Plans are Born

Grey, misty, cool, and without wind is an uncharacteristically solemn frame for the day of Coyote's Laugh, but so are the expressions that two Daeusites wear as they make their way up to a certain house that both of them know well. Andelena in particular looks quietly furious with the whole ordeal, and while she looks comfortable in her armor and cloak, one gets the impression she'd rather not be wearing it on a day off.

"All will be well," comes the maternal voice from the sword that hangs off Andelena's swordbelt. "Do not lose to despair."

"I know, Livvie," Andelena responds as they approach the front door. "I'm not gonna. I'm also not gonna lose my desire to kick some demon ass even after all this is said and done."

Behind Andelena trails Dolan. He, too, wears armor, weapons, and gear, finally cleaned from the mess of the other day. That includes the sheepskin jacket, and the brace. He wears a solemn focus, traced with worry across the mobile half of his expression, and has trailed Andelena in silence, seemingly content to allow her to speak. He seems uncomfortable, though, shifting back and shoulder from time to time beneath his own cloak. He offers no comment to Deliverance's remarks.

The Residence is perched on the mountain as expected to be, the portico empty in the gray gloom. Smoke flows from the chimney, though light emerging from within is faint and sparse behind shuttered windows. In all, the stone and smoke blend well into the fog, there is little to break the gloom, and any sounds from within are absent or heavily muted.

Andelena goes to knock on the door. "Here's hoping they're home," she says. "This weather is about as gray and saggy as an old woman's tits. I wanna get out of it as soon as possible."

"We _have_ to talk about your choice in metaphors," Deliverance says with a sigh. "Brydion, we will be out of the damp and cold soon."

"Yeah." Although the choice of metaphor gets a snorted laugh from him, it's all Dolan says at the moment, to either the sword or the redheaded woman he follows. His boots are heavy on the portico approaching the front door, a warning to those inside. One hand creeps up to the leather cuff on his left shoulder, but drops again when Andelena knocks.

There's a bit of a wait before the door opens. And when it does open, it's only a crack. A thin line ready to be closed at a moments notice. Auranar stands for a moment, body blocking the doorway as she peers through the slender line of openness. She notes Dolan and Andelena and blinks in surprise. "It's Dolan and Andelena." She reports back into the house, then opens the door more widely to allow them entry into the house. "Come in, come in."

Her voice doesn't hold it's usual chipper warmth, her eyes are dark and stirred with worry.

With the door open wider and/or invited visitors entering, Verna is spotted within the lounge several steps behind Auranar, facing and focused upon the door, hands lifted at ready. Her hands lower slightly with the identification and invitation. "Please, come in," she confirms, yet her eyes remain upon the doorway, and even scrutinize the guests, briefly, as they enter.

"Hey, Auranar. Hey, Verna." Andelena would ask about the darkness in Auranar's eyes, but that's what stepping inside will reveal in due course. "Bry and I have something awfully important to talk with you about."

She steps inside, giving Dolan the clearance to walk through himself. She offers him a small smile and takes his hand now that they're indoors together.

A quirk of a half-hearted smile tugs at Dolan's lips when Andelena takes his hand, and he comes up to stand close - shoulder-to-shoulder, really - to Andelena, surveying the both of them. "Looks like you two have some shit going on, too," he tells them, bluntly. "I hate to drop this on you, but we need to make sure people know."

Auranar stands nearby so that she can close the door behind Andelena and Dolan. She glances toward Verna and seems to gather herself a little bit. "Can I offer something to drink? Something to eat? I'm afraid that the offerings are a little... bare today." She offers a half apologetic smile.

Verna relaxes hands and posture once the door is closed, though it would be a stretch to state that she is fully at ease. "My apologies for the cautious welcome, but, yes, there are yet concerns about." She gestures their guests to the seating. "What has happened that must be shared?" The chair behind her is settled into somewhat heavily for her stature.

"Please, don't starve yourselves just because we showed up at your doorstep," Andelena requests. She leads Dolan over to the seating and sits down next to him.

"We've got some news," Andelena says. "My little brother, Seb? He sent me a letter. It was coded. And it said pretty clearly, once Bry decoded it--there's a devil after _me_. Not Bry. _Me_. And while I'm not gonna take that shit lying down, we're telling everyone we know and trust in the event that something happens to us."

"I'm thinking it's Jal'goroth," Dolan finally chimes in, once he, too, has seated himself carefully. "That would fit. I've tweaked his snout a couple of times now, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's decided that she's the softer target. I mean to make sure he finds out otherwise," he adds, with a scowl that does nothing to soften the scarred half of his face.

He, too, waves off the offer of food, although he doesn't seem inclined to speak as much, allowing Andelena to do most of the talking.

With both her guests waving off the offers of food and drink Auranar sits down in her own chair, her eyes shinning with sudden anger at the name 'Jal'goroth'. "Is that the same devil that's been masquerading as this Daechir fellow?"

Verna lifts a hand again, this time to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Not to mention the same that threatens Auranar, in seeking myself." She exhales a breath and lowers her hand. "He struck again, and there is no reason to believe he will not continue his efforts. At this juncture, I wonder if there are any he does NOT seek to get his claws into. The question is: what action do we take? I am vaguely aware that there is some effort already underway against him."

"I think that's kind of what we were here to figure out," Andelena responds. "That being said, if Jal'goroth thinks I'm the softer target--heh. I've got really bad news for him and it's going to be delivered at the end of my sword."

At this point, the maternal voice from within Andelena's sword speaks up. "This is the desire of demons. They seek to make those that they strike terrified of them, to feel that they are always everywhere and always watching. They delight in the chaos that comes from striking fear into the hearts of many."

"What Livvie said," Andelena says. "This bastard's poking at everyone. So it sounds like to me that we ought to get a coalition together and take it out. Strike first and strike hard. Pin it to the fucking wall."

"Enough is enough," Dolan agrees, finally relaxing into the back of the chair, gingerly at first. "Lana and Tel can't help us much right now. Verna, I'll let you talk to them and find out why, they might need your help." He leaves the matter at that, concern unspoken hanging in the words. "I need to find Magpie and see what she's found."

"If it's the same devil, then I whole-heartedly agree." Auranar says firmly. "I can not sit idly by while it stalks us and..." Her lips purse into a firm line of displeasure. "Chases us into our homes to cower like mice."

Verna frowns with both displeasure and worry at Dolan's words on her other family members. Her look is most questioning, though she stays words... or, rather, saves them for the specific topic at hand. She then looks to Auranar, frown deepening.

"If we do not wish to fear he is everywhere, then we must learn where he is. Perhaps better, we should lure the fiend to where -we- wish him to be. By his own actions, we already possess the means to do so."

"Yeah. Question is how to outsmart the demon at his own game," Andelena replies. "These sons of bitches will let you _think_ you've got them cornered and will weasel out at the last minute because they were already a few steps ahead of you."

She looks thoughtful. "Not to mention--there's not really a way to kill them permanently unless you're in the Hells with 'em, right? So we'd need to find a way to make it _dead_ as dead can be. Otherwise we're playing lethal hide-and-seek every time."

"Cowering like mice won't get you shit with these bastards." Dolan's still sitting next to Andelena, and might be leaning on her? Just a little. His tone, however, is as sharp and as focused as can be. "You've got to be the hunter, or you'll be the prey."

He turns to Verna, and frowns. "I hope you ain't talking about summoning the thing. It's already here, and I can't involve myself in summoning. My oaths to the Temple forbid it. Unless you've got another idea?

This is the most animated he has been since he arrived. "Lana said she's got a way, but I'm not sure it's a good idea. You should talk to her, too."

"I doubt she's talking about summoning it." Auranar eyes Verna. "More likely she's thinking to lure it into the open by offering to go with it to Charn and have us enact some sort of plan there-after. My concern with that though is... if we kill it on this plane and it goes back to hell... we're basically just making it angrier with us. It feels pointless if someone is just going to summon it back."

Verna is shaking her head at Dolan, and Auranar's confidence(?) in Verna's likely actions is... reassuring(?). "No, I have no intention of summoning it. A call to get its attention, at most." She returns Aura's eyeing. "Yes, utilizing myself as bait is one possibility." Verna does not claim it is the only nor the best, only that it is one of. "I agree that it must be destroyed utterly, or it will merely return. Regrettably, I can attest, from experience, that to do so is extremely difficult."

Andelena's more than happy for Dolan to lean into her. Hell, she scoots a little closer to him so he can, and her free hand lands in his lap, close to his knee as a gesture of reassurance. "Okay, so--if this Lana has a way of killing it for good, someone's gotta go talk to her, right?" she asks. "Bry told me she and her man are recovering, but both of you are part of their family, yeah? That means the demon's probably gonna target _them_ sooner or later. If they haven't been already."

She frowns at the notion of bait. "Honestly--I don't know if that's a good idea. We don't know all the allies this demon's got hiding up its sleeve. Anything could be helping it."

"We can. That's what I need from Magpie." Dolan seems quite content to snuggle close to Andelena, although his gaze is razor-sharp, present, and focused for all of that. "The book," he explains. "It might have this thing's weaknesses, or a means of killing it. I'll find her as soon as I can."

"Yeah. It's damned difficult," he agrees, "but we'd better do it, or this isn't going to end. I'll do what I have to," he grits his teeth at the last.

Auranar nods. "I can help there Dolan. I've been meaning to visit Magpie about the book..." She glances at Verna and then finally admits. "We had a recent threat from the devil also. It... might have tried to poison me while we were having lunch."

Verna was concerned enough of Telamon and Cor'lana from Dolan's words when Andelena's point ... makes it worse. She is not wrong. "We will speak to them straightaway. If one or the other holds the key to defeating it, we must know." In fact, both holding keys would be even better.

"It certainly threatened you and made certain that I was aware. It is obviously watching us. I would not have you venture to Magpie alone." She looks to Dolan and Andelena. "I presume you both also watch over one another in light of this."

"Yeah, you've got that right," Andelena tells Verna. Her hand gently rubs at Dolan's leg. "We're not leaving each other's side. We already stopped by the Temple and let them know what's going on--and Bry let Telamon and his wife know what's going on, too. I recommend both of you stay together as much as you can."

She looks at Dolan. "Should all of us go and seek out Magpie?" she asks. "As a group. Or would that attract too much attention?"

"Damn right we do. Like Andie said," Dolan nods to her, a real smile beginning to come to him as she kneads his leg. His mood and motion appear to be improving, now that he is out of the cold, despite the seriousness of the topic. "Magpie and Auranar are friends," he offers. "Does she know where you live? Maybe we can send a message to her to come here."

"Yeah, Tel and Lana know. They're willing to help. I'm not going to go too much into what's up with them, that's not my place. I'm just telling you to go talk to Tel - and if you're good at removing curses, better yet." He steadies his gaze on Verna, the intentness of it clearly trying to convey a message.

Auranar considers this suggestion for a long moment then nods. "I'm not sure she knows, but it's not as though our home is a hidden location that is difficult to find. I will send a messenger from the temple across the street to find her. Then all we need do is wait." She rises from her chair.

-TBC