“Uh....” Andy said, looking about the dungeon and between Ivan and Penelope as they stared at one another.
Even Myrn was giving them both looks now.
Ivan let out a breath through his nose and conjured his scroll. He was surprised as it appeared in a blaze of ghostly blue gray fire, the sheet rolling out like a velvet roll of black silk, and running with brilliant purple script. He stared at that for a moment, and then called to confirm what he had suspected happened while he had been more focused on other things.
His sudden intuition on Penelope he keyed him into it besides.
Congratulations! You've Gained the Hell Speaker Mystic Job after becoming a Level 5 Occult Ritualist! Your Astral Spark has bound itself to this Job! Congratulations!
Congratulations! You've become a Level 5 Occult Ritualist by defeating a Minor Dungeon Boss with your Summoned Familiar!
Level 5 Occult Ritualist Skill: Empower Summon: Use your own mana to temporarily boost your summon power level beyond what you can normally maintain. Costs mana over time, and the cost is variable based on desired effect. This ability can be used to enhance healing and recovery factors as well as enable your more powerful familiars access to jobs outside your current rank for a limited time!
Level 5 Occult Ritualist Perk: Grave Keeper Mystic: You are the master to a Pathfinder Demon! Their strange presence and role in death and afterlife give your aura a faint feel of divinity like a low ranking priest before he becomes an arrogant prick or friendly and charismatic rural pastor. Your Astral Spark has bonded with this skill, and may lead you to learning some of their magic if you try. Your charisma has an increased effect on these creatures and ghosts with enough sanity to do so may reach out to you and your familiar to find peace!
Hell Speaker Mystic Level 1 Skill: Hell Speak: You may now commune with nearly all creatures and spirits of hell. Be they demonic, ghostly, or ghastly, they will hear and understand you, and still probably just scream back at you.
Hell Speaker Mystic Level 1 Perk: Warlock Wannabe: You've been summoning demons, and that's just great...just fantastic...really... This perk makes you better at that. Plenty of folks at the Infinite Library are demons....technically—but just be careful now mmkay?
E.I. You lose less maximum mana per summoned creature bound to you, and deal more damage with black magic for each demonic creature you have bound to you at any time.
Hell Speaker Mystic Attribute Perks: You will gain Large Bonuses to Intelligence and Charisma with each level of his job, and minor bonuses to all other attributes.
Congratulations! You've gained a Perk through Special Actions!
Your Familiars have single-handedly killed a Minor Dungeon Boss!
With Bonds Stronger Than Blood: This perk empowers your familiars, and each of the ritual bonds forged between you and them. You'll gain insights into their nature, and understand them better as well.
Ivan stared at the scroll for a moment, an eyebrow slowly lifting and a small smile spreading across his face. He knew his Basic Information skill reached into the Infinite Library, that great magical dimension that the followers of Halspus used to catalog and retrieve information. There was a level of intent required to retrieve every little bit of information, sort of like forming any sort of spell thereby changing its shape, but Ivan's skill descriptions were only getting more and more casual in nature.
He sighed at it and then dismissed the conjured scroll, and as he looked up at Penelope to tell her he could already feel her aura keying onto the subtle change of mana between them. The Astral Spark's bonding and the perk effects would kick in more clearly now that Ivan was aware of them. Some effects were more obvious, but others sometimes took those without Scribes inspection skill or some other means of self reflection to meditate first before effects like level ups and earned Jobs made themselves known. Sometimes people just slept and knew they had advanced when they woke up. It really depended on how one trained, or didn't.
“Are you happy now Marvin? Is there anything else of mine you'd like to expose?” Ivan asked, his voice carrying a little venom as the Shroud settled about Ivan. Before Marvin could answer Ivan spoke again.
“I was going to talk to you. --All of you! Especially you Marvin who I let see more of my own self inspection than even Myrn. I wanted to trust you, but you've only made that harder now! But there's not much else I can hide, not anything else but my ambition, and the little details of my life!” Ivan snarled, and as he said it he felt as petty and as ill tempered as it sounded.
His self control was being used elsewhere, keeping his feet rooted to the ground, and away from Marvin’s throat.
Myrn and Penelope watched him, both concerned, and watched the other two for reactions. Andy looked worried in a general sense, and was looking between Ivan, Marvin, and Davian. His eyes would drift to Myrn and Penelope at her back now and then too. There were still clear dividing lines in the group.
Marvin's face twisted into an angry expression for a moment before it calmed. Then he gathered himself and crossed his arms. He looked over at Penelope, and back over at Ivan.
“I guess I understand why you couldn't tell us from the start. But I guess what bothers me is why 'The Paladin' of Istania would turn to black magic in the first place. How did you know where to turn to begin?” Marvin asked, his voice considerably softer than it had been.
“Ivan please...” Myrn added quickly, seemingly unbothered by Penelope's presence behind her. She even reached up and touched Penelope's hands. “I'm with you...all the way from here, even if we have to go alone, but I have to know too. I know you've said some little before, but it's strange, and there's so many rumors around, spread by Theadus's forces. Things like Istania had planned some kind of demon invasion, that there was evidence of her people working bridges between worlds, and signs of demonic magic in her temples from time to time that were washed away with potent cleansing magics.”
Her voice and eyes were pleading, and Penelope's gaze was thoughtful and contemplative beside her. Ivan looked at the two and instead of giving into his gut reaction of anger braced himself to recall those moments yet again.
It was a fight. There was a haze of pain around the maddening impulse of rage that had come with the Goddess's death, and that of his friends and family during the attack. But after a few long moments in the strange quiet of the dungeon he worked his way through his memories and back to that moment. Back when he had first made the decision to break into the capital vault.
“I was angry...” Ivan said dully. “So angry...that Theadus had taken Tanya, and my family from me.” He continued in a whisper as he remembered.
“I remembered something the Goddess had said a long time ago when I was pretty young. When I first had gone to the capital with her, and asked too many questions for my own good. She knew I would get my answers one way or another, asking until I found out something, asked the wrong person, or found the wrong answers, so she showed me. Everything was warded and shielded and we walked with a dozen priests at our sides, but I remembered what she said.”
“Like anti-venom, and when making vaccines with powerful alchemy...there's an art to knowing your enemy, even if that enemy is a monster that lurks in the night. Secrets and remedies that can only be learned by using the venom, the sickness itself, as part of the cure.”
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Ivan pulled the ancient tome, the Grimiore of Valhalzabub, from the Shroud as he finished speaking.
“In this book the Goddess who raised me claimed there were rites and rituals to summon the darkest and most dangerous beings of Hell, and of worlds beyond. With this book I can contact things from beyond our reality and trade away my soul for power, but instead I've made them a deal. I barely remember making it. I was still so angry when I made it, but it's rather simple if you cut out the little details.”
Marvin and the others stared at Ivan as he spoke. He could feel their focus upon him through their aura's and through Taps Upon the Web now that he was settled enough to use the skill once more. Ivan didn't bother to wipe the tears that had been running down his cheeks, and stood straighter as he prepared to say the words out loud to others for the first time.
“I have sworn a pact to one day kill Theadus, the Lord of Light with my own hands. When I offer up his soul to the Court of Hell my bargain with them will be complete from my end.”
His words hung in the air for a while, and he let out something of a only half sane peel of laughter. Ivan's eyes shone, something unhinged showing in his gaze as he looked around at all of them.
“I will become a Demon Lord, and join their court thereafter. Though it's hardly that simple. I can't just kill a God with a simple bargain. I need to train. I need allies. I need to kill every mother's son of Theadus's followers I can get my hands on and offer them up to demons to raise my levels.” Ivan said, something in his aura cackling with malice that made expressions turn pale before he swayed somewhat drunkenly. His expression softened to something that could only be described as entirely heartbroken.
“And the only reason I'll do it...is to make a world where people like my family are safe from harm. We'll build the nation starting with one town, or just one little village of us. Penelope and I will find demons that each of you can bind, summon, and commune with on your own. They'll be your guides, and each of you my first lieutenants—My...my friends... They will watch over you like ancestor spirits of old, minor guardian deities bound to each line, that will grow in power as your families prosper, and your little ones--” Ivan said, his voice breaking as he tried to go on. “And they'll be there...always be there for the little ones...”
He suddenly sobbed, unable to see through his own tears, as his mind filled with images of Jen and Ral's faces, and of imaginings of the children he might once have had with Tanya. He thought of Istania, and her own promises, and the rage that had filled her final thoughts, screamed through the sparks she had gifted to so many of her kind hearted followers. Rage that had driven them mad, mad enough to fight a god back from their city. The thoughts were too much to bear, but he kept speaking regardless.
“I'll make sure that everyone...that everyone has a place to belong. That a guide can be found, and a home made for them so they can never be lost. --Work-- There will be work to be done with a purpose that serves everyone. --To be proud of-- People to care for...food to grow, and land to work... Dungeon monsters to fight, to give gold, and crafts material...offerings for demon kind...” Ivan went on, barely able to speak as his pain, as his anger, and sorrow merged into being with the dreams he had once had and the new reality he faced.
He would need to fight, and fight, and fight for that reality to become real, but he would make it so. If he had to wade through rivers and seas of blood and bodies to get to Theadus; It would be done! He tripped over his own feet and barely caught himself on his hands unsure of when he had even started walking. His hands slammed into the stones and for a moment everything was just too much.
He missed Tanya's laugh, her gentle presence, and the gentle warmth of her companionship so much that he wished he was dead; and the thought of not seeing what his two squires grew up to be was a pain so great that he struggled to breathe on top of that.
His heart beat, and his lungs fought for air all the same regardless of his heart ache. His tears stained the foggy brown tile pavers of the courtyard beneath him, and snot ran from his nose like he was nothing more than an upset child. His limbs shook and he coughed miserably, given finally to the grief he thought dealt with or properly hidden away. Still it flooded out of him, unrepentant, and just as real as when he had first felt his world coming apart around him.
“Now I'm losing it. Losing it all again!” Ivan said, his words barely able to be understood, as he tried to gather his anger, and as he tried to pull himself to his feet to act, or fight, or just to do something.
He slipped again and fell to the ground once more, not thinking enough to keep his feet under him before he tried to move too quickly for his own good. He tried again more slowly, growling, and ready this time. He was ready to strike out with his anger, to cast them aside, and move ahead on his own. He didn’t need anyone but Penelope and Azalea.
But hands found his wrists, his arms, and his shoulders first.
He looked up, feeling startled, not in control enough to use his aura or perception abilities to tell who had come to his side.
Andy. Myrn. Davian. And Marvin. Each of them crouched at his side, each having listened to his words, seen him fall, and come close. Their auras were not one single mass of cohesive concern ready to take up his cause as their own and delve into the darkness alongside him, but they were there. -And a clear understanding of their own shown in each of their expressions.
Penelope hovered nearby, still standing, and with her arms crossed under her breasts as she looked over each of them. She watched with a soft and cool expression as Ivan's friends helped him to his feet.
“--We can't fight him alone.” Ivan babbled, trying to look at each of their faces too quickly to get a good look.
His anger went up in mist, replaced by hope he didn’t dare embrace.
“We know Is-- Ivan...” Marvin said, mostly growling before correcting himself and his tone of voice.
“--They'll have his sparks, weapons, and specially crafted magics. Without something to match them--” Ivan went on, his voice pleading, his hands gripping desperately at his friends wrists and hands as they held him up.
“Ivan... We know... We all... We all know..” Myrn said gently, taking his arm into something of an embrace.
“The Title jobs alone will be hard enough to best if we take them on one at a time, or if we're against his armies...we'll have to-- If the other gods won't-- there has to--” Ivan stammered, looking to each of them, and seeing reluctant understanding in each of them, and something else.
He stared at each of them, one at a time, even Davian and Myrn. Each held a somewhat hopeless gaze in their eyes; a look of shame that was also reflected in their auras as they continued to hold him up. And he suddenly realized that they had been trying in spite of already giving up any real hope of succeeding against Theadus. All of them had reason to hate the God of Light themselves, but they had given up. They knew they could not stand against him or his forces without another god in their corner to back them with gifts, sparks, and equipment blessed by their own priests.
Maybe each of them had simply had a thought to make enough money here to explore, to become neutral party adventurer's bound only to service through conquest of the dungeons that would either challenge them, or whose native populations could hire them to clear out. Maybe in their own thoughts and minds it would be enough to live part of the dream, to explore, and do what good in the world they could manage. Ivan hadn't ever asked what they had planned for the future beyond that they had all wanted to become stronger, that they for whatever reason, shared an ambition to grow and become more than what they were.
He looked at each of them now, and saw that in some way each of them envied him a little. Though he despaired, he showed them now that he had never given up even if it had brought him along a much darker path than he might have wanted. Penelope’s display of power, her show of guidance with Azalea too, probably factored into all of that.
They looked at him, meeting his gaze, and glanced back at Penelope. Penelope smiled at them warmly, though something of a small pained expression showed on her face for just a moment, and she suddenly seemed very, very old. But her vitality returned again, her purple eyes shining brightly as she grinned once more.
“You stand at a crossroads. People who live in such times always face these decisions. To live as they have, or as they would, regardless of what has happened, or to change, and to do what was once unspeakable. To embrace change, and to take its reins for power, for glory, or for the stability of the world and its people. That is the choice mortals who live in such times face. To rebuild what was laid down before, or to attempt something new, grand, and strange. That is what you must decide, with time, but Ivan has already made his choice. Will you be there with him all the way, to guide the world, and him, or will you stand aside to simply watch, or do your best to trip up his feet?” Penelope asked, her words both advice, and something of a warning as she stared each of them down.
It was clear in her aura now that they knew his secret, his ambition, and to betray that trust would put an end to her being friendly. Everyone seemed to understand that pretty clearly. Davian and Andy gulped, but Marvin seemed resolved.
His hand, like one of the iron vices he used for smithing, was locked in a shared embrace with Ivan's right hand. He squeezed Ivan's hand getting his attention.
“I was really only upset about you holding back is all. I didn't know. I—get serious about these kinds of things, the dungeon and whatever. We could have gotten hurt, and you've got two demon girls ready to throw all sorts of crazy magic into the fights you haven't told us about. The demon thing is awkward, but it wasn't really my biggest concern I swear.” Marvin said, pulling and gripping Ivan's arm as if it would help him to better understand.
Ivan stared at him, and could only laugh in response for a moment.
“That's what got you?” He managed, at last.
“Well...- yeah!” Marvin replied with a bit of sheepish glance at Penelope.
“I'm curious how she knows about my...well my thing...” Davian said, patting Marvin and Ivan both on the back.
Everyone gave Davian a bit of a look, but nodded.
“We'll figure that out too.” Ivan promised.
Everyone murmured something of agreement or nodded or the like at that.
“Good..good because...well because I can't talk about it, and well it – It sucks!” Davian growled, his face a bit pale.
Everyone chuckled, but there was support in the few gestures that made it through the tangle. That got everyone laughing a bit more. The tension had almost entirely faded. Penelope grinned, and then giggled before throwing herself over Ivan, Myrn, and most everyone else if one counted her wings in the hug.
“There's time for all this and more later.” Penelope said, her voice silken and filled with happy energy.
“For now we best get to making each one of you richer and stronger by clearing out the rest of the maze. What do you say? Together? We can arrange a long hunt on the next difficult contract outside the dungeon and have a good long talk around the fire one of these lovely nights and I swear, on my Divine Spark, that I will answer all your questions to best of my ability to make sure that each of your are comfortable in continuing on with Ivan and I.”
The group looked to Penelope, and either taken in by their charms or not one by one their faces turned to her and gave signs of agreement to that much at least. Penelope grinned all the more for it, and her wings practically shook with excitement.
“Now…Let’s rip up this dungeon…” Penelope purred.