"Now, what we will find in there will likely be a cover. I don't know if the people working here know what they are hiding, but I can assure you that this is the best place to start if we want to find Jasmine," he explained, and the two gods nodded.
Stepping inside, the orphanage had seen better days. The walls barely held up the roof, which gave the entire place a crooked feeling, as if the whole room was leaning towards the street.
A woman clad in white and blue robes greeted them with a smile, though before she could say anything, Jasper stared her down.
Using "A Truth that Burns," he instantly knew what she didn't want him to know, and he didn't let her speak.
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A Truth that Burns
Type: Activated ability.
Energy usage: Until next loading screen.
Full effect: Choose a visible target. Learn the knowledge of them or their plans that they least want you to know. Worthy foes get a Spirit saving throw to resist this subtle inquisition.
Instead, he gave her a light shove to the chest, making her step back with an indignant look as one of the creaky roof beams snapped.
Jasper's Luck Domain ensured that the poor woman was subjected to some rather unfortunate events, though as the beam hit her, she melted into liquid shadows.
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A series of Unfortunate Events.
Type: Activated ability.
Energy usage: Until next loading screen.
Full effect: You smite a chosen foe within sight with bad luck, inflicting a 1d20 damage die per Rank. This takes the shape of various accidents with lethal intent which instantly affects the target. As a Smite power, A series of Unfortunate Events cannot be used two rounds in a row.
Apparently, she had been a figment of the void.
The Scribe and Celeste looked at Jasper, who shrugged. "I am not going to lie to you. I did not know that she wasn't real. However, she hasn't been kind to the kids here, so I acted." He explained, and Celeste got a grim look on her face.
She didn't say anything, though Jasper knew that if he had revealed what he had seen from his power to his wife, Celeste would have subjected the living shadows to a fate worse than he had.
Jasper walked over to a section of the wall, his ability having told him that the shadow creature didn't want him to look at this particular part of the house.
With a quick knock against it with his knuckles, he concluded that there must be a hollow space behind the wall.
Looking at Celeste, the goddess quickly created lumber from the wall, effectively dismantling the lock that had been placed on it to ensure that only people in the know could enter.
Behind the hidden door, a long and damp corridor stretched out at a steep angle. It was winding its way down into the ground, slowly snaking deeper and deeper. The corridor walls were made from natural stone, and for some reason, algae had congealed along the sides, giving the entire place a clammy feel.
The stench was horrendous, and Jasper considered for a moment whether he should implement a smell limiter on the game. Thanks to the tech behind the deep-dive gear, it could never be harmful, but this had to be on the edge.
Using Elementalism, he cycled air around him slowly, ensuring it flowed between himself and his companions as they walked in single file down the corridor.
It was hard to tell for how long they walked. Well, it wasn't for Celeste, but as they walked, none of them spoke, leaving them in an eerie silence.
The Scribe only really noticed that they had been walking for a long time thanks to the Goddess of Travel and her Domain ensuring that the aches that had started to build up vanished.
The darkness in the corridor had been overwhelming, and while the Prismatic Initiate had tried to conjure some light, he had found that it had been snuffed out rather abruptly as if the darkness was living.
It had worried him, but Celeste had managed to create a lantern that could burn away the darkness with her Tinkering Domain.
She couldn't let anyone else hold it, or it would crumble to dust. At least, that was what she claimed. Seeing as she was probably the best combatant of all of them, none of the others minded the fact that she would be walking in front.
It felt like it had been ages when the trio finally came to a massive doorway. There was no door in the arched gate. However, thick darkness spilt between the frame, making it impossible to see or hear past it.
Jasper looked around, hoping for a solution, though his own powers were fairly limited. He could probably use some Ur-magic, but doing so to get past a door would be a waste of resources, and based on his experience with the magic, it might put the city at risk.
Celeste tried to hold out the improvised Relic. However, while it mimicked the sun's light and was infused with her divine Energy, she might as well have tried to boil a swimming pool with a lighter for all the good it did. The trio looked at each other, none of them wanting to break the silence.
Finally, Erik sighed. "I can get you through, though I imagine the backlash might not be pleasant." He said, voice hoarse from not speaking for the entire walk.
Celeste seemed to think for a moment before she put a hand on The Scribe's shoulder. The old man was silent, though his eyes went wide as divine Energy poured into him.
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He felt chains snake their way through his body, slowly making their way to a place inside his chest, right above his stomach and below his heart. The chains found what they were looking for as they latched onto his soul, tethering it to his body.
Celeste spoke softly. "No Release."
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No Release
Type: Activated Ability
Energy usage: Varies.
Full effect: Commit Energy and choose a visible target. They simply cannot die until you reclaim the Energy. If reduced to zero Health they will be incapacitated for an hour before reviving with one Health. If their body is destroyed or widely scattered, they will exist in a perpetual haze of blind agony until magic or restorative miracles are used to gather the corpse parts, or until they Energy is Reclaimed. You cannot use this power on your own person.
Her power ensured that no matter what, the old man would not die. She just hoped that he wouldn't end up getting disintegrated, since he would end up getting tormented and in agony if he did.
The path of the Prismatic Initiate was the path of barriers and shields. The Scribe had once heard the God of Magic claim that it was his favourite path and the path that he had built himself around. While the young god was a whippersnapper and wet behind the ears, Erik felt proud that he could walk the path the ancient god would have walked.
Creating two walls and a roof using planes of yellow Energy ensured that the two gods could walk into the chamber beyond, however, the dark magic threatened to overpower Erik.
The darkness in the door was beyond anything that he had expected, and as he felt the yellow light of the prismatic walls start to crack and bend, he looked after the gods, seeing Jasmine on the other side.
Then everything turned black as the backlash of the wall hit him in the chest, followed by the sound of chains straining as the magic tried to tear his soul out. The darkness was the only thing that Erik could see. He was sure that he screamed in pain, but he could not feel his body.
The pair of gods stepped into a massive ritual hall. Massive arches with seemingly living shadows lined the walls, and it was hard to determine if the ceiling was simply far up or if it was covered in shadow as well.
The air was still heavy and damp, but the darkness gave the feeling of standing in a void.
Opposite Jasper and Celeste was a massive altar, and Jasper instantly recognized who the altar had been dedicated to. He was disgusted by the demonic name for the Demon of Hatred.
On the top of the altar were two figures, Jasmine, bound and gagged to ensure that she couldn't run away, and Raffael Moordet.
He was no longer a Shadowy figure. Instead, his hood had been pulled back to reveal a pair of long horns, though that wasn't what Jasper found himself focusing on. Instead, it was the burning eyes the man was sporting.
"Watch out for the shadow", Jasper whispered softly, making Celeste look up at him.
"The shadow?" She asked with a soft, questioning tone, and Jasper nodded.
"The shadow." He confirmed.
He cringed a little as he heard the sound of screaming from behind him, and he assumed that Erik must have been hit by the backlash of the collapsing magic.
"That altar he is standing at... that isn't for a god. That is for a demon. By the looks of things, the Demon of Hatred." The God of Magic explained.
Celeste readied herself, about to pounce, though Jasper's position didn't change.
The God of Knowledge had to make an active effort to suppress the knowledge that tried to fill his mind.
He knew that demons were created when gods died. It was the game's way of recycling them and bypassing any resurrection attempt. The demon would always be the opposite of the god, ensuring that their dogma was preserved in some twisted way.
Jasper almost instantly had a couple of ideas about who the Demon of Hatred was, but he managed to force the theories down as he walked closer to the altar.
"Ahh, uninvited guests." Raffael Moordet said with a dark snarl, his drawl seemingly tasting every syllable.
"Your reign of terror ends here," Jasper said out loud, trying to take on an opposing force to the villain.
Celeste nodded. "By my divine might, you shall fall." She declared, feeling herself inspired by her husband.
Raffael Moordet laughed, the cackling of a madman as he reached out to the walls.
"What good is your divine might when it can't reach me!" Shadow spilt forth as the demon-worshipping god-pretender pulled it from every corner of the room.
The attack was impossible to dodge, and as Celeste tried to activate her abilities, she found they cost more. She had wanted to ensure that Jasper didn't die by using "No Release", but it would cost her two Energy instead of one. With her Energy dedicated to Erik as well as her time-based attacks and shields, she would end up without any Energy at all.
Jasper's fireball hardly seemed to scorch the living shadows as they poured in against them. Celeste groaned.
"HOW DOES HE HAVE SO MUCH POWER?" She felt her body tense as the shadow missed her, but instead hit the shadow that she was casting, which in turn injured her quite a bit.
Celeste had lost two hitpoints, leaving her at 22, which wasn't too bad, but with the number of attacks coming her way, there was no way to truly block or dodge most of them.
Jasper wasn't doing much better. His body had been hammered by the shadows almost instantly, and without any of Celeste's precognition, he found himself having to calculate the likelihood of each shadowy spike hitting him.
The thing that he struggled with most, though, was the question that Celeste had asked. He wanted to answer it, but doing so would leave him focused on spouting lore instead of fighting, so while he created a flaming wall of fire, he simply answered in one word.
"DEMONS!"
With her power of Death, Celeste knew when someone died around her, which was the only reason she could tell that Jasmine, the girl she had come here to save, had been killed behind the wall of shadows.
Celeste felt her anger rise, quickly pouring through her options. Why hadn't her Power "Withholding the Mercy" stopped this?
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Withholding the Mercy
Type: Constant
Energy usage: N/A
Full effect: Those reduced to zero hit dice or hit points within 200 meters of you automatically stabilize or die as you wish. If you desire it, willing living creatures at zero HD or hit points around you may continue to act for as many rounds as you have Ranks before they unavoidably fall dead.
She took three more hits, bringing her down to 16 hitpoints. Celeste didn't care. She pushed her focus into the power, forcing it to harmonize with "No Release".
Celeste could feel Jasmine's soul being pulled from her being, which was probably the reason why it was bypassing her powers. The Architect of Reality let her eyes flare, and she poured a point of Energy into anchoring Jasmine's soul in her body.
While the shadows increased the cost, the harmony between the two powers ensured that she only had to pay a single point of Energy to maintain the effect.
However, they had to find a way to defeat Raffael Moordet before she was slain.