The Power of Names

I sigh.

"Tell me about this witch."

I walk over, shaking from sheer intimidation. I try to stammer something politely to her, but the most I can really do is give a small bow to her. I just pray that is enough.

She sighs and waves the boy on.

"Hurry up already! I want you to go into the church and check that there was noone in the backrooms when the... explosion happened."

She turns back to the man.

"Ugh... Deamon witch woman... Possessing people, several disappearances, primarily of younger individuals... Generic witch in other words."

She motions for the priestess to be placed onto the floor.

I place her on the floor.

"Was there a pattern to the abductions? Any signs she left? Any information that could actually help me track her down?

If I'm perfectly honest with myself, I really, really do not want to go into that church, but I know I have no choice, so I hastily rush inside to look around.

You head inside the church, the wreckage of the earlier fight all around you. The entire backend of the church was entirely destroyed, scorch marks all over the floor, one in particular stretching from a point about a quarter way into the room out in a cone towards the interior of the church.

The door at the back of the hall somehow survived the onslaught, standing out like a sore thumb among the wreckage. (I've named him Mr. Door)

Under a bench at the back of the room is a short stave, the end intricately carved into a hook like structure.

She shakes her head, obviously distracted by the healing.

"Ugh... She appears to be operating mainly near the naming grounds of the slums, by the undivided church. She is showing traits of being a follower of a non-allied god, and she is somehow immune to all divinations that I have tried.

And that is a LOT of divinations.

We have one eye witness who stated that her right arm is deamonic in nature, or appears to be, and that her eyes glow red. He died around 5 seconds after telling us this."

You see her buckle at the stomach, before shouting something incomprehensible. She stands back up again, seemingly unfussed.

"You may not want to speak about her appearance."

Cautiously I make my way across the room, looking around to try and spot any dismembered limbs or signs of life. I approach the stave (or staff, or whatever you want to call it), bend down, and gingerly pick it up.

I sigh.

"That's fine. I can find her, where she works was the most useful thing you could tell me. Is there anything you can give me to help with slaying her? If she's powerful enough to stop you scrying her, I may not be able to take her with nothing to help me. I also just lost a hella lotta power from this scythe." I wave it slightly.

You feel distinctly feminine when picking up the stave. There are no people in the room that you can see, however there are still the backrooms of the church to check.

"I will be tracking you once you reach the search area, and will attempt as best I can to help in the fight. Furthermore I will lend you another church artefact to assist in the fight. However right now I need to work on our fellow priestess here."

She kneels down and resumes looking over Enthriss.

"Oh. Well... I'll head off and start searching for her. I need more money by the way." I vaguely wave the document at her, but feel she's both currently uninterested, and probably knows I have it anyways. "See ya... m'lady."

Oooooooh kinky...

I advance towards the door at the back of the hall (Or Mr. Door if you prefer) and gently push it with my left hand to see if it will open, my right hand still clutching the staff/stave/thingie.

She waves you off uninterestedly, simply stating that you should stay around for more information.

You push open Mr. Door, it gliding open silently on it's perfectly oiled hinges that were completely untouched by the fire.

As you pass through Mr. Door's magnificent door frame you enter a hallway which branches off to the left and the right. You hear A very quiet noise coming from the left.

Mr. Door glides closed behind you, content in fulfilling it's purpose.

Thank oo Mr. Door.

I decide to head left towards the noise, and walk cautiously, checking behind me with every step.

I turn with a mock salute and head for the poor district, keeping my eye out for any signs of demon activity and inns. I'd rather stay in a more expensive one, but if the demon is working in that area, I want to be nearby.

As you approach the door at the end of the hallway the noise becomes louder and more clear - It is snoring. The door is slightly ajar, possibly shaken open by the explosion.

There is a reasonable inn on the edge of the slums that serve food that is at least edible. Your aura prevents bed bugs from coming near you so no problem there. The room on your right is empty and the room on your left has a young-ish woman (around 19 at a reasonable guess) in relatively nice clothes for the slums (about a v?) staying in it. She is wearing a cloth shirt with a high neckline that has been dyed purple through some form of home dying process and a long brown skirt that falls just short of her ankles. She has strange four spines growing just below each of her ears, extending about a foot backwards, around half a centimeter in diameter and tapering to a sharp point.

Deciding that it's probably not a good idea to burst through the door without knowing what is on the other side, I slowly and quietly approach the crack in the door and peer through.

Leaving the inn, I begin to wander through the slums, keeping my eye out for any glints of gold (or pickpockets)

The snoring is quite loud. On the other side of the door you see a young-ish woman of about 15 sleeping at her deck, her head and arms strewn across it as if she'd just been shoved form behind. Everything that was on the desk is now on the floor, and under her head is a large copy of some from of religious manuscript, now coated in drool. She has bright blue hair pulled back into a ponytail, with two sticks sticking out of the band holding it tight. She is wearing full white robes, with a large red sash tied round her middle, pulled up rather conspicuously as if trying to make her breasts look bigger.

No particular luck on the information front, however a young (13) boy has snuck up behind you and is slowly trying to steal your coinpurse. You could sense him coming for the majority of the street.

I reach around and grab my oversized revolver from where it hangs on the back of my belt, pulling back the trigger and pressing it against the kid's head. I turn on heel, grinning manically.

"Bad move." I check him over carefully, wondering if something might be up with this kid - surely most pickpockets wouldn't be foalish enough to try and steal from such a heavily armed man.

Almost instantaneously the kid bends backwards at a blinding angle that would break the backs of most individuals, before headbutting the gun, knocking your arm back out of the way. He then turns around and runs away down a side alley, clutching something in his hand - your hat. How he got it you don't know, but you do know one thing:- there are gold string like objects connected to all of his limbs and disappearing into thin air, and they're being outlined by your runesight.

Throwing my scythe down the alley after the boy, I summon nether energy and surround my hands and feet in potential kinetic force. Shadowstepping to the scythe as it goes around the corner, appearing in mid air and locating the kid, before kicking off the wall as I fall in pursuit.

The boy doesn't seem in any way surprised by your actions, rather he stays with a completely blank face. The strange strings appear to tug at him, and he flips backwards over your head, momentum appearing from apparently nowhere.

He crouches down as he lands, before leaping straight up, flying a full 2 stories onto the top of a large block of slum-flats.

OOC: You're still outside the main area of the slums, which is underground. You're currently near the main entrance, which is referred to as "The Gangway".

I'm not entirely sure if I should wake her up, but I figure it makes more sense than not to check she's ok. I VERY slowly approach her.

"Excuse me?" I ask in admittedly a very timid voice.

Your quiet voice fails to wake the person that has just slept through an EXPLOSION.

She drools some more on the book.

I repeat my previous maneuver, throwing my scythe after the boy and shooting several bullets at him before porting to the scythe.