05/25/2025 Snippet, TOM VARGAS AND THE CASE OF THE MEDDLING PRIEST.

Gotta get this finished.

As a foulness shall ye know them. There’s everything in the Lore, honestly. Including the stuff you wish there wasn’t.

The demon didn’t waste any time coming together, pulling darkness out of every corner of the room. Papers whirled all around us as a foul wind rose up, forcing the taste of brimstone in my mouth. The air reeked of that, and filth both old, and new. A plant set in the window puffed into gray dust as I watched, and I reflexively turned away before I could breathe any of it in.

Meanwhile, in the center of the now-howling room, a figure spawned. It was somehow slimy and sharp-edged at the same time, a writhing mass of black-green corruption congealing into the rough shape of a man. It wasn’t large. Yet. But it wouldn’t be for lack of trying.

Speaking of trying… I took aim with my gun, and turned what looked like the demon’s chest into greasy black foam. Oh, it did not like that! It didn’t like my next three shots, one in the head, and two more in the chest. It didn’t like it, but it didn’t dissipate. That was bad. Four shots was more than enough to keep a regular demon from incarnating, and one more shot than what I should usually try to get off. It’s not easy for me to push around demons. It ain’t my skill set. This could end up being pretty damned painful for me.

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