Chapter 6
In reply to Ciryl Fontaine (msg # 67):
"Oh, odds and ends. Clothing. Weapons. Poisons. Notes. Things that have proven helpful in the past, and will prove helpful enough in the future that I'm not willing to part with them."
He moves on to the more important conversation.
"Demons can be banished, bound, killed, or bargained with," Brennan says. "The most common application of this is with a summoning ritual. You bind them to this Dream and to your service such that severing one severs the other. Keeps you safe...relatively speaking."
"Jack doesn't make deals the way demons are supposed to. He uses the common tongue, for starters. And he deals in gold-for-service rather than obsidian, blood, souls, and such. It's almost like he's summoning humans, if that makes any sense, rather than the other way around."
"Making matters worse is that he's bargaining from a position of power. He's been here a while, he knows how weak and gullible and greedy humans are. He knows they can be bought, and he's got plenty to spare. And all he seems to want is a steady supply of virgin souls, which we are both unwilling and unable to provide him as collateral to a new bargain.
Here, Brennan frowns.
"Though...Ducktown isn't large enough to sustain the loss of a girl a week forever. These disappearances are a new thing. The town's not resigned to them, it's angry about them. So where was Jack up 'til now? Did he want the same things? There are many unanswered questions."
He snaps back to the present.
"But I digress. Whatever his motives, Jack wields real power in this Dream. He doesn't have a circle that binds him here. He probably can't be banished at all. So that leaves bargaining with him, attempting to control him (which is often just another form of bargaining), or killing him."
Brennan inclines his shoulders slightly.
"And I don't know how to kill something that looks and moves like smoke. We can't rely on immunity to his power by virtue of not taking him up on his deal, either. The girls he consumed didn't, and they died just the same."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:09, Wed 11 July 2018.