10671/Demons, Demons, Everywhere

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Demons, Demons, Everywhere
Date of Scene: 05 April 2022
Location: Lower East Side, Chinatown, Manhattan
Synopsis: Following the trail of a demon within the ABC Bail Bonds office, Daimon discovers the empty husk of the demon within a back alleyway. There, he is confronted by three other demons and is assisted by Mania in the conflict. The 'heroes' are able to drive away or dispatch the demons, but Daimon gets caught up in the 'dispatching' and ends up being sent to his own Hell realm.
Cast of Characters: Daimon Hellstrom, Andi Benton




Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
    
https://i.imgur.com/gHg40f4.png
https://www.google.com/maps/@40.7165883,-73.9994928,20z

    Manhattan, Lower East Side. The hidden alcoves located in the central areas between buildings - normally only accessible by back doors of those buildings. Between Mulberry Street, Canal Ave, Baxter Street, and Bayard Ave. 1:23am. The back door of the ABC Bail Bonds building was blown out a few moments ago. Not necessarily an explosion, however it was something loud enough to attract the attention of any web head or webby family member who may be swinging around the city.

    Upon arrival, the scene may be considered interesting for any heroic individual. There is a shirtless redheaded man (we'll call Daimon) holding a flaming golden trident in his left hand. He stands over the body of a demonic individual who appears either dead or unconscious. The body has multiple holes in its chest and limbs. Daimon is crouched next to the body. Prodding it with his right hand.

    Daimon seems to be unaware of two other demonic looking creatures (V'Zarr & Rzh'Zarr) closing in behind him. They are stealthy, for now.

    There are no other onlookers or bystanders in this area. It is fully inaccessible from the street.

Andi Benton has posed:
Dad's asleep. He often goes to bed early on worknights, needing a little extra rest. It fits in well for Andi to go out and patrol, and the few times he's said anything the next morning left her with enough reason to create an excuse for what she was doing out. The reason now, really more of a lie, was that she had a part-time job that often needed her working late. Okay, kind of a white lie. The job wasn't really a job and it didn't exactly pay, but the Mania thing did occasionally require late nights.

It also means being hungry, which Mania often is. Taken to keeping some chocolate on hand, it isn't always enough. When the symbiote starts griping and grumbling, that means it's time for a break.

This is not quite happening yet, given the fact that as she swings her way across a few rooftops and leaps a gap or three, the explosion or boom or whatever it is draws the attention of the vigilante. A diversion toward the source brings her to a rooftop looking down into an open space between alleys, where trouble is in progress. "Is that a big, flaming fork?" is wondered under their collective breath, but when the shirtless guy is showing evidence of possibly having used it on a..demon? Yes, apparently a demon. Well, things just got more interesting.

"You might want to look behind you," comes the voice from above, a mix of female and something more alien.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
    Daimon hears the voice and looks around behind his current position. There's an audible grunt from his throat as he takes the demons into account. One of annoyance. Then he glances to the other voice, the female. He stands, pivoting on the balls of his feet. In his movements, it's pretty obvious there is a flaming pentagram upon his shirtless form. He looks toward and faces the two demons. He says, "Asmodeus making a play for my Father's realm again?"

    V'Zarr intones in a coarse, horrific voice, "That is none of your concern, wayward Son of Satan. You would do good to leave, else the three of us will rend your arms from your torso and send you back to the depths of your Hell dimension."

    Rzh'Arr intones in an equally creepy voice, "True, Hellstrom, you will fall to our wrath."

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania carries a potentially intimidating appearance of her own, though not quite demonic. The guy with the glowing pentagram is a focus, given she knows what those represent. Might even have a little jewelry with them back home. Instead of his mark, hers is a spidery insignia in white, front and back, but the overall look is very much black except for the eyes and a couple other details. Also, spiky.

Those eyes narrow upon V'Zarr and Rzh'Arr, shifting away from Daimon. "Who beat the fuck out of you with the ugly stick, guys?" she wonders, adding a moment later, "And in case you didn't notice, your third pal is down and out from what we can see."

Then, she's descending into the open spaces below, muttering, "How is it we always end up around demonic shit?" Sizing up Hellstrom from a few feet away, one of those white eyes expands wider than the other. "And we keep meeting the devil's children."

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
    V'Zarr cackles. And hisses, "The third is the one that will rend your face from your body!"

    Rzh'Arr caws and leaps toward Daimon.

    Daimon calls out, "NO, IT IS YOU WHO WILL FALL!" and he raises his flaming golden trident and leaps toward Rzh'Arr.

    From Mania's left flank, she will hear the tell tale sound of gravel being shifted. And coming into vision is a redheaded woman wearing jeans and a AC-DC Tshirt with demonic looking eyes, extended fingernail claws, and sharp looking teeth. She comes into view as if she were invisible. She screams a shrill scream that pierces the ears and will do actual damage to those within earshot. It's quite loud and disorienting. She rushes to engage Mania with her sharp claws, raking toward Mania's face.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's got claws of her own, and she shares a glance with Daimon as though to see what sort of lead he's setting. Attack, then. They can do that.

But, before she turns her attention toward V'Zarr, the gambit is revealed. First, it's in the form of the gravel moving around, and senses call that out to her immediately. Just as the woman is revealed, Mania's in the midst of turning to face her. Symbiotes that have full awareness around them are good for that. "Oh, so there /is/ a--"

The words are cut off by the scream, which is doubly bothersome for the enhanced symbiote senses. There's a grimace, if the eyes are a giveaway, but also a recoil back a step or two. It's enough to give the woman an opening to dart in, but an arm comes up to guard the face and it thickens into something of a shield.

<<Andi>> Stay with me!
<<Mania>> We hate loud things!
<<Andi>> I don't think she'd just agree to shut up if we asked nicely!

Given the matter of that noise, she strikes back quickly with a punch aimed at the face.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
    Like a Siren, the demon-witch-woman continues the shrill battle cry as she continues to attack with fury. Lashing with her deadly claws, hoping to land a mortal blow against the girl in the living costume.

    Joining the entanglement between Daimon and Rzh'Zarr; V'Zarr lunges and grabs Daimon around the waist, lifting him and Rzh'Zarr up while they struggle. Daimon appears to be getting the better of by the demons. He roars, and his demeanor changes from normal man to a more demonic appearance. Horns grace his forehead, legs become hairy with cloven hooves and his hands take on a more clawed appearance. Even his eyes are aflame and the trident erupts in more of the same flame.

Andi Benton has posed:
The more the screaming goes on, the more danger there is to the symbiote being able to maintain focus and composure. A flash of anger shows in the eyes, and a line forms where Mania's mouth ought to be. Briefly, there is the sight of multiple very sharp teeth, a slick, lengthy tongue daring out in a snake-like fashion. "We..don't like your face!"

While Daimon is leveling up for his own side of the fight, Mania's free hand morphs. Rather, it becomes less defined in shape, turning more into a mass of writhing tendrils that suddenly shove out at the head and face of her attacker, aiming to engulf, to flow into the mouth, to cut off the noise that threatens not only Mania's form, but sanity itself. "Shut up already!"

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
    The redhead demon-witch (Tabicantra) is instantly silenced as the tendrils go down her throat. She gags and the expression on her face is one of panic and rage. Sure, she's a demon and likely doesn't have to breathe. But she was human so long ago and still struggles with human limitations. Breathing is one. She grabs, lashes, and tears at the tendrils that rush from Mania's hand to within Tabicantra's throat. Her claws are super sharp and corrupting/corrosive.

    Daimon twists, throwing Rzh'Arr to the ground (who lands on his taloned feet). Daimon, in his twist, he thrusts the trident into Z'Arr's hip. The demon roars in pain. Throwing Daimon into the southeast wall. Daimon hits it with a smack and then he drops to the ground with a painful thud.

Andi Benton has posed:
There is a rush of power felt as Mania has the demonic, yet human-seeming witch at a disadvantage, the symbiote used to engulf more of her head as it plunges in to keep that mouth full and unable to scream in such a way that seems to cut to the core. Will she die? There is a moment of hesitation given the look that isn't like the others fighting Hellstrom, but the sonic assault has already left Mania off-balance.

The other hand and arm has reformed back to normal, though still spiky along the forearm, and one arm is grabbed at to keep it from striking. Cuts are felt as some of those tendrils are sliced through, which are swallowed back up into the collective, but when it gets through far enough there is a hiss of some sort of pain felt, and it causes a hesitancy in Mania's assault. The tendrils dart back closer, but she builds up for a grab and throw not unlike what just happened to Daimon over there, to flip Tabicantra away from her.

A spot at the arm indicates a wound, and while the symbiote is already covering it back up, blood has been drawn and there is something about it that sees her shiver from head to toe. "What was that?" she demands.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
    The demon-witch, Tabicantra, is thrown off to the side and slammed into a wall. Then she immediately turns invisible out of panic that she was outmatched by Mania. So there is clearly no answer to Mania's question.

    On the other side of the area, Daimon is getting to his feet. His demonic face wears a smile as if he knows that he's about to put down two demons.

    Rzh'Zarr also rises to its feet and rushes toward Daimon whose back is to the wall. Daimon raises his trident and lances the demon through the chest. The demon howls in agony.

    Daimon calls out, "Spider Girl. Web V'Zarr to the ground!"

    V'Zarr is still reeling in pain, but he is standing and holding his left hip. He has the look of wanting to flee.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania has a wilder look to her at the moment, claws having tripled in length, growing sharper. The facial features display a growing level of anger, bordering on rage, but who is the one leading it?

<<Mania>> Andi?
<<Andi>> Gonna kill them!
<<Mania>> Normally we would approve, but this does not sound like you.

She begins to charge toward Tabicantra, only for the witch to go out of sight again. In response, she picks up a garbage dumpster like it's nothing and hurls it at the wall where her foe was last seen.

Then she turns in Daimon's direction and snarls. "We are not Spider Girl. We are Mania!" All the same, a flow of webbing is directed from both hands at the one he points her toward, quickly threatening to engulf, entangle, and capture. It looks very similar to what Hellstrom might have seen from other spider types.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
    Daimon is using his trident as it should be. He's hoisted the demon, Rzh'Zarr up into the air and then a gulf of hellfire flows from Daimon, through the trident, into the demon causing it to explode - blood, demon guts, skin, and feathers fly in all directions.

    V'Zarr was about to run, but gets stuck to the ground with the webbing. The demon doesn't look to happy about that and it turns toward Mania and the razor sharp teeth are shown toward the girl. Then the creature's fur puffs out and thousands of dangerously sharp hair-thin needles go in her direction. Threatening to pierce the two beings of Mania and Andi.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania's eyes grow thin, then widen at Hellstrom's methods of dealing with Rzh'Zarr. Very messy, and even she is covering up as she turns away from the results. The place begins to look like a complete bloodbath.

That isn't all. Now V'Zarr is being dealt with, or so it seems, the webbing added to, layered, built up, but as it seems to hiss at her, she returns the favor. Just as the quill-like attack is fired off at her, the symbiote springs into action to help protect. Webbing is shot up to latch onto a building so she can surge over the needles, and while a number of them stick in the beefed-up sections of her shins and 'shoes,' there isn't much of a sound to indicate true pain.

The follow-up to the webline-aided leap up is that she comes back down, this time with claws out to strike and slash at the demon. There isn't much holding back as a result of this, seeing nothing human in it. "We are tougher to kill than you think!"

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
    Striking the fur of the demon with a slash attack does little more than giving the creature a minor haircut. They are tough and resistant to damage. The creature does it's best to turn, but the webbing keeps it stuck to the ground. It is mostly annoyed. Then it starts chanting in the infernal language. Casting a spell.

    Daimon wipes the blood from his eyes and sees/hears V'Zarr casting his spell. He yells. "Mania, withdraw! The demon is going to explode!"

    And Daimon begins running toward the demon with his trident leveled out, pointy end toward the demon.

Andi Benton has posed:
"Then we will shut it up like the other one!" Mania declares, beginning to reform that hand again, same as before. The anger and rage is definitely bubbling over the edge, but Hellstrom's warning gets a little moment within.

<<Mania>> We do not want to be exploded, Andi.
<<Andi>> No, that..would not be..good.

The effects of getting cut earlier are still gnawing at Andi, but the creature withdraws from the demon, flipping back in a somersault while sending more lines of webbing up, drawing her toward the same rooftop she'd descended from earlier. She turns, yet watches.

Daimon Hellstrom has posed:
    Daimon closes the distance, trident piercing the chest of the demon as the demon states the last word of the incantation. There's a massive explosion of hellfire, blood, guts, fur, and other aspects of disgust and gore. The hellfire consumes the entire square in an instant. Then, when the smoke wafts away, the hellfire is extinguished and all remains or instances of the four demons and Daimon are no more. Leaving the area scorched, smoldering.

Andi Benton has posed:
Mania has seen hellfire before, from somebody else. She knows it's to be avoided. She's also seen Hellstrom using it as well, all fiery and cloven-hooved and all that. What is it with demons that she's ended up crossing paths with?

The explosion interrupts thought, and she moves away as a few molten chunks of demon land and splat nearby. Lest it damage the rooftop, she..ends up doing nothing, after it's extinguished.

By the time she peers back over the edge to look below, the mouth has disappeared back to the more featureless appearance, and both eyes narrow. "Where did he go? Where did /they/ go?" is asked aloud, but with apparently nobody to answer, there is a straightening and a checking of the self. "Maybe they all burned themselves back to hell. Fuck this. We are not sticking around." Still hungry, and in no mood to deal with answering questions, Mania vacates the area. In truth, Andi herself is still feeling a little off from the witchy fight.