truth, Pitch had little problem resisting the water blast's influence, and maintaining her covering darkness.

[Supercape]

Struggling along, cane clicking against the ground as she limped to the treeline, Pitch made a fist to the air. 

 

"Lets forge something of steel!"

 

Concentrating, she drew on the power of the infernal forge, a realm of smoke, fire, and steel, endlessly, mindlessly, insanely churning away without any known purpose. A power of heat and metal. 

 

And from that awful mad dimension, the ground erupted with churning, whirring spikes and blades and other horrible forms that all had edges and points which could quite easily make ones eyes water if one considered it too carefully. 

 

But, no mercy from Pitch when it came to impaling demons. The ground sprung alive, a sea of steel, replacing the smoke and ash that she had called forth previously. 

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

Metal violently sprung from the ground, impalling two Winged Hellhounds, and almost hurting the Ogre Elephant, but the hulking creature was no worse for wear, its tough skin easily withstanding the cutting force of the blades. However, amidst the horrible noise the blades made, Pitch could hear the soudn of wood being thrashed and sawed off. "Wha?" Came Billy's voice, as he suddenly found the tree he had been climbing up to rocking uneasily. In a next instant, metal sprung out from the ground, and more specifically, from where the roots of the nearby trees had been. This included the tree Billy was up, which, having lost a significant portion of its base stump to the spikes Pitch had summoned, started falling towards the ground.

 

*CCCCCCKRRRRRRRRRRREEEEAAAAACCCKKKKKKK*

 

"AAAAAAHHHHH!! HELP!!!!" Came the panicked voice of the young photographer, as the Winged Hellhounds once more opened fire at Pitch. Once more she was able to effortlessly brush their projectile flames off, but this time, the mutts were able to see what was happening, and would be sure not to repeat the same mistake again!

 

The Elephantine Ogre jumped in order to avoid the spikes, and land with its entire weight on Pitch's head, but he overshot, landing a few feet away, on top of the tree near Pitch, which was also on its way to meet the ground. As soon as the Ogre landed on it, the stump broke and the rest of the tree fell abruptly, making a loud thud, which elicited Billy's cry from the nearby tree. "WAAHAHA!! OH GOD!! PLEASE!"

[Supercape]

Without a second thoughts, Pitch forced the churning metal spikes to the ground, and beyond. She had a nauseated feeling of guilt rise, and she violently swallowed it and repressed it. 

 

No, instead she limped towards the tree, towards Billy. He was to far for her to reach, damn her spine. 

 

"Hold on, Billy!" she roared, smoke and flames flowering from her breath. She feared for the young man poised on splintering wood. Things hung by a fragile thread. 

 

She gave a half turn, propped on her cane, and threw a stream of blistering black tumbling shards of metal at the hellhounds, like a terrible terrible burst from her assault rifle. 

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

Billy held for dear life, when he heard Pitch's shout through the hail and his own screams. "BOSS! I-I-I WILL!" He tried to sound brave, but he couldn't help having his voice crack. "BUT HURRY!"

 

The Hellhounds where growling angrily at Pitch, when she suddenly threw a bunch of magically conjured metal at them. None were prepared for the iron onslaught, and none managed to survive it, disappearing in a blueish flame as they yelped their last. The Ogre Elephant, for his part, unleashed a gigantic torrent of water, aimed at Pitch. The geyser kicked up dirt, discarted metal, and shredded wood, on its way to hit Pitch.

[Supercape]

Far out, man!

 

She may have been rock, she may have been punk, but there was a little hippy in every punk rocker. 

 

Embracing the waves, she let them take her, unresisting. The smoke turned to ash in the water, the fires of her breath snuffed out. And she sped along the torrent, determined, eyes fixed on Billy. 

 

At just the right moment, she reached out, spinning a chain from the infernal forge, the cold black iron snaking its way around the remains of the splintered tree. Muscles powered by infernal fire, she pulled herself through the frothing water to the tree. 

 

"I'm coming!" she yelled through the water and spray. 

[Supercape]

Nelly the Elephant jumped through the air....

 

Mindful of a vulnerable Billy, acutely aware of how wood would splinter when hit by a flying pachyderm, and determined to avoid any explosion of tree and man, Pitch surged forward. She did not fancy unpicking shattered bone and shredded flesh. 

 

It took inspiration, it took force of will, and right now she had it. Reaching deep into the vast and mad space between dimensions, her hands and mind whirling through the bleak space between space, where mad piping music piped, and mad idiot Gods danced, she reached directly to the infernal forge, and pulled. 

 

And so pulling, she drew into the mundane yet exciting earth a sheet of steel, black and smoking, with spindly cobweb limbs stretching through trees, crawling into the earth, and aimlessly through the sky. 

 

A steel cobweb of nails and bolts, a shield, a wall, a buttress. Something between Billy and the elephant...

 

 

Edited May 20, 2016 by Supercape

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

"O-O-OK! I'm hanging, boss! I'm al-" As Pitch had pulled herself towards Billy, the furious elephantine demon stopped the torrential tide of water that he unleashed from his two probosces, kicked the ground a couple of times, let out a ferocious trumpeting noise, and charged furiously at Pitch and Billy, by running and then performing an enormous jump. Witnessing this, Billy freaked out completely. "IT JUMPS!!!"

 

Pitch conjured a mighty steel cage to cover Billy and her and buy them some time, but even that wasn't enough; the makeshift barrier shattered completely under the weight and momentum of the Ogre Elephant, who tore through it as if it were a wall of paper. Shards of steel failed to even put a scratch on the Elephant, who then proceeded to crush Pitch and Billy under its weight. Pitch's quick reflexes covered for her coworker, but she wasn't so lucky, and was driven to the ground as the tree cracked under her feet due to the sheer force of the Ogre's attack.

 

There she lied, battered and bruised, while Billy laid a few feet away, reeling from the shock and the fall, but otherwise ok. This appeared to be the end for the two, then and there, with the Ogre Elephant poised to deliver the coup de grace on the fallen hero, as it raised its arms into the air...

 

... and then roared a scream, as it took a few steps back, recoiling from pain. With the corner of her eye, Pitch noticed something curious... pieces of wood had been sticking out of the Ogre's body, no doubt the splinters created by the destruction of the tree.

[Supercape]

Pitch twitched, feeling her mind grapple to stay awake. 

 

She felt like the mouse trampled by the elephant. 

 

Grunting and dazed, she felt her eyes swim to the demon. For a brief moment, she could only think it looked like a hedgehog, with the splinters of wood decorating it's hide. 

 

But why would such a beast find wood so dangerous? Perhaps this, she reasoned, was its weak spot. She surely hoped so. 

 

"Run...run...Billy...I'll deal with this..." she shouted, or would have shouted, if she had air in her lungs. It came out a sort of mumbled half-shout. Her hand gripped the Cantos cane and she tried to breathe in, and tried to focus her eyes, which seemed to be rolling independently...

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

Billy reeled as he got up, blessing his lucky stars that he wasn't burried under the fallen tree or squished to a pulp under the Ogre's foot. He shook his head in order to get his bearings, when he heard Carmen's frantic shoutings at him. "Boss! I can't just... I mean... right..." he tried to protest, before regrettably agreeing with Carmen's assertion. Here, he was worse than dead weight; not only was his own survival hanging on the edge of a thread, he was an active liability to Carmen. Taking a few unsure steps back, he said this to Carmen, and then turned and ran away for dear life "I-I... I'm sorry, miss Cantoooo!!!"

 

While Carmen was getting her bearrings back, she noticed that the Elephant Ogre still seemed stuck in place, its focus intent solely on removing the foreign object from its neck. As it did so, it let a screeching roar out, as if writhing in intense pain. Looking around her, she noticed that plenty of wood splinters had been scattered around, and although most of them looked barely big enough to prick her own hands, a few splinters seemed to be as big and sharp as stakes. A few branches had also fallen that could be used as makeshift bludgeoning weapons.

[Supercape]

Well, at least he's safe. For the moment. Probably just this moment. But better than not safe at all. And better than squashed like a pancake...

 

It was small comfort, but better than nothing at all. 

 

Grunting herself back to the here and now, Pitch scrabbled around with her hands for one of the pieces of splintered wood. She was in the mood for something bloody and violent. That was demons for you. 

 

Gripping the splintered branch tightly with both hands, the Cantos cane dropped for a moment, and still on her knees, she lunged forward, driving the makeshift stake forward, and to the meaty and infernal flesh of the pachyderm in front of her, to the tune of a basal howl from her throat. 

Edited May 27, 2016 by Supercape

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

Now that Pitch's attention was focused and undivided, she could clearly see that the wooden branch produced an acidic effect on the demon's skin, as soon as it came into contact with him. Indeed, coupled with Pitch's enhanced strength, the branch sliced the Ogre Elephant's foot as if it were made of butter, and then proceeded to open its belly wide open, before exiting right under the lung (at least, right under where its lung pressumably lied), releasing acidic fumes as it did. The demon burst into flames, and turned to ash, mere moments later.

 

Only the enthralled mutt remains, master. Noted Tazel, reminding Pitch of the beast that was left standing, rendered directionless after its master took a trip with the conjured geyser, in order to save Billy.

 

Speaking of whom, Billy was making his way further into the forest, with little sense or care for direction... Right where the stone tablet was directing Carmen!

[Supercape]

Pitch grabbed the Cantos Cane, feeling grubby, hands and knees dirty. Smoke and fire would burn the wood, but the earth would just be ash. 

 

"Fetch!" she commanded the enthralled mutt, standing up and gesturing with the burnt brass cane with its elaborate goats head. 

 

Some little explanation might be in order, of course, to stop Billy being impaled betwixt' ravenous and callous haws. 

 

"Harm him not, fell beast! But stop him!" she added. 

 

"Billy, its safe now!" she shouted at the top of her voice to the young man, and without much, if any, truth. 

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

While Billy was too far and too distressed to pick up Pitch's voice throughout the hail, the Winged Hellhound did as commanded, taking flight and closing the distance between it and Billy in less than 10 seconds. Soon afterwards, the hellish mutt overtook the running Billy, made a U-turn, and landed menacingly in front of the terrified human, who witnessing the demon in front of him, froze completely on his tracks. "S-... St-... Stayback! I-I'm warning you, STAY BACK!!!" He screamed in fear, taking his rifle out and trying to aim it threateningly at the beast.

 

The Hellhound took steps making sure to bar Billy's escape, but not close the distance more than it already was. It looked intendly at the human, and though enthralled by Pitch's cane, its eyes still glowed a pale green, its gaze piercing through the human as if a large snake was eyeing a mouse. It was an effective way of ensuring that its prey would be too paralyzed by fear to try any spasmodic movements.

[Supercape]

Using the Cantos cane as a crutch (despite its infusion of power most infernal, it was rather handy for her in this regard), Pitch struggled forward, feeling rather battered, feeling rather blue. 

 

"Billy! Wait! Don't run!" she called out, expelling smoke and ash from her lungs. Still, exertion had diminished her volume. 

 

"The mutt is under my, err...spell!" she explained. She had no time to debate complex arcane matters with Billy, particularly as she was hardly well versed in them herself. 

 

"Good boy!" she yelled, needlessly, but hopefully as some reassurance. 

 

Quite how long the mutt would remain under her control was another matter, of course. It hardly looked like the strongest of beasts, but she would not be counting on its obedience. 

 

And now, the cave was calling. 

 

"Billy, whatever you do, don't go into that cave. I can feel something pulling. And a cave on this island, swarming with demons, is going to be bad business!" she ordered him. She hoped he would obey, but like the mutt, she could not count on it...

Edited May 28, 2016 by Supercape

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

While Billy's heart was still racing, he took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. He could feel the arteries in his neck throbbing, as they pumped blood eratically. "Is... is it done, boss?" He asked for reassurance. Seeing that she wasn't followed by any more demons, the young man breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god that's over! In between the giant walking pahyderm... thingy and the hungry hellwolves salivating acid from their mouths, I was ready to make my final prayers." He half-joked.

 

Having finally calmed down, Billy listened to Carmen's warning not to go to the cave. The truth was, that it was still quite a bit of ways till there, but he agreed that things seemed to get progressively more dangerous the deeper they went into the forest. In fact, the way ahead of them was becoming congested with trees, towering all the way into the heaven, while their roots seemed to cover almost the entirety of the ground, as if they were competing against each other. The light was being contracted, bended, and twisted, as it passed through the few openings the trees left. No Bicycle was making its way through there. On the bright side, however, it seemed that the magical Hail was weakening in this area, no doubt the result of the trees blocking it from its course.

 

"So, now what?"

[Supercape]

Pitch pondered for a moment, but the truth was the fire in her blood and her sense of urgency would not allow the matter to be mulled over for long. An itching frustration was her disease, and she was burning with it. 

 

"To the cave. For me, at least" she said, holding the stone for inspection. 

 

"Its pulling me there. Perhaps it is malign, perhaps not. But whatever road, whatever fate, I am going there. I cannot turn from this. I would always wonder what was down the hole. As Alice would say". 

 

She tucked the stone away. 

 

"But this one, you better sit out. Keep watch. Play cards. Have a smoke. Whatever your fancy. Just be careful. Don't go down the cave unless you have to..."

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

"Right, then. I'll, uhhh, find some place to hide then, miss Canto." Billy replied, as he wearily eyed the winged warg that was patiently waiting for its command. "What about, ummm, him?" he then added, indicating the enchanted wolf. "Will you be taking him with you? ... Please?" He forced a weak smile.

 

Let's take the mutt with us, master! It's not like the doofus is in any REAL danger on his own, now, hehehehe... Tazel spat smirkedly to Pitch. Then again, the longer the time passes, the weaker the devilcane's hold on it becomes. Who knows how long we'll be gone... and if the hold doesn't sever on a most inopportune moment! A veritable Scylla and Harybdis situation. Go back and risk wasting more time trapped in this closed circle! Take the cretin with you, and put him in worse danger than the four humans before combined. Leave him here unguarded, and risk him becoming prey to the wild demons wandering the island. Leave the watchdog behind with him, and hope you're back before it wrests control back to itself.

[Supercape]

You insufferable piece of manure! You always underestimate me...you see, there is another solution....

 

Pitch was well aware of the crumbling nature of any binding. No doubt her infernal father was more skilled with his cane than her. After all, he had bound Tazel with unbreakable bonds for decades, even past his own death. 

 

She had no intention of letting the mutt break free at an horribly inconvenient time. On another day, when she was not looking out for Billy, when she had not let somebody die on her watch. Maybe. But today, right now, not on the menu. 

 

Circling behind the bound beast, out of its sight, she brought up her Rifle, and unleashed a stream of lead into its head and brains...

[Vahnyu]

GM Post

 

The beast waited patiently for Pitch's orders, ignoring its surroundings and even its survival insticts, as Pitch circled around it and into its blind-spot.

 

*BANG*

 

Even as the sound of the rifle firing reached its ears, it held no meaning to it. Only the words of its master mattered. A yelp was heard, soon followed by flying bits of the hellhound's head's remains, all of them evaporating in the air in a blue flame, along with the rest of its body. There had not been birds and animals flying in retreat at the sound of the shot; they'd been long gone from the area.

 

Billy realized what was coming, and had steeled himself, but even then he couldn't help but jump in surprise at the macabre spectacle. "Jesus Christ!" he screamed, taking an involuntary step back. "You sure don't hesitate with that trigger, boss." He commented.

 

Tazel, meanwhile, was partying inside Pitch's brain, ignoring her previous thoughts.

 

And the stone tabled beckoned still.