"Reeeeeally now?" You have his interest. "Now that's an interesting piece of information you've just given me. Octavian and the Rime Street Killer's corpse, at the same time? And you just think the two of them are connected somehow, don't you?"

"Well, at least that explains, to a point, the presence of your suicide jack." Rat chuckles at his own joke. "Yes, I know of the death of the killer. Witnessed it the night it happened. You weren't more than twenty feet from me, the two of you. Got a front row seat to his death spasms. One less human on the surface."

His high pitched laughter seems to come from everywhere. "It put me in a good mood."

"But let's say I know where his body is at." Now he's switched to interest again. "What is it worth to you?"

"I suppose that if you showed me where his body is and helped me get to it. I could make a magic item that you would find useful. I could make a weapon specifically designed to fight demons. It all depends on how much aid you are willing to give me."

"Oh, I doubt you can make any item I would find interesting, and I know for a fact you cannot make a better weapon than the one I am working on right now." He sounds really certain of himself as he speaks. "In fact, that brings me to our collective problem. I need Mr. Sullivan's corpse for a little scientific project of mine. And I'm pretty sure you don't really need the body for yourself. He's dead. That's half of your business right there, I'm guessing. As for Octavian, have you considered going to Yomi Wan? He's often there, trying to expand his empire at the expense of those around him."

The last two sentences are almost spoken sarcastically, like he doesn't believe you will actually go to...well, metaphyscial hell.

"We where hired to confirm his death with our own eyes. If you could just show us the body and let us inspect it. We'll let you have it and be on our way. Now, We don't expect you to do this for free. So what would interest you?

Doesn't part of these sewers lead directly into Yomi-Wan?"

Tex has been doing magic for a bit. What can I see with my chi sight?

Tex is casting possibility around himself, like he intends to cheat and "reveal" that "came prepared" or "always had that."

"No." The Rat's tone is adamant, although absurd in its raspy high-pitched way. "That would not be safe for you or me. You want to deal with Octavian, you go down one more level. That will take you to the subsection I've managed to redirect most of that crap the local industries crank out. The walls of reality are thin there."

"Of course, I won't just LET you walk through. Let's think of a payment...ah, yes." His tone has become rather malicious. "You know the phrase, pay an arm and a leg? Well, that's my price. Don't worry; your friend their has already given me a down payment. That lowers my price a bit."

He laughs viciously at this point. "I'm sure one of the three of you can figure out which of you is paying."

Tex pauses, and looks at you inquisitively.

I have a simple thought.

What
Wait a munute. Wildcard. Maybe a verser came in. This world is similar to the last two in theme. Maybe it's a Shard like Mentat said. So they should show up.

A scan arould with all the mystical senses I can think of. I scan for major life forms (things bigger than rats.), minds, spirits, Chi and Versers.

What do I detect?
This message was last edited by the player at 22:22, Wed 04 May 2016.

You don't detect a verser, and your chi sense is mostly blinded down here unless you have line of sight to the target. The only minds you can sense beyond Tex and your own are a mind radiating insane levels of anger and another that seems impatient for something. The second mind has a spirit signature to it. The strange thing about that one is that it is ahead of you some ways, not behind.

"You seem...surprised. An uninvited guest on many levels. My brothers and sisters!" He raises to a high pitched shout, and the response is the previous silence suddenly becomes the chatter of thousands of tiny teeth. "Continue to observe this interloper! If they get too close to our territory, kill them! If they fight you off, get me!"

His voice drops back to the volume it was at when speaking. "Now, about that payment..."

"Jack, Do you have something that Rat would want more than an arm or a leg? Because otherwise It looks like I'll have to start doing my job."

"Not really." Tex is keeping his answers short and brief.

"Your job?" The Rat's voice becomes chiding and mocking. "Tex, it's like you didn't think I would be reasonable! Most of the time I don't ask for the part, remember?"

He gives a vicious laugh. "You might have brought two guests down here, but I brought one of my own. I won't spend a single one of my ten thousand brothers and sisters on you."

"Octavian, the Living Tower! Step forward, and kill them!"

A shadow emerges from before you, peeling itself from the wall before coalescing into a great horned humanoid with black oil coating his skin. A large iron pole is clearly visible in his hand. Tex steps behind you reflexively, quickly sliding away from the form with one motion.

The horned figure gives a tiny nod of his head to you, before giving a very stark white and fanged grin. "Magnus." It is a matter of fact greeting. "It seems my summoner wishes for me to kill you. A pity. If only someone had a prior social agreement with me that could command me not to kill you."

Rat screeches irritably. "Stop talking to him, demon, and kill him already!"

Tex speaks with a bit of concern in his voice, like he realizes he lack an important piece of information. "What sort of double talk are you making, Octavian?"

I speak to Rat
"I didn't expect you to summon a demon, Rat. I guess what I heard about you hating demons wan't true."

I turn to Octavian.
"Octavian. You invited me to come and talk with you. Is this anyway to treat a Guest?"

"Demons are excellent at killing each other, and I am always happy to help them along. He is undefeated, and I look forward to-" Rat suddenly seems distressed. "What is going on here?"

You see an invisible chain connecting you to Octavian, and then you see another chain from Octavian pass from him through the walls. Octavian's grin breaks out into full fledged deep laughter as both chains glow bright green with runes and then shatter.

"What have you done?!" You hear the distressed voice of the Rat. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE, YOU FOOL!"

"Freed me, obviously. His question sufficed as a contradictory command." Octavian is grinned ear to ear, literally. "I have always obeyed what I believe to be the spirit of a command, even if not worded as such. He asked me to remain silent, and you asked me to be civil. I cannot do both to a guest."

"Well, this just got a lot more interesting." Tex seems a bit worried, and keeps glancing behind him.

"So, you are looking for the corpse of the Akuma, Ripper, correct? I am his, its, guard. What do you want with him? Surely you want more than a look."

I stand there unfazed. (Not being able to feel fear is nice.)

"One of the reasons I'm down here is to make sure he is dead. Jack, did you need to bring up a piece of him to get your pay?"
This message was last edited by the player at 02:59, Sun 08 May 2016.

Jack is still looking around. "Not really. I just want to make sure it isn't someone else. The Ripper has a twin brother, and I want to make sure you killed the right one."

"Hmph." Octavian is dismissive. "I couldn't care less. Know that his mortal form is dead, and his soul is presently battling in Yomi Wan as we speak, fighting to return to the living. Odds actually favor him, which is why I am here."

"You lie, demon!" The Rat interjects. "You are here because I called you to guard his corpse. No other!"

Octavian's grin drops to a smile. "True enough. But the Ripper's return is why I am staying here instead of just leaving for something more interesting to do. He has four of my kin in his body, and when he returns, he will continue using them as a power source. Blasphemy."

Octavian spits that last word out. "I intend to kill him again when he returns, sending him back for his rightful judgement. But mine will be a righteous judgement, not some gangland beating. So, I will not need your assistance, nor that of the Rat."

"In fact..." Your chi senses detect a lot of corrupted energy moving ahead of you, like the very landscape is being altered. "...I have just made this place into a temporary fortress. You are at its entrance. You may turn back now."

"Octavian, If I could remove your kin from his body, Would you return my The ring you got from me?"

"No. One, they are distilled into essence and bonded with your recreational chemicals. This process is not reversible, and even if it was, I could not care less about First Circle trash." Octavian pivots his staff idly in his hands. "And two, the ring isn't mine to give. Rat wanted it, and hired me to get it. I don't know why."

Rat responds idly. "Good news for the both of us." Rat is calling out. "Soldiers! Listen to me. That which belongs to us has been denied by interlopers. Enter the fortress, and find the way to our lair. Fear not, you will not lack command. I will take my rightful place as your leader: in the back! Destroy all traps and opposition encountered! Now move out!"

Octavian looks behind him. "I suppose our fight shall have to wait. I encourage you not to enter. This is my home now, and I will kill you if we meet here."

Octavian stalks into the darkness and vanishes. A few seconds later a horde of rats surges past Tex and yourself, rushing into the fortress. You do not see a large rat man following them.

"I guess Rat can transform into a rat.
Anyway, It Looks Like I have to enter. I need to find that ring and that body. Jack, Are you coming with me?"

Did Octavian change the shape of the sewers? or did he just clam them for himself?

It seems he's actually transported a fortress in front of you. Beyond that threshold, the chi gets very strange. And dry.

"Yeah, just one thing." He pulls what looks like a nicotine patch out from his clothes, and you see some of that power around him dissipating. "Put this one your skin. It will buy us time. That is a gateway to the actual Yomi Wan. This will allow us to leave without our hair falling out a few days later, and our guts still solid."

"Oh, and another thing. You still have that gun on you? The strange one Jeeves mentioned?"

"Hmmm. Radiation poisoning...That isn't good.
I don't have the proton accelerator with me.
Didn't want to risk angering the pattern spiders by forcing it to work.
That magic is more subtle than I'm used to working with. Did you alter your fate so that you brought something unlikely like the patchs?"

"Oh. Wait, is that the weapon Jeeves showed me? A 'proton accelerator,' you called it?" He rifled through his pockets for a moment. "It's here somewhere, I think...and, uh, no. No, I didn't alter fate or destiny or anything. These are things I have. And sometimes, for the sake of backlash or angry spirits, it's really important to not think about things like that too much. Jeeves does it so much, he's become a Clockstopper. Someone who disrupts Do, magic and things like it just because he thinks too much."

"Sometimes your perception can actually weaken you. Loosen up a bit, and stop thinking so much. That's why I drink. Helps me cast better. Special mix my grandmother used."

He pulled his deck of cards out and pulled the top card off with between two of his fingers. "Wheel of Fortune, huh? How specific." His voice was rather dry. He looked up for a moment. "You guys are really showing a twisted sense of humor right now, did you know that?"

I rub my forehead
"There is a reason I still try to understand what I'm doing with magic.
The thing is, I know you are right. Theoretically I could just force the result I want all the time without using my carefully constructed magic feathers. The problem is that it wouldn't be pretty. And possibly break something important. You see I tend to work my using raw power. Finesses is hard for me. Not to mention how angry the pattern spiders would be if I did that. So I make up an explanation that fit's my views. And that usually prevents me from messing up too bad.

What does Wheel of Fortune mean?"

"It means fortune's gonna play tricks on us. That's what it means. Get ready for some really swingy fortune."

He pulls your energy pistol out of his pocket. "Stole it from your mansion. Jeeves mentioned it to me, and I wanted to see it for myself. Here."

As he tosses it to you, you see energy forming around him with a menacing promise of punishment to come. "I didn't say don't think. I said don't think too much. You know how what you do works. Stop questioning how I do it, for both our sake."

"That thing is a fully functional Shinma prayer weapon. With that in mind, yours is weird. That thing is powered by other means than worship. Still works the same, and has a similar amount of punch. Be glad Jeeves never saw it fired on a camera. You'd be a dead man if he had. He was pretty certain you were someone he needed to kill, and only that thing not working stopped him. That and some well placed words on your end. Good job."

Tex is looking into the darkness ahead. "This will not be pleasant. Octavian's bad news."

I catch the weapon in my right hand.

I ignore his story to avoid setting of off the paradox.

"Sorry. I have a tendency to analyse what I see so I can replicate it later.
I haven't head of a Shinma Prayer Weapon before.

Anyway. What can you tell me about Octavian?"

I start walking forward with the weapon ready.

When you pass through the darkness, you feel all the moisture in the air disappear. It goes from cold and dank to hot and arid. You see the curved tunnel give way to a grand hallway with golden flooring and walls. The pillars are brass, and everything has some kind of green gemlike stone surging through them like ivy. A baleful green light illuminates everything.

"Okay, ground rules:" Tex has taken of his mask and tossed it aside. "Your filter is already overloaded, because it has been five days. So it is useless now. The patches ate still good though. Second, point Octavian at someone other than you. He's undefeated here in Yomi Wan, and I doubt we will be breaking the streak today. Third...I don't recall that green mist or that chanting."

At this point you hear chanting coming from within, and you see a strange black mist with green surging through it rising off the ground. "Breathe, my brothers and sisters! That is the death of the enemies of the Rat, and the empowerment of our claws and teeth! Slaughter them!"

You hear screaming and roars ahead, and Octavian's voice ringing clear. "Stand your ground, maggots! You KNOW what I do to cowards! Kill these vermin, and the intruder!"

You feel that death signature again behind you, and this time it has a very disoriented mind. Familiar too.

"Well," Tex looked ahead, resigned. "No time like the present."

I take off the mask.

"Let's wait a moment. We can let our help catch up while they kill each other for a bit.
If I had to guess this should be Carmilla coming up behind us."

You hear the sounds of retching behind a pillar, and Tex removes another patch from his pocket. "That's not good. These patches are meant to protect your body and mind against the place we are in. If she's following us, she just walked five days straight through an irradiated desert."

He walks to the pillar where the sound is coming from. "Carmilla, if that is you, you are out of your mind, did you know that?"

A swift and very rude hand gesture makes itself visible to Tex and yourself from behind the pillar. It's Carmilla without question.

Tex looks at the sounds of the fighting. "Well, we are going to want to be fast, actually. I don't know why Rat is so insistent on keeping a dead body, but I've got a really bad feeling about it. I don't know if Octavian's motives are truth. Likely, but still. Then there is Sullivan himself. His corpse is going to be like a beacon for him. He's coming here too, if he isn't already here. If he reaches his body, he's returning as a Yamijin, a nascent lord of Hell."

"So, whatever you two have in mind, make it quick, will you?"