Episode 2 - Scene 6 "The Demon's Dark Abode"

Pri gripped his arm tight as she led him to their destination, her eyes half-open as she struggled to retain whatever memories she'd gleaned from her spell. Valentine couldn't begin to understand the specifics of the magic, though he hoped he would in time. As they walked, he said nothing, so as to avoid breaking her concentration. Instead, he lingered on his thoughts of her. The mage had called them fated lovers, he'd seen it somehow. Valentine was not one to run from destiny and his thoughts had certainly strayed into lust from time to time but it was still an idea he found hard to accept. He'd never had a girlfriend, he'd never felt the need. The rational side of him told him that it would be a complication, a distraction.

The Beast, though, it hungered. It demanded a mate. For now, he needed to keep his wits about him. Being controlled by his lusts seemed more like the fate of his parents or, more darkly, of this demon. He wondered how it felt for him. Had Harnarax ever wanted to defy his baser urges? Was he a **** to them or their master? The Beast promised Valentine freedom and power but what good was freedom if it meant only following one's instincts and never taking any time to think things through?

'You seem lost in thought,' his guide said, dragging him back to reality.

'Are we close?' he asked, mostly to avoid her probing.

'Yes, can't you feel the energy?'

He noticed it as soon as she said it, an unnatural warmth in the air. 'I can feel it,' he said, as they came off the beaten path, through the woods, to a strange facsimile of suburbia. Its neighbours were all a little off, out of proportion and obviously unsuitable for habitation, but the demon's lair was unmistakable once it came into view. Amidst the overgrown trees and vines, with black leaves and black barks, was a small mansion that crackled with demonic energy. Before any of them had a chance to stand in awe of its white stone exterior, a girl's screams rang out.

'Stacey!' one of Lydia's friends called out, as a blonde girl wearing the same gown that Hannah had been wearing, though not as darkened by dirt, came rushing through the grounds. In the distance, Valentine spotted a man lingering at the front door. He bolted forward but, as soon as the demon met his gaze, he locked himself inside. Soon, the girl had run into the arms of her schoolmates. She was wild-eyed, terrified and screaming. It unnerved him far more than he'd have assumed it would. He couldn't help but imagine Pri in that state, running from him if he ever gave in fully to the Beast. The fact that the scent of magic and sex that pervaded the area was stirring the spirit within made him feel ill.

Before he could get any closer to the building, it pulsed with energy that came out in a wave, blowing harshly through the trees and almost taking him off his feet. After that, the mansion rose up, tearing out its own foundation, high into the air, held aloft by a cascade of magical energy represented by harsh stormy beams of red, pink and purple light. 'What do we do?' he called back to Pri.

'I don't know,' she whined. Stacey had not yet calmed down. 'I guess we need to just get back to headquarters. Mum will know what to do.'

It didn't feel right at all, just to leave, but he couldn't think of a better plan. He had a few memories of bounding across large distances but they were memories of the Beast, times when a Lionheart had been entirely subsumed by the monster inside. Part of him wanted to go down the route, of course, but he had just enough control over his thoughts to restrain himself. The Beast did not appreciate that at all and, as they walked back to headquarters, it simmered with rage.

Once they were about halfway there, they were inevitably met by another pseudo-golem. Stacey screamed when it looked at her. Though she'd done pretty much nothing but scream and cry since they'd found her. Josh went for his sword but the Beast would not let that happen. Involuntarily, Valentine let out a roar that caused the golem to spasm, convulse and burst apart. He turned his head back too quickly after that and showed the traumatised girl his cat's eyes. Horrified beyond belief, she tried to flee but her peers took hold of her and tried to calm her down.

Lydia shot him a look of confusion and disappointment, whereas Joshua's face barely disguised his seething anger. Priyanshi, however, seemed overtaken by another emotion altogether. As his human mind resumed ownership of his faculties he said, 'sorry,' quietly.

Notes:

I began this scene with the expectation that they would confront the incubus, likely bringing the session to a close. I had rolled the villain's lair before the session started, though my specific rolls on the "Domicile Descriptors" meaning table were 27 for "different" and 42 for "home," which was really not helpful at all. Anyway, I rolled a 4 against the Chaos Factor, leading to an interrupted scene.

Rolling a 63 on the random event focus table **** me to "move away from a thread," which effectively extended the session. Now, I have three threads going: the literal Monster Of The Week, the Valerie Dubois storyline and the third (a secret that will help us later). I didn't bother rolling against them, however, because the only thread of any relevance is the one literally right in front of the characters. So, then the random event rolls did that same weird thing where they almost seemed to want me to play the scene as expected, giving me a 6 for "arrive," and a 9 for "building." Like, they arrive at the building. Well, yeah, they literally do, that's what I was planning.

Anyway, a 50 on the descriptors table got me "helplessly," which is a lot better, and a 17 for "damaged." Then, I rolled for a character because I'd decided to have them find an escaped girl, so that they had more of a reason to just pack up and leave. Rolling a 40 on both rolls got me "frantic," twice over, which I determined to mean that the girl they found would be hysterical, and that's when the scene with her freaking out about Valentine, specifically, entered my head because I don't think there's anything particular outrageous about a teenager who just escaped from a monster's breeding chamber being really upset and needing more than a few minutes to calm down.

Anyway, I wrote it up during the session as: They "arrive" at the "building" but the foundation has been "damaged," rendering them "helpless." An escaped girl is horrified and "frantic," effectively inconsolable.

The foundation being damaged by having the whole thing literally rise out of the ground, preventing them from accessing it, was quite a stretch but nothing else was really coming to me. To cap things off, since the characters were explicitly stymied, I raised the Chaos Factor back up to 7.