It’s when I’m contemplating the optimal way of wasting my life away that there’s a knock on my office door.“Come in,” I grumble, threading the slightest bit of power to the sigil on my left pointer. You can never be too cautious.The door swings open, and in steps a woman wearing a sundress with enough color to give me an instant headache. I note she has four arms, four eyes, and skin leaning on a purple hue. Must be some type of Arachne, then, but the specifics of her parentage aren’t exactly my problem. She steps right up to my desk, fearless, and graces me with a smile rife with one too many fangs.I thread just a teensy, tiny bit more power into my defenses. Just in case.“Hullo, mister wizard!” The woman says in a voice a touch shriller than I expected. “My name’s Gina, I saw the papers you placed around town regarding your services, and I wish I could’ve greeted you earlier, oh, but I’ve been so busy the last week. I adore new arrivals, and magic, and–”“Yeah, hello to you too.” I wave a hand to stop her rambling before it splits my poor head open. “You got a magic problem that needs fixing, or…?” I stare up at her.Gina pauses for a moment, brain rebooting - if she even has one - and smiles wider. “Oh, yes, yes indeed I do! You see, there’s been something strange happening! I run a clothing shop down the street, and I’ve been hearing the strangest noises. It’s like something’s scampering around, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t even catch a glimpse of whatever it might be. I’m worried something sinister might be stalking around. Is it possible your magic might be able to sniff out the perpetrator? I can pay!”A rat? Is that what she wants me to deal with; a wizard, formerly of the Star Circle, reduced to dealing with rodents? I briefly wonder what my mentor would think of me now… if they even deigned to think of me at all after the incident.I look to Gina and…>Agree because I might want to do a good thing.>Agree because I need the money.>Agree… but first I’m hiking up the price as far as I can. A wizard’s gotta eat.>Question her. Why should a wizard like me deal with what might just be a wild animal? That’s a job for the town’s Paladin squad, not me.>Disagree. I’m not in the mood for some menial task, even if there’s money involved.
>>6346147>Agree because I need the money
>>6346147>Agree because I need the money.
>>6346147>Disagree. I’m not in the mood for some menial task, even if there’s money involved.You know what? No way
>>6346147>Agree because I might want to do a good thingWhat a doll, a cute spider lady.
>>6346147>Agree because I need the money.What's the skinny, toots? Sound like scraping, or grinding? Louder at night, or consistent through the day?
>>6346147>>Agree… but first I’m hiking up the price as far as I can. A wizard’s gotta eat.
>>6346147>Question her. Why should a wizard like me deal with what might just be a wild animal? That’s a job for the town’s Paladin squad, not me.
>>6346147>Agree because I might want to do a good thing.
Even if I really wanted to disagree, I realize my coffers’ll disagree with my disagreement and maybe proceed to throw a punch or two at my jaw for my foolishness. I can’t blame them, being as deprived as they are at the moment. Devoid of the Star Circle’s cash flow, I’m flat broke.Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a tad, but I don’t exactly adore slumming it, even a little. So, I nod to the spider woman, despite my gut warning my head of the many pains to come.“I’ll do it.” I say plainly, getting to my feet and rummaging around my desk. I was only able to keep a few of my artifacts in the wake of the previous disaster, so I don’t have much to choose from. I scrounge up the few I can carry without complication and store them within my coat. I turn and grab my staff, the numerous sigils scrawled upon its surface glowing faintly as my hand closes around the wood.“Where’s the hat?” Gina asks, tilting her head in a manner others might find cute.“The what?”“The pointy hat. Don’t all wizards have one?”I stare at her.She grins widely and turns toward the door. “You must’ve lost it.”I choose to practice diplomacy as we walk out of my office and emerge onto the street.The walk to her shop is short and uneventful. Floating lanterns bob across the street, multicolored light fading in and out. Haven’s a strange town, and one of the oddities is that it’s stuck in a perpetual state of twilight. When you look up into the horizon, you can see strands of dawn, almost like a seer peering into the future, but forever proving unable to grasp it. A product of magic, surely, but it wasn’t something I care to try and unravel at the moment.Gina’s shop is a two-story building, one of those pastel-colored affairs meant to instill an instant sense of comfort in a person the second they draw near. Long windows reveal just a hint of the rows of clothing on the inside. Gina pushes open a door drenched in hot pink paint and gestures expansively to the inside. “Feast your eyes!”I have to admit, the selection’s impressive. I glimpse suits, dresses, tunics, livery, coats, blouses, and everything in between. Some of the stuff I can’t even put a name to, but then again, I’m no man of fashion. I’m here to do a job, get paid, go back to the office, and do it all again.Such is life.
>>6346815“Can you point out to me the areas where you’ve been hearing the noises?” I turn to ask, and she nods rapidly, hurrying towards the back of the room. I follow, and we end up in a plain hallway at the back of the first floor, multiple doors leading into what I assume are storage areas.“Here, and here… and here…” Gina’s four arms work in concert to point out every little spot she’s heard a noise. I quickly get the picture.“All right, that’s enough. Step back.” Not that she strictly needs to do so, but I find my presence carries more gravitas when I make myself sound like some mysterious miracle worker.Gina gives me space, settling by the doorway leading back into the shop proper. She eyes me with much anticipation and excitement. Joy.I place both hands on my staff, feed a tiny piece of power into it, and tap it gently against the floor.Casting magic is a lot like making a wish. You envision what you desire, and you imagine what it would be like for it to be true. Maybe you go to an altar and pray to one of the beings who call themselves gods. Wizards don’t bother with gods; they do it their damn selves. When a wizard envisions something they want, they harness the energy of the spirit to bring that something into reality. More specifically, we shape that energy with the help of sigils. Sigils are an ancient language only decipherable to those who can access the spirit, and each sigil correlates roughly to a concept. By carving a sigil onto an object or your own body, you can shape magic into something usable instead of a roulette that might turn your organs into bombs or turn you into a chicken or do otherwise undesirable things the moment you try to use it. Of course, the spell you envision has to match up with the concept the sigil embodies, and a spell too broad or too ambitious in scale might cost more energy than you have.I push power into the Sigil of Searching inscribed on my staff.Despite what Gina might hope, there’s no sparks, bright lights, loud noises, or massive explosions. With this sort of spell, adding anything flashy would only serve to waste energy. Some spells couldn’t avoid being flashy, but then, those were usually much more deadly.The air shimmers ever so slightly as a near-invisible pulse emanates from my staff, sweeping the hallway. Information arrives into my head, and I snap toward a dark corner next to the door at the end of the hallway. I point my staff at the spot and tap the Sigil of Searching again, envisioning piercing the darkness to find what’s within.
>>6346817I’ve seen this one before: artificial darkness, mostly created by demons, like the imp I find as a pulse of energy blows away the sheer blackness it was using as a cover. The little shit freezes up like a deer in torchlight, its long floppy ears stiffening in shock. Imps are nasty annoyances, as small as your average dog, but armed with razor-sharp claws and teeth that can rip and tear with ease. The red-skinned nuisances were some of the lowest demons, but they could cause havoc in numbers, especially against the inexperienced. Unfortunately for this lurker, I’m competent.The imp screeches and tenses up, readying for a textbook lunge. Judging from the angle, he was going for the throat, a quick, bloody kill. I let him make the leap, if only to humor the little guy. He doesn’t know his chances of injuring me lie somewhere between zilch and nada, and that there won't be anything resembling a fight.Mid-leap, the imp jerks to a painful stop, suspended in mid-air. I lower my staff as the Sigil of Grasping on it flashes dully.“Game’s over, champ. Have fun stalking?” I step a bit closer. The imp snarls and claws at me, but remains levitating and firmly out of reach, to his dismay. I peer back at Gina. “Demon infestation. You were right to hire me after all.”She places one hand to her heart - assuming it’s in the same place as a human’s - and wipes her brow. “That was so intense, mister wizard! Your bravery in the heat of battle; my, wizards are incredible!”I really didn’t do all that much at all, but I let her keep her fantasies. Maybe she’ll pay extra, being so impressed. A man can hope!Now, what to do with this imp?>I kill it. It’s a demon infesting someone’s shop. There’s nothing more to be said or done.>I inspect it. I’m not that invested in this, but I find it strange the imp was here at all, the strange part in question being that it had not yet attacked Gina. Why had it waited, watching her? Instinct prods at me.>I try to bind it using one of my Sigils. Could be fun to have a little helper, even useful if I envisioned the spell just right. At the very least, it could be a fun novelty for a few days. >Write-in
>>6346819>I inspect it. I’m not that invested in this, but I find it strange the imp was here at all, the strange part in question being that it had not yet attacked Gina. Why had it waited, watching her? Instinct prods at me.
>>6346819>>I inspect it. I’m not that invested in this, but I find it strange the imp was here at all, the strange part in question being that it had not yet attacked Gina. Why had it waited, watching her? Instinct prods at me.
I inspect it. I’m not that invested in this, but I find it strange the imp was here at all, the strange part in question being that it had not yet attacked Gina. Why had it waited, watching her? Instinct prods at me.
Something felt off about this.I step inches away from the imp, squinting at his scrambling form. Crying out in triumph, he tries swiping my eyes out of my skull, but I just spin him around with the levitation spell. His claws keep flashing out, hoping to claw victory from the clutches of the thin air he was ravaging. Why hadn’t the imp attacked Gina while it was camping out in her shop? The question bounces around inside my head, crowing for my attention. I thread power into the Searching Sigil and wave my staff over the imp’s horned head, looking for any connections. When a demon is bound to someone’s will, a connection is formed between the bound and the binder, no matter the method. With the correct application of magic, you could identify, find, and trace that connection back to the source. There were methods with which you could conceal or muddy the trail, but it didn’t seem any of those were being employed in this particular case, considering that my spell works. In my mind, I feel a tug to the south, and I can almost envision a physical line leading to the imp’s binder.“Someone placed the little bastard here deliberately.” I mutter, loud enough for Gina to hear. She doesn’t respond. I don’t find it too weird; it’s not exactly cause to hoot and cheer.The binder must have ordered the imp to infiltrate the shop, but why? Was it to stake the place out? To steal? But then, Gina’s words had seemed to imply she’d been hearing them for multiple days, an ongoing occurrence. The shop wasn’t huge or well-guarded in the slightest, so casing it shouldn’t have been a long or even necessary process. Was it to watch Gina?I toss a glance at her, finding her staring back at me with her head canted to the left. I have to remind myself I’ve just met her. I know absolutely nothing above the surface level, something which could easily be a mask. “Is there any reason you could think of that someone would want to send a demon after you? Any enemies, or spurned lovers, or something similar?” I ask, keeping my gaze solid.“Hmm…” Gina tilts her head from side-to-side, considering. “Nope! Can’t think of a single one.” She smiles toothily, looking entirely too unbothered.“You sure?”“Yup!”Okay then.
>>6347047We stay in silence for a moment as I think things over. My next course of action…>...is to pursue the binder. The quickest way to get whatever this is done with is to confront it myself, with obligatory and copious usage of magic and fisticuffs.>...is to report this to the town’s Paladins. Paladins are the ones who handle crimes, so it makes sense to get them to help with this, especially if it turns out to be some bigger conspiracy or organization.>...is to get rid of the imp and declare the job done. I’ve finished it to the letter, having dispatched the lurking demon in Gina’s shop, and she doesn’t seem all too concerned about the implications of it having been there.>...is to investigate Gina herself. I’m not certain on this, but the oddities of this case might have more to do with the spider woman herself than I had initially thought.>Write-in
>>6347048>...is to pursue the binder. The quickest way to get whatever this is done with is to confront it myself, with obligatory and copious usage of magic and fisticuffsSweet Gina not a thought in that doll's head.
>>6347048>...is to get rid of the imp and declare the job done. I’ve finished it to the letter, having dispatched the lurking demon in Gina’s shop, and she doesn’t seem all too concerned about the implications of it having been there.Hey man, if she can't think of a single reason why someone would send an imp to spy on her, I can't think of a single reason why she should worry something so random and kooky would happen twice! Let's grab the check and take on a case from someone that isn't full of shit. In this kind of work, a dishonest client is WAY more dangerous than a psychotic perp.
>>6347048>...is to report this to the town’s Paladins. Paladins are the ones who handle crimes, so it makes sense to get them to help with this, especially if it turns out to be some bigger conspiracy or organization.
The leggy dame that saunters into the office about a little old nothin is ALWAYS more trouble than she's worth
>>6347057Some amateur using magic to summon an imp to spy on poor Gina. Probably in love with her but even with eight eyes she can't see too good. Or its a pervert.
>>6347048>>...is to investigate Gina herself. I’m not certain on this, but the oddities of this case might have more to do with the spider woman herself than I had initially thought.
>>6347107Idunno man, her demeanor is off. She isn't curious about this, she doesn't seem very scared. I think she knew there was an imp and wanted a wizard to take care of it quickly, and there is probably a very interesting larger mystery at play - but it'd be safer to get into it from a different angle. I mean, if she REALLY was clueless and thought it was a rat or something, why go directly to a wizard? If we call the Pallies to handle it, it'll piss off her and whoever it is that was spying on her. If we investigate from here, we will likely be scrutinized by her or the other party; we're visibly in the mix right now. Probably should just walk on this for now and keep our heads on a swivel in case the binder of the imp decides to fuck with us.
>>6347110If shes off shes off and chances are we're roped into it, my question would be did the binder see our face through the imp. Next we know it'll be thugs or dirty Paladins knocking on our door. At that point do we let whoever was doing it, some street sorcerer, have the initiative to gather their street toughs or take the initiative ourselves. It sounded like they didn't even know how to protect their location. We settle it and we make sure whoever did send the imp should make like a banana and split.Though it could be fun to have defenses at the office made if we don't mind getting it dirty.
>>6347048>...is to pursue the binder. The quickest way to get whatever this is done with is to confront it myself, with obligatory and copious usage of magic and fisticuffs.
+ Write in>We have solved this case as requested and we can bill her for our time. If she wants to hire our services to hunt down the perpetrator that is a different job altogether. If she refuses turn over the imp to the paladins otherwise we can use it in the investigation.
