Daybreak: Sessions
31-Oct-2009: Lust for Life

Achaiah, Nithual & Meshail
It was the morning after, the city was still abuzz with emergency vehicles and journalists in what could be known as the greatest (or worst, depending on one's point of view) Devil's Night Detroit had ever experienced. There is little doubt in any celestial's mind that Maiphiat, Demon of Devil's Night experienced quite the Word-boost, and some wondered how long the Calabite would try to keep his Word on its high.

Nithual had little time to process or recover from the night before; a call from Jedediah interrupted his motorcycle repairs. The Seraph once more summoned the Impudite and his compatriots, in order to fulfill his part of the bargain. The three demons were to meet the angel across the bridge, in Windsor. With trepidation, the three agreed; potential knowledge of this "oncoming storm" was too important for grudges. At least for immediate vengeance.

Across the river, Jedediah explained that he had little choice in their altercation with the angels of The Sword, but--despite his reluctance in aiding demons by harming angels--he did his best to abide by his agreement and ensured enough Disturbance was caused to attract the attention of other celestials. His trick worked and demons of Fire interceded, saving the three demons. It's difficult to be skeptical of a Seraph's story, but Nithual, Meshail and Achaiah still had reservations about the Most Holy.

The angel of Wind also informed them that two of three the demons missing from their meeting on the morning of the 29th had been accosted by the first cadre of Malakim to enter Detroit--and were now by their Hearts. One of the dispatched demons was the Calabite, Deyinara. And, if rumors were true, last night had escalated the War in Detroit for a while to come. The army of the Host was not leaving and, due to the massive amount of Symphonic disturbance, servitors of both Judgement and The Game would likely be included in Motor City's newest denizens.

Finally, Jedidiah revealed the information provided in the scroll the three demons extracted from The Michigan Citizen headquarters. The scroll was more than just a partial codex to the cryptic symbols seen in Krzkrk'N's writings, but also detailed the first two signs that the storm was forming.

The first sign was a "great evil to be released from words". Meshail sheepishly informed them that he had recovered one of the rare copies of Black Bible and an amulet from The Michigan Citizen safe and, upon combining the two inadvertently freed an exceptionally large Shedite. The celestials unhappiliy agreed that this seemed to fit the words of the prophecy.

The second sign included a sketch of a familiar-looking arm-piece: a blood-red stone sat upon the back of the wearer's hand, tentacles of gold writhing up to the wearer's shoulder. The stone was shown in a separate drawing to have entrapped a soul. This gauntlet was, in fact, the same jewelry that Aphra wore at the warehouse party she hosted a month prior. It also secured the suspicion that the sorceress was the one behind the incident at the abandoned building. The same abandoned building whose downtrodden neighbors were looking even more gaunt and wane than typical. It was decided that the three demons would investigate the warehouse and, following that, confront the sorceress. Jedediah, due to both political and dissonance reasons would remain in Windsor.

The denizens around the warehouse of Aphra's party were nearly emaciated, seemingly drained of life. There was powerful magic at work--magic which had apparently not disturbed the Symphony enough to be noticed by anyone. Achaiah reached out once more to her ally, the Shedite of Death named Farris. The four made their way into the warehouse basement, to find it decorated in death. Bodies hung from the wall and the floors were painted in the blood, excrement and innards of humans and animals alike. In the midst of of the gore was the sorceress Aphra, fairly radiating with power.

Aphra declared herself the harbinger of the prophecy--the Storm that would consume the world. To the annoyance of the other demons, Farris decided to side with Aphra, that much death would be a boon to Saminga and he was in line to rake in the kudos if he assisted in bringing such a force over.

Despite losing some of their muscle, it was proven that the gauntlet and sorceress alike were still no match for the three other demons. Seeing himself on the losing team, Farris once again changed sides and allied himself with his fellow Fallen. The fight was brief, but quite noisy--the death of both Aphra and Farris's human vessel no doubt alerted the Symphonically aware miles away. A dead vessel means little to a Corruptor of Saminga and Farris inhabited Aphra's body, with the initial purpose of fulfulling the sorceress's ritual. The gauntlet, however, could only be used by a human. Farris once more agreed to assist his erstwhile companions.

Seeking to avoid additional confrontation and utilize Aphra's body while it was in a less-than-decayed state, the demons made their way to Aphra's suite. They were confronted at the suite's elevator by a golem made of pig parts. Deciding disgression and speed were optimal, the demons dodged their way past the hulking mass of pig flesh and into Aphra's office, recovering a large tome of the Krzkrk'N prophecies.

Leaving Farris, the three returned to Jedediah's car across the Windsor bridge to share information. Together, the Seraph of Wind and the Habbalite of Media managed to translate pieces of the text. The Mad Shedite created four weapons intregal in fighting the storm. The first was Aphra's gauntlet--The Blood Fist, usable only by humans. There were three other artifacts that would need to be gathered:
The Dream Carver - a onyx machete-like sword which could only be weilded by Ethereals.
The Light Crown - a silver circlet to be adorned on an angel's head.
The Quiet Heart - a bronze brooch inset with an emerald, worn over a demon's heart.

How these artifacts worked individually or together was yet to be translated. The Blood Fist, from experience, seemed to drain the Essence and souls from others, adding to the wearer's strength with the possible side effect of needing to release the collected (and spent) souls. This was simply conjecture based on evidence, however. Jedediah relinquished the book and codex to Meshail, as the demon had more experience in this particular field. He urged the Habbalite to share any information and, with the world as Media liked it at stake, the Punisher agreed.

The three returned once more to Detroit. The battles between the Host and Horde still blazing, crackling the Symphony through the city and with much work to be done.