>>534041
That she might be waiting for us to lead her to Haven isn't impossible. Tying in the murder is kinda nuts, though. Completely different case, happening somewhere completely different.

>She's waiting for me to lead her to Haven
That's a worrisome possibility. But I haven't seen anything suspicious so far. Even the minor gods I've seen so far're just minding themselves from what I can tell. I'll just have to keep an eye out.

>Researching Marlene
Sounds like a good idea. I bring it up to Marco, who's the computer expert. He maintains his parents' computer and runs their website. I also mention the demon-backed hacking idea. "That's a cool idea. We likely can't grab the Inquisitor records--they've got a crazy secure network fortified with gods. Read that on the net, from people who failed. Many got caught. But other government records could tell us a lot."

>Previous questions about Haven
Those've been dwelling on my mind for a while. She's been awfully secretive about herself.

I speak up, "Um, you don't have to answer if you mind, but why didn't you tell us earlier about your demons? We'd protect your secrets. We're friends after all."

Her eyes refocus on me. "I enjoy hanging around with you all."

"Eh?"

"The more I tell you about myself, the more likely I'll have to leave."

...well like we said before if you don't want to tell us you don't have to, we're friends after all and that's good enough for me.

but off the record I have a strong feeling she maaaaaayy be one of those ... what the hell where they called again? The guys with way to many demons in them and are crazy strong, think it started with an m. but yeah I wouldn't be surprised to find she's one of them.

...DO you want the friendly, spacey fun Haven?
Or do you want an expert demonologist?
That's the choice before you.
One or the other, but to be both, seems to be impossible with the life we will lead.
In a simmilar manner, it may become dangerous to continue to associate with them-for their sake and for your own.

>I haven't seen anything suspicious so far.
Well, she doesn't necessarily have to have you followed to track you back to her. She can afford to play the long game here. She can let the rookie demonolgist go, wait for her to screw up again, and see if that gets her the master.

>But other government records could tell us a lot.
Well, yes. Although even the public record might be able to tell us a lot. There's a lot out there, if you're good at looking for it and putting the pieces together. I just want to be secure before we start doing research- you don't want big brother or anyone else knowing what you're researching.

>"The more I tell you about myself, the more likely I'll have to leave."
Yuuup. Either she's not entirely human, or there are complex conditions on some of her demons. Or, well, she's just trying to protect you.

*Bemused smile* I don't quiet get that, but if that's the way it works, I guess I don't want to. I'd choose friends before... other stuff. Keep what secrets you have to, I guess.

You know I'm betting she is the current incarnation of Samios. I'v been suspecting she wasn't lying when she said that for a while and people knowing something like that would drive her away.

"Alright, I'd rather not lose any of you so I'll keep that sorta question to a minimum."

>Bunch of theories about Haven
I'll pretend I didn't hear those.

"Haven, you don't have to tell me anymore."

She nods slowly, but then hesitates before saying, "If you guys ever get into trouble, really bad trouble, so bad you can't get out of it at all, just call me for help. But you won't see me again after that. I'd rather that than you being dead or gone or something, though."

"Haven, that won't happen," I say. We're all silent for a good while.

Marco speaks up. "Maybe this's a bad time, but can you help us get demons?"

Both Susie and Raven facepalm.

>I'll pretend I didn't hear those.
Probably for the best. If we're actually right about her, it's probably better if you don't know. At least if she'd like to say around. Don't collapse the wave-function.

>Maybe this's a bad time
What, with the inquisitor who has as good as found you out still nearby and waiting for the slightest whiff of trouble to come crashing down on us like a ton of bricks, and Haven hinting at horrible consequences if we draw too deeply on her resources? :V (No, don't actually mock him, please).

>can you help us get demons?
Was that directed at you or Haven? (Meaning do you pause and let her answer first). My guess is she probably could, but either doesn't want to because it's something you're supposed to find yourself the first time, or, again, it would tax her stay here. You might be able to, although recreating the stressful conditions and mental state you were in without putting people at risk is tricky.

The correct response here is understanding. You know how bad the others want this. And how frustrating it is that we have to slow down and be careful right as it seems like we're just getting started and discovering this can actually work. And when we might have real resources to draw on (Haven). But we're under a spotlight right now. We have to be cautious, let attention die down a little. We can't afford to get caught, or give the inquisitor an excuse to come back.

That said, you managed it. I'm sure we can find a way the others can, too. (Preferably cleaner than you did, and without imposing much on Haven).

yes and yes, yes we can help you and yes this is a BAD TIME. We just narrowly avoided the inquisitor wrath and I wouldn't be to surprised if we're being followed right now. We'll help you but after the heat has died down.

Doing anything demonic right now would be a catastrophically bad idea. The inquisitor has nothing on you. So try not to give her anything; that little talk you just had was a fishing expedition nothing more.

You know, based on the information presented, the main danger with demonology is the lack of unbiased data, because it's taboo/illegal. With the variety of gods available it seems like binding the wrong god could have the same disastrous results as binding the wrong demon.

Sounds like all of you think doing anything right now's a bad idea. I agree, now that I think of it.

"I understand you're eager, and I do wan to help you. But I just got out of a really hairy interview with the Inquisitor, and I think we should lay low for a bit. Make sure we aren't on their radar. And then we can try to get you your demons."

Marco nods half-heartedly. "Alright."

"Oh, don't worry! I'll tell you just what to do, and help you pick out your new friends!" Haven pipes up.

I start to say "Are you sure that's ok--" but she interrupts. "It's fine! Talking about them isn't a problem, it's just talking about myself!"

"So we avoid the dogs' attention and do it all quiet like later. Got it," Susie says.

[You can now choose between flashing forward a week or so right now, or following Marlene as she tracks down the murderer. In the latter case, you won't be playing Discord or talking to her like you talk to Katelynn--you'll just be giving suggestions for her actions. After the case, you'll rejoin Katelynn and friends.

You can also suggest things for Katelynn and her friends to be doing during that time.]

>>534399
Seeing the other side of things would be neat. Let's tack us down a murderer!

might as well see what an inquisitor does consider a threat, on to the murder

Oh and as for what Katelynn and friends can do for the week, just have them do what they normally do just lay a bit lower on the demon stuff. Want to make it look like nothings changed to keep suspension low.

Marlene! I want to hunt me some evil demonologists!
I think it's fairly obvious which side of things I'd be on if I lived in that world-Inquistor side

...see what the other side is capable of, get more useful information on the setting, and possibly out of character information we can exploit? Hell yes. And we can try and get her killed, too!

>suggest things for Katelynn and her friends to be doing during that time
Laying low and not using powers, immediately.

Studying and planning, when possible (like what conditions we might use to demon-up the others, and what demons they might be interested in, and which Haven thinks are safe or good to get to know). When you feel safe too do so, practicing 'small' applications of discord- mixing something up without breaking stuff (fine control will be important when we try and tweak computer stuff). Getting a sense of how long the pattern trace of a given demonic action will persist is also important to develop, and will guide our choices in the future.

...avoid noticeable changes. It's one thing if your peers or teachers notice you acting out less after all getting dragged before an inquisitor. It's another if, say, you become too obviously interested in math and science after being suspected of starting into demons. Don't leave evidence she can use.

Question on using yesterday to go back in time- where is the pattern disturbance from that visible? Do you leave a shimmer in the air where you came back? Or since it's something you did to yourself, does it only show up on you? (And is therefore hidden by Nobody).

It's a quiet small suburban town. Marlene knows the type. Putting up a pleasant face but secretly full of rot. But rotten or not, those people don't deserve to die. And so she shall save them. Sailing in like a white-caped hero of justice. She laughs at that hilarious imagery.

The white-uniformed policeman looks at her strangely. "Um. Inquisitor?"

"Oh, just thinking of something funny. Now, let's look at the stiffs." Her face suddenly becomes serious. "And then I will find the one responsible."

The house's just the same as the others. Rows after rows of neat white houses, precisely trimmed lawns, and so on. Ah, Marlene thinks, this must be the kind of place that has a neighborhood association.

Inside is a gruesome scene. Blood's pooled underneath the sphere, cube, and pyramid of flesh that used to be people. Immediately, Marlene recognizes it as the work of Sphere, the demon of perfect shapes. Unless someone's faking Sphere's handiwork; she'd ran into such forgeries before. Still, this killer wasn't exactly being subtle about it.

She takes note of the lack of obvious demonic influence upon the local patterns. She actually laughs a little at the idiocy of doing something this blatant and then trying to cover it up like this. But perhaps there was some motivation at work, or something else they wished to hide.

She activates the stylized eye jewelry that acts as a vessel for Lens. Immediately, details stand out far more sharply and more clearly. One, the blood drops that'd been mostly scrubbed off off the stairs to upstairs, but faint traces still remain. Two, that there's no sign of a break-in here.

Upstairs, she finds where the faint blood trails must've started. Looks like the murders took place in the victims' bedrooms. One master bedroom, almost certainly shared by the parents. Blood trail leads to a bed with a really fresh sheet. An imprint on the carpet next to a suitcase, looks like another suitcase was there. An open jewelry box, empty. No signs of any wallets. Drawers show signs of having been hastily searched.

Two children's bedrooms. Judging by the bands featured in the posters on the walls, likely both young teenagers. Other than the blood trails leading to the also freshly changed beds, nothing else significant.

In the pictures scattered around, there're a boy of about 11 years and girl of about 13 years. Also featured in the pictures're a man and a woman in their mid-30s. All of them black. Also in the pictures's a large yellow mutt.

Returning downstairs and doing a quick inspection of the bottom floor, she finds nothing else interesting except a locked door. Still no signs of a break-in so far. No signs of the dog, and no dog house outside.

Hrm...
So magic element aside- someone came in, stole the jewelery, and killed this family. The weird part, of course, is where the magic comes in...
I think we should examine those shapes more closely-the impression I'm getting is that the lousy cover-up plus the obvious use of Sphere is meant to cover the use of a different demon for fighting-whoever did this wanted that demon as a hidden trick.
The blood cleaning probably fell under the general clean-up of that other demon's actions...suggesting the other demon might work with blood.
Now, the jewelry is something to keep an eye out for, but the main thing I think that might be for is making a special vessel for a god that perfers jewelry.

Wait, four people, three mangled flesh-shapes. Are the children sharing, or is one missing? (Can we use any of your gods to determine that without a time consuming autopsy?)

got a few theories on what happened
1) someone in the family did it, either on purpose or accident and try'd to cover there tracks and stole what they could before leaving in an attempt to run as far away as they can.
2)seeing how it seems like this place wasn't broken in to it could have been a friend of the family and something went wrong and then this happened. Could have taken one of the family hostage or this could have been premeditated and the missing family member was in on it.
3)something else
Whatever happened in here I suggest checking out the laundry room since it looks like whoever was here changed the sheets after the murders so there could be some clues in there.

Briefly, Marlene ponders the possibility of someone using blood as a weapon. But the blood's easily explained as the drip trails from the flesh shapes being moved downstairs. Which meant the culprit'd moved them for some reason.

A quick inspection of the laundry room reveals no bloodied sheets. Well, there're any number of things to make things disappear with demons. Checking the closets reveals the likely source of the fresh sheets. Everything's racked up extremely neatly except for the stacks of sheets and covers which look disturbed as if someone'd grabbed something off them hastily.

Now, the flesh-shapes. First thing Marlene does is lift them up, much to the distress of the policeman who asks what she's doing. "Trying out for the world weightlifting championships," she jokes, and then quickly clarifies that she's inspecting their weights to clear up a hypothesis. Sometimes Harlequin could be inconvenient like that, but without him she was so grim that it unnerved everyone. She still remembers the "You're so scary, like you're always about to kill someone" comment that spurred her to bind Harlequin. It was the first time anyone'd dared to speak up to her about it.

The weights of the flesh shapes... none of them were adult weight. It's entirely possible for a demon to tinker with weights, but... Acting upon a suspicion, she pulls out her Inquisition-issued saber. On top of everything else, they were sanctified vessels. She'd bound the Lady of Battles to it before she moved that binding to her body. After thinking upon a suitable god, she marks the sword with the sacred ink she keeps on hand for times like this and calls the name of Keen.

With a blade sharper than a scalpel, she neatly cuts into the flesh shapes. The policeman grimaces and looks like he wants to throw up. The pyramid and sphere have human skin along with other viscera inside them, but cutting open the cube reveals golden fur. That explains the missing dog that'd been nagging at her.

So that puts the tally at two children dead, one dog dead, and two missing parents. And there's still that locked door. Might or might not be relevant.

Theory time.

One or both of the parents went demon-mad. Probably suffers from a bit of OCD by the cleaning. Afterwords they panic and make a run for it.

I think its time to go into the locked room. You know how to pick a lock? Or is it time to kick open a door?

Two missing parents. Victims, or culprits? Or one of each? One advantage of their being adults is there will be records available. They can be looked up, their pasts and lives investigated for leads. Specifically, looking for any evidence either of them might have been a demonist, or had connections to anyone who might be. Not the priority at the moment, but something to look into if we don't find anything obvious to follow at the crime scene.

Might as well check that locked door. No way of knowing if there's anything relevant behind it until you do.

could be where the perpetrator through the sheets which could give us some clues.

Marlene says, "Hey, time to open that door. You know the usual lockpicking procedure?"

The police officer says, "What... oh, that. I'll handle it then."

"Sure. If being turned into plastic ground beef is your thing, I won't judge."

"Huh?"

"Ahaha! Was a joke. But seriously, biabolists're often full of nasty surprise. You probably want to let me go in first."

"Oh, right. Yeah, uh, I'm not used to dealing with diabolists."

"That's because it's our job. Don't worry, you should be safe enough if you hang back. You've already done your part showing me in here."

"Alright, then..."

And then Marlene applies the usual lockpicking procedure to the door. As the part around the lock splinters under her kick, she has her gun ready. But the door stops partway with a thump, like it's blocked by something. No signs of hostile response. Fully alert and ready to instantly react, she peeks in.

It quiclkly becomes clear that the room's:

1) a study, with bookcases and a desk.
2) decorated in a blatantly occult manner, with demonic glyphs painted on the walls right out in the open and oddly shaped tools scattered around on the desk.
3) whoever used this room was a maniac for solid shapes, to the point where the room's filled with them.

In fact, that last's apparently what's blocking the door. It's stopped against a metallic octagon, really heavy by the feel of it. The rest of the room's full with similar shapes, of plastic and wood and rubber and glass and more, to the point where there's barely room to move.

Carefully stepping over it all in an almost-dance, Marlene scans the room for further clues. Books on demonology, must've been smuggled in. Maps and pictures of nearby landmarks. Shapes've been drawn over many of them, particularly Mount Willy, this lumpy little thing that's had a triangle drawn around it in the pictures, and a pointy church which's had a cube drawn over it. Huh.

(Yay, this quest isn't dead!)

Hmm. Well, this would seem to confirm Sphere's involved. That or they're very dedicated to that deception.

You divine sight pick up anything else in here? I doubt they cleaned up all their work in the workshop, especially with so many obvious signs displayed. Although things in this room might be old enough for traces to have faded.

...do any of your gods allow forensic type checking? Like... how many people have been in this room? Presumably only the demonologist used this room, it would be nice to know if only one is involved.

>mountain, church
Potential targets, or places the culprit might have gone to? Trouble is we don't know which to check next.

I was hoping maybe there would be a geometric progression we could use to guess the next target, but we don't have enough data.

could be point of interest or they could just be distractions meant to throw you off the killer's trail, You did just get done saying the killer could be trying to imitate a demon and this room could also be just that... although I do have to admit if this guy is just trying to throw you off he's going all out on this.

As for what to do I say search the room for anything that might give us more clues in here and maybe see if some of the boys in blue can check out the places marked on the map, just give them the description of the family members how have yet to be found as any of them could be the killer. If they find someone who matches the description tell them NOT to engage them and call you right away so we can deal with it.

Hrrm...What are high-end Shape Demonologists like? The impression I'm getting is that this guy might have been OCD about cleanliness and order, to the point where he got Shape's attention. Might have slowly been eaten away at, until he ended up dominated by it, and now is spinning out of control.
I'd like to say take note for the next time you're dealing with a young demonologist, so you can warn her of this danger and how out-of control one can get.

>Involve the police
Marlene would have to get them to send plain cloth officers. But time she spends waiting to hear back could be spent simply heading to one of the destinations. Maybe if there were more destinations involved.

>Culprit was OCD
Quite possibly. Often the worst diabolists are the ones who've picked demons a little too attractive to them and who listen to them far too much. It isn't always a good idea to listen to gods. Demons're even worse for that. The worst idea is letting a demon dictate ones actions.

>Check for more details/forensics stuff/a numeric pattern
A more intensive investigation yields surprisingly little dirt, dust, or other such detritus--including hair. For all the clutter, it seems like the culprit was obsessively clean. Even with a god or demon to help, that's a lot of work spent on keeping the room clean. Still, with the blatant glyphs and the demonic patterns immediately apparent, it doesn't look like they were trying to cover themselves up. Looks more like fussiness.

Speaking of patterns, the solid shapes say very loudly to Marlene's senses, "This is a completely unnatural object." It doesn't look like there were any less permanent demonic workings done recently enough for it to be apparent. Discounting a more subtle coverup, which's always a possibility, but paranoia's only reasonable up to a certain point. Not that she hadn't encountered nasty surprises, but the odds in this case would be really low in her estimates.

But not zero. That's enough for her to keep an eye out for a trick, but not enough to make her change her actions.

Thorough search does turn up more photos, including ones of the children and dog. And a whole folder of photos of other landmarks, including the famous egg-shaped Rebirth Monument. And... that's interesting. The children and dog have a single shape each drawn around them in the photos, but the other photos're considerably more cluttered with shapes. The mountain has two triangles, one around the mountain and one just drawn somewhere on the photo. The church has four squares or cubes. A local lake has eight pentagons--and if she squints, she can see that it could vaguely be taken to be have five irregular sides. Later photos have a ridiculous number of shapes Marlene's not bothering to count.

Looks like her next target's the mountain. And she's fairly certain this diabolist doesn't actually have the power to convert it into a pyramid, if that's what they'e trying to do. If they did, they'd become as legendary as the Samios or the Mad Lord. And even that would just be pretext enough to call down the resources of the entire Inquisition, including branches from other countries, as well as at least the local military, much as she doesn't like the thought of either of those. Many other Inquistorial branches're more hardass than hers, in fact she'd be considered disqualified or even heretical by them just for not being too fond of the divine order. And while the Mad Lord was brought down by an army, it was a really bloody war. But that wasn't modern weapons.

Speaking of forensics, while she didn't find anything in the study, there's one thing she can do. A quick further check of the innards of the flesh shapes exposes children sized and dog teeth, but no adult teeth.

"So, uh, just tell me when you're done." The police officer says with nervous squeamishness. Clearly he doesn't get a whole lot of grisly murders in his precinct. Marlene smiles with grim mirth at the thought.

"At this point, we can assume the victims're two children and a dog. Two adults at large. Either or both're our culprit. Next target's presumably Mount Willy," she says.

"Mt. Willy?"

"It's my next destination. Oh, say, what can you tell me about the parents?"

"Well... The mother was a really quiet one. Real career woman. The father was... He was really well regarded. Really nice, helpful, pretty much no one could say anything bad about him. Practically the perfect househusband. He's an immigrant--apparently she met him aboard?"

"You can return to make your report. I'll be going to Mt. Willy. By myself. Combat's expected."

Mount Willy turns out to be a hour's drive. She stops the car at its foot. There's a road leading up--she could keep driving or climb the thing by foot. If the culprit're really trying to alter the mountain, they'll be at it for quite a while anyway.

Now this depends on how long it would take to 'Sphere' the mountain into a perfect tetragon shape, and whether it's smarter to interrupt before the demonologist before he charges up big-time or after.
I would think before- all that energy if charged up would have to go somewhere, and a half-cast spell could be more dangerous than a full cast-no predicting what would happen, outside of just general guessing based on how much energy was released...

>The worst idea is letting a demon dictate ones actions.
...*cough*.

>parents
Hmm, neither of those descriptions mentioned the OCD we might expect. Although 'househusband' might come with a certain degree of cleanliness, and if he was the one who stayed home, it would have been easier for him to maintain a hidden demonic workshop than her.

That's all pretty lose speculation, though.

>climb, or car
I'd go on foot. We don't want them to see us coming (even if you have a god to protect you from direct attacks on your person, sphere could probably still fold your car around you). And we want to be free to look for signs that will lead us to our prey.

just hoof it for now, it will be easier for you to see any clues or signs of where this guy went

As for who it could be... maybe it was both. I mean if the father stayed at home all day yes he could have made that room but then again the mother was a very business like women and it wouldn't be to far fetched for her to claim the room for her personal office. But to live in a home for years and to rise a family without ever going into your spouse's 'private room' is just a little hard for me to believe, not impossible mind you but still a bit far fetched.

Aaaannnndd if they are both involved that could mean that either they split up and are going to hit each of the targets at once or are working together to put a little more punch into pulling off these impossible feats of magic. Just throwing that out there.

>Harmfulness of interrupting a working in progress.
Only if Marlene interrupts them right as they're firing it off. That can cause it to go astray. But if she interrupts them while they're still preparing to do it, it just doesn't go off. And there isn't really any charging up spiritual energy for this kind of thing. A person can only hold so much. If they could store enough to do this, they could just do it in one shot. But converting a whole mountain's a big deal even for the big time major diabolists. Ruby did turn a whole town into her own personal playground but then had to recover afterwards--and was sniped while still recovering. Even the Samios was never described as transforming mountains left and right willy nilly. Though Marlene'd never want to face something like it even right after it'd done a feat like that.

As for working together, it's still take a lot of diabolists or two really strong ones.

>Going on foot
Yes, stealth's best. Speed's unnecessary, with almost certainly no one up there to hurt other than the other spouse and relatively little the culprit could actually do to the mountain. Maybe transform a few rocks or outcroppings. Let them waste their energy trying. If Marlene wanted, she could just take a leisurely stroll and do some sightseeing.

Maybe afterwards. For now, she runs silently at a steady pace, leaping from cover to cover. Stonesweight gives her the steadiness to keep going indefinitely, the Lady of Battles gives her the physical prowess, and the Invisible gives her the quietness and sneakiness.

Still, it's a good long run before she finally reaches the point where the road ends. And there at the top is a car, and what looks like the man from the pictures in the house. He's sitting by the parking lot on a bench, reading what looks like a novel and now and then looking around. He looks surprisingly relaxed for someone who's either a culprit, an accomplice, or a kidnappee.

watch him for a bit and see if he does anything weird. If not at least see if he has anything that looks like a weapon and then approach him and see how he reacts. Even if he had nothing to do with what happened back at home you could still arrest him for being a suspect right, or at least bring him down to the station? Also do you have anything that lets you seance demons cause if you do use that to see if you can spot any on him.

Huh. Anything about him or in the car ping divine sight?

>He looks surprisingly relaxed for someone who's either the culprit, an accomplice, or a kidnappee.
...it's possible he's entirely ignorant of what's occurred, I suppose. (Either his wife is the guilty party, or there's someone we didn't know about living in the house?). That, or he's just nuts.

I'd watch him for a few moments, see if we learn anything. Then we can try approaching him, and see if that gets a reaction. If not, we can try questioning him, see if that gets a reaction. Start light- what's he doing here? Work up to where's your wife, and later, where's your kids. See how long the story holds up or he can keep his cool. Bring down the hammer and report the death of his children when it's time.

The important thing we're trying to do here is either provoke him into revealing himself as a diabolist, or verifying he's not, and then trying to figure out where his wife is, or if there was someone else in the house.

Oh and comes to think of it? He's not alone, his wife is probably helping him, might be why he's so relaxed-she's the one on gaurd duty. You didn't find any signs that an adult died- only the children.

He might be relaxed because what he's up to is trying to figure out how he can appropriately transform the mountain, and right now the demon is nonplussed by the question of how to get it right.

Awful hypothesis time: Can demons manifest human bodies? Could either of these parents be either a conjured servant or someone whose mind was being ridden hard by a demon? The story you heard about this husband guy being, "A perfect husband," and also an immigrant suggests to me that he was gathered or even created/twisted by demonic powers. If so this husband may be a servitor set up at this park bench to provide early warning while the wife does crazy shit.

>Controlled or created human beings
This thought crosses Marlene's mind. It isn't unheard of. The minimal profile she got for him does match up with that possibility, but it's just that. Minimal. She'd need more information to judge better.

She decides to observe the situation. The man doesn't show anything to the divine sight, but that doesn't mean anything with the diabolist knowing how to cover up their traces. The car, on the other hand, there're faint traces. Heh, looks like she're dealing with one of tho cheapsake diabolists that like making their cars run without fuel. Of course, one could just get a car that runs on spiritual energy, but those cost more and the diabolist might not want to advertise they have that much spiritual energy. Still, Marlene owns one of those herself. Handy things.

It turns out to be a boring observation. The only thing that changes is the man gets further into the book. Finally, Marlene steps out and grabs his attention with a friendly wave just as he's looking up. He looks slightly surprised but not alarmed. "Oh, didn't think this got many visitors this time of year," he says.

Marlene nods. "Oh, yeah, it isn't really tourist season, is it?"

"No, ma'am. Is there anything I can help you with?" he inquires with a friendly tone.

"Not particularly. Well, at least the weather's pretty good for this season."

"It's a nice enough day for this month, yes."

"Hey, I see by your ring that you're married. How's the spouse?"

"Oh, well enough. She's doing pretty well."

"No worries?"

"She does get a little too into her work. But she's doing what she loves even right now."

"Ah. And that would be?"

"You know, bringing a little more regularity to things. She's like that. Likes things tidy and in order."

Marlene pauses. Just from that alone, it's hard to tell if he realizes or not. The way he said it just as pleasantly as everything else, it's hard to get a good read off him.

"Ah, I see. How about children? Any of those?"

"Oh, two. They're quite picturesque and lovely."

"I see! How're they doing?"

"Well, you know. Children, they can be a little troublesome sometimes. But children'e like that. Perhaps if I'd raised them a little better..."

Okay, this guy? She's having a really hard time reading him. She decides on a little more direct probing. "Oh, yeah, I know how children can be. But that doesn't warrant turning them into flesh balls, does it?"

"Perfect shapes," he corrects. His pleasant demeanor doesn't change. "You know, I did try to talk her out of it, but in the end she did have her reasons. I can only support her."

Well. Okay. He's either kind of nuts or brainwashed, here. At best that means he belongs in a deprogramming camp, or a psych ward, at worst charged as an accessory to murder and diabolism...ing. That's a problem for the shrinks and district attorney or whatever the inquisitor equivalents are, though. You just bring 'em in, and put down the ones you can't.

At least I doubt he's much of a threat to you. And if he were to try anything, disabling him would be a simple matter.

>I can only support her.
Where is she?

...you probably want to make it so he can't escape or interfere before you move on. And disable the car too- it would be really annoying if she were to double back around you and drive away while you're stuck on foot.

well it's always nice to support the one you love but I don't think killing others you love to support the one is the best way to go about doing that, so is the misses around here as well or did she decide to head to the church for ... reasons?

How quick can you draw your weapon? cause if this guy tries something I want to know how quickly you could put him down but I don't want you to draw your weapon yet incase we can get him to tell us what's the game plan he and his lover have cooked up.

Call me crazy, but I'm thinking that this situation is creepy enough we should decapitate and bisect first and ask further questions never. When the provably insane are given the chance to babble on once their masquerade has fallen that tends to be when the most terrifying spells and headfuckery comes out in my experience. End it before he has the chance and then hope that the disruption in his wife's perfect loving relationship unbalances her perfect order enough that she makes a mistake.

I also really don't like how this guy went from perfectly harmless looking to perfectly creepy in an instant, is this shades of Sphere's perfection at work? Might need a trick to sabotage that: A 'perfect' strategy for this situation could have meant that this couple perfectly anticipated your arrival, perfectly lulled you into a non-combat posture, then perfectly fucked with your head to throw you off your game, in preparation for a perfect ambush from behind.

...jeeze. We're a souped up inquisitor with a war god and a durability god bound to our body. I'm pretty sure we could render him unconscious without drawing a weapon. I'm pretty sure we could kill him without drawing a weapon.

Unless he actually tries to attack us, and in a manner than might actually have a chance of being at all effective, lethal force seems rather like overkill.

Do you have a god that can watch your back while you talk? We can probably get more information out of this guy if we talk to him longer, but this situation looks very muck like the husband is placed here to distract you while the wife tries to stab you in the back with a line segment or something.

Also, while basically anything here could be a magical trap or bomb, I find myself suspicious of that car in particular. Shape-lady seems quite capable of concealing her traces (even when seemingly unnecessary), so an object with traces that we can see seems out of place, possibly a cover for something else.

"So. The wife. You wouldn't happen to know where she is?" Marelene asks.

"She's busy right now and wouldn't appreciate any interruptions. Why don't you wait here and talk to her when she gets back?"

Marlene begins feeling like she's only wasting her time here. There's a very simple way to test if someone's a construct or just brainwashed. And quick pre-emptive action's best. In a swift, smooth motion, her gun's out and pointed at his leg, barking with gunfire.

The husband's reaction is immediate and perfect, twitching neatly out of the way with a speed that can't be human. But the concentrated hatred for all things demonic within the bullet ripples out as it whizzes by, tearing into the man's leg. A small chunk of the leg dissolves into nothingness. Construct confirmed.

"Oh dear! Now why did you go and do that? Unwarranted violence isn't good!" the man says. Fucking constructs. Lunatics, all of them.

Nothing to do but finish the job: Prevent the construct from helping the demonist or slowing you down, and then proceed.
Bonus if you can use the construct to track her but speed and safety are more important than being cute: This crazy already has been summoning constructs and transforming children into geometric dead lumps. My guess is that she's not planning on being particularly subtle today.

So, I assume if he's a construct, the real husband is long since dead?

If he's not human, and simply a demonic creation, and not providing you with useful information, you have no further use for him. Finish him with some warranted violence.

Then we need to pick up his wife and murderer's trail before she commits her next atrocity.

great, a scarecrow. We aren't getting anything from this thing so might as well finish it off and track down the puppeteer pulling the strings.

So in other words he is probably eternally loyal to the killer, so there is not much to be gained from capturing him alive. (I wonder if constructs dream of demonic sheep.)

>So, I assume if he's a construct, the real husband is long since dead?
I suspect the original husband was a construct all along.

>>552460
I'd think not. They had real kids, after all. I'd suspect creating people would be a big investment of demonic power.

>>552461
That depends on how 'functional' you can make a construct. (If that is how things went, I would be curious what the kids' DNA, but we probably can't find out by now.)