Episode 2 - Scene 4 "Along The Lane"

'You can feel it in the air, can't you?' Tanvi asked. She'd brought a rod with her, just in case, but the Beast could follow the trail of a magical construct, especially one this fresh, with ease.

'Yes,' he said, hoarsely, as the air seemed to flex around him. Her daughter likely did not know why Valentine was having such a hard time wielding the Sword of Kings but she did. He was clearly trying to suppress the animal spirit. So, his inexperience with handling magical objects, combined with the fact that the sword shared such a strong connection with the Beast, was causing those reactions.

'Lead on, then,' she said, commanding, and Pri shot her a look of annoyance. It was hard to miss that the girl was besotted. As they walked along the busy street, she noticed her daughter struggling to keep pace with him. She let herself dwell on the notion. It was not uncommon for the Chosen One to attach himself to his guide, romantically, and if he'd truly dreamed of her then, perhaps, it was fated. Bucking fate was generally a very bad idea. Still, he did not seem to return her feelings, so perhaps she was set for heartbreak. Of course, the real heartache would come when he died. Tanvi could count on one hand the number of times throughout history, that she knew of, that the Chosen One had been able to live a long and happy life.

Their journey took them into the suburbs and eventually caused Pri to cry for some respite. 'Alright,' the Lionheart said, his tone even and unreadable. 'Let's talk about what we're up against, whilst we rest.'

Tanvi took up a position on a nearby bench, alongside her daughter, but Valentine remained standing. 'The obvious answer is a mage,' she said, 'it would be the best explanation for the creation of these pseudo-golems but the girl's predicament suggests something fouler.'

Valentine's eyes narrowed at that, 'are mages unlikely to commit such crimes?'

Tanvi shook her head, 'mages are just people, as likely to perform evil deeds as anyone else. However, mages are not as common as monsters. The girl described someone who, yes, apparently looked like a human, though many types of monster can disguise themselves, but put her at ease whenever he walked into a room. Despite her captivity, and her eagerness to escape whenever she had time to think, she could only ever feel warm towards him when actually in his presence.'

'Is that not a feat a mage could achieve?'

Tanvi shook her head again, 'well, theoretically, a mage could do pretty much anything. However, it would be pretty exhausting and likely very expensive, in terms of materials, to cast such a spell, especially as often as he would need to.'

'He couldn't make such a spell permanent?'

'He could but that would indicate a level of magical proficiency that would make cages and pseudo-golems seem pretty stupid. I don't think we should rule anything out but my view is that we are looking at a devil or demon of some kind.'

The notion seemed to disquiet him and he asked no further questions. Pri did speak up, however, 'don't worry, demons fear the Beast.'

He furrowed his brow, 'why?'

The girl melted under his gaze, and Tanvi realised that her daughter was much more than smitten. 'Uh, well, demons are just spirits. Powerful and malevolent, sure, but just spirits at the end of the day, and the Animal Spirit is like the king of the jungle, where spirits are concerned. Obviously, once they're made flesh, it's not as though the Animal Spirit can just reach out and consume them but the instinctual fear remains.'

She was pleased with the soundness of the explanation and gave Pri a reassuring nod when she looked to her. 'It's true. When we confront him, we'll know for sure.'

'He told the girls about me, why did he do that? Especially if he's a demon. If he's so afraid of me, why point them in my direction?'

Tanvi could think of a few explanations, 'obsession, vanity, mania, the list goes on. Demons are driven by extremes of emotion.'

Valentine was not convinced, 'but he came here. It can't be a coincidence.'

'When the Chosen One is called, many monsters feel it. Some come in hopes of striking him down whilst he is at his weakest, others come simply to keep tabs on him or even to misdirect him. Then, there are those who come simply because they feel compelled to do so. I'm not saying that we should underestimate him or discount the possibility that he has a plan to defeat you but, certainly, not every creature that arrives in this town, over the years, will want to fight you.'

He said no more but she could tell her words had not moved him. Seeing it too, Pri spoke up. 'Even if he expects to fight you, there's nothing he can do. His pseudo-golems shatter when you show them the slightest glimpse of the Beast. Whatever spell compels those in his presence to treat him well will not affect you.' She stood up and looked into his eyes, and Tanvi could see at least some level of acceptance flash across his face.

'Are we going, then?' he asked, simply, and she rose in response. The journey eventually took them to a quiet, well-to-do, neighbourhood of white picket fences. Once they'd arrived at their precise destination, a lovely blue three-storey house with a number forty-two on its door, it was not only the Beast that could sense the magic. Otherwise unassuming, the place pulsed with magical energy. It was enough that even the occupant's neighbours had likely noticed it, though they wouldn't have the words to describe it. The air felt cool and sharp and the ground seemed to vibrate ever so slightly. 'This can't be where the girl was being kept. She described coming from the south, first of all, and she said there were lots of trees in the backyard.'

This house had exactly one tree, it towered over the structure and was being quite brazenly being used to grow magical fruits. 'Well, the golem came from here,' she said, 'so, perhaps the girl's captor owns two properties.'

Valentine shrugged before heading up to the front door. Tanvi readied her rod and Pri pulled out her wand. 'What can I do for you, good sir?' A man's voice called out as the door opened. He sounded energetic and looked to be in his fifties.

'We traced the path of a pseudo-golem back here,' Valentine announced, 'it was sent after a girl who'd been kidnapped, to bring her back to her captor.'

'Oh, yes,' he said, seemingly unfazed by the accusation, 'I did see one of them wander off this morning. It's on loan, at the moment.'

'I destroyed it.'

Again, the strange old man, with a mess of curly white hair, black-rimmed circular spectacles and a patchy salt-and-pepper beard, did not seem fazed. 'That's a shame. I'll have to recoup the cost from the client. I know he's good for it.'

Valentine had become visibly frustrated by this point, 'are you going to explain why you loaned a magical construct to a kidnapper and ****?'

The man feigned offence at that, 'I'm afraid I'm not responsible for the activities of my clients. Though I don't think Harnarax is a ****.'

Harnarax. 'A demon?' Tanvi piped up, the name would fit.

'Oh, hello, madam. You can put down that magic rod, I assure you it would do you no good. And, yes, Harnarax is a demon, an incubus to be exact.'

'Nonsense, incubi do not kidnap their victims.'

'Why don't you all come inside? We can discuss the details without my nosy neighbours overhearing us.'

Ordinarily, accepting an invitation into a mage's domain was an extremely dangerous, and stupid, thing to do. However, she knew that the Lionheart could make mincemeat of the man, and he likely knew it too. 'Alright,' she said and they went inside. The interior of his home was sleek and modern, filled with gadgets and gizmos. She assumed it was a flex as much as anything, to have so many electrical goods in working order despite the wild magic running through the property. They sat down at the kitchen table for a cup of coffee, though Valentine refused to drink.

'So, what exactly is all the fuss about and what do you want to know?'

Valentine was on edge, 'I want to know where this demon is so that I can free his victims and place him under arrest.'

The mage laughed at that, 'wow, you girls sure picked a winner, huh? I find your sense of nobility oddly endearing. It reminds me of a Dragonheart, whatever-his-name-was. He was far more imperious than you, however. Anyway, I can't tell you where he's set himself up. If I knew, I'd have insisted that he keep the golems at his own place. It would leave me with more storage space and they'd have done their job much better.'

'But why's he doing this?' Tanvi asked, 'it's so out-of-character for an incubus.'

The man took a long sip of his coffee and let out a satisfied gasp before responding, 'supposedly, he's building an army. I don't really buy that, though. An army of babies, even cambions, is not very impressive, unless he plans to wait, what, fourteen or fifteen years, realistically, to have anything to show for it. It's possible, I guess, but I actually think he's just planning a ritual mass sacrifice. He probably didn't want to tell me, given how distasteful it would sound.'

'I've heard enough,' Valentine snarled, disgusted, 'this is a waste of time.'

Pri grabbed onto his arm, reflexively, to try to calm him down and Tanvi could see a look of recognition pass through the wizard's mind. 'Oh, wow, fated lovers,' he said, giddily, confirming her own suspicions, 'that's exceptionally rare. You two could make quite the power couple.'

Her daughter's face went red but Valentine's remained stony. 'We need to find this demon and stop him.'

'Oh, you've got at least nine months of leeway. He told me he was picking up a girl this morning, and that's even assuming she's the last.'

'Where?'

The man merely shrugged, causing Valentine to storm out. Pri ran after him like a puppy but Tanvi lingered behind. 'The Society could use someone like you. You wouldn't have to sell your services to monsters.'

He grinned as he showed her the door. 'Thank you for the offer, but your Royal Society,' he said, mocking her accent, 'is far too strict in its code of conduct. Call on me again, if you're ever interested in acquiring my services, or even if you'd just like another chat. Ta ta, now.'

'We have to find out where he took his latest victim,' Valentine said, almost as soon as she left.

'We will. If a girl was taken today it'll be in the news soon enough.'

'What can we do in the meantime,' he said, not missing a beat.

'We can head back to headquarters. There's a lot of research we could be doing now that we know he's an incubus.'

'Alright,' he replied, as they set off back down the route they'd followed, 'what can you tell me, now?'

'Pri,' she said, and her daughter shot her a knowing look, 'why don't you fill him in. You're his guide, after all.'

The girl blushed but managed to regain her composure quickly enough. 'Right, they're fairly common, though nowhere near as common as succubi. The Society doesn't generally consider them a problem, as they tend not to hound or torment their victims. In fact, most of the time their attacks are indistinguishable from a regular hook-up. Unlike many other demons, incubi do not possess true mind control. Their aura is more like an intoxicant or an aphrodisiac, it lowers a person's inhibitions, makes them forgetful and suggestible and overcharges their libido. If someone is sex-repulsed, if they're a lesbian, or if they're a guy and they're straight-as-an-arrow, then the attack will fail.'

She was pleased to see her daughter speaking so frankly. The worst outcome she could imagine would be Pri never working up the courage to express her feelings to Valentine. 'Why would they attack a man?' he asked, 'I thought the purpose of their attack was to breed.'

'It is,' her daughter replied, 'well, mostly, but they are fundamentally creatures of lust. Often, they attack simply for pleasure. Other times, they find it easier to attack a couple together than to wait for a woman to become separated from her partner. If you asked the average incubus how many children he had, he'd neither know nor care. Our guy is different, if he truly is an incubus. For most of them, the sex act itself is all that matters and the notion of impregnating their victim is really just an after-thought.'

He seemed to consider that for a while before following up, 'and what about this case? Have you ever heard of an incubus raising an army, is it even possible?'

Pri shook her head, 'no. Theoretically it's possible and you hear of plenty of succubi who raise their children but, obviously, that's very different. As I said, most incubi don't even know where their children are. Like all demons, they're creatures of pure emotion. It's hard to imagine one having the patience to actually raise an army, and there's no ambition they could really fulfil. I think that mage was right. As horrible as it sounds, his plan probably is to conduct a ritual sacrifice.'

'Well, it's not going to happen,' he announced, puffing out his chest. As genuine as it was, Valentine's confidence did not impress her as much as it impressed her daughter. There were dangers out there that he was not prepared for and she could only hope that they had enough time to get him ready. 'Missus Patel,' he said, diverting her train of thought, 'is there anything else I should know? Have you ever faced an incubus before?'

Were it anyone else, she'd assume the question was intended to be suggestive. 'Um, yes,' she confessed, recalling a particularly memorable evening, 'I've slept with one,' her daughter baulked and covered her face in embarrassment, 'but he was very gentle with me.' She kept from them the fact that he'd finished on her belly, instead of in her cunt. It was a quite notable show of respect but hard to bring up without being vulgar. 'Like I said, most of their attacks are hardly even worthy of the term. The one we're after is exceptionally malevolent.'

With his questions answered, the Lionheart marched ahead of her and they all picked up

their pace.

Notes:

So, I began this scene with the expectation that the group would follow some kind of magical trail left by the pseudo-golem. However, I rolled under the Chaos Factor, getting a 4 and an "interrupted scene," but things got a little weirder after that. I rolled an 18 on the random event focus table, meaning that I needed to add a new NPC. Nothing strange so far but then my rolls on the actions meaning tables were a 69 (Nice!) and a 67, which left me with the phrases "proceed," and "path," which, realistically, is not actually a random event at all, since it's what I expected to do.

However, to keep myself in check, I decided that they would actually discover that the golems were coming from somewhere other than the incubus's lair. Speaking of which, the incubus is this episode's Monster Of The Week because I rolled against the list of monster types in that book and ended up with "Breeder," and, whilst I could've gone with something grotesque, I decided it was a perfect opportunity to continue this weird tradition I have going of Valentine's parents being horny fuckers. Anyway, that's when the idea of the creatures effectively being on-loan entered my mind and I, naturally, decided that the man who actually made them would be the new NPC that Mythic was calling for. After that, I got an 85 and a 76 on the descriptor meaning tables, which left me with "quaintly," and "powerful." Nothing immediately came to mind so I just finished the rolls, getting a 88 on the locations meaning table, for "stylish." That was when I decided to go with a regular suburban home.

Here's my tortured rationalisation from the actual session: They "proceed" along the "path", following the magical trail of the pseudo-golem to a "quaint" and "stylish" suburban home, which seems oddly "exposed," that throbbed with "powerful" magic. There, they meet a new NPC, a mage who crafts pseudo-golems and other enchanted objects.

I asked a Fate Question at this point, of the new NPC, specifically, whether he could be reasoned with. It was a simple fifty-fifty and I got a 41, which is a yes. That, then, informed basically everything else about the character.

After that, I had Priyanshi make an "Investigate A Mystery" move and she got a 7, so I asked: "What Is It Going To Do?" So, that's when I added the ambiguity surrounding whether we are looking at an army of cambions or a mass sacrifice. When it came to the end of the scene, again, I was unsure of what to do but I ultimately decided to raise the Chaos Factor to 7.