>>5929470The foul Hell-smog swirls and spins, flowing this way and that, but it cannot escape—not while the <Rite> continues—nor does it see to have the strength of will or necessary physicality to attack or possess you. With great and terrible effort, it collapses in on itself, collapsing to a singular point like a hovering, golden-green orb, still smouldering with acrid smoke, and it produces a voice at once Zith-Zi’s, and someone else’s…
“Love…” it whispers “Love me… Treasure me… Desire me… Release your need, your dreams, to me…”
“Some sort of… Succubus? A desire-demon?” Testa guesses. “Oh drat, it’s been YEARS since I brushed up on Extraplanar Binding…”
The same is true for you, but it doesn’t matter. The demonic spirit is weak, disoriented, bound and helpless.
“I am nothing… Where am I? Why am I nothing? Where is… Me?” it cries out, and then seems to take notice of Zi. “You! I was you! Become me! Let me be you!”
“Uh… Tips?” Zith-Zi yelps, nearly losing a step in the dance as the orb of unclean energy wobbles vaguely towards her. “A little help here?!”
The orb stops, seeming to take notice of you, and then begins to wobble instead in your direction.
“You… Let me be you! Become me! Desire me, give into me, share with me!"
You resist the urge to release you grasp of the girls’ hands, to step back and way from the foul thing. After all, that would break the magical circle you three have formed, and release it.
The orb wobbles in place, beginning to flake and crumble back int mist. When it speaks again, its voice is pitiable, pathetic.
"I am… So cold…”
"I feel kind of, like, bad for it," Costella says aloud.
Before you can stop the <Rite>, you need to decide what to do about this unexpected party-crasher.
What will you do?
>Attempt to communicate with the demon[You need answers… Though the longer you keep it here, amidst all this swirling magic, the greater chance of it manifesting]
>Return it to Zith-Zi [If it came from her, and wasn’t harming her, perhaps this thing is some… Benign infection native to her body? Maybe even important to her being in some way?]
>Bind it[You could trap the demon in an object, theoretically… You were never really trained in such magic, but you know it CAN be done, and this is a rather WEAK demon.]
>Banish it[Again, not your specialty… But with such a weakling spirit, sending it back to the hellish realms should be a simple enough thing, right?]
>Write-in>>5929446Ah, right you are. Well, with the Nat 20, you had it either way