The City That Never Dreams

ForestDivinity

ForestDivinity

Member
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Overview​
A world similar to our own. There are phones and laptops and technology is booming. At first glance it doesn’t seem any different and yet if you look closer the differences are profound for along with modern life witches and warlocks (as well as a variety of other magical persons) exist and magic seeps from the cracks in walls and the ground. It has grown with technology and those particularly skilled have begun to merge the two. It is a world where magic is accepted but not quite revered, it is a job like any other – though perhaps one more shrouded in mystery
The main story takes place within one city named Perrenvale – a small, slightly poor place not far from the ocean. Crime is higher than most places and people are nervous of outsiders but still kind. The city never seems to sleep and it is a messy blend of new and old, high rise buildings slowly taking over the architecture, though witches churches and the old Magick school stand strong. The people too are a strange mixture, it is a place where beings from all over seem to congregate lately.
This is where our characters live and breathe, and eventually meet.
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Races​
The characters in this world are varied but no single race is particularly hated or feared – at least on the surface.
  • Mortal Humans – People who don’t take up the study of magic. Called Mortal because in the past magic could extend the users life past the average age,
  • Witches – Can be male or female. Use what is known as ‘Traditional Magic, though many of them have electronic spell books and have begun using technology to aid themselves. Live longer than non-magical humans.
  • Warlocks – Male or female. Use what is known as ‘Modern Magic’ and don’t draw upon the old basics of spell casting. Live longer than non-magical humans.
  • Vampires – Originally humans who were under a curse they have since been able to turn humans into their kind through bites – though it is expressly forbidden unless you get the correct permits from the government. Are not immortal though longer living than witches/warlocks. Can be outside during the day but makes them dizzy, light headed and ill. Mostly get blood from a volunteer donor or a blood bank.
  • Ghouls – People who died but didn’t properly move on, or people who were raised by necromancy. Can be cruel but many just live on the streets or in sewers unless someone offers them a place in their house. Can be exorcised.
  • Demons – Creatures summoned from the Other. Can be human or animal in natures. Usually under the control of a magical from the main world. Humanoid demons tend to be powerful enough to appear by themselves but they don’t have as much magic if that is the case, though they are slightly more powerful than warlocks. Their magic tends to be elemental based. Can also be exorcised.
  • Fae – Once they were only found in the country but as an industrial revolution swept across the world they found themselves in towns and cities. They are long living magical creatures who are weak to iron. Their magic is mostly earth/plant based though they have some air powers too and they are especially good at healing. Most reject technology.
If there are other races you have ideas for please let me know and give some indication as to what they’d be like. Please don’t make a super powerful race though.
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Traditional Magic​
Used by witches ‘Traditional Magic’ draws upon the power that is exists in every part of the universe. Witches are trained to cast with spell circles, crystals, and drawing upon the five elements to bless their spells. Potions, alchemy, and ritual are the key parts of their magic and it is the foremost type of magic for humans to learn in the universe.
In recent times, many witches have begun keeping their rituals and spells online, making it easy to look up rituals for just about anything. Technology is an aid but is rarely a key part of their magic.
Witches believe in the power of ritual and intent over anything else, and that magic is something granted by the world and all will be returned in the end.​

Modern Magic​
Used by warlocks ‘Modern Magic’ is the idea that magic stems from the user or from items imbued by the user. It just has to be drawn out of the core within most people. Warlocks are trained to cast with staffs or wands, though wands are much preferred. ‘Modern Magic’ emerged within the last hundred years and has changed with the growth of technology. Wands tend to be made of copper or other conductive materials – though iron and steel do not work for magic.
As their style of magic grew up with industrialisation and technology it is an intrinsic part of their style but the particulars of use is up to each warlock as they are taught to be interesting and experimental.
Warlocks believe in the power of words and self. They cast short single word spells and are proficient in charms, transfiguration/conjuration, and offensive magic.
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The Fae​
Fae are similar to humans but they are easily recognisable when compared to them. Fae are shorter than average humans and as they get old begin to have magical 'tattoos' that cover their skin. They are classed as people in the realm though (compared to Demons who are not). Fae do have wings though they are not able to fly - it is speculated that they might have been able to once but magic has become weaker over time - and they tend to keep them hidden under their clothes. Unlike humans they tend to keep their hair long too and often have darker skin.
Further more Fae are 'burned' when they come in contact with iron, or indeed steel, as it is poisonous to them. As such they tend to wear only natural cloths and have much of their furniture made out of wood. In the past it was easy to ignore this but steel has become a major part of the modern world so most Fae will wear long clothes and gloves to limit the accidental touching of it. Such clothes tend to be in natural colours such as blue/green/brown which are the same colouring their features often had. Rare but not unknown are Fae with red hair.
Fae are long lived compared to humans though the eldest Vampires far outlive them, and their appearances becomes more distinct from humans as they age. An older Fae for example may have vines curled around their form or appear constantly wet as an outward manifestation of their gifts. They are considered blessed elders among their communities.
In the past the Fae kept separate from humans as much as they could but their population is far smaller. This is due to the fact that they live longer of course. As the industrial, and then the digital revolution swept the world it became harder for Fae to keep their own distinct communities away from people. Whilst older Fae still try to keep away from humans, many of their youth (that is to say people under a hundred) are starting to try to become members of the human society and have begun moving to cities for better opportunities, however they still tend to remain outsiders as it is difficult for them to find safe places. In the modern age Fae find it easiest to meet and live in Witch communities as Witches too favour stone and wood over metals whilst the Fae often clash with warlocks.
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Vampires​
Vampires do not have much physical magic. Unlike Witches or Warlocks they are not master spell casters, though few have learnt the basics of ritual and spell. Their main magical gift is known as their ‘thrall’ – a type of mild mind control that allows them to sway another person and make them easier to influence. In the past, this was used for finding both blood sources and lovers though the government now prohibits its use.
Vampires are also stronger, harder to kill, and faster than humans and Fae, beat only by Demons in the area of physical prowess. This is due to the ambient magic that keeps them alive, a unknown side-effect of the original curse that was used on them. All Vampires also have the ability to fly – or rather float. Whilst they cannot gain much height many Vampires find this ability comes in useful at times, even if it just allows them to avoid stepping in puddles.
Curiously Vampires are known to gain magical gifts as they grow older, these are usually small but useful and it is thought to be a build-up of extra magic that allows these gifts to form. For example, a 100-year-old Vampire might have mild shapeshifting abilities and be able to change their hair or eye colour, allowing them to hide their immortality more easily. The oldest and earliest known Vampires are reported to have much stronger gifts such as animal shapeshifting which is where the old stereotype of Vampires turning into bats began, however these claims have yet to be proven true by anyone.
Unlike humans, Vampires cannot be seen in normal mirrors. This is thought to be another side effect of their curse and is cause for much speculation. Many Vampires have specially charmed mirrors now that allow them to see a watery reflection but it is not a true likeness like a human might see, though they are certainly better than nothing!
Furthermore, Vampires must be invited into a warded house or building. Whilst many old buildings are warded for protection more modern builds, particularly high-rise buildings, may not be due to the cost of ward installation. Because of this many Vampires have emigrated to cities in recent years, finding it an easier place to blend in and hide their curse from the wider population. This, along with blood blanks and volunteers being readily available mean that discrimination against the Vampirical population has fallen greatly in the last fifty years and most now live in relative peace.
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Ghouls​
Ghouls are less magically inclined, they can't cast spells in any of the traditional ways like a witch/warlock can. However they are basically beings of magic and so do have some abilities as it were. Ghouls can turn invisible and move through objects much the way your traditional ghost can but they can also touch objects and people if they concentrate. They also tend to have weak elemental abilities. Most Ghouls can cause toilets to over flow, the stove to turn on, your plants to grow better, the lights to flicker. They are small abilities but can come in useful, though most Ghouls just use these gifts for pranking. Ghouls who spend a lot of time around one element, or Ghouls who died in certain ways (such as drowning/in fire) can have stronger gifts in that element. Ghouls are important to Witches as they can be used to find areas of high magical energy and in the past the two peoples were far closer.
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Plot​
I haven’t got a concrete plot in mind at the moment, the story is something I want to grow organically and plan out depending on the characters you give me. I was thinking of something to do with curses and larger fantasy plots with slice of life adventures thrown in?​

Your Characters​
I would like character sheets for these, I’m only looking for something short though, don’t give everything away! Try to make your characters diverse and interesting, there’s so much you could do with them! I’ve put a little sheet down below but feel free to expand if you have something important you want to put in it. I’ve included mine too under a spoiler if you want some idea of what I’m looking for.
Characters should be 16+ but try to vary the ages! If you want to use a picture that’s fine but try to write a description of how the character acts etc. too.

Basic Character Sheet
Name:
Age:
Gender:
Race:
Description:

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Name: Adrian Heyde
Age: 22
Gender: Male
Race: Witch
Description: Adrian is a small, skinny man, mostly owing to his recent lack of funds. He has messy, dark red hair and pale skin that is often covered in bruises. Most of the time there are dark circles under his eyes.
He had attended the School of Magick on a scholarship from the age of twelve, graduating at eighteen with average grades in most of his subjects, though he showed a lot potential in potion making. Had he been richer he could have pursued a Mastery but instead had to go straight to work. Currently he holds a day job in a small herbal store and crafts Potions on the side for customers who request them.
Adrian is a kind man but sometimes comes off as brusque and a little cold – usually though he is just tired. Offered coffee he will usually perk up.​
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Current Players 6/6​
Forest Divinity - GM - Adrian
Yoda -
Name: Rabaca
Age: Unknown, she died at the age of 20
Gender: Female
Race: Ghoul
Description:
Rabaca was born a human to a wealthy family. She spent most of her time drawing and studying to become an artist. Rabaca lost her normal life when she was hit by a drunk driver. The doctors tried everything, but Rabaca was doomed. Not wanting to lose her baby girl Rabaca’s mother, Trinaty, spent a fortune to hiar a great witch to come and heal Rabaca. The Witch was able to preserve Rabaca’s life by putting her in a comma. This was not what Trinaty wanted and she ordered the witch to do more, but the witch could not. Frustrated with the witch Trinaty sent her away without payment or even a thank you.

The witch was not one to work for free, she also felt bad for leaving Rabaca to suffer for her mother’s mistakes, so she returned to Rabaca in the cover of night to ask her if she wanted to be free of the comma. Using a potion the witch was able to communicate with Rabaca through the comma. Not wanting to die Rabaca begged the witch to save her. Knowing that she could do no more the witch told Rabaca of a man capable of magic powerful enough to capture the soul of the living and bring them back to life. Rabaca asked the witch to take her to the man she spoke of. Feeling bad for the young girl the witch did as Rabaca asked and took her from the hospital. When Trinaty learned that Rabaca had been stolen she put a large bounty on the witch, knowing she had to be behind it.

The witch took Rabaca to the man she had spoken of and he agreed to help her in return for a very rare potion. The witch agreed and left Rabaca with Jonathan so she could return to her home and brew the potion. The witch never made it back to her home. For a long time Jonathan waited for the witch to return with the potion, but when he found out she was not coming back he decided to use Rabaca for an experiment. Instead of bringing her back to life he used dark magic to kill her human body and capture her soul. He put Rabaca’s soul into a book that bound her to the world of the living. When he was done Rabaca had become a ghole. With her new form Rabaca was able to talk and move freely again. Jonathan told Rabaca she was free to do as she pleased with her new life.

Rabaca returned to her mother, but when they met Trinaty did not recognise Rabaca instead she saw a monster, cursing Trinaty told Rabaca to leave her alone. Rabaca tried to explain what had happened, but her mother could not hear her. Lost and alone Rabaca returned to Jonathan and told him about what had happened. Jonathan told Rabaca that only those with a pure heart could truly see and hear her for what she truly was, he wint on to tell Rabaca of what Trinaty had done. With nowhere else to go Rabaca stayed with Jonathan and helped him out as she could, but Jonathan was a mortale and eventually he passed away leaving Rabaca alone. While the world around her changed Rabaca mostly stayed the same spending most of her time alone in Jonathan’s old laboratory painting. Only venturing out every now and then to try and keep up with the changing world.
romamaro -​
Name: Clementine Hawkinn (goes commonly as Clem)
Age: 90
Gender: Female
Race: Fae

Appearance: Clementine is the epitome of a late bloomer. She is 4’11” tall (59in/149cm) and still has not had her growth spurt. She is 6st 10lbs (94lbs/42.6kg) but is likely to gain weight when her growth spurt comes along. She is visibly underdeveloped, almost looking childlike. She has very dark skin that requires the darkest of foundations to get a colour match. She has wide dark brown eyes and well kept eyebrows that are the same colour as her hair, which is nearly black and styled into thick dreadlocks that come down to near the bottom of her spine. When exercising or doing things that require concentration, she ties them back into a thick ponytail. Her fringe is grown out. She has wide features, with a large, strong jaw, a wide nose, and pronounced cheekbones. She is very rarely seen without makeup, always having foundation, mascara, an eyeshadow palette and a few lipsticks on hand. Clementine wears lots of dresses and skirts with fancy, long-sleeved blouses. She wears mainly shades of green and brown. Many of her blouses are floral. The only pairs of shoes she owns are shoes with half-inch heels and single, button straps. She commonly wears a pair of pale green gloves, and nearly always wears tights. To see a piece of her skin revealed that isn’t her face is uncommon. When she’s out of the house, she brings a handbag, normally a large white one with a silk interior. She usually carries her makeup and a tub with some fruits, and then some other items depending on the situation. Like most other Fae, she has frail, weak, and quite small wings. They are as thin as tracing paper, and are the same colour as clementines - her wings are actually her namesake. She doesn’t like hiding them, as she finds it uncomfortable, but since she can’t find any Fae who don’t hide their wings, she hides them to fit in.

Personality: Clementine is a girl who enjoys the simpler things in life. She has grown up in the relative luxury and faced little to no hardships, and can be quite stubborn and spoilt. She is prone to fits of sadness when she is deprived of something, such as a favourite activity. She is social and friendly, and has a good friendly relationship with the two other Fae youth on the farm, but she doesn’t tend to speak all that much, though she is all a part of what happens in the friend group no matter how active she is with arranging plans or that sort of thing. She doesn’t really have a best friend, but if she was to have one, they would find that she can be quite adventurous and reckless, willing to try crazy new things all for the sake of fun. At the end of the day, she seems to be quiet and somewhat of a recluse, keeping mainly to herself even when with friends, but holds a whole bunch of stubborn and adventurous personality waiting to be let free.

Biography: Clementine lives on a fruit farm just out of town. She has lived there all her life with her two parents, her four grandparents, and two other Fae families which all have one child, two parents and four grandparents, creepily enough. Each of the three families specialises in one aspect of Fae power - one of the families specialises in control over water and rain, the other makes sure the soil always stays fertile with earth powers, and Clementine’s family specialises in making sure that the fruit grow right and taste good. The three families have worked together like this for generations, and they make an admirable amount of money doing this. Clementine has no desire to do anything else with her life other than inherit the farm and raise a family on it. She has no school education, and only knows how to read, write and do basic maths, though she also struggles with quite bad dyslexia.

Power Details: Clementine’s powers are general growing of plant life. However, they are strongest with fruits. Normally, her powers just make it so the food is well sized and incredibly delicious. On occasion, her powers overload and she grows colossal fruits ten times their normal size, which sell incredibly well.​
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Kbeligratis -
Name: Rois, but people call her Rosie
Gender: Female
Age: REALLY old- but a lady never tells her age! ;) However, she looks like she's 2o-ish
Race: Demon, but more specifically, a Kelpie
Description: Long blonde hair, fair skin, and strong features, with blue eyes. She is also 5ft. 6; Basically, she looks like a supermodel, and why wouldn't she? She's a shapeshifter! Despite her looks, she is very smart and has a sharp, sarcastic sense of humor. She likes to wear heels because they make her even taller, and she usually wears jeans or pants with a blouse. Her horse form is a tall white thoroughbred mare with an ornate leather bridle and saddle with tassels and such. She generally acts pretty aloof and likes to mess with people sometimes- Immortality can get boring! However, once you are friends with her, she is a loyal friend. No matter what, Rosie carries herself with confidence and stays classy! Also, she can communicate with other horses and donkeys.
TheGreenerGrey -
Name: 'Cyrus' (Real name: Jim Otther)
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Description:
On the outside Cyrus is cool, collected, charming and intelligent. Never raises his voice, never betrays any emotion at all on his face aside from pleasant delight. But the inside is a whole other story. Beneath his facade, Cyrus teems with barely restrained anger, raging at everything and anything, and it shows in a variety of different ways. He is uncannily brutal in dealing with problems, and tends to be intolerant towards failure. He relishes in others pain, ranging from a too strong handshake to being as brutal as possible to whatever victim of the family he was feeding on at the time, smiling politely as he orders them ripped limb from limb. Cyrus rarely lets his facade slip, and it only happens under extreme conditions, but when he does it's almost as if he's another person. His voice loses its clipped tone, and his proper manner of speech is replaced with a drawl that shakes with rage, often accompanied by threats of incredible violence. A great way of getting him angry is to mention his real name, which he sees as weak and terrible.

He is relatively high up in the cities' mafia, and lords over a small part of the city as his personal domain. Among his coworkers he is known for his incredibly violent, bloody way of dealing with problems and the amazingly high death toll that usually follows.

Powers: He has a gun and he shoots troublesome people with it. That or he violently feeds off them. Depending on his mood it can be either.
Lucifer -
Name: S'levthzee
Age: 57 years old (Physical age: 19)
Gender: Male
Race: Demon
Description:
-(True) Demon Form: In his demon form, S'levthzee stands at about 320cm or 10'6". He is a large creature combined with different animal parts such as that of a goat, lion, wolf, and scorpion. Legs of a goat, mane of a lion, head of a wolf and tail of scorpion. His mane and his tail is constantly on fire, which is his element. His horns protrude from the side of his head in a swirling motion, like a mountain goat.
-Human form: When he is human, he stands at 176cm (5'7"). S'levthzee introduces himself in a suit and tie. However, he usually goes for a tank top and shorts, wanting to emphasise his image of being 'smoking hot'. He has fiery red hair that naturally stands up and curls around his head. His eyes are amber-like and he has a generally chubby face, seemingly childish and adorable.
Personality: S'levthzee is a fairly new demon, only having made 3 contracts up to now. Being 19 isn't the best age to be forever, and he is constantly trying to prove his maturity. However, he soon realises that his act would never last long because his childish nature would always take over. S'levthzee enjoys causing mischief and does most of his actions on impulse. Not one to think things through, he does get into a lot of trouble if he were caught in a magical hex. He has a knack for candy and spice, always wanting to mix sweet and spicy together. Although he's reminded time and time again that the two flavours do not mix. At all.
Power: Ability to manipulate fire. And annoy the hell out of people.
Spheryn -
Name: Emilia Wolfe

Age: 26

Gender: Female

Race: Mortal Human

Description:

Emilia Wolfe is an unassuming human woman with few friends and powerful enemies, though not by any choice of hers. Born to a pair of anti-magic rebels, she grew up with too many questions and almost no access to any real answers, aside from the hate-filled drivel her parents tried and failed to drive into her. Her unsatisfied curiosity would come to haunt her, in the years far past the times of her otherwise unremarkable childhood.

She moved out of her parent's home, and town, at seventeen, straight out of graduating high school and wanting nothing to do with them or their antics any longer. Naive, curious, and full of next to real knowledge of the magical races- aside from the most basic of information, it wasn't long before Emilia fell in with crowds only too eager to take advantage. A month later found her contractually bound to work for increasingly shady people for far longer than she could ever imagine. Still, to break the contract would put her in enough debt to collapse a small nation, and perhaps the work wouldn't even be that bad?

Needless to say, she was wrong.

Six years later, she'd done things she wouldn't dare whisper in the dark of her own bedroom, unable to look in a mirror too long before recoiling from what she'd fear would look back. In a near perpetual moral crisis, Emilia hovered over the precipice of her own breaking point. She needed out. She needed out, fast. So, she ran, and three years later finds her still running. Never staying in any place too long, her latest refuge lies in the city of Perrenvale, hoping to keep her head down and stay out of trouble.



February was cold in Perrenvale – not the nice sort of cold that brings snow and rosy cheeks and smiles to faces. It was cold enough for frost and smoky breath whenever you were outside and cold enough for day after day of rain. Being by the sea this was, perhaps, to be expected. Snow rarely formed near salt water and ocean brought in swathes of storms that left the streets rushing like tiny streams, cars throwing up spray whenever they drove past. People in Perrenvale quickly got good at walking as far in from the road as possible. February was a cold, wet, and windy month and the rather dull city seemed even greyer than usual. Washed out and miserable.​

At least, Adrian thought to himself, he worked inside, which was better than he could say for some people. He was sure that the fisherman and dock workers were having an awful time and he certainly didn’t envy them. Yes, he was more than happy to be inside and relatively warm.

Absently he stirred the cold remnants of his coffee cup with his spoon and glanced once more out of the window, watching the cold winter rain beat down against the glass. Customers were understandably scarce today as nobody wanted to venture outside in such weather unless they absolutely had to. In the four hours he’d been working only two people had ventured inside and he was pretty sure the first girl had only been looking for a place out of the cold for a moment. He hadn’t refused her – he wasn’t heartless after all.

Not expecting much more activity he leant back on his chair, wishing he had a job more interesting than managing a shop front and stacking shelves. There had been a drop in potions orders the last few weeks and he was itching to make, to create. Magic was part of his very being and yet since leaving school he’d had relatively few opportunities to use it beyond making cold remedies and garden potions.

Even the news was dull lately, bar the stab victim who’d been found last week which was unexpected but not entirely unsurprising. Adrian had lived in Perrenvale long enough to be unfazed when someone died violently. It wasn’t exactly the safest of cities.

Someone should have probably warned Heidie Burns of such facts when she’d decided to move, he thought wryly before letting out a soft sigh. Whilst deaths in Perrenvale were expected it was always a shame when young newcomers got caught up in the violence. It was a sad truth that they tended to become easy victims when moving by themselves and prostitutes like Heidie were prime targets. He was glad that he’d left the more dangerous parts of the city behind in the years since graduation. Anyone in Perrenvale could be a target but he liked to think that he was relatively safe with his warded apartment and dull job. It wasn’t like he was often in contact with criminals (and if he was he certainly wasn’t going to brag about it).

Glancing at the clock on the wall he yawned, grimacing lightly at the time. Half one meant he still had hours of his shift left to go and he was craving a fag and coffee. With a groan he let his head fall onto the desk, the dull sound distracting him from the crack of thunder that echoed outside.

It truly was an awful day.
 
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Unlike most of the other beings in Perrenvale Rabaca loved the cold stormy season. She loved the peace and loneliness, since she was a rather shy person who particularly had trouble dealing with normal people. Rabaca wandered around the city searching for information about what was happening in the world and just generally enjoying the way the storm transformed the city. Rabaca wanted nothing more then to set in a coffee shop and sip on a warm glass of coffee, but since that was impossible she just enjoyed wandering through the relatively empty streets.
 
It's too damn cold outside. Cyrus could feel it in his bones, in the way his teeth chattered despite the warm fire that illuminated the normally dark room. He sat back in his chair, hands folded behind his back to admire his 'office', anything to distract him from the cold. This office was the culmination of the small amount of power he had in this city. Bookshelves lined the walls, full to the brim with books who's titles he could not read in the dancing shadows, but knew off by heart. The desk in front of him was rich mahogany, dark and powerful. The window to his left showed a view over his small domain, and as he glanced out he could see the dock workers toiling at their jobs, unpacking and packing ships bound for distant lands. Sighing, he turned to the matter at hand. The bastard bound and gagged that was lying on his floor amidst a demonic summoning circle.

This absolute prick had the balls to try and deal in his territory without his permission, and then tried to pull some sort of shit by saying that the previous boss hadn't minded. Cyrus was not the previous boss, as Cyrus isn't 6 feet under with hole in the middle of his head. Now normally Cyrus would deal with this how he dealt with most problems in his territory, ripping this complete prick limb from limb. But just as he was about to, a flash of inspiration ran through him. He has been having trouble with enforcing his rule, as he was still relatively new to his postition and some of the smarter ones suspected he had something to do with the previous bosses unfortunate end. He was losing manpower as his rivals whispered their pretty little words into his subordinates ears, luring them away from him. It was getting to the point where he was having trouble maintaining the family's control over this sector of the city. But that was about to change.

He opens a drawer in the desk, pulling out a beautifully inscirbed knife. Standing up, he appraches the complete and utter prick, who he saw was crying. Crouching down, he smiled at the man. "Don't worry, it's going to be over soon." He said, tone pleasant. Well then, time to get to work. Holding his hand over the man, he takes the knife and slices his palm, blood dripping down on to the man's face and onto the runes. The runes soon begin to glow a crimson red, and crying coming from the gag doubles in volume. The man begins to try and shake, trying to roll away, but the ropes hold him in place. Holding the knife in both hands above the man, Cyrus smiles at him before plunging it down, knife slicing open the front half of the man's threat as the blood bursts free and is seemingly absorbed into the rune. As he does this, Cyrus begins to chant.

"Daemonium eiceret de ira, exaudi vocem meam. Venite ad me, ut serviant mihi. Daemonium eiceret de ira, exaudi vocem meam. Venite ad me, ut serviant mihi. Daemonium eiceret de ira, exaudi vocem meam. Venite ad me, ut serviant mihi." He chants as he procedes to butcher the body more, body shaking with every burst of blood until one final shudder, and the blood runs freely into the rune. Sitting back, Cyrus watches as flames burst forward from the rune, clawing and gripping at the body of the man. For a moment, the flames seem to illuminate a humanoid shape, vainly trying to escape, before there was a loud crack and the flames were withdrawn into nothingness.

And from the nothingness it came, and Cyrus was cold no longer.
 
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The sky was dark and cloudy, and the tempest howled, causing the sodden banners on the poles lining the boardwalk to flap wetly in the wind. Rois sat upon on a warped, soggy bench, watching as the slushy winter storm whipped the oceans' freezing waves into sharp peaks. The gale force winds were freezing and her long blond hair was stringy and whipping around her face, but Ro didn't mind. The ocean is Ro's favorite thing on earth, especially on days like this. The waves crashed against the shore, and the wind clawed at her hair. Ro could feel her inner mare rising up in response to the seas' savage beauty, but she forced the feeling back down. It wouldn't do to turn in such a public place. She smiled and stood up. It was time to get her supplies.
 
Clementine stood curiously at the line between the farm and the rest of the world. The gravel path had a line of red chalk going across it, and just past that red line there was torrential rain, storminess, and general unpleasantries. However, on Clementine's side of the line, whilst it wasn't sunny, and it was still very cold, it wasn't raining. This was the work of the Crowens, the family of Fae who were responsible for making sure that the plants didn't drown. Every hour or so, during storms, they would come outside to halt the rain, not for too long, but just enough that the plants lived through the rain. Almost tauntingly, Clementine stuck her foot out across the line, and it came back soaking. She winced at the feeling of her sock sticking to her foot, and quickly retreated back to the farmhouse, not having any plans to go into the rain any time soon.

At home, Clementine found her wishes ignored as her mother shoved a homemade umbrella into her hand, along with a large tweed bag. "We need potions, today," her mother said, "with the way this storm is going, we need potions to keep us all up tonight."
Clementine's mouth opened and closed in distress, and she sat the umbrella down on the kitchen table as a display of dissatisfaction. "Mum, can't you see what it's like outside?" She protested, pointing out of the kitchen window. The Crowens had let the rain continue on, and now it battered down on the crops ruthlessly. "I might just drown out there!" She claimed.
Her mother laughed and waved a hand in her daughter's direction. She moved into the living room and her daughter followed. "Don't be ridiculous," she said, sitting down in her large brown armchair. "I won't hear anymore complaining. It'll only take a few minutes." She shoved a fair amount of money into her daughter's hands.

Clementine groaned. "Fine," she said sharply, turning on her heal. She picked up her city-items as she walked through the kitchen - thick gloves, a large jacket with a hood, and the umbrella that she had set down - and left the house. She put up the umbrella, pulled up her hood and pulled the coat ever tighter around her and began a brisk walk into the city, bag on her shoulder.

The Fae woman muttered unsavoury things about her mother under her breath as she dragged herself through the city. The umbrella didn't have any metal restraints, and such made it quite weak against the wind and rain. She practically ran to the potion shop, slipping in through the door. She shivered and pulled the hood down, dreadlocks instantly pouring away from her face. She looked towards the counter and sighed at the red-haired man behind it. "First off, you got something that could dry me right away?" She asked, feeling the cold right through her jacket. "Also, I need some stuff that can keep a family of nine up all night."
 
The distant barren lands of the Otherworld reached no ends, the clashing of swords, the roars of fury; all of it was a regular occurrence here. Strange supernatural beings ran amuck, causing destruction to a world that already lacked beauty. The air was thick, coated with the lingering smell of blood and death.

Although, not everyone participated in pointless conflicts.

Truth was, not a lot happened in the otherworld. There wasn't any purpose for them to be there other than cause troubles for others and wait for an opportunity to wreck havoc within the human world. On top of a crimson, colossal mountain, stood a demon. Its hollow beady eyes scanned the wasteland before it, as its tail flicked left and right in a vigorous manner. Narrowing its eyes at the chaos down below, it stopped watching the debacle taking place and instead looked towards the right.

The demon had sensed something.

Slowly approaching the location it had sensed a powerful surge of magic abruptly appear, it closed its eyes to enhance its senses.

There.

A blast of energy bellowed out at the location before him and swallowed him whole, his entire being devoured by the strange forces of magic seeping into the otherworld from up an unknown location. The demon grinned malevolently.
It had been summoned.
~
Emerging from ghastly flames, a figure arose from the smoke that encircled the room. Its eyes glowed a dark red, stark and bold; imitating a sense of power and bloodlust that would not normally be able to be captured through physical appearance itself. The arms that fell at the large creature's side tensed, whilst its fists were clenched shut. Giant honed horns protruded from the side of its heads, the tip sharp enough to stab through a person with little to no effort. Its canines were especially prominent, the grin it gave off was sinister and sadistic. It laid a hand down on the floor. Pushing itself quickly out of the portal, the demon revealed its massive body and with that it emerged fully from the smoke.

A booming crack resonated throughout the building, shaking it to its core and toppling most of the books lined neatly in the office. One single strand of complete darkness shot into the sky, signifying the portal closing. Not a single ray of light could be seen in the sky. If you looked above, you would've mistaken it to be night time, however around this specific location it was the most unusual shade of black instead of dark grey. The light dispersed.

The traditional entrance for a demon, was of course, to rise from the flames. Depicting a scene coming from the fiery depths of hell for whoever has summoned them must intend to use their powers for evil purposes. This is not always the case but in the end, the demon usually gets the soul.

S'levthzee liked this, because it gave him even more credit with his elemental fire magic. However, what he didn't like, was when summoner decide that they would summon random demons and not take into account the size of the demon they are summoning.

"F***!"

A loud thump echoed. Instinctively reaching for his head, he yelped in pain. The powerful chaotic demon from the otherworld had hit its head on the ceiling of a room. Slinking back its tail, it quickly shifted into a smaller form. Regaining his composure, he closed his eyes to concentrate. Hands clenched, the otherworldly creature transformed into something much more commonly seen in this world, a human. His amber eyes had an eerie glow, narrowing at the vampire who had summoned him. His head moved itself slightly, adjusting so that he could have a better look of the man before him. Straightening the suit and jacket which he conjured out of thin air, he smirked.

"And for what, pray tell, have you summoned me here for?"
 
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Footsteps rang in her ears, beating a pace nearly matching the thundering of her racing heart, the young woman turned a corner too sharply and nearly bowled over a nearby pedestrian. Muttering a breathless apology, she kept going, overly aware of the looming shadows behind her. She hated when they sent the lesser demons- damnable creatures were far too persistent, and unlike her, didn't exactly require much in the way of rest and recuperation. Even worse was the whispers, when she got on sanctified ground, mutterings of the terrible atrocities they'd happily inflict on her when they got hold of her. It was terribly distracting, even more so since she was the only one who could hear them, due to the binding contract.

Still, all thoughts for another time, when she was actually somewhere she'd be able to breathe easy. Emilia trod deliberately out of the shadows, keeping to well-lit streets and areas illuminated by storefronts and streetlights, wary of anywhere no eyes could see her. Witnesses were a protection of their own, after all- one she would never have survived this long without. Breathless after such a long sprint, she paused, resting a hand on wet brick as she took a moment, watching for moving shadows or approaching figures. Shoving wet locks out of her face, Emilia froze as she surveyed her surroundings. This was no holy ground- one of her enchanted accessories would have alerted her if it was, and yet her pursuers were gone. Her warning ring sat cold upon her hand, a stark difference to the blazing heat it had been when they'd been actively chasing her. Which meant one of two things;

The first that they'd been called back by their masters. Highly unlikely considering their relentlessness in the past- she'd never had them cease chasing her without having to lose their trail first. Which left the second, unfortunately plausible possibility.

She'd entered some other, malevolent creature's domain, and the lesser demons chasing her were too scared to breach its boundaries without permission. Good for her, in the short term, but incredibly worrisome in the long run. Worrying her lip between her teeth, Emilia eyed a nearby potions shop hopefully. If she simply blended in with the surrounding populace, there was a chance whoever controlled the domain wouldn't think it was a normal, mortal human that had been chased into their area. Unless one of her former 'employers' contacted them, of course...

Shaking the foreboding thought away, the soaked woman entered the store quickly, checking over her shoulder more than once on her way in. It wasn't as empty as she'd originally thought, a young woman equally soaked standing afront the counter, a young man, presumably the shopkeep, looking slightly bored. Feeling for her wallet, Emilia resolved to waste as much time as she could in this relative safety before eventually making a purchase out of necessity. Nodding towards the shelves at the young man to indicate she'd browse for a time, she moved carefully, having not quite fully caught her breath.
 
Rois pushed her way through the crowd on her way to the potions store, stepping carefully past the icy patches on the sidewalk- High-heeled boots are not exactly sensible footwear.

She stopped in front of the potion shop's shady awning, breath fogging in the cold air. She eyed the peeling decal on the shop's glass window. This was the place.

Rois made her money by occasionally doing special "jobs" for especially high paying customers. These jobs usually involved demon magic, and Rois was an appealing candidate because Kelpies are considered to be less dangerous than other types of demons. Of course, that isn't necessarily true, but she didn't say anything about it because it's good for business. Today Ro was gathering spell ingredients for a ritual that would "take care" of her client's cheating wife. Spells of the kind that her client was looking for are forbidden, and rather tricky to pull off if one doesn't want to leave behind any magical residue- not to mention the fact that it was difficult to find someone who was willing to cast such a spell. Ro had a reputation in the underground for being versatile, efficient, and most of all, discreet.

She pushed open the shop's door and was greeted by a blast of warm air. She tucked her wet hair behind her ears and walked up to the counter. Sitting behind the register, there was a young, bored-looking man idly stirring a mug of coffee with a spoon.

"Excuse me," She started. "do you carry dragon blood here, by any chance?" It was a rare ingredient, but Ro had made sure that this shop carried it before she had decided to come here. The man at the counter looked up.

"Uh, yeah," he said. "It's locked up in the back, though. Highly acidic, you know." "Just one sec, I'll get it for you." He set down his coffee spoon and grabbed a ring of keys from the desk drawer.

"Thanks so much," Ro replied. She watched as the man stood up and jammed one of the keys into the lock of a heavy, iron-enforced door behind the counter. After a few seconds, he turned the knob and stepped inside.

While she waited, Ro took in her surroundings. One corner was lined with bookshelves full of spell and potion books. Scrolls and loose sheets of paper were crammed into the empty spaces between the heavy tomes. Shelves of pre-made potions and glass vials adorned the walls, and crates and boxes filled with basic spell ingredients were neatly labeled and stacked in neat pyramids. The carpet was a slightly stained, musty midnight blue, and the walls were completely covered up by the multitudes of papers and books and vials adorning them. A small, faded globe twirled lazily by itself on one end of the dark counter, and there was dark wooden trim on the floor and ceiling. Altogether, it was a lovely little place. There were a few patrons inside the shop already- two women, humans. She could smell them. One seemed to be browsing through the shelves of potions, but the other just stood. She was likely just seeking respite from the cold.
 
Cyrus didn't so much as raise his eyebrow at the demon, smile fixed in place as he politely smiled at it. On the inside however, was a different story. 'This stupid bastard better not have goddamn ruined my goddamn ceiling or I'm going to use his scalp to fix it!' He roared in his mind, as he gently gestures to a char placed in front of the desk. "Welcome to the land of mortals, oh great one. Please, take a seat." Cyrus makes his way over to the other side of the desk, picking up a moss green covered book from the floor as he does so and gently placing it down on the desk next to him. turning to face the demon, he continues. "As I'm sure you're already aware, I have called you here today to broker a pact between us. Now, I'm sure you're fine with the standard deal, but I'm rather fond of my soul and I would rather make my way to hell on my own terms." 'Riding your broken body down!' He says politely as he gives the demon a once over.

While it's earlier, true from had been rather terrifying, this one was decidedly... less so. It was short, and the combination of slight chubbiness, height, childlike face and business suit gave him the impression of a child playing dress-up. Hardly an intimidating form, but he could use that he supposed. He doubted that anyone would suspect the kid next to them to be able to rip them limb from limb with ease, and then beat their friends to death with said limbs. "What I'm looking for here isn't your normal deal perse. I am the boss of crime of a small part of this city, and I have been steadily losing more and more manpower to my rivals over time. It's gotten to the point where I have to deal with things myself. This is why I summoned you. I want you to police my domain and enforce my rule, create a new reign of fear and brutality of the like never before seen in the family for me. In exchange, I am willing to offer you anything you want, so long as it is in my power and does not specifically target me." He pauses for dramatic effect. "Deal?" 'Accept or you're going back to hell in PIECES'
 
Adrian blinked when Clementine walked in, sitting up a little in his chair and raising an eyebrow at her first question. “I’m a potions ingredients supplier not a drying rack. I have a towel in the back if you want but there’s nothing here that just… dries people. I can give you a warming potion if you want to stop being cold, but it will be two coins. They're on the left shelf, over there.” He said, gesturing over to the other side of the shop where rows of little vials were set up on the walls. "Red potion with orange flecks, has Warming Potion on the label. I swear to god I get so many customers bringing over Fire Potions instead and they're not ones you want to get mixed up. Unless you want to be on fire."

“To answer your other question I can make you some Alertness Draught but it’ll take a little while. Around an hour? For nine people, well you’ll need a vial each… if you want to be up all night, so that’ll be seventy coins. Because you're buying in bulk you get one free so sixty-three.” He worked out in his head, leaning on the counter as he looked at her, raising an eyebrow.

When another young woman entered he frowned but not in anger, instead just being a bit shocked at the sight of two customers in such a short time but glanced back to Clementine when it became clear that the human woman wasn’t going to be needing assistance any time soon. Another one searching for somewhere out of the rain. The rain that was only coming down harder with each passing minute. If it continued in such a way he wouldn't be surprised to hear flood warnings by the evenings. He winced when he heard thunder crack outside, this time louder than before and he glanced over at Clementine.

"You might not have that long though if you're from outside of the city." As he waited for Clementine to reply he turned to another customer who’d just entered, letting out a soft sound when she asked for dragon blood. It was easy enough to move into the backroom to grab the small vial, placing it carefully on the desk top.

“I can only give you an ounce unless you have a potioneers license or a Ritual mastery. Word of mouth isn’t enough, you need the relevant id paperwork too.” Adrian replied, a hand resting on his hip as he looked over at Rois, “Otherwise you only get the ounce.” The Witch watched her carefully - dragon blood was a highly dangerous and controlled substance and any more than an ounce could be used to create a lot of harm. Not that he particularly cared but he'd had enough of being arrested in his life time.

Anyway it wasn't like customers couldn't just go to each apothecary in the city and gather a load of little vials. Sure it was a controlled substance but it wasn't controlled very well.
 
The fae sighed upon mention of labels. Oftentimes, their writing was too small for her to even try and read, and if they were handwritten that was even worse. She decided that she would be fine with a bit of cold, at least for the a little while. She paid close attention to what he said about pricing, not wanting to have to ask again later on. She couldn't help but react at the price, nose wrinkling, though she had bought Alertness Draught before and she knew that the price could be a bit steep, especially when you were getting a lot of them. She had the money on her for them, so that wasn't a bother, it was more the time that it would take. She looked over her shoulder out the window, sighing somewhat at the lightning strikes. If she came home empty handed, things wouldn't be pretty. Not only would she likely get grounded, but the farm would be damaged pretty bad.

Clementine sighed and shook her head. 'If I get stuck, they'll send Brook for me,' she decided, hoping they'd realise she needed help from the water fae girl. "I can wait. I won't get stuck," she said confidently, not able to afford to not be sure of herself. She reached into her jacket pocket and sat the money down on the counter. "Just...you got a spare chair?" She said, voice sounding hopeful and almost pleading.
 
"There a couple in the break room at the back, I'll grab you one in a minute." He said as he took the money, narrowing his eyes at Rois but after a moment he vanished into the back room to grab a rickety wooden chair, carrying it through to Clementine. "Sorry it's not great but this place is old and doesn't particularly care about comfort. Did you want that towel instead then?" Adrian locked the door he'd previously opened before slipping out around Clementine.

"I'm going to grab the ingredients needed, just wait here a sec. Alertness Draught isn't hard to brew but there's a lot of ingredients that it needs to get it right. You don't wanna go missing the moonstone and creating Wide Eye Potion instead. Might sound similar but one will leave you sleepy but unable to shut your eyes and trust me, it's not fun."
 
Emilia browsed through the different phials slowly, reading the labels with a fascination of magic she'd never quite managed to rid herself of, even after all these years. She kept an eye on the door at all times, and half an ear to the conversation going on between the other people in the store. It paid to be wary of others, even if they all seemed perfectly mundane- well, as mundane as a magical being could get. The female demon, especially.

She'd had more than a few bad experiences with demons, what with their presence in the crime world. There were dozens of people in that line of work unscrupulous enough to summon a demon to do atrocious things for them, especially if they could write off the consequence on someone else's tab. She'd seen it happen before.

Furrowing her brow slightly at the bad memories, Emilia surveyed a small blue vial of.. She squinted slightly to read the handwriting, 'dream control', letting out a small hum in thought. Truly, the scope of things one could manage with potions was amazing, and occasionally baffling. A Wide Eye potion? She couldn't fathom when that would actually come in handy, other than using it on someone else for rather dubious reasons.
 
The vampire was awfully polite. S'levthzee genuinely couldn't recall the last time someone's put aside the instinctual hatred or fear of demons and decided to be kind.
Kindness.

That was a foreign word. Trivial in the otherworld, but S'levthzee enjoyed fantasising how kindness could feel like. Fluttering overcame his stomach as he strode over to the chair that was pulled back nicely for him. Smiling at the vampire he listened to his demands and what he required for the contract to be made. From past experiences, the demon had learnt that humans who summoned demons usually used them for selfish gains. This man was no different. Wanting power and control over others, ruling with an iron fist, the vampire seemed to be committing all kinds of sin.

Chuckling as the vampire continued, S'levthzee sighed. Mortals always held material objects, areas and land as if they were worth risking lives for, it never really struck him why they did things like this. Perhaps the construct of possession and independence made the humans have something to live for. Perhaps he should try that sometime.

Listening to his potential contractor finish up his terms, S'levthzee gave a wide grin. Leaning forward onto the chair and placing his hands in front of him, he proposed his own contract.

"Unfortunately, contracts don't happen just like that! You see, I have a certain desire for very peculiar things. My needs do change from time to time."

Snapping his fingers, he conjured a contract with the details that his contractor had wanted and some extra terms and conditions of his own.

"Just sign here and we'll make it official."
 
'Yeah, not happening fuck face.' Cyrus thinks as he gently picks up the contract, holding it between his fingers as he reads it over. 'Did this prick just... yes. Yes he did.' He thinks to himself as he re-reads the contract for a second, then third time. He glances up at the demon, a smile on his face as he leans forward, looking the Demon directly in the eyes. Holding up the contract, he points at a section.

"You realise that the demand that my body is yours after the contracts fullfilment is a direct contrast to my terms, yes? Now while I want to havea good working relationship with you, it's still my body. I'm not sure what you may want it for, and I don't really care, but I can't simply sign this. Some changes will be needed if we're to facilitate this, such as the contract only finishes after my death, which you can have 0% responsibility for. Or perhaps, I can just give you another vampire, or group of vampires." He says as he crosses his arms and leans back, trying to stare down the demon as he channels enthralling magic into his vision.
 
The demon brought his hand to his collar, shifting it to the side and snickering as the vampire read the contract. Once. Then twice, and a third time just for good measure. Watching as the man before him slowly looked back at him with what seemed like a forced smile on his face, he pointed out the flaw in the contract.

Internally, S'levthzee giggled like a child. This vampire sure checked thoroughly, not to mention, he had a great time watching the mafia boss retaining his composure. To satisfy the demon, the vampire once again offered other beings or even the ending of this contract after his death. Frowning, S'levthzee started to contemplate on the gains of this deal. What would he like to have?

Staring up at the male across from him, he was slightly taken aback when they made eye contact. His heart raced as he stared into a pair of electric blue orbs, fiery and glowing. He turned away, unsure of what he was doing. Beads of sweat rolled down his hands as he held them close to his body, arms straight and stiff.

"Well...Since you asked so nicely..."

The words on the contract began to shift, erasing and creating new ones in order to twist the deal.

'S'levthzee will be allowed to abstain 3 activities that he does not want to complete every month'
 
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Clementine winced at the mere mention of the Wide Eye potion. "Yeah, I know," she said, taking a seat in the wooden chair. Quite a few years ago, on a similar stormy night, whoever went out to collect the Alertness Draughts ended up getting Wide Eye potion instead. The whole night had been a torture that Clementine wasn't eager to repeat.

The fae glanced around the store, thankful for the shelter as she looked out the window. Now that she was thinking more about it, she wasn't sure about the likelihood of her being saved in the case of an emergency was. Worst came to worst, she would have to find somewhere with no metal to stay for the night, and that would be a task and a half. She just had to pray for now.
 
Cyrus' smile never shifted as he read over the new terms, and then sat back. Frowning internally, he began to weigh the pros and cons of allowing this thing free reign over itself three times a month. Not really able to see an angle the demon could use to be able to reap the rewards with little to no effort, he does the mental equivalent of a shrug. "These terms are agreeable, after all, you should be allowed some free will." He said with false cheer, facade still facing the demon.

Withdrawing a pen from the drawer next to him, he signs the contract in a quick double swipe. The contract glowed purple for a moment, and he felt as if something the weight of both a feather and an anvil now rest upon his shoulders. Rolling his shoulders, her looks up at the demon. "What say we put you to the test?"
 
Grinning, S'levthzee took a step forward and straightened his suit, smoothing the creases out. "A test run huh? I'm always up for that!" Jumping up and fixing his posture, he ran his hands through his fluffy but spiked hair. The idea of a test run was very business like- as if a client were testing out a product that they are thinking of using.

Used.

That was what he felt like and that was what he had to get used to. The first three times he's done this, he was completely fine with being used, since he got their souls in the end, but with this man...

The demon sighed internally, and stared at the man with a burning passion in his eyes.
"What's my first task, boss?"
 
Cyrus' smile grows just a fraction larger as his eyes seem to narrow. "Your first task is one I'm sure you'll enjoy." He says as he stands up, making his way around the desk and over to an umbrella stand, glancing up at the torrential rain outside. "Due to my steadily dwindling control over my own territory, a few different factions have decided they want to move in. After all, what was I going to do? Now some of these were simple dealers, such as the one I sacrifice to summon you. Others though... well, let's say they're a bit more organised, and that there's a lot of them." Cyrus continues, still not looking at S'levthzee as he begins to tie his shoes and straighten his suit.

"Of the few connections I have remaining in this city, I was able to learn of a shipment going down near the docks. One that I was obviously not privy to. Let's go teach them a lesson, shall we?" He finishes, turning to S'levthzee. "How do I look?" He asks, holding his arms up from his sides.
 
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