Pitchfork - the Quest from Hell #2

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>Pass through the empty chamber to the large room
You enter the CUBICAL CHAMBER of bare red rock. You stride as confidently as one may stride without any legs to speak of, but before you can reach the doorway, it slams shut before you!
With a loud crack, strange circular SIGILS flare to life on the walls. Black CHAINS shoot out from their centers and shackle you in place. You are TRAPPED!
You struggle with the chains as they start to pull on you in different directions. However, there is no escape. The strain threatens to rip you apart.
Just when you think you're going to give in, the pull stops. The SIGILS seem to hesitate for a moment, as if they were THINKING THINGS OVER. Then, with a clang the chains release you and fall to the floor. The sigils disappear and the door opens back up.
...Whatever that was, it was a close shave. You may or may not have nearly died due to a GLITCH.

>Enter library
Now free from your chains, you enter the LARGE ROOM.
You only saw a few bookshelves from the other side of the building but damn, this place is STACKED. Shelves line all four walls of the room, stretching to the ceiling and threatening to collapse under the vast amount of BOOKS heaped onto them. Further piles of READING MATERIAL are scattered on the floor and on the TABLE in the middle of the room. There is an additional half-assembled shelf lying prone in one corner.
...Whoever lives here is without a doubt a MASSIVE FUCKING NERD.

>Inspect shelves
Upon more rigorous examination of the bookshelves, it seems like the question of "what does this person read" should be replaced with "what doesn't he read". You see Russian Classics, scientific journals, sorcery handbooks, manga collections, and a lot of very threatening-looking GRIMOIRES that sometimes seem to whisper when you turn your back. While there are plenty of titles that you recognize, about 70% of the books are completely unknown to you and don't seem like they were published on Earth either. You carefully put down the signed and dedicated copy of "The Joys of Flaying" by Shkabolax the Skintaker.
You might as well snoop around this netherworldly nerd's book collection a bit more.
>What will you read?

>>1549872
>GRIMOIRES
read one

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>>1549892
>Read a grimoire
You aren't sure if that will be very advantageous to your health, as neither grimoire seems particularly BENIGN. However, after a bit of searching, you find a heavy leatherbound tome that seems relatively harmless.

THE GUYDE OF INEPTE DAEMONES.
CONTENTES:
>0. Foreworde.
>1. The Hierarchie of Hell.
>2. Daemone Ruleres.
> -2.1 The 72 Greate Daemones.
>3. The Sekretes of Magick.
> -3.1 Conjuration.
> -3.2 Possession.
> -3.3 Invocation.
> -3.4 Replenyshing thy Magick.
> -3.5 Corruption.
> -3.6 Wardes.
>4. Our Enemie - The Legiones of Heavyn.

>>1549960
Start with the forewarde, then the hierarchie. Best to know the basics.

>>1549960
>>3. The Sekretes of Magick.

((I had the excellent sense of timing to start this thread late in the night. I'll be back in a few hours after I sleep, then we'll dig into the grimoire. Night folks.))

>>1550007
night

>>1550007
also your last thread was on autosage op, happesn after 3 days

>>1549966
>>1550003
>0. Foreworde.
You turn one page forward from the table of contents and start reading. Might as well go from the basics.
0. FOREWORDE.
Whosoever holdeth this Tome in his händs hath picked it up in knowledge of its Nayme. Therefoer, it must be cleare what thou will fynd within its Payges: the sympler Knowledge of Daemon Fare and the Crafts of the Wicked Work of Devilkynd.
Not all Daemones are equally gyfted in these Crafts, and the authoer of this Tome wisheth to aide the less powerful ones in their Ascent to the Bane of Heavyn.
Praise be to Lucifer.

Well shit. It appears that you have found some sort of DEMON STUFF FOR DUMMIES book. Anyway, it would be best to continue reading if you want to get any knowledge out of this.

>1. The Hierarchie of Hell.
Hell, or Infernus as it is sometime call'd by Mortals, is the abode of Lucifer, the Fallen One and father of all Daemon kynde. He ruleth over Hell in nayme, however his torturous eternitie chayned to the frozen Lake Cocytus preventeth him from exercise of his Power. In his stead rule his Arch-Devyls, of whom there are three: Lucifuge, Rofocale and Satanachia. They holde the most high true Power in Hell and they act as Emissaries of Lucifer to governe Daemon kynde in his nayme.
Below the Arch-Devyls are the Daemon Lords, of whom there are seventy and two. Mighty they are, and powerful, and rule they many Infernal Legiones. Most daemones serve one certaine Daemon Lord from the day they are borne to the day they are cast into the Pit. More on the singular Daemon Lords is writ in Chapter 2.1: The 72 Greate Daemones.

...This is some Diablo-level shit. Honestly!

>3. The Sekretes of Magick.
Magick is the most importante Craft any Daemon must aspyre to be Master of. It taketh many forms and more oftyn than not, it is a Peril to the Mortal and the Daemonic Caster alyke. More on the singulare forms of Magick is writ in Chapters 3.1 through 3.6.

>>1551539
>continue reading

>>1551581
>Continue reading
3.1 Conjuration.
Conjuration is the Arte through whych a Daemone may call forth Objects and Familiares from the Void. Masterie of Conjuration taketh Tyme, Patience and high Magick Reserves, and thus is a Fare of more powerfull Daemones. This arcane Arte requireth the Caster to conceive the objecte of his Wyshes, and remove Non-existence from its Essence. It is a difficulte feath, however in the right Hande it is feare some and versatyl.

3.2 Possession.
Possession is the most ymportent of any mightie Daemone's Magickal powyrs, thrustyng them upon a Mortal easilie. It requireth a stabile flow of Magick, for if the flow dystuptes, the Possessor shall suffyr from a back Fyre. The Mortal thou possess is advysabel to be Weak of Wyll, else they may banishe thee with an invocatio or sheare Force of Wyll. If the Daemonic Possessor is banish'd, they shall suffyr a dearthe of Magick.

Hmmm. This book is pretty hard to read but informative. So demons do possess people.
You wonder what the text means by "back Fyre" though. What kind of backfire? You have NO CLUE.

>>1554626
can we try to use some magic as jess ?

>>1554705
>Try to use magic
Sometimes it takes only a single day to change someone's entire worldview. If the applied method of the change is sufficiently forceful, even less time is enough. In your case, the experiences you've undergone lately bear all the subtlety of a TON OF BRICKS LAUNCHED INTO YOUR FACE WITH A TRÉBUCHET, and thus in the space of about an hour, it has been conclusively proven to you that MAGIC is real, and it works. In fact, you were nearly killed by it just about twenty minutes ago.
This obviously begs the question: can you USE it yourself? Maybe you could find a way back to your regular body, or if that's not possible, perhaps rise to be an UNSTOPPABLE DIABOLICAL OVERLORD or something. Which is obviously completely ridiculous, will ABSOLUTELY NEVER HAPPEN and you're bad with large groups of people anyway, let alone HORDES OF GROVELING THRALLS. But anyway, using MAGIC sounds great right now.
...Problem is: you haven't the SLIGHTEST IDEA how to do it. Do you yell? Do you perform a sacrifice? Do you just summon up the magic from yourself? Do you roll a d20? Do you chant? If so, in what language?
You have no track to start on here. MAGIC will have to wait.

>>1554881
well then continue reading the infernal books

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>>1554962
>Master the art of magic through the power of binge-reading
You know what? You won't give up. You'd probably have all the time in the world on your hands if you actually had hands, what better way to spend it than to master the use of MAGIC? This is exactly what you dreamed about when you were an EMBARASSING FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD who bought a copy of the Malleus Maleficarum, afterall.
You carefully inspect the BOOKSHELVES, and after some time spent pacing up and down along them, you gather up a small collection of GRIMOIRES and MAGICAL HANDBOOKS that seem both useful for beginners and relatively NON-LETHAL.
You sit down to the table in the middle of the room, open "The Grimoire of Antipope Bogumil" and dig in.

>Meanwhile...

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>Be Brighton
You are now BRIGHTON MACKENZIE. You are currently standing outside the apartment of your BEST FRIEND, who seems to have drunk a bit too much after your outing yesterday and requires your HELP for this reason. Who even drinks alone at home? You seriously don’t get her at times.
You are largely of JAMAICAN DESCENT. People tell you you have a slight ACCENT, which most find lovely. In fact, people have a tendency to find ALL OF YOU LOVELY, which sounds great on paper but not when you have to deal with waves upon waves of guys who seem genuinely interested you but turn out to ONLY WANT TO GET INTO YOUR PANTS. Due to this you have acquired a HOUND-LIKE NOSE for creeps and assholes and you have a tendency to be SUSPICIOUS about people who try to get close to you. You sometimes wish that someone who really loves you would just MATERIALIZE in your apartment one day, though that is obviously ridiculous and will NEVER HAPPEN.
You are an ECONOMICS STUDENT at the local university, where you go to the same course as JESSICA WINDER-KRAMER. You regularly try to break her out of her reclusive lifestyle, with varying amounts of success.
When you’re not studying, working, or going to bars in town, you like to kill your time by SURFING ON THE INTERNET. As such, you’re painfully aware that no news source is trustworthy, and prefer to browse, er, ALTERNATIVE NEWS SOURCES. By which you mean CONSPIRACY THEORY WEBSITES. While some of them sound extremely FAR-FETCHED, there are some that you wholeheartedly accept. The existence or nonexistence of ALIENS, however, is a topic you are uncertain on.
While you don’t know this yet, you will meet a demon in about 120 minutes.

>What do you do?

>>1555028
knock at the door

>>1555038
>Knock
You rap on the door three times in quick succession.
Nobody answers.
You wait for five minutes and try again. The results are the same.

>>1555074
call her on her home number

>>1555079
>Call Jess on her home number
You take out your CELLPHONE and plink in her phone number. After a short sequence of BEEPS, you can hear persistent RINGING from inside the apartment. While you're waiting, you note that she called you from a different number for some reason.
After about three minutes, the ringing stops. No movements can be heard inside.

>>1555090
call the other number

>>1555100
>Call the other number
You bring up the CALL HISTORY in the phone and tap on the peculiar number Jess called you from some time ago.
After a brief beep, the answering machine informs you that this number doesn't exist.
...You begin to suspect that something is amiss here.

>>1555114
try to force the door of her room open

>>1555129
>Force your way in
You're starting to fear for the safety of your friend, and desperate times call for desperate measures. You rule this a DESPERATE TIME.
You slam your shoulder several times into the door. It creaks but doesn't give in.
Finally you manage to bust in the door next to the lock with a well-aimed KICK. The lock breaks.
Aw, shit. You'll have to pay for this later.
The door opens with a creak. Everything is dead silent inside. A smell of SULFUR wafts from the apartment.

>>1555145
go in and look for her

>>1555154
>Go in and look for Jess
You enter the APARTMENT. You've been to her place before so you know what is where. Aside from the eerie silence and the sulfuric smell there is nothing particularly out of place or spooky here.
Seems like she got real drunk this time. The place is a damn mess. You spot a collection of HALF-EMPTY BOTTLES on the floor of the living room, right next to her COUCH. In the kitchen, you see the ruins of her BREAKFAST, specifically a FRYING PAN, several boxes of INGREDIENTS and an unwashed plate that once contained some sort of RAMEN. Seems like she was at least sober enough to practice her marvelous CULINARY SKILLS.
You approach and open the door of the BEDROOM, which is the last room in the apartment you haven't checked yet.
The room is even more of a mess than the others. All DRAWERS have been yanked open, books and notebooks litter the floor. The SMELL is extremely strong here. You pinch your nose to close it out.
JESS is in the room.
You expected her to lie passed out in her bed with her phone in her hand, but instead she's sitting in front of her COMPUTER.
She seems to be unconscious and stares at the screen with open, empty eyes. There is an ODD NECKLACE hanging from her neck, which seems to be the source of the sulfuric smell.
On the computer, 4CHAN is opened. The last comment in the thread was made about 90 minutes ago.
"OP is dead, post succubi"

>>1555167
try talking to her

>>1555186
>Try talking to her
"Jess. Hey, Jess. You hear me, girl?"
Jess doesn't react. Doesn't even blink.

>>1555207
slap her

>>1555211
>Slap her
*SMACK*
You backhand Jess across the face. She falls off the chair and sprawls out on the floor, but otherwise doesn't react. The NECKLACE is askew in her neck.
Aw, shit. You didn't mean the slap to be this strong. You gotta keep yourself in check.

>>1555348
take off the necklace

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>>1555355
>Remove necklace
You reach for the necklace around Jess' neck. You immediately jump and hiss in pain as it burns your fingers. It's searing hot! The four TEETH on it flash red for a moment.
As you rub your pained fingertips, you notice that they now have tiny PENTAGRAMS burned into them.
"What."
You stand for a moment and contemplate what just happened.
This is some DEMONIC FUCKERY, you swear. Just what the hell happened to her...?

Try to find something that you can use to pull it off, like tongs or something.

Alternate idea: Look online to try to find ANYTHING on demonic possession and what can go wrong with it.

>>1556038
>>1556113
>Try to find online materials on demonic possession
Your quick search on POSSESSION yields predictable results. Aside from edgy anime references, obviously false personal possession accounts and word salad-y Christian fundamentalist sites, you find very little that would be useful.
There are two BOOKS on Jess' desk right next to the computer. One has pentacles and pentagrams on the cover, the other is more formal-looking and written in Latin. These might be informative; you make a mental note of them.

>Find something to pull the necklace off
After some searching around, you find a pair of BARBECUE TONGS in Jess' kitchen. After some careful experimentation, you manage to remove the NECKLACE - in the process you note that it doesn't burn her skin but you take it in stride at this point.
Unfortunately, getting the necklace off of her doesn't return her to a conscious state - that said, the necklace doesn't seem to radiate the SULFURIC SMELL anymore. You remain awkwardly standing with the necklace hanging from the tongs in your hand.

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>Examine necklace
It's a cheap piece of jewellery made of wooden cubes, beads and a dice-like middle part. There are also four peculiar-looking TEETH hanging from it.
The more you look at it, the more distinctly you hear a faint whisper in the silence of the room. It's unnerving.

>>1556528
Thow salt on it and water and chat holy bullshit at it

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>>1556660
((666 trips in a quest about demons, this must be a sign))
>EXORCISE
That's it. You've had it with all this stupid EXORCIST-LEVEL BULLSHIT going on with your best friend. Time to make like Father Karas, ring up all the DEMONS around the place and tell them to pack up and get moving.
Nobody lays a finger on Jess and gets away with it.
>Throw salt on necklace
You storm into the KITCHEN with the necklace in your hand, retrieve several packages of SALT from the cupboard, tear them open and pour their contents into a BOWL. You slam down the necklace on the table and empty the bowl all over it. It is promptly buried under a small mound of SALT, but otherwise no changes happen to it. Apparently the prettyboys in the trenchcoats had the wrong idea.
>Douse necklace in holy water
You heavily doubt that Jess would have actual blessed water in her house, but you quickly think of a substitute. You take a MUG from the cupboard, fill it with water, and scream "THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU" at it three times in rapid succession. You then fish the NECKLACE out from under the salt you spilled on the table, and proceed to dunk it into your DIY holy water. It's fizzling a bit and you think you see a few little sparks. It's working...!
>Chant holy bullshit at necklace
Time to finish kicking these satanic morons out. You're practically frothing at the mouth at this point. You remove the NECKLACE from the "holy water", noting in the process that it's not burning your skin anymore, hold it out in front of your face, and yell out the only holy phrases that comes to your mind:
"KYRIE ELEISON! AVE MARIA! YOU'RE EVICTED, MOTHERFUCKERS!"

>Be Jess
You're now JESSICA WINDER-KRAMER. You're suddenly interrupted in your MAGICAL STUDIES by a distant yelling voice. It seems to be screaming something about an EVICTION.

>What do you do?

>>1556805
Omg i didt even notice wow lol
Is something going to haplen becouse of it?

Hmmm i guse we try to listen in on it?
Shout back?

>>1556956
>Shout back and listen
You set down "The Paraphernaliae of the Magician" by Gor the Weak, and call out to the VOICE, but it doesn't seem to react. However, it seems to get clearer and louder somewhat.
"-ᶰᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ˢʰᶦᵗʰᵉᵃᵈˢ! ᴮᴱᴳᴼᴺᴱ! ᶠᵁᶜᴷ ᴼᵁᵀᵀᴬ ᴴᴱᴿᴱ!"
Wait... is that BRIGHTON's voice?!

>>1557012
Try to call her with the phone
And ask what shes doing

>>1557154
>Call Brighton on the phone
You take the CELLPHONE out of the cobra-thing's pouch and dial Brighton's PHONE NUMBER. You're used to the screaming at this point, and thankfully you kept studying long enough to recover some STAMINA; still, the phone drains you enough that one more call will probably make you faint.
The voice dies down. A moment later Brighton answers the phone.
"J-jess?! Is it you?"

>Begin conversation. What do you say?

>>1558765
yo whats up girl ?

>>1558785
>"Yo what's up girl?"
"Don't 'girl' me, Jess, that's so fake coming from you! I'm freaking out is what's up! Where the hell are you even calling from, because your body is lying in your bedroom and it sure as fuck isn't on the phone! Did you mean it literally? Are you really in Hell?! What the hell is going on?!"
She sounds... a little bit stressed.

>>1558792
if im passed out how did you get inside my apartment ?

>>1558796
This sounds suspicious.
>"If I'm passed out how did you get inside my apartment?"
"Do... do you seriously think that's the most important question here?"
"Answer the question, Brighton. How did you get inside my apartment?"
After a brief silence, her voice comes from the other side, considerably less panicky.
"I, er, busted down your door. Kicked in the lock. Sorry."
Christ on a bike. If she gets going there's no stopping her.
"Listen, I was worried about you, okay? You didn't answer the door and I was concerned! I'm sorry!"

>>1558853
did you do something else ?

>>1558882
>"Did you do something else"
There is a lond, awkward pause on the other end.
"Brighton...?"
"I poured salt all over your table. And, um, slapped you in the face."

...Wow.

>>1558905
>wtf why would you do that ? you insane ?

>>1558911
She's the gift that just keeps on giving.
>"What the fuck, why would you do that? Are you insane?"
"Well what else would I do when I see you unconscious in your room than slap you? And I tried to do something about this fucked-up necklace around your neck, you know how it was in Supernatural, so I thought that maybe- okay, I know it didn't work out alright? Are you okay?"
She's really freaking out, which is understandable. Afterall, you were in the same state only a few hours ago, except you had nobody to rant to.

>>1559124
>well im literally in heel, im not sure if you can call that fine

>>1559204
>"Well im literally in Helll, I'm not sure if you can call that okay."
Ironically, this statement calms her down somewhat. You guess it's better to know something for certain, even if it's that your BEST FRIEND is in Hell. You hear a deep breath from the other end of the line.
"...Okay. So then I guess you did mean it literally."
"Yeah, I'm in some sort of snake body right now, it's not my own" - you reply. - "Don't worry, I'm not being tortured for my earthly sins forever, as far as I saw Hell seems to be relatively torture-free."
"That's good, girl." You hear her pull out a chair and sit down. "So what will you do now? Return to Earth somehow? Remain there and overthrow the Devil? Please at least call me sometime if you do the latter." The joke is followed by a weak laugh. She's much more of a MESS right now than you are.

>>1559417
well i dont know how to get back can you look atfer my body
and would you liketo jin me down here?

>>1559437
>Well I don't know how to get back. Can you look after my body?
Obviously, you have no intention to remain in HELL for the rest of your days, but you need a bit more time with the piles of GRIMOIRES to devise how to get back your body.
"I'll get back eventually, don't worry! But it will take a little time, I guess. This is all new to me too, Brighton, I might not sound like it but I'm flipping out on the inside too, you know. I got a bunch of books about magic here, if you give me a little time I can figure out how to come back. Can you make sure my body doesn't, like, die of thirst in the meantime?"
"Okay, Jess. It's all good, I'm just glad you're fine. I'll take care of you, you can go be a magic nerd without a worry."
"Thank you Brighton. You're the best. I'll be back in a while, alright? See ya."
"See ya, girl." She hangs up.

...Whew. This was emotional. You just realize how emotional it was, it's difficult with your occasional tendency to BOTTLE UP YOUR FEELINGS.
It's no time to cry now though, you have to go back to your books and figure out how to distrupt this weird possession thing.
You open back up "The Paraphernaliae of the Magician" by Gor the Weak and start to compare it with the "Gesta Infernorum", written by an anonymous Satanic priest sometime in the 13th Century.
You tear up a little over the pages. You feel bad for pulling Brighton into this infernal clusterfuck, even if you had to.

>Be Brighton
You are now BRIGHTON MACKENZIE. Your BEST FRIEND has apparently been trapped in HELL and is currently working on a way to get back from there. Right now, you just finished an extremely heartfelt and extremely sappy conversation with her that almost had you crying.
Alright, time to stop being all feelsy. You're too TOUGH for this. Jess asked you to do shit, so you're gonna do shit. "Shit" being taking care of her CATATONIC BODY, which is currently the only other occupant in her apartment. Other significant objects inside the house include an ODD NECKLACE, two BOOKS on Jess' desk, a pile of SALT on the table, several bottles of ALCOHOL in the living room and a mug of DO-IT-YOURSELF HOLY WATER standing on the edge of the kitchen sink.

>What do you do?

Is this saged yet?

New thread: >>1566398