Vast Formless Things II

My little group was eating together the other day when Caledon and Clara showed up, along with two suited people.
Cal walked over to our table and explained, "I've gotten ARC to let us go with you, with another agent or two alongside us to protect Clara and ensure I don't do anything too, y'know, risky."
"Wait, you're Zagreus, aren't you?" asked Kaden.
"Caledon, actually. Used to be, though."
"Oh. You aren't an Angel anymore?"
"No. I left them a few months back."
"That makes sense. You certainly looked miserable back then. ...Do you fellows want to sit down?"

The four newcomers sat down at the table next to ours.
"Well, then. Let's recap, shall we?" Kaden asked. "We have a former Mountebank, a former Angel, a reluctant Nest, three ARC agents, a Runner, and a would-be Puppet. Is that all correct?"
"Yeah, pretty much," I said.
"God, that is a weird group. Hello, by the way," he said to the agents.
"Hello," said one of them, who wore a suit and generally looked like he should have been in a 40s crime movie. I assumed he wasn't wearing a fedora because he was in a restaurant, despite its relative lack of classiness. "My name's Ash, and my partner is Alice."
"Wait, Ash and Alice?" Eric asked. "The legendary..." He trailed off as he saw Ash and Alice look at one another in an "I can't believe we're having this conversation again" kind of way. "Never mind. Anyways, I'm Eric, this is H—, this is Kaden, and this is Giles."
"I see. Kaden, you mentioned a former Mountebank and an unwilling Nest?"
"Yes. I used to be a Mountebank. Giles is a Nest, but the birds usually go near him instead of inside. But I assume ARC doesn't need to assign any more security to us, what with the three agents?"
"Unlikely," Ash said. "Unless you're particularly dangerous."
"That's fair... it isn't like I'm a wizard or anything." He smiled.
Ash laughed, though I detected a hint of suspicion in his expression.
"So," said Kaden,  "what are we going to do? Our circumstances aren't the best at the moment. Couldn't we just stay at ARC headquarters?"
"We'd like to be able to house you long-term, but we just don't have the money for that, especially with how spartan the holding cells are currently," Eric said. "I guess what I mean is, if you're interested, you could go there, but it wouldn't be perfect. Which is also why we don't take in Runners. Much as we'd like to, we don't have unlimited funding, so we have to prioritize."
"...Oh," said Kaden. "That makes sense. Hm." He rubbed his coin absentmindedly.

As I looked at Kaden's coin, I noticed the image on its "heads" side shift slightly. Then, yet another important person walked into the restaurant. I assumed he was Jack of All, Kaden's former patron. He matched the new look of Kaden's coin, for one thing, and he wore a red glove on his right hand, for another.

"You know," Jack said to Kaden, "God doesn't play dice. But I do."
"Why are you here?" Kaden asked angrily.
"To explain something. You see, you really did get off easy when all that happened to you was that you got stuck with the Mountebanks. I rolled snake eyes when I decided what to do with you, and I don't fix my games. So I went with it, and I allowed you to escape the Mountebanks without your end of the deal being nullified. I even gave you that good luck charm, Kaden dear," he said, eyeing the coin. "Though that was more out of generosity than anything else."
"You expect me to believe you?" Kaden asked.
"You don't have to," Jack said casually. "It's not like I can make you. But I can certainly make good on my promise in the future. Besides, what difference does it make whether you believe me or not? You can't hurt me."
Kaden sighed. "I guess you're right, but—"
"No buts, Crowley. I'm right. That's it."

Kaden stared at him in anger as Jack walked away. Jack turned around to say, "Oh, and don't expect things to turn out right. I'm not the only power out there... or around here." Then he disappeared back into the night.

I'm pretty glad we were the only ones there, aside from the staff. I have to assume the people who were there just took it as a strange midnight chat between people in a cheap restaurant.

- Poe

King Pest II

Kaden has taken to calling Giles his "old flame." He pretends to be joking, but...

Honestly, they're adorable.

(And no, the title isn't even slightly fitting here, but I'm too lazy to find a relevant Poe quote, so I'm recycling from when I met Eric and found him annoying for some reason. Probably just inability to cope with having another snarky guy around. That, and his working for ARC, whom I still don't really trust or like.

Oops.)

- Poe

The Winged Seraphs II

The Timberwolves found us.

Evidently, they had started trailing us at some point. Either we've got a mole among us, or they've been trailing us for a while now, because they knew about the Caledon situation, and they weren't happy.

For once, I think I'd rather it be the latter option.

Let's back up.

The four of us were eating dinner at a fast food place when a bald, bearded man with the Archangel seal tattooed on his neck showed up at the table next to ours. To be perfectly honest, having the symbol of your group drawn on your skin with ink isn't exactly subtle. On the other hand, given his pointed glances at the four of us as we ate, I don't know if subtlety was his goal.

We finished eating quickly after he arrived. What little food we had left by that point, we trashed. Better to be hungry for a little while than to stick around for a fight with one of the Archangel's dogs. Perhaps unsurprisingly, though, the Timberwolf wasn't really interested in eating, and followed us outside shortly after we started to leave.

What a shame. I usually like eating the leftover fries, and they went totally to waste.

There were no other people in the parking lot by that point.

"You four. H—, I mean, and your little gang. Of course, my pal isn't with you anymore, but he didn't have to be for long, eh?"
"Who is this guy?" asked Giles.
"I think he's the partner of a guy who betrayed the Timberwolves," I replied.
"That's correct. My name is Triptolemus. I was assigned to Zagreus to keep him from doing to us what he'd already done to ARC, Eric's, eh, employers. By which I mean betray us. And now that's happened, and it's your fault, I'm a little upset with you guys."
"So, what is your plan, exactly?" asked Eric. "Other than just attacking a Runner, an ARC agent, a Nest, and a sorcerer, that is."
"Was that deliberately ranked in terms of least to most powerful, or was that a coincidence?" asked Kaden.
The three of us glared at him. He just raised his hands as if to surrender.
"Actually, no, I had no plans of attacking alone," said Triptolemus, completely ignoring Kaden. "Everybody, meet my friends Hecate, Acheron, and Melinoe. They're… what's the word… angels."
I didn't like where I was pretty sure this was going.

Three more Timberwolves stepped out of portals behind Triptolemus, apparently using some sort of domain-based transport. I took out my knife, Eric took out his gun, Giles called the birds, and Kaden summoned a ritualistic-looking dagger.

Triptolemus held out his hand before his Timberwolves could do anything. "Wait, friends. Perhaps we don't have to resolve this through violence. How about you just tell me where Eric here is keeping my buddy, and I tell my goons not to hurt you?"
Eric grimaced.
"I'll take that as a no?"
Eric, ordinarily so hygienic, spat on the ground.
"Hm. Playing hard to get, eh? That's alright. We can tango if you're looking to tango." He made a throat-slitting gesture and pointed at us.

It was barely a contest. Giles' birds mangled the Timberwolves, or at least Melinoe and Acheron. The difficulty was keeping the birds from killing them without making the birds angry at us. Kaden offered to summon birdseed, but Giles said the Convocation weren't interested in that now that they'd tasted blood. Thus, Kaden did the only sensible thing and summoned some more.

I suddenly don't want to know how Kaden's summoning works.

At any rate, that distracted the Convocation, but it also kept us from doing anything when Triptolemus opened a portal to Bliss and, along with his allies, escaped.

I think Kaden mentioned something about recognizing Triptolemus. That comment made a bit more sense when he explained that Triptolemus had met him when he was a Mountebank, meaning Triptolemus didn't recognize Kaden's face, voice, or name, and he'd also lied to him, meaning he had reason not to mention it earlier.

At any rate, that's another complication for us all to deal with. I'm torn between feeling glad that we escaped unharmed and horrified at what the Convocation did to the Timberwolves, even if I think they might still survive.

C'est la vie, I suppose.

- Poe

The Night's Plutonian Shore II

This is the second person to appear out of nowhere in recent days, and I thought this one was dead.

Yeah, Kaden just walked out of the fog at night, flipping a strange-looking coin and looking away before he saw what it landed on. I didn't recognize him at first, but Giles did. Unsurprising, I suppose, given what I've heard from Giles about their long history together.

Actually, Giles didn't just recognize him, he ran up and hugged him. I'll be honest, that never really came to mind as being high on the list of things I'd expect him to do under any circumstances. After regaining his usual composure, Giles used the standard trick of asking questions to make sure he wasn't some sort of imposter or illusion. After a little while, he seemed satisfied. 

Things got slightly sappy for my tastes after this point, but Giles and Kaden both strike me as the types who could use some emotional vulnerability every once in a while.

After the two finished swapping stories and talking about how much they missed each other, Giles wanted to know how Kaden survived the Mountebanks. As it turns out, the answer was... magic.

Evidently, as part of a deal with Jack of All, Kaden joined the Mountebanks and stayed with them, and in exchange, Jack granted him powers. The time he needed to remain in the Mountebanks has passed, so he still got his end of the deal from it, and now he's using it to evade his former employers. (Something tells me Jack still plans on messing things up for Kaden. As insufferable as the Mountebanks are, temporary membership among their ranks doesn't seem nearly as bad as how most of Jack's deals end up.)

In summary, Kaden's is what you might call a slightly convoluted origin story.

At any rate, I'm a bit nervous that Kaden's past will catch up with him. Maybe that's a bit hypocritical, though, given I was the one to suggest bringing the others with us. I mean, it's not like Giles is much different.

- Poe

Blood-Hound II

So, last post I mentioned the name "the Once-White Wolf." This is a nickname I've heard given to the Black Dog in reference to a bit of Runner folklore, one of which I happen to be partial to myself. The story goes that the Black Dog used to be pure white, but when it took on the duty of punishing sin, its fur became black as night, stained by the ash of guilt. They say it wasn't only the fur of the Dog that was made ashen, but its very soul; being among the guilty and punishing evil with evil lead it to become a force of darkness itself.

Like I mentioned, I'm partial to that idea. I've never been one for punishing evildoers (certain notable examples aside), and the notion that the Black Dog became evil through doing so speaks to me, in a sense. It's poetic, I guess.

Mind you, there are those who claim the Fears are impartial and cosmic, not truly evil. I'm inclined to disagree. The Fears are all too willing to place stakes on our personal lives, and raise them, for that matter. Otherwise, why bother? Seems a bit odd for a being of sheer alien indifference to seek out servants and murder humans. No, the Fears are evil, the purest personification humans can ever hope not to encounter.

And, of course, I'd know.

- Poe

Blood-Hound

As if the birds weren't enough to deal with, now I have to deal with a dog too. The Once-White Wolf, the Long Slash, the Blood-Hound. The Black Dog.

It visited me last night and it gave me a single raven feather. Very subtle.

I was under the impression it only came for you if you had secrets, anyways. Everyone who reads this blog knows about what happened to Addie. What does it want with me, in that case? Or are those just rumors, and does it come for you no matter what you do, an implacable and unrelenting incarnation of guilt?

...That was melodramatic.

Sorry. I'm still feeling a little shaken.

I was sound asleep, but I jolted awake when I felt hot breath running down my neck. I looked around, and it was there, carrying a bird's feather in its mouth. I was the only one who was awake. It disappeared into the shadows before I could wake up Eric or Giles, leaving nothing to testify to its ever having been there but my memories and the feather on the ground.

(Do you suppose the Black Dog realizes that possession of raven feathers is illegal in the United States? The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service definitely needs to get on this.)

- Poe

Their Condor Wings II

It's been a long few weeks.

After the encounter with the Carcass, we entered ARC headquarters without much further hassle. I'd describe it, but I don't want to give any more information on it than necessary. Suffice it to say that most of it is underground, the majority of it being an innocuous-looking building on the surface (which is a bit of an unintentional double meaning). I'm not sure what's going to happen to Clara and Caledon in the future, but currently, ARC is taking care of them and watching the latter closely.

As we left, we were ambushed by Puppets. They'd trailed us, I guess. Before they could attack us, they disappeared in a dark cloud. A figure stepped out, surrounded by birds.

"You have to be kidding me," Eric muttered.
"Unfortunately, no," said the Nest. "But look on the bright side, I got rid of those Puppets for you." He smiled, but it quickly turned to a grimace. "The name's Giles. Giles Grimholt."
"That sounds made-up," Eric noted.
"It does, doesn't it? But it's not. It's my real name. Real as a name can get, anyways. ...Ah, I sound like Kaden, that crazy weirdo. I just wish I got the chance to talk to him one last time after he went the Mountebank route. I think he's dead now, you know," he said, shaking his head. "Tried to save you two and Clara."
"Kaden? You mean the man who called himself Asher Lyall and saved us from the Puppets underground?"
"Aye, that's right. Kaden Crowley, if you can believe it. Well," he said, taking a drag from a cigarette, "even though I don't much like the idea of you letting my Kaden run off to die, we don't have to fight. See, I want something you have."
"And what's that?"
"Freedom. Freedom from the Convocation, and more to the point, safety from what they'd do to me if I abandoned them. As you may have guessed, I'm a Nest. However, they usually just flock around near me, so theoretically it should be possible to keep them away from me. I think maybe it's because they don't like the smell of cigarette gunk and alcohol.
"So here's the deal I'm offering: I join you. You don't turn me in to ARC and you don't let the Convocation get me, and I protect you from whatever other threats you might face, and I don't fight you."
"Because making a Faustian bargain worked out so well for us the last time," Eric said, crossing his arms.
"Oh, it could've worked out much worse, my friend. You could've died." Giles laughed.

A few moments passed in silence. I finally spoke:
"Alright."
Both turned to look at me. It was the first I'd said since this conversation had started. Giles started to laugh. "Who're you supposed to be, again?"
"I'm, uh, Poe."
"You want to tell me who you really are, or should I name myself after a dead goth too?" Giles asked, raising an eyebrow.
"H—."
"H—! Always liked that name. Well, alright, then, H— and Eric. We're friends now?"
"Allies," Eric corrected.
"Friends are just allies you like. Close enough, I'd say."
With that, we set out, accompanied by our new ally. We've had spotty Internet, so I haven't been able to post anything much. Sorry about that.

And don't even ask about the fact that this guy works for the things that killed Addie. Believe me, I've thought about it. But he clearly doesn't want to work for them. The only thing stronger than my hatred for those things is my fear of the possibility of becoming a bad person.

- Poe