World Tree MUSH

    The mountain ski resort of Windshaffblatten is under demonic attack! Or, at least, that's what the report says. The demons had appeared out of nowhere and scared off all the funicular operators, then broken the funicular while trying to operate it to go up the mountain to the luxury, postmodernist architecture'd out of glass and steel and a little bit of engineered concrete. So instead they're trekking up the mountainside - 4 kilometers of steep, snowy, rocky mountainside crisscrossed with some of the best challenging-level slopes on this side of the Hielles. 
    With the funicular down and demons on the ski paths, the unfortunate residents of the lodge found themselves totally unable to use their massive personal fortunes to help them escape... except by hiring mercenaries over the phone.

    Luke was blissfully unaware of the situation, or at least, he was in the location for a completely unrelated reason. He was starting to regret not packing actual climbing clothing, squirming and shivering a bit, glancing around, "If I see that Hitchhiker again I'm going to punch his face.". Not to far from him, a massive mass of orange, black and cream fur was... for the lack of a better word, frolicking in the snow, Agni making happy growl noises. "Yes, I know you don't mind the cold." Luke mumbles, "Maybe we should climb down, get on that funicular." he muses.

    With the infinite variety of heroes, adventurers, and mercenaries extant between the branches of the World Tree, finding one who can fly, teleport, or otherwise be where you need them in little to no time is easy.

    Finding one who can do so without disturbing the delicate environs of a major ski resort is a little trickier, particularly when the slopes are overdue for a serious avalanche.

    Add to that a need to keep this arrival quiet, lest an army en route feel the need to hasten its approach, and you suddenly have very few prospects indeed.

    And finding one who ALSO has no other, more urgent business to tend to? Well, that's how shenanigans end up happening.

    Some adventurers, upon finding out that the only way to reach the place they need to be means landing some way up a snowy slope from it, might relish the chance to ski or snowboard down. Others might steel themselves for a treacherous hike. Oberyn, however, is not the rugged, outdoors sort. There will be no skiing for him, and the hike would take far too long. What he IS, however, is exactly the type to turn to his spellbooks for a solution.

    And this is how a tiny, floating scholar managed to turn a simple trip down a mountain into the worst blizzard of the decade, thanks to a few judicious uses of Aero and, well, Blizzard, and an unforseen interaction with local weather patterns. What was intended to be a quick trip down blowing on the breeze has... snowballed.

    As he rolls, Oberyn takes a moment to reflect on the lesson learned today: Even if the quest board is empty, never say 'just give me the next post that comes up.'

>> SUMMARY[Oberyn] >> Yes, Oberyn is now rolling down the slopes as a human snowball. In a snowstorm he accidentally caused.

    Around the edge of the next treeline below Luke comes a pack of peoples... actually 'people' might be stretching the definition. They have all the horns and wings and stuff to qualify as demons, except for the fact that being swole and showing off your swole is actually a really bad idea on a chilly mountainside, what with all the snow and the wind. None of them were complaining, though. They seem ECSTATIC, as between the several of them they're dreagging a pallet with a bundle of blankets on it. 

    The blankets are wrapped around someone, but it's totally impossible to see who it is. There's a bit of red hair, though. 

    The happy bunch trundle right on past Luke, intended towards the higher slopes, all while chanting encouraging songs to each other with highly religious content that completely failed to cross the translation gap intact. But, really, it's a bunch of demons out here to menace the world and do evil things. That's what the chants say, or at least what snippts of it Luke can hear over the sound of the wind picking up. 
    Up higher, Oberyn's blizzard is bearing down on Luke, blotting out the sky with the whiteness of it all the beautiful, pristine powder snow becoming a wall of oncoming inconvenience.

"Ordis?" Ash's warframe was trudging through the snow, a wholly unacceptable situation by his metric. At the very least he should be effortlessly bouncing from tree to tree to structure. Except his foehead still ached from when the last two attempts ended with an otherwise perfectly good tree snapping from the strain.

"Yes Operator?"

"Remind me again why I can't just call my archwing and carpetbomb everything hostile." Annoyance was plain in Ash's voice as the biomechanical war machine continued trudging closer to the waypoint Ordis had lain out. 

"Weather that matches none of the meteorlogical data for the reason, suggesting supernatural origins, which leaves open the possibility that it has a directed intelligance which-"

Ash raised a hand to silence Ordis's explaination as he came in the view of.. Something?

Horns. Wings. Big Classically demony things.

Ah grinned within his transferrence pod as he pulled the sniper rifle from his back and took aim.

Whatever caused the storm either did so fully intending on disrupting aim. All the technology within the warframe and gun and the sights, which were supposed to compensate for crosswinds kept giving continually shifting and oft contradictory readings.

Steady. There is only the target. Everything else is Void.

Ash waited for the space between heartbeats, his sights on the lead demon, ashe knew not if the bundle they carrried was captive or commander.

*CRACK!*

A single shot, anyone looking where it came from might have seen the flash of... Something, some glint, a ghostly maybe of a humanoid. However whatever might have been had vanished.

Which was very good since Ash was in the process of running. Normall this would be towards a secondary firing position. This time, unfortunately, it was because the loud rifle shot caused the snow above him to destabilize.

In moments the daemonic trudge team would see an armor clad figure festooned with lights and gold running like... well... Hell itself was after him. "RUNFORYOURLIVESAVALANCH!"

Less talk. More Running.

    Tumbling down a hill encased in snow really gives you time to think... if only because you can't do much else. Oberyn uses this time to mull over the events of the last few days. How he was down to his last few gil AGAIN and really needed this job. How the tavern keeper mentioned that the rich tourists - really rich, bold and underlined thrice on the notice - were probably just in a panic over some basic snow monster or something, and it was bound to be an easy mission. How weird it was that it sounded really urgent but at the same time the notice had fourteen days before it would be removed.

    He considers the trick he'd planned to use to get down the hill. Shrink down with Mini, cast Float to skim over the snowy ground, use Aero for speed and Blizzard for surface area, and essentially sail down the slope. How a single jutting rock put him into a tumble, causing him to gather snow into a ball around him as he fell, turning an elegant descent into a minor disaster.

    Finally, Oberyn's thoughts turned to the task ahead of him. What would he do when he got down there? Try to fight head-on? Hope for a front line fighter to stand behind? Take on... ugh... healing duty? This seemed like a good situation to plan ahead for.

    Then it hit him.

    The avalanche, that is, not some brilliant epiphany. Well, the avalanche first, and then an epiphany: This was all a REALLY bad idea.

    At least if the Snowberynball crashes into anyone, they'll probably get rolled up and carried on the avalanche with it, instead of buried beneath the rushing snow...

    Luke just... stares at the group of large, horn, winged, swole creatures just casually climb past him adn his fire pokemon, singing about... unholy things, while dragging someone in a bundle of blankets!. He can't help a feeling of deja vu, while his bear pokemon runs to Luke's side, standing at attention. "Hello?" tries the boy, glancing up at the incomming storm, "I don't think it's safe to be he..." 

     Any attempt to finish the sentence pauses as the soujnd of the gun causes Agni to shove Luke down to the ground, looking around for the source of said sniper, while Luke mumbles muffled in the snow, pinned under bear paws. It's only after Ash begins the frantic 'RUN' note and the avalanche becomes evident that the boy is allowed to get up, only for the bear to try to scruff Luke and run down the mountain, carrying a flailing kid from the neck of his shirt.

    Snowberyn and his blizzard suddenly aren't rolling so much, because the hillside under him just gave away with loud cracking noises and several thousand elephant's worth of thick white stuff was running downhill towards Luke and Ash and the demonic bunch (one less now, unmourned. They're _Demons_). Everything goes white, the world turns upside-down, and then topsy-turvy. 
    One tumble-wet cycle later, there's a a pocket underneath the thickest part of the snow, in the lee of what used to be a big, sturdy fir. In this pocket are Luke, Oberyn, and Ash, jammed into the hollow here along with a big bundle of blankets, because fate has decided that all the interesting people should get together for a bout of 'o hai thar' underneath perhaps fifteen feet of snow. 
    The blanket bundle whines and groans a bit, before Demon Queen pops her head out and... looks into the super dim lighting outside, under the bluish ice. "..." 
    The Hell...???

Ash groaned as he looked about, "Ordis?" That much snow should by all rights have cut any radio link between Ash and his ship, and were it normal radio it would have, hich would be bad because the warframe is a remote proxy. Instead Ash's warframe sat up slowly, a trio of 'lights set into a blue headband of material where its eyes should be dimmed then brightened.

"Operator that was RECKLESSLY STuPID OF YOU." The cephelon's voice emenated from a vague 'somewhere around Ash's warframe' loud enough for others to hear, "However estimations put you at no worse than twenty meters beneath the new surface layer."

A quick look around showed there were more people here, ncluding the lady the demons were carrying about, "you're going to have to do it from your end Ordis, I've got possible casualties here." This two and some odd change meter tall biomechanical horror... sounded like a teenager. For anyone unfamiliar with Ash the effect might be offputting or might just be written off as head injury or something else. 

Slowly the warframe would untangle itself before gently putting a han on Luke, "Hey, you in one piece there?"

    Down at the other end of the scale, Oberyn struggles to push his temporarily two-foot-something frame up from the ground - a tricky feat as he's still hovering slightly above it, forcing him to struggle to reach. "... nngh... that was... wasn't my finest... ... any landing you can get... get up from though..."

    The tiny scholar is a bit dazed and woozy as he looks around at his dimly-visible fellow undersnow-dwellers. "... guess... guess I'm not alone...? Every... everyone else... okay?"

    Luke was not alone, he had Agni around him, the large, fluffy fire type bear craddling the boy, curled up around him, despite protests about lck of air, and fur tickling his face. "Agni!, Agni, you can let go!" he tries, weakly pushing at the big, fluffy thing resting on him. The big fire bear slowly releasing the teen, almost reluctanctly, lookign around at the huge mass of snow surrounding them and huffing at Ash with a frown. If one didn't know better, one might think it was blaming him for this mess.

    Luke shakes a bit, grunting, "I'm fine, just... covered in fur, and wet." he says softly, "Are you all ok?" he asks, looking around and spotting the bundle of blankets next to him, "Wait... aren't you..." he mumbles. Cue a large fire pokemon sniffing the other gathered people, favoring it's left foreleg over the other one. "I think Agni sprained a leg paw in that big tumble." he says, glancing back at Oberyn, and you?".

    Demon Queen wiggles a little, but remains bundled up tight. At least it's warm in here... until the snow starts melting around the blanket-ball and starts soaking into her everything. That's a little less urgent. More urgent is suddenly there are people and no demons. Well, one demon. 
    "Who ARE you people? What WAS that!?"

Ash flinched at Luke mentioning Angi'ssprain and then turned to the red haired lady for a moment before glancing t othe tiny Oberyn and just...staring at the small person for a moment. 

Then questions. "Yea sorry that's kinda my doing." Noteably this warframe had a sword at one hip, a pistol on the other, and a very large rifle on hisback. "I'd forgotten to take into account how unstable the snow around here probably would be and saw big demony things carting someone off so.." He shrugged, "Ordis is carving a tunnel out but it'll take awhile.

At precicely that moment a hole poked through the snow cave allowing fresh air in. Granted the hole was only the size of a fist but it still allowed air in. "It'll take awhile for him to widen it out for us to safely leave. Sorry."

    "I'm uh... okay. Dizzy... just dizzy, that was a lot of... I can't believe slide down hills like that for FUN." Oberyn's started to get his wits back about him now, enough to take a look around the snow cavern.

    "I'd offer to help with the tunnel, I could use Fire to melt some of the snow, but... I don't think this place likes black magic too much. It, uh. It kinda made a mess of the weather. I guess I can offer to heal the... um. Pet beast?"

    With 'what was that' answered, it seems Oberyn's just not too worried about answering 'who are you'. After all, why would anyone want to get to know the people they're stuck in a cramped little hole in the ground with, right? Instead, he just moves on to the rote gestures and sounds to ply his magical trade, and pokes Agni with an intonation of "Cure!"

    Luke pauses for a moment to answer to Demon Queen, it's only polite of course, "Luke Gray, pokemon trainer, this is Agni." he says, pointing to the large, surprisingly warm bear sitting next to him, who hasn't stopped frowning towards Ash, especially when admitting causing the situation. 

    Luke manages a chuckle, "I am pretty sure they slide on skates... not tumbling in the snow... I'm only fine because Agni here wrapped around me like a fluffy wall, a bit dizy tho.". 

    The bear seems curious when the tiny person gets closer, flinching as the damaged paw gets poked, but blinks, wriggling it a few times, and leaning to give Oberyn's cheek a big, wet lick, rough tongue. "What was that?" he asks, noticing Agni seems to feel far better. "I'd say, Agni can try to dig it's way out, or melt it, if you think that's safe... I think i can wait for Ash's friend to dig us out instead."

    "YOUR doing?" Demon Queen turns her head towards Ash, but stops halfway there because there's too much blanket in the way. "You mean to tell me you destroyed an entire town? What are you, some kind of Demon? Do you murder lots of people often? How are your reviews?" 
    Absolutely nothing else captures Demon Queen's attention, not even Luke introducing himself. It is time for +_+

Ash slow blinked within the transferrence pod, "Ordis.... I'm not.. liking how she's looking at me."

Ash's warframe stretche, causing several loud pops from diffrant joints. "Have... I. /KILLED/ peopled?" There is disbelief in his voice Then laughter. Maybe he bumped his head too far. Maybe he realized this girl was in fact the commander of this demon army.

"Ordis," His voice was calm, "Stat sheet please."

Then out of the right forearm of his warframe projected a rectanglular hologram scrolling with stats such as kills, captures, infiltrations and more broken up into neat subdivisions followed by diffrant biographical details 'former human (Tenno)', 'age: unknown, estimated several millinia' etc etc. 

Then Ash's warframe would stare at this Demon Queen, "Now then. I ask you in all seriousness. Do you plan on continuing your assault on this place, or do I have to stop being friendly?"

    "Ack!" Ungrounded as he is, Oberyn is sent into a backward roll by the sudden bear-lick. Coming to rest upside-down against the wall of the cave, he's forced to flail to right himself before answering. "Right, I keep forgetting. Uhm. That was magic, some worlds have a thing where people can kinda... do stuff, with... well, it's complicated. But that was Cure - a healing spell."

    Looking around at the others, he frowns. "Wait... destroyed a town? YOU'RE the demon army!? I mean... I can sort of see it, but..."

    "... but... no, so... you're the one who's... okay, I can kind of see THAT too, one of those... 'behold my true form' sorts?"

    The tiny scholar lets out a deep sigh. "You know, I don't... I'm not sure if I'm even getting paid for coming out here anymore, and nobody who's in HERE is hurting anyone out THERE. I'm just... gonna go have a sit-down."

    Luke is... kind of confused too, he barely had time to process... anything really!, first saw the weird swole dudes, the gunshot, trapped in the snow, and seeing the same girl that 'attacked' a town not that long ago, even if that... attack didn't seem to get too far. He just looks at Ash and DQ, over and over, glad to focus his attention back to Oberyn, "That's great... there is some pokemon medicine that acts pretty fast, but I kinda forgot it." he says, rubbing the back of his hea, "I mean back at my... wait... my tent!." he mumbles softly, hoping it wasn't affected by this. He decides to follow Oberyn's example, just trying to figure what to do, that laughter from Ash... was not reassuring.

    "Well, you wiped out my army and trapped me here, so I think that counts! But I think that wasn't quite enough effort on your part..." Demon Queen wiggles her nose, like it's got an itch which she can't quite get at to scratch. "How about this? If everyone here fills out a good review for this heroing, I'll stop. Isn't that fair?" 
    Demon Queen gives a huge, wide smile, like she's genuinely happy that Ash and Oberyn and Luke (mostly Ash) are there for her. These are truly good hero friends to have.
    "Oh, and treat me to a hot chocolate once we're out?"

"Review...?" Confusion from Ash as the trio of lights at the center of his warframe's face brightened. "Yar yare daze... what's the cosmology of this world like anyway?"

He took a deep breath. "So. I avalanch'd your army, and you're happy and review begging?"

He looked at the hole Ordiswas widening, "Ordis think you can get holdof Raven? I'm... out of my depth here."

"I... don't know how possible that will be Operator, but I will make the attempt."

there was a loud caw, moments before a dark shape rose from the ground, in the form of a massive Raven. The raven then formed, turning into... Well, Raven. The girl stumbled forward, her back to them and... 

"Ordis, they aren't HERE either. Listen, if you want me to help them, I need better directions! I can't just keep TELEPORTING all over the place! My magic has limits, you know?!" she snapped, the fury in her voice, a red glow emanating from her eyes. "Ugh. I need a break. I'll contact you when I can teleport again." She then hmphed. "Useless STUPID idiot. almost as bad as Ash. 'They're in a cave'. Oh yes, because THAT does any good. A planet with ten thousand caves. I'm not a miracle worker, and I have things to do, other than flying out and savving Ash's stupid idiotic face! Does he have ANY idea how hard it is to make mashed potatos?! Almost getting himself killed and with some demon. As if I don't worry about him enough as it is. It's not like--"

She then turned around and... Realized they all jsut saw her little tantrum. "Errrrr... Oh. I..." The demonic red eyes kind of returned to her normal levels, and she coughed. "I... err... heard you needed... some help." .... Awkward. Oh, and then her empath powers finally seemed to catch up and she just slowly reached up, lifted her hood and put it back over her head, her cheeks almost glowing red enough to see under it.

    "... review... this... I, um. This is all kinda... I--"

    Oberyn's attention /immediately/ snaps to the newcomer as she arrives, because where was all THIS before today's debacle!?

    "Ooh! That's... oh wow, I need to write this down, I don't know what kinda school that is but that's probably the cleanest teleportation spell I've ever seen! Let's see, um... okay, then that there... trace... no element I can..." As he produces a somewhat soggy book and rumpled pen from inside his (relatively) voluminous coat, Oberyn trails off into incomprehensible mumbles. He seems to have forgotten everyone else is even there.

    "Yes! It was awesome and fun and heroic for you, wasn't it?" Demon Queen is practically starry-eyed now, and trying to struggle out of her bundle. It is a VERY well-tied bundle, though, so she remains stuck. "It was great heroing, right? Right!? All I'm asking for is that everyone writes a good review for me..." 
    She pouts and buries the pout against the blankets, "I... I mean... if you don't min-THAT IS AWESOME. 
    All attention? On Raven. "I LOVE YOUR EYES! Oh gosh I think mine are maybe a bit too big and too bright red I mean like I would, like, totally do yours they're all, like, mysteriou, yanno? Are you a hero? Do, you, like, I dunno, do anything heroing? Or potatoes. Potatoes are good too. I love them."

Ash's waframe just... tilted its head at Raven as he watched Raven's tantrum in progress. A deep breath. Raven would feel a whole swirl of emotions ranging from confusion, annoyance, MORE confusion, relief. "Uh.. I think the bore hole's wide enough for Ordis to drop a few things in that'll make the wait more comfortable," He offered. I'm... well I'm out of my depth here."

Beat.

"No seriously. I'm not sure what's going on here." Ash looked at the borehole slowly widening right before a streak of something, a soft 'WUMP' as a rolled up thing hit the ground. When Ash took that roll another hit. THen another. Then he started unrolling a silvery crinkly sounding blanket. "Alright peoplewho don't want to be soggy, we can sit on this. "Ordis has drinks, can probably get food sent down too when the hole gets a bit bigger. Any requests? Better to try negociating on a full stomach." He passed raven a thermos, "Tea." Another passed to Luke, "Hot chocolate. Got any ideas what Angi would want?" Then a turn to Oberyn and he was about to say something, but got cut off by the Demon Queen's fangirling.

"Ah... Yes," Ash's voice was soft as he pointed towards the red haired invading demonic thing, "I have no idea what's going on."

    Luke is... somewhat confused, he is aware of Raven's odd powers so he is not quite as shocked by it, but still, seeing all the interactions just... gets him quiet, looking between teh others and waving towards Raven as she seems to finally spot the others. Eventually, hegets up and takes the offer from Ash, sitting on the blanket, followd by his fire bear. Of course, the two greet Raven happily, she WAS a friend, and he sips on the warm chocolate. "I think he'll be fine with anything sweet." he says, while the bear's interest is piqued and moves to hound around Ash, sitting on part of the blanket and radiating warmth.

Raven turned and... interest? Okay, she felt that from the guy. She ignored it for the moment, she could deal with it later. Maybe even--

And suddenly DEMON! She stepped away, lifting a hand as if to defend herself, then pausing. Finally... "You are a demon. Worse. You are perky. Ash. Can we destroy her or send her back where she belongs?" she asked, glancing to Ash. To be honest, the perkiness bothered her more.

Though, she struggled to process WHAT the woman was saying. ".... you.... want to do... my eyes? I don't... I... No. I'm not a hero. I am a sorceress, that is all. I do not... do... heroing. Or potatoes... I..." She took a step back. It was like a sea of... WHATEVER that girl was. Slowly, she moved around her to Ash, looking up at him.

"What exactly... happened? Why did Ordis ask for my help?" she asked, picking up the thermos and sighing, slowly drinking the tea. Of course, Ordis would know how to make the tea she liked. "If... it is a banishment of demonic presenses I am... aware of a few, but, err... I do not believe any of us qualify as a holy maiden, so our options are limited." Wow, rude.

She did give Luke a nod, moving to get closer to the warm bear. Is nice.

    Oberyn is nearly completely absorbed in his writing, and can offer only a noncommittal "Mh" to the offer of food, drink, and warm, dry... oh, being warm and dry would be good wouldn't it, it IS starting to get chilly in here but KNOWLEDGE MUST BE ACQUIRED journal first then warm.

    Demon Queen blows aside strand of hair that had fallen over her face while she was busy being exceptionally and evilly perky (redundant?) at Raven. "You can't banish me, anyway. Like, a couple of heroes tried back a while ago? It turns out that ... ah... hmm..." She dredges up the deep sorcery terms needed to explain how this all works. 
    "You can't send someone away if you have to put them inside themselves! I dunno if that makes sense but that's what it is. Also can like, someone get me out of these? They tied it REALLY well and it's getting, like, wet and cold and stuff."

"Raven I'm... just..." Ash was struggling to try making sense of what was going on. This two and some odd change meter tall humanoid abominatin agaisnt God and Nature shuffled about self conciously. "She seem to want to negociate, but it sounds like she's wanting good yelp reviews or... something. I have no idea what that would entail, if she' lying and is currently going to have about a dozen of her minions set everything and everyone on fire and do typical demony things."

THen the Demon Queen explained the whole anti-banishment thing. Causing ORdis to helpfully clarify, "So what you're saying is you are both a person and the nexus point of a location that you would nominally be banished to? I swear the Orokin tried something like that but-"

"Limbo." Ash grumbled.

"Right.... HIM.... We don't talk about him for reasons."

    Agni is warm, and fluffy, also lapping the leftover chocolate from Luke's mug. The bear is polite enough to offer a friendly grunt at Raven, before glancing back to DQ at the mention of being wet and cold. "I really have no clue what is going on." he says softly. "I never cared much about spiritual things... I think I have some blessed tags, those tend to scare ghost pokemon, had to use a couple before, but that's about it." he says. "For some reason Pangshi likes those, so I am nto sure how they work."

Raven nodded and then glanced to the other woman. "I see. Well, she is definitely a demon, and definitely evil. I can feel it," she mumbled, turning towards the woman. Gotta love being an Empath. "We can try removing her the old fashioned way." She li fted her right hand up, and spears of darkness formed.

"Impale her enough times, form so mythical writing with the blood, assuming she bleeds. I have a few sealing charms as well we could bind her inside as well. Failing that, you could... go to Zelda. Either way..."

"I will not allow yet anothjer demon to run wild across the multi-verse. And I know not what a... yelp... review is, but if you desire it it must be incredibly dangerous." Welp, she went fdrom 'calm' to 'destroy it as many times as possible' rather quickly.

"In theory, if we damage the body enough, it should disipate and return to where it was from. I doubt we could kill it, though." Three guesses why she knew that...

    "Hey! Wait! No! You already won! Yay! Winning! You're happy with that, right?" Demon Queen wiggles side to side urgently, "Like, reviews! I just want a slip of paper saying what you thought of everything, and sign it. That way I can fulfill the quotas and get a performance review. That's not so much to ask, is it?" 
    That spear really, really doesn't look friendly. "Like, you don't want to /permanently/ destroy evil! Everyone knows that's how the world works! If you don't have evil to vanquish, then there's no need for heroes! And then all the stories would be boring and nothing interesting would ever happen again! You'll destroy the world on a metaphysical level!"

    Finally satisfied with his writing, Oberyn snaps his book shut with a satisfyingly loud thump. Or... he would have if it weren't about the size of a deck of playing cards right now; the effect is something more akin to a flutter instead.

    "... okay. So... what's everybody talking ab-- wow you guys got murdery. I don't... I'm not sure how it works where you come from, but... it's USUALLY not good to talk about killing people who are -- come on, she's STUCK in the BLANKETS. Look at that."

    Oberyn floats his way over to where the not-especially-evil-seeming-at-the-moment Demon Queen sits trapped in her prison of cold, damp fabric. Of course. He can't sense the AURA OF ULTIMATE EVIL. All he sees is someone who would probably have transformed into a monster by now if she were really all that powerful and dangerous so... wait. Who's the bad guy again?

    "... this would be a lot simpler if someone would just... you know, turn into a zombie or do an evil laugh right now. Just kinda admit to being the real villain all along?"

Ash tilted his head before looking from Raven, then this Demon Queen then a lightbulb went off. "You're Daria aren't you?" He took a breath and handed luke a second thermos for Angi. "So what you're wanting is basically a job performance review... excet your jb is 'being a demon warlord' and you're... HAPPY you lost?" His voice grew more disbelieving with every word.

Then a glance to Oberyn, "Unlike in the kiddie cartoons it usually isn't the guy twirling a moustache while chucking tied up people onto railroad tracks. Usually it's the politicians, bankers, and major entertaining firms that are the real evil."

Raven sighs. "I'm not talking about murder. Displacing her physical form. You can't kill a demon that easily, trust me. If you could, I would have removed a few in my own time. All we have to do is deal enough damage, and she will disappear from thje physical realm and..." She paused. "Unless she's not fully demon. But what I feel from her... I'm fairly certain she's fully one." She then stepped forward and glared down at the girl.

"Yes, it should. Evil creatures such as... you, shouldn't exist. Who cares if things werre boring or there was no need for heroes? Thep ain and suffering that is caused by... your kind doesn't outweigh any 'entertainment' some may find in you." She then sighed.

"Don't trust her. This is how demon's operate. Show you a bit of kindness. make themselves appealing. Lure you in with promises... then they use you and, if you're lucky, all they will do is kill you. And there is so much worse they can and will do to you. So let's end this. Please." Though she was hesitating. Maybe. A little...

    "I don't... I mean, what did... let's... let's look at this. So, there... there was an army of demons, okay. And they got wiped out, and she wants... some kind of score, for that?" Oberyn is trying to wrap his head around this because it is VERY MESSED UP guys like come on this is so much gray area right now.

    "So... what's she DONE? I mean, she's not... exactly leading them, here. Wrapped up like that? The leader's normally the tough one. Otherwise you'd be able to just take out the whole..."

    Wait a minute.

    "... army by..."

    Wasn't there something like this not all that long ago?

    "... disabling the..."

    That's it. That night, in Clerk's Ferry. The forces of Hell. That feeling of helplessness, when it all fell apart.

    "... leader. THAT WAS YOU, WASN'T IT."

    Oberyn's demeanor changes in a heartbeat. This just got a LOT less gray to him. "... actually, you know what? Yeah, I don't think I'm going to feel bad about this. Murder away."

    And with that, he crosses the room, away from the still-bound Demon Queen and her would-be exorcists.

    "That's really not necessary! Nobody really got hurt, you know! I just scared away all the people around the funny iron wagon thing. I mean... ummm..." Demon Queen looks a bit less panicky, "I-i-if I understand right, my godhead contains all of Hell in its infinite size. S-so clearly if." 
    Ulp. 
    "If you break me a lot, it'll open an unstoppable Hell breach! There will be demons forever! They'll take all the low-paying jobs and displace the, like, local labor force! YOU'LL CAUSE UNEMPLOYMENT AREN'T YOU LISTENING?!"

Ash wasn't really listening. His mind cast back to something not so much a memory but the fragments left where memory used to be. Fear, anxiety, terror.... a man's voice 'They're not even human anymore. They're Demons from that Hell.' followed by a woman's screaming 'Shame on all of you ... So perfect on the outside, but you're rotted through and through!'

He aimed a very large pistol at this Demon Queen's head, and... Why wasn't he firing? He's killed more people than populate many of the earths he's walked upon. Yet here was this girl, soaking wet, cold and afraid. Sitting there. Helpless.

He took a breath and adjusted his aim. There was a cold pit in his middle when he looked at theredheaded girl. He remembered another demon he spoke with. One that everyone was convinced /must/ die for the good of everyone else.

He took another shakey breath. Raven could feel Ash pouring his emotion into the icey void in his stomach. 

His finger moved towards the trigger...

Raven nodded. Finally, it seemed people were feeling the way she did. "It's not a murder. She doesn't 'die'. Demons can't..." She then trailed off and stared at her. Demons forever? Labor forces? What? Why would she... Slowly, her eyes went wide as a terrifying thought occured to her. And she felt it. The fear.

She thought it was one of them. But it wasn't. It was the girl.

Her hand lashed out, placed... ion front of the gun. "Wait!" she said, her spears dissipating.

"Shes scared. She's ACTUALLY scared," she said, sounding shaken."I was wrong. She's not like those demons. Not like the ones from... my... world..." Ones like her. "She feels fear. Demons don't feel fear. they don't feel ANYTHING. She... might be closer to something like Damian."

She gave a low groan. "Which means... we can't... kill her..." Ugh, she hated this. "Because it might ACTUALLY kill her..."

    Luke listened for a while, just... stunned, discussing hwo to dispose of the girl that was caught in those wet blankets, who, as far as he know, at worst just scared people, "Are we sure she is actually that evil?" he mumbles, "I... weren't you working at an amusement park, with those... demon guys?" he asks to the girl.
     The talk about Demons does not sway him much, Daria looks like a girl, and seems as scared as he might be in a similar situation... he never saw her actually hurt someone... He does not see Raven lash towards the gun, Luke just gets in front of the captive girl, with the large fluffy shape of Agni growling loudly and trying to move Luke aside, "Please don't shoot her."

    "Uh-huh!" Demon Queen nods, but doesn't quite put together any other words beyond that. She's just staring cross-eyed up at Ash's big gun... thing. She is totally afraid but also very evil, and somewhere underneath all that is a determination to continue doing evil things if she's not stopped permanently. Right here. Right now. 
    Incorrigible. 
    And then there was a fluffy butt in Demon Queen's face, and she just has more muffled protests beyond that. W-who's shoving fuzzbutts in people's faces!?

    "Scared?" Oberyn perks up a bit hearing this news. His voice takes on a... not particularly pleasant tone. "She's... scared? GOOD. She DEFINITELY deserves THAT much, anyway. Marching demons around. Spreading terror, threatening innocent people just to... just to get a GOOD REVIEW or something."

    Since everybody seems to be getting in the way of everyone else trying to kill/save/exorcise the blanketed demon warlady, Oberyn is able to stalk around the edge of the cave without much trouble, to take a place by her side. This time, instead of debating, he chooses to spend his time just taking out a book. The Demon Queen might recognize this one, if she's lucky; after all, she's seen it before.

    This time, though, it's not getting opened up to the 'Sleep' page...

"Operator?" Ordis's voice.

"Kill transferrence signal. Hole's wide enough to get a rope." 

Ash's warframe slumped then fell over bonelessly, its lights winking out.. Then moments later there was the sound of a soft whine above them followed by a rope.

Then Ash startedto climbdown the rope. Blakck leatherlike breeches and a matching black silver studded tunic cladding someone that looked, frankly, maybe at oldest sixteen? "Used my K drive so i wouldn't disturb the snow while guiding a rope down. Lander' s hovering above us acting as an anchor point.

He then knelt down by the Demon Queen to undo her blankets. "We eed to talk at length on 'what now' but I'd feel better if everyone was somewhere properly warm. Sound good to you?"

e then looked up at Luke, then Raven. "I'll need all off you to grab the rope as it's being pulled up so Ordis can get everyone out of the drift without it collapsing. After you're safe I'll reconnect with my frame and get it out."

Which is going to suck because b then it'll be all cold and suffocating and tired and man that's gong to suck and why did he do this? He could have had Ordis lower the rope. 

Then he saw Oberyn flipping through books. "Whatever you're doing. DON'T. this snow pocket isn't very stable and there is twenty meters of snow on to p of us. Meaning you do something, the pocket collapses. Everyone dies."

    Luke seems to calm down as Ash stops... aiming that gun, Agni managing to shove the stubborn trainer away, anyway, not paying much attention to Oberyn, it has no clue about magic books or magic, which might be good, otherwise it might test how flammable such a tome might be, given the fact Luke is next to the target. In any case, Luke is shuddering and nodding, moving towards Ash proper, smiling to him and reaching for the rope, "Thanks." he offers, "Agni, return." the teen calls, raising a pokeball and recalling a protesting fire bear into the spherical device, before reaching and holding onto the rope.

Raven blinked a few timews and... "Thanks, but no thanks," she mumbled. She didn't try and stop him from releasing the demon, though. Instead, she'd glide up, keeping herself near her. "What is your name?" she asked coldly. "And what do you mean a... review? What exactly were were you doing?" she asked, her eyes raisded up, staring above. Not wanting to b e ne ar the girl, but near her anyway.

All of this just made her feel... wrong....

    Demon Queen sags visibly in relief, "So, like, I'm an intern, right? No wait lemme start over. So there's gods? You know? Not like big-G God or something but like gods - it's like a job and stuff. And, like, my parents want to make sure I have a good job, you know? They always worry so much. Daria do this. Daria do that. Anywayyyy. So like, this Demon Queen gig? Totally the worst internship but whatever it's my job now. Do it well. Finish your century. Get any other spot you want. You know the sort?" 
    She rolls her eyes and plows onwards, "So like, there's heroes and they need someone to fight, right? Like evil people who're all BLEH and menacing and stuff. And it's, like, the Demon Queen's job to do the demons all epic and super-impressive. With the background music and the cool speeches and stuff? You know? Like customer reviews from heroes - like you! So, umm... did you like it? The fight, I mean." 
    This would be the fight that MAYBE Ash had a small bit in.

Ash slow blinks at .. .Daria? "I've been around enough worlds those words somewhat make sense. I think."

He would help Daria to the rope. "Hold on. It'll lift you out, but keep hold until you get word otherwise. Luke will follow you. Then me. then Raven." His voice was calm as he gave instructions. "Raven could probably survive a cave in. I can't. Neither can Luke, and I doubt magic guy there could. So Less talkie til we get out of here." He would then attempt to hand Daria the rope.

All while being seirously ANNOYED. This girls' world cosmology DEMANDEd entities go into demoning... as a JOB?! That's mental.

    "Did we. LIKE. It." Oberyn's voice is unpleasant. Cold. And his fingers are flashing about in odd gestures as he speaks. "You know, that's... the worst part about this, isn't it."

    The text on the grimoire's pages begins to flash as well, and the scholar begins to pepper his speech with eldritch sounds. "We're... not that different, in a way. Adventurers, and you. But, you... you keep bringing the wrong people into it. Innocent people, just to get attention."

    The grimoire begins to fairly crackle with energy, and Oberyn's tone darkens. "It probably WOULD be better if you never left this place. Even if we all died with you."

    "And I hope you realize that. Remember that. Hold on to the feeling that someone really, REALLY wanted you dead for a minute. Almost made it happen. That's what those innocent people feel, when your army walks up to their homes. And THEY don't DESERVE it."

    Fortunately, Oberyn hasn't quite gone off the deep end... and the cave will almost CERTAINLY survive a little bit of, "Blizzara."

    It's not aimed to HARM the poor girl, but someone is having a VERY cold trip home in those wet clothes.

Raven nodded and then glanced to the new girl. She took a deep breath and... "I... am in the midst of things. I need to learn..." she trailed off. "I do not know how to deal with your... particular... situation. So just know this. If you ever... just..."

She just stared and... "It's like a cheerleader. I HATE cheerleader's. I'm going to speak with Damian about this. It's far closer to him than it is to me-- to the demons of my home. Just.... Ash... deal with her. Please. I'll work on some sealing charms. Maybe we can trap her in a room or something. Just... okay." She, for one, seemed very frustrated by all of this. An d while it was hard to tell, she very much had a headache now. So it was likely no surprise when the raven of darekness enveloped her again and she disappeared into the ground... Oh boy.

    Luke was just happy he was getting out of there... this was not a very... fun situation for him, he is not used to have to deal with morality or ambiguous stuff or whatnot, not to say he is not willing to help regardless but... at least for him, this situation didn't sit that well. He tried to focus on holding onto the rope Ash provided, quite tightly, the wet clothes on him making the blast of icy wind from Oberyn easy to feel, "W-what was that?" he says, looking back at the magical one... well, the one that isn't wearing an indigo cloak.

    There's a really a loud and undiginified squealing from Demon Queen, courtesy of ICY COLD NONSENSE that Oberyn thought fit to use as some kind of punishment game. Or maybe just punishment. Who knows how the mind of blue people functioned? She curls attempts to kick Oberyn's shin exactly once before retreating to curl up and shiver and cry to herself. 
    The ice cave rumbles ominously, in a floor-moving sort of way. Then there's a sharp CRACK, and an equally sharp crack (visible) grows across the walls and starts spreading.

Ash huffed in irritation before grabbing both Oberyn by the scruff and the bundle of frozen that was Daria before looking up at the hole Ordis had made. Not enough time to getthem all out. "Ordis. Go."

"Oprator-" Ordis's voice showed concern

"GO!" Ash acted. Kicking off the ground before pullng on the void, becomming a streak of light. He coudln't die here. Not now. He had things to look forward to people who wanted him there.

The streak paused for moments during the journey up. Yet Ash made it out and away from the snow drift before collapsing with Oberyn and Daria in a heap beneath another tree.

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