Yeah... so i kinda lost my files for the story. Didn't feel like continuing it and for a while forgot about the story altogether. And then found those files again only recently on my old computer... Yay? It has only been. (Looks at hand) Four years... yeeeeah. Besides, I got to play and DM two separate campaigns which both let me further flesh out Raskreia and Cathilia.

And on another note. I read through the story a bit and tried to piece together the timeline by skimming through the anime. By my (probably not overly accurate) estimation, as of the events of this chapter, we are currently where the anime would have had the group spend the night in the Tavern together with Count Wardes just before his "duel" with Saito and him leaving with Louise to Albion. Soo, canon successfully derailed!


When the now rather large group of people stepped into the mansion, those who had not seen it before noticed that this mansion was an almost exact copy of the one outside.

Now they are all, sans Raskreia, situated at a long table in the dining hall, Halkeginians on one side and people from Golarion and surrounding planes on the other. And a large open area leading to a balcony occupied by both Felniir, Sylphid, and now once more enlarged Flame and Verdandi.

Noticeable was that there were two seats open; one between the adventurers and the two demons, and the other between Kwalin and Thorgal.

With Xylara and Thorgal sitting the furthest from one another, Zarhon had the dubious fortune of being currently seated closest to a fidgeting Balor.

Raskreia had been in the kitchen with Kwalin's wife and the few maids she had in her employ, currently preparing the food for everybody. When asked why she still cooks herself when she clearly has staff to do it for her, she merely replied, "Because I find that I simply enjoy food more when I have a hand in preparing it myself."

The room was somewhat uncomfortable, in the sense that no one knew how to properly break the silence. The Teens didn't know if it was alright to start a conversation with a group of adults they didn't know, nor did they know what to talk to the demons about.

Kwalin simply was enjoying the momentary quiet that was currently held, Zarhon didn't want to agitate neither the people to his right nor his left more than was necessary so he held his mouth shut, and Thorgal was in contemplation.

The demons on the other hand were both fidgety, albeit for rather different reasons.

Xylara was exceedingly nervous, true the children across from her were no real concern for her. But that didn't apply for neither the Abyss damned Balor, not 2 feet away from her, nor the group of experienced and unbearably powerful forces of good calling themselves adventurers on the other end of the table from her.

When she first saw Raskreia she detected that she was a moderately powerful source of good, meaning that (as a sorceress) she was anywhere from moderate threat, to almost certain death in power. However, she also tried to subtly detect the auras of the three others in Raskreia's group.

She was consequently stunned senseless by the sheer amount of holy energy radiating of the dwarf and the half-elf. They were, to put it simply, truly frightening entities that she had no desire whatsoever to agitate. What makes this worse is that she is almost one hundred percent certain that both the tiefling and Raskreia are at least close to the power of these two. Indeed, she did not want to make a false move here.

Cathilia on the other hand was much less terrified of her current situation, merely remorseful. She had, out of habit, insulted and threatened someone dear to Raskreia. She didn't mean to do so; it was merely in her nature to do what she did. In hindsight she regretted what she said, truly she did.

Maybe not because she cared about Thorgal, no. It was only due to the effect it had on Raskreia's opinion of her, and she still had no idea why she was thinking along these paths. Well, not precisely; she knew it was due to the magic that was undoubtedly affecting her psyche, but she didn't realize it would be such a subtle thing. She thought it would be a very hard and noticeable effect. Something she could avoid by finding loopholes in the wording, or lack thereof, given to her; not… This!

She hoped this event didn't cause a rift between Raskreia and her, the hurdle of gaining the approval for a demon such as her from a person such as that was already too great without her unwitting actions. Thinking about it from the perspective of mortals—or more precisely, somewhat well-adjusted mortals she knew she had to take the initiative to fix this dilemma she had herself created.

Cathilia abruptly, and with no warning, stood up; causing many of the occupants of the table to slightly flinch, and in the case of the adventurer party to also reach for their weapons.

Without missing a beat, and confident as can be, Cathilia strode over to where Thorgal sat and stopped facing his side. Looking him straight in the eyes she spoke in a low tone "Could I have a word with you for a moment." Motioning toward the hallway outside the dining hall.

The Paladins hand lingered on his blade for a good moment as he tried to gauge the demoness before him, then eventually nodding in consent and standing up to lead the way for the creature outside.

Once they were outside and the door was shut behind them Thorgal turned around to speak and was quite frankly flabbergasted at the sight of Cathilia bowing at the waist to him.

He shook his head a bit to clear his thoughts and spoke "What are you doing fiend? Inspecting which part of the ground you would prefer to spill my guts on?"

Cathilia surprisingly remained calm, and not raising her head replied in an even tone "No, I had intended to apologize to you for my previous words and actions towards you, they were uncalled for and unnecessary. I hope you can forgive them."

"What game are you playing demon? You cannot honestly expect me to believe that you care about my or anyone's feelings." His hand was once more on the pommel of his sword as she finally raised her head to look him in the eyes.

"You are correct on one end mortal, I do not care about your feelings, nor those of most others. Yet I do care about Raskreia's opinion and stance towards me. It is my honest desire to be useful and wanted by her. And antagonizing those she holds dear to her heart is probably not the way to go about doing that." Cathilia looked contemplative for a moment before adding to her previous statement "Or at least that is as much as I had gathered about the psychology of other, non-fiendish, species. Am I wrong in my assessment?"

Thorgal once more looked nothing but surprised. "I didn't expect you to be quite so… honest. And no, you would be correct. For most people the fastest way to get them to dislike you is to mistreat those that they care about." He shakes his head momentarily to get rid of stray thoughts. "Though I have to wonder how a demon of all things would know about how 'lesser races' operate."

"Do not mistake me for a mindless brute. While true that most mortals are little to no threat to me, they can still be a significant threat in specific circumstances. And the fastest way to make an enemy is to break something they care about." Her gaze leaves the paladin then and she starts chuckling lightly at a memory "You wouldn't believe how many times someone or something wanted to challenge me because I had apparently slain someone close to them. I am also rather sure in most cases it wasn't even me that had killed those that I was accused of killing, certainly I would remember having killed a silver dragon."

"Someone falsely accused you of killing a dragon?" Incredulity could be easily heard in Thorgal's voice. "Usually people would boast about killing one not accuse someone else of the deed."

"Oh yeah. The dragon's friend, a rather powerful angel and troops at that fought their way through some of my troops for the sole purpose of slaying me. It ended in a rather spectacular duel, if I may say so myself, between myself and the lead celestial. During said duel, in-between insults and threats to the other, we had managed to piece together that I was indeed not the one the angel was after." Cathilia was lost in her thoughts for a moment, seemingly reliving the fight with almost wistful reminiscence. "Regardless at the time we were both rather equally matched, and the fight would have likely ended with either of us or both of us dead. Most likely both as by the end of the fight regardless of who won the others remaining minions would have been capable of finishing of the one who remained standing."

Thorgal was listening with rapt attention, trying to puzzle together where this story was meant to be going. "And what is the point of this story? To tell me that Good and Evil are in the end equally matched forces?"

Cathilia let out a bark of laughter at that. "Nothing quite so philosophical, no the point of the story is yet to come up. You see we managed to get to an armistice, leader of the celestials and I that is. Much to the chagrin of our respective forces, but hers were disciplined enough to obey her orders, and mine knew better than to disobey."

The paladin was honestly flabbergasted at what he heard, could hardly believe it in fact, though not seeing a reason for the demon to make up such an outlandish lie. "You ended a fight between yourself and a troop of celestials on non-violent terms? Just who was that foolish commander to have struck such a deal with one of your kind?!"

"Niriam Dawnspear Lord-General of the 3rdAngeris-Hellguard. A name I have not forgotten and likely never will. As that would hardly be the last time her and I meet. Though more about that after.

So, we decided that I did not like being treated as a scapegoat, and SHE did not like being misdirected to a false target. So, we did what any reasonable individuals would have done, we teamed up to show our displeasure towards the rightful target of our misgivings."

Thorgal had, as a rather influential paladin and learned man of scriptures, heard about a number of celestial armies, yet he had never once heard about an 'Angeris-Hellguard' much less three of them. Though despite himself he could not help the wry smirk that formed on his face. "Hmpf… I can only imagine the reaction from the puppeteer at that unlikeliest of events. I imagine they likely expected at best only one of you coming after them, certainly not both at the same time.

Cathilia shrugged. "It might come as a surprise to you, but I harbour no true hatred for other beings, at least not in a way you would understand. True, I dislike and disdain everything and anyone initially out of hand, I wont deny that. But that is not hatred in my eyes, no. Hatred much like respect must be earned. And that angel had earned herself a small speck of respect from me through her being rather on par with me in combat… It was rare to get such a good fight I will be honest. And besides, my favourite enemies to fight are other fiends. Particularly devils and other demons."

The part-elf tilted his head at that, before realization struck. "The Eternal Bloodwars!" At which Cathilia only nodded.

"I was much too busy with carving out my own place and legend in the lower planes to much care for any other dimension. True I would fight, creatures from other planes that came to fight me, but I never once sook out such encounters on my own. Well, to cut a long story short, the lillitu that was actually behind the dragons death was… rather surprised at the impromptu alliance that came after her. I am rather certain that if she had any, her eyes would have popped out of her skull. Right before said skull was removes from her body of course."

Thorgal raises an amused eyebrow at that "You will have to tell me about that encounter in more detail later. But let us go back in before someone thinks that you gutted me… or you actually do." The way he smiled at the end of that statement made it quite clear to Cathilia that it was meant as a jest, and she found herself not really wanting to actually gut this half elf. She wasn't sure however if that was an improvement or not.

They both got back into the dining room just as the food was arriving, Cathilia also noticed both Zarhon and Kwalin releasing a small sigh of relief when they saw Thorgal alive and well.

Kwalin looked the paladin up and down for a moment "Well, I know for a fact you cant be mind-controlled and your look alive… So what did the she-demon want?"

Thorgal at first didn't answer, instead re-taking his seat at the table and looking over at the demon in question whit whom he seemed to share a silent conversation with. After a moment she let out a sigh. "She wanted to apologize for her earlier behaviour, and also regaled me shortened version of a rather interesting sounding story. One I wouldn't mind hearing in more detail over food."

The sorceress blinked owlishly at the words that came out of her long time friends mouth but clapped happily after placing down a tray of food she had been holding. "Oh! If Thorgal views it as interesting then I MUST hear it. But first!" She said before making a couple of unseen servants distribute the trays of food along the table. Among them the only person who got an individual tray was Cathilia, who looked at the covered dish in confusion.

When the demoness lifted the cover she let out a genuine gasp of surprise, wide eyes fixing on the host in a strange mixture of surprise, confusion and gratitude. For on her personal plate was a pair of, near perfectly grilled fish, with an assortment of fruits used as decoration around the, as the locals would know, delicacy of a fish.

A Phoenixfish: Named after the mythical bird, this fish is prized for its savory and delicious flesh. Found off the coasts of tropical and temperate waters, it is often caught and eaten as a delicacy. While they are not very large compared to some other fish, their flavor and texture are highly valued. They are often served fried, baked or grilled, and also go well with various sauces and marinades. As a bonus, the flesh of the phoenixfish is known to be very healthy and nutritional, making it a popular choice for those who want to stay fit. In short, not exactly something cheap, much less so far away from the ocean.

As her party gave Raskreia questioning looks as to the special plate she just shrugged apologetically. "What do you want me to say? Woman hadn't eaten in ten-thousand years, and she wanted fish for her first meal." and while the confusion did not fully abate people started placing food on their own plates as the demon was staring at her fish in bafflement. After a short nod of gratitude at the half-dragon she started eating her food with a content smile.

The silence continued for a few more moments before Cathilia spoke. "I believe I owe a story to tell, don't I?" What followed was an edge of your seat retelling of an epic battle, from the perspective of one of the prime combatants no less. It was not a story of friendship or love, nor of loss or betrayal. Merely the story of two of the unlikeliest of beings banding together in an alliance of convenience to take down a mutual enemy.

Zarhon could, as a bard, name many a place where this story would fall short as that. A story. Yet it was not a mere story, but a retelling of events that transpired. And much can be gleaned from it, both the capability of the demon in front of him, as well as the angel she had fought for a time.

For contrary to how she had told it to Thorgal before, it had not been simply a single battle they had fought. But more than a year long game of cat and mouse with a multitude of brutal skirmishes and ambushes where both demons and celestials had been the victims of being outmanoeuvred, ambushed or simply outfought. He could tell, as a military man himself, that both Cathilia and this Niriam were brilliant commanders in their own right. Though wildly different from one another in the way they fought.

Niriam was the epitome of no man left behind'. Her force was relatively small compared to that of the demon she had been harrying, though she was undoubtedly more disciplined and well trained. By Cathilia's own admission, it often took four or more of her own forces to take down a single one of the celestials. Which admittedly did not say all that much due to the horde nature of demons.

The angel seemed to favor lightning-fast attacks and equally fast retreats, leaving before the demons could fully bring their superior numbers to bear. Their commander was front and center in every engagement, bearing the brunt of any retaliation like an impervious castle gate.

Cathilia and her forces, meanwhile, employed a much more morally questionable approach. She would place disposable troops, as she called them, on her flanks, headed by commanders of questionable loyalty. By her admission, it was done with the full intent of letting those strong but disloyal troops die in the initial attacks the angels would perform. She called it efficiency—not having to deal with killing those possible traitors herself later.

Regardless, she would use this screen of troops to soften the lightning strike tactics and retaliate with a core of handpicked troops to stop the celestial host in a series of brutal countercharges. These engagements more often than not ended in brief duels between the two forces leaders, with either one of them needing to retreat by the end, either due to personal wounds suffered or out of fear of their troops being overwhelmed.

At the end of the year, both sides were weary of the constant fighting. Due to the prolonged proximity within the lower planes, the celestials were yearning for the touch of the energies of the higher planes once more. The ambient Evil of the Abyss drains their minds over such long periods. Especially with no tangible victory having been accomplished since the start.

The demons, on the other hand, while reveling in the constant fighting, were growing bored of the constant ambushes and counterambushes. They were wanting a proper bloodbath—a no holds barred, full-frontal fight where the strongest would win. Not this tactics-plagued game where they weren't even allowed to pick their own targets or indulge in their baser instincts.

So, unbeknownst to their respective forces, their leaders met. Quite by accident, no less.

Cathilia had left her encampment in search of a good hunt on her own, and Niriam had left hers to scout the best vector of her net attack for herself. And so it was that the two of them finally ran into one another without the ambience of their troops clashing around them. Sword met shield in an explosion of furious sparks, spear bit flesh, and whip tore into wing.

Shortly after their bout began, their weapons gave in. Mutually shattered and torn in a bid to disarm the other. Yet undeterred, they continued to assail the other with naught but their fists, not caring that they were now barely even scratching the other beyond the superficial. After a while, insults became backhanded compliments, and backhanded compliments became comments of admiration.

Both of these veritable titans of the battlefield took strange pleasure in finding someone who was so evenly matched with them and was taking them seriously to the fullest. Something that was relatively rare for both of them. By the end of their bout, both winded and their surroundings pulverized, they had managed to come to an understanding. Both realized that their small war had been set up by a third party, one that was more than likely reaping the benefits of their continued fighting as they stood there. It didn't take them long to hatch a plan both of them could work with without having to overly fear betrayal from the other.

Cathilia would take her forces and charge straight into the rival demon upstart, causing both havoc and a sufficient distraction for Niriam and her celestials to take the head of the serpent for her own revenge, leaving quickly before the Balor could possibly reach them to strike them down as well.

And as Cathilia said earlier to Thorgal, it was hardly the last time she and the angel had met. Often forming alliances of convenience and more than once clashing blades as they found themselves on opposing sides of a conflict once more.

When asked why celestials would strike alliances with Demons, the answer was quite surprising. "Well… The Angeris-Hellguard is an order of angels that predates demons as a species. Their purpose is to safeguard the celestial realms against any and all threats by any means necessary. Which admittedly only encompassed Hell and, to a lesser extent, Abaddon, hence their name. In their duty, they are allowed to do anything that they deem necessary to stop the lower planes from threatening the higher planes. Which evidently included allying themselves with evil that posed less of a threat than another. Our first initial clash was merely a personal affair of Niriam's."

Everyone was surprised at that, never having heard of celestials like that. The resident bard was more confused than anyone, as even he had never heard of such, and he thought he really would have, as that sounded rather significant. And as such, he voiced his thoughts. "Wait a minute. I have never heard of any hellguard."

"Well… I was away for a very long time. Who knows what has happened to them since? Maybe they have been wiped out, discontinued, or disbanded. Or maybe they have since been made secret. I AM telling you some rather ancient history after all." Cathilia said with a shrug, having long since finished her fish and busying herself with peeling an orange instead.

Kwalin, stroking a hand through his beard, nodded. "It was a long time ago, predating even the Starfall. A lot of information was lost during those times. It wouldn't be strange for information from another plane to go missing at that time, especially if this hellguard never even went to the material plane in the first place."

Xylara was perhaps the most attentive of anyone listening, having made herself as small as possible to avoid as much notice as she could. Though she could not help but be spellbound when hearing about stories from ancient times and trying to piece together information that might help her rise to power of her own,

The students, meanwhile, were fascinated. They had just heard, firsthand, a story from before even their founder was born. From a creature they had thought mere myth of scripture about yet more mythical entities clashing in battles they had scarcely thought possible outside of books.

Louise fidgeted for a moment before asking what was on her mind. "So." The demon's eyes slowly shift to the pinkette before she continues. "You are not an evil demon."

The girl certainly did not expect the bark of laughter that came from Cathilia and, surprisingly, Thorgal. The paladin answered in the demon's stead. "Girl, she is a monster in basically every sense of the word. I can sense the presence or absence of evil. And evil is pouring out of her like water out of a geyser."

"The paladin speaks true. I am evil, have always been, and always will be. Though I am not mindless and have little to no problem directing my less savory tendencies at people and entities that people like Raskreia and her friend Paladin would not mind having them directed at, Like he said, I am not a monster. But due to the circumstances we find ourselves in, I need not be your monster." That last part was mostly directed at the three former party members of the sorceress, who each gave slow nods of confirmation. Understanding perfectly what that statement was meant to be: a peace offering. One that they each thought best not to break unless truly necessary.


Joshua had been at the still-forming trading post since it was just a tent on a hill. Which was only a few days ago, but it surely did not feel like it. Certainly not with being stuck cleaning up after the recent attempted assault on the place.

In those few days, walls and foundations had been erected, construction was taking place, and workers came and went. They had been attacked by a force of what could only be described as mercenaries, for no bandit force he was aware of was that well coordinated or equipped. They had only managed to hold on due to their tenacity, the stalwartness of their stunty compatriots, and the timely arrival of 'Chief Stunty', as some of his friends had taken to calling Kloin's father in half-hearted secrecy.

When asked about what had transpired, Josh learned that Kloin's father, Kwalin, was a reputable, if not renowned, cleric of the dwarven god Thorag. Cleric being a title for a sort of warrior priest, if he understood it correctly, was a concept that confused Josh to no end. The only priests he knew wore robes and barely ever left the safety of their churches and towns.

Something that shocked him even more was the claim that Clerics received magic from their gods in return for their devotion, something that he chose to keep to himself. He did not want his fellow locals to call a crusade or something on his new employer after all. And who was he to question the religion of someone who apparently could call forth angels, Monadic devas, if Kloin was to be believed, with their magic?

Speaking of those angles Brimiric faith taught about angles as peaceful messengers, faceless and genderless winged humans who only ever raised their hands against the Elf or the heretic in a display of Brimir's own magic. Josh was not an overly learned man, but if he remembered right, that was mostly depicted as a flash of light and whoever it was directed at being gone. Not a zealous charge with sword and fire, as he had seen these angles perform. Though he would be lying if it hadn't been awe-inspiring still.

The place had also gotten its first non-hostile visitors. Someone passing through and resting for the night in a walled outpost They had been overjoyed about the road that had been constructed through the marsh, something that evidently almost cut the length of their travel in half. Sadly, the Inn had not yet been finished, but the Merchant had promised to tell all of his fellow travelers about this new route, promising plenty of customers in the coming days. Something that had made the dwarves redouble their efforts in trying to complete the most essential work as fast as possible.

Of course, that was all after assuring the frightened man that the few remaining corpses were of bandits that had tried to make some quick and easy money.

All in all, it was shaping up to be a rather interesting post to work at, and it should only shape up to become more interesting as the days carried on.

He just wished the gate would be done soon, he thought while throwing another would-be raider's corpse onto the pyre, which they had made a good way away from their walls.


After they had eaten, the students were given the necklace once more for translation and allowed to explore the city on their own. Something that had the kids quite excited, for the city had looked magnificent when they had passed through. So with a bit of money given to them by Raskreia in hand, they went on their way to see what else this quite literally otherworldly city had to offer.

At first, they thought the amount of money they had been given would be plenty for anything they could desire; after all, a hundred gold coins was quite a decent sum even for them. Though that soon turned out to be false, for not just the buildings were exorbitant here; quite literally everything was catering to wealth they had previously thought only to be in the hands of royalty alone. And here they were surrounded by people in a city that made their countries capitals look like a city of paupers. Not that it diminished their pride in their own nations, as after a while the extreme show of wealth started to come off as gaudy and quite ostentatious. A claim that surprisingly came from Kirche of all people.

"I know Germania values money quite a lot, but this is an extreme I don't want to see in my country. Why would you even WANT gemstones on the facade of your house?" The exasperated redhead said, animatedly waving her hands at the buildings around her, which indeed all had been studded with tiny gemstones. Making the constructions glimmer in the day's sun.

"I more want to know how they came to such wealth in the first place. Or perhaps this is the norm for this world?" Guiche said, inspecting a particularly gaudy statue of a man striking a heroic pose in someone's front yard.

Tabitha was carefully eyeing everything, spotting the plentiful guards stationed in a way to not be instantly obvious to the casual observer, as well as more of those floating things they had seen at the gates. "Maybe. I have not seen other cities... I need comparison." It said a lot for the small girl to have said almost a full sentence.

Louise, not for the first time, couldn't help but think again. 'Raskreia lives here. Just what had she done to be able to afford such


Raskreia, meanwhile, had left and teleported herself, Kwalin, and Cathilia towards the demons previous prison. Or more precisely, towards the entrance of the cave where she had been held.

Kwalin looked at the sinkhole and scoffed. "No wonder we had never found your prison; this hole is quite recent, or at least it had only recently become this size. Probably during the heavy storms two years ago. Right, flight, please."

After Raskreia cast a flight spell on the dwarf, the trio descended into the hole. After bypassing the plentiful bloody corpses that had been left down here, corpses that the dwarf regarded with not a shred of pity, they had reached the door at the end of the tunnel that had been left there.

"Hmm, well, this would serve well as the other end of the portal, certainly better than my backyard at the very least. All we would have to do is clear out the corpses and dig out a proper ramp to the surface. Not that hard, all things considered." The dwarf spoke, closely inspecting the craftsmanship of the door.

Well, I would love to place the portals directly into the room; it is the most secure part of this place after all. But it does not allow for magic in it that isn't linked to true names." Raskreia said, stepping into the room, which had been left open since they left it, emphasizing her point by not trying and failing to cast a cantrip.

Cathilia stepped up. "I do not think you will be able to circumvent that fact. But I can tell you one thing of comfort, and that is that the door mostly resides on the material plane, so you can safely dispel the existing demi-plane and the door will remain."

The dwarf ran his hand through his beard in thought. "Not optimal, but at least we get to keep a highly enchanted door, if nothing else."

Raskreia let out a long sigh of defeat. "I suppose it was too much to hope for an optimal outcome. Of course, no use delaying, I suppose." After casting a mage's disjunction to erase the demi-plane from existence, she made herself comfortable for yet another long session of casting. Not noticing the slight easing of the demon's muscles as she sees her long-time prison being reduced to naught but memories.

While the sorceress was busy casting, the remaining two kept themselves busy by clearing out the cave of any corpses. Kwalin carried them to the bottom of the mouth of the cave, where Cathilia would swoop down to fly them up to burn them in a pile. After another six long hours of casting, the part-dragon stood back up from her cushion, and a new portal to the already existing demi-plane leading to the outpost in Halkeginia sprung into existence. Stepping in, she quickly destroyed the portal to Kwalin's backyard with one more disjunction and returned to the cave. Finding it now rather devoid of any corpses, only blood splatters remained as a reminder of what happened.

"Kwalin? Cathilia?" After hearing a call back from the entrance, the sorceress went over, finding the dwarf cleaning and measuring the entrance with the help of the demon. "What are you doing?"

"Measuring, what does it look like? I need to know the dimensions of this place if we are going to make it into a proper exit." Came the gruff reply of her old friend. "I take it the portal is done? Good; I am just about done here anyway. I will be relaying the news to Kloin; you do whatever it is you were wanting to be doing."

With a brief farewell from Raskreia and a nod of acknowledgement from Cathilia, the dwarf left.

Raskeria shrugged and went to fly up to the surface, the demon following close behind. Raskreia basked for a moment in the sunlight before deciding to let herself fall on her back on the grass. After a moment, she felt a shadow over her face, and opening her eyes, she was greeted with the confused eyes of the ancient demon she had forgotten about in the moment. "What are you doing?" Came the hissed word in draconic.

Raskreia took a moment to figure out what the demon meant by that. "I am enjoying the evening sun and relaxing my limbs a bit after sitting for so long. What does it look like I'm doing?"

"It looks like you are dirtying your clothes on grass and intending to sleep out in the open. Enjoying the sun? Is it not there nearly every day?" The demon turned herself to look at the sun, squinting in discomfort at the harsh rays before averting her gaze. "I don't understand."

"Its… I don't know if it's a thing many people do and enjoy, I guess. Just being able to kick back and enjoy something as simple as feeling the sun on your skin What, you don't do anything just for the enjoyment of it?"

Cathilia looked almost offended. "Of course I do! Or I did, at the very least. You might be aware that all demons embody a 'sin'. One of seven, Balors embody all seven. Personally, I identify most with Pride, wrath, avarice, and sloth, in that order. Not that I do not partially embody the other three; I do, but I mostly identify myself with those. Regardless, I very much enjoy creating things, mostly tools of war, to be fair, but still."

Raskreia sat up to get a better look at the demon. "You craft things?" she was perplexed. She was aware that demons had to get their weapons and armor from somewhere, but she had not expected a balor of all things to be a crafter.

"Oh yes. After my bout with the angel Niriam and my weapon breaking, I endeavored to create a weapon for myself that would not so easily break. And in the process, I found that I quite enjoyed the process of making something that would find a purpose somewhere. I particularly enjoyed the imagination of how what I was making could be used in battle and how it would bring glorious victory to its wielder. A victory that would then be shared in part by me, who made the tool. I ended up directing my not inconsiderable amount of pride into my work. I later noticed that that helped me keep a level head in combat too, rarely making me overconfident, as my pride had a better outlet than being focused solely on myself."

Raskreia only blinked and smiled. "That's actually kind of smart. What about the other three you singled out?"

"My wrath you had seen the aftermath of already. It's a carefully contained explosion waiting to happen. Wrath and anger are powerful tools that have to be used carefully. I like to remind myself of this. Anger is a sharp knife; mind that you do not point it inwards, nor to loose your hold of it lest your enemies use it against you." At that moment, Raskreia was reminded that the demon in front of her was very much an ancient warlord.

"That... is actually a pretty good saying; I hope you don't mind if I use it sometimes." To which the other merely shook her head.

"I am yours; that includes anything that is mine. Regardless, avarice and sloth are simple. Avarice makes me wish for as much of... well, anything I can get a hold of. And sloth is probably the biggest reason next to pride as to why I have been able to keep my mind in my prison, as I have absolutely no problem with doing nothing at all. When there is nothing obvious to do, I am not about to go looking for things to do, essentially."

The sorceress couldn't help the wry smirk on her face. "So in short, you are a lazy, prideful craftsman with anger-management problems!"

Cathilia cracked a smile of her own at that. "Not quite the words I would have chosen, but I will let it slide."


Xylara landed on the dusty ground of the city with a quiet huff. A glare sent over her shoulder made the babau hiding in the shadows of the building reconsider attacking her.

After she had gotten to eat the, admittedly rather nice, food with the decidedly less than nice company she had been taken aside by the abyss damned balor she had the misfortune of crossing paths with.

She had been given a task that was deceptive in its simplicity. She was to find Marilith Ezaar. A task easier said than done as that particular individual was not known for staying in one place for too long.

The succubus had briefly entertained the thought of simply forgetting about the encounter and moving on. Yet she also knew better than to expect a good outcome from such an action. Oh sure, in the short term she would be fine; the higher demon is clearly more interested in her 'handler' for the time being than to bother herself with a lowly succubus. But how long would that last? How long would the Balor patiently wait for her return before seeking her out?

And while she could hide, it would not be something she could do forever, not when it came to beings of such power. And what could she do? The only thing she could try was to find a demon of equal or higher power to seek protection from. But again, that left her with a pitifully small selection, as that would mostly be other balors or demon lords. And she had nothing really to offer worth being protected from an incensed barber. Any patron she found would likely sooner sell her out than have to deal with a pissed-off entity of that caliber.

So, resigned to her task, Xylara steeled herself for the search ahead. But first, she would spend some time looking up any information she could find about her 'employer. Surely the balor wouldn't mind a few days delay for her to inform herself... and perhaps blow off some steam after a visit to the flesh markets.