[center][@Wraithblade6][@thewizardguy][@Supertinyking][/center]

Firebrand quickly stepped out of the circle as Damien carved it into the earth. "The first thing every young demon learns is that it's always better to be on the outside of one of these." He said, while straining his senses to catch whatever it was that Damien had picked up on. He wasn't picking up on anything, but leave it to a magic user to see the unseen. It was reassuring when the human announced that whatever presence he had felt was being suppressed, and strangely reassuring when he summoned what looked like a Skeleton Murderers older, nastier cousin. The spectral wasn't welcome and the thing assured them with presence alone that [i]when[/i] it got free it was going to fillet the lot of them and feast mightily upon their immortal souls, but that was part and parcel for any bound spirit. Expected. Honestly it was just being professional. 

"Right behind you." Firebrand said, setting out after Damien. "Hopefully we don't end up like that knight."

[hr]
[center][h1]Evening of the First Day[/h1][/center]


There was a loud CRACK that resounded through the pathetic patch of trees as another tree came crashing to the ground. Firebrand wiped his forehead and then fell upon the fallen thing like a demon possessed, knocking his head against against the fallen wood to until it was cracked into manageable chunks. He had heard humans sometimes knocked their heads against things to work out their frustrations, but he had done this five times tonight and it was not working. He gritted his teeth as he ran out of tree to murder, and kicked the smashed wood into a pile with a growl. "Damnable Arthur, do you best me even now?" he said under his breath. "What am I doing wrong?"

He had no idea how Arthur hadn't gone insane, but then again the man had to have been half mad already to have invaded the Ghoul Realm by himself. All day they had been caught in this looping weird space, with no idea whether or not they were making progress. What trick had his nemesis used to beat this? He'd killed an lot of things, but there was nothing out here for Firebrand to kill. He'd broken a lot of things, so Firebrand had started breaking the occasional tree or big rock searching for some sort of "power up" or key. That had also come to nothing except perhaps some strange glances from his companions. He certainly hoped Arthur hadn't forced his way through the spell with the power of love alone, because that meant Firebrand was out of luck.

He scooped up the wood and brought it back to the meager camp site they'd been forced to set up and the raging fire he had built in the center of it. It wasn't the most subtle thing in the world, but it kept the damn specters chill off and watching it burn made him feel better. He dumped the wood in a pile unceremoniously beside the fire and threw a few more in, watching the flickering flames and thinking about how he should have taken a greater interest in the land he and his troop had been protecting. He hadn't paid much thought to Lord Astaroth's spell at the time. It kept people out and that was what mattered. Now he was kicking himself for not knowing the mechanics behind the magic. He probably wouldn't understood, not having a mind for that sort of thing, but anything he remembered would certainly be of help now.

"Hmmmm..." he grumbled. "Magic." He looked around for his companions. "Well, now that we have a moment." He got up, the pleasant heat of the fire quickly fading even a little ways away from it as the cold of the night and the specter smothered it, and made his way over to Damien. "There's something I want to show you. Ozo! Come here a moment. You too." He said, withdrawing from his armor a old and weathered scroll. He unfurled it, showing the blank face to the human and the fish. "This is Ghoul Realm vellum." He explained. "It's a container for holding magic. All you have to do is open it and it will cast any one spell inscribed within, no matter how complex, all on its own. Then it will go blank again and be ready to receive the next spell. No idea how they're made, but they're rare where I'm from. I've got five of them."

He closed the scroll. "Most demons don't expect even a legendary Gargoyle to attack them with proper magic. My species isn't the scholarly sort. It makes for a nasty surprise." He held the scroll out to Damien. "If you can scribe anything you think might be useful then we can divide them up. I'll keep two. Ozo can carry two. You can carry one for emergencies. What do you say?"

[hr]

[center][h1]Dawn of the Second Day[/h1][/center]

Regardless of what happened the previous night, the rising of the sun brought with it the Knight. He was even more monstrously impressive close up, but while the mental assault was overwhelming this armor wasn't nearly as intimidating as the one they had faced only yesterday. Firebrand wondered for a moment if there wasn't a little man, comparatively, in this one as well. But this he doubted.  More than likely they didn't want to know what was in there.

What was more intimidating was the area just behind the knight. He hadn't been able to feel what was watching them yesterday, but something was definitely looking now. He wondered if that meant it had stopped trying to be subtle after being found out yesterday, it'd stopped being subtle because its enforcer was present, or whether this was an entirely different entity. Nevertheless, it was only watching. The Knight was speaking. Firebrand stepped forward. He'd wanted to meet this man, so he didn't intent to waste an opportunity. "It's a good thing, then, that I'm neither god nor mortal." He said, resolve pushing its way through the torrent of emotions swirling with him. "I'm not here on behalf of god or lord or any of the great powers of this world. I felt something change. I want to know what, and get ahead of it if I can. I was given a promising lead I followed to this place."

"Now that I've given you my answer," Firebrand continued, folding his arms. "It's only honorable to receive yours in turn. What is it [i]you[/i] seek here? You certainly seem to be in a similar situation to us from what I saw yesterday."