Bending the Rules Pt. 04: Control

"I'm actually not sure."

"Surely you must have some idea. These things don't happen for no reason, and certainly Father Emeka would not have sent you if he thought you were wasting your time, or mine."

"There is something else, yes. I'm not sure if I want to tell you."

"Why, that sounds like the best reason to tell me."

"There's a very good reason I can't talk to the paladins. Can I trust you, Akachi?"

"I won't tell anyone, if that's what you're asking. I might give you a good thrashing for idiocy, worst case."

"Very well. It may be that I deserve it. I made a pact."

"And? People make pacts all the time."

"With a demon."

Akachi sat and stared at him for a minute.

"Well, so. You made a pact. With what, a berserker?"

"A succubus."

Akachi burst out laughing.

"Ahaha! A succubus! Whatever for?"

"They're more useful than you'd think. I wanted one to help me get into the best parties."

"The ones with the chain mail bikinis and the empty blonde heads and the giant war hammers?"

"The ones with girls, sure, in a house with good food and lots of drinks. I wouldn't want to rely on a chain mail bikini girl to soak damage, that's just asking for failure."

"Of course. Might be a good distraction by spreading her legs, but then she's out for nine months and you need another one. So why does this demon want you dead? Wants the pact for himself and threatens your life to force the succubus to sign it over?"

"The succubus did it."

"Not by herself, she didn't. That's not their skillset. And why would she leave an orphan pact lying around? It might not be transferable, but it could still be used to cause her no end of grief."

"How?"

"It's bound to your soul, son. If someone were to revive you as an undead, and set you about invoking the pact all the time she could go mad with busywork, tie up all her time so she can't get any quests done. It's a huge liability."

"Oh... hmm. Maybe I should just ask her."

"Why haven't you?"

"We haven't been speaking since the... incident. I've been enjoying the peace."

"Let me hazard a guess before you go and do something rash. It's got something to do with MP."

"Why do you say that?"

"Come on, son, what does every demon need more of to cast their spells? This is the best thing they can get their hands on, the most finite character stat they possess. It's their favorite term to negotiate for. And you've had none of it since you walked through that door, not a single trace. Were it possible, I'd think you rolled a zero on your MAG stat the day you got your scores, and kept it for some ungodly reason. Did you forget, and go past midnight without rolling?"

"No. You're right, I did have a low MAG score, but it's a wight that's taken it down to zero."

"Ahh, now it starts to become clear. She's punishing you, for interrupting her plans. She probably had something lined up for that MP on the day you got hit and lost it all. But sentiments are like the weather; give it a few days and it will change."

"It won't."

"Sure it will. You'll pull through the debuff and then she'll be back to her old self."

"That's the thing. The wight is glitched. The MP's never coming back."

Akachi laughed. He dropped a small crystal in the flask and took a good deep breath from it to refill his lungs, then coughed and hacked and sputtered and kept right on laughing.

"Holy smokes, son! That's the craziest thing I've heard in years. Unbelievable you survived such a thing without going back to take it out."

"Well, it was intentional. I thought..."

Akachi stared at him, mouth agape.

"Are you mad!? Zero MP for- for possibly the rest of your life? Gods above, why?"

"Well what am I gonna use it for, asshole? Questing? As if I've got something the world hasn't seen before, treading the exact same path as everyone has done before me in history? There's no courage in that, no glory whatsoever, I don't care what they say."

"Is that the only thing that drives you? Glory, some misguided notion of courage?"

"Pff. I don't have to sit here and listen to some lecture from a toymaker. So long."

"Hold on, now. Answer the question, it's important."

"...no. That's not what I care about."

"Then why do you do what you do?"

"Because I'm tired of all the propaganda. I want to do things my way. What's the point of my life if I make the same choices as everyone else? It might as well be someone else's name up on the leaderboard, twice."

"And you scoff at me for being a toymaker."

"What are you talking about?"

"Why do you think I do what I do, lad?"

"I have no idea."

"Ah, wisdom at last. I can help you with your demon problem. What's your name?"

"Nuru."

"Lies. What's your name, son?"

"I told you, it's-"

"It's not."

The old man looked intently at Nuru.

"Well it's not my True Name, if that's what you mean."

"What's your True Name?"

"Father Emeka told me not to tell anyone."

"And do you trust him?"

"In this matter, I do."

"And if he told you to unmake the pact?"

"I would not."

"Why?"

"It's the best thing that's ever happened to me."

"And the worst."

"Well, could have been the worst."

"Stubborn fool. But let's say I help you. What are you going to do for me?"

"I don't know. What do you want?"

"I'm a demon hunter, Nuru. I want to end, or at least reduce, the influence of demons in our world."

"I'm not sure I can help you with that. I think I'm actually doing the opposite."

"It's a matter of perspective. You take from a demon, but you also influence her. You can reach into the demon world and perhaps, make it more human. But you will need leverage."

"Like what?"

"You wanted a partnership, didn't you? That's why you struck a pact. You actually wanted to make a deal."

"Yeah I guess."

"So if you want it to be a partnership, you need to give back. You've been taking, all this time, and she has nothing to show for it. Did you ever stop to consider her side of things?"

"I... suppose not."

"Every man for himself is chaos, Nuru. It is bonds of trust that elevate us above our basic instincts. If she's going to trust you, you need to offer her something she wants."

"I've given her EXP."

"But that's not what she asked for. Nuru, she told you what she wanted, and you've denied it to her."

"But I was a Level One. I had no leverage to resist her doing the same to me."

"You're not a Level One anymore. And you have me. We can make this work."

"So what should I do? Go kill the wight?"

"Oh, heavens, no. Don't just give her what she wants unconditionally. A demon will take and take as long as she thinks she can. You need to establish trust - and boundaries. You need to know what you can give her, and that you can take it away."

"How do I do that?"

"Let's start with this. You will gain another MAG point at Level Five. Give her a taste of it, and see what she does - and then, when she inevitably misbehaves, you go get another wight to knock you down a point. And you tell her why."

"What's the point of that?"

"Because this new wight will expire the debuff, and she can have MP again - and you can go back and knock it down again. She gets nothing as long as she misbehaves. And you tell her that she will get more, but she has to work with you. Set a goal, tell her you'll kill the old wight if you reach it, and remind her that you're no good to her accidentally dead. Then come back and let me know how it goes."

"Level Eleven."

"Eh?"

"That's my goal. Level Eleven, with no Faction alignment."

"I don't think anyone's ever done it before. Maybe because it's pointless, I don't know. But definitely come back and tell me how that works out."

"I will. Anything else?"

"Traditionally, students offer food for services rendered. What have you got?"

Nuru showed him the bread and the sheep shank.

"That will do nicely. This stuff does give me quite the appetite. Let's eat!"

Akachi dropped another tiny crystal into the flask, took a strong whiff, and corked it, then set the table.

"So... why do you make toys, if I may ask?"

"Blind spots. What does a demon hate the most?"

"Holy power?"

"They are vulnerable, and opposed to it on those grounds, but no. What they really hate is innocence, which they take great delight in destroying. Here, there are often children about. Playing, laughing - spreading innocence and cheer. It's the last place a demon will try to look, by virtue of being both boring and repulsive to them, unable to spread their corruption. They won't expect their worst enemy in such a place."

Nuru did a double-take. "You're an archon?"

"Now you've got it, son."

Nuru accepted a plain straw mat to sleep on, and woke early the next morning, head whirling with possibilities.

*****

Nuru spent another day with Akachi, soaking in as much information as he could. There were things he was unwilling to share, but there were plenty he was. Things like...

"What is a demon, anyway?"

"An excellent question. Let me draw you a picture."

He pulled out a scrap of parchment a drew a circle, then drew a line through it.

"This is the world we know," Akachi said, pointing to the circle. "Everything we are and do exists in this place."

"Now, there are gods," he said, drawing smaller circles intersecting the rim away from the line on one side of the circle, "that can reach into our world and touch us in the ways we all know; granting boons, giving EXP, holy spells and so on. There are also lesser creatures."

He added some smaller circles just outside the large one, some almost the size of dots.

"Some are greater than others; the greatest of these we know as demigods, or archangels. These, on this side of the polarity, are called angels. On the other side, there are again creatures of various strengths."

He drew small circles again.

"Those are the demons."

"Aren't there gods on that side?" Nuru asked, thinking back to things he'd heard from Dayo.

"There are, though decent folk don't talk about that," Akachi chided, then broke into a grin. "But, as you'll soon learn, there are few decent folk in this business! At least, the ones who really get things done. You have to know your adversary. It does make for some tense moments at family reunions, I admit. Not everyone can leave their work behind, even when it is prudent to do so."

"Speaking from experience?" Nuru said.

"Hahah, indeed. I have a large family. Well, it was large in my youth, I suppose I can't say it anymore; we had a high number of adventurers in the last generation. Such is the way of things."

Nuru and Akachi discussed a great many nuances to dealing with demons, well into the night.

*****

Nuru left early the next morning. He found a haystack and burrowed deep where the sounds of the world were muffled, if they reached at all, and closed his eyes. He tugged at Adana.

/Minti biyar, uwa/

"Hmm? What's that you're saying?"

Silence.

He tugged again, casting an Aura of Unapproachability, hoping to keep the centipedes and beetles away.

/Sanés pecut deui!/

"Hey. We need to talk," Nuru said.

/Nuru!? What the hell. You're dead!/

"You exaggerate."

/Not by much. Your life bar is empty. Your position has not moved in days. Have you been reanimated?/

"Nope. Very much alive over here. No thanks to you."

/Everything is dark through your eyes. Nevermind, it doesn't matter. It's over, Nuru. The pact remains, but I'm going to be indentured for fifty years to pay off this debt, if I'm lucky. 'Deadline' isn't just a figure of speech among demons./

"Alright, let's talk about this."

Nuru climbed out of the haystack. He shook himself off, held up his hands for inspection, the way Akachi had told him.

/Your life bar still shows zero./

"How long have you been watching me that way?"

/Since we made the pact. Oh, you clever boy - you've changed your True Name, haven't you?/

"I should have done it that same day, yes."

/That explains why my quest status and EXP have been indeterminate. I couldn't verify the quest completion so my EXP didn't increment, and it wouldn't tell me why; it was just blank./

"Because I wasn't dead?"

/Because I didn't see it happen, or get confirmation later. I thought I had but - apparently EXP is smarter than I am./

"So what's going to happen to you?"

/Like I said, I'll be lucky to be an indentured servant. A sex slave, really. Don't worry, you'll hear all about it soon enough. I'll make sure you hear every scream in your head./

"And let me guess, they won't let you have much ability to cast your powers."

/It is worse than that. I will have no powers, and whoever my owner is will have the ability to dictate all of my EXP growth, my level choices, my feats... and I'm screwed good and proper if they have a respec potion to feed me. Everything I've built myself into will be destroyed. Even when my time of servitude is ended, I'll be good for only one purpose, and it will be the purpose that my master built me up for. I'll probably never leave. Just another damned soul in hell, chewed up and spit out by The System./

"What can I do to prevent that?"

/Don't. Don't go giving me false hope. I *will* go out of my way to make this more miserable for you. You were a virgin less than a month ago. You have no idea what terror I can wreak upon your poor naive mind./

"Look, I know what it seems like, but I never meant it to happen this way. From the beginning I wanted this to be beneficial to both of us."

/If you're serious about that - not holding my breath, you understand - I need EXP, desperately. Your death was my last hope for bringing me enough of it to put out a few quests to some people I know. I could have pulled a few strings. I might still be able to, if you're quick about it./

"Well, you're in luck. I didn't have to chat you up first, but there's a petite Level Twenty-One about to give me a great reward for a quest I just completed. Some of it should be right up your alley."

/Better put on something nice, this time./

Nuru brushed the straw out of his hair and clothing, and went walking behind the line of shops. He went through piles of junk and found a few bits of aesthetically-pleasing gear that might fit him, stripped of all enchantments; his old clothes stank, and were getting a bit rough around the edges, he had to admit. He took it all back to his home and dropped his old clothes in the trunk with his scrolls, which he didn't take with him - they were next to useless for his purposes, and he didn't know what Katlego might give him that he'd have to find a way to carry. He dressed, went into the inn, and looked around. He didn't see her, but he knew from experience that that didn't mean anything; he carefully surveyed the room and made notes on every single person he saw. He stopped and rolled back through his memory- something seemed a bit strange. There it was - the figure at the table right in front. For some reason, his eyes just rolled straight over them and kept going. He stared at them... at her. He blinked, then walked over to the other chair and sat down at the table.

"I'm impressed," she said, throwing her hood back. "I was going to follow you out and surprise you like the first time we met. I guess I need a new trick."

"I shudder to think how hard you are to find if you're not expected," Nuru said, smiling.

"I'll put you in touch with someone who knows. Oh, except they're all dead," she grinned.

"So how did it go? Get that info you needed?"

"It was out of my hands after I turned in the box, but if the rumor is correct... we did."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"So. One paltry sack of coins, and a load of EXP you've got no business seeing in one place at your level. Need to break it up into milestones?"

"No, it won't push me over the edge."

"Eidetic Memory comes with an EXP bonus for everything you do. Better check."

He looked inward. He was almost halfway to Level Five already.

"Holy crap. But no, I can take it all lump sum."

"Very well."

She dropped a sack on the table and marked the contract complete. He shivered; this was an insane boost. He wished he'd been watching his EXP more carefully to see where it had all come from, but Father Emeka might be able to tell him as a Soulsmith.

"So let's talk bonuses," Katlego said, folding her hands together primly on the table, after motioning for service.

Mesi came over with her pleasantly bland look on, that Nuru guessed she always wore when she was working.

"Two glasses of your finest. Immediately."

"Of course." Mesi walked away quickly to fill the order.

"Nuru, I see that you're moving up in the world. Not dressed like a Level One anymore."

"Clearly I have a ways to go though," he said, looking Katlego up and down.

Under the nondescript cloak, she had a rather flattering lacey blouse anchored in place by an underbust corset with gold thread holding together the alternating pink and green pastel panels that comprised it. Her slacks were of similar colors and had an unusual geometric pattern where the pockets were cut, giving Nuru the sense that the rules of the world worked just slightly different in her presence.

"Oh, you like them? I don't get to dress up too often, but I saw this outfit for sale one time and I thought - well, someday, you know, I'm going to be sitting in an inn doing nothing for an entire day, just waiting for a man to notice me."

"And here we are," Nuru said, smiling.

"Here we are!" Katlego agreed, laughing with him.

Mesi brought their wine cups.

"So tell me about style points," Nuru said, taking a sip. "Ooh, this is good."

"Oh, yes, it is. And it's all well and good to get the job done. But my boss likes to hear the story. 'Paint me a picture,' he says. And so of course, when I complete a job for him, I give him the whole thing. I need to ask you a few details by the way; I lost you for a bit there towards the end at Gretland and I didn't have time to stop and debrief properly. But anyway, I draw the scene for him, I go through the action, the highlights, the lowlights, the dramatic moments. And it's ever so exciting to relive these things as if you were there. Even, sometimes, I listen to myself and I feel like I enjoy it more during the retelling than I did in the moment. It helps to know the ending of course, and I can put everything in perspective. But my boss likes to tell these stories to other people, let the word get around. Morale's important in an organization, he says, and I don't doubt it. So I told him about you having no MP, and how it wouldn't set off the wards, and he loved it. He was most intrigued when you didn't take the scrying wheel, either."

"Is that what that's called?"

"When you invent something, you get to decide what it's called."

"You invented that!?"

"Well no, but the woman who did wanted to call it a scrying wheel, so there you have it."

"Oh, I see."

"But I digress. My boss loves these little details. He especially loved that little surprise lyena twist at the end, let me tell you. Style points for that! I do hope I didn't kill him."

"I'm told he'll be all right."

"Good, good. I'm not a big fan of lyenas personally - ugly, smelly creatures - but there's no denying his part in our success. And it's all worth something, these details. We get a few bards sitting around when they're not spying on skyclad witches-" she winked slyly, "-and we get them to make a song of it. Maybe we spin a bunch of them together and we make it a play. It's a hit with the young ones, great publicity. So my boss makes it a part of the quest. 'Give me some style, give me some drama,' he says. He's a bit over the top, but he pays over the top for it too, so I like to indulge him sometimes. I admit, it does give the objective a bit more thrill to it. Keeps it from being just another heist, just another assassination."