[29th December 2010]

[Secure Room, Bunker Complex, Beneath Temple of the Shrouded Lord, Tropico]

I sat quietly as the others spoke to the succubus, human-form right now, but still had the taint of the infernal upon her when one knew what they were looking for. One seeking a deal, and was an old friend of John's to boot; largely to avoid getting rape-murder-cannibalised by either the Demon Lord Nergal or the First of the Fallen either apparently. So now we all got to play 'Witness Protection; Demon Edition' down here in lovely Tropico, all while doing 'add more villains to temporary reserves' with her as well.

She, Chantinelle her name, was clearly uncomfortable – perfectly understandable when in the same room as Lord of Order, the human-form of the Demon Knight, a pagan priest dressed in skull mask, and of course John Constantine. Honestly I'd be a little bit concerned at that point as well, especially after all the questions and wanting Oath Binding to go along with hiding from her Demonic Foes. Our foes too of course, hence why said Lord of Order and yours truly were willing to help her out, but one always had to be careful working with those of the Lower Planes in these arrangements. Was she genuine unnerved by us, or just a very talented succubus?

I'd already warned the Justice League, and the Team of course, about the problem likely hovering about me and those around the walking target across from; that and the potential threat of a demon of Nergal's level wandering about, supposedly mostly unbound ala Murder Demon possessing the Prince, upon the Earth. One had to resist groaning at that little nugget of stupidity from whoever had managed it. Seemed to be alot of it going around on this particular dimension of late...though I was probably partially at fault after dredging up so much magic a few months ago.

Things that struggled to sustain themselves now had plenty of 'free roaming' energy to help power themselves now; myself and patron included of course, so some self interested benefit in the situation as well. Something working to our advantage here too, sheltered under the Temple to my Diety and fortified by a Lord of Order, as this place should be near unscryable between the multiple wards and dimensionally adjacent nature of the facility in part. 'Ellie' here shouldn't even know where she was, entering via teleport, we'd leave via teleport, and then we'd fly her back to lovely Tropico. Secret bases remained secret bases by keeping them secret usually, and magic did allow you to make use of the place without giving away the location of the facility we just worked in.

"We are ready to begin" I was told by Nabu, and I stood up to join the others as the succubus disrobed, then dropped her glamour. Still attractive by human standards but the dark red skin, jet black wings, and clawed nature of fingers and toes took away from 'normalness' of the appearance. That and she more shuffled than walked into the circle of sigils and runes to lay down on the operating table of sorts waiting there. Truth be told I was far more interested on this 'seal' of Constantine's that hammered down on demonic scry attempts, hiding the very soul of the being from tracking of all. Such a spell would be very useful on other planes if could be learned and made work for the Shrouded Lord.

"You are prepared to cast your illusion once Constantine has complete his task"

I nodded, though it was a polymorph rather than an illusion "Aye, Ellie here will be human in appearance, at a glance even with magic, so you'll bind to the ring and..."

Double checking, as well as explaining to the Succubus once again to calm her, was always a good idea before multiple casters attempted rituals I'd found. Each of us adding a layer to both the disguise, that and Oath binding our new friend here not to betray us or our allies as part of some long running scheme against us; always had to watch for that sadly. Demons being demons after all, whether Lords or lowest ranks in the infernal armies regardless of hellish realm you had to be wary and watchful.

Ironically once it was all down she huffed at us somewhat slightly after looking in the mirror, apparently our Succubus that was found hiding in the sewers had thought she'd look like a stripper or beach babe instead of the more 'young librarian or accountant with tiny tits and big glasses' as she put it. Everyone was such a bloody critic these days...

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[31st December 2010]

[Refurbished Public House, Dimension of????, Connemara?????, Republic of Ireland????]

"I dunno, think people just want to let off steam after the really crappy year we just had..." I answered motioning at the television above the bar and the various massive parties taking place across the world "...look'it'em fireworks! Enough to fight a small war with, and money well spent I say seein' as how pretty it looks even on the telly"

"Didn't Lex Luthor pay for it? Innie luik the bad guy? Batman Junior were sayin' that"

"Eh, probably to piss off Superman, or just one up him probably, pettiness probably, but still pretty cool looking I say..." I replied to Gemma as we all sat in the noisy and energetic pub quasi-owned/created by SHIELD/various magicians for a night like this, motioning at the dance floor "...hey, your mom and dad seem to be enjoying the chance to relax"

"Moms drunk, and Dad's jus doin' what she tells'em"

"Not as much as yer Uncle John..." I muttered with a snort glancing across the bar to where said trenchcoat clad magician was singing, slurring really, drunken songs with Brendan Finn, his mate Chas, and the pagan God called the Lord of the Dance while 'standing' at the bar "...but I take yer point. Hey...but your having fun right?"

Generally it was foolish, and illegal, to have children in a bar late at night, but this as much a safety thing as anything due to...demons and other threats so legal allowances for dimension shifted pubs it was. Course one or two, Cassie Sandsmark for one snoring away in the bench behind us despite the noise, had already given up on the whole thing. Honestly it was like some big family party, or wedding maybe, despite the rather...eccentric and eclectic group of people drawn together tonight to celebrate under the general protections of the now magical pub in the middle of nowhere.

"Well...yeah it fun, and I'm not falling asleep like a little kid like Cassie did"

"Oh, she's reasons to be sleepy, short demi-goddess or no" such as challenging Swamp Things daughter to a series of children's games that were rather...energetic, and requiring them to occur where things could get destroyed easily without supervision. Thankfully both 'little angels' (of destruction) were out for the count it seemed.

"Anyway, whose the tart in the creepy nurse cosplay?"

I resisted grimacing when I glanced towards the indicated figure dancing away on the 'dance' floor with some blue hair punk rocker named Rich; the people that daft idiot who called himself Gemma's Uncle had to go inviting to our New Years Eve Party "Yeah, best not piss her off Gemma, what'd I'd say about polite words and spirits"

She huffed slightly "Be nice an' friendly to'em, and don't be calling'em things like tarts when ye don't know how powerful they are. Or where they can hear ya least"

"Exactly and..." I started to reply before glancing up at the two returning with drinks "...yer gonna make me move again ain't ye Pinkie?"

Pink hair rolled her eyes as she and mini-Merlin placed the aforementioned drinks on the table and I rolled my legs off the stool I'd been resting them on and allowed them access to the rest of the comfortable part of the half-circle shaped table "That's what you too get for trapping others on the inside of the table Captain Skullface"

I shrugged as she shoved passed me, followed by Timothy Hunter who was much more friendly. Two of the SHIELD 'recruits' without family, either from running ala Jinx, or effectively for the dangerously powerful other potential member. Neither really had anywhere to go, like a number of others here, and I'd somehow ended up being the 'responsible person' in charge of them. Honestly Pinkie, for all her complaining, actually seemed to be genuinely happy after sitting silent for the initial few hours here, and Mr. Hunter was quiet but friendly enough as the two seemed to chat away as people came and went from our table "Eh, mine is the seat of power! Muwhahaha!"

"Boo-Boo!/Shut-up!" That earned me peanuts being thrown at my head for a moment by the two ladies, I probably deserved that I admitted only to myself, as the time ticked by towards midnight and I used prestidigitation to clear up the mess caused. Ah the joys of a party in a magical pub attended by a great number of magicians and magical entities; it was even better to just, for once, waste a spell or two on such trivial things as food, or ensuring colder or better tasting drinks.

Certainly encouraged the urge to learn magic amongst our merry band of potential students I found, and of the non-evil side of magic too, that would require and ethics course before breaking out the necromancy and other such aligned spells...

Oh I like this song! Dancing time...

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